Greg James (Inland Revenue)
Inland Revenue has published the details behind its successful $1.5 billion transformation for other agencies and organisations to use.
The department's business transformation programme was officially closed off on 30 June after its legacy systems were fully decommissioned.
Earlier this year, the department handed back $269 million of capital and operating funding unused from the massive project's budget.
Deputy commissioner Greg James said the tax office had received many requests to share what has been learned.
“This was one of the largest and most ambitious programmes of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, so it’s not surprising that others want to know what we did right, and what lessons we learned in doing it," James said,
All of the tools, plans, and templates used are on a new website and can be downloaded. Each stage of the rollout is covered, including insights from projects which ran parallel with the programme such as intelligence and analytics, digital ecosystem and organisational design.
“Inland Revenue’s transformation has been recognised as a success both in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, and this is an effective way we can ensure that new transformation programmes get the chance to benefit from our experience," James said.
Inland Revenue completed its customer-facing changes, with six releases across four stages implemented on time and under budget.
The modern, digital revenue system envisaged by transformation and based on technology from US-based Fast Enterprises is now in place.
In November 2015, the government agreed to invest in Inland Revenue’s transformation, rebuilding and replacing the systems it had been using since the 1980s. It aimed to deliver a modern, digital system that allowed taxpayers and others to do as much for themselves as possible at a time that suited them.
However, this was more than a technology project. It also provided the opportunity to review how the tax system was administered. The transformation would involve a combination of changes to policy, process, technology, and people capabilities.
