Transcript Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Aboriginal Services Kiosk
(ASK-Sask)
www.asksask.sk.ca
Larry Sanders
SCSFO Secretariat
Halifax
December 6, 2000
ASK-Sask: a brief history
• Identified by Aboriginal Subcommittee of
Federal Council in FY1998-99 as a need for
a “one stop shop” or “virtual single
window” for information and contact
referral details to assist front counter staff
to meet client needs — “no more runarounds”
• Service and Innovation Fund of TBS
matched funds with SCSFO in fiscal year
99-2000 to launch prototype
ASK-Sask: a brief history
By March 31, 2000 development of the
prototype was completed by:
• Holding focus groups in Regina and
Saskatoon to get feedback
• Assembling data base with listings
for Regina, Saskatoon and Prince
Albert
• Going live on www.asksask.sk.ca
first week of April, 2000
Accomplishments this FY:
Expanding the listings for three
cities so we now cover over 300
programs and services, operated
by over 200 agencies,
departments, and NGOs
Accomplishments this FY:
Starting talks with the Human Services
Directory (Farm Stress line, Sask. Ag &
Food) for joint operation of a data pool,
so users can search our listings, HSD,
or both
• (see: http://www.gov.sk.ca/) scroll to
“service centre” on right hand side of
page, click on “Human Services
Directory”
Accomplishments this FY:
A makeover on our search
engine to eliminate reliance
on keywords and instead
allow users to do searches of
the full text of the data base,
with levels of filters to narrow
results
Aboriginal Services Kiosk
What have we become?
• Neutral, trusted source of information
• One stop info shopping (almost)
• Data base (a real portal), not just a directory
of web links
• An example of what an inter-jurisdictional,
“seamless government” regional portal might
be in Tier Three
• Potential organizing tool
Aboriginal Services Kiosk
Why is being a data base
important?
Why not just let spiders do
our work and find
information on the Web?
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Why is being a data base important?
ANSWER: Because most
organizations serving aboriginal
clients do NOT yet have a web
presence, therefore we provide
directory listings. As a
consequence, resources are
needed to keep listings up to
date
Aboriginal Services Kiosk
Lessons Learned: #1
• Meta tags and keywords
might be all right for Yahoo
and other search engines, but
not for us (data consistency
not assured with keywords)
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Lessons Learned: #2
• Being a prototype provides
us with independence,
credibility and flexibility
which might be lost once we
become “permanent”
somewhere
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Lessons Learned: #3
• Becoming a “seamless
government” portal crossing
jurisdictional lines requires
extensive trust-building, and
formal partnership agreements
which will require on-going care
and maintenance. Province in,
out, in, out…..
Aboriginal Services Kiosk
Lessons Learned: #4
• Despite problems, we have the
beginnings of a picture of what a
“seamless government” portal,
crossing jurisdictional lines (Tier 3),
might look like. We are a “Tier 3.1”
project, focused on providing
information. There will be a “Tier 3.2” if
we start offering service(s).
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Lessons Learned: #5
• Human resources/skill sets. Project
slow out of the gate initially because
we thought we needed technical
expertise, when it turned out we
needed an emphasis on partnership
& relationship-building skills &
project management
Aboriginal Services Kiosk
Lessons Learned: #6
• Maintaining “user friendly” focus is
very important. Don’t give in to
departments that want to post huge
documents not written in plain
language. We want to go back out for
more user feedback sessions in the last
quarter of this FY.
Aboriginal Services Kiosk
Future Challenges
(Questions that need to faced soon)
Ownership/management?
Maintenance of data base and
partnerships (Service Canada?)
Relationship with national portal(s)
Larry Sanders
Government On Line Coordinator
Saskatchewan Council of Senior Federal
Officials Secretariat
850-2002 Victoria Avenue
(Avord Tower)
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 0R7
Phone (306) 780-8290
Fax (306) 780-5210
e-mail: [email protected]