New Zealand’s HEB Construction (HEB) uses Boomi to connect local operations and integrate into parent company’s ERP modernisation, guarding its local capability, governance and AI readiness.
Top New Zealand construction company HEB has chosen Boomi to enable the delivery of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) modernisation project that ensures global alignment with its parent company, bolstered local governance and established a re-use philosophy.
Founded in 1975, HEB is a major NZ construction player with 1,500 employees delivering road, rail, marine, land, and urban development projects nationwide. In 2015, HEB was acquired by VINCI Construction.
In 2022, HEB started the adoption of its parent company’s ERP project, marking the first deployment outside of the European Union.
While the ERP platform typically replaces all in-country systems, this was unsuitable for HEB due to the maturity of existing local technology investments and the regulatory frameworks under which it operates.
“With New Zealand’s regulatory and functional requirements contrasting previously-deployed markets, it became clear a ‘digital transplant’ wouldn’t be suitable – HEB required a different approach,” said Mircel Van Der Walt, Enterprise Architect, HEB Construction.
“Instead, my team considered a hybrid integration approach. This decision was driven not only by the necessity for a compliant governance system, but also by our imperative to uphold our existing expertise in local systems like HR. To ensure the new ERP would thrive in this unfamiliar environment, we realised HEB could only gain trust by innovating around a stable core.”
HEB implemented Boomi’s integration platform as a service (iPaaS) to establish hub and spoke integration patterns between its local applications, including payroll, timesheet, inventory management, and equipment maintenance systems.
Adopting the ERP’s data structure as its data standard, HEB mirrored its local patterns with the global ERP stack to form hub-to-hub connectivity. This approach established seamless communication between both companies and established re-usable integration patterns.
“Despite the ERP project’s complexity, our ‘slot’ in the larger global rollout was kept to the same stringent 12-month timeframe. But with the Boomi Enterprise Platform, we had a tool that enabled us to deliver on time, plus create design interfaces that had reuse value – it can effectively replicate what we achieved in other parts of the world with similar local guardrails, regulations, and operational requirements,” said Van Der Walt.
HEB also implemented Boomi Master Data Hub (MDH) to deepen collaboration and precision. With MDH, HEB can comprehensively manage its digital assets through three abstracted layers: people, projects, and equipment.
“By establishing boundaries between the three data archetypes, ERP data accurately feeds through and lands where it should locally, and vice versa. For example, new hire information now pulls in our Boomi ‘people’ bucket and trickles up to the ERP when minimum data completeness is reached.
“We’re becoming a digital centric business and not just a construction company that has data. This means we aren’t just installing shiny new tech; we’re giving systems meaning by connecting them around the stable enterprise data core. This is especially relevant to our AI plans, because you cannot have AI without IA (information architecture). With Boomi, we’re now ready,” said Van Der Walt.
Nathan Gower, Senior Director for Enterprise, APAC, Boomi, said: “This is a true representation of local innovation born out of a global company’s recognition for unique requirements needed in-region. HEB used Boomi to create a crossbreed of top performing systems, and by doing so, established a mutual understanding that there are no camps – rather, both organisations used their respective systems and tools to create an integrated outcome serving a common goal.”
