Establishing new integrity system approaches and technology

Summary

This report was prepared to examine the requirements of a future state traceability system for Integrity Systems Company and its key industry and regulatory stakeholders in order to inform decisions on system improvements.

The project was to conduct a six week sprint to scope out the high level requirements of a future traceability system, using desktop based research, workshops and stakeholder consultations to provide the building blocks for the future system.

The project identified issues with system governance that require clarification so that the proposed technology improvements recommended in this report can be made effectively. System participants identified a range of requirements that a future traceability system would either provide or interact with to promote benefits to all those who contribute to meat and livestock production.

Objectives

The main objectives of this project were to:

• conduct desktop research to scope high-level requirements of a future traceability system
• facilitate workshops and 1:1 interviews with stakeholders from the industry to build on the high-level requirements identified in item above and begin developing a view of the risks associated with implementation
• develop a visualisation of the future traceability model highlighting that will be required from all of the impacted parties in the value chain, to facilitate understanding of what the future system will look like
• summarise the risks associated with the successful implementation of the model and test these in a workshop with Deloitte practitioners that have implemented similar systems around the world.

Key findings

The project identified opportunities to improve overall system governance and upgrade the system's technology infrastructure to support efficient and effective collection, storage and exchange of data. Specific opportunites include:

• leveraging the clear strengths of the current system and migrate it into a more modern technical environment
• taking advantage of the new capabilities a new technical environment and digital platform would offer and to provide value added services and data insights to producers and other supply chain participants to help improve their businesses and operations
• developing and implementing data standards for interoperability and data exchange across the supply chain
• creating and fostering opportunities for innovation across the value chain e.g. tag and gate technology, smartphone apps, etc.

Benefits to industry

A high level, end-to-end visualisation of the integrity traceability system that allows for the design of improved data collection and sharing for greater efficiency and wider benefits was created. The visualisation is complemented by industry consultation that identified requirements from a future traceability system categorised by industry segment.

MLA action

With the project findings, MLA will:

• update the matrix of results from several other projects assessing various aspects of the future traceability system and used to design action plans
• create an internal 'sprint' where the challenges around integrity systems were explored.

Future research

This project demonstrated that there is an opportunity for ISC to provide leadership to clarify the traceability system governance arrangements. ISC's ownership of the NLIS database positions it well as it can use the transformation of the system's primary data platform as a basis for confirming governance and mapping out the opportunities for improvement.