Defence

Chief Information Officer

Project EDEN: improving document management

The Challenges of Document Management

Have you ever wondered how long posting documents should be held for? Should you delete that unwanted email? How will you be able to read a document written in an old version of Word Perfect? Can you track down medical records from 1930?

Like all agencies, Defence has a legislative obligation for full, accurate, reliable, accessible and durable evidence of government activity by maintaining and providing access to its documents and records. When all records were paper-based this was fairly straightforward. With the wide use of computers and databases, essential evidence of government decisions and transactions is often kept on hard drives, in emails and shared folders that do not meet these requirements.

A more effective and streamlined approach is needed to rectify these problems.

Establishment of Project EDEN

The Defence Document and Record Management (DRM) Strategy of June-July 2004 addresses these challenges. This was sponsored by the Chief Information Officer Group and Corporate Services and Infrastructure Group (now Defence Support Group) following several independent audits within Defence. The Strategy agreed by the Secretary and Chief of the Defence Force recommended, among other things, that Defence should implement a corporately funded whole-of-Defence DRM Solution covering both physical and electronic documents and records.

Project EDEN was established to deliver this fresh start for document and records management across Defence.

EDEN Objective and Scope

The objective of EDEN is to provide a DRM solution that meets Defence's agency obligations under several Acts centred on record keeping and privacy. It will enhance the cost-effectiveness of Defence's business and operational information management, while providing a simple interface with a minimum of intervention required by users. In keeping with this objective, the Solution will:

• Assist Defence in moving towards a single mechanism for accessing all Defence documents and records across the Restricted, Secret and eventually Top Secret information technology networks, in both fixed and deployed environments.
• Be capable of holding and managing all documents and records within the Defence desktop and remote access environment. This includes tracking paper documents; holding Microsoft Office documents, email, Defence messages (e.g. cables and Defence 'signals'); Defence systems (e.g. personnel and finance); and content delivered through the Internet and intranet.
• Reliably maintain its performance while being able to grow to manage and support at least 100 000 users across 600 locations, including deployments on ships, overseas detachments and in operational environments.
• Facilitate through-life management and the ability to search all Defence documents and records across each network. This includes eventual archiving and disposal in accordance with defined policies.

Current Status

The tendering process to select a prime contractor commenced on 1 October 2005 and is anticipated to conclude by mid-2007. A number of evaluation working groups comprising personnel from interested Groups across Defence have been involved in the specification and evaluation process. These working groups are about to commence functional evaluation and technical qualification of the shortlisted vendors. In order to gain greater user exposure and feedback, a functional demonstration of the shortlisted vendor solutions will take place at locations around Australia during November and December. Tender evaluation will be completed in January 2007 and, given the appropriate approval to proceed, contract signature between Defence and the preferred Tenderer is planned by June 2007.

Implementation

Implementation of the solution will be managed incrementally (to reduce risk, rectify problems as they arise and facilitate service desk manageability) and take place across Defence between July 2007 and July 2009. It affects both the Restricted and Secret networks. This will be a cooperative effort with Defence representatives working alongside the Prime Contractor to ensure a successful rollout. This includes delivering change management, training, helpdesk and other services in addition to rollout of the system, data migration and through-life maintenance and support.

The solution is intended to provide the basic product, interfacing seamlessly with other applications on the Defence standard operating environment. This will either replace functionality like personal and network drives, or interface closely with the systems so that objects such as email are saved normally but held in the document management system. Stakeholder engagement along the way will be critical to the success of the project.

Further information regarding EDEN is available on the DRN at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/ciogweb/sites/ProjectEDEN/ or via email at: Project_EDEN@defence.gov.au.

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