The IT Dashboard makes it easy for you to see all Victorian Government IT and digital projects with a total project budget (from initiation to completion) of $1 million and above (in-scope IT projects).
The Dashboard provides high-level information on how these projects are tracking on a quarterly basis, and includes:
- project schedule
- budget
- project stage
- performance status
- quarterly basis
The information provided on the Dashboard is accessible for the general public, industry and all government departments and agencies.
The Dashboard was established to increase transparency of IT project delivery and spending in the Victorian public sector, meeting the Victoria Auditor-General’s 2015 recommendations. It also provides visibility on how the Victorian public sector use technology to deliver internal business process and external services.
IT Dashboard FAQs
Which departments and agencies are required to report IT projects to the IT Dashboard?
All Victorian Government departments and agencies that are subject to the Financial Management Act (FMA) 1994 (Vic) are required to report quarterly on their in-scope IT projects or to confirm there is no project to report.
How is an IT project defined?
For the purpose of the Dashboard reporting, an IT project is any project or initiative with a defined start and end date, where:
- IT investment is fundamental to achieving the agreed business objectives, benefits and output
- business capability is enhanced through technology changes and may extend to information management, information security or infrastructure improvements, e.g. upgrades, asset replacement
- a government strategy or program where IT is used in whole or in part to effect change and/or deliver outputs and outcomes and/or realise benefits, including business change – not necessarily technological in nature, for example, business process improvement, community engagement, legislative policy
How is the IT project cost defined?
The project cost published on the IT Dashboard represents the total project lifecycle cost for the project from initiation to completion. The cost includes all funding that is fundamental in achieving the agreed objectives, benefits or outputs of the project. However, funding for ongoing activities to operate and maintain the IT capability (such as licenses or support and maintenance services for example) are excluded.
How often is the IT Dashboard data refreshed?
Dashboard data is refreshed on a quarterly basis across a financial year. The project data published is from the previous quarter. For example, Q1 project data will be published at the end of Q2.
DPC requests project information from reporting departments and agencies at the beginning of each quarter. The departments and agencies are given a month to submit their project data from the previous quarter to DPC to collate. Upon all submissions received, DPC will publish the project information on the Dashboard at the end of each quarter across a financial year.
What is the role of the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) - Digital Strategy and Transformation Branch (DST)?
The Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) via the Digital Strategy and Transformation branch is the custodian of the IT Dashboard.
DST’s role is to:
- manage the day-to-day operational running of the IT Dashboard website, reporting process and publication as required
- assist departments and agencies in reporting their data
- regularly review the IT Dashboard for opportunities to improve its usability and make it more practical for Victorians to use
What is the role of reporting departments and agencies?
Each reporting department and agency is responsible for reporting its projects quarterly, and for the accuracy as well as quality of their reported data for the reporting cycle. They are also responsible answering queries about their projects.
What information does the IT Dashboard display?
The IT Dashboard displays government IT project information reported by departments and agencies subject to the Financial Management Act 1994 (Vic) (FMA).
The Dashboard’s main page displays three sections:
1. Understand
This section provides background to the IT Dashboard and a link to the Victorian Government IT Reporting Standard.
2. Explore
This section provides several filters for reported projects, including:
- Quarterly overview – a consolidated summary of the IT projects by number of projects, total project costs (project completed and in delivery stage), stage and status, cost tiers, and top five agencies/domain/project categories by cost and by number.
- Project by stage and status – a summary of reported projects by their stage and status with their project details (stage, cost, schedule, delivery performance status).
- Domain view – a summary of reported projects grouped by their government portfolio domain.
- Benefit view – summary of reported projects grouped by their intended project benefits.
- Agency/Department view – a summary of reported projects grouped by the reporting departments and agencies.
- IT project category – a summary of reported projects grouped by the associated service capability the project intends to uplift.
- Year of commencement – a summary of reported projects grouped by the year of commencement.
- Project management methodology – a summary of reported projects grouped by the project management methodology they applied for delivering the project.
3. Improve
This section allows interested parties to provide constructive feedback to improve the IT Dashboard.
How can I find out more information about a project displayed on the IT Dashboard?
Under the 'Explore' section, you can view each project’s detail by clicking on the individual project card displayed in each section.
You can also search projects by using the search function or filter functions.
Quarterly consolidated data set for all reported projects is also available in the 'Understand' section. All quarterly consolidated data sets are available at Data Vic website.
Does the IT Dashboard show the public all project information?
The IT Dashboard reports project data in line with the Victorian Government IT Project and Expenditure Reporting Standard. The project information shown on the Dashboard include:
- project reporting department or agency
- government domain
- project title and description
- project stage
- project start and end dates at each stage (Planned and Revised)
- project total lifecycle cost
- project quarterly status if in Delivery stage
- project quarterly comment
- project categories and intended benefits
- project management methodology applied
What is the governance structure for each IT project?
Each government department and agency have their own project governance board and protocol to oversee their projects, including issues and risk management, and evaluation and monitoring.
Project governance boards also approve the status of a project, consider the project’s specific business priority, risk profile and benefits, and are accountable for the governance decisions made.
The Department of Treasury and Finance provides guidance to departments and agencies on project governance through the Investment Lifecycle Management Framework.
Who allocates the performance status of ‘Green’, ‘Amber’ or ‘Red’ for a project and what do they mean?
The performance status of each project is determined by the reporting department or agency based on their internal governance approach for their projects.
At the high level, a project may report:
- Green (G): on track
- Amber (A): issues exist but they are under the project control
- Red (R): serious issues exist, and the project has been escalated to the project control/governance board
Why do projects change status between ‘Green’, ‘Amber’ and ‘Red’ status?
The performance status of a project can change during its delivery stage, depending on the project issues and risks.
Departments and agencies have an internal project governance approach that sets the tolerance of issues and risks to determine their performance status. When a project’s performance is not meeting the risk or issue tolerance, it is common for a project team to alert their project governance board with an ‘Amber’ or ‘Red’ status. This is done to ensure issues and risks are addressed and/or monitored. Once a project receives the governance approval to proceed with the mitigation action, the project may be re-baselined and return to ‘Green’ by tracking against a revised timeline and budget.
It is expected that all departments and agencies will:
- professionally manage and deliver their projects to achieve intended outcomes
- operate in an active, empowered and responsible governance environment
- identify, evaluate and address issues and risks promptly with appropriate mitigations.
If the status for a project is ‘Amber’ or ‘Red’, will there be a reason why?
As part of the quarterly project reporting, departments and agencies are expected to explain a project’s ‘Amber’ and ‘Red’ status.
Projects are removed from the IT Dashboard in the next publishing cycle if the project is:
- completed: the project successfully delivered its objectives and scope and is ready for closure acitivity.
- terminated: the project is cancelled based on the decision made by the project governance board.
- merged: the project scope is transferred to another project or program.
- out of scope: the project reported a total project lifecycle cost under $1 million
We're always looking for ways to improve the Dashboard.
To submit feedback, visit the Improve section or you can use the 'Feedback' feature at the top right of each page on the Dashboard.
Media enquiries
For enquiries about any project on the IT Dashboard, contact the department or agency directly.
Dashboard enquiries
If you have a question about the Dashboard site (non-project related), contact digital.transformation@dpc.vic.gov.au
Important: It is not possible to seek further information relating to an IT Dashboard project via the feedback link located on the IT Dashboard site or vic.gov.au site.
Updated