WA Auditor embarks on digital refurb

Western Australia’s Office of the Auditor General is planning to transform the department into a digital operating environment, having just completed several key projects ahead of the release of its new IT strategy.

The department is preparing for the release of its new Information Technology Strategic Plan later this month, a strategy that the department’s Information Resources Branch has spent the better part of the year developing.

The OAG declined to detail the strategy ahead of the release, but revealed a handful of recently completed and commenced IT initiatives.

Most significantly, the department has kicked off development of a new online Business Intelligence dashboard which lets internal users surface data from several newly integrated internal AG systems, allowing users to produce custom reports using data from a variety of sources.

The dashboard is built on SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint 2010, and integrates with the agency’s eTrack resource tracking system, SmartStream finance system, Alesco human resources system, and SharePoint-based intranet. 

SmartStream, Alesco and the agency’s TRIM record keeping systems were also upgraded to new versions during the past year.

The agency is hoping the user-friendly interface and ability to provide faster answers more easily will create a single source of truth for the presentation and analysis of management reporting data, offering “substantial efficiency gains in corporate reporting as well as allowing better and more accurate access to business intelligence for decision making”.

A pilot BI dashboard was shown off to corporate executives in June, and a fully functioning version will be deployed mid next year. It will be used by all OAG staff members. 

The OAG recently replaced Microsoft Systems Center Service Manager with a new internally run service desk management software - Manage Engine’s ServiceDesk Plus.

The new system was introduced on July 1 and is used by seven technical managerial staff while supporting service delivery to the whole Office.

“This valuable tool allows users to track how their request is progressing and allows the Information Resources Branch to monitor and proactively act on any trends emerging as a result of the requests received,” the OAG said in its annual report.

OAG workers can also now use Cisco’s Jabber instant messaging application to communicate, and will soon be able to access an “improved” virtual private network using a business-grade APN.