Using digital tools for your engagement can help support the goal you want to achieve, and the process to get there.
Use the tool that fits your aim
Which tool you should use depends on what you want to achieve by engaging with people, such as:
tell people about an issue
get feedback on a policy, service or issue
get agreement on an issue
work together on a policy or issue.
If you want to tell people about an issue, you need a tool that can give them the information they need to understand the issue and potential options.
Meet the requirements for all tools
For every tool you use, you need to consider the following:
Security requirements
Cloud tools need to be assessed for risk.
When the Marketplace is launched, it will show a cloud confidence and risk indicator score for each product along with the supplier's answers to the cloud risk assessment questionnaire.
In the meantime, agencies can use a list of cloud tools that agencies have already assessed. If you would like to see the risk assessment for a tool, contact the Assurance team at the Department of Internal Affairs.
Web platforms (like an agency’s own content management system) are another tool.
Get feedback on a policy, service or issue
What to think about
Make the content easy to understand and engaging — large discussion documents are hard for people to read and understand.
Think ahead about how you’re going to analyse the content before you set it up. Quantitative questions are faster to analyse and get insights from. If you have open questions, it will be harder to analyse unless you have access to a policy tool.
Think about how you will publish the submissions and whether you will give the option for anonymous feedback. It will need to be part of the set-up.
If you have a multilingual survey, make sure the tool you’re going to use can do this and you can access translation skills.
Tools
Survey tools that have had cloud risk assessments done by government agencies include:
If you want to work together on a policy or issue, you need a tool where you can ask for points of view, concerns and ideas with no pre-set direction. It's about building a community.
What to think about
It takes time to collaborate with people. Make sure this fits with the time you’ve got for an engagement.
Genuine community building is a long-term commitment.
You need skills to help bring people together.
Check you’ve got enough trained people to support it.
Set expectations with people on the time needed for them to be involved and the impact it will have.
If you are using co-design techniques, make sure people are able to have decision-making power.
Tools
Discussion and consensus decision-making tools that have had cloud risk assessments done by government agencies include:
