Manukau City Council Chooses PeopleSoft To Transform Citizen Service
Manukau City Council has selected PeopleSoft to supply and implement the core technologies for its three-year NZ$14.5
million Business Transformation Project. This will improve Council’s services to the public and make Council more
flexible and accountable.
Council has given full and unanimous approval to a programme of change requiring a capital investment of $14.5 million
over a three-year period. This includes software, hardware and implementation for a PeopleSoft 8 Enterprise Wide
solution including Financials, Customer Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Human Resources Management,
and Enterprise Performance Management modules.
Manukau City Manager Colin Dale says, “We are investing in new technology and processes for our staff to use internally.
The public will see an improvement in services, greater accountability and new ways of doing things. The project will
provide enhanced access to information in order to improve communication and everyday Council processes. When this
project is completed, our citizens will be able to access Council services through Internet, phone or face to face,
whichever suits them best, and be confident that the same quality processes lie behind each one.”
As Manukau’s core business systems are nearly 20 years old and comprise of a number of stand-alone systems, the
improvements represent a great advance in technology and systems.
“Manukau City is growing rapidly, with 283,000 citizens at last count,” says Dale. “Our existing systems were outdated
and not able to cope with the varied demands of the users. PeopleSoft 8 will transform the way we do business. Manukau
City Council is leading the way for local government in terms of employing an integrated solution across all aspects of
the organisation, providing improved service and increased efficiency.”
“Our goal as a Council is to develop a kind of one-stop-shop for all our services so that a member of the public can
deal with just one staff member – a librarian for example – who has access to all the information needed for every
contact that person has with the Council. It’s what the citizens of New Zealand’s third largest city deserve.”
User friendly systems
“Manukau City Council presented a number of challenging business goals in this highly competitive tender,” says David
Webster, PeopleSoft Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand. “It requires fully integrated modern and user
friendly systems that provide flexibility to respond to current and emerging business requirements.”
After an exhaustive evaluation process Council selected PeopleSoft citing superior technology. PeopleSoft’s Pure
Internet Architecture™ and full range of business applications seamlessly connect people to information online in
real-time to dramatically improve business processes while lowering costs. Pure Internet Architecture has no code on the
client so users need only a web browser to use the software. Manukau City Council aims to greatly improve service
performance across the organisation. The combination of pure internet architecture together with the fact that
PeopleSoft 8 has built-in analytics to constantly monitor all enterprise data means that PeopleSoft is an excellent
choice.
“The ability to provide such functional differentiators as CRM and EPM, and PeopleSoft’s future product direction and
its diversity of solution were deciding factors for the Council,” says Webster. “PeopleSoft is focussed on enabling the
real-time enterprise, connecting people to Council processes as they happen. This accelerates actions and improves
decision making while giving all users enhanced visibility and autonomy.”
“In a nutshell, Manukau City Council requires personalised, flexible and seamless customer service, including
self-service and improved channels of contact in order to improve the management of citizens, customers and community
contact with Council. We’re delighted to have been selected as prime vendor for this crucial project that will transform
how Council engages with its stakeholders.”
A further aim is to move the accounting focus from processing and reporting to analysis and decision support. PeopleSoft
8.4 Financials enables real-time visibility into financial results, minute-by-minute control over expenditures, and
guidance for better decisions. Council employees will have the tools, information, and insights they need to detect
problems earlier and take action faster.
Unique requirements
The evaluation team also recognised that PeopleSoft understood Council’s unique business requirements. Manukau is home
for a diverse community of more than 150 ethnic groups. This diversity is reflected not only in its cultural and ethnic
mix, but also in demographic factors and indicators of well-being, such as educational attainment.
“PeopleSoft demonstrated how its products would assist Council in achieving its vision, and won Council’s confidence,
thanks to PeopleSoft’s proven reference sites, that PeopleSoft had the strongest offering that would best meet Council’s
needs. The robust and proven architecture will effectively deliver a low risk solution,” said Dale.
The initial expenditure of $3.7 million is for the PeopleSoft Enterprise Wide solution, which will provide the
foundation for the Business Transformation Project. Council will spend an additional $2.3 million in the first year for
hardware and implementation costs. Further expenditure of $6 million is planned for 2002-3, followed by $2.5 million in
the 2003-4 year.
About Manukau City Council
Located within the Auckland region Manukau is New Zealand’s third largest and fastest growing city. It is projected to
become the second largest by 2016. Manukau is centrally located within a hub of transportation and communication
networks that link it with the country’s domestic and international markets. It is a vibrant, unique and diverse city
with a peerless natural environment, strong economic growth and supports an attractive lifestyle. The Council is focused
on maintaining and developing the city as a desirable place to live and work.
About PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft (Nasdaq: PSFT) is the world's leading provider of application software for the real-time enterprise.
PeopleSoft pure Internet software enables organisations to reduce costs and increase productivity by directly connecting
customers, suppliers, partners and employees to business processes on-line, in real time. PeopleSoft's integrated,
best-in-class applications include Customer Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Human Capital Management,
Financial Management and Application Integration. More than 4,800 organisations in 140 countries run on PeopleSoft
software. For more information, visit us at http:// http://www.peoplesoft.com.