Critical Issues

Some of the critical issues around the project were:

• Governance is particularly important for cross-agency projects in which multiple business units are involved. In particular, there must be a senior management governance body drawn from both agencies. If the opportunity exists, there should be representation from user groups and/or advisory groups.
• It is essential to identify, discuss and arrive at a common understanding of each organisation's process standards (the Prince2 and PIM issues) at the very beginning of the project.
  The solution to the differences in these standards lies in a willingness to compromise, rather than either party clinging stubbornly to their preferred option.
• Agreement on definitions is critical. The Customs definition of a container was the contents inside; the MAF definition was not only the contents but also the physical container itself, which could carry material which was a biosecurity threat. This difference in definitions was discovered some way through the project.
• In projects of this type there are major advantages having a highly focussed team. If the project is undertaken by "business as usual" staff who have other responsibilities they will not be able to give the project sufficient attention.
  MAF also believes that this could be taken a step further by using staff dedicated full-time to the task.
• Ideally, each agency should have its own project management office to ensure internal coordination between business units.
  Subsequent to the project, MAF intends to establish a permanent office with an experienced team for managing projects.
  
• Project objectives must be agreed in advance and must be measurable.
• The project would have been easier to achieve had there not been significant differences in technical standards between the agencies. [MAF suggests these difficulties might not have existed, or at least would been easier to resolve, if there was state sector protocols for business process integration.]
• A phased introduction of mission critical, cross-agencies projects is essential. In this case, the new system was only rolled out to all ports after first being tested at Tauranga port.
• A comprehensive communications programme is also essential. The issue here was to ensure that sea container importers were fully briefed before launch on the rationale for the new system and how to use it. They, in turn, were required to brief their external contractors, such as trucking companies and their drivers.