Racing Australia Annual Report 2019

10 | RACING AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2019 OPERATIONS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S REPORT During the Financial Year Racing Australia successfully completed a number of major projects which have delivered significant advances to the industry. 1. Software Development and Hosting Services 1.1 Completion of the Original Scope of the Single National System After many years of development by Racing Australia in conjunction with the Principal Racing Authorities across Australia, the original scope of the Single National System (SNS) was completed in March 2019 with the last Principal Racing Authority migrating on to the national platform. This completed the consolidation of multiple technology platforms across the Principal Racing Authorities on to one national system. With the foundation of the SNS now completed, the SNS is delivering efficiencies through the removal of duplications in infrastructure in each State and Territory and substantive benefits for industry participants in many of their core interactions including but not limited to licensing, ownership/ horse registration, stakes payments and bonus scheme administration. Stewards and handicappers along with racing departments are amongst key industry stakeholders who will also benefit from access to the SNS. Development of enhancements to the Stud Book used by Breeders, Stable Assist used by Trainers and other App based tools have now commenced. Racing Australia is now focused on delivering ongoing innovation and development of the SNS to further advance the tools and information available to the industry. Racing Australia is proactively working with the key contacts within the industry to assist with training and understanding of the objective and the role of the Single National System to ensure maximisation of its functionality, quality and integrity of the data. 1.2 Launch of New Online Owners Portal Using the foundation of the Single National System Racing Australia launched myhorseracing.horse in early 2019. In a significant advance for the Australian Thoroughbred racing industry, myhorseracing.horse provides racehorse owners with a safe and convenient way for Owners to lodge, complete and pay online replacing paper forms. Over 22,000 owners have now activated myhorseracing.horse accounts and are immediately benefiting from the ability to update contact details and view information on horses owned. When ready to transact Owners use a unique ID to log on securely and complete lodgements online including; Horse Naming, Transfers of Ownership, Leases and much more. 1.3 Enhancement of Business Continuity Capacity Racing Australia continues to invest in its IT Infrastructure to provide enhanced levels of redundancy given the industries reliance on the Single National System. These are regularly tested along with an ongoing program of investment. Additionally, Racing Australia has built an offsite Business Continuity facility to support it’s three office locations in the event of an extended period of being unable to access the offices. 2.Bureau Services While the SNS is not about changing who performs the business process but rather about providing a set of unified tools, the national platform has provided the ability for Racing Australia to continue to expand the Bureau Services it provides to the industry. The Racing Australia Service Centre which has for many years provided a centralised Bureau Service for States and Territories of Australia via a phone and online Nominations, Acceptances, Withdrawals, Scratchings and Stable Returns Service has leveraged the knowledge and experience of this team into other areas. Racing Australia now provides some Principal Racing Authorities a service to process and manage Licencing, Bonus Schemes, Jockey Silks Management, Transfer of Ownership and Leases. 3. Financial Performance Accelerated loan repayments of $3,892,512 have seen the loan with the CBA paid off in full at 30 June 2019, 12 months ahead of forecast. Cash reserves were $3,483,714 at the close of the financial year down from $5,412,568 the previous year with the reduction mostly attributable to the accelerated loan repayment. Of this balance: • $1,400,000 held in trust for the Jockey Insurance Program on behalf of the Principal Racing Authorities to administer the insurance premium aggregate deductible. • $424,804 held in trust for the Racing Australia Research fund being $20 collected for each Thoroughbred registration. • $25,850 held in trust for the Statutory Levy being $10 collected from the lodgement of each mare return and stallion return. The statutory levy is paid to Agrifutures for research into Thoroughbred breeding and racing. A total of $411,410 was paid to Agrifutures under this scheme for 2018/2019. RACING AUSTRALIA IS WELL POSITIONED TO BUILD UPON THE ADVANCES IN SYSTEMS AND SERVICES DELIVERED IN THE 2018/2019 FINANCIAL YEAR, LEVERAGING OUR GREATEST ASSET WHICH IS THE COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE AND PASSION OF OUR PEOPLE WHO ARE ALL COMMITTED TO THE INTEGRITY OF THE INDUSTRY AND THE WELFARE OF THE HORSE. Myles Foreman, Operations Chief Executive Officer