[Australia] AEC will replace payroll system for temporary election workforce

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is set to replace the payroll system it uses to pay the more than 100,000 temporary workers employed during federal elections, ITNews reports.

The payroll system replacement is part of an ongoing and broader once-in-a-generation core IT systems overhaul. The overhaul - codenamed Indigo - will ultimately replace 93 systems over seven years.

The AEC said it wants to modernise the way it pays its temporary election workforce (TEW), in a tender published this week.

"To accomplish this, funding has been allocated to decommission the legacy AEC Pay (payroll) system and to replace it with a new TEW payroll management capability solution," the agency said.

"This modernisation is critical as the existing system is overly dependent on bespoke applications and vendor support, with escalating sustainment costs.

"The AEC’s bespoke legacy systems are in a position where upgrading them is unsustainable and retention of the licenses does not represent value for money."

In its tender documents, the AEC said that during last year's federal election, it employed "approximately 105,000" temporary staff, including "over 87,000" that worked on polling day and "over 18,200" that worked more than one (temporary) job.

"The temporary election workforce is paid on a weekly basis." 

"During the 2022 federal event, more than 190,000 payslips were produced with a weekly payslip range from 10 to over 97,000."

The commission reportedly hopes to source a SAAS payroll system to replace the existing system.

The tender documents stipulate that the new system must be hosted in a public or private cloud, with all data to be held within Australia, and able to support national, state and divisional offices.

The hosting solution must comply with the DTA’s Hosting Certification Framework, meaning it will be Australian owned and operated, and meet “Assured” level certification.

The AEC is also reportedly looking for mobile capabilities and, if that involves app development, the app should be available in relevant app stores.

The payroll system replacement is the sixth and final work package in the first tranche of Indigo.

In August 2022, the AEC launched the first request for information for tranche two of Indigo.

That tranche will reportedly involve replacing the AEC’s three core election management systems: the election management system (ELMS), the roll management system (RMANS) and the general enrolment election support information system (GENESIS).

Source: ITNews 

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is set to replace the payroll system it uses to pay the more than 100,000 temporary workers employed during federal elections, ITNews reports.

The payroll system replacement is part of an ongoing and broader once-in-a-generation core IT systems overhaul. The overhaul - codenamed Indigo - will ultimately replace 93 systems over seven years.

The AEC said it wants to modernise the way it pays its temporary election workforce (TEW), in a tender published this week.

"To accomplish this, funding has been allocated to decommission the legacy AEC Pay (payroll) system and to replace it with a new TEW payroll management capability solution," the agency said.

"This modernisation is critical as the existing system is overly dependent on bespoke applications and vendor support, with escalating sustainment costs.

"The AEC’s bespoke legacy systems are in a position where upgrading them is unsustainable and retention of the licenses does not represent value for money."

In its tender documents, the AEC said that during last year's federal election, it employed "approximately 105,000" temporary staff, including "over 87,000" that worked on polling day and "over 18,200" that worked more than one (temporary) job.

"The temporary election workforce is paid on a weekly basis." 

"During the 2022 federal event, more than 190,000 payslips were produced with a weekly payslip range from 10 to over 97,000."

The commission reportedly hopes to source a SAAS payroll system to replace the existing system.

The tender documents stipulate that the new system must be hosted in a public or private cloud, with all data to be held within Australia, and able to support national, state and divisional offices.

The hosting solution must comply with the DTA’s Hosting Certification Framework, meaning it will be Australian owned and operated, and meet “Assured” level certification.

The AEC is also reportedly looking for mobile capabilities and, if that involves app development, the app should be available in relevant app stores.

The payroll system replacement is the sixth and final work package in the first tranche of Indigo.

In August 2022, the AEC launched the first request for information for tranche two of Indigo.

That tranche will reportedly involve replacing the AEC’s three core election management systems: the election management system (ELMS), the roll management system (RMANS) and the general enrolment election support information system (GENESIS).

Source: ITNews 

(Links and quotes via original reporting)