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Data.NSW

NSW Procurement

General Ledger data is collected by NSW Procurement from over 150 NSW Government Agencies.

This data covers $30 billion in annual spend and more than 2 million transactions per quarter.

The QuestionMagnifying glass icon

The rule-based system in place utilises over a million mapping rules, which is difficult and time-consuming to maintain. The DAC has been engaged to develop an automated and robust Spend Categorisation Tool to replace this process.

Our Solution Light bulb iconSpend tool diagram

  • Use AI to classify semi-structured and unstructured information into categories based on taxonomy
  • The tool can learn mapping rules from previously categorised spend data and apply insights to new raw data
  • Self-learning: accuracy will improve over time with use
  • Accuracy for Whole of Government spend data has exceeded proposed 90% benchmark
  • Use of AI to remove use of ‘other’ category (~10-15% of total) and replacing these uncategorised invoices with correct classification

Impact

  • Greater transparency of government spending
  • Demonstrates spending patterns through categorisation at a point in time, or over months or years
  • Allows elimination of silos where different departments purchase same assets 
  • Encourages interdepartmental collaboration and economies of scale Identification of areas where resources are over or under-utilised

The DAC has engaged really motivated scholars and used cutting-edge technology to deliver an outstanding result

Amol Chavan, NSW Procurement

What Next? Next steps icon

  • Improve accuracy to greater than 95%
  • Use tool for classifying whole of government spend data from multiple perspectives
  • Potential to commercialise the model into a solution that would be offered to other agencies across government, and even the private sector

Access a PDF version of our case study here.