Overview
Sustainable Sydney 2030, a collective vision for “a green, global and connected Sydney,” outlines the City of Sydney’s ambitious environmental, economic, social and cultural goals. It is based on a deep commitment to environmental leadership, high levels of service and quality facilities for the residents, businesses and visitors to one of the world’s most livable cities.
To help realize this vision and comply with legislative mandates, the city must be able to manage the lifecycle of AUD$12.7 billion worth of infrastructure assets
Challenges
As is the case in many cities, Sydney’s assets are managed by multiple council departments. Before implementation of the Corporate Asset Management System (CAMS), each department maintained one or more separate asset registries. At one point, the city had more than 60 asset data sources residing on various platforms. The city sought to combine these into a central registry that would be readily accessible to the council.
Because much of the asset management work is done in the field, CAMS would need to provide mobile access and functionality, both for the asset managers and asset inspectors and for the contractors whom they hire. In addition, to perform comprehensive cost-analysis and long-term planning, CAMS would need to be integrated with the council’s key business applications, including its customer service module, planning and financial application and Geographic Information System (GIS).
The CAMS implementation was an ambitious undertaking, requiring diverse council departments to embrace a new integrated asset management approach. That's why the council went to tender seeking asset management technology with proven integration capabilities across key business applications. The goal: make it measurably easier for staff to do their work and make the case for moving off spreadsheets self-evident.
Solution
After evaluating several vendors, the council selected Confirm as the right solution for CAMS — its intuitive interface, logical workflows and alignment with national and state asset management best practices made it a natural fit for the team. Brightly's demonstrated track record in local government, combined with flexible deployment options, reinforced the decision; Brightly has since been acquired by Siemens.
CAMS, which has been evolving in tandem with the council’s asset management policy, now includes the Confirm Workzone, which enables asset managers to control all their field resources from a single map-based interface. Now they can prioritize and schedule work on assets and allocate and calculate costs for the crews.
In addition to internal council crews, many contractors working with the council use the Confirm Connect solution on their mobile devices, as do an increasing number of council service delivery teams. The latter can respond to customer requests, whether they’re at their desk or in the field. Contractors, meanwhile, have an easy way to obtain their job lists, upload “before” and “after” photos and log their work.
This real-time updating gives council staff a more effective way of assessing contractor performance. Previously, contractors would submit reports just once a month, and it was difficult to compare the cost of their work with established baselines.
Benefits
In its recently updated asset management plan, the council refers to Confirm as a viable means of providing the platform and tools to achieve required outcomes for asset management. By centralizing its asset data into one registry, it has reduced the number of software products it licenses and needs to maintain.
The combination of data consolidation, back-end integration and workflow improvements create time efficiencies that translate into lower costs and improved levels of service. For example, when a resident asks why a tree on their street has been removed, council staff can now immediately confirm the removal and explain the reasons.
As CAMS grows, the council will be able to demonstrate the improvement in services delivery by providing more extensive historical data on asset usage. It will enable the city to comply with the ongoing revaluation of assets at fair value as required by the New South Wales Office of Local Government.