Mike Manson, President of ALGIM shares his insight into local eGovernment in New Zealand and discusses the strategic role of the CIO as well as the recently launched "digital strategy" for New Zealand.
Can you provide us with a brief overview of New Zealand's policy and approach towards local eGovernment?
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The plan is centred around a vision “for NZ Local Government to be a world leader in e-local government”.
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In New Zealand we have worked together across the local government sector to build an e-local government strategic plan. It has been in place since April 2003 and is currently undergoing a review. The plan is centred around a vision “for NZ Local Government to be a world leader in e-local government”. There are 4 key areas the plan has been built around namely, Access, Innovation, Participation and Leadership. For clarity the following four key missions define our primary goal in each area:
- To provide easy on-line access to local government information and services to benefit our people.
- To provide innovative products and services to benefit our people.
- To ensure that our people’s participation in local government democracy will be higher than it is today.
- To ensure effective local government leadership of e-business initiatives for the benefit of the whole community.
While each Local Authority is free to develop it’s own e-local government strategy the sector co-ordinated through an e-local government working party has identified a number of strategic actions and placed in the plan for the benefit of the whole Local government sector.
The role of the Head of ICT in UK local authorities is transforming to a more strategic role of the CIO, as ICT has been designated as the key driver to making local authorities more responsive and efficient. Can you give us an insight into the role of the head of ICT in New Zealand local authorities?
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Collaboration and sharing occurs at all levels in Local Government...
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As in many countries the emerging strategist role of the CIO is a very similar situation in NZ Local Authorities. Traditionally we had IT or ICT Managers and Information Managers as two separate disciplines. This is changing with a merging of both into the head role in many NZ Councils. ALGIM recognised this was leading to a need for up-skilling particularly for ICT Managers now facing the more strategic issues around information management. To assist Local Authorities with best practice and to meet more stringent Audit requirements we developed over 2 years an Information Management Toolkit. This toolkit has currently been taken up by 65% of all NZ Local Authorities and covers Information Management Strategic Plans, ISSPs, Disposal and Retention schedules to name a few along with Case studies, tools and templates. International interest has grown with several countries investigating how it could be adapted to their local government environment and we hope to discuss if it would be of value to SOCITM, UK at their upcoming conference.
How do local government bodies coordinate their efforts with each other and the Central Government to ensure there is a cohesive national framework? How are local needs and aspirations addressed in this framework?
In NZ, Local authorities are only funded up to approx 30% by Central Government and hence there is more autonomy than perhaps found in a UK Local authority. For this reason collaboration and cohesiveness is very important. The co-ordination occurs through several channels:
a) Collaboration and sharing occurs at all levels in Local Government as witnessed by some 48,000 emails passing between Councils on a weekly basis. We run over 100 List Servers for the sector through a sector owned company Local Government Online Ltd. New Zealand Councils are very good at sharing information and there is a genuine willingness to work together.
b) We have set up an e-local government working party made up of representatives from the many sector organisations such as ALGIM (ICT and IM), SOLGM (equivalent to SOLACE in the UK), LIANZA (Libraries), Local Government New Zealand (mayors and politicians), Local Government Online (sector owned portal and service provider), and membership includes Central Govt agencies such as the State Services Commission that looks after the E-Govt initiatives. Meetings include briefings from a number of Government Departments including the Ministry of Economic Development who have driven initiatives such as the Broadband rollout to schools and now the Digital Strategy. This forum also brings together activities of Associations and their member Councils and has become the conduit for information sharing as well as raising issues and projects.
Central Govt involvement in the working party has assisted us raise the level of interaction with Local Government and we are enjoying the benefits of improved co-operation and input into national projects undertaken by the Govt.
Can you give us some insight into your efforts to market eGovernment Services by citizens at a local level with some examples of successful programmes?
One of the key areas to market eGovernment services has been through our Libraries who provide a key interface to the community. In the past there have been numerous programmes such as “Learn IT” to full time trainers in the Public Libraries running courses for accessing information via the web. Govt has funded free community based training courses at learning institutions such as Polytechnics to raise awareness.
Some examples I have worked on include placing our wealth of spatial information online through a NZ developed high speed GIS engine that has allowed the community access to aerial photography, water, sewer, stormwater infrastructure, parks, refuse collections, rates and property information, District Plans etc. Overnight with minimal advertising we doubled our website visits by delivering through a medium that the community enjoys using. This has been the case for other Councils who have implemented the Xplorer facilities.
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The Digital Strategy is an exciting opportunity for NZ Local Authorities..
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Another example is the rapid adoption of an online tendering service for contractors. Almost all NZ Councils now run their tenders through Local Govt Online’s tenderlink. This has reduced advertising costs for Councils and improved access to contractors through auto notification of tenders and online access to documentation.
A further example is where we publicised to all citizens our Local Government portal (www.localgovt.co.nz) as a “one-stop” means of accessing Local Govt election results for every Council in NZ.
Another initiative was the “Big Ask” whereby we worked with Central Govt to create metadata and deep links into Council information so that Govt services no matter who delivered them (whether central govt agencies or Local Govt) could be found through the one search www.govt.nz
There are numerous examples of successful initiatives such as a recent project to establish a Local Government After Hours contact centre for Local Authorities. This service was designed and is staffed by local Govt staff. The citizen channels now allow access to services 24 by 7 and provide consistency in delivery across participating Local authorities. The centre is aided by innovative technology such as online multi-Council Request for Service forms (with business rules for each Council embedded) which further improved the access to a Council at an affordable level.
The "Digital Strategy" was recently launched with aspirations to create a digital future for all New Zealanders, by utilising the power of the Information and communication technologies to enhance all aspects of their lives. What role do you envision local government bodies to play in implementing the "Digital Strategy" and achieving its objectives?
The Digital Strategy is an exciting opportunity for NZ Local Authorities as in the past there has been little funding available to Local Government from Central Goverment for e-local government initiatives. So larger Councils with larger resources have been able to achieve more while the smaller Councils have used innovation and collaboration to develop online initiatives.
The Digital Strategy recognises the importance of the E-Local government strategic plan and offers a number of funds that Councils can bid for and use for their communities. Some examples include access to $24m to build open access fibre networks in regional centres, $20m to build ICT skills, capability, capacity and content in communities and regions through a community partnership fund.
Local Government has a role to play in ensuring their communities are not disadvantaged through access to affordable broadband services, encouraging ICT Skills, promoting E-Business initiatives and above all having better connected communities.
Local government will also be involved with Central Govt on a number of Digital Strategy initiatives such as improved location or address standards, authentication, e-GIF, a secure Government Internet Gateway and better ICT procurement.
What key challenges do you anticipate local eGovernment and ICT to face over the next few years? How is ALGIM looking to address these challenges and opportunities?
There are a number of challenges facing local eGovernment and ICT over the next few years. We will be under pressure to deliver more services online, to rapidly replace legacy systems that don’t integrate easily as we streamline all back room processes, to more rapidly address the business needs both within Councils and from our business communities.
We are embracing a more mobile workforce, more channels to access Councils, more complex users and greater reliance on business continuity planning.
E-procurement has passed through several development phases and as market models are maturing a total e-procurement solution will become a major initiative to be addressed.
ALGIM is playing it’s part to assist Local Authorities and at present we are developing an e-local government toolkit which we would like to collaborate on with other countries at this early stage so that it could become an international project and leverage the costs and benefits across a larger Local Government sector if interest is there.
ALGIM has developed, in conjunction with Local Govt Online, an XML Online forms engine which provides a solution to having well researched business rules and compliant online application forms for any Council. The engine is driven from links on a participating Council’s website which enables it to serve to that Council’s customer a fully customised form complete with logos and branding. Then all interactions are looked after by the engine which navigates the participating Council and provides secure access to the information for both council staff and customer. The first 17 application forms include such activities as Liquor Licensing, Animal Registration, Parking ticket excuses etc.
Finally, what insight and suggestions would you have for other Local government ICT managers in other countries?
In my opinion “collaboration” is key. We can all learn from each other and through sharing our knowledge we can develop further ideas or opportunities to tap into the full potential of e-local government.
Many organisations are well advanced on their e-journey but not many have fully transformed themselves or their communities so that indicates to me the recipe is still being developed and the end-point is still being defined. Repositioning organisations to take advantage of the technology is important but taking your community with you is equally paramount such as in the case of Fairfax County, Virginia (USA) or Dunedin City Council in New Zealand.
We in New Zealand are embarking on Shared Services initiatives between Local Authorities. The New Zealand Local Government Act now requires us to make an effort to work together. I have personally have found this both rewarding and exciting as we come up with initiatives within regions that benefit the wider communities and reduce the costs to participating Local Authorities through economies of scale. e.g. shared library services
ALGIM - Association of Local Government Information Management New Zealand. Visit the website: http://www.algim.org.nz
ALGIM's Mission:
"To provide leadership to Local Government in Information Management and Information Processes.
To provide a voice for Local Government Information Management."
