Operational and Planning System

Enhancing asset management and customer service levels through business intelligence.

Challenge

Faced with the challenge of future changes in water availability during tenuous operating circumstances – such as water shortages or spiked increases in demand during heat waves at the height of the irrigation season, Murrumbidgee Irrigation had to understand and preserve the hydraulic and water quality integrity of their distribution networks. In order to provide the best possible service to irrigators in the MIA and to prepare for future changes to water availability and irrigation requirements, MI sought to modernise its water data management system.

ADASA’s Solution

ADASA approach was to design and build the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Operation and Planning System (MIOPS) to respond to the needs of a complex delivery system driven by customer demand. MIOPS is both an Operational and Forecasting System, integrating real-time and forecasting information and using forecasting models to provide current and predictive views of business operations and planning.

MIOPS improved decision making by providing quick and easy access to information from various sources and gaining better knowledge of the scheme using virtual real-time and forecast information from simulation models. At the same time, enhanced data quality and consistency improved customer service by providing tools to assess water trading requests and assist equitable water order scheduling to meet customer expectations and compliance with company water policies.

Result

ADASA decision support system has improved the day-to-day system operation efficiency of Murrumbidge Irrigation, addressed short to medium term water and asset planning, and assessed requests for water trading. Consequently, it has helped Murrumbidgee Irrigation to become a lean, high-performing organisation by getting the right information of the right quality, providing historical, current and predictive views of business operations and planning. The improved data management and business intelligence has provided greater support to all business functions.

Client

Murrumbidgee Irrigation Ltd. is one of the largest private irrigation companies in Australia serving over 3,200 landholdings owned by over 2,500 customers. The irrigation water and drainage services they provide have helped create a diverse and highly productive agricultural region known as the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA). The MIA, which forms part of the Murrray-Darling Basin, covers an area of 660,000 hectares, of which an average of 170,000 hectares is irrigated