2. About the e-GIF

2.1. Purpose

This document is designed to assist agency senior managers, business managers and information technology professionals to make decisions about ICT that will enhance their organisation's ability to work with other agencies in the e-government environment.

2.2. Stewardship

The State Services Commissioner is the Steward of the e-GIF, having accountability (and corresponding decision-making authority) for its ongoing development and management.

The E-government Unit (EGU) of the State Services Commission is the Custodian, with responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the e-GIF under the oversight of the e-GIF Management Committee.

The e-GIF Management Committee comprises public servants from the senior ranks of agencies adopting the e-GIF.

Working groups regularly review the technical aspects of the e-GIF.

All agencies that are required to adopt the e-GIF may participate in its governance and appeal decisions made by the Steward and Management Committee.

2.3. Who to contact

You can contact the custodian at e-gif@ssc.govt.nz.

2.4. History

The original version of the New Zealand e-GIF was based on work done by the Office of the UK e-Envoy in producing the UK e-GIF, which was first published in 2000. The UK e-GIF was reviewed by working groups comprising agency and vendor representatives during the latter part of 2001.

Version 1 of the NZ e-GIF was published in May 2002 incorporating feedback from some 25 agencies. In June 2002 Cabinet agreed the NZ e-GIF would govern how public sector organisations are to achieve electronic interoperability of their information, technology, and business.

2.5. Current version

The current version of the e-GIF is available at http://egov2.3months.com/standards/e-gif. All major revisions to the e-GIF supersede earlier revisions.

2.6. Changes from previous version

This version of the e-GIF has been changed from version 2.0 to clarify the position of the xNAL standard. The NZ xNAL Schema and Guidelines have been added as Recommended, as distinct form the international OASIS xNAL standard which remains Mandatory.

2.7. Issues under review

At the time of writing, there are a number of standards being developed or considered for adoption into the e-GIF. These include:

• Secure Mail, which allows agencies to use the Internet to contact New Zealanders with greater security than with normal email
• Geospatial Metadata which is a consistent way of describing geospatial data holdings
• Archival Metadata which is necessary for marking data sets to be preserved for the public record, and may become the subject of regulation under the next Archives Act.

In addition, the e-GIF framework and contents are subject to regular review by the custodian and management committee.

The e-GIF Strategic Development Plan, called the e-GIF Roadmap, is available on the e-GIF website at www.e-gif.govt.nz.

2.8. What to read

We recommend the e-GIF be read by

• Senior managers (sections 1, 3 and 4)
• Business managers (sections 1 and 3-7 in particular)
• Technical managers (sections 5-9 in particular)
• Implementers and vendors (sections 5, 8 and 9 in particular)