Informing Strategies

The information required, processes and outputs of the asset management resourcing component are detailed below.

What do I need to gather?

The following information is gathered when developing and progressively updating asset management strategies:

• During development of the Strategic Community Plan, or progressively with Local Area / Place / Regional Planning, priorities about services, service levels and asset based solutions to key issues are identified. This information needs to integrate with asset planning.
• The local government asset register is the basis for costing information that needs to integrate with financial planning.
• Asset condition assessments show the current state of an asset and provide an indication of the upgrading or renewal required to keep the asset at an acceptable level.
• Assets must be planned for and managed based on their lifecycle cost.
• The Capital Works Schedule (for new and existing assets) needs to be costed and integrated with financial planning.

What do I do with it?

During the development of the asset management strategy, the following key processes are used:

• Policy development - Council endorses a policy governing the management of local government assets.
• Service level review - determine the level of service that the asset needs to provide to meet existing and future community requirements.
• Risk assessment - identify what assets are critical to the local government's operations.
• Strategy development - develop strategies to ensure that risks to critical assets are managed and minimised.
• Improvement - determine what actions are needed to improve the local government's asset management capability.

What do I end up with?

The following are outputs of the asset management strategy processes:

• Asset management strategy – demonstrates how the local government's assets will meet the service delivery needs of the community.
• Asset management plan - Informed by community priority and includes an asset management policy, whole of life costing for the asset register, strategies for critical assets and an improvement plan to build asset management capability.
• Financial implications - The Asset Management Plan is integrated with the Financial Plan to ensure capability is understood.

The information required, processes and outputs of the workforce resourcing component are detailed below.

What do I have to gather?

The following information is gathered when developing and progressively updating the workforce strategy:

• The Strategic Community Plan provides the enduring aspirations of the community. This needs to be considered when assessing how the workforce will need to change over the long term.
• The immediate strategic priorities set by Council. This provides information about how the workforce will need to change over the short term.
• The Corporate Business Plan outlines the short term operations of the local government identifying what it will deliver and who is responsible.
• Collect information about the external factors that would impact the workforce including current and projected economic factors, market factors, competitor factors and the level of supply.
• Data about the current workforce needs to be sourced. This can include demographics, skills, position requirements, succession plans etc.

What do I do with it?

During the development of the workforce strategy, the following key processes are used:

• Workforce analysis - determine how capable the workforce currently is (in terms of achieving Corporate Business Plan objectives).
• Risk analysis - identify and assess the risks that are currently facing the workforce. This establishes a baseline for sensitivity analysis and allows for mitigation strategies to be included in the Workforce Plan.
• Forecasting - analyse how the workforce will need to change over time to deliver the objectives in the Corporate Business Plan.
• Strategy development - identify how the local government will build workforce capability to deliver the Corporate Business Plan (with the view to achieving long term community priorities).

What do I end up with?

The following are outputs of the workforce strategy processes:

• Workforce plan - A coordinated approach addressing the human resourcing requirements to deliver local government operations.

Description​

Local government’s internal documents that determine the ability to achieve community priorities through planned and managed services, assets, finances and people.

​Intent

To determine the local government’s ability to deliver prioritised community requirements that it is responsible for so that a deliverable  Corporate Business Plan can be achieved.

Informing Strategies are managed separately to the Corporate Business Plan to allow for and assist with longer term planning. This will also give local governments the opportunity to explore options and pursue innovative solutions. It can include investigating lease options as opposed to purchasing, volunteer arrangements, shared arrangements etc.

Roles and responsibilities

​Administration - leads the process in the preparation of the strategies after taking into consideration all key inputs and influences.

Council - many approve some but not all Informing Strategies. e.g. Resource Specific Informing Strategies.

​Timeframe

• Assets 10+ years.
• Financial 10+ years.
• Workforce 4+ years.

​Elements

Assets

• To be determined by Asset Management Framework - must address existing and proposed asset base, whole of life costing, service levels and renewal funding gap, and is a major input to development of the Financial Plan.

Financial

• Assumptions.
• Income and Expenditure projections, balance sheet and cash flow statement.
• Revenue Planning (rates, borrowing, commercial, investments, fees and charges and grants - must be based on sound borrowing  principles and practices).
• Sensitivity analysis.
• Scenario modelling.
• Financial performance monitoring (that addresses the National Frameworks as a minimum).

Workforce

• Current workforce capacity and capability.
• Required workforce capacity and capability to deliver the Corporate Business Plan.
• Strategies to address the identified gaps in capacity and capability.

Supporting Processes

• ​Processes to inform community planning of resourcing capability.
• Processes to test the ability to deliver the Local Government Strategic Priorities component prior to adoption.
• Processes to integrate with the Corporate Business Plan.
• Internal learning and development processes to enhance organisational capability.
• Resourcing will be updated at least annually as part of the review of the Corporate Business Plan or earlier as changes in the external  environment occur and alternative resourcing options are explored.

​Outputs and interdependencies

Outputs

• Asset Management Strategy.
• Finance Strategy.
• Workforce Strategy.
• Issue Specific Strategies.

Interdependencies

• Strategic Community Plan
• Corporate Business Plan.