Harry van den Bergh works at Sweco (an engineering and consultancy firm). Harry works as a soil consultant for the Environmental Consultancy department in Eindhoven. He lives in Utrecht and can therefore regularly be found at Sweco in De Bilt. As a soil consultant, he works daily with the TerraIndex soil investigation software.
Harry van den Bergh
Soil consultant · Sweco
‘TerraIndex helps us generate and process field data quickly, which is essential for our work process and quality of the research.’
Sweco has several departments: our field of work is very broad
‘I work at Sweco Nederland. Sweco’s field of work is very broad. There are three divisions in the Netherlands, covering a variety of departments: from managing landfills, excavating unexploded ordnance, hydraulic engineering, water technology and landscape architecture to climate and sustainability. I myself work for the Environmental Consultancy department as a soil consultant.’
TerraIndex is used in many crucial steps of our research
‘As a soil consultant, I’m usually involved in the execution of the soil investigation, from the desk study to the advisory report. TerraIndex is used in many crucial steps of the investigation. I start by consulting the known sources and examine the area where the client wants to dig. This way, I determine what suspicious substances we might find there. I define an investigation strategy and make a drilling plan so that the fieldworker can take the necessary samples. The samples are sent to the lab, after which I analyse the results and assemble an advisory report. I then discuss the advice with the client.’
As a consultant, you can quickly switch between the field worker, the data and the lab
‘I was already familiar with TerraIndex software, as my previous employer (where I held the same position) also used it. I expect that most soil investigation firms use TerraIndex, as do the major laboratories.
The great advantage of TerraIndex is that data can be entered digitally in the field directly on a tablet or another device. Laboratory orders can then be created quickly and only need to be confirmed with the laboratory. As a consultant, you can quickly coordinate between the fieldworker, the data and the laboratory. TerraIndex helps us generate and process field data quickly, which is essential for our workflow and the quality of the investigation.’
The software makes performing my tasks more efficient
‘TerraIndex not only improves cooperation between the different parties, but also makes my tasks more efficient. For example, the data collected in the field from all boreholes (sometimes hundreds) must be included in the investigation report. Typing out all these boreholes, including XY coordinates and the fieldworker’s name, takes a lot of time. With TerraIndex, borehole logs can easily be generated with the correct layout and a legend. Other important data, such as sensory observations indicating contamination or the analyses performed, can be presented in tables and included in your report.
The required data, logs and tables can be pasted into the advisory report in just a few clicks. With a choice of templates, formatting an advisory report takes very little time.
Another useful (still fairly new) feature is the list of laboratory orders with a progress indicator. Check marks show whether an order has been sent, received or completed. If something has gone wrong during transmission, you can intervene quickly. You can see at a glance when the results are available, so you can start work on the advisory report straight away.’
If you run into problems, you can always call them
‘During the time I have worked with TerraIndex, new features have regularly been added. These are often announced in our department beforehand. I receive an email from TerraIndex explaining the feature step by step, often with screenshots or sometimes an explanatory video. Webinars are also organised regularly. If you run into problems, you can always call them and receive help quickly.
The user interface of TerraIndex is simple. This makes using TerraIndex very easy and intuitive. Personally, I would like to see a few more buttons. I can see opportunities to visualise more things, especially for the fieldworker. For example, a real-time display of a borehole profile with monitoring well, so that the fieldworker can immediately see whether the borehole profile and the depth of the monitoring well have been entered correctly. I myself would like to be able to display drilling profiles in a cross-section. Fortunately, work is already being done on the latter.
As far as I know TerraIndex, I expect that when more customers need a certain functionality, it will come in the future.’