Survey of public sector information management 2021
Public sector organisations are stewards of information about New Zealanders. Effective management of this information is critical for them to maintain their social licence.
Information management practices include acquisition, custodianship, distribution, and disposal through archiving or deletion.
The maturity of an organisation’s information management strategy provides an indication of their ability to protect their information in times of business change (information is often exposed to greater risks when an organisation is undergoing change). In the last few years, many public sector organisations have had to make business changes in response to COVID-19.
The annual Survey of public sector information management is a key regulatory tool for assuring public sector information is well-managed. The following key indicators provide a high-level perspective on whether information management is improving, declining, or remaining stable.
The full survey results provide more comprehensive data on the performance of public sector organisations.
Findings report - Survey of public sector information management 2020/21 (PDF, 4MB)
Summary - Survey of public sector information management 2020/21 (PDF, 666KB)
Information Management Governance Groups
Improving
Governance groups are foundations for elevating the importance of information management and integrating it into business operations. A lack of governance often indicates poor organisational performance in this area.
60% of responding organisations had formal governance groups for information management.
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![Line graph for year 2019/20 and 2020/21]()
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Detailed description of graph 1
This line graphs shows the percentage increase in the establishment of Information Management Governance Groups. In 2019/20 we see 48% of organisations had no formal governance group and a decrease to 40% by 2020/21. Fifty-two percent of organisations had a formal governance group established in 2019/20, we can see an increase to 60% of organisations in 2020/21.
Information Management Staff
Stable
Information management specialists are essential for the proper functioning of digital government. It is however, common for organisations with fewer than 100 total FTEs to have no information management staff.
Seven large responding organisations had few information management specialists and were at greater risk of mismanaging their information.
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Detailed description of graph 2
This proportional area chart shows the amount of information management staff working within an organisation compared with its overall amount of full-time staff.
Within organisations with less than 100 full time employees 28 have no information management specialists, 24 have 1-3 information management specialists and 2 organisations have more than 4.
Organisations with between 100-2,999 full time employees – 15 organisations have no information management specialists; 82 organisations have between 1 and 3 information management specialists.
Organisations with 3,000 or more full time employees – 1 organisation does not have an information management specialist; 6 organisations have between 1 and 3 information management specialists and 18 have more than 4 information management specialists employed.
Identification of high-value and/or high-risk information
Declining
Identifying high-value/high-risk information is a foundation for other information management activities. It is a critical first step towards mitigating associated risks and extracting maximum value from information assets.
Little progress has been made in the last year to identify high-value and/or high-risk information.
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Detailed description of graph 3
Over the 2019/20 time period there was 36% of organisations have identified information of high value/high risk, 43% are in progress of identification, 18% do not know and 3% do not know. Over the 2020/21 time period there was 35% of organisations have identified information of high value/high risk, 49% are in progress of identification, 13% do not know and 3% do not know.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles of partnership, participation and protection underpin the relationship between the Government and Māori.
Many public sector organisations create and hold information important to whānau, hapū and iwi.
Little progress has been made in the last year to identify records with te ao Māori value.
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![Line graph showing Māori value for year 2019/20 and 2020/21]()
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Detailed description of graph 4
This horizontal line graph shows a decrease in percentage of information identified by organisations which holds value of te ao Māori from the 2019/20 period to 2020/21 period. Thirty-nine percent of organisations had identified such information in 2019/20 compared with 35% in 2020/21.
Improving access to information with te ao Māori value is the most common activity to improve usage.
Building information management requirements into new business systems
Stable
Building information management requirements into a business system from the beginning enables proper management of the information created and stored in that system.
Half of responding organisations had built information management requirements into their business systems.
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Detailed description of graph 5
This single stacked bar graph shows information management built into the organisation’s system. Twenty-five percent of organisations do have information management built within their system. Thirty-four percent do not have any information management built into their systems and 14% do not know.
Active, authorised destruction of information
Declining
A large proportion of the information an organisation creates does not have long-term value for the organisation or New Zealanders. Active, authorised destruction of information helps mitigate the risk associated with retaining it for longer than required.
Little progress has been made in the last year to actively carry out the authorised destruction of physical and/or digital information.
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Detailed description of graph 6
This horizontal line graph shows the percentage of authorised destruction of records by organisations. There has been a decrease from 2019/20-2020/21 of 2% in total, from 58% to 56%. Physical destruction has remained consistent over this time period at 52%. Digital destruction has increased from 26% in 2019/20 to 29% in 2020/21.