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NZ E-government Interoperability Framework

The current version of the e-GIF is Version 3.3 http://www.e.govt.nz/standards/e-gif/e-gif-v-3-3/. These documents have been revised and published as a part of the e-Government Interoperability Framework Programme. This version was released in February 2008.

Overview

The Government's policy on how public sector organisations should achieve interoperability is set out in the Cabinet paper endorsing the New Zealand Interoperability Framework (NZ e-GIF).

The e-GIF is a collection of policies and standards endorsed for New Zealand government information technology (IT) systems. It has the following benefits:

  • Helps government agencies more easily work together electronically;
  • Makes systems, knowledge and experience reusable from one agency to another;
  • Reduces the effort required to deal with government online by encouraging consistency of approach.

What agencies should adopt the e-GIF?

Governance

The steward of the e-GIF is the State Services Commissioner, supported by the e-GIF Management Committee. Working groups recommend standards for inclusion in the e-GIF. The working groups consist of technical staff from agencies; some groups include IT vendor representatives.

The e-GIF standards are reviewed annually. A review cycle has recently ended, and a new cycle is in the planning stages. If you have comments or suggestions to assist in a review, please contact e-gif@ssc.govt.nz.

Key areas of work

Include:

Most of the standards are based on the interchange format, XML. XML is designed to be self-descriptive, and can be used on a wide variety of platforms and interpreted with a wide variety of tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some FAQs and their answers. If you have a question that is not covered, please contact e-gif@ssc.govt.nz