Strategies
Web Strategy
Agency Expectation
Agencies are expected to be able to construct and produce a web strategy for any web site under the agency's control. As from the mandated date of these Standards and Recommendations, this will encompass web site enhancements and re-developments. Refer to the Web Standards and Recommendations Compliance Checklists for further details.
This section is an introduction to help agencies develop sound web strategies. Web strategies reflect the growing importance of an agency's e-government activity, not simply a strategic view of an agency's web site in isolation. Web strategies play a significant part in ensuring your agency's web presence is consistent with other agency and government drivers.
Agencies may choose to incorporate their web strategy into their Information Technology or Communications strategy.
What is a web strategy?
A Web Strategy is considered the foundation for an agency to establish as a prerequisite to any web site development or re-development.
It constitutes:
- The fundamental objectives and principles of the NZ Government, and
- The agency's objectives including defining the web site's purpose.
Individual items within the strategy will be high-level, generic statements of intent, purpose and requirement representing a theme or attitude that would be expected to be an inherent foundation principle considered and reflected throughout the web site.
These principles, in most cases will not be objectively testable due to their high-level nature. They will be reinforced by a number of more definitive standards and recommendations.
The principles defined in the web strategy will likewise be expected to be a theme consciously adhered to throughout the web site design.
How is the web strategy constructed?
Though stated that the web strategy constitutes a theme throughout the agency's web site(s), a physical document is expected to be produced.
A large part of the strategy will be those principles that the NZ Govt have already defined and which are stated in this document, so they don't need to be re-stated in the agency's web strategy document. The content of what is expected in such a document is described in further detail in the Components of a web strategy.
Components of a web strategy
Executive summary
The executive summary provides an overview of the key objectives of the strategy, why it has been set in place, what it will deliver, how much it will cost, when and with what operational implications.
Introduction and background
This section provides background detail about your organisation - its functions, core business, and current environment.
Vision and mission statements
These are the agency’s or business unit’s vision and mission for their use of the Internet.
Example
Our web site will allow people to quickly, easily and conveniently find information and services relevant to our business. It will provide a positive user experience consistent with the e-government requirements.
Fit with agency business strategies
Desired business outcomes drive business strategies. These in turn should drive the web strategy. Highlight the key business strategies the agency wants to follow in the medium term, showing how the web strategy will align with those business strategies. This might include the agency’s strategies for customer engagement or service delivery improvement.
Sitting behind these business strategies, there may be strategies for electronic dealings with the public, publication of information, records management, information management, document management, knowledge management, recruitment and consultation.
Scope
Explicitly state any assumptions about what the web strategy will and will not enable.
Example
The implementation of the web strategy will enable more simple interactions to be carried out with target audiences.
The implementation of the web strategy will enable faster turnaround of enquiries from the public received through the postal system.
Audience
Identify the core and non-core audience(s), where possible based on market research or dialogue with client groups. Identify each audience’s preferences, and the benefits for that audience to be addressed by the strategy.
It may be useful to identify audiences whose needs may not be explicitly addressed. This keeps all likely audiences in mind and can, over time, provide an impetus to keep evolving the site to meet changing needs.
Refer to Determine key audiences for further assistance.
Fit with cluster or sector strategies
Consider whether there are broad business strategies emanating from related organisations or groups of organisations that impact on your agency’s business strategies and the web strategy.
Identify also where others share your audience with a related purpose. A web strategy should consider all options for collaboration and sharing across agencies, services and other organisations. This includes customers, the E-government Unit, other government agencies, local authorities, non-government organisations, private sector and internationally. This may lead to wider thinking about how to satisfy audience needs from a content and service perspective. Where overlaps and alignments exist between agencies, these should be exploited in order to achieve the goals of the E-government Strategy.
Example
Statements in a web strategy responding to a sector perspective could include:
- "We will provide information in the language most appropriate for the audience, using the assistance of community groups to set priorities for translations."
- "We will develop information on managing personal health and safety in a collaborative fashion with all relevant agencies, but it will be from a single authoritative source (the Crown) by one agency."
Fit with central government drivers
Government policy and legislation covered in Legislated Obligations may impact on the web strategy or its implementation.
Example
Web strategy responses to central government drivers could include:
- "We will present and sort information for many different audiences (Māori, Pacific peoples, disabled, recreation and culture, communities)."
- "Online authentication of users will protect privacy."
- "Information presented on the web site and in print publications will be generated from the primary record held in the document management system."
- "Browser presentation of specialised file formats will be carried out according to the New Zealand e-GIF."
Governance and operations
Identify the web site custodian. The custodian may be a role or a business unit responsible for monitoring the contribution the web site makes to the achievement of organisation objectives, and ensuring that it continues to support business objectives by providing relevant, complete, up to date and reliable content and services.
While there will be a single business owner for the agency’s web presence, there are likely also to be many stakeholders, including service delivery, information management, technical and communications staff.
Example
- "The Communications Unit is the custodian of the agency presence on the government portal."
- "The Communications Unit will QA metadata and content provided by the business units."
- "Individual business units are responsible for dealing with enquiries received through the website about the information or services they provide."
Goals and objectives
The specific objectives to be achieved by implementing the business and web strategies should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound (SMART).
They are written statements that describe an intended outcome and clearly describe measurable targets for the major functions and operations of the agency’s web site.
Example
- "To reduce the annual demand for printed publications by 50% by 30/6/03, by making them available online."
- "To double the annual downloads of online information, by 31/12/03, by promoting the web site URL and details of what information is available."
- "To allow online renewal of C2/153/11g licences, by 30/6/03."
Critical success factors
These are things that have to happen, in order for the web strategy to achieve its goals successfully. They can include a risk assessment of the organisation and its environment.
Example
- "We must be able to understand and respond to users' satisfaction with the site (through both feedback assessment and user satisfaction research)."
- "We must be able to integrate the Internet site with our intranet and other information systems."
- "We must be able to monitor the development of the site and its success as a means of meeting our organisational objectives."
- "We must be able to demonstrate to users how our services and information fit in the context of related services and information."
- "We must be in alignment with the overall E-government Strategy."
Implementation projects
This is a programme plan detailing the main high-level projects required to deliver the strategy. Projects may cluster into more or less clearly defined development phases that reflect inter-related content, common infrastructure requirements and common operational support roles. The programme plan should include resources, objectives, dependencies, time-scales, deadlines, budgets and performance targets. The projects are likely to deliver infrastructure improvements, support new processes or add new functionality.
Operational implications of the web strategy
Once implemented, the strategy is likely to have operational implications. The web strategy is not the document to detail exactly how each operational impact will be dealt with, but to broadly define roles and ensure accountabilities can be assigned for each phase of the development, especially when the roles are new to the organisation.
The important principle that a Government web strategy should include is evidence that the web strategy is consistent, and incorporates the recommendations of other relevant strategies as follows:
E-government Strategy
The E-government Strategy is reviewed and updated regularly to reflect the progress made by both agencies and the e-Government Unit.
For further details of the e-Government strategy and the corresponding policy and principles that extend to your agency's web site(s), refer to E-government Policy Framework for Government-held Information.
Resource
E-government Strategy ( http://www.e.govt.nz/about-egovt/strategy/ )
New Zealand Disability Strategy
The New Zealand Disability Strategy - Making a World of Difference - Whakanui Oranga - aims to eliminate the barriers for the one-in-five New Zealanders who have long-term impairments to participating in and contributing to society. It provides a framework for government departments, to ensure people with impairments are considered or involved in decision-making so they are not disabled by the consequences of those decisions.
Resource
The Minister for Disability Issues launched the strategy in April 2001 (see http://www.odi.govt.nz/nzds/).
Māori Language Strategy
New Zealand has two official languages, English and Māori. The Māori Language Act of 1987 has particular requirements for Government, Crown agencies and Crown entities. However, it is not mandatory to provide government documents or web sites in Māori. In the interest of encouraging the use of te Reo Māori, some government departments have their web sites available in both languages.
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (The Māori Language Commission) promotes the use of Māori as a living language as an ordinary means of communication. The Commission can provide useful advice for government departments that wish to incorporate te Reo Māori in their web site.
Advice can be given on the:
- use of the macron
- use that will be made of the information if it is in te Reo Māori (e.g. annual reports and statement of intent)
- availability of translators, if the information on the web site needs to be updated regularly and quickly.
Web sites using te Reo Māori must be written correctly and in a manner that is easy to understand.
Resources
The Government's Māori Language Strategy is set out in Te Tūāoma - The Māori Language: The steps that have been taken (http://www.tpk.govt.nz/publications/docs/tetuaomaeng.pdf) [PDF, 1.3MB]
Mātātupu: Māori Language Policies and Plans: Guidelines to Assist Public Service Departments (http://www.tpk.govt.nz/publications/docs/matatupu.pdf) [PDF, 500 KB]
The Education Review Office publishes and regularly updates, He Kupu Arotake, its Māori-English glossary of educational terms, available on its web site as well as in hard copy.
Treaty of Waitangi (see http://www.govt.nz/en/aboutnz/ )
Record-keeping strategy
The production and/or collection of documents by agencies have been around well before web sites were in existence. Accordingly, agencies will have expected to have had a record-keeping strategy and process in place for all documents under their control. Documents that agencies make available on their web sites, including the web pages themselves, are no different to documents that agencies have been managing with respect to their record-keeping processes.
Records should be kept of what has been changed and/or deleted on agency web sites.
The process of archiving is an important part of record-keeping. Refer to the definition of Archiving in the context of these standards and recommendations in the Glossary of Key Concepts.
Resources
Archives New Zealand can provide advice for agencies on record-keeping. Refer to their Record-keeping Publications.
Archives New Zealand also has a Guide to Record-keeping Strategies for Web sites
