ERP firm M-Files and GIS specialist Esri Finland have joined forces to build an information management system for the Finnish city of Vantaa that will help the municipality offer better land use, town planning, construction supervision and municipal services.
The system comprises mapping and geographic data, process-based enterprise resource planning (ERP), and case and document management to help reduce the number if independent systems running concurrently, saving time and money.
“In our vision for the future, residents, companies, interest groups and the city authorities come together to create information and develop the city and its services via a virtual city model," City of Vantaa deputy mayor, Hannu Penttilä, said. "To realise this vision, we need a comprehensive solution that serves not only the citizens, but also different interest groups and the personnel of the city."
Because geographic and mapping data is integrated into the system, documents and other data about the area can be overlaid on maps to present information in a visual way. It means staff don't have to separately reference the two data sets and will reduce operating costs too.
“Processing of information will be more efficient across the organisation thanks to the comprehensive process management system, which eliminates unnecessary manual processes and makes all the up-to-date information readily available to the experts," Henry Westlin, chair of the project steering group and engineer from the city of Vantaa, added. "Dynamic information management has the potential to increase efficiency by as much as a third."
M-Files and Esri Finland also integrated project management into the solution, with a mobile app available to help people use the system remotely.
“We are delighted to have this chance to help the city of Vantaa realise its vision by offering modern tools for making Vantaa a digital and interactive city of the future," Janne Honkonen, CEO of Esri Finland, said. "Our solution is based on the ArcGIS platform which enables agile and more open solution development processes with improved accessibility.
"Executing planning process tasks using a single smart and cloud-based geographic information platform takes operation methods and know-how to a whole new level while enabling open interaction between different parties."
