Create
Goals of this stage
By now, you should have:
- place-based problems that needing solving, and outcomes you want to achieve
- a list of potential solutions and a plan to deliver them
- defined benefits and potential costs, with a cost benefit analysis.
On paper, the delivery of smart place solutions may seem relatively straightforward, but lining up all the elements of a smart place can be challenging and there are many variables that can make roll out challenging.
During this stage, you will need to:
- Determine the best approach to funding your proposal
- Seek approval to proceed with your project
- Achieve any planning approvals
- Deliver the project – procuring the best solutions
- Set up your organisation to manage the data generated by your project and use the insights to drive decision making.
Continuing engagement with customers and stakeholders
Engaging customers and stakeholders during the Create stage will generate a support base through implementation.
You can engage the community to:
- keep them informed about delivery progress, including any physical infrastructure delivery impacts
- keep them informed about the data that is being captured and how it is being used
- test and refine data visualisation approaches
- showcase any outcomes and benefits that are being achieved
- build skills to participate in your smart places
- continuously seek feedback.
SmartNSW Case Study Library
SmartNSW Case Study Library is a resource showcasing great outcomes for people and places enabled by smart technology and data solutions. Browse the library online to see the relevant examples being created across the state.
Funding your proposal
Funding for your project can come from your organisation's annual budget or can come from dedicated funding sources like the Smart Places Acceleration Program. This Program provides co-contributions to projects that produce State digital assets. To take part, you must be, or be in partnership with a NSW Government agency.
Making the case / seeking approval
Using all the information gathered in the Design stage, you can make a case for investment.
Your approval process will principally depend on:
- your source of funding
- the project's governance structure
- your organisation, and other organisations involved.
You may need to deploy a pilot using a small amount of funding before seeking to scale up. This will help you build the case for investment, quantifying outcomes and proving up partnership models, organisational capability and technical solutions.
Decisions to invest in smart places should be based on individual business cases, and you should consider how each new connected technology contributes to the broader connected system.
NSW Treasury's Business Case guidelines (TPP18-06) establish a best practice, clear and consistent approach to preparing business cases.
Planning approvals
Smart Place Resource: Generic Development Control Plan (DCP)
This generic DCP document is intended to guide planners and place owners to integrate smart places principles in their relevant planning instruments.
Download now: DCP Guidelines for Smart Places (PDF, 932.27 KB)
Depending on the extent of your project and its physical assets, you may also need planning approvals to proceed.
Delivering your project
Smart place objectives can be achieved:
- directly: through the procurement of solutions or outcomes, in partnership between public and/or private organisations; or
- indirectly: through incentives or regulation.
Example delivery models and when to use them
Add as a requirement to a competitive procurement of another project.
Asset - Procure
Asset management considerations
Competitively procure off the shelf, design and construct, or service level agreement (including Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS)).
Add as a requirement to a competitive procurement of another project.
When to use it
For separable technologies or 'technology as a service' where value for money outcomes can be achieved by using existing products and services.
Asset - Subsidise
Asset management considerations
Competitive Grant program (based on criteria and guidelines) to incentivise industry to deliver a product that is not financially viable without government assistance but has significant economic/external benefits.
Other subsidy programs such as guarantees (limited or full), state loans, rebates, feed-in payments and tax rebates.
When to use it
Where established providers in the market can deliver technology but require partial incentive, subsidy programs can reduce cost to government as not paying for full technology cost and shifts risk of delivery to the private sector.
Like above, feed-in tariffs are more appropriate in markets with moving prices, where place-owners want to avoid 'over subsidising' or subsidising to a commercial price at a given time.
Tax rebates unlikely to be available to state/local government and requires legislative change, but rebate could be applied for new technology or data sharing to drive behavioural change.
Limited guarantees and state loans can be sued where cost recovery is expected, but the private sector may be unwilling to bear risks due to being unfamiliar with the product (e.g. home energy management systems).
Asset - Regulate
Asset management considerations
Regulate an asset owner to require installation of technology or use of data standards through planning approvals and conditions or through specific regulations for that sector (water, energy, parking, transport).
Self-regulation by an industry peak body of the data standards and technologies to be installed.
Guidelines, policy and facilitation.
When to use it
Planning regulations can be used for any new developments or infrastructure where there is an end user likely to pay for the service. This can be an effective approach for greenfield sites and major redevelopments.
In fast-moving industry sectors, such as tech, where government lag in updating regulations can hinder innovation where an industry body is more appropriate to regulate. Avoids regulatory compliance costs on government but may still ultimately be borne by consumers.
On government but may still ultimately be borne by consumers. It may not be effective to change industry behaviour or provide for interoperable technologies.
Resources supporting procurement
Procurement Policy Framework
The Procurement Policy Framework applies to the procurement of goods and services of any kind, including construction.
Local Government Procurement
Local Government Procurement is a not-for-profit organisation that provides training and resources to assist local governments in their procurement solutions.
NSW Government Commissioning and Contestability Policy
The NSW Government commissioning and Contestability Policy (PDF, 561.37 KB) outlines the Government's vision, guiding principles and mandate for NSW Government agencies to drive customer-centric service reform and explore ways to create better service outcomes.
NSW Government Commissioning and Contestability Practice Guide
The NSW Government Commissioning and Contestability Practice Guide (PDF, 1.2 MB) was developed to provide practitioners with a flexible guide to implementing the NSW Government Commissioning and Contestability Policy (Policy).
Module 6 of the NSW IoT Policy
Module 6 of the NSW IoT Policy for Internet of Things solutions, both the service provider market and buyer side are in their infancy and still building maturity and capability. This module of the IoT policy provides guidance on best practice procurement for place-owners.
Building capability and further learning
Smart NSW Case Study Library
The Smart NSW Case Study Library is a resource showcasing great outcomes for people and places enabled by smart technology and data solutions. Browse the library online to see the relevant examples being created across the state.
SmartNSW Masterclasses
The SmartNSW Masterclass series is building a confident, skilled public sector workforce, able to use technology and data as core business. Relevant sessions are highlighted below.
2021 Smart Places Masterclass Series
Co-hosted with the Australian Computer Society, this series explored core drivers in smart places.
Generating insights and driving decision-making
To support decision-making and drive the outcomes desired from smart places, you need to make sure any data collected is translated into actionable insights.
This can be done by combining data sets and analysing them for insights, or using automated processes like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
During the Design stage, you should have identified the types of solutions you want to deploy and procured or delivered these as part of your project.
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- Share lessons you have learned that can benefit others.