PRE-CONDITIONS FOR REGIONAL SHARED SERVICES

1. PRE-CONDITIONS FOR REGIONAL SHARED SERVICES Don Phillips North-West,South-West & Central Regional Asset Management Group STEP Coordinator Associate CT Management National Local Government Asset Management and Public Works Conference. May 2013 Creating an environment for regional collaboration

2. Victorian Asset Management Regions

3. Levels of Service And now Shared Services

4. The Shared Services Holy Grail • Well known benefits can be achieved through collaborative approaches, such as:

5. Mid – Long Term Benefits • Expenditure savings through • Increased use of equipment and other assets • Joint contracts • Greater capability of achieving best practice through • Improved decision making • Improved access to technology • Sharing of risk • Better use of limited council resources and skills • By reducing duplication • Through skill and knowledge sharing • Sharing of employees

6. Immediate Benefits • Documents can be produced quicker • Only a single plan need be produced • Better documents can result by pooling skills, knowledge and technology

7. If so Great, Why No Action? • We recognize sharing opportunities must exist, so why has there been so little success in implementing shared services? • Councils still do AM, so no sense of urgency and a subsequent lack of support? • Concern often over governance issues • Jobs threat to local staff • Perceived loss of local control

8. Journey for Wimmera Councils

9. Attempt #1 • Past history with Shared Services • 2008 attempt at regional cooperation with asset systems • Failed, dramatically • Why? For all the reasons stated above

10. Attempt #2 • During 2012 another opportunity developed • Started with the Regional Asset Service AMP template • 14/17 councils from the North-West and South-West Regions are utilising the regional template • The Wimmera group of Councils at officer level elected to work together to complete their own first Recreation & Open Space AMP

11. Common AMPs • Soon realized since starting from scratch, rather than create separate plans, it was easier to work on one plan with the same processes, methodologies, hierarchies with provision for local input • Then realized could apply the same approach to other AMPs, so revisited • Can lead to shared opportunities

13. Wimmera Discoveries • Can work but requires cooperation and a willingness to compromise • eg the Road hierarchy problem • The Councils can demonstrate they are undertaking the same activity, in the same manner • Opportunities for the sharing of services can then be identified

14. How to Proceed? • Develop a step-by-step Shared Services process • Take one step at time • Don’t jump to the end and look for reasons not to continue • Emphasis that this is not take-over but a ‘knowledge base’ to support local decision making • Be prepared to compromise

15. Proposed Process“IF YOU BUILD IT, HE WILL COME” • Identify the sharing opportunity • Demonstrate ‘sameness’ • Identify the aligned Councils • Review skills capacity and resources available • Establish the alliances • Identify the tools and resources to create the shared service • Document the benefits • Form the alliance

16. 1. Identify Sharing Opportunity • Sharing opportunities may include: • Condition assessments • Renewal forecasting • AM reporting • AMPs • LTFP

17. 2. Demonstrate ‘Sameness’ • Sameness may be demonstrated through common • Hierarchies • Processes • Methodologies • Systems

18. 3. Align Councils • Council choose to participate • Aligned Councils may initially be those that demonstrate ‘sameness’ • Although this does not preclude a council expressing an interest and being prepared to make changes and align itself with other councils. This is not about exclusion.

19. 4. Skills, Capacity & Resources Review • Assesses each council’s current internal available skills and capacity to deliver the identified sharing opportunity • Any shortfall may indicate a sharing opportunity between councils • Any available skill may be an opportunity to share an employee

20. Skills, Capacity & Resources Review

21. Internal Capacity & Skills Matrix

22. 5 Establish the Alliances • Alliances may be: • Formed to address the specific skills and capacity deficiencies • Formed to address an under-performing activity • Vary in the number of the interested councils

23. 6. Identify the Tools & Resources • Skill location may be: • External provider (contract), or • Internal provider (shared employee) • Tools, equipment required: • Joint specification • Equipment purchase/sharing • Software purchase/sharing

24. 7. Document Benefits • Benefits may be realised through: • Cost savings • Improved service delivery

25. 8. Form Alliance • In forming the alliance councils will consider: • Governance structures • OH&S etc

26. Current Progress • Facilitated through the STEP program • Discussion on opportunities held at Victorian South-West, North-West and Central AM regional group meetings • Condition rating easy and obvious first test of the process • South-West selected bridge assets • North- East and Central selected building assets • Forums conducted to research and discuss options and select a common approach

27. Regional Forums Outcomes • Develop a common brief, condition rating manual • Options of ‘shared employee’, joint contract, software raised immediately • Next steps, continue with shared services process • May lead to software development

28. Summary • We all struggle with resourcing and effective service delivery • We do so many things the same, the opportunities for regional collaboration must be there • A simple, step-by-step process, working from the bottom up has been developed END