Alinea Case Study

Background

UniPhi is an Australian established software service that has been in the industry for the last 20 years. This software as a service or SaaS, has had integrated, sharing capabilities, well before “Cloud-based” and “app” platforms were possible. Trust and changing the hearts and minds of the adopters is the challenge. Those who become our clients are visionary, forward thinking early adopters of evolving software like UniPhi that aligns with their own forward strategy to achieve great things within their sector. The following case study endorsed by our valued client Alinea Consulting based in the UK, demonstrates this to coin a phrase; in spades.

Almost 3 years ago an already existing client demonstrated UniPhi to an Alinea Consultant, whilst they were on location at a UK construction site; from there, the referral to an Alinea Partner was made. Our grateful Client and advocate of the time uses UniPhi for a number of project and practice management requirements; however it was the benchmark reporting, dashboards, charts and cost management capabilities that caught the Alinea Consutant’s eye.

About Alinea

Alinea Consulting Founded in 2012, they became well known and forward thinking in project, costs and accurate benchmarking through practice management and cost consulting. A pivotal article posted by Alinea Consulting 24 May 2016 was on BIM: Cost vs Benefits, found on Building.co.uk quotes

“There is very little, if any, useful published data on true cost of building information modelling (BIM) on a construction project, covering all the relevant costs and comparing them to the monetised benefits”. It continues further.....

“The likelihood of these gains being realised will no doubt increase in the future, as teams continue to navigate their way through the teething pains of a new technology and a new way of working”

With this still in mind in 2020; when they saw what UniPhi could do, they knew it was a good match.

The Solution

Alinea required data capabilities to allow quick and efficient benchmarking, for accurate and real-time information and reporting. UniPhi aligned with these objectives. The initial deployment was to integrate CostX and already existing Power BI reports.

UniPhi were ready to support the Alinea Partners who were at the time transitioning 3 systems across HR, Finance and Data. We were patient and supportive. For UniPhi this was an easy integration as we had been integrating various software platforms with UniPhi long before “Cloud-Based” and “App” sharing capabilities were available.

As the data program and integrated CostX development was the last system to roll out, we were ready and reassuring. Communicating regularly with assurance on the security of the data, sharing our 2021 emerging AI Tech, that was presented earlier that year at a Glimpse of the Future Event; and regularly updating their roll out team on the latest features UniPhi had to offer. This demonstrated that, once deployed, UniPhi can be upgraded or have new features added at anytime along the way.

UniPhi is a long term plan, evolving and multifaceted software platform for project and portfolio management in any sector.

The Outcome

The initial deployment for real-time Data Management and Benchmarking integrated with CostX and their existing Power BI Dashboards has been successfully operating since final implementation in early 2021. One of the many benefits being realised, in the range of 30-50% time reduced to update data and prepare reports.

Today with key contacts Cameron Baylis and Luke Braggins, UniPhi have added very cool new feature benefits to support them. Some of these features are, Power BI reporting improvements, copy parent custom fields to children projects and publish project photos to a public space. Many of these new features now included in UniPhi 19 version.

In February 2023, Alinea Consulting Partnered with Turner & Townsend, in their Press Release dd 6 February 2023, it states:

‘Turner & Townsend and Alinea have a shared ambition to transform performance in the construction sector through data-led digital cost consultancy, working with some of the biggest and best clients to deliver the most complex projects in London and beyond.’

UniPhi are proud to be included and look forward to further developing our software to support that objective.

The following testimonial shows the importance of, real-time data access when on site handling multiple enquiries across many members of a construction site project. This testimonial shared last week 17-21 July 2023 is from Cameron Baylis, Alinea Partner and advocate of UniPhi.

“I was out on site the other day walking over the building with an architect and he asked me ‘there was another architect on this job, who was that do you know?’. So I loaded up UniPhi on my phone while my colleague who isn’t a believer yet rang the office to ask the director who worked on the job. By the time the call finished, I’d not only advised who the architect was but also the cost of the project, duration for each phase and a host of other questions.”

UniPhi and it’s benefits doesn’t get more real than that! We look forward to our continued journey with Alinea Consulting, Cameron Baylis and the Alinea team.