The E-government Unit

Following the Government's adoption of the Vision Statement, the E-government Unit was formally established in the State Services Commission on 1 July 2000. The Unit's responsibilities, as defined by Cabinet, in May 2000 [Cab (00) M14/1F(1).] , were:

• Strategy: development of overarching e-government strategy, and common system and data management policies, standards and guidelines.
• Leadership: facilitate the uptake by government agencies of the e-government vision and information system and data management policies, standards and guidelines.
• Coordination/collaboration: identify opportunities for beneficial collaboration across government agencies, leverage better returns from existing information management and technology investment, and provide coordination for multi-agency e-government projects.
• Policy: provide advice to the Minister of State Services in relation to e-government.
• Monitoring: monitor progress toward achieving the e-government vision, and progress on information management and technology investment (the latter function being an extension of the State Service's Commission's existing role in scrutinising public service capacity investments).

The E-government Strategy

In April 2001 the work of the new unit resulted in the publication by the government of New Zealand's first E-government Strategy. This document defined the strategic aims of New Zealand's e-government programme, with the vision of establishing New Zealand as "a world leader in e-government". The supporting mission was defined as:

• By 2004 the Internet will be the dominant means of enabling ready access to government information, services and processes.

The Minister for State Services, the Hon Trevor Mallard, described the aim of the strategy at the launch:

(To) "make sure that New Zealand is equipped with the type of public sector it will need in the coming years. A public sector that is easy to access, convenient to deal with, able to customise its services to meet individual needs and is cost effective."

The E-government Unit began a programme of work designed to realise this vision by providing platforms for future e-government initiatives, both for department-specific purposes and all-of-government enterprises. This programme consisted of policy frameworks, including standards, guidelines and - initially with mixed results - operational projects.

The central plank of the E-government Unit's policy work has been the maintenance of the Strategy itself as a relevant and contemporary working document. To ensure it remains up-to-date in a rapidly changing technology environment, the Strategy has been regularly reviewed and updated. The second update, for example, issued in December 2001, provided specific new detail on matters including critical success factors for e-government and a breakdown of the phases of e-government maturity. These were additions that reflected a growing understanding of the scope of the programme.

The Strategy was updated again in June 2003. This document marked a significant development on the earlier versions in that it defined goals for the programme stretching forward until 2010. The Mission was expanded to include:

• By June 2007, networks and Internet technologies will be integral to the delivery of government information, services and processes.
• By June 2010, the operation of government will have been transformed through its use of the Internet.

For the first time, the Strategy included an end game; by 2010 e-government would be able to lose the 'e' and be completely assimilated into everyday the business of government.

Standards and guidelines

The standards and guidelines produced by the E-government Unit, in conjunction with government departments, are designed to facilitate an accessible, cost-effective and collaborative government online presence and the efficient delivery of information and services to the public. The main standards and guidelines produced to date include:

• the Government Web Guidelines, which guarantee minimum standards of accessibility for all New Zealanders, irrespective of their physical or technological constraints;
• the E-government Interoperability Framework, which ensures that departments adopt technology and process that work together and reduce inefficiencies;
• the New Zealand Government Locator Service, the standard for the metadata that powers www.govt.nz;
• the Authentication Best Practice Framework, which proposes a standard for the different streams of authentication work likely to be undertaken by government departments; and
• the E-government Service Delivery Architecture, which provides an overarching design framework for service delivery using information technology.

These standards and guidelines constitute the spine of e-government. In keeping with the emphasis on planned, systematic implementation of e-government, the development of sound and practicable standards and guidelines ensures that government departments are able to actively pursue their own business goals and management solutions within a coherent national strategy framework. It should also be noted that theses standards and guidelines are developed and implemented through a process of cross-department collaboration. They are not developed in isolation by any one agency and then imposed upon all departments. At each stage of development, there is a process of consultation and active participation by a wide range of government agencies.

Key operational projects

The E-government Unit has undertaken a number of operational projects in addition to its work on the Strategy, standards and guidelines. Two have been of particular significance for the development of e-government in New Zealand and the lessons learned: the Secure Electronic Environment (S.E.E.) project, which established a secure way to exchange emails between government departments, and the electronic procurement project, GoProcure. Both involved multi-department collaboration and proved to be challenging test-beds for innovative public sector management.

S.E.E. and GoProcure were both included in the original e-government work programme developed with the Vision Statement in 2000. The State Services Commission, Treasury and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) had already completed some initial work on the S.E.E. project, begun in 1999. In recognising the need for a secure way to exchange emails between government departments, the first S.E.E gateways were built. Once the gateways were functioning, the project needed continuing governance and management and this responsibility was given to the State Services Commission. This set a precedent for all of the larger, all-of-government operational initiatives, such as www.govt.nz and the Online Authentication project.

The S.E.E. project was notable for other reasons; it was the first multi-platform, multi-vendor global email gateway system, and the first New Zealand all-of-government operational technology project. Significantly, in August 2004, the upgrade of all members' email gateways to SEEMail version 2 was successfully completed, underscoring the longevity and success of the project. Thirty of the thirty-five government departments now use the SEEMail gateways, ensuring security and business continuity for government communications.

Another aspect of the S.E.E project that continues to deliver benefits to the business of government is the Shared Workspace. First piloted in 2000, this originally consisted of a single online workspace shared by staff working at SSC, Treasury and DPMC. Today, there are 21 workspaces and membership has grown to nearly one thousand users, comprising staff from most of the government departments.

GoProcure, the electronic procurement project launched in November 2002, provided a number of valuable pointers to the characteristics of service in e-government; it remains an important stage in the development of e-government in New Zealand. Originally it was intended to allow government departments, and many Crown entities, to buy goods and services from on-line catalogues with orders being automatically sent to suppliers, but a combination of factors contributed to it not moving beyond the trial phase.

While the GoProcure project was prudently structured, with a trial and key decision points, there was a significant underestimation of the change management process required for it to succeed. First, the match between the technology and the needs of the users was insufficient to maximise usage. The 'people not technology' philosophy was not rigidly observed, to the project's detriment. Secondly, problems encountered while implementing the system, and the realisation that the projected benefits were being compromised by the rising costs of implementation, eroded the viability of the project. Together, these circumstances resulted in the project being scaled down and then wound up.

An important principle established in the GoProcure project was the resolve of the State Services Commission and the Government not to 'throw good money after bad.' There is a tendency in large IT projects to assiduously avoid the taint of failure, often in the face of overwhelming evidence. In the case of GoProcure, the trial was scaled down in June 2003 when it was decided that the initially planned 'Full Suite' option was more difficult to implement and operate than initially scoped. As the Minister for State Services, Trevor Mallard, said at the time:

"The project was deliberately broken into a number of distinct phases and decision points. This is good practice with complex or large information technology projects."
It gives the Government the opportunity to limit its risk exposure whilst trying out innovative solutions in an environment that does not involve a long-term commitment.

Once the next decision point was reached - the end of the trial period in December 2003 - it was decided that proceeding with the roll-out to more government departments was not going to yield the expected benefits. The alternative option, to scale the project up, include more departments and gamble on recovering some investment over the project's life span, was rejected. The decision was not to commit further public funds, acknowledging that the prudent course of action was to wind up the project and readdress the government's procurement requirements.

After GoProcure, a Syndicated Procurement team was established within the E-government Unit. This team was able to capitalise on the lessons learned in the GoProcure project and, through a combination of technology and training, more effectively meet the needs of public sector procurement professionals. In the first year of its operation, the team promoted and facilitated the uptake of 79 syndicated procurement contracts across the public sector, for a net saving of NZ$2.32 million. While it would be simplistic to argue that the investment in GoProcure has been recovered, there is no doubt that the combination of lessons learned and a commitment to re-engaging with the project's purpose and being unafraid to fail resulted in a strengthened public sector management process.

Of course, there have been a variety of other e-government projects that are worthy of description and analysis: the Online Authentication project; www.govt.nz and the 'portlets,' www.biz.org.nz, TEd and WorkSite; and, the E-government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF). In many ways, each of these projects has been informed by, or informed, the progress and success of the other projects. The whole point of e-government is 'networking government.' As e-government transforms the Public and State sectors, there will invariably be a tightly knit matrix of interrelationships and synergies.

So, four years into the programme, how close are we to realizing the goals of the E-government Strategy?