Department of Finance to deploy new cloud-based collaboration suite

The Department of Finance has selected Data#3 to deploy a cloud-based file sharing and community collaboration suite.

Based on Microsoft Azure and Office 365, the customised cloud service will replace the department’s Govdex whole-of-government platform, which has 90,000 users registered since it was established in 2006.

Around 18,000 users actively use the system in any three-month period and work across more than 6,000 groups, including all levels of government, educational institutions, not-for-profit organisations and the private sector.

The existing system lets users share files, send and receive blogs, create and manage discussion groups and tasks, issues and projects. In a December 2016 blog post, John Sheridan, CIO at the Department of Finance, said online file sharing and collaboration had evolved significantly since Govdex’s launch.

New functions such as social networking, group conferencing, instant messaging, crowdsourcing, file syncing, and real-time co-authoring of documents are now commonplace, he said.

“Collaboration has evolved to the point where Govdex must now change significantly to meet user expectations,” he said at the time.

In a new blog post, Sheridan said the cloud service will provide government staff and industry partners with a “modern collaboration environment through which they can interact, and coordinate work efforts, seamlessly, across organisational and geographic boundaries.”

“This will help drive public sector productivity and innovation,” he said.

Core capabilities of the replacement include the introduction of real time collaboration, online profiles, and discoverable communities, he said.

Data#3 said the ‘trusted’ cloud service will also deliver cost savings to participating agencies through coordinating government activities and providing economies of scale.

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