Document: The Positions Necessary To Maintain A Government Ministry Information Web Site
Written: 27/1/97		updated: 20/4/97
Version: 1.0	

THE POSITIONS NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN
A GOVERNMENT MINISTRY INFORMATION WEB SITE

The entry of government ministries into the era of information technology requires a definition of the employees who are needed to enable a ministry to maintain a web site for the information which it wishes to publish or obtain from the public.

The site must contain up to date and reliable information. If the information on the site is not up to date and reliable, damage might be caused and it will contribute nothing. The existence of appropriate personnel is of prime importance to the proper maintenance of a ministry information site.

The object of this document is to define the employees who are necessary in order to maintain a ministry information site and the powers and duties connected with their positions. Some of the persons involved are already employed within the system and others are being added to it. These employees currently do, or in future will, work in the existing ministry electronic data processing units. In certain cases the functions defined in this document will be performed by a single person who will hold all the powers and duties connected with those functions.

In addition to these employees, each ministry should set up its own internet committee, composed of the ministry personnel who are engaged in maintaining the site, the persons responsible for the ministry's information unit and its publications and the ministry's legal adviser and spokesman. The committee should coordinate the ministry's Internet activity generally and work together with the Government Internet Committee.

A distinction should be made between a site which is physically resident on one of the ministry's computers and a site which is kept elsewhere (for example with a commercial company). In the case of a site which is resident externally, some of the manpower needed to maintain the computer on which the site is resident (mainly the function of the data systems manager) will be saved. The ministry is responsible for the content of the site and for its being up to date; that responsibility cannot rest with an external company.

The Four Central Positions in the Site's Maintenance

•	System administrator - trained and knowledgeable in computer science; able to manage computer systems (Unix or NT, as necessary);

•	Web Master - trained and technically competent in the use of computers (at least a qualified practical computer engineer); basic knowledge of programming and knowledge in the use of computer systems;

•	Information Specialist - trained in information system organisation and information retrieval (ideally holding a postgraduate degree in information science or information systems/business administration or an industrial management engineer, trained in information systems);

•	Post Master - responsible for incoming e-mail from the ministry site (the public post box) and distributing it to the appropriate personnel. The position involves more when all the ministry mail is channelled through a single post box and less when several persons at the ministry deal with mail from the public.

Other Positions

•	Art Designer - having proven ability and appropriate training in computer graphics; to provide design services for the ministry site on demand;

•	Keyboard/Scanner Operator - having knowledge in the keying in of data and/or scanning and optical character recognition in order to transfer data to magnetic media on demand.

The Transfer of Information between the Employees

The ministry's Internet committee coordinates the ministry's Internet activity together with the other government ministries and lays down the ministry's policy and internal procedures concerning the Internet.

The person responsible for the ministry's information unit holds responsibility for all the personnel employed in connection with the site.

In the main, information is passed between those personnel as shown below:

System administrator <----> web master <----> information specialist

Information specialist <---- art designer

Information specialist <---- keyboard/scanner operator

Ministry personnel <---- post master

Powers and Duties

1.	System Administrator

	Definition: responsible for maintenance of the ministry's computer systems, having the technical ability to resolve operating system software problems with the ministry's computers. As regards the ministry web site his duties are:

1.1	to ensure satisfactory operation of the computer on which the site is resident;

1.2	to make regular backups of information;

1.3	to attend to the security of the information;

1.4	to see to the satisfactory operation and maintenance of the information, electronic mail, discussion group and file servers;

1.5	to generate the statistics on the information servers' use;

1.6	to install information servers or new applications as necessary for the operation of the web site;

1.7	to define needs requiring expansion of the computer system, if necessary;

1.8	to define post boxes for new users and authorities for access to the information servers;

1.9	to hold regular meetings with the web master and co-ordinate with him new site needs which require his involvement.

2.	Web Master

	Definition: responsible for the integrity of the site structure, for feeding information onto it, for the satisfactory operation of its various elements, including links to files and software installed on it, and to keep the site dynamic and interesting. As regards the ministry web site his duties are:

2.1	to assist in characterising the site structure;

2.2	to build the site in accordance with the agreed characterisation;

2.3	regularly to feed onto the site new information given to him;

2.4	to check that the site's links and software are satisfactory;

2.5	to hold regular meetings with the system administrator and co-ordinate with him new site needs which require his involvement.

2.6	to hold regular meetings with the information specialist and co-ordinate with him the structure of the site and the feeding of information onto it;

2.7	to write or install applications enabling information to be obtained from or transferred to the public (CGI) (in co-ordination with the system administrator);

2.8	regularly to maintain site news pages and links to other sites.

3.	Information Specialist

	Definition: two different functions - firstly, responsible for the content, editing, planning and notional structure of the site and collecting the information for it from the ministry's personnel; and secondly, assisting the ministry's personnel in the retrieval and use of information from the internet. As regards the ministry web site his duties are:

3.1	to plan the site structure in conjunction with the web master;

3.2	to collect the relevant information from the ministry for publication on the site and create standard procedures for the regular transfer of information for the site;

3.3	to instruct the ministry personnel regularly to transfer the information in their possession for publication on the site;

3.4	to hold regular meetings with the web master in order to co-ordinate the feeding of information onto the site;

3.5	to work in conjunction with the keyboard/scanner operators in turning information into magnetic media;

3.6	to assist the ministry's personnel in finding and retrieving information from the internet;

3.7	to oversee the content of the site and ensure that the information on it is up to date;

3.8	to work in conjunction with the site art designer and instruct him on existing needs.

4.	Post Master

	Definition: responsible for the ministry's incoming e-mail from the site and distributing it to the appropriate personnel. The position involves more when all incoming mail is channelled through a single post box and less when several persons in the ministry deal with incoming mail. As regards the ministry web site his duties are:

4.1	day to read the mail received from the public through the site's central post box;

4.2	to answer mail which he has the ability and authority to answer (general information) or forward it to the appropriate person in the ministry for attention, in which case he is to notify the correspondent that his mail has been forwarded for the attention of the appropriate person in the ministry;

4.3	to co-ordinate an "FAQ" in respect of the questions frequently asked through the post box;

4.4	to notify the information specialist and web master of mail from the public which requires reference on the site.