After separating the majority of its IT services from the Australian Taxation Office, the ACNC is looking to upgrade its systems to integrate with its recently adopted Microsoft Office 365 and Azure platforms.
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is looking to undertake a Systems Upgrade Program to replace a handful of its business systems, and is seeking a provider to plan and manage an IT systems delivery project.
In a request for tender (RFT), the ACNC detailed the requirements for the upgrade, asking for the successful vendor to design a proposed system; configure and/or develop the software; implement the system; and integrate the solution with other ACNC systems being developed, including the iApply forms platform and the federal government’s Government Content Management System (govCMS).
It is also asking the vendor provide ongoing support in conjunction with the ACNC’s managed services provider, which is currently Data#3.
The ACNC is the independent national regulator of charities. Its roles include registering organisations as charities, providing them and the public with support and information, and maintaining a searchable public register so that anyone can look up information about registered charities.
It is currently working with state and territory governments, as well as individual federal, state, and territory government agencies, to develop a «report-once, use-often» reporting framework for charities.
«With a digital-by-default mandate, it is important the ACNC establish appropriate, fit for purpose and sustainable systems to achieve its objectives and deliver long-term efficiencies to best support the ACNC as the national regulator of the charity sector,» the commission wrote in the RFT.
The ACNC is asking for an online register, CMS, and associated forms and data; customer relationship management (CRM); content management; case management; workflow; as well as business analytics and reporting functionality.
The commission said it is open to have multiple service providers deliver its program, but they must implement the scope of work by June 30,2018.
The System Upgrade Program also includes the replacement of the online forms platform and the web content management system; however, the ACNC is engaging separate service providers.
The ACNC requires its core systems be developed on Microsoft technologies and add-ons, with the commission noting it currently uses Microsoft Office 365 and Azure, and Microsoft Office platforms.
The ACNC has recently separated the majority of its IT services from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and has adopted Microsoft Office 365 and Azure as its IT platform.
As explained in the RFT, the ACNC has a preference that all future business applications be implemented and maintained within this platform, apart from future software-as-a-service implementations.
Core Customer Relationship Management and CMS platforms are required to be developed using Microsoft Dynamics Online with «appropriate add-ons to provide a seamless integrated ecosystem for ACNC staff to work within».
«The ACNC currently subscribes to an E5 licence for Microsoft Office 365 which includes Power BI. Reporting from the System Upgrade Program solution should be enabled using this toolset,» the RFT states.
The ACNC intends to use GovCMS for its web content management system to be provided by a separate service provider and not as part of the tendered services. It also intends to use DWS iApply for its online forms platform to be provided by a separate service provider and not as part of this RFT.
With its systems upgrade, the ACNC wants to increase automation; increase embedded business processes; increase visibility, reliability, and quality of its information; and increase its process governance.
«Automation will increase with more business processes being embedded in the system(s),» the ACNC wrote.
The ACNC has transitioned all IT infrastructure and end-user computing capability into a dedicated network specifically built for the ACNC as part of a Cloud Hosting project. The scope of this project included the delivery of Microsoft Azure and Office365 cloud services; desktop, laptop and mobile devices; wired and wireless IT network within the Melbourne ACNC office; migration of existing IT infrastructure into Microsoft Azure; and SharePoint and OneDrive services for document management.
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