The Council created the following principles and promotes their implementation. The gains will not only be in the efficiency of operation but also in taking fuller advantage of information when making critical decisions. This will be accomplished when we consider information as a state resource and cooperate toward a common direction for the state's information facilities, networks, and data. To that end, these general principles represent a foundation of understanding and agreement. These principles will assist agencies in accomplishing their legislatively mandated responsibilities while also contributing effectively to the collective needs of the state.
Top management is responsible for linking mission and functions to information systems coherently.
Information systems, like other important resources such as personnel and budget, are fundamental management responsibilities which should not be merely delegated to operations staff. An information system should reflect and support an organization's mission and functions. This linkage between information systems and organizational mission and functions is accomplished through an assessment called enterprise analysis in which an agency formally defines what it does and matches its information requirements to that charge. This can only be done when management assumes responsibility to make that linkage, develop plans for systems to produce that information, and effectively implement those plans. All data collected, generated and used by state government must be treated as a resource of the state to be managed and shared across organizational lines.