Engagement Overview

Leading Data Migration & BI Transformation for Ontario's Transit Authority

Metrolinx is Ontario's regional transportation authority, responsible for planning, building, and operating transit across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area — overseeing billions of dollars in capital infrastructure programs. Comtech was engaged as the program controls and systems implementation partner, and Shabih joined as Migration Lead and Integration Manager to drive two interconnected mandates.

Mandate 1: Migrate 120+ live projects and approximately 6TB of contract, cost, and project data from Oracle PCM (Project Controls Management) — an end-of-life platform — to Oracle Unifier, without disrupting live transit project operations or compromising financial data integrity on publicly-funded infrastructure.

Mandate 2: Simultaneously modernise the reporting and analytics infrastructure — rolling out Tableau and Power BI to 200+ users, implementing real-time P6 + ECOSYS schedule-cost integration, and using advanced SQL modelling to surface workflow efficiencies that hadn't been visible before.

The result: a migration completed on time and within budget, delivered 2–3 months ahead of the original schedule — with 300 hours of work effort saved along the way through SQL-driven workflow discovery.

Challenge & Opportunity
⚠ Challenge

Migrating 120+ live projects meant there was no "freeze the data" option — construction programs were actively running throughout the migration. Oracle PCM and Unifier have fundamentally different data structures, requiring complex field-by-field mapping and multi-layer validation. Any error meant incorrect financial data on a publicly funded transit program.

✦ Opportunity

Advanced SQL modelling could do more than just execute the migration — it could analyse existing workflow patterns and surface hidden inefficiencies. The migration became a platform for broader operational improvement, ultimately saving 300 hours and accelerating the full program by 2–3 months.

Engagement Timeline

3.5 Years · Jun 2020 – Dec 2023

Jun 2020 — Phase 1
Data Discovery & Migration Architecture
Conducted a full inventory of all 120+ Oracle PCM projects. Mapped data structures, identified field-level schema differences between PCM and Unifier, and categorised every project by complexity, data volume, and migration risk. Built the ETL pipeline architecture and validation framework that would govern the entire migration.
Late 2020 — Phase 2
SQL Workflow Analysis — 300 Hours Recovered
Built advanced SQL models to analyse existing data patterns across all projects. This uncovered critical workflow redundancies and process bottlenecks that, when resolved, saved 250–300 hours of work effort and accelerated the overall program delivery by 2–3 months ahead of the original schedule.
2021 — Phase 3
Phased Oracle Migration — 6TB, Zero Data Loss
Executed migration in carefully sequenced phases — lower-risk projects first to validate the ETL pipeline, then progressively migrating higher-complexity programs while maintaining full operational continuity. Multi-layer validation at every phase ensured 100% data integrity across all 120+ projects.
2022 — Phase 4
Tableau & Power BI Rollout — 200+ Users
Led the enterprise rollout of Tableau and Power BI reporting frameworks to 200+ Metrolinx users — including hands-on training sessions that drove full platform adoption and retired the legacy manual reporting processes that had been in place for years.
2022–2023 — Phase 5
P6 + ECOSYS Integration & SharePoint Automation
Implemented automated schedule and cost integration between Primavera P6 and ECOSYS — eliminating 6–8 hours per week of manual reconciliation. Simultaneously automated operational workflows via SharePoint and Power Automate, saving 3–4 additional hours per week and improving cross-team data consistency.
Dec 2023 — Close
Engagement Complete — On Time, Within Budget
Full engagement concluded with all migration, reporting, and integration objectives delivered — on time, within budget, and 2–3 months ahead of the original program schedule. Oracle Unifier live across all 120+ projects with Tableau, Power BI, and automated integrations fully operational.
Key Deliverables

What Was Delivered

🔄

Oracle PCM → Unifier Migration

120+ projects and ~6TB of contract, cost, and project data migrated end-to-end — zero data loss, zero operational disruption.

✅ On time · Within budget · 2–3 months early
🗄️

SQL Workflow Efficiency Discovery

Advanced SQL modelling surfaced hidden process bottlenecks across 120+ projects — unlocking 250–300 hours of work effort savings.

✅ 250–300 hrs saved · 2–3 months ahead of schedule
📊

Tableau & Power BI Enterprise Rollout

Full BI platform rollout to 200+ Metrolinx users with hands-on training — legacy manual reporting processes fully retired.

✅ 200+ users · 100% adoption · Manual reporting retired
⚡

P6 + ECOSYS Schedule-Cost Integration

Automated real-time integration between Primavera P6 and ECOSYS — eliminated 6–8 hrs/week of manual schedule-cost reconciliation.

✅ 6–8 hrs/week saved · Real-time alignment
⚙️

SharePoint & Power Automate Workflows

Automated operational workflows using SharePoint and Power Automate — saving 3–4 hours per week and improving cross-team data consistency.

✅ 3–4 hrs/week saved · Consistent data across teams
🔌

REST API & Primavera Data Services

Extracted Primavera P6 data via REST APIs, WSDL APIs, and Primavera Data Services to power downstream reporting and integration pipelines.

✅ Live API feeds powering all downstream BI
Full Scope of Work
Oracle PCM Administration
Oracle Unifier Implementation
ETL Pipeline Design
SQL Data Modelling
Data Migration (6TB)
Power BI Dashboards
Tableau Reporting
Primavera P6 Admin
ECOSYS Integration
REST / WSDL APIs
Power Automate Flows
SharePoint Automation
User Training Programs
Change Management
Workflow Optimisation
Data Governance
Technology Stack
☁️Oracle Unifier 📋Oracle PCM 🗄️SQL (Advanced) 📊Power BI 📈Tableau 📅Primavera P6 💰ECOSYS 🔌REST API 🔗WSDL API 📡Primavera Data Services ⚡Power Automate ☁️SharePoint
Engagement Outcomes
✅
120+ projects and ~6TB migrated with zero data loss — Oracle Unifier live across the entire Metrolinx capital project portfolio, completed on time and within budget.
✅
2–3 months ahead of the original program schedule — SQL workflow analysis unlocked efficiencies that accelerated the entire delivery timeline beyond what was planned.
✅
250–300 hours of work effort permanently recovered — through identification and elimination of workflow redundancies discovered during the SQL analysis phase.
✅
200+ users fully adopted modern BI tools — Tableau and Power BI adoption was 100%, with all legacy manual reporting processes retired.
✅
6–8 hrs/week saved via P6 + ECOSYS integration — manual schedule-cost reconciliation eliminated permanently through automated real-time data sync.
✅
3–4 hrs/week saved via SharePoint automation — Power Automate workflows replaced manual cross-team coordination and improved data consistency across all programs.