From the Executive Director Corporate Services
Each year we continue to build and support capability within APC so we can achieve our strategic directions. We’ve been remarkably productive over the last year despite the disruption caused by the pandemic.
ICT Transformation
This year we moved into Phase 2 of our 3-stage ICT transformation project.
Phase 1 saw us transitioning our systems into the Cloud with:
- Office 365 (Exchange, email, office applications and OneDrive)
- Dynamics 365 (CRM)
- Azure Apps (payment gateway)
Phase 2 has involved:
- transferring all our files to SharePoint for added collaboration and security
- completing our full cloud migration and decommissioning the last of our on-premise servers
- developing secure sites for our Board, Committees, Working Groups, and external collaborations
- installing new fibre optic connection for faster internet to support our Cloud computing
- building our new website with better mobile compatibility and WACG 2.0 compliance, and implementing assisted pathways to help candidates navigate our processes
- further increasing our ICT security with our a new zero-trust firewall, trusted device access only and two factor authentication for our staff and candidates
Improving Indigenous Health Strategy
As well as Cultural Safety Training, we have established a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Working Group. We are delighted to see such passion from staff who volunteered to join the Working Group. The RAP will be championed by APC’s CEO, Bronwyn Clark, ably lead by Jeanne Edwards our Executive Officer and, most importantly, sponsored by Aleena Williams, a member of our Improving Indigenous Health Expert Advisory Group.
We look forward to exploring and learning how we can contribute to a reconciled Australia.
People and Culture
We’re fortunate to be part of a team that values and respects each other and the role each member plays at APC. Like a jigsaw puzzle, we vary in many ways but it’s our overall goal that brings us together to create the strategic picture – advancing and assuring quality in pharmacy education.
Investing in our team is not just strategic. It’s heartening to see how colleagues grow and learn together to achieve personal and business objectives.
Professional Development
We’re passionate about collaborating, learning and creating. So we’ve spent time over the year on professional development and team building activities including:
- Cultural Safety Training
- leadership development for managers
- finance conferences and training to keep our staff contemporary
- coaching in writing and content creation
- new technical skills in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Office 365 and SharePoint
- First Aid and fire warden training
- secondment within APC for cross-business upskilling
Team building day
Living our values is integral to our operations. In October 2019 we spent the day learning how we can display empathy as an organisation. We discussed how we can maintain our fair and robust procedures in an equitable and empathetic way. I’m proud to be part of a team who is so passionate about living our values and sharing ways in which we can embed social accountability in the way we deliver our services.
Social Responsibility
As well as loving a social gathering, we are also quite the philanthropic bunch.
Over the year we have had a number of home-cooked lunches where we collect donations. All donations go to a charity of our choosing at the end of the year. This activity allows us to experience multi-cultural foods, build rapport and assist with grassroot causes.
We also make a corporate donation at Christmas each year. This year we donated to Yalari a not-for-profit organisation that offers secondary education scholarships at leading Australian boarding schools for Indigenous children from regional, rural and remote communities.
We’re maintaining our stance on sustainability. We are an accredited ACTSmart organisation, engaging in a Business Recycling Program. Our aim is to minimise waste and contribute to decreased greenhouse gas emissions.
Celebrations
World Pharmacists Day
We shared World Pharmacists Day 2019 with our neighbours at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC) and Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM).
We also took to social media with pharmacy trivia and appreciation posts for our in-house pharmacists.
Christmas
Christmas lunch was held in our office in 2019, due to the bush fires and hazardous air quality. We’re looking forward to when we can reunite outdoors soon.
COVID-19
This year we have had a single goal of keeping our staff and community safe throughout the pandemic. Like many organisations, this meant moving our staff to working from home in late March 2020. See how we leveraged off the disruption during this period.
As of August, we will incrementally return to the office to ensure we comply with government guidelines regarding hygiene and social distancing measures.
It’s been fantastic to see the resilience and commitment of the team who continued to achieve significant milestones throughout such challenging times.