Our Digital Transformation Strategy was approved by the SPD board. The board recognized that to remain effective in supporting the Church and its denominational entities, significant investment was needed in technology. To this end, the Board also approved the Digital Transformation Fund of $4m.
Ministry Development platform was transferred to the Division by AUC. This enables other Union Conferences/Missions to benefit from this innovative application where ministerial development is tracked as well as a repository of resources for pastors. The platform has been adapted (MDLite) for the Missions to become more mobile friendly. In September, MDLite was launched in TPUM, with Fiji Mission the first to pilot the application.
AdTech took a lead role in the development of the Enterprise Risk Management Framework for the Division. The framework also included a risk appetite statement for all areas of risk and can be easily adapted for use by other denominational entities.
Tithes and Offerings system replacement will go live November 2022 as ACAS (Adventist Church Accounting System) for 500 churches in Australia and New Zealand. ACAS required significant resources from the AdTech team who managed the design, build (including external developers), and migration.
Cybersecurity has also been a focus of AdTech in 2022. Multi-factor authentication was enabled to over 3,000 Adventist domain accounts. At the same time, through a partnership with Netskope, a leading security vendor, Adtech has enabled connectivity anywhere/anytime offering additional security layers to prevent data loss.
Office 365 has been rolled out to 3,500 users which has enabled our users to have additional benefits such as Microsoft Teams and OneDrive. All users in Australia and NZ use Teams for voice communication, with plans in place to migrate TPUM users.
The new committee for Information Governance has been established. The new committee has oversight over policy development over Information assets for the Division and will form the new Information Governance Framework.
Our new team members have come at just the right time as we are very busy. Russell brings with him the Ministerial Development program which he has worked on while at the AUC and South Queensland Conference. This application is ground breaking in creating a platform for pastors and ministers professional development which has been widely accepted in Australia and NZ. The project by coming to AdTech will ensure that it will receive all the technical support needed for further development.
Another major project that we’re working on, is the development of the new Tithes and Offerings system (T&O). The old T&O had served its purpose and needed to be retired, as it could only be accessed via an Internet Explorer browser, and with the announcement that Internet Explorer would be discontinued mid 2022, it was time to build a new system. The decision was made last year that we would commission the build of a bespoke system for our local church treasurers and Conference Treasuries. Tamzin will be deployed to this project.
Finally with our new intern Lindsay, we’re very excited about giving him a new project which will use his newly acquired skills in data analytics. This is where we give Lindsay data from different systems, so that he is able to develop new insights by cross referencing data.
We’ve also in mid February moved back into the offices after more than 6 months working from home during the lockdown period. Thanks to the Property team, who have worked tirelessly to enable us to move into lovely renovated offices at 148 Fox Valley Road, Wahroonga. As we return to work, we have come to appreciate our team members again and while technology is an incredible enabler for working collaboratively and remotely, it’s also nice to see our colleagues face to face.
I hope you have a great productive day,
Eva Ing
Director, Technology Operations and Strategy
Adventist Technology
