Glossary
This glossary provides definitions of the terms used on the Digital projects Dashboard.
- Digital projects:
- ICT tenders:
Digital projects
Approved end date
The current scheduled end date that was identified and approved at the start of the project or has since been revised and approved through the department’s governance process during replanning.
Approved expenditure
Current total estimated expenditure approved for the project, including all operating expenditure and capital expenditure. If known, the cost should include all non-ICT elements, such as business resources, project management, business analysis, etc.
The approved expenditure amount will always equal the original approved expenditure amount unless a revised expenditure has been approved through the department’s governance process, and the project has been replanned. In that case, the approved revised expenditure amount is entered in this field.
Cost re-evaluation event
A project journey event that is displayed using a tick box under Project journey & reasons for variance in the detailed project display. The box is ticked if there has been a cost re-evaluation event during the life of the project/program.
Cost to date
All expenditure/costs incurred since the project began.
Cross government
Projects listed under the cross government heading on the Digital projects Dashboard are collaborative projects involving multiple departments that benefit Queensland Government as a whole.
Date data current
The particular point in time at which the data for a project reflected its reported status, as advised by the relevant department. This date is also provided in the supporting dataset available through the Open Data portal.
Delivery delay event
A project journey event that is displayed using a tick box under Project journey & reasons for variance in the detailed project display. The box is ticked if there has been a Delivery delay event during the life of the project/program.
Department
Government departments support Queensland Ministers’ portfolios, or areas of responsibility, by implementing policies and delivering services to Queenslanders. Departments are led by Directors-General.
Learn more
‘Learn more’ is a hyperlink in the project details display to access further information about a specific project. It links to general detail about the intended solution and benefits for Queenslanders.
Please note that it is at agencies’ discretion whether a ‘Learn more’ link is provided on the digital projects dashboard.
Objectives
Objectives are sets of statements that define the required final outcome for the project. Each objective is likely to result in a number of benefits.
Priority
The priority of a project compared to all other projects as given by a department. It cross-references the department’s priority to a critical, high, medium or low-level assessment:
- critical—mandatory projects essential to the delivery of Queensland Government objectives, major legislative or ministerial requirements or major policy projects. In the event of failure, the consequence will have severe implications for delivery of services and outcomes to the public. For example, significant infrastructure requirements/complex data migration/extensive or complex links to different systems.
- high—important projects but not essential to major legislative or policy projects, or projects already resourced and achieving results so the impact of reallocating resources would result in major waste. In the event of failure, the consequence will have major but not severe implications for delivery of services and outcomes to the public.
- medium—projects have obtained relatively high attractiveness and achievability scores but do not fall within the definition of critical or high projects. If these projects are already underway, they are yet to achieve results and are in the early stages of planning.
- low—projects which improve business efficiency and management effectiveness but, in themselves, do not sustain the business or provide a competitive advantage. Investment in these projects can usually be accepted due to the lower cost of delivery. The impact of failure to the organisation is low and the risk of failure is also low.
Project
A project is a substantial activity undertaken by an agency to improve its services. It may also refer to a program – a group of related projects and change management activities that together achieve change for an organisation.
Project commencement allocation
The amount of expenditure initially approved at project commencement. This remains unchanged when replanning occurs and further funding is provided to the project.
Project commencement allocation reflects the initial scope of a project but projects tend to progress from a minimum viable product. It assumes a stable policy environment and does not account for scope changes reflecting policy changes during the project’s life.
The Project commencement allocation can be significantly less than the current Approved expenditure. Similar to building projects, variances are a regular occurrence to handle changes to scope.
Project journey and reasons for variance
Projects by their nature are to a degree dynamic, requiring flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances, ensuring they continue to deliver against the current needs of the business.
‘Project journey and reasons for variance’ provides summarised notes of:
- the project’s end to end journey, including changes to status, and significant changes to scope, time or cost and the associated rationale for same.
- project background and additional information on the project status.
- high level steps taken to address a ‘Closely monitored’ or ‘Action required’ status and also the anticipated resolution date.
Other information may include project successes to date, key outcomes achieved and advice of project closure.
Project name
The full name of the project. The name will also indicate if this is a program (e.g. Digital Transformation Program).
Scope change event
A project journey event that is displayed using a tick box under Project journey & reasons for variance in the detailed project display. The box is ticked if there has been a scope change event during the life of the project/program.
Stage
A management decision point within a project to assess viability of the project in relation to its business case. The project board approves the project to proceed (and commits resources) only one stage at a time.
Stages include:
- initiate—detailed planning for the project is underway
- delivery—the project’s documentation has been approved and the project has started
- closed—the project/program has delivered its outcomes, respectively, and has closed
- paused—the project has been put temporarily on hold
- ended—work on this project has ended prematurely (i.e. decision to stop work). Total expenditure and end date will be presumed as actuals.
Start date
The project’s approved commencement date. This excludes any projects in start-up or concept stage.
Status
Status reflects how a project is tracking against certain parameters such as schedule dates or estimated project costs.
At any given time each project is allocated one of the following statuses:
- On track—which may be represented by the symbol
. - Closely monitored—which may be represented by the symbol
. These projects will need to be closely monitored by the department’s management. - Action required—which may be represented by the symbol
. These projects will require action by the department.
The critical aspect is that all projects are professionally managed and reported within an active, empowered and responsible governance environment where issues are identified in a timely manner, evaluated and appropriate action is taken.
ICT tenders
Business Queensland
A website created by the Queensland Government to provide information and advice to business and industry. Under ‘For industry’ on the website there is a section devoted to ICT.
ICT tenders
Tenders listed on QTenders are allocated what is called a mega-category to denote the broad industry area that is applicable. ICT tenders are allocated a mega-category of ‘Information and communication technology’.
Tender may refer to:
- an invitation to offer (ITO)
- request for offer (RFO)
- request for interest (RFI)
- expression of interest (EOI).
In addition to tenders issued by the Queensland Government, QTenders also lists tenders issued by other government organisations such as councils, authorities, utilities and universities.
QTenders
QTenders is a website with information about upcoming, current or closed tendering opportunities with the Queensland Government. QTenders is managed by the department of Energy and Public Works.
Tender mega-category
Mega category is the high-level category of the tender. The mega category is one of the following:
- information and communication technology
- general goods and services
- building construction and maintenance
- medical
- transport infrastructure and services
- social services.
Note. The tender search links on the Digital Projects Dashboard are predetermined to filter only those tenders associated with the ICT mega category.
Tender status
Tender status reflects the life-cycle stage of the tender and may be one of the following:
- Forward procurement schedule—planned future procurements—tenders that are likely to be released in the future
- Current—all public ICT tenders that are open for responses from industry
- Under evaluation—tenders being evaluated after closure of submissions
- Shortlisted—tenders that have been short-listed during evaluation
- Awarded—successful tender submissions that have been awarded a contract. The Queensland Government publishes details of awarded contracts over $10,000 on the Queensland Government’s open data website each year. Some agencies also publish details of awarded contracts on QTenders.
- All offers declined—no contract was awarded because all offers were declined
- No offers received—no contract was awarded because no offers were received
- Withdrawn—the tender was withdrawn before closing.
Note. The tender search links on the Digital Projects Dashboard are predetermined to filter only those tenders associated with the ICT mega category