2003 ASX Announcements

ACT Government selects Objective as whole of government standard for Integrated Document Management

As part of an overall strategy to enhance regulatory compliance with new recordkeeping legislation and to improve both delivery of services and citizens' access to services, the ACT Government has selected an Integrated Document Management System (IDMS) from Objective Corporation (ASX:OCL) as the whole of government standard.

The ACT Government comprises seven portfolios and a number of statutory authorities and totals more than 15,000 employees. The key portfolios are the Chief Minister's Department; Treasury; Health; Education; Justice and Community Safety; Disability, Housing and Community Services; and Urban Services.

The government embarked on this multi-enterprise project to meet two key strategic government outcomes across the jurisdiction: to improve processes and the capacity of the ACT Government to provide better service delivery; and to support compliance with the requirements of the Territory Records Act, particularly given the exponential growth of electronic records.

A single, integrated document management solution was seen as the linchpin in the ACT Government's information management strategy and key infrastructure to support the government's holistic approach to customer service delivery.

"The processes of a modern government continue to create unstructured information at an unprecedented rate," said Mr Robert Gotts, IDMS Project Director, ACT Government.

"A capability for managing document capture, document access and the processes supported by documents, across the whole of government was imperative."

"Objective shares our whole of government vision and has clearly demonstrated how they will work in partnership with us to deliver this vision," said Mr Gotts.

ACT Government's implementation strategy will see IDMS progressively rolled out to agencies throughout the government for a wide variety of business applications; ultimately, it will be used by all employees with access to a PC.

The employees of the ACT Government rely on information to perform their work - from writing policy papers to drafting ministerial responses, from processing applications to co-ordinating activities across agencies, from research activities to dealing directly with customers - together these people manage the myriad business processes that comprise the business of a modern government.

The IDMS will support these processes by providing a structured approach to the capture, use, management and storage of the government documents and records that are vital to government business and service delivery.

"IDMS is unlike many other e-business applications in that it is not designed to meet a single, or narrowly defined business problem, rather it is designed to meet a very general or broad problem - essentially taking an agency's unstructured information, documents, records and the like, and creating structure for them from which specific business solutions are delivered," said Mr Gotts.

The first solution will be implemented within ACT Planning and Land Authority (ACTPLA). Implementing both electronic document and records management across the organisation, the solution will assist ACTPLA in streamlining the processing and approval of Development Applications (DAs).

In addition to underpinning improved services for customers of the ACT Government - residents, businesses and the government agencies themselves - the IDMS will assist agencies meet their commitment to open and accountable government. The records management capabilities inherent in Objective's software provide the ability for agencies to comply with both the new Territory Records Act and the requirements of the international recordkeeping standard, ISO 15489.

Objective solution of choice for whole of government information management ACT Government selected Objective to provide the IDMS following extensive evaluation and exhaustive testing of solutions available in the market.

Mr Tony Walls, CEO Asia Pacific, Objective Corporation, said, "ACT Government's rigorous assessment process establishes Objective as the clear leader in its capability to deliver whole of government solutions.

"Not only is Objective's solution proven in its ability to scale to tens of thousands of users, but the ACT Government's vision for the use of its IDMS is closely aligned to Objective's vision for government more broadly.

"For the past decade, Objective has been focused on a vision of one seamless, ubiquitous system for whole of government.

"Objective delivers the ability to uniquely identify documents and processes across the whole of government. This, together with web-based delivery and military strength security provides government with a universal solution for managing document assets, both electronic and paper.

"The subsequent ability to share documents across and between agencies reduces duplication of both information and effort, improves inter-agency communication and collaboration and vastly improves services to citizens by providing the backbone infrastructure for e-government initiatives," said Mr Walls.