The operation of a national meteorological service is resource intensive, especially for a country the size of Australia. To undertake all the activities of the Bureau, approximately 1450 staff are located right across Australia from the unit based at Sydney Airport, to the Giles Meteorological Office situated about 750 kilometres west-southwest of Alice Springs on the edge of the Gibson Desert. The Bureau employs a wide range of professional, technical and administrative staff including many specialist staff who have skills and training specific to the Bureau environment. A significant proportion of staff work shifts to maintain a round-the-clock nation-wide weather watch and to provide ongoing forecasts 365 days a year.

Like its staff, the Bureau's asset base is widely geographically dispersed. It includes observing instruments, computing and communications systems, software, land and buildings. Some of these assets are located on remote sites such as the Field Offices at Casey, Davis and Mawson in the Antarctic, or on coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. In an environment characterised by rapid technological change and obsolescence, the Bureau manages assets with a replacement value of approximately $350m.

This complex array of human and capital resources and other financial resources demand robust resource management. The Bureau's ongoing challenge in corporate resource management is to carry out its statutory functions to acceptable levels within a resource constrained environment. More information on specific aspects of the Bureau's resource management activity during 2003-04 is provided below.

• Workforce Planning and Management of Human Resources
• Training
• Productivity Gains
• Financial Management Issues
• Management Information System
• Purchasing
• Asset Management
• Consultants
• Competitive Tendering and Contracting