November 14, 2005
By Anish Abraham
JOHANNESBURG has been recognised for its approach to using technology to benefit the City. For the past two years it has used a unique software solution to help with capital investment planning, winning it joint runner up for the Innovative Enhancements on Internal Systems within the Government Award at the annual CPSI Public Sector Innovation and Sustainability Awards.
CPSI is the Centre for Public Service Innovation. It was established by the Department of Public Service and Administration to promote excellence in the public service.
Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moloketi presented the award in recognition of the City's Capital Investment Management System (CIMS).
The awards website explains the thinking behind the initiative. "The CPSI, understanding the importance of enhancing creativity and innovation in the workplace and of sustaining a culture of innovation in public service, has developed a programme that establishes incentives for innovative thinking through the public recognition of ground-breaking, creative workplace activity."
Augustine Makgata, the assistant director for infrastructure planning and management in the City's department of development planning, transportation and environment, says, "Since the inception of the Municipal Financial Management Act, local government has been actively striving towards the modernisation of budget and financial management practices."
CIMS provides instant access to capital investment information for all relevant role-players in the city administration. It provides strategic information for decision making, ensuring the departments and the City's utilities, agencies and corporatised entities (UACs) align their investment plans with each other and with the City's development objectives.
A list of priorities and strategic thrusts provided by the council are also entered into the system. This allows for projects to be prioritised according to what City strategy the council has decided upon.
This way, all City and UAC projects can be captured on a single database and all roleplayers can share in and evaluate projects.
The software solution was developed for the City by a black economic empowerment company, iSouth Information Systems Engineering; it cost just over R494 000. The City has full control over the system but has a maintenance contract with the company to provide software upgrades or additions as needed.
It is web-based, so all City departments and UACs have access to it. At present this access is restricted to those within the department of development planning, transportation and environment, top City officials and UAC management.
Eventually it is hoped that all employees and residents will have access to the system, enabling them to view what projects are taking place in a specific area.
"I would say that this a unique system in the country and other authorities will follow our example. Previously capital investment planning was a difficult process," Makgata says.
Once all projects required in the City - about 3 000 projects worth R11-billion - are captured on the database, CIMS allows planners to create scenarios and fully understand investment implications.
Makgata says his department will soon be touring all City regions to promote the use of the system by administrators and planners.
Spatial planning
While working on improving capital expenditure, it was decided to use spatially oriented systems to assist with the capital expenditure framework.
"Most of local government's planning and implementation are done using maps to display information such as zoning areas, servitudes, hotspot areas, wards, regions and many more," he says.
The CIMS incorporates a Geographical Information System and spatially referenced information of projects as an integral part of the capital budget planning.
Users can then add information into the database on the location of capital projects and the area that will be affected by the expenditure. Additional project information such as progress, budget and environmental impact assessments (where needed) is added as necessary.
The information is then turned into useful spatial representations that various City departments can use. It can produce information such as population density, pollution, health risks, power outages, water shortages and traffic congestion.
This information is used to prioritise projects. For example, Makgata points to the refurbishment of Joburg's ageing electricity infrastructure. As a result of input into the database, capital expenditure for City Power has been automatically increased.
With the looming 2010 World Cup, the system will automatically prioritise projects linked to the hosting of the event, such as the Nasrec precinct.
A further benefit is that they system will also inform planners of the operational expenditure needed to run and maintain planned infrastructure. This way, departments cannot end up with infrastructure that they can afford to build but not to run or maintain.
"By making use of this functionality within CIMS, decision-makers can spend their time efficiently on capital investment planning, and have more accurate planning and budgeting data at their disposal than ever before," Makgata says.
He adds that using spatially referenced data to plan annual capital expenditure not only ensures funds are distributed optimally, but it also serves as a platform for reporting back to the council, residents and investors.
"This also allows us to allocate a budget for a project for up to three years. The national government does it with its mid-term budget, but until now local government had failed in this area," he concludes.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
