Client Synopsis
IP AustraliaOrganisation Overview
IP Australia is an Australian Federal Government agency that administers intellectual property (IP) rights and legislation relating to patents, trademarks, designs and plant breeder’s rights. It is a prescribed agency within the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.
By granting IP rights, IP Australia assists with the following:
- Create a secure environment for investment in innovation;
- Enable firms to build brand value and business reputation;
- Encourage the disclosure of inventions and the transfer of knowledge and technology;
- Provide a legal framework for trading intellectual assets.
IP Australia focuses on ensuring that:
- The Australian IP system meets business needs;
- The international IP system meets the needs of Australia;
- Their people work together in an environment conducive to continually learning;
- Customers are provided with quality services that meet their needs;
- Operations are cost effective.
Fragile to Agile Engagement
IP Australia is embarking on the largest information technology project in its 100-year history. This involves the replacement of several core legacy systems, typically one per IP right type, and replacing them with a new single core system based on a Dynamic Case Management Platform.
Due to the scale and potential risk of the project, IP Australia’s senior executives desired external assurance to provide oversight with the technology selection process. Glenn Smyth, the founder of Fragile to Agile, was selected for this role due to his extensive experience in large scale transformation programs and case management solutions.
As part of this engagement, the absence of a clear understanding of the functional scope of the desired solution was identified as a key risk together with a lack of identification of where standardisation and specialisation across different IP rights was possible. The mitigation of these risks was facilitated using a Business Capability Model. Based on Fragile to Agile’s methodology, Glenn assisted the internal EA team in the development of the model which was embraced by both the executive and IT department and is now the most important design artefact in use during the project.
The first IP Right, Designs, has now been successfully implemented on the selected dynamic case management platform and work is progressing well on release2, the Trade Marks release. Glenn is currently assisting IPA in the development of the business case for the final two releases, Patents and Plant Breeders Rights. Glenn also continues to provide architectural oversight and in his role as technical risk advisor.