City aims to improve control over costs

By ADAM GIFFORD

The Hamilton City Council hopes its new asset management application from MRO Software will improve control of maintenance and materials costs.

Information manager Basil Wood said the application, Maximo, was chosen over three other contenders for its flexibility and ability to integrate with the council's Peoplesoft financial management system.

The implementation project, which involves about 80 staff and contractors, is due to be finished by November 1. Mr Wood said the project, including licences, implementation and data capture and cleansing, was costing about $750,000.

The council managed more than $1 billion of assets, using a mix of home-built and package databases.

"This is seen as an opportunity to implement one integrated asset management system," Mr Wood said.

He said the old systems were inadequate for modern audit requirements. Waste water and storm water assets would continue to be managed with a specialised PAMS system but other business units, including roads, traffic, parks, gardens and property, were being converted.

"Once we have those in the system, we will look at other opportunities in the organisation. We can use it to manage trees, and potentially zoo animals."

Expected benefits include improved recording of requests for services, improved scheduling and maintenance management, the capture, monitoring and management of all maintenance costs and provision of a common database for all users.