Integrated Management System Tackles Infrastructure Demands of Growing Metropolis


Location Intelligence Conference, SAN FRANCISCO, April 17 // Facing aging infrastructure assets and increased regulatory pressure, the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, has awarded Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) an $8.5 million consulting and support contract to create a new engineering-centric Infrastructure Management System (IMS). The new IMS will enable the City to improve the way it builds, maintains and replaces its public works infrastructure and provides services to its more than half a million residents.

The IMS will integrate engineering, operational and financial information about the City's $8 billion in key infrastructure resources, including water, wastewater and roadway assets. As the host city for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver anticipates the volume of operational demands on its Engineering Services Department to grow, as new infrastructure projects come online in the future and older assets require upgrading.

Additionally, the City must comply with new asset accounting mandates from the Canadian government, requiring municipalities to account for capital assets in their financial statements. The City recognized this mandate as an opportunity to integrate operational and financial systems -- not only to fulfill regulatory requirements, but also to create efficiencies throughout the engineering organization, generating long-term cost savings and increasing customer service satisfaction. Currently, the City of Vancouver's financial, design, maintenance and as-built data are stored in more than 100 separate data sources in numerous different applications, creating redundancies and inaccuracies. As a result, business processes such as coordination between capital projects and field maintenance were inconsistent and time-consuming.

The City of Vancouver chose Autodesk Consulting as the prime contractor to manage this complex systems integration project, in partnership with Hansen Information Technologies, a provider of software for municipal infrastructure asset management, and Ideaca, a Vancouver-based technology consulting firm. Autodesk Consulting is providing integration services that leverage the best features of the existing disparate systems into a configured, comprehensive software solution for the City's engineering, operations and finance departments.

"The City of Vancouver's decision to integrate existing complex and disparate software systems illustrates the challenges many public works organizations face with current infrastructure development, maintenance and replacement processes," said Marc Cannon, vice president of Autodesk Consulting. "With the new IMS system, constituents across the City's various departments will have access to the information they need to make informed decisions -- whether it is an engineer planning a work crew's sidewalk maintenance route or a finance manager projecting the next year's operations expenditures for manhole inspections."

"With the comprehensive asset condition tracking capability, we project that we can extend the lifespan of individual infrastructure assets and lower capital expenditures, while providing better service to our citizens," said Peter Judd, the City of Vancouver's deputy city engineer and project sponsor.

There are three components to the City's IMS project. First, Autodesk Consulting will integrate the City's current Autodesk Geospatial systems -- which include AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D, Autodesk Design Review and Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise software products - with the Hansen 8 infrastructure management system running on an Oracle Spatial database. Hansen will then implement and configure the Hansen 8 system and assist Autodesk Consulting with integration. Finally, Ideaca will implement a middleware solution to connect the Hansen software with Vancouver's existing SAP Financials, HR and project systems, to support the City's financial reporting and asset management requirements.

"The integration of Autodesk's Geospatial technology with the Hansen 8, Oracle and SAP systems provides a compelling model for North American municipalities looking to streamline internal business processes," said Lisa Campbell, vice president of Autodesk Geospatial. "Autodesk has designed its geospatial software to be interoperable with multiple file types and formats to encourage organizations to realize the benefits of integrated enterprise systems."

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

CONTACT: Toni Cole, +1-503-471-6841, or toni.cole@edelman.com, for Autodesk, Inc.

Web site: www.autodesk.com/

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