1 irm in government carl birks cis 450 presentation fall 2003

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IRM in Government

Carl BirksCIS 450 Presentation

Fall 2003

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Questions we’ll examine

What is IRM? What is democracy? What is the role of information in a

democracy? What do governments do? How are governments using IRM now? What are the best practices? What’s the future for IRM in Government?

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What is Information Resource Management?

Recognizes value of information as asset

Interaction of people, content, and technology

Getting the right content to the right person at the right time

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History of IRM:

Federal Reports Act of 1946 Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 IRM: term coined by Senator Fred

Thompson of Commission on Federal Paperwork

most used in US federal governmental IS department context

(“Paperwork Reduction Act Reauthorization and Government Information Management Issues”, Relyea, 2000)

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Democracy

DemocracyRequires informed citizenryRequires that citizens care that system

works and actively participate in processEffective and efficient government

increases citizen goodwill and sustains a healthy and robust democracy

(“A Strategic Perspective of Electronic Democracy”, Watson and Mundy, 2001)

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Information in a Democracy

creates trust Is the mechanism for ensuring

politicians serve the electorate

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What do governments do?

Services toward building a civil society

Varies by level: International National State Local

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E-Democracy

Concept of Government that depends on IT to achieve basic missions

Considers long-term impact of applications on citizens and government itself

(“Digital Government”, Marchionini, 2003)

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E-Democracy - Elements

E-government: informs citizens about their representatives

and how they can be contacted, enables access to online information and online payment transactions

E-politics Use of IT to improve effectiveness of political

decision making Builds citizen awareness of the how and why

of political decision making and facilitates process participation


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E-Democracy– Goals and Framework

Goal: deploy IT to improve effectiveness and efficiency of democracy

New phenomenon: means citizens will have to learn how to use it.

Framework for adoption: Know what Know how Know why Care why


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E-Democracy – E-Politics

E-Politics (effectiveness side): Political decision making becomes

increasingly transparent Requires moving beyond open

government (Freedom of Information and Open Meeting laws) to open politics (exposing the process by which laws are created)


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E-Democracy – E-Government

E-Government (efficiency side): Increases timeliness and convenience

of citizen/govt interactions and reduces their cost

Example: web-enabled property tax payments decreased per transaction cost from $5 to $0.22


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E-Government

Application of IT to government services

Allows access to government information and services 24/7

Provides potential for government to fundamentally restructure its operations(“Digital Government”, Marchionini, 2003)

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E-Democracy – Adoption

3 phases based on framework Initiation (know what) Infusion (know how and know why) Customization (care why)

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E-Democracy – Phase 1: Initiation

Critical initial goals:Provide citizens with single point of access

to government info (e.g. portal) Helps citizens navigate myriad agencies Example: ezgov based on zip code

Web-enable government payments $3 trillion/year changes hands < .5 % of payments web-enabled Potential for $110 billion savings each year Reduces visits, wait time, travel

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Electronic Democracy –Phase 2: Infusion

Innovation is widely embraced Organization often restructures to

accommodate the innovation

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Electronic Democracy –Phase 3: Customization

Citizens will increasingly expect government to offer level of tailoring they get from private sector

Implements one to one relationship between citizen and government

Enables citizens to: have personal profile of financial interactions

with government focus on personally critical issues

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E-Government and E-Politics Applications

Three Categories: Access to information Transaction services Citizen participation


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Access to Information

Most common e-government application Governments produce huge amounts of

information, electronic access expanding Example: FedStats provides access to statistics

of more than 100 federal agencies Library of Congress IRS SSA National Park Service

(“FedStats: Gateway to Federal Statistics, Dippo, 2003)(“Digital Government”, Marchionini, 2003)

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Transaction Services

Taxes: 39.5 million electronic fed. tax filings in 2001 (up 30% from previous year)

Passports, Drivers Licenses Patents, Permits


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Transactions: Customized Workflow Management

Includes tasks and dependencies Used in e-commerce to automate

business processes Allows on-the-fly workflow

generation for customization depending on specific rules

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Transactions: Customized Geospatial Workflows

GIS associates location dependent data with specific rules and regulations (e.g. zoning, business development, building)

Ideal for delivery of e-government services (e.g. land use planning)

Generated on the fly from a rule base Changes to rules automatically reflected in

newly generated workflows(“Customized Geospatial Workflows for E-Government Services”, Holowczak,

2001)

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Citizen Participation

E-mails to government officials Rule making participation (public

comments/issues debates) High-profile application: E-voting Unclear how information flow changes between

citizens and government may affect processes (e.g. will more direct flows diminish influence of opinion leaders and media on public process?)


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Spice Break

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E-Rule Making

Official public comments received and made part of public record

Example: Dept of Agriculture National Organic Program (1997)

Incoming comments sorted, digitized, auto-indexed and posted in online docket room

Electronic accessibility of comments and related materials: offset manual processing costs for individual FOIA

requests Increased public perception of transparency and

legitimacy of process(“Prospects for Improving the Regulatory Process using E-Rulemaking”, Fountain, 2003)

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E-Democracy by level of Government

Different levels of government: International National State Local

Functions and technology use vary at each level

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IRM in National Government – USA

Government Performance and Results Act (1993)

Clinger-Cohen Act (1996) Problems intended to address:

High turnover of CIOs/IT staff Lack of flexibility Lack of cross-agency cooperation Traditional separation of telecommunications and

data processing

(“Local Governments and IRM: Policy Emerging from Practice”, Fletcher, 1997)

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Set policies and procedures for IRM in Federal Government (top-down approach)

OMB –based oversight of agency IT functions ( OMB Circular A-130)

(“Local Governments and IRM: Policy Emerging from Practice”, Fletcher, 1997)

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Cross Agency Cooperation: Problems:

Generally info not shared across agenciesCitizens required to provide redundant info

to different agenciesComplex processes to match each person

and situation with appropriate government services

(“Understanding New Models of Collaboration for Delivering Government Services”, Dawes & Prefontaine, 2003)

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Cross Agency Collaboration: Rests on understood but often tacit working

philosophy Relationships are evolving and dynamic Raise issues of data ownership Needs an institutional framework

Technology choices affect participation and results (nature, cost and cost distribution)

(“Understanding New Models of Collaboration for Delivering Government Services”, Dawes & Prefontaine, 2003)

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Cross Agency Application Example: Coplink Connect

Provides one-stop access point for data to alleviate police officers’ information and cognitive overload

Supports consolidated access to all major databases

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NSF Digital Government Program Helps agencies adopt and adapt basic

research to practical problems of government work

Has stimulated R&D in e-government applications

(“A Personal History of the NSF Digital Government Program”, Ciment, 2003)

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NSF Digital Government Application areas:

Law enforcement Judicial administration Governance Regulation and policy-making Housing Environment Land use management Education and training Access to community libraries Emergency management(“A Personal History of the NSF Digital Government Program”, Ciment, 2003)

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TIA: part of the

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Information Awareness Office

Seeks to track individuals through collecting as much information about them as possible and using computer algorithms and human analysis to detect potential activity

Seeks “revolutionary technology for ultra-large all-source information repositories”; a “virtual, centralized, grand database”

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IRM in National Government - USA

TIA, cont. Aims to develop data-mining and knowledge

discovery tools to find patterns and associations

Seeks development of biometric technology to enable the identification and tracking of individuals

One TIA project aims to positively identify people from a distance through technologies such as face recognition or gait recognition

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Spice Break

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IRM in National Government – EU

eEurope initiative: includes online government as a

priority EU goal:

greater transparency and participation in government to strengthen democracy


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IRM in National Government – EU

EC Migration to Open Source Guidelines Builds on growing use in Europe Standards focused: “provide practical and

detailed recommendations on how to migrate to Open Source Software (OSS)-based office applications, calendaring, e-mail and other standard applications”

Collaborative: developed with guidance from public sector IT experts from Denmark, Finland, Italy, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey

(Center for Digital Government, 2003)http://www.centerdigitalgov.com/international/story.php?docid=74723

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Bottom up v. Top Down

Bottom up: Lets effective solutions be

implemented and only expanded as they succeed

Smaller projects: Easier to design and deploy Easier to fund Less catastrophic if they fail

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Bottom Up v. Top Down

Top down: Less flexible Has its place in setting standards

Larger projects: Harder to design and deploy Harder to fund More catastrophic if the fail

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IRM in State Government

Closer to constituents Mixture of top-down and bottom up

approaches Open source experimentation/migration Legislators need to demonstrate cost-

cutting and a balanced budget IT bureaucracy need solutions they can

deploy with little effort and fit seamlessly(“Linux Access in State and Local Government”, Adelstein, 2003)

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Bottom up Open Source Revolution?

Cities and States are adopting: Houston, Berlin (10k PCs to Linux) Rhode Island SOS OSS LAMP portal TX Legislation pending; OR, CA, OK

legislation failed (vendor opposition) International: EU, Israel, Portugal,

Columbia, Ukraine require OSS; SA gives pref. to OSS

(“Linux Access in State and Local Government”, Adelstein, 2003)

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OSS Future?

“As more and more public sector OSS projects succeed, state and local governments will start to notice.”

Government applications sites modeled on SchoolForge? information, tools and materials to make

school and all its parts

http://www.schoolforge.net/

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IRM in Local Government

Local governments directly affect citizens Services:

Roads and bridges maintenance Social welfare services Libraries Parks & recreation Utilities Housing Permits and licenses

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IRM in Local Government

No federal IRM-style policies/standards Less strategic planning bottom up approach fosters innovation Open source experimentation

Avoids excessive licensing fees Fosters an open community mentality that

fits well with government (Socialism?)

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Local E-Government Best Practices

Best Practices: Widely disseminate web site address Provide combination of navigation tools (e.g.

frames or buttons, search engine and site map)

Provide information by both service offered and department

Include different types of information needed by various users (local or linked)

(“Local E-Government Services”, George, et al, 2001)

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Local E-Government Best Practices.

Best Practices, continued: Transaction applications:

Minimal: provide applications for download Ideal: online purchasing and payments:

Parking tickets Water/sewer bills Property taxes


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Local E-gov Development Considerations

Funding: Cost of developing, maintaining and

upgrading web sites Potential for cost savings and other

efficiencies (e.g. improved levels of service at no additional staffing cost)

How to fund (e.g. general funds, user fees, volunteers, donations, advertisements


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Local E-gov Development Considerations, cont.

Public access to internet (e.g. digital divide issues)

Security and privacy of personal information and government documents (e.g. removing names from online property records)


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Development and Use of Local E-government

Four phases recommended: Developing an internet presence Providing interaction between government

and public by e-mail and information Allowing individuals to conduct business with

the local government Re-engineering government’s business

practices because of increased use and functions of e-government

(“Local E-Government Services: A Best Practices Review”, George, et al, 2001)

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KM Application to Government

Knowledge Management recognizes that technology is only one part of effective use of knowledge Explicit (technology) Tacit (social) Recognizes importance of what makes

people human (w/in larger context)

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The Rosy Future of IRM in Government?

Best practice adoption Non-proprietary open file standards Open source software Strengthening of democracy

through the free flow of actionable information

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The Scary Future of IRM in Government?

“I will tell the people what to do.”-Arnold Schwarzenegger

“You will be assimilated.”-Borg from Star Trek

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Faces of Information Resource Management in

Government

Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels (October 29, 1897-May 1, 1945) was Adolf Hitler's Propaganda Minister(Propaganda Ministerium) in Nazi Germany.

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Faces of Information Management in

Government

John Poindexter is a retired Navy Admiral who lost his job as National Security Adviser under Ronald Reagan and was convicted of conspiracy, lying to Congress, defrauding the government, and destroying evidence in the Iran Contra scandal. He now heads the TIA project

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IRM Considerations

New technological capabilities raise the need to apply the eternal verities in new ways

Values recognized by U.S. founding fathers – outlined in U.S and other Constitutions globally

Abuses possible: require new application of checks and balances, firm values and ethics base and policies to reflect them

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Information + Knowledge + Wisdom

Who controls the information? Who has the knowledge? Who applies the wisdom? Healthy democracy requires citizens stay

informed and participate. Citizens must apply the human elements of

knowledge and wisdom to IRM in government.

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Summary and Conclusions

Information and participation are key to democracy

Transparent, effective and efficient delivery of services is essential to democratic government

Governments will increasingly find IRM principles useful and apply them to become more efficient and effective

Citizens must stay informed and participate to ensure IRM is applied to create healthy democracy.

1 irm in government carl birks cis 450 presentation fall 2003

Documents

democracy democracy

edemocracy goals

egovernment application

elements egovernment

robust democracy

government services

digital government

efficient government