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Born in the city and bred in the country, Redman’s Implementation and Delivery Specialist, Casey Drew, is well-known within the local government space. Many of you may have had the opportunity to meet or even work with our pocket-rocket adventurer, but here’s a chance to get to know her a little better. Casey also talks about her most recent trip to visit Norfolk Island Regional Council - and it seems the island captured her heart. Tell us a little about where you are from? While I live in Townsville, I was born in Brisbane and raised in Emerald. So I’m definitely a Queenslander through and through. When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing? I’m always up to something and seeking my next adventure. I’m known as a bit of a pocket-rocket to my family and colleagues and am always up for a challenge. From exploring local caves to mountain biking or rock climbing, I love the outdoors and taking on new adventures. I'm known as a bit of a pocket-rocket to my family and colleagues and am always up for a challenge. What’s one thing people may not know about you? In my past life, while living in Emerald, I used to bow hunt feral pigs on farm properties. What’s one thing you are most looking forward to? I am marrying my partner of 12 years this October. We met while working in local government and will be taking a much-deserved honeymoon in Bora Bora. You've been working in Local Government for some time now, Yes. I spent 15 years working at Central Highlands Regional Council and then Townsville City Council, and then joined the Redman family in June 2021. It was my first time experiencing life outside of a council, and while it was a bit frightening at first, I’m definitely enjoying the experience. What do you enjoy most about your role at Redman? I love that I still have the opportunity to contribute to the Local Government environment and enhance connections. We get to work with such a broad range of councils that operate across different legislative frameworks and deliver various services and solutions that help them become more efficient and connect with their communities. I draw inspiration daily from meeting dedicated professionals who literally ‘live’ for their communities, and I recently experienced this during my trip to Norfolk Island. I draw inspiration daily from meeting dedicated professionals who literally 'live' for their communities. Let’s talk a bit about Norfolk - your trip look amazing! So how was it, and did it even feel like work? Short answer, no - the entire experience was incredible, and I feel so fortunate to have visited the island. From working in heritage-listed buildings to hearing the sound of bellowing cows and crowing roosters all day and views of waves crashing in the ocean outside the window! Though we accomplished a lot, it definitely did not feel like work! I was invited by the CEO of Norfolk Island Regional Council to help train the Administrator and Management Team on our Strategic Planning Software, Envisio. You love travelling and have travelled to some pretty unique places - what about Norfolk Island captured your heart? Everything - so much so, I extended my trip by two days the afternoon I landed! The hospitality was beautiful from the moment I landed. We were treated like locals the entire time we were there - from receiving invites to home-cooked meals each night to socialising with the families of those working for NIRC. I discovered so much about the island while I was there – did you know there are no snakes on the island?! I have travelled to many overseas countries and have been fortunate to be blessed with so many amazing sights, but Norfolk Island is hands down officially now my favourite place on earth - aside from home, of course! Norfolk Island is hands down officially now my favourite place on earth. The history, the beauty, its untouched landscapes, and its islander customs are simply magical. So much so, that I am making it my mission to tack it onto the end of my honeymoon and go back again as soon as I can!

The council meeting is critical, and the process to execute should be streamlined, simple, and support all participants. These include members of the public, Councillors, the Executive Team, and the Governance Team who support the meeting, compile the agendas and record minutes, and report writers and approvers. Does your solution enhance the experience for all these stakeholders? While many meeting management solutions help speed up the creation process and increase collaboration, a complete solution provides a platform for all stakeholders and goes beyond your administration teams. Because council meetings can be complex and have various moving parts, your chosen technology should enable more efficient and meaningful meetings. Here’s an overview of how the perfect meeting management solution should support you and your teams. Agenda Management A clearly defined, well-structured, navigable agenda assists your council in making the most of its meetings. Clear agendas enable elected members to make informed decisions based on sound advice and constructive debate. How does the agenda creation process currently work for your council? Your meeting management solution should be simple and hassle-free for all involved and, at a minimum, should provide you with the following: Easy Agenda Creation: Simplify your current process with a solution that has a user-friendly interface and an agenda creation module to save time. Produce with Consistency: Why reinvent the wheel for each meeting? The ability to create and clone consistent agenda formats and easily add items with specified deadlines and approval processes is a must to execute at speed. Provide a True Digital Format: All too often, the processing results in nothing more than a large pdf file is hard that is to navigate and does not support meeting participants. A digital platform provides the capability for genuine digital content that is accessible and usable. Eliminate Time Consuming Tasks: Agendas shouldn’t take hours to create. Teams should be able to create items in seconds, access past, current, and future meeting information, and easily track changes. And if you can offer the ability to automate approvals and set reminders - that’s a bonus. Meeting Administration We live in an instant access world where we expect information to be readily available - and your Meeting Management Solution should accommodate this. However, it shouldn’t be at the expense of your administration team. Administrators should be able to help your council become more transparent and increase communication and collaboration with simple tools that allow them to execute faster. Capture and Monitor Easily: Administrators should be able to easily capture meeting attendance with simple roll call feature​s and self-manage the meeting by viewing comments, motions, and votes for individual items​. Increase Efficiencies: Providing teams with one central location to upload agendas, minutes, and video content will immediately increase efficiencies within your council. Meeting Administrators should also be able to view status updates of each item to see if minutes have been completed or are in progress. Enhance Collaboration: An integrated Meeting Management solution will allow administrators to provide meeting content to councillors and executives and remove the need to get caught up in an influx of emails. Encourage Connection with the Community: Connect and communicate with your community by allowing administrators to instantly display discussion items, voting results, and fully integrated and automatically bookmarked on-demand video recordings of your meetings. Councillors Preparing for a council meeting takes time. Does your platform provide the tools to assist councillors in preparing and participating? A meeting management solution should simplify the entire process for councillors and provide them with easy access before, during, and after your meeting. Providing access to a Councillor Portal is the ultimate way to increase efficiencies and streamline the process from start to finish. Easy access across devices: Provide the ultimate in accessibility with easy access to agenda items and minutes. The ability to conduct electronic roll call and voting from any device is also a must. Enhance Preparation: ​​​​Give your Councillors the flexibility to add and save personal notes and comments to agenda items and easily search past, current, and future meeting content - this will help them prepare for future meetings and avoid them working out of multiple documents. Increase Usability & Flexibility: An end-to-end digital platform provides the capability for genuine digital content that is accessible and usable. Councillors can join meetings anywhere and participate in the meeting, including built-in voting that integrates directly with council minutes. The Community Providing transparency, communicating openly, and increasing public participation are important goals for any council meeting. Ensuring the latest information is readily available and easily accessible for your community will contribute to building trust. A Community Portal that is intuitive, user-friendly, and easily updated is the perfect way to communicate with your community. In essence, they should have the ability to: Easily Access Information: One central portal should allow one to view and download agendas and minutes, use search filters to find information quickly, and send notifications when new documents are uploaded. View Recorded Meetings: Remove the time barrier by uploading your streamed council meetings, and allow the community to skip straight to bookmarked sections with indexing. Automatic bookmarked video linked to each item in the minutes makes access easy for anyone in the community. Participate from any device: there’s no point in providing essential information if it’s not easily accessible. Ensure your Meeting Management Software is browser-based and accessible across various devices. It is not enough to place documents and hours of video online – this is hard to consume and difficult to navigate. Providing an authentic digital experience enables greater community involvement and participation, helping your council to become more transparent and build trust with the community.

Over the past two years, we have all had to make some adjustments. From welcoming virtual boardrooms for team meetings to converting our homes into offices, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how we plan, execute, and attend meetings. This shift has also changed the way we work and has forced many organisations to rethink how they design and communicate critical information. Meeting Management Software usage has seen a significant increase within local government over the years. With the ability to streamline the entire process, automate approvals and increase community participation – it is becoming widely adopted and frequently used to run effective council meetings. But with endless features and an abundance of solutions – how can you ensure you’re choosing the right meeting management solution to suit your needs? How can you make the most out of the key features and run successful council meetings that benefit council staff, elected members, and the community? Here is an overview of the three must-haves for successful Meeting Management Software. 1.      The option to host Hybrid Meetings With more Australians now working from home and video conferencing technology becoming commonplace, adding a virtual component to your physical meetings is not only becoming the new norm but somewhat expected. Hybrid Meetings provide you with the best of both worlds and offer the ultimate in accessibility. You can engage with communities from a venue of your choice while connecting with those virtually from anywhere with audio and video. It’s simply a matter of attendees logging in to your portal with personalised joining details. Providing online access to your council meetings combined with a seamless registration process can result in increased attendance and, in some cases, participation. While the benefits of hybrid meetings are evident, offering a virtual component can also add a layer of complexity to your council meetings. It’s essential to utilise software that is intuitive and easy to use. Meeting administrators need access to built-in solutions to easily track, view and manage comments and votes from all parties. Attendees should be provided with community portals that allow easy viewing and access to information. from any device. If electronic voting is required during the meeting, Councillors should have easy access to a portal to conduct electronic roll calls and initiate voting with nothing more than a few clicks. Eliminating time-consuming tasks, especially during a live meeting, is essential in maintaining flow and professionalism. Live Streaming and recording features allow your content to live well beyond your initial meeting. Your physical meetings are no longer just a moment in time as virtual components enable you to make them available on-demand and accessible to viewers well beyond the face-to-face interaction. Accessible meetings which can be easily navigated will allow you to continue to increase community participation and share your message. 2.      Integrated Video for easy distribution and enhanced viewing We have gone from a society that once opted for audio meetings to one that embraces the power of video conferencing and all it has to offer. We’re also more comfortable with viewing video meetings across various devices and have come to expect high-quality and a streamlined viewing experience. When it comes to council meetings, administrators should be able to distribute content quickly, and members should be able to view and interact with ease. With so many moving parts involved in each meeting, integration between agendas, minutes, and video content is essential. The constant logging in and out of various portals to edit, publish and create can become frustrating for stakeholders and only increase inefficiencies. Eve Newbegin from Baw Baw Shire Council says an end-to-end platform is critical for executing seamless meetings. “Our previous meeting management solution had no integration, which meant we had separate portals to upload agendas, minutes, and video content. Having all the components in one easy-to-use platform means everything is available in live time, there’s no lag, and it can be achieved with a simple click.” Members should be able to view meetings easily and access all content from one central location. The ability to view and download agendas and minutes and use search filters to find information quickly is great, but you can enhance the experience even further by offering integrated video capabilities that automatically connect with supporting documents. Consider using meeting technology that allows members to skip straight to bookmarked sections on streamed video based on the information they are interested in. These sections can be timestamped to their corresponding discussion points within your minutes or meeting agenda. This level of integration provides viewers with an easy way to navigate to areas of interest and offers complete control and ease of use. 3. The ability to access from anywhere, and from any device Remote and flexible working arrangements have driven the need for instant access to internal software and programs. But accessing and using day-to-day technology needs to be easy and shouldn’t require the need of IT departments to assist with setup and regular usage. Browser-based Meeting Management Software that provides immediate access in one centralised portal speeds up creation, simplifies the process, and enhances the overall user experience. It also provides transparency and open communication to the public by allowing them to view, download and search for information from mobile devices without the need to download additional apps or software. The benefits are apparent when agendas, minutes, and meeting content can effortlessly be accessed and updated by all stakeholders. From Report Writers to Agenda Approvers and Councillors – the ability to log in, create and edit from any device in any location is a must-have. Meeting Management Software can be a powerful tool to modernise your council meetings, increase transparency and build community trust. But as with any software, how you leverage the features will ultimately define its success. Discover how Resolve can help your council streamline your agenda creation process, automate approvals and increase community participation.

Is your finance team working long hours during the budget period? Are you currently burning through countless spreadsheets and databases? Are you working with an expensive and outdated budget system or still contending with manual and paper-based processes? When it comes to budgeting and forecasting, most organisations rely on traditional desktop tools and manual processes. However, a recent IBM Performance Management whitepaper suggested that “88% of spreadsheets, including those used to create budgets, contain errors.” So, what are the limitations of using Excel for forecasting, budgeting, and planning? Here is a quick overview Collaboration can be difficult. Collaboration is critical during the budgeting process, especially when multiple departments exist. While Excel allows users to make edits, it is primarily designed as a single-use tool. With various users contributing to documents and providing input, it’s worth investigating collaborative software that can be shared and updated amongst teams. This will remove the burden of having to manage numerous spreadsheets across departments. Consolidating data can be complex. A typical budget process involves receiving input from the entire organisation. Excel's limitations are evident when it comes to consolidating data and creating a holistic view. Before you know it, you have multiple versions of the same spreadsheet, and various business areas are exposed to risk. Accessing control can be challenging. Maintaining confidentiality and accessing control during the budget process is essential. Success is dependent on the ability to make changes quickly and easily. Unfortunately, Excel is not very accommodating when selecting user group access. Administrators have minimal options for assigning user access, and it can be challenging to prevent users from changing the template structure, editing, or adding additional formulas that aren’t required. “What-if” scenarios can’t be created. There is a limitation in what excel can model or analyse. Excel spreadsheets generally work with X and Y variables, making it difficult to create multiple scenarios or implement scenario planning. It can also be challenging to adjust plans and budgets based on real-time events. You are unable to link Finance to Strategy for a complete picture. Working off multiple spreadsheets removes the ability to link finance to any strategic outcomes, making it challenging to adjust plans and budgets based on real-time events. Formula errors are inevitable. One of the critical limitations of Excel is the risk of human error, and it has been established that 90% of Excel spreadsheets are prone to mistakes. Incorrect information or data errors can lead to much more significant issues, as it did for Barclays in 2008. Using a spreadsheet to complete a budget process can also be time-consuming and resource-intensive due to time spent checking and validating information. Purpose-built macro templates or extensive formula budget templates become a nightmare when budget-holders and department heads need to navigate documents. Using a spreadsheet to complete a budget process can also be time-consuming and resource-intensive due to time spent checking and validating information. Audit Trails are non-existent. An inadequate audit trail increases the risk of fraud in an organisation. Using spreadsheets removes knowing who has changed what or what has changed from one version to another. This can lead to inaccurate or false information. It can also be challenging to stop users from changing the template structure, editing, or adding additional formulas not required. Workflows are non-existent The non-existence of workflows in Excel means finance departments have no way to track approvals or submission requests. Teams cannot see a bird’s eye view of submissions and approvals of project requests, meaning they must rely on manual updates to keep track of budget changes. Looking for a more effective solution? Built from the ground up using cloud architecture and specifically for public sector agencies, the OpenGov Enterprise Cloud addresses the unique challenges governments face when budgeting: complex revenue sources, disparate service areas, requirements for transparency, statutory reporting requirements. Improve budgeting and align spending to strategic outcomes Empower your departments by centralising reporting across your council Modernise your permitting processes to improve operations Make decisions with data you trust Discover more about OpenGovs Budgeting and Planning solutions today.

Managing content can be complex. This is why many government organisations have relied on Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Document Management Systems for years. The recent shift to hosted and cloud environments has introduced complexity in capturing these business-critical documents. But what if it didn’t have to be complex? What if we could streamline the capture of emails and documents from within the native application and increase efficiencies? We spoke to Corangamite Shire Council, which implemented RedOffice. They currently operate ECM and have 165 active ECM users, with many requiring remote access. We explore how gaining management buy-in, creating a clearly defined business case, and working together to boost user adoption rates contributed to a 20% increase in Document Registration.  The Benefits of RedOffice Add-In  While Corangamite Shire Council was experiencing the many benefits of ECM, they were looking for a solution that gave them more control and flexibility. Staff felt checking out documents to a network shared drive was cumbersome and downloading files to local drives were becoming confusing - they needed an easier way to make it work. Here are some of the benefits Council staff are now experiencing. Complete Information Capture: From registering new documents to checking documents in and out - staff could now correctly capture, edit, and save documents instantly, without having to navigate out of their office applications. This was a significant advantage of the RedOffice Add-In as it provided more flexibility and ease of use. All information was captured and saved correctly, and it streamlined processes across the Council. Getting the right information at the right time: Accessing information with ease can become problematic as an organisation grows. The RedOffice Add-In allows staff to retrieve accurate documents with a few simple clicks, reducing time and increasing efficiencies and compliance. The ability to save emails directly from Outlook and auto-link customers means users enter the ECM Doc Set ID info in the subject line of emails for easy reference. The solution then identifies what has been registered into the ECM and identifies the relevant customer based on their email address. Reducing the need to recreate: Recreating documents from scratch can become time-consuming. One of the many advantages of the RedOffice Add-in is cloning and editing documents with the same metadata and properties.  If you are working on a document in ECM, you click create a copy. This function then creates and registers a cloned record with the same properties, allowing users to edit and save from within their current Office application. Speeding up the document creation process: Templates are one of those things that make life easier. Users now can auto-populate content using existing ECM templates, reducing the requirement to enter information manually.  The add-in’s dynamic merge fields expose existing ECM data making it possible to auto-populate based on metadata and indexes. This speeds up the document creation process while reducing human error. Gaining Management Buy-in - The Business Case Introducing new software to any organisation can take quite a bit of planning. With time, budgets, and resources involved in the process, it’s essential that managers and decision-makers understand the value and promote the need for change. With some preparation and a clearly articulated business case, you can provide enough details to eliminate any hesitation, gain buy-in and start solving your challenges.  A business case will allow you to frame the issues your staff is experiencing demonstrate the reasons for change and the financial investment required. Once Corangamite Shire Council discovered the RedOffice Add-In, they created a business case to outline the value they would receive from the solution. Here are three tips to help you create a compelling business case for software implementation.  Communicate Productivity Savings  Once you’ve outlined the solution, benefits, and costs involved, it’s essential to identify the productivity savings - what is the measurable impact on the business? And how will it save your staff time? This should be communicated clearly, and if possible, provide a tangible outcome. For Corangamite Shire Council, a vital component of the RedOffice Add-In was the time the solution would save their staff and its impact. Their current software required four clicks before they could start entering document properties, whereas the RedOffice Add-In provided a one-click solution within Outlook. The ability to make the registration process quicker and be able to check-in and check-out documents entirely out with Office applications formed a large part of the business case. It’s clear, simple, and well-received by key stakeholders and decision-makers. Outline the Implementation Process Understanding what is required during the implementation phase is essential. Ensure you communicate who needs to be involved in the process, the duration, and how it will be managed.  The ease of installation of RedOffice proved to be a substantial benefit for Corangamite Shire Council. The simple MSI installer, which the IT department could manage, combined with complete server setup, meant that minimal effort was required on the Council’s end to get up and running quickly. Once the implementation process is defined, provide a brief overview of the maintenance required. It’s all well and good to have high-performing software installed, but who will be responsible for regular updates, and how often will they need to be actioned? Present your Strategies and Goals Communicating what you aim to achieve and how you plan to get there will illustrate your commitment to the project. Define a few success metrics that will impact the broader organisation, and be sure to provide a way to measure them along the journey easily. For Corangamite Shire Council, the goal was to make it easier for staff and reduce inefficiencies. With a clear objective, they were able to measure a 20% increase in document registration post-rollout. This was achieved despite the impact of COVID-19, which resulted in training disruptions across the teams.  Gaining Organisation-wide Adoption The success of any software implementation relies heavily on its usage within the wider organisation. More often than not, poor communication, inadequate training, and a lack of feedback loops result in poor adoption.  Here are three ways to increase the adoption rate and ensure new software is utilised universally.  Set Objectives and Celebrate Wins If you mandate that your entire team uses a new tool, they need to understand why they’re doing it and what it is achieving. Ensure they are across your goals and objectives from the beginning and communicate regularly to show improvement and measure success.  Once you start seeing minor improvements, celebrate the small victories to retain motivation and keep the momentum going. Take Advantage of Training Sessions and User Guides  Training and onboarding are an essential part of any rollout. Not only do regular sessions provide best practice tips on using the software, but they also allow for questions from users and advice from experienced vendors. Corangamite Shire Council contributes a large part of its success to the training and information provided during the implementation phase. A steering group of key users was created, and staff attended one-on-one training sessions to learn the new processes. These sessions were held across one day, and teams could choose which session they wanted to participate in. This, combined with clear and easy-to-read user guides, resulted in a smooth transition and quick adoption rate. Store Information and Feedback in one Central Location Throughout the implementation process and beyond, continual feedback from users is critical to keep the momentum going. Creating an online location to centralise information and feedback will allow staff to access, learn, and share their experiences effortlessly.  Corangamite Shire Council also continues to provide regular updates and quick tips through their Knowledge and Records Newsletter to keep staff informed and notified of any updates. Ready to simplify and streamline working with emails and office documents? Discover the RedOffice Add-In for TechnologyOne ECM here

Bellingen Shire Council had repeated frustrations with their existing agenda and business paper software. It was particularly unreliable when accessed remotely, version controls were a challenge, and users had difficulty searching across multiple business papers. All these challenges had been causing inefficiencies for the General Manager and staff for quite some time and to make matters worse, the solution was no longer compatible with the current operating platform. So, the team at Bellingen started looking for a replacement solution with the intention of replacing the software prior to the local government elections originally scheduled for September 2020. A chance meeting with Network sponsor, Redman Solutions, at an IT conference at the end of 2019 brought CivicClerk into the mix and when council started having more and more issues with their existing software, they arranged a demonstration. The team loved what they saw and with an estimated implementation plan over 7-16 weeks, they had plenty of time to figure out when they would kick off the project... and then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Suddenly the team at Bellingen had to accommodate councillors "Zooming" in for council meetings as well as live streaming whilst still dealing with the headaches caused by the existing business paper software that could not be easily compiled by remote workers. That is when the team at Redman Solutions suggested a rapid deployment of CivicClerk to be done remotely due to lock down restrictions. The team at Bellingen were thinking, 'This is not the best time to implement a new system'… but as it turned out could not have been a better time. The upshot of the situation was that instead of the usual three-month face to face process the implementation was achieved in 35 days! Everything was done remotely including Councillor training, with a successful go live Council meeting held on 27 May 2020. You can also read about how the team at Thames-Coromandel District Council gained efficiencies that equated to one annual full-time equivalent (FTE) worth of time and productivity being freed up across the team when they implemented CivicClerk.

Redman Solutions and Outback imaging (More commonly known as EzeScan) joined forces to provide Local Government clients with a great mix of Software, Information Management and Local Government experience. Redman Solutions has been delivering scanning solutions to TechnologyOne ECM clients since 2011 providing clients with a great alternative to the legacy Batch capture solution. In 2018 when Onstream Systems(Developers of Trapeze Capture) were acquired the new owners made a decision to stop any future development of their Capture suite of solutions. Redman Solutions immediately looked at a number of scanning alternatives with a focus on what was going to be the best outcome for our clients. Partnering with EzeScan was an easy decision to make, they have great software that does what it says on the box. Together with Redman Solutions, Local Government experience, and EzeScan’s software, our clients will get great outcomes. Michael Redman CEO, Redman Solutions The real winners of this partnership are the clients making the transition across to EzeScan from Capture. EzeScan has continued to invest in the scanning and capture space with solutions to provide automation, time savings, audit trails, and loads more. Talk to Redman Solutions about your transition today!

In a first for local government in Australia, Ipswich City Council has given ratepayers unprecedented access to the city’s finances with the launch of an online Transparency and Integrity Hub. Ipswich City Council has set a new standard for building trust with its community by using Redman Solutions to implement OpenGov, a solution that allows constituents real-time access to transparent reporting on Council spending via an online portal. More than six gigabytes and many thousands of lines of data has been published to the online hub, providing rate-payers with direct access to previous and current financial information for Council, and Council-controlled entities. Other available data includes Councillor expenses, money spent on the city’s Smart City Program, and procurement data for contracts over $200,000 (exl GST). Mayor Teresa Harding said the hub’s launch was an important moment for the City of Ipswich. “Never before in Australia has a local council opened up its books to the community to the extent we have with the Transparency and Integrity Hub, allowing ratepayers the greatest scrutiny over how their money is spent”. OpenGov founder and CEO Zac Bookman applauded Ipswich for leading the way in the movement for effective and accountable government: "I commend Mayor Teresa Harding on her go-live of OpenGov. Her demonstration of leadership to power a more effective and accountable Ipswich City Council directly aligns with our values,” he said. “Through our local partner in Australia, Redman Solutions, we are delighted to help lead the way in transforming Australian local government. We look forward to collaborating on their transformation journey”. Mayor Harding said using the OpenGov platform, which was unanimously selected via a panel through an open tender process, delivered on the commitment to residents to deliver a “best of breed” solution for Ipswich. Delivered by Queensland-based OpenGov partner, Redman Solutions, the Transparency and Integrity Hub is a user friendly, searchable platform, with a focus on providing data in an accessible way. Financial information published to the hub will initially be updated monthly, with a plan to move to near real-time publication as soon as possible. “This is a major change for how Ipswich City Council conducts business and will put a renewed focus on the way council manages data and information,” Mayor Harding said. “We are committed to progressing to a point where financial information is updated daily. “This is bigger than simply publishing data, it’s also about driving effective decisions through a more accountable organisation and more informed community.” Ipswich City Council’s Transparency and Integrity Hub can be visited by following this link: https://open.ipswich.qld.gov.au/ Click here to read the article on The Australian.

About Norfolk Island Norfolk Island is an external Australian territory, located some 1,412 km east of the mainland currently governed as a local government area subject to the laws of NSW. Uniquely, the Norfolk Island Regional Council is responsible for many services beyond the normal scope of an Australian council such as electricity, telecommunications, emergency management, household goods and supplies, and air and sea-ports. Challenge The Norfolk Island Regional Council knew they needed to enhance controls for people entering and exiting the Island due to COVID-19. Further, they needed a robust yet simple way to manage their complete funding arrangements while enhancing community trust. Needing a timely solution, Norfolk Island Regional Council turned to Redman Solutions as public sector experts. Solution Within 48 hours, Redman Solutions provided Norfolk Island Regional Council with a proof of concept. Redman Solutions quickly and accurately had the technology available to implement a border pass system that would allow returning residents and visitors to apply for an entry permit quickly. As the exclusive www.OpenGov.com partner for Australia and New Zealand, Redman Solutions provided Norfolk Island Regional Council with the cost-effective and agile Citizen Services suite. Working 100% remotely, Redman Solutions designed, developed, and implemented the new entry pass system that could automatically process entry applications and provide the island community with the confidence that they were able to quickly trace all visitors or returning residents. Alistair Innes-Walker, Manager Commercial Services, Norfolk Island Regional Council said "Through Redman Solutions, Open Gov PLC allows us to quickly drag-and-drop to build workflows we need. The ease of use, speed of deployment and ability to scale was truly impressive". The Norfolk Island Regional Council, at the request of the Australian Federal Government, is now rapidly expanding the use of PLC to enhance the services on offer at a lower cost. Given the platform's agility, the council will be rolling out driving licences and dog registrations in the coming weeks. "Redman Solutions is now assisting the council to simplify the budgeting and planning process through the wider OpenGov platform." CEO of Redman Solutions, Michael Redman, said " As a team, we strive to be the first call for local government when they need to connect process and technology with people and purpose. OpenGov Citizen Services is a powerful customer service tool that enables digital application workflows that mirror your exact process for permitting and licensing approvals, with a visual progress meter that records all post-submission activity”. To find out how you can rapidly deploy a system designed by the government for the government, contact Redman Solutions now.

We all know the importance of records, right? Well at least those of us with a background in Information Management do. That’s why we spend time and money making sure that we are capturing records into an EDMS. Unfortunately, not all users on the coal face who receive and create important documents understand the importance of the record. Balance that with the pressure of having to deliver more with less, it’s no wonder that records may not get registered correctly or even at all (Gasp, Shock, Horror). That is why Redman Solutions developed RedOffice, to help users of TechnologyOne’s ECM, capture their records at the point of creation or versioning right from Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. With an easy-to-use interface from within an already known Office application users can leverage the power of Quick Add Profiles (QAPs) to simply register documents with minimal clicks. Going further than just providing QAPs, users can search and link Customers, Subjects, and any other indexes they have access to in ECM. There is no need for a user to finish the registration process in ECM as documents registered with RedOffice are completely registered. Not only can users register documents like Word and Excel, they can also register one or many emails right from Outlook. RedOffice automatically links to the right customer index, gets the right document date, author and even sets the precis, decreasing registration time and increasing end user registrations. Since implementing RedOffice, we have seen a significant increase of up to 20% of daily registrations. Micah Nuske, Corangamite Shire Council Corangamite Shire Council knew they weren’t capturing all of the records being created but were surprised that the daily increase of registration grew by nearly 20%. The team at Corangamite are happy with the daily increase as this is giving the Information Management team confidence that records are not being left out in the wild. Are you leaving records in the wild? Discover how RedOffice can help you capture more of your records

Productivity within the City of Ryde planning team has never been so high Six months ago, the planning team at the City of Ryde would never have been able to work remotely. Fast forward to March 2020, and not only is most of the team working predominantly from home, but their productivity levels have also never been so high. So how is this possible? What did they change? The simple answer is, they didn’t try to change everything at once. They took a series of ‘baby steps’ and implemented incremental changes in a strategic way that was designed to support their team to transition with minimal disruption to their ‘business as usual’. Knowing that the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment was introducing changes, including the mandatory use of the NSW Planning Portal, it was clear to the team at Ryde that the best place to start was to implement fully electronic Assessment and Determination processes. Manager of Development Assessment at City of Ryde, Sandra Bailey, couldn’t be more proud of her team and how they embraced the change. Since they started working electronically, the planning team has been more collaborative, and then with the changes to working conditions brought about by Covid-19, the team has actually become even more productive whilst working from home. “I thoroughly enjoyed working with Redman Solutions and found the whole change process really smooth. Straight away, Redman Solutions Lead Consultant, Jade Reed, really got us and understood what we wanted and needed,” Sandra said. “I feel for other organisations that haven’t got the systems and tools that we do, and yet we are living proof that change doesn’t have to be huge to deliver significant results. Sometimes the biggest changes come from taking the first few small steps in the right direction,” Sandra further added. According to Jade, one of the most important things to remember when supporting a team through changes is that every team, and every individual within that team, work at different rates of change. “The key to helping the team at Ryde to navigate their way from paper-based processes to working fully electronic was to identify which parts of the existing processes to change first and which parts to leave until a later date,” Jade said. “We also made sure that the implementation was delivered in ways that met the needs of every team member. Some people just picked it up and ran with it, while others needed one-on-one support to get them up to speed. The most pleasing thing to see was the team coming together to make sure that everyone adjusted to the change, felt supported, and got the help they needed,” Jade concluded. Redman Soutions is looking forward to working with the City of Ryde to deliver Phase 2 of this project which will involve transforming their existing lodgement process into fully electronic lodgement that incorporates the use of the NSW Planning Portal. If your Council could use some help to navigate the change from paper-based Development Application assessments to fully electronic, incorporating the NSW Planning Portal, reach out and have a conversation with us today. With a few small changes, we can have your team working electronically with minimal overhead and effort from your IT team.

At TCDC, an efficient meeting is the best kind of meeting. Council Meetings are an essential part of civic democracy and at times they can be challenging or process-intensive, but it turns out, they don’t have to be. For the Governance team at Thames-Coromandel District Council (TCDC) in New Zealand’s north island, coordinating Council meetings is a large part of their daily work life and an essential part of running Council business. For this team however, every process associated with their meetings – whether it was the agenda or minute preparations, reporting on meeting outcomes, or scheduling meetings – had become incredibly labour intensive and time-consuming. Something had to change The team had reached a tipping point as meeting-related workloads were on the rise and dominating a number of staff members’ time. They needed to find a way to deliver a better quality, end-to-end meeting experience for elected officials, the community, and their team. Part of the challenge for organisations when they’re buried in an ineffective process is to articulate the specific issues causing the greatest challenges and to outline some realistic objectives for the future. Who benefits and how? Redman Solutions were engaged by TCDC and spent time with their Governance and IT teams to understand the various requirements they each had for the meeting solution: For the Governance Team, it was all about realising efficiencies in creating and distributing the agenda, running council meetings and delivering the minutes and reports. For Councillors, it was about having access to high-level information related to meetings to gain a quick overview of issues, but also being able to dig down into detailed information when required. For Group Managers, it was about more efficient report writing for their team members as well as a more efficient approval process for reports. And all stakeholders were keen to improve the way meetings were managed and run, to rely less on paper-based processes, and to increase the quality, professionalism, presentation, and reporting of actions across all meeting types. A stumbling block, and a tailored solution The Council faced a significant challenge in that all their current processes were incredibly manual and would require a major transformation – but the software they were using limited their ability to make the necessary improvements. Redman Solutions worked closely with the Council to implement CivicClerk, a responsive web-based agenda and meeting management solution. In partnership with CivicPlus, Redman is proud to be delivering the CivicClerk solution throughout Australia and New Zealand. Not only is it designed specifically for local government requirements, but it also has a long and proven track record having already been successfully rolled out across 400 councils in the USA – and that number continues to grow rapidly. In the case of the TCDC, CivicClerk transformed a highly manual series of processes that used up to five different systems, into one single system. As a result, Council benefited from the software’s intuitive agenda creation and meeting minutes generation, efficiencies in capturing motions and votes, and the ability to easily share relevant documents with the community to maintain open, transparent communication. With change comes opportunity As with any major project, discoveries are often made along the way, and it was no different with the work undertaken with the TCDC. The consulting process Redman went through with the Council provided an important opportunity to look objectively at a range of processes and to identify efficiencies beyond the original brief. The team’s fresh perspective was essential to the ‘challenge, align and design’ process that Redman Solutions works to. This involves challenging existing thinking, aligning the team behind this thinking, and designing an improved process collaboratively as a result. An unanticipated outcome of our work with the TCDC was the opportunity to influence the way reports were written and produced across all of Council. Through a much broader change management process, greater efficiencies across the entire meeting management system could be delivered. Outcomes achieved? TCDC were the first council in the southern hemisphere to implement CivicClerk and they were an outstanding partner. Involved, helpful, motivated and flexible – they were adaptive to change, which was critical to the success of this kind of project. The council team wasn’t locked into the status quo and were keen to embrace new thinking and seek opportunities for improvement, which made for a very productive process. Transitioning to CivicClerk meant that many of the manual processes previously undertaken by the Governance team (such as reformatting Word documents compiled by a range of different users) were dramatically reduced. Specifically, efficiencies were realised across: Agenda preparation Preparation of minutes Post-meeting administration Publishing reports and documents to the website Developing meeting calendars. Overall, it is estimated that the efficiencies gained by moving to a cloud-based, end-to-end agenda and meeting management solution, equate to one annual full-time equivalent (FTE) worth of time and productivity being freed up across the team. This has meant that the Governance team has the newfound capacity to work on other tasks that they previously weren’t able to get to. In addition, the Governance team improved their level of service and output while managing the same number of meetings and committees. Furthermore, the solution went live on time, within budget, and has generated overwhelmingly positive feedback from Councillors and end-users.