E-Gov 2.0 : policies, processes and technologies 9780070680173, 0070680175

Table of contents :
Cover
Contents
CHAPTER 1 Roadmap to e-Government
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Vision and Mission of e-Government
1.3 What Kind of e-Government Should be Adopted
1.4 Backing of the Government for e-Government Transformation
1.5 Selection of e-Government Projects
1.6 Planning and Management of e-Government Projects
1.7 Resistance from Government in the Implementation of the Project
1.8 Parameters for Success and Measure of e-Government Projects
1.9 Relationship with the Private Sector
1.10 Citizen Participation in e-Government
1.11 Conclusion
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
Reference
CHAPTER 2 Structure of the Government
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Ministries Responsible for the Economy and Industries
2.3 Welfare Ministries
2.4 Ministries Responsible for Strategic Issues
2.5 Education and Research Oriented Ministries
2.6 Governance Related Ministries
Concept Review Questions
Bibliography
CHAPTER 3 e-Gov 2.0
3.1 Introduction
3.2 e-Gov 1.0
3.3 Challenges of Governance
3.4 What is e-Gov 2.0
3.5 e-Gov 2.0 Financial Models
3.6 e-Gov 2.0 Technology Models
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
Bibliography
CHAPTER 4 Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for e-Government
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Challenges Faced by PPP in e-Government Projects
4.3 The PPP Scenario
4.4 Architecture of e-Government Infrastructure
4.5 Dimensions of PPP
4.6 Issues Constraining PPP in e-Government in India 66· 4.7 Proposed Regulation on PPP
Summary
Key Terms
Case Studies
Concept Review Questions
Bibliography
CHAPTER 5 Policy Approach for Adoption of Appropriate ICT Technologies
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Global Issues of IT Adoption
5.3 Global Scenario
5.4 Experience of Other Asian and Latin American Countries
5.5 Global Issues and Policies Related to Adoption of IT
5.6 Developments in India
5.7 Policy Issues of Technology Adoption
5.8 Policy on Multiple Standards
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 6 Multiple Standards in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Purpose of a Standard
6.3 Rationale for Multiple Standards
6.4 Examples of Areas Having Multiple Standards
6.5 Rationale for Single Standard
6.6 Approach to the Issue of Multiple Standards
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 7 Change Management for e-Government
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Evolving a Change Management Strategy
7.3 Understanding Change Management
7.4 Study of International Cases on e-Government
7.5 Model of Change Management
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 8 Government Data Centres
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Complexity of Government Data Centres (GDCs)
8.3 Elements of GDCs
8.4 Objectives and Outcomes Expected from GDCs
8.5 GDC Issues
8.6 Virtualisation and Consolidation of GDCs
8.7 Architecture of a GDC
8.8 Steps in Designing a GDC
8.9 Data Centre Management and Monitoring
8.10 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan
8.11 Data Centre Retention and Protection
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 9 Utility Based Computing for e-Government
9.1 Introduction
9.2 History of the Development of Utility Computing
9.3 Utility Computing Concepts
9.4 Utility Computing Application Areas
9.5 Utility Computing in Public Domain
9.6 Utility Computing: Modern Day Scenario
9.7 Technical and Regulatory Issues in Utility Computing
Summary
Concept Review Questions
References
Key Terms
CHAPTER 10 Secured Government Information Systems Architecture
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Architectural Types
10.3 Process
10.4 Overview of the Security Requirements
10.5 Security Policy
10.6 Security Requirements
10.7 Steps in Designing Security Architecture
10.8 Determination of Information Domains
Summary
Key Terms
Case Study
Concept Review Questions
Reference,
CHAPTER 11 Government Telecentres
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Local ICT Environment in Rural and Underserved Areas
11.3 Organisational Models
11.4 Sustainability and Impact through Appropriate Services and Content
11.5 Technologies used in Telecentres
11.6 Issues in Scaling up of the System
11. 7 Strengthening of Telecentres
11.8 Conclusion
Key Terms
Case Studies
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 12 National Citizen Identity System
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Need for a Single National Citizen ID System
12.3 Challenges Faced in Establishing a Single Citizen ID System
12.4. Existing ID Proofs Systems
12.5 Discussion on Existing Identification Proofs
12.6 National Identity Cards from a Global Perspective
12.7 Parameters for Success of a National ID System
12.8 Implementing National ID System
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 13 Geographic Information System (GIS) for Governance
13.1 Introduction
13.2 GIS Applications in Government
13.3 History of GIS Development
13.4 Components of a GIS
13.5 Working of GIS
13.6 Importance of GIS
13.7 Future of GIS
13.8 Stakeholders of GIS
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 14 Open Source Software in e-Government
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Open Standards
14.3 Legislative Frameworks
14.4 Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
14.5 Government to Citizen (G2C)
14.6 Government to Business (G2B)
14.7 Government to Government (G2G)
14.8 Major Architectural Components of e-Governance Software
14.9 Computing Infrastructure Layers
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 15 Government Call Centre
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Need for a Government Call Centre
15.3 Uses of a Government Call Centre
15.4 Business Benefits
15.5 Architecture of a Government Call Centre
15.6 Functioning of a Government Call Centre
15.7 Key Issues with a Government Call Centre
Summary
Key Terms
Case Studies
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 16 Secure Transactions Infrastructure
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Need for Secure Credit
16.3 Benefits of Collateral
16.4 Current Scenario
16.5 Case Studies
16.6 Future Scenario
Summary
Key Terms
Case Study
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 17 Integrated Government Financial System (lGFS)
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Importance of an IGFS
17.3 Business Benefits
17.4 Outcomes Expected
17.5 System Requirements
17.6 Security Features
17.7 Critical Success Factors for Implementation of IGFS Project
Summary
Key Terms
Case Study
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 18 Land Records
18.1 Introduction
18.2 Land Record Systems
18.3 Emerging Technologies and Trends in LRIMS
18.4 Data Security
18.5 On-line Connectivity
18.6 Kiosk and Smart Card
18.7 Open Software
Summary
Key Terms
Case Studies
Bhoomi Computerised Land Record System of Karnataka
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 19 Urban Development Management System
19.1 Introduction
19.2 Importance of Urban Development Management System (UDMS)
19.3 What is Urban Development Management System?
19.4 Objectives of Urban Development
19.5 Requirements of an Urban Development Management Information System
19.6 Components of an Urban Development Management Information System
19.7 Outcomes Expected
19.8 Business Benefits
19.9 System Architecture
19.10 Designing and Development of an MAS
19.11 Development and Deployment Methodology of MAS
Summary
Key Terms
Case Studies
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 20 e-Agriculture
20.1 Introduction
20.2 Status of ICT Use in Agriculture
20.3 Proposed e-Agriculture Model
20.4 e-Learning in Agriculture
20.5 Other Initiatives Taken in e-Learning, e-Agriculture and Related Areas
20.6 Advantage of Open Software Platform in e-Agriculture
20.7 The Infrastructure in e-Agriculture
20.8 Reference Architecture
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 21 Disaster Management System
21.1 Introduction
21.2 Importance of Management in Disasters
21.3 The Management Systems in Disaster
21.4 Requirements for Proper Disaster Response
21.5 Disaster Management Information System
21.6 Information Requirements of Management
21. 7 Requirements for Emergency Information Management
21.8 Decisions in the Disaster Management System
21.9 Architecture Framework of DMIS
21.10 Performance Measure for DMIS
Summary
Key Terms
Case Study
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 22 e-Procurement
22.1 Introduction
22.2 e-Procurement
22.3 Benefits to Stakeholders and Outcomes
22.4 Technical Architecture of e-Procurement
22.5 Performance Measure of e-Procurement
Summary
Key Terms
Case Study
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 23 Forest System
23.1 Introduction
23.2 Importance of Forest Management Information System
23.3 Business Benefits of FMIS
23.4 Functions of the Forest Department
23.5 Operations of Forest Department
23.6 System Architecture
23.7 System Features
23.8 Requirements of FMIS
Summary
Key Terms
Case Studies
Summary
Information Management and Building Information System in Forestry in Slovakia
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 24 Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) for Government
24.1 Introduction
24.2 Importance of a Government HRMS
24.3 High Level Benefits of Government HRMS
24.4 Detailed Government HRMS Functionalities
24.5 Reporting
24.6 Online Queries
24.7 Costs
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 25 IT Enablement of Police Department
25.1 Introduction
25.2 Police Functioning
25.3 IT in Police
25.4 Stakeholders
25.5 Business Benefits
25.6 Architecture of ICT Application in Police Department
25.7 Requirements of the System
25.8 Issues and Concerns
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
References
CHAPTER 26 Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems
26.1 Introduction
26.2 Broad Objectives of the Departments
26.3 Key Departmental Processes and Problems faced By Departments
26.4 Solutions and Benefits
26.5 Department-specific Solutions
Summary
Key Terms
Concept Review Questions
Index

Citation preview

e-Gov 2.0 Policies, Processes and Technologies

e-Gov 2.0 Policies, Processes and Technologies

Jaijit Bhattacharya Adjunct Professor Indian Institute of Technology Delhi & Director Hewlett Packard Ltd.

Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited NEW DELHI

McGraw-Hill Offices New Delhi New York St Louis San Francisco Auckland Bogotá Caracas Kuala Lumpur Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal San Juan Santiago Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto

Published by Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited, 7 West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110 008 Copyright © 2012, by Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publishers. The program listings (if any) may be entered, stored and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication. This edition can be exported from India only by the publishers, Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited. ISBN (13): 978-0-07-068017-3 ISBN (10): 0-07-068017-5 Vice President and Managing Director—Asia-Pacific Region: Ajay Shukla Publishing Manager—Professional: Vibhor Kataria Asst. Sponsoring Editor: Simanta Borah Manager—Production: Sohan Gaur AGM—Sales and Business Development: S Girish Asst. Product Manager—Business & General Reference: Priyanka Goel General Manager—Production: Rajender P Ghansela Asst. General Manager—Production: B L Dogra Information contained in this work has been obtained by Tata McGraw-Hill, from sources believed to be reliable. However, neither Tata McGraw-Hill nor its authors guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein, and neither Tata McGraw-Hill nor its authors shall be responsible for any errors, omissions, or damages arising out of use of this information. This work is published with the understanding that Tata McGraw-Hill and its authors are supplying information but are not attempting to render engineering or other professional services. If such services are required, the assistance of an appropriate professional should be sought. Typeset at Shubham Composer, WZ-437 Madipur Village, New Delhi 110063 and printed at Rajkamal Electric Press, Kundli 131028, Haryana Cover Printer: Rajkamal Electric Press Cover Designer: Kapil Gupta RZCLCDDGDXBXQ

To The students and practitioners of e-Governance who want to effect a change and my father, late Dilip Kumar Bhattacharya

Foreword

Nations across the world have moved forward significantly from the modest start that they made in e-Governance about a decade ago. This is even more true for emerging economies. Emerging economies have adopted IT to leapfrog in the delivery of government services to the stakeholders. The intent has been to improve both the quality and quantity of services delivered. This has happened in the backdrop of cuts on government spending and reduction in size of the government. Governments across the world had been adopting IT even before the advent of the Internet. There have been solutions for customs that worked on EDI, for example, the Bapeksta system in Indonesia. The adoption of e-Governance has been facilitated by the Internet that allowed stakeholders to collaborate seamlessly and provide as well as consume government services. That is why e-Governance is considered to have started after the advent of the Internet. This book comes at an opportune time as nations across the world are at a point of inflexion with respect to adoption of e-Governance. There are many drivers that are pushing adoption of e-Governance. Primary among them is, of course, greater demand from citizens and other stakeholders for better quality of government services. In addition, governments across the world are under pressure to deliver more with less funds, leading to greater adoption of IT. However, as rightly pointed out in this book, there are very few initiatives in e-Governance that leverage the power of IT. Most e-Governance initiatives are, essentially, IT enabling existing brick and mortar processes. There are very few pure play e-Governance solutions. A good example of leveraging IT for delivery processes and services that did not exist earlier is the First-in-First-out (FIFO) initiative of Government of Karnataka in India. With the implementation of FIFO Government officials cannot process a file that has come in later unless the one before it has been processed. This takes away the concept of "speed money" since a file that came in later cannot be "speeded up". This also takes away the discretionary power of a Government official to process files in any arbitrary order.

viii Foreword Implementing such a FIFO process would have been impossible without the use of IT enabled e-Governance systems. This is what e-Gov 2.0 is about, and I am happy that this book delves into this issue with many imaginative examples. The book also does a deep dive into the processes of key departments and some of the common solutions that such Government departments can implement. It provides an invaluable insight into the working of the Government and should be of immense value to those who do not know the workings of the Government but are keen to participate in the e-Governance revolution. This book discusses in detail each of the issues of policies, processes and technologies for e-Governance. I am confident that the book will be of immense value to both students and practitioners of e-Governance. The book will also help policymakers in adopting appropriate policies for e-Governance. In fact, the book is, perhaps, a must read for project teams about to embark on any e-Governance project. RANDEEP SUDAN, ex-IAS Lead ICT Policy Specialist, World Bank, Washington Former Special Secretary to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (During the Chief Ministership of Shri Chandrababu Naidu)

Advance Praise for e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Comprehensive, insightful and lucid. A must read for policymakers, practitioners, teachers, students and observers of e-Governance as a technomanagerial discipline. Mr. R. Chandrashekhar, Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology This is an exceptional book authored by a reputed expert on e-Governance. The book covers details of e-Governance in a manner that has not been done earlier and brings out the policy and process dimensions of e-Governance, besides just the technology issues. I am sure the book will be very valuable for students and practitioners of e-Governance. Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Permanent Secretary to President, Government of Sri Lanka and Head of Sri Lanka Administrative Services (SLAS) Information and communication technology is a game changer. It provides a vehicle to democratize information and bring about a transformation to inclusive governance. This is a brilliant book, coming at the right time, when we are looking for having more trained resources on e-Governance. The issues of e-Governance are very well laid out in this book and it is a must read for any student or practitioner of e-Governance. Dr. B.K. Gairola, Director General, National Informatics Center A good and timely reference book on e-Gov 2.0. This book, from an experienced industry practitioner like Dr. Bhattacharya, will be of value to not only students of e-Governance, but also government officers and industry professionals embarking on e-Gov projects. I am glad that Dr. Bhattacharya has been able to cover how various departments can undertake the journey of e-enabling their public services and put the learnings from the book into practice. Mr. Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM Many congratulations to Jaijit Bhattacharya for the textbook, not only because the book unveils grassroots level concepts that go missing many-atimes but also because the book gives a deep insight on what is being done and what needs to be done. Dr. Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, e-Gov magazine & Executive Director, Centre for Science, Development & Media Studies

x Advance Praise for e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies An exceptional book that presents the complexities of e-Governance in a lucid and brilliant manner. It is a must read for anyone planning to implement e-Governance. Ms. Neelam Dhawan, Managing Director, Hewlett Packard, India This is one of the most comprehensive books on e-Governance. It brilliantly covers the ground-level issues of e-Governance and is a must read for students and practitioners of e-Governance. Undoubtedly, e-Governance is the way forward for superior citizen services, accountability, efficiency and transparency in the Government. Dr. Bhattacharya has skillfully crystallised the thought process around e-Governance in a manner that may shape the things to come. Sanjeev Kapoor, Business Head, Government and Telecom, Infosys Ltd. This book has captured the key issues pertaining to the challenges of various e-Gov initiatives and has looked into the issues from a more holisitic thinking providing clearer insights from planning to execution of such initiatives given the social, organization and managerial perspectives. I’m sure that this will provide better insights to the practitioners and policy makers towards better Government. Prof. Rajanish Dass, IIM Ahmedabad

Preface

It has been almost a decade since my first co-authored book on e-Governance, Government Online: Opportunities and Challenges, was released in the presence of the former President of India, Shri APJ Abdul Kalam. Incidentally, it was also the first book on e-Governance in India. The book was co-authored along with my esteemed colleagues Prof. M.P. Gupta, IIT Delhi, and Dr. Prabhat Kumar, IRS. Since then, I have published three more edited books on eGovernance that compiled the cutting-edge thoughts of many e-Governance scholars. In the last 10 years, since the release of the first book, I have been giving lectures and conducting management development programs in eGovernance. However, I soon realised that when it came to a Masters' level curriculum, there was no book I could recommend as a text to students. On discussing this issue with many of my colleagues in academia I , soon, came to the conclusion that there was a dire need for a text book on e-Governance. As I started planning such a textbook, I also realised that one of the key issues inhibiting the rapid adoption of e-Governance was the need for capacity building. It is, perhaps, a well-known fact that given the fuzziness of the concept of e-Governance, where the complexity is compounded by a rapid change in technology and technological paradigms, there is limited institutional capacity in the Government to rapidly roll-out e-Governance initiatives. Most e-Governance initiatives are driven by very few people and supported by an overstretched team that is constantly battling other stakeholders—Ministry of Finance as well as other line ministries. Clearly, there is a need for a book that will help readers develop an understanding of the complexities of e-Governance. Such an understanding is required to educate the various stakeholders who could then be better equipped for a constructive dialogue with the implementing Government agencies. Therefore, I have attempted to address the needs of the Government agencies as well in this book. To circumvent the problem of the Government not having sufficient skills in technology and e-Governance, consultants are being sought. This is indeed a wise move. Consultants bring in a wealth of knowledge, best practices and expertise. They also play a key role in cross-breeding of knowledge across

xii Preface multiple projects. However, a significant drawback of consultants is their limited experience in Government processes. This becomes a challenge in designing appropriate solutions and change management techniques. While there is a growing need for consultants with expertise in e-Governance finding and hiring them is a challenge. Hence, on advice of my friends in the consulting firms, I have attempted to ensure that this book is also valuable for consultants who want to operate in the area of e-Governance. Consultants will get deep insights into the workings of the Government. The book also delves into not just how to change traditional governance, but also to leverage the power of IT to come out with new governance solutions that would not have been possible. I have captured this under the concept of e-Gov 2.0. This book is my first attempt to structure a curriculum on e-Governance that would cater to students and e-Governance practitioners such as government stakeholders and consultants. I must confess that a book such as this would have gaps. It took three years to write within which new jargons and paradigms constantly kept emerging. For an example, utility computing started to be called cloud computing, with some additional nuances that differentiated it from utility computing. I realised I might get into a neverending trap of trying to catch up with the fast changing world. Therefore, I took a call to stop and publish the book. I would be grateful for feedback and critical comments from the readers that would help improve subsequent editions. I hope the book will be of great help to readers and contribute towards effective governance. JAIJIT BHATTACHARYA

Acknowledgements

I express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all those, who in one way or another, inspired me to write this book. Foremost, I am thankful to the hundreds of my students at Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, who bore the brunt of my experimentation with curriculum, and who made me realise the need for this book. The e-Governance programs at IIT Delhi, IIM Ahmedabad, IIIT Gwalior and IIIT Bangalore were especially compelling and pushed me to begin work on this book. I would like to acknowledge the inspiration of Prof. Sadagopan (who was also my professor when I was an engineering student), Director, IIIT Bangalore, Prof. S.G. Deshmukh, Director, IIIT Gwalior, Prof. K.R. Srivathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Prof Rajanish Dass, IIM Ahmedabad and Prof. M.P. Gupta, IIT Delhi. I would also like to thank Prof. S.S. Yadav, former HoD, Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi and to Prof. S. K. Jain, HoD, Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi for the cooperation extended in writing this book. The book borrows heavily from actual initiatives on the ground by many senior government officials, and I am indebted to each one of them. I am especially thankful to Mr. R. Chandrashekhar, former Secretary e-Governance, Government of India, Mr. Amarendra Sinha, former Secretary IT, Government of Uttarakhand, Mr. Rajeev Chawla, former e-Governance Secretary, Government of Karnataka, Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Special Secretary IT, Government of Madhya Pradesh and Mr. Amod Kumar, former Special Secretary IT, Government of Uttar Pradesh. Special thanks to Mr. Ravi Gupta, Editor of the magazine e-Gov 2.0, whose coverage of what was happening on the ground in e-Governance was a valuable source of information for the book. I would also like to thank all my colleagues at the erstwhile technology firm, Sun Microsystems and at Hewlett Packard, the two firms where I was working when I was writing this book. I appreciate the valuable inputs and help that was provided by Mr. Ajay Ahuja, Mr. Neeladri Bose and Mr. Ashish Banerjee of Sun Microsystems. I am especially thankful to Mr. Bhaskar Pramanik, former MD of Sun Microsystems and to Ms. Neelam Dhawan, MD

xiv Acknowledgements of Hewlett Packard, for giving me the opportunity to be involved in various e-Governance initiatives as a practitioner. This book could not have been completed without the significant contributions from various interns, including Mr. Anuj Gandhi of IIT Roorkee and Mr. Sushant Wagmare of IIT Bombay. I am also thankful to Mr. Eric D'Souza and to Mr. Navin Kumar, respectively, for proof reading and compiling the index. I am also thankful to Mr. Arijit Sen for helping redraft the first chapter. The book also has content inspired by Mr. Richard Stallman, 'Father of Free Software' and I would therefore like to thank Mr. Stallman (or RMS, as he is popularly referred to). No amount of formal acknowledgement can ever be sufficient for my wife and especially to my two children. They sacrificed their valuable play time with their father so that this book could be written. Lastly, my special thanks to the team at Tata McGraw-Hill for their professional support and for chasing me to ensure that the book did get published. JAIJIT BHATTACHARYA

Contents

xv

Contents

Foreword Advance Praise for e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Preface Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1

Roadmap to e-Government 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Vision and Mission of e-Government 4 1.3 What Kind of e-Government Should be Adopted 6 1.4 Backing of the Government for e-Government Transformation 8 1.5 Selection of e-Government Projects 10 1.6 Planning and Management of e-Government Projects 12 1.7 Resistance from Government in the Implementation of the Project 13 1.8 Parameters for Success and Measure of e-Government Projects 14 1.9 Relationship with the Private Sector 16 1.10 Citizen Participation in e-Government 18 1.11 Conclusion 20 Key Terms 20 Concept Review Questions 20 Reference 21

CHAPTER 2

Structure of the Government 2.1 Introduction 22 2.2 Ministries Responsible for the Economy and Industries 23 2.3 Welfare Ministries 29 2.4 Ministries Responsible for Strategic Issues 32 2.5 Education and Research Oriented Ministries 33 2.6 Governance Related Ministries 35 Concept Review Questions 36 Bibliography 36

vii ix xi xiii

1

22

xvi Contents CHAPTER 3

e-Gov 2.0 3.1 Introduction 39 3.2 e-Gov 1.0 39 3.3 Challenges of Governance 41 3.4 What is e-Gov 2.0 42 3.5 e-Gov 2.0 Financial Models 45 3.6 e-Gov 2.0 Technology Models 45 Summary 46 Key Terms 47 Concept Review Questions 47 Bibliography 47

39

CHAPTER 4

Public–Private Partnership (PPP) for e-Government 48 4.1 Introduction 48 4.2 Challenges Faced by PPP in e-Government Projects 50 4.3 The PPP Scenario 53 4.4 Architecture of e-Government Infrastructure 63 4.5 Dimensions of PPP 63 4.6 Issues Constraining PPP in e-Government in India 66 4.7 Proposed Regulation on PPP 68 Summary 69 Key Terms 69 Case Studies 70 Concept Review Questions 76 Bibliography 76

CHAPTER 5

Policy Approach for Adoption of Appropriate ICT Technologies 77 5.1 Introduction 77 5.2 Global Issues of IT Adoption 79 5.3 Global Scenario 84 5.4 Experience of Other Asian and Latin American Countries 92 5.5 Global Issues and Policies Related to Adoption of IT 93 5.6 Developments in India 94 5.7 Policy Issues of Technology Adoption 97 5.8 Policy on Multiple Standards 102 Summary 103 Key Terms 103 Concept Review Questions 104 References 105

CHAPTER 6

Multiple Standards in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) 6.1 Introduction 107 6.2 Purpose of a Standard 109

107

Contents 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6

xvii

Rationale for Multiple Standards 110 Examples of Areas Having Multiple Standards 114 Rationale for Single Standard 117 Approach to the Issue of Multiple Standards 119 Summary 120 Key Terms 122 Concept Review Questions 123 References 123

CHAPTER 7

Change Management for e-Government 125 7.1 Introduction 125 7.2 Evolving a Change Management Strategy 126 7.3 Understanding Change Management 127 7.4 Study of International Cases on e-Government 133 7.5 Model of Change Management 147 Summary 149 Key Terms 149 Concept Review Questions 149 References 150

CHAPTER 8

Government Data Centres 151 8.1 Introduction 151 8.2 Complexity of Government Data Centres (GDCs) 152 8.3 Elements of GDCs 152 8.4 Objectives and Outcomes Expected from GDCs 153 8.5 GDC Issues 154 8.6 Virtualisation and Consolidation of GDCs 155 8.7 Architecture of a GDC 158 8.8 Steps in Designing a GDC 162 8.9 Data Centre Management and Monitoring 166 8.10 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan 166 8.11 Data Centre Retention and Protection 166 Summary 167 Key Terms 167 Concept Review Questions 168 References 168

CHAPTER 9

Utility Based Computing for e-Government 170 9.1 Introduction 170 9.2 History of the Development of Utility Computing 172 9.3 Utility Computing Concepts 173 9.4 Utility Computing Application Areas 178 9.5 Utility Computing in Public Domain 181 9.6 Utility Computing: Modern Day Scenario 185

xviii Contents 9.7 Technical and Regulatory Issues in Utility Computing 187 Summary 190 Key Terms 190 Concept Review Questions 191 References 191

CHAPTER 10 Secured Government Information Systems Architecture 10.1 Introduction 193 10.2 Architectural Types 193 10.3 Process 194 10.4 Overview of the Security Requirements 195 10.5 Security Policy 196 10.6 Security Requirements 197 10.7 Steps in Designing Security Architecture 198 10.8 Determination of Information Domains 201 Summary 202 Key Terms 202 Case Study 203 Concept Review Questions 205 References 205

193

CHAPTER 11 Government Telecentres 11.1 Introduction 207 11.2 Local ICT Environment in Rural and Underserved Areas 209 11.3 Organisational Models 213 11.4 Sustainability and Impact through Appropriate Services and Content 215 11.5 Technologies used in Telecentres 220 11.6 Issues in Scaling up of the System 222 11.7 Strengthening of Telecentres 223 11.8 Conclusion 227 Key Terms 230 Case Studies 231 Concept Review Questions 249 References 249

207

CHAPTER 12 National Citizen Identity System 252 12.1 Introduction 252 12.2 Need for a Single National Citizen ID System 253 12.3 Challenges Faced in Establishing a Single Citizen ID System 256

Contents 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8

xix

Existing ID Proofs Systems 258 Discussion on Existing Identification Proofs 260 National Identity Cards from a Global Perspective 261 Parameters for Success of a National ID System 267 Implementing National ID System 268 Summary 273 Key Terms 274 Concept Review Questions 274 References 274

CHAPTER 13 Geographic Information System (GIS) for Governance 13.1 Introduction 275 13.2 GIS Applications in Government 276 13.3 History of GIS Development 277 13.4 Components of a GIS 278 13.5 Working of GIS 279 13.6 Importance of GIS 284 13.7 Future of GIS 284 13.8 Stakeholders of GIS 285 Summary 286 Key Terms 287 Concept Review Questions 288 References 288

275

CHAPTER 14 Open Source Software in e-Government 289 14.1 Introduction 289 14.2 Open Standards 290 14.3 Legislative Frameworks 291 14.4 Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) 292 14.5 Government to Citizen (G2C) 293 14.6 Government to Business (G2B) 293 14.7 Government to Government (G2G) 294 14.8 Major Architectural Components of e-Governance Software 294 14.9 Computing Infrastructure Layers 295 Summary 297 Key Terms 297 Concept Review Questions 297 References 298 CHAPTER 15 Government Call Centre 15.1 Introduction 299 15.2 Need for a Government Call Centre 300

299

xx Contents 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7

Uses of a Government Call Centre 301 Business Benefits 304 Architecture of a Government Call Centre 307 Functioning of a Government Call Centre 308 Key Issues with a Government Call Centre 309 Summary 312 Key Terms 313 Case Studies 313 Concept Review Questions 318 References 318

CHAPTER 16 Secure Transactions Infrastructure 16.1 Introduction 319 16.2 Need for Secure Credit 321 16.3 Benefits of Collateral 324 16.4 Current Scenario 326 16.5 Case Studies 333 16.6 Future Scenario 336 Summary 339 Key Terms 340 Case Study 340 Concept Review Questions 342 References 343

319

CHAPTER 17 Integrated Government Financial System (IGFS) 344 17.1 Introduction 344 17.2 Importance of an IGFS 346 17.3 Business Benefits 348 17.4 Outcomes Expected 348 17.5 System Requirements 349 17.6 Security Features 358 17.7 Critical Success Factors for Implementation of IGFS Project 359 Summary 360 Key Terms 361 Case Study 362 Concept Review Questions 364 References 364 CHAPTER 18 Land Records 366 18.1 Introduction 366 18.2 Land Record Systems 367 18.3 Emerging Technologies and Trends in LRIMS 368

Contents 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7

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Data Security 370 On-line Connectivity 370 Kiosk and Smart Card 370 Open Software 371 Summary 371 Key Terms 371 Case Studies 372 Bhoomi Computerised Land Record System of Karnataka 383 Concept Review Questions 390 References 390

CHAPTER 19 Urban Development Management System 391 19.1 Introduction 391 19.2 Importance of Urban Development Management System (UDMS) 391 19.3 What is Urban Development Management System? 393 19.4 Objectives of Urban Development 393 19.5 Requirements of an Urban Development Management Information System 395 19.6 Components of an Urban Development Management Information System 99 19.7 Outcomes Expected 403 19.8 Business Benefits 403 19.9 System Architecture 403 19.10 Designing and Development of an MAS 410 19.11 Development and Deployment Methodology of MAS 411 Summary 412 Key Terms 413 Case Studies 414 Concept Review Questions 420 References 421 CHAPTER 20 e-Agriculture 422 20.1 Introduction 422 20.2 Status of ICT Use in Agriculture 422 20.3 Proposed e-Agriculture Model 425 20.4 e-Learning in Agriculture 430 20.5 Other Initiatives Taken in e-Learning, e-Agriculture and Related Areas 431 20.6 Advantage of Open Software Platform in e-Agriculture 434 20.7 The Infrastructure in e-Agriculture 434

xxii Contents 20.8 Reference Architecture 434 Summary 436 Key Terms 437 Concept Review Questions 437 References 437

CHAPTER 21 Disaster Management System 439 21.1 Introduction 439 21.2 Importance of Management in Disasters 440 21.3 The Management Systems in Disaster 441 21.4 Requirements for Proper Disaster Response 443 21.5 Disaster Management Information System 449 21.6 Information Requirements of Management 456 21.7 Requirements for Emergency Information Management 460 21.8 Decisions in the Disaster Management System 460 21.9 Architecture Framework of DMIS 463 21.10 Performance Measure for DMIS 469 Summary 473 Key Terms 474 Case Study 475 Concept Review Questions 477 References 477 CHAPTER 22 e-Procurement 22.1 Introduction 479 22.2 e-Procurement 482 22.3 Benefits to Stakeholders and Outcomes 486 22.4 Technical Architecture of e-Procurement 489 22.5 Performance Measure of e-Procurement 498 Summary 501 Key Terms 501 Case Study 502 Concept Review Questions 504 References 504

479

CHAPTER 23 Forest System 23.1 Introduction 505 23.2 Importance of Forest Management Information System 505 23.3 Business Benefits of FMIS 506 23.4 Functions of the Forest Department 506 23.5 Operations of Forest Department 512 23.6 System Architecture 514

505

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23.7 System Features 514 23.8 Requirements of FMIS 517 Summary 518 Key Terms 518 Case Studies 519 Summary 521 Information Management and Building Information System in Forestry in Slovakia 522 Concept Review Questions 527 References 527

CHAPTER 24 Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) for Government 24.1 Introduction 530 24.2 Importance of a Government HRMS 531 24.3 High Level Benefits of Government HRMS 532 24.4 Detailed Government HRMS Functionalities 533 24.5 Reporting 542 24.6 Online Queries 543 24.7 Costs 544 Summary 544 Key Terms 545 Concept Review Questions 545 References 545 CHAPTER 25 IT Enablement of Police Department 25.1 Introduction 546 25.2 Police Functioning 546 25.3 IT in Police 547 25.4 Stakeholders 548 25.5 Business Benefits 549 25.6 Architecture of ICT Application in Police Department 550 25.7 Requirements of the System 552 25.8 Issues and Concerns 556 Summary 556 Key Terms 557 Concept Review Questions 558 References 558

530

546

CHAPTER 26 Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 559 26.1 Introduction 559 26.2 Broad Objectives of the Departments 560

xxiv Contents 26.3 Key Departmental Processes and Problems Faced by Departments 563 26.4 Solutions and Benefits 583 26.5 Department-specific Solutions 588 Summary 591 Key Terms 591 Concept Review Questions 592

Index

593

Roadmap to e-Government

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1 Roadmap to e-Government Objectives · To learn what is e-government · To realise the need for e-government · To formulate the vision and mission of an e-government project · To learn the types of e-governments · To learn the parameters for the selection of an e-government project · To learn the parameters for the success and measure of an e-government project

1.1

INTRODUCTION

Governments around the world are embracing electronic government (e-government). In every region—from developing countries to industrialised ones—national and local governments are putting critical information online, automating the once cumbersome processes and interacting with their citizens electronically. This enthusiasm comes in part from the belief that technology can transform governments’ often negative image. In many places, citizens view their governments as bloated, wasteful and unresponsive to their most pressing needs. Mistrust of government is rife among the citizens and businesses. The spread of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) brings hope that the government can transform. Forward-looking governments are increasingly using technology to improve their governments. Defined broadly, e-government means the use of ICT to promote more efficient and effective government, facilitate better access to government services, allow greater public access to information, and make government more accountable to citizens. Electronic government might involve delivering services via the Internet, telephone, community centres (self-service or facilitated by others), wireless devices or other communications systems.

2 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies But e-government is not a shortcut to economic development, budget savings or clean and efficient government. Electronic government is not the “Big Bang” that will immediately and forever alter the functioning of the government. It is an evolutionary process that is part of a larger deliberate strategy for transforming government. It is merely one of the tools for the transformation, albeit a very powerful one, and is also a path that presents costs and risks, both financial and political. These risks can be significant. If not well conceived and implemented, e-government initiatives can lead to wastage of precious national resources and fail in their promise to deliver useful services and thus actually increase public frustration with government. Electronic government must target areas with high chances of success and produce “winners” and demonstrate the potential of e-government, particularly in the developing world, where resources are scarce. Moreover, e-government in the developing world must accommodate certain unique conditions, needs and obstacles. These may include continuing oral tradition, lack of infrastructure, corruption, weak educational systems and unequal access to technology. Too often the lack of resources and technology is compounded by a lack of access to expertise and information. For the sake of consistency, e-government is used to also mean e-governance in this book.

The Roadmap for e-Government in the Developing World The Roadmap reflects the collective experience that a group of knowledgeable e-government officials from the developing world wish to offer towards e-government. Success in e-government requires changes in the manner in which the government works, deals with information and officials view their jobs and interact with the public. Achieving success in e-government also requires active partnerships between government, citizens and the private sector. The e-government process needs continuous input and feedback from stakeholders including citizens, businesses, government officials and civil society. Their voices and ideas are essential for making e-government work. e-government, when implemented well, is a participatory process. Need for e-Government e-government helps citizens and businesses find new opportunities in the world’s knowledge economy. It holds great potential. It is about transformation of the manner in which the government works, and manages information and internal functions using ICT to serve citizens and businesses. However, in some cases, it still may not produce all the benefits expected from the time and money invested. e-government should be used for rethinking on the role of government. It should be used as a tool to further economic development and good governance.

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Realizing e-Government will not be Simple Electronic government is neither easy nor cheap. Before committing the time, resources and political will needed to implement an e-government initiative successfully, it is necessary to understand the basic reasons for pursuing—or not pursuing—an e-government programme. As already mentioned, e-government is not a shortcut to economic development, budget savings or clean and efficient government; but a tool for achieving these goals. Rushing forward with ill-conceived e-government plans can be a costly mistake both financially and politically, especially in emerging economies where resources are scarce. Government, as with reforms, cannot be achieved simply by drafting a law or issuing an ordinance. It requires a change in the way the officials think and act, view their jobs, and share information between departments (G2G), with businesses (G2B) and with citizens (G2C). It requires to re-engineer government’s business processes, both within individual agencies and across government. At the same time, e-government responds to changes outside the government. The manner in which a society—its citizens, businesses and civil society— deals with government and information is changing radically. Citizens have begun to expect government services to equal those offered by and expected of the private sector. Over time, citizens are likely to act more like consumers of e-government services. In addition, acts such as the Freedom for Information Act (Right to Information (RTI) act in India), which has been legislated by most of the developed and developing nations, can put enormous information pressure on the government and it would be impossible for the departments to respond to the queries under Freedom for Information Act unless they adopt some electronic information system. Government must adjust to this, and e-government is one tool that can help. Electronic government and ICT should be used as elements of a larger government modernization program. The functioning of the government will not improve by merely adding more computers or modems or by automating the same old procedures and practices. Making unhelpful procedures more efficient is not productive. Focusing only on the computers will not make officials more service-oriented towards government’s “customers” and partners. Leaders should think about ways to harness technology to achieve objectives for reforms. ICT is an instrument to enable and empower government reform. Treating e-government as a reform process and not merely computerising government operations, will contribute to building an “information society” in which the lives of citizens are empowered and enriched by access to information and the social, economic and political opportunities that it offers. This is rapidly becoming a key national priority for all countries, rich or poor.

4 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 1.2

VISION AND MISSION OF e-GOVERNMENT

The purpose of government is to further the shared goals of a society. Therefore, one should begin the planning process of e-government by establishing its broad vision that is shared by all stakeholders—citizens, businesses, officials, civil society groups and others. The broad vision should flow from the large goals or concerns of a society. There are too many possible reasons and goals for e-government to list them all. However, there are broad categories of goals that are commonly pursued by societies including: · Improving services provided by governments to citizens · Improving the productivity and efficiency of government agencies · Strengthening the legal system and law enforcement · Promoting priority economic sectors · Improving the quality of life for disadvantaged communities · Strengthening good governance and broadening public participation Within each category different objectives might emerge. Given this, each society’s vision should also be accompanied by a short list of priority areas for the e-government program. In other words, the broad e-government vision flows from a society’s main concerns and the target areas flow from the e-government vision. How are the broad vision and priority areas for e-government defined will depend upon the specific conditions and ambitions of a society. For example, a society’s first concern might be to create a more accountable government. Its e-government vision should reflect higher accountability in the government. Thus in this case, highest priority might be given to areas such as increasing transparency, having electronic audits, and reduction in discretionary power. Another society, however, might focus its ambition on developing itself into a business hub in its region. Its e-government vision might then highlight facilitating commerce and services for businesses using online e-government applications. Perhaps improving the investment regime or tax system could be a priority sector in this case. Electronic government should not solely be a strategy for reducing the cost of government though this can be one valuable benefit. Saving money is an easy way to “sell” e-government to political leaders and citizens. However, with few exceptions, e-government applications do not lower costs in the short term for government itself, though they may reduce costs for citizens and business. Electronic government must be a shared vision. Thus it should encourage stakeholders—government and non-government—to participate in defining its vision. If the public and private sectors are consulted only after e-government plans have been developed and implementation has begun, e-government

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programs risk being underused or even becoming irrelevant. A shared vision ensures that key constituents and communities will “buy into” and support e-government programs from the beginning to end. A shared vision of e-government means a shared stake in the outcome. Involving key stakeholders—citizen groups, associations, businesses, government officials, NGOs, unions and other civil society groups—does not mean that all decisions on e-government must await broad public or acrossgovernment consensus. Electronic government requires a champion and political leadership. However, defining the vision and selecting priority areas need input from all stakeholders, not just from a few elite experts or officials. In many countries, including developing countries, citizens distrust their governments, especially where there has been a history of dictatorship, political instability or large-scale corruption. To ensure that the public and stakeholders will partake in the e-government efforts, it is important to try and build trust in government. Lack of trust by the public can lead to the failure of or serious delay in e-government initiatives. The mechanisms for receiving inputs from various stakeholders will vary, but making an effort to include non-government stakeholders in building the vision for e-government will pay off. Governments must give serious consideration about who should help define the e-government vision and how to secure their inputs. Inputs from various stakeholders can be obtained by organising public meetings or conducting polls of citizens, businesses and officials. Otherwise citizens and private sector can be included in committees for e-government in an open, collaborative way. Any e-government should be citizen-centric. Ultimately, e-government must be about meeting the needs of citizens and improving quality of life. Borrowing a lesson from the private sector, e-government must be customer-driven and service-oriented. This implies that an appropriate vision for e-government should provide greater access to information, and services, and must offer userfriendly procedures for the public and businesses. Even when e-government projects seek to improve internal government processes, the end goal should be to make governments serve citizens better. This implies recognizing the diverse roles that citizens have as parents, taxpayers, constituents, employers, employees, students, investors and lobbyists. After establishing the vision, it is crucial that leaders from government and non-government sectors communicate key objectives across government departments and with the public. Therefore, a communications strategy must be established to ensure that people understand the vision, the changes that will occur and the tangible benefits. To communicate the e-government vision to the broadest possible audience, it is best to use mediums which are most likely to reach target audiences. For the public and businesses, this might mean town meetings, newspapers, TV,

6 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies radio broadcasts, SMS broadcasts or Web sites. For civil servants, presentations, departmental meetings or trainings might also be resorted to. The communication strategy will depend upon the circumstances of each society and the nature of the e-government application. Finally, one should keep in mind the existence of corruption while designing an e-government system. Improved transparency, accountability and predictability of rules and procedures should be prioritised such that e-government helps in reducing corruption.

1.3

WHAT KIND OF e-GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE ADOPTED

Every society has different needs and priorities. There is no single model or universal standard for e-government. Each society’s and government’s readiness for e-government will depend on the objectives and specific sectors it chooses as priorities, as well as the resources available at a given point in time, which might depend on budgets, donors, and so on. The necessary pre-conditions for e-government depend upon a society’s most important needs. For example, the level of infrastructure, legal framework and human capital needed for e-government vary with the objectives being pursued. But if requirements vary, how can a government assess the readiness for e-government? This issue is further discussed in the following paragraph.

Readiness for e-Government is not Only a Governmental Issue Once a vision and priority sectors for e-government are established, it is important to assess the readiness of a society for adopting e-government. Assessing e-government readiness requires examination of government itself, which means examination of its institutional frameworks, human resources (including ICT managers, procurement officers, and others), existing budgetary resources, inter-department communication flows, and so on. National infrastructure, economic health, education, information policies, private sector development and other issues are also factors of society’s readiness. Even in developing countries where problems of low connectivity and human resource development (including low ICT literacy) are severe, creativity and careful planning can develop specific applications, services and information that can be delivered in a targeted, useful way to identifiable audiences.

Readiness Starts with Political Will Though determining the key conditions depends on the goals chosen political will or “e-leadership” is a prerequisite for e-government objectives. E–leaders (a popular term for leaders of e-government) must not only support e-government initiatives with words but also with actions. They must build political support

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across government, push for change and resources, publicly take “ownership” of the project and commit their time on a sustained basis. To develop such political will, it can be important to demonstrate how supporting e-government can lead to greater electoral support from voters.

Readiness also Rests on Information Policy The government’s willingness to share information with the public and across government agencies and departments and different levels within them is another important factor for e-readiness. Smooth and rapid information sharing enables government to take a more functional approach to services, as opposed to the usual department-by-department approach. A government’s information policies are a key readiness consideration.

Other Key Factors for Readiness Although readiness depends on e-government priorities, there are certain factors that demand consideration:

Telecommunications Infrastructure Telecommunications equipment and computers, while not the focus, must be addressed in any e-government plan. The level of telecommunications infrastructure needed will depend on the projects pursued. Significant investment in national ICT infrastructure may be needed for certain e-government applications.

Current Connectivity and ICT Usage by Government Understanding current ICT usage may indicate the government’s readiness to manage information and e-government projects and whether the ICT framework meets global standards. In addition, it may help allow e-government efforts to build on previous successful computerisation projects.

Human Capital within Government Sufficient numbers of skilled, ICT literate personnel—including managers with experience in procuring, evaluating and implementing ICT solutions—are essential. Not everything can or should be outsourced to the private sector. Change management issues must also be addressed as new work practices are introduced.

Existing and Expected Budgetary Resources It is obviously critical to ensure that the resources needed to fully achieve e-government goals exist or can be generated. Also critical is the control of

8 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies centralised or decentralised funds, consolidated in one agency or allocated to many departments.

Electronic Business Climate Current environment for e-business, including the legal framework and information security, is a key criterion for assessing readiness. Establishing protections and legal reforms will be needed to ensure, among other things, the privacy, security and legal recognition of electronic interactions and electronic signatures.

Government Officials’ Readiness for Change The corporate culture within government is an important aspect of e-readiness. The level of resistance to change and level of involvement by officials in setting policies and practices will greatly impact the implementation of e-government program.

1.4 BACKING OF THE GOVERNMENT FOR 1.4 e-GOVERNMENT TRANSFORMATION Like any government reform effort, political will is required to implement every e-government project. Without continuous and active political leadership, financial resources, inter-agency coordination, policy changes, and human effort required to plan and implement, e-government will not be sustained. Political will exists when senior decision-makers have the resolve to exercise leadership in the face of opposition and setbacks.

Find Where e-Leaders are Emerging Nothing is more critical to the success of e-government than political will. Behind every successful e-government project is a visionary leader or leaders who push for change even through difficult moments. The right leader has authority, is willing to take risks, is willing to secure funds for the program, is willing to commit time on an ongoing basis, and will publicly endorse and advocate for e-government.

Expect Opposition and Setbacks Electronic government programs face many challenges. Like any ICT undertaking, there will be delays and mistakes. Also technology might change in the middle of the project. Complex government programs require complex software, which will have “bugs”. Within the government, the bureaucracy may resist changes in procedures and particularly in those procedures that increase the transparency that e-government provides. In the face of such problems, sustained

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progress in e-government will be achieved only if the leadership believes that the benefits outweigh the costs and risks. Therefore, e-leaders must champion the cause of e-government and make the effort to build political support across government. This also means protecting administrative e-government positions against political patronage. One should not use e-government positions as rewards for political supporters.

Motivate Political Leaders The task is to “sell” the concept of e-government to potential leaders in a politically appealing way. The benefits of the program to the voting public and other stakeholders need to be obvious to them. After gaining their support, it may be useful to educate leaders to be “e-literate” so that they have some basic understanding of the power and potential of technology.

Sustain Leadership If leaders are asked to take “ownership” of a project—for example by appearing publicly to announce or explain the project—their interest is likely to remain high. Sustained interest is important to keep the momentum of a project moving forward. Making a few speeches or issuing a few executive orders will not suffice. However, even the most enthusiastic politicians will rotate in and out of government. Support from the “customers”—citizens and business and from the legislative branch can help sustain interest and commitment to e-government even when there is a change in political leadership.

Persevere If you cannot find or create political will, keep trying. In some places, a motivated, visionary leader may wait for years to finally reach a political office and launch a major governance reform program that includes e-government. In addition, an e-leader must plan for e-government projects to continue and grow beyond the end of their leadership period—and among other political parties.

Promote Electronic government budgets must include funds to promote and publicise projects through various media channels, for example radio, posters, public meetings, blogs, SMS broadcasts and newspapers. Without promotion, the target audience may not learn about the project or use it. And without a large number of beneficiaries, the benefits will not be sufficient to justify the costs. This, in turn, can undermine political will. In contrast, a strong promotion effort can generate public excitement, which can increase political will.

10 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 1.5

SELECTION OF e-GOVERNMENT PROJECTS

Picking the right e-government projects, especially the very first ones, is critical. Success in an initial project can become the selling point for all future efforts and create the political momentum needed to move e-government ahead. A small success story can become a powerful example that others can imitate. Like all reforms, it is important to show early success and not spend too much time on developing visions, strategies and work plans. The implementing government agency must identify a few high-profile problems and address them with pilot e-government solutions quickly (for example, within a year) which will address both the back office operations of government and access/ interface with the public. Information gleaned from these projects (including the failed ones) can also become a baseline against which progress can be measured and from which e-government leaders can be held accountable. A diagnosis can also reveal whether valuable assets like ICT professionals are currently being used for the highest priority goals, especially in developing countries where resources are scarce. The diagnosis itself can be a starting point to build consensus among those charged with implementing e-government. A statement of the problem agreed upon by officials and others can be an excellent basis for further cooperation. Electronic government leaders must determine whether the results of such a diagnosis should be made public or not. Publishing the diagnosis might have a negative fallout such as discouraging civil servants from taking up new e-government initiatives. Borrowing ideas from other regions or countries that have successfully implemented similar projects is usually done in case of e-government, be it online communities or e-procurement. It would be important to visit these governments and talk with the officials in charge. This is a relatively low-cost way of learning the do’s and don’ts for a specific project. However, advice from other e-government initiatives will need to be adapted to fit the local context. The goal and audience of e-government projects should be consistent with the overall vision. Once this requirement is fulfilled, there are a number of additional strategies for choosing the first project. One option is to pick a project that is directly in line with pressing issues of a particular society. Another option is to make the first project one that directly benefits a large number of citizens, like improving the process for administering a government benefit. Yet another option is to start with a project that affects all government units, like procurement or a government intranet, so that all government workers have a stake in the process. The goals and target audiences must match the available technology and reflect the earlier diagnosis. The technology chosen must be able to deliver the

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intended services (or information) and reach intended audiences for a given e-government project. For example, it is quite unproductive to create a website for important health information for rural communities if those communities have no access to the Internet. Any application of e-government needs to be seen from the end-user’s perspective. If the target audience for an e-government service has no access to the technology needed to obtain the service, then plans must address ways to provide that technology. This may be a less immediate issue for e-government projects applied to “back office” support services, which often improve “overthe-counter” services for the public. However, matching the intended services and access to necessary technology and available resources is always a critical issue. Electronic government needs the government to build on existing capacity, enthusiasm and excellence within the government. An initial diagnosis may reveal certain government units that are more advanced, forward thinking or capable than others. It is advisable to start with the best agencies and services. It is advisable to base the initial e-government programs, or the pilot projects, on existing centres of excellence. Sometimes the choice will fall not on where to begin with e-government, but on which existing project to push. A few pilot projects can provide experiences that show more clearly the potential and challenges of e-government. These can be documented and used to strengthen the vision and planning processes, even if the pilot systems are replaced later with new, better systems. Pilot projects not only solve immediate problems but can also lead to a more systemic e-government effort. The common advice followed by the private sector in e-commerce is to “think big, start small, scale fast”. This slogan is equally useful for e-government. It is important to develop a long term, ambitious set of ideas for e-government—whether revealed to the public or not—but begin with a project that can be accomplished. It is risky to start with a series of large, national, cross-agency projects. The e-government plan should be diverse but realistic, and training must be a part of it. One way to begin with e-government modernization is simply to make current procedures transparent to the public. However, even this can be quite difficult. Documenting professional quality standards and operational procedures can be invaluable to support existing projects as well as assisting in training and identifying other areas for reform. Citizens—the ultimate e-government “customers”—are the experts in evaluating what they want. Thus, another strategy is to survey citizens or businesses to identify their most pressing needs and then formulate a plan to address them in the most efficient and effective manner. Needless to say, the initiatives must be something relevant and useful. Be aware, however, that sometimes government needs to be ahead of its citizens. For example, sometimes citizens will demand a service or an

12 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies opportunity only after the government begins providing it. A good example is an e-Seva initiative of the Andhra Pradesh government in India. Citizens’ demand for e-Seva services was created only after the government actually started delivering government services through the ICT enabled e-Seva centres.

1.6 PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT OF e-GOVERNMENT 1.6 PROJECTS Effective management is vital for the success of e-government, as for other government or business operations. Being able to deliver a project on time and within the budget, coordinate effectively among government agencies and oversee private sector partners, all depend on capable management. Before moving forward with an e-government project, set up management mechanisms at both the national/state and project levels. Electronic government initiatives typically involve large commitments of resources, planning and personnel. They are very difficult to manage without defined teams to supervise the e-government process from start to finish. For example, e-government activities within a department should be institutionalised to ensure long-term stability and support of the new paradigm. Such teams must be provided with sufficient funds, human resources and administrative support to carry out their duties. The implementing team of the project must have sufficient authority. Without this, the officials responsible for project implementation cannot ensure that the plans are carried out. Formal legal authority to oversee e-government implementation is also needed. Governments must consider creating a central e-government agency within a ministry or as an independent body. It is also necessary to create teams responsible for project success at both the political as well as project management levels. For cross-agency projects, management teams need authoritative representation from each agency necessary for a project’s implementation. This will keep open lines of communication and reporting, enable information sharing, and facilitate the establishment of common technology infrastructure, common policies, standards, and security systems across departmental and agency boundaries. Vision and priorities are not enough. It is critical to have a detailed work plan that will help steer the agencies and officials responsible for implementing e-government. The work plan should focus on at least six key elements: Content development This includes development of applications, open standards, local language interfaces, user guides, and e-learning materials. Competency building Human resources and training programs must be implemented at all levels.

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Connectivity Local networks and Internet connections must be applied across the relevant agencies or enterprises. Cyber laws These are needed to provide a legal framework that supports the objectives of e-government policies and projects. Citizen interfaces A proper mix of delivery channels is needed to ensure that e-government is accessible and affordable for users. Capital electronic Government business plans must identify revenue streams such as user charges, subscriptions or budgets that will help achieve financial equilibrium. The role of stakeholders in e-government does not end once a national vision has been set. They are a valuable resource for e-government. It is important to get feedback, particularly from users, about which elements are succeeding and which ones should be reconsidered or re-designed. Governments might consider establishing an advisory board for each e-government project. The advisory board should comprise of users and other key non-government stakeholders critical for the implementation of the project. Advisory groups could include private sector partners, non-government experts, former officials or civil society groups. Management of e-government is more than just implementing projects; it means planning for capacity-building. Training employees at all levels of the bureaucracy, including senior officials, should be an integral part of the work plan. Often the target audience will need some simple training as well to utilise a new e-government system. This training should also be part of the management design.

1.7 1.7

RESISTANCE FROM GOVERNMENT IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT

The first step in addressing this issue is to understand as to why officials resist. There may be a variety of reasons including the following: · Fear that the technology will make them obsolete; and that they will lose their jobs. · Fear that they will lose power and “turf” which they have created in the current system. · Unfamiliarity with technology and the fear that they will look stupid in front of others if they do not use it correctly. Some call this phenomenon “technical shock”. · Fear that technology will mean more work for them as such, for example, having to answer a constituent’s e-mail. · Belief that they have nothing to gain professionally from adapting to the new technology, and nothing to lose if they refuse to do so.

14 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Concern that the new automated processes will mean fewer opportunities to receive unofficial payments or bribes in return for using their discretionary powers to help certain parties. Electronic government leaders must identify the most likely sources of resistance and devise a plan to overcome them. Numerous strategies can be effective, depending on specific circumstances. Strategies like involving civil servants, especially those in higher levels of management, in the early stages of the e-government planning process is very effective. The best way to achieve “buy-in” is to use the suggestions of officials to improve the content or design of an e-government project. Ensure that officials and their subordinates understand the way e-government project will actually affect their work, so that they can help manage workers expectations. It is also necessary to explain to workers the goals of the program. Be clear that they are not the “enemy” or the targets of reform. Explain the new jobs to officials. It is vital to manage expectations and respond appropriately to shifting perceptions at all stages while the e-government project unfolds. Some governments have found that, by first training the leaders of units, they have created acceptance of the new system which then “trickled down” through the bureaucracy. If lower level workers are to be retained, they must also receive adequate training in advance of the new system’s introduction. If they understand the new methods, they are less likely to resist them. Government must avoid approaching training narrowly only to prepare officials for e-government applications. Capacity building should enable officials to handle information, adapt to changes in responsibilities and develop new competencies. Thus, it is important to train the officials to become a new kind of “knowledge-based” employee. “Knowledge management”, as it is called, is a key element of e-government and should be part of any e-government project. Creating an aura of inevitability around changes can be a very effective tool too. But it is only possible with adequate political will. Rewarding those who excel in the new environment is also a good way to promote e-government. The implementing agency must establish benchmarks and tangible progress indicators for individuals, and then create incentives based on their performance. These might be related to professional advancement or even financial rewards. It is very productive to allow the units doing the work to be credited with any cost savings and to invest that money in further reforms.

1.8 PARAMETERS FOR SUCCESS AND MEASURE OF 1.8 e-GOVERNMENT PROJECTS Electronic government usually involves significant money, human resources, information and political commitment. Hence accountability is critical. In developing and industrialised countries alike, whether democratic or not,

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the policymakers and agencies responsible for e-government are answerable for money spent, policies set and public services delivered or not delivered once the rollout of e-government begins.

Performance is the Key The test of an e-government project’s success is how well the project meets its goals, for example, how well it delivers services, makes information accessible, or increases access to government. Judging both progress and performance implies establishing metrics for measuring the progress and the performance. Accountability requires measurable performance standards.

Set Overall Performance Criteria The institutions responsible for managing an e-government project must define the standards by which performance will be measured. The parameters or standards to measure e-government performance can be divided into two groups (a) standards that measure a government’s adoption of e-government, and (b) standards that measure the impact of e-government applications. The following are some common standards used for these two groups.

Standards Measuring Government Performance · Volume of transactions handled electronically · Response time to inquiries · Length of trouble-free operation of an e-government service starting from launch · Number and/or percentage of public services provided electronically · Number of new services delivered electronically · Percentage of territorial area covered by a service

Standards Measuring Impact of e-Government Applications · Number and/or percentage of constituents or localities, or “customers” accessing information or services electronically · Increased convenience or efficiency in delivering information or services (for example reducing the number of days to deliver services) resulting from 24/7 availability · Length of time for procuring goods, service, and information from the government, business or citizens perspective · Reduction in the cost for citizens · Reduction in the cost for government This list illustrates only some of the quantifiable criteria that might be used to assess the overall performance of an e-government project. Other standards

16 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies that fit with the specific project implemented might be developed. For example, an e-procurement project might be assessed based on the volume of transactions processed, reduction in the time for the procurement process or reduction in the government’s administrative costs of procurement. In contrast, a project providing health information online might be evaluated based on percentage of territory that can access the information, increased use of health services in areas where information is accessible online or increased public awareness (for example, as measured by surveys).

Set Benchmarks to Measure Progress Benchmarks act as a “reality check” for managers and policy makers. They offer a way to measure on a regular basis whether or not e-government projects are advancing, sustainable and delivering what they promised. Milestones should be established to track progress. Such benchmarks might be based on: · specific dates · comparisons with other countries/states · opinion polls · independent surveys (for example, of customer satisfaction, participation, cost effectiveness) · measurements of private sector participation or delivery by vendors · the degree of self-financing achieved by a project Again, these are only some examples of methodologies/standards that could be used as benchmarks. Benchmarks need to be specific and assessed consistently in order to measure progress accurately. Consider using benchmarks to keep a “scorecard” that compares readiness and performance among agencies within the government. This creates incentives for agencies in their efforts to win recognition and to pursue e-government projects aggressively. Remember, however, that such scorecards do not measure the success in delivering e-government services unless they are designed to do so.

1.9

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR

Electronic government initiatives cannot be implemented with only government involvement. The private sector, in particular, has a key role to play, from the vision/planning process through implementation, monitoring and evaluation. However, the private sector should not simply be “taxed, regulated, sued and controlled”. Companies are not merely a source of taxes, ICT services or jobs. In both developing and industrialised countries, e-government requires expertise, resources and input from the private sector. Companies can offer valuable lessons in customer service, responsiveness and adaptability to customer needs. Governments should not view the private sector as merely

Roadmap to e-Government

17

a place for “outsourcing”. It is important to make the private sector a genuine partner in e-government. Private sector partnerships are especially promising when there is a possibility of creating revenue streams from e-government services or where e-government projects can be replicated for other agencies or governments. However, such partnerships will often require creating a new perspective among officials, particularly among emerging economies. Governments must work towards replacing mistrust between government and business with strong working relationships. An important aspect for the smooth functioning of e-government projects is to find companies experienced not only in technology applications but also ICT project management so that e-government applications can be developed and implemented rapidly within the government budget cycles. It is important to draw lessons from the e-commerce experiences of companies on how to market services and attract and retain customers (for example using systems for “customer relationship management”). In countries where ICT sector is weak, governments can be models for good ICT usage. If government is an intelligent, effective user of ICT, this may help “local” ICT companies to improve their capacities. For example, large ICT contracts and projects might include capacity-building partnerships between local and multinational companies. Early planning to make sure local ICT companies participate in the e-government planning process can be critical. As highlighted earlier, e-government plans must include significant training for officials. As they gain valuable, new skills, such officials are often in high demand in the private sector, especially in developing countries where the pool of highly skilled workers may be limited. The loss of trained personnel can be damaging to e-government projects. To minimise staff turnover, it is important to develop innovative compensation packages and professional perks. Contracts with private sector partners might include clauses designed to prevent contractors from hiring project staff away from government. Similarly, employment contracts might prevent staff from leaving jobs over a given period after receiving training or extra education. Companies need to sell e-government projects to their management, and government needs to “sell” those projects to the public and its officials. The partnership can be stronger if there are people in the government who understand how companies work and people in the private sector who understand the needs of government. A robust, well-designed business plan will help in fostering such an operating environment. Both government and business need to contribute actively to the partnership, and each should do what they do best. Companies can be a source of cost-sharing, technology and project management expertise. Government needs to promote the use of e-government among the public and officials as well as create a legal framework. It is important

18 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies to create incentives to help local companies grow and become viable partners in e-government. Governments should commit to improving the ICT manpower. Business cannot replace government leadership. Outsourcing can help relieve the government of limitations in its ICT manpower. However, the private sector cannot substitute for government in all cases; government must retain responsibility for policymaking, certain basic public services, and decisions about access and pricing. The private sector can be a key distribution channel or delivery system for services. It should not, however, define the vision or dictate the policies for e-government. Outsourcing requires governments to use new types of contracts with clear benchmarks for performance that will not only ensure that hardware is installed but more importantly measure the performance of vendors and the quality of services received, especially in emerging economies. Government workers would need to be trained on how to negotiate and draft such contracts. When projects are outsourced to private companies, it is critical to designate officials who will work as counterparts with the companies on an ongoing basis. To implement and manage e-government projects effectively, the private sector needs counterparts. This does not mean that government officials should direct projects; rather they should work with the companies to facilitate government cooperation. A key role of government is to develop sound ICT policies for example, rules for concessions, outsourcing and subsidies. In countries where the private sector, especially the technology sector, may not be well-developed, this question raises significant issues. In the short term, the most viable, and perhaps desired, e-government partners may be multinational companies that have proven experience and capacities to deliver. However, the long-term development of local ICT companies can, and often should, be part of e-government planning. One effective strategy might be to pair an experienced multinational company with a suitable local company in the development and delivery of e-government applications. This can promote the transfer of technology and skills to local industry while at the same time ensuring that outsourcing produces results.

1.10

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN e-GOVERNMENT

When it comes to e-government and public participation, perhaps all countries are developing countries. All countries, even the most advanced, are learning how to encourage, organise and manage public participation. Public participation is an important element in many stages of e-government process—from defining a society’s vision and priorities for e-government to determining e-readiness and managing e-government projects. Electronic government means more of participation and not automation.

Roadmap to e-Government

19

The public, which includes the private sector, civil society groups and individuals, can participate in e-government affairs in different ways. Some of the mechanisms for participation by the public include: (a) commenting on e-government plans themselves; (b) retrieving information (for example accessing information from government Web sites) or offering information (for example through public surveys, focus groups or emails); or (c) participating in dialogs, both public dialogs with the government and citizen-to-citizen (C2C) dialogs hosted by the government. Participation requires collaboration. Willingness to collaborate with the private sector and civil society groups—who may possess much-needed expertise and resources—is an important element of readiness. Government must see itself as a facilitator and not simply a director of e-government projects. Governments must lead the e-government effort, but replace command-andcontrol with click-and-collaborate. Electronic government requires moving away from a government-centreed viewpoint. But this does not mean that government must step aside entirely. In the end, e-government is meant to serve citizens. Thus it is critical, especially with projects designed to serve the public directly, to assess their needs and solicit their input. More importantly all e-government services should be piloted with full participation of citizens before a government invests in or embarks on a full-scale, nationwide project. Without the pilot-and-citizen involvement scheme, any e-government project can be very risky. Participation should not be a burden. Technology can be a powerful facilitator, allowing inexpensive and speedy channels of communication. In countries where the Internet penetration is low, use traditional methods for soliciting public opinion such as group meetings, surveys, focus groups, and other means. Governments must make sure that the public can give their input anonymously. This ensures that citizens evaluate government services and effectiveness openly. It is the only way through which the government will receive the information it needs to evaluate and improve its e-government programs and services, including policymaking. However, while citizens are experts, they may not demand a service until someone provides it to them first. Access to public services is a necessary part of e-government, but not sufficient. Facilitating, broadening and deepening openness and citizen involvement is fundamental to e-government. Governments must evaluate the effectiveness or success of e-government through participatory dialogue and interaction. Participation in e-government projects can either be discreet, one-time or ongoing by individuals or community groups (for example some kind of “citizen steering committees”). The important thing is to ask the public for feedback, and ask regularly. Therefore it is important to design and process and systems

20 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies which will have a constant feedback from citizens and an ability to process and absorb the feedback. Interactive dialogs create greater accountability. When e-government enables the public to communicate with government, public participation often turns into a flood of communications, and often complaints. Managing public participation and processing government-topublic contacts are big challenges for e-government.

1.11

CONCLUSION

This chapter dealt with many obstacles in e-government path. Since e-government is an expensive and resource intensive process, officials should be aware of these pitfalls before embarking on this journey. Electronic government is a process that requires a sustained commitment of political will, resources and engagement among the government and private and public sectors. Electronic government can be a powerful tool in improving a nation’s quality of life by promoting the larger goals of society and making government more responsive to its citizens by creating a citizen-centreed, “user-friendly” government. The power and promise of e-government are open to all, in both developing and industrialised worlds.

KEY TERMS Electronic government Electronic government (e-government) is the use of ICT to promote more efficient and effective government, facilitate more accessible government services, allow greater public access to information, and make government more accountable to citizens. e-Business climate Current environment for e-business, including the legal framework and information security. Civil society The arena of un-coerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values (for example, NGOs and other non-profit organisations). e-Leaders Political leaders in governments who champion the e-government cause and take active involvement in e-government project initiation, completion and continuity.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the need for e-government from a government perspective. 2. Elucidate the goals for the implementation of an e-government project. 3. List the various factors that decide what kind of an e-government project can be undertaken. Explain each one of them. 4. Explain the methodology of selection of an e-government project. 5. List the reasons for resistance to e-government.

Roadmap to e-Government

21

6. List and explain the various factors that act as parameters for the measurement of success of an e-government project. 7. What do you mean by public participation in an e-government project? Explain its importance.

REFERENCE Roadmap for e-Government in the Developing World, Pacific Council of International Policy, April 2002.

22 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

2 Structure of the Government Objectives · To understand the structure of the government and the various ministries and related departments in a typical government

2.1

INTRODUCTION

Governments are complex organisations and it is imperative to understand the structure of the government in order to have a successful e-government implementation. This chapter is based on the structure of government followed by most commonwealth countries. However, its main focus is on the government structure in the central government of India and also includes certain ministries specific to India. The functions of the government are carried out by various ministries headed by one or more ministers. The ministries comprise of one or more departments headed by a Secretary to the Government. There are subordinate officers in the ranks of Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, Directors, and so on to assist the Secretary in conducting the business allocated to that department as per the Allocation of Business Rules. The various ministries under the government can be broadly classified into five major categories namely, economic, welfare, strategic, commerce and industry, and education and research.

2.1.1

Organisational Structure of a Government

Governments are normally headed by the Executive and may also have a titular head. The Executive head of government is normally the Prime Minister in commonwealth countries and the President in countries following a presidential system. Governments have multiple ministries under the Executive head (the executive head is referred to as the Prime Minister in this chapter). There

Structure of the Government

23

may even be some departments of strategic importance that come directly under the Prime Minister’s office. Each of the ministries is headed by a minister and may have junior ministers reporting to him/her. The ministry would also have a bureaucrat at the level of the Secretary whose role is to implement the policies adopted by the ministers. Each ministry would also have multiple departments responsible for execution of initiatives in specific sub-domains. The departments are headed by a Head of the Department (HOD) who would be of the rank of an Additional Secretary or Joint Secretary. Figure 2.1 illustrates the structure of a government Executive Head (Prime Minister)

Ministry (Minister)

Ministry (Minister)

Ministry (Minister)

Ministry (Minister)

Minister is the political head of a ministry whereas the Secretary is the Bureaucratic Head

Department (Head of Dept)

FIGURE 2.1

Department (Head of Dept)

Department (Head of Dept)

Department (Head of Dept)

Generic Top Level Structure of Most Governments

2.2 MINISTRIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ECONOMY AND 2.2 INDUSTRIES Ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Ministry of Tourism could be considered to be ministries responsible for the economy and industries.

2.2.1

Ministry of Agriculture

Ministry of Agriculture comprises three departments: (a) Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), (b) Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and (c) Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The objectives of these departments are explained below: · Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) coordinates and promotes agricultural research and education in the country. DARE is the nodal agency for international cooperation in the area of agricultural

24 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies research and education. The Department liaises with foreign governments, United Nations (UN), Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and other multilateral agencies for cooperation in various areas of agricultural research. · Department of Agriculture and Cooperation is responsible for the formulation and implementation of national policies and programs aimed at achieving rapid agricultural growth through optimum utilisation of the country’s land, water, soil and plant resources. The Department undertakes all possible measures to ensure timely and adequate supply of inputs and services such as fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, agricultural implements, agricultural credit, crop insurance and ensures remunerative returns to the farmer for his agricultural produce. · Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying is responsible for livestock production, preservation, and protection from disease and improvement of stocks and dairy development. It also looks after all matters pertaining to fishing and fisheries, inland and marine. The Department advises states and union territories in the formulation of policies and programs in the field of Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries.

2.2.2

Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers

The main activities of this ministry include planning, promotion, monitoring, import, distribution and development of chemicals and fertilizers industry. The ministry also manages financial assistance for indigenous and imported fertilizers.

2.2.3

Ministry of Coal

Ministry of Coal is responsible for development and exploitation of coal and lignite reserves of India as well as all matters relating to production, supply, distribution and price of coal.

2.2.4

Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Ministry of Commerce and Industry has two departments under it: (a) Department of Commerce and (b) Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The objectives of the two departments are explained below: · Department of Commerce, besides formulating and implementing the Foreign Trade Policy, is also entrusted with responsibilities of multilateral and bilateral commercial relations, state trading, export promotion measures and development and regulation of certain export oriented industries and commodities. · Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion is responsible for formulation and implementation of promotional and developmental

Structure of the Government

25

measures for growth of the industrial sector, keeping in view the national priorities and socio-economic objectives. It is responsible for the overall Industrial Policy. It also facilitates investment and technology flows and monitors industrial development in the liberalised environment.

2.2.5

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

Ministry of Corporate Affairs has the important responsibility of shaping an effective regulatory framework and responding to expectations of shareholders and other stakeholders. One of the biggest contributions that the Ministry has made in field of corporate governance has been to ensure that investors have 24´7 online access to timely, accurate, and relevant financial and other information concerning corporate performance.

2.2.6

Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Finance has five departments under it: (a) Department of Disinvestment, (b) Department of Revenue, (c) Department of Expenditure, (d) Department of Financial Services and (e) Department of Economic Affairs. The functions of these departments are explained below: · Department of Economic Affairs is the nodal agency of the Union Government to formulate and monitor the country’s economic policies and programs having a bearing on domestic and international aspects of economic management. · Department of Revenue exercises control in respect of matters relating to all the direct and indirect taxes through two statutory boards namely the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). · Department of Expenditure is responsible for all plan and non-plan expenditure of the government. The department also monitors expenditure on a continuous basis and ensures that the government “cash flow” is managed. · Department of Financial Services is responsible for banking, insurance and pension reforms. Therefore, it administers government policies having a bearing on the working of public sector banks and the term lending financial institutions. It also administers policy issues relating to life insurance and general insurance in the country, including the Insurance Regulatory Authority. · Department of Disinvestment is mandated to address matters relating to disinvestment of Central Government equity from Central Public Sector Undertakings. Matters relating to the sale of public sector units through private placements on the basis of recommendation of the Disinvestment Commission are also looked into by this department. It also deals with the implementation of disinvestment decisions, including

26 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies appointment of advisers, pricing of shares, and other terms and conditions of disinvestment.

2.2.7

Ministry of Food Processing Industries

Ministry of Food Processing Industries is the central agency of the government responsible for developing a strong and vibrant food processing sector; with a view to create increased job opportunities in rural areas, enable the farmers to reap benefit from modern technology, create surplus for exports and stimulate demand for processed food. It also provides technical assistance and advice to food processing industry.

2.2.8

Ministry of Tourism

Ministry of Tourism is the nodal agency for the formulation of national policies and programs, co-ordination of activities of various central government agencies, states and union territories (UTs) and the private sector for the development and promotion of tourism in the country.

2.2.9

Ministry of Civil Aviation

Ministry of Civil Aviation is the nodal ministry responsible for the formulation of national policies and programmes for development and regulation of civil aviation and for devising and implementing schemes for the orderly growth and expansion of civil air transport. Its functions also extend to overseeing airport facilities, air traffic services and carriage of passengers and goods by air.

2.2.10

Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises is responsible for the development and growth of capital goods and engineering industries. It also frames policy for the Central Public Sector Enterprises. It comprises of two departments: (a) Department of Heavy Industry and (b) Department of Public Enterprises. · Department of Heavy Industry administers Central Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) and assists them in their efforts to improve capacity utilisation, increase profitability, generate resources and re-orient strategies to become more competitive. The Department serves as an interface between PSEs and other agencies for long term policy formulation. · Department of Public Enterprises acts as a nodal agency for all PSEs and assists in policy formulation pertaining to the role of PSEs in the economy. The Department is also responsible for laying down policy guidelines on performance improvement and evaluation, financial accounting, personnel management and related areas. It collects, evaluates and maintains information on PSEs.

Structure of the Government

2.2.11

27

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has been broadly split into three departments: (a) Department of Information Technology (DIT), (b) Department of Posts and (c) Department of Telecommunications (DOT). · Department of Information Technology (DIT) is committed to provide easier and faster access to the latest on Communications and Information Technology, like information regarding research and development activities, Indian electronics and IT industry, e-governance, human resource development, international cooperation, language technologies, security initiatives, and so on. · Department of Posts offers a whole range of products under posts, remittance, savings, insurance and philately. New services introduced by the department are e-Post Delivery, e-Bill Post, Postal Life insurance, International Money Transfers, Mutual Funds, Banking, and so on. · Department of Telecommunications (DOT) concerns itself with policy, licensing and coordination matters relating to telegraphs, telephones, wireless, data, facsimile and telematic services and other forms of communications.

2.2.12

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises deals with micro and small enterprises (MSEs) that have been accepted as the engine of economic growth and promotes equitable development. The MSEs constitute over 90 per cent of total enterprises in most of the economies and are credited with generating the highest rates of employment growth and account for a major share of industrial production and exports.

2.2.13

Ministry of Mines

Ministry of Mines is responsible for survey and exploration of all minerals (other than natural gas and petroleum) for mining and metallurgy of nonferrous metals like aluminum, copper, zinc, lead, gold, nickel, and so on and for administration of mines and minerals (other than coal and lignite).

2.2.14

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the nodal Ministry for all matters relating to new and renewable energy. The broad aim of the Ministry is to develop and deploy new and renewable energy infrastructure for supplementing the energy requirements of the country.

2.2.15

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is entrusted with the responsibility of exploration, production, refining, pricing, distribution, marketing, import,

28 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies export, and conservation of petroleum and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) products. It also deals with planning, development and control of, and assistance to all industries dealt with by the Ministry.

2.2.16

Ministry of Power

Ministry of Power is concerned with perspective planning, policy formulation, processing of projects for investment decision, monitoring of the implementation of power projects, training and manpower development and the administration and enactment of legislation in regard to thermal and hydro power generation, transmission and distribution. It is primarily responsible for the development of electrical energy in the country.

2.2.17

Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways

Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to road transport, national highways and transport research with a view to increasing the mobility and efficiency of the road transport system. The two departments under this ministry are: (a) Department of Road Transport and Highways and (b) Department of Shipping. · Department of Road Transport and Highways is entrusted with the task of formulating and administering, in consultation with other central ministries/departments, state governments/UT administrations, organisations and individuals, policies for road transport, national highways and transport research with a view to increasing the mobility and efficiency of the road transport system in the country. · Department of Shipping encompasses within its fold shipping and ports sectors which include ship building and ship repair, major ports, national waterways, and inland water transport. It has been entrusted with the responsibility of formulating and implementing policies and programs on these subjects.

2.2.18

Ministry of Steel

Ministry of Steel is responsible for the planning and development of the iron and steel industry, which inter alia includes development of essential inputs such as iron ore, limestone, dolomite, manganese ore, chromite, ferro alloys, sponge iron, refractories, and so on and other related functions. It is also responsible for formulation of policies in respect of production, pricing, distribution, import and export of iron and steel, ferro alloys and refractories.

2.2.19

Ministry of Textiles

Ministry of Textiles is responsible for policy formulation, planning, development, export promotion and trade regulation in respect of the textile sector. The

Structure of the Government

29

developmental activities of the Ministry are oriented towards making adequate quantities of raw material available to all sectors of the textile industry and augmenting the production of fabrics at reasonable prices. The Ministry monitors the techno-economic status of the industry and provides the requisite policy framework for modernisation and rehabilitation.

2.2.20

Ministry of Water Resources

Ministry of Water Resources has been assigned a nodal role with regard to all matters concerning the country’s water resources. This recognition of the necessity of planning for the development of the country’s water resources in a coordinated manner resulted in a change in the character of the Ministry. Appropriate steps have been taken to fulfill this role so as to enable the Ministry to conduct overall planning and coordination of all aspects of the development of the country’s water resources.

2.3

WELFARE MINISTRIES

Ministries such as the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Regions, Ministry of Environment and Forests, and so on, involved in the betterment of lives of the citizens, may be considered to be welfare ministries.

2.3.1

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

There are two departments under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution: (a) Department of Consumer Affairs and (b) Department of Food and Public Distribution. · Department of Consumer Affairs is responsible for the formulation of policies for consumer cooperatives, monitoring prices, availability of essential commodities, and consumer movement in the country. It monitors and implements various policies of the government and also oversees the development of sugar and vegetable oil industries. It also takes stock of the indigenous production, internal requirement, and so on. · Department of Food and Public Distribution implements the scheme of minimum support prices to the producers of wheat, paddy, coarse grains and the distribution of food grains from the Central Pool.

2.3.2

Ministry of Culture

Ministry of Culture is responsible for creating cultural awareness at the grass roots level within the country and at international forums. The Ministry serves to preserve, promote and disseminate all forms of art and culture. It deals with the maintenance and conservation of heritage, historic sites and ancient monuments as well as promotion of literary, visual and performing

30 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies arts and institutional and individual non-official initiatives in the fields of art and culture.

2.3.3

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region is primarily concerned with development and welfare activities in the North Eastern Region of India and deals with matters relating to planning, execution and monitoring of developmental schemes and projects for North Eastern region including in the sectors of power, irrigation, roads and communications.

2.3.4

Ministry of Environment and Forests

Ministry of Environment and Forests is the nodal agency for the planning, promotion, co-ordination and overseeing the implementation of environmental and forestry programs. The principal activities undertaken by the Ministry consist of conservation and survey of flora, fauna, forests and wildlife, prevention and control of pollution, afforestation and regeneration of degraded areas and protection of environment, in the framework of legislations.

2.3.5

Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation

Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation is the apex authority at the national level to formulate policies, sponsor and support programs, coordinate the activities of various central ministries, state governments and other nodal authorities and monitor the programs concerning all the issues of urban employment, poverty and housing in the country.

2.3.6

Ministry of Minority Affairs

Ministry of Minority Affairs is the nodal agency for formulation of policies and programs and overall coordination of activities for the welfare of minorities. It was set up to safeguard the interests of the minorities. It evaluates the progress of development of the minorities and monitors the working of safeguards provided in the constitution and in laws enacted by the central or state governments for the protection of the interests of minorities.

2.3.7

Ministry of Rural Development

Ministry of Rural Development is concerned with implementation of programs which are aimed at poverty alleviation, employment generation, infrastructure development and social security. The Ministry’s main objective is to alleviate rural poverty and ensure improved quality of life for the rural population especially those below the poverty line. These objectives are achieved through formulation, development and implementation of programs relating to various spheres of rural life, which encompass activities from income generation to environmental replenishment. The Ministry comprises three departments:

Structure of the Government

31

(a) Department of Rural Development, (b) Department of Land Resources, and (c) Department of Drinking Water Supply. · Department of Rural Development implements schemes for generation of self-employment and wage employment, provision of housing and minor irrigation assets to rural poor, social assistance to the destitute and the development of rural roads through a number of different programs. Apart from this, the Department provides support services and other quality inputs such as assistance for strengthening of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, training and research, human resource development, development of voluntary action, and so on for proper implementation of the programs. · Department of Land Resources implements schemes to increase the biomass production by developing wastelands in the country. The Department also provides support services and other quality inputs for land reforms, betterment of revenue system and land records. It also undertakes development of desert areas and drought prone areas in the country. · Department of Drinking Water Supply deals with the provision of drinking water supply and extension of sanitation facilities to the rural poor.

2.3.8

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is entrusted with the welfare, social justice and empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalised sections of the society such as Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, persons with disabilities, aged persons, and victims of drug abuse, and so on. The basic objective of the policies, programs, law and institution of the Indian welfare system is to bring the target groups into the main stream of development by making them self-reliant.

2.3.9

Ministry of Urban Development

Ministry of Urban Development is the apex authority of Government of India to formulate policies, sponsor and support programs, coordinate the activities of various central ministries, state governments and other nodal authorities and monitor the programs concerning all the issues of urban development and housing in the country.

2.3.10

Ministry of Women and Child Development

Ministry of Women and Child Development is responsible for the holistic development of women and children. As the nodal ministry for the advancement of women and children, the Ministry formulates plans, policies and programs; enacts or amends legislation; guides and coordinates the efforts of both governmental and non-governmental organisations working in the field of Women and Child Development. Besides playing its nodal role the Ministry

32 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies implements certain innovative programs for women and children. These programs cover welfare and support services, training for employment and income generation, awareness generation and gender sensitization. These programs play a supplementary and complementary role to the other general developmental programs in the sectors of health, education, rural development, and so on.

2.3.11

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports pursues the twin objectives of personality building and nation building, that is developing the personality of youth and involving them in various nation-building activities. As most of the issues concerning young people are the functions of other ministries/departments, like Education, Employment and Training, Health and Family Welfare, and so on, the role of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is to act as a facilitator and catalytic agent. The role of the Ministry is to create the infrastructure and promote capacity building for broad-basing sports as well as for achieving excellence in various competitive events at the national and international levels.

2.4

MINISTRIES RESPONSIBLE FOR STRATEGIC ISSUES

Ministries such as the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Home Affairs could be considered to be ministries responsible for strategic issues.

2.4.1

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence provides policy framework and wherewithal to the Armed Forces to discharge their responsibility in the context of the defense of the country. It is responsible for implementation of government’s defense policy. The Ministry consists of four departments: (a) Department of Defence, (b) Department of Defence Production, (c) Department of Defence Research and (d) Department of ExServicemen Welfare. · Department of Defence deals with the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) and various inter-service organisations. It is also responsible for the Defence budget, establishment matters, defence policy, matters relating to Parliament, defence co-operation with foreign countries and coordination of all defence related activities. · Department of Defence Production deals with matters pertaining to defence production, indigenization of imported stores, equipment and spares, planning and control of departmental production units of the Ordnance Factory Board and for Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs). · Department of Defence Research is responsible for advising the government on scientific aspects of military equipment and logistics and

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the formulation of research, design and development plans for equipment used by the Services. · Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare deals with re-settlement, welfare and pension matters of Ex-Servicemen.

2.4.2

Ministry of External Affairs

Ministry of External Affairs is the governmental body most concerned with foreign affairs, with responsibility for some aspects of foreign policy making, actual implementation of policy, and daily conduct of international relations. The ministry also has functional divisions dealing with external publicity, protocol, consular affairs, the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations, and international conferences. The ministry is also responsible for issue of passports to citizens.

2.4.3

Ministry of Home Affairs

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) enjoins the Union to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the governance of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. The Ministry extends manpower and financial support, guidance and expertise to the state governments for the maintenance of security, peace and harmony without trampling upon the constitutional rights of the states. The Ministry consists of five departments: (a) Department of Internal Security, (b) Department of Border Management, (c) Department of Home, (d) Department of Official Language and (e) Department of States. · Department of Internal Security deals with police, law and order, and rehabilitation. · Department of Border Management deals with management of borders including coastal borders. · Department of Home deals with notification of assumption of office by the President, Vice-President, and appointment of Prime Minister and other Ministers, and so on. · Department of Official Language deals with the implementation of the provisions of the Constitution relating to official languages. · Department of States deals with Centre-State relations, inter-state relations, union territories and freedom fighters’ pension.

2.5 EDUCATION AND RESEARCH ORIENTED MINISTRIES Ministries dealing with science, technology or research are the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

34 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 2.5.1

Ministry of Earth Sciences

Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is mandated to provide the nation with the best possible services in forecasting the monsoons, other weather/climate parameters, ocean state, earthquakes, tsunamis and other phenomena related to earth systems through well integrated programmes. The Ministry also deals with science and technology for exploration and exploitation of ocean resources (living and non-living), and plays a nodal role for Antarctic/Arctic and Southern Ocean research. The Ministry’s mandate is to look after Atmospheric Sciences, Ocean Science and Technology and Seismology in an integrated manner.

2.5.2

Ministry of Human Resource Development

Ministry of Human Resources Development provides a common platform for relevant instruments and agencies which contribute to or are responsible for the integrated development of citizens of India. The Ministry is divided into two departments, namely, Department of Higher Education and Department of School Education and Literacy. · Department of Higher Education wields power over all the Secondary and Higher education aspects of the country. · Department of School Education and Literacy concerns itself with the provision of primary formal and non-formal education to realise the goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE). The main objective of the department is to look after the primary education of the country as well as the massive literacy programs.

2.5.3

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, through the mass communication media consisting of radio, television, films, the press, publications, advertising and traditional mode of dance and drama, plays a significant part in helping people to have access to free flow of information. It also caters to the dissemination of knowledge and entertainment to all sections of society. It is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to information, broadcasting, the press, and films. This Ministry is responsible for international cooperation in the field of mass media, films and broadcasting.

2.5.4

Ministry of Science and Technology

Ministry of Science and Technology comprises of three major departments, namely, (a) Department of Biotechnology (DBT), (b) Department of Science and Technology (DST), and (c) Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). · Department of Biotechnology (DBT) promotes and accelerates the pace of development of biotechnology in the country. The Department has

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made significant achievements in the growth and application of biotechnology in the broad areas of agriculture, healthcare, animal sciences, environment, and industry. It has also played an important role in developing biotechnology application projects, demonstration of proven technologies, and training of human resource in states and union territories. · Department of Science and Technology (DST) has the objective of promoting new areas of Science and Technology and playing the role of a nodal department for organising, coordinating and promoting science and technology activities in the country. The Department plays a pivotal role in promotion of science and technology in the country. Its activities range from promoting high end basic research and development of cutting edge technologies and servicing the technological requirements of the common man through development of appropriate skills and technologies. · Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) promotes research and development (R&D) by industries, supports a larger cross section of small and medium industrial units to develop state-of-the art globally competitive technologies of high commercial potential, catalyzes faster commercialization of lab-scale R&D, enhances the share of technology-intensive exports, strengthens industrial consultancy and technology management capabilities and establishes user friendly information network to facilitate scientific and industrial research in the country.

2.6 2.6.1

GOVERNANCE RELATED MINISTRIES Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is the coordinating agency of the Central Government for personnel matters, specially issues concerning recruitment, training, career development, staff welfare as well as the postretirement dispensation. The Ministry is also concerned with the process of responsive people-oriented modern administration. The ministry comprises of three departments, namely, (a) Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, (b) Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) and (c) Department of Personnel and Training. · Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare is the nodal department for formulation of policies relating to pension and other retirement benefits of Central Government employees. Apart from this, it also seeks to promote pensioners’ welfare and serves as a forum for redressal of pensioners’ grievances. · Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) is to act as a facilitator, in consultation with central ministries and

36 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies departments, states and UT administrations, organisations, and individuals, to improve government functioning through administrative reforms in the spheres of restructuring the government, process improvement, organisation and methods of grievance handling, promoting modernisation, Citizen’s Charters, award schemes, e-governance and best practices. · Department of Personnel and Training is the coordinating agency of the Central Government in personnel matters, especially on issues concerning recruitment, training, career development and staff welfare.

2.6.2

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs is one of the key ministries of the Union Government. The task of efficiently handling diverse and enormous parliamentary work on behalf of the Government in the Parliament has been assigned to the Ministry. As such, the Ministry serves as an important link between the Houses of Parliament and the Government in respect of government business in Parliament. The Ministry pursues the prompt and proper implementation of assurances given by ministers with respective ministries.

2.6.3

Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation

Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation is recognised as an efficient apex organisation for timely dissemination of reliable and credible statistics consistent with international standards to all users, and to ensure efficient use of national resources through effective monitoring of programs and projects.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What are the various types of ministries? 2. Identify the ministries responsible for the economy and industry and highlight their responsibilities. 3. Write a short note on the ministries involved in strategic decision making process of the country. 4. Identify the ministries responsible for various education and research related activities in the country and highlight their responsibilities

BIBLIOGRAPHY All these websites were accessed on June 28 2008. http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-6129.html http://cabsec.nic.in/abr/abr2.htm http://envfor.nic.in/

Structure of the Government http://rural.nic.in/ http://www.india.gov.in/knowindia.php http://agricoop.nic.in http://dahd.nic.in http://finmin.nic.in/ http://coal.nic.in/ http://commerce.nic.in/ http://dipp.nic.in http://www.mca.gov.in http://civilaviation.nic.in http://darpg.nic.in http://fcamin.nic.in http://divest.nic.in http://mofpc.nic.in http://tourism.nic.in http://mdoner.nic.in http://mhupa.nic.in http://mpa.nic.in http://minorityaffairs.nic.in http://persmin.gov.in http://rural.nic.in http://mospi.gov.in http://rural.nic.in http://socialjustice.nic.in http://urbanindia.nic.in http://wcd.nic.in http://yas.nic.in http://mod.nic.in http://meaindia.nic.in http://mha.nic.in http://civilaviation.nic.in http://dhi.nic.in http://dpe.nic.in http://www.mit.gov.in http://www.indiaposts.gov.in

37

38 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies http://www.dot.gov.in http://msme.gov.in http://mines.nic.in http://mnes.nic.in http://petroleum.nic.in http://powermin.nic.in http://morth.nic.in http://shipping.gov.in http://steel.nic.in ttp://texmin.nic.in http://wrmin.nic.in http://moes.gov.in http://education.nic.in http://moes.gov.in http://www.dst.gov.in http://dbtindia.nic.in http://dsir.gov.in

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3 e-Gov 2.0 Objectives · To learn the basics of e-Gov 2.0 · To know a brief summary of e-Gov 1.0 · To learn about the challenges in governance · To learn the Business Model of e-Gov 2.0 · To learn the Operational Model of e-Gov 2.0 · To learn the Financial Model of e-Gov 2.0 · To learn the Technology Model of e-Gov 2.0

3.1

INTRODUCTION

The adoption of IT by governments has typically been viewed as a four stage phenomenon, namely the Publish stage, the Transact stage, the Interaction stage, and the Integration stage. However, there has been a plethora of changes in technology, legislations and business models that have led to a new paradigm emerging in e-government, which has been termed as e-Gov 2.0. The first generation e-government was essentially an online replication of the brick and mortar governance. It involved “transplanting” the “brick and mortar” government into a “computerised” government without actually leveraging the full potential of technology. In some places, limited business process re-engineering helped in higher productivity gains, yet it did not really leverage technology to anywhere near its full potential. This lead to the concept of e-Gov 2.0.

3.2

e-GOV 1.0

e-Gov 1.0 is characterised by a very limited use of Internet technology and is basically dependent on government funding or limited public–private partnership that is based on traditional business models. This kind of e-government continues to attract limited and indirect participation of the

40 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies citizens. Thus, citizens continue to play the same role in an e-governed nation as in a non-e-governed nation. Hence, democracy continues to be completely indirect and national legislations, policies and governance per se are all dictated by the elected—or nominated—representatives of the citizens and not the citizens directly. This exposes the elected representatives to pressure groups or more euphemistically speaking, the special interest groups. This is also a source of “hijacking” of the national agenda by the economically and politically powerful classes in the nation. Also, the traditional e-government or e-Gov 1.0 has a complete absence of pure–play e-government solutions. Pure–play e-government solutions are those which do not have a brick and mortar equivalent and are completely enabled by the Internet technology. For example, in the e-business world, there are pure–play e-businesses such as google, hotmail, yahoo, eBay, and so on which do not have a comparable brick and mortar business. In e-government too, it is possible to have pure–play e-government solutions such as an online land exchange system, like the stock market, which integrates land sale, deed registration and mutation. This would reduce the number of civil litigation in the courts significantly. However, e-Gov 1.0 has not implemented such programs. More importantly, e-Gov 1.0 has no significant cross-departmental solutions. For example, if someone is applying for a gun license, and one can find that the person is also getting subsidies for being below the poverty line, then there is possible leakage of subsidy. This is so because a person below poverty line should not be in a position to afford a gun. Therefore, an effective e-government system should be able to detect this subsidy leakage and should be able to raise an alert. Unfortunately, such cross-departmental linkages do not exist in e-Gov 1.0. There have been some attempts to do systematic process re-engineering to get more benefits out of adoption of technology. However, the process reengineering did not necessarily leverage the full power of the newer tools of information technology. For example, it did not use Web 2.0 technologies such as Wikis, blogs, and so on to help create micro-communities of citizens so that they could start some limited self-administration. These micro-communities are not necessarily ethnic communities but are all kinds of multi-dimensional communities. For example, pregnant and handicapped tribal women could form a community to ensure that it gets government benefits that the community is entitled to as its members are (a) women, (b) tribal, (c) handicapped, and (d) pregnant. In the current situation, in many cases, such persons do not receive any of the above four support subsidies. There can be another micro-community of military personnel who keep getting transferred and would like to form a self-help group for tackling issues such as school admission of their children, finding domestic help and

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so on. There can be another micro-community of urban single working mothers who have their own administrative requirements. Such diverse requirements cannot be met by the government and e-Gov 2.0 can provide tools for such communities to self-govern. Finally, e-Gov 1.0 had no focus on the concept of service-oriented administration (SOA). Essentially SOA implies that governments should be more dependent on services for revenue generation rather than on taxes. The monopolistic situation of the government gives it enormous revenue generation capability through providing services. For example, if the government provides an online land exchange, it can get the 2% service charge charged by brokers. That would amount to an additional 4% earning (2% each from buyer and seller) for the government on every transaction. This can be used to lower the transaction tax itself. In addition, it would help in increasing the number of transactions. Similarly, the online second-hand vehicle sales system would not only reduce the number of stolen cars sold, but would also generate considerable income for the government. It is estimated that at a commission of USD 100 per car sold and USD 10 per two-wheeler sold, India can generate over USD 2 billion every year. Many such SOA initiatives can be enabled through e-Gov 2.0.

3.3

CHALLENGES OF GOVERNANCE

Governance in large countries such as India, Brazil, China, Indonesia, and so on face many challenges. These challenges are compounded by the fast changes brought in by globalisation and increasing expectations of the citizens. To begin with, citizens are expected to have a greater say and greater direct participation in governance. Citizens have seen how their voices have forced businesses to become more customer friendly. But frustratingly, citizens find that their voices are completely ignored by the government. The demand for participatory governance is further compounded by the existence of numerous stakeholders. Each such stakeholder has limited visibility to the demands of other stakeholders and hence they bring in opposing and sometimes contradicting pressures on the government. Figure 3.1 shows the spread of naxalism in India, which arose as some sections felt that they had no access to governance. Moreover, governments themselves are basically an amalgamation of multiple agencies which in themselves find it difficult to coordinate in a manner that leads to a global optimum rather than mere agency-wise optimum. The above issues are further complicated by political and cultural issues. For example, the demand by certain communities to have government websites only in their language is very difficult to meet. Such demands will become more vociferous once communities understand that they cannot get

42 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies “access” to e-government since the e-government portals are not in their own language which their community members understand. More critically, it would also lead to the realisation that if the government itself is not supporting their language, then in the “digital world”, it is only a matter of time when their language will die away.

Source: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/database/conflictmap/htm

FIGURE 3.1

Map of Naxal Conflict in India for Year 2005 and Year 2007 [For clarity, see at the end of the book.]

Such cultural issues thus become political issues. Also, as discussed in the previous section, more and more micro-communities come up and are aware of their identities. They bring in the challenge of managing infinite number of expectations and requirements. Finally, while governments claim to be run by “rule of law”, in the same breath governments give discretionary powers to their functionaries. The issue becomes more paradoxical when such powers can be further delegated without anyone noticing the conflict with the claim of being run by rule of law. In fact, theoretically, if the government is run purely by rule of law, then such law can be programmed and the government can merely be a large computer system with no injustice done. Since this is not possible in a realistic world, there is demand for further devolution of power. In India, in response to such demands for devolution of power, the 73rd and 74th amendments were to the constitution was brought in to strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) and Urban Local Bodies (ULB). Such devolution of power can be managed only with a strong centralised administrative system supported by IT.

3.4

WHAT IS e-GOV 2.0

Given the challenges mentioned in the previous section, there is need to create new business, operational, financial, and technology models for e-government. This is captured in Figure 3.2 below. e-Gov 2.0 is defined as an evolutionary step towards a more efficient, inclusive and participative government through the adoption of a set of new trends in business, operational, financial and technological models.

e-Gov 2.0

Business Models

FIGURE 3.2

3.4.1

Financial Models

Operational Models

Drivers of e-Gov 2.0

e-Gov 2.0 Business Models

Technology Models

43

44 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies have online marketplaces on lines of eBay. Some of these systems will have fundamental enabling impact on new institutions such as on micro-finance. They will also play a critical role in the labour arbitrage market by creating job portals for blue collared workers and facilitating rural to urban migration. Finally, why cannot we involve ordinary citizens in public-private partnership (PPP) projects? It is assumed that the “public” in the PPP stands for the government. However, the ordinary citizen is one of the most important stakeholders in the government and hence in order to ensure ownership of the project by this important stakeholder, it is necessary to involve citizens in PPP projects. Therefore, why cannot we have IPO of PPP projects wherein the citizens get a chance to gain from the monopolistic PPP business? Or maybe even give citizens fractional ownership of shares in PPP for every paid transaction done by the citizen. The possibilities are limitless. Each of these will have a fundamental effect on the society, altering it positively, while enhancing the revenue of the government.

3.4.2

e-Gov 2.0 Operational Models

e-Gov 2.0 operational models involve a radically different approach to the operations of public service delivery. To begin with, e-Gov 2.0 operational models focus more on the outcomes rather than the output. For example, a PPP model for IT education in e-Gov 1.0 would typically focus on the number of PCs and labs up and running, the uptime of the PCs, the number of educated teachers, and so on. However, e-Gov 2.0 operational models focus purely on the outcome, that is the number of students getting an IT education and passing the examinations and the increase in their quality of education rather than the output which, in e-Gov 1.0, was the PC, hardware and so on. e-Gov 2.0 also includes regulatory support for the new models. For example, if in the above case, the number of students failing increase due to law and order or an exceptional tough examination paper, then who is responsible for it? Should the PPP operator be penalized? How do we protect the interests of the students themselves? Let us take another case, PPP delivering ration cards. Suppose the ration card is not issued by the backend department and the PPP operator is not able to complete the transaction. Then in the traditional situation, not only do the PPP operators loose the transactional revenue, but are also exposed to penalties. In e-Gov 2.0, however, the PPP operator is protected by regulatory frameworks. Moreover, PPPs will have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on not only the private partner but also on the government. Similarly, if citizens’ privacy is violated through leakage of citizens’ records (say healthcare, which leaks out the diseases of individual citizens), then there would be necessary regulatory frameworks to bring justice to such privacy

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violations. In the increasingly digital world, it is easier to have the citizens’ privacy violated and hence e-Gov 2.0 will focus on such operational issues. e-Gov 2.0 will also focus on capacity building with not only government and other stakeholder agencies but also with citizens. In the absence of such capacity building of the citizens, in an increasingly e-governed world, more and more citizens will become government services-deprived and would be pushed into an anti-governmental community. Finally, the government will become more focused on Service Oriented Administration (SOA) which will have a deep impact on the government processes that will necessarily get reengineered around the concept of SOA.

3.5

e-GOV 2.0 FINANCIAL MODELS

Financial models of e-Gov 2.0 will move away from taxes as a source of revenue to alternate sources of revenues. Government has the largest advertising real estate. It is quite conceivable that if the government properties are put to good use, they can generate significant amount of advertisement revenues. This includes both brick and mortar properties as well as online and postal advertising real estates. Governments have the largest number of touch points with citizens—and citizens are the main targets of advertisers. Governments can also redevelop its properties, especially those in prime real estate areas where they may have built residential projects of very poor quality for government employees or would have poor quality of government offices. These can be redeveloped through PPP, with higher FARs, with more number of floors but probably less ground area covered. The excess real estate generated can be used for annuity based income from rentals which can be given through continuous online bidding for properties falling vacant. Even spaces under flyovers can be used as showrooms for automobiles and other such products which would gain from attracting people’s attention without harming the flow of traffic. This would also ensure that the spaces under flyovers are not misused by anti-social elements. In the previous sections, we have already discussed how PPPs can be capitalized through IPOs. The same route can be used to enhance the treasury of the government and can be treated as capital gains by the government. Again, the possibilities are limitless and would certainly go a long way in reducing taxes and making citizens happier.

3.6

e-GOV 2.0 TECHNOLOGY MODELS

Technology will play a very critical role in e-Gov 2.0. As we noticed earlier in this chapter, in an increasingly technology-driven government service delivery model, the digital illiterates will end up being “governance have-nots” also.

46 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Therefore, it is imperative to have democratisation of technology. Democratisation of technology has several dimensions. First, is digital literacy for all, including adults. Second, access to computing should be non-discriminatory. That is, it should not discriminate against the language one is comfortable with, the kind of access device one has and the paying capacity of the individual. This implies that there needs to be local language support for computing that should be freely available for access to government services. In order for the above to happen, it is imperative to have open standards for e-government. But perhaps what is more important from a societal perspective is non-discriminatory access to open source software, especially those that are necessary for IT literacy, that is office productivity solutions. The reason why it needs to be non-discriminatory is that since these technologies have a network effect, the dominant technology may not be open source and hence those who use open source get discriminated against in the digital world in the absence of appropriate government policies and level playing field. This also implies that there is a need for technological sovereignty and independence from vendor locks-in so that the society can gain form the benefits of reduced cost of access to computing. One of the necessary pre-conditions for arriving at such a state is to have open standards that are royalty free. Another important component of e-Gov 2.0 technology model would be the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and wikis that would help support micro-communities and help the citizens participate in governance. Such large scale adoption of ICTs would have severe implications on the digital infrastructure. To begin with, if in 2008, India had 7.5 million PCs and laptops each consuming 150 watts of electricity on an average, this adds up to 1.1 GW. That is equivalent to two nuclear power plants. This excludes the electricity consumption of the datacentres and the networks. It is easy to see that in order to sustain such large scale movement to ICT would require at least four nuclear power plants per year in India alone. e-Gov 2.0 technology models will focus on alternate technology models without such debilitating impact on the existing infrastructure and on the environment.

SUMMARY e-Gov 2.0 will usher in greater citizens participation and will have tremendous uplifting impact on the economy. Not only will it make the government more efficient by cutting out the non-value added processes but will also increase the efficiency of government’s interface with citizens, businesses and other institutions. It would also enhance the interactions between various stakeholders in the society by intelligent usage of ICT. However, e-Gov 2.0 will fundamentally be a realisation that the form and substance of governance needs to be changed radically. ICT will act merely as a tool and an excuse to bring in this change. The forces bringing in this change is basically

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people’s expectations of governments delivering more from less and that service delivery needs to be personalised to such an extent that it not only serves microcommunities but perhaps is also tailored to the requirements of individuals. At the end of the day, e-Gov 2.0 will make people happier and bring the governments closer to Chanakya’s statement in “The Wealth of Nations” that in the citizens happiness lies the happiness of the King.

KEY TERMS e-Gov 2.0 e-Gov 2.0 is defined as an evolutionary step towards a more efficient, inclusive and participative government through adoption of a set of new trends in business, operational, financial and technology models. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) Collaborative arrangements between government and private sector entities with the aim of introducing private sector resources and expertise to provide public infrastructure, community facilities and related services. Pure–play e-government Pure–play e-government solutions are those which do not have a brick and mortar equivalent and are completely enabled by the Internet technology. Portals A web portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way. Apart from the standard search engine feature, web portals offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock prices, information, and entertainment. Process reengineering Process reengineering is, in computer science and management, an approach aimed at improving the business process within and across organisations by elevating efficiency and effectiveness. Web 2.0 Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of web development and web design. It is characterised as facilitating communication, information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Service Oriented Administration (SOA) SOA implies that governments should be more dependent on services for revenue generation rather than on taxes.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What characterises e-Gov 1.0? 2. What are the key challenges faced in traditional governance? 3. What are the characteristics and philosophy of e-Gov 2.0? 4. Explain the how one can have a Service Oriented Administration using e-Gov 2.0.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bhattacharya, Jaijit, ‘e-Gov 2.0’ in e-Gov magazine, July 2008.

48 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

4 Public–Private Partnership (PPP) for e-Government Objectives · To learn about the technical, financial, organisational, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) dimensions of PPP models in e-government. · To get an insight into the technical dimensions of PPP, such as the technology stack comprising of network, server, operating system, database, web server, application server and application. · To know about the event driven issues, such as the repercussions in case of contractual default, or force majeure. · To understand financial issues such as revenue model, performance guarantee and ownership of risk and reward. · To understand organisational issues such as training and compensation of employees. · To learn about issues constraining PPP in e-government such as absence of credit rating of contracts and a unified regulatory mechanism.

4.1

INTRODUCTION

Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) are collaborative arrangements between government and private sector entities with the aim of introducing private sector resources and expertise to provide public infrastructure, community facilities and related services. Such partnerships are characterised by sharing investment, risk, responsibility and reward between the partners. The reasons for establishing such partnerships vary but generally involve the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of public infrastructure and services. The underlying logic for establishing partnerships is that both public and private sectors have unique characteristics that provide them with advantages in specific aspects of service or project delivery. The most successful partnership arrangements draw on the strengths of both public and private sectors to establish complementary relationships.

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The roles and responsibilities of partners may vary from project to project. For example, in some projects the private sector partner will have significant involvement in all aspects of service delivery while in others; the private sector partner may have only a minor role. While the roles and responsibilities of the private and public sector partners may differ on individual servicing initiatives, the overall role and responsibilities of the government do not change. Public– private partnership is one of the many ways of delivering public infrastructure and related services. It is not a substitute for strong and effective government and decision-making by government. In all cases, government remains responsible and accountable for delivering services and projects in a manner that protects and furthers public interest. Government may only outsource execution and not thinking.

Need for PPP in e-Government In many cases, the PPP models are more effective and efficient in catering to the needs of citizens, even in remote areas. PPP models are preferred due to financial, social, technical and economic aspects as explained below. Governments are increasingly coming under pressure to deliver more with less resources. Citizen’s demands for better public services are increasing because of the varied and high quality services offered by private sector. Governments are thus being forced to spend lesser to deliver the same services. Many governments such as the Government of Sri Lanka have already experimented with hiring freezes and in severe reduction in government workforce through voluntary retirement plans for government employees and thus have reduced workforce for delivering government services. PPP provides a mechanism through which the private sector can be leveraged to bring in the appropriate people resources and the additional financial investments needed to set up and deliver government services demanded by citizens, thus reducing dependence on government resources. Governments across Asia and the Pacific are becoming increasingly interested in exploring PPPs for a variety of reasons. First, PPPs has been effective in helping governments respond quickly to the demand for public goods and services. Demand for economic and social infrastructure is rising much faster than governments’ ability to finance these investments through budget. With the population growing at the rate of 60 million a year in the Asia Pacific region, growing industrialisation, rapid urbanization, and the phenomenal emergence of megacities in the region (17 of the world’s 19 megacities are in Asia) are placing tremendous strains on the region’s infrastructural services. Second, PPP’s can help governments do more with less. Since PPPs combine the deployment of private sector capital to improve public services or the management of public assets, PPPs spread the costs of procurement of assets over time and shift the burden of capital spending more to private firms and

50 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies less to the public sector balance sheets. These objectives may be achieved by basing the procurement on public services required (upon outputs) rather than on the underlying assets (or inputs). Where public sector capital budgets are highly constrained, PPPs can be an important means of mobilising social overhead investment that government otherwise would not be able to afford. Third, PPPs can contribute to enhanced efficiency in delivering services. Much of the improved value for money comes from the fact that when private sector capital is deployed and is at risk, the right commercial decisions are made about designing, operating, maintaining, staffing, costing, and otherwise delivering investments and services in an efficient manner. Finally, PPPs are often considered politically safer than privatisation. PPPs structure a partnership between government and private sector that implicitly recognises that public sector is held politically responsible for ensuring that infrastructure is available and social services are delivered. Moreover, in a practical sense, PPPs represent a form of collaboration under contract by which public and private sectors, acting together, can achieve what each acting separately cannot. It is well known that PPPs can be made to work for society at large, and there is ample experience across Asia and the Pacific region to prove this point. But putting the PPPs’ modality to work to serve the poor is a different matter. While delivering value-for-money remains important, more emphasis needs to be placed on ensuring that the poor do benefit from PPPs, and that strategy, policy, and institutional arrangements are framed with the needs and interests of poor communities in mind.

4.2

CHALLENGES FACED BY PPP IN e-GOVERNMENT PROJECTS

In spite of the various advantages of PPP, numerous issues need to be addressed while deciding the appropriate terms and conditions of a PPP contract.

Technical Issues These are issues pertaining to ownership of data and technical infrastructure which includes the setup needed for computation and for networking. Technical issues often create conflicts, especially when there is need for change in ownership due to expiry of the contract or due to default by either party or faulty structuring of the contract or for reasons like force majeure. Moreover, technology can spin off new business models that had not been thought out earlier and hence there can be conflicts on who should get what benefits out of the new business model. For example, if a private party sets up the motor vehicle database, then the same data can be used for selling auto accessories or even new cars. This may be either construed as violation of privacy of citizen’s data or the government may want to get a share of the profits from this line of business.

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Financial Issues Ownership of financial risk is one of the most important challenges of PPP models. For example, in case the government provides the financing, there should be scientific methods to decide the penalty if the private sector defaults. And where private sector is financing, the government should cooperate so as to ensure that there are no financial losses to the private partner due to subsequent decisions or laxity by the government on its commitments.There should, therefore, be enforceable service level agreements (SLAs) on the government also. No matter how much service delivery is outsourced to a private partner, the government still has some service delivery responsibility at the backend. For example, if the private party is supposed to issue birth certificates; the government is still responsible to authorise each issuance based on the certificate from the hospital. If the government machinery delays in providing such authorisation, the private party will default on its SLA to provide birth certificates within the stipulated time. Moreover, the public may not go back to the private party for other government services and hence lead to a reduction in the revenue earning potential of the private party. Therefore, in a PPP initiative, it is necessary to have SLAs for the government.

Period of the Contract The duration of the PPP contract is important when the nature of the PPP arrangement ends with the transfer of assets to the government or a government designated agency. Typically, such arrangements are called BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) or BOT (build, own, transfer). In such cases, it is a challenge to agree upon the method to decide the contract period in a manner wherein the arrangement is agreeable to both partners. A short duration contract would not give enough time to the private party to recover the investments while a longer period would give unnecessary monopoly to private sector over public services and thus would be anti-consumer in nature where the citizens are the consumers.

Conflict Management in Case of Contractual Defaults This is one of the most critical issues. The terms and conditions of ownership of assets and financial risks in case of contractual defaults should be decided clearly such that they do not lead to the contract being rescinded. More importantly, the contracts should give enough protection to the private party so that they can have fair recourse to the legal system. It also implies that there should be appropriate SLAs imposed on the government agencies involved. Most PPP arrangements do not have any SLA on the government and this is one of the key reasons for failures of such projects. Since PPP finally delivers

52 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies public services to citizens on behalf of the government, it is necessary for the private sector to interface with government agencies in the backend to deliver such services. If the backend government agencies do not provide the response within the required service levels, the private party cannot perform and will not only go into loss but will also be slapped with penalties as per the provisions in the agreement which usually have very stiff SLA on the private party. This leads to a dissonance between the private party and the government which leads to lack of partnership between the public agency and the private party, leading to failure of the project.

Ownership of Public Information Public information maintained by the government should not be misused by the private player. Such misuse can be in the form of violation of privacy of the data or its mishandling. Public data is of immense value. So if there is a PPP for managing centralised national health data which is given away to insurance companies for them to create targeted insurance plans based on detailed medical history of each citizen, then it is a clear violation of privacy of data. Such violations can lead to public outrage and can even hurt the confidence of the people in the government.

Human Resource Development Motivation of employees to perform in public services is an important issue. At the same time, training with IT skills is a challenge especially for government employees who resist change. However, it is crucial that PPPs have a mix of private and government employees to ensure smooth functioning of the project. Critical domain knowledge from government and private sectors should be made available for the project. If it is difficult to impose ‘work discipline’ and motivate the government employees in a PPP, the project can get adversely affected. This might happen especially when the difference in salary levels between the equivalent private sector and government employee is very large. Therefore special mechanisms have to be developed to have a harmonised policy for human resources for PPP initiatives. One such initiative could be to have ex-gratia performance-related compensation for government employees in a PPP scenario.

IPR Sharing Electronic government under PPP model could raise issues pertaining to IPR sharing over products, technologies and models. There should be a suitable IPR sharing mechanism so as to lower the upfront cost to government and to end user. This is especially relevant when the new systems developed as part

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53

of the PPP initiative are to be handed over to the government after a given period. If the systems are not open source, it would be meaningless to hand over just the executable code of the application to the government as the system cannot be managed by any other party in the absence of the source code. In some cases, however, the source code is given, but it runs into millions of lines and has very little documentation. It would be difficult for government or a third party to support the system in the absence of the private partner who developed it. These issues of legal property rights and de facto enforcement of such IPR would have a severe impact on the operating life of PPP based e-government systems.

4.3

THE PPP SCENARIO

The challenges mentioned above necessitate the need to understand the various dimensions of PPP in order to create and manage a PPP-based e-government project that does not violate the Constitution of the government and benefits the public. The ownership issue of the various dimensions mentioned should be clearly specified at the time of contract as it avoids creating contracts which favour either party.

Some Popular PPP Models used in e-Government Figure 4.1 shows a few of the popular models used in PPP for infrastructure projects.

Traditional procurement

PPPs Concessions Management Contracts Joint Ventures Design Build Finance & Operate Part-privatisation Private Finance Build Operate Transfer

Privatisation

More private-less public control

FIGURE 4.1

Models being used in PPP Projects

Table 4.1 shows the features, advantages and disadvantages of various PPP models.

(Contd.)

· Reduced owner control · Increased cost to incorporate desirable design feature or change contract in other ways once it has been ratified · More complex award procedure · Lower capital costs can be offset by higher operating and maintaining costs if life-cycle approach is not taken

· Access to private sector experience · Opportunities for innovation and cost savings · Flexibility in procurement · Opportunities for increased efficiency in construction · Reduction in construction time · Increased risk placed in private sector · Single point accountability for the owner

Most of the infrastructure and building projects including roads, highways, water and waste water treatment plants, sewer and water systems, arenas, swimming pools and local government facilities.

The local government contracts with the private partner to design and build a facility that conforms to the standards and conformance requirements of the local government. Once the facility has been built, the local government

2. Design– Build

Disadvantages · Collective agreements may not permit contacting out · Costs to re-enter service if contractor defaults · Reduced owner control and ability to respond to changing public demands

Advantages · Potential service quality and efficiency improvement · Cost savings · Flexibility in structuring contracts · Ownership vests with local government

Local Government Applications

The broad range of municipal service including water and waste water treatment plans, solid waste removal, road maintenance, park maintenance/landscape maintenance, arenas and other recreational facilities, parking facilities, sewer and storm sewer systems.

Features

The local government 1. Operation contracts with the and Maintenance private partner to operate and maintain a public owned facility.

Type of PPP

Table 4.1 Features, advantages and disadvantages of PPP models

54 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

· Places construction risk on the private partner · Proposal call can control design and location · Transfer of operating obligations can enhance construction quality · Potential public sector benefits from increased efficiency in private sector construction · Potential public sector benefits from increased efficiency in private sector operation of the facility · Construction can occur faster through fast-track construction techniques such as design build

· Public sector does not have to provide capital funding for the upgrade · Financial risk rests with the private partner · Public partner benefits from the

This form of public private partnership is applicable where public sector maintains a strong interest in ownership but seeks to benefit from private construction and operation of the facility. This would include most infrastructure facilities, including water and waste water treatment plants, arenas, golf course, swimming pools and local government buildings.

Most infrastructure and other public facilities including roads, water systems, sewer systems, water and wastewater treatment plants, and

A private partner finances and constructs in addition to an existing public facility. The private partner may then provide the addition to

4. Wrap Around Addition

· Fewer construction claims

The local government provides financing for the project but engage the private partner to design, construct and operate the facility for the specified period of time. Performance objectives are set by the public sector and private partner maintains ownership of the facility.

takes the ownership and is responsible for the operation of that facility.

3. Turn key Operations

(Contd.)

(Contd.)

· Future facility upgrades are not included in the contract may be difficult to incorporate at a later date · Expense involved in alteration of existing contract with the

· Reduced local government control over facility operations. · More complex award procedure · Increased cost to incorporate changes in design and operations once contract is completed · Depending upon the type of infrastructure, financing risk may be incurred by the local government

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5. Lease– Purchase

(Contd.)

The local government contracts with the private partner to design, finance and build a facility to provide a public service. The private partner then leases the service to the local government for a specific period after which the ownership vests with the local government. This approach may be taken when local government requires a new facility or

Can be used for capital assets such as buildings, vehicle fleets, water and wastewater treatment plants, solid waste facilities and computer equipment.

recreational facilities the facility for the specified period of time such as ice-arenas and swimming pools. or until the partner recovers the investment plus the reasonable return on the investment.

private partner · Perceived loss of control · More complex contract award procedure

(Contd.)

· Improved efficiency in construction · Reduction in control over service or infrastructure · Opportunity for innovation · Lease payments may be less than debt service costs · Assignment of operational risks to private sector developer · Improve service available to residents at a reduced cost. · Potential to develop a “pay for performance” lease

·

· ·

·

private partner’s experience in construction. Construction can occur faster through fast-track construction techniques such as design build. Flexibility for procurement Opportunities for increased efficiency in construction Time reduction in project implementation

56 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

service but may not be in a position of financing.

6. Temporary Ownership of an existing Privatisation facility is transferred to the private partner who improves and/or expands the facility. The facility is then owned and operated by the private partner specified in a contract or until the partner has recovered the investment plus the reasonable return.

(Contd.)

· If a contract is well structured with The model can be used the private partner the municipality for most infrastructure can retain control over standards and other public and performance without incurring facilities including the cost of ownership and roads, water systems, operation. sewer systems, water · The transfer of an asset can result in and wastewater a reduced cost of operations for a treatment plants, local government parking facilities, local · Private sector can potentially government buildings, provide the increased efficiency in airports and recreational construction and operation of the facilities such as arenas facility and swimming pools. · Access to private sector capital for construction and operations. · Operational risks rest with the private partner

(Contd.)

· Perceived or actual loss of control · Initial contract must be written well enough to address all future eventualities · Private sector must be able to determine the level of user fees, which may be set higher than when under local government control. · Difficulty in replacing private partner in the event of a bankruptcy or performance default. · Potential of local government to emerge as the provider of the service or the facility in the future. · Displacement of local government employees · Labour issue in transfer of local government employees to private partner

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The private partner leases or buys the service from the local government, expands or modernises it, then operates the facility under the contract with the local government. The private partner is expected to invest in facility expansion or improvement and is given specified period of time to recover the investment and realise a return.

The local government contracts the private

7. Lease– Develop– Operate or Buy– Develop– Operate

8. Build– Transfer–

(Contd.)

Most infrastructure and other public facilities

Most infrastructure and other public facilities including roads, water systems, sewer systems, water and wastewater treatment plants, parking facilities, local government buildings, airports and recreational facilities such as arenas and swimming pools.

· Perceived or actual loss of control over facility or infrastructure · Difficulty valuing assets for sale or lease · Issue of selling or leasing capital assets that have received grant funding · If a facility is sold to a private partner, failure risks exists- if failure occurs, the local government should reemerge as the provider of the service or the facility · Future upgrades to the facility may not be included in the contract and may be difficult to incorporate later

(Contd.)

· Public sector enjoys the benefit · Possible difficulty in replacing private sector construction expertise private sector entity or

· If a private sector is purchasing a facility, a significant cash infusion can occur for the local government · Public sector does not have to provide capital for upgrading · Financing risk can rest with the private partner · Opportunities exist for increased revenue generation for both the partners · Upgrade to facility or infrastructure may result I service quality improvement for the users · Public partner benefits from the private partner’s experience in construction · Opportunities for fast-track construction techniques such as design build · Flexibility for procurement · Opportunities for increased efficiency in construction · Time reduction in project implementation

58 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

Operate

(Contd.)

partner to finance and build the facility. Once completed, the private partner transfers the ownership to the local government. The local government then leases the facility back to the private partner under the long term lease under which the private partner has an opportunity to recover its investment and reasonable rate of return.

· Public sector enjoys the potential including roads, water benefits and cost saving private systems, sewer systems, sector operations water and wastewater · Public sector maintains the treatment plants, ownership of the asset parking facilities, local · Public sector ownership and government buildings, contracting out of operational limits airports and recreational any provincial and federal tax facilities such as arenas requirements and swimming pools. · Public sector maintains authority over the levels of service(s) and fees charged · Compared to a Build–Operate– Transfer model, avoids legal, regulatory and tort liability issues. · Under Occupiers’ Liability Act, tort liability can be avoided · Government control of operational performance, service standards and maintenance · Ability to terminate agreements if service levels or performance standards not met, although facility would continue the repayment of capital contributions and loans and introduction of new private partners

(Contd.)

termination agreements in event of bankruptcy or performance default

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9. Build–Own– The private sector obtains exclusive Operate– franchise to finance, Transfer build, operate, maintain, manage and collect user fees for a fixed period to amortise investment. At the end of the franchise, title reverts to the public authority.

(Contd.)

Most public infrastructure services and, water and wastewater systems, recreation facilities, airports, local government administration and operations buildings, parking facilities and solid waste management facilities.

· Maximise private sector financial resources, including capital cost allowance · Ensure the most effective and efficient facility is constructed, based on life cycle costs · Allows for a private sector operator for a predetermined period of time · The community is provided with a facility, without large up-front capital outlay and /or incurring the long term debt · All “start-up” problems are addressed by the private sector operator · Access to the private sector experience, management, equipment, innovation and labour relationships may result in cost saving · Risk shared with private sector

· Construction, design and architectural saving, and likely long term operational saving

(Contd.)

· Facility may transfer back to the public sector at the period when facility is “work” and operation costs are increasing · Public sector loses control over the capital construction and initial mode of operations · Initial contracts must be written sufficiently well to address all future eventualities · The private sector can determine the level(s) of user fees (unless the public sector subsidises use) · Less public control compared to Build–Transfer–Operate structure · Possible difficulty in replacing private sector partner or determining agreements if bankruptcy or performance default

60 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

10. Build–Own– The local government Operate either transfers ownership and responsibility of the existing facility or contracts with a private partner to build, own and operate a new facility perpetuity. The private partner generally provides the financing.

(Contd.)

Most public infrastructure services and, water and wastewater systems, recreation facilities, airports, local government administration and operations buildings, parking facilities and solid waste management facilities.

· No public sector involvement in either providing or operating the facility · Public sector can “regulate” the private sector’s delivery of the “regulated/monopolistic” service area · Private sector operates the service in the most efficient manner, both short-term and long-term · No public sector financing is required · Income tax and property tax revenues are generated on private facilities delivering a “public good” · Long term entitlement to operate facility is incentive for developer to invest significant capital

· The private sector may not operate/construct the building and/or service “in the public good” · The public sector has no mechanism to regulate the “price” of the service, unless it is a specifically regulated commodity · The good/service being delivered is subject to all federal/provincial and municipal tax regulations · No competition, therefore necessary to make rules and regulations for operations and to control pricing

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61

62 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies The following are the popular models used in PPP for e-government projects.

Operate and Maintain In this case, the private player operates and maintains a government owned facility. The private player earns user fee as the revenue in most cases. Government could also support in providing revenue. This model has the advantage that ownership complexities are less and still, the expertise of the private partner is exploited. An example from India is the e-SEVA project of Government of Andhra Pradesh. It has now come under this model after its BOOT model process was fulfilled.

Build–Own–Operate The selected partner designs, builds and operates the project generally at its own cost for a specified period. The revenue sources could be user fee or government grants and subsidies. This model is most appropriate for setting up physical infrastructure for delivering services to citizens. It is usually applied to e-government projects using a reliable and time-tested model of earning revenue. The common service centre (CSC) projects of the Government of India under the National e-Government Plan (NeGP) is a good example of this model. CSCs are telecentres set up under the government programmes. Under this initiative a private party is supposed to set up and maintain CSCs while the government provides them with revenue support for the first four years. CSCs in India rolled out under the National eGovernment Plan follow this model.

Build–Own–Operate–Transfer (BOOT) The private player builds, owns, and operates the facility for a specified period after which the title reverts to the public authority. This maximises private sector involvement and ensures the most effective and efficient construction of the facility desired. The revenue could be collected by way of user fee. This model is used generally where the ICT assets are expected to outlast the concession period. The e-Seva initiative of Government of Andhra Pradesh in India initially followed this model. After the BOOT requirements were fulfilled, the assets were transferred to the government of Andhra Pradesh which then put this under the operate and maintain model.

Application Service Provider In this model, the government avails the services of the private partner at mutually agreed service levels. The revenue model is typically transaction based. It is used for providing technologies that are not complex and the time taken to provide the service is short.

Public–Private Partnership (PPP) for e-Government

4.4

63

ARCHITECTURE OF e-GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE

The architecture of e-government, as shown in Figure 4.2, would help decide the dimensions of PPP model for e-government projects as it shows the various levels for which the ownership issue is critical and needs to be addressed. Details of this architecture will be discussed in detail in the chapter on Government Datacentres. Service Access

Service Registry Repository

Portal Server

Service Registry Repository

Service Delivery Service Registry Repository

Message Queue

Studio Creator Enterprise Designer

Access Manager

Enterprise Manager

eInsight ESB

Federation Manager

Service Interface Access Manager

Composite Application

eVision Studio

Identity Manager

Composite Application Platform

eView Studio

Service Integration Platform eBAM Studio

eInsight BPM

eQay intelligent Adapters

Message Queue

Application Server

ePortal Composer eInsight BPM

eXchange Integrator

eTL Integrator

Identity Auditor eGate Integrator

Application Service Platform Portal Server

Web Server

Service Control

Service Composition

Studio Enterprise

Web Server

Management Centre N1 System Manager

Directory Server

Infrastructure Service Platform UNIX

LINUX

Windows

Cloud Provisioning

Computational Infrastructure (Servers and Storage) Networks and Connectivity

FIGURE 4.2

4.5

Architecture of e-Government

DIMENSIONS OF PPP

Key Dimensions of PPP Contracts Ownership issue is one of the biggest challenges faced by PPP contracts today, especially in case of e-government projects. Ownership in infrastructure projects is easier to decide due to tangibility of the end product. But in case of e-government, which is service oriented, accountability and responsibility are more difficult to allocate. The list below shows some dimensions where ownership of risk and reward should be decided at the contractual stage. This list is not exhaustive but only indicative. Each project will have its unique requirements and hence the PPP dimensions will be unique for each project.

64 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Creation of the relevant dimensions of PPP for a project before its initiation would help in ensuring that the desired outcomes of the project are achieved.

PPP Dimensions 1. Technology dimensions · Network · Database server · Operating system · Database · Data · Application server · Applications · Website content 2. Geographical dimensions · Central level assets · State level assets · District level assets · Local administrative level assets such as at Taluka/Block/Mandal levels and citizen facing assets such as PCs. 3. Force Majeure · Responsibility to resume services within specified period · Loss of revenues due to stalling of operations 4. Financial dimension · Revenue model o Who is responsible for generation of revenues? · User fee o Who decides the amount of user fee? o Time period for collection · Revenue support by government · Performance security o Who bears the risk of paying performance security for nonperformance of the project? 5. Event-based dimension · Penalty due to default on payment to the government · Penalty due to default on payment of revenue support by the government to the private party 6. Organisational dimension · Recruitment of additional workforce for the initiative · Salaries for the additional workforce recruited

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· Training o Government staff o Village level entrepreneurs o Staff at kiosks o Staff of supplying vendors who are part of the service supply-chain · All liabilities of additional workforce (provident fund, health insurance, and so on) 7. Monitoring and evaluation · Meeting deadlines to operate the initiative · Audit and financial management · Inspection of the implementation

Technology Dimension Technology dimension primarily includes the risk involving the network, the database server, the operating system, the database, the data, the application server, the applications and the citizen-facing Website content. This would also include the responsibility of the relevant staff, and hardware and software infrastructure for the technology stack mentioned above. Hence, it is important to determine who owns these components and who is responsible for their operation and maintenance, thus defining the ownership of technology risks in a PPP initiative.

Geographical Dimension Geographical dimension primarily includes the ownership of assets at various geographical locations which can be Central, state, district or local administrative office level assets. In a typical e-government project, the end-to-end delivery system would include IT assets being rolled out at various points of the government supply chain. Hence, again it is important to clearly mark out the ownership of risks involved with these assets for a successful PPP project.

Force Majeure Dimensions Force Majeure dimension lays down the various responsibilities that may arise due to unforeseen circumstances such as acts of nature (floods, earthquakes and so on). Such responsibilities may include (and hence the costs involved) to resume services within a stipulated period along with the extension of contract to enable the recovery of losses.

Financial Dimensions Financial dimension, as the name indicates, focuses on the financial issues of PPP. It specifies the responsibilities for financial issues such as revenue model,

66 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies user fees, revenue support by the government, and even the performance security that the private sector partner has to put in besides the usual financial parameters such as amount of government subsidy, and grants and soft loans by government. It may also include finer issues like rights to advertisements through the proposed e-government solution, the types of advertisements, and the space allocated for these on the website.

Organisational Dimensions Many PPP projects run into problems because they overlook the organisational issues and do not specify the parties responsible for the various organisational issues involved with a PPP e-government initiative. It is critical to plan and assign responsibilities of organisational issues such as training of the workforce and recruitment, payment of salaries, and all other liabilities of the additional workforce.

Monitoring and Evaluation Dimensions Finally, it is important to determine the parameters for monitoring and evaluation of the project and to assign responsibilities. Many projects fail to produce the desired outcome because of improper or insufficient monitoring and evaluation during its execution and the urgencies and emergencies that crop up during the implementation divert the attention of the stakeholders from trying to attain the outcome of the project to merely trying to finish the project. For example, there are projects on IT education in schools where the monitoring is on the uptime of the computers and the connectivity but they do not monitor the number of students getting education in and their proficiency in IT. This could potentially lead to a situation where the project is “running” fine since all the computers and connectivity are working satisfactorily but due to lack of trained teachers, no student is getting education in IT.

4.6

ISSUES CONSTRAINING PPP IN e-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA

PPPs are complex and its procurement process is even more complex. There is evidence that if done well, PPPs can provide significant benefits to the public sector and taxpayers. However, if the project is poorly procured, then given the generally long-term nature of such contracts, the public sector will suffer the consequences for many years to come. There is need for more coordinated and concerted action at the national level. Governments need to demonstrate greater understanding and political will, develop appropriate policy and legislative frameworks where necessary, and commit resources to developing institutional capacity. Since PPP in e-government has still not matured, it is critical to have ratings for the private partners in PPP and to have legislative support for the PPP initiatives.

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PPP Rating It is important to have a rating agency for rating the private player as well as the PPP contract. Such rating would facilitate selection of appropriate PPP partners as well as in unlocking the value of a PPP initiative by better valuation in the capital markets. Rating of Private Players It has been observed that private parties enter into PPP initiatives with questionable calculations about the profitability of the venture. These firms sometimes indulge in financial engineering like leveraging their increase in valuation due to the market’s perceived increase in value of the firm due to the firm getting the PPP deal. This “increase” in the valuation of the firm is then used to raise capital from the market to subsidise the operational cost of a PPP initiative. Thus in a least subsidy bid for a PPP project, such firms could end up asking for the least subsidy. However, this is not sustainable as the capital market would eventually understand the true value of the PPP initiative and would therefore withdraw capital from the firm, thus jeopardizing the PPP initiative. Moreover, it is impossible to put all the possible clauses of a PPP initiative in any single contract. Hence the desirable behaviour of the private party is left to the spirit rather than the letter of the contract. Therefore, having a rating of the private players based on their past behaviour in similar PPP initiatives would be useful while shortlisting of the private player in a PPP initiative. The rating could be given on the basis of the following parameters (the list is not exhaustive): · Financial stability · Quality of service · Timely delivery of service · Adherence to the terms of contract · Abiding by the constitution Rating of PPP Contract Rating of a PPP contract helps in unlocking the value of the PPP initiative in the capital market. In most cases, a PPP initiative in e-government gives a monopoly to the PPP consortium and hence there is tremendous value that is created through PPP. However, in the absence of an agency that could rate the PPP initiative, it is difficult for firms to go through conventional rating agencies since these are not equipped to rate such PPP initiatives. In the UK, Fitch ratings has proposed a mechanism to rate PPP contracts. The various parameters proposed in Fitch ratings are:

68 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Construction risk · Credit risk of payer · Market risk · Legal framework and government support · Operations/performance risk and contractual structure · Financial and sensitivity analysis This kind of a credit rating mechanism also helps in judging the contracts on an objective basis taking into account the various dimensions mentioned in the previous section. Contracts with good credit rating could be a sample for future contracts. This would also help strengthen the trust of the citizens in PPP contracts.

4.7

PROPOSED REGULATION ON PPP

As we notice from the case studies given at the end of this chapter, PPPs are typically loaded against the private player. The government has no SLAs. It has been observed in many cases that in an e-government PPP, if the private player makes too high a profit after taking the risk of taking up the project, the government renegotiates the deal so that the private party’s profits are reduced. On the other hand, if the private party starts making losses because of less than estimated uptake of the services, the government does not offer to renegotiate the deal. This leads to a very lopsided arrangement. Moreover, it is not clear as to who is responsible for any harm that may come to citizens or businesses due to faulty delivery of government services. Will the private party be responsible for the damage? Or will it be the government, as the citizens or business entities finally see the government as the primary agency for delivery of the services. Hence, there is a clear need for regulations for PPP initiatives in order to protect the interests of all stakeholders involved. Currently there is no single regulatory authority for PPP projects pertaining to infrastructure or e-government. This kind of authority is needed to provide a framework that encourages private players to enter into such contracts and to protect the interests of all stakeholders of such PPP projects. At the same time, caution has to be maintained, for such a regulatory body should not lead to problems arising out of over-regulation that stifles PPP initiatives. It should ensure that the contracts should not put undue pressure on the private player in terms of unreasonable penalties. Government should be made equally responsible and accountable for any lapse on its part. The authority should enable the government to understand the value and balance the concerns of the operator; availability and accessibility of the developed infrastructure and distribution of the economic benefits created. An example from India is a regulatory agency with similar authority as proposed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to the Government of India (GoI) for a

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project to support the work of PPP cells at the central and state levels. The support is designed to: 1. Enhance capacity of PPP cells in participating entities to prepare, evaluate, and appraise PPPs in infrastructure. 2. Significantly improve monitoring of overall progress of PPPs in infrastructure through well-knit databases. 3. Increase awareness among potential private sector partners about the cycle of PPP projects in infrastructure and the expectations of government with respect to value for money. Such regulatory bodies will go a long way in ensuring greater participation in PPP initiatives and in higher success rates of such initiatives.

SUMMARY PPPs in e-government provide potential solutions to the constraints faced by the government. They help in tapping into the skills of the private sector to deliver government services in a more professional manner, which is essential for providing government services efficiently. However, private sector needs to be encouraged in order to increase their participation in PPP e-Government projects. This can be done by adopting a more scientific and private-sector-friendly mechanism for selecting the private party and in formulating and monitoring the PPP contract. Hence, the contracts need to be analysed on the basis of scientific dimensions as mentioned above. The ownership of each of the identified dimensions should be decided a priori. This would enhance the confidence of the private partner and motivate it further to meet government goals. Also, a PPP rating or regulatory agency for the private party and for the contract itself would be extremely helpful in supporting the PPP initiatives. These initiatives would also help in enhancing the trust of the citizens in the newly introduced private players as providers of government services.

KEY TERMS Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) Collaborative arrangements between government and private sector entities with the aim of introducing private sector resources and expertise to provide public infrastructure, community facilities and related services. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) The part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined. In practice, the term SLA is sometimes used to refer to the contracted delivery time (of the service) or performance. Social overhead Capital spent on social infrastructure, such as schools, universities, hospitals, and libraries. Megacities Open source

Metropolitan areas with a total population in excess of 1 million people. Computer software for which the source code is freely available.

70 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies PPP rating A tool to assess the PPP worthiness of an individual, corporation, or even a country. PPP ratings are calculated from financial history, current assets and liabilities and past behaviour of the agency in a PPP initiative.

CASE STUDIES Case Study 1 The PPP dimensions mapped onto the Master Service Agreement between the Government of Jharkhand (GoJ) and Jharkhand Agency for the Promotion of Information Technology, and Messrs United Telecom Ltd. / e-Gov. Services (P) Ltd. Consortium (SCA). As per this contract, the SCA shall develop, design, build, roll out, establish, manage, operate and maintain, and finance the Common Service Centres (CSCs). The CSCs would be utilised by the GoJ to provide services, information and schemes to the citizens in an efficient and sustainable manner. The various dimensions mentioned above have been mapped onto this contract. As can be seen, all the dimensions have not been mentioned in the contract, which has left the scope of defining the contract with greater objectivity. This would enable a better partnership and reduce the chances of default by either party or termination of contract. PPP dimension 1. Technology Stack · Network

Ownership

Operation and maintenance

Private party

Private party

· Database server

Private party

Private party

· Operating system · Database

Private party Private party

Private party Private party

· Data

Government

Private party

· Application server · Applications

Private party Private party

Private party Private party

· Website content

Private party

Private party

2. Geographical dimension · Central level assets · State level assets · District level assets · Taluka/Block/Mandal level assets 3. Force Majeure · Responsibility to resume services within specified period · Loss of revenues due to stalling of operations

Not applicable

Not applicable

Private party

Private party

Private party Private party

Private party Private party

Private party

Private party

Private party

Private party

Public–Private Partnership (PPP) for e-Government 4. Financial dimension · Revenue model Private party Who is responsible for the generation of revenue?

Private party

· User fee Government Who decides the amount of user fee? Time period for collection

Government

· Revenue support by government

Competitive bidding

Competitive bidding

· Performance security Who bears the risk of paying performance security for non performance of the project?

Private party

Private party

· Penalty due to default on payment to the government

Private party

Private party

· Penalty due to default on payment of revenue support by the government to the private party

None

None

· Recruitment of additional workforce for the initiative

Private party

Private party

· Salaries for the additional workforce recruited

Private party

Private party

Private party

Private party

Private party

Private party

5. Event-based dimension

6. Organisational dimension

Training Government staff Village level entrepreneurs Staff at kiosks Staff of supplying vendors who are part of the service supply-chain · All liabilities of additional workforce (provident fund, health insurance, and so on)

71

72 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 7. Monitoring and evaluation

Government

Government

· Meeting deadlines to operate the initiative · Audit and financial management · Inspection of the implementation

Case Study 2 Request for proposal for selection of implementation agency for establishment of State Portal, Data Centre and Citizen Service Centres by the National Institute of Smart Government for Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of Goa. A similar study has been performed on this contract. In this case, the public player is financing the entire project but the private player is supposed to operate and maintain the same. As per the RFP (request for proposal), all the essential dimensions have not been addressed which leaves a hiatus for misinterpretations and lack of clarity of ownership of various dimensions. PPP dimension

Ownership

Operation and maintenance

· Network

Government

Private party

· Database server

Private party

Private party

· Operating system

Private party

Private party

· Database

Private party

Private party

· Data

Government

Private party

· Application server

Private party

Private party

· Applications

Private party

Private party

· Website content

Private party

Private party

· Central level assets

Not applicable

Not applicable

· State level assets

Private party

Private party

· District level assets

Private party

Private party

· Taluka/Block/Mandal level assets

Private party

Private party

· Responsibility to resume services within specified period

Private party

Private party

· Loss of revenues due to stalling of operations

Private party

Private party

1. Technology Stack

2. Geographical dimension

3. Force Majeure

Public–Private Partnership (PPP) for e-Government 4. Financial dimension · Revenue model Private party Who is responsible for the generation of revenue?

Private party

· User fee Government Who decides the amount of user fee? Time period for collection

Government

· Revenue support by government

Competitive bidding

Competitive bidding

· Performance security Who bears the risk of paying performance security for non performance of the project?

Private party

Private party

· Penalty due to default on payment to the government

Private party

Private party

· Penalty due to default on payment of revenue support by the government to the private party

None

None

· Recruitment of additional workforce for the initiative

Private party

Private party

· Salaries for the additional workforce recruited

Private party

Private party

· Training

Private party

Private party

Private party

Private party

5. Event-based dimension

6. Organisational dimension

Government staff Village level entrepreneurs Staff at kiosks Staff of supplying vendors who are part of the service supply-chain · All liabilities of additional workforce (provident fund, health insurance, and so on)

73

74 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 7. Monitoring and evaluation

Government

Government

· Meeting deadlines to operate the initiative · Audit and financial management · Inspection of the implementation

Case Study 3 MCA 21 Project - An initiative of the Ministry of Company Affairs and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) led consortium. This aims of launching an online portal is to provide electronic filing service to its stakeholders. TCS has been given a six-year contract under the Build–Operate– Own–Transfer (BOOT) model of PPP. MCA serves over 200,000 companies in India through its 35 field offices located mainly in the state capitals. PPP dimension

Ownership

Operation and maintenance

1. Technology Stack · Network

Government

Private party

· Database server · Operating system

Government Government

Private party Private party

· Database

Government

Private party

· Data · Application server

Government Government

Private party Private party

· Applications

Government

Private party

Government

Private party

· Central level assets

Government

Not applicable

· State level assets · District level assets

Government Government

Private party Private party

· Taluka/Block/Mandal level assets

Government

Private party

· Responsibility to resume services within specified period

Private party

Private party

· Loss of revenues due to stalling of operations

Private party

Private party

· Revenue model Private party Who is responsible for the generation of revenue?

Private party

· Website content 2. Geographical dimension

3. Force Majeure

4. Financial dimension

Public–Private Partnership (PPP) for e-Government · User fee Government Who decides the amount of user fee? Time period for collection

Government

· Revenue support by government

Competitive bidding

Competitive bidding

· Performance security Who bears the risk of paying performance security for non performance of the project?

Private party

Private party

· Penalty due to default on payment to the government

Private party

Private party

· Penalty due to default on payment of revenue support by the government to the private party

None

None

· Recruitment of additional workforce for the initiative

Private party

Private party

· Salaries for the additional workforce recruited

Private party

Private party

· Training

Private party

Private party

Private party

Private party

Government

Government

5. Event-based dimension

6. Organisational dimension

Government staff Village level entrepreneurs Staff at kiosks Staff of supplying vendors who are part of the service supply-chain · All liabilities of additional workforce (provident fund, health insurance, and so on) 7. Monitoring and evaluation · Meeting deadlines to operate the initiative

75

76 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Audit and financial management · Inspection of the implementation

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) TCS has SLAs with the ministry in the following four major areas: · Connectivity service level · Availability of software · Availability of hardware · Support service level

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the need for PPP in e-government. 2. What are the key challenges faced by PPP in e-government? 3. Discuss the dimensions of PPP in e-government that should be kept in mind while formulating a PPP initiative. 4. What is the need for an independent regulatory body and legislative support for PPP in e-government?

BIBLIOGRAPHY ‘Canadian Public Private Partnership’, A source for local government. 4Ps: UK Local Government Procurement Agency. Facilitating Public Private Partnership for accelerated infrastructure development in India, Asian Development Bank. PPP-PFI: UK Market Trends and Fitch Rating Criteria for European PPP Transactions – An analysis by Fitch Ratings. A guidebook on Operation and Maintenance Service Contracts, Portland Energy Conservation Inc.

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5 Policy Approach for Adoption of Appropriate ICT Technologies Objectives · To learn about the methodology to analyse the policy framework for adoption of ICT standards · To learn about global issues in IT adoption · To learn about the economic and the legal impact with relation to IPRs · To analyse in detail the global scenario for policies in the adoption of IT

5.1

INTRODUCTION

The choice of ICT is critical for a modern nation as ICT permeates into all aspects of modern society, from agriculture to education to health and industry. Therefore, it is imperative to have an appropriate policy on the choice of ICTs. An important component of ICT policy is the choice of appropriate technology standards. A technical standard is an established norm or requirement. It is usually a formal document that establishes uniform engineering or technical criteria, methods, processes and practices. A technical standard can also be a controlled artifact or similar formal means used for calibration. A standard can be developed privately or unilaterally, for example by a corporation, regulatory body, military, and so on. Standards can also be developed by groups such as trade unions and trade associations. Standards organisations usually have more diverse input and usually develop voluntary standards. These might become mandatory if adopted by a government, business contract, and so on. The standardisation process may be by edict or may involve the formal consensus of technical experts. The issue of a holistic ICT policy becomes even more severe when we observe that globally nations and firms are trying to convert technologies on which they have an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) into standards, thus forcing

78 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies their monopoly on economies and extracting unfair and undue economic benefits from manipulation of the global IPR and standards regimes. This is being popularly referred to as Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). TBT also includes other mechanisms of international unfair trade practices by using technological barriers. Besides ensuring permeation of ICT within the society with no unfair benefits to those who control the technology, governments would also be interested in the following usages of ICT: · Stimulating geographic efficiencies and economic development · Ensuring access to public documents and information · Avoiding lock-in to specific vendor or proprietary solutions · Establishing their place on a global stage Recognizing the contemporary value and importance of e-government practices, many governments have initiated very large e-governance programs. Therefore an appropriate choice of technology will ensure that the country saves considerably in the long run while implementing e-government. Many technologies are being touted which may initially seem to be cheap but because of the vendor lock-in phenomenon, are in reality extremely expensive in the long run. Evolving appropriate technology standards and adoption of these for various components of e-governance is indeed of high priority and is critical to the success of e-governance programs. Having realised this, many governments such as those of South Africa, Brazil, India and many other countries are encouraging multiple agencies to get involved in e-government initiatives and in helping in setting up and maintaining appropriate standards in e-government applications. Thus, standards have become a matter of great concern and importance. The ICT standards help the government by playing a pivotal role in stimulating innovation, creating value, helping in effective procurement and reducing the regulatory burden. They also contribute significantly by increasing trade, improving efficiencies and mitigating operational risk. The standards are developed through formal (for example International Standards Organisation) or informal (for example consortia) frameworks and in all cases capture and disseminate best practice. This chapter will use the framework shown in Figure 5.1 to discuss and analyse the issue of appropriate technology standard for e-governance. Global Issues of Information Technology

FIGURE 5.1

Dimensions of Technology Adoption

Appropriate Policy Decision on Technology

Methodology for Identifying Formulating Technology Policy Decisions

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79

This chapter uses the terms ICT(s) and technology(ies) interchangeably, with the two terms having the same meaning in this book.

5.2

GLOBAL ISSUES OF IT ADOPTION

The economic and legal impacts of IPRs, TBTs and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) are critical for ICT adoption by a country. The economic and legal impact of IPR, TBT and TRIPs arises because related technologies are adopted as a standard thus forcing unfair royalty payments to be made by the country. Hence even though the standards adopted by a country should be aligned to international standards they also need to be adapted to local requirements and should ensure that no unfair royalty payments are made.

5.2.1

Economic Impact with Relation to IPRs, TBTs and TRIPs

Standards form the basis of economic framework related to technology trade. The aim of standardisation is to enhance productivity and facilitate international trade. As the coordinating organisation of world trade, the WTO has specifically formulated the “Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)”, which encourages WTO members to use international standards. The WTO–TBT agreement has the following provisions: · Allows for simplification of trade and removes obstacles to trade. · Reduces need for changing design and manufacturing processes to meet national requirements, thereby reducing complexity and cost. · Provides greater choice and understanding for customers. However, players in the market tend to use standards to get unfair monopolistic access to markets and then use the excessive profits to create more IPR which is pushed through as new sets of standards through either their own monopolistic presence in the market or through international standardisation bodies. Simultaneously, the older standards are unilaterally withdrawn from the market, forcing the consumers to switch to the new standards, at a significant cost to the consumer and to the national economy. With the withdrawing of the older standards much of the existing hardware becomes automatically obsolete leading to considerable generation of e-waste. Hence the combination of IPR and standards can give undue economic benefit to large monopoly players, without any significant value addition to the economic process. Economic benefits not only include the direct cost savings as a result of adopting open standards but also the wealth created in terms of value addition and knowledge gain. Delayed or inadequate IPR disclosure, stringent IPR licensing condition and expensive licensing fees run counter to fair competition, hinder the promotion and application of new technologies, obstruct the normal

80 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies operation of international trade and impede the harmonious development of global economy and society. Developing countries are worst hit by such problems which effectively hinders their greater participation in economic globalisation leading to a wider gap between them and developed countries and a more serious economic and trade imbalance. That is why the TRIPs agreement requires WTO members to protect IPR on the one hand, and allows members to lawfully regulate abuse of IPR and anti-competitive behaviours. As IPRs included in a proprietary standard are held by the organisation developing it, competing firms have no access to it or it costs disproportionate amounts for the usage. Organisations file blanket patents on an emerging technology that is out of reach of developing countries. Such multiple patents are put in a manner that prevents late joiners from being able to find any niche of making new contribution to the area without violating the patents already filed in. Quite often the patents are trivial in nature. For example, the submarine patents on MPEG4 by Philips and Sony can actually be done by any engineering student in a different manner. These patented technologies are then pushed in as global standards by the organisation, using platforms such as ISO, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc (IEEE), and so on. None of these standards bodies are concerned about the standards being royalty free and hence a regime is introduced, wherein globally users are forced to use the standards whose technology is patented and to pay unreasonable and undue royalties to the companies holding the patents. Thus the regime is being misused to indulge in anti-trust (monopolistic) practices. This is very similar to digital colonisation. This framework is captured in Figure 5.2. Anti Trust

Standardisation

Patent Licence

FIGURE 5.2 Analytic Model of Triangle Relation

Sometimes instead of going through the patent route companies use their predominant position in the market to drive in standards and indulge in antitrust practices by misusing the standards processes. The world needs to move from the old globalisation to the new globalisation just as it did from colonisation as a mechanism for globalisation in the 19th century. The old globalisation is a closed, monopolised and declining system that is detrimental

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to the emerging economies, while the new globalisation is an open, competitive and balanced system that allows emerging economies to benefit from the innovations in technology (ref Table 5.1). Table 5.1

Comparison contents Objective of the policy

Old Globalisation vs New Globalisation

Old globalisation Takes advantage of globalisation and promotes undue monopoly benefits

New globalisation Promotes one’s own benefits but at the same time ensures fair play

Who leads technological Monopoly enterprises give Should come from innovation priority to own development different levels, regions and block others’ innovations and countries Conflict or collaborate

Often conflicts come first, followed by collaboration

Collaboration is the priority

New globalisation: · Balance between individual and public benefit. · Participation from developing countries and its enterprises for truly global public benefits and elimination of monopoly in international standards. It is obvious that the world should support the new globalisation just as it supported the post-colonization era. It costs a developing country roughly US $ 1.5 million to 2 million just to build the minimum infrastructure to implement TRIP. This is in stark contrast to the US that has a Patent and Trademark office with an annual budget of US $1 billion and a staff of more than 3,000 highly trained scientists, engineers and legal experts to examine claims and highly trained judges to examine disputes. This mismatch and anomaly between the third world countries and the developed nations cannot be resolved immediately. Developing countries have maintained that the standard of patent protection should rise naturally over time as countries develop rather than being forced up prematurely. A very good example of the devastating effect of the current IPR regime is the case of the DVD manufacturers in China who have to pay royalty charges on each DVD player manufactured, that is to the tune of 33 percent of the retail price of the DVD player, for a video format standard that is used ($20 royalty on a player of $60)

Value Addition and Wealth Creation Access to ICTs is not enough, it is the ability to create, to add value that is important. – Felipe Gonzalez, Former Spanish Prime Minister

82 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies The opportunity to “create and add value” provided by appropriate open standard is particularly important for developing countries and other economically disadvantaged communities. Mere access limits them to the role of passive consumers in the knowledge economy. The ability to participate and create in an open standard regime transforms them into active participants and provides them economic benefit out of this participation which would otherwise have gone to individual nations or firms that are based outside the country. The use of open standard creates a platform to provide a participative environment that enables local firms and individuals to create; it increases the earning capacity of community participants without any undue large investment in training and is perhaps a novel form of technology transfer. Open standards allow the developers to be members of communities and learn new skills collaboratively without any explicit payments. These skills help them in getting jobs or creating and sustaining small businesses. Thus open standards are an excellent means of reducing the digital divide and also aid in value addition.

5.2.2

Legal Impact with Relation to IPRs

IPR issues in standardisation have always been the focus of the international community. Many countries and international organisations are stepping up efforts to study and formulate relevant policies that define the responsibilities, rights and benefits of IPR holders and standard enforcers. By doing this, they want to ensure conformance to the TRIPs agreement. The WTO TBT Annexure 3, Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Applications of Standards, Section F states that “Where international standards exist or their completion is imminent, the standardising body shall use them, or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for the standards it develops, except where such international standards or relevant parts would be ineffective or inappropriate, for instance, because of an insufficient level of protection or fundamental climatic or geographical factors or fundamental technological problems”. This code of good practice ensures that duplication of standards developed to achieve similar purposes is avoided and what emerges is a harmonised single standard which aides true interoperability natively. Intellectual property laws and enforcement vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. There are inter-governmental efforts to harmonise them through international treaties such as the 1994 WTO Agreement on TRIPs. Various issues like the enforcement of copyright and the disagreements over medical and software patents, have so far prevented the emergence of a cohesive international system. China’s stand on the issue of IPR is captured in the statement of Cao Jianming, Vice-President of the Supreme People’s Court: “Chinese IPR laws are in sync

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with the international IPR laws but when they are not, China will give priority to international conventions that are directly applicable to domestic IPR case trials”. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has been criticised, including in The Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, 2004 which argued that WIPO should “focus more on the needs of developing countries, and to view IP as one of many tools for development, not as an end in itself” because WIPO embraced a culture of creating and expanding monopoly privileges, often without regard to consequences. In the Spundfass case, a barrel with screw caps, protected by a patent, had turned into the industrial standard for chemical deliveries due to an agreement within the chemical industry. The owner of the patent produced such barrels himself and had granted licenses to third parties but refused such a license to the German affiliate of an Italian competitor. The Spundfass case underlines the need for appropriate regulation of technology used as a standard and ensures that monopolies are not generated, even if the standard is based on a patent. The principle of this stand is that the technology became a standard because of market demand and hence the laws that govern the market should be applicable to the standard that drives the market and hence should ensure that no single firm gets undue monopolistic advantage. The Federal Court of Justice of Germany found for a general obligation to grant a license based on Article 20 Section 1 of “Against Restricting Competition Law”, since a license was indispensable for being active in the market. The patent holder was, therefore, obliged to create further competition for himself. The crucial point was that the licensee depended on a standard that not only emerged from the invention of the patentee but also from the market. The purpose of the country conferring IPRs to somebody is to promote innovation and technology diffusion. The refusal to permit entry in the market, as in Spundfass case, was to prevent competitors from entering the market. If Spundfass case had occurred in the United States, the court would have made a similar judgment. According to Article 2 of “Sherman Antitrust Act”, attempted monopolisation is illegal. However, if Spundfass case occurred in China, since there is no systematic anti monopoly law, it is very difficult for China’s courts or other law enforcement agencies to deal with difficult cases. According to the Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practice (MRTP) Act of India 1969, any practice which results in a monopoly or leads to restrictive trade should be prohibited. This was brought into action to ensure fair competition where any single player does not get undue advantage. The government has the right and responsibility to prevent and abolish such trade practices for the good of the country and the economy as a whole in India. Although India has a robust MRTP act that should prevent such a misuse of technology, in practice, there are no well-known cases where MRTP has been

84 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies used to prevent monopolies being created based on technologies that have become de facto or de jure standard. For example, the wordprocessing software market in India is dominated by one single foreign firm, Microsoft, whose monopoly is based on its antitrust practices and misuse of its document format standard that is not an open standard. Even if it is made open, it cannot be used to create a competing solution because of the size of the standard. However, this case has not yet been challenged in the Indian courts under MRTP due to lack of awareness and also due to the dominant position of Microsoft in the Indian firm that deters it from challenging Microsoft’s anti-trust business practice and getting into litigation. In a similar situation, in 2004 European Union (EU) slapped a fine of Euro 497 million on Microsoft for anti-trust practices in its Windows Operating System. The case was filed because of complaints from rival companies which accused the software colossus of indulging in anti-trust practices. EU ruled that Microsoft had broken European law by abusing its quasi monopoly in personal computer operating systems to thwart rivals. On January 24, 2003, Cisco Company prosecuted China’s Huawei Company and its subsidiaries for violating their intellectual property in the United States. This is similar to the Germany Spundfass case since Cisco gets a quasimonopoly in the relevant market by source code of software and technology file, and occupies a market share of 80 percent in the router market. Chinese enterprises need the anti-monopoly law to protect their rights to participate in market competition. Cisco Systems v. Huawei, Germany Spundfass and Philips patent cases are the challenges to current Chinese legal system. They are similarly a challenge to all developing countries including India.

5.3

GLOBAL SCENARIO

Many countries such as China, Japan, Brazil and USA, among others, have developed specific strategies for ensuring sustainable absorption of technology by having IPR policies favourable to its economy.

5.3.1

Experience of China

“The Chinese government is opposed to abusing IPR agreement and rules to exercise technical monopoly” – Premier Wen Jiabao, People’s Republic of China This clearly states China’s take on Standards where they will not allow the monopoly game to be played and will ensure a fair play thereby promoting innovation and preventing vendor lock-in.

Philips Patent A group of Chinese DVD player manufacturers had filed a class action against the western consortium, 3C DVD Patent Group, who own most of the patents related to the DVD technology. These patents are created in hordes in such a

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manner that it is impossible to circumvent these patents if the standards related DVD players are used (ref Figure 5.3). The conflict started when in 2002, Philips took the matter to courts in the US and in the EU, threatening to ban imports of unlicensed DVD players from China. Philips had waited for the Chinese manufacturers to invest millions of dollars into the manufacturing facility before they brought up this issue, thus forcing most of the Chinese manufacturers and the 3C alliance fork a deal in order to save the investments that had already been sunk in. As part of the deal, the manufacturers were forced to part with over 33 percent of the retail value of the DVD player, to be given to 3C for contributing nothing to the production of the DVD players. The fixed royalty fee decided is as $20 for each DVD player sold. But as DVD players’ prices plummeted, the fixed fee is now almost half of the average wholesale price for basic DVD players. Chinese companies affected by the lawsuit filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of California, accuse 3C alliance of price-fixing, unlawful tying of essential and non-essential patents together, group boycott and conspiracy to monopolise. The Chinese companies say that typically US patent licensing fees for other products are between three and five percent of the item’s wholesale price, compared to 50 percent for DVD players. DVD Audio Player A DVD Audio Player

DVD Audio Player B DVD Audio Player C

DVD-ROM Player DVD Audio Disk A DVD Audio Disk B1 Patent Pool

DVD Audio Disk DVD Audio Disk B2 DVD Video Player

DVD Audio Disk B3

Single Layer DVD-ROM Disk Dual Layer Single Layer DVD Video Disk Dual Layer

FIGURE 5.3 Patent Pool of 3C Alliance

As a reaction to the above events, Prof. Zhang Ping of Beijing University had applied to China’s State Intellectual Property Office to cancel Philips’ patent in December 2005. Consequently, Philips settled their DVD intellectual property claims with five Chinese professors including Prof. Zhang Ping. Philips agreed to remove a China-developed patent from the DVD patent list. Philips

86 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies announced that it will no longer charge royalties from Chinese DVD player manufacturers for using Philips’ own patent on the same technique. Table 5.2 Patent Family Statistical Table

Quantity

Patent holder

Quantity of patent family

DVD ROM player Philips

212

11

LG

4

3

Pioneer

29

5

Sony

58

6

DVD Video player Philips

398

19

LG

36

10

Pioneer

202

46

SONY

152

14

The point to note in DVD ROM Player patents is that there are 25 patent families having a total of 303 patents, or an average of over 12 patents per family (ref Table 5.2). This situation has arisen due to unethically tying essential and non-essential patents together and when several patents are filed and woven around a patent to have a complete hold over the technology. Similarly, in the case of DVD player we can see that there are 89 patent families with 788 patents in all. This ensures that emerging economies do not get a toehold on the technology. 16 countries in Europe International application 25 China and so on etc: 7 countries

Sample patent

Brazilian division

Chinese division

Malaysia Separate application 2 USA

FIGURE 5.4

Typical Process of Filing a Patent Internationally

Figure 5.4 shows that it requires enormous organisational capability and government support as well as deep financial commitments to file patents. Such

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requirements put firms from emerging economies at a serious disadvantage, keeping them perpetually behind the developed countries in terms of IPRs. An open regime does not necessarily mean practical or implementable regime. 5.3.1.1 5.3.1.1

China’s Existing Laws Related to IPRs Restrict Competition and Analysis

The “Contract Law” of 1999 says that “any contract that is illegally monopolising technology, impeding technological progress and technological achievements in the technology of others, or violating is null and void”. The stand of the Supreme People’s Court of China on technology standards is: · Restrict a party to obtain technology which competes with or is similar to a provider’s technology from other sources. This means that if similar technologies exist then the party/company should focus its energy towards the collaborative development of the existing technology and not propagate a new technology. This statement is in line with the WTO-TBT Annexure 3 Section F Annexure. · The Supreme People’s Court points out that many restrictions have been brought due to the licensing of intellectual property rights namely price restrictions, quantitative restrictions and geographical constraints. 5.3.1.2

China’s Policies on Standards

China has increasingly realised that standards are not pure technical issues. They are of vital importance in economic development and social benefits. On May 23, 2005, Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) submitted a proposal to WTO/TBT on “IPR Issues in Standardisation”, voicing their worries that because most of the IP in standards are in the hands of the developed countries and RAND (Reasonable and Non Discriminatory Licensing) as the IPR policy is so vague in dealing with IP licensing, that WTO cannot ensure fairness for international trade. Commercial success of the national ICT standards will not only reduce China’s royalty/licensing payments to foreign companies but will also help China’s technology industry earn recognition among the more established industries of the developed world and would prevent vendor lock-in. This is substantiated with the examples of UOF, WAPI, 4G and AVS. UOF: Uniform Office Format (UOF) is a Chinese developed open standard for ‘office’ applications. It includes word processing, presentation and spreadsheet modules. The format aims to make government procurement of home-made office application, whose standard document is free, thereby promoting open standards. The format was developed by a working group that includes domestic office software vendors, application integration vendors, end users and research institutes. It was developed by consensus in an “open door meeting” environment with balloted voting.

88 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies WAPI: WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) is a Chinese national standard for Wireless LAN. It was allegedly designed to operate on top of WiFi but compatibility with the security protocol used by the 802.11 wireless networking standard developed by the IEEE is in dispute. In late 2003, the Chinese government announced a policy requiring that wireless devices sold in China should include WAPI support and foreign companies wanting access to the Chinese market would have to partner with one of the 11 Chinese firms to which the standard was disclosed. This issue became a point of trade discussions between the then US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Chinese counterpart due to which China had to agree indefinitely to postpone implementation of this policy since it was tied to China’s entry into the WTO framework. 4G: 4G is short form for fourth-generation cellular communication system. It is a network that operates on Internet technology and combines it with other applications and technologies such as Wi-Fi and WiMax. 4G is not just one defined technology or standard, but rather a collection of technologies and protocols to enable the highest throughput, lowest cost wireless network possible. China has developed its own standards for 4G. AVS: Audio Video Standard (AVS) is a compression codec for digital audio and video. The need for AVS arose since the usage of dominant audio/video compression codecs, MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) and VCEG (Video Coding Experts Group), requires Chinese manufacturers to pay substantial royalty fees. It was proposed as a national standard in 2004 and had a targeted royalty of 1 RMB (or about $0.10 USD) per player. On April 30, 2005, AVS standard video became the national standard. AVS is currently expected to be approved for the Chinese high-definition successor to the Enhanced Versatile Disc. The anti-trust practice of corporates conniving to get users hooked to their technology in the guise of standard and then claiming undue economic benefits is being popularly referred to as the new Opium War in China. The Chinese approach suggests that appropriate technology adoption policy should include adoption of open standards that are either royalty free to protect Chinese firms and Chinese citizens or that pay royalty to Chinese firms.

5.3.2

Experience of Japan

The Japanese Government is embracing open standards as a way to rely less on a single vendor IT software infrastructure. Open source may prove to be Japan’s field of dreams, demonstrating to the world that when government buys open source, a market will be created. The Ministry of Communications has issued new procurement guidelines that makes open source (specifically, Linux) a priority. Japan’s open source move follows a recent policy declaring that technologies based upon open standards will have priority.

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The Japanese government regards the high penetration of proprietary operating system as excessive and is concerned about having less freedom in system’s development. The Japanese government has earmarked ¥1.25 trillion ($10.4 billion) for spending on information systems in its fiscal 2007 budget. The amount could reach a reported ¥2 trillion ($16.7 billion) when local governments are included. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) plans to introduce the open source operating system Linux for use within classrooms across the country in the near future. Japan’s example shows that countries are embracing open standards to prevent vendor lock-in and if governments are planning to buy open source, there is a market which is ready to support open source.

5.3.3

Experience of Brazil

The Government of Brazil has announced that it will follow a process of preferential adoption of open standards as stated in the Electronic Government Interoperability Standards (e-PING). Proprietary standards will be used on an ad-hoc basis and will be substituted as soon as migration is possible. The aim is to move away from the proprietary standards. The Brazilian government supports the enforcement of international standardisation systems (such as ISO); the use of IPR tools to protect industrial and intellectual property; an effort towards a more effective collaboration between ISO/IEC and relevant standardising bodies and the use of new deliverables of ISO/IEC in order to accelerate international bodies’ response to technological development speed, especially in high tech areas. The government suggests an accurate analysis by ISO/IEC, of current concrete situation, mainly in certain sectors/areas considered more vulnerable; consideration by ISO/IEC, of possible solutions keeping in mind the appropriate use of international standards as a basis for WTO members technical regulations and cooperative work in order to reach more objective understanding of “reasonable and non-discriminatory” (RAND) approaches to be used by standardising bodies. The nation expects governments to strongly support international standardisation systems through domestic standardising and technical regulation policies; an effective effort towards convergence related to terms and definitions; an increased use of harmonisation of TBT philosophy and technical regulations around the world. The Brazil example shows that the national agency should be active in framing of standards not only at the national level but also at the international level by collaboration and should implement open standards on priority basis.

90 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 5.3.4

Experience of USA

Massachusetts, Texas and Minnesota have moved towards adopting laws mandating use of open standards in government agencies. Increasingly, other US states are following suit.

Massachusetts “Open formats for data files ensure that government records remain independent of underlying systems and applications, thereby preserving their accessibility over very long periods of time.” – Commonwealth of Massachusetts (United States of America) Enterprise Technical Reference Model (ETRM v 3.5) September 21, 2005 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (CoM) announced in 2003 that it would start using open source software and support open standard file formats. The experience of the CoM provides a model for other administrations that consider using open source software and open standards. The Information Technology Division (ITD) was facing decreasing IT budgets due to a difficult fiscal environment, while the existing infrastructure needed upgrading. At the same time a new business- and IT-savvy governor was pushing for reforms. Over the course of 18 months, the IT division engaged with all stakeholders, including major proprietary software companies, and weighed the interests of industry, the administration, and the citizens of Massachusetts to finally go in the favour of open standards. The Massachusetts example tells us that cost is an important consideration while choosing standards. This is in spite of the fact that Massachusetts is the second-richest state of the US. It spends about US$700 million on information technology each year.

5.3.5

Experience of Europe

Most of the European countries have taken an approach where they have made sure that they adopt those policies which promote their interests and are not influenced by the whims and fancies of a single vendor.

IT Adoption Policies of EU “Transparency and accessibility requirements dictate that public information and government transactions avoid depending on technologies that imply or impose a specific product or platform on businesses or citizens.” – Pedro Ortún Director, DG Enterprise and Industry European Commission July 19, 2005

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The European Commission’s expert group recommends the use of open formats in their electronic documents. This explains that EU is following a Eurocentric approach which best suits the needs of the EU and is not meant for favouring a foreign country or standard. The EU is a union of many nation states with diverse cultures and languages and at various stages of technology and technical development. For the EU to function effectively especially in the area of information exchange, the governments have to establish an interoperability framework and standards on data interchange. The development of European Interoperability Framework (EIF), a framework for e-government services of the member states to facilitate the interoperability of these services at a pan-European level, is taking place under the European Commission’s Interoperable Delivery of European e-Government Services to Public Administrations, Business and Citizens (IDABC) Program. The EIF version 1.0 recommends the use of open standards for maximum interoperability among e-government services. It defines minimal characteristics of open standards as follows: · The standard is adopted and maintained by a not-for-profit organisation · The development of standard occurs using an open decision making process and does not preclude any party from it · The standard is published and is available either free of charge or for a nominal fee; the published standard must be available for all to copy and distribute · Any patents present in the standard are to be irrevocable; available on a royalty-free basis The reason for regional standards being important is further reinforced by the following observations of John Ketchell, CEN Director, Pre-standards. “The European standard organisations (ESOs) produce formal European standards and a range of other standards publications. The basic aim was the need for a single European market and removal of barriers to trade in products and services. These are recognised under the European law which gives them rights and obligations.” These standards are: · Developed to support the European region · Needed to support cross-border business or services and to remove barriers to trade in Europe · Needed to take due account of national requirements · The ESOs can be seen as platforms for improving understanding and awareness of international standards · Work as platforms to take the European ideas in R&D to get them worked on from the perspective of standards Thus the EU adopts a Eurocentric approach for open standards keeping in view the best interests of EU in mind.

92 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 5.3.5.1

IT Adoption Policies of Germany

Germany is considering a mandate for open standards in general and Open Document Format (ODF) in particular. The governing coalition in Germany sees ODF as a standard that can help to increase competition in the office productivity market. According to Germany the key goals are improving the competitive situation and strengthening the position of smaller players. They would like to adopt a policy where big players would not be able to dictate the market. 5.3.5.2

IT Adoption Policies of Belgium

The Director General who has taken the decision regarding IT policy being adopted states that it is wise to adopt such a policy which facilitates smaller IT budget which would result in lower costs for the government and hence lower burden on tax-payers. The above explains why Belgium adopts an open format for its documents. Belgium’s Council of Ministers adopted a recommendation from FEDICT [federal ICT] on June 23, 2006 which would effectively introduce open format as the preferred standard within its governmental agencies for the creation and exchange of text, spreadsheets, and presentation documents. Guidelines state that all documents exchanged within the federal government must be in an open standard format based on XML and implemented by more than one vendor.

5.4 EXPERIENCE OF OTHER ASIAN AND LATIN AMERICAN 5.4 COUNTRIES 5.4.1 Malaysia Malaysian government is trying to use open standards to reduce digital divide by providing e-government to all its citizens. With respect to liberalisation, several issues stand out to be resolved in developing countries, including Malaysia. The existence of a digital divide means that access to ICT is an issue and human resources still need development. e-commerce is still immature and restricted to those who have access. There is inadequate protection of intellectual property rights. Finally, discriminatory procurement rules and technical standards that inhibit free trade need to be addressed, with the government playing a proactive and unbiased role. At the Global Public Policy Conference held in Kuala Lampur in 2005, demands were made for open standards at technical level. There were also arguments to reduce trade barriers in technology to allow open trade and for fairly relaxed regulation policies.

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Indonesia

Indonesia intends to develop ICT services industry in order to act as a catalyst to boost other ICT industries in the country. The Ministry for Information, Communications and Technology (MICT) is currently striving to create infrastructure, in all senses. From a physical infrastructure point, they are utilising the latest technologies (for example WiMax) to increase support to cover remote areas in Indonesia, as well as increasing community access points. They have also established a Universal Service Obligations to help spur development. They are also trying to improve available resources by setting up regulations for shared infrastructure and setting up training initiatives for its citizens. Finally, they are attempting to harmonise national standards through a national standardisation body.

5.4.3

Chile

The government of Chile issued a decree in 2004 according to which all the public agencies and services are required to format documents in XML. They have chalked out a three-phase roll-out plan to implement the above with the final phase staged for completion in 2009. From the above discussion regarding the IT policies of various countries, it is clear that most of the governments are progressing to the adoption of open standards and specifications as much as possible. This move is to be lauded, since, if more and more countries insist on open standards, more software vendors would be forced to open up their file formats and technology specifications and adhere to open standards in their products as much as possible. This would in turn lead to further enhancement of the interoperability of the disparate products and systems.

5.5

GLOBAL ISSUES AND POLICIES RELATED TO ADOPTION OF IT

The above discussion regarding IT adoption policies and approaches of both developed and developing countries can be summarised as follows: In case of developed countries like in Europe and the US, the IT policies adopted reflect that it is the best policy for them. In case a country is strongly backing a proprietary standard the reason behind it is that the royalty fee being paid as a result of using that software is getting back to the country itself, that is the standard was developed by an organisation of that country and hence the royalty fee and licenses aid the economic growth of that country. The approaches of EU and countries like China are not in accordance with the global standards. They are keener on regional standards rather than meekly adhering to the global standards. The EU approach is more Eurocentric whereas that of China is more aggressive in nature. China has developed its

94 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies own standards for various technologies like WAPI, AVS, 4G and UOF, which are in direct competition with the global standards. This helps them save billions of dollars yearly since they do not have to pay royalties for using proprietary standards; on the other hand the regional standards bring foreign currency to China since the foreign countries are compelled to use the regional standards of China in order to do trade with them and in doing so mandates them to pay royalties for the standards used. Other developing countries in Asia and Latin America which do not have significant might to force their own standards are keen to adopt standards accepted globally such that these enable them to clear WTO guidelines in order to do trade with other countries. However, these countries are going for the globally adopted standards for which they do not have to pay undue royalties and hence aid them financially. Also such standards provide a platform where they can compete on equal grounds with no unfair advantage to a single player. Hence the adoption of a particular standard should be based on the needs and feasibility of a particular country and should follow a certain logic in the formulation of such policy.

5.6

DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIA

“Software maintenance and software upgrade is an important issue for defence.” Former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, at Indian Navy’s Weapons and Electronic System Engineering Establishment, New Delhi Developments in ICTs are transforming the society in dramatic ways. These developments are creating hitherto unimaginable opportunities and possibilities, even as they pose new challenges for a society like ours. ICTs have opened up the possibility of radically different information exchange patterns by facilitating faster and more efficient dissemination of information. It can play a vital role in sustaining the democratic ethos of the Indian society and ensuring a high level of transparency in governance. In almost every sector of socioeconomic activity ranging from industrial production to education and public healthcare, ICT now plays an important role in optimising the processes, thereby improving the quality and efficiency of human endeavors. Growing importance of ICT in the present-day world leads to the emergence of a divide, “digital divide,” between those who have access to sophisticated ICT infrastructure and those who do not. This is a matter of concern to civil society at large; and a challenge that has to be overcome through conscious intervention, both from the government and the sections on the privileged side of the “digital divide”. The various approaches taken by various bodies in India in this regard are as follows:

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Approach followed by the Department of Information Technology, Government of National Capital Territory (GoNCT), Delhi

The Department of IT, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi has passed a circular in December 2005 for adoption of ODF based OpenOffice.org. As per studies done by Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahemdabad, this policy would lead to a savings of 78 percent of the total software expenditure by eliminating the need to purchase proprietary office suites or licenses. Thus it has become a pioneer in Indian context whereby cost savings in such huge amounts has encouraged other departments in the government to go for open standards instead of proprietary software.

5.6.2

Approach of Kerala

The government realises that free software presents a truly unique opportunity in building a truly egalitarian knowledge society. As per the IT policy of Government of Kerala, the government will take all efforts to develop free software and free knowledge and shall encourage and mandate the appropriate use of free software in all ICT initiatives. The Government of Kerala views ICT as a vehicle for transforming Kerala into a knowledge-based, economically vibrant, democratic and inclusive society. By the term “inclusive,” the government means that the benefits of the socioeconomic transformation possible through ICT should reach every single citizen of the state. In keeping with the democratic traditions of the country, the government will ensure that all sections of the society are included in this process of transformation and will adopt conscious, positive steps to confirm the inclusion of disadvantaged sections of society in the transformation process. The government will also adopt necessary measures to encourage the willful participation of the digitally privileged sections in the efforts to prevent the less privileged sections from getting marginalized in the transformation process.

Technology Standards are very important in the integration of e-government services of various government organisations. Open standards like Unicode and Open Document Format and Open Architectures are followed in e-government projects to avoid total dependence on select vendors. Free and open source software are used in e-government projects to the maximum extent possible. Preferential treatment is given to FOSS (free and open source software) as it enables the knowledge to be used democratically, makes software accessible to every one and is economical.

96 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies FOSS IT Industry FOSS concept goes well with progressive tradition of Kerala society. Considering the growing economic opportunity happening around FOSS, the government intends to develop the state as the FOSS destination of the country. In order to achieve this, the government will provide special incentives to companies developing FOSS. The government will promote R&D in ICT. As outlined in this policy, the focus areas will be e-government, free software and development of appropriate technologies. The state will network with national and international organisations and industry to share knowledge and to collaborate in the above fields. Collaboration with other developing countries will be given priority.

International Centre for Free Software and Computing for Development The government intends to build an international research and development centre for free software and free knowledge in collaboration with other countries. The centre will focus on developing technologies relevant to the social and economic advancement in developing countries. The centre will provide technological and managerial support to ICT projects in Kerala. The government is of the view that knowledge generated through public funding should be freely available to the public. Facilities will be developed to ensure the same.

5.6.3

Approach of West Bengal

The West Bengal government recognises the potential social issues thrown up by the “digital divide”, that is the lack of access of the poor to IT and its benefits. It intends to address these issues early on by exploring means of reducing this divide. Some potential measures include Internet kiosks for free public use, public terminals in government schools and other public places, and free IT literacy classes for the poor. Thus the government of West Bengal is in the process of adopting open standard as a means of reducing the digital divide.

5.6.4

Approach of Election Commission (EC)

After the elections of May–June 2006, the EC decided to migrate to OpenOffice.org.

Why OpenOffice? It was felt that the EC being accountable to public, its resources should be made as open and should be easily accessible to others. It was also motivated by cost advantages. OpenOffice is freely available for use and distribution. Since the entire implementation of ODF was done in-house, the costs were very less. The migration also had potential long-term benefits. Using open standards like ODF ensures that the users’ information is accessible across platforms and applications, even as technologies change. Organisations and individuals

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that store their data in an open format avoid being locked in to a single software vendor, leaving them free to switch software if their current vendor goes out of business, raises its prices, changes its software, or changes its licensing terms to something less favourable for the user. Adoption of open standards is particularly important for governmental applications because it can effectively ensure that a government document saved today will not be technologically locked tomorrow.

Cost Savings In terms of license costs, the switch to ODF also means potential savings of Rs 15,000 per Microsoft Office licence on each of the 2000 licenses recurring for license upgrades which amounts to Rs 3 crore.

5.6.5

Approach Followed by the High Court of Allahabad

The High Court of Allahabad has moved all its electronic documents to ODF because it felt that it was cost-effective and safe to store its documents in a format which is open and also to carry out any kind of information exchange through open standards. It claims in its website that it supports Firefox, LINUX, Thunderbird and OpenOffice.org since they are open standards. It also uses RSS feed on its website. The path taken by certain state governments and governing bodies in embracing open standards is thus paving way for others to follow as the results of such decisions have been hugely beneficial both in monetary terms as well as in providing better quality of services.

5.7

POLICY ISSUES OF TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

With the previous section laying emphasis on the various global IT adoption examples highlighting both success as well as failure stories of IT adoption, this section would focus more on the policy issues of Technology adoption across the globe. Technology standard being an important component of IT policy, it should have the following characteristics: Freely implementable without royalty payments Every agency must be given freedom to implement the specification without payment of royalty. If there exists any restriction in use due to patents or other such rights, they must be explicitly exempted before agreeing to confer the free document standard status to a proposal. In case a royalty exists it should be in such a manner that it comes to the national economy and does not end up in the pockets of a foreign company. As explained in the examples given in the previous sections, this is the case with EU and China where they are developing regional standards which enables

98 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies them not only to eliminate the need to pay undue royalty and licensing fees but also aids them in earning foreign currency since foreign companies are made to pay royalties for using their standard in order to do trade with them. Interoperable This condition ensures that the data created by the users in an electronic format is accessible (interpretable) not only in the application in which it is created, but also in all future versions of that application, as well as in all other applications that implement the standard. Developed in a transparent and collaborative manner The standard must be developed by involving and inviting all the stakeholders in a transparent collaborative consensus driven process. This is to ensure that the standard is not dominated by any one interest group. The creation and adoption of ODF by OASIS (Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) as a standard where most of the stakeholders were involved in the process is a good example of collaborative production process. Present rationale for deviating from pre-existing standards This possibility ensures two things. One, it allows inventing new ways of expressing; and two, it helps establish relations to known canons of understanding. Having two standards for saving pictures (.jpeg and .png) explains the difference. If one wants to display an image on the screen, either JPG or PNG will do. But if the user intends to animate, then only PNG can be used. Demonstrate functionality unachievable by existing standards The inventors have to demonstrate that the new innovation is incommensurable with the existing canons, and why it should be considered for a standard, specifically if their innovation is to be regarded as a standard. Not to use private language components A private language is an encoding, decoding of which is not declared publicly. This is a very important requirement since the use of private language components makes it impossible for the users to use its functionality since the code for that part is not available.

5.7.1

Political Issues of IT Policy

As per United Nations Sustainable Development Networking Programme, “Information and Communication Technologies are now fundamental to dealing with all development issues in developing countries.” Large concentrations of corporate power tend to undermine democratic values. Hugely dominant firms can exert a disproportionate political power to set public policy, abuse consumers, milk taxpayers by charging government too much for their products, and changing the very structures of markets to favour themselves over others. Implications of proprietary software are: Lack of openness This leads to monopoly and creates unjustified competition. This also leads to technical barriers in trade (TBT).

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Dependencies Proprietary software increases the dependence of individuals, organisations and communities on external forces, typically large corporations. These dependencies can be classified as those for support, upgradation, and compatibility.

5.7.2

Economic Issues

The economic implications of adopting a proprietary standard are far reaching. Growth of IT industry would also depend a lot on the adoption of these standards. Royalties have to be paid for using the standard for every new application we develop or for every new device we use based on that standard. We also have to pay for the support we need to utilise that standard. Instead there are examples where small companies have saved huge amounts of money for government and ultimately the public by implementing open standards. This can also discourage entrepreneurship because of the fact that adoption of proprietary software might lead to huge amounts of undue royalty fee on the firm. Some of the findings from ODF cost savings case studies show that: 1. Department of Information Technology Case Study, Delhi Government (India) – cost savings of over 78 percent on the total software expenditure 2. City of Haarlem Study (The Netherlands) – cost savings of 90 percent 3. City of Stockholm Feasibility Study (Sweden) – cost savings of 73 percent As per Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT) about 7.5 million PCs were sold in India in 2008–09. Considering $150 per PC for the MS Office license, this translates to over $1 billion straight out of country’s economy. According to Ramboll Management, it will cost the Danish Government DKK 380 million for implementation of OOXML document standard which is widely perceived to be Microsoft controlled and DKK 255 million for implementation of ODF over a period of 5 years.

5.7.3

Social Issues

The digital divide can be reduced through the adoption of open standards where the application developers are not inhibited by the restrictions of the access and usage of the standard. The primary facility of providing IT access to next generation can be made available through open standards in our country because we cannot afford to pay royalties year after year. Education is extremely important for any economy since in a knowledge economy an educated population is the backbone of any country and use of IT and open source documents will go a long way in bridging the digital divide. If the use of proprietary software is made mandatory, and those who need them are not in a position to buy them would invariably end up using their

100 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies pirated versions. Especially in developing countries where there is unprecedented IT growth, if the ecosystem favours a propriety software then it would force most users to adopt pirated versions of the software for basic computer literacy which would lead to wide acceptability of pirated software. Hence use of open standards will allow adoption of open source software thus making the software available at affordable prices and reducing piracy to a large extent. “It is commonly agreed that the destruction of the ancient Library of Alexandria in Egypt was one of the most devastating losses of knowledge in all of civilisation. Today, however, the digital information that drives our world and powers our economy is in many ways more susceptible to loss than the papyrus and parchment at Alexandria. An estimated 44 percent of Web sites that existed in 1998 vanished without a trace within just one year. The average life span of a Web site is only 44 to 75 days. The gadgets that inform our lives–cellphones, computers, iPods, DVDs, memory cards–are filled with digital content. Yet the lifetime of these media is discouragingly short. Data on 5 1/4 inch floppies may already be lost forever. This format, so pervasive only a decade ago, cannot be read by the latest generation of computers. Changing file and hardware formats, or computer viruses and hard-drive crashes, can render years of creativity inaccessible.” – Washington Post, “Saving Our Digital Heritage” by Jim Barksdale and Francine Berman, Wednesday, May 16, 2007, Page A15. Therefore, if we need to ensure that government records such as land records are accessible for a desired period of time, then they need to be recorded in an open standard.

5.7.4

Technological Issues

Technology policies and decisions should be aimed at breaking lock-in. This is what fuels breaking of lock in: · Innovation in service delivery · Transformation of the business · Competition and new business opportunities · The genius of collaboration Where do open technologies fit in? They are designed to break lock-in, unlocking your services, business processes and data from the hardware and software infrastructure. A format/standard should be royalty-free in perpetuity.

5.7.5

Legal Issues

Several issues related to legislative information, Right to Information Act (RTI) of India, monopolistic policies of companies holding rights over proprietary standards and several others have to be carefully analysed before adopting

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any particular standard. Indian companies are in a position to implement and adopt a format which will not compromise with the national security. Nothing, and the least of all, cost, will come in between national security and integrity. The open source software are considered to be more robust and secure since there are lesser bugs to exploit as more number of people have visibility to the open source software. According to BSA and IDC Annual Global Piracy Study, the PC software piracy losses in 2006 for India were $1275 million; the government can’t afford to spend time and money fighting piracy issues with some vendors when education and healthcare top the list of must do’s for government. Thus the legal issues which one might face in future must be given a serious thought before the adoption of any particular standard. In addition, we observe that there is no level playing fields between open source software and proprietary software. One of the key reasons for this is the absence of device support. Hence in order to ensure a level playing field, it is imperative to have legislative support for any new device introduced in the country, must support a national desktop, which is essentially one single open source operating system with the basic software essential for a computer to run. The country could then legislate to make it mandatory for any new device introduced in the country to be out of the box compatible with the national desktop. There is a precedent to such mandates by the government wherein legislation mandates that of every new book published in India, six copies must be sent to the national library in Kolkata.

5.7.6

Ecological Issues

When a proprietary standard is adopted which needs to be renewed at regular intervals, then often the hardware needed to support the new software becomes obsolete, and hence results in e-waste, most of which is dumped in third world countries like India, leading to huge amounts of e-waste. For example, it is widely believed that only 15 percent of existing computers in India have memory and graphics cards powerful enough to run premium versions of Vista which means 85 percent of the existing PCs will add to e-waste. Unlike the developed countries, there are no set norms for handling electronic waste. Secondly, cheap labour not only makes disposal cost effective and profitable for local traders but also encourages developed countries to push electronic wastes to countries like India. India generates 2.5 million tonnes of e-waste and around 5228 tonnes is being imported illegally.

5.7.7 Security Issues Black box proprietary software makes the detection of viruses in code impossible. There have been instances where the privacy of the users has been compromised

102 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies while using proprietary software. The case where an Australian agency pushed hacker code into mostly used proprietary software is an example of this. Also when matters related to national security are to be stored in electronic form it would be best if it is stored in a document which is of open standard thereby removing the fear of an unknown code being used in the software. This is the reason why former President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam had articulated a preference for open standards in matters of defence. “Think of the highest risk, highly classified area for using technology like military units, trying to communicate in the heat of battle. Surely, fighting wars is too demanding, too dangerous, and too chaotic to risk using systems based on open source and open standards. Think again. The U.S. military’s newest, most advanced battlefield technology is based on open standards and open source. When bullets fly, the U.S. turns to open technologies to ensure interoperability–to ensure that coalition forces can communicate over secure networks, share classified data in real time, and coordinate combat operations. Governments who think that open technologies are too insecure, immature and unreliable for mission critical activities could not be more wrong. Generic statements about the security or insecurity of any technology are useless at best, and usually just propaganda for someone’s beliefs. But the U.S. military is finding new ways to apply open technologies to their hardest, most dangerous needs. Web-based chat, shared whiteboards to map operations, shared databases, file transfer and all based on open standards and all scheduled for deployment, without compromising on security or secrecy. It is the very openness of these technologies that allows the military to ensure interoperability, maintain flexibility to rapidly integrate future innovations, and guard security.”

5.7.8

Sovereignty of Data

Any standard which infringes upon the sovereignty of a country’s own data should not be adopted. In case a proprietary standard is adopted and all the important data is stored in that format, the consequences would be dire if the organisation shuts down for some reason or if the government of the country from which the software has been bought imposes certain sanctions. We would not be able to view our own data because the format in which it is stored is not inter-operable with other existing formats. The example of the loss of millions of ancient parchments in the fire of Alexandria would repeat itself; the only difference would be that the economic impact would be thousand folds. Hence any standard which compromises on the sovereignty of our own data should not be accepted.

5.8

POLICY ON MULTIPLE STANDARDS

It is crucial for a nation to have a clear policy on whether to have multiple standards or a single standard for various ICTs, especially those for e-government.

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A faulty policy can lead to immense wastage of public money and can also hamper the technology adaption and technology penetration in the country. The basic principle of standard is to enable a pro-consumer environment that allows interoperability by using multiple implementations of the standard.

SUMMARY The discussion on the IT adoption policies and the approaches of both developed and developing countries lead us to the conclusion that the current standards regime appear to provide undue economic benefit to a few agencies in the developed economies. Due to the economic benefits, the agencies continue to propagate the regime that favours them. In case of developed countries like those in Europe or the US, the IT policies being adopted is the most suited. If a country strongly backs a proprietary standard the reason is that the royalty fee paid for using that software is getting back to the country itself, that is the standard was developed by an organisation of that country and hence the royalty fee and licenses aid in the economic growth of that country. The approaches of EU and countries like China are not in accordance with the global standards. They are keener on regional standards rather than meekly adhering to the global standards. The EU approach is more Eurocentric whereas the Chinese approach is more aggressive. China has developed its own standards for various technologies like WAPI, .avs, 4G and UOF, which are in direct competition with the global standards. This helps them save billions of dollars yearly since they do not have to pay royalties for using proprietary standards. On the other hand the regional standards bring foreign exchange to China since other countries are compelled to use the regional standards of China in order to do trade with them and therefore pay royalties. Other developing countries in Asia and Latin America without significant power to force their own standards are keen to adapt standards which are globally accepted such that it enables them to clear WTO guidelines in order to trade with other countries. However, these countries are going for those globally adopted standards for which they do not have to pay undue royalties and hence aid them financially. Also such standards provide a platform where they can compete on equal grounds with no unfair advantage to a single player. Hence, in the interest of the local economy, nations should carefully track the standards adopted by the global standards organisations and whenever an equivalent local standard is being decided, the issues of direct or implicit royalties must be considered in order to protect the interests of domestic industry and domestic consumers.

KEY TERMS Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Intellectual property (IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical, literary, or artistic works; inventions;

104 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce, including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and related rights. Under intellectual property law, the holder of one of these abstract “properties” has certain exclusive rights to the creative work, commercial symbol, or invention by which it is covered. Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Ensure that regulations, standards, testing, and certification procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIP) An international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulation. Patent A set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a limited period in exchange for the disclosure of an invention. ISO An international-standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organisations. International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) The world’s leading organisation that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies collectively known as “electrotechnology”. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc (IEEE) An international nonprofit, professional organisation for the advancement of technology related to electricity. WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) Standard for Wireless LAN.

Chinese National

Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory Licensing (RAND) A term for the type of licensing typically used during standardisation processes. Free and open source software(F/OSS, FOSS, or free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) Software which is liberally licensed to grant the right of users to study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code. Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) A global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business and web service standards.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Why is it important to adopt standards for ICT? 2. What are the legal and economic impact of adoption of IT related to IPRs, TBTs and TRIPs? 3. What is the social impact of improper choice of ICT standards? 4. Explain how sovereignty over government data is linked to appropriate choice of standards. 5. Explain with a locally relevant example the use of standards by the government of the state in which you reside.

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REFERENCES Bhattacharya, Jaijit. 2010. ‘Technology Standards: A route to Digital Colonization’ at IETE Journal of Education, May 2010 ‘A National Policy Perspective On e-Governance Standards and Open Technologies’, White Paper at www.mit.gov.in, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of India, New Delhi. Post, Frank. “Do Standards Matter? A U.K. Perspective”, April, 2007. Available at ‘http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/BSI%20Frank%20Post%20Presentation.pdf’. Downloaded on April 22, 2011. Yi Xiao Zhun, Vice Minister, Ministry of Commerce, China Guangnan Ni, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the President of the Chinese Information Processing Society of China Zhang Naigen. Available at ‘http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/ZhangNaiGen. pdf’. Guo Xiao Ming, ‘http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Guo%20XiaoMing(English).pdf’ Maskus, Keith, Economist (23-06-2000) Rampersaud, Rajendra, ‘http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_business?id= 56520518’ Last Accessed- 18th May 2007 Economic Times, dated 01 June, 2007 Guangnan Ni. Yi Xiao Zhun. Intellectual Property, Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily), 2007-01-19 07:28; ‘http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/200701/19/content_787205.htm’ Geneva Declaration on the future of WIPO; ‘http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/ genevadeclaration.html’ Page 1, last para; ‘http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/futureofwipodeclaration.pdf’ K.C. Krishnadas to EE Times; ‘http://www.wirelessnetdesignline.com/news/194400277’ Spundfass Case, page 10; ‘http://www.aippi.org/reports/q187/q187_germany_e.pdf’ Philips And Chinese Professors Settle DVD Patent Case, Posted by Hattie Lee on ‘http://www.pacificepoch.com/newsstories/83477_0_5_0_M/’ Zhang Ping, Professor of Beijing University Law School; ‘http://blogs.sun.com/ dennisding/resource/ZhangPing(English).ppt’ Wang-xiao ye, Researcher at the Law Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; ‘http://blogs.sun.com/dennisding/resource/Competition%20Strategy% 20About%20IPRs%20in%20Technology%20Standards(English).pdf’ Uniform Office Format, Wikipedia; ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Office_Format’ Standards Blog, Andy Updergrove; ‘http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/ article.php?story=2006110806164573’ WAPI, Wikipedia; ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAPI’

106 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 4G, Wikipedia; ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G’ Audio Video Standard, Wikipedia; ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Standard’ Japanese Government looks to go Open Source; ‘http://www.linuxworld.com/ newsletters/linux/2007/0507linux2.html’ Open Source Samurai; ‘http://jakaplan.blogspot.com/’ Japanese Government to embrace Linux; ‘http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070503/ 34429_id.html?.v=1’ Panel Discussion at LinuxTag event in Berlin; ‘http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/ 90460’ Das, Rajnish. “Espousal of ODF by Dept of IT, GoNCT Delhi” Das, Rajnish. “ODF adoption at the Election Commission of India” Nagarjuna, G. BIS note on OOXML ‘http://www.bsa.org/globalstudy/upload/2007-GlobalPiracy-Study-EN.pdf’ The Economic Times, February 6, 2007. TMCnet. ‘http://www.ban.org/ban_news/2006/060528_old_pc.html’ Kaplan, Jeff. “Open ePolicy”, Available at ‘http://jakaplan.blogspot.com/’

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6 Multiple Standards in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Objectives · To learn about the methodology to analyse the policy framework for adoption of ICT standards · To learn about global issues in IT adoption · To learn about the economic and the legal impact with relation to IPRs · To analyse in detail the global scenario for policies in the adoption of IT

6.1

INTRODUCTION

It is crucial for a nation to have a clear policy on whether to have multiple standards or a single standard for the various ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies), especially those for e-government. A faulty policy can lead to immense wastage of public money and can also hamper the technology adaption and technology penetration in the country. The basic principle of standard is to enable a pro-consumer environment that allows interoperability by using multiple implementations of the standard. This chapter analyses the basic need for standards and enumerates the impacts of having a single and multiple standards. We use the terms ICT/ICTs and technology/technologies interchangeably, with the two terms having the same meaning in this chapter. The primary technical standards are elucidated below: · A standard specification is an explicit set of requirements for an item, material, component, system or service. It is often used to formalize the technical aspects of a procurement agreement or contract. For example,

108 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

·

·

· · ·

specification for a turbine blade for a jet engine defining the exact material and performance requirements. A standard test method describes a definitive procedure which produces a test result. It may involve making a careful personal observation or conducting a highly technical measurement. For example, the physical property of a material is often affected by the precise method of testing: any reference to the property should, therefore, refer to the test method used. A standard procedure (or practice) gives a set of instructions for performing operations or functions. For example, procedures for the operation of a nuclear power plant. A standard guide is the general information or options which do not require a specific course of action. A standard definition is formally established terminology. Reference standards and certified reference materials: At the highest level, a primary reference standard is assigned a value by direct comparison with the reference base. For example, mass is defined by an artifact maintained by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures in Sevres, France. A primary standard is usually under jurisdiction of a national standards body. Secondary, tertiary, check standards and standard materials may be used as reference for calibration in a metrology system.

Standards may have different levels of enforcement. Some standards are mandatory standards. These are those standards where their adoption is enforced through social sanctions, government regulation, contract, and so on. For example, the DIN standard of Germany has been made mandatory under the provision of the country’s law. On the other hand, in voluntary standards, users have the choice to use the standard or not, for example, the adoption of the DIN standard outside Germany (for example Japan), or adoption of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standards. Standards are also differentiated in terms of their levels of adoption. De facto standards are so dominant that most people end up adopting it due to network effects. A de facto standard may emerge from tradition—like the side of driver’s seat, or the use of gif images on Web pages— or from market enforcement—typically, market players like Adobe for the “PDF standard” or Microsoft for the “Microsoft Office standards”. De jure standards are written and fixed as a norm, by a standards body. Examples are png images on Web pages and open document format (ODF) for word processing. Sometimes standards can also be both de jure and de facto such as HTML standard for Web pages.

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109

PURPOSE OF A STANDARD

The purposes of a standard as per Indian Standards Organisation (ISO) are as follows: · Support the technical aspects of societal and environmental policies and contribute to sustainable development across the world. · Offer the same level of consumer protection whether applied in a mature or an evolving economy. · Allow products to be supplied and used across different markets, facilitating regulatory compliance and enhancing the market access opportunities for small enterprises. · Reflect the state of the art and serve as a vehicle for the dissemination of new technologies and innovative practices. · As per ISO a given standard can become a national standard after a public consultation process has been carried out by the country’s national standard body. · It is preferable that a standard comes with a complete range of tools for the various means of conformity assessment to enhance confidence in products, systems, processes, services or personnel. · The standards need to be developed using procedures to avoid duplication and conflict with each other. The following are the purpose of standards as collated from Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): · Market growth for new and emerging technologies · Reduced development time and cost · Sound engineering practices · Decreased trading costs and lowered trade barriers · Increased product quality and safety · Reduced market risks · Protection against obsolescence Therefore, for the purpose of this chapter, the need for an ICT standard will be considered to be the following: · Allow ICT products and outputs to be used across the country without unnecessary technical barriers, thereby providing market access opportunities to small local players · Reduce development time and costs · Provide consumer and developer protection · Facilitate development and dissemination of new technologies · Ensure access by ensuring conformity to the standard through conformity assessment tools · Increase product quality, security and protect against obsolescence

110 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Avoid duplication of standards, thereby eliminating conflicts between them.

6.3 RATIONALE FOR MULTIPLE STANDARDS It is sometimes incorrectly argued that multiple standards are a necessary evil for successful implementation of e-government. The key arguments normally put forth for this are : · Freedom to choose a standard that suits the needs of the task at hand · Multiple standards allow interoperability between applications and systems · Freedom from dependence on specific applications, vendors, or platforms to exchange documents · Maximum compatibility with existing technologies · Preserving documents for records management and archival purposes which are already in multiple formats · Standards that support the breadth of language and assistive technology requirements · Managing the existing legacy base of software applications, usage, and functionality · Protecting information stored in documents from unwanted usage · Single standard may not reasonably accommodate multiple goals of a technology requirement. In the subsequent sub-sections, the rationale for multiple standards is analysed against their objectives.

6.3.1 Sl no. 1.

Freedom to Choose a Format that Suits the Needs of the Task Purpose of the standard Allow ICT products and outputs to be used across the country without unnecessary technical barriers, thereby providing market access opportunities to small local players.

Validity of the rationale for multiple standards

Acceptable argument

If we have different standards for different No nuances of a requirement, it would definitely not allow ICT products and outputs to be used across the country without unnecessary technical barriers. Hence it would also deprive market access opportunities to local small players. A very good example is the internet where because of a single set of enabling standards (TCP/IP, HTML, and so on), many small players have been able to access the market, bypassing established

(Contd.)

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(Contd.) and entrenched dominating corporations, thus allowing market access and innovation and emergence of new firms such as Google, Hotmail, and so on. 2.

Reduce development time and costs.

Having multiple standards for each small variation of a technology requirement defeats the purpose of reducing development time and costs as multiple standards will lead to increased cost of development and cartelization of the technology.

No

3.

Provide consumer and developer protection.

Multiple standards will make it increasingly difficult to ensure that consumers are able to access IT without unnecessary and excessive costs. Similarly, it would be difficult to protect developers from predatory royalty demands and constricting IPR requirements. Standardization of the core requirements and enhancement of one single standard would help in better monitoring of consumer and developer interests.

No

4.

Facilitate development and dissemination of new technologies.

Drawing parallels to the Internet, it is seen that standardization of the core technologies helps in faster and wider dissemination of new technologies such as Web 2.0 and so on. On the other hand, having multiple standards for each nuance of a requirement will defeat the purpose of having a standard.

No

5.

Ensure access by ensuring conformity to the standard through conformity assessment tools.

It would be extremely difficult to ensure conformity of multiple solutions based on multiple standards. Having multiple standards is, therefore, not practical from the perspective of an implementation regime.

No

6.

Increase product quality and security and protect against obsolescence.

Multiple standards for multiple nuances of requirements will definitely lead to faster obsolescence. If a new standard is created for every new requirement, instead of enhancing the existing one, it would lead to fast obsolescence of existing solutions

No

(Contd.)

112 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies (Contd.) and IT investments and would in fact lead to higher generation of e-Waste besides increasing the cost of access to IT. Moreover, introduction of new standards, instead of enhancing existing ones, would lead to poor product quality as ICT products will need time to stabilise. 7.

6.3.2 6.3.2

Ensure elimination Multiple standards will conflict with the of duplication of requirement of having standards. and conflicts between standards.

No

Multiple Standards Allow Interoperability between Many Applications and Systems

Sl no.

Purpose of a standard Validity of the rationale for multiple standards

1.

Allow ICT products and outputs to be used across the country without unnecessary technical barriers, thereby providing market access opportunities to small local players.

If two systems use two different standards, No then in order to make them interoperate, it is obvious that certain technological tools would need to be developed to bridge the gap between the two systems. Therefore, this will create technical barriers to interchangeably using different solutions for the same requirement based on different standards. Hence, such a situation will be exploited by entities dominating the market share as they will benefit from the network effect. Hence it would lead to unnecessary technical barriers and will limit market access to local small players.

2.

Reduce development time and costs.

Having multiple standards for each small No variation of a technology requirement defeats the purpose of reducing development time and costs as multiple standards will lead to increased cost of development and ensuring interoperability and cartelisation of the technology.

3.

Provide consumer and developer protection.

Consumers and developers would have to No spend more to ensure interoperability between applications and systems that they use or develop for. Hence having multiple

Acceptable argument

(Contd.)

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(Contd.) standards for interoperability goes counter to the purpose of having a standard. 4.

Facilitate development and dissemination of new technologies.

Having multiple standards for multiple applications will certainly help in developing new technologies but it would not necessarily help in disseminating these technologies due to the network effect that is implicit in most ICT technologies.

May be

5.

Ensure access by ensuring conformity to the standard through conformity assessment tools.

It would be extremely difficult to ensure conformity of multiple solutions based on multiple standards. Having multiple standards is, therefore, not practical from the perspective of an implementation regime.

No

6.

Increase product quality and security and protect against obsolescence.

Multiple standards for multiple nuances of requirements will definitely lead to faster obsolescence. If a new standard is created for every new requirement, instead of enhancing the existing standard, it would lead to fast obsolescence of existing solutions and IT investments and would in fact lead to higher generation of e Waste besides increasing the cost of access to IT. Moreover, introduction of new standards, instead of enhancing existing ones, would lead to poor product quality as ICT products will need time to stabilize.

No

7.

Ensure elimination of duplication of and conflicts between standards.

Multiple standards will conflict with the requirement of having standards.

No

6.3.3 6.3.3

Freedom from Dependence on Specific Applications, Vendors or Platforms to Exchange Documents

Clearly if there are multiple standards, some of the standards will be dominated by specific applications, vendors or platforms. On the other hand, if there is a single standard, then all applications, vendors and platforms would have to adhere to it, thus reducing the exit costs of the user and giving the user the stated freedom from dependence on specific applications, vendors and platforms. Thus prima facie, the argument for having multiple standards appears fallacious.

114 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 6.3.4

Maximum Compatibility with Existing Technologies

The requirement for maximum compatibility with existing technologies has no implication on the policy of having single or multiple standards. This input basically implies that the standards chosen should have compatibility with existing technologies and therefore, the owners of existing technologies must participate in the standard setting process and effectively contribute to the same.

6.3.5 6.3.5

Preserving Documents for Records Management and Archival Purposes

Again, this requirement has no bearing on whether to have multiple standards or a single one. This requirement basically states that the standard adopted must be open and royalty free and must also have open source implementations to ensure that documents are available for a much longer time and are not linked to the existence of specific vendors.

6.3.6 6.3.6

Accounting for the Incredible Variety of Software Applications, Usage, and Functionality

This does not necessarily point towards the need to have multiple standards. It basically conveys that the chosen standard must try to support the variety of requirements in a particular technology.

6.3.7 6.3.7

Protecting Information Stored in Documents from Unwanted Usage

One can have a single standard that takes care of such a requirement.

6.3.8 6.3.8

Single Standard may Not Reasonably Accommodate Multiple Goals of a Technology Requirement

If a technology has multiple goals, then these are necessarily multiple technologies. Therefore, if high fidelity display of an image and high quality prints of a picture are needed, then the two cannot be clubbed together as a picture format. They are necessarily two different technology requirements and would hence require different standards.

6.4 6.4.1

EXAMPLES OF AREAS HAVING MULTIPLE STANDARDS Digital Media Formats

Image Data There are multiple standards for storing digital image data, for example CGM (an ISO/IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)

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standard), ASCII drawing interchange, DPX (an ANSI/SMPTE standard), GIF, JPEG (an ISO/IEC standard), and PNG (an ISO/IEC standard), to name just a few. These are either completely different requirements of image processing (for example, if one wants to display an image on the screen, either JPG or PNG will do. But if the user intends to animate, then only PNG can be used) or are historical errors in having two standards for the same purpose, pushed in by vendors who wanted to protect their market share. Video Many overlapping standards exist to encode and compress digital video, such as: MPEG-1 (an ISO/IEC standard) used for video CDs; MPEG-2 (an ISO/IEC standard) used for DVDs and Super-VCDs, as well as for digital television signals distributed by broadcasters, cable operators, and direct broadcast satellites; MPEG-4 (an ISO/IEC standard) good for online distribution of large videos; and H.264 (jointly developed by ISO/IEC and ITU-T) created to provide high video quality at substantially lower bit rates than previous standards. There are likewise a large number of overlapping digital interface standards used to transfer digital video at high speed, including FireWire (an IEEE standard), HDMI, SDI (an ITU-R and SMPTE standard), DVI, UDI, Display Port (a VESA standard), and USB. However, these standards represent a quantum leap in technology. For example, MPEG-4 provides far better compression and better resolution of the video as compared to MPEG-1 and therefore MPEG-4 carries the same series name as MPEG-1 (that is, they are part of the MPEG series), demonstrating the adaptation of an existing format to factor in the progress of technology rather than stating that two formats for the same purpose of high resolution broadcast will co-exist. If it was beneficial to society to have multiple video formats, then countries would have allowed parallel broadcasts in PAL, SECAM and NTSC formats. And, of course, there are television sets that can accept broadcasts in multiple formats but they are more expensive than single broadcast televisions. This is a societal cost imposed by multiple standards.

6.4.2

Existing Document Formats

Currently there are (and will continue to need) multiple overlapping document format standards to meet the needs of various users, and several of them are existing ISO/IEC standards, including HTML, ODF, and PDF/A. Indeed, the Joint Technical Committee-1 (JTC1 which is a joint committee of the ISO, IEC which deals with standards for Information technology) directives themselves include a list of different types of standard formats used with JTC1 documents distributed with different purposes (see JTC1 Directives, 5th Edition, Version 2.0, Annex H). For example, the JTC1 policy refers to six different formats—HTML,

116 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies TXT, DOC, PDF, WP, and RTF—and ranks them from “highly recommended” to “not recommended” for different purposes, such as use in standards, web browsing, or in complex documents. Several of the formats are ranked as “highly recommended” or “possible” for the same document use, underscoring the value of multiple document formats that address the same need. However, ISO currently has only three of the above mentioned formats as standards and one cannot call them overlapping document formats. The three are standards for three different requirements and calling them overlapping document formats is an over-simplification. HTML is a format for browser based publishing format. It can publish documents among other objects. ODF is designed for creation, modification and transmission of documents and is a true document format. PDF is a format for transmitting non-editable documents. The above examples of so-called multiple formats for documents do not justify multiple standards for technologies having similar scope.

6.4.3

Digital TV Formats

In 1996, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted the ATSC DTV standard, it declined to mandate a specific supported video format based on the conclusion that it would “result in greater choice and diversity of equipment, allow computer equipment and software firms more opportunity to compete by promoting interoperability, and result in greater consumer benefits by allowing an increase in the availability of new products and services.” Further, the FCC noted its preference of “allowing consumers to choose which formats are most important to them,” which would hasten the adoption of digital broadcasting. In allowing transmissions using interlace or progressive scan, in 480, 720, or 1080 lines of resolution, and in a 16 : 9 or other aspect ratio, the FCC sought to “foster competition among those aspects of the technology where we are least able to predict the outcome, choosing instead to rely upon the market and consumer demand”. It also concluded that “allow video formats to be tested and decided by the market avoid the risk of a mistaken government intervention in the market.” However, it is clear that the outcome of the above policy has been disastrous on the DTV market and consumers have got a raw deal, having caught up with consumer premise equipment of a particular standard that does not operate with the rival standard. This is similar to the case in India where there is no standard for the set top box for CAS or DTH and hence consumers are stuck with their operator as they have invested Rs 2000 – Rs 4000 on the set top box which will go waste, if they exercise their right to choose a different service provider.

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117

Wireless Standards

Of the IEEE-developed 802.11 family of wireless standards, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth protocols were once commonly believed to be mutually exclusive and in direct competition with one another. In time, however, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were properly understood as largely targeting different market segments —the former, with greater range, best served home and office networking needs; and the latter, with much more limited range, became the better choice for hand-held devices and other small consumer electronics. Still other overlapping standards are those adopted by the Infrared Data Association (IrDA), whose standards are for the short range exchange of data over infrared light, for uses such as personal area networks (PANs). However, the above examples do not present the entire picture. Bluetooth was always designed for short-range connectivity to multiple devices that are not in the line of sight. In fact the standard is named after the Scandinavian King Bluetooth, who had helped in unifying Sweden, and hence the name was adopted as Bluetooth standard also helps in unifying nearby devices. Wi-Fi or the IEEE 802.11x family of standards was designed for local area wireless connectivity and was designed for use with IP (Internet Protocol). Similarly, Wi-Max or IEEE, 802.16 and 802.20 family of standards (not mentioned in the argument above) has been designed for wide area wireless connectivity. Again, one cannot consider IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11n etc. to be multiple standards for the same technology. They are flavors of the same standard that supports various sub-requirements. And finally, IrDa is a legacy format for infrared based line of sight connection to devices that are in the immediate periphery and hence has limited range. It is still used as the cost of IrDa equipment is very low. However, chronologically, Bluetooth came later than IrDa and the two were not designed and developed in parallel as competing technologies. Therefore, most laptops and mobile phones of today have stopped supporting IrDA; they only support Bluetooth.

6.5

RATIONALE FOR SINGLE STANDARD

It has been argued that single standard with many implementations is much more valuable than multiple standards. Sl Purpose of a standard no. 1.

Allow ICT products and outputs to be used across the country without

Validity of the rationale for single standard

Acceptable argument

With a single standard, neither developers Yes nor consumers are confused with multiple standards and their investments are protected. It also allows small local players

(Contd.)

118 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies (Contd.) unnecessary technical barriers, thereby providing market access opportunities to small local players.

to enter the market as the single standard is well known and there are lesser chances of a technical barrier being put into place.

2.

Reduce development time and costs.

With a single standard, the skills and development tools available in the market would be higher and hence the single standard would help in reducing the development time and costs.

Yes

3.

Provide consumer and developer protection.

Consumers and developers would not have to spend more to ensure interoperability between applications and systems that they use or develop. Hence having a single standard for interoperability facilitates in providing protection to consumer and developer.

Yes

4.

Facilitate development and dissemination of new technologies.

A single stack of standards for the Internet helped facilitate development and dissemination of new technologies. Similarly, a single standard in an area would play a crucial role in facilitating development and dissemination of new technologies. Of course, standards can be modified when the need for adopting newer developments crop up.

Yes

5.

Ensure access by ensuring conformity to the standard through conformity assessment tools.

It would be much easier and practical to ensure conformity to a single standard through conformity assessment tools designed for that format than to invest in having conformity assessment for multiple standards.

Yes

6.

Increase product quality and security and protect against obsolescence.

A single standard in a given area will ensure a lower rate of obsolescence. A good example is again the Internet where even a PC made 20 years ago can still hook on to the Internet and access the technology. Moreover, having a single standard would lead to better product quality as the ICT products would have stabilized over time.

Yes

(Contd.)

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(Contd.) 7.

Ensure elimination of duplication of standards, thereby eliminating conflicts between standards.

6.6

Single standard would ensure elimination of duplication of standards, and conflicts between standards.

Yes

APPROACH TO THE ISSUE OF MULTIPLE STANDARDS

In this section we would be taking a look at the approaches that are suggested by ISO, WTO and IEEE.

6.6.1

ISO’s Approach towards Multiple Standards

ISO’s approach to multiple standards is captured in page 2 of “ISO Strategic Plan: 2005 – 2010”. The relevant portion is replicated in Figure 6.1. The means to implement and monitor the Strategic Plan, as well as the main elements of the added value that ISO brings to its stakeholders and the world community, are also summarized. The ISO Strategic Plan 2005-2010 was approved unanimously by the ISO General Assembly at its 27lh meeting in Geneva on 15-16 September 2004.

FIGURE 6.1

national member bodies, international liaisons, regional cooperation and partner organizations, ISO constitutes a leading platform for the production of globally and market relevant International Standards, ISO's consensus-building mechanisms, multi-sector coverage and ability to efficiently disseminate and promote its range of deliverables are recognized and relied upon by industry, public authorities, consumers and other stakeholders, thus helping to materialize the aim of “one standard, one test and one conformity assessment procedure accepted everywhere”. In this way, ISO contributes to a more efficient and sustainable world economy.

ISO’s Approach to Multiple Standards

Figure 6.1 shows ISO’s aim to have “one standard, one test and one conformity assessment procedure accepted everywhere”. Clearly if in any area there is more than one standard, it is more due to historical errors than from a policy objective of allowing multiple standards. Moreover, ISO in its objectives for developing standards also mentions that “standards are developed using procedures which ensure that the thousands of standards available avoid duplication and conflicts with each other”.

120 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies It is quite clear from the above argument that ISO believes that standards are more valuable if there is only one standard in each identified area.

6.6.2 World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s Approach to Multiple 6.6.2 Standards The WTO TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) Annexure 3, code of good practice for the preparation, adoption and application of standards, section F states that “Where international standards exist or their completion is imminent, the standardising body shall use them, or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for the standards it develops, except where such international standards or relevant parts would be ineffective or inappropriate, for instance, because of an insufficient level of protection or fundamental climatic or geographical factors or fundamental technological problems”. This code of good practice ensures that duplication of standards which are developed to achieve similar purposes is avoided and what emerges is a harmonised single standard which aides true interoperability natively. Clearly it is against WTO best practices to have multiple standards for technologies with similar scope as a policy.

6.6.3

IEEE’s Approach to Multiple Standards

The examination of the standards submission process of IEEE reveals that IEEE accepts a new standard in an area that already has an existing standard, only as an exception rather than a norm. Figure 6.2 shows that during the standards submission process, IEEE demands to know if there are other standards with a scope similar to the new proposed standard. If there is, then a detailed explanation is required to be submitted for considering the new proposed standard.

FIGURE 6.2

IEEE New Standards Submission Process

SUMMARY From the above discussion, it is clear that a policy of multiple standards goes against all the goals of creating a standard. In case multiple standards are adopted for technologies with similar scope, it would then be incumbent on the government to:

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· Enumerate the reasons as to why an additional standard is required in the given area and how the benefits of multiple standards in that area outweigh the harm that multiple standards cause. · Enumerate how the purposes of the multiple standards in a given area are distinctly different and address requirements that the existing standard cannot be extended to address (eg. 802.11x has been extended from 802.11b to 802.11a to 802.11 n, and so on) · Indemnify the users and developers from IPR issues arising out of the use of multiple standards. Also, in case one adopts a policy of multiple standards for a technology with similar scope, then one would also have to specify how many such standards can be accepted or if one can have an infinite number of standards in the given scope. In the latter case, we need not have any standard at all. Adopting multiple standards defeats the purpose of having standards. It is an anti-consumer policy that basically allows the back-door entry of the standards pushed by dominant market players through the network effect of ICT industries. A network effect forces an industry to gravitate towards a single standard. Therefore, by adopting a policy of multiple standards, the government would in effect be adopting the policy of having a single standard become dominant that would be of the most powerful market player. This is definitely not in the benefit of either the consumers or the small local players. From a management perspective, it would be difficult to identify all submarine patents filed against the multiple standards that are being adopted. Going by past experience, many so called open standards turned out to have submarine patents that were exploited by large corporations (for example, JPEG). In case one decides to limit the number of multiple standards to a finite number, one would also need to come out with a rationale for that number. However, the policy of a single standard for technologies having similar scopes helps in achieving the following goals of creating a standard: · Allow ICT products and outputs to be used across the country without unnecessary technical barriers, thereby providing market access opportunities to local small players. · Reduce development time and costs. · Provide consumer and developer protection. · Facilitate development and dissemination of new technologies. · Ensure access by ensuring conformity to the standard through conformity assessment tools. · Increase product quality and security and protect against obsolescence. · Ensure elimination of duplication of standards, and conflicts between standards. The above goals for creating standards are based on the goals adopted by ISO and IEEE. Moreover, policies of major international agencies, such as ISO, WTO and IEEE also favour a single standard for technologies having similar scope. As per ISO’s objectives, “standards are developed using procedures which ensure that

122 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies the thousands of standards available avoid duplication and conflict with each other”. As per ISO’s vision document, it believes in developing “one standard, one test and one conformity assessment procedure accepted everywhere”. There is no reason why at a national level we should adopt a policy that is contrary to ISO’s policy. Based on the considerations in this chapter, it can be concluded that it is prudent to have a single standard for technologies having similar scope.

KEY TERMS Technical standard An established norm or requirement. It is usually a formal document that establishes uniform engineering or technical criteria, methods, processes and practices. De facto standard A standard emerged from tradition (like the side of the driver’s seat in a country, or the use of gif images on Web pages) or from market enforcement — typically market players like Adobe for the “PDF standard” or Microsoft for the “Microsoft Office standards”. De jure standard A standard written and fixed as a norm, by a standard body; but not a surety of adoption. Example: adoption of png images on Web pages. Network effect (network externality) The effect that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product to other users. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) An umbrella term that includes all technologies for the manipulation and communication of information. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) A consortium for developing interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) documents on the World Wide Web.

The authoring language used to create

Open Document Format (ODF) A file format for electronic office documents such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) An international non-profit, professional organisation for the advancement of technology related to electricity. International Standards Organisation (ISO) An international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organisations. International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) World’s leading organisation that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies, collectively known as “electrotechnology”. Joint Technical Committee (JTC) Joint Technical Committee 1 of ISO and IEC. It deals with all matters related to information technology. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) An independent agency of the United States government created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute (see 47 U.S.C. § 151 and 47 U.S.C. § 154), with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the President.

Multiple Standards in Information ................ Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) will replace the analog NTSC television system.

123

A digital television format that

Wi-Fi Trademark of the Wi-Fi alliance for certified products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. This certification warrants interoperability between different wireless devices. Infrared Data Association (IrDa) Physical specifications communications protocol standards for the short-range exchange of data over infrared light, for uses such as personal area networks (PANs). Personal Area Networks (PANs) Networks used for communication among computer devices (including telephones and personal digital assistants) close to one’s person. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters. World Trade Organisation (WTO) An important selective, mainly private, international organisation to supervise and liberalise international trade. Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Policy to ensure that regulations, standards, testing, and certification procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the rationale for having ICT standards. 2. Explain why one should not have multiple standards for e-government. 3. What are the advantages of having a policy of a single standard for one technology area? 4. Explain why royalty-based standards are harmful for e-government.

REFERENCES Bhattacharya, Jaijit, P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan, Shantanu Gupta, 2007 ‘Open standards and accessibility to information: a critical analysis of OOXML in India’, in ACM International Conference Proceeding Series; Vol. 232 archive, Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Theory and practice of electronic governance Bhattacharya, Jaijit. 2008. ‘Policy Approach on Multiple Standards for ICT technologies’, at , MAMPU, Government of Malaysia Available at http://www.ieee.org/web/standards/home/index.html. Downloaded on January 28, 2008. Available at http://www.iso.org/iso/standards_and_regulations. Downloaded on January 29, 2008. Available at http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/date/2007/08. Downloaeed on January 20, 2008.

124 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Available at http://www.iso.org/iso/aboutiso/strategies/isostrategies_2004-en.pdf. Downloaded on January 28, 2008. International Standards Organisation (ISO), 2008 ‘Standards and Regulations’,. Available at http://www.iso.org/iso/standards_and_regulations. Downloaded on January 30, 2008. WTO. 1994 ‘Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards’, TBT Annexure 3, http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/17tbt_e.htm, World Trade Organisation. IEEE, 2009, ‘How to Fill out a PAR for a New Standard’, Available at http:// standards.ieee.org/resources/development/initiate/newpar.ppt. Downloaded on May 10, 2010

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7 Change Management for e-Government Objectives · To learn what is change management · To manage change · To learn theoretical frameworks of change management · To formulate the vision and mission of an e-government project · To learn the types of e-governments · To learn the parameters for the selection of an e-government project · To learn the parameters for the success and measure of an e-government project

7.1

INTRODUCTION

Any e-government initiative will face tremendous resistance as it leads to change. Resistance is a critical factor that either reduces the effectiveness of the project or leads to its complete failure. In the context of e-government, change management is one of the most important dimensions in the success of IT projects and applications. We might have purchased the best technology, designed the best applications software, and engaged the best breed companies in project management for running the services and finally hired the best consultants, but if the change management strategy is poor, there is no guarantee that the best resources selected will lead to successful project implementation. All the investments of time, money and other resources will go waste, if the change management strategy is not understood, developed and implemented properly. Therefore there has to be a conscious and directed effort to manage change. Technology intervention by way of e-government, in the existing governmentsystems, brings about large-scale changes in all parts and components of soft and hard systems, namely the organisation, people, technology, procedures,

126 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies and rules and regulations. Impacts of some of these change factors are also felt at the psychological and emotional levels of the people concerned. These change factors combined together, therefore, call for a strategy to anticipate, plan, organise, and manage change at all the three levels of operations, namely at the highest level of political leadership and top management; at middle level, where people are engaged in work at macro level of project selection, evolving standards and policies on e-government for the department concerned; and finally at the third tier, where leaders and the e-government team are busy implementing programs and managing them. Besides, there is also a need to evolve change management strategies in other factors and in other organisations and for their people, who are partners with the department/ agency in e-government projects. It is widely accepted that failure rate of IT projects in government is fairly high. This holds true for e-government projects in the developed countries like UK and US as well as in the developing countries such as Rwanda, Pakistan and Uganda. Many global cases indicate that projects fail for a number of reasons, which need to be investigated properly, if we really want to see our investments yield the desired outcomes. Such investigations could help in developing more effective change management strategies to safeguard projects and thus contribute to the success of the projects.

7.2

EVOLVING A CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

How does one go about evolving a proper change management strategy? Before we discuss any model of change, we must understand the nature of change and the processes involved therein. When we try to change the current working of the government from manual mode to electronic mode, several changes are required in the procedures, rules, regulations, employees’ work habits, modes of interaction with customers, customers’ relationships with government and officials and so forth. There is a natural process of change involved at various levels, which can be grouped together in the following broad categories: 1. Technology level: Speed, functionality, user-friendliness, and sophistication of delivery of service, content and language thereof 2. Process level: Procedures, rules, and regulations 3. People level: Working habits, attitudes, rewards, punishment systems, working hours, motivation, level of satisfaction, and skills required for the new job and training 4. Organisational level: Structure, hierarchy, decision-making styles, culture, and so on 5. Legal changes: To support the new procedures, for security and ITenablement of the transaction process

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6. Changes at other levels: Changes in other organisations and their rules and regulations, mode of interaction and communication, team work and projection of a joined-up government 7. Social and Political changes: Empowerment issues, process of reform, and so on This list is only indicative and would differ for each individual IT-project. There are, however, some common factors relevant to all kinds of projects, in every country and possibly for every type of organisation. But equally well, there is a second set of factors, which is relevant for each specific project under consideration. First flash of change appears as soon as we take the initiative towards IT enablement electronisation in any government department. The very discussion on an IT project may create some enthusiasm, some fears and some opposition within the organisation. These changes will keep appearing subsequently at various stages, from writing the mission and vision statement, to selection and implementation of projects and thereafter. All these issues have to be addressed carefully if the e-government projects are to succeed. Change in management strategy will depend upon many factors, some of which are discussed below: · Technology deployed · Political environment · Stakeholders · Target population · Skill level and age group of employees · Degree of resistance · Leadership · Organisational flexibility and culture · Stakes involved in the project · Time frame for implementation · Expertise · Dependency · Other factors Because of a huge number of factors involved, there cannot be a single change management strategy. One can adopt a general or a ‘grand’ strategy, but for any given initiative, a mix of strategies will work better.

7.3

UNDERSTANDING CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Let us now try to understand change management. It basically involves three steps, as shown in Figure 7.1.

128 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Phase 1 – Preparing for change Define your change management strategy Prepare your change management team Develop your sponsorship model

Phase 2 – Managing change Develop change management plans Take action and implement plans

Phase 3 – Reinforcing change Collect and analyse feedback Diagnose gaps and manage resistance Implement corrective actions and celebrate successes

FIGURE 7.1 The Three-Step Change Process

In order to understand the change process better, it would be useful at this stage to examine some theoretical frameworks and models of change management strategy.

7.3.1 Theoretical Frameworks and Models of Change 7.3.1 Management The following change management models and frameworks are discussed here: · A five-stage model of change management R.P. Mohanty and O.P. Yadav suggest a five-stage model for managing the change process as discussed below: 1. Development stage · Diagnose the need for change (why, what, where, who).

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· Design of human resource development programmes to build core competencies in the areas of TQM, leadership, team management, and so on such that employees are available to play the key role of change agents. 2. Initiation stage · Create an open communication process. · Develop respect for individuals by evolving transparent systems, building trust and identifying mutual concerns. · Gain voluntary commitment to action from willing people through dialogue, not memos. · Conduct training programs on problem solving, decision making, conflict resolution and collaborative management to develop collective interactions between various functional groups and to make cross-functional team coordination a reality. 3. Testing stage · Implement a pilot project with feedback and evaluation. · Design intervention mechanisms to eliminate blocks on the implementation of change. 4. Adoption and stabilization · Diffuse the learning experience throughout the organisation. · Maintain the motivation level through review and implementation of incentives and rewards. 5. Diffusion to other systems · Selective diffusion. · Substantive diffusion. This is a comprehensive model, which can be used to understand change management issues at different stages of IT implementation. · Model of effective organisational performance The four critical change elements and their relationship with objectivity and subjectivity are as follow. This is also shown in Figure 7.2. 1. Rational/Behavioural element of change: Change is causal, predictable and can be rationally understood and controlled through objective data, analysis of relationships between independent and dependent variables and expert knowledge. In this element of change, the focus is on change as an external reality. The function involved is prediction, control, and improved efficiency within carefully defined limits and focus. The attention is on behaviour or practice and reinforcing these over time. The discussion on feelings is not encouraged, except when done in an objective manner as responses to a standardised instrument. 2. Systems level change: Change is a holistic, homeostatic process that involves many independent components, cyclical patterns, and multiple

130 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies conceptual relationships. Here the emphasis is on intuition and abstraction, on patterns, processes and universal concepts. The effort is to maintain the equilibrium and balance the opposites. 3. Cultural/Interpretive: Change is socially constructed and interpreted through cultural practices, human interaction, and collaborative enquiry. Here change is a product of social interaction and cultural values, norms, and thoughts. This approach recognises interpersonal and group interpretations of reality in collecting and analysing information and making decisions. 4. Critical humanism: Change is action oriented, dialectic, and based on economic and historical analysis. Knowledge and awareness increase self-determination. This approach is based on experience and judgments derived from feelings and analysis, new ways of thinking that often challenge the everyday constructions of reality in the political, social and cultural concepts of an organisation. The first two approaches are more objective in nature, as they try to ‘bracket’ and isolate change in a more specific time and space. The last two, on the other hand, focus on people as learners, facilitators and active participants in the change process. People here are active agents of change. Sensing

Data Gathering

Intuiting

II. Systems

IV. Critical Humanism

III. Cultural/ Interpretive

Analysis of why we are persuaded Emancipation

FIGURE 7.2

Field of perspectives

Objective

Discussion of Feelings

I. Rational/ Behavioral

Use of Reason

Problem Solving

Subjective Coordination

Change Perspectives

This is a framework to analyse change and will be useful in the context of e-government and to develop approaches for change management. · McKinsey’s model on organisational change McKinsey and Company propounded the 7S model way back in 1980, on organisational change which is still relevant. This model emphasises on better fitting among the following seven dimensions: 1. Strategy: Plan for allocating organisational resources to achieve its goals 2. Systems: Administrative procedures, routines, and information systems that characterise how work is done within the organisation

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3. Structure: The way organisation units relate to each other, including formal reporting and authority relationships 4. Staff: The numbers and types of people employed in the organisation 5. Style: Patterns of behaviour of key managers in achieving the organisational goals and how managers relate to employees 6. Skills: Distinctive capabilities of key personnel or the firm as a whole 7. Shared values: Significant meanings, guiding concepts, and values and aspirations that go beyond the conventional formal statement of corporate objectives Out of the seven parameters described above, the first three, namely strategy, systems and structure are the ‘hard’ part, whereas the remaining four are the soft aspects. High performing organisations have to pay a lot of attention to these seven parameters and develop a proper fit amongst them. Even though this model was developed in 1980, it is still relevant for government organisations. · Sawhney and Zabin model of change Sawhney and Zabin in ‘The seven steps to Nirvana’ suggest the following model for change. This model has been specifically developed in the context of e-business, but it is applicable in the study of e-government as well. The model suggests logically related seven steps to the process of change from vision to reality. The steps involved are as follows (ref Fig 7.3): 1. Catalysing: Initiating change from the top by creating a culture that embraces change, and a shared e-business vision that energises the organisation. 2. Diffusing: Communicating the e-business vision broadly, deeply inside and outside the organisation, and creating a sense of urgency around it. 3. Motivating: Creating incentive systems that promote acceptance of change, experimentation and a culture of sharing. 4. Skilling: Educating individuals about new processes, systems, and business practices. Creating mentoring programs that overcome the fear of the unknown and resistance to change. 5. Externalising: Marketing change initiatives externally and making investments in partners and suppliers to increase commitment and loyalty. 6. Structuring: Defining role and responsibilities for e-business organisation managing the vertical tension of centralisation versus decentralisation as well as the horizontal tension of separation versus integration of the e-business organisation. 7. Staffing: Recruiting leaders and members of the e-business team, defining the skills and the personality traits of the core e-business team members.

132 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Prima facie, the model suggested above would need customisation in the use and understanding of the terminologies used, in the context of e-government. ‘Partners and suppliers’ could refer to other government and some private agencies, which are stakeholders in the project. They would also need to have a change strategy for the IT initiatives to succeed. These other government agencies concerned would need to invest in the e-government programs related to their own fields of activities. There are some limitations in this model for application in e-government. For example, catalysing is not just at the top, but happens at other tiers of the organisation as well.

Culture shared vision

Incentive rewards

Diffusing

Motivating

Catalyzing

Vision & Strategy Traits skills

Training

Staffing

Structuring

Organisation integration

Education mentoring

Externalising

Partners suppliers

FIGURE 7.3 Seven Organisational Processes in e-business Transformation

· People driven change management In the entire change management strategy, people (from within and outside the organisation) occupy a pivotal place and are central to any exercise. Beckhard and Harris refer to the “critical mass” of people who must actively participate in order to provide the initial energy for change. Participation and collaboration among people can reduce resistance to change and increase commitment at an informal level. The following are the facilitators and barriers to change: A. Facilitators to change management 1. Provision of rationale for change 2. Creation of team orientation 3. Development of forum for dialogue

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4. Legitimisation of concerns 5. Involvement of all levels of the organisation 6. Openness to creative options 7. Use of feedback to interpret information 8. Sensitivity to context and timing 9. Establishment of inclusiveness B. Barriers to change management 1. Top-down approach to control 2. Keeping of helpful information secret 3. Lack of empowering people 4. Imposing of change 5. Disregard to career options 6. Ignoring of work patterns and norms 7. Overlooking of perceived risk of failure 8. Implementation of change without feedback 9. Under utilisation of diversity as a resource The above points indicate clear advantages of involving people, who will implement changes in the change management process. People will ultimately decide whether the projects will succeed or not, and if so to what extent. The above models suggested by various researchers and authors serve as useful guidelines in understanding the change management process. These, however, need to be analysed and examined in the specific context of e-government. Each model is relevant to change management in e-government. However, one has to choose the model that is appropriate to the given circumstances in the government system.

7.4

STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL CASES ON e-GOVERNMENT

Now let us discuss the evolution of a model or framework for change management strategy, specifically suited to e-government. For this purpose, a study of ten international cases on e-government projects of various types from different parts of the world has been selected to examine the ‘critical success factors’, and ‘inhibitors’ involved. Subsequently, an analysis would be conducted to find out most common factors of change management. Based upon this analysis, an attempt would be made to evolve a suitable model for change management strategy.

Case Study 1: Electronic Birth Registration in Rajshahi, Bangladesh In Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC), a pilot electronic Birth Registration Information System (BRIS) was introduced. The application design envisaged

134 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies not just birth registration, but also integration with other government child welfare programmes. BRIS provided a basic citizen identity and integrated other databases to create a larger population database, which was utilised by other public agencies, such as the department of health and education. The end results demonstrated an increased rate of registration and immunisation. Critical success factors · Motivating senior officials: Motivating senior bureaucrats and politicians of Bangladesh, who lack concern for peoples’ problems, meant a lot. The Mayor of RCC was honoured when RCC was represented at a Special UN Session on Child Rights held in New York. His commitment to the project influenced its sustainability. Ward Commissioners were also motivated to support the project because of the perceived benefits to their chances of re-election. · Citizens’ participation: Citizens’ enhanced level of ICT awareness has increased expectation in improved delivery of services. Citizens participated in the BRIS project through their representatives. · Encouraging and motivating young talent: Involvement and commitment of younger staff, who are dynamic, innovative, and willing to accept change, made all the difference. Inhibitors · Resistance from officials: The e-project brings about transparency and access to information and, therefore, reduces opportunity for corruption. · Procurement is not smooth: Corruption in procurement of even basic spare parts leads to delays. · Lack of skills: IT-trained manpower is not easily available. Senioritybased appointment means staff is not competent and qualified. · Changing systems and structures: Existing systems and structures were designed for an operating environment that was vastly different from the current operating environment. Thus the current systems and structure act as inhibitors. More benefits from the IT-led program could follow by changing the government processes and structures.

Case Study 2: Citizen Payment at FRIENDS Centres in Kerala FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient Network for Disbursement of Services) centres offer a one-stop shop for payments of all services rendered by the government of Kerala through the use of IT-enabled payment counters. The centres are a project of the Kerala State IT Mission, an executive agency of the State’s Department of Information Technology. The project is considered largely successful.

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Critical success factors · Front-end-first approach: Back-end computerisation in government departments takes a lot of time. Then each department ends up as standalone projects. Benefits of an integrated government thus evade the citizens. Front-end approach provided benefits of an ICT-enabled system even before back-end computerisation could be completed and onewindow service was available to the citizens. Computerisation of backend systems take a long time in government departments. It leads to each department’s computerisation project being considered a standalone project. Thereby citizens do not get the benefits of an integrated government. · Focus on immediate benefits with wider public participation: This project delivered highly visible gains without BPR (business process reengineering), to all sections of society. The benefits also created impact for the future. · The human factor: It was not just the technology part that was important, but also the ownership of the project by the service officers. · Training: Motivating factors included training employees with an emphasis on behavioural aspects, skill upgradation, technology and good ambience. · Support from top leadership: The project created several problems of interdepartmental co-ordination, which at some stage became difficult to manage. However, the support from top leadership helped in timely resolution of the inter-departmental issues thereby ensuring completion of the project. Inhibitors · Resistance from individual departments: State government departments do not have the larger picture in mind. As an integrated front-end project with one single interface, FRIENDS was opposed by the participating departments for fear of loosing power. · Political challenge: The fact that the ruling government at the time of the project was a coalition government brought in political challenges, as it promoted divisions and support for those opposing the project. · Procedures and processes: The current procedures and rules for the manual system do not support the integrated framework of services. They promote departmentwise financial collection and responsibility. Individual departments insist that their share of revenue reach them at least by the next day. There was stiff resistance from all quarters to changing and rationalising these procedures. · Updating details in departmental registers: Lack of back-end integration created problems of accounting and sometimes citizens had to suffer. However, by a subsequent government order, receipt from a FRIENDS counter was treated as an equivalent of a receipt from the participating department/agency.

136 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Case Study 3: Turkey’s Local Government Portal, YerelNet YerelNet (meaning ‘Local Net’ in Turkish) is a comprehensive web portal and web-enabled communication platform for local governments in Turkey. Government officials and academics can share data and build knowledge and Turkish local governments can provide online information. The site holds data from 3,216 municipalities, nearly 35,000 villages and more than 1,000 local government associations. The Web site contains, among other things, the following information: local government bids and tenders, publications and press coverage, local election results since 1963, details of Turkish legal developments, an electronic discussion forum, and question and answer sections, and so on. The following are the experiences of YerelNet from the early stage of implementation. Critical success factors · Open source software: Use of open source software has reduced the cost, though some experts have been hired to help with site development. · Resourceful project developers: Staff and the organisations which initiated the project had strong personal and institutional connections with local government. Inhibitors · Marketing challenge: Promoting the awareness and usage of the web site has been poor. · Financing: The project has been facing financial crunch which has affected the operations and content updating. · Internet access: Levels of Internet access are low in Turkey. Learning · Produce a critical mass of content. · Provide easy access to web content. · Partnerships with private sector can help.

Case Study 4: A Management Information System and GIS to Support Local Government in Balochistan The Balochistan Trial District Management Project, funded by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), aims to support decentralisation in Balochistan Province in Pakistan. As part of this, a Participatory Information System (PIS) was created, consisting of a management information system (MIS) with a geographic information system (GIS) interface. The PIS project is evaluated as largely successful. Government staff has been trained to institutionalise the system, and so the sustainability of the

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system beyond phase one is untested. High project costs however could deter replication. Critical success factors · Donor funding · Community participation · Use of GIS to present data Inhibitors · Senior officials : Their decision-making system is based on informal political information rather than the formal rational information produced by the PIS. · Infrastructure : Lack of IT skills and access in villages and remote areas have constrained the project. · Future sustainability : Three factors of sustainability are important: · First, an extant of institutionalisation of a rational, objective culture of decision-making in government. · Second, decision style of low-level staff trained to operate the information system and high-level staff who actually make the decisions. · Third, transfer of the trained staff, whose skills are consequently lost. Learning · Involve the beneficiaries : Seek active participation of the targeted beneficiaries. · Change of processes and data : Government decision-makers must analyse their existing processes and understand how these processes, that have evolved over hundreds of years, will impact the IT enablement of government and how the old processes will get impacted by IT adoption in the government. The decision-makers would then need to adapt and change the government processes appropriately. · Develop human resources.

Case Study 5: An Integrated Information System (IIS) for Defence Force Management in the Middle East The application was designed to provide an integrated information system (IIS) that would cover all branches of the Republican Defence Force, namely air force, navy and the army. This would integrate a variety of management information systems, including information systems on human resource, budget, accounts, and procurement/payment. The project failed and the analysis indicates the following: The system was implemented, but most modules never worked satisfactorily and were never used. There was a large design-reality gap and the scores on different aspects are shown in Table 7.1.

138 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Table 7.1 Rating of Design Reality Gaps

Dimension

Rating

Technology

8.5

Staff and skills

8.5

Information

8

Management systems and structures

8

Processes

7

Objectives and values

7

Other resources

4

With such high gap ratings for so many dimensions, it can be argued that all except ‘other resources’ contributed to the largely unsuccessful outcome. Inhibitors · Changing too much too fast (information/management systems and structures/processes dimensions): The project tried to do too much at once. · Mismatch with organisational culture and personal interests (objectives and values dimension): IIS design conflicted directly with both the traditional culture and the self-interests of some senior figures. · Absence of key competencies (staffing and skills dimension): The project required a strong set of competencies, which were not available.

Learning: Reducing design–reality gaps To reduce the risk of failure, e-government projects must reduce problematic design-reality gaps. This means either making the design more like current reality and/or making reality more like the design. Recommendations for improvements on this project fall into two main camps: 1. Generic gap closure recommendations : These are approaches to e-government projects that can help to reduce gaps: · Scope limitation: Changes in technology must keep pace with working practices and vice versa. The initial project should have been much more limited in its scope and ambition. · Incremental/step-by-step approach: Instead of computerising and integrating all modules at one go, the project design could have taken an incremental approach such as computerising the HR function at first and then moving on budgeting and so on. · Participation: The IIS project could have involved a broader range of stakeholders. 2. Specific gap closure recommendations : These are actions taken on e-government projects that can help specifically to reduce gaps on a particular dimension.

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· Staffing and skills: A broad range of awareness-raising and training activities could have bridged the competency gaps. Solution is to reduce the scope and ambition of the design so as to require fewer/ lower competencies.

Case Study 6: Problems in Computerising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a West African Nation This ambitious programme aimed at computerising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs internal services of a West African nation, creating an Intranet and Web-enabled citizen services. The new system was intended to allow sharing of information between the Ministry and its diplomatic missions abroad, through Intranet, external Web site and e-mail. Provision for developing an external website was also included. The external web site was meant for citizens, business people and researchers, explaining which international agreements the country subscribed to, providing details of invitations of tender, and recording official speeches and diplomatic records. Video conferencing was also planned to be used. The project was largely unsuccessful. Critical success factors · Staff awareness : Staff was aware of the intended changes, and some supported those changes. · Financial allocations : The project received funding as envisaged. · National strategy : A national plan for computerisation of public agencies helped facilitate the overall project. Inhibitors · Politicisation of tendering : Tenders were awarded on the basis of personal relations of officials and not on the basis of competence. · Clashes with personal interest : Some aspects of the application threatened the privileges of diplomats, for example, promoting video conferencing meant reducing overseas travel. · Limited computing infrastructure : Shortage of PCs hampered learning and training. Learning · Customise your goals to current realities : There must be a match between the interests of key stakeholders and the design. · Customise your timescales to current realities : Project implementation takes time and this should be clear to the top officials. · Customise your training to user needs : Customised training content to the specific job needs of staff is more useful.

Case Study 7 SETU: A Citizen Facilitation Centre in India SETU or the citizen facilitation centre was set up by Maharashtra state government in India in the city of Aurangabad. The main objective of the

140 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Centre is to provide important public services to the citizens under a common platform efficiently in a non-hostile environment. Citizens can obtain certificates, permits, authentication, affidavits and other services at the Centre. Another objective is to have greater transparency in office procedures. Faster decisionmaking and disposal of files would increase the productivity of public offices. Indirect employment generation is also another goal. SETU has been adjudged a partial success at present. Critical success factors · Project location : Being located in the Collector’s office, which is the existing centre of activity, is an important factor. · Human resource practices : Availability of skilled manpower to manage the Centre, and presence of a resourceful NGO contributed to the success. · High-level support : Both state- and district-level committees chaired by high officials, have been monitoring the project. Inhibitors · External pressures : Agents and touts, who were active in the old system, have not vanished from the scene. · Limited services : Services available through SETU are currently limited. Some services, like payment of bills or taxes, and online availability of forms and registration are just being planned. Learning · Simplify procedures : Business process re-engineering is needed, as some documents are still required to be obtained from different offices. Certificates for nationality, domicile and caste can be combined into a single certificate, thus saving time, energy and cost of government staff and the public. · Decentralise procedures : Lower authorities can issue some certificates, if powers are delegated. · Get citizens representation : Different categories of citizens can be associated with high-level decision making, review committees involved in project monitoring and implementation.

Case Study 8: e-Procurement by Mexico’s Federal Government (Compranet) The e-procurement system of the Federal Government of Mexico is a Webbased online procurement system (Compranet), using a variety of hardware and software. It was set up by the unit of electronic government services within the Mexican Ministry of the Controllership and Administrative Development (MCAD). Around 3,000 procurement units within various government agencies post their requirements online, and government suppliers can submit their proposals via this web site.

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The system has been largely successful. The system has cut prices in procurement and has increased transparency. The system has also formed the basis for adoption in a number of other Central and South American nations. Critical success factors · Political support within government · Incremental introduction: The system was introduced in a scaled manner, with continuous user training. · Participation and negotiation: MCAD successfully involved and negotiated with a series of key stakeholders. Inhibitors · Cultural barriers in using the web and ICTs · Legislative delays: New legislation and rules required to allow for new forms of procurement were delayed · Resource constraints: Shortage of trained personnel Learning · Obtain political support · Adopt an incremental approach: This allows credibility for each stage on the basis of what has been achieved previously, and allows time and space for amendments to address shortcomings, as well as for all stakeholders to adjust to the new system. · Provide constant support and training: In Compranet’s case, this included a free national phone assistance service for suppliers and other users.

Case Study 9: Planning Web-Enabled Services for Citizens in Orissa The Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC) provides web-enabled information and services related to government programmes and activities to citizens. It covers information on government administration, health services, commodity prices, district and village maps, tax schedules, and details of land use and road/river networks. Information is provided in both English and Oriya, the local language. Online services include provision to file a grievance petition/complaint and to monitor its status, and the provision to apply for a variety of government certificates (nationality, residence, birth, death, and so on). An email server allows to send or receive e-mail in both English and Oriya. The project has been able to demonstrate a good level of awareness creation, and both the development methodology and the technology utilised have worked well. Critical success factors · Citizens’ participation in assessing needs : Drishtee (a professional socioeconomic research organisation) conducted users’ survey to assess the needs. · User-friendly applications : Latest Web technology has been used.

142 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Funding : The Government of India and UNDP support the project. Challenges · Delays : Selecting the organisation to undertake the needs survey and release funds for procurement of project hardware were considerably delayed. · Reluctance to join : Some public sector service providers were reluctant to join. · Physical distance : Pilot project was located in Kalahandi, far from the main centre, Bhubaneswar. Learning · Reduce bureaucracy : e-Government projects should be made free from bureaucratic red tape, biases, delays and other public sector problems; particularly since the project itself is supposed to solve these problems. · E-solution based on customer feedback : Projects can be allowed to proceed with partial and incomplete solutions, so long as those solutions have been developed, with the involvement, awareness and participation of all concerned. · Web-based solutions : Web-enabling the applications in the local language and use of new technology could prove to be the answer.

Case Study 10: Failed Electronic Voter Registration in Uganda This project envisaged taking photographs of all citizens of voting age using digital cameras. The photographs were then to be loaded onto a voters’ register database, to be maintained on a mainframe at the Interim Electoral Commission headquarters, which would be connected to District Electoral Commission offices through the Internet. The database was to be used as the basis for voter identification at polling stations for the 2001 elections. The purpose behind the application was to weed out impostors who voted in the names of dead or absentee voters, and to avoid double registration of voters, which was rampant in the country. The project, however, was a total failure. Critical success factor · Value proposition : Good idea to make electoral process clean Inhibitors · Political factor : Voter registration system was a technical instrument introduced into a highly politicised situation. · Lack of political will : Political will from government to implement the system as intended was lacking. · Lack of awareness : Lack of political awareness on the part of many Ugandan citizens. · Role of Electoral Commission : Lack of capacity on the part of the Interim Electoral Commission to create conditions in which the system would be seen as impartial.

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Learning · Involve civil society : Participation of civil society organisations should be encouraged from beginning. · Political support : Political support is necessary for the success of the project. · Move incrementally : ‘Big bang’ approaches that suddenly introduce new technologies and processes should be avoided, and systematic but gradual approach preferred. Analysis of case studies for evolving a model for effective change management The above case studies indicate that the process of change management is related to a host of issues-from technological to organisational issues, HR functions, and legal issues, and so on. But most importantly, change management issues are very closely related to the effectiveness of the e-government programme, right from the stage of conceptualisation to final completion of the project and subsequently, in running, maintaining and upgrading the entire infrastructure. If the programme is doing well in terms of various parameters, then the change management strategy has worked well. Conversely, if the processes of change management and the common issues that generally arise in any project of this type have been well anticipated and planned, then the effectiveness of the programme would go up. Based upon study of the cases, a list of important factors related to change management to enhance the effectiveness of the programme is summarised below: 1. Technology related issues: The following are some of the important issues that arise in the technology domain: (i) Choice of technology: Simple, state-of-the-art, web based, client server, or n-tier central architecture technologies should be adopted. (ii) Capabilities of technology: Should provide a robust platform, be scalable, should have open standards, with heavy investment in back office sustainability. (iii) Availability of system: Should be available all the time, with close to zero downtime. (iv) Management of technology: Should lead to a sustainable technology infusion in an institutionalised manner. (v) ‘Big bang’ approaches: Sudden introduction of new technologies and processes should be avoided, and systematic, step-by-step approach should be preferred. (vi) Use of technology in the local language: This can improve effectiveness and popularity of the programme. (vii) Security and privacy issues: These must be addressed. (viii) User friendliness: Web must have critical mass of content, easy access, and navigability.

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2.

3.

4.

5.

(ix) Open source software: Must be explored, wherever feasible. (x) Use of GIS system: Application of GIS system to present data must be explored. Process issues: There are a number of process related issues, which gain importance in evolving a change management strategy for e-government. These are: (i) Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) systems and procedures should be changed and a systematic exercise in business process re-engineering should be carried out to enable e-government. (ii) Automation of processes should sufficiently be extended to the departments concerned to carry out complete transaction. (iii) Front-end approach should be used, without any large scale changes at the back-end. (iv) Bureaucratic red-tape should be avoided. Projects should be made free from the bureaucratic red tape, biases, delays and other public sector problems. Availability of resources: Easy and timely availability of resources is very important for the project, some of which are: (i) Availability of equipment: Basic equipment like PCs and networks must be made available. (ii) Finance: Finance should be made available as per project requirement to avoid delays and obsolescence. (iii) Funding from outside sources such as donor agencies, international organisations and private partners must be explored. (iv) Infrastructure must be provided in backward areas. E-readiness factors must be improved, so that services are available to citizens. Special care should be taken to address requirements of women, poor people and the disabled. People related issues: These issues are the most sensitive, and should receive the highest priority, as, ultimately people will make the programmes successful. The important issues are: (i) Resistance to change from people and government agencies must be managed well. (ii) Overall direction: People sometimes need to be directed. (iii) Acceptance of change: People do nevertheless accept change under pressure and encouragement. (iv) Support from other stakeholders like suppliers is also needed. (v) Transparency in post-computerisation work may not be liked by vested interests, hence IT enablement must be a planned exercise, by way of involvement of all the stakeholders. Political issues: e-Government is not all about technology. The following socio-political issues are equally important:

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(i) Political will: Strong political will is needed to go ahead with e-government and to deal with the negative pressures arising from different constituents. Involvement of the top leadership, like Prime Minister and/or President is likely to improve the sustainability. (ii) Political support: Must be pro-active; it must be available before, during and after the project duration. (iii) Political instability: This factor must be taken into account, or else change in the government may mean closing down of the programme. (iv) Political awareness: Citizens should be made aware of political circumstances. (v) National strategy: Politicians must set a national strategy, which will push things up faster and minimise resistance. 6. Project management issues: There are a number of issues related to project management that will impact the success of the project. Some of these are: (i) Strategic guidance: If available, this acts as a framework for successful implementation. (ii) Step-by-step approach: Too much too fast may be unmanageable. Incremental improvements could help in certain circumstances. (iii) Strict time-framework: Time schedule of implementation must be strictly adhered to. (iv) Procurement: This issue must be managed well, otherwise it would be a key reason for delays in the project. Politicisation of tendering must be guarded against well in advance. (v) Marketing programme: An effective marketing of the programme and customer feedback system promotes effective change management. (vi) Resourceful developers: Project developers have an important role to play and, therefore, must be resourceful. There will be many resource challenges that a project will face which were not necessarily foreseen in the beginning. If the project developers are not resourceful it would lead to a sub-optimal implementation. (vii) Ownership: Stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined. Project ownership will ensure a smooth running. (viii) Public-private partnership (PPP): PPP plays a useful role in effectiveness, reducing risk and better management relating to change also. (ix) Convenience of users: User-friendliness must be the guiding spirit in the e-government projects. Factors like location of the project, and setting up kiosks will make the process of change management easier.

146 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 7. Legal issues: A number of legal issues arising from e-government processes must be taken care of. Some of these are: (i) Law for the digital government: An IT Act is required to take care of validity of digital documents, security, and so on. (ii) Amendment in Laws: Changes in laws, rules and regulations related to the working of the particular department must be carried out in time, so as to enable e-government. (iii) Stability and flexibility in laws: Laws once amended or enacted must be fairly stable and yet they must have flexibility enough to cater to any emerging circumstances. 8. Participation of citizens/stakeholders: Citizen’s participation is very important for the successful implementation of the programme. (i) Involvement of civil society groups and NGOs: Involvement of civil society must be ensured in decision-making, implementation, monitoring, and review of projects. (ii) Pressure from citizens and NGOs: Pressure can influence the decision to provide electronic services. (iii) Awareness and skill enhancement of stakeholders: Awareness promotes e-government projects. (iv) Channel of communication with stakeholders: Method, frequency, messenger, content and feedback system in communication are important. (v) Awareness, involvement and participation of the users: Solutions should be worked out in consultation with the stakeholders. (vi) Top-down approach: Such an approach must be avoided, as people may not feel committed and hence resistance will be higher. (vii) Address citizens’ urgent needs: Prioritising projects on the basis of users’ needs will make the programme more successful. (viii) Hiring consultants: Hiring consultants for carrying out market study and survey should be explored. 9. Organisational and HR issues (i) Supportive Human Resources policy: Such a policy promotes employee support. (ii) Recruitment of skilled and younger people: This must be encouraged and they must be motivated towards the project work. (iii) Needs of skill upgradation and training: Upgradation of and training in the new technology must be addressed for both government employees as well as partners. (iv) Motivating senior management: Senior management too should be motivated, by way of giving high-level exposure to the outside world. (v) Intra-organisational issues: Organisational politics, self and vested interests must be properly managed.

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(vi) Building political support inside the organisation: This will help reduce external tensions. (vii) Shortage of IT-trained staff: This becomes critical as the programme proceeds ahead and, therefore, must be guarded against properly. 10. Value propositions (i) Focus on immediate benefits: This should be done as the desired outcome from computerisation makes things easier. (ii) Design-reality gap: Changed systems should not be too much out of touch with reality and existing culture. (iii) Win-win approach: Successful implementation of such a project increases the chances of success for all the stakeholders and reduces tensions and resistance. If e-government programmes are to succeed, issues that arise in the course of transformation to the electronic government must be tackled carefully. But which, out of the factors listed above, is most important? It is indeed difficult to say, as all factors appear to be equally important.

7.5

MODEL OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Based upon the case studies and the factors listed above, a model of change management has been developed, specifically relevant for e-government. Model of Change Management

Technology

People related issues

Resources

Project management

Resources

Participation of stakeholders

Political issues

Legal issues

Organisational issues

Value propositions

Effectiveness

FIGURE 7.5 Model of Change Management and Effectiveness

The above model lists out all the factors relevant for change management. These factors are inter-dependent. An improvement in one factor raises the

148 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies chances of better change management in other dimensions. For example, if we provide for user-friendly technologies and good content in the local language, it reduces the resistance from user-groups and many people will see the utility of IT-applications. But which of these factors are important and what would be the hierarchy of priorities will depend upon each case. To solve these two questions, again a survey should be undertaken and/or a questionnaire should be circulated among the employees and other stakeholders, to find out their views.

7.5.1

The ‘Healing Touch’: The Importance of a Humane Approach

In the change management strategy, the most crucial factor is the human factor. Whichever technologies we choose, process improvements we conduct, and project management methodologies we select, at the core of each of these activities are human beings. They are the most important resource and, therefore, need to be given due importance. There has to be a ‘healing touch’ given to the entire programme of change management that we build. How can we really take care of human elements, of the workers and their feelings? Beckhard and Harris have dealt with the issue of “Involving people in change management”. They refer to the “critical mass” of people who must actively participate in order to provide the initial energy for change. Participation and collaboration among people can reduce resistance to change and increase commitment at an informal level. To find out more from people, we can think of conducting a survey from the employees of the organisation, to seek their views on why we should not go for computerisation and e-government. There will be a negative set of questions in the first part. The second part will relate to questions as to why we should go for computerisation. Here, there will be a positive set of questions. If the survey is conducted by a professional agency after doing proper sampling, an honest and frank opinion from the workers, their bosses and others can be obtained. This will express all the apprehensions, doubts, and concerns people in the organisation and outsiders have, with regard to computerisation and the e-government. Broadly, the survey would cover the following issues: (i) Fear of losing employment (ii) Fear of losing power (iii) Fear of juniors gaining importance (iv) Fear of losing the ‘extra buck’ (v) Uncertainty (vi) Skills gap (vii) Training needs (viii) Other factors

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Each of these factors can then be properly examined and a definite plan should be evolved to address all the concerns. Simultaneously, the positive feedback obtained in the second set of questionnaire gathered during the survey should be used in conceptualising and implementing the IT projects. It should be a conscious policy to exploit the more important feedback of positive feelings, emotions, and excitement of the young and enthusiastic employees in getting ahead with IT projects. Success in change management will largely depend upon the strategies we adopt to address concerns of the people and take advantage of the competencies and strengths available in the organisation.

SUMMARY Change management dimension in e-government is one of the vital parameters of success. The people concerned with e-government, such as practitioners and researchers must be aware of the challenges faced in the transformation from the existing system of governance to the electronic form. They should anticipate, plan and manage change, in order to succeed. There must be a change management package built in the entire project plan, right at the first stage itself, when the government agency is drawing up a map for computerisation. Lastly, the whole exercise must also be kept flexible in order to incorporate any unexpected event, changes, or plans, and so on. This would provide greater depth and teeth to the entire change management strategy. The following statement from Charles Darwin is very apt in the context of change: ‘….that it is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones that are most responsive to change…’

KEY TERMS Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) A group of hosts with a common set of requirements that communicate as if they were attached to the, regardless of their physical location. Design reality gap The gap that exists between ‘current realities’ and ‘design of the e-government project’.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the need for change management for e-government projects. 2. What are the facilitators and barriers to change? 3. Identify the critical success factors for effective change management for an e-government project. 4. Explain the importance of change management while doing BPR in government.

150 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies REFERENCES Gupta, M.P., P. Kumar and J. Bhattacharya. 2003. Government Online: Opportunities and Challenges, Tata McGraw Hill. http://www.change-management.com/change-management-toolkit.htm Felkins, Patricia K., B.J. Chakiris, and Kenneth N. Chakiris. 1993. Change Management: A Model for Effective Organisational Performance. New York: Quality Resources. p. 61. Sawhney, Mohan and Jeff Zabin. 2001. The Seven Steps to Nirvana. Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited. p. 272. Beckard, Richard, and Reuban T. Harris. 1987. Organisational Transitions: Managing Complex Change (second edn). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. http://www.egov4dev.org/title http://www.yerelnet.org/ http://www.egov4dev.org/title http://setu.maharashtra.gov.in/strategy.htm http://web.compranet.gob.mx/ http://www.egov4dev.org/orissa.htm

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8 Government Data Centres Objectives · To introduce data centres · To learn the importance of a data centre · To learn the requirements of a data centre · To learn the objectives and outcomes expected from a data centre · To gauge the implementation options of a data centre · To learn about the architecture of a data centre · To learn the various steps in data centre implementation · To learn data centre protection · The management of a data centre and its control

8.1

INTRODUCTION

Government Data Centre (GDC) has been identified as one of the important elements of the core infrastructure for supporting e-government initiatives. GDCs are generally created for the departments to consolidate services, applications and infrastructure to provide efficient electronic delivery of G2G (government to government), G2C (government to citizen), G2B (government to business), and G2E (government to employee) services. These services can be rendered by the departments through common delivery platform seamlessly supported by core connectivity infrastructure such as government Wide Area Network (WAN) and Tele-connectivity extended up to village level. The main functions of GDC are to be the central repository of the state, secure data storage, online delivery of services, maintain citizen information/services portal, state intranet portal, disaster recovery, remote management and service integration. GDCs are envisioned as shared, reliable and secure infrastructure service centres for hosting and managing e-government applications of government and its constituent departments. They are to establish a robust infrastructure to enable government to deliver quick and effective services to its stakeholders. A GDC connected to the government WAN, shall provide access to e-government

152 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies applications and services to government employees through intranet and to citizens through public Internet/Telecentres, and so on. Through such a shared service centre implemented and managed by a competent agency, individual departments can focus more on service delivery rather than on issues surrounding the Infrastructure. GDCs shall facilitate consolidation of services, applications and infrastructure. A GDC will be the key-supporting element of e-government initiatives and businesses for delivering services to the citizens with greater reliability, availability and serviceability. GDCs will provide better operations and management control and minimise overall cost of data and IT management, deployment and other costs. A GDCs will act as the mediator and convergence point between open unsecured public domain and sensitive government environment. It will enable various government departments to host their services/applications on a common infrastructure leading to ease of integration and efficient management, ensuring that computing resources and the support connectivity infrastructure is adequately and optimally used.

8.2

COMPLEXITY OF GOVERNMENT DATA CENTRES (GDCs)

Design of GDCs poses many challenges and is a complex task as it involves several stakeholders (government departments having varying requirements, access mechanism and delivery channels to the citizens). The extent to which a GDC must remain operational even when some of its resources are impaired or unavailable will greatly influence the way the design objectives of reliability, availability, scalability, serviceability as well as backup, redundancy, survivability and disaster management are met. GDCs will be equipped to host/co-locate systems (for example Web Servers, Application Servers, Database Servers, SAN, and NAS) to host applications to use centralised computing power. The centralised computers/servers will be used to host multiple applications. GDCs will have a high availability, centralised system to authenticate users to access their respective systems depending on the authentication matrix.

8.3

ELEMENTS OF GDCs

The broad requirements for a typical GDC include infrastructure facilities (physical, electrical, air conditioning, and so on), installation and integration of IT infrastructure (servers, telecom equipment, integrated portal/departmental information system, enterprise and network management system, security, firewalls/IDS, networking components and so on), software and databases. Establishing a GDC is a complex task and requires substantial investment and efficient operations and management. Therefore, it may be prudent to utilise the services of an existing Internet Data Centre (IDC) in the country with adequate security and policy measures/considerations. The paramount

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consideration in any arrangement is the security of the data and the preservation of the ownership and control of government data, both de jure and de facto. In view of the above requirements, a set of guidelines need to be formulated which would include provision of technical and financial assistance to the governments for setting up a GDC. These guidelines should also include the norms for outsourcing the GDC to private/public sector service provider including some of the technical and administrative norms to be followed by the departments, depending on the implementation option adopted by the government to establish the GDC. While formulating guidelines, it is necessary to note that some governments will have different approaches to GDCs while hosting their applications. In case governments are using repository of servers at the district level, GDC may act as a central repository for consolidation of the disaggregated resources. The department of IT also has to take note of the proliferation and size of applications to be hosted on GDC and has to ensure during its initial sizing that they have built-in provisions to ensure their future scalability.

8.4

OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES EXPECTED FROM GDCs

Let us now discuss the objectives and outcomes of GDCs.

8.4.1

Objectives

Following points summarise the broad objectives of GDCs · Design and site preparation of the GDC in terms of civil, electrical and mechanical work and all other necessary components required to build the GDC in line with the guidelines. · Supply, installation and setting up of the necessary basic infrastructure (state-of-the-art UPS and airconditioning systems, fire detection and control system, diesel generator units, lighting system, power and network cabling, and so on). · Supply, installation and setting up of the multi-layer physical security infrastructure such as biometric or smart card-based access-control system, CCTV/surveillance systems. · Establish effective and efficient infrastructure monitoring and management practices to ensure reliability, availability, quality of services and security of the information systems. · Help departments to focus on addressing the issues in service delivery and administration as maintaining GDCs is not the mandate of the line departments. · Help freeing them from the problems related to vendor management, infrastructure, security and performance management to a competent partner identified for the entire government.

154 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · GDCs should be integrated with government WANs for providing access to information systems hosted in GDC to all the stakeholders across the government.

8.4.2

Envisaged Outcomes

GDCs can result in significantly reduced costs of infrastructure creation, monitoring, and management for the government and its constituent departments. It also results in an enhanced reliability and security of information systems through centralised management of IT infrastructure by adopting the necessary measures and practices. GDCs become central to any government’s IT enablement plan by providing dynamic scalability, centralised and simplified management, improved quality of data housekeeping, lower risk of data loss, higher availability of system and data 24 ´ 7 ´ 365, better management of security and access control and guaranteed service levels. GDCs result in reduced administrative burden for the government and its departments by avoiding necessity of vendor management, thereby doing away with addressing the technical issues surrounding IT Infrastructure on a standalone basis by each department. An efficient and effective management of information security related issues across government locations takes place by adoption of GDCs. The availability of ‘IT infrastructure on demand’ to government and its departments and agencies takes place by the setting up of GDCs. Another benefit of GDCs is the aggregation of IT infrastructure (hardware, storage, networking and software) management resources and technical resources creating a pool of experts. A GDC is instrumental in the optimal utilisation by sharing IT resources to meet individual peak loads of different applications running on it and the standardisation of systems by making use of an improved scalability and a faster implementation cycle times. A GDC results in a stable and predictable physical and technical environment.

8.5

GDC ISSUES

Typically, individual servers have been deployed for separate applications, each requiring its own power and cooling and also occupying its own real estate rack space. Increased server sprawl and difficulty in managing the same has been one of the major concerns for these data centre deployments. GDCs have a tendency to grow beyond their expected size. Such growth in application or change in the requirements leads to the need for additional servers, storage, racks and so on. However, globally, GDC designs have been static and inflexible, impacting the time and effort required to deploy the solutions and to make any changes to the solution. This was due to the constraints of legacy technology.

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GDC design needs to take care of delivering present and future applications at lower costs, increase performance but at the same time reduce the number of systems to manage. The design should utilise the best available servers and operating environment and should be able to change and provision operating environments on the same infrastructure at very short notice. The design should be flexible, allowing consolidation of multiple applications and different operating systems onto the available infrastructure. The design criterion of a GDC translates into the following challenges: · Higher capital costs for infrastructure · Higher costs of real estate, flooring, wiring and civil works. Higher operating costs in managing and administering various types of servers and operating environments. · Difficulty in managing power and cooling requirements of various infrastructure components. · Managing and controlling server and storage utilisation. · Deploying and re-deploying multiple applications on different platforms on need basis. Government being a mission critical business, it is imperative to have high availability of the data centre. However, GDC designs that are non-dynamic are plagued with low availability. Availability of the systems is critical in GDCs.

8.6

VIRTUALISATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF GDCs

Virtualisation at server, storage and network levels is becoming extremely popular and customers are realising its benefits. With the virtualised data centre design, government organisations can look at their data centre infrastructure as a pool of shared resources, which can be provisioned, re-provisioned, dynamically designed and re-designed based on present and future application needs. Virtualisation and consolidation can address most of the design issues and challenges presented above. Virtualisation is possible both at hardware and software levels. Various vendors have different virtualisation techniques. This chapter discusses examples of virtualisation techniques used by different vendors. It decouples the application or service and the hardware resources. Virtualisation techniques can be broadly classified as follows: · Server virtualisation · Operating system virtualisation · Storage virtualisation · Network virtualisation · Virtual access software (client level virtualisation)

156 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Virtual application environment · Virtualisation for provisioning and management Server virtualisation deals with virtualising the servers at hardware level. Vendors like SUN, IBM and HP offer hard partitions in particular category of their servers. This technology has high flexibility and high availability. The hardware virtualisation technology enables users totally to fault isolate one hardware partition from the other and ensures higher availability. Soft partitioning or operating system level virtualisation can also accomplish server virtualisation. The operating system in this case is divided into virtual zones or containers, running their own application and having their own set of assigned resources. Most vendors including SUN, IBM and HP have this technology. Open source solaris operating environment supports thousands of containers as soft partitions, without any impact on system performance. This technology enables hosting one type of operating environment on another operating system, running on independent software partitions. Virtual machine is another technique of virtualisation where in a software layer sits between the operating system and the hardware, enabling users to run different kinds of operating systems and applications in isolation from each other on the same set of hardware. Vmware, Xen hypervisor, Sun’s Logical Domaining and HPs Virtualisation on Integrity Virtual machines use this approach. Storage virtualisation is another popular technology available with most of storage vendors today. Using storage virtualisation, various kinds of storages from heterogeneous vendors can be viewed as storage pool of resources. The virtualisation software ensures that the relevant data on the storage resources be available to the users transparent of its location. Virtualisation techniques are also available at network level where network switches can be virtualised as Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), which are securely isolated from each other. Virtualisation is also being used at the client levels. Application access from any intelligent access point or device over the network leads to client level virtualisation and that without any application modification is the key requirement of any IT setup. Virtualisation techniques like secure access to any kind of backend application from a secure device is getting popular and is a cost effective means of client access. Technologies like Sun Secure Global Desktop, Citrix combined with Thin Clients are a few of the available solutions in this space. Virtualisation at application level is also getting popular. Users want to write applications once and run it on heterogeneous platforms without any modifications and dependencies on underlying hardware and operating systems. Java is one such technology which helps virtualise application environment.

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Virtualisation techniques are also available to manage and provide a variety of servers and operating environments. Server provisioning and management software make it possible for users to load, manage and operate heterogeneous system configurations regardless of whether any of the other virtual environment software categories are present. N1 System Manager, Open Source Grid Engine, Rocks Cluster software are a few examples of such technologies. Consolidation is another technique which is getting popular these days and which helps make more efficient use of resources by increasing system utilisation, lowering Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and improving profitability and the ability to respond to citizens. Supporting multiple, different kinds of operating systems and running different applications is common in most of today’s IT infrastructures. Most of the data centres and other IT infrastructures are running different applications on different systems, possibly on different types of operating systems. It has always been a challenge to manage, provision and administer such multiple servers, storage, applications and desktop systems. Consolidation offers a proven methodology, as well as products, technologies, and services to help users consolidate a common architecture of more powerful, and better utilised systems, which are cheaper and easy to manage. Consolidation combined with virtualisation gives the best design for an IT infrastructure (Figure 8.1). USERS

Access

Unix

Linux

Windows

SchoolOS

Virtualisation Techniques

Hardware Platform

SERVERS

FIGURE 8.1 Virtualisation and Consolidation

158 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Virtualisation and consolidation techniques discussed above should be considered key design parameters for GDC design. The technology deployed in the data centres, be it related to network, servers, storage, applications, or management, infrastructure can utilise the virtualisation and consolidation techniques to achieve the following benefits in designing an open architecture data centre, coupled with highly reliable, available and secure technologies: · Better utilisation of hardware and software resources · Better utilisation of power and space · More flexibility with less time to deploy and re-deploy applications · Meeting the changing demands of application, space and power requirements · Meeting the demands of reliability, security, performance and access · Easy management and administration · Reducing the server and storage sprawl · Increasing the service levels · Reducing total cost of ownership

8.7

ARCHITECTURE OF A GDC

The architecture of a GDC would be such as to provide a model environment capable of handling the typical business model of dynamic change supporting multiple G2G, G2C, G2B and B2C (business to citizen) activities across all channels like telecentres, portals, kiosks, and so on. As e-government applications are expected to grow, the GDC architecture should be highly scalable and built on a solid foundation. The power and cooling systems should at least meet with Tier-I requirements with possibility of upgrading to the next level. The GDC architecture would be multi-layered and the applications to be hosted there shall support interoperability standards like XML, SOAP and so on. The GDC would provide infrastructure services such as firewall, directory, web, database, portal, integration, management, data storage, and possibly a standards based messaging gateway, which could be shared with all the applications/departments in the GDC. Virtualisation and consolidation techniques can be used in many ways in the GDC architecture.

8.7.1

Repeated Services

Virtualisation techniques can be used to provision and configure repeatable services like multiple web servers for e-government. Instead of using separate servers for each individual web application, one physical server can be used. One master virtual server can be installed, configured and tested. Later on others can be replicated easily.

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Consolidation

The ability to run multiple applications, which may include a web server, application and a database server on multiple virtual partitions while sharing the same physical hardware is another benefit of virtualisation and consolidation. This will lead to reduced total cost of ownership, easy management, and savings in power and space requirements. An architecture depicting consolidation of multiple underutilised servers to one easily manageable server is shown in Figure 8.2. Server 1 (Wweb 1)

Server 2 (App 1)

Partition 1

Partition 2

Server 3 (Wweb 2)

Server 2 (App 2)

Partition 3

Partition 4

Consolidated Server 50% utilised

FIGURE 8.2 Consolidation

8.7.3

Hosting Different Applications: New and Legacy

Virtualisation can be used to host various e-government applications, including new and old legacy applications in one server. Some government departments already have basic IT infrastructure, running home-grown or legacy applications, on a variety of platforms. This needs to be seamlessly integrated into the newer environments. Users can now run new and old legacy applications on a single high performing, highly utilised platform. The architecture is shown in Figure 8.3. To Network

App 1

App 2

Legacy

Legacy

FIGURE 8.3 Hosting Multiple Applications

8.7.4

Software Development and Consolidated Lifecycle

Using virtualisation and consolidation techniques users can use a single server to host separate virtualised partitions for test, development and production environment all in one server, giving the advantages of easy management, efficient and effective use of power, cooling and using minimal real estate space. This helps users consolidate multiple servers to one and also provide for easy

160 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies migration from test to production environment. Figure 8.4 shows the use of virtualisation in software life cycle. To Network

Test

Development

Production Server

FIGURE 8.4 Consolidated Lifecycle

8.7.5

Migration, Updates and Business Continuity

Using virtualisation technologies, applications can be migrated from one server to another, from older to newer hardware. Staging and migration in virtual partitions allows for robust validation before a production rollout. Virtualisation technologies can also be used to provide a redundant virtual partition to provide for higher level of application availability at reduced hardware cost. Figure 8.5 shows an example of using virtualisation for migration.

FIGURE 8.5 Virtualisation for Migration

8.7.6

Secure Solutions using Virtualisation

Using the virtualisation techniques and creating soft partitions, GDCs can architect secure servers and firewalls on cost-effective hardware. Security solutions like secure honey pot with stealth monitoring, secure firewall and graffiti proof web servers can be designed using soft partition virtualisation. Secure hosting of web servers in a cost-effective and efficient way is a good solution for hosting e-governance web servers. Figure 8.6 shows architecture of secure, graffiti free e-governance web server using configured virtualisation. Figure 8.7 shows an example of configuring a secure firewall architecture using virtualisation technology.

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Graffiti

RO mount e-Government

Virtual partition 2 APD

RW mount

Management net

Content

FIGURE 8.6

Virtualisation for Security Internet

Firewall

Intranet

Global

Management Network

FIGURE 8.7

8.7.7

Firewall using Virtualisation

Storage Utilisation using Virtualisation

Using storage virtualisation, various kinds of storages from heterogeneous vendors can be viewed as storage pool of resources. The virtualisation software ensures that the relevant data on the storage resources are available to the users transparent of its location. Heterogeneous servers running a variety of operating environments, including Unix, Linux and Windows, can access a virtualised storage pool.

8.7.8

Virtualisation at Client-access Level

As discussed above different applications running on different operating systems can be virtualised and consolidated on smaller number of easily manageable

162 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies systems. The users would still want to access the native environments with the same look and feel of the corresponding operating systems. Virtualisation techniques like secure access to any kind of backend application from a secure ultra thin stateless client device can virtualise the access to Unix, Linux or Windows environment from the same desktop device. Figure 8.8 shows server, storage and client level virtualisation architecture. Single Client Desktop

Virtualised Storage

Unix

Linux

Windows

SchoolOS

Unix

Linux

Windows

SchoolOS

Virtualisation

Other Heterogeneous Servers

Hardware Platform

FIGURE 8.8 Server, Storage and Client Virtualisation

8.8

STEPS IN DESIGNING A GDC

The major steps involved in setting up a data centre involve designing, installing and finally commissioning and testing. Let us now take a look at all these major steps in detail.

8.8.1

Designing

Some of the key considerations for designing a GDC are given below:

Scalability All components of the GDC must support scalability to provide continuous growth to meet the requirements and demand of various departments. A scalable system is one that can handle increasing numbers of requests without adversely affecting the response time and throughput of the system. The centre should support both vertical (the growth of computational power within one operating environment) and horizontal (leveraging multiple systems to work together on a common problem in parallel) scalability. Modular design of the GDC is an excellent strategy to address growth without major disruptions. A scalable GDC shall easily be expanded or upgraded on demand. Scalability

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is important because new computing component is constantly being deployed, either to replace legacy component or to support new missions.

Availability All the components of the GDC must provide adequate redundancy to ensure high availability of the e-governance applications and other data centre services. Designing for availability assumes that systems will fail, and, therefore, the systems are configured to mask and recover from component or server failures with minimum application outage. The bidder shall make the provision for high availability for all the services of the data centre.

Interoperability The entire system/subsystem should be interoperable, in order to support information flow and integration. Operating systems and storage technologies from several vendors must interact well with each other. These systems should support the open architecture solutions such as XML, LDAP, SOAP, and so on. Where information/data can be ported to any system, whenever desired.

Security The GDC must provide an end-to-end security blanket to protect applications, services, data and the infrastructure from malicious attacks or theft from external (through internet) and internal (through intranet) hackers. Using firewalls and intrusion detection systems such attacks and theft should be controlled and well supported (and implemented) with the security policy. The virus and worms attacks should be well defended with gateway level anti-virus system, along with workstation level anti-virus mechanism. GDC should also endeavour to make use of the Secured Socket Layer (SSL) / virtual private network (VPN) technologies to have secured communication between applications and its endusers. Furthermore, all the system logs should be properly stored and archived for future analysis and forensics whenever desired. The GDC layout should be divided into domains such as: · Inside Zone: This is the secure zone which has restricted access. This zone mainly consists of storage and database servers which are not directly accessible to the outside zone. The inside zone is separated using strong access control and a firewall, which provides an additional level of security to the infrastructure. · Outside Zone: This includes the intranet and Internet zones. The intranet and Internet users connect to the GDC to avail various active services. The outside zone is bifurcated by placing a firewall which strengthens the security of the servers by restricting unauthorised access.

164 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · De-militarised Zone (DMZ): This is a “neutral zone” between the GDC’s internal network and the outside extranet network. It would prevent extranet users from getting direct access to the servers. In other words, this is a small network that lies between a trusted internal network (GDC LAN), and a distrusted external network (such as the public Internet). Mostly the DMZ contains devices accessible to Internet traffic such as Web, FTP, SMTP and DNS servers.

Manageability The GDC must be designed efficiently to ensure easy maintenance. It must facilitate ease of configuration, ongoing health monitoring, and failure detection that are vital to the goals of scalability, availability, and security. The design must be able to match the growth of the environment.

Integration of GDC with Government Wide Area Network (GWAN) Another most important aspect which should be taken into account while designing the GDC is the seamless integration with GWAN and Telecentre. Bandwidth requirement between GWAN (along with Telecentre) and GDC needs to be taken into consideration so that there should not be any bottleneck for accessing the GDC services from the offices connected using GWAN.

Storage Last but not the least, an assessment of the storage requirement for the entire GDC environment should also be taken into consideration. This would be based on the number of applications, their database structure, users and transactions volume. Data centre operator (DCO) should design the storage solution storage area network (SAN) / network attached storage)) keeping in mind the relevant requirement and its usage in line with GDC’s objective. The storage system should be scalable enough to handle future requirements. The DCO should also adopt detailed system and data back-up processes and methodologies, using industry standard tools to provide long term storage and archival solution.

8.8.2

Supply and Installation

The supplier of the data centre should procure and supply all IT (active and passive) and non-IT components. He/she would be required to undertake all the necessary civil, electrical, plumbing and mechanical works including false ceiling/flooring, partitioning, installation of electrical components, cable laying, and so on, and other necessary services to create the non-IT/physical infrastructure. Installation of the GDC means installing, configuring and integrating every component and subsystem component required for the functioning of the centre.

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165

Testing and Commissioning

The commissioning of GDC should involve the completion of site preparation, supply and installation of the required components and making the centre available for carrying out live operations and getting the acceptance of the same. Testing and commissioning shall be carried out before the commencement of operations.

8.8.4 Training The GDC supplier needs to conduct training after the installation and commissioning of the centre. Training should be provided for people at the GDC premises. Training material has to be provided by the implementing agency. The training should cover both IT and non-IT components involved in the build up of GDC.

8.8.5

Documentation

Documentation, which follows the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards must be created and well documented. This documentation should be submitted as the project undergoes various stages of implementation. Indicative list of documents include: Project commencement documents: Develop and manage a project plan in project management application giving out micro level activities with milestones and deadlines. Delivery of material: Documentation of original manuals from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The GDC must at all times have the original manuals from OEMs. Training: Training material should be provided including the presentations and other relevant documents for the topics covered. Process documentation: The provider shall be responsible for preparing process documentation related to the operation and maintenance of each and every component of the GDC. The prepared process document shall be formally signed off by government before completion of final acceptance test. The GDC provider should provide all the installation and commissioning procedures to the concerned government within the stipulated time after the commissioning of the GDC. He should also submit a complete set of floor layout drawings, Building Management Systems (BMSs) components, single line diagrams, complete cabling system layouts (as installed)–including cable routing, telecommunication closets and telecommunication outlets and connector designations. The layout shall describe in detail locations of all components and indicate all wiring pathways. Manuals for configuring of switches, routers, firewall, Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), and so on shall be provided by the selected bidder. The GDC should also have a proper system of recovery of data in case of failure of devices.

166 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 8.9

DATA CENTRE MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING

A centralised management and monitoring system (tool) capable of doing fault management, configuration management, security management, report generation, alerting, monitoring the critical servers, log monitoring and data centre network and security infrastructure and so on should be part of the data centre. This system/tool would be scalable as well as be able to provide hierarchical troubleshooting. In case the enterprise management and monitoring tool is already available for GWAN, the same would be utilised for government data centre requirements as well.

8.9.1

Service Availability and its Monitoring

End-to-end service availability of the GDC and its independent monitoring is the prime requirement to have reliable, seamless, smooth delivery of the services to the citizens and other G2G and G2B applications meeting the objectives of the core e-governance infrastructure. It is, therefore, necessary that appropriate service level agreements (SLAs) be worked out between the government and the implementing agency and that an independent agency appointed to monitor the performance with reference to the SLAs and related aspects.

8.9.2

Management and Administrative Control

Whatever options the government may have, the overall management control should be with the government both de jure and de facto. The government will be responsible for compliance with all guidelines through its designated department/agency. However, appropriate agreements to give effect to this may be worked out between the government and the outsourced vendor wherever required.

8.10

DISASTER RECOVERY AND BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN

The high availability is one of the critical requirements of the data centre. As the systems are centralised, the government would be required to establish an appropriate disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity plan (BCP) along with appropriate data backup and recovery infrastructure. Initially, government should plan for off-site back-up mechanism for their DR strategy. Depending upon the critical requirement it would be met through the design architecture of the primary data centre itself.

8.11

DATA CENTRE RETENTION AND PROTECTION

The government would formulate an appropriate data retention policy and ensure that the GDC architecture supports the same. The data retention policy would be guided by the following factors:

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Data classification and risk assessment of data Data retention period Data security aspects Disposal of data after the retention period

8.11.1

Data Centre Protection

The data centre shall have the required protection and safeguard mechanism for physical security, network security and facility infrastructure requirements, including protection against fire, natural calamity and manmade risks.

8.11.2

Security Audit

The government shall get the security audited by third party experts periodically (once in six months) to ensure and guarantee security of the data centre. The audit shall bring out any security lapses in the system and establish that the system is working as desired by the government.

SUMMARY GDC is envisioned as the ‘shared, reliable and secure infrastructure services centre for hosting and managing the e-governance applications of government and its constituent departments’. GDC is envisaged to establish a robust infrastructure to enable the government to deliver the services quickly and effectively to its stakeholders. The GDC acts as a mediator and convergence point between open unsecured public domain and sensitive government environment. It enables various departments to host their services or applications on a common infrastructure, leading to ease of integration and efficient management, ensuring that computing resources and the support connectivity infrastructure, GWAN, is adequately and optimally used. The broad requirements for a typical data centre include infrastructure facilities (physical, electrical, air conditioning and so on), installation and integration of IT infrastructure (servers, telecom equipment, integrated portal/departmental information system, enterprise and network management system, security, firewalls/ IDS, networking components, and so on), software and databases. The major steps involved in establishment of a data centre are designing, installation and finally commissioning and testing.

KEY TERMS Government Data Centre (GDC) Shared, reliable and secure infrastructure services centre for hosting and managing e-governance applications of the state and its constituent departments. Scalability Handling increasing numbers of requests without adversely affecting the response time and throughput of the system.

168 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Government to Government (G2G) services Transactions between the central/ national and local governments, and between departments and attached agencies and bureaus. Government to Citizen (G2C) services services to the public.

Dissemination of Information on basic

Government to Business (G2B) services and the business community.

Services exchanged between government

Intranet A private computer network that uses Internet technologies to securely share an organisation’s information or operational systems with its employees. Telecentres A public place where people can access computers, the Internet, and other digital technologies that enable them to gather information, create, learn, and communicate with others while they develop essential digital skills. Virtualisation Creation of a virtual version of a device or resource, such as a server, storage device, network or even an operating system where the framework divides the resource into one or more execution environments. Total Cost of Ownership Total direct capital investment in hardware and software plus indirect costs of installation, training, repairs, downtime, technical support, and upgrading. Also called cost of ownership or ownership cost. Firewall A system designed to prevent unauthorised access to or from a private network. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) An established industry standard that encrypts the channel between a Web browser and Web server to ensure the privacy and reliability of data transmitted over this channel.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain what is a government data centre. 2. Elaborate the requirements of a government data centre. 3. Give the methods of implementation of a government data centre. 4. Elaborate on the architecture of a government data centre. 5. What is Virtualisation? Explain the different types of Virtualisation? Why is Virtualisation important for a GDC? 6. Give an account of the security measures adopted in a government data centre.

REFERENCES Government of India. 2007. ‘Guidelines for technical and financial assistance for establishment of a State Data Centre’, www.mit.gov.in/sites/upload_files/dit/files/.../ guidelines_SDC.pdf, Department of IT, January. Sun Microsystems. ‘Consolidation through virtualisation, with Sun x64 Servers’, white paper available at http://www.sun.com/x64/briefs/consolidation-sol-bf.pdf, downloaded in November 2006.

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Sedighi, Art. 2006. ‘Virtualisation in Data Centre’, The Data Centre Journal, July 12. Humphreys, John. 2006. ‘System Virtualisation: Sun Microsystems Enables Choice, Flexibility, and Management’, available at www.sun.com/software/whitepapers/ solaris10/virtualisation_lc.pdf http://www.sun.com/software/whitepapers/solaris10/ virtualisation_lc.pdf, October. Cormier, Bob, Richard Fichera, and Forrester Consulting. 2004. ‘The Total Economic Impact of Sun Microsystems Enterprise Consolidation Solutions’, July. “National e-Governance Plan at the National Portal of India”, available at http:// www.india.gov.in/, downloaded in August 2006. “Good Governance through ICT”, available at http://home.nic.in/files/policy/ ICT_Book_New.pdf, downloaded in July 2006. Enck, John, James A. Browning. 2006. “How Server Virtualisation Helps Midsized Businesses”, Gartner Research, June. Phelps, John R. 2006. “Shared OS Virtualisation is the Other Virtualisation”, Gartner Research, July. Ahuja, A. 2006., “State Data Centre Dynamic Design and Components”, in Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on E-Governance”, ICEG, New Delhi, pp. 46-57, December. Sen, A. J. Bhattacharya, A. Shrivastava, M.G. Dastidar, and T.R. Sree Krishnan. 2006. “Energy implications and e-waste generation: environmental impact of IT industry”, in Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on E-Governance”, ICEG, New Delhi, pp 85-93, December.Singh, S.K., Ajay Ahuja, Jaijit Bhattacharya, 2007 “Virtualisation and Consolidation: Design Criteria for Government Data Centre”, National Conference on e-Governance, Kochi, India.

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9 Utility Based Computing for e-Government Objectives · To define the basic concept of utility based computing · To learn about drivers of growth in utility based computing · To learn the applications of utility based computing for organisations · To learn utility based computing in e-government projects · To learn advantages of utility based computing · To learn technical and regulatory issues in utility based computing

9.1

INTRODUCTION

Utility computing may be defined as a service-providing model in which an IT service provider provides IT services in infrastructure, application and business process areas on an as-needed basis and charges the services on a specific usage basis. Utility computing is also referred to as Cloud computing. In a more generic sense, the idea is to deliver IT services in the same manner as established utility services like electricity, telephone and water. In such a scenario, the IT services would become pervasive and reliable services that the consumers can switch on and off by the press of a button. Traditionally, IT departments have launched new application services as discrete distributed systems packages, composed of dedicated IT infrastructure components such as servers, storage, peripherals, and applications. The only shared components are usually the network infrastructure and a few systems peripherals, that is storage devices such as Storage Access Network (SAN), Network Accessed Storage (NAS) or printers. This approach of discrete system packages unfortunately results in minimal optimisation, low system resilience and minimal leverage of IT infrastructure. Business managers and even IT managers generally do not have visibility into the role that individual IT components have on specific business processes, and thus find it difficult to gauge whether new or additional resources are required or not. To simplify the systems management

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effort, IT policies are generally framed to ensure that all elements are available 100 percent of the time, whether each component is needed on a 24 ´ 7 basis or not. These policies create challenges and issues in the form of underutilisation among others. Utility computing offers a different approach for providing and maintaining IT resources of an enterprise. Instead of having the ideal or spare IT resources in-house, governments could buy IT resources when the need arises, that is, the governments will not own any infrastructure as in the use of electricity. The IT infrastructure required for the IT services so acquired will be managed either totally or partly by the service provider thereby taking the responsibility of managing IT infrastructure. Such an arrangement separates the IT function from other core functions enabling the governments to focus on its core functions while affording a drastic reduction in IT investments. The cost model thus will be transformed from the current capitalised model to the expense model as the large fixed IT costs would disappear from the balance sheets. An example would be the use of Customer Relationship Management CRM application over the Internet where the customer pays only for the duration of CRM use. The expensive software maintenance or upgrade would be done on the servers of the service provider and the customer would only pay for the resource usage. The main drivers of the growth in demand for utility computing are factors like technological advancements in virtualisation techniques, increasing cost reduction in IT spending by the organisations, need for quick reaction to the technology changes, need for increased flexibility and scalability of IT infrastructure and resources. A study by Management Consultancies Association in 2005 revealed that the important factors driving the interest in utility computing are budgetary pressures and frequency of technological innovation and change (Figure 9.1).

Availability of technology that makes utility computing feasible

11% 15%

26% 26%

Frequency of Technological innovation and change

Private Sector 51% Budgetary Pressures

Increase in Operational Complexity

Public Sector

42%

12% 17% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

FIGURE 9.1

Factors Driving Interest in Utility Computing

172 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies The main characteristics that make utility computing attractive for organisations are standardisation, shared resources, usage-based pricing, flexibility, scalability and exemption from the responsibility of managing the IT infrastructure in-house. High initial investments and recurring costs over the life time of the IT systems form a major deterrent in using IT in governance on a much larger scale. This, coupled with the inability of the public machinery to manage and maintain the IT systems results in a less than satisfactory performance of IT systems in public domain. The advantages offered by utility computing model has its roots in the basic premises that are also the overriding concerns of the developing countries regarding the use of IT or rather the inability to use IT in its current model in delivering e-government. The utility approach to computing addresses the problems faced by governments in leveraging IT to deliver faster, better, cheaper and efficient governance by removing the roadblocks to implementing effective, efficient and sustainable IT systems in public domain. Utility computing model can be used to provide diverse services like storage, data centre, network and computing, to name a few for e-government projects as well as for servicing the individual requirements of various government departments.

9.2

HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF UTILITY COMPUTING

Utility computing is not entirely a new concept. The earliest references to utility computing dates to the 1960s. “If computers of the kind I have advocated become the computers of the future, then computing may someday be organised as a public utility just as the telephone system is a public utility... The computer utility could become the basis of a new and important industry” —John McCarthy (noted Turing award winning American computer scientist), MIT Centennial in 1961. IBM and other mainframe providers have been conducting this kind of business since two decades, often referred to as time-sharing, offering computing power and database storage to banks and other large organisations from their world wide data centres. To facilitate this business model, mainframe operating systems evolved to include process control facilities, security, and user metering. The advent of mini computers changed this business model, by making computers affordable to almost all companies. As general purpose processor increased the power of PC architecture servers with each new generation, data centres were filled with thousands of servers and the IT infrastructure moved in with the owner companies thus pushing utility computing into the background. In the late 1990s utility computing concept re-surfaced in the IT industry. InsynQ Inc. launched on-demand applications and desktop hosting services

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in 1997 using HP equipment. In 1998, HP set up the utility computing division to begin work on a computing power plant, incorporating multiple utilities to form a software stack. Services such as “IP billing-on-tap” were marketed. Sun Microsystems announced the Sun Grid service to consumers in 2000. HP introduced the Utility Data Centre in 2001. In December 2005, Alexa Inc. launched Alexa Web Search Platform, a web search building tool for which the underlying power is utility computing. Alexa charges users for storage, utilisation, and so on. The database and file serving utilities enable governments independently to add servers or storage as needed, re-task workloads to different hardware, and maintain the environment without disruption. In 2008 Amazon launched Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), a commercial web service which has gained significant popularity. These services allow the operation of general purpose computing applications. Both are based on Xen virtualisation software. The most commonly used operating system on the virtual computers is Linux. Utility based computing is commonly used for service like web applications, “Software as a Service (SaaS)”, image rendering, processing, and general-purpose business applications.

9.3

UTILITY COMPUTING CONCEPTS

A utility model is a combination of utility computing and utility pricing that result in minimizing total IT expenditures and maximising IT resource usage. Although all utility computing solutions are intended to dynamically provide a virtual pool of resources as needed, a wide range of mechanisms can be used to achieve this goal. While all the techniques of utility computing incorporate policy-based, dynamic and cost-efficient provisioning, resource optimisation, and predictable service availability, their appropriateness varies with individual organisations’ needs and resources. Some of the common techniques to implement utility computing have been described briefly below.

Provisioning Provisioning shields end users from the impact of IT change by transparently reallocating resources based on changing business needs. International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research and analysing firm specialising in IT and Telecom, defines provisioning as a “form of virtualisation that defines a consolidated or pooled view of the server resources in a given environment”. Provisioning allows IT to focus on business alignment with lower risk of failure based on a standard set of policies for servers, software, and peripheral acquisition-an approach that echoes classic capacity planning. Implementing provisioning policies for hardware system and software procurement can greatly reduce acquisition and management costs, and can expedite redeployment of existing systems in response to changes in business cycles.

174 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Virtualisation Virtualisation makes a group of resources–servers, applications, databases, networks, and so on-behave as a single resource from which all users can draw. It requires that application components, access software, virtualised operating systems, and storage be topped with an infrastructure layer to make all components appear equally available. The performance objectives of virtualisation are high availability, load balancing, increased utilisation, improved scalability, flexible capacity on demand, and simplified systems management. Virtual Box and XVM are good examples of virtualisation software.

Autonomic Computing Autonomic computing is defined as a self-healing, self-managing, policybased IT infrastructure. Utilising autonomic computing requires processes to be defined that dynamically tune computing resources in reaction to changing business demands. The process is akin to homeostasis, the process used by the human body to regulate itself–small corrections are made as needed to restore equilibrium. Autonomic features can enhance hardware failover and reliability; however, it is not clear if business policy and organisational changes can be easily addressed through system-level solutions alone. Key components of autonomic computing include common system administration, autonomic monitoring, policy administration, transaction measurement, and problem determination/resolution.

Grid Computing Grid computing pulls together resources to dynamically utilise the entire IT infrastructure, from the mainframe to the desktop, treating all distributed management components as shared-resource entities. The optimal applications that can exploit grid computing are computer-intensive and non-real-time, for work designed to run in parallel. Examples include a regional weather forecasting application making many calculations drawing input from many data fields, and then updating a database for uploading to a national system. Scientific computing has relied on this capability for years, but the benefits to business applications are limited; for example, applications designed to exploit parallel processing on a large scale.

Utility/On Demand Computing Utility or On Demand computing addresses three components of the computing environment—application layer, business processes, and end-users. In a utility computing environment, applications will be segmented into services running on servers that are virtualised resources and available “just in time” – applications will no longer run on dedicated servers. In this configuration, the constant

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allocation and reallocation of computing resources affects the business organisation itself, not just the data centre. The fluidity of resources can dramatically increase server utilisation levels, if not contention for computing resources. Given the complexity of successfully managing virtualised computing environments in real time, true utility computing is a long-term business management strategy that will evolve as supporting technologies mature.

9.3.1

Utility Based Service Model (UBSM) for Computing

As discussed earlier, the utility computing model is a combination of utility computing and utility pricing. A typical arrangement for utility based service model consists of the following components:

IT Infrastructure This tier comprises of the IT infrastructure the service provider has to offer to the governments. It includes systems and services like data centre operations, network operations, storage devices and related services, transport and access media and systems. Partners

Partners

Partners

Transport and access

Network operations

Data center operations

Applications operations

UBSM

Application management

System integration Business integration Customer

Customer Customer

FIGURE 9.2

Customer

IT Infrastructure Components

Applications Tier In this tier of Compute utility model, the service provider hosts all the applications provisioned by governments. The type of services may range from simple office suites to large government applications.

Systems Integration Systems integration takes care of integrating the hardware and software system resources to provide seamless services to the governments, hiding from them

176 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies the heterogeneity and complexity of the underlying infrastructure. It includes systems management applications, resource management applications, and so on.

Business Integration This tier runs the policy-based resource management applications to manage and integrate business objectives into the whole system. Every customer has different demands from the compute utility depending upon their business objectives. This is an important tier that takes into account such considerations as service level requirements of the businesses. The IT infrastructure can be owned by a single entity or provided by multiple partners depending on the business model of the compute utility service provider. The customers in such a scenario could be both private and public organisations.

9.3.2

Characteristics of Utility Computing

Utility computing is a totally different approach compared to traditional IT outsourcing model. The IT infrastructure in the outsourcing approach is generally owned by the users whereas in the utility approach to computing, the service provider owns the IT infrastructure. In traditional approach the IT resources are dedicatedly used to serve the owners’ business needs while in the utility model, the infrastructure may be shared between multiple users. The outsourcing deals are mostly long-term contracts for customised services on a fixed price basis. In the utility computing approach the deals are short term on subscription or metered basis. The utility computing service model, hence, differentiates itself from the outsourcing model in three ways: standardisation, usage of shared infrastructure, and utility pricing.

Standardisation The utility computing services based on the standards, especially open standards, will provide seamless services to the users. Open standards is critical as their specifications are freely available and are developed by a large community of people that ensures easy long-term interoperability. The establishment of standards will enable the utility service provider to choose between the components like hardware, network and software from a number of IT vendors invariably. High degree of standardisation also benefits the consumers as it gives them the flexibility to be able to change service providers on short notice while still being able to maintain the same quality and performance. High degree of standardisation results in more commoditisation and interoperability which works in favour of reducing the cost of utility computing services. The compute utility industry is still in the process of developing widely acceptable standards and has seen some recent success in doing so.

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Shared Infrastructure The computing industry’s move towards the shared infrastructure paradigm is comparable to the evolution of electricity as a utility. In the early 1900s the US saw small communities owning their own local power stations, each of which was slightly different. But by 1920s, General Electric was installing cables to connect communities with much larger, shared power stations. The application service provider model introduced before utility computing model was essentially a hand-crafted solution not unlike those of original power stations. It delivered something very specific to each of its customers. Now we have reached the point where people are looking for a standard service across a common infrastructure. In the utility model for computing, the services will be delivered by the service provider from a pool of shared resources like storage, application, and so on serving multiple users simultaneously. Such a pooling will result in economies of scale which reduces the operation costs by increasing the utilisation and efficiency of the IT resources.

Utility Pricing IT services in a utility model are charged using the utility pricing model. The IT services are billed on the basis of prices based on multiple, measured tiers like response time, CPU hours, storage utilised, and so on. These will be charged according to the standards of performance and service levels set in the SLAs. Metered pricing is employed for basic infrastructure services like computing power, storage and network services. As one moves up the value chain, for example, the applications hosting space, the pricing of the services could be a combination of both traditional and usage based models. Therefore, utility computing is much more than merely outsourcing one’s IT requirements. According to THINK Strategies’ founder and MD Jeff Kaplan, “utility computing takes best ideas of outsourcing and best ideas of service providers and combines them”. Table 9.1 summarises the differences between a utility based model and traditional outsourcing model for IT services. Table 9.1

IT assets

Differences between Utility Computing and Traditional IT Outsourcing Model

Utility computing

Traditional outsourcing

Owned by the utility provider

Mostly owned by the users. Recently service providers have also started owning IT assets.

Infrastructure Fully shared between users Sharing

Dedicated resources

Contract

Customized, long term contracts

Standard, short term subscription

(Contd.)

178 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies (Contd.) Pricing

Fixed price plus usage based

Scalability

Possible, according to demand Not so easy to provide

Manpower

Service providers’ responsibility

9.4

Fixed price plus periodic payments Customers’ employees

UTILITY COMPUTING APPLICATION AREAS

Utility computing is a relatively new and unexplored approach to IT services. Therefore, the possibility of applications of this type of model cannot be stated as of today with certainty. However, in recent times there have been advancements in certain specific areas where utility computing model has been successfully adopted.

E-mail Services E-mail service has become a commoditised service in governments. E-mail services in governments could in near future come from the shared infrastructure, that is shared servers and storage, used by multiple departments as in the case of popular mail services on the Web. The infrastructure for secure e-mailing does exists today. As the mailing services work asynchronously, that is not in real-time, the availability requirements are not very high as in synchronous communications. As this is a non-core service, the operational risks for using e-mail service as a utility is low. It can be charged ideally with a base price for each new user and the variable prices according to the size of the mailboxes and other functionalities.

Groupware Service The leading groupware products like Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange are offered as managed hosting solutions today. Some of the functions of the groupware include calendar sharing, collective writing, e-mail handling, shared database access, electronic meetings, and so on. Groupware is a critical service used in governments today to handle information and communication needs. Utility service providers could provide groupware services as utilities with standardised prices for each function. The pricing could include a base fee for each user and the variable fees can be calculated according to the usage of several functions, such as database and e-mail according to the amount of storage used, and electronic meetings on the amount of time spent online.

Office Suite Service Office suites are increasingly becoming commoditised with standard programs offered by several vendors. The programs from the vendors are hardly different

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in terms of functionalities. Star Office of Sun Microsystems and Zoho Office by zoho.com are based on OpenOffice.org, an open source product. Open Office is available free of cost in the market today with more functionalities than other Office suites such as Microsoft Office. Governments are not willing to pay for huge software upgrades as they do not usually make use of most of the functionalities in the workplace. Governments could be ideally charged for the use of a particular functionality as they need it. The base fee could be charged for each user and the variable fees could be charged according to the number of functionalities used or simply by the amount of time the programs are used online.

Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) Service CRM services could be offered as standardised products with standard functionalities to position themselves as utility services. The standard interfaces of the CRM services would allow governments to choose even different providers to access different functionalities. Functionalities of the CRM service such as issuing birth certificates or social analysis could be charged a standard price. Apart from the base fee, the governments could be charged a variable fee according to the functionalities they use or the time they spend online to access CRM resources. As the new functionalities become available, governments will have the choice to use them online as the installation happens behind the network. This would also save the high charges of the software upgrades for the governments.

Government Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Service ERPs require a high degree of customisation and flexibility for governments to adapt to their changing business processes. However, certain modules like accounting or budget management could be offered as standardised products. In order to provide ERP services as a utility, a high degree of standardisation is required for the functionalities offered. These could be charged according to the resource usage or the time spent online to access ERP services. Apart from the base fees per user, variable fees could be charged for the time spent online or the functionalities used. The high cost of maintenance of ERP systems would make it interesting for several governments to use these services from the utility service providers. There are also open source ERPs like OpenERP, TinyERP, Open Bravo, Compiere, available at very low costs, that governments can use.

Storage Service There are several proprietary storage services by leading vendors like EMC or HP that have utility-type pricing today. Similarly, there are cutting edge

180 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies open standards-based-storage solutions by vendors like Sun Microsystems that are also available on a utility basis. With the logical partitioning and secure access of storage systems, the shared use of the storage infrastructure is technically a possibility today. The standardisation of the interfaces would allow the governments to choose the storage services “on the fly” from different vendors. Utility providers could charge for using metrics available today – megabytes or gigabytes of storage space. Providers could also provide disaster recovery and business continuity services for much lower costs as a result of the economies of scale.

Computing Service Computing power has become a commodity today in enterprises. Sun Microsystems’ Network.com pay-per-use grid computing over the Internet is charged at merely USD 1 per CPU hour today. The grid technology could help pool the computing power from internal as well as external data centres. The utility computing service can pool the computing resources from several data centres and provision them to the governments on an as-needed basis. The open standards to access computing resources from different partners would even allow the portability of application and data from one server to another as in the case of electricity transferred from one point to another. The integrity and security of the data needs to be guaranteed during this process.

Network Service The governments can buy network services like wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN) or virtual private network (VPN) from different providers or from the same network providers that would offer all the services in a package. The network protocols in use are standardised to a great extent to enable seamless communication between participants. Prices could be based on a subscription basis, with a base fee and a variable fee according to the amount of traffic carried or the amount of time spent online.

Data Centre Service The shared data centre will provide economies of scale for the service providers and maximises the utilisation of resources as opposed to low utilisation rates in the data centres today. The open standards in data centre services that allow interoperability with the resources of other data centre service providers would further add value to the service and reduce the risk of lock-in for governments. The providers could charge a base fee plus a variable fee according to the total resource usage, which includes storage, CPU and bandwidth. The resource usage should be ideally charged using a standard single unit like Sun’s Sun Power Unit today.

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181

UTILITY COMPUTING IN PUBLIC DOMAIN

The search for better governance through efficiency, performance management, transparency of government operations, and emphasis on citizen centric service delivery with citizen satisfaction are the buzzing words for governments today. Governments, especially in the developing countries, are recognizing e-government as an excellent opportunity for improving governance. The traditional administrative framework, with its main focus on the hierarchy, rules, structure and functional features of the governance, is now in the process of being replaced by innovative e-government initiatives. The earlier notion of governance as “public service” is now being replaced by governance as “public business”. The revolution and advancements in ICT has played an instrumental role in establishing the general opinion in favour of increasing the dependence on the technology for governance. However, there is still a large gap in the technology readiness of the developing countries for them to be able to gain enough leverage out of e-government. The common challenges include lower per capita income, poor telephone, personal computer and Internet penetration, low literacy rates, lower computer literacy rates and infrastructural inadequacy. A number of new models have been developed on the premise of PublicPrivate Partnerships (PPPs) to work around some of the barriers to e-government supplemented by rapid advancements in technology. Utility approach to IT services offers a new paradigm in SaaS to provide effective and sustainable solutions for e-government projects. One of the critical areas where duplication of infrastructure and manpower exists in e-government is the data centre. There are several approaches to e-government but most of them require different government agencies to procure and maintain the entire IT infrastructure themselves. Utility approach to IT services offers tremendous potential to develop a sustainable e-government framework wherein a common data centre infrastructure can be set up to provide e-government solutions, with different government departments being billed as per usage. The combined potential of utility computing model to deliver computing on demand and “pay as you go” paradigm offers a new approach to deliver cost-effective and efficient governance to citizens.

9.5.1

Current Approaches to e-Government

The current systems have been able to deliver benefits on primarily two accounts, the reduction in the operational cost and effective operations resulting in better response times. However, the total cost of ownership (TCO) incurred by governments on building and maintaining such complex systems is much more than could be factored in initial estimates. This is one of the major contributors to the dissatisfaction with the performance of recent e-government projects, especially in the developing countries.

182 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 9.5.1.1

Roadblocks to the use of IT in Government

The current solutions tend to address the problem from a skewed operational point of view and hence, are not able to provide integrated sustainable solutions. Some of the problems with the current approaches to e-government which also highlights the need for approaching the problem with a different perspective, are as follows:

Inadequacy of Funds Electronic government projects are usually implemented to address needs of specific departments. These are generally capital intensive projects and require full ICT infrastructure provisioning. Inadequate planning and underestimates call for careful funds planning which is sometimes not the case in the developing countries.

Inadequate Human Resources Quality IT-ready workforce is a problem with most developing countries except India. But still the specialised IT workforce is required to develop and maintain such complex systems. Most of the developing countries have shortage of skilled IT workforce.

Inadequate ICT Infrastructure Most government agencies in developing countries do not have adequate ICT infrastructure in place to implement such projects.

“Silo” Approach to e-government The typical approach in e-government projects is to address specific needs of individual departments rather than a broad focus to develop nationwide or state wide infrastructure. This has resulted in “islands” of IT capability interspersed throughout the public machinery. The problem with this approach is that each department has to procure and maintain separate data centrees and associated infrastructure. This involves large initial capital investments as well as recurring costs of maintenance. The resulting systems are heterogeneous hence an enterprise-wide integration and even simple communication between the systems has not been achieved.

Underutilisation and Wastage of Resources Another problem recognised recently by the IT community is underutilisation of resources. As a result of the “Silo” approach to e-government, governments had to invest significant capital in procuring the complete IT infrastructure for implementing projects that deliver similar kind of services. However, the

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average utilisation has been found to be very low thus leading to the significant wastage of resources—human, material and capital. Electricity consumption by IT components is significant as compared to the service time delivered due to very low utilisation. The pressures on the limited resources of energy and increasing costs are already questioning the sustainability of such systems.

Scalability and Robustness Heterogeneous and isolated systems also do not scale up easily. The interoperability and portability are common issues that come up while attempting to scale up or integrate such systems. These issues are even more critical for the developing economies where resources are limited and hence require prudent expenditure on the part of government. Therefore, use of IT needs to be approached from the viewpoint of developing effective and sustainable solutions.

9.5.2

Utility Approach to e-Government

Utility approach to deliver IT services has at its roots the basic principles that are also the overriding concerns of the developing countries regarding the use or inability of use of IT in its current model. The benefits offered by this model work to offset some of the problems faced by e-government projects as discussed earlier. 9.5.2.1 Advantages for Utility Service Model for e-Government Solutions 9.5.2.1 Accountability The utility computing model will impart more accountability to users and service providers alike. Usage-based pricing will make users more responsible in resource-usage. For service providers it will bring transparency in pricing, billing and quality of service delivery.

Decrease in the Total Cost of Capital Expenditure Governments implementing e-governance projects are relieved from the need of procuring the required IT infrastructure and hence a substantial cost component will be eliminated in fixed costs of the e-government projects giving more attractive return on investment (ROI). A utility computing service provider will provide the IT infrastructure required.

Flexibility Users will have the option of choosing from a number of service providers based on the services offered on short notice. The more standardisation and use of open standards will impart flexibility to the model.

184 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Scalability Extra capacity could be easily added as needed without affecting the existing infrastructure and business. This is an attractive offer to develop long-lasting sustainable and scalable e-government offerings.

Maximum Resource Utilisation The underutilisation of IT resources in traditional approach to e-government is eliminated as the service provider will provide the infrastructure on a shared basis to other projects and applications resulting in increased utilisation of resources. The excess capacity could also be provided to private businesses to increase profit margins and resource utilisation.

Minimizing Resource Wastage The shared approach to resource utilisation will result in minimum wastage of the computing resource due to less idle time. The low-cost and low-powerconsuming technologies like SUN Ray clients can be used to connect to the utility computing resulting in a lot of power savings in contrast to the traditional systems.

Offsetting Human Resource Need Governments will be totally free from the responsibility of maintaining the IT infrastructure required for the e-government projects. Human resources required for operations and maintenance efforts will be sourced by the service providers.

Renewed Focus Utility computing based e-government will enable the involved parties to focus on what they do best, that is governments to focus on delivering good governance to the citizens and service providers to manage the IT requirements of e-government projects.

Quality of Service The utility computing approach provides provisions to enforce penalties on the service providers if they fail to meet the performance criteria set in the contracts or the SLAs. This will ensure consistency in the level of quality of services delivered to governments.

Integrative Approach Utility computing offers a unique opportunity to develop an integrated e-government state-wide framework providing a powerful platform to provide end-to-end service options to citizens.

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185

UTILITY COMPUTING: MODERN DAY SCENARIO

There are several large and small vendors in the market today with utility products and services. Utility approach is a relatively new model. Hence no single vendor has the complete set of tools to support utility model. The major utility service providers include Sun Microsystems, IBM, HP, and Veritas. Some vendors position themselves as pure hardware or software vendors to the utility service providers, examples being Veritas and Egenera. The list of vendors providing some form of “on-demand” or utility priced services has seen a steady rise in the past few years. Some of the other players are Salesforce.com, Platform, Computer Associates, Metilinx Citrix, Opsware, Akamai and Oracle. The three major players in utility products and services market are IBM, HP and Sun. We present here a snapshot of their offerings to give readers a fair idea of where the compute utility industry stands today. It is notable here that some of the information presented in this section is not complete and exhaustive as the utility products and services are still evolving.

9.6.1

Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems (now owned by Oracle Corporation) defines utility computing as intelligently matching IT resources to business demand on a pay-for-use basis. Sun does not offer any outsourcing services directly nor do they intend to establish themselves as a utility provider. They provide infrastructure for their partners who specialise in outsourcing, who could then position themselves as utility providers. Sun basically offers utility computing infrastructure to companies as well as partners. An example of a utility partner of Sun is EDS, which provides EDS Agile Hosting Services. Figure 9.3 gives an overview of Sun’s utility solutions enabled by its partners and technologies. SUN

PARTNERS

Solaris & Linux Sun Ray Storage Vertical & Blade Servers tm

Java Enterprise System SRS Net Connect SPARC

N1 Grid Mad Hatter

FIGURE 9.3

Specialised Technology Metering Tools & Services

Complementary Managed Services Strategic Customer Relationships Implementation Architectural Services Training/ Education

ISV/HV Business Process Consulting Delivery Efficiencies Hosting ISP/ASP Outsourcing

Local Presence

Sun’s Utility Solutions Enabled by its Partners and Technologies

186 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Sun Remote Services (SRS) Net Connect Sun Remote Services (SRS) Net Connect is a monitoring tool that offers resource metering and billing services, and visibility into resource utilisation. In addition to the automated metering and billing, it monitors system availability and provides predictive analysis of potential trouble areas. Sun uses its own Sun Power Unit (SPU) metric for processing, storage and bandwidth. SRS Net Connect software meters and monitors Sun Power Unit usage on the customers’ computers. It then transfers the data over a secure SSL network to SRS Net Connect reporting server for billing to customer.

Pricing Models Sun offers three utility computing pricing models–capacity on demand, temporary capacity on demand and Sun utility computing infrastructure procurement service.

Sun’s Utility Solutions The utility solutions from Sun include Sun mid-range StorEdge, Sun high-end StorEdge, N1 pay-per-use grid computing and Sun utility computing for highend grid. Most of Sun Microsystems’ offerings are open source and follow open standards. This ensures that governments can move from Sun’s infrastructure to any other that follows open standards.

9.6.2

IBM Global Services

IBM Global Services defines utility computing thus: Utility computing is the on-demand delivery of infrastructure, applications and business processes in a security-rich, shared, scalable, and standards-based computer environment over the Internet for a fee. Governments will tap into IT resources, and pay for them, as they now get their electricity or water. Utility computing forms part of IBM’s on-demand business services. IBM’s utility solutions are developed on infrastructure, application and process levels. · Universal Management Infrastructure (UMI) and infrastructure services form the basis of IBM’s utility computing services. On-demand hosting services is an example of such a service. · On the application level, IBM is working together with other software vendors to provide on-demand applications. SAP on-demand and Siebel on-demand are examples of such services. · On the process level, IBM has pilot projects with partners to provide payroll services on demand.

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· IBM’s Tivoli system management software is enhanced with resource management functions in connection with UMI platform. Tivoli would support IBM’s utility computing environment that is built around UMI.

9.6.3

HP

According to HP, utility computing refers to a business model in which IT departments and third party providers bill users based on computing resources actually consumed, in a manner similar to the manner in which a power utility bills by the kilowatt hour and telecommunications companies bill by minutes of use.

HP Utility Pricing Solutions HP utility pricing solutions integrate HP technology, services, and financing to deliver IT resources to governments on payments based on usage. HP services offer three utility pricing solutions-managed capacity, metered capacity and instant capacity.

HP OpenView HP’s OpenView management software stack provides the functions for managing the resources in a utility computing environment. The service management of the networks, storage and servers are based on OpenView products. Among other services, the areas covered by OpenView include fault management, performance management, service navigation, SLA management, customer portal, and activation.

HP Utility Data Centre HP Utility Data Centre (UDC) was an effort to create a single virtual pool of all computing resources, including servers, storages, appliances and applications. The core capabilities of the HP UDC are delivered through a set of modular offerings. Governments can choose these modular offerings to manage the data centre in-house or outsource to HP. The modules are HP Blade System, HP virtual server environment, HP OpenView change and configuration management solutions, and HP utility services.

9.7 TECHNICAL AND REGULATORY ISSUES IN UTILITY 9.7 COMPUTING The proponents of utility computing envision that IT will become a commodity business like other utilities such as electricity, gas or telephone in the future and that utility service provider will meet all the IT needs of governments. The successful implementation of the utility model depends on several critical

188 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies factors that should develop positively in the future—from the perspectives of customer, provider as well as both customer and provider.

Standardisation There are only a few real utility services, that are standardised and shared services, in the market today. Hosting, managed services, software-as-a-service and Internet-based services form the major utility offerings today. For utility computing to gain true acceptance in the governments, a high degree of standardisation is required. This very notion is against the interests of current players in IT industry. However, some initiatives have already gained momentum in utility computing industry to move towards a standard environment, notably Data Centre Markup Language (DCML). DCML defines a conceptual data model; processing rules for interpreting DCML document instances; semantics, grammar, and structure, on which to build extensions such as networks, servers, applications, and services; and the relationships with other standards, such as Common Information Model (CIM). Similar workgroups are working separately to develop standards for the utility computing industry.

Security Increased integration of company data with pooled resources of others inevitably raises concern that security is unavoidably decreased. The loss of administrative control of company data and the increased liability introduced by outsiders acting as agents make for significant pitfalls in the utility computing model. To add to that the global nature of computing means governments outsourcing their requirements offshore could find that their data ends up under a different legal jurisdiction. Such concerns need to be addressed before utility computing is embraced by governments.

Contract Management The key to utility model is adaptability. When needs of the user grow, the service provider must respond appropriately, controlling resources to fulfil requirements. When the breadth of the IT services required is constantly changing, inevitably the scale upon which performance is monitored, changes too. Unlike a standard outsourcing agreement, utility computing demands that SLAs be as adaptable as the service against which they are measured. However, fixing strict benchmarks for performance at the outset may lead to practically unachievable targets as the needs of the company evolve.

Risk Management With adaptability comes increased risk in performance, security and data integrity. We have to ask who will bear the added cost of these risks? Will the

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increased price of evolutionary technology be factored together with higher premiums to protect against problems? As businesses have learned all too well in the past two years, disaster can come in many forms and strike devastating blows with little warning. The 9/11 terrorist attacks, the blackouts of 2003, weather events including hurricanes, tornadoes and floods, devastating worm and virus attacks, demonstrations and strikes that block access to facilities, earthquakes, workplace violence – the list is seemingly endless. If utility computing provider’s failures cause a company to lose revenues or customers, will its insurance coverage compensate the company? What deductibles and exclusions apply? What if the stock price is affected? Will it share the liabilities of the directors and officers? Does it have the coverage and resources to make good on its commitments? How financially stable are its insurers? All these questions need to be addressed by the service provider to make government feel assured about the utility services.

Software Licensing Currently most of the software vendors operate on models whereby they ‘sell’ licenses for each product. The licenses concerned may function in a variety of fashions, but most often operate on a ‘per server’, ‘per CPU’ or ‘per user’ basis. Some applications may function on a ‘concurrent’ basis whereby the license covers simultaneous use by a specified number of users rather than individually identified users. It is apparent that in order to function cost effectively, utility computing requires that software licenses be made available quickly, and that consumers incur the license fee only while the software is actually in use. Such a provision for licensing requires a change in the basic business model for software licenses.

IPR and Data Privacy Utility service providers will be handling high valued data from the business that may have IPR and copyrights associated with it. Protection of such sensitive data against intentional or unintentional computing for data and backup purposes and from attacks over the network is another issue that the businesses are concerned about. One more dimension to this is the usage history that may be saved by the service providers for metering and other purposes. What should be kept, how much and for how long are some of the major concerns in this aspect. There will have to be appropriate mechanisms to safeguard the interests of service providers as well as governments.

Internet Freedom or Net Neutrality The principle of Network neutrality (also net neutrality, Internet neutrality or simply NN) is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. A neutral broadband network is one that is free of restrictions

190 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, which does not restrict content, sites or platforms, and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams. In case of utility computing scenario, issue of net neutrality is of great concern to the governments and service providers alike. The ability of the service providers or network service providers to block non-discriminatory access to utility services due to affiliations, financial arrangements or traffic shaping purpose pose a major risk to the success of utility approach to computing.

SUMMARY Utility approach to IT services is a way of obtaining IT infrastructure as required, releasing it when the job is finished and paying for only the resources used. The model is based upon many organisations with variable workloads sharing a large infrastructure in isolation from other organisations. Through the combination of variable workloads, the overall average infrastructure utilisation is raised, enabling the utility provider to price the service at an attractive level for each individual organisation. Utility computing offers an effective solution to the organisations and businesses to leverage IT by devolving the responsibility of procuring and maintaining the IT infrastructure and resources to the utility service providers resulting in significant cost reductions and operational efficiencies. Finally, the benefits of utility technology are not restricted to the private businesses or the organisations only but in fact it offers a sustainable solution for the governments to develop efficient and cost-effective e-government services. Utility approach will ensure efficiency, transparency and economies of scale and shall be designed in a flexible and dynamic manner to facilitate better service delivery to citizens. Still, the utility computing industry is in an evolving stage and number of critical factors need to come together in providing and assisting the governance and managing the resources in the most optimum manner.

KEY TERMS Utility computing A service-provisioning model in which an IT service provider provisions IT services in infrastructure, application and business process areas on an as-needed basis and charges the services on a specific usage basis. Outsourcing Transfer of management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider. Utility pricing The method of pricing computing services on the basis of usage of services by the customer. Software as a service (SaaS) A model of software deployment where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the Internet. Provisioning The process of providing users with access to data and technology resources.

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Virtualisation Creation of a virtual version of a device or resource, such as a server, storage device, network or even an operating system where the framework divides the resource into one or more execution environments. Autonomic computing A type of computing model in which the system is self-healing, self-configured, self-protected and self-managed. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined. Groupware Programs that help people work together collectively while located remotely from each other. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) A company-wide computer software system used to manage and coordinate all the resources, information, and functions of a business from shared data stores. Grid Computing Application of several computers to solve a single problem at the same time, usually to a scientific or technical problem that requires a great number of computer processing cycles or access to large amounts of data. Network Neutrality A network that is free from restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, which does not restrict content, sites or platforms, and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the concept of utility based computing. 2. Explain the terms ‘provisioning’, ‘autonomic computing’, ‘virtualisation’ and ‘grid computing’. 3. Explain some applications which can be brought under the utility based computing approach. 4. Explain why governments should consider leveraging utility based computing. 5. Explain which is a preferable IT policy while using utility based computing: (a) Open standards based technologies or (b) Proprietary technologies? 6. Explain the regularity and technical environment for the utility based computing. What are the security implications of utility based approach from consumers’ point of view? 7. Give a brief account of the current services provided by firms in the utility based service.

REFERENCES Czerniawska, Fiona. 2005. ‘Utility Computing: Not Switched on Yet?’, Management Consultancies Association, Executive Report Philip, Tom. 2004 ‘Utility Computing: Identifying the Applicability Domain and Its Boundaries’, Zurich: Department of Informatics, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

192 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies J. Bhattacharya and Sushant Vashishtha, 2008, ‘Utility Computing Based Framework for e-Governance’, ICEGOV Cairo. Pardhasaradhi, Y. ‘Improving Citizen – Government Interface through e-Governance: A Study of India’, Part IV, Internet and Information Technology for Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Business, United Nations Public Administration Network, http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CBUQFjAA&url= http%3A%2F%2Fu npan1.un.org%2Fintradoc%2Fgroups%2Fpublic%2Fdocuments %2FAPCITY%2FUNPAN021281.pdf&rct=j&q=Pardhasaradhi%2C+Y.+(Year%3F)+ Pardhasaradhi%2C+%E2%80%98Improving+Citizen+%E2%80%93+Government+ Interface+through+eGovernance%3A+A+Study+of+India%E2%80%99%2C+Part+IV%2C+ Internet+and+Information+Technology+for+Greater+Mekong+Subregion+(GMS)+Business+ &ei=MGj_S62VENGwrAeF7NCDg&usg=AFQjCNGLkXacBV_HG_wfMw6nVhUaX9Dlqg, pp 215 - 219 Pagden, Emlyn. 2003. ‘The IT Utility Model Part I’, Sun Professional Services, Sun BluePrints™ OnLine, July. Dill, Heinz. 2004.On Demand Hosting Services Product Manager, IBM, Zurich, Switzerland. Interviewed in Zurich, 29 October.

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10 Secured Government Information Systems Architecture Objectives · To learn about security policy · To get an insight into the architecture of security · To learn about Standards and Protocols Technology · To learn about methods for organisational improvement · To know about products and services availability

10.1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses the various steps involved in designing a secured government information systems architecture. Focus is given on the protection of information and system assets as part of total view of the missions, threats, performance, interoperability, extendability, usability, and implementation costs. This chapter gives a brief overview of how to design security architecture for the protection of confidential information. This architecture model is generic and needs to be fine-tuned for various specific usages.

10.2

ARCHITECTURAL TYPES

Information system architectures range in definition and occur in sequence from abstract to specific views of what is to be developed. There are four types of architecture: · Abstract architecture · Generic architecture · Logical architecture · Specific architecture

194 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 10.2.1 Abstract Architecture An abstract architecture begins with the knowledge of requirements and defines corresponding functions to be performed. Abstract security architectures cite principles, fundamental concepts, and functions that satisfy typical security requirements. These concepts and functions are allocated to elements of an abstract definition of the information system architecture.

10.2.2

Generic Architecture

The development of a generic architecture is based upon the abstract architectural decisions. It defines the general types of components and allowable standards to be used and identifies any necessary guidelines for their application. A generic security architecture proceeds from an initial allocation of security services and functions and begins to define the types of components and security mechanisms that are available to implement security services with particular strengths. Any limitations in combining components and mechanisms because of incompatibility or security degradation must be cited in the guidelines application.

10.2.3

Logical Architecture

A logical architecture is a design that meets a hypothetical set of requirements. It serves as a detailed example that illustrates the results of applying it to specific circumstances. The difference between a logical and a specific architecture is that the specific requirements are real, not hypothetical. Since the logical architecture is not intended to be implemented, there is no need to perform a cost analysis; in logical security architectures, the logical design is accompanied by an illustration of the security analysis to be performed in specific architectures.

10.2.4

Specific Architecture

The objective of any system architect is to accomplish a level of design specification such that components may be acquired to implement the system. Specific architecture addresses components, interfaces, standards, performance and cost. Specific security architectures show how all the selected information security components and mechanisms, including doctrine and supporting security management components, combine to meet the security requirements of the specific system under consideration.

10.3

PROCESS

The development of security architecture for information systems is achieved through the following steps:

Secured Government Information Systems Architecture 195

· Perform requirement analysis · Create structure for the architecture · Make security service allocations · Select security components and mechanisms · Perform interdependency analysis (evaluation) The above steps are performed till satisfactory generic security architecture is accomplished.

10.4

OVERVIEW OF THE SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

An information system is a collection of information processing and communication components, and the environment in which they operate, that is used to support the operations of one or more missions. A security policy pertains to a specific project and is based upon the threats to the means by which that project is accomplished. A security policy documents the security requirements to be placed upon resources used by an organisation. These security requirements express, for the information system personnel, the user organisations desired protection for its information and other system resources. A security architecture designed to meet a specific project’s security requirements defines the security services and mechanisms and allocates them to components of the project’s information system architecture. The steps involved in initial diagnosis of security requirement are: · Establishment of security requirements · Identification of information to be managed · Stating the operational requirements for use of information · Determination of the value of information · Identification of potential threats to information Security policy for either the generic case or a specific project can next be stated in terms of the requirements for: · Protection of information based on potential threats · Security services that offer appropriate protection of information based upon the value of information and the threats to it. The development of specific project security architecture begins by applying the security policy to the project mission requirements to develop a project specific security policy. The project specific security policy includes identifying the appropriate security services and mechanisms of an information system that could satisfy the requirements.

196 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

FIGURE 10.1

10.5

Security Requirements

SECURITY POLICY

Information systems must support information processing under multiple security policies of any complexity or type, including those for sensitive unclassified information and multiple categories of classified information. Information systems must be sufficiently protected to allow distributed information processing among multiple hosts on multiple networks in accordance with open systems architectures. Information systems must support information processing among users with different security attributes employing resources with varying degrees of security protection, including users of non-secure resources if a particular project dictates so. The information systems must be sufficiently protected to allow connectivity via public communication systems. Project Mission

Specific Mission

Project Requirements

Mission specific requirements

Project Security Policy

Mission specific security policy

Project Architecture

Mission Specific Architecture

Project Security Architecture

Mission Specific Architecture

FIGURE 10.2

Mission Specific Security Architecture Development

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10.6 10.6.1

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS Multiple Information Security Policy Support

Most current information systems support only one information security policy at a time. There has been a long desire by users to operate multiple sensitivity levels simultaneously or multiple security policies on a single device. Implementation must provide users with confidence that there will not be any security policy violations because such shared information systems and communications systems are used that support users operating under differing security policies.

10.6.2

Open Systems Employment

Although the use of open systems as a high level operational requirement may seem to be focused on operational issues, it is equally critical to the project in that it promotes a particular approach to providing information security among cooperating information systems. In the past, isolated systems were created and information was over-classified to satisfy security requirements. Given that users operating under different security policies may need to share components, and that complex policy for sharing and transferring information among users operating under different security policies must be supported, it is critical that truly open standards based systems should be employed.

10.6.3

Common Security Management

Like open systems requirement, security management appears to be concerned with operational issues. But it actually provides the foundation for many security mechanisms that implement security services chosen to satisfy other security requirements. Model to Provide Structure for Security Development and Integration

Security Requirements Policies

Authentication Access Control Non-Repudiation Integrity Confidentiality Audit Time Stamping

Assign to elements in each domain Identify the security mechanisms to implement

Integrate security mechanisms across Problem Identification

FIGURE 10.3

Service Required

Use of Model for Solution

Architecture Development Methodology

198 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Table 10.1 Multiple Security Policy Support · Enforce Security Policy · Maintain user identities · Maintain information identification · Provide data confidentiality · Provide confidentiality service · Provide nonrepudiation service

10.7

Summary of Security Requirement Refinements Open Systems Employment

Appropriate Protection

· Identify · Provide common appropriate security capability security identification mechanisms · Use standard that provide security information required level exchanges of protection · Use standard for each security information security service representations (individually · Provide and in authentication combination) service · Provide access control service · Provide availability service

Common Security Management · Identify and maintain user information managed objects · Identify and maintain information systems managed objects · Identify and maintain supporting security function managed objects · Use standard managed object representations

STEPS IN DESIGNING SECURITY ARCHITECTURE

This section describes the theoretical basis and practical process for the fivephase approach to developing security architecture.

Phase 1: Conducting Security Assessments Security Assessment takes an account of the current security architecture status. Its goal is to “evaluate threats against and vulnerabilities within the assets of the system and to certify all implemented security controls as adequate, either completely secure or meeting acceptable levels of risk”. Evaluation of the current status includes all levels of security architectures, that is data, application, and infrastructure (networks and systems). It involves the following steps: 1. Identification of key personnel to be interviewed for information gathering. 2. Identification of all critical and non-critical security components to be assessed (for example firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), proxy, applications, databases, and so on). 3. Design a template for security assessments of all identified security components. Security assessments should include a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) that will be used to “determine the appropriate controls (technical and administrative) described in the policy”.

Secured Government Information Systems Architecture 199

4. Identification of all threats, vulnerabilities and security issues in each component. 5. Security risk analysis can be conducted at this stage as part of security assessment. A modular view is used when conducting security assessments. Each component of security architecture is treated separately. This helps to develop architectures within architectures and emphasises the coexistence of peer architectures like data and application architectures. It also allows a look at security from a “hierarchical view and from an independent component view. Through a hierarchical view we can see the underlying architectures. A horizontal view helps us understand the interrelationship between peer component architectures. This modular view is important for us to see how all elements of security architecture interact with each other and with other architectures. Layered in-depth protection methodology also plays a role in that it divides security components into several layers. For example, to assess the security of an overall system structure, one needs to divide security into several layers such as operating system, application, database (backend systems), and network. Each layer is a security component. This layered approach allows one to deal with specific components and isolate issues related to each.

Phase 2: Formulation of Target Security Architecture Designs Target designs are based on results and recommendations of phase 1. As one conducts security assessments, it is imperative to enumerate all necessary architectural elements needed to develop the target security architecture. The recommendations can be used to make necessary architectural changes to existing IT infrastructure design, implementations, and policies and to add security controls to other architectures. It is important to develop two types of security architecture designs: 1. A logical architecture of IT security components is needed to organise the physical architecture and implement security in all identified architectures. The logical structure includes processes, technology and people. It consists of physical perimeter security, a computer incident response team, antivirus policy, security administration, Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP), risk and threat analysis, data security, application security, and infrastructure security. 2. Physical architecture designs include network diagrams illustrating firewalls, mail gateways, proxies, modem pools, Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), internal and external connections and devices used, and diagrams of other architectures in relation to security. Especially helpful are identification of diagrams with IP addressing schemes.

200 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Phase 3: Construction of Policies and Procedures The third phase begins once the proposed network infrastructure is designed and all security components to be integrated into other architectures are defined. Corporate, departmental, and subject policies should have a structure that deal with what must be protected and all information systems security architecture components. Several important points need to be articulated: According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, a policy is: 1. A management or procedure based primarily on material interest. 2. A definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives and in light of given conditions to guide and determine present and future decisions and a high-level overall plan embracing the general goals and acceptable procedures especially of a governmental body. Companies develop policies and procedures to guide their employees and external companies on how to behave. While creating policies, one needs to achieve a delicate “balance between security and the ability to conduct business”. Security should never be seen as an impediment but as an enabler that provides solutions and alternatives. Policies are general in nature and should be distinguished from standards. A policy might read, “All communications must be protected from eavesdropping”. The standard will show how this is to be accomplished and what technologies need to be deployed to achieve the policy. It is very important for policies and standards to have support of the executive team. It is equally important for people to understand the policy and its objectives so that it gets support to achieve compliance. Auditors can use these policies as references when conducting audits as auditing complements all the endeavors of security to achieve compliance by measuring against these policies to uncover any deviation from them. Findings that are discovered by audit would be deviations from policies and best practices. It is important to note that in reality many system or device-related policies will end up being translated as configurations on these systems and devices to implement policy. As such, parallel development of policies and architecture is necessary. For example, a policy can say “no surfing of illegal sites”. As the Internet server is being built, we have to configure the server to block known illegal sites. As such, policies are translated to server configurations. The next phase can begin either parallel to development of policies and standards or after these have been developed.

Phase 4: Implementation of Target Security Architecture Design Once the conceptual design and all related policies and procedures are developed, implementation of target security architecture can begin. Projects that implement architectural changes should have a plan that defines timelines, funding, and resources needed to implement these changes.

Secured Government Information Systems Architecture 201

10.7.1

Integration of Security Practices to Maintain Secure Status

Security is a mindset and a process. In order to maintain a secure environment, one needs to define the role of IT security staff in evaluating all changes to the architecture, systems design, and network structure to maintain secure status in day-to-day operations. In order to achieve this goal, security has to be integrated into two main processes: 1. Change management process: Any changes to networks and other infrastructure components must go through this process. 2. Project management methodology and guidelines: These guide the various technology projects in the organisation. Security should be integrated with these guidelines at all necessary stages. For example, security can be integrated into Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions, business requirement definitions stages, and implementation and development stages of project management methodology. Getting involved in new projects allows the security architect to integrate security controls that implement policy. It also allows the security architect to anticipate and develop new policies and standards.

10.8

DETERMINATION OF INFORMATION DOMAINS

Information domains are usually based on individuals and groups of people who create, collect, process, categorise, store, and transfer information in the normal course of performing their jobs. The sensitivity of the data is determined by the group and the protection is directed by established policies. Thus, conditions are placed on access to and use of information. The following elements are necessary for an information domain: · A domain must have a defined membership · Information objects must be uniquely identified within the domain · Security policy regarding protection of information objects must be known and agreed to by the membership An information domain is a set of users, their information objects, and a security policy. Information domains are not hierarchically related and do not necessarily imply a sensitivity category. Information domains are not bound by systems or a network of systems. They are bound by the presence of information objects and may be supported by any system that can meet the protection requirements of the information domain security policy. Members of an information domain may have different security-relevant attributes. Some may have read-only permission, while others may have read and write privileges. Typically, all information objects in an information domain have the same security-relevant attributes. Thus, a user who has read and write permissions in an information domain usually has them for every information object in the domain. Establishment of domains within an organisational structure can be difficult and is often arbitrary. However, it does provide a means for dealing with diverse

202 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies groups of people in an organisation that have different security needs. These groups often use the same infrastructure for computer and communications services. Domains aid in the development of an architecture to accommodate security needs of all groups within an organisational structure.

SUMMARY This chapter described the methodology for developing security architecture. The approach consists of five phases that are best followed in sequence but can be accomplished in parallel. (1) Conducting security assessments to gather information, attain assessment results and develop recommendations that detail requirements for security architecture. (2) Formulation of target architecture designs for both logical and physical architectures. It constitutes the skeleton for the target architecture. (3) Development of policies, standards and procedures, which add form and are necessary for implementation and operations of security architecture. (4) Implementing the desired security architecture in relation to all other architectures within the environment. (5) Maintenance of the security architecture. It involves definition of the role of the security architect and integration of security practices into company processes such as change management and project management methodology. Through this approach, new security architecture resolved security issues with the development of new Internet, perimeter and external connections able to handle identified threats. With this model, security becomes a process based on developed policies, standards and procedures related to identified security components. Security is a mindset and education is of crucial importance to impact on practice.

KEY TERMS Abstract Architecture An abstract architecture defines functions to be performed and defines principles and fundamental concepts that guide the selection and organisation of functions based on the knowledge of the requirements. Information Domain A set of users, their information objects, and a security policy. Local Subscriber Environment (LSE) Basic high performance computing system such as a workstation or a complex interconnection of end systems and relay systems through local communications systems. End System (ES) supercomputer.

A single element such as a workstation, server, mainframe or

Local Communications System (LCS) Networks within an LSE. Relay System (RS) Communications devices such as network interface cards, multiplexers, routers, switches, cellular nodes and message transfer agents. Communications Network (CN)

Network connecting LSEs.

Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) A physical or logical sub network that contains and exposes an organisation’s external services to a larger, non trusted network, usually the Internet.

Secured Government Information Systems Architecture 203 Joint Application Development (JAD) A process used in the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to collect business requirements while developing new information systems for a company. Disaster Recovery Plan It is the process, policies and procedures related to preparing for recovery or continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organisation after a natural or human-induced disaster. Systems Network Architecture (SNA) created in 1974.

IBM’s proprietary networking architecture

Customer Information Control System (CICS) A transaction server that runs primarily on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS and z/VSE.

CASE STUDY Internet Banking Domain The financial institution implemented a web-based approach to its Internet banking functions. The actual applications still run on the mainframe complex using transaction based processes. To integrate the Internet banking with the mainframe required the use of an IP/SNA (Server Network Architecture) gateway to translate the HTML requests to SNA based CICS transactions. The Logical Security Architecture for this domain is shown in Figure 10.4. Note that confidentiality is allocated to both the Web Confidentiality

Authentication Access Control Confidentiality Integrity Audit

RS

RS Gateway LAN Segment Address Control ES

Authentication Access Control

ES

ES Authentication Access Control

Server LAN Segment

SDLC ES Access Control Integrity Audit MS LSE Strong Physical Authentication Strong Physical Access Control

FIGURE 10.4 Internet Banking Logical Security Architecture

204 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies server and the public computer. This is needed because of the limited 40 bit encryption provided in export versions of Netscape (as per US Government laws) which reduces the encryption security level. The confidentiality was addressed through the use of a Java applet that provides a second level of encryption at the application layer. The other allocations are rather obvious, except that it was necessary to develop that for passing user authentication and access control information from the HTML forms to the mainframe with each transaction request. This led to individual code being developed for the Web Server and the IP/SNA Gateway to support the mainframe transaction environment. Development of the security mechanisms required a detailed data flow analysis. The flow analysis is shown in Figure 10.5. Once the steps in the information flow were identified, an analysis was performed to determine what mechanisms were needed at each step. For example, it was determined that standard SSL did not provide the necessary confidentiality to protect information flow between user and the Web server. Therefore, additional mechanisms were required. These were implemented through use of a Java applet. 1. User segment to Web page and investment banking Public

FIGURE 10.5 Banking Data Flow An overview of the confidentiality mechanism is shown in Figure 10.6. The Defence Goal Security Architecture (DGSA) model provided a structured way to address these security projects. Once the mechanisms were allocated to the architecture, a security test and evaluation plan was developed to examine how well the security service requirements were actually met by the technical implementation. The DGSA model allowed the security team to attack the real security problems, and not waste time defining an approach.

Secured Government Information Systems Architecture 205 Java applet computer the session key and encrypts sensitive data with 128 bit key, other data with 64 bit key

Establish SSL Encrypted Session Send Java Applet Send Info to set up session key Transfer data uslog session key SSL Wrapper

128 bit key

64 bit key

Data Encryption Wrapping

FIGURE 10.6 Client/Server Java Encryption

Discussion The major constraints to introducing security controls were budgetary, resource and time issues. It is important to achieve a balance without compromising on important security controls. 1. Always remember to secure senior management support for security changes. 2. Never assume that people understand security concepts or believe in their applicability. 3. The security architecture you are developing should be borne out of existing IT structure elements and geared towards future directions. 4. Always start with existing corporate policies. If there are none, develop your own and obtain senior management support. 5. People can resist change. It is important to convince people of the value of your work. 6. Educate company employees of security policies and articulate their value so that people can adopt them and be mindful of them; otherwise they will end up on paper only. 7. Keep up-to-date with new technology solutions.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What the architectural types in an IS architecture system used for defence systems? 2. Give the security requirements of an IS architecture system. 3. Elaborate on the various steps in designing a security architecture system. 4. Name the various elements of a security architecture system and elaborate each of them.

REFERENCES Defense Information Systems Agency, Centre for Standards. Department of Defense (DoD) Goal Security Architecture (DGSA), Version 3.0, April 1996. Volume

206 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 6 of Department of Defense Technical Architecture Framework for Information Management (TAFIM). Grimshaw, Andrew, William A. Wulf,, James C. French, Alfred IC Weaver, and Paul Reynolds. 1994. ‘Legion: The next logical step towards a nationwide virtual computer’, CS-94-21 Legion. Available at , downloaded on June 12, 2010. Moore, Regan W., ‘Massive data analysis system’, Available at http://www.sdsc.edu/ MDAS. Downloaeed on June 12, 2010. T. Lowman, D. Mosier, “Applying the DoD goal security architecture as a methodology for the development of system and enterprise security architectures,” acsac, pp.183, 13th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC ’97), 1997.

Government Telecentres 207

11 Government Telecentres Objectives · To learn about the importance of a government telecentre · To learn the challenges faced in a government telecentre · To know about the organisation model of a government telecentre · To knowing the type of services offered in a government telecentre · To learn about technologies used in telecentres · To learn the methods for strengthening of and issues faced in setting up and running of Telecentre

11.1

INTRODUCTION

Telecentres have been hailed as the solution to development problems around the world due to their ability to provide desperately needed access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). A significant number of such centres have been piloted and implemented by various government and development agencies across the globe. Telecentres have considerable potential for narrowing the “digital divide” in remote, rural and otherwise disadvantaged communities. They can be specially useful in helping developing countries and rural areas take advantage of the information economy, access education, government information, healthcare and other services, and develop socially and economically. Telecentres exist in almost every country. They exist under a variety of names such as information kiosks, community technology centres, info centres, community-multimedia centres, village knowledge centres, schoolbased telecentres, and so on that reflect their diversity. People use them as community centres and learning centres, places where people can meet, talk, share experiences, learn new skills, access information resources and pursue online courses. People also use them as technology centres, to make photocopies, to access the Internet, and to contact family members in distant places. Finally,

208 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies some people use them as business centres, to transact business, to pay bills, to look up business opportunities, to advertise services and to develop marketing materials, and so on. Under these different names and different models, telecentres are tools for development across sectors. As such, they are of interest to a broad spectrum of individuals, firms, and organisations in developing countries. Some telecentres and telecentre networks—most often those found in countries where sufficient funds are available—have been highly successful. For other centres and networks, however, the experiences have been less encouraging, especially in developing countries. This may be attributable to a range of factors, such as many telecentre projects are still at the pilot stage or in their early years of operation. Other potentially problematic issues include financing telecentres and choosing appropriate ownership models, both of which manifest themselves in implementation shortcomings.

11.1.1

Importance of Telecentres

The past decade has witnessed an explosion in the range of ICT sectoral applications and increased “specialisation” of ICT for development (ICT4D) into subfields such as e-government, e-commerce, e-health, and e-learning. Exciting opportunities are also emerging with e-banking and the delivery of credit and transaction services through telecentres. It is essential to ensure that these tools are leveraged to deliver a variety of relevant services that enable people to learn, improve their economic capacity, become effective citizens, and participate in government. As many countries tackle government reforms through e-government, new opportunities open up for government agencies as well as civil society organisations to deliver services and connect citizens to their government representatives, and to achieve economies of scale in services and capacity building. More and more people have the skills to take advantage of some of the more advanced services provided by telecentres. In many countries, the policy and regulatory environment for telecommunication services has improved, resulting in lower costs and faster private sector deployments of telecentres. New wireless broadband and satellite technologies have significantly opened up the range of possibilities in terms of rural internet connectivity solutions. Parallel to technology advances, we have also witnessed a significant shift and evolution in the organisational and business models behind the deployment of ICT, including their deployment in the context of telecentres.

11.1.2 Challenges: Sustainability, Increased Impact and Scaling Up Today’s key challenges in the telecentre ecosystem are with regard to sustainability, increased impact, and scale including the challenge of being flexible, responsive, and innovative social investment mechanisms to support

Government Telecentres 209

the establishment of new telecentres. Another major challenge is that of packaging the telecentres as easy-to-replicate community services centre, with computer literacy training, telemedicine, remote learning, financial remittances, and e-government being a part of the package. Another challenge being faced by telecentres today is the ability to evolve and adopt a robust and replicable micro-enterprise model. Such a model should also have perceptible impact on the local community while facilitating generation of financial revenue that is sufficient to provide self-sustainability to the telecentre. The model should also be flexible and should be able to provide ongoing training and support to users and service providers. Having a financially self-sustainable telecentre leads to the challenge of having low-cost, easy-toimplement telecentre technology platforms, including affordable and stable Internet connections for rural areas. The challenges also include building of networks and partnerships that can help the telecentre movement reach a global scale and finally an enduring commitment to the notion of telecentres and other grassroots technologies as an important contributor towards community development. Early telecentre experiments started in Europe, Canada, and United States in the 1980s. Since then, many telecentre pilots have been conducted in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Today’s telecentres are run in more conducive environment than those of 1990s. The regulatory and policy environments, support systems, technologies, and human resources needed for successful telecentre operations have improved enormously over time. The telecentres are now connecting more people to the information society, especially the most impoverished, women, youth, and others who might otherwise be excluded. Greater attention to the development of value-added services is vital. Increased investments are necessary to ensure that all communities have access to telecentres, and all citizens are able to take advantage of such services. Issues of sustainability are paramount. One of the critical factors for sustainability is achieving sufficient scale. Pilot telecentres may be excellent learning vehicles but they are seldom sustainable as isolated telecentres. They may increase their sustainability as members of a larger network. In the following sections we will focus on various challenges of rolling out telecentres.

11.2 LOCAL ICT ENVIRONMENT IN RURAL AND 11.2 UNDERSERVED AREAS Development of a healthy telecentre ecosystem depends not only on designing initiatives that are grounded in local needs and resources, but also on initiatives that reach beyond the local community to partner with outside organisations. Partners such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), agricultural extension service providers, corporations, and educational institutions need

210 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies to be part of the broader telecentre ecosystem. Telecentres serve as a connecting node, linking local communities with other communities and other organisations both within and outside the country. In the context of a scale-up, a comprehensive scan of the environment will require engaging with both local communities and national-level institutions that may become part of the telecentre ecosystem.

11.2.1

Telecentre for Local Communities

Ideally, a pilot project would spend a significant amount of time and energy at the design stage to understand the community’s needs. Surveys might be conducted to find out what was already available in terms of technology and infrastructure, how the community uses existing technologies, and what the community’s needs and aspirations are in terms of information technology. Demonstrations, community consultations, and other awareness-raising activities might be organised so as to stir interest as well as to learn about the community. Scaling up is not just a matter of replicating a pilot project in several locations, but it also results in standard solution for those locations that may not address the specific concerns of individual localities. A scan covering entire regions of a country or a whole country should not result in a collection of disconnected community maps and profiles but rather a national map highlighting regional characteristics, geographies, local economic realities, and so on. The critical success factors for scaling up are about identifying community types and geographic zones that are similar enough to be accommodated with similar telecentre solutions. Scaling up also involves developing a typology of zones that can serve as the basis for developing different telecentre models to be deployed throughout the country. It is about finding a cost-effective compromise between developing a tailor-made telecentre for each individual community and applying a one-size-fits-all model across the country. Scanning and mapping of individual communities has yielded useful methodologies that should now be adapted to the needs of telecentre scale-ups. A thorough analysis and mapping of the local ICT environment can be very labour intensive and time consuming, whereas scale-up initiatives will need to use cost-effective and quick methods without sacrificing community engagement.

11.2.2

Market Segmentation

Telecentres have evolved into an entrepreneurial network that facilitate information and services related to education, health, employment, government services, insurance, e-commerce and other sectors in the rural areas. Telecentre networks connect local governments to one another and to the service and information delivery channels developed through the network. The efforts of the telecentre network have the explicit intent of fostering equity and accelerating growth in the communities where the rural kiosks are established,

Government Telecentres 211

while keeping service provision on a firm commercial basis to ensure sustainability. Viability and profitability of potential rural sites, ranking them on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the most profitable, can be as follows. Three key components that can be used are-rural dynamics, rural economics, and rural infrastructure (worth 7, 1.5 and 1.5 points on the scale respectively. Additional details are provided in Table 11.1: Table 11.1 Rural Service Delivery Segmentation Methodology

Rural Dynamics

Rural Economics

Rural Infrastructure

Total

11.2.3

Population

5.0

Literacy

0.8

Role of Government

0.6

Response of entrepreneur

0.4

Role of NGO

0.2

Population above poverty line

1.5

Road Link

0.4

Distance from town

0.4

Electricity

0.3

Constraints (example floods)

0.2

Telephone

0.2

7 points

1.5 points

1.5 points

10 points

Questions to be Asked Before Deploying Telecentres

Collecting data regarding a community’s needs and readiness for a telecentre can also help shape decisions regarding the types of services to be provided and a possible pricing structure for services. It is not always easy, however, to estimate the demand for services when the local population is relatively unaware of their utility. What information is needed to design telecentres based on local community realities? What is the reality of local ICT environments? What are the key elements of a community profile? These questions are relevant whether a single community or an entire region is targeted for the deployment of a network of telecentres. How do we go from individual community scans to a national mapping exercise? In the context of a scale-up, what is needed is a typology of zones for which different telecentre models can be designed. A scale-up needs to look at relevant

212 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies clusters of communities. For example, geographically central or larger communities can serve as hubs for the rest of their clusters, hosting a larger telecentre with support services for small telecentres in other communities within the cluster. These connections beyond individual communities cannot happen unless the mapping exercise goes beyond scanning individual communities and looks at broader geographic units for potential synergies. Beyond local community realities, what is the status or level of maturity of the telecentre ecosystem? Pilot initiatives often fail to connect with other local and national level institutions, but a successful scale-up is likely to require the involvement of multiple institutions. In the planning phase of a scale-up, it is critical to identify the key public and private sector institutions that may become partners, as clients, service providers, or support agencies. This scan for potential partners and initial partnership-building activities are essential to a healthy telecentre ecosystem. How do the approaches and methodologies discussed in this section scale up? Can they be replicated? It is very challenging to replicate a successful telecentre initiative from one geographic area in another. However, some aspects of a telecentre project can be replicated and scaled up. Market analysis and large-scale surveys can be conducted using sophisticated sampling techniques as a cost-effective way of gathering data from a limited number of individuals and communities without sacrificing the generalization of the findings. Designing initiatives grounded in local realities is a necessity, whether designing for a single telecentre or a network of several telecentres. The challenge of a huge telecentre network covering a large geographic area is that the local realities are likely to be quite varied. A single model will not be able to respond equally to all of the local variations. That is where local entrepreneurship and community ownership can become important in tailoring telecentres to the local realities. Not all communities will have the same level of e-readiness. So it may be useful to identify the parameters along which they differ, and use that information to categorize communities. Separate strategies can then be worked out for dealing with the different levels of e-readiness. The main idea is to assist in identifying potential sites for telecentres under different organisational models. Prof. Richard Heeks, Associate Professor, Manchester University, suggests that a simple schematic identifies three different categories of locations–high, medium, and low telecentre readiness. · High telecentre e-readiness locations : Private sector will cater to this market largely unaided. · Medium telecentre e-readiness locations: These are locations where the market does not yet deliver services. Yet there are potentially sustainable development benefits from investment in telecentres.

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· Low telecentre e-readiness locations : Locations that simply cannot sustain telecentres because of impossible economics (lack of a viable market) or low volume of demand. Communities that might fall into these categories can be identified by their characteristics, such as demographics, institutional maturity, and infrastructure and economic situations. Thus, one might gather available data on communities, organise it into a table like Table 11.2, and use this categorisation, or typology, to organise the selection of sites and plan the types of services that would be appropriate. The characteristics of communities in each category will be different in every country. The factors of infrastructure availability must be weighed against size, and education levels of population, and so on. Table 11.2 Example of Analysis of Typology of ICT Ecosystem

Telecentre e-Readiness Community ICT Ecosystem

Low

Medium

High

Population Demographics (a) Size of communities (b) Literacy rate/Languages (c) Income levels (d) Occupations (e) Age distribution (f) [Add your own] Institutional Readiness (a) Government Institutions (b) Businesses, SMEs (c) Health posts and hospitals (d) [Add your own] Infrastructure (a) Roads (b) Electricity (c) Basic telephony (d) Connectivity (e) [Add your own]

11.3

ORGANISATIONAL MODELS

The discussion on organisational models is premised on the assumption that there is value in all approaches of different ownership formats of telecentre, and that the key factor for success is to understand the context and objectives well enough to pick an approach that is a good match for the situation. The

214 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies purpose here is to provide a detailed discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to help think through the trade-offs for your own situation. Organisational models can be divided into broad categories based on the initiaters and their goal orientation. There are government-, private-, and civil society-led telecentre models. In practice, many projects use mixed models that transcend boundaries among the public and private sectors, and civil society. A social entrepreneurship perspective combines social objectives with a market or business approach. The general categorization is described in Table 11.3. Table 11.3 The Social-Enterprise Continuum Enterprise

Social Universal Access/Public Service

Social Enterprise

Business Case/Economic Demand

Social objectives achieved Social objectives achieved through public through business approaches sector investments and donor funding

Private sector investments responding to market demand

“Needs analysis” Gap between reality and desired state Public good approach to ICT access

“Demand analysis” Ability and willingness to pay Profit maximisation motivation

A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximize profit for share holders

With the help of various case studies we will look into different organisation models conceptualised on ground. Earlier we talked about the need to understand local realities. Part of the local reality is level of maturity of the market for various telecommunications and related services. In developing a typology of zones, it is important to think in terms of markets for different services and the capacity of specific geographic areas and communities to generate sufficient demand for telecentre services. Organisational models exist on a continuum from purely subsidised models to purely commercial ones. Most real-world examples are hybrids that tend to fall somewhere in the middle rather than at the two extremes. They differ as well along other dimensions, such as the sector in which they are rooted, and the degree of social and economic development that prevails in their geographic or target population segment. In addition, there are significant variations in the extent to which telecentre initiatives view the provision of telecommunication and related services as a

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public good, worthy of government and donor funding, rather than as private goods to be provided through market mechanisms. These dimensions of description can be used to approximate how in a conceptual map any given organisation or activity might be categorised. Different points in that conceptual space have varying strengths (and probabilities of success). From a sustainability perspective, market-based mechanisms are most likely to provide long-term solutions. From an equity perspective, a social enterprise model may help extend the reach of markets and ensure broader access for disadvantaged communities, and a purely social model may alleviate increases in inequalities resulting from the digital divide. Some of the existing models that started as private sector for-profitmodels or purely not-for-profit models-at the two opposite ends of the continuum-are now moving toward a middle ground. In the context of a scaleup and the need to cover a broad range of geographic areas with varying levels of market maturity, a flexible model, or multiple models, may be needed. It is also important to recognise the dynamic nature of markets and the need for models that can adjust over time to changing conditions. In emerging markets, purely commercial enterprises may not yet believe that what they gain from serving the needs of the poor will provide the return on investment (ROI) they seek, though there is growing evidence that an appropriate business model will succeed in such terms. In the absence of commercial providers, social enterprises may find their niche. The social enterprise model tries to balance social needs and economic realities. Even within a social enterprise model, there may be need for additional interventions so that areas of greatest need–least accessible rural areas, disadvantaged groups such as women, or areas with low literacy levels–get the attention they deserve to ensure equity in access.

11.4 11.4

SUSTAINABILITY AND IMPACT THROUGH APPROPRIATE SERVICES AND CONTENT

The sustainability of telecentres is highly dependent on their ability to offer the right mix of services. What that right mix is, will depend on the organisational model and local ecosystem, among other factors, which is in turn affected by the goals and target market of the centre. In this section, we present a typology of services, illustrating the broad range that telecentres can provide. We then follow up with case studies to illustrate different mixes of services addressing specific needs of local realities. The interplay among the services, the community, and the participating organisations can demonstrate many of the principles of sustainability. A key differentiating factor between typical cybercafés established in urban and semi-urban areas on the one hand and telecentres on the other hand, is the range of services they provide. Cybercafés typically

216 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies limit themselves to providing access to the Internet and rely on a ready supply of computer literate clients. The information and communication needs of rural areas are more complex, and telecentres must provide a broader range of locally relevant services to be sustainable and contribute to socio-economic development. Ultimately, however, “services” consist not only of the activities and content offered at the centre’s initiative, but also those things available from the broader web and other institutions. There are different approaches to service delivery, but within the shared access model it is important to differentiate between the “kiosk” approach, favoured in India, where a single computer is used by a kiosk operator to provide services, and the multi-personal computer (PC) telecentre approach, which provides shared access to the computers themselves, not just a limited set of services.

11.4.1

Typology of Services

One way to look at services is to think of telecentres as composite centres, as learning, business, community activities, and technology centre. The centres will comprise different mixes in varying contexts. Another useful typology of services and content differentiates among information services, transaction services, and e-government services. Education in its various forms fits into this typology as an information service. But it is so broad and complex that it might qualify as an entirely separate kind of service. The same is true of most kinds of training. This typology is not necessarily the most appropriate for all circumstances, however, and not all telecentres or public access facilities will provide all these types of services. Table 11.4 lists some possible services at telecentres and the typology of services at telecentres. Three types of services are offered in rural telecentres: Informational services: These disseminate generic (non-customised) information, such as agricultural practices, weather forecasts, and contact information. Transactional services: These involve an exchange of specific (customised) information services or funds between two or more parties using the ICT infrastructure. e-Government services: These refer to transactional services that involve local, state, or national government; providing land records, submitting complaints to local officials, and confirming a users’ presence on electoral rolls are examples. Apriori it may appear that information services could be best provided through a not-for-profit, NGO-driven telecentre model; transactional services might be provided best through a for-profit, business-driven telecentre model; and e-government services might be provided best through a public-sectordriven model. However, an early part of the planning activity should take into

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account the objectives of the centres and the local situation to decide as to what degree the centres will offer services – whether a broad mix or a narrow mix specific to a set of needs. This issue is easy to resolve if one is planning a series of centres for facilitating interaction with government services. A narrow, vertical mix of services make excellent sense. In general, though, the rural contexts are very “thin” markets, and the strategy of a series of vertically organised providers of shared access does not make sense. In most rural areas, the cost efficiencies of a single, general purpose centre, with government services as a part of its service mix, are very compelling. Table 11.4 Typology of Services: Informational, Transactional and e-Government Informational

Transactional

e-Government

Agriculture

Communication

Downloading and submission of forms

Education (general)

Desktop publishing, printing

Status of pending work

Computer training

Photocopying

Land records

Job listing

Obtaining loans and insurance

Ration cards

Health (general)

Entertainment

Government certificates

Government schemes and procedure

e-Banking / remittances

Licences / permits

News

e-Commerce transactions

Grievance redressal

Market prices

Matrimonial service

Below poverty line list

Weather

Photography

Vehicle registration

However, the key issues related to providing services through telecentres are elaborated below. · Some services can be used to build demand for basic communication services including phone, fax, phone cards, e-mail, web browsing, and VoIP. · Some services may need to be supported, at least initially, to build demand for other computer-based services, for example, e-literacy. On the other hand, there may be significant demand for a broad range of training services for which citizens are willing to pay. · Some services may be developed to serve the specific needs of a geographic region–for example, supply chain management support for an agricultural product common to a specific geographic area. · Some services cannot be developed or delivered without higher-level network support. This is the case for many e-government, e-learning, employment generation, and market pricing services. In such cases, a franchise or network may be essential to expand services.

218 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · One of the prime motivators for many telecentre clients is to improve their employment prospects by acquiring skills or information. This is reflected in an impressive level of demand for e-Literacy skills, direct job training, and education services that increase their qualifications. Sometimes the centre’s services themselves can be employment generators–direct employment can easily result with telecommunication services, such as phone ladies, and the desktop publishing or keyboarding assistance that many clients will need is also a source of employment. While we treat education as a subset of information services, it is a very large and important subset. · To reach some of the more disadvantaged population groups, some services may require that telecentre staff become mobile and extend their activities outside the telecentre premises. For example, in Bangladesh, D.Net’s “Pallitathya Help-Line” has developed a sophisticated information help line that combines infomediaries equipped with cell phones with desk researchers and content partners. · Some content and services must be developed locally and must involve local institutions and the local community. · Some services are developed more effectively at a higher level–whether a franchise network organisation, a telecentre network, a government agency, or a university or other educational institution. · In a scaling-up context, this dimension of specialisation in telecentre service provision becomes increasingly important. Individual pilot initiatives may have tried to provide their specific mix of services, but it is inefficient and often impossible for individual telecentres to develop more advanced transactional and e-government services on their own. Therefore, partnerships with both private sector service providers and government agencies become essential–the telecentre ecosystem becomes essential. We are likely to see a trend toward unbundling services and developing rural services and applications that can be delivered through a multiplicity of platforms and telecentre models. In India www.eGovservices.org has been developing software applications and other services that can be delivered through rural kiosks or telecentres in Jharkhand as part of the Pragya Kendra (Jharkhand’s rural telecentres). This development should be factored into the planning of revenue models for services being developed now. The types of public-private partnerships emerging in India and other developing economies are not easy to foster in many developing countries where the private sector is not as actively engaged in the development of applications and services for rural areas, and governments are not as advanced in their thinking and planning in terms of decentralisation of services through e-government and rural access points.

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As will be illustrated by the case studies below, the issue is not only to decide which services to deliver, but also how to deliver them best and how to price individual services to build demand and generate sufficient revenues to become financially sustainable. Identifying the right mix of services for a specific telecentre is a multidimensional puzzle. Key dimensions include the market and the competition (if any) the goal/orientation of the telecentre; the extent to which the operator can and wishes to do internal crosssubsidisation from within the revenues received for services; and the extent to which the operator is able to generate revenues from sources other than users (that is government funding or donor support for specific services). Public funding can take many forms and may be essential to build demand and ensure equity of access and achieve a balance between the telecentres’ social and economic goals. The investment can take the form of free (or almost free) services, often on a limited-time basis, to increase awareness of and demand for services or to increase the capacity of users to purchase other services in the future. These are often distributed in the form of vouchers that individuals within the community can redeem for services. In most cases, all services are not equally profitable, and it may be worthwhile even for a for-profit telecentre to cross-subsidise certain services internally. Services can also be financed by government or donor agencies, leveraging the telecentres as a delivery mechanism for their development-related programs. Mechanisms for accessing and using services need to be addressed. Intermediaries can play a key role in ensuring that low literacy levels and other barriers to effective use of ICTs do not exclude the most disadvantaged individuals in the community. Computer training at all levels is usually in high demand as well. With a growing segment of population, especially youth, becoming computer literate, other forms of ICT-enhanced training can be delivered through telecentres. Individual telecentres and networks or franchises need to keep an eye for the potential to expand services in new areas. For example, new wireless technologies make it relatively easy to extend the reach of connectivity. Usage patterns will evolve to more frequent short visits as they become accustomed to regular use of e-mail and information access, and this usage pattern should lead operators to consider remote kiosks. A telecentre can become an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for local organisations, schools, businesses, or even individuals by reselling connectivity. The strengthening of the focus on employment and economic transactions is a major opportunity for telecentre sustainability. In particular, computer jobs like data entry and electronic publishing – employment generated by ICT skills–will likely be eclipsed by employment that uses ICT as a tool, such as BPO and call centre employment. Training for these new types of jobs, and revenues that come from the individuals’ use of centre facilities while they work, should offer considerable promise for sustainability.

220 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 11.5

TECHNOLOGIES USED IN TELECENTRES

Since telecentres come in many different forms, their technology requirements also vary a great deal. However, whether it is a one-PC kiosk operated by a single individual or a fully equipped multimedia capable telecentre with 20 PCs, the technology issues are similar. A telecentre “technology package” consists of three interlocking systems–computer, electrical, and connectivity. However, each system poses a challenge to the success of a telecentre. Lack of reliable electrical power or affordable and reliable connectivity, and difficulties associated with maintaining equipment in working order are the three most common technical challenges facing telecentres. The first two challenges result from weaknesses in the power and telecom infrastructure common to most developing countries. To address these two challenges, instead of waiting for the infrastructure to improve, telecentre initiatives often try to provide their own reliable electrical power and connectivity solutions. This approach increases both complexity and costs, and these costs result in higher user fees, which may limit the telecentres’ capacity to deliver broad social benefit and prevent them from achieving financial sustainability. The third challenge, difficulties associated with maintaining equipment in working order, stems from a set of interrelated factors. Most computing equipment and peripherals are not designed to meet the heavy demands in telecentres or the harsh environmental conditions such as heat and dust, common to telecentres in rural and underserved areas. Routine maintenance skills to prevent damage to and repair of equipment when it fails are in limited supply, especially in rural areas. Telecentre managers often ignore this third challenge, so equipment fails and telecentre sustainability is hampered. Challenges from power, connectivity, and equipment reliability are intimately related to the type of computing devices and the applications selected for use in telecentres. It is common for telecentre owners and managers to purchase equipment based primarily on price. This often results in apparent shortterm cost savings, but higher costs over the long term for energy consumption and reliability problems. Selecting the best mix of equipment is complex and requires balancing countervailing considerations, such as initial cost, convenience of local service, operating costs, expected service life, reliability, warranty coverage, and so on. Addressing power, connectivity, and equipment reliability challenges and selecting the most appropriate computing equipment and software solutions starts with a set of assessments within the context of the broader analysis of the local ICT environment. Some key questions common to this assessment include: What are the characteristics of the local power infrastructure? If the community is on the electricity grid, how many hours of reliable electricity

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is available each day? Are there any problems with fluctuations in voltage? What is the existing telecom infrastructure? Are there local ISPs? What is the cost of connectivity, and is broadband connectivity available or is there only dial-up service? If Internet is accessible, how can it be provided (copper wire, wireless, satellite, and so on)? How far is the community from the nearest connection to the Internet backbone? If wireless connectivity is being considered, is the terrain hilly or flat? Is there a clear line of sight to any necessary communication relays? If public frequencies in unlicensed bands are being considered, are there risks of interference, such as from other users of the same frequency who are violating power emission limits? What kinds of telecentre services will experience the greatest local demand? How much revenue will each of these services generate? This assessment will help the telecentre team prioritize service against local demand and net revenue earning potential. What software and applications will be needed to provide these services? How might demand for services evolve as people’s skill in using ICT increases and they become more aware of the advantages of using ICT? This analysis will help determine the level of connectivity desired and help define the specifications for computer equipment, peripherals, and applications. What types of computing equipment and peripherals would be needed to provide essential services at the telecentre? What types of equipment would be best suited for the local power and connectivity environment? What is the total cost of ownership for different equipment packages (not just the initial purchase price)? The responses to these questions will likely be very different for a one-computer kiosk operated by a small business versus a telecentre with 10, 20, or more computers operated as an enterprise and used by many people at a time. What are the power requirements for different equipment packages? Is there sufficient electricity available at the telecentre to run all of the equipment at the same time? If not, how costly will it be to provide additional power at the telecentre? If the telecentre is established outside the national or local electrical grid, what is the comparative immediate and long-term cost of using solar or generator power systems? Will a backup power supply system be required to keep equipment operating when electricity from the grid, solar panels, or generators is not available? Is it essential to “clean” the electricity from the grid so that equipment is not damaged by frequent and disruptive power fluctuations? Will other types of power-hungry equipment, such as photocopiers and air conditioning, be running? What bandwidth do the telecentres internet services require? Bandwidth requirements are affected by the types of applications and services that will have the greatest demand (e-mail, web surfing, telephony, video, music, e-learning, e-government, and so on); average and peak number of simultaneous users; the type of data

222 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies generated by the application-symmetric vs asymmetric, burst vs continuous, real time vs delay tolerant–and the telecentres’ ability to manage bandwidth use among patrons based on use and fees paid by users. What costs are associated with each element of the technology package? In the end, a number of other factors may enter into this analysis, including the availability of bundled low-cost software packages and the skills of the telecentre management to make effective use of open-source software; the availability of local, reliable, and affordable maintenance and repair services; and the total cost of hardware, peripherals, and software purchased locally. The need for, and the cost and availability of, providing quality training and ongoing professional development training should be factored in when making decisions about equipment, software, power, and connectivity procurement. Selecting the optimum solution is a balancing act among other options that may not be clear-cut or ideal situations. It is best to start with an assessment of what is immediately available or known What is the power situation like? What connectivity can be bought right now, and how well does it work? What will be the main services of the centre? Then we can go through an analysis of the more limited range of options that are realistic in the actual context. For example, you might conclude in that analysis that even short power failures compel you to install a charger and a battery bank to keep your machines running for at least an hour, so your clients do not leave before the power returns. Or you might conclude that even though the ISP promises a nominally high bandwidth, it does not actually deliver that, so you will have to abandon your hope of using VoIP as a revenue producer. Once you have a fairly sound idea of what is feasible in the near term, you can start to project options that anticipate improvements in infrastructure or that let you take into account what changes will come as your client base grows and becomes more computer literate. This analysis will also have to consider what is feasible from a financial perspective. Your initial funding and projected revenues matter, but finances also depend on the size and expected rate of maturation of the latent demand, since you will need a cash reserve to last you until you reach sufficient cash flow to maintain and grow operations. This kind of planning is full of uncertainties, but the more systematic you can be in the beginning, the more likely you will be able to avoid unpleasant surprises. We shall now address each of the four elements of a telecentre technology package in more detail to provide the basic information needed for your deliberations to set up one.

11.6

ISSUES IN SCALING UP OF THE SYSTEM

A number of parallel and mutually supportive strategies may speed up the process of scaling up broadband connectivity for telecentres from a technology

Government Telecentres 223

perspective. Connectivity and power solutions may need to be addressed separately from the provision of services to be cost effective. Extending the reach of the networks to rural and remote areas on a large scale will likely require creative combinations of technologies to address specific needs of geographically diverse areas. Scaling up the development impacts of telecentres will continue to require extensive attention to the appropriateness of various end-user technologies. These may include continued efforts to link shared-access facilities with radio stations or to provide Internet connectivity to radio stations as a means of extending the reach of the Internet for the poorest and least literate segments of the population. They should also include continued efforts to develop and use multilingual content management platforms and software applications designed for use in rural developing-country ecosystems. The emergence of new high-bandwidth wireless solutions makes it possible to provide affordable broadband access in many rural areas. This will ensure that residents of rural areas can be an integral part of the development of the information society. The continuing evolution of devices–personal computers, cell phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)–leaves this field in constant flux. The planners of telecentre activities must remain alert to how their target community uses the various devices, and must think carefully about how to take advantage of the convergence. The place to start is an assessment of the existing environment. The current infrastructure of power and communications grids will limit your options in those areas. Once the constraints are known, plans can be structured to respond to issues like irregular power or expensive bandwidth. The selection of hardware and software for the telecentre should be seen as an integrated process in which the purchase price is only one factor. Operations costs, maintenance, and availability of technical expertise will figure prominently in determining a total cost of ownership.

11.7

STRENGTHENING OF TELECENTRES

A telecentre network is any group of people working in telecentres whose members come together to learn from each other and cooperatively access services. Some networks are informal groups, simply using an e-mail list and occasional meetings to connect people working in telecentres. Others are more formal associations, offering concrete services that help their members with day-to-day telecentre tasks such as business management, technical troubleshooting, and service delivery. The common thread is that networks are about telecentre people working together to make their centres more effective, sustainable, and valuable to the communities they serve. Telecentre

224 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies networks are slowly starting to emerge in many parts of the world. The benefits and services they offer to their members include: · A sense of community emerging from meeting people who work in other telecentres (and other telecentre programs). · Access to products, services, and content a local telecentre can offer to community members. Networks are excellent distribution channels. · Training courses on such topics as entrepreneurship, community development, grassroots marketing, services and content, and technology. · Provide ongoing mentoring and skills refreshers that helps the telecentre operator to come up with new services that are locally relevant and enhance income. · Support and coaching on management issues, including everything from basic book keeping to developing new social enterprise services. · Technical support ranging from free call-in telephone lines to peer support e-mail lists to on-site computer maintenance. · Opportunities to learn about services and techniques used in other telecentres, for adaptation in one’s own centre. · Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of activities of and sharing of lessons learned across telecentres and networks. · Advocacy and policy-related activities to support the growth of the telecentre movement. In any other endeavor, support services and learning opportunities such as these are taken almost for granted; they are considered essential for success. Yet, telecentres have rarely had access to this kind of support in the past. Networks offer a way to solve this problem, helping individual telecentres to become more sustainable and making the overall movement stronger.

11.7.1

Networks and Telecentre System

Networks play an essential role in the telecentre ecosystem; they are the connection points between all other players. Figure 11.1 illustrates how the telecentre ecosystem in a particular country might work and the pivotal role of a network in it. As Figure 11.1 illustrates, telecentres can connect and collaborate with each other through a network. They can also organise ways to access shared services, such as technical support or training, services they could not afford to create or access on their own. Similarly, organisations with content and services that could be offered to communities can reach out to thousands of telecentres simultaneously using networks. Without such networked access, it is almost impossible to get things out to telecentres; they are simply too numerous and too dispersed.

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Rural Curriculum + healthcare Remittances learning programs Support services for networks

e-government What’s next

Service providers

Telecentre.org social investment program Social (cash + services + supply chain brokering partnerships) Business and Peer learning technical support

Services backend

Telecentre network

Network web site

Reference desk Local content sharing

Community impact

Local telecentre champions

Source: telecentre.org, 2006.

FIGURE 11.1

11.7.2

Telecentre Ecosystem

Supporting Growth of Telecentres

There is increasing recognition that we need to invest not only in good telecentres but also in strong telecentre networks and a resilient telecentre ecosystem. The telecentre.org social investment program was created to make exactly these kinds of investments. Drawing on a funding pool from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Microsoft®, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the program provides grants and technical assistance to telecentre networks around the world. It also invests in knowledge-sharing activities within the telecentre movement and in the development of services telecentres can offer to communities. Since its launch at the World Summit on the Information Society in November 2005, the telecentre.org program has supported the work of telecentre networks in several countries. The program has been active in supporting national telecentre networking events. For example, during its first year the program collaborated with networks to organise more than 40 events for grassroots telecentre managers. While these initial activities are important, the telecentre.org vision is much bigger than just a social investment program. Over time, telecentre.org is intended to grow into a broad umbrella or

226 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies community that gathers networks, service providers, social investors, and others around the world who believe that telecentres have an important role to play in development. This broad umbrella will undertake the following activities: · Act as the “connecting point” for many telecentre networks around the world. These networks will be both primary stakeholders and core drivers of the broader telecentre.org community. · Provide a common platform for a network of sustainable institutions offering training and capacity building for telecentre managers in countries around the world. This will ensure that telecentres have the trained staff they need. · Increase the number of products and services telecentres offer to their communities by making it easier for social entrepreneurs and companies to reach out to telecentres. · Develop an international “telecentre academy” that coordinates the efforts of telecentre manager training programs around the world and offers a platform for the development of common curriculum, certification standards, and training methods. · Promote coordination among social investors, governments, and others financing telecentre-related activities, with the ultimate aim of getting money efficiently into right places at the right time. · Create a sustainable flow of information that helps telecentres and investors learn quickly about innovative new practices, services, and activities. · Ultimately, the notion is that the telecentre.org umbrella offer a strong sense of common cause and shared identity among people working in telecentres and community technology around the world. · Technology access for important developments. This broader telecentre.org community is already emerging in its own right. As noted above, many of the networks supported through social investment programs are already working together, creating publications such as Telecentre Times and collaborating on the creation of an international “telecentre academy”. One of the most significant changes in the telecentre movement during the past few years has been the emergence of national-level telecentre networks. As the number of telecentres has increased over the years, so have opportunities for them to bond together and form networks. Whether formal or informal, these networks are essential to the continued growth and health of telecentre movement. With these networks, telecentres have the chance to become more sustainable and more valuable to the communities they serve. They will be able to access all kinds of new products, services, and content that will be of value to the communities they serve. Of course, all of this only happens if networks are strong, sustainable, and well organised.

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There is still a great deal of work to be done to make sure countries around the world have networks like this. Training services are crucial that almost all telecentre networks should consider offering to their members. Not only do they build human capacity, but they also offer an environment in which personal ties, both as mentoring relationships and as peer linkages, can form and grow. Those personal ties contribute immeasurably to both the strength of the network and the skills of the local telecentre manager. New telecentre programs need to think about telecentre networks at the program design stage and to think through how to integrate existing telecentres into new networks. Networking, partnerships, and work on the overall telecentre ecosystem should not be an afterthought.

11.8

CONCLUSION

While it is true that we have learned a lot about telecentres in the past decade, it may still be tip of the iceberg. Learning is an ongoing, dynamic process. The world around us is changing, and new technologies are emerging continuously, bringing new opportunities and changing the structure of markets. Therefore, we must continuously analyse our environment to make the most of opportunities while moving towards our goals. We are now in a stage where our experiences with pilot telecentres and initial scale-up initiatives have started to yield significant lessons, many of which have emerged from failures rather than from successes. There are a few exemplary models readily available for replication and scaling up. Yet we continue to believe strongly in the potential benefits of sharedaccess facilities for social and economic development. Our knowledge of “how to scale” is still limited. This chapter highlights key knowledge and asset gaps that need to be addressed in the coming years to support scale-up initiatives. Some of these are not new gaps, just gaps yet to be filled. Solutions for the challenges faced in scaling up, such as tools or guidelines for analysis of rural ICT ecosystems, selection of sites, and selection of local entrepreneurs/ telecentre managers could be summarised as follows: · Cost-effective methodologies for scaling up capacity building at all levels · Easy-to-implement, high-value services and applications that can be offered locally to drive telecentre use and impact · Appropriate business models that address scale and sustainability · Flexible, effective network strategies that provide telecentres with support, learning opportunities, and access to services · Cost-effective approaches for development and delivery of locally relevant services and content · Cost-effective technologies for connectivity and power in remote areas

228 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Effectiveness of different government approaches in different contexts. Learning systems require appropriate monitoring and evaluation frameworks. · These have often been lacking in the context of pilot projects, but they continue to be essential in the context of scale-up activities.

11.8.1

Future

Telecentre deployments are taking place around the world in a very dynamic environment, which presents opportunities and challenges. Business models are constantly evolving to enable provision of a broader set of services in a more sustainable manner, and technological advances are expanding the range of options available for deployment of telecentres. Having more options is certainly an advantage, but it also presents decision-making challenges. There is good reason for optimism. In many cases, the solutions employed to date have been the best (or only) choice for a solitary telecentre, but are suboptimal on a larger scale. This has been particularly true for rural connectivity, where there are only a few possible solutions, and all of them very cost ineffective. Acting collectively at scale, rural communities can have very affordable communications and connectivity, if the national processes for infrastructure investment are handled thoughtfully. The same is true of applications that serve the common people-no single centre can afford to generate much appropriate content, but once the market is aggregated and many of those individuals have access, the cost/benefit ratio becomes very attractive. Beyond the issue of new deployment, “established” telecentres need to keep an eye on the horizon. Many of those established in the late 1990s and early 2000s now need to replace their equipment. They may also need to rethink their connectivity solutions or even their modes of operation. Established telecentres need not stick to what they started as. They need to think creatively about how they can continue to serve the needs of communities while staying on firm financial footing. It may be challenging to look ahead and keep an eye on the ball at the same time, but that is part of the challenge of working in a very dynamic environment. Keeping an eye on the ball refers to paying attention to what one is doing at all times; in our case, this might best be translated as staying true to our values. There is a danger that the flurry of large-scale telecentre deployment activities in the years to come will focus attention on implementation issues– achieving quantitative scale-up–and that these will overshadow other substantive issues related to scaling-up effects. We should also avoid scaling up too fast, without proper planning, capacity building, and engagement of local communities. Much of the growth of IT use and penetration will happen regardless of what we do; we must be aware and agile enough to ensure that commercially driven growth contributes to our goals, rather than being

Government Telecentres 229

distracted by them. We must keep a close eye on whether these deployments truly provide high-value services. If they do, their chances of sustainability are greatly enhanced, and the likelihood that they will have significant effects on social and economic development is greatly enhanced as well. We need to focus on scale and sustainability more than ever to ensure that adequate services, information, and resources are provided to underserved communities of the world to accelerate socioeconomic development. When deciding on how to move from the present toward the desired future, it helps to know where the beginning and end points are. Is the current context one in which the market is still latent and must be developed before a commercial model could be sustained? Or Is there a base of strong NGOs that could take on leadership roles to develop social enterprises? Do private sector partners exist with relevant skills and interest in the population to be served? Are the ultimate objectives that social enterprise activities would survive as self-sustaining entities, or would it be more appropriate in this situation to consider them an evolutionary phase toward pure commercial shared access? Are the social development objectives in this case amenable to being performed in private sector access facilities when that phase of the market evolution arrives? Part of the answers will be determined by geographic considerations, population and income characteristics, and available infrastructure. In urban areas, the private sector often provides the bulk of shared-access facilities through cybercafés, reflecting existing market demand and purchasing power. However, the services provided by cybercafés are typically very limited and serve the needs of educated elites whose members are already computer literate and can afford market prices. Government and civil society organisations can complement the private sector’s role in urban and semi-urban areas by providing low-cost access through post offices or other government entities, particularly to facilitate e-government services. Civil society’s role may be important in supporting access to the urban poor, providing a mix of capacitybuilding services, relevant content, and low-cost access (as in the case of Committee for Democratisation of Information Technology [CDI] in Brazil’s urban centres). In some geographic areas, the economic status and the social characteristics will be more important as a guide. In more rural areas and in underserved urban areas, the demand for telecentre-like services may not have developed sufficiently for the private sector to operate on a for-profit basis. In such cases, the public sector and civil society should assist with demand creation. They can implement interventions that lead to the emergence of a market for such services, for example, by providing computer literacy training, demonstration projects to increase awareness of ICT, and low-cost (subsidised) access to encourage market development. As the demand develops, public

230 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies funding should become more targeted to the needs of the poorest and most disadvantaged, and social enterprise models can evolve to serve that market segment. Rural and underserved urban areas with less-developed markets for telecentre-related services may require specific interventions—beyond what the market will provide on its own. These may take the form of government investment to ensure that services are affordable or training to ensure enough local capacity to use the services provided. In all cases, the background of what institutional resources are available and/or could be developed will have to be considered carefully. If one is considering a transitional strategy of community-based initiatives that gradually either convert to a more commercial model or are transferred to commercial facilities as they come into existence, then the questions of institutional readiness are important. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the available candidates, and what kind of plan would take the best advantage of the situation? Such “interventions” need to evolve over time and adapt to the evolution of the market. A purely externally funded model providing a set of free services may evolve into a mix of fee-based and free services under a social enterprise model. Eventually, service providers operating entirely on a for-profit basis may emerge to serve the market, but their focus on profitable services may mean that gaps in services needed but not delivered by private enterprises will still need to be addressed via a social enterprise model. The concepts introduced in this chapter of the continuum along which projects may be located are intended to give a mental framework for thinking about how to organise the work ahead. In some cases, one might decide that a static version of a model is the objective. In those cases, one would design a program that tries to create a permanent social enterprise model. If the local community was not yet ready to move directly to that objective, one might design a program that started out at the “social” end of the continuum and gradually moved toward being a social enterprise. In a different situation, one might conclude that the challenge was to design an intervention in which the shared access evolved naturally toward a commercial model, but had a social component that could become institutionally embedded in the concerns of the private sector. There is no “correct” model and no obvious path. The participants in each situation will have to assess their own circumstances and craft plans that fits each condition.

KEY TERMS Telecentres A facility that offers community members the ability to use ICTs in a publicly shared manner stores a large amount of data related to a particular system. Informational services Services to disseminate generic (non-customised) information, such as agricultural practices, weather forecasts, and contact information.

Government Telecentres 231 Transactional services Services for exchange of specific (customised) information services or funds between two or more parties using ICT infrastructure. e-Governance services government.

Transactional services that involve local, state, or national

Internet backbone The main “trunk” connections of the Internet. e-Readiness welfare.

The ability to use ICTs to develop one’s economy and to foster one’s

ICTs for Development (ICT4D) A general term referring to the application of ICTs in the field of socio-economic development. Infomediarie An information provider that gathers content from several sources and functions as a data aggregator for a target audience. Telecentre network A group of people working in telecentres who come together to learn from each other and cooperatively access services.

CASE STUDIES Case Study 1: Committee for Democratisation of Information Technology, Brazil: A Social Franchise Approach for Urban Areas The Comitê para Democratisação da Informática (Committee for Democratisation of Information Technology [CDI]) is a non governmental, non profit organisation that has pioneered bringing information technology to underprivileged groups in Brazil. Through its Information Technology and Citizenship (Escola de Informatica e Cidadania [EIC]) schools, CDI develops educational and vocational programs throughout the world to integrate marginalised groups, especially children and youth, into their communities. The EICs also promote civic participation, formal education, literacy, ecology, health, human rights, and non-violence. Specific objectives of CDI are to: · Provide access to new information and technologies · Develop marketable technical skills, especially in youth, to increase their employability · Foster community involvement and civic awareness and · Develop community leaders Local ICT Environment CDI works with disadvantaged youth in favelas (urban slums) to address issues of equity of access in urban areas rather than access per se. It targets specific groups within a geographic area where access already exists but may be too expensive. Organisational Model The key attributes of CDI and EIC schools are that they are created through partnership and collaboration, initiated by, built in and managed by the community, computer training focused on themes important to and information and experiences shared among communities. Community assumes responsibility for the maintenance of the school, and there is no political affiliation.

232 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Each EIC is a result of the partnership between CDI and the community, typically via a community centre or some other active social organisation. Communities prepare a project proposal detailing why they want the EIC and how they will use the computers. Once a community is selected as the site for an EIC school, CDI helps with its initial organisation (hardware, software, wiring, training, and so on) and provides technical, pedagogical, and administrative assistance. The community is responsible for management and maintenance of the EIC. CDI obtains financial resources for its projects through partnerships with government and private sector and through funding from national and international organisations such as Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), Microsoft®, Xerox, Exxon, Starmedia Foundation, IBM, AVINA Foundation, Global Partnerships, and others. Each school has a coordinator who maintains contact with CDI and makes sure that the EIC is well integrated into other community activities. Each school also has two or three teachers who receive training in basic computer skills and pedagogy and attend periodic staff development workshops to learn about new tools and discuss common challenges. Services CDI provides schools with everything needed for start-up. Beyond this initial investment, the EICs must generate resources to sustain their activities. To do this, schools charge US$5–15 per month for a three-hour-per-week course. Each school is equipped with five computers and can train 10 students per session, yielding revenues of about US$500–800 per month. This amount typically covers the EIC expenses. Students who cannot afford to pay can help with housekeeping activities (cleaning, maintenance, and so on). EICs offer classes in basic computer skills as well as advanced skills, such as Internet (browsing, e-mail, and web page development), database development, computer graphics, and hardware maintenance. Training, consisting of introductory classes and word processing, is also offered to community members outside of normal school hours. All materials used by CDI integrate computer literacy with other themes relevant to the community with a focus on democracy and citizenship. Replicability, Sustainability and Scalability The first EIC school was established in 1995 in the Santa Marta community, Rio de Janeiro. Today, CDI has more than 150 EICs operating through regional offices in 14 Brazilian states. CDI is also active in Japan, Colombia, Uruguay, and Mexico. The model has proven to be replicable–at least under similar circumstances. It tends to target underprivileged youth in urban areas, so it may not be applicable in more rural areas facing a different range of challenges. Setting up a new CDI requires a community to demonstrate a certain level of organisational readiness, including links to private sector and other institutions within the community as well as its own resources. It is in essence a social franchise targeting disadvantaged urban youth.

Case Study 2: IT Clubs in Egypt: A Social/Government-led Model Part of the Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology’s (MCIT’s) vision is to provide citizens with access to IT and high-tech tools. The MCIT has launched technology clubs to achieve this objective. The clubs seek to provide IT

Government Telecentres 233 access to Egyptian citizens and communities, leverage IT to improve standards of living, and empower citizens with the knowledge they need to compete in a global economy. Public-private partnerships are vital to the existence of IT clubs. The ministry provides hardware and software for these clubs, including computers, printers, software, and peripherals. It provides training for IT club managers and trainers. Local partners and hosting organisations provide space, infrastructure, and utilities. In 2003, MCIT along with UNDP started a pilot program to train 100 trainers from IT clubs and 500 community members. By 2004–05, the program was in governorates across Egypt. To date, more than 300 trainers have received IT training on desktop productivity tools, project management and maintenance, in addition to communication tools each instructor needs so the IT clubs have qualified trainers and standardised curricula. Through training-the-trainer capacity building, the project will ensure that thousands of Egyptians have access to the most up-to-date PC technology and receive high-quality accredited training. Organisational Model While IT clubs seek to provide access to all Egyptians, they are especially interested in reaching those who otherwise might not have access to technology, including poor youth, those in rural areas, and women. That is why locating clubs in schools, youth centres, universities, and religiously affiliated organisations is important. Small local businesses are also able to use the clubs at designated times for a nominal fee. In this way, the centres generate income to sustain their operations. Currently MCIT manages the IT clubs and provides trained managers. Prospective club managers must have some English-language skills and basic computer knowledge. The Ministry’s long-term goal is to enlist private enterprises and entrepreneurs to replicate the IT club model and open clubs in areas currently not served. Services IT clubs offer a wide range of training, from basic keyboarding to designing web pages, as well as self-paced learning opportunities. Clubs have access to training on DVDs and the Internet in such areas as math, science, and history. They also have business and professional software applications such as presentation software, word processing and spreadsheet.

Case Study 3: Micro-telcos in Peru: A Community-based Social Enterprise Local ICT Environment More than 60 percent of Peru’s population, which is concentrated in the country’s urban centres, lives in Lima and 71 percent lives in urban areas. The concentration of people living in urban areas makes communication difficult for those living in rural areas because the small market size and difficult terrain make running telephone and cable lines to remote areas expensive and unprofitable for private businesses. To address this challenge, the government has promoted deployment of cabinas (public telephones) through a universal access fund. Beyond these cabinas,

234 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies a number of micro-telcos—small–scale telecom operators that combine local entrepreneurship, municipal efforts, and community action—play an important role in expanding ICT services to rural, underserved areas of Peru. The Chancay-Huaral River irrigates large areas of heavy farming in Peru, in areas that are relatively close to markets in Lima. The area is also home to a number of food processing companies and specialised agricultural educational and experimentation centres. The villages spread along this valley have precarious access to communication facilities. Organisational Model A group of institutions collaborated to plan and execute a project to address specific needs of these villages, which included not only agricultural information but also VoIP telephony. The area’s primary economic activity is agriculture, and river water is essential for irrigation to sustain it. In many rural areas of Peru, the Board of Irrigation users is the most important social organisation. Boards of irrigation users are local organisations that help regulate the use of river water for irrigation. In the Chancay-Huaral valley, the board of users felt obliged to provide telecommunication services to farmers in the valley. It was important for the project to be financially viable, but profiting from the network was not the primary aim. Services A network of 14 telecentres using only free open-source software and affordable computer equipment was established. The Peruvian Centre for Social Studies (CEPES), an NGO, established the project, which received support from local institutions, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture, and European development organisations. The project provides training in computer and Internet skills for operators and users of the system. Farmers also learn how to use the new information to make the most of their land and resources. The board of irrigation users, which runs these computer centres, charges a small fee for services for the sustainability of these centres. The adoption of IP telephony and scaling of the network are evidence of its ability to adapt rapidly to community needs. Cooperation among local participants has also been critical, for each village is responsible for local network maintenance, with training provided by CEPES. In addition, new wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies have allowed flexibility in service provision and scaling of the network with a modest initial investment. Even after the network became online, it faced challenges when trying to connect to other networks. Many micro-telco experiments have faced similar challenges. They operate well as isolated networks, but connection to other networks is often difficult. In practical terms, this means that while members of the networks can communicate with each other, they are unable to connect with others outside the local network. The primary challenges stem from the licensing and interconnection agreements necessary for linking local networks to national telecommunication providers. Replicability and Scalability As noted above, policy and regulatory issues are making it difficult for microtelcos to establish themselves in Peru. While the potential for such local service providers to emerge and serve the needs of specific communities has been recognised, it has not yet been realised on a significant scale. Current enabling environment

Government Telecentres 235 requirements need to be in place, including for telecommunication providers to offer interconnection as well as institutional infrastructure that could support the local micro-telcos in the complex technical and regulatory details of operating a telecommunications franchise. Replication of such a community-based approach may need to take place one community at a time, but each community will need to have the institutional infrastructure and the policy and regulatory environment that encourages rather than inhibits such an approach.

Case Study 4: Gyandoot: Multiple Models to Address Different Situations Gyandoot is an interesting illustration of a hybrid model that combines significant government leadership (at the state and national level), direct involvement at the local government level, and participation of the private sector through local entrepreneurs. Gyandoot is an intranet government-to-citizen (G2C) service delivery portal established in Madhya Pradesh in 2000 to pilot a cost-effective, replicable, and sustainable model of telekiosks that bring ICT into poor, rural areas of India. It seeks to provide the poor with access to information that will facilitate citizens’ participation in community and government affairs; reduce the time and money spent trying to communicate with government; and provide quick, transparent access to government data and documentation. Kiosks are placed in village community buildings, local markets, and along busy thoroughfares to facilitate access to those in nearby villages. The three entities involved in funding, organising, and running Gyandoot are: · Gyandoot Samiti, a non-profit organisation established to manage the project; · The 16 National Informatics Centres which provides technical support and guidance in system maintenance and software development; and · Individual kiosk managers (called “soochaks”), who oversee day-to-day operations. The investment required for this project was US$50,000, which was invested by local government units. State and central governments paid nothing, but they did contribute by way of system design and development by the National Informatics Centre, a central government body. The kiosks were funded through bank loans, which facilitated financing and helped to ensure initial ownership and commitment of key stakeholders. Organisational Model There are two management models in use: the panchayat and the entrepreneurial. In both models, the soochaks offer services outside the normal scope of Gyandoot, such as photocopying and computer training to enhance sustainability. Panchayat model: In this model, the village committee (gram panchayat) invests about US$1,500 to establish a kiosk, train a kiosk operator, provide the space, invest in hardware and other infrastructure. The kiosk operator, or soochak, is selected from three nominees proposed by the local community. The district council, through the Gyandoot Samiti, trains the nominees. At the end of the training, the best nominee is chosen as soochak. Soochaks are generally young and must have

236 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies at least 10 years of education. Regular maintenance costs of electricity are borne by the panchayat, and the soochak pays for telephone and office supplies and gives 10 percent of his or her earnings to the panchayat. The panchayat does not pay a salary or stipend to the soochak. Entrepreneur model: In this model, a local entrepreneur registers as a kiosk owner and assumes all expenses. Entrepreneur soochaks are required to pay an annual licensing fee of Rs 5,000 (approximately US$100) to the Gyandoot Samiti to own and operate a kiosk.The average Gyandoot-generated income for the kiosk operators is around US$35 per year. Their calculated break-even point is nearer to US$100 per year. As a result, the soochaks have had to find other income-generating ideas, which, in some cases, have resulted in closing their kiosks as they seek their fortunes in other avenues. Replicability and Scalability Unlike some other initiatives in India, such as MS Swaminathan Research Foundation’s (MSSRF’s) Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs), Gyandoot was designed and implemented in a top-down approach resulting in less relevance in the types of services offered and the manner in which they are delivered. Awareness of Gyandoot among the poor could have been improved by increasing the involvement of NGOs and community-based organisations. Drishtee, a private sector initiative, is attempting to take Gyandoot to scale throughout the country, adding services and transforming it in the process.

Case Study 5: MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and the Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs) MSSRF is a non-profit organisation based in Chennai, India. It has close to 20 years of experience in undertaking activities to support socially equitable and sustainable development. Throughout its activities, MSSRF has emphasised strong principles of participatory development. MSSRF started supporting VKCs in Pondicherry, India, in 1998. Detailed surveys were conducted in the region to determine the incidence of poverty, status of literacy and education, and the state of telecom infrastructureits gaps and local availability of skills to bridge them. A separate survey was carried out to identify existing communication habits and channels of information flows. Overall, 13 villages were surveyed, involving 20,000 people representing 5,000 households. The survey brought out the community profile. Most places had no reading rooms or libraries, and many had no post office. Some villages had telephones, but the public ones were often broken and the private telephones were usually used only by the families that owned them. Approximately 20 percent of the rural families in the area are officially classified as living below the poverty line, and half the population has a total family income equivalent to less than US$25 per month. Before the project began, the villagers shared 12 public telephones and 27 private telephones— less than one phone per 500 people. The survey revealed that villagers requested information on market prices, pesticides, buying and selling services, health, child care, and government schemes, including relevant forms. Using Participatory

Government Telecentres 237 Rural Appraisal (PRA) methodologies also helped in assessing the community’s willingness to collaborate and cooperate in the venture. The access points set up in each village are owned and run by villagers for the benefit of the whole community, which agreed to provide volunteers from the village to run the centre from 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening, five days a week, and adhere to principles of open access to all who wish to use them. There is a strong focus on locally relevant content development, which has resulted in a strong sense of community ownership and ongoing use of the services. All information and communication is in Tamil, the local language and script. The model adopted was a hub-and-spoke model with one village (Villianur) acting as the hub information centre and all other knowledge centres connected to each other through this hub, thereby creating a local network. The hub has an Internet connection, but the other centres do not. This experience has underlined the advantages of careful initial attention to local knowledge and participation issues. The knowledge base and community support were already in place when the opportunities to scale up emerged. Some remaining issues include: · A participatory approach, community ownership, and locally relevant content have been the keys to VKCs’ approach. The success of the knowledge centres has resulted in the government of Pondicherry replicating the project in all villages in the Union Territory. In addition, MSSRF’s own activities have expanded from the original 12 villages to a new emphasis on creating and disseminating content and services at the state level through the Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity. · While communities have contributed a great deal in terms of space, volunteers, and other local resources, most of the services to date have been provided free of charge. As a result, the financial sustainability of the centres is in question, and various revenue-generating options are being considered. · A more market-oriented approach would have required an additional set of questions about how much community members were currently spending or would be willing to spend for improved access or information services.

Case Study 6: Community Learning and Information Centres (CLICs) of Mali Rural Environment Mali’s 13.5 million inhabitants are predominantly rural. The country remains one of the poorest in the world. Seventy-two percent of its population is estimated to live below the poverty line. The literacy rate is about 46 percent (and likely to be much lower for women). While the official language is French, not everyone speaks it. Eighty percent of the population speaks Bambara. Organisational Model The Mali CLICs are part of a network of 13 telecentres established within existing local institutions, otherwise known as “host institutions”. The host institutions include community radio stations, teachers’ colleges, parastatal institutions, local NGOs,

238 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies and mayors’ offices. Spread throughout Mali, some CLICs were established in urban and semi-urban areas, while others were in rural locations. The CLICs were established between 2003 and 2005 with initial funding from USAID and technical assistance from the Academy for Educational Development (AED)’s dot-ORG program. Services and Content The CLICs have the capacity to provide a wide range of services, which can be categorised as: · Information services (content organised around development themes such as agriculture, health, education), provided free of charge. · Information services such as computer training, which are either funded with vouchers or provided for a fee. · Transactional services, such as Internet access (e-mail and web browsing), photocopying, word processing, and printing, which are offered for a fee. The actual range of services provided in each CLIC varies, as do their revenues. For most CLICs, however, Internet connection, photocopying, and training are three primary services. The graph in Figure 11.2 shows that, on an average, 74 percent of revenue comes from three key services: Internet, photocopying and training. Content Collection and Use Locally relevant content was collected and disseminated through CLICs. The materials collected fell into five broad categories of issues of relevance to the USAID Mission: · Economic growth · Education · Health · Governance · Agriculture

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Government Telecentres 239 While the content was impressive in terms of the number of materials in the primary local language (Bambara) and their relevance to rural Mali, mechanisms for effective use of these materials were lacking. The issues with the existing CLICs setup are as follows: · The CLIC managers, under pressure to “sell” services that bring in revenue, have limited incentives to focus on content dissemination, since in most cases it is not revenue generating. Content dissemination requires a proactive outreach strategy, which may involve costs that needs to be budgeted for. Transportation costs associated with this outreach are also problematic. · CLIC staff has limited capacity to identify local information needs to which they can respond. Most of the content collected was produced at the national or international level with local needs in mind and reflects the international community’s perception of the types of information local communities need, or should have access to. Matching perceived needs with local demand is the key challenge. · Language barriers (limited availability of content in Northern languages, for example Tamacheq) are a problem as well. Appropriate Technologies for CLICs in Mali Power issues have had an impact on the operations of three of the CLICs. In two cases, they were located in areas suffering from chronic power shortages, making it difficult to maintain regular hours and forcing them to interrupt training sessions, which affected their ability to provide key services. In the case of the third CLIC (Bougoula), it was located in a rural area not connected to the grid. The initial generator solution proved too expensive and was replaced by a low-cost, multipurpose platform that consumed less fuel, provided power for CLIC, and supplied supplementary battery power for the community and as a source of revenue for CLIC. Connectivity was provided initially through the national provider (Sotelma). When this solution proved ineffective, a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) connectivity was provided to 10 CLICs, and an alternative local provider (Megasat) provided connectivity (64Kb) for the three remaining CLICs. The Megasat solution proved unreliable, and the VSAT solution is expensive for most CLICs to maintain beyond the period of project funding. Other providers, such as Ikatel, are quickly expanding their reach throughout the country and may be able to provide cheaper alternatives. Other options that are already being implemented in some CLICs involve sharing bandwidth with local partners. Two CLICs were established within radio stations, enabling synergies between more traditional information technologies, such as radio, and the new technologies, such as the Internet. Replicability and Scalability AED’s local partner in Mali for the implementation of the project involving 13 CLICs has now established itself as AfrikLinks, a local NGO. Rather than trying to replicate or scale up the experience of the CLICs, AfrikLinks is focusing on strengthening the existing CLICs and other telecentres through a national telecentre network in Mali. The emerging network includes the 13 CLICs, existing community multimedia centres (CMCs) supported by UNESCO, and other telecentres supported

240 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies by USAID and other donors. Mali was one of the countries covered by UNESCO’s CMC scale-up initiative, which involves establishing 20 CMCs there. Three were established as a result of the initial pilot, six additional CMCs were established recently, and 14 are in the process of being established.

Case Study 7: Akshaya’s e-Literacy Campaign and Service Networks Akshaya, a project of the government of the state of Kerala, India, was piloted initially in the district of Malappuram and involved an extensive publicly funded e-literacy campaign intended to teach computer skills to at least one person in every family. In less than a year, more than half a million people, about 65 percent of whom were women, were provided with basic computer skills. Local Environment The program emerged as a result of local demand for computer training. However, instead of outsourcing the e-literacy campaign to existing private sector institutions or setting up government-run education centres, the state government decided to use this local demand as an opportunity to establish a network of telecentres providing a range of technology services in rural areas. Organisational Model The organisational model deployed is a private franchise model. It was felt that the level of “enterprise” and individual initiative required to make it work demanded a private enterprise model. The decision for adopting a private franchise model was driven at least partially by an earlier unsuccessful experience with governmentowned village libraries equipped with Internet-enabled computers. The government’s funding of the Akshay e-literacy campaign guaranteed initial sustainability of the centres. Each centre took on approximately 1,000 learners and collected the equivalent of US$3.26 per learner for providing a basic computer course developed by the state’s IT mission. The local government (panchayat) covered part of the cost (US$2.79), as did the learners (US$0.47). In about a year, the private entrepreneurs had recovered their initial investment. When the e-literacy campaign was over, the Akshaya team had to help the operators and design new revenue streams. An existing project in urban areas, FRIENDS, already provided e-government services as collecting utility bills. The service was extended to rural areas through the Akshaya centres and is now a major source of revenue. The Akshaya team has also developed linkages for the centres to sell financial services–banking and insurance– to the communities. The centres work as pickup points for a courier agency. A few governmentcertified computer courses have been offered in partnership with outside agencies. Content related to the school curriculum has been put up online and can be accessed at the centres by students. Additional content and services in agriculture, health, fisheries, and tribal welfare are being developed, in close consultation with relevant government departments. The primary goal of these services is to enhance the delivery of government services by using the Akshaya centres to reduce the cost of extension services. The relevant government departments will pay the Akshaya centres to deliver certain services to community members. In light of the oversight functions of the district government and local panchayat, the Akshaya centres are

Government Telecentres 241 viewed as “community spaces,” clearly more welcoming to women and children than were purely commercial access facilities. The effect of the government’s patronage is very evident in the Akshaya centres. Monitoring the centres’ performance is a key function of the Akshaya team, which is able to identify centres that are not doing well and provide them with outsourcing work, such as data entry from government and other offices. This has been particularly important in supporting women-run centres. Replicability and Scalability Even though the Akshaya centres are run by private franchisees, the role of government (state, district, and panchayat) has been very important and provides an interesting model. Local government bodies such as panchayats are highly developed in Malappuram, as they are in some other areas of India. However, this model may not be easily replicable, in a country where local government entities are undeveloped and have limited financial resources and autonomy. The district government has also played a key role. For example, connectivity for the centres is now provided through a government-owned, district-wide WiFi intranet. The technology infrastructure and network of content and services are owned by the district government, which has important implications for replication in other districts. With 600 Akshaya centres deployed in the district of Malappuram, the district-level pilot can already be considered a large-scale initiative. The next step was a statewide rollout, aimed at 6,000 centres, covering the whole state of Kerala.

Case study 8: e-Centres of Kyrgyzstan: Enhancing Cybercafés’ Traditional Menu of Service Local Environment Without the advantage of oil revenue or other marketable natural resources, Kyrgyzstan’s development has been modest in comparison to resource rich countries such as neighboring Kazakhstan. Recent political turmoil underscores the need to create better communication linkages between rural areas and larger cities. More than 60 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s population lives in rural areas where many subsistence farmers struggle to get potable water. Organisational Model Kyrgyzstan’s e-centres are unique in several ways. While they were developed as a donor-supported pilot initiative with USAID funding, they were planned from the start in a for-profit framework. Rather than within local NGOs or local institutions, they were set up within existing cybercafés, based on a competitive tender process. e-Centres reversed the traditional path of not-for-profit telecentres charging for services to become financially sustainable by starting with profitable cybercafés and increasing their capacity to provide high-value services such as videoconferencing, e-learning, and others geared to serving the needs of economically depressed rural areas with high unemployment rates. Services The e-centres leverage the high demand for “infotainment” services such as computer games and other forms of online entertainment, which are highly profitable

242 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies and allow the operator to pay staff and overhead costs. E-Centre services, offered separately (in a different room), were funded initially by USAID. Microstipends or vouchers, used for training purposes, were distributed in the community to stimulate demand for the new services. Most training starts with basic computer literacy and guided access to training courses in Internet- and multimedia-related services such as macromedia web design and other digital media skills now in demand. e-Centres also offer web-based certification for accounting courses and other business capacity-building skills. This training is unique in Kyrgyzstan because it seeks to create 21st-century skills and potential and offers a nontraditional source of revenue into which rural communities can tap. Replicability, Expansion of Services, and Scalability The initial success of the project has attracted additional support from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which has allocated resources to open 16 additional e-centres. The ITU-funded e-centres follow the USAID-funded pilot projects’ structure and will add an e-government pilot component. The egovernment component is intended to increase government transparency in rural areas and establish online resources and applications to improve delivery of government services in rural areas, including permits, tax filings, government information, and distribution of social benefits. The UPS store developed a franchise business model based on the original e-centres that will help the e-centres’ transition to fully self-funded private enterprises. The core mission of the e-centres is to deliver computer literacy training, public information services, and other learning programs, in addition to providing communities with high-speed Internet access, Internet protocol (IP) telephony, and other computer-based services. Using the e-centre locations as “spokes” in a wheel, franchising can provide the centralised “hub” control and systems necessary to successfully develop and deliver these types of services. Typically, under a franchise model, each location provides a “required” menu of services and can add others based on demand. There may also be a list of services that should not be provided through the e-centres. AED’s dot-ORG program, which implemented the USAID-funded pilot, also helped to develop an e-learning resource for local economic development. The e-learning modules are meant to educate local government and business leaders on best practices in improving the conditions for economic growth in rural communities. The e-centre’s facilities and equipment for web-based e-learning will be used for the training.

Case Study 9: Nemmadi Initiative: A Case of Functional and Quantitative Scale-up The Nemmadi initiative is a public-private partnership between the state of Karnataka, India, and a consortium of three private sector companies, Comat, 3i Infotech, and n-Logue. The initiative involves the deployment of 800 telecentres to supplement the 177 existing land record service (Bhoomi) kiosks that operate sustainably at the sub-district level.

Government Telecentres 243 Local Environment Agriculture accounts for about 28 percent of Karnataka’s domestic product and represents the largest source of employment in the state. Land records are critical to farmers’ lives. This explains the success of the Bhoomi kiosks. However, many other types of services are lacking in rural areas and require people to travel long distances, spending both time and money. The ultimate goal is for each village to have easy access to a wide range of business and government services, quickly and cheaply. Organisational/Business Model The state government owns the project. As part of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, Comat builds, deploys, and maintains the kiosks for an initial five years. Comat and its partners expect to recover their investment in equipment, infrastructure, and human resources within that five-year period. A stringent service-level agreement (SLA) has been signed between the state government and the private sector partners. SLAs include daily hours of operation, maximum wait time, and such other metrics. Comat is responsible for software development, hardware procurement, systems integration, and kiosk deployment and operations. 3i Infotech provides financial backing to Comat, but does not have any operational role. Comat will take over the existing n-Logue kiosks in Karnataka and upgrade them with new computer and communication equipment to make them an integral part of the 800-kiosk deployment. Kiosks operators are employees of Comat, whom Comat hires and trains, rather than they being independent entrepreneurs. Services and Content BOT is a public-private partnership model. Both G2C and B2C services will be offered through the kiosks. Prices for G2C services are mandated by the state government. For example, the fee that citizens pay for a copy of their land records certificate is Rs15 (approximately US$0.33). Prices for B2C services will be established based on consultations between Comat and private service providers. The kiosks are referred to as multi-service rural business centres (RBCs). When multiple services are offered through RBC, the incremental cost of adding a new service is small and the infrastructure cost is shared across many services, making the RBC operation “more viable”, even at the village level. Services delivered through RBCs comprising more than 30 government processes include copies of land records, approval of old age pension for senior citizens, issue of caste certificates, issue of income certificates,and so on. The Education Department of the State of Karnataka is also proposing to use the centres to deliver computer-aided education. Similarly, the Agriculture Department is looking to use the centres to deliver information related to agriculture, prices for agricultural commodities, and availability of agricultural inputs. Appropriate Technologies The government electric utility-supplied power is unreliable and limited to a certain number of hours per day. All kiosks have diesel-operated, backup power. Comat is exploring solar power solutions. Most RBCs are equipped with one or two computers, a printer, camera, and an uninterrupted power supply (UPS). In addition,

244 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies some RBCs have thin-client terminals to provide additional access. The computers are operated primarily by RBC staff. In terms of connectivity, VSAT appears to be the most reliable and scalable solution at present. As a backup to VSAT, wired and cellular telephone modems can be used for data connectivity. Comat has also developed a software platform, Global Services Infrastructure (GSi), which provides a common platform for delivery of a diverse set of services. Replicability, Sustainability, and Scalability This initiative should be watched closely to analyse the sustainability of kiosks at the village level and to address unexpected scale-up challenges. The multi-service approach is not new or unique to this initiative, yet the way services are to be developed and delivered–in partnership with the public sector but delivered via for-profit kiosks–is new.

Case Study 10: e-Choupal: Empowering Farmers in India e-Choupal is an interesting example of very specific services provided to farmers by ITC, one of India’s leading companies, which overcome constraints of the “mandi” system of intermediaries between the farmers and the market. Local Context Rural Environments and Farmers Agriculture is the primary, if not the only, source of livelihood for 72 percent of India’s population, who live in more than 6,00,000 villages. In spite of the progress brought about by the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, most farmers have remained poor. Most of them are small farmers who lack bargaining power when buying farm inputs and selling their produce. Most of them also lack access to realtime information about prices, weather, or other news critical to their agricultural activities. Organisational Model: Social Responsibility and Corporate Profits Conducting business in rural India is difficult with transportation, electric power, and information infrastructures being inadequate. Business practices are underdeveloped or outdated; and the lack of access to modern resources has resulted in a poorly trained workforce. These constraints have discouraged many companies from taking on the challenge of rural business development. Yet ITC has done just that, creating synergies between its business plans and community development programs. In addition, ITC’s Agri-Business is one of India’s leading exporters of agricultural products. Through the e-choupal initiative, ITC has managed to increase its own competitiveness and has empowered farmers through access to technology and the Internet. Services and Revenue Model A local farmer acting as a “sanchalak” (coordinator) runs the e-choupal—often located in the sanchalak’s home—along with a local commission agent, or “samyojak”, who provides logistical support. Each e-choupal costs between US$3,000 and US$6,000 to set up and about US$100 per year to maintain. Farmers do not pay for using the e-choupal services, but the host farmer, or sanchalak, incurs some operating costs and is obligated by a public oath to serve the entire community. The sanchalak does

Government Telecentres 245 benefit from increased prestige and a commission for all e-choupal transactions. Farmers can use the computer to access daily closing prices on local “mandis” (agriculture produce market place),track global price trends, or information about new farming techniques. They also use the e-choupal to order seeds, fertilizer, and other products, such as consumer goods from ITC or its partners, at prices lower than those available from village traders. At harvest time, ITC offers to buy the crop directly from any farmer at the previous day’s closing price. The farmer transports his/her crop to an ITC processing centre, where it is weighed electronically and assessed for quality. The farmer is then paid for the crop and receives a transport fee. “Bonus points”, which are exchangeable for products that ITC sells, are given to farmers for crops whose quality is above the norm. Farmers selling directly to ITC through an e-choupal receive a higher price for their crops than they would if they had sold them through the mandi system, where the intermediary makes most of the money. In addition, e-choupals provide farmers with lower prices for inputs and other goods they need as well as the know-how to gain higher yields through their education and information services offered. ITC also benefits, saving about 2.5 percent in commission fees and transport costs that it would otherwise have to pay to agents at the mandis. In addition, it has more direct control over the quality of what it buys. The company reports that it recovered its equipment costs from an e-choupal in the first year of operation. Technology The computer, typically housed in the farmer’s house, is linked to the Internet via phone lines or, increasingly, by a VSAT connection, and serves an average of 600 farmers in 10 surrounding villages within about a five kilometer radius. Power outages and the low quality of the power supply have been significant issues. Battery-based UPS systems have been provided, backed up at times with solar power. As the e-choupal model has progressed, ITC has realised that dial-up connectivity is not sufficient to drive proposed future applications. To support transactional capabilities and multimedia applications, the company needs reliable connectivity with better throughput. It has decided, therefore, to adopt a satellitebased (VSAT) technology that enables a throughput rate of up to 256 kbps. This solution is expensive, however, costing about Rs 1,20,000 (US$2,650) per installation. Replicability and Scalability The e-choupal network currently reaches more than 3.5 million farmers in nearly 31,000 villages through 5,200 e-choupals in six states (Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan). ITC plans to establish more e-choupals, each serving about 10 villages within a five-kilometer radius. Its vision for the next decade is to expand from nine to 15 states, to reach 1,00,000 villages, and to benefit a total population of 10 million. Through the e-choupal system, ITC has empowered farmers by giving them more control over their choices, such as what crops to grow, how to price their crops for a higher profit margin, access to information that improves productivity and improved crop quality which contributes to making Indian agriculture more competitive. Villages benefit in other ways as

246 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies well. For example, children often use the computers for schoolwork and games and to receive information on school board examination results. Large profit-seeking companies can invest in rural development in ways that are affordable, sustainable, and replicable. e-Choupal benefits farmers, rural communities, and the company’s shareholders. e-Choupal also expands the range of its activities to support rural communities, using its network to deliver a broader range of services and working in partnership with government agencies and civil society organisations in watershed development, animal husbandry, human capacity development, education, health care, and gender empowerment. As such, e-Choupal is an excellent example of scaling up in terms of both the geographic reach and the scope and potential impact of its activities in rural India.

Case Study 11: Linking Telecentres to Broader Development Goals: Project SIRU, Peru Project SIRU (Rural Urban Information System) is a partnership established by eight local governments from the department of Cajamarca (a province in the highlands of northern Peru) and six development agencies. Cajamarca is one of the poorest areas of Peru, and a very rural area. Seventy-five percent of its population lives in rural areas. To raise the productivity of farmers and support small-business owners and local governments, project SIRU created a new space for information exchange. The project has a “hub” called the Information Processing Centre which collects, analyses, and produces information based on the demand of users. It works with a network of telecentres or infocentres established in 15 towns. With support from Practical Action which is a development charity (previously ITDG), the project is innovative with podcasting as a means of disseminating information. Podcasting is a method of publishing audio files via the Internet. Users can subscribe to a “feed”, which allows them to receive new files automatically when they are uploaded. Any digital audio player or computer with audio-playing software can play podcasts or burn them to a CD. Local radio stations can then rebroadcast the podcast to traditional radio receivers, or computers at community infocentres can be used to access the CDs of the podcasts. The infocentres are managed by local partners who act as infomediaries to deliver information to rural communities and, at the same time, as access points. Telecentres provide many opportunities for local and international NGOs and donor agencies to deliver development-related information, in agriculture, health, education, or other areas. A mix of new and old technologies can be used to create connections between information synthesizers at the provincial level, infomediaries at the local level, and the people who need access to information within the community. It is conceivable that telecentres operating as social enterprises could enter into agreements with donors, government agencies, private service providers, or local NGOs to facilitate dissemination of critical information to rural and underserved urban populations.

Case study 12: Grameen Village Computing From March 2003 to September 2004, the Grameen Foundation, in partnership with ASA (local microfinance partner in India) and Drishtee (an organisation that has

Government Telecentres 247 launched more than 1,200 village computing kiosks in Northern India) ran a pilot village computing project in Tamil Nadu, India. ASA served as the project implementer, hiring a local team with expertise in ICT, small business development, and rural marketing, to manage the project on the ground. Drishtee provided its local language software portal through which the kiosks could access e-government services, agricultural information, and other private services. The foundation funded the pilot and provided business and program management support. Each centre was equipped with a personal computer, printer, and internet access, and 16 centres also had digital cameras. The equipment was purchased with a loan from ASA. The centres provided a range of services to the local community such as e-government services, passport photographs, desktop publishing, and technology training. Organisational Model The kiosks were launched under a franchise model in which all operators had to pay an initial franchise fee to join the program (approximately US$42) and an ongoing monthly franchise fee (approximately US$11), which also permitted access to Drishtee’s online software services. Projected revenue from these franchise fees formed the basis of the business plan. As the project reached efficiencies of scale, these fees would enable the village computing program to achieve financial sustainability. On a very practical level, the pilot project was successful in that it created locally owned, sustainable businesses that: · Provided access to critical information and services to their community · Empowered the rural poor with the tools of the information age · Presented opportunities for isolated communities to engage in the larger economy and society in an informed way · Provided an opportunity for people to receive technical training (and, consequently, better employment opportunities). The kiosks were extremely profitable, but largely because of desktop publishing (DTP) services and printing, not through the “services” offered by the franchise company. This created challenges for the franchise-based business model. Upward of 95 percent of the kiosks’ revenue was generated by offline use, specifically DTP and computer education. Local Content Generation The kiosks were located in areas with fairly reliable dial-up Internet connectivity. However, the big challenge with respect to Internet use was creating locally relevant information for the users. Attempts were made to develop local content, and the more successful efforts included a local matrimonial database (at that time, the matrimonial web sites in India had almost an exclusive city/urban focus and did not include people from rural areas) and astrological services. The pilot also provided e-government services, local crop prices, and a local classified listing service. However, the time and effort required to maintain these services, and the reality that the matrimonial/classified databases are only useful once a significant scale has been achieved, revealed that these were not viable options. Although there is much talk in the field about the success of this “local content” and “locally relevant

248 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies services,” the actual revenue generated by this content is minimal. Until the sector grows and matures as a whole, further business development to create local services and content will be challenging. It is very difficult for a franchisee to develop and cultivate services, especially e-government services, which were incredibly labour intensive to execute and manage. Another factor inhibiting use of online services was the financial incentives for the kiosk operators to promote and sell these new services. Everyone in rural India recognises the value of a computer class (signs for C++ programming classes can be found in even the most remote villages), and the kiosk operators did not have a difficult time selling computer training for Rs 500 (approximately US$11). At that price point, they were strongly motivated to spend their time promoting computer training rather than trying to explain and sell a much cheaper (Rs 5–20) e-government service or matrimonial listing. The high demand for training may be unique to the Indian market and should not be generalized to communities without similar socioeconomic and technology needs. Some kiosks had just a single computer, while operators at other centres expanded their operations to include multiple computers (usually used and lower quality ones than new). The kiosks with multiple computers typically had larger and more profitable computer classes (that is they could teach more students at a time). However, there were similar issues with respect to use patterns and revenue collection in both singleand multiple-computer establishments. Financial Challenges Collecting monthly fees from the kiosk operators was also a significant challenge. Unlike the village phone, which uses prepaid airtime cards to collect money up front, collection of fees from the kiosk operators proved to be a labour intensive, time consuming, and expensive process. The foremost question in the kiosk operator’s mind is, “What value does the franchise provide to me?” For a network operator, the question becomes, “What services can I provide to the kiosk operator that will be of high perceived value to him or her?” Locally appropriate and relevant services are an expensive proposition for the network operator to develop and maintain, so he/she might look elsewhere for high-perceived-value services to entice the local operators to pay their monthly fees. Cheaper connectivity costs would have been one way for the franchise to provide ongoing value to the kiosk operator. In South India, where the local infrastructure is much better, it is not unusual to have multiple Internet service providers (ISPs) covering the same area. If the franchise could provide a discounted connectivity rate to the kiosk, this approach might have had more success. In this immediate example, the amount of marginal increase in revenue from better connectivity would probably not have been enough to provide the franchise with a significant income. When the pilot was conducted, the infrastructure was a major limiting factorInternet connectivity through the mobile phone was not yet available, so kiosks had to connect to the ISP through the phone line. The per-minute cost of phone use was actually greater than the ISP charge, which obviously mitigated the value of cheaper connectivity provided by the franchise. This issue may now be moot with mobile connectivity (for example WiMax, general packet radio services [GPRS], and EDGE) becoming more widespread in India. However, the village phone as

Government Telecentres 249 part of the grameen phone initiative has a much lower size of the loan. The village kiosk loan was approximately 10 times greater than the loan for a village phone, so the former required a much greater resource commitment by micro finance institutions and presented a different level of risk.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the concept of a government telecentre, and give its importance. Explain the various challenges and issues faced in a government telecentre. 2. Explain the process of market segmentation for a government telecentre. 3. Enlist and explain the various organisation models for a government telecentre. 4. Explain the various services involved in a government telecentre. 5. Write a note on the technologies used in a telecentre. 6. Explain the process of strengthening a telecentre. Also explain the various issues faced in the scaling up of a government telecentre. 7. Write a note on Telecentre Ecosystems. 8. What are the services that can be provided at a telecentre. Do you think the services should be more local-centric or pan-national? Present arguments for either case.

REFERENCES Government of India, Department of Information Technology. 2006. “Guidelines for implementation of the common services (CSC) scheme in the states”. Available online at http://www.mit.gov.in/cscguidelines.pdf. Downloaded on June 12, 2009. Academy for Educational Development. “MK Connects Project Brief”. Available online at http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/resourceptrdb/uploads/partner.le/ upload/402/030106_Macedonia_KP.pdf. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Annamalai K., and S. Rao, 2003. “What works: ITC’s e-Choupal and profitable rural transformation: Web-based information and procurement tools for Indian farmers”. Digital Dividends Digital Case Study. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. Available online at http://www.digitaldividend.org/pdf/echoupal_ case.pdf. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Badshah, A., S. Khan, and Maria Garrido (Eds). 2003. Connected for development: Information kiosks and sustainability. ICT Task Force Series #4. New York: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Available online at http:// www/. unicttaskforce.org/perl/documents.pl?id=1361. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Bello, R. 2004. “Wi-fi web reaches farmers in Peru”. Available online at http:// news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4071645.stm. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Business Line. 2006. “Karnataka government to launch Nemmadi”. Available online at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/09/25/stories/2006092503181500.htm. Downloaded on June 12, 2010.

250 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Chau, F., J.C. Tanner, and S. Tippu. 2006. “Rural areas drive next phase growth”. Wireless Asia. Available online at http://www.betatelecomasia.net/article. php?id_cat3=18&id_article=935. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. China Development Brief. 2005. “Microsoft® and PlaNet finance join assault on ‘digital divide.’” Available online at http://www/.chinadevelopmentbrief.com/node/ 263/print. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Creech, H. 2006. “Evaluation of UNESCO’s community multimedia centres: Final report”. Paris: UNESCO. Available online at http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/.les/ 22129/11477736959CMC_Evaluation_Final.pdf/CMC+Evaluation_Final.pdf. June 12, 2010 Net, D. 2005. “Baseline survey: Impact of ICT carried livelihood information delivery system for rural community in Bangladesh”. Available online at http:// www.pallitathya.org/en/pallitathya_research/palli_research/ baseline%20study.pdf. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. dot-ORG. 2005. “Mali: Selected snapshots of 12,000 CLIC clients”. DOT-COMments eNewsletter. Available online at http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/newsletter/ article.php?article_id=113. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Drishtee: An overview. 2006. Available online at http://www.drishtee.com/ downloads/corporate_presentation.ppt. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Canada: International Development Research Centre 2005. “Funding and implementing universal access: Innovation and experience from Uganda”. Available online at http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-88219-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Garai, A. and B. Shadrach. 2006. “Taking ICT to every Indian village: Opportunities and challenges”. Available online at http://ssrn.com/abstract=897910. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Harris, R. 2001. “Telecentres in rural Asia: Towards a success model”. Proceedings of International Conference on Information Technology, Communications and Development, Kathmandu, Nepal, November. Available online at http://unpan1/. un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan006304.pdf. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Kiri, K. and D. Menon. 2006. “For-profit rural kiosks in India: Achievements and challenges”. i4d Magazine. Available online at http://www.i4donline.net/articles/ current-article.asp?articleid=700&typ=Features. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Kurien, R., K. Toyama, and I. Ray. 2006. “Integrating social development and financial sustainability: The challenges of rural computer kiosks in Kerala”. Paper presented at the International Centre for Training and Development Conference, May 25—26. Available online at http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ ItemDetail.do~1073752. Downloaded on June 12, 2010 Stern, P. A. 2006. New models for universal access in Latin America.. Available online at http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBUQFjAA &url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.regulatel.org%2Fmiembros%2Fpublicaciones%

Government Telecentres 251 2FESTU%2520DIOS%2FSERV%2520UNIV%2FPPIAF%2Finforme%2520final% 2Fdraft%2520vf%2FAb%2520%2520Summary%2520v%25209.pdf&ei=CXkTTIqzHI 65rAfdmvGUCA&usg=AFQjCNFYyEL-6MSabh2xGMp3-RdkAg_x5Q downloaded on June 12, 2010. QUALCOMM. 2006. “Wireless reach: Empowering communities worldwide through 3G”. Available online at http://www.qualcomm.com/press/PDF/WirelessReach_ Overview.pdf. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Sanjay, A. K. and V. Gupta. 2003. “Gyandoot: Trying to improve government services for rural citizens in India. eGovernment for Development eTransparency Case Study No. 11. Manchester, UK: University of Manchester, Institute for Development Policy and Management. Available online at http://www.egov4dev.org/gyandoot.htm. Downloaded on June 12, 2010. Shadrash, B. 2005. “Mission 2007: Every village a knowledge centre: Policy recommendations”. Mission 2007 Secretariat. Available online at http://209.31.179.166/ documents_publications. Downloaded on June 12, 2010.

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12 National Citizen Identity System Objectives · To overview a national identity (ID) system · To understand the need for a single national ID system · To understand the challenges faced in formulation of a single national ID system · To appreciate the critical success factors of a national ID system · To learn the parameters for success of a national ID system · To learn the methodology for the implementation of a national ID system

12.1

INTRODUCTION

A national identification number is used by governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens (permanent as well as temporary residents), for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, healthcare and other functions. Although different countries have varying views on the usage of national identity, a large number of countries have been in favour of setting up a national identification system in place. Many countries issued such numbers ostensibly for a singular purpose, but over time, they become a de facto national identification number. For example, the United States originally developed its Social Security Number system as a means of disbursing social security benefits. Due to functionality creep, the number has been utilised for other purposes to the point where it is almost essential to have one in order to, among other things, open a bank account, obtain a credit card or obtain a driving license. In India, the current and previous governments contemplated a national identity system. Albeit the need of such a system and the benefits which common citizens may acquire from one more identity has been a topic of debate. An average Indian has to carry at least four to five different identity cards to prove his or her identity in different contexts. The limitation of

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existing IDs is that they serve different and limited purposes. As citizens are issued different identity proofs for different purposes, there is lack of a centralised information data system, thus causing redundancy and wastage of resources. Major nations are now indulging in the national citizen ID systems, most prominent among them being India where the government has been running at least two major national ID projects, which are in pilot phase for the past seven to eight years.

12.2

NEED FOR A SINGLE NATIONAL CITIZEN ID SYSTEM

The need for a single national citizen ID system is important for all major developed and developing nations. Many developed nations already have such systems in place. But for developing nations the need for a single national citizen ID system is more crucial than for a host of countries that have already adopted such a system or are in the process of doing so. Provision of multiple services to a large population by government and private organisations is a mammoth task and has to cross many hurdles. Unique national IDs would help in better delivery of government services like public distribution system, government rural programmes, government employment programmes, selfemployment, banking and investment services, health facilities and different schemes offered by the government. Other benefits which could be derived are a single document with multiple information integrated to strengthen national security and social security for citizens, a useful means for citizens to access multiple government and private services and benefits, and an easier and safe means for entities to offer services, employment, and so on. The subsidy disbursement to the poor through smart cards and the accounting of disbursal can be done by using systems similar to those used by credit card companies. The critical task is to identify the beneficiaries at micro-level and that should be done using all possible sources of data and information so as to minimise both type I and type II errors, which is, the chance of exclusion of genuine beneficiaries and chance of inclusion of spurious beneficiaries in the list respectively. Tactical ways could be created to verify the genuineness of a citizen and his identity proof. Disbursement of subsidy should be such that it is recorded at the point of transaction and is immediately captured in a large centralised database, thereby creating a permanent audit trail, akin to the operation of credit cards. The activities associated with initial identification of beneficiaries, disbursement of subsidies and updating the list of beneficiaries is to be done by well-qualified private agencies. A national ID with multiple usages would be beneficial both for citizens as well as for government and other entities. Creation of a national ID system

254 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies would enable governments to create a single point information source which would include important information about each citizen. The creation of a centralised information hub enables effective distribution and management of the database, access and exchange of information and upgradation. A centralised national ID system can help to clear off redundancies in the existing multiple ID proof system and save time, resources and energy of the citizens and country. Figure 12.1 indicates in brief the core benefits, secondary benefits and other benefits, which could be derived from a national ID system.

FIGURE 12.1 Advantages of National Citizen ID System

A national ID is required at each stage of a citizen’s life from birth to death. A national ID card should be in a format where information of the citizen is updatable. Figure 12.2 tries to capture various stages during the lifetime of a citizen where national ID would be required. Birth and Death Registry: Once a child is born, the process for acquiring his/her national ID begins. Once a national ID is issued to the child it would help in acquiring birth certificate, getting the child’s name registered and added in ration card, and so on. The same process also comes in at the tracking deaths and updating the death registry. Medical information: A centralised national ID system could enable to send information or messages on medical facilities needed by the child, create a medical history of the child and keep track of all medical records such as X–Rays. This could be useful as an easy reference for health service providers, medical insurance providers and the child’s parents. It would also help in prescribing medicines specific for the child.

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Birth and Death Registry Access to Social Benefits

Medical Information

Banking and Finance

Access to Employment National ID

Access to Government Services

Tracking Education

Access to Security Sensitive Areas

FIGURE 12.2

Access to Services

How National ID can be Linked with Citizen Life Cycle

Banking and finance: National ID system would enable parents to start investing in their child’s studies and for fulfilling needs during the growing years by accessing investment provisions provided by banks and financial institutions. Tracking education: The child’s educational information could be tracked with the help of the national ID system. Government would be able to track which child is dropping out of school at what stage and try to have targeted schemes to enable the children dropping out to rejoin school. The infrastructure could also potentially support online listing of educational degrees and accomplishments of the child. Such a system would mitigate fake educational degrees being used. Access to services: There are innumerable services accessed and used by citizens each day. To access these services, it would be required to produce identification proof, residence proof and citizenship proof in order to overcome fraud or any discrepancies. A national ID could play a vital role being a single comprehensive ID proof, which could serve multiple purposes. Access to security sensitive areas: National ID would provide a single nationwide acceptable ID for allowing access to security sensitive areas such as airports and railway stations.

256 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Access to government services: There are number of government services being provided for citizens. For example, driving license, passport, voters’ ID card, employment in government organisations, employees provident fund, and so on. National ID would facilitate a more efficient mechanism of delivery of such services. Access to employment: A national ID helps citizens to access employment opportunities in government and private sector. A national ID gives authenticity and acts as identification and proof of residence. Access to social benefits: A national ID could enable the country’s citizens, especially senior citizens, in easily accessing services required by them such as pension, subsidies, wages from national employment schemes medical services, concession in transportation charges, tax exemption facilities, and so on.

12.3 12.3

CHALLENGES FACED IN ESTABLISHING A SINGLE CITIZEN ID SYSTEM

The need for a single citizen ID system has been felt in many developing countries. With such systems in place for majority of developed countries, the onus is now on the developing countries to get a system in place soon. In India too, the need for a multi-purpose national level unique identity card has been recognised as the bedrock for e-government initiatives and improvement in internal law and order, security and border control measures. The main purpose of issuing integrated smart cards is to provide a credible individual identification system to help identifying targeted beneficiaries, ensure e-government by improving the citizen-government interface and improving the security conditions. Such a system would require a national level authority which would be the custodian of the integrated smart cards. The authority should establish security infrastructure to make the card tamper-proof and ensure that smart cards are protected from unauthorised loading of applications and only those applications which are approved by the authority can be loaded on to it. The smart cards should be designed in such a way that different applications can be hosted in different domain areas of the multi-application card. Studies and various reports have shown that a unique identification number for every citizen is the need of the hour for improving delivery of government benefits and services. In the absence of a unique national identity system the public distribution System (PDS) or the ration card system in India has become “a double whammy”. It has been reconfirmed through a recent National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) study that “Not only do a huge number of fake cards point to diversion of the PDS subsidised food grains, but the leaking system is bypassing those who are in dire need of state support. While the government is importing food grains to maintain buffer stocks, the

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delivery system is falling wide off the mark”. The study has put the number of “ghost” PDS cards at a staggering 23 million and the dismal side is that as many as 12.1 million “deserving” poor have been left out of the food security umbrella. This is just one example of challenges faced by the nation in providing government benefits, health and other services effectively to citizens by proper targeting. A single national ID card will help in curtailing criminal activities. In addition to the Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC) of Ministry of Home Affairs in India there are many other IDs in India, such as Social Security Number (SSN) cards and Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) cards for organised workers and Smart Identity Cards for unorganised workers, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna Cards, Election Photo Identity Cards and Smart Cards for PDS kerosene besides several cards being issued by various state governments to its citizens. The existing ID proofs framework leads to large amount of resource wastage, redundancies and minimal use to citizens. Moreover, costs incurred to issue and maintain the data systems in different departments across each state and at central level are huge. The major challenges of the current system are summarised in Table 12.1. Table 12.1

Challenges in the Current Initiatives Towards National ID

Enrolments ü Current trend · Multiple enrolments · Non-standard lists · Data inconsistencies · Circular frauds ü Queues · Numbers – 1 billion plus · Citizen harassment ü KYC (Know Your Customer) · Numbers – 1 billion plus

Smart Card ü Current trend · Multiple, single application cards · Huge costs · Redundancy · Vendor lock in

Legal Framework ü Current trend · Fragmented efforts

1. Multiple enrolments : The current national ID initiatives floated by various countries differ from each other. Each national ID initiative has different purposes. Multiple national IDs if scaled out full-fledged would cause chaos and additional burden on the citizen to identify the appropriate ID needed by them. Moreover, it would create multiple centres of national ID, creating additional burden on central and state governments along with existing ID proofs system. 2. Inconsistencies : If multiple national IDs are created, it would lead to multiple national ID systems. This could lead to redundancies and inconsistency in data, as no standard has been set for a national ID.

258 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 3. Long queues : The current national ID initiatives compel citizens to stand in long queues. This would lead to wastage of resources, time and money. 4. High cost : If multiple national IDs are created it would lead to incurrence of huge cost on infrastructure, human resources, distribution and logistics management, etc.

12.4

EXISTING ID PROOFS SYSTEMS

Across the world and in different departments of various governments around the globe multiple ID proof cards are being issued to its citizens. These have limited use. This section highlights some of the widely used ID proofs.

12.4.1

PAN Cards

PAN stands for Personal Account Number. This is similar to an identification number which would be used for transactions and payment of taxes and similar objectives across the globe. PAN is an all-India, unique number of 10 characters allotted by the Income Tax department. It is permanent for a tax payer and does not change with change of address or station, or change of Assessing Officer, and so on. A PAN is currently being used for filing income tax returns. Following are some key characteristics of the PAN system (based on interaction with officials in the Finance Ministry): · The current PAN is a ten digit alpha-numeric system that uses soundex algorithm to prevent multiple allotments to the same person. Soundex is a phonetic algorithm for indexing names by sound, as pronounced in English. · Sixty million cards have been issued since 1970. Since 2003, the department has been receiving on an average 0.9 million new applications every month. · Use of PAN has grown beyond its original role as a taxpayer identification number. It was adopted as a Common Business Number (CBN), based on Canadian model for business numbers. PAN is used as CBN by customs, excise, service tax, and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) uses it as a number for the employers (for employees, the EPFO uses SSN). · The ease with which PAN can be obtained has encouraged its use in equity and mutual fund industries. In fact the Union Budget of 2007 had mandated the use of PAN in the entire financial sector. However, the department of Income Tax has no intentions of making this ID a substitute for other proofs except those stated under the Income Tax Act. · It is also necessary to quote PAN for obtaining a mobile connection and credit card. It is one of the numbers used by banks for Know Your Customer (KYC).

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· Bogus IDs do exist as there is a strong incentive to use duplicate IDs for different financial transactions. Currently the Income Tax department does not have a full-fledged mechanism to deal with bogus IDs. This is in part due to the fact that verification doesn’t include physical verification. Presently verification is only done on the basis of documents submitted with the application and no effort is made to verify its veracity. · The information on PAN card is restricted to name, father’s name, photograph, date of birth, signature, and PAN. Address changes are only reflected in the database if the cardholders personally notify the department. No medical details are collected and mentioned such as blood group. · No deletion of IDs takes place. Even in case of demise of a cardholder or liquidation of a company, the IDs are appropriately flagged in the system only when such information is received. Regular checks for duplicate IDs are carried out. · The ID is permanent and no renewal is required. · The hardware is continually upgraded. Right now the system is capable of handling the entire population of the country. Data is stored in regional centres across the country with backup at the central place. Data is stored on standalone systems. · Data is not shared with any department or external organisation. Any verification of IDs is carried out on request by the department.

12.4.2

Passport

The Consular Passport and Visa (CPV) Division in the Ministry of External Affairs is responsible for issue of passports to citizens of India and for issuance of visas to citizens of various countries. · Passport is one of the most acceptable and widely used proofs for identification both in India and abroad. · Very few bogus passports exist as the verification process is extremely robust.

12.4.3

Voter ID Card/Electoral Rolls

Electoral rolls is one of the largest databases with the Election Commissions across the globe. The magnitude of this identification system can be gauged from the fact that almost 700 million people are identified by this process in India alone. Of this, a total of about 500 million voter ID cards have been issued till date. The country is divided into 4125 assembly constituencies, each handling around 5,000–1,000,000 voters.

260 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Regular checks are carried out to ensure that the accuracy of the voters’ list is maintained. The electoral list has been observed to be currently about 90-95 percent accurate, though variations exist across different assembly constituencies. Regular data cleaning is carried out to remove silly mistakes, duplicate data (due to migration) using various software packages and analyses like demographic profiling, on a case-to-case basis. The Commission is planning to convert the whole electoral roll to incorporate photographs of voters.

12.4.4

Driving Licence

A driving licence is an official document certifying that the holder is qualified to drive a motor vehicle or vehicles. No person can drive a motor vehicle in any public place unless he/she holds a valid driving licence issued to him/her, authorising him/her to drive a vehicle of that particular category. Normally there are two kinds of driving licences that are issued, learner’s licence and permanent licence. Usually a learner’s licence is valid only for six months. Permanent licence can be availed only after the expiry of one month from the date of issue of the learner’s licence.

12.5

DISCUSSION ON EXISTING IDENTIFICATION PROOFS

The existing ID proofs have their respective pros and cons. Each differs in robustness of usage, coverage, cross acceptance, accuracy and comprehensiveness of data, renewal and security of ID proofs and international acceptance. Across all the existing ID proofs being issued there are common concerns, which continue to prevail – redundancies of information especially when citizens migrate to another city or state, mismatch of data and lack of centralised database. There are problems of security issues, which continue to prevail due to which there are issues of fraud and forgery of ID proofs. Moreover, out of the existing IDs, PAN card, driving licence, and passport are issued to those who have considerable financial capacity. The profiles of PAN cardholders and passport holders are similar. In India ration card and BPL cards are a major source of identification proof for the financially marginal citizens. Driving licences can be issued only to those who know how to drive and are aware of traffic and driving rules. PAN card: The current PAN card issue system is extremely efficient. However, there is absence of a robust complaint resolution system. Department of IT needs to introduce a strong fraud detecting and prevention system to overcome forgeries of PAN cards and hacking of information. Passport: Profiles of passport and PAN card holders are similar.

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Voters ID: In voters ID cards information continues to be mismatching, as the database is not upgraded after an election process has taken place till the next election process takes place. Duplication of data occurs in different districts, when voters migrate from one district or state to another as they apply for another voter ID. Citizens are not aware that a voter ID is issued on permanent basis and there is no need for a fresh voter ID even when the citizen migrates to a new state in the country. There is lack of proper verification process. Driving licence: The most critical drawback of driving licence that prevents it from being considered as a national ID is the functional prerequisite of being able to drive. To highlight the drawbacks of this system we take the example of India where people who own vehicles and know to drive are few compared to the whole population. Thus it is essential to study the pros and cons of existing ID proofs and their system in depth, as it would facilitate creating a comprehensive and exhaustive national ID system.

12.6 NATIONAL IDENTITY CARDS FROM A GLOBAL 12.6 PERSPECTIVE National IDs have been implemented in various forms and mechanisms and served varied purposes. Many countries have a system of national identity cards, some of which require their citizens to carry them at all times. Most European countries have ID cards. Countries such as Canada, New Zealand, UK and US currently do not have a national ID. However, plans are underway in that direction. UK has introduced legislation to implement such a system and US has passed the Real ID Act, which critics argue would make driver’s licences into de facto national IDs. Examples of few countries which have implemented or tried to implement a national ID system are discussed below. Notably, the European Union, is examining the possibility of a pan European e-identity so that European “citizens are freer to travel, find work, access health services, buy property, and register for schools (in any European nation) and it is easier for small and medium enterprises to set up and do business in any member state (proposes to) also test third-party ‘identity providers’. These are trusted non-government agents that would do all or some of the initial registration, supply the credentials (such as an electronic ID card), and authenticate identities on request. The scheme is presently ‘only 50% funded’ by national governments and industry is expected to chip in the rest.” Table 12.2 gives a brief about countries with national ID programme, while Table 12.3 deals with countries without one. Table 12.4 discusses about countries currently implementing a national ID programme.

(Contd.)

It contains the full name, gender, nationality, date of birth, photograph of the card holder, right thumb print, ID number and personal signature. This is the only official form of identification for residents in Chile and is widely used and accepted as such. It is necessary for every contract, most bank transactions, voting, driving (along with the driver’s licence) and other public and private situations.

Cédula de Identidad

Chile

Uniform Civil Number

Bulgaria

The cards are needed to obtain a job, vote, make and use credit cards; but it does not guarantee anything for males over 18 without the Military Service card. Foreigners living in Brazil have a different ID card. Uniform Civil Number (also printed on identity cards and passport).

ID cards are needed to obtain employment, to open bank accounts, to obtain passport, driver’s licence, or military card, to obtain admission in educational institutions, vote or enter public buildings including subway stations, airports and courthouses. Failure to produce ID is a misdemeanor punishable with a fine.

Registro Geral

Brazil

Everyone above the age of 12 has to carry some means of identification at all times. For Belgians it is the identity card, for foreigners residing in Belgium it can also be a passport, a work permit or a (temporary) residence permit. Since the year 2000, all new identity cards have a chip.

Colombia Cédula de Ciudadanía

Identity card

Belgium

According to Privacy International around 100 countries had compulsory identity cards as of 1996. The term “compulsory” may have different meanings and implications in different countries. The compulsory character may apply only after a certain age. Often, a ticket can be given for being found without one’s identification document, or in some cases a person may even be detained until the identity is ascertained. In practice, random controls are rare, except at certain times. Name or Form of Country Characteristics Identification Systems Argentina Documento Nacional Booklet includes pages for a vote log, military service, wish to donate organs and legal address de Identidad change log.

Table 12.2 Countries with National ID programmes

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Estonian ID card

identitetskort

INSEE code

Greek ID card

Estonia

Finland

France

Greece

ID cards are issued by the police on behalf of the Ministry of Public Order and display the holder’s signature, standardized face photograph, name and surname, father’s name and surname, mother’s name and maiden surname, date and place of birth, height, electoral district (Demotologion), and the issuing police precinct. In Greece, an ID card is a citizen’s most important state document, as it is used in most public and many private transactions.

For financial transactions, ID cards and passports are almost always accepted as proof of identity. Due to common forgery, drivers’ licences are sometimes refused. For transactions by cheque involving a larger sum, two different ID documents are frequently requested by merchants.

In Finland, any citizen can get an identification card. This, along with the passport, is one of two official identity documents. It is available as an electronic ID card (sähköinen henkilökortti/ elektroniskt identitetskort), which enables logging into certain government services on the Internet.

An Estonian ID card is officially recognized by all member states of the European Union for intraEU travel. For travelling outside the EU, Estonian citizens may also request a passport.

In Croatia every person over the age of 14 can have ID card, and all persons over the age of 16 must have ID cards and carry them at all times when they are in public places.

Italy

Identity Card

(Contd.)

Everybody over 15 can have a 4-page Identity Card issued by the town of residence. The first page includes the ID card number, the issuing town, and the name and surname. On the second page the card shows again the name and surname, together with the birth date and place, the gender, and the current address. The third page includes a colour photograph and the signature. It also contains the issue date. The card has a validity of 5 years. The ID number is two letters followed by seven or more digits and is unique.

Indonesia Kartu Tanda Penduduk Citizens over 18 are required to have the KTP (Kartu Tanda Penduduk) identity card.

Unique Master Citizen Number

Croatia

(Contd.)

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South African Identity Document

South Africa

(Contd.)

It is necessary to show the document or a certified copy as proof of identity when signing any contract, including opening or closing a bank account, taking up employment, and applying for a

In Spain, an ID card is the most important document of a citizen and is used in all public and private transactions. It is required to open a bank account, to sign a contract, to have state insurance, to register in a university or to be fined by a police officer. It is one of the official documents required to vote at any election, although any other form of official ID such as a driving licence or passport may be used.

National Identity Card

Spain

Portuguese National ID All Portuguese citizens are required by law to obtain an identity card as they turn 16 years of age. Card They are not required to carry it with them always but are obligated to present them to the lawful authorities if required.

Portugal

The National Registration Identity Card is given to all Singapore Citizens and permanent residents. The NRIC contains a unique number that identifies the person holding it, and is used for almost all identification purposes in Singapore, including authentication when accessing the Singapore government’s web portal.

Computerised National All adult citizens must register for the Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC), with a Identity Card (CNIC) unique number, at the age of 18. This card is regularly used for multiple purposes across Pakistan’s organisations.

Pakistan

Singapore National Registration Identity Card

MyKad, or Government It is the official compulsory identity card. It is regarded as the world’s first smart identity card. As Multipurpose Card of 2006, MyKad has eight current and several planned applications which are mostly related to proof of identity or electronic money. From March 2003, a variant issuable to newborn babies was (GMPC) introduced, known as MyKid.

Malaysia

The card is designed in a bilingual form, printed in Hebrew and Arabic, but the personal data is presented only in Hebrew. Until the mid-nineties, the identification card was considered the only legally reliable document for many actions such as voting, opening a bank account, and so on.

te’udat zehut

Israel

(Contd.)

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Republic of China National Identification Card

Taiwan

Table 12.3 Countries without National ID Card Programme

The identification card contains the holder’s photo, ID number, Chinese name, and (Minguo calendar) date of birth. The back of the card also contains the person’s registered address where official correspondence is sent, parents’ and even spouse’s names.

Personal Identity Number is used in dealings with public agencies, from healthcare to tax authorities. It is also commonly used as a customer number in banks and insurance companies.

mobile phone contract; interacting with most government agencies, including applying for or renewing a driver’s licence, applying for a passport and applying for any social grants.

There have been two proposals to introduce ID cards for tax and social security access in Australia–The Australia Card in 1985 by the Hawke Labor Government and the Health and Social Services Access Card in 2006 by the Howard Liberal Government. Although neither card would have been an official compulsory ID card, they were both criticized as leading to de facto ID cards. Ultimately, both proposals failed. Currently, driver’s licences, issued by the states and territories, are the most widely used ID document.

Australia

United States

(Contd.)

USA passed a bill entitled the Real ID Act on May 11, 2005. The bill compels states to begin redesigning their drivers’ licences to comply with federal anti-terrorist standards by December 2009. Federal employees would reject licences or identity cards that do not comply, which would force Americans accessing everything from airplanes to national parks and

United Since the early 1950s there has been no national identity card in UK, but the Identity Cards Act (effective March 30, 2006) Kingdom makes one compulsory for anyone getting a new or renewed passport from 2008. Driving licences and passports are now the most widely used ID documents. There are also various PASS-accredited cards, used mainly for proof of age.

Characteristics

Country

A number of countries do not use country-wide identity cards to verify identity. These include Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom and United States.

Personal Identity Number

Sweden

(Contd.)

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Table 12.4

Characteristics

Countries Currently Implementing National ID Programme

some courthouses to have the federally mandated cards. The bill takes place as governments are growing more interested in implanting technology in ID cards to make them smarter and more secure. The US State Department soon will begin issuing passports with radio frequency identification (RFID), chips embedded in them, and Virginia may become the first state to glue RFID tags into all its drivers’ licences.

China is instituting biometric ID cards, beginning with the city of Shenzhen. The card will document data such as work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status, landlord’s phone number and personal reproductive history.

India is beginning to issue national ID cards.

China

India

Bangladesh Bangladesh has also started a national biometric ID card system.

Country

(Contd.)

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12.7

267

PARAMETERS FOR SUCCESS OF A NATIONAL ID SYSTEM

In order to understand and appreciate the status of various current ID systems to be replicated as the national ID, it is appropriate to have a scoring model in place to understand which of the existing IDs is nearest in all respects to be used as national ID. The scoring model was developed keeping in mind the following uses of the envisaged single national ID system: · To manage the identity of the country’s citizens. · To facilitate e-government in the country. · To strengthen national security and to control illegal immigration. · To integrate all existing systems into one single identification system. · To have centralised tracking of individuals’ history (health, credit, and so on) for public and private institutions. · To have collaboration of multiple ID systems with the databases of public and private enterprises and also government to provide a single clearance window to the citizens. In majority of pilot projects currently being undertaken by various ministries/ divisions of the government(s), one of the existing IDs is being tried to be replicated, without comparing to the feature set that the national ID is suggested to have. To ensure that the national ID systems cater to the above needs, the following dimensions were considered to be critical for the successful implementation of national ID. · Extent of coverage o Total cards issued till date o Geographical coverage (as depth of presence in Tier I/II/III cities/ villages) · Versatility/acceptability of usage of the ID by institutions (public and private) other than the issuing authority, such as o Age proof o Address proof o Other identity proofs (for example banks, domestic airlines) · Robustness of the card issue/delivery process o Problems of bogus IDs o Time taken for issue of card o Card application process (self-application or through agents, dependence on other IDs for proof, and so on) o Effectiveness of the verification process (steps taken to verify) · Relevance of data o Form of data (electronic version) o Availability in English language o Latest information of the ID (cleaning/deletion/updation)

268 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Comprehensiveness of Data o Personal information (DoB, address, and so on) o Medical details (blood group, and so on) · Validity period of ID/frequency of renewal · Information Security Management System o Level of IT systems integration (central database) o Security/privacy of data o Compatibility with other ID systems o Ease of extension upgradation of the system · Acceptability/Validity of the ID by foreign institutions/countries From the above parameters, we understand the set of conditions that the national ID should possess. Though majority of the existing pilot projects try to scale up based on the electoral ID card system, it seems to have got a very low score compared to the passport issuing system in India. This is followed by the PAN card.

12.8

IMPLEMENTING NATIONAL ID SYSTEM

From studying existing ID proofs it can be concluded that standalone registrations by individual organisations result in redundancy both at state and central levels, thus resulting in issue of multiple cards to a single person. There is an urgent and emerging need for a single integrated registration, which will assign a unique national ID to each citizen of the country. A unique national ID would give comprehensive, accurate and critical information of each individual citizen, whether permanent or temporary. It is important to understand the scale and complexity of the unique national identity programme for densely populated countries. However, this complex and mammoth task can be taken forward through multi-stakeholder, publicprivate partnership (PPP). This would be possible through joint sharing of the resource pool between the partners. Various databases can be shared and worked upon among the partners through information technology based systems. The PPP model is considered to be a good and useful method of the implementation of a National ID System and some other countries have already explored use of PPP models for their respective national identity programmes. The proposed integrated registration system would consist of three subsystems: · The enrolment system · The smart card · The technology platform At another level the proposed system would comprise of two layers:

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· The legal, administrative and regulatory framework · The business model and technology platform In light of above discussions, the contours of an integrated registration system to provide a unique, but multipurpose identity are discussed below:

12.8.1

Enrolment Process

The process of enrolment involves obtaining personal details (name, age, date of birth, sex, blood group, education, profession, marital status, and so on). Once the basic information is obtained, this needs to be verified through a standard and pre-defined protocol such as KYC. There after the data is digitised to make a database. Based on the database a unique number is assigned to each citizen. To make citizens stand in long queues is a waste of time, energy and resources of government and citizens. The business of managing the queues is time- and resource-intensive and an unsatisfactory service can deter and drive away the already reluctant citizens. Comprehensive and accurate data can be collected from existing databases available with government, organisations and private entities. Enrolment data can be corroborated through usage of information technology by collating existing data from multiple data sources of government departments, banks, telecom companies, Block Development Offices, and so on. Critical requirements of the enrolment process, thus, are that it should be user friendly, should allow easy access (online enrolment is one answer), and should provide a robust verification before enrolment.

12.8.2

Trusted Partnership

The task of collecting, corroborating and recording critical, accurate and comprehensive information online would be possible through partnership with trusted partners. A trusted partner would be a government department or a private organisation, which has huge and comprehensive data used in their business and agrees to participate in the national identity programme. As part of their responsibility, at the time of enrolling their clients, the trusted partners will obtain, digitise and transmit information required for the national identity programme. Some examples of trusted partners are schools, colleges, motor licensing authorities, banks, telephone and mobile service providers, passport office, PDS, electoral office, hospitals, and income-tax department. The telecom and mobile service providers and credit card facility providers are two industries characterised by use of state-of-art IT systems and processes and high quality citizen service. It should, thus, be possible to leverage on these two lists to reduce the ‘time-to-market’ and exploit the built-in, two-way communication with the clients enrolled in the list. The network and Point of Sale (POS) machines, Wireless POS will offer unlimited reach. Using the trusted partners for enrolment will offer citizens an easy access to the enrolment process besides the advantage of a robust verification, reduced costs through elimination of redundancy in enrolment, and a ‘future-proof’ system.

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Designing a Scoring Model to Select Partners

A scoring model would enable to select efficient and coordinating partners. The scoring model would comprise list of selection criteria. The partners, who score the most in all dimensions, would be selected. Few of the dimensions of selection are coverage of database, accuracy of information, infrastructure and resources strength, coordination strength with government departments and private entities, and so on.

12.8.4

Cost Saving

If the national ID programme is undertaken through collaborations or partnerships, it would save huge cost, which otherwise would have been incurred on infrastructure, human resources, distribution and logistics, and so on. For example, setting up separate national ID centres in each state would incur huge costs on salaries, infrastructure, training, data collection processes, and so on.

12.8.5

Smart National IDs

Conventional identity cards issued on plain paper with photographs pasted and authenticated have become obsolete. Today we find a number of smart cards being issued for various purposes by both government and private organisations. These smart cards comprise of chips which consist of information about the concerned citizen. Examples of smartcards are identity badges used to access buildings and credit and debit cards. Most of the existing smart cards have limited usage and are issued by different entities, and therefore citizens need to carry a set of cards daily. The earlier smart cards that had most useful information stored on the card itself, and not externally, were replaced with Europa Master Card and Visa (EMV) type smart cards supported with a network of point of sale (POS) readers. EMV type smart cards are cost effective and have benefits of data stored in back-end machines. The credit card business in India too started with standalone smart cards but has since migrated to EMV systems. While organisations with small populations and few applications may continue to find the standalone smart cards useful and cost effective, the future belongs to EMV type systems for large populations and multiple applications. The EMV systems are managed by international payment gateways and offer the facility of a globally unique number for every card. However, if a single national ID is issued which is multi-purpose, it would increase usage, enable optimum utilisation of resources, and be easy for citizens. A common database enables easy sharing of information among private and government entities, is easier to update, has information security, can cater to future unspecified application, and so on. Multi-purpose national ID can serve as identification proof for accessing banking services, gas connections, health facilities, and so on.

National Citizen Identity System

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271

Technology should be Handed over to Private Sector

The technology required to create a mammoth database for national ID should be handed over to a competent private organisation. A private entity’s cooperation would help in distribution of tasks, leading to optimum utilisation of resources available within the organisation. The Data Network Infrastructure (DNI) for national ID should be accessible from across the country and transferable to another state/district/village. Moreover, it should be able to detect any repetitions, errors and frauds. Whenever changes or upgrades are made at any of the centres, the changes should be reflected in all the connected sources. The data network should be distributive. DNI could be distributed into following tiers through data centres. National data hub: This hub would form the core base for national ID. Creation of national data hub is essential to begin the process of national ID. The hub would be interconnected with regional, state, and district administrative offices and village data hubs. Regional data hub: Regional data hub would be required for efficient management of data and would support the national data hub. Moreover, it would be easily accessible for regional requirements. There would be around five to six regional clusters each comprising of five to six states. State data hub: State data hub would interconnect districts and administrative office level information about the citizens residing there. These data hubs are easily accessible to citizens, government and organisations located within the state. The state data hubs are connected with regional and national data hubs. District data hub: These would be useful to maintain, update and modify primary data. Administrative data hub: This would be the database of citizens residing within the administrative office and support government and organisations in reaching their services effectively. Village data hub: Village data hubs would support the above tiers.

12.8.7

To Frame Supportive Government Policies

The government should define the legal (challenge of framing laws in a federal polity), business and revenue framework, stipulate the scope of PPP, and manage the risks associated with large dynamic databases, using public oversight to an extent required. The government should also act as the custodian of national identity database. The interface with citizens, including complaint resolution through the lifetime of the citizen, the type of card and technology model and investment and up-gradation of technology should be left to private sector.

272 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 12.8.8

National ID Ecosystem

The national ID ecosystem would comprise of citizens, government, PPP, information data hub, IT infrastructure and other entities as stakeholders in the overall process. This can only be achieved by taking an ecosystem approach by increasing the awareness of such an integrated system among the endusers like citizens, employees of public, private and government organisations, and so on. It will be very critical to understand that each stakeholder will have its own short-term and long-term objectives in being part of this ecosystem and substantially generating value in it. However, only an apex committee at the national level can track and ensure that the overall objectives of such an ecosystem will be of use in the successful execution and sustenance of national ID catering to the basic needs that had been defined at the start of the project. Figure 12.3 gives an idea about the probable national ID ecosystem. Given the fact that the national ID ecosystem will help delivery of G2C services (and ensuring delivery of all different government schemes to the target population), it will also provide a single window to all services that the government(s) and entrusted partners of the ecosystem would like to provide by creating touch points and putting up a single face to the citizen. Figure 12.4 provides the strategic touch point of the national ID system. Enrolment Process (Through use of ICT) Fingerprint Face Voice Iris

Public Private Partnership (PPP)

Citizens Organisations

(Creation of National ID Database)

Private Entities

Name Date of Birth Unique National Identity Card

Age Sex Bank Information Blood Group

FIGURE 12.3

National ID Ecosystem

National Citizen Identity System

Government Services

Web Connection

Citizens Information Citizen

Processing for National ID

Call Center

Data

Information Postal & Courier Service

Private Entities Services

Hub and National ID Cards

Government Information Centers

273

Utilities Services

Nongovernmental Organisation Services

FIGURE 12.4

SUMMARY All identity systems carry consequential dangers as well as potential benefits. Depending on the model used, identity systems may create a range of new and unforeseen problems. These include the failure of system, unforeseen financial costs, increased security threats and unacceptable imposition on citizens. The success of a national identity system depends on a sensitive, cautious and cooperative approach involving all key stakeholder groups including an independent and rolling risk assessment and a regular review of management practices. Structural and / or policy changes become an inseparable part by the government to ensure that the plan is smoothly executed. In the long run, once a national identifier has been established, the next logical step would be to integrate it with the existing systems. The above exercise will involve a huge investment in terms of time and effort. However, the benefits reaped can be significant. As immediate future steps, the decision-makers should consider creating alternative choices of execution of such an initiative with proper policy implications and taking into account constraints that needs to be considered. Existing infrastructure like Common Service Centres (CSCs) may be considered to play a very crucial role for the same. The data about citizen life cycle must be collated with substantial precaution to maintain its privacy and secrecy so that government is not perceived as a big brother breathing down the necks of citizens. This data can be used for policy planning,

274 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies ultimately ensuring an inclusive growth for all. The decision-makers should also consider framing the right kind of policies, legal structures and organisational setup for a successful rollout of national ID in India. A ranking matrix may be created to come up with a composite score for all districts based on various dimensions. The execution may be planned without asking people to stand in queue for one more ID and accelerating towards a more secured society, more importantly ensuring better delivery of government services to citizens.

KEY TERMS National ID Means of tracking citizens, permanent and temporary residents, for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, healthcare and other functions. Permanent Account Number (PAN) An identification number used for transactions and payment of taxes and similar objectives across the globe. Know Your Customer (KYC) An initiative taken by governments of many countries to avoid occurrences of frauds, cheatings, and terrorist activities.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What is the need for national ID systems? 2. List and explain the various challenges faced in the implementation of a national ID system. 3. What is a multiple-ID system? 4. What are the critical success factors of a national ID system? 5. Explain the need and structure of the ecosystem which would result in a successful national ID project implementation. 6. Give five examples of potential frauds that one can plan to mitigate with the national ID system.

REFERENCES UID Authority of India, http://www.uidai.gov.in/, June 12, 2010. Sethi N., ‘Rot in PDS: Over 2 cr ghost cards’ Available online at http://www.ncaer.org/ downloads/MediaClips/Press/rotinpds.pd. Downloaded on January 24, 2008. m-GovWorld, “UK to lead pan-European e-Identity program” Available online at http://www.mgovworld.org/News/uk-to-lead-pan-eu-e-identity-program. Downloaded on January 24, 2008 e-Government Modinis, “The Status of Identity Management in European eGovernment initiatives” Available online at https://www.cosic.esat.kuleuven.be/ modinisidm/twiki/pub/Main/ProjectDocs/modinis.D3.5_Identity_Management_ Initiative_Report_1_IIR1.pdf, p. 79. Downloaded on January 24, 2008.

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13 Geographic Information System (GIS) for Governance Objectives · To define and understand the basic concept of Geographic Information System (GIS) · To study the scope of GIS, with government as well as non-government agencies and other organisations · To know about the architecture, hardware and software involved in implementing GIS · To learn about the implementation process of GIS · To learn about the advantages of GIS · To learn about the key stakeholders of GIS · To learn about the scope of further extension of GIS · To learn about the future of GIS · To identify drawbacks as well as long-term consequences of GIS

13.1

INTRODUCTION

A geographic information system (GIS) is a system for capturing, storing, analysing and managing data and associated attributes which are spatially referenced to earth. In the strictest sense, it is a computer system capable of integrating, storing, editing, analysing, sharing, and displaying geographicallyreferenced information. In a more generic sense, GIS is a tool that allows users to create interactive queries–user created searches—analyse the spatial information, edit data, maps, and present the results. GIS is the basic science underlying the geographic concepts, applications and systems, taught in degree and GIS certificate programs at many universities. GIS technology can be used for scientific investigations, resource management, asset management, environmental impact assessment, urban planning, cartography, criminology, history, sales, marketing, and logistics. For example,

276 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies GIS might allow emergency planners to easily calculate emergency response times in the event of a natural disaster; it might be used to find wetlands that need protection from pollution, or to site a new business to take advantage of a previously underserved market. The government level application of GIS is quite wide. At the national level government agencies depend on GIS technology to establish and regulate policy so as to strengthen the welfare of their citizens. GIS is also an intelligent means for agencies to provide public information. For example, the US government relies heavily on GIS to evaluate the results of US Census 2000. The city of Madrid, Spain, uses GIS to create its plan General de Ordenación Urbana to link documents and image files to map features for an integrated view of information thus streamlining all the processes. At the local government level GIS can be used for effective revenue collection, economic development, and public information. The cities of Madrid, Geneva, and Paris all use GIS for providing many city services. Bregenze, a small township in Austria, uses GIS to meet the needs of its 12 government departments.

13.2

GIS APPLICATIONS IN GOVERNMENT

Homeland Security GIS assets at local, regional, and national levels are used in emergency in the areas of detection, risk assessment, mitigation, prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. Utilised in both natural and human-induced disasters, GIS has merged into the common operating procedures for public safety and emergency response activities. County, state, city, and federal-level agencies use GIS as a common framework for organising and sharing data in a digital world.

Military Defense Military defense agencies use GIS for intelligence, terrain analysis, mission planning, and facilities management. Geographic analysis is critical in military operations, tactical or logistical planning, and infrastructure management. Swedish defence agency integrates global positioning systems (GPSs) into its mobile GIS for a mine-clearing management system in Bosnia.

Fire/Emergency Medical Services/Disaster GIS allows public safety personnel to effectively plan for emergency response, determine mitigation priorities, analyse historical events, and predict future events. Wilson Fire/Rescue Services in Wilson, North Carolina, uses GIS to get critical information to rescue teams upon dispatch or while en route to an emergency to assist in tactical planning.

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Law Enforcement GIS is an effective crime-fighting tool. Police analysts use GIS for planning and event modeling, tactical and strategic planning, and incident mapping. The Chicago police department Informative Collection of Automated Mapping (ICAM) gives all police officers access to information about crime throughout the city.

Health Effective healthcare services management uses GIS not only to show what resources and needs exist but also where to find them. Health experts also put GIS to work in epidemiological and public health monitoring. They can geographically track public health indicators, identify disease clusters, and explore sites of environmental risk. For example, public health departments use GIS for mosquito abatement programs. The state of Pennsylvania offers an online web site for its West Nile Virus Surveillance Program.

Transportation GIS serves three distinct transportation needs-infrastructure management, fleet and logistics management, and transit management. GIS offers insight for network planning and analysis, vehicle tracking and routing, inventory tracking, and route planning analysis. The city of Budapest, having 20,000 to 30,000 unexpected road repairs a year, relies heavily on its GIS to help plan, coordinate, manage, and complete repair work in a timely fashion. Thus it is clear that GIS has its utility in a wide variety of applications and is thus utilised very frequently.

13.3

HISTORY OF GIS DEVELOPMENT

The year 1962 saw the development of the world’s first true operational GIS in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada by the Federal Department of Forestry and Rural Development. Developed by Dr Roger Tomlinson, it was called the Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS) and was used to store, analyse, and manipulate data collected for the Canada Land Inventory (CLI), an initiative to determine the land capability for rural Canada by mapping information about soils, agriculture, recreation, wildlife, waterfowl, forestry, and land use at a scale of 1:50,000. A rating classification factor was also added to permit analysis. CGIS was the world’s first “system” and was an improvement over “mapping” applications as it provided capabilities for overlay, measurement, and digitising/ scanning. It supported a national coordination system that spanned the continent, coded lines as “arcs” having a true embedded topology, and it stored the attribute and location information in separate files. As a result, Dr Tomlinson has been called the “father of GIS”, particularly for his use of overlays in promoting the spatial analysis of a convergent geographic data. CGIS lasted into the

278 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 1990s and built the largest digital land resource database in Canada. It was developed as a mainframe-based system in support of federal and provincial resource planning and management. Its strength was continent-wide analysis of complex data sets. The CGIS was never available in a commercial form. In 1964, Howard T. Fisher formed the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis (LCGSA) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1965– 1991), where a number of important theoretical concepts in spatial data handling were developed, and which by the 1970s had distributed seminal software code and systems, such as ‘SYMAP’, ‘GRID’, and ‘ODYSSEY’ which served as literal and inspirational sources for subsequent commercial development in universities, research centres, and corporations worldwide. By the early 1980s, M&S Computing (later Intergraph), Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) and CARIS emerged as commercial vendors of GIS software, successfully incorporating many of the CGIS features, combining the first generation approach to separation of spatial and attribute information with a second generation approach to organising attribute data into database structures. In parallel, the development of a public domain GIS was begun in 1982 by the US Army Corps of Engineering Research Laboratory (USA-CERL) in Champaign, Illinois, a branch of the US Army Corps of Engineers to meet the need of the US military for software for the use of land management and environmental planning. Later, during 1980s and 1990s industry growth was spurred on by the growing use of GIS on UNIX workstations and personal computers. By the end of the 20th century, the rapid growth in various systems had been consolidated and standardised on relatively few platforms and users were beginning to export the concept of viewing GIS data over the internet, requiring data format and transfer standards. More recently, a number of free, open source GIS packages have been made available which run on a range of operating systems and can be customised to perform specific tasks.

13.4

COMPONENTS OF A GIS

A working GIS seamlessly integrates five key components–hardware, software, data, people, and methods.

Hardware Hardware includes the computer on which GIS operates, the monitor on which results are displayed, and a printer for making hard copies of the results. Today, GIS software runs on a wide range of hardware, from centralised computer servers to desktop computers used in stand-alone or networked configurations. The data files used in GIS are relatively large, so the computer must have a fast processing speed and a large hard drive capable of saving many files. Since

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GIS outputs are visual, a large, high-resolution monitor and a high-quality printer are recommended.

Software GIS software provides the functions and tools needed to store, analyse, and display geographic information. Key software components include applications for the input and manipulation of geographic information, a database management system (DBMS), applications that support geographic query, analysis, and visualisation, and a graphical user interface (GUI) for easy access to applications. One of the popular packages is ARC/INFO, which is produced by Environmental Systems Research, Inc. The same company produces a more accessible product, ArcView which is similar to ARC/INFO in many ways.

Data Possibly the most important component of a GIS is data. GIS will integrate spatial data with other data resources and can even use a database management system, used by most organisations to organise and maintain their data, to manage spatial data. There are three ways to obtain data to be used in GIS. Geographic and tabular data can be collected in-house or produced by digitising images from aerial photographs or published maps. Data can also be purchased from commercial data provider. Finally, data can be obtained from the federal government at no cost.

People GIS users range from technical specialists who design and maintain the system, to those who use it to help them perform their everyday work. The basic techniques of GIS are so simple to master that even students in elementary schools are learning how to use GIS. As the technology is used in so many ways, experienced GIS users have a tremendous advantage in today’s job market.

13.5

WORKING OF GIS

GIS stores information about the world as a collection of thematic layers that can be linked together by geography. This simple but extremely powerful and versatile concept has proven invaluable for solving many real-world problems; from modeling global atmospheric circulation to predicting rural land use, and monitoring changes in rain forest ecosystems.

Geographic References Geographic information contains either an explicit geographic reference such as a latitude and longitude or national grid coordinate, or an implicit reference

280 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies such as an address, postal code, census tract name, forest stand identifier, or road name. An automated process called geocoding is used to create explicit geographic references (multiple locations) from implicit references (descriptions such as addresses). These geographic references can then be used to locate features, such as a business or forest stand, and events, such as an earthquake, on the earth’s surface for analysis. Figure 13.1 shows example of a GIS overlay mapping.

FIGURE 13.1 Example of GIS Feature: Overlay Mapping

GIS Tasks General purpose GISs perform seven tasks.

Input of Data Before geographic data can be used in GIS, the data must be converted into a suitable digital format. The process of converting data from paper maps or aerial photographs into computer files is called digitising. Modern GIS technology can automate this process fully for large projects using scanning technology; smaller jobs may require some manual digitising which requires the use of a digitising table. Today many types of geographic data exist in GIS-compatible formats. These data can be loaded directly into GIS.

Map Making Maps have a special place in GIS. The process of making maps with GIS is much more flexible than are with traditional manual or automated cartography approaches. It begins with database creation. Existing paper maps can be digitised and computer-compatible information can be translated into GIS. GIS-based cartographic database can be both continuous and scale free. Map products can then be created centreed on any location, at any scale, and showing selected information symbolised effectively to highlight specific characteristics.

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The characteristics of atlases and map series can be encoded in computer programs and compared with the database at final production time. Digital products for use in other GISs can also be derived by simply copying data from the database. In a large organisation, topographic databases can be used as reference frameworks by other departments. Figure 13.2 shows map making options in GIS. Digitisation of existing maps

Multiple paper products GIS

Translation of existing maps

Multiple digital products

Cartographic database

FIGURE 13.2 Map Making Options in GIS

Manipulation of Data It is likely that data types required for a particular GIS project will need to be transformed or manipulated in some way to make them compatible with the computer system. For example, geographic information is available at different scales (for example, street centre line files might be available at a scale of 1:100,000; census boundaries at 1:50,000; and postal codes at 1:10,000). Before this information can be integrated, it must be transformed to the same scale. This could be a temporary transformation for display purposes or a permanent one required for analysis. GIS technology offers many tools for manipulating spatial data and for weeding out unnecessary data.

File Management For small GIS projects it may be sufficient to store geographic information as simple files. There comes a point, however, when data volumes become large and the number of users become more than a few, that it is best to use a database management system (DBMS) to help store, organise, and manage data. A DBMS is a computer software for managing structured data in an integrated manner. There are many different designs of DBMSs. But in GIS the relational design has been the most useful. In the relational design, data are stored conceptually

282 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies as a collection of tables. Common fields in different tables are used to link them together. This simple design has been widely used, primarily because of its flexibility and very wide deployment in applications both within and without GIS.

Query and Analysis Once you have a functioning GIS containing your geographic information, you can begin to ask simple questions such as the distance between two places, the usage type of the land, the soil type of the land, the suitable sites for the relocation of an endangered species, the location of specific types of sites, the effects of a built up area on the land, and so on. GIS provides both simple point and click query capabilities and sophisticated analysis tools to provide timely information to managers and analysts alike. GIS technology really comes into its own when used to analyse geographic data to look for patterns and trends, and to undertake “what if” scenarios. Modern GISs have many powerful analytical tools, but the following are especially important.

Proximity Analysis Proximity Analysis is used to examine spatial relationships by determining the proximity relationship between features (see Figure 13.3). Which parcels are within 60 m of the road?

FIGURE 13.3

Example of Proximity Analysis

Overlay Analysis Overlay analysis integrates different data layers to look for patterns and relationships (see Figure 13.4). At its simplest, this could be a visual operation, but analytical operations require one or more data layers to be joined physically. For example, to analyse the impact of urbanization on ecological characteristics of an area, an overlay could integrate data on soils, hydrology, slope, vegetation, and land use. Queries could be used to identify sources of pollution, to delineate

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potentially sensitive areas, or to plan for increased population growth in the area.

FIGURE 13.4 Example of Overlay Analysis

Visualisation For many types of geographic operations, the end result is best visualised as a map or graph (see Figure 13.5). Maps are very efficient at storing and communicating geographic information. While cartographers have created maps for millennia, GIS provides new and exciting tools to extend the art and science of cartography. Map displays can be integrated with reports, threedimensional views, photographic images, and multimedia.

FIGURE 13.5 Example of Visualisation Analysis

284 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 13.6

IMPORTANCE OF GIS

The ability of GIS to search databases and perform geographic queries have revolutionized many areas of science and business. It can be invaluable during a decision-making process. The information can be presented succinctly and clearly in the form of a map and accompanying report, allowing decision makers to focus on the real issues rather than trying to understand the data. Because GIS products can be produced quickly, multiple scenarios can be evaluated efficiently and effectively. Thus in today’s world, the ability to use GIS is increasingly becoming important.

13.7

FUTURE OF GIS

Many disciplines can benefit from GIS technology. An active GIS market has resulted in lower costs and continual improvements in its hardware and software components. These developments will, in turn, result in a much wider use of the technology throughout science, government, business, and industry, for applications including real estate, public health, crime mapping, national defense, sustainable development, natural resources, landscape architecture, archaeology, regional and community planning, transportation, and logistics. GIS is also diverging into location-based services (LBS). LBS allows GPS-enabled mobile devices to display their location in relation to fixed assets (nearest restaurant, gas station, fire hydrant), mobile assets (friends, children, police car) or to relay their position back to a central server for display or other processing. These services continue to develop with the increased integration of GPS functionality with increasingly powerful mobile electronics (cell phones, PDAs, laptops).

Open Geospatial Consortium Standards Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is an international industry consortium of 333 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing specifications. Open interfaces and protocols defined by OpenGIS® specifications support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and locationbased services, and mainstream IT, and empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. GIS products are broken down by the OGC into two categories, based on how completely and accurately the software follows the OGC specifications. Compliant Products are software products that comply to OGC’s OpenGIS® specifications. When a product has been tested and certified as compliant through the OGC testing program, the product is automatically registered as “compliant” on the site.

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Implementing products are software products that implement OpenGIS specifications but have not yet passed a compliance test. Compliance tests are not available for all specifications. Developers can register their products as implementing draft or approved specifications, though OGC reserves the right to review and verify each entry.

13.8

STAKEHOLDERS OF GIS

The key stakeholders of GIS project would be the citizens, the state government (through its various departments), the company which is implementing the project and the office of the Survey of the Country. The various departments of the state government are separate stakeholders themselves. Following is an indicative list of various government departments and their activities which would require the use of GIS. Electrical Department (State Power Corporation) The electricity network paper drawings containing details of sub-station-to-feeder-to-transformerto-pole network (if available). Water Department The water supply network paper drawings containing details of pipelines, boosters, pump stations, treatment plant, reservoir tanks, bore wells (if available). Urban Development Authority/Municipal Corporation This would comprise of Quickbird Satellite Imageries covering the 5 km ´ 5 km area, a list of trucks/autorickshaws/taxi stands, slaughter houses, cremation grounds and their addresses, the location of city parks, ward boundaries, block boundaries and the district boundaries. Solid Waste Management Department This would have the stakeholders which would include the list of vets and collection points and their addresses. Education Department List of schools, colleges, institutions and universities and their locations can be provided in the GIS. Police Department Every Police control room vehicle would be mounted with a GPS unit, a list of all police stations and beat houses with their addresses and an area of jurisdiction duly identified on the base map would be provided to the police department. Health Department List of hospitals/dispensaries/PHCs/chemist shops and their addresses have to be provided to the government. Public Distribution Department The Public Distribution Department has to be provided with a list of fair price shops, and the jurisdiction of PDS zone. Traffic Police Department The Traffic Police Department has to be provided with an exhaustive list of traffic control rooms and their addresses, map of traffic light network and traffic signal posts. Transport Corporation/Department The stake in this case would include lists of public parking lots, bus stops and bus workshops with their addresses.

286 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Fire Service Department The Fire Service Department has to be provided with an exhaustive list of every fire brigade vehicle. Each of the fire brigade vehicles would be mounted with a GPS unit. Public Works Department This department has to maintain a list of government buildings and their addresses, location of bridges and culverts with attributes, location of U-turn boards and speed breakers, road network drawings defining details of the right of way. Forest/Environment/Pollution Control Department The requirements for this department are lists and addresses of state pollution control monitoring stations, list of quarries, demarcation of landslide susceptible areas, afforestation and deforestation, identification of effluent out fall points into rivers, extent of reserved/protected forests, and so on. Tourism Department The lists required by this department of great importance are offices and facilities with their addresses, list of hotels, resorts and rest houses, list of places of tourist attraction for adventure sports, pilgrimage, scenic beauty, annual fairs, details of trekking routes, and so on. Social and Poverty Alleviation Department These departments need to know the extent of slum areas duly identified on base maps and which are to be provided to these departments of the state government using GIS. Street Lighting Network The requirements for this department include a list of the locations of street light poles, and the layout of street light network.

SUMMARY GIS is a computer-based tool for mapping and analysing spatial data. It is valuable to a wide range of public and private enterprises for explaining events, predicting outcomes, and planning strategies. The major challenges we face in the world today are overpopulation, pollution, deforestation, and natural disasters. All have a critical geographic dimension. Local problems also have geographic component that can be visualised using GIS technology, whether it is the city’s traffic management, city urban planning, taxation, waste management, and on on. Today GIS is a multi-billiondollar industry employing hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Professionals in every field are increasingly aware of the advantages of thinking and working geographically. The utility of and the technology behind GIS is not only from the civic point of view-providing the infrastructural information city-wise, town-wise as well districtwise-but also the need of the hour as geographically the state comes under seismically active zone, so from disaster management point also the importance of GIS is not ignorable. Finally the benefit of GIS technology is not restricted to government bodies or organisations but key beneficiaries of GIS will be and should be the citizens who are also the key stakeholders of such projects. GIS will ensure efficiency, transparency and shall be designed in a flexible and dynamic manner. Thus GIS has a long way

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to go in providing and assisting the governance and managing the resources in the most optimum manner.

KEY TERMS Stakeholders

People who carry interest; may or may not be the beneficiaries.

Federal Level Agencies Agencies or departments in US which have their span over whole of US irrespective of the states agencies like FBI, CIA, and so on. Global Positioning System (GPS) A technology that helps navigation and uses the satellite images or inputs to provide geographical locations (that is position latitude as well as longitude) or, coordinates. Database Management System (DBMS) Oracle database and IBM’s DB2. Graphical User Interface (GUI) the user.

Software which manages data, such as

The point of interface between the machine and

Cartography (In Greek chartis = map and graphein = write): The study and practice of making geographical maps. Urban planning The integration of the disciplines of land use planning and transport planning, to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities. Resource management are needed.

Deployment for an organisation’s resources when they

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) An assessment of the possible impact— positive or negative—that a proposed project may have on the environment; considering natural, social and economic aspects. Epidemiological The study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine. Latitude (denoted by the Greek letter phi [F]): Gives the location of a place on Earth—or other planetary bodies-north or south of the equator. Longitude (symbolised by the Greek character lambda [l]): The geographic coordinate most commonly used in cartography and global navigation for east-west measurement. Geo-coding The process of finding associated geographic coordinates (often expressed as latitude or longitude) from other geographic data, such as street addresses, or zip codes (postal codes). Digitising Representing an object, image, sound, document or a signal (usually analog) by a discrete set of its points or samples. Atlases

A collection of maps, typically of Earth or a region of Earth.

Topographic The study of surface, shape, or features of Earth, planets, moons, and asteroids. Proximity analysis Analysis of locations of features by measuring the distance between them and other features in the area.

288 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Overlay Analysis An age-old technique of deriving new information from two or more layers of data covering the same area. Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) An international industry consortium of 382 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface standards.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What is Geographic Information System (GIS)? 2. What are the components of GIS? 3. Elucidate the various stakeholders in GIS and the benefits associated with each one of them? 4. Why is GIS important for e-government?

REFERENCES Wikipedia, “Geographic Information System”, Available online at ‘http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_information_system;, Downloaded on June 14, 2010.Ruzinoor Che Mat, Abdul Rashid Mohamed Shariff, Ahmad Rodzi Mahmud, “Online 3D Terrain Visualisation: A Comparison of Three Different GIS Software,” icime, pp.483-487, 2009 International Conference on Information Management and Engineering, 2009 Sinha A., “RFP for Geographc Information System for Uttarakhand” Available online at http://www.ua.nic.in . Downloaded on October 28, 2007. Westminister College, “What is Geographic Information System”, Available online at http://www.westminster.edu/staff/athrock/GIS/GIS.pdf, Downloaded on November 1, 2007.

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14 Open Source Software in e-Government Objectives · To understand the Open Source Strategy and relevance to e-government · To learn about Open Standards · To learn about Services Oriented Architecture · To understand G2G, G2B, G2C, and G2E services · To learn major architectural components of e-government software

14.1

INTRODUCTION

Software plays an important role in e-government by automating the processes. On this front, Open source allows all players to participate with equal footing. Also, since national security is involved, having open access to the source code allows audit and verification and ensures that no traps or Trojans have been planted that can compromise the nation’s security. Use of open source software reduces the total cost of ownership, thereby reducing the taxpayers’ burden. Standards are important for interoperability between different vendors as well as to ensure that two department systems are able to communicate with each other. Not only standardisation but also Open Standards are important. For example, ISO standards documentation cost heavily and are also not easily accessible. The standards adopted should be freely accessible, easy to comprehend and there should be a well-defined process to file errata and request for enhancements. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is the corner stone for e-government infrastructure. Each department provides a set of services as well as consumes another set of services. The services are orchestrated into processes. A framework for management of the life-cycle of the processes and services are also required for a successful e-government. Governments exist to serve their citizens. Thus

290 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies government to citizen (G2C) is the most important interface. This is followed by government to business (G2B) interfaces. Finally, government to government (G2G) processes should exist to facilitate G2C and G2B interactions.

14.2

OPEN STANDARDS

There are three types of standardisation bodies: · Government sponsored · Industry Sponsored · Community Sponsored

14.2.1 Government Sponsored Standards Government sponsored standards have two variations, unilateral and multilateral.

Unilateral Government Sponsored Standards In unilateral government sponsored standards, government of a country creates a standard to address its specific needs. Generally an expert committee is formed by the government with a charter and they deliver a draft which is put forth for public comment and finally adopted through Parliament or a department empowered by the government. Most countries have a primary standardisation body like Indian Standards Institute (ISI) for India, but for governance standards the ministries directly get involved. Another example in this regard is of the UK Government’s eGovernment Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) standard, which is directly sponsored by PMO (Prime Minister Office) and is based on existing XML and Web Services specifications and extended for governance. Schema for life events, health related, property, transports and so on are defined. Though the standards are openly available, it has a Crown Copyright (a form of Copyright used by the governments of a number of Commonwealth realms). However, the right to use is liberally granted. This has resulted in adoption of these in Commonwealth countries like New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

Multilateral Government Sponsored Standards Multilateral agencies like United Nations (UN) and International Standards Organisation (ISO) are used for standardisation of protocols that spans across countries; for example, processes like e-commerce documentation, financial transactions and passport related information interchange. UN was used to formulate a model law for e-commerce in 1996 (UNCITRAL), which was based on the best practices and existing industry standards for security and digital signature. After formulation it was put to vote among countries. The

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variants of this model law have been adopted by several advanced countries including USA, UK and India.

14.2.2 Industry Sponsored Standards Industry sponsored standards are created by a group of competing companies who need to cooperate in order to make the industry functionally viable. Web Services Interoperability Organisation (WS-I) is such an initiative, where interoperability of web services are ensured in a technology neutral manner. There are two types of standards, horizontal and vertical. Horizontal standards apply across the board irrespective of the nature of the industry, whereas vertical standards apply to specific industry segments. Web services are horizontal standards. This is covered in some detail in the SOA section.

14.2.3

Community Sponsored Standards

Once an industry standard matures, it is taken up by the community and is sometimes backed by international agencies like UN. For example, Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) now handles web service standards and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is responsible for maintaining Internet protocols. Similarly W3C standardises World Wide Web standards.

14.3

LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORKS

India adopted this law with some changes in the year 2000 (IT ACT, 2000). Along with its adoption, Indian Evidence Act and Banker’s Book Evidence Act were modified to state that any law which talks about record, an electronic record will also be valid, provided that certain security guidelines for nonrepudiation are followed. Also digital signatures have been allowed for electronic documentations. Digital Signatures are based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) standards. Simply put, a digital signature is a form of asymmetric encryption. A complementary key pair is generated by secured software, usually embedded inside a web browser. One part is kept secret and remains in the custody of the owner the other part is made public. Since the key pair is complementary, they have a property that, any information that is encrypted using a private key can be decrypted by the public key and vice-versa. Message digests are used to create a unique footprint of a document. Algorithms are devised in such a manner that any change in the document invalidates or changes the footprint. Thus if a person encrypts a message digest of a document with his private key and then another person can decrypt it and get the original digest. This digest can be compared with a freshly computed digest of the received document. If they match it is said to be digitally signed. This is an overtly simplistic

292 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies explanation of digital signatures, the details can be found in IT ACT and PKI standards. Digital signature is the foundation of e-government standards.

14.4

SERVICE ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE (SOA)

SOA is an architectural principle that views all interfaces between entities (be it humans or computers) as services. It has various layers of abstractions. The details of a technology neutral reference architecture has been developed by OASIS (OASIS-RA). Services are produced by processes and a process can consume multiple services. Such a service that aggregates all other services is called composite application. Individuals consume web services through a User Interface (UI), usually a browser. The browser in turn interacts with web services using standard XML (eXtensible Markup Language) based protocols. XML is defined by W3C (XML). The Web Services are layered protocols. At the bottom is Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is commonly supported by all browsers and web servers. HTTP specification is defined IETF and adopted by W3C (HTTP). All the layers above HTTP are based on XML format. The next layer is Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) which is used for remote services invocation. SOAP is defined by W3C (SOAP). It is equivalent to a function prototype of a conventional programming language. SOAP used to actually pass data and invoke a service during run time. Web Services Description Language (WSDL) describes a SOAP service. WSDL is a design time component, and is defined W3C (WSDL). Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) is a registry protocol and is used for discovery of a web Service specified by OASIS (UDDI). This can be thought of as White Pages of web services. Finally Web Services Security (WSS) defined by OASIS, define how the services should be secured. The WSS are based on PKI. To create a level playing field and to ensure that no malicious code is present, it is important that all these standards must be supported by open source implementation. Java Metro project is such an implementation (JAVA-METRO). As we discussed above, the web services needs to be orchestrated into processes. This is done using Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). OASIS defines this standard and is also based on XML (WS-BPEL). However, in reality there are already many working applications and systems in use and they cannot be ripped and replaced as they have investments of many person years and are vital for the functioning of an organisation. Thus an Enterprise Service Bus approach can be applied to use then in the SOA format. In these approach legacy systems gets connected to a Normalized Message

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Router (NMR) through Binding Components (BC). The BC connects to a legacy system, say a database, and exposes its procedures as Web Services. The business logic, like service orchestration resides in Service Engines (SE). The Java Business Integration (JBI) specifies such an architecture. Its open source reference implementation is Open ESB (OPENESB).

14.5

GOVERNMENT TO CITIZEN (G2C)

The citizens interact with governments for giving taxes and getting validated legal documents like passports, and birth and death certificates. Creation, validation and query of land records are other important services. In order to provide services to a citizen, it is important to know who the citizen is. The National ID project is such an effort. However, till the time it is realised multiple ids like PAN, Passports, and so on need to be used. Having said that, most of the citizens are financially excluded and do not own any ID presently. For them a biometric-based approach may be followed. A smart card containing their finger print associated with a mobile number or a bank account can uniquely identify them. This can be easily integrated with the National ID card project. The unified user interface through which a citizen consumes services is a Portal. Citizens without access to a computer can use community Internet kiosks or cyber cafes. Portal is a web-based software that consolidates different services from various government departments and presents a uniform single window. It can be customised based on the user profile and individual taste. Portal is specified by Java Community Process (JCP) and defined by JSR- 286, and its reference implementation is Open Portal (PORTAL). Government of Norway has implemented such a citizen portal (NORWAY). Each citizen has a unique identification and is managed by an identity infrastructure based on open standards and open source (OPENSSO) derived implementation. All services provided to a class of citizen can be accessed from a single window. Looking ahead, for a true democracy to flourish every citizen must be included in the governance in the country and their voice be heard. Citizen Portal with Web 2.0 and social networking capabilities can help citizens to be heard and their votes not limited to once in five years but local issues as well as national issues can be decided based on voting through the portal. This can only be possible when each citizen has a unique id.

14.6

GOVERNMENT TO BUSINESS (G2B)

A business is a legal entity. So many of the G2C services apply to G2B. In many countries the ministries dealing with companies affairs (MCA) and taxations

294 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies (TAX) are now fully automated through dedicated portals. They are based on enabling legislations such as IT ACT 2000 of India. In India, all directors of the companies formed under the Companies Act 1956 must now have digital certificates for affecting digital signatures compliant to IT ACT. In addition, to a human interface, a web services gateway is required so that the business computing infrastructure can seamlessly interact with the government processes. Danish Government Infostructure Base is such a web services infrastructure based on UDDI. Such an infrastructure should provide all services available through portals as well as other services like payment gateway, documentation interchange and an e-commerce gateway.

14.7

GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNMENT (G2G)

To provide a seamless citizen experience from a single window, the government agencies should be able to interact with each other through automated processes spanning the government departments. Thus an internal government UDDI server is required along with an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) exposing legacy applications as web services. UK has created such a gateway (GOV-GATEWAY). In addition to this, a single citizen view infrastructure is needed to identify a single citizen from multitude of citizen databases residing in silos in various legacy systems.

14.8 MAJOR ARCHITECTURAL COMPONENTS OF 14.8 e-GOVERNANCE SOFTWARE As discussed in the previous sections, the following are the major architectural components. Portal: A single UI consolidating services offered by government, consumed by citizens. Federated identity management: A biometrics-enabled identity management infrastructure for authentication and identification of citizens. UDDI registry: A central location for discovery of all government services for consumption by businesses and government departments. There can be two separate registries for G2B and G2G. Single citizen view: A citizen may be registered with multiple agencies and thus such a system can create a unified citizen view. Mural is an open source project that can used to create such an infrastructure. E-commerce gateway: A unified gateway based on standards can facilitate B2B commerce and not only integrate the financial supply chain, but also monitor and realise taxation thus reducing accounting and filling overhead. EU has such an infrastructure (EU-UBL) based on UDDI/EBXML and UBL.

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Payment gateway: A national payment gateway is required for seamlessly interacting with governance for paying taxes and levies. RBI has NEFT and RTGS systems but they are not accessible to businesses directly and thus they are dependent on a few authorised banks that can accept payments on behalf of the government. Document format: For the smooth functioning of a government a standard based office documentation format is required. Open Document Format (ODF) is specified by OASIS. Open Office (OO) is an open source implementation of ODF.

14.9

COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE LAYERS

Application software need computing infrastructure to run on, and scale to national level loads. Applications run on Application Platform, which in turn run on Computing Cloud. Computing Clouds are virtualised computing resources. The resources can shrink and expand as per the load. Modern day software applications are designed in such a way that, multiple instances of the same application can work together, running on different machine to share the load. The load is distributed across multiple machines. For example, if an application software running on a single machine can handle the load of 500 users, when the load increases to 5000 users, theoretically speaking, 10 instances of the same applications running on 10 different machines should be able to handle the load. However, in real life no application scales linearly. So 12 instance of the same application would be needed when the load factor increases by 10 times. However, most applications cannot fully utilise a single computing resource. For example, an application typically utilises about 40 percent of CPU as it may be waiting for input or output resources like networking or disk storage to respond. A well designed and tuned application can utilise about 80 percent of the resources. Most present-day computers have multiple CPUs and thus unless an application is highly optimised, much of the resources remain underutilised. Therefore, virtualisation technology splits a computer to run multiple instances of the application, thus helping it scale. Virtualisation layer can reside on top of the hardware, which is also called Hypervisor Technology. Zen is such a Hypervisor Technology, which is developed by a community of developers in open source. The two popular open source operating systems, Linux and OpenSolaris have adopted Zen technology. However, virtualisation can also reside on top of a host operating system and can execute other operating systems called guests. VirtualBox (VIRTUALBOX) is such an open source technology.

296 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Large scale virtualisation of CPU, storage and networking is called Computing Cloud. Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Network.com are two such examples.

14.9.1

Portal

A Portal is a web-browser-based desktop that provides a customised view of the web based applications. Portal integrates web pages rendered by diverse server technologies. The individual web applications appear in their own window on the desktop. These windows to web application are called portlets. The portal desktop appears different to different users based on their profiles and their personal preferences. Portal is based on JSR 168 and JSR 286 standardisations. Liferay (LIFERAY) and Open Portal (PORTAL) are two examples of open source and standards based portal software.

14.9.2

Government Gateway

The government gateway has three components, G2C for citizen interaction; G2B for businesses interfaces and G2G for co-ordinating with different government agencies to provide a seamless service to citizens and business consumers. For citizen interactions, portal is needed. However, for G2B and G2G, a Web services gateway is required. Web services were discussed in previous sections. Project Metro (METRO) is an example of an open source and standards based software stack.

14.9.3 Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) ESB enables legacy applications to be exposed as web services and help streamline message and processes spanning across the government enterprise. Say, 200 applications need to talk to each other, then each application would need 199 interfaces. Thus the total connections would be 200 ´ 199 = 39800 interfaces. However, if each one of them talks to the ESB then just two interfaces are required per application. Thus for 200 applications just 2 ´ 200 = 400 interfaces are needed. Every additional application can be integrated with the ESB with just two interfaces, as opposed to 200 interfaces in case each application talks directly to the other. Mostly all ESBs support business processes orchestration, that is businesses process flowcharts can be created and then executed, that cut horizontally across the applications. Open ESB (OPEN-ESB) is an example of an open source standards based ESB software.

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14.9.4

297

Office Productivity

Office productivity suite includes instant messaging, e-mail, calendaring, spreadsheet, documentation and presentation software package. It is important for governments to have documentations stored in open standards to avoid obsolescence of proprietary formats. Open source software ensures that there are no hidden security threats like spy-wares, embedded in an application.

14.9.5

Open Source Operating Systems

Finally, operating system (OS) is the base of all the software stacks that run government enterprises. Not only must it be robust and scalable but also should be open source due to security concerns mentioned earlier. Linux, BSD and Open Solaris are three such open source OS derived from Unix.

SUMMARY Governments are adopting open standards. They should be backed by open source reference implementation for national security as well as for creating a level playing field. A central portal and a web services gateway is required based on SOA principles for delivering seamless government services to citizens.

KEY TERMS Open Source Of or related to or being computer software for which source code is freely available. Web Service “A software system designed to support interoperable machine-tomachine interaction over a network”. SOA A set of principles of governing concepts used during phases of systems development and integration. Portal Presents information from diverse sources in a unified way. G2B Online non-commercial interaction between local and central governments and commercial business sector. G2C Online non-commercial interaction between local and central governments and citizens. G2G

Online non-commercial interaction between local and central governments.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What is the need for Open Standards? 2. What is the difference between Open Source and Open Standards? 3. How does adopting Open Standards reduce vendor lock-in?

298 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 4. How does adopting open source software reduce the total cost of ownership of the software in the long term? 5. What is the long term implications of adopting non-open source software?

REFERENCES Cabinet Office, Government of United Kingdoms, “e-Government Interoperability Framework”, Available online at ‘http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govtalk/archive/ policy_documents_1_of_1/e-gif.aspx’, Downloaded on June 14, 2010. OASIS, “Reference Architecture for Service Oriented Architecture Version 1.0”, Available online at ‘http://docs.oasis-open.org/soa-rm/soa-ra/v1.0/soa-ra-pr-01.pdf’, Downloaded on June 14, 2010. Jaijit Bhattacharya, P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan, Shantanu Gupta “Open standards and accessibility to information: a critical analysis of OOXML in India”. In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Theory and practice of electronic governance, ICEGOV 2007: 151-154, Macao, China. Jaijit Bhattacharya, Sourabh Suman: Analysis of popular open source licenses and their applicability to e-governance. ICEGOV 2007: 254-257. Jaijit Bhattacharya, “Middleware and Technology Standards for e-Governance”, Available online at ‘http://www.cse.iitd.ernet.in/~jaijit/papers/egovmw.pdf ’, Downloaded on June 14, 2010. Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, “Draft Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance”, Available online at ‘http://egovstandards.gov.in/’. Downloaded on June 14, 2010.

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15 Government Call Centre Objectives · To learn the needs for a government call centre · To understand the benefits of a government call centre to the stakeholders · To learn the business benefits of a government call centre · To learn the architecture of a government call centre · To learn the functioning of a government call centre · To know the issues related to a government call centre

15.1

INTRODUCTION

Citizens interact with various government offices on a regular basis for different services. Some interact for getting certificates while others interact for information pertaining to government schemes or completing transactions or their follow up or follow up of some forms submitted. On most occasions they are dissatisfied with the quality of service provided because of delays or inadequacy of the information provided. This may be due to a variety of reasons ranging from lack of information with officials themselves or because of their high work-load which inevitably causes delay. Also, citizens have to approach several government agencies for various services needed which takes up a lot of their productive time leading to reduced economic activity. This leads to a severe discontent on the citizens’ part and also erodes their belief in the governance provided. Thus governments today are facing an increasing challenge of providing better services to citizens that represent the best value to the tax-payer. An important element of effective e-government is putting the citizen at the centre and designing services around him/her—in other words it is all about Citizen Relationship Management (CRM). Many governments have already recognised CRM as a critical e-government building block and have included it in their e-government road maps. CRM systems should ideally

300 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies enable access to information owned by various governments which can then be used to provide citizen services over multiple channels. With the ready availability of modern information technology, telecommunications and increased data connectivity, it is becoming increasingly attractive and cost effective for various government agencies to provide services to its citizens remotely through multiple channels of interaction. The success of this model has been widely visible in the private sector as is evident from the explosion in the BPO industry. While technology barriers may have reduced to an extent, the real challenge that governments have in this area is the integration of their front-office service delivery systems and their operational back-office systems. Integration should ideally be accompanied by cost reduction through streamlining back-office processes and also freeing up internal resources of government agencies. This can then be used to improve the real business of government which delivers high quality services to citizens at the best value to the taxpayer. A government call centre aims to address all the above concerns. It is supposed to be a one-stop citizen information centre providing information pertaining to and the services offered across all departments and ministries in government by integrating the front end call centre with various departments of government.

15.2

NEED FOR A GOVERNMENT CALL CENTRE

A citizen has to interact with government on a regular basis throughout his/ her life for one service or the other. However, often he/she is unable to contact the correct organisation for a particular service and ends up wasting a lot of time. This results in discontentment. If the required information could be got in a single attempt, it would save a lot of time which could be utilised for productive purposes. Thus the concept of a government call centre is one such step which aims to provide all the relevant information with a single phone call. There are numerous occasions when a citizen needs to interact with the government for service or information. Some of the reasons for having a government call centre are: · Citizens need to understand the department’s processes to utilise its services. · Citizens need to constantly update information in government departments regarding employment, tenders, status of query or complaint, the processing stage of an application, and so on. · Citizens require information about the functions of various government services. · Citizens need to be provided with correct advice for carrying out a process. · To act as a grievance redressal support system. · To provide low cost access to government to a large section of the society especially disadvantaged sections such as rural masses and the illiterate.

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· To register and resolve citizen service requests and expedite them if necessary. · To disseminate information to citizens on schemes such as employment generation, poverty reduction, pulse polio, etc. · To respond to unexpected crises or emergency situations, such as natural disasters and epidemics, where accurate and rapid information dissemination is important. · To act as a feedback mechanism on the quality of services delivered by the government. · A government department focuses on reducing costs while increasing service levels. The mission of a government call centre is to deliver information about services of various departments and ministry to citizens and handle queries using electronic means. This would facilitate an efficient, speedy and transparent process for disseminating information to the public, and for performing government administration activities. Such an approach would lead to truly integrated citizen services helping in enhancing livelihoods and transforming governance.

15.3

USES OF A GOVERNMENT CALL CENTRE

A government call centre should be well equipped to provide information about the following services which would span the lifetime of a citizen. These can be classified according to various stages of a person’s lifetime. · Child : The provision of birth certificate and healthcare for the baby · Student : Services related to school admissions, e-learning and scholarships could be provided. · Youth : Employment services, registration of vehicles, voter identification card, driving license, passport/visa, and so on. · Employed : Registration of land and land records, payment of taxes, property registration, marriage certificates, utilities, municipality services, information pertaining to agriculture, and so on. · Retirement : Pensions, insurance and healthcare.

15.3.1

Major Departments Whose Services are Primary

Various departments which need to be integrated and which form bulk of the government organisations and various services offered by them are: 15.3.1.1 Education Department Education Department would support computerised examination system. There will be increased transparency by making it public. It would provide information about colleges and courses offered thereby helping students in making their choices about colleges and courses. It would constantly update

302 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies information regarding scholarships available for under privileged and poor thereby making education accessible to all. 15.3.1.2 Land Records System Land records system would be extremely useful for farmers in rural areas. By computerising all land records it would save a lot of paper work in addition to providing security of tenure, seeking of crop loans and other agriculture related inputs. 15.3.1.3

Secretariat System

Secretariat system would keep track of all the government files online. Call centre can answer queries related to the status of citizens’ applications. 15.3.1.4 Birth and Death Registration and Photo Voter ID Card Information pertaining to obtaining the above documents and the processes involved such as the fee structure, application forms, supporting documents, location of registration offices among others can be found out. 15.3.1.5 Motor Vehicle License Issuing Agencies These would provide information regarding the licensing processes, fees, tax rates, driving regulations, residence certificates, and so on. 15.3.1.6 Passport/Visa Information pertaining to passport application, various documents required, status of application, procedure for obtaining visa, and so on can be obtained. 15.3.1.7 Property Registration and Stamps Information regarding the services available, registration documents pertaining to property, redressal of grievances, status of complaints etc is provided.

15.3.2

Functions of the Call Centre

· Services are available to the customer through a single point of access, even if these services are delivered by different authorities or private service providers. · Further, the services and information are offered in a well-structured and user-friendly manner, which meets the customers’ needs and does not require specific knowledge about the functional fragmentation of public sector. · Citizen has a single window for all his information requirements from the government. · Possible 24 ´ 7 Service to citizens through citizen interaction centre for any information. · Provide dashboard to the call centre agent which provides complete information about the citizen, to the extent possible, that would enable

Government Call Centre

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·

·

· ·

303

the call centre agent to track his previous contact history and provide appropriate information. Provide information assisted by scripted questions and answers. This would ensure a consistent and standardised service to the citizen. Complete track of interactions of citizens through call centre. This would ensure that no call is left unanswered. Assign task to various departments for any unanswered queries from citizens. This builds accountability within the departments to respond to citizens at the earliest. Escalations of the queries from the citizen to the appropriate appellate authority when the service request from the citizen is unanswered within the stipulated time. Government officials and ministries would get complete reports from citizen interaction centre, which will enable government to plan and execute various projects. Citizen interaction centre would provide unique service request numbers to citizens for future reference. Call centre would not stop with just responding to the queries. Rather it builds relationships through dynamic and reciprocal responses which is part of the responsibilities of Citizen Interaction Centre.

15.3.3

Existing View and Changed View

Commercial Taxes

Land Registration (Bhoomi)

Police

Food & Gil Supplies

Public Work

Agriculture

Public Instruction

Registration & Stamps

Treasury & Payroll

Transport

FIGURE 15.1 Existing View of Government for the Citizens

Police

Social

Finance

Law

Horticulture

Rural Dev

Education

Food & CS

Police

Citizen Interaction Centre Multichannel

Joined-up government through integration

Education

Connected citizen through multichannel interaction

Improved service

Cost saving

304 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

FIGURE 15.2 Changed View of the Government

15.4

BUSINESS BENEFITS

The outcome of this government call centre would be beneficial to both government and citizens.

15.4.1

Benefits for the Government

Reduced Cost of Service The first element of cost reduction will come from remote delivery of services and gradual migration of services provisioning from expensive service counters, which need to be created across the state to low cost channels such as phone and email, which can be centrally provided at much lower costs. The second element of cost reduction will come from the economies of scale of running a single, large call centre instead of multiple small department-specific call centres. The consolidation of multiple call centres which use a common set of resources and infrastructure can lead to better utilisation and productivity which will reduce both capital and operational expenditure. Resource Utilisation and Analysis Improved end-to-end process management will eliminate non-value-adding intermediate activities thereby freeing resources, which can be used more productively. · Ability to track and measure usage of resources across the call to resolution chain by using modern ICT tools.

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· Identification of process or people bottlenecks and their correction (for example making such information public). Replicable and Scalable Model The capacity of the call centre can be quickly ramped up in terms of infrastructure and agents much more easily than physical service counters. The call centre model is easily replicable and scalable so that it can quickly accommodate growth along the following dimensions: · Increased number of government departments · Increased citizens base · Increased number of processes · Increased information inputs from participating departments

15.4.2

Benefits for the Citizen

Increased Access to Service and Greater Social Inclusion A call centre that can be used easily by a wide cross-section of society, especially disadvantaged segments such as rural citizens, the illiterate, and so on, will be of great benefit in terms of offering a channel of interaction between the citizen and the government. Single Window for Multiple Service Requirements The call centre should serve as a single window to multiple government departments and multiple types of transactions, for example information about processes and documentation required, inquiries on status updates such as account transfer, change of address, and so on. Reduced Costs of Availing Services Citizens can spend time effectively towards other activities, rather than standing in long queues or traveling physically to multiple government departments for simple transactions or information needs. Reliable Access to Government The call centres role in timely and accurate information dissemination such as in disaster situations, health management drives, reliable emergency help lines, and so on will be of great value to citizens.

15.4.3

General Benefits

In addition to the above services a government call centre can be extremely useful in addressing the following issues: Integrated Citizen Services The government call centre would be able to integrate all the citizen services and provide them at a single location acting as one stop centre for all the queries. Thus it would reduce a lot of workload on the citizen and the government.

306 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Rural Livelihood This could provide information about the agriculture and rural resource management helping the rural citizens by providing weather information, information regarding quality of soil, and so on. Also once the track record of citizens gets recorded it would be easy to provide rural credit and the concept of micro-finance can be implemented. Governance Through the government call centre local bodies can be connected to state departments and have access to the information available. This information would empower and strengthen local bodies and aid in ease of governance. Women’s Empowerment Women can bypass the issues such as time, distance and also the objectionable behaviour of government staff in trying to reach out to government authorities through the call centre. Change Management This is one of the most important benefits of government call centre. The implementation of this would require a lot of change in government departments and their efforts to cope with this massive change would serve as a useful lesson for future projects. Knowledge and Experience Sharing Functioning of the government call centre would lead to the creation of a knowledge base based on the calls handled. Once such a knowledge base is ready, it would be easier for the government call centre agents to quickly come up with solutions to the citizens’ request, with reduced dependency on departments, thus increasing the efficiency of providing such services and reducing the cost of governance. People Orientation The services offered by the government call centre would be targeted towards the rural poor and the marginalised who find it difficult to access the government. Citizens would be provided with the facility to give feedback which would later be analysed carefully. This would help in providing those services that are actually demanded. Replicability Once this model has been successfully implemented in a particular area then it would be easy to extend this to the country as a whole. Hence further costs in extending this would be significantly lesser. Affordability and Ease of Use The services would be pretty much affordable since the call centre would function based on toll free lines and after extending these services to kiosks these would be provided at nominal costs.

Government Call Centre

15.5

ARCHITECTURE OF A GOVERNMENT CALL CENTRE Call Centre Agent

Citizen

E-mail

Voice

Direct

Web

Inbound Software

Reporting s/w

Scripting s/w

CRM s/w

Content Management

Call Centre Agent

Citizen

Integration Tools

Dep A

Dep B

Dep C

Dep D

Voice

E-mail

Direct

Web

Inbound Software

Scripting s/w

Reporting s/w

CRM s/w

Content Management

Dep C

Dep D

Call Centre Integration Tools

Dep A

FIGURE 15.3

Dep B

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308 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 15.6

FUNCTIONING OF A GOVERNMENT CALL CENTRE Web/Mail

Direct Call/IVR

Complaint/ request for information registered

Check Knowledge Base and offer answers to queries

Walk In

Escalation if necessary (automated or manual)

Confirm satisfactory closure

Forward to other Departments if necessary

Close the Request or Complaint

FIGURE 15.4 Functioning of a Government Call Centre

Contacting the Call Centre A citizen might contact the call centre either through a call or web or by visiting the call centre. They would contact the call centre for: · Information about the service of a particular department · Help regarding utilising the service of a particular department · Latest information pertaining to the service of a particular department Registration of a Query When a call is made to the call centre it is recorded and the query is marked by a unique query number. Handling the Call Queries can be classified into Instant Query Response (IQR), which are queries asking for general information to which an immediate response can be given, and Latent Query Response (LQR), which are queries asking for specific information in a particular department and needed to be forwarded to the particular department. Further Processing if Necessary If the query is of LQR nature the agent will make a note and forward it to the particular department, who will get back with a response. This would be provided to the customer when he calls back with the unique query number associated with that query.

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Confirmation of Satisfactory Closure After every call the call centre system would ask for a feedback based on which satisfactory closure of the query is confirmed. Escalation if Necessary Queries not closed within the stipulated time frame are escalated to a higher level in the department and would be tagged for a quick response. Closure of the Query After handling the query it can be closed either manually or automatically.

15.7 15.7.1

KEY ISSUES WITH A GOVERNMENT CALL CENTRE Integration

It would be futile to create a government call centre unless it is linked to each and every department of the government resulting in a single face of the government to the citizens. The main challenge that government must overcome for the success is the integration of their front office service delivery system and their back office operational system. Various ministries and departments of government must be integrated using some integration tools. Such an integrated government can then start providing its services through a truly integrated portal, mobile and landline telephones. This would take a lot of effort and cost.

15.7.2

Staff Management and Scheduling

Shift timings have to be arranged such that the agents are available 24*7 for handling calls. Hence it would be advised to divide the working hours into three shifts of eight hours each. The shifts can possibly be Shift 1: 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Shift 2: 5 p.m.– 1 a.m. Shift 3: 1 a.m.–9 a.m. Most of the calls would come in the first shift, that is from morning 9 O’clock to evening 5 O’clock and hence would require more staffing during this period. The call centre agents must be trained to handle calls and should have some basic knowledge pertaining to the domain. Calls must be monitored by supervisors. Further there would be managers to take care of operations and maintenance of the call centre.

15.7.3

Staff Training

Success of government call centre depends mainly on how well the agents handle the calls. If they do not have sufficient domain knowledge then the response

310 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies given may not satisfy the citizen and he/she may not utilise its services any further. To avoid such circumstances, in the initial phases the agents should be government employees having sufficient domain knowledge. Specific queries about a particular departments should be answered by experienced people. For this services of retired employees of that department can be utilised. Training of agents must be carried out by experienced and top level managers of that department.

15.7.4

Government Ownership

Government departments and their employees must be involved throughout the life-cycle and functioning of the call centre. This will give them a sense of ownership and ensure that both the front-end and back-end processes are supported and endorsed by the particular departments.

15.7.5

Dealing with Frivolous Calls

In order to deal with frivolous calls, a nominal fee may be charged instead of those being free. Further, users can be properly advised on the type of calls handled by the call centre thereby meeting public expectations.

15.7.6

Financial Issues

There are various costs associated with a government call centre as mentioned below. Hardware Costs Hardware costs would include costs of servers, personal computers, networking switches, database servers, routers, and so on. Software Costs Software costs would include the cost of acquiring various software such as application software, database applications, operating systems, voice response software, firewall and antivirus costs, etc. Other Setup Costs Consultancy costs, power backup, printers, fax, furniture, cost of building, cost to be paid for leasing out telephone lines, stationery, and so on. Operating Costs Operating costs include human resource consisting of payroll of employees, hardware maintenance, software up-gradation, building rent, training of employees, transportation and food, electricity, calls, and so on.

15.7.7

Data Privacy and Security Issues

Proper care needs to be taken since access of private parties to the government information should not be allowed. Also, information pertaining to land and

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property of an individual must not be divulged to others. Hence a mechanism of caller identification needs to be maintained.

15.7.8

Outsourcing or Self-Establishment

One of the most important issue which needs to be sorted out from the perspective of government is whether to establish the call centre by outsourcing the entire project to a private organisation or establishing everything on its own and looking after the process. 15.7.8.1 Advantages of Outsourcing · Operations will be more scalable as private call centre service providers are well-equipped to scale operations significantly in a short time. This will be the key to success, especially if the call centre is seen to deliver value. · Staffing of the call centre with government employees may lead to the same service levels as are being provided by them in the existing situation which is quite poor in most cases. · Outsourced call centres are specialised organisations and will be able to leverage on their size, experience and domain knowledge to provide better service levels at lower costs. · Best practices are incorporated in an outsourced call centre operations. 15.7.8.2 Disadvantages of Outsourcing · Credibility of the call centre especially in early days may suffer if it is staffed by non-government employees without adequate domain knowledge, process knowledge and experience. · Ownership of the call centre processes by the department may reduce as there will be no direct participation by government employees. · Attrition in outsourced call centres tends to be high (30% and more) and this may reduce the effectiveness of operations. Attrition is much lower in government. · There may be less control. · There may be problems of privacy and confidentiality issues when government or citizen information is accessed by a private party. · There needs to be constant updation of information, which can be practically done by government only. · Internal government agency systems, knowledge base and processes may not be easily transferable. · There may be public concerns over possible leakage of sensitive government data by the outsourced agency. The service provided may be more cost-effective if handled internally over the long-term.

312 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · There may be difficulties integrating a number of agency functions through an outsourced service.

15.7.9 Effective Functioning of Government Call Centre in 15.7.9 an Outsourced Environment The effectiveness of the service will be influenced by the strength of relationship established between the agency and government on an ongoing basis. Clear expectations and lines of communication are essential for the outsourced service to work effectively. SLAs will assist in this process. Organisations should also be aware of the need for extensive support to the outsourced agency in the form of adequate briefings, agency-specific training, constant updating and regular reporting and feedback. Government departments and their employees need to be involved throughout the life-cycle of the creation and running of the call centre. This will create a sense of ownership and ensure that both front and back office processes are endorsed and supported by the respective departments. A core team from each department, which is empowered to take decisions and is adequately knowledgeable and skilled, needs to be “deputed” to take responsibility of their department’s involvement in managing the call centre. Such employees and experts will have the following broad roles: · Creation of domain knowledge base. · Maintenance of domain knowledge base. · Monitoring interactions between citizens and call centre. · Call resolution by department expert. · Identification of process and people bottlenecks at both front and back offices and taking corrective action.

SUMMARY A government call centre would certainly increase the effectiveness and efficiency in the level of governance offered by the government. It would increase the interaction between the citizens and the government thereby making the G2C services more productive. It would also act as a mechanism where citizens can give their feedback on the existing schemes and provide suggestions for further improvement. Government can thus act on the feedback given and try to match the expectations of general public. This could also help the government in reaching out to the underprivileged and the poor and provide services enabling rural empowerment. However, since this call centre is to be set up under public-private partnership (PPP), the successful functioning and the basic objectives of providing better and efficient service would rest on the commitment of both parties involved. The major factors being continuation of political will to continue and the training provided to call centre agents. This is because of the number of calls which would go up in

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future as more departments are added to the service. Hence the call centre should be well equipped to scale its operations to a much higher level. Information about various government services needs to be provided to citizens quickly and efficiently. With the growth of technology, it is easy to disseminate information and receive public feedback. In order to have a one-stop centre it is necessary to integrate the backend of the call centre with various departments of government. For a call centre established through the PPP model it is important for both the involved parties to be committed to its success. Thus it is important to check the processes of a government call centre using a pilot pass involving a limited number of departments such that it could later be scaled up. Both the regional language and English are to be used for the IVRS system if the purpose is to reach out to maximum number of citizens. Calls should be recorded and later analysed to find out the nature of calls and their responses and the results documented for future reference such that the call response time reduces significantly for future queries of similar types. Finally, this should not be thought of as a profit-making venture since there would be zero or nominal charges for utilising the service in the initial stages and the cost of calls would be higher. As the concept matures and the number of citizens using this service goes up the call costs would come down and certain benefits can be obtained. Thus government call centre is an excellent means of improving G2C services.

KEY TERMS Regional Transport Office (RTO) other issues related to vehicles.

Responsible for the issue of driving licenses and

Government ownership Involvement of government departments and employees throughout the life-cycle and functioning of the call centre.

CASE STUDIES Citizen Relationship and Grievance Management System (CRGMS) Delhi Background The government of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi and a number of autonomous bodies provide a large number of services to its citizens. The government needs a mechanism to get a feedback on the services it provides. This is not only to get information on what is happening, but also to identify weak points of governance and take remedial actions. Since governments are typically large and work in many fields, it is not possible for citizens to know everything about it, the services offered, and how to get one. Thus a government should have an efficient system for information dissemination and grievance handling.

314 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Objectives of Setting up CRGMS CRGMS should be set up to provide the masses direct access to government by providing means to access various services and to lodge grievances. The means of communication can be voice (telephones), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), chat, mail, or paper. The system would be a single point access system with sufficient number of trained staff to reply to the citizens queries received through any of the above means. It should be able to generate a database of queries and grievances of the citizens which could be analysed to identify weak areas of governance. The public grievance system must be integrated with the CRGMS to allow for central monitoring of all the grievances with proper escalation mechanism. Existing System Information dissemination Government departments/agencies disseminate information through: · Officials handling the subject in offices · Announcing various schemes through media · Help-desk or reception in the department · Placing information on the website Grievance Filing Grievance filing is done through · Letter or representation on paper · Internet · Personal meetings Problems in the existing system Information dissemination · Citizens have to visit offices to get information · All the departments are not covered · No mechanism exists to get all the information at one location · Internet penetration is not high and hence information available on web is not accessible to all Grievance Redressal · All departments are not covered · No mechanism to monitor grievances filed on paper or representations · No proper mechanism to escalate the unaddressed grievances · No mechanism to collate the grievances received, serviced, and unserviced at one place · No mechanism to lodge grievances on telephones · No database of grievances received to analyse and identify weak areas of governance

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Expectations of the Proposed CRGMS The CRGMS is expected to address the shortcomings of the existing system and act as a mechanism for information dissemination and grievance redressal system. It is expected to act as: · Information dissemination system · Grievance handling system It will also act as a help desk for the Delhi government. Areas Covered Under Information Dissemination: · Services offered by various departments of the NCT, Delhi, for example how to obtain a license or a permit? · Information for eligibility conditions, documents to be submitted, when and where to apply, and so on. · Contact information of functionaries of various departments. · Information about government setup, functioning, and so on. · Obtain information regarding various miscellaneous subjects such as historical places, hospitals, old age homes, and so on. · Citizens can give their feedback on the schemes offered and their functioning. · The citizens can express their expectations from government. Functions of CRGM · Register complaints and grievances · Obtain action taken reports/proceeds on grievances lodged earlier The various means of communicating with CRGMS are: 1. Telephone/mobile: A dedicated line with a number 126126 has been assigned on which citizens can ask for information or lodge a grievance. The agent then issues a unique acknowledgement number for future references and follow-ups. 2. IVRS: After calling the number 126126 the citizen can select IVR for information or grievance lodging. 3. Internet: Citizens can go to the website to get information or to file their grievances. 4. Direct: Citizens might walk in to the CRGMS office and directly ask for information or file a grievance. A graphical representation of the CRGMS for grievance handling would look like Figure 15.5: Services expected from the call centre · The call centre should be well-designed and well-built with the latest technologies such as IVRS, automatic call distribution, call routing, and so on. · It should provide service on a 24 ´ 7 basis. · It should offer services in local languages. Specification/features of the Call Centre The call centre should have the following features:

316 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

Internet – Form, wap enabled GPRS mobile

Internet - Email Grievance Telephone – Voice

Grievance

Call Centre

IVR

Mobile – Voice, SMS

Grievance

Grievance

CRGMS

Paper Grievance

Respective deptt, GoD Department official receives grievance online in inbox, resolves grievance & update grievance status on CRGMS Accordingly

FIGURE 15.5 Grievance Handling Management · Agents should be provided with a system which would be easy to operate and they should have full knowledge about functioning of CRM. · Agents should be properly trained on the process and procedures to handle calls. · Waiting time should not be more than 45 seconds when general information about the new initiatives and schemes of government might be given. · The whole system should be such that queries can be satisfactorily responded to in two to three minutes.

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· In case the time limit exceeds, the call should be escalated to the supervisor. The system should have the mechanism of call escalated if any query is not responded within the stipulated time. CRGMS call centre was set up by Spanco Telesystems which secured the CRGMS contract from Delhi Government. Domestic call centre operations would operate under the brand name “Sparsh”. The initial contract is for 15 months. Thereafter it can be renewed yearly for a period of five years. This has been successfully implemented even online where the citizens can log onto the website www.delhigovt.nic.in and find the information they need or file a grievance. A registration number is generated for future reference where one can check the status of the application.

Flemish Government’s Call Centre The Background In the late 1990s, the Flemish Government put transparency and easy accessibility for all citizens high on its agenda. Citizens expected to learn about impact of new policies and regulations on their lives. Access to information needed to be quick and easy. The government set up a single point of contact for public information. The goal was to serve citizens in a professional, user-friendly manner and address all questions regarding the government. Citizens were expected to be served via other communication channels besides high-quality telephone support. The Solution The green light for a multi-channel contact centre was given in 1998 christened Vlaamse Infolijn (ccVI). Quality, growth and innovation were clear hallmarks from the start. Strategic decisions were made to: · Set up the contact centre as a PPP · Consider knowledge management as one of the main drivers for success · Maintain excellent relations with different administrations of the government · Establish the contact centre as a pioneer in the use of leading edge technologies · Focus on delivering a high-quality public information service The Vlaamse Infolijn went live in 1999 with eight front-office agents and a core support team of four employees. In its very first year, ccVI registered 57,000 citizen contacts, handled via green number (+32) 0800 30201. The Results After almost 10 years of intensive operations and close collaboration with Capgemini, the Contact Centre Vlaamse Infolijn has evolved into a worldclass multichannel contact centre in the public sector, managing more than a million citizen contacts a year through a diversity of channels: telephone, e-mail, web chat, SMS and interactive digital TV. The organisation has grown to 95 call centre agents and a core support team of 18 employees, and has been officially awarded for contact centre excellence several times. During the last few years, a strategic shift has taken place from providing just first line information to offering complete transactional

318 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies services. The launch of a quick dial number (1700) in 2006 was a crucial breakthrough to facilitate easy access to citizens and pursue the concept of a single point of contact for all citizen interactions with the Flemish Government.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the need for a government call centre. 2. Enumerate the stakeholders of a government call centre and explain the benefits to each of them. 3. What are the business benefits expected out of a government call centre? 4. Explain why it is important to have an escalation mechanism in the government call centre.

REFERENCES Department of Information Technology, Government of Delhi, “RFP For Government Call Centre”. http://it.delhigovt.nic.in/doit/mission_mode_call_centre.pdf>’ Last Accessed- 28th May, 2008. Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Ariculture, Government of India, “Kisan Call Centre”. Available online at http://agricoop.nic.in/policyIncentives/ kisanCallfirst.htm’ As Accessed on 15th June, 2010. Srivathsan, K. R. “IT Enabled Strategic Framework for Agriculture - the KISSANKerala Approach”. Available online at http://www.edugrid.ac.in/download/StrategyAgri-2-082k7.pdf. Last Accessed on 15th June, 2010.

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16 Secure Transactions Infrastructure Objectives · To understand the need for a secure transaction infrastructure. This will be achieved by understanding the need for secure credit as well as by highlighting the advantages of collateral · To undertake a scenario building exercise which outlines the present scenario with respect to the flow of credit and the securitisation in the financial system · To study the international trends in Secure Transactions Infrastructure · To understand the structure of a Secure Transactions Infrastructure

16.1

INTRODUCTION

An effective secured transactions regime has a primary role to play in a financial system and is hence a critical component of providing better governance using ICT. Effective secured transaction regime leads to the following improvements: · It can ensure better access to credit by various sectors of the economy that have previously been barred or have had only limited access to credit by expanding the pool of assets that can be used as collateral. · A secured transactions regime can also contribute to a stronger monitoring of corporate governance by creditors, decreased ambiguity in determining the creditworthiness of debtors, increased certainty in determining claimants to collateral, all of which promote access to credit and allow credit to be extended on better terms. · It can facilitate diversification of credit risk and financial intermediation by encouraging non-financial creditors like merchants, dealers, traders, and manufacturers so as to facilitate a more competitive credit market. · A modern secured transactions regime also supports reduction of transaction costs and improved access to credit by fostering efficient out-of-court creditor-initiated enforcement. This reduces the time spent at the courts therefore improving the financial return on credit.

320 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · A modern secured transactions legal regime in a nation will encourage comprehensive registration of all security interests irrespective of their legal form. An effective legal regime for the creation, perfection, and enforcement of security interests, including publicizing of all security interests in movable property, will enhance access to credit by debtors. This is due to the fact that comprehensive registration eliminates the uncertainty for third party creditors seeking to review the creditworthiness of a debtor against the backdrop of prior security interests in a particular legal form that did not have to be publicly registered. After the terrorist attacks in the United States (US) on September 11, 2001, the threat of money laundering and terrorist financing were discussed as a priority agenda item by many international bodies. The importance of the establishment of an effective national system against these threats became widely accepted. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has further strengthened its response to various requests by governments to assist them in the drafting of laws; training of personnel to develop capacity to implement and enforce these laws; develop national frameworks for monitoring suspicious financial transactions, and establish an effective system for international cooperation. In April 2003, ADB issued its policy on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, and noted that ADB’s activities in these areas were extensions of its work to facilitate poverty reduction, promote good governance and anticorruption, and strengthen the integrity of the national financial sector. The three pillars of the policy are: 1. Assisting Developing Member Countries (DMCs) in establishing and implementing effective legal and institutional systems. 2. Increasing collaboration with other international organisations. 3. Strengthening internal controls to safeguard ADB funds. · ADB’s findings confirm the prediction of legal research: Financial firms rarely lend on the security of movable property not in their possession. · Non-financial enterprises usually offer relatively little secured credit to their buyers. ADB research in the area of secured transactions commissioned under a regional technical assistance lead to the development of a strategy for secured transactions law reform for several country initiatives in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Laos, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Importantly, ADB’s research pioneered an integrated approach to insolvency and secured transaction law reform so as to ensure that any insolvency reforms support secured lending and contribute to a more predictable debtor-creditor legal regime. The financial system in many emerging economies is currently characterised by a lack of standardisation in all aspects of the loan origination with the exception of government-sponsored loans or housing loans granted by some

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large housing finance institutions. Each bank or institution uses its own form of contract. Standardisation of a particular category of loan will facilitate securitisation of these loans. Standardisation does not necessarily mean that all lenders must extend credit using the same criteria or on the same terms but rather that certain fundamental aspects of the lending process are standardised among lenders. For instance, lenders may adopt a standard form of mortgage loan agreement that provides adequate legal protection to all lenders. It ensures that investors in a pool of loans or the rating agencies do not have to analyse the risk of several different legal documents. Lenders may also agree to use loan applications that request the same information from borrowers. This does not mean that each lender must grant credits on the same criteria but that each lender is obtaining the same basic information from the borrowers making it easier for investors to compare loans originating from different lenders. If applications ask different questions, it is more difficult for investors to compare loans originating from different lenders. Standardisation of servicing typically involves the standardisation of the type of information that is monitored, that is balance, payment history, address, and so on. In addition, there can be standardisation of the documents and information that are maintained in each loan file. There can be standardised data processing systems and software. It can also facilitate a new servicer to take servicing, if required.

16.2

NEED FOR SECURE CREDIT

Secure credit will enable a larger flow of credit to the neglected sectors of the economy and the society. It would also reduce the cost of credit by derisking the credit.

16.2.1

Efficient Allocation of Capital

Farms and businesses in North America often obtain similar interest rates for credit for movable property and real estate. Interest rates on debt secured with a high quality traded commodity, such as wheat and cotton, would pay interest rates a bit below the home mortgage rate. Debt secured by more specialised equipment or less readily saleable or more perishable commodities might pay somewhat more than the home mortgage rate. Businesses in under-developed and developing countries face much higher interest rates for movable property. That leads farm and business operators in unreformed systems to reduce the amount of movable property that they use relative to real estate in the course of doing their business.

322 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies These problems with secured transactions affect not only the volume and price of investment, but also its allocation. For operators of farms and businesses who do not own land or building, a credit system linked rigidly to real estate limits development. As a business expands, its sales will increase. This higher volume of business may or may not require more physical space, but will certainly require larger inventories. If inventory cannot serve as collateral and the business has already borrowed the maximum against its real estate, the business must finance this additional inventory out of its own capital. However, the same business could borrow, for the purpose of expanding the size of its physical plant because creditors would take that expanded real property as collateral. This interest rate structure that results from a weak legal framework for secured credit diverts investment away from inventory and equipment and toward physical plant. Physical plant may be less economically valuable than additional inventory. In agriculture, increasing farm profits typically increases yields per acre by using more machines, plant protection agents, fertilizer or livestock on a given amount of land. The overall amount of arable land has not changed appreciably in years. New capital formation in agriculture typically requires investment in machines or livestock increases relative to investment in land. However, when machines and livestock cannot serve as collateral and creditors will extend credit only for more land, farmers have incentives for investing more in land and fixed assets than in potentially more productive machinery. This framework places a huge burden on the economy in terms of lost output and the foregoing of better investments. Productivity per worker gains when farms and businesses can profitably hold larger inventories, use movable equipment, and install fixtures. Changing the legal framework would permit an increase in output and allow efficient allocation capital.

16.2.2

Efficient Allocation of Savings

The gain from financial markets arises mainly from providing a cheap and efficient means of shifting savings from savers to investors. But savers will demand safeguards that guarantee their funds. If investing debtors cannot provide such guarantees, then the savers will not let them use their funds. Reducing the risk of this collateral will permit transferring more savings from savers to borrowing investors. As a consequence, total investment will rise. Presently, savers will lend directly to those with good investment opportunities only when they know them personally and well. They will not transfer funds to others, because they can take no collateral that will reduce their risk. Rather, they will move funds to countries where the legal framework does permit the use of collateral.

Secure Transactions Infrastructure

16.2.3

323

Lower Interest Rates

The lack of usable collateral means financial markets in these countries operate ineffectively in channeling investable funds towards the socially most productive purpose. Where North American producers can approach competing creditors offering debt secured by movable property at 100 to 700 basis points above the government borrowing rate, in volumes equal to two to six times their annual income, their counterparts and competitors in countries like India will have no access to such credit.

16.2.4

Permits More Investment

In the US, for example, rates of interest on loans for a wide array of equipment, cars, and other movable property run ½ to 1 percentage point above the mortgage interest rate. Debt secured exclusively by movable goods secures nearly 40 percent of the country’s credit except in countries suffering from the most severe financial stress and facing attempts at protecting overvalued exchange rates with draconian monetary policy, an efficient framework for secured transactions can make a significant contribution to reducing the cost of financing movable equipment.

16.2.5

More Credit for the Poor

Lack of access to credit affects all farmers and business operators doing business in unreformed systems. Even landlords would gain if the tenants had more access to credit, higher production, and more capacity to pay rent. The burden of an inadequate framework for secured transactions falls most heavily on the poor, such as the farmers who work on rented land, or who sell their services and do not own land, and on small businesses and factories operating in rented premises. An inadequate framework for secured transactions means they get no credit at all or from internal sources at exorbitant rates. Other credit agencies, including NGOs that attempt making unsecured credit, will find their ability to advance credit vastly constrained because without a framework for secured credit they cannot use their portfolios of unsecured debt as collateral to raise funds for lending.

16.2.6

Distribution of Economic Gain

Reform produces a broad gain shared by most members of society. Large businesses gain because they can more easily finance investments in movable property. They can purchase equipment on credit and reduce their cost of working capital by using inventory as security for credit. Those without land gain because they may for the first time have access to secured credit. The reform does not diminish the value of reputation and land as collateral; rather, it adds a new class of collateral. Movable collateral reduces the risk to the creditor

324 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies at no additional cost to honest debtors. Consequently, permitting the use of movable collateral produces a large net overall gain.

16.2.7

Risk Mitigation in the Financial Structure

In most systems with weak secured credit regimes, banks account for as much as 95 percent of total credit. In the US, they account for about 40 percent of total credit. Other financial institutions can become important sources of credit when the framework for secured credit works well. Such a financial structure does not depend so heavily on the problems arising from deposit-based financial structure and their consequential dependence on the quality of supervision and regulation of banks. If countries reform their secured transactions systems, the share of banks in overall credit will fall. The framework for secured transactions creates so many new credit opportunities that credit rises relative to GDP. In the US, credit runs to about 200 percent of GDP, several times greater than most unreformed economies. As a result, banks gain too from expanding the framework of secured credit.

16.3

BENEFITS OF COLLATERAL

This section explains how collateral helps remove problems in the debt market. Problems in the market for debt are as follows: Participants in debt markets have asymmetric information. The debtor knows his true condition and what he will do with his debts. The creditor, with less information, must guess whether the debtor is as creditworthy as it appears at the time of credit. The creditor must also guess whether the debtor will really use the funds as promised. A debtor who plans to abscond with the funds will not announce this to the creditor during the negotiations. Creditors face moral risk. They may believe they could trust the debtor with a small debt, but may fear that the debtor might behave differently with larger debt. The small debt, if defaulted on, cannot harm the creditor. Default of a large loan, however, could harm the creditor, even bankrupting him. Rather than force repayment, the creditor may feel obliged to advance even more to the debtor to keep it afloat. Creditors cannot perfectly compensate for greater risk by charging higher interest rates because a debtor who agrees to pay higher interest rates might be concealing the undertaking of a very risky venture or, even worse, might have no intention of repaying either interest or principal. These considerations prompt the creditor to limit credit to the debtor, a form of credit rationing. The penalty of such a regime is severe on the economy. Debtors face difficulty convincing creditors that they will repay a debt. Creditors have difficulty knowing whether the debtor will repay. Debtors find that they cannot get access to more credit simply by offering creditors higher interest rates to adjust for risk. Rather, the creditor must adjust for this risk by taking steps familiar

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to most debtors by making small credits at high interest rates for short periods of time to people they know well. Otherwise, the credit is not provided thereby hurting the economy. When the debtor offers collateral, the creditor can readily assess the value of the collateral relative to the loan. The creditor has less concern about what the debtor plans to do with the funds. In this way, collateral substitutes for information about the debtor and mitigates the problem of asymmetric information. As the debt grows, the creditor can require more collateral, but not more honesty. In this way, collateral addresses the problem of moral risk. The creditor can adjust the size of the debt relative to the value of the collateral. By reducing the ratio, the creditor compensates for suspicions of excessive risk-taking or dishonesty. By increasing the ratio, the creditor favours a client with excellent projects bearing a high return. In this way, collateral addresses the problem of adverse selection. Consequently, when the law lets debtors offer collateral effectively, a more efficient debt market results. Where private debtors can offer collateral for their debts, they will obtain larger credits, for longer periods of time, and at lower interest rates. In Washington, DC, the credit unions of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Federal Reserve, offers debtors different loans at different terms depending on the collateral they offer. These creditors would offer a debtor without collateral a loan at an interest rate of 12.5 percent, repayable in 33 months, amounting to as much as 50 percent of the debtor’s income. For a debtor offering movable property as collateral, these creditors would offer lower interest rates, longer repayment periods, and larger loans relative to the debtor’s income. For a debtor offering real estate as collateral, interest rates would drop even more, while repayment terms would become longer and loans even larger relative to the debtor’s income. Broadly, the more and better the collateral, the lower the interest rate, the longer the time for repayment, and the larger the loan relative to income. Inventory is a substantial part of total capital. For small operations, though, particularly those in manufacturing and trade, inventory may represent the operator’s entire stock of capital. Credit to finance inventories is commonplace in many countries-a lucrative business for banks and a key source of working capital for small enterprises. However, in Thailand and Indonesia, no bank will make a loan secured by that inventory. More serious for the typical small enterprise, those dealers selling on credit to small enterprise also cannot get loans secured by their inventory. Inventories are unacceptable as collateral in these countries because the laws require specific identification of the item used as collateral. However, the very nature of inventory often requires that it change its composition constantly. However, in India, banks and finance companies make loans secured by inventories all the time. They can do this because the laws in India permit

326 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies taking security interest in a generally described inventory whose composition changes all the time. This is detrimental as this restricts loans to corporations. Small farmers and micro-enterprises are the losers. Nothing other than the difference in the law can explain this difference in creditor behaviour. The different behaviour has nothing to do with culture, business acumen or the macro-economy. Collateral provides important benefits to debtors and creditors, and movable property has great potential to serve as collateral because it is economically important now in many countries and will continue to become even more important to businesses in the future. As a result, strengthening the framework for secured transactions will generate economic gains for a country and reduce the risk of the financial system by broadening its structure.

16.4

CURRENT SCENARIO

In the following section, the flow of credit has been shown. The types of enterprises—input suppliers, producers, wholesalers, retailers, and endusers, have also been indicated to show the flow of credit for different sectors in the economy.

16.4.1 Parties Credit flows to a producer from the following three major sources: 1. Savers: Savers provide funds to producers directly in various forms (as bonds or notes issued by companies) and indirectly (through deposits in banks). 2. Banks and other financial intermediaries: Banks lend to enterprises at each stage of production. 3. Producers: Producers themselves provide credit to their buyers. In many industrialised countries, players in the chain of production provide some form of credit to their buyers and take a range of security interests in transformed goods. Savers Financial Intermediaries

Input Suppliers

Producers

FIGURE 16.1

Wholesalers

Retailers

End Users

Parties Involved in the Flow of Credit

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Types of enterprises, input suppliers, producers, wholesalers, retailers, and end-users, vary with sector of the economy. Suppliers of raw materials provide credit by lending to or accepting delayed payment from manufacturers and take security interests in the materials or the transformed goods. Manufacturers could give their distributors and wholesalers credit, who do the same for retailers. In some industries, retailers offer finance to end-purchasers. Sometimes suppliers provide more credit to their buyers than do traditional sources of credit, like banks and other financial firms. These players are all part of what is called the credit chain. Financial intermediaries and enterprises in credit chain are of great concern to government policy-makers for several reasons. Debtors who are party to secured transactions are of interest to policy-makers for several reasons, many of which affect the regime for secured transactions: 1. Part they play in financial markets: Debtors include issuers of secured debt in markets for direct finance, borrowers from financial firms that intermediate in markets for indirect finance, and buyers on credit from producers. 2. Nature of debtors’ economic activity: Commercial debtors raise policy issues that are different from those raised by consumer debtors. Some rules governing secured transactions are designed to protect consumers. 3. Debtors’ economic power: Policy-makers often distinguish between debtors with and without economic power, seeking to protect weak debtors-who may be small businesses or individuals with low incomefrom powerful creditors. Each track of policy impinges on and shapes the law governing secured transactions. Secured transactions take several forms. Strictly defined, security interests are those in which the creditor has no ownership interest. They include different types of pledges, which are collateral property in the possession of the creditor, charges on assets, (by statute or contract), hypothecation, and mortgages, which govern collateral in the debtor’s possession. The result is a wide range of transactions, some of which appear to be other than the functional equivalent of strict secured transactions. To borrow short-term from a bank, the debtor may give collateral that it already owns and that is tangential to the purposes for which the loan will be used. A simple example is jewellery that secures a loan for operating funds for a small shop. Entrepreneurs want credit and put up the kind of collateral that banks will accept. On the other hand, the collateral may drive the debt. The entrepreneur may buy equipment using the suppliers’ credit secured by the equipment itself. In such a purchase money secured transaction, the credit is incidental to the purchase. The distinction becomes important in some regimes that give special priority to the latter type of security interest.

High Tech (knowledgebased security)

Construction (fixtures)

Transport (Movable but can be repossessed)

Consumer Durables

Agricultural Sector (Perishable Commodities)

Sector

High tech or other software Distributor

Subcontractor

Office builder

Equipment

Airline, Ship manufacturer

Raw materials supplier Office builder

Airline, Ship manufacturer

Parts supplier

Materials

Car manufacturer

Equipment maker

Raw Materials

Parts

Refrigerator manufacturer

Soy farmer

Fertilizer, seed supplier

Equipment supplier

Rice farmer

Producer

Retailer

Distributor

Distributor

Boat seller

Car dealer, Assembler

Store

Granary/co-operative Grocer trading company, packager

Wholesaler

Parties Involved in Flow of Credit Sector-wise

Farm equipment manufacturer

Input Supplier

Table 16.1

Businesses

Land owner

Retail buyer

Car buyer, Airline, Shipping line

Consumer

Corporate buyer

Consumer

End User

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Debt includes loans and other types of credit, such as lease finance. Credit may or may not exist when security interest is given to the creditor. A debtor may borrow to finance inventory, sell the goods manufactured with that inventory, repay the loan, then borrow again to finance the purchase of new inventory for further production. All drawings and debt servicing are governed by one contract. In India, building on long-standing interest in secured transactions law reform is reflected in the Rajamannar Committee Report of 1977. Indian policymakers participated in the Joint Symposium on Secured Transactions and Insolvency Law Reform hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila in October 1999. During the Country Programming Mission for India in 2000, the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India (MOF) requested ADB technical assistance (TA) for developing a computerised registry system for movable property in India based on a suitable legal framework for secured transactions. Constructive dialogue between ADB and MOF took place in 2000 and 2001 on the parameters of ADB TA for a registration system for secured transactions. MOF’s budget speech of February 2002 included reference to introduction of a bill for strengthening creditors’ rights and security enforcement by banks and financial institutions (ADB 2002). Table 16.2 gives the framework for TA that will be provided by ADB.

16.4.2

Need for Legal Reform — An India Case

Current lacunae in various Acts in India with respect to transfer of property, securitisation and collateral have been mentioned below. Lacunae in Transfer of Property Act The Transfer of Property (TP) Act, 1882 does not recognise ownership rights of a portion of a multi-storeyed building, whether residential or commercial. Consequently, it is difficult for a person owning such a property to raise a loan against the security of such property. In some states like Maharashtra, the structure of cooperative societies is being used for joint ownership of land and common amenities provided in a multi-storeyed building along with individual ownership rights in the apartments. The TP Act provides for a mortgage by deposit of title deeds without recording any writing and without any requirement of registration. But such mortgage can be created only at Presidency Towns of Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai and such other towns as may be notified by the state governments. There is no clear provision with regard to treatment of machineries embedded in land as immovable or movable properties. Lacuna in the Registration Act The Registration Act contains provisions for the purpose of maintaining land records registry and registration of all transactions relating to immovable

· Enactment of modern secured transactions law

Performance Indicators/Targets

Outputs · Reform of legal and · Reports for workshops regulatory framework and concluded by 2004, architecture for new registry contributing to modern system for security interest secured transactions law on movable property

Purpose · To improve access to · Improved and varied and terms of credit, access to credit transparency, diversification of credit risk, new credit providers

Goal · Reform of secured transactions law · Architecture for modern registry system

Design Summary Assumptions and Risks

· Agenda materials and reports prepared for workshops, legal design input report, overall design report, video, website, interim reports of consultants reviewed after workshops and tripartite reviews

(Contd.)

· Laws not developed in accordance with principles of modern secured transactions regime, or not passed · Architecture for Registry not developed in a user effective fashion

· Tripartite reviews at end of Phase · Laws not developed in accordance with principles of modern secured I and Phase II, evaluation, transactions regime, or not passed consensus-building, capacitybuilding and training workshops; · Architecture for Registry not and reports of consultants after developed in a user-effective workshops and stakes holder fashion response · Insufficient understanding of new legal regime/vested interests

· Tripartite reviews at end of Phase I and Phase II, interim reports of consultants and evaluation of participants after workshops and stakeholder response

Monitoring Mechanisms

Table 16.2 Technical Assistance Framework

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Activities · Registration system study · Completion of study tour, · Tripartite reviews at end of tour, evaluation workshop, workshops, and training Phase I and Phase II and review consensus-building program of interim reports of consultants workshop(s), tripartite after workshops reviews, simulated registration system and capacity-building workshops, and training and public awareness program Inputs · Consultants (14 person· $285,000 · Tripartite reviews at end of months of international Phase I and Phase II and review consultants and 20 personof interim reports of consultants months of domestic after workshops consultants) – Phase I $140,000

(Contd.) · Laws not developed in accordance with principles of modern secured transactions regime, or not passed · Architecture for Registry not developed in a user effective fashion

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332 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies properties. However, the law does not provide for issue of title certificates by the registration authorities and the documents registered are sale deeds, mortgage deeds or lease deeds and similar other documents creating or transferring any interest in an immovable property. Since there is no system of issue of title certificate for the property owned by any person, it is difficult to offer such property as security, particularly in cases where it is ancestral property occupied by the owners and they do not hold any sale deeds or any other document evidencing title. Lacuna in India Succession Act Under the Indian Succession Act, 1925, a succession certificate is issued only in cases where the claim pertains to debts, shares and securities. Where the assets are in the nature of other properties and valuables, succession certificate cannot be issued. Lacunae in the Indian Contracts Act There is no provision in the Indian Contracts Act with regard to nonpossessory securities such as hypothecation. Lacunae in Stamp Duty Laws The scheme of stamp duty laws under the Constitution of India provides for powers of the state governments to prescribe the rates of stamp duty in respect of most documents relating to transfer or creation of interest in property, both movable and immovable. As a result, there are multiple stamp duty laws enacted by each state applicable in respective states. Such multiple laws and multiple rates of stamp duty have become an impediment in the growth and development of new financial instruments having a character of transferability anywhere in India. Lacunae in the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interests (SARFAESI) Act · Title retention contracts such as hire-purchase and lease are excluded from the concept of security interest. The concept of security interest has been made applicable only to banks and financial institutions and the law has no universal application unlike possessory security regime contained in the Indian Contract Act, 1872. · Although power to set up a central registry has been provided in the SARFAESI Act, the system of comprehensive security interest is introduced without setting up the central registry and the system operates on the basis of the existing asset specific registration systems operating under various laws. · Securitisation of financial assets other than those of banks and financial institutions is not permissible under the Act. However, the SARFAESI Act had been able to bring about some changes in the legal framework. They are:

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· Financial assets are made freely assignable not withstanding anything contained in any law or agreement. · Security interest is defined in generic term giving effect to substance over form to a limited extent. · Powers of enforcement of security interest have been given to the banks and financial institutions. · Definition of property is made wide to cover variety of property rights. · Since the existing law in India does not permit enforcement of mortgages of immovable properties, the same are also included in the definition of security interest with power of enforcement without the intervention of the courts.

16.5

CASE STUDIES

In this section, we will try to understand the trends in a few other countries in bringing about securitisation of the financial system there.

16.5.1

Cambodia

The great majority of land in Cambodia is unregistered. Through two consecutive projects, the ADB is involved in Cambodia in efforts to establish a legal system with respect to land ownership and related land rights. The implementing mechanisms will help resolve the existing uncertainty, disputes and chaos. The first ADB-supported project developed a legal framework for establishing “cadastral commissions”, which are administrative bodies responsible for hearing land disputes over unregistered land at the district, provincial and national levels. ADB support included training for commissioners in dispute resolution. From 2002–03, the commissions received 979 cases of which 226 have been resolved. Before the establishment of these cadastrals, all disputes over land, whether registered or not, used to go immediately to the courts. The two projects are also raising public awareness of the land law and increasing people’s access to mechanisms to realise their rights under the new law. Illiteracy was a barrier to relying only on written accounts of the new law in newspapers, the project included the filming of a public awareness video in drama format, entitled “Our land” and a cartoon book of the video. The video was shown everyday on the government TV channel for two weeks and then almost weekly since. Approximately 2500 copies of the cartoon book have been produced in the Khmer language and distributed through NGOs. To help the poor who cannot afford lawyers or who live in remote areas, ADB is also supporting training of grassroots NGOs to represent the poor before the commissions.

334 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 16.5.2

Laos

The government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic aims to achieve economic growth, reduce poverty, and graduate from its least-developed country status by 2020. A critical component in strengthening governance is development of a legal system that gives all citizens fair access to justice. Lack of an efficient and effective legal system not only constrains improvement in the country’s overall governance, but also limits the potential for greater foreign investment inflows and private sector development. The ADB supported the establishment of a commercial division of the civil court to deal with defaulting borrowers. Necessary rules of the court have been adopted, and the judges and enforcement officers assigned to commercial divisions have undergone initial training. All 18 provinces have established commercial divisions of the civil court and have begun hearing cases. Fully operationalising the nascent secured transactions registry will augment the legal system in resolving financial/commercial disputes. (Asian Development Bank).

16.5.3

Vanuatu

Vanuatu’s underdeveloped onshore financial sector provides a minimal range of banking services that hardly reaches beyond main urban areas. Commercial banks have little outreach to low-income households, high interest rate spreads reflect high unit costs and risk premiums, and microfinance is in its infancy. Major impediments to the development of financial sector include lack of an effective secured transactions framework and inability of the customary land tenure system to provide Vanuatu investors with adequate collateral. The process to unlock the potential of land should be seriously considered, while preserving the cultural role that land ownership plays in Vanuatu. The establishment of a well functioning secured transactions system, especially for movable assets and crop liens, would generate economic and social gains especially for Vanuatu investors who presently do not have access to credit, as it reduces transaction costs, lowers interest rates, and enhances credit intermediation. Lack of a credit bureau in Vanuatu contributes to the existing low levels of access to credit high costs for the terms on which credit is provided, high rates of default by both individuals and businesses, restrictive terms of credit, and lack of competition for providing credit. A credit bureau is a facility that aggregates key information about persons seeking loans and goods or services on credit terms, stores and regularly updates it, and then provides a standardised report back to a member of the bureau. The standard range of credit information is received and provided by the bureau, including an individual’s history of credit applications and whether there have been any occasions of late of nonpayment of credit.

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Discussions with relevant stakeholders have identified need, both in terms of market demand and operating environment, for a credit bureau in Vanuatu. The current basis on which credit information is shared between financial institutions is fragmented, anecdotal, and unreliable. As a consequence, there is a high level of risk associated with decisions to provide loans and credit. The establishment of a private sector operated credit bureau has the potential to positively contribute to the objective of generating additional income and employment opportunities, especially for the micro and small enterprises sector in Vanuatu (Asian Development Bank (1999) ADB is involved in Vanuatu in the following ways: 1. Assessing the need for a credit bureau in Vanuatu. 2. Examining the options, using best international practices, for establishing and operating a bureau. 3. Recommending options for private sector control of such facility. 4. Preparing cost estimates and a business plan for the bureau. 5. Recommending any legislative and/or administrative amendments required to facilitate the establishment of a bureau, including rights to privacy. 6. Developing a database for a bureau service and the systems and rules of operation. 7. Promoting the establishment of a credit bureau among private investors. The system of customary land ownership presents particular challenges to lenders hoping to secure loans against property. With few exceptions, land and leases of land are not regarded as adequate security by the financial market. The four central issues with land tenure in Vanuatu are: 1. Issues related to land registration, including unclear ownership and boundaries. 2. Restrictions on the transferability and use of land. 3. Uncertainty surrounding land tenure rights. 4. Cost of land disputes. All these issues must be resolved if Vanuatu residents are to be able to use land-their greatest asset-to secure credit. Any system that is established must unlock land from unproductive uses at the same time as preserving the cultural role that land ownership plays. The land restructuring process should be undertaken in the following order: 1. Identify the rightful claimants to a roughly defined piece of land and record those claimants as common owners. 2. Define and record the boundaries to each plot of kinship land. 3. Put in place a governance structure agreed to and operated by the owners to manage the land.

336 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 16.6

FUTURE SCENARIO

This section helps envisage a scenario in which there will be a turnaround in the securitisation of the financial system.

16.6.1

Reform of the Legal and Regulatory Framework

Legal reform options for secured transactions will lead to harmonisation of a modern secured transactions regime with laws on social protection of debtors, including consumer protection laws. In the case of loans, a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a stand-alone entity, needs to be created to receive the loans as collateral. The cash flows associated with these loans can be distributed according to a set of rules called the “cash waterfall” to several claimants who have purchased what is called a “tranche”. A tranche is similar to a bond that has a promised payment on a regular basis plus the promised repayment of principal at maturity of the deal. Each tranche has an assigned fee to be paid from the collateral pool and reflects a different risk and return profile. If a number of loans in the collateral pool default, the most junior claimants such as equity holders are the ones who suffer more. Depending on how one specifies when one tranche absorbs loss over another tranche, the risk profile changes dramatically. The return profile is generally driven by market conditions for each level of risk. The power in this financial technology is the ability to take one type of exposure (moderately risky) and convert it into a set of exposures that are nearly risk-free (senior tranches), moderately risky (mezzanine tranches) and very risky (equity tranches).

16.6.2

Architecture for Establishment of a Registry System

Once a legal framework is in place, a modern registry system will help parties gain information about other possible claimants to the collateral, the confidence that they can protect their own security interests and obtain reliable data on prior security interests. Such a registry system can reduce transaction costs for secured credit and significantly increase the speed of secured transactions. Some key questions which need to be addressed are: · What all would a collateral comprise of? There has to be a list of identifiable objects which can be termed as collateral. · What would be the role of courts in case of default? · While the endeavor would be to come up with a first-to-file registry system, would not the rules vary according to whether the other claimant to

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the property is a second secured creditor, an unsecured creditor, a buyer, or any other type of claimant in bankruptcy? · How will confidentiality and IPR be affected by public registration? An overhaul in the legal framework is required. The new legal system should have the following attributes: Cheap, simple, yet inclusive creation: An economically effective law permits inexpensive creation of a security interest against all properties by any person for any transaction. Easy to search public filing system: The law needs to enforce public filing system wherein the public can, both inexpensively and quickly, search for prior security interests and file anew. Priority based on simple and unambiguous rules: An economically effective law fixes priority by clear first-to-file rules that include the claims of third parties such as junior secured and unsecured creditors, bankruptcy trustees, or some purchasers of the collateral. Speedy and cost-effective enforcement: The law provides inexpensive and fast enforcement, permitting recovery and sale even at low costs relative to the value of the collateral; that means, typically, a system substantially administered by the creditor. Four key steps that determine the effectiveness of a system of secured credit are: 1. Creation: how creditors establish a claim to property to secure the payment of credit 2. Priority: how creditors establish a ranking of their claims in collateral 3. Publicity: how creditors make public the ranking of their priority in collateral 4. Enforcement: how creditors repossess collateral and sell it for satisfying their claims The following need to be done efficiently for the establishment of a registry system: 1. Identification of equipment and software 2. Staffing 3. Links to existing registries 4. Fee structure 5. Public/private sector model assessments 6. Training 7. Public awareness to support the introduction of such a registration system Table 16.3 indicates the list of asset classes which can and cannot be included in the scheme of such a registration system.

338 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Table 16.3

Asset Classes and their Inclusion in the Registration System

Asset

Inclusion in the Registration System

Cash

Yes

Cash equivalents

Yes

Accounts receivable

Yes

Prepaid expenses

Yes

Deferred income taxes

Yes

Movable property (Machinery, and so on)

Yes

Immovable property (land, real estate, and so on)

Yes

Goodwill

No

Other intangible assets

No

Hence, we notice that the intangibility of certain assets prevents them from being included in such a registration system. As an intermediate solution before securitisation takes place, syndication is suggested. Syndication is the process of gathering together a group of financial institutions so that the institution that originates the loan does not retain all the credit risk exposure. Members of the syndication agree to take on some of the risk. In this way, financial institutions without origination expertise in the particular segment, for example real estate, represented by the large loan can still add to their portfolio exposures that improve their portfolio’s diversification profile. Syndication transforms the existing debt exposure from one large lump into a number of smaller pieces. However, the underlying stand-alone risk of the exposures stays the same. Syndication has been the practice in Japan for some time. Other actions that need to be taken for a robust credit system are: · Preserving jobs where possible: Efficient insolvency laws should include mechanisms that provide for the continuation of an insolvent corporate debtor where possible. This will lead to creditors’ and shareholders’ confidence, and it is likely to increase the possibility of businesses being rehabilitated with the result that employees retain their means of livelihood. · Enforcing appropriate standards of corporate governance and responsibility: Insolvency laws and processes can provide a means of investigating and reporting on the management and conduct of an insolvent corporation leading to an awareness of what practices lead to the corporation being declared insolvent. In case of infringements of laws by corporate managers or directors, action could be taken to prosecute these cases building awareness nationally of what constitutes illegal corporate conduct.

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· Creating a transparent, predictable and equitable environment for the resolution of the affairs of a corporation that is insolvent: Sound insolvency laws permit all economic actors (corporate debtors, creditors, shareholders, managers, employees and government) to understand in advance how their interests will be protected in the event the corporation is declared insolvent. · Increasing SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) access to credit: Secured transaction regimes can allow SMEs and farmers to use moveable property, such as equipment and raw materials, as collateral for credit. As the poor often have no real estate or imperfect title to their land it is even more important that effective methods of using moveable property to secure credit be developed. These systems of secured transactions using moveable property are relatively undeveloped in the Asian context and severely constrain the ability of the poor to obtain credit for their enterprises or farms. · Lowering the cost and maturities of credit: When the debtor can offer private creditors collateral for a loan, they offer larger loans, at lower interest rates, payable over longer periods of time. Compared to a debtor who cannot offer good collateral, one with such moveable property collateral can anticipate receiving six to eight times more credit, taking two to ten times longer for repayment, and paying interest rates 30 percent to 50 percent lower. A sound secured transactions regime using moveable property would not only provide access to credit for SME entrepreneurs and farmers but would lower the cost and extend the repayment terms of this credit. Similarly, when the insolvency risk for a particular country is predictable and financial institutions can ascertain and price this risk, the cost of credit is stabilised and eventually lowered. · Strengthening the financial system by diversifying the sources of credit: The Asian financial crisis highlighted the potential destabilising impact of financial systems that were overly dependent on the banking sector for credit and on real estate as collateral for credit. Effective insolvency and secured transaction regimes that support moveable property as sources of collateral for credit can reduce these risks.

SUMMARY A modern legal framework for secured transactions will support the inclusion of security interests irrespective of legal form. This will permit individuals, partnerships, and other entities that are not companies, to obtain effective access to credit based on security interests in movable property. This is important to rural and urban SMEs, microfinance institutions, and start-ups, especially IT start-ups, all of which can make key contributions to economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. Based on such a modern legal platform, developing countries can develop a computerised registration system, based on a first-to-file system that is accessible

340 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies by public and supported by proper regulations and operating procedures. Potential creditors can gain in confidence that they can protect their own security interests and obtain reliable data on prior security interests by turning to registries for information about other possible claimants to the collateral. Such a registry system can reduce transaction costs for secured credit and significantly increase the speed of secured transactions.

KEY TERMS Asian Development Bank (ADB) A non-profit financial institution whose aim is to help developing Asian countries. Cadastral Administrative bodies in Cambodia responsible for hearing land disputes over unregistered land at the district, provincial and national levels. Collateral Assets that secure a debt obligation. The bank is secured against the default risk of the borrower not being able to meet the interest payments. Credit risk Risk of loss due to a debtor’s non-payment of a loan or other line of credit (either the principal or interest or both). Hypothecation A pledge of property as collateral for a debt without transfer of possession to the party making the loan. Inventory Goods held by a person for sale or lease or to be furnished under contract of service or consists of raw materials, semi-finished goods, work in process or finished goods or materials used or consumed in a business. Secured Credit Credit that is secured, as opposed to unsecured, grants priority to a creditor or a seller on credit to collect against some property, usually belonging to the debtor, if the debt is not paid as agreed. Security Interest Right of satisfaction from the property upon which the security interest depends-the collateral. Tranche One of several related securitised bonds offered as part of the same deal. Scenario Building

Description of existing and future credit scenarios.

Syndication A large loan in which a group of banks work together to provide funds for a borrower.

CASE STUDY MCA-21 MCA-21 acts as a registration system for corporate borrowers only and is already in place in India. What is needed is a similar system which would encompass all kinds of borrowers and make it possible for a larger number of entities to offer credit. “The project is named MCA-21 as it aims at repositioning MCA as an organisation capable of fulfilling the aspirations of its stakeholders in the 21st century”, says the Ministry’s site, www.mca.gov.in

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Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India has undertaken a major initiative to modernise and computerise its operations. The basic functions of MCA are registration of companies, receipt of the statutory returns filed by companies and issue of copies of the records needed by them. MCA serves over 200,000 companies in India through its 35 field offices located mainly in the state capitals. The MCA-21 project seeks to provide online services in the above areas with certainty and speed. MCA-21 is an innovative e-government project that aims at continuously repositioning MCA as an organisation capable of fulfilling the aspirations of its stakeholders in the 21st century. The goals of MCA-21 are the following: 1. To facilitate business to register a company and file statutory documents quickly and easily 2. Public to get easy access to relevant records 3. To enable professionals to offer efficient services to their client companies 4. Financial Institutions to find registration and verification of charges easy 5. To ensure proactive and effective compliance of relevant laws and corporate governance 6. Employees enabled to deliver better services MCA-21 project is designed to fully automate all processes related to the proactive enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act, 1956. This will help the business community to meet their statutory obligations. From customer perspective, the front office operations assume significance, which would be administered through the front office portal. The entire back office operations of MCA would be automated so as to achieve the objective of a user-friendly computerised environment. MCA portal is the single point of contact for all its services, which can be easily accessed over the Internet by all users. MCA-21, which functions under overall direction and supervision of the Ministry of Compay Affairs, has a three tier organisational set-up for administration of the Act, namely, the Headquarters at New Delhi, the Regional Directors at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Noida and the RoCs (Registrars of Companies) in states and union territories. The official liquidators who are attached to various High Courts functioning in the country are also under the overall administrative control of the Ministry. The Company Law Board, a quasi-judicial body, has its principal bench at Delhi, an additional principal bench for southern states at Chennai and four regional benches located at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. The four Regional Directors are in-charge of the respective regions, each region comprising a number of states and union territories. They supervise the working of the offices of the RoCs and the official liquidators working in their regions. RoCs appointed under Section 609 of the Companies Act and covering the various states and union territories are vested with the primary duty of registering companies in the respective states and union territories and ensuring that such companies comply with statutory requirements under the Act. These offices function as registry of records, relating to the companies registered with them, which are available for inspection by members of public on payment of the prescribed fee. The Central

342 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Government exercises administrative control over these offices through the respective Regional Directors. For the purpose of incorporation of a company in India under the Companies Act, 1956, it requires name approval from the RoCs by filing Form 1A. After getting the name approval, the promoter(s) has to apply for incorporation of the company through Form 1 and also notify the RoC regarding the location of the registered office through Form 18, and provide details of the Directors’ appointment through Form 32. After processing all three e-Forms, i.e. 1, 18 and 32, the company is registered and a Company Identification Number (CIN) is generated for the company. Provisions of registration are also applicable in the case of a foreign company incorporated outside India and which plans to set up places of business in India. Every foreign company within 30 days of establishing business in India has to deliver required documents with Form 44 to Delhi RoC for registration to be legally authorised to carry out business in India. Company registration services also cover registration of joint stock companies under Part IX of the Companies Act, 1956 by also filing Forms 37 and 39. In addition, there are also requirements of filling forms with RoC in case of public companies regarding commencement of business. MCA-21 system accepts complaints filed against a company by an investor as part of investor services. There is a specific e-Form for this purpose. A separate e-Form has to be filed for complaints with respect to each company. No digital signature or filing fee is needed for filing this e-Form. The complaint may relate to any of the following aspects: (a) Shares/Dividend (b) Debentures/Bond (c) Fixed Deposits - non-receipt of amount (d) Miscellaneous The investor can view the status of the complaint by querying on the Service Request Number (SRN) of the complaint. The list of complaint status is presented below: (a) Under process (Following up with the company) (b) Waiting for information (Waiting for response from complainant) (c) Forwarded (Forwarded to other departments) This case underlines the importance of a registration system. There is a need to put into place an appropriate legal framework.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What is the need for a Secured Transactions Infrastructure? 2. What are the legislative reforms required for the successful implementation of a Secured Transactions Infrastructure?

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3. What are the IT architectural considerations for setting up a Secured Transactions Infrastructure? 4. What could be the role of PPP in setting up a Secured Transactions Infrastructure? 5. Explain the significance of registry system in solving the credit issues.

REFERENCES Ralston, Deborah and April Wright. 2003. “Lending procedures and The Viability: Social objectives conflict in credit unions”, International Journal of Bank Marketing. June, pp. 304-11. Pugh, Cedric and Alireza, Dehesh. 2001. “Theory and Explanation in International Property Cycles since 980”, MCB University Press, 19: 4, pp. 265-97. Clementi, David. 2001. “Financial Markets: Implications for Stability”, MCB University Press. September. pp. 7-12. Ghosh, Saptarshi and Mahmood Bagheri. 2006. “The Ketan Parekh Fraud and Supervisory Lapses of RBI”, Journal of Financial Crime, 1: 4, pp. 107-24. ADB. 2002. “Technical Assistance to India for Secured Transactions Reform”, Asian Development Bank. ADB. “Secured Transactions Law Reform in Asia: Unleashing the Potential of Collateral”. Available online at www.adb.org. Downloaded on June 15, 2010. Asian Development Fund, “Technical Assistance Performance Audit Report on Selected Financial Sector TAs to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic”. Available online at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/25/56/35274673.pdf, Downloaded on June 15, 2010.

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17 Integrated Government Financial System (IGFS) Objectives · To identify the need for an IGFS · To determine the benefits of an IGFS · To list the outcomes expected from the implementation of an IGFS · To identify the key business work flows in an IGFS based on guidelines issued by World Bank and IMF · To define the scope of an IGFS solution based on the flows identified · To determine the critical success factors in the implementation of such a system · To analyse successful case studies of IGFS

17.1

INTRODUCTION

The foundation of good governance is a robust integrated financial management system. Multilateral bodies such as World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) strongly believe that a robust integrated financial management system/treasury system is necessary for being able to effectively utilise taxpayers’ money. Treasury systems form the backbone for recording and processing all financial transactions related to the budget for any level of government. An integrated treasury system offers several significant benefits in managing public monies more effectively: · Full integration of budget and budget execution data, thereby allowing greater financial control · Improved planning for cash as well as close and timely monitoring of the government’s cash position · Provision of adequate management reporting at various levels of budget execution · Improvement of data quality for the preparation and execution of the budget

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· Facilitating preparation of statements and other reports for budgeting, analysis and financial control. Integrated treasury systems facilitate consolidation and rapid compilation of large amounts of data across treasury offices and spending units that are spread across the country. This is possible since the functional processes involved are repetitive in nature and follow a prescribed set of rules. In such an environment, computer-based information systems provide government finance managers with a set of tools to consolidate, compile, and access reliable and timely information for decision making. Data in the system databases can be presented in a variety of formats in accordance with the management requirements and provide unique opportunities to process business transactions efficiently, apply necessary controls, and simultaneously gather timely and accurate information required for decision-making. Two aspects of this enhanced efficiency are particularly important. First, these systems make it possible to integrate transaction classification and posting with transaction processing. This means that as a transaction is processed (for example as a payment is made), it can be simultaneously classified and posted to the appropriate account. This ensures that all transaction data are promptly and correctly included in system databases. Second, use of computerbased systems facilitates the automation of many controls and procedures. As a transaction is processed, the system can apply the necessary controls (for example ensure that a proper budget allocation exists prior to making a commitment or approving a payment). Manual intervention is required only for cases which demand an exception to the procedures. In these cases the system would keep an appropriate audit trail that would include details regarding the authorisation for the exception. Implementation of such systems, however, generally requires substantial reforms in existing institutional arrangements. Multiple information flows among different elements of the system have to be closely integrated to achieve the full advantages of computerisation. For the design and implementation of effective government financial management information systems, it is, therefore, essential that the required reforms of the underlying financial management processes be clearly agreed upon and understood as the basis for systems design, functional and technical specifications for system design be based on these processes, and clear guidelines be provided for integrating all the subsystems needed to support Government Financial Management (GFM). The GFM systems are integrated such that their various component modules can exchange data and there is a single secure point of entry for commonly used data. This approach supports the creation of systems and databases in

346 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies which the primary responsibility for the timely provision of a particular subset of data resides with the organisation responsible for that function. However, data in the system databases is accessible by all other relevant organisations (subject to appropriate security controls). Adherence to this design principle eliminates duplicative data gathering and, more importantly, enables all agencies responsible for specific GFM functions to work with the same set of data, thereby eliminating risks of data inconsistencies, which are inevitable in separately gathered data.

17.2

IMPORTANCE OF AN IGFS

Currently the government financial systems in place are characterised by the following limitations: · Late submission of returns/accounting information · Accountability and reporting lines between the central and local governments are not legally formalised · Duplication of government financial procedures · Lack of uniformity between budget classification and accounting codes · Bank reconciliation backlogs · Backlog of service delivery in local governments and the inability to prepare timely financial statements · Revenue budget under performance by the local governments due to lack of monitoring systems · Budgetary overrun due to lack of information · Lack of transparency in financial management processes · Inadequate telephone/data communication services · Information System (IS) planning at ministries, agencies and local government levels is ad hoc and short termed · Limited (electronic) sharing of information and computing resources. This is primarily due to the predominantly standalone systems in place · Fragmented financial database system Some of the key reasons which make an IGFS a necessity for today’s competitive governments are mentioned below.

Several Small Non-integrated Solutions Currently in Place Most governments have different systems existing simultaneously at various levels of government, that is central, state and municipal. These systems do not ‘talk to’ each other due to lack of any significant integration. This prevents the systems from delivering control and monitoring benefit that is expected from IGFS.

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Duplication of Data Among Various Systems Data among various systems is duplicated resulting in considerably increased manual effort in database synchronization among different systems.

Loss of Overall Objective Due to Multiple Systems The main purpose of using the information systems, that is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness, is lost if there are many parallel running systems. The efforts required to integrate the flow of information among various systems more than offsets the benefits arising from different independently running systems.

Lack of a Uniform Technology Different systems running on multiple technologies and platforms make it extremely expensive to maintain these. An integrated system based on a single technology improves the overall working.

17.2.1

Key Issues in Government Treasury System

Increased Independence The general trend away from centralised government towards decentralised local administration leaves the planning and transaction flows of financial operations fragmented and difficult to manage. Increased pressure to provide local autonomy, with little preplanned functional integration at the central level, creates large exposures in budgetary preparation and execution activities.

Reduced Transaction Times As the push towards faster settlement increases, state treasury departments need to rapidly assess financial positions, move funds and honour financial commitments for their dispersed government operations.

Integrated Information Government financial processes dictate that transactions and associated data flow seamlessly between users, departments and systems. The ability to link transactions from revenue collection to spending, in a straight-throughprocessing environment, is becoming a basic requirement.

Risk Management In a world where credit ratings dictate whether governments are granted loans for essential projects, an integrated structure of payment risks and exposure needs to be identified, understood and mitigated.

348 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 17.3

BUSINESS BENEFITS

A country which implements an IGFS can expect the following business benefits:

Reduction in Corruption IGFS will make the operations more transparent which will reduce the chance of corruption.

Prevention of Wastage of Funds The government’s funds utilisation will be more effective after the implementation of an IGFS by not only increasing the focus on areas where there is higher social return but also help in reducing subsidy leakages.

Reduction in Manpower Requirement IGFS will reduce manpower redundancy and hence lower the manpower requirement for performing various accounting functions. This will in turn help government in streamlining its operations and reducing its expenditure.

Speeding up of Operations Once the online IGFS replaces the existing manual system, the operations will become faster resulting in higher efficiency of work and savings in terms of time and money.

17.4

OUTCOMES EXPECTED

IGFS provides cost centre based budgeting, financial management, expenditure management and control which highlight responsibility and accountability for government finances at all levels. The separation of reporting entities within the government organisation structure further enhances accountability for financial and cash management. IGFS also allows for accrual basis of accounting (or mercantile accounting as is used by corporates). Accrual accounting helps in better funds management and tightens overall financial management. Since most governments are currently based on cash-based accounting, it would be very challenging to immediately move to an accrual based accounting system. Therefore, it is preferred to have a phased transition from the existing cash basis of accounting to a format that is termed as ‘combined’ basis of accounting. Modern IGFSs provide real-time user-friendly enquiry response that is necessary to take fiscal policy decisions. They also provide transparent

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maintenance, reconciliation, clear cash flow control and management, speedy and efficient reporting to enable reimbursement of donor provided funds. The flexible chart of accounts that most IGFSs have helped in providing analyses at various levels such as cost centre, summary cost centre, ministry, local government, economic category, government (sector) function, objective, project, output and activity. IGFS can also provide a comprehensive and interlinked system of internal control providing a clear audit trail and identification of the originator of each transaction, and a coordinated information availability providing a comprehensive and consolidated picture of the national financial position. The main outcomes expected from the implementation of an IGFS in a country are: · · · · · · · ·

17.5

Efficient budget preparation Effective fund utilisation Tight budgetary control Accurate and efficient reporting Latest financial position Transparency Integration Increased accountability

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

The system is expected to satisfy some basic requirements such as modularity of structure so that individual products can be progressively acquired and implemented. The integrated system should be one where the individual modules/systems collectively function as a unified package within the overall system (for example using the same IT architecture, common databases, system parameters and be fully integrated in terms of data interchange and compatibility between individual modules). IGFS should be built around a well-established and widely-accepted Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS) such as MySQL. A system that supports full on-line operation helps in minimizing the need for paper documents. It should be able to provide online access to multiple users and help in enabling the online information systems of the ministries and autonomous organisations. Since IGFS deals with sensitive data, it is advisable to deploy the system on stateless thin clients that do not have a hard disk or local registers so that no information can be stored locally, thus preventing compromise of high value financial data.

350 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies The system must be able to operate over the Internet, providing secure access to authorised users, having back-up and recovery facilities that are commensurate with requirements for financial information security in a government. Various subsystems of the integrated government treasury system are described below. Commitments Purchasing Maintenance Budgets Payments

Receipts

General Ledger

Budget

Journal Vouchers Balances Accounting Entries

Revenue

Reconciliation Cash Management

FIGURE 17.1

FIGURE 17.2

Treasury Solution Overview

Budget Preparation Process

Inquiry Budget

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Budget Preparation

The Ministry of Finance gathers data regarding Gross National Product (GNP), inflation rates, and so on. The data thus collected is aggregated and analysed to arrive at the budget ceilings for the ministry which is further broken down into departmental ceilings by each line ministry. The budgetary ceilings are communicated to the ministries, who in turn transmit this to its spending units. Budget estimates are generated by the spending units and revenue collection agencies and communicated to the ministry. The ministry reviews these and arrives at the consolidated estimates for itself. The spending ministries communicate these estimates to the Ministry of Finance. This is followed by consultations between the Finance Ministry and spending ministries. The reviewed ministerial estimates are consolidated and prepared as a draft budget and finally the draft budget is sent to Parliament for approval. During the course of the year, several revisions are carried out to the initial budget by Parliament. These are received from the Budget Department in a manner similar to the initial Budget. Also budget adjustments are raised for changes to phasing or switches between accounts within programs. These are initiated by the state institutions and passed to their governing bodies, the Budget Program Administrators. This information is then passed to the Ministry of Finance for review and when they agree, it is passed down to the treasury. All these changes need to be controlled, checked and tracked so that at any given point the government is aware of the current budget position. The various requirements of a budget preparation system are: · Set ceilings to spending units for expenses · Entering budget estimates (BE) · Modification of revised estimates (RE) · System approval of estimates through stages · What if analysis · Prevent unauthorised changes · Supplementary Budgets · Medium Term Economic Forecast (MTEF) functionality · Reports · Online inquiry

17.5.2

Budget Execution

Once the budget has been approved it is loaded into the system and communicated to each line ministry and spending unit. The spending units, on the basis of the approved budgets, prepare forecasts which show the funds requirement.

352 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies These are then consolidated to get the annual plan and detailed financial plan which shows the fund requirements for each ministry and spending unit respectively. The funds requirements are verified against the funds balance which is available and forecasted to be available over the entire year. It should be noted that this is a dynamic process and thus funds requirements change over the course of the year. Estimation of periodic funds requirement

Verification of funds requirement

Verification of fund balances Issue of warrants

Issue of sub-warrants Monitor warrants

FIGURE 17.3

Budget Execution Process

After verification of requirements and balances of funds, the Ministry issues warrants to departments which are authorisation for spending. The departments on the basis of warrants given to it, issue sub-warrants to organisations/ institutes which come under their purview. Sub–warrants issued should never exceed the warrant amount issued. Over a period of time expenditure against warrants/sub-warrants is incurred, thus reducing the available funds. Warrants are monitored to ensure that expenditure never exceeds the allotted funds. The requirements of budget execution system are: · Funds allocation documents o Warrants o Sub-warrants · Funds control · Withdrawal warrants and virements · Budget revisions and adjustments · Budget review · Reports and online inquiry

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17.5.3 Commitment Management This sequence of steps defines the procurement and commitment process: Approvals Paper Approval OR Enter a Purchase Requisition System Approval

Reserve Funds against Subwarrant

Raising of purchase requirement process and funds commitment Receive Sub-warrant

Raise Requisition

Funds Checker

Raise Purchase Order

Match Invoice to Purchase Order

Pay Supplier

FIGURE 17.4 The Process of Raising Funds and Procurement

A vendor database is created and updated in case a new vendor is to be added. A purchase requisition is made against the authorised sub-warrant. The purchase requisition is raised on suppliers contained in the vendor database. Purchase orders are then generated against approved purchase requisitions. It is possible that spending units have purchase contracts with vendors. The purchase requisitions in that case will be marked against these contracts. Funds are reserved and commitment entries are entered against each purchase order and contract thus reducing the funds available against that sub-warrant. Material is received against the purchase order placed and recorded into the system. If the method of accounting being followed is accrual or modified accrual the commitment created during the purchase order is reversed. In case of cash accounting, the commitment is reversed only after payment. An invoice is received from the vendor and entered against the appropriate purchase

354 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies order by the spending unit. Invoices are then sent by the spending unit to the line ministry or the respective local treasury for approval where the commitment information will be updated in case of difference between the purchase order and invoice amount. Invoices are approved and thus are ready for payment. The requirements of commitment management system are: · Vendor maintenance · Ability to enter into commitments · Hierarchical approval of requisitions and POs · Funds check/reservation of funds · Reversal of commitment · Facility to receive goods

17.5.4

Payments Management Match to Purchase Order Enter Invoice

Dr

Approve Invoice

Check Cash Availability

Approve Payment

Create Payment Order

Cr Create Journal Entries

FIGURE 17.5 Payables Process

On receipt of invoice from supplier the authorised personnel inputs it into the system. The invoice is matched with the purchase order to ensure that the invoice amount is within the purchase order specifications. If it is within specifications the system will pass it on for approval. In the event of the invoice not being within the purchase order amount or rates the invoice is rejected. The matched invoice is then sent for approval. The method of approval can be set as manual (where the invoice is approved on paper after inputting into the system) or system approval (where the invoice passes through a position hierarchy which has been predefined in the applications). Cash availability is checked to ensure availability of adequate cash to pay the invoices. After ensuring this a payment order is created. Payments can be made singly or more usually in batches. This process automatically selects all invoices that have been cleared for payment. There may be three scenarios while creating a payment order as follows:

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1. Payment order is generated and authorised by the line ministry and payment is effected by its bank account. 2. Payment order is created and authorised by the regional treasury and payment is effected through the Central bank’s Treasury Single Account (TSA). 3. Payment order is created and authorised by the regional treasury and payment is effected through the authorised commercial bank account. The payment order thus created is then approved by the authorised people. Once the payment has been authorised the system creates journal entries using an automatic process in the payables. If cash basis accounting is followed then the commitment created is reversed, thus ensuring that only actual journal entries are created. The system requirements for payments management are: · Facility to enter vendor invoices · Facility to validate invoice against purchase order · Facility for payment of invoice after appropriate approvals · Facility to create accounting entries · Facility to enter advances · Facility to liquidate advances · Facility of payment by different modes · Facility to create payment accounting entries

17.5.5

Receipts Management Revenue Receipts

Revenue Distribution

Retained by National Government

Distributed to sub-national Government Account Payables Increase Funds Available

FIGURE 17.6

Revenue Process

Revenue can be collected in many forms. Some important ones are listed below:

356 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 1. Revenue is collected by the revenue collectors in cash who issue official receipts to payers, banks the collections and prepare collector statements for reporting to the local treasury office. 2. Revenue is deposited at authorised banks by tax payers. The revenue deposited in the bank account is transferred on a periodic basis to the central bank’s TSA (Treasury Single Account). 3. Miscellaneous revenue collection deals with non-tax revenue, for example, a government hospital collecting fee from sale of medicines. It should be noted that in some cases miscellaneous revenue may be collected by an agency for its internal use and thus there may not be any sharing between the national and local governments for this sort of revenue. 4. The entire revenue collected will be pooled into a separate account called “Shared revenue–receipt account”. The revenue lying in the “Shared revenue–receipt account” will be then split according to the revenue sharing agreement prevalent between the national and local governments. Once the sharing has taken place the national government may authorise the central bank to issue a payment order to the local government for its share of revenue or there may be only a book transfer. 5. Reclassification will be required to put the revenue under appropriate revenue codes after sharing. It may also be required if the revenue has been distributed to an incorrect revenue code. 6. Refunds will arise when there is need to refund additional tax collected by the government. It should be noted that details of the persons to whom refund is to be given will be maintained by tax authority and not treasury. The various system requirements for receipts management are the ability to enter approved revenue collection plans, the ability to set up revenue sharing rates for various revenue classifications, revenue sharing, revenue reclassification and refunds, computerised revenue collection process, recording of non-tax receipts and a summarised and detailed revenue report.

17.5.6

Cash Management

Cash forecasting helps the government in many ways such as anticipation of the inflow and outflow of cash, accurate projection of cash needs, analysis of liquidity and currency exposure in order to better manage cash resources, minimization of bankruptcy risks and expense of borrowing costs, and earning more income through appropriate investment of cash. A cash forecast template is a matrix similar to a spreadsheet. Each row defines the source of cash flow, and each column defines the forecast period in general ledger periods or days. The cash management system aids in bank reconciliation. A bank statement can be loaded manually/electronically into cash management system and reconciled with the Sub-ledger/Ledger transactions.

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Also various missed-out entries like bank charges, errors, interests, and so on can be entered into the system using cash management module. External Systems

Cash Management

Account Payables

Account Receivables

General Ledger

FIGURE 17.7

Cash Management

A cash management system requires automated bank reconciliation, better cash planning, detailed “what if” analysis and an automated reconciliation accounting.

17.5.7

Assets Management

The following are the main steps in assets management. Asset registration Asset registration involves the registration of purchased asset, completed work in progress (WIP) from a capital project, and leased asset. Asset transfer Asset transfer involves the transfer and reclassification of assets. Asset depreciation Asset depreciation may be estimated by using either the Straight Line Method or the Written Down Value Method. Asset revaluation Asset revaluation involves the analysis of the historical cost revaluation and revaluation due to capital repairs. Asset retirement Asset retirement involves the disposal and sale of assets.

Asset Registration

Asset Transfer

Asset Depreciation

FIGURE 17.8

Asset Revaluation

Asset Management

Asset Retirement

358 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 17.5.8

Fiscal Reporting

IGFS can be used to produce periodic fiscal reports that give a consolidated picture of all receipts and expenditures and progress against budget targets. For these reports to be comprehensive, all items of receipts and expenditure need to be captured. Government chart of accounts is the basis for fiscal reporting process. The chart of accounts includes fund classification, organisational classification, functional classification and economic classification structure of budget and classification of account groups, assets and liabilities. As line ministries and spending agencies carry out their work programs, expenses and receipts are posted to the general ledger by the treasury system by budget object. Ministry systems record physical progress of programs and projects. This information is forwarded to the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The treasury general ledger records receipts of various types of tax revenues, loan / aid receipts, and debt servicing expenses. On the basis of this data the MoF can prepare overall fiscal reports that compare actual expenses and receipts with the budget estimates. These reports provide a status report and recommendations and action plans for corrective action during the course of the year. These could include revisions to spending limits, warrants, etc.

17.6

SECURITY FEATURES

The system must allow for the definition and maintenance of a unique identifier for each user at a location. Access to the system must require at least two separate identification components, user name and password. User access to the system and to each function within a module must be controllable. The system should allow for different categories of security–unrestricted access (for system administrators), access for updation or deletion, or just for inquiry only, and a combination of the above. The system should provide transaction level access control within certain functions such as a log of all unsuccessful user access attempts. In case of three consecutive unsuccessful user accesses from the same workstation, the workstation should be disabled. The time when a user is logged off a session, having or not having any activity at the workstation should be parameter driven at the global level. Remote users should have separate access control code for logging on to the server. Electronic files transferred between nodes of the system network should be encrypted on transmission and decrypted on receipt.

Recovery and Data Integrity The application software must ensure data integrity in the event of a hardware or software failure. The application must allow for recovery of processing

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after a hardware or software failure. The system should provide control features such as input and update counts, batch totals, update audit listings, error report generation, and so on.

17.7 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR IMPLEMENTATION 17.7 OF AN IGFS PROJECT Government Commitment and Management Support Improving the quality of financial management systems would increase the transparency of financial and resource allocation processes. This would affect those who benefit from existing system weaknesses. These interests may delay project actions or divert the project from its objectives. Continued government commitment to reform of public sector and to strengthen the basic financial management institutions is, therefore, a primary critical success factor for satisfactory project implementation.

Inter-agency Coordination and User Involvement in Systems Design Successful implementation of an integrated network of information systems, such as defined here, is crucially dependent on cooperation between a diverse set of users. Project preparation and implementation is complex when done in a multi-agency environment. Forming a steering committee and working groups with representatives from all major stakeholders would ensure that all participant agencies’ needs are taken into account during systems design. The steering committee would provide policy input and guidance and the working groups would be responsible for handling day-to-day operations and would be the vehicle to provide user input to the technical team responsible for implementing the project.

Organisational Capacity and Technical Skills Treasury systems reform projects will need to be aligned with the organisational capacities of the agencies responsible for reform implementation and the management of project implementation. The numbers of finance and technical staff and multiple skill levels required to set up such systems are considerable. To ensure sustainability the project may need to supplement existing skills and provide for financing and hiring of project implementation specialists, financial management specialists, and other technical skills as required.

Change Management Implementation of a country-wide network of computer-based systems to support treasury processes requires an understanding not only of the business

360 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies processes and information requirements, but also of the social, cultural, and political environment of the organisation and the country within which they are being implemented. It has been argued that computer-based systems are social systems in which technology is only one element. The organisational arrangements required to ensure a “social fit” therefore take on increasing importance. Therefore change management must focus on organisational issues as well.

Formal Project Management The implementation of country-wide computer systems to support the Treasury functional processes is a substantial undertaking. It is very important that agencies involved in the exercise be aware of its magnitude. Formal project planning methodologies should be used to design, implement, and monitor the systems. It is advisable to implement such projects in a phased manner so that they can be put in place and adequately monitored in a controlled environment. A phased implementation also ensures that they do not exceed the absorptive capacities of the organisations where they are implemented.

Systems and Data Administration Information systems support would normally be distributed among several agencies throughout government. Therefore, coordinating mechanisms should be created to ensure that a common set of policies, procedures, and standards is in place for managing data and systems government-wide. The standards should inter alia cover the protocols for communications, data entry, editing, and updating screen input and output formats, back-up and recovery, security, contingency, and disaster recovery planning, and technical and user documentation.

Local Technical Support It is imperative that the hardware and software chosen be supported locally. Vendors must have a presence in the country in order to provide training, technical support and maintenance, including fulfillment of warranty obligations, throughout the life of the system.

SUMMARY World Bank and International Monetary Fund are placing increasing emphasis on implementing projects aimed at improving the management of public finances in member countries. Treasury systems form the backbone for recording and processing all financial transactions related to the budget for any level of government. An integrated treasury system offers several significant benefits in managing public monies more effectively, including greater financial control, improved monitoring

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of the government’s cash position and better planning for future requirements, better financial reporting, and availability of better data for budget formulation. The establishment of an effective treasury system will also contribute directly to improving transparency and accountability of the government. An IGFS is a computer based system to integrate all government financial information–budget, accounting, revenues, expenditures, and project financial information–into one system. The key benefit of an integrated approach is that all the information can be linked together, so that authorised government officers can access the information they need from their desk top, view and print their own reports, and “drill-down” to look at the individual transactions. Many of the present paper controls will in future be performed electronically. Managers in the government will be able to use the information to better manage the resources. This huge step forward is possible because of advances in technology. To assist the process of designing treasury systems, this chapter contains an analysis of key features of such systems, including core functional processes, various policy options associated with their design and associated institutional arrangements. The establishment of an effective treasury system will contribute directly to improving transparency and accountability of government and to meet the requirements set out in IMF code of good practice on Financial Transparency – Declaration on Principles (fiscal transparency code) and other standards, such as detailed fiduciary standards being developed by World Bank. It is important that these aspects be taken explicitly into account in the design and implementation of treasury systems. Relevant elements of the fiscal transparency code are, therefore, included in the treasury management.

KEY TERMS Approved budget Description of approved programs and projects to be executed by line agencies during the year and funds voted. Bills/invoices Request for payment made by vendor to line agency for goods and services procured by that agency against a purchase order. Apportionments The approved budget for ministries, broken down to the detailed level of economic classifications and distributed over time, that is by quarters or months. Commitment transactions Transaction setting aside funds as a result of approval of specific requests for procurement of goods and services and issuance of corresponding purchase order. Debt service payments borrowings.

Interest and part principal payments made for government

Expenditure forecasts Estimates of cash requirements made by spending units at the start of the year and revised periodically specifying the amount of money required at specific times of the year for each major category of economic expenditure such as salaries, goods and services procurements, and so on. Fiscal reports Periodic reports to monitor overall flow of appropriations and inflow of revenues over the course of the year, highlighting major deviations from planned budget program and suggesting corrective measures.

362 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Loan receipts Receipts of government loan proceeds/grants paid into the treasury. Procurement requests Requests for procurement of goods and services made by staff in line agencies. The request needs to be authorised by line agency managers after determining validity of request and availability of budget allocations and spending limits. Revenue forecasts Estimates of inflow of tax and non-tax receipts for year made by the revenue collection departments. Revenue forecasts are made at the start of the year and revised periodically on the basis of actual revenue collection situation. Securities Financial instruments, like Treasury bills, issued by government to raise resources to finance temporary or longer term deficits. Revenue sharing rules Rules for sharing revenues between the centre and subnational levels of government. Tax revenue receipts

Receipts of government tax revenues paid into the treasury.

CASE STUDY Kazakhstan Treasury Modernisation Project World Bank and IMF have been involved in giving assistance to the Government of Kazakhstan in its efforts at setting up a treasury since the early nineties. IMF appointed a resident treasury advisor in 1995 to assist the government in the design and implementation of a treasury system and associated legal and institutional framework. Work on the treasury has been supported by WB, first through an Institutional Building Technical Assistance Loan and subsequently through a treasury. The modernisation project finances the institutional and legal reforms and the computer hardware and software required to implement a modern treasury. The project is making good progress. The institutional and legal framework is in place. The treasury has been set up as a separate organisation under the MoF. A network of treasury offices has been set up in the capital city, each of 20 or so Oblasts (regions) and about 220 rayons (districts). A new budget classification structure and associated chart of accounts, conformant with the IMF GFS system has been designed and implemented. A treasury single account has been set up at the National Bank of Kazakhstan and all spending unit bank accounts operated prior to the start of the treasury have been closed. Budget appropriations approved by Parliament are recorded in the treasury system, as are planned expenditures for each spending unit, by month and type of expenditure. During the course of the year the MoF issues monthly warrants to spending ministries which define the limits of expenditure for that month. Spending units route their payment requests to a designated treasury office for approval. The treasury system, operated by all treasury offices, checks the availability of budget appropriations and warrants prior to approving expenditures. After approval the treasury forwards the payment request to the designated branch of the central bank.

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The bank with the approval of the treasury pays the government creditor. This payment could be in the form of a cheque or a direct deposit to the creditors’ bank account in a private bank. A commitment system has been instituted for contracts exceeding a specified threshold. A full set of fiscal reports are produced by the system to assist the government in the management of its financial resources. An interim computer system has been set up to support the treasury’s functioning, partly financed from the World Bank Institution Building Technical Assistance Loan and is functioning at the central treasury and each of the oblast (regional) and rayon (district) treasury offices. This is one of the first cases in a country of the former Soviet Union where an off-the-shelf application software package has been shown to be fully responsive to the treasury’s functional requirements, with minimal customisation. This has direct relevance to efforts in other countries belonging to former Soviet Union which are in the process of implementing treasury systems, since the functional requirements are very similar. The interim system operates under a distributed transaction processing architecture. However, the Oraclebased full function system is envisaged to operate under a centralised model with all transaction processing carried out at the Central Treasury. Remote treasury offices will communicate with the centre via satellite-based communication links that are currently being installed. The Kazakhstan treasury project holds valuable lessons for other similar projects. Government commitment to reform over the entire project duration, which has extended to seven years to date, has been a critical success factor for this project. Successive finance ministers and treasury managers have recognised the importance of treasury reforms and have continued to press for progress. A decision early in the project to go for an interim computer system to handle core aspects of treasury functionality has been critical in several respects. Projects of this sort involve widespread change in business processes and methods of working. Procurement and implementation of information systems on this scale is also a very complex undertaking. Implementation of the interim system has enabled introduction of change in a gradual and a more manageable manner. It has enabled staff within the treasury to become familiar with a simpler computer-based system before the fully functional, but more complex, system is introduced. Moreover, since this system has enabled introduction of key functional processes for the treasury, it has made it possible to hold enduser’s attention over the extended period required for full systems implementation. Close project monitoring and advice rendered by the World Bank and IMF in the implementation of the project has also been very crucial. In this respect an important factor has been the consistency and continuity in the advice given by WB and IMF. This has been possible by continued association of the same IMF treasury advisor and key project staff on WB throughout the project. This is very unusual for projects of this duration in WB, where staff responsible for project design often do not stay with the project during its critical implementation phases. Lack of capacity within the MoF to handle implementation of complex information systems and change management on such a wide scale has been the main impediment to the project being completed faster. Low government pay scales continue to be

364 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies a crucial impediment to attracting qualified technical staff, on both functional and IT sides, required for project implementation. This will also be a constraining factor during the operational phase. The total cost associated with the implementation of treasury systems has been about $25 million including a WB loan of US $15.8 million.

Hungary Public Finance Management Project Treasury development efforts in Hungary have been financed by WB as part of a Public Finance Management Project approved in 1996. In Hungary the government has moved quickly to set up a two-tier treasury organisation with branches at the centre and each of the 18 provinces. Government funds are lodged in a treasury at the Central Bank. Spending units send their expenditure transactions to the appropriate branch of the treasury, which processes them and authorises payments from the treasury at the Central Bank. The treasury operates a centralised transaction processing architecture where all transactions are processed at the centre and remote treasury offices are linked to the centre via telecommunication links in an online mode. The application software used by the Hungarian Treasury has been custom developed. There is some thought now being given to moving to a more full function solution that can be provided by an off-the-shelf application software package. Greater availability of technical and financial specialists within the government and previous experience in managing complex institutional reform projects, have enabled the government to set up the core functionality associated with the treasury relatively quickly, over a period of four years.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the concept of an Integrated Government Financial System. 2. What are the motivations for a government to adopt an Integrated Government Financial System? Also explain how an Integrated Government Financial System helps in reducing non-plan fiscal deficit. 3. What are the requirements of an Integrated Government Financial System? 4. What are the major factors contributing to the success of an Integrated Government Financial System? 5. Explain the payables procedures. 6. Explain the dual entry accounting system and its importance for managing government finances. 7. Explain the concept of commitment accounting. Explain how it helps in better financial control.

REFERENCES Hashim, A. and W. Allan. 1999. Information Systems for Government Fiscal Management, World Bank Sector Study Series, Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

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Walsham, G., V. Symons, and T. Waema. 1988. ‘Information Systems as Social Systems: Implications for Developing Countries’, Information Technology for Development,3(3). v3 n3 p189-204. Hashim, A. and B. Allan. 2001. Treasury Reference Model, World Bank Sector Study Series, Washington, D.C.: World Bank. Carrigan, R., R. Milton, and D. Morrow, 2005. Kazakhstan Treasury Modernisation Project’, Computerworld Honours Case Study. Available online at http://www.cwhonours.org/ laureates/government/20055385.pdf. Downloaded on June 19, 2010. Hughes, B. and M. Cotterell, 2001 Software Project Management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited.

366 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

18 Land Records Objectives · To introduce land record systems · To understand the existing land record systems · To analyse the survey methods for land record systems · To learn about emerging technologies for land records information management · To understand the importance of data security, kiosks, on-line connectivity and open software for Land Record Information Management System (LRIMS)

18.1

INTRODUCTION

Land is a scarce natural resource and from time immemorial, it has been regarded as a measure of wealth, status and power. Land is also critical for most developmental infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, ports, factories, and so on. It is difficult to conceive any development activity without taking land into consideration. The efficiency of land management is also a critical factor in increasing the GDP of a nation. Therefore, land plays a very critical role in the infrastructure building of a nation. It can also be said that the rights of citizens to own private holdings and enjoy the wealth generated from the same, constitute a very important facet of public administration. This is particularly true for rural regions and emerging economies, which predominantly have an agricultural economy. Land Administration, therefore, shall have to evolve procedures and methodologies consistent with the social dynamics of today. For example, Land records in India were put on a scientific foundation by the Mughals who devised a system that eased the tax calculation while aiding in having one of the most efficient tax collection systems. The British built on this base by conducting large-scale cadastral surveys to determine boundaries and extent of each individual landholding and to settle the crop-sustaining ability (or fertility) of different soils. This had been done to rationalise the levy and collection of land revenue from the landholders in each and every village.

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18.2

367

LAND RECORD SYSTEMS

In most governments, the land records data are maintained at administrative offices. Land records are of two types and maintained in different registers: 1. Various alphanumeric data like Pedigree sheets, pertaining to each landholding, are primarily classified into land details and ownership details and is maintained in different registers. 2. The cadastral maps depicting the boundaries and extent of the plots data is stored in volumes for each village. These are known as Field Measurement Books (FMBs).

18.2.1

Survey Methods Used in the Past

The object of cadastral survey is the determination of village and field boundaries, preparation of village map showing such boundaries and area lists, and preparation of field registers. The maps and area lists record physical boundaries and areas, and field registers record land particulars like ownership, revenue assessment, land classification, etc. Numerous survey methods were used and modified time and again until a dominant design was stabilised. For example in India, records of Bombay Survey System and Madras Survey System, which evolved after various iterations, were adopted as standards in many Southern states. Bombay Survey System involved running an imaginary line called G-line or Baseline across the field and measurement of plot boundary vertex locations with respect to this line. Two distances, namely the distance along and the perpendicular length from the baseline to the vertex were recorded in the form of a Ladder Table or Field Measurement Table (FMT). The field data for a village were maintained in a book with the ladder tables and a sketch of each land holding.

Mapping Village maps were prepared by using the individual survey field data. Such maps tended to be slightly inaccurate due to error in individual fields being accumulated across the village. Errors generally crept in due to measurement resolution being rounded off and also due to the terrain nature of the ground. Field sketches assume the ground to be flat. However, the same data when plotted as a mosaiced across a village resulted in sizeable approximation. The boundary of the village was traverse surveyed and was used to control the accumulated error in the mosaiced plotted village map. In the traverse survey, the entire village was divided into more than one block and known boundary points (called traverse stations). The method involved starting from the first station and recording the distance and angle to the next station and so on till the circuit was closed. In many Northern states in India, the

368 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies individual field records were either lost or abandoned after preparation of accurate village map and this map became the basis for obtaining individual survey boundaries. Hence currently emphasis is given for computerisation of the land records for the benefit of public and to bring e-government into effect at the grassroot levels. Evolving system architecture, educating the concerned officers and public of the benefits of and computerising land records are the key areas that require the most attention. The system architecture design should take into consideration the specific problems related to land records.

18.3

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND TRENDS IN LRIMS

There are various kinds of real life problems and drawbacks in the present-day LRIMS. Information technology provides specific tools to address these problems. Some of these technologies and their impacts on LRIMS are elaborated below.

18.3.1

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer-based tool for mapping and analysing objects and landmarks that exist on earth and events that happen on earth. GIS technology integrates common database operations such as query and statistical analysis with unique visualisation and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps. These abilities distinguish GIS from other information systems and make it valuable to a wide range of public and private enterprises for explaining events, predicting outcomes and planning strategies. LRIMS requires a huge amount of maps integrated with large databases. GIS is an excellent tool which handles all such spatial as well as non-spatial data. In the conventional mapping and recording procedure, the data is widely distributed. For any kind of information different sub-branches of land record department have to be traced, which is very time consuming. If geographical database like maps and alphanumeric database like information on ownerships, crops and revenue are integrated to generate a single LRIMS, the information extraction for future use will be very easy. It is clear that initial generation of LRIMS along with GIS will need substantial time, but once the system is in place, further querying, analysis and updating will be very fast. GIS will help LRIMS to visualise each and every land parcels in terms of “polygons” along with their related attributes. Edge-matching the land record maps is easier with GIS. All the maps will have a single projection system as there will also be topological relationship between the land parcels.

18.3.2

Data Warehousing and Data Mining

Information is one of the valuable assets to any government. When used properly, it can help planners and decision makers in taking informed

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decisions leading to positive impact on targeted group of citizens. An information warehouse can deliver strategic intelligence to the decision makers and provide an insight into the overall situation. This greatly facilitates decision makers in taking timely micro level decisions. By organising landrelated data into a meaningful information warehouse, the government decision makers can be empowered with a flexible tool that enables them to take informed policy decisions for citizen facilitation and accessing their impact over the intended section of the population. A data warehouse built on land data containing history of property transfer, division of land parcels, yield trends, crop pattern and revenue details can be beneficial to both government decision makers and citizens as well in the following manner. At present most of the states have captured their data in computers and copies of record of rights are being distributed from computer centres. But the need of the hour is to have a uniform system and storage format for maintenance of land records where national level data warehousing will ensure better micro- and macro-level planning of land resources.

18.3.3

Use of Web in LRIMS

The explosion of Internet activity in recent years has sparked a global move away from traditional isolated single software and single machine computing to distributed multiple-software, multiple-machine computing. The advantages are obvious—larger information base, up-to-date information and greater computing power. The web technology has given tremendous scope to LRIMS. The huge database of LRIMS including both map as well as alphanumeric data can be safely stored in a centralised server in the main land record department of each state. This information will be accessed through the Internet from different sub-divisions. Various levels of information will be available to different departments and they can be password-protected to prevent illegal accessing. Land record data updating and modification of revenue information, property transfer and crop yield can be done at the client side and saved back in the server. On the client side the permission for data updation and deletion will be given to the concerned authority with the provision of login and password.

18.3.4

Use of Hand-held Device

Hand-held devices can be used for real time data collection from the fields. Devices like the Simputer which is a low cost, simple hand-held computer developed by a team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, palmtops, and PDAs amongst others can be effectively used for collection of land records data with appropriate software installed on them. Most of these devices can also be enabled with wireless Internet connectivity so as to access the state

370 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies level data centres. For example, in the state of Karnataka in India, village level revenue functionaries have been given simputers for data collections.

18.4

DATA SECURITY

Security should be of the paramount consideration while developing software and processing data related with land records. A set of detailed security policies has to be worked out so that vital land records data cannot be tampered with. Security policies have to be clearly communicated to officers working in administrative offices and they should be directed to adhere to these policies. For purposes of local authentication and non-repudiation, biometrics identification such as fingerprints need to be used, especially in places where there is high illiteracy. In addition, security must be implemented at an information system level using strategies that ensure that the database generates entry into hidden log files, which can help the administrator to identify transactions done by various officials and keep a track of changes made by various stakeholders. The systems must have a rigorous set of guidelines for backup and recovery. In addition, there also needs to be disaster recovery systems to ensure that all data is simultaneously backed up in a different data centre from the one that is being used for operations.

18.5

ON-LINE CONNECTIVITY

Internet penetration in urban as well as rural areas has seen a quantum jump in recent times across developed and developing countries. This process is being aided by wireless broadband technologies such as 3G and WiMax (IEEE 802.16 and 802.20 standards). In addition, Ku band satellite connectivity has lowered the cost of satellite based connectivity, ensuring that technically and economically, connectivity can be provided to the most remote of land administration offices. Moreover, many countries have a policy of Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund wherein telecom players who roll out connectivity in urban areas contribute to a common fund used for rolling out connectivity in rural areas. This fund is helping in providing the capital required for roll out of connectivity in rural areas which can then be used by LRIMS.

18.6

KIOSK AND SMART CARD

The public delivery of LRIMS needs to be further strengthened by providing certified copies of Record of Rights (RoR) to the land owners through village level IT kiosks or telecentres. These kiosks or telecentres can be set up by either government, local administration, or by private entrepreneurs. The land

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owners can also be given smart cards in order to provide them access to their land records data on ‘when and where’ basis. This would help in bringing in transparency in land records management, thus helping in reducing the number of litigations involving in land ownership and usage.

18.7

OPEN SOFTWARE

The open source community has significantly enhanced the open source databases such as MySQL, Postgres and front-end development tools like JAVA, Netbeans, and so on. In addition, tools such as ORCA (an open source software for supporting the physically challenged) would help the illiterate and the blind to access their land records. Thus open source technologies would provide a cost-effective and socially equitable enterprise level solution for implementing LRIMS.

SUMMARY Land related activities constitute a significant portion of a nation’s GDP. Hence it is critical to have a system for complete and accurate land information. This also helps enhancing collection of taxes, implementing reforms, administration and in setting up infrastructure to support the economy. However, creation of an accurate and complete land information system is one of the key challenges for governance today. Although land records can cover a wide variety of information, the most important involves geological data (such as land shape, size, forms, and soils), economic data related to crops, irrigation, and land use, and information about legal rights, liabilities and taxation. Confirmation of ownership is an essential prerequisite for development of efficient land market. Land records form the basis for assignment and settlement of land titles, and must protect the rights of a land’s legal owner. Manual maintenance of land records, however, does not facilitate this objective. It also hinders effective collection and analysis of the data contained in them—data that are crucial for, among other things, increasing bank loans, resolving legal disputes, promoting accurate crop data and insurance, and for ensuring efficient land markets. Developing countries and their central and state governments have long recognised the need to reform their system of land records. These reforms have been implemented using IT systems in some states and has also achieved success but still there is a lot of work to be done. Governments across the globe require to replicate the success of some of the very successful projects like Bhoomi of Karnataka government and CARD of Andhra Pradesh government in India and try to integrate it with other IT systems for better management of land records.

KEY TERMS Bombay Survey System Running an imaginary line called G-line or Baseline across the field and measurement of plot boundary vertex locations with respect to this line.

372 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Mapping Village Maps prepared by using the individual survey field data, tended to be slightly inaccurate due to error in individual fields being accumulated across the village. Geographic information system (GIS) A computer-based tool for mapping and analysing things that exist and events that happen on earth. Data Warehousing and Data Mining An information warehouse delivering strategic intelligence to decisionmakers and providing insight into the overall situation. Simputer A low cost, simple, hand-held computer developed by a team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science and the Bangalore-based Encore software.

CASE STUDIES Implementation of LRIMS in Andhra Pradesh (AP), India In AP 387 Sub-Registrar offices register approximately 1.2 million documents related to land records per year. The work of the Sub-Registrar is supervised by a hierarchy of District Registrars (28), Deputy Inspectors (6), and the Inspector General (1). The traditional 11-step registration procedure, as detailed below, is complex and time consuming, beyond the comprehension of most citizens. Step 1: Determination of the value of the property. Step 2: Calculation of stamp duty, transfer duty, and registration and other fees. Step 3: Purchase of stamp paper by the citizen. Step 4: Preparation of the legal registration document and certificates to be enclosed with the document. Step 5: Presentation of these documents to the Sub-Registrar. Step 6: Scrutiny of documents, reviewing the valuation of the property, calculation of stamp duty, transfer duty, registration fees and miscellaneous fees by the SubRegistrar. Step 7: Payment of deficit stamp duty, if any.. Step 8: Certifying of the final document by the citizen before the Sub-Registrar and two witnesses. Step 9: Copying of the document in the register books. Step 10: Posting of copies to two indexes (by name and property), and accounts and reports. Step 11: Return of the document to the citizen. Brief accounts of various actors involved in the conventional registration process are described below.

Stamp Vendors Stamps are sold to the public through private stamp vendors licensed by the Registration and Stamps Department and at counters located at the offices of the Sub-Registrars.

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The private stamp vendors commonly charge an illegal premium on the face value of the stamps when there is scarcity of a particular denomination. They also resort to the sale of fake and post-dated stamps for an additional charge. There are about 2,300 licensed stamp vendors and 221 departmental stamp counters in AP.

Document Writers Document writers have been given official recognition in several states of India through a system of licensing. There are 3,908 licensed writers in AP. When a document is not written by a licensed document writer, an additional fee (approximately $5 or Rs 215) is levied at the time of registration. Document writers prepare the maps and location sketches to describe the property, fill in various forms, and assist citizens in procuring certificates from various authorities. For their comprehensive services they demand a fee higher than that prescribed by law.

Registration Agents Registration agents are self-employed individuals or firms who, for a lumpsum payment, get a document registered, covering the whole range of services. This manual registration system generated a number of important drawbacks such as following:

Lack of Transparency in Valuation Since stamp duty is linked to property values, valuation procedures are vital. A system of market value guidelines was introduced in 1975, whereby the rate per unit of rural/ urban land is assessed for all villages/towns and incorporated in a register for public guidance. However, the basic value registers usually are not accessible to the public, and even if they were, it is difficult for a common citizen to peruse them and calculate the amount of stamp duty, transfer duty, registration fee and miscellaneous fee. All this creates an impression that the valuation of property is “flexible” and “negotiable,” prompting a host of corrupt practices and a flourishing business of brokers and middlemen who exploit the confusion surrounding the registration process.

Tedious Back Office Functions Conventional manual methods of copying, indexing and retrieving documents are laborious, time consuming, and prone to errors and manipulations. Thus, a premium is often paid for speedy delivery of services.

Difficulties in Preserving Documents The registers occupy a lot of physical space, usually in ill-maintained backrooms. They also deteriorate with age and repeated handling.

New Approach The Computer aided Administration of Registration Department (CARD) is designed to eliminate the maladies affecting the conventional registration system by introducing

374 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies electronic delivery of all registration services. CARD was initiated to meet the key objectives of demystifying the registration process, bringing in speed, efficiency, consistency and reliability, and substantially improve the citizen interface, and so on. These goals were to be achieved by introducing a transparent system of valuation of properties easily accessible to citizens replacing the manual system of copying and filing of documents with a sophisticated document management system using imaging technology replacing the manual system of indexing, accounting and reporting through the introduction of electronic document writing. Since 60 percent of the documents, Encumbrance Certificates (ECs) and certified copies relate to agricultural properties the success of the CARD project greatly benefit the rural farming community. Agriculturists also benefit from a possible link-up of CARD and rural bank networks, and enhance the efficiencies of the rural credit services by eliminating the need for paper-based procedures.

Implementation Challenges Implementation of an IT project involving over 200 locations state-wide was a formidable challenge. The project was divided into nine major tasks and 64 sub-tasks. Approximately 2,000 hardware items and software packages were procured within a span of about five months through AP Technology Services. The project had to be implemented rapidly so that the technology (both hardware and software) would not become obsolete prior to the project launch. Implementation required considerable reengineering. First, the national Registration Act of 1908 did not contemplate the use of computers to handle registration procedures. The Registration Act therefore had to be amended, a process that took over a year. The Act, in its application to the state of AP, has been amended to provide for the following: · Document registration and copying may be completed with the aid of electronic devices like computers, scanners and CDs and copies may be preserved and retrieved with the same tools. · Copies of documents registered and stored electronically, retrieved, printed and certified by the Sub-Registrar shall be received as legal documents. The registration software shall be prescribed by the Inspector General. Second, to use these new technologies effectively, a large and well-designed training program was carried out by a private sector company at a cost of $ 262,000 (9 percent of the project cost). A training program of one to three weeks was organised for different categories of officers. Seventy-five Data Processing Officers (DPOs) were trained for six months and 1,200 data entry operators were provided two weeks of training. Extensive system reforms cannot be brought about without adequate motivation within the organisation. The following decisions were taken to motivate employees: · A cross-section of the field personnel was closely associated with the design and development of the software, and especially in the task of business process re-engineering. No external technical personnel were recruited.

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· The head of the department undertook extensive tours throughout the state and conducted workshops, presentations, and special training camps involving all departmental employees. The officials who managed the two pilot sites were closely associated with this effort. · Senior functionaries of the government such as the Principal Secretary and Minister of the Revenue Department were closely associated with, and supportive of, the project. Third, the tremendous data backlog was a challenge. The CARD masters (state level) could be built without much difficulty, as the data is both limited and readily available. However, the project encountered major challenges in building up basic value data and EC data for the last 15 years. The basic value data consisted of about 50,000 records at each Sub-Registrar Office (SRO). This data was input into the systems by the trained staff in six to eight weeks. The task of inputting EC data, which has a more complex size and structure—about 1.2 million records, each of 2 KB size-was out-sourced to five agencies in March 1998. Fourth, installation of CARD application software in 212 locations was considered a major challenge. Seven versions of the software had to be developed, tested, and deployed in a period of four months to achieve the desired functionality across the counter. This task was made possible by the relentless efforts of the DPOs who were groomed to prepare for this task. One significant strategy adopted to “debottleneck” this process was to enable the DPOs to contact the head of the department and a core of technical personnel at the headquarters at any time to solve problems encountered in installation. The CARD project was launched on November 4, 1998. Political figures from each region inaugurated the new centres on the same day, thus helping to solidify political support for the project. An appropriate media campaign was also undertaken to educate the public and thereby bring about the elimination of middlemen and brokers in the registration process.

Benefits and Costs Six months following the launch of the CARD project, about 80 percent of all land registration transactions in AP were carried out electronically. Some transactions are still being handled manually at a few locations due to hardware and software related problems. The time required for services such as valuation of property, sale of stamp paper, and provision of certified copies of registered documents now takes 10 minutes instead of a few days as under the earlier system. ECs are now issued to citizens in a span of five minutes, using a system that searches through more than 15 years of records from over 50 offices. Land registration can be completed in a few hours, whereas earlier it took 7–15 days. After factoring out the natural upward trend in nominal revenues, the CARD system has generated a modest increase in revenue (see Table 18.1).

376 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Table 18.1 Land Registration Revenue in Andhra Pradesh, 1995–2000

Year

Target

Gross Revenue

Net Revenue

% Growth (in net rev.)

1995–96

570.00

460.27

325.62

3.83

1996–97

570.00

605.87

435.16

33.64

1997–98

639.00

635.91

449.61

3.32

1998–99

675.00

710.03

493.51

9.76

Another benefit of the CARD program is that it has prompted the public to pressurise the government for similar changes in other areas. In the CARD program itself, the following improvements are contemplated: · Introduction of a Telugu version of the software. · Creation of a CARD service centre to provide all registration-related services under one roof (except registration of deeds relating to any property in the twin cities). · Networking all the servers/PCs at the 214 centres using the AP State Wide Area Network (APSWAN) so that all registration services (except those of deeds) can be accessed at any office irrespective of location of property. · Provide registration information services on the Internet. · Development of a property title database, which would be the precursor for introducing the Torrens System of registration (whereby registration of a sale deed guarantees title to a property). · Linking the databases of all land-related departments, such as land revenue, municipal administration, and irrigation. · Linking the EC database with the banking network to facilitate faster processing of applications for rural credit. The CARD project was funded entirely by the AP government. The 1996 pilot project to computerise two Sub-Registrar offices cost about $55,000. The original outlay for the full CARD project was about US$3 million; and this figure is likely to grow to $4.3 million. This cost includes hardware, software, training, site preparation, data entry, air-conditioners, furniture, stationery and storage media, and other miscellaneous expenses. Although employees were not fired, post-spot inspections reveal that the new system has not found favour with employees due to a loss in enforcement power. If an under-valuation is discovered, a separate notice must be issued to collect it, and this collection may go into litigation. There is also a need to encourage payment by cheque or electronic means instead of the current practice of accepting cash.

Key Lessons of the Case Government should have a clear, coherent rationale and plan for choosing a particular e-government application. The AP government prioritized and selected for attention a service that generates high tax revenues, has a large citizen interface, and some prior involvement with IT. The land deeds registration service is one such area.

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It is necessary to have a clear motive and understanding of the benefits emerging from using IT. Often the value-additions of technological re-engineering of services is not clearly understood or targeted at the outset, and the outcomes are, therefore, disappointing. In this application IT solutions were used for the specific goal of reducing the time it took for citizens to register their deeds. Reducing corruption was never the stated goal of the CARD project, nor has it been eliminated to a significant degree. Any government that sets out to eliminate corruption as an explicit objective is likely to encounter greater resistance from employees who stand to loose. Anti-corruption is a fringe benefit of the reform, achieved here mainly through the elimination of intermediaries. Effective change management is essential. Of all the factors that contributed to the success of CARD, this clearly emerges as the most important. In fact, when asked about the manner in which he had to distribute his time and effort, the manager of CARD project attributed 45 percent to change management, 35 percent to the re-engineering of processes, a mere 15–20 percent to software, and five percent to other factors. To circumvent predictable and formidable opposition from intermediaries who stood to lose from these changes, the project did not confront them directly, but chose instead to co-exist with the old system, allowing the market to eliminate gradually the demand for these intermediaries. Care was also taken not to antagonize the lower rungs of bureaucracy. Government announced at the outset that no downsizing would result from the introduction of this technology, and is now trying to transfer excess capacity into previously neglected activities (for example field work). The AP government has decided that such projects in future will be led only by public administrators who have been trained to understand technology, rather than by technical specialists trained to manage. In a huge and costly demonstration of commitment to this ideal, the government has set aside funds to interview, select, and train promising public administrators for future projects. This experience underscores that e-government projects can perhaps be managed best by public servants. Appropriate physical telecom infrastructure is absolutely necessary for the application of IT solutions, but an insufficient condition to achieve successful e-government reforms. The Andhra Pradesh Technology Service, a different kind of “infrastructural” element, was instrumental in the progress of Andhra’s overall IT and e-government agenda. This government-owned company functions as a sort of in-house consulting group for government projects. It is not bound by the government’s pay structure and is capable of attracting and retaining specialists from the private sector as well. The choice of software and technology is often secondary to other factors such as proper change management. Certainly, the choice of software was important. However, CARD experience suggests that its importance for success was secondary. Wisely, this e-government application was designed to be flexible and scalable to accommodate new services, statutory changes in registration procedure and new computing environments.

378 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Making a successful transition from manual to electronic process demanded changes in a number of established work procedures. Process re-engineering was needed to realise the promised benefits and deal with the new challenges of the new medium. Related elements, such as legislation, also had to be updated. Tax revenue did not increase significantly even with the implementation of CARD The department has no way to measure accurately the revenue loss in the existing system. Surrogate indicators such as the number of court cases protesting valuations can be used to suggest whether valuation is lenient or strict. Changing the basis of valuation from reliance on historical records (which reflect depressed prices to evade stamp duty) would increase revenue. However, while using historical prices does not optimise revenue collection, it is considered relatively transparent. A system based on market intelligence could use current prices, but would be considered arbitrary unless very well specified. Such specification would require building a GIS database of all properties and collecting market prices of new buildings, with an explicit depreciation rule. Such a system will require a large one-time effort, as well as continuous monitoring. One reason for the success of CARD is because it skirted the contentious issue of pricing. Every e-government project will require new investments. If manpower cannot be reduced, then operational costs are likely to increase as well. In the long run the CARD application may generate more tax revenues. However, in the short term it has been a net fiscal loss for the government. Government needs to consider charging a transaction fee to offset the costs. This is likely to be met with resistance. But examples elsewhere have shown that even very poor rural citizens are often willing to pay reasonable fees for legitimate and useful improvements in services.

Computerisation of Land Records (CLR) in Tamil Nadu, India Land reforms started in Tamil Nadu in 1961 when Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961 (called the Principal Act) came into existence with the objective of equitable distribution of land to the landless by fixing the ceiling on the holdings of agricultural land so as to render the surplus available for distribution to the landless poor. The ceiling limit for a family consisting of five members was fixed as 30 standard acres. For every additional member of the family, an additional five standard acres was allowed, subject to the overall ceiling of 60 standard acres. Any female member of a family having land in her own name on the date of commencement of the Act is entitled to hold stridhana property up to 10 standard acres. Planters were allowed excess land subject to the maximum of 20 percent of contiguous area of existing plantation after getting permission from the land board under section 31 of the Act. Many other minor amendments were carried out in the Act. However, the major revolution in the land records came along with the CLR in Tamil Nadu. The centrally sponsored scheme of CLR was started in 1988–89 with 100 percent financial assistance as a pilot project in eight districts in the country. During the

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Eighth Five Year Plan, the scheme was approved as a separate centrally sponsored scheme on CLR. The scheme covers 582 of the total of 625 districts of the country leaving 43 districts, where there are no land records. The salient points of the CLR scheme and its impacts are as follows: · ‘A’ register and Chitta (land holding certificate) have been computerised in 201 administrative offices. · 201 out of 206 administrative offices in the state have gone online. · Ban on issue of manual extract of land records has been notified in the state gazette and CLRs are the only land documents valid in the state. · About 14.5 million people have availed this facility and have obtained computerised extracts of land records. Tamil Nadu Infosystem on Land Administration and Management (Tamil Nilam): For effective land administration, planning and empowering people with right to information about their land details, a computerised system of land records is very crucial. Detailed and updated information in an efficient retrievable mode is required for this purpose. The database thus created will help in all land related activities namely land tenancy, land ceiling, consolidation of land holdings and to provide horizontal and vertical linkages with other departments, and financial institutions, and so on. Modernising data collection, storage, retrieval and processing facilities in respect of land related data traditionally collected by land revenue administration, so as to improve accuracy, made information readily available to users at nominal cost and enabled better use of collected data for meaningful analysis and decision-making. This scheme of computerisation of land records is the first successful implementation of e-government at grass roots level where people are directly benefitted and this digital data will be very useful for planning and execution of government of India programs. Accordingly a pilot project was taken up in 1991–92 in Salem district of Tamil Nadu. With the experience gained, the program was extended to remaining districts in a phased manner during the years 1994–98. After the extended period of data entry, validation and correction, the entire state was ready to go online with the land ownership data in rural areas. Additionally an extensive program of training of revenue personnel involved in operation of the computer system was taken up. In the transition period, before going fully online, it was decided that both the manual system and computer system should run parallel. After gaining full confidence, the complete system was computerised and manual system was discontinued. It was not enough just to have the system online,that is all changes in the land records being carried out through the computer only. It was also necessary to change the procedures to take care of the change in environment. While the training imparted to the operating persons has taken care of this factor by making them familiar with the new system, it was still necessary to give a legal and administrative sanctity to the records now being maintained only in the computer. Accordingly, a notification was issued by the government making computerised extracts of land ownership document as the only valid document and manual extracts were banned.

380 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies The above steps are in accordance with the guidelines of the government of India. Although Karnataka with its ‘Bhoomi’ project has also completed the computerisation of land records, Tamil Nadu has taken several innovative steps over and above the computerisation of land records program envisaged by the government of India. The CLR programme in Tamil Nadu was named Tamil Nilam and the following innovative features were included. 1. For the first time in the country, the citizen interface for land records was introduced. This was done by providing Touch Screen Computer Kiosks (TSCK) in the administrative offices spread throughout the state. 2. Land ownership records for all villages in the administrative offices have been made available for display to the public in the kiosks. Apart from providing an easy way of checking up of land ownership details, this has also introduced transparency in government records as any person can view ownership data of any land situated within the administrative offices. This has meant that the chances of fraudulent land transaction have been substantially reduced. 3. An element of self-sustainability for maintenance and cost of consumables has been built into the system. A viewership charge of Rs 2 for five minutes and a charge of Rs 20 for getting an extract are being levied. Tamil Nadu has been one of the pioneer states in the country in computerising land records. Thus all land sales are now being digitally recorded in the computers available in the Sub-Registrars’ Offices. This has made the task of getting Encumbrance Certificate much easier for the citizens. There are two aspects to land transactions, namely, getting the document registered while the purchase is made, and second, getting the changes done in the land records database in the administrative offices. The first activity is carried out in the Sub-Registrar’s Office and the second in the administrative offices. These offices have been operating in isolation leading to delays and harassment to citizens when a land-related transaction is made. This was the situation by and large in Tamil Nadu and in other states, even after computerisation of both the offices. Accordingly it was decided to link up the two databases in administrative office where the Sub-Registrar’s Office is also located nearby in the state. This process has already started and implementation is going on satisfactorily. In these areas, whenever a land sale is registered, the land records database in the administrative office is also changed the very next day. The magnitude of the importance can be gauged from the fact that before linking up the two offices, a separate application would have to be made and the entire process would take several months. Thus, there has been a significant improvement and reduction of harassment to citizens. Apart from the land holding data, sometimes, village maps are required by the public for their use. These maps have been traditionally stored in paper rolls in haphazard fashion. Retrieval and sale of maps on demand used to take several days and led to substantial harassment to citizen. A project to scan the village maps is under progress. Once the maps have been scanned and stored in the computer, retrieval and taking up a printout for sale is easier and faster. Substantial storage

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space is also released for other uses. A few districts have already completed the map scanning process and sales through computers have been started.

System Issues of Tamil Nilam Digitisation of Land Holding Data So far only land ownership data in alphanumeric form has been computerised. If a landholder requires a sketch of his holding, it has to be manually drawn and given. To complete the process of computerisation and to achieve the goals envisaged, it is necessary to take up digitisation of land holding sketches as well. Data Warehouse With the wealth of data now available after the computerisation of land records, it is possible to centrally store data and extract information. It is proposed to host a data warehouse of land records in Chennai, which will yield details of land holdings of land usage by the government and others. Computerisation of Cultivation Data This data is more dynamic than the other land data now available. Computerisation of cultivation data is now in progress and is expected to be completed shortly. Security Aspects Considering the nature of land data it is necessary to have the best possible security. While at present security is provided by using password for accessing the database, it is proposed to further strengthen this aspect. For this purpose it is proposed to take up implementation of digital signatures under a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Thus it can be seen from the above that Tamil Nadu with its implementation of Tamil Nilam has gone considerably farther than other states and brought an ambit of new service not originally envisaged under the Government of India project. It will be the endeavor to provide the best possible service for citizens under this project by covering new areas to give the greatest possible benefit to the people of Tamil Nadu.

Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating Land Records (SRA and ULR) A centrally sponsored scheme for SRA and ULR was started in 1987 with funding by central and state governments on 50:50 basis. Under the scheme, financial assistance is given for purchase of modern survey equipments like Global Positioning System (GPS), Electronic Distance Measurement (EDM), Total Stations, Theodolites, work stations, aerial survey, office equipment like photocopiers, laminating machines, binding machines and basic facilities to improve the work efficiency of lower staff of the revenue departments, construction of office-cum-residence of village administrative officer, construction/repair/renovation of training institutions and equipment for training, and so on. The objectives of the scheme are as follows: 1. Strengthening of survey and settlement organisations for early completion and preparation of land records in areas where this work is yet to be completed.

382 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 2. Providing facilities for modernisation of survey and settlement operation, printing of survey maps, report/documents, storage, copying and updating of land and crops records, and using, among other things, latest science and technology inputs. Providing data for land based planning activities by various departments and agencies by development of GIS applications. 3. Improving accuracy of survey and enabling convergence of various survey data including that of Survey of India. 4. Capitalisation of revenue machinery at village and immediate supervisory levels on a selective basis to make the workload of these functionaries manageable. 5. Imparting pre-service and in-service training to revenue, survey and settlement staff and strengthening of training infrastructure for this purpose. The following were the main activities taken up in Tamil Nadu under the scheme: 1. Construction of training institute in Orathanadu and extension of buildings in Bhavani Sagar training institute. 2. Purchase of office equipment such as photocopying machine, map storage, furniture for training institute, and so on. 3. Survey instruments such as Theodolites etc. In the last two to three years the emphasis has shifted from the above activities to modernisation of survey techniques. Accordingly, the following programs have been pursued.

Global Positioning System (GPS) and Total Station Initially a pilot project was taken up in Chingleput administrative office of Kancheepuram district for survey using GPS and total station on an experimental basis for one village. After the village survey was completed the following advantages were found: · An accurate geo-reference points of the village traverse was possible. Using this in future, it would be possible that all villages are geo-referenced to the mosaiced village maps to generate Administrative Office (AO) maps and larger scale maps accurately. · Total station survey gave extremely accurate results. · The output generated is in the digital format and is amenable for further processing by computer. · Normally table work consumes far more time than the survey process work itself by using the traditional method. Using new instruments it is possible to reduce the office process time to practically nil, as the output is digital and can be loaded directly into the computer. Calculation of area and other parameters are also automatically available. · Mosaicing of blocks, incorporating and GIS related details is possible. As a result of this the process of cadastral survey can now be extended to include additional details normally available in cadastral maps. User departments can give further information which can be incorporated in GIS format. Thus generation of all digital cadastral survey maps using total station opens opportunities of making a full-fledged GIS possible for the areas surveyed.

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· The available manpower can take up large areas simultaneously. Now that the utility of the total station survey has been established, it has been decided that there should be gradual improvement of these techniques throughout the state. Accordingly, the Government of Tamil Nadu made a provision of Rs 4 million for this year; and matching grant of the Government of India has already been received. Henceforth, all new town surveys would be taken up using total station only.

Scanning of Village Maps Saleable copies of village maps are made available to the public from the Central Survey Office. Storing 50 to 100 copies each of maps of more than 17,000 villages takes considerable space. It is also not possible to retrieve the village maps easily as and when required. Under this scheme a sum of Rs 4 million was provided to procure hardware for taking up scanning. Accordingly, hardware such as server, scanner, plotter and archive media has been procured. Scanning of village maps for 12 districts has been completed. After scanning is over the village maps would be sent to the district for use after retaining one copy. As a result this would release considerable space. It is also easy to retrieve and print from the computer. Thus any member of the public can get a copy of village map on payment of a fee, within half an hour compared to two or three days earlier.

C-Star The personnel of Survey Department have been trained only in the time-tested conventional method of survey hitherto followed and they have not been fully exposed to training in new technology and handling modern survey equipment. With the growing importance of, and reliance on, electronic measurement tools, computers and GIS based natural resources management, the need for accurate digital survey is keenly felt more now than ever before. Hence, Strengthening of Land Records Department (SLRD) has been proposed. The purpose os SLRD is to introduce modern state-of-the-art technologies in land survey in Tamil Nadu and to expose the manpower in the department to modern land survey practices and technologies and provide training so as to also establish and appropriate grid system for accurate cadastral survey based on coordinate system. The government has recognised the need to impart training in modern technologies and upgrade the skills of the survey personnel as an important element in the process of modernisation of SLRD. The training infrastructure and facilities now available with the department are not sufficient to cope up with modern training requirements. In view of this, Government, in collaboration with Anna University, Chennai has proposed to establish a modern Survey Training Institute at Chennai.

BHOOMI COMPUTERISED LAND RECORD SYSTEM OF KARNATAKA The Department of Revenue in Karnataka has computerised 20 million records of land ownership of 6.7 million farmers in the state. In the past, under the manual

384 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies system, land records were maintained by 9,000 Village Accountants, each serving a cluster of three to four villages. Farmers had to seek out the Village Accountant to get a copy of the record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTC), a document needed for many tasks including obtaining bank loans. Nearly 2500 bank branches in Karnataka loan approximately Rs 40 billion to farmers as working capital every year. Village Accountants were not easily accessible, as their duties entailed traveling. The time taken by Village Accountants to provide RTCs ranged from three to 30 days and bribes ranging from Rs 100 ($1= Rs 46) to Rs 2,000 had to be paid. If some details were to be deliberately written in an ambiguous fashion, the bribe could go up to Rs 10,000. Land records in the custody of Village Accountants were not open for public scrutiny. In the Bhoomi project, a printed copy of the RTC can be obtained online by providing the name of the owner or plot number at land records kiosks in 177 Administrative Offices for a fee of Rs 15. A second computer screen faces the clients to enable them to see the transaction being performed. In the next phase of the project, all the Administrative Office databases will be uploaded to a webenabled central database. RTCs will then be available online at Internet kiosks in rural areas, which will be able to connect to the central database. Earlier, mutation requests to alter land records (upon sale or inheritance of a land parcel) had to be filed with the Village Accountant. The Village Accountant was required to issue notices to the interested parties and also paste the notice at the village office. Often neither of these actions was carried out, nor was any record of the notices maintained. Although an update to the land records could be carried out after a 30-day period by a Revenue Inspector, in practice, it could take one or two years for the records to be updated. Bhoomi has reduced the discretion of public officials by introducing provisions for recording a mutation request online. Farmers can now access the database and are empowered to follow up. A farmer can check the status of a mutation application on a touch screen provided in any one of the twenty pilot computerised kiosks. If the revenue inspector does not complete the mutation within 50 days, a farmer can now approach another officer at the administrative office level to authorise a mutation. Now mutation requests are to be handled strictly on a first-come-firstserved basis. These measures limit opportunities for collecting bribes. After computerisation, there is an 85 percent increase in the number of mutation requests. This change would seem to indicate a level of approval of the new system by the population, and willingness to update changes in land which were previously left undocumented. The system of collecting crop data printed at the back of the RTC is also being computerised on an experimental basis. Greater accuracy in crop data would lead to a more equitable distribution of crop insurance claims. In 2002–03 nearly one million farmers (15 percent of the farming community) insured their crops. Earlier farmers could obtain falsified crop records from village accountants to boost their claims. With the implementation of Bhoomi, crop data on the back of the RTC is the only document that can be used to back a claim. Bhoomi will facilitate a quicker disposal of land disputes in courts by enabling faster retrieval of documents required by courts such as notices issued for mutation

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to affected parties. More than 70 percent disputes in courts are land based. The number of disputes will also come down because of open access to data and the transparent and traceable mutation process. Bhoomi has demonstrated a sustainable way of computerising land records. By the end of April 2004, the total user fee collected through issuance of RTCs was Rs 270 million. This amount not only covers the investments made in computerisation but leaves enough surplus for further development. By enhancing transparency and providing greater access to information, Bhoomi has empowered poorer farmers and increased accountability of the revenue department. Operators of the computerised system are made accountable for their decisions and actions by using a bio-login system that authenticates every login through a thumb-print. A log is maintained of all transactions in a session. By and large Bhoomi has been portrayed positively by the media and has won several prizes. Independent evaluation studies have shown that Bhoomi has significantly reduced corruption and improved service delivery. Government of India is making special efforts to replicate the Bhoomi model in other states of India.

Implementation Process The central and state governments have long been aware of the need to reform the land record system. The beginning of computerisation of land records in Karnataka goes back to 1991 when the first pilot project was initiated under the Ministry of Rural Development’s Computerisation of Land Records (CLR) project, fully funded by the central government. By 1996, projects for computerisation of land records were sanctioned for all districts in the state of Karnataka. However, no provision was made to install computers at Administrative Offices level where manual records were actually updated. The breakthrough came when the state government mandated that “Bhoomi – CLR” would have to be undertaken and finished in all sub-districts by March 2002. It was also decided to fully support development of a citizen-centric land records system even if it meant substantial investment by state government for those components of the project, which were not being funded by central government. This political mandate was backed by full administration efforts at all levels. The major objectives to be fulfilled by Bhoomi project were: · Facilitating easy maintenance and prompt updating of land records · Making land records tamper proof · Allowing farmers easy access to their records · Collating the information to construct database regarding land revenue, cropping pattern, land use, and so on · Utilising the data for planning and formulating development programs · Enabling usage of this database by courts, banks, private organisations and companies, and ISPs The Karnataka government’s Department of Revenue planned to set up CLR kiosks (Bhoomi centres) across 177 Administrative Offices. These kiosks are to provide

386 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies farmers with the record of RTC, a document needed for obtaining bank loans, giving proof of ownership, and so on. The Bhoomi project was expected to speed up delivery of RTCs without delays, harassment or bribery.

Digitisation of Legacy Data The first and most important step to kick-start the Bhoomi system was to capture legacy data records in possession of Village Accountants numbering about 20 million. For this purpose, a comprehensive data entry software ‘Bhoomi’ was designed after extensive discussions at various workshops at division, district and state level. The feedback from these workshops helped the department in designing this data entry software. The manual records were withdrawn from the field in the entire state in a phased manner. A printout of the computerised records was individually signed by Village Accountants (100%), Revenue Inspectors (30%), Shirasthedar (5%), Tahsildar (3%), Assistant Commissioners (2%), and Deputy Commissioners (1%) after comparing with the manual registers to authenticate the data. They also put their seal with the name and designation along with date of verification. The manual and computerised sets of records on the starting day now serve as original records and are kept in safe custody of the Administrative Office. As and when the process of comparison and certification was over in an Administrative Office, a notification was issued by the Deputy Commissioner prescribing use of only computerised RTCs for all legal and other purposes.

Issue of Copies to Farmers Land records kiosks have been made operational in all 177 Administrative Offices. Village Accountants can no more issue copies of the manual records, as only computerised records are valid. In every Administrative Office, one Village Accountant has been designated as Kiosk Village Accountant. The farmers get the copy of their record on payment of user charges of Rs 15. Records are generated using the Bhoomi software running on kiosk computers and a back-end server holding the database. The records are signed by the Village Accountant at the kiosk and are provided to the farmers. In case of minor errors on the computerised records, the farmers can lodge a request with Administrative Office along with the copy of the record available with him. Correction is made in the computerised Bhoomi database if the error is found to be genuine and the corrected copy is then provided to the farmer free of cost.

Mutation Process in the Field When a change of ownership takes place through sale or inheritance, farmers can file an application for a mutation of the land record at the Bhoomi centre at a separate operator assisted counter that handles mutations. Data from the application is entered into the terminal at the counter and a check list is generated for manual verification of data and documents by a supervisor. Each request is assigned a number. The number can be used by the applicant to check the status of the application on

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a touch screen provided on a pilot basis in some of the computerised kiosks. Once the manual verification is complete, an entry is made in the back end server which automatically generates notices that are to be served to affected parties. Notices are collected by Village Accountants on their visit to the Administrative Office as per a fixed schedule. Village Accountant serves these notices to interested parties and gets their acknowledgment on one of the notice copies. If everything is in order, the Revenue Inspector passes appropriate mutation order in the mutation registers after the prescribed period of 30 days from the date the notice is issued to the party. The mutation order is then brought to the Bhoomi centre. Notices with acknowledgment of interested parties, mutation order passed in the field are then scanned on to the system. The Revenue Inspector who has passed these orders in the field authenticates this data entry. The Deputy Tahsildar verifies that everything typed and scanned is as per physical mutation records. The system then automatically updates the particular land record. Physical records are filed in the record room.

Overcoming Implementation Challenges Maintenance of equipment at 17 7 centres, many of which are located in far flung rural areas; dealing with isolated incidences of fraudulent certificates being presented at banks; mitigating problems of farmers who have to travel long distances to reach a Bhoomi kiosk; lack of currency and poor quality of crop survey data; and problems of illiterate farmers in filing mutation forms are some of the challenges that the project team has grappled with. Significant effort has been taken to improve the up time of computers at Bhoomi kiosks. Apart from the 1000 officials trained at the district level, 108 Village Accountants were trained comprehensively in a two-month residential training course on hardware and networking in Bangalore. Four of these trained Village Accountants are being placed in each district to serve as resource persons for primary diagnostic and repair. Facility managers with service level agreements carrying stiff penalties have been assigned to each kiosk. The processing of payments to the facility managers has been decentralised so that the facility managers become more responsive to the needs in the field. All these measures have improved the up time to its current level of 98 percent. The printing process is being made more secure to deal with the problem of fraudulent certificates. Officers continue to enjoy a large amount of discretion in the process of mutation, even as some measures have been put in place to curb corruption. Illiterate farmers may still face difficulties in filling out mutation applications. A key challenge is to create awareness amongst rural population of all the changes that have taken place in processing RTCs and mutation, so that unscrupulous elements are not able to take advantage of their ignorance. Many of the future plans of Bhoomi are designed to deal with some of the key implementation challenges.

Costs and Benefits The expenditure on data entry operations for about 2 million RTCs in 27 districts was Rs 80 million. The unit cost of providing hardware, construction of computer rooms

388 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies and kiosks was of the order of Rs 0.64 million for each Administrative Office. Thus, the total out-of-pocket expenditure on the project was Rs 185 million. This does not include the cost of software development (nearly 100 person months of effort) done gratis by the National Informatics Centre. The cost of processing an RTC has been roughly estimated at Rs 13, assuming a life of 5 years for the hardware and an activity level of 2 million RTCs issued from all the kiosks (10 percent of all holdings). This cost includes an assumed operational expenditure of Rs 2 for stationery, cartridges and electricity. The current user fee of Rs 15 seems sufficient to cover these costs. The person days saved is approximately 1.32 million per annum, leading to savings of Rs 66 million per annum in wages. The weighted average value of bribe paid in the manual system was Rs 152.46 per person, while that in Bhoomi was Rs 3.09. Even if we reduce the saving by the fee that they have to pay, of Rs 15, the net saving is Rs 134.37, and translates to a saving of over Rs 806 million annually.

Key Lessons from the Case Success of Bhoomi flies against the traditional wisdom of improving service delivery to the poor which emphasises more investments to create a greater reach of delivery points. Bhoomi has reduced service delivery points from 9000 to 177 and is now in the process of providing at 1000 points, but consumer satisfaction has increased. Often large number of delivery points cannot be monitored centrally. Unless there are ways in which monitoring can be done by the community (presuming that an equal voice can be created for all groups) such large systems become inefficient. Implementation of CLR has been difficult in India. Bhoomi succeeded with the efforts of the project champion (the departmental head) who worked 15 hours daily for over 12 months, devoting 80 percent of his time to the project. The fact that the project champion has had a tenure exceeding 6 years (still continuing) has been a very important factor in stabilising the system. Minimising resistance from staff by harnessing political support was an important contributory factor. Extensive training coupled with a participatory style also helped to diminish resistance. Project managers need to balance the potential benefits against the risk of failure of implementation in deciding how much reform (re-engineering) is needed to tackle at any one time. In Bhoomi significant benefits are delivered in issuing RTCs, but much of the old mutation process remains unaltered. There is no change in the role of Revenue Inspector in passing the mutation order. Some other changes in process may impact corruption in the mutation process. Bhoomi has reduced the discretion of public officials by introducing provisions for recording a mutation request online. Requests are processed on a first-comefirst-served basis. Another officer can pass a mutation order if the Revenue Inspector delays it beyond a limit. Farmers can now access the database and are empowered to follow up. They can also detect fraudulent mutations. Reports on overdue mutations can point to errant behaviour. Still, supervisors must examine the reports and take appropriate action. In remote areas, operators may turn away citizens by telling that the system offering online service is down. Strict field supervision is needed (through empowered

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citizens committees and NGOs) to curb such behaviour. Ultimately, the only recourse that a citizen has against such practices is to lodge a complaint. The process for lodging a complaint should be facilitated through the Web. The backend has to be geared up to handle complaints received electronically. As an implementation strategy, manually written RTCs were declared illegal from the day on which the computerised system became operational in a particular Administrative Office. This forced the department and farmers to completely rely on the new system. The strategy worked because the application design was robust and did not falter. There was some concern in Karnataka about raising the user fee to Rs 20 from Rs 15 in the manual system. Often these fears about user fees are exaggerated, particularly if services have genuinely been improved. The response of the farmers at the Administrative Office level has been overwhelming. Soon after the initial success, elected representatives, district officials and farmers made demands that Bhoomi be extended to sub-Administrative Office level. Presumably, the project was considered an unqualified success. However, this expansion would have increased the costs without necessarily increasing the number of RTCs that would have been issued. The department did well to resist the temptation as it would not have been able to monitor and support a geographically spread out operation. In any case, systems should be allowed to stabilise and prove their sustainability over a two-year period before attempting any replication. In the 1980s, a District Road Development Agency (DRDA) computerisation project called Computerised Rural Information System Project (CRISP) was replicated in 500 districts in a hurried manner. The expansion turned out to be a failure. The department did well to explore other possibilities, short of direct expansion, that could make RTCs available at sub-Administrative Office level. Plans to allow private rural kiosks to issue copies signed through the territorial village accountants may never have come about if a hurried expansion of the Bhoomi system had been made. If such copies can be accepted by banks and verified by accessing the departmental database, the need for signed copies will be reduced. A solution may emerge through wider consultations with the ultimate consumers of these documents. Bhoomi succeeded because its design is robust and it targeted a critical need for farmers and delivered significant benefits by re-engineering land record processes. Projects that are intended to benefit rural populations need to recognise the high level of effort that is needed to make rural population aware of the reforms that have been instituted. There is some feedback that in spite of considerable publicity of Bhoomi, farmers may still not understand the implication of all the reforms that have been carried out. The farmers need to be made aware that there is no need to pay bribes because the functionaries would no more be able to misuse their authority to benefit or wrongly penalise any one.

390 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Write a short note on Land Record Systems. 2. List and explain the various land record survey methods. 3. Write a note on the technologies being used in Land Record Information Management System. 4. Explain the concept of a Land Record Information Management System. Also give the advantages of such a system.

REFERENCES Murthy, Y.V.N. Krishna, S. Shrinivasa Rao, D.S. Shrinivanan, and S. Ardiga. 2000. “Land Information System (LIS) for rural development”, Technical Proceedings, Geomatics. 2000, Conference on Geomatics in Electronic Governance, Pune. C. Umashankar & Bhaskara Rama Murty, 2000, “Implementation of an Integrated Land Records System : A Case Study at Kudavasal Taluk, Thiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu”, Technical proceedings, Geomatics 2000, Conference on Geomatics in Electronic Governance, Pune. Available online at http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/cardcs.ht. Downloaded on May 29, 2008.

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19 Urban Development Management System Objectives · To introduce land record systems · To understanding the existing land record systems · To analyse the survey methods for land record systems · To learn about emerging technologies for land records information management · To understand the importance of data security, kiosks, on-line connectivity and open software for Land Record Information Management System (LRIMS)

19.1

INTRODUCTION

Urban development represents an approach to the holistic development of urban areas. It reflects the overall creation of economic opportunities and social development in urban areas. The economic growth of the country is increasingly dependent on the urban areas and their ability to attract investments, to increase productivity and to provide the focus for service sector activity. The process of urbanisation has a potential for tax revenue and creating job opportunities to absorb the migrant rural labour. Urban development and the increasing urban population puts pressure on existing urban services including water supply, sewerage, solid waste management as well as social infrastructure like schools, hospitals, markets, and so on. This leads to a heavy detrimental impact on the urban environment and hence the quality of life. The problems are further compounded by the growth of slums and squatter colonies which pose a challenge to sustainable development.

19.2 IMPORTANCE OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT 19.2 SYSTEM (UDMS) A concomitant of economic development and growth has been urbanisation. For example, as per the 2001 census in India, 28 percent of population was

392 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies living in urban areas. But increasingly, like in most emerging economies globally, rural India is moving towards towns and the cities. Table 19.1

High Level Census of India, 2001

Particulars about population

Values

Population (in million)

1028

% Decadal growth rate (1991–2001)

21.3

Urban population (in million)

285.3

% Urban population

28

% Urban decadal growth rate (1991–2001)

32

Population density (persons / sq. km)

329

Source: Census of India, 2001

According to the 2001 census (refer Table 19.1), India has a population of 1028 million with approximately 28 percent or 285 million people living in urban areas. As a result of the liberalisation policies adopted by Government of India the share of the urban population is expected to increase to about 40 percent of total population by 2021. It is estimated that by 2011, urban areas would contribute about 65 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). However, this higher productivity is contingent upon the availability and quality of infrastructure services. Urban economic activities are dependent on infrastructure such as power, telecommunication, roads, water supply and mass transportation, coupled with civic infrastructure such as sanitation and solid waste management. The overall aim of Urban Development Management System is to use IT tools for better delivery of services to the people and enhance the effectiveness, transparency and accountability in government and its departments. Various divisions need to be integrated so as to serve the citizens from a single location and also to exercise better control over the processes. The trend in steep growth of urban population warrants greater attention to evolve suitable urban development strategy which may include revision of standards for various facilities like housing, recreation, transportation, industries, and so on. Systematic planning is required on a long term basis to slow down the growth of the already developed centres through greater incentives for the development of other urban centres. Special efforts should be taken to develop small towns identified in the least urbanised administrative offices of the state. The development of urban centres should be based on a regional approach to urbanisation. Developments taking place along the main corridors in between two major cities and towns have to be regulated by providing necessary infrastructure, which would in turn help to decongest the inner city on a long-term basis. To tackle the consequence of rapid urbanisation emphasis has to be laid on the following: · Prepare and implement development plans, that is Master Plans, New Town Development Plans, Detailed Development Plans which include

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·

·

·

·

19.3

not only the area comprising town limits and its environs but also the ribbon development taking place along the main corridors between two major cities or towns to provide necessary infrastructure. The statutory plans should aim at judicial allocation of lands for various land uses, provision of infrastructural facilities like road network, and so on. Prepare and implement special plans for traffic management, heritage area conservation, development of least urbanised administrative offices and other development programs like slum redevelopment. Adopt most modern techniques like aerial photography, remote sensing, GIS and other techniques to prepare plans in advance so that the plans are more proactive than reactive to the challenges posed by rapid urban development. Town and Country Planning Development Fund would be channelised exclusively to assist the local bodies or local planning authorities to implement the proposals contemplated in the statutory plans. The pattern of financial assistance would be streamlined so that every prioritised town receives its due share of investment and encouragement.

WHAT IS URBAN DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM?

Urban Development Management System is the effective use of IT infrastructure and technology to develop and deploy better services to citizens and enhance the effectiveness, transparency and accountability in government and departments. It eases the interface between citizens and government and makes the government dealings citizen-friendly, comfortable and supportive. This is possible through dissemination of information on various schemes and requirements at grassroots levels using IT tools and Common User Interface, making it convenient to citizens through integrated single window system, eliminating personal preference within the processes to make them more objective, reducing turnaround time for delivery of the services and that the necessary process controls are not compromised and reducing the cost, effort and time of the citizen and government expenses in the delivery of services.

19.4

OBJECTIVES OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The objective of any urban development strategy is to create conditions which will make urban settlements economically vibrant. Resource constraint has to be overcome by adopting judicious investment. As resources are limited, instead of apportioning the available resources to all the cities and towns, the investments can be made in a set of select centres keeping in view the objectives of efficiency and balanced development of the region and the state as a whole. Urban Development Management System aims to undertake reforms driven, fast track, planned development of identified cities with focus on efficiency in urban infrastructure and services delivery mechanism, community participation

394 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies and accountability of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) towards citizens. It also aims to undertake all government civil works and construction of buildings. In India this excludes roads and works executed by or buildings belonging to the Ministry of Railways and Departments of Posts, Telecommunications, Atomic Energy and Space. Urban Development Management System is also implemented so as to meet the housing needs of government employees to achieve a certain level of satisfaction and to ensure planned and orderly development of the city. It also aims to plan and coordinate urban transport systems with technical planning of rail based systems being subject to the items of work allocated by the Ministry of Railways, Railway Board. The system also endeavors to provide technical guidance and advocacy to states and implementing agencies in order to help them achieve 100 percent water supply in the urban areas of the country in a time-bound manner. Some of the functions and responsibilities of Urban Development Management System are listed below. Table 19.2

List of Functions of Urban Development Management

Sl No.

Functions

1.

Urban planning including town planning

2.

Regulation of land-use and construction of buildings

3.

Planning for economic and social development

4.

Building of roads and bridges

5.

Provision of water supply—domestic, industrial and commercial

6.

Provision of public health, sanitation, conservancy and SWM

7.

Running and providing for Fire Brigade services

8.

Managing urban forestry, protection of environment and ecology

9.

Safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society including handicapped and mentally retarded

10.

Slum improvement and up-gradation

11.

Urban poverty alleviation

12.

Provision of urban amenities and facilities—parks, gardens and playgrounds

13.

Promotion of cultural, educational, and aesthetic aspects

14.

Burials and burial grounds, cremations, cremation grounds and electric crematoriums

15.

Cattle pounds, prevention of cruelty to animals

16.

Vital statistics including registration of births and deaths

17.

Public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences

18

Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries

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19.5 REQUIREMENTS OF AN URBAN DEVELOPMENT 19.5 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM Governments today are faced with an environment of tighter budgets, stricter accountability and tougher mandates. One of the key functions of the government, where a high degree of transparency and accountability is demanded, is in the management of public finances. Governments need to have access to real-time information about the funds available in order to facilitate efficient planning of these funds for better economic growth. A comprehensive and integrated treasury solution built to the above requirements will address the following critical fiscal management issues: · Inaccurate budgeting, encumbrance accounting and expenditure tracking · Redundant data entry and costly manual processes · Inflexible and limited financial reporting capabilities · Difficulty in identifying and managing information about vendors World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are placing an increasing emphasis on implementing projects aimed at improving the management of public finances in member countries. Treasury systems (or Financial Management Systems) form the backbone for recording and processing all financial transactions related to the budget for any level of government. An integrated treasury system offers several significant benefits in managing public monies more effectively, including greater financial control, improved monitoring of the government’s cash position, better planning for future requirements, better fiscal reporting and availability of better data for budget formulation. Establishment of an effective treasury system will also contribute directly to improving transparency and accountability of government. WB intends the Treasury Reference Model (TRM) to be used as a development tool for government fiscal managers and system developers. It is aimed at facilitating the process of designing treasury systems projects, by incorporating design features and best practices drawn from a range of international experience. It is expected that the TRM will help implement good practices in fiscal accounting and expenditure control and provide guidance on meeting standards prescribed under various international standards and codes such as those set out in the IMF Code of Good Practice on Fiscal Transparency–Declaration Principles (fiscal transparency code) and the detailed fiduciary standards being developed by WB. One of the key recommendations of the TRM is for governments to implement a dual entry accrual basis for accounting that tracks commitment accounting enabling the government to better monitor its funds position as well as provide transparency for controlling non-planned fiscal deficit. However, most countries are bound by their constitution to follow a single entry cash based accounting

396 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies process that leads to a reduced control of its financial status. With the advent of technology that helps in implementing a double entry accrual system, it would be prudent for such countries to move to an accrual based system. In fact some countries have already started making this move in a phased manner.

19.5.1

Issues with Municipality

Municipality is defined as an urban district having a corporate status and powers of self-government. One of the primary issues holding them back is their financial management processes and systems. In fact the most chronic and widespread problems faced by municipalities pertain to general administration and financial management. It is believed that municipalities would benefit from a clearer division of functional responsibilities and enhanced linkage among different levels of government that will ensure upward and downward accountability. It will also help the State Finance Corporations in their constitutional task of devolution of funds to municipalities. Land development and infrastructure investment, which are critical for any urban body, needs to be coordinated through integration of physical, financial and investment planning. There is a need to link spatial development plan with resource mobilisation plan. Accounting Principles and Systems Municipalities need to adopt an accrual-based accounting system in order to have better control over their finances. Municipalities would also want to follow commitment accounting in order to ensure that they do not cross their budgets and thus increase non-plan fiscal deficits. In order to monitor funds utilisation against grants, municipalities would need to have a grant management solution to effectively report back on the utilisation of funds. For example, in India some forward-looking municipalities like the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (West Bengal, India), have also adopted a modified accrual-basis accounting as an intermediate basis. In the past, municipalities had to simply account for monies taken from the government for which the cash-based system was adequate. But now, when the availability of information for day-to-day management is the key issue in governance, the cash-based system is rendered totally irrelevant. Municipalities normally maintain a register that tracks the bills received from contractors. But this information normally does not appear in the accounts, as the receipt and payments account only shows payments already made. Hence, at any point in time, it is difficult to determine the financial health of the municipality. In the accounts of the municipality, loan amounts appear on the receipt side and capital expenditure incurred is treated like any other

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expense. Moreover, no capital work-in-progress is reflected in any accounting statement per se. In case there are adjustments made by the state government out of grants received, entries for various items of adjustment are not passed and they are only made for the amount received. One of the key problems arising out of the cash basis of accounting is that municipalities do not prepare or publish balance sheets. Because of this practice, the overall financial position—assets, liabilities, receivables or payables—of the municipality is not known at any point in time. Moreover, the accrued income or expenditure is also not known. There are no journal vouchers or revenue and expenditure accounts. Hence, the financial status of the municipality for the period or year is not known. Insofar as monthly bank reconciliation statements are concerned, banks do prepare the statement every month and send it to municipalities for reconciliation. However, certain charges such as bank charges themselves are not accounted for. Moreover, reconciliation is a routine and tedious activity and can hence be error prone. Asset Information Municipalities generally maintain the asset information in a property or assets register. However, since no balance sheet is prepared and cash basis of accounting is followed, all the capital expenditure incurred is shown as expended in accounts. In most cases, the property registers are not updated, as the information is not required for preparation of any financial statements. Hence, in many cases, information on assets such as office equipment or furniture is not reliably available. Municipalities normally track their receivables by maintaining independent registers for various items such as property tax and trade licenses. According to statute, a demand collection balance (DCB) register needs to be maintained by the municipality. But since there is no mechanism of accounting as to what is due to be collected, only information collected from the DCB is available in the receipts and payments accounts. Audit and Reporting In most municipalities, the financial reporting is generally done on the basis of the receipts and payments account, which summarises all the receipts and payments of the year. The annual accounts certification, if done, is only with respect to the receipts and payments account. The monthly accounts (receipts and payments) are usually published after a time lag of 45–60 days. There is generally an absence of ledger accounts to show the status of various accounts. Although municipal bodies need to furnish “debt and suspense accounts” as a part of their accounting statements, which take care of these current assets and liabilities, there is an absence of a proper system for compilation and disclosure of this data.

398 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies The only accounting register is the cashbook, and it records only cash transactions, not credit. Even at the state level, aggregate information on the financial performance of municipalities is not available. Guesstimates of some key financial parameters may be available, but these invariably cannot be validated. In some municipalities, even cash-basis accounts are pending finalisation for years. Audit related issues are even more severe.

Commitments Purchasing Maintain Budgets

Payments Purchasing

Revenue Management

Receipts

Allotments

General Ledger Cash Management Reconciliation and forecasting

Budget

Journal Vouchers Balances Accounting Entries

Inquiry Budget

FIGURE 19.1 Overview of a Government Financial System

19.5.2

Financial Management for Municipalities

Any e-business suite that would act as a comprehensive municipality financial management and is compliant with guidelines provided by the World Bank, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and IMF would be of great help in the management of municipalities. The solution needs to cover the major functional areas of government fiscal management as detailed below and these can easily be integrated with other ancillary or linked functions such as payroll and personnel management. Budget Preparation and Execution This module facilitates budget formulation, ceiling and approvals, allocation and sub-allocation, transfers, funds control, reports, online inquires and much more. Commitment Accounting and Payments Management The functions of vendor management, entering commitments, requisitions, purchase orders, approvals and funds check, and invoice management are managed using this module.

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Revenue Management This module provides for revenue collection plans classification, sharing, reclassification and refunds, and summarised and detailed revenue reports. Cash Management Cash forecasting, bank reconciliation, and monitoring of cash position can be done using this module. Debt Management Recording of loan and aid agreements, guarantees, repayments, and utilisation tracking are the functions that this module provides.

19.6 COMPONENTS OF AN URBAN DEVELOPMENT 19.6 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM Centralised Citizen Service Centres (CCSCs) would be created across the cities for acceptance of complaints pertaining to services of Urban Department. Citizens should produce valid identity cards like ration card, driving license, voters ID card, and so on at the time of registering complaints. Complaint Management System (CMS) would be installed at each CCSCs. Each module would capture the type of complaint, service requested, and name and address of the complainant. CMS is not restricted to any particular module. The subsequent section dwells on some components of a CCSC.

19.6.1

Creation of Urban Development Department Portal

A portal which provides complete information about the divisions of the urban development department and the services rendered by each division must be created. This portal should contain details of rules and regulations of the division, procedure to be followed and documents required to avail each of the service provided by the urban development department and all relevant application forms can also be downloaded from the portal. The urban development portal would serve the purposes of both government to business (G2B) and government to citizen (G2C) customers. Some other features of the portal are as follows: · Provision for registration of births and deaths occurring at institutional locations like hospitals. · Integration of the portal with Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) system. · Provision of other helpful information to public like list of beneficiaries under the department schemes, budget allocations to districts, and so on. · Provision of grievances acceptance system.

AUDIT

CIVIL. SERVICE ADMIN.

BUDGET MGMT.

CASH MGMT.

PAYROLL & PENSIONS

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

PAYING RECEIVING BANKS

Financial Systems Architecture for Government Fiscal

AUDITING SYSTEMS

TAX PAYERS

CENTRAL BANK SYSTEMS (TSA)

Reposition Revenue Receipts

Revenue Estimates

Report On Payments & Reception TSA

AUDIT ORGANISATION

VENDORS

Government Banking Arrangements

CUSTOMS

TAX CUSTOMS ADMIN ADMIN SYSTEMS SYSTEMS

Payment Instruction to Central Bank

Cash Benefits Allocations

Simple Invitation from Government systems to auditing

POSITION MANAGEMENT

FOREIGN

FIGURE 19.2

DOMESTIC

DEBT MGMT.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

AGENCY BUDGET EXECUTION

TREASURY CENTRAL LEDGER

CASH MANAGEMENT

BUDGET MGMT. & FISCAL REPORTING

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

Treasury System

TAXES

REVENUE COLLECTION AGENCIES

AGENCY BUDGET PREPARATION

GOVT. REGIONAL SPENDING UNITS AGENCIES

Budget Guidelines Budget proposals old & new proposals

Approved agency budget

INVESTMENT CURRENT

BUDGET PREPARATION

Micro Economic Framework

CENTRAL OFFICE

TREASURY

COMMERCIAL BANKS

REVENUE ADMIN.

BEST MGMT.

CASH MGMT.

ECONOMIC POLICY

MACRO ECONOMIC FORECASTING

BEST MGMT.

BUDGET MGMT. Extricate of ACCOUNTING Human wing and FISCAL Public Debit REPORTING Interest

BUDGET PREPARATION

MACRO ECONOMIC FORECASTING

CENTRAL BANK

Feedback from Audit

MINISTRY OF FINANCE

400 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

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19.6.2 Computerisation of Unified Payment System for 19.6.2 Payment of Dues CCSCs need to be created at various locations across the city. These should have a centralised bill collection system with modules of bill collection system for service provided like that of water bill collection system, property tax system (PTS) and barren land system (BLS) among others. Using these online modules at CCSC a citizen can make payment of dues pertaining to water charges, water taxes, sewer taxes, electricity charges, property tax, rent towards financial shops, entertainment tax by cinema hall owners, and so on at one single point. The centralised billing system should automatically update the bill record of the citizen in the database of respective system, that is PTS, bill collection systems of various departments and so on. Centralised billing system of CCSCs also need to be integrated with banks for crediting the payments collected in the respective bank accounts of various departments. This should also be integrated with other systems of the Land department such as PTS and BLS and water and sewer bill collection systems.

19.6.3 Computerisation of Property Tax Assessment and 19.6.3 Integration with Billing Systems Computerised PTS should be installed for collection of property tax. PTS itself needs to be networked with CCSCs for collection of property assessment form and property tax. The centralised PTS allows owner of the property to fill up the property assessment form for property assessment and submit it at CCSC. The officials then enter the property details into the PTS. PTS updates the processing register, assessment list register, and demand register with the details of the property. The bill for property tax should also be printed by the system. Before computing the final tax value, the property details as declared by the owner are to be verified against details (civil structure) stored in the property database of development authority and consumer database of the tax section. In case the details of property as declared by the owner do not match with those in the property database and the consumer database of the tax section, the system would call for inspection of the property by the tax inspector.

19.6.4 Computerisation of Registration and Issue of Certificates 19.6.4 of Births and Deaths of Citizens Births and deaths of all citizens are required to be registered using the RBD system. This system would require the creation of a registration portal for births and deaths, providing user ids and passwords to all registered medical practitioners. This would allow medical practitioners to register births and deaths occurring at their hospitals. On entry of citizens’ births/deaths details by the registered medical practitioner, the RBD system would be updated and the births/deaths would be registered in the system.

402 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies In case of births and deaths occurring at non-institutional locations, the citizens should submit an application with the required documents to the concerned authorities. The area inspector will verify the births and deaths and provide his inspection report. On approval from the area inspector the birth and death would be registered in the RBD system by concerned authorities.

19.6.5

Computerisation of Mutation of Properties

The Urban Development Management System needs to have a sub-system for managing mutation of properties under the PTS. The mutation system should support the following processes: Upon receipt of the payment, the system would generate a receipt with a unique serial number. This serial number would be used as the file number for tracking purposes such as provision to enter spot inspection reports into the system by the tax inspector, printing of mutation notices and upon transfer of ownership of the property, automatic updating of consumer database, demand register, etc.

19.6.6 Computerisation of Issue of Food, Biological, 19.6.6 Power and Pet Licenses The licenses issued to the citizens should be maintained in a license system that would have sub-systems for food, biology, power and pet. The computerisation of the system would require the integration of licensing system with document management system to store documents like No Objection Certificates (NOCs), inoculation reports, and so on, for creation of an electronic file of the applicant and the integration of license system with other systems like treasury system, consumer database, and so on.

19.6.7

Computerisation of Issue of Vehicle License

Vehicle licenses (vehicles in this context mean carts or three-wheelers on which vendors sell their produce like vegetables, plastic items, coal, wood, kerosene oil, and so on) issued to citizens should be maintained in BLS which would support registration of vehicle licenses. It is necessary to integrate the licensing system with document management system in order to store documents for creation of an electronic file of the applicant. It is also necessary to integrate BLS with other systems like the treasury system, other licensing modules, and so on such that all data is entered only once and it flows through the Urban Management System seamlessly.

19.6.8

Management Information System (MIS)

In the computerised environment when systems are networked and access is provided to a large number of people facilitating customer service and convenience, role of MISs becomes extremely crucial in controlling, monitoring and auditing each critical transaction happening through the system.

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MIS should be able to generate both common reports and division or department specific reports. Some examples of such MIS reports are the list of users who have access to the system with their levels of privileges and rights in the systems, list of users who have logged on to the systems and names of modules accessed by them, audit trails on any changes done in the masters of the systems, generation of Access Control Matrix (ACM) report, financial reports, complaints management report, backup reports (when, who, on which media, and so on) to be submitted to the process owner at a predefined period and a report on non-compliance of information systems security policy.

19.7

OUTCOMES EXPECTED

The outcomes expected of the Urban Development Management Information System are of significant importance to government and people who are recipients of the services. The system yields both qualitative and quantitative or business benefits to the stakeholders. The major stakeholders in this system are government, people accessing the services and information technology solutions provider. The outcomes expected are: · Enhanced customer satisfaction for people who access these services · Increase in trust of the government · Perception of good governance in the minds of people · Improvement in the quality and efficiency of the services provided by government · In addition to the existing services, more innovative services can be provided · Elimination of paperwork, maintenance and site costs · Scope for the containment of illegal activities · Scope for proper regulation of the services · Elimination of personal preferences due to the single window system · Scope for containment of corruption

19.8

BUSINESS BENEFITS

Cost reduction and revenue generation are the two major aspects that bring business benefits to the organisations by implementing the Urban Development Management Information System. In addition to the major benefits mentioned above, cost reduction of various municipal functions and cost efficiency also come with the system. Cost efficiency aims at providing better level of service at the same cost.

19.9

SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

An Urban Development Management Information System has multiple stages of implementation as follow:

404 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Process reengineering study · Development and deployment of the information system · Assistance in hardware procurement and operationalisation · Data entry and validation · Computer training · Facilities management MAS comes under Urban Development Management System. Keeping the overarching objectives of computerisation in mind, the main objective of MAS is a centralised, online and integrated information system, specially developed for the requirements of a municipality. MAS can be both an electronic repository of all data pertaining to all departments and functions of the municipality and a strategic and operational tool, which would help all levels of municipality management in making informed decisions. The major stakeholders of this initiative would be the employees of a municipality. Thus MAS should ensure that its overall design and working meet their requirements and expectations. The next few sub-sections will dwell on the architecture of MAS.

19.9.1

Application Software Requirements

The Urban Development Management System needs an extremely userfriendly web-based citizen interface. To create a citizen interface the delivery of the departmental schemes need to be web enabled and the back-end of the departments would need to run a work flow system so as to ensure speedy disposal of all the applications received under the schemes. Access should be made available to all important stakeholders on a need-to-know basis. Adequate security should ensure safety and easy availability of data to concerned officials. The approach should be data-centric rather than functionality-driven. The data-driven approach will lead to multiple benefits including integrity of information, accountability and speed of services. The availability of verified data will also lead to automaticity of decisions and consequently increase the transparency in government processes by reducing discretionary powers of the front-end government employees. The data-centric approach also allows departments to integrate services and use key data elements generated by other departments in their decision-making processes.

19.9.2

Architecture of MAS

MAS primarily comprises of the following components: 1. Municipal Transaction Processing System (MTPS) 2. Municipal Data Bank 3. External Interface System 4. Municipal Geographic Information System (MGIS) 5. Municipal Management Information System (MMIS)

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The following figure shows a possible architecture for an MAS, which includes all the components mentioned above. Municipal Administration System (MAS) Municipal Management Information System (MMIS)

Municipal Data Warehouse (MDW)

Stakeholders Interface System (External users like Public, Govt., Contractors, Financial Institutions, etc.)

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Municipal Transaction Processing System (MTPS)

FIGURE 19.3

19.9.3

Architecture of an MAS

Municipal Transaction Processing System (MTPS)

This component would provide the on-line transaction-processing interface, which would be used by operational users to key in all the transactions. This component would comprise of various functional modules that would take care of the working of all the departments of a municipality. Transaction Processing System (TPS)

Financial Mgmt. System

Revenue Mgmt. System

FIGURE 19.4

Civic Services Mgmt. System

Back Office Mgmt. System

Assets Mgmt. System

Human Resource Mgmt. System

Poverty Mgmt. System

Inventory Mgmt. System

Municipal Transaction Processing System (MTPS)

The following functional modules are envisaged for MTPS:

Financial Management System This module would cover functions such as finance, treasury, auditing, budgeting and banks reconciliation. Being the central module, this system would be linked to all the other management systems. Financial transactions carried out at any transaction points would automatically generate the required accounting entry in this module.

Revenue Management System This module would cover all the tax as well as non-tax revenues. The tax revenue part of the module would primarily include functions like property tax, trade license fees (including carriages and carts), advertisement, car parking, and amusement tax.

406 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies The non-tax revenues module would also be linked to the GIS and different revenue sources would be shown as different thematic layers. Linkages would be made with a Unique Premises Number (UPN). This module would include functions like building fees (land utilisation control), water charges, drainage observation fee, leased properties (land and estates), market stallage, user charges, health service charges (including births and deaths certificates), solid waste removal fees and sale of condemned material.

Civic Services Management System This module would cover functions such as solid waste management, health services, births and deaths registration system, education and schools management, road development, engineering services, water supply services, sewerage and drainage development, planning and design, lighting and electricity, projects and development, parks and gardens, town planning, land and land use control, preservation and conservation of heritage buildings and buildings plan sanction. This module should also be linked to GIS and different public infrastructure details and be shown as different thematic layers.

Back-Office Management System This module would cover functions such as IT, GIS, law, secretary, press and information and public relations (I&PR), vigilance and corruption control. This module would contain all typical back-office functions/departments of the municipality.

Assets Management System This module would cover functions such as estate management, motor vehicles, other assets like furniture and fixtures, plant and machinery, which are owned, leased or hired by the municipality. This module would be linked principally to the Financial Management module and would provide information on all the assets owned, hired or leased by the municipality.

Inventory Management System This module would cover functions of procurement, stores and supply of general items, computer consumables and stationary items. This module would provide information on all inventory items from all the stores and warehouses of the municipality.

Contracts Management System This module would cover all major contracts (above a specified value) such as tendering, ordering, monitoring and quality control.

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Human Resource Management System (HRMS) HRMS allows all municipalities to automate all aspects of workforce management to achieve significant productivity gains and cost savings throughout the workforce, while ensuring confidentiality of sensitivity of human resource data. Departments should be able to streamline their functional processes with self-service, work-flow and policy automation, speeding up transactions and reducing overheads and errors. HRMS should enable departments to automate basic policy rules, ranging from eligibility for compensation to rules on placing people into specific roles and consequently, provide relevant security access. HRMS should provide the following functions: · HR Database (including the complete establishment records—salary details, grades, awards and punishments, leave records, and so on) · Payroll · Work time · Benefits administration · HR management information system · Recruiting · Training/learning management system (LMS) · Performance record HRMS also allows use of predefined policy rules and dynamic eligibility determination to manage a person’s career and salary advancement through grades and / or steps. The HRMS should also be integrated with rest of the Urban Development Management System, including financials for payroll. It should also support routing approvals automatically to shorten time to complete workforce related changes. HRMS typically offers departments a complete framework for developing skills and knowledge of the workforce and subsequently a systematic method for assessing and rewarding their use in meeting the department’s objectives. The departments should be able to define or upload a library of competency definitions together with appropriate measurement scales, and apply these to job requirements, to people, and to training. It should have the ability to link performance directly to pay. HRMS should enable departments to budget different components of the cost of each post, and track expenditure against committed activities. HRMS also allows use of automated control over creation of new posts and control the hiring of new people to existing posts outside budget limits, based on the department’s policies. HRMS should also provide overall organisational control by allowing online review of how budgets and expenditure are decided throughout the organisation and monitor utilisation, absence headcount and costs.

408 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Another important feature of HRMS for Urban Development is that of selfservice. Self-service lets the employees manage much of the information related to them and thus optimises the managerial bandwidth of the departments. Self-service HR allows line managers and employees to update and use people information through interfaces personalised to their roles. Such information includes on-line experience, work content, language and information needs.

Poverty Management System This module should cover functions of poverty database, slum services database and programs and schemes. This module should be linked to the Civic Services Management System as well as the relevant functions of some other modules. The details of this module are provided in the “Inclusion of the Poor” section of the governance report.

19.9.4

Municipal Data Bank (MDB)

A data warehouse is a collection of data designed to support decision-making and analytical processing. This component would be the data warehouse of a municipal corporation where all documents like circulars, contract agreements, lease deeds, and so on would be stored electronically for viewing when required along with the transactional details produced by MTPS. The MDB would also act as a central repository for all archival records such as: · Old heritage records and maps · Building permits · House resolutions · Establishment records

19.9.5 Stakeholders’ Interface System (SIS) This interface provides information and services such as payment of municipal taxes, lodging of public grievances, and so on to all external users of MAS like citizens of the country, state government, financial Institutions, donor agencies, contractors, and so on. This could be done initially through a dedicated website or an online portal for the same and later on through different media like touch screens or voice based public access kiosks which would be installed in prominent public areas. For easy access and providing multiple channels of communications to external users, SIS should provide various interfaces such as: · Voice interface (Interactive Voice Recognition System (IVRS), help desk, and so on) · Web interface (Graphical User Interface (GUI) through the municipality’s website) · Multimedia interface (public kiosks, municipality counters in banks, and so on) · Text interface (e-mail, faxes, and so on)

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These interfaces should enable the municipal corporation to provide more transparent and efficient services to its citizens. For instance, it should be possible for any property tax assessee to log on to the corporation’s web site, check all details about his/her property and tax paid by him/her so far and pay his/her taxes online through his/her credit card. The systems should also provide for a subscriber opting for a direct debit ECS whereby on the due date, the property tax is automatically debited to the assessee’s nominated bank account.

19.9.6

Municipal Geographic Information System (MGIS)

This component would provide different thematic layers superimposed on the base map of the city. GIS captures the laying of pipes, sewer lines, roads, electricity lines, and so on in a city. The GIS should use the same common centralised database used by other transactional and reporting systems of the Urban Development Management System. This would ensure that there are no mismatches in information generated by the other systems since they all update the same database. Simply put, GIS should be developed and used using the same data, which the other systems use for generation of reports. Hence other sub-systems should provide text and graphics based user interface for viewing transactional information while GIS should provide a spatial interface to see the same information. GIS systems must incorporate legacy data with validating the above attributes from records with departments such as drainage, license, revenue, water supply, market, solid waste, and building. Essentially the GIS would cover three important areas: 1. Tax mapping: This shows details of all municipal taxes and charges, like property tax, trade licenses, water charges, and so on levied on various assesses. 2. Public infrastructure mapping: This shows details of municipal infrastructure like roads, street lights, public taps, and so on. 3. Poverty mapping: This shows socio-economic attributes of the poor households. Principally the spatial interface for MAS would be handled by GIS and the non-spatial interface by other components of MAS. For attributes information GIS would run using the same databases as MTPS. GIS would use the same common centralised database, which is created and updated using MTPS, so that there are no mismatches in information generated by MIS and GIS. Simply put, GIS has to be developed and used using the same data (MTPS) which the MIS uses for generation of reports. So MIS provides a text- and graphics-based user interface for viewing transactional information and GIS provides a spatial interface to see the same information.

410 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 19.9.7

Municipal Management Information System (MMIS)

This component of MAS would generate all the analytical and exceptions reports required by the senior management of the municipal corporation to make informed decisions. It would provide standardised periodical reports as well as a simple mechanism to generate ad-hoc reports required from time to time for any specific information need. MTPS and MMIS information databases should be stored separately so that MTPS, which performs mission critical business processing, does not slow down due to ad hoc queries and direct access of data made by MMIS and MGIS. This may be done by implementing server/database mirroring techniques so that on one hand both the databases are perfectly synchronised and MMIS database serves as an automatic backup for MTPS database. It is imperative that all the components of MAS are fully integrated with each other so that there is no duplication of data and data entered through any of the components or sub-systems is automatically and instantaneously made available to the entire MAS. By using unique code numbers like a unique employee code in case of HR system, unique premises number (UPN) in case of property tax, information should be tagged and linked across multiple components and sub-systems so as to have a transparent access in MAS.

19.10

DESIGNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF AN MAS

An indicative list of generic best practices to be followed is mentioned below.

19.10.1 Hardware and Connectivity The following principles and conditionality are to be kept in mind while architecting the hardware and connectivity for MAS: · Maintainability is more important than the ‘state-of-the-art’ technology. · Connectivity networks must be designed keeping in view future growth in traffic and expansion of services such as voice and video. · Implement an open and vendor-neutral citywide network, which allows the municipality to choose from a variety of sources and select the most economical network solution without impacting applications. · Diversion of network traffic should be taken into consideration by incorporating suitable redundancy in the communication networks and topology. Multiple types of communication systems could be used. The system must be able to operate in heterogeneous environments. · Since municipal corporations’ working would critically depend on the smooth working of MAS, the systems should be designed in such a way that there is no single point of failure so that disruption in one area does not affect others.

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19.10.2

Systems and Software

Systems must be designed with an intuitive GUI that minimises training requirement. Its custom developed applications should be written in a portable, platform-independent language, such as Java or C++. The coding standards must be adopted to make debugging and maintenance easier. In case standard ERP suite is used to develop MAS, it is important to isolate all customisations into separate modules from the purchased software itself to improve the ability to upgrade and move to new releases as required over time. The business rules should be platform independent and the functional departments, not IT department, should be responsible for maintaining the business rules. The software components, tools and libraries should be purchased whenever possible, allowing developers to focus on the development of customised business rule components. The system should follow object oriented programming methodology to facilitate sharing and multiple use of standard code. An organisation-wide email directory service, which is a seamless integration of each department’s directory service, should be accessible by everyone within the organisation.

19.10.3

Security

Security features of MAS should build a complete audit trail of all transactions (add, edit and delete) using transaction log reports, so that errors in data, intentional or otherwise, can be traced and reversed. Each level of security should have a cost associated to it. For each function there is need to choose a level of security commensurate with the value to that function for the organisation and sufficient to contain its risk to an acceptable level. Access controls must be provided to ensure that the databases are not tampered with or modified by the system operators and finally the implementation of data security should allow for changes in technology and business needs.

19.11 DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT METHODOLOGY 19.11 OF MAS The following methodology is suggested for the development and deployment of MAS. · Prepare the detailed Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document as per the to-be process document and the broad level SRS. The SRS document should give the complete architecture of proposed MAS. SRS should include, but not be limited to: o Scope and objective o Business requirements o Functional requirements

412 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

· · · ·

·

· · ·

·

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o Non functional requirement (performance, scalability, security, usability) o Software tools to be used o Database structure and detailed description of fields and tables o Naming conventions followed for the tables and fields o Data flow diagrams (DFDs) and entity relationship (ER) diagrams o Details of validation rules and constraints (integrity/check/ referential) to be applied o Formats of all input (data entry) screens o Format of all reports that would be generated by MAS o Processing logic used for all reports and functions Present the detailed SRS Document to key stakeholders of the municipality (Mayor, MMIC, Commissioner, Employee Unions, and so on). Recommend an appropriate management reorganisation of the IT department. Prepare the prioritisation plan for various modules of MAS in consultation with the municipality’s IT task force. Seek approval of the detailed SRS document (including hardware, software platform for all applications, connectivity operation(s) and prioritisation of software modules) from the municipality IT task force. Prepare computerisation action plan (detail activities and their interrelationships, expected time requirements for each activity and the person/agency responsible). Install all necessary software (not defined under ‘pre-installed’ software requirements) required for development and deployment of MAS. Develop/customise the software modules of MAS as per the agreed priority list. Conduct thorough testing on the MAS software — from unit testing to acceptance testing. Testing should be done with artificial test data followed by live test data. Install and operationalise MAS at all locations. The deployment of MAS should only be done in a phased manner. Pilot approach should be used for implementation of the new system. Provide comprehensive technical support on all aspects of running MAS for a period on one year from the date of operationalisation of the complete MAS.

SUMMARY The Urban Development Management System is an important step towards good governance as most citizens in urban areas will interface with the government

Urban Development Management System 413 through this system. Hence for most urban citizens, the proper functioning of this system will be a reflection of the functioning of the government. Since urban areas are the engines of growth in any economy, better governance of these areas through an Urban Development Management System would help in increasing the efficiency of the economy. However, given the complexity of urban governance with the multiplicity of departments involved, it is impossible to provide good governance without proper implementation of an effective Urban Development Management System.

KEY TERMS Urban Development The holistic development of urban areas; a reflection of the overall creation of economic opportunities and social development. Red-Tapism The practice of requiring excessive paperwork and tedious procedures before official action can be considered or completed. Disaster Recovery An urban development system has to have a disaster recovery plan which has to comprise majorly two components Disk Mirroring and Scheduled Backups. Geographic Information System (GIS) Any information system capable of integrating, storing, editing, analysing, sharing, and displaying geographically referenced information. Process Re-engineering (PR) The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality and service. Talent Management Recognising a person’s inherent skills, traits, personality and offering him a matching job. Municipal Transaction Positioning System (MTPS) This component would provide the on-line transaction-processing interface, which would be used by operational users to key in all the transactions. This component would comprise of the various functional modules that would take care of the working of all the departments of a municipality. Data Warehouse A collection of data designed to support decision-making and analytical processing. Social Infrastructure Housing, educational, recreational and law and order facilities that support the community’s need for social interaction. Service sector

A sector which produces a service instead of just an end product.

Gross domestic product (GDP) A basic measure of an economy’s performance; the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a nation in a year. Government to Business (G2B) transactions Various services exchanged between government and the business community including dissemination of policies, memos, rules and regulations.

414 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Government to Citizen (G2C) transactions government to the public.

Information dissemination from

Management Information System (MIS) A subset of overall internal controls of a business covering the application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures by management accountants to solve business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy. Access Control Matrix (ACM) An abstract, formal security model of access control protection in computer systems, which characterise the rights of each subject to access an object in the system, with respect to every object in the system. Stallage

The right of erecting a stall or stalls in fairs or rent paid for a stall.

Software Requirement Specifications (SRS) A comprehensive description of the intended purpose and environment for software under development.

CASE STUDIES Nashik Municipal Corporation (State of Maharashtra, India) Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) is the authority looking after the Nashik metropolitan area. NMC has eleven departments through which the civic operations are carried out. Municipal Commissioner heads the corporation. NMC did not have any comprehensive software application which could help the authorities to take decisions on important matters related to civic operations. Town Planning Department looks after the planning activities of the municipal corporation. It looks after the sanctioning of plots for construction, identifying encroachments based on complaints, sanctioning of the Transfer Development Rights (TDR), and preparation of survey and DP maps. The department takes decisions on allocating lands for specific purposes. It also manages the reserved land and buildings. The department needs access to detailed information regarding development plan, layout, roads, and areas under reservations so that the decision-making is simplified and data is available to all the officials in the six wards. Roads and Building Department looks after the maintenance of roads and buildings of Nashik City. Maintenance of roads includes tarring of DP and layout roads. The maintenance involves concretisation, tarring, widening, and so on. Around 1,049 km of roads have been developed in Nashik. The department looks after NMC properties on lease in terms of revenue and maintenance. There are 125 school buildings, 13,000 public toilets, 200 samaj mandirs (community temples) and 100 health clubs under the building department. The department prepares incident reports on daily, weekly, half-yearly and yearly basis. Estate and Land Acquisition Department looks after the acquisition of land under reservations or lands identified for specific purposes. Whenever a land has been identified for acquisition, first the owner of the land is notified. After that the process is initiated for taking over the land. If the owner does not agree to the settlement and refers the matter to court, then the department follows the set procedures. During this procedure, the file related to the matter is sent or received from either

Urban Development Management System 415 collectorate or the department. The details are put on to this file and referred to as and when required. When the settlement is done, the details like date of settlement and amount paid is noted and the file closed. The acquired land is then looked after by Estate department. It maintains information about the property. The department maintains the registers for immovable property and lands. Encroachment and Taxation Department have currently six divisions through which the department functions. The respective divisions look after their areas to monitor encroachment. The department also looks after removal of unauthorised properties, encroachment on roads, open spaces, reserved plots, and so on. Encroachment department gets inputs from Town Planning department about properties which have been encroached. Also, encroachment on roads is also controlled. Daily or monthly tax is collected from hawkers in the market area. The respective division collects this and the consolidated figure of the total tax collected is then sent to the head office every month. These divisions also collect different taxes identified as miscellaneous taxes. The consolidated amounts of these are reported to the head office at the end of every month. The department keeps a record of the actions taken on illegal properties on daily basis. Health and Sanitation department looks after the sanitation of Nashik city. Garden department looks after maintaining of gardens in the city. Fire department looks after the prevention of fire and other hazards and takes necessary action during emergency. Water Supply department provides water through pipelines to various amenities of the city. It maintains water supply and related infrastructure. The Sewerage Operations department looks after sewerage disposal and maintenance activities besides identifying treatment sites. Electricity department supplies and maintains electric poles/bulbs/supply source/cabling throughout the corporation area.

Objectives of the Integrated Web Based GIS for NMC The NMC planned to develop an integrated web-GIS based system for which Tata InfoTech, an Indian software firm, was appointed. Currently entire routine operations of 11 departments are done manually. However, some of the departments have stand-alone computers for their activities. Information retrieval is done through different registers and record books. Communication is through post and fax. Communication takes place through a number of forms signed by the concerned official. The concerned officials prepare the report from data in the register as required by senior officials. The levels of computerisation are insignificant in these departments. The different reports and registers are generated manually. Functions in different departments are carried out manually. The current volume of manual processing at the different departments makes tracking and follow-up difficult. Also the data is recorded at multiple places. Routine and periodic reports are to be compiled with accuracy and speed. Manual procedures are tedious, less productive and time consuming which directly lead to subjective decision-making. The objective of this study is to understand the working and state the requirements of the 11 departments of NMC. The objective of developing the web-GIS based

416 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies application system is to improve the functioning of these departments by automation, enabling prompt decision-making by analysis, easy information retrieval and timely, accurate, complete and updated information with the corporation. The system proposed above will have a centralised database residing on the dedicated server for GIS containing all the data of NMC accessible to all users of the departments using maps and reports instantly. This will increase their productivity and result in prompt decision-making.

Overview of Solution Urban planning and information system was implemented over an intranet backbone. The GIS-based system has three modules consistently for all 11 departments. The modules are data entry, report generation and GIS-based query system. All the three modules can be accessed from remote machines using a browser. The only prerequisites are that the terminal nodes are connected to the server via Internet or intranet. Data entry screens are used for entering data related to various entities in the system. For example, data related to Town Planning department module can be entered using the TDR Properties Entry screen. The entered data is stored in an Oracle 8i relational database management system (RDBMS) module. This data is used subsequently to link with plot maps, and further to the property location and related information. For all 11 departments under corporation namely, Water Supply, Sewerage Operations, Electricity, Town Planning, Roads and Building Construction, Health and Sanitation, Estate and Land Acquisition, Administration/ Encroachment and Miscellaneous Taxation, Fire, Garden, and Accounts, the paper and survey maps were digitised and related attributes entered into the database. Attribute data were stored in a centralised database and spatial data was stored in MapInfo. The system provides the users of NMC, tools to query, update and analyse individual department information for taking prompt decisions. Users have options to view the maps on screen and retrieve information required for decision-making. The system generates consolidated reports periodically as required by the user. The main screen of the system is linked to all the departments (Figure 19.2) and to the user administration module. The user enters into different modules using secured login information given by the system administrator. The main part of the screen shows the NMC map along with map navigation utilities like zoom in, zoom out, pan and layer control map navigation helps to navigate through the map easily. By using zoom in and zoom out options the user will be able to see the map in different scales and browse the detailed macro to micro level features. The pan option is to move the map on the map screen. Under the querying option, all the required queries will be listed which will be understandable to the user. The option for reports enables the user to generate reports related to their individual department. The data entry option allows user to navigate to the concerned screens. All the data entry screens have facilities like add, delete, modify, query record, record navigation (next, previous, last, first record). In the layer customisation option the user is given the option to change the properties of map layers like scale, visibility, labeling, and so on for better viewing.

Urban Development Management System 417 Conclusions Map making and geographic analysis are not new, but GIS performs these tasks faster and with more sophistication than traditional manual methods do. Without owning the individual software, the internet GIS technology has opened new paths for disseminating, sharing, displaying, and processing spatial information on the Internet. Web-based solutions provide a low-cost, efficient way to deliver map products to users. The urban planning and information system is a step towards web-GIS based solution, which certainly helps public in a big way. The utility departments of NMC are encouraged to view maps and data using a PC sitting comfortably in their ward offices thereby not visiting head offices as they often did earlier. Fire and health departments find it useful during emergency services since all information is brought around the hot spots with the click of a button. The most beneficial amongst all departments are roads and building, and town planning. Search for maps and documents seems to be over. Where hours used to be counted to locate maps, now that uncertainty is over. Overall, the department officers find the system very beneficial. The future of this system lies on sharing information with public and other municipal corporations of India and world via world wide web.

The Gorakhpur (State of Uttar Pradesh, India) Geographic Information System (GIS) The Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation (GMC), which is responsible for basic amenities and city governance, serves an area of 147 sq.km of the city of Gorakhpur. It has a fully functional computerised billing system for properties, including yearly record of payments and arrears. But there was a total lack of visual representation of data. The only map possessed by the Municipal Corporation depicted ward boundaries for the city. As a consequence, the municipal corporation employees faced innumerable problems when they went on the field or when the matter of settling a property dispute arose, forcing them to refer to a revenue map dating back to 1913. The last blanket assessment of properties within the limits of GMC was done in 1984. Since then the city has grown almost twice in size, with proportionate increase in the number of properties. But many of these properties are unaccounted for even in the older areas of the city, making reassessment of properties an essential need for the accuracy of this study. Keeping in view the larger goal of urban planning and e-governance, GMC took the initiative for making a property map for the city on GIS. Even though it had divided the city into eight circles for convenience, the 60 census wards of 1991 were taken as the starting point for this study. As per computer records, total properties falling under the purview of GMC were 67,155 as on June 30, 2000). In order to minimise the disturbance that would be caused by devising a new system, the computerised property records of GMC were adapted into the project. According to this, all assessed properties within the purview of the corporation are recorded on the computer, coded in the form of a 10-digit number. The database of GMC is on FoxPro. But it does not include any information pertaining to assessment of a property and the employees of the corporation have to rely on

418 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies the judgment of the tax inspectors or clerical staff for assessment of properties. The only method of crosschecking this information is either to look up the ledgers or to visit the site, a task that is extremely tedious. Added to this is the problem of property number allocation, which many a times is done by the clerical staff without even visiting the site, making it extremely difficult for the tax inspectors to locate the properties once they go on the field. Some other problems that highlight the need of GIS are: · Property numbers are not in sequence. · Incorrect demands are printed or wrong entries of property numbers are made. · Properties that have been demolished or do not exist continue to be billed. · There is no visual link between the location of a property and its corresponding data, rendering all forms of visual analysis impossible.

The Study Area The project was divided into two phases. The pilot phase has been completed and it covered two wards, namely Civil Lines wards I and II (wards 45 and 48). This area comprised three localities of Civil Lines, Bilandpur and Kalepur, together housing a total of 1,073 properties as per the computer records of GMC (as on June 30, 2000). The second phase of the project will aim to cover the entire city. The study area was duly representative of the older and newer parts of the city. The Civil Lines locality represented the former, while Bilandpur locality, the latter. Kalepur is a mixed set of both old and new. Bilandpur locality had a very high percentage of new properties because of its proximity to the city centre as well as accessibility to reclaimable low cost land along the National Highway.

The Objective of GMC GIS The objective of the project was to organise and map the property tax structure of the corporation, using GIS as a tool.

Methodology The methodology adopted in order to fulfill the above objective started with taking stock of existing processes. This information was collected through a questionnaire that was prepared in Hindi (the local language) which included all the information necessary for assessing a property according to the current practices followed by GMC as well as information that would be needed under the Property Tax SelfAssessment scheme to be adopted shortly by all the municipal corporations in the state of UP. Subsequently a base map was prepared for the study area. The only maps available for the city of Gorakhpur are the 1972 Survey of India Map at the 1:20,000 scale and the 1913 revenue map on the 1 : 6,490 scale. These were subsequently scanned, enlarged and the first level map digitised in MapInfo. Remote sensing imageries in the 5.8 m and 1 m resolution could not be used because of lack of funds. Each property in the area was notionally marked on the base map and given a number,

Urban Development Management System 419 either from the existing computer records or a new number in case of an unassessed property. A fresh property survey was conducted on the basis of the questionnaire prepared and the data collected was fed into MS Excel sheets. The manual property map was crosschecked and necessary corrections made at the time of the survey. Subsequently, this map was digitised and the data sheets from the survey and information on property billing and arrears obtained from the GMC were attached to the maps. House Plans passed by the Gorakhpur Development Authority before the construction of a house were scanned and attached to an MS Access database, along with the house sketches made by the surveyors in order to compare the existing situation with approved plans. The final analysis and reassessment of properties was done in the form of tables and map. Properties in the Civil Lines Wards I and II have both residential and commercial land use. Computer records of GMC listed 1,073 properties but the survey located 1,366 properties. Of the computer records, three percent (41) properties were no longer existing on the ground and 21 percent (284) properties were not listed and therefore un-assessed. The maximum number of un-assessed properties was in the newer Bilandpur locality, accounting for 156 (11 percent) of the total records. But the un-assessed properties in the older Civil Lines locality were no less, 98 (seven percent) of the total records. According to the current Annual Rental Value (ARV) (12 percent house tax, 12 percent water tax, 3 percent sewer tax and 0 percent conservancy tax), 72 percent property owners in Bilandpur and 66 percent in Kalepur have property tax arrears pending towards the corporation. Maximum cases were in the range of Rs 1-3000 (as on June 30, 2000). Properties within each locality were further divided on the basis of land use, type and year of construction, year of stay, location of property, availability of basic amenities, and covered and carpet area. Attempts were made to derive the per sq. ft. ARV from the available data but further work on reassessment remains because of unavailability of comprehensive data on the carpet area of each property. Till such time GMC sends out a directive to property owners asking them to submit information on the carpet area, a comprehensive reassessment of properties cannot be attempted. This task would be possible only when reassessment is done for the entire city in the second phase.

Financial Benefits Financial benefits projected for GMC have been calculated on the basis of two options -total number of wards and total number of properties. The GMC levies a total of 27 percent taxes on the population residing within its limits and all calculations have been made according to this.

Benefits According to Wards Benefits accruing from the un-assessed properties in the two wards studied in the pilot phase are postulated at Rs 0.537 million. The benefits accruing from the 60 wards within the Corporation limits can be estimated at Rs 16 million. Even if only

420 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 75 percent of this value is taken into account, it still amounts to an enormous figure of Rs 12 million.

Benefits According to Properties Financial benefits if calculated on the basis of total number of un-assessed properties within the city (20 percent of total properties), excluding an estimated two percent non-existent records and taking an average ARV of Rs 2,000 as the datum value. The benefits accruing towards GMC will amount to Rs 0.15 million for the study area and Rs 7 million for the entire city.

Increase in ARV Once a fresh survey of the entire city is conducted, it is assumed that a minimum of 25 percent of the properties in the current records of the corporation will need to be reassessed and that the increase in their ARV will be a minimum of Rs 500. This will benefit GMC by a further Rs 8.2 million.

Gross Financial Benefits from the Project GMC expects to benefit by Rs 20 million if the first option is adopted or by Rs 15 million if the second option is considered. The initial investment will be recovered in almost the same period it will take to prepare the base and property maps for the city.

Conclusion Once the map for the entire city is prepared, the house-to-house digital records available with the census department will be attached to each property, using the property numbers as a common factor. The revenue records will also be clubbed in a similar fashion. The other departments will only have to attach their data to the base map, in the form of layers, as stated earlier in the model, and a tool for planning will be ready at the click of a button. If all or most of the stated departments join hands in a combined effort towards e-government through GIS, things will become faster and cost less. There will be an increase in the transparency and accountability within these departments and it will also be a step forward in the elimination of redtapism, bureaucracy and corruption.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What is Urban Development Management System and what is the importance of Urban Development Management System? 2. What are the objectives of Urban Development Management System? 3. Give various components of Urban Development Management System. 4. Write a note on the system architecture of Urban Development Management System. 5. What is the impact of Urban Development Management System on overall governance?

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REFERENCES Department of Housing and Urban Development, Government of USA, ‘Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) Data and Technical Standards Notice’, Available online at http://www.epic.org/privacy/poverty/hmis.pdf Downloaded on November 20, 2009. Department of Urban Development, Government of Uttarakhand, 2005, ‘RFP for IT Systems for Urban Development’, Available online at http://gov.ua.nic.in/itda/ attachments/FAQs%20for%20Urban%20Development%20Department.pdf http:// gov.ua.nic.in/itda/attachments/FAQs for Urban Development Department.pdf. Downloaded on October 20, 2009. Available online at http://www.niua.org/indiaurbaninfo/fire-D/ProjectNo.12.pdf Downloaded on November 23. Available online at http://www.urbanindia.nic.in/ Downloaded on November 20, Hughes, Bob and Cotterell, Mike. Software Project Management, Tata McGraw-Hill, Fourth Edition. Indo-US Financial Institutions Reforms and Expansion Project - Debt Market Component (FIRE-D), 1998, ‘Innovative Project Management Systems for Urban Infrastructure Projects’ Available online at http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/ public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN012854.pdf. Downloaded on October 30.

422 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

20 e-Agriculture Objectives · To introduce e-agriculture · To understand issues of ICT in agriculture · To learn about use of e-learning in agriculture · To learn about the need of standards in e-agriculture · To learn about initiatives in e-learning and e-agriculture · To learn about the models and requirements for e-agriculture · To learn about infrastructure and architecture of e-agriculture

20.1

INTRODUCTION

We are in an era of knowledge-intensive agriculture. Farmers, scientists, agricultural entrepreneurs, educationists, teachers, students, policy-makers and stakeholders at large must have access to agricultural knowledge so as to enhance farm productivity. The contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to national development including agriculture has been steadily increasing. Also, significant endeavors have been witnessed in using and promoting e-learning for knowledge sharing in agriculture. This chapter analyses some basic elements of the phenomenon and the ICT support systems required to enhance agricultural output.

20.2

STATUS OF ICT USE IN AGRICULTURE

ICT use in agriculture can be observed from its use in agricultural R&D as well as commercially. In both the cases there has been an upward trend in using ICT infrastructure.

20.2.1

Status of ICT Use in Agricultural R&D in Asia

It has been observed that the most effective use of ICT for agricultural development is supported by NGOs and public sector. A strong NGO sector contributes substantially to the use of ICT in agricultural development.

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However, it has also been observed that there has been an uneven or heterogeneous use of ICT in agricultural R&D (ARD) in Asia. This has been ascribed to: 1. Lack of clear policies: Use of ICT in ARD is dependent not only on agricultural research policies but a wide envelope of policies related to (i) Rural telecommunications, especially in areas where the ARD institutes are based; (ii) Rural development, including agricultural development; (iii) Infrastructure, especially electricity; (iv) Education; (v) Governance 2. Lack of capacity 3. Inappropriate National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) leadership 4. Inadequate funding of ICT in NARS 5. Inadequate infrastructure 6. Inadequate skills to use and manage ICT and information 7. Lack of appropriate technologies and models to use ICT for ARD Common issues in ICT use in ARD are prioritisation of areas and focus on activities to be taken up. In view of financial and skills constraints of the developing countries the focus of ICT use could be on: 1. Scientific and technical information 2. Research and research data management 3. Extension and outreach 4. Agricultural education 5. Enabling communication and messaging between institutions and/or researchers

20.2.2

Models of ICT Uses

Use of ICT has been made by several agencies, both public and private, in agriculture for promoting the sale of products of a company, transfer of technology, and so on. A list of different models where ICTs have been used in India are given below. Most of them are participatory in nature as well. ITC’s e-Choupal ITC, an Indian multinational firm, has implemented an ICT-based rural system called e-Choupal for providing market linkage to agricultural sector in rural areas. e-Choupal was first implemented in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India for soybean crop. Prior to this, there was a mark-up of 7-8 percent on the price of soybean from the farm gate to factory gate. This mark-up was basically pocketed by middlemen. This amount affected the profitability of the farmers

424 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies and the margins of ITC wherein 2.5 percent of the above mark-up was borne by the farmer and five percent was borne by ITC. Farmers selling directly to ITC through e-Choupals saved about Rs 120 per metric ton on transaction costs and gained access to good quality inputs and knowledge, while the company also saved about Rs 215 per metric ton on its transaction costs and had access to good quality produce for its trade and processing industry. HP’s i-Community Initiative An ICT initiative known as i-Community was implemented by Hewlett-Packard (HP) at Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh State of India. i-Community provides an interesting contrast to the e-Choupal case in the business model adopted. HP is not an agribusiness company like ITC. HP is in fact an ICT components and knowledge company. Its initiative represents an experiment known as ‘living lab’. The objective of this experiment was to become a partner in community development to gain knowledge and contacts that will make the company a stronger competitor in the emerging global knowledge economy. A Community Information Centre (CIC) was set up in the village. This CIC would provide the interface for ‘assembling an ecosystem of public-private partnerships to accelerate development while opening new markets and developing new products and services. HP provided for reliable ICT infrastructure for broadband access at the CIC through VSAT to resolve last mile connectivity issues. It also invested in capacity building of operators and networking with a range of public and private organisations through the CIC. HP is also creating intangible business assets (for example new networks and increased familiarity with new markets). The experiment has already created business value to HP. Many of the online products developed at Kuppam have the potential of application in other areas in Asia and Africa where HP has set up similar CICs. This initiative has now been closed down in India. iKisan.com An ICT initiative from the Nagarjuna Group in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, iKisan.com is a platform for sale of its own and their party products (farm inputs), services (knowledge-based crop management) and information (weather, markets). It maintains a web portal in local language at the company site and an information kiosk staffed by its trained representatives in villages. The main features of iKisan business model are aggregation of demand to enable supply of good quality inputs at relatively low prices and provision of technical advice to farmers through the portal, the kiosk and its representatives. i-Villages of Pondicherry The i-Villages of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) are among the oldest examples of initiatives in rural India aimed at ICT-enabled knowledge

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delivery to the poor for alleviating rural poverty. It is a hub and spokes model. The main hub with VSAT internet connectivity is linked to 20 village knowledge centres through a hybrid wired and wireless network consisting of PCs, telephones, Very High Frequency (VHF) duplex radio and e-mail through dialup telephone lines. The i-Villages of Pondicherry are a good demonstration of the catalyzing role ICTs can play in capacity building, empowerment and raising incomes in rural areas. Gyandoot Gyandoot is another ICT initiative in India. It is a project owned by the Government of Madhya Pradesh based in a relatively remote and tribal dominated Dhar district of the state. It is an intranet-based G2C service delivery portal connected to 39 village level community information centres through telephone dial up or wireless access. Gyandoot is essentially an e-government initiative to improve governance at the village level by offering a range of services that include information on weather, market prices and crop management for the farmers. On an average about 2340 farmers access the Gyandoot portal every week and about 10 farmers visit a centre each day to access the service. This is encouraging in a predominantly tribal and drought prone region. A recent World Bank sponsored evaluation of the project by the Centre for Electronic Governance, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has found that the project has succeeded in generating awareness of ICT among rural communities and reduced corruption and harassment by government officials. To summarise, a broad range of ICT initiatives have been implemented in rural India. With regard to reliable and effective last mile connectivity, VSAT is technically the best, though expensive. Local access solutions like n-logue provide alternate means to relatively inexpensive broadband connectivity directly from the village centre level. The next effective option is the hub and spokes model of MSSRF. NGO-based ICT-led models focussing on community services (like MSSRF’s iVillages) to be viable need source for funds from external agencies. Public sector initiatives, like Gyandoot, would need to become more flexible. It is not clear whether Gyandoot is a success.

20.3

PROPOSED e-AGRICULTURE MODEL

There is a need to setup a robust IT infrastructure to help address the issues of e-agriculture. The infrastructure has two main components and reference architecture for the development of distributed service-oriented systems. This chapter presents and discusses the infrastructure, its components and presents a prototype application named yield data filtering, which filters yield monitor data and was developed as a proof of concept.

426 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 20.3.1

Requirements for e-Agriculture

The system depicted in this chapter will provide a comprehensive, single source of agriculture-related information to farmers. This would be maintained by Department of Agriculture along with assistance and support from its partner agencies. It will seek to help farmers through farm-specific, need-based, demanddriven advice and knowledge. This will also form a comprehensive backend for strengthening other current and future ICT initiates in the agriculture sector. The requirements of the proposed system may be classified as (a) stakeholders’ requirements and (b) IT (hardware and software) requirements. Stakeholders’ Requirements The requirements of the system may be classified based upon the services offered to the various stakeholders along with their expected output and benefits from the system. The stakeholders in the system would comprise the following: o Primary stakeholders § Farmers § Farmers’ associations/local organisations § Self-help groups/special interest groups o Secondary stakeholders § Policy-makers, state and district government officials and staff § Knowledge generators/experts § Rural development managers § Research institutions o Tertiary stakeholders § Financial institutions § Agricultural produce market committees § Private sector companies Primary Stakeholders Farmers and farming communities will be able to make informed financial decisions on where to sell their produce and procure raw material and farm inputs. Latest/real-time information will help the farmer decide when to plant or harvest their crop. The system would result in access to information through a scheme management system that will give information on the latest schemes and initiatives undertaken by government and information on how to avail of the same. The system would also provide advice on optimal utilisation of resource and resource management techniques. Thus farmers would be able to decide what to plant based on expert scientific advice based on crop pattern and soil conditions which may be viewed by experts using Geographic Information

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System (GIS)/spatial technology. The system shall also help the farmers with advice on how to control pests and crop diseases. It would be easier to register complaints, apply for schemes and training programs. The system would also include an integrated portal for purchase of farm equipment and its maintenance. It would help farmers to access latest information, and news and analysis about agriculture produce prices in local and global markets. The system would also provide help in financing/financial schemes for farmers. Farmers would be able to purchase farm equipment at the lowest prices, and request for their servicing, repairs, and so on. Secondary Stakeholders The e-agriculture system would include a budgetary system and internal control management of funds for the Department of Agriculture as well as other linked agencies. The system would track financial allocations and expenditures for various schemes and services. It would also help in tracking subsidies and grants given to farmers/agriculture sector. Besides this it would also drill down reporting to track the actual end-beneficiary of subsidies and initiatives. The e-agriculture system would include a GIS/spatial data management tool which would be of great benefit for the secondary stakeholders in the project. The GIS management tool would help to accurately map existing arable land based on existing records and surveys .The tool can be scaled to include other natural resources such as forests, water bodies/resources, physical landmarks, and real-time weather and information system. The tool would also allow the scope of pre-emptive action to be taken by concerned agencies by providing an accurate picture of the emerging weather patterns and assessing its consequences and impact. Besides all this, the tool would also contain historical meteorological data. The e-agriculture system would include a decision support system, which would provide expert / scientific advice based on external inputs and emerging scenarios such as soil condition, crop cycle, and weather conditions - prevailing and emerging. The module would also help in the historical data maintenance for future reference. The system will also include an Inter- and Intra-departmental/ agency sharing of information resource and creation of a common knowledge base. This base would redress grievances of farmers efficiently and quickly. It would result in an increased organisational efficiency leading to increased productivity for agricultural sector and also provide improved decision making as data and information would be readily available. Most importantly, it would also provide informed policy decisions. Changes may be adopted based on the complete picture available to experts and policy-makers. Tertiary Stakeholders The e-agriculture system would provide linkages for farmers to financial institutions offering schemes and financial services, for instance the availability

428 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies of a rural credit scheme or program. The linkages may be direct between farmers and organisations procuring agricultural produce and would also help in forecasting prices and returns. The services listed above are not exhaustive; more may be added depending upon requirements and feasibility.

20.3.2

Output of e-Agriculture

The system would be for a single source of information and data for those involved in the agriculture sector. Table 20.1 shows the primary stakeholders for agriculture and Table 20.2 shows the secondary stakeholders for agriculture. Table 20.1 Primary Stakeholders

Output

Benefits

· Minimum support price for food grains this year. · Minimum prices being offered at the local markets.

The farmer is able to get the best possible return for his crop without having to go through middlemen.

· Crop which would be best suited for the current climatic condition or soil type.

The farmer is able to make an informed decision on what to plant and when.

· Information on latest government schemes for farmers, how to access them, procedures involved. · Online application for schemes and training programs being offered by the government. · Check status of application/request.

Farmer does not have to spend his time and effort in trying to find out regarding the latest schemes and their application procedure.

· Generation of a comprehensive database of FAQs that can be accessed at any time through ICT enabled systems.

Single point through which the farmer can get information and get his queries answered.

· Generation of a Do it Yourself Guide for farmers.

Farmer himself will be able to repair his farming equipment, thus saving on time and cost.

Table 20.2 Secondary Stakeholders

Output · What are the crops that were cultivated on a piece of land and the revenue generated, based on the minimum price that was prevailing at that point of time? · Inputs and services provided to a farmer in the current financial year.

Benefits Give an accurate picture of the benefits that various schemes and services have had on the overall condition of the farmer.

(Contd.)

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(Contd.) · What was the financial impact of a scheme or training program availed by a farmer or a farming community? · What was the crop pattern for the State/District, etc. in the previous year? · Total area of land converted from nonarable land to arable land.

Holistic approach to the scheme implementation, monitoring and approach as a complete picture of the impact is available with policy makers.

· Did the intervention by scientific experts have a positive impact on the returns that were generated from a piece of land? If no, then assess the shortcomings. · Creation of a “decision support system” aided by various external and internal inputs.

Informed advise can be given to farmers based on scientific and historical data.

20.3.3

IT Requirements for the System

The IT requirements will consist of the following: · Network · Servers · Operating system · Data hub · GIS/spatial application · Business process manager · Integrated budgeting and financial management tool · Collaboration, interaction and knowledge management tool The Department of Agriculture and its partner agencies would need to consolidate their physical infrastructure by creating a data centre. The data centre will house all the servers and applications, and have network, servers, operating system, database, application server and applications. The data centre would need to have a data hub to facilitate the data and application integration. In order to use this infrastructure to enable data and application integration, the data centre needs to adopt a data hub to facilitate such integrations, especially since such integration will evolve over a period of time. Other applications such as GIS / spatial and collaboration tools will be layered on top of the data hub. Therefore, the shared consolidated computing infrastructure and the data hub within it needs to be a flexible solution that helps in the evolution of the solution.

430 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 20.4

e-LEARNING IN AGRICULTURE

e-Learning is being increasingly resorted to in higher agricultural education. Although the main reason for this appears to be an objective of providing wider access, this needs some more analysis. There are three main facets in imparting education, namely (i) quality, (ii) access, and (iii) cost. The three facets constitute the ‘Iron Triangle’.

Quality

Access

Cost

FIGURE 20.1

Iron Triangle

Positive change in one facet of the iron triangle may affect the other(s) adversely. Stranglehold of the iron triangle can be broken by use of e-learning. Besides, e-learning also facilitates distributed education and lifelong learning. However, there is also a need for continuing education of farmers, especially when new technologies and techniques have been discovered. As an example, if there is information of locust attack and the farmers need to be rapidly trained on how to protect their crops, only an IT-based system or e-learning can provide rapid training required in such circumstances. e-Learning could be used both in (i) in-campus or ‘presence’ mode, and (ii) ‘distance’ or distributed education mode. There appears to be no perceptible movement from campus or ‘presence’ learning to e-learning, both in ‘presence’ and ‘distance’ modes, but rather a more selective behaviour is observed that can be labeled as integrated or ‘hybrid’ system. This does not mean that e-learning is not spreading. e-Learning is undoubtedly spreading in both ‘presence’ and ‘distance’ mode but is not being solely resorted to as an exclusive approach; rather it is being integrated into the existing organisational and educational structure. This gradual integration differs in the extent of e-learning in total approaches depending upon the overall settings and educational milieu of the university/institution. The pace of integration in favour of e-learning is poised to become increasingly rapid. Distance and open education, in particular, could be used to reach the unreachable; almost anytime anywhere in less time and less cost. Providing education to all the needy and closing the digital divide will depend not only on technology but also on providing the skills and content that is most beneficial. If the trend in west in general and Europe in particular is to be taken as an indicator for the developing world in future, then learning is moving from being “teacher-centric” to “learner-centric” or “student-centric”. To attract

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students and to be in a utilitarian mode, the use of computers and ICTs has to be necessarily resorted to. A survey carried out by an e-learning solutions provider, WebCT, highlighted that universities now see e-learning as “mission critical” and offer greater access to better quality education. Three-quarters of the 150 institutions surveyed stated that computer-based learning had a major role in most of their courses or they would do so within three years. The case of UK’s “e-university” (UKeU), is an interesting one. The University has failed. Its failure created a furore and even MPs recently criticised it as a “disgraceful waste” of public money on the collapsed venture. But the surveys indicate a growing demand for online courses in spite of failure of UKeU. Reports stated that the government should not be scared off from investing in innovative but potentially risky schemes but “should learn from this disaster”. Part of UKeU’s problem was that students preferred to work through existing reputed universities which have been developing their own e-learning materials. The choice was probably between reputed and new universities rather than between traditional and e-learning approaches. If reputed universities use e-learning, it will have very high acceptance. It is believed that e-learning can play a vital role in improving farm productivity.

20.5 20.5 20.5.1

OTHER INITIATIVES TAKEN IN e-LEARNING, e-AGRICULTURE AND RELATED AREAS FAO’s Initiative

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has provided an “e-agriculture” platform by launching a new interactive web-based site in 2007. The platform underscores the important role ICT can play in promoting agriculture and rural development.

20.5.2

ICT Initiatives in Agricultural Research

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) promotes e-learning and use of ICTs, as follows, particularly through the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP). 1. Efforts towards setting up a “secured intranet and central data centre for NARS” involving about 300 points under NARS have started. The project is to be implemented by ERNET. 2. Developing e-courses for B.Sc. (Agriculture) and B.V.Sc (Bachelor of Veterinary Science) degree programs is envisaged. 3. A digital library of Ph.D. theses is being set up, and it is proposed to digitise Ph.D. thesis submitted since 2000.

432 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 4. The Consortium for e-Resources in Agriculture (CeRA) has been set up at IARI, New Delhi for providing access to e-journals and e-resources to about 120 NARS libraries. 5. A proposal on knowledge management in agriculture through the use of recent ICT tools and techniques in a consortium mode involving International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Indian Institutes of Technology(IITs), ICAR institutes, and State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) is at advanced stages of approval. It is contemplated to provide e-connectivity to ICAR Units, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and some agricultural universities. The proposal comprises providing (i) e-connectivity of KVKs (KVK-net), (ii) ICAR Data centre (DC) (ICAR-net), and (iii) video conferencing among ICAR institutes / SAUs. In this regard, a component for linking ERNET’s Delhi point-of-presence (PoP) to National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC) control centres is integrally builtin. In case of video conferencing proposal (already under implementation) connectivity of 8 Mbps dedicated leased line from ERNET PoP at New Delhi and ICAR’s video conferencing gateway at NASC has been established. Similarly, in case of ICAR’s Datacentre (ICAR-net) a high capacity leased line of 34-Mbps has been proposed and in KVKs’ e-connectivity proposal (KVK-net) connectivity of 16 Mbps has been provisioned for. However, since control centres in case of all the three projects/proposals are to be located in NASC campus, the three facilities can be integrated and a single high capacity leased line of 34 Mbps has been contemplated to be sufficient.

20.5.3

Bhoomi, Karnataka

Government of Karnataka initiated Bhoomi (meaning “land”) project in 2001 in order to document land records of farmers. Around 20 million land records of 6.7 million landowners in 176 administrative offices (27,000 villages) of Karnataka have been computerised and RTC kiosks have been opened in those administrative offices using Bhoomi. Farmers have to pay for it, but nominally. They visit the kiosks and obtain their updated land records for a user charge of Rs 15 by spending only 5–30 minutes. A World Bank study has assessed that farmers of Karnataka now save about one billion rupees (Orbicom, 2004). About 66 percent of farmers used kiosks with no help and most of them (78 percent) found the system to be very simple (Lobo and Balakrishnan, 2002 and The Communication Initiative, 2002).

20.5.4 Virtual Schools and Learning Home (VSLH) 20.5.4 Project in Maharashtra In a unique project a statewide consortium of 15 organisations and educational institutes will launch VSLH project in Maharashtra, which will include various

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initiatives based on principles like open educational resources for all, and learning through independent exploration and self-organised groups. The Indian Consortium for Educational Transformation (I CONSENT) consists of institutions like the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL), the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), Indian Institute of Education (IIE), Shreemati Nathibhai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) University, and others. As part of the initiative to train nearly two million teachers in the state, the HBCSE will establish an online resource of educational material that can be accessed by anyone at any time. Teachers will also be given a certificate at the end of the training. MKCL will act as the nodal agency to set up Prayog Pariwar Kendras. As part of this program, computer-equipped laboratories will be set up at 15 talukas as a pilot project in Pune district, which will be digitally connected.

20.5.5

TARAhaat

TARAhaat is a business enterprise of Development Alternatives (DA) started in 1999 that focuses on sustainable rural development in India. DA has “Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA)” as its marketing arm. Its objective is to improve information flows, computer literacy, and crop and market information. The business model combines a mother portal, TARAhaat.com, with a network of 18 franchised village Internet centres, or TARA kendras in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. These kendras deliver computerbased education, information, services, and online market opportunities. Telephone connectivity and VSAT links are being used for networking Internet centres. Content is mainly in English and Hindi and likely to be extended to other regional languages.

20.5.6

Village Information Centre

The National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, popularly known as MANAGE, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India started a “cyber extension program” in October 2000 to facilitate farmers’ access to agricultural information. The program provides Internet connectivity at district level (24 districts) in seven states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and Punjab. The model has been extended to village level in Andhra Pradesh. Village information centres operate in 11 villages in Rangareddy district, each extending facilities to surrounding 25-30 villages catering to about 20,000 to 30,000 farmers. The village information centres are located at Mutually Aided Cooperative Thrift and Credit Society (MACTIC). In Andhra Pradesh, 45,000 people have benefitted from this initiative in 300 villages of 10 blocks.

434 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 20.6 ADVANTAGE OF OPEN SOFTWARE PLATFORM IN 20.6 e-AGRICULTURE It is unlikely that a single proprietary system will ever meet all of the requirements because of their complexity and comprehensiveness. That is why an open software platform is a more appropriate solution to the problem. Another important point that favours an open, well structured, component-based solution is that e-agriculture still has many uncertainties that are the subject of ongoing research. As a consequence, new methods and new processing techniques may have to be incorporated into information systems in the near future, as they become available and experimentally proven. Support for this must be anticipated during the system’s development by means of sound software engineering techniques and concepts. We present and discuss an infrastructure proposed for the development of distributed service-oriented systems for PA, which is composed of reference architecture; a standard language for data exchange between systems, named Precision Agriculture Markup Language (PAML); a service bus (AgriBUS), a message-oriented middleware for connection of web services. We also present a prototype application, a service for yield map data correction named Yield Data Filtering, which was developed as a proof of concept.

20.7

THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN e-AGRICULTURE

The proposed infrastructure should have reference architecture, a standard language for data exchange between systems and services based on XML, and a service bus as a message-oriented middleware for connection of web services. The following sections show the reference architecture and the components.

20.8

REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE

The reference model serves as a guide in terms of systems functionalities within the domain of agriculture and the architectural style helps in obtaining architectural properties such as extensibility, changeability, and reusability. An overview of the reference architecture is presented in the Figure 20.2. Figure 20.2 gives an overview of the reference architecture. A bus service receives requisitions from the portal applications and invokes appropriate services, agricultural or geospatial. When processing is finished it stores the results in the repository and notifies the client. Clients such as Web browsers, WAP-phones, or pagers access the applications (App) through the portal that centralises and provides simple and standard interfaces to the users. The applications interact with the service bus, which is responsible for invoking the services that are physically distributed across

e-Agriculture

Simulation

App

Client

Filtering

Meteorology

Requests

435

Service

Service

invokes

results

App

Repository

Client App Data

WCS

FIGURE 20.2

WFS

WMS

Reference Architecture

the network. The bus must guarantee the delivery of the requisitions and, if necessary, may apply transformations to the data before communicating with services. The service bus uses a repository to store the results of services that demand great processing effort and are, thus, asynchronously invoked. Both agricultural and geospatial services are web services hosted by application servers distributed throughout the Internet. The agricultural services perform complete tasks of a business process; for instance, plant growth simulation, data capture (meteorological data, soil data, and so on), and yield monitor data filtering, and are built upon the paradigm of service-oriented computing. Geospatial services are spatial data manipulation services typical of GIS and are based on the standardised services of the Open GIS Consortium (OGC), Web Feature Service (WFS) and Web Map Service (WMS). The communication of both agricultural and geospatial services is based on the exchange of XML documents which are created and validated by the schema. The reference architecture proposed for agricultural information systems basically uses the service oriented architectural style Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). SOA is frequently characterised as a style that supports loose coupling, business alignment and web-based services, which permits extensibility and interoperability independent of the technology. SOA architecture allows obtaining a loose coupling between its processing components (service consumer and service provider), because it uses simple generic and applicationindependent connectors, and messages defined by an extensible XML schema

436 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies for exchanging information with other connectors. Since they are generic, the specific semantics of the application must be expressed in descriptive messages that communicate the problem description from consumer to service provider. These messages specify what must be solved but not how it has to be solved, since the service provider is the one who is capable of solving the problem. Web services are the basic components of distributed service-oriented systems. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defines web services as a software system designed to support machine-to-machine interaction over the Internet. The main difference between web services and traditional approaches, such as the distributed objects technologies from the Object Management Group (OMG), Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) or the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) from Microsoft lies in the aspect of loose coupling of the architecture. Instead of building applications that result in collections of objects or components that are firmly integrated and wellknown and understood in development time, the service approach is much more dynamic and is able to find, retrieve, and invoke a distributed service dynamically. Another key difference is that with web services the industry is solving problems using technologies and specifications that are being developed in an open way, via partnerships and consortia such as W3C and the Organisation for the Advancement for Structured Information Standards (OASIS), and using standards and technologies that are the basis of the Internet.

SUMMARY The e-agriculture infrastructure has to be developed which will prove to be a convenient solution for the development of individual software modules that can be published as services and as web applications. A yield monitor data-filtering algorithm should be implemented as a web application and allow to validate the infrastructure and the technological solutions adopted. Other algorithms can be used on the development of new services. This will increase the visibility and availability of new ideas and developments originated from research to a wider audience, since they need not wait to be incorporated into commercial systems. At the same time they can maintain a high degree of compatibility if they are built upon the same concepts and infrastructure. There is great potential for e-agriculture applications in developing countries. However, e-agriculture applications such as precision agriculture and e-commerce in agriculture can only work in an environment where there is a good ICT infrastructure. e-Agriculture requires expensive advanced technologies, which are only viable in intensive farming systems. Participation in e-commerce activities requires that both buyers and sellers have access to the Internet, and that they are able to use the required hardware and software effectively. Unfortunately, in most developing countries, many constraints block the development of e-agriculture. These include lack of sustainable ICT infrastructure, absence of appropriate skills among potential users of ICTs (farmers, rural communities, extension staff and researchers), lack of appropriate content, and lack of access to ICT facilities. For e-agriculture to benefit

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rural communities in developing countries, the rural digital divide must be bridged. Locally relevant digital content has to be developed or adapted; and access to ICTs should be made affordable for rural populations. Otherwise e-agriculture applications will remain beyond reach of rural communities, and will merely exacerbate the existing rural digital divide, leading to an ever-widening knowledge gap between information “haves” and “have-nots”.

KEY TERMS Information technology The study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) An umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing electronic communication. e-Learning The use of new multimedia technologies and Internet to improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources and services as well as remote exchanges and collaboration. Standards Means to share ideas and to establish a common understanding on a given subject for all stakeholders, which eventually helps in minimising communication gaps and building low cost solutions.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the importance of ICT in agriculture with examples. 2. List and primary and secondary stakeholders of agriculture. 3. What is the importance of e-learning in e-agriculture? 4. Give an appropriate architecture for an e-agriculture system

REFERENCES Adhiguru, A. and Mruthyunjaya. 2004. ‘Institutional innovations for using information and communication technology in agriculture’, Policy Brief, No. 18, NCAP (ICAR), NewDelhi. pp.1–4. CEC. 2001. ‘The e-learning action plan: designing tomorrow’s education’, Communication from Commission to the Council of the European Parliament. Available online at http:/europa.eu.int/comm/education/elearning/index.html. Downloaded on June 20, 2010. Department of IT, Government of Uttarakhand, 2006, RFP for Development and Implementation of Agricultural Portal, GoUA” Available online at www.gcsindia.com/ PDF-Files/PM_Uttaranchal.pdf, Downloaded on June 20, 2008. Indian Express Group. 2003. “Case studies of the winning companies: ITC’s electronic-choupal. Available online at http://www.networkingmagazineindia.com/ 200312/events04.shtml. Downloaded on June 10, 2010.

438 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Korotkiy, M. 2005. “Towards an ontology-enabled service oriented architecture”, in Proceedings of the PhD Symposium in International Conference on Service Oriented Computing, (ICSOC 05), Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Lütticken, R.E. 2000. “Development of an Internet-based communication and information network to progress the implementation of precision agriculture” in Proceedings of Fifth International Conference on Precision Agriculture (CD) 2000, Bloomington, MN, USA. Menegatti, L.A.A. and J.P. Molin. 2003 ”Metodologia para identificação e caracterização de erros em mapas de produtividade”, Revista Brasileira de Engenharia Agrícola e Ambiental, 72: 367–74. Molin, J.P. and L.A.A. Menegatti 2002. “Methodology for identification, characterisation and removal of errors on yield maps”, in ASAE Annual International Meeting /CIGR XVth World Congress, 2002 Chicago, St. Joseph, ASAE. Murakami, E., L.C.M. Ribeiro, A.M. Saraiva, and C.E. Cugnasca. 2002 “An infrastructure for development of information systems for precision agriculture”, Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Precision Agriculture, Minneapolis, ASA/ CSSA/SSSA, pp. 1712–17. Rao, N.H. 2007. ”A framework for implementing information and communication technologies in agricultural development in India’, Technology Forecasting & Social Change, 74, Issue 4, 491–518.

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21 Disaster Management System Objectives · Get a brief overview of a National Disaster Management System · Learning the importance of the Disaster Management System · Learning about the various management system practices during a disaster · The types of Information required by managements during a disaster management process · Effective information management in emergencies · The Decision making process, the types of decisions to be made and the steps in a decision making process · Methods and types of Controls, Coordination and Supervision · Evaluation of a Disaster Management System using various tools for the evaluation · Learning about the various Performance Measures for Disaster Management Information Systems · Gaining an insight into the various technologies in actions for disaster management

21.1

INTRODUCTION

It is well known that natural disasters strike countries, both developed and developing, causing enormous destruction, human suffering and have negative impacts on national economics. Due to the diverse geoclimatic conditions prevalent in different parts of the globe, different types of natural disasters like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and so on strike according to the vulnerability of the area. The management of natural disasters, human-made catastrophes, and complex human emergencies including refugee support operations or assistance to displaced persons is delivered by specialised agencies operating in complex and often confused environments. These organisations are guided and directed by the decisions of one or more individuals who are designated as “managers”.

440 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies It is these people who allocate scarce resources to alternative and competing demands. They establish the mechanisms for providing relief and aid in the disaster area, and often determine the parameters of jobs, incomes, services, and care. Modern disaster management goes beyond post-event disaster assistance; it includes pre-disaster planning and preparedness activities, organisational planning, public relations, and many other fields. Crisis management is important but, in reality, is only a part of the overall responsibility of the disaster manager.

21.2

IMPORTANCE OF MANAGEMENT IN DISASTERS

Disaster management is a complex series of activities which include risk assessment, prevention measures, preparedness to cope with future disasters, emergency response to a disaster, recovery and rehabilitation. Emphasis on good development and community preparedness can reduce the impact of disasters especially for the most vulnerable people living in hazard prone areas. These people have few financial resources to help them recover and have lost their means of livelihood. Disasters are among the most unique and urgent situations that humans are called upon to manage. Events and information are confusing, and managers within the relief system, constantly are faced with a need to respond quickly to the changing dynamics. Management science offers the person in command, a framework for making decisions and for bringing these events under control. Delivery of relief and reconstruction aid can be improved substantially by detailed program planning and thorough, sound, program management. A manager who applies, both modern management principles and an understanding of disaster events to the situation can provide a well-balanced program for the survivors of a disaster. Often, the events of a disaster move rapidly and can be extremely traumatic for those who are unprepared. Disaster managers often do not get a second chance. If a decision goes wrong, the manager and the victims must live with it. Therefore, it is important that disaster managers understand their roles and responsibilities thoroughly and be familiar with the tools of management. Governments around the world, particularly of emerging economies, are adopting electronic governance at a rapid pace. Hence, there exists an excellent opportunity to utilise the powers of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the purpose of effective disaster management practices. Information technology offers opportunities for improving the existing disaster management processes adopted by governmental agencies and provides seamless collaboration with the local and international humanitarian organisations. The computing and processing capabilities deployed can be utilised efficiently for various activities like:

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· Disseminating information about forecasted/impending disasters or biological threats · Servicing the requests for information and/or assistance from citizens of affected areas · Coordinating efficient deployment of search, rescue and recovery teams · Assessing the status of resources available and procuring the required relief supplies from vendors or aid from donors · Eliminating the time-consuming paper-oriented processes of approval, authorisation and recording of transactions and purchases of supplies The sophisticated ICT tools and systems available today can accomplish all these activities and much more. The multiple modes of delivering services via the Internet, telephone, community centres (self-service or facilitated by others), wireless devices or other communications systems are being experimented and these experimentations can form an ideal foundation for the proposed Disaster Management Information System (DMIS). The paradigm shift from cure to prevention in disaster management has further necessitated the urgency for an efficient and robust mechanism for coordination to facilitate the preparedness prior to disasters and the response following them. This places focus on “long-term efforts” of disaster management at regional, national and international levels rather than just on the aspects of rescue, relief and rehabilitation.

21.3

THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN DISASTER

The principles of disaster management apply in both routine and crisis situations. Routine management relates to those activities that occur during non-crisis periods, such as disaster mitigation and disaster scenario planning. Crisis management applies to emergency operations and includes both the preparedness phase and the immediate post-event periods. To neutralise the confusion of the emergency period, disaster management places heavy emphasis on advance planning. Advance planning activities, collectively called as disaster preparedness, include: Strategic planning: Strategic planning consists of preparing the organisation to respond to disaster threats in locations that are not in initial watch-list and not immediately threatened. Contingency planning: Contingency planning is site-specific and recognises that a disaster could occur at any time. Forward planning: Forward planning occurs when a disaster is imminent and some details regarding the threat are known to the crisis manager. A variety of different management systems have evolved to respond to the different types of disasters and no particular standard as such is used throughout the relief system. Until recently, most agencies utilised management models

442 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies borrowed from military and / or business organisational models. These models usually consist of a pyramidal hierarchy of upper-level management, middle managers, and field managers. As a general rule, upper and middle managers are concerned with managing the organisation and facilitating operations in the field. The field manager is responsible for the development of programs that provide assistance directly to the people living in the disaster area. In recent years, newer management models that allow greater sharing of decision-making with disaster victims and give more rapid and responsive action have been developed and applied to disaster management.

21.3.1

Disaster Recovery

After the immediate danger is over, families need assistance to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. Communities need to rebuild their social and physical infrastructure and the economy needs revitalisation. It takes time and money to plan and ensure long-term development and future disaster preparedness programs as appropriate for everyone. Damaged structures and services may not necessarily be restored in their previous locations or forms as the disruptions can be an opportunity to make improvements.

21.3.2

Disaster Preparedness

Much can be done to prepare for future disasters by: Modifying or removing the causes of the hazard: An example for this would be by building houses away from hazard prone areas, building levy banks in flood prone areas, using improved stoves to avoid spread of fire, and so on. Reducing the effects of hazard if it occurs: An example for this would be by building houses to standards which will protect people during a hazard, developing early warning systems which can function without power systems, developing response plans, clear definition of roles and training of emergency service personnel, collection and storage of resources and equipment to respond quickly, public education and rehearsal for example, evacuation drill.

21.3.3

Development

Rebuilding after a disaster provides significant opportunities for improved development like: · Response and recovery planning to prepare for future hazards · Upgrading infrastructure, roads, communication, water and sanitation systems, to withstand disasters and assist response · Building hazard-resistant public buildings and housing to reduce the impact of local hazards · Developing skills of local personnel to increase their capacity to respond in an emergency

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· Poverty alleviation to reduce vulnerability of those with limited livelihoods · Structural change, land reform, expansion and modernisation of the economic base, may be more possible as people are more open to change Care must be taken so that improvements do not increase an area’s susceptibility to disasters. Environmental factors need to be considered when developing job opportunities so that people attracted do not live in hazardprone areas such as floodplains or unstable hillsides or that too many livestock lead to overgrazing and desertification.

21.4

REQUIREMENTS FOR PROPER DISASTER RESPONSE

The critical issues of vulnerability, information management and coordination faced during disaster requires a clear implementation plan from the Disaster Response System. The system must be capable of capturing the current requirements and flexible enough to incorporate future requirements that may arise from changes in the operating environment. The experience of Red Cross and World Bank in providing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to several nations of the world has resulted in a huge repository of information about the prevalent disaster response systems and the emerging requirements for proper damage containment activities. EPISODES AND ACTIVITIES IN RELATION TO THE RISKS AND OCCURRENCE OF SUDDEN DISASTERS

Sudden disaster Ongoing development

ACTIVITY

Initial rapid assessment

Search and rescue Rehabilitation Emergency relief Reconstruction

Forecast and warning

Warning phase Hours/Days

Detailed assessment

Emergency phase Days/ weeks

Rehabilitation/recovery Many months

TIME

Source: Disaster Assessment, UNDP Disaster Management Training Programme, 1994 FIGURE 21.1

Sequence of Events and Activities to be Carried out during a Sudden Disaster

444 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 21.4.1

Business Process Requirements

The process requirements for a DMIS, as captured by World Bank from its natural disaster reconstruction experience, can be listed as follows: Accurate and Fast Response Speed and accuracy of response, during both appraisal and implementation, is key to success in post-disaster emergency response. This necessitates the need for a centralised emergency system or coordination centre, which can handle the pressure of sudden disaster. The proposed coordination centre should ideally possess the following key features: Flexibility and robustness: It should be able to handle the entire situation irrespective of magnitude and location. This requires the system to be highly flexible. Moreover, the system would need to operate on a 24 ´ 7 basis and hence needs to be highly reliable and robust. Scalability: On the onset of any disaster, there occurs huge information pressure as shown by the spike in Figure 21.1 and the system should be able to handle this pressure. This requires the system to be highly scalable and available. Multiplicity of interaction channels: Most citizens, especially in developing countries, do not have access to technologically sophisticated devices like internet-connected PCs. Moreover, in a disaster situation, a lot of the existing communication links may go down. Hence it is imperative that multichannel, multimedia interactions via various wired and wireless media are available. Wired media include telephone, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), chat, email, and IP telephony while wireless media include radio, mobile, PDAs, handheld devices such as Simputer and IEEE 802.11 standard, and so on. This can assist the affected citizens and their beneficiaries to contact the authorities through any possible channel. The inclusion of Voice over IP (VOIP) in the centre can also facilitate the negotiation and coordination issues among various humanitarian agencies by allowing the system to integrate with external agencies. Improved service rate with reduced cost: The centre should aim at providing close to 100 percent success in handling all inbound requests. During emergency, speed of response can be equated to the number of lives saved. Hence, fast and improved service can bring down both the cost per serviced interaction and reduce the number of lives lost. Intelligent systems to track the origin of requests: This facility incorporated into the centre, can be defined as location base services. Such services can aid in reducing the time of interaction and providing spontaneous response to the critical issue.

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Flexible and Efficient Procurement At the onset of any disaster, the first action to be undertaken is a rapid assessment of the situation in order to determine the type of relief needed for immediate response. This should be followed by a detailed assessment, the information from which will then dictate relief priorities of the affected community such as food aid, medical aid and systems, shelter and housing supplies, water and sanitation. Procurement of relief materials and supplies needs to be more flexible and procurement management work needs to start early. The requirements that dictate the need for a sound logistics and distribution mechanism can be enumerated as follows: Need to avoid time-consuming price negotiations during disaster: The time between placing the orders and procurement should be minimal. The time-consuming process of generating requisitions and purchase orders (POs) should be automated and should be on real time basis. Cost-effective procurement: The cost of procurement should not shoot up despite the emergency of the situation. This can be avoided by having pre-negotiated rate contracts in place in the system. Seamless integration with the communication channels: The system should be able to assess the ongoing needs analysed by the onsite agencies via different media and act accordingly thereby ensuring a seamless integration with varied input platforms. Appropriate inventory maintenance structure: This is essential to avoid the shortage or surplus of any essential resources at the most required moment. This structure should thus be able to implement modern inventory management practices like Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), ABC analysis and Vital Essential and Desirable (VED) analysis. The last one is especially necessary in the case of stocking up perishable commodities like medicines. Transparency and accountability: The system should be able to track the relief items and their destinations with ease and accountability. This requires automatic auditing of purchases, deliveries and removes the need for doing time-consuming paper work thus speeding up the procurement and delivery of relief items. Portability of data to the field /disaster area: One of the key requirements in emergency relief logistics is information exchange. However, the currently used Commodity Tracking Systems (CTS) do not possess this feature. They are not designed to exchange data because of the lack of a universal classification / coding of individual items. This disadvantage makes them inadaptable for the online collaboration for information interchange. A network compatible CTS can enable the portability of needed data close to the disaster area/rescue teams.

446 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Occurrence of Disaster or Critical Emergency

Rapid Assessment – In the early, critical stage of the disaster – Involves both Situation Assessment and Needs Assessment Situation Assessment ∑ A description of what has happened ∑ Collecting information on the – Magnitude of the disaster – Impact analysis of : infrastructure and population Needs Assessment ∑ A to do list of what needs to be done ∑ Level and type of assistance required for the affected population ∑ Identify the 1950 and services that are required for immediate relief

Logistics Support Systems for Relief Procure and deliver those resources and services required which can be in the form of doctors, medicines, food, blankets, etc. Procurement System ∑ Bridge between the Government bodies and donors/suppliers of relief materials ∑ Faster and efficient paperless purchases ∑ Better budget management and transactional efficiency Inventory and Distribution System ∑ Storage, handling and transport of relief supplies ∑ Streamlined material movement ∑ Ease of tracking and tracing material movement

FIGURE 21.2

Emergency Relief Logistics Activities

The chain of activities involved in the emergency relief logistics are depicted in the flowchart shown above. Community Involvement Community involvement and participation are essential for successful response and rehabilitation work. Search, rescue and relief activities can be initiated as fast as possible by ensuring that:

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· There is proper connectivity from the disaster management centre to the affected area. This guarantees the resident citizens access to the essential resources. · The local authorities must be able to contact the concerned agencies and start the disaster relief operations promptly. This calls for a robust communication system that can withstand or survive the disaster. · The access points for donors/relatives/media to contact the affected community or the humanitarian agencies should be available and robust to handle the information surge. · The coordination centre should possess different connectivity options such as telephone, web, VOIP, and so on. · Multilingual support is available to provide opportunity for the local agencies to participate in the disaster recovery process. Setting up fast and efficient connectivity solutions, prior to disasters, can fulfill all the above requirements of providing constant communication with the affected area and outside world. Ease of System Development and Management Simplicity and scalability of the disaster management framework is crucial. The ease of system development and management guarantees higher uptime, lower costs and enhanced robustness. Hence it is desirable that the simpler the design, the better. The use of a modular and scalable architecture smoothens the response activities and makes the replication of units at affected places fast and easy. Tracking of Donations and Funds The tracking of funds obtained for rescue, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities calls for a financial tracking system. This system can perform the following tasks: · Provide transparency and accountability to the financial transactions · Simplify the task of sorting, classifying and monitoring unsolicited and inappropriate donations from all over the world. Such inappropriate donations may have religious connotations which could potentially lead to societal problems or could be donations for gaining undesirable influence in a country. · Incorporate facilities to perform automatic online auditing of accounts payable, accounts receivable and general ledger. · Manage cash with multi-currency accounting. This is required to facilitate donations from different countries.

448 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 21.4.2

Technology Requirements

Data Repositories Disasters result in the generation of large amount of data. Irrespective of the genre of the disaster, the prime requirement for smooth damage containment is clear and relevant information from the disaster scene. The information needs of disaster managers can be categorised into two distinct, but interrelated groups of activities as follows: Pre-disaster activities: Analyse and research risk assessment, prevention, mitigation and preparedness to improve the existing knowledge base. Post-disaster activities: Response, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Accordingly, there are two categories of disaster-related data: · Pre-disaster baseline data about the country and risks; and · Post-disaster real-time data about the impact of a disaster and the resources available to combat it. The management of information generated during the response activities and resultant dissemination to requested sources demands the use of huge object-relational databases. The databases should ideally (a) have high scalability and availability for time-critical applications, (b) be secure, strong and robust against data losses, (c) have seamless integration and consolidation from various data sources, (d) have online backup capability to guard against the repository itself getting destroyed during the disaster, (e) be capable of high-speed analysis of data for Geographic Information System (GIS) applications for mapping and location based services, and (f) be portable across all major platforms to solve coordination issues among various actors involved in disaster management. Communications Infrastructure From a systems perspective, the architecture will come under severe information pressure at the point of disaster. The communication channels should be able to handle the information pressure. The technology infrastructure should provide (a) intelligent routing to get the caller to the right person on the first attempt, (b) IVR integration to help divert the use of human resources for more critical issues (c) integration with Internet and multimedia tools, and (d) fault tolerant routers and switches for prompt and error-free communication. Hazard Assessment and Mapping of the Affected Area For proper mitigation of disasters, accurate maps and demography of the affected area should be available and easily accessible. The generation and documentation of these maps necessitates the need for GIS with Global

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Positioning System (GPS) and remote sensing compatibility. One can even use the ad hoc networks created using IEEE 802.11 (wifi) technology. GIS as a tool in disaster management has been employed in the disaster prevention phase, and for managing the large volumes of data needed for hazard and risk assessment. In the disaster preparedness phase, GIS is an instrument for planning of evacuation routes and for integrating satellite data with other relevant data in the design of disaster warning system. In addition, GIS can be used for keeping track of stores and inventory of equipments, doctors and medicines. In the disaster recovery phase, GIS is utilised for calculating the distance between warehouses, stores, human and material resources, and the areas affected. Also, GIS is extremely useful in combination with GPS in search and rescue operations in areas that have been devastated and where it is difficult to orientate. In disaster rehabilitation phase, GIS is employed to organise damage information and post-disaster census information and in the evaluation of sites for reconstruction. The above cited applications stress the need for a location-based services mechanism like GIS to be incorporated as a part of DMIS. Business Continuity Requirements In the event of disaster management system itself getting destroyed by the disaster, as witnessed during the unfortunate 9/11 attack in USA, proper data recovery and fault tolerance capability should be built into the system. This is termed as Business Continuity Requirements (BCP). In the case of 9/11 attack, the situation was mitigated by re-establishing a temporary nerve centre, complete with all software and hardware needed to access the New York City’s GIS data, within 72 hours of the attack. Real Application Clusters (RAC) and mirroring are two widely-used technologies for providing support to BCP. RAC helps in scaling out the database structure as use and demand grows without any application modifications. Mirroring of servers, or the replication of critical data at some geographically dispersed, remote sites or servers can assist in handling all causes of data loss including human error, corruption and natural disasters or in the unlikely event of system destruction, as mentioned earlier.

21.5 21.5.1

DISASTER MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM Overview of the Task of a Disaster Manager

Disaster management can be defined as the effective organisation, direction, and utilisation of available counter-disaster resources. The role of an emergency manager can be divided into the following three parts:

450 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Managing Operations: This involves decision-making, information management, problem-solving, project and program planning, resource management, and monitoring. Managing People: This includes leadership, organisation, and personnel management and evaluation. Managing Organisations: This refers to planning, control and direction, organisational development, quality/performance control, physical control, resource management, communication, and evaluation.

21.5.2

Disaster Management System

As an organisation increases in size and complexity, its management adapts by becoming more specialised. In a relief agency, we may find top management (located at a central headquarters), middle management (represented by regional coordinators), field management (represented by field directors or managers at the local level), and various specialised managers handling management of personnel, operations, logistics, and finance. In the one manager—many subordinates type of organisation, the manager coordinates the work of subordinates. When the roles or activities of the organisation expand, the manager is confronted with assigning certain activities such as distribution of relief supplies or the task of supervising subordinates to another person while continuing to be concerned with organisational tasks. Whatever the decision, the managerial process is now shared, specialised, and more complex. Vertical Specialisation Vertical specialisation is the creation of a chain of command and accountability. The chain of command is termed hierarchy, because it results in a structured system of authority, with managers located at each point in a vertical chain. In such a hierarchy, it is possible to distinguish between field, middle, and top management. Field-level Managers Field-level managers coordinate the work activity of their subordinates who may be field workers, volunteers, disaster victims working for the agency, clerks, or consultants depending upon the particular tasks that the sub-unit must perform. Field-level managers coordinate the basic work of the organisation according to established plans and procedures. They are in daily or near-daily contact with their subordinates. They are ordinarily assigned the task of fieldlevel manager because of their ability to work with people-not only with their own subordinates, but also with other field managers. The effectiveness of their efforts will depend as much, if not more, on their human relations abilities as on their technical skills.

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Middle Managers Middle managers coordinate the activity of other managers. Yet like fieldlevel managers they are subject to coordination efforts of a superior. Middle managers coordinate the activity of a sub-unit of the organisation. Top Management Top management coordinates the activity of the entire organisation. They work through middle managers. Unlike other managers, the top manager is not accountable to another manager, but instead is accountable to the suppliers of resources utilised by the organisation, that is the donors. In non-governmental agencies, top management reports to a board of directors that generally represents its major donors. In governmental agencies, top management must answer to the chief executive or to an oversight committee of the parliamentary body of government. Table 21.1 shows the vertical specialisation in three types of agencies. In a non-pyramidal organisation the middle-level manager ’s title normally indicates a “supportive” rather than “directive” role, for example Regional Coordinator vs Regional Director). Table 21.1

Vertical Specialisation in Three Types of Agencies

Level

Voluntary Agencies

Intergovernmental Agencies

Government Agencies

Top

Executive Director

Director

Secretary or Commissioner

Middle

Regional Director

Unit Director

Division Director

Field

Field Director

Representative

Program Manager

Virtually every major relief organisation uses a variation of this hierarchy. What differentiates the organisations is the amount of decision-making authority granted at each level. In some organisations, all major decisions are made at the top level. Senior staff normally is found only at the headquarters, while junior staff serve as field-level managers. This model usually is referred to as a “pyramidal” hierarchy. In other organisations, the field-level managers are senior staff and all program decisions are left to the field while financial and other organisational decisions are shared with top management. Middlelevel managers serve as resource coordinators and facilitators. As a general rule, the latter type of organisations usually are more effective in an emergency. The terms used to identify managers at the various hierarchical levels differ from organisation to organisation. Table 21.1 provides a comparison of the terms typically used in a private relief agency, an inter-governmental organisation, and a governmental agency.

452 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies In short, the vertical aspect of management can be defined as the process by which the right to act and to use resources is delegated to subordinates. In other words, managers can be described in terms of the extent and limits of their responsibilities and authority. The delegation of authority also determines differences in the relationships among managers at the same level, that is, horizontal specialisation. Horizontal Specialisation Completion of a task requires completion of a sequence of inter-related activities. Middle managers usually are responsible for the completion of major sub-tasks. As the sequence of activities is identified and responsibility for completing each assigned, the managerial process becomes horizontally specialised. Each manager is at the same level in the hierarchy, but each is responsible for completing a different part of the total task. Middle managers must integrate their own tasks and objectives with other middle managers. Similarly, field-level management usually is responsible for managing sub-groups that are specialised horizontally. For example, a field director responsible for a reconstruction project, in turn, may have to rely on certain specialists on his/her staff to obtain the necessary resources and provide them for the project. Each of these staff members may manage parts of the project (for example logistics), yet within the organisation they would be of equal “rank”. Successful completion of the tasks assigned to subordinates results in successful completion of the project.

21.5.3

Managerial and Organisational Constraints

All managers operate under a series of constraints imposed by the organisation or agency and by the management environment. Managers, as individuals, must respond to organisational objectives in carrying out their duties. Managers not only are responsible for implementing projects swiftly and competently, but must also do so within the context of the organisation’s long-range goals and objectives. The organisation itself operates within a complex legal, social, economic, and political environment, and disaster managers find themselves accountable to donors, government administrators, disaster victims, general public and others, as well as to their own organisation. Organisations exist in a society that not only has expectations of them, but also places constraints on what objectives they can seek. Thus, while organisational objectives influence the manager, the larger environment may dictate these objectives. Managers have personal characteristics that help determine the way they perform. They have abilities, skills, traits, interests, needs, and aspirations that have been shaped and formed by their experiences. These characteristics

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influence the manner in which managers interpret and act on demands dictated by the objectives of the organisation. The uniqueness of each managerial personality accounts for much of the variation in the way managerial activities are carried out. At the same time the more general nature of organisational objectives accounts for the continuity and similarity in managerial activity within each institution or agency. Managerial activities also are affected by certain characteristics of the immediate work environment such as the nature of subordinates’ tasks and the technology available to accomplish those tasks. For example, the managerial activities required to plan, organise and control routine tasks with simple technology may be different from those required for a non-routine task using complex technology. Other work-related factors include the amount of authority delegated to managers and the qualities of the interpersonal relationships between the managers and their subordinates. In addition to work-related influences, non-work-related factors affect managerial activities. Managers belong to various friendship and interest groups whose influence may be reflected in a manager’s work. For example, group pressure can cause managers to emphasise technical activities at the expense of human relations activities, or vice versa. The performance of managers influences the work of their subordinates. The objectives are to stimulate coordinated effort and achieve high performance. Yet, the manager is only one influencing factor. Subordinates bring to the job their own unique sets of personal characteristics including abilities, interests, and traits, and they also belong to groups that exert non-work-related influence. The outcome of these multiple and often conflicting factors, is performance which itself becomes an influence on organisational goals and on managers as individuals. Managerial Environments The environment for disaster managers is filled with uncertainties. There are four types of managerial environments. Turbulent environment: A turbulent environment changes frequently. After a disaster changes may occur in political, legal, and economic sectors that create confusion. This confusion often results in less-than-reliable information reaching decision-makers. It is difficult for managers to assess where relief supplies are needed and what the priorities are as the situation changes. Hostile Environment: A hostile environment is one that contains risk. Relief agencies often operate in areas where there is political instability or restraint. A hostile environment exists if relief is restricted for political reasons. Diverse Environment: A diverse environment exists if the organisation’s various service areas have differing needs. For example, an agency operating in both urban and rural areas probably will need to cope with different needs and

454 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies preferences of victims. These may require different delivery models and types of assistance. A diverse environment also exists when an agency offers services in several different sectors such as housing, health, etc. Large private relief agencies (such as CARE and most governmental agencies) provide food, shelter, medical services, and social services. Each of these requires different technology, materials, and information. The legal and political constraints on each of the services also are different. Technically Complex Environment: A technically complex environment exists if sophisticated information is needed to make important decisions. As a general rule, housing, agriculture, and public health sectors operate in technically complex environments. Long-range planning, systematic information systems, and technical personnel are required to operate in these sectors.

Emergency Response Each disaster has unique circumstances and the response needs to be tailored to meet the specifications of the situation. But the general areas requiring response include: · Search and rescue : finding those who may be trapped by building collapse · Assessment of needs : working out what is required, in what quantities, and for whom · Health : provision of medical care and preventing the spread of disease through immunisation, provision of safe water and food, waste disposal and burial of the dead · Basic needs : procuring and distributing food, shelter and clothing · Gender : understanding the roles of men and women in families and communities to identify needs and ensure fair distribution of resources · Livelihood and economy : assisting people to earn a living to help them recover · Emotional support : counseling and reuniting separated families · Logistics : transportation of people and equipment · Finance : obtaining, allocating and accounting for money · Communication : media coverage, information for families, fund-raising · Infrastructure : rebuilding roads, and electricity, telephones, water, and waste disposal systems

21.5.4

Changing Values

It is common today to hear relief experts calling for more ‘accountability’ or ‘social responsibility’ on the part of every type of relief or development organisation. These are an attempt to make the institutions more responsive to human needs. Disaster managers increasingly will be called upon to react

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to these demands. Some expected changes in the values of relief organisations in the foreseeable future are depicted in Table 21.2, which reflects evolving “people-oriented” values. Table 21.2 Changing Values in Relief Agencies

Less Desirable

More Desirable

Performance measured only by economic standards

Application of both economic and social measure of performance

Emphasis on quantity of relief

Emphasis on quantity and quality of relief

Pyramidal management

Participatory management

Short-term relief programs

Long-range comprehensive pre- and post-event programs linked to development goals

Centralized decision-making

Decentralized and small-group decision-making

Agency viewed as a single relief system

Agency viewed as a system within a larger “development” system

Agency focus on short-term impact of relief

Increasing awareness of long-term impact of relief program on development potential

Increasing demands on relief organisations for improved performance and greater social responsibility to disaster victims result in serious rethinking of the fundamental values and approaches of these organisations. Some executives have responded, “How can society question us? We are operating for humanitarian reasons under difficult circumstances.” The root of the conflict lies in two differing approaches to relief: (i) the traditional or “logistics” approach and (ii) the “development” approach. These approaches are being addressed by the development of the Disaster Response Research Evaluation Template. Traditional approach: The traditional approach has one clear-cut purpose to provide immediate humanitarian aid, usually materials and medical services, as quickly as possible after the onset of the disaster. As noted previously, this approach has been attacked as being shortsighted and often counter-productive. Development approach: The competing view is that the development approach assumes limitless social responsibility. In this approach, managers accept accountability to many different segments of society, and disaster programs have comprehensive aims far removed from the strict, limited objectives of relief programs. The above descriptions obviously represent two extremes. The disaster manager must find a way to meet immediate needs and at the same time lay the groundwork for development-oriented activities. A major task of disaster managers and the agencies they lead is to find a position that will take into account victims’ needs and expectations and, at the same time, meet the organisation’s responsibilities to the donors.

456 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 21.6

INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS OF MANAGEMENT

Effective planning requires information. The quality of a decision depends greatly on accurate understanding of the circumstances surrounding an issue and on knowledge of the available alternatives. The better the information, the better the resulting decision. The development of an information system helps to manage both existing and incoming information. Information management can be likened to the four-stroke cycle of a conventional internal combustion engine: · Information in (Acquisition) (In-take) · Assessment or evaluation (Compression) · Decision-making (Ignition) · Information out (Decision implementation) (Exhaust). The task of generating data for managerial decision-making should be viewed as the function of an Information Management System (IMS). This is a scheme, according to which information is provided, in the right amount, to the right persons, at the right time. Determining what information to include and how to package it depends on the recipient and the reason for which it is given. Thus, an information system carefully distinguishes, for example, between reports from the project manager to top management, and daily progress reports the manager receives from the project staff. It supports the planning, control, and operations functions of an organisation by providing information for use in decision-making. Information requirements vary depending upon the level in the organisation and the type of decision being made. In every case, it is vital that appropriate information be directed to the proper decision-maker. In this context, every organisation can be viewed as an information/decision system.

21.6.1

Classes of Information

The types as well as sources of information will vary, but generally there are three classes of information: (i) planning (ii) control and (iii) operation. Planning Information Information required at the planning stage relates to formulating objectives, determining the amounts and kind of resources necessary to attain the objectives, and the policies that govern their use. Much of this information will come from external sources, and will relate to such factors as the present and predicted situation in the operational area, availability of resources (material, financial, and human), and the political environment. This information forms the input to the non-programmed types of decisions made at each level in the organisation.

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Control Information This information is used by managers in making decisions consistent with achievement of organisational objectives and to assess how efficiently resources are being used. It enables managers to determine if “actual results” are meeting “planned-for results” (objectives). It relies heavily on internal sources of information and involves such problems as developing budgets and measuring the performance of personnel. The nature of problems faced at this level may result in programmed or non-programmed decisions. Operational Information This information relates to the day-to-day activities of the organisation. Operational data usually are required on three broad categories, (i) people (ii) property and (iii) operation (or status) of emergency services. It includes routine and necessary information such as financial accounting, inventory control, and scheduling. Most of the information is generated internally, and since it usually relates to specific tasks, it often comes from designated subordinates. Field-level managers are the primary users of this information.

21.6.2

Information Flow

There are two types of information flow in a management information system, external and intra-organisational. External information flow is either received by or sent from the organisation. An intra-organisational information flow happens within the organisation. External information includes the inward flow of information, called intelligence, and the outward flow, called organisational communications. Intelligence information includes data on various elements of the organisation’s operating environment such as victims, other agencies, relief suppliers, and the local government. It also includes information on trends and patterns, as well as developments in the social and cultural environment in which the organisation operates. This type of information has long-term significance to the organisation and aids in long-range, strategic planning. The disaster manager receives four distinct types of disaster intelligence: (i) early-warning reports, (ii) situation reports, (iii) disaster assessment reports, and (iv) epidemiologic surveillance. Early-warning reports provide data about pending events. Most early-warning reports are issued prior to cyclones, floods, and droughts, and are used to provide preparedness information and to issue alerts and evacuation information. Early-warning reports also provide agencies with information concerning expected arrivals of refugees from a war zone, and provide data about the number of refugees and their condition. Situation reports are periodic reports prepared by major relief operations. They describe the impact of the emergency as it occurs, and provide a rough

458 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies summary of events. After the initiating event, they detail the responses by different relief agencies. Disaster assessment reports are assessments of a post-events disaster situation. They provide a rough quantification of needs and damages as well as a picture of the magnitude of the overall situation. The assessment also should identify the geographic locations that should receive priority. Epidemiologic surveillance reports provides the health and nutritional status of disaster victims or refugees. By monitoring data and trends, the manager can determine current and forecast future needs. Organisational communications flow outward from the organisation to external operating environment. In the case of a relief agency, any public awareness or other promotional efforts are considered organisational communications, and are controlled by the organisation. Although outward information is important, it will not be covered in this course. Information must flow through as well as to and from the organisation. Within every organisation, there are vertical (upward and downward) and horizontal information flows. The rationale of an information management system is that all information should move according to a formal scheme and direction. In order to accomplish this, there are three major requirements: (i) determining information needs, (ii) information gathering and processing, and (iii) information use. Determining information needs: Information needs are identified by (a) determining how much information is needed, (b) how, when, and by whom will it be used, and (c) in what form is it needed. The process begins with an examination of the output requirements. One way is to classify information based on the level in the organisation at which it will be used. Thus, output requirements would be based on: (a) Information necessary for planning and controlling operations at different organisational levels, (b) Information needed for allocation of resources(c) Information needed to evaluate performance. Such requirements recognise the fact that different kinds of information are needed for formulating organisational objectives needed for scheduling operations. Information-gathering and processing: The purpose of this step is to improve the overall quality of information. It includes the following six component services. Collection: Collection involves gathering and recording information. Evaluation: Evaluation involves determining how much confidence can be placed on a particular piece of information. Such factors as the credibility of the source and the relevance, reliability, and validity of the incoming data must be determined. Abstracting: Abstracting involves editing, reducing incoming information and data in order to provide the managers only with information that is relevant to their particular task.

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Indexing: Indexing provides classification for storage and retrieval purposes. Storage: Storage consists of filing information so that it can be referred to as needed. It may be needed to defend a decision. Information that is not “captured” is lost forever. Dissemination: Dissemination entails getting the right information to the right manager at the right time. This is the overriding purpose of an information management system. Information use: How information is used depends greatly on its quality (accuracy), how it is presented (form), and its timeliness. These relate to the basic needs determined in the beginning. If the right questions are asked and the system is planned carefully, the user will be provided with relevant information. The goal is to provide the right information to the right decision-maker at the right time. In some cases, timeliness may take precedence over accuracy. If information is not available when it is needed, then its accuracy loses importance. In most cases, however, both are critical, and timeliness is determined by the nature of the decisions that must be made. For example, a manager in an earthquake relief operation may find accurate reports of the total number of victims to be only moderately useful, while an official working with civil war refugees needs accurate census information every day.

21.6.3

Establishing a Focal Point

It is important that a central focal point be established for the management of information in order to facilitate the flow of information both to and within the organisation. In a large organisation, the focal point may be an office; in a field operation, it usually is an information officer or a person who is assigned information management responsibilities. Information management in field operations can be improved significantly if facts and information are displayed visually. Displays can be made of tasks, resources available and committed, personnel status and location, and other routine information needed continually. The development of displays of such construction should be done as a team-building exercise. This will increase the commitment of all parties concerned to goals, and to making the “plan” work; it also increases the practicality of any plan of action by allowing input from the field staff. Displays can be made on chalk boards, graphs, plasticcovered wall boards, or other simple devices. Indeed, simplicity is desirable so that people will be encouraged to keep the information updated. Informationat-a-glance is one of the greatest assets for a disaster manager and for his/her team. Although each of these tasks seems ideal for computerisation, undue dependence on computers may be dangerous, as adequate supplies of power may not be available. Alternate plans always should be made to prevent over dependence on computer systems.

460 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 21.7 REQUIREMENTS FOR EMERGENCY INFORMATION 21.7 MANAGEMENT Effective information management in emergencies requires: · The capability of carrying out damage surveys needs assessments and reporting (or a reliable source). · Facilities to receive, display, collate, and assess information. · A systematic decision-making process into which the information is fed. (Major decisions seldom are made by the disaster manager alone; more often they are made by a small group or committee in consultation with appropriate specialists. Thus, some system of routing information and assigning it appropriate priority must be established.) · Feedback on the reliability/quality/usefulness of the information.

21.8

DECISIONS IN THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

All disaster managers have to take key decisions as the crisis unfolds or while performing preventive planning activities. Their decision involves a comparison between several alternatives and an evaluation of the outcome. The quality of decisions that managers make is a true measure of their performance. Each operational decision influences future actions which in turn require further decisions. Errors in decision-making, therefore, tend to be cumulative. Decisionmaking is one of the major responsibilities of a disaster manager, regardless of his or her functional area or level in the organisation. Some of these decisions may have a strong impact on the organisation, while others will be important, but less crucial. The important point, however, is that all decisions will have some sort of effect.

21.8.1

Types of Decisions

There are three types of decisions in disaster management: (i) routine, (ii) nonroutine and (iii) technically guided. Routine (programmed) If a problem or situation occurs often, a routine procedure usually is developed for solving it. Thus, decisions are routine if they are repetitive and a specific procedure has been developed for handling them. Examples would be purchasing relief supplies, handling personnel matters, and dealing with problems that were anticipated. Routine decisions normally are guided by policies, guidelines, or procedures. Non-Routine (non-programmed) When problems are broad, novel, and unanticipated, they require decisions that have not been covered in the planning by the organisation. That is, they

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have not been routine. Consequently, there is no established procedure for handling the problem. Technically Guided In many cases, determination of which course of action to choose is guided by technical factors beyond the control of the manager. For example, flood victims often demand that relief agencies provide “flood-proof” houses. Unfortunately, flooding is a site problem, not a structural one. Therefore, a decision not to provide housing assistance on the same site would be guided by technical, not humanitarian considerations.

21.8.2

Process of Decision-making

The starting point in any analysis of decision-making involves a confirmation of whether a decision needs to be made. The first step is to identify the problem and the kinds of decisions required to solve that problem. However, before making a decision, the manager develops a number of possible alternatives, or potential solutions to the problem, and considers the possible consequences of each. Up to this point, the process is relatively simple. However, choosing the best alternative is complicated. In business, there are various models for decisionmaking that help managers select the best course of action with the least risk. However, for the disaster manager, the tools are limited. The setting of policies, goals, and objectives can help narrow the choices and provide a framework for decision-making. When a decision needs to be made, the manager reviews each alternative that he/she has selected to determine if it is consistent with the organisational objectives and the overall policy, and if it will further the operational goals and objectives of the program and/or organisation. If a policy is established or a specific rule or procedure is developed to guide decisions, it will not be necessary to develop and evaluate alternatives each time a problem arises. However, over time, the policies must be reviewed and updated. Most decisions that managers must make can be structured, and repetitive problems in their daily operations can be handled with policies and procedures or according to technical feasibility. These decisions should be treated as routine without expending unnecessary resources or time on them. It is non-routine decisions that are of concern to the disaster manager, since these type of decisions most likely will be encountered in an emergency. These decisions deal with the unknowns and, therefore, can have a potentially greater negative impact if not handled properly. Non-routine decisions traditionally have been handled by general problemsolving processes, judgment, intuition, and creativity. In pyramidal organisations, during non-crisis situations, non-routine decisions usually are the concern

462 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies of top level management, while, in general, middle-level and field-level managers make routine decisions. The result is that decision-making is cumbersome, time consuming, and not as effective or timely as those in organisations where authority is shared at the field level. In these organisations, both routine and non-routine decisions are made at all levels. Disasters demand that non-routine decisions be made at all levels, especially at field-level management. Field-level managers most often deal with non-routine decisions in emergencies. Thus, to improve the performance of relief operations, it is necessary to improve the non-routine decision-making capabilities of field-level managers. Two ways to improve decision-making under these circumstances are: (i) structure the decision-making process and (ii) provide a policy framework against which to measure choices.

21.8.3

Steps in Decision-making

All decisions require deliberate analysis. In order to make decisions under non-routine, emergency circumstances, the following steps should be taken: 1. Define the problem and decision to be made. Clarify the problem and try to eliminate irrelevant or unnecessary issues. 2. Gather and organise all information on the problem. Put all information in a logical form and sequence. 3. Extract relevant information. 4. Evaluate the information. Assess the quality and accuracy of the information and estimate the unknowns and variables that may influence the outcome of the decision. 5. Identify alternatives. Determine the alternatives and identify as many of the pros and cons and the possible outcomes of each. 6. Make the decision. Pick the best (most positive) alternative. After a project has begun to function in its assigned areas, regulatory and supervisory measures assume prominence in the project cycle. The term “control” refers to those steps that are taken to ensure that plans are executed properly. Thus, an important role for a disaster manager is project monitoring and control. This role includes all activities undertaken to ensure that actual operations conform to plans made. Control has been classically defined as verifying whether everything occurs in conformity with the plans adopted, instructions issued, and principles established. Therefore, it follows that first of all the plans, instructions, and principles must be defined clearly and understood by everyone involved. Thus, they form the standards or criteria by which performance can be measured. Lack of identification of initial benchmarks makes control virtually impossible. The purpose of control, then, is to find deviations, correct them as early as is possible, and to prevent them from reoccurrence. Thus, the nature of project

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supervision and control requires a constant flow of information so that deviations from plans may be spotted and decisions and corrective actions may be taken in time. It is important to remember, however, that a deviation between performance and plans is not always because of a fault in the project. A lack of conformity to plans can result from inappropriately conceptualised plans rather than inadequate performance. Sometimes it is difficult to determine whether the problem is with the plan or the non-conforming subordinate. Planning decisions frequently have to be revised due to errors in judgment and forecasts. Subordinates sometimes are penalised for superiors’ planning failures rather than their own performance failures. Managers should also recognise that a comparison of plans with performance information may not adequately measure efficiency. The words or data used in the comparison between plans and actual performance must be capable of exact comparison. However, a great deal of knowledge about environmental, technological, and socio-psychological factors cannot be defined or measured in precise terms.

21.9

ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORK OF DMIS

The need for restructuring and streamlining the present disaster management and recovery processes necessitates the development of a more robust and efficient disaster management system based on the information technology backbone. The development of DMIS architecture should take into account the technological, sociological and geopolitical contingencies that can emerge in future as the nature of disasters keep evolving into a new myriad of categories. The architecture of DMIS should be based on the localised needs and customised specifications for obtaining the maximum benefit out of it and at the same time, for providing enhanced services to citizens at the outset of any disaster. Based on the requirements enumerated above, the key components of DMIS should include: Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) It is the nodal point of all disaster management activities. The EOC will be responsible for infrastructure deployment and integration and will provide multiple interaction channels. Thus the EOC satisfies the requirements of accurate and fast response. Geographic Information Systems (GISs) These systems form the front-ends for the databases and will be the main tool for location-based services. GIS succeeds in capturing the technology requirement of hazard assessment and mapping.

464 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Disaster Forecasting and Early-warning Systems They assist in preparing the community for handling disasters by disseminating forecasted information about weather and meteorological changes. They satisfy the requirements of community involvement and efficient response. Logistics and Transportation Systems The logistics module handles the resource requirements by ensuring fast and efficient procurement and delivery. It provides a framework for humanitarian agencies to start their work promptly and helps in streamlined material movement and tracking of relief items and human resources like doctors. Thus it fulfills the need of flexible and efficient procurement system. Communication and Collaboration Support Systems These systems can be defined as the lifelines of EOC, which provide communication support via multiple accesses. They facilitate fast and efficient response possible thus taking care of communication and coordination requirements. Disaster forecasting and early-warning systems 1

GB based system for hazard assessment 1 and mapping

Databases of demographic distribution and 1 infrastructure

Search, rescue & recovery teams Logistics system

Affected population

Procurement system

Emergency Operation Centre (EOC)

1 Inventory and distribution system

Relatives of affected people and other stakeholders

Media 1 Donors, supplier of relief material

1

1

Interagency collaboration and communication channels

FIGURE 21.3

1 Financial tracking systems

Databases or medical and relief facilities available

Architecture Framework for DMIS with EOC Acting as the Hub of all Response/Recovery Activities

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Databases Databases serve as repositories for spatial and non-spatial data and also as backend for GIS applications. They can help in disseminating instant information about resources, skills and services required for relief. In addition, they can provide backup for recovery against data loss. Thus databases achieve the purpose of satisfying business continuity requirements. Financial Tracking Systems (FTS) These systems suffice the requirement of financial auditing. They incorporate online budgeting and multi-currency accounting, thereby promoting transparency and accountability. The blowup of the DMIS architecture with proposed subsystems can be envisaged as shown in Figure 21.3.

21.9.1

Details of Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)

The EOC handles the administration and supervision of all response activities in the event of a disaster. The centre can act as the hub or central point where the local/state governments and their related agencies can coordinate with private sector and non-governmental organisations and contribute to the post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation process following a disaster. The EOC with its assortment of databases can double up as a repository and conduit for information concerning disasters and their management. The infrastructure components of EOC contain: (a) Servers with fault tolerance configurations (b) Availability of multiple interaction channels like telephone (manually operated/IVRS), Internet, chat, VOIP or mobile handheld devices for communication (c) Knowledge bases as repositories of relevant information (d) Service request management including call routing facilities to concerned departments for prompt response (e) Scripting: Scripting can be defined as the process of creating, modifying and deploying scripts which can be readily used by call agents for citizen interactions. This helps in reducing the response time and training of DMIS agents (f) Real-time integration with other key components of DMIS.

21.9.2

Geographic Information Systems (GISs)

Disasters and their extent can be managed well through spatial planning and GIS offers such a specialised management. Since the data essential for disaster management is coming from different scientific disciplines, a GIS is often required to integrate all the data to achieve the desired results. In general, the types of data required for a GIS are:

466 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies (a) Data on natural disasters such as landslides, cyclones, floods, and earthquakes, their location, magnitude and frequency (b) Data on environment in which the disaster might take place: topography, geology, geomorphology, soils, hydrology, land use and vegetation (c) Data on elements that might be destroyed if the disaster takes place such as infrastructure, settlements, population, socio-economic data, and so on. The use of geoinformatics along with space technology can be shaped up into a strong tool for storing spatial and non-spatial data in digital format, which is crucial in the first moments of the rescue operations following any disaster. Thus in the proposed DMIS, GIS component can be effectively utilised for providing spatial information about the affected area to the emergency teams for rapid deployment of services and facilities to initiate the recovery process. This can be achieved by integrating the databases with a public domain GIS front end with regional language interfaces, which can be used by the local rescue teams and NGOs for disaster mitigation. System Requirements for GIS GIS should have access to fast, accessible and huge spatial databases, which can serve as the backend for voluminous spatial data. High-resolution printers are needed for printing maps for remote use. The system should incorporate remote sensors and surveillance systems for tracking changes in weather. It should ideally include the regional language interfaces for local use. The system must be compatible with portable / handheld solutions like PDAs that can be used at disaster sites for remote assistance.

21.9.3

Disaster Forecasting and Early-Warning Systems

With advance in remote sensing technology, the level of accuracy in weather forecasting has improved over the years and the lead-time to forecast has gone down appreciably. However, the lead-time given is often not sufficient and thus originates the need to have an efficient system to disseminate forecasted information to affected people. For example, the forecasted information about cyclones can be very valuable to the fishermen venturing in turbulent oceans. For example, US government’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has successfully installed NOAA Weather Radio Transmitters and Advanced Earthquake Notification Systems for warning the inhabitant communities before floods or earthquakes occur and thus mitigating the risks. But when it comes to developing countries, the success has been mixed with technical bottlenecks like lack of proper infrastructure and under-trained rescue personnel. The inadequacy of communication networks at local offices makes dissemination of warnings to the block levels rather difficult. Even if

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communication reaches block offices in time, absence of vehicles makes it difficult for officials to disseminate information and organise evacuation in an emergency. This is particularly so in the case of far-flung, inaccessible villages, islets or deltas. It can be believed that this situation will improve with right thrust on infrastructure development along with training and awareness about the use and usability of warning systems. System Requirements for Early Warning Systems The disaster warning systems should have 24 ´ 7 ´ 365 connectivity with weather surveillance satellites to track even small weather changes. The systems must provide remote accessibility for monitoring and control purposes, thus reducing the need for manual supervision. In addition, integration with community information systems can ensure instant access to the affected community within minutes of detection of meteorological changes.

21.9.4

Logistics and Distribution Systems

Logistics forms one of the crucial components of the disaster recovery and relief services. This involves the storage and handling of relief supplies to the affected community/areas in shortest possible time through in-country transportation. The recent network-based resource brokerage model adapted for disaster response and recovery supplements the traditional central clearinghouse approach by providing an automated online brokerage where resource providers can coordinate with those in need. For instance, one network brokerage model in USA named “Emergency Asset Management System” manages the overwhelming flow of donations to emergency relief. The providers can advertise their donations on an online database. If the donation is required at some other place, delivery arrangements are made directly and the database records the details for future reference. With many modern technologies like instant messaging, SMS and portable computing in pipeline, the emergence of other novel network-centreed approaches can be anticipated for disaster management and relief coordination. System Requirements for Logistics Systems The emergency relief logistics should involve online procurement solutions to reduce the response time and procurement hassles. They should incorporate real-time negotiation and pricing tools for ease of ordering and purchasing and should be interoperable, in other words, adaptive to the different versions of commodity tracking systems already in use.

21.9.5

Communication and Collaboration Support Systems

The real-time, interactive communication systems utilising both Internet and secure intranet networks, incorporated in EOC can be defined as its lifelines.

468 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies With state-of-art technologies and off-the-shelf commercial products available, it is now possible to collect information about a local/regional disaster instantly and update the relevant authorities and agencies within a few minutes for rapid crisis management. A recently designed communication model, a low-cost information infrastructure for rural areas (LIIRA) for connecting the remote communities to the information superhighway, can be adapted suitably for disseminating temporally critical information about localised disasters. Local governments and NGOs can use this solution, which employs the existing open source technologies in the public domain, to fulfill the objective of reaching them and providing disaster relief information. The model recommends the regular x86 processor based hardware platform and LINUX as the operating system (OS) due to its open source and stable features. And LINUX can, undoubtedly, form the ideal environment suited for large-scale low cost public domain dissemination. The software can include basic messaging tools like e-mail, chat, and instant messaging and so on from free software domain. LIIRA also suggests a complete vernacular language based approach to user interface design and implementation. This customised approach can assist the local rescue teams/relief volunteers in analysing the information and applying them in local situations. The increasing role of wireless as a reliable communication solution for emergency situations was first illustrated in the terrorist attack of 9/11, 2001. People in affected areas were able to maintain contact through wireless devices when most of the telephone networks went blank. Given the current level of mobile phone penetration, the use of mobile devices seems to be an efficient, low-cost and fast-reaching medium for communication and collaboration for the purpose of disaster recovery. Application of innovative service channels like telemedicine virtual operations and remote medical monitoring with improved ground-based and wireless broadband technologies can also contribute to the communications infrastructure, well suited to addressing ongoing disaster management needs.

21.9.6

Databases

The prime ingredients of DMIS would be a host of electronic databases, possessing critical information about the resources, skills and services required for relief at short notice. This huge repository of data can function as the heart of all hazard preparedness and mitigation programmes offering specific guidelines and instructions for appropriate response. The variety of databases can include information about infrastructure, lifelines and critical facilities, communication and co-ordination facilities, taxonomy of disasters, demographic distribution, hazard assessment mapping, logistics, transportation and evacuation routes.

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The development of these databases in any region or country has to start from the grassroots level of administration. For example, in India the collection of data has to begin from the smallest administrative unit in country, that is the panchayat followed by tehsil / taluk and then district according to the level of the disaster preparedness plan. The district databases would feed into the state / provincial database and then into the national database. This sort of arrangement would help in removing duplication and redundancy of data and hence investigating the existing databases and integrating with them can exhibit the best feasible form of capacity building. The database structure can be a flexible one with Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) back-ends that are capable of importing data from a variety of databases and integrating them. The integration of this network with other Disaster Information Networks (DINs) all over the world can build extensive capacity in the field of disaster preparedness and mitigation. In addition, the warning and forecasting systems could also be connected to this global informative base for superior performance and predictive capabilities.

21.10 21.10.1

PERFORMANCE MEASURE FOR DMIS Interventions

Interventions include all actions designed to improve the status of a society at risk or the status of one that has sustained damage from an event or events. The status of the society at risk may be enhanced by elimination of a hazard or by modifying the risk that a hazard may become an event or by enhancing the resilience of the society at risk. Interventions are designed to create change. Interventions are a transformation process. They are designed to change the status of something into a product called the output. Resources (human and /or material) are required to create the change(s). Thus, all interventions have costs associated with their planning and implementation. All interventions must have predetermined goals and objectives coordinated with the overall planning in the society. The coordination should be provided by government agencies for the locality, region, or country for which they are proposed. Evaluations seek to establish the value of the interventions after their implementation. Interventions may be classified as to whether they are designed to: (i) affect the probability of damage occurring from an event and (ii) effect recovery. All the interventions directed at changing the probability that damage will occur from an event, must have the goal of producing a positive benefit to the society by decreasing the amount and types of damage that will result from the occurrence of the event for which they are proposed. Those that are designed to contribute to the relief or recovery processes for the stricken society must have goals that will aid in relieving pain and suffering

470 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies of the affected community and/or enhancing the recovery process. They are more easily evaluated/measured than interventions whose success is measured by the absence of damage (for example, absence of war related to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)). Such evaluations often are difficult, as their success is assessed by the fact that nothing happened that could have happened. They could be assessed by the extent to which they produce intangible values (for example, basic trust, security, and so on). Often, interventions are grouped together as projects. Projects may consist of one or more interventions, each with an explicitly specified goal or set of goals. Projects also may have over-riding goal(s) with each of the interventions comprising the project contributing to attaining the overall goal(s). In some instances, a project may have an overall positive impact, even though some of its component interventions may have been ineffective or even negative. Changes that result from the implementation of an intervention only can be judged relative to a baseline established either prior to the implementation or during the prevention stage. The changes resulting from application of an intervention are called effects, and if they relate to the goals and objectives for which the intervention was designed, these results are called outcomes. Effects and outcomes are not necessarily the same. All the outcomes from an intervention are its effects, but not all effects constitute outcomes. Interventions may produce outcomes consistent with the goals of the intervention and / or they can result in effects that were not expected in the design of the intervention or project. In either case, the effect (output) of the intervention may have been expected, but the effects achieved proved to have little relationship to the goals for which the interventions were designed. Effects may have positive or negative outcomes or a combination of both depending upon the society for which they were implemented. The effects not only should be evaluated in terms of the outcomes (goals) for which they were designed, but also for the impact they have created on the entire society and on the composite efforts for relief and recovery. It is possible that the goals for which the intervention (project) was designed were achieved in whole or in part, but the overall effects on the society may have been negative. For example, the achievement of elimination of a hazard could produce additional hazards or increase the risk of another hazard being released. The goals may have been short-sighted and the vision too narrow. The intervention potentially could impact in a positive or negative way upon other basic societal functions (BSFs) that did not relate directly to the goals of the intervention in one of the BSFs. Results must be judged not only in the context for which they were designed, but on their effects on the overall status of the community. Identification of the effects from the implementation of an intervention, therefore, must be broader than just evaluating whether and to what degree the goals were or were not achieved. The overall impact on

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the society for which they were implemented must be considered. Very little (possibly nothing) happens in isolation. Effects An effect is the result or consequence of action. Effects are the results of interventions (outputs of the transformation process). The effects of the responses consist of the consequences of the responses/interventions. The effects may be single, but often are multiple and may involve multiple basic components. Effects related to the goals and objectives are called outcomes. Clearly, not all the effects of implementation of an intervention can be labeled outcomes. In these guidelines, effects are the results of an intervention. Outcomes Outcomes refer to the results of specific interventions or projects relative to their pre-established goals and objectives of the population. Outcomes are analogous in many ways to the primary and secondary endpoints defined in experimental research studies. Outcomes can be the result of interventions designed to eliminate hazards, decrease the risks, and/or enhance the absorbing capacity of the society at risk. Outcomes of any intervention may reflect either a positive or negative result for the society in any of the above aspects of disasters. Efficiency Efficiency relates to the relationship of output to resources consumed by specific interventions used in creating the change — the smaller the consumption of resources to achieve the desired change, the greater the efficiency of the process used to achieve the change. It is a reflection of how well an intervention is conducted in achieving the change. It is a process variable. Processes (interventions) should achieve their desired effects with the highest possible efficiency. Effectiveness Effectiveness is the ability of the intervention being evaluated in terms of the objectives and goals for which it was implemented. If an intervention was aimed at recovery of at least the critical threshold for one functional element of the affected society, then the effectiveness was whether the critical threshold was achieved for that element designated in the objective of the response. Put in another way, the effectiveness relates to how close the output (effects) matches the specified goal. Different interventions can be compared in their ability to achieve the same effect or output (cost-effectiveness). Benefits A benefit is a favourable factor or circumstance. It is the value attached to the outcome produced by the intervention. It is the gain (or loss) to the affected

472 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies society related to the intervention. Interventions may produce positive or negative outcomes. For simplification, the term cost-benefit will also be used when an intervention has a negative outcome as valued by the population it is meant to serve. Negative outcomes are detrimental to the affected society. Thus, negative outcomes decrease the perceived value of the intervention, even when the output may have been positive in terms of achieving the defined effect from an intervention. The provision of unmarked and outdated drugs not needed by an affected society may meet the goal of the donor to provide drugs, but not the need of the affected population. Such drugs also may cost the recipient community substantial resources in transporting, inventorying, and even disposing of the unneeded material. The net result of performance of evaluations is to assess the value of results of an intervention. Benefits may be difficult to measure as to do it both quantitative and qualitative descriptions may be required. The value of an intervention then is related to how well it is perceived to have helped meet the defined need for which it was designed. Costs Costs of an intervention are the resources consumed by the transformation process. Most often, the costs are given a monetary or economic value. The economic costs are a combination of the material costs and the quantity of time donated by individuals, the loss of income they incurred during the period of absence from their jobs, the costs of medical care resulting from their response, and so on. However, costs also can be assessed in terms of human, material, and intangible costs, and other resources consumed. Human costs include the loss of life and the morbidity (physical and psychological) that result directly from the event or from the circumstances associated with it, the stresses endured within their responses (including absence from family and potential loss of regular employment) and other opportunity costs (including use of time that otherwise would have been used in other endeavors) associated with their responses. Material costs include the direct economic costs of materials and the costs of acquiring, packaging, shipping, unpacking, inventorying, and distribution of equipment and materials. Also the opportunity costs associated with use of resources for disaster responses rather than for other indications or wishes must be included. Opportunity costs are other factors sacrificed by using a resource in a particular way. All actions have some opportunity costs. Often, the worth of an application of resources is evaluated on the basis of the use of resources in the manner in which they were applied compared to other potential uses. Thus, not all costs can be quantified in economic terms. The costs associated with responses that ultimately bring the status of the affected community back to its precent status tend to be used when describing the costs associated with a disaster. However, the costs associated with

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responses and recovery; lend themselves to further evaluation and analysis. The cost in these phases relate to the efficiency and effectiveness with which they are accomplished and to the benefits accrued from the responses. A method that can be used for classification of costs is also a method to measure the efficiency with which the response was carried out. It is useful for comparing the relative costs for activities within one system. Thus, it is an expression of the amount of resources consumed by the intervention. The resources may be expressed as a monetary price, person-hours of input, or as the opportunity costs. The cost-effectiveness is the cost in terms of the resources consumed for a given measure of the goals (effects) achieved. Cost-benefit is the relative value obtained for a given amount of resources consumed by the intervention process. The values of the costs are measured with the same indicators for efficiency, effectiveness, and benefit. With regard to outcome, however, benefit often may be assessed using different indicators than are used for assessments of efficiency and effectiveness. The value may be expressed in terms of monetary gain or loss or improvement or deterioration in one or more of the indicators, in the level of satisfaction of the recipients or workers, and so on. For example, the cost-benefit could be the number of person-hours/life saved, number of persons no longer feeling hungry or thirsty, and so on. In the worst case scenario, the benefit may be measured in variations of crude mortality rate. In consideration of the benefits, assessments of the outcomes must include the effects of the intervention in other areas or BSFs.

SUMMARY It may be observed that advancement in IT in the form of the Internet, GIS, remote sensing, satellite communication, and so on can help a great deal in planning and implementation of hazards reduction schemes. For maximum benefit, new technologies for public communication should be made use of and natural disaster mitigation messages should be conveyed through these. GIS can improve the quality and power of analysis of natural hazards assessments, guide development activities and assist planners in the selection of mitigation measures and in the implementation of emergency preparedness and response action. Remote sensing, on the other hand, as a tool can very effectively contribute towards identification of hazardous areas, monitor the specific locations for its changes on a real time basis and give early warning to many impending disasters. Communication satellites have become vital for providing emergency communication and timely relief measures. Integration of space technology inputs into natural disaster monitoring and mitigation mechanism is critical for hazard reduction.

474 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies It is absolutely necessary to create awareness amongst the public as well as decision-makers for allocating resources for appropriate investments in IT. Awareness and training in IT in a much greater measure is required to develop human resources, particularly in the developing countries, which are chronically suffering from natural disasters. Disasters usually occur in well-defined areas, even though the community does not know the coping mechanism for disaster. Disaster mitigation programs must be taken up extensively covering various aspects at national level to minimise the disaster damages. There should be a greater emphasis on development of new technologies in disaster mitigation. Disaster preparedness and awareness is the only effective way of mitigating the impact of future disasters.

KEY TERMS Strategic planning Preparing the organisation to respond to disaster threats in locations that are not specified and not immediately threatened. Contingency planning occur at any time.

Site-specific planning that recognises that a disaster could

Forward planning Planning done beforehand when a disaster is imminent and some details regarding the threat are known to the crisis manager. Disaster recovery livelihoods.

Assistance provided to the affected to rebuild their lives and

Disaster preparedness

Modifying or removing the causes of hazard.

Managing operations Decision-making, information management, problem-solving, project and program planning, resource management, and monitoring. Managing people Leadership, organisation, personnel management, and personnel evaluation. Managing organisations Planning, control and direction, organisational development, quality/performance control, physical control, resource management, communications, and evaluation. Vertical specialisation The creation of a chain of command and accountability. Horizontal specialisation Turbulent environment Hostile environment

Creating a communication channel across agencies.

An environment that changes frequently.

An environment that contains risk.

Diverse environment An environment that exists if the organisation’s various service areas have differing needs. Technically complex environment An environment that exists if sophisticated information is needed to make important decisions. Traditional approach An approach to provide immediate humanitarian aid. Development approach

The approach that assumes limitless social responsibility.

Disaster Management System 475 Planning information Information that relates to the tasks of formulating objectives, determining the amounts and kinds of resources necessary to attain them, and the policies that govern their use. Control information Information used by managers in making decisions consistent with the achievement of organisational objectives and to assess how efficiently resources are being used. Operational information organisation.

Information relating to the day-to-day activities of the

Early-warning reports Reports that provide data about pending events. Situation reports

Periodic reports prepared by major relief operations.

Disaster assessment reports

Assessments of a post-disaster situation.

Monitoring Examining actual ongoing operations to ensure that the defined objectives are being met. Audits Principal source of information from which managers can evaluate a program. Standard cost analysis A system that provides information that enables a manager to compare actual costs with pre-determined (standard) costs. Impact assessment Evaluation of a project. Graphic charts and diagrams Project activities displayed graphically with charts, graphs, and/or network diagrams. Optimising resources

Optimum use of resources within overall time constraints.

Interventions Actions designed to improve the status of a society at risk or the status of one that has sustained damage from an event or events. Effect

Result or consequences of action.

Outcome Results of specific interventions or projects relative to their preestablished goals and objectives on the population. Efficiency Production with minimum waste or effort. Effectiveness Ability of the intervention being evaluated to have achieved the objectives and goals for which it was implemented. Benefit

A favourable or helpful factor or circumstance.

Costs of an intervention

Resources consumed by transformation process.

Cost-effectiveness Cost in terms of resources consumed for a given measure of goals achieved (effects).

CASE STUDY 9/11 Attack of World Trade Centre Tuesday, September 11, 2001 8:45am. The north tower of the World Trade Centre hit by a hijacked 767 commercial jet airplane 18 minutes later at 9.03 am, the south

476 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies tower of WTC hit by a similar hijacked jet Estimated deaths: 2800, Economic losses: US$ 33-36 billions. Rescue and recovery operations · New York City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) o Responsible for developing emergency response plans o Got destroyed in the attack · A temporary OEM nerve centre reestablished in less than 72 hours of the attack · Fast adaptation from managing theoretical disasters to handling the largest terrorist attack in US history Disaster coordination · OEM was constantly updated with data about o Status maps of “Ground Zero” o Pedestrian and vehicular access o Potentially collapsible buildings o Water and utility outages (precaution against biological threats) · Information systems in place were extensively used for o Assessing the damage o Identifying potential chemical, nuclear and biological threat channels o Monitoring progress of rescue and recovery o Deploying personnel and equipment in disaster zone safely o Debris Management Systems deployed prior to disaster · Office of Emergency Management (OEM) o Coordinates emergency management operations o Headquartered in WTC block · NY City’s own central GIS utility o Powerful mapping and analysis tool o Tackles natural and technological disasters o Spatial mapping of the entire New York city o A citywide GIS needs assessment done in 1999 covering over 20 departments and divisions · Emergency Management On-line Locator System (EMOLS) o Deployed in August 2001, a month before the attack o Became the most critical platform for the 9/11 crisis o Directs New Yorkers to emergency heating, cooling and hurricane shelters and evacuation routes · Features of central GIS utility o Public access via the Internet o Resource sharing and support for departmental GISs throughout the city

Disaster Management System 477 o Coordination with the City’s e-government initiative o Everyone Map – allows users to view digital orthophotos and spatial data on buildings, streets Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) · Activated during large-scale emergencies · Coordinates the City, State and Federal agencies’ efforts · Equipped with computer workstations and state-of-the-art communications equipment · Deals with natural hazards, biological threats and technological disasters · Broadcasts proper emergency information to the public New York: Preparedness against disasters · Ability to respond effectively to an emergency is directly related to preparation before it strikes · GIS utility had established a comprehensive database which helped the immediate use in emergency · New technologies need to be deployed prior to an emergency · Sound data structure and tight control required to avoid chaos in emergencies · EMOLS played a crucial role in combating the threat of biological disasters like Anthrax · New York City’s emergency response used Oracle GIS technology

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Write a short note on Disaster Management System? 2. Give the requirement of a Disaster Management System. 3. Explain in detail various tasks to be performed under a Disaster Management System. 4. Explain the information required in a Disaster Management System. 5. Give a possible architecture of a Disaster Management System. 6. Give the various performance measures of a Disaster Management System.

REFERENCES Bhattacharya J. and Salu A.,2005, “Architecture of IT Enabled Disaster Management Systems for Government”, in Proceedings of International Conference of Electronic Governance, Lahore, Pakistan. Cuny, Fred.C ‘The principals of Disaster Management’. Available online at http:// pdm.medicine.wisc.edu/cuny8.htm. Downloaded on June 20, 2008. Stephenson, R. S., “Disaster Assessment”, In UNDP Disaster Management Training Programme, Available online at http://www.proventionconsortium.org/themes/ default/pdfs/DisasterAssess.pdf, Downloaded on June 20, 2010.

478 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies World Association for Disaster and Emergency Management, ‘Interventions, Effects, Outcomes, Benefits, and Costs’. In Chapter 6 of Health Disaster Management: Guidelines for Evaluation and Research, Vol 1, Available online at http://www.wadem.org/guidelines.html. Downloaded on June 20, 2010. Bradt, D. K. Abraham and R. Franks. 2003. ‘A strategic plan for disaster medicine in Australasia’, Emergency Medicine 15(3):271-82. Britton, N. R. 2001 ‘A new emergency management for the new millennium’, A Keynote paper to the 2nd International Conference, Cities on Volcanoes, Auckland, New Zealand, Available online at http://www.ema.gov.au/www/emaweb/ rwpattach.nsf/VAP/(3A6790B96C927794AF1031D9395C5C20)~A_new_emergency_ management_for_the_new_millennium.pdf/$file/A_new_emergency_management_ for_the_new_millennium.pdf, Downloaded on June 20, 2010. Pacific Council on International Policy. 2002. “Roadmap for e-Government in the Developing World”, in The Working Group on e-Government in the Developing World, Available online at http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/background/themes/egov/ pacific_council.pdf, Downloaded on June 20, 2010. “Disaster Management Bill”. 2001. Available online at http://www.gov.za/gazette/ bills/2001/b58-01.pdf. Downloaded on 15, July 2009. Rego, A.J. 2001. “National Disaster Management Information Systems & Networks: An Asian Overview”, in Global Disaster Information Network, Available online at http://www.adpc.net/infores/adpc-documents/paperatgdin01.pdf, Downloaded on June 20, 2010. Balaji, D., R. Sankar and S. Karthi. 2002. “GIS Approach for Disaster Management through Awareness: An Overview”, in Map India Conference Bangkok. Rao, D.P. 1998. “Remote Sensing and GIS for Sustainable Development: An overview”, in Proceedings of the International Symposium on Resource and Environmental Monitoring: Local, Regional and Global’, Budapest. “Emergency Asset Management System [Online Source]”. Available online at http://www.eams.org. Downloaded on May 15, 2009. Chakraborty, S. and A. Jain. 2002. “Low-cost Information Infrastructure for Remote Areas (L.I.I.R.A.)”, in 2nd International Conference on Open Collaborative Design for Sustainable Innovation, Development by Design (dyd02), Bangalore. Windle, D. “The Role of Wireless Technology in Disaster Recovery”, Available online at http://www.disasterrecovery.com/downloads/Wireless_Disaster_ Recovery.pdf. Downloaded on May 15, 2009. Foong, King-Few. “Future is Bright for Cell Phone Colour Displays in Asia/Pacific Market”, Gartner Report, Available online at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow? Msid=46358459, Downloaded on May 14, 2009. Garshnek, V. and F.M. Burkle. 1999. “Applications of Telecommunications to Disaster Medicine”, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 6(1): 6(1):26-37 . “Mobile Broadband for Emergency and Safety Applications (MESA)”. Available online at http://www.projectmesa.org/. Downloaded on April 11, 2009.

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22 e-Procurement Objectives · To understand traditional procurement process, business issues and challenges faced by companies and government · To understand the process of the web-based e-procurement process · To learn about business benefits and technical architecture of e-procurement process · To understand the system requirements and various models of e-procurement · To understand the issues pertaining to the ongoing procurement process and how they are overcome by the web-based model · To learn about measures taken to evaluate the benefits of e-procurements system and the tools needed for the same

22.1

INTRODUCTION

Procurement means acquiring all types of equipment, stores, spares, goods and services including packing, unpacking, preservation, transportation, insurance, delivery, special services, leasing, technical assessment, consultancy, system study, software, literature, maintenance, updates, conservancy, and so on. Procurement is undertaken through various types of contracts, including rate contracts, price agreements and memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between the purchaser and supplier as per existing laws and procedures.

22.1.1

Overview of Traditional Procurement System

Figure 22.1 provides an overview of a typical purchasing process. It begins with the need to define buying requirements based on the demands of the firm’s final customer. At this stage, specifications are developed. Early involvement by supply professionals and suppliers is present. Inputs are taken from a crossfunctional buying team which may include, in addition to supply and engineering professionals, representatives from operations and marketing.

480 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Define Requirements

Select Suppliers

Contract Agreement

Supplier Evaluation

Negotiate

Specification development

Pre-qualification

EPI/ESI

RFP

Cross-functional teams

Select supplier

Formalise contract Establish ordering, routines/ transaction processing

Assessing supplier performance Supplier ratings

FIGURE 22.1 Creating Value Addition in the Supply Chain

Once the specifications have been developed, a buying team led by the supply manager will pre-qualify suppliers, generate requests for proposals and evaluate them, and select a supplier based on established selection criteria. Contract negotiations result in terms and conditions of a formal contract. Ordering routines and transaction-processing guidelines are established for all purchases that take place under the umbrella of the negotiated contract. Closing the loop is a supplier evaluation system that assesses supplier performance that provides information to be used as the basis for rating the supplier, such as excellent, good, fair, unacceptable. This step in the process is critical for assuring that an effective supplier base is in place, a key contributor to the firm’s competitive position. Much is involved in each step of the purchasing process to assure that effective supply management applies to such important concepts as value engineering at the specification development stage, formal supplier selection approaches, effective negotiation strategies, or specific programs that exist for evaluating supplier performance.

22.1.2

Procurement Process

Procurement may also involve a bidding process, that is tendering. A company may want to purchase a given product or service if the cost for that product/ service is over the threshold that has been established. For example, Company X’s policy says, “any product/service desired that is over $1,000 requires a bidding process”. Depending on policy or legal requirements, Company X is required to state the product/service desired and make the contract open to bidding process. Company X may have ten potential suppliers that state the cost of the product/service they are willing to provide. Then, the company will usually select the lowest bidder. If the lowest bidder is deemed incompetent to provide the desired product/service, the company will then select the supplier who has the next best price, and is competent to provide the product/service. A typical procurement life cycle consists of seven steps. 1. Information gathering: Information gathering on market information is an important step. For example, if the potential customer does not already

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have an established relationship with sales/marketing functions of suppliers of needed products and services (P/S), it is necessary to search for suppliers who can satisfy the requirements. 2. Supplier contact: When one or more suitable suppliers have been identified, Requests for Quotation (RFQ), Requests for Proposals (RFP), Requests for Information (RFI) or Requests for Tender (RFT) may be advertised, or direct contact may be made with the suppliers. · RFP: An RFP is an invitation to suppliers, through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. An RFP typically involves more than a request for the price. Other requested information may include basic government information and history, financial information (can the company deliver without risk of bankruptcy), technical capability (used on major procurements of services, where the item has not previously been made or where the requirement could be met by varying technical means), product information such as stock availability and estimated completion period, and customer references that can be checked to determine a company’s suitability. · RFQ: An RFQ is a standard business process whose purpose is to invite suppliers into a bidding process to bid on specific products and/or services. An RFQ typically involves more than the price per item. Information like payment terms, quality level per item or contract length are possible to be requested during the bidding process. To receive correct quotes, RFQs often include the specifications of the items/services to make sure all the suppliers are bidding on the same item/service. Logically, the more detailed the specifications, the more accurate and comparable the quote will be to other suppliers. The suppliers have to return the bidding by a set date and time to be considered for an award. Discussions may be held on bids (often to clarify technical capabilities or to note errors in a proposal). The bid does not have to mean the end of bidding. Multiple rounds can follow or even a reverse auction can follow to generate the best market price. RFQ allows different contractors to give quotations and among them the best quote will be taken. They are most commonly used in the business environment but can also be found being applied to domestic markets. · RFI: An RFI is a proposal requested from a potential seller or a service provider to determine what products and services are potentially available in the marketplace to meet a buyer’s needs and to know the capability of a seller in terms of offerings and strengths of the seller. RFIs are commonly used on major procurements, where a requirement could potentially be met through several alternate means. An RFI, however, is not an invitation to bid, is not binding

482 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

on either the buyer or seller, and may or may not lead to an RFP or RFQ. Background review: References for P/S quality are consulted, and any requirements for follow-up services including installation, maintenance, and warranty are investigated. Samples of the P/S being considered may be examined or trials undertaken. Negotiation: Negotiations are undertaken and price, availability, and customisation possibilities are established. Delivery schedules are negotiated, and a contract to acquire the P/S is completed. Fulfillment: Supplier preparation, shipment, delivery, and payment for the P/S are completed, based on contract terms. Installation and training may also be included. Consumption, maintenance and disposal: During this phase the company evaluates the performance of the P/S and any accompanying service support, as they are consumed. Renewal: When the P/S has been consumed and/or disposed of, the contract expires, or the product or service is to be re-ordered, company’s experience with the P/S is reviewed. If the P/S is to be re-ordered, the company determines whether to consider other suppliers or to continue with the same supplier.

22.1.3

Challenges Faced by Traditional Procurement System

There are several challenges faced by traditional procurement process. Some of them are mentioned below: 1. Complex purchasing process leads to high administrative costs. 2. Traditional procurement has a long processing turnaround time as there are multiple authorisation levels. 3. Spoilage is high due to excess inventory. 4. Traditional procurement process suffers from high business costs as the processes and contracts are not standardised. 5. With the dynamic environment, customers’ demands are changing which leads to the inability of the procurement process to synchronize. 6. Due to lack of enforcement of procurement policies there is a high degree of spot buying without leveraging the spending potential. To overcome the above challenges, companies-both public sector and private sector-are now adopting the e-procurement tool provided by many software companies.

22.2

e-PROCUREMENT

Simply stated, e-procurement is a technology solution that facilitates government buying using the Internet. It has the power to transform the purchasing process

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because it pervades all of the steps identified in the procurement cycle. e-Procurement is broadly defined to include e-design at the specification development stage of the purchasing process, ending with the supply manager’s efforts to evaluate and rate supplier performance.

22.2.1

Role of e-Procurement in Purchasing Process

As already mentioned, in e-procurement, the application of Internet technology pervades each major component of the purchasing process. In establishing buying requirements through the specification development process, the concept of e-design has emerged to help facilitate early supplier involvement. Buyer and seller share information in real time to build specifications that add value to the resulting product. That communication helps to minimise design complexities and avoids building in unnecessary costs into the specification. e-Design facilitates real-time collaboration among all internal members of the firm’s cross-functional buying team, as well as with suppliers, preventing the after-the-fact issues in production and purchasing that create the inefficiencies and competitive challenges that arise in the traditional sequential process (for example, a product design that does not facilitate the ease of manufacture or a design that limits the choice of possible suppliers).

22.2.2

Types and Components of e-Procurement

e-Tendering: e-Tendering is the process in which purchasers use the Internet to invite competitive bids from suppliers (established and approved business partners) for special projects or requirements. It is a system that displays descriptions of projects up for quotation which may be viewed via access to a specific website on the Internet. It reviews and downloads tender documents including specifications in electronic form upon payment of a fee without the exchange of paper copies of documents. Figure 22.2 shows the life cycle of a tender. Step 1: Preparation & approval

Step 2: Announcement

Step 3: Clarifications

Step 4: Bidding

Step 5: Analysis

Document states in the life cycle of a tender

FIGURE 22.2 Life Cycle of a Tender

Step 6: Evaluation & awarding

484 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Reverse auction: A reverse auction (also called procurement auction, e-auction, sourcing event, e-sourcing or eRA) is a tool used in industrial business-to-business procurement. It is a type of auction in which the role of the buyer and seller are reversed, with the primary objective of driving purchase prices downward. In an ordinary auction (also known as a forward auction), buyers compete to obtain a good or service. In a reverse auction, sellers compete to obtain business. A typical reverse auction process is shown in Figure 22.3. Category amenability

Identification & short listing

Post auction bid report; cost

Online auction

FIGURE 22.3

RFP preparation floated to

Supplier training on

Supplier clarification &

Decide auction

Tech evaluation

Source: Reverse Auction Process

In a typical auction, the seller puts an item up for sale. Multiple buyers bid for the item and depending on the nature of the auction (English or Dutch), and one or more of the highest bidders buy the goods at a price determined at the conclusion of the bidding. In a reverse auction, a buyer contracts with a market maker to help make the necessary preparations to conduct the reverse auction. This includes finding new suppliers, training new and incumbent suppliers, organising the auction, managing the auction event, and providing auction data to buyers to facilitate decision making. The market maker, on behalf of the buyer, issues an RFQ to purchase a particular item or group of items (called a “lot”). At the designated day and time, several suppliers log on to the auction site and will input several quotes over a 30–90 minute period. These quotes reflect the prices at which they are willing to supply the requested good or service. Quoting performed in realtime via the Internet results in dynamic bidding. This helps achieve rapid downward price pressure that is not normally attainable using traditional static 3-quote paper-based bidding processes. The prices that buyers obtain in the reverse auction reflect the narrow market which it created at the moment in time when the auction is held. Thus, it is possible that better value, that is lower prices, better quality, delivery performance, technical capabilities, and so on could be obtained from suppliers not engaged in the bidding or by other means such as collaborative cost management and joint process improvement. e-Noticing: Advertisements of calls for tenders through publication of appropriate contract notices in electronic format in relevant official journals; electronic access to tender documents and specifications as well as additional related documents are provided in a non-discriminatory way.

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e-Access: Electronic access to tender documents and specifications as well as support to economic operators for the preparation of an offer, for example clarifications, questions and answers. e-Submission: Submission of offers in electronic format to the contracting authority/entity, which is able to receive, accept and process it in compliance with the legal requirements. e-Awarding: Opening and evaluation of the electronic tenders received, and award of the contract to the best offer in terms of the lowest price or economically most advantageous bid. e-Contract: Conclusion, enactment and monitoring of a contract/agreement through electronic means between the contracting authority/entity and the winning supplier. e-Orders: Preparation and issue of an electronic order by the contracting authority/entity and its acceptance by the contractor. e-Invoicing: This is involved in preparation and delivery of an invoice in electronic format. e-Payment: e-Payment refers to the electronic payment of the ordered goods, services or works. To successfully conduct e-procurement across borders, systems rely on some “key-enablers”. e-Signature: It refers to data in electronic form which is attached to or logically associated with other electronic data and which serves as a method of authentication with regard to this data. e-Identity: It is a dynamic collection of all attributes, in electronic format, related to a specific entity (citizen, enterprise, or object) which serve to ascertain a specific identity. e-Attestations (virtual company dossier): Set of certificates and attestations, in electronic format, to be provided by a supplier to prove compliance with selection and exclusion criteria of a procurement procedure. e-Catalogues: Electronic supplier catalogue prospectuses used to prepare and submit offers or parts of them. e-Archiving: The use of electronic means for long-term preservations of documents in digitalised format, ensuring that they can be easily retrieved without conversions.

22.2.3

Objectives of an e-Procurement System

The key objectives of the e-procurement system are: Demand aggregation: The ability to aggregate government departments’ demand to leverage buying power with the supply market. Reduced inventory costs: Improved planning and management of inventory leading to lower levels of inventory.

486 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Internal arbitrage: Ensuring consistency in goods and services costs at the best price across all departments at item level. Consistent and sustainable vendor development: Enabling pre-qualified vendors the opportunity to access other departments. Transactional effectiveness: Eliminating or automating non-value adding steps within the procurement to enable efficient and effective processes. Total cost of ownership: Understanding the supply chain and life cycle costs in procurement to establish value adding supply relationships leading to reduced cost of doing business for both government and industry. Effective tender processing: Use of different types of e-auctions to get better deals. Open platform: Level playing field and “fair” competitive platform for the suppliers. Disposals: Accessing a wider customer base when disposing of redundant assets. Smart governance: Increased transparency, monitoring and control of procurement process.

22.3

BENEFITS TO STAKEHOLDERS AND OUTCOMES

An e-procurement solution is expected to result in the following benefits:

22.3.1

Benefits of e-Procurement to Buyers

Process efficiency The end-to-end e-procurement solution ensures that the complete procurement happens online and in a paperless manner. This immediately eliminates a lot of non-value adding activities like manual sale of tender documents, manual opening and reading of bids, preparation of comparative statements (as they are automatically available), audit/cross check of comparative statements, time spent in movement of files from one person to another, manual creation of purchase order and delivery schedule, and so on. Automated work-flows introduce accountability in the system. The workflows can be so configured that if an order is not approved within a specified time frame then the order gets escalated to the next approval level. At any time in the procurement cycle, any person associated with the transaction can check and know the status of the transaction. This saves time and effort besides enabling better planning of inventory. Automation of the transaction reduces human error and enhances the integrity of the data. Cost reduction Immediate gains can be made by saving on the cost of publishing the tender information in newspapers, as all the tenders shall now be published on

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e-tendering platform. An e-procurement system brings down the cost of doing business for the suppliers. For example, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, suppliers are more than willing to share the savings with buyers which translates into a reduction in prices by suppliers. Market making, that is identifying, qualifying and introducing new suppliers, and reverse auctions shall drive down costs. It is observed that on an average reverse auction can bring down the prices between two to eight percent. e-Procurement will enable a centralised database of procurement of all the departments/locations, thereby enabling it to aggregate the requirement of similar items across departments/locations and use this increased purchasing power to negotiate better prices from suppliers. e-Procurement, by making the procurement process paperless, helps in reducing stationary cost significantly. Further, it facilitates online tracking of order status and communication between the buyer and the supplier, resulting in reduction in communication costs. The system inspires confidence among suppliers as being fair and transparent thereby resulting in better competition among and participation by suppliers, which helps reducing prices. Achieve greater transparency An e-procurement system projects the image of IT friendly and innovative management. The complete procurement transaction through e-procurement happens in a transparent manner. The system captures the justification and comments of approvers at every stage and thereby enables users and approvers associated with a transaction to justify their decision. Better decision making The e-procurement system captures the procurement information at source and makes it available centrally in a real time manner. This ensures the integrity and timely availability of data for Management Information Systems (MISs) and better decision making. Users can design and configure any type of report as per their requirement. 24 ´ 7 Availability It is a real time procurement system which is available online 24 ´ 7 and can be accessed by anyone (buyer or supplier) from anywhere. It also enables approvers who are traveling/not available in office to log into the system from anywhere and clear the documents awaiting their approval. This eliminates inordinate delays in the procurement process due to physical non-availability of an approver in the office.

22.3.2

Benefits of e-Procurement to Suppliers to Government

Suppliers benefit from e-procurement as all information on all tenders is available to suppliers at one place, so that they can decide which tenders they need to participate in. Predefined alerts are sent to the registered suppliers. Transaction

488 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies cost is reduced as unnecessary trips and communication to find the required information gets eliminated. It also leads to reduction in personnel costs. An e-procurement system lowers the customer acquisition cost. All the tender replies in standard formats can be stored so that the same document is not required to be made repeatedly. It is also responsible for an increased comfort factor that things are being handled in a transparent manner. With e-procurement, small and medium suppliers get an opportunity to participate in tenders in a fair and fearless manner. They no longer have to worry about being discriminated against or their bids being tampered with. They can now purchase and participate in tenders sitting in their offices. They no longer face the threat of being physically prevented from participating in tenders by large suppliers or cartels. The free participation of suppliers encourages competition and brings down the cost for the buyer.

22.3.3

Benefits of e-procurement to the Citizens

Citizens benefit in multiple ways from an e-procurement system. Some of the key benefits to citizens from an e-procurement system are listed below.

Transparency The citizen is assured that procurement or projects are being routed in the most transparent manner. All information on the transactions and the evaluation is available on the portal and is easily accessible.

Faster Implementation of Projects The citizen is benefited in the form of faster implementation of government funded projects. This is possible because the tender processing time is expected to reduce drastically. The projects shall see the light of day faster than before.

Reduced Cost of Governance Due to increased efficiency, the time spent on procurement and execution of projects is reduced, leading to reduced cost of government machinery and overheads.

Saving Tax Payers’ Money Citizens are satisfied that tax money is being spent wisely, contracts have been awarded in the most transparent manner and the cost of projects has come down significantly. Increased developmental projects due to savings from e-procurement being ploughed back by the government to launch new projects and initiatives benefit the citizens.

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22.4

489

TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE OF e-PROCUREMENT

In designing the technical architecture of an e-procurement system, it is vital to evaluate the design of certain parameters like the process management, payment options, optimisation tools, and functional specifications. In this chapter we discuss the product information management and the costs involved in designing. The technical architecture should cover the overall design of the e-procurement software. The components should be integrated with each other and third party systems. The architecture should cover the portability and interoperability of the e-procurement suite and should have a high quality Graphical User Interface (GUI). The e-procurement product should be compatible with previous investments in information technology and help to minimise additional costs. The GUI influences a product’s ease of use. A good GUI is more than just userfriendly. It means that the user can work effectively and efficiently. Scalability affects the whole process of commerce transactions. Scalability is the capacity to accommodate increased workloads without reduction in performance, that is higher volume of transactions.

22.4.1

Specifications of Technical Architecture

Specifications of the components of technical architecture must be clearly identified. The operating system, software, hardware and the extent of networking and connectivity required must be defined in this section.

Architectural Description

Internet Firewall

Switch

Web servers

Load balancer

Firewall

Switch Load balancer Application servers

Load balancer

Mail servers

Storage

FIGURE 22.4 e-Procurement Services Architecture

Database servers

File servers

490 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · User accesses the e-procurement application using browser interface. · e-Procurement application should be hosted on servers with highly scalable processing power with possibly RAID5 HDD. · Web server should be installed in the DMZ zone and should take request coming from browser. · Application server should be used as runtime engine. Business logic of the e-procurement application should be hosted onto the application server. · RDBMS should be used to store transactional data. · Figure 22.4 shows the logical separation of the components and one should be able to combine or install all of them on different hardware machines as per requirements. · The architecture needs to be highly scalable. Hence each component of the architecture, that is web server, application server, and database server, can be installed in the cluster-based environment to ensure high availability of the solution on multiple machines and also can be enhanced to serve large number of users. · The architecture should support appropriate security standards like Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) support, use of secure protocol, LDAPbased user authentication and authorisation. · As the e-procurement scales up, an NAS or SAN should be set up.

22.4.2

Conformance to Open Standards

The technical architecture should conform to open standards and should be designed to ensure that current and new applications from stakeholders can be seamlessly integrated into the proposed application architecture with minimal impact and changes. The solution has to integrate with applications across various departments consisting of heterogeneous platforms and databases. The solution should follow open standards and/or internationally accepted standards with respect to integration, security, catalogue creation and classification of items, and so on. It should allow for easy integration with department legacy systems and third party service providers like payment gateway.

22.4.3

Scalability

The technical architecture for an e-procurement system must be easily scalable. Scalability is a measure of the ease and flexibility to support growth. It involves supporting more users on the system by adding more hardware resources. The resources could be added either on the same system (vertical scaling) or machines could be added to the server cluster (horizontal scaling). The software architecture should not prohibit scaling in either way.

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The following should be supported in an e-procurement system: · adding more servers to a cluster · adding more processing power or multiple CPUs or memory to the same machine Both horizontal and vertical scalability should be achieved at all layers in the topology. Horizontal scalability would mean adding more servers, in conjunction with the load director which balances load between the servers. Vertical scalability could be achieved by using larger multi-processor computers. The scalability model enables the platform to meet the needs of small, niche e-marketplaces as well as large, full-service high-volume mega exchanges. As a result, rapid trading partner implementation and transaction growth is easily supported.

22.4.4 Security e-Procurement systems should be highly secure, considering that it is intended to handle sensitive information related to government functioning. Transport level security At the transport level, it is proposed to use SSL and HTTPS. · Transport security provides point-to-point security between two distributed servers. · Protocols typically used are SSL and HTTP(S). Portal security Two factor authentication: At the user or portal level, the e-procurement system should provide authentication via a registered user profile. Authentication at the portal level would preferably be done with a user ID and password, with a digital certificate authentication. Two-factor authentication is a security process that confirms user identities using two distinctive factors – something they have and something they know. Secure administrator access: To prevent an administrator from misusing his access privileges, the application would require a two-level password verification before allowing an administrator access to the admin module. The first password is provided by the administrator himself and the second password by some designated senior person within the buying organisation. Privilege based access rights: Access rights of each and every user on the system should be defined and should depend on the privileges assigned to him by the administrator. This will ensure that a user has access to only those functionalities, which he is authorised to use. Unauthorised access: The entire solution should be behind a firewall and intrusion detection system that protects it against unauthorised access and hackers. Antivirus software should be installed on all the servers to protect against virus. Also, preferably, the system should use an open source operating system

492 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies such as OpenSolaris which has no known virus attacks and is one of the most stable and scalable operating systems. The antivirus software will keep updating itself online. This will ensure that the vaccine for the latest virus is always available. Further, the system will support online scanning of all documents uploaded by the users and the suppliers, before they are saved on the server. Tender box security It would not be possible to access the tender box by any officer independently. To access the tender box, two levels of authorisations will be required. The bid will be accessed by the officers only on the opening date and time after they have authenticated themselves to the system. Document security Document signing: Integrity and non-repudiation should be provided by the use of digital signatures. The user signs the document, in this case the e-forms, digitally using the digital certificates issued by the Certification Authority (CA) under the trust network of Controller of Certification Authority (CCA) under the Ministry of IT. The digitally signed e-form is then stored in the repository. At any given point of time, anyone would be able to verify the signatures and establish the authenticity of the document. Document encryption: The data is encrypted using both symmetric and asymmetric key cryptography and is stored securely in the database.

22.4.5

Integration with Backend Departments

The e-procurement application will expose external interfaces using web services. The interfaces will be designed to ensure that current and new applications of various departments can be seamlessly integrated into the proposed application architecture with minimal impact and changes. The solution will integrate with applications across various departments consisting of heterogeneous platforms and databases. The marketplace will have the capability to be accessed through multiple delivery channels like the Internet, intranet, kiosks, portal, and so on for its internal and external stakeholders.

22.4.6

e-Procurement Technical Evaluation Criteria

Certain technical evaluation criteria that should be considered before designing the e-procurement model are discussed below: Product information management Product information management covers the processes that allow users to obtain and manage product information. These processes allow for aggregation of information from one or more suppliers into a consolidated catalogue. Part of this aggregation includes transforming supplier catalogues to conform to a single organisational standard. Once consolidated, this information must

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be stored in a DBMS to allow rapid retrieval and permit end-user analysis of the available purchasing options. Catalogues provide access to product information electronically. They typically allow for browsing by category including product descriptions, price, and availability. Organisations may also develop capacity to support supplier-managed catalogues and various catalogue interoperability standards such as OBI, cXML and xCBL. The data dictionary and translation engine provide common naming, semantics and syntax for products supplied through e-procurement system. These functions help to ensure purchase order accuracy. e-Procurement shopping basket uses the same metaphor as consumer web-based shopping to provide end users with the means to keep track of the products they wish to purchase. Payment Processors The e-procurement product should process payment for the acquired products using procurement cards, electronic cash, and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) or paper checks. Interoperability with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)-based EFT and support procurement cards should be among the highest priorities. Organisations should also evaluate the ability of e-procurement applications to support more traditional methods of payment. Less-commerce-capable suppliers or certain classes of goods may not be suitable for automation by e-procurement applications. Costs Cost includes typical costs of purchasing license rights and maintenance from software vendors. It is necessary to understand other major cost elements, such as for implementation, catalogue and marketplace participation. Initial costs are those incurred by an organisation to implement an e-procurement application, including the costs of system installation, initial training, and consulting. Ongoing costs are the total costs associated with the long-term support of an e-procurement solution, including annual maintenance, additional consulting and ongoing training. Determining the cost of implementing e-procurement is difficult. However, buying and installing e-procurement application represents a small fraction of total expense of its implementation. Implementation, product data and catalogue management, and ongoing maintenance account for much of the expenses of e-procurement applications. These less visible costs are 5 to 10 times higher than licensing and maintenance costs.

22.4.7

e-Procurement Business Models

It is necessary to design suitable business models corresponding to various service provision models to ensure cost-effectiveness and sustainability. Prima facie the following guidelines need to be followed while designing appropriate business models.

Weighting factor

Medium Medium

Low

Guidance of the users for all involved parties through interactive system actions and messages in order to help decision-making and ensure correct application of rules and reputation.

The best implementation of the system will be a platform independent solution, so that all system components, both on client and server side, are portable to other environments with minimal effort and enhancements.

The e-Procurement processes should be parameterised and their attributes should be modified easily with minimal effort in terms of system administrative work.

The system should provide an architecture whose specifications are public, so that anyone can design add-on products for it. This includes officially approved standards as well as privately designed architectures whose specifications are made public by the designers.

Ability of a system to provide services to and accept services from other systems.

Internal workflow

Portability

Parameterisation of processes

Open architecture

Compatibility

(Contd.)

High

High

Medium

Use of platform under specific conditions may imply potential risks. Assessment of risks and the extent of liability for each user group must be clearly understood and enough precautions should be taken accordingly.

Liability

High

It is required to identify each user that operates on the platform and confirm his credentials in a manner beyond repudiation. User’s privileges and the use of platforms assets are controlled form the platform that properly identifies and authenticates each user.

High It is the ability of a system to protect information and system resources with respect to confidentiality and integrity. The scope of this definition includes system resources, which include system hardware, storage, and application software in addition to information.

Description

Sample Weighting Factor for Evaluation Criteria

Registration/ Authentication

Security

Evaluation Criteria

Table 22.1

494 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies

A definition or format that has been approved by a recognised standards organisation or is accepted as a de facto standard by the industry. Standards exist for programming languages, operating systems, data formats, communications protocols and electrical interfaces.

Standardisation

Support for e-catalogues or provision for their later development and integration into the e-procurement system.

Support of e-auctions or provision for their later development and integration into the e-procurement system.

Support for e-catalogues

Support for e-auctions

High

High

Application which has the source code available to the general public for use and / or modification High from its original design free of cost. Open source code is typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community.

High

High

Open source

Total cost of ownership TCO incurs all costs involved in installing and operating the system. TCO in e-procurement (TCO) system includes original cost of the system hardware and software, platform licensing costs, hardware and software upgrades, maintenance costs, technical support costs and training costs.

The system must be able to meet future requirements, so in terms of hardware and software, should be able to adapt to increased demands. Scalability is a very important feature as it protects initial investments.

Scalability

Medium

Security of a platform must be extended into the security of the existing network and more High precisely into local and Internet network implementation which must allow the secure exchange of encrypted data.

Network security

(Contd.)

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496 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 1. The high value-low volume procurements may be based on compensation to the service provider linked to the value of procurement, as a percentage of the value of item procured. In order to ensure that disproportional high amounts are not paid to the service provider, the following steps may be taken: (i) A ceiling may be fixed on the absolute amount that can be paid for a single instance of procurement. (ii) Slabs of procurement value may be arrived at with the percentage of service charge decreasing with increasing value of procurement during a given period, say, the month, quarter or year. 2. Compensation for the low value-high volume procurements may be based on a flat rate per transaction. Volume discount may be designed so that the cost per transaction decreases with increasing transaction volume. 3. The following business models will have to be explored for adoption. (i) Licensing model – The vendor develops/customises the e-procurement solution to suit the needs of a particular department and licenses the product to be hosted on the IT infrastructure provided by the user department and managed for an agreed period. (ii) Application Service Provider (ASP) model – The vendor develops/ customises the solution, hosts on its own facility and provides the services to the user department. (iii) JV model – The nodal agency of government forms a JV with one or more service providers/vendors for providing support in the e-procurement operations of various government agencies. 4. In all the business models, the actual procurement functions are to be performed and procurement decisions taken by the respective buyer organisations but not the service provider. 5. The ownership of the data forming part of the procurement functions or arising out of the operations shall squarely be that of the participating departments and the service provider has to maintain the required confidentiality.

22.4.8

e-Procurement Technology Models

e-Procurement operations in the public sector being large and diverse, there is need for multiple players and business models to operate in this segment. The following broad principles need to be observed while designing the technology model for e-procurement. The architecture should permit multiple service providers to coexist, providing users the choice of selecting the best on cost, quality and best-fit-touser-requirements. The switching of a government agency between different service providers should happen with relative ease, not involving large scale

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modifications at the back-end of the respective departments. In other words, the architecture should permit the separation of the back-ends from the middleware and the front-ends. A virtual e-procurement exchange should enable the registration of the buyer departments and the suite of services they intend to avail from one or more service providers so as to facilitate the routing of transactions as well as their accounting for the purposes of performance-linkedcompensation of the service providers, MIS and other reporting requirements. The system should be tightly integrated with the proposed government gateway for the purposes of messaging. Given the sensitivity of procurement function and the need for gaining trust and confidence of buyers, sellers and the public, an appropriate security policy environment should be dictated by the architecture, which could include PKI and use of digital certificates. Figure 22.5 illustrates the above broad principles. The salient features of the technology model are mentioned below. Buyers

HG

LG

e-Procurement gateway exchange

HS

HW

LS

LW

Suppliers

FIGURE 22.5 e-Procurement Technology Model

· There are two central components of the technology: the Gateway and the Exchange. o The Gateway facilitates XML standards-based messaging between the buyers, suppliers, e-procurement exchange and e-procurement

498 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies portals (shown in the six smaller circles). It permits access to different components of the e-procurement solution through a process of initial registration of the various players and users and authentication of each session of interaction. It enforces the security policies through PKI-supported digital certificates. o The e-procurement exchange performs functions that are specific to procurement. It facilitates transactions between buyers and suppliers registered with the exchange and enables them to avail the various procurement, supply and payment services. This is enabled through a system of initial registration of the buyers and suppliers for specified services and the registration of e-procurement portals (market places) designed and established by different vendors. The exchange is required to lay down a set of ground rules for registration of users and availing of services subscribed by the users. · This model permits several degrees of freedom to the buyers, suppliers and the solution/service providers; both on technology and commercial dimensions.

22.5

PERFORMANCE MEASURE OF e-PROCUREMENT

e-Procurement enhances subsequent negotiations with a supplier by yielding increases in business and efficiencies in the transacting of that business. The principle metrics that will demonstrate a return on investment (ROI) in e-procurement are: · Hard benefits (directly measurable) required to deliver enhanced shareholder value and thus gain approval, such as price savings and process cost reduction. · Soft (indirect) benefits whose direct effect on cash flow may be difficult to quantify accurately, that is individual time freed up through more efficient processes, but may well be indicative of progress. · Intangibles, which are beneficial but are not directly measurable in financial terms. It is important not to misclassify “soft” but measurable benefits as intangible, just because measurement may be more difficult. Intangibles include: Cultural change: Recognition of strategic sourcing as a longer-term market differentiator, end-user attitude shift, and ease of implementing world class internal processes. e-Platform: e-Procurement as a step towards value-adding structures. Financial approval for all spending: Ability to ensure that all spending meets organisation standards. High visibility of supplier performance: “Live” feedback from end-user to buyers.

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In order to identify e-procurement costs savings as distinct from those achieved through other procurement best practices, the measurement system needs to discriminate between “business as usual” type savings and those directly attributable to the implementation of the e-procurement system. Classification of benefits Transactional benefits e-Procurement enables the purchase-to-pay process online. A typical purchasing process uses a web-based transacting tool whereby items are selected predominantly from pre-sourced catalogues and submitted for electronic approval. This tool is then linked to the back-end ERP system for entry, payment of invoices, and collation of management information. eProcessing (including the automation of p-card purchasing) leads to great time savings and efficiency due to: · global, automated processes incorporating best practice and eliminating unnecessary activities; · e-enabled relationship with suppliers, which speeds procurement cycle times and facilitates supplier performance improvements; and · greater data accuracy, which minimises ordering inaccuracies and provides essential foundation for better management through measurement and analysis. Compliance benefits In many cases within an organisation, compliance and maverick spending is a significant issue — not because employees deliberately purchase outside preferred arrangements, but rather through lack of awareness. e-Procurement addresses this through tools such as catalogues and standard order processing and approval processes. Compliance will be achieved by: · a simple and quick requisition-to-payment process including a userfriendly interface and pre-sourced catalogues tailored to the requirements of the individual user; · a simple and quick strategic sourcing process with standard procurement processes and tools, as well as easily accessible information; and · by ensuring that all procurements are done through e-Procurement system only. Management information benefits The fact that key information (cost centre, commodity codes, and so on) is hard coded against the user dramatically reduces coding errors (product quotes, accounting quotes and cost centre quotes) and provides highly detailed and easily accessible data. This is essential to maximise the financial benefits of strategic sourcing. A successful e-procurement implementation will provide high quality, detailed management information and will negate the need for data warehousing or resource-heavy data mining.

500 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Price benefits The ability to prove to your suppliers that you are using e-procurement as a tool to ensure that end-users honour their contract status will enhance ability to negotiate down prices through: · Greater enhanced capture and therefore, reliability of spending information; and · Increased confidence that spending volumes can be guaranteed from increased compliance with the system, thus allowing volume price breaks and discounts to be achieved. Payment benefits Payment benefits involve electronic payment of invoices. This includes the ability to better control the business cash flow and to manage the efficient payment of suppliers due to more streamlined procurement processes providing more timely and accurate information to the accounts payable department. Potential benefits include reduced personnel (a “hard” benefit only if improvements lead to head count reduction) and reduced spending on postage and stationery. During negotiations the procurement manager can more credibly guarantee the supplier a level of prompt payment, which was not possible prior to e-procurement.

22.5.1

Tools to Measure Benefits

Although it is relatively easy for procurement officials to make estimates of potential benefits against each driver, it is much more difficult to actually measure the benefits. During the realisation of e-procurement benefits, benefits are only seen as the end cost saved. The contributory factors or drivers are merged into the total saving, some of which are not e-procurement related. As previously mentioned, it is important to separate the pure “e” savings from other types of savings, even if the methods of measurement may be subjective. Benefits realisation forms and database In order to record and centrally monitor the savings generated through e-procurement, a savings capturing process must be established. A portion of these savings may be attributed to business as usual activities and another portion to e-procurement. This information should be collected, validated, recorded centrally in a database, and reported on a periodical basis. There needs to be clear guidance as to how these savings will be accrued. For example, will they be taken off the bottom lines for departments, or will they be reallocated to other areas of spending? There is a risk that if they are just recorded, they may never actually materialise into real tangible financial benefits. Spend analysis A spend analysis tool allows users to “slice and dice” spend data to deliver meaningful information. Traditionally such data has been derived from

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information within the ERP or accounts payable functions. The quality of data inherent in the e-procurement transactions will allow procurement professionals to access this data directly via a self-service portal. e-Intelligence e-Intelligence is a collective term for sources of information that are made available to assist procurement professionals with finding required information. It will incorporate supplier intelligence, news feeds, contract database, vendor surveys, customer satisfaction surveys, and transaction data such as number of returns.

SUMMARY e-Procurement has been identified as an instrument in private as well as public sector reforms. It enables government to monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of procurement and provides more transparency and accountability. Developing and implementing an e-procurement system for the government can be difficult and complex. An effective and efficient system incorporates appropriate tools and procedures that support technical, business and work practice requirements. It also integrates with buyer agency systems (for example, FMIS/ERP) and supplier systems. This integration will ensure all participants have access to the data required to complete the transaction. The interoperability of systems and standards is an ongoing challenge facing all e-procurement systems. Managing this integration is difficult without technical standards, specifically in the area of data format. It is important to involve all appropriate stakeholders including public agencies, the software industry, private companies as well as national and international institutions. Security and authentication are critical aspects of an e-procurement system. Developing, maintaining and communicating these technical policies and solutions are difficult in today’s diverse environment.

KEY TERMS Request for Proposals (RFP) An invitation to suppliers, through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. Request for Quotations (RFQ) A standard business process whose purpose is to invite suppliers into a bidding process to bid on specific products and/or services. e-Procurement A technology solution that facilitates government buying using the Internet. e-Tendering A scenario in which purchasers use the Internet to invite competitive bids from suppliers. e-Sourcing The preparatory activities conducted by the contracting authority/entity to collect and reuse information for the preparation of a call. e-Noticing Advertisement of calls for tenders through the publication of appropriate contract notices in electronic format in the relevant official journal.

502 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies e-Awarding Opening and evaluation of the e-tenders received, and award of the contract to the best offer in terms of the lowest price or economically most advantageous bid. Spend Analysis A tool that allows users to “slice and dice” spend data to deliver meaningful information. e-Intelligence A collective term for sources of information that are made available to assist procurement professionals with finding required information.

CASE STUDY e-Procurement Initiative by Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP), India The procurement process of GoAP comprises of exchange of goods, services, works and turnkey contracts. The typical procurement practices deployed are centralised procurement and distributed procurement. Common procurement mechanisms involve tenders-open, limited, and single; rate contracts and catalogue purchases. The procurement process is governed by the guidelines of GoAp. and donor agencies. The annual procurement amounts to Rs 20 billion. A typical scenario before e-procurement would consist of the following: 1. Contractors assemble outside the office premises 2. Contractors filing tenders in the tender box 3. Contractors scuffle outside, police intervenes 4. A contractor escorted by police to file tender. There were certain challenges faced by the GoAP like it was not a level playing field. There was discrimination in issue of tender schedules to suppliers. The competition was suppressed by formation of cartels. Other issues faced were: · Physical threats to bidders · Tender boxes at multiple locations · Manual movement of tender files · Delays in finalisation of tenders · Possibility of tampering with or loss of records · Human interface at every stage · Lack of adequate transparency · Adverse press coverage on tender fracas In order to overcome these issues the cabinet committee recommended e-procurement system in year 2000. It was identified as a core e-government project in 2001. GoAP was among the first state governments in India to implement e-procurement system. The key objectives of developing an e-procurement system were: · Leverage buying power through demand aggregation · Better value for money for government

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· Significantly reduced cost and time of doing business for both government and industry · Level playing field, “fair” competitive platform and single registration for the suppliers · Increased transparency, monitoring and control of procurement process The GoAP opted for a public-private partnership model for implementing e-procurement system. The role of private partner or service provider was to implement the e-procurement functionality across all the departments, installation of software as well as hardware, providing trainings, helpdesks services and maintenance. Scope of e-procurement services in GoAP · Supplier registration · Pre-procurement processes · Tender management system · Online publication of tender notice · Online pre-bid meetings · Online bid submission · Online evaluation · Online issue of letter of award · Rate contracts and catalog buying · Auctions and reverse auctions · Contract monitoring · e-Payments Outcomes of e-procurement in GoAP · Cost and time saving to departments · Total anonymity generated more competition · Transparency was achieved o Automatic e-mail to bidders on tender publication o Bid documents available on the Internet in public domain o Tender evaluation status automatically notified to bidders o No interface with departments up to tender opening o Support documents are open to competitive bidders soon after tender opening o Procurement status in public domain · Improved governance o Eliminated cartels, syndicates o No more tender fracas o Drastic reduction in adverse press reports o National level recognition for project o Acclaimed for creating social impact o Empowerment of bidders

504 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies o Remote submission of bids o Reduced bidding and incidental costs o No more dependence on departmental officials

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain an e-procurement system. 2. Explain the conventional non-automated procedure of procurement with an example. Identify the issues faced by the conventional procurement processes. 3. Give the objectives and benefits of an e-procurement system? 4. Explain types and components of e-procurements. Which components do you think are critical from designing an e-procurement solution and why? 5. Explain the architecture of an e-procurement system. 6. Give a few criteria for evaluation of an e-procurement system.

REFERENCES Kothari, T. 2007. “Adopting e-Procurement technology in a chain hotel: An exploratory case study”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26(4): 886-98. Vaidyanathan, Ganesh and Devaraj, Sarv, 2008 ‘The role of quality in e-procurement performance: An empirical analysis’, Journal of Operations Management, Volume 26, Issue 3, May 2008, Pages 407-425. Gullo, Elio. 2006. “Technical challenges in implementing e-procurement”, Naples, 31 January 2006 Available online at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/57/50/ 36238646.pdf, Downloaded on June 20, 2010.

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23 Forest System Objectives · To learn about the importance of the Forest Management System · To learn about the benefits of the Forest Management System · To know the operations of a Forest Department · To learn about the system architecture for Forest Management System · To learn the system features of a Forest Management Information System (FMIS) · To learn about the requirements of the system (FMIS)

23.1

INTRODUCTION

Management and preservation of forests and wildlife is a vital function of governments. Forest management is a people-intensive and expensive activity. It is, therefore, important to reduce the cost of forest management by gathering and integrating information and knowledge from various sources. Moreover, in order to proficiently manage the forests, responding to the growing needs of human population while maintaining environmental balance, there is a need for timely availability of information for decision-making. However, the crucial data and process information are not always available when the decisionmakers need it. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems are a necessary tool for enhancing the development of the forestry and wildlife sector. It is necessary that the forest management officials recognise the immense value of ICTs.

23.2 IMPORTANCE OF FOREST MANAGEMENT 23.2 INFORMATION SYSTEM The Department of Forest is information rich where large amounts of data are gathered directly from the field. Such data helps making predictions and taking actions. The data is critical to the efficient management of forests and therefore it must be managed and updated regularly. The structure of the

506 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies department is such that the main data is collected at the range level where there are single person offices in remote areas which may not even have electricity. Hence collecting the data and sending it to the head office results in time lag and often loss of information. The department also generates many periodic reports such as progress of planned programs, revenue reports, chief development officer’s meeting, plantation, medicinal plants, bamboo, ecotourism, illicit felling, encroachment, disciplinary action, vacant post information, range officers notice, selection board officers notice, small savings plan (including divisions), small savings plan (director, circle), quarterly complaints, forest fire, annual administrative report, land transfer, and forest administration. Most of these reports are prepared manually on a desktop computer. However, if all the data is entered into a system, the system should be capable of generating these reports by itself and it should save significant time and costs. The system should also enable users to generate a query-based data report and process spatially located data. This should considerably help in understanding the data better and, therefore, enable the administrators to reduce the turnaround time in preparing such documents to an estimated 10 percent of what it takes currently.

23.3

BUSINESS BENEFITS OF FMIS

Forest Management Information System (FMIS) is usually an integrated system which supports planning, implementation and monitoring of multi-objective forest management activities. FMIS can be used for strategic, tactical, operational planning, implementation, and operational control in and across administrative units and levels of the organisational hierarchy. Besides the databases and models required to support decision-making in the many programs of the forest department, FMIS also maintains current forest inventories and generate maps of spatially-oriented data. The components of the FMIS, which are necessarily integrated, are (a) Monitoring Information System (MIS), (b) Geographic Information System (GIS), and (c) Image Processing System. The system also leads to reduction in paper usage in the department, leading to a reduction in printing, storage and procurement cost of paper. The system provides a public interface for handling all queries and supports complaint and request tracking. This should result in a reduction in the time spent by the officials in public dealing and, therefore, they can use this time more productively towards strategizing and planning.

23.4

FUNCTIONS OF THE FOREST DEPARTMENT

A typical FMIS supports the three key areas in forest management, (a) territorial forests, (b) wildlife and (c) functional activities. Functions in these areas are elaborated below.

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Territorial Forests

Forest areas apart from the protected areas (sanctuaries, national parks and biosphere) come under this category. All activities in the territorial forests are referred to as forestry activities.

Rights and compensation management The responsibilities under this function include managing the rights and compensation before a piece of land is acquired by the forest department to be managed as forest. The department asks the beneficiary to file their rights and benefits that they seek from the land. Some benefits could be firewood supply for some period of time or monetary benefits for farmers, and so on. The field officers of the department of forests assess the claims and announce appropriate compensation to the beneficiary. Records of compensation awarded are maintained in the respective divisional offices. Some beneficiaries might not be awarded compensation based on the assessment conducted by forest officials. In such circumstances the beneficiary might file a legal case against the department.

Raisin production and selling Raisin could be a major forest produce in some regions of the world. Unlike timber or herbs where the harvesting and selling is taken care of by corporations such as Forest Development Corporation (a for-profit government body), raisin is sold directly by the respective offices of the forest department. Revenues thus generated are usually credited to the treasury.

Management of Forest Development Agencies (FDAs) Joint Forest Management (JFM) is a committee which involves local residents for participatory management of forests. A group of JFMs forms an FDA. This body is usually under the chairmanship of the Conservator of Forests of a particular division. Activities of FDAs include plantation, development of grassland, activities against poaching and tree felling and so on.

Marking trees for felling When trees reach maturation, are diseased or dead, or for any such reasons trees are felled. It is the responsibility of the forest department to mark such trees and authorise the FDC to undertake the task. A strict process is followed for marking of trees. A hammer with unique number is used to mark the trees for felling. The hammer is used to mark the number at two places on the tree, stump and main trunk, at certain distance above the ground level. Records of all the trees marked are maintained at the range office, such that each and every tree cut can be tracked to its end-use. This is done to keep a close check on illegal timbering and felling.

508 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Compensatory aforestation When trees are felled in an area for various reasons as mentioned above it is the duty of the forest department to ensure plantation in that particular area. The plantation is usually done in the ratio of 1:2, that is for every tree felled, two trees are planted at the same place. Depending upon the area and territory, the type of plantation is decided, namely pine, oak, and so on. Funds are allocated for such activities in the beginning of the year.

Management of medicinal plants This is an initiative where the department is responsible for developing and maintaining a nursery. Farmers are encouraged to develop herbs and medicinal plants. Department’s field officers provide them with guidance for planting and managing medicinal plants.

Managing man-animal conflict When humans or wildlife cross into the other’s territory, it leads to conflict and results in damage. The department has to take necessary measures to avoid such incidences. Measures may include fencing the boundaries of the forest or conducting awareness programs among residents around forests or any such step. The higher offices also monitor progress of such activities.

23.4.2

Wildlife

Forest area declared as Protected Area as per law comes under this category. Protection of wildlife and tress are the main responsibilities of wildlife offices. Forestry activities such as felling of trees or removal of dead trees are strictly not performed in these protected areas. The purpose of this activity is principally to safeguard the natural habitat for the wildlife, and to safeguard the wildlife present in the forest. Forests are protected by maintaining a constant vigil over illicit poaching and felling, developing and maintaining good relationship with local people in the settlement, in and around the forest and by having thorough understanding of forest areas and areas around forest. As a part of the responsibility of development and management of natural habitat, the forest department monitors the ecological balance of the forest and develops habitats suitable for life in the wild. Such habitat development includes development of grassland for making an appropriate habitat for tigers. Programs are designed for this by Range Officers and sent to the Divisional Office for approval. Depending upon the fund-sanctioning ability, the program is sanctioned or escalated to the next level of office. These programs could be for immediate action or part of the Working Plan or part of annual planning for budget. Apart from the activities mentioned above, that is protection of

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wildlife and development and management of natural habitat operations of the wildlife also involve a crucial activity, tourism. Tourism forms a major source of revenue for the department. Ecotourism is a new initiative taken by forest departments around the world. All the wildlife sanctuaries, biospheres and national parks have a large number of tourist inflow. All the protected forests organise tourism activities, namely guided tours inside the forest for animal viewing, stay at the forest rest houses inside the forest, photography and filming and other such activities. There are many activities involved in operations of tourism as elaborated below: · Ticketing – Issue of tickets for entering the protected area and maintaining a log. · Boarding and lodging – As most of the wildlife sanctuaries, biospheres and national parks have rest houses inside and outside the forest. Reservation for these places of stay is an important activity. This may involve advance reservation and maintaining the log and old data. · Vehicle passes – Tourists are allowed to take their vehicles inside the forest. A system similar to ticketing is maintained for this. · Permission for photography and filming – This may not be a very regular activity as permission has to be obtained from the director of the respective protected area. · Tracking of animals – The centre of attraction for tourists are wild animals. Officials should know where they can spot animals to guide tourists. · Miscellaneous activities – Activities like creation of awareness, maintenance of tourist stops, maintenance of infrastructure and other such activities.

23.4.3

Functional

Apart from managing forests and wildlife the forest department has various other functions to support the main objectives of the department.

Research and development This division conducts research on select issues and conducts training to impart the findings of the research to the staff of the department. Research is undertaken on various topics such as forest regeneration, introduction of specific plant species, and so on.

Land survey and transfer This division deals with land transfer for any non-forestry activities in the forestland. This department works as a nodal office between the central government and the applicant for land transfer. All records related to applications for land transfer, approvals, and so on are maintained in this office.

510 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Ecotourism This division promotes ecotourism in the region with the help of local tribal and village people. Revenue generated by this activity is used to develop the area and preserve the forests.

Environment This division deals with management and maintenance of ecological balance in the forest including conservation of soil and air and water quality. It monitors regularly the quality of these elements and reports in case of any anomalies in the expected values.

Human Resource Development (HRD) This division deals with development of the local people in terms of education, health, provision of basic amenities and generation of local employment opportunities.

Planning and financial management This department gathers the budget requirements for each office and plans for the next financial year. This helps the treasury department in allocation of budgets from the state treasury. This department also analyses the budget utilisation of the previous year.

Development of centre of excellence The Centre of Excellence (for forests, soil, medicinal plants, and so on) is an authority in the area of their work. The centre collects basic data, performs research and imparts training to forest personnel.

Working plan and management plan Working plan and management plan is a document containing guidelines for managing forests and wildlife for a fixed period which is usually 10 years. This document is prepared at division level. It takes two years for preparing each such document. A Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) who is also called a Working Plan Officer (WPO), is appointed to prepare this document. This data forms the basis for an important document called Compartment History. Compartment History is maintained at the range office. The process starts with the DFO conducting preliminary study by reviewing the previous working and management plans and studying the impact of schemes suggested and implemented by these. Based on this preliminary study the DFO prepares the first Working Plan Report (WPR), which elaborates his/ her plan of action for preparing the WPR, and the areas of focus. Data collection

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is a critical step in completing the working plan. Different kinds of data is collected from different sources depending upon the objective. The sources of data could be as mentioned below: · Revenue department (socio-economic data, data on industries around the division) · Compartment history · Working circles (soil erosion, different types of forests) · DFO’s office (monthly reports, accounts, establishment) This data is then analysed by the DFO with the help of statisticians at the Working Plan Office. This takes an enormous amount of time. On completion of the analysis, the DFO prepares a draft report. This is called the second WPR which is submitted to the committee for review. The committee consists of Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) of the concerned circle, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and others. The committee provides its comments. Thereafter, the DFO incorporates necessary changes as recommended by the committee and submits the revised version within six months as the final working plan or management plan for the division.

General administration Administrative functions of the various sections in a department are elaborated below. Finance and accounting: Finance and accounting takes care of various functional and management aspects related to finance and accounting activities of the department. According to the instructions given by government and financial handbook for forest account rules, the overall process can be grouped as follows: Finance: It enables the financial functions of in-house systems. Expenditure and revenue accounts are maintained. This involves maintenance of voucherwise expenditure, cashbooks, and the related ledgers and accounts documents. Planning and budgeting: The authorities concerned prepare the financial estimate for the department. First, a proposed estimate is made keeping in view the various expenditures and the profits, with reference to the last budget estimates. Input forms are made to keep track of various transactions. The sanctioned estimates take care of the amount sanctioned for particular activities under particular budget heads. The revised estimate, the latest estimate and excess and savings are made which keeps track of future changes taking place at various levels of transaction. Accounts: Generation of disbursal officer’s cashbook maintains the number of items, head of service, and particulars of various disbursements. Maintenance of cheque details (that is cheque number, date of issue of cheque, treasurer’s name, and so on), maintenance of revenue details and details of the forest deposits, and invoice and voucher numbers of expenses incurred.

512 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Audit: Audit keeps account of the audits taking place in the course of action; they maintain details of audit objections and maintenance of audit status. The supervising office usually performs this activity. Inventory: Inventory functionality generates details of item code and keeps track of inventory. Human resource: Human resource development and management are considered one of the critical functions of forest department for fulfilling the strategic responsibilities of managing human resources. The main activities of this section include recruitment and promotion, service record and verification, insurance and retirement, leave management, performance appraisal, training, payroll notes, pension management, and disciplinary action and grievances. Legal section: Broad categories of cases dealt with by this section are: court cases, referenced complaints, committee cases, mafia contravention cases, lapsed lease cases, notification cases, livestock cases, human kill cases (cases where humans are killed by animals) and land diversion cases.

23.5 23.5.1

OPERATIONS OF FOREST DEPARTMENT Working Procedures and Guidelines

Each office maintains its own general administration sections, such as accounts and finance, establishment, legal, and so on. Funds are allocated to each section for carrying out these and other forestry activities through the process of budgeting. All records are maintained in the respective offices. Only status reports are sent to the upper level/reporting office. All the papers need to be physically signed by the concerned authority. All offices generate a set of reports on regular intervals for their forestry activities and general administration. Some of these reports are proforma based and are common across offices.

Proforma-based reports Proforma based reports are generated at regular intervals, that is daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual. Most of these reports are generated at lower offices and consolidated by the higher offices.

Need-based reports Need-based reports are generated as the need arises for better decision making in the organisation or to furnish responses for questions raised in the legislative assembly. Currently once a request for information is placed with the next level of office, depending on the workload, that office will send the request to the higher level of the office. Data of up to 20 years is collected

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and consolidated. Once the data is gathered, it is then manually formatted to get the required information. Currently the entire process takes 10-30 days, depending on the complexity of the information required.

23.5.2

User Classes and Characteristics

User classes can be characterised on the basis of their degree of use of the system and their accessibility rights to the information. The first class of people accessing the system is the general public which has the least accessibility to the system. They should have online access to the status of applications and queries submitted to the forestry department. The privileges should also include access to reports and publications meant for public consumption. The general public should also have access to various policies and legal procedures of the department which should be hosted on the website as a static file updated as and when a change in the policy takes place. The second class of people accessing the system is the data entry operators (DEOs) who should have access to the data archives and rights to modify the data, when they get updated values from the field. They, however, should not have any access to the spatially oriented data supplied by the GIS module. The third class is similar to DEO. The difference is that they handle data pertaining to public complaints and queries. This class can be referred to as the public DEO (PDEO). PDEO has the right to modify the complaint status online and handle queries. They should also be able to update the records which change as a result of public complaints redressal such as land disputes, permission to cut trees, and so on. The fourth class is that of Technical Analysts (TAs). TAs have access rights to all the databases at the central database. However, they are not supposed to edit or modify any records. They have access to the data search and analysis module, to generate maps and reports as per requirements. The fifth class is that of Periodic Reporting Executives (PREs). These executives are responsible for generating the periodic reports in the departments. They have access to the Data Search and Analysis module, where they can choose the duration of reporting and the type of report needed. They do not have access to any data files directly. The sixth class is that of system administrators (SADs). SADs can access any portion of the FMIS. However, they cannot make any changes in the data files. They can only check for software, hardware and network glitches and rectify them.

23.5.3 Operating Environment The FMIS needs to be compatible with GIS and Image Processing Systems. It is desirable to have off-the-shelf products for these applications since these

514 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies are easier to deploy and are more stable. Therefore it must be made sure that the systems are compatible with the rest of the built-up information system.

23.5.4

Design and Implementation Constraints

The forest department is data rich where fresh data is included very frequently. Though the data is useful in predicting trends and planning activities, after some period the data becomes unmanageable and requires huge storage space. Therefore, a policy is needed for data disposal. There is need for data on vital characteristics to be maintained perpetually whereas rest of the data may be disposed of after, say, a period of 25 years. Large amounts of data is stored in the form of hard copies and a mammoth manual effort is needed to digitise the same, keeping in mind that data loss should be kept at the minimum. Data and forms are present in local and national languages and languages of other provinces.

23.6

SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

It is desirable for automation to replace the existing physical ledgers, registers and so on with a computer. Appropriate automation architecture is suggested below based on the ground realities existing in forest departments.

23.6.1

User Documentation

Since forest offices are geographically separated, it may not be possible for all stations to keep a hard copy of the manual. Therefore, a searchable online reference guide is a necessity for the success of the project.

23.7 23.7.1

SYSTEM FEATURES Field Data Modules

Description and priority The feature is of very high priority in an FMIS. The system is a data driven utility and, therefore, a lot depends on the efficiency of this module. The requirement is to store the data in a simple manner which makes data retrieval faster. The risk involved with this module is very less.

Stimulus/response sequences Data is collected from the field by offices below the range office. These offices (compartment and section offices) are mostly one-man offices and are very

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remotely located. Data generated at these offices are updated very frequently at the respective range office. The officials (foresters or forest guards) need to continue their work process as usual. They should fill up the data sheet and deliver to the range office. Range offices are the most critical entity of the department as they generate the basic data from field level. One desktop computer system should be placed in the range office. The desktop could be used to enter information collected by the compartment and section offices. The data entry process should be a single screen process and thus help the officials at the range level to quickly enter the information. The programme should ask for the type of time-oriented data and its interval; for example, precipitation and daily data. The officer should then simply enter the data and this should get stored in a local database. This database must be synchronized with that of the higher level office of the respective Range office. This synchronization must happen through wireless connections. These connections could also be used to communicate reports back and forth between the range office and the divisional office.

23.7.2

Public Data Entry Module

Description and priority The feature is of medium priority in the FMIS. The system should help reduce the load on the department since public dealing can be done online. The requirement is to store the data in a simple manner which makes data retrieval faster.

Stimulus/response sequences Citizens interact with forest department for one of the following reasons (partial): · Permissions for felling of trees · Compensation · Land related issues · Auction of timber and forest produce · Information · Booking of forest rest houses Citizen fills up and submits forms in hard copy at the respective offices. Currently public do not have access to the status of their applications. Thus a system, where all these applications are entered into the computer by the PDEO, should be implemented. This system should also provide the public with information on their applications, like status, reasons for rejection, deadline for approval or disapproval, and so on.

516 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies The module should be a navigable website which should be integrated at the backend to the application databases maintained by the PDEO. The design should be such that the public can get to the desired information within three clicks from the homepage. A static portion of the website should give information on various policies and procedures of the department, downloadable forms, and public reports.

23.7.3

Data Search and Analysis Module

Description and priority The feature is of very high priority in an FMIS. The module is high on benefits and thus it has a high value of penalty associated with it.

Stimulus/response sequences An analysis and search utility program is capable of searching through all the data available in the database and applies analytical methods to it. Useful reports can be generated based on such analysis. This automated analytical model must help the department by producing a lot of information in the form of exception reports, maps of spatially oriented data, large trends related to the operations of the department, predictions, alerts and other such essential information. This will help the department in terms of informed decision-making, optimised resource allocation, precautionary measures to avoid any forecasted eventualities, identifying the root cause for certain issues and other valuable information which will help the staff to a large extent in executing their duties. The module should ask for the kind of analysis required by the user. The user should be allowed to select the data types he/she wishes to analyse and then select the kind of analysis he/she desires. The utility should then display the results with the desired analysis and its interpretation.

23.7.4

Administrative Module

Description and priority The feature is of medium priority in the FMIS. The module is medium on benefits and has a low-medium value of penalty associated with it.

Stimulus/response sequences The module should take care of the day-to-day administrative functions of the department such as HR, accounts and audits. The employees should be able to access their account and other details.

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Functional requirements This is essentially the integration of ERP software, customised to the requirement of the department. However, the module will work in parallel to FMIS, its implementation should not have an adverse impact on the development of FMIS.

23.8 23.8.1

REQUIREMENTS OF FMIS User Interfaces

User interfaces should be simple and uncluttered. Data entry process should be a single screen process and thus help the officials at the range level to quickly enter the information. The screen should ask for the type of time oriented data and its interval; for example, precipitation and daily data. The citizen interface should be an easily navigable site where the user can get to the desired information page within three mouse clicks.

23.8.2

Hardware Interfaces

The system depends heavily on the interaction of the GIS devices with the system and the interaction with the Image Processing System. The interface should be compatible with the built software. As both the GIS and the image processing applications are third parties these can only be decided after finalising the technology used in these.

23.8.3

Communication Interfaces

The databases at the range office synchronize with those at the higher offices and at the central database. This is done by a wireless network as range offices are remotely located. The PCCF offices are connected by a leased line and data is mirrored at both these locations to avoid data loss and this acts as a disaster management strategy.

23.8.4

Performance Requirements

The system should be loaded with data and hence it requires a software which should be able to index in such a way that it retrieves the data quickly. Thus access speed is a critical performance measure. The system should be easily navigable and minimum number of screens should be made. Website should be optimised for fast download and should be able to provide the information in not more than three mouse clicks.

23.8.5

Data Security Requirements

The data housed in the system is very critical and, therefore, it must be protected from external attacks. Adequate disaster recovery sites must be prepared as

518 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies range offices are more likely to be affected by natural disasters such as forest fires and landslides. Web access to the database should be restricted.

SUMMARY Forest management requires information to be drawn from several areas of interest and integrated for forest management purposes, such as estate level modelling and planning. Integrated forest management requires access to a wide range of data that are usually sourced from different parts of an organisation, such as financial, geographic, biological and operational. The relationships between such datasets are relatively complex. Forestry management systems are, therefore, inherently complex and the design and development of operational systems present special challenges. Using integrated information systems increases the efficiency of data capture, minimises data redundancy and maximises the utility of information. Integrated information systems have several basic characteristics. · Effective management procedures for entry, maintenance, processing, and communication of data to the final user. · Coherent, efficient and transparent data structures that closely match the requirements of the organisation and the data management procedures. · Generic data structures using common naming conventions and field formats. The benefits of integrated systems are greater system utility, applicability, longevity, and expandability. This chapter uses a case study to show how to design and develop an integrated system for forest management. It will be shown that it is necessary to provide sufficient attention to addressing the special industry requirements.

KEY TERMS Additional Principle Chief Conservator of Forests (APCCF) Assists the PCCF in his/her functioning. Beat The smallest geographical/territorial entity of forest. Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Heads a particular section of the various operations performed by the department, supervises the division he/she is heading. Circle: A set of fivisional offices, and the most active entity in the department for administrative purposes. Compartment A group of Beats, the smallest functional entity of the department. Divisional Office Divisional office has approximately two Sub-Divisional offices and is the nodal office for forest management in a division in a state.. Principle Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Head of the department for the state and apprises all the activities and functions of the regions. Range A Range office operates unders the Divisional office and a Range office consists of two or three section. Section

A set of compartments.

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A set of three range offices (on an average).

Territorial Forests Areas other than the protected areas (sanctuaries, national parks and biosphere).

CASE STUDIES Development of Forest Management Information Systems (FMISs) FMS is a plantation management system developed and maintained by Forestech Research and Development Ltd. The system has a number of components: · Comprehensive register of stand records · Silvicultural operations management, scheduling and budgeting · Forest accounting · Log sale tracking · Forest inventory · Forest grouping (crop typing) · Optional linkage to several GIS systems · Forest estate modeling and valuation The comprehensive nature and general applicability of the system is due to a commitment to generic database structures and to an object orientation development approach. The generic design has given the system a flexibility that has enabled it to be used in a wide range of plantation management situations. Even though FMS comprises of only one standard program, it has been installed in 20 sites in six different countries covering diverse forest management situations from tropical pulp and sawlog forests to temperate softwood plantations. The main users currently are mid-sized forest owners in New Zealand.

Design and Development Issues Design of integrated databases requires a significant consultative process with the main stakeholders. A system specification is then prepared that prescribes the system design and the process of system development. System development requires strict management control so that the system can be completed timely and on budget and meet all specified requirements. In the case of FMS, the stakeholders were small (1000 ha) to medium (+60,000 ha) forest plantation companies. These companies had unique requirements. 1. Integration of datasets: All main forest management functions had to be integrated into one management system. 2. General applicability: The system had to incorporate a comprehensive range of functions that adequately dealt with most forest data management problems. 3. User friendliness: The system had to be easy to use because often the forest manager had limited time and resources to allocate to training and data management.

520 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 4. Reliability: The system must be very reliable because most small companies had only limited internal system support. These requirements are more demanding than may be the case with a large forestry corporate because these larger organisations can afford to employ fulltime system specialists and are backed by large support and maintenance resources. FMS needed all the functionality of existing packages but is packaged in an integrated framework that is easy to use.

System Design and Development Design and development of a complex integrated system such as FMS requires a high level of planning and management. In case of FMS, the design concept took approximately 14 months of planning and was conducted as part of a Masters thesis. The actual software design and development took one year. Finally, updates and modifications are continuously controlled by a set of procedures for documenting problems or potential changes to the system, consulting with existing system users, implementation of modifications and testing, and distribution of new upgrades to existing users. Testing is the final but most critical component of the overall development process. Testing should be a highly controlled process and include testing of individual components of the system against detailed descriptions in the system specification (known as “unit testing”) as well as testing the ability of the overall system against documented performance criteria (known as “system testing”). Database design needs to be documented and permanently recorded both for the development phase and the long-term maintenance of the system. Development is greatly simplified by the adoption of a standardised naming convention for all elements of the system. It is also recommended that database structure and relationships be clearly recorded in text and diagrams.

Interface Design For users, the most important element of a system is the design of the user interface. The interface controls what elements of the system are presented to the user, how the user navigates through and interacts with individual elements of the system. The FMS interface has been designed to provide a simple, coherent and logical interface that tightly controls user actions and mirrors or improves workflow for the user. FMS uses a navigation model that tightly controls navigation through the program, within screens, and data entry. FMS is modeled around one menu system that provides a path to every system function. The user interface directs users through one form at a time. Each screen includes data validation functions that check if data is correctly entered. Technically speaking, this model is called Single Document Interface (SDl) and experience has found that data management systems really benefit from this controlled approach. The alternative model is called Multiple Document Interface (MDI) which is more suited to interactive modeling problems such as gaming. We adopted a minimalist standardised approach to screen design in FMS. All interfaces have the same look and feel.

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For example, the standard colour of the screen is gray, text uses Times New Roman font, and the use of bold text, lines, boxes, and pictures are kept to a minimum. Often it is difficult to adhere to these design guidelines especially when there are large amounts of complex data to capture. For example, the FMS inventory module allows users to enter three alternative types of inventory, standard, stem quality and pruning quality control. An interactive screen was developed that allowed the user to enter all three types of inventory on one screen. It was quite challenging to develop a simple, coherent and logical interface given the complexity of the data and its relationships.

Project Management Issues In New Zealand, there have been several large and highly visible failures of software development projects. Generally speaking, they all involved large integrated projects, which were poorly thought out, badly designed, and inappropriately managed. There is no one guaranteed project management methodology for ensuring successful projects. However, they are likely to include at least some elements such as: · Controlled process for investigation of the problem to be solved, consultation with key stakeholders, documentation and discussion of findings, and development of clear project objectives and performance criteria. · Preparation and review of the system specifications that clearly document database and system structure. The system specification is the single most important control document on a development project and needs to be prepared by an experienced systems analyst. Reviews are required to assess the practicality and affordability of the specification. · Preparation of realistic works schedules and budgets. Reviews are required to assess the practicality and affordability of the work schedule. · Management of system development and testing of the resulting systems against project performance criteria. · Part of good management of projects at all stages is the development of, and adherence to, high standards and protocols of design and development and good programming practice. This should include a high level of documentation and document control, robust systems of design control and operational control, and good systems of communication and problem resolution.

SUMMARY During the course of this study, several senior forest managers were consulted and they were of the opinion that integrated forest management systems were impossible or infeasible to implement because of the inherent complexity of forest management. As FMS has shown, it is possible and feasible. FMS has enhanced the management efficiency and effectiveness of many of its users. The initial benefits are derived from the efficiencies and increased control gained from standardisation and centralisation of the data processing functions. The long-term benefits arise from

522 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies ability to access, relate and analyse data from a diverse range of forest management activities over an extended period. The design, development and support of these types of systems require a high level of planning and management. A key element is the establishment of protocols of communication for problem solving and system management. Another key element is the establishment of comprehensive standards and protocols for system design and development. Lastly, system development and support requires a high level of project management to ensure that projects are practical and professionally organised and that systems are implemented within expected time and cost work schedules.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND BUILDING INFORMATION SYSTEM IN FORESTRY IN SLOVAKIA The case deals with characteristics of the present state of information systems in Slovak forestry. The first part of the case describes the situation in using information systems at different levels of Slovak forestry management. The main subsystems of the Forestry Information System in the Slovak Republic are analysed from different aspects. The problems of ensuring information flow are identified. The state of information systems at the level of forest users and owners is described. The final part of the case suggests necessary steps heading towards the development of information systems in Slovakian forestry.

Introduction Decision-making process is considered to be the most important part of the management process. Modern theory of management goes further when it says that decision-making process is the basis of management. The merit of decisionmaking is in adopting the right decision which will secure the optimal way to reach the goal. If the decision-making process is to be proper, the basic requirement, information, has to be fulfilled. In 1990s information became so critical a part of management that some authors regard it the fourth production factor. Hand-in-hand with growing importance of information grows the significance of information systems.

Forest Information System of the Slovak Republic Aims and evolution of Forest Information System (FIS) · FIS of Slovak is an important source of information in Slovak forestry. The present state of system results from the long-term process of: Automating evaluation of the state and development of forests · Unification of the forest management recording, state and sector statistical and accounting reporting · Unification of systems for processing and transmission of information The functionality of developed, relatively independent information system was considerably restricted by transformation and economic reform of forestry, in which the property rights were restituted to several subjects. Unprepared legislation, together with insufficient professional preparation and technical equipment caused

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considerable violation of the system’s information base. An important factor, having impact on the structure of FIS, is the integration of the Slovak Republic into the EU structures. In forestry sector it means also connecting of FIS to existing international IS (EUROSTAT, FAO, OECD, EFI, and so on). As a consequence of transformation of social-economic relations and with appearance of new progressive information technologies, the rebuilding of Slovakian FIS was done according to the new longterm and short-term objectives. The main priorities of FIS include complex processing of alphabetical, numerical and graphical social and economic information on all subjects related to forest (state and private users and owners of forests). Processed information is provided to users, using unified software technology based on compatible operating systems and communication networks. Building and developing of FIS follows three main aspects: Communicational aspect which should secure the relations between the subsystems. Information aspect aimed at rational geographical distribution of the databases in state and private sector as well as at demanded value of hierarchically aggregated information bases (for example, according to management level, complexity of demanded information). Managerial aspect which, based on information automatically processed by various analysis, will allow dynamic managing of forestry in short-term and long-term through suitable economic and legislation managerial tools. FIS should cover the information needs of all management levels in all forestry activities. In long-range view it is open information system adaptable for implementing new technologies of information processing at domestic and international level.

Users of FIS According to information needs, the kind and level of their aggregation, FIS provides the users with information different to the specific needs: (i) Specialised software is produced in forest information. (ii) Centre using high-level languages, database and graphical systems.

Structure of FIS The prevailing relations in FIS are those related to the central information bank (CIB). CIB serves as a source for both FIS subsystems and information systems from out of the forestry sector. The rate of information centralisation is objectively defined by the purpose and the way of determination, update and evaluation of information as well as by the personal, hardware and software equipment. Decentralised databases are created in particular FIS subsystems in accordance with their specific objectives. Core information system of forestry is based on CIB and consists of six subsystems connected to each other by relations between databases at different hierarchical levels. These systems carry out processing, evaluation and distribution of information. 1. IS of state and development of forests: It systematically observes and evaluates the data on the state and development of forests. The basic outputs processed also by interactivity with other subsystems include:

524 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Quantification of production, and economic and health condition of forests · Ecological stability appraisal, forest management categorisation and general planning for forest management plans in the process of updating · Area register · Forest management plan · Permanent forest inventory · General forest management plan · Given part of the report on forestry 2. IS of forest management recording: The system is based on the legal obligation of forest users to provide accredited organisation with data on forest management actions performed in the actual calendar year. Obtaining of data is country-wide and the software equipment allows processing information in centralised or decentralised way. The outputs of the system are the basis for: · Update of CIB during the forest management plan validity · Forest management audit during the forest management plan validity · Preparation of statistical and aggregated statements · Statistical reporting. 3. Geographic Information System (GIS): Regarding the character of forestry information, which is mostly related to geographical objects, GIS represents significant rationalisation of FIS. GIS offers a number of new data analyses and results presentation. GIS is a versatile tool for data evaluation. It uses the methods of generalisation, reclassification, interpretation, space analysis and their combination in forestry mainly for: · Evaluation of the characteristics of production and forest management according to various criteria (site, user and owner, geomorphologic, price, and so on). · Evaluation of health condition of forests, evaluation of economic statistical indicators. Nowadays, the functionality of GIS is limited especially by existence of graphical (map) databases. The outputs of GIS are produced in the form of alphabetical and numerical reviews, thematic (vector or raster based) maps, space models and combination of these possibilities. At the same time, the archiving of graphical databases in GIS allows effective updating of the forestry maps. 4. IS of forest owners and users: The system is based on the contracts of property rights. The outputs are produced using the aggregation of data at different levels of state administration, according to: · Type of ownership · Scale of owner groups · Number of owners in owner groups · Cadastral areas

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5. IS of department statistics: It is used to cover the information needs of forest sector to regulate forestry in accordance with Act 322/1992 on statistics, as amended by later legislation. While in state enterprises statistics is carried out countrywide, in private sector, due to the large number of subjects, the method of representative selection is used. 6. Market IS: The role of market IS is to provide forest managers with information on forest products market. In view of objective knowledge of timber and other forest products prices, it is an actual issue to operate such a system. This fact is emphasised by the foundation of a large number of owner and user subjects in the Slovak forestry. Forestry state administration: Information system gains, processes and evaluates related data at three levels: county offices, region offices, and ministry as a central body of the state administration of forestry. State enterprises information system is developed to process data from the field of production, sales, wages, material supply, forest management reporting, capital assets, evidence of premises, invoicing, accounting, and so on. Private enterprises information system provides essential information about management of private forests and their economic results. Forest research information system is aimed at domestic and foreign forest scientific and technical information. It processes and analyses social and economic information according to the needs of forest research and forest sector. It creates internal database of state and development of forest resources, research plots and monitoring of the health condition of forests. Information system of national parks and protected areas deals with special problems and it should mostly serve the Ministry of Environment. It is formed as a database of monitoring the existence and abuse of animal and plant species. Due to different level of automation, internal and external FIS relations are designed through various alternatives of communication. Traditional way of information transmission by papers is used in the case of computer equipment absence (for example private owners sector). Using of telefax for transmission of image information through phone network. Disadvantage of this alternative is the impossibility to process transmitted information by computer without the risk of building errors. Transmission of information using phone network and modems: Expansion of this possibility is limited by high telephone charges, capacity of public phone network and transmission speed. Transmission of information in public network (Internet, intranet). This is at present very progressive and effective way of communication with relatively high transmission speed, reliability and possibilities of connection to international information systems. Transfer of information using hard media is very suitable for transfer of large amount of data when there is no need to process them in real time. Its advantages are reliability and low costs. The goal of the information system project is extensive use of private and public networks (LAN and WAN) for communication between

526 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies particular subsystems. The present state indices the necessity of computerising the medium and small forest enterprises, while the large enterprises and state organisations are mostly well equipped technically and connected to the existing networks.

Conclusion FIS has, despite its continued development, a lot of defects. Their removal is entwined with introducing the latest ITCs, which will facilitate designing new and improving existing information activities. Future development of FIS is, therefore, connected with overlapping areas mentioned in this chapter 1. Using latest ICTs · Building of LANs with client / server architecture and implementation of large database systems for managing heterogeneous data warehouses. · Broad use of Internet for multimedia communication. · Implementation and distribution of GIS in forestry. · Introduction of expert systems and decision support systems in forestry. · Use of progressive and powerful tools for user application development (Delphi, Oracle, Java, and so on). 2. Designing new and improving existing information activities · Realization of relations between FIS subsystems on the base of digital communication. · Connection of FIS to foreign and international information systems by means of Internet. · Access to CIB of forestry through Internet to broad segment of users following the defined access rights. · Completion of market information system, so that it could provide actual and representative information not only on the state forest enterprises but also on private forest enterprises and owners. For absolute functionality of the system connecting to information systems of forest industry is needed. · Design of new subsystems aimed at economic planning and evaluation of economic effectiveness. · Monitoring of forestry development based on statistical evaluation of time series and forecasting of forests development with reference to random impacts. · Classification of the data on forests and forest management according to forest owners and users at the forest stand level. · Permanent annual updating of CIB due to growth process, forest management activities and other changes. · Analysis and interpretation of remote sensing images in order to determine the stand parameters and health condition of forests effectively.

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· Digital terrain model analysis helping to access forests and to determine morfometric characteristics.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain Forest Management Information System. 2. Explain the importance and benefits of Forest Management Information System. 3. Explain the features of Forest Management Information System. 4. What are the design and development issues of a Forest Management Information System?

REFERENCES Quan-sheng L., H. Zhang, S. Wu, L. Xiau-Jun. 2004. ‘Study of setting up County Forest Resource Management Information system based on Web and GIS’, Paper presented at Map Asia Conference, GIS Development Beijing, China. Robak, E.W.T, B.R. Murty. ‘Forest Management Information System (FMIS): An integrated approach to forest management’, Available online at www.gisdevelopment.net Downloaded on April 11, 2009. Gao-bao. 2002. ‘The Architectural Design on Establishing the Network management System of Forestry Resources’, Forestry Inventory and Planning, Volume 4, pages 25–29. Kulla L., Tutka J. And Marusak R., “Forest yield index and its applicability to the assessment of future forest yields, in Journal of Forest Science, 55, 2009 (1): 41–50. Zahvoyska, L., Jöbstl, H., Kant, S. and Maksymiv, L. (Eds., 2009) Building Insights of Managerial Economics and Accounting towards Sustainable Forest Management. Proceedings of the Symposium 2007, Lviv, Ukraine. Ukrainian National Forestry University (UNFU), Lviv, 183 p. ISBN 978-966-433-039-5. Jöbstl, H. and Roder, C. (Eds., 2009) Managerial Economics and Accounting in an Evolving Paradigm of Forest Management. Proceedings of the Symposium 2006, Rottenburg, Germany. Second revised edition. Boku, Vienna, 356 p. ISBN 978-3900962-82-1. Innovations in Forestry Accounting: Integration of Forest Assets and Non-Market Environmental Benefits into Management and National Accounting and Reporting. Austrian Journal of Forest Science 126 (2009), 1/2, 118 p. Selected contributions to XXII IUFRO World Congress in Brisbane, Australia, 8–13 August 2005. Authors: Jöbstl, H.; Herbohn, K.; Tzschupke, W.; Campos, P. and Caparrós, A.; Maraseni, T.N., Cockfield, G. and Apan, A.; Gios, G. and Goio, I. Cesaro, L., Gatto, P. and Pettenella, D. (Eds., 2008) The Multifunctional Role of Forests–Policies, Methods and Case Studies. EFI Proceedings No. 55, Joensuu, p. 380. Zadnik Stirn, L. (Ed., 2008) Emerging Needs of Society from Forest Ecosystems: Towards the Opportunities and Dilemmas in Forest Managerial Economics and

528 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Accounting. Proceedings of the IUFRO Symposium in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 22–24 May 2008; 228 pp. ISBN 978-961-6020-51-0. Orders should be directed to the Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Forestry and Renewable Natural Resources, University of Ljubljana, Veèna pot 83, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Jöbstl, H. (2007) Einführung in das Rechnungswesen mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Forst- und Holzwirtschaft. (Introduction to Accounting in Forestry and Timber Industries). 13th revised ed., Österreichischer Agrarverlag, Vienna, 252 pp. ISBN 978-3-7040-2273-8. Available from DRW-Verlag. Kant, S. (Comp., 2004) Economics of Sustainable Forest Management, 20–22 May 2004. Proceedings. 117 pp. Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto/Canada. Jöbstl, H. (2004)—Controlling Grundlagen und Konzepte für die Forstverwaltung/ Controlling Basics and Concepts for Forest Enterprises. 2. revised and expanded edition, Universität für Bodenkultur, Vienna, 108 pp. ISBN 3 900962 28 6. Available from DRW-Verlag. Karisch, G. (2003) Berücksichtigung des Waldvermögens im forstlichen Rechnungswesen. Analysis of the assets accounting history and development of a model for the evaluation of changes in forest assets. Universität für Bodenkultur, Vienna, 200 pp. ISBN 3 900962 45 6. Available from DRW-Verlag. Héjj, B. and Schiberna, E. (Eds., 2003) Management and Modelling Multifunctional Forest Enterprises and Properties. Proceedings of the IUFRO Symposium in Sopron, Hungary, 26–28 May 2002; 191 pp. CD also available; Orders should be directed to the Faculty of Forestry, University of West Hungary, 9400 Sopron, Hungary Bajcsy Zs. E. u. 4. Merlo, M. (Comp., 2001) The Economics of Natural Hazards in Forestry. Provisional Proceedings of the IUFRO Symposium in Solsona, Catalonia, Spain, 7–10 June 2001; 157 pp. Padua University Press, Spain. Jöbstl, H., Merlo, M. and Venzi, L. (Eds., 2000) Institutional Aspects of Managerial Economics and Accounting in Forestry. Proceedings of the IUFRO Symposium in Roma-Ostia, 15–18 April 1998; 559 pp. Viterbo 2000. Orders should be directed to Agnesotti, Strada Tuscanese 71, Viterbo, Italy. Jöbstl, H., Merlo, M. and Sisak, L. (Eds., 2000) From Theory to Practice – Gaps and Solutions in Managerial Economics and Accouting in Forestry. Proceedings of the IUFRO Symposium in Prague, 13–15 May 1999; 260 pp. Prague 2000; ISBN 80-2130638-6. Orders should be directed to the Department of Forestry Economics and Management, Faculty of Forestry, Czech University of Agriculture, Kamýcká 129, Prague 6, Czech Republic. Jöbstl, H. (Ed. 2000) -Waldvermögensbewertung Forstliche Erfolgsrechnung/ Forest Asset Valuation - Forestry Performance Accounting. Proceedings of the IUFROWorkshop in Salzburg, 11–12 June 1999. Universität für Bodenkultur, Vienna, 178 pp. ISBN 3 900962 24 3. Available from DRW-Verlag. Jöbstl, H., Merlo, M. and Moog, M. (Eds., 2000) Information Management in Forest Enterprises. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Information

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Management in Forest Enterprises in Munich-Freising, Germany, 6–8 April 2000; 115 pp. Technische Universität, München. Jöbstl, H. (2000) Kosten und Leistungsrechnung in Forstbetrieben. (Cost and Performance Accounting in Forest Enterprises). A guideline for the forestry operating statement, costing and performance accounting with a basic introduction, 3rd, extended and entirely revised ed., Kommissionsverlag Österreichischer Agrarverlag, Vienna, 212 pp. ISBN 3 7040 1328-5. Available from DRW-Verlag. Roper, C.S. and Park, A. (Eds., 1999) The Living Forest - Non Market Benefits of Forestry. Proceedings of the IUFRO-Symposium in Edinburgh, 24–28 June 1996. The Stationery Office, London, 1999, 415 pp. ISBN 0 11 710343-8. Buttoud, G., Jöbstl, H. and Merlo, M. (Coord., 1998) Accounting and Managerial Economics for an Environmentally-Friendly Forestry. Proceedings of the IUFROINRA symposium in Nancy, 21–23 April 1997. Actes et Communications No. 15, INRA-Editions, Versailles, 1998, 384 pp. ISBN 2 7380 0656-6. Jöbstl, H. (1996) Rechnungswesen in der Forst- und Holzwirtschaft. Vol. 2, 6th expanded and completely revised ed., Österreichischer Agrarverlag, Vienna, 232 pp. ISBN 3 7040 1259-9.

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24 Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) for Government Objectives · To learn about the importance of Human Resource Management System (HRMS) for Government · To learn about the outcomes expected from the system · To understand the business relations of the system · To learn about the requirements of HRMS · To understand the labour relations and requirements from the system in accordance with those · To learn about various reporting formats in HRMS · Understanding the costs associated with the system

24.1

INTRODUCTION

HRMS aims at simplifying the management of human resources in an organisation by better data retention and by providing efficient access to the data. An HRMS for the government centralises government employee record keeping and provides an electronic solution for the manual processes currently performed. HRMS for government is invaluable, especially in light of the fact that many governments do not even know the actual number of employees in government and, therefore, are in no position to manage their employees effectively. Many government offices and their processes use manual or semi-manual systems for managing government employees. However, of late, several of them at various levels have recognised the need for HRMS. The key objectives of HRMS from government’s perspective are the following: · Creation of a Government to Employee (G2E) portal that supports selfservice for the large number of government employees

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· Automation of HR processes · Monitoring and tracking of applications for services and benefits to government employees · Supporting the administration and service procedure of government and · Providing a unified view of deployment of human resource

24.2

IMPORTANCE OF A GOVERNMENT HRMS

Government departments interact with various stakeholders such as citizens, businesses, civil society, other departments, other governments, and so on. This is a very challenging task, especially when these interactions are driven by actual individuals within the government who may or may not have the right skills, the right support or the right experience to deal with external agencies. It, therefore, becomes important to ensure that government employees are given the right training, have the right skills, have the proper morale and are appropriately identified for the right role. The broad responsibilities of HR management in government are listed as under: · Conducting orientation programs for new regular or contractual employees · Maintaining accurate employee records · Maintaining employee training information · Overseeing HR programs such as performance development, wellness, ergonomics and employee assistance · Handling grievances, negotiating collective agreements with labour and other labour relationship issues · Developing and continually ensuring consistent and fair recruitment procedures and practices · Providing payroll administration and perquisite and benefit information to the employees · Providing HR statistics and information, including attendance, exit interviews and retention issues to management · Addressing all issues related to facilities management, including contracts for services The government human resources requirements have functionalities such as payroll, leave management, employee insurance benefits, position control, seniority lists and organisational charts, public service pension plan, calculation of payments such as severance and redundancy, tracking of training information of each employee, performance development evaluation for each employee,

532 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies salary calculations, increases as per collective agreement with employees, managing allowances, maintaining job description for all available posts, HR information through intranet, supporting employee wellness, disability management of staff claims. To streamline these processes it is essential to have an integrated HRMS that captures and provides access to essential information to support HR services and programs across several individuals, departments, and states. Implementation of such a system is crucial for being able to offer a single access point of data entry and retrieval. While some automated capabilities might already exist, they are most often not integrated. HRMS must also be able to support training documentation, individual employee training development plans and the ability to integrate a repository of employee skills and competency data. In most governments, the current approach to entering and accessing data involves duplication and has many limitations. As some HR areas have grown, several governments have developed their own databases for tracking various programs. These semi-automated systems are typically developed in an effort to move from paper files to automated record keeping, resulting in methods / standards unique to each employee’s computer and personal preferences. While some information may be automated, the systems are typically not integrated and would have considerable duplication of data. As a result, many requests for HR related information require extensive manual intervention before it can be used as government information. This becomes serious in light of legislations such as freedom to information acts implemented in many countries. For example in India, Right to Information Act has been implemented wherein any citizen can demand detailed information of government employees and the government would find it tedious and expensive to respond to such queries from citizens in the absence of appropriate government HRMS.

24.3

HIGH LEVEL BENEFITS OF GOVERNMENT HRMS

As mentioned earlier, the primary benefit from HRMS would be to prevent data redundancy. Other key governance benefits expected from HRMS are as follows:

24.3.1

Single Data Model

HRMS helps to provide a ‘single and integrated view’ of all employee-related service record information across all departments. Data, that was earlier available in multiple locations simultaneously, can now be retrieved from a single integrated HRMS. This eliminates duplicate entries.

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24.3.2

Self Service

Self service enabled functioning of government employee management with little intervention from the human personnel responsible for its functioning. Self service enables empowerment of government employees to manage initiative and manage their own transactions and data and that of their subordinates as well as allow employees to manage their career development plans. Selfservice also helps in reducing manual intervention from HR, thus reducing the need for extra workforce in the government.

24.3.3

More Efficient Workforce

HRMS helps in creation of competency development plans for government employees. Competency development plan may include training in new policies, tutorials, relevant documentation, and so on based on skill matrix of its employees.

24.3.4 Higher Productivity HRMS helps increase the productivity of government employees in general and government itself by making the process of employee management more efficient, by providing better and focused training to them and by helping in increasing employee morale. Implementation of HRMS results in reduction in HR administrative costs, since most of the services can be managed by self service. Implementation of HRMS also enhances HR’s role to a strategic level with focus on value-added activities such as training, motivation, succession planning, leadership development, and so on. HRMS leads to an improved data accuracy quality and timeliness and elimination of redundant data entry. With reduced redundancy in and streamlining access and updation of data, data usage becomes more coherent and comprehensible. HRMS also helps in workforce optimisation. A good HRMS would result in a larger and productive resource pool. For employees, HRMS adds tremendous value by increasing governmentcustomer access and satisfaction. With streamlined processes, coherent data and accessible information, employee complaints typically reduce. Workforce empowerment through self service also gives a perception of transparency. Therefore HRMS is an essential IT infrastructure from both government as well as employee perspectives. A robust HRMS would lead to a more productive government employee base with a higher morale which would contribute to a better governance and enhanced service delivery to citizens.

24.4

DETAILED GOVERNMENT HRMS FUNCTIONALITIES

Typical functionalities required by a government HRMS are listed below.

534 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 24.4.1

Work Structures

HRMS must support the work structures that exist within a government. The work structures consist of the organisation structure, the jobs, the positions, the grades, the headcount budgeting, person types and their status.

24.4.2

Employee Services

HRMS must be able to support training requirements of employees as well as be able to capture the grievances and feedback from them.

24.4.3

Employee Personal Information

Personnel information includes personal records like name, address, sex, date of birth, employee number, telephone number, employment status, position name, department name, emergency contact, email address, assignments and assignment history, special information, employee ID picture, details about any prior work experience and absences management. Any government HRMS must be able to capture this information in an electronic form. A government HRMS system must be able to track the records of employment, employee information, and employee benefit data like insurance claims and so on.

24.4.4

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation and benefits include functions like salaries, benefits, absence definition and leave definition, bonuses, travel allowances and dearness allowances and interface to payroll. HRMS should support the compensation and benefits requirements. Benefits such as health insurance, life insurance, travel benefits, on-site expenses and leave benefits should be supported by HRMS. These benefits should also be linked to payroll. HRMS must also have immediate halt or deferring facilities, based on changes in the employee status in the organisation such as suspension or voluntary retirement of the employee.

24.4.5 Recruitment Recruitment to a governmental job generally has a special set of parameters such as geographical and social constraints besides educational qualifications. A recruitment section of HRMS for government should, therefore, contain sections for qualifications required, openings available, recruitment processes, job descriptions, application procedures and guidelines and finally a career growth path, immediate seniors and sub-ordinates. Recruitment procedure in an HRMS include advertising vacancy requirements, capturing applicants responding to the advertisement, monitoring the applicant’s

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progress, managing recruitment process, mass updation of the applicants’ status, and finally, issuing the offer or rejection letters. An HRMS-based recruitment process would not only make it efficient, but also transparent. The recruitment process in HRMS should include alerts of vacancies, appropriately trigger workflows, and place advertisements for the post. Following this it should also have provision to capture details of applications received for the post and set in motion the short listing of the candidates and schedule interviews. Sophisticated HRMS would also be in a position to capture the scoring of interviews and capture data to make the interview process robust and fool proof. Post the interviews, the system should also trigger the rejection and acceptance letters to respective applicants. Thus HRMS would make recruitment process transparent and efficient.

24.4.6

Payroll Administration

Payroll is an important function of managing employees and also forms a significant component of the planned budget of the government. Managing payroll for regular, contractual, temporary and other employees is, therefore, an important functionality of any government HRMS. The payroll administration must take care of salary adjustments, increments, incentives, and also issues like increase, or decrease in salary for specific groups of employees. The payroll system should also be able to provide facilities to add, remove or alter employees’ data based on recruitment, promotions or retrenchments. An important functionality of a payroll system would be the monthly transfer of salaries to the accounts of the employees, based on the level of employment and incentives or bonuses they have received for that particular month. There are also several other employee payments such as claims for insurance, travel, and so on which must be verified and reimbursed. Very often, this involves several departments who need to attest the claim. HRMS should be able to cater to these requirements along with managing retirement pay, deferred pay, etc.

Mid pay period adjustments It is essential that salary changes be possible at any given time during a pay period in order to facilitate rotation of staff between positions with varying pay. This would also include ability to pro-rate deductions based on different salaries.

Across the board increases Pay increases for all staff should be easily implemented. For example, a two percent increase for all members of a unit.

536 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Increases for specific groups of employees Increases may be applied differently for different groups of employees. For example, those who are above par performers and are critical for the smooth functioning of the department must be grouped separately when effecting a mass increase.

Flexibility to create and alter payroll deductions HR department needs the flexibility to create deduction categories in addition to the legislatively required deductions such as tax, provident fund and ESIC.

Monthly electronic data exchange Monthly electronic data exchange to departments within client entities or with external agencies includes department number; employee name and identification number; employment status (active, terminated, inactive); pay period and year to date amounts, deduction amount; type of deduction, and so on.

Records of employment (ROEs) The ability to generate and print current as well as previous records of employment as opposed to having to manually write ROEs from reports would be beneficial.

Enforcement payments The ability to make pay adjustments as directed by such agencies as departments with specific amounts and specific start and end dates.

Overtime/call-back/standby It should be able to activate or deactivate employees’ eligibility within a pay period as necessary. Aside from regular earnings, the system must have the ability to accept, process and account for overtime / call-back / standby earnings, each of which has specific rates and rules of application and would be affected if dates worked were statutory holidays. A link to the attendance system would be necessary.

Other payments to employees The Client (as the employer) may provide other payments to employees. The payroll component of the HRIS must have this ability along with that to allow for adjustments in rate calculations, enter hourly rates, enter hours worked, overpayments and retroactive payments.

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Retroactive pay The ability to process retroactive salary increases is sometimes necessary. Retroactivity must be applied to all remunerations during the period and must adjust deductions already calculated.

Allowance Dearness and other allowances as announced by the government must be effected in a simple and centralised manner without having to change each employee data records.

Retirement pay Based on state rules, retirement or other termination pay should be calculated.

Deferred salary The system must be capable of processing employees who receive deferred salaries. For example, an employee may work for 12 months of the year and take the following six months off. Rather than the full salary for the 12-month period, the employee will receive 2/3rds of his/her salary over an 18-month period. The system should be capable of calculating any combination of a deferred salary plan within the parameters of the client’s procedures on the issue. Note that benefits and deductions must also be pro-rated over the deferred salary.

Salaries and step Increases To administer salary and step increase for each employee, the system must calculate, utilising the formula and points assigned positions. The automation of such calculations is mandatory.

Pension calculations The pension plan has to be calculated and a yearly maximum pensionable earnings arrived at. Job sharing, part-time or call-in employees are initially entered into temporary data area. The client needs to capture such information as whether the employee has come from private industry or has been in the government service with the previous employer; whether the employee has been in the pension plan.

Employee loans and advances Appropriate accounts for each employee regarding loans and balances must be maintained.

538 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Other programs The programme must maintain detailed record of any other facility provided from time to time to employees such as education loan, computer purchase loan, and so on.

Annual leave accruals The cost of accumulated annual leave is currently calculated manually for year-end accruals. The government HRMS should have the capability of automatically providing this information at year-end.

Other requirement of HRMS · · · · · · · · · ·

Allowances for meals, clothing, and so on. Course reimbursements Employee rebates Salary Advances (prior to vacation) Pension adjustments Confidential file creation Pensioners on payroll Unpaid leave Pay / benefits assigned to general ledger (GL) accounts Journal entries to record payroll and benefits should be in a format so that it can be automatically updated to appropriate GL accounts. The requisitions for payroll remittances should be available for automatic updates to the accounts payable system.

24.4.7

Maintaining Date Records

Given the significance of accurate date information, relevant dates must be entered, maintained and adjusted and should be made accessible as and when required. One such important HRMS date is the hire date (with the government and with previous employing department before deputation so that leave can be transferred, sick leaves can be tracked and annual leave accumulations can be tracked). Other important dates that a government HRMS must track are dates of seniority (and adjustments made for periods of unpaid leave), unpaid leave, on-special duty, service recognition (for calculating pension) and termination and severance.

24.4.8

Attendance and Time Tracking

Attendance and working hours tracking is very important in HRMS. HRMS should be able to keep track of the number of days attended and the number

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of hours worked by employees, so as to use the data for increment calculation, relocation recommendation, and so on. This can also be used to calculate outstanding leave and availed leave. HRMS can allow for adjustments (suppose in normal case someone attends office 40 hours a week and in an emergency if he attends 20 hours in a day, he may be allowed leave the next day or two), and calculate cash deductions as per extra leave taken. HRMS should be able to track and report by day of week for departmental/employee leave trends, capture accumulated overtime and overtime leave taken, allow employees to request leave and have leave approved electronically, allow employees to enter and log time worked towards various projects within the department and generate if and when sick leave notes are required.

24.4.9

Training

In order to build successful and innovative government departments, it is important to develop and enhance employee skill sets on a continuous basis. Given new regulations, rules or mandates of the government, there are several skills that the employees have to learn. These new skills could be new processes of issuing licenses, new processes of tracking payments of bills or any such issue. For all such new skill requirements, the government would need to train its personnel using the e-learning features of HRMS. Training materials need to be developed keeping certain policies in mind. Some of these policies are highlighted below.

Core competencies Training material must consider what the employees are good at, what are their work requirements and what they need to be trained on in order to improve their core competencies and to make them more productive for their work requirements.

Employee needs There might be processes, procedures or technologies that the employees would like to know. In such cases, HRMS would have to take care of the specific training needs of the employees too.

Professional associations e-Learning of HRMS must support linkages with external agencies that would enhance employee training. It should also be able to track the training identified in performance development evaluations. It should also allow the government employees to refer back to previous trainings that they might have attended.

540 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 24.4.10

Performance Development

In most governments, performance development is confined to annual verifications and tedious procedures that do not necessarily ensure appropriate outcomes. In addition, informal progress meetings, trial period reviews and probationary period reviews are the mechanisms used to currently address employee needs and performance. HRMS brings in a more scientific performance development process by supporting a scheduling and recording of performance development meeting dates (by department, position, employee and supervisor). HRMS must also be able to record dates of completion of various planned and non-planned trainings. Training plans identified within the review should ideally be linked to a training database so that all training programmers are captured and accessible electronically through HRMS. Performance development must have the following features: · · · · · · · · · ·

Appraisals Information about performance objectives and goals Functionalities to update and edit the objectives and goals Record performance metrics and measures Points or grade system to track performance History of performance goals and reviews Track progress of events and intimate those performing poorly Feedback to employees Collect suggestions and feedback from employees Set reminders and alerts for several performance milestones

· Succession plan including rewards, incentives and promotions promised and entitled to on performance satisfactory to the seniors

24.4.11

Position Classification

Once someone is recruited or has applied for a post, it is mandatory for the candidate to know the description and other details about that job. The information is to be provided and maintained by HRMS in order to support the employee and should have compensation details, position title, hire dates, position history, personnel classification, employee history, seniority and classification level in case of graded positions.

24.4.12

Employee Self Service Options

Employees require access to information on beneficiaries, payroll, cheque stubs, life insurance coverage, attendance / leave and bank. The facility to view and change employees’ contact details, and request leave types would

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be beneficial in reducing the amount of administrative time taken up with this function and would ensure that up-to-date information is entered, with the employee being accountable. These changes would also have to automatically update and link to all other sub-systems of HRMS.

24.4.13

Labour/Employee Relations

Following information is required for tracking labour/employee relations: · · · · · · · · · ·

Date grievance filed Against whom and by whom the grievance was filed Date received in HR/FM (Financial Management) Issue and article of collective agreement being grieved Dates of meetings/conversations held to discuss and settle grievance Status of grievance and details of committee members involved in its resolution Comment section for appropriate / unique information on the grievance handling process Arbitration information—dates; committee members Final results and impact Ability to customise so that other required information may be captured as needed

24.4.14

Transfers/Relocations

A government HRMS should be able to support automatic data handling for transfers, postings and deputations. Business rules related to staff transfers, therefore, have to be automated. Necessary changes should also happen in the recruitment database which triggers job openings as and when they occur due to transfers, relocations or deputations.

24.4.15

Accident Management

HRMS should also preferably cover tracking of injury or long term-disability. This involves the ongoing management of long-term disability claims and requires access to information and statistics concerning the affected government employees.

24.4.16

Loans

An efficient HR also looks after loans and other elements related to external financing of employees. Generally most government departments offer loans and financial assistance in liaison with government-approved banks.

542 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 24.5

REPORTING

The ability to generate accurate and timely reports is essential for effective dayto-day management of resources as well as strategic planning. In addition, in order to better provide users with desired and relevant information, the need for ad hoc reporting capabilities is vital. A government HRMS should be able to produce ad hoc reports in addition to the standard reports. This is necessary for providing information required by various government agencies or Parliament.

24.5.1

Benefit Reports

Reports outlining information such as benefit type, amount of coverage and cost per employee are required.

24.5.2 Attendance Employees generate their leave type requests through a computerised system and receive approval from their supervisor through the same system. At any time, employees can view their leave balances for the year and the amount of leave used to date. This system generates reports on total days of leave used by department/individuals; total lost by date, position, type of leave; and cost of leave.

24.5.3

Employee Demographics/Statistics

Data of new employees such as average age, experience, or education is sometimes required. While the nature of requests varies, flexibility is required to capture and interpret many variables before it can be utilised for business purposes.

24.5.4

Position Control/Work History

A government HRMS must have the ability to track, maintain and report on all dimensions of both the position and the incumbent with regard to permanent and temporary position assignments, salary, performance, position title, hire dates, assignment dates, seniority, budget forecasts, and organisational charts, and to produce reports of government vacancies.

24.5.5

Training

At a minimum, the system will be required to capture employee training needs, training accomplished, and expiry dates of certifications, by employee, department, position and organisation.

24.5.6

Safety Report

Safety report should be required to capture date of request; type of injury; workstation review requirements; name of employee, position, department

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initiating request; incident information; supervisor involved and dates of reviews; and results of reviews. Reports should assist in identifying injury trends within departments or positions and should provide information as required on a daily, monthly and annual basis. Information should be accessed through multiple factors, such as positions, dates, and employees. Reports must capture such information as date and type of injury / accident / incident, employee, position, department, lost time, claim costs, date of return to work, intervention, and miscellaneous information.

24.5.7

Performance Development Evaluation

The system should capture the number of performance reviews completed at any time; the dates and number of probationary and trial period reports completed; and the number of outstanding reports and identify the individuals, departments, positions and supervisors involved. Training needs identified within the review would, ideally, transfer into a report for training needs to be captured. Similarly, when training has been provided to employees, a means of entering “training completed” in the performance development evaluation reports would be extremely beneficial.

24.5.8

Budget Monitoring

Salary, steps, department and status (temporary, permanent, contractual) for each employee need to be reported and should be exportable to the government financial system or at least to a spreadsheet.

24.5.9

Customised or Ad Hoc Reports

Reports must link to (import/export) spreadsheets and word processing applications such as Open Office, analyse data, access and display data by multiple means, and allow for various reporting time frames (such as weekly, monthly or quarterly).

24.6

ONLINE QUERIES

HRMS must be able to support all HR related inquiries in a dynamic environment, especially because government salary has got many allowances and perquisites and it would take a lot of inquiry to handle them all with minimum errors. Even though an HRMS system may support reports that would suffice the information requirements, however, for certain information, currency of the information is critical. Such information should be available as an online query rather than only as a printed report. The following online queries should be supported by a government HRMS:

544 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies It is possible to get the information available as reports as online queries also. However, we must keep in mind that online queries are computationally expensive and can bring down system performance.

24.7

COSTS

Costs involved in HRMS can be broken down into a number of sections. The costs include mainly the following (the list is not exhaustive): 1. Acquisition, customisation and licensing of software/hardware 2. Implementation costs 3. Ongoing support and service coverage (costs, hourly rates, and afterhour rates) 4. Training and training materials 5. Travel 6. Attendance and time tracking (if separate module or interface required) 7. Report costs (extra reports) 8. Cost of developing interfaces 9. Annual maintenance costs 10. Contract cancellation/penalty costs 11. Data conversion 12. Self service option 13. Future upgrade/enhancement costs 14. Separate/additional module costs (such as training and core competencies)

SUMMARY HRMSs are holistic and capture all the HR functions that an organisation would need to take care of its people. HRMS results in a single data model and more efficient workforce resulting in higher productivity. HRMS automate functions like work structure employee services, employee personal information, compensation and benefits, recruitment, and payroll administration amongst others. HRMS implementation also enables maintaining date records, attendance, time tracking and training calendar for employees. Ease of use features to all employees like the employee self service options increases transparency, the employees are in a better position to see their performance development records, attendance and position classification records online. HRMS enables the HR division with tools to carry out effective reporting and develop applications such as online queries which will be beneficial to the employees. Implementation of HRMS comes with its own cost structure. Other than the cost of acquiring the core module, the cost would arise from training, support and upgrades amongst others.

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KEY TERMS HRMS A system which aims at simplifying the role of human resource personnel in an organisation by better data retention, and providing efficient access to the data for the right sources. Single Data Model Would strive to provide a ‘single and integrated view’ of all employee-related service record information across all departments. Self Service Empowerment of our people to participate in their own transaction and their subordinates’ career development and maintenance. Benefit Reports Reports outlining information such as benefit type, amount of coverage and cost per employee.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Why is HRMS important for a government? 2. Give the high level business benefits of a Human Resource Management System. 3. What are the key functionalities of an HRMS from a government perspective? 4. What are the key reports and queries that a government HRMS should have? 5. What are the key costs of implementing an HRMS in a government?

REFERENCES Samtech Infonet Ltd. 2005. Development and Deployment of HRMS for GoUA. Samtech Infonet Ltd. 2005. SRS for Development and Deployment of HRMS for GoUA.

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25 IT Enablement of Police Department Objectives · To learn the basic functioning of the police department · To learn the importance of ICT in the police department · To understand the stakeholders in IT application in the police department · To understand the business benefits of ICT in the police department · To learn the architecture applicable to ICT enabled police department · To understand the requirements of IT systems for police department · To understand the issues of application of IT in police department

25.1

INTRODUCTION

World over police departments have been switching to various computerised applications covering various aspects of their functioning. This chapter deals with the key issues of an integrated police IT system and gives a roadmap to achieve successful application of ICTs in police functioning.

25.2

POLICE FUNCTIONING

Police is an integral part of government with the primary objectives of maintaining law and order, investigation and detection of crime, traffic management and protection of life, liberty and property of citizens. Other policing functions include VVIP security, intelligence gathering, licensing, and so on. Police is a state monopoly which cannot be privatised or outsourced. In order to perform the policing activities effectively a large number of units such as communication, armed police, training, vigilance, personnel, control room, wireless, land and buildings, provisioning and logistics, motor transport, finger print bureau, and so on should function in a coordinated manner in conjunction with support units.

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Most information generated by the police department is not in the public domain. However, some information is relevant to general public. Some information related to security of vital installation and VVIPs, security of state and similar such information is classified as top secret. Similarly, information related to victims and juvenile offenders cannot be shared with the public. Traditionally police has been managing information through a large number of registers where information is entered in various columns and which makes it easier for information to be retrieved. A very meticulous procedure and format described in the police manuals is followed for this record keeping at the police stations which is the basic unit of police functioning. However, searching and retrieval of information at district or state level is extremely tedious as various manual registers are maintained at the police station level and district or state level query has to be processed in each police station and results have to be compiled at district or state level. When the crime figures are low and criminals are largely confined to a particular police station or a district area while committing crime, the manual record keeping is successful. However, with increasing mobility of victims and criminals and increasing crime figures, the traditional record keeping has totally failed and this is where information technology has come to the help of the police department. Today police departments have to process a large amount of information to carry out their functions efficiently and the use of ICT is the only way to do it.

25.3

IT IN POLICE

Computerisation in the police department can be viewed from two perspectives. · Internal police working point of view · Citizens’ point of view Efforts in police record’s computerisation started from internal police functioning. Non-critical functions such as accounts management, personal information and inventory management were the first projects to be taken up for computerisation in several states. This was due to several reasons such as easy availability of readymade packages, lesser costs involved, noncriticality of the project, ease of computerisation, and so on. The consequential benefits did not result in any improvement in the core functioning of police department and as such the benefits accrued could not make any significant improvement in the police functioning and public at large did not gain anything out of such efforts. The functioning of police department largely revolves around crime and criminals. Therefore, in many countries, the initial efforts for IT enablement in police functions were initiated by the national bureaus of crime. For example, in India, the first computerisation efforts started from the Crime Criminal

548 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Information System (CCIS) of National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). The model in India envisaged data entry of crime and criminals at District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB) and then it was compiled at state level by State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) and the data in electronic form was sent to NCRB for compilation. However, the data was not available online to various districts or states. The biggest problem in the concept was that data was not captured at the place where it was generated, that is at police station levels. Voluminous data that had to be entered into computer by data entry operators or constables after various paper documents were filled in by investigation officers at police station manually. Data is entered in various manual registers which results in duplication of efforts as the CCIS data was to be entered in computers in addition to what was done manually which increased the overall work load. The consequential benefits were not easily available to the investigating officers. This resulted in large amount of backlog, entry of wrong invalidated data and several other problems which diminished the utility of the data.

25.4

STAKEHOLDERS

Stakeholders or actors in the policing systems computerisation project have been depicted in Figure 25.1.

Emigration Department

Central Police Organisation like NCRB, BPR&D

Citizens State Government & District Administration

Passport Department

Police Department Transport Department

Central Government

Prosecution Department

Hospitals Prison & Correctional Institute

FIGURE 25.1

Judiciary

Stakeholders in Police IT System

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Police organisations are one of the components of the criminal justice system and in its functioning it interacts with various other governmental and nongovernmental organisations as well as individuals who have various roles to play in the system and data generated by them are inter-linked.

25.5

BUSINESS BENEFITS

Computerisation of police department would eventually bring benefits to not only the police department but also to each of the stakeholders. These are summarised below.

25.5.1

Benefits for the Police Department

Application of ICT to the police department would help in their primary task, that is to better control and prevent crime. It would also help the department to create a better system for the detection and investigation of crime. The application of ICT would also help the police department in optimisation of its efforts, personnel and resources. Besides creating a better system for investigation, an IT enabled police force would also result in speedy investigation and trial. ICT in the police would also create a better supervision of investigation by senior officers, which would thereby result in a better conviction rate. One of the most important results of application of ICT in police would be the sharing of criminal intelligence and information within the department, and also with various state police and outside agencies, thus lending an incisive touch to the investigations, resulting in effective analysis of crime and criminal data. All the above combined benefits would also result in a responsive and citizen-friendly police, eventually leading to an enhanced perception of the police. The application of IT would also enable automatic generation of reports and statistics which would help in having a better managed police force. It would also enable better integration and coordination with prosecution, court, hospital, jail, transport authorities, motor vehicle licensing department, immigration, national crime boards, passport office, and so on.

25.5.2

Benefits for the Citizens

Adoption of ICT in the police department would benefit not only the department but also the general public by providing access to the services of the police department. Transparency and a fall in the corruption levels in the department, the availability of information to public, an enhanced public confidence and cooperation with the police are some of the many benefits that an ICT-enabled police force can offer to the citizens. The application of ICT would also result in an increased accountability of the police department

550 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies leading to a better image of the department in the eyes of the people. It would also result in speedy redressal of public grievances. One of the most significant benefits to the citizens would be online availability of status of complaints, passport verification, licensing, checking of stolen/ found motor vehicles, checking of servant/tenant verification status, and so on. Police department assumes a very important role in society and thus any improvements in this department results in the upliftment of the society. IT enabled Police would result in benefits such as · Online delivery of FIR copies to area magistrate. · Coordination between courts and police on cases filed in courts so that there are no discrepancies or missing case files. · Checking of previous criminal involvements while deciding matters related to plea bargaining and enhanced punishment.

25.6 ARCHITECTURE OF ICT APPLICATION IN POLICE 25.6 DEPARTMENT Let us first take a look at what is the process that a police department usually goes through during its investigation process. Depending on this process a relevant architecture can be designed so as to assist police department in its functioning. The basic function of a police station is investigation of a cognisable case which starts when information of a cognisable crime is received in the police station either orally or in writing. Recording of a First Information Report (FIR) sets the process of criminal justice system in motion and a number of events follow after that in the process which in its basic form is depicted in Figure 25.2. Before taking a look at the architecture of an ICT-enabled police department, let us first take a look at the organisational structure of a typical police department (Figure 25.3). Legends: DGP

Director General of Police

Addl. DGP Additional Director General of Police IG

Inspector General

DIG

Deputy Inspector General

SP

Superintendent Police

Now let us take a look at the architecture that an IT-enabled police department can possibly have (Figure 25.4).

IT Enablement of Police Department Victim information Details of crime Details of suspects if known Property details

Complainant reports a cognizable case to Police Registration of FIR

Inform court & Senior Officers

Entry in station diary Medical examination of victim if required Examination of scene of crime Examination of witness

Identification of accused

Seizure of evidence

Details of accused Finger prints recording

Case finalisation (charge sheet, untraced, cancelled etc.)

Sending exhibits to FSL Medical examination of accused

Bail, PC JC

Trial Decision of case by court Enhanced punishment for repeat offender

Sentence

Appeal

Acquittal

Release after sentence

Prison

FIGURE 25.2

Process Flow Diagram for Police Investigation DGP

ADDL DGP

IG/Zone

DIG/Range

SP/District Sub-Divisional Police Officer

FIGURE 25.3 Basic Units of Police Functioning

551

552 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Radio Connectivity

SDPO

SP

DIG/IGP DGP Office Aunthentication server

Offices Police Station

User

User

User

User

Application Server

SMS Server

Data Base Server

Data Base

Other Govt Agencies GPRS

Mobile Investigation Unit Laptop, PDA, Simputer

Web Server

Disaster Management

Internet Firewall

Public

FIGURE 25.4 Architecture of an IT-enabled Police Department

25.7

REQUIREMENTS OF THE SYSTEM

In this section we take a look at the various functionalities that are required for applying ICT in police department.

25.7.1

Crime Criminal Information System (CCIS)

The core functioning of police generates large amount of data with respect to crime and criminals and hence the computerisation of this core functioning is helpful in prevention, detection and investigation of crime in several ways. In order to keep surveillance on known habitual and active criminals, it is important to search for data on criminals with several involvements in crimes of a particular nature. Crime data is useful in finding trends and patterns which are useful in planning preventive measures. Where crime has been committed by a habitual criminal, its detection is facilitated by searching the criminal database based on the modus operandi, physical features and other particulars of criminals given by witnesses or victims. This database is also useful for verification of character and antecedents, issue of passport, arms license, job clearance, and so on.

25.7.2 Missing Persons/Unidentified Persons or Dead Bodies 25.7.2 Matching A large number of persons go missing daily and a large number of unidentified persons or dead bodies are found. Unidentified persons found are those who are unable to give their identity as they are underage, or suffer from lunacy,

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schizophrenia, old age or in an unconscious state. Reports of these persons are made to police stations and in the traditional method for each such report wireless messages are sent to all police stations and due to the voluminous manual work, matching of identity is often very poor. As a result there have been instances where a person is reported missing from an area under one police station and his body is found in an area under another police station and remains unidentified. The two events do not get connected and as a result many times cases of murders or kidnappings remain unsolved and unidentified bodies are cremated by police as unclaimed bodies. In computerised applications particulars such as name, age, sex, physical features, photograph, body marks, deformities, description of clothes worn and other information are uploaded onto the central server by the concerned police stations. The data is accessible to police officers as well as to public at large on Internet. They can search the data based on various parameters. Due to a larger and easier way for data search, the matching percentage of missing persons in such a computerised system is greater than a manual system. Such a system can work most efficiently only if there is a common database for the entire country.

25.7.3

Matching of Stolen Motor Vehicle with Abandoned Vehicles

A large number of motor vehicles get stolen in the country and many of them are sold or abandoned by criminals at far off places and are deposited as unclaimed in police stations and in many such vehicles the license plate is faked. A computerised system maintaining a database of both the types of vehicles with details such as registration number, engine number, chassis number, make, model and other vehicle information is necessary for matching these vehicles. Many countries across the globe are maintaining an online databases of stolen vehicles. This data is of prime importance to the numerous insurance agencies which have to pay claims on stolen property. Typically the insurance firms can ask the central agencies maintaining these databases to access the data and thereby check in on fallacious claims. Several states (like Delhi in India) are maintaining an online database of such vehicles while a national database is being maintained by national crime bureaus such as NCRB. Various insurance companies obtain a report from NCRB to verify the status of vehicles before settling claims. However, the application is not accessible to public or police directly and they have to go to special counters to access the information. The data is also not available online to transport authorities who continue to register stolen vehicles. In a computerised application it should be possible to search the data of vehicles based on one or more parameters such as engine

554 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies or chassis number, make, colour, place, FIR No. and date, and so on. It is also desirable to have a statewide connectivity to the police information systems and accessibility to database of other police organisations.

25.7.4

Automatic Finger-print Identification System

In the criminal justice system, quick and accurate identification of suspects or arrested persons is of immense importance as it allows the investigators to find out about the previous involvement in crime of the identified suspects. It also helps in interrogation, deciding about bail, deciding on enhanced punishment, and so on. Fingerprint is the most widely established and used method for most accurate identification of individuals. Manual fingerprint record and retrieval systems are incapable of meeting the challenging task of speed and accuracy when the data is huge. The processing of finger prints through computers has been a great step in police computerisation. In such a system, images of fingerprints, palm-prints and footprints of known criminals are stored in computers along with other information. Such images are processed using various algorithms and image processing tools to automatically extract minutia classification. Whenever a chance print is found from a scene of crime, or a suspected criminal with previous record needs to be identified, these prints are compared with the database and automatic matching is done. When one to N matching is done, computers are a great help to fingerprint experts. Various fingerprint bureaus in India have gone for Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) but they all use proprietary software and the images or processed minutia are not available for use in any other compatible software. This is largely due to the proprietary nature of software and lack of standards like National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) which has developed data format for the interchange of fingerprint, facial and other biometric information. Live fingerprint scanners which capture the fingerprints electronically in inkless operation and send it over wire for identification from remote location are recent developments. The above identification is also useful in coordinating the match between wanted and arrested persons.

25.7.5

Crime Mapping and Analysis

Crime is committed in a geographical location by criminals who have mobility. The geographical location provides information about the victim, his or her vulnerability, special circumstance contributing to crime, criminals’ association with the location, and so on. Crime mapping helps the law enforcement agencies and social scientists to analyse the criminogenic factors contributing to crime which are useful in

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crime prevention. Combining data from multiple sources can be very useful in such analysis. For example, mapping homicide data with density of population and pockets where people are below poverty line could give valuable insight and help in hotspot analysis and spotting geographical trends. Such mapping has been of great help in tracking serial offenders using criminal targeting models and for geographical profiling of criminals. Usually such mapping is done with specialised software packages.

25.7.6

Traffic Systems

An important duty of traffic police is to prosecute traffic offenders. When an offending driver is booked, the offending driver’s previous traffic violations needs to be checked in order to decide if the person is a repeat offender whose license needs to be canceled or is a wanted criminal or proclaimed offender or a first time offender. The officer also needs to know whether the vehicle is stolen or was previously used in a crime. For this the traffic police on the road needs to consult databases of previous traffic violations, stolen vehicles and crimes. For traffic offenses where only the vehicle number is known, the traffic police department needs to access the vehicle ownership data of transport department so that notice can be issued to the owner to find out and prosecute the driver of the vehicle. Such an application requires use of handheld devices such as PDA’s or simputers by the traffic policeman on the road and requires linkages to central databases as well as databases of various other relevant departments.

25.7.7

Computerisation of Control Room

With the increase in the volume of cases being handled by an overstretched police force, it is necessary to make the control room more efficient. Therefore, it is important to IT-enable the control room. Following are some ways in which control room computerisation can be done. · Automatic distribution of calls on police telephone number and other help lines with identification, location and other particulars of the caller. · Voice recording and electronic details of the call. · GPS-based tracking of Police Control Room (PCR) and troop vehicles. · GIS based plotting of crime location and other spatial data. · GPRS-based transfer of information between control room and PCR vehicles.

25.7.8

SMS Service

In the new era of RTI, GSM is a cheap way for citizens to access information through cellular telephone. For example, police in Delhi (India) use SMS for interfacing with citizens. These SMS-based services allow access to mobile phone

556 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies users round the clock with automated feedback. Various types of services which could be made available for citizens are stolen vehicle search, unclaimed vehicle search, prompt verification status, stolen fire arm search, telephone numbers of police stations, stolen/missing mobile instrument details, and so on. Information such as ownership details of a vehicle, arrest, dossier of a criminal and similar information can be made available only to authorised police officers.

25.8

ISSUES AND CONCERNS

A number of police IT enablement efforts done piecemeal by enthusiastic individual police officers have failed as there was lack of appreciation and support from top management. Most of these projects fell into disuse as soon as the concerned officer was transferred. Many computerisation projects have got delayed and become obsolete due to fast changing technology. In several applications, data is first generated manually and is subsequently entered into the computerised system. This results not only in time-consuming and inefficient data entry but also in large number of errors in the data and leads to duplication of efforts. Moreover, the data entry is not properly validated. As a result lot of erroneous data gets entered, degrading the data quality and utility. Therefore, the system is not able to generate useful output for the stakeholders. As a result, the ownership of the system among the stakeholders is reduced and the process degenerates into a one way data entry into the system without any significant benefits for the police on the ground and to other stakeholders. In many cases, maintenance of software is not done periodically as the source code is not owned by police organisations. Therefore, required changes cannot be made in the software. As a result, over a period of time, the software is unable to meet the changed requirements of the department and integration and expansion of the system is not possible. In spite of computerisation, manual data keeping continues due to various reasons and the automatic reports cannot be generated as required by the user. Information security aspects are not properly addressed and often there are breaches which result in setback to the computerisation efforts. All the above are issues to watch out while enabling ICT in police department.

SUMMARY Top management approval, commitment and support are necessary for implementing IT application in the police. Hence, they need to be made aware of the benefits of computerisation. Police IT enablement projects are large software projects which cannot be developed by police officers alone and must be handled by professionals. They also need substantial budget allocations. Core policing issues must be addressed first and there must be sharing of good practices across similar initiatives. Police

IT Enablement of Police Department

557

leadership must also learn from successful e-government projects from around the world. Process restructuring must be done in such a way that it is aligned to the IT enablement initiative. Organisational change must be implemented effectively by tackling resistance to change in a professional manner. The IT enablement initiatives should use project management techniques for timely delivery of systems. Acceptance of computerisation efforts will start once the benefits of applications are visible to all stakeholders. Data must be captured at a place where it is generated and duplication must be avoided. The system must be scalable horizontally and vertically as well as must cater to data sharing with several applications or organisations. The utility of crime and criminal databases will be enhanced if data is available in a centralised manner for the entire country and possibly for the world. Also, local customisation to police systems is important. Inter-operability issues must be addressed from inception of the project. As far as possible software copyrights must be with police organisations implementing the project.

KEY TERMS NCRB

National Crime Record Bureau and agency of Government of India.

FIR A First Information Report or FIR is a written document prepared by the police in India, Pakistan and Japan when they receive information about the commission of a cognisable offence. It is a report of information that reaches the police first in point of time and that is why it is called the First Information Report. It is generally a complaint lodged with the police by the victim of a cognisable offence or by someone on his/her behalf. Anyone can report the commission of a cognisable offence either orally or in writing to the police. FSL Forensic Science Laboratory, an agency under Department of Police, Government of India. BPR&D Bureau of Police Research and Development, an agency of Government of India. Minutiae In biometrics and forensic science, minutiae are major features of a fingerprint, using which comparisons of one print with another can be made. Minutiae include: · Ridge ending – the abrupt end of a ridge. Looks like this(–) · Ridge bifurcation – a single ridge that divides into two ridges · Short ridge, or independent ridge – a ridge that commences, travels a short distance and then ends · Island – a single small ridge inside a short ridge or ridge ending that is not connected to all other ridges · Ridge enclosure – a single ridge that bifurcates and reunites shortly afterward to continue as a single ridge · Spur – a bifurcation with a short ridge branching off a longer ridge

558 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Crossover or bridge – a short ridge that runs between two parallel ridges · Delta – a Y-shaped ridge meeting · Core – a U-turn in the ridge pattern CIPA Common Integrated Police Application, is a widely used police application that is implemented in many police stations in India. ZIPNET Zonal Integrated Police Network is a communication network of the police in India. NIC National Informatics Centre or NIC is the nodal agency for government of India that is the custodian of key government data and systems of Government of India.

CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Give a brief overview of the functioning of a police department. 2. Explain the need for IT in police department. Also list the various stakeholders of a Police system. 3. Explain the architecture of an IT enabled police system. 4. What are some of the biometric technologies that are critical for a Police IT system? 5. What are the potential reasons for failure of an IT enabled police system?

REFERENCES Mitra, R. K., Gupta, M. P., 2008 “A contextual perspective of performance assessment in eGovernment: A study of Indian Police Administration” in Government Information Quarterly, Volume 25, Issue 2, April 2008, Pages 278–302. Upadhyaya, A.K. 1991. “Police Computer: Problems and Perspectives”, Indian Police Journal, Jan-Dec pages 64 – 71. Kumar, Rupak Dutt. 2003. “Computerisation in Indian Police for Business Process Transformation”, CBI Bulletin, June. Behera, Loknath. 2003. “Policing with Technology”, CBI Bulletin, Nov. “Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice”, Available online at http://www.ncjsrs.gov/ pdffiles/nij/178919.pdf Downloaded on May 15, 2008.

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 559

26 Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems Objectives · To learn the basic functioning of few key departments · To learn the importance of ICT in the police departments · To understand the stakeholders in IT application in these department · To understand the business benefits of ICT for the departments

26.1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter introduces a few departments whose functioning has direct impact on the population of a country. It aims to give you a brief overview of the broad objectives of these departments and their key processes. There is an inherent commonality in the problems faced by these departments and their basic solutions fairly overlap. This chapter will cover the following departments: 1. Women and Child Development 2. Health and Family Welfare 3. Transport 4. Town Planning 5. Public Instruction 6. Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs 7. Animal Husbandry and Veterinary 8. Rural Development 9. Education 10. Drug Control

560 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 26.2

BROAD OBJECTIVES OF THE DEPARTMENTS

The 10 departments mentioned above cater to distinct disciplines of providing policy, support and rules and regulation to ensure a level playing field for the benefits of citizens, service providers and governments in their respective functions.

26.2.1

Department of Women and Child Development

The Department of Women and Child Development implements programmes for the welfare and development of women and children. The department aims at economic development and integration of women into the mainstream of economy, equity and social justice. It aims at all-round development of women while assuring them basic human dignity. The department also works towards ensuring that children get protection against neglect, abuse and exploitation. The department takes up programmes and schemes to guarantee their basic human rights including survival, development and full participation in social, cultural, educational and other endeavours for their individual growth and well being. Activities of the department fall into three categories: · Programmes for women development · Programmes for the development of the child · Social defence programmes

26.2.2

Department of Health and Family Welfare

The primary responsibility of the Health and Family Welfare Department is to provide preventive and curative health care services. The department undertakes assessment of health care needs in the country and subsequently makes plan to improve health infrastructure, personnel and other related facilities. The department is primarily focussed on increasing institutional delivery of health care services and to create awareness of the same. Another important responsibility of the department is to control communicable diseases by strengthening the programme of immunisation of children. The department is also responsible for the collection, compilation and dissemination of relevant information. It also provides training to health personnel for upgrading their skills and to sensitise them to the needs of various health programs taken up by the government. Finally, the department is responsible for monitoring various health programs besides carrying out planning, budgeting and financial management.

26.2.3

Transport Department

Department of Transport is responsible for all issues related to transportation, including surface and water transportation. In some governments, there are

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 561

different departments (or even ministries) for surface transport, water transport and airlines. In this chapter, we consider them as one single department.

26.2.4

Department of Town Planning

The primary function of the Department of Town Planning is preparation of physical plans to achieve organised and co-ordinated development at all levels, that is region, urban and rural. With all-round development activities and rapid urbanisation, the department has a significant responsibility of planning for the orderly development of urban and rural areas and to ensure a visual and functional improvement over the living conditions that would have otherwise existed without planning. The department assists urban development authorities, planning authorities and municipal planning authorities in the preparation of development plans, and implementing and enforcing these. The department also assists local bodies in matters related to town planning.

26.2.5

Department of Public Instruction

Administration and management of school education from pre-primary to secondary education level comes under the Department of Public Instruction. In addition, physical education, teachers’ education and special education like commerce, art, music, dance and some languages also come under the purview of this department. The primary responsibility of the department is to ensure minimisation of teacher absenteeism and that every teacher acquires prescribed teaching ability and to involve community actively in the development of school to make universal education a people’s campaign. The department is also responsible for bringing about qualitative change, through incorporation of educational reforms.

26.2.6

Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs

The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department is responsible for implementation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), which aims at providing food security to the below poverty line (BPL) population. It also enforces the various control orders issued to control the supply and distribution of essential commodities. The department usually also assists other departments in their programmes involving the distribution of food grains to the targeted population. It is also involved in the price support operations to help farmers from resorting to distress sale of their produce. The department looks after consumer affairs activities and plays a vital role in prevention of misuse and adulteration of petrol, diesel, kerosene, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) lubricating oils, and in the regulation of their distribution.

562 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 26.2.7 Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department The Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department is primarily responsible for the economic development of the rural areas through animal husbandry. The department has the responsibility of improving livestock production through scientific breeding, providing better health cover to livestock wealth of the country and providing effective extension services in the field of animal husbandry.

26.2.8

Department of Rural Development

Development of rural areas of an emerging economy is critical for the overall development of the nation. The department is primarily responsible for comprehensive rural development. The activities of the Department of Rural Development are mainly focused on eradication of poverty. In order to achieve this objective, BPL people are first identified. There are various parameters for identifying people as BPL. It is a rigorous task and each country follows a different method for the same. The department strives for the upliftment of BPL citizens, rural employment generation, creation of rural infrastructure and housing facilities for BPL and weaker sections of the society.

26.2.9

Department of Education

The main responsibility of the Department of Education in most countries is to oversee, maintain, expand and develop higher and technical education along with continuous growth in the primary and basic education levels of the people residing in that country. The Department of Education has the primary responsibility of imparting good quality education to a large number of children of the state with a view to their all-round development and then look forward to imparting higher technical knowledge to the same students. The department is responsible for recruitment of employees, transfer posting, promotion, pension, provident fund, preparation of budget for payment of salaries and wages, supply of text books and incentives to girl students. The department has broad guidelines for development of education, which usually includes the following: · Universalisation of education · Provision of sufficient numbers of teachers to schools · Development of necessary teaching infrastructure · Decrease in the rate of dropouts · Eradication of illiteracy · Provision of necessary training to teachers · Provision of encouragement and incentives for girls’ education

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 563

26.2.10

Department of Drug Control

Drug control forms an important element of healthcare. Control on the standards of drugs has engaged the attention of governments all over the world. The objectives of drug control are primarily to ensure the manufacture and supply/ distribution of quality, safe and efficacious drugs at affordable prices. Since the department is also responsible for drug standards, it also has the powers to inspect manufacturing and distribution through sales establishments, hospital stores attached to government hospitals and blood banks. It is also responsible for verifying compliance as per provisions in relevant Acts of the country. Establishment of standards is considered to be instrumental in the verification of prices charged by manufacturers and dealers for which the government of the country may even have fixed prices. Standards also help scrutinise advertisements which may be misleading and to take action as per provisions of laws of the country. Drugs control department usually has an enforcement wing and a drugs testing laboratory. Enforcement Wing The enforcement wing is responsible for the licensing and inspections of sales and manufacturing establishments, collection of samples for test and analysis, investigation of complaints and prosecution of defaulters, if any. Drugs Testing Laboratory Drugs testing laboratory is a statutory facility that carries out analysis of samples of drugs and cosmetics drawn by enforcement officers as well as samples sent by purchasers.

26.3 KEY DEPARTMENTAL PROCESSES AND PROBLEMS 26.3 FACED BY DEPARTMENTS The following sections will give a brief overview of the key processes of various departments. These key processes will give you an understanding of the current systems and also the need of new e-government systems which will bring an increase in the efficiency of the processes.

26.3.1 Key Processes of Department of Women and Child 26.3.1 Development The Department carries out its duties and responsibilities by observing certain procedures, as briefly described below:

Programmes for Women’s Development The goals of these programmes are as follows:

564 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · To build self-reliance, self-confidence, and empowerment of women through self-help groups · To provide rehabilitation to the needy and deserted women through various institutions · To rehabilitate women in difficult circumstances socially and economically by various support systems, also to provide shelter, food and training for women · To tackle the problem of under-nutrition among pregnant women belonging to BPL families and to assist them in availing medical assistance · To help women in difficult circumstances and victims of atrocities One such scheme that helps women who are in difficult circumstances and are victims of atrocities has been implemented in Karnataka state in India which is called Nari Shakti. The main objectives of this scheme is to accelerate the process of economic development and create a conducive atmosphere for social change in women residing in rural areas, increasing their income level and financial stability by engaging them in income-generating activities and eradicating poverty through formation of self-help groups based on thrift and credit principles. IT will play a critical role in the success of this scheme since it would be imperative to track the requirements and the benefits accrued to each woman and self-help group. The Women and Child Development Department usually has processes in place for implementation and monitoring of its schemes and furnishing of regular reports to the government in prescribed formats such as below: · Progress report · Expenditure report · Statistical data relating to the development of women and children

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) ICDS is the most effective child survival scheme being implemented by the Department of Women and Child Development. The main objectives of ICDS are to improve the nutritional and health status of children, to lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of children below six years and also to reduce incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school drop-out. With these objectives, the following services are provided: · Supplementary nutrition to children below six years, and pregnant and nursing mothers · Nutrition and health education to mothers · Immunisation for children and pregnant women

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 565

· · · ·

Health check-up for children, pregnant women and nursing mothers Referral services for at-risk or special cases Non-formal pre-school education for children Construction of buildings for facilitation of the above initiatives

Social Defence The Department of Women and Child Development implements programmes under several social legislations to ensure that women and children from the marginalised sections of society are protected against abuse and exploitation. Programmes have been formulated to guarantee their basic human rights which include care, protection and rehabilitation. Key departmental programmes include: · Programs for children such as observation homes, children’s homes and fit institutions, institutes for mentally handicapped children, adoption, orphanages and charitable homes, child line services, juvenile services bureau, programmes for juvenile justice and destitute cottages · Programmes for women such as reception centres, state homes for women and financial assistance for marriage of female prison inmates. It also includes institutes for mentally challenged women · Other services including giving probation under the offenders act and after-care services · Training activities for staff of juvenile institutions

Planning, Budgeting and Financial Management Planning, budgeting and financial management are three important aspects of the department that have to be looked upon. These include the following: · Preparation of annual plans and Five-year Plans · Preparation of draft midterm fiscal plan · Preparation of material for finance minister’s budget speech and Governor’s speech · Preparation of material for subject committee and note for empowerment committee. · Preparation of material for legislature committee on women and child development · Administrative sanction for construction and repair of department buildings · Preparation of salary and other bills of various types (travel allowance (TA), medical, telephone, and so on) · Maintenance of registers such as cash book, encashment register, budget register, pay acquittances, TA acquittances, supply acquittances, PF account cash book, recovery register, and so on

566 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies 26.3.2 Problems Faced by the Women and Child Development 26.3.2 Department Department of Women and Child Development provides essential services to the marginalised and weaker sections of society. As such, it plays a pivotal role in the overall development of the state. However, the department experiences certain problems from time to time while carrying out its functions and delivering services to target groups. Problems being faced by the department are enumerated below: · Shortage of personnel at district/administrative office level · Lack of infrastructure · Lack of funds · Lack of training facilities for officers and staff for computers/operations · Lack of interactions with other departments leading to difficulties in eliciting information from them · Difficulties in reaching self-help groups in remote areas which means such groups have little access to services provided by the department · Difficulties in the management of the existing manual filing system · Time wastage and lack of efficiency due to manual typing system

26.3.3

Key Processes in Health and Family Welfare

Assessment of health care needs in the country Health services are provided to people through sub-centres, Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), Primary Health Units (PHUs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), district hospitals and general hospitals. Assessments of health care requirements are mainly carried out by projects. Based on the assessment, plans are drawn and implemented to strengthen the health care services, through special studies and project reports. Assessment of the department’s requirements is done based on reports/returns on monthly/quarterly/annual basis from the project units. Another method is through physical/spot inspection/verification and finally through review meetings. Plans to improve health infrastructure, personnel and related facilities. In addition to the project plans, annual plans may be drawn to improve health infrastructure, personnel and other related facilities through various state and central government health schemes.

Increase Institutional Deliveries by Creating Awareness This is done with a view to promote safe delivery (child birth), reduce infant mortality and reduce maternal mortality. Awareness among expecting mothers on institutional deliveries is created by health personnel and campaigns in print and radio.

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 567

Strengthen Immunisation of Children The department is also responsible for ensuring immunisation of children. This helps to reduce infant mortality. It educates people to avail facilities extended at various levels and thus keeps track of immunisation processes. And finally, the department submits various periodical statistical returns/reports relating to the state as well as central government.

Control Communicable Diseases The department has the onus to carry out disease surveillance continuously. This process helps to sense early warning signals. The process helps not only to sense the signals to an epidemic or any communicable disease but also in their detection and subsequent treatment. Thus it is important for the department to plan and execute plans.

Create Health Awareness Among People Continuous efforts are made by the department to spread awareness through · Auxiliary Nurse Midwifes (ANMs), health workers, paramedical staff · Advertisement campaigns/hoardings/banners/pamphlets and through media · Special campaigns

Provide Health Care from Village Level up to State Level The department provides various healthcare services at village, administrative office, and district levels through various health centres such as sub-centres, Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Primary Health Units (PHUs), Community Health Centres (CHCs) and district and general hospitals. Most healthcare activities centre around these health facility units. These services are provided keeping in mind the local and regional needs.

Collection, Compilation and Dissemination of Information The department is responsible for collection, compilation and dissemination of information relating to various programs and thus generate standard reports for monitoring, evaluation and program implementation. The department also has to analyse data to pick up early warning signals in order to take preventive and curative steps.

Train the Health Personnel in Upgrading their IT Skills Departmental personnel are trained to meet the needs of implementing health programs in district training centres/regional training centres and state institute for health and family welfare. In addition, departmental personnel are deputed to other training programmes.

568 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Planning, Budgeting and Financial Management This task involves preparation and implementation of departmental schemes under state sector and centrally sponsored schemes (CSSs). It also involves the preparation of departmental budget estimates and revised estimates, and finally requires the distribution and subsequent re-appropriation of funds under various sub-heads to headquarters and district establishments of the department.

Creation of Health Database The department is also responsible for creation of a comprehensive health database of government and private hospitals, nursing homes, dispensaries, and diagnostic laboratories.

26.3.4 Problems Faced by the Health and Family Welfare 26.3.4 Department There is need in the Health and Family Welfare Department to improve the quality and timeliness in reporting data to help management take decisions at the appropriate time.

Health Data There is heavy load on the departmental staff in maintaining data on various programmes and activities at various levels such as PHCs/PHUs/CHCs/ Hospitals. There is need to capture the data in electronic form from the PHC level so that data could be compiled, analysed and transmitted quickly to various levels. Moreover, data in electronic form will help in quick analysis using computers. It will help decision-makers in policy formulation and decision-making. It will reduce need for printing large quantity of paper forms and record books.

Hospital Management Management of major hospitals could be improved by computerisation. Data regarding in-patient, out-patient, stores, pharmacy, accounts and administration, and laboratory could be computerised to capture data, improve efficiency and help decision-making.

General Administration General administration can be improved with the help of IT by providing updated information related to personnel, financial and operations Management.

26.3.5

Key Processes of Transport Department

The department carries out its duties and responsibilities by observing following procedures.

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 569

Registration of Vehicles This process involves many types of procedures and methods. Registration of vehicles primarily deals with registrations of new vehicles, change of address of old vehicles and transfer of ownership of used vehicles. This process of the department also deals with the hypothecation entry/deletion of vehicles, alterations in vehicles, issue of no objection certificates (NOCs) and clearance certificates (CCs). Besides the above, this process also has to deal with renewal of registrations of vehicles, assignment of new registration marks, issue of duplicate registration certificates (RCs) along with the suspension or cancellation of old RCs and finally the entry of tax particulars paid by owners of vehicles.

Issuing of Driving Licenses Issuing of driving licenses is an important responsibility of the department. This involves the issue of learners’ licenses, driving licenses, conductors’ licenses and International Driving Permits (IDPs). A section of the department also has to take care of any changes in the addresses of the license holders. Besides issue of new driving licenses the department also has the onus of renewal and issue of duplicate learners’ licenses, driving licenses and conductors’ licenses. The department is also responsible for additional endorsements on driving licenses. The department has the authority for suspension of drivers’ or conductors’ licenses when the licensee is found to be violating the code of conduct. The department also has to deal with all the disqualifications of driving licenses by court. The department is also responsible for issue of driving training school certificates to trainers.

Issue of Permits for Goods and Passenger Vehicles The department is responsible for issue of various permits for goods and passenger transport vehicles. It has the onus of countersigning on permits and replacement of vehicles. This particular sub-department also takes care of transfer and renewal of permits. It is also responsible for surrender and cancellation of permits along with the issue of the duplicate permits.

Issue of Fitness Certificates The transport department is responsible for issue, renewal or cancellation of fitness certificates to vehicles.

Departmental Statutory Action (DSA) The transport department includes DSAs. DSA has the following responsibilities: · Maintenance of cases/offense against vehicle owners/drivers · Compounding of offenses

570 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Suspension of registration/permit · Cancellation of registration/permit · Legal action

Enforcement Work An important activity of the transport department is enforcement which deals with checking of vehicles for offenses and the inspection of driving schools.

Collection of Fees and Taxes (Treasury Section) The department is responsible for collection of fees and taxes which also includes remittance and maintaining accounts.

Control of Air and Noise Pollution This is an important role of the department. The department has to control the air and noise pollution levels in the country by creating awareness among the general public. It also has the onus of checking vehicles so as to stop emissions from vehicles. The department also has to inspect emission testing centres so as to ensure that the inspection of vehicles is accurate and safe.

Management Information System (MIS) The department has to take into account and subsequently to take care of the following information. · Compilation of vehicles, driving license (DL), commercial license (CL), permit, enforcement statistics · Compilation of annual report · Various reports/information required for senior officers of the department

Human Resource Management (HRM) The department has to cater to its HRM needs by looking after the following: · Human resource availabilities · Number of staff · Experience · Cadres · Average age

26.3.6

Problems Faced by Transport Department

The department experiences certain problems from time to time while carrying out its functions and delivering services to the target groups. Some such key problems are listed below.

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 571

· Voluminous records of vehicle registrations and driving licenses running to the tune of hundreds of thousands · Outsourcing of data entry work is needed due to the tremendous volume of records · Delay in tracing records/accessing vehicle and driving license information · Difficulties in handling of high volume financial transactions manually by cash and demand drafts · Handling thousands of applications every day from the public for different kinds of services · Handling peak season transactions such as tax payment · Sharing of vehicle data with other departments such as police, income tax, and so on · Absence of an effective public information system · Wastage of time and lack of efficiency due to manual typing system. Consequent duplication of efforts in preparing records/documents · Difficulties in monitoring tax defaulters, renewal of driving licenses and permits · Maintenance of computers and other equipment and purchase of stationery and consumables requires outsourcing · Shortage of manpower · Lack of infrastructure · Lack of training facilities for officers and staff

26.3.7

Key Processes of Department of Town Planning

The main functions of the department is mainly to deal with preparation of development plans for the cities, towns and potential villages not covered under the Town and Country Planning Act, after conducting necessary physical and socio-economic surveys. The department also deals with the preparation of development plans for new towns, hill stations, pilgrimage centres and tourist centres. Besides this the department is also responsible for the preparation of town extension/improvement schemes, slum improvement schemes, urban renewal and re-development schemes for towns and villages. An important task of the department is preparation of regional development plans for metropolitan, river valley and resource regions in the state. The department thus is involved in monitoring and supervision of works of planning organisations functioning under Authority Act. Also it has to work out traffic and transportation plans for cities. The department has the onus of beautification schemes for preserving and enhancing urban aesthetic qualities. It also has the task of assisting the Town Planning Board in its work. Further, it is also responsible for assisting

572 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies development authorities, planning authorities, and local authorities in plan preparation, implementation and enforcement. The department has the responsibility of offering technical assistance to urban development agencies. Furnishing of technical opinion in all matters related to development of lands and related matters also comes under the responsibility of the department. It has to play a role in approval of layout plans of private individuals, organisations, government and quasi-government agencies. The department is responsible for furnishing technical opinion to revenue authorities regarding conversion of agricultural lands to nonagricultural uses and developments. Finally it has to provide technical reports to the District Magistrates regarding location and construction of cinema theaters besides helping in environmental planning and coordination.

26.3.8

Problems Faced by Department of Town Planning

A review of the present scenario related to planning and development reveals that in spite of reasonably good planning system with legislative and organisational support, the effective implementation of plan proposals are usually not to the desired level due to factors such as three-tier systems involved in planning, multiple agencies with overlapping jurisdictions and functions, lack of coordination between various agencies, unilateral actions by the various agencies in formulation of schemes ignoring the plans prepared for overall socio-economic and physical development of the area, lack of personnel and new technology or techniques by various agencies, lack of training programs to the personnel involved in planning and development, paucity of resources, and passive public participation which has ultimately resulted in sub-standard development and degradation of urban and rural environment. Some of the key problems faced are: · Non availability of base maps for towns and villages and accurate data base · Lack of trained personnel and need for capacity building · Problems related to implementation and enforcement of plan proposals Some problems related to implementation and enforcement of plan proposals are as below: · Conversion of land for non-agricultural purposes · Approval of sub-standard layouts by municipalities leading to unauthorised developments · Lack of financial support to implement plans and proposals

26.3.9

Key Processes of Department of Public Instruction

The department carries out its duties and responsibilities by observing the following procedures:

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 573

State Level Responsibilities Some of the processes that are the responsibility of this department are mentioned below: · Education monitoring information system · Letter and file monitoring system · Legal monitoring system · Re-engineering of grants-in-aid and unaided private school management system · Planning, budgeting and financial management · Re-engineering of schemes management · Meeting management system · Departmental auditing/inspection management · Records tracking system · Pension monitoring system · Training management system A few of the above key processes are described below. Education monitoring information system: The department is responsible for monitoring of schools, teachers, students, officers, and non-teaching staff. It is also responsible for collection, compilation and dissemination of statistical information. The department also typically takes up initiatives in streamlining the transfer and redeployment of teachers and non-teaching staff as part of its responsibility for education monitoring. Besides this the department would need to oversee students’ progress, enrolment, attendance and academic results, based on which school monitoring information system reports are generated. Letter and file monitoring: Under letter and file monitoring responsibility, the department is expected to facilitate the following: · Track legal cases of the department and members of staff · Interlinking of cases with various courts · Provide legal guidance Planning, budgeting and financial management: The following are the key activities of the department under its role of planning, budgeting and financial management. · Preparation and implementation of departmental plans under state and central sectors · Preparation of departmental budget estimates and revised estimates · Distribution and subsequent re-appropriation of funds under various sub-heads to headquarters and district establishments of the department · Receipts and payments in the departments linked with financial management system of the government

574 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies District Level Responsibilities At the district level the department has to take care of the pension monitoring system and its link with education monitoring information system. It also has to the responsibility of the file monitoring system and its subsequent link with record monitoring system. This level of the department also includes the responsibility of training management system.

Block Level Responsibilties The department is responsible for issue of the following certificates to citizens. · Rural certificate · Moral certificate · Study certificate · Salary certificate · Service certificate

26.3.10

Problems Faced by Department of Public Instruction

The problems faced by this department may be categorised as state, district, and block levels.

State Level · Shortage of skilled people · No system auditing on existing hardware and technical projects · Lack of awareness about computer usage and vision of modernisation · Difficulties in management of existing manual filing system · Wastage of time and energy due to manual systems · Lack of resource management within the department · Lack of integrity of data within the heads of the department · Lack of professional training among the existing computer administrative staff

District Level · Lack of proper technical guidance and exposure to modernisation · Poor performance of hardware due to lack of maintenance of hardware and technical projects · Poor infrastructure (network connectivity, hardware systems, power supply) · Lack of professional training to existing or deputed staff

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 575

Block Level · Poor hardware infrastructure, power supply and their maintenance · Lack of awareness about computer usage and vision of modernisation · Lack of personnel

26.3.11 26.3.11

Key Processes of Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs

The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department is responsible for many important activities, some of which are described below.

Implementing the Targeted Public Distribution System As part of this responsibility, the department undertakes for the following activities: · Issuing monthly allocation of foodgrains, sugar and kerosene at the state and district levels · Distribution of foodgrains, sugar and kerosene by the wholesale and retail outlets · Printing and distribution of ration cards to beneficiaries · Issue of authorisations/licenses to wholesale and retail outlets · Monitoring the process of distribution of ration · Submission of monthly reports to Government of India · Payment of bills to wholesale nominees/retail nominees

Minimum Support Price (MSP) Operations As part of MSP operations, the department is supposed to do the following: · Preventing distress-sales by farmers by way of procurement · Stabilising the market prices whenever there is over-production · Ensuring that farmer gets the minimum assured prices · Distribution of the procured commodities at a fair price · Collection of levy on paddy or rice · Maintenance of accounts/reconciliation

Collection, Compilation and Forwarding of Statistical Information The department is responsible for maintaining records of the following information: · Ration cards statistics · Lifting and distribution of ration commodities · Wholesale and retail outlets (fair price shops)

576 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · · · · · · ·

Cases booked Commodities confiscated Taking care of cases in various courts Regulation of daily market prices Number of inspections and raids Data management system Data indexing/processing

Consumer Affairs Activities The department is responsible for the following: · Establishing consumer clubs in schools · Recommending consumer organisations for aid and assistance · Conducting consumer awareness programmes, campaigns, and seminars · Helping the consumer in redressal of his/her grievances · Recommending consumer organisations for national awards · Monitoring of government grants

Prevention of Adulteration or Misuse of Petroleum Products Under this mandate the department is responsible for the following: · Inspection of petrol and diesel outlets · Prevention of misuse of LPG for commercial purposes · Licensing of lubricating oil outlets · Licensing and inspection of naphtha, solvents, slop · Licensing and inspection of kerosene outlets · Prevention of use of kerosene, naphtha, solvents, and slop as fuel in automobiles

26.3.12 26.3.12

Problems Faced by Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs

This department usually faces many hindrances in fulfilling its responsibilities, some of which are described below. · Diversion/deviation of PDS commodities · Ineligible/bogus ration cards · Insufficient personnel for effective supervision · Lack of funds · Lack of consumer awareness · Corruption · Price differentiations between PDS and the open market commodities

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 577

· · · ·

Adulteration of petroleum products Misuse of LPG Identification of BPL families Apathy among the masses about fair price shops and its functions

26.3.13 Key Processes of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary 26.3.13 Department The department has many responsibilities executed through clearly laid out processes, which are described below.

Improving Livestock Production Through Scientific Breeding To improve the reproductive potential of the cattle, artificial insemination is done in the local non-descriptive cow with the exotic germ-plasm through frozen semen technology. Artificial insemination of cows is done through various establishments like veterinary hospitals, dispensaries and aid centres of the department.

Providing Effective Healthcare Cover to Livestock The department is to provide effective healthcare coverage to the livestock. Such healthcare includes timely vaccination of livestock with various vaccines against life-threatening diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease, Anthrax, HS (Haemorrhagic septicaemia) and BQ (Black Quarter) in cattle, sheep and goat; swine flu in pigs and other diseases like IBD (Infectious Bursal Disease), and so on in birds. Vaccination is done through various veterinary establishments.

Providing Effective Extension Services in the Field of Animal Husbandry Extension service is provided through staff training, farmers’ trainings and workshops at the district level or at a school of veterinary science. The trainings are on various management aspects of poultry rearing, pig rearing, dairy farming and other fields of animal husbandry. Such trainings are aimed at economic upliftment of the rural poor.

26.3.14 Problems Faced by Animal Husbandry and Veterinary 26.3.14 Department Livestock husbandry provides valuable subsidiary income to villagers. The system of livestock rearing in emerging economies is primitive with very insignificant adoption of modern livestock health care services. Therefore, during epidemics, there is considerable loss of livestock. However, tribals are in general ignorant about the market linkages of livestock farming. They are unable to tap the larger market for products such as milk

578 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies from dairy farming, broiler and egg from poultry farming, pork from piggery farming, wool, hide and mutton from sheep and goat farming, etc. Therefore, they continue to focus on agricultural activities, instead of more lucrative rearing of livestock on farms. Moreover, recurrent financial resource constraints and administrative limitations impede the required thrust to get the desired level of sustainability. Inter-departmental file routing and delays in obtaining expenditure approval in various schemes impedes timely mobilisation of resources, thereby reducing support to livestock farmers. Simple processes such as timely vaccination of animals against dreaded diseases can prevent losses caused by epidemics and hence improve yield from animal husbandry. However, remoteness, communication bottlenecks and lack of awareness among people about issues such as animal health, prevention of zoonosis (an infectious disease that can be transmitted (in some instances, by a vector) from other animals, both wild and domestic, to humans or from humans to animals) and animal welfare protection impedes dissemination of knowledge. The decision support system at the planning level is usually dependent on non-technical staff. This leads to lacunae in formulation of technical schemes. This in turn leads to shoddy implementation at the field level. This has adverse effects on the achievement of the desired target levels of achievement. Also, usually, development targets are not fixed for workers at the field level. Livestock production requires managerial expertise in terms of financial as well as operations management. In the absence of production targets, the bulk of the personnel remains underutilised.

26.3.15

Key Processes of Department of Rural Development

To achieve its basic objectives, the department has to perform some key activities like monitoring of the department’s performance through collection and compilation of various reports to ensure matching share of CSSs in coordination with the finance department. Thus, the key departmental process is to sanction the state’s share and coordinate with banks, both at state and district levels, for release of subsidy, especially in India for Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) (an holistic programme covering all aspects of self-employment to BPL families). It may be noted here that SGSY consists of credit and subsidy for employment generation of both individuals and selfhelp groups (SHGs). For employment generation Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) has been introduced. These schemes are processed at the department level through the directorate or directly through central government. The sanction of the amount is communicated to both state government and the department and the payment

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 579

is released direct to the department by central government. The key department activities are shown below.

FIGURE 26.1 Departmental Structure

26.3.16

Problems Faced by Department of Rural Development

The services of the Department of Rural Development are for the upliftment of downtrodden people, especially BPL families. However, usually the funds sanctioned by the central government do not reach the department in time. This is especially true for the second instalment. This situation holds true for almost all the rural development schemes. The delivery of services cannot be done in time as the money sanctioned does not reach in time. This money is, therefore, carried forward to the following year, either as unspent balance or amount of commitment. The main problems faced by dealing hands are that they have to do all work manually and grassroots-level information does not come in time. This retards the achievement of targeted date and the objective of servicing the beneficiaries fails at least partially. One of the key problems faced by the directorate is communication bottlenecks in the states. This problem gets manifested in the following delays: · Schemes prepared at grassroots level are delayed in reaching government · Post-approval delays in reaching the state government and the grassroots level · Unacceptable high lead time for procurement of materials for development projects · Non-communication of utilisation certificates

26.3.17

Key Processes of Education Department

The Department of Education has many responsibilities that are executed through given procedures. The procedures are described below.

580 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Monitoring of School Education Through Collection and Compilation of Reports Information and proposals are collected from the district and from the directorate for compilation for onward submission to the state as well as the central governments for grants and allocations as per norms and schemes that apply. Therefore, this department usually benefits from a strong monitoring body. To know about the activities of the schools and their requirements, quarterly progress reports are prepared, in which following items are included: · Number of teachers posted, their bio-data and details of posting places with tenures · Number of non-teaching staff · Activities of schools such as NCC, Scouts and Guides, games and sports and other co-curricular activities · Any additional requirement the school may have of teaching/nonteaching staff, classrooms and other infrastructural facilities and so on · Total number of students and their monthly attendance figures · Number of hostel boarders and their attendance figures · Position of available textbooks and library · Position under EFC · Status of construction works undertaken such as school and hostel buildings · Monitoring of centrally sponsored schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) or universal education programme, Total Literacy Campaign (TLC), and National Literacy Programme (NLP), and so on · It is the responsibility of the concerned branches to monitor and compile the reports.

Sanction of State Share to School Education The allotted funds are allocated under different heads for execution of different purposes. This task is performed by the planning branch of the department after proposals from the branches are received.

Planning and Execution of Schemes Planning and execution of schemes are done at different levels of the department as per the nature of the scheme. These may be: · Directorate level · District level · District administration

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 581

· By various construction, supply and implementing agencies such as Public Works Department (PWD), Rural Works Department (RWD) and District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), and so on.

Dissemination of Scheme Information to School Education Information about new schemes of the state government or centrally aided projects are disseminated to district functionaries for purpose of execution through mass media which is an important task of the department.

Training of School Education Functionaries Imparting training is a major function of the department of education. The typical trainings imparted are as follows: · Training for under-graduate teachers specifically for elementary section. · Various trainings for the preparation of primers for adult education. · In-service training for teachers and officers organised under the sponsorship of National Campaign for ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) Right (NCER), National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration) (NIEPA), and various vocational training institutes. · Teachers rendering voluntary service in scouts and guides are given training to impart self confidence, discipline, and moral development through participation in various community development related activities. · Training related to universal education programs such as SSA of India is given to teachers and community workers.

26.3.18

Problems Faced by Education Department

Some problems usually faced by the department are as follows: · Insufficient funds for expansion, extension and providing sufficient infrastructure facilities in schools · Lack of motivation of teachers in discharging their duties · Insufficient teachers in the schools The typical problems faced by teachers in delivering departmental services are: · Lack of proper study atmosphere in the schools · Lack of proper seating accommodation for students · Lack of proper teaching/learning instruments Problems faced by citizens, students and teachers in getting the desired service from the department include the following: · Problems related to admission of children in schools due to a lack of schooling facilities in the nearby area

582 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Problems faced by students due to non-supply/delayed supply of books, insufficient teaching, hostel accommodation or stipends · Problems faced by teachers due to lack of adequate family accommodation, transfers, lack of students’ interest in classroom teaching, poor results of schools and overcrowded classes. Problems faced by departmental staff are as follows: · Improper maintenance of case records · Tiring manually repetitive role · Lack of sufficient depth of study of the matters in question · Lack of initiative · Lack of good educational background Problems faced by the Director of the department are as follows: · Fund constraints, which hamper taking up of development schemes · Non-availability of complete and systematically compiled records · Communication gap · Improper management in the districts/schools Besides the above, there are problems of shortage of trained and skilled personnel and delay in approval of AOP. There are also problems faced in the coordination in inter-departmental processes and release of the funds that take place from the governments.

26.3.19

Key Processes of Drug Control Department

Drugs control is exercised at two levels, (a) at the central government and (b) at the state government level. While the central drug organisation is generally concerned with making laws, rules and management of committees such as Drugs Technical Advisory Committee (DTAB) and Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC), it also grants some licensing such as approval of licence meant for manufacture of large volume parenterals, vaccine and sera, and blood bank. It is also responsible for new drug clearance, clinical trials, import registration, import of drugs and inspections. The State drug control department on the other hand deals with licensing of both manufacturing and point of sales premises of drugs and cosmetics. Its most important mandate is to ensure the supply of safe and effective drugs at the right price to the people of the state.

26.3.20

Problems Faced by Drug Control

Some of the key challenges usually faced by the department are shortage of personnel, lack of infrastructure, lack of funds, lack of training facilities for officers and staff, difficulties in management of the existing manual filing system and lack of efficiency due to manual processing of information.

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 583

26.4

SOLUTIONS AND BENEFITS

This section covers the solutions for the above mentioned problems. Broadly a few solutions cut across the departments and are described as generic solutions. The following table gives the snapshot of the solutions available to solve the department specific problems. The Collaboration, Interaction and Knowledge Management (CIKM), Tools for Budget and Financial Management, and HR Solutions are common for many departments as these are the base solutions.

26.4.1 Collaboration, Interaction and Knowledge Management 26.4.1 Systems (CIKM) The features of CIKM solutions are generic to all departments. In case of some department like Health and Family Welfare and Transport among others the requirements are specific. The following sections will take you through the generic CIKM solutions as well as some specific CIKM solutions as per the Department requirements.

Generic CIKM Solution for all the Departments This tool would help in providing the latest government notices and rules to all the employees. One feature of the solution must be a portal/website, which will cater to the functional requirements of the department. The site should provide information pertaining to the various schemes and facilities provided by the department. District level offices must be linked to the main department in the state capital. The field offices at the block level should also be connected through network to the district level so as to enable faster communication. Such connectivity is a must for transfer of information electronically. This tool would also provide integrated mailing solution. The department at the state level, the district level and block level information centres/officers should be connected by electronic mail and other related communication services so as to enable faster and simpler data transfer and regular correspondence. It should also help in workflow and file tracking. The CIKM tool would also help in providing access to rules and government notices from other departments like GAD (General Administration Department). Enable members of the public as well as departmental officers and staff to register any grievances or queries through the web or send a mail to the block/ district/state level officers concerned. The application should supply in addition to email, voicemail, calendaring, file services, and integrated search capabilities along with the ability to access this information from any type of interface (standard desktop clients, file protocols, web, wireless and telephone). It should be highly scalable

584 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies and reliable with a well-proven database as the foundation and should be able to manage unstructured data in the organisation also.

Health and Family Welfare Department CIKM Solution CIKM will provide the tools required for effective monitoring of implementation of healthcare services from PHC level onwards. Quality data can be captured by using appropriate software tools. This data capture is from the field level (PHCs/PHUs/CHCs/Taluk hospitals/District hospitals/DH&FW offices) effectively to monitor implementation of various health programmes. CIKM can help to maintain the operational details of vehicles that is essential for dispensing the responsibilities of the department. CIKM can provide the tools to maintain vital healthcare equipment details. CIKM can help to maintain data on assets such as buildings, land, equipment.

Transport Department CIKM Solution This tool would help in managing and tracking records efficiently. Noting that the Transport department deals with an immense volume of critical data, it is essential that this tool manage records and files efficiently, while minimising the time required to access a particular record when needed. District level Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) must be linked to the main department in the state capital so as to enable faster communication.

Town Planning CIKM Solution This tool would need to do the following key activities in a phased manner:

Phase I · Make available Outline Development Plan (ODP)/Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP)/Revised Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP(R)) – proposed land use details online. · Make available Outline Development Plan (ODP)/Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP)/Revised Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP(R)) – zonal regulations and building by-laws online. · Issue of commencement certificate/building plans electronically by the Urban Development Authorities (UDAs) and Planning Authorities (PAs) · Make available important government orders related to Town Planning Department, Urban Development Authorities and Planning Authorities online. · Make available a list of layouts approved by the Town Planning Department, Urban Development Authorities, Planning Authorities and Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 585

Phase II · Publication of Draft ODP/CDP/CDP(R) for public objections and suggestions through websites

Department of Drug Control CIKM A portal would cater to the functional requirements of the Department of Drug Control. The site should provide information pertaining to the list of the manufacturing and sales licensees, the requirements of licensing procedures, the fees structure, the list of not-of-standard-quality drugs, list of banned drugs, frequently asked questions and similar such information.

Metrics for Success of CIKM The solution should be monitored by tracking the following parameters: · Number of government notices hosted, for example circulars and tender notices · Number of e-mails exchanged between departments and also between a department office and a district/block office · Amount of feedback/complaint information retrieved from the site · Number of hits to the website · Number of forms and circulars downloaded · Increase in the amount of file tracking information entered, stored and accessed · Number of schemes implemented successfully · Number of cases resolved

Benefits of CIKM The above solution would provide the following benefits: · Reduce workload of the staff · Savings in costs of buying books and periodicals due to this information being available online. Savings in costs of publishing tender notices and other advertisements in the print media · Increased awareness among general public and interested parties about the functioning of the department · Reduce expenditure on stationery and postage · Reduce unnecessary meetings and consequent expenditure · Public can easily access the required information · Avoid repetitive manual process · Improved response to citizens, as they will be able to know the current status of their file. Also, no chances of files being misplaced/lost. The originator will always know where the file is.

586 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Information disseminated to all employees efficiently · It helps in efficient, quick and error-free services

26.4.2

Tool for Budgeting and Financial Management

This tool helps in the budget preparation process. It would perform automated budgetary control based on approved budgets and authorisations. The budgeting tool would help enable accurate financial accounting and reporting, and finally it would also enable tracking of expenditures against specific schemes/ sub-schemes so as to assist easy preparation of Utilisation Certificate (UC). For planning the budgeting activity of the department an appropriate application package would assist in preparing and maintaining a comprehensive budget so as to include position budgeting for personnel services, general operating and capital budget components. The application should allow generation, review, approval and maintenance of budgets and should facilitate having multiple revisions of the same for periodic reviews. Having a packaged application would also help in the ease of reconciliation between the department, the treasuries and sub-treasuries, and the ministry of finance through an Integrated Financial Information System (IFMS). The package should be capable of aggregating/consolidating all data for the government entities and permit all types of financial evaluations and analysis. It should contain process flows for government that are comprehensive and target the basic operational needs of state and local government entities, without adding complexities that are not critical to operations. These processes include the following: · Commitment accounting · Funds checking · Payment accounting · Cash forecasting and reconciliation It would be essential to have a system that can support both cash and accrual method of accounting as we move more towards the World Bank Treasury Reference Model norms.

Metrics for Success of Budgeting and Financial Management The solution will be monitored by tracking the following parameters: · No accidental/untracked overspending should occur—all expenditure should only be incurred against authorisation available · Physical paper templates for budget estimates and revised estimates need not be circulated to the budget entities using the application · Compilation of budget estimates of the entities using the application should not be performed manually

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 587

· Number of requests for financial reports emanating from the Finance Department should reduce. Similarly requests from department head to the Drawing and Disbursing Officers should reduce · The number of times that people need to go from one office to another to seek approvals for expenditures manually should reduce drastically · It should be possible to generate utilisation statements for funding received for any specific scheme or project · Departments should be able to generate their financial reports without relying solely on the Accountant General’s office · Number of commencement certificates issued by Urban Development Authorities and Planning Authorities

Benefits of Budgeting and Financial Management Solution The above solution would help in allowing the department to focus its energies on the financial and social objectives by reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks; it can serve a greater number of citizens in less time. It would help in a way so that the department would be able to generate its own financial reports without depending solely on the Accountant General’s office. In addition, departmental staff can spend more time in analysing their financial information, rather than just compiling it, and finally it would bolster the confidence of lending and donor agencies thereby improving the prospects of new development schemes being undertaken.

26.4.3

HR Requirement

Departments require to manage large numbers of personnel with widely differing skill sets; being governed by different policies in an ever-changing political and operational environment. An HR system would help in increasing operational efficiencies that also result in higher employee motivation. It would also help manage appointments, transfers, postings, training, analysing personnel need assessment and deployment and utilisation. The departments have responsibility to manage large number of personnel with widely differing skill sets, who are also governed by different policies. Some of the anticipated benefits of the HRMS solution are as listed below: · Enable the government to have a single and integrated view of all employeerelated information by streamlining the service records of all gazetted and non-gazetted officers across various locations and departments · Improve the operational efficiency of departments in terms of ease of work and better access to information · Reduce the time and effort spent in processing routine work like leave and payroll · Maintain accurate information on payments and dues such as home loans, advances, reimbursements, provident fund loans, and so on

588 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies · Provide access to accurate and timely information from a single data centre for effective decision-making · Provide executive management information along with drill-downs of information from top-level bodies and directorates to the grassroots levels of the department

26.5 26.5.1

DEPARTMENT-SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS Solutions for Health and Family Welfare Department

Hospital Management The department would also need applications for efficient management of hospitals to improve operational efficiency and quality of service.

GIS for Facilities Assessment GIS is required by this department for disease surveillance and for responding to epidemic outbreaks wherein information about the health infrastructure in a spatial form is critical.

26.5.2

Solutions for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs

Issue of Ration Card Issue of ration card is a key function of the Food and Civil Supplies offices. All activities including the automation of the process of issue, updation and surrender of ration cards should be IT enabled. The ration card system must have security features like biometrics as well as business logic to identify families with multiple ration cards. The application must also have an archival system and connectivity to a central database.

26.5.3

Food Distribution Management

The Public Distribution System (PDS) is not very efficient and is frequently compromised. The consumer does not always utilise the quota of all the commodities allocated to him and the fair price shops indulge in malpractices that includes selling off of the unutilised commodity in the regular market. There is no provision in the current system to track these leakages. The stocks are misused during movement from the warehouse to the distribution points and the entire stock may never reach endusers. The leakage happens either during the movement of commodities by trucks/tankers or during storage.

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 589

The Food and Civil Supplies Department would require a system that can be used comprehensively to track the movement of rationed articles across the entire supply chain. The approach may leverage the following technologies: · Individualised barcoded coupons to track entitlement · Global Positioning System (GPS) for vehicle level tracking · Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for bag level tracking The various technologies for the system to supply food grains are as shown below: FCI

WSP GPS & RFID

FIGURE 26.2

26.5.4

FPS RFID and BAR Code

Citizen BAR Code

Technologies for Food Grains

Solutions for Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department

Livestock and Schemes Information Management System A livestock and schemes information management system would provide the following: · System for livestock resource information databases management, wherein the information is maintained on livestock farming, disease control, and other related information. · This system should also include information on the disaster management in livestock for recording the loss of livestock and monitoring the impact of floods and other disasters on the livestock population · Planning and monitoring system for implementation of the schemes · Support technical personnel in devising and managing schemes · This system should help in devising the targets based on the available resources and infrastructure Metrics for measuring success of the livestock information management system · Comprehensiveness of records · Accuracy of records · Currency of records · Extent to which this system is used as the primary system for recording and querying the information

Benefits of the Livestock Information Management System A livestock resource information management system will help in taking accurate decisions regarding livestock schemes and in enhancing the quality and quantity of services delivered by Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department.

590 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies Online Training Management System (OTMS) An OTMS would help the department in the following manner: · Improve livestock extension education through IT Network · Provide tools for efficient training · Training of department functionaries on their core functional and IT skills · Efficient training of animal husbandry farmers on livestock management This system would need to do the following key activities: · Provide effective, manageable, integrated and extensible Internet-based learning solutions to anyone, anytime, anywhere · Help in handling training delivery such as resource supply, scheduling, and utilisation · Provide a complete view of past, present and future training, including training achievements from alternate sources or delivery methods

Metrics for Success of OTMS The solution may be monitored by tracking the following parameters: · Number of students enrolled · Number of courses hosted · Reduction in training cost

Benefits of OTMS The above solution would provide the following benefits: · Ease of access to training · Accurate measurement of the effectiveness of training initiatives · Track and manage training enrolments · Manage training resources and budgets · Track student achievements

26.5.5

Solutions for Education Department

School Information System at the Directorate There is need for an application to help in preparing proposals for further development such as requirements of more teaching staff, classrooms and other infrastructural facilities. These proposals have to be supported by critical information, which comes in from schools across the state and the country. Compiling this information manually is very arduous and error prone.

Overview of a Few Departments and Their Key Systems 591

Scheme Monitoring System There is need for an application that would help monitor various schemes right from the proposal stage through implementation and completion. This system should have the following features. · Facility to update the progress of centrally sponsored schemes · Processing of UCs · The package should adhere to global best practices and provide a robust technology framework · It should have already been deployed in other government organisations and states across the globe · It should be capable of addressing the government’s specific establishment and general section processes and practices and any statutory issues. This system would provide following benefits: · Faster and smoother procedure for disbursal of funds · Availability of current information in respect of the progress of schemes

SUMMARY This chapter gives and overview of select departments that interface with citizens directly or indirectly and play a crucial role in providing governance. The chapter outlines the key departmental processes and problems faced by them. It then provides IT solution requirements for smooth functioning of the requirements and for mitigating the road blocks faced by the departments. The CIKM, portal and budgeting solutions have been identified as basic solutions that play a crucial role in the discharge of functions of these departments. The chapter also covers a department-specific solution that gives an understanding of how a department should strategically work out its complete IT requirements. This chapter provides only indicative solutions for a small set of departments.

KEY TERMS Ration card A card issued by a government allowing the holder to obtain goods under PDS at subsidised costs. Germ plasm A zone found in the cytoplasm of egg cells of some model organisms, which contains determinants that will give rise to the germ cell lineage. Parenteral A route of administration that involves piercing the skin or mucous membrane.

592 e-Gov 2.0: Policies, Processes and Technologies CONCEPT REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Explain the significance of CIKM solutions. 2. List down the distinct advantages that budgeting and financial management systems brings in. 3. Explain the common metrics of measuring the success of various solutions listed in this chapter. 4. Take any department as a case and explain the need for IT systems for the chosen department.

Index

A A five-stage model of change management 128 Abstract architecture 194 Access control matrix (ACM) 402, 403 Accounting for the incredible variety of software applications usage and functionality 114 Additional secretary 22, 23 Advantage for utility service model for e-government solutions accountability 183 Advantages of national citizen ID system 254 Advantages of outsourcing 311 Allocation of business rules 22 Animal husbandry 24 Annual rental value (ARV) 419 Application service provider 62 Applications tier 175 Approach followed by the department of information technology, Government of National Capital Territory (GoNCT), Delhi 95 Approach followed by the High Court of Allahabad 97 Approach of Election Commission (EC) 96 Approach of Kerala 95 Approach of West Bengal 96 Approach to the issue of multiple standards 119 Architectural types 193 Architecture development methodology 197

Architecture for establishment of a registry system 336 Architecture of a GDC 158 Architecture of a government call centre 307 Architecture of e-government infrastructure 63 Asset classes and their inclusion in the registration system 337 Assets management 357 Assets register 397 Audio video standard (AVS) 88 Autonomic computing 174 Availability of resources 144 Availability 163

B Back-office management system 406 Banking data flow 204 Basic societal functions (BSFs) 470 Benefits for the citizen 305 Benefits for the government 304 Benefits of collateral 324 Birth and death registration and photo voter ID card 302 Budget execution process 352 Budget execution 351 Budget preparation process 350 Budget preparation 351 Build own operate transfer (BOOT) 62 Build own operate 62 Business benefits 304, 348 Business continuity requirement (BCR) 449 Business integration 176

594 Index C Case study 1: Cambodia 333 Case study 1: Committee for democratisation of information technology, Brazil a social franchise approach for urban areas 231 Case study 1: Electronic birth registration in Rajshahi, Bangladesh 133 Case study 10: E-choupal: Empowering farmers in india 244 Case study 10: Failed electronic voter registration in Uganda 142 Case study 11: Linking telecentres to broader development goals: Project SIRU, Peru 246 Case study 12: Grameen village computing 246 Case study 2: Citizen payment at FRIENDS centres in Kerala 134 Case study 2: IT clubs in Egypt: A social/government-led model 232 Case study 2: Laos 334 Case study 3: Micro telcos in Peru: community-based social enterprise 233 Case study 3: Turkey’s local government portal, YerelNet 136 Case study 3: Vanuatu 334 Case study 4: A management information system and GIS to support local government in Balochistan 136 Case study 4: Gyandoot: Multiple model to address different situation 235 Case study 5: An integrated information system (IIS) for defence force management in the middle east 137 Case study 5: MS Swaminathan research foundation (MSSRF) and the village knowledge centres (VKCs) 236 Case study 6: Community learning and information centre (CLICs) of Mali 237

Case study 6: Problems in computerising the ministry of foreign affairs in a west African nation 139 Case study 7 SETU: A citizen facilitation centre in india 139 Case study 7: Akashya’s e-literacy campaign and service networks 240 Case study 8: E-centres of Kyrgyzstan: enhancing cybercafes traditional menu of service 241 Case study 8: e-procurement by Mexico’s federal government 140 Case study 9: Nemmadi initiative: a case of fuctional and quantitative scale up 242 Case study 9: Planning web-enabled services for citizens in Orissa 141 Case study: Kazakhstan treasury Case study: MCA-21 340 Cash management 356 Centralised citizen service centres 399 Centrally sponsored schemes (CSSs) 568 Challenges faced by PPP in e-government projects 50 Challenges faced in establishing a single citizen ID system 256 Challenges in the current initiatives towards national ID 257 Challenges of governance 41 Challenges: Sustainability increased impact and scaling up 208 Change management 359 Change perspectives 130 Characteristics of utility computing 176 Chile 93 China’s existing laws related to IPRs restrict competition and analysis 87 China’s policies on standards 87 Citizen relationship and grievance management system (CRHMS) Delhi 313

Index Citizen relationship management (CRM) service 179 Client/server Java encryption 205 Collaboration, interactive and knowledge management systems (CIKM) 583, 584, 585 Commitment accounting 398 Commitment management 353 Commodity tracking system (CTS) 445 Common object request broker architecture (CORBA) 436 Common security management 197 Common user interface 393 Community sponsored standards 291 Complexity of government data centres (GDCs) 152 Components of a GIS 278 Computerisation of land records (CLR) in Tamil Nadu, India 378 Computing infrastructure layers 295 Computing service 180 Conflict management in case of contractual defaults 51 Consolidation 159 Consular passport and visa (CPV) 259 Consultative group on international agricultural research (CGIAR) 24 Contract management 190 Cost savings 98, 270 Countries currently implementing national ID program 266 Countries with national ID programs 262 Countries without national ID card programs 265 Crime, criminal information system (CCIS) 547, 548, 552 Critical success factors for implementation of IGFS project 359 Current approaches to e-government 181 Current scenario 326 Customer relationship management (CRM) 171

595

D Dairy development 24 Data centre management and monitoring 166 Data centre protection 167 Data centre retention and protection 166 Data centre service 180 Data privacy and security issues 310 Data security 370 Data warehousing and data mining 368 Data 279 Dealing with frivolous calls 310 Decrease in the total cost of capital expenditure 183 Delivery of materials 165 Demand collection balance 397 Department of administrative reforms and public grievances (DARPG) 35 Department of agricultural research and education (DARE) 23 Department of agriculture and cooperation 24 Department of animal husbandry and dairying 24 Department of biotechnology (DBT) 34 Department of border management 33 Department of commerce 24 Department of defence production 32 Department of defence research 32 Department of defence 32 Department of disinvestment 25 Department of drinking water supply 31 Department of economic affairs 25 Department of expenditure 25 Department of ex-servicemen welfare 33 Department of external security 33 Department of financial services 25 Department of heavy industry 26 Department of higher education 34 Department of home 33 Department of industrial policy and promotion 24

596 Index Department of information technology (DIT) 27 Department of land resources 31 Department of official language 33 Department of pension and pensioners welfare 35 Department of posts 27 Department of public enterprises 26 Department of revenue 25 Department of rural development 31 Department of school education literacy 34 Department of science and technology (DST) 35 Department of scientific and industrial research (DSIR) 35 Department of states 33 Department of telecommunications (DOT) 27 Departments 23 Designing a scoring model to select partners 270 Determination of information domains 201 Developments in India 94 Differences between utility computing and traditional it outsourcing model 177 Digital media formats 114 Digital TV formats 116 Dimension of PPP 62 Directors 22 Disadvantages of outsourcing 311 Disaster information networks (DINs) 469 Disaster management system 439, 450 Disaster recovery and business continuity plan 166 Discussion on existing identification proofs 260 Distributed component object model (DCOM) 436 Distribution of economic gain 323 Documentation 165 Driving license 260 Duplication of data among various systems 347

E e-choupal 423 Ecological issues 101 Economic impact with relation to IPRs, TBTs and TRIPs 79 Economic issues 99 Economic order quantity (EOQ) 445 Education and research oriented ministries 33 Education department 301 Effective functioning of government call centre in an outsourced environment 312 Efficient allocation of capital 321 Efficient allocation of savings 322 e-Gov 1.0 39 e-Gov 2.0 business models 43 e-Gov 2.0 financial models 45 e-Gov 2.0 operational models 44 e-Gov 2.0 technology models 45 e-government 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 e-intelligence 501 e-learning 430 Elements of GDCs 152 e-mail services 178 Emerging technologies and trends in LRIMS 368 e-noticing 484 Enrolment process 269 Enterprise service bus (ESB) 296 Epidemiologic surveillance 458 e-procurement 479, 482 European standard organisations 91 Evolving a change management strategy 126 Example of analysis of typology of ICT ecosystem 213 Example of areas having multiple standards 114 Example of GIS feature: overlay mapping 280 Example of overlay analysis 283 Example of proximity analysis 282 Example of visualisation analysis 283

Index Existing document formats 115 Existing ID proof systems 258 Existing view and changed view 303 Experience of Brazil 90 Experience of China 85 Experience of Europe 92 Experience of Japan 88 Experience of other Asian and Latin American countries 92 Experience of USA 90

F Factors driving interest in utility computing 171 Features, advantage and disadvantage of PPP models 54 File management 281 Financial dimension 66 Financial issues 51, 310 Fire/ emergency medical services/ disaster 276 Firewall using virtualisation 161 Fiscal reporting 358 Fisheries 24 Flemish government’s call centre 317 Flexibility 183 Force majeure dimension 65 Forest management information system (FMIS) 506, 519 Forest/environment/pollution control department 286 Formal project management 360 FOSS IT industry 96 Freedom from dependence on specific applications vendors or platforms to exchange documents 113 Functioning of a government call centre 308 Functions of the call centre 302 Future of GIS 284 Future scenario 336

G GDC issues 154 General benefits 305 Generic architecture 194

597

Geographic information system (GIS) 368 Geographic references 279 Geographical dimension 65 GIS applications in government 276 GIS tasks 280 GIS 393, 406, 409, 420, 435, 448, 449, 463, 466, 473, 588 Global issues and policies related to adoption of IT 93 Global issues of IT adoption 79 Global positioning system (GPS) and total station 382 Global scenario 84 Governance related ministries 35 Government commitment and management support 359 Government enterprise resource planning (ERP) service 179 Government gateway 296 Government ownership 310 Government sponsored standards 290 Government to business (G2B) 293 Government to citizen (G2C) 293 Government to government (G2G) 294 Graphical user interface (GUI) 489 Grid computing 174 Grievance handling management 316 Groupware services 178

H Hardware 278 Health 277 Heritage area conservation 393 High cost 258 History of GIS development 277 History of the development of utility computing 172 Homeland security 276 Homeless management information system (HMIS) 421 Horizontal specialisation 452

598 Index Hosting different applications: new and legacy 159 How national ID can be linked with citizen life cycle 255 HP open view 187 HP utility data centre (UDC) 187 HP utility pricing solutions 187 HP 187 Human resource development 52

I IBM global services 186 IEEE’s approach to multiple standards 120 iKisan.com 424 IMF code of good practice 395 Implementation of LRIMS in Andhra Pradesh, India 372 Implementing national ID system 268 Importance of an IGFS 346 Importance of GIS 284 Importance of telecentres 208 Inadequacy of funds 182 Inadequate human resources 182 Inadequate ICT infrastructure 182 Inconsistencies 257 Increased independence 347 Indian consortium for educational transformation (ICONSENT) 433 Indonesia 93 Industry sponsored standards 291 Information and communication technology (ICT) 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18 Information and communicative technology (ICT) 422, 423, 424, 425, 428, 431, 432, 436, 505, 546, 547, 549, 552, 556, 559 Input of data 280 Integrated information 347 Integration of GDC with government wide area network (GWAN) 164 Integration of security practices to maintain secure status 201 Integration 309

Integrative approach 184 Interactive voice recognition system (IVRS) 408, 448 Inter-agency coordination and user involvement in systems design 359 International centre for free software and computing for development 96 International Monetary Fund 395 Internet banking domain 203 Internet banking logical security architecture 203 Internet freedom or net neutrality (NN) 189 Interoperability 163 Introduction 48, 107, 207 IPR and data privacy 189 IPR sharing 52 Iron triangle 430 ISO’s approach towards multiple standards 119 Issues constraining PPP in e-government in India 66 Issues in scaling up of the system 221 IT adoption policies of Belgium 92 IT adoption policies of EU 90 IT adoption policies of Germany 92 IT infrastructure components 175 IT infrastructure 175 I-villages 424, 425

J Joint secretary

22, 23

K Key dimension of PPP contracts 62 Key issues in government treasury system 347 Key issues with government call centre 309 Kiosk and smart card 370 Kiosks 391 Krishi Vigyan Kendra 432

Index

L Lack of a uniform technology 347 Land record information management system (LRIMS) 391 Land record 391 Land records system 304, 367 Law enforcement 277 Learning: reducing design-reality gaps 138 Legal impact with relation to IPRs 82 Legal issues 100, 146 Legislative frameworks 291 Local ICT environment in rural and undeserved areas 209 Local technical support 360 Logical architecture 194 Long queues 258 Loss of overall objective due to multiple systems 347 Low cost information infrastructure for rural areas (LIIRA) 468 Lower interest rates 323

M Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) 433 Major architectural components of e-governance software 294 Major departments whose service are primary 301 Manageability 164 Management and administrative control 166 Manipulation of data 281 Manufactures Association of Information Technology (MAIT) 99 Map making options in GIS 281 Map making 280 Mapping 367 Market segmentation 210 MAS 403, 404, 410, 412 Massachusetts 90 Master plan 392 Maximum compatibility with existing technologies 114

599

Maximum resource utilisation 184 Mckinsey’s model on organisational change 130 Micro and small enterprise (MSE) 27 Migration, updates and business continuity 160 Military defense 276 Minimum resource wastage 184 Minister 23 Ministries responsible for strategic issues 32 Ministry of agriculture 23 Ministry of chemicals and fertilisers 24 Ministry of civil aviation 26 Ministry of coal 24 Ministry of commerce and industry 24 Ministry of communications and information technology 27 Ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution 29 Ministry of corporate affairs 25 Ministry of culture 29 Ministry of defence 32 Ministry of development of north eastern region 30 Ministry of earth sciences 34 Ministry of environment and forest 30 Ministry of external affairs 33 Ministry of finance 25 Ministry of food processing industries 26 Ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises 26 Ministry of home affairs 33 Ministry of human resource development 34 Ministry of information and broadcasting 34 Ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises 27 Ministry of minority affairs 30 Ministry of parliamentary affairs 13, 36 Ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions 35 Ministry of rural development 30 Ministry of science and technology 34

600 Index Ministry of shipping, road transport and highway 28 Ministry of social justice and empowerment 31 Ministry of statistics and program implementation 36 Ministry of steel 28 Ministry of textiles 28 Ministry of tourism 26 Ministry of urban development 31 Ministry of urban employment and poverty alleviation 30 Ministry of water resources 29 Ministry of women and child development 31 Ministry of youth affairs and sports 32 Ministry power 28 Ministry 23 Mission specific security architecture development 196 Model of change management 147 Model of effective organizational performance 129 Monitoring and evaluation dimension 65 Monopolistic and restrictive trade practice (MRTP) 83 More credit for the poor 323 Motor vehicle license issuing agencies 302 MTPC 404 Multilateral government sponsored standards 290 Multiple document interface 520 Multiple enrolments 257 Multiple information security policy support 197 Multiple standard allow interoperability between many applications and systems 112 Municipal data bank 408 Municipal geographic information system 408 Municipality 396 Mutation of property 401

Mutually aided cooperative thrift and credit society (MACTIC) 433

N National agricultural innovation project (NAIP) 431 National agricultural research systems (NARS) 423, 432 National agricultural science centre (NASC) 432 National council of applied economic research (NCAER) 256 National crime record bureau (NCRB) 548, 549, 554 National ID eco-system 272 National identity cards from a global perspective 261 National institute of standards and technology 555 Need for a single national citizen ID system 253 Need for government call center 300 Need for legal reform – An India case 329 Need for PPP in e-government 49 Need for secure credit 321 Network and telecentre system 224 Network service 180 New town development plans 392

O Object management group (OMG) 436 Object oriented programming 411 Objectives and outcomes expected from GDCs 153 Office productivity 297 Office suite service 178 Offsetting human resource need 184 Old globalisation vs new globalisation 81 On-line connectivity 370 On-line connectivity 391 Open geospatial consortium (OGC) standards 284 Open software 371, 391

Index Open source operating systems 297 Open standards 290 Open systems employment 197 Operation and maintenance 54 Organisation for the advancement for structured information standards (OASID) 436 Organisation for the advancement of structured information standards (OASIS) 98 Organisational and HR issues 146 Organisational capacity and technical skills 359 Organisational dimension 66 Organisational models 213 Outcomes expected 348 Outsourcing or self-establishment 311 Overlay analysis 282 Overview of security requirements 195 Ownership of public information 52

P Parameters for success of a national ID system 267 Participation of citizens/ stakeholders 146 Parties involved in the flow of credit sector-wise 328 Parties involved in the flow of credit 328 Parties 326 Passport 259 Passport/visa 302 Patent family statistical table 86 Payable process 354 Payments management 354, 398 People driven change management 132 People related issues 144 People 279 Period of the contract 51 Permits more investment 323 Personal account number (PAN) cards 258 Phase 1: Conducting security assessments 198 Phase 2: Formulation of target security architecture designs 199

601

Phase 3: Construction of policies and procedures 200 Phase 4: Implementation of target security architecture design 200 Philips patent 84 Policy issues of technology adoption 97 Policy on multiple standards 102 Political issues of IT policy 98 Political issues 144 Portal 296 Poverty management system 407 Dimensions PPP 63 PPP rating 67 Precision agriculture markup language (PAML) 434 Preserving documents for records management and archival process 114 President 22 Pricing models 186 Prime minister 22, 23 Process documentation 165 Process issues 144 Process 194 Project commencement documents 165 Project management issues 145 Property registration and stamps 302 Proposed regulation on PPP 68 Protecting information stored in documents from unwanted usage 114 Provisioning 173 Proximity analysis 282 Purpose of standard 109

Q Quality of service 184 Query and analysis 282 Questions to be asked before deploying telecentre 211

R Rating of design reality gaps Rating of PPP contract 67

138

602 Index Rating of private players 67 Rationale for multiple standards 110 Rationale for single standard 117 Real application clusters (RAC) 449 Reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) 89 Receipts management 355 Recovery and data integrity 359 Reduced transaction times 347 Reform of the legal and regulatory framework 335 Relational database management system (RDBMS) 349, 416 Renewed focus 184 Repeated services 158 Revenue process 355 Reverse auction 484 Risk management 188, 347 Risk mitigation in the financial structure 324 Roadblocks to the use of IT in government 182 Rural service delivery segmentation methodology 211

S Sawhney and Zabin model of change 131 Scalability and robustness 183 Scalability 162, 184 Secretariat system 302 Secretary 22 Secure solutions using virtualisation 160 Security audit 167 Security features 358 Security issues 101 Security policy 196 Security requirements 196, 197 Security 163, 188 Server, storage and client virtualisation 162 Service availability and its monitoring 166 Service oriented architecture (SOA) 292, 435

Seven organisational processes in e-business transformation 132 Shared infrastructure 177 Single document interface (SDI) 520 Single standard may not reasonably accommodate multiple goals of a technology requirement 114 Smart national IDS 270 Social issues 99 Software development and consolidated lifecycle 159 Software licensing 189 Software requirements specification SRS) 411, 412, 413 Software 279 Some popular PPP models used in e-government 53 Sovereignty of data 102 Specific architecture 194 Staff management and scheduling 309 Staff training 309 Stakeholders of GIS 285 Standardisation 176, 188 State finance corporation 396 Steps in designing a GDC 162 Steps in designing security architecture 198 Storage service 179 Storage utilisation using virtualisation 161 Storage 164 Strengthening of revenue administration and updating land records (SRA and ULR) 381 Strengthening of telecentre 223 Structure of a government 22 Study of international cases on e-government 133 Summary of security requirement refinements 198 Sun microsystems 185 Sun remote services (SRS) net connect 186 Sun’s utility solutions enabled by its partners and technologies 185 Sun’s utility solutions 186 Supply and installation 164

Index Supporting growth of telecentre 225 Survey methods used in the past 367 Sustainability and impact thorough appropriate services and content 215 Swarnjayanti gram swarozgar yojna (SGSY) 579 System integration 175 System requirements 349 Systems and data administration 360

T Technical and regulatory issues in utility computing 187 Technical assistance framework 330 Technical barriers in trade (TBT) 98 Technological issues 100 Technologies used in telecentres 220 Technology and action for rural advancement (TARA) 433 Technology dimension 64 Technology related issues 143 Technology should be handed over to private sectors 271 Technology 95 Telecenter for local communities 210 Testing and commissioning 165 The ‘healing touch’: the importance of a human approach 148 The PPP scenario 53 The process of raising funds and procurement 353 The social enterprise continuum 214 The three-step change process 128 Theoretical framework and models of change management 128 To frame supportive government policies 271 Total cost of ownership (TCO) 157 Training 165 Transfer development rights 414 Transportation 277 Treasury reference model 395 Treasury solution overview 350 Treasury systems 395 Trusted partnership 269

603

Typical process of filing a patent internationally 86 Typology of services 216 Typology of services: informational, transactional and e-government 217

U Understanding change management 127 Underutilisation and wastage of resources 182 Uniform office format (UOF) 87 Unilateral government sponsored standards 290 Unique premises number (UPN) 405, 410 United nations (UN) 24 Urban development department portal 400 Urban development management system 391, 392, 393, 420 Urban local bodies 394 Use of hand-held device 369 Use of web in lrims 369 Uses of government call centre 301 Utility approach to e-government 183 Utility based service model (UBSM) for computing 175 Utility computing application areas 178 Utility computing concepts 173 Utility computing in public domain 181 Utility computing: modern day scenario 185 Utility pricing 177 Utility/on demand computing 174

V Value addition and wealth creation 81 Value propositions 147 Vertical specialisation 450 Virtual schools and learning homes (VSIH) 432 Virtualisation and consolidation of GDC’S 155

604 Index Virtualisation and consolidation 157 Virtualisation at client-access level 161 Virtualisation for security 161 Virtualisation 174, 283 Vital, essential and desirable (VED) 445 Voter ID card/electoral rolls 259

W Web feature service (WFS) 435 Web map service (WMS) 435 Welfare ministers 29

What is e-Gov 2.0 42 Why OpenOffice? 96 Wireless standards 117 WLAN authentication and privacy infrastructure (WAPI) 88 Working of GIS 279 World Bank 395 World intellectual property organisation (WIPO) 83 World trade organisation approach to multiple standards 120 World wide web consortium (W3C) 436

Author’s Profile

Dr. Jaijit Bhattacharya is a noted expert in e-Governance. He has worked with top IT and consulting firms for over 15 years. He has been involved in conceptualisation and execution of numerous e-governance initiatives in India and South Asia and has worked in 10 countries across the world. Dr. Bhattacharya is currently an Adjunct Professor with IIT Delhi and Director, South Asia, Global Government Affairs with Hewlett Packard. He has taught Integrated Public Finance systems at ADB Institute in Japan and contributed to the eLeaders curriculum of the World Bank. Dr. Bhattacharya studied Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur and received his MBA from IIM Calcutta and PhD in Computer Science from IIT Delhi. He has authored and edited six books and numerous conference and journal papers. His first co-authored book on e-governance was released by the then President of India, Shri A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.