News

Aligning business systems (December 2007)

Maptek’s managed IT services team based in Perth recently completed work on Rio Tinto’s Aligning Business Systems (ABS) program. The ABS program is a business improvement initiative that aims to establish leading practice global business processes for Rio Tinto. From a technical perspective, this involves moving all Rio Tinto business units worldwide onto the same version of SAP.

Maptek was engaged by Rio Tinto Iron Ore to deliver changes to the way the Maptek-supported applications interfaced with SAP. In order to exchange data with the new version of SAP, all applications needed to communicate using web services. Over a 12-month period, Maptek developed and delivered customised software to facilitate the successful exchange of data with SAP XI.

The project went live on September 3, 2007 and has been pronounced a success by Rio Tinto. Maptek will support the solution now in operation and will be involved in the ABS rollout for Argyle Diamonds, expected to commence early in 2008.

Maptek IT Project Services Office (June 2007)

The Maptek IT Project Services Office (PSO) provides a combination of services (managerial, administrative, technical support) which supports the work of MIT Project Managers. A team of professional PRINCE2 qualified Project Managers is available for consulting assignments. The recent emphasis on project management consulting, not necessarily associated with any of our supported technical applications, has widened the scope of the services offered by the PSO.

Britta Graham has been the architect of the PSO, designing the processes, developing document templates and recruiting the project management team. The PSO is currently headed by acting manager Ann Calvert, who joined Maptek IT in March 2007. Ann’s experience in project management and directorship, development and quality management, and project office management has enabled her to make a seamless transition to the role.

Maptek IT has three full-time PSO project managers: Justin Hyde who has worked full-time since February 2006; Austin O’Brien, who has previously worked with the MineSuite technical services team; and Kim Verney, who brings extensive IT industry experience including business analysis, development management, project management and implementation services directorship.

These dedicated project management resources are augmented by experienced senior Maptek IT staff to manage projects as required.

The Maptek IT Project Services Office was created to:

• ensure consistency and the highest standards in project management for all major projects;

• increase the quality of project deliverables and increase project success by reducing overruns, delays and cancellations; and

• increase project management (consulting) assignments for Maptek IT and support project managers on such assignments.

The PSO entity has existed internally at Maptek’s Perth office for some time, responsible for the creation of the Maptek IT Project Management Methodology (MIT PMM), which is based on the highly respected PRINCE2 methodology. This has been adopted for all major project work from the Perth office.

Services available to project managers have included: support in using the MIT PMM methods and templates, practical application of general PM techniques, assistance with general document preparation, use of the administration systems (PHASE, TICS), training needs analysis, and help with software tools such as MS Project.

Externally, we are now increasing our service catalogue by offering full project management capabilities including but not limited to: project scope and business case definition, risk assessment and management, project planning, project control including issue and change management, status and quality reviews and reporting, project closure and handovers.

MineSuite Technical Services functions transferred to the Maptek IT group (March 2007)

MineSuite Technical Services functions have been transferred to the Maptek IT group. This will allow MineSuite implementation and support services to gain valuable leverage from existing IT project management and service delivery skills within Maptek, leading to professional MineSuite project services for clients.

The transition will also enhance the profile of Maptek IT and help to expand their activities to other regions. Maptek IT and MineSuite staff are finalising internal structures, project and service delivery frameworks, client management processes and service level standards.

Maptek IT Cuts Reporting Costs for Rio Tinto (September 2004)

Maptek IT has cut by more than half, the time it takes for Rio Tinto to send key financial figures from Perth office to London headquarters.

In 2003, transfer of monthly reconciliation from Perth sites back to Rio Tinto’s headquarters took up to eight days. This critical process relied on a great deal of manual input; the information was then processed using an outdated application for approval by Perth accounting staff.

Realising the benefits to stockholders and key decision-makers of publishing figures earlier, Rio Tinto London ordered its Western Australian iron ore operation, Hamersley Iron, to reduce this figure from eight days to three.

To meet this ambitious goal, Maptek IT built a system that allowed preliminary production data to be processed, approved, and sent to the Rio Tinto accounting team within one working day. CPR (Confirmed Production Reporting) draws data from more than 12 feeder systems, including port, plant and rail.

Consolidating IT systems at Pilbara Iron (June 2004)

Maptek IT is helping Rio Tinto to pin-point individual costs of any operation, virtually in real time. On-the-spot cost assessment for any part of the iron ore mining operations was one of Rio Tinto’s goals when it set up the Pilbara Iron (PI) venture. PI is a cooperative effort between Hamersley Iron, Robe River and Pilbara Iron Company, with the purpose of streamlining ore production for the Asian markets.

Under the agreement, each business retains a separate structure, with their own independent decision-making processes. The new PI entity is responsible for operating and maintaining all of HI and Robe’s rail, port, power and non-infrastructure assets as well as providing corporate and site services.

Maptek IT is participating in the creation of a ‘Driver Tree’, which can zero in on any business unit and generate financial information, based on all variables that feed into the unit, such as labour, fuel, equipment, maintenance and land ownership costs.

As part of the PI initiative to consolidate IT systems across the three business units, Maptek IT is also unifying some of the 178 applications that it currently supports, in order to more efficiently service the mines. The target for delivery of the Driver Tree and system integration is July 2004.

Maptek Application Services (March 2004)

Maptek IT has further expanded its services, this time to Papua New Guinea. The application services branch of Maptek has recently landed a number of projects with Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML), which is located near the township of Tabubil, in the northwest region of PNG.

Most OTML staff reside near the company’s copper mine, and a number of IT systems are being upgraded to accommodate OTML’s extensive HR systems, as well as some technical mining systems. Maptek IT’s role at OTML is primarily in consulting and project management, assisting in the development and implementation of major software application