Ministry for Primary Industries - Manatū Ahu Matua

The New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) acts as a single gateway to New Zealand’s Government for the primary industries sector, and also for overseas regulators of primary products. The ministry is charged with maximising export opportunities for primary industries, improving sector productivity, increasing sustainable resource use and protecting New Zealand from biological risk.

MPI was formed in April 2012 after a merger of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), the Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA). As a result of the merger in 2012, MPI became the owner of a significant number of legacy fisheries systems that were fragmented and required users to switch systems on a regular basis, to complete day-to-day tasks.

The lack of integration between the older systems meant data had to be collected and re-entered several times. It was also difficult to cross-check and analyse data stored in different systems, resulting in manual processing that increased the risk of duplication and human error.

MPI implemented Objective RegWorks (formerly by Itree) to deliver a fisheries solution that would lead to consolidation of the right data into a single, secure platform that would streamline enforcement processes and improve the efficiency of human and financial resources.

The solution, internally named FOCUS, has become a single unified repository for all fisheries-related compliance data, including field-based activities, inspections, incidents, permit approvals and enforcement actions such as infringements and prosecution. The system is a one-stop shop for recording, extracting and analysing data required to safeguard fisheries in New Zealand.

In addition to managing day-to-day compliance tasks from the one system, the RegWorks solution also supports MPI’s long-term strategic planning, making better use of the intelligence data that has been collected.