The problem
Sport NZ is the Crown entity for sport in New Zealand. Alongside funding, it invests in the governance practice of the boards it funds, so that those boards run well and the funding does what it was meant to do. That needs a repeatable process: each board evaluates itself on a cycle, sees where it stands, and agrees what to improve before the next round. Emailed surveys and spreadsheets do not hold up across many boards and many years.
What we built
A cloud application, used in the browser, that boards log in to when an evaluation cycle comes around. It collects the responses, produces reporting for the board and for Sport NZ, and gives each board a shared space to plan improvements together between cycles. Applicable has also delivered website and online application work for Sport NZ focused on governance in the sport sector, and has managed, maintained and added to the platform as the organisation's needs changed.
The result
The platform has been in continuous use since 2012. Sport NZ's own feedback covers what counts for a system like this: it is up and running, it is robust, user feedback is good, and changes and updates are made quickly and on budget. This was never a launch-and-leave build. It is a working system that has kept pace with a Crown entity for well over a decade, on a maintenance arrangement rather than a series of rebuilds.
Key takeaways
- Applicable built Sport New Zealand's board governance evaluation platform and has maintained and extended it since 2012.
- The application handles cyclical evaluations, reporting and collaborative improvement planning for the boards Sport NZ funds.
- Sport NZ describes the platform as robust, with changes delivered quickly and on budget.
