The Enabling Services Group (ESG) provides support to the legal practice through the delivery of corporate services and continued digital transformation. It consists of five branches.

National Business Improvement Branch

The National Business Improvement (NBI) branch is responsible for fostering innovation and driving business improvements across the legal practice. It continues to drive CDPP’s digital transformation agenda and build digital literacy and capability across our workforce. Previously a practice group, NBI transitioned into the ESG as a branch in 2019–20 and now reports to the Chief Corporate Officer.

In August 2018, caseHQ was launched as the CDPP’s new case management system and it continues to be enhanced with all files successfully migrated in 2019–20 from the legacy system CRIMS and the inclusion of non‑prosecution legal related file types. The data and analytics capability within NBI supports the executive and stakeholders in critical decision making through the delivery of timely and accurate information and data. The data cube that was deployed in February 2020 is now the single source of truth for CDPP’s reporting requirements. The data cube draws information from a number of sources including the CDPP’s legacy and new case management systems and human resources systems.

Key priorities for 2020–21 for NBI include the enhancement of the Digital Referrals Gateway and e‑trial solution, which are core elements of the CDPP’s digital transformation agenda. The Digital Referrals Gateway will be enhanced to enable partner agencies to maximise the types and size of the electronic briefs of evidence (e‑briefs) the CDPP can receive while ensuring records and materials are preserved. An agile and flexible e‑trial solution will be developed and implemented to allow the CDPP to streamline court proceedings and decrease reliance on paper materials when conducting a trial.

With the onset of COVID‑19, NBI responded in an agile and innovative manner to continue to build CDPP’s digital capability and effectively transitioned from face to face training to online e‑learning packages including the delivery of digital training. In total, 146 training sessions were delivered in 2019–20 to CDPP staff in the use of modern digital support tools and products.

Administrative Support and Governance Branch

The National Administrative Support and Governance branch delivers governance, risk, audit, national administration support and library functions.

The Governance team is responsible for both organisational governance and internal audit. The team provides strategic and operational advice and support to the Executive Leadership Group and senior management on all aspects of public sector governance, in accordance with the relevant legislation and government policy, and independent assurance on compliance with procedures and systems of internal control, and helps management improve business performance. In 2019‑20, the team continued to strengthen our governance practices and relationships with our key stakeholders.

The National Administrative Support team provides a range of specialist and general administrative support services to prosecutors. The team focuses on delivering timely, quality services to support the day to day needs of the legal practice, and has a physical presence in each office.

In 2019–20 the National Administrative Support team focused on further developing its capabilities to meet the changing needs of the legal practice through a review of its service offer. The legal practice was consulted on this review. Consideration was also given to legal support arrangements in other prosecutorial and APS agencies. A revised service offer was launched which included an enhanced administrative request system (to further align our services with caseHQ) and better integration of trial and complex matter support services. Clearer information on our national team structure, services and how they can be accessed, was also launched at the same time.

The Library and Research Services team provides specialist research services and managing access to legal resources and training. The team operates a national research support helpdesk that delivers a high quality and efficient research service to all staff.

In 2019–20, the Library and Research Services team developed and introduced a new training policy and program designed to create opportunities to improve skills in legal research and database use. The team also created a set of research toolkits to complement the new training program to enable the legal practice to quickly locate and access materials relevant to specific topics and frequently asked questions. Expanding resources comprising checklists, user manuals, flowcharts and quick reference guides have also been made available to support the legal practice.

Information, Communications and Technology Branch

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) branch provides ICT and records and information management services to all staff. In 2019–20, the branch played a pivotal role in providing dedicated support to staff throughout the pandemic, in particular in enabling staff to work from home and in developing a range of solutions for staff to effectively interact with various courts remotely.

This year the branch provided critical support to the NBI branch in the successful migration of data from the old legal case management system, CRIMS, to the new system, caseHQ as well as the deployment of a data cube. With the cyber threat environment constantly evolving,

in 2019–20 a review of the CDPP’s cyber environment was undertaken. A number of cyber security tools were deployed and cyber awareness training was provided for all staff to mitigate the current and emerging cyber security risks. The ICT branch continues to deliver enhancements in the enabling technologies to support the NBI branch in delivering the CDPP’s digital transformation agenda.

Finance Services Branch

The Financial Services branch provides policy, reporting and advisory support to the CDPP across all areas of finance and office accommodation. Services provided include:

• procurement, contracts, financial delegations and approving expenditure
• payments of accounts payable and receivable, credit cards, petty cash and staff reimbursement
• travel management, movement requisitions, allowances and payments
• policy and guidance including Director’s Finance Instructions and financial delegations
• administration of the Financial Management Information System
• financial reporting, budgets and asset management, and
• office accommodation and ancillary services.

People and Communication Branch

The CDPP’s People and Communication branch provides enabling and advisory people and communication services to support and inform our executive, managers, employees, partner agencies and other key stakeholders.

Our people are critical to the success of the CDPP to deliver priorities in a rapidly changing environment. Investing in and supporting our workforce to be agile, flexible and digitally capable ensures our employees can proactively respond to challenges, today and into the future. The CDPP’s workforce is collaborative, inclusive and innovative and supported to be high performing, healthy and engaged.

CDPP’s People teams play an important role in influencing the workforce, work environment and culture, while positioning the CDPP to be responsive to current and emerging priorities and changes in our environment. The teams provide strategic and operational advice on a full range of people related matters including workforce planning, workplace relations and learning and development as well as deliver key people services including recruitment and case management.

Key workforce, Enterprise Agreement, remuneration, wellbeing and other human resources and staffing information is available at Appendix 7: 2019‑20 Salary ranges and remuneration and Appendix 9: Our people.

Working across the CDPP to strengthen relationships with stakeholders, the Communication, Media and Parliamentary team facilitates engagement, information sharing and collaboration. The team works with the full range of CDPP’s stakeholders, from internal legal practice groups through to partner agencies and the media, to build an understanding of the CDPP’s role.

Key achievements of the People and Communication branch during 2019–20 included:

• managing the transition to remote working for most of the workforce in response to the COVID‑19 pandemic
• providing ongoing support to staff, managers and the Executive on COVID‑19 related matters, including up to date information and guidance from Commonwealth, state and territory agencies and resources to manage wellbeing while working in isolation
• the development of a three year People Strategy and Learning and Development Strategy and associated action plans
• extensive consultation across the agency to shape and prepare for future remuneration increases on expiry of the agency’s enterprise agreement
• the introduction of 360 degree feedback for the SES cohort
• a review and subsequent refining of national legal recruitment processes
• further enhancement of the agency’s wellbeing program
• successful delivery of the biennial Partner Agency Survey
• ongoing management of the CDPP’s suite of digital platforms
• ongoing management of media, ministerial and parliamentary activities, and played a critical role in developing a range of internal communication products supporting the agency’s response to COVID‑19.