Arivia.kom speeds Eskom`s compliance to access to information act

IT solutions and services provider arivia.kom has successfully completed a project for Eskom Holdings Ltd to ensure compliance of the group and its related businesses with the legal requirements of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) of 2000.

This included, to a limited degree, Eskom Enterprises with all its subsidiaries and partially-owned businesses. The solution selected for the project, PAIApac, was developed by the Focused Business Solutions division of arivia.kom.

The Act outlines the constitutional right of access to information of individuals and ensures that persons can obtain access to records that they might require for the exercise or protection of their rights, as swiftly, inexpensively and effortlessly as possible. A manual which must be produced by all companies describing their company information and access, is required by February 2003.

Says arivia.kom PAIApac project leader, Leora Levy: "Like all public and private companies, Eskom had a legal requirement to comply with the Promotion of Access to Information Act, legislated in 2000. Eskom understood the need to comply with the Act and had commenced with the compilation of an Access to Information Manual and the appointment of Deputy Information Officers (DIOs).

"However, the compliance process required meta-level project management, in-depth understanding of the Act and its implications and specialised processes and applications to ensure fast, thorough implementation. These aspects were combined in the PAIApac solution, which ultimately ensured that Eskom reaped the business benefits and opportunities arising from the compliance process."

Levy adds: "In a project such as this - which involves every facet of a business - it is necessary to bring aboard a team of people with specific skills for strategic planning, business process analysis, design and modelling, prototyping, system configuration, and management of organisational change."

The four-month project began in mid-June 2002 and arivia.kom began the analysis of the requirements of the Act, of Eskom and of the relevant stakeholders. This meant that staff throughout Eskom, who would ultimately be responsible for processing requests, were drawn into the process. This included individuals from legal, finance and corporate communication departments as well as information officers (IOs) and DIOs from subsidiary and related businesses.

Levy explains: "The involvement of stakeholders from the outset was a critical success factor, as this project had a strong element of change management. In practical terms, the PAIApac solution entailed the establishment of high level categories of information held by each of the stakeholder groups, the translation of the Act into procedures which would be easy to follow in processing requests, and the development of new documentation and procedures.

"During this process, the natural reluctance towards changes in roles and procedures was countered through focused communications in one-on-one meetings, group sessions and company-wide messages. In addition, we facilitated familiarisation sessions and ran real-life requests through the new procedures to assist DIOs to understand the procedures and use them correctly. Without high levels of stakeholder involvement, it would have been difficult to ensure that both the tangible and intangible objectives of the process were achieved."

By mid-October, arivia.kom had successfully:

• .         Completed an Eskom-specific Promotion of Access to Information Manual as required by the Act.

• .         Established new procedures on how to process requests that come into Eskom.

• .         Compiled standard notice letters to be used to notify requesters of various decisions made in terms of their requests.

• .         Defined the roles of DIOs and provided letter of delegation for them.

• .         Completed the change management process.

• .         Deployed a basic tracking system for recording and monitoring incoming requests.

• .         Assisted with the establishment of both internet and intranet pages for Web-based access.

• .         Formulated online request and internal appeal forms.

Piet Steyn, Eskom`s manager: e-Business Development and PAIApac project champion, says: "Arivia.kom had, at our request, been involved in the initial scoping of the project so they already had some knowledge of the project. Furthermore, we opted for arivia.kom due to our existing close relationship and our belief that they already had a good understanding of our business.

"The deadlines for the project were very tight and arivia.kom was able to complete the task in a relatively short time. We are pleased with their efforts to include all the major stakeholders, which ultimately meant that we obtained the legal and financial advice we required, we increased awareness and involvement with the help of corporate communications, had all the DIOs involved and even managed to build awareness among reception and switchboard staff."

As Levy notes: "To succeed with a project such as this, which has a legislated deadline for implementation, it is essential to expedite decisions and to have support from the top echelons of the organisation. Eskom is sufficiently satisfied with the outcome of the project that it has expressed interest in partnering with arivia.kom to market the PAIApac solution."