1. Executive summary

Purpose of the business case

This business case is for new funding to implement, in response to demand, secure online tools for collaboration between agencies, and agencies and business partners. Implementing the Shared Workspace project is a practical way to deliver internal collaboration and wider consultation sought by ministers. It is aligned with other all-of-government capacity building strategies; Review of the Centre, and e-government.

What are agencies looking for?

Shared Workspace is designed to meet agency demand for easy access to online secure collaboration. Major drivers of agency demand are

• they need to consult widely to resolve issues, in less time
• they need tools and information to support this process efficiently and securely
• using email for coordinating across agencies is inefficient.
• working by email with non-SEE-Mail organisations is a security concern.

What is the Shared Workspace?

Earlier work done by Shared Workspace project took this agency feedback on board and proposed a common, secure platform, for sharing information and supporting team collaboration [Shared Policy Workspace Project Report Phase 3. E-government Unit, SSC. April 2001.] . After further research and consultation we are now proposing a modular Tool-box approach [ Lessons from Online Collaboration between NZ Government Agencies, E-government Unit (unpublished) Oct. 2002] .The Toolbox rationale is: the users' needs drive how tools are used; tools come from a range of suppliers.

Diagram 1. 'Toolbox vision' of Shared Workspace

How team collaboration tools would be used

Some government employees, particularly in central agencies and policy groups, tend to work within cross-agency project teams and committees. The Shared Workspace toolbox would provide a protected set of pages on the Web where

• members can keep documents and communications of value, separately from their email system
• all data and downloads are secured
• people anywhere in the world can be members for the period needed
• a web browser is the only software members will need.

Teams will either be sharing 'In Confidence' or 'Sensitive' classified information. The Shared Workspace caters for these classifications only.

Examples of online project team collaboration

A prototype collaboration tool is currently supporting the Senior Leadership Management Development Project (SLMD) led by the SSC. The Project Office manages more than ten projects: members are spread across more than twenty five agencies. When they found team support tools weren't easy to tap into, SLMD partnered with the E-government Unit to establish this prototype.

At Treasury, where a second prototype is underway; three groups are currently using it to exchange documentation classified 'Sensitive'.

With online shared workspaces they have

• a means to update the teams about the project deadlines etc,
• common space for information of use to all
• ability to include team members in the private sector and NGOs.

How the intranet tool would be used

In many organisations, intranets are now the main way for an employee to access information of wide corporate value. The Shared Workspace intranet is also designed to highlight valuable information and make it easy to locate.

For instance, the Policy Managers Network is interested in using it to collect and share the policy frameworks and competencies for policy staff.

Anyone needing to find out about how other agencies have approached common issues could do so in less than an hour, rather than the days it currently takes (process efficiency).

How discussion list would be used

Input from sector or 'subject' interest groups is if 'government' email based discussion lists were in place now, they would use them. Example groups include government information technology professionals and social sector policy advisors needing a secure means of examining common issues and answering queries.

Where does the Shared Workspace take us?

Shared Workspace is about improved performance across the sector rather than savings. Shared Workspace helps government employees

• to locate relevant expertise, information, and practices in other agencies
• contribute to cross-agency initiatives
• to be more effective at running cross-agency projects.

The long-term aim is more people/agencies sharing their outputs and this becomes a normal way of operating.

Significance of a common infrastructure

The main quantifiable benefit from the Shared Workspace is avoiding costs of several infrastructures for cross agency collaboration.

Since this project began, more than five agencies have each set up workspaces for secure collaboration with other agencies. We are aware that other agencies are considering it, pending a funding decision for Shared Workspace.

What will it cost?

Estimated costs for the next three years are:

• capital investment of $343,900
• average operating cost of $420,000 per annum, partially offset by cost recovery, which by Year 3 could be 46%.

The average all-of-government benefit from not duplicating infrastructure for online team collaboration is projected to be $210,000 per annum after interviewing agency-run workspaces about set-up and ongoing costs. Benefits of sharing information across agencies can quantified by time saved. This is estimated at $100-$200,000 per annum across the policy community.

Project challenges and measures of success

Performance measures for this project are based on

• Shared Workspace users reporting that technology choices are acceptable
• agencies sharing value-add information, and repeating business
• Shared Workspace users following the protocols for the tools
• re-evaluating tools that are not meeting expectations
• independent assessment against NZ government security standards.

Business case overview

The balance of the business case is about

• developments leading to this business case (section 2)
• high level strategic context and aims (section 3)
• business plan through to June 2006 (section 4)
• costs and benefits (section 5)
• risks and issues (section 6)
• immediate next steps planned (section 7)

Appendix 2 surveys similar projects overseas; Appendix 3 reviews government technology trends.

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