Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Someone has to be accountable for this

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  • bmk, in reply to Sacha,

    Only if it were actually the original Rodney Hide and not an android.

    Which actually explains a lot of things such as his lack of empathy.

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to Cassandra,

    Fuck you Hill Cone you are palpably the stupidest person who has ever had airtime on Radio NZ.

    If you're going to say things like that, Cassandra, you'd better post more often.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to bmk,

    Only if it were actually the original Rodney Hide and not an android

    You know, that would explain the sudden fitness jag and weight loss...

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • bmk,

    Pity we can't ensure all politicians pass the voight-kampff test before they are allowed to be sworn in. If every politician at least had empathy, no matter the rest of their political leanings/thoughts, the world would be a better place.

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

  • bmk, in reply to nzlemming,

    Exactly. I think we are onto him now. Let's call in Rick Deckard:)

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to John Holley,

    I may have to write a more fully detailed tome

    Addressing the relative involvement and behaviour of former councils in the transition process would be enlightening. Even just in the IT part of it.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Cassandra,

    Penny Hulse is to be commended for her honesty with Aucklanders by publicly pointing out the size and scope of various problems.

    +1

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to nzlemming,

    If you're going to say things like that, Cassandra, you'd better post more often.

    +1

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • John Holley, in reply to Sacha,

    Addressing the relative involvement and behaviour of former councils in the transition process would be enlightening. Even just in the IT part of it.

    There was some here and there, but all the ultimate decision making lay with the ATA - especially Mike Foley.

    For example, none of the CIOs were on the steering committee for the ERP (SAP) implementation. 3 of us (from Waitakere, Auckland and the ARC) had significant experience with SAP implementations, including dealing with consultants. So there was no Council SAP implementation expertise on the steering committee despite there being plenty available. The expertise came from the consultants....

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 143 posts Report Reply

  • Penny Bright,

    Some of us from DAY ONE were trying to warn Aucklanders that the Auckland '$upercity' would be a super RIPOFF for the vast majority of citizens and ratepayers.

    www.stopthesupercity.org.nz

    It's now democracy for developers, consultants and private contractors.

    The public majority are effectively no more than a giant ca$h cow - all pay - no say.

    The fact that integration and transition costs appear to be far greater than the 'economies of scale' this forced amalgamation was supposed to bring about, is just the start..........

    The 'books' are NOT open.

    There is no 'line-by-line' accounting.

    We the public, do not know the names of the contractors; scope, term or value of contracts issued.

    The 'devil is in the detail' - but we don't get this 'devilish detail'.

    There are not central 'Registers' of Contracts.

    (I know -because I've asked under the OIA).

    That's why this Monday 23 May 2011, I made an historic first ever complaint, in person at the National Archives Office, about Auckland Council's alleged breach of s.17 (1) of the Public Records Act 2005 - failure to maintain full and accurate records of contracts.

    How can elected representatives of Auckland Council even consider putting up rates 3.7% when they have no idea where exactly public rates monies are being spent?

    The answer is REALLY simple.

    CUT OUT THE PRIVATE 'PIGGY-IN-THE-MIDDLE' CONSULTANTS AND CONTRACTORS AND RETURN CORE COUNCIL SERVICES BACK TO 'IN-HOUSE'
    PROVISION!

    (Same applies to central government).

    Penny Bright
    http://waterpressure.wordpress.com

    Auckland • Since May 2011 • 7 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Penny Bright,

    Go girl!
    This sort of examination of what goes on in local body spending should be really extensive- including the West Coast funding body (DWC) that has just parked 5 million dollars into a dairyfarm outfit that appears to have links with some of the parkees-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX,

    Best wishes Cassandra, though not a serious consideration but in illustrating the size of the part of problem.

    The cost blow to rebuild the IT system from the ground up can be funded by a mix of further privatisation, rates increases or reverting to form bus lane fines of which they presently issue around 28,000 a year, give or take.

    This year’s shortfall is an extra 288.000 tickets,
    the next year it will be an extra 576,667 tickets, and
    the following year will be an extra 518,667 tickets.

    Perhaps he masters of puppets alluded to earlier in the thread are banking on John Banks to win Epsom and as Minster for Auckland and Local Govt to come in over Len Brown.

    If Auckland “needs” to embark on privatisation will Rodney will have a role to play if he has left National politics.

    The IT blow out is only the beginning.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • petard,

    Been trying to get my head around the numbers
    (and there are no prizes for guessing residence but

    to quote Southerly

    _"The Cost of Wholesale Demolition

    According to my (rough) analysis using the council’s ‘Rating’ database, it would cost the EQC about $175,000 on average to reimburse each riverside homeowner for their land in the event that they’re prohibited from rebuilding. For the estimated 3,000 affected homes this comes to a total of $525,000,000.

    In contrast, the total proposed land remediation cost in Christchurch from the September earthquake was $140,000,000. Pretty much all the riverbank would have been remediated under this original scheme, which – even at first glance – suggests that the cost of land repair for the riverside would be much less than wholesale abandonment_"

    Unfortunately i have been peripherally involved with projects where international accounting firms ( or their ilk ) have been engaged as" IT consultants" and if this is the first public admission that the numbers are wrong then we can probably confidently predict at least another 50% increase before the job is finished

    and it is worth noting that Auckland inc really isnt all that big on a global scale and the software to run this kind of enterprise or something very similar exists already
    The wheel has already been......

    Since May 2011 • 6 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to petard,

    it is worth noting that Auckland inc really isnt all that big on a global scale

    I thought it was one of the largest local bodies in the southern hemisphere (though I don't recall where I read that)?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • John Holley, in reply to Sacha,

    It is the largest council in Australasia. Mind you, when the planning was going ahead many, especially the consultants, were saying what a complex migration it would be blah, blah...some of us pointed out that by global standards it was small and straight forward. That is why Transport got SAP to manage the migration of data (at a fixed price and bloody cheap) from the eight systems. Because SAP has teams that do this ALL the time globally, rather than screeds of contractors trying to work it out as they went along. Best practise is to migrate this data from significant corporate mergers (across borders/different labour laws etc.) in months, not the years the ATA planned and locked the Auckland Council into.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 143 posts Report Reply

  • stephen walker, in reply to Cassandra,

    well said, Cassandra.
    the whole amalgamation from day one has been a scam.
    all they needed to do was to revamp ARC/ARTA and some other regional bodies, give the new body additional powers, and mandate it to buy certain assets from the local councils. what they did instead was a total scam. any Auckland ratepayer who votes for National or Act is the quintessential idiot.

    nagano • Since Nov 2006 • 646 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX, in reply to stephen walker,

    To address the issue one/we would need to do more than vote against National or Act.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • TracyMac, in reply to John Holley,

    Sounds like the all-too-common experience of crappy analysis and requirements-gathering up front, leading to bizarre architectural and infrastructure decisions. The fact they did not listen to the technical staff on the ground, apparently, who know the complexity of the systems, is warning bell number one.

    Sure, frequently there are awful crusty systems and the kind of old farts who implement them in an effort to keep themselves in gainful employment forever, and consultants and prime tech teams can be great at clearing out those rats nests. But I can’t believe nothing at all was salvageable, nor that a more phased integration approach wouldn’t have succeeded. Because often, you need to clean up the process at the same time as the technology, if not before.

    I’m looking for jobs back home right now, and I think I’ll give Deloittes a swerve, even though I’d like to find something soon … and they are advertising.

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to Sacha,

    I thought it was one of the largest local bodies in the southern hemisphere (though I don’t recall where I read that)?

    And isn't it unusually large globally, come to that? I do remember during the debate leading up to it there were a lot of discussions about how almost no cities worldwide were integrated on that sort of scale, and it hadn't been terribly successful where they were.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • stever@cs.waikato.ac.nz,

    Given the involvement (at least strategically and politically) of Key, Hide, English in all this, surely (given it's Auckland we're talking about) this MUST be the beginning of the end for them?

    The Herald, at least, now has a gift of a series of stories to get its teeth into...

    Hamilton • Since Nov 2006 • 73 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart, in reply to stever@cs.waikato.ac.nz,

    The Herald, at least, now has a gift of a series of stories to get its teeth into...

    I wouldn't hold your breath.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • stever@cs.waikato.ac.nz, in reply to Lucy Stewart,

    I know :-)

    But just for a moment I allowed myself the luxury of living in a good, fair world where baddies were apprehended and good triumphed.

    We have to grab our pleasures whenever we can these days!

    Hamilton • Since Nov 2006 • 73 posts Report Reply

  • John Holley,

    Having read the IS Capital plan that was presented to the council this month I see a whole lot of revisionism going on. The document tries to say the ATA did it's job.

    The ATA is what limited the work that was done up until Nov 1. (18 months of wasted time) The ATA came up with the idea of a "veneer" for day 1. (Without any consultation with all the CIOs - go figure!) The IS plan is a continuation of the obfuscation that has been going on since the ATA started - not surprising if you know the key players.

    No one is being held accountable for this cost blowout which was predicted by many of us based on the lack of an IT strategy that the ATA had - as confirmed to Computerworld when the asked for the strategy last year. How can you run the biggest merger in the country's history and not have an planned and articulated strategy beyond, "let's do the bare minumum"?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 143 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to stever@cs.waikato.ac.nz,

    The Herald, at least, now has a gift of a series of stories to get its teeth into…

    Yeah, don't hold your breath. It didn't lead the paper yesterday and there's no follow-up today.

    It's only half a billion dollars, after all.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Yeah, don’t hold your breath.

    Hey, that's the Canon Newspaper of the Year you're talking about. They don't just distribute those between the mediocre organs of two conglomerates year-in, year-out, you know.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

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