The armed forces need to 'significantly improve' their use of information, according to a Ministry of Defence report.
Among the improvements recommended in The Ministry of Defence Information Strategy 2009 is a need to minimise the overall set of systems, applications and data standards used by the military.
In addition, chief information officers must define performance for the search and retrieval of information and associated policy and standards. An Identity Management Strategy will be produced to further assure user access to information.
"Over the next five years defence must significantly improve its information management and information exploitation to unleash the power of our information and thereby ensure continued success on operations and create efficiencies in support areas," wrote the department's chief information officer John Taylor.
According to the report, the improvements outlined in the strategy will take place in an "increasingly challenging" financial environment which will place significant pressure on the 4.5 percent of the defence budget related to information. The CIO Systems Direction Group will take the lead on measures designed to provide value for money under the Operational Efficiency Programme.
More positively, the document says the ground for this has been prepared by investment in the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) and other information systems, such as Bowman. It says the DII has already delivered significant advances in interoperability and its interface with battlefield information systems will, for the first time, allow defence to exploit its information.
But it qualifies this with the point that, progress in managing information in areas not so far affected by the DII has been "somewhat patchy". It also says that a 2008 review by Sir Edmund Burton of the MoD's loss of personal data was critical of its performance in the field.
The strategy sets out the responsibilities of chief information officers in leading the exploitation of new information management capabilities, so top-level budget holders can take strategies forward.
Priorities for chief information officers include upgrading the MoD's website and intranet; managing information as a "strategic asset" in line with legislation; sustaining achievement in operational record keeping and preparing for the reduction in the 30-year rule for the transfer of records to the National Archive; and ensuring compliance with information policies and standards.
The responsibilities of top-level budget holders and processes owners include meeting defence standards for record capture and management, and working on the corporate web strategy, standards and the procedures for accessing and using information.
The department also plans to develop an information-handling model and data-management strategy.
Further details will be published in sub-strategies.
