Annual Report 2006: Part three - Key strategies
Developing our tools
Information technology strategy
During 2005-06 we introduced a new information technology strategy (covering the next three to five years), which is aligned with Our Way Forward. The strategy seeks to improve our technological infrastructure and platforms for the future and closely aligns our information technology activities with our business direction.
FIRST system
Our current technology platform is based on FIRST (Future Inland Revenue System Technology) that was introduced in 1992. In the intervening 15 years our functions have grown considerably. The activities that support these functions have been integrated into FIRST, creating a more complex system environment.
While the FIRST system has served us well, the information technology strategy outlines the need for us to modernise and redesign FIRST to ensure that it meets the needs of our changing business as outlined in Our Way Forward.
Telecommunication network roll-out
Last year, we signed a six-year telecommunications services agreement covering voice, data, mobile and internet services using a converged voice and data network.
The roll-out of our new voice and data network was completed in May 2006. The new network allows us to improve the delivery of customer telephone enquiries to all our staff. The technology has also allowed us to centralise many processes, giving us greater flexibility in providing customer service and generating internal efficiencies.
Electronic data storage and retrieval
Development of our electronic data storage and retrieval system is now complete. The system implementation was completed in July 2006.
This system will progressively allow a faster response to customer enquiries and reduce the amount of paper being moved across the organisation. Our people will be able to resolve a greater percentage of customer calls and enquiries at the first point of contact by immediately accessing electronic images of documents and correspondence that the customer has sent in and received. Ultimately, it is our intention to enable customers to access this information online as well.
This will result in significant savings in time and paper storage cost, as well as the opportunity to redesign work processes. It also supports Inland Revenue's commitment to improving its environmental performance by minimising the need to print documents and reducing the amount of consumables used.
| Electronic archive is on the way |
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| Working with bulky paper documents and files will gradually decrease for our people with the recent introduction of imaging and our electronic data storage and retrieval (EDSR) system. EDSR allows Inland Revenue to electronically access some of our paperbased interactions with our customers, such as GST returns and payment and remittance details. Heather Daly, Group Manager (Customer Operations) says "It's a great project that will bring much greater efficiency to our systems. Over time, many more of our paper documents will be able to be accessed through EDSR. We also expect that EDSR will lay the foundation for future digital storage and retrieval of data such as email, voice recordings, web content and other documents." Research into industry trends suggests that there is potential for the use of EDSR in business process management, records management, compliance with regulations, managing call recording, electronic document delivery, internal–external process integration, consolidation and standardisation of content storage and knowledge management. |
Accomodation issues
During the year, we began projects to assess our future accommodation requirements in Auckland and Wellington, with solutions to be in place when current leases come up for renewal between 2008 and 2012. Our property management service provider has begun advertising for registrations of interest in the Wellington and Auckland property market to identify accommodation opportunities.
Other pages in: Part three - Key strategies
- Promoting compliance
- Providing information and support
- Maintaining compliance with the law
- Tackling the harder end of compliance
- Gaining organisational efficiency
- Reducing compliance costs
- Developing the capability of our people and providing the tools they need
- Becoming an employer of choice
- Excellent state servants
- Key people statistics
Date published: 06 Nov 2006
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