TNAG-2357-FCO40-3428-Official-visits-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 119

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Background and Role

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A Management Information System for Ministers (MINIS), introduced In September 1992 as part of the Department's programme of work under the Financial Management Initiative, has been developed and refined to become the Top Management System for the Department. Through it priorities are set and administrative resources are allocated and controlled. It operates in parallel with the Department's budgetary control system FAMIS, The MINIS system does not deal with programe resources, which on the Health and Personal Social Services side of the Department are controlled within separate planning systems.

The aims of MINIS are:

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to provide refined information in manageable quantities on which the Department Management Ecard (DMB) can take decisions about administrative priorities for the Department Including the Management Executive, and the consequent deployment of administrative resources;

to provide a means whereby the performance of the Department's Commands and Divisions and the Management Executive can be monitored by senior management against objectives, including the use of performance indicators where appropriate;

to act as a framework within which the Department's priorities and workload can be co-ordinated systemacically at all levels of management;

to provide a framework for subordinate management systems.

How the MINIS process works

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MINIS process consists of divisional management reviews from which returns focusing on objective setting, performance in relation to previous objectives and targets for improving administrative performance are prepared mainly at Assistant Secretary level. These returns form the basis of a review of each Command and professional group chaired by the Permanent Secretary, (The Chief Executive is responsible for reviewing the returns of the Management Executive Directorates.) The returns

greed or amended at review meetings become the base for the KINIS document which also contains the key Departmental objectives for the incoming period agreed at a meeting of the DMB.

The normal MINIS cycle which runs from December of one year to December of the following year was adjusted on this occasion because of organisational changes within the Department. For the KIVIS 10 exercise the timetable is as follows:-

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