​Govt owned Public Trust hit with IT system delays

Government owned trusted company Public Trust has temporarily delayed the implementation of its new IT system, following rising concerns over quality standards assurance.

Having informed the Commerce Select Committee of a May 30 go live date in March, the process of migrating historical and complex data has instead proved challenging, resulting in rollout delays.

“This IT system is fundamental to our future business plans so while it’s disappointing to have to talk about another delay, the most important issue is for us to be 100 percent confident that when we implement it, it’s ready to go,” says Bob Smith, CEO, Public Trust.

“Our recent testing has indicated that more work is needed on the configuration so we can meet our own quality assurance requirements. So we’re now in a stabilisation phase of the programme before pressing ahead with the final stages of implementation.

“It is important to note that the delays are not due to the functionality of the new system which is a specialist trust package on a standard Microsoft ERP platform.”

Smith says that implementing new core business applications is a key component of Public Trust’s Business Plan because some of the systems currently used were put in place over 25 years ago.

Consequently, as an interim measure, Smith has now assumed executive level responsibility for the programme.

“This project was and is our number one priority,” he adds. “We’ll have a better idea of how long the delay will be in a few weeks, but we are fully confident in the system.

“We know that when it is implemented, it will meet our needs now and into the future. The fact that feedback from our employee training has been overwhelmingly positive just confirms that.”

Smith says the project will continue to be funded by Public Trust’s own working capital.

“When implemented, the new system will provide a stable IT infrastructure which will enable Public Trust to meet its customers’ changing needs and its Business Plan objectives,” he adds.