The 15th October closing day of the CoreNet Global Summit in Melbourne featured an in-depth look at a successful public-sector application of a corporate asset management best practice.

Brisbane City Council owns and operates property and infrastructure assets that represent approximately AUS $14Billion in value to the Brisbane City community (3rd largest capital city in Australia). The size and nature of the asset base makes this Council one of the largest Public Sector Asset Manager's in Australia, and one of the largest Municipal portfolios management organizations in the world.

In 1998, Frank Riley and his team began to develop a software program that would be fully integrated throughout the corporation and which would align operational practices with the strategic directions of the corporation.

"The initial challenge was to be creative and reinvent the wheel on how we have done things for many years. We had to change the entrenched thinking and practices, as well as the models, and then make it a generic process. Getting corporate consistency is not easy when managing so many different assets - from buses, to sewerage, to buildings, to parks -"

It would help to know the key features of the Total Asset Management Framework (TAM) as there have been considerable interest shown in the program and is currently being commercialised and will become part of the City's commercial projects/ventures.

Total Asset Management features include:

• staff can use the guidelines for a particular project or business case;
  
• real practical value across the organization;
  
• links to hard asset systems;
  
• provides corporate consistency and is a valuable tool for the CEO and senior management team;
  
• can focus on an area that was most difficult to achieve tangible results and set appropriate key performance indicators;
  
• offers consistent and better strategic planning.
  

Achievements realized - TAM approach

Brisbane City Council launched its TAM framework in March 1999. Like any management tool, it has taken time to demonstrate the benefits of its application across the organization, however a number of very worthwhile achievements can be identified since its introduction. In brief, they are;

1. Accessible at the desk top for Council personnel, incorporating key processes based on lifecycle stages of planning, procurement, maintenance and disposal; and a suite of ten advisory guidelines on diverse topics such as Economic Appraisal, Risk Management, Value Management, Lifecycle Planning and Ecologically Sustainable Development.



2. Development of a comprehensive range of Asset Strategic Plans in support of Program Plans.
   
   
3. Integration of the City Assets System with Financial Management System (integrated businesses processes)



4. Property disposal and rationalisation program achieving excellent sales results due to the forward planning inherent in the TAM approach. AUS$45.9M revenue realised for the corporation and hence redirection to other council services through the realisation of surplus property sales. An average 6.9% yield on disposal.



5. An average 10% reduction in property operating expenses since introduction in March 1999.



6. Significant subsidies made available via the State Government through the "Total Management Plans" developed for water and sewerage.



7. Decline in accommodation churn rate from 20% to 8.6% over two years.



8. and we could go on

Is it any wonder that the City of Brisbane's Total Asset Management framework is a 2001 CoreNet Global Innovators Award winner?