Meeting documents

5.1 Data management and records

5.1.1 Introduction

Accurate and robust information in relation to the Council's property holdings is pivotal to all aspects of asset management. Since the preparation of the original AMP a considerable amount of work has been undertaken in this area and the quality of data improved significantly. These improvements and aspirations for further work are set out in the following section. The Council as a whole is currently consulting on a draft records management policy and the work within Property Services supplements this corporate initiative. Also a corporate Geographical Information System (GIS) has been implemented and is in the course of further development and Property Services is playing a key role in this project.

5.1.2 Property Services IT Strategy

Property Services has an established strategy for management of property records within the Division. This strategy centres on the core data systems comprising ECS Qube, Evolut1on and GIS. These core data systems include common referencing and interact with the Council's main financial management system (Agresso) and will progressively interact with the emerging Corporate GIS.

The strategy document is reproduced as part of Appendix 3 below.

Where there is a need to store additional information or calculate and analyse core data then this is undertaken using data from the core systems and any resultant answers either imported or stored using structured methodology.

The Division has constituted a Property Information Group with responsibility to oversee the management of data and report to the Management Team on the subject. The terms of reference for this group are reproduced as part of Appendix 3.

The constant improvement of data is given a high priority through the Property Information Group and the current key improvements are dealt with under the section Programmed Improvements below.

5.1.3 Allocation of Property

The overall Property Policy provides for all properties to be allocated to Divisional Directors and for there to be a real charge for such occupation. At the present time these allocations are the subject of a confirmatory exercise which will not only confirm the allocations where appropriate but also identify non operational assets which will be subject to ongoing scrutiny with a view to identifying surplus property for disposal.

Beyond this exercise to allocate all property interests it is necessary to record accurately the powers under which land is acquired and held and such an exercise will follow agreement of allocations and may result in a series of appropriations.

5.1.4 Core Data

Within the core systems described above core data is stored including the following

• Reference
  
• PSRN (Property Services Reference Number)
  
• Property Description/Name
  
• Address
  
• Contacts
  
• Value
  
• Insurance Reinstatement Cost
  
• Type
  
• Status
  
• Tenure
  
• CIPFA categorisation
  
• Gross Internal Area (GIA)

The reference and PSRN at the top of the list provide the fundamental links between systems. It is intended that in due course in accordance with the requirements of BS7666 these references will be supplemented by the UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number) derived from the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) once data matching issues have been fully addressed. This will allow more effective data sharing of property data with other parts of the Council and external organisations.

5.1.5 Training

Training on core IT systems is an integral part of the induction process for new members of staff. A user-training programme is constantly being developed and maintained to take into account system upgrades and changing requirements.

5.1.6 Improvements

The Property Information Group is responsible for programmed improvements to data storage and systems.

5.2

5.2.1 Performance Management

Accurate data moves forward into accurate and relevant performance measures. A successful performance management regime provides the key to reporting progress, identifying weaknesses and benchmarking against industry standard performance.

Specifically as members of the Institute of Public Finance (IPF) Asset Management Group the Council will be reporting our KPI'S into the IPF database which will give us access to benchmarking graphs from other Authorities. Other benchmarking initiatives include the possibility of sharing information between the Councils that administer the former Avon County Council area.

5.2.2 Performance Group

The area of performance impacts on all areas of the service and requires input from a number of sources. For this reason a central performance group is being established to coordinate this work. This will concentrate on the capital and revenue targets but also take into account the current indicator sets and performance needs.

5.2.3 Capital Targets

The Capital Programme is the responsibility of the Capital Strategy Group (CSG) and Projects Programme Board (PPB). Capital receipts form a key strand of funding capital expenditure. From 2008/2009 there is no target for receipts however performance is still reported regularly. Receipts may be earmarked at the start of a project but generally receipts are non ring fenced and available for use as directed by CSG. Indicative projected capital receipts for 2008/2009 are of the order of £12m.

5.2.4 Revenue Targets

Revenue Income is monitored in the following ways

• Initial projection in September for the forthcoming financial year.
  
• Quarterly updates based on changes in market conditions.
  
• From June the latest quarter of actual invoices raised replace the projection.
  
• At the end of the financial year accruals are calculated and applied to the accounts to produce outturn.

Non Commercial Estate income is not currently monitored in the same way but will be from June 2008 onwards.

5.2.5 Current Indicator sets

5.2.5.1 AMP KPI's

During such time as the ODPM specified the content of National Performance Indicators these were produced as specified however these are now obsolete and have been replaced by indicators sponsored by Association of Chief Corporate Property Officers in Local Government (COPROP). This has now received a positive endorsement from ODPM, DfES and others.

5.2.5.2 Balanced Scorecard

The Council also uses a balanced scorecard approach for corporate reporting and the AMP indicators form part of this.

5.2.5.3 Central Govt VfM indicators

This suite of indicators is managed by IPF and includes a comprehensive series of measures capable of comparison across authorities. The latest submission with effect from the end of April has been lodged on the website.

5.2.5.4 The 198 indicators (formerly Best Value Performance Plan)

The former BVPP is now replaced by a much more concise set of corporate indicators. These indicators were announced as part of the CRS07 and are in place from April 2008. A small number of the indicators have a direct bearing on Property, many others have an indirect effect on overall reporting proposals.

5.2.6 Proposed developments

As will be seen from the above there are a number of initiatives both at a professional and corporate level. Property Board has requested the production of proposals to bring these various initiatives together in a composite set of indicators that reflect where possible the current indicator sets whilst giving a clear indication of the performance of both the portfolios and Property Services Division. This is being given high priority and it is hoped that proposals can be submitted to the Board during the summer.

Until such time as this work is completed Appendix 1 has been left blank.