Department of Corrections(MIS100 2010)

By Jess Meyer | Thursday, May 27 2010

2009 ranking: 19

Senior IS executive: Jon Cumming, CIO
Reports to: GM, systems and infrastructure
Size of IS shop: 116

PCs: 5692
Mobile PCs: 1105
Terminals: 2179
Hand-held devices: 245
Total screens: 9221

Industry: Government and defence
PC environment: Dell; IBM; HP; Windows XP, NT
Server environment: IBM, Sun, Citrix, Linux, Windows 2003
DBMS: Oracle, SQL
Address: Mayfair House, 44-52 The Terrace, Wellington
Website: www.corrections.govt.nz
Key IS projects this year: Citrix farm virtualisation; IOMS enhancements and other business enabling developments; execution of the IT outsourcing review.

As with many public and private sector organisations, the ICT budget at the Department of Corrections has been challenged to support a growing front-line force within existing financial parameters. “The Department’s drive for greater efficiency and effectiveness will drive costs down in several areas, and many of these gains will depend on targeted investment in IT&T. That need is independent of the state of the economy,” says CIO Jon Cumming.
Growth in screen numbers since last year can be attributed to two drivers, says Cumming: “Higher levels of adoption of IT to support business processes and predominantly the growth in front-line staff for the Community Probation Service.”

With several significant projects in the works for 2010, the IT roadmap has been laid out to ensure that IT is well positioned to support the Department’s business transformation programme ‘The Way Forward’. Technology will continue to be used to support compliance with the Department’s legislative framework; generate operational efficiencies through process support and automation; support sentence compliance by providing more accurate offender information; provide access to operational information and business intelligence from operational data; provide technology support for offender programmes; and maintain the necessary effective technology infrastructure to support day-to-day operations.

While complex and challenging, the role of CIO is rewarding. “I take a great deal of personal satisfaction from working within an organisation that has the real opportunity to make a positive difference for the community, and for the individuals within it who want to turn their lives around,” says Cumming.