Unisys West on the case in court work

While negotiations continue on the future of its ownership, West-Perth based IT services provider Unisys West Pty Ltd is getting down to business, implementing a $21 million infrastructure overhaul of the judiciary's IT systems in Western Australia.

Work to integrate the IT systems of all the state’s courts and tribunals through a framework has been under way for more than five years, with a view to developing an Integrated Courts Management System overseen by the Department of the Attorney General.

With the project now into its final and largest stage, integrating the complex criminal courts administration systems, Unisys West public sector managing partner Brian Lee told WA Business News it represented the end of a major phase of work for the company.

“The system’s success is based on taking it through the courts gradually and getting them to work together. From a productivity perspective, I think it’s improved their whole input, case management and communications capabilities,” Mr Lee said.

DotAG assistant director general Ray Warnes said the system would allow the department to provide justice and court systems equitably across the state and in a more cost-effective manner.

“Previously, there was lots of paper shuffling across jurisdictions and people would have to be sent out to remote locations,” he said.

“Through this system we can provide access to magistrates who might be in one part of the state to a community thousands of kilometres away. The magistrate doesn’t have to travel to the courtroom, and the community members don’t experience a delay.”

Mr Warnes said that, once the criminal justice component was integrated into the system by June, users, including members of the public, would be able to make submissions, pay arrears and access court lists on-line.

The company has used XML and web services as the protocol of communication, both within ICMS and between it and various external systems, allowing the system to link to the WA Police database and the wider justice community for approved file sharing and faster cross-checking.

Unisys West was created in 2002 in a joint venture arrangement between US-based Unisys (holding a 51 per cent share) and HBOS subsidiary BankWest to outsource management of the bank’s Perth-based IT infrastructure.

That deal is set to expire later this year, potentially leaving Unisys with an opportunity to buy out BankWest’s share and move Unisys West under the national umbrella. 

Unisys West recorded a net profit in the 12 months ending December 31 of $8.1 million, on revenue of $79.7 million.

This compared with a net profit of $5.4 million in the previous year and revenue of $62.1 million.