9.1. Action Plans: how to

9.3. Action Plan: Information and... Action Plan: Information and Communication Technology

A good explanation of the information creation and dissemination processes, its actors - i.e.  who currently supplies and demands information and who will do this in the future, the available technologies for supporting expected formats and channels, as well as human capacities requirements, will facilitate the evaluation and selection of feasible solutions at the different levels of process, technology and people:

Process

Concerning processes, Step 2 provided the requirements for Public Communication and Outreach and from Step 3 the structural deficiencies for realizing the vision. Now we look at formulating solutions through determining which processes can be “re-used”, “adapted” or need to be “created”. For this an overview should be created of the goals and objectives for Public Communication and Outreach services (i.e. requirements), that should be mapped - to start with - onto the existing processes. From such an overview the question can be discussed “which processes to re-use” as part of the solution, and “which not to re-use or adapt”, and “which to create from scratch”.  Appendix PC&O 4.1 provides an example of this type of process mapping exercise. Once again finding the right configuration of processes is an iterative process that requires the engagement of the managers of the daily processes. It is from discussions with them, providing an in-depth understanding of the parliamentary business and its processes, that possible solutions can start to emerge.

Technology

New Public Communication and Outreach processes may make use of technologies, including ICT tools and systems. Care must be taken not to sideline “traditional” technologies which may for certain audiences and communities be more widely accessible. For example the use of radio enhanced by mobile SMS communication could be reviewed and perhaps chosen above web technologies to communicate with citizens, while in the context of internal information dissemination web technologies (Intranet) offer more benefits.
For facilitating the discussions on optimizing processes and technology, the process maps from earlier steps will serve as a good departure. While they were previously used to describe the existing configuration of processes and systems they can also be used for projecting future configurations. The example in  Appendix PC&O 4.1 demonstrates the application of the process maps for this purpose.

People

With the (re)engineering of processes and introduction systems, new demands will be placed on human capacities. Staff will have to understand their (new or adapted) role in the Public Communication and Outreach management processes for effectively working with other people in the parliament as well as externally. For this an overview should be made of what type of training should be provided to which staff groups to be able to work with the new systems within the new processes.

For example, say that a “new website using a content management system” will be proposed as a solution, then it is logical that also the appropriate reorganization needs to take place in terms of establishing “content management” roles and responsibilities and providing content management training for establishing the required skills.

The same goes for the example of “providing better communication services to citizens through e-mail”, this will require the organization of necessary “front and back office” roles and responsibilities for receiving and responding to inquiries from citizens, and will require a certain level of training. All this is part of the solution.

Formulating the Recommendations and Action Plan

After establishing an overview of possible solutions (menu of solutions) with an understanding of their pro's and con's the chosen recommendations can be presented ( Appendix PC&O 4.2), both in a summarized overview as well in full detail, along with their activities. The entire description of recommendations should be concluded by a table of recommendations, listing their activities, outcomes, priority and stakeholders (Appendix PC&O 4.3) and another table that proves that the recommendations address the challenges (Appendix PC&O 4.4)

The Action Plan (Appendix PC&O 4.5) is an elaboration of the recommendations and activities (Appendix PC&O 4.3) over time.

9.1. Action Plans: how to

9.3. Action Plan: Information and... Action Plan: Information and Communication Technology