Business management resources

Business continuity management (BCM) ensures an organisation can safeguard people and critical operations, while also upholding community confidence by encouraging organisational resilience.

Business continuity refers to the capability of an organisation to continue delivery of products or services at acceptable predefined levels following a disruptive incident.

This could include:

• supply chain disruption
• denial of access to the building
• loss of Information Technology systems and telecommunications
• loss of vital records (paper based and electronic)
• loss of key personnel and/or high absenteeism (e.g. Pandemic).

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing's approach to BCM

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing takes an all hazards approach to business continuity. This approach aims to identify the department’s dependency on key resources (personnel, information technology and facilities) and the impact on service delivery if they become unavailable.

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing Business Continuity Policy facilitates the development of consistent business continuity plans, clarifies roles and responsibilities of executives, managers and staff, and sets out the business priorities following a disruptive event.

Developing Business Continuity policies and procedures

All Victorian government agencies, including the Department of Families, Fairness, are advised to comply with the current best practice standards when developing their Business Continuity policies and procedures:

• AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 Risk management - Principles and guidelines
• International Standard ISO 22301 Societal security - Business continuity management system - Requirements
• International Standard ISO 22313 Societal security - Business continuity management system - Guidance.

All Victorian government agencies are also required to comply with the Victorian risk management framework and insurance management policy.

Further information

For further information or guidance on business continuity management, visit:

• The Business Continuity Institute: Good Practice Guidelines 
• The Victorian Government health information: pandemic influenza  
• Australian National Audit Office: Better practice guides 

Contact

For assistance with business continuity management, email Business Continuity at: businesscontinuity@dffh.vic.gov.au

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing delivers, funds and regulates community services that have a real and tangible impact on people’s lives.

Every person in the community services system has a duty to keep the people who use our services safe from preventable harm. This is, and must be, our non-negotiable starting point when delivering positive outcomes for all Victorians.

The department, sector and service providers all have an important role to play in collectively preventing harm and delivering an evidence-informed approach to meet the unique needs of our community.　

Effective quality governance is fundamental to consistently delivering safe, effective, connected and person-centred community services. Developed by the Community Services Quality and Safety Office, the Community Services Quality Governance Framework sets the objective of safe, effective, connected and person-centred community services for everybody, every time.  

It outlines the principles, domains, roles and responsibilities of quality governance and includes measures of success, and indicators of poor quality governance. It is designed for use across all services delivered, funded and regulated by the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

The Framework aligns with Safer Care Victoria’s Clinical Governance Framework. This is important given that some organisations (e.g. mental health community support services, community health services, and community alcohol and other drug services) are in scope for both documents.  

The use of data and evidence to drive critical inquiry and promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement is a key focus for implementation of the framework.  

The Community Services Quality and Safety Office will focus on building the capacity of the community services system to embed quality governance. The Framework will be implemented across the service system in an iterative and supported manner, with all in scope organisations ensuring that a quality governance approach is in place.  

For more information on the Community Services Quality and Safety Office or the Community Services Quality Governance Framework, please contact csqso@dffh.vic.gov.au.

The Victorian Government has negotiated a range of favourable Whole of Victorian Government contracts for the purchase of goods and services.

Each contract has specific rules associated with it. It is important to read the terms and conditions carefully before entering into a contract. For some contracts, you may be obliged to use the contracted supplier(s) for the duration of the contract. The supplier(s) may not be obliged to provide the goods and services to you under certain circumstances. 

Advantages of using Whole of Government contracts

• access to the buying power of a very large group
• suppliers are selected using rigorous processes to ensure they meet the Victorian Government procurement objective of value for money
• supplier performance levels are agreed in advance for example customer service levels, accuracy and timeliness of transaction data such as invoices and provision of reports in agreed format and on time
• contracted suppliers can be engaged with relative ease
• purchasing processes have been streamlined to be as simple as possible
• price and performance of suppliers is monitored for continuous improvement
• availability of the required goods or services may be more assured
• monthly sales, performance and usage reports are often an agreed service provided by suppliers
• processes for resolving issues of under-performance or pricing and other disagreements are in place
• compared to ad hoc purchasing, the option of paying invoices monthly for some contracts can increase transactional efficiencies.

Further information
Visit Buying for Victoria for extensive information on State Purchasing Contracts.