Typically, financial systems and asset management solutions aren’t designed to natively integrate. However, the Central Hawkes Bay District Council have other ideas on that score.
An AssetFinda customer for many years, they have also been using the Magiq financial services solution. In order to streamline both their asset and financial management, they have reached out to Univerus for a native integration of the two solutions. What this means is each system will be able to share data, and it’s not something that CHBDC will have to build themselves – we’re creating the interface which will be ‘out of the box’, cost-effective, and will enable swift deployment.
Working together with Magiq, we’ll be building our relevant sections of the new solution, allowing both systems to share information and perform integration.
Data will then be able to flow between the systems natively; essentially, a plug-and-play solution.
In order to create a truly digital, data-driven solution, the CHBDC has now purchased Univerus’s mobile solution, fieldGO. This tool captures data in the field, and will then push that data back into both the AssetFinda and Magiq systems. This creates a data loop where all three systems work in conjunction and share information.
Although the CHBDC has plans to set this three-way solution on to all of their field services, they’re starting with their meter reading. This is down to a desire to move away from manual tools and processes such as the plain old pen and paper. Because the CHBDC had been a long-time AssetFinda customer, and because the Unity Solutions suite brought AssetFinda and fieldGO together, the Council realised the potential for automating and digitising their services by bringing fieldGO into the mix.
When all three systems work together, a meter read would look – at a very high level – like this:
- AssetFinda will have the meter location
- Magiq will have the billing information
- fieldGO will send the job to the meter reader
- Once the meter has been read:
- fieldGO will send data back to both AssetFinda and Magiq
The Council then has accurate, real-time data on which to base billing and asset invoicing.
Work on creating the native interface is underway; when the new meter reading service comes online, there is also the potential to use it for a range of other council services that take place in the field – inspections, animal control, waste management etc. In other words, if it had been managed with a clipboard, pen and paper, it can now be digitised, automated, and used to generate high-quality, high integrity data.
Reducing the number of manual processes not only streamlines workflows and improves productivity, but it also significantly reduces errors – the kind of mistakes that can be time-consuming and often frustrating to resolve. Not only that, but there are also major efficiency gains to be realised, such as providing staff with a map view of jobs:
With the adoption of a modern, digital approach, the CHBDC will not only improve the working lives of their staff, but they’ll also be better placed to optimise the services they provide citizens and residents.
Keen to learn more about how your ERP, AssetFinda and fieldGO can work together to modernise and digitise your operations? Don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll start a discussion about your requirements.
