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Queensland’s Southern Downs Regional Council have rolled out TechnologyOne’s SaaS Plus
Enterprise Asset Management to optimise the performance of their assets, manage
projects efficiently, and make informed strategic asset decisions to fulfil their long-term
infrastructure objectives.
The Southern Downs region in Queensland’s Darling Downs covers 7,120 square kilometres southwest of Brisbane, along the NSW border. It features World Heritage national parks, the Granite Belt wine region and hosts 35,600 residents. The mid-size council manages assets valued at $1.4 billion.
Faced with the challenge of maintaining and managing ageing infrastructure, Southern Downs Regional Council lacked the ability to accurately monitor and report on the condition of each asset in a manner that allowed for proactive maintenance and strategic planning.
The lack of visibility resulted in the council reaching an “infrastructure cliff”, whereby many of its assets were now beyond their useful life or require significant investment to renew.
Flow-on effects from this have included council budget pressures, reputational risk and increased maintenance costs.
“Council has not had enough visibility around the condition of our assets and the renewal and replacement cycle which is important to then be able to make informed decisions. Not having that has been one of the biggest challenges for us,” said the Council’s Chief Financial Officer, Gurbindar Singh.
It recognised that in order to avoid a future infrastructure cliff, they required a modern, streamlined asset management system that would enable them to have full visibility into the cost and performance of every asset.
Having used TechnologyOne’s OneCouncil solution for many years, the Council decided to continue with TechnologyOne as their preferred software supplier and began a collaborative process to determine their best options.
“Working with TechnologyOne, we identified the paths we could explore to transition to TechnologyOne’s new CiA Enterprise Asset Management software. One of the options was Solution as a Service or SaaS Plus, which offers a faster implementation, meaning the Council could reap the benefits at an accelerated pace compared to traditional time and material methodology,” said Mr Singh.
In 2023, the Council selected TechnologyOne’s SaaS Plus Enterprise Asset Management to manage the creation, operation, maintenance and reporting of their physical assets.
“We compared the costings of SaaS Plus against traditional time and materials implementation and we found that over the life of the contract, SaaS Plus represented both a lower cost and carried less risk of cost increases through scope creep, as well as greater levels of support through implementing a pre-configured product,” said Council Information, Communications and Technology Coordinator, Steve Brown.
With SaaS Plus, TechnologyOne delivers an end-to-end solution, taking full responsibility for the building, implementing, supporting and running of the enterprise solution which, for customers, reduces risk, saves time and money, and guarantees long-term success. It provides customers with a one-stop-shop, reducing much of the complexity, duplication and risk traditionally involved in ERP projects.
“The community will benefit from a streamlined, transparent asset management program which will provide visibility over future and current capital works. The improved system capability and functionality will provide our community with a better understanding of our current asset management practices including project management, services level, and response times resulting in increased value for money and satisfaction,” said Mr Singh.
“SaaS Plus manages project risk through quantified scope, outcomes and approach, which is very important to our Council. For a project of this size, we rely on many staff to dedicate their time, and if there is any scope creep or delays, this can have a significant impact on the overall operations of our Council, with those staff needing to extend their involvement and not focus on their regular duties. As has been experienced in the past, a delayed or failed project can have a negative impact on culture and morale, and more broadly discourage use of the products or participation in future projects.
“With TechnologyOne managing the project risk through SaaS Plus, this will minimise any chance of delays, scope creeps, budget blowouts and in turn save money for our Council.
“For Southern Downs Regional Council, SaaS Plus delivers the project faster and because we are able to use the system much sooner than the traditional time and material implementation methodology, we can use the product and therefore the data sooner. This accelerated window of time could mean the difference between an entire budgeting cycle, enabling us to realise financial benefits a full year earlier than if using the time and material methodology.”
By adopting TechnologyOne’s SaaS Plus Enterprise Asset Management, the Council is gaining a system that will enable them to manage everything from day-to-day operations to long-term asset planning, using one holistic view to increase asset life, reduce risk and build operational efficiency into their entire asset lifecycle. They are also getting faster return on investment with SaaS Plus, and minimising their risk when it comes to the project.
“We are looking forward to seeing all the benefits it has to offer come to fruition,” said
Mr Singh.
