Client story Transforming IT Service Visibility: How DBCA achieved cost transparency and operational clarity through foundational service catalogue design
Client
The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is a Western Australian Government agency responsible for protecting biodiversity, managing iconic natural and cultural assets, and supporting multiple statutory authorities within a highly distributed and operationally complex environment.
Industry: Local Government
Challenge
Operating under a federated IT model, DBCA faced growing complexity in delivering consistent, compliant, and enterprise‑grade technology services. Rapid digital change, the emergence of AI‑enabled technologies, and increasingly prescriptive cybersecurity and information‑sharing policies created heightened expectations, while limited visibility of services, costs, and accountabilities made it difficult to justify investment, demonstrate value, or plan for future uplift with confidence.
Outcomes
In partnership with Insight, DBCA established a comprehensive IT Service Catalogue and a service‑aligned cost transparency model that provided a single, authoritative view of enterprise technology services. This enabled clearer ownership, stronger alignment to government mandates, improved understanding of service costs and effort, and an evidence‑based foundation for informed funding decisions, service maturity uplift, and future digital transformation.
Navigating Complexity: The Challenge of Organic IT Growth
DBCA operates under a federated technology model. This model supports autonomy and operational effectiveness across a diverse portfolio of functions, but it also increases the complexity of delivering consistent, compliant, enterprise‑grade services across the organisation.
As whole‑of‑government policies became more detailed and mandatory, particularly in areas such as cybersecurity and emerging technology governance, DBCA identified a growing need to clearly articulate what central technology services existed, how they supported compliance and risk management, and what level of effort and investment was required to deliver them to the standard now expected. Without this clarity, it became increasingly challenging to demonstrate value, engage meaningfully with the business on funding decisions, or build a defensible case for service maturity uplift.
Establishing a Clear and Defensible Service Baseline
To address this, DBCA engaged Insight to partner with the Office of Information Management (OIM) in developing a comprehensive IT Service Catalogue and Cost Transparency Model to establish a factual, evidence‑based understanding of current services as a foundation for future decision‑making.
Working collaboratively with central IT teams, Insight helped DBCA define its technology services in a consistent and practical way, clarify ownership and accountability within the federated model, and distinguish enterprise services from business‑specific capabilities. The result was a single view of DBCA’s technology services that reflected operational reality rather than theoretical constructs.
This baseline created the necessary preconditions for informed discussion about what needed to change. By first understanding what services existed and how they were delivered, DBCA was able to move beyond assumptions and begin planning future uplift from a position of confidence and shared understanding.
Linking Services, Cost, and Policy Obligations
In parallel, Insight developed a service‑aligned cost transparency model that extended beyond infrastructure and licensing to include the labour and effort required to deliver each service. This extra layer of visibility enabled DBCA to better understand how time and resources were distributed across its service portfolio and provide clear evidence to identify funding gaps and justify service enhancements.
"For the first time, we have a single, authoritative view of our IT services. This gives us the evidence base we need to justify expenditure and have informed conversations about IT spending across the organisation." Fiona Westenhaver – Acting CIO, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions
Establishing a Foundation for Future Transformation
The outcomes of the IT Service Catalogue and Cost Transparency Model extended well beyond documentation. DBCA now has a practical framework that enables it to continuously assess, justify, and evolve its technology services as policy and technology expectations continue to change.
With clear service definitions, improved cost visibility, and alignment to government mandates, DBCA is better positioned to respond to new or updated policy requirements, uplift cybersecurity and governance maturity in a structured way, and make investment decisions grounded in evidence. Just as importantly, it can clearly communicate the value of central technology services to a diverse range of stakeholders across the organisation.
By taking a proactive and strategic approach, DBCA has strengthened its ability to adapt to an evolving technology and regulatory landscape—ensuring its technology services remain secure and fit for purpose as expectations continue to rise.
Foundational work like service cataloguing and cost modelling is often unglamorous but absolutely essential. By taking a collaborative, stakeholder-centred approach and validating everything against operational reality, we delivered practical artefacts that DBCA can use immediately and build upon as they pursue broader transformation.”
Will Forward
Practice Lead, Business Agility and Analysis - Insight
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