Information management strategy at the Office of the Ombudsman
Learn how the Office of the Ombudsman achieved the ‘Maturing’ rating for its information management strategy in an information management maturity assessment.
A strategy for success
As Kaitiaki Mana Tangata, the Chief Ombudsman is the guardian of the mana of the people and the official watchdog for government actions and decisions.
The Office of the Ombudsman has a 3-year information management (IM) strategy which outlines a systematic approach to managing information across all operational environments, including protection of a significant portfolio of confidential case records.
The 2022 audit, conducted under the Public Records Act 2005, assessed the Office of the Ombudsman at the ‘Maturing’ rating (one step below ‘Optimising’) for its information management strategy.
Read the full Public Records Act Audit Report for the Office of the Ombudsman
The Ombudsman – Kaitiaki Mana Tangata
The Ombudsman – Kaitiaki Mana Tangata is an Office of Parliament first established in 1962 and receives its mandate directly from Parliament. It is subject to the Public Records Act (the Act) but not the Privacy Act 2020 nor the Official Information Act 1982.
The Ombudsman’s overall purpose is to investigate, review and inspect conduct and decision-making, and provide advice and guidance to ensure people are treated fairly. These powers include complaint resolution, systemic investigations, monitoring of performance under the International Disabilities Convention, places of detention, and receiving protected disclosures.
The Ombudsman gives effect to key democratic and human rights measures aimed at safeguarding the rights of people and promoting government accountability and transparency. It is independent and impartial with a focus on fairness for all.
The Ombudsman manages many high-risk, high-value records which may involve individual complaints, systemic issues, deaths in custody, examination of prisons and mental health institutions, advice and guidance to public sector organisations, Ministers and whistleblowers.
What good recordkeeping is
The Act requires the public sector to create and maintain full, accurate and accessible records of government affairs. Information and records must be correct and trustworthy, and accessible for use until their authorised disposal.
The Act provides tools and empowers the Poumanaaki Chief Archivist and Te Rua Mahara Archives New Zealand to support public sector organisations with the creation, management, disposal and preservation of information and records, including data. This includes scheduled third party, point in time audits aimed at improving IM maturity.
An IM maturity assessment can identify areas for improvement, track organisational trends over time, and collect data to support IM strategies, plans and business cases.
In a public sector organisation or Office of Parliament, the executive sponsor has strategic and executive responsibility for overseeing information and records management.
Strategy and governance
The Ombudsman’s staff has expanded from 80 to over 200 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) over the past 5 years.
The executive sponsor is the Assistant Ombudsman Corporate, responsible for the recently created data and information teams, and chairs the Information Management Policy and Strategy Governance group (IMPSG) — a formal governance group with its own terms of reference comprising all senior leadership and key stakeholders.
With the expansion of the data hub, the Information and Knowledge Management team (IKM) has grown from 3 to 9 FTEs operating as 2 hubs:
IM — responsible for recordkeeping, policy advice, managing the ECM (enterprise content management) and library services
the Data hub — responsible for data analytics, reporting and forecasting.
The work of both hubs is guided by the Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP), which also includes the work of the Information Communications Technology (ICT) team.
The ISSP is part of the Chief Ombudsman’s organisational strategic planning framework. Strategy and governance are closely linked at the Ombudsman. Senior leadership supports the work of the IKM team through active participation at the governance level. ISSP work is a standard item at the monthly IMPSG meetings and the minutes record key recommendations on IKM and ICT team initiatives.
A strategic plan
The ISSP, which has been in operation for nearly a decade, sets the 3-year direction for the Ombudsman that the IKM and ICT teams rely on.
This blended strategy was developed by the Chief Ombudsman and their Chief Information Officer in collaboration with the IKM and ICT team managers and included workshops with key stakeholders and business units. The ISSP is subject to annual reviews and updates, and a full revision at the close of each 3-year cycle.
The ISSP acknowledges the constitutional context of the Ombudsman, their priorities and vision for the office and includes its work relating to Te Tiriti o Waitangi as an independent Office of Parliament, its purpose, principles, enabling capabilities and strategic themes. It also sets the ICT and IKM priority work programmes for the coming year.
ISSP principles
The current ISSP has 6 principles:
Strategic information and technology leadership — delivering digital outcomes, new ways of working, whilst meeting the risk and security needs of the Ombudsman.
Business-centric and partnership thinking — working with the business to determine solutions and providing ongoing support.
People and resources — ensuring a skilled, knowledgeable ICT and IKM workforce, and a knowledge-literate workforce.
Maintenance of core functions — keeping key infrastructure and operations functional and updated.
Sustainability and scalability — ensuring solutions fit within the existing enterprise architecture.
Practise what we preach — doing what we recommend to other public sector organisations.
ISSP strategic themes
The core strategy on the ISSP is based on 7 strategic themes that apply to the work of both the IKM and ICT teams:
strengthening foundations
information as a digital asset
connectivity, communication and collaboration
future hosting opportunities
better insights and decision making
integrated, effective planning, performance and resource management
innovation.
These strategic themes guide the work programme for each year. Information as a digital asset particularly applies to the work of IKM.
ISSP enabling capabilities
The ISSP enables the IKM and ICT teams by ensuring work:
is governed at an appropriate level
balances control and flexibility whilst remaining safe and secure
utilises enabling technologies to meet changing needs
supports digital literacy — enabling staff to make data-driven decisions, to share and reuse information.
Information as a digital asset
The Ombudsman’s approach to information as a digital asset focuses on identifying high-risk, high-value records, ensuring the organisation is compliant with recordkeeping legislation and relevant UN conventions, whilst managing records through their lifecycle so users can find and use relevant information.
Since the audit, the IKM team has launched several new initiatives to grow maturity and instil good user practice. This includes introducing an information risk assessment — a standing item at IMPSG meetings — undertaken at the start of each new project or technology development. The information risk assessment approach is based on a privacy impact assessment but has been broadened to include, for example, retention and disposal of information.
Information by design is another recent initiative. This is a standard set of detailed recordkeeping requirements used when developing requests for proposal (RFPs) or reviewing quotes, and helps step out requirements related to the Act.
The IKM team has completed a pilot for an information asset register that will launch as a major project in this financial year. This will run in tandem with a complex, multi-year project managing retention and disposal for all paper and digital records.
Strategy in action
After nearly a decade of existence, the ISSP and the IMPSG are well embedded and accepted practice in operations at the Office of the Ombudsman.
Governance and strategy are closely linked at the Ombudsman. Senior leadership supports the work of the IKM team through active participation at the governance level. The executive sponsor chairs the IMPSG, and the IKM and ICT managers are also members of this group.
Monthly reporting ensures that information and data management issues get regular visibility and consideration at the leadership level.
Through building good relationships and collaboration across the organisation, engaging early, making visible the IM work at a senior level, and a strong customer service focus, the IKM team has earned a reputation as trusted advisors adding value across the wide range of business groups.
Slow and steady continuous improvement is building IM practice maturity. This relies on identifying and assessing information risks at the design stage of new projects and technology solutions, and regular reporting on risk at governance level.
Sharing good practice beyond audit webinar
This case study was originally presented as part of a joint webinar we organised on sharing good practice beyond audit. This was an opportunity for both Executive Sponsors and government IM practitioners to listen and share IM practice across the sector.
Watch the full Sharing good practice beyond audit webinar
The speakers shared their practice approach on specific topics from the Information Management Maturity Assessment:
Kate Kolich: Topic 3 Governance and the Executive Sponsor (presentation begins at 13 minutes into the webinar video)
Ralph Chivers: Topic 11 High-value/High-risk information (presentation begins at 34 minutes into the webinar video)
Helen Quaggin-Molloy: Topic 1 IM Strategy (presentation begins at 55 minutes into the webinar video).
Kate Kolich is the Assistant Governor/General Manager Information, Data, and Analytics and Executive Sponsor at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Ralph Chivers is the Acting General Manager of Organisation Performance and Executive Sponsor at the Commerce Commission New Zealand.
Helen Quaggin-Molloy is the Manager, Information and Knowledge Management at the Office of the Ombudsman New Zealand.