E-Government 9781845449018, 9781845449001

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ISBN 1-84544-900-2

ISSN 1463-7154

Volume 12 Number 1 2006

Business Process Management Journal E-government Guest Editors: Khalid S. Soliman and John F. Affisco

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Business Process Management Journal

ISSN 1463-7154 Volume 12 Number 1 2006

E-government Guest Editors Khalid S. Soliman and John F. Affisco

Access this journal online _________________________

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Editorial advisory board __________________________

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Guest editorial ___________________________________

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Viewpoint The web-internet compound as the infrastructure of digital government Vladimir Zwass ________________________________________________

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E-government: a strategic operations management framework for service delivery John F. Affisco and Khalid S. Soliman _____________________________

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The importance of strategic readiness in an emerging e-government environment Chang E. Koh, Victor R. Prybutok, Sherry Ryan and Bashorat Ibragimova ___________________________________________

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Ontologies for e-document management in public administration Ralf Klischewski _______________________________________________

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS continued

A framework for e-government: privacy implications France Belanger and Janine S. Hiller_______________________________

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A procedure model for process oriented e-government projects Joerg Becker, Lars Algermissen and Bjo¨rn Niehaves __________________

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The role of business process redesign in creating e-government in Ireland Martin Hughes, Murray Scott and Willie Golden _____________________

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E-government services in the local government context: an Australian case study Peter Shackleton, Julie Fisher and Linda Dawson_____________________

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Exploring city, county and state e-government initiatives: an East Texas perspective Mary Helen Fagan _____________________________________________

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Integrated service delivery: exploratory case studies of enterprise portal adoption in UK local government Elizabeth Daniel and John Ward __________________________________

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ADVISORY GROUP Professor Thomas H. Davenport Babson College, USA Professor Varun Grover William S. Lee Distinguished Professor of Information Systems, Clemson University, USA

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Dr H. James Harrington The Harrington Institute, USA Dr John Peters Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 60/62 Toller Lane, Bradford, UK

Professor Kai Jakobs Computer Science Department, Technical University of Aachen, Germany Dr Ned Florencio Kock Texas A&M International University, USA Dr Peter Kung Cre´dit Suisse, Zurich, Switzerland Dr Jinyoul Lee State University of New York at Binghamton, USA

Professor N. Venkatraman David J. McGrath Jr, Professor of Management, Boston University, USA

Professor Binshan Lin Department of Management & Marketing, Louisiana State University in Shreveport, USA

EDITORIAL BOARD

Professor Pericles Loucopoulos Chair of Information Systems, Department of Computation, Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK

Professor Hassan Abdalla De Montfort University, Leicester, UK Professor Zaitun Abu Bakar Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Dr Eric W.T. Nagi Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Dr Nabeel al-Qirim Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

Professor Michael Rosemann Business Process Management Group, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Professor Mustafa Alshawi Faculty of Business and Informatics, University of Salford, UK

Dr Mohamed Radaideh UAE University, United Arab Emirates

Professor B.S. Sahay Institute of Management Technology, India

Professor Jiju Antony Caledonian Business School, Glasgow, UK

Dr Christopher Seow University of East London, UK

Professor Saad Haj Bakry College of Engineering, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Dr Amir Sharif UBS Investment Bank, UK

Professor David Bennett Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK

Professor John Sharp Faculty of Business and Informatics, University of Salford, Salford, UK

Dr Ganesh D. Bhatt Morgan State University, USA

Professor Namchul Shin Pace University, School of CSIS, New York, USA

Professor Georgios I. Doukidis Department of Management Science and Technology, Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

Constantinos J. Stefanou Technological Educational Institution (TEI) of Thessaloniki, Greece

Professor A. Sharaf Eldin Faculty of Computers and Information, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt Dr George M. Giaglis Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece Professor A. Gunasekaran University of Massachusetts, USA Dr Ray Hackney Director BIT Research, The Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University, Aytoun Street, Manchester, UK Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 p. 4 # Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154

Dr Ismail Khalil Ibrahim Johannes Kepler University, Austria

Professor Suliman Hawamdeh School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Dr Marinos Themistocleous Brunel University, UK Dr Lorna Uden Staffordshire University, UK Professor W.M.P. van der Aalst Department of Information and Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Professor Anthony Wensley Rotman School of Business, Ontario, Canada

Guest editorial Electronic government (e-government) involves providing service to citizens, businesses, and government agencies electronically. The scope of this Business Process Management Journal special issue on e-government is to provide an insight to research that is being undertaken in the e-government area. After a vigorous review process, we have selected nine papers and one expert opinion. The selected papers provide an in-depth understanding of critical issues involved in e-government. Zwass in his viewpoint, “The web-internet compound as the infrastructure of digital government”, discusses digital government and highlights that it encompasses two principal domains. The first is e-government, which addresses the needs of all levels of government as providers of services. The second is e-democracy, which is the support for the process of broad participation of citizens, and of those of them who represent others, in the debate, political discourse, surfacing and elaboration of societal issues, emergence of representation, polling, and voting. The special issue begins with two papers that focus on e-government transformation and e-readiness. First, in their paper, “E-government: a strategic operations management framework for service delivery”, Affisco and Soliman stress that e-government requires a well-defined strategy to provide valuable service at lower costs while protecting privacy and addressing security issues. Extending Heskett’s work in service delivery in organizations to the area of e-government, the authors develop a framework to guide government efforts in the successful transformation to e-government. Second, Koh, Prybutok, Ryan, and Ibragimova in their paper, “The importance of strategic readiness in an emerging e-government environment”, propose that the perceived degree of strategic e-government readiness affects the perceived importance of e-government functions. The findings of their study suggest that government agencies must evaluate how strategic e-government plans are developed, communicated, and integrated into the work environment and conclude that without the proper understanding of the importance of e-government initiatives, employees do not place high value on e-government initiatives. Two major issues come into play in establishing e-government services: e-document management and privacy concerns. In his paper, “Ontologies for e-Document management in public administration”, Klischewski explores the potential of ontologies for reorganizing e-document management in public administration with the aim of supporting administration in organizing cross-organizational document and information management. The research findings indicate that first, structuring documents and information through ontologies requires an infrastructure consisting of a number of regularities, services and support on the level of organization as well as information technology, and second, a rather small government must be aware of its strategic goals and step ahead carefully in order to avoid the risks of misinvestment. On the issue of privacy, Belanger and Hiller in their paper, “A framework for e-Government: privacy implications”, discuss the issues of privacy and electronic government. They present an electronic government framework of the various stages of e-government implementation with respect to the relationship between the government and its various constituents, as guided by global constraints.

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Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 pp. 5-6 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154

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On the role of business process reengineering in e-government, two papers are presented. First, Becker, Algermissen, and Niehaves provide in their paper, “A procedure model for process oriented e-Government projects”, a procedure model for process-oriented organisation design, with reference to the example of local government building permission procedures in Germany. Second, Hughes, Scott, and Golden in, “The role of business process redesign in creating e-Government in Ireland”, analyze the Irish Government’s evolutionary path to the provision of successful e-government. The lessons learned from this case provide a valuable insight into a possible roadmap for the successful attainment of citizen-centered e-government in other jurisdictions. This special issue presents three studies that focus on local e-governments in Australia, United States, and United Kingdom. First, drawing on research involving an examination of local government web sites in Victoria, Australia and an in-depth case study with one local government, Shackleton, Fisher, and Dawson in their paper, “E-Government services in the local government context: an Australian case study”, describe the current status of local government electronic service delivery. Their findings suggest that conventional linear e-Commerce and e-government maturity models are not applicable in the case of local government as this level of government traditionally focuses more on active community participation and interaction. Second, Fagan in her paper, “Exploring city, county and state e-government initiatives: an east Texas perspective”, explores, in two cases, diverse applications that have involved one locale, the city of Tyler, Texas. The first case briefly describes the Tyler Texas e-government portal, an initiative that illustrates government-to-citizen and government-to-business applications. The second case describes a city/county government information technology integration effort that could support government-to-government applications if it is successful. The third paper by Daniel and Ward, “Integrated service delivery: exploratory case studies of enterprise portal adoption in UK local government”, describes the development and early stage deployment of enterprise portals within two county councils in the UK, West Sussex and Hertfordshire. The case studies raise a number of issues of relevance beyond the public sector, concerning the ability of organizations to understand and gain immediate and longer-term benefits from enterprise portals. Khalid S. Soliman and John F. Affisco Guest Editors

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm

VIEWPOINT

The web-internet compound as the infrastructure of digital government

The web-internet compound

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Vladimir Zwass Computer Science and Management Information Systems, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, New Jersey, USA Abstract Purpose – To provide the framework for digital government in its e-government and e-democracy aspects. Design/methodology/approach – Using the aspects-and-opportunities framework of the internet-web compound, the nodal aspects of the continuing and potential technologically-based change known as digital government are discussed. Reallocation of certain government functions to the market becomes newly attractive economically in the presence of the web as marketplace. The web as a broadly accessible medium and a forum offers new opportunities in digital democracy. The utilitarian aspects of the internet-web, those of the universal telecommunications network, delivery vehicle, and a common development platform, render the compound a new societal infrastructure, with the consequent benefits and exposures. The opportunities, as well as vulnerabilities, need to be the focus of information specialists as technologists and as citizens. Findings – Opportunities are surfaced to reallocate the functions of e-government from the hierarchy to the market using e-commerce methods and tools. Research limitations/implications – Vulnerabilities of the web-internet combine in the application to e-government are not investigated here. Practical implications – Move from the bureaucratic to market-oriented structures is implied. Originality/value – A broad application of e-commerce facilities to digital government is presented within a disciplined framework. Keywords Worldwide web, Internet, Digital communication systems, Telecommunications, Societal organization Paper type Viewpoint

Introduction Electronic commerce has been defined broadly as the sharing of business information, maintaining of business relationships, and conducting of business transactions by means of telecommunications networks (Zwass, 1996). This definition encompasses the activities of e-government as those of conducting the affairs of state on various levels and with the greatest rational involvement of citizenry. At the same time, a consideration of the broader role of government in human affairs requires us to look more closely at the diverse aspects of the internet-web compound, the underlying technological driver and vehicle of e-commerce. It is our objective here to unpack the aspects of the internet-web and analyze their relevance to the digital government.

Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 pp. 7-12 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154 DOI 10.1108/14637150610643715

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Electronic commerce and digital government Digital government, that is, government facilitated by the internet-web and allied information and telecommunication technologies, encompasses two principal domains. The first of these, generally termed e-government, addresses the needs of all levels of government as providers of services. Efficiency in administration, and providing broad access to information and transactional services to the citizenry are recognized as the primary concerns in this domain. An assessment survey of e-government readiness has been developed by a United Nations body (e-Government, 2003). However, the domain also includes properly the electronic means of ensuring security and safety of citizens, and those aspects of the citizens’ well-being that are allocated to the government in a given society (as is, for example, healthcare is in some countries). The more problematic second aspect of digital government is e-democracy: the support for the process of broad participation of citizens, and of those of them who represent others, in the debate, political discourse, surfacing and elaboration of societal issues, emergence of representation, polling, and voting. The two domains of digital government do, of course, overlap. Informed citizenry has been long recognized as the bedrock of democracy, yet the citizenry becomes informed not only by the processes specific to e-democracy. The voting technology has been known to impinge on the perceived probity of the democratic process. Also, the interest taken by certain country governments in e-government may not equal their interest in e-democracy. Here, we wish to consider the essence of both digital government domains as they are – and can be – supported by the appropriate aspects of the internet-web, using the salient aspects of the aspects-and-opportunities framework of Zwass (2003). The principal areas of activity in the deployment of the internet-web compound range from computation and connectivity to collaboration and commerce. The Protean nature of the compound offers multiple sources of change and innovation in the domain of government, as in other organizational domains. However, as Castells (1996, p. 15) points out, “[i]nstitutions of society are built to enforce power relationships existing in each historical period.” Technology plays a complex role of offering new- and sometimes compelling- options in the evolution of these relationships, without directly causing such an evolution. Market and hierarchy Let us consider first the higher-level aspects of the internet-web compound. The web serves as the marketplace, which is at this time almost entirely dominated by business-to-business commerce, accounting for about 95 percent of the total monetary volume of e-commerce (E-commerce and Development Report, 2002). The web acts as a virtual space where the buyers and sellers congregate, the matching of product, seller, and price is effected, and the transaction is facilitated (including the delivery of digital products and of payments). The web-internet compound also serves as the universal supply-chain linkage, as business processes become more widely supported with web-enabled information systems. The beneficial balance between the internal production by a firm (hierarchy) and the acquisition in the market is defined to a large degree by the relationship between the agency costs of management and the costs of transacting in the marketplace (Williamson, 1975; Malone et al., 1987). The presence of the potentially universal marketplace and supply-chain linkage changes the points of this beneficial balance – for the governments as well.

Therefore, governments at all levels are in a position to review which functions should be retained and which should be privatized (some states in the US have been privatizing the motor-vehicles licensing functions, for example). Considering the broader mission of the government, such a review should be conducted with full consideration of risks of non-performance and security, which are not an explicit consideration in transaction-cost economics. Yet, subjecting more of the traditionally governmental functions to the Schumpeterian “creative destruction” in the marketplace can bring innovation and efficiency where they had not been seen before. For example, packages of services can be offered seamlessly to a citizen considered a client who is undergoing a life-cycle transition or requires complex assistance in a real-estate acquisition. Such reallocation of certain government functions to the marketplace can be done in full recognition of what Miller (2002) calls “the necessity of countermarket institutions” of the state and the civil society. Digital democracy As an interactive medium, the internet-web is unique in its accessibility in both active and passive (informational) modes. The very presence of this medium changes the force field in the political process. The medium tends to empower (or, rather, lend louder voice to) an individual in relation to organizations, including those of governments. Political campaigning and fund-raising, as well as individual activism, are on the rise, with the internet-based e-mail and web-based blogs as notable tools (Cummings, 2003). The web has provided the forum for virtual communities, relatively durable social networks of relationships whose participants interact within a framework of explicit and tacit policies (Andrews et al., 2002). Politically oriented virtual communities can deploy the web to self-organize, debate political issues, set agendas, hone policies, engage politicians in a debate from a position of enhanced power, and influence the political process nationally or, even, internationally as non-governmental organizations. Egregious behavior stemming from political power may be curtailed by the very expectation of a reaction in web communities, which are potent social amplifiers. The effectiveness of self-organization for political purposes becomes more pronounced with the advent of the tools of m-commerce, enabling “smart mobs” to emerge rapidly and add physical presence to the virtual community (Rheingold, 2002). There is no other forum that can be so easily joined, that is embedded in so much easily accessible information, and can be enacted asynchronously (if desired), without a limiting time horizon. This novel forum is also a part of a global space offering visibility and a source of new participants. If we apply the perspective of Habermas (1991), the availability of such a forum expands the public sphere, where the deliberative processes of discourse and debate can lead to informed public opinion – and have an impact that also lends legitimacy to subsequent political action. The medium of the web is capable of enabling teledemocracy that would go beyond participatory democracy to afford citizens direct legislative rights through electronic town hall meetings and referenda at all levels of government (Becker, 2001). However, the disintermediation of the elected actors of representative democracies is no more likely to be enacted in toto than that of the business intermediaries of e-commerce. In both cases, the intermediaries have significant and abiding roles to play, as different as these roles are.

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The infrastructure of society The internet-web compound is becoming the delivery vehicle for the services of the government and for digital tokens (such as votes), the universal telecommunications network including the anytime-anywhere connectivity of mobile communication, and the common development platform from which new information-based initiatives are launched. Thus, it is increasingly becoming an essential infrastructure of our government, our supply webs, our marketplaces, our utilities, indeed of our lives. The web will unavoidably become the infrastructure of our democratic processes, as we move to e-elections and similar technologically-based means of eliciting democratic representation. The advent of the internet and the web, the non-proprietary software standards, the common protocols, the emerging uniform patterns of use, all enable societal and business integration on a variety of levels. Grids of our civilization are increasingly based on integrated information technologies. This is, of course, an immense benefit. It is also an immense vulnerability – on many levels and to many and various threats. The reduction and containment of these vulnerabilities are of the essence. Fundamental approaches are necessary to make software-driven networks of transactions, services, and relationships fostered by digital government more reliable, more secure, and more resilient. Discussion and conclusion As we have seen, several principal aspects of the internet-web compound can enable fundamental changes encompassed in the idea of digital government. Yet, potentialities are not mandates. Through a careful consideration of the specific aspects of this now decade-old meld of technologies progress can be achieved. Self-organization is a crucial aspect of e-democracy. Yet, as Brown and Duguid (2002) point out, self-organization and formal organizations are neither alternatives nor complimentary entities: they coexist in a state of mutual tension. Technological actions need to be undertaken in full recognition of this coexistence, lest they court failure. To support a given mode of technology appropriation, a whole system of values and norms needs to emerge at the level of the society; this system goes beyond the compass of legal institutions (Mylonopoulos and Doukidis, 2003). The success of information systems is contingent on a great variety and complexity of antecedents (Larsen, 2003). The span of this variety is particularly operative in the case of systems that can affect our lives as the digital government systems can. Organizational change in the dialectic mode has been characterized as a “pluralistic world of colliding events, forces, or contradictory values that compete with each other for domination or control” (Van de Ven and Poole, 1995, p. 517). This is probably the most apt description of the continuing appropriation of the various aspects of the internet-web compound for the purposes of digital government. What is at issue is not simply the instrumentation of government and of democratic processes with information technologies. Government roles and operations themselves require change in the presence of these transformational technologies. “For the most part, governments have not yet reorganized to meet the challenges of the digital world,” says Simon (2000, p. 51). Digital government is best understood as a continuing process of convergence between the emergence, structuring, and functioning of governmental institutions and their leadership on the one hand, and the information technologies that enable these institutions on the other. To be effective,

information-systems researchers and practitioners need to gain further understanding of this process and of the opportunities, the diverse aspects of the internet-web compound can play in it. References Andrews, D., Preece, J. and Turoff, M. (2002), “A conceptual framework for demographic groups resistant to online community interaction”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 9-24. Becker, T. (2001), “Rating the impact of new technologies on democracy”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 39-43. Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. (2002), The Social Life of Information, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Castells, M. (1996), The Rise of the Network Society, Blackwell, Malden, MA. Cummings, J. (2003), “Behind dean surge: a gang of bloggers and webmasters”, The Wall Street Journal, October 14, pp. 1-14. E-commerce and Development Report (2002), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations, New York and Geneva, available at: http://r0.unctad.org/ecommerce/ecommerce_en/edr02_en.htm (accessed November 18, 2002). e-Government Readiness Assessment Survey (2003), United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, available at: www.unpan.org/discover.asp (accessed October 3, 2003). Habermas, J. (1991), The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of a Bourgeois Society, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Larsen, K.R.T. (2003), “A taxonomy of antecedents of information systems success: variable analysis studies”, Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 169-246. Malone, T.W., Benjamin, R.I. and Yates, J. (1987), “Electronic markets and electronic hierarchies: effects of information technology on market structure and corporate strategies”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 484-97. Miller, J.Z. (2002), The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Modern European Thought, Knopf, New York, NY. Mylonopoulos, N.A. and Doukidis, G.I. (2003), “Introduction to the special issue: mobile business: technological pluralism, social assimilation, and growth”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 5-22. Rheingold, H. (2002), Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MA. Simon, L.D. (2000), Netpolicy.com: Public Agenda for the Digital World, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. Van de Ven, A.H. and Poole, M.S. (1995), “Explaining development and change in organizations”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 510-40. Williamson, O. (1975), Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications, Free Press, New York, NY. Zwass, V. (1996), “Electronic commerce: structures and issues”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 3-23. Zwass, V. (2003), “Electronic commerce and organizational innovation: aspects and opportunities”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 7-37.

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About the author Vladimir Zwass is the Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Management Information Systems at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Columbia University. Zwass is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management Information Systems, now in its 20th year of publication as a leading journal in the field of information systems. He is also the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Electronic Commerce, ranked as the top journal in its field, and of a new series of research monographs, Advances in Management Information Systems. He is the author of six books and several book chapters, including entries in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, as well as of a number of papers in various journals and conference proceedings. He has received several grants, consulted for a number of major corporations, and is a frequent speaker to national and international audiences. He is a former member of the Professional Staff on the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria. Vladimir Zwass can be contacted at: zwass@fdu. edu.

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E-government: a strategic operations management framework for service delivery John F. Affisco and Khalid S. Soliman

E-government: service delivery

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BCIS/QM Department, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to present a conceptual framework for selecting and developing e-government applications as part of an overall coherent strategy of e-government service delivery (EGSD). Design/methodology/approach – The framework proposed in this paper builds on and expands prior literature in the areas of e-government and service delivery in organizations. Specifically, the framework extends Heskett’s work in service delivery in organizations to the area of e-government. Findings – The strategic operations management framework for EGSD developed in this paper represents a response to the need for a more strategic point of view on the electronic delivery of government services. The framework consists of seven building-blocks – four basic elements: market segmentation, service mode development, operations-strategy redesign, and service delivery, in addition to three integrative elements: differentiation, leverage of value and alignment of strategy and system. Research limitations/implications – The framework fills two important voids in the area of government transformation to provide electronic services. First, it provides a precise framework and steps to implement successful e-government applications. Second, the framework provides a tool for researchers through which e-government studies can be organized and developed. Practical implications – The framework developed in this paper is flexible enough to be adopted by governments at different levels; federal, state, or local and by developed and developing countries around the world. Further, it realizes the importance of having an integrated plan for e-government projects. Originality/value – The framework developed in this paper guides delivering government services over the internet projects world-wide. Also, it recognizes the ripple effect of fluctuating service levels before delving into an e-government project. Keywords Electronics industry, Government, Design, Strategic management Paper type Conceptual paper

Introduction The most frequently cited motive behind initiating electronic government or e-government is the need for more efficiencies in public sectors. In fact, federal, state, and local governments worldwide are under pressure to deliver services more efficiently at lower cost and are recognizing e-government as an attractive option both commercially and politically (Sharma and Soliman, 2003). E-government can be defined as the application of electronic commerce tools and techniques by government to provide services to citizens (Howard, 2001). According to the World Bank Group (2003), the application of information technologies in government agencies can result in: . . . better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management.

Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 pp. 13-21 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154 DOI 10.1108/14637150610643724

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Therefore, one major function of government is associated with the effective delivery of services to its constituents and partners. In an effort to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of government services, attention recently has turned to e-government. The first step toward delivering high quality customer service is to realize that the nature of customer needs is different depending upon their primary relationship to government. Three such government service relationships provided – government-to-citizen (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), and government-to-government (G2G) – have been identified in the literature. In general, e-government applications to provide service to these different classes of customers have grown on a piece-meal basis at the initiative of a few government champions. While this approach has proved successful in many cases of initial forays into e-government, the authors believe that a more strategic approach will be required in the future in view of shrinking resources available to government, increasing availability of internet access to citizens, existing IT infrastructure, multilevel relationships among governments, and the historical functional, programmatic organization of government services. Balutis (2001b) concurs with this view and posits the idea that “. . . there is a serious gap in the literature concerning technology strategy for government agencies.” But “service” should be a key element of whatever emerges. For e-government service delivery (EGSD) efforts to proceed beyond the present stage of infancy, an integrated strategy that recognizes marketing, operations, and information technology aspects of government services must be developed. The objective of this effort is double fold. First, is to provide a framework to spur an organized research effort into what is required to develop a coherent strategically sound program for the delivery of government services through electronic means. Second, is to provide governments with some guidance on the selection of services that should be provided through electronic means and the processes that are required to successfully accomplish these implementations. E-government models: implementation and challenges Various models of e-government implementation have been advanced in the literature. Three of interest are those proposed by Balutis (2001a), Layne and Lee (2001) and the Gartner Group as presented in Baum and DiMaio (2001). These models are detailed in Table I. Balutis (2001a) studied 1,300 government agencies and concluded that 57 percent disseminate information and 34 percent allow transactional activity while only 4 percent of the e-government initiatives are “transforming government.” The North Carolina Information Resources Management Commission (2001), in a report to that state’s General Assembly, looked more deeply into the implications of the Gartner Group model for practice. Major challenges involved in web presence strategy (phase 1) are: content management, presentation hierarchy, and roles and responsibilities of backend support. Challenges faced as part of interaction strategy (phase 2) are availability of technical support staff and public records management in creating and maintaining databases. One observes the increasing complexity and required investment in technology as we move to phases 2 and 3 (transaction strategy) as the challenges become more complex. These challenges are related to privacy and security, backup and recovery, and internal integration. Even more complex is the advance to the transformation strategy (phase 4).

Reference

Phases or stages

Explanation

Baum and DiMaio (2001)

Phase 1: presence

Static web presence for offering information Web sites provide basic search capabilities, host forms to download Allowing constituents to conduct and complete entire tasks online such as applying for a drivers’ license Redefining the delivery of government services by providing a single point of contact to constituents that makes government organization totally transparent to citizens E-government initiative provides information Provides forms only Transaction based, e.g. e-pay of taxes

Phase 2: interaction Phase 3: transaction Phase 4: transformation

Balutis (2001a)

Layne and Lee (2001)

Phase 1: information dissemination Phase 2: forms only Phase 3: end-to-end electronic transactions Phase 4: transforming government Shifts the focus and structure of government to provide seamless services transparent to citizens Stage 1: cataloging Establishing static online presence for government Stage 2: transaction-based Transacting online service by searching e-government database, filling out forms and government responds by providing confirmations, receipts Stage 3: vertical integration Local, state, and federal governments are connected for different functions or services Stage 4: horizontal integration Integration across different functions and services

Challenges include business process re-design, ongoing funding stream, intergovernmental cooperation, and performance and accountability programs. These challenges stress that reaching phase 4 requires a major cultural leap in business practices, organizational structures, and governance processes. Other models of e-government have appeared in the literature, however, they are generally descriptive in nature. From these models, some basic propositions for the successful development of e-government have been posited. While this is valuable work at the infancy of e-government, we argue that for e-government to progress a more strategic model is required. Further, the majority of e-government models propose a sort of linear progression as e-government evolves, generally beginning with dissemination, then transactions, and finally to some form of integration. We believe that e-government services need not necessarily follow this path. In fact, some may achieve their strategic purpose at the dissemination stage and need not go any further. Since the majority of models are based on existing e-government applications, which admittedly have been developed on a piecemeal basic, little thought has been given to the development of a coherent strategic portfolio of applications. A model that begins to broach this topic is sorely needed at this point in the development of the literature.

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Table I. E-government models

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The strategic service vision model Heskett (1986) proposed a comprehensive framework of a strategic service vision model for the study of service business problems. The model represents a logically organized plan for implementing new service business and ideas. It consists of four basic and three integrative elements. The basic elements are target market segments, service concept, operating strategy, and service delivery system and the three integrative elements are positioning, leveraging value over cost, and integrating the operating strategy and service delivery system. Target market segment defines a group of customers with sufficient characteristics in common so that they can literally be “segmented” out for a particular service. Once a market segment has been identified, a decision must be made as to whether a potential exists in the organization to capitalize on it. Service concept describes the way an organization would anticipate its service to be perceived by its customers and employees. Essentially, it answers the question, “Which business are we really in?” A focused operating strategy describes how the service concept will be achieved. It is at this point that the organization defines those critical activities that it must do well to succeed. The crucial operations decisions relate to the design of the service delivery system. A successful design consists of well-thought-out job design; equipment, facilities, and layouts for effective customer and work flow, and carefully developed procedures aimed at a common set of clearly defined objectives. The integrative elements provide guidelines for actions in service businesses. Positioning helps in integrating the target markets with the service concept by differentiating the firm’s product or service from that of the competition. Leveraging value over cost consists of designing an operating strategy that creates a customer-perceived value of service that is sufficiently greater than the cost of providing the service. Integrating the operating strategy and the service delivery system assures the high degree of internal consistency between the operating strategy and the delivery system, the ability of the service delivery system to meet the needs of the strategy, an acceptable level of the coordination of these insure high quality, and the ability to maintain competitive advantage. Strategic operations management framework for e-government service delivery Strategic operations management framework for EGSD represents a response to the need for a more strategic point of view on the electronic delivery of government services. The EGSD model is based on previous knowledge gathered from earlier e-government studies and the application of Heskett’s (1986) model of service operations management to the arena of e-government. The model is shown in Figure 1. The EGSD model begins with the market segmentation. Based on the e-government literature, three major target market segments have been identified. They are G2B, G2C, and G2G. Government to employees is considered a part of G2G operations. While this is clearly a handy and workable definition of target markets for government enterprise, there clearly may be differences within each segment. For example, there would be differences in the G2B segment for organizations that supply MRO consumables such as paper, pencils, etc. versus organizations that bid on one-time construction projects. Within these target market segments we should be looking for specific targets in which, significant cost savings may be realized over

Differentiation

Market Segmentation

Leverage of Value

Service Mode Development

Alignment of Strategy/ System

Operations’ Strategy Redesign

Service Delivery

Basic Strategy Element Integrative Element

“bricks-and-mortar” delivery of government service. Further, the business executive who uses e-government in a G2B relationship may also be the citizen who would like to use it in a G2C relationship. Good quality service in one relationship leads to expectations for quality in the other. The compranet, a web-based procurement system within the Mexican Ministry of the Controllership and Administrative Development, is a good example of market segmentation (Estrada, 2002). The system was introduced in 1995 as a result of Mexican government efforts directed at reducing procurement expenses. By April 2002, 80 percent of all federal government acquisitions were being conducted through compranet. Further, the system has encouraged 25,000 new suppliers to join the program as well as opened the doors for small/medium enterprises from outside the capital region to joined in the procurement process system. Differentiation is the development of distinguishing characteristics, one product or service from another. In a government environment, government practically is its own competitor – that is, service delivery by conventional means competes with service delivery via the internet. Differentiation strategy in e-government involves the features that potential citizens and businesses value and can be provided with a higher level of customer-defined quality, at an acceptable cost, than through conventional means. Allowing remote access, providing service 24/7, eliminating red-tape, creating one-stop service portals are strategies to differentiate e-government service from traditional modes of service delivery. The process of service mode development is strongly related to e-government phases or stages that are discussed in Table I. In other words, it takes one of four forms: publishing, interacting, transacting, or transformation. Publishing, interacting, and transacting are front-end operations that deal directly with citizens and businesses. On the other hand, transforming refers to the implementation of business process re-engineering strategy in internal government operations. Further, the migration or “growth” from one service mode to the next is not necessarily the rational path for all services. Figure 2 shows the front-end stages and conditions to move from one service mode to the next. In e-government, leverage of value takes on increased importance. The service mode and operating strategy must be designed so that the perceived value of a service in the eyes of the customer is sufficiently greater than the cost of a service. One way value leveraging can be achieved is by emphasizing easily leveraged services such as dissemination of information. Consider the cost savings that will result when conventional activities such as opening mail, answering phone calls, picking inventory, packaging, and mailing inventory, printing, inventory

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E-government readiness matrix Actions Strategy

18

low Standardized procedures?

Enhance standardization

high

study standardization of procedures develop a plan to increase standardization develop measures to evaluate standardization

Internet

Actions

low

Integration with internal systems?

Strategy

Publishing Features Static information about a service that provide • answers to FAQ • contact information • nearest office location

high

examine critical points of integration with internal systems develop system integration plan examine systems integration with test cases conduct phased integration schedule

Actions

low

Ability to meet security challenges?

Strategy

Interacting Features

high

Digital library to provide: • search capability • applications download • online e-mail customer service

evaluate system security threats develop business plan to reduce system security risks examine available security technology evaluate, acquire, and install proper system security technologies

Actions

Strategy

Transacting Features

Standard periodic evaluation

Figure 2. E-government service mode stages and conditions

Comprehensive online services provided to all that includes: • request passport, driver license,.. • submit online bid by business • access internal applications another government agency

examine results of the piloted transacting service identify and address points of weakness expand strategy conduct periodic external evaluation process to the service

management, and shipping and transportation are eliminated or reduced when a complete catalog of information that has previously been delivered via paper pamphlets or booklets is made available online. Leverage of value can also be achieved by managing demand and supply. Customers of services rarely enjoy intended service levels at peak periods of demand. Hence, given the majority of government services have fixed capacity based on a fixed constant supply of labor and limited office hours, demand cannot be shifted to “off peak” periods by price incentives and/or special service arrangements. Accordingly, e-government can essentially manage demand by offering 24/7 availability of systems; virtually infinite capacity. Other tactics for achieving leveraging include quality control, involving the customer, and effective use of data. An example of perceived value by citizens is the FRIENDS online system. The system offer a one-stop, front-end, online payment system to citizens to make government payments such as taxes, utility bills, and other fees and payments in the state of Kerala in South India (Kiran, 2002). Before the FRIENDS online system, Kerala citizens had to make government payments at the office of the department or the agency concerned. This meant that, on the average, every citizen had to personally visit at least seven offices and wait in line to make a payment. After the FRIENDS system went live, it has been calculated that citizens saved around 65 percent of the cost involved in making separate payments at different agencies. Further, on average, citizens save about 42 minutes of their time every month when using FRIENDS to make government payments. Successful operations strategy redesign focuses on designing, developing, and executing operations that respond to those elements of strategic importance. According to Chase et al. (2004), operations’ strategy should develop an operating focus. The operating focus include the treatment of customers in terms of friendliness and helpfulness, the speed and convenience of service delivery, the price of service, the variety of services available, the quality of any tangible goods that are central to the service, and the type and availability of any unique skills that may be part of the service. This includes setting standards for training of employees especially customer support workers and determining the level of costs of development, operation, and maintenance. Alignment of strategy/system can be achieved through promoting the benefits of the self-service mode via the internet to citizens and businesses. Developing customer trust, promoting the benefits of speed, cost, and convenience, and auditing processes to assure procedures are being used properly are strategies to promote self-service (Lovelock and Young, 1979) as is the case in e-government. Service delivery is where the service mode is ultimately implemented. According to Hallowell (2002), the link between operations’ strategy and service delivery is the base for creating a “virtuous cycle.” A virtuous cycle is a customer loyalty cycle the starts with navigation, continues through information, customer support, and logistics phases, and, if successful, results in customer loyalty. In the e-government environment, ease of navigation represents the ability of citizens, businesses, and other government agencies to navigate through a website. Information dissemination involves providing relevant, accurate, and up-to-date information to navigators. Types of online support provided to online navigators can range from e-mail to live chat. Mode of delivery of service varies from the ability to fill forms online to receiving

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e-mail confirmations. Finally, citizens’ loyalty represents the overall online experience and how that experience will affect future use of e-government services. Figure 3 shows the e-government experience cycle (EGEC). When ease of navigation, information dissemination, online support, and service delivery are well designed and executed, service quality is high and a favorable EGEC develops, which results in increasing citizens’ loyalty. Further, EGEC highlights the “domino effect” of one aspect of the cycle on others. For example, improved navigation leads to a decrease in citizens’ support costs and service improvement. Citizens and businesses expect to be able to navigate around a website quickly and easily to find the information they need. That translates to lower support costs and increased quality of service. On the other hand, if navigation is poor or difficult, and the required information is not readily available, online users will require customer support. If extensive reliance on customer support is required to conclude e-government transactions, two negative consequences will result. First, customer support costs including training, direct labor, and managerial costs will significantly increase. Second, customers will balk at using e-government services and return to bricks-and-mortar installations to conduct their business. Clearly, design and effective operation of these elements in the service delivery system are crucial to success of any e-government operation. Conclusion The EGSD model fills two important voids in the area of government transformation to provide electronic services. First, it provides a precise framework and steps to implement successful e-government environment. Yet, it is flexible enough to be adopted by governments at different levels; federal, state, or local and by developed and developing countries around the world. Second, it realizes the importance of having an integrated plan that understands the ripple effect of high-low service as explained in EGEC before delving into an e-government project. E-government is a major project that can significantly reduce government expenses, increase cooperation among agencies, and enhance citizens’ satisfaction if it is well designed and implemented with a coherent strategic focus in mind.

Information Dissemination

Ease of Navigation

Online Support E-government Experience Cycle

Citizens Loyalty

Figure 3. E-government experience cycle

Service Delivery

References Balutis, A.P. (2001a), “E-government 2001. Part I: Understanding the challenge and evolving strategies”, The Public Manager, Spring, pp. 33-7. Balutis, A.P. (2001b), “E-government 2001. Part II: Evolving strategies for action”, The Public Manager, Spring, pp. 41-5. Baum, C. and DiMaio, A. (2001), “Gartner’s four phases of e-government model”, available at: http://gartner3.gartnerweb.com/public/static/hotc/00094235.html Chase, R.B., Jacobs, F.R. and Aquilano, N.J. (2004), Operations Management for Competitive Advantage, 10th ed., McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York, NY. Estrada, S.I. (2002), “eProcurement by Mexico’s federal government”, available at: www. egov4dev.org/mexeproc.htm (accessed August 2002). Hallowell, R. (2002), “Virtuous cycles: improving service and lowering costs in e-commerce”, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA, Module Teaching Note, 5-802-169. Heskett, J.L. (1986), Managing in the Service Economy, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA. Howard, M. (2001), “E-government across the globe: how will ‘e’ change government?”, Government Finance Review, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 6-9. Kiran, G.R. (2002), “Front-end first: citizen payment at FRIENDS centres in Kerala”, available at: www.egov4dev.org/friends.htm (accessed August 2002). Layne, K. and Lee, J. (2001), “Developing a fully functional e-government: a four stage model”, Government Information Quarterly, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 122-36. Lovelock, C.H. and Young, R.F. (1979), “Look to customers to increase productivity”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 168-78. North Carolina Information Resource Management Commission (2001), “E-government – using technology to transform North Carolina’s governmental services and operations in the digital age”, Report for the General Assembly, February. Sharma, S.K. and Soliman, K.S. (2003), “Digital divide and e-government implementation”, Proceedings of the Fourth Global Information Technology Management World Conference, Calgary, Canada, June 2003. World Bank Group (2003), “A definition of e-government”, available at: www1.worldbank.org/ publicsector/egov/definition.htm (accessed February 28, 2003). Corresponding author John F. Affisco can be contacted at: [email protected]

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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm

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The importance of strategic readiness in an emerging e-government environment Chang E. Koh, Victor R. Prybutok, Sherry Ryan and Bashorat Ibragimova Department of Business Computer Information Systems, College of Business Administration, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA Abstract Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine how information technology, strategic planning processes, and people interact in an emerging e-government environment. Design/methodology/approach – A discriminant model was developed to test the ability to distinguish between the perceptions of high and low importance of six major e-government functions as a function of a four-item strategic e-government readiness scale. An empirical study of a municipal government supported the discriminant model. Findings – Government agencies must evaluate how strategic e-government plans are developed, communicated, and integrated into the work environment. Without the proper understanding of the importance of e-government initiatives, employees do not place high value on e-government initiatives. Research limitations/impli‘cations – This study focuses on one group of stakeholders, employees. Future studies might consider other interested parties, like citizens, business partners, and other government organizations. Future researchers could also compare various municipalities and identify those that are successful in implementing e-government initiatives and explore the factors that contribute to that success. Practical implications – Government agencies must ensure that their IT plans are aligned with business strategies as they attempt to expand their e-government services. It is also important that the content and organizational importance of the strategic plans be effectively communicated to employees. Originality/value – This study contributes to the current body of knowledge on e-government by facilitating understanding and measurement of e-government models. Keywords Government, Electronics industry, Internet, Strategic planning, Technology led strategy, Public sector organizations Paper type Research paper

Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 pp. 22-33 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154 DOI 10.1108/14637150610643733

Introduction The goal of this study is to contribute to the understanding of technology management within a government organization. Government agencies, like private sector businesses, are under pressure to make services available via the internet. This pressure partly results from the increase in citizenry with internet access expecting to be able to use this technology to conduct business, including business with the government. The government’s use of the internet and other information and communications technologies to improve the processing and delivery of information and services to citizens, employees, business partners and other government organizations is referred to as electronic government (e-government) (Turban et al., 2002). E-government is more than a web site. E-government means connecting

government with its citizens on a scale that until now was not imaginable. E-government potentially simplifies government processes, stimulates internal change, and reorganizes the government. Numerous benefits may accrue from e-government initiatives including cost savings, improved communications and coordination, expanded citizen participation and increased government accountability (Deloitte Consulting and Deloitte & Touche, 2000; Hart and Teeter, 2000). E-government is strategic and as such requires a significant change in processes. As government agencies move to an e-government environment, integration of e-government initiatives with organizational strategic plans is imperative to ensure success. E-government is more effective with a comprehensive strategic planning process that first considers the need for change and then prescribes appropriate actions. However, the overall strategy must be communicated to and understood by important stakeholders in order for them to appreciate e-government initiatives. This study investigated the perceptions of employees at a municipal government regarding the effectiveness of IT planning, strategic e-government readiness and whether these perceptions influence their opinions about the importance of e-government functions. Theoretical background and research framework E-government functions Government agencies use the internet as a convenient, inexpensive and ubiquitous tool for improving communications with their constituents and their own employees. While the list of benefits of e-government is long, the level of technology adoption is generally low and limited to simple applications, such as posting contact information and links to other sites. Other examples include providing online accessibility to employee manuals or the posting of meeting minutes. However, even this negligible use of e-government offers potential savings in personnel costs. Tasks and activities that took hours of staff time now take only minutes, and reporting documents and forms are now standardized to increase their accuracy and clarity. The resulting time and cost savings realized meets the needs of a wider constituency. According to a study that analyzed more than 1,500 web sites in 70 metropolitan areas in the US, the majority of local governments used their web sites to provide phone numbers and address information, while only 11 percent of the web sites in the study provided more sophisticated automated online services (West, 2001). Nevertheless, various internal factors, such as budget cuts and legislative mandates, and external forces, such as increasing public demand for better services, are pressuring government organizations to move forward with e-government initiatives. The internet has a significant role to play in the functioning of government at various levels. Besides enabling fast and easy access to information and services for the public, it also creates new venues to enable governance by the public. Transforming an organization into a fully integrated, automated digital establishment is a more difficult task than believed in the early days of the internet (Berry, 2000; Chatham, 1999). However, as the internet and its applications become more sophisticated and complex, it becomes increasingly clear that successful e-government requires carefully planned strategies aligned with business objectives. The strategic challenge of the government priority of improving service delivery involves embracing a citizen-centric model, enhanced accessibility and efficiency, reliability and security. This logic sees clients shaping governments, and a growing client base moving online.

The importance of strategic readiness 23

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Understanding what e-government can offer and aligning it with an organization’s business objectives is an important but challenging task. Past research has shown that endorsement by top management, and inclusion of information technology in strategic plans leads to improved employee acceptance of technology (De Vreede et al., 1999; Ang and Pavri, 1994). Moreover, government agencies that engage in comprehensive formal strategic IS planning are able to foster an environment more supportive of the use of IT applications (Bajjally, 1998). Strategic readiness Strategic readiness is a “state of permanent, organization-wide preparedness for large-scale systemic change” (Redding and Catalanello, 1994). Because of the prominent position that IT plays in organizations today, IT strategic readiness – IT planning and alignment with business objectives – is critical to overall organizational readiness and success (Reich and Benbasat, 1996; Zviran, 1990; Sabherval and Chan, 2001; Das et al., 1991). This alignment can be reflected in the understanding of organizational objectives by IS planners (Lederer and Sethi, 1988), a perceived need to change IS goals in light of changing corporate goals (King and Teo, 1997; Das et al., 1991), and mutual understanding between top management and IS planners (Boynton and Zmud, 1987). Aligning an organization is a complex procedure involving setting direction, mobilizing systems and making adjustments. Two major types of alignment, vertical and horizontal, are required (Canzer, 2003). Vertical alignment focuses on organizational strategy, while horizontal alignment focuses on customer needs. Vertical alignment cannot exist without the members throughout the organizational hierarchy understanding the strategy – they must have knowledge of the organizational goals and the means to attain them. To achieve vertical alignment employees of every level must understand organizational strategy and their role in achieving it. Communication, integration of work and learning, and implementation of flexible structures are imperative in the attainment of strategic readiness (Redding and Catalanello, 1994). Frequent assessment and revision of strategic directions in striving toward consistency in planning design are also important for strategic readiness (Segars and Grover, 1999). Segars and Grover (1999) created a framework for representing managerial attitudes regarding strategic IS planning. This framework consists of five “schools of thought” (Segars and Grover, 1999). One of these schools – the learning school – views strategic planning as a process of not only creating knowledge but also efficiently transferring it. Knowledge is believed to have “ maximum impact when it is broadly shared rather than narrowly contained” (Segars and Grover, 1999). This “knowledge transfer” must be coupled with the understanding of the importance of the role e-government in the context of strategic plans. Thus, educating employees of the potential of e-government is important. It is the responsibility of leaders to ensure that all parts of the organization understand the implications of e-government for every aspect of decision-making, policy formulation, and service delivery. Employees’ perceptions of e-government involve recognition of the strategic potential and its contribution to the success of an organization. While acknowledging that strategic planning and integration are essential for e-government success, we

suggest that the communication of those strategic plans is crucial to this success. Improved communication flows can shrink the gap between stakeholders’ perceptions of IT function and the actual role of IT (Lederer and Mendelow, 1987; Lederer and Sethi, 1988) and consequently, contribute to e-government readiness. By understanding the strategic importance, the organization is placing on e-government initiatives, stakeholders should commensurately value the resulting e-government functions. That is, if top management places high value on e-government initiatives and communicates their importance to the employees, the employees, in turn, will put a high level of importance on the applications that implement these initiatives. Conversely, if the employees do not perceive the importance of e-government strategy, including its saliency to the overall organizational mission, then employees will devalue, or view as unimportant, e-government functions. Therefore, we propose that the perceived degree of strategic e-government readiness affects the perceived importance of e-government functions. Methodology The focus of the study is on e-government initiatives at the municipal level. It is a contextually specific single-site empirical study in cooperation with the city of Denton, Texas. Denton is a city located 35 miles north of Dallas, Texas. It has a population of 80,000 with an annual growth rate of six percent. The city government employs about 1,400 people and has an annual budget of $300 million. Instrument development Our survey instrument was developed in multiple stages. First we completed a thorough literature review. As a basis for our scale that assesses e-government functions, we used instruments from two previous studies: Koh and Balthazard (1997), who developed an instrument to measure internet practices in business and Deshazo et al. (2001), who measured the levels of e-government activities of 131 municipal governments. Items from these instruments were chosen that best matched government functions at a municipal level. The second scale, strategic e-government readiness, was created by reviewing the literature as discussed above. Moreover, experts’ opinions were also used in selecting items for the survey that appeared to tap into the strategic e-government readiness construct. After compiling the initial survey items, we conducted three rounds of pilot tests with expert panels, including IS researchers, doctoral students, and select city employees. Feedback from the pilot studies was incorporated into the final version of the instrument. The resulting instrument used in this research consisted of two sections: one that measured employee perceptions of the importance of various e-government functions and another that measured employee perceptions of strategic e-government readiness. Responses for each item ranged from strongly disagree (1 point) to strongly agree (7 points) on a seven-point Likert-type scale. Construct reliability and validity The most common method of estimating the reliability of an instrument is through the use of Cronbach’s a (Zmud and Boynton, 1991). Cronbach’s a was 0.80 for importance of e-government functions and 0.89 for strategic e-government readiness, indicating

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high internal consistency or homogeneity of the items comprising each construct (Straub, 1989). Validity is often discussed in terms of at least two distinguishable types: content and construct (Zmud and Boynton, 1991). Cronbach (1971) indicated that content validity can be supported by having the instrument reviewed by experts in the field. A team of field experts composed of university faculty and city employees evaluated each survey item and subsequently participated in the initial testing of the instrument. The second type of validity – construct validity – determines whether the scale measures what it purports to measure. As suggested by Zmud and Boynton (1991), this validity was assessed through factor analysis. An iterated principal axes factor analysis with an orthogonal varimax rotation was conducted. Tables I and II show that the items with loadings that were all above 0.5. The orthogonal rotation was selected because the factors were independent unidimensional measures. The iterations involved item remove until all loadings were above 0.5 because loadings above 0.5 are associated with items that are significant (Hair et al., 1998). Data collection We used a web-based online survey to collect data. The data collection process began with two letters sent by the city manager to all employees announcing the survey and encouraging their participation. The purpose of the survey and the voluntary nature of the study were also explained. A unique access code was assigned to each employee for security and tracking purposes. The survey web server kept track of the progress and guided the employee through the survey. In addition to the initial e-mail message sent by the research team to announce the survey and provide the user access code, three more follow-up messages were sent at a one-week interval to encourage participation of those employees who had not completed the survey. Out of 1,104 employees eligible to participate in the study, a total of 339 responded over a period of five weeks for a response rate of 30.7 percent. However, only about 800 employees had easy access to computers and considering this fact, the response rate can be adjusted to about 42 percent. Employees without access to computers were Factor

Table I. Factor analysis of the importance of e-government functions

City information City budget Meeting minutes GIS data Online tour of city Employee manuals

0.665 0.726 0.660 0.591 0.608 0.615

Factor Table II. Factor analysis of strategic e-government readiness items

Strategic planning for internet Business objectives of internet Integration of internet with business Alignment of internet and strategy

0.867 0.886 0.661 0.891

provided an option of using a hardcopy version of the survey but none of the distributed hardcopy surveys were returned. Employees without computer access represent a subset of field service personnel, such as sanitation service employees. While this group might have provided valuable information, we do not consider their non-response as critical since typically, they would not be directly involved in the design and delivery of e-government services.

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Limitations As with any exploratory study that deals with an evolving technology, this research has limitations. Some of these limitations are associated with the lack of existing theories on the subject, while others are associated with the research design and data collection process. For example, the study was based on self-reported opinions of employees of a single organization. Opinions of other stakeholders, such as citizens, businesses partners and other government organizations, were not considered. Despite these limitations, the research team believes that this study contributes to the current body of knowledge on e-government because it facilitates understanding and measurement of e-government models. Study findings Demographics The survey participants represented a broad range of employees in terms of department, tenure, job type, education, gender and age. All 21 departments of the city were represented in the study. The average tenure of the survey participants with the city was 8.4 years. On average, the participants held their current positions for about 4.4 years. The survey respondents held a wide range of job types. About 54 percent of the respondents held positions of operational nature (i.e. field service, office and clerical, technical and supervisory), whereas the remaining participants held managerial or professional positions. About half of the participants had a degree from a four-year college or a graduate school, whereas 13 percent had only a high-school diploma. The average age of the participants was 40.2 years. There were an approximately equal number of male and female participants. E-government functions “Gartner’s four phases of e-government model” (Baum and Maio, 2000) explains the development of e-government using a four-phase stage concept: (1) Presence. This initial phase of e-government development is characterized by the land rush to become a cyberspace placeholder on the internet for posting generic information relevant to the public. (2) Interaction. This phase is characterized by web sites that provide basic search capabilities, forms for downloading, and linkages with other relevant sites, as well as e-mail addresses of offices or officials. This stage enables the public to access critical information online and receive forms that previously required a visit to a government office. (3) Transaction. This phase is characterized by allowing constituents to conduct and complete entire tasks online. The focus of this stage is to build self-service

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applications for the public to access online, but also to use the web as a complement to other delivery channels. (4) Transformation. This phase is characterized by redefining the delivery of government services by providing a single point of contact to constituents that makes government organization transparent to citizens. This phase relies on robust customer relationship management tools and new methods of alternative service delivery capabilities that reshape relationships between citizens, businesses and governments. The use of the internet by the city remains primarily in the presence stage, according to the model, because the city uses the internet predominantly for informational purposes and has little integration among internet applications. We asked the employees their opinions on a list of e-government functions that are typically associated with the informational usage of the internet. Table III shows the mean and standard deviation of the perceived importance of each of those e-government functions. The e-government function with the highest mean was providing city information. Supplying citizens with useful city information, such as addresses and phone numbers of city offices, parks, libraries, and schools is often the first e-government application offered by municipalities. Consistent with other governmental agencies, the city of Denton employees viewed this as a highly important e-government function. IT strategic readiness The survey measured the level of strategic readiness for e-government perceived by the city employees in four areas: (1) strategic planning for the internet; (2) business objectives of the internet; (3) integration of the internet with business objectives; and (4) alignment of the internet and business strategy. The respondent was asked to respond to each of the following statements using a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree): . the city has strategic plans that govern all internet activities; . the city has clearly stated objectives of using the internet; . the internet is an integral part of the city’s business plans; and . the city’s internet strategies are deliberately aligned with its strategic plans.

Table III. Importance of e-government functions

City information GIS data City budget Employee manuals On-line tour of city Minutes of meetings

Mean

SD

6.03 5.58 5.57 5.33 5.21 5.09

1.09 1.36 1.22 1.54 1.49 1.44

The mean and standard deviation for each item are shown in Table IV. Their responses ranged between 4.4 and 5.4, suggesting that the city was not adequately prepared to plan and govern various e-government initiatives. Discriminant model In this work, we propose that the perceived degree of strategic e-government readiness affects the perceived importance of e-government functions. In an effort to quantitatively test the associated hypothesis, we developed a discriminant model to explore and test the ability to distinguish between the perceptions of high and low importance on the six e-government functions (Table III) as a function of a four-item strategic e-government readiness scale. In measuring the importance of e-government functions, we first summed the six items shown in Table III. Next, as input into our discriminant model, we used the polar extremes method. Polar extremes involves constructing a categorical dependent variable from a metric variable by divided the metric variable into three equal frequency of response categories but only the upper and lower third of the categories are used in the discriminant analysis (Hair et al., 1998). We classified the dependent variable, the importance of e-government functions, as a binary variable by creating the distribution of responses for the sum of the scale for the six e-government functions and then dividing this distribution into equal frequency of response thirds. Using this approach, the lowest 33.3 percent, or a sum of importance of e-government functions from 0 to 31, was classified as the low importance group with a zero value, while the upper 33.3 percent, or a sum of 36 or more, was classified as the high importance group with a one value. The rationale for the polar extremes approach is to better distinguish among the respondents by excluding the middle group from the discriminant analysis to emphasize any existing difference between the low and high groups (Hair et al., 1998). Perceived strategic e-government readiness was measured by the sum of the four items shown in Table IV. As shown in Table V, the cross-validation classification rate assuming equal covariance structures was 70.3 percent when the differences between high and low e-government functions groups were increased via the method of polar extremes. Mean

SD

4.43 4.70 5.38 4.56

1.58 1.72 1.38 1.33

Strategic planning for internet Business objectives of internet Integration of internet with business Alignment of internet and strategy

Importance of e-government functions Low High Strategic e-government readiness Low High Total

38 (66.7 percent) 14 (25.9 percent) 52

Note: 70.3 percent of original grouped cases correctly classified

19 (33.3 percent) 40 (74.1 percent) 59

Total 57 54 111

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Table IV. Strategic e-government readiness

Table V. Classification results of discriminate model for e-government importance and its relationship to strategic e-government readiness

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We ensured that none of the assumptions were violated using this particular statistical technique. The Box M statistics had a p-value of 0.631, indicating that there was no substantial evidence of a violation of the assumption of equal population covariance structures (Table VI). We have also attempted to identify any differences that members of various organizational levels might have. A discriminant model with the inclusion of organizational level as a predictor variable was developed. However, inclusion of organizational level did not improve the discrimination ability of the model. Thus, the more parsimonious model (without the organizational level variable) was selected.

Conclusions Governments provide a wide range of services to individual citizens, businesses and to other government agencies. Driven by legislative mandates to streamline government service delivery and by citizens’ growing expectations, all levels of government agencies are pressured to provide more efficient ways for citizens to interact. These service delivery efforts focus on building e-government systems that provide a single electronic interface to a wide range of services that are individually tailored. Our findings from the study with the city of Denton show that the city’s use of the internet remains in the early stage of e-government evolution, meaning that it uses internet primarily for informational purposes and does not provide full range of services online. The study investigated how the interaction of information technologies, strategic planning processes, and people contributes to readiness for e-government. The enhanced understanding allows more effective utilization of IT, aiming at maximizing the benefits derived from IT investments. We focused mainly on city employees’ perceptions of strategic readiness and the importance of e-government functions. Our discriminant model results support the hypothesis that the employees’ perceptions of strategic readiness and the importance of e-government functions are related. When the importance of strategic plans regarding e-government is not explained, there is a breakdown in the strategic vertical integration. Unless all employees throughout the organization buy into the notion that e-government initiatives are strategically important, they will continue to devalue the resulting implementation of applications supporting e-government strategic objectives. This finding is important, because it highlights not only the saliency of the strategic planning process but also the deployment of those strategic plans vertically throughout the organization by using effective communication policies.

Box’s M F

Table VI. Box’s M-test results

Approx. Df1 Df2 Sig.

Note: Tests null hypothesis of equal population covariance matrices

0.233 0.230 1 35,571.055 0.631

Implications for government agencies As government agencies expand their e-government services, care must be taken to ensure that IT plans are aligned with business strategies. While this is commonly done in the private sector, many government agencies do not engage in robust IT strategic planning (Bajjaly, 1998). It is important not only that IT strategic e-government plans are created, but their content and organizational importance must also be effectively communicated to employees throughout the organization. We recommend that government agencies review their strategic planning processes including how those plans are deployed. Specifically we suggest that agencies evaluate how strategic plans are being developed, communicated, and integrated into the work environment. Our data shows that without the proper understanding of the importance of e-government initiatives, employees do not place high value on e-government initiatives. Without the “buy-in” of this important group of stakeholders, the employees, e-government efforts will be less successful. Implications for researchers The current research has contributed to the understanding of e-government challenges at the municipal level. It suggests that e-government strategic planning and the processes by which agencies deploy those strategic plans are viable areas for future research. Several venues for further research that might extend the findings of this research follow. This study relied primarily on city employees’ perceptions. Since they represent only one group of stakeholders, future researchers might consider the views of other interested parties, like citizens, business partners, and other government organizations. Future researchers could also compare various municipalities and identify those that are successful in implementing e-government initiatives and explore the factors that contribute to that success. Another possible venue might focus on studying government organizations at different levels (e.g. municipal, state and federal) and with different missions (e.g. civilian vs military, customer-oriented vs business-oriented). We hope that this study generates interest in e-government and results in additional research in the area of e-government strategic readiness. In addition, this research should prompt agencies that are initially deploying or expanding e-government initiatives to reevaluate their strategic readiness. References Ang, J.H. and Pavri, F. (1994), “A survey and critique of the impacts of information technology”, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 122-34. Bajjaly, S.T. (1998), “Strategic information systems planning in the public sector”, American Review of Public Administration, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 75-85. Baum, C. and Maio, A.D. (2000), “Gartner’s four phases of e-government model”, E-government Strategies-State & Local, available at: http://old.gartner.com/public/static/hotc/00094235. html Berry, J. (2000), “Avoid the pitfalls of going from bricks to clicks”, Internetweek, 17 January, p. 29. Boynton, A.C. and Zmud, R.W. (1987), “Information technology planning in the 1990s: directions for practice and research”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 59-71.

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Canzer, B. (2003), E-Business: Strategic Thinking and Practice, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA. Chatham, B. (1999), “Fighting fragmentation”, CIO, Vol. 12, pp. 72-4. Cronbach, L.J. (1971), “Test validation”, in Thorndike, R.L. (Ed.), Educational Measurement, 2nd ed., American Council on Education, Washington, DC, pp. 443-507. Das, S.R., Zahra, S.A., Shaker, A. and Warkentin, M.E. (1991), “Integrating the content and process of strategic MIS planning with competitive strategy”, Decision Sciences, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 953-84. Deloitte Consulting and Deloitte & Touche (2000), “At the dawn of e-government: the citizen as customer”, Deloitte Research Report. Deshazo, R., Kaylor, C. and Eck, D.V. (2001), “Gauging e-government: a report on implementing services among small American cities”, paper presented at Foundations of Electronic Government in America’s Cities: A Multi-Disciplinary Workshop, Chicago, IL. De Vreede, G., Jones, N. and Mgaya, R.J. (1999), “Exploring the application and acceptance of group support systems in Africa”, Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 197-234. Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L. and Black, W.C. (1998), Multivariate Data Analysis, 5th ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Hart, P.D. and Teeter, R.M. (2000), “E-government: the next American revolution”, research report for the Council for Excellence in Government. King, W.R. and Teo, T. (1997), “Integration between business planning and information systems planning: validating a stage hypothesis”, Decision Sciences, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 279-308. Koh, C.E. and Balthazard, P. (1997), “Electronic commerce and the world wide web: a framework of business web use and a study of business web practices”, Proceedings Decision Science Institute. Lederer, A.L. and Mendelow, A.L. (1987), “Information resource planning: overcoming difficulties in identifying top management’s objectives”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 389-99. Lederer, A.L. and Sethi, V. (1988), “The implementation of strategic information systems planning methodologies”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 445-61. Redding, J.C. and Catalanello, R.F. (1994), Strategic Readiness: The Making of the Learning Organization, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA. Reich, B.H. and Benbasat, I. (1996), “Measuring the linkage between business and information technology objectives”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 55-81. Sabherwal, R. and Chan, Y. (2001), “Alignment between business and IS strategies: a configurational approach”, Information Systems Research, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 11-33. Segars, A.H. and Grover, V. (1999), “Profiles of strategic information systems planning”, Information Systems Research, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 199-232. Straub, D.W. (1989), “Validating instruments in MIS research”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 147-69. Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J., Warkentin, M. and Chung, H.M. (2002), Electronic Commerce 2002: A Managerial Perspective, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. West, D. (2001), “Urban e-government: an assessment of city government websites”, Inside Politics, available at: www.onlinepolitics.org Zmud, R.W. and Boynton, A.C. (1991), “Survey measures and instruments in MIS: inventory and appraisal”, HBS Research Colloquium, Vol. 3, pp. 149-80.

Zviran, M. (1990), “Relationships between organizational and information systems objectives: some empirical evidence”, Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 65-84. Further reading Lederer, A.L. and Mendelow, A.L. (1988), “Convincing top management of the strategic potential of information systems”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 525-44.

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Ralf Klischewski Faculty of Management Technology, German University in Cairo, New Cairo City, Egypt Abstract Purpose – This research seeks to explore the potential of ontologies for reorganizing e-document management in public administration with the aim of supporting administration in organizing cross-organizational document and information management. Design/methodology/approach – Since ontologies are suitable for organizing metadata for annotation of informational resources, the research question is: How can public administrations make use of ontologies for organizing and improving their e-document management? Findings, based on an action research project in the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany). Findings – The research findings indicate that structuring documents and information through ontologies requires a socio-technical infrastructure consisting of a number of regularities, services and support on the level of organization as well as information technology. Research limitations/implications – Since the case of Schleswig-Holstein is typical for governments trying to enter the information age without having the power and resources to be on the leading edge, the recommendations based on this research may support the strategy development and solution finding in other administrations as well. Practical implications – A rather small government (such as that of Schleswig-Holstein) must be aware of its strategic goals and step ahead carefully in order to avoid the risks of misinvestment while reorganizing its e-document management. Originality/value – The paper systematically addresses the question “How can public administration make use of ontologies for organizing and improving their e-document management?”. Keywords Electronics industry, Government, Public administration, Document management, Socio-technical theory Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction: the challenge of e-document management in public administration Document processing is at the core of administrative performance in several respects: documents are the basis for almost all of the administrative processes, they are the most valuable resources to exploit as they are the main carriers of information and represent a large portion of the overall administrative knowledge base. Additionally, administrative document handling has to meet high standards regarding authenticity, confidentiality, and long-term accountability. These requirements related to document Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 pp. 34-47 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154 DOI 10.1108/14637150610643742

The author would like to thank Christiane Coenen (Department of the Interior, Schleswig-Holstein) and all other members of the ParoPlus project for the fruitful cooperation as well as Stefan Ukena for contributing the evaluation of some ontology-based approaches to the research project. This research had been financially supported by the government of Schleswig-Holstein.

processing persist as administrations are entering the e-age: new types of electronic documents (e.g. e-mails) and other informational resources (e.g. websites), new technical devices and media for document processing (e.g. optical scanners, intranet, e-form submissions) as well as demands for new types of interactivity (e.g. one-stop shops for citizens) and cross-organizational cooperation (e.g. e-procurement) are forcing administrations to rethink their strategy and infrastructure for document management. Owing to this development, the management of electronic documents (e-documents) has become a major concern within public administration, and a number of IT solutions have been presented on the market. But these are mainly “closed” systems, they do not yet support open cross-organizational e-document management and/or are not comprehensive enough to include all kinds of e-documents. At the same time, storage and retrieval of e-documents based on internet technologies has progressed significantly, opening up new ways for e-document management. For those in charge of document management in public administration, the main question is: How can we organize and present e-documents so that users and/or machines will be able to retrieve the document needed, or at least the information indicating the document? And regarding possible technical solutions: What is the most effective and adequate way to proceed in a given administrative environment? To provide answers to these strategic questions, this research explores the potential of ontologies for reorganizing e-document management in public administration. The starting point is that storage and retrieval require solidified metadata based on comprehensive domain knowledge. The idea is to create some kind of virtual “world of documents” representing the main ontological aspects of the domain, in particular its taxonomy. Within this contribution ontologies are referred to as explicit specifications of a conceptualization on the basis of a well-structured vocabulary. Since ontologies are suitable for organizing metadata for annotation of informational resources, the research question is: How can public administrations make use of ontologies for organizing and improving their e-document management? The aim is to gain insights into what kind of ontology-based IT solutions are suitable for e-document management in public administration, as well as to provide the practitioners involved with advice on how to proceed in their organizational context. This paper mainly takes up the perspective of a project in the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, for which action research (Avison et al., 1999; Baskerville, 1999) was chosen as the method to investigate the case and reflect the author’s involvement. Action research may be considered as “an iterative process involving researchers and practitioners acting together on a particular cycle of activities” (Avison et al., 1999, p. 94). The so-called action research cycle includes problem diagnosis and action planning, action taking and learning. The research reported on here involved one researcher (the author) and a student from Hamburg University as well as several actors from the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein, mainly from the department of the interior. The collaboration was framed by a contract between the state administration and the technology transfer center of the university’s informatics department. The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 explains the issue of document management from several perspectives; Section 3 introduces ontology concepts and presents the main results of a comparative study on ontology usage in e-document

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management; Section 4 traces the project activities within the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein according to the action research cycle, and the lessons learned include some general guidelines for administration; Section 5 concludes and points to further research in this area. 2. Document management: dealing with resources, information and records In computing (McDaniel, 1994), a document is a named, structured unit of text, images, sound or other formats that can be stored, retrieved, and exchanged among systems and users as a separate unit. The Commonwealth Government’s Information Exchange Steering Committee (IESC, 1995, p. 6) has defined a document as “recorded communications with recognizable structure, on any medium, intelligible without further processing except for presentation on screen or on the printed page.” With the advent of SGML and other markup languages, research has scrutinized the structure of administrative documents, especially of legislative documents (Salminen et al., 2001; Biagioli et al., 2003). Operations on documents can be manifold. From the technical point of view, document processing includes capturing, storage and retrieval as well as manipulation of content. Addressing the challenge of document management requires an understanding of document processing within an organizational context. Electronic documents comprise a major portion of any agency’s information resources and serve a number of purposes. Actually, document management can be regarded as a service, supporting the organization’s core functions at every level, by meeting the needs of managers and workers and, where necessary, of clients and external bodies. In the literature, we find different perspectives on how to approach document management, related to treating documents as resources, information and/or records. 2.1 Resource management The basic operations of document management systems are indexing, retrieval and access of documents. Electronic documents should be available and accessible, manipulable (e.g. for update and reuse) as well as “accurate”, i.e. it must be possible to distinguish between different versions of documents (Bannan, 1997). 2.2 Information management The Australian Standard AS 4390 (Standards Australia, 1998, Part 1, 4.12) on records management defined a document as “structured units of recorded information, published or unpublished, and managed as discrete units in information systems.” Also content management and document content markup (e.g. applying SGML) are part of the information management. In the same line, we find document management defined as “the coordinated activities that systematically direct and manage [control] an organization’s information and its supporting media” (Halstead-Nussloch and Konneh, 2002, p. 7). 2.3 Record management “An electronic document becomes an electronic record when it takes part in a business transaction” (Standards Australia, 1998, Part 3, 8.4.2). For administrations, records are an asset, like human resources, financial resources, property, equipment and stock. Records management facilitates administrative processes and contributes to

organizational efficiency, both by reducing the costs associated with the management of the records themselves and by supporting records-dependent activities. Over the past decades information and communication technology have rapidly developed and provided the means to easily capture, store and distribute documents in vast quantities and at an ever-increasing speed. The new technical options call also for new organizational solutions: “To be able to make good use of this information instead of becoming swamped by it, scientific controls need to be applied” (Raas, 1999, p. 117). Since records management provides these controls, IT vendors expand their document processing systems towards, e.g. electronic record keeping systems, i.e. incorporating functionality which serves organizational goals. With the increasing use of internet technologies and cross-organizational applications, the scientific and technological basis for document management has to be expanded as well. A promising option for implementing control of interorganizational document management is the use of concepts and technologies related to the vision of the semantic web (Berners-Lee et al., 2001). In the area of document and information management many advances have been made in terms of standardization of content structure, metadata and electronic markups (see, e.g. the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative; www.dublincore.org). And the use of ontologies is likely to impact information management in public administrations within the next years (Klischewski, 2003). 3. Ontology-based approaches for e-document management Ontology-based approaches seek to define common domain terminologies. For ages, the term “ontology” has been used in singular mode, relating to a long tradition of philosophical discourse on metaphysics. With the beginning of the construction of artificial (virtual) worlds, research within Artificial Intelligence has focused on exploring and producing “ontologies”, each of these applying to selected domains (Gruninger and Lee, 2002). The most frequently quoted definition of ontology is provided by Gruber (1993): “An ontology is an explicit specification of a conceptualization.” While this sounds much as conceptual modeling, the metaphysical background is still somewhat relevant: The subject of ontology is the study of the categories of things that exist or may exist in some domain. The product of such a study, called an ontology, is a catalog of the types of things that are assumed to exist in a domain of interest D from the perspective of a person who uses a language L for the purpose of talking about D. (Sowa, 2000).

Following that definition, ontologies are means for communication. Other definitions even more underline the intersubjective nature, e.g. an ontology is a formalized model of (a part of) the world, which includes concepts and their relations agreed on by a group of experts and/or users (Oppermann et al., 2001). The degree of formalization may differ significantly which has consequences for the options of automation. Basically, it is important to distinguish between (Sowa, 2000): . Informal ontology. May be specified by a catalog of types that are either undefined or defined only by statements in a natural language. . Formal ontology. Specified by a collection of names for concept and relation types organized in a partial ordering by the type-subtype relation.

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Lately, ontologies have also attracted researchers in the field of business systems integration and corporate semantic webs. There, the challenge of integration spans the interrelated dimensions of people, organization and technology, and the key issues identified are concerned with effective communication and coordination within and across these dimensions and the definition of common business semantics. It needs a common ground for communication, a virtual world structured and shared between those who know and those who want to know, to support storage processing and retrieval of any informational resource. This applies also to the field of e-government and the usage of IT in public administration (in fact, it is a general issue which needs to be taken into account while trying to improve cross-organizational cooperation). From the point of view of administrations, ontology-based approaches seem to promise support for at least the following objectives: . systematic management of dealing with (electronic) records and other resources, based on standards; . support for administrative processes crossing organizational borders; and . responding to requests, information retrieval and knowledge management with respect to different actor perspectives. 3.1 Concepts for controlling vocabularies The first step towards an ontology for e-document management is to control the vocabulary being used. This may result, e.g. in a list of keywords allowed for referencing, each of these pointing to a description of the keyword and/or further content. Such a catalog would still be considered an informal ontology. However, the use of synonyms and/or subcategories to the listed keywords already means introducing formal elements through relation types and partial ordering. The most common method to control vocabularies is the usage of thesauri. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 1986) has defined a thesaurus as “the vocabulary of a controlled indexing language, formally organized so that the a priori relationships between concepts (for example, as ‘broader’ and ‘narrower’) are made explicit”. In addition, “indexing language” is defined as “a controlled set of terms selected from natural language and used to represent, in abstract form, the subjects of documents.” Controlled vocabularies with a similar degree of formalization (but beyond the scope of the thesaurus definition) are often called (high-level) taxonomies. During the last decade the concept of topic maps has received considerable attention as a more flexible concept to support information management and knowledge management. Again, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 1999) has provided a standardized notation for interchangeably representing information about the structure of information resources which is used to define topics, and the relationships between topics. The structural information conveyed by topic maps includes groupings of addressable information objects around topics as well as relationships between topics. The base notation of topic maps is SGML, and there is also an XML standard. 3.2 Exemplary projects In a number of countries, e-government projects have already started to employ ontology-based approaches. Some of those have attracted international attention (for more details and sources see Klischewski and Ukena, 2002):

.

.

.

.

.

Australia has been applying thesauri for public record management since the 1970s. Meanwhile the National Archives of Australia have developed a complete strategy for public record management along with a suite of products and services. The pocket guide “e-permanence made easy” (NAA, 2001) now provides information to help Australian public service managers to understand and access the tools and resources needed to manage their organization’s records and information assets. Those management resources include (www.naa.gov.au/ recordkeeping/overview/summary.html) an eight-step process methodology (which agencies can use to improve record keeping and information management practices), a record keeping metadata standard, the Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) metadata standard, Keyword AAA thesaurus (consistent classification, titling and indexing of the records that document the common administrative functions of an agency), guidelines to develop an agency-specific functions thesaurus (covers unique functions identified in a business classification scheme), and the Australian Governments’ Interactive Thesaurus AGIFT (aims to help end-users searching government websites to retrieve relevant results by linking natural language terms with their bureaucratic equivalents). The government of the United Kingdom is ambitious “to ensure that the UK is a world-leader in the new knowledge economy” (www.e-envoy.gov.uk). Over the past years efforts to achieve a controlled vocabulary have resulted in an e-government metadata framework (e-GMF), an e-government metadata standard (e-GMS) as well as Government Category List (GCL). The controlled vocabulary is regarded precondition for electronic record management. In “Modernising Government” (Prime Minister, 1999), all government organizations were set a target to manage their records electronically by 2004. The National Library of Canada has developed (in a similar way as in the UK) a controlled vocabulary and a Core Subject Thesaurus (CST) for the federal administration, which is also a precondition for the development and maintenance of web sites (www.nlc-bnc.ca/8/4/r4-280-e.html). In Switzerland, the Confederation, the cantons and the communes set out together to create an electronic service point (“Guichet virtuel”; www.ch.ch) to find the path and provide access to the public authorities. The concept of Uniform Resource Names (www.w3.org/addressing) is employed to relate end-users’ searching terms (five different natural languages are supported) with the administrative vocabulary and to direct the user straight to the local web resources of the relevant authority (Spahni, 2003). The European Union is promoting two projects within the IDA program (Interchange of Data between Administrations, see http://europa.eu.int/ispo/ida). Based on the Dublin Core Standard, the project “Managing Information Resources for e-Government” (MIReG, see www.dublincore.org/groups/ government/mireg-metadata-20010828.shtml) seeks coordination and standardization on a European scale in the development of a metadata framework, of controlled vocabularies on the basis of ontologies and topic maps, and of software solutions and implementation strategies.

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A comparison of those exemplary projects and related e-government strategies to make use of ontologies reveals a number of similarities: . All actors involved consider structuring metadata and the use of controlled vocabulary as prerequisite for the management of electronic records and information. . The development of controlled vocabulary is based on accepted international metadata standards (e.g. Dublin Core). . All exemplary projects are operated on the national level (with international initiatives only at the beginning). At the same time, we find that those national projects differ in the way in which they: . require and elaborate on controlled vocabulary (e.g. keyword list, taxonomy (function), thesaurus); . structure content, i.e. select terms and their semantic relations; and . set up an infrastructure for the use of controlled vocabularies and for support of management of electronic resources and information, and of knowledge management in general. The findings of this section might be used for an “executive summary” of today’s application of ontology-based approaches in the field of e-government and IT-enabled administration. But, is this sufficient for executives to find out what is the best to do within their administration? Up to now, it is very difficult to supply evidence for the “success” of these projects. No doubt, there are a number of valuable achievements. But, for example, there is no return-on-investment evaluation publicly available. However, any assessment depends on the situation and interest of the actors embarking on such an endeavor. 4. Schleswig-Holstein: in search for an e-document solution Schleswig-Holstein is the most northern of the 16 German states with less than 3 million people living on about 16,000 km2 (less than 5 percent of Germany’s area). The state is structured in 11 counties, each with a number of municipalities, and four cities. The state government is located in Kiel (the state capital), it consists of nine departments with about 60,000 employees altogether. Each of the departments runs its own technical infrastructure. From October 2001 until May 2003 a project named “ParoPlus” was conducted to explore the potentials of and to suggest solutions for document management cutting across all of the governmental departments. The project leader was allocated at the department of the interior, the project group (6-8 persons) included employees of other departments and of the state owned computing service center as well as the researcher from the informatics department. During the first year, the project group met every 4-8 weeks (reports of these meetings have been shared among all members). After presenting the main findings at a working conference on IT projects in the state of Schleswig-Holstein (November 2002) project activities narrowed down to compiling the final report (issued May 2003). This section traces the project activities according to the action research cycle, and the lessons learned include some general guidelines for municipalities.

4.1 Problem diagnosis and action planning The state administration had carried out a problem analysis prior to the collaboration with the university starting in fall 2001. The following problem analysis was published in the project’s “hand-book” (January 2002): creating and processing electronic documents, using diverse IT tools (such as office packages, e-mail, intranet, etc.), is mostly carried out in an individual way of work and without any IT support designated to processing (electronic) records within public administration. This leads to a number of risks and shortcomings: . Paper-based records are no longer complete and well organized. . Electronic records are not (yet) complete and well organized. . Electronic documents are copied for several purposes, become redundant, it is not clear which is the authentic data stock. . Electronic documents are stored without limits, demanding ever more storage capacity. . It lacks an overview on how to (possibly) find relevant information: “the administration does not know what the administration does know.” . There is no distinct interface to archive processes. The project’s objective was to find out about the organizational prerequisites which allow electronic documents to be: . used across departmental borders; . stored and retrieved completely and in a well organized way; and . passed on to other parties. The ParoPlus project intended to deliver recommendations for an overarching approach to handling electronic documents within the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein, and a plan how to possibly implement this approach. 4.2 Action taking: scrutinizing work practice and ontology options The interaction of actors of the administration and the university included a number of project group meetings and a half-day workshop in Kiel, frequent telephone conversations and the exchange of e-mails and documents (minutes of meetings, drafts of project handbook and questionnaire, etc.), and the delivery and circulation of a “research report” and a final project report. After the initial problem analysis the project followed two lines of action: (1) The first line of action was to conduct a series of interviews at different workplaces in several departments to learn about the current usage of e-documents in relation to paper-based documents and about ideas on how to work (better) in the future. From late 2001 until spring 2002 the researcher and a team from the state administration elaborated a comprehensive questionnaire for in-house interviews on document use. In summer 2002 almost twenty interviewers (from the state administration) performed 71 semi-formal workplace interviews. The evaluation revealed that, for example, most of administrative staff organizes incoming electronic mail differently than incoming paper mail and that searching information from electronic sources

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(internet, intranet, e-mail, desktop, library) is more extensive (41 percent) than from personal contacts (39 percent) and paper records (20 percent). (2) The second line of action was to learn about and to explore state-of-the-art approaches on e-document management in public administration. The project also aimed at contributing to information and knowledge management across departmental borders and maybe even beyond the realm of administration (to include other administrative bodies, commercial partners, citizens, etc.). Therefore, the focus of interest was on the question of how to organize and present e-documents so that users will be able to retrieve the document needed (or at least the information about a document) and/or to receive answers on queries about certain topics. Within a few weeks, the researcher and the student compared leading-edge initiatives with respect to the use of “ontologies” for e-document management in public administration. The basic findings (Section 3) were presented and discussed at a cross-departmental workshop meeting in the state administration (February 2002) and (along with recommendations) published in a research report (by researcher and student, June 2002), which was then circulated among the actors involved and finally included in the final project report. 4.3 Learning: guidelines for administration The activities carried out led to considerable insights both on the side of the researchers and of the practitioners. To recall the situation: the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein now must decide how they want to proceed in the management of electronic documents and information. On one hand, the state is dependent on the guidance and legislation issued on the federal German and European level (or must pay a high price to follow its own path). On the other hand, the state must integrate two more levels of administration (counties and municipalities) in addition to its own concern of supporting cross-departmental e-document management. Taking into account the perspective of an executive of a rather small government, the researcher suggested a three-step recommendation towards a “big” solution for possibly all levels of administration within the state: 4.3.1 Learn from other projects!. The evaluation of the exemplary projects reveals that there seems to be no alternative to the application of ontology-based approaches. However, these are only one part of a comprehensive infrastructure which should cover at least the following aspects (for most of these see also Public Record Office, 2001): . cross-organizational cooperation agreement for e-document management; . information policy concerning authentication and the retention of knowledge of authentication, privacy and data sharing, openness and freedom of information; . integration of existing technical and organizational systems and networks; . design, development and implementation of new systems and networks; . interoperability, i.e. a common approach to the use and description of electronic records through metadata standards, and the ability to develop integrated resource discovery and information retrieval systems; and . skills and competency development, for all types of users and record managers, in generating and describing electronic information.

Recalling the main differences between the exemplary projects, one can point out a number of options on how to set up a project: . making high demands on the application of ontology-based approaches to comprehensively support cross-organizational information processes or keeping requirements on a pilot project level; . importing an ontology (i.e. the data and data structure of an existing controlled vocabulary) or developing a specific controlled vocabulary for Schleswig-Holstein (or a combination of both); and . implementation of a specific corporate infrastructure or networking with other actors to achieve a common infrastructure. 4.3.2 Develop your own “business model”!. Choosing the “right” option depends on the objectives to be achieved through the application of ontology-based approaches. While scrutinizing work practice certainly sheds light on the situation and reveals weak points and other problems, this does not yet make up a vision of who should have access to which (electronic) documents and information, why, when, and how. Although administration units are not dependent on earning revenues, business models may serve well for the identification of strategic goals, processes and actors, which play a decisive role in implementing the organization’s document and information management. In particular, any vision or business model must focus on activities crossing organizational borders: What are the objectives and intended improvements (and the priorities among these) concerning document, information and knowledge management? A business model answering this question should then guide the implementation process: Who should participate? What are the (legitimate) needs for information to be satisfied? What are the (future) activities and processes to be supported? What kind of technology and what kind of infrastructure need to be taken into account? Answers to these questions are prerequisites for developing an appropriate strategy for the application of ontology-based approaches and sorting out the options as stated above. Based on the strategic decision, the project can make a sound choice of an ontology with respect to the required complexity (types of terms and relations, derivation rules, etc.), standardization, IT compatibility, choice of technology and infrastructure (e.g. RDF is more suitable for information resource management while topic maps offer more options to support knowledge management). 4.3.3 Check feasibility and take first steps!. One can foresee that in a few years controlled vocabulary and ontologies, supported through thesauri, topic maps, and semantic web technologies, will be indispensable elements of administrative document and information management. However, from the point of view of a “small” state government it is at least doubtful whether it should engage and invest in this kind of projects now. The following risks are to be taken into account, mostly related to the implementation of the required infrastructure: . Risk of excessive demands. The implementation of the required infrastructure requires substantial personal and financial resources which can easily be more than a single state government can afford. . Risk of external dominance. The development and application of ontology-based approaches is underway at many places which may lead to situations (e.g. the standardization of e-document usage, metadata, vocabularies, or

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IT compatibility) beyond control of the state government, but which are likely to require significant adjustment of ontology-based approaches applied so far (at worst, external developments may “overwrite” one’s own efforts). Investment risk. Taking both of the above into consideration it remains doubtful whether resource investment will serve the objectives and lead to a sustainable development.

Facing and weighing these risks may result in a strategy of small steps including the following activities: . Analysis of specific requirements of the state administration (and other administrative levels within Schleswig-Holstein) with respect to the business model and the options given (see above). . Networking to create an alliance with other actors in public administration (other state administrations, federal government, European Union, etc.), and also with commercial partners, research institutions, etc. in order to achieve common goals through shared resource allocation. . Pursuing own projects in selected areas of applying ontology-based approaches leading to practical results and improvements within less than a year. A combination of these activities enlarges the necessary base of experience, raises the awareness concerning specific demands, and contributes to the network. In particular, contributions to the network are likely to decrease all of the risks aligned with the implementation of an ontology-based e-document management system. Drawing on these insights the state administration now develops a broader approach towards e-document management and other fields related to internet usage. The activities within this project and their outcome gave rise to a reconsideration of the overall strategy. Both the practitioners and the researcher agreed to have learned that a strategy for the use of ontologies must be embedded in a strategy for the overall interrelation of the different systems of rules and regulations which have an impact on administrative processes. Within cross-departmental collaboration several of those regulation systems are applied. In many cases this leads to frictions und extra work because the actors involved had never agreed on how to interrelate those systems. Therefore the final project report recommends building up a controlled vocabulary, beginning with a keyword list, then expanding towards a thesaurus and finally a function thesaurus. The vocabulary should cover administrative tasks as well as products of the existing work practice, and the guiding ontology should include organizational units (with tasks assigned), task handling processes as well as cost units and cost centers (related to products).

5. Conclusion and further research One of the main motives of the research presented here was to support the state government of Schleswig-Holstein in finding a solution for their e-document management. The main findings indicate that:

structuring documents and information through ontologies requires an infrastructure consisting of a number of regularities, services and support on the level of organization as well as information technology; and a rather small government must be aware of its strategic goals and step ahead carefully in order to avoid the risks of misinvestment.

Ontologies for e-document management

However, the case of Schleswig-Holstein is only one among many others, typical for a multitude of administrations trying to enter the information age without having the power and resources to be on the leading edge. Since the recommendations presented above are not grounded on insights which are unique for Schleswig-Holstein, the results may support the strategy development and solution finding in other administrations as well. Research in the field of IT enabled public administration seeks (among other things) to reflect the state of the art in implementing and using new technologies, to analyze the IT demands of public administration, and to support the adoption of IT in manifold ways. In this action research, the power and ability to set up and control a set of interrelated elements which support the application of ontology-based approaches have turned out to be critical success factors. The lesson learned is that the greater the expectations are from using ontology-based approaches the greater the need for a socio-technical infrastructure to support the application of ontologies. As we increasingly investigate the cross-organizational usage of internet-based technologies in public administration (e.g. for supporting process management, Klischewski, 2001), we may learn from the field of business networking (O¨sterle et al., 2001) that an arrangement of agreements and regulations (e.g. standards) is always needed prior to any successful internet-based collaboration across organizational borders. There are strong indications that the actors’ strategies for the adoption and implementation of new technologies always heavily depend on their options for implementing and controlling the necessary infrastructure. However, public administration is a unique domain of IT application. For example, the “worldviews” (ontologies) and the systems of rules and regulations which have an impact on (cross-organizational) administrative processes are quite different from those framing processes in and across business units. Therefore, research and practice should focus more on the conditions of cross-organizational IT adoption in public administration, in particular on the power and ability to set up and control socio-technical infrastructures.

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References Avison, D.E., Lau, F., Myers, M.D. and Nielsen, P.A. (1999), “Action research”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 94-7. Bannan, J. (1997), Intranet Document Management: A Guide for Webmasters and Content Providers, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Baskerville, R.L. (1999), “Investigating information systems with action research”, Communications of the AIS, Vol. 2, Article 19. Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J. and Lassila, O. (2001), “The semantic web. A new form of web content that is meaningful to computers will unleash a revolution of new possibilities”, Scientific American, Vol. 9 No. 5, available at: www.sciam.com

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Biagioli, C., Francesconi, E., Spinosa, P. and Taddei, M. (2003), “The ‘Norme in Rete’ (NIR) project”, in Traunmu¨ller, R. and Palmirani, M. (Eds), E-Government: Modelling Norms and Concepts as Key Issues, Proceedings of 1st International Workshop on E-Government at ICAIL 2003, Bologna, pp. 69-78. Gruber, T.R. (1993), “A translation approach to portable ontologies”, Knowledge Acquisition, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 199-220, available at: www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html Gruninger, M. and Lee, J. (2002), “Ontology applications and design”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 39-41. Halstead-Nussloch, R. and Konneh, D. (Eds) (2002), Changing the Culture of Document Management in Georgia Government: One Community of Practice at a Time, Georgia Digital Academy, Georgia. Information Exchange Steering Committee (IESC) (1995), Management of Electronic Documents in the Australian Public Service, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. ISO (1986), ISO 2788: Documentation-Guidelines for the Establishment and Development of Monolingual Thesauri, ISO, Geneva. ISO (1999), ISO 13250: Topic Maps, ISO, Geneva. Klischewski, R. (2001), “Infrastructure for an e-government process portal”, in Remenyi, D. and Bannister, F. (Eds), paper presented at European Conference on e-Government, MCIL, Reading, MA, pp. 233-45. Klischewski, R. (2003), “Semantic web for e-government”, in Traunmu¨ller, R. (Ed.), Proceedings of EGOV 2003, LNCS#2739, Springer, Berlin, pp. 288-95. Klischewski, R. and Ukena, S. (2002), “Einsatz von ontologien und meta-modellen fu¨r das u¨ bergreifen-de dokumenten- und informations-management als grundlage fu¨ r e-government”, research report, Informatics Technology Center, Hamburg. McDaniel, G. (1994), The IBM Dictionary of Computing, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. National Archives of Australia (NAA) (2001), “E-permanence made e-asy. A manager’s guide to the strategic management of records and information”, Canberra, available at: www.naa. gov.au/recordkeeping/overview/e-permanence.pdf Oppermann, H., Schnurr, H-P. and Studer, R. (2001), “Die bedeutung von ontologien fu¨r das wissensmangement”, Wissensmanagement, Vol. 3 No. 6, pp. 33-6. ¨ sterle, H., Fleisch, E. and Alt, R. (2001), Business Networking: Shaping Enterprise Relationships O on the Internet, Springer, Berlin. Prime Minister/Minister for the Cabinet Office (1999), “Modernising government”, London, available at: www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/moderngov/download/modgov.pdf Public Record Office (2001), “e-Government policy framework for electronic records management”, Public Record Office, London, available at: www.e-envoy.gov.uk/ publications/frameworks /erm2/index.htm Raas, U. (1999), “Electronic recordkeeping – more than electronic document management”, Records Management Journal, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 117-29. Salminen, A., Lyytika¨inen, V., Tiitinen, P. and Mustaja¨rvi, O. (2001), “Experiences of SGML standardization: the case of the Finnish legislative documents”, in Sprague, R.H. Jr (Ed.), Proceedings of the Thirty-fourth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos, CA. Sowa, J.F. (2000), Knowledge Representation: Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations, Brooks Cole Publishing, Pacific Grove, CA, available at: http://users. bestweb.net/ , sowa/ontology/index.htm

Spahni, D. (2003), “URN: technology – a building block of the swiss e-government platform”, in Traunmu¨ller, R. (Ed.), Proceedings of EGOV 2003, LNCS#2739, Springer, Berlin, pp. 359-62. Standards Australia (1998), Australian Standard for Records Management – AS 4390-1996, Standards Australia International, Sydney. Corresponding author Ralf Klischewski can be contacted at: [email protected]

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A framework for e-government: privacy implications France Belanger

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Center for Global Electronic Commerce, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, and

Janine S. Hiller Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA Abstract Purpose – The paper proposes a conceptual framework of the stages of electronic government that describes and integrates the unique relationship between the government and its varied constituents, and identifies and applies the global constraints that affect the implementation of e-government at each stage. Design/methodology/approach – Building on and expanding stages of e-government suggested in prior literature, a framework is designed to recognize that the five stages of e-government will have differing impacts when considering six different categories of constituents. In addition, the framework considers three global constraints superimposed on these stages and relationship; laws and regulations, technical feasibility, and user feasibility. The paper then provides an example of implementation of the framework by exploring the issue of privacy in electronic government. Findings – The relationships mapped the stages of e-government, affected by global motivators and constraints, are unique and complex. Policy and implementation of e-government should take account of these complexities. Privacy in e-government issues differs significantly when global motivators and constraints are viewed across the complex framework of government stages by constituency. Research limitations/implications – The relationships between constituents and stages of e-government, together with the global constraints, should be incorporated into the process of decision-making when government is considering the movement from one stage of e-government to another. The framework provides new lenses through which e-government implementation can be studied by researchers. Practical implications – The framework can be used to guide planning and decision-making for electronic government and aid in the identification of issues unique to each stage and constituency. Originality/value – The use of framework allows researchers and practitioners to identify issues that may not be highlighted in a general discussion of e-government that does not take into account the complexities of the e-government environment. Keywords Electronics industry, Design, Privacy Paper type Conceptual paper

Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 pp. 48-60 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154 DOI 10.1108/14637150610643751

1. Introduction Worldwide, local and national government agencies are facing the challenging era of electronic government. Forrester Research predicts that more than $600 billion of government fees and taxes will be processed through the web by Portions of this paper build on previous research partially funded by the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Endowment for The Business of Government and published as their “Privacy Strategies for Electronic Government” report.

2006 (James, 2000). United States Federal Government spending alone is predicted to reach $2.33 billion by 2005 (Gartner Group, 2000a, b, c). This is more than the expected spending by consumers from retail businesses ($ 2.24 billion). A survey of government finance officers reveals that e-government is one of their top concerns (Bornstein, 2000). While there seems to be substantial growth in the development of e-government initiatives (Bednarz, 2002; Friel, 2002), it is not clear that citizens will embrace the use of such services. Some key concerns can limit this growth, including privacy (Thibodeau, 2000). Citizens may be skeptical and mistrust e-government initiatives, believing that these initiatives result in invasion of citizen privacy by government (James, 2000). This paper proposes an e-government framework and discusses privacy and the complex social questions that it presents for the successful utilization of e-government. The framework can be utilized to process and analyse other complex issues. A total of 26 e-government categories are identified. The categories take into account the complexity of e-governments by recognizing the various constituents and the different stages of implementation of e-government, incorporating both electronic government and electronic governance relationships. The framework can be used to facilitate decision-making unique to each stage and constituency of e-government. Three global motivators and constraints complement the framework in identifying factors for successful e-government implementation. This process is useful because it operationalizes the inherent differences in the complex functions of government. 2. E-government framework Watson and Mundy (2001) propose a model for e-government comprising initiation, infusion, and customization. Symonds (2000) discusses four stages to e-government: one-way communications, two-way communications, exchanges, and portals. It could be thought of as a more granular approach to stages of e-government than Watson and Mundy’s model. Both of these frameworks focus on the evolution of e-government systems through their respective stages. However, these models do not include the complex governmental relationships with a variety of constituents. Other models focus on the relationships rather than the stages. The US General Accounting Office categorizes e-government using the typology of government-to-citizen (G2C), government-to-employee (G2E), government-to-government (G2G), and government-to-business (G2B). The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) categorizes e-government as G2C, G2B, G2G, and internal efficiency and effectiveness (IEE). IEE initiatives “bring commercial best practices to key government operations, particularly supply chain management, human capital management, financial management and document workflow” (OMB, 2002). We propose an e-government framework that builds on Symonds’ stages, adding a fifth stage to represent electronic political participation by citizens. Our framework also takes into account the complexities of government relationships by mapping the stages to varied constituent relationships both identified above as well as newly proposed ones. We also consider in the development of our model a set of additional constraints on governmental actions. This allows us to capture the different requirements and design elements that are necessary to initiate e-government with each of the constituents.

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In addition, we deviate from the traditional classification of the one-way inferred from the use of “to” in the categorization. For example, B2C generally means business to consumer, a connotation that businesses are marketing products, and creating demand for those products (e.g. B ! C). Instead, we use the conjunction with that more accurately reflects the essence of the governmental relationship with its constituencies, and the fact that these relationships are fundamentally different than those of business (e.g. Government with Citizens ¼ G $ IC). This approach is supported by the findings of Steyaert (2000) in the study of government use of the internet in Flanders, Belgium. Electronic government will reach its full potential by focusing on the citizen not only as a consumer, but also as a participant in governance (Mintrom, 2003; Thomas and Streib, 2003). Our proposed categorization of e-government types includes: . Government with individuals – delivering services (GwIS). The government establishes or maintains a direct relationship with citizens to deliver a service or benefit. An example is the US’ Social Security Administration in its delivery of benefits. This can involve two-way communications as individuals request information about benefits, and government may need information in order to process benefits. . Government with individuals – political process (GwIP). This is the relationship between the government and its citizens as part of the democratic process. It is perhaps the most essential relationship between a government and any entity. Examples include voting online, and participating in requests for comments online during the regulatory process. . Government with business as a citizen (GwBC). Although businesses will not vote, and thus the relationship between businesses and the government will not look exactly like the GwIP, there are still opportunities for business to relate to the government in a citizen-like capacity. Providing securities exchange commission filings online in the US, and paying taxes online in several countries worldwide would be examples of the relationship between government and businesses in this category. . Government with business in the marketplace (GwBMKT). While businesses can receive many online services from government, a major portion of online transactions between governments and businesses involve procurement, or the hiring of contractors or acquisition of goods and services by the government. E-procurement “is one of the fastest growing areas of e-business because it can save time and money” (Symonds, 2000). Some savings reported include 70 percent more efficiency at Australia’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s purchasing department by deploying a paperless system (Symonds, 2000). . Government with employees (GwE). Online relationships between government agencies and their employees face the same requirements as that of the relationships between businesses and their employees. For example, an intranet can be used to provide information to employees, or online transactions with their employees can be performed if agencies have the proper technological architectures. This relationship should be distinguished from the same individual’s relationship under GwIP and GwIS.

Government with government (GwG). Government agencies must often collaborate and/or provide services to one another. There are substantial gains from conducting some of these transactions online, between federal, state and local agencies. An example of an inter-governmental level e-government application is the US National Science Foundation’s online funding request system called FastLane (www.nsf.gov). The potential for GwG to benefit agencies involved is tremendous – there are over 20,000 web sites for the US Federal Government alone (Thibodeau, 2000). 2.1 Stages of electronic government The stages in our proposed framework are presented below, beginning with the least and moving to the most advanced stage of e-government implementation. 2.1.1 Information. Information dissemination is the simplest form of e-government where governments post information on web sites for constituents. Thousands of such sites exist. The biggest challenge with these sites, however, is to ensure that the information is available, accurate and timely (Gartner Group, 2000a, b, c). Examples include the US White House informational web page (www.whitehouse.gov/) or the European Union central page (www.europa.eu.int/). 2.1.2 Two-way communication. In this stage, government sites allow constituents to communicate with the government and make simple requests and changes. Several of these sites are based on e-mail exchanges, and there are thousand of those as well. Agencies allowing online requests provide sites with fill-in forms but the information is not returned immediately online. It is sent by regular mail or e-mail. An example of this is the US’ Social Security Administration web site where constituents can apply for new medicare cards or request benefit statements (www.ssa.gov/). 2.1.3 Transaction. At this stage, governments have sites available for actual transactions with constituents. Individuals interact and conduct transactions with the government completely online, whereas these web-based self-services used to be performed by public servants. Actual online transacting is the most sophisticated level of e-government currently widely available. There are several hundreds of these sites. Examples include renewing licenses, paying fines, and applying for financial aid. Benefits of such sites can be very large. For example, the State of Arizona’s system to renew vehicle registration online has dramatically reduced waiting lines at department of motor vehicle offices (Thibodeau, 2000). 2.1.4 Integration. In this stage, all government services are integrated. This can be accomplished with a single portal that constituents can use to access services they need no matter which agencies or departments offer them. One of the biggest obstacles to more online transactions between the government and its constituents is the lack of integration of all online and back-office systems. Government agencies spend expensive and time-consuming resources to have face-to-face interactions with individuals. For example, in the Kentucky Governor’s office up to 90 percent of customer interactions are face-to-face (Thibodeau, 2000). Integrating online systems and back-end systems to support these customer requests could save time and money for the agencies involved, as well as improve customer service. Examples of national portals include the US’ FirstGov (http://firstgov.gov/), Australia’s State of Victoria’s MAXI system (www.maxi.com.au/), and Singapore’s eCitizen Centre (www.ecitizen. gov.sg/index_low.html). .

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2.1.5 Participation. These are government sites that provide voting online, registration online, or posting comments online. Although this could be seen as a subset of the two-way communication stage, it is so significant as to warrant a separate category. It is helpful to view this as distinct because of the unique sensitivity of providing this online feature. There are few government sites that provide for this level of electronic sophistication. One of the most prominent future uses of e-government with the federal government may be for individuals to vote over the internet. A California Internet Voting Task Force reported in 2000 that this must use a phased in approach with great care for authentication and security. Online voting will require technologies to support the privacy of individual voters while allowing re-counts and authentification of identity (Figure 1).

Stages of e-government Stage 1 Type of government

Information

Stage 2 Two-way communication

Stage 3

Stage 4

Transaction

Integration

Stage 5 Political participation

Government with IndividualServices

Description of medical benefits

Request & receive individual benefit information

Pay taxes online

All services and entitlements

N/A

Government with IndividualPolitical Process

Dates of elections

Receive election forms

Receive election funds &

Register to vote -federal, state & local (file)

Voting online

Government with BusinessCitizen

Regulations online

All regulatory information on one site

Filing comments online

Online vouchers & payments

Marketplace for vendors

N/A

One stop shop for info on job, retirement, vacation, etc.

N/A

disbursement SEC filings

Pay taxes online Apply for and receive program funds Agricultural allotments

Government Posting RFPs Request clarifications or with Business specs – Marketplace

Figure 1. Electronic government framework with examples

Government with Employees

Pay dates and holiday information

Requests for employment benefit statements

Electronic paychecks

Government with Government

Agency filing requirements

Requests from local governments

Electronic funds transfers

N/A

3. Global e-government constraints Superimposed upon the framework are global constraints that apply in every decision-making and planning process, affecting how the government will accomplish its objectives. These include laws, regulations and policies; technical capabilities; and user feasibility. These are not proposed as the only items that would constrain the implementation of e-government, but are three that are supported in the literature, described briefly below and more fully in the sections following. The law and policy constraint asks whether the action comports with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, and whether it is within the power of government. Regulations may limit government powers to institute and complete e-government projects (Chen and Perry, 2003). For example, the US federal government is limited to interstate commerce or other powers granted in the US Constitution. Technical capability asks whether the hardware, software, and expertise exist to implement the project. E-government initiatives require appropriate investments in hardware, software, and expertise. Insufficient funds or a shortage of personnel may hinder e-government implementation. As initiatives move towards integration and political participation, they become increasingly more technologically complex. In a recent study of municipal e-government initiatives, Moon (2002) finds that few local governments conduct online transactions with citizens (stage three), and even fewer, if any, have integration. Municipalities perceive the lack of technical, personnel, and financial capabilities as major barriers to the development of e-government. His overall evaluation (from a survey of 1,471 municipalities) is that the state of e-government at the municipal level is primitive. The third constraint is the capability and willingness of the intended user to use the electronic government project (user feasibility). For example, the digital divide that has been described so capably by others has been found to affect user willingness to use e-government web sites (Thomas and Streib, 2003). Trust is also an important factor in determining in general whether an individual chooses to, or chooses not to, acquire goods or services via the web (Be´langer et al., 2002; Doney and Cannon, 1997; Hoffman et al., 1999; Quelch and Klein, 1996). The information systems literature abounds with studies describing how the resistance of users to a new system because of trust or other factors invariably hinders its implementation. (Adams et al., 2004; Aladwani, 2001; Setzekorn et al., 2002). Citizens’ willingness and capability to use the system will, therefore, affect the implementation of e-government. 3.1 Privacy and laws, regulations, and policies The intersection of privacy interests and the implementation of information technology and e-government to enhance the efficiency and ease of use for citizens is dynamic and multifaceted. Paradoxically, but understandably, laws and executive orders both mandate action and restrict the government in its pursuit of these goals. In June 2000, US federal agencies were directed to limit the use of cookies on their sites, with the statement: “Because of the unique laws and traditions about government access to citizens’ personal information, the presumption should be that ‘cookies’ would not be used at Federal Websites”. Only when there is a compelling reason, approval from the agency head, and the web site uses clear and conspicuous language to give notice of the practice may an agency use cookies. In 2002, President Bush’s Technology Agenda included within its goals the expansion of electronic

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government, to be citizen-centered, and specifically enumerating its commitment to strengthen privacy rights. Overall, the Privacy Act (1974) regulates federal government data collection. Any agency that maintains a system of records that collects information about an individual that is identifiable by name, identifiable number, or other identifier must give notice of new records, make them accessible, ensure accuracy, allow individual inspection, obtain permission to share the information and inform the individual of the uses for the information. There are numerous exceptions to the act, including intra-agency use on a need to know basis, and for routine uses that are consonant with the reasons the information was collected. The wide interpretations given these exceptions, resulting in widespread sharing without consent, have been criticized and led to perceptions by citizens that their privacy is not well protected from government uses (Bevier, 1995). The Privacy Act was amended in 1988 by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act. Applicable to debt collection or benefit decisions made through computer matching, the act requires notice to the individual, and an opportunity to correct information. Additionally, agencies must have data integrity boards perform cost-benefit analyses, and report their matching activities. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, 1966) allows access to government information under the goal of openness and accountability. Privacy exceptions to the FOIA are relevant to a study of privacy in e-government. The FOIA requires the disclosure of public records, with the exception of personal data that would amount to an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy”, and business trade secrets. In 1998, agencies were directed to review their systems of records in light of the internet, appointing a senior agency member to be responsible for privacy. Resulting guidelines emphasize the necessity for review of agency records and security features in the electronic environment. Accuracy and completeness, “inappropriately combin[ing]”, records and considering the purpose and security of information sharing under the routine use exception of the Privacy Act were emphasized. Several states have statutes that specifically address posting of information on government web sites. 3.2 Privacy and technical capability Collection of data about individuals has always invoked issues of privacy. Online technology increases privacy concerns as it allows for faster, easier storage of more data, aggregation of that data, and possibly without the customer’s knowledge. At the same time, in the electronic commerce world, the serious privacy concerns are often outweighed by several advantages for consumers and businesses. Data collection allows personalization and customization of the consumer’s interaction with the organizations on the internet and a more efficient allocation of business resources to meet the needs and desires of the consumer. Consumers then often agree to give personal information on the web if it means they can get better service, convenience, or benefits on that particular web site (Sweat, 2000). Government agencies have access to the same technologies that businesses do with respect to collecting, aggregating, and cross-referencing individuals’ data. Government collection of personal data, however, is often seen as an invasion of privacy. Although businesses also collect and aggregate personal data, sometimes without consent, a survey of 1,000 adults undertaken after the security breach at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1999

found that consumers were more likely to trust business to secure their private information, and had concerns about the misuse of information in governments’ hands (ITAA, 2000). 3.2.1 Faster and easier data collection. Current technology allows easy loading of data forms on web sites directly into databases. For companies this is a major advantage since the data are loaded immediately (faster) and accurately (no transcribing errors and no problems dealing with unreadable writing). Data are also easier to collect since tools have been developed, such as cookies, for collecting information from users, even information the average user does not know (such as an IP address). Contrary to businesses, though, government agencies must report their data collection practices and/or must notify individuals that data are collected and describe how the data will be used. 3.2.2 Cross-referencing (aggregation). One of the biggest public outcries concerning online privacy happened following the merger of two companies, DoubleClick and Abacus Direct Corp, in November 1999. The first company provides internet network advertising and collects anonymous online purchasing data and browsing habits through cookies (Anstead, 2000). The second company provides specialized consumer data and analysis for direct marketing and has a database of 88 million buyer profiles collected by 1,500 direct marketers and online retailers (Punch, 2000). After the merger the companies announced the decision to merge the two databases. Cross referencing real offline consumer data with their online purchasing habits (collected with or without their knowledge) led to privacy advocates raising serious privacy issues. DoubleClick temporarily stopped their plans to merge the two databases after the public uproar. Potential for cross-referencing online data with other online data (between several web entrepreneurs, for example) is also a concern of privacy advocates (Melillo, 1999). In 1999, US Bancorp rented customer information, in conflict with the company’s privacy statement. Bancorp ultimately settled a case brought by the Minnesota Attorney General, but in doing so stated that it was following “industry wide practice[s]” (Money, 2000). Cross-referencing of data contained in computer records of federal agencies is not new either, but it is the amount of data collected that is now the issue. Agencies share information with other agencies for various purposes, such as debt collection (for example, the Department of Education matches data with the Postal Service to identify postal employees delinquent on student loans), eligibility verification (e.g. the Department of Education matches data with the Social Security Administration to verify social security numbers and citizenship of student aid applicants), fraud and/or ineligibility detection (for example, the Department of Education matches data with the Internal Revenue Service to locate taxpayers who have defaulted on student loans), and data reconciliation (e.g. two agencies share data to update records). A recent report from a privacy public-policy group reveals that the US Government announces new information-sharing programs more than once every two weeks. 3.2.3 Hidden data collection. Besides the issue of cross-referencing data between online and offline databases, collection of data without consent is the biggest issue privacy advocates are raising with online web sites. As users customize their web browsers with personal information, they do not always realize that this information can be accessed by web sites they are visiting and then stored in the web site’s

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databases. Usually this is accomplished by means of “cookies”. US government agencies were directed not to use cookies without prior approval and clear and conspicuous notice. 3.3 Privacy and user feasibility As the technical capabilities of governments to collect such data increases, and therefore, the level of data being collected increases, privacy concerns become a key issue that must be addressed. Few studies, however, have focused on the privacy concerns of the constituencies of e-government. However, there are many studies of consumer online privacy concerns and privacy practices of businesses. These studies shed light on the overall concern of individuals about sharing information electronically. A Business Week/Harris poll of 999 consumers in 1998 revealed that privacy was the biggest obstacle preventing them from using web sites; above the issues of cost, ease of use, and unsolicited marketing (Green et al., 1998). A later study by Forrester Research shows that two-thirds of consumers are worried about protecting personal information online (Branscum, 2000). In a 2000 National Consumers League survey, respondents ranked personal privacy above health care, education, crime and taxes as concerns (Paul, 2001). A 2001 survey by Harris Interactive found that individuals who have not bought over the internet list security of information storage, and transmission and use of personal information as the top reasons why they have not purchased (Harris, 2001). Fears of privacy violations were also documented in 2001 by an American Demographics survey, which listed children’s privacy breaches as the most feared, followed by misuse of private information, financial theft, and identity theft (Paul, 2001). Lastly, another survey showed that 65 percent of people support deliberative electronic government development. When asked to rate the reasons for implementing electronic government, greater accountability to the citizens outranked better delivery of government services by almost triple (NUA Internet Surveys, 2000). Yet, a survey of federal and state web sites shows that privacy and security statements are lacking on those sites (West, 2000). 4. Framework and privacy: an example The policy of a consumer-centric e-government focuses on citizen opinion. Considering the general concerns of citizens with online privacy, then e-government initiatives must specifically analyse e-government decisions with regards to privacy of information. For example, consider the e-government question: should public records be posted online? When government web sites first began, hours of operation, phone numbers, and a listing of events highlighted their pages. Today, local governments are posting real estate records, property valuations, and court documents online. The technical ability to efficiently process and express the information (such as new and better techniques for mapping) increases the government’s ability to put this information on the web. The increase in the availability of this information, however, has led one constituency, citizens, to complain that the information is readily available to anyone around the world, including those who would use social security numbers, addresses and maiden names to perpetrate identity theft. What has always been publicly available becomes

publicly accessible once posted on the web, and citizen complaints have affected this effort of e-government. As a result of citizen outcry, several states have passed legislation that limits the posting of individually identifiable information on the internet by state or local governments. Virginia is the most recent state, in 2003, to limit the disclosure of personally identifiable records, the same ones that are available in person at the courthouse, on a government web site. The simplified example of how the framework will aid in the analysis of the complex issue of privacy and e-government begins with the first stage: the posting of information. It is not enough to ask what stage of government is involved, it is also necessary to identify the unique constituency interests within the global motivators and constraints. Businesses will not have the same interests in limiting the individual information available online at government web sites; in fact, they will likely support the posting of information in an electronic form that they can use to contact and court customers. However, business interests in proprietary information weigh against the posting of certain information relating to government contracts. And, in the effort to track and deter terrorism, government exhortations for businesses to share information through online reporting mechanisms create concerns about competitive disadvantages of doing so. Therefore, to use the framework for privacy decisions in e-government, the process would first identify the constituency affected, the stage of government, and then map the global constraints to each of these (Figure 2 shows privacy issues for GwIS). This process will ensure that the unique concerns of each of the constituencies are considered in the decision-making of instituting e-government at each step. As illustrated in the above example and discussion, privacy in e-government issues differ significantly when global motivators and constraints are viewed across the complex framework of government stages by constituency. The relationships and stages of e-government are complex. These relationships and the global motivators of policy/law, technical capability, and user feasibility, should be incorporated into the process of decision-making when government is considering the movement from one stage of e-government to another. The use of the framework also allows us to identify privacy issues that may not have been highlighted in a general discussion of e-government. .

5. Conclusion Local and national governments worldwide are investigating and implementing e-government initiatives. In this paper we proposed a framework that explores the complexities of e-government by recognizing the various constituents and the different stages of implementation of e-government, incorporating both electronic government and electronic governance relationships. The framework highlights the complex relationships that exist in e-government between the constituents and the government as various stages of e-government are implemented. We illustrated the use of the framework to identify issues of privacy in e-government, analyse the effect of global motivators and constraints, and facilitate decision-making. This process is important to evaluate in depth complex issues, such as privacy, in electronic government.

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Figure 2. Mapping of privacy issues to government with individual services

User feasibility

Technical Feasibility

Law and Regulations

Stages 3 - Transaction

Focus on creating “customer centric” Web sites

4 – Integration

Users are reluctant to conduct transactions; concerned about payment security

Users may not understand how integrated information and customization impacts their privacy

Sharing information between agencies; Computer Matching Act applies More difficult More complex choices implementation; providing for technology access to different platforms; security is crucial and encryption is platforms may result in privacy and security being required more difficult to ensure

Record may or may not be Record will be created; necessary; Privacy Act may Privacy Act applies. or may not apply

2 - Two-way communication

Must provide security for identifiable data; more complex technology implementation; can technology allow anonymity in communication? Posted privacy policy Type of information (such notice may increase trust as national ID) may increase privacy concerns

Limiting use of cookies and posting privacy policies easily implemented

Against “surreptitious use of cookies” memo; policy favors privacy; however policy must be posted If no record created, Privacy Act does not apply

1 - Information

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Policy

Constraint

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References Aladwani, A. (2001), “Change management strategies for successful ERP implementation”, Business Process Management Journal., Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 266-76. Anstead, M. (2000), “Taking a tough line on privacy”, Marketing, 13 April, p. 31. Adams B., Berner, E.S., Wyatt, J.R. (2004), “Applying strategies to overcome user resistance in a group of clinical managers to a business software application: a case study”, Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 55-64. Bednarz, A. (2002), “Getting plugged in to e-government”, Network World, Vol. 19 No. 27, pp. 36-9. Be´langer, F., Hiller, J. and Smith, W.J. (2002), “Trustworthiness in electronic commerce: the role of privacy, security, and site attributes”, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 11 Nos 3/4, pp. 245-70. Bevier, L.R. (1995), “Information about individuals in the hands of government: some reflections on mechanisms for privacy protection”, William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Vol. 4, pp. 455-504. Bornstein, I.W. (2000), “Keeping our sights on the horizon: GFOA’s survey on emerging issues”, Government Finance Review, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 40-3. Branscum, D. (2000), “Guarding on-line privacy”, Newsweek, Vol. 135 No. 23, pp. 77-8. Chen, Y. and Perry, J. (2003), “Outsourcing for e-government”, Public Performance & Management Review, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 404-21. Doney, P.M. and Cannon, J.P. (1997), “An examination of the nature of trust in buyer-seller relationships”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 61, pp. 35-51. Friel, B. (2002), “GovBenefits.gov”, Government Executive, Vol. 34 No. 15, p. 38. Gartner Group (2000a), “E-government security: voting on the internet”, Research Notes, Strategic Planning Assumption, 18 January. Gartner Group (2000b), “E-government strategy: cubing the circle”, Research Notes, Strategic Planning Assumption, 20 April. Gartner Group (2000c), “Key Issues in e-government strategy and management”, Research Notes, Key Issues, 23 May. George, W. Bush (2000), “Protecting your financial privacy: your finances are less secure than you think. But the web can help you fight back”, Money, 1 June, p. 161. Green, H., Yang, C. and Judge, P.C. (1998), “A little privacy, please”, Business Week, Vol. 3569, pp. 98-9. Harris Interactive (a) (2001), “Consumer privacy attitudes and behaviors survey wave II”, The Privacy Leadership Initiative, available at: www.understandingprivacy.org/content/ library/harris2-execsum.pdf(accessed July 2001). Hoffman, D., Novak, T.P. and Peralta, M. (1999), “Building consumer trust online”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 80-5. ITAA (2000), “Keeping the faith: government information security in the internet age”, available at: www.itaa.org/infosec/faith.pdf James, G. (2000), “Empowering bureaucrats”, MC Technology Marketing Intelligence, Vol. 20 No. 12, pp. 62-8. Melillo, W. (1999), “Private lives?”, Adweek, Vol. 40 No. 45, pp. IQ22-8. Mintrom, M. (2003), “Market organizations and deliberative democracy; choice and voice in public service delivery”, Administration and Society, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 52-81.

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Moon, J. (2002), “The evolution of e-government among municipalities: rhetoric or reality?”, Public Administration Review, Vol. 62 No. 4, pp. 424-33. NUA Internet Surveys (2000), “Electronic government wins public confidence”, available at: www.nua.ie/surveys (accessed 2 October 2000). OMB, Office of Management and Budget (2002), “E-government strategy”, 27 February. Paul, P. (2001), “Mixed signals”, American Demographics, Vol. 23, pp. 44-9. Punch, L. (2000), “Big brother goes on-line”, Credit Card Management, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 22-32. Quelch, J.A. and Klein, L.K. (1996), “The internet and international marketing”, Sloan Management Review, Spring, pp. 60-75. Setzekorn, K., Sugumaran, V. and Patnayakuni, P. (2002), “A comparison of implementation resistance factors for DMSS versus other information systems”, Information Resources Management Journal, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 48-54. Steyaert, J. (2000), “Local government online and the role of the resident-government shop versus electronic community”, Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 3-16. Sweat, J. (2000), “Privacy paradox: customers want control – and coupons”, Information Week, Vol. 781, pp. 52-3. Symonds, M. (2000), “Government and the internet: no gain without pain”, The Economist, Vol. 355, pp. S9-S14. Thomas, J. and Streib, G. (2003), “The new face of government: citizen-initiated contacts in the era of e-government”, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 82-102. Thibodeau, P. (2000), “E-government spending to soar through 2005”, Computerworld, Vol. 34 No. 17, p. 12. Watson, R.T. and Mundy, B. (2001), “A strategic perspective of electronic democracy”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 27-30. West, D.M. (2000), “Assessing e-government: the internet, democracy, and service delivery”, available at: www.insidepolitics.org/egovreport00.html (accessed September 2000). Further reading Anonymous (n.d.), “President Bush’s technology agenda: promoting innovation and competitiveness”, available at: www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/technology/tech4.html Fox, S. (2001), “Trust and privacy online: why Americans want to rewrite the rules”, Pew Internet & American Life Project. Corresponding author France Belanger can be contacted at: [email protected]

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A procedure model for process oriented e-government projects

Procedure model for e-government projects

Joerg Becker, Lars Algermissen and Bjo¨rn Niehaves Department of Information Systems, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany

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Abstract Purpose – To provide guidelines in the form of a procedural model for e-government-indicated business process reengineering (BPR) projects in public administrations. Design/methodology/approach – A range of recently published works, which aim to provide practical advice for process-oriented e-government projects, were analysed. Additionally, experiences from several practical e-government projects were taken into account. The procedural model developed was then tested and evaluated. Findings – There is a lack of process orientation in public administrations. Additionally, existing processes are regularly not applicable to e-government. Therefore, e-government projects in practice are not always able to fully implement transactional processes. Part of the value potentially added by e-government is hence not exploited. One of the main reasons for the lack of process orientation is that there are few BPR methodologies applied and verified in public administrations. Research limitations/implications – The procedural model has not been tested for all different political and administrative systems. Certain national characteristics might lead to additional adaptations of the model which have been suggested. Practical implications – The procedural model is very useful and has been validated in several practical projects. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified need for BPR methodologies in public administrations, especially in the move towards e-government. Keywords Electronics industry, Business process re-engineering, Modelling, Project management Paper type Research paper

Introduction From the beginning of the 1990s, public administration has been confronted by a series of new demands. Society has been transformed by the influence of new technologies. There is a conspicuous trend towards growing individualisation, whereby there are increasing demands by individuals on the state, to provide solutions to a variety of problems. Simultaneously, in the context of national and international competition, efficient and effective state activity and support for entrepreneurial activities in a region or country are becoming an increasingly decisive factor in location decisions. No one has yet succeeded in improving the performance capability of the state, in a manner and degree that is commensurate with the increasing number of responsibilities. A modernisation and performance gap has arisen because of the difference between the volume of work and performance (Buda¨us and Schwiering, 1999). For some years, the term, “electronic government” (e-government), coined from e-business, has been universally proposed as a way of closing this gap. It has outgrown the orbit of scientific debate and has increasingly become an object of strategies for modernising administration. The core of e-government is the execution of

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administrative processes (Langkabel, 2000, p. 6; von Lucke and Reinermann, 2000, p. 1). In order to support the implementation of a process by means of information and communication technology, the following definition has been formulated by Becker et al. (2003): E-government entails the simplification and implementation of information, communication and transaction processes, in order to achieve, by means of information and communication technology, an administrative service, within and between authorities and, likewise, between authorities and private individuals or companies.

In recent years, many businesses have already initiated and successfully undertaken measures to strengthen the organisation of business processes. At the same time, the academic disciplines of business management studies and business information technology have taken up this issue (Hammer and Champy, 1993; Davenport, 1993; Earl, 1994). Commensurately, fields such as process modelling, workflow management or process cost calculation demonstrate a deep understanding of theory and have consequently attained a high standard of development. However, the practical application of this knowledge, acquired in the domain of administration, has only occurred to a limited degree. Alongside an insufficient translation of theoretical knowledge into practice, the urgent practical challenges of process management, for example, and the design of procedure models for specific domains, have not so far been adequately taken up by the relevant academic disciplines and conceptualised soundly. The purpose of this paper is to stimulate an improvement in the situation outlined above. Our objective here is the presentation of a procedural model for the implementation of process modelling projects in public administration. Where relevant, these statements are underpinned with evidence from a case study, which modelled the municipal building consent procedures of the Emsdetten city administration. Emsdetten has about 25,000 inhabitants and is one of over 13,000 municipalities in Germany. Owing to the administrative structure in Germany (consisting of the federal, state and local level) and the legislation the organisation and the tasks of the municipalities are quite similar throughout the country which makes Emsdetten, a representative example. As an introduction we first provide an overview of related work. The following sections form the procedure model for process-oriented e-government projects. In preparation of process modelling, we describe how modelling projects in the public administration should be prepared and which modelling methods best suit formulated requirements. In identification of target environments, we show how the target environments for modelling projects can be identified. Based on a public service classification scheme we, therefore, introduce a two-phase procedure comprising the successive application of the portfolio analysis and the profile method. In modelling of current situation and analysis of weakness, we describe how we modelled the current situation of the selected building application process in the Emsdetten administration and the weaknesses we identified. Based on the identified weaknesses, we derived improved optimised target processes which are described in target modelling and process optimisation.

Related work Business process modelling and business process reengineering (BPR) are the dominating topics in the discussion of enterprise modernisation (Harrington, 1991; Davenport, 1993; Hammer and Champy, 1993). Several methods, techniques and tools have been developed and implemented to support process-oriented reorganisation (Keen, 1991; Mayer et al., 1995; Kettinger et al., 1997; Scheer, 2000). Modernisation efforts are also undertaken in the area of public administrations (House and Shull, 1989). In the recent years, the basic idea of an e-government vision has emerged, and governments have taken promising steps to deploy e-government services (Lenk and Traunmueller, 2001; Jones, 2001; Gronlund, 2002; Scherlis and Eisenberg, 2003; Chen, 2003). The discussion of public administration modernisation and e-government is often limited to the provision of online services and public administrations’ internet portals (Lenk, 1997). Big steps towards an integrated European e-government were taken within the eGOV project, funded by the European Commission. Within this project, an integrated platform for online one-stop government was specified, developed, deployed and evaluated. Based on “life-events” the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of public administrations’ services were improved (Tambouris, 2001; Krenner, 2002; Wimmer, 2002). Other research activities focus an interoperability aspect of inter-organisational services within the context of e-government. The research project InfoCITIZEN, funded by the European Commission, aims to establishing a common enterprise architecture among public administrations, and to deploy a distributed, internet-based information system (Peristeras and Tarabanis, 2000; Tarabanis et al., 2003). Another approach is presented by Klischewski and Wetzel. The so-called Service flow Management is introduced as a generic concept to coordinate cross-organisational e-government processes (Klischewski, 2001; Wetzel and Klischewski, 2002). The research is exemplified by the case of citizens applying for postal vote through the web portal of the city state of Hamburg, Germany (Klischewski and Wetzel, 2001). Much remains to be done, both optimisation of services delivered via internet (e.g. one-stop-government), and the optimisation of public administrations’ internal and inter-organisational processes (Naschold and Daley, 1999; Traunmueller and Wimmer, 2001; Klischewski and Lenk, 2002). The following procedure model underlined by the case study shows one approach how the optimisation of administration’s processes can be done. Preparation of process modelling As a rule, comprehensive preparation is essential for process modelling, because, on the one hand, the model design is characterised by a high degree of process complexity, and on the other hand, the information model is characterised by a high degree of object complexity. When considering the aim of the modelling (“why” modelling should be done), it is necessary to determine both the object of modelling (“what” should be modelled), and the modelling methods and tools (“how” modelling should be done). Modelling objective The main aims of process modelling according to Rosemann and Schwegmann (2002, p. 58) are organisation and application system design (Table I). Models for

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organisational design require a high degree of clarity, whereas models for application system design require a high degree of technical precision (for example, through prepared data models), because of their close relationship to the final implementation. The main purpose of process modelling by the Emsdetten administration was organisation design, in particular, the process-oriented reorganisation of administration processes. An examination of application system design was only considered worthwhile on the basis of organisational process improvements (Raymond et al., 1995). Modelling object The principal question to be answered in determining the modelling object is whether a total model or a partial model of an object system should be produced. Because the service portfolio of the Emsdetten city administration consists of more than a thousand individual products, selected key processes were focused. Modelling method: requirements There are various and diverse model types for modelling (business) processes. Petri-nets (Jensen, 1985), added-value chain diagrams (Porter, 1990) and event-driven process chains (EPC) (van der Aalst, 1999), are amongst the best known. The choice of a model type is influenced mainly by the purpose of the application and the requirements of the model users. Application aims, such as simulation and workflow management, require model types, which produce detailed, precise, formally itemised models. Application objectives such as process-oriented reorganisation, which underlay the case study, require less formal models. In this case, clarity is especially important. For a modelling method to meet the requirements of administrative processes, their most salient characteristics need to be considered first (Scheer et al., 1996, p. 120): . Information processing functions predominate. Even if actual products are being produced, information processing predominates as the main resource for the public administration is information. . Business processes are regulated either by law or at least hinge on legal regulations. This frequently leads to inflexibility and long time horizons for change. . The responsibility for business processes is divided among a number of people, who work only on a small portion of the process “bureaucratically”. There is an enormous flow of documents between the individual stages. Because of this decentralised structure it makes the integrated overview of a business process more difficult.

Table I. Implementation objectives of process models

Organisational design

Application system design

Organisational documentation Process-oriented reorganisation Continuous process management Certification Benchmarking Knowledge management

Selection of ERP software Model based customising Software development Workflow management Simulation

Citizens must be treated equally, irrespective of origin and assets, because of legislation and its legal implications. A high degree of procedural soundness, stability and comparability must be ensured.

Procedure model for e-government projects

As a consequence of the particular characteristics of administration that have been outlined, there are numerous demands on a modelling method. Because of the large number of people and their different abilities, the model should be readily comprehensible and able to be understood intuitively by lay people. At the same time, one must ensure through formal rules, that various models can be compared.

65

.

Modelling method: selection In the case of the Emsdetten city administration, the EPC was selected as a method, because of its high degree of clarity, and its potential for integrated evaluation. The high level of clarity was especially important in the interview phase and during the final presentation of the target processes, where a range of individuals with heterogeneous backgrounds (e.g. mayor or information technology officer) attended. The other advantage was that weaknesses in the processes could easily be identified by analysing the models. Also other methods have been evaluated, but rejected. For example, added-value chain diagrams are easy to understand, but due to a lacking expressiveness they do not allow the description of complex facts. Petri-nets have a high level of inherent complexity which makes even easy facts very difficult to understand. Modelling method: description The two elements of an EPC are events and functions (Table II). An EPC describes which events cause which functions and which events are created by which functions. In this manner, only informational objects of various different types can be associated with another. Functions, always after and followed by an event along the control flow, facilitate the transformation of data. For modelling complex business situations, a simple EPC is insufficient, and must be supplemented by appropriate elements (Table II). Such an EPC is thus referred to as an extended event-driven process chain (eEPC) and was utilized in the Emsdetten administration. Identification of target environments Before the first modelling process, relevant problem areas should, first and foremost be identified, classified and then prioritised with respect to financial and personnel resource constraints. Classification of existing services A classification scheme is an appropriate way of assisting the structuring of current services, taking into account different perspectives. In the context of the administration domain, the application of an internal and external perspective is provided, to show potential for improvements in administration (greater efficiency) and also for the citizens as customers (improved performance). The degree of interaction between citizens and local government can be a performance criterion. The following three levels have been widely used (Buda¨us and Schwiering, 1999, p. 155; Boller and Beuchat, 2001, p. 56):

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Table II. Information objects of an eEPC

Name

Symbol

Definition

Event

An event constitutes a certain state which can be reacted to with certain functions

Functions

A function transforms a certain input in a certain output and has a relation to the business objective of the administration

Connectors

Connectors describe different kinds of process branching used in the control flow

Control flow

The control flow described the logical and temporal sequence of events and functions

Position

A position is the description of a certain job which can be performed by an employee

Organisational position

The organisational position describes one element of the overall organisational structure

Document

A document is a carrier of optional accessible information

Application system

An application system is a piece of software supporting a certain function

Process interface

The process interface refers to a preceding or succeeding process

(1) uni-directional information gathering; (2) bi-directional communication; and (3) legally-binding transactions. The degree of integration is a measure of the efficiency of a service. A hierarchy, for instance, can be structured according to whether a service is performed with media breaks, without media breaks, or is completely automated (a media break is a transfer of information from one medium to another, e.g. electronic media to paper). If the level of interaction and the degree of integration are combined, a matrix will be obtained, which can be of assistance in categorising and classifying existing services in a municipality (Figure 1). In order to select appropriate services on the basis of classification schemes, a two-phase procedure comprising the successive application of the portfolio method and the profile method is introduced. The main advantage is that, from phase to phase, the

automatic

Registration information

Without media break

Registration information is fully automated through an internet portal which checks the authentification and allows an eletronic payment process

with media break

Level of Integration

Procedure model for e-government projects

People can ask for information regarding the building permission via Email. Incoming E-mails however are printed centrally and circulated through the internal post. The reply gets to the citizen on written paper

Building permission

Information

Communication

67

Transaction

Level of Interaction

number of services considered and the level of precision of the investigation increase through using a rising number of decision-making criteria. Prioritisation with the portfolio analysis The portfolio analysis is a tool that, at minimal cost, can provide a basic overview of the most important qualitative features of a service and can convey its potential for a modelling project (Francis and Archer, 1971). It is then a question of which dimensions can provide the optimal prioritisation of existing services. The starting point is that all decisions have to be financially justifiable, because of the high pressure to contain or reduce costs. According to contemporary public management thinking, even if profitability is not an official requirement, local government should still be run along business lines. Because of the incremental costs on the supply side (local government) which decrease with an increased volume of users (citizens and companies), as a corollary, local government should focus on services with high user numbers. For every service performed on the part of local government, there is a user on the demand side. The demand side extends from individuals to so-called power users (e.g. businesses, associations and other external institutions). It is advisable first to aim for increased efficiency in areas of high usage, as the greatest results can be achieved there. Enhanced quality performance (e.g. with respect to on-line transactions) has the greatest impact on power users, as they require services frequently and, therefore, experience a particularly clear improvement. Figure 2 shows the portfolio together with some selected services. Recommendations for prioritisation of implementation can be derived from the fields of the matrix. The figures in the individual fields can be interpreted as priority

Figure 1. Classification scheme for administration services

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Building Permission

3

Registration information

Share of Power Users

68

Vehicle registration

Residence registration

4 Fishing license application

Figure 2. Service performance portfolio

1

2 Business registration

Application for birth certificate

Application for identification documents

Number of Cases in Public Administration

ratios. The profile method, which is outlined in the following section, should therefore, logically be used only for services that are found in field 1 of the portfolio. Prioritisation with the profile method Because the portfolio analysis is by no means adequate for a detailed examination of service performance only by two criteria, a prioritisation can be extended with the so-called project profile method (Thoma, 1989). It allows the examination of the alternatives with regard to several qualitative characteristics. Each aspect of an alternative is evaluated on a numerical scale of 1-5 and the total evaluation is depicted graphically. A distinctive positive feature is the explicit representation of evaluation criteria, which gives the decision-maker a more concrete picture of the individual services. A written definition of each numerical rating is given in the key. Figure 3 shows a description of the different ratings of the characteristic “organisational complexity”, as an example. The scale anchoring table provides a firm basis for evaluation and avoids any deviation in the results that could be caused by the subjective interpretations of different appraisers. Figure 4, based on Thoma (1989), shows an example of a project profile with five features. As with the portfolio method, in the case of service performance profiles, accurate results are less important in the context of prioritisation, than the straightforwardness

Assigned Value

Description of Attribute: Organisational Complexity

5

Several sections of the administration or external institutions are involved

4

Several departments within one administration section are involved

3

Several employees within a department are involved

2

The entire case can be completed by one employee, but must be signed off by his/her superior

1

The entire case can be completed by one employee

Service:

Information from Citizen Register

Evaluator:

Douglas Adams (City Adminstration)

Date:

2003-02-24 Evaluation Criterion

Procedure model for e-government projects 69

Figure 3. Example of a scale-anchoring table

Assigned Value

1. Transaction frequency Customer

1

2

3

4

5

2. Transaction frequency Administration

1

2

3

4

5

3. Organisational Complexity

1

2

3

4

5

4. Technical Complexity

1

2

3

4

5

5. Necessary Level of Security

1

2

3

4

5

of the application. In contrast to the portfolio method, the profiles give a more precise picture of a service performance, yet they do not provide a complete picture of the available alternatives. After this step, the number of alternatives should be reduced to fewer than five services which allows for a final decision. In case that there is still a need for a more detailed examination of services the value benefit analysis as the most systematic and at the same time costliest method of evaluating alternatives may be applied (Burghardt, 1995, p. 38; Litke, 1995, p. 144). The Emsdetten city administration followed the two step approach described above. After using the project profile method the council selected the building application process to be the object of further analysis and process modelling. Modelling of current situation and analysis of weaknesses In the process of modelling and analysing the current situation, the “state of play” is captured, analysed and evaluated according to the level of the attainment of the goals pursued. Thus, this modelling promotes administrative transparency and an

Figure 4. Service profile for registration information

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understanding of specialist issues and problems. It forms a basis for identifying weak points and the interrelated potential improvements. In terms of the case study, the building consent procedure was analysed and documented in an interview phase that lasted a number of weeks. In Figure 5, the analysis in the Emsdetten city administration is presented as an example of the current process “receipt and classification”. The following characteristics or weaknesses are readily evident from the process models: Transferring from one employee to another Before a civil engineer can actually categorise a building application, it has already been at various other departments to review and forward. Although the working times with each are short, each change of worker contributes to a significant increase in the throughput time. Many offices participating At least, four service departments are involved in even a simple consent procedure. As a rule, the transfer of documents through internal mail from one specialist area to another takes one working day. Because of the linear circulation process, transport times between specialist areas add up to about a week per application. Frequent media breaks A series of media breaks occurs during processing. A case in point are the building development plans, which, admittedly are produced electronically for the city development service department, but are only printed out for inspection by other service departments, which delays the process considerably. Target modelling and process optimisation To rectify weaknesses, a range of different measures was devised on the basis of target processes derived from the current processes and strategies recommended by the Civic Office Division for Administration Simplification (KGSt, 2001, p. 39). Introduction of building conferences Through the regular meeting of all those involved in making a decision, questions and problems could be discussed directly and to some extent, decisions about applications could be made immediately. This can mean substantial timesaving as the classical linear circulation process is eliminated. Introduction of a process manager Behind this idea, is the concept of total specialist processing, already very familiar in business circles. The aim is to eliminate the functional division of processing activities, and to facilitate processing a transaction through to completion. To implement such a mode of operation in an organisation, the employee must be equipped with both the requisite knowledge (technical expertise and administrative know-how) and the necessary skills. As a result, employee motivation is increased, as they accept responsibility both for processing a transaction and for the outcome. Furthermore, an additional customer benefit is that there is only one contact person handling their request.

Building application (BA) arrived by post

Receipt & categorisation of Building application

FD 63

Allocate BA to service department

Prelimary evaluation of Building application

through

FD 61

Front Office

BA is allocated

71

Review BA

Participation of specialized offices or external institutions

Procedure model for e-government projects

through

Primary Chief Officer

through

Front Office

through

Secondary Chief Officer

BA is reviewed

Forward BA to Secondary Chief Officer

Statement of the business development office (FD23) (Evaluation of strategic interests)

BA is forwarded

Review BA

Statement of the city development and environment office (FD61) (Evaluation of planning law)

BA is reviewed

through

Forward BA to Case Worker

Statement of the streets and waste disposal office (FD66) (Evaluate preparation of land for building)

Front Office

BA is forwarded Software Application for BA ext

Commence new procedure

through

Case Worker

New procedure is commenced

Evaluation of statements and decision on potential approval

through

Forward BA to engineer

Processing or decline of Building application

Front Office

BA is forwarded Development plan

view

Categorize BA

Post-approval circulation procedure

through

Engineer

XOR

Application is categorized as simple

Application is categorizes as normal

Monitoring and archiving Carry out simplified process

Carry out normal process

Figure 5. Framework and process “receipt and categorisation”

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Utilisation of the workflow component of the building application One possible way of overcoming the problems outlined above, is to utilise a workflow management system (WfMS) as the base technology for computer-aided support of business processes (Becker and Vossen, 1996, p. 21). The specialised application for the consent procedure used by the building authority in Emsdetten contains a workflow component, which had not been fully exploited previously. By using the workflow functionality more intensively, the system can send automatic statements updating its status (push principle) or the workers can examine the consent process as required (pull principle). The service department can decide case-by-case, whether it wants to request the document and issue an approval or not. Introduction of a geographical information system A geographical information system (GIS) is a spatially-referenced information system with functions for understanding, updating, manipulating, administrating and analysing geodata as well as the cartographic display of spatially-referenced information (Delaney, 2001; Burrough and McDonnel, 1998). A range of problem areas can be improved with a GIS. First, media breaks can be reduced, by accessing, e.g. a building plan in another service area from the local desk (Figure 5). Second, a GIS provides for horizontal integration within the administration with the GIS as an integrated information platform for every employee, where every department makes regular updates. An up-to-date GIS can be used as a decision support system and thus substantially reduce the queries and need for co-ordination between the individual service departments. The summarized intended effects on the process are shown in Figure 6. Receipt & categorisation of Building application

Building application (BA) arrived by post

Prelimary evaluation of Building application

Determining of offices for circulation procedure

Geographical Information System

Forward BA to Process Manager

Geoinformationssystem

BA is forwarded

through

5%

Data administration

75%

Statement of the city development and environment office (FD61) (Evaluation of planning law)

Data administration

Statement of the business development office (FD23) (Evaluation of strategic interests)

Data administration

Evaluation of statements and decision on potential approval

Software Application for BA

Commence new procedure

New procedure is commenced

through

view electronically

through

Categorize BA

Software Application for BA

XOR

Figure 6. Planned framework and process “receipt and categorisation”

Application is categorized as simple

Application is categorizes as normal

Carry out simplified process

Carry out normal process

Post-approval circulation procedure

Monitoring and archiving

Process Manager

Development plan

Process Manager

GIS

Workflow-Management Component Processing or decline of Building application

Front Office

relevant information

Statement of the streets and waste disposal office (FD66) (Evaluate preparation of land for building)

5%

FD 63

Conclusions and suggested directions for further research The procedural model and the proposed modelling technology have proven effective in achieving objectives and appropriate and correct for the case study. Despite some remaining developmental barriers, process management in an e-government context, is a viable mechanism for advancing efforts to modernise an administration. The case study shows, however, that growing demands on modelling methods arising from the distinctive features of the e-government domain are not being fully met by existing applications and further research is needed. Not all weaknesses are directly recognisable from the process models, and not all improvement measures are reflected in altered target process models. For instance, the bilaterality (of client and administration) and decentralisation cannot be depicted adequately. Moreover, it is clear that there are considerable structural analogies amongst various administrative processes within a civic authority, and to a greater extent with similar processes between authorities. In moving towards an extensive process-oriented and IT-supported modernisation of an administration, the development of a reference process model as a store of domain knowledge has the potential to significantly reduce the complexity of e-government projects and to simplify their implementation by means of an orientation around reference processes. References Becker, J. and Vossen, G. (1996), “Gescha¨ftsprozeßmodellierung und workflow-management: eine einfu¨hrung”, in Becker, J. and Vossen, G. (Eds), Gescha¨ftsprozessmodellierung und Workflow-Management, Thomson Publishing, Bonn, pp. 17-22 (in German). Becker, J., Algermissen, L. and Niehaves, B. (2003), “E-government – state of the art and development perspectives”, Working Report No. 94, Department of Information Systems, University of Muenster. Boller, R. and Beuchat, A. (2001), “Vertrauen und Sicherheit im Netz”, in Gisler, M. and Spahni, D. (Eds), eGovernment, 2nd ed., Paul Haupt, Bern, pp. 53-74 (in German). Buda¨us, D. and Schwiering, K. (1999), “Die rolle der informations-und kommunikationstechnologien im modernisierungsprozeß o¨ffentlicher verwaltungen”, in Scheer, A-W. (Ed.), Electronic Business und Knowledge Management, pp. 143-65, Heidelberg (in German). Burghardt, M. (1995), Einfu¨hrung in Projektmanagement. Definition, Planung, Kontrolle, Abschluß, Publicis MCD Publishing House, Erlangen (in German). Burrough, P. and McDonnel, R. (1998), Principles of Geographical Information Systems, Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Chen, H. (2003), “Digital government: technologies and practices”, Decision Support Systems, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 223-7. Davenport, T.H. (1993), Process Innovation: Reengineering Work through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Delaney, J. (2001), Geographical Information Systems, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne. Earl, M.J. (1994), “The new and the old of business process redesign”, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 5-22. Francis, J. and Archer, S. (1971), Portfolio Analysis, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Gronlund, A. (2002), Electronic Government – Design, Applications and Management, Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA, pp. 61-77.

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Hammer, M. and Champy, J. (1993), Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Harper Collins, New York, NY. Harrington, H.J. (1991), Business Process Improvement: The Breakthrough Strategy for Total Quality, Productivity and Effectiveness, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. House, P.W. and Shull, R.D. (1989), “Modernizing public sector management: fulfilling past promises”, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 123-36. Jensen, K. (1985), “An introduction to high-level petri nets”, Int. Symp. on Circuits and Systems, Proceedings, Kyoto, Japan, 2, New York, IEEE, pp. 723-6. Jones, L.R. (2001), “Symposium on public management reform and e-government”, International Public Management Review, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 1-27. Keen, P. (1991), Shaping the Future: Business Design through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Kettinger, W.J., Teng, J.T.C. and Guha, S. (1997), “Business process change: a study of methodologies, techniques, and tools”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 55-80. KGSt (2001), Management der Bauordnung, Ziele, Produkte und Organisationsgestaltung, Cologne (in German). Klischewski, R. (2001), “Infrastructure for an e-government process portal”, in Remenyi, D. and Bannister, F. (Eds), European Conference on e-Government, MCIL, Reading, MA, pp. 233-45. Klischewski, R. and Lenk, K. (2002), “Understanding and modelling flexibility in administrative processes”, in Traunmu¨ller, R. and Lenk, K. (Eds), Electronic Government. Proceedings EGOV 2002. Springer Lecture Notes, Springer, Berlin, pp. 129-36. Klischewski, R. and Wetzel, I. (2001), “XML-based process representation for e-government serviceflows”, in Schmid, B. et al. (Eds), Towards the E-society: E-commerce, E-business, and E-government (I3E 2001, IFIP), Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 789-802. Krenner, J. (2002), “Reflections on the requirements gathering in an one-stop government project”, in Traunmueller, R. and Lenk, K. (Eds), Electronic Government. Proceedings of the 1st International EGOV Conference, Springer, Berlin, pp. 124-8. Langkabel, T. (2000), e-Government – Der Weg ist das Ziel. V.O.P., Sonderheft, February, pp. 6-8, (in German). Lenk, K. (1997), “Business process re-engineering in the public sector: opportunities and risks”, in Taylor, J.A., Snellen, I.Th.M. and Zuurmond, A. (Eds), Beyond BPR in Public Administration. Institutional Transformation in an Information Age, IOS Press, Amsterdam, pp. 151-63. Lenk, K. and Traunmueller, R. (2001), “Broadening the concept of electronic government”, in Prins, J.E.J. (Ed.), Designing E-Government, Kluwer, Amsterdam, pp. 63-74. Litke, H.D. (1995), Projektmanagement, Methoden, Techniken, Verhaltensweisen, 3rd ed., Hamser, Munich (in German). Mayer, R.J., Benjamin, P.C., Caraway, B.E. and Painter, M.K. (1995), “A framework and a suite of methods for business process reengineering”, in Grover, V. and Kettinger, W.J. (Eds), Business Process Change: Concepts, Methods and Technologies, Idea Group Publishing, Harrisburg, PA, pp. 245-90. Naschold, F. and Daley, G. (1999), “The strategic management challenge: modernizing”. Peristeras, V. and Tarabanis, K. (2000), “Towards an enterprise architecture for public administration using a top-down approach”, European Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 252-60. Porter, M.E. (1990), The Competitive Advantage of Nations, The Macmillan Press Ltd, London.

Raymond, L., Pare, G. and Bergeron, F. (1995), “Matching information technology and organisational structure: an empirical study with implications for performance”, European Journal of Information Systems, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 3-16. Rosemann, M. and Schwegmann, A. (2002), “Vorbereitung der prozessmodellierung”, in Becker, J., Kugeler, M. and Rosemann, M. (Eds), Prozessmanagement, 3rd ed., Berlin, pp. 47-94, (in German). Scheer, A-W. (2000), ARIS – Business Process Modeling, 3rd ed., Springer, Heidelberg. Scheer, A-W., Bold, M. and Heib, R. (1996), “Gescha¨ftsprozessmodellierung als instrument zur gestaltung von controlling-systemen in der o¨ffentlichen verwaltung”, in Scheer, A-W. and Friederichs, J. (Eds), Innovative Verwaltungen 2000, pp. 119-30 (in German). Scherlis, W.L. and Eisenberg, J. (2003), “IT research, innovation, and e-government”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 67-8. Tambouris, E. (2001), “An integrated platform for realising online one-stop government: the eGov project”, Proceedings of the DEXA International Workshop “On the Way to Electronic Government”, Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 359-63. Tarabanis, K., Peristeras, V. and Koumpis, A. (2003), “Towards a European information architecture for public administration: the infoCITIZEN project”, available at: www.eurice. de/infocitizen/paper_venice_oct2001.htm (accessed 1 February 2003). Thoma, W. (1989), Erfolgsorientierte Beurteilung von F&E-Projekten, Projekten, Darmstadt (in German). Traunmueller, R. and Wimmer, M. (2001), “Directions in e-government: processes, portals, knowledge”, Proceedings of the DEXA International Workshop “On the Way to Electronic Government”, Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 313-7. van der Aalst, W. (1999), “Formalization and verification of event-driven process chains”, Information and Software Technology, Vol. 41 No. 10, pp. 639-50 (in German). von Lucke, J. and Reinermann, H. (2000), “Definition von electronic government”, available at: http://foev.dhv-speyer.de/ruvii/sp-egov.pdf (accessed 2 January 2002) (in German). Wetzel, I. and Klischewski, R. (2002), “Serviceflow beyond workflow? Concepts and architectures for supporting inter-organizational service processes”, Advanced Information Systems Engineering. Proceedings 14th CAiSE. Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, Berlin, pp. 500-15. Wimmer, M. (2002), “European development towards online one-stop government: the ‘eGOV’ project”, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 92-103. Further reading Becker, J. and Schu¨tte, R. (1996), Handelsinformationssysteme, Landsberg/Lech (in German). Lenk, K. (1995), “Business process re-engineering: sind die ansa¨tze der privatwirtschaft auf die o¨ffentliche verwaltung u¨bertragbar?”, in Traunmu¨ller, R. (Ed.), Gescha¨ftsprozesse in o¨ffentlichen Verwaltungen, Neugestaltung mit Informationstechnik, Heidelberg, pp. 27-43. Corresponding author Joerg Becker can be contacted at: [email protected]

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The role of business process redesign in creating e-government in Ireland

76

Martin Hughes, Murray Scott and Willie Golden Department of Accountancy and Finance, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland Abstract Purpose – To investigate the role of business process redesign (BPR) in creating citizen-centred e-government. Design/methodology/approach – It is argued in this paper that the evolutionary-based development of BPR is better positioned to expand the use e-commerce technology in the public sector. The Venkatraman model of IT-enabled change is used in order to investigate the extent to which BPR was instrumental in the movement to e-government in Ireland. A case study is presented detailing how the Irish Government’s e-government strategy was devised and implemented. Findings – This paper details how 50 government authorities were co-ordinated in an effort to provide a single point of access (portal) to government e-services. However, as the infrastructure for the portal is to be developed around existing government structures, a full and complete process redesign is unlikely, as the existing authorities must remain in place. Research limitations/implications – To investigate the unique nature of processes within the public sector so that IS platforms can be developed that accommodate less efficient processes rather than platforms that require unobtainable process redesign. Practical implications – The establishment of a specific government entity, whose sole purpose is to oversee and implement the e-government strategy, has contributed greatly to the success achieved to date. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified need for research in BPR in the implementation of e-government and provides a valuable insight into the successful attainment of citizen-centred e-government in other jurisdictions. Keywords Electronics industry, Government, Process management, Portals, Ireland Paper type Research paper

Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 pp. 76-87 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154 DOI 10.1108/14637150610643779

Introduction Competitive pressures and improvements in information technology constantly force organizations to re-evaluate their business strategies (Venkatraman, 1994; Porter, 2001). Although public sector organizations may not operate in a competitive environment, changes in management philosophies are causing public sector organizations to think and act more like private sector organizations (Gulledge and Sommers, 2002). Electronic commerce is one means by which governments can offer more effective and efficient services (Layne and Lee, 2001). This paper investigates the evolution of e-government in Ireland – one of the leading countries in online government service provision within the European Union (Wauters, 2002). A case study is presented detailing how the Irish Government’s e-government strategy was devised and implemented. The success of this implementation yields valuable insights into the identification and management of

critical concerns during the evolvement and attainment of business process redesign (BPR) in e-government. Cumulatively, these lessons provide a roadmap for the successful attainment of citizen centric e-government. Specifically, the case details how in excess of 50 government authorities, both local and central, were brought together in order to provide a single point of access to government services. Electronic government Electronic commerce can be defined as the use of the internet to conduct commercial transactions (Mahadevan, 2000, p. 56). Today, governments are using the internet to provide public services to their citizens (Watson and Mundy, 2001). In so doing, governments aim to form better relationships with businesses and citizens by providing more efficient and effective services (Layne and Lee, 2001; Al-Kibisi et al., 2001). Electronic government consists of using technology, particularly the internet, as a means to deliver services to citizens, businesses and other entities (Tambouris, 2001; Watson and Mundy, 2001). E-government has the potential to transform not only the way in which most public services are delivered but also the fundamental relationship between government and citizen (Burn and Robbins, 2001; Watson and Mundy, 2001). Operational benefits of e-government, include continuous availability of service, a reduction in response time and a reduction in error rate (Al-Kibisi et al., 2001). These factors contribute to an increase in the efficiency of government (Lagroue, 2002; Coulthard and Castleman, 2001; Dearstyne, 2001). Through the use of electronic commerce technologies, organisations are challenged to redesign their processes in order to achieve the benefits of increased efficiencies, cost reductions, and better customer service (Glassey, 2001; Warkentin et al., 2002). Governments can also use e-commerce to improve core business processes (Coulthard and Castleman, 2001; McAdam and Donaghy, 1999). Business process redesign Organizations are required to produce at a low cost, with high quality and with fast and flexible responsiveness to customer needs (Venkatraman, 1994). This puts pressure on organizations to redesign the way in which they conduct their business and build information systems to support new processes (Venkatraman, 1994). Out of such pressures was born the idea of business process re-engineering (Davenport and Short, 1990; Hammer, 1990). The key aspect of BPR is the fundamental and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements (Hammer and Champy, 1993). While BPR promised radical change the attainment of true BPR remained illusive for most organizations, with 50-70 per cent of BPR projects failing (Nissen, 1998). Yet there is still a need for process change (Nissen, 1998). The lessons learnt from the BPR era served to inform management that less radical, more holistic and more incremental changes to business processes were required (Guha and Grover, 1997). Venkatraman (1994) identified five levels of IT-enabled business transformation. The central thesis of Venkatraman’s (1994) work is that only marginal benefits will accrue from superimposing IT on existing organisational conditions. This is illustrated by the first two levels of Venkatraman’s (1994) model (Figure 1) i.e. localised exploitation and internal integration. These levels, according to Venkatraman (1994), are evolutionary, as they require only minimal changes to business processes.

The role of BPR

77

78

High Degree of Business Transformation

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Business Scope Redefinition Business Network Redesign Business Process Redesign

Internal Integration

Localised Exploitation

Low

Figure 1. Alternative approaches to BPR

Revolutionary Levels

Low

Range of potential Benefits

Evolutionary Levels High

Source : Venkatraman (1994)

The top three levels are revolutionary, as these levels require radical change to existing business processes. An organisation could redesign its processes and then go on to redesign its network stretching beyond the organisation and ultimately redefine the scope of the organisation. Venkatraman (1994) stated that it was possible for an organisation to start at either the top or the bottom of the framework. The organisation moving up the framework is seeking efficiency. Initially, this begins with localised exploitation and then moves up to internal integration. As the organisation moves up each level the range of potential benefits increases. However, each higher stage requires a greater degree of organisational change. Eventually, in order to achieve more dramatic results, it will need to move up to the first revolutionary level and engage in BPR. A similar evolutionary/revolutionary model for the creation of e-government is proposed by Layne and Lee (2001). They identify four stages of evolution in e-government: catalogue, transaction, vertical integration and horizontal integration. Research methodology This research is exploratory in nature and seeks to investigate the extent to which BPR was instrumental in the movement to e-government in Ireland. The Venkatraman (1994) model of IT-enabled change was adopted as a framework for the research. The research methodology was further influenced by the use of stakeholder analysis for the purpose of ensuring that critical stakeholders involved in e-government were identified and their multiple viewpoints accounted for in analysis (Burgoyne, 1999). The principle of multiple interpretations requires the researcher to seek out and document multiple viewpoints, the analysis of which may involve seeking to understand conflicts relating to power, economics or values (Klein and Myers, 1999). Five in-depth interviews were conducted with three government agencies involved in the e-government project. An in-depth interview was conducted with one senior civil servant from the Department of An Taoiseach (Prime Minister); the governmental department providing strategic leadership to e-government initiatives in Ireland. Two in-depth interviews were conducted with members of REACH – the executive body created specifically to implement the e-government strategy. In addition, further

interviews were conducted with two senior members of the Local Government Computer Supply Board (LGCSB), a public sector company providing IS services to local government. These interviews were conducted onsite in April 2002. All interviews were semi-structured and lasted approximately two hours. The interviews conducted with all participants were supplemented by access to internal documentation. Records were kept of the content of all interviews. Further clarifications and updates were obtained by e-mail and telephone contact.

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Government in Ireland Government in Ireland is conducted at two tiers: national and local levels as shown in Figure 2. Central government consists of 17 government departments and 35 agencies, while local government consists of local authorities, with 46 currently in operation, who are responsible for the provision of a variety of government services at a local level and ten health boards, who are responsible for administering health services. IS support for government IS support at both central and local level is provided through a combination of in house expertise, outsourcing to the private sector and LGCSB. LGCSB is a public sector company, whose objective is to provide local authorities with IS systems and expertise on an individual basis. The basic premise is that expertise gained in one local authority can be passed on to others. An example of such service provision is the Complete Information System for Water Services led initially by one local authority. This system was subsequently installed in all local authorities by July 2000. In response to local authority requests, LGCSB developed electronic forms (e-forms) for use on local authority web sites. These forms were web versions of the traditional paper-based form. Users could register with their local authority but there was no online system in place either to process the form electronically or to authenticate the individual. These initial e-forms served only to promote the accessibility of public service forms through an electronic medium. Road map for e-government The overall strategy and corresponding implementations of the Irish Governments e-government initiative are presented in Table I. Central Government 52 Agencies and Departments

46 Local

10 Health

Authorities

Boards

Figure 2. Structure of government in Ireland

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Year

Strategy formulation

Implementation

1999

First government action plan for the information society Outlines an integrated approach to the online delivery of public services REACH agency established. Mandated to develop and implement a strategy for e-government PSB framework agreed for the integrated delivery of public services, accessible from a single point Second government action plan: new connections. Objectives: radical improvement in quality of service and to establish Ireland as an exemplar of international best practice The PSB endorsed and prioritised Technical specifications of PSB finalised Implementation strategies devised

Local and central authorities develop web sites

2000

2001/2002

2002/2003 Table I. Strategy and implementation process

2005

OASIS and BASIS projects launched e-Forms available on local authority web sites REACH in conjunction with LGCSB develop and launch Reachservices an interim PSB www.reachservices.ie

Reachservices maintained and enhanced Open tendering process for the construction of the PSB Vendor selected Full installation of PSB

In January 1999, the Irish Government released its first action plan on the information society. The plan outlined a three-strand approach to online delivery of public services: information services, interactive services and integrated services. Government departments were required to implement web sites and the OASIS (online access to services information and support) and BASIS (business access to state information and support) projects were initiated. These web sites were to be designed to meet the entire informational needs of a client regardless of the source of the information. Towards the end of 2000 the REACH agency was officially established, its name reflecting the concept of government reaching out to its customers. REACH is an executive body with the responsibility of coordinating the central agencies responsible for implementing the e-government strategy and to provide management of the overall e-government initiative. Central to achieving our strategic targets for e-government is the Reach agency – this body has the essential responsibility of managing the complexities involved in developing better services and in ensuring the support of service agencies for the implementation of the PSB (Department of An Taisoeach, 2003).

Initially REACH was composed of 11 civil servants drawn from a variety of departments, and was established as an independent unit within the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The concept of a portal based Public Service Broker (PSB) was adopted by REACH as the central mechanism for delivering the e-government agenda. The framework for the PSB, as shown in Figure 3, consists of three features: integration, multiple access channels and data security. Firstly, the PSB will provide a single point of access to all services of both central and local government.

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Source: REACH internal documentation

The revolutionary aspect of the PSB is that service is to be provided from the customer’s perspective. That is, the customer interacts with the broker and not the actual service provider. Secondly, the PSB will make services available through many access channels; these include online self-service, assisted service through telephone contact centres and one-stop shops. Finally, the PSB will provide a customer data vault which will store data relevant to their interaction with the government. This data will be used to facilitate online transactions, provide personalization of the user interface and various other aids in form completion. The individual user will have authority over their personal data and may specify which departments may access what information. Implementing e-government In November 2000, the OASIS (www.oasis.gov.ie) and BASIS (www.basis.ie) web sites were launched. These web sites provide detailed information on government services to citizens and businesses, respectively. With a focus on customer requirements these sites broke the long-standing tradition of distributing government information along functional lines. During 2001, REACH, in partnership with LGCSB, developed an interim level PSB. LGCSB was identified as a technical partner for two reasons; first, LGCSB had gained significant expertise through the implementation of e-forms and second, local authorities had a tried and trusted relationship established with LGCSB. LGCSB have excellent relations with Local Authorities and the combination of this in-depth technical knowledge and recent experience of e-forms has subsequently encouraged widespread adoption of the PSB (REACH, 2003).

This interim service became known as Reachservices and was officially launched in April 2002.

Figure 3. The PSB

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Also in April 2002, the second government action plan entitled “New Connections” was published. The main objectives of the e-government strategy were outlined as: a radical improvement in quality of service to customers; major improvements in administrative efficiencies and enhanced control of publicly funded services. The government also made a commitment to have all public services capable of electronic delivery available through a single point of contact by 2005. Meeting the challenge of delivery The main challenge in the development of Reachservices was to have every local authority paper-based form available online for electronic download and submission. Each of the 46 local authorities had at least 133 forms that they required to be individually customisable. This resulted in a total requirement of in excess of 5,000 forms, excluding the health boards. To meet this requirement, LGCSB developed a centrally administered system that would allow each local authority access to an electronic form builder. The form builder tool has a graphical user interface and is based on the idea that a generic form can accommodate any organisation for any citizen and cover any question (Figure 4). The form builder is based on three basic entities: the organisation, the individual and the question. It enables the local authority to create their customised form that is then uploaded onto the Reachservices site. Process redesign The implementation of Reachservices necessitated changes to traditional processes. These changes occurred in three areas: publication and distribution of forms, citizen identification and data security, and completion and submission of forms by citizens. E-Forms Model Any Organisation

Figure 4. Representation of form builder application

Any Citizen

Any Question

Name

Name

Textual Input

Address

Address

Types of Question

Phone Number

Phone Number

Activity

P.P.S Number/ Authentication

Merchant I.D

Credit/Debit card details

Dynamic e-form Source: LGCSB internal documentation

Validation Checks

Amount to Charge

Central to the progression of the online service provision achieved by REACH was the redevelopment of e-forms into the form builder tool accessible to the local authority through the portal Reachservices. The local authorities are allocated a username and password allowing them access to the form builder. Each local authority administrator can then select which e-forms are to be made available for their authority and can customise those forms online. From a template form the administrator creates the questions, defines what type of response the user will give and can add whatever validation checks or mandatory fields that are required. Another significant advance achieved by Reachservices is citizen identification. Before using the system, the individual must register with Reachservices. Part of this registration is an authentication process that is managed by the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The individual may then access the Reachservices site using their Personal Public Service (social security) number and password. This is an essential feature of the process, as it provides the authority with proof of the individual’s identity and enables features like intelligent form filling. Personal data is then stored in a data vault. All authorities have access to the data vault, however, the citizen retains the right to determine which authorities have access to their individual information. Thus, the system complies with current data protection and privacy legislation as the individual citizen decides what information, beyond the statutory minimum, is shared with whom. With respect to form completion by the citizen, intelligent form filling allows certain fields to be populated automatically based on the information stored on each citizen. It also allows for certain questions to be deactivated when they are not necessary. The user is also provided with the capability to save a partially completed form for completion at a later date. Visual aids are provided as means of indicating to the user which pages of a form have been fully or partially completed. When the user submits the form it is automatically routed to the relevant authority in XML format. At present the front-end interface is fully automated while the back end system still relies on human interaction. Future developments The central e-government strategy is to implement a PSB by 2005. This broker will facilitate multiple access modes, including telephone access and one-stop shops, to all government services. The construction of the PSB has been outsourced and is currently under development. When complete it will act as a single point of contact to the customer by integrating services around predefined life or business events, instead of presenting services around functional departments. The fully functional PSB will also be known as Reachservices and from the user’s perspective there will be a seamless transition from the initial service offering to the more sophisticated PSB. Findings E-government strategy was devised and ratified by the highest possible level of central government. The independent agency established to implement this strategy – REACH – identified and exploited the technological expertise of LGCSB and successfully procured a partnership with the Department of Social and Family Affairs in order to provide an authentication service. The effective management and coordination of otherwise autonomous stakeholders, combined with the right technical infrastructure provided the ingredients for the provision of a successful public e-service. Process changes occurred within local authorities and health boards with respect to form publication and distribution and in the acceptance of electronic submissions.

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Table II. E-government initiative compared to Venkatraman framework

Responsibility for citizen identification was shifted from the service provider to the Department of Social and Family Affairs. This also facilitated the introduction of a single repository for citizen data. The immediate impact to citizens can be judged in terms of ease of access, ease of use and efficiency. Providing a multitude of forms from individual authorities in one location gives citizens ease of access resulting in timesavings. The completion of a form is greatly simplified through intelligent form filling. The Reachservices web site went live in mid-April 2002 and was launched without the use of advertising in order to prevent an initial surge of activity. Nonetheless, the initial uptake rate was approximately 500-600 registrations per month during its first few months of operation and the total number of registered users currently stands at 1,500. This volume of traffic was regarded as successful due to the subdued launch and the fact that the site only offered a fraction of the functionality ultimately intended. Reachservices has had a 100 per cent uptake rate by local authorities, albeit some authorities are implementing at different levels. This should be viewed in the context that the local authorities have not been mandated to participate in the Reachservices project. There has also been a very high percentage take up rate amongst the health boards although not 100 per cent. The case also highlights a more subtle yet profound observation. The Reachservices infrastructure and the future PSB are to be developed around the existing government structures. In other words, due to political considerations a full and complete process redesign will never be possible as the existing authorities must remain in place. Thus a compete understanding of the intricate and sometimes bureaucratic processes that combine to form citizen services is necessary so that it is possible to identify the process or elements of processes that can be redesigned, automated or left unchanged. However, this interim portal highlights the transformation stages that need to be managed in order to deliver any level of e-government. Table II compares the e-government achievements in this case with the Venkatraman (1994) framework. The development of local authority web sites represents the occurrence of localised exploitation that is the implementation of IT within a business typically at a functional level requiring little process change. However, the subsequent move to restructure information from a user perspective through the OASIS and BASIS web portals represents internal integration as this is characterised by a systematic attempt to leverage IT capabilities. The establishment of REACH also illustrates the commitment of senior government officials to the attainment of an integrated and co-ordinated approach to e-government. Participation in the Reachservices portal required local authorities to make significant changes to specific elements of their service delivery process: the Venkatraman stage

E-government initiative

Localised exploitation Internal integration

Development of local authority web sites with pdf forms Launch of OASIS and BASIS web portals, availability of e-forms on local authority sites and the establishment of REACH Partial process redesign though the use of Reachservices form builder application, citizen identification and online access Establishment of interim PSB Reachservices Strategic thrust from agency centric to citizen centric services

BPR Business network redesign Business scope re-definition

publication, distribution and electronic acceptance of forms and the storage of citizen information. Participation also introduced a new process of citizen identification to which the local authority was a passive participant. Finally, participation also enabled electronic access to services, although this required almost no process change as the actual service itself was still conducted in a traditional manner with the citizen receiving electronic or physical notification of service completion. Government by its nature is a collection of businesses (agencies and department) and the development of the Reachservices platform represents the attainment of business network redesign as the platform radically impacts on the nature of the exchange among multiple participants through new IT capabilities. Individual authorities that traditionally operated independently began to participate in a centralised mechanism. The Reachservices platform instigated the move towards electronic information sharing that was capable of supporting seamless interconnectivity, process linkage and knowledge management. Finally, business scope redefinition was manifested by the strategic shift in government policy toward citizen centric services that are enabled by a PSB. Thus the government was redefining its business role from authoritative re-distributor to service provider. Conclusion and further research This case provides valuable insights into how citizen-centred e-government can be attained and highlights the central importance of managing processes and process change in the implementation of e-government. The Reachservices business network connects local and central systems through the use of a centralised database that maintains the authenticated data of the individual citizen. However, Reachservices does not provide sufficient functionally to facilitate the provision of a comprehensive set of services and thus while serving as a successful example of a move to e-government it falls far short of a true citizen centric e-government platform. The provision of the appropriate technical infrastructure and the redesign of local and interagency processes have been identified as the critical elements that will determine future success. While the case provides strong evidence that the infrastructure will be developed there is a marked absence of focus on the core process. Almost the entire effort of the REACH agency has been on the provision of the technical infrastructure. While REACH have proven that the local authorities are willing to participate in such a network the have not proven that these authorities are willing or capable of implementing more radical process change. Localised exploitation was achieved by directing all authorities to implement individual web sites and this encouraged the authority to become web proficient and lowered later barriers to centralised web development. The later development of customer focused portal sites, independent from the local authorities, as authoritative repositories of government information promoted a shift in focus from departmental orientation to customer need. These portals and elements of the Reachservices platform are examples of internal integration. In this case, potential tension associated with internal integrations was managed by ensuring that the authority previously responsible for the service remained responsible and furthermore that the responsibility was made clearly visible within the portal by allowing customised forms. Customisable forms combined with the usability of the

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form builder and the existing relationships between LGCSB and the local authorities greatly impacted on the rate of buy-in by the local authorities. Throughout these stages, providing an easy to use system that is focused on the citizens’ needs encourages citizen usage. Evidence from the case, in relation to registration rates, indicates that allowing the citizen some control over personal data and the use of that data, may help to appease fears relating to centralising data storage. However, BPR has been limited and as such this case provides evidence of the existence of the gap identified by Venkatraman (1994) between the evolutionary and revolutionary means of business transformation. The model of business transformation proposed by Venkatraman (1994) represents very well the process as it actually occurred in this case. In order to move from an evolutionary to revolutionary business transformation a requirement to abandon existing systems in favour of new systems has been identified. The ability to identify and scope these new systems was in large part facilitated by the learning that occurred while developing the initial e-government initiatives – the evolutionary stages. In addition, the establishment of a specific government entity – REACH – whose sole purpose is to oversee and implement the e-government strategy has contributed greatly to the success achieved to date. REACH was in a position to both identify and manage the critical success factors involved in delivering e-government. First, the most appropriate model and technical infrastructure were identified and implemented by outsourcing to leverage expertise that already existed. This use of existing expertise proved highly successful in terms of developing a robust infrastructure within a limited timeframe. Second, critical concerns of local authorities were managed by using familiar actors. Third, the interactions necessary between otherwise independent agencies was successfully co-ordinated to ensure the delivery of a quality service. Fourth, the maintenance of a customer focus by providing a quality service through a single portal in with the citizen has control over their personal data contributed to a successful uptake of the system. The case illustrates that e-government initiatives that fit within the evolutionary classification can be achieved in a timely and successful manner. The case also illustrates that more revolutionary initiatives are achievable but that the development of these initiatives beyond basic services requires sophisticated business network and BPR. Thus an important area for further research is to investigate the unique nature of processes within the public sector so that IS platforms can be developed that accommodate less efficient processes rather than platforms that require unobtainable process redesign. References Al-Kibisi, G., de Boer, K., Mourshed, M. and Rea, N. (2001), “Putting citizens on-line, not inline”, The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 2, p. 64. Burgoyne, J.G. (1999), “Stakeholder analysis”, in Cassell, C. and Symon, G. (Eds), Qualitative Methods in Organisational Research. A Practical Guide, Sage, London, pp. 187-208. Burn, J.M. and Robbins, G. (2001), “Strategic planning for e-government”, Proceedings of the Seventh Americas Conference on Information Systems. Coulthard, D. and Castleman, T. (2001), “Electronic procurement in government: more complicated than just good business”, Proceedings of the Ninth European Conference on Information Systems.

Davenport, T. and Short, J.E. (1990), “The new industrial engineering: information technology and business process redesign”, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 11-27. Dearstyne, B.W. (2001), “E-business, e-government & information proficiency”, Information Management Journal, Vol. 34 No. 4, p. 16. Glassey, O. (2001), “Model and architecture for a virtual one stop public administration”, Proceedings of the Ninth European Conference on Information Systems. Guha, S. and Grover, V. (1997), “Business process change and organizational performance: exploring an antecedent model”, Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 119-55. Gulledge, T.R. and Sommers, R.A. (2002), “Business process management: public sector implications”, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 364-76. Hammer, M. (1990), “Reengineering work: don’t automate, obliterate”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 68 No. 4, pp. 104-12. Hammer, M. and Champy, J. (1993), Re-engineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London. Klein, H. and Myers, M. (1999), “A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretative field studies in information systems”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 67-94. Lagroue, H.J. (2002), “The impact of e-government initiatives: Louisiana’s ‘express lane’ license and vehicle registration system”, Proceedings of the Eighth Americas Conference on Information Systems. Layne, K. and Lee, J. (2001), “Developing fully functional e-government: a four stage model”, Government Information Quarterly, Vol. 18 No. 2, p. 122. McAdam, R. and Donaghy, J. (1999), “Business process re-engineering in the public sector: a study of staff perceptions and critical success factors”, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 33-49. Mahadevan, B. (2000), “Business models for internet-based e-commerce”, California Management Review, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 55-69. Nissen, M.N. (1998), “Redesigning reengineering through measurement-driven inference”, MIS Quarterly, December, pp. 509-15. Porter, M. (2001), “Strategy and the internet”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 79 No. 3, p. 63. Tambouris, E. (2001), “European cities platform for online transaction services: the euro city project”, Proceedings of the First European Conference on E-government. Venkatraman, V. (1994), “IT-enabled business transformation: from automation to business scope redefinition”, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 35 No. 2, p. 73. Warkentin, M., Gefen, D., Pavlou, P. and Rose, G. (2002), “Encouraging citizen adoption of e-government by building trust”, Electronic Markets, Vol. 12 No. 3, p. 157. Watson, R.T. and Mundy, B. (2001), “A strategic perspective of electronic democracy”, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 44 No. 1, p. 27. Wauters, P. (2002), Web Based Survey on Electronic Public Services, Cap Gemini Ernst and Young, London. Corresponding author Murray Scott can be contacted at: [email protected] To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected] Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-7154.htm

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E-government services in the local government context: an Australian case study

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Peter Shackleton School of Information Systems, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, and

Julie Fisher and Linda Dawson School of Information Management and Systems, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia Abstract Purpose – To examine the progress local governments in Victoria. Australia have made utilizing the internet to deliver traditional services, and examine models that attempt to define the maturity of local government electronic service delivery. Design/methodology/approach – The research approach comprised two components. The first was to examination and assess local government web sites in Victoria, and the second part involved an in-depth case study with one local government. Findings – The findings suggest that conventional linear e-commerce and e-Government maturity models are not applicable in the case of local government as this level of government traditionally focuses more on active community participation and interaction. Research limitations/implications – The research examines a wide sample of council web sites but the case study is limited to one council. It suggests that the implementation and uptake of e-commerce and e-Government across the local government sector have been mixed and more detailed models of electronic service are needed. Practical implications – In Australia, there has been significant Federal government emphasis on initiatives to promote internet use for local government service provision, yet the move to electronic service delivery (ESD) in the sector has been varied. For the local government sector, the internet offers significant potential for the delivery of government services and this research identifies some significant issues. Originality/value – The report on the research outlines the similarities and differences between the various levels of government and suggests that the purpose and needs of ESD are different for municipal councils. Keywords Local government, Electronics industry, Government, Electronic commerce, Worldwide web Paper type Research paper

Business Process Management Journal Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006 pp. 88-100 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1463-7154 DOI 10.1108/14637150610643788

Introduction While electronic service delivery (ESD) is the main thrust of e-Government policies at all levels, greater community contact is often seen as more practical and achievable at a local level (Musso et al., 2000; Steyaert, 2000). Recently, greater focus has been given to local e-Government worldwide. It is estimated that up to 80 per cent of citizen to government transactions take place in countries such as the UK (SOCITM, & I&DeA, 2002). Although community participation at this level is often higher than at a national level, local governments are often poorly resourced and resistant to change. In the 1980s and 1990s many local governments in countries such as Australia, underwent massive change (Cochrane, 1993; Gerritsen and Osborn, 1997; Kloot, 1999; Sanderson, 2001; Steyaert, 2000). In an environment of increased accountability, increased

consumer choice and financial constraint, and a decrease in direct service provision as the result of outsourcing and competitive tendering, local governments are under pressure to provide efficient, effective e-Government information and services. Local governments are also becoming important as an administrative arm for the implementation of federal policy at a local level. In Australia, this has become more evident as the role of local government has expanded to include not only traditional areas of infrastructure but also town planning and social welfare. Moreover, local governments are becoming more political and influential as they formulate policies from higher levels of government to match their community’s needs. Early iterations of electronic government often emphasized service delivery with over-the-counter services replaced by electronic transactions. According to Lenk and Traunmu¨ller (2002) it is still in the interest of many governments to draw attention to this aspect of e-Government. By outlining situations where citizens suffer inconvenience and high compliance costs via over-the-counter service delivery, e-Government performance evaluations are often used as a quantifiable metric to claim better service provision (Multimedia Victoria, 1998; NOIE, 2001). The current literature suggests the direction and implementation of e-Government strategies at different levels of government emphasize different elements of service delivery and governance reflecting the different types of contacts citizens have with each level of government. This paper examines the progress local governments in Victoria, Australia have made utilising the internet to deliver traditional services and enhance community contact. It examines models and strategies that attempt to define government ESD maturity and contributes to the literature by proposing that existing linear models and implementation strategies for local governments are inappropriate. The research included an examination of Victorian local government web sites and a major case study involving a local council. Australian local government In 1901, the Australian Commonwealth Constitution established a commonwealth government with specific powers and with responsibility for all other areas falling to the states. Gradually the commonwealth has increased its power over the states particularly in the finance area and is now the only one able to levy company and income tax, and customs duty. The states generate revenue from stamp duty, and other minor charges, but rely heavily on commonwealth funding that is often tied to specific policies. Australian municipal councils, which have no legal recognition in the Australian Constitution, are under the authority of the state governments. In the last 20 years municipal council roles have expanded to include not only physical infrastructure provision such as garbage collection, but also social services, economic development and environmental management. Australian councils are, therefore, have become increasing important in the grassroots implementation of policy and service provision. Changes in the Australian government tiers of responsibilities over the years has resulted in an overlap in many policy areas and frequent disputes about funding and authority. Table I describes Australian government responsibilities and funding. Australian local governments receive only 4 per cent of public revenue (ABS, 2003) and they have been forced by the commonwealth and states to consider the internet as an alternative method of delivering services in an effort to reduce costs, and to improve

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Level of government

Revenue

Commonwealth (federal)

Income, company and sales tax Excise and customs duty

State

Local (councils) Table I. Australian government tiers

Responsibilities

Foreign and national policies such as defence, immigration, health, and large infrastructure Major tied and untied commonwealth General operation and maintenance of hospitals and schools. Infrastructure grants Other revenue from stamp duty, motor projects registration, land tax, lottery and gambling revenue Town planning, road maintenance Major tied and untied state and garbage collection, meals on wheels commonwealth grants Revenue supplemented from areas such and services to the elderly as property taxes and parking fines

the quality of customer services (Department of Transport and Regional Services, 1999; MAV, 1993; Mulitmedia Victoria, 2002). Australia is recognized as one of the leading countries in e-Government (United Nations, 2002; West, 2002) and it has been assisted by initiatives such as the commonwealth-funded Victorian Local Government Online Service Delivery Project (VLGOSD). By late-2002, almost half of all Victorian councils had implemented some form of web content management system while a lesser number had installed online payment systems. Local government services The Municipal Association of Victoria identified 22 main council functions (MAV, 1993) although they play an important role in determining the direction and framework of community infrastructure and culture. Municipal governments across the world face a range of different types of residents each demanding different service types (OECD, 1996; Steyaert, 2000). Residents have a wide variety of contacts with the government sector with agencies responding and playing different roles. Shand and Arnberg (1996) outline different resident roles that require local governments to provide different service types. Steyaert (2000) divides the resident’s role into two political categories (voter and citizen) and a third category, client of a service. Furthermore, he establishes five dimensions or categories of government services to match each resident type. These are government information, community information, interaction, service and democracy. Steyaert (2000) suggests that there are information and services on council web sites that help support each dimension. This relationship helps identify the necessary content requirements of a web site if each resident role is to be supported. Table II shows the seven different resident roles, as outline by Shand and Arnberg (1996), and the different categories of government services as outlined by Steyaert (2000). Examples of the type of local government service required are also provided. In addition, local governments are expected to be more responsive to their community’s needs. Improved participatory democracy is often seen as the final stage of internet transition, and has the potential to alter the relationship with communities

Resident

Category of information/service

Example of information/service required

Consumer/client Receiver Prosumer (producer/consumer) User/citizen Purchaser Taxpayer Regulatee

Government service Government funding Government information/interaction

Home assistance for the aged Grant to a sporting club Parent volunteers in kindergarten

Community information/interaction Government information/services Interaction Government information/regulation/interaction Governance information

User of public parks and facilities Bin service hire Rate payments Statutory town planning

Voter

Voting in council elections

Source: Adapted from Shand and Arnberg (1996, p. 17) and Steyaert (2000)

that has citizen-focused government as a major platform in e-Government policies (CITU, 2000; Mulitmedia Victoria, 2002). Stages of e-Government maturity Various models have been proposed describing e-Government maturity stages. The UN outlined five stages of e-Government service integration used to benchmark government web sites at a national level (United Nations, 2002). At the local level, Musso et al.’s (2000) model of metropolitan reform divides activities of municipal governments in the USA into two categories – entrepreneurial and civic. Entrepreneurial measures emphasize economic development while more mature web sites advance activities of providing civic reforms such as improving access to the decision-making process. These models suggest a linear progression to final maturity. Stamoulis et al. (2001) offers an alternative, suggesting that governments and their agencies mature in various virtual spaces (information, communication, distribution and transaction) rather than in distinct stages. Building on work by Angehrn (1997) they outline four spaces for a government revenue agency shown in Figure 1. Quirk’s (2000) four stage model has information giving at the lower end and empowering citizens as the final stage, but he also outlines different spaces of e-Government for local authorities (Figure 2). Quirk’s (2000) model was selected and used to evaluate local government web sites in the first stage of this research. It is one of the few models identifying local authorities as different from higher government levels and it also emphasizes the disparate range of functions and services important to local governments. The term e-Governance is a more appropriate descriptor than e-Democracy in the Australian context and is used in this research. Research methodology The research reported involved a quantitative study of the characteristics of local government web sites. This pilot study identified common features and provided some indication of maturity levels of those sites. The second phase, an in depth case study, illustrates how one council approached the task of developing a web strategy.

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Table II. The type or dimension of government service for each resident role

BPMJ 12,1 Increasing value for VIS propositions to customers

Virtual Information Space

Virtual Communication Space

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Increasing value for VTS propositions to customers

Virtual Transaction Space

Virtual Distribution Space

Increasing value for VDS propositions to customers

Figure 1. Spiral model of adding value in the virtual space Source: Stamoulis et al. (2001)

Figure 2. e-Government for local authorities

Source: Quirk (2000)

Review of web sites The objective of the study’s first phase was to examine the content and maturity level of different aspects of Victorian council web sites[1]. Victoria has 78 local councils all with varying degrees of web presence, and 20 were selected for this research representing 26 per cent. A context matrix was developed and used to examine the presence of a number of features such as basic information, email facilities and the ability to make a payment. These features were grouped under eight areas, in Quirk’s (2000) four categories: (1) e-Management . Basic information

E-government services

Web site navigation Contact details (2) e-Service . Product and service details . Product and service support (3) e-Commerce . Transaction handling (4) e-Decision-making/e-Governance . Sense of community . Links . .

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As an example, for the basic information area the researchers looked for the presence or lack of presence of features such as, council information, location map, and mayor or staff information. Web site features were scored at “1” if fully implemented, or “0.5” if partially implemented. Each feature’s score was totalled and divided by the total number of web sites. For example, if 8.5 out of ten web sites had a particular feature implemented, a content rating of 85 per cent was given for that feature. The analysis of quantitative data from the pilot study enabled the researchers to identify the extent of e-Government development and the direction. Findings of web site evaluations The findings (Shackleton, 2002) from the web site evaluations are outlined briefly and summarised in Table III. e-Management. Includes features that assist residents to navigate council web sites for basic information and to contact the council. It determined if there were incentives Category and feature e-Management Basic information News and coming events Email address e-Service Service details Service tracking FAQs Email support e-Commerce Online payments Ordering facility Email payment/ordering e-Decision-making/e-Governance Community information Links to other organizations/businesses Bulletin boards

Percentage of web sites 95 25 95 90 0 25 0 23 5 5 20 65 0

Table III. Summary of main characteristics by category

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to encourage web site usage rather than over-the-counter services. All 78 councils have some web presence and the sites examined included significant basic council and services information (90-95 per cent). e-Service. Includes features that assist residents to seek information about a council service. For example, features such as frequently asked questions and email support are useful. While a significant number of sites provide details of their services (90 per cent), only 20 per cent of sites contain FAQs and none had email support. e-Commerce. Covers the placing of orders for services or products and web payments. There appears to be some anomaly between the small number of sites that have any form of ordering facility (5 per cent) and the larger percentage of sites that provide online payment (23 per cent). A partial explanation is the fact that council rates, which are not an order based transaction, is the main online payment made by ratepayers. Placing orders (by e-mail or interactively) is more suited to commercial organizations where the products or services are easily definable and deliverable. e-Decision-making and e-Governance. Features informing residents of governance issues, e.g. council minutes, newsletters. Other features include links to bodies within the council region or to businesses. The provision of links to other government services is another important feature which was not present on any of the sites examined. A moderate amount of community-based material appears on some council sites (10-20 per cent) and there are established links to a large number of community and business organizations (65 per cent). In summary the review of council web sites found that maturity varied according to service type, with little consistency. Services relating to governance are generally more mature with greater levels of sophistication compared with other services. This is consistent with the general focus of council business in dealings with the community. Limited e-Commerce facilities are available; some councils accept online rate payments but little else. There is a strong focus on providing information about governance and opportunities for community participation in council business. The main characteristics are summarised in Table III. While there is strong evidence to suggest the maturity of e-Government services for national governments is consistent and follows a linear path (United Nations, 2002), this is not so for councils where community engagement and participation is more prevalent. Although many individual councils lack the financial resources and expertise compared to higher levels of government, many councils have a strong web presence and it is both relevant and important to examine the stages of e-Government maturity at this level of government. The web sites evaluated established that councils focus on aspects that echo their strong community links. This is reflected in their emphasis on e-governance issues and information while genuine e-service provision is often lagging. The second phase of the research describes one council’s approach further highlighting the non-linear nature of web implementation. Case study methodology To better understand how the activities and services identified in the first phase are selected and implemented, particularly in terms of maturity levels, a case study of a single council was conducted. The council selected is located on the fringe of Melbourne in Victoria. It has a population concentrated in a number of large suburbs

but also services a sparsely populated rural constituency. The council serves 19,000 households and census data showed 47.6 per cent of the council population use the internet (ABS, 2002). Historically the community has a strong commitment to environmental protection and is actively involved in council governance. The council was chosen because historically its web development reflects that of other councils in Victoria, however, it is more advanced than most in its achievements to date. It was important to select a council that had made significant progress in its e-Government strategy. Since its first introduction in 1999 the web site format and content has been changed twice and the whole site completely replaced once. One of the researchers worked with this council for ten months working with staff, observing and interviewing them as they developed and implemented the latest site (March 2003). Ethnographic case studies, where the researcher becomes part of the case being observed, enables the researcher to “observe, interview, record processes as they occur naturally” (McMillan and Schumacher, 1993). A strength of this interactive research methodology is that prolonged engagement in the natural setting allows the researcher to observe and record processes that would be difficult to observe by using other methods (Leedy, 1997). Fourteen interviews were conducted with a range of council staff, councillors and associated council support organization. Documents were collected and detailed observations made both of formal and informal meetings. The council since 1999 has been through three clearly identified stages in their progress to a more mature web presence. The presentation of the research describes the web site’s historical development and the approach taken to ESD and the influence of different staff, divisions and government policy on the development process over time. Stage 1: the early project 1999 to early-2001 In 1997, the Victorian state government attempted to co-opt local governments into its ESD Project (Multimedia Victoria, 1997). Under the ESD Project, electronic access to a range of government and related services commenced via the internet and kiosks. For local governments the project promised: . . . a number of benefits, including cost savings, strategic opportunities, and the ability to offer new and better services (Multimedia Victoria, 1997, p. 10).

By December 2000 only six councils had committed to the project while the majority, including the council in this research, chose to ignore the system due to high implementation costs and on-going losses in revenue through transaction costs. Details about the council’s first web page are vague. The site, providing basic information, commenced in early-1999 and was developed by one staff member. When the person left, the site remained unchanged until early-2001 when it was replaced with an under construction notice. Stage 2: the By Laws Project 2001-2002 During this period, a number of external factors were working in the background to change the way council staff were thinking about ESD. State and federal governments were establishing policies on ESD that included councils. External performance measures were established benchmarking Victorian councils forcing them to re-assess

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the effectiveness and cost of their service delivery. In addition, more councils were going online establishing lighthouse examples for others to follow, and community pressure was mounting for greater ESD. At this council two separate projects were under way. The first project, undertaken by the communications branch, was to establish a new web page. Extensive consultation with council divisions was undertaken. The site contained a large amount of rich but static information that was well organized and functionally easy to access and download, however, moving graphics slowed the site considerably. A major aim was to show a web presence rather than to provide online services. The second project involved an innovative web site for the By Laws division (responsible for parking and permits). It was developed by one staff member with support from the division manager and was launched in January 2002. The functions and content were regularly updated. The division won external recognition for its innovative work in that year. The site brought about three major changes: (1) The By Laws site was used by the council to demonstrate its commitment to ESD rather than the main council site. (2) It demonstrated the use of the internet to the community. (3) It provided an achievable benchmark to the rest of the council. Stage 3: current project 2002-2003 It was common in most councils, including this council, that updates to the web page required authorization by one council staff member frequently resulting in outdated and unreliable content. Furthermore, constituents of many councils were not able to make online rate payments. This was often seen as a major hurdle and a measure of web sophistication despite the easy of electronic payment through bank web sites and B-Pay. These two factors stifled ESD progress and maturity. In mid-2001, councils were eligible for funding under the VLGOSD project to purchase a purpose-built web content management package and a separate payments package. This gave staff greater responsibility for web service delivery, and produced innovative ways to present more council services. By February 2002 there were on average 130 visits per day. After the council elections in March 2002 the number of visits increased by 30 per cent. Material relating to governance increased, not only council agendas and minutes but also strategic plans requiring community surveys. Publications costing thousands of dollars to print were transferred exclusively to the web. The changes led the communications manager to state: It is not a matter of whether I will use the web or not – the web is intricate to everything we do so it is about how best we use the web.

But council staff were starting to recognize the need for genuine services on the web page. A staff member observed: We need to go beyond the governance side and concentrate more on services. As a ratepayer I want to go to a web page and find out what services they can provide. Through the technology it gives me the opportunity to seek out the right people and it has confidentiality.

Findings Based on Quirk’s (2000) categories, the level of ESD maturity the council has reached is described in Table IV. Discussion Most models of e-Commerce/e-Business maturity suggest maturity can be described in three or four linear stages starting with net presence moving through to a stage of information provision, to full provision and payment of services. The research for this paper indicates that neither the e-Business nor the e-Government maturity models are appropriate for evaluating or understanding local government ESD approaches. The research indicates that municipal councils do not follow a linear model of e-Commerce maturity where business continuously builds on their e-Business experience. Municipal councils are much closer to their local community than other levels of government. The web site evaluation reflect this, with a significantly higher level of Category

Service

e-Management

The web-based services reflect the broad environmental, and cultural interests of the community. The council is beginning to exploit the web by providing more services online Despite the councils experience, the level of web-based service delivery is still in its infancy. This is consistent with the state of many other council web sites. Most of the links to services is one-way information, although there growing provision for interaction in areas such as GIS There are pressures on councils to enable online payment of rates as it demonstrates a more mature level of web-based service delivery. The state government funding should enable councils to provide a full e-Commerce facility The web site contains an enormous amount of material designed to inform and engage the community. The council has moved rapidly in this area to leverage their web site as a strong communicator of political information. Users are able to electronically respond to surveys and input to council decision-making. One interviewee explained:

e-Service

e-Commerce

e-Decision-making and e-Governance

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The web is information not a motivation. Communications is about communicating council issues out to the community . . . (and it is) . . . fantastic for the community to feel that they have dialogue. I see great benefit for community consultation . . . It is not a matter of whether I will use the web or not – the web is intricate to everything we do so it is about how best do we use the web. The site content has grown rapidly over the last 18 months focusing particularly on current governance-related materials. Web usage statistics reveal a 50 per cent increase in patronage over 12 months. The number of people accessing the site outside of office hours is 32 per cent

Table IV. Summary of findings from the case study

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activity focused on the provision of information for the local community, e-Governance activities and little focus on e-Commerce activities. The research revealed that many councils, while often unable to move to a transactional stage of e-Government, exploit the potential of the web to enhance community participation. Governance issues such as strategic planning, draws the community into the decision-making process. It is more likely to see councils mature at different rates in different functional areas than at higher levels of government suggesting that a different maturity model for local government is required. This was confirmed by the case study. The case study suggested that the approach has been somewhat ad hoc for many councils, with little attention to an overall strategy. Councils have tended to see ESD more as a series of small independent projects driven by one enthusiast rather than part of an overall broad strategy. This research indicates that new maturity models need to be developed to truly reflect how local governments are implementing successful online web services. Technology costs and the lack of experience within councils, has impacted on their ability to move to ESD to any great extent. For many councils, the web has focused on governance issues and information provision with less emphasis on e-Commerce activities. Conclusion The focus of much of the research on e-Government has concentrated on the ESD at a national or state level. Municipal councils are relatively new and sometimes reluctant participants to this new form of service provision. Web-based information and service delivery can both engage and disenfranchise different sections of a community thus providing local governments with a dilemma. Logistically there is a need to continually improve the quality of services with fewer resources and on the other hand liase and maintain close contacts with their communities. While all higher levels of government have been relatively uniform in their progress towards e-Government, local governments have been spasmodic in their approach suggesting a different model to describe stages in web maturity. The research found that the web sites of Australian municipal councils focus heavily on governance matters designed to engage the community in all stages of development while the case study showed that they view web improvements as projects rather than an ongoing process. Note 1. The study was part of a larger study examining Australian public web sites funded by the Electronic Commerce Research Unit, Victoria University. References ABS (2002), 2001 Census Community Profile and Snapshot, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra. ABS (2003), Government Finance Statistics, Australia 2001-2002, Catalogue 5512.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra. Angehrn, A. (1997), “Designing mature internet business strategies: the ICDT model”, European Management Journal, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 361-8. CITU (2000), E-Government: A Strategic Framework for Public Services in the Information Age, Central IT Unit, Cabinet Office, London.

Cochrane, A. (1993), “From financial control to strategic management: the changing faces of accountability in British local government”, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 30-51. Department of Transport and Regional Services (1999), Benchmarking for Local Government: A Practical Guide, Department of Transport and Regional Services, available at: www.dotrs. gov.au/nolg/pub/module9/module9/html (accessed 3 September 1999). Gerritsen, R. and Osborn, D. (1997), “Reform of local government in Australia”, in Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR Sydney) (Ed.), Comparative Study on Local Government Reform in Japan, Australia and New Zealand, pp. 51-112. Kloot, L. (1999), “Performance measurement and accountability in Victorian local government”, The International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 12 No. 7, pp. 565-83. Leedy, P. (1997), Practical Research: Planning and Design, 6th ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Lenk, K. and Traunmuller, R. (2002), “Preface to the focus theme on eGovernment”, Electronic Markets, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 147-8. McMillan, J.H. and Schumacher, S. (1993), Research in Education: A Conceptual Understanding, Harper Collins, New York, NY. MAV (1993), A Guide to Performance Indicators in Local Government, Municipal Association of Victoria, Melbourne. Multimedia Victoria (1997), Delivering Tomorrow’s Services Today: ESD Easystart Kit, Department of Infrastructure, Victorian Government Publishing Service, Melbourne. Multimedia Victoria (1998), Online Government 2001 – from Vision to Reality, Department of State Development, State Government of Victoria, Melbourne. Mulitmedia Victoria (2002), Putting People at the Centre: Government Innovation Working for Victorians, Department of State and Regional Development, Melbourne. Musso, J., Weare, C. and Hale, M. (2000), “Designing web technologies for local governance reform: good management of good democracy?”, Political Communication, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 1-17. NOIE (2001), Government Online Survey Results, National Office for the Information Economy, Canberra. OECD (1996), Responsive Government: Service Quality Initiatives, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris. Quirk, B. (2000), “From managing change to leading transformation”, paper presented at the E-Government Summit, December. Sanderson, I. (2001), “Performance management, evaluation and learning in ‘Modern’ local government”, Public Administration, Vol. 79 No. 2, pp. 297-313. Shackleton, P. (2002), “The evolution of local government electronic services in Victoria”, paper presented at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems. Shand, D. and Arnberg, M. (1996), “Background paper”, Responsive Government: Service Quality Initiatives, OECD, Paris, pp. 15-38. SOCITM, & I&DeA (2002), Local E-Government Now: A Worldwide View, Improvement & Development Agency, Society of Information Technology Management, London. Stamoulis, D., Gouscos, D., Georgiadis, P. and Martakos, D. (2001), “Revisiting public information management for effective e-Government services”, Information Management & Computer Security, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 146-53.

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Steyaert, Jo (2000), “Local government online and the role of the resident”, Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 3-16. United Nations (2002), Benchmarking E-government: A Global Perspective – Assessing the Progress of the UN Member States, United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration, New York, NY. West, D.M. (2002), Global E-Government 2002, Providence, Rhode Island, Center for Public Policy, Brown University. Further reading DTLR (2001), Strong Local Leadership – Quality Public Services, Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, London. Riley, T.B. (2001), “Electronic governance and electronic democracy: living and working in the connected world”, paper presented at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (postponed), Brisbane. Corresponding author Peter Shackleton can be contacted at: [email protected]

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Exploring city, county and state e-government initiatives: an East Texas perspective Mary Helen Fagan

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College of Business and Technology, University of Texas, Tyler, Texas, USA Abstract Purpose – In order to understand the range of e-government initiatives that occur in practice, this study aims to explore diverse applications that have involved one locale, the City of Tyler, Texas. Design/methodology/approach – The first case briefly describes the TylerTexas e-government portal, an initiative that illustrates government-to-citizen and government-to-business applications. The second case describes a city/county government information technology integration effort that could support government-to-government applications if it is successful. Finally, the paper describes TexasOnline, a public-private state government initiative that may have a large impact on local e-government projects. Findings – The paper explores some of the ways in which business process management approaches can help city and civic leaders manage the significant social and technical changes that will be needed to achieve the desired e-government outcomes. Originality/value – These examples illustrate many of the opportunities and the challenges involved in e-government initiatives and, as such, may interest others who engage in similar efforts. Keywords Electronics industry, Government, Business process re-engineering, Local government Paper type Case study

Introduction Ever since the Clinton presidential administration began to popularize the idea of reinventing government in the United States, citizens have developed increased expectations for how information technology (IT) could help make government more efficient and improve services. Vice President Gore led an effort in 1993 to explore how the internet could be employed in areas such as health care to revolutionize and reengineer historically bureaucratic processes, and his report, “Reengineering through Information Technology”, reflects the key role business process reengineering (BPR) had on these early efforts (US Government, 1993). As the US Vice President stated: . . . the idea of reengineering through technology is critical. We didn’t want to automate the old, worn processes of government. Information technology (IT) was and is the great enabler for reinvention. It allows us to rethink, in fundamental ways, how people work and how we serve customers (Gore, 1997).

A number of other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Singapore, have also developed extensive programs to implement electronic government (e-government) built upon the belief that the internet and IT applications can help bring about significant performance improvements. In the ten years since the Clinton/Gore administration introduced their effort to reengineer government through IT, a wide range of federal, state and local e-government efforts have been initiated with varying degrees of success. The purpose

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of this paper is explore a number of diverse e-government initiatives that have affected one community in the United States, namely the City of Tyler in Smith County in the North-Eastern region of the state of Texas. This paper will provide an overview of the study’s research background and approach, describe three e-government initiatives affecting the Tyler area community, discuss opportunities and challenges associated with these efforts, and conclude with suggestions for further study. The paper also explores some of the ways in which business process management (BPM) approaches can help city and civic leaders manage the significant social and technical changes that will be needed to achieve the desired e-government outcomes. These examples illustrate many of opportunities and the challenges involved in e-government initiatives, and, as such, may interest others who engage in similar efforts. Research background E-government has been defined as: . . . the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions (World Bank Group, 2003).

Studies describe e-government initiatives that serve a range of constituencies including: . government-to-citizen (G2C) applications such as the provision of online information and services; . government-to-business (G2B) applications such as electronic procurement; . government-to-employee (G2E) applications such as human resource internets; and . government-to-government (G2G) applications that provide integration between government agencies (e.g. between state and local entities). Studies also explore how various e-government projects fit into an evolutionary stage of development, an approach often used to analyze commercial e-commerce endeavors (Layne, 2001). Balutis (2001) suggests the following phases can be identified in e-government development efforts: . Phase 1: dissemination of information. . Phase 2: provision of forms. . Phase 3: ability to perform transactions. . Phase 4: government transformation (e.g. resulting in processes that cross organizational boundaries in order to provide citizens with information and “seamless service”). Studies indicate that numerous e-government initiatives have been undertaken, and have had varied degrees of success in achieving the desired outcomes and benefits (Bellamy, 1999). Most frequently, e-government applications demonstrate the use of IT to improve internal efficiency and effectiveness (IEE), resulting in better service at

reduced costs for citizens and businesses (Danziger and Andersen, 2002). However, in order to achieve significant results, research indicates government entities must work to “reduce their burden by adopting processes that enable collecting data once for multiple uses” and by “streamlining redundant processes” (Van Wert, 2002, p. 18). Unfortunately, the first wave of e-government services are frequently:

An East Texas perspective

. . . shallow e-commerce applications and portals overlaid as a thin veneer on top of massive, outdated organizations and aging IT systems. They all too often fail to transform a way of doing business or fail to deliver outstanding return on investment (Hoeing, 2001, p. 49).

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Significant social and technical challenges arise in e-government initiatives, and, in particular, for those efforts that strive to achieve governmental transformation (phase 4 outcomes). BPR methods have helped organizations achieve IT-enabled radical change. A review of the literature finds that while use of the term BPR may have diminished, BPR itself has continued to evolve as one approach within the broad umbrella of BPM. Thus, as one recent US Department of Defense concept paper concludes: . . . in spite of its many permutations, BPR has lasted. It still has much to offer organizations engaged in transforming their business processes (Department of Defense, 2002).

And while BPM remains relevant, its concepts and techniques must be adapted to consider unique aspects of public sector and government entities that affect the change process (Kock and McQueen, 1996). Researchers have found significant differences between public and private organizations that can affect the ability to reinvent government and achieve e-government success (Gulledge and Sommer, 2002). Analysis of a variety of e-government efforts suggests that incorporating lessons learned from BPM can provide insight into what is needed to achieve governmental transformation outcomes (phase 4). Research approach In order to understand the range of e-government initiatives that occur in practice, this study explores diverse applications that have involved one locale, the City of Tyler, Texas. The City of Tyler has a population of approximately 80,000 and is located in East Texas, approximately 100 miles East of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Tyler is the seat of Smith County, which includes the smaller communities of Bullard, Lindale, Troup and Whitehouse. Like many metropolitan areas, Tyler has employed a chief information officer (CIO) to help the local government utilize IT more effectively. In addition, Tyler area civic leaders recognized how the internet can support economic development and tourism growth. As a result, various people and organizations in the Tyler area have engaged in diverse initiatives that can provide insight into the opportunities and challenges involved in achieving the promise of e-government. This study takes a qualitative field study approach to studying a number of different e-government projects involving the application of IT in a local community. The researcher was involved in each project either as an observer, a consultant, or in the role of an action researcher (Lau, 1999) over a three-year period. The data gathering for each project involved a combination of interviews, review of internal documentation and publicly available materials (such as request for proposals and published news reports),

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and, when the researcher was involved as an active participant, materials gathered from internal project meetings and interactions with various vendors. Description of e-government initiatives This paper describes three e-government initiatives that involve city, county and state government entities along with a number of local citizens and community organizations. The first case briefly describes the TylerTexas e-government portal, an initiative that illustrates G2C and G2B applications representing phases 1-3 e-government implementations. The second case provides an overview of a city/county government IT integration effort that could support G2G applications if it is successful in achieving the necessary phase 4 level governmental transformation. The final case describes TexasOnline, a public-private state government initiative that may have a large impact on Tyler area e-government projects in the future. (These diverse e-government initiatives are summarized in Table I.) Each initiative has the potential for improving the IEE of government processes, but face many social and technical challenges in order to achieve the desired results. E-Government portal: TylerTexas For the City of Tyler, the primary e-government initiative has been the development and maintenance of a community web site. The mayor, city CIO and business leaders recognized the importance of an online presence for the city and worked together to create a “one-stop” portal for the Tyler area community. A local professional web development company was engaged to develop the TylerTexas portal[1], a site that links to web sites for the: . City of Tyler; . Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce; . Tyler Economic Development Council; . Tyler Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB); . ConnecTyler Community Network; . Heart of Tyler/Main Street Association; and . Smith County. The chamber and CVB web sites are all located under the TylerTexas.com domain name while the other five sites are linked to from the portal and each have their own domain name[2-6]. Initiative

Involves

Illustrates

E-government portal: TylerTexas

City of Tyler Smith County Local organizations City of Tyler Smith County Community leaders Local, county, and state governmental agencies

G2C G2B IEE/BPM G2G IEE/BPM

City/county IT integration effort Table I. Community e-government initiatives

TexasOnline

G2G IEE/BPM

The Tyler web site[6] is primarily a source of online information, and, as such, describes the mission and provides address/phone/email contact details for the city council, the mayor and 35 city departments. Citizens can, in addition, stay informed about city council activities by downloading minutes, ordinances, and resolutions. For the most part, the G2C and G2B online services consist of the ability to download common forms so that they can be printed and submitted via regular mail for things such as: . building permits; . public information requests; and . zoning variance permits. The Tyler web site, at the current time, has few advanced interactive features such as the ability provide online information based upon dynamic database driven content or online transactions. Two interactive features include: (1) A G2C database driven application. Staring in 2002, the Tyler Public Library catalog can be queried online[7]. Library patrons with an account and personal identification number (PIN) can also perform online transactions such as renewing material and changing their address using the iBistroe product from Sirsi Corporation. (2) A G2C online financial transaction. The City of Tyler provided the ability to pay traffic tickets online in 2000 via the city’s web site. In 2003, the city made arrangements to work with a local community network to lower the cost of processing these transactions and is considering adding online water payment capabilities. In terms of the stages of e-government development, the City of Tyler web site has evolved through phase 1: information dissemination into phase 2: the provision of forms, and has experimented with phase 3 by providing one end-to-end electronic transaction in the area of traffic fine payment. City/county information technology integration effort While Tyler area community leaders were able to collaborate to create a community web portal, the two main local government entities, the City of Tyler and Smith County, developed their own web sites independently and only share a link off of the TylerTexas portal. Historically, the city and county also had no overlap in their internal information systems applications and operations. However, when the county’s longstanding contract for IS services came up for renewal in 2002, the situation began to change as questions were raised about the possibility of integrating city and county IT efforts to save local taxpayer funds. One factor that influenced the proceedings was the fact that the pros and cons of integrating city/county IT efforts were described at length in regular articles in the local newspaper, and these investigative accounts continue up to the present time. On the one hand, the question of whether savings could be achieved by city/county IT integration seemed to be a straightforward technical question that could be addressed via traditional cost/benefit analysis techniques. For example, in a public meeting that brought together city and county representatives along with interested members of the community, a city employee explained how the county was about to

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purchase an AS400 midrange computer to run a new computer application when the city had excess capacity on an existing computer that might be used instead. However, in practice, the prospect of changing the county’s existing IT arrangements and entering into a collaborative partnership with the city evoked deep-seated concerns and reservations among key individuals in the county who would be affected. Events moved forward quickly when the county issued their public request for proposal for IS services and the city bid and won the work. County commissioners approved a three-year interlocal agreement for the city to manage the county computer services for $734,035 (Tyler Morning Telegraph, 2003b). TexasOnline The future direction for many local Texas e-government efforts will be influenced by a statewide government project aimed at establishing a comprehensive web portal called TexasOnline[8]. This project began in May 1999 when the Texas State Legislature passed a Senate Bill 974 establishing the Texas Electronic Government Task Force. A large public-private partnership with the BearingPoint consulting firm was undertaken to develop an integrated, secure platform for providing information and electronic transactions at all levels of state government. Specifically: . . . seamless government will present a single, function-driven face to the public. To present a single face implies “one-stop shopping”. Branded Web pages assure citizens that they are using an authentic, government-sponsored Web site; and citizens will need only to visit a single Web site – TexasOnline – to interact with state and local government. To be function-driven means ease-of-use, that is, citizens need only know what they want to do (for example, obtain a birth certificate or renew a drivers license), not whom they must contact to do it (for example, the County Clerk, State Health Department, Department of Public Safety, etc.) (State of Texas, 2000).

The TexasOnline Authority has a mandate to provide a “common electronic infrastructure through which local governments and state agencies may electronically: . send and receive documents or required payments; . receive applications for original and renewal licenses; and . provide other electronic services to the public and within government” (State of Texas, 2003). The Texas Legislature requires that state agencies consider using TexasOnline for any e-government applications that require financial transactions, process applications for licenses/permits, utilize electronic signatures or require security. Smith County representatives hosted a local meeting with representatives of TexasOnline to discuss the capabilities provided by the portal. The reactions of Becky Dempsey, a Smith County Judge, are quoted on the Smith County web site: Partnering with Texas Online is certainly something we want to carefully consider. . . . From what I have seen so far, Texas Online has great potential to become an important tool that local, county, and state governmental agencies can utilize to upgrade services to their citizens through the use of state of the art technology (Smith County, 2003).

As part of its future strategic planning, local IT and civic leaders will need to consider the possibilities provided by TexasOnline and evaluate if and how they wish to make use of them.

Discussion of e-government opportunities and challenges An analysis of the TylerTexas portal project and the City of Tyler web site reveals some of the opportunities and challenges that face local governments engaging in e-government. On the positive side, these Tyler area community web sites are successful in meeting basic needs for information 24 £ 7. Significant investment and community collaboration has given the portal web site a professional “look and feel”, and, as a result, supporters believe it gives a positive impression of the Tyler area. On the less positive side, as one critic states: . . . it is no good just throwing together an online form or two, calling it an e-government portal and hoping that everyone will flock to use it (BBC News, 2002b).

The TylerTexas portal and Tyler city web site, like many other similar first generation e-government efforts, are not: . . . designed around specific services that cut across organisational boundaries so people can access all the information they need on services such as transport, housing and education from a single source (BBC News, 2002a).

Future efforts to improve the online offerings available through the TylerTexas portal will require new approaches to identify the specific services that citizens need. An approach based upon a BPM mindset can help the diverse participants work toward breaking down organizational and departmental barriers in order to focus on their client’s needs. For the TylerTexas portal, this effort will require separate organizations like the City of Tyler and Smith County to identify local citizen and business needs, and then redesign their web sites with the aim of providing “seamless” service in an accessible manner. If citizens were to obtain information and services in the future without having to know what department/function is responsible, then a phase 4-governmental transformation would have to occur. The challenge evident in providing this level of service is reflected in the fact that one study indicates only 4 percent of e-government initiatives are in fact “transforming government” (Balutis, 2001). One recent change may make it easier for the City of Tyler to more readily achieve phase 3 e-government outcomes and to lay the groundwork for city phase 4 e-government transformation efforts. The city had paid a professional web design firm to maintain its web site, but in 2003 the City of Tyler decided to take over the development and maintenance of its city web site[6]. This “insourcing” move was feasible due to the acquisition of an easy to use content management software system. The content management system allows city department heads to easily update and maintain information for citizens and business customers, improving the dissemination of information (phase 1) and the provision of online forms (phase 2). Future plans will involve reengineering the city’s procurement functions and human resource functions to allow e-bidding and online job applications (phase 3). Currently, the information is primarily organized in terms of the city’s functional departmental divisions. In the future, as efforts are made to present information and services seamlessly to citizens, the web site will need to shift from a departmental to a citizen-centric design that is oriented toward what citizens need versus who provides it (phase 4). This improvement, in turn, will depend upon the successful implementation of the city’s IT strategic plan, which calls for a BPM and a business process client-focused view instead of an approach oriented around functional silos.

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An analysis of the city/county IT integration effort indicates that county representatives are pleased overall with the results of the IT services contract with the city. The Tyler CIO has primarily focused on achieving increased IEE within the IT department itself. Since part of the challenge for the department involved supporting a larger number of personal computer (PC) users (“seats”), the CIO followed the approach of other governmental and commercial organizations in analyzing the total cost of ownership for city/county owned servers and PCs. The CIO moved to combine city and county email applications onto one server. To simplify the help desk and user support functions, a problem tracking system was installed on an intranet that could be accessed by employees from a variety of locations. Furthermore, the capability was introduced to allow IT employees to remotely access and maintain network devices in order to achieve additional operational support efficiencies. The current efforts to improve city/county IT integration are designed to improve the technology infrastructure and support in order to provide a platform from which to launch future e-government applications. In the process of updating the city’s IT strategic plan, the CIO is looking at external resources such as those provided at a recent conference sponsored by the Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications[9] for information on best practices for measuring and communicating the business value of IT. However, these city/county IT integration efforts have had some unanticipated consequences. For example, a recent front page article in the local newspaper quotes a state district judge who “learned last week that city and county computer personnel had access to her office’s Internet and computer files and issued a memo she would no longer use the system” (Tyler Morning Telegraph, 2003a). The county auditor, who has not been very supportive of the new IT arrangement, researched another city/county IT partnership and documented its failure “after much controversy over administrative controls and security” in a memo (Tyler Morning Telegraph, 2003a). City IT employees have had to work very closely with users affected by system changes to discern user concerns that can and should be addressed, and to allay discontent that may stem from staunch opposition to the city/county information services contract itself. Some hope that a citizen IT steering committee will be reestablished and serve as a useful mechanism to help direct city/county IT development and support future efforts. The city’s CIO has attempted to help communicate the benefits of the city/county partnership by posting information on improvements on the city’s computer services web page (City of Tyler, 2003). If city and county government entities are not able to work together in joint IT endeavors, then promising future G2G applications may be non-existent or, perhaps, will be developed in more costly and less effective manner. For example, the city and county are both likely to benefit from innovative geographic information systems (GIS) that can support many functions of local government. The city has proceeded with the development of a database to support GIS applications, and this provides a logical base for further collaborative city/county IT development. In addition, awareness of new threats to public safety have highlighted the need for technically sophisticated systems to support law enforcement and public safety in both the city and county arena. Close collaboration in developing the needed telecommunications infrastructure will help ensure the chosen architecture will meet anticipated future needs.

In a time of very severe financial constraints, savings from successful IEE efforts can help fund these desirable G2G initiatives. However, success will require the ability to rethink processes in a cross-functional way as championed by BPM approaches. And, while this has proven difficult in the private sector, research suggests that government entities face even greater challenges since:

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. . . functional organization – at both departmental and intra-departmental levels – has turned out to be deeply rooted in the conventions and culture of government. In particular, it is deeply embedded in budgets, performance measures and accountability systems, erecting powerful disincentives to exchanging resources and sharing responsibilities (Bellamy, 1999, p. 5).

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The City of Tyler and Smith County face significant opportunities and serious challenges as they work to integrate their IT efforts and collaborate in a “win-win” fashion. A key focus for the City of Tyler CIO in 2003 is the success of an IT strategic plan that emphasizes the need to engage in BPR/BPM in order to meet the city/county needs. This IT strategic plan can provide a road map for future efforts if it garners support from top management and buy-in from concerned parties. For local governments, TexasOnline provides a proven infrastructure to support online transactions. Now each local entity can consider using the TexasOnline’s technical platform or developing their own approach for delivering e-government services. TexasOnline should provide economies of scale that will make the adoption of transaction processing applications more affordable for smaller local government entities, and reduce redundant development efforts. However, since TexasOnline is a public-private partnership that is designed to be self-supporting, organizations that wish to participate must develop a business case for each e-government application. Local government entities must evaluate how they will fund and maintain applications by addressing convenience fees (charged to the user), convenience fee subsidies, as well as development fees and hosting fees required by TexasOnline. For local governments, TexasOnline might reduce some of the perceived risks and complexity involved in providing online financial transactions (phase 3 e-government). The City of Tyler, for example, can now consider TexasOnline as an alternative to its current method of supporting online financial transactions. TexasOnline may help support local e-government initiatives in the future, and, in the process, create new working relationships among city, county, state and public for-profit enterprises. How and when this transformation may occur remains to be seen. Conclusion E-government provides numerous opportunities for city, county and state governmental entities to improve their operational efficiency and improve their effectiveness in meeting citizen needs. E-government challenges organizations to think about specific constituencies, their problems and their life events in order to design solutions that cross organizational boundaries to address their customer’s specific needs. The City of Tyler and Smith County, along with other organizations concerned with local governance, face many challenges in changing from a functional orientation to a citizen-centric perspective. Some of these challenges involve sophisticated technologies that are difficult for a city or county to achieve with their limited budget and manpower. However, other challenges are social and/or political in nature, and might be expected in any significant organizational change that is facilitated by IT.

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For example, system improvements may require departments to share information, and, for the city/county integration effort, these information-sharing projects will cross-organizational boundaries. It may be particularly difficult to implement plans if these changes are unpopular, especially in an environment where many stakeholders are elected and a top-down management mandate is not feasible to bring about change. BPM approaches have already been adopted by the city, and can help other local entities by providing a roadmap for undertaking needed changes. Furthermore, the BPR experiences of other organizations can also help by providing information on best practices to facilitate the desired transformational (phase 4) change. Future research in this local environment will work to further the implementation of concepts and techniques from BPM in the e-government planning, implementation and evaluation process. This action research program will specifically look to other local government entities that have utilized BPM approaches to provide a basis for benchmarking (City of Salford, 2001). If the adaptation of BPM approaches helps local city, county and civic leaders address the significant social and technical challenges they face in their pursuit of e-government, then it is hoped that this experience will be of interest to others with similar aims. Notes 1. TylerTexas web portal, available 28 February 2003 from www.tylertexas.com 2. Tyler Economic Development Council web site, available 28 February 2003 from www.tedc. org 3. ConnecTyler Community Network web site, available 28 February 2003 from www. connectyler.org 4. Heart of Tyler/Main Street Association web site, available 28 February 2003 from www. heartoftyler.com 5. Smith County Texas web site, available 28 February 2003 from www.smith-county.com 6. City of Tyler web site, available 28 February 2003 from www.tylertexas.com/cot 7. Tyler Public Library, available 28 February 2003 from www.tylerlibrary.com 8. TexasOnline, available 28 February 2003 from www.texasonline.com 9. Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications 2003 Technology Education Conference web site: measuring the business value of IT, available 20 July 2003 from www.tasscc.org/presentations/tec_2003/index.html References Balutis, A.P. (2001), “E-government 2001, Part I: Understanding the challenge and evolving strategies”, The Public Manager, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 33-7. BBC News (2002a), “Public turned off by e-government”, December 13, available at: http://news. bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2570735.stm (accessed 28 February 2003). BBC News (2002b), “The problem with e-government”, June 7, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/technology/2029204.stm (accessed 28 February 2003). Bellamy, C. (1999), “Joining-up government in the UK: towards public services for an information age”, Australian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 58 No. 3, pp. 89-103. City of Salford (2001), “Implementing e-government”, July, Salford, available at: www.salford. gov.uk/council/pathfinder/docs/IEG.pdf (accessed 28 February 2003).

City of Tyler (2003) City-County Computer Services Progress Report – March 2003, Tyler, TX, available at: www.cityoftyler.org/uploads/ComputerServicesReport.pdf (accessed 20 July 2003). Danziger, J.N. and Andersen, K.V. (2002), “The impacts of information technology on public administration: an analysis of empirical research from the ‘golden age’ of transformation”, International Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 591-628. Department of Defense (2002), “Reengineering concept paper”, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller), US Government, available at: www.dod.mil/comptroller/icenter/ learn/reengconcept.htm (accessed 28 February 2003). Gore, A. (1997), “Introduction”, The Report of the National Performance Review and the Government Information Technology Services Board, Access America, available at: http:// govinfo.library.unt.edu/accessamerica/docs/intro.html (accessed 28 February 2003). Gulledge, T.R. and Sommer, R.A. (2002), “Business process management: public sector implications”, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 364-76. Hoeing, C. (2001), “Beyond e-government: building the next generation of public services”, Government Executive, Vol. 33 No. 14, pp. 49-60, available at: www.govexec.com/features/ 1101/1101s4.htm (accessed 28 February 2003). Kock, N.F. Jr and McQueen, R.J. (1996), “Is re-engineering possible in the public sector? A Brazilian case study”, Business Change and Re-engineering, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 3-12, available at: www.cis.temple.edu/ , kock/public/bc&r96/brpub4.htm (accessed 28 February 2003). Lau, F. (1999), “Toward a framework for action research in information systems studies”, Information Technology & People, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 148-76. Layne, K. (2001), “Developing fully functional e-government: a four stage model”, Government Information Quarterly, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 122-31. Smith County (2003), “Smith County hosts TexasOnline technology meeting”, News Release, Smith County, Texas web site, available at: www.smith-county.com (accessed 28 February 2003). State of Texas (2000), “Seamless government issues”, prepared for the Electronic Government Task Force Strategic Issues Subcommittee by the Department of Information Resources, September, Austin, TX, available at: www.dir.state.tx.us/egov/report/seamless.htm (accessed 28 February 2003). State of Texas (2003), “TexasOnline – how local governments fit”, Department of Information Resources, available at: www.dir.state.tx.us/txo/Program/Local_gov_fit.htm (accessed 28 February 2003). Tyler Morning Telegraph (2003a), “County network causing concern”, 19 February, p. 1. Tyler Morning Telegraph (2003b), “County may resurrect technology panel”, 13 February, p. 1. US Government (1993), “Reengineering through information technology”, Accompanying Report of the National Performance Review, Office of the Vice President, September, available at: http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/reports/it.html (accessed February 29 2003). Van Wert, J.M. (2002), “E-government and performance: a citizen-centered imperative”, The Public Manager, Summer, pp. 16-20. World Bank Group (2003), “A definition of e-government”, available at: www1.worldbank.org/ publicsector/egov/definition.htm (accessed 28 February 2003).

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Further reading City and County Financial Management (2000), “Local governments providing e-services”, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Vol. 16 No. 3, available at: www.window.state.tx.us/lga/ ccfm0005/03.html (accessed 28 February 2003).

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Corresponding author Mary Helen Fagan can be contacted at [email protected]

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Exploratory case studies of enterprise portal adoption in UK local government Elizabeth Daniel and John Ward

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Information Systems Research Centre, Cranfield School of Management, Bedford, UK Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce enterprise portals and show their ability to provide integrated services in the local government domain. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes the development and early stage deployment of enterprise portals within two country councils in the UK. Findings – In both cases the portal is seen as a key element of their e-government activities, enabling the councils to meet Central Government targets in this area. The intention is for the portals to provide a single location for residents, businesses and council staff, wishing to access the online information and transactional services provided by the councils. The portals offer the councils a number of very significant benefits that will improve service delivery to citizens, including the ability to share information across their own directorates and also to improve working with other agencies. Research limitations/implications – This study is based on just two organizations, both based in the UK. Although the intention of case study research is not to provide generalisable truths, rather to explore the rich inter-relationship in a given situation, undertaking further case studies, particularly in different countries, may allow common benefits and experiences to be identified. Practical implications – Many governments in the developed world have placed significant emphasis on the adoption of e-business throughout the public sector. The findings of this study will therefore be of interest to those involved in such developments, not just only in the UK but also in all other countries. The study will be of particular relevance to those interested in local government, which, it has been reported, is under-represented in the e-government research literature. Originality/value – Enterprise portals are a relatively new development. Despite considerable coverage by vendors and consultants in practitioner journals, there is a paucity of academic papers in this area, with the few papers that have been published being theoretical in nature. The authors are unaware of any previous empirical studies in this domain and believe that this paper, although exploratory, represents one of the first such studies. Keywords Business development, Portals, Local government, Electronics industry, Government, Service improvements Paper type Case study

1. Introduction Driven by the rising expectations of their citizens, by budget and other resource constraints, and in many cases by weak electoral mandates, the governments of many developed countries are pursuing widespread improvement in their public services. In many cases a central element of these improvement programmes is the modernisation of services through process redevelopment and the adoption of new information technologies and systems. In the UK, the Government is pursuing a far-reaching programme of innovation and change in the public sector (HMSO, 1999). A major element of the vision for the future of public services in the UK is the provision of

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integrated services to citizens, a concept termed “joined-up services”, in order to remedy “the fragmented landscape of public administration” (Phythian and Taylor, 2001, p. 579). Integrating services will require “closer horizontal integration between the different services and departments of government” (Benington, 2000, p. 5) as well as vertical integration between the various tiers and levels of government. It is expected that new information technologies will play a key role in enabling this integration between tiers of government and the services that they provide. Given this vision, local authorities in the UK are currently investigating and developing systems that will allow them to provide the required integrated services and considerable interest is being shown in the deployment of enterprise portals. This paper reports an exploratory study of enterprise portal developments and deployments by two County Councils in the UK, West Sussex and Hertfordshire. There are 34 county councils in England, which cover regions outside major urban areas. County councils are part of a two-tier structure of local government, in which district councils which cover smaller areas within the counties provide some services. County councils are responsible for providing services relating to; education, libraries, social services, trading standards, waste disposal, highways and transport and strategic land use planning (LGIU, 2003). Both county councils studied believe that their portal deployment will improve the efficiency of their organisations, and, most importantly, improve the services delivered to their residents and other users. Important features of the portals are the integration they enable between existing business applications within the councils and the ability to provide appropriate access to those systems to external partner organisations. This functionality promises the councils an ability to improve the co-ordination between the services they currently provide themselves, such as those of education and social services, for which the client is often the same and also allows the councils an ability to develop improved links with other agencies, such as the National Health Service, the Police and the Criminal Justice System. Enterprise portals are a relatively new development. Despite considerable coverage by vendors and consultants in practitioner journals, there is a paucity of academic papers in this area. The few papers that have been published have been theoretical in nature. The authors are unaware of any previous empirical studies in this domain and believe that this paper, although exploratory, represents one of the first such studies. The findings will be of interest to those involved in e-government developments, not just only in the UK but also in all other developed countries where there is a desire to improve public services. The study will be of particular relevance to those interested in local government, which it has been reported is under-represented in the e-government research literature (Deakins and Dillon, 2002). The paper commences with a discussion of the literature published to date addressing e-government adoption by local governments and the literature relating to enterprise portals. The methodology adopted for the study is then described and the case studies are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings of the case studies including the organisational context and possible future research directions. 2. E-government: a local authority perspective As part of a drive to improve public services many governments in the developed world have placed significant emphasis on the adoption of e-business throughout the

public sector, including the US (Tat-Kei Ho, 2002; Rodriguez, 2002), Australia (Worthington and Dollery, 2002), New Zealand (Deakins and Dillon, 2002) and the UK (Phythian and Taylor, 2001; McIvor et al., 2002). Local government has been identified as an area where the adoption of e-business, or e-government as it is termed when applied to this domain, would be particularly beneficial (Prachett, 1999; Horrocks and Hambley, 1998). As local communities become increasingly diverse and undergo other significant changes, it is recognised that development of integrated services will form an important part of improving service delivery. Benington (2000, p. 3) asserts that: . . . new patterns of inter-organisational networking [in public services] are required in order to share risks and the opportunities for knowledge-creation and innovation.

The modernisation of public services agenda in the UK is highlighting the need to develop integrated services in order to deliver such improvements (HMSO, 1999). This agenda is promoting the development of closer horizontal integration between different services and departments, in addition to improved vertical links between the different tiers of public services. The intention is that, rather than have to deal with a multitude of different agencies and service providers at any given crucial episode in their life, such as a bereavement or a hospital stay, a citizen should be able to access all services in a single transaction. The particular issue of e-government adoption by local authorities in the UK has been investigated in a number of studies, including those by Phythian and Taylor (2001), Prachett (1999) and Horrocks and Hambley (1998). The study by Phythian and Taylor (2001) focussed on the adoption of e-government by English District Councils, the tier below County Councils. They found that there were disparate levels of adoption across the authorities surveyed and that for the majority there was significant work to be done before they could be confident of meeting the targets set by Central Government. In particular there were, at the time of their study, few partnerships in electronic delivery between the councils surveyed and other organisations. However, there were significant plans for developing such partnerships, particularly with their corresponding county councils and with other district councils. The findings of this study, although in a different tier of local government, can be expected to inform the study of e-government adoption in county councils. In particular, it may be expected that there will be different levels of development and deployment between county councils and there exists within county councils, a corresponding interest in developing the partnerships cited by the district councils studied. 3. Enterprise portals: current literature Organisations as diverse as the BBC (Milne, 2002), Shell (Roberts, 2002), Barclays (Breu and Hemingway, 2001) and the US Army (Smith, 2002) have recently implemented and are currently using enterprise portals to deliver information and applications to their employees. In the case of the US Army, which is currently claiming to be the world’s biggest portal, the service is now available to their entire 1.2 million servicemen and women (Smith, 2002). Aggressive spending by other organisations on this technology is predicted to make the portal market worth $957 million in 2003, which is a 22 per cent increase over the previous year (Smith, 2002). Enterprise portals, also termed corporate portals, have their antecedents in consumer portals (Detlor, 2000; Kehoe, 2002). The launch in 1996 of MyYahoo!, which

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allowed users to customise their own web pages and to select the information that was relevant and of interest to themselves (Rindova and Kotha, 2001; Milne, 2002) led vendors to consider how such developments could be applied to the information within organisations. Owing to the recent emergence of enterprise portals, and their continued evolution, there is not as yet a widely accepted definition of them. The existing academic literature tends to stress the ability of enterprise portals to facilitate the access to information within organisations. Such definitions do not capture the current developments in enterprise portals and do not capture a feature noted by Dias (2001) and other authors (Detlor 2000; Chan and Chung, 2002; Eastwood, 2002) that use of enterprise portals can enable not only intra-organisational collaboration, but also inter-organisational collaboration. Accordingly, we propose the following definition of enterprise portals: Enterprise portals are secure web locations, that can be personalised, that allow staff and business partners access to, and interaction with, a range of internal and external applications and information sources. Uses of the portal may include: improved access to information, increased collaboration, greater use of existing applications and effective integration between applications.

Such a definition is useful in differentiating enterprise portals from intranets. Although intranets are frequently used within organisations to provide corporate information to employees, there is rarely an ability to tailor the information received or to interact with existing business applications, two of the most powerful features of enterprise portal. This difference is currently being amplified as portals are being used in many organisations to provide a simplified and unified access to intranet sites, the number of which have often grown out of control (Milne, 2002). The portal architecture for West Sussex County Council is shown in Figure 1. This figure shows the main elements of a typical portal development. An important element of the portal is its integration with existing service and administrative systems within the organisation. This integration allows data to be extracted from such systems and presented to users via an easy to use conventional web-browser. Data input by the user can also be written to the existing applications. The portal therefore provides for vertical flow of information between the presentation layer viewed by the user and the individual legacy systems. The data integration layer can also provide effective application-to-application integration between these back-end systems. Dias (2001), consolidating the views of earlier authors, recognises a number of benefits of the adoption and use of enterprise portals. She notes that the portal provides staff within the organisation and permitted business partners to share a common, but personalised view of enterprise information. Breu and Hemingway (2001) found that the personalisation capability allows organisations to establish information access based on roles or locations within the organisation, helping with the orientation of new staff and the ability to orchestrate change within the organisation. These authors also link the ability a portal provides to more easily deploy new information systems within organisations to increased workforce and organisational flexibility (Breu et al., 2001). 4. Methodology The objectives of the current study were to explore the deployment of enterprise portals by local government in the UK. The authors were interested to understand how portals could enable these organisations to meet their strategic goals, including the

Contact communications Walk-in

Post/fax

Telephone

Email

Internet

Intranet

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Contact centre operations

Web based portal architecture

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Citizen dialogue

Contact management

Workflow

Knowledge/content management

Data integration

ERP Back-end service applications Social Services

Planning

Libraries

Housing

Highways

Source: Mezulis (2002)

Central Government’s targets in this area and improving the service delivery to their residents and other users. The current study seeks to explore a new domain, rather than prove well-established extant theory, suggesting the use of inductive, qualitative methods rather than deductive, quantitative research methods (Hussey and Hussey, 1997; Locke, 2001). Such inductive methods are frequently operationalised as case studies (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 1989). Case studies of two County Councils in the UK were undertaken. The first study was undertaken with Hertfordshire County Council. This study was undertaken at three points in time and hence had a longitudinal element to it. The first part was undertaken in November 2001, and explored the initial development of e-government services. This part of the study involved a group interview with five managers from Hertfordshire County Council. In August 2002 we were invited to review the council’s updated information systems strategy and consider the role and contribution of an enterprise portal. A third stage of the case study was undertaken in February 2003, when the Director of Community Information from the Council described the latest e-government activities with particular emphasis on their enterprise portal. The interview findings were supplemented by supporting documentation, such as their Statement of E-Government Implementation (Herts IEG, 2001, 2002). The second case study was undertaken with West Sussex County Council. This case study was undertaken at a single point in time, in December 2002, and was carried out by means of an interview with the Chief e-Government Technology Strategist at the County Council. The interview, which was semi-structured, lasted two hours and was tape-recorded and transcribed. The interview findings were again supplemented by supporting documentation (West Sussex, 2001; West Sussex IEG, 2002).

Figure 1. Enterprise portal architecture

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5. Case studies 5.1 Rationale for the portals The development of an enterprise portal at both councils is seen as a central element of their e-government activities. In both cases the enterprise portals will provide a single location for all individuals wishing to access the online information and transactional services provided by the council. Those individuals include residents or other service users, accessing online services via the internet in their homes or workplaces, or via kiosks in public locations. In addition, the portals will also provide access to staff from the councils acting as mediated contact agents, on behalf of customers, in contact centres and in drop in help points and support the internal operations of all directorates within the councils. It will therefore become a key resource for all employees and council members. At West Sussex it is intended that initially staff within the council will be able to personalise the portal according to their role and preferences. In the future it is intended that customers and residents will be able to customise the portal to meet their own particular requirements and interests. Integration of the portal into the core legacy systems that support the services operated by the council will ensure that the portal will not merely provide information, but become the main access point for transactional e-commerce services operated by the council. It is also intended that the business integration capabilities included in the portal services development will allow these existing systems, which to date have tended to be stand-alone, to share data and communicate more effectively with each other. This was described by the interviewee: We need to be much cleverer about the hand-over between the different services we provide – education and social services, for example, deal with very similar client groups. The portal is predominantly vertical but that is why we regard it a key element of internal BPR as it is a challenge to the existing process.

Hertfordshire have also recognised the need to improve working between services and groups within the council. They commenced their e-commerce developments back in 1997, before there was a drive from Central Government to adopt such services. These developments formed part of a wider range of inter-related activities, termed Herts Connect, in which the organisation examined all areas of its operations and sought improvement. Improved connections were seen as critical in three areas: internally within the council, with other organisations that also serve the residents of Hertfordshire and with the public. The development of an enterprise portal is now seen as a further enabler of such connected operations. 5.2 Integrated service delivery Examples of joint working in West Sussex include the Drug Action Exchange Project (DaeX) which links practitioners from the council’s social and caring services with others in education and external practitioners from the health service and the criminal justice service. The scheme aims to identify truanting children who are seen to be most vulnerable to drug misuse, crime and anti-social behaviour, and develop joint interventions to help these children across the different agencies. Where possible, within the confines of the data protection act, the portal will provide an environment within which information can be extracted from applications residing within individual agencies and shared with the other participating agencies. This approach allows the professional staff within each agency to continue using systems with which they are familiar, and which have been developed specifically for their area of

expertise, but allow the information to be shared with professionals from other agencies. This support for professionals will be supplemented by a public web-based information service that provides information for drug abusers and their families. Joint projects are also being undertaken between education services and social services within West Sussex County Council and with health, police, probation services and other local agencies that are aimed at reducing crime and improving community safety and quality of the environment. Once again, the portal provides an environment in which information can be extracted from existing applications and shared between agencies and, as appropriate, made available on a public web site. For both Hertfordshire and West Sussex, particular emphasis is being placed on the development of e-services in partnership with the local district councils. The intention is to provide seamless services to the citizens of both counties. The enterprise portals, together with other systems such as a customer relationship management system, to manage contact information, and a content management system, to manage information services, will form an important part of this partnership working. The interviewee from West Sussex described this approach as: A “confederated approach” – that is we each have our own identity and approach but we use shared tools. In terms of supporting the contact management, if we want agents in district councils to answer county council queries and vice versa then we need to provide a portal service that is shared between us. This can profile those different agents and allow them access to the different back end systems that are required to undertake service fulfillment.

Currently many citizens are unaware of which level of local authority is responsible for which services. When they contact one authority, they are often told it is necessary to contact another agency. The intention for both councils is to develop joint contact points across the different levels of local authority. These may be web based, via a telephone call centre, kiosk or face to face – but when a citizen uses them, they will be seamlessly given access to the services they require regardless of who provides the underlying service. Increasingly there is an intention to organise this access to services around “life events”. Although improving access to services is important, accountability for those services is also important for publicly funded services, as described by the interviewee from West Sussex: The strap line that we are using is “seamless access, branded delivery”. In other words, it does not matter what number you call, you get access to the service but when it is delivered you know who you got it from, as we have democratic accountability loop to close.

6. Discussion and summary Interest has been shown over a number of decades in the potential of IT systems to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the UK public sector. However, many of these implementations have faced severe difficulties and resulted in considerable wasted resources and criticism (Willcocks, 1989, 1994). A challenge for many of the IT deployments has been to improve the “joined-up” working of public bodies and the services they provide, however, McIvor et al. (2002, p. 174) observe that: . . . the application of information technology has acted as a hindrance rather than an aid to integrating information across functional and professional boundaries.

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This paper describes the early stages of development of enterprise portals within two County Councils in the UK. The portals are seen as a key element of their e-government activities, enabling both councils to meet Government targets in this area. The intention in both cases is for the portal to provide a single location for all individuals, citizens, council members and staff, wishing to access the online information and transactional services provided by the councils. The portals offer the councils a number of very significant benefits that will improve service delivery, including the ability to share information across its own directorates and also to improve working with other agencies. Both county councils recognise that deployment of a working portal is not sufficient to deliver co-operative working amongst colleagues, directorates or even different agencies. As observed by McIvor et al. (2002, p. 180) in his study of the adoption of internet technologies in the public sector: . . . the overall culture prevailing within these government organisations lacked the necessary “joined up spirit” required to achieve the full potential of these technologies.

This was described in the particular case of Hertfordshire County Council by one interviewee: We have very different cultures in differing services because of their differing professional backgrounds. You’re facing decades of inbuilt cultures that have arisen in isolation. People will agree in the tea-room that joined-up government is important – but will still put up barriers.

Previous studies of large scale or enterprise systems suggest that in order to deliver benefits to the organisation, technology deployment must be accompanied by cultural, process and role changes (Remenyi et al., 1991; Ward and Peppard, 2002). In order to ensure that such changes are identified and undertaken, the both councils have made a number of organisational changes. Hertfordshire re-organised its information and communication technologies (ICT) function in 2001, moving responsibility for ICT to within the Community Information Directorate to ensure an integrated approach to investment and deployment across the services and with external users. At West Sussex a Director for Community Engagement and Organisational Development has been appointed; responsibilities include e-government and organisational development. This director is supported by a number of staff: The big area that we have invested in that is new is not technology based but is change management. One role is very project orientated – business change managers, who are responsible for benefits realisation. These “BCMs” tend to be service based – they know their business, that is, they know social services or education. We are also putting in place a series of people called Business Improvement Consultants. These are more involved in creating the context and the environment for change.

Whilst these are specific examples from two local authorities in the UK, enterprise portal implementation may well require new activities, roles and responsibilities in both business and IT functions in any organisation. The more general question is perhaps whether enterprise portals really are a significant new aspect of IT in organisations, providing a new range of benefits. If they are, can organisations understand and implement the changes in skills, roles and ways of working that enable the apparent benefits to materialise? These are challenges for every organisation,

whenever new information systems and technology is introduced; they become even more challenging when every employee and potentially all customers and suppliers will be able to use the facilities provided by an enterprise portal. 7. Future research The portal developments and deployments at both councils will continue in several stages. The deployment at West Sussex will continue during 2003, with complete implementation planned for early 2004. The development and deployment at Hertfordshire has been identified as a two-year project, with the first phase to be completed by summer 2003. It is intended that both case studies will be revisited during these initial stages, and also after implementation has been completed and the portals have been operational for some time, in order to develop both as longitudinal cases (Yin, 1989). Such a study will allow an exploration of the benefits that have been realised from the portals, the organisational and process changes that have been required to realise those benefits and the issues that arise with the introduction of this type of enterprise-wide technology. This current study has been based upon two organisations, both based in the UK. Although the intention of case study research is not to provide generalisable truths, rather it is to explore the rich inter-relationships in a given situation, however, undertaking further case studies, particularly in different countries, may allow common benefits and experiences to be identified. In the first instance case studies in other local government settings should be undertaken, in order to confirm the benefits that enterprise portals can offer to this domain and how they can be realised. Case studies in other organisations, in both the public and private sector should also be undertaken, to explore the commonalties or differences across the public and private sector divide. The rapid evolution and widespread deployment of enterprise portals offer researchers in information systems a new opportunity both to develop theory and influence practice. The combination of application integration, information access and personalisation features of enterprise portals provides new dimensions for researching the impact of IT on both individual-level and organizational-level performance. The research challenge is to understand how previous research can be applied in this emerging area and to identify any fundamentally new implications for our understanding of how enterprise-wide IT deployment affects, and is affected by, organisational capabilities. References Benington, J. (2000), “The modernization and improvement of government and public services”, Public Money & Management, April-June, pp. 3-8. Breu, K. and Hemingway, C.J. (2001), Creating the Agile Workforce, Cranfield School of Management and Microsoft, Bedford. Breu, K., Hemingway, C.J., Strathern, M. and Bridger, D. (2001), “Workforce agility; the new employee strategy for the workforce economy”, Journal of Information Technology, Vol. 17, pp. 21-31. Chan, M.F.S. and Chung, W.W.C. (2002), “A framework to develop an enterprise information portal for contract manufacturing”, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 75 Nos 1-2, pp. 113-26.

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Deakins, E. and Dillon, S.M. (2002), “E-government in New Zealand: the local authority perspective”, The International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 15 Nos 4-5, pp. 375-98. Detlor, B. (2000), “The corporate portal as an information infrastructure: towards a framework for portal design”, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 91-101. Dias, C. (2001), “Corporate portals: a literature review of a new concept in information management”, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 21, pp. 269-87. Eastwood, G. (2002), “Portal push and pull”, Computer Business Review: CBR Research Paper, June, pp. 5-8. Eisenhardt, K.M. (1989), “Building theories from case study research”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14, pp. 532-50. Herts IEG (2001), Implementing Electronic Government Statement 2001, available at: www. hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/iegstatment.pdf Herts IEG (2002), Implementing Electronic Government Statement 2002, available at: www. hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/ieg2.pdf HMSO (1999), Modernising Government, HMSO, London. Horrocks, I. and Hambley, N. (1998), “The webbing of British local government”, Public Money & Management, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 39-44. Hussey, J. and Hussey, R. (1997), Business Research, Macmillan Business, Hampshire. Kehoe, L. (2002), “Dotcoms latest target”, Financial Times, 15 June, p. 15. LGIU (2003), Key Facts about Local Government, available at: www.lgiu.gov.uk Locke, K. (2001), Grounded Theory in Management Research, Sage, London. McIvor, R., McHugh, M. and Cadden, C. (2002), “Internet technologies: supporting transparency in the public sector”, The International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 170-87. Mezulis, R. (2002), “e-Government and websphere: building the infrastructure”. Milne, J. (2002), “Home sweet home”, Internet World, pp. 18-24, March. Phythian, M.J. and Taylor, W.G.K. (2001), “Progress in electronic service delivery by English district councils”, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 569-84. Prachett, L. (1999), “New technologies and the modernisation of local government: an analysis of biases and constraints”, Public Administration, Vol. 77 No. 4, pp. 731-50. Remenyi, D., Money, A. and Twite, A. (1991), A Guide to Measuring and Managing IT Benefits, NCC Blackwell, Oxford. Rindova, V.P. and Kotha, S. (2001), “Continuous morphing: competing through dynamic capabilities, form and function”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44 No. 6, pp. 1263-80. Roberts, M. (2002), “Shell taps SAP portal as global standard”, Chemical Week, p. 33, 25 September. Rodriguez, K.B. (2002), “A look at today’s top five trends in e-government”, Catalyst, Vol. 6, pp. 44-6. Smith, T. (2002), “A look inside the world’s biggest portal”, Internet Week.com, 16 August. Tat-Kei Ho, A. (2002), “Reinventing local governments and the e-government initiative”, Public Administration Review, Vol. 62 No. 4, pp. 434-44.

Ward, J.M. and Peppard, J. (2002), Strategic Planning for Information Systems, Wiley, Chichester. West Sussex (2001), County Strategy 2001-2005, availabel at: www.westsussex.gov.uk/cx/ draft%5Fstrategy/County%20Strategy.pdf. West Sussex IEG (2002), Implementing E-government Statement 2002: A Plan for Business Transformation, available at: www.westsussex.gov.uk/e-government/ieg2002.htm Willcocks, L. (1989), “Information technologies in public sector settings: towards effective systems”, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 15-29. Willcocks, L. (1994), “Managing information systems in the UK public administration: issues and prospects”, Public Administration, Vol. 72 No. 1, pp. 13-32. Worthington, A.C. and Dollery, B.E. (2002), “An analysis of recent trends in Australian local government”, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 496-515. Yin, R.K. (1989), Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Sage, London. Further reading Breu, K. and Smith, G. (2002), Knowledge Management, Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, London. Kotorov, R. and Hsu, E. (2001), “A model for enterprise portal management”, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 86-93. Mezulis, R. (2002), “E-government and websphere: building the infrastructure”, Internal presentation as part of the West Sussex e-Government Programme. Raol, J.M., Koong, K.S., Liu, L.C. and Yu, C.S. (2002), “An identification and classification of enterprise portal functions and features”, Industrial Management þ Data Systems, Vol. 102 No. 7, pp. 390-9. Corresponding author Elizabeth Daniel can be contacted at: [email protected]

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