Cape Town`s civil CIO

CAPE TOWN`S NEW CIO, Andre Stelzner, may have trained as a civil engineer, but he says he`s always had an interest in how business processes can be improved through the use of IT.

The 43-year-old Stelzner was formerly the area engineer for what is now the northern Cape Town suburb of Tygerburg, before its incorporation into the greater Cape Town Municipality.

"As a civil engineer I became involved in a number of ICT projects in support of municipal engineering business processes such as infrastructural asset life cycle management. But, my formal move into the IT world came when I was appointed with Mehboob Foflonker to implement the city`s Sap ERP system in 2002," says Stelzner.

Since the successful go-live of the various phases of the ERP project, he has been responsible for the ongoing support and extension of this system through the city`s Sap ERP Competence Centre, which he has managed for the past few years.

The City of Cape Town received several awards and garnered international recognition for the project, spearheaded by former CIO Nirvesh Sooful.

Although Stelzner was only officially promoted on 1 December, he has been sharing the acting CIO responsibilities since July 2008, after the departure of Sooful.

So, says Stelzner, he has had time to prepare for the challenge.

But, he adds, collectively the city`s IT management team, under the leadership of Sooful, have put in place the sound IT platform on which the city runs. "Our plans and how we leverage this platform to respond to the City`s ICT needs gives rise to the projects we have planned for the current and future financial years. In a large organisation such as the City, its IT strategy and the associated implementation plans are never the result of a single official of a team. We will not necessarily be deviating from the broader plan, but where areas for improvement are identified we will bring about the necessary changes."

His team is made up of 263 City of Cape Town employees, while IT services are predominantly provided via a co-sourcing model with various partners.

Stelzner takes over at a time when the City of Cape Town is about to embark on its next major ICT project: the laying of a fibre optic network that will connect almost all of its buildings, and which is expected to cost R300 million.

"The broadband project obviously remains one of the bigger ICT projects for the city as this will help alleviate some of the connectivity challenges the city faces. Furthermore we will be implementing extended customer relationship management capabilities in order to enhance service delivery to the citizens of Cape Town," explains Stelzner.

The City of Cape Town`s IT department has an operating budget of R350 million (of which R91 million is allocated for salaries) and a capital budget of R133 million for the current financial year, indicates Stelzner. "The current capital budget is inflated by the provision for the first phase of the broadband project." R94 million of this capital budget is allocated to the project, which received final council approval last year.

Tenders over the design of the network are currently been adjudicated and Stelzner expects the project to start within the next three to four months.

Stelzner says Cape Town`s ICT plan for the year ahead is one of consolidation.

"We are looking at building on our solid ICT foundation and this includes making available online transactions and building a strong network throughout the city," he says.