Hamilton City Council opts for Civica

Hamilton City Council has chosen Civica for a whole-of-council enterprise software system after a long tender process. Civica’s Authority local government management software will provide the council’s core business applications, however, the total solution will include third party applications such as the ESRI geographic information system, HP TRIM electronic document and records management, InfoCouncil electronic meeting manager, and RosterOn for staff rostering. These will be fully integrated with Civica's Authority suite, which includes software for managing customer requests management, financials, assets and infrastructure, property, consents and rating, human resources, mobile computing and executive management reporting. The council will now move away from its existing multiple best-of-breed standalone applications. “We had limited and complex integration and no sustainable plan to renew those individual pieces of software that were just becoming older and outdated,” says Hamilton’s deputy CEO, Blair Bowcott. “We had no real vision of how the organisation wanted to look at our customers, view information and integrate it.” Civica has over 20 local government sites in New Zealand after buying Fujitsu's local government business and applications in March 2008. The implementation will be phased in what Bowcott, describes in a statement as “a significant undertaking”. “Ultimately we will have a single, integrated view of Council and a clear view of all our customers, as compared to the present system where information is kept in a number of individual silos which cannot ‘speak’ to each other. There will be minimal or no duplication of data,” he says. Customers, businesses and agents will get tools to allow them to interact online with council, while the council's outdoor workforce will be equipped with new mobile technologies. Senior management will have access to new reporting tools such as dashboards so they can make real-time and informed decisions, he says. Hamilton began searching for new business systems two years ago. Key requirements identified included the need for a customer relationship management (CRM), a "single version of the truth", council-wide process improvement, service improvement through innovation, sustainability, knowledge leverage and protection and compliance.

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