IM plan for Queensland government
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This research paper outlines information management best practices in relation to Queensland State. The Queensland government envisions for an open, accountable, and participatory government. Information is at the heart of government operations and as such all planning and decision making activities of the organization depend on information management.
The development of this paper follows a series of steps that includes planning, design and implementation stages. Data were sourced from the diverse sectors within the state and analyzed to reveal the state of information management. Further, an appropriate IM roadmap was recommended to oversee the implementation of IM systems in the state to be applied for the next coming years. Results from the study indicate that, although the pace of IM implementation within the state industry is still low, significant efforts are underway.
First, the paper reviews Queensland government’s information management system and its current status. This involves the goals, objectives, current information policies and challenges of implementing them. Second, the paper will describe information analysis and evaluation bearing in mind IM needs, effectiveness of current policies and impending challenges. Finally, the paper will describe an IM roadmap for Queensland government in respect to its primary aim of ensuring that the right information is available to the right persons in the right format and medium, at the right time.
INTRODUCTION
Queensland Government appreciates the fact that information strategic information policy is necessary in order to achieve best practices in government functions. Information is a core strategic asset in addition to infrastructure and finance. It is due to this premise that the government desire to build systems and infrastructure that ensure that information quality, reliability, integrity and availability is maintained for efficient and well targeted decision making. SA better informed community is a core component of community empowerment realized through participatory design and delivery of government services (Kloot, & Martin, 2000).
The development of information management strategic plan is expected to fulfill impending issues in regard to information and information management in Queensland State.
BACKGROUND
Queensland Government recognizes that development of an Information Management Strategic Framework is an essential component of information freedom laws. This followed the establishment of an Independent Review Panel in 2008 that recommended the development of a government information policy. A whole-of-Government strategic information policy that posits government information is an essential strategic asset in the Smart State vision (Officer, 2013).
Earlier efforts included the development of Queensland Information Policy Board and the issuance of the first Information Standards. This was improved in 2002 by the Public Records Act that promoted greater accountability through improved public record keeping. The latest development came in 2006 when Service Delivery and Performance Commission recommended the development of management information systems to control government dissemination of information.
GOALS
Queensland government information vision revolves around a more informed community achieved through proactive dissemination of information in the right media and at the right time to the right people. The government desires to be a leading entity in information delivery and management, fully exploiting its strategic potential for efficient delivery of services to serve the needs of the community.
Specifically, the government desires to;
- Develop information governance arrangement in regards to information sharing
- Inculcate responsible management of information assets throughout their lifecycle
- Plan and execute information management strategies in an annual basis linking agency and annual government entities
- Adhere to the information management legal, ethical and regulatory policies in executing all its operations
- Guarantee the right of information to every person who requires it at the right time and in the right place, thereby promoting open and accountable government
- Make information readily available to everyone looking for it
- Increase social and fiscal returns on information through enhanced data , knowledge and information aggregation and sharing.
- Train staff and information users on efficient information management skills
- Design and develop information systems to collect, store and retrieve information in an easy and appropriate manner
- Exercise good information management procedures to reduce information duplication and rework
In doing this, it applies the following information management principles;
- Information rights and obligations – this involve the information rights of individuals and organizations possessed together with the obligations towards them
- Property rights and obligations – involves how intellectual property rights are protected in the digital age and the procedures for tracing and accounting for ownership
- Accountability and control – Who can be held responsible for the harm done to individuals and organizations in respect to information use and misuse
- System quality – the standards of data and systems quality used to protect individual rights and those of the society
- Quality of life – what values and information should be preserved in the information-rich society and which organizations should track and protect violation (Glen, & Weerawardena, 1996).
Stakeholders
Queensland government operations are influenced by various stakeholders in the private and public domain. Naturally, the government works for all the citizens and thus, all the citizens qualify as stakeholders to governments IM. The government is segregated into sectors of operation for easier management and delivery of services. These sectors may be described as follows;
Existing information management systems and policies
Queensland government information systems and policies is founded on six information principles;
Transparency: The public has a right to information
Trustworthiness: Information presented in any sector is accurate, timely, relevant, and easily available in secure form
Privacy: Private information is protected with utmost consideration in accordance with set regulations and laws
Value: information is a core strategic asset held by the government in addition to other assets
Management: For information to be useful, it must be managed effectively through planning, systems and compliance
Equitability: Information should be accessible to all irrespective of age, gender, beliefs or social orientation
Policies
According to Queensland Government Chief Information Officer, these principles have been considered in developing current policies and information management systems. Each principle is adequately detailed in the QGCIO Information Principles publication.
Queensland Government is governed by the premise that information should be easily accessible and available. The Government has developed strategic information policies that posit public information as a strategic asset for efficient governance. Current existing policies include;
- Information disclosure and privacy
- Procurement and disposal of public assets
- Ethics and transparency policy
- Cyberspace and cyber security policy
- Information governance policy
Information governance policy establishes the base requirements for agencies and other sectors of governments operations. The policy necessitates government departments and ICT service providers to adequately implement formal information governance as per the stated principles.
Cyberspace and cyber security policy defines mechanism and standards used by organizations and governments to practice safe security techniques and reduce the number of successful cyber security attacks.
Ethics and transparency policy binds public officers to exercise ethical standards in regards to information handling and exercise due transparency in their operations. Information disclosure and privacy controls the degree of disclosure of personal information in respect to privacy and on a need-to-know basis.
Information systems
Queensland Government has the capacity and resources to monitor and implement the delivery of public information and data in a transparent, private, trustworthy, equitable and managed manner. According to department of strategic planning, other information currently used by the Government includes;
MISU: According to MISU website, it is an evaluation tool for automated systems used in monitoring, educating and counseling users on health related issues.
iFinTax: This is a information system that is used for fiscal purposes. According to QGCIO, the system is responsible for management of government’s revenue and obligations.
MedInfo: This system is a general purpose system used to information storage, retrieval, and analysis. It is used to analyze varied types of information detailed-intensive operations.
Public IM: This is an information system currently used to profile all public officers and manage them. It is a public service IS specifically used for recruitment, promotion, retirement and awarding pension.
Challenges
According to Queensland strategic plan (2010), the government is faced with a host of challenges attributed to the following factors;
- High cost of implementing IM systems in all the sectors of the economy
- Management challenges arising from lack of policies and rules to govern the industry
- Lack of sufficient evidence to distinctively rule out benefits and effects of technology adoption in managing public resources
- High initial cost of setting up systems to support efficient service delivery versus long term viability (Chang, & Gable, 2002).
- Legislative and regulatory barriers that hinder operations of some information systems
- Management of increasingly bulging information brought about by adoption of IT especially unstructured data such as emails, and documents
Each of the stated challenges provides a reference point beyond which future sections is based on.
Chang, S. I., & Gable, G. G. (2002). A comparative analysis of major ERP life cycle implementation, management and support issues in Queensland government. Journal of Global Information Management (JGIM), 10(3), 36-54.
Glen, W., & Weerawardena, J. (1996). Strategic planning practices in small enterprises in Queensland. Small Enterprise Research, 4(3), 5-16.
Kloot, L., & Martin, J. (2000). Strategic performance management: A balanced approach to performance management issues in local government.Management Accounting Research, 11(2), 231-251.
Officer, G. G. (2013). Queensland Government information management strategic framework.
Sedera, D., Rosemann, M., & Gable, G. (2001). Using performance measurement models for benefit realization with enterprise systems-the queensland government approach [CASE STUDY]. In The 9th European Conference on Information Systems, Bled, Slovenia.
