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ONLINE ACTION PLAN
2000 - 2001


TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD

OUR ENVIRONMENT

Our Role
Our Clients And Stakeholders
Our Organisation

OUR SERVICES

Information Provision
Information Collection
Advisory Services
Professional Activities
Support Services

OUR COMMITMENT TO PROVIDING SERVICES ONLINE

Online Service Delivery And Our Key Result Areas

OUR ONLINE SERVICES

Current Services Online

OUR INITIATIVES TO FURTHER IMPROVE ONLINE SERVICE DELIVERY

Our Agreed Initiatives
Opportunities To Improve Our Online Service Delivery

BARRIERS AND RISKS TO ONLINE SERVICES

OUR STRATEGIES TO ENSURE THAT WE MEET AGREED STANDARDS

EVALUATION AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT


FOREWORD
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) recognises the value of online service delivery. We have used the Internet and the online environment as a mechanism for providing our services. For example, we were one of the first Commonwealth agencies to have an online presence. Our first web site was placed on the World Wide Web in November 1995.

This Online Strategy and Action Plan sets the direction for online provision of services by the ANAO. Our corporate vision of "recognised excellence in public sector audit services" is its foundation. It reinforces, supports and is aligned with our Corporate and Business Plans and other key planning documents, including our IT Strategic Plan, Risk Management Plan and Fraud Control Plan.

Our online approach is consistent with our aim to add value to public sector performance and accountability. It enables us to meet the needs and expectations of the Parliament, the Executive and Commonwealth public sector agencies, statutory bodies and the community.

In the past year we have built on our considerable achievements with a comprehensive review of our online services. We are strengthening our online presence through an enhanced web site, which provides improved functionality and additional content. We have commenced a number of initiatives to further improve our online services including better communications with our audit clients and our enhanced web site. We are also considering several suggestions for improvements received during the preparation of this Online Strategy and Action Plan.

Our Online Strategy and Action Plan is based on consultations, a comprehensive review of our online services, and an inventory of our services, transactions and external links.


OUR ENVIRONMENT
Our Role

The Auditor-General is an independent officer of the Parliament whose functions, mandate and powers are set out in the Auditor-General Act 1997. As the external auditor of the Commonwealth public sector, the Auditor-General, is responsible for auditing the activities of all Commonwealth public sector entities. The Auditor-General has a central role in the accountability framework of the Australian system of federal government.

The ANAO assists the Auditor-General to meet obligations to the Parliament and the Australian community. We deliver an integrated range of high quality public sector audit and audit related products and services. We provide an independent view of the performance and financial management of public sector agencies and bodies. We are valued for our independence, objectivity and knowledge and understanding of the public sector and governance matters.

Our Clients And Stakeholders

Our principal client is the Parliament. The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit (JCPAA) is our main point of contact within the Parliament.

Our audit clients include some 300 Commonwealth agencies, authorities, companies and subsidiaries. These include Budget dependent agencies involved in the delivery of core services and commercially oriented entities such as Government Business Entities (GBEs).

Our other key stakeholders include the Executive and the Australian community.

Our Organisation

The ANAO comprises two Services Groups which concentrate on the delivery of its two core products, financial statement audits and performance audits and an R&D Branch. A corporate area supports the delivery of these products through the provision of advice and services on a range of corporate matters

We employ approximately 270 people. We are located primarily in Canberra with a small Sydney office. The Executive and Corporate functions are located in Canberra.

OUR SERVICES
The ANAO's Outcome-Output Framework shows the outputs (or products and services) we produce and the links between those outputs and desired outcomes:

We provide the following broad types of services:

Information Provision

Our principal output is the provision of audit and audit related information to achieve our outcomes and meet our other responsibilities to the Parliament, Government, audit clients and the community.

We produce an integrated range of audit reports and related products and services. Our main products are financial statement and performance audits, audits of financial control and administration, assurance control and assessment audits and better practice guides.

We also conduct seminars for our clients, provide briefings for Parliamentary Committees and individual Parliamentarians, make speeches and other presentations and prepare research papers.

Information Collection

To enable us to meet our obligations under the Auditor-General Act 1997, we are required to obtain information from our audit clients and other stakeholders. We also require information for our benchmarking work, better practice guides and research.

Advisory Services

In addition to making recommendations in our audit reports, we issue a range of better practice guides to assist public sector agencies improve their performance.

Professional Activities

We contribute, both in Australia and internationally, to the development of auditing standards, professional practices and exchanges of audit experiences.

Support Services

We also provide corporate services that support the Auditor-General and the ANAO in delivering these products.

OUR COMMITMENT TO PROVIDING SERVICES ONLINE

We are fully committed to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery by providing all appropriate services online by 2001.

The ANAO's Online Strategy and Action Plan is aligned with our existing corporate planning and reporting framework. Our online strategies are underpinned by our vision of "recognised excellence in public sector audit services".

We recognise that the successful implementation and monitoring of our online strategies has important implications for the future delivery of services by the ANAO. In recognition of this, our online strategies are implemented through the IT Strategic Reference Group. This Group is assisted with advice from the IT Operational Group. All online projects have a nominated owner and are scoped and planned using an agreed business case methodology. All projects are managed according to accepted ANAO business practice.

We aim to ensure that our online services:
· are accessible;
· add value;
· are cost-effective;
· supplement, rather than replace, traditional service delivery;
· minimise and manage risk;
· have appropriate controls for security, privacy and integrity; and,
· meet agreed whole-of-government standards and guidelines.

As other Commonwealth agencies increasingly rely on online service delivery, we recognise that we will need to continually change and adapt the way in which we conduct our business.

Online Service Delivery And Our Key Result Areas

The ANAO assesses, monitors and measures its performance including online service delivery against four Key Result Areas ("KRAs"):
· KRA 1 - Meeting clients' needs
· KRA 2 - Quality products and services
· KRA 3 - Highly performing people
· KRA 4 - Good business management

The links between our outputs (products and services), online activities and our KRAs are summarised below:

ONLINE ACTIVITIES
KRA 1

Meeting clients' needs
· Provision of timely online access to financial statement and performance
audits, audits of financial control and administration, assurance control and assessment audits and better practice guides which meet the information needs of our clients and stakeholders.

· Providing the ability to contact the ANAO online to obtain information and provide feedback.
KRA 2

Quality products and services
· Facilitating timely online provision of quality information (e.g. electronic publishing, online access to key documents for authorised ANAO personnel and audit clients and distribution of information in a secure way to facilitate collaborative offsite work).
· Providing electronic and traditional document management throughout documents' lifecycle.
· Supporting existing quality assurance processes by extending it for documents provided online.
KRA 3

Highly performing people
· Enhancing our staff's ability to perform in a cost-effective manner by providing online access to documents and other tools and services for authorised personnel at the time they need it, where they need it and with predetermined levels of assurance in information integrity and security.
· Promoting education and awareness of risk, threats and mitigating strategies in an online environment.
· Providing prospective recruits to the ANAO with readily accessible and comprehensive information about the ANAO
KRA 4

Good business management
· Enhancing existing corporate governance framework to address online challenges such as security, education and awareness and monitoring and review mechanisms.
· Including measures for effectiveness of online services as part of the performance management framework and ANAO Scorecard.
· Document policies and establish clear responsibilities and accountabilities for managing online services (e.g. information management and protection, security, privacy, web site, knowledge management, online performance).

OUR ONLINE SERVICES

Current Services Online

Following a major review of our current web site undertaken in late 1999, we have redesigned it to improve online information delivery.

Our enhanced web site retains the following features from our previous web site:

What's New recently added guides, reports, speeches
About Us corporate plan, structure, affiliations, people
Publications audit reports, better practice guides, handbooks
Speeches speeches by the Auditor-General and ANAO staff
Vacancies career opportunities/conditions
Graduates details of graduate recruitment
Tenders released tenders
Seminars upcoming seminars
Links hotlinks to related and other useful web sites
Contact Us address, phone, fax and e-mail details

We have added the following new features:
· Full text search functionality to allow ANAO web site searching;
· Categorised views by agency, by theme, by title, by year/number that enhances navigation to publications;
· Registration lists that allow web users to receive automatic notifications of new publications or any new updates that are made to the site;
· Affiliations with professional and international bodies; and,
· Privacy Statement.

We also implemented a document structure that allows the attachment of all file types and automatic nightly archiving to enable the effective management of the web site.

OUR INITIATIVES TO FURTHER IMPROVE ONLINE SERVICE DELIVERY

Our Agreed Initiatives

During the coming six months we will be commencing (and, in some cases, also completing) a number of projects which will directly or indirectly improve our delivery of online services by:
Initiative
Expected Result
1. Conducting a comprehensive independent security audit of our online activities.Our online activities comply with the requirements in the Australian Communications Security Instruction – 33 (ACSI-33), the requirements in the new Protective Security Manual and relevant Australian Standards.
2. Developing a knowledge management strategy for the ANAO, with emphasis initially on some key management processes.More effective utilisation of our information, technology and knowledge.
3. Benchmarking current records management activities against the requirements of AS4390 and requirements of the National Archives. Increase reliability, integrity, security and connectivity of our records management and ensure we meet National Archives requirements.
4. Reviewing our policies on e-mail, Internet access, and dialup facilities. Permit us to take account of developments such as the growth of web enabled technology by the public and private sectors, improvements to security and the rapid increase in web enabled software, which in turn will assist in meeting our business objectives.
5. Developing measures to comply with requirements for electronic procurement.Support existing eprocurement arrangements (such as payment of suppliers electronically) and meet the requirements of the government's eProcurement Strategy.
6. Conducting a comprehensive review of the use of secure business gateways (including FedLink).Improve service delivery for our audit clients by providing secure and timely access to information, where appropriate.
Further build client confidence in ANAO's security standards in the utilisation of online information.
7. Exploring options for videoconferencing or web conferencing for offsite and interstate work.Improve quality of communications for offsite and interstate activities and achieve savings.
8. Reviewing policies relating to links to commercial sites, potential legal liability and scope for links to other public sector audit sites. Ensure that our web site links are appropriate (having regard to our functions and responsibilities) and that we do not compromise our independence, give rise to legal liability or provide endorsement of commercial sites.

Opportunities To Improve Our Online Service Delivery

During the development of our Action Plan, several opportunities for improvements to our online service delivery were identified. As part of our continuous improvement and evaluation processes, these will be considered during the first six months of this Plan. Where appropriate and feasible, they will be added to our current online service delivery projects and/or integrated into our web site.

The opportunities and the expected results include:

Opportunity
Expected Result
1. Providing improved online access to documents and other tools and services for authorised personnel at the time they need it, where they need it and with predetermined levels of assurance in information integrity and security.Improve online access to key documents for authorised personnel. Distribution of information in a deliberate, secure way to facilitate collaborative offsite work.

Enhance our staff's ability to perform in a cost-effective manner.
2. Designating an existing position as the ANAO Online Services Manager.Central contact responsible for identifying opportunities, both within and outside the ANAO, for building on or co-operating with other online services.
3. Further enhancements to web site including site map, Suggestion Box feature to specifically include suggestions for future audit investigations, online evaluation form and the inclusion of additional corporate documents.Improve online service delivery

Provide an opportunity to identify future audit topics.

Permit additional feedback on the web site and its content.
4. Allowing submission for job applications in a recruitment section of the web site.Easier submission of applications by applicants.
5. Error logging of the web site and review of error logs to permit corrective action.Easier identification of errors and timely corrective action.
6. Dynamic links to web sites from within documents.Permit users greater ease of access to other web sites referred to in our documents.

BARRIERS AND RISKS TO ONLINE SERVICES

We have identified several potential barriers to delivery of some services online and counter measures. These include:

Potential Barrier/Risk
Proposed Counter Measures
1. Services which give rise to security, privacy and legal liabilities.Conducting an independent security review of online services currently provided by ANAO, upgrading ongoing controls, and where required undertaking regular security audits.

Developing and implementing business processes to ensure risks are fully considered for each new online service, including education and awareness programs for staff.

Reviewing any security, privacy and legal issues relating to existing online services.
2. Current business culture and practices, particularly relating to knowledge management.Currently developing a comprehensive knowledge management strategy which will assist in aligning organisational culture and audit processes with knowledge management within ANAO.

Supplementing existing quality assurance arrangements to incorporate online services to ensure the same quality standards such as content integrity, and reliability, quality review, formal authorisation and approval for release are applied to online information.

Reviewing our current standards and policies regarding online services and implementing improvements, where required.

Implementing safeguards to ensure that issues and risks affecting the delivery of particular online services are systematically addressed before services are brought online.
3. Legislative requirements, particularly for confidentiality.Reviewing the Auditor-General Act to identify any impediments to the provision of services online which could be removed without impinging on the need to protect the confidentially of certain information. Section 36 of the Auditor-General Act sets out certain requirements for confidentiality of information and section 37 prevents inclusion of sensitive information in public reports. Arrangements are currently in place to ensure these requirements are met.

Outside the Auditor-General Act, we are not aware of other legislative requirements which may potentially conflict with the provision of the online services outlined in this Online Strategy and Plan, other than legislation with whole-of-government implications. ANAO will contribute, as required and appropriate, to any whole-of-government legislative reviews.
4. Services where it is not currently cost-effective or efficient to provide onlineUndertaking regular reviews of our services to identify additional services which could enhance our online services.

We recognise that because of the size, and in particular, the nature of our organisation and the products and services we deliver, the provision of some services online may not be appropriate, cost-effective or efficient. We will examine opportunities for partnering with other organisations, both public sector and private, to enhance our capacity to increase online service delivery. We will, however, be mindful of the need to ensure that we do not compromise the independence required to meet our legislative obligations.


OUR STRATEGIES TO ENSURE THAT WE MEET AGREED STANDARDS

We are fully committed to implementing agreed whole-of-government standards for online services. We have adopted the following strategies to ensure that we meet the requirements of these standards:

StandardCurrent StatusStrategy To Meet Standard
Information ProvisionOur new enhanced web site complies with requirements in the Online Information Service Obligations http://www.govonline.gov.au/projects/standards/oiso.htm.Current information provision standards are met.
MetadataOur new enhanced web site complies with requirements in the AGLS Metadata Standard http://www.naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/govv_online/agls/summary.html.Current metadata standards are met.
Electronic publishing, record-
keeping and archiving
We substantially meet the requirements for electronic publishing, record keeping and archiving. A project to benchmark current records management activities against the requirements of AS4390 and requirements of the National Archives will commence during September 2000. It will investigate options for the management of paper and electronic documents and paper file storage and assess the current policy for the retention of archived information.
Accessibility Our new enhanced web site complies with requirements in the Human Rights and Equal opportunity Commission World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/standards/www_3/www_3.html and the W3 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/.Current accessibility standards are met.
AuthenticationOur new enhanced web site complies with requirements in the Gatekeeper: A Strategy for Public Key Technology use in the Government http://www.govonline.gov.au/publications/ogo/GatekeeperStrategy.pdf.Current authentication standards are met.
PrivacyOur new enhanced web site complies with requirements in the Guidelines for Federal and ACT Government World Wide Web http://www.privacy.gov.au/issues/p7_2.htmlCurrent privacy standards are met.
SecurityOur new enhanced web site will comply with requirements in the Australian Communications Security Instruction–33 (ACSI-33) http://www.dsd.gov.au/infosec/acsi33, the requirements in the new Protective Security Manual and relevant Australian Standards. An independent eSecurity audit will be completed within the first six months of this Plan. It will include a review of compliance with current security standards.

EVALUATION AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

We are committed to ongoing evaluation and continuous improvement of our online services.

We will continue to collect and regularly analyse access statistics for our web site. There is functionality in our enhanced web site for improved collection, analysis and reporting of statistical information.

The feedback capability on our web site will continue to be used to improve online services. Our Online Strategy and Action Plan will be made available on our web site to provide an opportunity for feedback.

We will continue to consult on an ongoing basis with our clients and stakeholders to identify opportunities to provide additional services online. Our annual client surveys will incorporate feedback on our delivery of online services.

Our online operations will be reviewed on a regular basis and the Online Action Plan will be reviewed annually, in conjunction with other planning documents. These reviews will assure integration and alignment with our corporate strategies and business needs. It is expected that these reviews will assist us to determine any requirements for system enhancements or upgrades.

We will continue to monitor online developments in Australia and overseas and use the most appropriate delivery channel for services. Our strategies for online operations will be informed by government online initiatives.

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This page was last modified 23/07/2002 04:10:25 PM