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Project profiles - round 14
A total of 12 projects have seen selected for funding under Round 14 of the Information Technology Online (ITOL). The proposed projects cover a range of industry sectors including health, agriculture, transport, arts and craft, industry and building and construction. Many of the projects have a specific focus on small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
Clinical desktop wizard to support diagnosis and management of blood cancers: Lymphoma Wizard
Blood cancers, such as leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma are a group of diseases increasing in incidence in Australia. Lymphoma is now the fifth most common cancer in Australia and its incidence has doubled in the last 20 years with no known reason. For lymphoma patients, survival is dependent upon accurate staging of the disease and the immediate commencement of appropriate therapy. Medical specialists caring for lymphoma patients want improved accuracy and timeliness of information about the care they provide.
The development of the Lymphoma Wizard is being undertaken by a consortium consisting of the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand , the Leukaemia Foundation, Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Queensland Medical Laboratories and Medical-Objects. The project involves the development of a desktop blood cancer software tool called the “Lymphoma Wizard”.
The Lymphoma Wizard will trial a method for including treatment and disease staging information in patients' online pathology reports. Workshops will take place to identify the standards and criteria for diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma, and the business requirements of the process. The Wizard will be installed on the desktop computers of a select group of private and public sector medical specialists treating lymphoma patients across Queensland , Victoria and Western Australia. Patients who participate in this project will be able to access their own health records via secure internet access. This project will investigate patient access to their electronic health record as a means of increasing their involvement in decision making regarding the management of their lymphoma.
The Lymphoma Wizard provides the opportunity to explore ways of helping medical specialists quickly and effectively collect detailed data for broader use. The effectiveness of the Lymphoma Wizard as a communication tool between medical specialists, pathology services and patients will assist also in assessing the potential value of the Wizard in supporting a National Blood Cancer Registry and may provide a model to assist other registries with data collection.
ITOL Funding: $ 185,000.00
Contact : Dr Anna Williamson, General Manager Research, Advocacy and Patient Care, The Leukaemia Foundation, awilliamson@leukaemia.org.au
Development of PDA Software for Quality Assurance System for the Meat Processing Industry
The development of a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Quality Assurance Solution for the Meat Processing Industry will build upon the success of InformationLeader , Theta Technologies' unique web-based information capture and management system. The PDA system will replace costly and ineffective paper-based record keeping systems and help reduce the strain placed on organizations meeting regulatory and compliance requirements. To date InformationLeader is used in over 47 meat processing sites within Australia , representing approximately 80 per cent of Australia 's red meat industry.
This collaborative project between Theta Technologies, Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC), Meat Industry National Training Advisory Council (MINTRAC) and Meat Processors Norvic and Radford meets the need within this industry for a small handheld device. A PDA is small enough to fit into a jacket pocket that can be used for quality observation reporting in the production processes in their plants. Beyond the greatly reduced administration costs and improved information flows, the immediacy of observation data that can be achieved by the use of a PDA device on the processing floor means that problems in the processing line can be detected as they occur and corrective actions can be taken immediately.
Overall, a more stringent level of quality control can be maintained which streamlines the auditing process and raises the successful compliance levels of the industry. This project will provide the Australian red meat processing industry with a strong competitive edge in domestic and overseas markets. A positive and reliable quality control outcome will ensure that Australian products keep the trust and favour of competitive export market buyers.
In the long term Theta will be able to use the model beyond the scope of the project, extending it to a range of other food processing industries and regulated industries both nationally and internationally.
ITOL Funding: $200 000
Contact : Mr David Lawrence, Managing Director, Theta Technologies Pty Ltd, davidl@thetatechnologies.com.au
Development of a breast cancer management and monitoring system for medical practitioners
The Breast Cancer Management and Monitoring System for Medical Practitioners will be a new e-health solution for medical practitioners, capable of improving the efficiency and effectiveness with which breast cancer is diagnosed, managed and monitored. The Breast Cancer Management and Monitoring System will combine the strengths of two current cancer management systems. It will combine a long established paper based Breast Cancer Information System, currently used by breast cancer medical specialists, with a relatively new Browser-based Electronic Clinical Record system used by general cancer specialists.
The new internet browser-based Breast Cancer Management and Monitoring System will further enhance and combine the features and capabilities of both systems and deliver management efficiencies for the day to day work of breast cancer medical practitioners. The new system also aims to accept and manipulate digital mammograms. The benefits to a breast cancer patient are ease of storage and greater permanency of storage of their breast monitoring records, greater manipulation and analysis of their medical record/information and ease of transfer of medical records between medical practitioners in any location which should result in better health management. The system will be developed and tested by practising breast cancer specialists at Westmead Hospital.
ITOL Funding: $200 000
Contact : Dr Deborah Kuchler, CEO Biomed North Limited, Deborah@DeborahKuchler.com
Demand responsive transport demonstration
This project, which is part of the SmartCity Transport initiative, will result in the creation of an e-market place for passenger transport services in outer Western Sydney. This will be achieved by introducing a system that will automate the booking and scheduling of services, billing/account management and the collation and analysis of service statistics across transport modes and operators. Customer access to the system will be via an automated telephone service, the internet or a call centre.
The goals of this project are to:
- reduce the costs of providing transport services by minimising the use of paper-based booking, scheduling, reporting and financial management systems;
- maximise the use of service capacity in public, community and health transport by matching passengers to appropriate available seats; and
- introduce an automated booking and scheduling system that will allow the development of demand responsive flexible bus routes and share ride taxi-like services.
This will improve access to transport services by less mobile people and people who are transport disadvantaged and will encourage car drivers and passengers to use flexible public transport systems.
The system will use Voice XML to create voice-user interfaces in order to automate information and booking requests. A sophisticated trip optimisation module will automatically match passenger requests to suitable drivers and vehicles on a share ride basis. Requests to drivers will be relayed using smart phone technology as well as standard and mobile phones.
Project consortium members include eVolition (the software developers), Great Community Transport, Westbus, The Blue Mountains Bus Company, the regional transport development project at Western Sydney Community Forum, the NSW Department of Commerce, Penrith and Blue Mountains City Councils and TPM, an independent transport planning agency.
ITOL Funding: $200 000
Contact : Ms Helen Walker, Manager GREAT Community Transport Inc, mct@pnc.com.au
‘e-Production' theatre software
‘e-Production' Theatre Software aims to develop to proof-of-concept stage a software package that will support the technical management of theatre productions. Currently, while a great many IT solutions exist to support elements of theatre productions (for example, lighting, sound and set design or operation), there is nothing that has been designed specifically to support stage & production managers and the collaborative process that the artistic team on a production goes through to bring the work to the stage. ‘e-Production' will replace, and improve on, the existing paper-based ‘prompt copy' method of documenting a stage production. It will allow users to create a totally interconnected reference of every object in a production (including actors, crew, set, props, lights, sound, etc) throughout the course of a production. It will also allow users to collaborate and share information in real-time, on-line, thus enhancing the efficiency and innovation with which a production can be realised.
Over the course of this project, theatre industry experts will collaborate with software architects and programmers to clarify the scope and design of the software. A prototype package will be developed and tested in the production/rehearsal process of a real theatre production. The data gathered from the quality testing will inform refinements to the package. The end result will be software produced to a proof-of-concept stage, with accompanying full documentation, ready to be developed as a commercial product.
This is a revolutionary step forward for theatre practice anywhere in the world. Moving to an electronic production process will not only save time and money for individual artists and theatre companies, it will also significantly improve their ability to remount and tour works, thus providing benefits to venues and production/promotion companies as well. This is a product that has the potential to be used, not just by Australian companies, but by companies the world over.
ITOL Funding: $80 010
Contact : Ms Catherine Prosser, Project Manager, catherinemprosser@yahoo.com.au
Precision pasture network
The Precision Pasture Network will develop an online information and decision support service for the northern Australian pastoral industry. It aims to provide a more objective assessment of the quantity and quality of feed available across each paddock for more effective management of grasslands, livestock production and the environment.
The project will combine the expertise of Agrecon, Heytesbury Beef and Resource Consulting Services (RCS), who bring world leading expertise in online information systems, pasture modelling and sustainable pasture management systems.
Models will be developed to convert daily satellite images, with a pixel resolution equivalent to six hectares, into maps of pasture condition and livestock carrying capacity. An archive of images since 2000 will be put online with ongoing daily updates. Past and forecast weather maps, with a pixel resolution equivalent to one kilometre, will be converted into pasture growth rate maps and added online. New software will combine current available feed, forecast pasture growth and livestock records into paddock-scale decision support tools for graziers.
Livestock grazing is the most widespread land use in Australia , yet the nature of the industry has traditionally made it difficult to manage the land effectively. On-ground management is dominated by isolated small enterprises with limited access to strategic support information and services. The ability to rapidly assess the condition of the whole property every day and predict outcomes from various livestock management scenarios offers incredible opportunities for improved productivity and stewardship of the land.
ITOL Funding: $175 200
Contact : Mr Simon Holloway, Senior Manager, Agricultural Reconnaissance Technologies Pty Ltd, simonh@agrecon.canberra.edu.au
Tooling Australia on-line
Tooling Australia is the peak body representing the Australian Tooling and Precision Engineering industries. The Tooling industry is worth over a billion dollars annually to the Australian economy and is a significant employer and exporter. The industry is also a key supplier to the Automotive and Aerospace industries.
Tooling Australia supports and assists the industry to succeed by delivering a range of export market development and improvement initiatives , aimed at building awareness and competitiveness in the global market.
Under the ITOL program, Tooling Australia will develop “Tooling Australia On-Line”, a high functionality e-commerce platform incorporating the latest available B2B web based technologies. The program will leverage internet technology to facilitate efficiency and effectiveness improvements within the industry delivering: improved information dissemination; increased industry wide collaboration; decreased transactional costs; and enhanced export market development.
The project is supported by a broad consortium of industry participants and complemented by various institutions and industry organisations for specialist input including: FAPM (Federation of Automotive Product Manufacturers), the peak body for the automotive components industry , Austrade , and the University of Western Sydney.
ITOL Funding: $186 840
Contact : Ms Angela Krepcik, Executive Director, Tooling Industry Forum of Australia, angela.krepcik@tifa.com.au
Prescription management in aged care residential facilities and community based nursing care providers
The purpose of the project is to design, develop and pilot a software agent combined with an electronic communication mechanism that enables aged care facilities, community based nursing care providers, community pharmacies and general practitioners to complete and manage the cycle of prescription generation and medication delivery for patients in aged care residential facilities and community based aged care patients.
The system proposed will do this by allowing:
- Aged care facilities or community based nursing care providers to track the progress of prescription generation and dispensing for a particular patient/s, in their care;
- A community pharmacy to know when and if a prescription has been written by a general practitioner for a particular patient;
- A general practitioner to be prompted to generate the required prescription if they haven't already done so; and
- A side result of the system will be the creation of an audit trail that will assist in further refining the handling of drug charts and prescriptions in aged care facilities.
It is envisaged that the project will improve the management of scripts in the aged care sector and therefore reduce the amount of time for all parties in controlling the flow of both the medications and the associated paper work. It has the potential to also reduce the amount of medication wastage in the sector, as well as reducing the turn around time from GP visit/consultation to the dispensing and delivery of the medications.
ITOL Funding: $175 182
Contact : Mr Bruce Henderson, I.T. Officer, Bendigo and District Division of General Practice, bhenderson@bgodivgp.org.au
Packaging impact quick evaluation tool
The Sustainable Packaging Alliance (SPA) - comprising the Centre for Design at RMIT University, the Packaging and Polymer Research Unit at Victoria University and Birubi Innovation - has identified the need for a tool to provide rapid, credible, easily accessed, and life-cycle assessment of the environmental impact of packaging systems. The development of the Packaging Impact Quick Evaluation Tool (PIQET ©) has a long term aim of providing and maintaining a web-based tool for Australian industry.
The activities of the project have the following objectives / aims.
- Develop and demonstrate that rapid and credible environmental assessments of packaging can be performed to meet the desired needs of users;
- Develop a web-based prototype software tool for access via the SPA website by translating the Excel model;
- To road-test the web-based prototype by company sponsors with their own case studies of food packaging systems;
- To communicate and demonstrate the potential of such a tool to industry, government and the broader community; and
- To use the tool to model and better inform strategies for sustainable packaging development and promote these widely via the SPA website.
PIQET © will be used to support decision making associated with packaging system development and innovation strategies, selection of materials for packaging re-design or packaging innovation, and specification of improving packaging associated with procurement of inbound goods. PIQET © will be an on-line tool that considers all levels of packaging, as well as including their anticipated functional performance and social aspects such as litter, environmental factors and consumer convenience. Through direct and up to date data links with industry practices and performances, PIQET © will enable identification of opportunities for environmental impact improvement and support implementation of National Packaging Covenant Action Plans and the Environmental Code of Practice for Packaging.
ITOL Funding: $130 750
Contact : Dr Karli Verghese, Manager Sustainable Products, Centre for Design, RMIT University , karli.verghese@rmit.edu.au
Development of a knowledge based web tool to deliver occupational health and safety decision support to building/construction designers
There is a growing emphasis on elimination of occupational health and safety (OHS) hazards through design. In several Australian jurisdictions, specific OHS obligations for designers of buildings have been established in legislation. The project will develop a prototype OHS decision support tool for designers in the building and construction industry. The tool will focus on designing to prevent falls from height, the major cause of fatalities and serious injuries in the building/construction sector.
The tool will adopt an innovative approach to modelling design OHS knowledge, based upon argumentation theory. Unlike rule-based knowledge-based systems of the past, the argumentation approach is ideally suited to modelling expert knowledge in situations characterised by professional judgement, discretion and contingency (such as design and OHS risk management).
The delivery of expert OHS advice has considerable potential to improve the efficiency of the design process, improve information flows between parties in the building/construction supply chain and reduce OHS risks at source, i.e. in design.
The target market for the decision support tool is small to medium sized design firms. The tool will be web-based, allowing SME designers to access the system using a standard browser.
RMIT University's School of Property, Construction and Project Management has assembled a consortium that includes decision support system innovator, JustSys Pty Ltd, and an experienced SME construction building design firm, Crosier Scott & Associates to produce the prototype decision support tool for designers.
The project will benefit the construction and design industry by making best practice OHS expertise, as it applies to the prevention of falls from height, accessible to all designers in the industry, especially SMEs.
ITOL Funding: $34 000
Contact : Dr Nick Blismas, Senior Lecturer, School of Property , Construction & Project Management, RMIT University , nick.blismas@rmit.edu.au
Applied ideas online
Applied Ideas Online is a highly innovative e-commerce portal which links craft & design practitioners with manufacturers and markets.
In Australia , craft and design practitioners face low incomes and an up-hill battle establishing links with the manufacturing sector to access new materials and manufacturing techniques to produce their uniquely designed products in quantities that will allow them to become sustainable. They also have difficulty establishing markets for their work, particularly at a national level.
Applied Ideas Online will provide a one-stop e-commerce portal to enable craft & design practitioners to engage with manufacturers, develop new products, and establish new markets for their products across Australia.
Significantly, Applied Ideas Online will support these collaborative ventures through online training and education programs, brokerage services , job notification and matching services, and business management solutions which strengthen these business relationships — including design license contracts and negotiating design fees and royalties.
Applied Ideas Online is based on a pilot product commercialisation program in which four craft & design practitioners worked with a furniture manufacturer to produce three new ranges for a local retailer. The outcomes of pilot program have been the creation of 50 new products, improvements in the manufacturers' production processes, four new manufacturing jobs, the strengthening of the business relationship between the manufacturer and retailer, the sale of Australian designed and manufactured furniture, and ongoing royalties being paid to the craft & design practitioners—which will have a long-term impact upon the viability of their creative practices.
Applied Ideas Online will provide immediate and lasting benefits to the creative, manufacturing and retail industries across Australia.
ITOL Funding: $198 500
Contact : Ms Anne Robertson, Executive Director, Craftsouth, anne.robertson@craftsouth.org.au
Better care through intelligent referrals
Safe community alternatives are not being made available to many of the people who present to hospitals, because of problems of cost and coordination. To reduce unnecessary hospital stays, staff in busy emergency departments and wards must be able to readily identify patients who are suitable for home care, then rapidly access appropriate community providers.
The Advanced Community Care Association's (ACCA) ‘Intelligent Referrals' project will implement automatic identification of patients most likely to be suitable for home care, together with fast and low cost linkages to community providers who can deliver the right care in the right place at short notice. ACCA's collaborating partners are Alcidion, Nexus Online, and the University of Southern Queensland.
ACCA has completed ‘proof of concept' work in the Royal Adelaide Hospital and will now extend the application to the Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals. Extensive consultation with hospital clinicians and community providers will refine the identification of patients, and deliver training to key staff in hospital and community settings. With minimal additional data entry requirements, hospital staff will then be able to refer patients electronically to the right provider. All referrals will be captured in a central data base, under constant observation by a nurse-staffed Contact Centre operating 24 hours a day. This will ensure that delivery is monitored, any failures of coordination are followed up immediately, and costs are kept under review.
Currently, more than 200 community organisations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, are regularly providing services as part of ACCA's ‘packages' of community care. The ‘Intelligent Referrals' application has widespread potential for use across the health and community service sectors, both public and private.
ITOL Funding: $200 000
Contact : Mr David Meldrum, CEO Advanced Community Care Association, David.Meldrum@accasa.org.au