Why Should Local Government use the SWIM online data portal?

Every year Local Government Water Service Providers are required to respond to data requests by many Queensland Government Departments, sometimes providing the same data to more than one Department.

SWIM makes it easier for Local Governments to meet these data reporting requirements by coordinating the data requests of Queensland Government departments into a single data request.

Local Governments will submit all data only once per year, and will then be provided with data reports to forward directly to the Queensland Government. 

SWIM will provide the following benefits to Local Government Water Service Providers:

• streamlined reporting of State and Commonwealth government reporting requirements
• easier internal control of data requests: version control is not necessary as SWIM allows access to multiple staff simultaneously, saving the data input by each of them, and allows revisits to add more or modify the data until Council is satisfied the data entered is final.
• provision of data used for development of water management plans (e.g. SAMPs, SLMPs) in a ready to use format
• comparisons against similar Qld Councils (incentive for improvement to industry standards, increase sustainability of services)
• provision of data in a format useful for internal management of water assets (e.g. at the scale of scheme, rather than whole of Council)
• provision of historical data (eventually) for use in WSP business management (eg TMPs)
• up-to-date reporting requirements (changes will occur – new/loss of indicators)
• protocols for end-users (such as the Queensland Government) to modify reporting requirements i.e. for adding/removing indicators. An agreed procedure will avoid ad hoc changes.