Information management: Striking the balance between legislative requirements and public interest
GWI worked with a local Council to conduct an independent review of their information classification and management
Acknowledging organisations with mature information management practices are better positioned to mitigate cyber security and information risks, Council first engaged GWI in 2021 to complete a maturity assessment of its recordkeeping and information management practices.
Later, GWI was engaged to review Council’s information classification and management practices and provide a future state approach.
The context
Council wanted to ensure that public interest in the accessibility of information is balanced against the need for legislative and regulatory compliance. They engaged GWI to conduct an independent review of their information classification and management.
Council creates, captures and uses significant amounts of information on a daily basis.
This includes records that provide evidence of Council’s activities and decision-making processes.
A large part of the information assets held by Council are accessible to the public through a range of channels, including (but not limited to):
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- Publicly accessible data and information repositories (e.g. publicly accessible register; Libraries and other Council facilities)
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- Council’s websites, social media platforms and other online resources
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- Media and other publications
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- Purchases from Council for specific purposes (e.g., property search information for conveyancing)
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- Council’s Disclosure Log (published on Council’s website)
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- Right to Information.
The method
GWI was engaged to conduct an independent review of Council’s information classification and management to inform the development and implementation of a best practice information management and access approach for the sensitivity of information held by Council.
Council’s Information Access and Management Policy, which establishes how information sensitivity should be classified and managed, was out of date and not in line with contemporary information classification and management practices or community expectations.
The review considered how classification is applied across:
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- Reports and information generated for the consideration of Council at either a statutory meeting or to inform Council’s deliberative processes
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- Current governance documents that underpin Council’s classification and management of information.
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- Processes, practices and systems for the identification of information that should be considered by Council in a meeting closed to the public under section 254J of the Local Government Regulation 2012 (Qld).
GWI engaged key stakeholders to understand the context and current practices for information classification and designed a future state approach and recommendations.
The impact
As a result of the review conducted by GWI, Council has guidance to develop a more contemporary operating policy for information that effectively considers statutory and legal obligations along with community expectations in relation to the accessibility of Council’s information.
Council will be empowered to demonstrate the integrity and transparency of its processes for information classification and access. They will also have improved responsiveness to the community’s interests in being able to access information to the greatest extent possible.
Lastly, as a result of working with GWI, Council will be able to satisfy statutory and legal obligations, while meeting community expectations in relation to accessibility of Council Meeting information.
GWI was subsequently engaged to re-assess Council’s information management maturity level in comparison to the 2021 assessment. The engagement included leveraging the same assessment model, and identifying where improvements were made in response to the 2021 recommendations and where additional uplift was still required.
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