Enterprise management solution to help district support $1.4B capital program
MENLO PARK, CA, Sept. 28, 2010 -- Skire Inc. (www.skire.com), the leading provider of capital program, facilities, real estate and project portfolio management software today announced that its Unifier™ solution has been selected by Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) as its Enterprise Project Management System (EPMS). HRSD provides wastewater treatment services to 17 cities and counties in southeast Virginia, an area with a population of 1.6 million. HRSD owns and operates 13 wastewater treatment plants with a combined capacity of 249 million gallons per day.
Increasing environmental regulations, as well as aging infrastructure, has resulted in a steady increase of capital projects undertaken by HRSD. The current 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) consists of 169 projects with a cumulative cost of $1.4 billion. HRSD recognized the need to implement full capital life cycle best practices to ensure visibility and transparency into its management and execution of the entire program. By leveraging technology and automated business processes, HRSD enhances its ability to manage such a large volume of projects, contain costs, control schedules and manage risk, while ensuring customer expectations are met.
After a comprehensive competitive procurement process, Skire's Unifier platform was selected due to its complete life cycle approach that puts automated workflow at the heart of their system. Moreover, Skire's ability to be easily configured to match HRSD policies and procedures was a key factor in the decision. Unifier will track financial data, schedule information and documentation from inception to completion.
Historically, project information was entered in multiple systems and spreadsheets, causing managers to spend hours searching for information and limiting visibility into the current status. With Unifier, project information will be captured in a centralized repository, saving time and increasing accuracy. The centralized repository will also support the HRSD capital planning process. Additionally, Unifier is hosted by Skire and delivered in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, saving HRSD the cost of setting up and maintaining the application in-house.
"Our CIP contains projects from all departments, and is a multi-departmental effort to get these projects completed," said Jay Bernas, chief of planning and analysis, HRSD. "Implementing Unifier will streamline our project delivery, avoid redundancies and ensure consistency across the organization."
The Unifier platform automates standard processes across design, bid, construction and completion, allowing HRSD to get up and running quickly. The solution also provides the flexibility to automate configured processes specific to HRSD. With Unifier, forms are configured for easy data entry, and information is presented in an easy to use, intuitive interface.
"Skire is proud to announce the addition of HRSD to the list of numerous public agencies that have selected Skire's software for capital construction project and program management," said Trenton Brown, executive vice president of Skire. "By implementing a capital project management system delivered via the cloud that can extend across the lifecycle, agencies can not only begin to track and report on current projects, but with all of their data in one system, they can begin to leverage it for better future planning, allowing them to maximize the benefit of available funding."
About Skire
Skire Inc. is the leading provider of capital program, facilities, real estate and project portfolio management software. The company's flagship Unifier™ platform leverages the company's deep industry experience, giving customers unprecedented visibility and control over major programs and projects. Skire's solutions are used by global Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and educational institutions for managing billions of dollars in capital programs, real estate and IT portfolios. The company is privately held and headquartered in Menlo Park, California. For more information, visit http://www.skire.com.
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