fig. 01 · adac requirements matrix

ADAC compliance requirements matrix.

45 requirements for ADAC validation software, written in neutral procurement language and grouped the way an evaluation panel reads them. Copy the matrix into a tender schedule and ask each supplier to respond row by row.

ADAC, short for Asset Design and As Constructed, is the IPWEA-QNT XML specification Australian councils use to receive as-constructed asset data from developers. If the term is new, start at what ADAC is. If you are writing the tender rather than filling one in, the buyer's guide covers how to structure it around this matrix.

Tab-separated text pastes into a spreadsheet as columns, with an empty response column at the end.

Vendor-neutral

Nothing here names a product. Each row states an outcome a council needs, so any supplier can respond to it and responses stay comparable.

Priorities are yours

Mandatory and Desirable are a starting position. Move a row between them to suit the size of your development programme and the state of your register.

Verify, do not tick

Every row carries a demonstration test. A written response costs a supplier nothing; showing the behaviour on your own file costs them the truth.

fig. 02 · categories

Eight categories, 33 mandatory and 12 desirable.

ADAC-01 – ADAC-06

Schema and version handling

ADAC-07 – ADAC-14

Geometry and spatial checks

ADAC-15 – ADAC-19

Attribute completeness and value rules

ADAC-20 – ADAC-26

Findings and the return-to-contractor workflow

ADAC-27 – ADAC-30

Audit trail and evidence

ADAC-31 – ADAC-35

Handover into the asset register and GIS

ADAC-36 – ADAC-41

Security, hosting, and data residency

ADAC-42 – ADAC-45

Reporting and oversight

fig. 03 · ADAC-01 – ADAC-06

Schema and version handling.

ADAC is published as a versioned XML specification, and councils commonly amend it locally. A submission can only be judged against a stated version of a stated standard.

Schema and version handling: requirements ADAC-01 to ADAC-06, each with why it matters, how to verify it in a demonstration, and its priority.
Ref	Requirement	Why it matters	How to verify in a demo	Priority
ADAC-01	Validate every submitted ADAC XML file against the published ADAC schema before any further assessment is attempted.	A file that is not well formed, or that does not conform to the schema, cannot be assessed consistently. Checks run over a broken file produce misleading results.	Ask the supplier to load a deliberately malformed file during the demonstration and show what the reviewer sees.	Mandatory
ADAC-02	Support more than one ADAC version at the same time, with each project or development bound to a nominated version.	Long-running developments are approved under the version current at the time. A system that recognises only the latest version forces the council to re-baseline live projects or validate off-system.	Ask to see two projects open concurrently against different configured versions, and the version shown on each.	Mandatory
ADAC-03	Allow the council's local amendments to the standard — additional mandatory attributes, restricted value lists, local naming — to be configured without a change to supplier code.	Most councils amend the base specification. If amendments require a supplier change request, the published standard drifts away from the one actually enforced.	Ask an administrator to add a mandatory attribute to one asset class in front of the panel, then re-run a validation.	Mandatory
ADAC-04	Hold each configured standard as a versioned record with an effective date and a change history.	Without versioning, a change to the standard silently changes the result of every past and future validation, and the council cannot show what a submission was measured against.	Ask to see the change history of a configured standard, including who changed what and when.	Mandatory
ADAC-05	Require an internal approval before a change to a configured standard takes effect.	The standard is the contractual test applied to developers. An unreviewed edit by one officer should not be able to change what the council accepts.	Ask to see a standard change submitted, reviewed, and approved by a second user.	Desirable
ADAC-06	Record on every validation result the ADAC version and the standard revision the submission was tested against.	Months later, a dispute about whether a submission passed turns on which rules were in force. The result has to carry that with it.	Open a completed validation result and confirm the version and standard revision are shown on it, not inferred from the project.	Mandatory

fig. 04 · ADAC-07 – ADAC-14

Geometry and spatial checks.

An ADAC submission is a data file and a set of as-constructed drawings of the same works. The two have to agree, and only a spatial comparison shows whether they do.

Geometry and spatial checks: requirements ADAC-07 to ADAC-14, each with why it matters, how to verify it in a demonstration, and its priority.
Ref	Requirement	Why it matters	How to verify in a demo	Priority
ADAC-07	Read the as-constructed CAD drawings — at minimum DWG, and DGN where the council receives it — as geometry rather than as a raster or a preview image.	If the drawing is only viewable, the data and the drawing can never be compared automatically, and the reviewer is back to reading both by eye.	Ask the supplier to load one of your own DWG files, not a prepared sample, and show coordinates read out of it.	Mandatory
ADAC-08	Reconcile the asset records in the XML against the drawn network in real-world coordinates, and report assets present in one and absent from the other.	A pit drawn but not listed never enters the asset register and is never maintained. An asset listed but not drawn cannot be found in the field.	Ask for a submission with one asset removed from the XML, and see it reported against the drawing.	Mandatory
ADAC-09	Apply a configurable positional tolerance, and report assets whose position in the data differs from the drawing beyond it.	A tolerance fixed by the supplier will be wrong for either the council's survey standard or some of its asset classes. Tolerance is a council decision.	Ask an administrator to change the tolerance and re-run the same submission to a different result.	Mandatory
ADAC-10	Recompute derived values from the geometry — pipe and conduit lengths, chainages, areas — and compare them against the values submitted as attributes.	Lengths and areas drive valuation, depreciation, and renewal forecasting. A transcribed length that disagrees with the drawing carries into the asset register unchallenged.	Ask to see a submission where a stated pipe length disagrees with the drawn length, and how the discrepancy is presented.	Mandatory
ADAC-11	Check the declared coordinate reference system and datum against the one the council requires, and reject submissions supplied in another.	Data in the wrong projection loads into the GIS a long way from the truth, and the error is often noticed only when someone tries to find the asset.	Ask what happens when a file arrives in an unexpected reference system, and see the message the submitter receives.	Mandatory
ADAC-12	Check network connectivity and topology: that conduits reference structures that exist, that runs are continuous, and that no asset is orphaned.	A disconnected network passes attribute checks but is of little use for hydraulic modelling, condition assessment, or tracing a defect.	Ask to see a connectivity finding raised on a submission with a broken reference.	Desirable
ADAC-13	Where a design submission was lodged earlier, compare the as-constructed submission against it and report what changed.	The variance between design and as constructed is where the council learns what was actually built, and it is the part most likely to be quietly omitted.	Ask to see a design and an as-constructed submission for the same works compared side by side.	Desirable
ADAC-14	Check drawing layer or level naming against the council's drafting standard and report non-conforming layers.	Non-conforming layers break the automated processes the council runs over the drawing afterwards, and they are cheap for the contractor to fix before lodgement.	Ask to see a layer conformance finding, and where the expected layer names are configured.	Desirable

fig. 05 · ADAC-15 – ADAC-19

Attribute completeness and value rules.

Each ADAC asset class carries its own mandatory attributes and permitted values. Handover is the last cheap opportunity to get them right.

Attribute completeness and value rules: requirements ADAC-15 to ADAC-19, each with why it matters, how to verify it in a demonstration, and its priority.
Ref	Requirement	Why it matters	How to verify in a demo	Priority
ADAC-15	Check the mandatory attributes for each asset class, and report every missing value against the specific asset missing it.	A count of errors is not actionable. The contractor needs to know which structure is missing which value to fix it in one pass.	Open a finding and confirm it names the asset, the attribute, and the rule that raised it.	Mandatory
ADAC-16	Enforce coded value lists, so an attribute restricted to a defined set cannot be accepted carrying a free-text value.	Free text in a coded field defeats every filter, report, and integration built over the asset register afterwards.	Ask to see a submission using an out-of-list material or type value, and the finding it raises.	Mandatory
ADAC-17	Apply configurable range and business rules over attribute values, including invert levels, cover depth, diameters, and gradients.	Values can be present, in the right format, and still impossible. Only rules over the values themselves catch a cover depth of thirty metres.	Ask an administrator to change a rule threshold live and re-validate the same file.	Mandatory
ADAC-18	Apply consistency rules across related assets, such as upstream and downstream invert levels along a run.	Single-field validation cannot see a network that drains uphill. These are the errors that survive to the operations team.	Ask for an example of a cross-asset rule and see it raised on a real submission.	Desirable
ADAC-19	Detect duplicate asset identifiers within a submission, and against assets the council has already accepted.	A duplicated identifier either overwrites an existing record or creates a second record for one physical asset. Both are expensive to unpick later.	Ask to see a duplicate identifier finding raised against previously accepted data, not only within the one file.	Mandatory

fig. 06 · ADAC-20 – ADAC-26

Findings and the return-to-contractor workflow.

Validation saves the council effort only if the result becomes a tracked instruction back to the submitter, and acceptance is held until it clears.

Findings and the return-to-contractor workflow: requirements ADAC-20 to ADAC-26, each with why it matters, how to verify it in a demonstration, and its priority.
Ref	Requirement	Why it matters	How to verify in a demo	Priority
ADAC-20	Raise each failure as a discrete finding, attached to the asset or drawing element and to the rule that raised it.	Findings are the unit of work for both sides. A single pass or fail over the whole submission tells the contractor nothing they can act on.	Ask to see the findings list for a failed submission, and how a reviewer moves from a finding to the asset.	Mandatory
ADAC-21	Grade findings by severity, with the severity of each rule configurable by the council.	Not every non-conformance should stop a handover. The council, not the supplier, decides which ones do.	Ask an administrator to change one rule from a warning to an error and re-run the validation.	Mandatory
ADAC-22	Issue findings back to the submitting contractor or developer as a formal, tracked response with a due date.	Findings emailed as an attachment leave no record of what was asked, when, or whether it was answered, and the chasing falls to the council officer.	Ask to see the notification the submitter receives, and where outstanding responses are tracked.	Mandatory
ADAC-23	Handle a resubmission as a new revision of the same package, showing which findings the resubmission cleared and which remain open.	Without that comparison the reviewer re-reads the entire submission on every round, which is where most of the council's effort is spent.	Ask to see a second revision of a submission and the cleared-versus-outstanding view across the two.	Mandatory
ADAC-24	Prevent a submission from reaching as-constructed or accepted status while findings of a blocking severity remain unresolved.	If acceptance can proceed regardless, validation is advisory, and the pressure at the end of a development will always be to proceed.	Ask the supplier to attempt to accept a submission that still has open blocking findings.	Mandatory
ADAC-25	Allow an authorised officer to accept a finding as a documented exception, recording the reason and the approver.	Real submissions carry defensible departures. The council needs a path that records the decision rather than one that quietly switches the rule off.	Ask to see an exception granted, and where that decision shows up afterwards.	Desirable
ADAC-26	Allow the contractor or developer to validate a submission themselves before formal lodgement.	Every round of correction completed before lodgement is a round the council does not review, and it moves the cost of poor data to the party creating it.	Ask to sign in as an external submitter and confirm the view is limited to their own submissions.	Desirable

fig. 07 · ADAC-27 – ADAC-30

Audit trail and evidence.

Asset data quality is a recurring theme in Australian state audit office reviews of local government. A council should be able to evidence its process without assembling it by hand.

Audit trail and evidence: requirements ADAC-27 to ADAC-30, each with why it matters, how to verify it in a demonstration, and its priority.
Ref	Requirement	Why it matters	How to verify in a demo	Priority
ADAC-27	Keep an immutable audit trail of every submission, validation run, finding, and decision, with the user and timestamp against each.	Where an asset later fails, the council needs to show what was checked and what was accepted. An audit trail that can be edited proves nothing.	Ask to see the audit trail for one submission end to end, and ask what a system administrator is able to alter.	Mandatory
ADAC-28	Retain the submitted file, the standard version, and the rule set applied, so any past validation can be reproduced.	A result that cannot be reproduced is not evidence. Rules change, and the question is always what the rules were on the day.	Ask the supplier to re-open a historic validation and show the exact standard it ran against.	Mandatory
ADAC-29	Produce the validation report as a durable exported document, retained with the submission for the council's statutory retention period.	Records held only inside a supplier's interface are not retained records, and the council's obligations do not end with the contract.	Ask for the exported report and confirm it stands on its own without access to the system.	Mandatory
ADAC-30	Retain superseded submissions and their findings rather than overwriting them with the accepted revision.	The correction history is the evidence of what the contractor got wrong, and it is what informs the next contract.	Ask to open revision one of a submission that was accepted at revision three.	Mandatory

fig. 08 · ADAC-31 – ADAC-35

Handover into the asset register and GIS.

Validation is worthwhile only if the accepted data lands in the systems the council operates from, without being retyped on the way.

Handover into the asset register and GIS: requirements ADAC-31 to ADAC-35, each with why it matters, how to verify it in a demonstration, and its priority.
Ref	Requirement	Why it matters	How to verify in a demo	Priority
ADAC-31	Export the accepted asset data both as the ADAC XML as accepted and in tabular form for loading elsewhere.	The asset register, the GIS, and the finance system rarely take the same input. Re-keying between them reintroduces the errors validation just removed.	Ask for both exports from the same accepted submission during the demonstration.	Mandatory
ADAC-32	Provide a documented API or supported integration into the council's asset or works management system.	Manual loading is where the as-constructed backlog accumulates, because it is the step with no deadline attached to it.	Ask which councils run this integration against the same asset management product, and ask to speak to one of them.	Mandatory
ADAC-33	Publish accepted asset geometry to the council's corporate GIS.	Field crews work from the GIS. Asset data accepted but not published is invisible to the people who maintain the asset.	Ask to see the published layer, and how a change to an accepted asset propagates to it.	Desirable
ADAC-34	Keep a link from each accepted asset record back to the source submission and the as-constructed drawings it came from.	Ten years on, the question is always where a value came from. Without the link, the answer is a search of a shared drive.	Ask to open the source drawing from an accepted asset record in one step.	Mandatory
ADAC-35	Process a backlog of historic submissions in bulk against the current standard.	Most councils start with a backlog. A system that can only take new submissions leaves the existing problem untouched.	Ask how a batch of past submissions is loaded, and what the reviewer sees at the end of it.	Desirable

fig. 09 · ADAC-36 – ADAC-41

Security, hosting, and data residency.

A submission set includes drawings of council infrastructure and the details of external parties. Where it is held, and who can reach it, belongs in the schedule.

Security, hosting, and data residency: requirements ADAC-36 to ADAC-41, each with why it matters, how to verify it in a demonstration, and its priority.
Ref	Requirement	Why it matters	How to verify in a demo	Priority
ADAC-36	Host all council data, including backups, within Australia, and state the hosting locations in the response.	Councils generally carry data residency obligations through their own policies and their agreements with the state. Residency asserted in a sales conversation is not a commitment.	Ask for the hosting regions in writing, and confirm the position on backup and disaster recovery copies.	Mandatory
ADAC-37	Support single sign-on against the council's identity provider using SAML or OpenID Connect.	Separate credentials for an external system sit outside the council's own joiner and leaver process, and they outlive the officer who held them.	Ask to see sign-in through a test identity provider, rather than a description of it.	Mandatory
ADAC-38	Provide role-based access control, including a restricted external role that limits a contractor to their own submissions.	Developers must be able to lodge and correct without seeing another developer's submissions or the council's wider document record.	Ask to sign in as an external submitter during the demonstration and observe what is visible.	Mandatory
ADAC-39	Hold, or host with a partner that holds, an independent information security certification such as ISO/IEC 27001, and provide current evidence.	A certificate held by a hosting provider is not the same as one held by the supplier, and a response should be explicit about which it is.	Ask for the certificate and its scope statement, and check whose name is on it.	Mandatory
ADAC-40	Allow the council to export its complete data set — submissions, findings, decisions, and audit trail — at any time and at no additional charge.	Exit provisions negotiated at the end of a contract are negotiated from the weakest position the council will ever hold.	Ask for a sample export and confirm the format is usable without the supplier's software.	Mandatory
ADAC-41	State backup, recovery point, and recovery time objectives, and confirm how often restoration is tested.	Backups that have never been restored are an assumption. The recovery objectives are what the council is actually buying.	Ask for the date and the outcome of the most recent restoration test.	Mandatory

fig. 10 · ADAC-42 – ADAC-45

Reporting and oversight.

The council's own reporting is what turns validation from a task into a lever on contractor behaviour.

Reporting and oversight: requirements ADAC-42 to ADAC-45, each with why it matters, how to verify it in a demonstration, and its priority.
Ref	Requirement	Why it matters	How to verify in a demo	Priority
ADAC-42	Provide a view of all submissions in progress, showing which sit with the council, which sit with the submitter, and how long each has been waiting.	Without it the coordinator keeps a spreadsheet alongside the system, and the spreadsheet becomes the real register.	Ask to see the live queue, and how a submission ageing past its due date is surfaced.	Mandatory
ADAC-43	Report first-pass compliance by submitting contractor or developer, and by asset class.	It shows which contractors cost the council review effort, and which parts of the standard are routinely misread and may need clarifying.	Ask to see the report, and how far back it can be run.	Desirable
ADAC-44	Report the backlog of works constructed but not yet accepted into the asset register.	The backlog is the number the executive and the auditor ask for, and it is usually the hardest one for a council to produce.	Ask how the backlog figure is derived, and whether it can be broken down by development.	Desirable
ADAC-45	Provide a data extract supporting the council's own reporting on asset data completeness.	Annual reporting and audit requests arrive with short notice. A standing extract is cheaper than a special request to the supplier every year.	Ask for the extract specification, and confirm the council can run it without supplier involvement.	Desirable

fig. 11 · using it

Putting the matrix in a tender.

Copy it as tab-separated text, paste it into your schedule, and add the columns your procurement template needs. The response column is already there.

Before you issue

Set the ADAC version or versions in force across your current developments, and say so in the schedule.
Attach a real submission — one XML file and its drawings, de-identified if you need to — and require the demonstration to run on it.
Decide which findings must block acceptance, because that is the row that separates a validation tool from a viewer.
Name the asset management system and GIS the accepted data has to reach, so integration is priced rather than promised.

While you evaluate

Score the demonstration, not the written response. The verify column is the script.
Watch for capabilities described as available through a partner, a service, or a future release, and price them accordingly.
Ask each supplier which rows they do not meet. A response with no gaps is a response that has not been read closely.
Talk to a council of similar size already running the product on live developments.

Read the ADAC buyer's guide for councils

fig. 12 · evaluate it

Bring the matrix to a demonstration.

Send us your schedule and one real submission. We will walk the rows in order and show you which ones Lunr ADAC Check meets, on your own file rather than a prepared sample.

Book a demo See Lunr ADAC Check

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