Key Insight
Client
Shell QGC
Website
Shell QGC is one of Australia’s largest gas operations, running an extensive program of civil construction, maintenance, and contractor work across its Queensland gas fields. The supply chain is complex, the contractor base is large, and the operational tempo is unforgiving. Across that footprint, thousands of timesheets, variations, and contract events flow through the management system every month, and the cost of getting any of it wrong shows up directly in project margin and program reporting.
When Shell QGC engaged IONYX, the existing time and cost management software was no longer keeping up with the program it was supposed to be running.
The Challenge
The existing platform had grown brittle and dated. The user interface had aged poorly, the underlying tech stack had become cumbersome to maintain, and routine actions that should have taken seconds were taking too long.
Data uploads were slow. Search was poor. Visibility of data and activity across the platform was limited, which meant operational and finance teams were working partially blind on a system that was supposed to be giving them a clear view of every dollar and every hour.
For an operation at Shell QGC’s scale, those frictions weren’t cosmetic. Every additional minute spent uploading data, hunting for a record, or working around the interface was multiplied across more than a thousand active users and tens of thousands of transactions a month. The cumulative drag on the program was meaningful, and any development changes needed to address it were themselves cumbersome to deliver against the legacy tech stack.
The platform needed to be rebuilt. Modern interface, modern tech stack, faster data flows, better visibility, and a foundation that could be extended over time without the friction the existing system had been imposing on every change.
The Solution
IONYX delivered the rebuild as a research-led product redesign rather than a like-for-like replacement, on the principle that rebuilding the same workflow on new technology would have left most of the friction in place.
The work began with user-centred research grounded in the people who actually use the system every day.
- 3 personas developed across the user research phase, covering the distinct roles using the platform
- 4,900+ timesheets processed through the system every month
- 1,300+ users actively interacting with the platform
User interviews, surveys, and live walkthroughs surfaced what was actually slowing people down, which often differed from what the brief had assumed. Findings were synthesised into three user personas representing the distinct ways the platform was being used, and those personas anchored every subsequent design decision.
The design phase ran as workshops and testing with real users. New user matrix, refreshed information architecture, and high-fidelity interface designs were tested against the actual workflows the platform supports. Requirements analysis and user story mapping were delivered in alignment with the new design system, so engineering effort flowed from validated user needs rather than from a separate requirements document.
The build covered the full stack. Database redesign, back-end development on the new architecture, front-end implementation of the new design system, and complete historical migration of data and files from the legacy platform so users moved across without losing any of the operational record.
The new platform delivered the Cost Tracker workflow that Shell QGC’s contractor management program had needed. RFQ and target cost estimates, contract creation and management, timesheets and approvals, variations and budget control, and completion evidence and invoicing are now run through a single connected environment rather than across the disconnected tools the previous platform had effectively become.
The rebuilt platform addressed each of the original frictions directly. Data uploads run efficiently at scale rather than dragging. Search works the way users expect it to. Visibility across activities and data is built into the interface rather than requiring users to assemble a picture from multiple screens. The interface itself is modern, fast, and built around the workflows the personas surfaced, rather than the system’s internal data structures. And the new tech stack means future changes can be delivered without the development overhead the previous platform had been imposing on every update.
The Results
The Civil Contractor Management Tracker now runs as the operational platform behind one of Australia’s largest gas operations, processing more than 4,900 timesheets every month across a base of 1,300+ active users. The contractor management program that was previously fighting its tooling now has tooling built around how it actually works.
For Shell QGC, the platform replaced an aging system with one designed for the scale and operational tempo the program runs at. For IONYX, the engagement is the live demonstration of Cost Tracker operating at major-operator scale: the same productised platform that runs across the broader Cost Tracker client base, configured to a complex operational environment, and processing real volume in production every day.
