Aboriginal Services Kiosk (ASK-Sask) Larry Sanders SCSFO Secretariat Halifax December 6, 2000

Identified by Aboriginal Subcommittee of Federal Council in FY as a need for a “one stop shop” or “virtual single window” for information and contact referral details to assist front counter staff to meet client needs — “no more run- arounds” Service and Innovation Fund of TBS matched funds with SCSFO in fiscal year to launch prototype ASK-Sask: a brief history

By March 31, 2000 development of the prototype was completed by: Holding focus groups in Regina and Saskatoon to get feedback Assembling data base with listings for Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert Going live on first week of April, 2000www.asksask.sk.ca ASK-Sask: a brief history

Expanding the listings for three cities so we now cover over 300 programs and services, operated by over 200 agencies, departments, and NGOs Accomplishments this FY:

Starting talks with the Human Services Directory (Farm Stress line, Sask. Ag & Food) for joint operation of a data pool, so users can search our listings, HSD, or both (see: scroll to “service centre” on right hand side of page, click on “Human Services Directory” Accomplishments this FY:

A makeover on our search engine to eliminate reliance on keywords and instead allow users to do searches of the full text of the data base, with levels of filters to narrow results Accomplishments this FY:

What have we become? Neutral, trusted source of information One stop info shopping (almost) Data base (a real portal), not just a directory of web links An example of what an inter-jurisdictional, “seamless government” regional portal might be in Tier Three Potential organizing tool Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Why is being a data base important? Why not just let spiders do our work and find information on the Web? Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Why is being a data base important? ANSWER: Because most organizations serving aboriginal clients do NOT yet have a web presence, therefore we provide directory listings. As a consequence, resources are needed to keep listings up to date Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Lessons Learned: #1 Meta tags and keywords might be all right for Yahoo and other search engines, but not for us (data consistency not assured with keywords) Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Lessons Learned: #2 Being a prototype provides us with independence, credibility and flexibility which might be lost once we become “permanent” somewhere Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Lessons Learned: #3 Becoming a “seamless government” portal crossing jurisdictional lines requires extensive trust-building, and formal partnership agreements which will require on-going care and maintenance. Province in, out, in, out….. Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Lessons Learned: #4 Despite problems, we have the beginnings of a picture of what a “seamless government” portal, crossing jurisdictional lines (Tier 3), might look like. We are a “Tier 3.1” project, focused on providing information. There will be a “Tier 3.2” if we start offering service(s). Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Lessons Learned: #5 Human resources/skill sets. Project slow out of the gate initially because we thought we needed technical expertise, when it turned out we needed an emphasis on partnership & relationship-building skills & project management Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Lessons Learned: #6 Maintaining “user friendly” focus is very important. Don’t give in to departments that want to post huge documents not written in plain language. We want to go back out for more user feedback sessions in the last quarter of this FY. Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Future Challenges (Questions that need to faced soon)  Ownership/management?  Maintenance of data base and partnerships (Service Canada?)  Relationship with national portal(s) Aboriginal Services Kiosk

Larry Sanders Government On Line Coordinator Saskatchewan Council of Senior Federal Officials Secretariat Victoria Avenue (Avord Tower) Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 0R7 Phone (306) Fax (306)