DEWR upgrade shows benefit of clearer goals and collaborative approach
The upgrade for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) in Canberra has laid the foundation for the future implementation of human resource applications and has allowed the department to improve its budgeting and reporting processes.
“Oxygen works with customers to help establish the correct parameters and scope of any upgrade and has a dedicated methodology that begins with an upgrade assessment,” says Stuart Dickinson, Oxygen’s General Manager – People and Brand. DEWR has an extensive IT network supporting itself and a number of other federal agencies across Australia.
DEWR runs financial accounting and human resource applications and the upgrade involved changes to every aspect of its SAP technical architecture. DEWR determined at the outset that it wanted the upgrade delivered with minimal risk, cost and impact to the ongoing running of the department.
These directives were established at the outset and we ensured our engagement model was designed to lower risk and minimise disruption for DEWR,” Dickinson says.
The upgrade also delivered better month-end financial reporting, and enhancements to its business intelligence application have allowed the department to improve the effectiveness of its budgeting cycle. "We have transitioned smoothly and effectively to the most up-to-date SAP platform and are well positioned to implement new SAP applications to enhance management control and reporting in the future," says Robert Heggie, DEWR's IT Director and Upgrade Project Manager.
The upgrade involved a significant amount of functional verification and Oxygen partnered with DEWR to re-implement and re-test its entire system including all interfaces.
Dickinson says Oxygen’s portfolio of upgrade tools can accelerate any upgrade process and help reduce time and costs.
“We have a range of tools that allow us to quickly evaluate any potential upgrade problems and identify risk areas and dependencies. These tools are designed to not only automate as many of the upgrade processes as possible, but to undertake thorough testing, identify and manage any defects that may arise, and provide a work lifecycle management system that allows easy monitoring of upgrade procedures.”
Over and above its upgrade tools and methodologies, Oxygen’s key point of difference, Dickinson says is its ability to balance local knowledge and resources with deep technical and business knowledge across a wide range of industries and organisations in Australia and New Zealand.
Oxygen has successfully managed over 40 go-lives in the last seven years and more than 20 upgrades, which has seen us become the leading SAP services provider in Australasia.
“As in the case with the DEWR project we have achieved this by being able to provide local project management and quality assurance resources to manage and reduce upgrade risk and complexity. Being local and having on-the-spot technical and development resources is key to this success,” Dickinson says.
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