Westpac was updating its payment systems, and the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development was one of the last organisations to make the corresponding change on its side. An end-of-life change, with a hard deadline set by somebody else.
The scope was largely a testing exercise to confirm nothing broke, plus enhancements to the EFTPOS gateway the ministry uses for hardship payments and youth benefits onto payment cards. That gateway had not been materially changed since the early 2010s, so modernisation, data cleanup and security work were all overdue.
I took the lead technical BA role on the team assigned to it. The lead was informal. I was the most senior person available and it attached to me.
Delivered, none of which previously existed
- Payment card balance visible in both Cúram and the public self-service channel.
- Card PIN change through that channel.
- Automated card locking after repeated wrong PIN attempts.
- Cleanup batches correcting outdated EFTPOS provider details across ministry systems.
What it involved
Requirements elicited from both Westpac and internal stakeholders, user stories defined and refined, technical alignment worked through with architects and developers, development and testing validated, and functionality demonstrated to stakeholders. I was one of Westpac’s main contact points for the work.
I ran production verification personally between 1am and 3am across two consecutive fortnightly releases, confirming the Westpac-side changes had landed and that card transactions still succeeded.
It went live smoothly. Quality-of-life changes are not flashy and the recognition was limited, but the people who understood what end-of-life meant here were relieved.
Why it was worth doing
Less about money, more about who is on the other end. Youth benefit payments onto those cards go to some of New Zealand’s most vulnerable people. The change kept those cards payable and added security they had not had before.
The automated card locking is also fraud prevention in the ordinary sense. Benefit fraud was a live and constant concern, and fraud risk reduction was assessed on every change going through the delivery pipeline.