Governance - beyond "transition"

On Wednesday I wrote about the governance of the LMS project during the implementation process.  As you can see from the diagram on 10 October there is a final phase beyond implementation when we will close down the Transitional User Group, and move to the final ongoing User Group model.

It is likely that this transition will happen in about 3 years - when we're through all or most of the implementations.  At this stage we will move to an ongoing User Group model.  The PLS Standing Committee has endorsed indicative terms of reference for this Group, but they will be reviewed by the Standing Committee prior to be activated in a few years time.

The major change in this environment will be the membership and representation  approach for the User Group.  In consultation with the LGA we have designed a model, based in part on the way that the LGA constitutes its State Executive. Each LGA country region will nominate one member to the User Group.  These will be matched by an equal number of metropolitan nominees.  A Chair will be elected from within this group.

This approach will ensure that people will know who their local representative is. People will either have a seat at the table - or be only be one step removed from the decision makers - having nominated and voted for their local representative.

Each representative will be elected for a 2 year period and can serve for a maximum or 2 terms before someone else in the region must be elected & appointed.  This ensures that the committee stays fresh and over time a number of people have the opportunity to participate in the decision making.

The need to have decisions ratified by the PLS Standing Committee remains, as does the membership of the User Group Chair on the Standing Committee.

We are conscious of the cost burden for people to travel to meetings, so we are looking at ways of addressing this so that people can participate without it being overly costly to do so.

As the implementation of this is still some way off, there will be opportunities to discuss more fully and fine tune this model.  I will be working with all in the network as the time for implementation draws closer.