SICOVAL: better control of public expenditure through asset and service management
The scope of Sicoval’s responsibilities include economic development and employment, regional planning and public works, public housing and environmental, social and economic affairs.
“Up until 2012, our 30 different services like buildings, road- and water works, sewer-, green management, logistics and others, had to manage their affairs through all kinds of different software," says Inès Lopez, head of Finance of the department of public housing and environment control. "But with the expansion of our responsibilities in 2004 with the sewer management and with the further addition of road- and water works in 2012, it became increasingly more difficult. All used software used was limited and on a certain level even unreliable in analyzing our expenses. Sicoval has chosen a wider strategy, where decisions are made based on exact figures on precisely kept books. This is the only way possible to modernize and to advance as an organization. In doing so, we decided to centralize purchasing in an effort to control costs even further. All the different departments are concerned: from road- and water works to building management. Therefore Sicoval had to seek a solution for this very broad issue."
The choice was made to use all AS-Tech Office Web modules based on the wide manner components can be deployed and the ergonomics of use.
External consultants studied Sicoval’s internal ecosystem, and the needs of the various departments were analyzed. This analysis formed the basis for a public tender. This was won by AS-Tech early 2012, based on technical merit and quality of answer. "Of the respondents only 2 could answer all of our needs. AS-Tech was the only who covered all requested functionality through a single central repository. Carpark, public green, street furniture, interventions could all be managed and even the ability to set up the new central warehouse and purchasing was present." continues Inès Lopez. "Very involved in the selection of their new solution, the approximately 50 prospective users were positive about ergonomics and ease of use of the AS-Tech Web Office solution. In particular they were happy with the navigation menus and the clarity with which the software points out where the user is. Never get lost in the software: a strong point! "
The modular approach made phased project possible. Functions could be deployed one by one, which made it possible to introduce modules quickly and with limited training. This allowed Sicoval to rapidly reap the benefits of the implementation.
A long-term and active policy of asset and maintenance management
With AS-Tech Asset Sicoval enjoys a consolidated vision of assets and services, which may be shared between the different responsible parties. The solution can be integrated with existing GIS (Geographic Information System) in which many (parts of) buildings were described. AS-Tech Stock Management became the corner stone of central warehouse and purchasing management.
"Between June and October 2013, we managed not less than 1.159 service interventions with AS-Tech Service. This almost tripled our effectiveness that we have seen since the beginning of the merging of responsibilities beginning 2012" adds Inès Lopez. "We are able to be very restrictive and accept or reject an intervention. We can prioritize, plan and monitor all what is going on. We can formally validate any works which gives us grip and traceability. No intervention without approval. We see what is happening, why, and when. Finally we got the tools to apply policy! "'
As a final project, the 200 vehicles managed by Sicoval, were entered into the system. This gave manageability to the maintenance process: reminders could be set so that the workshop responsible could win time and mandatory technical inspections could be better scheduled.
Inès Lopez concludes: "AS-Tech Office Web is a real instrument to support any decision making because we gained insight into the necessary budgets for years to come. Having that information we can give policy makers explanation on the basis of real and reliable figures. We could, for example, project any downtime of assets. It creates a basis to make a multi-year asset and service policy. This really allows us to optimize government spending! "
