Introduction

1 This paper is intended to present a general picture of what the current thinking is in the NZ Public Service on shared workspace; how that thinking is being translated into technology initiatives relating to policy development and project management; and how this compares to what is available and happening in other jurisdictions.

2 The project team [ This paper has been co-authored by the Project Team members, Rose O'Neill (Project Manager); Sandi] [Beatie (Synergy International); and Franz Ombler (Treasury). It is written in the first person, as a work-inprogress.] [The project is owned and managed by the State Services Commission as a subproject to the] [Secure Electronic Environment work.] has now completed the main part of the investigation work to identify existing shared workspace initiatives in the New Zealand Public Service and other jurisdictions. This work will continue as the rest of the project unfolds, but the team is confident that we have identified a broad sample of initiatives currently underway in the NZ Public Service and have a reasonable indication of the general international picture insofar as we are able, given the limited nature of the investigation.

3 The intention of the team is to use the material we have at this point in time, to provide a basis for further discussion, and yet more investigation. This is an input into the broader project and should not be read as a definitive statement but rather, a work in progress. Themes and issues emerging will be identified. Our thinking to date on the relative importance and impact of some of these issues will be discussed.

Background

4 The Department of Statistics kindly provided us with a record of some of the early correspondence between its previous Chief Executive, Len Cook and the Chief Executives Forum on 'the secure exchange of electronic information in government' between March and May 1999 [ The papers supplied by the Department of Statistics included papers Len had written outlining his vision] [for a government workspace project, and his view on the key issues relating to the implementation of such] [an initiative.] . We understand this work was the precursor to the current project. The Department of Statistics has a strong interest in IT investment and has made considerable progress to leveraging existing technologies to automate as many of its service delivery functions as possible.

5 Len Cook saw an opportunity to expand this work broadly within the Public Service to manage cross agency investments and increase the potential for collaboration in developing policy advice. He believed the tools for using technology to streamline inter-agency processes already existed and should be utilised as quickly as possible. In May 1999, he argued there were two significant costs the government faced in not proceeding with a shared workspace initiative immediately: "... one is the cost of inaction, and the other is the cost of needless experimentation".

6 The thrust of Cook's argument was that the government sector should seek to gain "... the highest possible leverage from existing 'workspace' practices and systems in the public sector, and working [sic] with commonly used tools, of industry leaders" (May 1999). In an attempt to have the project work progressed as quickly as possible, Len Cook and DPM&C supported Lotus Notes/IBM to do some initial work scoping out the possibilities for application of shared workspace technology in the Public Service. The ideas and issues identified in the Lotus Notes work are discussed in greater detail in this paper.

7 In March 1999 Len Cook noted, "... There is a significant support at CE level for the project, in principle. To a number of departments, we have not provided a good enough proposal for them to be sure that it will work for them. We have moved too quickly in involving IBM/Lotus, in the minds of some. ... Others simply say "get on with it." ...". This reaction from chief executives is important in the context of the current workspace project. It is obvious that this project picks up from the thinking that has been around in the Public Service for some time, and it is necessary to ensure that the concerns of chief executives are adequately addressed to secure support for progressing further when, and if, appropriate.

8 In May 1999, the project initiated by Len Cook was stopped and CE's were formally advised. At that time, the Secure Electronic Environment (SEE) project was initiated to develop a secure infrastructure for exchanging information in the Public Service. It was seenas appropriate to wait for the secure infrastructure to be built, tested and implemented before progressing the workspace ideas further. The State Services Commission has since moved to develop an e-government strategy and vision that was formally adopted by Government in November 1999. The current project is part of the e-government programme and it picks up,and expands, the early work done on shared policy workspace.

Comment

9 Apart from being a useful exercise in tracking the genesis of the current workspace project, the papers provided by Statistics are also useful for identifying the critical assumptions that underpinned the thinking of Public Service leaders on the issue of shared workspace. It is clear that the early work gained considerable support for the 'principle of a central government intranet' (Cook: May 1999), and this may prove to be invaluable.

10 What is less clear is what was meant by the term 'shared workspace'; whether there was a common understanding of the products and processes involved; the implications of implementation on the public management system; or how the workspace would be utilised, by whom and for what purpose. Issues of ownership and accountability also appear to have been raised, but not resolved.

11 Examining the documentation on this subject has led the project team to identify a number of questions and issues including:

• the definition, and boundaries of the 'shared workspace' concept;

• ways in which a shared workspace can contribute to the efficiency or effectiveness of policy development and/or project management;

• point(s) in the policy development [project management] process where it is most appropriate to utilise a shared workspace;

• intranet, extranet, internet interface - are there significant policy, or technological, differences between these?

12 The process of looking critically at these issues has given us a sense of the key issues and what we need to be looking at in the next phase when we explore the concept of a 'shared workspace' with policy managers in the Public Service. This paper discusses these issues, and lays the foundation for further investigation in phase two of the project.