Activity 6: Improve our efficiency and explore new ways of doing business

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

• Deliver new services to partner agencies via the Cultural and Corporate Shared Services Centre (CCSSC).
• Undertake collaborative projects and activities.

OUR TARGETS

• Five new services delivered.
• Culture Loop shuttle bus trial with nine partners.

WHAT WE ACHIEVED

• Provision of new finance and IT infrastructure services (and work towards payroll services) for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and provision of new payroll services to the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD).
• Continued successful provision of services to the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) (records management) and MoAD (records management and information technology).
• Initiated trial of Culture Loop shuttle bus service for Canberra cultural institutions and tourist destinations.

Analysis

Cultural and Corporate Shared Services Centre (CCSSC)

In the 2017 Budget, the Museum received funding of $8.9 million over three years from the Australian Government’s Public Service Modernisation Fund to provide corporate services to partner agencies. The CCSSC aims to improve responsiveness and service quality, reduce duplication and enable collaboration between agencies.

In July 2018, AIATSIS commenced receiving finance services (TechOne) from the CCSSC. AIATSIS’s payroll services are due to be moved over to the CCSSC in 2019–20, pending migration of historical data from the current service provider.

In May 2019, the CCSSC completed the transition of MoAD’s payroll services from Treasury Shared Services. This was a significant and complex project, involving the investment of many months of work by the CCSSC and MoAD to ensure that the changeover occurred with limited disruption. In addition to these new services, during 2018–19 the CCSSC continued to deliver records management services and information technology to MoAD, and records management services to the NPG.

Performance of the CCSSC is measured and reported in a number of ways. Monthly and quarterly service delivery reports are provided to participating agencies, and a consolidated and more detailed report provided annually. In addition, staff satisfaction surveys are undertaken annually, as well as upon completion of the migration of services.

The CCSSC Governance Board, comprising heads of partner agencies, has been established to monitor and guide the strategic direction of the CCSSC. This is supported by a steering committee, which oversees the successful delivery of transitional and operational services.

Other projects delivered by the CCSSC during the year included:

• providing Aurion Systems Administrator support to the Australian Sports Commission
• commencing an upgrade of the CCSSC’s service management system, Cherwell, to cater for the additional partner agencies coming on board
• analysing potential replacement digital asset management systems (DAMS) and media services support for CCSSC clients.

Collaborative projects and activities

Culture Loop

The Museum spearheaded the trial of the Culture Loop, a free shuttle bus that follows a one-hour circular route past many of Canberra’s major cultural institutions and tourist destinations. Ten organisations were involved in the project: the National Film and Sound Archive, the National Library of Australia, Questacon, Parliament House, the Museum of Australian Democracy, Canberra Museum and Gallery, the National Capital Authority, VisitCanberra, the Canberra Centre and NewActon cultural precinct (the Molonglo Group). The service has been an outstanding success since its inception, averaging close to 200 passengers per day to the end of the initial trial period (19 June 2019), with the trial period being extended for a further six months.

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

• Improve business processes for managing customer relationships.
• Ensure safe, secure and efficient networks for the Museum and CCSSC partners.
• Redevelop the Museum’s website.

OUR TARGETS

• Implement a new customer relationship system (CRM).
• Upgrade information technology (IT) infrastructure.
• Launch the new website.

WHAT WE ACHIEVED

• The Museum worked towards implementation of a new CRM, thankQ.
• IT infrastructure was upgraded with the installation of Nutanix hardware and the strengthening of IT security and compliance measures.
• The new website was launched in October 2018.

Analysis

A new customer relationship system

The Museum undertook significant work this year to configure and develop its new CRM with the implementation of thankQ, a data management software tool that primarily supports organisations within the not-for-profit sector. The new CRM will allow the Museum to combine several separate systems and processes — membership, donations, communications, events and ticketing — into the one system.

The transition to the new CRM involved many business units reviewing their databases and practices. The work comprised a detailed analysis of the technical requirements for the project, scheduling resources for training and delivery, building the technical environment for hosting, as well as testing and acceptance processes. Many Museum business units have engaged with the project to enable the CRM to be implemented, with each affected area providing data validation and testing. A comprehensive staff training program has also taken place.

The CRM system is due to go live early in 2019–20.

Upgrade IT infrastructure

The Museum has procured new Nutanix hardware to replace the Cultural and Corporate Shared Services Centre’s (CCSSC) aging production server and storage infrastructure. The Museum appointed Gulanga Group, a locally owned Indigenous business, to provide the hardware.

The hardware has been installed and imaged at the Museum’s datacentres in Acton and Mitchell. Network connectivity and compatibility have been tested, and services have been upgraded to the required version.

More than two-thirds (87) of the Museum’s systems have been successfully migrated to Nutanix, with the remainder to occur in 2019–20.

Further IT security and compliance measures have been developed to ensure the CCSSC IT environment complies with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) ‘Top 4’ security requirements. As part of this, a Windows 10 update was completed in May 2019 to further strengthen the Museum’s ‘Essential 8’ security compliance. The new CCSSC IT environment has the capability to support multiple CCSSC partner agencies.

Launch the new website

The Museum’s new website went live on 17 October 2018. The aim for the new website was to offer users a responsive design suitable for use across a range of devices; an improved user interface with a contemporary and striking design; and improved navigation to make it easier for users to find information, complete key tasks and explore the rich content available across the site. The new website utilises a ‘no dead ends’ policy that encourages users to explore related content across the site and offers new ways of browsing content.

The project involved more than:

• 17,000 images being transferred and reviewed
• 6000 website pages being individually assessed
• 2800 website pages being redesigned and rebuilt
• 2400 website pages being migrated and held for future redesign
• 30 weeks of testing
• 15 specialists.

The new templates are flexible and modular, allowing a range of functionality and design options across the site. The new website has a powerful search tool that includes suggested terms and most popular searches. Additional features include a Defining Moments in Australian History timeline, audio on demand, Stories Explorer and a whole-of-Museum blog. The Museum’s redeveloped website was highly commended at the 2019 Museums Australasia Multimedia & Publication Design Awards.

Explore new ways of doing business

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

• Develop a ‘Stretch’ Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for the Museum.

OUR TARGETS

• Commence consultation.

WHAT WE ACHIEVED

• The RAP Working Group commenced consultation with internal stakeholders to develop a ‘Stretch’ RAP.

Analysis

The Museum’s RAP Working Group comprises the Director, Deputy Director, senior executive members, and staff from all divisions of the Museum, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people. During 2018–19, the RAP Working Group commenced consultation for the development of a ‘Stretch’ RAP to succeed the Museum’s ‘Innovate’ RAP.

The Museum’s ‘Stretch’ RAP will extend the Museum’s commitment to reconciliation by embedding reconciliation initiatives into business strategies over the longer term. The new RAP will set measurable targets and goals to ensure that reconciliation practices and activities become business as usual across the organisation. Targets will include making additional commitments to the Museum’s current activities, services, programs and relationships with stakeholders to advance reconciliation.

The Museum met with Reconciliation Australia in January 2019, and held meetings with members of the RAP Working Group on four occasions throughout the year, to discuss the Museum’s ‘Innovate’ RAP and plan for the development of the ‘Stretch’ RAP. These consultations reflected on the Museum’s unique position to tell the shared histories of all Australians.

The Museum’s report on existing RAP targets is in Part three: Reconciliation Action Plan.