Today we expect increasingly more from local authorities. We expect efficiency and transparency of service and low-cost, high-quality operations. Local authorities are accountable for managing information, as a core resource, throughout its lifecycle of creation, storage, access, maintenance and disposal – all of which needs to be conducted in an environment of adequate security.

These rising expectations puts pressure on local government organisations, such as Waipa District Council (Waipa D.C.), to ensure that information resources are managed in the most efficient and responsible manner. By engaging Fujitsu to review its information operations and establish the strategy and supporting framework for its whole information environment, the council is blazing a trail in local authority best practice.

Rising demands and diminishing transparency
Like most local authorities, Waipa D.C. faces an ongoing drive to introduce new efficiencies and minimise costs. Alongside its responsibilities for managing public infrastructure, community and economic factors, it is also tasked with effectively managing a wealth of associated public information through its entire lifecycle.

As information within the organisation grows in volume and complexity this task becomes more onerous. In addition to safely protecting information, local authorities must also be able to access the right information at a moment’s notice to meet ratepayers’ evolving expectations.

Waipa D.C. business services manager Bobbie Blenkarne says the council wanted to understand best practice in information management and ensure one hundred percent compliance with legislation. “We manage a phenomenal amount of information and we needed to be sure we had a real sense of what that really meant. We wanted to look at an information management strategy to better support the organisation and provide a more proactive approach for our stakeholders.”

A review by Fujitsu of the council’s information environment addressed links in the organisation’s strategic and operational framework. The review examined the relationship between business needs and what the technology employed could deliver, including the definition and understanding of roles and responsibilities for information, technology and knowledge, clarity and transparency of the processes supporting information across the organisation, and access to information.

“Responsiveness is a key driver for local government organisations,” says Blenkarne. “People expect to get the same level of service from us as they would from any other corporate.”

Putting strategy into information management
In order to address these challenges Fujitsu worked alongside Waipa D.C. to establish the strategic framework around information management at the Council.

In discussions with council managers and staff, a common theme to emerge was the desire for a high level of compliance and the reassurance that the organisation was operating as effectively and efficiently as possible. “We need to be able to trust our information, to know we are fully compliant and that we are taking full advantage of what technology has to offer,” says Blenkarne.

Fujitsu developed an information management strategy and framework, which prescribed a definitive programme of work encompassing six broad-based initiatives broken down into 32 discrete projects for deployment over the next three years. For Waipa D.C. this meant establishing initiatives including compliance and governance, document management, email management, web environment, technology platform, information culture, and management information.

The focus of the framework was on instituting sound and compliant practices quickly, without heavy capital expenditure. “We face huge risks if we are not compliant and we have operational costs to consider. There’s no strategy to increase our customer base, apart from more ratepayers. So it’s our job to run the business within specified financial limits, plans and strategies. It is important to deliver the goods and to meet expectations,” says Blenkarne. “Operational efficiency is the key – doing more with less. We needed to institutionalise our information and knowledge so that everyone could see what we were doing.”

Plotting change
Fujitsu harnessed a number of consulting disciplines, including knowledge management, technology architecture and its infrastructure division, to provide a wide spectrum of advice. However, a principal objective was to transfer knowledge to Waipa D.C. so that the organisation could competently manage its own projects.

Just six months into the three year programme a new corporate website has been produced, and this will be expanded to more fully engage stakeholders and manage in-house projects. The shared drive infrastructure has been redesigned to capture all organisation documents, and a document management policy that provides guidance for email management, document naming protocols and standard business terms, is being implemented.

A review of every piece of legislation impacting Waipa D.C.’s information showed that the organisation was in fact fully compliant. “It’s given us a sense that we’re on the right track and doing things well. We’re now more comfortable that the information we are capturing is the right information,” says Blenkarne.

Waipa D.C.’s technology environment has also been reviewed providing management with a better understanding of total cost of ownership and technology changes, such as upgrades, so that decisions are more aligned to the business. “IT is not our core business and we needed to be sure we asked the right questions,” says Blenkarne. “We needed to be clear that what we were getting was right.”

Although it is still early days, management at Waipa D.C. reports the framework is much improved and that there is renewed confidence to move forward with certainty. “We are very pleased with progress and could not have achieved what we have without Fujitsu. It’s a great step forward,” says Blenkarne.

For more information
Fujitsu
+64 9 921 8093
www.fujitsu.co.nz

August 2006