Download - Intro to e gov
Concepts: Government & Technology
Governments' use of ICTs is now well established: from the use of mainframes for mass-
processing tasks,
to email, WWW and the full-range of enterprise IT technologies.
Governments adopt new technological solutions.
Governments facilitate the development of ICT industries.
Governments benefit from embracing ICT.
Concepts : Government & Society
Governments are under pressure: from globalisation
from fiscal demands
from evolving societies
from citizen expectations
They are expected to be responsive to social change, to address
public concerns, to manage public funds efficiently, etc.
The expectations on governments grow as IS is more widespread.
Concepts: Response
Public reform: customer orientation
business-like management
citizen engagement and trust, etc.
ICT on governments' agendas: e-government strategies
e-government development targets
e-government coordination offices and structures
Concepts: Resistance
At the same time: governments adapt slowly
they tend to regard e-government as only one among
many challenges they confront
Concepts: e-Government
Different definitions: Internet (on-line) service delivery and other Internetbased
activity by governments – front-office only
All uses of ICT by governments, on-line and off-line, frontoffice and back-office
Capacity to transform public administration through the use of ICT or new forms of government built around ICT
They reflect different priorities in government strategies, and shift as priorities change and progress is made.
Concepts: e-Government Definition
Definition : e-Government refers to the use of ICT, particularly the Internet, as a tool to achieve better government.
Concepts: e-Government as a Tool
e-Government is not an aim in itself. It is a tool to enable:
better policy outcomes
higher quality of services
more efficient use of public funds
more efficient government processes
greater engagement with citizens and businesses
improvements in other selected performance indicators, etc.
e-Government is more about government than about “e”!
What starts as a technical exercise at developing more responsive public services becomes an exercise in governance.
Reasons for e-Government
The main reasons to embrace e-government: e-government improves efficiency
e-government improves service quality
e-government helps achieve policy outcomes
e-government contributes to achieving economic objectives
e-government can be the major contributor to reform
e-government builds trust between citizens and government
Reasons for e-Government
Until now, the main drivers for e-government have been efficiency gains and effective delivery of policy outcomes.
Recently, the focus has shifted to other objectives: improving services, increasing accountability, facilitating engagement.
Efficiency
Cost reduction is the major driver for ICT use by governments: replacing paper-based application processes with Internet
applications – cut down costs of data re-entry and checking
improved booking arrangements – more efficient use of
scarce resources: skilled staff and facilities
greater sharing of data within government – eliminate costs
of multiple collections, data reconciliation and checking
reduce government publication and distribution costs by relying more on on-line publications, etc.
Greater efficiencies are generated from ICT projects that involve transformation of business processes.
Customer Focus
Adopting customer focus is the main part of the countries' public reform agendas and e-government strategies.
Definition: Customer focus is about providing citizens and businesses with a coherent interface with government which reflects their needs rather than the structure of the government.
Customer Focus Initiatives
e-Government initiatives to improve customer focus: on-line portals focused on particular topics or groups,
bringing together relevant information and services
targeting of on-line information to specific groups of citizen
so that relevant information can be found more readily
e-mail lists to push customised information to specific groups,
whenever the information becomes available
allowing identified users to carry out routine transactions with the government as on-line government services
Improve Policy Outcome
e-Government can help achieve better outcomes in major policy areas, such as: taxation policy - improved collection of taxes through
increased sharing of information by agencies
health policy - reduced demand for health services through better use of health information and scarce health resources
fiscal policy - reduced unemployment payments owing to better matching of the unemployed and vacancies
social policy - promoting the use of native languages and awareness of indigenous people
environmental policy – through better sharing of information between national and sub-national governments
It is expected that all policy areas will be affected by e-government.
Economic Objectives
Through reduced corruption, greater openness and increased trust in government, e-government contributes to economic objectives.
Specific measures: improving business productivity by administrative
simplification and on-line support for small and medium-size businesses
business portals providing access to economic information - market trends, export opportunities, assistance programmes
reduced government calls on public funds through more effective programs and operations
direct consumption of ICT goods and services by government is significant and more stable than by private sector
Public Management Reform
Public management reform has been on the agendas of many countries long before e-government emerged.
Reform and e-government are mutually dependant: reform is necessary for e-government to deliver
e-government is an enabler of the reform
Reform for e-Government
Reform is necessary for e-government to deliver: The promise of e-government will not materialise
by simply digitising government information and placing it on-line.
Instead, e-government is about the use of ICT to transform the structures, operations and the culture of government.
e-Government for Reform
e-Government is an enabler of the reform: • it serves as a tool for reform:
simplifies administrative processes
makes such processes more transparent
helps to deliver services in more efficient ways
facilitates the integration of services and processes
enables seamless government
e-Government for Reform
e-Government is an enabler of the reform: • it serves as a tool for reform:
it renews public interest in the reform
Captures imagination of political leaders and civil servants.
Raises citizen expectations, creating pressure on government.
it highlights internal government inconsistencies
it underscores commitment to good governance objectives
Citizens Engagement
Building trust between government and citizens is fundamental.
In the absence of trust: the rule of law
legitimacy of government decisions
support for specific government reforms
may be all called into question. ICT is an enabler to build trust by engaging
citizens.
Citizens Engagement
Ways of engagement: consultation and feedback by service users – web
logs, questionnaires and feedback contacts
citizen engagement in policy making – consultation and active participation to better address constituents' needs
helping individual's voice be heard
Challenges to e-Government
Implementation of e-government can face a number of challenges.
The following have to be addressed on a whole-of-government basis in order to be overcome: legislative barriers – e-government processes must have the
same standing as paper-based processes
financial barriers – funding arrangements should account for the agencies working together on e-government projects
technology change – adoption of whole-of-government standards, software integration and middleware technologies
digital divide – large differences in the level of access to the Internet and therefore ability to benefit from e-government
Legislative Barriers
Governments must ensure that a proper legal framework exists before e-government initiatives and processes can take up.
What is needed: Recognition of electronic processes and services as
equivalent with paper-based processes and services. The legal recognition of digital signatures is necessary!
Clarification of requirements on the agencies implementing e-government: what they can and cannot do. Attention areas: data security, technical standards, existing ICT regulations, agency cooperation frameworks.
Legislative Barriers
What is needed: Overcoming collaboration barriers:
• accountability rules designed to ensure responsible use of public resources by clearly identifying who does what Who is responsible for the shared project?
• performance management also follows clear distinction of who does what
How to evaluate shared project?
Legislations designed to protect the privacy and security of data, to balance free access with society's expectations.
Budgetary Barriers
Traditional public management funding: vertical funding structure
agency is held accountable for achieving its mission
agency receives the resources to accomplish its mission
the resources are budgeted on the annual or bi-annual basis
This principle does not act in favour of e-government projects that involve long-term funding and collaboration across agencies.
Barriers to e-Gov Funding
Factors acting against e-government funding: e-government is unlikely to win out in competition with other
public policy objectives e.g. health, education, security
it is difficult to measure costs and potential benefits of e-government, so to develop funding cases for projects
if not treated as capital investment, e-government has to compete with other pressing recurrent funding proposals, and will seem to involve comparatively large expenditure
governments are reluctant to commit expenditure beyond budgeting horizons, and yet many e-government projects are of multi-annual nature
Barriers to e-Gov Funding
Factors acting against e-government collaboration: the vertical nature of traditional budget arrangements do not
encourage shared funding of collaborative projects
difficulties to assess the extent to which agencies benefit from (and should contribute to) shared projects
performance-based budgeting rewards independent projects
at the expense of collaborative projects
no framework for benefit-sharing, so no incentives to eliminate redundant systems by sharing systems with other agencies
Measures to e-Gov Funding
Measures to assist e-government funding: classifying major e-government projects as capital
investment with up-front capital outlays and subsequent benefits
separate approval by the e-government coordination office to ensure no duplication of inconsistency with broader strategies
public-private partnerships to overcome: capital limitations, budget-time horizons, disincentives for collaboration
central funding for innovation for high-risk demonstration project that wouldn't receive funding otherwise
a government-wide approach to the assessment of costs and benefits of e-government
ability for agencies to retain savings created by e- government
Measures to e-Gov Collaboration
Measures to assist e-government collaboration: central register of e-government initiatives seeking funding
central funds to encourage certain initiatives e.g. collaboration
lead agency model – an agency funds a project that benefits other agencies as well as itself
several agencies coordinating their approach to obtain funding
pooled funding – several agencies share funding for a common project, under a semi-contractual arrangement
agency payment model – co-ordinating agency funds the project, other agencies then pay to use the service
a mandatory levy on agencies to enable some joint projects
Technology Change
Technology-related barriers to e-government: legacy systems
lack of shared infrastructure
too rapid technological changes, etc.
Complex technical issues arise.
Legacy Systems
Legacy systems can be a major barrier to e-government.
Integrating back-office information systems with Internet to provide on-line access to clients, has occupied many e-government projects.
Common solutions: middleware and web services
data-exchange standards relying on XML
Also, promotion of government-wide frameworks, standards and data definitions by e-government coordinators.
Lack of Shared Infrastructure
Technology-related barriers to collaboration between agencies and the uptake of e-government: lack of shared standards
lack of compatible infrastructure between agencies
Infrastructure development is too expensive for a single agency.
Shared development faces budgetary and collaboration barriers. What can be done?
Shared Infrastructure & e-Gov
Governments can provide a technological, legal and organizational framework for delivering electronic services: common technical standards
common technical infrastructure
whole-of-government approach to lower the legal and technical barriers for inter-agency cooperation
whole-of-government approach to reduce redundancy, e.g. by adopting common back-office processes
Technology Change
How to plan development of e-government facing uncertainty over the fast-moving technological change?
Public-private partnership is one solution, provided they are in the areas where established standards already exist in the market.
Technology Change
Other approaches: technology neutrality in legislation and regulation
flexibility within broad regulatory frameworks
adaptation of current laws to a digital world
involvement of all stakeholders in the regulatory process
international cooperation to harmonise approaches
performance requirements rather than technical specifications when procuring new technologies
Digital Divide
e-Government can indirectly improve services to citizens with no Internet access - back-office improvements, however: Advantages of on-line services cannot be replicated off-line,
so people without Internet access will be unable to benefit.
The groups in society with lower level of access are already disengaged - the target of government intervention. Such groups have higher level of interaction with government:
• establishing identity
• entitlement for assistance
• complex medical or social intervention
Some, but not all, suited for on-line provision.
Many governments pursue policies to reduce digital divide.