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| IMRC - Information Management (IM) Checklist |
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General Guidelines
Key Considerations
General Guidelines
Project plans should describe how Information Management requirements will be
taken into consideration in the project1 and include an activity to address those
Information Management elements that are relevant to the project. The attached
draft template is provided to assist projects in the identification of main
Information Management elements. In addition to legislation and policies
relevant to information management, the following underlying principles should
be taken into consideration:
- Governance and accountability to support information management.
- The integrity of information: currency, completeness, accuracy,
consistency, reliability, relevancy and usability.
- Tools and processes to support the management of the life cycle of
information: capture, receipt, storage, organization, sharing, retrieval,
re-use, protection, preservation and disposal.
- Common information practices and common user protocols to facilitate
access to government information on-line and on-line services.
- Opportunities for horizontal approaches and for horizontal applications.
Key Considerations
The following are the questions to consider in planning IM activities:
1. Information Domain View - The plan addresses the project in the context
of information management
- Is there a high level Data Flow Diagram (DFD) or equivalent depicting the
information flow and data stores?
- Are the owners, users and custodians of the information identified?
- What information will the users be expecting/wanting from this service?
- What information will users have to provide in order to get the
information service they are looking for?
- What system information will be required to provide the
information/service users are looking for?
- Is the workflow of the service clearly laid out? What will be the main
differences in the information management requirements between the current
workflow (if there is an existing service) and the proposed workflow?
- Does the high level Data Flow Diagram (DFD) or equivalent cover the
information requirements associated with the workflow of the process?
- What are the categories of information (unstructured, free format,
reference) that this project will utilize?
- How is this Pathfinder project related to the Clusters identified in the
overall e-Government (GOL) program?
2. Life Cycle Management of Information - The plan describes the means to
ensure quality in the management of information
Creation
-
How will the project ensure the correctness and reliability of the
information being brought into existence? e.g. that it is current, complete,
accurate, consistent and simple to understand
- What is to be done to avoid re-entering information that is already
available within or outside the Department/Agency?
Organization / Use
- How will the project ensure the integrity of the information being stored,
maintained and accessed? e.g. controlled, auditable access; protection against
inadvertent loss or unauthorized destruction.
- How efficient will it be for users from inside and outside the
Department/Agency -subject to legal and policy constraints- to access the
information for reuse? e.g. without transcribing, transforming.
- What standards will be used for data naming and format for common data
elements (e.g. phone number, dates)? What will be the source for standard data
tables (e.g. Province codes and Names)?
- Will this project provide any benefits in meeting the Access to Information
Act?
- What transmission protocols and standards will this project use to exchange
common data sets with other Departments or Agencies?
Preservation
- Has information that needs to be retained been identified? Will the
schedules for retention and disposal be in accordance with the National
Archives of Canada Act and the National Library Act?
- What process and standards has the project considered to implement or, use
from its own Department/Agency, to ensure authenticity and accessibility of
the information over time?
- Will all the information holdings be destroyed or will some be disposed by
transfer to the control of the National Archives or National Library?
- Has any of the information to be retained been classified as essential? Will
it be handled in accordance to the Emergency Preparedness Act?
3. Information Register - The plan includes preparing a catalogue with the
description of the information holdings
- Will the information be identified and recorded in a catalogue in a manner
that is meaningful and easily available to Users?
- Will there be an organized listing (data dictionary) of the structured
data elements that are pertinent to the application?
4. User Interface (e.g. web, kiosk) - The plan specifies the main design
considerations and success factors for the user interface
- How are client needs incorporated in organizing the information? How will
the information be grouped? e.g. topical (table of contents), lifecycle
events, geography, occupations, industry/product approach. Will there be
support to search by keywords?
- What factors and metrics will be used during the pilot experimentation to
measure success in the web interface? Have target values been set?
5. Electronic Records Interface - The plan defines the production of
electronic records as evidence of on-line transactions
- Will electronic records be produced as evidence of individual electronic
transactions with businesses and citizens?
- How will these electronic records be kept to ensure they are trustworthy
and retain their legal admissibility and evidential weight?
- What metadata standards will be used to make these electronic records as
widely and easily accessible as possible?
6. Document Management Interface - The plan proposes standards and tools
for document management
- Are there any common standards in Word Processing, Office Productivity
tools and e-mail that this project proposes to utilize?
- Is there any system being proposed for document management? Has it been
tested within the Government? Does the system provide functionality to
support Imaging and Records Management?
7. Knowledge Repository -The plan proposes to build and maintain a
Knowledge Repository
- Is this project conducive to feed/create a Knowledge Repository? How will
user awareness and ease of finding relevant information be accomplished? How
will the repository be managed?
8. Horizontal Opportunities -The plan describes the opportunities where
common IM approaches may be beneficial
- Is there a potential for horizontal applications (i.e. across
departments/agencies, jurisdictions)? For example: financial settlement,
directory services, front-end application for loans or grants.
- Can this project provide a common model (e.g. reuse, best practices) for
similar approaches or problems in other departments/agencies?
- Does the project identify requirements for guidance by TBS in areas such
as horizontal principles, standards, and guidelines?
Such
information could be described in the EMF - Project Plan under section
'Additional Plans'. (EMF- Enhanced Management Framework).
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