Transport is one of the top two challenges facing Auckland in 2015 and effective transport is a vital element in the city's ongoing development. In order to deliver a world class transport system, Auckland Transport employs a large number of IT specialists to provide the back end technology that keeps all of our public transport, roading, walking paths and cycleway projects running.
Business Intelligence Leader Jared Smith moved from contracting into permanent employment with Auckland Transport just under a year ago. Jared didn't come to AT from an industry traditionally associated with public transport-before he came, Jared spent eight years working for some of New Zealand's leading telecommunications providers. He was drawn to Auckland Transport because the AT Data Warehouse and BI environment is one of the largest in New Zealand.
Jared's impression of AT prior to joining the team was fairly typical; he thought governmental organisations were dull, slow and even a little bit stagnant. He was pleased to discover that AT is anything but! After one week in the role, Jared quickly recognised that he was in an active organisation with a great variety of work to do and some very challenging projects.
One of the projects Jared and his team are working on is the implementation of a parallel data warehouse called the APS (Microsoft offering). Auckland Transport is the first company in New Zealand, and one of only a handful in the Southern Hemisphere to adopt this new technology. This appliance will enable AT to store huge volumes of data and report from it in real time, providing endless BI opportunities for the organisation.
Another key project they are involved with is acquiring weather-related data for use alongside our public transport data to ascertain the impact that weather and changing seasons have on our different modes of public transport. They are also in the process of acquiring sensor data from our footpaths and cycleways to better understand the volumes of people using them and how they are impacted by the weather.
