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17:33 Mon 16 Dec 2002 REF:2C9ACBN2 TO: Roger JAYASUNDARA cc LGov-NSW Respondents Project Director NSW Local Goverment Syndicate respondents Online Services Delivery Rate Payers LGOV-NSW LOCAL GOVERNMENT DE-CENTRALISED E-BUSINESS SERVICES COMPARED WITH CENTRALISED E-PROCUREMENT This is an open e-mail to Lgov-NSW to consider conducting a series of Benchmarks to evaluate a decentralised networked e-Business solution for each Council rather than separate Centralised e-Services and e-Procurement modules for the Lgov-NSW local-e tender. This open e-mail is from the OIC Lgov-NSW Local-e Technical Committee comprising: A Guy BLOMBERG Chair B Stephen GOULD C Ken BROMFIELD D Lars SORHUS E Larry WILSON Credentials of Committee A Guy BLOMBERG 1 1987 Involved in developing an Electronic Communication Infrastructure for updating historical databases in the Australian Insurance Industry 2 1988 developed a prototype system for Lloyds of London Press and the Australian Association of Port and Marine Authorities based on the United Nations Port Management Information System [PORTMIS] requirement 3 1994 Developed OIC Electronic Association Information Management [EAIM] database application prototype 4 1998 Developed OIC Y2K Resource Asset Management [OICY2KRAMP] e-Commerce process that won first prize in Global Bangemann Challenge - trophy presented to Guy BLOMBERG by the King of Sweden in June 1999 5 2001 Developed Standard XML Tender Schema submitted to ebXML Australia 6 2002 Develop Active Server Page applications for Small & Medium size Enterprises E-business Management Services B Stephen GOULD 1 Burroughs National Sales Manager B80 Financial Industry (UK) and Director Office Automation (Australia) 2 Established WICAT Computer Based Training company with Lionel Singer ex Managing Director Prime Computer 3 Commissioned by Data General to develop Office Automation strategy for Australian Insurance Industry 4 Three years research into Electronic Information Communication and Filing System 5 Attended 10 Electronic Data Interchange Conferences between 1987-1991 6 Represented Australian Small Business Association on Australian EDI Standards Committee 7 Spent 2 years in Europe working on information communications projects with a number of oranisations involved with enhancing communications between members including the British Standards Institute [BSI], The European Aerospace Association [AECMA], EU Customs and the UK Institute of Electrical Engineers 8 Recognised by IBM UK as a world expert in E-Commerce 9 Represents the OIC on ebXML Australia Committee C Ken BROMFIELD 1 Principal of the Indigo School of Graphics 2 OIC Inaugural Webmaster 3 Managing Director OTMG Pty Ltd that provides the TenderInformation Management Service [TIMS] 4 Chair of the OIC Local Government Interest Group D Lars SORHUS 1 Current OIC Webmaster 2 Developer Tender Information Management Service 3 Developer Small & Medium size Enterprises E-Business Management Services E Larry WILSON 1 Department of Defence Information Security Consultant 2 Advise OIC on information security issues 3 Devise programs to test authenticity of information sources We have evaluated the specifications and the documentation provided and are of the opinion that: 1 the current design topology of a centralized e-services and e-procurement will add considerable cost for Local Government in the medium and long term with integration services 2 The specification has not considered new community e-services that Local Government Agencies can provide for their Communities 3 A fixed priced contract for suppliers is not realistic for the many new processes outlined in the Specification of Requirements. This opinion is based on: 1 feedback from members who have been involved in the OIC Local Government Special Interest Group [LZIG] for the last 2 years with backgrounds in a number of disciplines including Electronic Data Interchange, e-Procurement, e-Services and e-Mapping for many years. 2 Interested parties who attended the three Lgov-NSW local-e tender review meetings on C 10 Dec 2002 B 22 Nov 2002 A 12 Nov 2002 3 A review of tenders issued by Local Government, State and Federal Government over the last two years on TIMS including: A NSW DPWS ITS 2305 e-Services RFT B Fed DEWRSB e-Commerce Initiative EOI 04 May 2001 C Selection of Local Government tenders published on TIMS The Key points for consideration are: 1 DISTRIBUTED NETWORKED TOPLOGY The first and most important issue is that we do not believe that Centralised e-Services and e-Procurement systems will provide the response expected by the Council users and the rate-payers. A distributed Networked Topology is required rather than separated centralized e-Services & e-Procurement modules. An example is this Local Government information flow schematic This topology would eliminate the problems of transferring information from the centralized e-Services & e-Procurement systems to the accounting systems of the Rural Councils. This is a topology design that was developed for the Insurance Industry This topology was developed because of the requirement for historical information on Claims and Payment records hence the development of the Branch Information Administration System [BIAS] which encompassed Human Resource applications for Computer based training, Data Processing and Office Automation requirements. The concepts of BIAS with historical reference information is relative to not only the Rural Councils but also to the Regional Organisations of Councils [ROCS]. As Graeme Philipson pointed out in his article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 03 Dec 2002 presenting useful information has not developed over the last 50 years in computing. We agree with that but believe the reasons is that the original systems designs were pre-occupied with transaction processing and not historical comparative review as is now preferred with new Enterprise Management Systems including Customer Relationship Management [CRM]. Hence with is why we have always developed e-Business applications that provided graphical representation of comparative data. Example include: A from the Insurance Industry 1 Management Spreadsheet on Commercial Insurance 2 Colour graphic comparison monthly figures" B Analysis tenders from TIMS 1 by 9 Industry Groups published over last 30 months 2 by 11 Application Groups published over last 18 months We doubt that the Councils will be able to afford the costs of centralised computing systems to provide that type of information for feedback to the Rural Councils from a centralized e-Services or e-Procurement systems 2 NEW SERVICES WITH E-BUSINESS There are a number of new services that the Local Councils will be able to offer the local Business Community. These new services could include: A Electronic Notary - as defined in the Legal Workshop of the TEDIS Conference B Automated back-up for local Small & Medium size Enterprises [SMEs] C Providing Community Electronic surveys and feedback At this stage the Local Government Agencies will be unaware of those services because of lack of experience withe-Business hence the first step is to raise skill levels in the community. 3 RAISING SKILL LEVELS IN RURAL COMMUNITIES Centralised e-Services and e-Procurement Systems do not raise the skill Levels. The Local Councils have to increase their skill levels to be able to provide new services to the Local Businesses. One of the members of the OIC is the IT Faculty of the University of Technology. UTS is very keen for its graduates to have work experience and pass their knowledge onto the Community hence the OIC submission will include plans for graduates to visit the Rural Councils to assist train Local Government staff. NEXT STEPS As there are a number of key issues with regard to e-Services and e-Business that are not addressed by the Specification, we believe that the issue of whether a centralised e-services and e-procurement or de-centralised should be reconsidered first with a number of benchmarks performed to evaluate response performance. As an independent e-Business Association members of the OIC Local Government Special Interest Group would be prepared to develop and conduct a series of benchmarks for Lgov-NSW. A number of members have indicated that they would be prepared to work with Lgov-NSW on a reduced joint-venture fee basis. Yours sincerely Guy BLOMBERG Chair OIC LZIG Technical Committee OPEN INTERCHANGE CONSORTIUM 2002/12/16 17:53 Qld 4215 E: guy.blomberg@oic.org T: (02) 9966-5341 W: http://www.oic.org/3a4h1.htm
