The Client
Established in 1987 on Vancouver Island, Ryzuk Geotechnical provides geotechnical engineering and materials testing services throughout western Canada. With 215 years of cumulative experience, it has completed over 41,000 jobs including the Malahat Skywalk, the Calgary Zoo suspension bridge, the Pender Island Poets Cove Resort & Spa—to name just a few.
The Challenge
Ryzuk was relying on an out-of-the-box Geotech software that users found difficult to navigate and inefficient. It wasn’t capable of completely supporting the processes and data collection requirements necessary for Ryzuk to conduct business. With such a wide variety of datum needed for reporting, including compressive strength of concrete in addition to many others, Ryzuk needed an intuitive solution that was flexible and would allow for data to be collected and reported in a simple, user-friendly way.
Additionally, the program Ryzuk was using didn’t have the capability to communicate with additional software solutions they were using - like its billing and invoicing software. This meant that project information was needing to be entered multiple times in various locations, which led to errors throughout the process.
Calgary Zoo Suspension Bridge
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
The Solution
This led to the creation of LabWorks - a solution, created by Gearbox, which manages their entire concrete testing process from set up, scheduling, assigning jobs to field technicians, and report generation. An additional mobile solution operates on an iPad kept in Ryzuk’s testing area which allows for quick and easy data recording during the sample testing process. Additionally, a companion mobile app was developed which is used to show project locations utilizing Google Maps to ensure field technicians find the correct project location - especially important when the job site has no address - while also allowing for field collection of data to be synced back with the main program at any time.
The flexibility offered by this custom solution allowed for Ryzuk’s platform to be integrated with Ryzuk’s billing and invoicing project management software using the platform's API to sync data. This made it so new projects could be entered once into Ryzuk’s project management software and then synced to Ryzuk’s custom solution. Additionally, all these changes made it possible for Gearbox to build and integrate a custom payment portal in order to provide Ryzuk’s customer base with an online, Ryzuk branded portal for remitting various payment types - including eChecks!
The Results
Through extensive collaboration with Gearbox, Ryzuk was able to create a custom platform that allowed for a streamlined and intuitive data collection process through use of LabWorks, more efficient travel times to job sites regardless of location through integration of Google Maps with the companion mobile app, minimized data entry errors through integration with Ryzuk’s billing and invoicing software, and the ability to create and integrate a custom payment portal for a seamless payment experience for its customer base.
As Ryzuk’s business and processes grow and change, these solutions implemented as part of its relationship with Gearbox will also be able to grow and adapt in order to maximize workflow.
Pender Island Poets Cove Resort & Spa
Pender Island, British Columbia, CA