Faster, clearer permission application reviews for Iwi engagement teams.
Problem
Staff responsible for reviewing permissions and engagement information were required to manually read and interpret large volumes of application material - completed forms, pdf’s, scans of handwriting, topography and live documents. This made it difficult to quickly understand what activities were being proposed, who needed to be engaged, and what permissions were relevant.
The manual nature of the process created inconsistent summaries, increased the risk of missed information, and placed additional burden on teams supporting local Iwi engagement and consultation. In particular, staff needed a faster and more reliable way to identify the appropriate Iwi group and produce clear summaries to support internal review and decision-making.
Solution
We implemented the Permissions Summary Tool, an AI-enabled application designed to automatically generate structured summaries of permissions and application information.
The solution uses Document Intelligence and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract content from digital and scanned applications, and applies AI to generate clear, human-readable summaries. The tool also includes Iwi group selection functionality, allowing staff to identify the relevant Iwi group directly within the workflow. Ongoing enhancements focus on improving summary consistency and completing and refining the Iwi reference list to support more accurate engagement workflows.
Result
The tool significantly reduces the time required to review applications and prepare permissions and engagement summaries, enabling staff to focus on assessment and engagement rather than manual document processing.
It also improves the consistency and quality of summaries across teams, supports more accurate identification of relevant Iwi groups, and establishes a scalable foundation for future automation of permissions and engagement workflows.
Technologies
