The Department is in the process of decentralising its Land Reform and Restitution functions to its provincial offices. Information Services Director Gerald O`Sullivan sees a tightly integrated network with standardised software as crucial to the success of the decentralisation process.
O`Sullivan says: "I inherited a largely NetWare-based infrastructure, and decided to leverage the existing situation and stick with Novell rather than move to NT. We have saved on capital expenditure and cross-training expenses. But besides the e-mail client, the desktop definitely stays Microsoft."
The Department recently rolled out GroupWise 5.5 in record time with the help of n-Time, the network consulting organisation within MB Worksoft (the software and services arm of MB Technologies Limited) and is now in the midst of a ManageWise/ZEN implementation project. Network Manager, Peter Harms said: "When we are finished, the Support Desk will be able to help every user from Messina to Cape Town by remote-control across the WAN."
Historically, Land Affairs` four branches of Land Reform, Cadastral Surveys, Deeds Registration, and Surveys and Mapping have operated independently, but O`Sullivan is desigining a corporate data-warehouse which will integrate spatial and land-ownership data with information gathered from redistribution and restitution projects. "This will give the state a better understanding of patterns of land-usage and the progress of land reform," he says. Oracle`s spatial data cartridge will be the corner-stone of the data-warehouse, according to O`Sullivan.
The major focus of the Directorate remains its Year2000 project. The Department`s in-house systems vary from 94% to 100% compliant. Integrated system testing is the next stage, but Harms and O`Sullivan are confident that at the end of the year, "we will make it through that dark nano-second and come out the other side."
n-Time handles much of Land Affairs` network support services on a sub-contractual basis. This incorporates general IT support of all the regional and provincial offices, as well as central site support for the head office in Pretoria.
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