INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLAN

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1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIC PLAN

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3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction Background About the office Current ICT Environment Infrastructure (as at April 2011) Business System Operating System ICT Strategy Frontline and Line of Business Service Improvement Channels and Access (e-government) Authentication and Security Information Management Telecommunications ICT Infrastructure ICT Procurement Strategic Governance Framework Monitoring & Reporting Conclusion Appendix Appendix 1 Risk, Information & Security Committee Appendix 2 - Information Technology Team Structure Appendix 3 - Supporting References... 10

4 Information Technology Strategic Plan Page 1 1. INTRODUCTION According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian households with home internet access quadrupled from 16% to 72% between 1998 and This wide acceptance and advancements of the Information Technology industry has reshaped how government agencies conduct their business and improve service delivery. Recognising these important factors, we have broadened our ICT strategies to include internet and web based technologies, which have allowed us to receive complaints and agency notifications electronically; make our resource available on our website; capture our report on OCV activities. We achieved much within the past two years, from the implementation of VM Ware Virtual Server to Microsoft Windows XP Professional and MS Office 2007 upgrades. We have strategically positioned our ICT infrastructure to sustain present and future business needs in alignment with our Results and Service plan, our Statement of Corporate Purpose as well as the NSW Government s ICT initiatives. Only through continuous improvement can we ensure the quality of our service and meet the increase in demand to information access. To support this challenge we have recently acquired a new Storage Area Network (SAN) and are actively incorporating it into our network. The Network sub-netting project is one of our many current projects to advance our internal structure and network efficiencies. Once implemented this project will benefit the Virtual Machine (VM) desktop rollout and open up the possibilities for staff to securely remote access to the office s resources. Our Information Technology Strategic Plan outlines current and proposed projects that are aimed to improve our service delivery, improve access to quality information as well as enhancing our work efficiency through the creative use of technology. The projects are grouped under the following NSW Government ICT strategies: Front-line and Line of Business Service Improvement Channels and Access (e-government) Authentication and Security Information Management Telecommunications ICT Infrastructure ICT Procurement Strategic Governance Framework 2. BACKGROUND 2.1. ABOUT THE OFFICE The NSW Ombudsman is an independent and impartial watchdog body. Our job is to make sure that the public and private sector agencies and employees we watch over fulfil their functions properly. We help those agencies and their employees to be aware of their responsibilities to the public, to act reasonably and to comply with the law and best practice in administration. All of the functions of the Ombudsman are subject to legislative powers and limitations. Our work is in fact governed by a range of legislation including the Ombudsman Act 1974, the Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993 and the Police Act Our legislative obligations drive our business and as such our "business drivers" are the key services provided by us that contribute to the following results outlined in our Results and Services Plan: 1. The investigation and resolution of complaints; 2. Assessing notifications, reviewing how agencies handle complaints and monitoring agencies investigations; 3. Keeping certain complaint handling and other systems under scrutiny; 4. Providing advice and a referral service to the public; 5. Hearing witness protection appeals; and

5 Information Technology Strategic Plan Page 2 6. Reviewing the implementation of certain legislation that expands the powers of police as well as certain other agencies. In addition to the above, the Ombudsman has highlighted a number of issues/challenges facing the office including: The increasing demand for services the increase in complaints together with changes in the nature and complexity of issues and heightened public expectations adds continuing pressures on our ability to deal effectively with the volume of work received. We continue to explore proactive strategies to stabilise complaint numbers and to ensure continuous improvement in the delivery of services to the public. Providing a seamless service - there is an increasing tendency for matters coming to the office to fall within the responsibility of two or more of the Ombudsman s business areas. This, along with the current emphasis on a whole of government or multi-agency approach to delivering services, has required the Office to review how it deals with what is termed across office matters. The Office aims to have a seamless approach to both the public and those agencies that it deals with ensuring that there is no duplication or inconsistency in how work is performed. Implementing a flexible structure - the Ombudsman needs to have in place a flexible structure capable of responding to emerging whole of government, multi-agency or across office issues. Improving services to key community groups - there is a growing expectation in the community that the Ombudsman will play a greater role in reviewing how public sector agencies are implementing equity strategies, particularly when concerns are raised through the office s complaint handling and review work. The Ombudsman has initiated a number of projects where the Office is working with key agencies in reviewing the delivery of their services to key community groups. Our ICT strategies for will assist the Ombudsman meet the issues/challenges and therefore deliver the services as outlined in the Results and Services plan. The strategies and Agency Business Drivers alignment are illustrated as follows: ICT Strategies Business Drivers Leveraging IT to improve business operations Secure network and infrastructure Ready access to applications and information Sustaining a trained productive workforce The investigation and resolution of complaints; Assessing notifications, reviewing how agencies handle complaints and monitoring agencies investigations; Keeping certain complaint handling and other systems under scrutiny; Providing advice and a referral service to the public; Hearing witness protection appeals; and Reviewing the implementation of certain legislation that expands the powers of police as well as certain other agencies CURRENT ICT ENVIRONMENT Due to security considerations and in accordance with our Information Management Security Policy and protocols with Police Complaints Case Management (PCCM) partners, we have only included a summary of our current information and communications technology environment in this document.

6 Information Technology Strategic Plan Page Infrastructure (as at April 2011) PCs 232 Laptops 46 Servers Printers 13 Storage with 14 currently in operation (To reduce energy consumption and optimise hardware performance we have decommissioned a total of 11 servers, made possible through the implementation of VM Ware Virtual Server technology.) Business System Front-line Line of Business Back End HP MS 1000 Storage Area Network. NetApp FAS2020. NSW Ombudsman Website. OCV Online Official Community Visitor System. Child Death Review System. Contact Management System. Disability Death Review System. Microsoft Office NSW Ombudsman Intranet. NSW Ombudsman Intranet. Management Report System Operating System AccPac Accounting software. Adobe CS Suite. CHRIS Personnel & Payroll. IBM MQ Series File/data transfer software. Infomaker. Microsoft Project. Microsoft Reporting Services. Client Microsoft Windows XP Professional. Server Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard. Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard. VMWare ESX Server. Linux Proxy server. Police Oversight Data Store (PODS) Accessed through Police Integrity Commission. Resolve Complaints Management System. Trim Context Electronic Document Management System. Microsoft Visio. Microsoft Visual Source Safe. Microsoft Visual Studio. Powerbuilder. Quantum Helpdesk. SPSS Data analysis tool. Xanalyser Watson - Data analysis tool. 3. ICT STRATEGY Technology has transformed almost every aspect of our modern society, what was science fiction yesterday has now found itself into our home or integrated into our general business practice, to improve the quality of our service and fulfil our statutory obligation, we regularly explore and adopt new technologies into our environment. The tables below list our ICT initiatives over the next four years, categorised into eight different programs as outlined in the People First NSW Government ICT direction.

7 Information Technology Strateg 3.1. FRONTLINE AND LINE OF BUSINESS SERVICE IMPROVEMENT Enable remote access. Enable remote access to our system via SafeNet security token. Greater use of electronic system. Improved accessibility to information. Develop data capturing and reporting tools for the Taser Review project. Develop new Resolve case entity type to capture Taser review information. More strategic collection and use of information. Greater use of electronic system. Reduced manual process. Improved system functionality. Enhanced useability. Incorporating CDRT database into NSW Ombudsman operating environment. Incorporate and develop management reporting tool for the CDRT database. More strategic collection and use of information. Greater use of electronic system. Improved accessibility to information. Enhanced useability. Implement office wide contact database. Centralised contact database for the whole office, accessible via the Intranet. Greater use of electronic system. Reduced information duplication and overlap. Enhanced useability. Public Interest Disclosure function. Incorporate the new Public Interest Disclosure function into our information systems. More strategic collection and use of information. Greater use of electronic system. Improved accessibility to information. Case management system (Resolve) upgrade. Upgrade Resolve to version 8.1. Greater use of electronic system. Reduced manual process. Enhanced functionality. Improved accessibility to information. Electronic document management system Upgrade Trim Context to version 7.1. Greater use of electronic system. (Trim Context) upgrade. Reduced manual process. Enhanced functionality. Improved accessibility to information. CHRIS 21 upgrade. Upgrade human resource management system. Install and configure ESS module. Greater use of electronic system. Reduced manual process. Enhanced functionality. Improved accessibility to information. Reduced time and administration cost. WorkPace software upgrade Upgrade WorkPace RSI (repetitive stress injury) prevention software. Improved staff wellbeing. Decreased productivity lost. Reduced insurance costs. Complied with OH&S regulations. Enable electronic receipt of complaint and agency notification. Direct input of NSW Police and Department of Education and Training electronic data extract into Resolve. Greater use of electronic system. Reduced manual process.

8 Information Technology Strateg 3.2. CHANNELS AND ACCESS (E-GOVERNMENT) Feasibility study of a centralised complaints portal. Redesign NSW Ombudsman website. Provide free online publications. Develop a centralised web based NSW Complaints portal. Improved public accessibility to information. Improved public awareness. Re-design the NSW Ombudsman web site in accordance with the Improved public accessibility to information. NSW government guideline. Improved public awareness. Provide free online publications on the NSW Ombudsman internet Improved public accessibility to information. site. Improved public awareness AUTHENTICATION AND SECURITY Upgrade and review IT security system infrastructure. Review network security infrastructure, apply patches and systems firmware upgrades. Improved network protection. Enhanced data security and integrity stored in offic system. Improved public confidence. Review security related policies. Review and update existing security policies. Enhanced data security and integrity stored in offic system. Improved public confidence. Monitor and control access to business systems. Provide business systems access report on a regular basis. Enhanced data security and integrity stored in offic system. Improved public confidence. Accreditation to ISO / IEC Maintain information security accreditation. Participate in yearly information security audit. Improved network protection. Enhanced data security and integrity stored in offic system. Improved public confidence INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Implement organisational performance indicators. Further develop and enhance organisational performance indicators. Implement and develop KPI reports. Enhanced decision making through improved acces to quality information. Increased efficiency. Improved performance. Further develop and enhance KPI reports. Enhanced decision making through improved acces to quality information.

9 Information Technology Strateg 3.5. TELECOMMUNICATIONS Feasibility of Unified Messaging technology. The ability to receive voice messages via and have dictated over the phone. (Subject to business requirements.) Improved staff productivity. Improved interactions between voice mail and ema systems ICT INFRASTRUCTURE Quantum upgrade. Upgrade helpdesk software. Improved IT quality of service. Standardise Analyst Programmer development platform. Migrate existing projects (written in a variety of development languages) to one common language platform. Improved IT resource management. Facilitated shared ownership. Reduced loss of knowledge risk. Convert network architecture to VLAN. Redesign the internal network structure to a more secure and efficient architecture. Improved network efficiency. Improved network security. Improved public confidence. Upgrade Server to Microsoft Windows Standardise operating platform. Reduced IT maintenance effort. Improved system functionality. Enhanced useability. Improved system security. Configure Storage Area Network (SAN). Configure and migrate data to the new and more efficient Storage Area Network. Improved IT quality of service. Enhanced system redundancy. Decreased maintenance effort. Implement Desktop VM View. Hosting desktop operating system within a virtual machine running centralised on the server. Improved IT quality of service. Lowered operating costs. Enhanced system redundancy. Decreased maintenance effort. Consolidate SQL Servers to a primary Consolidate multiple SQL database servers to one primary server. Lowered operating costs. server. Reduced maintenance effort. Convert MSA 1000 SAN into a backup unit. Convert the MSA 1000 Storage Area Network into a backup unit. Improved IT quality of service. Improved data access. Improved data recovery time. Upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server Upgrade server from Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 to Improved IT quality of service. Microsoft Exchange Server (Mainstream support for Greater use of electronic system. Microsoft Exchange 2003 ended in 2009, extended support scheduled to end in 2012.) Improved system functionality. Enhanced useability. Upgrade desktop to Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade desktop operating environment from Microsoft Windows Greater use of electronic system.

10 Information Technology Strateg Update desktop standard operating environment. Apply security patches and system updates to the standard desktop operating environment (SOE). Improved IT quality of service. Improved system functionality. Enhanced useability. Improved system security ICT PROCUREMENT Electronic Procurement/SmartBuy & use of preferred suppliers. Promote the use of SmartBuy and government preferred suppliers. Lowered purchasing costs STRATEGIC GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK Develop the IT Disaster Recovery Plan to incorporate into the Business Continuity Plan. Develop the IT Disaster Recovery Plan and perform annual tests of the recovery process. Improved IT quality of service. Improved risk management. Decreased system recovery time. Develop IT Service Level Agreement. Develop a service agreement between IT and the business. Improved IT quality of service. Improved IT productivity. Assisted IT work allocation and prioritisation. Assisted IT in managing business expectations. The Risk, Information & Security Committee. Participate and provide advice to the Risk, Information & Security Committee. Improved IT resource allocation. Improved IT quality of service. Improved IT understanding of the business. Improved information security. IT Meetings. Fortnightly IT meeting to discuss recent IT activities and outstanding issues. Improved IT quality of service. Improved IT communication. Improved IT productivity. Improved IT resource allocation. Improve communication channels with Develop strategy to improve IT and business communications. Improved IT resource allocation. business. Improved IT quality of service. Improved IT understanding of the business. Change control process. All system changes must undergo detailed risk assessment and impact analysis. Improved system security. Improved IT quality of service.

11 Information Technology Strategic Plan Page 8 4. MONITORING & REPORTING Acknowledging the important role of the monitoring and reporting process to the success of our ICT initiatives, we produce quarterly and monthly reports to inform the Senior Officer Group (SOG) and RISC of our ICT activities and project progress. Though there is no direct method to measure the effectiveness of our ICT strategies, we can indirectly measure our success by monitoring business operational efficiency gains across different financial year, perform annual internal customer satisfaction survey, engage in annual external security audit to measure the effectiveness of our security infrastructure and analyse service desk performance metrics. We are still in our early stage of developing and fine tuning our monitoring and reporting systems and will be able to provide more details once they are finalised. 5. CONCLUSION This document outlines the NSW Ombudsman IT goals and objectives for the next four years. It indentifies our key initiatives to meet the increase in demand for services and strategically position our organisation for the future. The projects are categorised into eight distinguishable programs in line with the People First NSW Government ICT Strategy. Recognising the IT industry as a forever evolving industry, to improve our quality of service we constantly explore new technologies to increase the efficiency of our IT systems and incorporate them into our ICT Strategic Plan for the RISC s endorsement. One of the challenges for any strategy activity is to transform the goals into actions. To ensure the successful delivery and implementation of our projects, we have adopted the PRINCE 2 (Project In Controlled Environments) project management methodology and tailored to the scope of each individual IT project.

12 Information Technology Strategic Plan Page 9 6. APPENDIX 6.1. APPENDIX 1 RISK, INFORMATION & SECURITY COMMITTEE The Risk, Information & Security Committee (RISC) oversights the strategic planning and implementation of our information management and technology program. Role of the RISC: The primary role of the RISC is to: Monitor and evaluate IT projects and achievements against the IT Strategic Plan, Corporate plan and other policy documents. Review current and future technologies to identify opportunities to increase the efficiency of our IT systems. Responsibilities: The RISC is responsible for: Endorsing and prioritising projects for inclusion in the IT Strategic Plan for approval by the Ombudsman. Improving the quality, management and value of information, business systems and information and communication technology. Prioritising projects in consultation with the responsible business unit, so as to provide a true indication of the areas that need to be addressed first. Considering new projects that emerge outside the IT Strategic Planning cycle and investigate the impact of their implementation on IT Strategic Plan projects, priorities and budget. Membership of the RISC: The membership of the RISC is as follows: Chaired by a member of the senior officers group Members: Deputy Ombudsman Director Corporate Manager Information Technology Manager Information and Intelligence Representative from each of the division Project Officer IT & IM to provide administrative support Meetings: The RISC meetings are conducted as follows: Meeting frequency is monthly Agenda and previous minutes to be circulated to members 1 week prior to the scheduled meeting Extraordinary meetings may be called by the Chair 6.2. APPENDIX 2 - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TEAM STRUCTURE Manager Information Technology Network Administrator Analyst Programmer IT Support Co-ordinator Helpdesk Officer

13 Information Technology Strategic Plan Page APPENDIX 3 - SUPPORTING REFERENCES NSW Ombudsman IM&T Strategic Plan NSW Ombudsman IM&T Strategic Plan NSW Ombudsman IM&T Strategic Plan NSW Ombudsman Results & Services Plan NSW Government People First ICT Strategy Template