Regional information

The Whitsunday region is an ecological wilderness destination and a, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and 74 Whitsunday Islands. Home to some 35,500 permanent residents, the Whitsundays also has a blossoming tourist population throughout the year.

Waste Profile

19 sites: 3 central transfer stations, 12 satellite stations, 3 landfill sites and a quarry.

Cloud migration, V3.4 upgrade and data streamlining

In March 2017, the Whitsunday Regional Council upgraded hardware and software at four key sites (Kelsey Creek, the Bowen Landfill and, Cannonvale and Collinsville Transfer Stations), installed a new system at the quarry site and, transitioned to a cloud hosted service (hosted by Mandalay on a Microsoft Azure platform).

https://www.whitsunday.qld.gov.au

Industry: Local Government Waste and Quarry

Cloud migration, V3.4 upgrade and data streamlining

With the V3.4 upgrade and the implementation of cloud hosting Whitsunday Regional Council now benefits from:

  • A central data repository for each waste facility and the quarry.
  • Improved, real time access to transactional information via a web portal for managers, finance, waste and other administrative staff (resulting in a reduction in the processing hours required for invoicing). For example, head office can now use the ticketing module to respond to a site or finance enquiry relating to a specific ticket (or error) and, site and transaction data can be imported into the finance system.
  • Onsite database management through a vendor managed service model (Mandalay). Mandalay now manages and supports the site software, training and information/technology requirements reducing the requirements for Council’s IT staff.
  • Business continuity and disaster recovery ability – through having the data backup off site (in the cloud).
  • An improved process for the management of stockpiles, product, pricing, categories, reconciliation reporting, end of month processing and management of credit stops at the quarry. Council no longer relies on manual processes at the quarry site.

Operational benefits

From an operational perspective, the system implementation has improved the business process at the quarry. Council can now:

  • Identify a day-to-day or hour-by-our stock measurement function (whats produced Vs whats sold) and, monitor the functioning of the site in real time.
  • Generate invoices directly/on site previously invoices were generated at a facility approximately 5km from the site (real time data access invoicing).
  • Contract products, track trucks and material flow for each job in a functional system that is easy to understand and operate (day-to-day material flow monitoring, operator training, etc.).
  • Generate product, sales, and stock level reports via standardised reports (improving reporting capacity and, reducing data duplication/minimising data entry error).

Waste facility software upgrade

Mandalay systems have been in place at Whitsunday waste facilities since 2012.

The recent upgrade and implementation of Mandalay CS Version 3.4 has made improvements to waste and quarry transactional processes and booking systems.

Council can now:

  • More effectively manage and monitor load and site capacity to ensure maximum function and improve the day-to-day operation of the site.
  • Process multiple transactions and improve the timeliness of site transactions. For example, a client enters the site and is weighed in but can’t find their credit card. The ticket is logged in the system and the operator can park the transaction while processing other vehicles.
  • Enter tickets manually at the site as a backup option post power outages, maintenance windows, times of restricted internet access or when the weighbridge is unattended (i.e. during staff lunch breaks).

Additional information

The Whitsunday region is a beautiful tourist destination in Queensland with its coastal climate and numerous bays, lakes, rivers and national parks (many of which are world heritage listed). With both a growing residential and tourist population the Whitsundays have many unique environmental considerations when planning their waste management strategy.

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