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ICEGOV 2011 Conference

Tallinn, Estonia

26-28 September 2011

Management and coordinationMaking it smart

26 September 2011

Jeremy Millard

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Governance• Search for good governance

• User as citizen and voter

• Dilemma: how to balance openness and transparency, and the interests of different stakeholders

Effectiveness• Search for quality services

• User as consumer

• Dilemma: governments cannot choose their ’customers’

Evolving roles of (e)government

Efficiency• Search for savings

• User as tax-payer

• Dilemma: how to provide ’more for less’

Alan Mather (UK eEnvoy, 2002): “eGovernment isn’t any different from government. It just might

make it better, sooner, cheaper.”

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Agenda

1. The vision, strategy and the plan

2. Management, leadership, human

resources

3. Public sector change,

coordination and capacity

redeployment

4. Integration, standards, sharing & analytics

5. Performance management

6. UK as an example of current management and

coordination issues

Understanding, vision and strategy

� It is not a matter of technology, but about strong

management, leadership and human capital --

ICT is a tool (an enabler) not a problem solver or

panacea.

� But do need people who understand the

technology and how it is changing (fast!).

� Formulate and agree a clear and long term vision, which is ambitious but

achievable and practical, and market it!

� Need commonly-defined objectives and willingness to achieve them.

� Take a phased approach, design in an evaluation and monitoring system,

review, learn, revise

� Set and use targets, but realise their limitations – be flexible and adaptive.

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Commitment

� Top and medium level political commitment and

top civil servant champions are necessary.

� Regulation and the legal basis may need

changing.

� It is useful to see the eGovernment initiative

within the big picture, to see where its outcomes

will fit in the wider strategy and wider society –

be strategic but know also your limitations.

� Assess and manage risks (and take some sensible risks!)

� Understand your strengths and weaknesses.

� Identify and anticipate opportunities as well as threats and barriers,

all of which can be legal, technological, managerial, cultural …

Quick wins and enablers

• Introduce ‘quick wins’ where feasible and not

counter-productive in the longer term, as this

creates (political and other) understanding and

commitment both internally and externally -- at

present at European level the ‘quick win’ is

eProcurement, but it could be as simple as

downloadable forms on a web-site

• Identify ‘key enablers’, i.e. those policies, services

or other initiatives which in themselves may not be

of high interest but which unlock / trigger larger

impacts -- at present at European level the ‘key

enablers’ are eID (electronic identity management)

user skills and awareness, interoperability

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Management, organisation, staff & business plan

� Strong, but flexible and sensitive, project management

is important, with collective decisions where necessary.

� Never loose sight of your internal organisation and

inform your internal staff in time

� Commitment of the staff and support for the staff is

essential. Ensure that responsibilities and allocation of

tasks are known by all inside and outside the

organisation.

� A sound, feasible and political supported financial plan is necessary,

based on an agreed business plan which provides for technical,

financial, organisational, human resource and take-up sustainability,

and balances between economic ROI (Return of Investments) and

public value (both effectiveness and good governance).

Leadership, human resources, organisational learning

� Leadership – the vital energy driving change

� Human resources (your greatest asset)

• flexible working and new types of work:

o routinised work (explicit knowledge): can be automated, and easily moved around (decentralised)

o specialist work (implicit knowledge): cannot be automated (though ICT can support), difficult to move

• flexible skills and competencies (not just ICT, also people skills, self management skills, etc.)

• mindsets and public service ethic

� Organisational learning

• grow and nurture

• knowledge management, talent crunch

• there’s more relevant talent outside any organisation (including government)than inside

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Public sector innovation and transformation

1) Early stage

COST-driven

2) Middle stage

USER-driven

3) Late stage

VALUE-driven

a) Process

innovation

b) Product/

service

innovation

c)

Organisational

innovation

Doing existing

things faster,

cheaper, better

--- ditto ---

Doing new

things, but in

same organisa-

tional settings

Doing new

things, and in

new organisa-

tional settings

--- ditto --- --- ditto ---

Centralised / large scale

command analogy / top-down / order

De-centralised / distributed / small scale

market analogy / bottom-up / chaos

‘Goods’ ‘Bads’

balance

balance

• Ensure minimum standards

• Simplicity• Efficiency

• Bureaucratic• Remote• One size

fits all

• Responsiveness• Subsidiarity• Diversity• Accountability

• Local fiefdoms• Post code lottery• Externalities• Complex

Centralisation / de-centralisation in governance and public services

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Change management & capacity redeployment

(R)e-balancing government

Supply – ‘back’ office

administration

‘coordination’ (enabler) --should be centralised

• within and across governments --

resource / data sharing & process

re-engineering

• between governments and other

actors -- resource / data sharing &

process re-engineering

• ‘re-engineering’ of legacy

technology, organisations,

processes, skills, mindsets, etc.

• management, HR, etc.

• Adaptive capacity & re-deploying resources• Agile & flexible government BUT remember need for continuity &

stability

Demand -- ’front’ office

citizen interface and services

’content’ (the outcome) –should be decentralised

• eServices -- on-line services

based on citizen & business life

events (do-it-yourself) or via

human amplifiers

• traditional services supported by

ICT – human (‘warm’),

organisational & and physical

• eEngagement– greater

accountability, openness,

transparency, accessibility,

participation, etc.

Must get smaller & smarter Must get bigger & better

Interoperability and integration

� Interoperability

– technical, semantic, organisational and

governance (political, legal, managerial and

economic)

– design platform- and vendor-independent

functionality

– it may not always be necessary to start from

scratch if you have legacy technology systems

-- it may be better to link to converters,

clearing houses, etc.

� Integration: strive for both horizontal and vertical integration, and as

much joined-up government as possible -- avoid islands of automation

and fragmentation of effort

� In order to face the unavoidable resistance to change from civil

servants and internal executives when seriously redefining business

processes, the common ownership and adoption of a sound change

management approach is necessary.

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Standards, building blocks & new services

� Use open standards and open software where

possible.

� Use standardised building blocks (software,

applications, processes) to build bespoke solutions --

look for transferability, scalability and contribution to

standards

� Share things which all parts of public sector need to do in the same

way: infrastructures, resources, data, content, services, widgets, apps,

etc., etc.

� For example, PAs make their data available to each other enabling

them to compare and identify e.g. similar locations, user groups

and/or services through analysing socio-demographics, service use,

etc.

� Consider new types of products and services, e.g. exploiting the vast

and potentially highly valuable public sector information resources

� Open data – but make sure serves public interest – may be need for

trusted third parties

Analytics as a management tool

� Information explosion �

information overload ?

� Real problem is filter failure

� Analytics as core management

activity

� Analytics should move data use from 1 to 3:

1. Descriptive techniques

2. Predictive techniques

3. Prescriptive techniques

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Performance management

� Key Performance Indicators,

ROI, etc.

� In Europe eGovernment roll out

(supply side) measured since

2001

� After piloting in 2008, demand side and user focused

indicators launched in 2009:

• qualitative supply indicators focusing on user-centricity

• take-up (use) indicators

• impact indicators in terms of efficiency, effectiveness

and governance

• 2011: piloting of open & transparent government

What is the purpose of eGovernment measurement ?

� Prospective direction and

priorities setting (e.g. ex-ante

evaluation)

� Monitoring and policy correction

as you go along

� Retrospective achievement (e.g.

ex-post impact assessment)

� Accountability (e.g. to citizens,

businesses, tax payers, society)

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Linking eGovernment measurement tothe policy life-cycle

� Policy awareness stage: help in understanding what eGovernment is

� Policy agenda setting stage: encouraging adoption of eGovernment

� Policy preparation stage: understand alternatives and priorities in eGovernment

� Policy implementation stage: monitoring and keeping policy on course for eGovernment, and/or evidence that a change is needed, or how to change if policy changes

� Policy evaluation stage: comparative performance data, reasons behind these, learning and change in eGovernment

Today and future: two mainpolitical measurement trends

1. Up the policy value chain

– inputs and outputs �outcomes and impacts

2. Down the hierarchy

– (centralised) back-office �(de-centralised) front-office

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UK 2010-2013 – integrated strategy

UK: March 2011: Government ICT has a really bad name. Much of this is unjustified. BUT there are problems:

• Projects too big and costly

– Presumption against lifetime costs > £100m; spending controls; create

competitive market place also for SMEs

• Too little attention at top on big projects

– Senior Responsible Owners stay in post until appropriate break; boards to

hold ministers and owners to regular account; performance measurement

• Procurement takes far too long

– Greatly streamline procurement specifying outcomes rather than inputs

• Systems rarely re-used or adapted for re-use

– Prioritise sharing; level playing field for open-source; cross agency apps

store; comprehensive asset register

• Systems rarely interoperable & infrastructure insufficientlyintegrated

– Common ICT infrastructure; G-cloud; open standards starting with

interoperability and security

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UK latest developments and plans (1)

1. Go digital only – shift to digital-only (self) service wherever possible

2. Democratic power shift – use social media and mobile to engage with

citizens and businesses, inputting into policy- and decision-making

3. Expand the brand – realign all Government digital delivery under a

single web domain name (except NHS)

4. Build the service around peoples’ needs – learn from what has been

proven to work well elsewhere on the web, become relentlessly user-

driven and transparent, with a ‘kill or cure’ policy to reduce poorly

performing content and remove the long tail of content no-one uses.

5. Create a distribution network beyond government — using Application

Programming Interfaces (APIs) to allow third parties to present content

and transactions on behalf of the government; shift from ‘public

services all in one place’ (closed & unfocused) to ‘government services

wherever you are’ (open & distributed)

6. Be agile – radically reduce the size of the central organisation;

establish digital SWAT team; establish a government ‘Skunkworks’ to

develop low-cost, fast and agile ICT solutions, and provide a new

channel to involve SMEs and entrepreneurs

Open Public Services White Paper (July 2011, for consultation)

• High-quality public services are the right of everyone. The Open Public

Services White Paper sets out how the Government will improve public

services.

• E-government is seen in this context – not separately

• Five key principles:

– Choice – wherever possible we will increase choice

– Decentralisation – Power should be decentralised to the lowest

appropriate level

– Diversity – Public services should be open to a range of providers

– Fairness – We will ensure fair access to public services

– Accountability – Public services should be accountable to users and

taxpayers.

UK latest developments and plans (2)

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� Open government is porous:

– turning government inside-out:

• exposure of inside of government (transparency,

openness, accountability)

• civil servants and politicians out on the streets but

still connected

– turning government outside-in:

• letting in private & civil sectors (PPPs, PCPs)

• letting in users (e.g. to design policy, make decisions,

as ‘co-creators’ of services)

Future mandate of public sector

� Future mandate of public sector – loss of competence?

– loss of knowledge, competence and control through commoditisation

and outsourcing

– increasing amount of content, services, apps, etc., in the cloud – users

pick and choose their own needs

– government shrinks to a rump -- just one player amongst many?

– BUT shouldn’t government be the promoter of the public interest based

on democratic accountability