During the initial phase of NZOR the focus was on developing the NZOR infrastructure. During that period NZOR development was overseen by a multi-tier, multi-agency Governance Structure comprising:

Executive Secretary

An individual (Professor David Penman) contracted to provide strategic oversight and interactions with key stakeholders in the development and on-going support of the Governance Structure for NZOR.

Steering Group

Is the principle governance body representing the major agencies participating and contributing to the NZOR project. Their role is to provide strategic direction for NZOR and ensure alignment of NZOR’s goals with their agencies' key policy directions and operational imperatives. In 2013 the NZOR Steering Group was aligned with the Steering Group for the TFBIS funded Biodata Services Stack (BSS) project.

Steering group representation, 2014:

Advisory Group

Was made up of user advocates from the data provider/end-user agencies. This group supported the Contractor developing the NZOR infrastructure (Landcare Research) in the early development phase through advising on and validating business requirements.

Technology Group

Was made up of technical staff from the data provider/end-user agencies. This group provided expert technical advice on information systems within their agencies, to assist in the early development phase.

Also refer to our glossary.