Ministry of Economic Development

Ministry of Economic Development

Context

The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) facilitates, leads and implements the Government's vision for economic development.

The Ministry leads the production and co-ordination of policy advice related to economic, regional and industry development. MED works with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to design and implement programmes to deliver the Government's economic development policies.

Operationally, MED is increasing the provision of high quality, cost effective online services, such as those of the Companies Office and the Intellectual Property Office.

Ministry of Economic Development E-government Initiatives

• Increase online services
• Mobile phone text to databases
• Integrate services with IRD for businesses

Summary

Ready Access: MED provides ready access to information and services through many websites, several of which are of a high standard. MED should create additional metadata to provide better coverage of its information and services via the government portal.

Alignment: MED's online transactional services align closely with the E-government Strategy, and moves to integrate online services with IRD aligns closely with the 2007 target. Structuring the main website around the information needs of users, and extending the online services to other areas within MED would further improve alignment.

Internet and Communications Technology

MED uses websites to provide an extensive amount of information. The main website provides access to information about the Ministry, its purpose and objectives, policies and programmes, responsibilities and relationships. With so much information available, good website navigation and structure is crucial for people to have ready access to information.

Most information on the main website is categorised into broad subject topics, generally based on MED's outputs. MED is considering improving site navigation by tailoring information on the home page to the information needs of the user. MED's intranet could be similarly redesigned, providing improved access to information relevant to staff.

MED provides a number of online services, although these can be extremely difficult to locate using the main website. Online services mostly relate to the registries that MED is responsible for. Separate websites for the Companies Office, the Intellectual Property Office, the Personal Property Securities Register, the New Zealand Insolvency and Trustee Service, and the Electrical Worker's Register all offer varying degrees of online registry searching and transactions.

The online registries are effective at proving ready access to information. The up take of these online services has been excellent, which MED has encouraged through fee and timing reductions. For example, the reduction of online fees to nominal amounts will have contributed to virtually all companies now being registered online.

Access to the registry information is being further improved with functionality that enables people to text message a registry for information. For example, people can request and receive car ownership details held in the Personal Property Securities Registry using mobile phone text messaging.

MED and the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) are integrating the processes for registering a company and obtaining a GST number using the Internet. Once completed, people will be able to register a company and obtain a GST number on a single website. Further integrated services are being considered.

Within MED, a single IT management and accountability structure is intended. Ongoing enhancements to core IT services and systems are being made, with a focus on streamlining services and systems.

Ready Access to Information and Services

Metadata

MED has 15 metadata records for its main site, and several more for its other branches. MED's information and services are not adequately covered through the portal. MED should re-assess its metadata to ensure that it is consistent, up-to-date, and that all major areas of the site are covered.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has 92 metadata records on a wide variety of subjects, but links need to be updated to direct people to specific areas of the website.

Website Assessment

Websites assessed during June 2004 included:

www.med.govt.nz
www.tourism.govt.nz
www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz
www.consumerkids.govt.nz
www.ess.govt.nz
www.companies.govt.nz
www.iponz.govt.nz
www.ppsr.govt.nz
www.insolvency.govt.nz
www.motortraders.med.govt.nz
www.med.govt.nz/rsm
www.med.govt.nz/ewrb
www.gif.govt.nz
www.gsf.govt.nz
www.trcnz.govt.nz

But excluded: ECAT, Ministerial Inquiries sites, E-commerce Summit, RDC, SNAP

Overall, the MED's websites are of a good standard. Websites such as the Growth and Innovation Framework, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Tourism Research Council, Radio Spectrum Management and the Ministry's main site performed especially well in the assessment. The strengths of the sites are in Information Delivery. In future, usability and required government content on the sites could be improved.

Key quality issues noted during the assessment included:

• Good range, depth and presentation of information and services content.
• Usability and site navigation could be improved for easier use.
• Missing website policies mean people may be unsure about feedback, privacy, copyright and complaints.
• Some required email addresses are missing or were not answered during the assessment.
• Missing accessibility features, such as access keys, navigation skipping and style sheet problems may impede some physically impaired people's access.
• Some broken links prevent people from accessing certain content.
• Some documents are in PDF only, excluding people who are unable or unwilling to read this format.
• Contact details could be more specific to enable responsive handling of enquiries.
• More links between relevant web pages would be useful.

Alignment With E-government Goals

Convenience and Satisfaction

In addition to websites, people can access information using MED's call-centre. Staff use IT systems to help manage and answer calls, which are routed based on staff skills and specialist knowledge.

Integration and Efficiency

MED is creating online services that are designed to meet people's needs. People's awareness and use of online services is increasing, partly helped by greater linking between sites. For instance, links to MED's online services can be accessed through New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's Business Information Zone portal.

MED's work towards providing integrated services with IRD aligns closely with the E-government Strategy. The integration of services with other agencies is also being considered.

Participation

MED uses the Internet to encourage people to participate in government. For example, documents under discussion can be viewed and downloaded from the main website, and MED encourages people to provide submissions.