MP attacks courts system over costs

By RICHARD WOOD

A Department for Courts IT project is in danger of becoming a bottomless pit, says a National MP.

Tony Ryall, National's spokesman on courts, says the department's Case Management System had suffered a considerable budget blowout, "and the system is still not proven to work".

The system's initial budget was $27 million but this has ballooned to $36 million. The project involves consulting, training, testing, hardware and software and includes work by IT services firm Datacom.

Ryall said the Case Management System was in danger of becoming a disaster on the scale of the infamous Incis police system.

During law and order select committee meetings in recent months, Ryall said that the department was slow to explain the further delays.

He said the committee had asked the Audit Office to clarify some figures and would discuss the issue again in three weeks.

The department has told the select committee that it will begin implementing the system this month, starting with an internal model to ensure staff were familiar and confident with the software.

It was to have gone live before the end of this year but now only the civil cases side will do so.

The criminal cases and Family Court areas are now due to go live progressively from March to June. The difference is because criminal cases need to interface with the Law Enforcement System on the Wanganui computer.

The delays mean the department will have to continue paying IT firm EDS for use of the Law Enforcement System.

The project is expected to eventually save $2.1 million a year by not using that system and with some savings in staff.

The department blamed earlier delays on the complexity of the interfaces, additional requirements, and a desire to get everything right before going live.

Department general manager Murray Short said that by moving to a staged implementation, the department had shied away from a "big bang" approach.

"We're just so aware of how critical it is to get it right," he said.

"You're talking about people's rights, and so on, in a very real way."

Short said the project was never strong in terms of financial return and the benefits had remained the same while costs had climbed.

Ryall said that despite the questions about the return on investment, the project was essential to prevent delays in the delivery of justice.

"There is an absolute desperate need for a case management system."

The select committee expressed little confidence in the latest deadlines.

"We note the department has previously experienced problems with IT implementation which proved to be unworkable, resulting in the abandonment of costly projects midway.

"We are concerned that previous mistakes are not repeated."

Short said the department told the committee that everything that could be done to meet the deadlines was being done.