The eGMS standard is important to the public sector for a number of reasons. It is part of the Government’s programme to modernise itself, whether at a local or national level, and therefore eGMS was created as a standard out of the e-Government Metadata Framework (eGIF).

So why is it important? The Office of the e-Envoy explains the thinking behind eGMS in its white paper; “e-Government Metadata Standard” dated 29th April 2004. The following summary is provided:

• Modernising Government calls for better use of information, joined-up systems and policies, and services designed around the needs of citizens;
• Considerable work has already been done to standardise government information systems, so they can be accessed easily from central portals;
• New systems for the handling of electronic records are being devised. Official records will not always be stored in paper format;
• Metadata makes it easier to manage or find information, be it in the form of web pages, electronic documents, paper files or databases;
• For metadata to be effective, it needs to be structured and consistent across organisations;
• The e-GIF is mandated across all government information systems. By association so is the eGMS.

The standard includes a number of recommended and mandatory levels of obligation, and sets out to comply with ISO 15836. With eGMS being created along the lines of international standards, it will have to evolve as international standards and as the usage of technology changes.

According to Martin Bottomley, eCommunications Manager at Dorset County Council, eGMS helps you to create a well performing website. So what is a well performing website? “Technically, it needs to be fast, resilient and eGMS compliant. The latter allows sharing of information between government websites. This makes it easier for users to find the content that is most relevant to them.”

He then adds: “I think the strength of the Sitemorse product is in the broadness of the functionality it offers: availability, speed, errors, eGMS compliance, accessibility, broken links etc. Whilst there are competitors that specialise in offering some of these services, I’m not aware of any competitors that offer all of them.”

Yet Phil Welch, Senior Developer at Trafford Municipal Borough Council doesn’t think that this is the most important aspect of making a public sector website fully accessible, he says whether rightly or wrongly:

“It’s fairly important, but other things usually take priority. Sitemorse can’t assess the quality of the metadata - we can get 100% on it, but the Sitemorse test is not qualitative. It doesn’t tell you whether chosen metadata is particularly applicable to a particular page. For most elements you need a human to analyse it. The actual quality of the data is impossible to test with automated testing and in this respect is not the most useful Sitemorse feature.”

“Compliance certainly doesn’t change the impact on performance. As far as I can see the eGMS compliance will never impact on performance. Potentially in the future it could have an impact on Search, but not at the moment.”

Sitemorse emphasises though, that eGMS is important because it is a government requirement, and it also enhances a website’s accessibility and searchability. The whole point of the test is to assess the quality of the metadata against the mandatory levels that have been established by Government. The intent therefore is to make it easier for the reporting, monitoring, auditing, and maintenance of public sector websites. An additional benefit is that it can also save time and money.

So are there any benefits in Phil Welch’s point of view? “At the moment the benefits are simply the prestige of being 100% compliant in the Sitemorse monthly league tables which is an unfortunate situation to be in. We haven’t seen any real benefit of using the eGMS itself in our pages. The benefit of using such a system would be commonality across all Local Authority websites, however this is a vision that I believe will fade over the coming years.”

“eGMS is part of accessibility because if you provide an easily searchable and informative website, users are more likely to stay within that website to seek information and return to it in the future. It also can relieve, as indicated by Martin Bottomley in an interview, a variety of strained resources; including personnel and provide another effective and relatively economic channel of communication with users of public services”, says Nicholas Le Seelleur – a director of Sitemorse.

However, Welch goes on to say, “Still, the accessibility stuff is a definite benefit. We have found from the accessibility testing some deficiencies on the site. The automated testing has been very useful. We get far more out of the accessibility tools offered by Sitemorse than the eGMS. The benefit of being compliant with accessibility standards is to enable the website to be used by everyone including those with certain disabilities. Unfortunately, as people become more and more reliant on automated testing methods (such as Sitemorse) the very real issue of making website content accessible takes a back seat to fulfilling the minimum criteria to pass these tests.”

eGMS is surely part of the accessibility package though, which makes it easier for users – and perhaps those working within the sector - to access public services more quickly across a range of different data sources. Sitemorse applies the standard to its testing process because the company aims to assist public organisations to meet the mandatory Government standards. It is not simply because it can improve a council’s performance in the monthly league table. Google is not a standard; therefore public bodies should make sure that they are compliant to eGMS. Should they not? What are your views?

By Graham Jarvis
Editor and Media Services Consultant