ODG / F12.1
OFFICE FOR ICT and DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
WHOLE OF GOVERNMENT POLICY
OPEN DATA FRAMEWORK
Principles and Agency Planning
Purpose
The purpose of the Open Data Principles and Agency Planning Framework (this Framework) is to assist agencies in meeting their commitments under the Declaration of Open Data.
Scope
This Framework promotes the proactive release and re-use of non-sensitive public sector data to the public, using consistent standards and good governance.
This Framework applies to South Australian Government public authorities, including but not limited to, public sector agencies (as defined in the Public Sector Act 2009) and administrative units. Public authorities are hereinafter referred to as “agencies”.
This Framework does not apply to bodies’ corporate, statutory authorities, and instrumentalities of the Crown, but is recommended for adoption.
To facilitate the sharing of public sector data between public sector agencies, please refer to the Public Sector (Data Sharing) Act 2016 in the first instance.
Introduction
SA Connected, the SA Government’s ICT strategy, together with the A Modern Public Service policy and the Digital by Default Declaration identify open data as a priority for government.
The Declaration of Open Data commits the Government of South Australia (SA Government) to proactively make non-sensitive public sector data available for use by business and the community.
Data that is released must be:
· available online
· free wherever possible
· published using agreed open standards
· openly licensed for commercial and other re-use.
Public sector agencies are expected to develop open data strategies that include specific actions and report on their progress.
Public sector agencies are required to commit to maintaining the highest standards of privacy, security and integrity with respect to data they hold.
The Declaration of Open Data was made pursuant to Section 10 of the Public Sector Act 2009.
Responsibilities
In September 2013, Cabinet noted the Office of the Chief Information Officer (now the Office for ICT and Digital Transformation) will provide guidance and support that assists agencies to meet their obligations under the Declaration of Open Data and to develop open data strategies with specific actions and report on their progress.
Each agency Chief Executive is responsible and accountable for the implementation of this Framework. Each agency will ensure that its specific guidelines and practices are consistent with this Framework.
Each agency Chief Executive retains ultimate accountability for all data and datasets made publicly accessible from within their agency and on Data.SA (www.data.sa.gov.au).
Chief Executives are to delegate to an Executive the role of an agency Open Data Advocate to coordinate open data activities and have oversight of data released by the agency.
Open data process
This Framework should be read in conjunction with the Open Data Process Guide and support material (the Open Data Toolkit). The Open Data Process Guide takes users through a series of recommended steps to identify datasets, classify, plan, seek approvals and ultimately release and maintain the datasets in open formats.
The SA Government Open Data Toolkit and other reference documents are set out in ‘Related Documents’ at the end of this document.
Using DATA.SA
SA Government data will be discoverable through Data.SA, the SA Government data directory.
Data may be stored and published on this portal or to a uniform resource locator (URL) managed by the agency. A dataset entry and compulsory discovery metadata are required to be entered on Data.SA for all open datasets.
Each agency will have a publishing organisation established on Data.SA. A publishing organisation must assign at least one Data.SA Publisher to publish and maintain datasets on Data.SA.
Data.SA may also be made available to SA Local Councils who wish to release open data, to support the discovery and open access of all South Australian Government data.
Data.SA will be used to facilitate communication, data requests, feedback and enquiries relating to open data. Communications received will be issued to agencies, as appropriate, for timely response and action.
Records of open data decisions
Agencies are required to keep a record of the approval to release data and relevant decisions relating to the release of the data. When datasets are not approved for open data, this should also be documented as an official record.
SA Government agencies are required to comply with SA’s Information Security Management Framework (ISMF), which explicitly states that agency information assets must be accounted for and have Business Owners assigned. The Information Security Management Framework (ISMF) Guideline 7 - Asset Management requires agencies to maintain an information asset inventory.
To simplify record keeping requirements, agencies are encouraged to expand their information asset inventory to record an inventory of open data decisions.
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Open Data Principles
Agencies must ensure that their specific guidelines and practices align with these principles.
Principle 1: We release open data proactively
Data will be open by default. Data will be approved as public with consideration and appropriate attention to privacy, information security, intellectual property rights and legal concerns.
Agencies will proactively identify and classify data for public release.
The decision to release data from new sources will be made up front before it is collected to improve our business and technology planning. Open data release planning will give consideration to the potential value of the data.
Principle 2: We make open data discoverable and usable
Open data will be accessible and easily discoverable on Data.SA, the Government of South Australia’s data directory.
Open data will be in a format that makes it easy to use, to transform and re-use. Characteristics that support usability include:
· machine readable formats (data is structured to allow automated processing)
· non-proprietary formats
· accuracy, integrity and timeliness
· additional information that supports interpretation of the data (e.g. metadata or links to other published resources).
Principle 3: We license open data for re-use
Restrictions on the use of the data will be avoided where possible. The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence is preferred as the most open licence that supports research, analysis and transformation of the data – contributing to new ideas and applications.
A Creative Commons public licence provides a standard set of terms and conditions that creators and other rights holders may use to share original works and other material subject to copyright and certain other rights specified in the public licence, including a disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability.
Principle 4: We manage open data to make it reliable
Open data released will be managed so that the community has confidence that the data they are accessing is current, reliable and well managed.
Management practices that support user confidence in data reliability include:
· approaches that securely automate the release of regular or live open data direct from our systems
· processes that support the regular review of non-automated published data to ensure its currency and quality is maintained
· availability of new collections of a dataset in a timely manner
· data published online is retained to ensure future access to historical data
· where data is automatically refreshed, a periodic representation of the data is published to support access to historical data.
Principle 5: We make data free for everyone where the public benefits
Open data will be available to everyone where practicable to encourage its widespread use, to achieve maximum value and create public benefits. Open data will be released free of charge unless:
· the benefits of accessing and using the data are predominantly private in nature (i.e. the predominant way in which the data will be used will be for the private benefit or commercial profit of the end users of the data without creating any broader public benefits)
· there is a statutory requirement for charges to apply
· Cabinet has approved that charges be applied.
If, based on the above principles, there is a case for cost recovery, agencies may decide to recover the full cost, less than the full cost, or not to recover costs at all, depending on factors, such as:
· the cost of releasing the data
· how cost effective it is to charge
· whether cost recovery will undermine government policy objectives, including the potential for data to be used to support innovation for public benefit
· whether there is a case to recover only the marginal cost of releasing the data, particularly where the additional costs of releasing or repackaging the data are significant.
Principle 6: We will engage and collaborate
Data.SA will have mechanisms by which users can request data, provide feedback and receive notification of updates. This will enable engagement, encouraging agencies to respond to the needs of the community and improve data service delivery. Mechanisms will be used to share information about applications and ideas created by industry and the community that are inspired by government data.
Where the release of data is through an application programing interface, web service or real-time application, agencies will engage with the developer community – supporting collaboration and innovation.
Prior to developing an agency open data plan
Understanding your agency information assets and stakeholders will assist in developing a successful open data plan.
A recommended approach is to establish an Open Data Working Group comprised of key stakeholders. This group should have broad representation of the Business Owners of information, in addition to technical members such as the agency security adviser or information system experts.
This group may be able to identify:
· agency information systems and existing data extracts
· agency information management practices
· strategy or planning documents that could incorporate open data plans
· potential open data candidates for short term data release goals
· opportunities to participate in whole of government open data activities
· opportunities that would benefit citizens and the economy.
Open Data Working Groups can assist in the review of plans and implementation of open data actions.
Developing an agency open data plan
An agency Open Data Advocate is responsible for the development and delivery of their agency open data plan.
Agency open data plans should contain short term and long term actions that advance open data and embed open data principles and processes into business as usual.
Agencies may incorporate open data actions into existing business and technology planning documents, if these are made publicly available. Alternatively a separate open data strategy will need to be published openly and reviewed periodically.
Reporting on open data actions
Once approved, agencies are encouraged to provide copies of their open data plans and actions to the Office for ICT and Digital Transformation, Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
Data.SA will provide public access to statistics that demonstrate an agency’s progress towards releasing and maintaining the currency of datasets.
The Office for ICT and Digital Transformation will provide an online project showcase to enable agencies to publicly demonstrate their progress against open data projects or actions.
What to include in an agency open data plan
Agency planning actions (set out in Table 1.1) are provided to guide agencies in developing their open data plans and actions.
Table 1.1 A Guide to Agency Open Data Plans and Actions
Term / Actions and Goals / Planning GuidanceShort Term Actions (year 1) / Establish Roles and Responsibilities / · Establish who will perform roles and responsibilities that will drive open data outcomes and embed open data principles across the agency.
A guide to recommended roles and responsibilities is provided in the Open Data Process Guide.
Open Data Working Group / · Establish an Open Data Working Group comprised of key business owners and stakeholders that collect, process, protect, maintain and disseminate data. Open Data Working Groups will help facilitate the implementation of open data actions.
Approach to identifying Data / · Define the agency approach for identifying datasets held by each operational or business unit within the agency. Agencies should be guided by the Open Data Process Guide (‘Identify’ section). Determine the approach in consultation with other agency staff such as the Agency Security Executive who may have similar objectives.
· Develop actions that ensure the open data process is applied proactively to new collections of datasets. A data release schedule which identifies data candidates and open data process milestones may assist agencies to achieve actions.
Release Approach / · Define the agency approach for the release of open data. Consider existing infrastructure, emerging technologies, operating environments, scalability of automated data delivery and data services. A different approach may be required for different data. Agencies should be guided by the Open Data Process Guide (Approach Section).
Process / · Identify agency specific processes or policies that need to be aligned or implemented to support open data principles and actions. Processes must ensure new collections of data are considered for open data and released data is maintained.
· Ensure appropriate records of approval are maintained.
Open Data Project / · Establish a new open data project that will:
· establish or pilot a web service or API for the release of data
· proactively release freedom of information (FOI) requested data
· release community requested data
Participate in Activities / · Participate in activities designed to advance open data, e.g. the annual open data competition GovHack (known locally as Unleashed).
Data Release / · Determine achievable annual targets for
· additional datasets to be released openly
· new collections of data to be released openly
· manual data release converted to a web service.
Term / Actions and Goals / Planning Guidance
Long Term actions and Goals (year 2 to 3) / Identify, release and maintain data / · continue activities relating to identification and application of the open data process for open data candidates
· establish processes or systems that will ensure the reliable refresh of current data
· complete an annual review of open data, supporting metadata and resources that are published to ensure currency
· retain data published online to ensure future access to historical data for trend analysis
· establish a periodic representation of any data that is automatically refreshed.
Citizen benefits realised / · release data that demonstrates an open and accountable government. At a minimum tables published in agency annual reports should be released as open data
· release data that may provide public benefit (innovation, research, improved services or improved decision-making)
· release data requested by the community
· release data using APIs, web services, RSS feeds or real-time protocols.
Government benefits realised / · use relevant open data across South Australia and other jurisdictions to improve policy decisions
· release data that is comparable to data from another government jurisdiction
· release data that achieves government efficiencies through proactive disclosure of across agency and jurisdictional reporting
· release data that achieves government efficiencies through proactive disclosure of data regularly requested through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
Improve open data maturity / · create business improvement and technology enabled projects to consider open data principles and data collection improvement
· automate approaches to the delivery of open data
· improve the quality and reliability of data released
· release data files in open and machine-readable formats (CSV, XML)
· provide developer and user support
Engagement and collaboration / · provide a point of contact and respond to community enquiries
· consider data requests in future open data plans
· where the release of data is through an application programming interface, web service or real-time application, engage with the developer community and provide a communication channel that will support collaboration and innovation for the data delivered.
Open Data Principles and Agency Planning Framework