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KEYNOTE: Company-X co-founder and director Jeremy Hughes, left, is a keynote speaker at the Roading Infrastructure Management Support (RIMS) Forum. Hughes is pictured with business partner David Hallett.

Software specialist Jeremy Hughes shares tips and tricks.

Company-X and the Road Efficiency Group (REG) collaborated on the closing keynote at the Roading Infrastructure Management Support (RIMS) Forum.

In the July 29 keynote, entitled People First – Higher Competency Leads to Lower Carbon, REG sector excellence workgroup chair Roger Brady and Company-X co-founder and director Jeremy Hughes will share how the Asset Management Competency Framework (AMCF) could help the transport sector contribute to the Government’s carbon neutrality goal.

The New Zealand transport sector needed to ensure it had the right teams of appropriately skilled and experienced people to plan for and deliver great service under extraordinary pressures. An objective scorecard was needed that could be applied to teams working in diverse organisations across the sector, from city and district councils to Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and contractors. Developing an approach that worked sector-wide was important because of its public mandate to manage activities and assets appropriately. Organisations also have legal obligations associated with their stewardship approach.

The competency framework helps individuals and organisations within the transport sector to measure their capability and make smart decisions regarding staff skills and workforce development. The AMCF allows organisations to measure levels then identify appropriate competencies for various aspects of asset management. It is built on best practice and aligns with the ISO 55000 asset management standard. This assessment tool has been set up in an asset agnostic manner so it will be able to be used across other asset types too. REG partnered with Company-X to build the AMCF survey and report portal to help transport sector professionals begin a personal development journey.

The AMCF survey and report portal covers capabilities needed to govern, procure, and deliver effective management of transport assets.

Transport sector professionals who log in to the AMCF survey and report portal are invited to assess their competency in the areas of organisational strategy, culture, leadership, and people; knowledge management; asset management strategy; planning and decision making; delivery; performance management and continuous improvement.

The project looks to understand the wider capabilities needed to make sound investment decisions for transport activities across Aotearoa New Zealand. Data collected from the AMCF survey and report portal will be used in individual, organisational and sector development, as well as recruitment.

Hughes said there were three key learnings for an audience considering embarking on a software project.

“Regular software releases allow for targeted feedback from people and a more refined product,” Hughes said.

“The iterative approach allows people using the system to engage with core features before more are added. It’s a journey.

“No software perfectly survives engagement with people using it. The user helps perfect the end product.”

“As a sector we must ensure we have the right teams of appropriately skilled and experienced people to plan for and deliver great service to our communities,” said REG programme manager Andrew McKillop.

Company-X senior software architect Luke McGregor will also speak at the conference on how rapid prototyping solved a road-testing problem.

McGregor did some rapid prototyping and explored the ways that the data could be visualised.

Company-X gave CityEdge Alliance its first prototypes to look at in less than a week and the solution was iterated from there.

CityEdge came to Company-X with a hosted system in mind, but instead, Company-X designed and developed a web browser-based application that did not store data on a server. This solved the problem with reduced build time and cost.

The final solution was ready for use three months after work began and used daily by about 50 CityEdge Alliance users.