Annex B: Senior Implementer Group
In April 2005 the CISAG set up the Senior Implementer Group ( SIG) to address the gap between policy makers, managers with a strategic overview and the practitioners actively working in ICT and standards related projects. One of the SIG's primary roles is to facilitate the implementation of interoperable solutions and better future-proofed ICT across the Scottish public sector.
The SIG has a key role in standards approval and quality assurance of submitted technical specifications and projects that have strategic importance in the Scottish public sector.
Remit
- Work across sectors to aid OSIAF compliance in the wider public sector, liaising between the CISAG and the CSIGs.
- Provide technical and quality assurance functions for submissions to the OSIAF approval process.
- Develop ways of sharing good practice ( e.g. technical assurance frameworks) and help organisations avoid repetition of technical developments.
- Represent Scottish interests on Scottish, UK and international groups that are involved in developing and approving interoperability standards and policies ( e.g. smartcards, transport, citizen cards) and assess the impact of this work on Scottish practitioners.
- Advise the CISAG of strategic and implementation issues, along with recommendations to address them, to allow interoperability to be viable. The SIG will comment on the appropriateness of standards and technical specifications to be in the OSIAF, and undertake horizon scanning for topics and programmes that may affect ICT in the Scottish public sector in 12 to 18 months time.
- Help develop mechanisms to assess compliance which recognises valid non-compliance ( e.g. where a project or a system has a roadmap to compliance and/or justifies its non-compliance in project documentation).
Role in the OSIAF Standards Process
The SIG will use a development model to provide a common approach to link different information standards elements together.
The SIG will make use of an approval and knowledge sharing framework, to ensure that the overall information standards development and management process is transparent and auditable, that duplication is minimised and that good practice can be shared effectively.
Membership
The SIG consists of representatives from a wide range of public sector organisations. The supplier community is represented by a trade association member.
Current membership includes representatives from:
- Clackmannanshire Council
- Cultural Technical CSIG
- East Renfrewshire Council
- Glasgow Science Centre
- Intellect 1
- NHS Scotland
- Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems Data Standards Change Control Group 2
- Scottish Enterprise
- Scottish Executive (Data Sharing and Standards, Geographical Information, Justice)
- Scottish Fire Service
- Scottish University for Industry
- Society of Information Technology Management
Meeting Minutes
A record of the SIG meetings is available on the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Open-scotland/19913/SIG.
Secretariat
The Scottish Executive Efficient Government Delivery Division provides a secretariat function for the SIG. The group can be contacted through the secretariat by e-mailing osiaf@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.