Analysis of the ICT Strategic Plan of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority - Essay Example

 Introduction Information plays an imperative role in almost all aspects from the beginning of civilization. The extraordinary developments in the field of technology have enabled every organization of varied sizes an exceptional opportunity to transform themselves (Henry & Lucas, 2008). The world is witnessing an Information Communication Technology (ICT) revolution which has massive impact on developed as well as developing countries. Moreover, ICT plays a significant role in the progress of the agriculture and allied sectors of a nation (Hameed, n.d.). However, the latest developments of ICT in the sector of fisheries have resulted in drastic changes in the overall life of fishermen. Various initiatives in the ICTs have greatly expanded and developed fisheries technologies to the farmers of Australia. ICTs are widely being implemented and are used by fisheries sectors for various purposes such as resource assessment and in commercialization purposes. The ICTs strategic plan implemented in Australia have enabled the Australian fishermen to exploit various opportunities such as the use of Global Positioning System for location finding and navigation. ICT has also reduced risk to fishermen through information exchange and emergency warning. At present, the fishermen have access to web-based data/ information along with networking sources (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2007). Analysis of Whether the ICT Strategic Plan Be Re-Assessed or Continued For Additional 3-5 Years During November 2007, The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) was liable for the development of ICT strategic plan and roadmap. The plan would stress on 2005 Strategic IT Review and further it would provide vital initiatives to AFMA which would be implemented over the period of next three years i.e. from 2008 to 2011. AFMA was supposed to invest approximately AUD 7.3 million for the implementation of ICT strategic plan, during these three year period (Australian Government, 2007). The investment program would include sixteen distinct initiatives which would cover forty nine recommendations. These initiatives comprise: 1. Improvement of procurement as well as contract management process and performance 2. To bring improvement related to provided service within industry 3. Governance process 4. Identity as well as access management 5. Develop business as well as IT alignment along with incorporating the process of reengineering related to the business of AFMA 6. Staff upskilling Program 7. Develop ‘on-the-boat data’ collection 8. Implementation of Business Intelligence Capability 9. Implementation of Corporate Records Management 10. Data Warehouse Department 11. Finalizations of Pisces Program including Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 12. Rationalization of Application 13. Information Security 14. E- Business 15. Infrastructure and Application Rationalization and Technology Baseline 16. IT Market Testing Source: (Australian Government, 2007) The above stated initiatives were developed by grouping various recommendations into core areas capability which would deliver substantial benefits to AFMA. These initiatives were mainly grouped under three main capabilities namely; improved services provided to AFMA stakeholders and its customers, improved data management and information use and, lastly improved effectiveness of the organization which would support AFMA service delivery and information stewardship. Furthermore, the initiatives were to be undertaken on three vital functions related with the fisheries management, these consist of monitoring and research, compliance and licensing and quota management (Australian Government, 2007). Monitoring and Research AFMA was able to record 12% improvement in conformity with the vessel monitoring system across the Commonwealth fishing areas during the year 2008 when compared to 2007. AFMA research contract management system, ‘Omnifish’, has enabled AFMA to closely monitor and also target research providers to improve information delivery and dissemination. Furthermore, AFMA distributed framework in order to deliver cost-effective research information of AFMA’s fisheries to management advisory group and resource assessment groups. The framework required the individual fishery management advisory committee to develop project scope in order to allow marketing testing of the applications (Australian Government, 2009). Compliance AFMA provided a domestic compliance program in order to ensure that all the commercial fishing falling under the Australian Fishing Zone comply with the Commonwealth jurisdiction and should maintain integrity with the AFMA’s fisheries management criteria. The basic functions of AFMA’s domestic compliance program is to enhance and deliver cost- effective compliance systems in order to prevent, respond and detect unlawful actions associated with fishing in Australia (Australian Government, 2009). Licensing and Quota Management AFMA’s electronic licensing system known as GOFish was successfully developed and tested. Furthermore, AFMA’s licensing software (Pisces) had been updated and implemented successfully. It should be noted that AFMA’s licensing department is liable for granting fishing permits and recovering levies and fees from the fishing industry. In addition to these, new fishery registers and associated functions are implemented on time keeping in mind the availability of the budget. Standard operating procedures has also been developed for licensing and quota management transaction processes. In order to improve the accuracy of the transaction, a quality control checking system has been implemented (Australian Government, 2009). Other supporting functions that were included in the initiatives comprise Fisheries management, Environment and sustainability, Support and governance and quota trading. Moreover, the initiatives were aimed towards improving services to AFMA customers and stakeholders. AFMA works in partnership with key stakeholders who include indigenous interested commercial fishing operators and associations, researchers and charter fishing. Thus, AFMA has been engaged with stakeholders through a numbers of ways such as advisory committees, newsletter, AFMA updates and through direct mail across all the important Commonwealth fisheries. All these mechanisms enable AFMA to provide vital advisory function and establish effective dialogue between those interested in management of fisheries and AFMA (Australian Government, 2005). With respect to the above context, it can be stated that the ICT strategic plan 2008 - 2011 had shown positive result over the three years and its consequences had benefitted AFMA in several ways. To a greater extent the established sixteen initiatives have been successful to achieve the major initiatives and have delivered progressive outcomes. However, AFMA adapted “cherry picked” policy and essentially focused on implementation of individual and selected recommendations and initiatives from the strategic plan review 2005 instead of ensuring on implementation of entire initiatives and recommendations. Precisely, progress was achieved for those of high and low priority initiatives while little progress was made for the medium priority initiatives. Thus, lack of concentration on the entire initiatives and recommendations had resulted in AFMA to face challenges in terms of business information, communication and technology. Moreover, it is necessary for AFMA to overcome a few of the traditional barriers for the successful implementation of IT application for the purpose of information sharing reducing the cost of generating orders (Ward & Peppard, 2002). Therefore, it can be felt that the ICT strategic planning 2008-2011 needs certain reassessment, though not in all aspects but especially to those areas which have been not given priorities in past three years. Conclusion Information plays a vital role in socio-economic development and growth of a country. Information Communication Technology (ICT) has made extensive contributions in the overall development of AFMA and the life of Australian fishermen and women either directly or indirectly related to Australian fishing industry. During November 2007, AFMA was assigned with the task to develop ICT strategic plan based on 2005 strategic plan. The ICT strategic plan was to be implemented over the subsequent three years. In order to execute the plan, the investment of AUD 7.3 million was to be carried out over the next three years. The investment had to spend on the sixteen initiatives and it would also cover up forty nine recommendations. However, AFMA only focused at certain major and low priority initiatives and gave less or no priority to medium initiatives. During, the three years period, AFMA was successful in bringing major changes but did not pay substantial attention to minor issues. Thus, it can be stated that AFMA adhered to ‘cherry picked’ policy and focused only on selected initiatives rather than improving the collective initiatives. Therefore, AFMA is required to reassess its strategic plan for the areas in which it has not given priority over those three years and should focus on every aspect that influences AFMA function. References Australian Government. (2007). Australian fisheries management authority. ICT strategic plan 2008 – 2011 executive briefing, pp. 1-18. Australian Government. (2005). Australian fisheries management authority. Researching for fisheries, industry and community: AFMa’s strategic research plan, 2005–2010, pp 1-30. Australian Government. (2009). Australian fisheries management authority. Annual report 08|09, pp. 1-100. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2007). Information and communications technologies benefit fishing communities. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/a0991e/a0991e00.pdf Henry, C., & Lucas, Jr. (2008). Inside the future: surviving the technology revolution. United States of America: Praeger Publishers. Hameed, T. (n.d.). A tool for socio-economic development. ICT for Development. Retrieved from http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/digitalbridges/materials/hameed-paper.pdf Ward, J. L., & Peppard, J. (2002). Strategic planning for information systems. United States of America: John Wiley & Sons. Read More