2. VPS Innovation Challenge
The VPS Innovation Challenge 2011 was an opportunity for all
VPS members to put forward ideas to tackle specific public
policy or service delivery challenges.
Judges
Jonathan Spear
Department of Premier and Cabinet
Sarah-Jane McCormack
Department of Sustainability and Environment
Amanda Caples
Department of Business and Innovation
Maria Katsonis
Department of Premier and Cabinet
3. 1
Secretary’s foreword
In the Victorian Public Service (VPS), we have always looked
for new approaches to improve the way we work and respond
to the needs of the Victorian community. Today we face many
complex and interlinked challenges that require new ways of
thinking and new approaches to solve them. We need to do
more with less and meet the rising expectations of citizens.
We cannot do this with existing approaches. That is why public
sector innovation has been and remains a strategic priority for
the VPS. Innovation is a core capability of the VPS and in 2010,
I launched a VPS Innovation Action Plan that was endorsed
by all departmental secretaries. One of the flagship initiatives
under the action plan is the VPS Innovation Challenge. It aimed
to harness the talent in the VPS by seeking ideas to address
public policy and service delivery issues.
The challenge was issued across the whole of the Victorian
Government and was a resounding success. It attracted 136
entries with diverse and broad-ranging ideas. The standard of
entries was very high which made judging difficult.
It was pleasing to see that all departments were well
represented by entrants and several agencies also
participated. Some entries involved collaboration between
two or more departments and agencies, or across levels of
government which was particularly pleasing to see. Public
sector innovation comes from working across disciplines,
across departments, across levels of government and
across sectors.
On behalf of the other secretaries, I congratulate all the
entrants, the finalists and the winners.
Helen Silver
Secretary
Department of Premier and Cabinet
vps
innovation
challenge
4. 2
Introduction
The Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet
(DPC) launched the VPS Innovation Challenge in March 2011.
The challenge gave every member of the VPS the opportunity
to voice their ideas on how to tackle public policy and service
delivery challenges.
There were two categories in the challenge:
The Open Challenge
Any good idea however big or small that would enable the
VPS to do better in areas such as:
›› a specific public policy area (e.g. population growth,
climate variability, aging or education)
›› the way in which the VPS works (e.g .better recruitment,
more efficient procurement or more effective engagement).
The Secretary’s Challenge
The DPC Secretary sought ideas on three specific policy issues:
›› How can VPS workforce and resources be used to provide
better approaches to service delivery?
›› How can the VPS tap into the potential of people and
communities in designing and delivering services?
›› How can we build a more effective relationship with
local government?
The challenge was run entirely on the VPS Hub, the whole-
of-government intranet that is a social media platform for
collaboration across government. Ideas were immediately
visible as soon as they were posted, providing a high degree
of transparency.
After the closing date, members from the VPS Innovation
Advisory Group assessed the submitted entries and selected
a short list. The shortlisted entries were then given the
equivalent of five days off-line to develop a detailed business
case or feasibility study for their idea. The completed business
cases were again posted on the VPS Hub and assessed by the
judging panel for the Judges Award. There was also a Peer
Award which was voted by their peers across the VPS through
the VPS Hub.
vps
innovation
challenge
intro
5. 3
VPS Innovation Challenge timetable
1 March VPS Innovation Challenge launched by Helen Silver, DPC Secretary
31 March Entries closed
7 April Short-listed finalists announced
19 April Short-listed finalists received training on business case preparation
9 May Feasibility studies and business cases submitted
9-27 May Peer voting opened on the VPS Hub
30 May Winners announced
8 June Winners presented to the DPC Secretary and other secretaries
vps
innovation
challenge
6. 4
Emerging themes
The major themes emerging from the
entries were:
›› focus on the citizen
›› whole-of-government collaboration
›› social inclusion
›› greater use of Web 2.0 technologies
›› VPS employee health and wellbeing
›› attracting, managing and retraining
talented people
›› improving internal processes.
Open Challenge
Secretary’s Challenge
Analysis of entries by broad themes
vps
innovation
challenge
Employeehealth
andwellbeingWoVG
Citizenfocus
Internal
administration
VPSattraction,
retensionand
talentmanagement
Socialinclusion
Local
government
Health
Miscellaneous
Transport
Knowlege
management
Urbanplanning
anddesign
VPSattraction
Socialinclusion
Internal
administration
Citizenfocus
WoVG
Miscellaneous
MajorProjects
Innovation
Knowledge
management
Energyefficient
Transport
Asiafocus
Education
Health
Urbanplaning
anddevelopment
0
0
2
2
4
4
6
6
8
8
10
10
12
12
7. 5
Open Challenge
Winner – Judges Award
Sustainability Guidelines for Major Public Capital Works
Ashley Admiraal, Rod McLellan, Lucy Carrigg, Andrew
McKinley, Zorana Zanoskar, Nicole Opie, Jeremy Gronow,
Penny Blunden and Melissa Clark (Department of Business
and Innovation)
The Victorian Government’s capital works program involves
diverse projects such as public housing, arts and sports
facilities, prisons, schools, road and rail, parks and zoological
gardens. As there are no applicable Ecologically Sustainable
Development (ESD) guidelines for project owners and
managers in government, agencies develop guidelines on a
project-by-project basis resulting in variable performance in
the delivery of ESD outcomes.
The development of whole-of-Victorian-Government ESD
guidelines would establish consistency and incorporate greater
use of ESD in capital projects and contribute to:
›› lower environmental impact for capital projects
›› better value for money for government over the life
cycle of capital assets
›› the VPS leading the way for other governments
›› Victoria’s sustainability agenda through positive spill-overs.
Winner – Peer Award
Victoria-Asia Unit: Growing an Asia-literate Victoria
Joel Backwell (Department of Premier and Cabinet),
Julien Leyre and Amelia Fyfield (Department of
Primary Industries)
A dedicated Victoria-Asia unit would bring a coordinated and
systematic approach to positioning Victoria in connecting
with and prospering from opportunities arising in Asia.
The unit would improve our Asia literacy by focusing on
educating the next generation, Victorian business and the
Victorian Government.
The Victoria-Asia Unit would involve cross agency staff from
the departments of Premier and Cabinet, Business and
Innovation, Education and Early Childhood Development and
the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship to develop
an Asia Ready Workforce Strategy. The unit will harness the
untapped Asia knowledge and expertise across the VPS and
the wider community to better co-ordinate existing initiatives
and develop new policies and programs to build and maintain
an Asia-ready Victoria.
The unit adopted a multi-faceted approach that would be
mutually reinforcing. It has the potential to realise economic
and social benefits for Victoria.
challenge
open
engageing
8. 6
Finalist – Customer First
Rod Holland, Darrel Wollensack and Michael Oldaker
(State Revenue Office)
Approaching service delivery from the citizen’s point of view,
Customer First would engage Victorian citizens and give them
an opportunity to express their opinions regarding service
delivery. By having a greater understanding of the needs and
concerns of citizens, a platform for change would be created
that would facilitate:
›› improving voluntary compliance by improving citizen
knowledge and acceptance of their land tax obligations
›› reduction in compliance costs (red tape) for citizens
›› improving assessments, forms and publications to better
suit citizens’ needs.
Finalist – Emerging Futures
Art Truter and Neil Houghton
(Department of Planning and Community Development)
Emerging Futures would put citizens in the centre by engaging
with the community on challenges to encourage collaboration
between government and the community. Emerging Futures
is a portal that would open up to a growing segment of the
population that is both internet-aware and social media smart.
By asking a series of questions around matters of interest
such as “Where will you live?” “Where will you work?” “What
values do you think should drive our futures?” Emerging
Futures would allow individuals to respond in many ways that
allow the VPS to find out what is important to Victorians and
provoke discussion and conversation around these ideas.
Finalist – Major Project Review Board
Fiona Prowse (Department of Premier and Cabinet)
The Major Project Review Board would be an independent
body that reviews completed major projects, allowing the VPS
to strengthen governance and decision making around major
projects. The board will mandate a post-implementation review
of all major projects and significant government projects.
By evaluating projects that hold strategic significance, the
board will be able to develop a greater understanding of project
management in a Victorian context and feed key learnings into
future projects.
Secondary benefits of the board would include strengthened
VPS capacity and internal relations due its cross collaborate
nature and increased community faith that will enable new
projects to be approved and existing ones to be supported by
the public.
challenge
open
9. 7
Winner – Judges Award
Enhanced operational decision making for service delivery
to complex clients
Stephen Graham (Department of Human Services)
A small proportion of clients may consume the majority of
service-delivery resources. They are complex clients and may
receive services from a range of departments and agencies
(e.g. youth justice, drug and alcohol treatment, mental health,
housing and disability).
Often navigating a wide range of services unaided, they continue
to present and can add to intergenerational demand on these
services. To help break this cycle we need to know what happens
to them in an operational setting and get enough information to
tailor services to help them.
Enhanced Operational Decision-making is an integrated reporting
solution, using data warehouses across departments and
agencies to get more comprehensive information about complex
clients. It would promote better outcomes for complex clients
by allowing service providers to get the information they need to
focus appropriate expertise, make better informed decisions and
intervene early to head off any intergenerational issues.
Using this client centred approach, providers can manage
clients to a point where they can exit the system and not have
a long-term need for such services.
Enhanced Operational Decision-making will mean fewer
services to clients are duplicated, more efficient use of funds
and resources, better use of specialists and caseworker
expertise and, with a client focus, an improved perception of
government service.
Winner – Peer Award
People Plus and MindLab-in-a-Box
Celia Pollard (Transport Ticketing Authority),
Christian O’Dea (Department Of Justice), Leonie Newnham
(Department of Sustainability and Environment),
Neil Houghton (Department of Planning and Community
Development), Harry Buskes (Department of Business
and Innovation)
Today’s public servant is facing an unprecedented array of
complex social, environmental and economic policy issues,
together with the changing community expectations of public
services and the government. The aim of People Plus and
MindLab-in-a-Box is to create a more agile public service that
is at the leading edge of public policy thinking and service
delivery design. This idea proposes two complementary
elements in a cross-departmental proposal that would embed
innovation as a systematic discipline in the VPS.
Members of the VPS would be used to develop a new unit
that has a mobile innovation capability (MindLab in-a-Box)
as well as an internal consulting agency (People Plus) that
would comprise of public servants using design principles to
challenge
secretary’s
Secretary’s Challenge
10. 8
assist public policy decision-makers. The unit would create a
dynamic VPS workforce that would deliver better public sector
management and service delivery, and also bring in members
of the community to collaborate on new solutions.
Finalist – @ur.service
Murali Maheswaran (State Revenue Office)
One call. One click. One window into local government.
By creating a single citizen interface with local government,
@ur.service would streamline service phone numbers and
online portals across local government by consolidating call
centres, dispatch, job tracking and data capture services.
By providing a ‘one-click, one-call’ system similar to the
311 service currently in place in Baltimore, USA, the Victorian
Government would improve operational efficiency and provide
a one-stop shop for citizens.
Through a thorough exploration of the current research and
findings from similar systems in place, @ur.service would
provide continuous service improvement through rigorous
evaluation and follow-up. By allowing the Victorian Government
to collect detailed data with job tracking information and real-
time monitoring of citizens needs, valuable information would
be gathered to assist when planning future services
and applications.
Finalist – Connecting Government
Services to the Community
Patrick Ow (Department of Health)
This idea aims to connect government services to the
community by creating an interactive online directory.
The directory would include events, activities, providers and
services grouped by postcodes and municipalities that will
combine information offered by community service providers in
the 3,160 postcode locations across Victoria. The information
would be compiled into a format that would allow members
of the public to view, search and connect with their required
services and providers through a centralised community
services portal.
The portal would also allow organisations to collect donations
and volunteer participation by implementing a secure online
payment gateway to connect Community Service Providers
with volunteers and private benefactors. The Community
Services Portal would allow information to be collected to
help make informed decisions about resource allocation and
funding to the areas and services on a needs basis.
The Portal would encourage document and information
sharing, collaboration and interaction between the
Government, Community Service Providers and citizens.
challenge
secretary’s
ideas
11. 9
Finalist – State/Local Government
Exchange Program
Leonie Newnham and Ben Schofield
(Department of Sustainability and Environment)
A State and Local Government Workforce Exchange Program
would enable people working in interconnected systems of
government to understand each system better and develop
strategic thinking skills. The program would deliver better
government services by:
›› creating a systematic approach to develop staff, and
assisting local and state government agencies in
understanding the work that each sector does
›› actively building skills and relationships across
the two sectors
›› building capacity and collaboration in a consistent and
strategic way
›› creating a cohort of cross-sectoral experts available to tackle
difficult and complex problems at both levels of government
›› undertaking system-wide activity across sectors in a way not
done before
›› setting up workplace projects and looking at workplace
problems differently using a fresh set of eyes.
The exchange would allow knowledge transfer and
relationship building between sectors by connecting
the VPS with local government.
challenge
secretary’s
challenge
s
12. 10
Aaron Sweet
Alasdair Moodie
Alex Kusmanoff
Alexandra Links
Alfie Oliva
Amanda Finnis
Amanda Wells
Amber Elliot
Amelia Fyfield
Amit Golder
Andrew McKinley
Art Truter
Asa Letourneau
Ashley Admiraal
Barry Denham
Becky Sharpe
Ben Schofield
Ben Tan
Bertan Mackali
Bethany Johnson
Brenda Petersen
Byron Thompson
Cathy Lipke
Celia Pollard
Cheryl Hardy
Chris Brougham
Christiaan O’Dea
Christine Hooper
Christine Pappon
Claire Pritchard
Claire Stonier-
kipen
Clare Gleghorn
Clare Moran
Craig Whiteford
Dale Ahern
Darrell Wollensack
Darren Rooth
David
Haubenschild
Deborah Parker
Deborah Westfield
Despina Babbage
Despina
Poursanidis
Dr Iain
Butterworth
Drew Grant
Eddie Dolceamore
Emma Coath
Eva Hamilton
Faye Schmidt
Fi Xuereb
Fiona Prowse
Frank Lavorico
Frankie
MacLennan
George Peters
Georgie Foster
Gerard Van
Emmerik
Gerardine
O’Sullivan
Grant Arnold
Harold Adem
Harry Buskes
Ian Bridger
Ilona Nicola
Jacqueline
Le Grand-Condello
James Baird
James Dennis
Jayne Cole
Jeff Moran
Jeremy Gronow
Jeremy Moloney
Jess Strickland
Jo Beth Taylor
Joel Backwell
John Armstrong
John Barker
John Cheevers
John Jones
John Kaye
John Kennedy
John Lim
John Malligan
Julianna Balogh
Julie Francis
Julie Jensen
Julien Leyre
Justin Gehde
Keelie Reader
Kellie Fixter
Kelly Zuccala
Kim Selling
Kris Faulks
Kylie Shanahan
Laura Walsh
Lauren Fearne
Laurie Hawkins
Leesa Willan
Leonie Newnham
Liana Shi
Lisha Constantino
Louise Osborne
Lucy Carrigg
Luke Horwill
Lyn Malone
Lyneve Whiting
Lynne Allan
Madeleine Owen
Marc Bradley
Mark Hamilton-
Smith
Mark Lim
Mark Malkoun
Mark Meade
Martin Botros
Martin Butcher
Matthew Payne
Max Coffman
Melissa Kramer
Michael Kennedy
Michael McKenzie
Michael Oldaker
Michael Walker
Michaella Richards
Michelle
Goldsmith
Michelle Wells
Murali
Maheswaran
Nardia Smits
Natasha Ilievska
Neil E Welsh
Neil Houghton
Nicole Opie
Patrick Ow
Paul Beavis
Pen Fisher
Peter Gutbier
Peter Heazlewood
Peter Morison
Peter Sculley
Philippa Nihill
Richard Chapman
Richard Pang
Richard Woodman
Rod Holland
Rod McClellan
Rose Broadstock
Rosie Pitman
Ryan Thomas
Sam Ridley
Sarah Langmore
Scott Rawlings
Sean Shiels
Simon
Blankenstein
Simon Pianta
Sophie Patten
Stacey Chapman
Stefan Hladenki
Stephen Graham
Susan Green
Tania Sherwood
Tim Fry
Tim Marshall
Tony Mohorovic
Tracey Matters
Tracie Martin
Vanessa Scott
Vesna
Penjin-Marjanovic
Viviana Golding
William Yu
Zorana Zanoskar
We would like to acknowledge everyone who submitted an entry to the
challenge for their time, effort and for contributing to the success of the project.
Contributors
14. opIdeas
better
outcomes
reating
publicvalue If you would like to receive this publication in an
accessible format, such as large print or audio,
please telephone 9651 5135. This document is also
available in an accessible format on the
Internet at www.intranet.vic.gov.au.
Department of Premier and Cabinet
1 Treasury Place, Melbourne 3002
Published September 2011
Design and production
Strategic Communications Branch,
Department of Premier and Cabinet
