Developing effective partnerships within the Barwon South West Region
15 January 2013
Since July 2012, Barwon South West Region (BSWR) State Fire Management Planning Support and the University of Ballarat’s Centre for eCommerce and Communications (CeCC) have embarked on an important project partnership to pilot an on-line, regional knowledgebase to support decision making for strategic planning and management of at-risk assets during fire and emergency events.
The impetus for this pilot project is largely attributed to stakeholders in the Barwon South West region who recognised that local, regional communities needed timely access to relevant spatial information and disaster management information, to assist them with decision make during emergency events, such as fires.
BSWR State Fire Management Planning Support sought partnership with CeCC on this project and a unique and successful working collaboration was formed. Contributing to this success was the close working arrangements developed between the two organisations. This included a BSWR State Fire Management Planning Support project team member working in the CeCC offices, each week. BSWR team member and GIS Officer Callum Fairnie, was appointed to this role and collaborated with researchers and technical staff at CECC on the pilot project, twice weekly.
This proved particularly beneficial for Callum who found the working arrangements at CeCC enhanced his overall involvement with the project. Of particular value was the opportunity to regularly engage with CeCC staff, as Callum commented: ‘Working at the CeCC offices has helped me to develop a wider understanding for the project and to develop a solid knowledge base from which I could explore different project options. I found it particularly valuable to talk regularly with CeCC staff about different aspects of the project. Their diverse technical and research expertise ensured that all activities I undertook on this project had a close fit to the project’s original intent’.
As the pilot stage of the project draws to a close, all project milestones have been successfully met. An online information system has now been developed as a ‘Proof of Concept’. The web site is a source of valuable information and a user-friendly system that includes spatial mapping capabilities to enable community-wide strategic fire planning capabilities.
The application of the pilot project is complementary to the current tactical fire and emergency response management systems. It is hoped that this project will provide the foundation for an extension of the project from a pilot system to a fully developed, interoperable web-based portal for the region.
Director of CeCC, Dr Helen Thompson, is particularly pleased with how the project has unfolded and considers the arrangement of having a BSWR State Fire Management Planning Support team member working closely with CeCC staff as a strong factor leading to the success of the project: ‘CeCC staff have benefitted from working alongside BSWR State Fire Management Planning Support team member on this project. This has provided optimal opportunity for the exchange of learnings and insights from both organisations, across all project milestone and has ensured that the project team unite to achieve the project’s goals. This shared experience provides optimal learning outcomes for all involved.’
With the successful pilot project now almost complete, Dr Thompson looks forward to further engagement with the BSW State Fire Management Planning Support in the future. She is also keen to explore similar, close working collaborations with other project stakeholders and welcomes the opportunity for closer knowledge exchange with workers from other partner organisations that CeCC is working with.