Opposition Ministerial Report Card: Technology (U - Utatzaic'hnat/Outstanding)

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Mic'haglh Autófil (Technology)

The Ministry of Technology received seven terpelaziuns during the previous Cosa term. All of which were from the Green Party. All terpelaziuns were answered in a timely, respectful, and informative fashion. Minister Autofil receives the highest rating of any government minister for reasons within and outside of the Ministry`s portfolio. The new database has not been announced but appears near completion and there has also been progress on re-nationalization of the nation`s web presence. The progress towards each objective can be tracked by reviewing the terpelaziuns because of the detailed replies by the Minister. Within the portfolio, the terpelaziuns revealed a public official whose communication style is cordial and collaborative and approach to problem-solving builds consensus methodically over time. There were also repeated examples of Minister Autofil stepping in, whenever necessary, to assist other portfolios. This led the Opposition to one central question as we finished our evaluation: Why isn't Minister Autofil the Avant Coalition`s candidate for Seneschal?
Upon review of responses from the specific terpelaziuns listed below we noted the following highlights:

July 27, 2024 https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3424.0

On August 1, 2024 Minister Autofil responded to a terpleziun on cross-party discussions to replace the database, among other matters, as follows: "I thank the Member for his question. While I am still well within the legal window in which my response is required, I would still apologize for the delay, but I hope the depth of my answer makes up for it. Regarding the replacement of the National Database, I envision the process basically working as follows:

Consult with the Chancery regarding Database tasks to prioritize replacement
Hold a brief public consultation regarding preferred method of replacement
Begin to port functionality over to this new database

On the first point, I am currently preparing a list of common tasks (in my own estimation) that the Chancery uses the Database for. If anyone here is familiar with the term, what I'd like to do is an adaptation of one of our tools in the engineering field known as an FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis). We use FMEAs to identify the likelihood of a given failure mode occurring, and the severity of that failure mode if it should occur; combining these two ratings allows us to prioritize different design criteria to ensure that the design is as robust as possible. With respect to Database actions, I'll be asking the Secretary of State to rate different tasks on how frequently he needs to use the Database to perform them, and how difficult it is to get the Database to actually perform the task successfully; this will enable us to identify the "pain points" of the current Database and try to design around avoiding them in the future.

On the second point, I know there's already been some discussion on the possibility of using a large Google Sheet (which is my personal preference for a replacement), but I'd like to come to the discussion in Point #2 with at least one or two alternative methods on the off chance anyone else happens to be very familiar with them."

The Opposition notes the respectful and thorough response of the Ministry which provided clear and detailed points of monitoring for future accountability. This type of response also provides the public with a full accounting of government actions during the month which is appreciated even if not required.

September 5, 2024 https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3487.0

On September 12, 2024 Minister Autofil responded as follows to a terpelaziun concerning progress on the ..."I thank the Member for his question and apologize for the delay.

Ministry staff (namely myself, the Deputy Minister, and the Backend Secretary) have a running document we are using to keep track of several of our projects, including the hosting transition -- notes, thoughts, suggestions, etc. At this time, we have a several candidates sourced, but no conclusions have been made as of just yet."

The Opposition notes the response is informative and indicative of cooperation both within the Ministry and between the Ministry and the Civil Service. The Opposition, at the time, noted the divulgence of information concerning the tackling of multiple objectives.

October 2, 2024 https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3556.0

On October 9, 2024 Minister Autofil responded as follows to a terpelaziun requesting an update on progress concerning the new national database: "Estimat Túischac'h, I thank the Member for his question. On the first step of the process, I can report that my adapted-FMEA process with the Secretary of State produced useful results; in accordance with the findings, Ministry personnel will be paying particular attention to how easy the new database makes it for the Chancery to add MZ's to a new Ziu term, as well as the processes by which Clarks are populated with bills and published for the Ziu to vote on. Apart from the occasional follow-up question with the Chancery which may arise, it would be appropriate to consider this step complete.

On the second step, we are nearing a few options in internal deliberations that I believe will be worth bringing to the public, keeping in mind this Government's other goals (for example, keeping as much of Talossa's digital infrastructure as possible on nationally-administered server space, and using "tailor-fit" solutions where possible). I would look for this discussion within a week or two, following the wrapping up of a few loose ends in our internal discussion.

The third step, of course, is contingent on completion of the second, but is also somewhat reliant on the Ministry's other main goal of re-nationalizing our web server presence. On that note, I am pleased to report that we should also be announcing a major development there in the near future (on a similar timeframe to the database-solution discussion)."

The Opposition noted the informative and timely response. The Minister`s reply included a step-by-step overview of what remains to be done in achieving the objective. This was to the benefit of efforts toward accountable government but noted as benefiting the general Talossan public as well.

November 2, 2024 https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3620.0

On November 9, 2024 Minister Autofil responded to a terpelaziun concerning progress on the re-nationalization of the Kingdom's web presence and the new database: "Estimat Tuischach:

I thank the Member for this question. If he will allow me to answer in two parts:

The first priority is the re-nationalization of the nation's web presence. I am still waiting for the Permanent Secretary of Backend Admin to give final agreement, but the plan at this point looks like this:
* At the moment, the PermSec is overseeing server hosting using a service called Digital Ocean; we have a "droplet" (a piece of server space) with DO under the PermSec's name.
* The PermSec will create a separate DO account to be controlled and funded by the Government. (I will ensure that he works with the Burgermeister to set up relevant payment information.)
* Once this account and a nationally-run "droplet" is set up, our web presence will be migrated to it, completing this process and achieving the goal set out at the beginning of the term.

Overall, a fairly straightforward process, I am simply waiting to make sure that everyone agrees on what the plan is so that we can implement it.

Regarding the new database possibilities:

* I am similarly waiting on some final feedback from the Deputy Minister regarding his suggestion of a possible solution, but from what I understand it will be a good fit for our needs. (I anticipate that the last few weeks have been a bit busy for him, what with setting up the Heir Presumptive referendum and whatnot.)
* However, this does not mean that I will not honor my commitment for a public review of the suggested solutions. I would look for this sometime within the next two weeks; sooner, if we can get the server transition done quickly."

The Opposition notes this was another respectful and thorough reply. The reply included certain dates which could be used for accountability and detailed information on ministerial activities. There was minor concern as to potential delays from the Deputy Minister. Public review did indeed occur later as promised.

December 7, 2024 https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3681.0

On December 14, 2025 Minister Autofil responded as follows to a terpelaziun following up on his reply from November: "Estimadăs Tuischac'h, I thank the Member for this question. I will admit that the transition of the National Database has taken a bit of a backseat to some of the other issues currently being solved by the Technology Ministry, however as I have a significant amount of free time over the holidays, I will commit to holding this discussion by the end of the month/year."

The Opposition notes the timely and mostly informative reply but was disappointed at the lack of progress on the national database transition.

January 23, 2025 https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3781.0

On January 30 Minister Autofil responded, as follows, to a terpelaziun concerning updates on the database transition: "Tuischac'h, I thank the member for this question, which if he will forgive me for presuming, is that last bit contained within his quote (due to formatting error?) I have been cataloguing the various types of information found within database pages (not the actual entries, just the fields themselves) to ensure that we are not neglecting to transfer anything. I will be working more in-depth with the Secretary of State in the coming week to ensure that we are laying out our models for each database entry (a model for Citizens, a model for Bills, etc) thoroughly."

The Opposition notes another asked and answered terpelaziun from the Minister with details as to just what is being done.

February 14, 2025 https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3826.0

On February 20, 2025 Minister Autofil responded, as follows, to a terpelaziun concerning progress on our national digital presence: "Tuischac'h, I thank the Member for his question. The Permanent Secretary of Backend Administration has created our team on DigitalOcean, which, now that a minor snafu involving my webmail has been resolved, I should be able to join shortly and move forward on this process. This is also a fitting moment to notify the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue (tagging @xpb ) that he may be required to join the team as well, for the purposes of setting up payment information. I will be reaching out with more information for him when it is available."

The Opposition noted the transparency with respect to a minor technical snafu. And the cooperation between the Civil Service with the Back-End PermSec and the Burgermeister.

Minister Autofil was in this Opposition member's opinion the best serving member of the Government based on these highlights and the manner in which he conducted himself in the course of completing his duties. Should there be any inaccuracies or if the Minister would like to reply it is welcome in this thread.