Governance and compliance

Comprises the following areas:

• Custodianship/implementation of relevant compliance frameworks and processes, including Corporate Compliance Framework.
• Review of regulations and legislation when indicated and maintenance of the Delegations Framework.
• Development and oversight of the Planning and Performance Framework, including annual planning and reporting cycle.
• Privacy management framework.
• Delegations Framework.

Board liaison

The management of the Board and Board Sub-Committees ie work plans, coordination and record keeping.

Government and ministerial liaison

Provides a central liaison point for Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) and the Office of the Minister for Emergency Services ie to provide advice, briefings, reports, responses to ad hoc requests, and other support as required.

Legal

Legal provides legal advice and services to all of CFA across a broad range of areas of law. Legal currently manages the Freedom of Information (FOI) team.

Risk and business continuity

Risk and Insurance has custodianship of CFA’s Risk Management Framework and the Business Continuity Framework. Risk management focuses on enhancing risk maturity and embedding the Enterprise Risk Management Framework across CFA. This function also manages the internal audit contract and audit follow-up, and performs the insurance function.

Business Services

Business Services connects and supports CFA portfolios through the delivery of professional services, process and change management, and high-quality administrative and advisory support – enhancing organisational capability and enabling strategic outcomes.

Procurement

Through a Category Management approach, CFA’s Procurement department offers education, advice, and guidance on policies, procedures, sourcing strategies, and processes for acquiring goods, services, or works. This includes support for establishing contracts related to these acquisitions. Category Management involves organising procurement activities by grouping goods and services into categories based on shared characteristics, such as business units. The objective of category management is to partner with business areas to support go-to-market strategy and driving better commercial outcomes. In addition, the aim is to have a consistent CFA way of buying, tailored to the underlying strategic goals of the category and mitigate risks and enhanced compliance with government policy.

Contract management

Contract management encompasses all activities performed after a contract is signed or initiated. This includes managing contract performance, implementing any necessary corrective actions, and ensuring that the agreed-upon outcomes are achieved. CFA’s Procurement department also seeks to optimise the entire contract management process though education, advice, guidance, policies and procedures to foster strong contract management practices at all levels across the organisation.

Finance

CFA’s Finance function is responsible for managing all of CFA’s financial processes, decisions and control environment. It controls income and expenditure while also ensuring effective business running with minimum disruptions (financial sustainability). The department has teams specialising in asset accounting, financial reporting, operations and planning, budget analytics, brigade finance, financial governance, compliance, financial systems and taxation.

Manage people experience

People Experience collaborate with business leaders to align HR strategies with organisational goals. These services provide targeted strategic support in areas such as workforce planning, talent management, and organisational development and engagement. Additional services include addressing and resolving conflicts, managing grievances, overseeing the volunteer discipline process, and fostering a positive, child-safe work environment.

Manage people excellence and innovation

People Excellence and Innovation services function as the Centre of Excellence responsible for designing, developing, and refining tools that shape organisational culture, implement performance strategies, professional development, promote diversity and inclusion, streamline HR systems, plan for workforce needs, and build data analytics to inform strategic HR decisions.

Manage people services

People Services serve as the initial point of contact for HR-related enquiries. These services play a central role in efficiently delivering essential HR functions, managing talent acquisition, overseeing onboarding and orientation processes, handling remuneration and payroll activities, and managing separation and exit processes.

Manage workplace relations

Workplace Relations Services specialise in managing employee and industrial relations matters and serve as the escalation point for employee grievances. Compliance with employment laws is ensured through policy development and updates and services also include management of enterprise bargaining processes.

Training quality assurance and
governance (registered training
organisation)

Development and delivery of training programs to the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority standards and guidelines. Management and recording of student’s records (including competencies).

Training course development

The development of training materials (including course syllabus) to address organisational training needs.

Training course delivery –
CFA members

The instruction and/or assessment of skills and competencies to CFA members by qualified and endorsed personnel.

Training course delivery –
non-CFA members (externals)

The instruction and assessment of skills and competencies to non-CFA members, by qualified and endorsed personnel.

Hiring of CFA training facilities –
non-CFA members (externals)

Hiring of CFA campuses to other government agencies or external parties/private sector for a fee (cost based or full rate, depending on the user) during periods of low CFA member demand.

Sector engagement and partnerships

Influencing and collaborating with sector partners (including Australian and New Zealand National Council for fire and emergency services (AFAC), and Public Safety Skills Australia) to develop National Units of Competency to meet organisational requirements.

Media and social media management

Proactive and reactive media and social media activity to:

• promote the achievements of volunteers and enhance the reputation of CFA
• supply accreditation to media representatives on fireground
• support the State Control Centre as public information officers.

Digital channel management

Management of Members Online (intranet) and management of CFA website.

Staff and volunteer engagement

Provision of volunteer forums, maintenance of engagement platforms, delivery of eNews, support for brigade events and milestones.

Campaigns (fire safety and volunteer recruitment)

Campaigns:

• Summer Fire Safety Campaign – in support of DJCS overarching campaign
• Residential Fire Safety Campaign
• Volunteer Recruitment Campaign
• Burn-off campaign.

Seasonal-specific information: issued to the community to ensure public awareness of local risks for that particular time of year, weather conditions, climate, and emerging trends.

Corporate publications

Development and delivery of publications –

key corporate publications (Annual Report).

Event management (ie brigade and corporate events)

Coordination/delivery of events, and the provision of support tools/guidance for volunteers and staff to work through event planning processes for internal and external events through the Event Management Planning Framework.

Fleet services

Qualified mechanics provide preventative and corrective mechanical support on CFA and brigade-owned vehicles, including FRV vehicles that transitioned from CFA to FRV. This support is also provided at operational incidents, afterhours breakdown support and local championship support.

Buildings and property

The sourcing, development and maintenance of CFA buildings and property used in the supply of services to the community, including the identification, reduction and/or elimination of identified hazards.

Equipment and personal protective clothing

The development (where appropriate) or sourcing, disbursement and maintenance of equipment and personal protective clothing (PPC) required for service delivery to CFA members, locations across all CFA tiers.

Environmental services

The provision of strategic, tactical and professional environmental advice and support services across all tiers of CFA, while ensuring environmental and other associated legislative compliances are met and maintained.

Asset services

The provision of strategic, tactical and professional asset management advice and support across the organisation, in line with CFA regulatory compliance requirements and standing directions under the Financial Management Act 1994.

Transport fleet & emergency vehicle design

Sourcing and management of CFA's transport fleet.
Technical design and procurement management of emergency response vehicles.

Information and records management

• Manages information lifecycle systems for users to maintain their digital and hard copy records.
• Advocates information architecture legislative compliance.
• Enables/empowers all staff and members to manage their own records with the ‘Purview’ records monitoring system.

Strategic and analytic services (business intelligence and data analytics)

Collect and analyse evidence and develop decision-support tools and planning instruments to enable the front line to deliver services that are impactful, effective and help us reach our strategic direction.

Provide data for analysis and statistics, compliance measures, Minister’s Office, decision support tools eg Victorian Fire Risk Register, performance reporting, spatial modelling, mapping and analysis.

Provide data governance, statutory reporting, advanced analytics platforms, tools and outputs (end to end data lifecycle – analytical product delivery for the organisation), spatial modelling, risk modelling and strategic services to support operational capability.

ICT Operations and Network Services

ICT Operations and Network Services support our members by ensuring CFA’s IT infrastructure, systems and processes are contemporary, reliable, secure, and fit for purpose.

ICT Business Solutions

ICT Business Solutions leads and develop the ICT strategic roadmap, ensuring its alignment with the broader CFA business strategies, and enabling the service delivery capability of business and operational functions. It comprises:

• Strategy and Portfolio. Works closely with the organisation to set the business-technology strategy and pursues innovation opportunities. Oversees portfolio delivery and prioritisation to maximise investment incomes. Strategy and Portfolio includes the following functions: Business Management, Portfolio and Investment Management and Innovation Management.
• Product and Platform Delivery. Delivers, enhances and maintains products and platforms that provide tangible business value and great customer experiences, by delivering at the right speed, and in close collaboration with the organisation. Product and Platform Delivery includes the following functions: Product Management and Design (and sub-functions), Engineering and Operations (and sub-functions) and Delivery Management.

ICT Communications Services

ICT Communications Services provides communications’ infrastructure and services to enable effective communications for emergency response operations. The Communications Operations team supports our members by ensuring CFA communications infrastructure is reliable and fit for purpose.

ICT and data services to externals

CFA shares business intelligence and web services data with partner agencies and external organisations.

Operational performance improvement

Operational performance Improvement is undertaken as a multi-disciplinary activity, involving internal and external collaboration to embed and support processes in which the organisation continually examines its operational performance, processes and functions to identify opportunities for improvement. 

Operational lessons management

Lessons management involves collecting and analysing data to develop, implement, validate and share lessons intended to improve our service delivery. 

Service delivery reporting

Supports, reports and delivers fire and incident response data from CFA and SES. This provides CFA a strong service delivery data base to inform a variety directorates and programs, including Section 29, and other performance reporting functions such as Budget Paper, Outcomes Framework, and Emergency Response Time reporting. 

Operational doctrine

CFA’s operational doctrine guides members in the context of distinct objectives, capabilities, broad functional areas, and operational environments. Operational Doctrine provides the framework of the development of task response to incidents and is subject to regular/ongoing review to ensure currency and appropriateness. 

Project management capability

Project Management Capability aims to uplift the project management capability across CFA, by ensuring compliance with the Project Management Framework through the following:

• Development, implementation and ongoing improvement of the Project Management Framework.
• Provision (to users and stakeholders) of information on processes, tasks and tools, and guidance and structure for the execution of a project.
• Monthly project managers’ community of practice to share knowledge and lessons learned.
• Deploying suitably skilled and experienced project managers to manage selected medium level 2 or high-level 3 complexity projects.

Research and development

CFA research and development activities:

• create the evidence required to achieve organisational objectives as well as addressing current CFA risks and challenges and preparing for future risks and challenges. This is achieved through coordinating or conducting research either inhouse or as project leads of externally funded or managed projects.
• create and maintains innovative evidence based/ data driven products, tools and systems to support decision makers across CFA and the sector.
• work with CFA members to identify and define evidence needs and approaches to address these needs.
• Provide leadership and advocacy for CFA research and development needs, both internally and externally. 

Health programs (in-house)

Manage, administer and deliver CFA’s health programs to volunteer members and employees.

Medical programs (external providers)

Manage CFA’s medical programs to volunteer members and employees.

CFA safety

Delivery of general and technical occupational safety advice and support.

Wellbeing

The Organisational Wellbeing function provides education, support and recovery services to improve the mental health and wellbeing of CFA members.

Injury recovery support services – employees

This relates to employee compensation claims, which are handled in line with legislation and internal processes, including supporting recovery and return to work.

Injury recovery support services – volunteers

This relates to volunteer compensation, involving end-to-end claims management from eligibility to liability, supporting return to pre-injury employment and return-to-life programs in accordance with legislative requirements and internal systems and processes.