The Defence Transformation Programme (DTP) is the formal programme of work initiated to take a strategic look at the overall support functions of the New Zealand Defence Force. Already, savings of $84 million have been made through several tactical ‘quick win’ projects In 2009 DTP re-focused on longer-term transformational change across the NZDF, to deliver further sustainable savings and set up an ongoing culture of innovation.
Reflecting the Government’s desire to highlight and improve value-for-money within Defence, three areas were targeted for change: Human Resource Management (HRM), Logistics, and NZDF Headquarters. The process undertaken in each stream has followed a thorough approach:
- Research the current way the HRM, Logistics, and HQ NZDF support organisations work;
- Develop a vision for what those organisations could look like in the future; then
- Combine this information with external reviews and research into other organisations and militaries; and
- Compare with existing frameworks and theories; to
- Design in detail how the future organisation will work and the implications of the changes.
This process enabled DTP staff to provide the Executive Leadership Team with detailed options, allowing them to determine the best course of action for NZDF.
All this work came together in August 2009 at a Defence Transformation Summit, where the ELT discussed how DTP would progress. The ELT agreed that:
- Support services would increasingly be organised along functional lines;
- The enduring role of Service Chiefs is integral in the command structure; and
- The DTP had shifted from planning to delivery, with a bold agenda for change.
Specifically, the ELT agreed to put in place:
- A new consolidated Defence Logistics Command
- A new consolidated Human Resources organisation
- A new consolidated Training and Education Directorate
- A new way of structuring and working in Headquarters.
To begin and support these changes to Logistics, a Commander Logistics was appointed and began the work toward standing up the new consolidated logistics organisation on 1 July 2010. A Strategic Sourcing project was also established and during 2010 will look at how we can negotiate better deals for third party procurement by acting as a whole, rather than three single Service customers. An Inventory Optimisation project will look specifically at inventory management to determine whether we have the right quantity and types of inventory.
In the HRM programme it was identified that the ‘consolidated HRM organisation’ will be made up of a centralised transactional centre, supported by specialist HR advisors and functional centres of expertise. The centralisation of payroll (with personnel switching to accessing payroll advice through the intranet, by email, or by phone) is consistent with this model. Work is underway to define the HR advisory model, and the Workforce Planning, Policy Development, Defence Psychology and Strategic Recruitment teams from across the three Services and NZDF will come together in one centralised location in 2010 to become the first of the centres of expertise.
A Training and Education Directorate was established early in 2010 to begin driving consistent Training and Education strategy and policy, and to become a single point of contact for external organisations. Areas of common training delivery have been identified and the process of combining separate Service training where appropriate will begin in 2010.
Enhanced technology will be required to support all these changes within the HRM area and a review of the Human Resource Management Information System is also underway.
Within Headquarters, reviews of the Finance and Planning functions were completed and decisions on ways for these areas to provide more streamlined support will be made during 2010. Development and Corporate Services branches will also be reviewed and a project to e-enable the organisation is underway.
The NZDF also realised there was too much change occurring in some areas, often with overlapping scope and priorities, and as a result have reviewed business as usual projects, with decisions made to accelerate, put on hold, or fold into DTP many of the existing projects.
The new consolidated organisations that are being designed in Logistics and HRM will support operations, and ensure personnel required in uniform requirements are met. Service representatives embedded within the DTP programme team will make certain the cultural strengths and practices of each Service are understood, particularly as further detail is developed.
Together, all these changes are expected to free up resources through the creation of leaner and smarter support services. The intent is to better deliver our military capability — NZDF’s reason for being.
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