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LGAM - new forum posts


Memes

Posted: 18 Mar 2013 04:13 PM PDT

Here are a few examples of memes that I'd like to see take hold in the local government community. Does anyone else have any memes they would like to see take hold?.

  1. Wikis are a great tool with lots of uses
  2. An encyclopedic knowledge base is an excellent way of organising and disseminating knowledge
  3. Software should be cheap, almost invisible, and make life easier
  4. You're doing yourself and your ratepayers a disservice if you're not openly sharing knowledge with your co-workers and peers

Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Meme

Re: What exactly does this structure designed to do?

Posted: 12 Mar 2013 09:29 PM PDT

Thanks, Bruce.

I thought that was probably the case, but I haven't seen too many of them around, and I thought it would be worth double checking.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Drainage Inlet Structure Photo No.1

Re: What exactly does this structure designed to do?

Posted: 10 Mar 2013 05:37 PM PDT

Hi Wayne

I checked with Rob Calligaris and he said its just to slow the water so it enters the pit and doesn't overshoot.

Regards

Bruce Janke


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Drainage Inlet Structure Photo No.1

What exactly does this structure designed to do?

Posted: 09 Mar 2013 09:00 PM PST

Can anyone tell me exactly what this structure is designed to do? It is rock studded concrete apron located upstream of a grated pit adjacent to a railway underpass. I am guessing it is designed to dissipate the energy of the stormwater entering the pit to ensure their is no overshoot on to the railway line below, but I'm not 100% sure that this is its function.

drainage-inlet-structure-epping.jpg
Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Drainage Inlet Structure Photo No.1

Business Improvement Checklist

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 02:51 PM PST

When I was working at Mildura Rural City Council we started using the Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF) to improve the way we did things. The system certainly had potential, but I thought it had 3 major failings.

1. It was too industry/production centric, and In my opinion at least, not particularly suited to the challenges of local government.
2. It was firmly stuck in the 20th century - everything was done on butchers paper - there was no attempt to incorporate things like wikis and social media.
3. The system was locked down with restrictive copyright, rather than free and open.

The Australian Centre for Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) was supposedly considering developing an open local government centric business improvement framework a year or two ago, but that effort seems to have died before it was even started.

The ABEF wasn't rocket science, and it seems to me that it shouldn't be too hard to develop / crowd source something similar but better in no time.

I have been thinking about this for quite a while, and have put together a bit of an "improvement checklist" that I hope I might grow into a useful business improvement tool one day.

http://www.lgam.info/business-improvement-checklist

I was hoping that those of you with an interest in business improvement might be able to point me in the direction of any good free business improvement resources and/or help me improve the checklist by giving me a bit of feed back about it.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Business Improvement Checklist

Collaboration Think Tank

Posted: 05 Dec 2012 06:54 PM PST

I know there are a number of organisations and projects out there that are trying to encourage collaboration between Councils, but ironically many of them don't seem to be that good at collaboration themselves.

I think part of the answer might be to build an organisation/platform independent community of interest - a group of Local Government people interested in inter-Council collaboration that are willing to hold regular discussions in a range of different forums.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who would categorise themselves as "interested in inter-Council collaboration", and if they are in contact with like minded individuals how they communicate with them?

Also I have listed below a few potential places where discussions could be started.

Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Network
http://www.iken.net.au/

IPWEA
http://www.ipwea.org.au/Home/

Ozloop
http://apsozloop.ning.com/

GovCampau
http://govcampau.wikispaces.com/

eGovernment Resource Centre
http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/

Gov2.0Australia
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/gov

LGWebNetwork
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/lgwebnetw

Local Government & Municipal Knowledge Base
http://www.lgam.info

Facebook

LinkedIN

Twitter

Google+


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Collaboration

Asset Management System Characteristics

Posted: 29 Nov 2012 02:07 PM PST

What are the most important characteristics of an Asset Management System?

I've already posted this question in a couple of other places, but I thought it would be worthwhile posting it here as well to make it easy to find.

It seems to me that Councils often fall into the trap of expecting an Asset Management System to solve all of their AM related problems, and as a result look for and/or specify a system with every conceivable functionality they can think of.

From what I have seen, heard and experienced, it is very common for Councils to purchase a very expensive AM system with all the bells and whistles only to leave it expand »sitting on the shelf, or to abandon it after 5 or 10 years and start afresh because the system is to complex to manage.

I personally believe that good data, good business rules and good documentation are far more important than the software side of asset management, and that Councils should be looking for the simplest, cheapest AM software system that can possibly do the job.

My six most important criteria for an AM system are:

1. simple & intuitive to use
2. easy to input data into (especially bulk data)
3. capable of surviving the departure of key staff (good documentation helps here)
4. open (don't want black box calculations that you can't understand)
5. flexible (don't want to be beholden to the developer to write reports and queries)
6. stable (don't want it crashing and losing data all the time)

I'd also like it to have a web-based interface with a unique URL for every query and report, but that's another story …

What are your key criteria for a good asset management system?


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Asset Management System

How to improve Ratepayer Satisfaction

Posted: 28 Nov 2012 04:22 PM PST

I think a really good way of improving raterpayer satisfaction would be to set up a transparent mechanism for turning ratepayer ideas and preferences into projects and policies.

Perhaps a well publicised ideascale-like site or tool, together with clear rules for how popular ideas are turned into projects would be a way to accomplish this.

https://ideascale.com/


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Ratepayer Satisfaction

Re: Why update your Asset Management Policy?

Posted: 20 Nov 2012 07:39 PM PST

Further to the previous question, I can't see any value in including a sunset clause in an AM Policy. I can understand the use of a sunset clause where a party or interest group have reservations about the content of the policy/legislation, and want to make sure any detrimental clauses cannot be retained indefinitely against their wishes. I don't however see how this could apply to an AM policy, which should be the subject of continual improvement.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Asset Management Policy

I have a vision

Posted: 15 Nov 2012 02:38 PM PST

It seems like a no-brainer to me that we should be working with other Councils whenever we can to solve problems of mutual interest.

I have a vision of open collaboration between Councils.

A vision were any person from any Council can submit an improvement idea to a central idea repository.

A vision Where those ideas can be discussed and critiqued by a wide range Council employees and interested third parties.

A vision where Councils work together on a regular basis to reduce duplication of effort and deliver better services to their communities.

Does anyone want to help me make this vision come true?


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Local Government Project Register

Local Government Project Register

Posted: 14 Nov 2012 02:47 PM PST

It seems to me that the best way to make someone attracted to a particular role, is to find them something interesting to do that is suited to their personal skill set.

Not always easy to do, especially if there is only a couple of projects to choose from - Thats why I think Councils should set up an AM Project Register - a list of AM related projects with information about the goal of the project, and what skills & resources are thought to be required to get the project up and running.

Now a single Council, even a large Council is not always going to have the people it needs with the skills it needs to sucessfully and efficiently implement the project. The usual answer to this dilema is to employee a consultant, but I think there is a better solution to this problem - for Councils and for Council staff.

I'd like to see Councils compile an Australia wide AM project register, and allow their employees to work on a project of personal interest to them (and relevant to their personal skill set) at least one day a week.

When people work on projects that genuinely interest them, their output is generally high quality and it is more likey they will come up with an innovative solution.

This system would encourage industry wide collaboration, and knowledge exchange and hopefully reduce duplication of effort accross the sector.

Now, I know a lot of subscribers to this forum are consultants so I'd to point out there would still be a role for consultants in this system, but that it would be working on projects that are of common interest to all Councils, and for which their is no expertise within the Council workforce.

What does everyone think? What generic AM related projects would be of benefit to your Council?


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Local Government Project Register

The three requirements for knowledge sharing

Posted: 24 Oct 2012 09:13 PM PDT

It seems to me that the following three things are required before you can share your knowledge.

  1. the willingness to share
  2. the confidence to share
  3. the necessary tools to share

I suspect that at lot of people having a willingness to share, but lack the confidence or tools to do so.

Do you think I'm right or am I missing an important piece of the puzzle?


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Knowledge Sharing

Asset Management Vision

Posted: 02 Oct 2012 09:06 PM PDT

Hi all, I am very interested to hear about your vision for Asset Management at your organisation.

My vision is pretty simple - I can sum it up in a couple of points:

1. I want to make all asset and asset related information available to everyone within our organisation via an encyclopedic interface.

2. I want to develop a culture where all where all asset management related knowledge is freely, openly and enthusiastically exchanged with other Councils in order to reduce duplication of effort within our Council and across the Local Government sector as a whole.

With regard to point (1) I'd like to add that I think that documents with rigid structures are very limiting - and the the way of the future is to store information in a modular way, and to aggregate it back up to suit a need or satisfy an external requirement. For example it should be possible to generate a live graph in HTML format with a unique URL showing the condition profile of your road network using your asset management system. This graph could be simulataneously embedded in your Asset Management Plan, your Road Management Plan, and on your Council Encyclopedia page about Road Condition.

A person interested in road condition would search the Council Encyclopedia, but at the same time the AMP and RMP would be automatically updated. (It may be necessary to create PDF snapshots of some documents for various purposes, but on the whole I believe live documents are much more useful.)

Anyway that's my vision. What's yours?


Forum category: General / General
Forum thread: Asset Management Vision

Bang the Table Budget Allocator

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 04:02 PM PDT

Just wondering if any Councils other than Shellharbour City Council are using the Bang the Table Budget Allocator?

http://bangthetable.com/products/budget-allocator/demo-site/

Looks like a nice idea - I definitely think that crowd sourcing the capital works prioritisation process, could be a win-win for Council and the community.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Capital Works Evaluation Framework

Why update your Asset Management Policy?

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 08:52 PM PDT

Hi all,

I am in the process of reviewing our Asset Management Policy. The existing policy is a pretty reasoble document, and probably doesn't need a lot of work, but I have been thinking about what it is that we are really trying to accomplish with it.

One thing I'm pretty sure of, is that there isn't much point in putting a lot of effort into updating it, if it ends up sitting on a shelf somewhere and no-one ever refers to it.

Very interested to hear from anyone who has REALLY benefited from updating their policy and how?

How often do you refer to it? How it does it help you better manage your assets?

Regards,


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Asset Management Policy

Re: Creating Innovative Councils

Posted: 16 Sep 2012 05:21 PM PDT

Thanks for the post Peter, and welcome to the site.

I mentioned Tristop on the Vertical Footpath Joint Displacement page eariler this year.

Looking forward to seeing the photos.

Regards,

Wayne Eddy


Forum category: General / Innovation
Forum thread: Creating Innovative Councils

Re: Creating Innovative Councils

Posted: 15 Sep 2012 04:24 PM PDT

I have just joined this site and make my 1st forum post. I will post some footpath photos with TripStop installed soon. We have been selling our product TripStop see www.tripstop.net since 2003 to Councils who are Innovative in that they wanted a viable and long term solution to displaced footpaths. To date we have not recorded a single failure at any TripStop joint where TripStop was installed correctly as per our Installation guide. Installing TripStop is easy and similar to installing Key joints except easier. Our longest known site backed with a testimonial [on our website] from the City of Bayside, Victoria was installed in 2003 and continues to protect today Sept 2012. The short version is Bayside used to replace 3 panels of concrete every 13 months at this site. 9 years in all have elapsed with zero maintenance saving ar 7 life cycles that 3 slabs x 7 cycles = 21 slabs at ar $200 a pop = $4200 for a cost of ar $80 for the TripStop. We have another site in the city of Knox which was built in the early 1980s and had some TripStops installed in 2005 which we will publish a real life case study very soon. Bottom line on this is ar 10% of the original slabs are still there after only 32 years. Knox asset life is 50 years. If the site had TripStop installed [i.e. Knox specified it at no cost to Knox they would have inherited a maintenance free footpath. ar 90% replaced early at a cost of ar $180 a pop. TripStop wasn’t invented until 2000 so Knox couldn’t have done it but they can now and so can every Council. For example the city of Sutherland NSW specify TripStop for all new sub-divisions.


Forum category: General / Innovation
Forum thread: Creating Innovative Councils

City of Ryde - Sustainable Asset Management Video

Posted: 13 Sep 2012 05:39 PM PDT

Here is an excellent video put together by Terry Dodds of City Council about the need for sustainably managing assets.


Forum category: Asset Management / Asset Management Practices
Forum thread: City of Ryde - Sustainable Asset Management Video

Re: BCS Upgrade - What tool/software to go with?

Posted: 16 Jul 2012 03:56 PM PDT

Hi Wayne,

Thank you for that link. I have had a look at the presentation before and thus how I found your site. From what I have seen you have lots of experience implementing wikis and lots more.

Apart from the presentation do you have any documentation, business cases or live examples of a working BCS.

In your experience was the SharePoint wiki meeting your needs? Did it have the functionality that you wanted?

Carl


Forum category: General / General
Forum thread: BCS Upgrade - What tool/software to go with?

Re: BCS Upgrade - What tool/software to go with?

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 04:42 PM PDT

Hi Carl,

I have been involved with three different internal wikis, and summed up my experiences in the following presentation. Hope it helps a bit, and I am happy to have a chat to you about it if you are interested.

http://www.lgam.info/how-to-build-a-council-encyclopedia


Forum category: General / General
Forum thread: BCS Upgrade - What tool/software to go with?

BCS Upgrade - What tool/software to go with?

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 04:11 PM PDT

Hi all,

I have just stumbled across this forum and think its a great idea that we share knowledge across councils.

I'm about to undertake a review of our BCS tool. We currently use a excel spreadsheet that has lots of lines with different business rules and becomes confusing for staff and our customers (internal).

I have done some research and am thinking one of the following:

- Thesaurus (121) - Buy some software like this and integrate it with a website

- Website - Using Robohelp or similar software - we currently use this in a few other departments however the software is quite old and as technology progresses I'm sure we will move on from it shortly.

- Wiki - This is where I can see the project going, however haven't had much experience with wikis. We have just launched SharePoint 2010 and was thinking we could build it in that platform.

Does anyone have an examples of internal or external wikis or BCS's they use/implemented?

If anyone could comment, assist or add some of their experiences, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks. Carl


Forum category: General / General
Forum thread: BCS Upgrade - What tool/software to go with?

Re: Asset Management System Functional Specification

Posted: 09 Jul 2012 02:07 AM PDT

A trouble ticket management software is a software that organizes and tracks down trouble tickets filed by customers or employees of a company. This software also manages the information and distributes it to the departments concerned that could troubleshoot the error. The trouble ticket management software of today uses emails and tickets as its media and connects with customers for customer database building.

The purpose of the software will be defeated if you invest your time building its database only to find that your web site is not compatible to run it properly. All websites have different needs and designs and a single type cannot fit all websites. You can learn more about the trouble ticket management software available by simply searching on the net. More info, check out: iKode Helpdesk X.


Forum category: Information Technology / Software
Forum thread: Asset Management System Functional Specification

Online Database Specification

Posted: 25 Jun 2012 06:45 PM PDT

Over the past few years I have thought a lot about how to encourage the development of an Open Source Local Government Software Suite, and in particular an open source Asset Management System. I have also done work on developing an Asset Management System Specification.

I think one way of progressing all of the above is to split the AMS Spec into two parts.

Part 1 - a spec for an online database
Part 2 - a spec for developing AM functionality for the database

To my way of thinking the database should have the following properties:

  • A web-based interface
  • Ability to record a transaction for every change made to the database
  • Ability to rollback the database to any point in time
  • Ability to add new fields and tables to the database as required
  • Ability for users to easily create and save queries and reports
  • Ability to pass data to the system via a URL
  • Ability to automatically assign a unique URL to any query or report generated
  • Ability to generate embed code for every saved query and report
  • Ability to assign varying permissions to individual database users

The database could be hosted on Council servers, but I think a cloud-based solution would have advantages, including the possibility of sharing the system and the associated development costs with other Councils

I need to flesh out this proposal a bit, but I thought I should write my initial thoughts dowm before I forget them.

Stages?

  1. Write specification for online database
  2. Call for and evaluate tenders
  3. Populate database
  4. Experiment with system - write own queries and trial
  5. Embed the queries into a wiki or Council Encyclopedia
  6. If necessary document what additional functionality is required, and find someone that can do the additional development.

Notes

One of the current othodoxies is that an Asset Management System should be integrated with other Council systems. I think a better way of thinking about this is that all software systems should be developed in a way that makes them easy to integrate with all other systems. I suspect that making a system web-based and capable of passing information via a URL might be a good way of managing this, but I would be interested to hear what IT people think about this.


Forum category: General / General
Forum thread: Online Database Specification

Council Encyclopedia

Posted: 28 May 2012 07:29 AM PDT

I originally set up this site for number of reasons. One of them was because I thought wikis were a fantastic tool for capturing & storing information, and I wanted to show staff at other Councils an example of what they could do. I really think that most Councils would benefit from setting up a wiki-based Council Encyclopedia, and I am going to make it a pet project of mine to try and convince as many Councils as I can to do so over the next few years.

I am starting off by creating a presentation explaining the benefits of building a Council Encyclopedia, and I am also going to do my best to write a Council Encyclopedia Business Case.

I am also pretty keen to try and find a few other people who think this is a good idea, and will help spread the word.

If you would like to help out please let me know.


Forum category: General / General
Forum thread: Council Encyclopedia

Are Water Authorities considering the use of microbial fuel cells?

Posted: 10 May 2012 04:02 PM PDT

I am very interested to know if Water Authorities are taking an interest in microbial fuel cells?

I suspect they have the potential to revolutionise the wastewater industry. Not only could they reduce operating costs by powering Wastewater Treatment Plants, I'd imagine that with Craig Venter invloved in the development, we could see genetically modified microbes that are much more efficient at devouring sewage than current biological sewage treatment options, and that could lead to smaller cheaper treatment plants and less sewerage infrastructure in general. I know that some water authorities need to spend 100's of millions of dollars on their infrastructure in the not-to-distant future. Hopefully this technology will reduce that bill somewhat.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Microbial Fuel Cell

Is Asset Management a Zero Sum Game?

Posted: 12 Apr 2012 04:51 PM PDT

Is Asset Management a Zero Sum Game?

Is the central question of Asset Management; we have limited resources, how should we allocate them?

Should we instead be asking, can technology allow us do deliver better services, with the same or fewer resources?


Forum category: Asset Management / Asset Management Practices
Forum thread: Is Asset Management a Zero Sum Game?

Neighbourhood Best Practice

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:55 PM PDT

The term World’s Best Practice is bandied around a lot, but I wonder how many Councils can even legitimately claim “Neighbourhood Best Practice”?

Do you know what the asset construction and maintenance practices of the Councils near you are?

If they are different to your practices, more-than-likely, one way of doing things is better than the other.
Have you or a nearby Council ever changed a practice because a neighbour does it better?

I’m guessing only a small number of Councils have even documented their practices well enough to pass them on to a neighbouring Council, and have them immediately understood.

I would loved to be proved wrong, so if you have any stories that contradict this hypothesis please let me know.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Neighbourhood Best Practice

Footpath Question

Posted: 04 Apr 2012 05:22 PM PDT

Gravel-Footpath.jpg Overgrown-Cracked-Path1.jpg

Both of the above photos were taken in McDonalds Road, Epping. The badly cracked concrete footpath shown in the photo on the right is located just beyond the end of the gravel footpath shown the other photo.

As a pedestrian I personally find the cracks in the footpath to be far less annoying than the overhanging grass, or the mud and puddles I have to dodge in the gravel section of the path after a bit of wet weather.

At the other end of the gravel footpath there is a section of newer footpath in really good condition. I wonder if it has been constructed to a higher standard because of the obvious defects in the older footpath, or history is destined to repeat itself?
I believe that a decision to change construction practices, as a result of an asset failure, would be a fantastic story to capture in a Council's corporate memory.

My personal thoughts are that replacing the gravel footpath with a concrete one is a higher priority than fixing the cracked section, even though this breaks the "renew before new" rule. Having said that I think there is a good argument for carefully investigating the reasons for the cracks in the older footpath before constructing the new one, so perhaps that is a good rationale for carrying out a repair.

I have several questions with regard to this scenario.

  1. What would other Councils do in this situation?
  2. How would you conduct an investigation into the causes of the concrete footpath failure?
  3. Do you see this as a good sort of question to ask, as a part of community consultation?

Forum category: Asset Management / Asset Management Practices
Forum thread: Footpath Question

Reasons for Asset Management

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 03:29 PM PDT

As I have indicated on the reasons for asset management page, it seems to me there are two main broad reasons for asset management:

  • To fulfil legislative, regulatory, audit and reporting requirements;
  • To strive to ensure that assets are managed in the most cost effective & ratepayer acceptable way possible.

At the risk of being cynical, I suspect that it is possible that some Council's grudgingly adopt a minimal set of asset management practices, not because they believe it will help their businesses, but becasue they believe they have to.

In my experience the two things that often get Councils motivated are:

  • the fear of getting an audit qualification;
  • the fear of being seen as less competent or progressive than neigbouring councils.

It seems to me for example, that the MAVs STEP program and similar programs elsewhere used motivator No.2 above a fait bit to nudge Councils down the AM path.

I am developing a presentation on Asset Management and I think nailing the real reasons for AM are a key to making it a really useful convincing tool for progressing asset management within an organisation, and any feedback anyone has in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

I am also interested to hear from anyone in the know, what the State & Federal Government's reasons for promoting and mandating asset management are.

Are they:
a) implementing AM in their own organisations, seeing the huge benefits and getting exited about it?
b) not implemented it in their own organisations, but hoping it will make Councils more efficient & financially sustainable anyway?
c) just doing it beacuse lobby groups with a vested interest in providing AM services to Councils are getting in their ears?

I really really hope the answer is (a) by the way.

Regards,


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Reasons for Asset Management

Drainage Hierarchy

Posted: 18 Mar 2012 05:01 PM PDT

It seems to me that drainage assets exist to remove or reduce the risk of; council, community and private assets being damaged by localised flooding caused by rainwater runoff, and that this role should therefore be paramount when considering the drainage hierarchy, and the service levels associated with it.

Perhaps then a drainage hierarchy should be based on the number and type of assets that would be damaged if a particular drainage asset was to fail.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Drainage Hierarchy

Ideal Bridge Hierarchy

Posted: 18 Mar 2012 04:30 PM PDT

Has anyone adopted a bridge hierarchy that they believe works pretty well?

I am currently giving the issue some thought, and am leaning towards, separate hierarchies for road bridges and non-road bridges, with the road bridges inheriting their classification from the road hierarchy, and a simple two option classification (major / minor) for non-road bridges.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Bridge Hierarchy

Asset Lifecycle Cost Tables

Posted: 12 Mar 2012 03:39 PM PDT

Given that Councils are being strongly encouraged by the higher levels of government to consider the ongoing maintenance & operating costs of new assets before building them, I am surprised and disappointed that the state or federal government hasn't published tables of typical asset types (escpecially buildings) and the average ongoing maintenance and operating costs associated with them.

The information would be extremely useful to Councils at budget time.

It might also help Councils justify the extra initial expense (?) of building energy efficient buildings.

If the information isn't immediately available perhaps some of the $25 million Local Government Reform Fund could be used to compile and publish the information.

If I am wrong, and someone out there has already compiled robust data about the lifecycle cost of local government assets, please let me and everyone else out there who is in dire need of the information know about it.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Lifecycle Cost Analysis

Re: Australian Standards

Posted: 05 Mar 2012 08:37 PM PST

Agree 100%! Government departments can always develop a standard and make it available under a Creative Commons license. A Creative Commons license allows the creator to keep copyright but allows others to copy and distribute the work provided they give the creator credit. Many public institutions across the world, including our Federal Government are using CC. I believe that charging to use a mandated standard is wrong and creates barriers to market entry. This ultimately reduces competition and drives up prices.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Standards Australia Limited

Building Type Definitions

Posted: 27 Feb 2012 09:27 PM PST

I am currently working on tidying up WCC's building hierarchies, and as part of that process I have been trying to find authorative definitions for some common building types, but it is proving harder than you might think. Can anyone help?

Here are the terms I am chasing:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/#112425501657479935772/posts/hUbQ94Fzp4i


Forum category: General / Definitions
Forum thread: Building Type Definitions

Asset Value for Money

Posted: 17 Jan 2012 06:33 PM PST

Local Government Victoria's Sustaining Local Assets Policy requires that an Asset Management Plan justify the contribution of each asset in terms of value for money for the council.

This seems like a pretty tricky requirement to satisfy to me.

Can anyone out there share if & how they managed to satisfy it?


Forum category: Asset Management / Asset Management Plans
Forum thread: Asset Value for Money

Re: Free TankSmart Application for Water Tank Capacity Estimation

Posted: 31 Dec 2011 02:09 PM PST

Hi, Kerry.

I have absolutely no problem with people posting relevant links on appropriate pages.

I have created a rainwater tank page. If you want to add a link to your calculator, feel free to add it to the "External Links & References" section.


Forum category: Water & Wastewater / Water Reticulation
Forum thread: Free TankSmart Application for Water Tank Capacity Estimation

Free TankSmart Application for Water Tank Capacity Estimation

Posted: 30 Dec 2011 07:04 PM PST

TankSmart is a free tank water estimation program used for the calculation of water tank capacities. It uses estimated water inflows including rainwater, mains water and other sources, versus water usage and loss from various user definable sources to determine the sizes of tanks needed.

The output of this process is a series of graphs and other information which shows the ongoing water balances over a period of time. A second aspect of this is that it allows the complication of water restrictions to be factored in. TankSmart is 'written' in MSExcel and comes with a comprehensive manual to describe how it is to be used.

TankSmart is freely downloadable from an Australian website. Since I am not allowed to post a link in this forum if you search for a Australian professional electrical engineer called Kerry Nufer on Google, and follow the 'download' page link on his default web page, you can download the application and manual free of charge.

Kerry Nufer


Forum category: Water & Wastewater / Water Reticulation
Forum thread: Free TankSmart Application for Water Tank Capacity Estimation

Re: Local Open Government Innovation Summit

Posted: 19 Sep 2011 03:50 AM PDT

Ashish
Sorry for the delay but delve into the site and look at;
Presentations and you will see what went on.
I was there coordinating, so can give you more information if required.
Darron Passlow


Forum category: General / Innovation
Forum thread: Local Open Government Innovation Summit

Useful life

Posted: 22 Aug 2011 09:45 PM PDT

The reason there is a huge increase in kerb and channel failure rates is to do with construction methods, Pre 1965 all kerb was formed by hand using boards and concrete with a 40mm + slump which allows proper hydration and curing so the concrete gains in strength as it ages giving a useful life of 60 years + and this where council are basing their useful life figures from.

In the mid to late 60's the kerb machine was developed to save on labour costs and increase production rates, kerb machines use a low slump or nil slump concrete so it holds its shape when extruded from the machine it relies on the compaction unit in the machine to supply the strength required and a fine coat of slurry is applied as it leaves the machine which gives the nice finish.

Now This is where the problem lies there are too many varying factors in this process, which can alter the quality of the kerb hence a huge reduction in useful life of Kerb and channel if councils where to take a serious look at this issue they would find that their useful life of kerb and channel has dramatically fallen to between 5 to 25 years leaving councils with huge replacement costs.

My question is have councils lost the control of the monitoring or overseeing of infrastructure construction within their boundaries in which they become the beneficiary of but hold the liability of the maintenance costs.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Kerb & Channel

Business Needs Analysis

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 09:44 PM PDT

If there is anyone out there who has conducted successful Local Government business needs analysis, and would be willing to share how it was conducted, please let us know.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Business Needs Analysis

Australian Standards

Posted: 31 Jul 2011 08:17 PM PDT

I had to purchase a couple of Australian Standards in the early 1980's when I was studying Engineering. I wondered at the time why something as important as national standards weren't freely available, and since then I have become more and more certain that it is wrong to lock standards away behind traditional copyright and a pay wall. I understand that a lot of time and effort can go into developing a standard, and that the process needs to be coordinated, and that this time and effort needs to be recognised, but I don't believe that user pays is the best model.

For those of you that need a bit of background, in Australia national standards are developed by Standards Australia a non-government organisation. Standards Australia is recognised by the Australian Government as Australia’s peak standards body. In 2003 it sold off its commercial businesses to SAI Global, and now all Australian Standards must be purchased through SAI Global. I have no problem with a private business charging for a product, but I believe the current system is flawed.

My biggest gripe is that many standards are referenced or mandated by Government legislation. If a government wants its citizens to do things a particular way it should give them all the information they need to do so, not require them to purchase copyrighted material from a third party. In my opinion governments should not mandate a "standard" in legislation unless the standard is freely available to the public.

Is anyone with me on this one?


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Forum thread: Standards Australia Limited

Google+

Posted: 17 Jul 2011 03:48 PM PDT

It seems to me that Google Plus' hang out facility is a huge opportunity for Councils, especially rural ones.

Holding an inter-Council meeting using hang outs would have at least two big advantages.
1. No travel time - and for rural Councils this would be a huge cost saver.
2. It would be very easy to record the whole meeting. This would make minutes easier to take, and make them much more accurate.

These two points alone, should be a strong case for making computers with web cameras, and access to Google+ the standard for local government computers.


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Forum thread: Google+

Useful tools & ideas

Posted: 19 Jun 2011 09:05 PM PDT

I attended a communication / team building / change management workshop last week. It wasn't too bad as far as that sort of thing goes, but I'm not sure that there was anything much that I can take away from it that will help me do my job better.

I would be really interested to hear from anyone who has attended a similar workshop and come away with an "idea" or "tool" that they have found really useful, and have used it over and over since then.

If you have an idea or tool that you find really useful, what is it?


Forum category: General / General
Forum thread: Useful tools & ideas

Re: Local Open Government Innovation Summit

Posted: 14 Jun 2011 06:19 PM PDT

Hi,

Would one of those who attended this share the briefing notes or meeting minutes ?

Regards,
Ashish


Forum category: General / Innovation
Forum thread: Local Open Government Innovation Summit

May 2011 Site Update

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 02:23 AM PDT

13 more people joined the site in May bringing the total to 390.

The site was visited 11,333 times, which is a new record, and hopefully means more people are finding useful information here.
Visits-to-may-2011.png


Forum category: General / News
Forum thread: May 2011 Site Update

Using the internet to make local government better

Posted: 31 May 2011 02:10 PM PDT

For quite a while now it has seemed to me that the internet has a huge potential to help local government become better and more efficient.
Local governments are not in direct competition, and I think there is almost certainly a lot of duplication of effort that could be eliminated if council employees thought of themselves as being part of one huge organisation and shared information and ideas with their counterparts at other Councils more freely.

What do you think? Can sharing information via the web, make Councils more efficient?


Forum category: Administrator Only / Blog
Forum thread: Using the internet to make local government better

New Weekly Visitors Record

Posted: 23 May 2011 01:46 PM PDT

There were 3,109 site visitors last week, which is a new record.

Total-visitors-to-22-May-2011.png

According to Google Analytics, since the site was set up their has been.

  • 107,737 Visits
  • 90,397 Absolute Unique Visitors
  • 304,999 Pageviews

Forum category: General / News
Forum thread: New Weekly Visitors Record

Re: The value of Knowledge Sharing

Posted: 22 May 2011 05:43 PM PDT

It is good and can be rewarding (if there is acknowledgment, perhaps). It is definately good career move.

This is similar in context that everyone keeps learning everyday….. Teacher learns from student. Mentor learns from mentee…..

More people share their knowledge, experience and wisdom, easier it is for everyone to question, argue, debate, agree or disagree but eventually grow and prosper.

Openness to questioning of experience and knowledge should also be part of it, so as to strenghen the foundation of innovation/change.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Share your knowledge

Evolution or Revolution?

Posted: 19 May 2011 05:05 PM PDT

Of the nine principles I thought might serve as a starting point for the LGAM Work Practices Improvement System, the Evolution not Revolution is the one I am least sure about.
After being involved in two painful Council Amalgamations, I can't help but think that gradual change is better than wholesale change, but I would love to hear what other people think about the subject.

Is tearing down the status quo and starting again from scratch ever justified?

Wayne Eddy


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Evolution not revolution

The value of Knowledge Sharing

Posted: 19 May 2011 03:48 PM PDT

For quite some time now I have been of the opinion that sharing knowledge teaches the sharer even more than it does the recipient.
I have certainly learned a lot in the process of building the Local Government & Municipal Knowledge Base, and using it to share my knowledge with the wider local government community.
I know that some people hoard their knowledge thinking that this will make them more important to their organisation, but I think the opposite is true.
I would be very interested to hear from anybody on either side of this debate.
Do you think freely sharing your knowledge is a good or bad career move?

Wayne Eddy


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Share your knowledge

The importance of linkages

Posted: 16 May 2011 11:17 PM PDT

I was just thinking that for the most part it is not the content of the Local Government & Municipal Knowledge Base that is important. Much of it is probably available in a 1000 dusty books and in word documents and spreadsheets in a 10,000 obscure directories in 1,000 Council & Consultant Offices. What makes it special is linkages and openness.

It is the linkages between pages and concepts that make the site powerful, and the fact that anyone can easily find the information they are looking for.

What do you all think?

Do you agree or disagree?


Forum category: General / General
Forum thread: The importance of linkages

Service Plan

Posted: 16 May 2011 05:58 PM PDT

I just had a bit of a go at defining the term Service Plan, but it is not really my field of expertise, and I would love to hear from someone a bit more knowledgeable on the subject who would be prepared to correct or elaborate on my attempt.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Service Plan

Asset Knowledge Management Strategy

Posted: 15 May 2011 10:18 PM PDT

I would be interested to know if any Australian Councils have drafted an Asset Knowledge Management Strategy, and if so whether it was created as a stand-alone document or as a part of a more general Asset Management Strategy?


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Asset Knowledge Management Strategy

April 2011 Site Update

Posted: 11 May 2011 07:56 PM PDT

12 new people joined the site in April 2011 bringing the total number to 376

The total number of site visitors was down slightly from March (probably because of the Easter holidays), but page views were up again with a site record 21,368 pages being viewed over the month.


Forum category: General / News
Forum thread: April 2011 Site Update

Local Open Government Innovation Summit

Posted: 03 May 2011 03:53 AM PDT

Local Open Government Innovation Summit

The first Australian Local Open Government Summit is now scheduled for the 18th May 2011.
Shoalhaven City Council has shown the initiative and drive to get this meeting (summit) together.
It is primarily a local event to education council employees and the community on the benefits of Open Government. However, other surrounding councils have been invited to join in this entrepreneurial activity.
The organisers are happy to have any interested person attend this Australian first. The more the merrier.
You can see what is planned at;
http://opengovinitiative.wikidot.com/summit-agenda
You can attend by registering at the site or the address in the Nowra Summit flier
OR
Follow what happens and the outcomes at the above site.


Forum category: General / Innovation
Forum thread: Local Open Government Innovation Summit

The meaning of soffit

Posted: 13 Apr 2011 04:19 PM PDT

The word soffit derives from the French meaning forming a ceiling. Wikipedia. But in this context it means the sewer pipe connection point.

It seems to me that soffit is not the most appropriate term to describe the top of a sewer pipe connection point. After all, a 'ceiling' usually means it is an enclosing structure. So, unless the sewer connection point is capped ( which could then be defined as a ceiling) why call it soffit? It just doesn't make sense.


Forum category: Hidden / Per page discussions
Forum thread: Soffit

Re: Asset Management System Functional Specification

Posted: 11 Apr 2011 03:25 PM PDT

Thanks, Ashish. I will contact John.

I reckon one of the big advantages of sharing knowledge publicly, is that if you ever move Councils, all of your previous work isn't lost to you.
I believe if everyone who moved Councils could more easily access documents and information they created at their previous Council, every Council would be a winner.

Regards,

Wayne.


Forum category: Information Technology / Software
Forum thread: Asset Management System Functional Specification

Re: Asset Management System Functional Specification

Posted: 11 Apr 2011 12:23 AM PDT

GCCC spent lots of time and efforts to develop functional requirements for Enterprise Resource Planning solution with one of its core module being Asset Management. You may like to contact John Gorman on GCCC switch board, if they are happy to share (there might be IP issues).

I was partly involved, when I was with Gold Coast City Council, but do not have all documentation with me any more.

Regards,
Ashish


Forum category: Information Technology / Software
Forum thread: Asset Management System Functional Specification

Asset Management System Functional Specification

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 11:27 PM PDT

I have been working on a Functional Specification for an "ideal" Asset Management System over the past few days, and I was wondering if anyone out there has already developed something similar?


Forum category: Information Technology / Software
Forum thread: Asset Management System Functional Specification

Re: Just updated the front page.

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 02:29 PM PDT

Looks pretty good Wayne. Not cluttered & quite user friendly.

Regards

BruceJ


Forum category: General / News
Forum thread: Just updated the front page.
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