Macquarie University Case Study

Overview

Macquarie University is one of Australia’s top ranked higher education institutions, home to over 45,000 students, faculty, and staff engaged in teaching and research across a wide range of disciplines. The Macquarie University Property team plays a crucial role in supporting these activities, managing over 100 buildings across a 126-hectare main campus and multiple satellite sites throughout Sydney. The Property team delivers an extensive annual capital works program to support the university’s evolving property needs and ensure its facilities remain fit for purpose. Macquarie University partnered with Case Meallin, one of Australia’s largest independently owned project and development consultancy firms, to optimise project governance and processes for its capital works portfolio. To support this transformation, UniPhi—an award-winning, cloud-based project and portfolio management system—was implemented as the core platform for project controls. By integrating UniPhi software into Macquarie University’s property governance framework, the team improved stakeholder visibility, standardised reporting, and established a more efficient, transparent project control environment.

Challenges

Macquarie University’s capital works portfolio spans minor capital works, infrastructure upgrades, building fit-outs, and major redevelopments, all delivered under the broader Campus Master Plan. Ensuring integrated governance, real-time data access, and efficient collaboration between internal and external teams was critical to project success.

Key challenges included:

• Managing a high volume of projects with varying scale, complexity, and timelines.

• Meeting diverse reporting requirements for multiple stakeholders on varying reporting cycles.

• Ensuring compliance with structured governance and approvals while maintaining efficiency.

• Enhancing coordination and communication across internal and external project teams.

• Integrating cashflow forecasting and pipeline planning at project and portfolio levels.

• Aligning project financial records with existing IT and finance platforms.

“UniPhi improves project collaboration by bringing costs, contracts, schedules, cashflow, risks, and reporting into a single platform. It reduces duplicate data entry while increasing how information is used. With real-time access and analysis across multiple project levels and metrics, teams gain a clearer view of project performance. A centralised source of truth means stakeholders have the tools to plan more effectively and make informed decisions.”

Michael Dutton - Project Manager, Case Meallin

Solutions

UniPhi’s fully integrated project management system enabled Macquarie University to centralise project data, automate governance processes, and enhance collaboration.

Key solutions included:

• Real-Time Project Dashboards – Live, interactive dashboards provided instant visibility into project status, financials, and performance metrics.

• Automated Governance and Approvals – Configurable workflows integrated delegation thresholds and approval processes, ensuring compliance.

• Customisable Project Frameworks – Flexible configuration allowed UniPhi software to align with Macquarie University’s project classifications, methodologies, and reporting structures, ensuring portfolio-wide consistency.

• Collaboration and Data Integration – Cloud-based access facilitated real-time information sharing between internal and external teams, reducing data silos and redundant data entry.

• In-built Cashflow Forecasting Tools – Generated project cashflow forecasts while incorporating updates to project timeframes, budgets, commitments, and expenditure.

• Data Import – Enabled imports from finance systems, variance analysis, and exception reporting

Outcomes and Impact

• Data-Driven Decision-Making – Real-time project insights allowed stakeholders to track status and performance at project, program, and portfolio levels from any device, supporting informed, strategic decision making.

• Integrated Knowledge Management – UniPhi’s methodology library and document workflows embedded standardised processes into the platform, ensuring consistency and compliance.

• Streamlined Project Controls – Automated workflows improved governance and reduced manual data handling by consolidating project controls into a single, auditable system.

• Improved Stakeholder Collaboration – A centralised digital workspace facilitated seamless communication across internal and external teams, enhancing coordination and accountability.

• Project, Program, and Portfolio-Level Cashflow Forecasting and Analysis – Enabled portfolio managers to monitor cashflow and performance against plan, providing actionable insights at all phases of the project lifecycle

The partnership between Macquarie University, Case Meallin, and UniPhi demonstrates how technology and collaboration can transform project and portfolio management. By leveraging UniPhi’s integrated project control capabilities, Macquarie University established a scalable, best practice approach to capital works governance. This implementation highlights UniPhi’s ability to enhance transparency, improve efficiency, and support organisations in managing complex project portfolios with confidence.