STEP Annual Report 2011

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STEP ANNUAL REPORT

2011 (FINAL).DOCX


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Highlights 20 councils signed up to the STEP planning program to regularly review

their planning processes and network with other participating councils.

Participating councils showed leadership through self-reform;improved relationships within their organisations; a greater

understanding of workload and improved negotiating ability. With

their improvement plans in place they will be able to measure the

efficiencies gained.

The development industry is benefiting from the program throughreduced timeframes for decisions by up to 16 -26 days and clearer

communications with councils.

Engagement with the State Government is more effective with cleardata and evidence.

The Planning Institute of Australia awarded the MAV STEP planningprogram a commendation as part of its 2011 Victoria Awards,

Improving planning processes and practices award category.


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IntroductionPlanning decisions are always in the news and there is

ongoing pressure on councils to perform with timely

decisions, inclusive and rigorous processes and quality

outcomes. Sometimes it seems that these all of these

matters are mutually exclusive.

There is also increasing pressure from Australian and State

governments for councils to demonstrate performance andconstant reviews by the Auditor Generals office and the

Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission.

The speed humps that councils face in delivering their

planning services are significant the sheer cost, time and

effort of strategic planning work make it difficult to keep

planning schemes up to date and resources are highly

variable. There is also the volume, complexity and tension

involved in the processing of planning permit applications.Despite all of this, councils continue to amaze and do a

remarkable job.

The MAV STEP program was started in August 2010 to help

councils to regularly review their planning services and

network with other councils. It provides for bothsubstantive

step change to processes to achieve greater efficiencies as

well as continuous improvement. The STEP program is there

to support and help councils manage scarce resources sothat they are best placed meet the constant and changing

demands.

What is the STEP plann

program?

The STEP program helps councils

regularly review their planning se

and network with other councils.

provides for both substantive ste

change as well as continuous

improvement l.

Participation in the STEP programongoing and voluntary. Councils a

through an expression of interest

process. The program has an ann

cost based on volume of planning

permit activity.

The key components of the STEP

program are:

Audit and review on entry

program and on a 3-4 year baThe audit and review is guide

business analysts (appointed

the MAV)

Shared learning a co-opera

learning environment

Management reports Privi

access to quarterly managem

information from the Plannin

Permit Activity Report.

Improvement projectsMA

initiated sector-wide improveprojects
http://www.mav.asn.au/CA256C2B000B597A/HomePage?OpenForm&1=Home~&2=~&3=~


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It is expected that the New Year will bring additional challenges for councils in

the face of the recommendations of the Underwood Committee,

implementation of the new bushfire provisions, potential redesign of

potentially contaminated land processes and the like.

The STEP program will be there to smooth those transitions, wherever

possible, and provide the opportunity for councils to get together and share

experiences.


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The year that wasWhat a great first year it has been for the STEP program.

Two successful intakes.. and the next one planned

A total of 20 councils are now signed up members to the STEP program with

intakes to the program in October 2010 and April 2011.

Sixteen these councils have now completed their initial audit and review

component and are in the process of implementing their improvement plans.

Three more councils were involved in a trial ofthe programs mini audit in

November with a one day intensive event that covered the key elements

define, measure, analyse, improve and control. They will complete the full

audit and review in April 2012.

The next intake to the program is open with commencement in April 2012.

Councils with existing networks of common interests are encouraged to apply

in the same intake so that they can work together to get the most out the

program.

A PIA Award Commendation

Annual forum

In the category ofImproving planning processes and

practices the STEP planning program received a

commendation in the Victorian Planning Excellence

Awards. The judges believe the program has the

capacity to realise significant improvements in

planning processes and practices across local

government in Victoria.

Well done to all STEP councils.
http://www.mav.asn.au/CA256C2B000B597A/HomePage?OpenForm&1=Home~&2=~&3=~http://www.mav.asn.au/CA256C2B000B597A/HomePage?OpenForm&1=Home~&2=~&3=~


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In April the first annual STEP forum was held at the St Kilda Yacht Club with100 attendees. Speakers included Michael Courtney from CT Management

Group, John Oska and Kerry Hammond from Madison Cross, Marco Negri on

behalf of MAV Insurance and Margaret Abbey, CEO of Murrindindi Shire.

The forum challenged the audience with some process improvement concepts

before breaking into specialised topic sessions on flow, measure and

systems.

The inaugural Presidents Award for Process Improvement was presented to

the Campaspe Shire Council for strong leadership of the planning team, aconsistent focus on staff development and staff induction and ongoing

exceptional performance. Over the last six months the percentage of

applications decided within the statutory timeframe has improved from 77%

to a remarkable 91%. Congratulations Campaspe. Well done also to the

Corangamite Shire Council and the Mornington Peninsula Shire for their

commendations.

Bob Allardice of the JW Group leading his workshop session on flow


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Macro Negri for MAV Insurance MAV President, Cr Bill McArthur with Campaspe Shire

PPARs management reports

In April 2011 the first STEP management reports were prepared for the

councils involved in the first intake. The quarterly reports analyse the Planning

Permit Activity Report Data submitted by councils and provides information

on:

The influence of further information, notification, objections andreferral on timeframes

Volume of applications by category Backlog increasing number of active applications Application per planner ratio Influence of pre application meetings on further information Time to process pathways

Who is involved in the program?

Uptake of the STEP planning program has been steady with 20 fully signed up

members. These councils are:

Banyule City Council

Bass Coast Shire Council

Baw Baw Shire Council

Brimbank City Council

Campaspe Shire Council

Corangamite Shire Council

Colac Otway Shire Council

Darebin City Council


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Glenelg Shire CouncilGolden Plains Shire Council

Greater Geelong City

Council

Kingston City Council

Latrobe Shire Council

Loddon Shire Council

Mornington Peninsula ShireCouncil

Moyne Shire Council

South Gippsland Shire

Council

Surf Coast Shire Council

Towong Shire Council

Wodonga City Council

The MAV would like acknowledge the enthusiasm and commitment shown bythe participating councils. Their efforts show just how keen the sector is to

learn and improve.

In developing the program, the MAV worked particularly closely with the City

of Greater Dandenong, City of Greater Geelong, Golden Plains Shire,and six

Growth Area councils, Casey, Cardinia, Hume, Melton, Whittlesea and

Wyndham.

What have we found so far?The STEP program has shown us that planning processes are very complex to

administer. Sometimes even more complex than getting someone in and out

of surgery! The graphs below show a summary of the process steps of both

the planning scheme amendment process and the planning permit application

process.


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The graphs show that there are:

A high number of steps (179) in the council administered parts of theplanning scheme amendment process and even higher for planning

permits (278)

61

118

56

123

15

88

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Process Overview -Strategic Planning - before redesign

value add activ ities non value add activ ities tech'y enabled activ ities manual activ ities org functions (rhs) handover (rhs)

112

166

107

171

15

108

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Process Overview -Statutory Planning - before redesign

value add activities non value add activities tech'y enabled activities manual activities org functions (rhs) handover (rhs)


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A disproportionate number (66 per cent and 58 per cent) of non-value adding steps. (A value adding step is one that

the customer would pay for if they knew about it)

Not many technology enabled steps and those thatare enabled do not lead to a sequence of steps

A high number of transfers to other team membersand other organisational functions with each party

only undertaking an average of two steps each

An average of 15 organisational functions involvedin planning processes.

Other common issues are:

All planning scheme amendments and planningpermit applications are treated the same but the

scale and scope of activity is very wide. This delays

those amendments and applications that could

have a much simpler process path

Most process steps are administered in a sequentialway when concurrent processing would speedthem up significantly

Planning processes are work flow intensive but IT isgenerally a low priority

There is a lack of easily compiled key performancecriteria

Significant downtime and rework are evidenced inplanning processes

The failure demand is very high in planningprocesses requests for further information,

progress chasing and amendments to applications

all demonstrate failures in process

Surf Coast Shire Council

Some of the improvements the ST

program has helped Surf Coast to

achieve are:

Justify and negotiate an extra

planner

Implement a zero tolerancepolicy for incomplete applica

Conduct a four hour worksho

with internal business unites

key processes and interactio

Utilise on-line advertising (on

web)

Improve links to strategic

planning and reduce non val

adding steps

The program is further helping to:

Reduce the turnaround time

applicants

Increase use of templates

Update workflow

Revise delegated authority

Update forms and flyers

Manage internal referral par

to attend pre-application

meetings


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As the program is in its infancy the outcomes for each council are yet to be

fully quantified.

Key outcomes

Planning is a as a whole of council process Both

the amendment and permit process show an

average of 15 functions of council are involved.

The more people that are involved the greater the

chance of error or delay. Looking for opportunities

to reduce the number of persons involved and

increasing the number of steps done at one time

are key elements to improvement.

Applications/amendments are streamed While there are statutory

processes around planning scheme amendments and planning permit

applications, not all follow the samepathway to decision. Councils are now

identifying the pathways relevant to them, setting procedures and targets andmonitoring the results.

Failure demand no longer drives planning processes Failure demand is a

term used by process analysts to describe when something has gone wrong in

the relationship between the customer and suppliersomething that didnt

happen that created more work or rework to rectify. Both the planning

scheme amendment and planning permit process evidence very high levels of

failure demand. STEP councils are working on significantly reducing requests

for information, amendments to permits and VCAT applications for review, all

of which are failure demand.

One councils process mapping

revealed that it took 3 weeks for a

planning permit application to reach a

planners desk from submission and in

that time it had gone through five

different organisational functions.


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Workflow systems help rather than hinder Planning processes areworkflow intensive but there is little focus on how IT can help to manage the

workflow or how performance can be monitored. Council systems are very

much focused on the recording and storage of information and documents.

Small improvements in this area can make significant efficiency gains.

Sector improvement projects

The MAV initiate sector-wide improvement projects with each intake to the

STEP program based on issues that have broader application than individual

councils. The first two projects were the introduction of management reports

for STEP councils and the joint MAV/DPCD project to review the DPCD

component of the planning scheme amendment process. A referral authority

project is currently being undertaken for the Gippsland region with the aim of

applying the learnings more broadly.

2012 initiatives and program

The MAV has a jam packed program planned for next year. As well as the 12

week intensive audit and review (on entry to the program and every three

years thereafter) the new program will include:

a one day mini audit for councils to check progress a number of themed workshops process training for managers and coordinators


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Conclusion

The participation by councils in the STEP planning program to date has been

fantastic and the MAV fully expects to meet its target of all council

involvement by the end of 2013.

The MAV looks forward to all councils participating in the program so that the

greatest benefit can be derived for the sector. With all councils involved we

can further develop the program, its content and develop tools to assist

councils.

STEP Annual Report 2011

Documents

Transcript of STEP Annual Report 2011