New computer system boosts council services
New computer system boosts council services
Auckland City’s focus is firmly on the future growth of the city, with the successful changeover last week to a specialised local government computer system which will enable the council to make major improvements to customer services.
“The old system was 14 years old and unable to meet the demands of a growing city. With the new Pathway operating system we are already seeing the benefits of more efficient processes in many areas,” says the council’s IT and communications manager Ian Rae. “This is especially important for a city that will have to absorb another 140,000 people, a city greater than the size of Dunedin, by 2021.
“The Pathway system will improve the council’s productivity and internal processes as well as increasing our flexibility and level of service to Auckland City residents and ratepayers.”
Pathway is used by more than 40 councils throughout Australasia and will run many of the organisation’s standard functions, from rates to dog registration, providing convenient access to council services and information.
It will also lay the foundation for greater use of e-business in the future.
“We’re a very large organisation servicing a rapidly growing population and as we grow it’s important that we continue to be accessible and easy for our residents and ratepayers to deal with,” says Mr Rae.
The Pathway system was developed by GEAC Limited. Extensive planning and training for the $9.5 million project has been underway for the past two years to ensure a smooth transition. “Huge amounts of planning went into the changeover to the new system and so far its success has exceeded all expectations. As with any major system change we do expect to encounter some small glitches over the next few weeks. We’re doing all we can to minimise any problems and will be communicating directly with any customers affected by the change.
“As a precaution we have advised regular resource consent customers of the system change because the recent boom in Auckland’s building industry is already putting pressure on our consent application processing times.”
Building consent
applications have increased by up to 42 per cent compared to
the same period last
year.