A Word From The Boss

Gratitude in Migration: Honouring Our Valued Clients for their Tremendous Support

Welcome to our Winter newsletter for 2023!

In this edition, we are delighted to share RREDD’s Stakeholder Management client success story, excited for the pending release of X-Info Connect\WebConnect Version 7, welcome two new Wantoks, herald recent team promotions, present another X-InFocus tech tip and update of our teams’ activities in connecting people with information.

I cannot believe that it is June already and our digital Transformation Stages continue with the Migration phase of our new Hosting Platform in AWS completed. This has been one of our most significant projects Mipela has undertaken and would like to take this opportunity to thank our Valued Clients for their tremendous support. We now move into the Modernisation phase to leverage the new capabilities for our X-Info Suite assurance solutions with our focus on enhanced security, improved reliability, and increased performance for the Clients we service. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our Client Success or Support Team at any time for further information.

It also gives me great pleasure to congratulate another long term client, ElectraNet, who have also recently completed their on-premise X-Info Suite modernisation project. Another amazing project in positioning their future securely in simplifying their day-to-day activities and technical assurance of their people, processes, and systems in these significant solutions that support their business.

I would like to recognise how excited we are to welcome Alek Hillier to the Mipela Leadership team as of 1 July in her new role as the Support Team Leader, which I know she is really looking forward too and will excel at – having worked closely with all our clients over the last seven years. Jaci Button transitions into her longer-term project management role as our Solutions Project Coordinator after her outstanding work and dedication as the Acting Client Experience Team Leader over the last eleven months. Jaci consistently went above and beyond to ensure our clients receive the best possible service, whilst ensuring that everyone is well-informed and prepared to tackle any challenges that come our way. Jaci should ease into this new role well. Alana O’Connor has been promoted to Solutions Architect, recognising her as our X-Info subject matter expert, internally sharing her knowledge in the day-to-day delivery of our solutions in the Services team, and externally assisting our Client Success team to accelerate the value we offer our new and existing clients due to her industry and process expertise.

It is also a pleasure to introduce our most recent Wantoks, Joel Casey (Solution Specialist) and Adrian Guina (Finance Coordinator).

It also gives me great pleasure to welcome our most recent new clients CS Energy, Qenos, McConnell Dowell BMD JV and Total Eren Australia H2 to the extended Mipela family.

From all the team at Mipela GeoSolutions, stay safe!

Hayden McDonald
Founder and Managing Director

Focus on the complex, the urgent and the sensitive

RREDD’s focus is on the complex, the urgent and the sensitive. Specialising in community engagement, dispute management and Indigenous engagement, Director, Craig Jones has more than thirty years’ experience working with Indigenous communities to progress development.

Many of the projects the RREDD team work on are complex matters and require fastidious record keeping. When looking at a solution to manage the information associated with these projects, Craig turned to Mipela.

X-Info StakeholderManagement is used to manage stakeholder and interaction records across multiple projects for RREDD. These projects vary from pipeline dig-ups, requiring cultural heritage consultation, to specific mediation matters between companies and community or between Indigenous people and groups. Mipela’s cloud solution, X-Info StakeholderManagement ensures Craig and the team always have access to record key interactions with stakeholders. They are also able to visualise important locations with the integrated web mapping. That visualisation can often be really important and Mipela also provides map outputs for Craig and the team to support key discussions.

Craig describes the use of the X-info StakeholderManagement and the mapping system as significant in RREDD’s day to day practice. “The mapping and the stakeholder management system help to provide key data and visualisations that build trust with parties and enable us to keep track of our engagements with groups and individuals. Ultimately, the system builds a picture of our work which contributes to the management of social risk and positive outcomes between parties” said Craig.

Update on our process improvement Kamapim project

Taking leave from the normal business and continuous improvement aspect of Kamapim, in June we were very fortunate to have a Health & Wellbeing (Gutpela Taim) session presented by our own, Mia Slattery.

In true Mipela fashion – Mia opened with a favourite quote:

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”.

– Maya Angelou

It started with a deep dive into Mia’s history including all the places she has lived and travelled too, some funny stories and great photos!

Mia has moved from industry professional and wife, to industry professional, wife and mother of two (all in just a few short years)!

As our Administration Manager, Mia wanted to ensure that we all know how to look after ourselves, make time for ourselves and also look out for and support each other.

Whilst at Mipela we have many programs in place for team support, Mia’s tips for us to take away were simple and effective. I hope they benefit you too!

Making light work of Safety Management Studies

Australia’s largest gas pipeline network owner and operator, APA Group is responsible for more than $21 billion of energy assets across Australia.

Under Australian Standard AS/NZS 2885, APA Group and other gas pipeline asset owners are required to conduct cyclic Safety Management Studies (SMS) for all pipeline assets to ensure Australian pipeline standards and regulatory compliance are periodically maintained. Also it ensures the key stakeholders are fully informed of the processes and the operational risks associated with the assets are well understood and managed.

Since 2018, APA Group have been using Mipela’s X-Info SMS suite to automate this process and continue to utilise X-Info SMS suite to efficiently manage periodic reviews of safety management studies and conduct interactive validation workshops using GIS information and aerial imagery data.

WA based Risk Engineer, Kashif Kazi has conducted SMS workshops for various APA pipeline assets in WA State, namely Leonora Gas Lateral, Parmelia Gas Pipeline, Thunderbox Lateral, Jundee and Wiluna Gold Lateral.

“X-Info SMS suite provides a standardised and efficient approach to conduct the validation workshops and a tool to prepare required SMS inputs, collate data and produce outputs. This not only saving time but providing a consistent methodology for 5-yearly periodic operational SMS reviews for all APA assets. The system generates reports that show the spatial representation of threats, assets, and risks using the current and historic SMS review data for each asset, interactive use of GIS and aerial imagery mapping so staff can quickly reference and assess the status of any generic or location specific threats. This enables SMS workshop participants and key stakeholders to better plan resources, create appropriate actions, as required, manage and minimise the pipeline risk for as low as Reasonably Practicable,” said Kazi.

Looks like Kazi and APA’s other state based Risk Engineers are smashing these SMS studies out of the park!

Safeguarding access and data integrity – the significance of using personal credentials to log onto software

We know you hear this regularly… maintaining the security and integrity of confidential information is crucial for any organisation.

Cyber security is the biggest risk to business in 2023. Sometimes it’s the simplest of things that makes the biggest impact.

At Mipela we place great importance on not sharing individual login credentials, highlighting the need for our clients if we need to trace unauthorised access, manage user departures, and to safeguard third-party or contractor access. Furthermore, it is our responsibility to raise awareness about the risks associated with sharing login details within a business or among contractors.

Individual logins enable Mipela to identify any unauthorised actions or data breaches in an event. This helps in maintaining the integrity of sensitive information and mitigating potential risks associated with our client’s data.

In many instances, businesses collaborate with third-party vendors or contractors who require access to internal systems. By mandating individual login credentials, Clients can exercise tighter control over external access. This allows for granular management, such as assigning specific privileges, and terminating access when the collaboration concludes. It reduces the risk of unauthorised access or inadvertent exposure of sensitive or personal information.

By implementing and reinforcing these best practices, Clients can fortify their data protection efforts and ensure a safer digital environment for their operations and their stakeholders.

To update your authorised users, remove previous team members access or request new user access please email us at support@mipela.com.au