Working with Children Check Screening System

Working with Children Central Screening Unit Management System

CSG improving the safety of children in Western Australia

About the Client

The Working with Children (criminal record checking) Act 2004 was passed as a result of West Australian community concern about the abuse of children, following the Wood Royal Commission and revelations of abuse within Church institutions. A WA government department established the Working with Children Screening Unit to administer the Act.

Project Overview

The long term objective of the unit was to implement an information system to support their day-to-day operation and:

Prevent individuals whose criminal histories indicated they may pose a threat to children from obtaining a WWC Card;

Deter those individuals from applying for a WWC Card;

Ensure consistent standards were applied to criminal record
checking; and

Manage information securely and ethically.

Client Requirements

The new information system needed to:

Provide a high degree of system-to-system and system to-user automation to deliver savings on internal operating
costs;

Integrate seamlessly in real time with the identified external agencies;

Control the costs incurred as a result of interactions with external agencies;

Manage business processes in a secure, scalable and predictable way; and

Leverage the existing investment in the Microsoft platform.

Our Solution

CSG developed a user interface to meet the needs of the system users and defined an architecture for the system that would take full advantage of Microsoft’s .NET framework and K2.NET workflow software. K2 is used to control the scheduling of tasks, escalations and provide administrative reporting for the system. CSG also provided graphic design and web development services to create a website for consumer engagement.

Web Services were implemented via BizTalk to enable communication with the external systems; Australia Post, CrimTrac, West Australian Police and the selected Card Manufacturer. The user interface was implemented as web pages that make up the Business Services Layer to undertake the required business processes. Style sheets were used to provide consistency in fonts, colours and other aesthetic characteristics. COM+ Services were used for declarative security and transaction support, and Active Directory for authorisation and authentication for both the website and web services.

The project was successfully completed in an aggressive six month timeframe utilising the flexibility of the Microsoft Solution Framework methodology and design, development, usability, test planning and project management expertise from CSG.