Titles swap not running to plan

By ADAM GIFFORD

Landonline contractor Electronic Data Services is being charged penalty payments because of delays converting existing titles and survey plans to digital format for the $150 million computer project.

"A lot of the problem is in the conversion process and the Government is getting penalty payments as a result of the lateness of the conversion, so the costs are being borne elsewhere," said Paul Swain, the Minister in charge of Land Information New Zealand (Linz).

Linz is slowing down the roll-out of the Landonline system because of problems in its Dunedin office pilot. Implementation of the system in the Invercargill and Christchurch offices, due to start about now, has been put off.

Surveyors and lawyers in Otago are complaining of lengthy delays in processing of titles and survey plans.

Mr Swain said Landonline was being closely watched by the State Services Commission and independent consultants.

"This programme was approved by the previous Government and we have made it quite clear that before this new Government approves any funding for phase two we need to be convinced the pilot and subsequent trials are operating smoothly," he said.

Geoff Bates, chairman of the Otago branch of the Institute of Surveyors, said surveyors are warning clients there could be delays of up to six weeks to get a plan registered, against two weeks before the roll-out.

He said the delays seem to be caused by Linz staff coming to grips with new software.

"No one has a problem with the concept; it will be marvellous once they get it going, but there are teething problems and we are the guinea pigs.

"There is never going to be a perfect system roll-out, but some of the issues could have been addressed beforehand."

The delays got worse in June, when staff started putting spatial data into Landonline, immediately creating a backlog, because as well as new plans they also had to capture plans filed since March 23, when the title capture process began.

"I hope they sort out their problems in Otago before they hit the rest of the country," Mr Bates said.

Legal executive Ronda Tatnell from Dunedin law firm Mitchell & Mackersy said the system was slower than lawyers anticipated, with most transactions taking twice the expected time. She put that down to staff familiarity with the system.

"While we are not getting documents back as quickly, it will be very user-friendly when the wrinkles are ironed out," she said.

Linz Dunedin regional manager Phil Keene said many of the problems were caused by the underlying databases still being unpopulated, meaning it took longer to input and check the spatial data from the plans.

"The reality is time lines for Dunedin are out by a couple of months because of the slowness of EDS in getting captured data to us, and because they are still ramping up," Mr Keene said.

EDS is supposed to be capturing data on 90,000 land parcels in the Otago region to populate the database.

As plans come in, Linz staff enter bearings and distances into a digital cadastre or database of spatial information.

Without parcel data in the system, more work is required to ensure accuracy.

"It's like filling in the jigsaw puzzle in each of those areas. We are bringing in new data but we can't connect it to underlying data."

Last week the office captured about 30 plans, 14 which came in during the week and the rest from the backlog.

"It's extremely intensive work with a large amount of data to be captured and processed.

"In terms of general production, it's new software and staff are still getting up to speed."

Two staff from the Christchurch office have been seconded to help Dunedin. Mr Keene said it was now taking about 20 working days to approve surveys, "but we're starting to peg that back."

"On the title side we are making steady progress. Last week we had 76 per cent of titles done within 15 days, as our contract with the minister requires. That's an improvement from 30 per cent a few weeks ago."

Linz argues that any initial pain should be traded against getting a world-first system.

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