Australian Government Property Data Collection

Attachment A: Data Specifications - Property File September 2013

Parkes Place West, Parkes, ACT · Email · Internet www.finance.gov.au

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All italicised words are defined terms, the definitions of which are provided in the PRODAC dictionary or in the data element specifications.

Scope

Where an agency leases or owns 500 m2 or more of usable office area within a building, the agency must submit data for each property within the building, unless the property is located overseas or is an Exempt Military or Intelligence Property. This includes office properties, special purpose properties and other types of property located in Australia or Australia’s external territories.

The data for each property must be contained within a Property File as described below and data must be collected and collated in accordance with the specifications set out in this document.

Property File

The Property File is made up of two data sets – Building and Lease. Each agency is to report the following data elements for the reporting period for every property that falls within the scope.

Building data set elements

·  E02: Building identifier

·  E03: Street number or building name

·  E04: Street name

·  E05: Suburb

·  E06: State or Territory

·  E07: Postcode

·  E21: Owner

·  E15: Heritage status

·  E16: Building grade

·  E17: Agency comments


Lease data set elements

·  E02: Building identifier (as reported in Building data set)

·  E01: Lease identifier

·  E18: Lease type

·  E22: Lease Status

·  E13: Lease start date

·  E14: Lease end date

·  E08: Net Lettable Area

·  E09: Leased-out Area

·  E10: Total non-office area

·  Non-office area C – Basement or inadequate amenity

·  Non-office area D – Police station or laboratory or hospital etc

·  Non-office area E – Specifically for operation activity

·  Non-office area F – Public facility

·  Non-office area G – Judicial chambers and court rooms

·  Non-office area H – Areas specifically for the Governor-General, Prime Minister, Parliamentarians etc

·  Non-office area I – Emergency and crisis coordination areas

·  Non-office area J – Exempt area

·  Non-office area K – Door swing

·  E11: Workpoints

·  E12: Occupied workpoints

·  E19: Green Lease Schedule type

·  E20: Last market review

·  E17: Agency comments

The Property File contains a record of the non-office area in each category for every property.

Derived Elements

Agencies are not required to provide data on the following list of elements. These derived elements are calculated by Finance using the data collected from agencies.

·  D01: Controlled area

·  D02: Usable office area

·  D03: Ratio of usable office area

·  D04: Fit-out density

·  D05: Occupational density

·  D06: Workpoint vacancy

·  D07: Lease remaining

·  D08: Lease length

·  D09: Regional status

·  D10: Property size

Dictionary

The following definitions apply for the purposes of the Australian Government Property Data Collection (PRODAC). Each data element and derived element is also a defined term and the definitions are contained in the data specifications for the appropriate element.

Agency means a prescribed agency under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act).

Agency code is a concise and recognisable code assigned by each agency, which uniquely identifies the agency’s properties. The agency code is an acronym (e.g. PMC) or key word (e.g. Treasury).

Building

Includes:

/ Any building leased or owned by the agency with 500m2 or more of Usable Office Area.

Notes:

/ If an agency has two or more leases in a building, the same building is reported for all leases.
If an agency leases one or more buildings under a single lease, or leases an area of land that contains buildings under a single lease, the same lease is reported for multiple buildings. Costs data elements are apportioned for each building in scope.

Lease

Includes:

/ Any lease, sublease or other arrangement (such as heads of agreement, exchange of letters, memorandum of understanding, contract, licence or agreement) under which an agency may occupy part or all of a building that is not owned by the agency.

Excludes:

/ Arrangements to hire venues on a short term basis.

Leased-out means an area that placed in the control of another agency or entity under any type of arrangement (such as a heads of agreement, exchange of letters, memorandum of understanding, contract, licence or agreement) and which has been established in accordance with section 44 of the FMA Act.

Nominal data collection date for the occupancy file is 30 September in the collection year, as appropriate.


Non-office area is an area within the controlled area of the property, which falls into one of the following categories in the ‘include’ column.

Category C – Basement or inadequate amenity

Include

/

Exclude

·  All areas and facilities in a basement
·  All areas and facilities which do not provide adequate amenity for use as office space due to the absence of natural light or other physical constraints. / ·  All areas used to support office activities such as meeting rooms, breakout areas, conference rooms, non-public reception areas, equipment rooms, space used to store office items, computer rooms and data centres unless they are located in a basement or area of inadequate amenity
·  All vacant areas previously used for office activities.
·  All areas which are being refurbished or refitted for office activities.

Category D – Police station, laboratory, hospital etc

Include

/

Exclude

·  A police station, laboratory, hospital, quarantine area, public hearing room or workshop. / ·  An area specifically used to repair and maintain office items.

Category E – Specifically for operational activity

Include

/

Exclude

·  All areas used to undertake an operational activity.
·  Rooms or areas specifically used to detain, examine, interview, observe, assess or counsel members of the public.
·  All areas used to store equipment and items, other than office items, that are needed for operational activities.
·  Additional facilities that have been fitted out by the agency (that is, not part of the base building) such as bathrooms, showers, kitchenettes specifically to support operational activities. / ·  Any general meeting rooms or offices that may be used for meetings with members of the public or stakeholders on an ad hoc basis.
·  Areas used to store office items or any form of paper-based media, including files, archived files, books or other documents.
·  Additional facilities that have been fitted out by the agency (that is, not part of the base building) such as bathrooms, showers, kitchenettes, unless they are specifically to support operational activities.
·  All areas used for office activities, including where the office activities enable operational activities.

Category F – Public facility

Include

/

Exclude

·  All areas which are freely accessible to the public, such as public libraries, public galleries, public cafeterias, public reception areas, public waiting areas and public retail areas. / ·  Libraries, galleries, cafeterias and gymnasiums where access is fully or partially restricted to staff and contractors within the agency.

Category G – Judicial chambers and court rooms

Include

/

Exclude

·  Judicial chambers and the secure zone around judicial chambers, court rooms and hearing rooms. / ·  Offices provided for tribunal members, commissioners, ombudsmen or similar officers.

Category H – Areas specifically for the Governor-General, Prime Minister, Parliamentarians etc

Include

/

Exclude

·  All areas specifically provided for the use of the GovernorGeneral, Commonwealth Parliamentarians, former GovernorsGeneral, former Prime Ministers and former members of the judiciary. / ·  Areas provided for departmental secretaries, agency chief executives, senior executives, contractors, consultants and uniformed or sworn personnel, to undertake office activities.

Category I – Emergency and crisis coordination areas

Include

/

Exclude

·  An area designed and used specifically for coordinating responses to emergency or crisis situations. / ·  Call centres, unless designed and used specifically for directing responses to emergency or crisis situations.

Category J – Exempt Area

Include

/

Exclude

·  An area specifically designated by the Department of Finance and Deregulation as an exempt area.

Category K – Door Swing

Include

/

Exclude

·  All door-swing areas where the door provides access to a non-office area or to an area that is not in the Net Lettable Area. / ·  All areas that are unusable or difficult to use because of the location, lay-out or design of nonoffice areas.

Notes:

/ An area can only be included in non-office area if it is in the Net Lettable Area and the controlled area for the property. For example, areas such as base building stairs, accessways, base building toilets and plant rooms must not be included in non-office area because they are not in the Net Lettable Area.
If there is uncertainty about whether an area is an office area or non-office area, it must be treated as an office area.

Office items includes all paper, paper-based products, files, books, brochures, paper forms, paper handling products, document holders, binding equipment, binding supplies, laminating equipment, laminating supplies, paper shredders, paper recycling containers, stationery, photocopiers, printers, printer supplies, paper scanners, facsimile machines, telephones, telephone accessories, projection devices, chairs, desks, tables, computer hardware, computer software and computer networking hardware.

Office activity is all office support work and office work.

Office support work is any activity that supports or enables office work.

Includes:

/ Recreational, social, well-being and corporate activities.
Maintenance and repair of office items.

Office work is an activity undertaken at desk, counter, office or meeting room, where office items are the main equipment used to undertake the activity.

Includes:

/ General interactions with parliamentary staff, the public or other stakeholders.
Distribution, processing, storage or archiving of any paper-based product.

Operational activity is any activity other than office activity undertaken by an agency that is directly related to the functions of the agency.

PCA means the Property Council of Australia.

Property

Include:

/ ·  Part or all of a building that an agency is occupying or has the right to occupy under a lease on the nominal data collection date.
·  Part or all of a building that is owned by an agency on the nominal data collection date.
·  The property includes any area leased-out to another agency or other entity.

Notes:

/ ·  If an agency has two or more leases in a given building, each lease is a separate property.
·  If an agency leases one or more buildings under a single lease, or leases an area of land that contains buildings under a single lease, each building is a separate property.
·  If an agency leases land that does not contain any buildings, the land is not a property.
·  If an agency leases space from another agency, the lessee agency must still report the property covered by the lease if it falls within the scope.

Data element specifications

The following data elements are reported for the reporting period for each building.

Building identifier (E02)

Definition:

/ ·  A unique code which identifies each building that an agency owns or leases as a lessee. This code contains the prefix “B-”, the agency code, followed by a hyphen, and a unique building number, eg B-DNT-01.

Notes:

/ ·  If an agency has more than one lease in a building, each lease is to have the same building identifier.
Format: / [B-][Agency code-][agency assigned building number]

Street number or building name (E03)

Definition:

/ ·  The street number or name of the property or building.

Notes:

/ ·  If the property is a unit, use the format “10B/131”.
·  If the property spans more than one street number, use the format
“12-14”.
·  If the property does not have a street number or a building name and is located on a corner, report “corner” for this element and put both street names in E04: Street name.
·  Do not include information about the level of the building on which the property is located.
Format: / [street number] or [building name]

Street name (E04)

Definition:

/ ·  The street on which the property is located.

Notes:

/ ·  Record the street type, i.e. street, road, lane, square etc, without abbreviation.
·  If the property is reported as being on a corner, report both street names for this element using the format “Street and Street”.
Format: / [name of street][street type]

Suburb (E05)

Definition:

/ ·  The suburb in which the property is located.

Notes:

/ ·  Report the suburb where the property is physically located.
·  Do not report the suburb where mail is sent for the property.
Format: / Upper case: [suburb]

State or Territory (E06)

Definition:

/ ·  The State or Territory in which the property is located.

Notes:

/ ·  Report the State or Territory where the property is physically located.
·  Do not report the State or Territory where mail is sent for the property.

Format:

/

Code

ACT
NSW
NT
QLD
SA
TAS
VIC
WA /

Meaning

Australian Capital Territory
New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
South Australia
Tasmania
Victoria
Western Australia

Postcode (E07)

Definition:

/ ·  Postcode in which the property is located.

Notes:

/ ·  Report the postcode where the property is physically located.
·  Do not report the postcode where mail is sent for the property.
Format: / [nnnn]

Owner (E21)

Definition:

/ ·  The ownership of the property.

Notes:

/ ·  Report the current ownership that applies for the reporting period.

Format:

/

Code

Commonwealth
State Government
Private /

Meaning

The Commonwealth owns the property
State or Territory owns the property
Non-government

Heritage status (E15)

Definition:

/ ·  The outcome of the heritage assessment done under section 341ZB of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).

Include:

/ ·  A property is only reported as ‘heritage’ if the heritage assessment required under section 341ZB or the EPBC Act indicates that the property is located in, or includes, a place with identified heritage values.

References: