Part 4—Achievements during 2002

This section describes some of the major achievements of the e-government programme during the past year. These achievements include the foundation-building work of the E-government Unit, as well as some highlights of the range of ways that agencies are now using e-government to deliver results to people and businesses.

E-government Unit—foundation building

Metadata and the government portal

The launch of the government web portal was a major achievement. The portal provides a citizen-focused 'front-door' to a wide range of central and local government information and services. The establishment of a metadata framework was central to the design of the portal. It allows agencies to describe their information and services consistently, making them easier to find through the portal.

In the first month of the portal's operation, more than 3,000 visits per day were recorded, with traffic levels averaging 20% higher than the earlier NZGO (NZ Government Online) website. Subsequent analysis shows use of the portal growing faster than underlying growth in Internet usage. Many users have commented on the ease of finding and accessing Government services via the portal, providing endorsement of the metadata project.

The infrastructure and metadata developed for the portal has already been reused by the agencies involved in the WorkSite portal. In the coming year, other agencies will be able to deliver web-based projects in a timely, cost-effective way by reusing the metadata collections, search technology, service delivery architecture, and IT systems developed by the E-government Unit.

Interoperability

Common data and information technology policies and standards underpin the service delivery architecture and are integral to the E-government Strategy. The New Zealand e-Government Interoperability Framework (NZ e-GIF) sets out these policies and standards. They range from the metadata standard, through to the Web Guidelines, and security policies and standards. The NZ e-GIF will be extended as new policies and standards are identified and approved.

Cabinet mandated the NZ e-GIF for implementation from 1 July 2002 onwards. Agencies will be integral to its development through involvement in the e-GIF Management Committee, and involvement in e-GIF working groups.

Authentication

Government agencies and the people they deal with online need to be confident of each other's identity. The authentication challenge is to do this consistently and cost-effectively across government, and to a level appropriate to the service being delivered. It must also occur in a way that meets privacy and security requirements, and engenders trust in government. Cabinet has agreedinet has agreed to a set of policy and implementation principles for authentication, providing a basis for the development of an all-of-government authentication solution.

Procurement

The Government Online Procurement system - GoProcure - is intended to improve the efficiency of government purchasing, making it easier for suppliers to deal with agencies. A prototype was demonstrated to agencies and suppliers between June and August 2002. The first phase of making GoProcure operational began in November 2002, and will run until October 2003.

Other achievements

Other achievements during the year include:

• Internet skills - In partnership with the Public Sector Training Organisation, a unit standard has been developed and will be introduced as part of its Core Skills for Public Officials. This will assist public officials in gaining a level of Internet skills appropriate to online service delivery

• Electronic billing & payments - A follow-up analysis to the 2001 report recommended that a centrally operated e-billing/e-payment solution is not currently required. However individual agencies may develop solutions where they have a business case to do so. Agencies should consider offering appropriate solutions for inclusion in the e-GIF or as a component for the service delivery architecture.

• Change of address - A working group has been established to develop a government name and address schema. Once agreed, this schema will be published as part of the NZ e-GIF. Along with authentication, this will underpin development of a change of address facility in the future.

• E-awareness - Information about agencies' e-government activities was collected in a successful first-round pilot.

• S.E.E. - During the year there was a lot of progress in developing the Secure Electronic Environment. Thirty-four agencies are now using S.E.E.Mail, and the S.E.E. PKI and S.E.E. Directory policies have been developed and codified in the e-GIF.

• Shared Workspace - The functional requirements for an all-of-government shared workspace have been established, based on learning from the experiences of agencies and networks already using online tools for sharing information and ideas. Eighteen groups are now using the first prototype workspace solution.

• Updated Web Guidelines - The new version of the Guidelines will continue to raise awareness of the importance of accessibility for public sector websites and provide practical ways to achieve this consistently across government. A number of agencies that followed the first version of the Guidelines to redevelop their sites have produced examples of accessibility that rank alongside many sites internationally.

Agency service delivery

During the last 12 months, agencies have continued to increase the range of online services, building on the foundations of e-government they helped create. The following is a sample of a range of online services available today:

• Public Access to Legislation (PAL) - The Parliamentary Counsel Office is undertaking this landmark project which, when completed, will make New Zealand legislation freely available to the public over the Internet. This project makes a major contribution to the Government's e-government participation goals. An interim website of legislation has been established.

• WorkSite (labour market portal) - this multi-agency initiative provide access to information and services related to the New Zealand labour market. The portal is both a good example of inter-agency collaboration, and of agencies reusing some of the architecture and components of the all-of-government portal, in line with the intent of the service delivery architecture.

• Online immigration services - during the year the New Zealand Immigration Service made it possible for some people to apply for visas or permits over the Internet.

• Landonline - during the year, issuance of certificates of land title moved from a paper based to an online electronic service. Landonline is currently New Zealand's most significant e-government initiative in terms of the transformation of service delivery.

• Community Organisations Grants (COGS) Online - The Community Grants Scheme, administered by the Department of Internal Affairs, provides financial grants to community organisations. This process is now managed completely online, enabling community groups (on their own, or working with a Grants Advisor) to submit, track progress and maintain a history of their grant applications. The system can be accessed online by both Grants staff in DIA, processing the application, and the Grants Committee members assessing the applications.

• E-licencing -The Department of Internal Affairs issues and re-issues gaming licences (e.g. for Lotto, Housie, Bingo, one-armed bandits, etc). Trusts can now apply online for re-licencing or changes to licenses.

• eEnablement of the Inland Revenue Department - The IRD has developed and launched a comprehensive eEnablement Strategy that sets out a series of 52 linked initiatives that will be implemented over five years. Customers can now use the online calculators to establish their tax position, can file their GST obligations online and can pay their tax liabilities electronically. Work is well underway to provide customers with the ability to file their individual Income Tax Returns electronically and to send and receive emails securely.

• Online Examination Results - The New Zealand Qualifications Authority has recently made 750,000 students' results and records of learning available online.

• Diabetes Disease Management - Counties Manukau District Health Board has implemented an integrated diabetes disease management programme. This offers best-care guidelines, patient-held care plans, free three-monthly reviews and comprehensive data collection, all supported by a diabetes care coordinator. The "Integrated Care Server" (ICS) is a notable feature of the programme. The ICS can provide clinicians with feedback on clinical management, and allows clinical care providers to share information.

• Department of Conservation extranet - this site provides access to DOC databases and GIS/spatial information. It is accessed by over 20 agencies, including regional councils, Landcare Research and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

• Public Good Science & Technology investment processes - the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology has implemented two systems for managing these processes. One system allows those successful in obtaining grants to negotiate and complete their contracts online, and provides intelligence to help them match their research with the Foundation's funding. The second system allows researchers to develop and submit research proposals online.

• Online import declarations - businesses can now submit import declarations, manifest information and export data to Customs via an Internet gateway.

• PapersPast - Since April 2001 the National Library has added over 400,000 pages of 19th century newspapers to its website.

• www.marketnewzealand.com - Developed by Trade New Zealand, the Market New Zealand website is New Zealand's online gateway to international trade. It provides a database profiling New Zealand exporters' products and services; a trade-enquiry system that distributes buyer enquiries by email to exporters with the appropriate capability and interest; and a news, events and market intelligence service.

• Online consultation - The Department of Internal Affairs has used its website to consult widely on the Gaming Review, proposed legislative changes in Local Government and leaking buildings. MoRST used similar approaches to consult on the New Zealand Biotechnology Strategy.

• USAR website - this provides an information source for the various agencies involved in Urban Search and Rescue in New Zealand.

• NZTopoOnline - Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) provides free public access to topographic information through its website. Emergency services, and other key stakeholders, now have another way to access the most up-to-date topographic information in the New Zealand Topographic Database, and Internet-based delivery of a new map series called NZTopo50.

• PositioNZ - another LINZ service provides free satellite-accurate data to determine the precise position of points on the Earth's surface. PositioNZ enables LINZ's geodetic survey contractors to derive accurate positions with a single GPS receiver. LINZ is also expecting cadastral surveyors to use PositioNZ to get points with the highest available accuracy for their own work.

• Bali Bombing: MFAT's "e-appeal" to Overseas New Zealanders - The Bali bombing presented the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) with its biggest ever consular emergency. Within 24 hours of first reports of the bombing, the Ministry found itself trying to locate around 1400 New Zealanders thought to have been on the resort island at the time. After three days, with the missing list still alarmingly large, MFAT realised it needed to use the medium by which most expatriate Kiwis get their news from home: the internet. This worked extremely well. For example, placement of a banner advert on Xtra's hot mail home page for travelling New Zealanders resulted in 460,971 page impressions of the "Call Home" button with around 500 people clicking through to the actual message. MFAT's innovative use of an "e-appeal" to quickly gather important information from the public earned praise from the media and established a valuable new tool in government's crisis management armoury.