ARCHIVE
November 2017
Victorian Auditor General’s Office Releases Results of 2016–17 Audits: Water Entities
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The Victorian Audit General’s Office (VAGO) tabled the results of the 2016-17 Audit of Water Entities in Parliament on 15 November 2017 (https://tinyurl.com/2016-17-Audits-Water-Entities). The Audit assessed the sector as financially sustainable. In the longer term, some water authorities will need to consider risks associated with asset renewal/replacement and debt repayment. Key recommendations included: refining the financial reporting process, more focus on performance reporting and assessment of IT control weaknesses for relevant systems. Periscope is pleased to have worked with some of our water quality clients this year in providing a performance reporting software solution that includes the performance reporting parameters identified in the report as well as employee indicators, health and safety indicators, regulatory actions and water reservoir metrics. For more information Contact Us
November 2017
Periscope API with Victorian DHHS Client Incident Management System
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Periscope Corporation (Periscope) is excited to be working closely with The Tipping Foundation (Tipping) and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) in finalising the testing of data exchange, via an API (Application Programming Interface), between Periscope’s incident management system and the Department’s Client Incident Management System (CIMS).
Periscope acknowledges the progressive approach adopted by the Department in maintaining a central incident management system, while allowing service providers to leverage their existing in-house or cloud-based applications to exchange data. The full implementation of CIMS is expected to occur from 15 January 2018 onwards.
Tipping has redesigned its existing Periscope incident management system to ensure that its requirements continue to be met, while also satisfying the Department requirements. This redesign has enabled Tipping to address a broader scope than CIMS (e.g staff and client incidents in one system) that maximises organisational benefits. It is expected that the certification of the testing will be completed soon.
Periscope is an Australian owned and operated organisation that provides health service applications to government, not-for-profit service providers and regulators. Organisations requiring client incident management systems, particularly with an interface with CIMS can contact Periscope now by selecting Contact Us.
Further details of CIMS can be found by selecting the following link: https://providers.dhhs.vic.gov.au/cims
August 2017
Periscope Annual User Conference and Open Day 2017
Periscope is pleased to invite its clients to the Annual User Conference and Open Day 2017. These events provide a great opportunity for clients to showcase their great work, learn more about Periscope Software and build their Periscope client network. The Conference will be held at the Vibe Savoy Hotel on Wednesday 20 September 2017. The Open Day will be held at Periscope’s office at 1/5 Rose Street, Hawthorn East on Thursday 21 September 2017. Further information can obtained using the
Contact Us section on the website.
June 2017
Business First
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Periscope is pleased to have been interviewed for the Business First Magazine, which is currently in distribution. We had a chance to talk about where our business has come from and opportunities in the future. Our interview can be found on page 66 of the magazine provided in the attached link.
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Business First Magazine Periscope Interview
September 2018
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Periscope’s Annual User Conference and Open Day 2018
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Periscope’s Annual User Conference and Open Day for clients is on again on 19 and 20 September. There is no charge to attend either event.
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Periscope Annual User Conference
Date: Wednesday 19 September 2018
Venue: Vibe Savoy Hotel Melbourne
Time: 10:00 am (9.30 am registration) to 4.00 pm
Highlights include:
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A presentation on the Audit Management System operated by the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources
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A presentation of a rapid risk assessment approach used by House with No Steps/The Tipping Foundation to assess the risks of disability facilities and accommodation
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A snapshot of features being used by Periscope clients
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A client lead session to discuss specific software uses
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An update on security including Periscope’s response to legislative changes requiring data breach reporting
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Latest software developments
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An opportunity to exchange ideas and influence future Periscope Software developments
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Client networking session.
Periscope Annual Open Day
Date: Thursday 20 September 2018
Venue: 1/5 Rose Street, Hawthorn East (Periscope’s office)
Time: 10:00 am (9.30 am registration) to 4.00 pm
This day provides a great opportunity to interact with Periscope staff and clients in an informal atmosphere, and learn more about Periscope Software. There is also the opportunity for breakout sessions so that clients can learn about new software features, advanced software features and/or discuss specific matters with Periscope staff.
If you have any queries, please Contact Us.
March 2018
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Lessons Learned from the Periscope API with DHHS Incident Reporting System
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The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has implemented a new Client Incident Management System (CIMS) that went live on 15 January 2018. The focus of CIMS is the safety and wellbeing of clients and applies to DHHS funded organisations and Victorian-registered NDIS providers of disability and psychosocial supports. CIMS replaces the previous fax-based reporting system.
The Tipping Foundation (Tipping) uses Periscope’s Incident Management System (PIMS) for reporting all incidents affecting Tipping staff and clients (including DHHS clients). In order for PIMS to exchange data with CIMS, an application programming interface (API) was developed by Periscope in partnership with Tipping and support from DHHS staff. A summary of the scope of Periscope’s API and some of the key lessons are provided below.
What were the objectives of the API?
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The objectives of the API were to:
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Lodge incidents from Tipping Foundation’s PIMS to CIMS
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Enable PIMS and CIMS to exchange data at various stages of the incident reporting, review and investigation workflow
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Enable timely exchange of information between DHHS and Tipping.
Scope of the project
The scope of the project included the development of 16 unique APIs, with each API completing an individual transaction between PIMS and CIMS. Broadly the APIs covered:
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Data from PIMS being transmitted to CIMS at various stages of the workflow for major Incidents
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Data from CIMS being transmitted to PIMS at various stages of the workflow
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The ability to upload a client investigation report from PIMS to CIMS
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The ability to bulk upload non-major incident records at the end of the month. This is done through an automated process that runs at the end of the month.
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Lessons learned
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Form building and validation – the original PIMS form used by Tipping was retired and replaced with a new Incident report that supported the new DHHS policy, APOI requirements and internal Tipping requirements. to CIMS being in place needed a major rework based on the specific field and field validation requirements specific by DHHS.
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Data Validation - Each CIMS API is highly specific so if the data submitted does not meet the specific requirements, the transaction is rejected. To exchange data between two systems in real time the precise nature of the data is paramount.
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Process Alignment – CIMS expects specific data sets to be submitted based on agreed workflows that support DHHS policy. This means data exchange must also be timely as well as precise.
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Currency of documentation – the CIMS documentation was evolving throughout the project implementation as the API requirements were developed, so it became necessary to check the documentation on a regular basis. Some initial errors occurred due to differences between the staging and production environments
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Error handling within CIMS system – some data transfer errors were difficult to determine as to what caused them, as the error handling for these specific errors weren’t in place. As the system evolved, the error handling improved enabling our client and us to self-correct. It was also important that users were not confronted with highly technical errors, as they would be uncertain how to understand and respond to these errors
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Error handling within Periscope – Periscope updated its error handling information to provide greater detail as to the reason a record could not be transmitted to CIMS. Error handling has also evolved as every type of error was difficult to test for in such a large and complex system that was rapidly changing
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Record audit history - Periscope has a detailed record audit history which made the diagnosis of any issues or confirmation of system transactions highly efficient
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Agile environments - Both PIMS and CIMS were developed in highly agile but separate environments, so it was inevitable that some issues would arise. However, the ability for both systems to be updated in near real time ensured that no extensive delays were experienced.