To minimise disruption to clients, the department completed a single consolidated upgrade to its human resource management system (CHRIS) during the year.
A new integrated process to enable staff to submit overtime claims online was phased in during the year. The online process, which reduces manual processing, will deliver efficiency gains when fully implemented across the department.
Issues related to network security caused delays in work on enhancing the system to enable external job applicants to apply for vacancies online. Those issues have been resolved, and the facility is expected to be operational in early 2008–09.
The department completed a major upgrade to the financial management information system, Finance One, midway through the financial year. The previous version had reached the end of its useful life and was no longer fully supported. The latest version provides:
- an improved and more intuitive user interface that offers a customisable home page, giving users easy access to the most common reports, system alerts and websites of relevance to them
- improved navigation
- the ability to display all critical processes as a series of on-screen interactive flowchart steps, making maintaining the system and updating system documentation more efficient.
The system’s assets module is being reviewed to determine whether it is a suitable replacement for the department’s current assets system. This has potential to deliver further efficiencies and greater assurance in accounting for and managing the department’s assets.