New Zealand Public Service review

24 'Top of the head' issues for the officials we have met with so far, centre on more cohesive and efficient approaches to collaboration, communication and information sharing. There is a groundswell of support for enabling technologies that will allow policy development and project management processes to be conducted electronically. Technology is seen as both enabling efficient processes and as the catalyst for 'raising the game' in terms of the conduct of public sector business.

25 The shared workspace project starts from the supposition that over the past 10-20 years much of the development of technology in the Public Service has involved the automation of core paper processes. For example, all Public Service policy analysts now have some degree of computer literacy, and at the very least do their own word processing. In some parts of the Public Service, automating paper records is still the primary focus of technology development (e.g. the current exercise being carried out by LINZ to transfer all titles and survey records from paper to computer form).

26 Recently, departments have become more sophisticated in their use of technology and with the development of the Internet and e-mail systems, computers are used more and more for interactive engagement both within and across organisations, and within and across national boundaries. Many departments have developed good quality intranet services for staff, and are moving towards ensuring that core documents including operation manuals, departmental policies and papers of interest are being made available to staff on-line. Some initiatives are underway to provide core government resources (e.g. legislation) as a central electronic database. Internet is used as a basic resource tool for research and evaluation purposes. Increasingly, technology options for engaging the public and commercial interests in government processing are also being explored.

27 The way government departments interact with each other, however, appears to be an area where little work has been done. An array of technologies is available that will enable greater connectivity in the policy making process. What is required, however, is not only the application of new technologies but a fundamental adjustment in the way that we think about work processes, and the way officials interact. The 'real' issues lie in:

• reaching an agreed definition of the requirements of shared workspace;

• exploring and addressing the impact of automation on the current policy processes;

• developing a model of how departments and officials will need to work together; and

• establishing protocols that will need to accompany electronic shared workspace.

28 Considerable progress has been made in the Public Service towards active electronic project management. The Department of Statistics, LINZ and Standards New Zealand for example, all have project management systems that range from temp late-based process management to electronic archival systems, and interactive discussion groups where project members can develop thinking on specific topics as input to formal papers.

29 Protocols and ways of working with these technologies are still undergoing development, but the basic interactive processes are available. Public consultation as a part of project implementation is also being managed electronically (alongside manual options). The Royal Commission on Genetic Modification (Internal Affairs) and the Public Works Act review (LINZ) are examples of this. As both of these are in the early stages of development, it is too early to assess how successful they are.

30 Where technology is being used for policy development processes the absence of a secure environment is a major restraint. Some groups have closed websites (e.g. LINZ - Public Works Act review and hydrography) but these are primarily where the host department posts static information. They are basically information-sharing forums. Development work, and policy production processes are still operated semi-manually (i.e. discussion meetings; word processing of drafts which are either delivered manually to departments for comment or circulated via the e-mail). Other policy development initiatives have set up 'interest group' e-mail systems for discussing key issues (e.g. Oceans policy). These are not secure, and have proved to be difficult in terms of managing collective input to core documents.

31 We observe a degree of impatience within the Public Service to just get on with implementing whatever needs to be done to enable better cross-boundary work. The electronic initiatives being spearheaded by various departments are genuine attempts to not only innovate, but also to realise gains from greater connectivity. There is also the assumption that security and flexibility will be key considerations in whatever technologies are chosen to achieve a 'corporate' style electronic policy development capability. The project team received a clear sense that if shared policy workspace is not developed in the near future in a coordinated and managed way across the Public Service, it will emerge anyway in an ad hoc manner.