New NZ$100k content system for NZ privacy office
The New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has invested in a NZ$100,000 enterprise content management (ECM) system by vendor Objective.
With the Privacy Commissioner's Office already outgrowing its old system, the tender was prompted by the Office's need to honour the Public Records Act 2005, which introduced a new recordkeeping framework, according to OPC general manager Gary Bulog. "We couldn't exactly be embarrassed by not complying with our own legislation," he said.
When the OPC originally put out the ECM tender, it was looking for a system which could help meet the legislative requirements as well as being able to centralise data storage, in order to facilitate the sharing and finding of information.
Objective protects sensitive information by only allowing authorised users access, Bulog said. Sensitive files cannot be seen, let alone opened, by such unauthorised personnel, he added.
Finding the available information is easy with Objective, Bulog said, with the 35 seat system enabling employees to delve into the murky depths of information gone MIA. "The searching capabilities are phenomenal compared to what we had before," Bulog said, adding that employees had found information "long thought lost".
The OPC chose Objective for its ability to capture the necessary information and because the system also had case management functionality, which according to Bulog enables the OPC to monitor work, do reporting and manage workloads.
There were only two vendors -- equally priced -- who were offering case management with their ECM, of which Objective had the more user-friendly layout, Bulog said.
"We had a user group as part of the selection process -- [Objective] seemed simpler for people to use," Bulog explained.
The useability was an important criterion, he said. "We're not a highly computer literate organisation ... most of my staff are lawyers, they're not IT type people." Each member of staff received two half-days training to come to grips with the system.