Online system for managing Cabinet decision making process

Wednesday, 18 November 2015, 11:16 am
Press Release: Catalyst IT

New online system for managing Cabinet decision making process

November 18, 2015

Government modernises paper-based Cabinet process with an online application.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) launched CabNet in August, initially for use by the Cabinet Office. The system is now progressively being rolled out to the approximately 3000 people in 28 Ministers’ offices and 47 agencies across the state sector who work with Cabinet material.

CabNet is a secure, online system for managing papers through the Cabinet and Cabinet committee decision-making process.

“CabNet provides for easier, secure access to Cabinet material for authorised users, reduces the time processing and disseminating papers and decisions, and delivers a single, authoritative electronic source of Cabinet information,” said Michael Webster, Secretary of the Cabinet.

In addition to the lodgement of Cabinet papers, the system supports automated workflows for meeting administration and the generation of Cabinet related materials.

DPMC partnered with Catalyst to deliver the system, using the open source document management solution Alfresco.

The system also includes a mobile app, CabDocs, for Ministers to view papers for upcoming Cabinet and Cabinet committee meetings.

Catalyst worked closely with DPMC staff using an Agile project management approach. Working software was put in front of DPMC and Ministerial staff every two weeks to ensure that the system was tailored to meet the demands of the people that will use it day-to-day.

“Building software that is co-designed with the eventual users of the application is the foundation for successful IT projects. With a system as complex as this one, it was critical that a wide range of officials were regularly providing feedback and direction on the development.

“DPMC set exceedingly high standards for the work it does and to work closely with them and see this project succeed is extremely gratifying for all of our staff who were involved,” said Catalyst director, Mike O'Connor.

DPMC are the latest in a long list of public sector organisation to successfully partner with Catalyst to deliver secure, robust and user-friendly IT systems that are built on open source software. This delivers significant benefits to the agencies, including the ability to customise the software to meet their needs and with no licensing costs for the taxpayer.

ENDS

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