Annual Budget 2012 - pdf - Fingal County Council

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The Information Technology Department provides
the infrastructure, systems and applications to
enable the Council’s Departments to deliver their
services. The budget will assist in increasing the
business value to Fingal.
The works planned for 2012 take cognisance of
Circular FIN 08/2008 from the Department of
Environment, Heritage and Local Government and
refers to the continuing use of IT to e-enable work
processes and assist in bringing greater efficiencies
to the work place through the use of automation and
Business Process Improvement (BPI).
The main areas of development to improve
infrastructure will include -
• increased bandwidth between the Swords
and Blanchardstown offices and to
Government Networks to enable increased
capacity for service delivery and improved
quality of service
• increased bandwidth and improved
resilience on the Councils Wide Area
Network
• enhanced network infrastructure to deliver
Voice Over IP with a consequential
reduction in telecommunication costs
for remote sites and improved telephony
capability.
The main areas of development on applications and
systems include –
• integration of Fingal’s CRM system with
the national FixYourStreet website
• upgrade of www.fingalcoco.ie to a service
oriented website
• delivery of technology solutions arising
from the Business Process Improvement
initiative
• delivery of technology solutions arising
from the Knowledge Management
initiative
• development and promotion of the Fingal
Open Data initiative to facilitate economic
development
A sum of €100,000 is included for CRM development
and a further sum of €75,000 is included for network
infrastructure upgrades. These amounts are to be
transferred to capital in Budget 2012.
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HUMAN RESOURCES
In light of the payroll cuts required by Government
and the general budgetary situation, the level of
recruitment to the Council, if any, during the coming
year will be minimal. In general, vacancies that arise
will not be filled. Much of the effort of the Human
Resources Department will be directed towards
facilitating other departments in staying within their
payroll budgets. This will be achieved through a
combination of managed reductions in staff-related
expenditure, optimal deployment of reduced staff
resources and re-evaluation of work practices.
The other core activities of the Human Resources
Department will continue. The training programme
will continue to be largely based on needs identified
through the Performance Management and
Development System but other training needs will
also be addressed as required.
The Council remains committed to ensuring
that, through the workplace partnership process,
required efficiencies are achieved while maintaining
industrial harmony.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
In 2011 the Council was awarded the All Ireland
Occupational Safety Award by the National Irish
Safety Organisation. In 2012, the Human Resources
Department will continue to promote best practice
in health and safety throughout the organisation
through its training programme and inspection
regime.