LG Sherlock is a Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) data analytics initiative designed to extract insights and provide analytical tools for local councils to best inform their decision making.
The team collates, normalizes and analyses council data to derive and infer solutions enabling councils to best manage their resources, providing a commonality of analysis in a cost effective and efficient way.
Current status
LG Sherlock’s suite of tools, both in-use and under development, provides an efficient way for councils to compare and benchmark themselves with their peers and derive areas for improvement, find learning opportunities and share stories of achievement in management of operations and cost savings with other councils.
The journey so far
After a period of R&D and consultation with Queensland councils throughout 2018, including the establishment of individual council data sharing agreements, LG Sherlock launched its first module, ‘Energy Detective’ in February of this year to half a dozen councils in South East Queensland and Central Queensland.
These councils have already begun utilising the features of the platform, providing positive feedback and reporting that they have been able to:
- See a consolidated view of multiple energy accounts
- Identify poorly performing council energy assets
- Identify incorrectly attributed assets eg private assets or neighbouring council’s assets
- Optimise energy tariff selections
The Energy Detective module undergoes regular iterations and is continually fine-tuned based on user feedback and recommendations. As the LGAQ’s secure data lake grows with increased contribution by additional councils, participants will be able to take advantage of even more powerful benchmarking insights.
Future state
LG Sherlock’s second module, a fleet management and optimisation tool provisionally titled ‘Data Driver’, is currently under development and expected to be in use by mid-year. Designed as a standalone application or as a powerful enhancement to any existing off-the-shelf fleet management software, its features will include:
- Providing analytic tools around Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), driver safety, vehicle safety, fuel efficiency, vehicle utilisation and insurance
- Fuel modelling – identifying best purchase times
- Sharing real-time fleet assets from multiple councils in a single view
- Benchmarking and shared learning across councils for purchase optimisation
The forward work program for LG Sherlock remains full, with tools designed to assist with a host of council functions such as disaster management, development applications, waste, water and gas infrastructure, insurance risk assessment and more already in the development pipeline. LG Sherlock welcomes new Queensland councils weekly and maintains a state-wide engagement schedule ensuring councils are updated on developments, new initiatives and overall progress.