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Data migration and AI foundation for water reform
A NZ water reform programme used Snowflake to modernise asset data and create a foundation for AI. Learn more in this case study.
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The better the question
Can you accelerate reform without sacrificing trust in critical asset data?
How we helped modernise water infrastructure data for long-term analytics and AI.
Snowflake capabilities
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Snowpipe |
Cortex Code (CoCo) |
Streamlit |
Dynamic Tables |
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Snowflake Tasks |
Snowpark Container Services |
Project highlights
- Established trusted, standards-aligned asset data for one of New Zealand's largest water sector reforms.
- Accelerated delivery from months to hours using the EY Snowflake Deployment Accelerator.
- Increased migration delivery velocity 5x using AI-assisted engineering.
- Built a single platform supporting migration, data quality, analytics and future AI.
- Reduced delivery risk while preparing new water organisations for day one operations.
- Ongoing client engagement.
About the client
The client is a public water company established through New Zealand's national water reform programme. Working alongside multiple councils, it is implementing shared digital platforms that support new water services organisations while creating common ways of working across the sector.
To succeed, the organisation needed trusted asset data from day one to support operations, maintenance planning, regulatory reporting and future infrastructure investment.
Client request
The client needed more than assistance with data migration. It needed a team that understood both the operational realities of the water sector and the strategic objectives of national reform; one with experience migrating millions of legacy asset records while designing a long-term data platform that would support ongoing data quality, analytics and future AI adoption.
Challenge
The programme needed to deliver far more than a successful migration. New water organisations had to begin operating with trusted, standards-aligned asset data from day one while avoiding duplicated technology investment across participating councils.
The solution had to solve several challenges:
- Consolidate fragmented legacy asset data from multiple organisations into a single trusted foundation.
- Align asset information to the National Asset Data Standard (NADS4.0) before the November 2026 reform deadline.
- Improve data quality while reducing delivery risk under extremely compressed implementation timeframes.
- Build a strategic platform that would continue supporting reporting, analytics and AI long after migration was complete.
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The better the answer
Accelerating water reform through trusted data
By modernising asset data and governance, the organisation established a scalable foundation for future operational and investment decisions.
Approach
New Zealand's water reform required new organisations to stand up quickly without losing trust in the asset data that underpins infrastructure planning, maintenance, regulatory reporting and investment decisions.
Rather than building a one-off migration solution, we designed a long-term Snowflake data platform that would support the initial migration while becoming the foundation for ongoing data quality, analytics and future AI.
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Create a trusted data foundation |
Designed a single Snowflake data platform aligned to the Snowflake Well-Architected Framework and medallion architecture, supporting migration, ongoing data quality, analytics and future AI from a single governed platform. |
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Accelerate delivery |
Used the EY Snowflake Deployment Accelerator to help deploy the core platform in hours rather than months, reducing cost, delivery risk and implementation time. |
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Modernise migration with AI |
Leveraged Cortex Code (CoCo) to accelerate the development of end-to-end migration pipelines, increasing delivery velocity by 5x and allowing the team to focus on higher-value activities such as improving data quality. |
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Future-proof the platform |
Designed the platform to support ongoing data quality management, Snowflake CoWork, Cortex Code and future AI capabilities, ensuring it continues delivering value well beyond migration. |
Solution
One platform for migration, analytics and AI
Rather than building a temporary migration solution, we architected a single Snowflake data platform that supports the full data lifecycle — from legacy data migration through to ongoing data quality, reporting, analytics and future AI.
Built on the Snowflake Well-Architected Framework and medallion architecture, the platform provides a reusable foundation intended to support ongoing benefitslong after migration is complete.
Trusted asset data from day one
We ingested and transformed more than one million legacy asset records, aligning them to the National Asset Data Standard (NADS4.0). This gives new water organisations a consistent, trusted view of critical infrastructure assets while establishing a common standard for managing water assets across the sector.
To support ongoing governance, we also implemented the EY data quality framework, enabling continuous monitoring of data quality and future integration with Snowflake Horizon Catalog.
Faster delivery through AI-powered engineering
Using the EY Snowflake Deployment Accelerator together with Cortex Code (CoCo), we accelerated delivery. The core platform was deployed in hours rather than months, while AI-assisted development increased migration delivery velocity by 5x, allowing delivery teams to focus more time on improving data quality than writing migration code.
Future-proofed with Cortex Code and Snowflake CoWork, the platform provides a governed foundation for self-service analytics and future AI as the new water organisations mature.
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The better the world works
Creating lasting value beyond data migration
The programme established a trusted data foundation for future analytics, governance and AI.
Results
The programme established a trusted data foundation that supports one of New Zealand's largest public infrastructure reform initiatives.
Key outcomes include:
- More than one million legacy asset records ingested and aligned to NADS4.0.
- Platform delivery accelerated from months to hours using the EY Snowflake Deployment Accelerator.
- Increased migration delivery velocity 5x through Cortex Code-assisted development.
- Established a single Snowflake platform supporting migration, ongoing data quality, analytics and future AI.
- Enabled four councils to collaborate through shared digital platforms instead of duplicating technology investment.
- Supported delivery of the November 2026 Phase One reform deadline while reducing programme risk.
Lessons learned
Large-scale migration programmes create the greatest long-term value when they leave behind more than migrated data.
By using Snowflake as both the migration platform and the long-term operational platform, the client avoided investing in a temporary solution while creating a trusted foundation for future analytics and AI.
The project also demonstrated that accelerating delivery does not have to come at the expense of governance. Combining reusable deployment accelerators with AI-assisted development enabled faster implementation while improving data quality and reducing programme risk.