29 Al Board Members to sign off the Charter
Board Members
19 Mar
In progress
document once the form and function of the
2021
Advisory Groups is agreed and the Charter
updated to reflect these changes
Update – with Board Members now. Wil go
through terms of reference of advisory groups
today. Spel ing errors to be rectified.
33 Produce an FAQ sheet for Board Members and
Vanessa / Bharti
5 Mar 2021 In progress
staff to refer to when discussing ConCOVE.
19 Mar
Update – being done – going through coms person
2021
to be worded better and sent out to Board
Members. MIT Coms person is looking at it,
Carlene has updated sheet. Madeline is updating.
Board Members need descriptions of al projects,
FAQ sheet, and talking point notes urgently (eg
how we fit in with WDC, Te Pukenga). Wil be sent
next week for approval, then up on website.
34 Correct typo’s in the Charter that Nick identified
Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
Update – needs to be done.
2021
35 Have press release ready for release – introduce
Bharti/Madeleine 19 Mar
In progress
Board Members, New Pasifika Board Member and
2021
Director.
Update – Madeline is looking at it, then a draft wil
be sent out to Board Members. Members going
up on website in a phased way.
39 Secure a decision from TEC on funding tranche
Bharti
26 Feb
Completed
timing to enable project planning. Martin to
2021
provide Bharti with the TEC contact’s details so
that she can fol ow up.
Update – Bharti has fol owed up, and has
withdrawn proposal.
40 Add an explanation on each of the projects to the
Bharti
April 2021
In progress
FAQ doc.
Update – deferred until we have finalised these at
the next Board Meeting.
41 Get quotes on Diligent and Board Pro
Bharti / IT /
19 Mar
In progress
programmes. Would TEAMS be suitable?
Vanessa
2021
Update – would cost approx. $10,000 per annum.
get MS Teams working for everyone, see how it
goes, then make a decision – if it’s not working,
then move onto Diligent.
42 Create a Sharepoint site for the Board. Would
Bharti
19 Mar
Closed
TEAMS be suitable?
2021
Update – Heather agrees with this.
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46 Update Risk Register with new classifications and
Bharti / Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
new risks.
2021
47 Work with Board Members and the MIT Finance
Bharti / Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
Team to ensure Board Members are paid in a
2021
timely manner.
Update – working through with finance and Board
– sent another reminder to get your supplier forms
in and get you set up. Submit invoices to Vanessa.
Bharti and Vanessa to go through what is currently
in the system and what is missing. Wil add a step
in communication when claim has been approved,
and when money has been paid.
49 Ensure Board Members receive monthly updates
Bharti
11 Mar
Completed
on ConCOVE’s finances.
2021
Update – underway.
50 Send a copy of the Project Lead Job Description to Bharti
26 Feb
Completed
al Board Members
2021
Update – with Board and consortium.
51 Design a visual representing the ConCOVE ‘eco-
Bharti
19 Mar
In progress
system’ and include this on the ConCOVE website
2021
Update – working on this stil , wil get it up on
website as soon as Bharti is happy with it.
53 Contact Merran Davis from Te Pukenga and ask for Bharti
19 Mar
In progress
ConCOVE to be included in the Operating Model
2021
Reference Group
Update – Bharti asked for a meeting – was sent
back information on how we can get in the OMR
Group, also sent information on how to do a
formal submission. Graham would like formal
recognition of ConCOVE being in the group.
55 Invite al Board Members to the official opening of Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
TechPark on Friday 5th March, 9.30am-11.00am.
2021
Update – changed at Prime Ministers request due
to Covid etc. Now Friday 23 April, 9.30am, for up
to 2 hours.
57 Logo – can we add under Construction and
Bharti
30 Apr
In progress
Infrastructure ‘Vocational Excel ence’? If we are
2021
gifted a Māori name, that can be incorporated as
wel . Wait until marketing specialist starts next
month to act on this.
58 Update payment for board members – discussed
Bharti / Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
fixed payment per annum / board meetings, rather
2021
than payment for services that is in there
currently. Update in Board Charter
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59 Board Members to get supplier forms and bank
Vanessa / Board
19 Mar
In progress
account details in. Bharti and Vanessa to go
Members
2021
through what is currently in the system and what
is missing.
60 Look at security, in particular to Teams, with IT.
Vanessa/ IT
19 Mar
In progress
Privacy policy to be created and implemented.
2021
61 Mission Statement and Vision to be bi-lingual, and Phil / Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
once finalised, put on website and into al
2021
documents.
62 Remove risks that are part of ConCOVE
Bharti / Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
Operational cycle and just leave Board risks in
2021
there.
63 Cashflow forecast – Bharti to meet with finance
Bharti / Finance
19 Mar
In progress
team on a monthly basis, starting next week.
team
2021
65 Board expenditure – budget needs to be revised to Bharti
19 Mar
In progress
reflect additional chair. Add a note / flag on
2021
financial summary to reflect context of 2020 vs
2021 board expenditure. Need to split Board
expenditure into 2020 / 2021 years.
66 Obtain 2020 End of Financial Year report, send to
Bharti / Timhela
19 Mar
In progress
Board and minute it.
2021
67 Financials – one page snapshot at the beginning of Bharti / Vanessa
8th April
In progress
the document – using visuals, potential y use
2021
PowerPoint?
68 Charter document – replace ‘Director’ with
Vanessa / Bharti
15 Mar
In progress
‘General Manager’, NZIST references – change to
/ Board Members 2021
Te Pukenga, define list of stakeholders at the front,
list key stakeholders ‘which are, but not limited to
the fol owing’. Add a statement - this charter is
only bound for 5 years at the beginning of the
document / until the conclusion of the current
funding contract. Once updates are done and
document finalised – email to al Board Members
for their email approval. Once received al
approvals, send to Board Members to sign (PDF).
Number of typos to be fixed, Board payments to
be updated (see 34, 58).
69 Māori spel check to be done in al documents,
Vanessa
15 Mar
In progress
including Charter document (Māori dictionary to
2021
be put on Bharti and Vanessa’s computers).
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70 Plan forward for advisory group / Board meetings
Vanessa / Bharti
19 March
In progress
to be held in different locations, and involve local
2021
people.
71 Replace ‘Director’ with ‘General Manager’, NZIST
Vanessa
15 Mar
In progress
to Te Pukenga – on al documents created so far.
2021
72 Advisory Groups document – add a statement that Bharti / Vanessa
15 Mar
In progress
is inclusive of non-binary community members,
2021
statement on how we are going to empower
advisory groups, include role of GM and Board,
statement that we want to see al groups progress
through their career, ensure al Advisory Groups
Terms of Reference reflect exactly what is in the
Terms of Charter for their purpose. Once changes
have been made, send to Board Members with the
Charter document for their approval.
73 Pasifika Advisory Group needs to recognise the
Bharti
15 Mar
In progress
diversity with Melanesian and Micronesian groups.
2021
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74 Two year plan / forward work calendar, with
Bharti / Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
conferences, Board Meetings etc to be sent to
2021
Board Members.
75 Initiate nomination process for Advisory Groups -
Bharti
19 Mar
In progress
Include in brief that it also includes non-binary
2021
community members.
76 Offer roles for Project Leads
Bharti
31 Mar
In progress
2021
77 Contract offers for BA and Researchers
Bharti
31 Mar
In progress
2021
78 Send current draft of Project Descriptions to Board Vanessa
19 Mar
In progress
Members for input prior to next Board Meeting
2021
79 Arrange for IT to contact Pam and David directly to Vanessa
15 Mar
In progress
arrange ful access on Teams.
2021
Discussion – Actions Table Item # 41, Purchasing BoardPro or Diligent
I.
Graham – doesn’t see return on investment.
II.
David has used Diligent on two other Boards – excel ent system for ease of access and viewing files.
He is supportive of the investment.
III.
Nick – get Teams infrastructure set up properly. He has also used Diligent and it is good. But
Teams is capable. How much information are we going to be sharing, vs papers? Do work on
Teams and defer until then.
IV.
Pam – mix of operations and confidentiality, as long as Teams can be “ringfenced” as board only.
Diligent and Board Pro is confidential, separate from operations.
V.
Honor – supportive of idea to get Teams up and running. Hasn’t used Diligent before. Agrees with
Board re Operational ringfencing.
VI.
Amos – uses Teams at work, its reliable. No issue.
VII.
Martin - Executive Management of MIT uses Teams. Unsure of the feedback from TEC if we spend
money when there is another free solution available.
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Decision- ensure Teams group is secure and separated from operations, sort out access issues for Board
members. Wil trial Teams for a few months then review.
AGENDA
Whakatau and Karakia
Given by Phil
- Acknowledgement and thanks to Bharti for her work, we are progressing wel .
- Welcome
Given by Graham
- Welcome to Vanessa Nash, Executive Assistant to Bharti Kottaiya Raniga.
Administration
Apologies
Craig West
Introductions
Al
Register of Interests
None
Minutes of last meeting
Confirmed by David Fabish and Heather MacKay
David noted – correction of discussion point 2, ‘cut loose’ is
unprofessional – change to ‘remove’ or ‘distance
ourselves’. This has been updated.
David noted - Simon Bilton wasn’t given as an apology,
attended meeting later on. This has been updated.
Correspondence
None
Actions Table
Updated
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Reporting
Director’s Monthly Report – February 2021
a. Finances
included in report
b. Activity
included in report
i. Data Dashboard drafted and in use
i . Plan on a Page – drafted and in use
c. Recruitment
included in report
d. Projects
included in report
e. Mission and Vision statement to be confirmed today.
Discussion – Finances
I. David – why are there only 6 researchers and not 10? Bharti has looked into it, the amount of work
required is not as substantial as the productivity / disruption piece. One researcher should suffice for
data col ection and research of minor projects. Bharti confirmed that in quarter 2 / 3, if we need
more researches, we can employ them. 6 researches can go through the first three quarters of 2021.
Bharti wil make decision on this in the middle of the year.
II. Graham – confirming that we wil have one project lead and researcher for each project. Plus
Economist, business analyst, web developer on contract, one additional researcher for productivity /
disruption piece. Martin confirmed he is happy with this, that we are not going overboard.
III. Heather – interested in where and how are we going to manage a CRM database. Expectation
around that? There wil be a lot of communication going out to stakeholders, networks across
projects, where is this being covered off? Bharti – marketing coms person working with project leads
to get the info in the right format, up on our platform, to share.
Decision - 6 researchers is fine for now, Bharti wil review in the middle of the year. Marketing coms
person wil manage CRM database.
General Business
Recruitment
o Recruitment underway – most significant piece of work for al projects.
o Project leads starting end of April – a delay.
o Project leads Recruitment is underway. It is expected that interviews wil be conducted in
mid-March, with offers made by end of March, and positions fil ed end of April.
o Data Review delayed due to above, we wil seek access to existing Data from BCITO (TEC
supporting this) to implement Lit review phase through March
o Contract positions for Researchers and BA wil be advertised mid-March to begin Lit review
and building of data library
o Bharti has had an applicant from UniTec, that is a group, not an individual. (Heather has
signal ed a conflict of interest but is happy to continue with group applicant vs individual
applicant discussion).
o David noted that with group applicant vs individual applicant – a number of Board
Members would have potential for a conflict of interest.
o Bharti says its positive we have great applicants interested. We wil have diversity in the
lead group.
o Group applicant vs individual applicant discussion outcome (discussion notes below) –
ConCOVE to consider al applications.
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Discussion - Group applicant vs individual applicant
I. Graham – similar to Food and Fibre looking for other organisations to deliver projects. He would not
dismiss it, his concern is we have control of direction and group would be fol owing the framework
we set out, not a different direction or line of research.
II. Nick – similar to Graham. Should have a look at everything and not make a decision now. Have an
open mind, but not in a position to make a decision yet.
III. Heather – concurs with Nick. Opportunity particularly around diversity project, we may miss
opportunities for real progress if we only look at single applications. Should look at wide range of
applicants.
IV. David – would like to see a pro’s / con’s paper. This is not a direct employment issue with us, would
they lose focus on what we want vs a group who aren’t split with other conflicting areas? Open to it
though, should be considered.
V. Martin – He has been approached by multiple people / organisations, al expressing concern, that
they have multiple senior staff in their schools showing interest in taking in ConCOVE roles, they are
worried that losing multiple staff members could real y damage some workplaces. Martin thought it
would be not be probable drawing 3 – 5 people from the same workplace, but Martin undertook to
raise it here.
VI. Apart from morals of draining resources from one source, it wouldn’t be a good idea to have multiple
project leads from one place for us anyway.
Decision - Keep an open mind about al applications at this stage.
Risk Register
o Tweaked
o No new Risks added
o David thought a lot of the risks should be removed. Should not include day to day risk, and
just look at the high risks and discuss those in the board meetings.
o Bharti and Vanessa to remove risks that are part of ConCOVE Operational cycle and just
leave Board risks in there.
o Regarding the reputational risk of being ‘Auckland focused’ – Pam suggested this is our
opportunity for advisory group / Board meetings to be held in different locations, and
involve local people. Plan forward for this.
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Finances
o Bharti presented Executive Summary and Financial Summary separate document
Haven’t ful y started spending on operations yet - % reflects this.
Nick questioned if Bharti done a cashflow forecast. Bharti has confirmed finance
team and her wil do on a monthly basis, catching up next week.
We need to minute board expenditure on a monthly basis.
Variance of board expenditure – invoices that came in last month included
expenditure from Oct – Dec, going through the system now, so have additional
expenditure relating to that. On that basis, the difference Bharti sees is we
budgeted for one chair, not two. Budget needs to be revised. Money to come
from project cost to board cost. This needs to be explained with a note / flag, as
context. Wil continue doing this moving forward.
Need to split financials into 2020 / 2021 .
Confirmed ConCOVE Financial Year is Jan – Dec.
Wil check if we have a EOY Financial Report for 2020 – need to send out and
minute it.
Board expenditure should be split into 2020/ 2021. Is auditor looking at 2021
accounts at this stage? ConCOVE accounts have been sent through with MIT
accounts – part of consolidated MIT audit. Martin doesn’t think we wil get back a
separate audit for just the ConCOVE account. If anything in the letter pertained
directly to ConCOVE then it would come to the board.
Board expenditure to be minuted at every meeting.
An alternative process for Board Members is to submit a supplier form and bank
account details, in which case you do not need to complete the IR form etc.
Request to do a one page snapshot at the beginning of the document, using visuals
– tables, colours etc. Potential y use PowerPoint?
Discussion – Governance
I. Amos – WDC’s – what licence over the six project areas? Do we circle back to them, or just a
courtesy? Bharti – courtesy confirmed.
II. Graham – He is currently an interim member of WDC. We are separate from WDC. They are not
directing us, we are providing advice that is independent, feeding back to Te Pukenga, WDCs and
others. Would be a conflict of interest if they tel us how to manage projects. Broad range of
stakeholders, rather than a governing body we need to refer to. But for some projects they are a key
client. Need to work hand in hand.
III. David – are we influenced by anybody, other than perhaps the Minister? Or are we independent, as
long as we meet TEC requirements? Graham confirmed this. As we are advising based on meaningful
data, it would be difficult to ignore this.
IV. Martin – no one from a legislative point of view can direct us, but need abundance of col aboration
with industry and key stake holders.
V. Nick – We have an opportunity to influence, can’t do that without relationships working.
Decision - We are independent, however, we need to work hand in hand.
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Miscellaneous General Business
o CRM / privacy of people receiving information going forward is paramount – MIT to assist.
o If any Board Members need online assistance / training with Teams – let Vanessa know.
Pam and David require ful IT access. Multi factor issue? MIT IT to contact Pam and David
directly to arrange this access.
Finalisation Of Mission Statement and Vision
o Updated online by Bharti fol owing team discussion, and Board Members in agreeance.
o Moved by Martin Carrol . Seconded by Pamela Bel .
o Relay on website.
Board Charter document
o Graham raised spel ing mistakes / errors - updated by Bharti on the document.
o Replace ‘Director’ with ‘General Manager’ throughout the document.
o Changes discussed and updated by Bharti.
o Māori spel check to be done.
o Define list of stakeholders at the front, list key stakeholders ‘which are, but not limited to
the fol owing’. This charter is only bound for 5 years / until the conclusion of the current
funding contract - at the beginning of the document?
o NZIST references – change to Te Pukenga
o Need to finalise and sign charter.
Terms of Reference for Advisory Groups document
o Document discussed and updated by Bharti
o Womens Advisory Group – the topic of including transgender and binary people was raised
and discussed. Decision made to include statement that shows transgender and binary
people are welcome to apply for the group they most identify with
o Include in brief for nomination process that it also includes non-binary community
members.
o Statement on how are we going to empower advisory groups.
o Include role of GM and Board and how we empower the groups.
o Include statement that we want to see al groups progress through their career
o Advisory Groups are meeting monthly.
o Ensure al Advisory Groups Terms of Reference reflect exactly what is in the Terms of
Charter for their purpose.
o Pasifika Advisory Group – recognise diversity with Melanesian and Micronesian groups.
o Make changes to Advisory Groups documents and send with Charter
o GM change from ‘Director’.
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Discussion – Advisory Groups
I. Pam asked - what does the forward work calendar look like, with conferences, Board Meetings, and
how the Board fits in with this. Bharti is currently working on a two year plan with action sets, and
how it works with advisory groups. This wil be sent out in another week.
II. Project Lead links to Bharti, and Bharti links to the Board. Project leads wil do monthly reports,
which wil be given to the Board. If the Board has a concern that it is not going in the way they
wanted to, they wil have influence over it.
III. Query whether a Board member should be on each Advisory Group – discussion held.
IV. Nick - Potential y Board Member could present at Board Meeting what is being discussed. Board
Members want to be kept informed, without influencing thinking based on their experience. Perhaps
Project Leads could present to the Board at times?
V. David – is there value in attending Advisory Group meetings, not in a formal arrangement, but as an
advocate or ambassador of Board to assist the Project Lead.
VI. In programme there wil be occasions in calendar where Board Member can attend meeting to
present findings, and get interaction.
VII. Graham – we want to be available to Advisory Groups, but not necessarily there the entire time. We
want them to guide us.
Decision - Board members can attend Advisory Group meetings as an advocate or ambassador, but do not
have to be at every Advisory meeting.
Project Descriptions
o This did not happen as we were over time.
o Send current draft to Board Members for input before next meeting.
Board-only time
o This did not happen as we were over time.
Closing Karakia
Given by Phil
Next meeting:
THURSDAY 8 APRIL, 9AM – 2.30PM, MICROSOFT TEAMS
o Devote time to Project Descriptions, and Marketing and Comms.
o Confirmed similar time, duration and online again for next meeting.
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