Review of other jurisdictions

17 The project team undertook a scan of relevant literature sources, URL sites and initiatives sponsored by overseas jurisdictions. It is apparent that not only are there quite a lot of initiatives being explored both in New Zealand and overseas, but there is also the will amongst government officials to be part of developing improved means of collaboration supported by enabling technologies. The imperatives for this include citizen driven demands for access to real time information and improved quality of service, as well as politicians' expectations and demands for improved and more robust policy advice in an increasingly complex environment.

18 Governments (both State and Federal) of Australia, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, United States and UK are, like New Zealand, grappling with technological advances and their implications for the business of government. Most have developed a vision and particular strategies around the information age and knowledge economy. These governments tend to be the leading proponents of better quality communication and information access about and from public bodies for the public and specific stakeholder groups.

19 While the Victoria State Government is considered the most advanced in Australia its focus in terms of e-government has been on technologies to assist citizens' access to information and to doing business (for example, obtaining licences and forms), in a seamless way with the various Government departments. Cross-department procurement is also under development. The approach of other jurisdictions has been largely to explore both citizen access to information and online services. For example, the Netherlands and the UK have developed specific strategies for modernising policy processes.

20 The Netherlands started experimenting with electronic means for quite significant policy development initiatives in the early nineties. These have been both within a department (e.g. Environment, Transport) as well as in an interdepartmental context. The latter also involves business and other stakeholder consultation and input. The organisational framework for these initiatives was based on 'systems thinking' methods and the concept of 'networks' rather than hierarchies. The technologies are based primarily on group support systems application (GSS). These are similar to the Decision Support Centre technologies promoted by Victoria University of Wellington, where groups of people meet to brainstorm and debate on-line. Research conducted by Delft University of Technology [ Research paper based on post-implementation evaluation of experiences with facilitating policy meetings.] concluded that people need to be competent and confident in using the technologies and understand the processes to be used and that there is a need for protocols around electronic based interaction.

21 In the UK, the Cabinet Office IT Unit is spearheading the Blair Government's strategies and initiatives for modernising the public service. Part of this programme includes the reform of the policy making process. These reforms are based upon taking a more 'corporate' approach to achieving crosscutting goals, and utilising the opportunities presented via the "information age" to achieve better integration of processes and systems for policy-making.

22 Our scan of the international environment found that the use of more advanced technologies for knowledge management, research and information retrieval and for the efficient conduct of the business of government, have become increasingly important and urgent issues for the public sector to address. These are also issues that the private sector is advancing. Large multinationals such as the 'Big 5' [ KPMG, Ernst Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloittes, Andersens.] consulting firms, also have international intranets and systems for information access and knowledge exchange.

23 Globalisation, coupled with greater sophistication in the technologies available, has meant more companies are establishing cross-country 'virtual teams' for specific activities such as product development and/or specific projects. These teams are expected to function and conduct their business in much the same way as a team that meets face to face. The literature provides some useful lessons from the experiences of virtual teams that will be helpful when defining questions of ownership, governance and work practices in a policy environment.