As Australia’s national agency responsible for maritime safety, protection of the marine environment and maritime aviation search and rescue, AMSA have many assets either stored and maintained by AMSA or contracted partners. These assets must be easily and quickly accounted for at all times.
Pragma partnered with AMSA to gain a better understanding of users and processes to implement a software package that would provide AMSA with the ability to monitor assets within its control. These assets included:
- Departmental non-financial Assets including land, buildings, plant and equipment, computer software, and inventories
- Technologies which supported Search and Rescue (SAR) response including ground stations, strategically located leased, contracted and owned aircraft and equipment, and the emergency towage vessel the Coral Knight
- Aids to Navigation (AtoNs) incorporates a range of systems to aid in the navigation of crafts around the Australian coastline including traditional lighthouses, beacons, buoys, radar transponder beacons (racons), and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS).
As a geographically and operationally diverse organisation, AMSA was looking to:
- Understand current the landscape of assets controlled by the department, their management,
- Define the user and department needs for an asset management solution,
- Determine current state processes across the organisation,
- Develop and document business and system requirements for an asset management tool.
Integrated into the project team, our Business Analyst, helped to launch the project internally within the Department by introducing many to the project’s goals and objectives for not only the Department as a whole but the individuals using the product every day.
Market research carried out and presented to the project steering committee, detailed available asset management products on their features, their ability to meet AMSA’s requirements and the strict system and data storage conditions of AMSA and the Australian Government. Our BA built a range of relationships with solution architects, possible vendors specialising in Asset management software and other Federal, State and Territory Government agencies who had recently put into practice an asset management product in similar size and complexity, to gain an understanding of the lessons learnt from their implementations. The knowledge gained in this research was used to create a Project Vision Statement that empowered the project steering committee and Division Heads to plan and manage the forthcoming tender process.
We played a critical leadership role on the project, conducting multiple research sessions and workshops with the stakeholders to understand, identify and document current AMSA assets, processes associated with asset and facility maintenance, asset purchase, asset movement, and deployment. The specifics disclosed in these sessions were used to produce detailed functional, non-functional and business requirements specifications that incorporated data analysis of existing AMSA assets, business process maps, reporting requirements for complex enterprise applications and systems while also providing an invaluable understanding into current frustrations experienced by staff and identifying future opportunities and improvements.
Our analyst broke with AMSA tradition and embedded themselves within the Corporate Services division at AMSA’s Nation Office in Canberra, who were the business owners of any new product and service, instead of within the ICT division where a BA would usually be situated. This simple act of changing location markedly improved the relationship between our analyst and the business users who perform asset and facility management tasks daily.Pragma established a range of best practice methods and techniques that are now used in day-to-day operations. By being on-site and heavily engaged in the early requirements elicitation activities, we were able to establish and build prospering relationships with and between stakeholders that have lasted long after our engagement has ended. We provided important insights into the department’s asset management processes, pain points, opportunities for improvement, culture and appetite for change. These insights played a major role in the initial design of the Department’s asset management solution.
