Open Data Policy

Policy Objective and Scope:

• The objective of the policy is to foster informed decision making by encouraging usage of public data, establish a knowledge-based society and create an environment of data trust and transparency.
• The policy provides requirements for government entities to establish standardized practices for identifying and publishing their public data for the general public’s usage.

Policy Principles:

• Unmodified:

  • Open data assets shall be provided from the source without modification or summarization.

• Up to date:

  • Open Data assets released by the government entities shall be periodically updated (semi-annually or at least annually), depending on the nature of the data asset and shall be published immediately upon collection.

• Permanent:

  • Open data assets shall be made available permanently with appropriate version tracking and archiving the older versions over time. An indication that an alteration has been made shall be marked on the open data asset.

• Accessible:

  • Open data assets shall be easily accessible and shall be easily downloadable. The interface shall allow users to bulk download and provide a means to request additional data through Application Program Interface (API).

• Trusted:

  • Open data assets shall be digitally signed or include an attestation of publication/creation date, authenticity and integrity.

• Documented:

  • Open data assets shall be documented with sufficient information to make the data assets meaningful and useful to the users. This information shall be provided on the entity’s websites.

• Non-discriminatory:

  • Open-data assets shall be available to anyone, at any time without having to identify themselves or provide any justification for accessing open datasets.

• Non-proprietary:

  • Open data assets shall not have any restrictions on their usage and shall not be subject to copyright, trademark, patent or trade secrets provided the government entities use the open government license to clarify the terms of use.

• Machine readable:

  • Open data assets shall be available in widely used machine readable formats (XML, JSON, XLS, CSV) or any format that is consistent with the international requirements for open data.

• Free of charge:

  • All open data assets shall be published free of charge.

Policy Statements:

1. Open Data Identification:

   1. The entity shall identify all its ‘Unclassified’ data assets marked ‘FOR PUBLIC RELEASE’ as Open Data, in alignment with its data classification policy and the Article 28 of the ‘National Data Strategy’.

   2. A process for identification of Open Data assets from among the inventory of data assets shall be developed and followed by the entities. The process, at minimum, shall include the following steps:

      • Prioritization of the data assets as per their importance to be published as open data.
      • Identification of data sources for the data assets including the associated metadata. The entity’s data catalog may be leveraged for this purpose.
      • Impact assessment on the data assets (along with related metadata) for identifying their potential to be classified as open data.
      • Evaluating alignment of the open data assets with the outlined policy principles.
      • Certification of the identified open data assets. The entity shall obtain approval on the process for identifying its open data assets.

   3. A list of all the identified and certified open data assets shall be created. The list, at minimum, shall include the following information:

      • Name of the open data asset.
      • The data sources for the open data asset.
      • Log of open data publishing and modification activities on the corresponding open data assets.
      • The executive role within the entity responsible for certifying the open data.

2. Open Data Publishing:

   1. The entity shall publish all its identified open data assets within their official websites as per the specifications under the Open Government License while adding the © symbol with the entity’s name on the website page without using the phrase “All rights reserved”.

   2. The entity shall develop a standard structure for publishing its open data assets. The structure, at minimum, shall have the following attributes:

      • Name of the open data asset.
      • Descriptive information necessary to describe the open data for the understanding of the public.
      • Department responsible for the open data.
      • The date on which the open data asset was last reviewed and updated.

   3. The entity shall develop a register of the open data that is published. The register shall at minimum include the following information:

      • Name of the open data asset.
      • Information about the open data asset i.e., metadata.
      • Name of the person or department responsible for the data asset within the government entity.
      • Format of the published data asset (XML, JSON, XLS, CSV).
      • Schedule for updating the data asset.

   4. The entity shall periodically evaluate the possibility of marking data as ‘Unclassified’ to make additional data available for public release as open data.

   5. A channel shall be developed on the websites of the entities and operationalized for receiving public requests of sharing additional data.

   6. A process shall be developed for assessing and responding to the public requests of sharing additional open data assets. The process, at minimum, shall include the following steps:

      • Receipt and acknowledgement of the open data sharing request.
      • Communication of the assessment outcome (accepted/rejected) to the requester along with justification within 15 working days.
      • Making the requested additional open data available to the requester in case the request is accepted.

   7. Open data assets shall be published by adhering to the standard formats consistent with the principles of open data policy.

   8. Periodic review and maintenance of the published open data assets shall be carried out by the entities to ensure adherence to the relevant regulatory requirements.

   9. An automated tool shall be leveraged by the entities to implement the processes of open data identification and publishing as automated workflows.

   10. Processes for open data identification and publishing shall be implemented as automated workflows within the automated tool.

Roles and Responsibilities Matrix:

Dependencies:

• Data Governance Policy.
• Data Classification Policy.

Policy Enforcement and Compliance:

• The Data Governance and Management Head shall be responsible for implementing and enforcing the open data policy within their respective entities.
• MTCIT shall be responsible for assessing the compliance of the government entities to the open data policy.