Feature Story

Understanding what services are delivered by Council and to what level are critical elements in managing for sustainability. The first step in effectively managing service delivery is to establish a list of activities/functions Council currently carries out. This is known as a service catalogue.

Service catalogues are beneficial to Councils and community as they improve transparency and accountability by providing clear information about what services are available, how they are delivered, and how they are measured. Well-structured catalogues support continuous improvement by identifying gaps, issues, and opportunities for service enhancement. They also reduce risk and costs by avoiding duplication, confusion, and inefficiencies in service delivery.

A service catalogue is not a static document, but a dynamic one that needs to be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect the changing needs and expectations of customers and Council. A service catalogue should also be aligned with other documents, such as service level agreements, contracts, policies and procedures, that define the terms and conditions of service delivery. A service catalogue can be developed and maintained using a collaborative approach that involves all relevant stakeholders, such as the council staff, customers, partners and suppliers.

Mead Perry Group makes this process easy by completing the initial service level catalogue then providing an excel spreadsheet or a word document of the data sourced so future updates can be completed in house. While there is no legislated timeframe for these catalogues to be updated, we suggest it be reviewed in conjunction with Council’s operational plan and budget.

When approaching a project of this type, our methodology involves engaging staff from various functional areas to assess the organisation’s “current state” of services. This part of the process is critical as it allows our project manager(s) to gather firsthand information from those who are conducting activities. This provides valuable insight to the organisation’s operations and depth when combined with data sourced from Council databases. Additionally, the project benefits from staff “buy in” and ownership of any required change to their operations allowing the consultant to easily establish what staff consider to be the target level/ideal future state.

Information sourced from workshops and Council databases along with any other relevant resources is input into our service level collection and reporting tool. This allows our consultant(s) to deliver a comprehensive and consistent report almost instantly and in a variety of formats. This report is then analysed, in conjunction with the human element sourced from workshops, to recommend an ideal “future state” for management and Council to consider.

Council can expect several significant benefits resulting from a service level review, including:

• Determination of the financial sustainability of services.
• Recommendations for effective management of assets.
• Strategic plan to align service levels with growth and financial goals.
• Establishing internal resources and systems for future in-house determination of service levels.

Please see the graphs below for more positive project outcomes.

The path to success starts with a clear roadmap. Empower your Council with the tools for effective service delivery and long-term sustainability. If you have any questions or wish to engage Mead Perry Group please call 07 4615 4902 or email admin@meadperrygroup.com.au.