Major IT and infrastructure moves reshape Melbourne projects and cloud data tools
Three separate but related developments — a major back‑office technology shift at Melbourne Airport, a new class of cloud databases and a streaming data service from a global cloud vendor, and a requirements management rollout on a multi‑billion‑dollar rail project — were announced in recent industry updates. Together they spotlight how large transport and infrastructure programs are pairing traditional construction and operational work with modern software and cloud services.
Top lines
The airport operator for Melbourne has replaced legacy back‑office systems with a centrally managed, modern software‑as‑a‑service (SaaS) platform built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and is working with the implementing firm’s managed services team to run and evolve the system. Separately, Microsoft introduced Fabric Databases in preview and made Real‑Time Intelligence generally available, expanding a cloud data platform that aims to combine transactional and analytical workloads in a single environment. In another program, a large Melbourne rail program valued at AUD 11 billion used a cloud‑based requirements tool to manage thousands of requirements across multiple construction packages.
Melbourne Airport moves to Dynamics 365 SaaS
The airport serves about 31 million passengers a year and is preparing for growth that includes a third runway, enlargement of the international terminal and other capital works. Airport leadership concluded that achieving that growth requires not only physical capacity but also a technology environment that is agile, resilient and continually evolving.
To support these aims, Australia Pacific Airports Melbourne engaged KPMG’s Powered Enterprise Solutions and Managed Services teams to replace legacy back‑office systems with a modern Dynamics 365 SaaS platform. The engagement includes SaaS optimisation, managed services and broader digital transformation work to centralise ERP, streamline stakeholder access and provide ongoing support for CRM and Finance & Operations systems.
The airport’s program emphasizes turning the SaaS platform into a growth enabler rather than just a maintenance task, with the managed services team focused on strategic SaaS management and feature adoption over time. The implementation team also acknowledged the Traditional Custodians of the land and noted standard professional governance and trademark details related to the firms involved.
Microsoft expands Fabric with databases and streaming intelligence
The cloud vendor said it added a new category of cloud databases, Fabric Databases, which are presented as transactional databases built natively into its Fabric platform. The initial offering is a SQL database built on the vendor’s SQL engine and the Fabric SaaS platform, with plans for additional database types on the roadmap.
Fabric Databases are described as provisioning quickly, securing data by default with cloud authentication and encryption, and including built‑in capabilities for vector search, retrieval augmented generation and integration with the vendor’s AI services. Data stored in Fabric Databases is made instantly available in the platform’s unified data lake, called OneLake, for analytics work.
The platform maker also announced Real‑Time Intelligence as generally available. This workload focuses on operational scenarios and streaming data, offering tools for ingesting high‑volume streams, transforming data dynamically, querying in real time and triggering automated actions. A motorsport team was cited as using the service for in‑race analytics to cut detection and response time from tens of minutes to minutes.
The vendor reported customer research on productivity claims tied to its Copilot and Fabric Databases, with users completing certain tasks faster and reporting higher confidence and accuracy in trial settings. The platform also offers a OneLake catalog for data discovery and governance and introduced new billing and surge protection controls for Copilot consumption.
Requirements management for the AUD 11bn Metro Tunnel
The Metro Tunnel program is one of the largest civil engineering efforts in Melbourne’s history, valued at AUD 11 billion. Its scope includes two 9‑kilometre rail tunnels, five underground stations, a train‑tram interchange, dedicated control centres and 55 kilometres of high‑capacity signalling. The work is split into four main packages: early works, tunnel and stations, rail systems and rail infrastructure.
Rail Projects Victoria adopted a SaaS‑based requirements management tool to replace spreadsheet‑based workflows and to manage thousands of requirements across contractors and packages. The chosen platform provides a security‑rich, collaborative environment for capturing, tracing, analysing and managing requirements in real time, with private contractor spaces and a shared system level for cross‑package information. It also supports linked hazard logs, interface registers and report generation to produce deliverable documents from requirements data.
The agency specified the tool as a contractual requirement for contractors and uses complementary SaaS modules for workflow and publishing. The cloud approach aimed to create a single source of truth and enable real‑time sharing across the large workforce and many delivery teams on the project.
Why this matters
These three updates illustrate common themes across large built environment and data programs: a move away from home‑grown or spreadsheet tools to managed SaaS platforms, a drive to unify transactional and analytical data for faster insight, and the operational need for streaming and low‑latency data in mission‑critical scenarios. They also show how cloud platforms are being paired with managed services and contractual requirements to enforce standardised ways of working on complex projects.
What comes next
- Airport IT teams will work on adoption, configuration and integration of the new ERP and CRM capabilities, plus ongoing SaaS governance.
- Developers and data teams can explore Fabric Databases and Real‑Time Intelligence to build apps that need both transactions and analytics and to handle streaming scenarios.
- Infrastructure agencies are likely to continue specifying collaborative, cloud‑based requirements environments to manage complexity and deliver traceability across multi‑contract projects.