The best software for quality and risk management.Drinking water company Oasen provides 800,000 consumers and businesses in eastern South Holland and south-western Utrecht with safe and clean drinking water every day. Oasen uses Zenya for their document management, capturing process flows and for incident and risk management. Oasen is one of the first customers to use the updated RISK module.
Peter van der Vlies, risk management consultant at Oasen, explains why Oasen has chosen Zenya for years and how RISK has taken the organisation’s risk management to the next level.
At the end of 2017, Peter and his colleagues started looking for a software that could help them record procedures and documents. The then-current DMS was no longer adequate. A user-friendly system was needed to automate certain workflows and secure output from business processes even better.
Peter says: “We soon discovered that there are an awful lot of systems available for document management. But we expanded the scope: it had to be a system in which we could also record and track incident reports and which could also support us in risk management. We saw a lot, but many systems did not deliver what they promised.”
In the end, two suppliers were left to bid for the tender. Infoland (Zenya software) won the tender. One of the requirements in the tender was to simplify document management. Oasen has been successfully applying Zenya DOC for several years now. They also record process flows to ensure that documents are managed correctly and the right people can link to them.
With regard to incident reporting, additional needs also existed from within the organisation. In the old situation, technicians would report an incident or dangerous situation at a location in one reporting system, which was then manually recorded in another reporting system. Now Oasen manages this with Zenya FLOW. The reason Oasen chose Zenya? “Zenya offers one integrated system for quality and risk management,” Peter explains. “One system that meets all requirements, so it doesn’t get fragmented within the organisation. That benefits the overall ease of use.” In addition to DOC and FLOW, Oasen also uses the CHECK and RISK modules.
Although risks were previously recorded on paper, I had no overview at all. As a result, some risks were not followed up on. With Zenya RISK, I have more control thanks to clear reports and clear dashboards.”
Oasen thus previously purchased Zenya for their quality and risk management. Let’s fast forward to 2024: Peter and his colleagues have now been working with Zenya for almost four years. Oasen is one of the first customers to use our updated RISK module with satisfaction. Peter says: “In 2020 we started mapping strategic risks. Since then, we have also included risks when it comes to projects and various topics, such as tax risks.”
RISK is thus applied to all types of risks in the organisation. “One of our strategic goals is an impeccable drinking water supply. Climate change and the drought it brings is a risk that could jeopardise this goal,” Peter says. “We make our drinking water from riparian groundwater by means of riparian groundwater extraction along De Lek. As it gets drier and drier in summer, the seawater gets further and further into the land and thus the river. The salt that then enters the water cannot be removed by our ordinary treatment. We have recorded this risk so that we can take management measures in time. For instance, we now use a different treatment technique at a number of treatment plants.”
For instance, Oasen faces numerous other risks. Just think of drug residues entering the water or a security incident that could jeopardise continuity of the company, and thus the supply of drinking water. “As a supplier of drinking water, we are essential to Dutch society. That means we have to comply with strict laws and regulations, such as the WBNI and soon the NIS2, to ensure that we do not fall victim to cybercrime and that the continuity of our organisation remains guaranteed.”
But RISK is also applied for smaller risks, for example at project level. In projects, there may be risks that make the lead time too long or that the project does not deliver what was expected of it. Peter is the one who supports project leaders and project members in determining the risks and records them in Zenya. Users, such as project leaders, have rights to access the risks in RISK.
Before Oasen had RISK, risks were recorded in various Excel sheets. “Although the risks were recorded on paper, I had no overview at all,” says Peter. “As a result, some risks were not followed up. With RISK, I have much more control. For example, a risk involves certain control measures that I can assign to employees and evaluate whether this is followed up.”
But the reports and dashboards also provide much more overview. Peter: “I can see at any time what is going on and how things are progressing.” Thanks to RISK, Oasen can ‘reuse’ existing risks on new, similar projects. For example, they regularly run the same kind of project at another location, where the risks and management measures can now be adopted. “We don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel, everything is in Zenya. That works very easily and saves us a huge amount of time.”
Oasen is one of the first Infoland customers to use the updated RISK module. Did that go smoothly right away? Peter laughs. “It took some getting used to and not everything worked as well for us as the previous version. I reported that back to my contact person and the Product Development team. What I like about working with Infoland is that they really listen to our feedback and made adjustments to the software based on that feedback,” he says.
Being able to assign controls to a colleague, without using CHECK, is a big improvement in the new module for Oasen. As is the graphical display of risk reports and the active signalling from Zenya towards risk owners. “An email then gets sent to the responsible colleague, asking, for example, to evaluate a risk or saying that the deadline for the management measure is coming up. That’s huge progress!”
Thanks to RISK, engagement around risk management has improved. Now colleagues see what good risk tracking and monitoring brings them. For example, if anything goes wrong in a project, they can back it up with Zenya and learn from it.”
Colleagues were already enthusiastic about the software, but the updated version makes colleagues feel even more involved in risk management. Thanks to RISK, risk management is more alive in the organisation and people see its importance. Peter: “The old Excel sheets felt like an obligation for many employees. Now they see what good risk tracking and monitoring can bring them. For example, if anything goes wrong in a project, they can substantiate it with Zenya and learn from it.”
Peter recommends other organisations to apply Zenya for risk management as well. It contributes to the feeling that this is not something that should belong to one person, but to the whole organisation. Everyone can now see the strategic and operational risks. “That’s what makes the software so great: colleagues can filter on which risks and the corresponding control measures are theirs. RISK has given the culture around risk management a big boost,” Peter concludes.
Find out how Zenya RISK can help you turn risks into opportunities. Request the brochure with no obligation.
Read all about it on our Zenya RISK page. On this page, you can also request a free demo.
