The country's most valuable source of official data is getting a nearly $60 million makeover.
Stats NZ's Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) has been limping along on old and inefficient software for years.
It recently got a patch-up job to make it more secure.
Last week's Budget is putting $58m over four years into a three-year-long project aimed at making the IDI faster at both taking in new data and giving it out to registered researchers.
That would give "decision-makers a clearer, more up-to-date picture of what's happening in our communities", said the government.
"Better data means funding is directed to where it's needed most."
The system could range across education, income, benefits, migration, justice and health data, like it was working a puzzle that revealed new pictures about how policies impacted people, it said.
Users have complained the current system is very hard to get access to in the first place - a user has to sign a lifelong confidentiality agreement, and also there are only a few physical sites where it can be tapped into - and then to use.
The government is promising the upgrade will enable more users to access data at the same time, with tools that support "faster and more complex analysis".
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz