Stories by Ulrika Hedquist

Copied SAP system cuts costs for Auckland Transport

Auckland Transport went live with a new SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system on November 1, as reported in Computerworld in September last year. Now come the first reports of successfully running a number of business processes, including payroll runs, finance and procurement processes through the system.

NZ professional named top Oracle director

Francisco Alvarez is the first local professional to be awarded the Oracle ACE director of the year. The title is the worldwide Oracle Magazine editor’s choice award for 2010.

Evolution of IT on display at ITEX

‘Cloud computing is here to stay’. ‘Mobile is the future’. ‘Consumer innovation is outpacing business innovation’. ‘Embrace social media and new devices and enable your staff rather than block them’. These were some of the recurring themes at the ITEX conference and expo, held in Auckland recently.

The incredible shrinking datacentre

Driven by efficiency gains in technology, including virtualisation, high-performance CPUs and high-density storage, datacentres are getting smaller, says Roger Cockayne, co-founder of Revera.

Don't delay hiring, says recruiter

“Hire now. Delays will be costly.” That is the advice from John Wyatt, director of Recruit IT in Wellington. New Zealand has already gone through the first quarter of a three-year phase of heavy ICT resource demand, he says.
Major projects are being kicked off in the banking, telco and insurance sectors and they are all using technology as a driver, he says.
Wyatt compares the situation now to that of the post the dot.com crash.
“Back in 1998 to 99 I experienced first-hand IT budgets being brought forward and IT spending reach unprecedented levels for Y2K purposes. Then, there was a decline for the following two years. Our industry, I believe, is currently experiencing a reverse of this situation. Postponed IT spending throughout 2008 and 2009 means organisations must take action now to remain competitive. The big spenders like banks, insurance providers, airlines and telcos are out in full force doing exactly this.”
These projects are quickly soaking up existing local talent and employers should actively consider hiring offshore again, says Wyatt.
“Certainly hire locally first, but do consider overseas candidates too. You could still be looking for that hard to find skillset in a local candidate one to two months from now, while someone from overseas could have arrived and started within this timeframe.”
Another option to consider is offshoring, he says. The local market needs to be open to moving work to other markets, and not just in Asia, he says. Wyatt believes offshoring to Eastern European countries will become more common in the next 12 months.
Demand for some roles, including business analysts, software developers, architects and test analysts, has gone up around 40 percent in the past six to nine months, says Wyatt. Recruit IT is busy at the moment and has taken on more staff, he adds.
Wyatt has just come back from a trip to the UK where the company has set up a London office, focused on bringing UK and European talent to New Zealand. The first wave of candidates is arriving within the next month, he says. Recruit IT has organised a number of New Zealand job expos in London with around 40 people attending each time, he says.

Open source moves into the enterprise at NZ organisations

There was a time when open source software was almost inseparable from the image of altruistic, community-loving developers, coding away in command line interfaces in a darkened room. But those days are long gone. Sleek open source applications have made their way into the enterprise and sometimes give the proprietary giants a run for their money. In this feature, three local organisations share their open source stories.

Auditor-General aware of Supercity tendering concerns

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Auditor-General told Computerworld that the office is aware of the concerns raised around some of the Supercity’s ICT contracts.
“We are not currently looking into any specific complaints about ATA's [Auckland Transition Agency] tendering and contracting processes, although we are aware of the concerns that have been expressed about these processes,” says Anna Will, communications advisor at the Controller and Auditor-General.
In Computerworld two weeks ago, council sources questioned the tendering process when selecting SAP, without a formal tender process, for the large Auckland Council ERP system. They say that the decision to forego the tender process was based on the fact that three councils – Waitakere City Council, Auckland Regional Council and Auckland City Council – were already using SAP systems and that those systems could be leveraged. However, instead it was decided to build a new SAP system from the ground up, involving extensive use of consultants, which has driven the cost up, they say.
Yet another source now questions the $60 million-plus SAP ERP system.
“The new Auckland City has, as far as SAP is concerned, out-scoped the water business and transport business. That’s where all the big asset expenditure and procurement takes place,” says a senior ICT professional with extensive experience of merging ICT systems.
Watercare will be the bulk water and wastewater service provider from 1 November and Auckland Transport Agency has its own SAP system, which cost less than $10 million in total to roll out.
He says what is left of Auckland City is a customer serving organisation, which he compares to a big payroll system.
“How come we need such an expensive core system when the huge components of water and transport are in separate organisations?” he asks.
The cost of this system is “unbelievable”, he says.
“When there are existing and well-established local government systems that have already been built to do this stuff – why are they building something new?”
“I’m horrified at the whole idea that these large consultancies have got their hooks in it. I’m a rate payer too,” he says.
Computerworld understands that SAP was selected based on the fact that three councils were already using it. However, there are other systems that are being used by multiple existing councils, for example Pathway. It is not known whether other systems, such as Pathway, were considered for the ERP system.
ATA did not respond to Computerworld by deadline.

Back-up systems perform in Christchurch quake

Business continuity systems were put to the test during and after the earthquake in Christchurch. The benefits of cloud computing also came to the fore, as smaller companies were saved by not having their systems onsite.

Christchurch creatives build iPhone app for Vodafone

In preparation for the upcoming New Zealand Music Awards in October, Christchurch-based iPhone app company Smudge Apps has developed a free iPhone application for head sponsor Vodafone. The app lets users vote for the People’s Choice Awards and features artist profiles, competitions and news from finalists.

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