NLIS database review Meat Livestock Australia NLIS Project Document

							NLIS database review Meat & Livestock Australia NLIS Project

Document type Title Client Author

Report NLIS database review Meat & Livestock Australia Eclipse Group Subsidiary of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Version number Version date

1.0 Final 7th September, 2004

Table Of Contents
Company History Key Findings Overview The Review Process: Data Sources Data Collection Data Analysis Summary 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 10

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Company History
Eclipse Group (Eclipse) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, which is a legal partnership with over 200 Australian partners and one of the largest professional service firms. Eclipse is a provider of web, multimedia and software solutions to government and non-government organisations seeking to improve their operations with technology. The company was established in Perth, in 1993, with five employees. Today, it operates with offices in Sydney and Melbourne and employs over 70 people. Eclipse has relationships with over 150 major corporations and has completed more than 1,500 major web, multimedia and software projects. Eclipse is a provider of strategy and software solutions to companies seeking to improve their operations through the use of e-business and advanced technologies.

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Key Findings
The key findings from the assessment of the data recorded in the NLIS database are: • • • All data sourced from the data sources was valid Any differences between the source data and data held in the NLIS database was due to subsequent movements of the animals The NLIS database accurately records animal movements

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Overview
Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) have previously engaged Deloitte to conduct an assessment of the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS). MLA has requested Eclipse to undertake the following activity; 1. Audit the operation of the NLIS database to assess the performance in accurately receiving, holding and where applicable processing the data submitted by users This report outlines the results of the assessment made on the data collected from users of the NLIS system.

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The Review Process:
The approach for the assessment of the operation of the data processing was broken down into the following stages Stage 1: Setup and select representative data suppliers Stage 2: Collect and collate data samples, checking controls. Stage 3: Correlate data sources with NLIS database records. Stage 4: Check submission of any faulty data.

The benefits of this approach is that it provides two substantive tests, one for testing historical accuracy and the other for testing the current accuracy of the system. The outcomes of the assessment of the data processing are described in terms of these stages in the following sections.

Data Sources
A sample list of suppliers was provided by MLA, which included Producers, Saleyards and Abattoirs. This list was then reduced to a random subset based on the following criteria:

• •

Sale yards and Abattoirs in close proximity Producers within reasonable distance of travel from other locations

The final subset of locations was then used to gather the data for analysis.

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Data Collection
The data samples were collected over a 2 day period from all the locations. At each location a random sample of data was collected, dependent on the available data, ranging from 2 weeks to 3 months prior to the visit date. This data was copied from the owner’s computer onto removable media (e.g. floppy discs), labeled and stored for transport to NLIS for analysis.

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Data Analysis
The data analysis process consisted of comparing the data that was collected from the data suppliers with the information on the database. Any discrepancies were noted. The process flow for the analysis is shown below:

Load Data File

Record Bad Data

No

File Valid

Yes

Get all NLIS Identifiers

Get next file

Query NLIS Database to locate animals

Data discrepancy on location ?

Yes

Query NLIS Database to locate animal

No

Record Result

Figure 1 Data Analysis Process Flow

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The main reasons for differences in the collected data, versus the cross checks made on the NLIS database included: • Animals had been moved subsequent to the data upload, especially when some of the data files were up to 3 months prior to the data collection activity. Animals had moved from saleyard to abattoir and abattoir upload occurred before saleyard. Animal status was recorded correctly as deceased in NLIS database. Animal transferred by agent and subsequent movements had occurred. NLIS database had recorded ‘System movements’ and traceability status of animal set accordingly.

•

•

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Summary
In summary the investigation of the data, which was collected showed the following • • All data sourced from the data sources was valid Any differences between the source data and data held in the NLIS database was due to subsequent movements of the animals The NLIS database accurately records animal movements

•

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