Case Study /
Tasman District Council

How Tasman District Council secured its modern CRM rollout with QA & testing

SECTOR / INDUSTRY

Public Sector

CAPABILITIES FEATURED

Quality Assurance & Testing

CASE STUDY PDF

OVERVIEW

Tasman District Council (TDC) partnered with Assurity Consulting to ensure the successful rollout of its new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. By introducing rigorous testing disciplines, optimising essential tools, and implementing extensive test automation, Assurity empowered the Council to successfully launch the system’s back-end while establishing a proactive, future-focused strategy for ongoing enhancements and regular software releases.

KEY OUTCOMES

Empowered TDC’s team to confidently manage complex integrations and ongoing system improvements.
Maximised TDC’s Azure DevOps investment while adding structure to requirement refinement and proactive risk management.
Reduced daily test execution time from 8 to 4.5 hours through robust automation.

ABOUT THE CLIENT

Tasman District Council operates as a unitary authority, combining the responsibilities of both a regional and district council. It provides a wide range of public services, manages local infrastructure, and is responsible for environmental management across the district. The modern, future-focused organisation works to sustainably create a thriving and resilient Tasman, with central government, local government and Iwi as partners in a shared future.

THE CHALLENGE

As part of its digital innovation programme, TDC embarked on a major initiative to achieve 360-degree visibility of its customers and ensure a consistent service experience across all council channels. To support this vision, the customer services team launched a strategic “our promise” initiative designed to elevate the standard of community support. The new CRM system was vital to achieving these strategic goals, offering valuable new metrics and dashboards for management to better serve the region. However, transitioning from a 35-year-old legacy system to a modern cloud-based CRM is a highly complex undertaking that requires meticulous alignment across people, processes, and technology.

To guarantee the new system would meet the Council’s high standards, the team needed to translate high-level business goals into highly precise, testable requirements. In a complex, multi-vendor environment, TDC recognised that proactive risk management and advanced testing frameworks were essential upfront investments. They needed a strategic partner to safeguard the CRM’s successful delivery, manage ongoing resource constraints effectively, and set the stage for future innovation without disrupting daily council operations.

OUR SOLUTION

Building on the foundation laid during their initial capability uplift, Assurity acted as a strategic anchor to guide the complex CRM rollout. The consultants worked closely with all partners to translate complex documentation into precise requirements primed for comprehensive testing. By actively managing the project’s risk register, Assurity helped the Council navigate intricate integrations and maintain a clear focus under pressure.

“Assurity brought essential discipline and structure to the project. They helped us prioritise tasks amidst constraints, held vendors accountable, and gave us the confidence to move forward with the product release.”

Valerie Aull – Practice Lead – Business Improvement, Tasman District Council

A key component of the solution involved maximising TDC’s investment in Azure DevOps, unlocking the platform’s full potential to support continuous delivery and meticulous tracking – a capability that had been previously underutilised. The Assurity team also provided a highly resilient, collaborative support model. Multiple consultants integrated seamlessly into the project, eliminating any single points of dependency and ensuring continuous, high-quality service throughout the engagement.

To secure the system’s long-term future, Assurity shifted the Council’s testing strategy to a highly proactive model. Rather than simply executing tests, Assurity developed a robust automated testing framework and a new process designed to seamlessly handle regular Microsoft Dynamics 365 updates and other integrated software changes. This forward-thinking strategy ensures the internal team is fully equipped to manage ongoing releases efficiently, transforming testing from a reactive hurdle into a strategic asset.

RESULTS

With Assurity’s rigorous framework in place, the back-end of the CRM successfully launched in October 2025. The project has now safely transitioned into a secure stabilisation phase. This allows the team to focus on resolving backlog items, executing minor field changes, and managing significant integration updates without the instability of major new releases.

The technical efficiencies gained represent a major return on investment. A new suite of over 50 automated tests now runs overnight, dramatically reducing execution time from eight hours to just 4.5 hours. This enables the TDC team to identify and resolve items early each morning, keeping the project smoothly on track.

“The automation process prevents the soul-crushing nature of manual testing. It reduces execution time significantly and provides peace of mind that the system is functioning correctly.”

Andy Weaver – Business Analyst,
Tasman District Council

By investing in rigorous testing upfront, the Council is already seeing long-term savings in time, money, and effort. Beyond these measurable time savings, the integration of trusted Assurity consultants has provided a strong, ongoing support system. This partnership has empowered the TDC team with the strategic capability needed to confidently ask the right questions, align with vendors, and ensure their modern CRM continues to deliver outstanding value to the community. With agreements in place until 2027, TDC continues to seamlessly rely on Assurity’s high-level management strategy for larger, more complex digital projects.

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