Agency 17: Data and Publishing Agency

The seventeenth in the community is the Data and Publishing Agency. It is the second agency in the Data Bureau, which also includes Agency 16 (Accounting), and Agency 18 (QHSE). The Data and Publishing Agency is concerned with ensuring the community has a solid cybersecurity posture. It also facilitates printing and publishing services. Additionally, the agency provides avenues through which data can be leveraged to improve service delivery by community agencies and participants’ businesses.

What does the agency do?

The agency performs the following duties:

• Data management and analytics
• Data security
• Publishing
• Training
• Library services

Data management and analytics

The Data and Publishing Agency facilitates data management and analytics that agencies and businesses need during their planning and operations. Data management is the process of collecting, storing, organizing, and maintaining data. Effective data management means that it is accurate, available, and accessible. The Data and Publishing Agency achieves these roles by constantly collecting and verifying information from participants, their businesses, and community agencies. It then ensures that the information is stored in ways that it can easily be accessed and analyzed.

Data management is important as it helps businesses and agencies optimize the use of data, and do so within policies and regulations that govern data handling. Through this, they can be able to make good decisions that propel them to greater efficiency, and performance.

A key part of data management is having autonomous database management. This is the use of a cloud database that uses machine learning to automate database security, backups, updates, and routine maintenance. Through automation, human error, which is especially frequent if the data workload is enormous, is eliminated. This eliminates the possibility of poor performance and compromised security.

Data analytics involves extracting meaningful information and insights from data. This is important as it helps entities make sense of the information at their disposal. Without it, data is meaningless. The Data and Publishing Agency empowers other agencies’ automated systems to perform analytics as per their functions. It also facilitates businesses to access analytical tools needed to interact with the information that the agency may sell them for their business needs.

Big data is defined as structured or unstructured data collected by a business during its operations. The data is too large to be processed by traditional data-processing tools. In the community, agencies and businesses collect data at ever-increasing rates, with the data coming in all forms. The Data and Publishing Agency provides the necessary big data analytics tools that businesses and other agencies can use to harness the potential of big data, resulting in data-driven decisions. The obvious results of this approach include more effective marketing and better approaches to revenue collection.

Data security, integrity, and cybersecurity

Data is a valuable resource that businesses can use to power their operations, from engaging with customers to making important strategic decisions and boosting revenues. Community agencies use the extensive information they have about participants to identify how best to serve them, and any gaps that need to be addressed to optimize their operations. However, this information is not a free-for-all affair. It is strictly controlled by laws and regulations, as well as industry best practice which dictates how information can be used.

Data security refers to the measures used to protect private information relating to a business or individual. The Data and Publishing Agency works with agencies and businesses to ensure that the information they possess and disclose is utilized in line with the law. Privacy rights are strongly adhered to, and all entities are expected to utilize data responsibly. The agency monitors data use to ensure it is consistent with its terms and conditions.

The Data and Publishing Agency works with agencies and businesses so that the data available for analysis is complete, accurate, and reliable. This involves helping them improve their capacity to collect relevant and complete information and store it properly.

The Data and Publishing Agency also handles the community’s posture regarding cyber security. The agency sets up the systems required to do so and constantly monitors them to ensure they are working well. The agency extensively collaborates with other agencies that have any form of infrastructure with internet connectivity, to ensure the community, which is highly connected digitally, is kept safe.

Publishing

Publishing refers to the process of making information available to the public. It can be digital, such as the making of information public through digital platforms, or printing. Publishing is an elaborate process that starts with the origination of an idea, engagement with publishers, writing, editing, proofreading, typesetting, and marketing. This process is usually tedious and time-consuming and may end up leaving authors unable to achieve the success they need, while readers are unable to enjoy the message the author intended to communicate properly.

Through the automation of many of these aspects, the Data and Publishing Agency makes the process smooth, not only automating the first few steps of approval to deliver a manuscript and automated typesetting but also linking authors with contractors who work as editors or proofreaders. This means that the overall time and costs taken to produce literature are much shorter, and result in superior products.

The agency also assists in the mass reproduction of text and images. It coordinates the process by connecting those who need material printed with printers through its automated system, while also connecting printing specialists who work as contractors with their clients. Printing equipment is owned by the Business Operations Agency. The Data and Publishing Agency coordinates the printing process to ensure that unique aspects of printing are well taken into account.

Library services

The Data and Publishing Agency handles the community’s library services. Every hub has a physical library, run by a contractor as their business. The library is stocked with physical books, as well as computer systems through which clients can access online resources.

Besides the physical library, the Data and Publishing Agency also sets up, through contractors, online library services. The online library services contain scholarly material, books, magazines, and all other works of literature that can potentially be of interest to participants. It acquires literature from authors and other originators and makes it available to participants at a fee. The agency collaborates with the IP Agency to determine how much it can charge participants for access to a specific work of literature. Authors are paid if and when their work has been accessed by a client.

Schooling between grades 1-9 happens at the hubs. The presence of library services enables students to access educational materials easily, within the same hub. The Data and Publishing Agency liaises with the Life Planning Agency to facilitate the availability of educational material needed by students.

Between grades 10-12, and higher education (university and college education), classes are held in the district buildings. To support learners’ access to the material they need, there is a large community library in the storehouse block. It is run by contractors and is set up in the same fashion as the libraries in the hubs, only that they are larger.

Hubs in the mirrored villages mainly support agriculture and industrial activities. As a result, online resources are better adapted to the needs of the people here. Contractors collaborate with the Data and Publishing Agency to set up and run online libraries, which are equipped with computers to access literature that is relevant to the sector.

Training

The Data and Publishing Agency undertakes rigorous virtual training sessions to ensure that all participants are aware of the services it offers. The agency also uses these training sessions to assist participants in understanding how to secure their data, how to analyze it for business, and responsible use. Data collection and analysis is usually done by a business. The agency’s training approach is aimed at ensuring they properly do this, and where possible, adds value to what the community already has.

Training modules are available on the agency’s website. The agency hires contractors to prepare the training material. It then advertises the training services to ensure that all participants are competent in data handling, and are familiar with the publishing services. The automated system monitors how participants interact with data as they go along with their daily activities. It can recommend a training module if it detects there is a gap in knowledge that the module can fill.

How the agency works

Executive presidency, demographic presidency, and bureau board

The Data and Publishing Agency is served by an executive presidency, which consists of four presidents who serve and represent the four major demographics: married men (A), married women (B), single women (C), and single men (D). the executive presidency’s primary responsibility is to set up the agency’s strategies and automated system, and adjust them as advised by operational presidencies, to have them serve the community better.

The Data and Publishing Agency’s executive presidency, together with other executive presidencies that serve in the Data Bureau – executive presidencies for Accounting and QHSE agencies, form a bureau board. The bureau board of 12 assists in decision-making on issues of common interest to all three agencies. The board is also an additional check and balance on presidencies and presidents.

Within the board, presidents from the same demographic form a three-member demographic presidency. The demographic presidency is an important avenue for mentoring and training fellow presidents, as well as identifying and working on matters that cut across the three agencies and affect a particular demographic.

	Demographic presidency A	Demographic presidency B	Demographic presidency C	Demographic presidency D
Executive presidency, Accounting (16)	16A	16B	16C	16D
Executive presidency, Data, and Publishing (17)	17A	17B	17C	17D
Executive presidency, QHSE (15)	18A	18B	18C	18D

Operational presidencies

The three agencies in the Data Bureau are served by 24 operational presidencies. Each presidency serves one district. The operational presidencies carry out the operational duties of each agency. They interact with community public servants and contractors. They also observe the workings of the automated system as participants and contractors interact with it. Based on their observations and interactions, operational presidencies advise the executive presidencies on changes that need to be made to the system and its strategic approach.

Operational presidencies also belong to 12-member boards and demographic presidencies. Since each presidency has four presidents (married men – A, married women – B, single women – C, and single men – D), there are a total of 96 presidents serving the bureau, and organized into 32 demographic presidencies.

Branch presidencies and boards

How is the community organized?

A limited partner is the most basic unit in the community and refers to members who have a partnership interest in the community. On average, each limited partner has 1.5 dependents. A dependent is a minor, a person living with a disability, or those who are supported by community agencies, and assigned by contract to a limited partner. Together, limited partners and dependents are referred to as participants.

Each limited partner is assigned one unit in an apartment building. The apartment building, which has four floors, has 10 units on every floor, adding up to 40 units. 2 limited partners, such as a man and his wife, can decide to combine their units, forming a household module that can hold an average of 5 participants (the two limited partners, and possibly their three children). Therefore, each floor, with either 10 separate modules with 2.5 participants each, or 5 household units with 5 participants each, has an average of 25 participants.

Each floor is served by a captain, a community public servant who helps participants navigate the community’s services, and a host, who is responsible for renting out space and maintaining the floor in good condition.

Each 4-floor apartment building with 25 participants per floor has 100 participants. This is also referred to as a branch. The four captains in an apartment building, each of whom serves and represents a demographic group: married men, married women, single women, or single men, form a branch presidency. Limited partners from each demographic form a group council. The council meets at least quarterly and provides limited partners with a platform to interact and discuss common interest matters to their demographic within their branch. Each group is served by a branch captain.

Organization and roles

Captains are a service extension of the Human Relations Agency (agency 1). The agency handles recruitment, induction, and the social welfare of participants. Captains’ services to their limited partners are not limited to the duties of the Human Relations Agency, however. They are the interface through which participants interact with community agencies, besides the agencies’ automated systems.

10 branches form a village. Each of the branch presidencies also belongs to a specific branch board. Branch boards provide an additional check and balance for captains and branch presidencies. Branches are numbered based on the village’s hub, in the direction of the breezeway one-way traffic direction.

A hub is formed at the intersection of breezeways between villages. Hub buildings are used for a range of commercial activities that need to be closer to residential areas, such as daycare centers, grocery stores, and emergency centers, among others.

A branch’s number determines with whom its presidency will form a branch board. Branch presidencies 1, 2, and 3 form one branch board, as do 4, 5, and 6, and 7, 8, and 9.

Four villages make a district. The last branch presidency in each village in the community (branch presidency 10) combines with three others in their district or cluster of 3 districts to form additional branch boards. The last branch presidencies in villages 1, 2, and 3 in each district make a board. The last branch presidencies in village 4 of each of the 3 districts in a cluster also form a board.

This can be illustrated as follows:

Besides belonging to a branch presidency and a board, every captain belongs to a demographic presidency of 3. A demographic presidency is made up of 3 captains within a board, and who serve the same demographic. The demographic presidency mainly serves an advisory function, safeguarding issues common to the particular demographic, and helping in mentorship and support for incoming captains.

The automated system is designed to help participants with all the help they need in matters related to data, printing, and publishing. However, should they run into problems, captains assist them in navigating the system, or direct them to relevant contractors who help them at a fee.

Automated system

The Data and Publishing Agency relies on an automated system to serve the community. The automated system is two-pronged. On one hand, it helps participants in publishing, while on the other, it ensures that data integrity and security are maintained at all times.

As cybersecurity threats evolve and become ever more challenging to manage, businesses and individuals are struggling to invest in the tools to keep these threats at bay. However, with automation, it is possible to have an affordable and highly effective security system that anticipates challenges as they emerge. The Data and Publishing Agency provides agencies and businesses with the necessary cybersecurity weapons needed to secure their data. The agency can either purchase or develop these tools through contractors. The minimal human intervention or oversight that may be needed to manage the systems is also provided by contractors hired by the agency.

The Data and Publishing Agency works with agencies and businesses with tools to ensure that data integrity is maintained. Integrity in this sense refers to the completeness, accuracy, and consistency of information. Agencies, through their systems, handle enormous amounts of sensitive data about participants, the community’s operations, and strategy. Much of the information about participants is personal, and governed by stringent data protection laws, while other refers to IP and business operations. The agency provides businesses and agencies with a means through which they can leverage the data without contravening any laws or harming participants or their businesses.

The automated system will also assist authors in having their material published digitally or otherwise. The agency will set up systems that automate tasks such as typesetting, editing, proofreading, and any other aspect of publishing. The agency will also use the system to assist content creators in reaching their clients.  

Contractors

The Data and Publishing Agency’s roles require contractors to assist in instances where participants are unable to navigate the system and get what they need, or the system needs to be monitored for improvement. In both instances, the agency maintains a database of contractors for various services that participants and agencies need.

Data integrity and security are largely automated exercises, with participants rarely needing the services of data experts to assist them. The agency, however, needs the systems to be constantly monitored to ensure they are working optimally. It hires the necessary contractors through a competitive process for a specific amount of time. Contractors work with operational presidencies in this process. The operational presidencies then recommend any changes needed to the executive presidency, which then executes them, through the system, or contractors.

Some aspects of publishing are not easily automatable. Editing, and proofreading, frequently require a human touch, so that a work of literature can easily connect with the audience. The Data and Publishing Agency has a register of contractors that shows contractors who are experts in these fields and provides means through which they can easily connect with their clients and content creators.

Interagency collaboration

The 24 community agencies form three columns, of 8 agencies each. The Data and Publishing Agency is part of the second column. Agencies do not collaborate as much along columns as they do within their bureau. However, there is still significant collaboration between agencies in a column. For instance, the Data and Publishing Agency coordinates with the Bylaws Agency (agency 10) to ensure that IT infrastructure is secure from cyber-attacks. The two agencies also work to ensure the use of information conforms with the community’s bylaws.

The Data and Publishing Agency works with the Legal Affairs Agency (agency 14) in ensuring that its data integrity and security systems, and data uses are within the law. The agency also collaborates with the Marketing Agency (agency 20) to help businesses and agencies use information about their clients so that they can formulate and execute effective marketing strategies. The Life Planning Agency (4) uses information about participants to help them with life planning. The Data and Publishing Agency can help with the necessary analytics to make successful life plans.

The Data and Publishing Agency coordinates with the Life Planning Agency, which also handles education, on access to the online library. The Life Planning Agency provides valuable input on what material can be posted in the library that will help participants’ education objectives.

Presidencies’ offices, meetings, and quarterly conferences

Offices

The offices of the Data and Publishing Agency’s executive presidency are in building 17, on the western side. On the eastern side, the trustee and the Regulatory Bureau’s operational presidencies that serve the Data and Publishing Agency, as well as District 17, have their offices.

Trustees and the regulatory operational presidencies alternate their offices. Trustees have the offices in building 17 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while the operational presidencies use the offices on Mondays and Wednesdays, as shown in this timetable:

	Building 5/ Life Planning Agency	Building 17/ Data and Publishing Agency
Monday	Trustee presidency	Regulatory Bureau Operational presidency
Tuesday	Regulatory Bureau Operational presidency	Trustee presidency
Wednesday	Trustee presidency	Regulatory Bureau Operational presidency
Thursday	Regulatory Bureau Operational presidency	Trustee presidency

The Data Bureau’s operational presidencies have offices on the first floor of every district building, with each of the 24 presidencies occupying offices in one building. This graphic shows District Building 17’s first-floor layout, with offices for the executive presidency, trustees, and various operational presidencies indicated.

Working hours and meetings

Community public servants, including the Data Agency’s executive presidency and the Regulatory Bureau’s operational presidencies, work from Monday to Thursday, from 8:00 to 8:45 in the morning. This time is dedicated to meeting clients and normal operational duties as the office requires. On Thursday, the whole presidency (four presidents serving A, B, C, and D) meets for a 45-minute meeting from 9:00 to 9:45 in the morning.

On the last Friday of each quarter, between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM, each demographic presidency meets. The three-member presidency discusses common bureau matters that are of interest to the demographic they serve. On Saturday, again between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM, the whole board meets, where the presidents present their input from the previous day’s demographic presidency meeting, and prepare for the quarterly conference. The aim is to have a cohesive presentation during the quarterly conference but tailored to specific demographic interests.

Quarterly conferences

Quarterly conferences are held on the last Sunday of each quarter, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with a lunch break in between. During quarterly conferences, each demographic presidency sits together in the same row.

Quarterly conferences are held in District Buildings 5 and 17. Each building has a lower and higher assembly court. The different demographic groups use the assembly courts as follows:

Building	Assembly court	Demographic
5	Lower court	Married men (A)
5	Higher court	Married Women (B)
17	Lower court	Single women (C)
17	Higher court	Single men (D)

Each of the four assembly courts has seats for 480 presidents representing the respective demographic. In the diagram below each of the 4 courts is illustrated. The ceiling of each court has an elliptical arch that enables executive presidents, who are the only ones who make a presentation during the conference, to speak without the need to amplify their voice. The 480 seats are easily rotatable to enable presidents to face whoever is speaking.

Each of the four courts has an identical arrangement and number of seats. The exact arrangement of each court can therefore be illustrated using one court, in this case, building 5’s lower court that is used by married men (A).

Within an assembly court, the 480 presidents are arranged in terms of demographic presidencies of 3. The Data Bureau’s demographic presidency for married men (16A, 17A, and 18A) sits as highlighted in the graphic below. The 24 Regulatory Bureau’s operational presidents for married men (A) are organized into 8 demographic presidencies: 1,2, 3/ 4, 5, 6/ 7, 8, 9/ 10, 11, 12/13,14,15/ 16,17,18/ 19,20,21/ and 22,23,24.

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Some additional notes/definitions from an earlier version of this page:

• To ensure the accuracy and completeness of data, modern organizations extensively train personnel on data entry and accountability for data uploaded unto the system. Organizations also have protocols to follow which ensure information is well input, and that personnel only have the necessary rights to manipulate data. In the community, however, most data processing, apart from primary data upload by participants, will be automated. The agency will deploy blockchain technology to ensure data is not manipulated by unauthorized parties, and that there any manipulation is traceable (Sutherland, C. 3 Strategies to Maintain Data Integrity. 17 12 2018. electronic. 26 05 2019.).
• The community’s competitive advantage and long-term survival will be dependent on among other things, its approach to learning, knowledge management, and how it manages big data. Modern organizations have increasingly discovered the links between productivity and growth on one hand, and information processing efficiency (Ekambaram, A., et al. “The role of big data and knowledge management in improving projects and project-based organizations.” Procedia Computer Science 138.2018 (2018): 851-858.)
• Through the easy access to information, participants and agencies alike will be able to reach better and well-informed decisions. This approach has been used in government, where, to promote transparency and accountability, information that concerns the citizens is easily accessible and disseminated. Complete and accurate information about agencies and participants will be critical in ensuring that other agencies – including the banks – are able to make the contributions expected of them in the community (Dawes, S. “Stewardship and Usefulness: Policy Principles for Information-Based Transparency.” Government Information Quarterly 27.4 (2010): 377-383.).
• The data validation process ensures that information processed thereafter is of high quality. The process ensures that whatever is processed and later stored fulfills the needs of the entity. The Data Management Agency will validate data validation through a well-documented process, including checks for completeness, accuracy, complexity, and usefulness of information collected. This is especially important due to the issues associated with big data, including data management challenges (di-Zio, M. Methodology for data validation 1.0. Informational. Brussels: Essnet Validat Foundation, 2016.)
• Aggregated data is easy to organize, and therefore analyses. Data aggregation involves using various statistical, mathematical and probability functions to manipulate data in a way that enables more uniform analysis (Chan, H. Secure Distributed Data Aggregation. Boston: Now Publishers, 2011.).
• There exists a “communication gap” between developers of security systems and the users. This means that, in many cases, organizations are vulnerable to threats before they are provided with the necessary tools to fight them. The Data Management Agency should be in a place to anticipate threats, and prepare responses before they occur (Al-Hassan, M. and A. Adjei-Quaye. “Information Security in an Organization.” International Journal of Computer 24.1 (2017): 100-116.).
• The community data’s security will be enhanced by the use of blockchain, making it easy to trace data manipulation and access instances (Taylor, P. “A systematic literature review of blockchain cybersecurity.” Digital Communications and Networks (2019): 1-10.).
• The vast majority of cyber-attacks occur due to human error, suggesting that with better training and vigilance, most of them could be avoided. At the same time, only a few organizations are well equipped to handle a sophisticated cyber-attack, whose response would include both effective security systems, and a vigilance community. Training goes a long way in avoiding such threats, as well as building the capacity of individual participants’ security systems, so that they can withstand such cyber-attacks (Fraudwatch. What is Cyber Security Awareness Training and Why is it so Important? 21 12 2018. 26 05 2019.).
• Decision support tools and systems thrive when there is enough data to process, and arrive at quality conclusions. The Data Management Agency will supply complete and accurate information, while also training the relevant parties on how they can harness DSS to improve decision-making (Abdolhamidzadeh, B. “Perspectives in the Development and Application of DSS for Domino Assessment.” Domino Effects in the Process Industries (2013): 296-323.).
• As organizations become dependent on technology for financial reporting, they open up another vulnerability from cyber-criminals. The coordination between the two agencies will involve improving accounting systems in use by community agencies and participants to safeguard themselves from loss (ANSI. “the financial management of cyber risk.” 2010.).
• Data sharing is governed by various laws, which aim to protect individuals and companies, depending on the nature of the information – financial, health-related, etc. Sharing information may sometimes require the informed consent of the participant, in which instances the Legal Services Agency will offer the required legal advice (Yip, C., N. Han and B. Sng. “Legal and ethical issues in research.” Indian Journal of Anaesthesia 20.9 (2016): 684–688.).