With NSW Local Government elections on the horizon for this September, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is nearing the end of its four year period under Administration.
During this time Council meetings have understandably been a little different to the traditional debate and discussion format, however being under Administration has not deterred the Council from updating its business paper system and increasing the efficiency of the organisation in the process.
InfoCouncil is an automated, integrated office productivity tool for the creation, publication and storage of local government agendas and minutes. The software covers all the business processes involved in reporting to council, recording decisions and then putting them into action. It incorporates the latest Internet and office technologies and provides valuable economies of scale to the local government sector.
The $75,000 investment Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has made in the system has involved not only a software upgrade but also a timely review of the business paper layout and format. According to Stewart Todd, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council’s Group Manager, Governance and Executive Services, the opportunity to strengthen the strategic planning alignment of the business papers was one of the key drivers behind the software upgrade. "Recognising that the business papers needed to be restructured to more closely align to Council’s
2011-2015 Delivery Program gave weight to the case to upgrade the software and utilise the InfoCouncil system."
"In terms of change management we have been able to streamline the creation of support resources and internal training to reflect both the software and structural changes of the business papers.
"With the return of elected representatives, 2012 will be a big year of change for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council. In order to minimise change fatigue and successfully switch systems without any downtime in creation of Council’s business papers, it was important to make the changes to the business paper system seem as simple and time efficient as possible for staff," says Mr Todd.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has a number of core staff who are now trained as administrators of the InfoCouncil system, with additional management level staff trained in writing reports to Council and managing the internal approval process. InfoCouncil is also used for the business papers, agendas and minutes of all of the Committees of Council.
Mr Todd says that, "We are already seeing improvements in efficiency for both agenda generation by the system administrators, and the creation of reports themselves. The quality of the reports being submitted to Council has also improved based on taking the opportunity to update staff skills and awareness within the training for the new system."
