 | | Victoria's Department of Education, Employment & Training (DEET) creates a paperless office across its 1637 sites | |
| Business Profile | | The Department is at the top of every IT list you could imagine: the Number 1 user of IT among Australia's Top 500 companies, the leading user of IT among Australian government departments and the government education body with the best student:computer ratio in the world.
Charged with meeting the needs of approximately 526,000 primary and secondary students in 1,637 government schools, the Department employs 46,500 permanent teachers in addition to another 8,000 employees consisting of casual and relief teachers as well as non-teaching staff. These stakeholders are distributed across the state of Victoria at schools, further education institutions and administrative centres. |
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| Situation | | Developing an innovative Intranet
Replacing over 200 paper-based line of business office procedures with sophisticated Intranet services is a good way of demonstrating the value of technology within an organisation. This is exactly what DEET set about to accomplish with its department-wide deet@work Intranet.
According to Mr. Paul Doherty, General Manager of DEET's Information Technology division, "DEET's size and nature were factors which presented many business challenges to the organisation, requiring unique solutions that were, in many cases, not readily available in the market place."
Providing access to technology
When the Department decided to move ahead with web-based business processes in early 1999 it had already been utilising Microsoft technology for over two years with good results. EduMail, a messaging infrastructure based on Microsoft Exchange, and EduLibrary, which used public folders to publish documentation to school and corporate users, were important forerunners to the Intranet project.
Thanks to a 1998 government-funded initiative, designed to raise awareness of and access to Information Technology among teaching staff, every teacher across the state already had their own notebook computer. This had allowed them to come to terms with technology as a tool of their trade, learning how to apply it creatively in the learning process.
The next step was to develop a department-wide Intranet which would provide open access for the first time to online data content, further acting as a platform upon which the department's range of business processes could be conducted. As well as accessibility, the goal was to eliminate paperwork and unnecessary administrative steps in the processing of documents. |
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| Solution | | Building the infrastructure
Doherty brought the blueprint of the Intranet home from the Leadership Conference in Seattle 1999. "The Intranet is based on Microsoft's own company-wide system. Development involved thorough knowledge management processes as well as creating a portal for web-based work functions," he said. "Now former manual processes, such as leave applications, are web-based. What's more, the Intranet provides easy communication within the department, between schools and administrative offices. A lot of layers have been removed."
The web site and forms were developed using IIS/ASP Technology and FrontPage 2000, enhanced by Internet Explorer 4.0. The EduMail Microsoft Exchange-based messaging infrastructure provides deet@work applications with access to messaging functionality such as Workflow. A key to the success of the system is the Exchange Global Address Book in conjunction with SQL Server, which provides an accurate and dynamic staff directory containing over 56,000 user addresses.
Empowering staff through the use of technology
For a number of years the department has engaged in longitudinal research to gauge the effects of professional development on the use of technology in learning programmes. It was this research that led to the Notebooks for Teachers initiative. "We found that a lack of access to technology was a major barrier to many teachers becoming effective users of technology in a learning context," Doherty said. "Now that they have their own computer they are more at ease with technology - it is more useable."
The introduction of deet@work represented another major change in the culture of the department, which required rapid adoption and acceptance from the state's teachers and administration workers, whose average age was 45 years. Yet Doherty believes the change has been positive, thanks to the department's concerted effort to help people be comfortable and see the benefits for themselves. The next round of longitudinal studies will present the opportunity to measure this perception. |
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| Ensuring Success with a Microsoft Partner | | Transforming the business
deet@work is a reality because of the integration of a raft of Microsoft technologies and systems, applied to DEET's unique requirements. This was further strengthened not only through leveraging DEET and Microsoft expertise, but the support of third-party partners, Melbourne-based boutique solutions provider OBS.
Brian Cook, OBS senior consultant, represents the company that developed the portal providing access from the entire DEET user community to a host of back-office applications and business processes. OBS was also instrumental in developing the mind-boggling corporate directory.
He commented on the importance of Exchange to the solution. "No other solution could have handled such an extensive directory linking so many users across 2000 distinct locations, regardless of their email account software. Microsoft Exchange has also provided the ability for DEET to easily interface with other Victorian government departments who may be using other messaging systems, appearing transparently as a user on their system without difficulty."
Setting the Standard
Mr. Peter Allen is secretary of DEET, but in a non-government context would be known as CEO. He has always been a great believer in the value of technology in delivering world-class education services and enhancing learning outcomes - a philosophy shared by Microsoft. In April 2000 Allen attended the Government Leaders Conference in Seattle where he presented an update on the Department's vision for its massive statewide system, highlighting the enormous impact of the Microsoft-based deet@work Intranet. That story in conjunction with the fact that Victorian schools boast sophisticated LAN and WAN connections, videoconferencing and access to digital satellite communication, cement DEET's position as a technology pioneer, setting the standard for other government and private organisations. |
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| The Future | | Transforming the business
According to Brian Dempsey, from Microsoft Australia's Enterprise Group, "DEET is an example of a very progressive organisation. With a clear vision they have achieved amazing results quickly and have proven the value of a strong alliance with a major vendor. Education is a key area for Microsoft and we are proud to have been able to share DEET's vision to develop education and learning outcomes through sophisticated technology integration."
Doherty commented, "integral to our ability to provide this service has been our unique partnership with Microsoft Australia. This relationship has been a major driver in our success in achieving our aims so far and in developing strategies to maintain the right direction. Without doubt, our schools have been the biggest winners in this process and that is what we are all about." |
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| |  | | | | | | Partner Details | | Partner:
OBS | | Phone:
(03) 9606 9200 | | E-mail:
info@obs.com.au | | Web:
http://www.obs.com.au/ | | | | | Organisation | | Name:
Victoria's Department of Education, Employment & Training (DEET) | | Web:
http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au | | Industry:
Government - Education | | | | | Technology Links | |  | | Exchange Server 5.5 | | | | SQL Server | | | | IIS Server | | | | FrontPage 2000 | | | | Internet Explorer |
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