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Role and functions
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Group information
Client Services Group
Technical Services Group
> Corporate and Strategic Development Group
MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
CORPORATE AND STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Group Manager: John Walsh
Financial Services
Chief Finance Officer Judy Konig
Personnel Services
Director Chris Duffy
Corporate Improvement
Director vacant
Information Development
Director Jim Gilliland
Emerging Technology
Director Nigel Sharp
Overview
The Corporate and Strategic Development Group has five subgroups:
Financial Services
Financial Services is responsible for general financial processing and management accounting for the department (including the production of the department's Financial Statements) and provides general services such as contract management, records management, accommodation and coordinating building maintenance.
Personnel Services
Personnel Services is responsible for developing and promoting departmental personnel policies and practices. It provides advice and support to departmental managers and staff on human resource matters, including pay and conditions of service, recruitment, compensation and occupational health and safety, workplace diversity, industrial relations, and security.
Corporate Improvement
Corporate Improvement assesses the effectiveness of corporate governance and culture and is responsible for establishing and maintaining a continuous improvement framework within which it is possible to identify possibilities for greater consistency in processes, with particular emphasis on service delivery and innovation.
Information Development
Information Development creates and maintains a central electronic information resource which is easily accessible to all staff.
Emerging Technology
Emerging Technology identifies cost-effective strategies for information and technology management, procurement, implementation, support and maintenance which meet the business needs of the Parliament. Specific research on technology issues is undertaken, either self-initiated or following a request from other areas of the department.
Objectives
The Group's objectives are to:
- ensure the efficient use of the department's resources by providing management
advisory and support services and staff development and training
- enhance the department's service capacity through effective planning and evaluation
mechanisms
- foster a corporate philosophy that recognises and values the individual and
collective contributions of staff
- in consultation with Senators and Members, parliamentary departments and other
stakeholders, coordinate the setting of DPRS service standards
- provide guidance and direction in the setting of corporate governance for
DPRS, to build a framework for continually improving the work of the department
and to ensure, in collaboration with business managers, adequate monitoring of
performance against essential success requirements
- actively encourage the sharing of ideas and innovation by staff in all areas
and to encourage broad strategic frameworks across the parliament
- create an information centre to gather, receive and store information and
make it accessible to support day-to-day activities and more effective decision
making
- provide guidance and support to promote better ways of using existing information.
Significant activities
Financial Services
On 1 July 2002 the DPRS Oracle Financial Management Information System (FMIS) was upgraded to a multi-organisational database and a DPL capacity created on this database. This move allowed the two totally separate organisations to exist on one installation and delivered savings in administration and maintenance costs.
During 2002-03 a project was commenced to upgrade the Oracle FMIS to the next major release. At the same time a decision was made to host the FMIS server in-house and retain the services of a database administrator using a remote dial in. On 26 May the department began using the upgraded version, generating benefits of speed, greater functionality and reduced cost. The project was planned in two stages the second being the implementation of an e-procurement module allowing greater efficiency in the process. This stage will commence in the first half of the 2003-04 financial year.
The finance area continued to provide secretariat services to the departmental Finance and Audit committees.
Fraud Control Plan
Under the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines 2002 all budget-funded agencies, including DPRS, are required to put in place practices and procedures for effective fraud control. The department's previous Fraud Control Plan 2000-2002 expired at the end of 2002 and has been replaced by the DPRS Fraud Control Plan 2003-2004. The Plan was prepared following a fraud profiling exercise undertaken by Hibis Corporation Pty Ltd at the beginning of 2003, and has been distributed to staff using the departmental intraNet, @ParlCom.
A large number of staff at all levels and across all Groups took part in the fraud profiling exercise which comprised individual interviews and workshops. Following the fraud profiling exercise, Hibis Corporation produced a draft fraud profile for each group within DPRS which identified areas where fraud could potentially occur and a draft document containing suggested quick fixes for each identified fraud. Both these documents have restricted distribution for security reasons.
In addition, a Fraud Response Plan has been prepared outlining DPRS policy and initial response to the fraud, its assessment of the extent of the fraud, the membership of the Fraud Incident Management Team and the fraud investigative processes. This document also has restricted distribution for security reasons.
Following the preparation of the Fraud Control Plan, fraud awareness guidelines were prepared and distributed to staff via @ParlCom, giving a brief explanation of why the department needs a Fraud Control Plan, what constitutes fraud, who commits fraud, how fraud can be prevented in the workplace, how to identify potential fraud and what staff should do if they suspect fraud is occurring.
Staff recognition and rewards
The DPRS staff recognition and rewards program continued throughout 2002-2003. Two rewards presentations were held in conjunction with the DPRS Social Club at a Melbourne Cup barbeque on 5 November 2002 and a pre-Budget barbeque on 7 May 2003.
Staff are invited to nominate their colleagues or groups of colleagues for an award category of their choice and all nominations are considered by the Continuous Improvement Committee before submission to the Secretary for approval. The winners receive an engraved trophy and gift vouchers which are presented by the Secretary at the DPRS Social Club barbeques.
The program has been running since the first presentation event in November 2001 and is well supported by staff and management. DPRS Staff Attitudes Survey 2002
The DPRS Staff Attitudes Survey was conducted by ARTD Management and Research Consultants in October/November 2002 and the results of the survey were presented at the Senior Management Team residential in Braidwood at the end of November 2002. The survey is an independent survey that aims to measure staff and managers’ perceptions about a range of internal issues that impact on the department’s performance. It covers issues such as communication, leadership, equity, professional development and participation in decision making.
The survey found there were very high levels of job satisfaction, staff commitment to service quality, support for departmental values and recognition of the benefits of the 1999 departmental reorganisation. A number of issues of concern came through the survey, some specific to individual workgroups and others shared by more than one workgroup.
Following a recommendation by ARTD, staff feedback panels will be formed in the second half of 2003 to deal with themes arising from the survey. Membership of the feedback panels will be open to all staff and coordinated by the three Divisional Subcommittees. The report on the survey is set out in full at Appendix B.
2002 Independent Review of Client Feedback
An independent review of client feedback was conducted by ARTD Management and Research Consultants in October/November 2002 and the results of the review were presented at the Senior Management Team residential in Braidwood at the end of November 2002.
The review indicated that the services DPRS provides are very much valued by Senators, Members and their staff and other clients, and that the department's processes for monitoring client needs and expectations have improved dramatically. This review was conducted prior to the major, once in each Parliament independent client survey conducted by ARTD in May/June 2003.
DPRS Client Survey 2003
Data collection for the survey was undertaken during sitting periods in May and June 2003. Data was collected by means of a self-completion survey sent to all Senators and Members and a sample of senior parliamentary managers. In addition, a shortened electronic version of the survey was sent to a sample of 200 parliamentary department users of the help desk extension 2020 service.
ARTD conducted in person interviews with 31 Senators and Members or their staff and 14 senior parliamentary managers. ARTD undertook a comprehensive analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data from the questionnaires and follow-up interviews, and provided DPRS with a final detailed report. The report appears in full at Appendix A.
Information Development
Open Day
DPRS participated in the 2002 Parliament House Open Day held on 12 July. This was a very successful event, with 8000 members of the public being given the opportunity to view the products and services provided by the department to Senators and Members, parliamentary staff and the Australian public.
E-Learning
A feasibility study into the provision of e-learning to departmental staff was undertaken during the year. An e-learning module covering Australian parliamentary processes was developed and provided to a number of staff to trial to determine the feasibility and practicality of the use of e-learning within DPRS and the manner in which the product can be best supported. This is a low cost, low risk strategy, based purely on module development initially, rather than purchasing software and developing in-house skills.
Review of business management functions
A review of performance information presently collected and analysed by the business units was undertaken to determine what rationalisation was possible and what resources were required to undertake these functions. As a result of this review, the extent of management information collection and its use were evaluated. A number of recommendations have been implemented following the review.
Review of corporate documentation
During the year, a number of corporate and other departmental documents have been reviewed. This included corporate governance documentation and input into the revised information technology security policy and several subordinate information technology security policies.
merging Technology
A number of strategic papers were completed during 2002-2003 including:
- component-based business process development
- a review of the Integrated Communications Strategic Plan
- a submission to the Podger review of the parliamentary administration
- broadcasting services
- an update to the desktop videoconferencing strategy
Also substantial progress was made on a discussion paper to lay the groundwork for the next generation of the OneOffice platform.
A considerable number of submissions for new or extended projects were reviewed prior to their submission to the Finance Committee and guidelines were produced for developing business process designs.
A large body of web-based monitoring of technology developments was undertaken and information forwarded to relevant technical areas for information.