FAQ

The Transparency and Integrity Hub (the Hub) is an online portal that gives the community greater scrutiny over how Council spends ratepayers’ money. A wide range of data is regularly published to the Hub as part of improving the openness, accountability and effectiveness of Council operations.

When launched on 1 July 2020, the Hub was the first time a local government in Australia provided such extensive access to its financial accounts in a user-friendly, searchable format. Five years of financial information relating to Council and Council-controlled entities was available on day one, and the information continues to grow each year!

More than six gigabytes of data was published for the 1 July 2020 launch of the Hub.

Detailed income and expenditure data for current and past Council-controlled entities is available on the Hub. This includes:

• Ipswich City Developments Pty Ltd - formerly Ipswich City Developments Enterprises Pty Ltd
• Ipswich City Enterprises Pty Ltd
• Ipswich City Properties Pty Ltd
• Ipswich Motorsport Park Pty Ltd
• procurement data for all contracts valued $200,000 and above (ex GST) for the past five financial years
• detailed information about how money was spent on Council’s Smart City Program
• councillor-related expenses, allowance and reimbursements for the past five financial years.

Be sure to click the 'Explore Council data' option on the Hub's homepage to view all data on the Hub.

Council budgeted $200,000 for the establishment of the Hub in the first year which includes development and delivery, training for Ipswich City Council employees, licensing fees and associated legal costs. Ongoing, the Hub is budgeted to cost $100,000 per annum.

Yes. There are 'Share', 'Download' and 'Export' buttons available when viewing data. Additionally, you can copy and paste the URL at the top of the page you are viewing.

Data downloaded will be ‘point in time’ and may not be accurate if data is updated on the Hub at a later date to when the download was made.

You can also select the 'Learn how to use our data' option on the homepage for step-by-step directions on sharing and exporting data.

Select the 'Explore Council data' option on the homepage of the Hub to see past and current data. Data is packaged into stories to provide a narrative around the data, making it easier to understand. Simply click on any graphs or charts within a story to view the data in full.

Be sure to check out our video tutorials on the homepage under 'Learn how to use our data' for more tips on viewing and exporting data.

Data is regularly published to the Hub. Each story outlines how often the data is updated (monthly, quarterly or yearly).

No. You do not need to register to view or download data on the Hub.

Brisbane-based company Redman Solutions delivered the OpenGov platform for Ipswich City Council.

OpenGov is an internationally recognised, world-leading open data platform used by more than 1000 cities, counties and state agencies across 48 US states.

Redman Solutions was selected as the preferred supplier following an open tender process.

On 4 May 2020, the Request for Tender was advertised as an open tender to the market. Eight responses, including one deemed non-conforming, were received prior to the close of tender on 25 May 2020.

A shortlist of three offers were drawn and presented to an Evaluation Panel and subject matter experts. The panel unanimously agreed the Redman Solutions offer presented the best response in terms of scope, value for money, capability and capacity to deliver for Ipswich City Council.