Improved services through systems - the Change Program

Have lessons been learned?

Yes.

Lessons from the past have been salutary. The ATO had seen in the past that maintaining business-as-usual while implementing change was disruptive. It adopted a 'transition approach' this time to manage risks to business and minimise disruptions.

'Change programs at the ATO in the past have encountered difficulties in continuing to administer business-as-usual while simultaneously implementing the required changes. The result has often been disruption to business-as-usual combined with incomplete realisation of the benefits expected from the change. This disruption can persist for several years in the form of manual work-arounds and becomes ingrained into work practices and habits.'

ATO/Accenture ⁹

Choosing the optimum time to introduce change is difficult, even outside peak periods when the ongoing workload of business-as usual still needs to be handled. Core strategies were adopted to avoid that sort of disruption: testing, data conversion and transition, deployment and development.¹⁰

The first releases of the Change Program showed that business systems users needed to be allowed enough time to develop confidence working with the changes being introduced.

We also recognise the need to lockdown design earlier and confirm dates for deployment once design work is complete. Active engagement on the part of business at all stages helps manage the transition while ensuring business requirements are delivered.

The income tax release will see the implementation of a parallel run, after testing has been completed, when large numbers and transactions which have been previously processed in our legacy systems are also processed using a production-like version of the new ICP system in a secure, non-invasive to client test environment to ensure it works from a client perspective.

Administration of the ATO Change Program continues to be dependent on:

• sound governance and project management for the overall program of work, including active involvement of the business owners
• a strategic focus on improving organisational efficiency and effectiveness
• continued concentration on reaching agreement on design as soon as possible, and
• active steps to realise benefits.