News - E-Services Opportunities project steps up

E-Services Opportunities project steps up

September 2001

The e-Services Opportunities Project is a key initiative of the e-government programme that will soon be underway in government agencies (http://www.e-government.govt.nz/e-services/index.html). Its objective is to gather detailed information about the services that New Zealand government agencies provide. This information will then be used for making services available electronically and joining up the agency interactions required for delivering the service.

The first step, called the "Services List Project" will describe the services in a consistent way that is meaningful for the end users - namely the public and businesses of New Zealand. This information will initially be used to provide a list of services that can be easily found by people using the government portal. Once the required service is found, they can access it using either the specified phone number, or the agency web link.

People will have simpler and more convenient ways to get access to government services and information without having to visit agency offices.

For agencies, this will provide a very powerful channel for delivering quality service, consistently. When more and more customers help themselves to services online, the scarce agency resources can be focused on those groups of customers who require personal support.

The Services List project commenced on 15 August 2001 with the first major task being the development of the framework for gathering the information. The intent is to have agencies carry out the majority of the services data gathering, supported by the EGU. Over September, the framework's ease of use and effectiveness will be tested by two agencies. The current workplan indicates that the Services List programme for all government agencies of the government will commence by the second or third week of October 2001.

For more information contact Larry Holmes, larry.holmes@ssc.govt.nz.