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?

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

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.

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.

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?

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?

Here are the terms I am chasing:

• Community Activity Centre
• Community Centre
• Maternal & Child Health Centre
• Senior Citizens Centre
• Youth Centre
• Youth Resource Centre

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

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

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

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

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?

• Bruce Dalrymple
• Rob Petreski
• orrey3
• velvetsarah
• Janinem
• bjones88
• Daverk
• Haze4rob
• Joanne Lafranchi
• Jeff du Manoir
• Lowell Richardson
• sitran
• HelenRooth
• Venkata Peteti

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

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

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

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

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?

• SLIS
• Matt Babaei
• Tim Cornford
• fblues
• somana
• Nagendra Shakya
• PhilMc
• methusela too
• Andrew V
• Michael Briggs
• Adrian Ellson
• Smick

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.

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.

• JJRyan
• Gina Edwards
• Robbie Meerman
• NoelValenti
• VaughnCrowther
• Boeser
• Sara Morrison
• kathm
• Graham Proud
• Murali K G
• SueR
• Vincent Vincent
• Anton Juodvalkis
• cwhce5
• David K Robinson
• Terri Minards
• Burnesy
• Colin East
• SimonDugina
• Ben Steel
• DDanielsson
• shaun kelly

The site was visited 8,575 times in March 2011, for a total of 20,359 page views. (A new page view record.)

A further 96 pages were added to the site bringing the total number of pages to 3472.

Also special thanks this month to Danielle Danielsson who has volunteered to be a site administrator and has been busily adding site content, and firing up the forum.

Geospatial ICT Solutions is working with City of Holdfast Bay and the Eastern Regional Alliance on a suite of FOSS products for local government. It is early stages yet, but if successful it could be a really big deal for Local Government in the medium term.

An Open Source Local Government Software Suite is by-the-way sitting in the No.1 spot for ideas to make local government better, so there should be a fair bit of support for the project around the country.

Part of the project is AMOS - an Open Source Asset Management System. I believe that the AMOS developers will being keeping an eye on the AMS requirements section of the LGAM Asset Management System page, as they are building the system, so if you have any ideas about what functionality an Asset Management System should have please let us know, or edit the page yourself.

The site was visited 9,645 times in February and 18,479 pages were viewed.

A further 87 pages were added to the site bringing the total number of pages to 3376.

Click here for more detailed site statistics.

… So if you have been a site member for a while and you are not on the map, please consider;

a) adding your location to the map; and/or
b) adding your name or Wikidot ID to your Council Page; and/or
c) introducing yourself on the Forum; and/or
d) letting me know which organisation you work for, or what your interest in local government is.

Open in Google Maps

Three more ideas were added to the ideas page. If you like them, vote them up.

• Embrace the Government 2.0 Philosophy
• Host a Local Government Innovation Summit
• Embrace Creative Commons Licensing

Quite a few other new pages, including those listed below were added to the site, bringing the total number of pages on the site to 3344

• Gazebo
• Quantitative Asset Data
• Underground Asset
• Dial Before You Dig
• Australian Local Government Women's Association
• Water Authority Mailing List
• NZ Council Mailing List
• Underground Service
• Kerb Marker
• Succession Planning
• People
• Wanted Photos
• Civic Park

If you have any other page suggestions, please let us know.

There are already quite a few pages on the site that attempt to point you in the direction of other sites & projects of interest, including those listed below.

• Links
• Organisations
• Public Sector Knowledge Sharing Initiatives

… but we are always looking for new ways to make local government more connected, so we thought a page devoted to the people behind the links might not be a bad idea.

If you know of someone who is doing their bit to connect local government, please let us know and we will add them to the people page.

Comments on the draft principles can be made via the OAIC Blog.

The graph below shows how the number of visits via search has increased over time.

• Mariusver
• wanderingoutdoors
• kulichi2
• sctlvr
• MathewT
• Gaffy

As of 31 January 2011, the site has been visited on more than 73,400 occasions and just over 230,000 pages have been viewed. More people visited the site during January than in any previous month.

This is a welcome announcement, but it got me thinking how I would spend $2.7 million dollars of federal money.

If the other levels of government really want to help Local Government tackle asset management properly, I believe they should start by replacing old fashioned expensive hardcopy asset management manuals with web-based encyclopedic manuals published under a creative commons license, thereby making them freely available to Local Government, and easy to update.

That probably wouldn't cost anywhere near $2.7 million to do, but it would be a huge help to Council's right across Australia.

How would you spend the money?

? Handle, investigate and respond to customer inquiries related to road and drainage assets and flooding damage;
? Management / monitoring and administering of the insurance claim investigation for assets section; and
? Provision of higher level customer service and problem solving advice in partnership with the Works Engineer, Works Supervisors and staff of Road Infrastructure Management.

For detailed PD or further details, please contact ashish shah ua.vog.dlq.nagol|hahshsihsa#ua.vog.dlq.nagol|hahshsihsa or 07 3412 4930

We are currently reviewing our list of asset types, and I am interested to learn how many asset types other councils have, and what they are?

I have added a Composite BRC Asset Type List to the site, to act as a bit of a checklist for the Asset & Component Types page.

• leannem
• Helen Benstead
• davidoakgrov
• jcranston
• starrme
• tom judge
• Gago14
• essenture

According to the 2010 Google Analytics Report the site was visited 51,422 times in 2010 & 123,949 pages were viewed. This compares to 12,619 visits & 80,210 page views in 2009.

This is a bit off topic, but you never know it might be of interest to some of you.

I have created a separate wiki about technology & the future.

If you think you might be interested the address is:

http://the-future.wikidot.com

• Sportsman
• Andy36
• David Alman
• tsangk
• Geordie Lascelles
• Peter Drew
• David Gunawan
• Julie Basford
• lindajs1

The November 2010 Google Analytic Report shows that 7110 people visited the site in November which is a new record.

New site features implemented in November include the Ideas page, the Wish List and automatic Twitter updates.

I think the first step in creating the open standard for asset registers is the creation of an open standard for asset register data exchange.

An Open Asset Register Data Exchange Standard would:
a) allow for data to be easily transferred from one asset management system to another.
b) reduce the number of apps/scripts that would need to be developed to extract data from drawings confirming to data lodgement standards like ADAC & R-Spec
c) potentially act as the seed for the development of an open source asset management system.

I have started working on one here as an example of how simple it might be to set up a standard.

http://opentables.wikidot.com/asset-register-data-exchange-standard

If anyone has any suggestions about what fields should be included, or even better can point me in the direction of an existing standard please let me know, as I have no desire to reinvent the wheel if there is something already out there.

I'm not sure if asset management system vendors will see the value of such a standard, but I am hopeful local government asset managers will.

Once

I am hoping that as younger people enter the local government workforce they will be more and more atuned to collaborative thinking, and be willing and eager to openly share information & ideas with each other.

I also think that local government and educational institutions should be working together to make sure that students are getting educated in way that will make them more useful to their future employers. I have been wondering for a while how we in local government can develop that partnership, and I think I might have an answer.

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government is federally funded collaboration of universities and professional bodies committed to the advancement of local government. I hope they are able to come up with a few ideas for advancing local government, but I also hope they are willing to listen to the ideas of people in local government about how to advance education for the betterment of local government. Its a two way street!

I am going to be telling them that they should be:
a) teaching students how to use wikis and other collaborative tools to solve problems.
b) listening to the ideas of people in local government and helping us implement them.

What do you want the ACELG to do with federal money they have been given on our behalf?

They are our conduit to the education system. Lets use that conduit.

You can download a copy of the report from here.

• Action group forms to tackle rate rises
• Farmers to turn out against rural rates slug
• Gold Coast ratepayers' water charges 'double-dipping'

One of the main purposes of this site is to encourage Council employees to share good ideas with each other. Good ideas will hopefully lead to cost savings, and with any luck cost savings will result in lower rate bills, or at the very least better value for money.

Now encouraging Council employees to share good ideas with each other is great, but if you really want to reduce your rates bill, why not share your good ideas with Council employees?

What have you got to lose? Hopefully big rate bills.

Go on, tell us your ideas.

e.g. http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=109847524440672387251.0004758a7cd0189a9d368&ll=-31.578535,144.404297&spn=56.055967,79.013672&z=4

Now they have a built in URL shortener that generates links that look a bit more like this.
http://goo.gl/maps/74jo

What's the big deal? It means the code for linking to Google Maps looks a whole lot less scarier.
A link from a Council's postal address has always been part of our plans,
e.g. Narromine Shire Council
but now we can (hopefully) do it with out making the page code too complicated for novice users to use.

I have a very strong suspicion that collecting enough data to build up accurate condition deterioration profiles for most asset types with the technology available today would be prohibitively expensive.

I think for this reason asset management has so far promised more than it can deliver.

I do think there is light at the end of the tunnel though.

Google has recently showed that self driving cars aren't far away, and I think that when it becomes obvious to enough people that computer assisted driving is very much safer than human-in-charge driving not only will automatic cars become more common, their use will eventually be mandated.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/10/google-has-robotic-self-driving-cars.html

The Google cars use LIDAR, radar and video cameras to navigate, and I would expect that this technology could be used to simultaneously collect road condition and traffic volume information.

I also believe that with computational power doubling every 18 months (Moore's Law), by the time a reasonable number of these high tech cars are on the road, the cost of compiling, storing and analysing the huge amount of data that would be collected, will be low enough to allow for real time road condition and traffic volume information over entire road networks.

Imagine a report arriving in your inbox every week advising you of the current condition of and the volume of traffic using every single road segment in your municipality.

It is not science fiction. Large fleets of self-driving highly computerised cars are just around the corner. We need to start lobbying now to ensure that they also collect road condition and traffic data for us now.

As Sam Kekovich would say. "You know its true".

http://innovativecouncil.wikidot.com/

And whilst on the subject of innovation, a new "Ideas" page has been added to this site. If you have any ideas for improving local government, or if you would like to vote on the ideas already listed, please do so.

Councils (and council employees) are facing an ever increasing number of demands.
Councils are being asked to do more with less.
There are more requests for increased services (increased expenditure), while the income stream is under pressure.
There is acknowledgement now in local government that adequate funding is not available to refurbish aging infrastructure.
A new model is required.
We need to get our heads together with our communities and come up with "good ideas" to address the issues.
We then need to move the "best" ideas into practical solutions that benefit councils and their communities.

This is what "innovation" is about.
Councils need to become more innovative.
A wiki has been set up to gather comments, ideas and thoughts on Councils moving forward with Innovation.

Go to the site and have a look, make a comment or add an idea. We need your help.

http://innovativecouncil.wikidot.com/

• Brian Kerr
• David Charlton
• GordoIppy
• Sam Assaad
• Rass
• Kev McFarlane
• Neera
• Anthony Keleher
• ROY MAHARAJ

Most people that sign up to LGAM don't bother using any of their free wikis. This (IMHO) is a bit of a shame because it is easy to do, and a personal wiki can be a very handy.

I have set up a heap of wikis, for personal use, work and community projects, including:

• Bundaberg AMP Development Wiki
• Bundaberg Tennis
• Bundaberg Community Kindergarten (Which my darling wife has done most of the work on)
• A personal website
• A family tree

And a couple of other LGAM Members have set up the wikis of their own, including:

• Bundaberg Bushwalking Club
• RAAFA Queensland Division

The above wikis are all public wikis, but you can also create private wikis, that only select people can view.

I think web-based collaboration is going to get more and more important in the next few years, and even if you aren't interested enough in Local Government to justify contributing to this site, I believe getting the hang of wikis in general will be useful to you both personally & professionally. So give it a go - start a wiki today!

http://bundaberg.qld.gov.au/employment/coordinator-waste-and-recycling-operations-03-11-10

Applications Close: 3 November 2010

http://bundaberg.qld.gov.au/employment/assets-officer-05-11-10

Applications Close: 5 November 2010

I would appreciate, if any one has gone pass insurance aspects for the Timber bridges?

Some of the points:
- The replacement cost (new one may not be timber bridge) and to upgrade it to new requirements etc make it difficult to come up with "insurable market value"
- Replacement may trigger realignment in rural area
- The excess might be high for incidental damage (such as we have for fire or even due to flood)
- Natural disaster funding (due to complete flood washout and bush fires)
- Damage due to heavy vehicle (e.g. overloaded etc) is covered under motor vehicle third party damage

Regards,
Ashish

Below are links to the few documents already listed on the recently created Free Reference Documents page.