Data glossary
This glossary provides definitions of the terms related to data collection for this site. It has been provided so that interested parties can quickly and easily check the terms as they encounter them.
Actual cost to date
All expenditure/costs incurred since the initiative was submitted for approval to proceed. If the initiative started years ago, then this value would equate to the sum of expenditure across those years.
Actual start date
The date the initiative has been given approval to proceed. This excludes any initiatives in start-up or concept stage.
Business area
The name of the business area within an agency that owns the initiative. An example for the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts would be the Science Delivery Division as the business area.
Date data current at
The date which the data is submitted/reported to the agency coordinator for publishing.
Explanation of variance
Provides further information as to why the initiative has a red or amber status.
Implementation partners
Internal and external partners formally engaged to assist in the delivery or implementation stage of an agency’s initiative(s). These partners will appear on a separate list located on the ICT dashboards sites.
An internal partner is defined as any Queensland Government business area formally engaged— e.g. through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or contract—to provide implementation goods and/or services to an agency. This may include an internal business unit within the agency itself. For example, CITEC supplying services to the Science Delivery Division within DSITIA.
An external partner is defined as any external organisation, including other state government, federal government and local government agencies and the private sector, formally engaged via contract to provide implementation goods and/or services to an agency (under a consulting or contracting arrangement).
The following criteria will be used to determine if/when a partner appears on the ICT dashboards published list:
Inclusions:
• the initiative is at delivery stage
Exclusions:
• sub-contractors engaged by the prime external partner
• organisations involved in pre-initiation, for example, engaged to develop a business case • organisations undertaking an assurance function
Important note: stakeholders are not implementation partners, i.e. internal or external
organisations with an interest in, or influence over, the program or project execution or outcome.
Initiative name
The full name of the initiative (excludes acronyms).
Initiative stage
For the purposes of this site only, initiative stage is defined as:
For a project: a management decision point within a project to assess viability of the project in relation to the project’s business case. The project board approves the project to proceed (and commits resources) only one stage at a time.
For a program: the program may be sub-divided into ‘tranches’ or identifiable stages. Each tranche provides a major review point at which the program can be formally assessed in terms of its progress.
Agencies may choose one of the following criteria to determine/identify the stage of their initiatives:
• initiate or active (in planning)—detailed planning for the initiative is underway
• delivery or active (in delivery)—the initiative’s documentation has been approved and the
initiative has started
• closed or completed—the project/program has delivered its outputs/outcomes,
respectively, and has closed
Investment objectives
An investment objective is defined as an organisational target that contributes to one or more of the drivers. Investment objectives should be a set of statements that define the required final outcome for the program or project. Each investment objective is likely to give rise to a number of benefits.
Number of times rebaselined (financials)
Number of times expenditure has been reviewed or changed since the start of the initiative as a direct result of changes impacting on cost. This number will be displayed in a range, as follows:
• < 3 times • 3 to 6 times • 7 to 10 times • > 10 times.
Number of times rebaselined (timeline)
Number of times expenditure has been reviewed or changed since the start of the initiative as a direct result of changes impacting on time. This number will be displayed in a range, as follows:
• < 3 times • 3 to 6 times • 7 to 10 times • > 10 times.
Original total estimated expenditure
The amount of expenditure initially approved in the original mandate, business case, etc.
Overall status
Highest red-amber-green (R-A-G) status level of all the elements, being time, cost, quality. For example, if the element timeframe is amber and the rest of the elements are green, then overall status is amber.
Cost
• Green—initiative is within budget tolerances
• Amber—anticipated that initiative will exceed tolerance levels for cost • Red—initiative has exceeded tolerance levels for cost at the initiative level
Timeframe
• Green—initiative is within timeframe tolerances
• Amber—anticipated that initiative will exceed tolerance levels for timeframe • Red—initiative has exceeded tolerance levels for timeframe at the initiative level
Quality
The type of initiative will determine what defines quality:
• If the initiative is a project—meets expectations or satisfies stated needs, requirements or
specification of the project’s outputs.
• If the initiative is a program—the outputs from its constituent projects are fit for purpose,
meet stakeholder requirements and will enable the organisation to realise the required benefits it seeks from the changed business capability.
Quality status is defined as:
• green—initiative is within quality tolerances
• amber—anticipated that initiative will exceed tolerance levels for quality • red—initiative has exceeded tolerance levels for quality at the initiative level.
Percentage (%) complete
Estimated proportion of the deliverables that have been completed at the time of submission. Project: % complete will be an accurate reflection of the current status of the project.
For example, the project is scheduled for a duration of 50 days. The assigned resources have been working on the project for 30 days. At the time of reporting the project calculates and reports that the project is 60% complete.
Program: % complete is the averaged completion rate of the number of projects forming the program.
For example, the program may consist of 5 projects. 4 out of 5 projects are on track and 90% complete. The last project has only just commenced and is 5% complete. At the time of reporting the program calculates and reports the program is 73% complete.
Planned end date
The scheduled end date that was identified and approved at the start of the initiative or has been since revised.
Priority
The priority of an initiative relative to all other initiatives as assigned by an agency. It cross-references the agency’s priority to a critical, high, medium or low level assessment:
• critical—mandatory initiatives essential to the delivery of Queensland Government
objectives, major legislative or ministerial requirements or major policy initiatives. In the event of failure, the consequence will have severe implications for delivery of services and outcomes to the public. For example: significant infrastructure requirements/complex data migration/extensive and/or complex links to internal/external systems.
• high—important initiatives but not essential to major legislative or policy initiatives, or
initiatives already resourced and realising benefits so the impact of reallocating resources would result in major wastage. In the event of failure, the consequence will have major but not severe implications for delivery of services and outcomes to the public.
• medium—initiatives have obtained relatively high attractiveness and achievability scores
but do not fall within the definition of critical or highly-desirable initiatives. If these
initiatives are already underway, they are yet to realise benefits and are in the early stages of planning.
• low—initiatives which improve business efficiency and management effectiveness but, in
themselves, do not sustain the business or provide any competitive advantage. Investment in these initiatives can usually be tolerated due to the lower cost of delivery. The business impact of failure to the organisation is low and the risk of failure is also low.
Revised total estimated expenditure
Revised total estimated expenditure planned for an initiative’s stage or for the initiative’s entirety, including all OPEX and CAPEX. If known, the cost should include all non-ICT elements, such as business resources, project management, business analysis, etc.
Other relevant terms
Activity
A process, function or task that occurs over time, has recognisable results and is managed. It is usually defined as part of a process or plan.
Assurance
An independent assessment and confirmation that:
• the initiative as a whole or any of its aspects are on track, applying relevant practices and
procedures
• the initiatives, activities and business rationale remain aligned to the initiative’s objectives.
Assurance reviews are not designed to replace an organisation’s responsibility and accountability for implementation and delivery of a program/project. They are intended to help manage risk and improve delivery confidence by supporting those responsible for successful delivery. They can also provide decision makers and stakeholders with the confidence that the initiative can be delivered effectively.
Independent assurance reviews occur at key decision points within the lifecycle of the program or project, which specifically address:
• the development and maintenance of a robust business case with milestones and
deliverables clearly articulated
• implementation planning and risk management challenges associated with competing
priorities and resources and capability
• the complexities and attendant risks, including those attached to cross-jurisdictional
responsibilities
• regulatory environments that may expose a program to failure if not properly identified
and managed
• governance, accountability and reporting requirements to ensure appropriate support and
oversight during implementation and delivery of outcomes and benefits and
• appropriate risk management analysis and the development of mitigation strategies.
Baseline
A snapshot, a position or situation that is recorded. Although the position may be updated later, the baseline remains unchanged and available as a reminder of the original state and as a comparison against the current position.
A baseline is used to measure how performance deviates from the plan. Performance measurement is only meaningful if you have an accurate baseline.
A project’s baseline, with regard to the ICT dashboards, is defined as the original scope, cost and schedule. The project’s baseline must be completely defined and documented before the project execution and control activities can begin.
Rebaselining
If any change is approved, as a result of a regular or ad-hoc review (assurance or health check), then a new baseline (known as the term rebaselined on this site) is redefined as the original plan plus the approved change.
For example, the revised baseline accelerates the project schedule and significantly reduces the project total lifecycle cost.
Any rebaseling to be undertaken requires approval by the appropriate governance channels.
Business as usual (BAU)
Business as usual typically relates to ongoing activities to operate and maintain the current ICT capability, including:
• monitoring, managing and operating the current ICT environment
• maintaining, applying patches, installing service packs, providing break-fixes, minor
enhancements and upgrades, replacing existing capability (e.g. desktop refresh) and provisioning redundancy (e.g. backup Telstra line) that does not significantly enhance the current ICT or business capability
• refreshing content on an intranet or internet website • changes to resourcing model to fulfil BAU activities
• procuring additional technology assets to meet business demand (e.g. increasing storage
capacity).
Health check
Like assurance, a health check is a snapshot of the status of a project or program to identify what is going well and what areas need improvement. Health checks are undertaken to see if the initiative is ready to progress to the next stage.
By undertaking a health check, organisations can not only avoid potential risk but also confirm that their initiative is on track to better deliver a successful outcome.
ICT-enabled initiative
ICT-enabled initiatives focus on delivering improvements to the way of doing business, using ICT as an element, such as a policy or service delivery outcome highly dependent on an underpinning ICT system.
Any initiative requiring information technology and/or communications technology to effect change and realise outputs, outcomes and/or benefits is considered ICT-enabled.
It is important to understand that there is a difference between an ICT initiative (technology) and an ICT-enabled initiative (business transformation):
• ICT initiatives are totally focussed on ICT to support the business and ‘keep the lights on’,
e.g. upgrading a server, replacement of a fleet of computer desktops, ipads or mobile phones.
• ICT-enabled initiatives transform the way of doing business, e.g. the migration of an
organisation’s data currently hosted on an internal central network to cloud technology.
Initiative
Specific programs or projects undertaken to achieve an organisation’s objectives in the near term, such as:
• reduce cost
• increase efficiency
• improve operational performance.
They involve fundamental change to strategy, structure, systems and culture.
Initiative’s lifecycle
The term used to define the period from the start-up of an initiative to the handover of the finished product to those who will operate and maintain it.
Portfolio
The totality of an organisation’s investment (or segment thereof) in the changes required to achieve its strategic objectives.
Portfolios are permanent structures continually changing, prioritising and aligning to an organisation's strategic objectives.
A portfolio may comprise a number of programs, stand-alone projects and other initiatives that achieve congruence of change, a group of organisations or an organisational unit.
Product
In the context of this site, product refers to the delivery of something—an output. It may be either:
• tangible—have the ability to be touched, e.g. software CD, a computer, printed book • intangible—may have value but is not a physical object, e.g. digital files, downloaded video
games, music (however, if a person burns the files to a CD or DVD then he/she has created a tangible product from an initially intangible good).
Program
Programs initiate, monitor and align the projects and related activities that are needed to create new products (outputs or deliverables) or service capabilities, or to change the business
operations.
The projects will deliver and implement the required outputs into business operations until the full benefits (measurable improvement resulting from an outcome) of the program can be finally realised.
During a program lifecycle, projects are initiated, executed and closed. Programs provide the umbrella under which these projects can be coordinated. The program integrates the projects so that it can deliver an outcome greater than the sum of its parts.
Programs are temporary, flexible organisations by nature. However they are major undertakings for most organisations as they inevitably will mean significant funding and substantial change for the organisation and individuals involved.
Project
Projects are the way we introduce business change, and project work entails a higher degree of risk than other business activity.
Under an ICT portfolio, projects are undertaken for development, modernisation, enhancement, disposal, or maintenance of an ICT asset.
Projects:
• have a clearly defined start and end time • have a structured set of activities and tasks • have a budget and a specified business case
• are developed to achieve a unique and well-defined product, service, goal or objective or
deliver well defined benefits and is managed according to a specific project management methodology.
Like programs, projects are temporary by nature. Once the desired change has been implemented, business as usual resumes (in its new form) and the need for the project is removed.
Tolerance
A permissible deviation above and below a plan’s estimate of time and cost without escalating the deviation to the next level of management.
Separate tolerance figures should be given for time and cost. There may also be tolerance levels for quality, scope, benefit and risk.
