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Sydney-based technology consultancy Mav3rik was called in when the Department of Justice and Community Safety wanted to implement a new nationwide case management system for Freedom of Information requests.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) administers the Freedom of Information Act in Victoria, which provides public access to personal information and activities carried out by the Department.
More than 10,000 FOI requests are made each year through the Freedom of Information (FOI) Office, which connects the public with 23 statutory government agencies.
DJCS commissioned Mav3rik to implement a state-of-the-art state-of-the-art solution that will make it easier for both the public and the department to handle requests for information.
The Mav3rik project team included six specialists who worked closely with the DJCS system administrators who manage the relationship between the department and 23 government agencies. This setup gave the Mav3rik team insight into the unique challenges and requirements of a number of stakeholders to create a fit-for-purpose solution.
Call
The legacy DJCS platform was coming to an end and caused a number of internal obstacles, partly due to outdated security protocols limiting its ability to integrate with the payment gateway. As it was a bespoke solution, it also required external technical expertise to be maintained, which negatively impacted workflows and budget allocation within the department.
Due to the volume of requests and expected growth, it was important that the interface maintained a sense of confidentiality for the end user, with the portal becoming the most popular way for the public to make FOI requests.
The Mav3rik team was asked to replicate as many features of the existing system as possible to a modern user interface in order to preserve (and where possible improve) the user experience.
Solution
The Mav3rik team, led by certified technical architect Emily McCowan, used a hybrid-agile approach. Two weeks of planning and designing the solution were followed by fortnightly deployment sprints. During these sprints, the team combined building and testing the platform simultaneously with regular replays to seek and incorporate feedback as the build progressed. The project was completed in seven sprints with deployment in May 2023.
Arun Acharya, Product Manager at DJCS said, “I was very impressed with Mav3rik’s team of skilled professionals and their ability to deliver results in a short time, which was one of the challenges of this project”.
The case management system uses Salesforce’s public sector solution to host the new online FOI request service, which includes migrated historical data from the legacy platform as well as direct integration with Westpac using QuickStream Trusted Frame. It has now replaced the existing service and uses configurable features to support workflows, speed up processes and reduce friction.
Through a validated multi-stage online FOI request form, members of the public can quickly and easily upload requests and payments and then receive an automatic confirmation email. An integrated payment gateway allows departments to remove barriers and securely accept fees associated with claims.
The results
The new system enables the FOI team to manage requests in a scalable and cost-effective manner, reducing the overall risk and total cost of ownership of the platform. The new system also led to the decommissioning of the legacy platform, reducing the technology risk associated with legacy applications. Designated staff from 23 agencies relevant to the application have access to the portal and also provide daily reconciliation reports to each of these agencies.
For departmental and agency users, information is centralized and easily searchable, increasing overall productivity and ensuring that an increased number of requests can be met.
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