SurePact provides provision for full transparency and visibility for the work of over 1200 external contractors, giving Cloncurry Shire Council a complete picture of their project and contract delivery.
The client
The Shire of Cloncurry is a local government area in North West Queensland covering an area of 47,971 square kilometres. Most of the Shire’s 3,100 inhabitants live in Cloncurry, the Shire’s major town and administrative centre. The Cloncurry Shire Council is a major employer in the area, which has twice been crowned ‘Queensland’s Friendliest Town’.
The Council relies on grants from both Commonwealth and State Government funding bodies for 33 per cent of its budgeted revenue. Due to the size of the Shire, much of the work performed on Council projects is carried out by external contractors.
The problem
The Council has experienced delays on reporting from external contractors. Receiving out-of-date data has, in turn, led to a reduced understanding of the projects being delivered to Council, and made it difficult to impart information to the community in a clear and timely manner.
As well as impacting contractor performance management, a lack of visibility and transparency has the potential to result in overspends in project and contract delivery; ineffectiveness in future program-of-works planning; and breakdowns in stakeholder relationships because of poor communication. Crucially, for a Council that derives a third of its budgeted revenue from grants, it can also lead to a lack of knowledge of funding requirements, making it difficult to apply for grant funding to support delivery in a timely manner.
The Council recognised the need for full transparency and visibility of its 1200 external contractors, in order to identify and mitigate risks, increase trust and improve reporting to stakeholders.
The solution
SurePact’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution includes a suite of modules to identify risk early in project and contract deliveries and reduce cost, time and scope blowouts.
Guided and automated workflow approvals are supported by robust audit and governance transparency, with real-time analytics – accessible anywhere, anytime – providing strong business intelligence and highlighting enterprise-wide performance metrics.
The system can be deployed independent of integration with other platforms initially, and without the need to load historical data.
Contractors and Council have the ability to collaborate within the SurePact system, ensuring full visibility of all stages and outputs, from concept to closeout and asset realisation.
Cloncurry Shire Council began implementing the SurePact system in October 2019, with an initial set-up and training period of one week to deploy the Project Management and Contract Delivery modules.
The main team involved in the roll-out included 2 project staff, supporting a release to almost 40 internal and external users. All were trained and mentored in the use of the modules, giving a level of proficiency allowing users to be able to administer the solution with the support of an onsite super user.
The results
With real-time dashboards providing immediate data that was previously either inaccessible or outdated, Council leadership reports that their working relationship with external contractors has greatly improved.
Charles Taylor, Assets and Project Planning Manager for Cloncurry Shire Council, says the transparent real-time reporting on contractors and projects provided by the SurePact system has led to clarity of risks and accountability, and improved business intelligence based on measurable facts.
“The dashboard is a unique point for SurePact,” he says, “giving immediate business intelligence linking all funding and outputs while highlighting the risks.”
SurePact’s document management and decision governance has provided Cloncurry Shire Council with a fully transparent audit trail. This accessibility and visibility has allowed for accurate information to be delivered to the community, and enabled more informed decision-making, front-end planning and future program planning.
With a 360-degree line of sight of revenue received, delivery costs and management of risks, Cloncurry Shire Council is better placed to deliver projects and initiatives that benefit the community.
