The roll-out of one of Auckland Council’s largest projects, NewCore, is now complete.
The $156.9 million project has always been delivered on time and within budget, Chief Operating Officer Dean Kimpton says.
The project has reached the final milestone – rollout across the legacy Auckland City, Manukau, Papakura and Franklin areas.
From June, all customer interactions, property management, licensing, financial management, consenting and property information services have been available online. The council also now provides rates services online.
Finance and Performance Committee deputy chair, Councillor Desley Simpson, welcomed the project’s completion.
"When the legacy councils were amalgamated, the Auckland Transition Agency acquired a series of applications for the Auckland Council which were not fit for the size and complexity of the new organisation," Councillor Simpson says.
"When the reset button was hit in 2014, a new and refreshed team was put in charge and a more accurate budget was approved to reflect the project.
"Those who delivered NewCore on time and under budget should be congratulated,” Councillor Simpson says. “It will save us millions over the coming years, and make Auckland Council more efficient and accessible to the people it serves.”
Dean says: “We’re really proud of the team who has put in thousands of hours of work to deliver what is a significant, yet complex, project.
“NewCore will transform the way we interact with Aucklanders on a daily basis, so we want to say a big thank you to our people who made NewCore a reality.”
The project has come in $2.8 million under budget, Dean says, while adding that the benefits of NewCore to Aucklanders will be $10 million annually.
Keeping the project in check
In November 2012, the project was originally approved by the council’s Strategy and Finance Committee with a budget of $71 million.
However, following a major review of the project in 2014, the Finance and Performance Committee approved the reset of the project and increase of budget, revising the overall cost to $157 million.
“The complexity of NewCore was greater than originally envisaged, and no legacy council systems we had were adequate for what we wanted to achieve,” Dean says. “The reset gave us the opportunity to establish correct scope, budget and programme for the project, which we did and have now delivered to.”
Faster online services
The council’s Director of ICT, Mark Denvir, says the NewCore IT system allows the council to deliver more services, better and faster than ever before.
“The eight legacy councils operated on different IT systems – NewCore brings them all into one,” he says.
"The eight different systems meant we could only provide services to the customer within the geographical area they lived in. That is no longer the case."
“Now, for example, you can head into one of our Manukau service centres to check on a resource consent for your property in Ōrewa.
“NewCore will mean our key customer-facing services will transform, while also reducing the cost to serve each customer,” Mark says. “For the first time, customers can go to any council service centre to request services, no matter where you live."
“We now have a platform which allows us a lot of room to foster innovation when it comes to the way we work with Aucklanders."
As a result of NewCore, the council has started to provide online services, such as dog licence renewals, e-rates and property information. Down the track, there will be an online hub for Aucklanders to check on all their council services, such as rubbish collection, water bills and AT HOP card balances.
NewCore: By the numbers
- $156.9 million budget
- Project came in $2.8 million under budget
- Started in 2012, but project was reset in 2014
- Budget extended to $156.9 million at reset
- NewCore to deliver $10 million annual benefits
- 9 million pieces of data migrated onto new IT system.
