6. Information is reused

6. Information is reused

The value of information is increased through reuse, although this requires a change of mindset to look outside of traditional silos and proactively look for opportunities to reuse information. There are three aspects of reuse:

• Internal reuse – making sure that value is gained from using information both for its primary purpose and from identifying secondary uses to which it can be put, for example data collected as part of a contract review of public health services could be used for research into health trends.
• External reuse – sharing information with other organisations, either within the public sector or with private businesses, charities or citizens in line with the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015.
• Master data – another aspect of reuse consists of ensuring there is only one authoritative source for business information, e.g. an authoritative list of transport route codes, which is nominated, maintained and promoted as such.

Reuse involves considering what information you can make available to others but also involves looking at what others have on offer and how you might reuse this external information.

Reuse of information presents opportunities for cost savings and efficiencies. There is a cost burden to finding and collating information, so once it has been collected opportunities should be sought to reuse it rather than having to start again with new information. Reuse also avoids the problem of multiple sources of information within an organisation competing to the authoritative source, or using information that has incorrectly been assumed to be the authoritative source. 

Putting it into practice

Information should be stored in approved shared areas of the network, based on a functional taxonomy, to ensure it is accessible and findable to any staff who may have a use for it. Those shared areas should by default be as open as possible; only where information is considered sensitive should it be restricted. Moving away from needless silos will assist with sharing information and therefore allowing it to be reused for purposes beyond what it was originally intended for. 

The use of OneDrive and Outlook inboxes is discouraged for the storage of corporate information as it is inaccessible to other staff and therefore cannot be shared or reused.

Technology supports the sharing of information with external bodies for reuse; systems such as Egress allow workspaces to be created to work together with third parties to reuse information to improve public services across Gloucestershire.