Strategem has met the conditions and has been included on the Australian Government ICT Multi-Use List (ICT MUL) by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), Department of Finance and
Deregulation. Being listed on the ICT MUL means that any Australian Government agency can engage Strategem for the supply of a wide range of ICT services. These include:

• Business Process Transformation
• Strategic Planning
• Corporate Governance of ICT
• Organisational Project Management Maturity Assessment
• Project and Portfolio Management
• Project Governance
• Business Case Analysis and Development
• Project Outcome Evaluation and Benefit Realisation Management
• ICT Benchmarking

Department of Premier & Cabinet, Legal Branch – Business Process Improvement Initiatives

Department of Premier & Cabinet (DPC) Legal Branch has identified internal processes that require review and making more effective. These processes are in support areas such as document development, correspondence, HR, IT systems and electronic document search and retrieval. Strategem has been engaged to undertake this review of internal processes and will use a staged approach to the project. It is expected that the work to evolve over the course of 12 months.

Government Services Group, Department of Treasury & Finance – Financial Modelling for ETS

The ETS program is a multi-year program of activity to consolidate ICT services for fifteen departments and agencies into CenITex, the Government common ICT shared services provider.

Strategem has been awarded a contract with Government Services Group (GSG) to develop a revised and updated cost and benefit model consistent with the ETS business case. This model will incorporate learning and new information acquired during the mobilisation planning phase of ETS (i.e. between February to November 2009).

The Victorian Department of Human Services (DHS) is responsible for funding and delivering a diverse range of services that are monitored and managed through various reporting systems and tools. Agencies are required to supply data and information that form the basis of the reporting information for the department, and DHS occasionally needs to send information to non-government agencies.

The original DHS eBusiness technical environment was specifically implemented to deliver applications for processing highly sensitive data over the web, and as such was designed with a robust security model and authentication process.

Since that time however, additional requirements for eBusiness portal infrastructure emerged from the business, which were quite different to those supported. Business requirements were not being met, therefore limiting DHS’s potential return on investment in eBusiness infrastructure.

Project Scope

The following strategic vision for the eBusiness technical environment was developed:

“Create a single eBusiness technical environment to support the full range of eBusiness requirements for DHS target audiences and business units”.

The eBusiness Technical Environment Design project was established to address the delivery of this strategic vision, and included two high-level project deliverables.

• Design a new flexible eBusiness technical environment, incorporating the extension of the current online technical infrastructure and security model, to support the hosting of different security level websites and applications.
• Implement a secure data exchange (SDE) within the new eBusiness technical environment.

Process

• Detailed consultation and discussion was held with the various key stakeholders across DHS and the whole of Victorian Government.
• The SDE was developed using the latest SPRING web-enabled technology platform, and was delivered into production in February 2009.
• The following methods, methodologies and toolsets were used:
• PRINCE2 Project Management methodology
• IBM Rational ClearQuest and ClearCase toolsets
• Object Consulting Process Mentor Software Development methodology
• SPRING development framework
• LINUS Security Group - Data Classification Sensitivity Analysis framework

Project Achievements

• The design of the eBusiness technical environment was successfully completed, and has been established as a major development project within DHS.
• The SDE was implemented within the eBusiness technical environment, and has been designed to provide a platform for upgrade allowing application-to-application interaction (e.g. B2B) in the future.

Project Scope

The scope of the review was to objectively compare RMIT Publishing’s in-house IT publishing platform with commercially available outsourced solutions, with the objective to determine if there was a case to consider outsourcing the IT publishing platform.

Process

An evaluation and process based system improvement analysis was conducted. The evaluation was based on a high level market scan using publicly available information and information provided by vendors/service providers. Existing business processes were documented using a Porter style value chain approach. This ‘As Is’ state also mapped the organisational structure and systems that support each key process step. In addition, the process maturity of each key process step was evaluated using a five level Capability Maturity Model (CMM) type scale. This provided the basis for a series of process, organisational and related system improvement recommendations, or the ‘To Be’ state. The improvement opportunities targeted the efficiency and effectiveness of the business processes, as well as the way technology was used to support the business. There were also opportunities to reduce risk and to maximise opportunities for top-line growth.

Project Achievements

• The result of the review was the formulation of strategic sourcing strategy.
• RMIT Publishing achieved significant business process changes, re-structuring and streamlining of the organisation, and a clear forward technology strategic plan.

Project Scope

RMIT Training had a requirement for a “health check” of the organisation’s technology, and a need to define an overall technology strategy.

Process

A review was undertaken of key internal systems and websites to identify the appropriateness of these systems to adequately support the business over the next five years. This involved identifying:

• What is the current status, and future prospects, of the technology that these systems are built upon?
• Have these systems been built and documented in such a way to be robust and supportable?
• What are the operational and other administrative processes supporting these systems, and are they sufficient to manage the business risks associated with these systems today, and into the future? How could these processes be improved?
• What are the current key issues, including security, associated with these systems?
• How could these systems be improved, including website design and effectiveness?

Arising from the review was the identification of the need for new computer based training programs (CBTs). The existing CBTs were five years old and required a major update. A totally new approach to the CBTs was undertaken using a multimedia rich concept. The comprehensive functional and technical specifications were developed, suitable for developers to build the new CBTs. The new CBTs were subsequently built based on these specifications.

Project Achievements

• Published a clear and concise report on existing technology in RMIT Training.
• Implemented improvements to existing processes.
• Developed a forward plan for all aspects of technology.
• The new CBTs have been successfully launched and achieved significant early sales.

Read more about past Strategem case studies:

Australian Government Information Office

Commonwealth departments are seeking to ensure they receive “value for money” from their considerable telecommunications expenditure. In this respect the departments will be able to view where they sit in the range of prices and services compared to other departments and to the wider business community. The service requires Strategem to facilitate a business solution to this telecommunications benchmarking requirement.