I n g e n i oNº 40 | JULY 2019

Ten years in India

The Delhi-Meerut rail line

Restructuring of senior management

2018 results

In the news

Ayesa’s carsharing platform is launched

Alicante Combined Court Centre

Interview with Luis M. Ruiz del Portal

Solar power in Mexico

In-person customer service for CEMS

Maintenance services for employment

Ayesa Foundation: Emprendis Awards

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Summary

Contents and design:Corporate CommunicationsDepartment.

Contact: comunicacioncorporativa@ayesa.com

Head office:Edificio Ayesa, Marie Curie, 2Parque Científico Tecnológico Cartuja41092 Seville, Spain.

All material is subject to copyright. It isstrictly prohibited to distribute all or anypart of this magazine without the expresspermission of the author.

3PRESIDENT’S OFFICE

We are seeing the dawn of a new era. Thanks to the Internet, the cloud, telecommunications, robotics, artificial intelligence and the IoT, the world as we know it will soon cease to be and be replaced by another beyond our wildest imagination. The priorities of humankind will change, the borders that separate societies will break down due to being in constant contact with one another and we will become true citizens of the world.Many of the privileges enjoyed by countries with bad habits will disappear, great opportunities will come about for those willing to fight for what they believe in, undeveloped countries will be in a position to truly change things, the old ways will serve little purpose and people will have to reinvent themselves in line with new priorities. Those who snooze really will lose.A company that sells knowledge, such as Ayesa, has a real challenge ahead. Radical changes will quickly render any intellectual product obsolete and everything we consider to be cutting-edge today will be outdated tomorrow. Companies who do not adapt accordingly will be blown away by the wind of progress.There is only one way to remain at the cutting edge and that is by reinventing ourselves. If before companies had to modernise each decade, now they must do so every day, with constant change affecting every part of a company, including its structure, teams, products, procedures and strategy.We must unify our management structure,

create a strategy that prepares us for what lies ahead, develop our own cutting-edge products, constantly train our people, increase teleworking, create smaller teams, introduce artificial intelligence in our day-to-day work and make reinventing ourselves an integral part of our lives, just as brushing our teeth or taking a shower.If in such a traditional area as football, the winning teams radically reinvent themselves year upon year to avoid defeat and relegation, we professionals of knowledge, who are both the driving force and victims of the pace of change, must do the same to topple our rivals and push ahead on our path of success.At Ayesa, the concept of ‘constant reinvention’ is here to stay. As such, we have just reorganised our management structure, radically improved our strategy and unified our company. We have also begun an era of new, more effective, more transparent and more efficient procedures.We want to improve the way we work, ensure our people enjoy a good work-life balance, improve performance and open the way for constant improvements in expertise and salaries. The way we work will undoubtedly be enhanced, but we must ensure we constantly keep up to date with changes.‘Reinvent yourself or die’ has now been replaced with ‘reinvent yourself to win’. We will see this change in mentality as a company, but also on a personal level, conscious of the fact that we are now citizens of a new world and proud to be the authors of progress.

Reinventing ourselves

José Luis Manzanares JapónPresident of Ayesa

4 TRANSPORT

This year is Ayesa’s 10th anniversary in India. In 2009, the company decided to travel the 7,600 kilometres that separate Seville from Gurgaon, where it opened its first office, the aim being to establish a permanent presence on the subcontinent and become an interna-tional engineering company in Asia. For José Luis Manzanares Abásolo, CEO of Ayesa, ‘the formula chosen by the company to establish itself in India was unusual. We changed our in-ternational strategy of going from one project to another to establish a permanent presence in certain markets with the aim of becoming a local player with a long-term, multi-project vision’. The company’s Vice President for International Business, Nagi Chehab, predic-ted impressive results, and has been proven right: ‘the decision was particularly difficult as our knowledge of the region and local laws was non-existent. However, we were ready to accept a long and steep learning curve in order to secure projects and ensure outstan-ding results’.As such, India was an exception in terms of the process of international expansion the company followed. Nevertheless, the strategy of becoming a local player is what has made Ayesa so competitive in comparison to other major global engineering firms. It was not long before Ayesa began to secure contract after contract and in 2010, it was awarded its first project, which involved providing supervision services for maintenance work on the Sister Nivedita Bridge in Calcutta.In 2011, it achieved its first major project, which consisted of designing 26 stations on the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line, this being the first of many important contracts to come. As such, over its ten years in India, Ayesa has participated in a dozen metro projects, inclu-ding in Calcutta, Jaipur, Greater Noida, Luck-now, Bangalore and Pune, with some of these infrastructures currently in operation. It has also undertaken important road infrastructure projects, such as project management for the Agra Lucknow Expressway, the longest in India at 300 kilometres in length, and is currently providing supervision services in Purvanchal, a contract which it was awarded at the end of 2018. Our latest milestone came this year when we were awarded two work packages for the country’s semi high-speed rail line (180km/h).

Ayesa celebrates ten years as a leading transport company in India>> In 2009, the company opened its first office in India with the aim of identifying opportunities for growth, and is now a major transport engineering company in the country. It is currently the leading firm in the metro sector in India with its offices employing a team of 400 people.

5TRANSPORT

Ayesa celebrates ten years as a leading transport company in India>> In 2009, the company opened its first office in India with the aim of identifying opportunities for growth, and is now a major transport engineering company in the country. It is currently the leading firm in the metro sector in India with its offices employing a team of 400 people.

6 CIVIL ENGINEERING

Ayesa has bagged a 40-million-euro contract to provide technical assistance (General Consultancy) for India’s first rapid rail line, which will run between Delhi and Meerut. The company, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary in India this year, has secured this major contract, in consortium with Italferr, for the management and supervision of the entire rail corridor, except for the civil works supervision. As such, it covers all phases from tender and design through to commissioning and initial operating. The Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) is one of the most ambitious projects in the National Capital State Territory of Delhi. Promoted by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), it will be a real trailblazer in the country, with a design speed of 180 kilometres per hour. The line will allow 82 kilometres to be covered in just 62 minutes, almost half of the current jour-ney time, and will form a semi-high-speed link joining the cities of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Meerut. The aim is to improve the transport system in New Delhi and the Delhi metropolitan area, one of the world’s largest with a popu-

lation of around 57 million. The Delhi-Meerut corridor is one of three corridors that the Government has established as a priority, although the plan involves eight lines in total. With an allocated budget of 3.8 billion euros for its construction, the system is expected to be operational in 2025.

Station designThis new contract is yet another achieve-ment for Ayesa, following the recent signing of a contract with NCRTC to design four of the elevated stations for this corridor (Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar and Duhai) as well as 2 depots.‘After having participated in various Metro Rail projects, these two contracts are fur-ther testimony to our position as a leading engineering company with outstanding technical expertise in the field of transport in India. The focus of the company on es-tablishing a local and permanent presence in the country ten years ago has resulted in continued growth and contracts which are increasingly more extensive and diverse’, explains José Luis Manzanares Abásolo, CEO of Ayesa.

Ticket for India’s first semi-high-speed rail corridor>> Ayesa will be responsible for the management and supervision of construction work. The value of the contract is 40 million euros, making it the largest secured by Ayesa to date in India.

Virtual simulation of a station on the high-speed line which will join Delhi and Meerut.

8 AYESA

Ayesa’s Board of Directors has appointed Arancha Manzanares Abásolo the Group’s Vice President and Assistant to José Luis Manzanares Japón, as part of the generatio-nal transition within the company’s senior management. Arancha will also be responsi-ble for the business strategy of the Group’s technology area. Also, as part of this restruc-turing process, José Luis Manzanares Abásolo has been appointed CEO of Ayesa and is now responsible for all its business areas and corporate services.José Luis Manzanares Japón, Executive President of Ayesa, has highlighted that ‘the aim of these appointments is two-fold: firstly to project the image of a unified company in which engineering and consulting seamlessly come together to form an ETC (engineering, technology and consultancy) company, and secondly to strengthen its senior manage-ment structure to ensure it is prepared for

the inevitable passing of the years. As such, we are focusing on creating a more solid and unified Ayesa and one with a bright future ahead’.The new CEO is a civil engineer and his work until now has focused on engineering and territory. However, he will now also be respon-sible for the technology area of the company, the aim of this change being to create a fully integrated engineering and technology con-sulting group (ETC). For this purpose, changes will be made to the various areas which make up Ayesa to ensure they are ready for the new era of technologi-cal disruption.Arancha Manzanares is a doctor in industrial engineering and in her new role as Vice Presi-dent and Assistant to the President she will be responsible for business development, part of her mission being to diversify the Group’s international client portfolio.

Ayesa changes its senior management structure in preparation for a new period of growth

Arancha Manzanares Abásolo is appointed Vice President of the Group and Assistant to the President

José Luis Manzanares Abásolo is the new CEO of Ayesa and responsible for all its business areas

José Luis Manzanares Abásolo, CEO of Ayesa, and Arancha Manzanares Abásolo, Vice President and Assistant to the President.

Ayesa has closed the 2018 financial year with 1.5% growth in comparison to 2017. As such, the group’s companies generated a total of 274 million euros in revenue.Of the company’s six business areas, Tech-nology Consultancy, and Civil Engineering and Architecture achieved the best results with a 15% and 13% increase in revenue respectively.However, these significant increases are not seen in overall revenue due to a decrease in industrial construction (EPC) projects in 2018.Moreover, EBITDA exceeded 24 million eu-ros, representing an operating margin of 9%, and the performance of foreign currencies and exchange rates was favourable for the company.

Value Added SolutionsAyesa has continued to focus on offering new value-added technology solutions and services, such as those based on smart technology (Smart Life) and Industry 4.0 (Digital Factory), which now represent more than 10% of the company’s total revenue.These departments develop Ayesa’s most innovative projects, bringing smart techno-logy such as virtual and augmented reality, big data, analytics, machine learning and IoT to strategic sectors, including industry, security, sustainable mobility, water and energy.Part of the reason for Ayesa’s growth in 2018 was its involvement in international projects, which represented 49% of all its work, a record for the company. Civil Engineering continues to be the most

international of Ayesa’s business areas with 90% of its work taking place outside of Spain.In terms of regional performance, projects in Latin America generated the most revenue for the company, this increasing by 5.7% in comparison to the previous financial year. As such, Ayesa is currently involved in major projects throughout the continent, mainly in the areas of urban transport and hydraulic infrastructure.

ProjectsIn fact, Line 2 of the Panama Metro, which was supervised by Ayesa, was opened recently. Here, the company is also imple-menting major technology solutions for the utilities sector, as well as continuing to develop economic-financial systems for the Panamanian and Ecuadorian governments.Furthermore, engineering contracts for new desalination plants and transport systems in the Middle East have meant Ayesa’s turnover from projects in this part of the world has doubled, this being one of the most recent regions the company has expanded into. In terms of Europe, in 2017 the company opened an office in Italy, which is making good progress in the area of technology solutions for the comprehensive management of utilities.‘The 2018 financial year saw the company push ahead with important engineering, te-chnology and consultancy projects, and has given way to an impressive 2019 in terms of major new contracts and innovation’, explai-ned José Luis Manzanares Japón, President of Ayesa.

Sales reach 274 million euros in 2018>> Of the company’s six business areas, Civil Engineering and Architecture, and Technology Consultancy stand out for achieving a 13% and 15% increase in revenue respectively.

Over recent years, Ayesa has secured its position as one of Spain’s leading consul-ting firms specialised in digital transforma-tion. As such, in the latest ranking of ICT companies published by the technology magazine Computing, it came in 33th ove-rall. However, amongst Spanish firms on the list, it ranked firmly in the top ten.This ranking is headed by technology groups such as Indra and IBM, telcos such as Másmóvil, and distribution companies such as Tech Data and Esprinet. According

to Computing, the information on growth provided by these ICT companies confirms the Spanish technology sector performed well over 2018, generating a turnover of 53,317 million euros. This represents 3.8% growth, based on information from the top 100 companies.In terms of technology consulting, Ayesa has a significant market share in two main areas, namely economic-financial systems for public administrations and manage-ment solutions for the utilities sector.

According to Computing Magazine, among theleading ITC companies

274 M€Turnover

4.745Team

International presence

+50 countries

AYESA 9

10 IN THE NEWS

In May of this year, Real Madrid’s Board of Directors awarded FCC the construction contract for the new Santiago Bernabeu stadium based on its bid, which was the most economical and offered the best technical expertise, according to Expansión. FCC managed to convince the club’s Board by presenting a variation on the initial project, which is set to cost the club around 470 million euros, some 30 million less than the initial estimate. Ayesa advised the club throughout the bidding and award process.

The new Santiago Bernabeu stadium is given the go ahead

The Department for Education and Sports of the Regional Government of Andalusia has introduced online registration, which will allow reception, primary and secondary school pupils at state and subsidised schools to register for the 2019-2020 school year online, where schools have opted to allow this, according to Europa Press. Ayesa, the company responsible for maintaining the Séneca platform, has been tasked with implementing this online registration system.

Online registration for state school pupils in Andalusia

11DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Ayesa continues to grow as a technological consultancy firm in the sphere of sustaina-ble mobility. The multinational has develo-ped for the Spanish company WishiLife an advanced technological platform for electric carsharing.WishiLife is the fifth operator to launch a free-floating electric service in Madrid. It be-came operational in January in the centre of the capital and north-eastern sector of the region. Specifically, in Boadilla del Monte, Aravaca-Pozuelo de Alarcón, Majadahon-da, and Las Rozas, providing service to a surface area of up to one-hundred square kilometres.Until now, its cars have been used by more than 1,300 clients. Yet the service has brought in several innovations, such as payment per kilometres travelled rather than per minute. Similarly, it offers different alternatives, such as daily rentals, through WishiLife Rent (the first electric rent-a-car system in mainland Spain) and in the long-term through its product, hitherto unheard of on the market, WishiLife Home. In the latter case, the clients are provided with a specially designed charger for the electrical vehicle that the firm installs free of charge in their homes. WishiLife came into being with a float of

around 40 electric vehicles and has plans to expand this up to 300 in the first year. The company is the first multi-brand carsharing operator in Spain.Via the WishiLife web (www.wishilife.com) or by using the mobile application currently available for the Android network, anyone may book a vehicle. Furthermore, the solution is rounded off with a web portal and back-office to handle operations.

With regard to the mobile App, this is avai-lable on the Android store, where users can register by simply uploading a photo of their driving licence, a “selfie” and a valid means of payment; thus being able to hire different vouchers or services; query the status of the vehicles available in real time; make immediate bookings or request a vehicle be sent to wherever they want whenever they want through the WishiLife Delivery

services, with a minimum of 20 minutes’ forewarning.Likewise, incidents affecting the vehicle can be reported; the cars can be opened and closed; maps can be consulted (geofences) of the areas set aside for vehicle parking. Thanks to this technology, some areas have been given special rates, for example in the case of the airport.

Special featuresIn addition, the application developed by Ayesa adds special functional aspects for the fleet maintenance staff in the central depots, such as push notifications on new tasks that have been assigned to them and the handling of vehicle delivery and collection.Turning to the web, as well as all the functions mentioned above, it acts as a management portal. From it, the user may query consumption levels, means of pay-ment, billing and contracted products.In tandem, the operator has access to data updated in real time for the entire fleet in the form warnings, incidents, service per-formance indicators broken down by area, handling of vehicle delivery and collection, geofences enabled or firmware for devices, amongst other aspects.

WishiLife starts its 100% electric carsharing platform created by Ayesa

The system allows to be billed per km and vehicles to be sent to wherever they are in less than 20 minutes

>> The technological consultancy firm has designed and developed the mobile application and the website, from which all the formalities are carried out, from the reservation of the vehicle to its opening.

12 ARCHITECTURE

New court buildings are becoming major ar-chitectural masterpieces of the 21st century. In the case of combined court centres, their size and multipurpose nature represent a real challenge for architects, who must create modern and aesthetically pleasing buildings which fit in with their surroundings whilst providing effective court services.Alicante has taken a leap forward in this regard with its new combined court centre, which is set to house various services, including the Civil Registry Office, Forensic Medicine Institute and courts, which are currently at different locations in the city. As such, a tender was put out for the pre-paration of the design and project manage-ment, which has been awarded to Ayesa for a value of almost one million euros.Ayesa has recent experience in this area, namely with the Cordoba Combined Court Centre, an iconic building which has won and continues to win numerous architecture awards. In this case, the inspiration for the design came from the city’s Moorish history.

Local materialsIn Alicante, the design will focus on creating a modern, cutting-edge and functional buil-ding, which fits in well with its surroundings. In order to achieve this, white ceramic latti-ce facades have been designed to filter the natural light that penetrates the building, this material having been chosen because

of its excellent qualities and the fact that it is traditionally produced in the area around Alicante. The initial design envisages a

striking 50,000 m2 building, what confers a great dimension.The design of the Alicante Combined Court Centre also pays particular attention to ensuring it fits in well in the city. As such, it will be urban in nature, with a lar-ge central square around which the various buildings will be located. Moreover, the inclusion of green areas and openings to the outside will further ensure it fits in well with its surroundings, in addition to providing greater accessibility.Together with the current court building in Benalúa and other nearby offices, this new court centre will be the main building of Alicante’s ‘Justice District’, where all the city’s court services and activities will be based.

BIMAyesa is implementing the use of BIM technology and virtual reality in all its major building and infrastructure projects. In fact, in the case of the Alicante Combined Court Centre, it did not form part of the specifi-cations, but its use will make viewing the building during the initial phases and regular checks by the client much easier. Moreover, at an internal level, it will im-prove coordination between the various departments involved and reduce the likeli-hood of mistakes being made during cons-truction. It will also help track maintenance carried out on the building over time.

Ayesa to design the Alicante Combined Court Centre using BIM

Virtual recreation of the City of Justice in Alicante, designed by Ayesa.

13INTERVIEW

Eight years ago, Ayesa began to focus on ex-panding its presence in Latin America through major technology projects, in the wake of the company’s highly successful engineering area. Since 2011, the work carried out in this area has gone from strength to strength throug-hout the continent.Its first major contract involved automa-ting the management of prisons in Mexico. However, others soon followed, including the economic-financial system for the Munici-pio del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito, the Ecuadorian Government and the Panamanian Government, as well as the sales system (SAP

ISU) for Agua de Quito. The next milestone came thanks to Enel with a transnational maintenance and systems development project, which has seen Ayesa establish a permanent presence in numerous countries on the continent. Luis María Ruiz del Portal, Head of Knowledge Technology for Latin America, notes that ‘this has put us in a privileged position not only as a company that implements projects, but also as technology partners for our clients, a figure which is not as common in the public sector as in oil & gas and utilities. As such, we support and advise our clients in terms of their transformation plan and, of course, also during implementation and/or supervision’.

The private sectorAyesa’s growth strategy is pushing ahead in the private sector. According to Luis, ‘the vast majority of our competitors are turning down projects which involve building software for large public administrations due to their complexity. In this area, our aim is to continue on our path of diversification by seeking out more profitable projects. As such, we will be looking to expand our supervision and sup-

port work with major companies within the area of technological transformation. Within this new context, forecasts are very positi-ve’. Before the first half of the year has even ended, ‘we have almost met our target for the entire year in terms of contracts secured, and we have high expectations for the Vanti Natural Gas project due to the implementa-tion strategy and, above all, the innovation it involves’, he adds.

Synergies For Luis, Ayesa’s main strength lies in ‘the seamless integration of its various areas, without which we would simply be another consulting firm. Our clients choose us to help them build the future, placing great value on the fact that we are constantly innovating and have the necessary experience to offer them sound advice. In this regard, the Digital Trans-formation area is really helping us position the brand’.In terms of the countries with the most potential, he explains he has ‘very high hopes for almost all of them. This year, we are set to grow in Peru and Panama, whilst in Chile

and Brazil we will continue to focus on Enel projects. We must make sure 2020 is a year of diversification because the potential in Latin America is enormous. Moreover, we are con-tinuing to expand our presence in Colombia, the fruit of years of hard work’. Currently, the main technology projects in which the company is involved in Latin Ame-rica ‘are the implementation of SAP ERP and HR systems in Ecuador for 1,200 entities, the most impressive technological big bang in the world, as well as the new GIS platform for the company Forestal Arauco, in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Another important client for Ayesa in Latin America is Grupo Energía de Bogotá’, he explains.

Luis María Ruiz del PortalHead of Knowledge Technology for Latin America

‘The Smart Life area is really helping us position the brand and offer true innovation to our clients’

‘The vast majority of our competitors are turning down software building projects for public administrations’

>> The Head of Knowledge Technology for Latin America has revealed that a number of opportunities across the continent are currently being looked into and, if they materialise, will see Ayesa gain ground in new countries.

‘We no longer just implement projects for our clients, but are now their technology partners’

14 ENERGY

The sun is out in Mexico

Mexico has become one of the most attrac-tive countries for investing in renewable energy, particularly solar energy. Following 6,300 million dollars in investment over the past year, the country has increased its installed solar power capacity by 1800%, exceeding a total of 3000 megawatts (MW).The plans of the new government regarding the power auctions established by the last executive are still unknown, although it is ex-pected that the sector will continue to grow

given the fact that the country still has a long way to go in terms of wind and solar power.

Multidisciplinary engineering Ayesa has kicked off the year with two ma-jor contracts involving solar power plants, these representing a great milestone for the company due to their scale, as well as the client and technology involved. ‘They also mean we are now a leader in specialised engineering services for clean energy in Mexico. The aim is to become one of the main players here, something we are confident we will achieve given our capacity and experience’, explains Manuel González, Head of Industry for Mexico.The first project will see Ayesa carry out site engineering for Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, supervising

both engineering and construction at a plant with an installed capacity of more than 300 MW in Guanajuato. Manuel explains that this project will be un-dertaken in conjunction with the local firm Voltae, which specialises in high-voltage facilities. A particularly noteworthy aspect of this project is the technology which will be used, namely bifacial solar panels capable of absorbing energy on both sides. The second project involves a 600 MW plant

belonging to Iberdrola in Zacatecas, set to be the second biggest in Mexico.

Ayesa will carry out a geotechnical study over three months and then undertake pull-out tests to check the strength of the structures. It will also supervise the project in the form of site engineering. These services include reviewing all docu-ments relating to the detailed engineering, processing of permits, production studies, legal compliance and document manage-ment. Manuel points out that this is the largest plant Ayesa has been involved in to date. The Head of Industry for Mexico also notes that ‘up until now, we have under-taken projects involving 50 MW power plants, so the leap to 300 and 600 MW plants is particularly impressive. It repre-sents significant progress for the company, allowing us to participate in major projects.

>> Ayesa has been awarded contracts for two mega solar power plants in Mexico, one with 300 megawatts and another with 600 megawatts of installed capacity.

The Fotowatio power plant will use cutting-edge technology involving bifacial solar panels

Mexico’s installed solar power capacity will have been doubled by 2024, according to PwC

The country currently has 39 solar power plants with a total installed capacity of 3 GW, located in ele-ven states, including the Villanueva solar power plant with an installed capacity of 828 MW, making it the largest to date in Latin America and the Caribbean, and one of the most extensive in the world. According to PwC, by 2024 Mexico will have a total installed capacity of 6 GW.

Mexico has currently 3,000 photovoltaic megawatts of installed power.

15BPO

>> The public corporation which groups together Seville’s public water, cleaning, transport and housing companies, has entrusted Ayesa with managing its 35 customer service points.

New in-person customer service in Seville

As such, Ayesa will increase the front and back office services it provides Seville’s municipal companies with, including the in-person customer service offered at 35 points throughout Seville and Greater Seville. Since 2013, Ayesa’s BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) division has been responsi-ble for the multi-channel ‘010’ service, the information service provided by Seville City Hall which responds to more than 700,000 queries from the public each year.Now, with this new contract, it will also ope-rate the customer service points belonging to the Corporación de Empresas Municipa-les de Sevilla (CEMS), comprised of Emasesa (water), Tussam (transport), Lipasam (clea-ning) and Emvisesa (housing).

New technology In addition to the staff who will work at the-se customer service points responding to queries from the public, such as registering new and cancelling existing water contracts, renewing bus passes and submitting appli-cations for council accommodation, Ayesa will create a plan to implement new forms of technology, such as interactive kiosks, to simplify the experience of the public.

Jesús Morón, Head of the Public Sector area in Ayesa’s BPO division, points out that ‘this is a new challenge for Ayesa, which will see it improve the interactions the public have with Seville’s municipal companies by implementing cutting-edge technology.

This will result in an enhanced experience for the public and a significant improvement in the way these companies digitise their documents’.An appointment service will also be intro-duced, the aim being to ensure the various public service points are run effectively and thus reduce waiting times.The service is designed to operate for more than 70,000 hours each year. The duration of the contract is 24 months, which may be extended for a further 36, this ‘allowing us to have a medium and long-term vision for the project when implementing the various forms of technology planned’, adds Jesús.Ayesa has been providing outsourcing (BOP) solutions to major utilities and public sector companies for more than 15 years through its BPO area. This division has a team of 1,200 people, most of whom work in Vega del Rey (Camas, Seville), although it also has offices in Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza and Santander. It has also developed two major tools of its own, namely the ABO (Ayesa Business Optimization) platform, which supports the management of documents and applications/queries regarding benefits (such as electricity discounts), and a call centre solution called tCall.

The urban line of the municipal transport company Tussam.

16 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

A job portal for a million people

Andalusia’s public health system reveals a new, user-friendly website designed by Ayesa

Each Spanish autonomous community has its own platform to manage labour supply and demand, as well as other systems for mana-ging training. Just like job websites belonging to companies from the private sector, these platforms match profiles with vacancies, thus helping to reduce unemployment.In Castile and León, this employment system is called Sicas and Ayesa is the company tasked with maintaining and improving it. The company is also responsible for Seguifor, Castile and León’s job training platform. This autonomous community has 1.1 million

individuals of working age, this being the segment of the population likely to use the platform. This means that powerful solutions which allow for a large amount of informa-tion and processes to be supported must be implemented. José Luis Rodríguez Criado, Account Manager at Ayesa, underlines the capacity Ayesa, as a consulting firm, has to manage a contract of this type, due to the fact that it is already present in the region, with an office in Va-lladolid, and has extensive experience with these kinds of platforms. He also highlights that these are strategic platforms for Spain’s autonomous commu-nities as they allow the training needs of the unemployed to be identified, the profiles of

jobseekers to be analysed and relevant in-formation for the economic development of the region to be obtained. The scope of the two work packages includes the implemen-tation, maintenance, design and building of the system. The Regional Department for Employment is set to invest around a million euros over 2019 and 2020 in these IT systems, which also ensure data is exchanged with employ-ment services in other autonomous commu-nities, as well as the state system.According to the Regional Government of

Castile and León, this contract ensures the continuity of the maintenance service for Sicas, as well as allowing it to be adapted to new needs and requirements, including those relating to data protection and ECYL’s (Castile and León’s Public Employment Servi-ce) mobile app.

FeaturesThis tool makes accessing the services offered easier for jobseekers, as well as pro-viding a personalised service for users and improving the way training is managed in the region. It also provides a mobile app which is compatible with numerous operating sys-tems and allows users to access the services offered by ECYL.

Andalusia’s public health system (SAS) has launched its new website, www. juntadean-dalucia.es/servicioandaluzdesalud, which is now much more user friendly thanks to the way its content is organised into different menus and sections. It also has a mobile version, providing users with greater convenience by allowing them to check ap-pointments and any other information they require from their phone. Ayesa has been the technology consulting firm responsible for this project, developed on the Drupal 8 platform. One of the major advantages of this system is that it allows content management to be separated from visual appearance, this being the latest trend in content manage-ment.The information provided on the website is organised into four main blocks of content: SAS, Patients, Professionals and Suppliers. ‘ClicSalud+’ can be accessed directly from the new website, allowing patients to take advantage of a whole host of services, such as making an appointment with their GP, checking their position on waiting lists, renewing their health card, requesting a temporary change of residence to another autonomous community, choosing a GP’s surgery and doctor, submitting advance directives and accessing their basic medical history, amongst other things. Amongst the new content, the ‘Patients’ area includes a new ‘health advice’ section, which aims to promote healthy living and provide answers to common questions about issues such as cancer, vaccinations, children’s health and mental health.Furthermore, a section has been added at the bottom of the website which takes users to useful links, as well as relevant laws, statistics and publications.

Traffic in 2018 Over 2018, the SAS website received 108.8 million visits, a 45% increase in comparison to the 75 million visits it received in 2017. Access from mobile devices represented 45% of all visits in 2018 and this figure is currently at more than 50%, thus confirming the growing trend amongst users to access websites from their mobile phone. Within this context, the need to launch a mobile version of the website was particularly important.

>> Ayesa has been entrusted with maintaining and improving the technology used by the extensive platform provided by the Regional Government of Castile and León.

Oficinas de ECYL.

17IN BRIEF

The Caminos Foundation and the College of Civil Engineers, in conjunction with the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pela-yo, held the V Global Engineering and Public Works Forum on June at the Palacio de la Magdalena in Santander. The President of Ayesa, José Luis Manzanares Japón, gave a presentation on the digital transforma-tion of the sector, in which he highlighted the need to adapt the profession to a new reality, which is much closer than we think, and in which civil engineers will have to be aware of the new market in which they will be operating, giving as an example the fact that in the future they ‘will have to build motorways for autonomous vehicles’.

In May, Ayesa’s head office in Seville played host to the kick-off meeting for a new H2020 project. 50 professionals from 11 countries participated in the kick-off. The project, SND-microSENSE, has a 10.1 million-euro budget, of which 7.9 million euros have been provided by the EU. The goal is to develop a secure solution, which is resistant to cyber-attacks, ensures privacy and protects decentralised electri-city and energy systems. Ayesa is the com-pany leading this project with another 30 companies from countries such as Greece, Norway, Germany, Bulgaria and France also participating.

Ayesa co-sponsored Kaggle Day Madrid, alongside Repsol and Terminus 7, which took place on the 3rd June at the Google for Startups Campus. This community of data scientists, the largest in the world, was acquired by Google in 2017. Two colleagues from the Technology and Consulting area, Carlos Sevilla and Rodrigo Gómez, bagged the gold medal in a compe-tition organised by Microsoft to develop a model for predicting if a computer is likely to be infected with a virus. These two data experts form part of a team of 8 individuals led by Daniel Capilla, whose work focuses on machine learning for the utilities sector.

SND-microSENSE

The V Engineering Forum

Kaggle Day

18 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The energy market is undergoing major transformation due to the increase in renewal energy, self-consumption, microge-neration, storage and new electric vehicles, amongst other things.This new context in terms of generation and consumption must go hand in hand with new technological developments to create a secure energy system. In terms of distribu-tion, much work still needs to be done as we must ensure that new players, such as homes with photovoltaic panels, use the system appropriately.Within this context, a new R&D project has been launched to bring about advances in the area of smart grids. Pastora (Preventive Analysis of Smart Grids with Real Time Ope-ration and Renewable Assets Integration) is run by a consortium of companies led by Endesa and which Ayesa is part of, the aim of the project being to add a smart compo-nent to the management of the medium and low-voltage grid.Due to its high capillarity, until now it has been impossible to monitor and control the thousands of kilometres of power lines and infrastructure associated with the electri-cal grid, such as transformer substations. However, current technology such as smart meters, and an increase in the use of IoT

devices, which allow large volumes of information to be obtained, combined with big data and AI technology, have made this possible.As part of another project, Monica, the predecessor of Pas, it was shown that information, such as loads, drops in voltage, surges and technical/non-technical losses, could be obtained from the medium and low-voltage grid in real time.

The next step now with Pastora is to ope-rate the grid efficiently and plan its running and maintenance using this information.‘Now that we have smart meters, part of the monitoring issue has already been solved, which is why, by also monitoring transfor-mer substations, we are now able to obtain detailed and extensive information. Then, with these measurements and information on the electrical features of the grid, we are able to calculate all the electrical measure-ments for its nodes and branches’, explains Manuel Fernández Dana, head of the project at Ayesa.As part of Pastora, new devices will be developed, such as self-regulating trans-formers, as well as an ADMS (advanced distribution management system), which will use the growing volume of information from the grids. It will also offer a series of tools for operators to be aware of the status of all the infrastructure involved in real time.

To do this, it will process information obtai-ned from thermographic cameras installed at distribution/transformer substations, which measure the temperature of all the parts; it will obtain data from the new sen-sor systems installed; it will offer operators tools for managing alarms/incidents; and it will provide machine learning algorithms capable of extrapolating the results to other grids with less sensor technology.One of the aims of this is to foresee faults and undertake preventive maintenance. ‘Thanks to the data obtained from meters and sensors, and by combining it with incident management data, patterns can be established. We train the algorithm and the results obtained are extrapolated to a larger data set (the new measurements obtai-ned as part of Pastora), with incidents and alarms being generated when damage is about to occur’, explains Manuel Fernández Dana.

AI reaches the electrical grid

The aim is to foresee faults and undertake preventive maintenance based on an algorithm

Sensors and digital meters now provide us with a wealth of data from the electrical grid

>> Ayesa participates in a new R&D project to add a layer of intelligence to the way the medium and low-voltage grid is managed, as well as be able to plan work and maintenance.

The Pastora project has a 2.8-million-euro budget and is partly funded by the CDTI.

Pastora is being implemented as part of the Smartcity Living Lab in Malaga, an innova-tion ecosystem which brings together all the technology involved in smart grids in a real setting. In this area, there are 17,000 Endesa Distribución customers, 40 kilometres of medium-voltage power lines and 56 urban transformer substations.

Smartcity Living Lab in Malaga

19FOUNDATION

Ingenio_16

Ayesa Foundation

The Ayesa Foundation has held the IV Emprendis Awards, the aim of which is to promote the integration of persons with disabilities in the workplace in Andalusia. This year has seen a particularly impres-sive level of participation with a record 31 entries, testimony to the fact that these awards are a set date on the calendar of the disability sector in Andalusia. The jury, made up of renowned professio-nals from associations and the non-profit sector, such as Antonio Fragero (Proyecto Hombre), Juan Luis Muñoz Escassi (AFA), José Soto (Andex), Juan Román (Hélice) and Ricardo Galán (Head of the Ayesa Foundation, acting as secretary), chose the ten best projects aimed at promoting integration in the workplace. These initia-tives will receive a total of 50,000 euros in funding.The winners were the Seville Association for Sufferers of Brain Injury (DACE); the Provincial Federation of Associations for Persons with Physical and Organic Disabilities of Cordoba (FEPAMIC); the Paz y Bien Association; the Andalusian Epilepsy Association (ÁPICE); the Seville Food Bank; the Seville Association for Disability Support (ASAS); the Down Jerez Aspanido Foundation; the Nuestra Señora del Rocío de Triana Foundation; the Anda-lusian Haemophilia Association (ASAN-HEMO); and the Provincial Federation of Organisations for Persons with Learning Difficulties, Autism and Cerebral Palsy of the Province of Cadiz (FEPROAMI).

The Ayesa Foundation, led Ana Manzana-res, also aims to recognise the work done by those fighting for the rights of persons with disabilities in Andalusia. As such, for the fourth year running, the jury has also given out an ‘award for work carried out by an individual in the area of social integration’. This year, it went to Fray Rafael Pozo Bascón in recognition of his hard work, dedication and solidarity with underpri-vileged groups and especially persons with disabilities. Rafael organised the first workshops for persons with disabili-ties forty years away, these eventually becoming the Paz y Bien Association, now an immense network of occupational and accommodation centres. Rafael is

also the promoter of the TAU Protection Foundation and a key figure at the Sor Ángela de la Cruz de Apascide centre for the deafblind.In previous years, Dolores Romero Cha-cón, President of the National Association for Parents of Deafblind Children (Apasci-de), Francisco Herrera del Pueyo, a board member at Proyecto Hombre Sevilla, and Antonio Gómez, Founder of Madre Coraje, were chosen to receive this award. The goal of the Ayesa Foundation is to shine a light on the needs of this group, especially within the area of employment, thus ensuring greater equality, personal development and an improvement in the quality of life of persons with disabilities and their families.

IV Emprendis Awards>> The Ayesa Foundation has donated 50,000 euros to ten charitable projects in Andalusia which focus on the integration of persons with disabilities in the workplace.

Ana Manzanares, president of the Ayesa Foundation.

The Ayesa Foundation has once again attended the Seville Science Fair, held this year at the Fibes conference and exhibition centre. This event forms part of the Live Science, Share Science project, run by the Andalusian Society for the Dissemination of Science (SADC). The Foundation had its own stand, where it displayed its most interesting developments, which was visited by Rogelio Velasco Pérez, Minister for the Economy of the Regional Government of Andalusia (seen in the photo with Ricardo Galán, Head of the Ayesa Foundation).

Seville Science Fair