In preparation for increased competition, Warringah Council has joined forces with Fujitsu Australia Limited in developing a new Local Government system that will empower users by integrating financial, human resources and Local Government applications.
The $2.7 million project will assist Council to meet National Competition requirements by shifting from a simple chart of accounts and job costing system to a detailed, activity based costing system. Warringah’s new Local Government Enterprise Solution (LGES) is a state of the art information technology system that will greatly improve the way Council does business.
The system is designed to provide relevant information without having to wade through useless additional material. For example, if managers need to know if they have enough money, the system will say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If they need to know why, they can access further details.
Under the agreement with Fujitsu, Warringah will become a reference site for transforming Council’s systems into a Local Government Data Warehouse.
“The partnership agreement includes Council providing 10 workstations for Fujitsu staff, who will help implement and develop the software over the next 12 months,” said Robert Alder, Service Unit Manager Corporate. “They will work closely with our own highly skilled IT Team.
“This Team is already working with a number of other Councils assisting them with their own IT development.” He said that to support the new purchaser/provider split within Council and provide optimum service to the community, Council must have the capacity to generate instantaneous complex plans and reports.
Warringah’s LGES is, initially, a Financial and Human Resource Management package. However, it has the capacity to integrate a number of other key Council activities, including local approvals, permits, library services, GIS, property and asset management.
“The system will enable staff to move from processing information to being knowledge workers,” Robert Alder said. “Staff will be more efficient and effective in responding to community needs because the process will become part of the system.
“The workflow component of the system assists us to redefine our work processes by eliminating the inefficiencies of traditional reporting structures and practices.”
The system also will enable Council to benchmark its performances against other Councils and commercial suppliers, as required by National Competition Policy. Implementation of the whole system is expected to be completed in 18 months, with the financial sections in place in time for the commencement of 1998/99 budgeting in February, 1998.
For further information contact Robert Alder, telephone (02) 9982 0333.
