Commission 1: Landscape challenges Chairperson: Aslam Raffee

1. GCIO Summit 27 – 30 May 2013 Commission 1: Landscape challengesChairperson:AslamRaffee Issues in the current environment: • Lack of sponsorship and accountability • No coordination and support to drive and promote adoption of FOSS • GITOC standards possibly still has gaps in it around FOSS. • No progress and performance measurement strategy /monitoring and evaluation that promotes the use and adoption of FOSS. We should measure business and no just the CIO. • We need to move from the 2007 policy to the next level of regulations, strategies and policies - the lack of sponsorship and enforcement of the policy is the challenge. Failure to comply should have negative consequences for the department and / or individual... Concern that you cannot regulate without an Act being in place

2. GCIO Summit 27 – 30 May 2013 Commission 1: Landscape challenges-Chairperson: AslamRaffee Solutions to address the current issues: • We need a political champion to show commitment to FOSS. Maybe find someone will support the conversion of their applications under their control • Create clear standards for selection and promotion of FOSS • Need frameworks that are in place to promote adoption • We need a central project office to drive standards, training, policies, procurement around FOSS vendors • The role of AG needs to be finalized in ensuring compliance to FOSS using the GITOC standards • Setup the FOSS Programme office at SITA again • Identify low hanging fruits in our environments that will show value to business. Also target departments or entities that are largely manual . The value will be immediately noticeable and there will be limited complexity in delivering time to value (green field environments) • SITA should look to include training for its resources and departmental resources to skill up FOSS. Recommendation that SITA partner with the key FOSS vendors • Find a department that can be an example for FOSS • Clarify SITA role in implementing FOSS. They need to be central to delivering the journey. • Get industry to buy-in to the technology direction of government. They will then be part of a partner ecosystem. • We need to focus on marketing, awareness, business case education to government departments • Create an innovation fund to subsidies and promote uptake of FOSS

3. GCIO Summit 27 – 30 May 2013 Commission Name: FOSS SecurityChairperson: Jason Ming Sun Issues in the current environment: • Concerned about how secure is personal information when it comes to FOSS as compared to proprietary software • How does data privacy and FOSS work together? • Training in new technologies is a problem. This poses additional security risks as users are not familiar with the new software solutions • Patching of current FOSS systems can be disparate • Application security and code libraries have no consistent means to notify users when there are patches released • FOSS adoption is being hampered by the lack of a framework which can be used to ensure that the appropriate applications are chosen in the FOSS space vs proprietary software Solutions to address the current issues: • Look at specific policies around patching FOSS systems in the environment • Look at making use of external parties to conduct audits on security capabilities in deployed FOSS systems • A central body or center of excellence (perhaps within SITA) to look at setting a security framework when it comes to FOSS. This can provide guidance to CIO’s when considering FOSS • Adopt a top down approach to security in FOSS with buy-in at a Senior Level and filter that down toward the CIO level • Align to other international standards (eg. ISO)

4. GCIO Summit 27 – 30 May 2013 Commission 3: Change management Chairperson: Allan Wattrus Issues in the current environment: • When FOSS was presented there seemed to be a stronger focus on the risks rather than the rewards • Concerns around adopting something that is not perceived as mainstream • Support structures around FOSS are not clear • FOSS can be a tedious exercise when CIOs are under pressure to deliver within timeframes • Given the learnings from programmes such as IFMS, if Government had spent this on proprietary solutions we may have been a lot further down the road • Government does not have the capacity to take on large scale FOSS implementation • No motivation for public sector FOSS specialists to pursue the career • FOSS has potential to complicate reporting and audits if different solutions create different reporting and difficulty in consolidating information • Policy creation does not translate into execution Solutions to address the current issues: • Effort needs to be focused on services development rather than underlying technology. Reuse what is there • A common middleware layer will contribute to reducing effort taken to develop functionality • Promote employment for FOSS skills at university and school level • Need to create partnerships with the private sector to promote FOSS skills • Government CIO structures need to be geared towards supporting FOSS • Environment needs to be created where FOSS can be successful including architecture, skills, structures • Change management needs to focus on providing people the skills to adapt to FOSS rather than just adopt FOSS solutions