Software for rapid, sustainable performance. We enable resource sector operations to close the gap between current and potential performance. Software proven to empower teams. We offer this through our partnership with Commit Works.
Our CiteOps software integrates people with processes and technology to make integrated frontline work management possible.
Our software solves the last mile, connecting IT and OT systems with frontline teams.
Experience has shown that the combination of software and coordinated management helps operations improve performance.
Integrating critical IT/OT and planning systems
- Our goal is to ensure the intentions of management and planners are reflected in the shift-to-shift work executed by the frontline team
- To achieve this sustainably it’s important that we connect our software with the tools used by technical services, engineering, maintenance, HR and others – so that all work on-site can be effectively scheduled and coordinated.
- At the other end we pull frontline operating data from machines and fleet management systems so that tasks in our software are updated with “actuals” data from machines.
- We connect with individual IT/OT systems including: Deswik, Groundhog, RPM Global, SAP, Oracle, Viziya, Power BI, Tableau et al. The result is a fully-integrated planning and execution platform that ties all teams on site together.
We have a number of ways of connecting our software to other systems:
1. Smart Imports (spreadsheet, CSV & SQL): Most clients we work with want to get their source planning data into our software in the quickest and most practical way possible. Usually (at least in the first instance) this is done through a “smart import”. This involves, for example, SAP or Deswik data being dumped from the source system into a CSV, excel or SQL file and then imported into our software. We map our smart import to this file and set it up to update (in a smart way) when there are changes to the data. These smart imports can be set up in hours and generally achieve nearly everything clients require.
2. APIs, REST, WebHooks etc : Some clients require more formal two-way integrations, in these cases, we have a large number of well documented REST APIs that enable data to be either pulled from or pushed to our software. We have collaborated with companies such as MST, NLT, Citect, Newtrax.
3. Integration Layers: Many mining organisations have considered or implemented formal integration layer architectures, we have worked with system integrators to connect our APIs to these integration layers for clients such as Anglo American to bring SAP and Ellipse work management and HR data into our system and to write it back to the source systems.
4. Data Lakes: All the data in our software can be pushed to an asynchronous SQL database (BI Point) for analysis, reports or integration with other systems. Many of our clients use this data with Power BI, Tableau or other reporting tools to provide management reporting.
Doing this well for our clients helps them massively improve the connection between the work planned and the work completed, improving schedule compliance, reducing variability and waste so that the operation performs better long term.
Empowered Teams:
Everyone on the same page
- CiteOps is designed to connect the intentions of management and planners to the work done by the frontline each shift by putting a well-coordinated shift plan in the hands of your supervisors each shift.
- To ensure the plan is well-coordinated our software brings together mine planning, maintenance, projects, services, HR and ERP data (and people) to ensure all work is organised and able to be completed by the crews.
- Shift plans are instantly available to frontline teams on mobile devices and large touchscreens to ensure everyone is on the same page. Supervisors and crew can track progress throughout the shift using our short interval control app, write their shift reports and contribute to daily review meetings all in the same system.
- Eliminating the time lost through the hour-by-hour challenges of coordinating a large number of people, machines, and activities in a complex, ever-changing mining environment is tough.
- Our solutions enable your team to optimally balance people, equipment and resources for maximum uptime.
- This unifies the frontline teams, creating a high-performance workforce that delivers more reliable and higher productivity work.
All your management operating system “wiring” in one place
We have the whole MOS covered with a fully integrated set of enterprise-grade products, making our systems easy to use and quick to implement on-site.
Our software makes it easy to run the whole plan, do, check, act cycle from short term scheduling through handover, short interval control and daily review meetings in one integrated system. Say goodbye to brown paper, whiteboards and spreadsheets.
What CiteOps does
- Pulls all work into an integrated plan and makes it available to crews online or offline on multiple devices.
- Puts the plan in the hands of supervisors and crew so they can track progress during shifts using Short Interval Control.
- Enables real-time corrections to the plan during the shift by planners or control room operators.
- Flags issues with resourcing, equipment or dependencies, so that plans can be adjusted to avoid waste.
- Makes planning meetings, daily reviews and other management operating system meetings easy.
Trusted to deliver results.
- We’ve implemented our integrated work management and short interval control software globally and helped most operations improve production by over 20% within months of implementation.
Frontline planning and scheduling
CiteOps helps you plan and manage work by connecting the work you want to get done and the targets you want to meet with the resources and equipment you need to get the plan done. 
Shift scheduling.
To plan a shift, you need to know who’s going to be at work each shift. Our workforce scheduling software tools are designed to save your leaders a huge amount of time and ensure they stay on top of the time and attendance of their people.
Equipment scheduling
Our complete equipment management schedule enables you to see what equipment is available, which process it is assigned to and when it is due for its next service.
Preshift alignment
Our aim on a project is to get the whole site on the same page, planning and improving results as a unified team. We have learned about change the hard way (through many years implementing hard-to-use tools), so we engineered the change process to ensure our software is quickly wired into day-to-day operations.
Prestarts and handovers
To be able to hold a shift supervisor accountable for their performance to a plan it is important that the plan is appropriate for the conditions the supervisor is likely to encounter. Because things change quickly in dynamic operations it’s important that the plan for the shift can also be changed quickly to remain useful.
Visibility of progress
CiteOps makes it possible to take your plan into the field. Using a tablet your supervisors can continuously update their progress against KPIs, the tasks they have completed and any issues they are encountering along the way.
Anything that is entered into our actuals screens is instantly visible on your planning screens so you can see how things are going and the crew can see how they are progressing towards weekly targets. 
Short interval control
Using mobile technology and real-time data, supervisors can track work on their tablets or mobile phones using our Short Interval Control (SIC) app while they are on site. The work of underground crews is regularly measured against plans and updated in real time.
What does the Short Interval Control app do?
Using mobile technology and real-time data, supervisors can track work on their tablets or mobile phones using our Short Interval Control (SIC) app while they are on site. The work of frontline crews is regularly measured against plans and updated in real time.
Part of an effective management operating system
Each shift is broken into “short intervals” so that supervisors regularly review performance, enabling mid-course corrections and immediate fixes that add up to big improvements in overall performance.
Implementing Short Interval Control
Normally supervisors need months of coaching to get Short Interval Control up and running. With CiteOps, this can be achieved in just a couple of weeks.
With data from Scada, their fleet management system and our offline app showing them how they are progressing, they can communicate results and actions taken directly from the field to everyone on site.
Review meetings
To complete the management cycle, it’s important to review performance, identify variances from the plan and develop actions to remove future variances. At this stage is where Fewzion is so important in order to organise variance reporting.
Unfortunately most spreadsheet and whiteboard driven systems make this an extremely laborious process to do each day.
CiteOps makes it easy by collecting all the information entered by users (and some data from SCADA systems) and presenting it back in a daily report for each process. Reports are emailed out every morning in time for daily review meetings so that process leaders can review their performance and identify ways they can improve.
Productivity
Three steps to improve productivity.
What we have observed is that those experiencing poor performance often think investing capital in technology or equipment is the solution. But they haven’t addressed the variability causing the poor performance, so they expand the operating envelope without solving the underlying problem.
David Upton was an Associate Professor of Technology and Operations Management at Harvard when he published a paper called ‘Mechanisms for Building and Sustaining Operations Improvement‘ which proposes:
The first thing to do is reduce variability within your operating envelope to improve average output. Then optimise processes to move performance up, maintaining the same disciplines to run the site with the same variability profile at a higher rate. Once the site hits a constraint, you can then look at capital investments to break the constraint to increase capacity to full potential.
- Get control to eliminate variability.
- Optimise processes.
- Increase capacity with capital projects.
Step 1. Get control to reduce variability.
The first serious leap in productivity should come from eliminating day-to-day variability by ensuring that frontline teams have a well thought out plan to execute each shift. This is how Commit Works creates rapid, sustainable improvements in productivity, cost and safety.
Step 2. Optimise and improve processes.
After you have successfully reduced variability, it’s time to build upon this and look at how you can improve further. This is when you might engage consultants to help, adjust shifts, modify equipment and make other changes to achieve even better results.
Step 3. Invest capital to increase capacity.
After processes across the site have been streamlined, it’s time to leverage these positive changes. The final step of deploying capital allows your site to reach full potential – however it is vital that this final step is taken after the operation is running smoothly.
"If you don't understand how to run an efficient operation, new machinery will just give you new problems of operation and maintenance. The sure way to increase productivity is to better administrate man and machine." W. Edwards Deming
Commitment precedes performance.
There are two world views about frontline shift workers. One is that they are fundamentally self-interested and therefore need to be controlled and kept in line with extrinsic motivators – sticks and carrots. The second is that they are fundamentally good-willed and that their core intrinsic motivation is to do a great job and to go home safe and satisfied.
We believe in the latter.
- We believe that the vast majority of frontline workers want to commit – they want to do a good job BUT they are thwarted by the complex array of spreadsheet and whiteboard systems that surround them.
- When day after day shift plans don’t match the reality crews find at the coal face, the machinery they need isn’t available or the prerequisite work they thought would be done, isn’t done it is almost impossible to keep frontline teams motivated, productive and safe. These kinds of systems are ‘Apathy Systems’ that make frontline workers feel cynical toward their leadership and indifferent toward their work.
- On the other hand, when expectations are clearly communicated and agreed through effective coordination and respectful negotiation, frontline teams can commit and be confident of running a safe and productive shift.
- We have been helping operations to create this commitment and in the process seeing them get astounding results from the same people and equipment they thought were the problem before.
- Our systems make this kind of frontline commitment possible by providing all the information required for collaborative decision-making, to the right people, at the right time so that crews go to work with a well thought out plan each and every shift.
- This reduces performance variability, improves productivity and helps people go home safely every day.
Fast to implement
The easy, remote installation process and built-in training.
- Our robust, fully integrated implementation process.
- Intuitive, easy-to-use software that minimizes adoption time.
- Ongoing support and regular new features.
This means the software is typically delivering value for the site in less than a month after we kick off the project in Go-Live stage.
Fast payback
Sites typically achieve payback after implementation, due to significant improvements production and performance.
These gains are sustained over many years because our digital frontline productivity system is built on a foundation of usability and connectivity (not complex and hard to sustain spreadsheet and whiteboard-based tools).