2008 Summary

 

GIS for Finance  Officers Presentation from the Vadim User Conference

Pacific Alliance recently presented our view on the value of GIS for Muncipal Finance Officers at the Vadim User Conference.  “Our role within the StarDyne Group is to provide expertise around GIS to the Group’s current users,” said Dave Philp, Senior Technical Consultant.

If you are a Municiapl Finance Officer and want to get a better feeling for how GIS can help you department or what role you can take in the GIS implementation please Click here for the complete presentation.

2008-09-23

Autodesk Reports that Pacific Alliance Support Leads North America

Autodesk announced today that Pacific Alliance is leading North America in Subscription Rate of Renewal.  Autodesk’s research has shown that organizations that renew their subscription do so because they are pleased with the support that they receive.

“Nine months ago we completely reviewed our support and implemented a new support procedure for the helpdesk,” said Eric Schwartz, Principal Technical Consultant.  “We are now able to answer and immediately close over 75% of our support tickets.”

This new support procedure involved the implementation of:

  • Primary, secondary, and tertiary experts for Autodesk support
  • Multiple helpdesk staff that are Autodesk-certified to escalate technical questions directly to Autodesk
  • Corporate-wide CRM that tracks and reports on client support requests

Our support doesn’t just rely on our own staff – there’s no substitute for the domain expertise of designers that use Autodesk software to work on projects fulltime.  We have recruited these experts to help provide practical solutions to some of our most challenging support requests.

“This recognition is a testament to your continued hard work and commitment to providing great quality service.  The helpdesk is very deserving of this praise as this cannot and would not happen without the whole group.  Knowing from experience the effort it takes to provide great customer service, the helpdesk should be proud of this accomplishment.  Keep up the great work!”, said Jonathon McIntyre, Principal Technical Consultant at Pacific Alliance Technologies.  Click here for the full article.

2008-09-22

Pacific Alliance Joins ESRI Canada’s Business Partner Program

Nanaimo, BC – Today ESRI Canada announced a new partnership with Pacific Alliance Technologies. This new partnership has been established to support Pacific Alliance Technologies’ initiative to develop commercial off the shelf software (COTS) that provides interoperability between clients’ business systems and ESRI’s enterprise GIS platform.

“This new partnership is very exciting as it allows the creation of a commercial off the shelf solution to integrate StarDyne Technologies various financial systems with ESRI’s latest technology,” said Myron Doherty, Regional Manager of ESRI Canada, Pacific Region.

In a recent survey of StarDyne customers, interoperability between Computer Assisted Design (CAD) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and between financial systems and GIS were the two highest ranked areas for potential productivity gains.

“Many people are talking about CAD-GIS interoperability and integration of GIS with financial systems – but we are in the unique position of having the expertise, products and affiliated ownership to be able to deliver on this promise,” said Chris Webber, President of Pacific Alliance Technologies.

2008-09-17

CarteGraph Certifies Pacific Alliance as an Implementation Partner

CartêGraph has certified Pacific Alliance as an Implementation Partner.  Dave Philp has been hired to lead Pacific Alliance’s Asset Management practice.  He brings his years of experience in training, business analysis and system implementation together with his extensive knowledge of the Municipal domain to assist clients with the change management required for effective implementation of Asset Management systems.  As a member of the StarDyne Group, Pacific Alliance is in a great position to leverage data in Municipal Financial, Asset Management and GIS Systems for use in PSAB compliance.

“The goal of our business partner program is to build relationships with organizations that extend our market reach, offer unique expertise and make both parties more formidable entities in our respective industries,“ said Dave Robbins, Vice President of Sales at CartêGraph. “We feel Pacific Alliance can meet and exceed all these expectations as a certified implementation partner and reseller. With their extensive knowledge in ESRI implementations for engineering and public works we will continue to meet the growing demands of our clients.”

“We have been helping Canada’s Local and Regional Governments implement Asset Management systems to help with PSAB compliance”, said Chris Webber, President of Pacific Alliance.  “Through that process we identified CarteGraph as one of the leading Asset Management providers and this is another step that we are taking to help our clients meet their Asset Management requirements.”

The Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) (www.psab-ccsp.ca) has new rules for the accounting of tangible assets by government. Canada’s Local Governments are beginning to implement business processes today to prepare comparative financials for 2008 and for adoption of PSAB 3150 in 2009.

2008-09-15

Case Study: Peterborough Implements Tourist Guides for GPS Units using Google Maps

Challenge
The County began the project with college co-op students, but faced database integration and nature trail plotting challenges. The County chose Pacific Alliance Technologies for its GIS expertise to solve the database and mapping issues, and publish the information through Google Maps.

Solution
Pacific Alliance Technologies reorganized the spatial source data to facilitate database integration. Leveraging their expertise, they recommended building functionality for multiple browsers, and an automated commercial update function. Layering data over Google Maps, Pacific Alliance Technologies built an application for downloading tourism routes with descriptions in mp3 and text formats to commercial GPS units. Click here for the complete case study. “Quick and efficient —Pacific Alliance Technologies added value and exceeded our expectations.”
Tammy Sikma, Manager of GIS, County of Peterborough

2008-07-23

Case Study: Pacific Alliance Migrates the City of Vancouver’s Vanmap site to MapGuide Enterprise

Using VanMap, Vancouver had become a leader in the geospatial community. VanMap had been used daily by the City’s staff and the public (including developers, real estate agents, architects and engineers and others interested in seeing current data in a map setting). However, this public geospatial system needed an upgrade and so the City chose Pacific Alliance Technologies to upgrade it to MapGuide Enterprise.

Challenge
The City of Vancouver’s in-house team developed a highly customized site geospatial site called VanMap. A strike in 2007 interrupted their MapGuide Enterprise migration plans, so they initiated a competitive bid process to keep the migration moving forward. The City chose Pacific Alliance, deciding they offered the best value based on their expertise in MapGuide Enterprise and Autodesk products.  Click here for the full case study.

“Leveraging their expertise, Pacific Alliance migrated our VanMap public site to Autodesk’s MapGuide Enterprise and did a great job.”
Jonathan Mark, GIS Manager,
City of Vancouver

2008-07-15

Case Study:  ERCB uses hosted MapGuide Open Source with iVAULT for Business Critical Application

The Energy Resources Conservation Board is an agency of the Government of Alberta which regulates the development of energy resources (i.e. oil, natural gas, oil sands, coal, and pipelines). ERCB regulates thousands of natural gas and oil wells and batteries, plants and other facilities, as well as 392,000 km of pipelines, 12 producing coalmines, and 38 commercial oil sands plants. ERCB had outsourced their Board Order System to provide 2D mapping of reserves such as oil and gas fields, pools, and strike areas.  Click here to go to the site.

Challenge
The BOS host went out of business and a new system provider was needed—fast. Enhanced functionality was also needed to meet the Board’s expanded responsibilities.  Click here for the full case study.

“Pacific Alliance Technologies’ client dedication, and our strong working relationship with them, makes doing business with them a pleasure.”
Wayne Elsner,
Senior Geologist, ERCB

2008-06-06

Case Study: Whistler Migrates to MapGuide Open Source with iVAULT

The Resort Municipality of Whistler, famous for recreation and a host city for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, enjoys economic vibrancy and growth. Their strategy was to move their geographic information system (GIS) online to make data updates easier while providing greater access to information and engaging the community.  Click here to view their site (click the links on the demo page that opens).

Challenge
The client was faced with tight time targets while data sat in multiple systems. Pacific Alliance was engaged to provide a web solution to speed access and improve response times. Click here to read the full case study.

“MapGuide and iVAULT improved our data use and how we work. Our customers and staff are happier. Pacific Alliance did a great job.”
Dan Griffin, GIS Co-ordinator,
Resort Municipality of Whistler

2008-05-06
Google Maps and MapGuide Open Source working together
Pacific Alliance Technologies announced today that it delivered another application to a client using Google Maps as the primary web-mapping engine. This represents a stepping stone for the company as Google Maps is becoming popular among companies looking for a web mapping strategy. Pacific Alliance Technologies uses the data provided by Google Maps overlaid with proprietary mapping and database information to provide complete solutions for its clients. “We are able to enhance this data and integrate it with an organization’s financial system and other business systems”, says Chris Webber, President, Pacific Alliance Technologies. “We also use open source technologies like MapGuide Open Source to layer Google data together with a client’s data for a contained cost.” Click here to read the full press release.
2008-05-02

Pacific Alliance becomes a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

Pacific Alliance Technologies, a leading engineering, architectural and GIS technology product and service provider, today announced that it has become a member of the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Program. The program recognizes the innovative solutions and value that the partner brings to its customers. “We are extremely pleased to be a part of the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Program. Our membership allows us to clearly promote our expertise and relationship with Microsoft to our customers,” says Chris Webber, President, Pacific Alliance Technologies. Click here to read the full press release.
2008-03-14

Pacific Alliance is acquired by StarDyne Technologies

The Government Solutions Division of StarDyne Technologies is pleased to announce the addition of Pacific Alliance Technologies to its Group of Companies. With the synergy between public works and GIS solutions and the strong relationship between municipal and GIS solutions, over 500 StarDyne customers can choose from an even broader array of alternative solutions. “Meeting the demands of the growing backlog of Infrastructure work requires workflow and business model innovations supported by true business system integration,” says Chris Webber, President of Pacific Alliance. “StarDyne’s Enterprise products, together with our iVAULT product, will help our clients meet these demands through gains in productivity.” Click here to read the full press release.