The National State of the Assets (NSoA) Project, launched in 2012, has revolutionised how we understand and manage our public infrastructure. As someone deeply involved in local government infrastructure management, I have watched how this significant data initiative has been unfolding over the past decade.
In this blog, I would like to share why I think the NSoA Project matters. I will share how councils can report their data to the Project more easily - and leverage their data to help manage their infrastructure assets more effectively and efficiently with Power BI.
Welcome to the Iamdata Solutions Asset Management Newsletter - December 2024
Imagine trying to maintain thousands of kilometres of roads, hundreds of bridges, and countless community facilities without having a clear picture of their condition or performance. That was essentially the challenge facing Australian local governments before the NSoA Project began. As Asset Managers, I'm sure you have been in this position at one time or another, especially in the early days. If I'm honest, I remember my asset data being very sketchy back in 2005 when I started my asset management journey. With little data and no means to help us understand what the data is telling us, it becomes a guessing game based on hearsay and assumptions. We've come along way since then!
The beauty of the NSoA Project lies in its simplicity
We needed to create a standardised way for local governments to assess and report on their infrastructure. It sounds straightforward, but the impact has been profound. Through regular self-assessment surveys, local governments across the country now speak the same language when it comes to infrastructure management.
How the NSoA Project has evolved
It has been great to see how this project has evolved from a modest pilot in 2012 to what it is today. The early stages focused on proving a crucial concept - that local governments could indeed provide consistent, evidence-based infrastructure data useful for all levels of government. We started with roads and bridges, the lifelines of our communities, before expanding to encompass all infrastructure types under local government care.
What excites me most about the project is its remarkable success rate. More than 80% of local governments have participated - that's 80% capturing and utilising their asset data! This high engagement level hasn't just generated data - it's created a movement toward better infrastructure management across Australia.
The real-world impacts have been substantial. When federal funding programs like Roads to Recovery or the Local Road and Community Infrastructure Program are being considered, decision-makers now have solid evidence to support their choices. It's no longer about guesswork or squeaky wheels getting the grease - it's about data-driven decisions that benefit communities most in need.
How has the Project helped Local Governments?
I believe the most significant transformation is the capability of local governments themselves. The project has elevated infrastructure management from a purely technical exercise to a strategic planning tool. Councils are now better equipped to plan for the future, manage risks, and make smarter investment decisions.
Looking back at the project's achievements I'm struck by how far we've come. We've moved from isolated decision-making to a coordinated, national approach to infrastructure management. The project has given us trend analysis capabilities that help us understand the past and use this knowledge to help us anticipate future needs.
The task of preparing asset data for NSoA Submission
I know that when I was tasked with the job of preparing the data for submission to the NSoA, it often proved to be difficult. Extracting the data out from the various systems and ensuring it was clean and formatted correctly could be very time-consuming.
How local governments can leverage Power BI to prepare their NSoA submissions more efficiently.
Thank goodness, we now have some excellent tools at our fingertips to help us prepare the NSoA data for submission. Power BI is without a doubt my favourite tool for this type of exercise - here's why...
There are many ways Power BI can help local governments gather and report on their asset data for the NSoA project. I've listed some of the most valuable here:
Connecting to Corporate Systems and Databases
Power BI is an effective tool for local governments looking to streamline and automate data extraction for projects like the National State of the Assets (NSoA) reporting. With Power BI you can connect to a wide range of corporate systems and databases, providing a central platform for your data integration, transformation, and visualisation. For example:
SQL Databases
Power BI has native connectors to SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and other SQL-based systems commonly used by councils. Through these connections, Power BI can retrieve data directly from council’s central asset management databases.
ERP and EAM Systems
Many councils use Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for financial, operational, and asset management processes. Power BI has integrations with major ERP/EAM systems like SAP, Oracle, and Infor, enabling it to pull in structured data about asset conditions, valuations, maintenance, and operational statuses.
Geospatial and GIS Data
Many councils utilise GIS (Geographic Information System) data to manage infrastructure assets. Power BI can connect to GIS systems (like ESRI ArcGIS) and pull spatial data, which is useful for asset mapping, condition analysis, and geographical insights.
Excel and Flat Files
Power BI can import data from Excel, CSV, and other flat file formats. This feature is especially helpful if asset data from smaller systems or ad-hoc surveys are stored outside the primary systems.
Data Transformation for NSoA Reporting Requirements
Power BI’s Power Query Editor is great for performing data transformation and cleansing on imported data. This tool enables transformations such as merging multiple tables, filtering out unnecessary information, pivoting/unpivoting data, and standardising formats, which are essential to meet the NSoA’s data structure requirements.
Through transformation capabilities, we can merge data from different sources, such as linking asset condition data with valuation information or maintenance history, to create a unified view of each asset.
Power BI also supports the creation of calculated columns and measures to generate KPIs specific to NSoA reporting, such as Asset Condition Index (ACI), useful life remaining, and replacement costs.
Automation for Data Refresh and Updates
With scheduled refreshes, Power BI automatically update reports at regular intervals, ensuring that the data in the NSoA report remains current without manual intervention.
Automated alerts and notifications can be configured in Power BI, helping council teams stay informed about critical asset statuses or data changes, which can also be useful when preparing for NSoA reporting deadlines.
Data Visualisation and Reporting
I love Power BI’s extensive visualisation capabilities. I can create clear, interactive reports on asset conditions, values, and lifecycle stages, tailored to the NSoA’s requirements.
Power BI Interactive Reports make it relatively easy to set up views that are easily interpreted by both technical and non-technical audiences. These reports can include visual summaries of asset conditions, risks, and financial impact assessments.
Councils can also tap into Power BI’s mapping capabilities (such as the integration with ArcGIS Maps) to display asset data geographically, which is particularly beneficial for visualising the distribution and condition of physical infrastructure assets across a region.
Data Security and Governance
Power BI provides row-level security (RLS), which can be used to control access to data, ensuring only authorised personnel can view sensitive asset data.
Compliance with data governance policies is crucial for councils. Power BI integrates with Microsoft’s broader data governance suite, including tools like Microsoft Purview, to assist with data lineage tracking, classification, and protection.
So, can Power BI help councils prepare data ready for NSoA reporting? Yes it can!
Power BI provides councils with a powerful and user-friendly tool to streamline the preparation of asset data for the National State of the Assets (NSoA) reporting. Connecting directly to various data sources, including enterprise systems like TechnologyOne, Authority or external databases, Power BI enables the consolidation of fragmented asset data into a unified platform. With dynamic dashboards and visualistions, councils can easily analyse key indicators such as condition, functionality, and capacity, ensuring compliance with NSoA requirements while reducing manual reporting efforts.
Beyond NSoA submissions, Power BI empowers councils to adopt a data-driven approach to asset management. By providing real-time insights into asset performance, utilisation, and replacement costs, councils can identify trends, prioritise maintenance and upgrades, and allocate resources more effectively. The platform’s flexibility to drill down into specific asset classes or regions enables councils to make proactive decisions, improving the long-term sustainability and service quality of their infrastructure.
Ultimately, Power BI not only simplifies reporting but also enhances councils’ ability to manage their assets efficiently, ensuring better outcomes for their communities.
I have worked on many different projects with my Local Government clients, from designing and developing Power BI Reports, to building SQL Server databases for spatial data, to managing and maintaining GIS and the Asset Management systems. If you'd like to discuss how we might work together, then please email Jill at ➡️ jill.singleton@iamdata.solutions
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