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Profile of Balaji Sreenivasan

Balaji Sreenivasan, is Founder and CEO of Aurigo Software
Technologies, a private equity funded Delaware Corporation with
offices in New York (USA) and Bangalore (India). Founded in 2003,
Aurigo is a global product company focused on providing solutions
for ERP, capital projects, construction and facilities. Aurigo is a Red
Herring company and has been awarded for being amongst the
most innovative companies by Microsoft. Aurigos 5th generation
product BRIX2009 is the worlds first Certified for Microsoft
Dynamics (CFMD) product for the Architecture, Construction and
Engineering vertical. Balaji has built Aurigo as a world class
organization from the ground up, raising private equity funding and
building a successful product company through strategic
relationships with customers, partners and resellers across the
world to continually increase the products market share and enter
new geographies and markets. Aurigos product BRIX2009 has
helped change the way large capital projects are managed today
and is being used by some of the largest government agencies,
construction management firms, general contractors, power
companies and ports across the world. Currently, Aurigo has
customers and support centers in North America, Middle East &
Africa, South East Asia and India. Some key customers include
Oregon State DOT, Pinellas County, Florida, City of Fort Smith,
Arkansas, City of St. Peters, Missouri, Nagarjuna Construction
Company, India & Middle East, RDS Projects, India, Navin Housing,
India and Vishakapatnam Port Trust, India.
Balaji has a Bachelors degree in Engineering from NIT Trichy and
Masters from the University of Florida, Gainesville. Balaji is a
member of the TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), Bangalore chapter
and is a regular speaker in trade circuits and contributes regularly
to business and trade publications.

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The Infrastructure Industry

India witnessed a phenomenal growth in the last two decades and continues
to be one of the fastest growing nations, alongside China, Brazil and Russia.
Infrastructure plays a pivotal role in the growth process and is often a
catalyst for the development.
The infrastructure business has registered a strong growth in recent years,
with 2006 & 2007 witnessing real construction growth of 20% & 14% per
annum respectively. This development is due to a strong economic growth,
rising government revenues & foreign investment, from both public sector &
private sector.
The Indian government has taken initiatives to develop the infrastructure
sector with major emphasis on construction, IT, engineering, entertainment,
textiles, food & utility to name some.

Core Problems Faced By Industry

Infrastructure projects in India are synonymous with delays & cost overruns.
There are very few projects that are delivered on time & on cost. These
delays have become a hallmark of the Infrastructure projects in India. An
example is Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai. This was planned as a Rs. 300
crore project to be completed by 2004 & has actually cost Rs. 1600 crore
with a delay of 5 years.

50% of all Infrastructure projects exhibit significant time overruns

Typical delays are over 20 months

13.5% average project overruns.

Delays & cost overruns have significant implications from economic as well
as political stand point, so overall limiting the growth potential of the entire
economy. Delays & cost overruns reduce the efficiency of available economic
resources & limit the growth potential of the entire economy. Moreover, at
least as of now, most infrastructure projects in India are funded by
taxpayers money, making it all the more important to complete the projects
in the given time frame & costing.
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Average time delay

The above fig shows the planned v/s actual schedule variance for various
infrastructure projects. It shows an overrun of about 20 months from actual.

Cost Overrun

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The above fig shows the average cost overrun v/s the original cost from
1991 to 2009. It shows an average cost overrun of 13.5 %

Infrastructure Projects: Statistics

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The above table shows the average spend in infrastructure project till
March09
Infrastructure development was critical for inclusive growth, which would be
important for India to continue on the growth path said the than commerce
minister and now the road & transport minister Mr. Kamal Nath at the World
Economic Forum at Davos in January 2009.
Government initiatives, has led to increase in investments in Indias
infrastructure development. Political parties have realized the criticality of
infrastructure in sustaining economic growth. The Government recognizes
the need to improve infrastructure and has stepped up investments in this
direction. The 11th planning commission (2007-2012) has estimated that
investment in infrastructure - defined broadly to include road, rail, air and
water transport, electric power ,telecommunications, water supply and
irrigation - would increase from 4.6 per cent of GDP to between 7-8 per
cent. This would require an investment of more than US$ 320 billion over
the planned period.

Infrastructure: The Future

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Infrastructure Segment

Private investment in roads

34,000

Modernization of highways

220,000

Railways ( Public )

180,000

Railways ( private )

120,000

Civil Aviation

40,000

Ports ( Private )

50,000

Freight Corridor

22,000

Power generation
Thus, the
planned

Planned
Investment,
(Rs in Crores)

420,000

JNNURM

60,000

Housing

150,000

Others

160,000

Total

future

1,456,000

investments in infrastructure are much more than that spent in 2009.

The Need Of The Day

A great infrastructure is the first step towards the growth of any country. To
have a world class infrastructure a constant evaluation & betterment of the
deficiencies is needed.
Investments, structural alignment & the emergence of public private
partnerships (PPP) is the need of the day. But is all this enough???
Urgent Issues
Program Management Tools
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This is an innovative approach for providing leadership and infrastructure for

managing and controlling multiple, complex programs & inputs which will
improve the profitability by saving time. It will give a systematic &
automated approach to manage diverse activities, processes etc. Thus
customizing an all inclusive program will help to ease coordination & control.

Leadership and professional competencies

The success of a construction project depends on several important factors,
one of which is the competence of its project manager. The project
managers leadership, personal attributes, and competencies should be
appropriate in dealing with construction work.
Mastery of PM Knowledge
PM requires knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to a broad range of
activities in order to successfully meet predetermined project requirements.
A thorough knowledge of initiation, planning, execution, control & closing
ensures project success.
Specialist Talent Development
The specialist in this industry should implement & improve recruitment
strategies & hiring activities for various positions, which include technology,
tools & processes to increase recruitment efficiency & quality.
Skilled Manpower
Human capital is the most critical resource for achieving success & sustained
growth in the project management arena.
Project Visibility

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Project
Quality

Project
Accounting

Project
Schedule

Project Visibility requires:

y

Streamlined Processes

Tighter Cost Controls

Increased Estimation Accuracy

Increased Quality

Project visibility means a seamless visibility across all functions

It helps reduce project completion time, lower project costs and increase the
quality of construction. However, this is easier said than done, as effective
management of large complex construction projects requires detailed
analysis of plans, estimates, project progress, and finally costs through the
entire construction lifecycle.
Same data Different Views

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Project Engineer

Inventory

Schedules

Finance Manager

Resources

Cash Flow

Progress

Progress

Accounting

Procurement

Management

P&L

Reports

Delays &
Overruns

Major
Issues

Chart

Organizations use several tools to help them track their projects, most
organizations use stand-alone independent systems or legacy applications
which only add to the problem. This leads to disjointed decisions throughout
the organization introducing delays, escalating
costs and lowering project quality.
Each business function requires access to the same project information, but
views it in different ways. For example, the top management always requires
project budgets and P&L statements for cash flow analysis. The project
management division requires information reporting on material
consumption and labor schedules to plan purchases to enable smooth
executing of the project. The finance and accounting team needs to look at
the material purchase requests from multiple projects and optimize
purchasing to drive the lowest cost across all of available vendors.

Is ERP The Solution To Get The Desired Visibility?

While ERP systems are typically the answer to solving the business
automation challenges of an enterprise, every Industrys business
automations needs are different. Customizing a generic ERP system incurs
longer implementation cycles, lack of industry best practices thus increasing
the Total Cost of Ownership.

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Paper clipboards & spreadsheets cannot effectively address todays

competitive environment.
Project Workflow Current State

Project Planning

Project Execution

Project Accounting

MS Project/
Primavera

The current state of projects in most organizations seems to be like the

figure above, where the chain of links between all the processes seems to
have been broken leading to lack of visibility, no real time data &
unnecessary overhead.

Project Work flow-Ideal solution

Project Planning

Schedule &
Plan

Project Execution

End to End Project Visibility

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Payment
Approvals

Review
&
Approve

Update
Inventory &
Resources

Plan
Manpower
requirements

Project
execution

Compute
Earned
Value

Plan
Inventory Compute
purchases total work
completed

Modify
Schedule /
Plan

Consolidate
P&L

Capture
Daily
Progress

Compute
Payments

Project
execution

Project Accounting

Procurement

Raise
Invoices

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The ideal solution to project work flow is the integration of all the various
stages of the project from project planning, project execution to project
accounting, through automated processes, digital diaries & real time data,
giving the project an end to end visibility.

ERP Limitations
Owners

PMC Firms

Contractors

Out of The Box

ERP does not automate industry specific processes

For a construction company, the quality and timeliness of its data spells
success or failure. A solution to this is that along with all other modules a
total project management system is needed which will integrate finance,
controlling, materials management & sales & distribution. All this while
keeping the companys core business requirement in mind.
ERP does not automate construction specific processes such as estimation,
contract, inspection.

End To End Integration

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Construction Industry Solution

Land
Management

Tender
Management

Project
Estimation

Contract
Management

Inspections

Facility
Management

Running Bills

Plant and
Machinery

EPM

Dashboards

Standard ERP Platform

Finance Management

Project Management

Stores & Inventory

CRM

Human Resources

Payroll

Project Management

Industry Solution

Standard ERP

To survive in todays competitive world, every organization needs an end to

end process integration, more so with the construction industry. Starting
from business development, procurement till handover. This can help to
make informed decisions on a day to day basis. In short, a standard ERP +
EPM + Industry solution all integrated into one with a real time visibility
across the entire project is the call for the day.

BRIX 2009- Reduce Costs, Eliminate Delays

Aurigo is a leading software product company providing web based solutions
for ERP, Construction management and Infrastructure Project management,
Facilities Management and Real Estate.

Customers are:
Government & Public Sector
Repeat Builders
Real Estate Developers
General Contractors
General Features:
BRIX 2009 helps save up to 10% of the project costs by giving:
y Detailed analysis of material costs over time
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y
y
y
y
y
y

Help in optimizing purchases across multiple projects

Help in optimizing the idle time of equipments
Accurate estimates of subcontracted work
Optimizing cash flow & planning purchases based on schedule in real
time.
Managing computed payments & contract change orders
Generating reports & analysis.

BRIX helps reduce delays & Increases Visibility By:

y View of all the projects across multiple sites & geographies
y Increases visibility into all aspects of the project
y Accurate estimates of projects
y Predict project budgets
y Helps in optimal project cost control
y Automatic report generations
y Automatic management reporting
y Generate progress of payments

BRIX Vs Other Similar Products

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Minimal
Configuration
& Training

Configuration
& training

Industry Best
Practices
Heavy
Customization

Industry Specific
Features
Reduced
deployment
timelines
Minimal
Customization

Aurigo BRIX 2009

Industry Add-On

Has to be
redone during
ERP upgrade
BPS &
Requirements
Capture

Standard ERP
(Microsoft / SAP)
Standard ERP
(Microsoft / SAP)

Lower TCO

Increased
Time, Effort
and Costs

Minimal Cost
during upgrades

No industry
Best Practices
Mere
Automation of
existing
processes.

Cost & Time

Infrastructure projects typically have a long lifecycle & can get very
demanding. These projects need accurate engineering estimates during the
budget phase, issue bids to contractors real time, manage the entire bidding
process, provide insight during construction, control costs & ensure timely
payment.
Surely, all this is a daunting task. In such a case creating accurate
estimates, avoiding project overruns & eliminating payment errors is the key
to increase profitability & competitiveness thus ensuring success.
This is only possible through a well designed ERP system geared specifically
for the infrastructure company. BRIX 2009, is just the product needed to
help in achieving success.
The advantage of using BRIX 2009
y BRIX follows Industry best practices:
Standard ERP platforms only automate the 4 Ms of any business i.e. Men,
Machines,
Material and Money. BRIX2009 with modules such as Estimate, Contract,
Inspect, Map and Land, automates construction industry processes and
supports all ERP platforms including Microsoft Dynamics AX and SAP.
Industry ready ERP systems will bring you the industry best practices so that

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you are not reinventing the wheel at every turn.

y It contains Industry specific features:

If an ERP system is specific to the infrastructure industry, getting accurate
estimation, digital archive digital archive of the schedule of rates, access to
historic prices, automated bid tabulation, contract management, change
orders and digital inspections including capture of site photographs.
y Reduced deployment timelines:
Industry ready ERP solutions for the Infrastructure Vertical helps seamlessly
integrate core construction management processes with accounting and
scheduling systems. With built in business intelligence it helps in mining the
data for information which can be critical to business. Thus giving the
valuable information in real time thereby reducing the deployment timelines.
y Minimal Customization:
BRIX requires minimal customization costs. In a tough market like today,
the configure it yourself toolkit will be a welcome relief to CIOs who are
looking to implement ERP solutions with a reduced IT budget.
y Lower TCO:
BRIX connects to Microsoft Dynamics AX and customization services around
these products and platforms. The product is robust, it delivers low total cost
of ownership (TCO) through integration with other Microsoft products.
y Minimal cost during up gradation:
Existing Architecture, Engineering and Construction companies wanting to
upgrade to the upcoming version of Microsoft Dynamics AX, will immensely
benefit by choosing BRIX 2009. The up gradation will cost minimal & give
the customer an industry ready ERP solution.

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BRIX 2009 Value Proposition

Easy to Use and Task Oriented System
Familiar MS Outlook Interface
Action Pane and task based
Easy adaptability
Works with MS Office and Project Seamlessly.

AEC Industry Ready

Catered for Infrastructure & Real Estate
Land, Cost Estimation, Contract & Facility Management
Enterprise & Project reporting

Remote Data Capture

Collect accurate information on Mobile Devices
Supports Tablets, Laptops & PDAs
Capture Picture & attach drawings from site

Customers
Aurigo has a huge list of customers who have found what they were looking
for in BRIX 2009.
Let us have a look at some of the customers & how BRIX helped them:

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Aurigo was able to streamline our entire inspection

processes that previously involved manual data collection
on over 250 paper forms across the state of Oregon.
-Chris Haney

BRIX manages construction and inspection

processes of $3 Billion Bridge reconstruction at
Oregon

Automation of
construction and
inspection processes
of a $3Billion bridge
reconstruction initiative
across the state of
Oregon
Digitization of 250
paper forms
Integration of digital
forms into IBM Filenet

Implementation of
Aurigo BRIX with
specific custom
workflows
Over 36 digital forms
replaced 250 paper
Forms
Integration into IBM
Filenet DMS

40% boost in productivity,

efficient information
management
Enhanced reporting
Savings of over $10M
annually

Construction & Inspection Processes of Bridge Construction At

Oregon
Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners (OBDP), a joint venture of HDR and Fluor,
is under contract to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and
its Highway Division to accelerate the completion and manage the quality of
projects in the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program.
y Business Situation:
OBDPs manual inspection processes were inefficient and leading to serious
data loss and
process inefficiency. They needed to automate their construction and
inspection processes on a 10-year, $3 Billion construction program.
y The Solution:
BRIX was customized to match OBDPs business processes ensuring that all
work processes were automated. Presently, over 35 forms and business
processes have been prioritized and designated committees are responding
to RFI's at a rapid pace. Based on user permissions to be used for a variety
of construction inspection tasks, data can then be entered in the field
electronically, synchronized back to the central database, where office staff
and project engineers can review and approve inspection reports, analyze
data and archive documents to a document management system.

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y Benefits
Rapid deployment options and low risk of a commercial off the shelf product,
coupled with
the flexibility of user defined business rules and custom forms. 40% boost in
productivity, efficient information & management. The company could make
savings of over 10$M annually.

1. NCC

NCCInternational chooses Microsoft Dynamics AX and

Aurigo BRIX 2009 as their ERP solution.

Into different verticals

like, Infrastructure, real
estate, Manufacturing
and property
management
Offices spread across
Middle East and India

Implementation of
Microsoft Dynamics AX,
Microsoft project Server
and Aurigo BRIX 2009.
Completely Hosted
Solution

Need for a ERP solution

from a trusted vendor

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Efficient management of
multiple projects, sites
and customers
Expected to reduce costs
by 6%
Minimum burden on IT
department

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NCC, a construction company with operations worldwide. They are into

different verticals like infrastructure, real estate, manufacturing & property
management.
y Business Situation:
Since NCC is into different verticals & have offices spread across Middle East
& India, it was becoming difficult to manage everything. There was a need
for an ERP solution from a trusted vendor.
y The Solution:
BRIX was customized to match NCCs requirement. They needed the
implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX & Aurigo 2009.
y Benefits
Due to a completely hosted solution like BRIX, NCC could efficiently manage
multiple projects, sites & customers. Since its implementation & the way
they are progressing, NCC is expected to reduce costs by 6%. Since all this
done efficiently by BRIX, there is minimum burden on the IT department.

2. RDS:

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We evaluated several standalone applications, and Aurigo BRIX

and Microsoft Dynamics AX integrated offering delivered a rare
combination of an ERP with a construction management system
that we were able to configure to our processes exactly
- Mayank Goyal, Managing Director

RDSchooses Microsoft Dynamics AX and Aurigo BRIX 5.0

as their ERP solution across their offices in India.

Scattered project
deployments sites across
the country
Failure of stand- alone
ERP Deployment
Need for a ERP solution
from a trusted vendor, with
field monitoring.

Implementation of
Microsoft Dynamics AX,
Microsoft project Server
and Aurigo BRIX 5.0 .
Remotely hosted and
managed

Efficient management of
multiple projects across
multiple sites with multiple
customers
Expected to reduce
operational costs by 8%
Minimal burden on the IT
department

Since 1965, RDS is involved in diverse construction activities in the field of

Industrial Buildings,
Roads and Highways, Dams, Bridges, Marine works like Break Waters,
Jetties, Groynes, Piling, Housing Complexes as well as in Real Estate
Business.
y Business Situation:
RDS as a company has too much dependence on spreadsheets and legacy
systems. Due to this dependency the company was loosing money at the
seams. They needed to find a solution that would offer a 360 degree solution
to construction as well as enterprise resource planning processes.
y The Solution:
RDS Projects chose Aurigo BRIX 5.0 and Microsoft Dynamics AX to serve
as its integrated ERP and Construction Management system for the
administration and supervision of the company's projects nationwide.
BRIX offered RDS an integrated solution that offered not just an ERP, but a
comprehensive
construction management suite which placed minimal burden on the IT
department. The offering that BRIX gave was an integrated one & delivered
a rare combination that offered an ERP with a construction management
system that delivered in-depth workflows that matched and mirrored RDSs
processes & systems.All this while offering the familiar Microsoft

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environment with open standards and a lower Total Cost of Ownership.

y Benefits
Integrated job site, instant information at the hands of senior management,
and better
business workflow processes offer RDS project success and considerable
money saving.
3. Pinellas County
" BRIX has provided more visibility of our ongoing
construction projects, enabling us to serve the county
and county employees more effectively.
- Pam Schuler, IT Manager Pinellas County

Florida County Streamlines contract management

using BRIX 5.0

Automation/Streamlining of
existing manual contract
management process of
ongoing construction
projects
Elimination of laborintensive physical review
and errors

Implementation of Aurigo
BRIX with specific
custom workflows to
meet challenges
Integration with Oracle
Financials

Need for a more

transparent and
collaborative system

More productive and

efficient information
management
Information retrieval speed
up by 70%
Efficient financial and
customer record
management
Enhanced reporting

Pinellas is Florida's second smallest county in landmass, larger only than

Union County. Pinellas County's top three key businesses are tourism
services, manufacturing and financial services. Nearly 50,000 businesses call
Pinellas County home.
y Business Situation:
Being in different businesses, there was a need for more transparent &
collaborative system. Since all the reviews were carried out in a labor
intensive physical way, it was leading to errors. Besides, there was an
extreme need to streamline existing manual contract management process
of on going construction projects.
y The Solution:
Implementation of BRIX with specific custom workflows to meet challenges.

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It was integrated with Oracle financials

y The Benefits
Installation of BRIX has made the county more productive & has made its
information system more productive. The information retrieval speed was up
by 70%. BRIX led to efficient financial & customer record management. It
has also led to efficient reporting.
To know how your organization can benefit by adopting BRIX 2009. Please
visit www.aurigo.com

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