Tusla’s PMO Recognised for Excellence at Prestigious Ireland Chapter National Project Management Awards
Tusla’s National Childcare Information System (NCCIS) was shortlisted for the Public Sector ‘Project of the Year' at the prestigious Ireland Chapter National Project Management Awards. The awards ceremony, hosted by PwC recognised excellence in project management across various sectors.
Speaking about the achievement Cormac Quinlan, Director of Transformation and Policy, Tusla said: “Being shortlisted in such strong category is an excellent achievement for the Project Management Office, led by Fergal Collins and for the wider agency. It is recognition of the excellent project management approach being used by the agency, through the establishment of the dedicated project management office.
The effectiveness of the approach is evident through the successful roll-0ut of the National Childcare Information System (NCCIS). Having a nationally connected social work system for child protection and welfare, for the first time in the State is a huge achievement. It would not be possible without the unwavering commitment and a genuine desire to continuously improve the child protection system shown by countless staff. Congratulations to all involved.”
Jim Gibson, Chief Operations Officer, Tusla said: “I’m delighted that the national Childcare Information System (NCCIS) and the overall project management approach was shortlisted at the prestigious Ireland Chapter National Project Management Awards. The national roll out of NCCIS marks a significant milestone in child protection for the agency and the country. For the first time in the history of the State all 17 social work areas can access one integrated, up to date information system to manage child protection and welfare cases.”
NCCIS replaces numerous paper based and legacy ICT systems which the agency inherited on establishment and will improve consistency across the country by ensuring social work teams have access to up to date, relevant information on the child.
The new system, which was piloted, and tested before being rolled out nationally will ultimately improve the quality, safety, responsiveness and delivery of child protection services by supporting practice around the country, and capturing critical data on children who are the subject of a child protection or welfare referral to provide a timely, robust and effective service. Information will include details of screening, preliminary enquiries, assessments (initial or other) and the case notes.
Benefits of the new national integrated system include:
- Replace current manual systems and various ICT systems which the agency inherited on establishment.
- Improve quality and efficiency through improved sharing of information between relevant professionals.
- Future availability of appropriate management information to enable informed decisions at both strategic and operational levels.
- Accurate and up to date activity recording, thereby facilitating service planning and monitoring.
- Enable information to be grouped, sorted, manipulated, analysed and listed.
- Simplify caseload review mechanisms.
- Enable controlled access to information and services being provided to children referred to Tusla.
Commenting on the achievement Fergal Collins, Head of the Project Management Office, Tusla said: “I’m delighted that NCCIS and Tusla’s project management approach was shortlisted for the Public Sector Project of the Year award. It is recognition of the hard work, dedication and sheer commitment of staff across the agency to striving for excellence and working towards Tusla’s vision of ‘An Ireland that is committed to the safety and well-being of children, young people and families’.”
The Programme Management Office (PMO) was established to govern, support and monitor each of the transformation programmes to ensure integrated thinking in the delivery of the commitments and the strong project management approach is being applied to large scale programmes such as the Child Protection and Welfare Strategy, Finance Strategy, etc.