The Consistency Principle
A common-and-consistent approach will be followed.
A consistent approach treats users equitably and provides them with certainty and reliability. A common approach, typified by reuse, reduces risk and cost, increases interoperability, and certainty.
Rationale
- Individuals and businesses have a better and more consistent experience in their dealings with government i
- Consistent behaviour improves usability,ii which in turn, makes it easier for people to find the information or services they want.iii
- We can enhance the degree to which others will regard us as trustworthy when we behave in consistent and predictable ways.iv
- New Zealanders can get consistent service (no breaks, same quality) whichever combination of channels they use.v
- A common approach and consistency combine to reduce risk, increase development and maintenance productivity and raise quality throughout the organisation.vi
Implications
- Standards provide common approaches and enable consistency;vii
- e-GIF reduces the effort required to deal with government online by encouraging consistency of approachviii
- Materials [and components] that are intended for reuse (such as requirements, models, or design documents) must be treated as reusable assets. The solution is to capture this information in a [common] repository, typically in the form of data, process, and software models; and to establish a set of procedures and processes to manage and maintain the repository over time.ix
- There must be a consistent way of defining and implementing [and governing] services across government. A proven way to do this is to create them like a set of interoperable business components that can be flexibly mixed-and-matched to cost effectively achieve the desired outcomes and deliver on the many mandates of government.x
- Agency CEO/CIO may need to have incentives that encourage creation of systems that can be reused, or provide services to other agenciesxi
Footnotes
[i. The Digital Strategy: Creating Our Digital Future, 2005]
[ii. http://www.e.govt.nz/resources/research/ready-access-2004/chapter6.3.html/view?searchterm=consistent, 4 October 2007]
[iii. Achieving e-government 2004: a report on progress towards the New Zealand E-government Strategy, Pg 30]
[iv. Lewicki, Roy J. and Edward C. Tomlinson. "Trust and Trust Building." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: December 2003 http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/trust_building/.]
[v. One of the tests of Goal 3: Networked State Services, Achieving the Development Goals, ,a href="http://ssc.govt.nz/SDG-report06">http://ssc.govt.nz/SDG-report06, 2007 Oct 5]
[vi. Standards and reuse, Sharon Fay (IBM Systems Engineer), http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/2277.html, 2007 October 5]
[vii. Standards and reuse, Sharon Fay (IBM Systems Engineer)]
[viii. NZ E-government Interoperability Framework, http://www.e.govt.nz/standards/e-gif, 2007 October 4]
[ix. Enterprise Architecture Essentials, Part 2: Develop and manage an enterprise architecture repository, Benjamin Lieberman (IBM Principlal Software Architect), http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ar-enterarch2/index.html, 2007 October 5]
[x. Government of Canada Service Oriented Architecture Series – Primer, Chapter 2, http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/cio-dpi/webapps/architecture/p-gi/p-gi02_e.asp, 2007 Oct 5]
[xi. GEA Forum Focus Group, September 2007]
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