Shared services initiative saves Queensland Government millions

Published Thursday, 20 July, 2017 at 08:56 AM

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy and Minister for Small Business
The Honourable Leeanne Enoch

The Palaszczuk Government’s push to digitise government services and modernise finance and human resource systems in the public sector is paying big dividends.

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch said today (Thursday) the government was pushing ahead with plans to automate routine department transactions and adopt uniform business systems.

“The cost efficiencies are really starting to add up by ridding financial management systems of paper-based transactions and adopting a more whole-of-government approach to accounting, recruitment and payroll processing," Ms Enoch said.

“By switching from manual to electronic payments the government is saving an estimated $13 per transaction.

“In just two years, the transition to eForms by many departments has cut costs by about $4 million (on a total of more than 320,000 transactions),” she said.

Queensland Shared Services (QSS) supports HR and financial services of 25 Queensland Government agencies that deliver millions of transactions every year. Additionally, through March and April, QSS processed over 64,000 extra payments for people affected by Cyclone Debbie.

“We’re whipping the paper-based payment systems into digital shape and transforming them into a fast, secure process that is more readily tracked to prevent duplication and fraud,” Ms Enoch said.

In other efforts to help minimise operating costs and maintenance, Ms Enoch said QSS recently helped eight departments transition from their old finance systems to a single, modern system now shared by 19 Queensland Government agencies.

“We have taken real steps to leverage the benefits of shared services and make a positive difference to the delivery of government services and monitoring of financial transactions," she said.

“We have been seeing good outcomes and we will continue to ensure this happens and our systems remain first rate.

“Through upgrades, technology enhancements and other productivity improvements we are delivering greater value at lower costs. Clearly we’re committed to improving government services and delivering savings to the community,” Ms Enoch said.

QSS keeps on delivering improvements to government departments and is now working with Queensland Ambulance Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Service to improve their systems so they focus on their vital work.

Eight departments have recently switched systems:

  • Environment and Heritage Protection
  • National Parks, Sport and Racing
  • Energy and Water Supply
  • Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships
  • Agriculture and Fisheries
  • Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games
  • Housing and Public Works (although it retains one legacy system needed for business).

Key features of shared systems include:

  • Shared ICT infrastructure to reduce operating costs and maintenance
  • Common configurations used by all agencies to streamline business processes
  • eForms and automated workflows for accounts payable, accounts receivable and asset management, which significantly save time and processing costs. 

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