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    Text: About UNITRACC

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About UNITRACC

Underground Infrastructure Training and Competence Center

"The Future is in the Underground" is one of our main principles. The urban buried infrastructure for supply and disposal are lifelines which decide on the quality of life and sustainability within - not only - the great cities. The significance, complexity and the immense financial value of these networks make a sustainable operation, maintenance as well as structural extensions and rehabilitation mandatory.

UNITRACC wants to provide the expert knowledge, the tools and instruments and also the contact persons for these tasks and problems.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER is therefore an important topic for us and we have put this into practice with innovative web-based solution for learning, teaching and working. These solutions offer a time and local independency for learning and working, which is definitely a great advantage compared to conventional information-, learning- and working-possibilities. Web-based knowledge transfer offers variety, transparency and topicality, especially through the possibilities of media-specific contents and didactic presentation.

The idea and concept UNITRACC was created in 1996. Fascinated by the possibility of using multimedia for knowledge transfer in the area of sewer and pipeline construction, Mr. Dipl.-Ing. Robert Stein, CEO-Knowledge Factory, developed the S & P online concept in 1996.

This concept contains - amongst others - the idea of combining multimedia-based specific information with computer-based decision support systems and the internet as an up-to-date platform.

These 3 ideas were combined with UNITRACC in the year 2001. This was made possible due to the financial and intensive support of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Technology and the federal state North Rhine-Westphalia (with a grand total of 4.5 million euros) as well as the Association of the German Building Industry.

Today, 2006, UNITRACC is a leading global information teaching, learning and working platform and enables knowledge transfer and the coordination of education and further training as well as an international exchange of information and experience for everyone who is interested in pipeline construction and maintenance.

The UNITRACC concept has already won the following prizes and awards:

- "MEDIDA-PRIX 2004" Finalist in Graz, Austria
    
- Winner of the European E-Learning Award "eureleA 2004", Baden-Baden, Germany
    
- Winner of the "No-Dig Award 2005" of the International Society for Trenchless Technology - ISTT based in London

Our monthly free newsletter is already received and read by over 2000 interested readers. We would be pleased if you subscribed to our newsletter - including all of the monthly articles, news and event information. The subscription can be activated here: "Newsletter - Newsletter subscription and cancellation"

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Knowledge creates professional competence and increases the national and international competitiveness. The learning and identification of specialist knowledge and working methods is more than ever compulsory. Professional duties and responsibilities are getting more and more complex due to the innovational technical developments. Further education and training has to be adapted to these needs and developments. UNITRACC has responded to this with individual learning- and instruction profiles.

Furthermore, UNITRACC stands for optimized temporal and local availability independency of current and detailed expertise and specialist knowledge.

The UNITRACC service concept consequently represents an "All In One Hand-solution for the support of the working- and learning process, which is adapted for target groups and specific problems. In detail this means:

- Creation of professional competence by providing international, state of the art technical information systems and scientific expert knowledge - this can be found in the area "INFORMATION".
    
- Harmonization of further education and training by providing teaching material for technical colleges, training centers and universities- in the area "LEARNING" - our ONLINE ACADEMY. 
    
- Practical work tools by provision of software tools as an Application Service Providing (ASP) for engineering services in the area WORKING.

What does UNITRACC stand for and what are our ambitious technical, textual and didactical targets committed to?  To be able to answer such questions adequately UNITRACC is based on the following corporate principles:

    We increase knowledge by transfer and sharing:
	UNITRACC makes an active sharing of knowledge within the community possible. This is done with a permanent exchange of experiences and collateral learning.

    We create professional competence: 
	UNITRACC creates the basis for competent actions by providing state of the art specialized information and technical and economic information.

    We harmonize further education and training:
	UNITRACC provides high-quality teaching material for technical colleges, training centers and universities, which is not tied to time or local restrictions. This ensures a harmonization of further education and training.

    We are an interdisciplinary community:
	UNITRACC perceives itself as a multidisciplinary network of civil engineering experts. We make the area "subterrestrial construction" accessible and also enhance it with interdisciplinary communication and cooperation.

    We are an independent community:
	UNITRACC is non-party and acts independently of individual interests. The autonomy of UNITRACC is ensured and protected by the members through textual contributions and financial contributions.

    We are a "high-variety community":
	UNITRACC provides enough room for developments and reflections. Furthermore UNITRACC offers a balanced access to all aspects of subterrestrial construction.

    We are a learning community:
	UNITRACC enables an active exchange between members. The initial point and purpose of UNITRACC is the sharing of knowledge and learning from and with each other.

    We actively contribute to and support the development of ideas concerning subterrestrial construction with all of the related areas of application:
	UNITRACC has an active public relations and marketing strategy. This enables a great support of ideas and an active demand for subterrestrial infrastructures.

    We extend the areas of application concerning subterrestrial infrastructure:
	UNITRACC actively deals with theoretical and practical aspects of subterrestrial construction. The current development status (terms and definitions, methods, practical experiences, etc.) is shown and in progress for this purpose.

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UNITRACC is a product of the Knowledge Factory GmbH, Germany, a company which actively deals with the topics of web based knowledge-collection formats and placements. The Knowledge Factory develops methods and concepts, such as web-based content management systems and web-based knowledge platforms, e.g. UNITRACC.

Knowledge Factory Partner:

    	 Logo Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stein & Partner GmbH
                     
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stein & Partner GmbH 
            
The technical and professional know-how is provided amongst others by the engineering company Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stein & Partner, Germany. The international relevant technical compendiums " Rehabilitation and Maintenance of Drains and Sewers", "Trenchless Technology for Installation of Cables and Pipelines" and "The Accessible Utility Tunnel" originate here.
            
http://www.stein.de

    	 Logo Visaplan
                     
visaplan GmbH
            
The company visaplan GmbH is responsible for the digital media integration, 3D-construction, visualization and animation, digital video productions and editing, multimedia, CD-ROM and web-authoring.
            
http://www.visaplan.com

    	 Logo Infodesire
                     
Information Desire Software GmbH
            
The technical realization is made possible by the software company Information Desire. Information Desire mainly develops business software based on modern technology. The main competences are the design and creation of web-based software solution based on Java, XML and SQL.
            
http://www.infodesire.com 

The development of UNITRACC was supported by:

    	 Logo Weiterbildungszentrum der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, germany
                     
The project was didactically conducted and accompanied by the Training & Educational Center of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
            
http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/wbz 

    	 Logo Arbeitsgruppe Leitungsbau und Leitungsinstandhaltung
                     
Project team pipeline construction and maintenance of the Ruhr-University Bochum, under the management of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dietrich Stein

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Whether private or job-related: The underground fascinates you too?
Our platform welcomes everyone who is interested in subterrestrial infrastructure with all associated cable-, gas- , water-, sewage-networks and much more.

UNITRACC was mainly developed for national and international experts who are interested in the construction, operation and maintenance of pipeline networks and also for teachers, instructors and learners.

UNITRACC can be used as a basis and guideline for the solution of the various theoretical and practical problems. Furthermore UNITRACC is also a business solution for certified engineers and technicians who work in pipeline construction and maintenance.

UNITRACC supports and assists trainees, students, participants of educational courses and qualification procedures during advanced training and further education, as well as teachers and instructors in educational institutions, colleges and universities. Town councils, local authorities and private companies who have and operate public supply and disposal networks are hereby addressed.

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Every user can extend the database standard of knowledge and level of information. If you are interested, you can contribute to UNITRACC and become a member of the UNITRACC Community.

Our customer content management system allows you to contribute to the information system and e.g. publish news, articles and consequently release new content within the platform. Furthermore the forums enable an interactive communication and exchange of information with other users. 

