New trend: more and more ICT applied within hydraulic engineering

In the coming decades there are extensive tasks for hydraulic engineering. The hydraulic engineering tasks must be realized within strict limiting conditions around time and budget and with ambitious social objectives for circularity, sustainability and energy transition. Clients such as the water boards and the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management are increasingly working with more complex, integrated contract forms. ICT is an integral part of hydraulic engineering projects.

Marcel van Noord, Sales Manager GWW/Infra at 4PS acknowledges that these contracts increasingly place project risks on the contractor. "Many companies see it as a major challenge to deal with this responsibility. The use of ICT can help manage potential risks in the challenges posed by hydraulic engineering tasks.  As a software provider for the construction industry, 4PS helps companies make a digitalization push, but we want to keep simplicity above all."

Marcel van Noord, sales manager at 4PS. (Image: Linda van Spijk)

Industry Focus

For over 19 years, 4PS has been developing standard ERP solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. For the infrastructure sector, all primary processes are supported within one integrated solution. From acquisition to invoicing and everything in between, such as calculation, work preparation, purchasing, projects, financial administration, material management and planning. To this standard Microsoft technology, add-ons specifically for the Construction and Installation Market and GWW Infra are added. "Because we are close to the customer from our specialized business units, we can respond quickly to innovative themes within the industry. In this, we have a head start in speed to market demand and are always up to date. In this way, we enrich the software and modifications become available to everyone," says Van Noord. "We work with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, currently the most innovative platform in the industry." We work from the innovation power of Microsoft. Innovation is hugely important within 4PS. This is also ongoing, such as the strategy of moving data to the cloud. This is fully facilitated by Microsoft so we are leading the way in this area as well."

Integrated contracts module

"As one of the modules within the total solution, we recently realized a module that helps the contractor to manage integrated contract forms well. In large, high-risk projects, good insight into the state of the project but also the prognosis toward the end of work is a must." Van Noord explains that within the module you can assign phases to elements in 4PS. "Thus, the module provides insight into the working budget per phase, and the historical course of the working budget based on phasing is also visible per element. In this way, the dynamic nature of a working budget in integrated contracts is facilitated in 4PS."

General manager Erik Stuut and application manager Jorrit de Jager of Heuvelman Ibis.(Image: Paulien Varkevisser)

Chain Integration

"We also deal a lot with topics such as BIM, IoT and Chain Integration," Van Noord continued. "It is very important to have access to this data anytime, anywhere. Business Intelligence offers contractors insight, both in list forms and graphically. PowerBI from Microsoft is a BI tool that can easily visualize data from the ERP system. This allows quick decisions to be made based on current data." 4PS provides more and more portals and apps to also give people at the source of the work (such as on the construction site) access to the most up-to-date information. So that they can view or add information in an accessible and user-friendly way.

Comprehensive automation collaboration.

"We notice that technology is becoming more accessible and the need to collaborate better is increasing within the industry. So then you will also have to collaborate integrally on automation," Van Noord believes. 4PS Control is an example of this. This is a portal where the client adds or consults information, but contractors and subcontractors also have insight into all the information.

This is also confirmed by general manager Erik Stuut and application manager Jorrit de Jager of Heuvelman Ibis, an international hydraulic engineering company, where automation plays a major role in the professionalization drive the company is now undergoing. "Heuvelman Ibis' goal with the deployment of 4PS Construct is to create a 24/7 dashboard that allows the management to see exactly how the company is doing. In addition, we want to continue to do great work, enjoy working with clients and partners and achieve good margins by minimizing failure costs and working as efficiently as possible. Automation is indispensable for that." They find it noticeable that 4PS never stands still: "They are always working on new developments."