IBM to overhaul DIMA’s system

Following a number of public embarrassments the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) has appointed IBM to overhaul its record management systems.

DIMA has selected a consortium, led by IBM, to implement a new management system worth $495 million over a four year period. Other consortium members include Microsoft, Oracle and Siebel, Tibco, and local companies RuleBurst and Apis Consulting.

The new system, ‘Systems for People’, was launched in response to a number of high-profile administrative scandals, Andrew Robb MP, Parliamenty Secretary to the Minister for Imigration and Multicultural Affairs, said.

These included the Cornelia Rau affair detailed in the Palmer Report and the Vivian Alvarez affair detailed in the Comrie Report.

“In the past we had disparate databases so if the department had to search the records of a person we would have to go through several different databases," Robb said. "As in the case of Rau and Alvarez, information got lost amongst the many databases.”

This change would enable access to the Department's contact data and give staff a single view of all dealings with any client, he said.

According to Robb the selection process was extremely competitive - starting with 11 vendors in September - before narrowing down to IBM.

“Of the five vendors, we narrowed it to down to three, IBM, Accenture and CSC. IBM won because DIMA determined it offered the best value-for-money technology solution and services,” he said.