The NSW Audit Office has revealed the full cost of the Department of Education’s Learning Management and Business Reform Program (LMBR) which aims to replace 15 year old finance, HR and payroll legacy systems. According to the Audit Office’s 2012-13 Annual Report on Education the roll-out of the project will rise to a total of $458.7 million after operating expenses are added. The project had previously been allocated $386 million in capital expenditure (CapEx) before being revised to $397 million during 2012-13 “to accommodate emerging business requirements of TAFE NSW”, according to the Report. As of June 2013, 94% of the CapEx budget has been spent ahead of its estimated, late 2014 completion date. Four TAFE NSW institutes are now using the new Human Resources and Payroll system. 229 schools were to receive the system in November 2013 after it was pushed back from July 2013 because of design complexities and legacy system integration issues. The Department, however, has pushed this date back again to an unconfirmed date in 2014 as it “it would not be practical” to implement the proposed Finance and HR/Payroll systems at the same time.
The number of open datasets on the Government’s data.gov.au website has dropped from 1200 to 500 after it found more than one third were faulty. In a post on the Australian Government Information Management Office’s (AGIMO) blog, Chief Technology Officer John Sheridan admitted that many of the datasets were “links to webpages or files that either didn’t exist anymore, or redirected somewhere not useful to genuine seekers of data”. He also attributed the diminishing numbers to State and Territory publishers moving their data to their own respective portals. To improve on the low numbers AGIMO has launched a site where the public can openly submit requests for data.
The Victorian Department of Justice’s Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the replacement of its Core Business System. According to tender documents, the current system receives data from disparate sources “including data feeds from third parties, manually completed forms and online requests”. The agency requests that the new system increases automation of this process. Additionally, it should enable the recording of births, deaths and marriage online. Submissions close on 5 December 2013.
Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) for a Passes and Schemes (P&S) Business Transformation Program. P&S manages one million users over more than 40 schemes including the School Student Transport Scheme and Concessional travel for students, employees and disabled passengers. Currently TfNSW relies on a number of third party agencies including universities and Centrelink to administer concession entitlements. The business replacement is expected to take services online and render TfNSW as the primary trusted approver for issuing subsidised travel. During 2014-15, OPAL smart cards will also be made available to those with various travel concessions. According to tender documents the program is focussed on “improving customer experience and revenue assurance across the end-to-end Ticketing processes”. Submissions close on 9 December 2013.
Melbourne Water has outsourced its ICT infrastructure to UXC Connect in a $20 million contract. Melbourne Water is owned by the Victorian Government and manages the city’s sewage plants, water supply and drainage networks. The three year contract includes the provision of service desk, desktop support, network and server management, security and facilities. UXC expects to start delivering services to the agency by early 2014.
The City of Perth has made free Wi-Fi available across its CBD area. Perth Wi-Fi “means users can freely move around the city while staying connected to the internet and do not need to rely on random ‘hotspots’”, according to the media release. Perth is the first capital city in Australia to roll-out a city-wide free Wi-Fi network. According to the Finance and Budget Committee, $450,000 was allocated to the implementation of the complimentary network with an additional $150,000 flagged annually for upgrades and improvements.
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