Final Report now available

VCOSS and Monash University are pleased to announce the publication of the full final report of the Doing IT Better project. Containing detailed overviews of the seven intensive case studies and the interoperability project as well as comprehensive discussion of the project methodology and findings, the report is both a focused snapshot of the state of play with regard to ICT (information and communications technology) in the Victorian community services sector and a resource and launchpad for further action.

The report will be of interest to community sector managers, social researchers and planners,students and academics, as well as policy makers in the human services and technology fields. Its lessons are of relevance both in Australia and internationally. Key recommendations are:

1. That the Victorian Government fund a Centre for ICT Excellence in Community Services
2. That funders allow for sustainable ICT costs when resourcing community service organisations
3. That a methodology for assessing the impact of ICT investment on organisational and service outcomes be developed; and
4. That partnerships between the community service sector and both government and higher education be established and resourced to support ICT sustainability in the sector.

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Doing IT Better was a three-year project to build information and communications technology (ICT) capacity in the Victorian community services sector

Community service organisations — just like government and commercial organisations — are now dependent on ICT systems to support basic organisational functions and service delivery. But limited financial resources and a shortage of ICT skills and know-how in the sector have left most agencies struggling. Improved ICT capacity will enable improve organisational efficiencies, enabling more resources to be directed where it really counts: supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged Victorians via the direct service work and advocacy that is the community services sector's core business.

A three-way approach was adopted:

• Undertaking case studies with a number of organisations to identify issues and trial solutions
• Providing information resources to build know-how and assist decision-making and planning
• Identifying systemic issues that are holding the sector back, and working to change them

A Reference Group comprising workers in community service organisations and people from the ICT industry guided the work, and will ensure that key aspects of the work continue to be supported beyond the life of the project.

Doing IT Better was a social justice initiative of the Centre for Community Networking Research (Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University) and the Victorian Council of Social Service, generously funded by a foundation.

© Victorian Council of Social Service 2008
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