This Australian government department (the department) manages the development and implementation of laws, regulation and policy in various areas of the state and ensures all elements of the community safety system are working efficiently and effectively. The department is undergoing a transformation to better meet the evolving needs of its citizens. This transformation is supported by comprehensive strategy and wide-ranging reform, ensuring a whole of government approach to the community safety system.
“DXC worked hard to find a way — developing this ground-breaking solution and ensuring it worked for us. As expected with a development as critical and complex as this, we encountered a few issues — however DXC always listened carefully, before taking the time to conceive a solution.”
Department spokesperson
Business problem
Following recent legislative reform, the need for a register of key infrastructure across the state was identified. The department required the register to provide easy identification, monitoring and reporting on the location and importance of a vast range of assets. This included important infrastructure providing essential community services across energy, water and transport.
The reform specified that the register allow for visual representation of data to simplify critical infrastructure management; as well as providing certain groups of people instant access to current data. Since much of the information stored is classified as ‘protected’ with access strictly controlled, robust security was a must.
Infrastructure information had been previously managed by another department using an Excel spreadsheet with information stored and provided through a central point. A SharePoint system had been developed later, however both systems were difficult to use, offered poor functionality, and included limited security for the high level of confidentiality.
Evaluation process
Following a competitive evaluation process, the department selected DXC Technology’s Practice for ServiceNow because their strong commitment to the project was evident from the outset. The department felt DXC’s proposal was thorough with all aspects of the solution clearly articulated. The spokesperson said, “Ultimately we developed a high level of trust with DXC and knew that we could work very well together.”
DXC’s Practice for ServiceNow has been a leader in the ServiceNow ecosystem for more than 13 years and has over 20 years of enterprise service management experience. As a ServiceNow Global Elite Partner, DXC has managed hundreds of successful ServiceNow deployments across Australia and New Zealand.
Having never worked with DXC before, the organisation enquired internally amongst other government departments and received a glowing reference from The Department of Human Services (DHS) regarding their experiences with DXC. DHS also nominated specific DXC staff they’d worked with before, so the department requested and appointed those individuals to the project to deploy the ServiceNow solution.
“This is our first engagement with DXC. The working relationship has been entirely positive from the outset — a true partnership with DXC playing a leadership role. We collaborated closely with the relations between the organisations being one of the highlights of this project. It worked extremely well to achieve the result we needed.”
Department spokesperson
Solution
Utilising a rapid and iterative prototyping and development approach, DXC’s Practice for ServiceNow built a low-cost fully featured web application solution on the ServiceNow platform. This secure repository of complex assets and infrastructure incorporates security controls to manage access for various distributed users across the state. The solution provides visual representation of data on a map ensuring users can more easily identify, manage and report on key infrastructure.
The bespoke web solution which incorporates visualisation functionality offers users the ability to source and show geospatial data for infrastructure assets with a level of sophistication and control not provided out-of-the-box on the ServiceNow platform. The department’s spokesperson said “When we asked for mapping as part of the solution, that hadn’t ever been done in ServiceNow before. DXC worked hard to find a way – developing this ground-breaking solution and ensuring it worked for us. As expected with a development as critical and complex as this, we encountered a few issues – however DXC always listened carefully, before taking the time to conceive a solution.”
All data including the geo-mapping layers, information and user access security controls are held within ServiceNow; as well as the state’s cartographic data sourced from the state government secure mapping service. The geo-map data files are often extremely large which also required creativity to enable them to load with minimum delay.
The new cloud-based solution offers:
- A secure repository of infrastructure information
- A ground-breaking geo-mapping user interface to provide dynamic visual representation of assets on the map of the state
- Ease of access for the widely distributed and varied user community in a user-friendly way - with robust security controls to manage different access levels
The highly confidential system is used during planning, preparedness or response to certain situations with all users pre-approved individuals that meet specific legislative criteria.
A unique modular design separated application logic from database controls and workflows with the mapping interface providing:
- Visualisation of complex shapes depicting the locations of infrastructure such as pipelines and transmission lines (vectors) and multi-site locations (polygons)
- Filtering of data and visualisation by importance, region and type
- State government regional boundaries
- Summary data for selected infrastructure
- Ability for users to access backend forms directly from the map, and vice-versa
“The use so far suggests we have an excellent foundation that we can continually build on with added features to further clarify asset location and importance.”
Department spokesperson
Results and benefits
Whereas previously the information was provided via a cumbersome Excel spreadsheet and managed centrally, now anyone (approved) across diverse geographic locations can access information anywhere. Everyone sees the same up-to-date information no matter where or when they access it, and there are no timing delays in receiving it.
Users have gone from a list of assets with a street address, to visualised locations on a map with shapes, polygons and lines demonstrating the asset. Authorised users can quickly identify important information on potentially impacted infrastructure in response to an emergency for example, or during certain geographic or climatic changes.
Feedback so far has all been positive. Those that used the previous system love the significantly improved functionality the new solution offers. The system was recently tested to its limits in an environment that hadn’t been experienced before - and proved extremely beneficial to support important decisions around service continuity.
“Ultimately we developed a high level of trust with DXC and knew that we could work very well together.”
Department spokesperson
The future
With the solution now utilised in real situations, a continuous improvement focus has highlighted potential developments. The department’s spokesperson continued, “The use so far suggests we have an excellent foundation that we can continually build on with added features to further clarify asset location and importance.”
The spokesperson continued, “This is our first engagement with DXC. The working relationship has been entirely positive from the outset – a true partnership with DXC playing a leadership role. We collaborated closely with the relations between the organisations being one of the highlights of this project. It worked extremely well to achieve the result we needed.”