Picturesque Baw Baw Shire’s tech upgrade will support growing community

Tuesday, 6 November 2023 - Baw Baw Shire Council in Victoria’s West Gippsland is digitally transforming to find efficiencies and build a foundation for the community’s future. The council will upgrade key operations to a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform from TechnologyOne.

In order to deliver on its community vision to build a sustainable, healthy and thriving region over the next twenty years and beyond, Baw Baw knew it had to upgrade its existing on-premise applications to a modern, integrated SaaS-based ERP system. The technology investment will streamline council operations, helping it be more efficient, as well as deliver new services to residents and visitors in the future.

A TechnologyOne customer since 2004, Baw Baw will replace existing software used in its finance, supply chain management, human resources and property & rating functions with the Australian-owned TechnologyOne’s modern OneCouncil CiA SaaS solution in a new five-year agreement.

The council will also adopt new TechnologyOne products to enhance electronic content management, project lifecycle management and a new customer-facing interface – TechnologyOne’s innovative Digital Experience Platform (DXP LG).

Baw Baw, about 100 kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD, is one of the fastest growing regions in Victoria, and that rapid population expansion is putting increasing pressure on community resources. The variety in its geography, from heavy forest to national parks to densely populated rural plains create further challenges for the council.

“First and foremost, this is about being more efficient and effective today. We support a community of 60,000 people over an area of 4,000 square kilometres – that’s a lot of space to cover so our team needed a solution they can use on the go on any device, said Mark Dupe, Chief Executive Officer at Baw Baw Shire Council.

“But this is also about creating a platform for the future. We plan for the long term and want to continue to thrive as we expect to welcome another 30,000 members to our community over the next 15 years or so.”

Martin Hopley, Baw Baw Shire Council’s Director Governance and Information Services, said, “Now, more than ever, we need to be effective in the way we manage council’s resources. That means looking for ways to streamline day-to-day operations, reduce duplicated processes and manual data entry and have a single source of truth for data, as well as move more end-to-end processes to digital.”

“It also means making use of real-time analytics and reporting that are made possible by an integrated SaaS platform like that of TechnologyOne. We’ll now get a holistic customer view and understand where we’re best to apply our resources in the future as the community’s needs grow and change.”

Having worked with TechnologyOne’s software for almost 20 years, the tried-and-tested nature of the company’s SaaS solution was a significant factor in Baw Baw Shire’s decision. The OneCouncil SaaS solution is already in use in hundreds of Australian local governments.

“We chose TechnologyOne for a variety of reasons. Number one was that its solution was the best one for the job. But they are also very familiar with the needs of Victorian local governments — which means we’re getting a trusted solution — one our people are already familiar with. Importantly, we also felt the solution would grow with us,” Mr Hopley said.

Loretta Libke, TechnologyOne’s local government expert said: “We’ve seen Australian councils through every stage of life for more than 30 years. From growing shires to newly established cities, we have partnered with hundreds of councils to understand their needs and develop our market-leading OneCouncil solution.”

“We are so proud to be working with Baw Baw Shire, another growing council in Victoria, to help them deliver the best, most efficient service to its residents and visitors.”

Baw Baw has commenced implementation of its new TechnologyOne systems.