Government Chief Information Office

Frontline Support Services

The Frontline Support Services program provides the tools, knowledge and standards to assist frontline officers deliver services efficiently and effectively.  A single phone number 133 679 and web portal www.nsw.gov.au  has been established to provide consistent, accurate information to the public, as well as a single gateway to NSW government services.

• A shared web platform provides small to medium-sized agencies with an easy-to-use, affordable, web hosting facility, allowing them to redirect resources to frontline services.
• Online options to enhance efficient service and information delivery of Government Access Centres are being developed for use in the existing 62 locations across rural and regional NSW.
• The range of NSW Government publications and products available through the single online retail outlet www.shop.nsw.gov.au  is being expanded. www.shop.nsw.gov.au provides a modern, low-cost, online payment service, catering for individual agency requirements and avoids the need for agencies to develop or acquire their own separate systems.
• Technical support and guidance helps agencies standardise key website elements to create consistent and user-friendly sites across all NSW Government websites.

Government Licensing Service

The Government Licensing Service supports the NSW Government's policy of "Delivering Better Services" as outlined in the NSW State Plan.  The Government Licensing Service provides significant benefits to business, particularly small business, and the community by streamlining licensing processes, reducing red tape, and providing 24 hour multi-channel access through an integrated licensing system. The Government Licensing Service is already making licensing easier for business owners, recreational fishers, home builders, motor vehicle repairers, fundraising charities and property valuers.

•  The Government Licensing Service administers 1.6 million licence records on one integrated system. Of these, 600,000 online licences are easily accessed 24 hours a day at www.licence.nsw.gov.au 2.7 million licence records are expected to be on the system by the end of 2009.
• Today, 1 in 4 builders renew their licences, at their convenience, through the online system – available 24 hours a day
• Red tape has been reduced for business and the community by consolidating 93 previous licence types into 45 and streamlining licensing processes.
• Consumer protection has been improved through standardised processes, data cleansing, and improving system security with audit trails of transactions and real time validation of information.
• The Government Licensing Service has replaced 14 legacy systems, saving an estimated $42 million in system replacement costs and an estimated $3.5 million in tender costs.
• System maintenance costs have been reduced by more than $2.1 million per annum across government.

Collaborative Government Services

The Collaborative Government Services program works with NSW Government agencies to improve the way information is shared and exchanged electronically across the NSW Government. The program is also developing a NSW Government Information Management Strategy to enable better access to government information for the public. Improvements in agencies’ management and exchange of information supports better service delivery by the NSW Government.

• The program is piloting the implementation of a secure NSW Government collaboration portal which will allow NSW Government employees to share information and knowledge. This will allow agency communities to access authoritative information and expertise faster.
• The program has already implemented a secure document sharing portal for three agencies which work together to provide guardianship services to the public. This has resulted in faster “behind the scenes” document exchange between those agencies, with consequent improvements in service delivery to their customers.
• The development of a NSW Government Information Management Strategy responds to the Premier’s commitment to improving access to information about NSW Government activities.  The focus of the strategy will be on improving information management practices and making agency information more accessible.

Application Consolidation

All Government agencies need to pay bills, pay staff, employ people and do a range of other ‘back office’ functions. The efficient use of corporate services applications streamlines the activities of Government and frees up resources for front line services. The Application Consolidation Program standardises and simplifies the types of software used by government agencies and uses a collective approach to procurement and maintenance to maximise savings for Government. 

Standardising applications means that the Government can capitalise on opportunities to streamline and re-engineer processes across Government to reduce ongoing operational costs.

• By consolidating purchasing the NSW Government has achieved discounts of up to 70% off the recommended retail price of some corporate applications. 
• The Government expects to spend approximately $22 million less from July 2007 to June 2010, on buying and maintaining corporate services applications.
• The number of corporate services application models in use across agencies has been reduced from over 42 to 14.
• This program has reduced tender costs as agencies no longer have to negotiate separately with suppliers.

Desktop Environment

The Desktop Environment program identifies suitable and affordable hardware and software to support the future needs of the more than 300,000 NSW Government’s employees.  The program also examines the potential for consolidating and integrating email and messaging across Government. 

• Over the last year the NSW Government purchased more than 66,000 personal computers and 21,000 notebooks. 
• The new whole of government computer contract is expected to generate significant savings for Government.

Data Centre Reform

A data centre is a specialised facility where an organisation maintains its critical computing, communications and data storage systems.  NSW Government data centres process and store confidential information about the State, the way that it is run and personal information about the people who live here.

Data centre reform will address the Government’s ever-increasing demand for computing capacity while minimising projected increases in data centre electricity consumption and associated recurrent expenditure.  Data centre reform also provides the opportunity to improve disaster recovery capability and the overall reliability of agencies’ computing systems while reducing data centres’ environmental impact.  

• The Government’s ever-increasing demand for computing capacity is being driven by several factors, including the increased use of electronic transactions across government (such as medical imaging), the growing use of internet communication, electronic record-keeping, as well as enhanced disaster recovery and information security requirements.  This is a trend that is reflected globally. In 2007, the United States’ Environmental Protection Authority estimated that the total energy use of data centre infrastructure systems in the United States under a “Current efficiency trends scenario” would grow by about 11.1% per annum between 2007 and 2011.
• It is estimated that emissions from NSW Government data centres currently equate to emissions from around 24,400 cars.
• The Government Chief Information Office is investigating options for data centre reform, including commissioning purpose built data centres to improve the security, capacity and reliability of processing and storing data across government, as well as reducing costs and the Government’s carbon footprint.

Government Radio Networks

In emergency situations, secure, reliable and effective communications are essential to saving lives.  The Government Radio Network connects members of the emergency services when they are responding to emergencies and natural disasters such as floods and bush fires or possible terrorist attacks.

The Government Radio Network is a secure, reliable, cost effective, state of the art mobile radio service that provides frontline emergency support for Government and NSW emergency services, including the NSW Fire Brigade, the Ambulance Service of NSW, the State Emergency Service and the Rural Fire Service.

• The NSW Government Radio Network is one of the largest two-way radio networks in the world.
• The network is currently used by about 40 NSW Government agencies and other organisations.
• The network links over 13,000 frontline service personnel and processes millions of calls per month.
• The NSW Government has endorsed an upgrade of the network’s software and hardware. The upgrade will introduce the latest radio standards and make the network fully digital by 2011.  This will improve the network’s capacity, reliability, performance and security

Telecommunications

The Telecommunications program facilitates the provision of high speed access to information across mobile, fixed voice and broadband services at reduced cost for Government. 

•  In 2007-08 the NSW Government spent around $375 million on telecommunications services and equipment.
• The new Government Telecommunications Agreements cover the full range of telecommunications services and equipment and are expected to deliver savings of about $167 million over a three and a half year period to June 2010.
• The Government Broadband Service has delivered affordable high-speed broadband access to over 1280 government sites through 24 regional centres in NSW.
• Broadband allows teachers and doctors to take advantage of online resources to help more people as well as helping to reduce the government’s environmental footprint by enabling teleworking, teleconferencing and remote access to services.
• By coordinating government telecommunications requirements the program also reduces duplication and improves the management of government assets.