Organisation: Departmet of Human Services
Job Title: Senior Programme Officer
Word Limit: Criteria 1-5 – 250 words; Criteria 6 – 400 words
Location: Canberra
Shapes Strategic Thinking
Ability to apply sound strategic thinking and evaluation skills to assess organisational impacts, risks and benefits in the context of the Government’s broader policy agenda and environment.
Naturally strategic in my outlook, I have applied this professional quality throughout my career, including my current role with the Department of Human Services (DHS), where I am responsible for analysing, diagnosing and resolving issues relating to the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) Programme. Recently, I have been involved in ensuring the smooth running of the My Health Record Opt-Out trial where a discussion arose regarding the trial’s return mail address.
While a new address could be created just for the trial, it posed the issue of creating significant additional cost in both its creation and redirecting the mail after the trial had been completed. I recommended that the current business as usual (BAU) address be used, but as a one city address rather than “in your capital city”, which would save time and money as the incoming mail for the trial did not need to be redirected from a virtual mailbox in every Australian capital city.
While the project stakeholder agreed that using the BAU address was the best course of action, it was decided that this process was to be used for all new material and upon replacement of any forms. The use of a single, one city address for all return mail ensures that incoming letters are received and processed in a timely manner, resulting in a seamless experience for the customer and reduced costs for the department. This example demonstrates my ability to apply strategic focus within my work, resulting in positive professional outcomes.
Achieves Results
Demonstrated ability to systematically plan and organise own work and determine priorities to ensure quality and timely outcomes.
With a highly focused and systematic approach to work, I pride myself on my capacity to expertly prioritise and plan my work, an attribute that is imperative within a deadline-driven environment such as the Department of Human Services.
In late 2015, I was simultaneously responsible for three key deliverables. These were Release 6.1, a range of key enhancements to the administration portal, due in November 2015; the renaming of PCEHR to My Health Record, which was due for implementation on 16th January 2016; and the My Health Record Opt Out trial, due 4th April 2016. Managing the core needs of these tasks required diligent planning, on-going monitoring and maintaining open lines of communication with management and other stakeholders.
Utilising the project schedules, I created a table to track both completed and upcoming tasks. By maintaining a strong knowledge of expected timeframes for specific tasks, I was able to stay on target with my deliverables, completing most tasks ahead of schedule. Where issues with on-time completion arose, I raised these concerns with my manager ahead of time to ensure appropriate escalation, with my exceptional planning abilities ensuring I understood and could communicate the outstanding requirements to my manager in a succinct manner. This enabled my manager to swiftly take appropriate action, keeping each of these key deliverables on-track and closely managed. As a result of my strong organisational abilities, I have consistently met or exceeded expected outcomes in my role with DHS, demonstrating my excellent planning and prioritisation skills.
Cultivates Productive Working Relationships
Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and establish and maintain productive working relationships to achieve individual, team and/or organisational objectives.
Throughout my career, I have worked with both internal and external stakeholders to meet customer needs and deliver positive programme outcomes. With my work at the Department of Human Services revolving around a range of projects relating to the My Health Record (formerly PCEHR) programme, I work collaboratively with different internal parties, including colleagues in both my and other teams, management and department stakeholders, to achieve project objectives.
Recently, as part of the PCEHR name change to My Health Record, I worked on development of an internal communications strategy to notify staff of the change. Liaising with the Communications team to seek advice on the best approach, as well as Department of Health (DOH) staff to seek approval for the communication’s wording, I was able to maintain positive partnerships by communicating openly and professionally implementing the advice given.
As the legislation driving the name change was yet to pass in parliament, no official communication could be released. However, I was able to arrange for a screensaver to be commissioned to inform staff. As the rollout of the screensaver approached, Windows 10 was installed across the department, with these upgraded machines not being able to run the screensaver function. Exercising professional agility, I liaised with internal parties to have a poster created and displayed in view of staff to communicate the change, with the original screensaver still operating on all Windows 7 computers. This example showcases my capacity to work collaboratively with others to achieve organisational object
Exemplifies Personal Drive and Integrity
Demonstrate resilience and ability to effectively manage workloads with the context of competing priorities and a changing environment
My passion for my work is demonstrated through my flexible approach to changing responsibilities and my commitment to delivering work that is of a high quality and meets organisational needs. I have a proven capacity to adjust readily to an evolving environment and to manage the competing priorities of the complex government department workplace.
In my previous role with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), I worked in the Client Services Business Development Team. My responsibilities included the management and delivery of small projects, including some of which had commenced but remained incomplete upon my joining the ABS team. One such project dealt with parliamentarians’ access to statistical data. Since the project had commenced, significant changes had been made to the data accessible freely on the ABS website, which had, in turn, addressed the outcomes of the project. Given that internal changes rendered the project obsolete, I sought to create a case to put forward to my director, recommending that this particular project be ended.
Since July 2015, I have been involved in project-based work in my role with DHS, and, to ensure that my work is always of an exceptional standard, I am currently undertaking a Certificate IV in Project Management with a view to completing a Diploma in Project Management in the future. My professional resilience and ability to manage my workload within the dynamic public sector environment is demonstrated by the many positive outcomes I’ve delivered in my roles with DHS, ABS and other organisations.
Communicates with Influence
Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills including the ability to effectively convey information succinctly in both verbal and written formats in short timeframes.
A confident communicator with well-developed written and verbal skills, I am able to readily adapt my communication style to meet the needs of my audience. A key aspect of my current position with DHS involves attending meetings and workshops, during which I communicate with stakeholders from across the organisation. With my client services-based employment spanning more than 10 years, I am adept at engaging clients professionally and utilising appropriate negotiation techniques, where required, to deliver high quality, innovative solutions.
In my previous role with DHS, I worked on the Tier 3 Helpdesk, taking in-coming calls and managing customer issues. I received a call from a client who had received a My Health Record without her consent. I apologised to the customer and explained the process that would occur now that her complaint had been brought to our attention, which would include a comprehensive investigation and the removal of her My Health Record from our system.
Once the investigation confirmed that the customer had not consented to the creation of the record, I was involved in assisting with the development of a new Tier 3 procedure to prevent the situation arising again. Creation of the ‘Consumer Registered without Consent’ required liaison between the My Health Record team and DHS and DOH staff to ensure all parties were aware of the My Health registration procedures and associated privacy concerns. This example showcases my exceptional communication skills in liaising with both internal and external parties to achieve positive outcomes.
Job-specific Criteria
- Provide professional, specialist, technical expertise through knowledge of, and/or experience in the service delivery operating environment and the channels, systems, tools and products used to support our staff in delivering eHealth services for customers including intertwined Management and Data Quality issues on individual healthcare identifiers and eHealth records, to determine and perform end to end resolution.
- Ability to identify and assess business requirements, and analyse problems, to recommend creative and effective solutions that are practical, cost-effective and achievable.
My employment with DHS commenced in mid-2012, and I have since held a number of APS Level 5 and 6 positions. My significant knowledge and experience within the DHS environment spans across service delivery operations, from Provider and Customer Registration processes within the My Health Record System through to the full lifecycle of managing complex customer issues. I am confident in the use of internal systems including Customer Directory Maintenance System (CDMS), ADMIN portal and CRM. As such, I have provided valuable input from the outset of the My Health Record project since I have seen and experienced a range of potential scenarios. My prior experience within DHS enables me to foresee potential issues relating to the project I am working on, and raise these to be addressed before repercussions can be felt in the business. Additionally, given the level to which I understand business operations, my core task of liaising with other teams in the department to discuss how project objectives involving them can be achieved is simplified as I have strong knowledge of their work processes.
Currently, I am working with the Telephony team on an issue they have raised concerning the adding of an additional interactive voice response (IVR) option for in-coming callers calling about the opt-out trial. While the telephony team have made the point that the additional IVR option will yield useful data in regards to the core reason for the call and assist with analysis, adding an additional option can often serve to confuse callers and therefore can be detrimental to the reporting and analysis process overall. Given the opt-out trial’s limited timeframe and the targeted locations for the trial, adding an IVR option could prove costly and time consuming whilst yielding little benefit to the business.
My strong knowledge of the DHS business operations has enabled me to identify the issues associated with adding an IVR option for the opt-out trial. I am currently involved in gathering data associated with the costs and timeframes of making the addition in liaison with the telephony team. While this task is still in progress, I am confident that my input will result in the most effective path for the business being chosen. My skills and knowledge in respect to the DHS environment enables me to identify business needs and analyse issues to recommend appropriate and innovative solutions that are practical, cost-effective and achievable.
