Case Studies > Australian Rail Track Corporation Uses Cireson to Create a State of the Art Reporting and Tracking System

Australian Rail Track Corporation Uses Cireson to Create a State of the Art Reporting and Tracking System

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

Pacific

Country

Australia

Product

Cireson Business Management Solution
Cireson View Builder
Cireson Dashboards
System Center Service Manager

Tech Stack

Microsoft SharePoint

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Customer Satisfaction
Digital Expertise

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization

Applicable Industries

Transportation

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Remote Asset Management
Predictive Maintenance
Process Control & Optimization

Services

System Integration
Training

About The Customer

The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is a government-owned organization that operates and manages the railroad infrastructure in Australia. Established in 1998, ARTC provides access to the railroad network for freight and passenger train operators. ARTC’s IT department offers support to about 1,500 users in 50 locations. The 106 IT employees also manage about 3,500 user devices. The organization plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth operation of Australia's rail network, which is vital for both freight and passenger services. ARTC's IT department is responsible for maintaining and improving the technological infrastructure that supports these operations, making their role critical to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the rail network.

The Challenge

Before ARTC implemented System Center Service Manager, the IT department used a home-grown help desk product to support their users. The simple solution didn’t provide many automation features, and lacked an effective way to track user requests. In addition, it couldn’t be fully integrated with Microsoft SharePoint, used extensively by the IT department. The deployment of Service Manager was brought on to resolve the issues of the original help desk solution, and provide a wealth of other benefits such as extensive automation features, speeding up resolution of incidents, connection of all important backend systems, easy integrations with SharePoint, intelligent tracking of user requests, and the ability to mine data to understand IT trends and patterns. Furthermore, Service Manager did not require a large financial investment, making it a highly attractive replacement for the outdated help desk solution. To enhance Service Manager’s capabilities, the IT department looked at two add-on solutions – one from Cireson, and another one from Provance. The solutions from Cireson offered the exact fix to ARTC’s concerns, prompting the IT department to go with Cireson.

The Solution

The deployment of Cireson’s Business Management Solution was quick and easy and straightforward and the ease of working with Cireson solutions was a welcome enhancement overall. ARTC didn’t need to hire an outside consultant to deploy Cireson, all the work was completed in-house. After Cireson was deployed, it took the IT department only half a day to train the employees on how to use the Platform. Once the basics were explained, the employees were able to immediately start working with the solutions running on top of Service Manager. The Analyst Portal enables ARTC’s IT employees to access their dashboards and complete daily tasks from any browser, device, or operating system. They are no longer limited to only working from their workstations. Now, customer requests can be resolved even when the employees are away from the office, enabling the users to get help as soon as possible. For ARTC, one of the problems with the original deployment of Service Manager was its lack of solid reporting features. Cireson Dashboards was the answer to the problem, which track key performance indicators for the entire IT team, and presents the results in an easy-to-read, graphic form. “We can see exactly what our guys are doing at all times,” said Brad Lacey. “It allows us to leverage our staff members, and resolve problems faster.” The ARTC team continues to evaluate and deploy more apps from Cireson as needed. They are planning to implement the Asset Management and Self-Service solutions in the next few months to reap even more benefits from automating essential daily tasks.

Operational Impact

The deployment of Cireson’s Business Management Solution was completed in-house without the need for external consultants, showcasing the ease of implementation.
The IT department required only half a day to train employees on the new platform, allowing for a swift transition and immediate use of the new system.
The Analyst Portal provided flexibility for IT employees to access dashboards and complete tasks from any browser, device, or operating system, enhancing remote work capabilities.
Cireson Dashboards offered robust reporting features, enabling the IT team to track key performance indicators and present results in an easy-to-read, graphic form.
The ARTC team plans to implement additional Cireson apps, such as Asset Management and Self-Service solutions, to further automate and enhance daily tasks.

Quantitative Benefit