The Public Service newbie guide

Example: The IM is where “because policy” should eventually point.

Also heard as: IM, Government Instruction Manual

Context: Instruction Manuals may contain mandatory requirements alongside agency-specific implementation details.

Example: A WOG solution starts when five agencies agree the problem belongs to all of them.

Also heard as: WOG, whole of government

An email or routing label indicating that the recipient is expected to take follow-up action.

Also heard as: for action, for your necessary action

Context: The required action and deadline should still be stated explicitly.

Signals that the recipient is expected to take the action needed, rather than merely note the information.

Also heard as: for necessary action

The end of the working day, commonly used to state a deadline in email or workplace instructions.

Also heard as: Closing of Business, close of business, end of business

Context: Confirm the exact time and time zone when a deadline could be ambiguous.

A status indicating that no additional follow-up is required unless circumstances change.

Also heard as: no further actions

To retain a matter for monitoring or later consideration without taking immediate action.

Also heard as: KIV first

Context: KIV should not be used as a substitute for an owner, review date or explicit decision where follow-up is required.

Normal ongoing operations, as distinct from project, crisis, pilot or transformation work.

Also heard as: business-as-usual, steady state operations

Also heard as: staffing, staff work, staffing an issue, staffing a paper

Context: The exact staff process and document format vary by agency.

Also heard as: working level, at working level, staff level, staff-level, at staff level

Context: Here, ‘staff level’ means the officers staffing the issue, not employees generally.

Also heard as: socialise the idea, socialize

Also heard as: no-surprises principle

Example: I have bandwidth for one more task, provided the task is replying “Noted”.

Also heard as: work bandwidth, team bandwidth, have bandwidth, no bandwidth, free up bandwidth

Context: Bandwidth may reflect cognitive load and competing priorities, not only available hours or headcount.

Also heard as: cascade down, cascade the message

Also heard as: citizen centric, citizens at the centre, citizen-centred

Also heard as: close loop, loop closure

Example: The covering officer inherits the work, not telepathy—leave a proper handover.

Also heard as: cover officer, covering arrangement

Context: The handover, decision limits and escalation route should be made clear; a covering officer does not automatically inherit every authority of the absent officer.

Email shorthand placed in the subject line to indicate that it contains the complete message and the recipient need not open the email body.

Example: <noted,eom> Proposed Approach for XYZ Visit

Also heard as: end of msg

Context: EOM is highly ambiguous; the corpus also records Expenditure of Manpower and Expenditure on Manpower.

Signals that information is being shared for awareness and does not, by itself, request action.

Also heard as: for information, for your info

A polite email shorthand indicating that information is being shared for the recipient’s awareness and ordinarily does not require action.

Also heard as: For Your Information, Please, for your info please

Context: Usually equivalent in intent to FYI. The final P adds politeness; it does not turn the message into an action request.

Also heard as: gentle reminder please, friendly reminder, gentle chaser

Context: The wording sounds soft, but the intended urgency depends on the sender, deadline and surrounding context.

Example: Ground sensing happens before the paper confidently says stakeholders are “generally supportive”.

Also heard as: sense the ground, ground-sensing, ground sentiments, ground feedback

Context: Ground sensing is an input to analysis, not a substitute for representative evidence where that is needed.

Also heard as: Official Report, Parliamentary Debates

Example: A good HOTO contains more than “all the best” and a link to a folder with 900 emails.

Also heard as: handover takeover, handover/takeover, HOTO notes

Context: The abbreviation is used in Singapore workplaces, but the required process and documentation are agency-dependent.

Also heard as: implementation as policy

Context: It emphasises that policy design does not end when the broad direction is approved.

Example: KIV means revisit later, not place gently into permanent storage.

Also heard as: keep in view, KIV first, KIV this

Context: KIV may mean genuine monitoring or an indefinite deferral. State the review date or trigger where possible.

The practices used to create, organise, retain, share and apply organisational knowledge so work can continue beyond individual officers.

Also heard as: land the proposal, land the point, land the decision

Context: Informal usage varies; in some contexts it simply means communicating a point effectively.

A regular constituency session at which a Member of Parliament meets residents and may make representations or appeals to public agencies on their cases.

Also heard as: Meet the People Session, Meet-the-People Sessions, MPS case, MPS cases

Context: MPS is political and constituency work rather than an agency service. Agencies assess resulting appeals on their facts and under the applicable rules. MPS is also highly ambiguous and has other meanings in the dataset.

Example: The resident should not need the government org chart before someone takes responsibility.

Also heard as: NWD, No Wrong Door policy

Context: Where a responsible agency can be identified, the receiving agency should ensure it takes up the case before making the connection. Issues with no clear owner may invoke the First Responder Protocol.

Example: The citizen sees one Government, even when the email has crossed six agencies.

Also heard as: One Public Service approach

Context: Related to Whole-of-Government working, but broader: it also describes a shared identity, service ethos and responsibility to the public.

The official agenda for a parliamentary sitting, listing questions, Bills, motions and other business scheduled to be taken.

Also heard as: Parliament Order Paper

Context: OP is highly ambiguous; use the parliamentary context to distinguish it from meanings such as operating procedure or original poster.

A Public Service Week ceremony that brought officers across the Service together to reaffirm their commitment and renew the One Public Service pledge.

Context: The last official OPSOC event located was held on 8 July 2022. In 2023, PSD's Public Service Week programme instead opened with PSW: Spark and no longer listed OPSOC. No formal discontinuation notice was found.

A polite email or note shorthand asking the recipient to read attached, linked or forwarded material for awareness rather than action.

Also heard as: pls see for information, please see for info, pls see for info

Context: A polite variant of SFI. It normally means “please read and note”; it does not by itself assign follow-up work.

The function that manages public feedback and service-quality matters through channels such as phone, email and written correspondence.

Also heard as: Quality Service Manager, quality service

Context: QSM may refer either to the function or the officer performing the role.

An advance visit to inspect a site, venue, route or operating environment before an event, exercise or activity.

Also heard as: site recce, venue recce, recce visit, on-site recce

Context: In everyday Public Service and event work, a recce usually means a practical site inspection rather than military reconnaissance.

Also heard as: RM, recordkeeping, records mgt

Context: Government records must be managed according to the applicable records-management and archival requirements.

Also heard as: red-team exercise, red teaming, red-teaming

Context: Common in cybersecurity, but the same adversarial-review idea may be applied in other domains.

Also heard as: public service delivery, delivery of services

An email or note shorthand asking the recipient to read attached, linked or forwarded material for awareness rather than action.

Also heard as: see for info

Context: Here, “see” means to read or refer to the material. Any follow-up required should be stated separately.

Also heard as: stock-take, progress stocktake

Also heard as: strategic lens, strategic view

Also heard as: surfaced, surfacing, surface the issue

Also heard as: Float a balloon, floating a balloon, float the idea, sound out

Also heard as: unknown-unknowns, we don't know what we don't know

Context: The phrase is a reminder to build resilience and learning capacity, not an excuse to avoid identifying foreseeable risks.

Example: The WPS is where the agency explains the year’s priorities, usually with at least one launch and many slides.

Also heard as: WPS, Work Plan Seminar, annual workplan seminar

Context: The format varies by agency. Despite the name, it is often a leadership and organisational-direction event rather than a working seminar.

Also heard as: work stream

An annual or periodic agency event at which leadership communicates organisational priorities, plans and direction.

Also heard as: Work Plan Seminar

Context: The spelling varies between Workplan Seminar and Work Plan Seminar, and not every agency uses the abbreviation WPS.