Thiess is a construction, mining and services contractor with diverse operations and services, including mining, civil, building, rail, services and tunnelling, throughout Australia and selected international markets.
To facilitate greater business agility, provide better services to internal users and expedite time to delivery, Thiess engaged Intelligent Pathways to enable SOA-based systems integration and automate business process capabilities.
Thiess wanted to enhance their centralised Oracle ERP-based IT environment to facilitate greater business agility, provide better services to internal users and expedite time to delivery. Thiess engaged Intelligent Pathways to enable SOA-based systems integration and automate business process capabilities. Intelligent Pathways has subsequently worked with Thiess on a number of successful integration projects.
Thiess wanted to implement SaaS Human Capital Management (HCM) solution
Workday to streamline their human resources (HR) and recruitment processes and to provide a single source of truth for HCM across their business. Previously, different departments had used a combination of payroll systems and manual procedures to complete HR processes that were not fit for purpose and inefficient.
Thiess engaged Intelligent Pathways to provide end-to-end solution architecture, design and delivery of Workday into their technology environment which included integration of two payroll systems, one recruitment system and a self-service employee portal.
We built integration components that sit close to the Workday application on the cloud-based Workday middleware platform. We also built non-Workday integration components on Thiess’ existing Oracle SOA platform to maximise re-use and minimise external support and maintenance costs.
As a result, Thiess have seen a significant increase in visibility over their HR processes which provides better insight for decision making and forward planning. The automation of recruitment and employee lifecycle processes is also reducing cost and facilitating the standardisation of employee management across multiple departments and locations.
To reduce costs and improve efficiency, Thiess wanted to replace their e-Procurement system. Intelligent Pathways took a phased approach to the problem. First we replaced their existing procurement system with an application specifically designed for document processing. This gave the immediate benefit of moving Thiess to a standard platform thereby reducing costs from software licensing and hardware maintenance as well giving them total visibility over the flow of their documents.
We then used a SOA based approach to integrate their JD Edwards (JDE) ERP system with the eProcurement marketplace in real time. This allowed Thiess to drive users to ordering from preferred suppliers who have the best pricing.
A core component of Thiess’ Accounts Payable function is to receive and manage the step-by-step processing of multiple document types (images), such as invoices and supplier setup requests. Thiess utilise an IPM (image processing management) solution to automate various parts of the process. Intelligent Pathways was engaged by Thiess to provide advice and guidance for upgrading their existing IPM and to define the solution architecture. The key elements of the project included:
Thiess was working on a construction and infrastructure services project with a partner company. In order to provide better services to their joint client, automation and systems integration of their CRM systems was required. Intelligent Pathways provided the following services for this project:
The Thiess SOA platform was refreshed with a new set of hardware and software. The refresh enabled Thiess to enhance their SOA platform capabilities across a larger set of systems and applications. Intelligent Pathways provided end-to-end systems integration services that spanned across analysis, design, build, test and deployment phases of the project. Key project highlights included:
Usage of the SOA Middleware system had expanded across internal & external Thiess systems. Thiess required a standardised and robust security architecture to be implemented to avoid any risks associated with SOA security vulnerabilities. The requirements of the SOA Security Architecture that Intelligent Pathways delivered on included the following:
SOA-based integration has streamlined Thiess’ IT environment and given them the flexibility to integrate with many different systems, including that of external partners. Moreover, it allows their IT team to deliver on business requirements more rapidly thereby improving services for internal users.
SOA-based integration also reduced the need for customisation on Thiess’ ERP system, resulting in lower maintenance and better return on investment.
Oracle SOA Suite 11g, Oracle JDE ERP, Weblogic Server 11g, Java Technologies
