Page 2069 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 8 September 1992

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Mr Connolly - the answer to the members question is as follows:

(1) The FIRMS project is designed to address fundamental inadequacies in the availability and accuracy of strategic human resource information required by the Government and management within the ACT GS. The GERMANS is expected to generate substantial benefits in the form of information about the cost and disposition of staff, their skills, attributes and requirements, and by promoting accountability and responsiveness of line management. It will assist in the achievement of modern management improvement programs such as Equal Employment Opportunity. The GERMANS will also reduce the cost of personnel administration in the ACT GS.

(2) The project began in October 1990, as an initiative of the Alliance Government.

(3) The PERSPECT package has been -selected and is currently being operated on a trial basis. The records of more. than 1,000 positions and their staff are being successfully managed on the system at this stage of the trial. The system supplier is enhancing the system to meet ACT GS specific requirements. Testing of the first set of enhancements to the GERMANS has been completed successfully and on time, and preliminary testing of the remaining enhancements has begun. Expressions of Interest have been called for computer hardware.

(4) The approximate costs incurred to the end of July 1992 are:

(a) Salaries $855,000

(b) Consultancies $170,000

(d) Overheads $55,000

(e) Other Related Costs $60,000

(5) The HMS project involves the staged implementation of a proven package already operating in several Commonwealth Government agencies. The system supplier is providing specified enhancements to the system as a contractual obligation prior to final acceptance of the system.

The planned stages for implementation of the GERMANS are: feasibility study; development of specifications; selection of the. preferred package system; trial operation of the package; testing of enhancements; and implementation of the system on a whole of government basis. Each stage is reviewed by the GERMANS Steering Committee, the Information Technology Strategy Committee, the Treasury and the Government as appropriate.

Project costs to the completion of the feasibility study and specification stages in 1990-91 were approximately $250,000. Additional costs for the selection stage and for trial operations and enhancement progress payments to 31 July 1992 were approximately $1.5 million. Subsequent stages of implementation are expected to require funding of approximately $5 million. A decision to proceed to full implementation is dependent upon the successful completion of the trials and delivery of the enhancements.

(6) The outcomes expected from those implementation stages not yet completed are the successful conducting of the trials and the delivery of the specified system enhancements. Following achievement of those outcomes the GERMANS will be implemented on a whole of government basis. Assessment will be carried out by the GERMANS Steering Committee, the Information Technology Strategy Committee, the Treasury and the Government as appropriate and will be against the specifications for the enhancements and the expected performance of the trial operations. The

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