Program 3—Infrastructure services
Program 3 of the DPS Outcome and Programs Framework is the provision of integrated services and facilities through the provision of maintenance, infrastructure and support services. Two subprograms—Building infrastructure services and IT infrastructure services—contribute to Program 3.
Building infrastructure services—subprogram 3.1
DPS provides building infrastructure, maintenance, landscape and utility services (electricity, gas, water and sewerage) for Parliament House.
Table 3.6 shows performance against measures relating to the condition of the building, the landscape, engineering systems, design integrity and security systems. The table also shows the customer satisfaction result from the 2012 customer survey.
Table 3.6—Building infrastructure services—subprogram 3.1—quality indicators
|
Quality indicator
|
Measure
|
Performance
|
|
|
|
2009–10
|
2010–11
|
2011–12
|
|
Extent to which the building condition is maintained
|
Building Condition Index (target: 89-92%)
|
88.9%
|
88.8%
|
88.1%
|
|
Condition and ageing of engineering systems
|
Engineering Systems Condition Index (target: 90%)
|
88.2%
|
87.5%
|
87.7%
|
|
Extent to which the landscape condition is maintained
|
Landscape Condition Index (target: 90%)
|
78%
|
79%
|
86%
|
|
Extent to which the design integrity is maintained
|
Design Integrity Index (target:90%)
|
91.2%
|
90.2%
|
89.8%
|
|
Performance of security systems
|
Scheduled availability of operational systems:
|
| |
(a) card management system (target: 100%)
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
| |
(b) radio communications equipment (target: 100%)
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
| |
(c) x-ray equipment / walk-through metal detection (target: 95%)
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
| |
(d) CCTV system
(target: 98%)
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
| |
(e) electronic door locks (target: 99.8%)
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
| |
(f) alarms (target: 99.9%)
|
100%
|
100%
|
100%
|
|
Customer Satisfaction
|
High level of building occupant and/or user satisfaction with cleaning, pest control and sanitary services.
|
N/A
|
83%
|
Extent to which building condition is maintained
The building condition index (BCI) measures the current condition of the building fabric of Parliament House, expressed as a percentage of the original condition. The BCI is the result of a visual inspection of building and fabrics surfaces for general deterioration and damage caused by general wear and tear.
The BCI score rates the condition of the building finishes and fixtures of eight zones within Parliament House, as shown in Table 3.7. The DPS Long Term Fabric Planner conducts the inspections at different frequencies (biannual or annual) depending on each area’s profile (ranging, for example, from the Ministerial areas to basement plant room space).
The overall scores for each zone are recorded and these are combined into an overall BCI score as at 30 June each year. The target range of 89-92% has been determined, based on external benchmarks, as the optimum balance of condition and cost. The outcome of the BCI contributes to the planning of the building and fabric maintenance programs.
Condition and ageing of engineering systems
The engineering systems condition index (ESCI) measures the current operation and condition of the engineering systems in Parliament House against the expected decline of those systems through their life cycles. The system of scoring has been designed so that the optimum target of 90% is achieved if all systems are ageing through their life cycle as expected.
To calculate the ESCI, 67 engineering systems—including air conditioning, catering equipment, hydraulic, power, fire systems and building structure—are scored for reliability, life cycle progress and actual versus expected condition. The value in carrying out an annual ESCI is to identify system performance in totality. The level of maintenance expenditure to ensure operational reliability is evaluated to highlight trends in system deterioration. The ESCI results contribute to the identification of plant requiring additional maintenance resources and the identification of systems for asset upgrade or replacement.
The overall score of 87.7% reflects the continual contribution of the capital works program of asset upgrade/replacement in negating the effects of plant deterioration.
Table 3.7—Building condition index score by zone
|
Zone
|
Score (%)
2009–10
|
Score (%)
2010–11
|
Score (%)
2011–12
|
|
Public areas
|
89.3
|
88.2
|
88.0
|
|
Parliamentary chambers
|
91.6
|
92.1
|
92.0
|
|
Ministerial wing
|
89.0
|
89.3
|
88.9
|
|
Senate wing
|
89.1
|
88.6
|
88.7
|
|
House of Representatives wing
|
88.9
|
88.7
|
88.8
|
|
Back of House
|
85.6
|
86.8
|
87.1
|
|
Plant rooms
|
89.1
|
88.3
|
87.9
|
|
Total score
|
88.9
|
88.8
|
88.1
|
Extent to which landscape condition is maintained
The landscape condition index (LCI) measures the current condition of the landscape surrounding Parliament House, expressed as a percentage of the total possible condition. The landscape has been divided into eight zones as shown in Table 3.8. The LCI is measured in October each year by a team comprising the assistant director landscape services and three landscape services staff. The scores for each zone are recorded and combined into an overall score.
There was an 8% increase in LCI in 2011–12 to 86%—still 4% below the target of 90%. The increase is due to: couch grass installation (3,822m2) along the outside of Parliament Drive; replacement of water hungry Choisya ternata (Mexican Orange Blossom) with a more drought tolerant Correa species (Correa glabra—750 plants) on the House of Representatives bank; and the restoration of granite paths in the peripheral gardens and timber covers installed over decommissioned water features.
Extent to which design integrity is maintained
The design integrity index (DII) measures the current condition of the design integrity and heritage values of Parliament House and the precincts expressed as a percentage of the original built form. In particular, it measures the extent to which change within Parliament House and the Precincts impacts upon the original design intent.
For the purpose of measuring the DII, Parliament House is divided into eight zones, as shown in Table 3.9 (over the page). In each zone, the components of language, symbolism, design order, change and the overall impression are examined and given a score from one to five. The outcomes for each component are added together to obtain a zone score. The zone scores are added to obtain a building score. This score is then expressed as a percentage of the total possible score.
The overall score of 89.8% reflects an increase in the wear and tear on the building fabrics, particularly during setup and set down for public functions in the ceremonial spaces, and the blocked skylight in the Great Hall. Building-wide issues that continue to affect the overall DII rating include the continued proliferation of business machines throughout the circulation spaces and the increasing quantity of non-standard furniture.
Table 3.8—Landscape condition index score by area
|
Zone
|
Score (%)
2009–10
|
Score (%)
2010–11
|
Score (%)
2011–12
|
|
Native peripheral gardens
|
70
|
70
|
75
|
|
Senate courtyards
|
84
|
78
|
94
|
|
House of Representatives courtyards
|
84
|
84
|
94
|
|
Ministry
|
68
|
64
|
86
|
|
Eastern formal gardens
|
86
|
82
|
89
|
|
Western formal gardens
|
75
|
75
|
91
|
|
Ramps
|
94
|
94
|
81
|
|
Front area
|
64
|
75
|
75
|
|
Total score
|
78
|
78
|
86
|
Table 3.9—Design integrity index score by area
|
Zone
|
Score (%)
2009–10
|
Score (%)
2010–11
|
Score (%)
2011–12
|
|
Public and ceremonial areas
|
95.4
|
94.2
|
91.4
|
|
House of Representatives wing
|
90.3
|
89.6
|
89.9
|
|
Senate wing
|
93.2
|
93.5
|
92.0
|
|
Ministerial wing
|
93.1
|
93.8
|
94.3
|
|
Committee rooms and Library
|
89.1
|
90.0
|
91.5
|
|
Facilities areas and tenancies
|
88.2
|
84.7
|
84.0
|
|
Circulation and basement areas
|
85.4
|
83.9
|
83.8
|
|
Exterior: landscape and roadways
|
90.8
|
89.2
|
89.7
|
|
Total Score
|
91.2
|
90.2
|
89.8
|
Performance of security systems
The card management system, electronic doors and alarms are connected to a security network. The closed circuit television system (CCTV) and radio network are connected to a separate security network. Overall, the security networks remained stable, and there is a range of built-in redundancies to ensure the systems continue to function in the event of equipment failure.
Customer Satisfaction
The level of building occupant and/or user satisfaction with cleaning, pest control and sanitary services has risen from 67% in 2008–09, to 83% in 2011–12.
Table 3.10 shows resource consumption, waste production and maintenance activity.
Managing the potential impact on the environment
Environmental performance reporting information is in Part 5 of the annual report. Part 5 includes information on managing the potential impact on the environment.
Maintenance of plant and building fabric
The maintenance of plant and building fabric indicator represents the number of preventative maintenance work orders planned for the 12 months compared to the number of work orders completed over the same period. There were a total of 17,765 work orders planned for 2011–12 of which 87.9% were completed against a target of 85%. This achievement is in line with previous years.
Maintenance help desk requests
The number of calls to the maintenance services help desk fell by 719 this year. No particular reason can be identified for the drop in calls.
Table 3.11 (over the page) shows the costs of providing infrastructure services to Parliament House, including maintenance and utility costs.
Maintenance cost
The reduction in maintenance costs is mostly due to the delay in letting the air handling services contract and the transfer of the Security System Maintenance contract to the Building Services Branch.
Table 3.10—Building infrastructure services—subprogram 3.1—quantity indicators
|
Quantity indicator
|
Measure
|
Performance
|
|
|
|
2009–10
|
2010–11
|
2011–12
|
|
Managing the potential impact on the environment
|
Electricity consumption
(target: 80,987GJ)
|
96,091GJ
|
92,574GJ
|
89,811 Gj
|
| |
Gas consumption
(target: 39,106GJ)
|
44,311GJ
|
46,699GJ
|
49,007 Gj
|
| |
Greenhouse gas emissions (target: 20,160 tonnes CO2e)
|
24,332 tonnes CO2-e
|
27,720 tonnes CO2-e
|
27,136 tonnes CO2-e
|
| |
Water consumption Total (target: 182,535kL)
|
161,187kL
|
152,842kL
|
156,853 kL
|
| |
a) landscape water consumption; and
|
83,817kL
|
73,084kL
|
69,015 kL
|
| |
b) building water consumption
|
77,370kL
|
79,758kL
|
87,838 kL
|
| |
Waste recycled as a percentage of total waste generated (target: 47%)
|
41%
|
48%
|
43%
|
|
Maintenance of plant and building fabric
|
Percentage of planned maintenance achieved
(target: 85%)
|
88%
|
89%
|
87.9%
|
|
Maintenance Help Desk requests
|
Total number of calls
|
18,442
|
27,610
|
26,891
|
Table 3.11—Building infrastructure services—subprogram 3.1—price indicators
|
Price indicator
|
Measure
|
Performance
|
|
|
|
2009–10
|
2010–11
|
2011–12
|
|
Maintenance
|
Target: Maintenance costs reduced by 1.25% from previous year
|
$22,811,273
(+22%)
|
$23,435,118
(+2.7%)
|
$21,680,522
(-7.49%)
|
| |
Cleaning costs under contracts
|
| |
a) internal cleaning costs
|
$3,709,485
|
$3,884,854
(+4.7%)
|
$4,088,570
(+5.24%)
|
| |
b) industrial cleaning costs
|
$885,030
|
$1,407,613
(+59%)
|
$1,390,784
(-1.2%)
|
| |
c) cost of additional labour (including function set up)
|
$81,415
|
$27,497
(-66.2%)
|
$12,643
(-54.02%)
|
|
Energy
|
Target: Energy cost reduced by 1.25% from previous year
|
$3,596,633
(+22.7%)
|
$3,947,066
(+9.7%)
|
$3,387,794
(-14.17%)
|
|
Water
|
Target: Water cost reduced by 1.25% from previous year
|
$625,320
(+1.6%)
|
$611,553
(-2.2%)
|
$723,276
(+18.27%)
|
| |
Cost of water: $/ha landscape (23 ha)
|
$14,138 (-8.9%)
|
$12,714
(-10.1%)
|
$13,836
(+8.8%)
|
| |
Cost of water: building
|
$300,155
(16.1%)
|
$319,129
(+6.3%)
|
$405,034
(+26.9%)
|
|
Total cost of subprogram 3.1
|
$23.500m
(+18.2)
|
$22.582m
(-3.9%)
|
$19.995m
(-11.46%)
|
Energy cost
This indicator is made up of both gas and electricity costs. In 2011–12, as indicated in table 3.10 the gas consumption increased but the electricity consumption decreased. Overall energy costs decreased by 14.17% due to the favourable terms negotiated for the Whole-of-Government electricity contract, which commenced 1 July 2011.
Water cost
Parliament House has over 4,500 rooms on a site of 32ha, of which 23ha is landscaped. The total cost of water and sewerage use for Parliament House in the 2011–12 year was $1,166,051, which is an increase of 13.98% from 2010–11. This increase is due to:
- a rise in water and sewerage costs in the ACT from 1 July 2011; and
- an increase in water use by 2.6%, which can be attributed to the reactivation of some water features, and also external cleaning activities that have not occurred for a number of years due to water restrictions.
Total cost of subprogram
The total cost of providing building infrastructure services has decreased by 11.46% compared to 2010–11. The reduction was due to an asset maintenance cost reduction, and a reduction in energy and depreciation charges.
IT infrastructure services—subprogram 3.2
Table 3.12 shows the level of customer satisfaction, the availability of critical systems and the timeliness of incident resolution for IT services.
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction with IT services has dropped from 71% in 2009 to 57% in the 2012 customer survey. Between surveys, which occur once per Parliament, customer satisfaction is monitored from year to year by the number of formal notes of “thanks” from users and the number of formal complaints.
Table 3.12—IT infrastructure services—subprogram 3.2—quality indicators
|
Quality indicator
|
Measure
|
Performance
|
|
|
|
2009–10
|
2010–11
|
2011–12
|
|
Customer satisfaction
|
High level of user satisfaction—Number of instances of positive feedback recorded in the service and request managament system (SARMS)
|
37
|
23
|
13
|
| |
Number of user complaints
|
26
|
38
|
23
|
|
High level of critical systems availability
|
The total time that critical systems are unavailable during scheduled service hours, and critical system availability expressed as a percentage of scheduled service hours (target: 100% availability):
|
| |
a) information technology infrastructure (computing services)
|
99.98%
(unavailable
for 2:56 hrs)
|
98.44%
(unavailable
for 54:21 hrs)
|
99.92%
|
| |
b) information technology infrastructure (network)
|
99.98%
(unavailable
for 2 hrs)
|
99.98%
(unavailable
for 2 hrs)
|
99.92%
|
| |
c) broadcast infrastructure support
|
100%
(unavailable
for 0:00 hrs)
|
99.9%
(unavailable
for 6 hrs)
|
100%
|
| |
d) telecommunications infrastructure
|
100%
(unavailable
for 0:00 hrs)
|
100%
(unavailable
for 0:00 hrs)
|
100%
|
|
Timeliness of incident resolution
|
Percentage of support requests resolved within service standards as follows (target: 95%):
|
| |
a) immediate priority—response 15 minutes, resolution 2 hours
|
93.27%
|
95.12%
|
85.50%
|
| |
b) high priority—response 30 minutes, resolution 4 hours
|
97.16%
|
96.30%
|
76.90%
|
| |
c) medium priority—response 30 minutes, resolution 8 hours
|
97.94%
|
96.59%
|
85.20%
|
| |
d) as agreed—response 60 minutes, resolution as agreed
|
97.88%
|
96.13%
|
96.10%
|
After a year of continuous change in user services, it is not unexpected that customer satisfaction or formal notes of recognition are lower than previous years. However the reduction in formal complaints highlights the work that was put into resolving user issues quickly and the emphasis on prioritising support calls from Senators and Members. The complaints mostly related to the timeliness of support services, general customer service and dissatisfaction with services such as BlackBerry and Outlook. The networking of label printers caused complaints where DPS was unable to maintain the networking function of older devices. Instead those devices were replaced by devices that could be networked.
High level of critical systems availability
Systems availability is based on how reliable the physical infrastructure is. The measure does not take into account the availability of the services (such as email) to an end user. The availability of systems target is 7am to midnight on sitting days and 7am to 8pm on business days (Monday to Friday non-sitting days).
In 2011–12, infrastructure hardware was available for 99.92% of the time. This is an increase of 1.48% over the previous year indicating fewer issues were encountered. This is expected as a result of ongoing investment in infrastructure such as upgrades to hardware (e.g. servers) and software (e.g. operating systems) used to run the IT environment. In 2011–12, the network had a slightly reduced availability (99.92% v 99.98%) compared to 2010–11. This can be attributed to some critical electrical infrastructure upgrades. On the whole these electrical upgrades progressed within scheduled out-of-hours maintenance periods. However, there were a few instances in which power was not restored to some of the data communications equipment until after the out-of-hours timeframe.
The telecommunications infrastructure remained available for 100% of the time. This statistic excludes the failure of individual handsets.
In 2011–12, critical broadcasting systems achieved their performance target of 100% system availability. This can be attributed to a proactive approach to system maintenance based on a preventative maintenance schedule and a commitment by support staff to quality service. Deployment of new technology in audio and sound reinforcement systems improved robustness and sound quality on the floor of the committee rooms.
Service requests were excluded from this indicator for 2011–12 due to the implementation of a new reporting system which records and reports on service requests differently to the previous system.
Timeliness of incident resolution
A key reason for the significant drop shown in the percentage of incidents resolved within service standards is a change in how incidents are reported. 2011–12 is the first full year of reporting using the new DPS service and request management system (SARMS). In this new system, service requests—simple requests for services such as equipment loans that are quickly and easily resolved—have been excluded from the ‘Timeliness of incident resolution’ report. By not reporting service requests, up to 30% of the quickly resolved helpdesk calls have been removed, thereby increasing the proportion of requests that are more difficult (and take longer) to resolve.
The new reporting system has provided a more accurate indication of incident resolution by better reflecting how significant incidents are dealt with.
Table 3.13 shows the levels of support services provided for IT services.
Support services
The level of support services for 2011–12 was generally in line with the 2010–11, with the number of support desk calls up by approximately 9%.
The number of consultation hours increased significantly. Consultation is measured as the amount of hours spent addressing client calls by the support desk and calls escalated to second level support. This includes service requests, incidents and requests for information. Due to the introduction of a new call logging and reporting system and a decision to include all work performed by support staff, the number of consultations has increased substantially from previous years.
Table 3.13—IT infrastructure services—subprogram 3.2—quantity indicator
|
Quantity indicator
|
Measure
|
Performance
|
|
|
|
2009–10
|
2010–11
|
2011–12
|
|
Support services
|
Number of support services, by category:
|
| |
a) support desk calls
|
46,607
|
44,663
|
48,474
|
| |
b) training services
|
125 participant days
|
128 participant days
|
128 participant days
|
| |
c) consultations
|
6,733 hours
|
5,312 hours
|
13,586 hours
|
| |
Number of support services, by category:
|
| |
d) total number of registered users on the PCN
|
4,950
|
4,818
|
4,848
|
| |
e) amount of storage under management
|
19 TB
|
687 TB
|
785 TB
|
| |
f) emails transmitted across internet
|
51,129,211
|
37,036,081
|
24,511,705
|
| |
g) external web accesses from PCN
|
38,927 GB
downloaded
|
61,929 GB
downloaded
|
69,453 GB
downloaded
|
| |
h) number of telephone calls made that leave Parliament House
|
2,271,907
|
1,959,829
|
1,978,648
|
| |
i) number of facsimiles sent
|
211,706
|
131,389
|
124,056
|
|
Volume of IT services required
|
Number and percentage change in registered users supported on the PCN
|
+ 155
(+3.2%)
|
- 122
(-2.6%)
|
+ 30
(+0.6%)
|
IT services provides IT training services for parliamentary clients. This includes classroom training in the Microsoft suite of products, the parliamentary search application (ParlInfo Search), and other departmental applications such as TRIM, the electronic document and record management system (EDRMS), and SAP, the financial management system. In 2011–12, the focus has been on training for the upgrade to Office 2010 but the most popular course continues to be ParlInfo Search.
More storage was added to the department’s storage area network (SAN) to cater for growth in home server and exchange environments.
In 2010–11, there was a large reduction in the number of emails received compared with the previous year. This was due to the introduction of new spam-blocking software, network reputation services (NRS), into the exchange environment. A further decrease in email traffic recorded in 2011–12 can be attributed to two factors: the parliamentary sitting pattern (the year following a federal election year has relatively higher email traffic) and a three-month period of under-reporting of email statistics during the migration from the old exchange server to a new email environment.
The number of telephone calls made has remained much the same as for 2010–11. There was a continued downward trend in the number of facsimiles that are sent, down to nearly a third of the number sent in 2008–09 (355,280).
Volume of IT services required
As shown in table 3.14, the number of users registered on the PCN has remained relatively stable. However, this figure does not include the churn of users on the PCN. DPS handled 11,158 requests for account modification: these are made up of 1,252 new user accounts and mailboxes, 8,485 modifications of account access to shared information and shared mailboxes, and 1421 deletions of user accounts.
Table 3.14—Registered PCN users
|
Users
|
2007–08
|
2008–09
|
2009–10
|
2010–11
|
2011–12
|
|
Department of Parliamentary Services
|
1,111
|
1,125
|
1,086
|
1,092
|
1,163
|
|
Department of the Senate
|
246
|
235
|
205
|
201
|
187
|
|
Department of the House of Representatives
|
262
|
240
|
226
|
235
|
254
|
|
Senators and staff
|
796
|
940
|
1,008
|
995
|
899
|
|
Members and staff
|
1,658
|
1,938
|
2,147
|
2,021
|
2,104
|
|
Other clients (DoFD)
|
302
|
317
|
278
|
274
|
241
|
|
Total
|
4,375
|
4,795
|
4,950
|
4,818
|
4,848
|
Table 3.15 shows the costs of providing IT, broadcasting and telecommunication infrastructure, as well as the total costs for the subprogram.
Total cost of subprogram 3.2
The rise in IT support infrastructure costs is attributed to the increased costs of enhanced security, higher level of support for email systems, and higher depreciation charges.
The significant reduction in broadcasting infrastructure costs per hour is attributed to a combination of the higher numbers of broadcasting hours, and lower maintenance costs associated with new equipment that has been installed over the period.
Telecommunications costs have remained fairly constant over the period.
Table 3.15—IT infrastructure services—subprogram 3.2—price indicators
|
Price indicator
|
Measure
|
Performance
|
|
|
|
2009–10
|
2010–11
|
2011–12
|
|
IT support infrastructure
|
Cost per registered user
|
$2,246
(-3.3%)
|
$2,921
(+29.3%)
|
$3,194
(+9.36%)
|
|
Broadcasting support infrastructure
|
Cost per broadcast hour
|
$1,304
(+15.1%)
|
$1,344
(+3.1%)
|
$930
(-32.17%)
|
|
Telecommunications infrastructure
|
Total costs
|
$2.955m
(-4.2%)
|
$2.770m
(-6.26%)
|
$2.791m
(+0.76%)
|
|
IT infrastructure services
|
Total cost of subprogram 3.2
|
$20.881m
(+4.1%)
|
$21.604m
(+3.5%)
|
$29.716m
(+37.55%)
|