The program will bring together Medicare, Centrelink and other welfare support agencies.
Formerly chief information officer for ANZ Bank's local operations, Mr Sterrenberg replaces retired CIO and Infrastructure head John Wadeson.
Department secretary Kathryn Campbell says the reform agenda will "make it easier for Australians to get the services they need in a way that suits their circumstances".
Medicare and Centrelink were merged into the Human Services department on July 1.
Labor has allocated $1.2 billion over four years to driving "significant improvements to government service delivery and generate significant efficiences" into the future.
"The department will develop a more agile system to manage the needs of government and citizens," Ms Campbell said in annual reports issued by the department and the two agencies.
"It will integrate and automate service delivery processes across the department to make them more efficient and simpler for people to use.
"The program will deliver more one-stop shops, more self-service and more support for people based on their individual needs.
"Behind the scenes, processes will be simplified to make people's interactions with government easier."
Integrating the ICT infrastructure will involve bringing the agencies' core infrastructures onto a single platform.
The superagency has more than 37,500 employees.
During 2010-11, the department focused on providing technical support for co-located offices, data centre consolidation, a new internet gateway and interconnectivity between the IT environments, and single email and intranet systems.
To aid broader self-service, it launched a single website and a single phone number; customers can locate information in line with their circumstances, rather than by agency.
The agency has been encouraging customers to sign up to its new "Connected Authentication" log-on, replacing access to separate services at Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support with one user ID and password.
Since January, 42,000 online customers have transferred to the unified registration.
Medicare continues its role as a government online service provider, operating the Small Business Superannuation Clearinghouse and various environmental programs on behalf of the Climate Change department.
It expanded its Health Professional Online Services capabilities, allowing medical provider access to practice incentives, financial management systems, patient verification information, and provider and organisation Healthcare Identifiers as well as a providers' directory.
Medicare was paid $11.2 million to deliver additional services and "operate" the Healthcare Identifiers service during the year, plus $7.2m for services under its contract with the National e-Health Transition Authority.
Medicare reports 85 substantiated cases of unauthorised staff access to online customer records during the year, up from 66 the previous year.
It investigated 163 complaints about the disclosure of personal information, but 60 were not upheld. A further 18 investigations are still underway.
Four complaints were lodged with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Centrelink added functionality to its Income Management systems, which is "a large application including fully automated system software to switch eligible customers on or off the program, staff-facing screens to support employees carrying out manual functions, and electronic interfaces with state and territory agencies also involved in administering" the scheme.
It built new systems to allow Parental Leave Pay to be paid by either the Family Assistance Office or by employers, as well as online claims lodgement.
Centrelink employees used mobile computing devices such as printers, scanners and smartphones along with GPS to provide payments and support during emergencies such as Tropical Cyclone Yasi, and the floods in Brisbane.
The agency reports 249 proven privacy breaches, down from 465 the previous year; 127 related to mailing errors, while there were eight instances of unauthorised disclosure, 46 storage and security breaches, and 32 disclosures due to a breakdown in procedures.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Karen Dearne
Quelle/Source: Australian IT, 24.10.2011
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
