Every day we share large amounts of information and documents in a variety of ways. At a large organisation like BZ, good information management is essential. Staff must save information properly and know what’s expected of them. They also receive help and advice from their department’s information managers. When a tailored approach is needed or there are questions that relate to multiple departments, the information managers can get in touch with the advisers from the Information and Digital Innovation Department (IDI).
‘Our information management must be good. Every member of staff has an important role to play in this regard.’
As information management coordinator at IDI, Hans Hunicke advises staff at BZ about treating government information with care and about ensuring that information is high quality. He does this with information mangers like Camiel Geryszewski, who works in the Asia and Oceania Department (DAO) and the Western Hemisphere Department (DWH). The information managers’ roles differ slightly, but they all work with a range of colleagues to improve information management at BZ.
‘The goal of saving something properly is so you can find it easily later. That makes everyone’s job easier and more pleasant.’
Working together for better information management
The central government-wide ‘Open and in Order’ programme aims to increase transparency and improve the provision of information to various parties, including the Dutch public, parliament and journalists. As part of this, BZ has drawn up an action plan to improve information management within the Ministry. The plan sets out no fewer than 17 action points, including recruiting extra staff and phasing out the use of paper archives and network drives at all organisational units. How has the plan affected staff at BZ?
Hans remarks that information management within government must be good, and this includes BZ. ‘Every member of staff has an important role to play in this regard. Organising and improving information management is not easy, especially given the large amounts of information involved, as well as the new and varied ways in which information is shared.’ He says that SharePoint is becoming the place within BZ for working together in documents, as well as coordinating, approving and archiving them. ‘SharePoint is set up in such a way that staff can make their own sites to support their work processes. This does mean a certain structure has to be in place however. At BZ we call this ‘topic-focused cooperation’.
Camiel knows what colleagues at his regional departments want and need. And he also knows what the technical possibilities are. ‘Staff are very willing to process and save information carefully. But they also have deadlines and time pressure to contend with. So you need to make it as easy as possible to archive information and clearly explain why this is so important. Explaining the possibilities of the system is also an essential part of my work.’
Using keywords
Small steps can really make a big difference – something that Hans knows very well. Camiel adds: ‘The goal of saving something properly is so you can find it easily later. That makes everyone’s job easier and more pleasant.’ And it saves lots of time each day if you know where the information you need is, and how you can find it.
Both Camiel and Hans are enthusiastic about the possibilities on the horizon when it comes to information management. ‘We’re only starting to explore all the opportunities for digital information management. Technology has come so far already that we can search through large amounts of information quickly and easily. In five years’ time, I think we’ll be even further along than we are now, and it will be impossible to comprehend why we didn’t always do things this way.
Read more about the Information and Digital Innovation Department (IDI):
(the links below are accessible to Central Government employees only)
