The Department had to be able to receive requests for travel through a web from, or via the call centre. Departmental resources needed to be able to process a case through a workflow to resolve cases and notify applications of the outcome of the case. This included recording activities related to contacting the applicant, booking travel, and potentially liaising with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or consulate staff.

Pragma was engaged by DHA to quickly build the service that would allow applicants to seek support from the Department to be repatriated to their home nation. The expected case volume was over 10,000 within the first week.

Pragma used a rapid implementation approach to ensure the solution was ready for production within the five-day timeframe.

To achieve the requirements of repatriation system, Pragma designed a solution architecture and lead the implementation of Dynamics 365 for Customer Service, sitting within the Microsoft Power Platform. Extending from the Dynamics 365 Customer Service application, a custom model driven Power App was developed to provide a simple to user interface to meet the immediate needs of the system. In addition to the Power Platform, Microsoft Azure components were utilised to achieve User Identity Management, Security, and Integration.

Pragma also built the front-end web form to enable applicants to apply, and configured the API to integrate with the Dynamics instance. The form used Australian Government Design System components to incorporate the highest usability and accessibility standards, and to ensure a consistent user experience.

Ongoing support arrangements for the solution were also defined and agreed upon. Following the initial Implementation, Pragma created a transition plan for a post go-live enhancement sprint. This included the training of users as required, and depending on service requirements, additional production releases to the solution.