Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs

Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs

Context

The Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs (MinPac) exists to promote the development of Pacific peoples in New Zealand. MinPac provides high quality policy advice to Government and other agencies on key policies and issues affecting Pacific peoples. It is responsible for communicating information and Government policy advice between Pacific communities and other government agencies.

Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs E-government Initiatives

• Updated website
• Shared Workspace considered to augment some meetings
• Remote computing

Summary

Ready Access: MinPac provides ready access to its information on the Ministry's website and through the government portal.

Alignment: MinPac uses the Internet to provide general information. Internet based solutions, such as Shared Workspace, are being considered to augment community meetings. Internal education is being planned to get greater staff involvement in website content.

Internet and Communications Technology

MinPac uses its website to provide general information about the Ministry. People can view a range of information including media releases, research reports, and a quarterly newsletter. Recruitment application forms, nomination application forms and some documents can be downloaded.

The redevelopment of the website (September 2004) is intended to encourage people and community groups to use the website more to access information. Internal education is also being reviewed to encourage staff to provide more information, more regularly for the website. Website compliance with the Government Web Guidelines is a priority.

MinPac holds many meetings to facilitate communications with community groups. Compared with other communication channels, meetings are expensive and time consuming to organise, and a relatively slow way to gather and disseminate information. Therefore, MinPac is considering using Internet based systems, including a Shared Workspace approach, to augment community consultation.

Email is used extensively for communications within MinPac and externally between other agencies. Generally, the Internet is not widely used by many of the Pacific peoples MinPac works with. Consequently, MinPac uses the Internet in conjunction with other communication channels.

Within MinPac an intranet is used as a document repository, a calendar and for document sharing across the Ministry. With increasing staffing numbers, and the potential need to have a presence outside Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, more formal document management and process controls are being considered. Remote or mobile computing may be introduced to better support regional staff.

Email and Internet viruses have put a considerable strain on the Ministry's limited resources. For example, recent email viruses have occupied a significant proportion of the Ministry's technology staff, meaning that other projects are delayed or put on hold.

Ready Access to Information and Services

Metadata

MinPac has 23 metadata records. Metadata is well written using plain language, and is suited to a general audience. There are no broken links in the Ministry's records. MinPac's metadata covers most major areas of the website, at a good level of detail.

In future, the Ministry should ensure that metadata continues to be created and kept up-to-date as changes are made to the website.

A few other metadata records could be created. For example, a record could be created for the web page of links to sites of interest to Pacific Island people.

Website Assessment

Websites assessed during May 2004 included:

www.minpac.govt.nz

Overall, MinPac's website is of a good standard.

The site's strengths are in information delivery and required government content. In future, site usability and accessibility could be improved.

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.
• The writing style can be formal and difficult to understand, but writing can be scanned.
• Missing accessibility features, such as navigation skipping, access keys and style sheet problems may impede some physically impaired people's access.
• The homepage does not present a clear face, missing opportunities to offer relevant content.
• Frames throughout the site mean that web pages cannot be book-marked to come back to.
• Contact details could be more specific to enable responsive handling of enquiries.
• More links to other related content would be useful.

Alignment With E-government Goals

Convenience and Satisfaction

People can use the Ministry's website to obtain general information. The website provides contact details for people who want more specific or detailed information.

Integration and Efficiency

Integration is limited because, as a policy agency, MinPac provides few services. The focus therefore needs to be on integrating information from other agencies for the people that MinPac primarily works with. To an extent the MinPac website is beginning to do this with the 'links to other Pacific Island people sites of interest'.

Participation

The Internet is used to raise awareness about the Ministry and its work. At present, only final published reports can be accessed on the website. Participation could be improved by making consultation documents more available.

Information about MinPac's nominations service is available, including downloadable forms for applicants to complete.