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Joining forces for a safer community 

Client: Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management (DPFEM)

GSD’s first major project was to assist with the design and delivery of a cross-business transformation that was critical for the safety of all Tasmanians. 

In 2013, the bushfires that ripped through the Dunalley community and surrounds highlighted the challenges within Tasmania’s collective emergency response systems. There was no interconnectivity between agencies, resulting in inefficient means for incident knowledge sharing. 

There was also an existing need to replace aging technologies in individual emergency service agencies. 

The solution was to introduce an Emergency Services Computer Aided Dispatch (ESCAD) system, enabling real-time sharing of incident details, resource locations, hazard warnings and status tracking across Tasmania’s Police, Fire, Ambulance and State Emergency Services. This begun a transformative change to how these services operate and work together to respond to incidents; improving safety for first responders and the Tasmanian community.

In partnership with emergency services agencies GSD designed and implemented a carefully coordinated roll-out plan across a three-year period. We worked alongside the teams through the duration to support and ensure successful implementation. A significant people and technology change was required; the agencies needed to design and adopt new business processes and systems, whilst continuing to deliver vital services to the community. 

Power to the people 

The GSD team started with our essential first step – we put people at the heart of our planning and information gathering. We hit the road, hopping into frontline responder vehicles and observing the dispatch centres to find out first-hand how the current system worked and the operational challenges being faced. 

Engaging with a range of people, from the front line to the most senior key decision-makers and business process owners, allowed the team to better define the problem and how to solve it with a people-first approach. 

First responders and dispatch operators were also engaged on the project team so they could help influence the design of both the business processes and the technical solution, see its benefits first-hand, and cooperatively develop ways of working together. This built a ground-up approach and support for the change, whilst developing a greater appreciation of the operational challenges and responsibilities across the various emergency services.  

Our project delivery experts supported the solution end-to-end, as well as building a new service delivery and support model to ensure the agencies’ IT and operations teams were empowered to continue to support the system moving forward.

Transforming with agility 

Undertaking this change in a cross-agency environment where frontline staff and dispatchers work 24/7 shifts added complexity to the business transformation challenge, but the team embraced it.

“At GSD we are agents of change and pride ourselves on our ‘outside the box’ thinking to look at things from a different perspective and achieve great outcomes.”

GSD Co-Founder and Chair Kerrie Mazengarb

The team designed a fit-for-purpose “business-led” rather than “vendor-led” transformation program and ensured that all stakeholders were engaged and informed over the life of the project.

Front-line workers and dispatch operators were equipped with the tools and training that enabled them to adopt the change they had co-designed, in time frames that respected the operational environment and conditions of each agency. 

The result – a more effective and safer, integrated system that supports our emergency services to continue to focus on their critical work – keeping Tasmanians safe and helping them in times of need. 

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GSD acknowledges the palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal community) as the original owners and custodians of lutruwita (Tasmania). We acknowledge the palawa have maintained their spiritual and cultural connection to the land and water, and we pay respect to Elders past and present.
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