Contract Intelligence: Hydro Tasmania’s Digital Leap with Microsoft Power Platform

Background

Hydro Tasmania is Australia’s largest producer of renewable energy and a pioneer ⁠in sustainable power generation. With over a century of expertise in hydropower the organisation plays a vital role in supporting the national energy grid and advancing Tasmania’s clean energy future. Managing complex infrastructure, environmental obligations, and commercial agreements, Hydro Tasmania is committed to operational excellence and innovation. As part of its digital transformation strategy, the organisation sought to modernise its contract management processes to improve efficiency, visibility, and responsiveness particularly in managing operational contracts, irrigation volumes, and customer interactions.

Challenge

Hydro Tasmania previously relied on a manual process to manage contracts. This approach was time-consuming, had limited visibility, and made it difficult to respond to customer queries or track agreement history. The absence of a centralised system with automation led to inefficiencies across the contract lifecycle.

Key Problems Solved:

• No central system made it difficult to manage or search through long contracts
• Limited visibility into agreement status led to delays and risk of missed renewals
• No historical data views
• Limited ability to analyse irrigation trends using historical volume data
• Excessive time spent manually scrolling through contracts to find specific terms and clauses

Approach

To deliver a modern and scalable Contract Management System, Exco Partners applied a structured three-phase approach focused on rapid value and low risk.
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⁠The project began with a Discovery & Planning phase, where stakeholder workshops, user story development, and service blueprinting helped define the solution’s scope and priorities.
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⁠This was followed by Build & Delivery, leveraging Exco Partner's existing Procurement App as a foundation and customising it through agile sprints to meet Hydro Tasmania’s specific needs including workflows, dashboards, and integrations with associated Microsoft systems and GIS systems. The final phase, Launch & Hypercare, included user training, acceptance testing, and a two-week support period to ensure smooth adoption and operational readiness.

Solution

Exco Partners worked closely with Hydro Tasmania’s Contract Management team to deliver a modern, integrated Contract Management System built on the Microsoft Platform. The solution replaced a legacy SharePoint-based process and leveraged a robust technology stack including key Microsoft Enterprise Solutions, and a Third Party GIS for spatial data integration, and Microsoft Entra for secure identity and access management.

Outcome

The solution improved efficiency and visibility across contract management while establishing a reliable foundation for continued digital improvement.
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⁠Key outcomes:

• Improved user experience for contract managers and administrators
• Real‑time access to contract data, obligations, and correspondence
• Clear visibility through dashboards and calendar views
• Streamlined approvals via Teams and email
• Spatial awareness of contract coverage through GIS integration
• A future‑ready platform aligned with Hydro Tasmania’s digital strategy