STEP 2: Imagine the Future

Concerning the functional area of ICTs there are also principles to be followed, some of which are technical in nature. Best practices from around the world for ICT in parliament1 show that ICTs should ideally be integrated institution-wide, and managed with uniformity in standards and practices. This implies that the ICT core technical management and operations to a certain extend are best centralized, and that from there optimal, flexible, and user-oriented ICT services are provided, however decentralized in terms of control and ownership of data. This centralization of technical management and operations, and decentralized data ownership and control requires an optimal collaboration between the ICT Department, and the departments, offices, sections, and units that make use of these ICT services. This collaboration is best formalized through service level agreements between the supplying ICT department and the “service acquiring” department, section or office.

This institution-wide integration and uniformity also implies at the technical level that the enabling technology should be interoperable and scalable, of which its development and expansion should be guided from centrally defined and agreed upon architectural and technical standards.

Aside from the elements mentioned above, users must have trust in the systems they work with; security of data and reliability of applications and systems are important aspects to be included in the vision for ICT. In the final chapter on “implementing the action plan” several of these aspects are discussed in more detail.

Vision

Below, example vision statements are given for the functional area. Please note the brief and concise style:

Vision for ICT: To contribute to a more effective and efficient execution of parliamentary work through the provision of a high quality and cost-effective IT infrastructure, services, training and user support to parliamentary staff including MPs, plenary and non-plenary bodies and their staff, as well as to the administrative organization of the parliament.

Goals and Objectives

An example of a goal description within the ICT area may be:

To provide to all MP's, Committees, their staff and sections of the parliamentary administration tailor-made ICT services and support, including optimal functioning IT hard and software, reliable and secure networking and data exchange, and systems development and management

Examples of objective descriptions related to this goal may be:

services: to provide IT hardware and software, including training, user – and technical support to all MP's and Committees, and their staff process: to carry out (1) IT asset management processes including: IT inventory planning and assets life cycle management, (2) planning of systems deployment and training, (3) management of help desk and user support requests, and (4) provision of training to users systems: to support the above mentioned processes making use of (1) IT assets management system, (2) training planning & management calendar, and (3) help desk / requests management system

Such is the type of detail of description of goals and objectives that is required. Also the hierarchy is evident from areas to services to processes to systems.