   
 |
Fact Sheet:8
|
Making better use of new technology
Making best use of information and communications technology (ICT) has become a central
issue for all kinds of organisation including Agencies and NDPBs, and it is a key enabler
of Modernising Government. New technologies raise new possibilities for organisational
structure; the re-engineering of business processes; and modes of service delivery. This
Factsheet sets out the sort of questions which a review should consider when looking at
the role of new technology in improving services.
Strategic considerations
 | Is the Agency/NDPB’s strategic management process, and the development of its
overall business plan, informed by awareness of the potential of new technologies? |
| Is the Agency/NDPB’s IT strategy driven by business needs? |
| Has the Agency/NDPB ensured that all its staff have adequate IT training, sufficient to
allow them to make full use of their systems? |
| Is the Agency/NDPB hooked up to the Government Secure Intranet and planning to exploit
its potential? |
| Is the Agency/NDPB’s management aware of the development of the corporate IT
strategy for government? |
| Does the Agency/NDPB have its own Champion for Information Age Government, working with
the Department’s Champion for the interdepartmental IAGC group? |
|
Data sharing and data protection
| Is the Agency/NDPB aware of the implications for its work of the implementation of the
Data Protection Act 1998? |
| In particular, if the Agency/NDPB decides to use IT in new ways, has it ensured that it
has an adequate statutory basis for any new use of personal data? |
|
Electronic service delivery (ESD)
| Is the Agency/NDPB pursuing options for delivery of electronic services through a
variety of channels1? |
| How is the Agency/NDPB planning to achieve the targets that by 2002, 25% |
| of all Government services to business and the public should be capable of electronic
delivery, 50% by 2005, and 100% by 2008? |
| How is the Agency/NDPB ensuring that the introduction of ESD in new areas, or of new
types of ESD, is part of a general re-engineering of business processes (including
back-office systems) and re-thinking of its business plan? |
| How is the Agency/NDPB ensuring that it identifies and overcomes barriers to more
widespread use of ESD: technical, legal, or cultural? |
|
Monitoring progress after the review
| Are the Agency/NDPB’s and the Department’s ICT systems capable of supporting
the process of continuous monitoring of performance? |
| Have these systems been constructed in such a way as to enable the sharing of
information across government, in order to promote evidence-based policy-making? |
|
Footnote
1 Channels are services that carry transactions between the
activities of people and businesses that need to interact with government, and the
relevant functions of government (local or central). Further information is available on
the Internet at http://www.citu.gov.uk/moderngov/cppolicy.htm
|
|
