e-GIF Context

The diagram below shows the e-GIF in the contexts of international versus local issues (horizontal) and various sectors (vertical).

At the international level standards are often driven within sectors by standards bodies, companies and foreign governments. This affects New Zealand suppliers and New Zealand users. The New Zealand government can be seen as a subset of New Zealand users.

In this model the e-GIF is horizontal - it serves to unify standards and practices within the New Zealand government across the various sectors within which it operates. While it observes international developments e-GIF has little or no input into them. Local private sector developments will be influenced to some extent by e-GIF.

Figure 1

Some sectors have New Zealand standards bodies or similar. Their role is generally to take international sectoral standards and fit them for New Zealand use - rather as the e-GIF does. The e-GIF needs to maintain a relationship to these bodies, to be accomplished preferably through overlapping membership with the Management Committee, and through contact with the custodian.

The sectors shown are examples - obviously there are more, and the boundaries between them are not as clean as the diagram suggests.