Terms of reference: Data and Digital Standards Community of Practice [PDF 348 KB]
This Terms of Reference sets out the roles, responsibilities, and operation for the Data and Digital Standards Community of Practice (CoP).
A community with data and digital standards focus fostering innovation in the New Zealand public sector.
The CoP is focussed on learning, collaborating, promoting, and championing in order to align good data and digital standards practices across the New Zealand Public Service and involving other stakeholders that support the Public Service. The CoP will provide a platform for sharing of information, experience and practice in relation to data and digital standards-related matters. The aim being to maximise an effective and efficient use of data and digital standards in achieving the outcomes of the Strategy for a Digital Public Service and the Data Strategy and Roadmap For New Zealand.
Strategy for a Digital Public Service
Data Strategy and Roadmap for New Zealand
This CoP supersedes the previous “Data Content Standards CoP” and widens it to include the Digital Standards.
Across government we want to use data and digital technology/standards more efficiently and effectively to make better choices and provide quick, effortless, and smart services to New Zealanders. Standards play a key part in the Strategy for a Digital Public Service (see ‘Digital Standards and Practices’ under the focus area ‘New ways of working’ and ‘It’s a collective journey’) and the Data Strategy and Roadmap For New Zealand.
See Appendix A for details of each principle.
The objectives of the Data and Digital Standards CoP are:
Membership of the CoP is open to all staff across the New Zealand Public Service and involving other stakeholders that support the Public Service. The only requirement is that people have an interest in data and digital standards. However, if confidential and sensitive matters are discussed, then only members who are bound by any form confidentiality deed/arrangement will be involved in such forums.
A member is anyone who expresses a wish to be added to the contact list for the CoP and accepts the Terms of Reference, though it is expected that they will have some role/background in data and/or digital.
Any member may volunteer to be on the Organising Committee and the Chair will be from either Standards New Zealand, Statistics New Zealand or the Digital Public Service Branch at the Department of Internal Affairs. The Chair will manage the meeting.
Statistics New Zealand, the Digital Public Service Branch / the Department of Internal Affairs along with Standards New Zealand will collaborate to make up most of the Organising Committee. The Organising Committee will be made up of 4 to 6 people, including a member who represents the Māori interests, and another member that represents standards user community. The Organising Committee would meet, as required, to undertake the organisation and scheduling of CoP meetings and set the agendas. Refer to Appendix B for detailed responsibilities of the Organising Committee.
The Chair will be from either Standards New Zealand, Statistics New Zealand or the Digital Public Service Branch at the Department of Internal Affairs. The Chair must be a member of the Organising Committee. Refer to Appendix B for detailed responsibilities of the Chair.
Members are expected to remember the primary purpose of the CoP. Members should be prepared to contribute their knowledge and expertise to help others. Refer to Appendix B for detailed responsibilities of the CoP Member.
The CoP will meet approximately every 3 months, for a minimum of two hours. Additional meetings will be scheduled based on members’ interest and availability of resources. The length of the meeting will depend on the time need to cover the topics scheduled. Working Groups may meet more often as needed.
Teleconferencing will be provided where possible so that people outside of Wellington can participate.
Agendas will be developed by the Organising Committee with input from members, and may include updates on current initiatives, presentations on topics of interest, and general open discussions.
Organising Committee
Venues and refreshments will vary depending on availability.
The community of practice is:
The community of practice is not:
New Zealand constitutional arrangements are the foundation of Māori Crown relations (Te Arawhiti). Strong relationships will support improved outcomes for and with Māori across a range of social, economic, environmental and cultural policy areas.
Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) places an obligation on the Crown to engage with the Māori by applying the principles of partnership, participation and protection. These principles are derived from the underlying tenets of the Treaty. Data and digital standards play a big role in meeting the Crown obligation under the Treaty (Te Mahere mō te Whakaurunga Matihiko (Digital Inclusion blueprint) and Data is a Taonga (A customary Māori perspective).
Focus should always be fostering the Māori Crown relationship via the work that the CoP will undertake.
Strategic drivers should determine and govern the work of this CoP.
The CoP has been set up to achieve outcomes of the Strategy for a Digital Public Service and the Data Strategy and Roadmap For New Zealand. The CoP may provide to GCDO and GCDS advice on the effectiveness of these strategies.
Strategic plans can change over time. The CoP should be agile and adaptive to such changes.
The CoP will encourage use of standards that are internationally accepted (by users that represent more than one jurisdiction). Refer to Clause 13(4)(b) of the Standards and Accreditation Act 2015 for general context.
International standards usually represent a wide consensus from a broad range of contributors, and therefore often have higher levels of acceptance and adoption. Vendors and suppliers of software, infrastructure and cloud services focus on implementing the most widely adopted applicable standards, and a local NZ standard is unlikely to be considered for that.
Some international standards can take considerable time to be developed, reviewed and approved. Combined with a consensus-based approach taking expert contributions from across the world can have the effect of creating standards that lack innovation and do not represent the most up-to-date thinking. Some international standards may also contain requirements that do not work in the New Zealand context, this may be able to be resolved with the development of a NZ profile.
In line with the State Services Commissions vision on diversity and inclusion, the CoP will ensure that it builds and responds to an increasingly diverse and inclusive New Zealand.
Public Service Commission's vision on diversity and inclusion
The approach to diversity and inclusion offers opportunities for greater productivity, customer centricity and innovation.
While diversity and inclusion should be the part of the way the CoP operates, it should not in any way impact on any one group, gender, ethnicity.
The CoP will learn from the experiences of its members, lessons will be sought, recorded and acted upon.
Learning and lessons provide opportunities to implement improvements. Such improvements add value and increases effectiveness and efficiency.
A system should be in place to actively capture lessons and to properly act on it to create an improvement.
Through a focus on an all of public sector collaboration approach, the CoP will, through promotion, help catalyse an incremental data and digital capability improvements.
The CoP should be mindful of the changing regulatory and strategic environment in New Zealand and with its partners and make adjustment to remain aligned with strategies of that govern the work in data and digital space. Where the work of the CoP contradicts with any other New Zealand Government strategic initiatives, the CoP will learn and potentially provide advice.
The efforts of the CoP adds value to the members by exceeding the benefits provided by the straightforward sum of their constituent efforts of the individuals.
The CoP should aim to realise benefits in addition to and above the individual agency effort. The CoP will add value by identifying and helping achieve these additional benefits and the added value for agencies.
The initiative of the CoP should not duplicate or re-invent already good practice within the agencies. The aim should be to integrate good ways of working and add value by realising even greater benefits across the public sector. The CoP is not enforcing the Centre views but working collaboratively with all members of the CoP for the betterment of the system as a whole.
Assessment guidance
The CoP needs to focus on the driving strategic objectives by achieving their desired outcomes and delivering the resulting benefits to the agencies. Benefits must be relevant to the strategic context of the agencies to add value.
All activities of the CoP should be geared to achieve strategic outcomes and resulting benefits. There needs to be a way to measure success in realising the benefits. Operational, tactical and strategic risks that impact the realisation of the benefits should be managed appropriately. The organising committee will be responsible for defining outcomes and benefits and aligning these to the relevant strategies.
Vision is a picture of a better future and it is the outward-facing description of the future state. It is the basis for the outcomes and benefits to be delivered. Hence, a vision and communication around it sets the foundation to achieve outcomes and benefits and add value.
A clear and well-defined vision of the desired future state needs to be in place early and refined as necessary over time. There should be an effective communication on vision to stakeholders as well as and ensuring that the vision stays aligned with relevant and appropriate strategies.
A well planned change will result in the improvement of the data and digital maturity of public service. Improved maturity will be the basis to realise outcomes, benefits and value.
The CoP shows leadership by engaging with stakeholders to promote change through a combination of consistency and transparency. Changes should create advantage, minimise risk, and sustain performance.
Statistics New Zealand, the Digital Public Service Branch/the Department of Internal Affairs along with Standards New Zealand will collaborate to make up most of the Organising Committee. The Organising Committee will be made up of 4 to 6 people who meet, as required, to undertake the organisation and scheduling of CoP meetings and set the agendas.
The responsibilities of the Organising Committee are to:
The Chair will be from either Standards New Zealand, Statistics New Zealand or the Digital Public Service Branch at the Department of Internal Affairs. The Chair must be a member of the Organising Committee.
It is the Chair’s responsibility to:
Members are expected to remember the primary purpose of the CoP. Members should be prepared to contribute their knowledge and expertise to help others.
Where confidentiality is required issues should be discussed at a generic or concept level, without reference to specific person/s.
Members may express either their own perspective, or their organisations, within meetings, however they should identify within which context they are speaking.
The CoP is not to be used as a vehicle for the sale or promotion of vender products. This does not preclude the discussion of a product’s capability, relevant to data and digital issue, or a presentation topic including a product where explicitly requested by the membership.
Failure to meet these responsibilities may result in exclusion from the CoP.
A group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.
Data are characteristics or information, usually numerical, that are collected through observation. It is a set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables about one or more persons or objects.
Data standards are the rules by which data are described and recorded. In order to share, exchange, and understand data, we must standardize the format as well as the meaning.
Digital is about more than new technologies and improving IT systems. It also means doing things differently using new mindsets, skills, data and technologies to overcome barriers and better meet New Zealand’s needs.
Digital standards help agencies to follow the same standards and frameworks. It sets a guideline to agree and implement processes for common business processes such as finance, HR and payroll functions to reduce unnecessary difference when operating across different agencies.
Standards provide agreed specifications for products, processes, services, or performance. The technical information in standards is usually developed through a robust and transparent process that includes consultation with public or key stakeholders. Every day, standards and standardisation make a difference in the lives of New Zealanders. Standards solutions help to keep our homes, public buildings, playgrounds, electrical appliances, and health services safe. They can also be used to protect people and our environment and to increase productivity and drive innovation.
If you’d like more information, have a question, or want to provide feedback, email datalead@stats.govt.nz.
Content last reviewed 21 March 2021.