CeCC 2008 Client Forum
26 August 2008
CeCC held its fifth annual Client Forum and Networking Session on Friday 15th August 2008.
This year’s forum was opened by the University of Ballarat's Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Battersby and was attended by representatives from CeCC’s diverse client group, University representatives as well as several prospective clients - who gathered to share information on recent progress and new online services innovations which have been implemented over the last twelve months.
Client Presentations
Tom McCue - Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)
Tom McCue from the Grains Research and Development Corporation presenting for the first time at the forum began by giving a brief overview of GRDC, their objectives, strategies and industry challenges. Tom then discussed the conception of the final reports project, GRDC's key objectives and why they chose CeCC to help them implement the project. Tom then discussed progress to date and detailed how CeCC has developed a system to facilitate the final reports publishing process and dissemination of information to industry and the wider community.
A big thank you to Tom who flew from Perth at 12am to present at the forum!
George Hatzirodos - Legal Services Commission of South Australia
George was also presenting for the first time at the forum, presented on the LSCSA's use of CeCC Docbook Manager within their organisation. LSCSA have been successfully utilising Docbook Manager to maintain and deliver the South Australian Law Handbook (www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au). George discussed the benefits of having a web-based system as apposed to the costs and challenges of having a paper based system which is time consuming and out of date the moment it is printed. George also highlighted the benefits of Docbook Manager in allowing them more than one person to maintain their Law Handbook, and the ease of use it presents to clients trying to find particular topics within the book.
Hugh De Kretzer - The Federation of Community Legal Centres
Hugh De Kretser from The Federation of Community Legal Centres discussed the challenges of managing a not-for-profit organisation which has a number of contributors to the website. Hugh discussed the advantages of the CeCC Content Builder which allows users with all levels of IT skills to use it effectively. Hugh highlighted CeCC's trusted reputation within the legal services industry and their ability to listen and understand the clients needs while still delivering services on time. Hugh also highlighted the constraints of having a limited budget and resources and the need to work with a trusted and adaptable organisation.
Bill Mundy - Telstra Countrywide
Bill Mundy from Telstra Countrywide was invited to speak briefly about Telstra technology and how we can integrate it into our businesses and websites. He discussed the importance of hand held devices in the future and making sure we optimize our websites so they can be viewed on such devices.
Roundtable Project Overview
After a networking lunch clients participated in a roundtable project overview. In which we looked at a number of current CeCC projects and clients (if present) discussed what they were aiming to achieve and how CeCC was assisting them.
Projects covered included:
- Ballarat and District Division of General Practice
- Ballarat Regional Seedbank
- Central Highlands Regional Library Corporation
- My Smart Green - CRIC
- Colac Otway Shire
- Colourfield Creative
- Fitzroy Legal Services
- IPAA
- Interpath
- Regional Development Victoria - Ballarat ICT Cluster
- TAFE Directors Australia
- University of Ballarat Technology Park
- Ballarat Symphony Orchestra
- Ballarat Rotary Members Survey
- Victorian Law Foundation
Ian Nicolson - Service Skills Victoria / Australian Tourism Accreditation Program
SSV has being working with CeCC on the Australian Tourism Accreditation Programme since 2003 under the Building Better Business program. Over the past two years this pilot project has been rolled out nationally in cooperation with the various state and territory tourism bodies. The ATAP project was launched in June 2008. Ian discussed how CeCC has worked with the tourism industry to develop a custom built online accreditation system, Ian then stepped through the accreditation program and discussed the benefits of moving to an online system rather than the old paper based system.
Product Update
Andrew MacLeod - CeCC
Andrew gave an overview of recent CeCC developments including:
- Content Builder updates
- Docbook manager 2008
- Mapping and spatial services
Andrew gave a live demonstration of the new mapping and spatial services products using the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority Website. Moving us through the maps and demonstrating their ease of use and different range of data levels. Andrew also discussed the new features which will be present in Docbook Manager 2008 such as revamped editing environment and upgraded look and feel.
Paul Feely, Senior Programmer within CeCC took us through the newly upgraded Resource Manager which will soon become a permanent module within the CeCC Content Builder. The new Resource Manager allows bulk uploads of images, multimedia improvements, web 2.0 technology, and is much faster, easier and more flexible.
Our last speaker for the day was Con Nikakis from the University of Ballarat's Centre for Informatics and Applied Optimization Con stepped us through CIAO's capabilities and demonstrated by showing us a number of projects they have undertaken for clients. Each project involving the use of mathematics to solve everyday problems such as optimising office work space, collating text data in surveys and optimising water flow through the Murray River outlets.
The team at CeCC would like to thank all attendees for their enthusiastic participation and we look forward to seeing everyone at next year’s forum.