5. Information is standardised and linkable

5. Information is standardised and linkable

The opportunity to reuse information is increased when it is made available in standardised and linkable forms. Standardisation needs to be considered on a number of levels, including:

• Standardisation of format (for example, date is yyyymmdd)
• Standardisation of content (for example, forename, surname, address etc.)
• Standardisation of concepts (for example, patient, offender, learner, claimant, driver – are all roles a person can take)

Some value is added by standardising information within an organisation but there is also value in making information more widely available by using Open Standards. The use of Open Standards unlocks value by enabling others to understand and reuse information by providing it in a consistent and comparable format, without restrictions caused by proprietary software. 

The value of information can also be enhanced when it is linked to other information, allowing users to explore and discover new information that is useful to their needs. The benefit of linking grows exponentially as more information is linked and more links are established between information. Linking can be achieved through the familiar usage of references and citations but can also be achieved through the consistent use of identifiers, for example tagging a transport contract with a transport route code would allow it to be unambiguously linked with more details about the route held elsewhere.

Putting it into practice

Standardisation can be achieved through:

1. Following the corporate naming conventions and adding the prescribed metadata blocks to documents to provide a regular method of identification understood by all staff.
2. Where teams use identifiers, such as route codes, for bringing related information together, these should be well documented and published as a key for all staff that may need to use the information.
3. Standardisation should also be implemented across the organisational filing structure. Using the Council’s functions for the taxonomy rather than departments, to both future proof the set up and also standardise how records of activities are stored, no matter which department has created them.
4. In line with the Digital strategy information systems should be reviewed for standardisation and integration to rationalise information and maximise its potential. By removing systems which duplicate information, replacing outdated systems that cannot be integrated and implementing a suite of corporate solutions for common functionality across the whole council, it will ensure that the information is linked and accessible to staff in a standardised way.