088/05
3 August 2005
$820,000 for five new e-business projects
Five new e-business projects worth $820,000 were announced today by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, as part of the Information Technology Online ( ITOL) program.
Since 1996, the Government has allocated more than $13.3 million to 119 innovative ITOL projects across a range of industry sectors and geographic regions. ITOL grants of up to $200,000 encourage businesses, particularly small-to-medium sized enterprises, to adopt e-commerce solutions.
“The benefits these sorts of business-to-business projects generate go well beyond the life of the funding,” Senator Coonan said.
“They will make information exchange and business transactions more efficient and lead to increased productivity across a range of sectors. The five successful projects in Round 13 of ITOL will assist a variety of industries.
“The projects include a program to facilitate online reporting of chemical usage in viticulture; an e-commerce hub for creative media content; an electronic product code network for the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector; a portal and messaging system to facilitate the exchange of service provider information in the counselling sector; and a web interface to assist grain farmers to better plan and manage crops.
“This is good news not only for the agriculture, viticulture, creative media and mental health sectors, and for users of the electronic product code network, but also for related industries and the broader community.”
Five new projects are funded in ITOL Round 13:
- VineAccess HACCP Module and Chemical Database, an online database to record chemical and spray use by grape growers;
- Portal and XML Messaging System, an Internet portal and transactional hub for the exchange of service provider information in the counselling sector;
- National Demonstration of Electronic Product Code (EPC) Network, to assist with commodity tracking, product security and supply chain management;
- ScreenXChange, an e-commerce portal operating in the creative media sector; and
- The Yield Prophet, a web interface which provides grain growers with real-time information about crop growth.
Detailed information about the projects is attached.
For further information about the ITOL program visit www.dcita.gov.au/itol
Information Technology Online program – Round 13 projects
VINEACCESS HACCP MODULE AND CHEMICAL DATABASE
This project seeks to develop an online database for the entry of chemical and spray usage data by grape growers in the viticulture industry. It supports Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) compliance including:
- participation in Australian Wine Industry Stewardship program;
- HACCP certification;
- British Retail Consortium certification;
- Europe Gap certification;
- compliance with the US Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 ; and
- ISO 14001 compliance
The system will facilitate increasingly stringent reporting requirements by Australia’s principal export markets in the wine industry to verify quality assurance, food safety and environmental standards, particularly reaching back in the supply chain to grape growers. It will achieve this by enabling grape growers to satisfy the HACCP requirements of all the wineries they supply and will be functionally effective, user-friendly and cost effective. It will enable wineries to monitor exceptions to HACCP compliance in their supply chain in a timely and cost effective manner. It will also enable HACCP auditors to provide online auditing and certification, visible to both the grower and the wineries they supply.
The web-based HACCP system will include:
- a comprehensive chemical database of all agrochemicals registered for viticulture use in Australia, including all fields necessary for electronic exception reporting;
- a chemical shed inventory system;
- a link of both of the above to the VineAccess Spray Diary;
- an HACCP auditing system; and
- an HACCP certificate issue system.
The project will also include stakeholder input in specification development from grape growers and wineries, a pilot roll-out, development of training materials and procedures for ongoing update, quality assurance and release of chemical database.
ITOL funding: $200,000
Contact: Mr Stephen Blacketer, Managing Director, Morton Blacketer Pty Ltd, SBlacketer@mortonblacketer.com.au
PORTAL & XML MESSAGING SYSTEM [FOR THE EXCHANGE OF SERVICE PROVIDER INFORMATION IN THE COUNSELLING SECTOR]
This project seeks to develop an Internet portal and transactional hub (XML messaging gateway) to facilitate the exchange of service provider information in the counselling sector. Service providers, organisations collating service provider information and counselling organisations will be able to register and maintain their details, sell and purchase data or subscribe to receive service provider information (via emails or XML messaging).
This innovative solution will improve information flows in the health and welfare sector, reduce costs for service providers and counselling organisations, facilitate the sale and purchase of service provider information, and improve the timeliness of information updates. It will also encourage a collaborative B2B approach to sharing key information across the health and welfare sector.
A consortium of leading organisations in the counselling and service provider information sector will undertake the project. Lifeline Australia will be responsible for developing the XML Interface Standard, the Internet portal and the XML Messaging Gateway. The other organisations will form a steering committee to guide the project and agree on standards and protocols sharing and charging information.
ITOL funding: $200,000
Contact: Alan Woodward, National Manager Service Development, Lifeline Australia, alan.woodward@lifeline.org.au
NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION OF ELECTRONIC PRODUCT CODE (EPC) NETWORK
Electronic product coding (EPC) is to use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to identify items of value for the purposes of commodity tracking, product security and supply chain management.
This project aims to quantify the business benefits of sharing information securely in the EPC network, providing authentication of interacting parties, and enhancing ability to track and trace movement of goods within the entire supply chain involving multiple enterprise transactions. This innovative project involves tracking and tracing goods as they move through a complete supply chain in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector. By capturing data automatically about the location of goods at multiple locations businesses can make better decisions based on real-time information. This will allow them to better manage the assets they have deployed and be more responsive to events that affect the operations. The introduction of the EPC network in the supply chain increases efficiencies by allowing real-time visibility in B2B electronic transactions. It will give Australian business the ability to better manage inventory across their supply chain by instant tracking and tracing of goods, certainty of product source and authentication.
Through this project, the benefits and readiness of the technology to the Australian business community will be quantified and the knowledge of applying EPC network will be documented. The information will be widely disseminated to assist other companies implementing EPC in their business and achieving similar outcomes. Since the EPC network is already established, if the business relationship permits, companies which are not originally in the consortium can join the EPC network and enjoy the benefits immediately.
ITOL funding: $200,000
Contact: Dr John Mo, Team Leader, Manufacturing Systems, CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, John.Mo@csiro.au
SCREENXCHANGE
ScreenXchange seeks to establish an e-commerce portal that can be accessed and utilised by production companies, small-to-medium enterprises, micro businesses, education institutions and organisations operating in the Australian creative media sector.
ScreenXchange will support media content providers by offering them toolkits, business templates and the technological backend to sell through the portal.
Several key outcomes will include:
- increased capacity among Australian content producers to market and sell online;
- an ‘online matching service’ that connects content producers with other content producers;
- training and education of local industry in digital content delivery, marketing and distribution; and
- development of a business model for other regional Australian media industries and industries comprising micro-businesses and independent operators that are built on the commercial application of creativity.
ScreenXchange will help position Australian creative media content producers in this new broadband-ready marketplace by providing innovative online services that assist them to deliver creative content services to wider and emerging audiences. The technical capacity provided by ScreenXchange will include subscription services, streaming video, web casting, retail content and pod casting.
ITOL funding: $120,000
Contact: Kate Ingham, Manager, Creative Industries Development, Northern Rivers Screenworks, kate@screenworks.com.au
THE YIELD PROPHET
The Yield Prophet is a web interface for the Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM), a mathematical model of crop growth developed by the Agricultural Production Systems Research Unit (APSRU). APSIM is one of the world's leading crop production models and is unique within Australia.
The Yield Prophet provides grain growers with up-to-the-minute, real-time information about their crop during growth, and the likely impact of management events on crop yield and quality. Its primary output is a forecast of yield probabilities based on the simulation of crop production from pre-sowing until harvest. Grain growers use the Yield Prophet to match inputs such as irrigation water and nitrogen fertiliser to crop requirements. This allows growers to maximise their production efficiency, resulting in increased profit and reduced risk of production and environmental impact. The Yield Prophet incorporates seasonal forecasting tools that allow growers to tailor their production inputs to the current season. This enables assessment and management of production risk in Australia’s highly variable climate, which improves profitability and sustainability of the grains industry.
This project will continue development of The Yield Prophet Interface by APSRU in conjunction with BCG and Cropfacts, and accelerate its adoption of the Yield Prophet throughout the Australian grains industry. A network of agronomic service providers will be established, will receive training in the use of the service and then deliver and adapt the service to their growers’ needs. This will broaden the scope of e-business currently conducted within the Australian grains industry, and improve the competitiveness of the industry as a whole.
ITOL funding: $100,000
Contact: Alex Gartmann, Birchip Cropping Group Inc, alex@bcg.org.au