Portfolio
CASE STUDY
Problem
The client was a small local municipality located in a relatively isolated area some 100 km from the
largest source of electricity and water. Electricity was supplied by grid connection. Water was supplied from the nearest dam and then treated locally by conventional chemical methods. The municipality was facing a prolonged drought over the previous two to three years. Business was divesting and revenues from municipal rate were nearing zero. A number of consultants had come to advise, charging high fees, quickly emptying municipal grants transferred from the national government. GPI Corporation (Pty) Ltd (GPIC) offered an intervention and submitted a proposal. After a presentation, the assignment was awarded.
Solution
Systems model: Current situation
Systems thinking lies at the heart of our value proposition to help clients deal fundamentally with their problems. In this case our starting point was to build a systems model of the municipality to discern how it interacts with its environment. This revealed a number of weaknesses that municipal management and its previous consultants had failed to detect or diagnose. They were treating the problems piecemeal, often confusing causes and effects, sources of pain and symptoms. From the systems model, it was clear resources were being wasted on problems that simply got worse with each intervention. The municipality was stuck in a downward spiral that head to be broken before major investments were made to achieve improvements. This is what we call in systems language time dependent combinatorial complexity, a situation that simply gets worse with time. The municipality was stuck in a cycle of dependence and suffocating from poisonous elements in its environment.
Systems model: Future situation
The staring point in creating a systems model of the future solution was to gain insight of the true requirements of the municipality from direct observations, from a plethora of available documents, and from systematic engagements including interviews with all concerned. The result was a statement of strategic objectives pinpointing the simplest, most readily available high impact solutions now and in the future. These were solutions encompassing low to medium sized capital projects, simple operational improvements, etc all anchored on achieving sustainability guided by suitably designed metrics and a transformation schedule to attain the new situation. For example, GPIC established that a substantial portion of the water and energy needs could be achieved first from controlled use followed by conversion of the sewage system into one producing water, biogas, and bio-fertiliser. GPIC supplied the necessary recommendations for action and a transformation project schedule for sustainability.