Technology needs to be managed. Even buying and using a simple personal computer involves much more than going to your local computer store and coming back with some high technology in a box:
- Needs must be assessed (what do you want it for? What features do you need?)
- Finance must be secured (who can you persuade to pay for it?)
- A business plan will be useful (for helping to persuade someone to pay for it)
- Transport must be organised (how does it get from the shop to you?)
- Technical skills are needed (to put it together, because they never come assembled)
- It will need to be tested (to make sure it works as it should)
- Business software will have to be installed (another purchase and another technician)
- It might have to be connected to a network (more technicians with cables, sockets and network cards)
- The user will need a password and a login (to get onto the network and stop unauthorised access by anyone else)
- The user will have to be trained (to get the best out of the hardware and the software)
- A technician may have to be called (to fix it when it breaks down)
- The user might have to call a help desk (when they still can't make it work)
- After a while the user will have lots of files that need to be indexed, archived and backed up (so you don't lose all that work)
- The user will want peripherals (printer, modem, CD Read/Writer)
- The user will want consumables (paper and toner for the printer, blank CDs for the CD Read/Writer, an electricity supply to run it on)
- Technicians will have to service the software, hardware and the peripherals (because after a while they need to be cleaned and the known bugs in the software have to be fixed with 'patches')
- Staff or consultants will have to be employed to do all this work for the user (and they will also need training)
- It won't be long before the software is out of date and an upgrade is needed (another purchase and more technicians)
- Within about two years the computer will be seriously out of date and you will have to think about buying a new one (and going to the top of this list and starting again)
In other words, even relatively common technology must be managed. In an organisation of any size, this task of managing technology is a big one, consuming large amounts of money and staff resources. Where technology is relatively complex or new, the management task is correspondingly greater.
In the electoral field, more layers of complexity are added to managing technology. Election management bodies (EMBs) are generally governed by legislation imposed on them by the legislature, and other rules and imperatives are imposed by the executive government. These external pressures can in some circumstances force EMBs to adopt particular technology whether they wish to or not. In other cases, the EMB may wish to introduce technology that would need external agreement by the legislature and/or the Government, as well as other stakeholders in the electoral process. In any case the level of external scrutiny is high.
The electoral environment is also relatively unusual in that technology is often obtained for a specific electoral event. In that case the technology may have to perform once only on a specified day, when any system failure would spell disaster. Testing, verification and backup plans have to be thorough and reliable to make sure that the electoral event takes place without a hitch.
Because of the high importance of elections and the need for accuracy, security and transparency, management of technology has to be of high standard.
The following topics in this section cover the various aspects of managing technology in the electoral environment. Checklists are included in some of the files to help to identify the many aspects of technology management that have to be covered to ensure a successful electoral event.
