AMO WAMS COMMUNICATION

Ontario has made comprehensive asset management plans a requirement for all Broader Public Sector organizations seeking provincial funding for infrastructure projects. To ensure that all municipalities would be able to complete these and access funding, AMO advocated for asset management funding for municipalities that have capacity issues in completing these plans and funding to ensure that critical repairs and projects could be undertaken in the absence of major federal and provincial funding programs.  AMO is pleased that the Ontario Government has responded.
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The above  communication was received from the  Ontario Association of Municipalities .
The Broader Public Sector Accounting imposed by the Province 
is apparently in difficulty.. 
At last year's conference  the problems  were  discussed. Many municipalities have  made little progress .  The required changes to   municipal accounting  are significant 
On the advice of a consultant, the town  bought  $440,000  software  last November to manage  the change. The consultant apparently didn't consult the IT department.
Thirteen months later the  testing stage has been reached . Outside workers are to become data entry clerks as well as their  normal duties.  
The program  will not transfer  the asset inventory from spread sheets .  The software for that would cost $50,000. We haven't bought that.
We're not messing about with piddlng stuff like $50,000 software Oh Dear Me No. 
We had to add $58,000 worth of additional software to the WAMS
software. That's the biggy. The budget allocates  another $100,000
 for hand held equipment for  workers in the field. 
The auditors' management letter referred to  problems  caused by staff not having  skills needed and training not being provided.  They identified  that as  a management problem.
It's not hard to connect the dots. People  doing a job for ten or fifteen  years  don't suddenly lose their skills . They don't need training  for  the  job they've been doing for years.
If the job  changes, they need  new skills. 
The job changed. Municipal staff throughout the Province are encountering difficulties. 
In the communication above, the province has obviously acknowledged the fact and funding is being provided .  
The action plan put forward by  management to resolve problems  uncovered by the auditors, recommends an organization 
shift. 
Really  it's a re-organisational shift. The Treasurer will no longer be responsible for  Human Resources assigned to his office  in the re-organisation of 2010. 
In the meantime we worm  our way ahead with the WAMs software.   Already more than a year old , as yet it produces nothing  but a need for more money  to be spent.