New Zealand: Christchurch Council plays down glitches with new software

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Council plays down Famis glitches by Mike Bruce

Christchurch City Council management is playing down glitches in its much-vaunted new computer system, despite a six-month delay in implementation.

One council source yesterday called the new Financial and Management Information Solution (Famis) project a disaster which was "being driven by adrenalin and ego rather than sound planning".

The new computer system is now six months behind its original schedule, which council management said had been "always optimistic". The system was scheduled to be commissioned last December, but was delayed until March owing to the project being more "complex and more challenging than expected".

The council source said many of the project's deadlines had not been met, which would cause further delays, and that had prompted the council's directorate to allocate considerably more staff and resources to the project.

The council's operations director, Ken Lawn, said the main element of the system (Sap) was still on track for a March start, but some parts of the local government (Gems) system were likely to be delayed "a few weeks to ensure they work properly".

Mr Lawn said an estimated 25 staff from various units had been called in to work full-time on implementation of the new system.

While this cost was not included in the $5.7 million budget, it was not an added cost to ratepayers, Mr Lawn said.

"The vast majority of the 25 staff have been seconded, they've not been replaced, and so we've just had to change priorities a bit. This is not an extra cost to the organisation."

Link to story: http://www.press.co.nz/2000/04/000126l00.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 25, 2000


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