Output 7.1 Shared Services

Output 7.1 Shared Services

Overview

The directorate, through Shared Services, provides a range of ICT and corporate services including; infrastructure, applications support and development, ICT project services, transactional human resource and finance services to directorates and agencies.

The key outputs to be delivered include:

• services to government agencies as outlined in Shared Services ICT catalogue of services and affirmed through various service level and support agreements;
• management of the WoG data and communications network;
• payroll and personnel services;
• records management and courier activities to government directorates;
• end to end financial services including; financial reporting, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and debt management services; and
• publishing services including multimedia, online, print and signage services.

Highlights

During 2017-18 the directorate:

• progressed the automation of Long Service Leave for ACT Government employees;
• implemented the rollout of the Accounts Payable Invoice Automation System across all directorates in September 2017 including the implementation of electronic supplier registration. The solution will deliver cost and time processing efficiencies along with improved timeliness of payments to suppliers, enhanced controls of payments and greater visibility and tracking of invoices received within ACT Government. This implementation received recognition at the 2018 Shared Services & Outsourcing Excellence Awards by achieving Runner Up in the category of Excellence in Value Creation;
• integrated the Territory’s Financial Management Information System, Oracle EBS, with Territory Revenue and the Project and Management Reporting Systems (P-MARS);
• progressed the upgrade of the current internally hosted salary packaging solution to a Cloud supported product. The reduction of manual data entry, enhanced reporting features and an online employee portal with user friendly functionality will be some of the key benefits of this implementation when it goes live during the first quarter of 2018-19;
• working in conjunction with the Justice and Community Safety Directorate the Kronos (workforce management) application was upgraded providing increased functionality on mobile devices. Kronos was also implemented for Bimberi within the Community Services Directorate;
• established the Human Resource Management Solution Program and implemented a WoG governance structure and framework to support successful delivery of the Program. The directorate approached the market to seek a preferred software product and implementation partner. The outcome of the procurement process is planned for completion in the first half of 2018-19;
• launched the new Shared Services Website with over 160 paper based forms digitised with automatic workflows. The Shared Services Website won the category of Excellence in Process Improvement and Innovation at the 2018 Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) Excellence Awards;
• delivered a WoG Application Portfolio Management (APM) platform to enable directorates to make informed decisions about their business application portfolios;
• implemented an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) Cloud solution and continuing the migration of ACT Government business systems to public cloud;
• progressed the upgrade of Microsoft Office tools and the standard operating environment across government;
• provided recruitment activities to support the Health Directorate to establish staffing for University of Canberra Hospital;
• supported the transition of 438 staff onto the WoG Electronic Document Management System enabling directorates to move towards comprehensive digital records management. In the last financial year those staff have created 45,679 electronic files containing 636,708 electronic documents; and
• the Canberra Region Local Industry Participation Policy (LIPP) was developed to establish a way of testing local industry involvement in approaches to market. SSICT has included assessment of local industry participation in its recent procurements and has been actively providing feedback on ways to improve the outcome of increased opportunities for local industry.

Testimonial

With the introduction of the Shared Services Website, the directorate has continued its commitment to deliver faster, more effective digital services, paving the way for greater efficiencies for directorates and further contributing to a digital government.

The Shared Services Website was announced as the winner of a national award for Excellence in Process Improvement and Innovation at the 2018 Shared Services & Outsourcing Excellence Awards. APIAS also achieved Runner Up in the category of Excellence in Value Creation.

Picture of team accepting of Excellence in Process Improvement and Innovation at the 2018 Shared
Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) Award

The directorate met 9 out of 11 accountability indicators against this output. Targets not met were;

• Average time taken for telephone service requests to be answered by a Service Desk Officer - was 47 seconds (target 30 seconds) due to a significant increase in call volumes as a result of the government wide roll out of a major Microsoft Office upgrade and a greater focus on first time resolution. Changes have been made to the management of the Service Desk resourcing to ensure significant improvements to call waiting times; and
• Finance service requests made via the Service Desk are resolved within Service Standard timeframes - was 82% (target 90%) due to an increase in the volume and complexity of requests, including supporting users with approving and re-assignment of invoices, since the introduction of Invoice Automation in September 2017. New targeted processed and team cross training are improving results.

Future Direction

In 2018-19 the directorate will:

• redesign the ACT jobs website and further enhance online services for recruitment;
• further develop the standard of communication around services and products delivered by Shared Services via the Shared Services website;
• explore possibilities for automation of data entry processes;
• implement a WoG, single approach, to storage of physical records through a panel of external record storage providers;
• finalise the implementation of the automated Long Service Leave solution in the second half of 2018-19;
• seek to commence detailed design and implementation planning of the new Human Resource Information Management System to align with a tightly integrated program of business change to establish improved and more efficient WoG Service Delivery Model for Payroll and Human Resources;
• expand the usage of the Accounts Payable Invoice Automation System to include the processing of staff reimbursements and community payments and implement an Expense Management System (EMS) for the acquittal of credit cards expenses;
• acquire a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) debt management and debt recovery system that will enable directorate external debt to be pursued on an end-to-end basis by Shared Services and improve process efficiencies in dealing with external debts; and
• implement Single Touch Payroll in conformity with ATO requirements with implementation to commence from 1 July 2019.

Further information can be obtained from

Shaun Strachan
Deputy Under Treasurer
Commercial Services and Infrastructure
+61 2 6207 1001
Shaun.Strachan@act.gov.au

Graham Tanton
Executive Director
Shared Services
+ 61 2 6207 5757
Graham.Tanton@act.gov.au