Get with the policy, events office tells staff

The organisation coordinates special events such as official visits and public service awards for the NSW Premier's department, and employs some 100-150 staff (including casuals for individual events).

The new solution is designed to ensure all staff are up to date on all of OPSE's operational policies, as well as information specific to each event the organisation manages.

The office's director of business development and communication Christopher Sullivan said in an e-mail interview with ZDNet Australia the solution would replace paper-based and other primitive online solutions.

"Prior to adopting PolicyPoint, OPSE relied on individual staff updating hardcopy procedural manuals, or sifting through a range of online services to find the information they needed," he said. "The accuracy or currency of that information could sometimes be in doubt," he added.

"OPSE was seeking a platform which would ensure consistency, currency and accuracy in its policies and procedures to all of its staff ... Most critical are the compliance issues related to the staging of major public events."

PolicyPoint was selected due to its "ease of use and cost-efficiency", according to Sullivan, with the vendor assisting in the implementation. "We are just finalising the intensive period of establishing our modules where we expect we will become less reliant on that support," he said.

Sullivan said OPSE had successfully tested one module of PolicyPoint's solution.

"With that success we committed to developing another five modules, which are in the process of being finalised," he said. "We will roll those out to our staff over the coming months."

Sullivan advised other organisations considering a similar rollout not to underestimate the "investment in time and resources that must be made in the set-up stage".

"But the efforts put in at that end will ensure the quality, value and longevity of the product purchased," he concluded.