What started out as a basic Geographical Information System (GIS) map “clean up” project for a leading energy provider in Dallas, mushroomed into a large, coordinated team effort to bring over 500 maps/as-builts and other project work up-to-date. What followed was an even larger initiative to perform pipeline local on & material verification work to prioritize Engineering projects in the field.
Backlog of 500 Projects
With a backlog of over 500 as-built projects, and an average of 130+ new projects coming in every month, the energy provider realized additional resources would be needed to bring the backlog of GIS mapping work up to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) mandate in a timely manner.
“Work that had been sitting idle for years needed to be updated in just five months,” said the provider project manager. This included maps from more than 1,400 communities in eight states from the Blue Ridge to the Rocky Mountains.
Creating a Workspace
The energy provider didn’t have the working space or the resources to get the job done, but MATRIX did. Working with the client’s IT team for system access, MATRIX was able to set up a large team of jointly-managed GIS professionals in its delivery center in Dallas to manage the map correction and completion activity.
“MATRIX made procuring talent for this large effort extremely easy and efficient for us. The candidates they identified and recommended were top-notch and exceeded our expectations.”
- Energy Company Project Manager
MATRIX recruiters quickly sourced about a dozen skilled GIS drafting and design professionals skilled in AutoCAD, MicroStation, ArcGIS Map / ESRI, GE Smallworld GDO to perform the “as-built” map work.
Backlog Be Gone
Team leaders witnessed an immediate impact on the backlog, and the team was expanded to 20 specialists the following week. With productivity high, and the backlog diminishing at a velocity above projections, the team ultimately grew to 35 in that first month. In the first 90 days, the MATRIX team was able to take the initial 500 projects down to roughly 150. The team’s productivity surpassed expectations to a point that the backlog of work was completed well before the deadline.
Success Leads to Expanded GIS Work in Other Areas
Because of the success with the map clean-up project, MATRIX was then asked to build and co-manage an even larger team of GIS professionals to work on additional projects. These projects include a high-visibility, high-priority pipeline location and a material validation initiative. To date, we have validated and documented over 1.4 billion lines and have supplied over 100 resources to successfully validate and document these critical records, reducing a significant backlog of work the client’s team did not have the bandwidth to manage.