Tue 31 Oct 2006 16:09

ASSISTING REGIONAL LOCAL COUNCILS PROVIDE EFFECTIVE ON-LINE SERVICES

Proposal for Comment - This page is formatted to print 4 pages or download MSWord Version

Please submit your comments by 17:00 Fri 10 Nov 2006 to Stephen GOULD

14:22 Tue 31 Oct 2006						REF:IOAACEI1
					Y/R:OASIS Open Standards Sydney 2006

TO:	Patrick GANNON			cc	Nick CARR - OASIS Australia 
	President & CEO				Ram KUMAR - OASIS Standards
	OASIS					Peter MEYER - OASIS eLegal
	www.oasis-open.org			Tim McGRATH - OASIS UBL
						Other Speakers		

Patrick - This email is to enquire if OASIS USA may be prepared to 
support an Australian initiative to assist Local Government Agencies 
to adopt XML applications to provide effective on-line services

This is proposed as an Australian initiative based on the Electronic
Transaction Acts [ETA] which have been passed by all Australian Federal and 
State Governments whereas both the UK and US have yet to consider similar Acts  

Apparently the Electronic Transaction Acts are the "Foundation for the 
Revolution of the Information Economy".

This is being circulated to Australian Local Government Agencies for their 
feedback particularly from small regional Councils.

A	Background to Proposal
B	Timetable
C	Business Plan
D	Next Steps

A	BACKGROUND TO PROPOSAL

Further to our conversation after my presentation on Fri 27 Oct, there 
were further discussions over lunch over the confusion with two XML 
Address formats in AS 4590 and, according to Ram KUMAR, AS 4590
is not compliant with the International format.

The conversations can be summarised as: 

a	OASIS Australia establishes a Local Government XML On-line
	Application Group

b	The On-line applications many Councils require include

	1	On-line tenders
	2	On-line event registrations
	3	On-line permit applications
	4	On-line Development (building) Applications (DAs)
	5	On-line Volunteer Management
	6	On-line payment processes

c	A single XML Name and Address International format for Local
	Government should be considered to facilitate Local Government 
	Tourism Strategies rather than the two Name and Address versions 
	that are included in AS4590

d	OIC members may be prepared to revise the TIMS EII structured
	format for review and discussion with Ram KUMAR Chair OASIS
	Customer Information Technical who is probably the best person
	to chair the single International XML Name and Address Committee

e	As many Local Councils have published Tourism Strategies it makes
	sense to change AS 4590 to a single international standard to 
	assist those Councils with effective Tourism and Export Strategies.

f	Examples of Local Government Tenders which include Recreation,
	Economic Development, Waste Management as wells as Tourism
	Strategies can be reviewed here

g	A Structured XML On-line Local Government Application suite that can
	developed by Local Government Agencies for license to many Local 
	Government Agencies can assist those Councils financially as part 
	of their Economic Development Strategies

h	The business model that may have to be considered particularly
	with regional Local Government Agencies is that the XML 
	Local Government Application developers receive long term royalties 
	based on assisting those Councils achieve their Economic 
	Development objectives

i	Many Councils have developed complex Recreations Strategies, 
	Waste Management Strategies and Economic Development 	
	Strategies that outsource many Council functions.

j	These Applications will greatly benefit from the knowledge and 
	expertise of the OASIS LegalXML eContracts Technical Committee
	chaired by Peter MEYER to provide a standard structured eContract

k	As the Australian Federal Government Strategy is for all Australian
	Government entities to provide on-line services, it is important
	to include Policy-driven Governance as part of the Service Oriented	
	Architecture [SOA] for On-line Service Delivery.

l	Hence Paul POGONOSKI Chair of the Policy-driven Governance Committee
	may also want to be included as part of the proposed XML Local Government 
	Committee

B	TIMETABLE

In the last month there has been a surge in on-line Local Government tenders
with many requiring the use of the Internet to provide regular weekly
reports.

This is the current status of on-line Local Government tenders by Council 
indicating the increase since 01 Oct 2006

Here is a selection of key Local Government tenders published in 2006

The timetable is to establish a plan for a Local Government Roadshow 
based on the Local Government XML Surveys carried out by OIC Members 
for the Australian Federal Department of Employment

The proposal is:

2006

Nov-Dec	

1	Invite Councils that may have a suitable application to join
	the XML Local Government Consortium

2	Identify a number of relevant XML Application which are of value 
	to many Councils - this may involve an analysis of TIMS

3	Invite Local Government Agencies to be a prototype site for an 
	XML Application as part of that Councils Economic Development
	Strategy

4	Organise monthly Electronic Webinars with Councils possibly
	with Speed.com as a Programme Sponsor

5	The OIC has established many contacts throughout Australia
	prepared to assist with Local Government eInitiatives and run 
	local seminars and provide local Support 

2007

1st Qtr	Jan - Mar  - 3 webinars on 1st XML Application

2nd Qtr	Apr - Jun - 3 Webinars on 2nd XML Application

3rd Qtr	Jul - Sep - 3 Webinars on 3rd XML Application

4th Qtr	Oct - Dec - 3 Webinars on 4th XML Application

OIC Members are prepared to provide the OIC Electronic Event 
Registration Model to assist with Local Seminars eg Registration 
link for the OASIS Conference

C	BUSINESS CASE

The Business Case is simple.

In Feb 2001 OIC members received $ 20,000 to conduct 3 eSurvey 
with 173 NSW Local Government Agencies on the "Relevance of
XML for Online Service Delivery by Local Government Agencies"

The Contract required a response from more than 50% of the Councils
from the 3rd survey before payment would be made

In 2002 each State Local Government Association received approximately
$ 40 Million to develop a generic web-site for each Council.

The NSW Local Government Association published a tender in 2002 

The tender in 2002 required the following services for each Country Council:

A	eServices
B	eMapping
C	eProcument
D	eSecurity
E	Hosting

The Current Status in 2006 of NSW Local Government Agencies on On-line
Services are:

1	less than 10% of NSW Councils provide their tenders electronically

2	less than 5% provide Electronic Event registration

3	Less than 2% conduct eProcurement

We have established a profile for each Council in Australia 

If you wish to evaluate the current status of Australian Local Government
On-line services please review this selection of Australian Councils

The Business Case proposed for each XML Application is:

1	The XML Local Government members will develop the application
	with a Sponsoring Council.

2	The Contract is for those members to receive payment from the 
	Sponsoring Council at cost of a set $ 20 person/hr

3	All members including the Sponsoring Council will receive royalties
	from the licence of the Application to other Councils on a set long 
	term royalty basis of 3 years or 5 years - different royalty fee

4	This Royalty fee can be based on the successful outcomes of
	the Economic Development Strategies

5	The Business Model for this was developed and implemented 
	with Software Engineering Australia NSW for providing an
	automated back-up Web-based system for its SME Software Developer
	members

D	NEXT STEPS

Patrick I would appreciate your comments and other feedback on this
proposal to enable Australian Local Government Agencies to effectively
utilise the benefits of XML to provide On-line Services.

If OASIS considers it appropriate to be establish an OASIS Local
Government Application Group I would be pleased to be part of that
Group.

However there would be a fee for access to the OTMG Tender Information
Management Service [TIMS].

In the interests of assisting Local Government there is a special OASIS 
membership fee 50% for Participating Project Membership $ 1,500.

Payment can be made by Direct Credit or Credit Card

Regards

Stephen GOULD
Chair
Local Government & XML Special Interest Group
OPEN INTERCHANGE CONSORTIUM

E:	sggould@oic.org
M:	0416-009-468
W:	Local Government & XML Special Interest Group