Launceston City Council uses NBN grant to go digital

The City of Launceston has used a federal government NBN grant to move the council’s application and planning services online and provide the community with better access to processes and information, using TechnologyOne eServices.

Just six months after going live, the council is receiving more than 80% of building applications and nearly half of all development applications online. Processing times have also been reduced significantly by using software to adopt a fully electronic approach for applications.

The software allows the public to complete tasks usually undertaken by back-office administrators on the web, thereby providing staff with more time to complete greater value-added tasks.

Launceston City Council Director of Development Services Michael Stretton said this is having a positive impact as the community can now easily interact with the council at times of their own choosing, instead of the previous business hours timeframe.

“The TechnologyOne Property & Rating system has increased transparency for applicants, who can track their application online without having to call the council,” Stretton said.

“It has reduced the administrative burden and improved our consistency, accountability and governance. The building application process was incredibly complicated and now we have that worked out, we can apply this knowledge to provide more online services, such as animal registrations and event permits for temporary food premises and buildings.

“The successful rollout of the building applications online and positive take-up by the community has given us confidence and knowledge to roll out further services to become a truly digital council,” Stretton said. “What’s more, the work we have done is transportable, which will allow for some great economies of scale.”

The council implemented TechnologyOne eServices as part of a wider digital strategy, which has also seen Launceston City Council equip 25 building and planning field staff with iPads.

“It has fundamentally changed the way we conduct our business. All the staff now have iPads and are using them for various field-based functions, such as inspections and completing integrated end-to-end processes,” Stretton said.

Launceston City Council IT Manager Andrew Gall said the ability to integrate with existing software was a major factor in the purchase decision process, and a key part of successfully delivering online property services.

“We find it much easier using one provider to deliver an integrated, enterprise system as there are some real efficiencies in terms of data and information, and transactional flows,” Gall said.