Cloud Computing Guide Released by AGIMO

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) released Better Practice Guides for cloud computing services under Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 after several months of drafting.

AGIMO has worked with several companies and industries to come up with guidelines that can help agencies on global financial, privacy and legal issues they might come across with the Cloud.

A copy of the draft was released in November 2011, and the comments the draft received was made use of to improve the final edition of the guideline.

“The guides have been developed to reflect Australian Government FMA Act agencies’ responsibilities in the context of the Australian legislative and regulatory environment,” Planning Division First Assistant Secretary, Glenn Archer, said.

Archer also said that the guide would also help in mitigating the worry surrounding privacy and security concerns about storing data on the public cloud. This is applicable to both domestic and international audience.

The Privacy and Cloud Computing for Australian Government Agencies document gives a detailed explanation of all issues related to privacy and information security that is required by a company when opting for Cloud-based services. Through this, the division is hopeful that the cloud service providers will include applicable privacy terms and conditions in their contract.

The final guide, Financial Considerations for Government use of Cloud Computing, talks about the important financial issues that agencies must understand when considering a Cloud-based solution.

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