As a large taxpayer-funded organisation with over 10,000 full-time service and civilian men and women, plus 2,500 territorial force and reserve personnel, it is incumbent upon the NZDF to strive for excellence in the way that it uses those funds to generate military capabilities.
New initiatives are taking advantage of information technology not only to improve efficiency, but also to provide decision-makers with more timely, appropriate and complete information. There will always be some important differences between the way that a defence force trains for and conducts military operations and develops the future force and the way that businesses operate in the civilian sector; but there are also many similarities, particularly in management of support functions.
The following text briefly highlights just some management process improvements being implemented in the NZDF.
Corporate Information System
The NZDF has several information systems, some of which have been developed over many years, that provide for effective and efficient management of individual functional areas. While these systems are very effective, currently there are difficulties in the combination and consolidation of information. There is some duplication of effort between systems, and it is not always easy to combine data from different sources. Consolidation of data across the NZDF will provide improved information to support management and decision-making within the NZDF; this consolidation will be undertaken by the Corporate Management Information System (CMIS).
The CMIS will overcome the difficulties noted above by improving the quality and integrity of information, providing a coordinated approach to sharing data through the use of a common data repository, reducing costs by using standard reporting and analysis tools, and providing improved access to management information. This will provide the support to improve the decision-making, performance measurement, and financial management of the NZDF.
The CMIS Project was approved in August 2000 and is being implemented in a staged manner. The first components will be Performance Management Systems to consolidate Operational, Human Resource, Financial, and Logistic data, extract Key Performance Indicators from these, and assess in detail the ability of each Service to meet the operational outputs specified in the Purchase Agreement. Subsequent phases will add Management Information Systems for Personnel, Finance, and other functions.