Find out how the state-owned company automated its information management and cut costs with AvePoint.
Success Highlights
Established a records disposal system that will help reduce storage utilizaton
Prevented further storage issues and improved compliance through automatic record classification and retention rules
Empowered employees to find records with less cluttered search results
Customer Location Tasmania, Australia
Industry Public Sector
Platform Microsoft 365
Tasmanian Irrigation is a state-owned company that owns, operates, designs, and develops irrigation schemes to deliver high-surety irrigation water to Tasmanian landowners. The company plays a critical role in assisting the Tasmanian Government to achieve its target of increasing the farmgate value of the State’s agricultural sector to $10 billion a year by 2050.
By 2030, Tasmanian Irrigation expects to manage a portfolio of irrigation infrastructure with a replacement value of more than $900 million, capable of delivering 236,000 megaliters of water via 1,786km of pipeline, 49 pump stations, 22 dams and three power stations.
Critical Needs
- Automated information management solution that works without staff intervention
- Cost-effective solution that helps reduce information sprawl and storage costs
- Seamless integration with SharePoint and Microsoft 365
- Compliance with state and federal regulations
The Challenge
Tasmanian Irrigation performed records management manually using SharePoint. Identifying duplicates and accessing the latest documents was difficult, which led to staff creating new documents and further duplicate documents when existing versions could not be found.
Additionally, many of the records were set to infinite retention to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations, preventing deletion. This compounded the challenge with the company continuing to collect data, ultimately expanding their storage and leading to increased storage fees.
It was clear that the AvePoint team had a significant amount of experience working with other similar organizations. We received real value from the insights and best practices they shared throughout the project.
Chief Financial Officer, Tasmanian Irrigation
The AvePoint Solution
To improve the situation, Tasmanian Irrigation turned to AvePoint for an automated information management approach.
Seeking guidance from other organizations with similar challenges, Devonport Council—an AvePoint records management customer—recommended AvePoint Opus as a well-known, respected product at a sensible price.
Not only did AvePoint Opus check the boxes for all the information management functionalities Tasmanian Irrigation was looking for, but AvePoint also offered the solution at the right price.
Tasmanian Irrigation already has a business classification scheme to categorize their records per function, so it was easy for them to use AvePoint Opus’s template to sync with their workflows. From there, the process was simply seamless.
Byron Fraser, Tas Irrigation’s Chief Financial Officer, says, “It was clear that the AvePoint team had a significant amount of experience working with other similar organizations. We received real value from the insights and best practices they shared throughout the project.”
Now, the company’s files are automatically classified upon upload to SharePoint, applying the proper retention rules. This ensures records remain compliant and are easily searchable and accessible not only when users need to find them to do their job but also when the organization needs to go through an audit.
AvePoint Opus further helped Tasmanian Irrigation reduce SharePoint storage by systematically disposing of duplicates and outdated records per the classification scheme. Down the line, Tasmanian Irrigation sees this process ultimately reducing their storage utilization and costs.
Furthermore, with AvePoint Opus’ archiving capability, the company has peace of mind knowing that their archived data is accessible only a few clicks away without consuming high-cost SharePoint storage. This is a huge comfort to users who are anxious about deleting data.
Overall, Tasmanian Irrigation has been satisfied with how AvePoint provided solutions to their data issues, finally taming data sprawl for good.
The Road Ahead
AvePoint Opus brought order to Tasmanian Irrigation’s information environment. Automated classifications and dispositions will help the organization locate records faster, improve compliance, and cut storage costs substantially over time.
Next, Tasmanian Irrigation will continue their work on improving their SharePoint environment by enhancing their access and permissions. The organization has plans to test AvePoint Policies and AvePoint Insights to manage external links and reset permissions. With cybersecurity as a hugely topical theme in information management, adopting Policies and Insights allows the organization to leverage proactive capabilities to mitigate privacy issues.
Interested to learn more about AvePoint Opus? Start your free trial.
Begin implementing your record management strategy with our free guide: How to Develop a Relevant and Effective Information Governance Strategy.
