6.1. Current state: how to

6.3. Current state: Information and... Current state: Information and Communication Technology

As the strategy is developed it is important first to understand what range of communication and information services are being provided within the parliament and how transparent and accessible they are. To do this a number of fundamental questions need to be considered including: whether there is a Public Communication department or office that serves the rest of the parliament, and if so how this department is organized and structured within the parliament, and what its mandate, roles and responsibilities are. It is relevant to know what kind of teams operate providing what type of Public Communication services across parliament – delivering what products to which clients. From the clients it may be useful to understand what their needs are in terms of types of information products i.e. what information is most interesting to them and what communication tools and formats are used vs. expected, as well as time frames and levels of service.

Information on these type of questions, including an overview of the available information sources and / or systems within each functional area, the respective information products, (see also Appendix PC&O 1.1 and Template 1.2) need to be gathered as much as possible for establishing an overview of the current available Public Communication services, processes and systems. Primarily this information is relevant for the subsequent strategic planning steps where r strategic objectives are set, the gaps are estimated and strategic recommendations formulated. This type of information will most likely have to be collated through question and answer (Q&A) sessions with, not only relevant heads of departments and/or offices, but also through interviewing the daily managers of the  relevant departments or units.

SWOT analysis

For more details on how to produce the SWOT analysis for Public Communication, examples are available  in Appendices PC&O 1.2 and PC&O 1.3. The templates used for the SWOT are found in Templates 1.3 and 1.4.

6.1. Current state: how to

6.3. Current state: Information and... Current state: Information and Communication Technology