Overview

Nelson Data Systems Ltd (NDS) is a solutions provider and outsource partner to a range of companies and government departments.

NDS is an approved Supplier on the NZ Government Marketplace in the following catalogues and services:

Data and Information
  • Data Engineering
  • Data and Information Management
  • Data Migration Services
  • Data Modelling
Digital Experience
  • Front-end Development
  • Back-end Development

We are very experienced and passionate in delivering a high-quality service without the need to be on-site with the client. The team uses an Agile approach to all services provided that enables them to expertly work with the customer to deliver the best possible outcomes.

Our team has a combined experience of over 50 years in the IT industry. Most have consistently achieved A/A+ grades during their study. They are able and eager to assist our customers in their efforts to make the best possible use of their data. The team has a keen interest in emerging technologies – especially in the fields of data science and the BI/AI/Machine learning area.

Visit us at: Level 1, 189 Hardy Street, Nelson
                     +64 3 545 7050

Data Engineering, Modelling, & Migration

NDS has extensive knowledge in the design and development of solutions using a range of Database Management Systems, including SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, MS Access, and others.

We are comfortable working with data in any form and of any type, from unstructured social survey data to normalised scientific data which must adhere to stringent protocols and standards.

We are frequently asked to design and develop automated data pipelines to feed data through a system, including cleansing, validation, and transformation into appropriate forms for storage and analysis.

Our services in this area include:

  • General administration (system health, log checks, indexes/statistics, patching and upgrades, volume/storage monitoring, SQL agent management, backups and logs, up-time monitoring, instance configuration etc.)
  • ETL (extraction, transformation, loading)
  • Performance monitoring
  • Business continuity planning and disaster recovery
  • Database tuning
  • Stored procedure and function creation
  • Scripting
  • Software installation and maintenance
  • Security and authentication
  • Data cleansing
  • Data pipelines
  • Data modelling
  • Data and information management consultation

Data Migration

Businesses invest a huge amount of capital into the design and execution of data collection programmes. However, the precious results of these activities are frequently neglected.

Many organisations hold critical data in spreadsheets, small local databases, and other similar data stores. The integrity and reliability of this data can be questionable and subject to accidental (or malicious) modification or deletion. We have discovered most businesses have difficulty comparing or merging data between these sets for analysis and reporting purposes.

We have many years of experience assisting customers to migrate this data into a robust structure, resulting in an enterprise-level database solution.

Part of this process is a joint-effort between ourselves and the customer to identify, review and correct erroneous and invalid data points. Often there are issues present in the data which are simply too difficult to detect outside of a rigorous migration process and were never previously discovered.

Once this process has been completed, your data will be of an extremely high quality and secure from further corruption or unintended alteration.

Application Development

NDS has assisted with the development of multiple enterprise level applications, both desktop and web, using combinations of the following technologies, libraries, and frameworks.

Front-end:

  • React
  • Angular
  • DevExtreme Component Suite
  • VBA
  • HTML
  • CSS

Back-end:

  • JavaScript/Typescript/Node.js
  • REST/API
  • C#
  • DLL

Business Intelligence & Reporting

The actual worth of a dataset is directly proportional to the value it adds to the business. This value is exposed during analysis and reporting and in this way your data begins to justify the time and capital you have invested to capture it.

Our team is experienced in the following technologies and tools:

  • Microsoft Excel
  • SQL Server Reporting Services
  • Power BI

We are often asked to format and store data in a specific configuration to enable specialist users to analyse the data via external software, such as R, or to provide results for consumption through an API service.

About Us

Kelvin Sparks, CEO/Director

Kelvin has been working with databases and data since the mid 1980’s. A self-confessed “data nut”, Kelvin’s greatest satisfaction come from assisting clients to get the maximum possible use from their data.
When not at work, Kelvin can be found enjoying the company of his wife, children and grandchildren (often around the BBQ).

Benjamin Foord, Operations Manager



AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate

Ben has been with NDS since early 2014 and has experience with SQL Server, SSRS, MS Access, and Microsoft Dynamics AX. He also helps to manage projects and write documentation as required.
He spends his spare time with his wife and three children, and also likes cycling, running, photography, and brewing.

Iurii Gerasimov, Senior Developer

Iurii has 15+ years professional experience working in information technology, software development lifecycles, enterprise application development and consulting. He has been awarded a Masters degree in Computer Science and holds Microsoft Professional Certifications.
Iurii is usually busy working on a project, but in his spare time he enjoys hiking, reading, sports, and generally leading an active lifestyle.

David Rowe, Developer

David – developer extraordinaire! He joined Nelson Data Systems early in 2024 as a graduate from NMIT and has shown his versatility of a full range of development activities. From UI development right down the stack to database coding and development.

Prior to studying IT, he was employed in the hospitality industry and had a short stint in adventure tourism with a local Sky Dive firm. A giant leap for a little guy from Dannevirke!

Testimonials

Department of Conservation

"NDS has been working with the Department of Conservation (DOC) to capture and validate some of their animal biodiversity monitoring data that has been held in many spreadsheets in the past. As this data is science based, significant effort has gone into the quality assurance and validation of the data. NDS has built data entry applications that have strong validation rules to ensure accurate data entry from field books (electronic field device capture is a future project). From humble beginnings, this SQL Server 2016 database now holds over 5.3 million individual actual data results, with a current programme of work that will add a further 1.5 million data results."

Benno Kappers (2017)
Natural heritage information project leader, herpetofauna administrator

You can visit us at:
Level 1, 189 Hardy Street, Nelson
+64 3 545 7050

CAREERS

Our team at Nelson Data Systems is looking for additional members to continue producing the quality and variety of work we are known for, so if you have any of the following skill sets we would love to hear from you.

SQL Server (both local server and Azure SQL Server)

  • T-SQL
  • Temporal Tables
  • Stored Procs
  • Performance Tuning

Programming

  • .NET Core
  • HTML 5/CSS
  • C#
  • Angular
  • API's
  • Unit Testing
  • VBA(MS Access)

AWS

  • AWD Native Tool Set
  • Serverless functions and code
  • Data Lakes
  • Blob storage

Azure

  • Good Azure knowledge/experience
  • SQL Azure
  • Azure AD and Security

BI/AI

  • SQL Server GraphDB and/or CosmosDB
  • Visualisation tools(Keylines an advantage)
  • BI dashboarding
  • Python scripting
  • R coding
  • Machine learning
  • TensorFlow coding