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Topical case studies capturing real-life experiences of local councils with ICT.

Tried and tested ICT strategies with no vendor spin.

RECENT CASE STUDIES

ARCHIVED CASE STUDIES

 Geospatially enabled mobile solution for municipal asset inspections and maintenance read more>>

 Migration of a legacy fleet & plant system to a corporate asset management solution read more>>

 Technology enabled transformation of public library services read more>>

 Cloud based solution for funds and grants management read more>>

 Improved ICT security through a Software as a Service solution read more>>

 Data centre outsourcing

 Reduction of environmental footprint through printing consolidation

 IT cost reduction through server virtualization

Migration of a legacy fleet & plant system to a corporate asset management solution

End-of-life software challenge

A local council faced with the need to replace their purpose built Fleet & Plant Management system that was no longer supported by a software provider.

The council decided to migrate fleet and plant assets (valued at about AU$15 million) to their corporate asset management system and expected to benefit from a more accurate and complete view of the assets as the result of central data management.

The project took longer (about 2 years) than it was expected to complete – as the old software was in use for over 10 years, the transition of system users to a new solution was not easy.

The corporate asset management system adopted by the council provided the staff with new functional capabilities, such as automated asset capacity/ utilization analysis/reporting, asset service scheduling and service alerts. However, in order to replicate effective features of the old system (such as asset maintenance forecasting) the project team undertook detailed functional analysis/ reverse engineering, user requirement definition and design work that resulted in a custom built software component.

One of the key project success factors was the tenacity, expertise and hands-on approach of an internally appointed project manager. The new system has enabled the council to get better visibility and handling of the entire life cycle of plant and fleet assets.

In hindsight, a council’s assets specialist points to the importance of an early engagement with system users and the need for a user training strategy/ program that takes into account specific skill set and work practices of the front line staff, including those working in workshops.

Importantly, the successful completion of this testing project enables the council to apply lessons learned and skills developed along the way to other initiatives targeting asset classes that are still managed in separate systems.

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Cloud based solution for funds and grants management

Funds and grants management challenge

A local council in New Zealand faced significant customer service and governance issues due to inadequate technologies used by the council to facilitate the allocation of its funds and grants.

The use of disparate in-house built spreadsheets and systems with little workload management and reporting capabilities led to the lack of control and transparency over the council’s expenditure, inefficient processing of applications and ineffective decision making.

The council decided to deploy a cloud based software product and completed the implementation of a new system within six months. In addition to the ability of a new system to meet council’s functional requirements, two key selection criteria identified by the council were quick deployment and low project/ system maintenance costs.

One of the key project challenges was the concern of business stakeholders over data sovereignty. However, business risks were assessed in the context of significant benefits delivered to the council staff and customers through the deployment of a new system. The system enabled productivity improvements and better customer service. It also reduced organizational risks through better financial control over the council’s budget. A strategy has been put in place to address security risks associated with the storage of council data on vendor owned servers located off-shore.

Due to time and budget constraints, the council initially deployed a “vanilla” version of the new system. In hindsight, the council’s ICT Manager suggests that in order to achieve superior customer/ user experience it is important to explore and evaluate a range of system functional features that can support end-to-end business processes, including efficient on-line service delivery.

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Geospatially enabled mobile solution for municipal asset inspections and maintenance

Infrastructure asset maintenance challenge

A local council in NSW confronted operational inefficiencies resulting from paper based practices used by council’s staff to create and manage work requests for the maintenance of roads and other municipal assets. Although the council developed a mechanism to action urgent service requests, for the majority of maintenance work paper based processes resulted in an up to 4 days lead time between maintenance issues received by customer service staff and corresponding work requests directed to council’s maintenance staff and/or contractors.

Additionally, incomplete, contradictory and/or incorrect data recorded on paper based work orders led to maintenance delays and difficulties with analysis of the asset risk profile and maintenance history.

The council’s journey towards an integrated system that can be used in the field started with developing partnership relationship with an ICT vendor who was working on a new product. The council leveraged an opportunity to work closely with the vendor and influence the design of system functionality that would match business processes specific to the local government sector.

The deployment of a new Maintenance Management System (MMS) was completed within 6 months and was initially adopted for the management of roads. The council has enabled remote access to MMS via Panasonic Toughbooks mobile computers so both maintenance staff and inspectors can retrieve and update relevant asset and work order data when working in the field. Electronic MMS forms are launched when the GIS layer is touched on a computer screen and the forms are automatically populated with asset information stored in the GIS (including location details and asset hierarchy). The ability to electronically capture field data, populate work orders, prioritise maintenance work, create work schedules with mapped defects and assign them to appropriate staff/ contractors has significantly improved the quality of asset data and the efficiency of the staff.

Some of the challenges the council faced during the deployment of MMS included the need to address field workers’ initial reservations about the use of GPS technology and the need to invest in detailed GIS mapping of council’s assets.

The council is now looking to expand the system and to incorporate a range of council’s assets

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Technology enabled transformation of public library services

Library management challenge

The Upper Hutt City Council (New Zealand) recognised changes in public expectations with respect to the services delivered by the council’s library and, in particular, the demand for a broader range of library resources, faster and easier access to the resources (eg self-service) and greater availability of the library services (eg access to computers).

Outdated library facilities and technology and limited floor space were preventing the council from the expansion of its library capabilities. Additionally, due to the reliance on manual processes the library staff were spending significant time on administrative tasks which limited their capacity to advise their customers and to drive value-add initiatives.

The council undertook a re-development project which was completed over a six month period. Project challenges included the requirement to keep the library open during the redevelopment and the need to introduce new technical capabilities.

In order to improve access to the library resources, the council installed self check-in/ check-out kiosks with payment capabilities and introduced RFID technology. RFID tags on library items reduced time required to process loans. The preliminary analysis of the self-service uptake shows an increase from about 5%-10% (of the returned library items) to about 75%.

The council also introduced a new system for the management of print services and reservations for computer access. These new capabilities reduced administrative burden on the library staff and enabled a more effective revenue collection. Better controlled printing also encourages library customers to reduce the volume of the paper used and reduce paper waste.

The project transformed the council’s library to a welcoming modern facility enabling the community to collaborate, engage, discover and learn. One of the examples of the library re-vitalization is the arrival of study groups of students who are able to use a newly introduced free wireless internet access to work together during exam season.

The redevelopment of the library building enabled the council to expand library resources and, in particular, to significantly increase the children section, double the number of computers available to the public, replace equipment used for library catalogue search and install new permanently mounted projectors. The council was able to maintain library services during this complex project (follow this link for photos reflecting the scale) and the library was closed for just two weeks to enable the final building alterations to take place.

Key project success factors included the teamwork of the staff from different council departments, determination of both business and ICT staff to embrace new technologies, commitment of the council’s management and support from the public.

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Improved IT security through a Software as a Service solution

ICT security challenge

An in-house solution used by a local council for e-mail security management was unable to cope with an increased volume of e-mail spam and malware. Its poor performance increased security risks, was negatively impacting network performance and put pressure on support staff.

The council undertook an evaluation of three SaaS products for IT security management. A trial was conducted and as all products met functional requirements, the council decided to deploy the most cost-efficient solution.

The deployment of the new SaaS product enabled the council to resolve its security concerns through effective e-mail and Internet monitoring and filtering. The council also was able to reduce its IT costs through decommissioning of unused hardware and reduction of maintenance effort from 1 FTE to 0.1 FTE.

The use of a vendor hosted product also supports the agility of the council’s IT team, who are able to reduce time required to manage changes/moves for its 10 sites.

One of the success factors for the product deployment and its utilization was the responsiveness of the vendor support team and their ability to resolve such issues as accidental blocking of legitimate websites and e-mails.

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