The Queensland Government will abandon its one-size-fits-all approach to payroll across government following the bungling of Queensland Health’s SAP-based payroll roll out.
The fiasco has also seen the Government set to overhaul whole-of-government IT provider, CorpTech, in a bid to have it better match agency needs.
"We want larger agencies with complex payroll requirements to be able to use the payroll system which suits them," Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, said in a statement on the new approach to public sector IT.
"At the same time, smaller agencies should have the ability to cluster with similar agencies and utilise the one payroll system."
Despite the greater independence of individual government agencies to source their own IT, the government was not about to abandon whole-of-government IT procurement, Minister for Public Works, Robert Schwarten, said.
"To be effective, the Queensland Government needs to operate a range of services on a whole-of-government basis to allow for efficient service delivery and governance," he said.
"In the future, we need to ensure fit for purpose systems to support service delivery at an agency level."
The news follows comment from analyst house Ovum that the failed payroll project should serve as a sage lesson to private and public sector organisations on the dangers of shared IT service implementations.
According to the analyst house’s public sector research director, Kevin Noonan, the failure of Queensland Health’s SAP-based payroll system suggested that the proper application, rather than a lack of IT tools and methodologies, was at the heart of project’s woes.
“Shared services is certainly the flavour of the moment across Australian governments,” Noonan said in a research statement.
“This is a sensible step given the significant potential savings in management and infrastructure costs, as well as the extra benefits in delivering coordinated services across agencies."
The Queensland Governemnt has also released the terms of reference for the development of new procurement arrangements currently being carried out by PriceWaterhouseCoopers:
1. To review the organisation of corporate services under the shared services model, including finance and human resources management across Government to determine the most appropriate arrangements for the Queensland Government into the future;
2. To investigate and make recommendations on the appropriate governance model for shared services within the Queensland Government going forward; and
3. In light of the above, provide recommendations for the future roll out of the Corporate Solutions Program and make recommendations for the most effective way to deliver the Program.
Scope
The Scope of the Review includes consideration of:
1. the strategy and direction of shared services at the processing and systems level;
2. the development of role clarity for all those entities involved in the delivery of shared services including the agencies, the shared service providers and Corptech;
3. the appropriateness of current organisational delivery arrangements and governance arrangements for shared services delivery including performance management and monitoring, compliance management, risk management, financial management and audit arrangements;
4. an assessment of the benefits and risks to Government from moving to more standardised processes and systems; and
5. an assessment of the benefits and risks of maintaining a multi-system environment. Secretariat support will be provided by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.