Adventist Technology Update

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.

Looking forward to 2023:

• AdTech will be repositioned to become a business partner for denominational entities, and will move from SPD Ltd to Division Services Ltd.  The move recognizes that AdTech is not only a support function of the Division office, but also a strategic technology enabler to benefit the broader Church in this region.
• With a comprehensive review of the market for a new HR system completed in 2022, AdTech will implement the new system with payroll for the SPD and other denominational entities. Additionally, plans are in place to upgrade the Personnel Service Records system to be more functional and ensure data integrity.
• The Technology roadmap for 2023/24 also includes development in Business Analytics, Sun (accounting) replacement, implementing the Cloud Strategy, enhancing Discipleship through technology and ongoing work on eGiving.