1. eCensus 2011: A case study IBM Smarter Planet – eCensus Rod Hennegan Lead Architect eCensus 2011 & 2006 Global Business Services IBM Australia eCensus 2006 awards

2. 2 Mass Scale Internet Event Event – eCensus 5 weeks – Australian open 2 weeks Mass scale – 2011 eCensus 4.8 million users (50% of dwellings in Australia) Peak (Census night) – 2011 Australian Open 10 Million users Peak (final)

3. 3 eCensus and Open/Olympics eCensus – Collection system – Private data Tennis Open/Olympics – Dissemination – Public data (Broadcast) Public data SSL encrypted tunnel Private data 15 1

4. 4 Census night - very public event Census night – High visibility (Census night) – Peak load period System outage on Census night – Shhhhh, maybe no-one will notice – ABS and IBM reputations Key areas – Hardware/Software/System failures – Malicious attack – Human error – Impact on other systems/clients “Call me cynical but I was just waiting for eCensus to fall over in a pathetic heap….” Personal BLOG of Computer World Journalist Rod Gedda 9 Aug 2006

5. 5 The ABS – IBM relationship ABS (Data analysis & dissemination) Contract – Requirements & Questions – User Acceptance testing – 3 rd Party testing Usability Security (application & hosting) Performance Accessibility (Vision Aust.) – Manage event Field force management Supervision of IBM access IBM (Data collection & delivery) Contract – Application development – Create hosting environment – Testing System testing Usability Web security testing Performance & Availability – Hosting the event Operations management Security operations

6. 6 Security/Privacy of Census data Aust. Government (PSM/ISM) Census and Statistics Act 1905 – Encryption on all network links – Employed under the act to access raw census data Encrypted when written to persistent storage (database) – Custom security solution (Hardware security modules) – Decrypted (visible) only to » ABS after delivery » Respondent (application processing a respondent request) – ABS legal review (post 2006) Access under the act = plain text, encrypted, or physical No IBM Staff access to privileged accounts – Except under direct ABS supervision – Supervision process remote supervision of remote staff

7. 7 Security/Privacy of Census data Enforcement – Application source reviewed 3 rd party Ensure implementation of these mechanisms Prove production version = code reviewed – Extensive cutover process All privileged accounts passed to ABS Secure racks locked by ABS – Post production data deletion process IBM still responsible operations – Extensive monitoring and automated failover – Automation of required functions (stop/start etc) – Supervised access

8. 8 eCensus application Web Browser based – why ? – Multi-platform Run on browser on virtually any operating system – Removes install process support – Zero footprint solution No plug-ins, no requirement to install Java, Active X controls eCensus implementation – Two distinct user interfaces optimised for User experience Accessibility – (W3C Accessibility AA)

9. 9 eCensus application Implementation approaches – Use a Web Forms product XForms standards based (Others like Adobe forms) Pixel perfect replication of a paper form – Custom Web application Build and present web pages containing questions 2006 eCensus solution Stateless application (0 MB per session at server) – Generic Questionnaire engine Questionnaire definition in XML Application interprets definition Requires 1/3 server hardware of 2006 solution

10. 10 Generic Questionnaire engine XML definition (Abstraction of a questionnaire) – Questionnaire –> Forms –> Questions -> Responses – Question response types (Text, Date, Address, Selection) – Question sequencing (Conditions based on responses) – Use of response content – Define business rules for responses/across questions – Tabular presentation for Text and Select questions – Consistent presentation through use of CSS Support virtually any internet questionnaire – Population Census, Agricultural Census – ABS strategic surveying solution

11. 11 Using the eCensus intellectual property How can we utilise the eCensus technology – ABS provides surveying services – eCensus application and technology eCensus is not a product ABS - rights to the IP for the application – Contact Paul Lowe (paul.lowe@abs.gov.au) IBM - eCensus application & all related services – Commercial: Robert Howdin (rhowdin@au1.ibm.com) – Technical: Rod Hennegan (rod.hennegan@au1.ibm.com) IBM - Smarter planet initiative – Innovative solutions to business opportunities – Services, COTS/custom software, middleware, hardware Innovating for 100 years – its what we do and we do it well

12. 12 eCensus 2006 Awards 2007 Computer World Honours Laureate – Honouring Those Who Use Information Technology to Benefit Society http://www.cwhonors.org/viewCaseStudy.asp?NominationID=312  Winner 2007 Australian Excellence in e-Government Awards http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/excellence-in-e-government- awards-2007-finalist-case-studies