Noosa Council is implementing the final stages of an enterprise wide, whole of Council computer solution by switching from a standalone financials package to the Financial and Assets applications from Civica’s AUTHORITY Local Government management solution.
Council has been using the AUTHORITY property, revenue and applications modules for several years. The new Financial system was implemented in mid February, while implementation of the Assets application will commence in the new business year.
“The main benefit from moving to a complete package was one of total integration across Council, where we could get away from the traditional siloed effect and move to a solution where any financial activity on the system can be seen immediately by all authorised users,” said Terry Reason, Noosa’s Manager IT, and also IT Project Director FAB (Financials and Assets Bureau) implementation.
He cited an example where a Council staff member can use the Internet to lodge a works request or order, and the work flows through various departments, right down to the man who carries bitumen to fix the road.
“The advantage is visibility,” Terry Reason said. “Plus the immediate availability of financial costings as the various elements are progressed through AUTHORITY. Under the previous arrangement we had to wait up to 24 hours before we could access information. That’s the greatest advantage for us, and additional benefits will flow when we add Civica’s Asset and Infrastructure Management (AIM) application. Then, when an activity occurs on an asset – like building a footpath – charges against that asset will be visible immediately right across the system.”
The new enterprise approach has also allowed Council to introduce Civica’s AUTHORITY i-Services, which provides staff with easy access to browser based applications for customer requests, invoicing and reconciliation model.
It allows Council staff to create requests, raise orders, receive goods and accept invoices – all via easy to use web applications.
Terry Reason said that for a large and substantial implementation, the changeover is going well. Once Assets go online, Noosa will be using more than 40 AUTHORITY applications, available across the whole of Council.
Civica has also developed an ad hoc Excel reporting tool in conjunction with Noosa Council, which will be made available to other Councils.
Terry says the new Excel reporting feature empowers end users by allowing the output from very complicated reports to be converted to everyday English that people can understand.
“Now you can look at a report, and an output that might previously have been called something like VSXKP29760#S is now called Budget 07,” he said. “So we are using the power of Excel to run reports on the desktop on an individual basis.”
For the future, Terry Reason says Noosa’s management is encouraging Civica to introduce more web implementation features into AUTHORITY.
“They are certainly moving in the right direction,” he said.
Noosa staff use more than 500 PCs and laptops, over 450 of them on the corporate network. There are fast, gigabit links between floors at the Tewantin office, and gigabit fibre links to three remote sites, including the Noosaville Library/Leisure/Respite complex, Noosaville Depot and the Strategic Planning Office. Noosa also operates a 30 line remote access server for modem dial in by home users and small offices, including the Chemists’ Lab, Child Care Centre, Aquatic Centre, Sewerage Treatment Plant and Pomona Depot. Council uses a 4.5 terabytes storage area network (SAN).
Noosa is listed as one of Australia’s five best places to live. The area is recognised both domestically and internationally as an outstanding holiday destination. Residents share the goals of environmental excellence, quality lifestyle and economic wellbeing. Successive Noosa Councils have supported community resistance to the introduction of city highrise living. Current legislation prohibits buildings over four storeys.
Noosa Council has embraced community governance, empowering citizens through five Community Sector Boards to chart the Shire’s future. Council’s 10 year land use Strategic Plan provides for future resident population of 56,000, based on the area’s capability to support development and available and planned infrastructure, for economic, social and environmental sustainability.
Noosa’s economy is founded on its small scale, its environment, and the proportion of open space to development, a service industry base and cultural and creative values.
The community sees its prosperity related directly to the maintenance of character, lifestyle and environment. Noosa is an enlightened community, determined to maintain its enviable environment and lifestyle.
*Copy supplied by Civica
