Liverpool City Council is reviewing and documenting critical processes with Nintex Promapp with the result of a noticeable reduction in costly business errors and downtime, and teams reporting improvements in efficiency through better use of time and resources.
Rising demand for services
Founded in 1810, the City of Liverpool is one of the oldest urban settlements in Australia. Until the 1950s, it was a satellite town supporting surrounding farmland however, during following decades, the urban sprawl of Sydney led to it becoming an outer suburb of the city.
Liverpool City Council provides a portfolio of services to residents and businesses in the area. Its 800 plus staff manage everything from waste and recycling facilities to parks, libraries and childcare centers.
As the area has grown in recent years, so too has the support delivered by the council. This has led to a rise in the number of internal processes followed by staff across all departments and locations.
The council deployed and began using Nintex Promapp in 2014 as part of a New South Wales government initiative to streamline the operation of local councils.
Peta Kinnane, Liverpool City Council Acting Audit and Risk Co-ordinator, says the initiative was designed to ensure that local councils were operating as efficiently as possible, ahead of some planned consolidations.
“At that time, we realized that work was needed on our internal processes,” said Peta Kinnane. “Many were established in stages over the years and weren’t as effective or efficient as they could have been.”
Kinnane says many processes had also not been fully documented and important details only existed in the heads of staff. “If certain people left, knowledge of some processes would be lost and we realized that we needed a reliable process management system in place,” said Kinnane.
New driver for growth
Due to a range of factors, progress on process revision within the council progressed slowly at first, however the issue came back into focus when plans were approved for the new Western Sydney International Airport.
“We could see that the airport would lead to further significant growth across our region,” said Kinnane. “For this reason, we knew we had to focus on getting all our processes working efficiently so that the council would be in the best possible position to deliver the support that would be required.”
Kinnane says a renewed effort was placed on ensuring Nintex Promapp was being used in the most appropriate way to support the process review program. All existing processes were examined and a priority list created.
A cross-functional improvement team was also established to provide guidance and assistance with putting the platform to work as part of the implementation of a new quality management system. This was designed to highlight those processes that carried the most risk for the organization and ensure they were reviewed and managed appropriately.
Kinnane says the team identified a total of 563 critical processes across the council. So far, 320 have been fully reviewed and mapped in Nintex Promapp. The council is 18 months into its goal to document all processes and achieve quality management certification within three years.
Nintex Promapp delivers big benefits
With new momentum underway, Liverpool City Council is enjoying some significant and far-reaching benefits from using Nintex Promapp.
Kinnane says there has been a noticeable reduction in costly business errors and downtime that had been caused by ineffective or incomplete processes. Many teams also reported improvements in efficiency through better use of time and resources.
Nintex Promapp’s dashboard feature makes it very easy for progress reports to be generated and provided to the council’s executive management team. The council also now has greatly improved audit capabilities and a full risk register to guide planning and future strategic decision making.
“Nintex Promapp allows us to efficiently capture and manage our risks,” said Kinnane. “This has been particularly valuable during the COVID-19 crisis as many of our processes have had to be changed and staff shifted between areas and teams.”
Nintex University has proven to be a powerful resource for the council as it’s navigated the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The additional resources available in Nintex University has helped us to adopt best practices and ensures that staff are familiar and comfortable with all the features and capabilities that the platform offers,” said Kinnane. “The fact that training can be accessed on-demand and remotely has been so helpful.”
Support process excellence now and in the future
Kinnane says Nintex Promapp will continue to have a valuable role in the council’s process excellence journey. As growth and development continues across the region in coming years, improving process efficiency and effectiveness will remain a priority.
“Nintex Promapp ensures we continue to function as efficiently and effectively as possible. I am confident it will continue to support our approach to managing processes and – consequently – risks,” said Kinnane.
