Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Context

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (the Ministry) works to promote and protect New Zealand's interests in the world. This includes representing New Zealand in its relationships with foreign governments and organisations; advising the Government on foreign, security and trade policy issues; providing consular services; working with other Government agencies; and providing development assistance.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade E-government Initiatives

• Online travellers registry
• Integrate Consulate initiative to backup information

Summary

Ready Access: The Ministry's websites and metadata are of a good standard, providing ready access to the agency's information.

Alignment: The Ministry uses a number of websites to provide information to different audiences. Some email notifications and online services are offered. Access to the Internet within the Ministry is not available from user's desktop PC's because the Ministry must meet national security requirements for all systems. Stand-alone Internet booths, which are not connected to the classified LAN, are used for Internet access.

Internet and Communications Technology

The Ministry uses the Internet to provide information to a diverse audience, including foreign governments, businesses, travellers and people from overseas. Consequently, information on its websites is diverse. The websites include general information about the Ministry, projects and polices, travel advisories, links to government and private websites, contact details for the Ministry's offices including New Zealand embassies and consulates, information for businesses, and media releases.

The New Zealand embassy website mostly uses a standardised format and 'common look and feel', with information and languages tailored for each country. Details are included about the services that some Embassies provide for other agencies, such as issuing passports for the Department of Internal Affairs. Agency service agreements are in place for the Embassies to do this.

New Zealand Aid is a semi-autonomous body within the Ministry. Its website provides information about international aid projects that New Zealand is sponsoring. Information on the site is generally targeted for a specific audience that may want to tender for projects.

The Ministry uses email extensively to communicate with other agencies, businesses and organisations, and its Embassies and Consulates. Internet access is restricted to stand-alone booths that are not connected to the classified Local Area Network (LAN) because of national security requirements. The Internet is not available on the Ministry's desktops.

Ready Access to Information and Services

Metadata

The Ministry has a total of 98 metadata records and is very well represented on the portal. Records are consistently of a high standard and provide excellent coverage of the Ministry's services.

NZAID is about to start developing and updating its own metalogue records. The Ministry and NZAID need to build a clear business process to ensure that records from both agencies remain at their current high standard.

Website Assessment

Websites assessed during May 2004 included:

www.mfat.govt.nz
www.nzembassy.com
www.nzaid.govt.nz

Overall, the Ministry's websites are of a good standard.

The strengths of the websites are in information delivery and accessibility. The usability of the site could be improved, and some required government content added.

Key quality issues noted during the assessment included:

• Good range, depth and presentation of information content.
• Usability and site navigation could be improved for easier use.
• Missing website policies mean users are unsure about feedback, privacy, copyright and complaints.
• Missing accessibility features, such as navigation skipping, access keys and style sheet problems may impede some physically impaired people's access.
• Many required email addresses are not available or were not answered during the assessment.
• Several broken links mean that people may be unable to access some content.
• More links to other related content would be useful.

Alignment With E-government Goals

Convenience and Satisfaction

The Ministry's website have been designed taking into consideration the needs of the user. For example, the New Zealand Embassy website has been designed to meet the information needs of New Zealander's who are either living abroad or foreigners who are considering travelling to or wanting to trade with New Zealand. The website has an online registration section where New Zealander's abroad can enter their details and travel intentions in case they need to be contacted by the Ministry.

The Ministry's online registration service is an effective way of contacting New Zealander's who are overseas and have 'self registered'. The Internet has also proven to be a highly effective tool for disseminating information for travelling New Zealanders, especially regarding emergency situations.

Integration and Efficiency

Generally, the nature of information sharing with external contacts presents few opportunities to integrate information on a more regular or formal basis. Although regular data exchanges with other agencies could be useful, privacy legislation and national security requirements would have to be accommodated.

From an external perspective, information on the embassy website is, to a degree, integrated as it contains information sourced from other agencies - such as travel advice from the Ministry of Health - or by providing links to sites such as New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's nzconnection website.

Participation

The 'Business Link' section of the website contains consultation documents.

People can subscribe to receive the website 'Business Link' information via regular emails. By emailing changes on the 'Business Link' agenda, people are able to stay informed without having to regularly check the website.