From SAPinsider Las Vegas 2025: CITIC Pacific Mining Accelerates Workforce Readiness

Organizations working in high-risk industries can often involve time-consuming paper-based assessment processes. Lauren Walsh, Superintendent of Learning Systems at CITIC Pacific Mining, presented at the SAPinsider Las Vegas 2025 conference on how the company co-developed their Infield Assessment App, a training assessment tool. The app enables assessors to perform evaluations in any environment, eliminating paperwork and reducing administrative tasks. This included seamless integration with SAP SuccessFactors, the application has transformed operations at CITIC Pacific Mining.

CITIC Pacific Mining employs 3,500 workers across the site, many in high-risk roles. Regulatory requirements mandate rigorous document management, something exacerbated by the COVID pandemic when state laws required any workers to demonstrate proof of vaccination. The company is the largest sea borne exporter of magnetite iron ore to Asia, and the evolving health and safety legislation passed by the state government of Western Australia has made it clear that the CITIC Pacific is responsible for every worker on the site, irrespective of employment time.

To perform tasks like operating equipment at height, over water on boats, or in confined spaces, workers must first receive a relevant license or certification from a registered training organization. However, simply attaining the certification does not immediately allow them to start working because they must first verify their competency in the field. This isn’t unique to CITIC Pacific Mining, and it something a worker will need to do every time they go to a different mine site.

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However, the process of collecting and verifying these documents is resource intensive, especially since some documents must be regularly renewed and must be stored throughout the life cycle of the worker. The catalyst for CITIC Pacific Mining to change their processes was the need to provide evidence of vaccination during the COVID pandemic. While this initially started as a single document per worker, it rapidly expanded to three or four pieces of evidence per employee as vaccinations progressed. This meant the company had to store 11,000 documents that had to be quickly captured, reported on, and stored securely and validated. When other documents such as passports, drivers’ licenses, high-risk licenses, electrical licenses, medical approvals, and other appropriate tests there are a huge number of documents involved. While Walsh was looking for a means to achieve these goals, it was also critical that their existing ways of working were not disrupted.

To address this need, CITIC Pacific Mining worked with DalRae Solutions to co-create their Infield Assessment App. The application allowed workers to upload their compliance documents directly, shifting the responsibility of ensuring compliance to the workers. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are used to extract relevant information from the documents, which reduces human error and manual data entry. The application also integrates seamlessly with SAP SuccessFactors to streamline the process and ensure compliance data is accurate and reliable.

“For us, creating the application is about making compliance smarter, faster and more reliable,” explained Walsh. “It’s not replacing people. It’s taking over the manual work that was tedious and time consuming.”

While there was an initial lack of experience with SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) within the internal IT team, the platform was selected as the tool on which the application would be developed. Because there was limited internal experience with SAP BTP, the collaboration with DalRae enabled a more effective navigation of the technical complexities that needed to be addressed.

What was vital was that Walsh had a diverse group of end users, including both internal employees and representatives of major vendors, involved in the pilot phase. With over 300 different vendors working on site, the result of a predominantly contractor workforce, the approach ensured that there was a wide range of feedback, and the needs of all stakeholders involved in the process would be heard.

During the go-live, one compliance item was introduced at a time. This started with driver’s licenses, and then there was an incremental rollout that allowed for control and performance adjustments at each step. Even though the application went live around eight in the evening, the response from users was immediate. People uploaded documents immediately.

“The application didn’t just digitalize us,” stated Walsh. “It transformed the way we work.”

Some of the benefits offered by the application include automated reminders for expiring documents as well as a centralized approval workflow. The application uses SAP BTP for document storage and SAP Cloud Identity Services for role management. This ensures security and accessibility. As stated, AI validation extracts key fields from documents which improves accuracy and reduces errors, while the hierarchy feature ensures compliance with different license types and integrates with SAP SuccessFactors.

Deployment of the app has improved workforce readiness by reducing delays in compliance approvals. Increased efficiency has led to cost and time savings, and Walsh estimates that at least $300,000 has been achieved in cost savings with up to 200 days saved from an HR perspective. This has already been a significant return on investment for CITIC Pacific. Using the application has also shifted the mindset of both the organization and employees from reactive to proactive, increasing employee engagement and ownership. Finally, the application has transformed compliance management from a time-consuming process to a seamless, background operation.

Walsh emphasized several key takeaways from CITIC Pacific Mining’s workforce readiness app deployment:

• The project worked with the SAP AppHaus in Australia and used their application development methodologies to understand the challenges faced by different personas.
• The development phase involved rapid prototyping to test ideas quickly and then iterate based on feedback, streamlining the process.
• The pilot involved a diverse group of end users to ensure that the app met the needs of all stakeholders.

The success of the project led to the development of a second application in conjunction with DalRae Solutions and engendered a long-term relationship between CITIC Pacific Mining, SAP, and DalRae. While these applications were focused on streamlining workforce compliance, CITIC Pacific is also exploring additional SAP offerings such as SAP S/HANA and SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll.

Walsh concluded by saying that, “Whatever you innovate, it should be embedded into your current workflows so that it doesn’t disrupt your operations. And remember that small changes make a big impact.”

What This Means for SAPinsiders

• Leverage existing SAP infrastructure and introduce AI gradually. Build on the systems already in place—like SAP SuccessFactors and SAP BTP—to create targeted solutions that reduce manual work without disrupting existing processes. In this case, automating document handling with AI and OCR saved significant time and minimized human error. Start with small, impactful use cases, for example license uploads, and continue scale gradually.
• Involve end users early and design for them. Use methodologies like SAP’s AppHaus to co-design with all personas involved—workers, admins, compliance officers, and vendors. Engaging users early ensures the solution is intuitive and genuinely useful. Including contractor and vendor input was key to broad adoption and high compliance for CITIC Pacific Mining and both a significant cost savings and increase in productivity.
• Treat innovation projects as agile journeys, not one-off solutions. Innovation doesn’t follow a rigid blueprint. Be prepared to iterate the scope, prototype early, and stay flexible. Strong collaboration with internal teams and external partners is critical—especially when technologies like AI, machine learning, and new platforms are involved. Small wins can lead to big gains in productivity, compliance, and readiness.