MIS 100 2007(1-20)

* Click on the triangle symbols to reveal the information for each organisation.
1 University of Auckland

2006 ranking: 1

Senior IS executive: Stephen Whiteside, IT director
Reports to: Director administration
Size of IS shop: 300

PCs: 12,294
Mobile PCs: 2010
Terminals: 250
Hand-held devices: 800
Total screens: 15,354

Industry: Education services
PC environment: Apple Mac, Windows XP, Dell, HP, Lenovo
Server environment: AIX, Linux, Solaris, Windows 2003, Sun, IBM, Apple, Dell, HP
DBMS: Oracle, SQL, MySQL
Address: 22 Princes Street, Auckland
Website: www.auckland.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: Upgrade of HR systems; new city data centre; enhancement to online presence, eResearch.


As New Zealand’s largest university and research centre, the University of Auckland wants to grow its research income so that by 2012 it is double the 2005 income figure.
Stephen Whiteside, director of IT, says the university’s IT team of 300 is focusing on improving student services via “quite a large number” of new process and service improvements. “The Government is reviewing the way it funds tertiary teaching and learning so that research funding is now more based on outcomes. A key driver for the IT team is therefore to provide measures and reporting around teaching and learning systems and to improve the quality of our indicators.”
Challenges the university faces are the low unemployment rate, which decreases the number of students choosing to study at Masters degree level, and lack of affordable suitable student accommodation within Auckland.
To address these and other challenges, Whiteside says collaboration and connectivity between systems and locations is important. As are new education delivery channels such as e-research, which allow researchers to collaborate online to complete work they can’t complete individually or in person. Access, processing, and storage computer grids are used to facilitate shared online international research.
Whiteside says observing international universities and their innovations around research and funding is helpful and international collaboration supports the growth of local research activity.
The university, for instance, has a close relationship with the earthquake engineering division of the University of San Diego and access to its ‘shake table’. There is also international research collaboration on medical analyses such as bio-engineering of the human heart, physiological modelling and geno-mapping.
Scheduled legislative acts like the Public Records Act, effective from 2010, creates work for the IT team and developing improved document management and supporting systems is a key activity for 2007 along with process enhancements in HR and student administration areas.
Telecommunications and international data networking needs are well supported by the KAREN research and education data network, and this has removed a lot of barriers to national and international connectivity, says Whiteside. Whiteside says local telecommunications costs still have a prohibitive effect on teaching, learning and research. “We still need to be able to provide our students with a much better deal for remote access to our campus. Students are often time poor because of travel or part-time work commitments, so the need to record lectures and provide more flexibility accessing learning material is important. Access to true broadband services is still woefully inadequate in New Zealand and we need that access to become far more ubiquitous.”
Whiteside says while new voice system investments are VoIP, the benefits are contained because the university does not have a large number of dispersed and remote sites – VoIP will therefore continue to be implemented “very incrementally”. Wireless technologies will be significantly expanded in 2007 and identity management technologies enhanced to allow visiting academics to wirelessly access the network.
The university will implement a new data centre in 2007, and investigate a combined disaster recovery centre with other universities including the University of Waikato.
2 New Zealand Defence Force
3 Fonterra Co-operative Group
4 University of Otago
5 Telecom New Zealand
6 Ministry of Social Development
7 Fletcher Building

2006 Ranking: 8

Senior IS executive: Paul Knight, chief information officer
Reports to: Chief financial officer
Size of IS shop: 250

PCs: 4877
Mobile PCs: 1855
Terminals: 1641
Hand-held devices: 287
Total screens: 8660
Industry: Manufacturing
PC environment: Windows XP, Citrix, Dell
Server environment: OS4000; Other Unix; Windows 2003, 2000; Linux; Dell; IBM; HP
DBMS: SQL, Oracle, Progress
Address: 810 Great South Road, Penrose, Auckland
Website: www.fletcherbuilding.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: ERP system upgrade; IP telephony; payroll system upgrade.


Fletcher Building is a New Zealand-based building materials manufacturer and distributor comprising five major segments – infrastructure, building products, steel, distribution and laminates and panels.
Fletcher Building has a strong and growing base in Australia, Asia and the South Pacific. It employs more than 15,000 people in New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands and North and South America. Recent growth has been built on a three-point strategy: Improving the reliability of earnings, maintaining and improving internal capabilities and taking up external growth options where they meet acquisition criteria. Business objectives going forward include enhancement and adaptation of the business mix through investment and operational changes.
“We will continue to invest in both internal and external opportunities, although there may be changes in emphasis from time to time. For example, we are now looking more seriously at potential acquisitions outside Australia and New Zealand,” said CEO Jonathan Ling in a recent address to shareholders. Fletcher Building is also planning continued expansion in Australia and New Zealand.
CIO Paul Knight says the business and technology strategies of Fletcher Building are well-aligned and over the coming 12 months, Fletcher Building will embark on IT projects including ERP, payroll systems, investment in VoIP technologies, wireless infrastructure and hardware upgrades.
8 Carter Holt Harvey
9 ANZ National Bank
10 Massey University

2006 Ranking: 9

Senior IS executive: Gerrit Bahlman, chief information officer
Reports to: General manager, strategy and finance
Size of IS shop: 90

PCs: 7197
Mobile PCs: 965
Terminals: 0
Hand-held devices: 0
Total screens: 8162

Industry: Education services
PC environment: Apple Mac; Linux; Windows 2000, XP; HP; Advantage; Toshiba
Server environment: Apple Mac; Linux; VMS; Windows 2000, 2003; HP Intel-based; HP Others; IBM
DBMS: SQL, Ingres, Oracle
Address: Highway 57, Palmerston North
Website: www.massey.ac.nz
Key IS projects this year: Telecommunications upgrade; storage
disaster recovery; desktop standard operating environment; virtualisation
Computer Laboratory leasing refresh; consolidated printing and photocopying; online enrolment and student programme management.



Massey University has three campuses and 26 points of presence throughout New Zealand. The three major campuses in Palmerston North, Wellington and Albany, Auckland cater for some 38,000 local and international students of which approximately 18,000 students, in New Zealand and offshore, study by distance education.
The five-college structure provides a diversity of degrees, diplomas and certificates. Massey University specialises in the fields of sciences, agriculture, creative arts, humanities and social sciences, education and business. It also has the biggest business college in New Zealand.
Gerrit Bahlman, chief information officer, says Massey has a strong focus on research and research-led teaching and encouraging success at a postgraduate level. Leading edge research is undertaken on all three campuses and the University has invested in equipment in support of its commitment to research. This includes high-performance computing, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry, advanced research data networking and a variety of collaboration technologies. A major upgrade of the core network of the University has just been completed and rollout of a consolidated printing and photocopying environment is currently underway. A full refresh of all undergraduate computer laboratory equipment is scheduled for the middle of the year.
While Massey does selectively outsource a number of IT function areas, Bahlman says there is growing concern that outsource suppliers are stretched and unable to provide the level of service necessary to pursue such strategies. He says mergers and acquisitions result in smaller, highly-focused providers being swallowed within larger cultures that do not understand the nature of the business. This introduces risk into the outsource environment.
“The larger the IT provider, the further removed their management is from context sensitive service delivery. In general, the quality of service provision lowers as the size of the IT provider increases. Large organisations cannot provide an intimate long-term understanding of their smaller customer needs,” says Bahlman.
Massey University has just completed an in-house redevelopment of its student management system. As with most educational institutions, the online environment continues to be an important channel and services include full registration, record information access, online payment and universal email. Internal administration on the web provides academic and general staff with access to online support structures and services.
A major project underway is the redevelopment, extension and integration of Massey University’s online enrolment capabilities, with student programme management facilities. Bahlman says this replaces an innovative but aging existing web enrolment capability.
Other key IT projects in 2007 include a telecommunications refresh, disaster recovery focus, and moves toward a desktop standard operating environment. Massey University will also embark on a financial systems upgrade, and investigate CRM and VoIP technologies. Efficiencies gained through server virtualisation and consolidation strategies will also be extended.
Bahlman says IT area concerns going forward include staffing and workforce planning in the face of a labour market skills shortage, and emerging and existing issues surrounding data security.
11 Progressive Enterprises

2006 Ranking: 13

Senior IS executive: David Morrison, manager IT
Reports to: Managing director
Size of IS shop: 64

PCs: 1900
Mobile PCs: 100
Terminals: 2000
Hand-held devices: 400
Total screens: 4400

Industry: Wholesale and retail trade
PC environment: Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, CE; Compaq/HP
Server environment: OS4000; Unix SVR4; Windows NT, 2000, XP; Compaq; iSeries; NCR
DBMS: DB2, Oracle, SQL, Teradata
Address: 80 Favona Road, Mangere, Auckland
Website: www.progressive.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Systems integration.


A focus on sales, customer services and integration of IT systems are key priorities for Progressive Enterprises in 2007.
Acquired by Woolworths Australia in 2006, Progressive Enterprises continues to seek to leverage synergies in New Zealand with the new parent company.
David Morrison, IT manager for Progressive, says significant improvements are to be expected in the supply chain as a result of implementing Woolworths’ supply chain systems. From these changes IT will help their primary customer – the supermarkets – to deliver competitive advantage to Progressive Enterprises.
The support of senior management for IT, along with the necessity of an upgrade following the acquisition, is reflected in the IT project line-up for Progressive over the coming 12 months.
Progressive Enterprises is a light outsourcer, outsourcing IT education, some applications development and HR payroll.
12 Air New Zealand

2006 ranking: 12

Senior IS executive: Julia Raue, CIO
Reports to: Rob McDonald, CFO
Size of IS shop: 187

Industry: Transport and warehousing
PCs: 5976
Mobile PCs: 320
Terminals: 0
Hand-held devices: 120
Total screens: 6416

PC environment: Windows XP, Dell, IBM
Server environment: Windows 2003, Solaris, Linux, Sun, IBM, HP
DBMS: Oracle, SQL
Address: Level 19 Quay Tower, 29 Customs Street West, Auckland
Website: www.airnewzealand.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Not disclosed.

In the face of increasing competition, concerns over the environmental impact of air travel, and variable travel and tourism trends, the IT services supporting Air New Zealand must by necessity remain dynamic and flexible.
The ICT team is composed of 187 staff dedicated to delivering continual operational performance improvements to the airline, particularly in the customer facing areas of online and airport self service experience, says immediate past CIO Alastair Grigg.
New CIO Julia Raue took over in April from Grigg. Grigg, who was interviewed for this year’s MIS100, says Air New Zealand has had huge growth in online bookings and is now re-setting targets around that and looking to provide even more capability and functionality for customers online. “There is also a need for improvement in the airport experience and the speed and ease at which people can move through [Air New Zealand systems at] airports,” he says.
Towards this, Air New Zealand is investing in improvements for better redundancy of systems, crucially important in an age where airports are resourced and organised on the basis of automated systems.
Other goals include revenue growth, and fleet and airline capacity growth, and the development of IT systems that better support travel agents, global distribution retailers and online travel agencies.
“Our e-channel strategy is diverse and not without complexity; we need to ensure all our flights and prices are well represented on any online travel sites,” says Grigg.
The Air New Zealand website, a critical sales and customer service channel for the airline, is constantly monitored and improved to enable customers to find information easily and conveniently, says Grigg. He says searches that return schedule results showing flights three days before and after the date specified, and an ability to book and pay ‘Air Dollars’ airfares online are appreciated by customers. But these functionalities require innovative and complex development of back-end systems.
Greater broadband adoption in New Zealand and abroad will help deliver Air New Zealand a larger target market of online users who respond well to a rich online user interface, including greater multimedia content, says Grigg. Air New Zealand is also developing software to automate re-bookings and cancellations and to help customers make re-booking choices online.
Air New Zealand has trialed SMS alerts for customer notification and communication and Grigg says while early trials were not widely adopted, the airline is looking at revising and re-launching the service because of its potential to instantly notify customers of important changes to flight and travel information if they cannot be reached by phone.
Key IT projects for Air New Zealand for the next 12 months include server virtualisation which Grigg says delivers a good return on investment despite the associated challenge of de-commissioning server environments no longer required. Cisco-based VoIP technologies will also be extended throughout Air New Zealand’s corporate head office and to other locations, as will Air New Zealand owned wireless network services in airline facilities including the KoruCare lounges in airports.
Air New Zealand outsources IT functions including host maintenance, IT education, elements of application development and PC maintenance to Dell or IBM. Backup and data centre services are delivered by IBM, network management and help desk services by Gen-i.
13 Inland Revenue Department

2006 ranking: 11

Senior IS executive: Ross Hughson, chief information officer
Reports to: Colin McDonald, deputy commissioner business development and systems
Size of IS shop: 320


PCs: 7623
Mobile PCs: 1066
Terminals: 50
Hand-held devices: 200
Total screens: 8939


Industry: Government and defence
PC environment: Linux, Windows 2000, Acer, Dell, HP, IBM, Sun
Server environment: Linux; MCP; Novell; Solaris; Windows 2000, Server 2003; Dell; HP Others; Unisys
DBMS: Access, DMS, Oracle, Progress
Address: 12-22 Hawkestone Street, Thorndon, Wellington
Website: www.ird.govt.nz
Key IS projects this year: KiwiSaver supporting systems; internal and external correspondence imaging; VoIP network and Genesys call centre system; systems to support student loans changes for amnesty and zero interest.


Inland Revenue Department has a busy year ahead thanks to Government commitments like the KiwiSaver and the student loan amnesty period and zero-interest scheme — examples of legislative changes that drive demand for new systems and extra flexibility and competency within the IRD IT team.
CIO Ross Hughson says in addition to these, IRD has a full ICT projects schedule for including upgrading and modernising core legacy applications like FIRST. Developed in the late ‘80s, FIRST is fast approaching 20 years and modernising this legacy application along with others will help deliver better business agility in a demanding legislative change environment.
Hughson says another challenge is continually working with the business to leverage existing information so that IR can be better informed and deliver on its outcomes. “How do we leverage off the information we hold in our data warehouse more successfully than we do at present? There is very good information in there that we could use to better assist customers with compliance and to help staff identify cases of non-compliance.”
IRD also has a lot to gain from the e-channel and developed a new e-business strategy in 2006 to help deliver on targets including the online processing of 80 per cent of IRD transactions within five-years (the present rate is 20 per cent.) Hughson says IRD is comfortable with the ‘e-enablement’ services it offers, but hasn’t marketed these to customers and education and promotion is required to build customer confidence. “Lots of countries are looking at the electronic benefits of online tax payments and access to information; we plan to drive that uptake over the next few years. The more we can expose services online, the more streamlined the whole process can be.”
He says this approach is also in line with Government e-strategies, and IR is keen to collaborate with the e-channel goals of other government departments. IRD is also redeveloping its intranet to improve internal efficiency and access to information, and to automate staff internal processes.
14 Auckland University of Technology
15 University of Canterbury
16 New Zealand Police

2006 Ranking: 17

Senior IS executive: Rohan Mendis, ICT manager
Reports to: Deputy commissioner
Size of IS shop: 252

PCs: 5700
Mobile PCs: 1000
Terminals: 0
Hand-held devices: 100
Total screens: 6800

Industry: Government and defence
PC environment: Windows XP, Dell, Lenovo
Server environment: Sun, Windows 2000, Dell
DBMS: DB2, Oracle, SQL
Address: 180 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington
Website: www.police.govt.nz
Key IS projects this year: Digital encrypted radio; hardware refresh; case management system upgrade.


Public perception of the quality of policing is a key challenge faced by NZ Police in 2007 and beyond. Meeting this, NZ Police has three strategic goals to 2010: Community reassurance through providing protection and opportunities for community participation, setting local priorities, and working in partnership with other organisations; policing with confidence using evidence-based proactive policing, timely and effective response for service, and thorough investigations and effective resolution of crime; and organisational development through technology and innovation, integrity and accountability, and providing leadership and staff development.
“We need real leaders in Police and we need them to be [rock solid] in terms of integrity and accountability that then feeds into community reassurance,” says Rohan Mendis, ICT manager.
ICT systems and innovation cut across all the above key goals, and in 2007 the Police ICT team is focused on staff training and education surrounding the use of new and existing ICT systems and devices. “Our methods of training are also being revised – for example, we are investigating training models like taking the classroom to the staff.”
Mobile access to core operational applications is another focus, and subject to finance, Police will pilot a wireless LAN and invest more widely in cellular mobile technologies, digital radio, and voice and data wireless networks. The goal is to make applications available in Police stations available on car computers, and eventually on secured PDAs.
Mendis says server virtualisation will continue, with a goal of 80 per cent of Police application servers eventually virtualised – it is already a third of the way towards this goal. VoIP technologies are also viewed favourably, with more than 3300 phones installed and another 7000 to go. Mendis says voice and video run well over the Police data network using Cisco multi-service network technologies. Police also recently upgraded its communications centre, internal help desk and traffic camera office call centre with multimedia-capable applications.
17 Land Transport New Zealand

2006 Ranking: 15

Senior IS executive: Tony West, chief information officer
Reports to: General manager, corporate services
Size of IS shop: 60

PCs: 7710
Mobile PCs: 205
Terminals:0
Hand-held devices:0
Total screens: 7915

Industry: Government and defence
PC environment: Linux, Windows XP, HP, Intel-based clone or OEM, Toshiba
Server environment: Linux; Solaris; Windows 2000, 2003, NT; Unisys; Dell; HP Others
DBMS: Jade, Oracle, Unisys RDMS, SQL
Address: Level 4, NZ Post House, 7-27 Waterloo Quay, Wellington
Website: www.landtransport.govt.nz
Key IS projects this year: Operator rating system; performance monitoring system; Unisys outsourcing.


Land Transport was formed in 2004 from the merger of Transfund New Zealand and the Land Transport Safety Authority. It is a significant user of information technology with nearly 8000 screens and an IT team of 60.
“Information and effective business systems are key to Land Transport New Zealand achieving its strategic goals,” says Tony West, chief information officer. “We are a knowledge-based organisation and the key to operational success is to enhance our use of that knowledge.”
West says while organisational direction and business strategies are reasonably well understood within the information systems and technology group, further work is required to ensure both strategies are more closely aligned. “We are still building IT governance structures, which take some bedding down, and we are continuing through the business planning process along with implementing new enterprise architecture.”
He says government policy changes “always create surprises”, and the IT service arms of government departments driven by legislation can not foresee all IT systems and services required in the future.
“Big blocks” of work for Land Transport for the next year include changes to support new Transport Operator licensing legislation, a system that looks at all transport operators and operations, and is part of the implementation of the rating system that targets information to allocate resources to risk. Land Transport will also make a significant investment in VoIP to coincide with new premises, and complete a document management system project designed to support knowledge management processes within Land Transport.
Land Transport is also seeking to make more transaction services available online. It is also about to finish a project with NZ Post that allows for online Land Transport NZ payments and renewals at NZ Post desktop counters via n-tier architecture.
18 ASB Group
19 Bank of New Zealand
20 healthAlliance