Australian Government ICT Trends Report
2014-15
VERSION 1.0 | MARCH 2016
Australian Government ICT Trends Report
2014-15
VERSION 1.0 | MARCH 2016
Australian Government ICT Trends Report 2014-15 |
1
Contents
Contents
2
1. Executive Summary
6
2. Notes
7
2.1 Cohort definitions
7
2.2 Agency cohort composition
7
2.3 General notes
8
2.4 Applicable qualifications
9
3. Metrics: ICT Spend
10
3.1 Total ICT spend as a proportion of total agency departmental spend
10
3.2 ICT spend as a proportion of total agency operating spend
11
3.3 Business as usual (BAU) ICT spend as a proportion of total ICT spend
12
3.4 ICT operating vs. ICT capital spend
13
3.5 Proportion of ICT spend by service tower
14
3.6 Proportion of ICT spend by cost element
15
4. Metrics: ICT FTE
16
4.1 Total ICT FTE
16
4.2 Non-ICT personnel supported per ICT personnel
17
4.3 Internal ICT FTE
18
4.4 Internal ICT FTE vs. APS employees by pay grade 2014-2015
19
4.5 Internal and external ICT FTE by Business-as-usual (BAU) and Project
20
5. Metrics: Infrastructure
5.1 Virtualisation
21
21
5.2 End user devices – Mix (in percentage terms) of desktop, laptop, thin client and
tablet devices
22
5.3 Storage
23
6. Appendix
24
6.1 Glossary
24
6.2 Definitions
24
Australian Government ICT Trends Report 2014-15 |
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Copyright
The Department of Finance is licensed to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, distribute
and communicate the information contained in this report.
With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and subject to any copyright
notices contained in individual documents, all material presented in this report is
provided under a Creative Commons Australia Licence (Attribution-NonCommercial
3.0 Unported) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/).
To the extent that copyright subsists in a third party (such as in the material relating
to the definitions of cost elements and service towers at pages 9 to 11), permission
will be required from the third party to reuse the material. The document must be
attributed: “Australian Government ICT Trends Report 2014–15”.
Use of the Coat of Arms
The terms under which the Coat of Arms can be used are detailed on the following
website: http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/coat-arms/.
Contact us
Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of this data are welcome at:
Investment, Capability and Assurance Branch
Efficiency, Assurance, and Digital Government
Governance and APS Transformation
Department of Finance
John Gorton Building King Edward Terrace Parkes ACT 2600
Email: ICTbenchmarking@finance.gov.au
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ICT SPEND
ICT FTEs
END USER DEVICES
NON-ICT PERSONNEL SUPPORTED
PER ICT PERSONNEL (2014-15)
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ICT SPEND BY COST ELEMENT
ICT SPEND BY SERVICE TOWER
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1. Executive Summary
The Australian Government introduced the ICT Benchmarking programme to
facilitate better practice and rigour in monitoring the efficiency and effectiveness of
ICT investments. The Australian Government ICT Trends Report 2014–15 (the
Report) informs the general community and industry about Government ICT use
and expenditure.
All Non-Corporate Commonwealth agencies participate in the annual ICT
benchmarking exercise. Agencies provide data about their ICT costs, personnel and
infrastructure. The Department of Finance (Finance) uses the data to assess the
whole-of-Australian-Government ICT environment.
The Report provides aggregate figures on:

total ICT expenditure, breakdowns of expenditure by service tower, and by cost
element;

ICT personnel, including by service tower, whether internal or external, and by
level; and

ICT infrastructure deployed by agencies, including numbers of servers and
desktop devices.
Key findings of the Report are:

in 2014-15, the Australian Government had ICT spend of around $5.6 billion;

compared to 2008-09, the total reported ICT spend has increased by 2.7 per cent
(from $5.5 billion to $5.6 billion) while the total agency spend decreased by
10.6 per cent (from $63.9 billion to $57.1 billion). This has resulted in an
increase of ICT spend as a proportion of total agency spend from 8.6 per cent to
9.9 per cent;

compared to 2013-14, the total reported ICT spend has increased by 6.8 per cent
(from $5.3 billion to $5.6 billion) while the total agency spend increased by
5.9 per cent (from $53.9 billion to $57.1 billion). The proportion of ICT spend to
total agency spend has remained stable (from 9.8 per cent to 9.9 per cent); and

business-as-usual ICT spend remains within 70 per cent of total ICT spend,
indicating a reasonable proportion of funds is directed to building new
capability.
Finance, in consultation with agencies, has reviewed the programme. A revised
framework is proposed to be phased in over the next two years, to provide
increased transparency, analysis, and value to the Government and agencies. This
will include changes to this Report.
Finance welcomes questions or feedback on this report via email at
ICTbenchmarking@finance.gov.au.
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2. Notes
2.1
Cohort definitions
In 2014-15, agencies remains in the same cohort as in 2013-14 which were
classified based on their ICT spend in the 2012-13 financial year.

“Large agencies” are defined as those that make up the top 85 per cent of
ICT spend (above $42 million in ICT spend);

“Medium agencies” are defined as those that make up between 85 and
95 per cent (10 per cent) of ICT spend (between $42 million and $15 million in
ICT spend);

“Small agencies” are defined as those that make up between 95 and 99 per cent
(4 per cent) of ICT spend (between $15 million and $3 million in ICT spend); and

“Micro agencies” are defined as those agencies that contribute the bottom
1 per cent of total ICT spend (below $3 million in ICT spend).
2.2
Agency cohort composition
The graph below shows the composition of the agency cohort based on ICT spend in
2014-15.
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2.3
General notes
The report should be considered in the wider context
ICT spend and other metrics should be viewed in conjunction with other efficiency
indicators and the Government’s broader agenda.
The data underlying this analysis may change
This analysis is based on the data presented to Finance, by agencies, as at
30 November 2015. The findings in this report is subject to the provision of any
updated data by agencies after the date of this analysis.
Machinery of Government (MOG), incomplete data, and improvements in the
quality of agency reporting makes comparison over time difficult
Only agencies that have provided complete and valid data for the calculation of each
metric, in all years, have typically been included in the analysis; this is assessed on a
metric by metric basis. Data presented in previous iterations of the ICT trends
reports may vary to those presented in this report, both as a result of these factors,
and as a result of refinements to the data quality. These variations are generally of
low significance in the context of whole-of-government reporting.
Agencies have been provided the opportunity to assure the accuracy of their
data
All data provided have been assessed using a standard statistical methodology; data
points that were found to be statistically significant, or shown to have significant
variations from data provided in previous years, have been identified to agencies.
Agencies were then invited to confirm the accuracy of their data; as such all data
included in this analysis are considered to be accurate and, where possible, all
available data have been included in the analysis.
Total spend metrics excludes intra-government spending
Intra-government spending is excluded from whole-of-government spend analysis
to eliminate double-counting of spend.
Most of the data presented relates to Large and Medium cohort agencies
Micro and Small Cohort agencies are excluded from some analyses as relevant data
is not collected from them.
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2.4
Applicable qualifications
The following qualifications apply to all the metrics presented in this Report (unless
otherwise noted):

All ICT spend data exclude administered funds and non-reporting agencies.

All spend data are represented in real terms with the 2014-15 financial year
base CPI indexation applied.

Estimation of non-reporting is quantified by applying a CPI indexation of data
from relevant years as reported in the ICT benchmarking survey.

Data are inclusive of estimated spend for identified areas of non-reporting.

Data presented are for the Large, Medium, Small, and Micro cohorts and
excludes military ICT spend.

Variations from previously reported figures may occur when agencies provide
updated information (including material adjustments to prior years’ figures) or
when material misstatements were identified. Variations may also occur when
methodological improvements have been implemented.
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3. Metrics: ICT Spend
3.1
Total ICT spend as a proportion of total agency departmental spend
This graph shows total ICT spend as a proportion of total agency spend. Total agency spend are the costs associated with departmental
activities only.
Compared to 2008-09, the total reported ICT spend has increased by 2.7 per cent (from $5.5 billion to $5.6 billion in 2014-15) while the total
agency spend decreased by 10.6 per cent (from $63.9 billion to $57.1 billion in 2014-15). This has resulted in an increase of ICT spend as a
proportion of total agency spend from 8.6 per cent to 9.9 per cent.
Compared to 2013-14, the total reported ICT spend has increased by 6.8 per cent (from $5.3 billion to $5.6 billion) while the total agency spend
increased by 5.9 per cent (from $53.9 billion to $57.1 billion in 2014-15). The proportion of ICT spend to total agency spend has remained
stable (from 9.8 per cent to 9.9 per cent).
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3.2
ICT spend as a proportion of total agency operating spend
This graph created by the Australian Department of Finance based on Gartner research. *International benchmarks source: Gartner IT Key Metrics Data 2016: Key Industry Measures: Government -National and International Analysis: Multiyear (December 2015).
ICT spend as a proportion of total agency operating spend is another view of ICT investment levels in terms of the role ICT plays in overall
spending patterns. Typically, a high proportion of ICT spend to total operating spend indicates that the organisation considers ICT as a strategic
enabler.
Australian Government ICT spend as a proportion of total agency operating spend has been trending upward since 2012-13 (from 10.3 per
cent to 12.2 per cent). Over the same time period, international governments benchmark has been trending downward (from 9.1 per cent to
8.6 per cent).
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3.3
Business as usual (BAU) ICT spend as a proportion of total ICT spend
This metric provides an overview of BAU ICT spend as a proportion of total ICT spend. BAU ICT spend is defined as all ICT related costs outside
of projects.
Since 2008-09, ICT investments on BAU remain within the recommended target (70 per cent) set by the Review of the Australian Government’s
Use of Information and Communication Technology1.
1
http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/ICT-Review/
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3.4
ICT operating vs. ICT capital spend
ICT operating and capital spend and their respective proportion of total agency operating and capital spend have fluctuated over the last seven
years. However, in 2014-15 they have mainly returned to the levels of 2008-09.
Since 2013-14, ICT operating spend has increased by 10 per cent (from 4.0 billion to 4.3 billion) while total agency operating spend has
remained at a similar level (around $46 billion). This has resulted in an increase of ICT operating spend as a proportion of total agency
operating spend from 8.6 per cent to 9.4 per cent. Over the same period ICT capital spend has remained stable (around $1.3 billion) while total
agency capital spend has increased by 40 per cent (from $7.8 billion to 10.9 billion). This has resulted in a decrease of ICT capital spend as a
proportion of total agency capital spend from 17.0 per cent to 11.8 per cent.
Traditionally, capital spend is viewed as initiating a return on investment; whereas operating spend refers to the day-to-day ICT costs.
However, if agencies move to outsourcing, a decline in capital spend and an increase in operating spend would be expected. Associated
scalability and flexibility provide additional efficiencies. For example, the take-up of external cloud computing means agencies only pay for
what they use, and reduce capital costs by investing that money in projects or business as usual.
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3.5
Proportion of ICT spend by service tower
This graph shows breakdown of ICT spend by service tower.
Applications is the highest area of ICT spend, being more than three times as high as the second-largest service tower (being End User
Infrastructure). Applications, End User Infrastructure, and ICT Management together made up around 60 per cent of total ICT spend in
2014-15.
Since 2008-09, the following service towers have increased their shares of total ICT spend: Applications (from 34 per cent to 37 per cent), ICT
Management (from 9 per cent to 11 per cent), Midrange (from 8 per cent to 9 per cent) and Other (consisting of Storage, Gateways, LAN & RAS,
Helpdesk, and Facilities) (from 12 per cent to 16 per cent). Meanwhile, the following service towers have decreased their shares of total ICT
spend: End User Infrastructure (from 15 per cent to 12 per cent), Mainframe (from 7 per cent to 5 per cent), Voice Services (from 7 per cent to
5 per cent) and WAN (from 9 per cent to 7 per cent).
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3.6
Proportion of ICT spend by cost element
This graph shows the breakdown of ICT spend by cost element.
Spend on Internal Personnel and Services Outsourced to External Providers together made up over 51 per cent of total ICT spend in 2014-15.
Since 2008-09, the following cost elements have increased their shares of total ICT spend: Internal Personnel (from 24 per cent to 25 per cent),
Services Outsourced to External Providers (from 21 per cent to 26 per cent), and Software (from 16 per cent to 17 per cent). Spend on external
personnel remained at the same level (14 per cent), and Hardware and Carriage have decreased their shares of total ICT spend from 13 per
cent to 12 per cent and from 8 per cent to 3 per cent, respectively.
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4. Metrics: ICT FTE
4.1
Total ICT FTE
This graph shows the aggregation of internal and external ICT FTE. For information on the split, please refer to graph 4.5.
Compared to 2008-09, the number of ICT FTE in 2014-15 increased by 1.1 per cent (or 171 FTE). However, the number of ICT FTE has
decreased by 13.5 per cent (or 2,397 FTE) since its peak in 2011-12.
In 2014-15, Government spend on ICT personnel was $2.2 billion or 40 per cent of total government ICT spend.
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4.2
Non-ICT personnel supported per ICT personnel
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
2011-12
2010-11
2009-10
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1:9
1:12
1:9
1:12
1:9
1:15
1:8
1:11
1:9
1:13
1:9
1:14
KEY:
ICT to non-ICT staff ratio
Australian Government
International Government*
Calculations performed by the Australian Department of Finance. *International benchmarks source: Gartner IT Key Metrics Data 2016: Key Industry Measures: Government -- National and International
Analysis: Multiyear (December 2015).
Since 2009-10, the Australian Government has consistently maintained higher proportion of ICT personnel compared to non-ICT personnel
(each ICT personnel has been supporting between 8 and 9 non-ICT personnel) compared to its international counterparts (each ICT personnel
has been supporting between 11 and 15 non-ICT personnel).
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4.3
Internal ICT FTE
Note: These may not add to 100 per cent due to rounding.
The graph on the left shows the proportion of internal ICT FTE to total ICT FTE. The graph on the right shows the breakdown of internal ICT
FTE by pay grade. Please note that these graphs exclude Small and Micro Cohort agencies as split data is not collected from these agencies.
Compared to 2008-09, there has been a decrease in the proportion of internal ICT FTE from 78 per cent to 76 per cent. The proportion of
Executive Level 1 FTE has increased from 30 per cent to 32 per cent, however it has been on a downward trend since its peak at 34 per cent in
2012-13. The proportion of APS 1-3 FTE has decreased from 9 per cent to 4 per cent while the proportion of APS 4 FTE has increased from 9
per cent to 11 per cent. This suggests the increased in skill and experience required in ICT roles.
The change indicates growth in skilled and more experience ICT staff employed internally.
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4.4
Internal ICT FTE vs. APS employees2 by pay grade 2014-2015
This graph compares internal ICT FTE with APS employees by pay grade in 2014-15. Please note that this graph excludes Small and Micro
Cohort agencies as split data is not collected from these agencies.
In 2014-15, the profile of Executive Level 1 and 2 (EL1 and EL2) and APS6 in ICT differs to that of the APS more broadly, with stronger
representation of staff at these levels working in ICT. Conversely, ICT FTE at APS1-5 are disproportionally less represented when compared to
the general APS. This may be an indication of the specialised skills required in ICT roles.
2
The whole-of-APS staffing profile is sourced from the 2014-15 State of Service Report published by the Australian Public Service Commission, and covers non-reporting agencies.
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4.5
Internal and external ICT FTE by Business-as-usual (BAU) and Project
Internal ICT FTE
External ICT FTE
This graph shows the number of internal FTE involved in
Business-as-usual (BAU) operations and Projects.
This graph shows the number of external FTE involved in
Business-as-usual (BAU) operations and projects.
Over the reporting period, the total number of internal ICT FTE has
decreased by 4 per cent (from 11,634 FTE to 11,169 FTE) which
was driven by a decrease of FTE working for ICT Projects by 19 per
cent (from 3,893 FTE to 3,155 FTE) and an increase of BAU FTE by
4 per cent (from 7,741 FTE to 8,014 FTE).
Over the reporting period, the total number of external ICT FTE has
increased by 7 per cent (from 3,360 FTE to 3,602 FTE) which was
driven by an increase of BAU FTE by 22 per cent (from 1,281 FTE
to 1,567 FTE) and a decrease of Project FTE by 2 per cent (from
2,079 FTE to 2,036 FTE).
Please note that these graphs exclude Small and Micro Cohort agencies as split data is not collected from these agencies, resulting in a small
difference in each year’s total reported ICT FTE from those reported in graph 4.1.
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5. Metrics: Infrastructure
5.1
Virtualisation
This graph shows the number of Operating System (OS) instances and physical servers in the Midrange service tower as well as the number of
OS instances per physical server. Note: This graph excludes Small and Micro Cohort agencies as split data is not collected from these agencies.
Since 2008-09, the number of OS instances per physical server has been steadily increasing from 1.5 to 5.1 in 2013-14. The increase was
mainly due to the steadily decrease in number of physical servers (from 16,583 to 10,904 in 2013-14).
Since 2013-14, the number of OS instances and physical servers have increased by 38 per cent (from 55,337 to 76,364) and by 37 per cent
(from 10,904 to 14,907), respectively. As a result, the number of OS instances per physical server remained stable at 5.1.
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5.2
End user devices – Mix (in percentage terms) of desktop, laptop, thin client and tablet devices
This graph shows the mix (in percentage terms) of desktop, laptop, thin client and tablet devices. Note: This graph excludes Small and Micro
Cohort agencies as split data is not collected from these agencies.
Over the reporting period, desktop computers remained the most common end user devices for APS employees, accounting for 71 per cent in
2014-15. However, there has been a rapid increase in the usage of thin client devices (from 2 per cent in 2008-09 to 10 per cent in 2014-15)
and tablet devices (from 1 per cent in 2011-12 to 4 per cent in 2014-15).
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5.3
Storage
This graph shows the total installed storage in Petabytes3 (PB) and the unit cost of installed storage per Terabyte (TB). Please note that this
graph excludes Small and Micro Cohort agencies as split data is not collected from these agencies.
Over the reporting period, there has been a steady increase in the demand for storage of approximately 41 PB per annum (from 46 PB in 200809 to 291 PB in 2014-15). At the same time, the cost per unit of storage has decreased by a factor of 5 (from $3,927 per TB to $788 per TB).
3
1 Petabyte = 1,000 Terabytes
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6. Appendix
6.1
Glossary
Short form
Long form
APS
Australian Public Service
BAU
Business As Usual
Capex
Capital Spend
FTE
Full Time Equivalent
ICT
Information and Communication Technology
LAN
Local Area Network
MOG
Machinery of Government
Non-BAU
Non Business As Usual (usually projects)
Opex
Operational Spend
OS
Operating System
RAS
Remote Access Services
TB
Terabyte(s)
WAN
Wide Area Network
6.2
Definitions
Cost elements
Carriage
The costs of providing digital or analogue electronic impulses
(including data, voice or video) over a distance.
External personnel
spend
External full time equivalent (FTE) personnel are staff who provide
services on a time and materials basis (e.g. "body shopping"). These
staff are generally contractors, but may also be described by agencies
as consultants.
Hardware spend
Spend on purchasing, leases, maintenance and repair for all physical
ICT equipment, such as servers, PCs, terminals, printers, peripherals,
printing equipment, networking and telecommunications equipment,
materials/accessories and disaster recovery hardware.
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Internal personnel
spend
For all internal FTE (e.g. Australian Public Service staff) involved in
ICT activities, includes all wages and salaries, provisions for staff
entitlements and staff on-costs.
Other spend
Spend on occupancy, facilities, utilities and other ICT spend not
captured in other cost element categories.
Services outsourced Spend on services provided under a non-government third-party’s
to external provider responsibility.
Services outsourced
to FMA Act agencies
Spend on services provided under the responsibility of agencies
subject to the FMA Act.
Software spend
Spend on licences, as well as repair and maintenance for external and
standard software, systems software, and standard office productivity
applications as they apply to each service tower and the total agency
level.
Service towers
Applications
Programs and other software (including the supporting
documentation, media, on-line help facilities and tutorials) that
perform user or business related information processing functions.
End user
infrastructure
Services, hardware, software, personnel, functions, activities and
responsibilities that are provided directly to end-users in an agency.
Hardware includes desktop and laptop computers, thin clients,
personal digital assistant, and support of these activities, software
(including standard operating environment and client software),
distributed file, email and print servers, and peripherals such as
printers and scanners.
Facilities
Physical facilities, including raised floor space, power supply, air
conditioning, and associated utilities, as well as security and facilities
monitoring and maintenance services, personnel, activities, hardware
and software.
Gateway
Services, hardware, software, functions, personnel, activities and
responsibilities that securely connect and provide an interface
between two different data networks (typically internal networks and
external networks).
Helpdesk
Buildings, infrastructure, associated technologies and fully trained
staff who respond to Level 1 helpdesk calls from end users, coordinate incident management, problem management and request
management activities, and act as a single point of contact for agency
end-users in regard to all service towers.
ICT management
Services, equipment, activities, personnel, functions and
responsibilities providing cross-service tower governance,
controlling, security, architecture, finance and human resources
services to the ICT organisation.
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LAN and RAS
Local area networks (LANs) comprise all network elements (LAN
hardware, software, transport systems, interconnect devices, wiring
and cabling) inside buildings and campuses that are used to transmit
data within or among LAN segments, as well as services, software,
functions, personnel, activities and responsibilities to support
operation of these. Remote access services (RAS) comprise all dial-in
and virtual private network (VPN) infrastructure services, hardware,
software, functions, personnel, activities and responsibilities
provided to remote users in the business (e.g., telecommuters and
field staff).
Mainframe
Services, hardware, software, functions, personnel, activities and
responsibilities involved in providing enormous input/output
processing capacity and running a typical mainframe operating
system (OS). These are typically housed centrally in data centres.
Midrange
Services, hardware, software, functions, personnel, activities and
responsibilities involved in running server applications with typically
high input/output processing capacity, which are typically housed
centrally in data centres, but not mainframes.
Storage
Services, hardware, software, functions, personnel, activities and
responsibilities involved in providing data storage services to the
business.
Voice services
All carrier and telecommunications services, carriage, hardware,
software, activities, personnel, functions and responsibilities involved
in providing voice services and non-internet protocol (IP)
videoconferencing services to the business, including Voice over IP
services.
WAN
Services, hardware, software, functions, personnel, activities and
responsibilities provided to the business to achieve data connectivity
across a long-haul, high speed backbone wide area transmission
network.
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