2005 ASX Announcements

Date: 25 October 2005

Objective enterprise content management enriches knowledge transfer within NZ Government Unit

The Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit (CCMAU), a semi-autonomous unit of the New Zealand Government, has selected Objective Corporation (ASX: OCL) to provide an enterprise content management solution to enhance information management organisation-wide.

CCMAU monitors the Government’s investment in companies owned by the Crown by reporting on company business plans, performance against targets and sector trends. It provides high-quality performance and governance advice to shareholding Ministers on strategic issues, investment and diversification opportunities, and the impact of government policy.

Objective will replace CCMAU’s existing system, providing users with access to all information from a single repository and improving information management throughout the unit. It will form the foundation to support business processes through the capture, use, management and storage of information and will be used by everyone at CCMAU.

Executive Director, Mr Murray Wright, CCMAU said: “With Objective, the integration between physical and electronic records and documents was seamless. During the evaluation process we saw a number of systems that were so vastly different to the way we work, Objective wasn’t.

“There was no point in implementing a solution if people weren’t inclined to use it. A key measure of success with Objective is that everyone wants to use it and it’s flexible for our purposes,” said Mr Wright.

Objective will support many of the agency’s crucial business functions, such as:

• Monitoring – reporting on company business plans, performance against targets, and sectoral trends.
• Ownership – advising on strategic issues, investment and diversification opportunities, and the impact of government policy.
• Governance and appointments – identifying and screening potential directors, managing the appointments process, and promoting corporate governance best practice
• Ministerial servicing – managing issues and drafting replies to correspondence, parliamentary questions, and requests under the Official Information Act 1982.

As a sector unit it is imperative that CCMAU complies fully with the requirements of the Official Information Act 1982. Objective will assist CCMAU in responding to Official Information Act requests whilst supporting compliance with the new Public Records Act 2005.

“Crucial to our monitoring function is the creation of reports with input from others, both inside and outside the organisation. Objective has eliminated information redundancies and has enabled us to track the progression of a report with visible audit trails. This has created a more efficient and transparent process,” said Mr Wright.

Objective will underpin CCMAU’s internal Quality Assurance process by preserving the integrity of both physical and electronic documents and records.

“In addition to improved information management at an organisational level, the strategic benefits provided by Objective are significant. By enabling us to retain a corporate knowledge store, Objective assists knowledge transfer for new staff and provides a complete and accurate history of past advice, establishing precedents for future advice,” said Mr Wright.

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About CCMAU

The New Zealand Government has a significant investment in a number of Crown companies.

CCMAU is a semi-autonomous unit of the New Zealand Government that was established in 1993 to provide high-quality advice to shareholding Ministers on company performance and to recommend qualified persons to sit on the boards of these companies.

For further information on CCMAU, visit http://www.ccmau.govt.nz/