Why We New Standard Metadata and Consistent Operational Performance Measures

For the last 5 years central government has been asking local government to improve our ability to undertake the water activities that serve our communities in a more efficient and effective manner. Central to this request is the lack of ability for central government to collate appropriate performance measures and aggregate these into a national framework. This is due to nearly all Councils operating their systems in ways that may best suit their individual needs but are not standardised with any agreed metadata standards, nor any agreed financial and technical performance metrics.

As a consequence of the vacuum of knowledge, central government is assuming a degree of poor performance due to the lack of information to the contrary.

This paper firstly gives an brief update on where the metadata project has got to, secondly where the opportunities might be for the next steps, but thirdly and most importantly, it again presents the case for the need for all New Zealand Councils to proactively get on board with a national approach to a standardised set of performance measures which central government and local government can use going forward.