We built Contact Energy’s Dam Assurance Monitoring System
YouDo championed Agile to replace the 30-year-old legacy system maintaining New Zealand’s largest concrete gravity dam. Here’s what happened.
Contact Energy owns and operates New Zealand’s largest concrete gravity dam – the Clyde Dam.
To ensure that the surrounding hillside is stable, and prevent devastating landslides such as the 1963 Vajont Dam disaster in Italy, the Clyde Dam and surrounding area is monitored by 3,200 data points.
These data points measure potential landslides, both automatically and manually from the Dam Safety Team, and are consolidated by the Dam Assurance Monitoring System (DAMS).
The system manages instrument reading schedules and ingests and transforms readings.
It also triggers alarms when certain thresholds are exceeded, and produces detailed plots to allow the detection and analysis of any movement in the surrounding hillside.
The existing system had been operating for over thirty years.
“It’s amazing that it was still working because it was really antiquated – a little grey box, numbers like a menu, with no mouse, you just press the keys.”
Dunstan Brook-Miller
Dam Safety Technician, Contact Energy
Although it worked well, the Dam Safety Team were ready to upgrade and future-proof the existing Landslide Management System (LMS) using modern and well-supported technologies.
YouDo met with Contact Energy and quickly got familiar with the LMS – how it works, what was missing, and what an upgraded solution could offer
Our knowledge of digital architecture, combined with our expertise in the energy sector, help us to quickly ascertain what’s going on when we meet a client for the first time.
After spending six months gathering data and working out requirements for the new system, Contact Energy’s Senior Business Analyst, Gregor Anderson, presented the LMS project to YouDo.
“After just half an hour, the YouDo team were asking such specific questions that showed they understood what we needed at a deep level. I was so impressed, and we immediately felt a lot of confidence in them.”
Gregor Anderson
Senior Business Analyst, Contact Energy
Contact Energy had the option to buy a license to use another system. Contact Energy chose the many advantages of engaging YouDo to build a bespoke platform. This meant Contact Energy would retain its analysis and reporting expertise.
Once selected, we spent four weeks crafting a deep-dive of the project for Contact Energy.
By embarking on a bespoke build with a new software partner, Contact Energy was entering new territory
It was essential to provide our client with the clarity and accuracy they needed to have confidence in our team and our methodology for such a massive project.
Our deep-dive involved:
- A clear sprint-by-sprint roadmap of the project
- An accurate quote
- An estimated time to completion
“YouDo took us on a deep-dive into the new system, how it would work, and the heavy backend calculations. Looking back, we’re blown away because their project quote and time estimation were exactly spot on.”
Gregor Anderson
Senior Business Analyst, Contact Energy
It was “cruisey” project management for all involved
That’s how Gregor Anderson describes the project and his first experience with YouDo. And that’s how it should be.
Over eight clearly defined sprints, YouDo worked closely with Contact Energy’s ICT team and Dam Safety to build a system that:
- Captured the team’s institutional knowledge
- Integrated in-house and external systems, and
- Met the exact needs of the business – now and in the future.
This was the best example Gregor and his team had seen the Agile methodology in action. By the second sprint, they already had enough infrastructure to start testing the new software.
“It was a golden example of what Agile can do. Throughout the project, we would have more ideas and requirements for the system. YouDo met and adapted to these requirements effortlessly – they even brought the creativity to develop our ideas further.”
Joe Wheeler
Engineer – Civil & Dam Safety, Contact Energy
The result: a state-of-the-art system that enhances dam safety
From March 1st, Contact Energy began using DAMS. After a month of working in parallel to ensure a smooth transition, the old system was finally put out to pasture on 31st March.
DAMS brings a whole new world of capability to the Clyde Dam team, as a well-defined set of features meets modern technologies, such as enhanced trending and plotting data.
A highlight for the team was the geographic display – so they could see and interact with monitoring points directly on the map.
Built on a highly secure and robust open source technology, the new system provides Contact Energy with the confidence and peace of mind that the platform is built to last.
YouDo not only matched the solution requirements but brought the creativity to push the envelope.
It was an easy collaboration between the two teams. By using Agile methodologies and co-working tools such as Microsoft Teams, everyone could ‘just get on with it’.
For the Dam Safety Team, the new system kickstarts an exciting future for the Clyde, Hawea and Roxburgh Dams – and the potential for more innovative projects with YouDo.
“Not once did YouDo overpromise and underdeliver. I cannot praise YouDo enough for what they’ve done and how they did it. I look forward to working with them on future IT projects.”
Gregor Anderson
Senior Business Analyst, Contact Energy
This project with Contact Energy has showcased what we’re capable of and what businesses can achieve with bespoke solutions.
For many organisations, dated systems have become so ingrained in everyday processes that they fear what could be lost or put at risk by going ‘out with the old’.
By taking the plunge and replacing legacy systems with advanced digital architecture, organisations can capture valuable institutional knowledge and carve out a competitive advantage.
But, to succeed with such a project, businesses need a software partner with proven expertise.
On top of software ingenuity, YouDo brings a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities in the Energy and FinTech industries. We have a sharp methodology and an unmatched ability to follow through on what we promise clients to the letter, number, and minute.
