Case study AU: Transforming VAILO Adelaide 500 ticketing
How Canon Business Services Australia helped transform the VAILO Adelaide 500 ticketing for corporate clients with modern applications and built in security.
More Australians are at risk of serious harm from family and domestic violence than ever before, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Exacerbated in part by the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, these crimes increased by 12% in 2020 alone.
The South Australian Government’s Family Safety Framework (FSF) was implemented in 2013 to provide a coordinated cross-agency, cross-sector service response to at-risk women and children. Unfortunately, the Framework’s initial paper-based processes and Excel-spreadsheet-managed systems were not sustainable, impacting both the delivery of services and the protection of victims.
To identify specific opportunities to drive efficiency through digital transformation, the South Australian Government Department of Human Services (DHS) brought in Satalyst—a leading Microsoft cloud partner, now part of Canon Business Services ANZ (CBS)—to develop a comprehensive Domestic Violence Management Solution that would improve outcomes for the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
To resolve these and other challenges, Satalyst designed and built a unified, 360-degree-view, Domestic Violence Management Solution that could track both victims and offenders, in addition to enabling data input and collaboration across services, sectors, and workforces in a structured and secure way.
These outcomes were achieved using Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Azure, Custom Web Apps, and Power Apps across a series of discrete modules, including:
• A web-based, self-service Family Support Portal
• A community portal for support agency workers
• A fully digitised case management system with enhanced reporting capabilities for various stakeholders
Across these modules, Dynamics 365 Customer Service captures and stores the service-specific information required by the FSM Committee. All information and documentation initiated at the Risk Assessment and Referral can then be entered directly into Dynamics 365, which sits on the Microsoft Dataverse and securely stores the data.
As a result, Domestic Violence Management Solution Officers are now able to manage data via Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, run reports that create documents associated with RAs and Referrals, and coordinate with FSM chairs to conduct any necessary meetings.
Then, any Positive Action Plans, meeting minutes, or follow-up actions that arise from these meetings can be communicated back to the Officers as updated or newly-created documents, which are stored in Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM against their respective Referrals.
Within Dataverse, custom tables specific to the domestic violence case management scenario are created and populated with data from Dynamics 365 and other sources using Power Query. Power Platform services draw on this central data store to create and run apps, flows, and intelligent agents, avoiding the need for a third-party integration to unify data.
As the Solution is fully adopted—and as more data is captured through its ongoing usage—DHS will be able to use Power BI and other technologies to produce more advanced analytics and reporting to further improve victim outcomes.
Given the sensitive nature of the data being shared, security was a top priority for the Solution. Across each module, Microsoft platform services and security best practices protect the system’s highly sensitive and confidential information while fully digitising what was formerly a bureaucratic and intensive manual process.
Dynamics 365 and Azure Active Directory Identity and Access Management (IAM) mechanisms enable role-based and record-based security, limiting users’ access to the level required to do their jobs. User identities are validated by Azure Active Directory and multi-factor authentication, while limitations on print privileges and screen timeouts also help protect confidential information.
Additional security controls within the modules support more granular data-sharing. Individual users and teams to be granted access to records they don’t own on an as-needed basis, in order to facilitate specified, collaborative efforts while still preventing unauthorised access to records.
By creating a centralised source of information, digitising resources, and automating processes, the Domestic Violence Management Solution enables new self-service functionality, reporting capabilities, enhanced security protocols, and interactive dashboards that give the Department’s key users a clear and detailed overview of current cases.
Furthermore, because the Solution leverages Microsoft’s modular platform services and cloud-native technology, less custom coding is required. Consequently, DHS gains both flexibility and future integration opportunities with other Microsoft-based solutions as it scales.
Yet apart from this newfound efficiency and security, the most important impact of the Solution is the difference it makes for family and domestic violence victims. By facilitating better information sharing about high-risk families, the new modules enable agencies to provide more streamlined, collaborative assistance that makes a difference in the lives of vulnerable residents.
To see how a similar digital transformation initiative could support your organisation’s objectives, contact Canon’s expert team of IT specialists.
