Introduction

1 This report completes the work of the Shared Workspace Project Team [ Rose O'Neill, State Services Commission (Project Manager); Sandi Beatie, Synergy International Ltd.; and Franz Ombler, Treasury.] operating in the E-Government Unit of the State Services Commission. The purpose of the project was to examine the concept of shared workspace applications that can be operated in a secure electronic environment to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of policy development across government. The existence of a secure electronic environment on which the shared workspace application will operate is central, and underpins all of the issues raised in this discussion. This working paper will form the basis from which to develop a user requirements specification, when required.

2 The Shared Workspace Project has been carried out as a subproject in the Secure Electronic Environment (S.E.E) programme. The S.E.E programme is concerned with the development of a secure environment in which to carry out government business. This subproject investigates the possibility of shared workspace applications that can be operated in this secure environment to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of policy development across government.

3 The development and implementation of a secure electronic environment for government provides an opportunity to significantly increase collaboration and co-ordination amongst agencies for managing crosscutting policy issues.

4 Individual government departments currently have technical platforms that enable its staff to communicate with each other, and externally, via e-mail systems; to file and access documents and official records; and to share internal information (e.g. intranet/electronic scheduling). At the current time, the tools that exist and are used within departments are not available for use between government agencies (e.g. shared schedulers). The Shared Workspace Project looks at the potential of utilising current and emerging technologies to improve the processes of policy development and project management across government.

Aims and objectives of the Shared Workspace Project

5 The goal of the Shared Workspace Project is to investigate the viability of implementing a secure, electronic shared workspace for project and policy development across government agencies. [ Terms of reference for the project are provided in Appendix 1.] It is important to note this project is restricted to government-to-government business and is not about the delivery of services to the public.

6 The outcomes sought from shared workspace are to:

• leverage existing technical infrastructures to improve the quality and timeliness of policy development

• improve the level of collaboration between departments in developing policy papers, and managing crosscutting projects

• increase efficiency and co-ordination of business processes, work flows and data management related to the production of policy papers and projects

• strengthen the capacity to identify and access relevant information from multiple information sources

• more efficiently disseminate policy in the Public Service.

7 The Project Team's work has been undertaken in three phases:

• Phase 1: Investigation - this phase included exploration of past work on the secure exchange of information; interviews and literature search to discover current thinking and practice in terms of policy development; assessment of the use of electronic applications in other jurisdictions; and, development of a high level concept of an electronic shared workspace.

• Phase 2: Identification of high-level user needs - this included further interviews and a series of focus groups with a range of policy managers and analysts, and other stakeholders including the Ombudsman; surfacing of potential opportunities and issues; and, examination of benefits and risks.

The Project Team published a working paper at the conclusion of each of these phases of work. These are available for reference on the E-Government website (www.e-government.govt.nz).

8 This working paper:

• Clarifies the concept of shared workspace including establishing potential functionality and operational requirements;

• identifies potential benefits to the Public Service;

• identifies possible barriers to successful implementation; and

• specifies the organisation and management requirements to operate a shared workspace application across the Public Service.

Definition of an electronic shared workspace

9 'Shared workspace' refers to an electronic application designed to enable a selected group of users (in this case, Public Service officials) to share a range of information, access common databases, and work together in a real-time environment as and when required.

10 In referring to an "electronic shared workspace across government", there is an assumption that the application will be available to all government agencies. It is further assumed that by virtue of their employment status, Public Service officials will have authorised access to this workspace, and to authorised project workspaces.

Scope and boundaries of this report

11 Electronic shared workspace applications can be used for a wide range of purposes. The terms of reference for this project focuses on only two uses - project management and policy development. Project management is a structured process used to organize and manage time-bound projects. The application enables project definition, specification of deliverables and allocation of project resources (e.g. budgets, personnel). A number of project management applications are currently in use across the Public Service and more are emerging and are being customised to the needs of individual agencies.

12 In examining the potential of shared workspace to meet the outcomes specified in the terms of reference, the Project Team made a judgment that project management software is part of what reasonably might be required as part of the functionality within a shared workspace for policy development. It was decided therefore, to subsume the requirements for project management within the broader consideration of shared workspace for the purpose of policy development.

13 The project has concentrated on the feasibility of utilising shared workspace within the state sector specifically for government-to-government transactions relating to policy development. Some parts of the process of policy development include interaction between officials and non-government stakeholder groups, special interest groups and the public (e.g. during problem definition; consultation; monitoring). These interactions have been taken into account, but the project does not include consideration of the delivery of services to citizens/ members of the public.

14 No attempt has been made to explore the potential for shared workspace to be used by other user groups within the Public Service, such as Human Resources or Corporate Managers. As the project progressed, it also became apparent that the usefulness of a shared workspace application could extend well beyond the purposes of project management and policy development specified in the terms of reference. For example, shared workspace could be equally valuable for research, evaluation and monitoring processes. Reference will be made to potential for extensions where appropriate, but for the purpose of meeting the project terms of reference these will not be explored in detail.

15 Technical solutions are not proffered in this report. The Project Team has avoided looking for, and/or evaluating, specific technological solutions. The analysis has concentrated on the concept of shared workspace and whether it has valid traction in a Public Service environment. The technical considerations have been deliberately limited to defining some broad high-level functional requirements for an electronic shared workspace.

16 This paper also only concerns itself with the policy development process to the point of referring work to Cabinet for decision. The consideration of the application of shared workspace to the parliamentary process is not within the brief.