Observations on Local Government IT

The Inevitable Implication of eDAIS The past decade or two has...

lg20 — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:30:47 +1000

The Inevitable Implication of eDAIS

The past decade or two has seen a complete transformation in the way development applications are lodged and processed. What was a completely paperbound process now relies on electronic systems to manage the approval process within Council and increasing adoption of online lodgement of applications. The only remaining paper bound part of the process is the decision notice which is printed, signed and mailed the old fashioned way.

Many Councils are now looking to close the loop by issuing development permits electronically.

Digitally signed development permits can be directly captured to your records system without the wasted effort and reduced fidelity of scanning a signed hard copy. You will also use less paper, save on printing costs and will waste less effort with a simplified outgoing mail process.

In making this transition it is important to ensure Council adopts a method for electronic signatures that is both simple and secure.

The most secure method for signing documents electronically uses the same standards that are used to secure all online banking and internet commerce. PKI digital signatures ensure:

your signature cannot be copied to another document,
that the signature is invalidated by any change to the document and
your signature can be objectively validated as authentic.

You can start using a hosted digital signature service that avoids any need for capital purchases or upfront costs. You only pay for the documents you put through the service and costs are on par with the price of a stamp. Ensure you select a local provider to comply with privacy obligations. These videos demonstrate the simplicity of digitally signing your development permits.

On premise solutions are also available that allow you to sign documents from within your desktop software such as Office and Adobe Reader. These solutions also open up options to automate high volume tasks like signing large numbers of adjoining owners notifications.

2013 should be the year you start issuing digital development permits!

Click the ‘Ask Me Anything’ link above (it’s the “?” icon) if you’d like more information about how digital signatures work.

davidschulz: bestrooftalkever: Can’t fall back...

lg20 — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:04:37 +1000

davidschulz:

bestrooftalkever:

Can’t fall back asleep.

Grammar humour!

If nothing else social media has highlighted a lot of people’s grammar shortcomings… your and you’re, there and their etc… English; it’s a strange language.

"There is no bad weather, only bad clothing."

lg20 — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 11:18:20 +1000

““There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.””

- Swedish saying

11th Hour Fiscal Cliff Deal Not Signed by Obama. Even though...

lg20 — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:43:20 +1000

11th Hour Fiscal Cliff Deal Not Signed by Obama.

Even though it’s been hard to avoid hearing about the ‘fiscal cliff’ in the US, I still don’t really know what it’s all about. Too many other pressing issues on my mind over the summer break such as working out whether I should eat all the leftover sweet treats in a sustained binge or to exercise judicious restraint through to about Easter.

Despite my calculated indifference to the budgetary melodrama of the US government, this piece from The Verge slipped through my guard. The short version is that Obama didn’t personally sign the fiscal cliff legislation. He had more important things to do, places to be. So he used an autopen to faithfully transcribe his ‘john hancock’ on the deal. Reading this brought back deep childhood disappointment with the results of my efforts with a sketch-a-graph!

While the main article is mildly interesting, the comments were a stark reminder to me about how confused people’s thinking is around signatures. Intuitively we all understand that in an increasingly digital world, our autograph on a piece of paper is really the least useful way we can indicate our agreement or approval.

For some of the people using Secured Signing to digitally sign electronic documents, the key thing is to be able to sign things while they are out of the office. It’s certainly a much cheaper option than Obama’s autopen!

“A simple but powerful tool” to preserve Kuku...

lg20 — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 15:00:45 +1000

“A simple but powerful tool” to preserve Kuku Yalanji Cultural Heritage.

The Western Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation is responsible for the cultural heritage protection and management for the Western Yalanji people. This is a process that intrinsically acknowledges the importance of ‘place’ which make mapping an important tool.

Paul Fisk, Executive Officer of the Corporation shared the ways in which ShareMap is used in their planning and field operations. ”We find it to be a relatively simple but powerful tool and it has greatly enhanced our capacity to collect and store data… and as an aid in the presentation of information and in consultation with the community.”

For more information about the ways in which ShareMap is being used and plans for its future use, grab a copy of Paul’s letter to the guys at SDX.

Image: Tourism Australia

lg20: Anyone can present better and it doesn’t matter what...

lg20 — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:30:24 +1000

lg20:

Anyone can present better and it doesn’t matter what tools you use.

This presentation from Bill Gates is really top shelf. His speaking style is natural and it’s clear he has a strong grasp of the material. The visuals supporting the presentation are simple, clear and powerful. What makes it stark for me is comparing this to how he used to present. Check out this shocker. ”This slide really pulls it all together”… Really?!?!?

So what’s changed?

Often you’ll see really great presenters using Macs and Keynote. Even though Bill has retired from active duty I think the chances of him not using PowerPoint on a PC are pretty slim. So this is clear proof that simplicity and clarity of purpose can create strong presentation visuals regardless of the tools used.

Now don’t get me wrong I use both KeyNote and PowerPoint to prepare presentations. The former for my own presentations and the latte for broader use by colleagues. For me, every experience of working with Powerpoint is like crawling across broken glass. But as Bill’s presentation shows, PowerPoint can be used to get the job done, and done well.

The comparison with his earlier presentation also makes it clear that Bill is not one of those naturally gifted orators. The difference is now I think he sees presenting well and influencing others as core to what he does in the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At Microsoft he was about getting things done himself - it was a locus of control. At the Foundation it’s more about exerting influence and convincing others to act. So he cares more about presenting and has clearly invested time in being a better presenter.

This all means you can be a better presenter. It’s not about which software tools you use it’s about how you use them. You don’t have to be a natural, you can learn and practice just like the rest of us!

In the modern workplace this is a vital skill - whether you’re presenting to a large audience in a packed auditorium or to five people in a meeting room. Getting your message across clearly is important.

Words fail me… see sketch. This is a phrase that brings to...

lg20 — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:24:05 +1000

Words fail me… see sketch.

This is a phrase that brings to mind a project manager I used to work with who would say this when things got to be too much. It is a phrase that also highlights the very real frustration of trying to describe in words something that is intrinsically graphical. I guess that’s why a meeting room isn’t complete until it has a whiteboard.

Sketching ideas becomes even more useful and powerful when they overlay a map. This video of ShareMap in action shows each of the stakeholders to a new project can participate in a spatial conversation to arrive at a decision that clearly reflects all contributions.

Source: SDX (www.sharemap.com)

You have 3.4 hours, time starts now...

lg20 — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:28:27 +1000

You have 3.4 hours, time starts now...:

This blog post from Craig Thomler concludes that if a criticism of Council is posted online, the discussion is all over in less than 4 hours. That carefully worded, legally vetted response approved by three levels of management you post 2 days later… Irrelevant!

Fair’s fair. This video makes it clear that it’s not...

lg20 — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:11:06 +1000

Fair’s fair.

This video makes it clear that it’s not just humans that desire equality. If seeing different rewards for the same outcome causes this reaction in capuchin monkeys, it’s no wonder it causes grief in the workplace!

16 September 1959: The Day the Signature Died - with apologies...

lg20 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:00:16 +1000

16 September 1959: The Day the Signature Died - with apologies to Don McLean.

Sometimes you get asked a question that there is no right answer to. Police officers used to be trained to ask you, “Why were you speeding?”. There is no right answer to that question. Any response agrees with the implied assumption in the question, that you were speeding. They don’t bother with this verbal jousting anymore as they usually have more than enough evidence for court without worrying about an implied admission.

For me, the question I get asked that has no right answer is, “Are digital signatures really as good as traditional signatures?”. The implicit assumption in this question is that wet ink signatures still provide any sense of reliability or authenticity! The value of a particular flourish on a printed page is dependent on it being difficult, expensive, or both, to reproduce.

The Xerox 914 plain paper copier was released on 16 September 1959. That was the day the signature died. Well, started to die, to be fair. Given you can buy a full colour multi function device that will scan, copy and print for $50, it’s safe to say the day the signature died has well and truly arrived!

Digital signatures are not as good as wet ink signatures; they are better, much better. Proper, PKI based digital signatures are not able to be copied, forged or tampered with. The document content is sealed and the signature invalidated if it is changed. The identity of the person who signed the document is irrevocably tied to the document.

A PKI digital signature gives you more confidence and reliability in a document than you ever had with a paper signature. Be aware though, not all digital signatures available offer all these advantages. Even some provided by the big brands of the IT industry fall surprisingly short.

Drop me a line and I can tell you the three things your digital signature solution must deliver for you.

Working from the same page map means less meetings There are a...

lg20 — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:28:57 +1000

Working from the same ~~page~~ map means less meetings

There are a lot of things I never knew I needed a map for. Most smartphones can show you a map, and more importantly, show you where you are on the map. This capability has been exploited by a surprising number of smartphone apps. Who knew there was a spatial dimension to restaurant reviews, tracking your fitness, reminders, managing your photos… and stalking your friends and family?

In so many of our personal and social situations we now know how useful understanding our location is. What about your work?

When you need a map, there is no substitute for… a map. When discussing the changes required to a proposed subdivision layout, you need to be looking at the map. When negotiating the alignment of new infrastructure, describing alternative layouts in words doesn’t work. When communicating the design options for a proposed sporting facility for community feedback, there must be a picture.

Can your Council have these spatial conversations online? Or, do you all gather over a paper map in a meeting room to assess that major development application? Do you shuffle design documents back and forward by email with the consulting engineers engaged to design the new arterial connection road? Is the feedback you receive from your community on new facilities and land use planning limited to words?

Spatial collaboration solutions, such as ShareMap are like a sketch pad overlay to your GIS system. Everybody involved in the discussion can explain their ideas visually. As different options are explored, version control provides a time lapse view of how the discussion has progressed and allows you to roll back to an earlier version. With granular access controls, everyone can be involved in the discussion without seeing information they shouldn’t. As an overlay, spatial conversations don’t affect the integrity of your corporate GIS data, but final outcomes can be folded back in without the need for manual capture.

If people can draw their ideas on the map, maybe you could review major projects or assess major development applications without a meeting. I’m all for less meetings!

I am looking to start a discussion about the projects and processes in local government that will benefit from everyone working from the same map. If you have a meeting you could avoid if you could ‘doodle’ your thoughts on a map, please tell me about it.

Image courtesy stock.xchg

Lies, damned lies and inescapable truths A story today of best...

lg20 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:48:04 +1000

Lies, damned lies and inescapable truths

A story today of best intentioned but made up statistics and some common sense wisdom hidden amongst it all.

One of my favourite statistics is that 92.84% of all statistics are made up. At least!

I am sure you’ve all been to a presentation where someone cites the oft quoted statistic that we only recall 10% of what we hear, 20% of what we read…. and 80% of what we do. I’ve always intrinsically mistrusted this assertion because real research is hardly going to produce such round numbers, so elegantly spaced. Agreeing with the sentiment, I’ve always been content to let the ‘white lie’ passed unchallenged. Not Will Thalheimer! He’s got to the bottom of this well accepted falsehood, tracing it all the way back to on the job training in the oil industry as early as the 1940’s in a detailed blog post.

Despite there being no research to back up these too neat numbers, it is hard to argue that doing is the best form of learning. It’s one of the advantages of hosted software that is less talked about; the ability to try before you buy. It is particularly useful in an area I’m working in at the moment - digital signatures. Let’s face it most people don’t really know what a digital signature is let alone have any experience with how they work in practice.

The company I’m working with, Secured Signing, offer a free personal account that lets you sign up to 3 documents each month. For business there is an evaluation account that gives you the chance to sign 25 documents free of charge and obligation. This is a very practical way to both understand how digital signatures can be used in your work and personal life and to assess the ease of use of a particular digital signature service.

Go on! Give it a go! What have you got to lose…

Your reality is determined by your point of view. When you are...

lg20 — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:09:37 +1000

Your reality is determined by your point of view.

When you are inside the organisation, you contribute a detailed understanding to solving the problem. Sometimes though you are too close to the problem to be able to ask impertinent questions.

The value of bringing in a fresh set of eyes is often a broader perspective that can question implicit assumptions and put the problem in a broader context. A different point of view can create a different reality where multiple solutions are possible.

Friday Vid: Femto-photography The digital camera market is a bit...

lg20 — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:45:07 +1000

Friday Vid: Femto-photography

The digital camera market is a bit obsessed with megapixels. Ramesh Raskar couldn’t care less about that; he’s into speed.

If you thought a nanosecond was fast, then a picosecond is faster and a femtosecond faster again. So what does the world look like at a trillion frames per second, when you can visibly see the motion of light? Weirder than you expect…

The kicker for me is at the end where Ramesh explains they had to ‘correct’ the image because at this ‘speed’ you start to see the changes in time Einstein predicted when you neared the speed of light!

Dreaming of the perfect NBN policy

lg20 — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 09:25:48 +1000

Dreaming of the perfect NBN policy:

Renai LeMay, delimiter.com.au

In an ideal world, the perfect National Broadband Network policy would be a mix of the policies espoused by both Labor and the Coalition, taking the best ideas from both sides and ditching the bad ones. It would address Australia’s…

Some days I imagine a political debate that actually moves the policy towards a better solution, taking the best of both sides of the argument… And then the alarm goes off. Here’s hoping both sides of the house read this.

Is this the best org chart you’ve ever seen? I know the...

lg20 — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:11:43 +1000

Is this the best org chart you’ve ever seen?

I know the cool kids are all talking about open data and local gov 2.0 but good communication is good communication even if it is on a boring old website and something as prosaic as an organisation chart.

This presentation of who’s who in Council really struck me because it completely abandons the traditional boxes and lines. Those things always look really terrible. The layout @HoldfastBay have opted for is visually much more pleasing, makes intelligent use of colour while still conveying the relationships and hierarchy in the organisation. 10/10!

Friday Vid Such an elegant presentation of the main points of...

lg20 — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 08:51:01 +1000

Friday Vid

Such an elegant presentation of the main points of debate about the tracking of our interactions on the internet.

I’ve been peripherally conscious of the ‘Do Not Track’ issue and debate but not personally engaged. Then this week I watched a TED presentation by Gary Kovacs of the Mozilla Foundation and a few days later had this video brought to my attention by Nancy Duarte.

So what does it all mean? I think the key issue here is permission. Information we might be happy to share with an organisation we trusted, is something we resent being collected without our permission by organisations we don’t know.

While people are right in mostly perceiving this as risk, there is also an opportunity. Commercial organisations actively seek to understand their audience whereas government agencies haven’t seriously considered how things could be better if they understood individuals in their communities better. Uniformity is confused with equity.

Let’s say you want feedback on a new cycle commuting strategy, wouldn’t it be handy to know who in the community already cycles to work? If you need volunteers to support a music festival wouldn’t it help to know who likes the style of music being promoted? In an emergency wouldn’t it be useful to get in touch with people in clubs and associations who can get a message to all their members? You get the idea…

I think the creepiness factor of the current tracking models make them completely unsuitable for government. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be looking for better ways to understand our community. Methods that are automated, cost effective and don’t require people to fill in endless surveys. Methods that are open, honest and rely on people’s explicit permission.

Fear of Flying The undocumented advantage of the cloud: taking...

lg20 — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:42:47 +1000

Fear of Flying

The undocumented advantage of the cloud: taking out the leap of faith

You’ve probably seen the videos of Jeb Corliss practicing the form of controlled falling he calls terrain flying. He zips along just metres away from cliffs and mountain sides at hundreds of kilometres an hour.

This is an activity that has no low risk learning curve. You either jump and get started, or you don’t.

This all or nothing approach has traditionally been the way with enterprise software. You jumped off a big capital expenditure cliff and made the bet your organisation and your people would adopt the system and derive value from it.

One of the less discussed advantages of hosted software is the way it lends itself to smaller, low risk starts. You can use it in a single work group or for a single process as hands on, very practical evaluation. Once you have some success on a small scale, you can rollout the solution to other processes, other workgroups. That scaling up is easy to do with hosted software.

Many hosted solutions will even offer a free evaluation period.

Hosted solutions are the ideal way to get a practical understanding of new tools and the ways they can improve your work without having to bet the farm up front. If you can’t think of a hosted solution to try this for yourself, let me make a suggestion.

"Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up"

lg20 — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:17:00 +1000

“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up”

- Pablo Picasso

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

lg20 — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:05:24 +1000

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...:

Two things stand out in the policy changes shared last week by Qld’s new ICT Minister, Ros Bates.

First the good. Giving the CIO position some teeth is well overdue. If agencies are completely free to pursue their own agenda it is difficult to see how consistency with an overall strategy will be realised. Hopefully bringing a direct report to the CIO from each agency will deliver that consistency without too many unintended consequences.

The second is a worry. The Minister argues that agencies have been “buying the same few products at higher prices than they would if government-wide purchases had been made”. So the new policy sounds like a recommitment to the old policy of whole of government contracts. Bad idea!

The theory is simple yet flawed. Most software companies offer volume discounts. Bundling all purchases together will yield a lower per licence price than agencies purchasing individually. Most States in Australia have gone down this path more than once without demonstrable success. What really happens is that local suppliers are scaled out of the market and the State buys a lot of licences that are never implemented. The unit price is low but the value is non existent.

Whole of government purchases fail because of scale and specialisation. State government agencies range from small publicly owned corporations employing a few hundred people to behemoths like Queensland Health employing tens of thousands of people. There is no system that is a good fit for both ends of this scale.

Leaving scale aside, the assumption that State Government is an ‘industry’ is wrong. The needs of people working in a publicly owned law firm (like the Department of Justice and Attroney General) will be closely aligned with those of people working in privately owned legal firms. A system that meets the needs of that market will likely be a good fit for that Department. That system is less likely to meet the needs of people working in Treasury and Trade than a system that has been proven to align well to the needs of the finance sector.

So there is no system that is best fit for the whole of government.

Whole of government purchasing also works against the Minister’s stated aim of “making it easier for the sector to do business with the State”. Projects for large government agencies are usually some of the biggest in the local market. A whole of government project scales things up to the point that the only people that can effectively respond are global multinationals.

I’d love to see some research on the success rate of the many whole of government programs that have been attempted both here and overseas.