Primary Industries and Resources South Australia

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Fujitsu vs Disparate Information Systems

Economic development agencies require increasing focus on the sustainable utilisation of natural and industrial resources through enhanced value chains.

Primary Industries and Resources South Australia (PIRSA) is a dynamic agency committed to the economic development of the State and the sustainable use of its food, fibre and mineral resources. To better support and guide its skills and expertise in planning and ongoing monitoring activities, it needed to replace 23 disparate information systems with a single integrated information management system.

Primary Industries Information Management Systems (PIIMS)

PIRSA chose Fujitsu as its partner in defining the business requirements and design, and progressively developing and deploying the solution – the Primary Industries Information Management System (PIIMS).

PIIMS provides PIRSA with a single geospatial reference system for the registration, management and monitoring of all resource types. Key activities supported by the system include:

• Land ownership and usage registration
• Disease outbreak and control
• Livestock tagging and tracking through the value chain
• Monitoring of rural chemical usage
• Support for Fisheries and Aquaculture industries
• Licensing and associated financial processes

The Results

PIRSA now has a single system to manage natural, industrial and community assets.

Significant improvements have been demonstrated in the identification and impact, supported by geospatial representation and mapping, leading to improved response planning and disease containment.

Greater visibility, management and control provided by PIIMS ensure that the sustainability of South Australia’s key resources is greatly enhanced.

“Fujitsu has proven an ideal fit for our organisation. They rapidly built a close rapport with our business and technical staff. Their flexibility and agility using a Joint Application Design approach enabled us to get the outcomes we needed for our business” – Stephen Woolford, Director, Information Management, PIRSA

Our Experience

Key factors in Fujitsu’s selection for the work were our expertise, experience and proven track record in complex analysis and development.

A diverse range of skills were needed, from consultancy and analysis, to systems development, technical integration and project management. The range of technologies employed was broad as well, and include Java, DHTML, PL/SQL, ESRI ArcIMS and Crystal Reports.

Fujitsu’s Australian Application Solutions Centre – based in Adelaide - delivered the skills and experience needed to successfully develop the PIIMS solution and then transition it into ongoing service for PIRSA.

Our Approach

Given South Australia’s large geography, and the remote responsibilities of key PIRSA personnel, Fujitsu recognised early in the project that system delivery activities would need to be highly tailored to overcome constraints on client interaction.

An agile development approach using “time-boxed” development phases was used in favour of more traditional “waterfall” approaches. This involved developing initial prototypes that were progressively elaborated, within strict time constraints, towards a final implementation.

The project was also phased across the individual business units within PIRSA over time, starting with Animal Health, with subsequent phases addressing Rural Chemicals, Financials and Aquaculture and Fisheries.