Winner - General: Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise, Small Business Branch
Project: One Stop Business Registration
This system is now an Internet service, furthering the response to the British Columbia business community's ongoing call to reduce red tape by reducing the time, cost and paperwork associated with business registration at all levels of government. The result is shortening the application period from many days and weeks to less than an hour.

Winner - Over $1 Million: Ministry of Attorney General, Court Services Division
Project: JUSTIN (Justice Information System)
JUSTIN provides a cohesive approach for justice system workers in the processing and managing of cases. It gives us a common, province-wide database, electronic sharing of information by all stakeholders, standardized tools and processes, and much more. The results are improved public safety, increased effectiveness and lower costs.

This project delivered on its simple vision statement: "To provide the tools that BC Ferries managers need in order to be accountable".

This project developed a single data warehouse/decision support system as the primary provincial statistical data source for all vital event data. Team members received training in data warehousing, data modelling, systems development and methodologies. A data product that once took days to produce, now takes hours. A data product that once could only be assigned to one or two specific staff members can now be assigned to any of a number of staff in the unit.

This is a Web-based system designed to be rolled out across B.C. and across Canada.

John Ellis joined the Ministry of Forests in 1987, retiring as Chief Information Officer and director of the Information Management Group. The Ministry of Forests is now the largest manager of timber resources in the world, and a world leader in management of spatial data and use of Geographical Information Systems technologies. During John's watch, the ministry was an early adopter of LAN technologies, MS Windows, MS Office and networking, and a leader in implementing distributed servers in remote locations across BC.

For four years now, IT people and IT users from all over Canada have attended the annual Okanagan Technology Symposium in Kelowna. These annual IT conferences have created community awareness and involvement, and made Kelowna a focal point for both speakers and sponsors. Our Special Recognition award for fostering the growth of the knowledge economy in British Columbia went to the conference host since its inception, the Honourable Dr. John Weisbeck, MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country and Deputy Speaker of the BC Legislative Assembly.