Fujitsu and Onyx Software help Queensland Government improve child safety

As part of a statewide initiative to reform child protection and youth justice service delivery, the Queensland Government has awarded major contracts to Fujitsu Australia and Onyx Software Australia to improve information management.

The integrated client management system (ICMS) will be used by the Queensland Government's Department of Child Safety and Department of Communities. The system will be introduced throughout the state from mid-2005.

The ICMS is part of the Information Renewal Initiative, a $44.4 million, three-year program to improve information management to support the safety and well-being of children and young people in care or at risk of harm.

The Department of Child Safety is the lead agency within Queensland Government responsible for delivering statutory child protection services to ensure the safety and well-being of children and young people suffering from or at risk of abuse or neglect, while DoC looks after young people who have been in contact with the juvenile justice system. The two departments will use the ICMS as their core information system to help manage information about their clients.

The ICMS will allow case workers to store and access information about each child or young person in the child protection or youth justice system and carers. It will replace a number of enterprise systems and a myriad of local systems that have evolved over time.

Full-service solution

Following an 18-month procurement process that included a six-month comprehensive evaluation process, the Queensland Government chose Fujitsu and Onyx Software to provide consulting services, hardware, software development and ongoing maintenance for the ICMS project.

"Our departments are specialised human services organisations and Fujitsu and Onyx were able to demonstrate their understanding of our unique business requirements," said Gerard Palk ICMS project director, Department of Child Safety. "They provided the core functionality we were looking for and represented good value for money.

"When evaluating a project of this scale, finding a provider who could manage the process from conception to fulfilment and provide long-term support was a challenge. This end-to-end service capability was an important factor in the departments' decision to choose Fujitsu and Onyx."

Rod Vawdrey, Chief Executive Officer, Fujitsu Australia Limited said: "The Department of Child Safety and the Department of Communities play a vital role in ensuring the safety and well-being of children and young people.

"Fujitsu is committed to helping the Queensland Government fulfil its mandate in child protection services by delivering world-leading human services technology," Mr Vawdrey said.

Managing Director of Onyx Software Australia, Leonie Tulk, said the Fujitsu-Onyx project team remained extremely focused throughout a demanding evaluation process to demonstrate why it was the right partner for such a critical project. "Onyx is committed to understanding its customers' needs. This approach, combined with the flexibility of our technology and architecture, enables Onyx to develop solutions that make a difference," said Ms Tulk. "We are privileged to be part of the team that is contributing to the safety and welfare of Queensland's vulnerable children and young people."

Cutting across departmental boundaries

As well as consolidating information stored in the two departments' databases, the ICMS is designed to make it easier to share information with other government agencies.

Child safety practitioners need to get information from many sources to assess a child's needs effectively. In order to develop a holistic and integrated support or case plan for a child, the departments need to exchange data and transactions with other agencies including police, health and education.

The Fujitsu-Onyx consortium chose Microsoft .NET technology as an integration and collaboration platform to allow information to be shared with other applications and other agencies.

"We are pleased that .NET provides the Department of Child Safety and the Department of Communities with the ability to improve child protection by simplifying access to a wide variety of information sources," said Kevin Ackhurst, Public Sector Director at Microsoft Australia.

Mr Palk said the departments were looking for open integration protocols as a key requirement.

"The system needed to be open, interoperable and service-oriented. The solution provided by Fujitsu and Onyx met all those criteria."

Systems currently used by the Department of Child Safety and Department of Communities have significant issues involving duplication and inconsistency of client records. Practitioners also need to enter information multiple times in different systems.

Mr Palk said the ICMS would provide a single source of client records while improving the breadth, consistency and quality of information available to practitioners.

"This will enable our staff to make more informed decisions and give them better tools to assess risk. It will also help automate the case management process to help reduce workloads."

The IRI includes a major overhaul of the two departments' ageing information technology infrastructure. It involves a new standardised information architecture as well as improved computer systems, databases, reports and record-keeping practices and enhancements to business processes and work practices.

As statutory agencies, the Department of Child Safety and Department of Communities are heavily involved with the courts and police, and produce large amounts of documentation. The ICMS will remove some administrative work and improve office efficiency by automating much of that documentation. As a result, staff will have more time to spend in the field supporting children and young people.