Wollongong selects Hansen Asset Management Solution

Contact
Peter Richardson
+61 3 9691 2300

MELBOURNE , AU —April 26, 2007—Wollongong City Council has selected Hansen International Australasia’s Hansen 8 enterprise asset management solution to manage the City’s $2.5 billion worth of assets. Wollongong is the first local government site in Australia to implement the Hansen 8 asset management solution.

To better manage its assets and ensure delivery of sustainable services to the community, the Council adopted a Management of Assets Policy that set the framework for the effective management of current and future assets.

Mr. Wesley Johnston, Asset Management Project Manager for the Council, noted that the City’s move towards best practice in asset management was driven by the Council’s corporate strategy and corporate plan.

“The City adopted a top-down approach to asset management which resulted in the development of policy and strategy prior to the selection of an information system,” Mr. Johnston said. “The ongoing challenge for Wollongong City Council is to facilitate the provision of sustainable assets used in the effective delivery of services to the community for current and future generations.”

“The resources required to deliver services to the community are finite. An asset management system needed to be put in place to facilitate the most effective use of these resources and to provide the necessary information to make informed decisions.”

Mr. Johnston also stated that this information system was necessary to support the directions identified in the City’s asset management policy and strategy which include:

• Centralizing asset data into one corporate system
• Utilizing a common work order system for task allocation and job costing for all staff
• Work order delivery with full integration to OH&S and risk systems
• Establishing service levels for all assets used in service delivery
• Using full lifecycle costing for decision making 

“Hansen 8 was selected as the product that best supported these directions. The product provides modules that support the directions identified for the full range of Council assets.  Hansen 8, being a .NET application, enabled the product to be deployed via an Internet browser and deployed in the field on laptops and notebooks using wireless networks,” Mr. Johnston added.

In conclusion, Johnson said, “The ability for the asset management system to integrate with other corporate applications is of particular importance to us. Hansen is easily being configured as a subsidiary financial ledger of Wollongong’s general ledger. This is a major benefit. Financial transactions are entered only once, and the same data used to prepare the financial statements is the same data used for the asset management.”

Wollongong has a timeline of February 2007 through June 2008 for the implementation of plant and equipment, transportation, work orders and OH&S, information technology assets, buildings, property, parks and sporting fields, storm water, artworks and monuments and other City assets.

Hansen International Australasia’s Managing Director, Peter Richardson, said,  “This implementation is a significant step for Wollongong in its journey toward best appropriate practice in the management of their assets. The Hansen 8 asset management solution is the tool that provides the critical asset management information to support the Council’s strategic directions.”

Hansen International Australasia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hansen Information Technologies Inc., which is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, USA. Hansen currently supports more than 450 government agencies with more than 110,000 government users worldwide. Its customers include some of the largest government agencies in the world. In Australia and New Zealand, Hansen employs more than 50 software and support staff to service customers such as Melbourne Water, City West Water, Yarra Valley Water, South Gippsland Water, Gold Coast Water, Sydney Water, and Metro Water (New Zealand).  Local government clients include the City of Adelaide, the City of Perth, the City of Casey, Coolbuture Shire Council, the City of Greater Geelong, and the West Australian Department of Industry and Resources.