Table of contents

0 Summary
1 Introduction
2 The electronic service
3 How is the Norwegian foreign service doing compared with the others
4 Networks and security
5 Intranet
6 Electronic case management and document storage
7 Use of the Internet as an information channel
8 Training and competence building
9 Development policy and development cooperation: New potential
10 Working environment, codetermination and agreements
11 Organizational and economic consequences
12 Action plan for ICT and information management 2000-2003
13 Summary of proposals for measures

Norsk versjon

0 Summary

The main conclusion of the present report is that the Foreign Ministry will need to invest in information and communications technology (ICT) on a completely different scale than hitherto. At the same time information management procedures must be reviewed from the bottom up and incorporated into a coherent strategy that will make maximum use of the new opportunities provided by ICT.

The report draws attention to a number of reasons for this, indicating that a renewed focus on investments in this area has genuine relevance for national interests:

• If it continues to hesitate over its ICT strategy, there is a risk that the Foreign Ministry and the Foreign Service will increasingly fall behind as a coordinator of Norwegian foreign and development policy and as a player on the international scene. The Ministry will simply not be able to keep up with developments in the increasingly important field of electronic communication that characterizes the modern information society. The report shows that not only other Norwegian ministries but also like-minded countries’ foreign ministries and international organizations have a more active policy towards ICT than does the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.
• An active approach to ICT and information management will not only allow the Ministry to catch up in this area. It will also help to transform the Norwegian Foreign Service into an organization with a proactive and knowledge-intensive network. This will provide rich opportunities for Norway to pursue a more creative and effective foreign and development policy.

For these reasons the report presents a vision of an "electronic foreign service" as a basis for an active ICT and ICT-aided information management policy for the period from 2000 to 2003. In practice this will mean that all Ministry employees both in Norway and abroad will be working and communicating via electronic networks that will minimize the significance of different time zones and geographical distance and maximize the potential for synergy, cooperation and coordination. This will ensure that relevant and up-to-date information is always available to the right people at the right time and place. At the same time, investments in ICT and ICT-aided information management should help to ensure that document security continues to be looked after as well as it is today.

The main objective of this investment in ICT will be to enhance the Ministry’s ability to achieve Norwegian foreign and development policy goals, to improve its ability to shape and coordinate Norwegian foreign and development policy, to promote Norwegian interests and values as effectively as possible in today’s frontierless information society, to encourage greater transparency and more democratic participation in relation to the shaping of foreign and development policy, to promote the image of Norway as a modern, high-technology nation, and to make the Foreign Service a more productive, user-oriented and attractive place to work.

This will require access to tools for exchanging, storing and retrieving information, including access to the Internet and external e-mail from all workstations, established routines and standards that ensure a high standard of ICT-aided information management and document security, competent employees who are able to utilize the available ICT tools and support facilities, and the interest and support of the top level of the Ministry in ensuring that measures are implemented and benefits realized.

The report proposes a number of measures for achieving the "electronic foreign service". The most important of these are as follows:

• The infrastructure (cable) for the current working network (the "blue" network), to which all employees in Norway and many who are posted abroad have access, should be divided into an unclassified network that communicates with external networks and provides access to the Internet, and a low-security network that can be used for internal communication in the Foreign Service and for dealing with Foreign Service matters. The network will be protected by the best available firewall technology. This process is scheduled to be completed by autumn 2000. This will require close cooperation with the Security Division of Headquarters Defence Command Norway and an adequate level of financial and personnel priority by the Foreign Ministry.
• The Ministry is negotiating an agreement with a network supplier concerning the leasing of international network capacity to link up the networks used by the Ministry and the Foreign Service missions by the end of 2003. This agreement should also cover voice telephony.
• Systems are to be introduced for electronic document management, record maintenance and text archives.
• The organization of the Ministry should be adjusted to reflect the strategic focus on the ICT-aided information and knowledge development in the Foreign Service. Comprehensive measures must also be taken to adapt current rules and introduce new ones, especially for electronic Ministry business and filing systems. Training and competence-building must be strengthened, the technology must be continually updated, for example in relation to encryption, and an active personnel policy must be pursued to ensure that qualified employees are given optimal opportunities and that the potential for rationalization and economization is realized.

Finally, the report points out that speeding up the expansion of ICT and an active investment in information management will lead to a more efficient and more productive Norwegian Foreign Service. This will result not only in savings in the areas of travel, telephony and postal and courier services, but will also help to minimize the pressure on employees and thus to reduce the amount of overtime and sick leave. In the long term this may make it possible to reduce the number of employees and to alter the ratio between the number of employees serving in Norway and abroad.

However, in order to achieve this long-term saving, it will be necessary to increase the ICT budget in the short term. The report estimates that implementing the "electronic foreign service" will require an increase in the Ministry’s ICT-related investment for the period 2000-2003 of NOK 15 million per year. In addition, it is estimated that annual operating costs will increase by NOK 7 million compared with the 1998 budget.

"The construction of an information infrastructure to support American diplomacy in the 21st century is one of my most critical and urgent objectives" State Department Undersecretary for Management, Bonnie Cohen

1 Introduction

The development within information and communications technology (ICT) involves considerable changes in how people communicate and interact. In both the public and the private sector, today’s information society involves major new challenges, but at the same time opens for new and exciting possibilities.

This particularly applies to knowledge-based activities such as the Foreign Service. As is well known, the Foreign Service operates over great distances in a hectic, international community that demands increasingly rapid retrieval, structuring and dissemination of information, standpoints, comments and instructions.

Developing and using the enormous new potential within network-based electronic communication and information management is a major theme of this report. The report also focuses on associated internal challenges faced by the Ministry with regard to ICT security, electronic case and document management, intranet, Internet, training and organization and management.

There is a growing awareness in the Norwegian Foreign Service that it is lagging behind in relation to developments within ICT and ICT-related information management. Evidence for this is found both in comparisons with the foreign services of like-minded countries (see page *) and in the day-to-day experience of Foreign Service employees participating in international processes. Other participants often communicate more rapidly and are able to act more coordinatedly and efficiently than the Norwegians. It is within electronic communications that the most extensive technological changes have occurred in recent years, and it is precisely in this area that the Foreign Ministry lags most behind.

The extended use of ICT in public administration is a matter of high priority for the Government. The Voksenåsen Declaration states that the Government "will use information and communications technology to renew, improve and modernize all aspects of the public sector".

For this reason among others, the Government has adopted an action plan for 1999-2001 which has been given the title Electronic Government: Cross-sectoral development of information technology in the central government administration. The action plan is intended to support the Government’s primary goals and strategies for public administration policy, as they are summed up in Proposition No. 1 to the Storting (1998-99) for the Ministry of Labour and Government Administration:

• User-oriented management: the public administration must familiarize itself with the needs of its users and, as far as possible, adapt its way of working to its users’ needs.
• Politically guided management: the public administration must be an adaptable and flexible tool for implementing government policy.
• Efficient and performance-oriented management: the performance achieved by the central government administration must as far as possible comply with stated objectives and be attained without unnecessary use of resources.
• Transparent, democratic and legally secure management: the legal safeguards of the public administration must help to ensure predictability and equality of treatment, while at the same time emphasizing transparency and the right of inspection.

The present report relates to the Government’s action plan, as well as to previous studies at the Foreign Ministry, particularly the report carried out by Andersen Consulting, Information Flow and Information Management at the Foreign Ministry of 22 December 1995 and a cost-benefit analysis conducted by the Ministry in 1993 in connection with the introduction of IT. The Foreign Ministry’s current IT strategy for 1997-2000 has also been of central importance for this work.

The report has been prepared by an internal working group appointed by the Secretary General of the Ministry in December 1997. The working group has had the following terms of reference:

On the basis of the current IT strategy for the Foreign Ministry 1997-2000, an assessment shall be made of the development and use of IT by the Foreign Ministry.

The working group is to investigate and submit a recommendation concerning the further use of IT by the Ministry to:

• improve the efficiency of information processing
• automate procedures, both Ministry-internal procedures and those involving foreign missions
• provide improved facilities for internal and external automated information retrieval from databases by internal and external agencies
• optimize the utilization of specialized applications and the interaction between them
• prepare a training programme reflecting the chosen IT strategy

For the recommended alternative solutions, analyses must be given of the budgetary consequences of both operations and investments on the basis of cost-benefit observations.

Up to 31 December 1998, the working group was chaired jointly by political adviser Roar Stangnes and political adviser Olav Kjørven. Since Stangnes left the employ of the Foreign Ministry, the working group has been chaired by Kjørven alone. The working group has otherwise consisted of Deputy Director General Thomas Hauff (until 31 December 1998), Deputy Director General Arild Braastad, Deputy Director General Ove Mo, Rector Fridtjov Thorkildsen, Principal Officer Tore Nedrebø (secretary of the working group from 1 January 1999) , adviser Rolf-Kristian Ree (representative for the Civil Service unions) and adviser Zaida Hessen.

The working group has interpreted the terms of reference as implying that the task involved conducting a broad assessment to provide background information for decisions concerning an up-to-date and more proactive strategy for ICT and information management. However, the report has not aimed to address all aspects of the development that are relevant for the Foreign Ministry. New issues arise too frequently and in too wide a field to make this possible. The Ministry’s policy in this area must therefore be continuously updated and further developed.

Nonetheless, the working group considers implementation of the proposed measures by the Ministry to be of great and long-term importance. We are convinced that a concerted effort is now needed as regards the development and use of ICT and ICT-aided information management in the Norwegian Foreign Service. A large, well planned investment here would in the long run result in "more foreign and development policy for every krone spent".

It is proposed that the recommendations be carried out before the end of 2003.

An optimal utilization of information and communications technology combined with active and purposeful information management will constitute a major element of the modernization of the Foreign Ministry’s organization. This has been initiated, among other ways, by the establishment of special committees to examine the Foreign Ministry’s responsibility for coordinating Norwegian foreign policy and personnel policy. The present report should therefore be viewed in connection with the recommendations from these other committees.

It is not possible to ignore developments within information and communications technology. The question is not whether changes should be made, but when and how.

The electronic foreign service: Visions, goals and requirements

1. Through its investment in information and communications technology (ICT) and ICT-aided information management, the Foreign Ministry will realize the vision of an "electronic foreign service". This will mean that all employees in Norway and abroad will work and communicate by means of electronic networks that minimize the significance of time differences and geographical distance and maximize the potential for synergy, cooperation and coordination. This will ensure that relevant and up-to-date information is always available for the right people at the right time and place.
2. The main objective of this investment in ICT will be to:

• enhance the Ministry’s ability to achieve Norwegian foreign and development policy goals
• improve its ability to shape and coordinate Norwegian foreign and development policy
• promote Norwegian interests and values more effectively in today’s frontierless information society
• encourage greater transparency and more democratic participation in relation to the shaping of foreign and development policy
• promote the image of Norway as a modern, high-technology nation
• make the Foreign Service a more productive, user-oriented and attractive place to work

3. This requires:

• access to tools for exchanging, storing and retrieving information, including access to the Internet and external e-mail from all workstations
• established routines and standards that ensure a high standard of ICT-aided information management and document security
• competent employees who are able to utilize the available ICT tools and support facilities
• the interest and support of the top level of the Ministry in ensuring that measures are implemented and benefits realized

"The foreign affairs community has too many administrators, auditors, communicators and other support personnel assigned abroad – and too few people who listen, interact, analyse, interpret, and communicate. Diplomacy is too centralized in fortress-like embassies, too light in commercial and media centers...Effective diplomacy requires more street-smart people in the right places, fewer bureaucrats impending information and action"

CSIS-report ^{1Richard Burt & Olin Robison (project cochairs): Reinventing Diplomacy in the Information Age. A Report of the CSIS Advisory Panel on Diplomacy in the Information Age. Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, December 1998.}>.

2 The electronic foreign service

2.1 Visions, goals and requirements

Information and communications technology and information management are respectively technical and administrative aids whose purpose is to help the Foreign Service to make use of information and knowledge in attaining its goals. The working group regards it as important to define the purpose more closely and to set up a vision of what the Foreign Ministry wishes to achieve through integrated investment in ICT and ICT-aided information management. The proposal on the previous page is founded on the vision of an "electronic foreign service", and clarifies the purpose of the investment and the preconditions for implementing it.

2.2 What is at stake?

Foreign and development policy are knowledge-based, service activities. The knowledge, competence and abilities of its employees are the Foreign Service’s most important input factors. An overall goal for all service organizations today is to increase its performance by developing and making optimal use of the knowledge of its employees. ICT is a technology that provides considerably greater potential for achieving this.

An efficient diplomatic service has always been dependent on knowledge based on a well-developed facility for rapid exchange of information both internally and with other players. However, in recent years, there has been an international development towards a much more rapid pace in the exchange of information. Actions and reactions take place almost simultaneously (hence the expression "CNN time"), and the players are required to evaluate new information, make statements and act at a corresponding pace. Operationality at the right time and place has become an important requirement of players in international politics, not least in crisis areas.

Rapid communication is thus an increasingly important precondition for carrying out an efficient foreign policy and for attending to international responsibilities and obligations. The ability of the Foreign Ministry to meet this challenge will be of major importance for Norway’s international influence and for the relevance of the Foreign Service to Norwegian society in the future.

Even today, we can see that the Foreign Ministry’s failing to respond more proactively to the development of the information society may result in a lack of access to information and slower reaction times than other players. This reduces the capacity of the Foreign Service to analyse information, and to formulate, disseminate and implement policies at the right time. At the same time, consultation of the Foreign Ministry risks becoming of less interest to many users.

A passive response to ICT development may thus directly and indirectly result in the rest of society perceiving the Foreign Ministry as being less relevant. The Ministry may experience increasing difficulty in maintaining its responsibility for coordinating Norwegian foreign policy and the tasks for which it currently has the primary responsibility. ^{2A main conclusion of the committee that is to assess the Foreign Ministry’s coordinating role in Norwegian foreign policy will, according to our understanding, be that the Ministry’s ICT situation (in practice insufficient access to Depnett/Internet) considerably restricts its coordination capacity.}>

In a report published as long ago as 22 December 1995, Andersen Consulting pointed out some of the new demands that these developments would present to officials dealing with Ministry business and managing information in the Foreign Service:

• Increased demands for centrally controlled information management, as far as possible integrated as a natural part of the daily duties of officials.
• Increased demands for "personal" availability for dissemination of both written and oral information.
• Knowledge about the networks and how these can be used.
• Increased efficiency through a greater re-use of electronically stored information.
• Automation of routines such as record-keeping, handling of classified documents, searching for information, etc.
• Standards and routines in the Foreign Service for dealing with Ministry business and managing information must employ more technical solutions.

The report concludes: "In our view, the Foreign Ministry would benefit greatly with regard to quality, the time spent on dealing with matters and exploitation of resources by focusing on information as a major resource in the work of the Foreign Ministry. Efficient information management will be an essential prerequisite for realizing these benefits".

2.3 Challenges in the short term: Network access and use

The working group wishes to draw particular attention to two short-term challenges relating to arranging for and increasing the use of electronic communication in the Foreign Service, which should be met before the end of 2003:

1. developing internal networks for the whole of the Foreign Service and the introduction of electronic case and document management.
2. providing all employees with access to the Internet and external as well as internal e-mail from their own workstations.

2.3.1 Internal networks and electronic case and document management

On 1 April 1999, the internal network (the "blue" network) in the Foreign Service was available to the Ministry and eight missions. This network has an e-mail system, but this is poorly exploited partly because the network is not currently used for transmitting documents that are worthy of storage.

Consequently, the internal information flow is still mainly paper-based, and is therefore too time-consuming in relation to current requirements. The Embassy in Beijing reports that the average age of copies of documents received from the Foreign Ministry on a random date early in 1999 was 10 days (cf. 24AT280199). The report made by Andersen Consulting in 1995 estimated that 30 per cent of the time spent by officials was used for sorting, distributing and forwarding information. The situation is probably not very different today.

It is therefore important that the system selected by the Foreign Ministry for electronic case and document management (DocuLive Case Manager) is taken into service as soon as possible, and that an electronic network is developed for use by the whole of the Foreign Service. This is dealt with in detail in chapters 4, 5 and 6.

2.3.2 Access to external communication and the Internet

A growing number of Foreign Service employees regard it as a serious problem that they are not able to send or receive external e-mail and do not have direct access from their own workstations to the gradually increasing quantity of information available on the World-Wide Web.

Other parts of the Norwegian central government administration, as well as other countries’ foreign services and international organizations, communicate to an increasing extent both internally and externally via e-mail, and generally have direct access to the Internet .

It is no exaggeration to assert that this afflicts the Norwegian Foreign Service with a considerable handicap compared with major partners as regards keeping continuously up-to-date. Rapid access to relevant information is of decisive importance for the ability of a country such as Norway to make a worthwhile contribution to international politics (see also 24AT280199 from the Embassy in Beijing and 10AT180199 from the Embassy in London).

The Internet has become a very important channel for publicly available information, particularly for the working community. This is in itself a good enough reason to provide all Foreign Service employees with direct access to the Internet and external e-mail from their workstations. In addition to this, the following factors indicate that this is of particular interest to the Foreign Service :

• National and international news and analyses of great relevance for the Foreign Service are kept continuously up to date on the Internet.
• Other foreign policy players make available on the Internet an increasing amount of information of immediate relevance for the day-to-day activities of the Foreign Ministry. This may be in the form of publicly available information or documents published by international organizations such as the UN and the Council of Europe (often in an "extranet" requiring a password), etc. A growing number of Foreign Service officials are becoming dependent on access to such information to carry out their work satisfactorily (and foreign missions therefore send an increasing number of print-outs from the Internet by fax to the Foreign Ministry, which is extremely costly and should be completely unnecessary).
• An increasing amount of such information is published on the Internet without issuing a paper edition at all, which results not only in the Ministry staff receiving information too late, but to some extent in their not receiving it at all.
• In countries with languages in which we have little available competence, access via the Internet to information in English about or from the host country is a great advantage for Norwegian missions.
• For foreign missions, the Internet provides immediate access to continuously updated news from Norway and to other Norwegian information that is required to be able to answer queries from business and industry, the media, etc. in the host country.
• The specialized units that produce the information published by the Foreign Ministry on the Internet do not have direct access to the finished versions of their own products. This can result in inadequate corrections and updates and can inhibit interest in publishing further information (see chapter 7, page *).
• The possibility of exchanging e-mail via the Internet results in a considerable improvement in communication and cooperation with other public agencies and with NGOs both in Norway and abroad.
• It will be valuable for foreign missions to be able to refer contacts in the Norwegian private and public sectors to sources on the Internet that provide information about the host country.

The situation has been improved to some extent by providing access to stand-alone Internet machines in the Ministry and at foreign missions, but the lack of direct access from individual workstations is in practice a definite obstacle to being able to take full advantage of the enormous potential represented by the Internet for simplified communication and information retrieval. If individual members of staff are not able to send and receive e-mail from their own workstations, but have to use another PC, this results in extra work rather than increasing efficiency (see 22AT150299 from the Embassy in Santiago).

2.4 Long-term potential

2.4.1 Proactive knowledge organization

Characteristic features of the information society are the explosive growth in information and information channels and the gradual reduction of the role played by physical distance in the time it takes to distribute information. The Internet also reduces the need for reports by foreign missions on the developments taking place in host countries. At the same time, there is an increasing need for processing and analysis of the stream of information, in other words conversion of information into knowledge ^{3It is usual today to view data, information and knowledge as a continuum with increasing degrees of refinement. Data is perceived as signals or raw data concerning daily events and activities. Information is the result of the systematization and interpretation of data, e.g. in a document, while knowledge is information stored in human brains that is used for developing ideas and for making decisions. However, the use of terms in this field is unclear and susceptible to changing trends.}>, and for the use of this knowledge in preparing oneself to take initiatives in relation to rapidly changing circumstances.

An important challenge associated with the information society is thus to bring about restructuring to create a more knowledge-intensive and proactive Foreign Service. In Norway, greater importance should be attached to the coordinative function of the Foreign Ministry, while at foreign missions higher priority should be given to analysis, efforts to influence governments and active establishment and provision of contacts. With the help of ICT, the whole Foreign Service will come more closely to resemble a network, and the communication and interaction with other ministries and non-governmental players will become more intense. In such a context, where there are many foreign policy players besides the traditional ones and where less significance is attached to formal structures and channels, the expertise of the Foreign Service in international relations and diplomacy are its most important resource. The Foreign Ministry must therefore actively exploit the potential of ICT and up-to-date information management for optimizing the Foreign Service as a proactive knowledge organization.

In this connection, it will be particularly appropriate to work in network-based teams of resource persons unhampered by physical distance, able to conduct continuous dialogue and cooperation on matters of current importance. The potential for rapid information dissemination and retrieval across departments, ministries and missions will increase greatly when the whole Foreign Service is connected by a single integrated electronic network. This will thus enable direct cooperation concerning specific matters or projects between staff in Oslo and at foreign missions. In the "electronic foreign service", staff at both locations will have access to the same information platform on the network, and will be able to communicate as easily as if they were physically located in the same building.

An electronic foreign service will thus be able to adopt a more project-oriented approach, working more flexibly and utilizing knowledge available throughout the whole organization more efficiently than today. The collective "institutional memory" of the Foreign Service Archives will become more accessible via the intranet and e-mail. This will also help to solve problems resulting from the high rate of job rotation in the service.

Electronic teamwork opens up completely new opportunities for close and constructive interaction with other players on the international political scene, the private sector both in Norway and abroad in areas such as export promotion, foreign governments, international organizations, NGOs, the cultural scene (e.g. when presenting Norwegian culture abroad), the media, local and regional authorities, etc. (see also the points listed below).

In the long run, the development enables savings to be made by reducing the need for physical representation abroad, thereby enabling smaller staffs at individual missions. Alternatively, the staff of the Ministry can be reduced while making better use of expensive working capacity at foreign missions.

2.4.2 Creative use of the Internet

An increasingly important task for the Ministry involves providing dynamic and up-to-date information on the Internet about Norway and about Norwegian interests and values (see chapter 7, page *). In this connection, new creative approaches should be considered, such as:

• Creating greater interest for foreign policy and using the Internet to involve more Norwegians in shaping foreign policy. This may lead to greater democracy by increasing public interest in foreign policy, as well as increasing the accent on users and enhancing both formal and informal networks for dialogue and cooperation with the private sector, NGOs, and professional expertise.
• Enhancing Norway’s image on the Internet as a modern, high-technology nation in cooperation with the Norwegian ICT sector, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Norwegian Trade Council.
• Using the Internet to promote Norwegian international policy interests, views and goals in new ways through interactive electronic communication and coordinated action with other governmental and non-governmental players. This has major relevance in connection with issues on the agenda for "new diplomacy": human rights, humanitarian aid, combating international terrorism and crime, environmental and climatic issues, refugee policy and migration. Norway has a high political profile in such areas, and should upgrade its information strategy and technology in line with this. ^{4The Internet has become an important instrument for oppositional groups and independence movements. Only one month after the removal from office and arrest of Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in September 1998, a website set up for him had received 800 000 visits and had been linked to 58 other related sites on the Internet. Out of a population of 22 million, there were then 500 000 Internet users in Malaysia and the number is steadily increasing. The Internet was moreover an important coordination and mobilization channel for student protest in Indonesia during the first half of 1998. In 1997 the Internet was one of the means that resulted in US sanctions against Myanmar. Information on the Internet also made a major contribution to the international mobilization against attacks against Chinese people in Indonesia last year. E-mail and Internet information are important instruments in the propaganda war between the Kosovar Albanian independence movement and the regime in Yugoslavia, and has also been used by Serbia in electronic warfare against NATO. The Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention was brought about largely owing to the efforts of international NGOs that made full use of the potential of the Internet. Such active use is made of the Internet primarily because it is difficult for the authorities to control it and because it is an extremely rapid, frontierless medium.}>
• Cooperating on common "virtual spaces" with selected partner countries, such as Canada as a stage in the Lysøen process and with Germany in connection with the strategy with regard to Germany.
• Providing active support for the development of websites and databases in connection with areas such as the Barents cooperation, the Arctic Council and the Baltic cooperation.

2.4.3 ICT as a foreign policy tool

The revolution within information and communications technology has fundamentally transformed the potential of the developing countries for knowledge and competence-based development. In a long-term development cooperation policy perspective, the transfer of knowledge is more important than the transfer of financial resources. Technology for dissemination of information and knowledge is just as important for development as health, education and research. It is therefore important to consider new possibilities for development cooperation that lie in transferring competence by means of ICT and for developing communications networks, not least in Africa. A study should therefore be made of ways in which Norway can help partner countries to utilize ICT to promote their economic and social development. One interesting approach in this connection is cooperation on the utilization of global communications networks. This is discussed in more detail in chapter 9 (see page *).

2.4.4 Electronic services

An important objective of the Government’s Action Plan for Electronic Government is to extend the range of electronic services available to the public. In cooperation with appropriate partners, the Foreign Ministry should therefore consider how electronic networks may be used for supplying services in the areas for which the Foreign Service is responsible. Appropriate areas are consular matters (e.g. passport and visa applications), export promotion activities, cultural promotion, etc. Finland and Canada are among the countries that have made considerable headway in this area.

2.5 The need to keep a clear head

Although developments within information and communications technology are in many ways revolutionary, it is important to keep a clear head in these matters. ICT has limitations and negative aspects. The technology solves many problems, but also creates new ones. Among the more problematical issues are:

• Most people’s working day becomes increasingly PC-oriented. This leads to a demand not only for satisfactory ergonomic solutions but also for increased awareness in relation to matters such as when it is actually more appropriate to meet people face to face or at least to talk to them on the telephone.
• The ease of use of e-mail systems may lead to the replacement of the current flood of paper with an even greater flood of e-mail and attached documents. Sending information to personal e-mail recipients can result in inadequate distribution of information and more complex and uncontrolled information flow. It is unlikely that people sending and receiving e-mail can be expected to show sufficient awareness where this is concerned. There will also be a need for guidelines for document storage and distribution and for arrangements to ensure that the guidelines are complied with (see also chapter 6, page *).
• The potential for greater flexibility and less stress at the workplace may instead be realized as even more stressed demands for increases in the rate and volume of production, regardless of working hours and of the physical proximity of the workplace. This will require the awareness of all senior officials, of the administration and of the trade unions (see also chapter 10, page *).
• Access to the Internet allows access to an almost unlimited amount of information of very varying quality and relevance. It will require a conscious and conscientious attitude on the part of the employees to avoid using their working time to pursue private interests. Guidelines for this should be prepared by the Ministry. The Documentation Centre should increase its efforts to provide guidance concerning relevant high-quality sources of information on the Internet. Training in the use of the Internet provided by the Foreign Service Institute should also encourage employees to exercise discernment in the use of sources.
• An increasingly electronic foreign service will also be increasingly vulnerable to technical failures. Flexible emergency procedures should be prepared for use when the system is "down". Stability and reliability should be primary requirements of hardware and software used by the Ministry (see also chapter 8, page *).
• Not all employees are equally competent in making use of new technology (see also chapter 10, page *)
• There will still be a need for paper copies, but it is not certain how great this need will be. It has been decided that the Foreign Ministry will continue for the time being to store paper versions of all publicly registered documents, regardless of whether an electronic archive is also kept. Reduction in the use of paper must be a constant objective, which can partly be achieved by establishing as standard practice the sending and reading of documents mainly electronically.
• Extensive use of electronic communication involves an inherent danger of micromanagement by senior officials in relation to subordinates, and by the Foreign Ministry in Oslo in relation to foreign missions, and the corresponding danger of anxiety on the part of officials at the Ministry and out "in the field" about making decisions. This should be avoided.
• The Internet reaches a limited, but important and in the long run growing target group. The World-Wide Web is today primarily a "reference tool" for people who actively seek information. The Internet as an information channel does not therefore make paper information superfluous.
• Many people, particularly in the poorest countries of the world, have no access to the Internet.

With this revolution in information management and communications underway, you would think that diplomats would have been among the earliest and most versatile users of these technologies. We are not. We lag behind our counterparts in the private sector and the non-governmental community, not only in hardware, but also in the creativity with which we apply information technologies.

Former Deputy Foreign Minister Gordon Smith, Canada.

3 How is the Norwegian foreign service doing compared with the others?

3.1 The status of ICT in the Norwegian Foreign Service

In 1996, an IT strategy was adopted for the Foreign Ministry for the period 1997–2000. The main objective for the strategy period was transition from a situation where DP was primarily used for word processing to a situation where it was also viewed as "an important tool for attaining better access to information and more efficient exchange and distribution of information both internally and externally. This will again lead to improved and more efficient working processes."

During the period from 1997 to 1999, the annual ICT budget for the Ministry including foreign missions has increased from NOK 32 million to NOK 47 million. This budgetary framework includes the remaining communications costs and a major part of the Ministry’s security budget including security arrangements and physical protection at foreign missions.

There is an element of uncertainty attached to the comparison of the ICT budgets of the Nordic countries since the costs that the budgets are intended to cover vary somewhat from country to country. There are nevertheless grounds for assuming that the Norwegian ICT budget is only 50–70 per cent of that of the other Nordic countries.

Strict security requirements, old buildings, a high degree of geographical dispersion and frequent changes of personnel are factors that complicate the work of introducing and operating ICT in the Foreign Service. Today there is continuous development of ICT use in the Ministry. In the following, we give a brief survey of the existing state of affairs in this area.

3.1.1 Infrastructure

• All Ministry employees have access to a shared work network (the "blue" network) from their workstations. Access to the unclassified network (the "black" network) including external communication and the Internet has so far been made available according to needs, but the demand is far greater than it has been possible to supply.
• The black network is connected to the shared network of the central government administration (Depnett). For the time being, the services of Depnett are mainly limited to internal and external e-mail and access to the Internet, but there are plans of introducing a broader range of services that the Foreign Ministry staff will also need to have access to. Examples of new services are joint solutions for working from home and for mobile workplaces.
• The following missions either have local area networks already or will install them during the course of 1999:

The embassies in Addis Ababa, Berlin, Colombo, Dacca, Dar es Salaam, Gaza/West Bank, Guatemala, Hanoi, Harare, Islamabad, Kampala, Lilongwe, London, Luanda, Lusaka, Madrid, Managua, Maputo, Moscow, New Delhi, Paris, Pretoria, Rome, Stockholm, and Washington, the consulates general in New York and Murmansk, the UN delegation in New York, the EU delegation in Brussels, the NATO delegation in Brussels, the delegation in Geneva, the OSCE delegation in Vienna and the OECD delegation in Paris.

• Local area networks at missions have largely the same structure as that at the Ministry, i.e. two physically separate networks, known as "blue" and "black". As stated above, 33 of a total of 98 foreign missions will have computers connected in networks by the end of 1999. The remainder will have only stand-alone PCs. Most if not all missions need local area networks to be installed, particularly in order to be able to give all members of staff access to the common resources of the service, i.e. data communications, the Internet, e-mail, databases, etc.

3.1.2 Data communications

• Data communications between the Ministry and foreign missions are mainly based on leased networks, and two products are currently used. Global One, supplied by GN Comtext and SITA supplied by Equant Network Services. Global One’s network is used as the main carrier of the Foreign Service’s e-mail employing Mailmax x.400. SITA is currently used to connect local area networks and stand-alone communications computers used in connection with the OSCE to a Wide Area Network (WAN). Missions connected in this way are thus part of the Ministry’s internal network, and have in principle access to the same services as the Ministry staff. The e-mail system used is therefore OnMail, which is used by the rest of the Ministry.
• The Ministry has begun work on providing missions with access to the Internet and external e-mail via black networks where these exist. However, it has been necessary to give priority to the classified networks where most work is currently carried out at the missions. The consequence of this is that external data communications to and from the missions currently takes place mainly via a single stand-alone PC. This solution is unsatisfactory both in relation to working routines and to the increasing need for access to the Internet and to electronic mail.

3.1.3 The hardware and software situation

• During the last year, significant upgrading and replacement of the Ministry’s workstations and servers has been carried out in connection with the installation of a new version of Microsoft Windows. The current situation as regards the production network can therefore be characterized as satisfactory. However, in order to be able to say the same of the black network and internet access, it will be necessary either to procure a large number of new PCs or to make changes in the Ministry’s network strategy.
• In connection with the year 2000 and the necessary upgrading of basic software, parts of the computer equipment at the missions will be replaced or upgraded. Although these matters must be continuously monitored by the Ministry, the computer equipment situation at the start of the year 2000 can be viewed as satisfactory. The main challenge on the technical side will lie in setting up local area networks and satisfactory communications solutions at almost all of the missions.

3.2 ICT in the Norwegian private sector

Like the Foreign Ministry, large parts of the Norwegian private sector are engaged in internationally oriented activities. Norwegian exporting companies’ strategies for ICT and information management can be summarized as follows:

• Large Norwegian exporting companies have for many years given high priority to information and communications technology. This has particularly applied to production-related systems, where Norway is in the forefront internationally.
• Developments in the ICT area during recent years have demanded considerable innovation of companies, particularly as regards organization, utilization and management of information and knowledge bases. Issues in these areas have a number of features in common with the challenges that the Foreign Service is facing.
• The above-mentioned companies view ICT as a decisive competition factor and a key strategy area.

3.3 ICT and information management in other foreign services and in international organizations

In connection with the preparation of this report, the working group has gathered reports from Norwegian missions on investments in ICT and information management by international organizations and other foreign ministries. Such status reports have been received from the embassies in Bonn, Brussels, Dublin, the Hague, Helsinki, London, Copenhagen, Paris, Stockholm, the EU delegation, the UN delegation, the NATO delegation and the delegation to the Council of Europe. In addition to this, the embassies in Beijing, Tokyo, Rome, Bangkok, New Delhi, Tel Aviv, Belgrade, Sarajevo and Santiago and the Consulate General in Hong Kong reported on the status of IT use at the embassies of like-minded countries in the countries where they are located.

Copies of the request and the reports are enclosed separately. The findings have been systematized in the table at the back of this report.

The following are some of the main conclusions drawn in conjunction with this survey.

• In all of the foreign ministries and international organizations investigated, investments in ICT are given high or "relatively high" priority. In some cases (Canada, Finland, Denmark, the UK, Germany, NATO, the UN) the matter is given political priority. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry seems to be lagging behind in comparison with most of the investigated ministries and organizations.
• The reason given for ICT investments is always efficiency improvement. The changeover to electronic communication, case management and document storage results in faster procedures and distribution, greater flexibility, better utilization of internal knowledge and information, increased flow of informal information and less hierarchy, enormous reduction in the use of telephones, greater internal transparency, more cooperation across departmental and ministerial boundaries and more direct contact between missions. Canada and the Netherlands emphasize that ICT changes the role of diplomats in the direction of more analytical work and less factual reporting. On the negative side, the UN (peacekeeping operations/DPKO) reports that rapid electronic communication across borders has led to tendencies towards anxiety about making decisions in the field and to micromanagement by the headquarters.
• All of the investigated foreign ministries and international organizations have either set up or are in process of setting up electronic networks internally and between themselves and their foreign missions. A growing proportion of written communication, both at home and abroad and between offices at home and abroad, is conducted electronically.
• Most of the investigated foreign ministries (in most cases including large missions) have set up or plan to set up direct access to the Internet for external e-mail and/or web browsing for all staff. There are variations in how this is practised or planned to be practised. The options are direct access from unclassified, firewall-protected work networks (Canada, Finland, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, the UN, the Council of Europe) or from separate, stand-alone Internet PCs (planned by the German foreign ministry). In several countries staff have access to external e-mail but not to web browsing (Denmark, currently Germany, the Netherlands, France).
• All except the UN and the Council of Europe have separate, closed networks for classified communication. Web and/or external e-mail access from work networks does not in the case of Finland, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany (planned) and Denmark (planned) prevent dealing with matters on the work network that are exempt from public disclosure or have a low security level. Some maintain "need-to-know" limitations, especially for personal data. It is otherwise emphasized that the use of electronic storage enables broad distribution of information.
• None of the investigated foreign ministries envisage reductions in total costs as a result of greater ICT investments other than perhaps in the long term. Many emphasize that cost-benefit calculations are uncertain among other reasons because the investment also results in growth in productivity that is difficult to measure.
• Different network solutions have been implemented for the communication between foreign ministries and their foreign missions. Some (Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, France, Belgium) rely wholly or partly on leased networks, while others (Finland, NATO) use their own networks. Denmark, in addition to leasing satellite networks, will use the Internet. The Council of Europe uses the Internet only.
• In many cases, leased networks are used or designed for telephones as well (Canada, Denmark, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany?), which results in large savings on telephone budgets.

A preoccupation with absolute security has cut off diplomats from vital information. There is no question that systems must be secure, but they must also be functional. Instead of designing for zero risk, State should build systems that minimize risk to tolerable levels

CSIS report ^{5For reference, see page 7.}>

4 Networks and security

4.1 Goals

The goal for IT security in accordance with the Government’s Action Plan for Electronic Government (1999–2001) is

"a satisfactory level of IT security (…) so that the use of electronic administrative procedures, information and communication does not reduce the level of confidence and trust in the administration or its robustness, so that important considerations such as the protection of personal privacy and security under the law are safeguarded, and that there is no increase in the level of risk and vulnerability even though IT is implemented in all areas of the administration."

The Ministry of Labour and Government Administration is seeking to develop and establish common solutions and programmes that can fulfil the needs for IT security. An overall IT security strategy is to be drawn up for the whole public administration, aimed at preventing unauthorized access to sensitive or confidential information and at preventing the misuse by unauthorized persons of resources within the central government’s IT infrastructure. "However, an exaggerated and too broad a focus on security may result in the selection of solutions that are too strict, which may in turn thwart the desired development and modernization. However, risk and vulnerability assessments that are adapted to the needs of the entities, may result in more balanced solutions", states the action plan.

The electronic management and dissemination of information classified pursuant to the Security Instructions and Protection Instructions for the public administration is regulated by the Data Security Directive issued by Headquarters Defence Command Norway. The current Data Security Directive entered into force on 1 March 1998. It is stated here that the purpose of the directive and its annexes is to ensure that:

• "information does not fall into the hands of unauthorized persons (protection of confidentiality)
• no unauthorized changes are made to information (protection of integrity)
• information and data resources are made available to authorized users (protection of availability)."

These are also the goals on which the Foreign Ministry must base its ICT security. However, owing to its widely distributed, global location and very varied staff and competence, the Foreign Service will need to plan other technical security solutions than the remainder of the public administration has so far found necessary. This involves, for example, the need to plan effective firewall solutions and software encryption both within and outside the area that falls within the Security Instructions.

4.2 Networks and security in the Norwegian Foreign Service

All Foreign Ministry employees are currently connected by a low-security network (known as the "blue" network) for information up to and including In confidence and Restricted. This is the "production" or "work" network, where most written material is produced, exchanged and stored. The Foreign Service’s administrative systems, such as the personnel system, economy system and archive system, are also part of this network. On 1 April 1999, eight missions were also connected to the blue network as a part of the ICT development carried out in connection with the Norwegian OSCE chairmanship. The blue network is subject to a number of requirements as regards access, control of storage media, etc., and also lacks external communications.

Another network, the "black" network, is used for unclassified communication and web browsing. Only a small number of Ministry employees have access to the black network from their workstations, while the others are required to use stand-alone PCs for accessing the Internet. All foreign missions have access to unclassified external e-mail and the Internet via at least one communications PC. The staff of a few missions have such access from their workstations via the mission’s black network.

The working group has received statistics from the Foreign Ministry’s Archives showing that 88 per cent of the documents registered in the archives in 1988 were unclassified. There is reason to believe that the same applies to foreign missions. These statistics are available as an unprinted annex to this report.

4.2.1 Proposal for a new network strategy

In the Foreign Service, security considerations will always be of decisive importance for information management. The work of the Ministry has always been based on two fundamental premises:

• Classified information shall in accordance with the current interpretation of the regulations only be handled in networks that are physically separate from data networks with external communications.
• No firewall solutions have been approved by the superior security authority (Headquarters Defence Command Norway, Security Division).

The working group has entered into a dialogue concerning the security aspects of various network solutions with the Security Division of Headquarters Defence Command Norway. On the basis of the discussions in the working group and the dialogue with the Security Division of Headquarters Defence Command Norway, two alternatives have been found appropriate for the current network solution at the Ministry:

• Alternative 1: A reorganization of the structure of the current contents so that all unclassified production is placed in the unclassified (black) network, and all service employees are granted access to this network. Handling of low-security information at the levels Restricted and In confidence will in accordance with this solution take place in a separate "blue" network to which all who need it will be granted access via special PCs. This will mean that electronic case management and document storage will for the time being only be possible in the unclassified work network (the black network). For practical reasons it is not desirable to keep separate electronic archives for low-security and unclassified documents. Until new technical security solutions are approved, archive copies of classified documents will therefore only exist on paper. ^{6Electronic networks and archives may not yet be used for documents with a security level higher than In confidence/Restricted. Such documents will still only be available in paper form.}>
• • Alternative 2: Introduction of two-level security in the infrastructure (cable) for the current blue network. This would entail running two "logical" networks, one low-security and one unclassified, through the same cable. It would therefore not be necessary to use two separate PCs to gain access to both the unclassified and the low-security network. With the help of firewall technology, users could process and exchange both low-security and unclassified electronic information using the existing infrastructure. Firewall technology would enable both external e-mail communications and web browsing to be carried out securely from the unclassified logical network. It is believed that this solution would allow integrated electronic case management and document storage for both logical networks without endangering security.

Until recently it was assumed that the latter solution was not yet realizable. However, in May/June 1999 in response to an enquiry from the IT Section at the Foreign Ministry, Headquarters Defence Command Norway stated that it was now prepared to guarantee that the solution outlined in alternative 2 could be implemented in the Foreign Service within one year. Headquarters Defence Command Norway recommends the adoption of alternative 2.

However, it is important to be aware of the specific requirements associated with alternative 2 as regards external communications such as access to the Internet and external e-mail. The solution would entail the need for centralized operational responsibility for all external connections and for the security solution for the whole Foreign Service network. This would in its turn necessitate the strengthening of the ICT staff and competence in the Ministry and at foreign missions.

The working group recommends the adoption of alternative 2 for further work on the networks at the Ministry and at foreign missions on the following conditions:

• Headquarters Defence Command Norway must confirm that it is able to assist in providing resources so that the solution described in alternative 2 can be realized within one year.
• The solution must meet the requirements regarding external e-mail communications and web browsing described in the present report.
• The Ministry must, if necessary at a high level, assist in ensuring that Headquarters Defence Command Norway gives the necessary priority to cooperation with the Foreign Ministry concerning this and, if appropriate, to interim solutions prior to full implementation of alternative 2.
• The Ministry must also provide adequate support of other kinds (administration, finance and manpower) to enable implementation of alternative 2 within one year.

4.2.2 Establishing a global network for the Norwegian Foreign Service

The Foreign Ministry’s work network should form the main channel of a global network for employees throughout the Foreign Service. This should meet the internal communications needs of the service as regards electronic information exchange as well as giving access to the Internet, external information suppliers and external e-mail. The network should also allow the use of voice telephones. It will be possible to make considerable savings on telephone costs if voice telephones are included.

In order to ensure satisfactory data communications in connection with the Norwegian chairmanship of the OSCE, the Ministry has entered into an agreement with Equant Network Services concerning the leasing of network capacity and technical services on the SITA network. SITA is owned by the international airlines, has access nodes at most international airports and is currently the world’s largest data network in terms of distribution and traffic volume. The agreement has also been extended to cover the communications needs of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).

As mentioned in the description of the ICT situation in the Foreign Service in 3.1, it is a matter of major importance that all Norwegian missions are equipped with local area networks (LAN) to enable efficient utilization of computers and data and communications resources.

4.3 Proposals for measures

On this basis, the working group recommends that the Foreign Ministry base its development of information networks and communications services on the following:

1. In consultation with the Security Division of Headquarters Defence Command Norway, the Foreign Ministry should aim within one year to implement the network solution outlined in alternative 2, above. This will provide all employees with access to external and internal e-mail communications and web browsing, while at the same time enabling them to work on low-security electronic information.
2. A study should be carried out with a view to implementing a global network solution for the whole Foreign Service, including NORAD. This study should be completed by the end of 1999. Such a network should be implemented before the end of 2003.
3. Before the end of 2003, local area networks should be set up at as many missions as possible that do not have such networks today.
4. Protection of the service’s network solution and communications strategy should be carried out at three levels:

• For management of unclassified information: In addition to Depnett’s firewall, a firewall solution should be implemented that is approved by Headquarters Defence Command Norway and the Norwegian Data Inspectorate. The use of electronic signatures and software encryption should be considered in this connection.
• NX-1000 hardware encryption should be implemented for the use of a closed network for the security levels Restricted and In confidence.
• From summer 2000, a KRUTT encryption unit should be used to secure networks up to security level Secret.

5 Intranet

The establishment of intranet facilities makes internal information more accessible by presenting it in a form that can be read by means of web browsing software. The information is not made available to the public. Although the intranet makes use of the same web browsing software as the Internet, it can only be read by users who have access to the organization’s network. Intranets must therefore not be confused with the Internet. An intranet normally has a design resembling an ordinary web site.

In the case of the Foreign Service, the intranet is accessed from the unclassified, and not from the low-security network. The intranet thus has the same protection from intrusion as the remainder of the network.

The technical prerequisites for an intranet at the Foreign Ministry already exist, and the start of such a network has already been established. "News from Victoria Terrasse" has for some time been available from the Foreign Ministry’s blue network. As the foreign missions are attached to the Ministry’s network, these will also be given access to the intranet.

The advantage of an intranet (and electronic text archive) is that employees are at all times able to retrieve up-to-date information that they need in their daily work without leaving their desks. The demand for this is already great, and is likely to grow as employees gradually become more used to using information retrieved from electronic databases. The contents of the intranet will also change as information technology develops.

Information that is appropriate for publication on an intranet falls into two main categories:

• Common internal information. This includes information that the Ministry currently distributes to its employees on paper (UD-info, News from Victoria Terrasse, the Norwegian List of Diplomatic and Consular Representation Abroad, personnel policy guidelines, budget and accounting data, travel allowance rates, overtime rules, filing instructions, the staff handbook, the Oslo Diplomatic List, country reports, etc.). It will be possible to develop electronic forms associated with information, e.g. a form for travel expense accounts attached to the rules for official journeys and the travel allowance rates for each country.
• Information that has not previously been made generally available in the organization. This includes studies, strategy documents, reports of general interest from foreign missions, etc.

All employees of the Foreign Service will also be able via the intranet to access electronic information services (Reuters, Oxford Analytica, Keesing’s etc.) that the Foreign Ministry subscribes to as well as a CD-ROM-based information bank in the Documentation Centre. Many useful sources of information will here be made available to the whole Foreign Service, e.g. the telephone directory, encyclopaedias, databases and reference works.

For information on the organization and administration of the intranet, we refer to chapter 11.

Proposals for measures

1. Priority should be given to the development of an intranet for the Foreign Service along the lines outlined above.
2. The Documentation Centre should assess subscriptions to Internet-based information services, on-line services, database services, CD-ROM disks, etc. in consultation with the users and in line with the technical possibilities.
3. Organizational changes affecting the editorial responsibility for publication on the intranet should be considered (for information concerning the various possibilities, see chapter 11, page *).

6 Electronic case management and document storage

6.1 The plans of the central government administration

Electronic case and document management involves ICT support throughout the whole process of dealing with a case until a decision is made and announced. The use of electronic administrative procedures entails that documents are available in electronic form, that they can be exchanged via electronic networks and that they are stored in an electronic document archive. When a document has been placed in such an archive, it is available for reading but may not be modified.

The Government’s Action Plan for Electronic Government (1999–2001) states that electronic administrative procedures and the use of electronic information and communication shall become a normal form of work in the public administration. Electronic administrative procedures shall facilitate reforms and an alternative organization for our solution of tasks, so that the users will receive public services adapted to their needs.

Electronic administrative procedures and services entail a need for a major restructuring of the way tasks are solved by the public administration. Such restructuring will have consequences for the archive function, internal routines and procedural rules, the work of civil servants and senior officials and the way in which users communicate with the administration.

The public entities that have implemented electronic administrative procedures will experience both qualitative and quantitative benefits.

• Quantitative benefits include
• • an increased capacity for dealing with cases (throughput) and
  • cost reductions as a result of the transition to electronic archiving and document distribution.
• Qualitative benefits include
• • an increase in the quality of services in the form of fast and accurate administrative procedures,
  • correct and easily accessible information to the parties in a case,
  • increased control through better overall clarity, better resource management and a more even distribution of the workload,
  • increased traceability of complete case files and
  • a better basis for evaluation by the parties of the events that have taken place in a case, as well as
  • broader and easier public access to the administration’s documents.

Moreover, the documentation of the administration’s work that is required by the archiving regulations will be improved by the introduction of broadly based electronic administrative procedures.

6.2 The Foreign Ministry’s plans

The character of the Foreign Service with its varied tasks, frequent organizational adjustments and scattered location necessitates a very flexible system for electronic case and document management. It is believed that these demands are met by DocuLive Case Manager, and preparations are now being made to introduce this system. This tool will be attached to the Ministry’s electronic archive system, DocuLive Case Archive, which has already been implemented. It will also be integrated with the e-mail system, the word-processing system and, following a trial period, a system for electronic signatures.

When technical and organizational security clearance has been given, it will be possible to transfer information from the electronic case management system to both the Foreign Service’s intranet and to the public Internet.

The implementation of electronic case and document management is planned to be carried out gradually from the year 2000, beginning with the IT Section and the Section for organizational development.

Executive officers and senior officials will have access to the archive system, and documents for which storage is appropriate that are produced with the help of the system will be stored in the archive system’s database. The decision as to whether the database will be used to store classified documents will depend on the choice of network solution. Registration of the documents in the document archive will be carried out by the officer responsible for the documents. The full texts of electronic documents received are also to be stored. Documents received on paper can be scanned and then archived electronically. Information is to be registered once only, preferably at the point in the organization where it is produced or received. Efforts shall be made to take all relevant information into account when dealing with Ministry business.

Officials will be able to retrieve electronic documents and information about Ministry matters from the new electronic case management and document storage system directly to their workstations, regardless of whether they have their office at the Foreign Ministry or at a foreign mission (provided that they have access to the Foreign Ministry’s electronic work network). Simple routines will be set up to enable the e-mail system to be used for referral of documents for approval by superior officers and for circulation prior to and following dispatch.

The use of electronic signature technology will enable the verification of the sender and recipient of all dispatches within the Ministry, to foreign missions and to all addressees complying with the same standard. It will not be possible for persons other than the addressee to open a dispatched document.

Use of electronic signatures by the Ministry and by foreign missions is dependent on all parts of the service being equipped with certificates to be used when signing and opening dispatches.

Electronic case management and document storage will bring about considerable improvements in both the efficiency and the quality of administrative procedures, particularly when the whole Foreign Service is connected in a single network. However, unless the "need-to-know" principle for unclassified documents is discontinued, these benefits will only be realized to a small extent.

6.3 The need-to-know principle

The purpose of the need-to-know principle is to prevent sensitive information from falling into the hands of unauthorized persons. It is stated in section 6 of the Security Instructions and section 7 of the Protection Instructions that "the number of copies printed of a classified document shall not exceed the number indicated by official requirements. Such documents must (….) be made available or made known only to persons who for official reasons must be familiar with the contents". In Provisions concerning security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 1990, it is stated that "officials shall have access to classified information only to the extent that they have official need for such access" (see II, 3).

The Archives also apply the need-to-know principle to unclassified documents, cf. supplementary provisions to the Instructions for the Foreign Service Archives of January 1999. Employees have thus no automatic access to archive material other than that which they need for their work. When in doubt, the Archives shall obtain the consent of the head of the office responsible for the matter before lending out the document. This rule conforms to the earlier Foreign Ministry instructions (Release of documents from the Archives of 1 June 1954 and Daily Archive Routines of 1994). Application of the need-to-know principle to unclassified documents is a security measure supplementary to the routines pursuant to the Security Instructions and the Protection Instructions, and must primarily be viewed in relation to the security policy situation that existed after World War II. In addition to this there have been cases of breach of trust in the Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry has purchased the electronic case management and document storage system DocuLive, which enables officials to register their own documents in an electronic document archive and to retrieve the documents to their workstations. The purpose of the new archive system is to rationalize the Archives’ record-keeping and loan procedures, thus improving the integration of the Archives in administrative procedures. The new archive system will result in economic and administrative benefits, since officials will themselves register the retrieval of documents and will no longer require the assistance of the staff of the Archives to gain access to the documents.

It is technically possible to implement an electronic document archive while maintaining the current need-to-know control. Officials would then have direct access only to their own documents in the electronic document archive. However, there are a number of reasons for liberalizing the need-to-know principle for unclassified documents:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, members of the public can request access to documents that are not exempt from public disclosure. The public record gives detailed information of the contents of the Ministry’s archives. The current principle for loan of documents by employees of the Ministry entails that the general public, including the media, can more easily gain access to documents that are not exempt from public disclosure than can the Ministry’s own employees.

Unclassified documents represent no security risk (or else they should have been classified). The reason for applying the need-to-know-principle to unclassified information is that it is conceivable that unclassified information can be subjected to systematization and analysis that can result in the compromising of classified information. In the case of documents that are not exempt from public disclosure such systematization and analysis can be carried out by members of the public. It can therefore not be necessary that the Ministry’s own employees shall not have direct access to documents that are not exempt from public disclosure on grounds of security.

The general public has no access to unclassified documents that are exempt from public disclosure, but the titles of such documents and descriptions of their contents are normally given in the public record. However, the possibility of revealing classified information through systematization and analysis of the information in the public record is extremely limited. It is not for reasons of security that members of the public are denied access to this group of documents (in which case the documents should have been classified). The usual reason for exempting unclassified documents from public disclosure is that they contain internal assessments. Just such assessments should be easily accessible to Ministry employees because they may have relevance for matters dealt with at a later date.

The Ministry of Defence has already established a searchable electronic document archive for unclassified documents. All employees of the Ministry of Defence have thus been given direct access to registered unclassified documents from their workstations, and the need-to-know principle is not applied to unclassified documents there.

If the Ministry chooses to maintain the current need-to-know control of unclassified documents, it will fail to reap the administrative and economic benefits resulting from the implementation of DocuLive. Need-to-know limitations would entail that the Archives would have to continue to control document loans. Such a system would also entail that each employee would need individually defined user access, which would involve an increase in the work of the Archives. Economic and administrative considerations indicate the need to modify the practice of the need-to-know principle for the loan of unclassified documents.

The working group proposes no changes in the application of the need-to-know principle to classified documents. It will also be appropriate to establish access restrictions to certain archives or types of material. For example, it would not be advisable to allow all employees to have access to archive V (the NATO archive) regardless of security level. Nor should employees have direct access to personnel or consular matters.

6.4 Proposals for measures

1. DocuLive Case Manager and DocuLive Case Archive shall be implemented in one department at a time after a trial period involving a small group of sections. In this connection, the necessary training programmes must be developed, including training for senior officials.
2. At the same time, the routines for document management, case management and document storage must be reviewed. An up-to-date set of instructions should be prepared for these routines, including arrangements and routines for distribution of reports. The Foreign Ministry’s archive instructions must be adapted to electronic case and document management, among other reasons, to give all employees access to unclassified documents, with specific exceptions for certain document groups.
3. Electronic signatures should be tested and, on the basis of the result of the tests, a plan should be drawn up for the introduction of routine descriptions from the date and to the extent decided by the Ministry.

7 Use of the Internet as an information channel

7.1 The general situation in the central government administration

The Government’s "Action Plan for Electronic Government" states:

All central government agencies shall use the Internet actively as a channel in their information strategy. The general public, business sector and administration shall be offered information adapted to their needs and opportunities for communication with the administration via the Internet. The goal is to offer the general public self-service options by allowing simple administrative procedures to be performed as part of the services. This vision means that resources must be channelled from paper publication to electronic publication (…) Priority must be given to efforts to develop information services of high quality and of great value to the general public, the private sector and the administration itself.

The following common measures regarding the Internet are listed in the action plan:

• The "new" ODIN (the Norwegian government website) will be introduced by the end of 1999. A new technical solution, more flexible routines and decentralized organization that is more in line with the responsibility for the content/information shall contribute to more active utilization of the Internet by the ministries as a channel in their information work.
• Electronic distribution of drafts for comments shall be tested further and a report on the consequences shall be prepared.
• A common gateway to all public information on the Internet shall be established.

7.2 The Foreign Ministry’s information on the Internet

The Foreign Ministry is one of the ministries that has made most headway in publishing information on the Internet. All public documents produced by the Ministry are published in electronic form. These include Reports to the Storting (white papers), Official Norwegian Reports (green papers), press releases and other publications. The Ministry currently uses the Internet as a channel for dissemination of information both in Norway and abroad. Information is published on several different websites:

• ODIN – http://www.dep.no/ud
• EØS-linjen (EEA Line) – http://www.ud.dep.no/eos. This is interactive, i.e. allows users to send e-mail directly to the Foreign Ministry staff.
• OSCE Norwegian Chairmanship website – http://www.ud.dep.no/osse
• A number of embassies and other missions have their own websites.
• NORAD has its own website.

Owing to limited access, publication and updating of information on ODIN is currently excessively time-consuming. Competence in this area is being developed in the Press, Cultural Relations and Information Department, but there is still a long way to go before self-sufficiency is reached as regards the publication of information. This is a further reason why all Foreign Service employees should be given direct access to the Internet. This and the new ODIN structure would then enable the individual units to produce and update electronic information for publication on the Internet. It would then be necessary to establish procedures for this.

The working group sees a need for a discussion as to whether it is natural to uphold the organizational distinction in the Press, Cultural Relations and Information Department between information directed towards the Norwegian public and that intended for the international public as regards the publication of information on the Internet. The Press, Cultural Relations and Information Department currently has responsibility for information both to the Norwegian public and to the rest of the world. The information published on ODIN (which contains large amounts of information in foreign languages targeted at the international public) and that published by career missions on local web servers is all information issued by the Foreign Ministry. Information on ODIN intended for the Norwegian public may be just as valuable to people abroad as the information on the same subject designed for the international public.

Owing to the geographical independence of the Internet, quality assurance and coordination of such factors as graphic images and information structures are matters of major importance. From a budgetary point of view, moreover, it is important to exploit the Ministry’s ICT expertise as efficiently as possible, for example, by avoiding duplication of work. Potential organizational changes in relation to this are discussed in chapter 11 (see page *).

All missions should have their own websites adapted to the host country. These may be placed under the same organizational administration as the remainder of Internet publication facilities, or may be handled independently, depending on the availability of local competence. The missions will be able to communicate via the intranet with the Internet editorial at the Ministry on matters concerning design and publication. This will enable all of the missions to benefit from the same competence and the technical facilities attached to the Ministry, thus avoiding the need for each mission to build up its own technical competence and infrastructure from the bottom.

7.3 Proposals for measures

1. The Internet strategy of the Foreign Service should as far as possible be based on the same coordinated profile as all information published within the framework of the Foreign Ministry’s activities, whether directed towards Norwegian or international target groups.
2. All missions should have their own websites adapted to the host country. These should be flexibly and cost-effectively developed and maintained in close cooperation with the Foreign Ministry.
3. Consideration is being given to the coordination of the Foreign Ministry’s Internet and intranet activities (see chapter 11, page *).
4. The IT Section must strengthen the expertise and resources it directs towards operations and towards providing guidance to those responsible for Internet and intranet in the Ministry and the missions.
5. The potential for cooperation and coordination between the Foreign Ministry and NORAD should be exploited in relation to Internet and intranet activities in the Foreign Service.
6. New and creative possibilities for Internet activities are being considered (see chapter 2, page *)

8 Training and competence building

Efficient communication and information management in the Foreign Service require that all employees both at home and at foreign missions have the necessary user competence and technical competence for the jobs they do. Rapid improvements must be made in the user competence in the Foreign Service, and this can only partly be achieved through an increased focus on training through courses. If training is to have any value, the newly acquired knowledge must be rapidly applied and developed in daily work. An important factor in achieving this is the introduction of network-based administrative routines and communication/information routines that all employees are required to use actively.

The information society requires greater emphasis to be placed on competence and training, not only in relation to ICT tools, but equally to information processing, selection and assessment. It is possible to distinguish between several types of ICT competence:

• user competence, i.e. the general basic competence that employees in Norway and abroad need in order to use ICT as a work tool for administrative procedures, information retrieval and communication
• operational competence, which includes knowledge of installation and configuration, operation and maintenance of the Ministry’s computer hardware, networks and specific ICT systems
• development competence, i.e. the knowledge needed for development, for example, of information and case management systems to serve the specific needs of individual agencies
• strategic ICT competence, where the use of ICT is viewed in connection with matters such as organizational development and performance and goal achievement in the agency concerned

The table on the following page provides a schematic summary of some relevant competence needs in the Foreign Service.

The ICT training provided by the Foreign Ministry has so far been mainly voluntary. As a result of this, a number of employees do not have the necessary competence to utilize efficiently the computer equipment and software that they have been supplied with. Some senior officials do not use ON-MAIL and word processing in their work. The situation as regards competence is otherwise as follows:

• The level of use of word processing among officials and clerical staff mainly covers their daily needs, but the programs could be exploited better.
• In departments/units that use special computer systems, e.g. the Archives, the Personnel Unit, the Budget Unit and the Accounts Unit, user competence is normally satisfactory.
• Most employees who have access to network PCs know how to use the e-mail system, if at an elementary level.
• The competence of senior officials as regards the use of ICT is lower throughout than is the case for executive officers and clerical staff.
• The competence among staff at foreign missions is largely the same as in Norway, but few people other than staff responsible for communications are able to use e-mail systems. However, at embassies administered by NORAD, e-mail is used by almost the whole staff, including locally appointed officials.
• A common problem is that employees have insufficient ICT competence when they take up appointments at missions, partly because too little time is set aside for training.
• Local employees have generally poorer ICT competence than staff posted from Norway.
• There is a lack of qualified operations personnel at many missions, particularly where network operations are concerned.

ICT training is the responsibility of the Foreign Service Institute in cooperation with the IT section, and is based on a continuous programme of courses in different user software which are mainly held externally. The courses are adapted to the needs of the Ministry, and both internal and external instructors are used. In addition to the continuous course programme with individual enrolment, some courses are held internally in individual departments. The Foreign Service Institute also offers PC-based self-study courses, which are not currently widely used.

ICT training in the Foreign Service has been given low priority, in terms of both financing and staffing. Only one employee is mainly occupied with this area, and the budget for ICT training covers an average of one course day per year per employee.

Different categories of employees	Types of ICT competence needs
	User competence	Operational competence	Development competence	Strategic ICT competence
All employees	Basic competence in: Windows NT WORD ON-MAIL EXCEL Anti-virus program UD-INFO Use of the Internet / Intranet DocuLive Knowledge of the Foreign Ministry’s computer network	–	–	–
Groups with special needs	PowerPoint Agresso Lessor FileMaker Pro Tailor-made systems	–	–	–
Provider of user support in Norway	As for all employees, but with advanced knowledge of these systems.	Some operational competence useful, e.g. to ease the workload of the IT Section	–	–
Provider of user support abroad	As for all employees, but with advanced knowledge of these systems.	A certain operational competence is very desirable, to ease the workload of the IT operations staff.	–	–
Employees with operational tasks in Norway and abroad	As for all employees.	Necessary special expertise to ensure reliable operations and maintenance of computer hardware and software.	–	–
Officials at all levels with responsibility for systems development	As for all employees.	Some knowledge of operations.	Special development of IT systems specific to the agency within accounts, archives, personnel and information. Ordering competence. Understanding of the Foreign Ministry’s needs.	Strategic understanding of how existing and new technology can be utilized.
Senior officials (higher and lower senior officials in Norway and abroad)	As for all employees.	–	–	Strategic understanding of how existing and new technology can be utilized.

Proposals for measures

1. Specialized training programmes should be offered to senior officials so that they can be given a broad understanding of how ICT can be used to rationalize and modernize the Foreign Service, for example in view of the security requirements as regards the handling of classified information. All senior officials should be taught the necessary skills to enable them to use word processing, e-mail and the intranet.
2. An analysis should be made of the competence needs associated with the implementation and operation of networks at foreign missions. Emphasis must be placed on ICT competence when recruiting personnel to central ICT-related posts at missions, and sufficient time must be set aside for training prior to such personnel taking up their appointments.
3. Internet training should be offered and designed to meet the specific needs of different users, so that employees are made aware of the quality of the information that can be retrieved from the Internet.
4. Necessary competence building in ICT should be made compulsory. It is a managerial duty to ensure that all employees have the necessary competence and are able to set off time for training. Special consideration must be given to the training needs of clerical staff in view of the expected changes in the tasks of this group in relation to the introduction of new technology.
5. The Ministry’s capacity for administration, development and implementation of ICT training must be increased.
6. A major focus should be given to training and organization of user support personnel. User support is an important resource base for recruiting to operations-related posts at foreign missions, and training should be provided with this goal in view.
7. Cooperation between the IT Section, the Section for Long-term Planning, the Press, Cultural Relations and Information Department and the Foreign Service Institute must be strengthened by the establishment of a training committee to be entrusted with continuous identification of and discussion concerning ICT-related training needs. NORAD should also be drawn into this work.
8. When recruiting staff, greater emphasis should be placed on ICT competence, particularly in connection with posts assigned the responsibility for operations and for guidance or support of users.

9 Development policy and development cooperation: new potential

9.1 ICT as an economic force

The rapid spread of increasingly efficient and comprehensive information and communications technology has major relevance for the shaping of Norwegian development cooperation policy. Two factors are mainly responsible for this:

• ICT is already changing important premises for economic development.
• ICT is a tool for shaping and implementing the most efficient development policy possible, see 9.2, below.

The information revolution entails that knowledge (human capital) will increase its importance for economic development. New developmental potential is created wherever ICT is introduced. At the same time, there is an increasing danger that poor population groups without access to the technology will be even more marginalized, while poor groups that gain access to such technology acquire new potential.

ICT also affects the conditions for trade and industry, partly by reducing the significance of geographical distance and different time zones and partly by introducing new products onto the market. There are changes in the balance of power and the dynamics operating between the public sector, the private sector and civil society at both national and global levels. A development policy that fails to take these changed premises into account is in danger of becoming inefficient and of losing relevance. A development policy that actively supports and stimulates the positive potential of ICT is likely to attain more in the fight to reduce poverty in the world.

9.2 ICT as a development cooperation tool

By developing integrated ICT solutions at all levels of the Norwegian Foreign Service (including NORAD) it is intended to help to ensure that development policy and development assistance are as far as possible knowledge-based and relevant. ICT also involves entirely new potential for coordinating development cooperation, for openly shaping development strategies, and for transparent planning and communication between the relevant players (e.g. the authorities of the recipient countries, the private sector, NGOs, donors). Other major donors have already made great progress in founding their development assistance on active, ICT-based knowledge management. An up-to-date ICT system is a precondition for active participation in the World Bank’s new "Comprehensive Development Framework" initiative.

9.3 The relationship between the Foreign Ministry and NORAD

In their administration of development assistance, the Foreign Ministry and NORAD face many similar tasks. NORAD’s efforts to find solutions and the Foreign Ministry’s management of NORAD demand close communication and extensive exchange of information and knowledge. NORAD and the Foreign Ministry cooperate on the administration of embassies, known as integrated missions. In accordance with the principle of administration by the largest user, NORAD has responsibility for operation, administration and document storage at 13 of these embassies and the Foreign Ministry at five. NORAD has responsibility for accounts at all integrated embassies. The Foreign Service Institute has responsibility for training at both the Foreign Ministry and NORAD, including ICT-training.

In recent years, NORAD has implemented an intensive development project to establish an integrated ICT system for planning, management, accounts, statistics and reporting in connection with development assistance measures. The system, known as ØKOSYS, involves all of the integrated embassies and requires the development of a network for these embassies. This places great demands on communication between the embassies and Norway. NORAD began using the system in January this year, and is in process of implementing it at the embassies. This will lead to considerable improvements in the quality of administration and provide better and more up-to-date management information. Considerable labour saving is expected in relation to compliance with the Regulations for Financial Management in the Government Administration and the provision of satisfactory performance information.

NORAD is responsible for the database for registration and purpose coding of all Norwegian development assistance projects and transfers, including the approximately NOK 3.5 billion that the Foreign Ministry is responsible for distributing. Statistical reports are sent to the OECD and are used in annual reports, in budget propositions, by the political staff and for providing information to the general public. Since the Foreign Ministry’s projects are not systematically registered, production is currently delayed, resulting in a great deal of unnecessary duplication of effort. From 1999 the difficulties experienced by the Foreign Ministry will become even more apparent since NORAD will be able to produce statistical reports with continuously updated accounting figures whereas the Foreign Minister and the Development Minister will not have access to corresponding services from their secretariats.

The Foreign Ministry will be able to rationalize its work and supply better services to the political staff and the public if financial management systems and statistical databases are developed to reap the benefits of NORAD’s system development.

The Foreign Ministry and NORAD should aim as far as possible to integrate and develop similar ICT systems, and should ensure that this cooperation is taken into consideration when developing ICT solutions in general. For example, it will be necessary for the Foreign Ministry and NORAD to harmonize their requirements regarding security and security levels for the networks. In order to avoid high additional costs and unnecessary workload, an effort should be made to achieve joint communications solutions and networks for unclassified information at the embassies.

9.4 Proposals for measures

1. The ICT perspective must be integrated more closely into Norwegian development policy. It is proposed that the next foreign policy statement to the Storting (in May 2000) focuses on this subject.
2. The measures proposed in this report must be adopted simultaneously in the budget chapters 02 (foreign affairs) and 03 (development cooperation).
3. The ICT solutions adopted by NORAD and the Foreign Ministry must as far as possible be integrated into a single coherent system. Communication and distribution of information between the agencies should as far as possible take place via the internal work networks. This should be realized in connection with NORAD’s move.
4. The Foreign Ministry/NORAD should enter into cooperation agreements with major international foreign policy players concerning electronic management and exchange of knowledge and information. It will be particularly important to enable the Foreign Ministry and NORAD to participate fully in the World Bank’s new Comprehensive Development Framework initiative.
5. An investigation should be made of the possibility and value of implementing administrative systems developed by NORAD in the Foreign Service.
6. A closer organizational and operational cooperation in the area of ICT and information management should be investigated with a view to merging the units responsible for ICT in the Foreign Ministry and NORAD. Cooperation should also be set up on the training of operations staff for foreign missions.
7. The cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and NORAD on supplier agreements, standardization of technical solutions and practice in relation to security requirements should be further developed.

10 Working environment, codetermination and agreements

10.1 The current situation

Major goals for modernization of ICT and information management in the Foreign Ministry should be:

• better quality and greater job satisfaction
• better working environment, greater flexibility, less stress and overtime
• a more productive and user-oriented Foreign Service

Current agreements form in many ways a satisfactory basis for codetermination and cooperation between the employees and the administration in relation to the development and use of ICT. On the other hand, these agreements were drawn up during a period when the challenge consisted of beginning to use a new and unknown tool. Part of the reason why the Foreign Service has lagged behind as regards electronic communication may be that it has failed to detect and communicate the needs of the various units and their staffs to senior officials responsible for making decisions. The Ministry’s IT Council should therefore be revived so that it can resume its function as an advisory committee for the top level of the Ministry, placing particular emphasis on assessing the functional needs of the service and providing guidance on further developments.

10.2 Telework and working from home

ICT and communications networks are already being used to organize work in new and flexible ways. In ongoing development work in international concerns and organizations, telework is the term used for arrangements that utilize ICT to organize and carry out tasks over great distances and independent of office locations. Some organizations whose staffs travel a great deal are trying out schemes whereby employees are not provided with permanent offices, but are expected to use whichever office is free at any given time.

The Foreign Ministry already practises a form of telework at the missions, in connection with travel, meetings and international negotiations. The geographical and temporal range of work in the Foreign Service and the nature of tasks carried out indicate a need for the Foreign Ministry to be particularly active in utilizing ICT to rationalize telework.

Both public and private organizations ^{7Agreements have been concluded with the Ministry of Finance and the Research Council of Norway, among others.} >have entered into agreements with employees on the installation of PC and ISDN lines to enable them to work from their homes. A committee appointed by the Ministry of Labour and Government Administration is currently studying the implications that this has for agreements and legislation. Within the Foreign Service, this development also opens up the possibility for individual employees of working from home:

• In periods of one’s life when one is involved in caring for other family members, it may be appropriate to organize parts of the working week as telework from home.
• Secure and fast communication services may enable spouses accompanying staff posted to foreign missions to continue working for their employers in Norway.
• For couples, both of whom work for the Foreign Ministry, it may be appropriate to try out arrangements where a posting is combined with one of the spouses continuing to work as a teleworker for the Ministry.

However, this development also opens up the possibility of greater availability and of pressure from employers for staff to be continuously on standby or to carry out services and tasks in free time. Continuous availability via mobile telephones and the Internet during official journeys may lead to even more intensive utilization of officials. In the Foreign Service sphere, characterized by intensive participation in international processes and coordinated action over many time zones, there is a clear danger of such arrangements being abused.

Many Foreign Ministry employees already have PCs at home. A large and increasing number have subscriptions to the Internet. It would seem paradoxical, while the terms and conditions of employment refer to telephone and newspaper expenses as costs that can be covered by the employer, if an increasing number of employees should provide the Foreign Ministry with free office space and communication facilities in their homes.

It is difficult to predict what arrangements for telework from home and other flexible working arrangements will be developed at the Foreign Ministry. However, this is an area where employers and unions will have to assess the need for regulations and contractual rights, obligations and benefits. Another matter that has not yet been clarified is the question of how the provisions of the Working Environment Act concerning working hours and occupational injuries shall apply in the case of people who work from home.

For many people, more flexible working solutions will be a major benefit. At the same time, increased availability may lead to problems, and it would seem unreasonable if the Ministry’s employees were expected to carry all the costs of production and communications equipment.

Many people would be able to derive considerable welfare benefits should the Foreign Ministry develop satisfactory arrangements for telework and/or working from home. The Foreign Ministry should therefore begin to experiment actively with such arrangements. Experience derived from such pilot projects will be a precondition for arriving at satisfactory and relevant agreements between the trade unions and the employer.

10.3 The working environment – some important challenges

When employees’ working days involve an increasingly integrated, intensive and continuous use of electronic information systems to solve tasks, the Foreign Ministry will have to meet challenges in the area of working environment more actively than it does today.

• The workplace. Active follow-up will be necessary in order to adapt workplaces and monitor possible health problems. The introduction of electronic archives and administrative procedures combined with an intensive use of data networks and the Internet for information and communication purposes will result in a working day even more characterized by keyboards, mice and screens.
• Support functions. The extended use of information technology, where officials on all levels work directly and integratedly in relation to the archives and where the data network becomes a main channel for communication and distribution, may have major consequences for people who work in outer offices and other support functions. At the same time, opportunities may arise for developing new and challenging tasks within budget follow-up, communications and information retrieval. It will be necessary to carry out concrete development projects to ensure that opportunities are exploited and that the Foreign Ministry is just as aware of the problems as of the opportunities.
• Danger of redundancy. Some employees may have difficulty in exploiting the new potential of the data network. This may result in their careers meeting a dead end. Older employees may be especially vulnerable. A focus on training, user-friendly systems and conscious leadership will be necessary to counteract such problems.

10.4 Proposals for measures

1. The Ministry’s IT Council should be revived. The Administrative Affairs Department should take the initiative to review the mandate, tasks, composition and preparation of matters to be discussed.
2. In cooperation with the organizations, a review and assessment should be made of the provisions laid down in paragraph VIII of the Adjustment Agreement for the Foreign Ministry (especially concerning computer technology). The aim of this review should be to submit recommendations for reforms and measures to ensure that the intention of the agreement is better realized than it is today.
3. The Foreign Ministry should extend the experiments with working from home to integrate ICT-based solutions for telework.
4. The Foreign Ministry should make provisions for trial projects for telework by spouses accompanying Foreign Ministry employees posted abroad.
5. An assessment should be made of the possible effects on the working environment of the extended use of ICT. The aim of the assessment should be to submit recommendations for investments in equipment, training and organization of work.
6. The Foreign Ministry should make a special assessment of the possible consequences and challenges relating to the organization of work and tasks, competence building and training of personnel in support functions.

The management of change must primarily be concerned with vision and strategy in the rank and file of the enterprise and generate forces of change from within. Given the right conditions, an extraordinary dynamism can be released in enterprises with both strategic bearings and moral convictions that support the strategy. We must know where we want to go and we must believe in what we are doing.

Professor Torger Reve, Norwegian School of Management

11 Organizational and economic consequences

11.1 Organizing ICT and information management

One of the priority areas of the Government’s Action Plan for Electronic Government (1999–2001) is management and organization of IT and public administration policy. In this connection, the report states:

"An efficient and appropriate development and application of IT in the individual sectors and entities is dependent on the ability to formulate IT strategies that reflect the political objectives and on the ability to implement IT projects in a professional manner. This places a great demand on the organization of the administration's IT activities, and it entails a major challenge to leaders and IT personnel at all levels of the administration."

This is not only important for avoiding so-called "computer scandals", but also for the successful implementation of IT-solutions and subsequent realization of benefits. However, it is stressed that the challenges here lie to a large degree in the primary line organization and not in the IT units: "The operative management level will in particular face significant challenges with regard to the realization of benefits. The efforts in this area touch of course on general measures for management development and increased adaptability to changes".

11.2 Organizational consequences for the Foreign Ministry

Optimal utilization of information and communications technology combined with active and conscious information management will be major aspects of the modernization of the Foreign Ministry’s organization, which has been begun with the establishment of special committees to examine, respectively, the Foreign Ministry’s personnel policy and its responsibility for coordinating Norwegian foreign policy. The present report may therefore be viewed in connection with the recommendations submitted by these other committees.

Meeting the challenges of the Foreign Service within ICT and information processing requires a management possessing an overall vision, clear goals and a conscious use of instruments. Organization, distribution of responsibility and instructions must all be adapted and revised in relation to the introduction of new technology. There must be a willingness in the organization to try out new potential, such as that described in 2.4, and to adapt working methods continuously and creatively to the technological development. A matter of major importance will be the process of getting the whole Foreign Service to work together as a single network, especially by drawing foreign missions more closely into the daily work. This is a matter for which the top level of the Ministry must actively take responsibility.

The development of the Foreign Service’s information technology systems will involve changes in competence requirements and in the use of personnel resources. A consequence of this may be the release of resources currently engaged in routine tasks to deal with more administrative duties. Likewise, the increased delegation of administrative tasks to the departments will result in changes in the competence requirements for dealing with administrative matters in the departments. These changes involve both opportunities and risks. A conscious attitude to organization and competence building will be necessary to ensure that employees do not become disoriented, and that they are given the opportunity to grow into their new responsibilities.

As pointed out in the introduction to the present report, developments within information and communications technology demand greater awareness of the importance of knowledge and information management as an essential resource in any organization. A number of enterprises in the private sector have taken the consequences of this by placing greater emphasis on upgrading knowledge and information management and making it more visible in the organization. Corresponding measures should be considered in a knowledge-based organization such as the Foreign Service.

The working group will not indicate specific strategies for dealing with this, but will rather suggest the need for initiatives to be made at the top level of the Ministry. In any event, the purpose will be to mark ICT and information management as high-priority areas, and to ensure the satisfactory utilization of resources and realization of benefits.

• A joint administration should be built up in the Ministry for the production, quality assurance and maintenance of information for publication on the Internet, regardless of whether the information is intended for the Norwegian or international public. This may result in organizational changes in the Press, Cultural Relations and Information Department.
• Consideration should also be given to placing the responsibility for the Ministry’s intranet with this administration. This would require organizational changes also affecting the Administrative Affairs Department.
• A new post of Senior Information Strategy Adviser should be attached to the Administrative Affairs Department.
• The post could be combined with the editorial responsibility for the Foreign Ministry’s publications on the intranet and Internet.
• This may necessitate the establishment of a new organizational entity. The placing of this entity in the organization would then need to be decided.
• The most radical solution would be to establish a separate information department in the Ministry with the responsibilities outlined above. Parts of the current Sections for Organizational Development and Information Management, Promotion of Norwegian Culture Abroad and Press and Information as well as the whole IT Section could become part of such a new department.

Whatever solution is decided upon, there will be a need for a reinforcement of the IT Section to enable it to take care of security and operations as well as increasingly advanced technology in connection with networks that are growing in terms of both scope and content. Such a reinforcement will be even more necessary after the implementation of a more advanced network solution involving firewall technology that requires special monitoring (see chapter 4).

In close association with other work on modernizing the Foreign Service, further routines and methods (both ICT-based and others) must be assessed to improve the Foreign Ministry’s capacity to conserve and make use of the knowledge and experience built up by the Ministry staff in the course of their daily work. In view of the high degree of mobility in the service, it is especially important to ensure that the knowledge and experience built up by employees during their service at a given mission or in a given field is conserved and made available to those who take over their responsibilities. ICT-based knowledge management should have an important role to play in this.

This may involve such simple procedures as the head of a mission, after ending his period of duty, writing a brief memorandum summarizing experience and impressions, elements that have contributed to successes or blunders in a given country or field, and that this is stored electronically in a suitable place in the system where it is easily available (intranet or archives).

A particularly important challenge involves offering relevant and interesting work while serving at the Ministry in Norway to employees with broad experience in providing user support and looking after ICT facilities at a foreign mission.

11.3 Economic consequences

Rapid development of ICT and a focus on active information management will result in a more efficient and productive Norwegian Foreign Service. This is shown by the experiences of other countries’ foreign services (see chapter 4).

Such investments are also likely to result in savings in areas such as travel, use of telephones, postal and courier services, photocopying, messenger services, newspaper subscriptions, paper purchases, archive services and dealing with administrative tasks at the Ministry and at foreign missions. For example, according to a cautious estimate, the Ministry will save approximately one-third (i.e. NOK 5 million) in relation to the 1999 budget on the transition by foreign missions to leased networks for e-mail and telephone.

However, the full effect of such savings will only be realized on the implementation of networks for all missions. Other ministries that often communicate with the missions, particularly the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Defence, will also be able to make considerable savings in connection with the development of ICT by the Foreign Service.

Potentially, the efficiency gains made by the Foreign Service may result in less pressure of work and thus less overtime and sick leave, and enable staff reductions, especially within support functions. However, this cannot be achieved without conscious effort. Moreover, as mentioned in chapter 4, ICT development will result in a need to consider whether it is necessary to retain the number of missions and officials posted abroad and possibly the number of employees at the Ministry.

However, increased investment in ICT can only be expected to result in economic long-term gains in the total budget framework if some of these savings can be realized.

In the short term, an increase in the total costs must be anticipated despite the savings on a number of items. This is primarily because ICT requires investments in physical infrastructure, hardware and software as well as increased current expenditure in the form of pay and consultancy fees to sought-after ICT personnel. In the case of the IT Section’s budget this is estimated to require extra allocations during a three-year period amounting to a total of NOK 45 million and additional annual operating costs of NOK 21 million compared with the budget for 1998. For the 2000 budget this will entail an additional investment demand of NOK 15 million and an increase in operating costs of NOK 7 million compared with the 1998 budget.

No new appointments have been included in this estimate. The ICT staff at the Ministry and at foreign missions must be of an adequate size to enable implementation of the measures referred to in this report. The need for new ICT posts should be dealt with as a separate matter in connection with the annual budgetary process in the Ministry.

11.4 Proposals for measures

1. The development and use of ICT and information management in the Foreign Service must be viewed as a continuous, priority task, and the responsibility for it must be placed under the authority of the highest-ranking officials in the Ministry.
2. The Foreign Ministry’s organization should be adapted to reflect the Foreign Service made possible by technological developments. This will require organizational changes to increase the authority and visibility of ICT and information management. A number of possible measures are listed in 11.2, above.
3. Measures should be initiated to develop better ICT-based management information for the Ministry’s management. This will enhance the potential for planning and efficient exploitation of resources.
4. In connection with the introduction of a new financial system, the Ministry should review routines and distribution of responsibility with a view to assigning greater responsibility to officials at all levels in the specialized departments while strengthening the premises for their continuous follow-up and management of the business of the Ministry.
5. New rules are being drawn up for electronic case management and document storage, electronic communication (see chapters 4 and 6) and for publication on the Internet and intranet (see chapters 5 and 7).
6. Special measures should be implemented to build up and maintain user support competence in the service.
7. The measures proposed in the report require an additional budget allocation for ICT and information management during the next three years. The IT Section estimates the need for additional investment during the three-year period from 2000 to 2003 amounting to NOK 45 million and additional annual operating costs of NOK 21 million compared with the budget for 1998. For the 2000 budget this will entail an additional investment demand of NOK 15 million and an increase in operating costs of NOK 7 million compared with the 1998 budget. No new appointments have been included in this estimate, but this should be dealt with as a separate matter in connection with the annual budgetary process in the Ministry.

12 Action plan for ICT and information management 2000-2003

On the basis of the above review, we outline here the main points of a concrete action plan for ICT and information management from 2000 to 2003. A central place is given to the development of infrastructure, not least the need for a network for electronic and telephonic communication with foreign missions, as well as implementation of necessary measures with a view to efficient knowledge and information management.

The most important measures during the three-year period from 1 January 2000 to 1 January 2003 will be:

1. Changes in the Ministry’s ICT and network strategy in consultation with Headquarters Defence Command Norway so that all members of staff are given access to the exchange of external e-mail and the Internet from their own workstations. The most appropriate and secure way of achieving this probably entails implementing what is known as two-level security employing advanced firewall technology. This will involve dividing the infrastructure that most Foreign Service employees have access to (the "blue" network) into two logical networks, one for processing unclassified information including the possibility of access to the Internet and the exchange of external e-mail and one for the processing and exchanging low-security electronic information.
2. Establishment of a global network for the Norwegian Foreign Service. This will be a comprehensive network solution for the service which, as well as meeting the internal needs of the service for electronic information exchange and voice telephony, will give access to the Internet and to external information suppliers. An agreement concerning the leasing of such network capacity is currently being negotiated with a supplier.
3. Implementation of electronic case and document management, record-keeping and archives as well as a system for electronic signatures.
4. Implementation of organizational changes to give ICT and information management the necessary level of authority in the organization and to ensure the realization of the benefits of ICT investments.
5. Reinforcement of the IT Section to enable the carrying out of the additional operational and security work made necessary by the changes in the Ministry’s ICT and network strategy.
6. Development and maintenance of satisfactory competence in the case of both users and operations personnel, both in Norway and at foreign missions. This requires development of the capacity of the Foreign Service Institute and appropriate follow-up in terms of personnel policy.
7. Revision of security measures in the light of the technological development. Implementation of the current plans for the establishment of security solutions based on NX-1000 encryption and the Swedish-Norwegian cooperative solution KRUTT.
8. Local area networks at all missions. Local area networks should be installed at as many missions as possible that do not have local area networks today.
9. Upgrading and renewal of computer hardware both in Norway and abroad. As a one-time measure, partly owing to the Y2K problem, the Ministry’s computer hardware must be brought up to a satisfactory standard. Subsequently, PCs should be continuously replaced every three years.

13 Summary of proposals for measures

Networks and security (chapter 4)

1. In consultation with the Security Division of Headquarters Defence Command Norway, the Foreign Ministry should aim within one year to implement the network solution outlined in alternative 2, above. This will provide all employees with access to external and internal e-mail communications and web browsing, while at the same time enabling them to work on low-security electronic information.
2. A study should be carried out with a view to implementing a global network solution for the whole Foreign Service, including NORAD. This study should be completed by the end of 1999. Such a network should be implemented before the end of 2003.
3. Before the end of 2003, local area networks should be set up at as many missions as possible that do not have such networks today.
4. Protection of the service’s network solution and communications strategy should be carried out at three levels:

• For management of unclassified information: In addition to Depnett’s firewall, a firewall solution should be implemented that is approved by Headquarters Defence Command Norway and the Norwegian Data Inspectorate. The use of electronic signatures and software encryption should be considered in this connection.
• NX-1000 hardware encryption should be implemented for the use of a closed network for the security levels Restricted and In confidence.
• From summer 2000, a KRUTT encryption unit should be used to secure networks up to security level "Secret".

Intranet (chapter 5)

1. Priority should be given to the development of an intranet for the Foreign Service along the lines outlined above.
2. The Documentation Centre should assess subscriptions to Internet-based information services, on-line services, database services, CD-ROM disks, etc. in consultation with the users and in line with the technical possibilities.
3. Organizational changes affecting the editorial responsibility for publication on the intranet should be considered (for information concerning the various possibilities, see chapter 11, page *).

Electronic case and document management and archiving (chapter 6)

1. DocuLive Case Manager and DocuLive Case Archive shall be implemented in one department at a time after a trial period involving a small group of sections.
2. At the same time, the routines for document management, case management and document storage must be reviewed. An up-to-date set of instructions should be prepared for these routines, including arrangements and routines for distribution of reports. The Foreign Ministry’s archive instructions must be adapted to electronic case and document management, among other reasons to give all employees access to unclassified documents, with specific exceptions for certain document groups.
3. Electronic signatures should be tested and, on the basis of the result of the tests, a plan should be drawn up for the introduction of routine descriptions from the date and to the extent decided by the Ministry.

Use of the Internet as an information channel (chapter 7)

1. The Internet strategy of the Foreign Service should as far as possible be based on the same coordinated profile as all information published within the framework of the Foreign Ministry’s activities, whether directed towards Norwegian or international target groups.
2. All missions should have their own websites adapted to the host country. These should be flexibly and cost-effectively developed and maintained in close cooperation with the Foreign Ministry.
3. Consideration is being given to the coordination of the Foreign Ministry’s Internet and intranet activities (see chapter 11, page *).
4. The IT Section must strengthen the expertise and resources it directs towards operations and towards providing guidance to those responsible for Internet and intranet in the Ministry and the missions.
5. The potential for cooperation and coordination between the Foreign Ministry and NORAD should be exploited in relation to Internet and intranet activities in the Foreign Service.
6. New and creative possibilities for Internet activities are being considered (see chapter 2, page *).

Training and competence building (chapter 8)

1. Specialized training programmes should be offered to senior officials so that they can be given a broad understanding of how ICT can be used to rationalize and modernize the Foreign Service, for example in view of the security requirements as regards the handling of classified information. All senior officials should be taught the necessary skills to enable them to use word processing, e-mail and the intranet.
2. An analysis should be made of the competence needs associated with the implementation and operation of networks at foreign missions. Emphasis must be placed on ICT competence when recruiting personnel to central ICT-related posts at missions, and sufficient time must be set aside for training prior to such personnel taking up their appointments.
3. Internet training should be offered and designed to meet the specific needs of different users, so that employees are made aware of the quality of the information that can be retrieved from the Internet.
4. Necessary competence building in ICT should be made compulsory. It is a managerial duty to ensure that all employees have the necessary competence and are able to set off time for training. Special consideration must be given to the training needs of clerical staff in view of the expected changes in the tasks of this group in relation to the introduction of new technology.
5. The Ministry’s capacity for administration, development and implementation of ICT training must be increased.
6. A major focus should be given to training and organization of user support personnel. User support is an important resource base for recruiting to operations-related posts at foreign missions, and training should be provided with this goal in view.
7. Cooperation between the IT Section, the Section for Long-term Planning, the Press, Cultural Relations and Information Department and the Foreign Service Institute must be strengthened by the establishment of a training committee to be entrusted with continuous identification of and discussion concerning ICT-related training needs. NORAD should also be drawn into this work.
8. When recruiting staff, greater emphasis should be placed on ICT competence, particularly in connection with posts assigned the responsibility for operations and for guidance or support of users.

Development policy and development cooperation: new potential (chapter 9)

1. The ICT perspective must be integrated more closely into Norwegian development policy. It is proposed that the next foreign policy statement to the Storting (in May 2000) focuses on this subject.
2. The measures proposed in this report must be adopted simultaneously in the budget chapters 02 (foreign affairs) and 03 (development cooperation).
3. The ICT solutions adopted by NORAD and the Foreign Ministry must as far as possible be integrated into a single coherent system. Communication and distribution of information between the agencies should as far as possible take place via the internal work networks. This should be realized in connection with NORAD’s move.
4. The Foreign Ministry/NORAD should enter into cooperation agreements with major international foreign policy players concerning electronic management and exchange of knowledge and information. It will be particularly important to enable the Foreign Ministry and NORAD to participate fully in the World Bank’s new Comprehensive Development Framework initiative.
5. An investigation should be made of the possibility and value of implementing administrative systems developed by NORAD in the Foreign Service.
6. A closer organizational and operational cooperation in the area of ICT and information management should be investigated with a view to merging the units responsible for ICT in the Foreign Ministry and NORAD. Cooperation should also be set up on the training of operations staff for foreign missions.
7. The cooperation between the Foreign Ministry and NORAD on supplier agreements, standardization of technical solutions and practice in relation to security requirements should be further developed.

Working environment, codetermination and agreements (chapter 10)

1. The Ministry’s IT Council should be revived. The Administrative Affairs Department should take the initiative to review the mandate, tasks, composition and preparation of matters to be discussed.
2. In cooperation with the organizations, a review and assessment should be made of the provisions laid down in paragraph VIII of the Adjustment Agreement for the Foreign Ministry (especially concerning computer technology). The aim of this review should be to submit recommendations for reforms and measures to ensure that the intention of the agreement is better realized than it is today.
3. The Foreign Ministry should extend the experiments with working from home to integrate ICT-based solutions for telework.
4. The Foreign Ministry should make provisions for trial projects for telework by spouses accompanying Foreign Ministry employees posted abroad.
5. An assessment should be made of the possible effects on the working environment of the extended use of ICT. The aim of the assessment should be to submit recommendations for investments in equipment, training and organization of work.
6. The Foreign Ministry should make a special assessment of the possible consequences and challenges relating to the organization of work and tasks, competence building and training of personnel in support functions.

Organizational and economic consequences (chapter 11)

1. The development and use of ICT and information management in the Foreign Service must be viewed as a continuous, priority task, and the responsibility for it must be placed under the authority of the highest-ranking officials in the Ministry.
2. The Foreign Ministry’s organization should be adapted to reflect the Foreign Service made possible by technological developments. This will require organizational changes to increase the authority and visibility of ICT and information management. A number of possible measures are listed in 11.2, above.
3. Measures should be initiated to develop better ICT-based management information for the Ministry’s management. This will enhance the potential for planning and efficient exploitation of resources.
4. In connection with the introduction of a new financial system, the Ministry should review routines and distribution of responsibility with a view to assigning greater responsibility to officials at all levels in the specialized departments while strengthening the premises for their continuous follow-up and management of the business of the Ministry.
5. New rules are being drawn up for electronic case management and document storage, electronic communication (see chapters 4 and 6) and for publication on the Internet and intranet (see chapters 5 and 7).
6. Special measures should be implemented to build up and maintain user support competence in the service.
7. The measures proposed in the report require an additional budget allocation for ICT and information management during the next three years. The IT Section estimates the need for additional investment during the three-year period from 2000 to 2003 amounting to NOK 45 million and additional annual operating costs of NOK 21 million compared with the budget for 1998. For the 2000 budget this will entail an additional investment demand of NOK 15 million and an increase in operating costs of NOK 7 million compared with the 1998 budget. No new appointments have been included in this estimate, but this should be dealt with as a separate matter in connection with the annual budgetary process in the Ministry.