The Eastern Busway is one of New Zealand’s largest transport projects, aiming to transform the way locals and visitors travel in and around the region for generations. With an estimated total cost of $1.3 billion, the project consists of four stages and the final three of them are being constructed by the Eastern Busway Alliance of Auckland Transport, Fletcher, ACCIONA, AECOM and Jacobs.
Implementation of Aphex
The stretch from Pakūranga to Botany includes the final three stages of the project. The alliance transitioned to Aphex to help with their short-mid range planning. They were keen to improve the project’s planning efficiency without compromising their current planning routine and cadence.
“We wanted Aphex to act as the one source of truth for the entire project”
Lachlan Whitelaw, Zone Manager
Successful rollout
The rollout of the Aphex programme to 80 alliance team members was completed in just over two weeks. It has helped to establish one source of truth for a range of staff across disciplines in the delivery team.
“We were originally going to do a slow rollout across the project. When people began asking how they could be a part of it, we extended the rollout to include everyone at the same time”
Lachlan Whitelaw, Zone Manager
The Onboarding Process
Setup call
The first step in the onboarding process was the setup call of an hour to understand the unique requirements and dynamics of the Eastern Busway project and to tailor their Aphex setup to suit. During the setup call Alex mentioned that the zones he and Lachie are responsible for "act as two mini projects, running almost independent of each other and interfacing on pavement, traffic and material supply” - Alex Taefu, zone manager.
The setup call resulted in a configuration that enables engineers in different zones to plan independently and collaborate where works interface.
Every member of the project works in one environment such as Gantt, Map or whiteboard. That enables Alex and Lachie to visualise overall progress and understand how different zones affect each other. ArcGIS & Propeller map integrations have been implemented to provide real-world updates and spatial analysis.
As there would be more than 50 engineers involved in the scoping process, Alex and Lachie implemented the “Teams” Selector to help filter the plan to focus on work that matters most to them.
Training Sessions
With setup complete, training sessions took place for the wider team. The one hour call ensured the team would be comfortable with how to use the tool. Alex, Lachie and Aphex’s Customer Success Manager (CSM) provided practical examples of how it would fit into the team’s daily planning routine.
The learning process was supported by the 24/7 chat function within Aphex, and implementation questions were answered in interactive virtual drop-in sessions.
Summary
Two months on from the initial setup phase, Aphex is now integrated into daily operations of the Eastern Busway Alliance. Weekly last planner meetings are held using the virtual whiteboard, site teams automatically receive a copy of the plan every Thursday at 5pm, and the customer and community team relay information to the community ahead of work tasks starting.
The Eastern Busway Alliance is an inspiring example for other large scale infrastructure projects. Through enthusiastic leadership, strategic planning and effective communication, new tools can be easily implemented to help improve project success and better community outcomes.
