The Public Service newbie guide

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

Also heard as: WOG, whole of government

The Singapore Government's Microsoft Teams environment for workplace messaging, meetings and collaboration.

Also heard as: SG Teams

A senior committee that provides direction, resolves escalated issues and oversees a programme, project or workstream.

Also heard as: SteerCo, Steering Com, Steer Comm, steering committee

Work, outcomes or arrangements that span multiple agencies and are pursued from the perspective of the Government as a whole.

Also heard as: whole of government, whole-of-govt

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

Shorthand for partnership across the public sector, private sector and people or community sector.

Also heard as: 3P sectors, 3P partnership, 3P partnerships

Context: Official materials sometimes vary the order of the three sectors; current Government usage commonly expands 3P as Public, Private and People.

Example: A 3P partnership needs more than three logos on the final slide.

Also heard as: 3P, 3P partnerships, Public, Private and People, 3P sectors, 3P division

Context: The order of the three sectors varies in older official materials. Many ministries and agencies also use 3P for engagement or partnership functions and divisions.

A focused meeting between two parties, agencies, office-holders or delegations, often held alongside a larger engagement.

Also heard as: bilateral, bilateral meeting, bilats

Context: Especially common in diplomatic and senior-leadership programmes, although it may also be used for a two-party agency meeting.

Also heard as: central agencies

Context: The set of agencies treated as central agencies depends on the function and context.

A crisis group supporting unified command and operational coordination; the cited instance, CMG(MARSEC), covers maritime security.

Context: CMG also means Communications and Marketing Group in this dataset.

Also heard as: decision-rights

Context: Being consulted, informed or responsible for staff work does not necessarily confer the right to decide.

Example: Deconflict the two launches before both teams book the same Minister and ballroom.

Also heard as: de-conflict, deconflicting, deconfliction

Example: The FRP exists so an ownerless case still gets an owner before the agencies finish debating the boundary.

Also heard as: FRP, First Responder, First Responder agency

Context: Here, First Responder refers to the agency assigned to act on an ownerless cross-agency issue, not an emergency-response role.

A Public Service protocol for an issue with no clear owner. The receiving agency identifies an agency with relevant domain expertise to act as First Responder and promptly resolve the inter-agency request while back-end ownership issues are sorted out.

Also heard as: First Responder, First Responder agency

Also heard as: public service gig, gig

Also heard as: ground reality, realities on the ground

Context: Understanding ground realities requires direct evidence and engagement, not only assumptions about frontline implementation.

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.

A senior civil-service group coordinating agencies' contingency planning and operational responses to homefront crises and emergencies.

Context: The HCEG reports to and receives directions from the HCMC.

A ministerial committee directing the Government's coordinated response to major homefront crises and national emergencies.

Context: The structure was formalised after the 2003 SARS outbreak and is chaired by the Minister for Home Affairs.

Also heard as: lead ministry, lead department

Example: The liaison officer connects both sides; they are not a human email-forwarding rule.

Also heard as: liaison, liaison point

Context: A liaison officer coordinates the relationship but may not have authority to commit the organisation or make the substantive decision.

Example: Loop Legal in now, not when the launch email is already scheduled.

Also heard as: loop you in, loop me in, loop them in, keep in the loop, kept in the loop

Context: Being looped in does not by itself mean that the person has cleared, endorsed or approved the matter.

Also heard as: ministry-family

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.

A Public Service policy requiring an agency that receives feedback outside its purview to identify the responsible agency and ensure that it takes up the case before connecting it with the person who raised it.

Also heard as: No Wrong Door policy

Context: NWD applies where a responsible agency can be identified. If an issue has no clear owner, the First Responder Protocol may be used.

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.

Example: The statutory board has its own Act and board, but its parent ministry still cares very much about the paper.

Also heard as: parent-ministry

Context: A statutory board remains a separate legal entity with its own governing board, powers and operating arrangements; it is not simply a department of its parent ministry.

Also heard as: policy/ops-tech integration, policy-ops-tech, ops-tech integration

Context: The phrase describes collaboration across functions rather than a formal organisational unit.

Also heard as: Singapore Public Service, SPS

Example: The data pack has 47 charts; sense-making is deciding which three change the decision.

Also heard as: sensemaking, sense making, sense-make, sense make

Context: In Public Service usage, sense-making usually goes beyond summarising inputs. It involves connecting evidence, assumptions, stakeholder perspectives and implications so that judgement or action is possible.

A group formed to address a specific problem, urgent issue or cross-functional objective.

Also heard as: taskforce, task force

A working group of technical specialists formed to resolve detailed issues or develop recommendations within a defined scope.

A group formed to develop recommendations or deliver a defined piece of work, often reporting to a committee or sponsor.

Also heard as: Work Group, workgroup, working group

A GovTech initiative improving public informational services through shared search, analytics, chatbot and AI-assisted communication products.

Context: WISE is highly ambiguous: it also means Worker Improvement through Secondary Education, while WiSE names the Well-Being of the Singapore Elderly study in this dataset.

A government account used by public officers to access supported government technology services, generally based on the officer's official government email identity.

Also heard as: WOG account, government ID

Example: The working group does the work that the steering committee later sees on slide 7.

Also heard as: WG, work group, workgroup

Context: A working group commonly reports to a steering committee, senior sponsor or another formal forum.