6th European Conference - Academic Conferences

The Proceedings
of the
11th European
Conference on
eGovernment
Faculty of Administration,
University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana,
Slovenia
16-17 June 2011
Edited by
Maja Klun, Mitja Decman and Tina Jukić
University of Ljubljana

Copyright The Authors, 2011. All Rights Reserved.
No reproduction, copy or transmission may be made without written permission from the individual authors.
Papers have been doubleblind peer reviewed before final submission to the conference. Initially, paper
abstracts were read and selected by the conference panel for submission as possible papers for the
conference.
Many thanks to the reviewers who helped ensure the quality of the full papers.
These Conference Proceedings have been submitted to the Thomson ISI for indexing.
Further copies of this book can be purchased from http://academic-conferences.org/2-proceedings.htm
ISBN:978-1-908272-01-0 CD
Published by Academic Publishing Limited
Reading
UK
44-118-972-4148
www.academic-publishing.org

Contents
Paper Title Author(s) Page
No.
Preface vi
Biographies of Conference Chairs, Programme Chair,
Keynote Speaker and Mini-track Chairs
Biographies of contributing authors ix
Evaluation of eGovernment Implementation at Federal,
State and Local government Levels in Malaysia
ICT Education and Access as Strategies to Generate
and Distribute eGovernment Content
The Role of National Culture on Citizen Adoption of
eGovernment websites
i
Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar 1
Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti and Erja
Mustonen-Ollila
Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Aldalahmeh
A Framework for Transitioning to Mobile Government Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine
Lawrence
The Stages of eGovernment: Correlation Between
Characteristics That Affect eGovernment Systems
Social Media in European Governmental
Communication
Technology Adoption and Innovation in Public Services:
The Case of eGovernment in Italy
Pan-European eGovernment and eHealth Services in
Slovenia
Enhancement of Public Service Effectiveness by
Partially Automating Service Request Paper Forms
Using Citizen ID Smartcard
Development of User Authentication for web
Application Sign-on Mechanism Using Oasis SAML
Standard With Thai Citizen ID Card
A Pilot Development of PKI Digital Signatures on
Electronic Correspondence Using Citizen ID
Smartcards
Development of an Electronic Correspondence Time-
Stamping Service Using Oasis Digital Signature
Services
Framework Guidelines to Measure the Impact of
Business Intelligence and Decision Support
Methodologies in the Public Sector
vii
10
17
27
Madi Al-Sebie 36
Isabel Anger and Christian Kittl 43
Davide Arduini, Mario Denni and
Gerolamo Giungat and Antonello
Zanfei
Jaro Berce, Vasja Vehovar, Ana
Slavec and Mirko Vintar
Choompol Boonmee, Rattapol
Chatchumsai, Tawa Khampachoa
and Chakri Chuenurah
Choompol Boonmee, Peera
Tharaphant and Pipop Damtongsuk
Choompol Boonmee, Peera
Tharaphant and Pipop Damtongsuk
Choompol Boonmee, Rattapol
Chatchumsai and Sunet Boonmee
Roberto Boselli, Mirko Cesarini and
Mario Mezzanzanica
Avoiding Disasters – Ensuring PKI-Service Availability Harald Bratko, Peter Lipp and
Christof Rath
Achieving Optimum Balance in the Simplification of tax
Compliance Obligations for Business Customers and
Management of Compliance and Collection Risks by
Revenue
53
65
74
80
87
97
107
116
Leonard Burke and Kieran Gallery 124

Paper Title Author(s) Page
No.
Risk Management in a Cooperation Context Walter Castelnovo 132
The Effect of User's Satisfaction of web Security on
Trust in eGovernment
A Common Process Model to Improve eService
Solutions - the Municipality Case
Measuring Performance of eGovernment to the
Disabled: Theory and Practice in Taiwan
Predictive Analytics in the Public Sector: Using Data
Mining to Assist Better Target Selection for Audit
Citizen Participation in Urban Planning: Looking for the
“E” Dimension in the EU National Systems and Policies
Social Media and Local Government in England: Who
is Doing What?
Electronic Health Records Management and
Preservation: The Case of Slovenia
Sustaining Electronic Governance Programs in
Developing Countries
Adapting Family Card System by Means of Smart
Cards
Collaborative Network Analysis of two eGovernment
Conferences: Are we Building a Community?
E-Identity, E-Activities and E-Political Participation:
How are College Students Embracing the Promise of
the Internet?"
Semantic-Driven eGovernment: Correlating
Development Phases with Semantic eGovernment
Specific Ontology Models
Towards a Unified Semantic-Driven Methodology
Framework for eGovernment Systems Development
An Information System to Collect and Analyze Data
From Educational Units During Epidemy Spread
Periods
Interoperability in the Justice Field: Variables That
Affect Implementation
eGovernment and Service Delivery at the Local Level:
A Comparative Analysis of Three Canadian
Municipalities
ii
Lichun Chiang, Ching-Yuan Huang
and Wu-Chuan Yang
140
Marie-Therese Christiansson 149
Pin-yu Chu, Tong-yi Huang and
Ning-wan Huang
158
Duncan Cleary 168
Grazia Concilio and Francesco
Molinari
177
Martin De Saulles 187
Mitja Decman 193
Zamira Dzhusupova, Tomasz
Janowski, Adegboyega Ojo and Elsa
Estevez
Magdy Elhennawy, Tarek Saad,
Ashraf abdel Wahab and Sameh
Bedair
203
213
Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski 225
Marcoux Faiia 234
Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and
Magda Huisman
Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and
Magda Huisman
John Garofalakis, Andreas Koskeris,
Evangelia Boufardea, Theofanis
Michail and Flora Oikonomou
245
254
263
Mila Gascó and Carlos E Jiménez 272
John Grant, Frank Ohemeng and
Roberto Leone
280

Paper Title Author(s) Page
No.
Crowd-sourcing Techniques: Participation,
Transparency and the Factors Determining the Co-
Production of Policy
Implementation of a Contact Centre in a Swedish
Municipality
An Outline of the Technical Requirements on
Governmental Electronic Record Systems Derived from
the European Legal Environment
Examining Influences on eGovernment Growth in the
Transition Economies of Central and Eastern Europe:
Evidence from Panel Data
Management of Latvian Government Communications
During an Economic Crisis: The Role of Information
Strategies in the Public Sector
Business/IT Alignment as Enabler for eGovernment in
Syria
iii
Mary Griffiths 288
Kerstin Grundén 296
Bernhard Horn, Gerald Fischer,
Roman Trabitsch and Thomas
Grechenig
303
Princely Ifinedo 310
Aleksis Jarockis 320
Raed Kanaan, Kamal Atieh and
Omar Subhi Aldabbas
Does eTaxation Reduce Taxation Compliance Costs Maja Klun 335
International Assistance Relationship to eGovernment
Development and Benchmarking
Challenges to the Design and use of Stages-of-Growth
Models in eGovernment
Developing Measures for Benchmarking the
Interoperability of Public Organizations
Barriers to Developing eGovernment Projects in
Developing Countries
328
Endrit Kromidha 339
Devender Maheshwari, Anne Fleur
van Veenstra and Marijn Janssen
Devender Maheshwari, Anne Fleur
van Veenstra and Marijn Janssen
347
354
Zaigham Mahmood 363
Digital Inclusion: a target not always desirable Fausto Marcantoni and Alberto
Polzonetti
Multi-Level Interoperability for ICT-Enabled
Governance: A Framework for Assessing Value Drivers
and Implications for European Policies
Strategies for eGovernment Implementation in
Developing Countries: A Case Study of The Botswana
Government
The use of ICT by Government Departments and
Parastatals in South Africa
The Workload for the Structural Implementation of
eDemocracy: Local Government Policy Issues
Combined With the Policy Cycle and Styles of
Citizenship.
Gianluca Misuraca, Giuseppe Alfano
and Gianluigi Viscusi
Racious Moilamashi Moatshe and
Zaigham Mahmood
369
377
386
Matsobane Frans Mosetja 394
Bert Mulder and Martijn Hartog 399
Channel Shift - a UK Customer Response Darren Mundy, Qasim Umer, and
Alastair Foster
406

Paper Title Author(s) Page
No.
eGovernment in Social and Economic Development:
The Asymmetric Roles of Information,
Institutionalization and Diffusion
iv
Bongani Ngwenya 413
National Electronic Government Strategies in Austria Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar 422
Smoke and Mirrors: Can a Useful Approximation of the
Cigarette tax gap be Determined?
Adopting Web 2.0 in Building Participatory
eGovernment: A Perception Contour From Inside the
Government
Combating Identity Fraud in the Public Domain:
Information Strategies for Healthcare and Criminal
Justice
Approaching eGovernment as a Strategic Driver for
Improving the Ethical Model: An Empirical Analysis
From Business Economics
Public Procurement and Internet-purchasing: the
Defence Sector Evidence
Evaluating the Development of eGovernment Systems:
The Case of Polish Local Government Websites
Comparative Analysis of Information Security
Governance Frameworks: A Public Sector Approach
Clare Omelia 432
Ching-Heng Pan and Lichun Chian 443
Marijn Plomp and Jan Grijpink 451
Massimo Pollifroni 459
Nataša Pomazalová and Zbyšek
Korecki
469
Leszek Porębski 475
Oscar Rebollo, Daniel Mellado , Luis
Enrique Sánchez and Eduardo
Fernández-Medina
Web 2.0 on the Mexican State Sites: An Overview Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán, Gabriela
Díaz Murillo , Ramón Gil-Garcia, Luis
Luna-Reyes and Dolores Luna-
Reyes
eGovernment in Serbia: Prospects and Challenges Laslo Šereš and Ivana Horvat 502
An Organizational Framework for Managing
eGovernment Systems in Developing Countries: The
Case of Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Outsourcing of IT Projects in the Public Sector –
Sustainable Solution or Erosion of the Public Sector?
Closing the Digital Divide gap in European Union: A
Unique Solution for Different Tiers?
Towards Estimating Users’ Strength of Opinion in
Forum Texts about Governmental Decisions
An Efficient, Effective eGovernment Enterprise
Resource Planning Model
Citizen-Government Interaction in Russia:
eGovernment as Tradition Bearer
Shareef Shareef, Elias Pimenidis,
Hamid Jahankhani and J. Arreymbi
482
491
513
Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar 522
Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas 531
George Stylios, Christos
KatsisVasiliki Simaki, Sofia Stamou
and Dimitris Christodoulakis
547
John Douglas Thomson 553
Anna Trakhtenberg 564
eGovernment Openness Index Nataša Veljković, Sanja Bogdanović-
Dinić and Leonid Stoimenov
571

Paper Title Author(s) Page
No.
Exploring Facilitators and Challenges Facing ICT4D in
Tanzania
v
Jim Yonazi 578
PHD 589
Maturity Models Transition from eGovernment
Interoperability to T-Government: Restyling Dynamic
Public Services Through Integrated Transformation of
Service Delivery
Quality of Services and Citizen Profiling in
eGovernment
A Quest for an Applicable Model of Growth for
Directgov
Mohamed Mohyi Eddine El Aichi and
Mohamed Dafir Ech-Cherif El Kettani
Guillaume Gronier, Sandrine Reiter
and Mélanie Becker
591
603
Panos Hahamis 612
Non Academics Papers 621
Providing Public Services Through Digital Postal
Networks: A Position Paper
An Evaluation of Expression of Doubt in the context of
Self-Assessment: Section 955(4) Taxes Consolidation
Act 1997
Liam Church and Maria Moloney 623
Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney 630
Moving Fast Forward to National Data Standardization Asanee Kawtrakul, Intiraporn
Mulasastra, Tawa Khampachua and
Somchoke Ruengittinun
Work in Progress 655
Bridging the IT/Process Divide in Public Administrations
by Simple Semantic Interoperability Artefacts
643
Robert Orlowski and Veit Jahns 657

Preface
These proceedings represent the work of presenters at the 11th European Conference on e-Government
(ECEG 2011).
The Conference this year is being hosted by the Faculty of Administration, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana,
Slovenia. The Conference Chair is Professor Maja Klun and the Programme Co-Chairs are Mitja Decman
and Tina Jukić, all from the University of Ljubljana.
The opening keynote address is given by Dr. Aleš Dobnikar, E-Government and Administrative Processes
Directorate, Ministry of Public Administration, Slovenia.
This Conference brings together practitioners and researchers in the area of e-Government from some 40
different countries. Participants will be able to share their research findings and explore the latest
developments and trends in the field which can then be disseminated in the wider community.
With an initial submission of 192 abstracts, after the double blind, peer review process there are 74 papers
published in these Conference Proceedings. These papers represent research from countries including
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Eygpt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Poland,
Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand,
The Netherlands, Turkey, UK, USA and Zimbabwe. This will ensure a very interesting two days.
I hope that you have an stimulating conference, and enjoy your time in Ljubljana.
Maja Klun, Mitja Decman and Tina Jukić
Co-Programme Chairs
University of Ljubljana
June 2011
vi

Biographies of Conference Chairs, Programme Chairs
and Keynote Speakers
Conference Chair
Maja Klun is a vice-dean for Scientific and Research Activities at the Faculty of
Administration, University of Ljubljana. Holding her first, master and Ph. D. degrees in
economy from The Faculty of Economics, the Ljubljana University, her main theoretical
and professional experience is in the field of Public sector Economics and Taxation
System. She is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Administration, teaching at both
the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Economics, Public Finance, and Public
Sector Economics. Her research interests focus mainly on Public sector Economics,
Administrative Burden Reduction, Performance Budgeting, and Performance Measuring in Public Sector.
Programme Chairs
Mitja Decman is a Senior Lecturer in Informatics and Information Systems in
Public Administration at Faculty of Administration, teaching at undergraduate level.
He holds a first and master degree in Computer and Information Science, from the
Faculty of Computer and Information Science, and a Ph. D. in Administration
Science from the Faculty of Administration. His project and research work
includes: development of information systems, benchmarking systems, digital
preservation, information security, e-government, e-governance, web 2.0 and
others.
Keynote Speakers
Tina Jukić is a researcher and PhD student at Faculty of Administration, University of
Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she also completed her master’s degree. Her research is
currently focused on ex-ante and ex-post evaluation of e-government projects, but she
has been and still is active in other fields of e-government research as well (e.g.
measuring e-government user satisfaction, e-democracy, evaluation of e-government
development etc.). She is collaborating on several national and international egovernment-related
projects, and same holds for her publications.
Dr. Aleš Dobnikar is Director-General of the e-Government and Administrative
Processes Directorate at the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of
Slovenia. He is also a senior assistant in the Department of Intelligent Systems at the
Jožef Stefan Institute, the biggest technological institute in Slovenia and an assistant
professor of strategic management, development of modern systems and the field of
information-communication technologies at the University of Primorska. He is a
member of several national, European and international bodies and associations and
a leader or member of many international teams, including the Centre for
eGovernance Development in South East Europe (CeGD) Supervisory Board. He is
the author of numerous expert and scientific articles and books. He earned his doctorate degree in 1997
from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana.
Mini track chairs
Christian Breitenstom works as software architect with focus on privacy enhancing
technologies and enterprise applications. Among his projects were the central news
system for the German government (BPAVIS) and the distributed information system of
the German police (INPOL). With Fraunhofer FOKUS he developed the Electronic Safe
for Data and Documents as trustworthy e-Government infrastructure. As OMG certified
professional Christian trained software engineering teams in modelling and JEE
technologies.
vii

Tom Collins lectures in International Tax and Advanced Tax in the B.A. (Hons.) in
Applied Taxation and in Wealth Management for the MSc (Computational Finance) at
the National Centre for Taxation Studies, University of Limerick. Tom has over 25 years
experience with Big-4 tax practices in Ireland and New Zealand. Prior to joining the
University of Limerick, Tom was a Tax Director with Deloitte specialising in international
tax, real estate and wealth management. Tom is NCTS director since September 2009.
Mila Gascó holds a Ph. D. in public policy evaluation and a Master in Business
Administration. She is a researcher at the Institute of Governance and Public
Management of ESADE as well as an associate professor at both the Open University
of Catalonia and the Pompeu Fabra University. She also has a lot of consulting
experience on the information and knowledge society. Her main interests are related to
public policies that allow the transition of a society to the so-called knowledge era (in
particular, e-government and e-governance), to the use of ICTs for human development
and to public policy evaluation.
Carlos Jiménez is a Computer Engineer and holds a diploma on Information Systems
Management. He is finishing his MSc. on the Information Society. He is in charge of the
change management of the e-Justice project sponsored by the Information Systems
Service of the Justice Department of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia. His
main interests include information systems, e-governance, and interoperability. In these
areas he has and carried out international training and consulting work for important
organizations worldwide such as CLAD, the Government of Brazil, the Externado
University of Colombia or the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain.
government.
Zaigham Mahmood is a Principal Researcher and Reader in Applied Computing in
the School of Computing and Mathematics, University of Derby, UK. He has an MSc in
Mathematics, an MSc in Computer Science and a PhD in Modeling of Phase
Equilibria. He is also a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Information Technology
Professional. Zaigham has in excess of 50 publications in proceedings of international
conferences and journals as well as chapters in books. He is also Editor-in-Chief of
Journal of E-Government Studies and Best Practices. His research interests are in the
areas of software engineering, project management, enterprise computing and e-
Pat Molan is a Principal Officer with the Irish Revenue Commissioners and Limerick
District Manager. Pat has worked with Revenue for almost thirty years having worked in
a number of government departments previously. Pat has been centrally involved in the
delivery of new and innovative IT solutions that have helped transform the Irish Revenue
Commissioners into an organisation that is internationally regarded as the flagship for e-
Government in the Irish Public Service.
Biographies of contributing authors (in alphabetical
order)
Ahamed Bakeri Abu Bakar is Currently a professor at the Department of Library and Information Science,
International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Has published a good number of articles
in refereed journals and has presented numerous papers at international conferences worldwide covering
areas such as digital libraries, e-governments, and information access.
Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti is a Master of Science in Software Engineering. She has investigated the progress
and obstacles of implementing and improving e-government in Iran. Prior to this, she completed her Bachelor
of Science in Information Technology. Fatemeh's research interests include ICTs, e-government and its
security issues, e-services, trust management, and technology and knowledge management.
Shadi Al-khamayseh is a lecturer at Dubai Women's College, Higher College of Technology, Dubai City,
UAE. He completed his PhD on Mobile Government at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia where
viii

he lectured and tutored in a number of Information Technology subjects. He has published widely on
electronic and mobile government.
Madi Al-Sebie is an assistant professor in IT at Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. He received his PhD from
School of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel University (UK). He received his M.Sc. in Computer
Studies (Department of Computer Science) from the University of Essex.
Isabel Anger studied journalism and organizational communication at FH JOANNEUM, University of Applied
Sciences. After finishing her studies in 2010, she has been working as junior researcher at evolaris next level
GmbH in Graz, Austria. Her research focus lies on Social Media and mobile web.
Davide Arduini is Lecturer of International Industrial Economics at University of Urbino. He holds a PhD in
Economics from Polytechnic University of Marche. He has collaborated with the National Centre for
Information technology in the Public Administration. He works on Economics of technical change and
technology policy, diffusion of ICT and e-Government.
Jaro Berce, PhD, an assistant professor. Research interests: Information Society technologies (IST) and
socio-economics implications; Knowledge management, Learning organization and Governance
models.Lecturing: Project management, Secondary data and information resources, Information systems
and eGovernance, Analyse of Information Society. Publishing topics: eGovernance, IST, Knowledge
management and Learning organisation culture at conferences, journals and books.
Choompol Boonmee is a lecturer at faculty of engineering Thammasat university. He also works as an ICT
consultant of Thai government. He led many e-government projects. He is also the president of the electronic
data interchange promotion association (EDIPA). His interests include e-government interoperability, ICT
benefit management, national ID smartcard, software engineering, service oriented architecture and scientific
computation.
Roberto Boselli is professor assistant in Computer Science at the Department of Statistics, University of
Milan Bicocca. His research activities focus on Information Systems, Semantic Web, Web 2.0 and egovernment
services. He published many scientific papers in books, international journals, proceedings of
national and international conferences.
Leonard Burke is a Principal Officer with the Irish Revenue Commissioners in the Collector General’s
Division. Leonard has worked with Revenue since 2006 having previously worked in the Department of
Social Protection for 28 years. He is centrally involved in identifying and delivering new and innovative IT
solutions in an organisation that is internationally regarded as the flagship for e-Government in the Irish
Public Service.
Walter Castelnovo is assistant professor of Information Systems and Organization at the University of
Insubria (Italy). His research interests concern technological and organizational innovation in Public
Administration and Interorganizational Information Systems. He is a member of the Department of
Institutional Reforms, E-Government, Cooperation and Communitarian Policies of the Association of
Municipalities of Lombardia (italy).
Lichun Chiang is an associate professor at the Department of Political Science at the National Chung Kung
University in Tainan, Taiwan. She earned her Ph.D. in Political Science, and obtained her Master in Public
Administration from the University of Southern California, USA. Her recent research interests are mainly in
e-governance, information technology and public organizations.
Marie-Therese Christiansson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Information Systems at Karlstad University
in Sweden. Her research interest covers process oriented driven business- and system development. Focus
in her research is a co-production in an established network for practitioners, in private as well as public
organisations, with interest in knowledge development and lightweight process methodologies.
Pin-Yu Chu serves as Distinguished Professor of National Chengchi University, Taiwan. Her research
interests include technology development and management and digital governance. Her publications can be
found in Government Information Quarterly, Omega: The International Journal of Management Science,
Journal of Management & Organization, Public Performance and Management Review, International Journal
of Technology Management, etc.
Liam Church is president and CEO of Escher Group Ltd. During his 22 year career in the postal system, he
has been responsible for numerous, large-scale business and IT projects. He has considerable expertise in
ix

the use of technology to manage change, to drive business growth and to help accelerate profitability in
postal organizations.
Duncan Cleary Senior Statistician in Revenue, Ireland, based in the Research and Analytics Branch;
specialising in the application of Knowledge Discovery/ Data Mining methodologies and their application in
the Irish Tax & Customs Authority, using predictive analytics, customer segmentation, real time risk
analyses, large scale surveys, social network analysis, spatial analyses, time series and evidence based
experiements.
Grazia Concilio- Degree in Engineering, PhD in Evaluation Methods for the Integrated Conservation of
Architectural, Urban and Environmental Heritage, assistant professor in Urban Planning at the Polytechnic of
Milan and author of several articles. Research work mainly developed around the implementation of
methodologies and techniques of knowledge representation and management for decision-making in spatial
planning.
Anne Corbett has worked for the Irish Revenue Commissioners for over 25 years and has extensive
experience in a wide range of areas and roles. Currently she is involved in comprehensive audit (Corporation
Tax, PAYE, VAT, CGT) with responsibility for the audit of high worth individuals, professionals and large
companies. She also has a particular focus on anti-avoidance issues and her job entails sourcing and
investigating such issues, schemes, and risks. She has recently completed an Honours Degree course in
Applied Taxation with the University of Limerick.
Martin De Saulles is a Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton in the UK where he teaches and
carries out research on knowledge management, social media management and innovation in the
information sector. Prior to joining the University of Brighton in 2003, Martin worked in the advertising and
management consulting sectors.
Mitja Dečman is a Senior Lecturer in Informatics and Information Systems in Public Administration at
Faculty of Administration, teaching at undergraduate level. He holds a Ph. D. in Administration Science from
the Faculty of Administration. His project and research work includes: development of information systems,
benchmarking systems, digital preservation, information security, e-government, web 2.0 and others.
Amanda Derrick (MA Cantab) is Programme Director for Connect Digitally a multiple award-winning
programme. The programme is leading central and local government in transforming key services for
citizens across England by streamlining delivery and innovative use of digital technology. Amanda has a
strong leadership and delivery record in government.
Mohamed Mohyi Eddine El AichiI a Software Development manager, is currently preparing his PhD at
ENSIAS. The aim of his thesis is to model transformational government process. His experience in
implementing e-government solutions in Morocco and his interest in best practices for managing information
systems, enable him to understand the weakness of implementation of a t-government solution.
Magdy El-Hennawy is the project manager for the Family Card System in MSAD. Meanwhile, working as
a lecturer in the Higher Institute of Computer Science & Information Technology, El-Shorouk Academy.
Before, since 1978, working as chief of the System Engineering team, deputy manager then manager of
software development center specialized in mission critical software systems.
Nuša Erman graduated from the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Social Sciences (social informatics) in
2007. Most of her research is focused on social network, citation, and scientific network analysis (mostly in egovernment
domain). She collaborates with Faculty of administration as a young researcher and an assistant
in the field of Informatics.
Marcoux Faiia is a Professor of Sociology at Rivier College in Nashua, N.H., U.S.A.. Dr. Marcoux Faiia has
a Masters of Social Work from Boston College and a Ph.D. in Sociology/Anthropology from Northeastern
University. Dr. Marcoux Faiia's research interests are in deviant behavior, popular culture and youth and
women's Issues.
Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu is a PhD candidate at the School of Computer, Statistical and Mathematical
Sciences at the North-West University and a lecturer in the Department of Software Studies at the Vaal
University of Technology. His research interests include: Biometric for Personal Identification, Ontology,
Agent Modelling, and Semantic Knowledge representation in egovernment
x

John Garofalakis is Professor at the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, Patra’s
University, Greece, and Director of Research Academic Computer Technology Institute’s Sector for Regional
Development. His experience includes R&D work (and relevant publications) in the fields of: Web and Mobile
Technologies, Performance Analysis of Computer Systems, Computer Networks and Telematics, Distributed
Computer Systems, Queuing Theory.
Mila Gascó holds a MBA and a Ph. D. in public policy evaluation. She is a researcher at the Institute of
Governance and Public Management of ESADE as well as an associate professor at both the Open
University of Catalonia and the Pompeu Fabra University, all of them in Spain.
John Grant holds a Ph. D in Political Science from McMaster University. His fields of expertise include
policy research, public administration, performance management, statistical analysis and data collection. He
is a senior policy analyst for a consulting company and maintains a current appointment as an external
researcher for the York Centre for International and Security Studies.
Mary Griffiths teaches in communications and media and is Head of Media at the University of Adelaide.
Current research includes Creative Tactics; and Digital Citizenship and Youth Participation, a comparative
study (with Youn-Min Park). She is guest editor of ‘Trading with China’ (2012), a special issue of
Communications, Politics and Culture.
Guillaume Gronier has realised a PhD in ergonomic psychology on computer supported cooperative work.
Currently Research and Development Engineer at the Public Research Centre Henri Tudor in Luxembourg,
he works on issues related to ergonomics, collective and organizational performance, digital trust and user
profiling for online government services.
Kerstin Grundén is senior lecturer in informatics at the West University of Sweden. She has also a
background as a sociologist. She is participating in an on-going interdisciplinary research project Innoveta
funded by Vinnova for the study of customer centres implementation and e-services within municipalities in
Sweden.
Panos Hahamis is a Senior Lecturer in Business Information Management and Operations at the
Westminster Business School and a Henley DBA Research Associate. He holds a BA (Hons) in Politics, an
MSc in Advanced Information Technology, a PGCHE and a Post-Graduate Advanced Diploma in
Management Consultancy-ADipC. A former diplomatic agent and military officer, in recent years his research
interests have focused on e-Government.
Martijn Hartog is a project leader and researcher at the eSociety Institute. He functioned as advisor within
several Dutch governmental agencies, such as the Ministry of General Affairs / Ministry of Transport, Public
Works and Water Management / Dutch Public Broadcast Agency and Municipality of Rotterdam. His current
field of research concerns applied e-democracy.
Bernhard Horn is a research assistant in the research group for Industrial Software at Vienna University of
Technology and his research and science focus is in the field of e-government, IT law and medical
informatics. He holds master diplomas in Business Informatics and Law from the University of Vienna.
Currently he works on his PhD thesis about the Austrian legal regulations for the electronic delivery of
governmental documents.
Ivana Horvat is a student of PhD studies, module Business informatics at University of Novi Sad, Faculty of
Economics. Most of the research period she was interested in business informatics and, therefore, she
defined research areas that comprise of XML databases, services that use XML to exchange documents,
with special concern on e-government processes.
Princely Ifinedo is an Associate Professor at Cape Breton University, Canada. He holds a doctoral degree
in Information Systems Science from the University of Jyväskylä and masters degrees from the University of
London and Tallinn University. He has presented research at various international IS conferences.
Aleksis Jarockis is a PhD candidate of the University of Latvia, Department of Communications Studies. In
2009 acquired Latvian University Social Sciences master's degree in Communicational Sciences with
honors. Research interests: public administration communication, crisis communication in the public sector,
organization communication, media and public in public current issues research and interpretation.
Raed Kanaan is an assistant Professor in Management Information System at the Arab Academy for
Banking and Financial Sciences. He received his PhD in Information systems from the De Montfort
xi

University, and MSc in management information systems form the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial
Sciences. His research interests include e-government in developing countries, e-commerce, impact of
culture on IT adoption and implementations in the Middle East, and Intellectual capital in the Arab
universities.
Maja Klun oriented her research in public finance, and economics of public sector. The government
appointed her as a member of government group for development of performance-oriented budgeting for the
period 2005-2007. She cooperates with the government in the field of better regulation, and in the board for
public sector.
Endrit Kromidha (MSc) is a researcher and lecturer in Royal Holloway, University of London and other UK
higher institutions in management, information systems, e-business and information society. Having a
background in international economics and work experience in business, non-profit sector and academia, his
current interest is on e-government, international assistance, sustainability, information systems, and
institutionalisation.
Peter Lipp is Assistant Professor at IAIK, Graz University of Technology, and is heading the Java Crypto
development team at IAIK and Stiftung Secure Information and Communication SIC, where he also is one of
the CEOs. He has been involved in PKI-projects and standardisation for about 20 years.
Devender Maheshwari is a PhD researcher at Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
Department, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands He holds a master degree in
Telecommunication from Delft University. His research is focused on E-government growth and readiness,
interoperability, e-governance, measuring and benchmarking, and enterprise architectures of public
organizations.
Zaigham Mahmood is a Reader in Applied Computing at the University of Derby UK. He is a Chartered
Engineer and has in excess of 60 articles published in conference proceedings, journals and books. His
research is in the areas of software engineering, project management, enterprise computing and egovernment.
Gianluca Misuraca is a Scientific Officer at the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective
Technological Studies of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC-IPTS). Also a Research
Associate at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where previously he was the Managing
Director of the Global Executive Master in e-Governance.
Racious Moatshe is a PhD student at the University of Derby, UK. He is pursuing a research project on
Barriers to successful implementation of e-government in developing countries, taking the case of Botswana
government. Racious has experience and knowledge in business finance, banking, and business needs
analysis, portfolio management, and people and business management.
Maria Moloney is an IT consultant with Escher Group Ltd and a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin. After
earning a BSc degree and an MSc degree in Information Systems, she is currently reading towards a PhD at
Trinity College Dublin. Her research interests include informational privacy, e-government and information
systems design theory.
Frans Mosetja is a junior lecturer in the department of Information Systems at the Faculty of Commerce,
North West University-Mafikeng campus, South Africa, teaching the undergraduate courses. He is currently
busy with his Masters degree in Information Systems. His research is focused on the use of Information
Technology by government departments in South Africa.
Bert Mulder is an associate professor of Information, Technology and Society at The Hague University of
Applied Sciences and founder of the eSociety Institute. His main objective concerns strategy development
for a broad and innovative appliance of ICT within the society. Prior to this he worked as an information
advisor at the Dutch parliament.
Darren Mundy holds a PhD in the field of Healthcare Informatics (2004) and a first class honours degree in
Computer Science (2000) both of which were obtained from the University of Salford. Darren is the Director
of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Arts and New Media at the University of Hull. His research
interests range from Computer Security through web personalisation systems to innovative educational
technologies.
Gianluca Misuraca Scientific Officer at the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective
Technological Studies of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC-IPTS). Also a Research
xii

Associate at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where previously he was the Managing
Director of the Global Executive Master in e-Governance.Gianluca held several positions as policy advisor
for various International Organisations, bilateral cooperation agencies and consulting companies.
Francesco Molinari -MSc & MA in Local Public Management (Siena University, 2007 & 2005) and BSc in
Social and Economic Disciplines (Milan “L. Bocconi” University, 1990). Currently an independent research
and project manager for several public and private organizations in Europe. His background includes a 5years
service as strategic advisor of a middle-sized Italian City Mayor.
Bongani Ngwenya is the Dean, Faculty of Business, MBA Thesis Defense Panel Chair, Lecturer and
Master’s thesis supervisor at Solusi University, in Zimbabwe.Currently studying PhD in Business
Management & Administration, with specialization in Strategic Management with North West University,
Mafeking Campus in South Africa. Research interests are mainly in the areas of Organisational Decision-
Making Research & Business in general.
Birgit Oberer is amember of the Faculty of Arts and Science at Kadir Has University. Currently, her
academic interests are public management, process management and information technology. She actively
takes part in a number of international networks and task forces on Management and IT and member of
editorial reviewer boards for international journals
Clare Omelia is an Assistant Principal Officer with the Irish Revenue Commissioners and is Dublin
Enforcement District Manager, based at Dublin Port. With Revenue since 2004, Clare has previously worked
in other Government Departments, and in the private sector.
Robert Orlowski (B.Sc.) is a student of Information Systems at the University of Duisburg-Essen. His
academic areas of interest include ontological engineering and semantic interoperability of information
systems.
Ching-Heng Pan is an assistant professor at the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. He earned his
Ph.D. in Public Administration from University of Southern California, and obtained his Master in Public
Administration from Columbia University. His recent research interests are mainly in e-governance,
innovation diffusion, and public organizations.
Marijn Plomp has an MSc in Information Science from Utrecht University and currently works there as a
PhD Researcher at the Department of Information and Computing Sciences. His research focuses on the
adoption of chain information systems. He also has a position as researcher/consultant at Dialogic innovation
& interaction in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Massimo Pollifroni (2001) L’economia dell’azienda universitaria, Giappichelli, Turin.(2003) Processi e
modelli di e-government ed e-governance applicati all’azienda pubblica, Giuffrè, Milan.(2007) Public Sector
Social Responsibility. Strumenti di rendicontazione etico-sociale per l’azienda pubblica, Giuffrè, Milan.(2009)
Green Public Accounting. Profili di rendicontazione ambientale per un’azienda pubblica responsabile e
sostenibile, Giappichelli, Turin.
Nataša Pomazalová, Ph.D.Nataša is lecturer at University of Defence in Brno (CZ). Her research interests
include managerial education, outsourcing use in the public sector and e-government. Her research is
focusing on public procurement and knowledge management.
Leszek Porębski is a professor of political science, employed in the Department of Political Science and
Contemporary History, at the Faculty of Humanities, AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków,
Poland. Major fields of interest: e-democracy, e-government, societal consequences of the ICT use as well
as the political theory of Harold D. Lasswell.
Oscar Rebollo is MSc in Computer Science and Networks from the University of Alcalá de Henares (Spain).
He is currently a PhD student and a member of the GSYA research group at the School of Computer
Science at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. His research activity is in the field of security in Information
Systems.
Laslo Šereš is an assistant professor at University of Novi Sad, Department of Business Informatics. He’s
interest and active involvement with databases is already 20 years long. Nowadays his primary research
interest is in XML database constraints and usage of XML databases in different areas, including e-Business
processes. His other interests are database design, query optimization issues, and Data Warehousing.
xiii

Shareef Shareef BSc in Physics from Mousel University in 1990 in Iraq. Received an MSc in Digital
Communications Networks in 2005 from London Metropolitan University with distinction. worked as an expert
in ICT Centre at the Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) in
2007Currently at the University of East London as a PhD student.
Dalibor Stanimirovic finished his master's studies at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Administration.
He is an assistant in the field of Informatics in public administration and an active member of Institute for
Informatization of Administration. He is involved in various IT projects and his research interests include egovernment,
e-democracy and social dimensions of ICT.
Virgil Stoica, Ph.D.Head of Political Science Department – Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Faculty
of Philosophy, Social and Political Sciences; Courses taught: Public Policy, Public Administration, and
Political Science Research Methods; Scientific research fields: e-government, public policies, local
government, and political elites.
John Douglas Thomson, PhD: Research interests include corporate governance policy and ethics, ebusiness
and government/industry policies, infrastructure development and high tech project delivery,
business systems and marketing. He has published four books, five book chapters, and 32 refereed
conference/journal publications/papers.
Natasa Veljkovic received the BSc and MSc degrees in Computer Science at the Faculty of Electronic
Engineering, University of Nis, Serbia. She is currently working as a Teaching Assistant at Faculty of
Electronic Engineering with the Department of Computer Science. Her PhD research is concerned with
Sensor Web systems, E-systems, GIS and e-Government solutions and implementation.
Jim Yonazi is a Lecture and a researcher from the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) in Dar es Salaam
Tanzania. His research interest is on the areas of e-Government, ICT4D, and ICT innovations. Jim has a
PhD in e-Government from the University of Groningen (Netherlands) and MSc Information Technology and
Management from Keele University (UK).
xiv

Evaluation of eGovernment Implementation at Federal, State
and Local government Levels in Malaysia
Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
bakeri@iiu.edu.my
Abstract: The Malaysian Government has been implementing eGovernment initiatives since 1997. One way that the
government can demonstrate physically to meet public demands for greater transparency and accountability is to
offer online services and products through the eGovernment websites or portals. The eGovernment websites at
Federal government, State government and Local government levels vary from one another considerably in terms of
their technological design as well as their contents. For the purpose of measuring the generic aptitude of the State,
Federal and Local government authorities to employ eGovernment, the Web Presence Measurement Model
employed by the United Nations for the Global eGovernment Survey 2003, was used to evaluate the websites.
Evaluation of MyGovernment, the Malaysia’s Government official portal,13 State government websites as well as
State agencies websites and 145 local government authorities websites was conducted. The study was able to
identify the current state of maturity of eGovernment websites and the stage of fitness of those websites in the cyber
space. It was found that the portal, MyGovernment was far ahead in term of sophistication, followed closely by the
websites of the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry and the Ministry of Tourism. The websites of all the
State Governments in Malaysia are fairly good but the State Agencies websites have several deficiencies especially
in incorporating the eGovernment applications such as E-procurement in their websites. At the Local government
Authorities level the implementation of eGovernment is fairly good for those in rich States such as Selangor while
those in poor States such as Sabah they are deficient in several aspects such as the absence of online payment, e-
Procurement and online application in their websites. This sort of indicate that local government authorities with
money to spend can develop their websites/portals to a sophisticated level of maturity while other less fortunate
States could only provide the barest minimum for their websites/portals as in the case of Sabah.
Keywords: eGovernment, Malaysia, state government, local government, website evaluation
1. Introduction
The Malaysian Government has been implementing eGovernment initiatives since 1997. This initiative by
the government is in reality a product of the efforts under the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). It was
designed to improve information flow and processes within the government, improve the speed and
quality of policy development, and improve coordination and enforcement. This would enable the
government to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens. The MSC is a project created by the
government to hasten the process of the nation to become first world status by the year 2020. For this
purpose the government has embarked in various initiatives and investments related to information and
communication technology (ICT). The MSC now known as MSC Malaysia was responsible for
establishing the eGovernment flagship under its flagship applications programme. Under the
eGovernment flagship, seven main projects were identified to be the core of the eGovernment
applications. The eGovernment projects are Project Monitoring System (PMS), Electronic Procurement
(eP), Generic Office Environment (GOE), E-Syariah, Human Resource Management Information System
(HRMIS Electronic Services Delivery (eServices)), and Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX).
As citizens are responsible for electing the government at the Federal, State and Local government levels
in Malaysia they expect the government to adopt strategies that improve citizen access to government
information and expertise to ensure citizen participation in and satisfaction with the government process.
This situation arises from the Malaysian government structure of having a three-tiered government
administrative systems namely Federal, State government and Local authorities. One way that the
government can accede to this inquisition is to offer online services and products through the
eGovernment websites or portals. The eGovernment applications would not have succeeded had it not
been for the might and evolution of information and communication technology (ICT) sectors. The
commitment of the government towards investments in the ICT sector has been enhanced recently.
During the tabling of the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) 2011-2015 in parliament in June 2010, the Prime
Minister outlined several investments in ICT sectors. At the same time several States announced ICT
plans to complement the development of the MSC. For example, Selangor state government including
the local governments at state level has set up the Selangor Networking and the Web homepage for its
various agencies which would link the state administration and all government departments and agencies
with every business organisation, office, factory, school and home in the state. Johor state government
announced the establishment of Johor Information Infrastructure (JII) costing RM30 million, the first state
1

Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
to set up such a system in order to provide the public with a more efficient information service (Erlane
and Jamaliah, 2010).
Governments of both developed and developing countries have embraced ICT to improve the quality of
public service, increase public access to information and to energise more participation in civic affairs
(Moon, 2000; Schedler, 2003). The citizens also are accustomed to the developments of ICT through the
escalating rate of utilization of Internet. In the case of Malaysia Internet usage has increased at a
remarkable rate. This can be visualized from the figures provided by the Malaysian Communications and
Multimedia Commission (MCMC). In 2000 the number of subscribers was only about 2 million ( Abd
Rozan,2008). Currently it is estimated that the number of Internet subscribers have reached close to 12
million (11.76 million at the end of 2007) (MCMC, 2008). The current Internet penetration rate is at 16.9
million (ITU, 2010). The Internet is an important element in eGovernment as the term itself is defined as”
exclusively an Internet-driven activity that improves citizen access to government information ,services
and expertise to ensure citizen participation in, and satisfaction with the government process”
(UNDPEPA, 2002).
The presence of eGovernment websites, however, might not change the status quo as they could just be
displaying information in an attractive manner and nothing more to the public. Benjamin and Whitley
(2004) opined that “ No longer can a website justify itself merely by being a website – the bottom line is
apparently clear : web pages must reach concrete goals and prove their investment”. In order to
understand whether the creation of the eGovernment websites has benefited the public or not then the
question of how usable these websites are to the public has to be evaluated. The evaluation of
eGovernment websites and portals can be done at several levels of the government machinery. Some
scholars have accessed for features such as information availability, service delivery, and public access
at global level ( West, 2007), at national level (Benjamin and Whitley,2004) and at municipality level (
Kunsteij and Decman,2005).
Malaysia, a federal constitutional elective monarchy, is nominally headed by the Paramount Ruler or
Yang di-Pertuan Agong , commonly referred to as the King of Malaysia. The state governments are led
by chief ministers , nominated by the state assemblies and advising their respective sultans or governors.
There are 13 states and three federal territories which are Kuala Lumpur, Labuan Island and the
Putrajaya federal administrative territory. The local authorities are under the jurisdiction of the state
governments. Three types of administrative councils are in existence. These are the City, Municipal, and
District councils. A city council refers to a local authority in which the population of the jurisdiction area
exceeds 500,000 people and the collection of the annual revenue is more than RM100 million. City
councils are led by mayors. A local authority is known as the municipal council if the population of the
jurisdiction area is not less than 150,000 and the annual revenue collection is more than RM20m. A
municipal council is led by a president. On the other hand, a local authority is known as a district council if
the population of the jurisdiction area is less than 150,000 and the collection of annual revenue is less
than RM20m (Hazman, 2006). In Malaysia the eGovernment projects are monitored closely by the
Director-General of the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (
MAMPU) of the Prime Minister’s Department. The national committee responsible for overseeing the
development of public sector websites or portals is the Public Sector Portal/Website Steering Committee
headed by the Director General of MAMPU. Amongst the tasks given to this Committee are to: coordinate
and monitor implementation of public sector websites/portals, monitor effectiveness of public sector
websites/portals and identify improvement efforts and solve problems and issues. It does not come as a
surprise to record some accolade attributed to the Malaysian public sector eGovernment websites or
portals given the fact that the quality of these websites or portals are always never compromised by
MAMPU. Consequently, at the World Congress on Information Technology 2008 (WCIT2008) held in May
2008 Malaysia’s MyGovernment portal (http://www.gov.my) beat about 70 others around the world to take
the top prize in its category in the 2008 Global ICT Awards (Star,2008). MyGovernment was initiated by
MAMPU in 2003 and according to MAMPU the portal had 6.5 million visitors as at May 2008. This portal
acts as the main gateway to access government information and online services ( 900 websites across
Federal, State and Local authorities (MAMPU,2008). The global eGovernment ranking for Malaysia has
also improved significantly. For example in the Brown University’s Global EGovernment survey,
Malaysia’s ranking was 157 out of 199 countries in 2005 and it moved to 36 in 2006. In the latest 2007
survey its position has improved further to 25 (West,2007). With such an improvement in the global
ranking it is expected that the scenario is not just an outcome of the display of reengineering done only at
Federal Government level but also at State Government and Local authorities level.
2

2. Purpose of study
Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
The aim of the study is to determine the maturity level of implementation of eGovernment applications at
the Federal, State and Local Government levels based on the evaluation of the eGovernment websites or
portals at Federal ,State and Local Authorities level in order to understand more clearly the actual
situation on the ground.
3. Methodology
A Model called Web Presence Measurement Model WPMM) was employed to evaluate the current status
of those websites or portals in Malaysia selected for the study. The Web Presence Measurement Model
(WPMM) was introduced in the UN eGovernment Survey 2003 as an assessment towards United Nations
member countries specifically for their capability providing services electronically via the Internet. The
WPMM shows 5 progressively ascending stages of presence that consists of Emerging Presence,
Enhanced Presence, Interactive Presence, Transactional Presence and Networked Presence. WPMM
quantification considers the development of maturity of EGovernment presence on-line.
Indicators are used to measure the presence or absence of specific electronic facilities or services
available in the government agency websites or portals. The WPMM model is shown in Table 1 and
some refinements or adjustments have been made to some indicators to ease the evaluation process.
Table 1: Web presence measurement model indicators
Stage 1 Emerging Presence
Existence of an Official Website or National portal
Archived information
Message from Head of organization
Link to Ministries or other organizations
Stage II: Enhanced Presence
Provide current and archived information
Policies, budgets, regulations and downloadable databases
Search enabled
Site map
Menu provided
Help features such as FAQ provided
Product, service details and downloadable brochures
Stage III: Interactive Presence
Downloadable forms for printing and to be mailed back
Audio and video capability
E-mail, fax, telephone and physical address provided for ease of participation from public
Updated regularly
Stage IV : Transactional Presence
Instruction to support any transaction
Online application of identity cards, birth certificate and license renewal
3

Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
Able to make online payments via credit, bank or debit cards
E-procurement facilities provided
Online bidding via secure links for public contracts
Stage V: Networked Presence
Use of Web Comment forms
Other innovative dialog mechanism such as chat or forum facilities
Web rating
Extracted from the UN Global EGovernment Survey 2003.
(http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan016066)
A weight scoring method to gauge the presence of the relevant indicators is adopted in analyzing the
maturity of the respective websites or portals. The weightage is computed on the basis of 1 unit score is
given to the presence of a particular indicator. Based on this procedure the scoring weight for the five
stages of presence is shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Scoring weightage
Stages Weightage
Stage 1 Emerging Presence 4
Stage II: Enhanced Presence 7
Stage III: Interactive Presence 4
Stage IV: Transactional Presence 5
Stage V: Networked Presence 3
The data for this study were obtained from an assessment of the Federal government authorities,
MyGovernment portal from MAMPU, two Federal Ministry websites, namely from the Ministry of
Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry (MOA) and Ministry of Tourism (MOTOU) and the Malaysian local
authorities websites. The assessment for the local authorities was based on the official local government
websites or portals covering all the 14 states in Malaysia while for the State government authorities, the
assessment will be based on the official state government websites covering all the 14 states in Malaysia
and in addition the state agency websites that deal with the subject of tourism and agriculture. The
scoring process will be based on whether the indicators as stipulated in the WPMM are present or
absent. In the case where indicators are present they will be provided with an appropriate weightage as
stipulated above. Table 3: Shows the scores obtained from the portal of the Federal Government,
MyGovernment from MAMPU
Table 3: Scoring weightage for MyGovernment portal
Stages Weightage
Stage 1 Emerging Presence 3
Stage II: Enhanced Presence 7
Stage III: Interactive Presence 4
Stage IV: Transactional Presence 5
Stage V: Networked Presence 2
4

Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
As expected the MyGovernment portal shows the existence of the indicators in all the five stages.
However, contrary to expectation is the absence of the indicator for message from head of organization.
Usually government agencies receive a high score for this indicator as they are supposed to convey their
mission, vision and aspirations to the public for awareness purposes. One of the plausible explanations
could be due to the fact that this portal is not representing any particular government agency but the
Federal government as a whole.
Table 4 shows the scores obtained from the two Federal ministries websites, i.e. Ministry of Agriculture
and Agro-Based Industry ( MOA) and the Ministry of Tourism (MOTOU).
Table 4: Scoring weightage for (MOA) and (MOTOU) websites
Stages Weightage for MOA Weightage for MOTOU
Stage 1: Emerging Presence 4 4
Stage II: Enhanced Presence 7 6
Stage III: Interactive Presence 4 4
Stage IV: Transactional Presence 3 2
Stage V: Networked Presence 1 1
Table 4 shows the existence of the indicators in all the five stages for both MOA and MOTOU websites.
All the indicators in stage II are present for MOA including the display of products and services offered by
MOA while in the case of MOTOU there is no site map available which could affect the accessibility of the
website. There are no indicators for online payment and online bidding for public contracts for both
websites. Feedback from the public related to the online rating of the websites is also absent. Overall,
MOA website is found to be more mature and sophisticated as compared to MOTOU website.
Table 5 shows the scoring pattern of the State Government websites. Assessment of State Government
websites involved only the official website or portal of the 13 State Government websites.
Table 5: Scoring weightage for State Governments websites
Stages Sg Kdah Ktan Tnu Prlis Sbah Swak Jhr Mka Phg Png Ns Pk
Stage 1 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Stage II 6 5 5 5 3 5 6 6 6 6 6 5 5
Stage III 4 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 2
Stage IV 3 1 1 1 1 3 4 2 2 1 4 2 3
Stage V 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2
It is evident from Table 5 that the differences between weightage of the Federal Government Ministry
websites and the State Government websites are just marginal for the first 3 stages. However, in the
case of stage 5 there is one state , Perlis that carries no weightage. This might be due to the fact that
MAMPU has kept a close watch on the implementation of EGovernment applications in the public sector.
The other point is that as the party involved are the 13 State Governments they have to lead by example,
and therefore they have to comply as closely as possible with the instruction coming from Federal
Government related to the development of websites. Should they not comply with the request of the
Federal Government then it is highly likely that those Agencies under the State Government will also act
5

Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
otherwise. As such there is a need to discover whether the State Agencies have complied with what the
Federal and State Government wish them to practice. An assessment of the State Agencies websites
could help us in the discovery.
Table 6 and Table 7 shows the scoring for the State Agencies related to tourism and agriculture. These
two fields are selected because of the importance of these sectors for the Malaysian economy. For
example tourism sectors brought in US$15 billions, the Malaysian tourism income
for 2007, the second national income after the industry sector (US$60 billions in 2007)
(Tradersdailynews,2008).
Table 6: Scoring weightage for State Agency in tourism websites
Stages Sg Kdah Ktan Tnu Prlis Sbah Swak Jhr Mka Phg Png Ns Pk
Stage 1 3 2 2 3 3 4 3 3 3 2 2 3 3
Stage II 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 5 4 3 3 5
Stage III 1 1 1 2 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 1
Stage IV 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Stage V 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2
Table 6 shows clearly that State Agency websites have not developed to a state of maturity or
sophistication expected of them. Most of the State Agency websites as shown in Table 6 manage to get a
weightage of 1 or 0 for stage 4 and 5. This result demonstrates clearly that although MAMPU has
implemented the E-Procurement applications, this initiative has not trickled down to those Agencies
under the State Government.
Table 7 shows a replication of the results as demonstrated in Table 6. As in Table 6 stage 4 and 5 have
mostly a weightage of 1 or 0. This happens despite the fact that they belong to a separate Ministry with
different leadership and work culture.
Table 7: Scoring weightage for State Agency in agriculture websites
Stages Sg Kdah Ktan Tnu Prlis Sbah Swak Jhr Mka Phg Png Ns Pk
Stage 1 2 3 3 3 3 4 3 2 3 3 2 3 4
Stage II 2 3 3 4 3 5 4 3 3 3 3 4 4
Stage III 0 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 3
Stage IV 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2
Stage V 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2
Based on this finding we can infer that the success story is up to the level of State Government websites.
When comes to the websites of Agencies at State Government level another story unfolds.
6

Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
Table 8 shows the scores obtained from an assessment of the City councils websites/portals in Malaysia.
As shown in Table 8 not all states in Malaysia have their own City councils. Only 9 states are represented
with City councils. In cases where the City council operates it can be seen that all have passed Stage I :
Emerging Presence, while in Stage II : Enhanced Presence two City councils operating in the states of
Sabah and Sarawak have 71% achievement which means that there are certain indicators in the Stage II
that are absent. All the City councils have passed Stage III: Interactive Presence while in Stage IV :
Transactional Presence the City council of Federal Territory (Kuala Lumpur City council) has the highest
achievement of 80%. As expected the Stage V: Networked Presence is found to be difficult for the City
councils to achieve a high score. Their best current achievement score for most of them is only at 67%.
Table 8: Scoring weightage for City council websites/portals
Stages Fed Slg Kda Ktan Tg
Ter
h
g
Stage 100 100 100 Nil 100
1 % % %
%
Stage 100 100 100 Nil 100
II % % %
%
Stage 100 !00% 100 Nil 100
III %
%
%
Stage 80% 60% 40% Nil 40
IV
%
Stage 67% 67% 67% Nil 67
V
%
Plis Sba
h
Swak Jhr Mka Phg Png Ns Pk
Nil 100 100% 100 100 Nil Nil Nil 100
%
% %
%
Nil 71% 71% 100 100 Nil Nil Nil 100
% %
%
Nil 100 100% 100 100 Nil Nil Nil 100
%
% %
%
Nil 0 40% 40% 60% Nil Nil Nil 40%
Nil 0 33% 67% 67% Nil Nil Nil 33%
Table 9 shows the scores obtained from an assessment of the Municipal councils websites/portals in
Malaysia. As shown in Table 9 all states in Malaysia except for the Federal Territory have their own
Municipal councils. These Municipal councils usually operate in the main towns of the States. As
expected their scope of operations are much smaller than the City councils and as such their
achievements would be likely less than that of the City councils . As shown in Table 9 there are several
Municipal councils websites/portals that have not passed Stage II especially in the States of Sabah and
Sarawak where they manage to achieve 43% and 57% respectively. This is in stark contrast with the
achievements obtained by the City councils websites/portals in which only the two States of Sabah and
Sarawak that managed to obtain 71% achievement while the rest obtained 100% achievement.
Table 9: Scoring weightage for Municipal council websites/portals
Sta
ges
Sta
ge 1
Sta
ge II
Sta
ge
III
Sta
ge
IV
Sta
ge
V
Fed
Ter
Not
avai
l
Not
avai
l
Not
avai
l
Not
avai
l
Not
avai
l
Slg Kda
h
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
Ktan Tgg Plis Sba
h
100
%
90% 100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
Swa
k
100
%
Jhr Mka Phg Png Ns Pk
100
%
100
%
100
%
43% 57% 95% 76% 100
%
100
%
100
%
96% 92% 100
%
100
%
100
%
86% 100
%
86% 100
%
43% 27% 0 40% 40% 40% 20% 13% 13% 40% 20% 40% 40
%
67% 33% 33% 33% 33% 0 0 67% 44% 78% 0 78% 33
%
In the case of Stage IV, Table 9 shows that all the Municipal councils websites/portals obtained
achievements below 50% which means that there are three indicators that are absent from their
websites. For Stage V, the Municipal councils websites/portals achievement s are almost similar to that of
the City councils.
Table 10 shows that even at Stage I the District councils websites/portals have not obtained 100 %
achievement. The States of Sabah and Perak have obtained an achievement of 94% and 98%
respectively while all the Malaysian states that have City councils and Municipal councils have an
achievement of 100 % which means that all the indicators in Stage I are present in their websites.
7
10
0
%
93
%
94
%

Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
Table 10: Scoring weightage for District council websites/portals
Stage
s
Stage
1
Stage
II
Stage
III
Stage
IV
Stage
V
Fed
Ter
Not
avai
l
Not
avai
l
Not
avai
l
Not
avai
l
Not
avai
l
Slg Kdah Ktan Tgg Plis Sbah Swa
k
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
100
%
Not
Avai
l
76% 82% 93% Not
Avai
l
89% 91% 50% Not
Avai
l
50% 29% 33% 40% Not
Avai
l
75% 33% 33% 33% Not
Avai
l
100
%
94% 100
%
29% 37% 100
%
75% 71% 100
%
Jhr Mka Phg Png Ns P
k
100
%
100
%
76% 100
%
100
%
100
%
86% 100
%
92% 86% 86% 100
%
9
8
%
9
7
%
13% 20% 15% 13% 20% 20% 8% 2
0
%
0 0 67% 44% 71% 0 67% 3
3
%
Table 10 also shows for Stage II the District councils websites/portals of the State of Sabah obtained the
lowest achievement of 29% followed by the State of Sarawak at 37%. In the case of Stage IV the
achievement of the District councils websites/portals are relatively lower than the City councils and
Municipal councils websites/portals and in the case of the District council of Negeri Sembilan websites
they obtained merely 8% achievement which means four out of the five indicators are absent from the
websites. In respect of Stage V the number of indicators present in the District council werbsites/portals
are almost similar to those exhibited by the City councils and Municipal councils websites/portals.
4. Conclusion
Based on the findings we can infer that the success story in the case of Malaysia’s e- government
implementation is up to the level of the Federal government and its Agencies. At the State government
level the implementation of eGovernment is fairly good but deteriorates rapidly at the level of State
government Agencies where there are several deficiencies especially in incorporating the eGovernment
applications of e-Procurement in their websites. At the Local government Authorities level the
implementation of eGovernment is fairly good for those in rich States such as Selangor while those in
poor States such as Sabah they are deficient in several aspects such as the absence of online payment,
e-Procurement and online application in their websites. This sort of indicate that local government
authorities with money to spend can develop their websites/portals to a sophisticated level of maturity
while other less fortunate States could only provide the barest minimum for their websites/portals as in
the case of Sabah. Having identified the shortcomings the relevant authorities especially MAMPU should
take steps to improve the situation of the public sector websites especially those related to local
government authorities operating at State level as they are found to be deficient in several areas.
References
Benjamin, M and Whitley, E. (2004). “ Assessing UK EGovernment Websites : Classification and Benchmarking
Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Information Systems, Turku, Finland,
Ghani, E and Said, J. (2010) “Digital Reporting Practices among Malaysian Local Authorities” Electronic Journal of
eGovernment Volume 8, 1, 2010, pp33 – 44.
Hazman, S.A (2006), “From customer satisfaction to citizen satisfaction: Rethinking local government service
delivery”, Paper presented at the Service delivery by local authorities: Issues and Challenges conference,
Malaysia
ITU (2010) “Malaysia: Internet Usage Stats and Marketing Report” http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia/my.htm
Kunstelj, M. and Decman, M (2005). “ Current State of eGovernment in Slovenian Municipalities” The Electronic
Journal of eGovernment, 3(3), pp117-128.
“ Malaysian tourism to invest in the Arab World”. Retrieved on 12 June 2008 from
http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/25774.
8
1
0
0
%

Ahmad Bakeri Abu Bakar
MAMPU (2007) “MyGovernment Portal”.
http://www.mampu.gov.my/pdf/semict07/Portal%20Presentation%Bluewave%20K3.pdf.
MCMC. (2008). “Facts and figures: A report” http://www.skmm.gov.my/facts_figures/stats/index.asp.
Moon, S. Y. (2000).” The utilization of the Internet technology in the Public Services of Korea”.
Proceedings of the EROPA Hong Kong Conference.
MSC Malaysia.( 2008). “ Flagship applications progress status (as of 28th November 2007)” Retrieved on 12 June
2008 from http://www.mscmalaysia.my/topic/Governments.
Rozan, M. Z.A. and Mikami, Y. ( 2005) “ An exploratory analysis of 200 Malaysian Enterprise websites based on Web
Presence Measurement Model (WPMM)”. Proceedings of the International Conference on E-commerce,
Subang, Malaysia .
Schedler, K. and Summermatter, L (2003). “EGovernment: What Countries Do and Why: A European Perspective”,
Journal of Political Marketing, 2 (3/4), pp255-277.
Shafie, Shaidin. (2007). “ eGovernment Initiatives in Malaysia and the role of the National Archives of Malaysia in
Digital Records Management. Retrieved on 12 June 2008 from
http://www.archives.go.jp/news/pdf/MrShaidin2/pdf.
STAR (2008) “ My Government portal wins Global ICT awards”
UNDPEPA. (2002). “ Benchmarking EGovernment: A global perspective“
http://www.unpan.org/egovernment2.asp
West, D. M. (2003). “ Global EGovernment ” , http://www.insidepolitics.org/egovt03int.html.
Yttersad, P. and Watson, R. (1996). “ Teledemocracy : Using information technology to enhance political work”, MIS
Quarterly, 20(3). 15
9

ICT Education and Access: As Strategies to Generate and
Distribute eGovernment Content
Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti and Erja Mustonen-Ollila
Lappeenranta University of technology, Lappeenranta, Finland
Sanaz.Ahmadi@lut.fi
Erja.Mustonen-Ollila@lut.fi
Abstract Low-level citizens’ education and adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a
common problem in both the developed and developing countries. EGovernment, which is defined as the application
of ICTs to improve the activities of government, is widely seen as a means to promote efficiency of the government
activities and services. In eGovernment context, the citizens play a vital role in the success of eGovernment services,
initiatives, plans, strategies, and overall activities. This can be achieved if citizens are well educated in ICT and have
wider access to ICTs. Furthermore, ICT, as a new and supporting tool to improve eGovernment, should be
accessible in social places aside from home and work. The goal is to increase and widen citizens’ access to ICTs
regardless of age, gender, profession, income, education, ethnicity, and religion. On the other hand, proper and
adequate ICT education in schools, universities, and public and private organizations should be offered to citizens
and encourage them to utilize and take advantage of ICTs in their everyday life. The purpose of this paper is to study
the following two factors and their impact on eGovernment: Citizens’ wider access to ICTs, and citizens’ ICT
education. We will attempt to find out if these factors have an impact on generating and distributing eGovernment
content. In this study we have investigated the various ways of ICT education and how to widen citizens’ access to
ICT. We will evaluate if these two factors can work and contribute to greater success in regard to generating and
distributing eGovernment content. Through a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, and using both the
qualitative and quantitative research approaches, the main result of the study showed that citizens’ ICT education
and the expansion of citizens’ access to ICT both have an essential impact on generating and distributing
eGovernment content.
Keywords: ICT, ICT education, citizen government, eGovernment
1. Introduction
In recent years, ICT has played a pivotal role in the development of digital economy. This technology
facilitates the rapid accumulation and dissemination of information, group interaction, communication,
and collaboration (Shirazi et al., 2010). Currently, ICT has become one of the core elements of
managerial reform around the world (Zimmermann and Finger, 2005). Government authorities around the
world are fully cognizant of the potential and importance of ICT to improve the delivery of government
information and services to citizens, businesses, and organizations, and thereby employ ICT to support
all the government activities (Wangpipatwong et al., 2008; Abanumy et al., 2005). Therefore, many
governments use ICT and eGovernment, which offer services that are cheaper, more convenient, and
easy to provide (Alsaghier et al., 2009). Some governments have launched their eGovernment initiatives
globally to provide and offer citizens, businesses, and organisations with more convenient ways to
access government information and services (Turban et al., 2002). The Internet and World Wide Web
has embraced the concept of delivering information and services to citizens (Abanumy et al., 2005).
Consequently, the Internet has changed the way people communicate and work, and therefore it requires
innovative designs and features to make it accessible to every citizen, including people with disabilities.
The internet is indeed one of the most powerful means for making this communication and eGovernment
service delivery possible. Educating constituents about ICT is important because it will help facilitate and
engage citizens’ interaction with eGovernment and will help increase efficiency when government
information and services are utilized via government websites and other channels of communication. It
will also contribute to broader access to citizens. Hence, the government is responsible for providing
access to ICTs in social places aside from home and work. In addition to this, citizens’ education should
be adequately fulfilled by universities, schools, institutions, public and private organizations, and other
training centres. It is also important that these participants adapt to an evolving global economy and
base their efforts and expectations on concepts such as transparency, flexibility, and competitiveness.
In this paper, citizens’ wider access to ICTs, and citizens’ ICT education will be identified and studied.
The study aims to evaluate if the ICT education and widening citizens’ access to ICTs can have an
impact on generating and distributing eGovernment content. The rest of the article is organised as
follows: In section two, the main terms, EGovernment and ICT, are presented. In section three, citizens’
wider access to ICTs is outlined. In section four, we present citizens’ ICT education and the strategies for
ICT and eGovernment promotion. Finally, in section five, we present the conclusions and discussion.
10

2. eGovernment and ICT
Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti and Erja Mustonen-Ollila
Through a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, we found various definitions to eGovernment.
Most of them, however, revolve around the concepts of government’s employment of ICTs, in particular
web-based application to improve the access and delivery of the government services to the citizens,
businesses, and government organizations. Many governments globally are moving towards
eGovernment. Nevertheless, the introduction and implementation of eGovernment has encountered
many problems, both in the developed and in the developing countries (Abanumy et al., 2005).
In this study, eGovernment is defined as the application of ICT by government organizations. Therefore,
the main purpose of using the ICT for eGovernment is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of
government and government organizations’ processes (Abanumy et al., 2005). Hence, it is permitting the
government to transform the ICT to be more citizen-oriented. EGovernment also calls for a change and
new forms of management. It calls for the transformation of public and private business to make its
impact effective, and it requires changing processes, which means changing policy and organizational
culture. Changing policy results in changing the way people do things, which in turn changes the culture.
Given its surrounding impact, it is expected that eGovernment will affect economic, legal, and democratic
values in for public administratiors (Snijkers 2005). The greatest challenge in eGovernment is how to
manage the changes systematically and effectively in a specific organizational context (Mirandilla 2008).
Development of ICTs such as the telegraph, telephones, personal computers, satellites, fiber-optic cable,
and the early version of the World Wide Web, are a few examples of dynamic forces behind the
phenomenon of global integration (Mirandilla 2008). Innovation in ICTs has stimulated many current
transformations that the world is undergoing. ICT, then, has reduced the cost of communications,
logistics, and information processing, which, in turn has transform the way the people communicate, live,
and do businesses. These technological changes have various impacts on government performance.
In our study, we base the ICT definition to Shirazi et al. (2009), who claims that ICT will contribute to
improvement of basic social services, help economic development, improve the efficiency of the
government services and activities, and also help to enhance the provision of education and health.
Shirazi et al. (2009) pointed that firms using ICT in developing countries are 5.1% more profitable, own
1.2% more employment growth, reinvest 6% more that other countries, and produce $3400 more valueadded
per worker than enterprises that do not use ICT or have limited access to ICT. We claim that ICT
helps businesses with technological and advanced tools and enables them to enter the global market and
increases their productivity and competitiveness. Furthermore, ICT promotes a more effective, efficient,
accountable, and democratic government which can provide employment opportunities for those who are
skilled and appropriately trained.
This paper is based on a literature review on past studies based on a large-scale of surveys. Surveys
were collected from selected groups, such as citizens who had ICT education and knowledge, and
citizens who were still unfamiliar with this phrase and its advantages. We will outline some past studies in
the next sections and try to give answers to the two aforementioned factors and their impact to
eGovernment.
3. Citizens’ wider access to ICTs
Citizens in all nations are expecting the creation and delivery of high quality services from their
governments. This expectation is creating a pressure on governments to perform the Government to
Citizen (G2C) eGovernment. Therefore, the G2C is designed to facilitate the interaction between the
government and citizens by the use of the government web portals as an electronic medium for G2C'
interactions and is perceived to be the main goal of the eGovernment (Seifert 2008). G2C is thus, an
online non-commercial interaction between the local and central government and the private individuals
(Sarpoulaki et al., 2008). However, this is not entirely true, since not all government services and
information can be posted online as the users may face different obstacles in making full use of all these
government resources online. The obstacles can be the inadequate infrastructure, low speed internet and
network connections, low PC penetration, or also varying degrees of literacy levels and physical
constraints of some groups of the society (e.g. elderly, children, and people with disabilities) (Yong 2004).
In order to reach the citizens as quickly as possible, government should design the G2C initiatives based
on the multi channel access method. Figure 1 depicts the G2C multi channel access methods in citizens’
wider access to the ICTs.
11

Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti and Erja Mustonen-Ollila
Telephone
Postal mail PC/Internet
G2C
Face to face Information Kiosk
Services
Mobile Phones Call Center
PDA
Figure 1: G2C multi channel access method in citizens’ wider access to the ICTs (Yong 2004)
While the internet and information kiosks are the primary means to provide the government services and
information, the other channels, such as telephones, emails, postal mail, and face to face contact, remain
as critical in G2C interaction (Yong 2004). However, in developing countries, information kiosks are
particularly very useful in the rural areas since accessing online channels may not be easily done.
However, in more modern societies with wider mobile usage, services and information are provided
through mobile phones.
Usage of online centres and public access points is high, even for those who have home access to the
internet. This may be because citizens want to reduce the access costs, or that citizens are offered lowlevel
internet access, especially at work. Therefore, when planning eGovernment initiatives, authorities
should bear in mind the importance of encouraging citizens and employees to broaden the access to the
internet and ICT in the working place (Foley 2004).
Moreover, the level of citizens’ knowledge on the analysis and assessment of information and using the
library to access information will increase if the wider access and usage of ICT increases among the
users (Usluel 2007). More local online centres should assist citizens to get online. Centres with a few
resources can then develop their activities and reach a sufficient level that users require. However, these
centres should also expand their ICT training and access to staff and employees of the government
organizations (Foley 2004).
Foley (2004) has suggested the organization of a regional conference in order to encourage citizens to
increase internet and ICTs usage. This is because there is a need to share the results of the different
studies, which can be the first step towards identifying what these centres are.
According to Selwyn (2002), the results of the survey of 1001 respondents over 21 years of age reporting
where they have access to public ICT are as follows: 28 per cent of the respondents cited the libraries, 14
per cent of the commercial pay-per-use sites, and 10 per cent of the local educational institutions are
offering potential access to the ICTs. However, only 5 per cent of the respondents cited having access to
ICTs in community centre sites. While public access sites were substantially less likely to be cited, only a
third of the respondents cited the workplace as providing access to the ICTs.
While developing the eGovernment programmes has been a challenge for the many public
administrations, encouraging the citizens to use the available services can often be equally daunting. To
increase the take-up rate of the eGovernment content and offerings to citizens, Yong (2004), has outlined
the following six strategies that the governments have to implement to encourage citizens to adapt to
ICTs and eGovernment.
Providing the infrastructure: Providing the ICT infrastructure serves as an essential backbone for the
agenda of the eGovernment. The absence of the sufficient high bandwidth network can seriously
hinder the delivery of the ICT access and services and also the eGovernment information and
services. Therefore, ICT infrastructure is the key success for the overall measure of the ICT maturity
in a society. Some maturity metrics such as the fixed and mobile phone penetration, networks,
microwaves, satellite, and internet are the critical factors to increase the ICT maturity in a society.
12

Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti and Erja Mustonen-Ollila
Raising the IT and internet awareness: To benefit and make the greater usage of the ICTs and
eGovernment services and information, effort must be made to raise the IT and internet familiarities
for both the public who are the users of the services and also to the civil servants who should be
implementing and maintaining the services. In these circumstances, educating and training the
citizens are very critical to achieve the goals. The public and media communications are also very
important to allow any public concerns regarding privacy and security issues.
Facilitating affordable access: The authorities should be able to facilitate the citizens with an
affordable access to the computers, and internet connection. The low-cost computer built with the
low-cost hardware and software and also the cheaper internet connection charges can be offered to
the citizens. Though, to keep the software costs affordable, some governments have adopted the
open source software as an alternative to proprietary software products.
Making the online services more appealing than offline: To be able to convince and encourage the
citizens to use more ICTs and government services online, the government authorities need to make
ICTs and government services delivery more online than the conservative way like visiting the
government agency physically. At its fundamental level, the ICTs and eGovernment services should
be available any time and anywhere. Another level may be the reengineering of the existing
government processes and services to be able to make the online process more convincing to the
citizens. Moreover, another level would be to apply the tool of the Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) in the eGovernment initiatives to build up better knowledge of the citizens.
Offering incentives: In order to encourage the citizens to go under ICT training and education and to
regularly exercise and use the ICT and eGovernment services in their everyday life, the authorities
should introduce various incentives. More incentives can be allocated for the citizens who use the
ICT and eGovernment services frequently. These incentives can be in different forms, such as the
financial incentives like cash rebates, lucky draw, and fast-food coupons, and the non-financial
incentives like priority and personalized services.
Promoting local language content: If there is a little online content in the local language, the citizens
are not encouraged to make use of the ICTs and eGovernment services and information. Therefore,
it is very essential that the authorities provide the ICTs and eGovernment services and information in
the local language. In this way the authorities encourage the citizens to enter the Internet.
Foley (2004) claimd that there is a considerable lack of interest in using the internet among the nonusers.
It was mentioned that nearly all the socially excluded citizens have high level of curiosity for the
use of the internet. Hence, policymakers should put more efforts to promote curiosity of the citizens for
using ICTs and internet. Foley (2004) has proposed the following two stages.
First, the decision to use the internet in the public access points, such as in the community groups,
malls, streets, and other locations. This is considered to be a ‘trial’ period for the citizens or the noninternet
users, and it usually lasts several months. Foley (2004) has shown that only 26 per cent of
the public internet users, using the internet for less than a period of twelve months have access from
their homes. This stage should be taken into account by the authorities since, accessing to internet
can increase the ICT knowledge and awareness.
Second, purchasing personal computers for the home access, instead of the public access. This will
usually be taken by the socially excluded groups several months after they have first tried the ‘trial’
period of the access to the public access points. At this stage, curiosity on using the internet will be
substituted by the better understanding of the benefits and advantages of using internet and going
online to increase the ICT and internet knowledge and awareness.
In both stages, Foley (2004) claimed that the policymakers, and internet service providers are playing an
important role in clarifying the real cost of the computing equipments and the internet access to the
citizens.
4. Citizens’ ICT education: Strategies for ICT and eGovernment promotion
Usluel (2007) argues that the lowest self-efficacy is in making use of the ICT to access information.
While, using information technologies is a determining factor in the establishment of information literacy
skills (Usluel 2007), in the computer, internet, and ICT world, many participants are still requesting for
“helping hands” to assist them when they deal with internet and ICTs (Foley 2007). By definition, many
old people do not have a wide range of access to their friends who can assist them. Therefore, the focus
of the many governments is to provide and offer training centres to give a general internet and ICT help
13

Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti and Erja Mustonen-Ollila
and to support to the citizens regardless of their age, gender, income level, occupation, ethnic minorities,
and religion.
Furthermore, the kindergarten is the starting point for the education. When improving kindergarten
practices, Mooij (2005) pointed that improving the development and learning progress starts when
improving a child’s entry characteristics. The researchers and kindergarten teachers searched for a tool
to estimate the entry characteristics of a child, and finally a psychometrically controlled screening
procedures instrument was selected. This instrument contains forms of questionnaires including the
seven category rating. The parents and the teachers must take this in use after the first month a child has
been in the kindergarten. The seven categories are as follows.
Social interaction/communication,
General cognition,
Language proficiency,
Pre-arithmetic,
Emotional-expressive,
Sensory-motor, and
Expected educational behaviour.
In practical experiences the possible difficulties of the children were seen in playing, developing, and
learning especially when it came to the computer, internet, and ICT education (Mooij 2005).
Furthermore, Ahmadi Zeleti (2010) mentioned that for a better technology society and environment, the
ICT education and training should be offered in kindergarten as playing tools for early age children to get
familiar with the technology and its devices. The intermediary courses could be offered in the elementary
schools through the wide range of internet and ICT. The extension to the professional ICT education and
training, however, should be offered in the high schools and universities as well (Ahmadi Zeleti 2010).
Hsu (2010) has shown that about 95 per cent of the teachers used the word processor for making the
handouts and tests, and 91 per cent used the internet to search for the information and material. Only 1
per cent of the teachers reported never using the word processor during the previous semester. Using
the presentation software applications was less frequent, as compared to the use of the word processors
and the internet. About 10 per cent of the teachers reported that they had never used presentation
software once during the last semester. Building or managing the websites for instruction, presentation,
or sharing material, however, was even less frequent than the use of presentation software. About 20 per
cent of the teachers never built or managed the websites once during the last semester, and only 53 per
cent reported doing so often or very frequent. Finally, using the computers to record or edit sound or
music is the least practised ICT activity, with only 9.3 per cent reporting the frequent use. In other words,
the teachers frequently used the word processing software and searched the internet, sometimes used
the presentation software or built or managed the websites, and seldom used the software for recording
or editing sounds. With this encouragement, the teachers can devote greater attention to those students
who need more guidance and support. It is usually the teachers who must specify how the learning
activities should proceed when a student encounters problems. Therefore, the teachers should also be
well trained in both the social, technology and ICT affairs (Mooij 2005).
Furthermore, the education environment should be designed so that the students can collaborate with
each other in the problem solving issues, which means that they need not suffer from the less teacher
attention (Mooij 2005). Additionally, with the use of the integrated systems, it is possible to monitor and
measure the progress of students. By this system, the teachers can involve other students, teachers, and
parents from outside the school to interact with the learning process (Mooij 2005). This will increase the
students’ and teachers’ motivation in the use of the ICT in the learning process. According to Sang et al.
(2010), strong relationship of the computer-related attitude among the students and all the citizens should
be emphasized and taken into the consideration. Positive attitude towards the computers, internet, and
ICT influences teachers’ acceptance of the usefulness of the technology in the learning process.
Ahmadi Zeleti (2010) drowned the projection line to the ICT education, training, and skills of the
government authorities and employees, and businesses. The intensive courses should be obligatory to
these groups who are running the country. However, the government authorities should also establish
more IT and ICT education centres free of charge for those citizens who cannot afford it (Ahmadi 2010).
14

Fatemeh Ahmadi Zeleti and Erja Mustonen-Ollila
Ahmadi Zeleti (2010) mentioned that ICT and its applications like an email can be used through personal
computers, mobile phones, and smart devices such as mp4s. People around the world are willing to
communicate with each other with a lower cost. The internet and ICT are the effective tools to be used for
this purpose and can substitute the use of the telephone lines which is expensive.
5. Conclusions and discussion
In this study we have highlighted the two factors and their impact to the eGovernment. The factors are
the citizens’ wider access to the ICTs, and the citizens’ ICT education.
First, the citizens’ wider access to the ICTs and its impact to the eGovernment. This study shows that it is
important to provide citizens with cheap internet access and computer equipments to their home and
office use. Moreover, the local libraries should offer the ICT technologies and applications. However, to
encourage the citizens, it is crucial to provide them more ICT infrastructure, government online services
in local language, and incentives. Hence, the internet, and ICT awareness through the commercial sites,
media, local educational institutions, schools and universities, regional conferences, and etc. is strongly
considered as the precondition factor to citizens awareness and the ICT use.
Second, the citizens’ ICT education shows that the ICT must be used in the education and learning
process. The classrooms can be utilized with the computers, and the learning process and progress can
be then more efficient and faster, and students will be more competitive and technology oriented
(Sa´nchez et al., 2011). However, to make an effective use of ICT in learning process, the teachers
should be well ICT trained, and have a positive attitude toward using the computers, internet, and other
ICT technologies in their teaching processes. They should also be capable of establishing a strong
relationship of computer-related tasks and attitude in their respective students. The integrated systems as
a tool can be used in schools to motivate teachers and students in using ICTs. Moreover, building the
websites for sharing materials, instructions, and presentations can be the other striking technique.
Therefore, training centres can be established to offer the internet and ICT help and support to the
teachers and parents. Education of ICT and its applications through the training centres can also be
offered to the governments, parliament and justice, public and private sector organizations, businesses,
policy makers, politicians, citizens, health centres, and the public administrations in order to get
advantage from the ICTs and to strength their daily activities (Ahmadi Zeleti 2010; Zimmermann 2005).
Yong’s (2004) six strategies and Foley’s (2004) instructions should be taken very carefully into account
when encouraging the citizens’ to utilize ICT.
Furthermore, some authors highlighted that when some certain conditions are achieved, the use of the
ICT can have a positive effect on education and learning. These conditions are sufficient access to
technology, adequate training for teachers, an effective curriculum, relevant and pertinent evaluations, a
stimulating educational system, and a motivating family and community (Norris et al., 2002; Roschelle et
al., 2000).
The research investigating on the impact of citizens' ICT education and access to generate and distribute
eGovernment content is complex. Different strategies, regulations, and approaches are being defined
every day by different governments. However, in every study on the ICTs, the role of the internet is
considered primary. Hence, in this study, when talking about the ICTs, it is assumed that an accepted
internet connection and speed is fully achieved.
To sum up, the level of contribution on using the online information and services is increasing by the
citizens especially in the education systems. Citizens can feel the advantage, easiness, and usefulness
of accessing online information and services through the government sites. More citizens are now eager
to connect to internet and access to wide range of information. The governments on the other hand are
trying to increase the ICT awareness, access, education, and use in order to react more effectively and
efficiently to the citizens needs by offering them online information and services. The governments then
can take this advantage of the citizens’ willingness to participate in making a technology-based
environment to generate and distribute eGovernment contents.
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16

The Role of National Culture on Citizen Adoption of
eGovernment web sites
Omar Al-Hujran 1 and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh 2
1
Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan
2
University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
o.hujran@psut.edu.jo
dalahmeh2@yahoo.com
Abstract: Increasingly governments around the world have realized the imperative of providing the public with not
only improved government information and services but also improved public governance, transparency and
accountability through eGovernment services. However, many governments still face the problem of low level
adoption of eGovernment websites. It is because the issue of eGovernment adoption is complex and multidimensional
in nature. In consequence, it must be carefully addressed not only from technological perspectives but
also from social, cultural, and organizational perspectives. The business case for developing sustainable successful
eGovernment initiatives critically depends on our knowledge and understanding of how to increase citizen adoption
of eGovernment websites. A review of the literature, however, shows that much of extant eGovernment research has
focused on eGovernment adoption in developed countries. In consequence, little is known about national cultural
factors that may influence eGovernment adoption in developing countries. This knowledge gap is particularly
apparent in Jordan. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to examine national cultural factors that may influence
citizen adoption of eGovernment websites in this culturally different part of the world. We developed an integrated
model by extending the technology acceptance model (TAM) with Hofstede’s national culture dimensions, which is
used to evaluate the impact of national culture on eGovernment adoption in this paper. Based on survey data
collected from a total of 197 Jordanian citizens, evidence shows that while two cultural dimensions: power distance
and uncertainty avoidance had significant impacts on citizens' intention to adopt eGovernment, the other three
cultural dimensions: individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation had no discernible impacts. The results also
indicate that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude are significant indicators of citizens’ intention to
use state government services online.
Keywords: eGovernment adoption, technology acceptance model, culture, Jordan
1. Introduction
Information and communication technology (ICT) and resulting online capabilities such as the Internet
provide the foundation for the transformation of the traditional government service. Over the past decade
governments all over the world have realized the importance of providing government services and
information via the Internet and world-wide-web to improve the efficiency, cost and quality of the
government information and services provided to the public. However, although the adoption of
eGovernment has the potential to provide better services to citizens at lower costs, it has acceptance
problems. In fact, understanding why people accept or reject new information technology (IT) has proven
to be one of the most challenging issues in IT/IS research (Al-Adawi et al., 2005). The acceptance and
success of eGovernment is dependent upon citizen willingness to adopt this innovation (Carter and
Bélanger, 2005). Yet, many governments worldwide still face the problem of low-level of citizen adoption
of eGovernment websites (Belanger and Carter, 2008; Choudrie and Dwivedi, 2005; Gupta et al., 2008;
Kumar et al., 2007; Fu et al., 2006; Wang, 2003). EGovernment adoption occurs in a turbulent socialpolitical
environment. In consequence, it must be carefully addressed not only from technological
perspectives, but also from social, political, and cultural perspectives. Without understanding what
motivates the public to use eGovernment services, governments will not be able to take strategic actions
to increase the eGovernment up-take (Gilbert et al., 2004). Hence, more empirical studies are required in
the area of eGovernment adoption to help governments to improve their understanding of the issues that
affect citizen adoption of eGovernment services.
In addition, while the academic literature on eGovernment adoption has focused upon the adoption of
eGovernment websites in developed countries, relatively little attention has been given to the citizen
adoption of eGovernment websites in developing countries (Alhujran and Chatfield, 2008). The study,
therefore, aims to fill this gap in the literature by conducting empirical field research on eGovernment
adoption in the Arab world, specifically Jordan. Grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
(Davis et al., 1989), this study develops a conceptual model by integrating the TAM with two of
Hofstede’s national culture dimensions - power distance, uncertainty avoidance. The extended TAM
model is to examine the impacts of these cultural dimensions upon citizen adoption of eGovernment
websites in developing countries with different national cultures and values.
17

Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh
Moreover, although culture is being considered as a contributing factor in the IT/IS adoption, very limited
research attempted to explore the impact of the culture on IT/IS adoption in the Arab region. Most of the
previous research has focused on economical, political, and technological factors that impact technology
transfer to the Arab world (e.g. Al-Gahtani, 2004; Straub et al., 2001). Furthermore, to date, no prior
research has considered the influence of national culture on eGovernment adoption in the Arab world in
general and Jordan in particular.
In terms of achievements, Jordan's efforts to provide eGovernment services to the public have been
recognized. Recently, the ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MoICT) has
introduced more than three main eGovernment services to the public. Examples of these services are:
police clearance, higher education admissions, and public jobs applications and tracking. However,
despite some success, the eGovernment services and websites in Jordan are facing the challenge of
increasing the usage level of these services and websites (Al-Hujran and Shahateet, 2010). Therefore, a
better understanding of the factors that influence citizen adoption of eGovernment is a critically important
policy issue in this country. This study provides the eGovernment officials with a useful guideline for
achieving better eGovernment websites and increasing the citizen's adoption of these websites.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the theoretical background and
research model. Section 3 describes the research methodology. Section 4 presents the analysis and
results. Finally, we present our discussions and conclusion.
2. Theoretical background and research model
The research model used to guide the study is shown in Figure 1. In the following sections, the meaning
and the theories supporting the relationship are presented.
Figure 1: Research model of citizen’s intention to use eGovernment websites
2.1 Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
The technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989), is one of the various models
that IT/IS researchers have used to predict and explain the underlying factors that motivate users to
accept and adopt new information technology systems. This model (Figure 2) is derived from the theory
of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975; Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980).
According to TRA, the individual attitudes and subjective norms influence the user’s behavioural
intention, which, in turn, influences his/her actual behaviour. Building upon this, TAM was proposed to
explain and predict users’ acceptance of IT and IS systems by assuming that the constructs - perceived
ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) - are the key determinants of IT and IS acceptance
behaviour. Davis (1989, p.320) defined perceived usefulness as “the degree to which a person believes
that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance”, and defined perceived ease of
use as “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort”.
Fishbein and Ajzen (1975, p.216) defined behavioural intention as “the strength of one’s intention to
perform a specified behaviour”.
18

Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh
In TAM, the perceived usefulness of the system is predicted to be positively influenced by its perceived
ease of use. TAM also theorises that all other external variables are fully mediated by PU and PEOU
(Heijden, 2003). Figure 2 illustrates TAM constructs and their relations. According to TAM, greater PU
and PEOU of an IT/IS system will positively influence an attitude toward this system. The attitude, in turn,
leads to a greater intention to use the system, which positively affects one’s actual use of the system
(Davis, 1989).
Several meta-analysis studies have provided sufficient data about TAM to be highly credible (King and
He, 2006; Shumaila et al., 2007), and routinely explain up to 40 per cent of the behavioural intentions to
use (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000). It also received substantial empirical support by means of validations
and replications from numerous researchers (Adams et al., 1992; Davis, 1993; Venkatesh and Davis,
2000). In addition, several studies have applied TAM to evaluate users’ adoption in different settings such
as e-mail, voice-mail, graphics, spreadsheet, and word processing, electronic commerce electronic
learning, internet banking, and eGovernment. Furthermore, TAM has reliable instruments, and is
empirically sound (Pavlou, 2003). Although TAM is criticised for ignoring the social influence on
technology adoption (Mathieson, 1991), social and human factors could be integrated with TAM to
improve its predictive power (Venkatesh and Davis, 2000).
However, most of prior TAM research relatively focused on IT/IS adoption by employees in organizations
context (Phang et al. 2005), where the use in most cases is mandatory. Nevertheless, researchers need
to be cautious when applying the results of these studies to a different context such as the eGovernment,
where the use of technology is voluntary. Therefore, it is essential to study the adoption of new IT/IS with
different population such as citizens.
Figure 2: TAM source: Davis (1989)
Based on the above-mentioned assumptions of the original TAM, the following hypotheses are proposed
in this study:
H1: There is a direct and positive relationship between perceived usefulness and attitude toward using
eGovernment websites.
H2: There is a direct and positive relationship between perceived ease of use and attitude toward using
eGovernment websites.
H3: There is a direct and positive relationship between attitude and behavioural intentions to use
eGovernment websites.
H4: There is a direct and positive relationship between perceived ease of use and the perceived
usefulness of eGovernment websites.
H5: There is a direct and positive relationship between perceived usefulness and the behavioural
intentions to use eGovernment websites.
2.2 eGovernment adoption and TAM
Although TAM has been applied to a wide range of IT/IS settings, only a few empirical and conceptual
studies have explored citizen adoption of eGovernment using TAM as a theoretical framework. Table 1
summarizes the findings of these studies using TAM. Conceptual but not empirical studies are shown by
single astrict (*). However, due to the words limit, only the findings concerning our model variables are
reported in this table.
19

2.3 National culture
Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh
The culture is not an easy concept to define (Davison and Martinsons, 2003). In addition, there is no
generally accepted definition for national culture. Hofstede (1997 p.21) defines national culture as “the
collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members in one human group from another”.
Although Hofstede’s national culture framework has been criticized due to some methodological
weaknesses (Baskerville, 2003), Leidner and Kayworth, (2006) found, after an extensive literature review
of national culture studies, that over 60 percent used one or more of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
Hofstede (1997) identified five dimensions of cultural variation. These dimensions have been
conceptually defined (Hofstede, 1997) as follows:
Power Distance (PD): the extent to which the less powerful members of group or society accept and
expect that power is unequally distributed;
Uncertainty Avoidance (UA): the extent to which the members of group or society feel threatened by
unknown situations;
Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV): the extent to which individuals are integrated into groups;
Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS): the extent to which gender roles are assigned in a culture;
Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation (LTO): a society’s preference to be more forward looking or
future oriented.
Table 1: eGovernment adoption studies using TAM
TAM core variables Authors Findings
Perceived usefulness(PU) Carter and Belanger 2004; Fu et al. 2006;
Kumar et al. 2007*; Phang et al. 2005;
Perceived ease of use(PEOU)
Warkentin et al. 2002*; Wang 2003
Citizens’ PU is a significant
predictor of their intention to
use eGovernment.
Carter and Belanger 2004 PEOU did not have a direct
effect on citizens’ BI to
Carter and Belanger 2005; Fu et al. 2006;
Kumar et al. 2007*; Phang et al. 2005;
Warkentin et al. 2002*; Wang 2003
Fu et al. 2006; Phang et al. 2005; Wang
2002
adopt eGovernment.
Citizens’ PEOU is a
significant predictor of their
intention to use
eGovernment.
PEOU was a significant
determinant of PU.
Culture Warkentin et al. 2002* They hypothesized that the
cultural dimensions (power
distance and uncertainty
avoidance) were most likely
associated with
eGovernment adoption.
The importance of both national and organizational culture to the success of IT/IS adoption has been
widely recognized (e.g. Bagchi et al., 2003; Straub, 1994; Twati, 2006). Researchers also explored the
impact of the national culture on TAM variables (e.g. Twati, 2006; Veiga et al., 2001). They concluded
that the cultural dimensions influence the model variables. However, In their study, Warkentin et al.
(2002) proposed that of the five cultural dimensions, power distance and uncertainty avoidance are the
most likely to differentiate eGovernment adoption and use. Therefore, the following hypotheses are
proposed:
H6a: There is a direct and positive relationship between uncertainty avoidance and the perceived
usefulness of eGovernment websites.
H6b: There is a direct and positive relationship between power distance and the perceived usefulness of
eGovernment websites.
H7a: There is a direct and positive relationship between uncertainty avoidance and the perceived ease of
use of eGovernment websites.
20

Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh
H7b: There is a direct and positive relationship between power distance and the perceived ease of use of
eGovernment websites.
3. Methodology
3.1 Instrument development
The survey items were adopted from prior research. The TAM scales of PU and PEOU were measured
using items adopted from Davis (1989) and Davis et al. (1989). TAM scales of ATU were adopted from
Taylor and Todd (1995). BI items were adopted from Malhotra & Galletta (1999) and Pavlou (2003).
Culture items were adopted from Al-Sukkar (2005). All items were measured using a five-point Likert-type
scale, ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree".
Sekaran (2003) stresses the importance of choosing the questionnaire language that approximates the
level of understanding of the respondents. Given that the majority of the Jordanians are communicating in
Arabic language, questionnaire items of this study have been translated into Arabic language. The
English version of the questionnaire has been translated into Arabic language by two independent
translators. The Arabic version which has been translated by the first translator has been translated back
to English by the second translator. The same was repeated to the second translator's version. The two
versions in both languages have been compared to resolve any differences. The final version has been
used in the study.
3.2 Evaluating the validity and the reliability of the instrument
Content validity is concerned with the degree to which the scale items represent the domain of the
concept under study. According to Sekaran (2003), face validity is a basic index of content validity.
Experts in the field can be solicited to advice on whether scale items have face validity (Straub et al.,
2005). Therefore, instrument was pre-tested with three academics and one student in the field of IS. An
academically excellent student has been asked to fill the survey. When he finished it, he was questioned
to find out if there are any problems to understand the survey questions. Based on this feedback, the
wording of some questions was modified to improve clarity. After this step, three academics were asked
to answer the survey questions and to provide their feedback on whether the questions would accurately
measure each construct, whether the questions were vague, ambiguous, and difficult to understand, or
contained contradictions. The instrument was then modified to reflect feedback received from the experts.
Final survey items are in Appendix 1.
To insure that the instrument items are measuring the same construct, Cronbach’s alpha used to
evaluate the reliability of the instrument items (Cronbach, 1970). Although researchers suggest 0.7 as the
accepted reliability cut-off, a value more than 0.6 is regarded as a satisfactory level (Hair et al., 2006).
The reliability function in the SPSS 17 was used to test the internal consistency for the items of each
scale. The results are presented in Table 2. The outcomes of the statistical analysis demonstrate
satisfactory reliabilities, ranging from 0.745 to 0.896 all of scales.
Table 2: Reliability statistics
Scale No. of Items Mean Cronbach Alpha (α)
Perceived Usefulness (PU) 5 3.995 .798
Perceived ease of use (PEOU) 5 3.698 .831
Attitude Toward Using (ATU) 3 4.198 .745
Behavioral Intention to Use (BI) 2 4.028 .756
Culture: Uncertainty Avoidance
4 4.199 .781
Power Distance 5 2.459 .867
Total 24
3.3 Data collection and participants
Prior research showed that the educated Jordanian citizens are the early adopters of the Internet (Al-
Jaghoub and Westrup, 2003) and are likely users of eGovernment websites in Jordan. For this study,
therefore, we identify the university students and internet cafes users who are Jordanian citizens as our
population. A face-to-face personally administered survey was the research method adopted in this
study. The final survey (see Appendix 1) was distributed to a sample of 265 students drawn from the
different Universities and internet cafes in Jordan. A total of 208 surveys were returned, achieving a
21

Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh
78.4% survey response rate. Eleven incomplete surveys were exempted from the analysis. Thus, 197 of
the returned surveys were usable responses.
Table 3: Demographic characteristics of participants
Characteristics
Frequency Percent
Gender Male 128 65.0
Female 69 35.0
Age Less than 20 29 14.7
20-30 132 67.0
31-40 25 12.7
41-50 10 5.1
More than 50 1 .5
Education High school 9 4.6
Community College 11 5.6
Bachelor 156 79.2
Postgraduate 21 10.7
Income Less than 200 99 50.3
201-500 65 33.0
501-800 14 7.1
More than 800 19 9.6
Occupation Private sector employee 23 11.7
Public sector employee 43 21.8
Student 131 66.5
Computer experience Less than 3 years 36 18.3
3-5 47 23.9
More than 5 years 114 57.9
Internet usage frequencies Once a month 39 19.8
Several times monthly 42 21.3
Several times weekly 55 27.9
Once a day 20 10.2
Several times daily 41 20.8
Demographic characteristics of the overall participants are presented in Table 3. Of the surveys analyzed,
69 respondents (52.3%) were female and 128 (65.0%) were male. Most of them are between 20−30
years of age (67.0%), have a bachelor’s degree (79.8%). In addition, most of the respondents have
considerable experience in using a computer. 81.8% of the respondents had more than 3 years of
computer use. Moreover, around 60% of them are using the Internet in daily or weekly bases. These
results indicated that university students in Jordan have considerable experience in using computers and
the Internet. Demographic characteristics of the overall participants are presented in Table 3.
3.4 Data analyses
A set of multiple linear regressions and analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the sample
data, and to test the hypothesis associated with the research model. Multiple regression analysis is a
statistical technique used to explore the relationship between a single dependent variable and several
predictors (independent variables) (Hair et al, 2006). There were no associated with violation of the
regression assumptions.
4. Analysis and results
Table 3 shows the results of regression analysis based on the relationships proposed in the research
model and Figure 3 is a graphical representation of the analysis results (only significant relations appear
in this Figure). To investigate the research hypotheses, several multiple regression analyses were
performed by using SPSS 17.0 package for Windows. For example, to investigate hypothesis H6a and
H6b, UA and PD were simultaneously regressed on simultaneously regressed on perceived usefulness.
A summary of the research hypotheses and test results are provided in Table 3 and Figure 3. The nine
research hypotheses (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6a, H6b, H7a, H7b) have been supported from the empirical
22

Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh
test. In addition, the results indicated that the research model explained around 43% of the variance in
citizens’ intention to adopt and use eGovernment websites (R 2 = 0.433).
Table 3: Path coefficients and hypothesis testing
Analyses
Type
Multiple
Linear
Regression
Statistical Significance
Hypothesis Independent Variable Dependent
Variable
Cultural dimensions PU
Beta Supported
H6a UA 0.137* Yes
H6b PD 0.187* Yes
Cultural dimensions PEOU
H7a UA 0.223** Yes
H7b PD 0.202** Yes
H1 - PU Attitude 0.236** Yes
H2 - PEOU Attitude 0.182** Yes
H4 - PEOU PU 0.505*** Yes
H5 - PU BI 0.236** Yes
H3 - Attitude BI 0.534*** Yes
*** Correlation is Significant at

Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh
example, they could achieve this by increasing the citizen's awareness about the usefulness of using
eGovernment; providing eGovernment and ICT training workshops; and refining IT/IS systems selections
to meet different citizens’ needs. However, Perceived usefulness was the strongest predictor of citizens’
attitude toward using eGovernment websites. This finding is in accordance with earlier TAM research that
consistently finds that perceived usefulness is a more powerful predictor than perceived ease of use (e.g.
Davis, 1989; Fu et al., 2006). This outcome yields the implication that usefulness is more interesting to
some citizens than others. In addition, perceived ease of use of eGovernment websites indirectly
enhanced a citizen’s attitude toward using eGovernment websites through perceived usefulness. The
influence of perceived ease of use on perceived usefulness was strong. This supports TAM which asserts
the easier a system is to use, the more useful it can be. Hence, developing eGovernment websites that
are easy to use will enhance the usefulness of the websites and indirectly increase citizen’s attitude
toward using eGovernment websites. This study also hypothesised that there would be a positive
relationship between two of the national culture dimensions and TAM core constructs (perceived
usefulness and perceived ease of use). Findings showed that the two cultural dimensions: power
distance and uncertainty avoidance had a significant positive impact on perceived ease of use and
perceived usefulness. These findings are consistent with previous research (Warkentin et al., 2002). In
their study, Warkentin et al. (2002) proposed that of the five cultural dimensions, power distance and
uncertainty avoidance are the most likely to differentiate eGovernment adoption and use.
6. Conclusion
This study integrates the technology acceptance model (TAM) and Hofstede’s national culture
dimensions to evaluate citizen adoption of eGovernment. The results of a multiple regression analysis
indicate that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude are significant indicators of citizens’
intention to use state government services online. In addition, the results show that the two cultural
dimensions: power distance and uncertainty avoidance had significant impacts on citizens' intention to
adopt eGovernment. As government agencies continue to invest in eGovernment services, it is very
important for agencies to enhance their understanding of the factors that influence citizen adoption of
eGovernment websites and services.
7. Appendix 1: Survey items
Behavioral Intention to Use (BI)
BI1
BI2
Attitude toward Using (ATU)
ATU1
ATU2
ATU3
Perceived Usefulness (PU)
PU1
PU2
PU3
PU4
PU5
I intend to use the eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access government
services frequently.
I predict that I should use the eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access
government services in the future.
Using the eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access government services is a
good idea.
I like the use of eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access government
services.
Using the eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access government services
would be pleasant.
Using eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) enable me to access government
services (e.g. getting national exam result online, getting national number) more quickly.
Using eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) enhances my effectiveness in
accessing government services (e.g. find the most relevant information about a service).
Using eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) allows me to access more government
services than would otherwise possible.
Using eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access government services
increases my productivity (e.g. find information about services within shortest time frame).
Overall, I find eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) useful for me to access
government services.
24

Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU)
PEOU1
PEOU2
Omar Al-Hujran and Mahmoud Al-dalahmeh
Learning how to use eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access government
services is easy for me.
I find it easy to use eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to find what I want.
PEOU3
My interaction with eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access government
services is clear and understandable.
PEOU4 EGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) is flexible to interact with.
PEOU5
Overall, I find using eGovernment portal and/or Ministry's website(s) to access government
services easy to use.
Uncertainty Avoidance (UA)
UA1
It is important to have job requirements and instructions spelled out in detail so that people
always know what they are expected to do
UA2
Rules and regulation are important because they inform workers what the organization expects
of them
UA3 Order and structure are very important in a work environment
UA4
Working in a structured environment is better than working (rules and regulations) in an
unstructured work environment
Power Distance (PD)
PD1 Managers should be careful not to ask the opinions of subordinates too frequently, otherwise
the manager might appear to be weak and incompetent
PD2 Manager should make most decisions without consulting subordinates
PD3 Employees should not question their manager’s decisions
PD4 Manager should not ask subordinates for advice, because they might appear less powerful
PD5 Decision making power should stay with top management in the organization and not be
delegated to lower level employees
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26

A Framework for Transitioning to Mobile Government
Shadi Al-khamayseh 1 and Elaine Lawrence 2
1 Dubai Women's College, Higher College of Technology, Dubai City, UAE
2 University of Technology Sydney, Australia
shadi.alkhamayseh@gmail.com
Elaine.Lawrence@uts.edu.au
Abstract: Over the past decade, many Governments have moved towards providing services to their citizens via the
web, with varying degrees of success. This paper reports on research concerning the transition from eGovernment to
mobile government (m-Government). This research contributes to the field by developing a successful m-
Government framework as a basis for a transition methodology, either from eGovernment to m-Government or
directly to m-Government. Transitioning from eGovernment to m-Government requires an investigation of the
integration process between eGovernment and m-Government. We need to examine all the pressures and obstacles
that hinder the transition process, as well as those that determine m-Government success factors. Such obstacles
and success factors differ between nations, such as a nation’s technological and information infrastructure, mobile
device penetration and acceptance, public and social pressures, and security. Finally an m-Government initiative is
required. Yet mobile government, despite its potential, has not reached anticipated adoption levels. The main aim of
this study is to discover what is needed to improve the adoption and implementation of mobile government systems.
Specific objectives proposed to achieve this aim include: a) identifying all the factors that may influence the adoption
and implementation of mobile services, b) integrating such factors and relations between them in a framework, and c)
providing specific recommendations and guidelines in all the various perspectives. Case Studies was the
methodology employed to fulfil these objectives. A qualitative approach was found to be most suitable to this study,
and open ended Web survey questions, as well as various kinds of interviews, including email, face-to- face, and
phone, were used to obtain detailed, in-depth information from industry and user participants. A total of nine such
studies were carried out in Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Interviews were recorded and
transcribed, and all the material was analysed using nVivo, a qualitative data analysis (QDA) computer software
package. The final contribution of this study is an adaptive theoretical framework that explains the specific factors
that influence the adoption, diffusion and implementation of mobile government systems.
Keywords: mobile, electronic, government, success factors, framework
1. Introduction
eGovernment is defined as the transformation of government work through the use of wired Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as the wired Internet, for faster delivery of governmental
services to constituents (Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) 2007) and to
improve government efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability (The World Bank Group
2005). m-Government is a subset of eGovernment that complements it by delivering services through
wireless channels (Kuscu, Kushchu & Yu 2007b; Lallana 2004). Both electronic and mobile governments
share the same objectives of improving government efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and
accountability, and facilitating constituents’ access to government information and services. Although the
Internet is expanding rapidly, the number of users is still fewer than envisaged by many observers of the
Internet’s development. To achieve eGovernment goals, different communication channels need to be
considered. eGovernment needs to become mobile, offering the ability to engage with government
services “anytime, anywhere” (Heeks & Lallana 2008). “After eGovernment comes mobile government
(M-Government); the idea of permanently streaming data to and from a user’s mobile phone may be
some people’s nightmare. In Sweden, it is already reality” (Cross 2004). Although there is a lower-thanexpected
uptake of m-Government in many countries and cities, some have been advancing, such as
Sacramento which received an award for Mobile Government Leadership in 2007 (Government
Technology Magazine 2009).
Section 2 provides the background to the paper, while in Section 3 we outline the results of our online
survey of experts in the field. In Section 4, we describe the next phase of the investigation, namely the
case studies undertaken to a) identify all the factors that may influence the adoption and implementation
of mobile services, b) integrate such factors and relations between them into a framework, and c) provide
specific recommendations and guidelines in all the various perspectives. Finally, we present the finished
Framework and our recommendations.
2. Background
An m-Government definition that emerged from the analysis of expert surveys and interviews along with
the literature review is presented below:
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Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine Lawrence
“m-Government is a strategic system that extends stationary eGovernment systems to
enable interoperability with heterogeneous wireless and mobile technologies through
applications for constituents (Governments, Employees, Businesses, and Citizens). This
allows them to interact within/with their government(s) or any government regardless of time
and location, and to enhance the delivery of service in order to support government’s
operations and decision making, and to support constituents’ business with the government.”
In order to highlight the similarities and differences, we compare and contrast the features of electronic
and mobile government in Table 1.
Table 1: Features of electronic and mobile government: eGovernment and m-Government
Criteria eGovernment m-Government
Mobile devices: mobile phones, PDAs,
Access devices PCs, Laptops, telephones
Laptops and pocket PCs (Lallana 2004),
iPads, Tablets.
Personalization
Always on
Mobility
eGovernment access devices can be
used by many users, and are not
personalised in a way that allows sending
personal information to the constituent’s
device (Yu & Kushchu 2004).
eGovernment access devices are often
switched off when they are not in use.
When the devi♣ce is switched off it can
neither receive any information nor switch
itself on to do so.
eGovernment access devices such as
PCs are location fixed, so the citizen has
to find the access device and an Internet
connection to access services.
Accessibility 24x7 fixed location access (Carroll 2005).
Limitations
Service coverage
3. Findings of online survey
The ICTs related to eGovernment, such
as computers, have minor limitations.
Many rural areas cannot access
eGovernment services because of lack of
land-lines (Hossan, Chowdhury &
Kushchu 2005).
Mobile devices are usually used by a single
user (but not necessarily in underdeveloped
countries). This facilitates sending
personalised information to a specific
constituent at any time through his/her
mobile device (Yu & Kushchu 2004).
m-Government devices, especially mobile
phones and PDAs, are always switched on.
These devices shift to an inactive mode
when not in use, but are immediately
activated by applications or information sent
to the device (Yu & Kushchu 2004).
m-Government access devices are mobile
and designed to provide instant access to
users by delivering, for example, warning
SMS.
24x7 with the advantage of access
anywhere due to the mobility of the
accessing devices (Carroll 2005).
Small screen size limits the volume and type
of information accessed (Carroll 2005).
Nearly 100% country coverage in many
countries (Kushchu & Kuscu 2003).
The first stage of our study was an extensive literature review, the second involved the identification of
eGovernment and m-Government experts for surveying, and the third involved a series of nine case
study interviews with twelve officials from government departments and local councils in Australia and the
Middle East. In this section, the data or empirical materials (Myers 1997) were collected through an openended
online survey. The online survey included general open-ended questions of an exploratory nature,
to prevent any influence on the experts’ point of view. The research question analysed here was:
“Do you think that eGovernment is a necessary prerequisite to m-Government? Why/Why
not?”
This general open-ended question elicited rich data. According to Strauss and Corbin (1990) it is up to
the researcher to determine when a sufficient number of surveys have been collected for analysis. Thus,
a response of forty-three (43) participants was the saturation point used to develop a preliminary
consensus of opinions as, at this stage, the results were becoming repetitious and no new information
was being added. The participants targeted were mainly Academics (i.e. Professors, Assistant
Professors) researchers (i.e. a Research Director) and industry experts (i.e. an eGovernment
Programmes Manager, a service design consultant, Business Development Manager, Mobile Portal
Project Manager, eGovernment consultant, eService Provisioning Officer). The participants had authored
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Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine Lawrence
or co-authored at least one published paper on m-Government. Figure 1 shows the location of the 43
respondents and it is noted that the largest sample came from Europe which reflects the bulk of cutting
edge research and implementation of mobile government.
Figure 1: Location and number of respondents
The respondents’ opinions were divided about this issue, with the majority agreeing with the question.
Some answered confidently in the negative: “No[,] eGovernment is not a necessary prerequisite to m-
Government”. Many others agreed, but added that “m-Government is an alternative or further
development of eGovernment”, which means m-Government complements eGovernment “They are
complementary”. According to one respondent, “ eGovernment is about building Internet-based
solutions…” and m-Government “is the same, but using wireless as well as fixed networking
technologies”, so “m-Government is a complimentary channel” and thus, an “m-Government solution is
therefore an eGovernment solution”. Another respondent shared the same opinion but stated that the
previous existence of eGovernment also contributes to awareness: “you need the people's awareness of
"eGovernment in order to be familiar with the m-Government”. “Once people use and trust eGovernment
services they will shift towards m-Government.” Thus, “ eGovernment plays an important role as a driving
force”.
Another respondent sums up that, “m-Government is a kind of eGovernment service [where] users can
use mobile (wireless) devices as an interaction device”. Additionally, eGovernment programs contribute
to devising successful m-Government programs and applications: “the eGovernment management [team]
will have a good idea of what services to provide through the mobile”. According to these comments,
eGovernment seems to be a core factor for m-Government. “ eGovernment is fundament [fundamental]
for m-Government” and, “Surely eGovernment is a key enabler for m-Government” and therefore, “There
should be first the backbone of eGovernment” as “ eGovernment services are the back-end Information
Technology systems of the governmental agencies”. These systems support m-Government as “m-
Government will often work alongside eGovernment, e.g. people using the Internet to register for an m-
Government service”.
These respondents see m-Government as a subset of existing eGovernment infrastructure which it
complements by adding the wireless channel. eGovernment services contribute to awareness and trust
which motivate people to use m-Government applications devised by the eGovernment management.
Thus, eGovernment is a driver and a core enabler of mobile government. While most respondents
recommended having an eGovernment infrastructure, some did disagree with the idea of requiring
eGovernment as a pre-requisite of m-Government: “No[,] eGovernment is not a necessary prerequisite of
m-Government”, as a global government industry manager said, adding that “Initially, the two initiatives
did not require one as a prerequisite to the other”. m-Government applications that do not rely on
eGovernment infrastructure have their own benefits too: “There is no reason however why m-
Government applications on their own cannot increase efficiency and quality of service.” This means that
“There are practical advantages to be gained from standalone m-Government applications as an initial or
pilot stage in development, particularly as they may be quicker to develop and introduce”. It is also
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Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine Lawrence
important to understand that although a standalone m-Government application is possible, “not all
government services can be rendered using m-Government technologies”. Thus, some respondents did
not provide a clear cut answer, but agreed with both views: “yes and no”. As explained by the
eGovernment Corporate Programmes Manager, “m-Government can be achieved without eGovernment,
but is somehow limited”. A researcher respondent added that “some innovative services can be
accomplished without eGovernment” as it depends on the functionality level of the service/application: “It
depends on what kind of m-Government you are considering. For example, ‘Light’ mobile applications
might be implemented without a comprehensive eGovernment framework”. Figure 2 shows views on m-
Government and its dependence or otherwise on eGovernment.
Figure 2: Percentages of participants’ answer to: Do you think that eGovernment is a necessary
prerequisite of m-Government?
4. Case study interviews
For the next stage of our investigation, we chose Case Studies methodology as, according to Tellis
(1997): “Case study can be seen to satisfy the three tenets of the qualitative method: describing,
understanding, and explaining”. The goals of this study included an exploration of the (a) success factors
and (b) economic aspects of the acquisition of wireless and mobile technologies in the public sector. The
objectives deriving from those goals are set out in Table 2.
Table 2: Objectives and questions
Objectives Questions
An assessment of the categories of mobile and wireless
technologies use in the public sector.
The establishment of a basis for understanding the
current and future success aspects of mobile government.
An evaluation of the mobile government adoption issues,
including managerial issues and the centralization and/or
decentralization of decision making.
The establishment of a basis for understanding the
current and future economic aspects of mobile
government.
What patterns of acquisition emerge from the current
wireless and mobile technologies and the perceived
needs for mobile government?
What characteristics of the categories of mobile
government services contribute to the patterns of
acquisition?
What issues arise from the rapid acquisition of
mobile and wireless technologies and how important
have those technologies become to the
organization?
How will the organization balance the need for
technological changes with the need to continue the
accomplishment of routine tasks?
These questions were used for all the case studies from Australia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates
and the answers were recorded, transcribed and later analyzed using nVivo, a qualitative data analysis
software package. The above questions along with the main research question: “What are the factors that
contribute to successful mobile government? How? Why?” reinforce the exploratory nature of this
research. As can be seen from Table 3, twelve persons were interviewed for the case studies.
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Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine Lawrence
Table 3: Interviewees, location, government type and positions
Pseudonym Government Type No Positions
QLDCC1 (AUST) Local City Council 2 IT manager and project manager
QLDCC2(AUST) Local Regional Council 1 Team Leader of Technical Service
NSWCC1(AUST) Local City Council 1 IT Manager
NSWCC2(AUST) Local City Council 1 IT manager
NSWCC3(AUST) Local City Council 1 IT Manager
JorFed (JORDAN) Federal Government Department 1 IT Manager
JorState (JORDAN) State Government Department 3 Customer Service Manager; IT Director;
Head of Customer Information System
(CIS) and Quality Unit.
UAEstate01 (UAE) State Government Department 1 The Director General of eGov
UAEstate02 (UAE) State Government Department 1 IT Manager
Our study, by using a variety of methodologies – extensive literature review, online surveys and
interviews with local, state and federal government personnel in Australia, Jordan and the United Arab
Emirates - enabled us to identify many more success factors than we orginally found in the literature
review, as depicted in Table 4.
Table 4: Success factors identified by literature review
Acceptance
Access
Coherent M-Gov framework
Cost
eGovernment
High mobile penetration
Infrastructure
Infrastructure management
IT literacy
Legal issues deregulation of telecommunication sector
M-Gov awareness
M-Government Portal and exclusive Gateway GW
Partnership with private sector
Privacy and security
Quality and user friendly applications
Standards and data exchange protocols
Strategy
User needs and preferences applications
As a result of the high number of success factors identified from our surveys and interviews, we
organized the success factors in the framework around ten perspectives. The ten groups – Drivers,
Solutions, Constituents (Citizens), Constituents (Employees), Providers, Business Case, Security,
Government Role, and Benefits are the ones that have been proven in the collected data. Figure 3 below
depicts the theoretical framework of m-Government as it emerged from the data analysis in the form of a
visual model. The framework is adaptive as its components are rich and detailed, and they are not
specific to one country, technology, organisational factor, economic factor, or social and human factor.
The richness and level of detail provides any government with the capacity to adapt. The framework
brings the issues facing the implementation of m-Government into sharp relief. We discuss each of the
perspectives below.
4.1 Drivers perspective
Although different government departments have quite different responsibilities, tasks, structures, and
customers, they share very similar drivers for the development and adoption of m-Government. The
investigation conducted in this research shows that many of these drivers were and remain the same.
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Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine Lawrence
Mallett, Millar and Beane (2006) acknowledge the flexibility driver, and theorize that work is no longer a
place to go to but an activity to be undertaken. Thus, employees demand work flexibility in order to
undertake their work whenever and wherever it is convenient for them. These drivers essentially oblige
government departments to request the use of mobile and wireless technologies by proposing a business
case.
Figure 3: The adaptive m-Government framework
4.2 Business case perspective
The business case, according to the case studies findings, must be developed with mutual efforts from
both the department or business group and the IT group. The business case needs to justify an m-
Government project based on a cost/benefit analysis. Benefit/cost justification would typically answer the
following question: How will the system improve the organisation? Potential benefits of implementing m-
Government systems are discussed in Section 4.10.
4.3 Solutions perspective
The category included twenty-four success factors, some of which overlapped with other Perspectives
such as the Providers and Business Case. The in-depth knowledge gained from the analysis of the case
studies shows that mobile government solutions can change business processes within government
departments. It also suggests that the mobile government platform is the most important factor in
achieving functional and quality mobile government solutions (Olmstead et al. 2007). The Jordanian case
study is therefore a good example to follow, as the Ministry of Information and Communication
Technology (MOICT) has developed a central platform that hosts all services from all participating
departments. Olmstead et al. (2007) confirmed this method and, as a result, started the USE-ME.GOV
project to make available an open and interoperable platform for sharing across different local authorities
and diverse organisational units. Such a platform reduces the cost of providing services and should
address openness, interoperability, usability, and security (Decker & Bulander 2009; Olmstead et al.
2007; Tadwalkar, Xiaoli & Lim 2007).
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4.4 Security perspective
Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine Lawrence
Literature has acknowledged that m-Government involves hidden risks due to the insecurity of the air
medium and the vulnerabilities of wireless systems, and security has therefore been highlighted as a
major success perspective (Carroll 2005; Kumar, Hanumanthappa & Reddy 2008; Mallett, Millar & Beane
2006; Tadwalkar, Xiaoli & Lim 2007). The case studies shows the use of networks such as GSM, 3G, and
NextG, with the majority of the cases using the 3G networks. Kumar, Hanumanthappa and Reddy (2008)
stated that, in the past, wireless protocols had several security vulnerabilities, however, newer protocols
such as 3G and WiMAX had the necessary requisites for secure deployment and utilisation. The case
studies also recommend utilising the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), and Kumar, Hanumanthappa and
Reddy (2008) conclude that a preferable solution in the case of m-Government lies in session layer
security. Finally, the case studies and literature suggest that to secure m-Government systems, an
understanding of all possible threats to any part of the system is required in order to source suitable
defence measures (i.e. algorithms, mechanisms and policies).
4.5 Devices perspective
The analysis of the mobile government services implemented in the different case studies highlighted
Devices as an important mobile government perspective. Choosing input/output modalities for a mobile
government solution should be based primarily on service characteristics, then on user-preferred
modalities. Olmstead et al. (2007) recommend utilising multimodal User interfaces (UI), so that users can
switch between input modalities if a situation requires it. Due to the special characteristics of mobile
devices, such as size and battery life, Olmstead et al. (2007) and Decker and Bulander (2009)
recommend considering context-awareness mechanisms. Geihs et al. (2006) highlight that the
performance and quality of mobile applications crucially depend on the dynamically changing properties
of the execution context, such as changing bandwidth and noisy environments which affect the sound
output. To provide the best possible service to the user, they recommend developing self-adapting
applications that automatically adapt to context changes and/or user preferences. Self-adapting
applications is added to the solution’s success factors. Responsiveness is a measure of the quality of any
m-Government service when selecting the access devices to be used.
4.6 Providers perspective
The analysis of the case studies has revealed the importance of Providers, as providers already
partnering with other departments have more experience than those who have not taken that step. It can
be seen that partnering with experienced providers has advantages such as lower cost and faster
provisioning of services, due to established infrastructure. Although pricing is a reflection of user value
(Kar 2008), Mallat (2007) identified premium pricing as one of the major barriers to mobile services
adoption. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MOICT) in Jordan has recognised
this adoption barrier and therefore reduced the cost of the m-Government pull services [mobile
services/information requested by citizens through SMS] twice in less than a year. The Jordanian MOICT
also bears the cost of the Push SMSs [SMS sent by public organisations users] (Jordan eGovernment
2009a). Consequently, the SMS Gateway is the most popular E-Service used by Jordanians (Jordan
eGovernment 2009b). A Gartner report reported that mobile messaging services were worth $68.1 billion
in regional revenues during 2007 while text message volumes were forecast to reach 5.6 trillion in 2012
(Ingelbrecht et al. 2008). This demonstrates in favour of using SMS due to its lower pricing. Kar (2008, p.
49) concludes that the ‘pricing model [structure] should be part of the design process’.
4.7 Government role perspective
The analysis of the case studies indicates that high level government should play a positive role in
encouraging organisational willingness to adopt mobile government systems by devising a mobile
government policy which incorporates a strategy for all concerned parties to follow. JorFed discussed the
importance of having an m-Government strategy, either within the eGovernment strategy or separate
from it. He highlighted the importance of having an m-Government vision set by the central government
to guide and drive all agencies’ efforts towards the successful implementation of m-Government. This
practice can be found in Sweden, where central government envisages facilitating and stimulating
development among the agencies. (Capra, Francalanci & Marinoni 2007).
33

Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine Lawrence
4.8 The constituents’ (employees’) perspective
m-Government has a major impact on employees and thus adaption may take longer than anticipated,
hindering the success of the project or causing delays in outcomes. Kar (2008) affirms that mobile
workforce solutions represent a crucial domain for developing mobile services, and explains that mobile
workers are “considered to be people whose professional tasks can only be completed in a ‘mobile
environment’, which refers to the user’s mobility and the need for technology that supports this mobility”
(Kar 2008, p. 8). The case studies revealed consideration of different user sectors (e.g. age groups) as a
success factor. The interviewees did mention privacy concerns occasionally. Straub and Heinemann
(2004) acknowledge these concerns and highlight the importance of ensuring users’ privacy to increase
acceptance of the system. The second stage in the process of assuring privacy is “that there have to
exist means that enable them [users] to protect and control data about themselves” (Trček 2006). For
example, a location-based or location-aware G2E solution could track or monitor workers for efficiency
purposes, but this may have legal repercussions (Kushchu, Arat & Borucki 2007). All parties involved in
any mobile government transaction need to make a reasonable effort to demonstrate that the user’s
information is private, and this must be governed through legislation (Trček 2006). According to Kar
(2008), privacy and security can be considered as opposite values; thus, to ensure privacy, security is
required as a key condition (Macumber & Cheung 2007; Trček 2006).
4.9 The constituents’ (citizens’) perspective
Adopting and diffusing m-Government systems in the public sector and their use by employees impacts
on citizens. Governments have to be able to introduce new public services and processes that are
available to their citizens as well as public sector employees. Also, although a government department
can impose the use of m-Government applications on its employees, it is not possible to make the same
imposition on citizens. Thus, it is important to attain representative figures of mobile usage to predict
citizens’ acceptance and accessibility. According to the interviewee NSWCC3, the implementation of
G2C m-Government applications is poor due to “no demand from customers”.
4.10 The benefits perspective
The adoption of mobile technologies by the public sector not only benefits parties who use these
services, but also has a positive impact on the internal workings of the public sector (Kushchu, Arat &
Borucki 2007). No doubt the major benefit of m-Government is obtaining services anywhere, anytime
(ubiquity), but the analysis of the nine case studies has identified twenty five more benefits that need to
be understood by government to encourage the adoption and diffusion of m-Government.
5. Conclusion
This study aims to qualitatively identify successful aspects of m-Government and the relevant factors
required for successful adoption and diffusion of m-Government systems. The basic assumption is that
m-Government is still in its infancy, and there is not yet full awareness of the adoption and diffusion
factors that contribute to its success, which therefore became the focus of this research. Research of any
kind into m-Government research is quite a recent development, and there is a significant lack of
literature. For this reason, the search for data by desk analysis, as well as by online surveys, and in-field
interviews, is very challenging. The results achieved are presented in the m-Government framework
model, developing a successful m-Government framework as a basis for a transition methodology, either
from eGovernment to m-Government or directly to m-Government.
References
Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) (2007) “Australians’ use of and satisfaction with
eGovernment services – 2007”, [online]
Capra, E. Francalanci, C. and Marinoni, C. (2007) “Soft Success Factors for M-Government”, in I. Kushchu (ed.),
Mobile Government: An Emerging Direction in eGovernment, IGI Publishing, Hershey, PA, pp. 106-133.
Carroll, J. (2005) “Risky Business: Will Citizens Accept m-Government in the Long Term?” URO mGOV 2005,
Brighton, UK, pp. 77-87.
Cross, M. (2004) “Channel for Change”, The Guardian, [online]
.
Decker, M. and Bulander, R. (2009) “A Platform for Mobile Service Provisioning Based on SOA-Integration”, ebusiness
and Telecommunications, vol. 23, pp. 72-84.
34

Shadi Al-khamayseh and Elaine Lawrence
Geihs, K., Khan, M.U., Reichle, R., Solberg, A. and Hallsteinsen, S. (2006) “Modeling of Component-Based Self-
Adapting Context-Aware Applications for Mobile Devices”, IFIP International Federation for Information
Processing, vol. 227, pp. 85-96.
Government Technology Magazine (2009) “City of Sacramento Awarded for Mobile Government Leadership”,
[Online]
Heeks, R. and Lallana, E.C. (2008) “mGovernment Benefits and Challenges, eGovernment for Development”,
[online] .
Hossan, G.C., Chowdhury, M. and Kushchu, I. (2005) “Prospects of Using m-Technologies for Disaster Information
Management in Bangladesh and other LDCs”, EURO mGOV 2005, Brighton, UK, pp. 243-253.
Ingelbrecht, N., Baghdassarian, S., Gupta, M., Hart, T.J., Shen, S. and Tazaki, K. (2008) “Forecast: Mobile
Messaging, Worldwide, 2007-2012”, Gartner Research.[online] http://www.gartner.com/technology/home.jsp
Jordan eGovernment (2009a) “ eGovernment Program Reduces Cost of SMS’s”, [online]
.
Jordan eGovernment (2009b) SMS Gateway is the Number One E-Service Used Amongst the Jordanian Society
[online].
Kar, E.v.d. (2008) Designing Mobile Service Systems, 2nd edn, IOS Press, Amsterdam
Kumar, M., Hanumanthappa, M. and Reddy, B.L. (2008) “Security Issues in m-Government”, International Journal of
Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 401-412.
Kuscu, M.H., Kushchu, I. and Yu, B.( 2007a), “Introducing Mobile Government”, I. Kushchu (ed.), Mobile
Government: An Emerging Direction in eGovernment, IGI Publishing, Hershey, PA.
Kuscu, M.H., Kushchu, I. and Yu, B. (2007b) “Introducing Mobile Government”, in I. Kushchu (ed.), Mobile
Government: An Emerging Direction in eGovernment, 1st edn, IGI Pub, Hershey, PA, pp. 1-11.
Kushchu, I. (ed.) (2007), Mobile Government: An Emerging Direction in eGovernment, IGI Publishing, Hershey, PA.
Kushchu, I., Arat, S. and Borucki, C.( 2007) “The Impact of M-Government on Organisations: A Mobility Response
Model”, in I. Kushchu (ed.), Mobile Government: An Emerging Direction in eGovernment, IGI Publishing,
Hershey, PA, pp. 134-153.
Kushchu, I. and Borucki, C. 2004 “A Mobility Response Model for Government”, [online]
.
Kushchu, I. and Kuscu, M.H. (2003) “From eGovernment to m-Government: Facing the Inevitable”, 3rd European
Conference on eGovernment, Dublin, Ireland, [online]
.
Lallana, E.C. (2004) “mGovernment Definitions and Models, eGovernment for Development”, [online]
.
Lallana, E. (2008a), “mGovernment: Mobile/Wireless Applications in Government”, [online]
.
Lallana, E.C. (2008b,) “mGovernment Definitions and Models, eGovernment for Development”, [online]
Macumber, H. and Cheung, B. (2007) “A Secure Wireless Data Access Service for the Government of Canada”, in I.
Kushchu (ed.), Mobile Government: An Emerging Direction in eGovernment, IGI Publishing, Hershey, PA, pp.
318-338
Mallat, N.( 2007) “Exploring Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payments: A Qualitative Study”, The Journal of Strategic
Information Systems, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 413-432.
Mallett, C.T., Millar, W. and Beane, H. (2006) “Perspectives on Next Generation Mobile”, BT Technology Journal, vol.
24, no. 4, pp. 151 - 160.
Myers, M. D. (1997) "Qualitative Research in Information Systems", MISQ Discovery, vol.21, pp. 241-242, 1997
Olmstead, P.M., Abramowicz, W., Bassara, A., Filipowska, A., Wisniewski, M. and Zebrowski, P. (2007) “Usability
Driven Open Platform for Mobile Government (USE-ME.GOV)”, in I. Kushchu (ed.), Mobile Government: An
Emerging Direction in eGovernment, IGI Publishing, Hershey, PA, pp. 30-59.
Straub, T. and Heinemann, A. (2004) “An Anonymous Bonus Point System for Mobile Commerce Based on Word-of-
Mouth Recommendation”, Symposium on Applied Computing, Nicosia, Cyprus, pp. 766 - 773
Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1990) Basics of Qualitative Research Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques,
Sage, London.
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4th International Conference on Mobile Technology, Applications, and Systems and the 1st International
Symposium on Computer Human Interaction in Mobile Technology ACM, Singapore, pp. 547-551.
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Trček, D. (2006) Managing Information Systems Security and Privacy, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg.
World Bank 2008, “m-Government” [online],
Yu, B. and Kushchu, I. (2004) “Evaluating Mobility for Citizens”, mGovLab.
35

The Stages of eGovernment: Correlation Between
Characteristics That Affect eGovernment System
Madi Al-Sebie
Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, Saudi Arabia
mrmah1997@yahoo.com
Abstract: It is clear that the stages of eGovernment are the central point and significant issue of eGovernment
system. The stages of eGovernment can be represented in different ways. Through a review of the normative
literature in the field of e- government, it appears that there is a lack of studies that discuss the use of the stages of
eGovernment as criteria to make correlation between different characteristics that affect the eGovernment system.
This paper, therefore, focuses mainly on discussion of correlation between different characteristics that affect
eGovernment in light of stages of the eGovernment system. Furthermore, this paper discusses the comparison
between traditional and electronic government services, and the tool of delivering eGovernment services.
Keywords: stages of eGovernment; criteria; characteristics.
1. Introduction
In the last decade, eGovernment has made rapid progress (Datar et al (2010)). E- Government has
become the next wave of technology application in the public sector, now that e-commerce, in the private
sector is maturing (Eyob 2004). Abie, et. al, (2004) claim that eGovernment could be considered a
powerful tool that can effectively manage and integrate the huge amount of existing information, as well
as seamlessly integrate citizen interaction with its services.
EGovernment is the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to promote more efficient
and cost effective government, facilitate more convenient government services, allow greater public
access to information, and make government more accountable to citizens (Monga 2008). The process of
the government delivering information and services to customers (citizens, businesses and public
administrations) electronically can play a significant role, not only in improving customer services,
developing businesses, the economy, and society but also in renewing the role of government itself.
However, the stages of eGovernment are essential to the eGovernment system, because eGovernment
systems pass through a number of stages, until they reach the highest potential of providing customers
with full online interaction with their governments, thus enabling them to get government information and
services from a single point of access (Al-Sebie and Irani 2005).
Comprehensive review of the relevant literature shows there is a lack of studies that focus on the use of
eGovernment stages as criteria to make correlation between different characteristics that affect the
eGovernment system. This paper, therefore, will try to fill in that gap.
This paper will start with a comparison of government services: traditional and electronic ways. This will
be followed by discussing the tool of delivering eGovernment services. Finally, correlation between
characteristics that affect the eGovernment system in the light of its stages will be discussed.
2. Government services; traditional and electronic
The eGovernment system can play a significant role in providing government services to customers
efficiently. Yu and Janssen (2010) claim that the major goal for launching eGovernment is creating value
for citizens, businesses and government agencies through public service delivery. Metaxiotis and Psarras
(2004) argue that the traditional model of government is no longer functional. Furthermore, Chandler and
Emanuels (2002) point out that the traditional form of government is failing, because their hierarchical
structure is based on central systems that have been unable to reflect the needs and beliefs of its
citizens. So, this deficit in the traditional model of government may be a significant motivation for
governments to adopt eGovernment. The essential motivating point behind initiating eGovernment is the
need for more efficiency in public sectors (Affisco and Soliman, 2006). However, as argued by Larson
(2001), eGovernment has an opportunity to improve the delivery of government services and create
significant cost-savings; this can lead to governments becoming more efficient and more effective.
Furthermore, Al-kaabi and Hattab (2009) claim that eGovernment is a way for governments to use the
most innovative information and communication technology to provide customers with efficient access to
government information and services.
36

Madi Al-Sebie
On the other hand, Atallab (2001) claims that eGovernment cannot be considered as a solution for failed
development and routine systems. However, it can be said that eGovernment, if it is implemented
successfully, can be considered a significant tool that can help to overcome the shortcomings of
traditional systems, and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government. The key to a successful
eGovernment is, to have the ability to provide a citizen-centric view of government model (Sanati and Lu
2010).
There are several characteristics that differentiate between delivering government services electronically
and the traditional methods (Warkentin et al 2002). These characteristics include wide use of
communication technology, smooth collection and processing of information, the development of
communication mediums, the impersonal feature of the online environment, and the full benefit of using
high standards of technological infrastructure for transactions.
Morris (2002) compared government services of the traditional and electronic paths, as shown in figures
1 and 2 below. Traditionally, public services can be delivered by direct interaction between a citizen or
business and representatives or agents of government, who are considered transaction processors or
gatekeepers to the desired transactions or information.
Figure 1: Traditional path to government service (source: (Morris, 2002))
On the other hand, delivering of public services electronically, leads to a change in the role of
government representatives, from gatekeeper to problem solver or service provider. Furthermore,
electronic public service delivery, enables citizens and businesses to serve themselves.
Figure 2: E-Path to government services (source (Morris, 2002))
Howard (2001) argues that eGovernment services at all levels will increasingly be delivered through
electronic methods, but this will not replace the traditional ways of delivering government services.
Instead, electronic channels will be additional paths of delivery for eGovernment services.
However, governments still need to provide citizens and businesses with public services through
traditional channels, because not all services are suited for electronic delivery, additionally, not all citizens
and businesses have the desire or ability to access public services via electronic channels (Morris 2002).
3. The tool of delivering eGovernment services
eGovernment uses information technology (IT) to provide unlimited access to a wide range of public
services (Sagheb, 2010). Aggarwal (2009) claims that advances in information and communication
technologies (ICT) provide opportunities for governments to offer e-services on the web. Governments
37

Madi Al-Sebie
deliver their services more, through different service delivery channels such as phone, web and physical
offices (Bajnath et al 2010). Internet is one of the most significant tools for delivering government services
electronically. Abdel-Fattah and Galal-Edeen (2008) claim, that delivering services through electronic
means -such as the Internet- forms an important component of most eGovernment strategies.
One-stop public services and single window systems are primary goals for many eGovernment projects
(Lee et al 2009). The most important trend in eGovernment is the increasing concentration on the web
portal. According to Teicher et al (2002, P.389) “A portal is a point of entry which enables citizens to have
access to a full range of services without any consciousness of movement between Internet sites and
where those services may be tailored to user’s profile”. As shown in table 1 below, portals provide
citizens with easy and single access to government services without the need to know which agency is
responsible for them. An eGovernment portal is based on the concept of “intentions-based design” so the
site is organized to meet the citizens needs rather than the structure of government. So, a true
eGovernment portal is much better than a website (Howard 2001). Morris (2002) argues that portals lead
to saving time spent by citizens, businesses and employees, on access and searching for information
and services.
A portal requires comprehensive technology, project management skills and systems integration, as well
as graphics design, interactive media and user interface construction abilities (Sharma and Gupta, 2002).
However, it can be said that eGovernment is not about creating a web site nor new technology; it is about
transforming the delivery of government services via the use of technology.
Table 1: Differences between portals and websites (source: Howard, (2001))
Web Site Enterprise Portal
Basic home page Organized by customer groups or Internet
List of agencies List key services
Mainly static information Information and interactions
Some transactions Transactions rich
Organized by agency Organized for user needs
Separate from IT Fully integrated to IT systems
Weak customer support Full customer support
4. The correlation between characteristics that affect the eGovernment system in
light of its stages
As mentioned previously, the process of implementing an eGovernment system passes through different
stages, until it reaches its highest potential, whereas government information and services integrate in
different departments, for different functions and at different levels of the government system, enabling
customers to obtain government services and information online from a single point of access.
When issues related to the stages of eGovernment systems are discussed, some points should be taken
into account (Al-Sebie et al 2005):
A specific approach to the stages of eGovernment systems has not been agreed on between the
researchers, nor has there been an agreement on the number of stages required for an eGovernment
system; the stages required for an eGovernment system have been classified into either three, four,
five or six stages.
Most studies have classified eGovernment into four stages, although, some studies have classified
eGovernment into three, five and six stages.
Different models of the eGovernment stages show that there is almost a consensus that the first
stage of an eGovernment system aims to create a static website that contains information and
services of eGovernment without interaction. However, this first stage has been given different
names such as ‘information’, ‘presence’ and ‘emerging’.
There is a significant total agreement that the main purpose of the final stage is, to integrate
government information and services in different departments, functions and levels of the government
system, to enable citizens to obtain government services and information online, from a single point
of access.
38

Madi Al-Sebie
The final stage of eGovernment is also given different names; such as ‘transformation’ and
‘integration’. Finally, the different models of the stages of eGovernment show that there remains an
argument between the researchers of eGovernment systems on the perception, and number of
stages which arise between the first and final stages.
As shown in table 2 below, some scholars use the stages of eGovernment as criteria to make correlation
between different characteristics that affect eGovernment.
Table 2: Correlation between different characteristics of eGovernment in the light of the stages of
eGovernment
Correlation between different characteristics of eGovernment Reference
Positive correlation between value of eGovernment to citizen / business and complexity. (See Backus (2001)
figure: 3)
Positive correlation between sophistication of eGovernment and benefits. (See figure: 4) Howard (2001)
Positive correlation between technology and organizational complexity and integration. (See
figure: 5)
Positive correlation between web based application functionality and enterprise integration.
(See figure: 6)
Layne and Lee
(2001)
Eyob (2004)
In light of the above table, Backus (2001) claims that eGovernment can be categorized into four stages:
information, interaction, transaction and transformation. These stages can be represented by correlation
between the value to citizens/businesses and complexity, as shown in figure 3 below:
Figure 3: Relationship between value to Citizens/Businesses and Increasing Complexity source (Backus,
2001)
Howard (2001) notes that there are at least three stages of eGovernment - publishing, interaction and the
transaction stage. These stages can be represented by the correlation between eGovernment
sophistication and benefits, as shown in figure 4:
Layne and Lee (2001) - as shown in figure 5 below – divided the eGovernment system into four stages,
namely: cataloguing, transaction, and vertical and horizontal integration. They note that there is
correlation between technology and organisational complexity of the stages and various levels of
integration.
Additionally, Eyob (2004) notes that there are at least four stages of eGovernment, namely: websites for
information dissemination, web based two-way transactions, portals for government services, and
39

Madi Al-Sebie
enterprise wide integration of government services. He claims that these stages can be represented by
correlation between web based application functionality and enterprise integration, as shown in figure 6
Figure 4: The relationship between eGovernment sophistication and benefits source (Howard, 2001)
Figure 5: The relationship between technology and the organizational complexity of the stages of
eGovernment and various levels of integration. source (Layne and Lee, 2001)
As a result of the above discussion, and in light of the stages of the eGovernment system, it can be noted
that, the closer the stages of eGovernment system get to its highest potential:
The more the value to citizen/ business and complexity of eGovernment increase.
The more eGovernment sophistication and benefits for customers increase.
The more technology and organisational complexity of the stages and various levels of integration
increase.
40

Madi Al-Sebie
Figure 6: Correlation between web based application functionality and enterprise integration Source
(Eyob, 2004)
The more web based application functionality and enterprise integration increase.
However, governments seeking to reach the highest level of delivering services to customers, should
take into account that the closer the stages of eGovernment system get to its highest potential, the more
the value, sophisticated, benefits, complexity of technology, web based application functionality and
enterprise integration increase, as shown in figure (7) below:
Figure 7: The stages of eGovernment as criteria to make correlation between different characteristics
that affect eGovernment
5. Conclusion
It has been shown in this paper that although the benefits of providing government services to customers
electronically are essential, governments still need to provide citizens and businesses with public
services through traditional channels. There are several reasons for that, such as, not all services are
suited for electronic delivery, furthermore, not all customers have the desire or the ability to access public
services via electronic channels. According to the discussion of the tool of delivering eGovernment
services, it has been concluded that the eGovernment is not about creating a web site nor new
technology; it is about transforming the delivery of government services via the use of technology. The
stages of eGovernment can be considered as a central point and significant issue of the eGovernment
system. Due to the lack of studies that focus on the use of the stages of eGovernment as criteria to make
41

Madi Al-Sebie
correlation between different characteristics that affect eGovernment, this paper has focused on filling in
this information gap. Consequently, the closer the stages of eGovernment system get to its highest
potential enabling customers to obtain government services and information online from a single point of
access, the more the value, sophistication, benefits, complexity of technology, web based application
functionality and enterprise integration increase. However, comprehensive literature review shows that
correlation between different characteristics that affect eGovernment in light of stages of the
eGovernment system has been discussed from theoretical perspective. Empirical studies should be taken
into account in this area.
References
Abdel-Fattah, M., and Galal-Edeen, G. (2008). ‘Towards Flexible Evaluation for eGovernment Websites Quality:, A
Multi-Perspective Evaluation Framework, Proceedings of 8th European Conference on EGovernment, Ecole
Polytechnique, Lausanne,, Switzerland, 2008, pp.1-12.
Abie, H., Foyn, B., Bing, J., Blobel, B., Pharow, P., Delgado, J., Krnouskos, S., Pitkanen, O. and Tzovaras, D. (2004)
‘The need for a digital rights management framework for the next generation of eGovernment services’,
Electronic Government, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.8– 28.
Affisco, F., and Soliman, K. (2006). ‘EGovernment: a strategic operations management framework for service
delivery’ ,Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1.
Aggarwal, A.K (2009). 'A training model for e-readiness in e-governance' Electronic Government, an International
Journal 2009 - Vol. 6, No.2 pp. 111 - 128.
Al-kaabi, R., and Hattab, E. (2009). ‘eGovernment Success Factors: A Survey, Proceedings of 9th European
Conference on EGovernment, University of Westminster, London, 2009, pp.39-44.
Al-sebie,M., and Irani, Z. ‘Technical and organisational challenges facing transactional eGovernment systems: an
empirical Study‘ Electronic Government, an International Journal 2005 - Vol. 2, No.3 pp. 247 - 276
Al-sebie,M., Irani, Z., and Eldabi,T. ‘Issues relating to the transaction stage of the eGovernment system‘ Electronic
Government, an International Journal 2005 - Vol. 2, No.4 pp. 446 - 459
Atallab ,S. (2001). ‘EGovernment , Considerations For Arab States’, online, http://www.surf-as.org/Papers/e-govenglish.PDF.
Backus, M. (2001). ‘E-governance in Developing Countries’, online,
http://www.ftpiicd.org/files/research/briefs/brief1.pdf
Bajnath, S., Janssen, M., Bharosa, N., Both, C., Klievink, B., Overbeek, S., and Veenstra, A. (2010). ‘Driving Service
Delivery Principles Using a Role Playing Game’, Proceedings of 10th European Conference on EGovernment,
University of Limerick, Ireland, 2003, pp.36-43.
Chandler,S and Emanuels, S. 2002. ‘Transformation Not Automation’, Proceedings of 2 nd European Conference on
EGovernment, St Catherine’s College Oxford 2002, United Kingdom, pp.91-102.
Datar, M., Kothari, D., and Kumta, G. (2010). ‘Cloud Computing and its Impact on eGovernance Architecture,
Proceedings of 10th European Conference on EGovernment, University of Limerick, Ireland, 2010, pp.114-121.
Eyob, E. (2004) ‘EGovernment: breaking the frontiers of inefficiencies in the public sector’, Electronic Government,
Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.107 – 114.
Howard, M. (2001). ‘eGovernment Across the Globe: How Will “e” Change Government’, Government Finance
Review, 17(Part 4): 6-9.
Larson ,A. (2001). ‘EGovernment: Promoting Efficiency and Openness’, online,
http://www.state.gov/e/rls/rm/2001/4531.htm.
Layne, K and Lee, J. (2001). ‘Developing fully functional EGovernment: A four-stage model’, Government Information
Quarterly 18, pp.122 - 136.
Lee, T., Hon, C., and Cheung, D. (2009). ‘XML Schema Design and Management for eGovernment Data
Interoperability, Proceedings of 9th European Conference on EGovernment, University of Westminster, London,
2009, pp.436-444.
Mextaxiotis, K. and Parras, J. (2004) ‘EGovernment: new concept, big challenge, success stories’, Electronic
Government, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.141 – 151.
Monga, A. (2008). EGovernment in India: Opportunities and challenges, JOAAG, Vol. 3. No. 2
Morris (2002). ‘Electronic Service Delivery – More Than Just Technology’, Proceedings of 2 nd European Conference
on EGovernment, St Catherine’s College Oxford 2002, United Kingdom, pp. 299-311.
Sagheb, M (2010). 'A model of successful factors towards eGovernment implementation' Electronic Government, an
International Journal 2010 - Vol. 7, No.1 pp. 60 - 74.
Sharma, S.K and Gupta, J.N.D. (2002). ‘Transforming To EGovernment: A Framework’, Proceedings of 2 nd European
Conference on EGovernment, St Catherine’s College Oxford 2002, United Kingdom, pp. 383-390.
Sanati, F and Lu, J (2010). 'Life-event modelling framework for eGovernment integration' Electronic Government, an
International Journal 2010 - Vol. 7, No.2 pp. 183 - 202.
Teicher, J. Hughes, O. and Dow, N. (2002). ‘EGovernment: a new route to public sector quality’, Managing Service
Quality, Vol. 12, No. 6, pp. 384 -393.
Warkentin, M; David, G; Pavlou, P A and Rose, G M. (2002) ‘encouraging Citizen Adoption eGovernment by Building
Trust’, Electronic Markets, Vol. 12, No 3, pp. 157-162.
Yu, C and Janssen, M (2010). ' The need for strategic management and business model design in government and
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42

Social Media in European Governmental Communication
Isabel Anger and Christian Kittl
evolaris next level GmbH, Graz, Austria
isabel.anger@evolaris.net
christian.kittl@evolaris.net
Abstract: Since 2005 the phenomenon called “Web 2.0” or “Social Media” has been growing rapidly, with services
gaining more and more users every month. Social Media platforms provide room for users to express and present
themselves, create and share content and communicate with each other. As using Social Media has become an
everyday task for a part of the world’s population, organizations both commercial and non-profit are beginning to take
part in the online discussions. They leverage Social Media to reach their stakeholders directly. Many are very
successful at that, learning from their stakeholders, building trust and securing their market position. While the
success of economic organizations in Social Media communication increases, most European governments seem to
ignore this new form of communication. Politicians campaigning for elections try to leverage the possibilities of Social
Media which include word-of-mouth marketing, bi-directional communication, a higher level of trust among users,
cost-efficient use of various platforms, and viral distribution of content. After the elections, however, many politicians’
Social Media accounts stay silent. On the other hand, political protests and initiatives are commenced and spread
very successfully with the help of Social Media tools. They form a strong counterpart to governmental content on
Social Media. In order to aid governments in using Social Media as a new communication channel, this paper
provides a conceptual process model for a communication strategy. The objectives of this strategy are building trust,
encouraging dialogue, reaching the online-savvy segment of citizens, and encouraging citizen participation. After a
basic definition of Social Media, the use of Social Media platforms and the implementation of Social Media
functionalities by European governments will be analysed to give an overview on the current political Social Media
communication state of the art in Europe. The analysis is based on a conceptional process model which will also be
the basis for recommendations for the optimization of Social Media communication on a governmental level provided
in the final section of this paper.
Keywords: social media, governmental communication, Europe, youth, citizen participation
1. Introduction
Currently, about 500 million people use Facebook. This amounts to 25 % of the total number of people
using the internet. Facebook as the largest and most popular Social Media platform is the best example
for the success of Social Media. Many institutions use Social Media to reach and communicate their
target groups on a more personal level than classic mass media such as television or newspapers ever
could. In the political environment, however, those using Social Media seem to be rather individual
politicians than government institutions, especially in times of elections and in political competition. This
observation made in the authors’ home country led to the question whether other European governments
perform better and use Social Media more consequently and, if so, what content they communicate,
which channels they use and how these Social Media profiles are promoted.
1.1 Definitions
The term Social Media is used synonymously to the term Web 2.0. It can be visualized as “a set of
principles and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of
those principles“ (O'Reilly 2005). The main principles are the new view of the web as a platform where
the user controls his or her own data. Further core factors of Web 2.0 or Social Media include
architecture of participation, remixable data sources and data transformations, and harnessing collective
intelligence.
Another more recent definition focuses on the community aspect of Social Media: The web can be seen
as a “city above the city” with Social Media as locations where persons meet to interact socially on public
or semi-public profiles (Boyd and Ellison 2007), metaphorically described as bars, restaurants or parties
where people talk, share multi-media content or get acquainted with other people (Scott 2010).
Behavioural norms known from face-to-face social interaction are transferred to the Social Web which
builds on the basic instincts of human beings to communicate with other humans and to receive a
favourable social status (Thiedeke 2004).
1.2 Methodology
As Social Media is a rather new field in the scientific landscape, most insights today have been gained
from the analysis of case studies. American authors such as Brian Solis, Deirdre Breakenridge and David
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Isabel Anger and Christian Kittl
Meerman Scott, who are very active citizens of the Social Media environment themselves, have acquired
knowledge from practical both best-case and worst-case examples. The conceptional process model
presented in this paper is based on the analysis of their findings in the context of recent sociological and
technological developments of Social Media. The model contains all steps and factors that need to be
considered when planning to set up a communication strategy for Social Media.
It is also the basis for the analysis of the EU governments’ Social Media communication. The analysis
covered official ministries, departments, agencies, cabinets, offices, and public service platforms. Social
Media profiles of individual politicians or parties who follow personal interests with their Social Media
communication were not included in this evaluation. The analysis was carried out in November 2010; the
data in section 2 reflects the status of November 23 rd , 2010.
The first step in the evaluation was to check websites of governmental institutions for references to Social
Media profiles. The Social Media platforms chosen for a closer investigation are the social network
Facebook, the micro-blogging service Twitter and the video platform YouTube as they are the most
widely used Social Media services. These platforms were also scanned for profiles of governmental
institutions by using each platform’s search field and researching a country’s name in English as well as
in the respective national language.
The second step was to investigate the use of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, determining target group,
content and performance of the identified governmental Social Media profiles. On Facebook, the
description of the fan page, the number of people who like the page and the content of the Facebook wall
were analysed; on Twitter, the number of followers who subscribe to the status updates and the content
of the latter were investigated; and on YouTube, the number of subscribers and uploaded videos as well
as the video contents were examined.
2. Analysis of Social Media in European Government communication
The following countries’ government institutions did not have any Social Media profiles linked on their
website and could not be found on the analysed platforms in the time span considered: Belgium,
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. They are therefore not included in the detailed
analysis.
2.1 Austria
Two of Austria's federal institutions are present on Social Media:
The Austrian Federal Criminal Agency has a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Bundeskriminalamt)
that provides information on current topics concerning safety and targets all Austrian citizens. 18,756
people like this page and each Facebook update is commented and discussed lively. The Facebook page
links to the Agency's website, a link to the Facebook profile is prominently placed on the Agency's front
page.
The Federal Ministry for Education, Art and Culture is also present on Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bundesministerium-fur-Unterricht-Kunst-und-Kultur-bmukk/144730522227336)
where it posts mainly news topics but also statements from the minister. The site is targeted at Austrian
citizens interested in education, art and culture. 367 people like this page. The individual Facebook
updates are almost never commented by the page's fans. The Facebook page provides a link to the
Ministry's website, but there is no link from the Ministry's website to Facebook.
2.2 Czech Republic
The Czech government presents itself on Facebook and Twitter.
The Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/uradvlady) of the Office of the Government of the Czech
Republic provides links to news articles as well as pictures with insights on the government's everyday
work. The site targets all Czech citizens and is liked by 2,008 people. Almost every status update is
commented and discussed. The Facebook page provides links to the government's website and to its
Twitter profile. On the Czech government's website, a link to the government's Facebook page is also
provided.
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The Czech government's Twitter profile (http://twitter.com/#!/strakovka) provides information on current
activities and news from the government. The profile is followed by 1,852 other Twitter users. The Twitter
profile links to the government's website and a link from the website to the Twitter profile is also provided.
2.3 France
The French government provides Facebook pages as well as several Twitter accounts to inform and
communicate with the French citizens.
The Presidency of the French Republic uses Facebook and Twitter to communicate with French citizens.
The Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/elysee.fr) provides news and multimedia and is liked by
7,234 people. All status updates are moderately commented and discussed by fans of the page. A link to
the Presidency website is provided, a link from the website to the Facebook page is also available. On
Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/Elysee), the same information as on the Facebook page can be found. The
Twitter account is followed by 9,007 other Twitter users and provides a link to the website. A link from the
Presidency website to the Twitter profile is also provided.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents itself on a Facebook page, a YouTube account and a
Twitter account where news and information on the activities of the Ministry are published. The
information is targeted mainly at French citizens. The Facebook page
(http://www.facebook.com/france.diplomatie) is liked by 4,071 people who comment and discuss the
posted status updates. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/francediplo) is followed by 55,152 other
Twitter users. The YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/francediplotv) is subscribed by 193 people
and provides 177 videos with interviews and coverage of current foreign affairs. All Social Media profiles
link to the website of the Ministry and the website provides links to all profiles as well.
The official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/France) of France.fr, a service platform for visitors
and residents of France, has only been updated once. Nonetheless, 22,988 people like the page and the
only status update is commented by many fans. A link to the France.fr website is provided; France.fr also
links to its Facebook profile.
Service-Public.fr is the official website of the French Administration and provides a Twitter profile
(http://twitter.com/#!/servicepublicfr) where news and helpful information for French citizens are posted.
382 other Twitter users follow Service-public.fr. A link from Twitter to the website is provided, but there is
no link from the website to the Twitter profile.
2.4 Latvia
The Latvian government and ministries provide several Twitter and YouTube accounts. The information
on all Social Media profiles is targeted at all Latvian citizens.
The Latvian Presidency communicates via Twitter and YouTube. The Twitter account
(http://twitter.com/#!/Rigas_pils) is followed by 4,173 people and provides news from the Presidency. The
YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/presidentlv) is subscribed by 160 people and provides
243 videos, mostly interviews with and statements from the Latvian president. Both accounts link to the
Presidency's website and are also linked on the website.
The Latvian Parliament also uses Twitter for communication with the Latvian citizens. The Twitter
account (http://twitter.com/#!/Jekaba11) is followed by 1,970 people and publishes news from the
Parliament. A link from the Twitter profile to the website is provided, as well as a link from the website to
the Twitter account.
The Latvian Cabinet of Ministers provides a Twitter and YouTube account with news and statements from
the Prime Minister. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/Brivibas36) is followed by 1,693 people. The
YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/valstskanceleja) provides 13 videos and is subscribed
by 38 people. Both accounts are linked on the Cabinet’s website, the Twitter account links back to the
website. The videos published on the YouTube account also contain links to the website.
The Latvian Ministry of Defence uses Twitter for communication. The Twitter account
(http://twitter.com/#!/aizsardzibasmin) provides news from the Ministry and often references the Twitter
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Isabel Anger and Christian Kittl
updates of the Latvian military Twitter account. The account is followed by 164 other Twitter users. It links
to the Ministry’s website; a link from the website to the Twitter account is also provided.
The Latvian Ministry of Finance also uses Twitter. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/finmin) is
followed by 806 people. It provides financial news and links to the Ministry's website, where a link to the
Twitter profile is also prominently placed on the front page.
The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs communicates via Twitter and YouTube and provides information
on news concerning foreign affairs as well as statements from the Ministry. The Twitter account
(http://twitter.com/#!/Arlietas) is followed by 287 people. The YouTube account
(http://www.youtube.com/user/LatvianMFA) is subscribed by 9 people and provides 13 videos. Both
accounts are linked on the Ministry's website but only the Twitter account links back to the website.
The Ministry of Health provides a Twitter account. This account (http://twitter.com/#!/veselibasmin) is
followed by 46 people and provides information on events and news about health issues in Latvia. The
account links to the Ministry's website; a link from the website to the Twitter profile is also provided.
The Latvian Ministry of Regional Development and Local Government also communicates via Twitter.
The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/raplms) provides mainly news and is followed by 461 people. It
links to the Ministry's website; a link from the Website to the Twitter profile is also provided.
The Latvian Ministry of Welfare communicates via Twitter and YouTube, providing information on welfare
topics and news from the Ministry. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/Lab_min) is followed by 219
people. The YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/LabklajibasMinistrij) is subscribed by 3
people and provides 26 videos with footage from public discussions and coverage of welfare issues. Both
accounts are linked on the Ministry's website but only the Twitter account links back to the website.
2.5 Lithuania
The Lithuanian government itself provides a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a YouTube account
which are all targeted at the Lithuanian people.
The Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vyriausybe/96251623407) is liked by 2,235 people
and provides information, news and media. Most status updates are commented by the fans of the page.
The Twitter profile (http://twitter.com/#!/vyriausybe) is followed by 511 people and provides mostly links to
news on the government's website. The YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/LRvyriausybe) gives
insights on government work and statements of politicians in 49 videos. All Social Media accounts are
linked on the government's website and also link back to the website.
Three other Lithuanian ministries are present on Social Media platforms: The Ministry of Transport and
Communication provides a Facebook page and a YouTube account. The Facebook page
(http://www.facebook.com/susisiekimo.ministerija) is liked by 1,579 people, the status updates are
commented regularly. The YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/LRsusisiekimas) is
subscribed by 16 people and provides 68 videos with short documentaries and TV advertisements. Both
accounts are linked on the Ministry's website and also link back.
The Ministry of Culture communicates via Facebook. On its Facebook page which is liked by 1,235
people (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lietuvos-Respublikos-Kulturos-Ministerija/200936741930), the
Ministry publishes information, news and media. The status updates are commented rarely. A link to the
Ministry’s website is available, a link from the website to the Facebook page is also provided.
The Ministry of Social Security and Labour is also present on Facebook. The Facebook page
(http://www.facebook.com/socmin) provides mainly news and is liked by 985 people. The status updates
are almost never commented. The Facebook page links to the Ministry's website; a link from the website
to the Facebook page is also provided.
2.6 Netherlands
The Netherlands' government is communicating via Twitter and YouTube with its citizens. The Twitter
account (http://twitter.com/#!/Rijksoverheid) provides information and news and is followed by 1,375
people. The YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/rijksoverheid) is subscribed by 335 people and
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provides 388 videos, mainly news coverage, interviews and statements from Dutch politicians, especially
from the Prime Minister. Both accounts are linked on the government's website. The Twitter and YouTube
account both link to the government's website, but only the YouTube account is linked on the website.
Additionally, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation is present on Facebook. The
Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/MinELenI) is liked by 161 people and provides news and
media. There are only a few comments on published status updates. The Facebook page linked from the
Ministry's section on the government’s website and also links back to the website.
2.7 Poland
The Polish government provides a promotional portal which also includes a Facebook page. Apart from
that, the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs is present on Twitter and YouTube. The Twitter account
(http://twitter.com/#!/PolandMFA) is followed by 640 people and targets not only Polish citizens but also
foreigners as some updates are in English. The YouTube account
(http://www.youtube.com/user/PolandMFA) is subscribed by 95 people and provides 62 videos with
politicians' statements, short documentaries and news. Both Social Media accounts are linked on the
ministry's website and also link back to the website.
2.8 Portugal
The government of Portugal communicates via Twitter with its citizens. The Twitter account
(http://twitter.com/#!/govpt) is followed by 6,856 people. It provides mainly information about upcoming
events and news. A link to the government's website is provided; the Twitter account is also linked on the
website.
2.9 United Kingdom
The government of the United Kingdom provides a public service platform called Directgov that also uses
a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a YouTube account to communicate with the people in England
and Wales. The Directgov Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Directgov) is liked by 692 people
and delivers information and tips for everyday life. It also encourages users to participate. The fans of the
page comment Directgov's status updates regularly. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/directgov)
is followed by 10,628 people and provides similar information as the Facebook account. The YouTube
account (http://www.youtube.com/directgovuk) has 496 subscribers and provides 96 videos with various
service topics. All three Social Media profiles are linked on the Directgov website; a link from each
account to the website is also provided.
Apart from the public service platform, several British ministries use Social Media accounts for
communication.
The Prime Minister's Office is present on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube where it provides general
information and news about the activities of the government and statements from the Prime Minister. On
Facebook, an application (http://apps.facebook.com/numberten/) is provided. This application is currently
used by 509 people. As the application did not work at the time of the analysis, it could not be tested by
the author. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/Number10gov) is followed by 1,763,228 people. The
YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/number10gov) is subscribed by 1,021 people and
provides 19 videos containing statements from the Prime Minister and footage from press conferences.
All Social Media platforms are linked from the website; links from the profiles to the website are also
provided.
The United Kingdom's Economics and Finance Ministry (Her Majesty's Treasury) presents itself on
Twitter and YouTube. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/hmtreasury) is followed by 16,904 people
and publishes mainly links to press notices as well as news about financial issues. The YouTube account
(http://www.youtube.com/hmtreasuryuk) is subscribed by 366 people and provides 4 videos with
statements from politicians and ministers. Both Social Media accounts link to the Ministry's website; the
Ministry's website, however, links only to the Twitter account.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change communicates British environment issues, news and
statements via Twitter and YouTube. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/deccgovuk) is followed by
7,522 people. The YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/deccgovuk) is subscribed by 121 other
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YouTube users and provides 22 videos with statements from politicians and short documentaries focused
on environment issues. Both account are linked on the Department's website and also link back to the
website.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is present on Twitter and YouTube. The
communicated topics include environment news, wildlife, food, farming and pets. The Twitter account
(http://twitter.com/#!/defragovuk) is followed by 4,580 people. The YouTube account
(http://www.youtube.com/user/defrauk) is subscribed by 235 people and provides 69 videos with
politicians' statements and short documentaries of relevant events. Both accounts are linked on the
Department's website and also link back to the website.
The Ministry of Justice is present on Twitter and YouTube where it communicates information and service
tips for different justice issues. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/MoJGovUK) is followed by 5,039
people, the YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/MinistryofJusticeUK) is subscribed by 150
people. On YouTube, the Ministry provides 91 videos in 11 playlists that offer advice in legal issues
related topics as well as statement from politicians and justice. Both accounts are linked on the Ministry's
website and also link back to the website.
The UK Parliament uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for communicating government issues. The
Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/UK-Parliament/16553417732) is liked by 5,618 people
and provides mainly videos and photographs of events. The contents on the Facebook page are often
commented and lively discussed. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/UKParliament) is followed by
30,217 people. The YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/UKParliament) is subscribed by 1,677
people and provides 97 videos. All accounts are linked on the Parliament's website and also link back to
the website.
The Home Office is the government department for immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime,
counter-terrorism and police. It is present on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/ukhomeoffice) where it is
followed by 6,064 people and provides news and information about immigration and policing. The
account is linked on the Office's website and also links back to the website.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for communication.
The Facebook account is available in three different languages (English, Arabic and Urdu) and provides
travel advices (English page: http://www.facebook.com/fcotraveladvice). 5,131 people like the English
page, but there are only few comments. The Office offers a wide range of Twitter accounts; the main
account (http://twitter.com/#!/foreignoffice) is followed by 24,265 people and provides information and
news from the Office. The YouTube account (http://www.youtube.com/ukforeignoffice) is subscribed by
1,445 people and provides 545 videos with interviews and short documentaries of foreign issues in
various languages. All accounts are linked on the Office’s website and also link back to the website.
The Cabinet Office is present on Twitter. The Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/cabinetofficeuk) is
followed by 5,788 people and aggregates information from the governing offices and departments. The
account is linked on the Cabinet Office's website and also links back.
2.10 Results
The analysis showed that 9 of the 27 EU member states use some form of Social Media for
communicating with their citizens. 6 countries use Facebook, 8 countries use Twitter and 6 countries use
YouTube. As shown in Table 1, 15 Facebook profiles, 27 Twitter accounts and 16 YouTube channels are
used, making Twitter the most popular of all Social Media platforms.
Almost every Social Media account is prominently linked on the front page of the government, a ministry
or department in order to guide visitors to these conversational platforms. The accounts that are not
referenced on a website tend to be less successful as they are not easily found by citizens surfing the
website. Social Media not only facilitates communication from government to citizen but also from citizen
to citizen as Facebook profiles show. Facebook is also used for publishing multimedia content such as
photos or videos. Twitter is used mostly as a dynamic and fast news stream and is not only addressed to
citizens but also to journalists who seek first-hand information. YouTube is used mainly for publishing
statements from leading politicians but also serves as a platform for service and information videos.
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Isabel Anger and Christian Kittl
Table 1: Number and types of Social Media accounts in EU governments
Facebook Twitter YouTube Sum
Austria 2 - - 2
Czech Republic 1 1 - 2
France 3 3 1 7
Latvia - 9 4 13
Lithuania 4 1 1 6
Netherlands 1 1 1 3
Poland - 1 1 2
Portugal - 1 - 1
United Kingdom 4 10 8 22
Sum 15 27 16 58
The most successful countries on Social Media are the United Kingdom, Latvia and France: They have
the most fans, followers and subscribers, they communicate continuously and in form of dialogues and
post the most content.
3. Recommendations and conceptional process model
The recommendations are aggregated in the conceptional process model that is explained in the
following subsections. This model is made up of six steps which structure communication preparation and
implementation in Social Media. Figure 1 shows a schematic visualisation of the conceptional process
model.
Figure 1: Schematic visualisation of the conceptional process model
3.1 Analysis
The first step to Social Media communication is a thorough analysis of the internal and external
communicative starting point. Two analysing models are recommended:
1. Conversations in Social Media according to the Lasswell model (Lasswell 1948) to evaluate platforms,
topics, sentiment, participants and relevant influencers. The Lasswell model describes the key elements
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Isabel Anger and Christian Kittl
of communication: Who says what to whom in what channel to what effect. This is a linear approach to
communication, channelling information and thus bringing it from the sender to the recipient. In order to fit
the netted structure of the web, (Solis and Breakenridge 2009) enhanced the original Lasswell model:
Who says what to whom in what channel to what effect then who hears what, who shares what with what
intent to what effect.
2. ACCESS Model
Audience: evaluation of key target groups or segments that are to be reach via Social Media.
Concept: basic ideas on means of communication with the target groups including messages and
channels.
Competition: overview of similar use cases, such as governments already communicating via Social
Media
Execution: overview of all issues around the campaign such as legal concerns, resources available
for the campaign etc.
Social Media: selection of platforms suited for the desired campaign
Sales Viability: business model
3.2 Objectives
The objective must not be to gain a certain amount of followers or fans on Social Media platforms –
although these figures are suitable for controlling the success of Social Media activities – but rather be to
inform citizens, build trust and encourage participation.
3.3 Activities, time, budget
These three elements are strongly interconnected and must therefore be viewed as one step in the
concept. The element “Activities” comprises the selection of Social Media platforms and associated tasks
as well as setting up a plan of topics and a crisis communication plan. The element “Time” refers to a
time plan in which activity, objective and charge is listed according to the respective time of
implementation and duration. A 12-month plan is suggested for the initial implementation of Social Media
communication (Brake and Safko 2009). The element “Budget” encompasses all costs for the
communication strategy, the greatest part of which are generally made up of personnel expenses.
3.4 Implementation
The implementation process is executed according to the concept devised in the previous steps. It is
suggested that one coordinator for all Social Media measures is appointed to oversee the implementation
and constant communication processes. Throughout the implementation, changes in platform
functionality as well as the evolution of novel platforms or services must be supervised in order to
determine whether new services would fit the communication needs of the government and if their use
would be of value to the target groups.
3.5 Performance measurement
At the end of the communications campaign or at milestones of the communication process a set of
operating figures helps to determine the performance of the strategy:
Raw author contribution
Followers, readers, fans, memberships on different Social Media platforms
Interaction frequency
Mentions, links, recommendations from other users
Participation and user-generated content
Sentiment (positive, negative or neutral) of comments
The term raw author contribution refers to the amount of content created by the communicating party
itself. The content is the substance needed to trigger discussion and encourage dialogue. The publication
of a large amount of quality multi-media content demonstrates the government’s will to communicate
transparently and authentically.
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3.6 Accompanying process: Monitoring
Isabel Anger and Christian Kittl
Monitoring is the process of observes the Social Media landscape throughout the entire campaign. Both
topics and performance can be monitored. Identifying relevant conversations and trending topics enables
the government to interact at the right places and at the right time. This can be done by subscribing to email
alert services but also by manual search. By monitoring performance figures, the effects of
communication measures can be analysed. Reactions to released information, calls to action or
discussions can be used as the decision basis for upcoming communication measures.
Tools for monitoring are available in many forms and styles online. Some of the most popular free
monitoring tools include Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts), Socialmention
(http://socialmention.com/) and newsfeed aggregators such as netvibes (http://www.netvibes.com/).
Facebook and YouTube offer their own free tools called Facebook Insights and YouTube Insight for
monitoring the performance of pages, status updates and videos. Comprehensive multi-platform tools
include Radian6 (http://www.radian6.com/) and TwentyFeet (https://www.twentyfeet.com/): they track the
performance of numerous Social Media services including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube but charge a
monthly fee.
4. Conclusion and discussion
The analysis showed that most governments of EU member states refrain from using Social Media. Only
9 of 27 governments communicate with their people via Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Those who
consequently communicate with dedication on these novel platforms – best-practice examples are the
government agencies in the United Kingdom and in Latvia – can reach thousands of people, especially
the online-savvy target group and younger citizens and thus transport an image of transparency and
trust. The new communication channel Social Media supports governments in quickly informing, linking to
important news and encouraging participation.
The conceptional process model presented in the final section of this paper serves as a six-step guideline
for setting up a strategy for leveraging Social Media in governmental communication. However, it remains
a concept up to now since it has not yet been validated in a practical test; there are no empirical values
that allow an evaluation of the model.
The model is designed for entities that are not yet deeply engaged with strategic communication
approaches. For governments that already have a comprehensive communication strategy, some steps
in the model, such as the analysis, may be shortened (e.g. in terms of target group analysis or resources)
or might perhaps be redundant. When incorporating Social Media into an existing communication plan, it
is essential to adapt the overall communication goals and not isolating the communication in social
networks.
An explanation of or guide to the use of individual platforms is deliberately omitted in the section
“Activities” of the proposed model as preferred platforms and services change quicker than the basic
features and principles the phenomenon called Social Media. Also, any person seeking to use Social
Media platforms for professional communication must explore functionalities of the respective platforms
on his or her own, as the scientific work can only analyse and describe the structures and functionalities.
Choosing to take up communication in Social Media entails several implications that need to be
observed. Firstly, Social Media as conversational media demand commitment and time from professional
communicators. Additionally, government representatives communicating in Social Media must act and
react quickly to upcoming topics or users’ questions. It is essential to avoid delays in communication
caused by long procedures of releasing content for communication, if possible. To facilitate this, topics
and user inquiries must be structured by different authorisation levels. A further implication is the set-up
of a crisis communication plan. As Social Media enables every user to easily publish information or
comment on existing information, it is possible that users publish unfavourable postings in connection
with the government. Leveraging social Media also means carefully dealing with such negative usergenerated
content instead of ignoring or deleting it.
By using Social Media, governments can display openness and the will to communicate directly with the
people in an environment where there is much to gain at a minimal risk.
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The Provision of eGovernment Services: The Case of Italy
Davide Arduini 1 , Antonello Zanfei 1 , Mario Denni 2 and Gerolamo Giungato 3
1 University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
2 Italian Competition Authority (Agcm), Rome, Italy
3 Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat), Rome,l Italy
davide.arduini@uniurb.it
antonello.zanfei@uniurb.it
Mario.Denni@agcm.it
giungato@istat.it
Abstract: Using data from 1,176 Italian municipalities in 2005, we identify factors associated with the development of
eGovernment services supplied by local public administrations (PAs). We show that the combination of internal
competencies and context-specific factors is different when explaining decisions to start eGovernment activities vs.
the intensity of such activities. Municipalities involved in eGovernment are larger, carry out more in-house ICT
activities and are more likely to have intra-net infrastructures than PAs that do not offer front office digitized services.
They are also generally located in regions having relatively large shares of firms using or producing ICTs, where
many other municipalities offer digitized services, and where population density is relatively low. The range and
quality of eGovernment services supplied by local PAs tend to increase with their stock of ICT competencies, their
efforts to train workers, and with their ability to organise efficient interfaces with end-users. Moreover, there is a
correlation between the range and quality of eGovernment services offered and the broadband infrastructure
development in the area where local PAs are located.
Keywords: innovation system, dynamic capabilities, technology adoption, electronic government, innovation in
services, two-part model
1. Introduction
In advanced economies the public sector has been under pressure to increase transparency in
administrative procedures and decision making processes as well as increase the efficiency of its
services to citizens and business enterprises. These pressures are the result of a combination of factors,
including increasing competition in political arenas, institutional changes and technical progress. The use
of digital technologies at all levels of Public Administrations (PAs) and the development of “eGovernment”
services are a key aspect of this transformation (Tung, Rieck 2005). Studies on digital technology
adoption and on ICT based services supplied by public organisations, however, reveal the existence of a
considerable heterogeneity across EU countries and regions (Caldas et al. 2005; Torres et al. 2005). In
other words, not all PAs are equally prone to involvement in eGovernment nor are they equally active in
this field. Using data on 1,176 Italian municipalities in year 2005, this paper contributes to our
understanding of this diversity. More precisely we analyse the factors that are associated with PA
decisions on whether and how to become involved in eGovernment activities.
The analysis carried out in this paper can be cast in a general framework that explains innovation as the
result of a process wherein the competencies of innovating entities co-evolve with the technological,
institutional and economic environment in which they are active (Nelson 1995). In this case, we shall
focus on a specific category of innovators, namely local-level public administrative bodies, which we shall
call “municipalities” from now on. We shall use the provision of digitalised front office services to the
citizens, firms and other institutions (eGovernment) as a measure, though partial, of municipality
innovation. Furthermore, we consider the relevant technological, institutional and economic context for
innovation to be largely represented by the “regions” in which municipalities are located. While the choice
of territorial aggregation is always arbitrary, we thought it sensible and feasible in terms of data
availability to utilise the Eurostat NUTS2 level of analysis for Italy, which corresponds to the 21 subnational
regions that were institutionalised in 1970 following a constitutional provision of 1948. In this
general framework, we shall show that different competencies and contextual factors matter when
considering innovation rate between or within municipalities.
The rest of this paper is organised as follows. Section 2 draws together different streams of literature to
single out the key factors that can help explain innovation in public services in general and eGovernment
in particular. Section 3 illustrates our datasets and discusses the empirical strategy we follow. Section 4
examines the results of the econometric exercise carried out on innovative activities of Italian
municipalities. Section 5 concludes.
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Davide Arduini et al.
2. Background literature on innovation and implications for public services
Innovation in services has attracted increasing, albeit still limited, attention in economic literature (Barras
1986, 1990; Miles 1993; Andersen et al. 2000; Metcalfe, Miles 2000; Tether 2005; Cainelli et al. 2006;
Consoli 2007; Clark et al. 2008). As particularly stressed by the evolutionary approach, our understanding
of innovation can greatly benefit from the analysis of competencies of firms and institutions. This stream
of literature views innovators as depositories of largely tacit knowledge incorporated in such firm-specific
assets as routines, skills, technical and organisational capabilities (Nelson, Winter 1982; Cohen et al.
1996; Dosi, Malerba 1996; Antonelli 2006). Such assets, normally identified with the comprehensive term
“competencies”, are the result of conscious efforts to invest in training of human capital and in
institutionalised R&D. Moreover, competencies originate from learning processes associated with
production, the use of technology and the interaction with external parties (other producers, users, and
institutions) which are themselves depositories of knowledge assets. To explain better the introduction of
innovation in general, and of eGovernment services as a special case of innovation in services, one also
needs to acknowledge the importance of context specific factors. There is a general consensus on the
role played by demand conditions as fundamental drivers for innovation. The hypothesis that extensive
and growing demand stimulates innovation was originally proposed by Schmookler (1962, 1966) and
tested at different levels of analysis with a focus on the manufacturing industry (Scherer 1982; Mowery,
Rosenberg 1979; Brouwer, Kleinknecht 1999). Most contributions on innovation in services emphasise
the importance of demand determinants of innovative activities (Gallouj, Weinstein 1997; Miles 2005)
although there are few empirical studies concerning this issue (Cainelli et al. 2006). In the public sector
case, attention has been given to the role of governmental bodies in public procurement of advanced
technology, hence as actors on the demand side affecting innovation carried out by supplier sectors
(Zanfei 1998; Edquist et al. 2000). Apart from the characteristics of demand, innovation is affected by a
number of other context specific factors and by the complex networks of relationships among the different
actors involved in innovative activities (Lundvall 1992; Nelson 1993; Edquist 1997, 2005; Malerba 2005).
Important interdependencies can be observed between all components in innovation systems, whether
the systems are defined at the national, regional or sectoral level. The interactive and systemic nature of
innovation is mediated by spatial factors, such as geographic proximity and localised knowledge
accumulation. Emulation processes across innovators, user-producer interactions, knowledge exchanges
and involuntary information leakages are favoured by close interaction and day-to-day contact between
actors involved. There is significant evidence of inter-regional variations in the generation and adoption of
new technology, revealing that innovation tends to be geographically bounded (Antonelli 1990, 2000;
Saxenian 1994; Baptista 2000, 2001; Asheim, Gertler 2005).
3. Data sources and empirical strategy
In this section we illustrate the data and methods we utilize to examine the factors affecting the innovative
activities of Italian PAs. As stated in the introduction, our unit of analysis is based on local PAs
(municipalities), and we use their involvement in the provision of digitalized front office services
(eGovernment) as the dependent variable in our econometric exercise. We expect different factors at the
municipality and contextual levels to be associated with the introduction of eGovernment services. These
factors were selected from the existing literature on innovation processes, as in Section 2. Let us first
illustrate our data sources and then discuss how these are utilized for analytical purposes.
3.1 Data
Our empirical tests are based on data at both municipality and contextual (mainly regional) levels. For
one variable only data is collected at the level of the Italian provinces. For municipality level variables,
data are obtained by merging two different surveys. One is the survey conducted by Italy’s National
Bureau of Statistics (Istat) in 2006 on the usage of ICT in 3,323 Italian local public administrations. It
collects information on the diffusion and use of ICT in the local public administrations. The other is the
survey carried out in 2006 by the National Centre for the Information Technology in the Public
Administration (Cnipa) on the official websites of 1,825 Italian municipalities. It includes information on
some 266 on-line services provided by the municipalities. The intersection of the two datasets yields
cross-sectional information referring to 1,176 municipalities in 2005, providing the final sample size used
in the econometric exercise. Data on several regional level variables have then been drawn from different
surveys. One is the 2005 survey on the usage of ICT in Italian firms with 10 employees or more. Data on
employees in ICT sectors come from the 8 th General Industry and Services Census carried out in 2001.
Data on inhabitants at the municipality level are taken from the Istat project “Demography in Figures”.
The MIUR (Italian Ministry of University and Research) survey on the tertiary education provides data on
the number of graduates in ICT disciplines as a measure of human capital endowments in fields relating
54

Davide Arduini et al.
to eGovernment. For all the variables where information is available at regional level, the same value is
assigned to every municipality belonging to the same region. As a result, we have no intra-regional
variance and only in inter-regional variation at this level of analysis. Finally, information on the diffusion of
broadband infrastructure and services are taken from the Broadband Observatory. These are the only
data to which we have access available at the provincial level. Table 1 provides a brief description of all
the explanatory variables considered in the empirical application and their source. In Table 2 summary
statistics are provided.
Table 1: Variables description
Variable Description Year Source of data
Dependent variable
Front-Office Index Municipality's E-gov level composite indicator 2005 EGOV (Cnipa )
2004 ICT-PA (Istat )
Municipality characteristics
Municipality ICT Empl Number of municipality’s employees who have the ability to develop, operate and maintain ICT systems; core
activities of their job are related with ICT
2005 ICT-PA (Istat )
Municipality ICT Training Binary variable taking on the value 1 if municipality has sponsored at least one of the following training
programs: office automation, operation systems, web, data management, and European Computer Driving
License
2005 ICT-PA (Istat )
Municipality InHouse ICT Share of ICT-related activities operated with internal staff. ICT-related activities taken into account are: project
management, software development, hardware management, software management, systems management,
network management, database management, ICT-related security, web/internet technologies development and
management, web content management, data entry, PC users assistance, ICT training, and e-commerce systems
55
2005 ICT-PA (Istat )
Municipality BroadBand Binary variable taking on the value 1 if municipality has broadband access to the Internet. We consider
broadband as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN, at 2 Mb/s
Municipality EDP-based Activities Share of internal activities operated through EDP-based systems 2005 ICT-PA (Istat )
Municipality Interface Binary variable taking on the value 1 if municipality has single EDP-based interface to the user (identified in 2005 ICT-PA (Istat )
Italy with the terminology "Sportello Unico delle Attività Produttive", SUAP)
2005 ICT-PA (Istat )
Municipality OpenSource Share of open-source system software used. Software considered is: operative system software for server and
that for PC desktop, office automation, web server, e-mail client, Data Base Management System, and security
software
Municipality Intranet Share of laptop and desktop PC logged in Intranet out of the total number of laptop and desktop PC 2005 ICT-PA (Istat )
Municipality Multichannel Binary variable taking on the value 1 if municipality uses at least a web-alternative channel to provide its 2005 ICT-PA (Istat )
services. Web-alternative channels are: call center, mobile technology such as SMS and WAP/GPRS/UMTS,
and digital television
Municipality Size Municipality’s inhabitants 2004 RESIDENT POPULATION
( Istat
)

Table 1: Variables description (cont’d)
Variable Description Year Source of data
Regional and contextual characteristics
RESIDENT POPULATION
(Istat )
Capital Share Reg Share of inhabitants living in the regional capital city out of the total regional population 2006
Municipal E-gov Suppliers Reg Share of munucipality providing at least an E-gov service out of the total number of municipalities in the region 2005 ICT-FIRMS
(Istat )
2005 ICT-FIRMS
(Istat )
ICT User Share Reg Simple mean of shares of ICT user firms out of the total number of firms in the region. ICT is: using extranet,
internal automated systems for purchases, internal automated systems for payments; using Internet for banking
and financial services, staff training, and acquiring digital information and services; providing products
catalogue on web site; purchasing products/services via Internet
Davide Arduini et al.
2005 ICT-FIRMS
(Istat )
E-gov User Share Reg Simple mean of shares of e-Gov user firms out of the total number of firms in the region. E-gov is using
municipality web site to: obtain information; download formats; submit formats and complete the service
process
2001 CENSUS-FIRMS
(Istat )
ICT Producer Ntnl Share Reg Ratio of the number of employees in ICT sectors in that region to the national mean. To define the ICT sectors
we follow the OECD classification. As for manufacturing, ICT sectors include: manufacture of office,
accounting and computing machinery (sector 3000 based on ISIC Rev. 3.1), manufacture of insulated wire and
cable (sector 3130), manufacture of electronic valves and tubes and other electronic components (sector 3210),
manufacture of television and radio transmitters and apparatus for line telephony and line telegraphy (sector
3220), manufacture of television and radio receivers, sound or video recording or reproducing apparatus, and
associated goods (sector 3230), manufacture of instruments and appliances for measuring, checking, testing,
navigating and other purposes, except industrial process control equipment (sector 3312), and manufacture of
industrial process control equipment (sector 3313). As for services, ICT sectors are wholesale of computers,
computer peripheral equipment and software (sector 5151), wholesale of electronic and telecommunications
parts and equipment (sector 5152), telecommunications (sector 6420), renting of office machinery and
equipment, including computers (sector 7123), and computer and related activities (sector 72)
56
2005 MIUR
ICT Degrees Ntnl Share Reg Ratio of the number of graduates in ICT faculties in that region to the national mean. According to the OECD
definition, ICT faculties include: engineering and engineering trades, manufacturing and processing,
architecture and building, life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and computing
BroadBand Share Share of population out of the total provincial population reached by at least a broadband access provider 2004 BROADBAND
OBSERVATORY (Between )

Table 2: Descriptive statistics
Variable
Davide Arduini et al.
Number of
observations
Mean
Standard
deviation
Min Max
Dependent variable
Front-Office Index 1176 0,087 0,168 0 2,02
Municipality characteristics
Municipality ICT Empl 1176 2,79 11,13 0 208
Municipality ICT Training 1176 0,23 0,42 0 1
Municipality InHouse ICT 1176 0,46 0,35 0 1
Municipality BroadBand 1176 0,36 0,48 0 1
Municipality EDP-based Activities 1176 0,38 0,13 0,02 1
Municipality Interface 1176 0,23 0,42 0 1
Municipality OpenSource 1176 0,19 0,27 0 1
Municipality Intranet 1176 0,44 0,46 0 1
Municipality Multichannel 1176 0,13 0,33 0 1
Municipality Size 1176 24,63 101,30 0,08 2.553,9
Regional and contextual characteristics
Capital Share Reg 21 16,00 11,12 4,73 48,46
Municipal E-gov Suppliers Reg 21 0,12 0,08 0,02 0,35
ICT User Share Reg 21 0,25 0,04 0,20 0,31
E-gov User Share Reg 21 0,92 1,29 0,31 6,12
ICT Producer Ntnl Share Reg 21 0,82 0,31 0,44 1,76
ICT Degrees Ntnl Share Reg 21 0,97 0,32 0,18 1,80
BroadBand Share 103 0,79 0,13 0,41 0,99
3.2 The dependent variable: The Front Office Index (FOI)
The dependent variable in our econometric exercise is a composite indicator measuring the availability
and the level of interactiveness of on-line services for each administration. Information on these two
dimensions come from the Cnipa dataset. Examining the official websites of 1825 municipalities, Cnipa
singles out 266 different on-line services. The same service can be recorded for more than one
municipality. This results in an initial dataset of 21,337 observations. For each of them, using a taxonomy
introduced by Capgemini (2006), by means of four dichotomic variables Di, the dataset indicates whether
or not there are specific characteristics (see footnote 8) that each reflect a different degree of
interactiveness in on-line services:
The possibility of downloading administrative forms necessary to receive the service (indicated as
D1);
The possibility of exchanging interactive information about the service, such as asking specific
questions and obtaining answers (D2);
The presence of an authentication procedure through which the user can be identified and given a
personal account as a means to enhance security (D3);
Finally, the possibility of carrying out the whole transaction process on-line (D4). This represents the
most comprehensive level that can be provided for an on-line service.
Note that each service may show none, some, or all of these features.
For analytical purposes, we followed a two-step procedure. First, we employ Multiple Correspondence
Analysis (MCA) to associate four binary variables to the 21,337 on-line services observed, so as to
compute a weight for each of the four features. At the end of the first step, we have a score for each of
the 21,337 entries in the dataset reflecting the “intensity” of the on-line service in terms of quantity (given
by the 0/1 Di variables) and level (given by the weight associated to each Di variable) of actions it
performs. For a given on-line service, the score is higher the higher the number of characteristics that
service exhibits as well as the higher the degree of interactiveness of these characteristics. Second, we
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Davide Arduini et al.
compute a final score for each municipality (the base unit of our analysis) by adding the scores received
by all the services provided through its official website. This is our Front Office Index (FOI). It is a positive
function of both the number of on-line services offered by the administration (the higher the number of online
services supplied by the municipality, the greater the number of non-null scores computed and hence
the higher the FOI associated to the same municipality) and of the “quality” of each of these services (the
higher the score of each on-line service provided by the municipality, the higher its final FOI).
3.3 Independent variables and controls
In light of the selective review of the literature carried out in Section 2, we singled out a set of variables
associated with the development of eGovernment services. These variables can be divided into two
broad categories: characteristics of municipalities and contextual (mainly regional) features (see Table 2
for details on variable specification and sources they are drawn from).
Municipality level variables aim primarily at capturing a large variety of technical and organisational
competencies of local administrative bodies. As discussed in sections 2 and 3, internal capabilities are
considered key drivers of innovation - especially in the evolutionary and resource based views of the firm,
which have also been looked at in studies on innovation in service sectors. We distinguish three different
sets of internal competencies:
Competencies embodied in personnel employed in the municipalities
This is Municipality ICT Empl variable, expressed by the number of employees whose core activities are
related to ICT, i.e. software design, computer based operations and maintenance. This variable reflects
the actual stock of human capital qualified for the development and provision of digitalised services.
Municipality ICT Training is a dummy to identify whether in 2005 municipality i has undertaken
specialised training programs in any of 5 technical fields that are relevant for eGovernment activities.
Through this indicator we mean to capture the conscious effort made by the institution to improve the
quality of competencies in these areas. Municipality inHouse ICT is expressed as the percentage of ICT
related activities carried out in the public organisation by means of internal staff. This variable indicates
how capable the organisation is to take care of ICT activities with its own resources, without resorting to
specialised external competencies.
Competencies embodied in ICT based devices and instrumentation
Indicators we used are: Municipality intranet, which measures the percentage of the computers
connected to a Local Area Network (LAN); Municipality Broadband, a dummy variable identifying whether
or not the municipality’s offices have broadband access to the internet; and Municipality OpenSource -
that is, the share of open source systems out of the total number of software packages that are in use at
the municipality’s offices. Since open source software is less established as a technical solution, and its
development is by and large based on the interaction among communities of experienced users, we
consider its rate of adoption as an indicator of both the innovativeness of systems in use and of the skills
of technical personnel employed by the PA.
Competencies embodied in the PAs’ organisation
To capture this aspect of internal competencies we introduced several indicators of how pervasive ICT is
in the overall organisational structure of the municipality. Measures of this type are: Municipality EDPbased
activities, expressed as the share of total activities carried out at the municipality level operated
using EDP-based systems; Municipality Interface, a dummy identifying whether or not the PA has set up
an ICT based system that allows the user to deal with a single on-line administrative interface (the so
called “Sportello Unico” in Italian technical jargon); and Municipality Multichannel, a dummy indicating
whether or not the PA makes use of diversified channels to provide services, other than face-to-face
contacts, that are not based on the web. These alternative channels include inter alia call centers, mobile
messaging or interactive cable TV.
As noted, there are important contextual factors which complement internal capabilities as key drivers for
innovation in general and in public services in particular. Such “external factors” include:
58

Demand size
Davide Arduini et al.
Factors at work on the demand side can be partly captured by our variable Municipality size, which is
expressed in terms of the number of inhabitants resident in the territory of the local PA. While this
indicator is defined at the municipality level, we suggest that it will help identify the extent of potential
demand for eGovernment services. Consistently with the literature on demand-pull innovation, on
demand externalities, and on user-producer interaction which we reviewed in Section 2, we assume
Municipality size to be positively associated with eGovernment development.
Demand quality
To carry out a more detailed analysis of demand factors at a broader level (relative to the municipality
level we have just considered), we first use variables that identify specific categories of users, such as
ICT User Reg and E-gov User Reg. These are respectively expressed in terms of the percentage of total
firms in the region that were reported in 2005 to have adopted ICT-based services in general or
eGovernment services in particular. Unfortunately we do not have lagged data on use of digital services,
which would enable us to test whether epidemic patterns of innovation diffusion, induced by previous
adoption, can affect the development of eGovernment. Nevertheless, consistent with systemic
approaches to innovation, we can expect that higher shares of companies that use digital services will be
positively associated with more extensive and effective user-producer interaction, thus creating greater
opportunities for PAs to offer new or improved ICT based services. As well, we attempt to capture how
polarised demand is by identifying the percentage of inhabitants of the region that are concentrated in the
capital city (Capital Share Reg). According to the literature on spatial diffusion of innovation, technology
adoption tends to be more timely and intensive in locations where larger numbers of potential users are
concentrated, especially in the initial stages of technical change (Glaeser 1999). As eGovernment is in its
initial phase of diffusion, one might expect that the higher the share of population in capital cities and in
metropolitan areas, the more these services will be concentrated there.
Supply factors
eGovernment activities of PAs are affected by the presence of other innovative actors in the same area.
Among these actors are the other municipalities offering digitalised services. We capture this factor by
means of our variable Municipal E-gov Suppliers Reg, expressed as the share of eGovernment service
providers out of the total number of local administrative bodies in the Region. Consistently with systemic
as well as spatial innovation approaches, we expect this variable to be positively related to the innovative
activities of PAs. In fact, when a high number of innovators are located in a given area, knowledge
spillovers will be facilitated and greater incentives are created that push less dynamic institutions to enter
the innovation race.
Interdependencies can also be observed between eGovernment service providers and local ICT
producers. We proxy this factor with a separate variable we named ICT Producer Ntnl Share defined as
the ratio between the percentage of employees in ICT manufacturing and service sectors out of the total
number of employees in the Region, and the same percentage calculated at the national level. This factor
is positively associated with the development of eGovernment services for two main reasons. First,
municipalities located in regions with higher shares of ICT producers are in a better position to gain
access to relevant technology, including both hardware and software. Second, where public and private
markets overlap, as in the case of voice or image transmission over IP, a competitive presence of ICT
service providers stimulates municipalities to expand the range of services offered through their city
networks. Another supply-side, context specific factor we wish to account for is the state of
communication infrastructure. For this purpose we introduce BroadBand Share, defined as the share of
total population of the province in which a municipality is located reached by at least one broadband
service provider. We consider wide availability of broadband connections an important condition for the
provision of advanced eGovernment services because it demonstrates high quality infrastructure and
might also reflect the existence of (actual and/or potential) competition in the provision of network
solutions. Both the technological level and the degree of competition in the provision of network
infrastructure are normally associated with higher rates of generation and diffusion of advanced
communication services (Grubesic, Murray 2004). We further control for the availability of a pool of
qualified human capital, a factor particularly emphasised in studies on the generation and diffusion of
innovation in ICTs (Bresnahan et al. 2002). To capture the role of this factor, we calculate the ratio
between the percentage of graduates in ICT disciplines out of total graduates in the Region and the same
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Davide Arduini et al.
percentage at the national level (ICT Degrees Ntnl Share Reg). Indeed, this indicator will at the same
time reflect the qualitative level of actual and potential workers in ICT manufacturing and service sectors
and the competencies of potential users. In both cases the impact on eGovernment service provision
should be positive. Finally, we also introduce controls for macro-regions (see Table 2 for aggregation
criteria). This enables us to account for a number of other observable and unobservable sources of
heterogeneity which might affect the provision of eGovernment services, including income levels,
degrees of industrialisation, and sectoral composition of the areas where municipalities are located.
3.4 The econometric model
The choice of the econometric model strongly depends on the distribution of the dependent variable,
namely the FOI index. Almost 30% of the observed municipalities do not provide on-line services, i.e. the
composite indicator is nil for these units. Thus, our dependent variable is continuous over strictly positive
values but takes value zero for a nontrivial fraction of the sample. Given the nature of our dependent
variable we argue that a standard censored model would not be appropriate. In fact, municipalities can be
thought of as solving an optimization problem, wherein the optimal choice might well be the corner
solution, y=0. The case of limited dependent variables often arises in econometric analysis, especially
when the behaviour of economic agents is being modelled. The traditional approach in dealing with such
a problem is the Tobit model. However, this approach requires that the censoring mechanism derives
from the same model that generates the outcome variable while in our case the censoring mechanism
and outcomes may be more flexibly modelled using separate processes (Wooldridge, 2001). A two-part
model allowing the zeros and non-zeros to be generated by different densities enables us to specify a
model for the censoring mechanism and a model for the outcome, conditional on the dependent variable
taking positive values. This allows the separation of the estimation of a standard Probit model (using all
observations available) from that of an OLS model (using only observations with FOI > 0). We use a
Probit in the first part of our model to analyze the municipality’s decision to offer on-line services via its
official website. This allows us to explain innovation differences “between municipalities”, i.e. which PAs
have a propensity to offer eGovernment services. The second part is a linear regression model to
investigate the determinants of the intensity of eGovernment development in terms of both quality and
quantity of on-line services. Using the terminology introduced earlier, this would allow us to explain
innovation differences “within municipalities”.
4. Results
Table 3 illustrates the results of the econometric exercise we carried out using the data and
methodologies discussed in Section 4. The whole set of independent variables illustrated in Section 4.3
and listed in Table 2, was used in both stages of the two part model. The last two columns of Table 3
report the results obtained from the final specification, following the entire selection procedure and
controls for heteroskedasticity.
Results from the final specification are by and large consistent with the view we have developed in this
paper. As we suggested earlier drawing from different streams of literature, the specific kind of innovation
analysed here - namely municipalities’ provision of digitalized services - is the result of a combination of
internal competencies and of context specific factors. The econometric test suggests that different
combinations of such variables are at stake when assessing PA decisions on whether or not to supply
digitalized services and when considering the intensity of eGovernment activities (number and quality of
services provided). In other words, factors associated with variations in innovative activities “between
municipalities” are different from factors associated with differences in innovation “within municipalities”.
Outcomes from the Probit specification in column 5 can be interpreted as “between effects”, while those
obtained from the OLS part of the model and reported in column 6 illustrate “within effects”.
More specifically, our econometric exercise yields the following sets of results.
First, the environment in which municipalities are active, seems to influence the start up of digitalised
services more than their intensity.
Second, among the context specific factors we analysed, demand size and quality stimulate innovative
entry into eGovernment service provision. Demand size at the local level is captured by the number
inhabitants resident in the municipality area (Municipality Size). It has a positive and significant impact on
differences in innovation between municipalities, reflecting demand pull considerations as well as other
bandwagon effects induced by demand externalities and user-producer interactions.
60

Table 3: Estimation results: Probit and OLS
Variable
Municipality characteristics
Davide Arduini et al.
Probit OLS Probit OLS Probit OLS
1 2 3 4 5 6
Municipality ICT Empl 0.062 0.010** 0.010** 0.011**
0,062 0,004 0,004 0,005
Municipality ICT Training -0,077 0.192** 0.196** 0.177**
0,133 0,094 0,094 0,090
Municipality InHouse ICT 0.381** 1.053*** 0.447** 1.058*** 0.560** 1.063***
0,192 0,140 0,178 0,137 0,219 0,136
Municipality BroadBand -0,047 0.255*** 0.220*** 0.251***
0,109 0,084 0,082 0,330
Mun. EDP-based Activities 1.232*** 0.710** 1.220*** 0.641** 1.292*** 0.720**
0,419 0,333 0,413 0,331 0,456 0,331
Municipality Interface 0,056 0.300*** 0.295*** 0.281***
0,131 0,091 0,090 0,084
Municipality OpenSource 0,034 0.303** 0.341** 0.265*
0,239 0,151 0,149 0,152
Municipality Intranet 0.276** 0.175* 0.261** 0.195** 0.556** 0,124
0,123 0,095 0,119 0,092 0,220 0,094
Municipality Multichannel 0,258 0.312*** 0.288** 0.288***
0,200 0,112 0,111 0,106
Municipality Size 0.065*** 0.001** 0.070*** 0.001** 0.094*** 0.001**
0,009 0,000 0,008 0,000 0,015 0,000
Regional and contextual characteristics
Full Models Selected Models
Capital Share Reg -0.019*** -0,001 -0.020*** -0.021***
0,005 0,005 0,005 0,006
Municipal E-gov Suppliers Reg 2.642*** 0,176 2.717*** 3.216***
0,655 0,466 0,629 0,690
ICT User Share Reg 1,696 1,729 2.590* 2.944*
1,729 1,437 1,475 1,758
E-gov User Share Reg 0,058 0,081 0.104** 0.124**
0,077 0,072 0,051 0,052
ICT Producer Ntnl Share Reg 0.392* -0,169 0.483** 0.484*
0,23 0,197 0,210 0,251
ICT Degrees Ntnl Share Reg 0,254 -0,234
0,274 0,268
BroadBand Share 0,163 1.021*** 0.772** 0.897**
0,46 0,387 0,338 0,376
Constant -2.037*** -5.219*** -1.987*** -4.872*** -2.293*** -5.094***
0,480 0,446 0,412 0,303 0,486 0,334
Macro-Regional Controls NO NO NO NO YES YES
Num. Obs. 1176 815 1176 815 1176 815
Pseudo R 2 / R 2 0,322 0,343 0,318 0,338 0,352
LR-test (Wald) / F-test 466,29 24,44 461,62 37,24 (134.88) 33,99
Standard errors in italics.
* Significant at 10% level. ** Significant at 5% level. *** Significant at 1% level.
Heteroskedastic
Robust Estimates
Demand conditions appear to play an even more important role at the regional level. Companies which
have already adopted ICT services appear to have the highest impact on the decision of municipalities to
get involved in eGovernment activities (see coefficient of ICT User Share Reg in column 5 of Table 3),
suggesting that capable business users are of paramount importance for PAs. Even after controlling for
ICT user firms, the impact of E-gov User Share Reg, i.e. the percentage of firms using eGovernment
services, still remains positive and significant in our Probit regression. Although we do not have a data
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panel to evaluate how previous patterns of adoption affect diffusion, this result is largely consistent with
the idea that innovation is favoured by pioneer users.
Third, demand polarisation hampers innovation in public services. This is shown by the negative
coefficient of Capital Share Reg in column 5 of Table 3, indicating that a high weight of the region’s
capital will inhibit innovation elsewhere, especially in the early stages of development of new services.
Fourth, emulation effects, knowledge exchanges, and competitive pressures can be observed on the
supply side. The most important factor positively associated with the decision to supply digitalised
services appears to be the number of eGovernment providers in the region (see coefficient of Municipal
e-gov supplier Reg in column 5 of Table 3). Emulation factors matter here, especially in the presence of
increasing competition in the political arena at the local level.
Fifth, advanced communication infrastructures do not influence the start up of eGovernment but do affect
eGovernment intensity. The only context specific factor that seems to impact significantly on innovation
within, rather than on innovation between, municipalities is the diffusion of broadband in the area in which
they are located (see coefficient of BroadBand Share in column 6 of Table 3). The presence of
broadband infrastructures does not seem to affect significantly the decision to start up the digitalization of
public services. At this stage the objective of municipalities is the presence on the web of relatively simple
applications and services such as information services (e.g. basic tourist information and guidance to the
citizen on administrative procedures) and communication services (e.g. self-managed webspaces to be
used by associations and organizations, links to other public administration sites, discussion fora). On the
other hand, broadband connections become essential when the eGovernment service supply is richer (in
terms of the number of services provided) and more articulated (in terms of interactivity levels and
technologically complex).
Sixth, the decision to enter eGovernment activities is associated with a narrower range of generally less
complex internal capabilities than those needed to increase the intensity of digitalised services.
Differences in innovation between municipalities are not affected by the number of workers with
experience in ICT nor by the efforts made to train existing workers. Increasing the range and quality of
services is associated instead with a much wider set of more complex competencies (see OLS
specification in the last column of Table 3).
Finally, a few more words on the role played by location specific factors not captured by the variables we
have introduced at the regional level. It is worth observing that the introduction of macro-regional
dummies does determine non-trivial variations in the estimates of coefficients. This could per se be
interpreted as a signal of the importance of regional factors which would deserve more careful
observation and discussion. Estimations after macro-regional controls reveal even more striking
differences when considering Municipality intranet - an important indicator of PAs’ internal competencies
(whose coefficient more than doubles in size). This evidence is consistent with the broadly discussed
Italian North-South divide, reflected inter alia in lower per capita income, less advanced industrial
structure, and lower educational levels - i.e. unobserved factors which can be expected to translate into
poorer local budgets devoted to ICT.
5. Conclusions
Using evidence on 1,176 municipalities in Italy, and combining several datasets on the characteristics of
local PAs and of the territory in which they are located, we evaluate different factors associated with the
development of eGovernment services.
In more general terms, the combination of internal competencies and context specific factors is different
when explaining the decision to start eGovernment activities vs. the intensity of such activities. Regional
factors concerning both the demand and the supply of services appear to affect only the decision to enter
eGovernment activities. Competencies needed to expand and improve the quality of services are much
more numerous and complex than the ones associated with the mere decision to start eGovernment
activities.
The examined evidence is consistent with a view of eGovernment development as a process of gradual,
step by step involvement, wherein municipalities initially engage in exploratory activities, favoured by an
external context conducive to innovation and by very limited internal competencies. Once more efforts
are made to expand and improve services supplied, more qualified competencies and more advanced
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environmental conditions need to be created. There is no guarantee that such circumstances occur, so
that further development of currently embryonic eGovernment is at risk. This calls for increasing
investments in training, human capital formation and in hardware and software devices at the individual
municipality level. It also requires greater efforts to improve the technological environment in which PAs
are active, including investments to improve the quality and accessibility of digital communications
networks.
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64

Pan-European eGovernment and eHealth Services in
Slovenia
Jaro Berce, Vasja Vehovar, Ana Slavec and Mirko Vintar
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Jaro.Berce@fdv.uni-lj.si
Vasja.Vehovar@fdv.uni-lj.si
Ana.Slavec@fdv.uni-lj.si
Mirko.Vintar@fu.uni-lj.si
Abstract: In 2009 we conducted a study on pan-European electronic government services that concentrated on
eGovernment and eHealth. First, qualitative interviews were performed to determine key areas of priority and
essential problems in this area; for a small country such as Slovenia, not all topics may be equally relevant. In
addition, a telephone survey was conducted in individuals between the ages of 18 and 75 years. Not surprisingly, the
respondents showed the most interest in pan-European eHealth services, remote access to health data, and in
certification of education - the process of obtaining degrees (in that order). The least interest was shown in the
establishment of online enterprises, and for the recognition of Slovenian public administration certificates in
European Union member states (and vice versa). However, the interest for e-services in the realm of public
administration is quite high. This interest in public administration services is connected to age (younger respondents
show less interest) and employment status (students and the retired show less interest than do the employed and
unemployed). The interest for public administration e-services is therefore linked to specific life situations.
Accordingly, it is not surprising that interest is higher among those who most frequently travel to other EU countries.
As for the use of public administration services in other EU countries, it is not very frequent – less than a tenth of
respondents used it, more than half of them online. The countries where respondents most frequently use these
services are Germany, Italy, and Austria. Considering the frequency of use, the order is reversed: Austria is in first
place, then Italy and Germany, which shows that Austria has achieved the highest level of development of public
administration e-services. In comparison to similar research undertaken by Capgemini worldwide, our survey showed
a higher level of interest for electronic managing health insurance, recognition of education or other qualifications,
and recognition of marriage and birth certificates. Among the respondents who lived abroad a month or longer, the
interest for e-public administration domains in general is higher than for the respondents in the Capgemini survey. An
exception is in the tax field, in which our respondents are less interested than the Capgemini respondents.
Keywords: pan-European services, eGovernment, eHealth.
1. Introduction
With the increasing mobility of European citizens it is increasingly important that access to essential
services does not depend on “local knowledge”. Presently, most eGovernment services are provided at
the national or sub-national (regional or local) level. There are several ways to add a cross-border
dimension; these ways range from the relatively simple (such as making a service available in another
language than that of the European Union [EU] member state in which the service is being accessed), to
more complex ways (such as information sharing between public administrations of different EU member
states), or even through provision of a service at a “pan-European” level in which parts of the public
administrations of all EU member states participate as a “back office” to this service. The term “pan-
European eGovernment services” (PEGS) may seem to imply that only the latter example (service
provision at the European level) would qualify for the name. However, it would be not useful to
understand PEGS in such a limited way. PEGS are important because they add a European dimension to
eGovernment services, and it is this European dimension and the progress towards it that matters. PEGS
come in different forms, are developed by different actors, and in different areas, and have different
development trajectories (Weehuizen and van Oranje, 2007).
In the report Innovative and Adaptive PEGS for Citizens in 2010 and Beyond (Glott and Haaland, 2007),
which was a part of the EUReGOV project of the same name that was prepared for the Directorate
general - DG Information Society & Media of the European Commission, PEGS were defined as having
the following characteristics:
Pprovided by or on behalf of European public sector entities,
At local, regional, national, or supra-national level,
By means of interoperable trans-European telematic networks (e.g. the Internet),
In order to perform public administration tasks, including provision and exchange of information and
provision of participation opportunities for citizens,
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Jaro Berce et al.
That meet a demand of other public entities and particularly demand of other citizens at any
geographic level,
For “material” services as well as for the generation of civic attitudes that address pan-European
tasks or improve citizens' identification with the EU,
With the potential to be extended towards a majority of EU member states (instead of, for instance,
only in countries with the same language, like UK and Ireland or Germany and Austria),
By either being designed to expand or by containing elements (of, for instance, service integration,
interoperability, or e-Inclusion) that could feed in the design of future eGovernment services on pan-
European level.
By IDABC (Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations,
Businesses and Citizens; http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/) definition, the horizontal pan-European
eGovernment services are “measures undertaken to initiate, enable and manage the provision of
horizontal pan-European eGovernment services, including organizational and coordination aspects” (De
Vriendt, 2005).
In the study some relevant EU documents and studies were used to frame the research focus, such as:
eGovernment for all (eGovernment Action plan 2011-2015) commits the EU member states to rely on
information and communications technology (ICT) solutions to develop and promote improved ways
for business and citizen participation in public policy consultations, debates, and policy-making
processes. The Action Plan focusses on five main priorities. Foremost among these is the aim of
making eGovernment inclusive, so that “no citizen is left behind”. The Action Plan aims to make highimpact
services for citizens and businesses more widely available, including electronic procurement
services for businesses, services for mobile citizens (including improved ability to search for jobs
across the European Union), or social security services (for example, pension records and electronic
benefit applications).
A Digital Agenda for Europe (Digital Agenda for Europe 2010-2020) for maximising the social and
economic potential of ICT, most notably the Internet, a vital medium of economic and societal activity:
for doing business, working, playing, communicating, and expressing ourselves freely. European
governments are committed to making user-centric, personalised, multiplatform eGovernment
services.
The Vision Study (SMART 2006/0064) stimulated the debate on the key transformations and
challenges ahead for the renewal of the European eGovernment agenda beyond 2010.
The Guidelines on Sustainable Business Models for Inclusive Public Service Delivery (SMART
2007/0052) study analyses the state of the art of the multichannel delivery of public services
throughout Europe, and the progress made towards achieving the goal to ensure that “no citizen is
left behind”. It provides useful recommendations and identifies further actions that will be needed
over the next few years.
The Progress Study (SMART 2008/0042) is a qualitative progress evaluation of the i2010
eGovernment Action Plan, 2006-2010. The objectives of the study were to qualitatively analyse the
progress towards achieving the goals of the Action Plan, and to evaluate its stimulus effect across the
member states.
Study on eGovernment scenarios for 2020 and the preparation of the 2015 Action Plan (SMART
2009/0069) provided concrete input to the eGovernment 2015 Action Plan in terms of assessing
objectives and validated priorities, delivering innovative ideas, and proposing a range of policy
actions in support of these priorities.
To better understand the PEGS in Slovenia, a small country where not all of the topics mentioned above
may be equally relevant, two data gathering tools were used. First, qualitative interviews were performed
to frame key priority areas and address essential problems. Second a telephone survey was conducted
among active Internet users. Active Internet user was defined as “anyone who used the Internet in the
last three months”.
2. Analysis of expert interviews
As detailed previously (Vintar et al, 2010), we performed a series of qualitative expert interviews with key
local, regional, national, and European PEGS experts in order to effectively analyse the state of affairs,
strategies, and priorities in the domain of PEGS, and to identify key services that should be implemented
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Jaro Berce et al.
in future. In total, 14 interviews were performed: 10 with experts in e-administration, 3 in eHealth and 1 in
the e-business domain. The main objective was to determine the key PEGS to be implemented in the
future to ensure interoperability and mobility of Slovenia in the wider European market.
Experts believe PEGS to be very important in general, but with regard to specific services their views
differ, especially with respect to the order in which PEGS should be introduced. A quite wide range of
domains was studied and examined with an eye toward what would be needed to enact workable pan-
European PEGS: interviews/canvassings of companies employing foreign workers in Slovenia,
population databases and their linkage, horizontal linkage, interoperability of services, and from the socalled
“E-procurement” domain (public commissions, pan-European health cards, and so forth). The
experts’ opinions focussed on the different elements that would be required to enact services in the pan-
European space as well as on services themselves. To provide examples, administration of taxes
demand an obligatory and unified pan-European taxation number; the linking of population registers
would be needed for car registration abroad, and for extending the validity of drivers’ licences to include a
greater number of member states. In the research process, some good practices from the EU were
uncovered, for example Smart Cities (for connecting different European cities and enterprises within
them). One expert pointed out that connecting on the mezzo level is a more reasonable start than aiming
to connect whole countries. The enterprise viewpoint was exposed frequently, for example with the idea
of pay circulation and the concept of SEPA (Single Euro Payment Area). However, connecting on the
regional level is currently left to local initiatives.
The key actors in the implementation of PEGS are the European Commission, in the role of connector,
the Ministry of Public Administration, and the informatics professional in the role of the carrier of changes.
Moreover, the European Commission thinks that politicians should be instructed on the importance of
changes related to PEGS, but not until the different schools of thought in the field unify with respect to
what initiatives should be undertaken. According to one of the interviewed experts, informatics could be
withdrawn from the Ministry of Public Administration and made independent again (as it was before); this
might allow for this department to be an independent actor that could step forth from the conflicting
interests of others in the subfields that are collaborating to implement PEGS.
An important pan-European service that still lives in practice is, according to one expert, the European
driving licence. Another expert exposed the historical background of differences in European population
registers; specifically, member states in Eastern Europe (which once had different political systems) are
more inclined toward centralisation of that sort of activity, and therefore have better-regulated civil
population databases than do member states in Western Europe. The differences are based on different
philosophies. In Slovenia, registers were introduced with the reforms of Habsburg Maria Theresa
Walburga (1717 – 1780), while the collection of civilian data in Germany (due to the experience of the
Second World War) is strictly unwanted and triggers social protests. Thus, cultural differences matter—in
Slovenia we tend to control a priori, while in Britain control is only imposed when something goes wrong
(to use an illustrative comparison).
One of the experts interviewed noted that technical background is the least problematic aspect of such
pan-European projects. Interestingly, experts are not uniform in their opinions concerning legal
regulation. Some experts strongly value legal regulation, but one expert expressed the problematic
nature of legal regulation when it comes to personal data security. In his opinion, despite the adjustment
of legislation in various EU member countries to correspond with legislation for the overall European
Union, huge differences remain. For example, the RISER project (Registry Information Service on
European Residents), in which also the Ministry for Public Administration is included and concerns
searching for debtors abroad. The project is very successful in Germany, and eight countries participate
in it. However, in Slovenia it is not feasible as our administration will not give data on debtors from
Slovenia to foreign enterprises.
One other expert also provided an interesting opinion—using an e-administration system, Slovenians can
manage all procedures from abroad, but e-administration does not assure pan-European services. He
defined pan-European services as those that enable you to manage things in a foreign country that has
no data about you, but can retrieve it from a common register. In particular, another challenge with PEGS
implementation in Slovenia is our legislation stating that all collected data must at the disposal of other
public administration institutions. This is in tandem with the regulation that data already demanded by one
institution cannot then be asked about a second time by another institution. In fact, according to another
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expert in terms of interoperability the most difficult aspects of PEGS are legislative, political, and
organisational (that is, not related to ICT-related issues).
2.1 eHealth domain
The eHealth domain is less developed and accessible and has been exposed as the most problematic by
several experts. Therefore it deserves more detailed examination.
Slovenia has participated in the NETC@RDS project (http://netcards-project.com/web/frontpage) since
2003. This project aims to introduce an electronic European health card that would hold health insurance
data. Currently, the blue EU health card is in force. This health care card is not electronic but rather
includes health insurance data that is physically written down; the card is only valid for one year. It is valid
for urgent medical help abroad.
The first phase of the NETC@RDS project was research; the second, pilot; and the last, at the end of
2010, implementation. Interestingly, procedures have not changed after introduction of the electronic
card; insurance companies continue to send invoices as usual. The pilot phase of the study is showing
that Slovenians who work abroad and have two doctors (one abroad and one at home) are strongly
inclined to use the card. The card has therefore found its widest adoption in border regions. There are 16
countries participating in the NETC@RDS project (see http://netcards-project.com/web/partners). As an
observer, Slovenia participates also in the Calliope project (http://www.calliope-network.eu/), which is a
thematic network aimed at supporting, promoting, and disseminating products of a bigger project,
European Patients Smart Open Services (epSOS) (http://www.epsos.eu/).
According to experts, not long ago Slovenia was advanced in the eHealth domain; it now lags behind,
except for one insurance company for obligatory health insurance. The health card substantially
facilitates procedures, as there is no need to uniformly address first at the national level. Germany, for
example, has been trying to introduce the health card for five years, but has been unable to do so
successfully due to the many competing interests in the country’s economy (regarding the content of the
card, the interests of insurance companies, producers, and so forth).
To initiate a higher level of interoperability in the eHealth domain, it is pivotal to introduce the electronic
health record (or a summary in electronic format), which is used in the Slovenian eHealth project. Our
experts had the following to say about it:
The eHealth project runs within the health ministry, therefore our experts could not speak to the
details of it except for the action plan, which is partially funded by European funds.
In 2010, the eHealth project set up a model of an electronic health record, an agreement for keeping
data securely stored in an electronic format.
Individual doctors and institutions at home and worldwide are already exchanging data in electronic
format; however, for now everything is still only local. In Slovenia, some hospital and diagnostic
centers are exchanging radiologic images; therefore, having on-duty radiologists is not necessary.
Britain, for example, is sending their images to India, probably due to lower costs. Some doctors have
their electronic health records, but they work only for themselves.
3. eAdministration domain
According to expert interviews there were some remarks about the FIO system (the phonetic index of
persons, Schengen information system), in which foreign workers are authenticated, and it is determined
whether they have any restrictions against being able to work and why, and about the new system (RISK)
which is less clear and more difficult to use for data searches than its predecessor. It was often stated
that Slovenia is well-developed in the eAdministration domain.
On the other hand, it is not known how much these services are used among citizens. Experts stress that
Slovenia collaborates in different pan-European projects, including STORK (Secure idenTity acrOss
boRders linKed; designed for assuring general European identifications) and IMI (Internal Market
Information System; which should enable verification of educational or other certificates, and could be
useful also for other services), and PCI (Projects of Common Interests), which merges more sector
projects, etc.
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3.1 eBusiness domain
Jaro Berce et al.
Experts provided some critical opinions on the e-VEM system (the Slovenia One Stop Shop project);
these criticisms mainly centered on the idea that it is too open, and misuse is possible (for example,
multiple enterprises registered at a single address). On the other hand, some experts considered e-VEM
to be a world pearl, as Slovenia received the United Nations Public Service prize for it in 2009.
Tax administration was exposed as especially problematic. Every foreigner in Slovenia for employment
(except for students) has to obtain a tax number. To do this, he or she needs to enter an application in
the register of those liable to taxation, a copy of a personal document, and registration of their certificate
of temporary residence. This can also be done for family members supported by the employment, but is
mandatory only in cases where these family members also live in Slovenia.
Discrepancies between Slovenia and other countries appear also in income tax declarations, particularly
in the ability to receive tax relief by claiming children as dependents. In Slovenia, children can qualify as
dependents until their 18th birthdays; for most foreign countries, the age is 21 (reflecting college
attendance). In Slovenian legislation concerning foreigners, family members are more broadly defined
than they are in the definitions for tax administration.
4. Analysis of households
In December 2009, a telephone survey was conducted on a sample of about 600 persons aged from 18
to 75 years (Vintar et al., 2010). This analysis focuses only on active Internet users in this group (that is,
those who used the Internet in the last 3 months; n=365).
Respondents show most interest in the eHealth domain, specifically in electronic management of health
insurance, electronic linkage of Slovenian eHealth services with similar services in other EU countries (for
example, allowing doctors in other countries to access personal health data, and Slovenian doctors to
access data from healthcare provided abroad). The next most interesting domain is e-business:
electronic management, recognition, editing of school or education, data exchange, and employment
documentation.
The least interest is shown in using PEGS for the establishment of on-line businesses and the recognition
of Slovenian public administration certificates in EU countries, and vice versa. However, the interest for
public administration e-services is quite high. It is connected with age (younger respondents show less
interest) and with employment status (students and the retired show less interest than do the employed
and unemployed). Thus, the interest in public administration e-services is linked to specific life situations,
and not surprisingly is higher among those who frequently travel to other EU countries.
The use of public administration services in other EU countries by Slovenians is not frequent - less than a
tenth of respondents used them, more than half of them online. The countries where the respondents
most often used these services are Germany, Italy, and Austria. Austria has developed the highest level
of public administration e-services as reflected by frequency of use.
In comparison to similar Capgemini worldwide Consulting research, our survey showed a higher level of
interest for electronic editing of health insurance, recognition of education or other qualifications, and
recognition of marriage and birth certificates. Among the respondents who lived abroad for a month or
longer, the interest in e-public administration domains in general is higher than for the respondents in the
Capgemini Consulting survey. An exception occurs in the tax field, where respondents from our
interviews are less interested than the Capgemini Consulting respondents.
Details regarding the specific elements of the survey are provided in the upcoming sections of the article.
4.1 Interest in public administration eServices
The highest interest (expressed on scale from 1 - not interested at all to 5 - very interested) in public
administration e-services was shown for the electronic management of health insurance, as described
previously (4,42), followed by electronic linkage of Slovenian eHealth services with similar services in
other EU countries (4,19); electronic management, recognition, and alternation of school or education
(4,1); data exchange and employment documentation (4,09); electronic management of pension
insurance, official electronic data transfer (4,00); electronic management of change of residence (3,85);
valid electronic transfer of receipts and extracts (3,78); taxation management documentation (3,71); intra-
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Jaro Berce et al.
validity and recognition of electronic signatures (3,68); electronic editing of car registration and insurance
(3,64); and the least for establishing businesses (3,59) and recognition of public administration
certificates in other EU countries and vice versa (3,58). The breakdown of the participants in the survey
according to each level of the 5-point Likert scale is shown in Table 1 below. (Vintar et al, 2010)
Table 1: Interest in public administration eServices
Valid electronic transfer of certificates and
extracts (e.g. birth, marriage, residence) from
Slovenian public administration to EU country
public administration.
Exchange of data and documentation for
arranging employment.
Electronic management of migrations (e.g.
change of the permanent residence address)
Electronic management, acknowledgement
and change of school or education.
Electronic linking of Slovenian eHealth
services with similar services in other EU
countries (e.g. access to my health data for
doctor in other EU country and vice versa).
Electronic management of health insurance.
Electronic management of insurance for
pension, official electronic data transfer.
Acknowledgement of Slovenian public
administration certificates in other EU
countries and vice versa.
Mutual validity and acknowledgement of
digital signature.
Electronic management of car registration
and insurance.
Establishing enterprises.
Exchange of documentation for managing
taxes.
Source: Vintar et al. (2010).
% (n)
1 2 3 4 5
Not
interested at
all
7
(27)
8
(28)
9
(34)
8
(27)
6
(22)
5
(17)
7
(24)
13
(45)
13
(46)
10
(36)
12
(43)
11
(40)
8
(30)
2
(9)
6
(21)
4
(14)
3
(10)
1
(5)
5
(17)
7
(26)
9
(31)
10
(35)
9
(32)
6
(22)
24
(88)
13
(48)
20
(72)
12
(42)
14
(49)
8
(29)
20
(72)
24
(86)
19
(68)
22
(81)
21
(76)
21
(75)
20
(72)
26
(96)
22
(80)
26
(94)
22
(79)
1
(68)
20
(73)
22
(77)
18
(66)
23
(83)
23
(84)
26
(93)
4.2 Public administration services in EU member countries
Very
interested
41
(148)
51
(184)
44
(159)
51
(187)
56
(203)
67
(244)
49
(179)
34
(122)
42
(152)
35
(128)
34
(123)
37
(134)
Total
(n)
Average
σ ±
Standard
deviation
Confidence
interval
365 3,78 1,03 0,11
365 4,09 1,41 0,15
365 3,85 1,21 0,13
364 4,1 1,31 0,14
363 4,19 1,35 0,14
363 4,42 1,31 0,14
365 4,00 1,36 0,14
356 3,58 1,26 0,13
363 3,68 1,20 0,13
363 3,64 1,29 0,14
358 3,59 1,19 0,13
364 3,71 1,15 0,12
Public administration services in other EU countries have been used by less than a tenth of respondents
(8%). Those who already used them were asked if they did so online; more than half (56%) responded
that they did use e-services in other countries. The share of respondents that also lived in another EU
country is smaller (11%). Those who lived abroad were there usually less than a year; 29% lived there
only one month, 27% more than six months, 14% more than six months but less than a year, and 14%
more than one year.
4.3 Slovenia in the Capgemini research
In its 2009 study, Capgemini (Colclough and Tinholt, 2009) measured the “20 basic public services” since
inception. Specifically, Capgemini assessed the availability of these services and the sophistication of
them as offered through 14,000 public service provider websites across Europe. Europe shows continued
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Jaro Berce et al.
steady progress in terms of full online availability. The overall EU27+ measure has risen to 71% in 2009
from 59% in 2007. In terms of sophistication, Europe stands at 83%, compared with 76% in 2007.
The report pointed to a coordinated approach of development of a pan-European eGovernment service
design and delivery within projects in the areas of: e-Procurement, eHealth, and e-ID (collectively known
as the Services Directive). These projects benefit from common building blocks for solutions, serviceoriented
architectures, and inter-operability across EU.
The Capgemini report demonstrates that the goal of improving eGovernment services extends beyond
mere provision of services. There is no point in delivering eGovernment services if they are not used, or
do not deliver the expected benefits to users. The end results must reflect the outcome they deliver for
citizens, businesses, and government itself. The overall sophistication of service clusters with respect to
features of eGovernment services is shown for the EU27+ in Figure 1. Slovenia is in the top five countries
for which sophistication, availability, and the One Stop Shop approach is considered lagging behind when
accessibility and user experiences and satisfaction are measured. The research report on the other hand
praises Slovenia’s portal site http://e-uprava.gov.si/euprava/ as an all-in-one gateway both to the
Slovenian government and EU initiatives; and Slovenia’s One Stop Shop for companies, e-VEM, which
received the United Nations Public Service Award.
Source: 8th Benchmark Measurement, Capgemini, November 2009.
Figure 1: Sophistication of service clusters in the EU27+
The Capgemini report states that “the Pan-EU eGovernment for most countries is a national affair. No
countries have explicit targets for cross-border service development. Newer [EU member states] would
appear to look more to European policy for guidance (i2010), potentially as in some of these countries the
management of eGovernment and structural funds falls within the same organization. A growing and now
considerable number of EU countries have elected however to participate in pan-European large scale
pilots. The four major CIP ICT PSP (competitiveness and innovation program) pilots are actively
supported, notably by several of the higher performing countries. Austria for example is active across all
large-scale CIP pilots (pilot A). This affords the opportunity to observe, learn from, and potentially
influence technology developments within Europe”.
Figure 2 shows the e-Procurement process as it has developed in Slovenia. In the Capgemini report it is
described as a country that has one of the best scores for the e-notification sub-phase, but its Pre-Award
Process indicator is under the EU27+ average. Its e-award and e-submission scores are among the
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Jaro Berce et al.
lowest in Europe; Slovenians and foreigners can access a mandatory national e-procurement platform
free of charge and without prior registration.
Source: 8th Benchmark Measurement, Capgemini, November 2009.
Figure 2: eProcurement process development in Slovenia
5. Conclusions
The development of pan-European IT service companies will bring great benefits to EU citizens; it will
facilitate the settlement of their affairs with the government, especially when their affairs occur outside
their home countries. To achieve this goal, we need interoperability, which plays a crucial role in the
development of more efficient, quality, and overall user-friendly services. Interoperability is also critical in
establishing a single European market. It is therefore not surprising that at the European Ministerial
Conference in Lisbon (2007) interoperability was at the top of the four strategic objectives of
eGovernment. They also point out that the European Union through the ICT Policy Support Programme
(PCP) project will specifically promote the development of e-procurement and the mutual recognition of
electronic identification. In addition, the EU will promote the establishment of interoperability in
conjunction with the requirements of the Services Directive. We expect that the Member States will set
new priority areas of development of pan-European services. In line with this orientation, the cross-border
interoperability as the key to the development of pan-European services was also one of the key strategic
directives of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2008.
Interoperability of services and products in the field of ICT is one of the most important conditions for
successful development of an information society. The ICT market is constantly evolving, spurred by a
globalised approach, competition, liberalisation of telecommunications services, convergence of ICT, and
increasingly also by media technologies and services. Therefore, we can summarise the results from the
telephone survey in two ways:
Interviewers opinion was that eGovernment services are very complex and use a lot of resources
during their introduction but are still needed even in cases where they are not well accepted or used
by users; and
Users’ perspective should be more accurately used in designing and in prioritising which services to
be introduced.
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73

Enhancement of Public Service Effectiveness by Partially
Automating Service Request Paper Forms Using Citizen ID
Smartcard
Choompol Boonmee 1 , Rattapol Chatchumsai 1 , Tawa Khampachoa 2 and Chakri
Chuenurah 3
1
Thammasat University Rangsit Campus, Pathumthani, Thailand
2
King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
3
Department of provincial administration, Bangkok, Thailand
choompol@tu.ac.th
rattapol@thaiidcard.net
twk@kmutnb.ac.th
chakri@dopa.go.th
Abstract: Since the year 2004 Thai citizens older than 15 years old are required to have citizen identification card by
law to certify his/her citizenship. Thai citizen ID card has a microchip as a secured personal information storage
called smartcard. The information can be retrieved electronically by using standard ISO 7816 compliant smartcard
reader. Traditionally in order to access public service, citizens need to fill out service request paper forms. The form
details include personal information which is stored in the card. The idea is to enhance the effectiveness of existing
public service without or with less change of practice by utilizing the information in the card. A number of local
governments involved in the project to providing more effective service to their people. The results indicate that using
citizen ID smartcard enhance public service efficiency in local government. It reduced time used in filling out service
request form and reduced time consumed by service record.
Keywords: smartcard, citizen ID card, eGovernment, public service effectiveness
1. Introduction
A number of countries are issuing electronic ID cards to their citizens (Robert 2002) (Georg 2009) (Pan
2010). Using those cards public agencies can provide better services to their citizens easier. Most main
objectives are to improve security in online services and unify authentication (Herbert 2002)
(Ramaswamy 2008) (Chen 2010) (Yen-Cheng 2005). However not only for securely authentication
mechanism that the smartcard can function it can also be used as small information storage.
In Thailand since the year 2004 Thai citizens older than 15 years old are required to have citizen
identification (ID) card by law to certify his/her citizenship.
Figure 1 shows Thai citizen ID card. A set of citizen registration information is printed on the card surface.
It includes the 13 digits of citizen identification (ID) number, the person name in Thai, the person name in
English, the registered address in Thai, the card issued date, the expire date and the person photo
image.
Figure 1: Thai citizen ID card
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Choompol Boonmee et al.
Thai citizen ID card is an electronic ID card which can also be used as secured personal information
storage. The stored personal information can be retrieved electronically by using standard ISO 7816
compliant smartcard reader. Basically the information which can be retrieved electronically is the set that
is printed on the card surface.
Since Thai citizen ID card is contact type smartcard, not contactless type, it is impossible to retrieve the
information without inserting the card into the card reader. If the citizen does not want to provide their
personal information in the card, he/she can keep their card information by not inserting it in the reader.
The electronic citizen information in the ID card includes the same as printed on the card surface. It
consumed less than a second to retrieve text data. It takes around 8 second to retrieve the person image.
More than 30 million citizen ID cards have been issued to Thai citizens. Presently most of Thai people do
have the smartcard as national ID card.
There are a lot of public services provided by government agencies, for examples birth certificate service
when a baby was born. In order to access such public services typically we need to fill out various kinds
of request paper forms.
Figure 2 shows a sample of public service request form. The citizen needs to find the request paper form
which normally distributed for free at the government office. After fill out the form then the requester
submits it to the officer in charge at the office. There are a lot of blanks in the form which need to be filled
out, for examples, service requester name, address, age, request date and etc. After get the request form
and filling it out, the requester needs to submit the completed form to the officer.
Figure 2: The sample of public service request paper form used to access public service
Figure 3 shows the typical process of public service access performed in Thai government agencies
presently. Thai citizen who wants to access the public service have to get the request paper form, fill the
form out and then submits the completed form to the officer at the government office. The officers then
process the service which may be different from one to others. After finishing the process they may need
to record the process in paper based style or may be in electronic based style or both. Most of public
services are provided basically in paper based. Public services have been provided for a very long time.
Various kinds of officers involved in the process. A large change to the process may introduce troubles
and resistances.
In Thailand there are many government agencies which provide public services to their citizens. They are
ministerial departments, provinces, cities, municipalities, other local administration offices and so on.
There are more than seven thousand offices of government agencies that provide such public services to
their citizens. To reorganize the overall and details of the service process is very difficult and very timeconsuming.
However it is required to take advantage of the information and communication technology
(ICT) to improve public services. In this paper we focused on utilizing the already existing ICT
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Choompol Boonmee et al.
infrastructure with less process change to maximize the effectiveness of public services and to minimize
the time consumed.
Figure 3: The typical process of public service access
2. Form filling time consumed and the ID card
In order to access the public service of the government agencies, citizens need to get the request paper
form, to fill out the form, to submit the form, and to interact with the officers during the process until the
service is finished. After finishing the service, the officers may need to record or conclude the service
providing. We studied the time consumed by those processes.
Figure 4 shows the result of studying the time consumed in some public service processes. It takes up to
1 minute in ‘get the request form’ process. It takes 2 to 10 minutes in ‘fill out the form’ process which is
hand-writing process. In this filling the form process, the information needed to be filled out includes
various things. It includes the personal information of the requester which is the same set of the
information that can be retrieved from the ID card. It takes 3 minutes as an average value to fill out this
in-card information. It includes the identification number, title, given name, family name, address, street,
city sub-division, city, country sub-division, birth date, card issue date and expire date. It also includes the
information which can be computed automatically such as current age of the citizen, current date and so
on. After finishing filling out the request form, the citizen can submit the form to the officer for the service
requested. Then after the service process has done, the officer need to record or conclue the service
provided which takes about 5 to 30 minutes.
Figure 4: The study of time consumed in public service process
We proposed the methodology to improve the public service process by using the national ID card to
minimize the time consumed in some process especially hand-writing process and recording process. We
focused on using the information which can be retrieved electronically automatically from the card with
less change of the existing process. Figure 5 shows the processes that need to be added or modified;
‘insert ID card’, ‘choose and print the form partially filled out’ and ‘record the service’ to get the advantage
from using the ID card. Since the hand-writing process can be partially automated by retrieving the
information from the ID card and the recording process can be automated electronically by the computer
software, the significant improvement of service process time consumed and accuracy of service data
can be expected.
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Choompol Boonmee et al.
Figure 5: Study of public service process in which the ID card can be utilized to improve time consumed
and effectiveness
3. Service effectiveness enhancement
We proposed to develop software that can perform the automation mentioned above. The software is
supposed to retrieve personal information from the ID card, generate the public service request form and
fill it out based on the card information and the extra input data from keyboard. The software should
automatically produce the public service request form with partially filled. Therefore less blank space left
on the printed form, less hand writing effort is required. This makes the time consumed in ‘get the form’
and ‘filling the form’ process shorter. This also makes the information filled in the form more accurate.
This makes the service recording process get done electronically without further work. The officers can
use the electronically recorded information to make their reports.
Figure 6 shows the concept of form generation software proposed in this paper. When citizens want to
access the public service, instead of getting the blank form from the officer, they insert the ID card into
the software, then they can choose the service request form from the templates. After printing the request
form the citizen may need to write/sign some additional information to the form but much less than before
using the software. This resulted less time consumed in ‘get the form’ and ‘filling the form’ process.
Figure 6: This shows the form generation software which retrieves personal information from ID card to
partially fill out and input extra information to the public service request form
When choosing from the form templates and input additional information into the form, the software also
records the transaction in the storage of the computer in the open standard format such as text, comma
separated value (CSV) and XML. If the officers need to record the service providing at the end of the day,
they can collect the records automatically stored by the software to edit or to reorganize the data as they
want by using their familiar software without special skills.
4. Software development
We designed and developed computer software to automatically generate request form filled out with the
information retrieved from the card and input from keyboard. The form generation software retrieves the
from which the user chose from the templates, fill out the information from the ID card and keyboard
input, then print out for the service requester. We prepared a hundred of forms widely used in Thai public
services and store them in the form templates. This assisted the officers in government agencies that
involved in our project to enhance the effectiveness of the public service process. It has been developed
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Choompol Boonmee et al.
using java technology. It can be executed on various operating system widely used presently without any
software modification. The existing computer, printer and operating system software can be used. All the
users have to do is to get ISO-7816 compliant smartcard reader that works well with the existing
computer which can be obtained easily and cheap.
Figure 7 shows the main screen shot of the form generation software. It works with standard smart card
reader. When we insert the Thai nation ID card into the reader, the information is retrieved automatically.
The retrieved information is displayed on the software main screen as shown in the figure. It includes
personal information, name, address, birth date, issue date, expire date and etc. After waiting for about 8
seconds the person photo image is also displayed on the screen. Additionally the software also retrieves
the current image from web camera attached to the computer and display on the screen. The user who
may be the officer or the citizen himself may choose the public request form from the form templates
prepared.
Figure 7: This is the main screen shot of public service request form generation software
Figure 8 shows the example of selected public service request form filled with requester information from
the ID card with some extra input date. This example shows the personal photo image retrieved from the
ID card printed on form.
Figure 8: The selected public service request form filled with requester information from the ID card and
some extra input data
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5. Experiments
Choompol Boonmee et al.
In Thailand there are many government agencies which provide public services to their citizens. They are
ministerial departments, provinces, cities, municipalities, other local government administration offices
and so on. Department of provincial administration started a pilot project to promote and to exercise the
use of national ID card in public services. A number of local government administration offices involved in
the pilot project. We have performed some experiments by adopting the form generation software
developed in this research in some real public service process.
Pibun Mangsahon is a municipality located in north east of Thailand. Its population is around 15 thousand
people. The mayor agreed to involve in the pilot project by adopting the form generation software in some
service process. One of the earlier adopted services is the request form to utilize the municipality facility.
The request paper form includes one page request form and four pages contract forms. We measured
the time consumed to filling out the form before and after using the software. Before using the software it
consumed 9 minutes as average value to access the service. After using the software in service process
it consumed only 3 minutes. The time consumed by the public access process decreased significantly.
6. Conclusions
Since the year 2004 Thai citizens older than 15 years old are required to have citizen identification card
by law to certify his/her citizenship. Thai citizen ID card has a microchip as a secured personal
information storage called smartcard. Traditionally in order to access public service, citizens need to fill
out service request paper forms. The forms details include personal information which is stored in the
card. The idea is to enhance the effectiveness of existing public service without or with less change of
practice by utilizing the information in the card. A number of local governments involved in the project to
providing more effective service to their people. The results indicate that using citizen ID smartcard
enhance public service efficiency in local government. It reduced time used in filling out service request
form and reduced time consumed by service record.
Acknowledgements
We thank to the department of provincial administration and electronic data interchange promotion
association (http://www.edipa.org/) to provide support of the project. We also thank to all government
agencies for the great contributions especially Phibun Mangsahan municipality.
References
Chen Yang, Zhengtao Jiang, Jianjun Yang, (2010) “Novel Access Control Scheme with User Authentication Using
Smart Cards”, cso, vol.2, 2010 Third International Joint Conference on Computational Science and
Optimization, pp.387-389.
Georg Aichholzer , Stefan Strauss (2009) “The Citizen's Role in National Electronic Identity Management - A Casestudy
on Austria”,
2009 Second International Conference on Advances in Human-Oriented and Personalized Mechanisms,
Technologies, and Services, pp. 45-50
Herbert Leitold, Arno Hollosi, Reinhard Posch, (2002), “Security Architecture of the Austrian Citizen Card Concept”,
acsac, 18 th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSCC ’02), pp 391
Pan Tiejun, Xiong Chunlei, Zheng Leina, Han Yufeng, Bai Lingbin, (2010) “ONE-CARD System based on the second
generation ID card in China”, ice, 2010 International Conference on E-Business and EGovernment, pp 108-111.
Ramaswamy Chandramouli, (2008) “Policy Specification and Enforcement for Smart ID cards deployment”, 2008
IEEE Workshop on Policies for Distributed System and Networks, pp 127-134.
Robert Nitschke, (2002) "National ID card, electronic ID card becomes reality in Europe", [online] NOVOSEC
Aktiengesellschaft,http://www.novosec.com/documents/eCommerce_ElectronicIDcard.pdf
Yen-Cheng Chen, Lo-Yao Yeh (2005) “An Efficient Authentication and Access Control Scheme Using Smart Cards”,
11 th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Systems –Workshops (ICPADS’05), icpads, vol.2,
pp.78-82.
79

Development of User Authentication for web Application
Sign-on Mechanism Using Oasis SAML Standard With Thai
Citizen ID Card
Choompol Boonmee 1 , Peera Tharaphant 1 and Pipop Damtongsuk 2
1
Thammasat University Rangsit Campus, Pathumthani, Thailand
2
Department of provincial administration, Bangkok, Thailand
choompol@tu.ac.th
peera@thaiidcard.net
pipop@dopa.go.th
Abstract: This paper presents a personal authentication sign-on mechanism using oasis SAML standard with citizen
ID smart card. In Thailand a number of web application style online public service have been developed to serve a
better service for citizens. The most frequently used user authentication mechanism is password. The users need to
remember their unique password. And for security reason they may need to change their password periodically. If
single sign-on solution is not deployed they may need to remember a number of different passwords for different
system. It is not effective for the real situation user authentication methodology. However single sign-on solution
need to be open-standard, product neutral and developer independent to allow widely deployment. The Organization
for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has developed SAML standard which can be
used as an open-standard for sign on mechanism. In addition since the year 2004 Thai citizens older than 15 years
old are required to have citizen ID card by law to certify his/her citizenship. Thai citizen ID card has a microchip as a
secured personal information storage and personal authentication device called smartcard. In this paper we
proposed the user authentication sign-on mechanism using oasis SAML standard with Thai citizen ID card. We
developed software system based on this proposed mechanism. This prototype development software has been
used in a number of government agencies in order to enhance the effectiveness of public service.
Keywords: online service, single sign on, user authentication, citizen ID card
1. Introduction
Authentication is the process of identifying an individual who interacts with a computer system.
Authentication ensures that the individual is who he or she claims to be. Generally there are three types
of authentication mechanisms; by something you know (nobody else knows), by something you have
(nobody else has) and by something identifies who you are (nobody else is you). In computer networks
including the Internet, authentication is commonly done through the use of login passwords which is ‘by
something you know’ mechanism. In Thailand a number of web application style online public service
have been developed to serve a better service for citizens. Examples include social security service,
business registration service, and etc. To enable a service to an individual citizen, authentication
mechanism is required. Most of online service applications have their own account management and
their own user authentication mechanism as shown in figure 1. Mostly used authentication mechanism is
user name and password. Since there are many software systems provided, a citizen has to remember
many combinations of user names and passwords. This is one of the hurdles that electronic public
services have not been successful.
Figure 1: Multiple service providers exist with their own account database management
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If a citizen wants to access several electronic services at the same time, he/she typically needs to browse
multiple web page addresses or URLs and needs to sign on several times. This makes the services
access not efficient and not effective. Moreover he/she needs to sign out from those services several
times for security.
For the first use, most of the systems let each citizen to register to make his/her account by input
personal information through registration web site, citizen identification number (ID), name in Thai, name
in English, registered address and so on, despite of those information have stored in citizen registration
database. After registration the system may send the password through e-mail or SMS. This process
typically takes time, depending on applications and conditions, typically about 5 to 10 minutes.
Additionally since the personal information is input through keyboard, due to the low accuracy of
information, for examples, wrong address, wrong spelling and etc. In the legal transaction this becomes
even more important.
A number of countries are issuing electronic ID cards to their citizens (Robert 2002) (Georg 2009) (Pan
2010). Using those cards public agencies can provide better services to their citizens easier. Most main
objectives are to improve security in online services and unify authentication (Herbert 2002)
(Ramaswamy 2008) (Ramaswamy 2007) (Chen 2010) (Yen-Cheng 2005) (Bae-Ling 2009)
(Abdulrahman 2009)(Minwei 2009)(Adam 2009)(Raja 2010)(Starr 2003)( Hamed 2003). However not
only for securely authentication mechanism that the smartcard can function it can also be used as small
information storage. In this paper we introduced the use.
Since the year 2004 Thai citizens older than 15 years old are required to have citizen ID card by law to
certify his/her citizenship. Thai citizen ID card has a microchip as a secured personal information storage
and personal authentication device called smartcard.
Figure 2 shows Thai citizen ID card. A set of citizen registration information is printed on the card surface.
It includes the 13 digits of citizen identification (ID) number, the person name in Thai, the person name in
English, the registered address in Thai, the card issued date, the expire date and the person photo
image. More than 30 million citizen ID cards have been issued to Thai citizens by department of
provincial administration (DOPA). Thai citizen information is stored in citizen database at DOPA.
Presently most of Thai people do have the smartcard as national ID card.
Figure 2: Thai citizen ID card, issuance process and citizen database
Thai citizen ID card is an electronic ID card which can also be used as secured personal information
storage. The stored personal information can be retrieved electronically by using standard ISO 7816
compliant smartcard reader. Basically the information which can be retrieved electronically is the
information set that is printed on the card surface.
Figure 3 shows that personal information stored in the card can be retrieved into the computer via
smartcard reader. Since Thai citizen ID card is contact type smartcard, not contactless type, it is
impossible to retrieve the information without inserting the card into the card reader. If the citizen does
not want to provide their personal information in the card, he/she can keep their card information by not
inserting it in the reader. The electronic citizen information in the ID card includes the 13 digits of citizen
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identification number, the person name in Thai, the person name in English, the registered address in
Thai, the card issued date, the card expire date and the person photo image, the same as printed on the
card surface. It consumed less than one second to retrieve text data. It takes around 8 second to retrieve
the person image.
Figure 3: The citizen information stored in the ID card can be retrieved via smartcard reader
If single sign-on solution is not deployed they may need to remember a number of different passwords for
different system. It is not effective for the real situation user authentication methodology. However single
sign-on solution need to be open-standard, product neutral and developer independent to allow widely
deployment. This paper presents a personal authentication sign-on mechanism using oasis SAML
standard with citizen ID smart card.
2. Single sign-on using SAML and citizen ID card
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has developed
SAML standard which can be used as an open-standard for sign on mechanism. The main idea of this
paper is to adapt the standard with the citizen ID card to improve the effectiveness. The targeted
improvement includes
Improve sign on method; easier with ID card
Improve the security and reliability; with verifying the ID card and camera.
Single sign on (SSO) for multiple applications
Using open standard for interoperability
Improve the access to the service applications easier and faster.
Improve new account registration; faster and more accurate
In order to make sign on process easier we introduced ‘insert card to log in’ style method. The user may
not have to input URL to the Internet browser nor input the password. This makes sign on process much
easier and faster. Since every Thai citizen has the citizen ID card by law, thus it can make sign-on more
comfortable.
In order to improve the security and reliability, the ID card will be verified with the card registration
authority at online real-time. In addition, the user real time photo is recorded when signing on by using
webcam. With the card verification the security and the reliability are improved. With the recorded camera
image more visible evidences are provided when required in crime investigation.
Additionally Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an XML-based open standard for
exchanging authentication and authorization data between security domains, that is, between an identity
provider and a service provider. SAML is a product of the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee.
The single most important problem that SAML is trying to solve is the Web Browser Single Sign-On
(SSO) problem (Kaixing 2009) (Patrick 2009) (Takaaki 2009) (Greg 2008) (Christian 2008) (Weizhong
2010).
SAML assumes the principal has enrolled with at least one identity provider. This identity provider is
expected to provide local authentication services to the principal. However, SAML does not specify the
implementation of these local services; indeed, SAML does not care how local authentication services
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are implemented. In this paper since the citizen registration authority works likely as the identity provider,
the user information can be verified by using the citizen registration database. Since SAML is the open
standards, this can be widely deployed with high interoperability.
In order to easier access to the web page, bookmark or favorite functions in the browser software is often
helpful. However it helps only quickly access the web page. The user needs to authenticate by using
account name and password in order to login without any browser assistant. We proposed to develop a
software system to improve the Internet browsing and sign-on process. The access should be enabled
automatically when citizen ID card is inserted without double-click. This improves the authentication
process.
As mentioned above presently a lot of online public services have been already provided via the Internet.
For the first use of each service typically a citizen needs to register for new account. He/she has to take
several steps from ‘create an account’ process to provide personal information and to verify the
information, interacting with the systems for a while to obtain the account name and password. Not only
inconvenient these processes do not guarantee the correctness and the accuracy of the information.
However it takes a long time for each service. This makes the online public services not successful. We
proposed the use of citizen ID card in the ‘create an account’ process. This makes the new account
registration process faster, easier and more accurate.
3. Software developments
In this paper we proposed the user authentication sign-on mechanism using oasis SAML standard with
Thai citizen ID card. We designed and develop a software system to implement the mechanism. The
conceptual architecture of the software system is shown in figure 4.
Figure 4: The conceptual architecture of SSO system with combination of SAML standards and Thai
citizen ID card
In Thailand the department of provincial administration (DOPA) is the citizen registration authority who
issues the citizen ID card to Thai citizen. It manages the Thai citizen database. The database stores the
citizen ID card issuance information. We introduced the Identity Provider defined under the SAML
standard. The identity provider have access to the citizen database in order to verify the correctness of
personal information retrieved from the ID card. As existing all service providers manage their own
account database however at the client side or user side the citizen has access to the ID card via
smartcard reader.
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Figure 5: The software architecture of the SSO software developed
The authentication result has been recorded together with the user photo from the webcam attached to
the client computer. This can be used as an evidence for later crime investigation if required.
This SSO links with the Internet browser. Thus the authentication can be used by the browser in order to
sign on the multiple applications without more account name and password input. Since this mechanism
is developed based on the SAML open standard, it can be deployed widely with more and more
applications.
The newly developed SSO software has graphical user interface which interact with the users when card
inserted as shown in figure 6. It is hidden when the ID card is not inserted. It becomes visible
automatically immediately when the ID card is inserted. It communicates the SAML server, it retrieves the
list of applications which the citizen often use through the attributes of SAML records. It helps the citizen
by providing some shot-cuts to the applications to the citizen for more convenience. It helps the citizen to
access the service with less clicks.
Figure 6: The screen shot of the SSO software
The SSO software can interact with the service provider applications during the ‘create a new account’
phase in order to improve the new account registration process. The service provider applications that
required this functionality need to modify their software by adding a pieces java scripts (about less than
20 lines of code) in to their pages.
4. Experiments
Since more than 30 million citizen ID cards have been issued to Thai citizens, presently most of Thai
people do have the smartcard as national ID card. It could be effective to provide a better service using
the proposed mechanism in the real situation. This prototype development software has been used in a
number of government agencies and public service applications in order to enhance the effectiveness of
public service. Those applications includes health care services in hospitals and sanitariums,
transportation services (buying tickets), banks and insurance services, education services (students
enrollments), other public services and so on. Based our experiments and observation, we found that
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about 40% of Thai citizens carrying the ID card in their wallets, be able to obtain the benefit from the
citizen card in services. However the real effectiveness need to be studied and measured more in the
future.
5. Conclusions
In Thailand a number of web application style online public service have been developed to serve a
better service for citizens. A new personal authentication sign-on mechanism using OASIS SAML open
standard with citizen ID smart card have been introduced. We developed software system based on this
proposed methodology. This makes sign on process easier with ID card. This improves the security and
reliability by verifying the ID card and the camera. This helps multiple services access with a single sign
on. This improves a new account registering process faster and more accurate. This prototype
development software has been used in a number of government agencies in order to enhance the
effectiveness of public service. However the real effectiveness need to be studied and measured more in
the future.
Acknowledgements
We thank to the department of provincial administration and electronic data interchange promotion
association (http://www.edipa.org/) to provide support of the project. We also thank to all government
agencies for the great contributions.
References
Abdulrahman A.Mirza, Khaled Alghathbar (2009) “Acceptance and Applications of Smart Cards Technology in
University Settings”, 2009 Eighth IEEE International Conference on Dependable, Autonomic and Secure
Computing, dasc, pp.746-748.
Adam N.Joinson, (2009) “Privacy Concerns, Trust in Government and Attritudes to Identity Cards in the United
Kingkom”, 42 nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, hicss, pp.1-10.
Bae-Ling Chen, Wen-Chung Kuo, Lih-Chyau Wuu (2009) “A Robust Remote User Authentication Scheme Using
Smart Card”, 2009 Second International Symposium on Electronic Commerce and Security, pp.7-11.
Chen Yang, Zhengtao Jiang, Jianjun Yang, (2010) “Novel Access Control Scheme with User Authentication Using
Smart Cards”, cso, vol.2, 2010 Third International Joint Conference on Computational Science and
Optimization, pp.387-389.
Christian Mauro, Ali Sunyaev, Jan Marco Leimeister, Andreas Schweiger, and Helmut Krcmar (2008) "A Proposed
Solution for Managing Doctor's Smart Cards in Hospitals Using a Single Sign-On Central Arthitecture",
Proceedings of the 41st Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2008), hicss,
pp.256.
Georg Aichholzer , Stefan Strauss (2009) “The Citizen's Role in National Electronic Identity Management - A Casestudy
on Austria”,
2009 Second International Conference on Advances in Human-Oriented and Personalized Mechanisms,
Technologies, and Services, pp. 45-50
Greg Goth (2008) "Single Sign-on and Social Networks", IEEE Distributed Systems Online, vol.9, no.12, pp.1
Hamed Taherdoost, Mazdak Zamani, Meysam Namayandeh, (2009) “Study of smart card technology and probe user
awareness about it: A case study of Middle Eastern students”, 2009 2 nd IEEE International Conference on
Computer Science and Information Technology, iccsit, pp.334-338.
Herbert Leitold, Arno Hollosi, Reinhard Posch, (2002), “Security Architecture of the Austrian Citizen Card Concept”,
acsac, 18 th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSCC ’02), pp 391
Kaixing Wu, Xiaolin Yu (2009) "A Model of Unite-Authentication Single Sign-On Based on SAML Underlying Web",
2009 Second International Conference on Information and Computing Science, ISBN: 978-0-7695-3634-7,
http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/ICIC.2009.162
Minwei He (2009) “The Research of Security Technology on E-commerce based on the second generation identity ID
card and fingerprint”, 2009 Second International Symposium on Electronic Commerce and Security, isecs,
vol.1, pp.394-397.
Pan Tiejun, Xiong Chunlei, Zheng Leina, Han Yufeng, Bai Lingbin, (2010) “ONE-CARD System based on the second
generation ID card in China”, ice, 2010 International Conference on E-Business and E-Government, pp 108-
111.
Patrick Harding, Leif Johansson, Nate Klingenstein (2008) "Dynamic Security Assertion Markup Language:
Simplifying Single Sign-On", http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/MSP.2008.31
Raja Naeem Akram, Konstantinos Markantonakis, Keith Mayes (2010) “Simulator Problem in User Centric Smart
Card Ownership Model”, 2010 IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitious Computing,
euc, pp.679-686.
Ramaswamy Chandramouli, (2008) “Policy Specification and Enforcement for Smart ID cards deployment”, 2008
IEEE Workshop on Policies for Distributed System and Networks, pp 127-134.
Ramaswamy Chandramouli, Philip Lee (2007), “Infrastructure Standards for Smart ID Card Deployment”, IEEE
Security and Privacy, vol.5, no.2, pp 99-96.
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Choompol Boonmee et al.
Robert Nitschke, (2002) "National ID card, electronic ID card becomes reality in Europe", [online] NOVOSEC
Aktiengesellschaft,http://www.novosec.com/documents/eCommerce_ElectronicIDcard.pdf
Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Hyo-Joo Han, Vladimir Briller (2003) “Public Attitudes towards a National Identity “Smart Card”
Privacy and Security Concerns”, 36 th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS’03)
– Track 5, hicss, vol.5, pp.139a.
Takaaki Komura, Yasuhiro Nagai, Shoichi Hashimoto, Makiko Aoyagi, Kenji Takahashi (2009) "Proposal of
Delegation Using Electronic Certificates on Single Sign-On System with SAML-Protocol", 2009 Ninth Annual
International Symposium on Applications and the Internet, saint, pp.235-238.
Weizhong Qiang, Aleksandr Konstantinov (2010) "The Design and Implementation of Standards-Based Grid Single
Sign-On Using Federated Identity", 2010 IEEE 12th International Conference on High Performance Computing
and Communications, hpcc, pp.458-464.
Yen-Cheng Chen, Lo-Yao Yeh (2005) “An Efficient Authentication and Access Control Scheme Using Smart Cards”,
11 th International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Systems –Workshops (ICPADS’05), icpads, vol.2,
pp.78-82.
86

A Pilot Development of PKI Digital Signature on Electronic
Correspondence Using Citizen ID Smartcards
Choompol Boonmee 1 , Peera Tharaphant 1 and Pipop Damtongsuk 2
1
Thammasat University, Klong Luang, Pathumthani, Thailand
2
Department of provincial administration, Bangkok, Thailand
choompol@tu.ac.th
peera@thaiidcard.net
pipop@dopa.go.th
Abstract: Since 2006 among Thai government agencies, official correspondence letters electronic interconnections
have been developed under national electronic government interoperability framework or e-GIF. The project involved
more than 40 ministerial departments and more than 15 electronic document software developers. The official letter
was signed on the paper using pen. Then it was digitalized using scanner, and then is sent to destination agency
electronically by using national standard XML schema. In 2001 electronic transaction act was announced allowing
digital signature can be legally used in electronic documents. Since the year 2004 Thai citizens older than 15 years
old are required to have citizen ID by law to certify his/her citizenship. Thai citizen ID card has a microchip as a
secured personal information storage called smartcard. It also has PKI signature function that can be activated to
create digital signature on electronic documents. The idea is that to adapt PKI digital signature on electronic official
correspondence letter by using PKI function on Thai citizen ID card. Four ministries involved in this pilot development
projects using smartcard in digitally signing of official electronic letters. The findings show that change management
of existing business process and culture becomes significant even though the project seemed to be technically
successful.
Keywords: citizen ID card, digital signature, smart card, government document
1. Readiness and expectation for electronic correspondence letter
In Thai government there are more than two hundred ministerial departments and more than 7000 local
government administration offices. They communicate to each other by using official correspondence
letters based on specified regulations. The official correspondence letters can also be applied as
command systems between government agencies.
In order to send/receive an official letter from/to an agency typically the following process sequence is
executed. For sending agency the process starts with writing the draft letter, followed by signing the letter
by the top governor, creating the unique letter identifier (ID) number, after recording the ID in the
registration book then make a copy and store it in the archive, folding and putting into an envelope and
then sending the letter to the receiver. For the receiving party the process starts with receiving the letter,
checking the receiver of the letter written on the envelope, recording the received letter in the registration
book, issuing the receive notification, sending the receive notification to the sender, make a copy then
deliver the letter to the receiver.
A lot of such paper based correspondence letters have been produced daily. However since the whole
process have been performed based on paper, the process takes much time. This becomes obstacles to
improve public service efficiency and quality. Since 2004, Thai government had been developing the
methodology and procedure for the electronic official correspondence letters. The procedure of
correspondence letters had been performed based on paper at the first stage. Then the electronic
procedure of correspondence letters was then allowed legally in the second stage. The third stage is to
establish the data standard to enable the interoperability (Thailand 2006) (Sunet 2008) (Apitep 2008)
(Choompol 2009). However the document signing process stills base on written signature style which
becomes much time-taken and ineffective in document management. The objective of this paper is to
study what facilitation is required to enable and to encourage the use of digital signature.
As mentioned above at the first stage the whole process had been performed based on paper. In the
second stage there had been a number of attempts trying to adapt the information and communication
technology (ICT) in the correspondence letter management process. Some agencies tried to adopt
electronic mail as a letter sending methodology. Others developed particular software systems in order to
manage the whole process electronically. Those developed software systems are called electronic
correspondence letter management system (e-CMS). As a result a lot of different e-CMS software had
been developed. However they could not communicate to each other because there was no standard
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Choompol Boonmee et al.
data format in common. In November 2006 Thailand Electronic Government Interoperability Framework
(TH e-GIF) was first announced in order to enable the electronic collaboration among e-Government
software systems (Thailand 2006) (Sunet 2008). Then in the third stage of the e-CMS evolution, the
common data format for the official letter is created and announced as the first Thai electronic data
standard. By using the common data format more than 40 government agencies can send/receive letter
to/from each other by using more than 15 different e-CMS software systems (Apitep 2008). From the
stage 1 through stage 3 the correspondence letter had been signed on papers using pen. It is digitalized
using scanner, and then is sent to destination electronically by using the national standard data format
based XML schema (Choompol 2009). Thai government had planned to enter the next stage of official
letter communications. In this paper we introduced methodology and procedure to adopt digital signature
in government document. Therefore the fourth stage is to sign the official letter digitally using digital
signature standard.
Figure 1 shows the evolutions of electronic correspondence letter management system (e-CMS) in
Thailand. There have been three stages of evolutions and the next stage of development as mentioned
above. In the 1 st stage both letter sending and archive management have been performed based on
papers. In the 2 nd stage there had been various kinds of management software which could not be
interoperated electronically. The letter sending was performed based on paper but the letter archive could
be managed electronically. In the 3 rd stage both letter sending and archiving could be performed
electronically (Apitep 2008) but the letter is signed on paper using pen. In the 4 th stage the signature will
be performed digitally using digital signature standard which the methodology and procedure need to be
designed.
Figure 1: Electronic correspondence letter management system (e-CMS) evolutions in Thai government
In 2001 electronic transaction act was announced allowing digital signature to be legally used in
electronic documents. Digital signature is a digital code that can be attached to an electronic data that
uniquely identifies the signer. Like a written signature, the purpose of a digital signature is to guarantee
that the individual signing the message really is who he or she claims to be.
A number of countries are issuing electronic ID cards to their citizens (Robert 2002) (Georg 2009) (Pan
2010). Using those cards public agencies can provide better services to their citizens easier. Most main
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Choompol Boonmee et al.
objectives are to improve security in online services and unify authentication (Herbert 2002)
(Ramaswamy 2008) (Ramaswamy 2007) (Chen 2010) (Yen-Cheng 2005). Since the year 2004 Thai
citizens older than 15 years old are required to have citizen ID by law to certify his/her citizenship. Thai
citizen ID card has a microchip as a secured personal information storage called smartcard. The ID card
also has PKI signature function that can be activated to create digital signature on electronic documents
(Xin 2009) (Luon-Chang 2008) (Starr 2003) (Hamed 2009). In this paper we introduce the methodology
and procedure to use the ID card as a signing tool to create digital signature for government document. In
2009 the ministry of information and communication technology (MICT) started the pilot project to
develop the PKI digital signature on electronic correspondence letter by using the citizen ID smartcard.
In the series of developments mentioned above, Thai government has developed their readiness for
electronic correspondence letters. Presently more than 60 government units can manage their
documents electronically. They can send/receive correspondence letter electronically. The required law
for electronic document has been established. However for higher effectiveness in document system,
further research and development on digital signature adoption is required.
This paper consists of six sections. After the evolution background of electronic government document is
mention in this first section, then we clarify the objective of this study in the next section. In the third
section the proposed methodology and procedure of digital signature are explained. The software
development is in the fourth. The observations and discussions are in the fifth section. The last is
conclusions.
2. The requirements toward digital signature
Digital signature is a digital code that can be attached to an electronic data that uniquely identifies the
signer. Like a written signature, the purpose of a digital signature is to guarantee that the individual
signing the message really is who he or she claims to be. A Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) supports the
application of digital signature technology. PKI is defined as "a set of policies, processes, server
platforms, software and workstations used for the purpose of administering certificates and public-private
key pairs, including the ability to issue, maintain, and revoke public key certificates."
PKI involves the use of two cryptographic keys, one private and one public. Information encrypted with
one key in the pair can only be decrypted with the other key. Private keys are generally stored securely
on the user's equipment that may be called signing equipment which can be thought to be an electronic
pen in written signature. The publicly available key is embedded in a certificate with personal details
about the user. The key is easily distributed through the Internet. Figure 2 shows the concept of digital
signature process. Digital signatures use PKI technology to create legally binding proof of signature for
online transactions or contracts. A digital signature is based on a mathematical transformation that
combines the private key with the data to be signed in such a way that: Only someone possessing the
private key can create the digital signature, providing authentication of the signing party. Anyone with
access to the corresponding public key can verify the digital signature, enabling a non-repudiate
transaction. Any modification of the signed data invalidates the digital signature, providing integrity proof
for the parties involved.
Figure 2: Digital signature: signing process and verifying process
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Generally smartcard with PKI signing function stores the private key securely and should not be allowed
to be out of the card. The document signing process will be performed only inside the smartcard.
Therefore the result signature value could not be computed elsewhere except the card.
Figure 3 shows Thai citizen ID card. Thai citizen registration information is printed on the card surface.
Presently more than 30 million cards have already been issued to Thai citizens by department of
provincial administration (DOPA). The ID card is able to embed PKI signature functionality to create
digital signature of electronic document. By using the function, the ID card can be used as digital signing
equipment. However until now DOPA have been issuing the ID cards without digital signature function.
Figure 3: Thai citizen ID card is a smartcard issued by department of provincial administration. More than
30 million cards have already been issued to Thai citizens
Since the communication between government agencies correspondence letter occurs every day,
implementing digital signature in the real situation affects daily operation. In paper based signing
procedure the signer uses pen to make his/her signature on the paper. The existing correspondence
letter paper based signing procedure needs to be studied carefully in order to design a new procedure for
digital signature.
Figure 4 shows the signing procedure in stage 3 which is paper based signing or written signature. In this
case the signer can physically see and touch the paper. He or she can use a pen to create a written
signature on the paper. The procedure starts with creating the letter, signing the letter, through digitalizing
the letter into electronic format then send to the receiver electronically. Since the sent letters need to be
received and to be understood by various kinds of e-CMS software systems, the common standard
electronic format had to be openly specified. Electronic correspondence letter documents have to be
formatted compliant with the common standard format. Thai government established and openly
announced the electronic standard format for correspondence letter (Apitep 2008). However the standard
format did not support digital signature.
Figure 4: Correspondence letter signing procedure in stage 3: paper based written signature
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Figure 5 shows the common standard electronic format of Thai correspondence letter. The left picture
shows the paper based letter format which has been used for a very long time compliant with Thai
regulations. The eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) had been used as a basic international standard
for the electronic format. The format includes several parts; letter ID, subject, secret, speed, sender,
receiver, main letter and etc. In this stage it did not include digital signature. This common format has
been used to send/receive the correspondence letter among Thai government agencies in stage 3 as
mentioned above.
Figure 5: Standard electronic correspondence letter format has no digital signature support in stage 3
The requirement, for adopting digital signature in electronic correspondence letter, includes the signing
methodology, private key holding methodology, the new electronic standard format which support digital
signature, a newly modified signing procedure and a pilot project to encourage the real use in daily
operations. The idea proposed in this paper is to adapt PKI digital signature on electronic official
correspondence letter by enabling PKI function on Thai citizen ID card, to design and modify the
document format of government document to support digital signature, to design and/or modify the
procedure for digitally document signing and to promote and to encourage the use by running a pilot
project.
3. Methodology and procedure to use ID card as a signing tool
In this research we embedded PKI function into the ID cards. The digital certificates have been issued to
document signers by certificate authorities (CA) which the signer preferred and is compliant with the
electronic transaction act. We used the ID card as a secure private key storage. This allowed Thai citizen
ID card to become a document signing tool.
By connecting smartcard reader to a computer the software can send an electronic document to the card
and request for signing to the device. Figure 6 shows the concept how it works. The computer creates an
electronic document then request to the card for signing. To maintain the interoperability we specified the
methodology to interface with the card to be compliant with the Hardware Security Modules Public-Key
Cryptography Standards (PKCS#11), published by RSA Laboratories, according to TH e-GIF. After
signing process the card return the computed digital signature value back to the computer. Then the
digital signature is attached to the original document using a new proposed specific format stated later.
In order to make use of digital signature some procedure changes have to be made. We introduced the
procedure of correspondence letter signing and management as shown in figure 7. Unlike paper based
document in figure 4-5 there is no need to print the document on papers. The drafted unsigned document
is delivered to the signer electronically. The signer verifies the document using a computer then inserts
the ID card into the card reader in order to make a digital signature on the document. And again not like
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paper based document since it is already in the electronic form, there is no need to digitalize the
document. When the signer decides to sign, he/she inserts the ID card and authenticates by using
password and may additionally authenticate by finger print. In this procedure there is no need to print out
the letter to sign by the signer. For the receiver side, there is also no need to print out to the reader.
These would shorten document management process time and result higher effectiveness.
Figure 6: The use of the citizen ID card as digital signing equipment
Figure 7: The proposed letter signing procedure using citizen ID card: digital signature
However the signed document needs to be shared with other parties. Typically correspondence letter will
be delivered electronically from sending party to receiving party. It may be referred to and/or be reused
by other parties as well. It should be based on open standard, independent and self contained. Therefore
the signed correspondence letter needs to be formatted in a specific format. Standard format of the
electronically signed correspondence letter had been designed as shown in figure 8. It had been
announced by the ministry of information and communication technology in 2010. It is designed based on
Thailand electronic government interoperability framework (TH e-GIF) which is a collection of open
standard specifications, for examples, UN/CEFACT Modeling Methodology (UMM) (UN/CEFACT 2006),
UN/CEFACT Core Component Technical Specification (UN/CEFACT 2003), UN/CEFACT XML Naming
and Design Ruls (UN/CEFACT 2006), XML Signature and etc.
In order to implement the digital signature with citizen ID card in Thai government official correspondence
letter three issues have be considered; 1.enabling PKI function of the ID card, 2.developing the signing
software and 3.changing the letter signing procedure. Since the first two issues depend on specific
vendors who are experts in the fields, thus there is not much problem in managing the issues. However
the last issue ‘changing the signing procedure’ likely becomes the most significant. With the newly
designed procedure we proposed a pilot project to encourage and to promote the real use in government
agencies. A number of agencies involved in the pilot project.
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Figure 8: The standard electronic format of singed document was designed to be delivered interoperable
4. Software developments and experiments
The ministry of information and communication technology started the pilot project adopting the citizen ID
card in digital signature on the correspondence letters. More than ten ministerial departments involved in
this pilot development projects using smartcard in digitally signing official electronic letters. They include
the prime minister office (PMO), the ministry of finance (MOF), the ministry of transportation (MOT) and
the ministry of information and communication technology (MICT). Under MICT there are eight ministerial
departments which also involved in the project. In the project three types of signing equipments were
allowed; USB token type, generic PKI smartcard type, and PKI enabled citizen ID card. All of the signing
equipments are compliant with program interface open standard PKCS#11. This allows a developed
software system to interface with the various kinds of signing devices without code modification. In this
pilot project forty PKI enabled citizen ID cards had been issued to document singers in the project.
Document signing software is developed for document signing in this project.
Figure 9 shows the architecture of the document signing software developed in this pilot project. Since
the software is developed using java technology, it can be executed on various operation system
including Microsoft windows, linux and etc. It works with PKCS#11 compliance signing devices. In this
case we used the PKI enabled citizen ID card as a signing device.
Figure 9: The developed software architecture for digital signature
Figure 10 shows some screen shot of the developed digital signature creation software. When the
program is executed the top bar background color is ‘yellow’ which indicates that not ready for signing.
When the signer is ready he/she presses the button on the screen then the bar color becomes ‘green’
which indicates that it is ready to receive a letter to sign. When the draft letter is created it will be sent
from the central server to the signing software via the Internet using open standard specifications, for
examples, https, reverse SOAP, ws-addressing, ws-security, etc. When the signing software received the
document for signing the bar color becomes ‘orange’ which indicates that there is an unsigned document
waited to be signed. Then after the signer verify the content of the letter properly, the signer then inserts
the ID card into the card reader and input the password to create the digital signature. The software
sends the document to the card to compute the signature value. The software retrieves the returned
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signature value put them together with the original document in the standard format specified. Then this
signed document will be sent to the receiver by using standard communication protocols.
Figure 10: Screen shots of digital signature software are shown; 1.wait for new unsigned letter, 2.the
letter is ready to be signed and 3.It is prompted to alert the signer to insert the ID card and
put the password to sign the letter
5. Observations and discussions
A number of ministerial departments involved in the pilot project of using digital signature. There were
222 signers from those agencies involved in the project. The digital certificates have been issued for
them. Among these signers forty of them chose Thai citizen ID cards as a signing tool or a private key
holder. The newly designed procedure had been used for the correspondence letter signing procedure.
The newly designed standard electronic format had been used to store the signed document for
interoperability. The newly developed software has been used to sign the correspondence letter digitally.
The observations of the experiments in the pilot project have been performed for more than three
months. A number of correspondence letters have been created and digitally signed. In the project a
number of people with different roles get involved; draft writers, signers, senders, receivers, document
management staffs, and so on. All of them have been familiar with the legacy paper based signature for a
long time. All agencies in the project developed and deploy their signing software. They started signing
document following the procedure proposed, send/receive the correspondence letter following the
standard formats, and some of them use citizen ID cards as signing tool.
However since they have not been familiar with digital signature, they may have no confidence with pure
digital signature without pen-based/paper-based signature. Most organizations in the project decided to
use both signature methods to ensure the formality of the documents. Based on our observations, they
first create the correspondence letter and print out on the paper. Then they let the signer firstly sign the
document on the paper, then digitize it into electronic format using the standard. For the letter receivers,
instead of reading the received letter via compute, they preferred to print out on the paper first then
deliver to the reader.
Figure 11 shows the procedure exactly used in the project. Instead of just writing the draft and send to
the signer electronically as the proposed procedure, they firstly print out on papers, let the signer sign on
the paper, then digitalize it into electronic format using scanner then digitally sign. Basically this is not
against the procedure proposed since finally the letter is delivered to the signer electronically then is
signed digitally using the ID card. For the receiver party, they preferred to print out on the paper for
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reading. However this additional extra process of paper base signing does neither shorten the time
consumed nor enhance the effectiveness as expected.
Figure 11: Base on the observation of using digital signature to replace legacy procedure in the pilot
project, we found; a) the officer is not confident enough to purely sign digitally, he/she signs
on the paper before digitalization and then digitally sign and b) he/she still need the
touchable paper, he/she prints it out
This may be because various people involved get used to the paper base documents for a long time.
Based on our interviews, they need more practice regulation and/or guideline manuals to ensure the
formality of the digital signature of the correspondence letter.
6. Conclusions
A number of signers in the project have been using the system to signing and sending the electronic
correspondence letter for a period of time. Based on our observations and interviews we found that the
significant obstacle is the change of the signing procedure. Various kinds of personnel involved in the
procedure, from writing the draft letter, verifying the letter, signing methodology, registering the document
and sending/receiving the letter. Especially the draft writer and the signer interact to each other most
often until the letter is signed and sent. Based on our observations and interviews, it seems that they still
need the touchable paper based signed documents, despite that the law approved the equality of
electronic document and paper-base document. The findings showed that change management of
existing business process and culture becomes significant even though the project seem to be technically
successful. They need more specific regulations and practice guideline for more confidence. Future study
on the change management and support was planned to be performed.
Acknowledgements
We thank to department of provincial administration and ministry of information and communication
technology to provide support of the project. We also thank to all government agencies for the great
contributions.
References
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96

Development of Electronic Correspondence Letter Time-
Stamping Service Using Oasis Digital Signature Services
Choompol Boonmee 1 , Rattapol Chatchumsai 1 and Sunet Boonmee 2
1
Thammasat University Rangsit Campus, Pathumthani, Thailand
2
IT Dabos Co. Ltd., Bangkok, Thailand
choompol@tu.ac.th
rattapol@thaiidcard.net
sunet@itdabos.co.th
Abstract: Since 2006 among Thai government agencies, official correspondence letters electronic interconnections
have been developed under national electronic government interoperability framework or e-GIF. The project involved
more than 40 ministerial departments and more than 15 software developers. In the correspondence sending and
receiving process, time-stamping and its reliability become significant. In 2001 electronic transaction act was
announced promoting digital signature can be legally used in electronic documents. The computer crime act B.E.
2550 requires that servers synchronize with a public time server and maintain precision. The Organization for the
Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has developed the Digital Signature Services (DSS)
standard to let administrators control centralized digital signature systems. In this paper we proposed the
development of electronic correspondence letter time-stamping service using the DSS standard.
Keywords: citizen ID card, digital signature, timestamp, government document
1. Introduction
In electronic government where there is not complete trust between documents’ sender and receiver
operation time, something more than authentication is needed. The most attractive solution to this
problem is the digital signature with current time of the third reliable party which is analogous to the
handwritten signature. The signature is formed by taking the hash of the message and encrypting the
message and the time with the creator’s private key. It guarantees the source and integrity of the
operation time. A number of signature algorithms have been developed and deployed (Zhu 2008)( Xiaomi
2009). Trusted timestamp authority has been established by national standard time service in some
countries (Hong-Jiao 2008). In Japan the official gazette needs the timestamp service to enhance the
document reliability (Japan 2011). In Malaysia there have been attempts to utilize digital timestamp (Kok-
Wah). In Thai government there are more than two hundred ministerial departments and more than 7000
local government administration offices. They communicate to each other by using official
correspondence letters based on specified regulations. When the letter is sent and/or received
electronically the reliable operation time becomes important. However most of the timestamp service
patterns previously developed does not suit the correspondence letter timestamp requirements.
In order to send/receive a paper based official correspondence letter from/to government agencies
typically the following process sequence is performed. For sending agency the process starts with writing
the draft letter, followed by signing the letter by the governor, creating the unique letter identifier (ID)
number, after recording the ID in the registration book then make a copy and store it in the archive,
folding the letter and putting into an envelope and then sending the letter to the receiver and recording
the sending time. For the receiving party the process starts with receiving the letter, checking the receiver
of the letter written on the envelope, recording the received letter and time-stamp in the registration book,
after checking the validity of the received letter then issuing the acceptance notification, sending the
accepting notification and time-stamp to the sender, make a copy then deliver the letter to the receiver.
The whole process had been performed based on paper for a long time. The time-stamping has been
performed for two points of time; the sending time, and the accepting time.
In November 2006 Thailand Electronic Government Interoperability Framework (TH e-GIF) was first
announced in order to enable the electronic collaboration among eGovernment software systems
(Thailand 2006) (Sunet 2008). The common electronic data format for the official letter is created and
announced as the first Thai electronic data format standard. By using the common data format more than
40 government agencies could send/receive letter to/from each other by using more than 15 different
electronic correspondence management systems (e-CMS) (Apitep 2008).
As occurred in paper based correspondence letter communication, time-stamping becomes important in
electronic communication. Since delivering letter electronically can be performed very fast and there may
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be trouble during the communication, three significant points of time have been taken into account; letter
sending time, letter received time and accepted time. Figure 1 shows three significant points of time in
electronic correspondence letter communication. The issue focuses on the reliability, the openness and
the acceptability of the timestamp methodology and procedure.
Figure 1: Electronic correspondence letter communication and the operation time concerned
When the document is created, signed and sent, the sending time is stamped on the document to prove
that the document was sent at or before the point of time. When the letter was received by the e-CMS of
the receiver party, the receiving time was stamped on the document to prove that the document was
received at or before the point of time. Similarly after the receiver checked the validity of the document
then accept the letter, the accepting time was stamped on the document to guarantee that the document
was accepted by the receiver party at or before the point of time.
Figure 2: The time concerned includes 1.letter sending time, 2.letter received time and 3. letter accepted
time
Figure 3 shows a correspondence letter with timestamps. This set of information is often required in
various situations in order to prove the integrity of the document and its operation time. The problems
include;
No national standard timestamp mechanism, which guarantees that the correspondence letter has
not been changed since a specific point time, is specified.
No timestamp protocol of digital signature service, which is open and technology neutral to allow fair
competition in the e-CMS market, is specified.
No standard encryption for timestamp service protocol is specified since the confidentiality of
correspondence letter is needed.
No national timestamp service with reliable standard clock is available
No nationwide accepted data standard format for storing and managing correspondence letters with
timestamps. This becomes significant since the information has to be shared and visible among Thai
government.
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Centralized styled timestamp service introduces network congestion at the center. This issue can be
a bottle neck problem.
Figure 3: The correspondence letter with timestamps ensures the time it was sent, the time it was
received by the receiver party and the time it was accepted
2. Standard time and time-stamping
Electronic clocks in most servers, workstations and networking devices keep inaccurate time. Most of
these clocks are set by hand to within a minute or two of actual time and are rarely checked after that.
Many of these clocks are maintained by a battery-backed, clock-calendar device that may drift as much
as a second per day. Having any sort of meaningful time synchronization is almost impossible if such
clocks are allowed to run on their own. In document time-stamping time synchronization is critical. The
Network Time Protocol (NTP) has long been the widely used time-setting software. In NTP, stratum
levels define the distance from the reference clock. A reference clock is a stratum-0 device that is
assumed to be accurate and has little or no delay associated with it. The reference clock typically
synchronizes to the correct time (UTC). Stratum-0 servers cannot be used on the network, instead, they
are directly connected to computers which then operate as stratum-1 servers.
A stratum-2 server is connected to the stratum-1 server over the network. Thus, a stratum-2 server gets
its time via NTP packet requests from a stratum-1 server. A stratum-3 server gets its time via NTP packet
requests from a stratum-2 server, and so on. Thailand’s Computer Crime Act B.E. 2550 (A.D. 2007) took
effect on July 19, 2007. The Act requires that servers synchronize with a public time server and maintain
precision. This can be used as a reliable correct time for timestamp.
Trusted time-stamping is the process of securely keeping track of the creation and modification time of a
document. Security here means that no one, not even the owner of the document, should be able to
change it once it has been recorded provided that the timestamper's integrity is never compromised
(Karel 2002) (Pei-yih 2008) (Arne 2003).
A trusted timestamp is a timestamp issued by a trusted third party (TTP) acting as a time-stamping
authority (TSA). It is used to prove the existence of certain data before a certain point, in the e-CMS
communication, for examples sending time, receiving time and accepting time, without the possibility that
the owner can backdate the timestamps as shown in figure 4. Multiple TSAs can be used to increase
reliability and reduce vulnerability.
Anyone trusting the time-stamper can then verify that the document was not created after the date that
the time-stamper vouches (Xin 2009) (Luon-Chang 2008) (Karel 2002) (Pei-yih 2008). It can also no
longer be repudiated that the requester of the timestamp was in possession of the original data at the
time given by the timestamp. As shown in figure 5 to prove this the hash of the original data is calculated,
the timestamp given by the TSA is appended to it and the hash of the result of this concatenation is
calculated, call this hash X. Then the digital signature of the TSA needs to be validated. This can be done
by checking that the signed hash provided by the TSA was indeed signed with their private key by digital
signature verification. The hash X is compared with the hash B inside the signed TSA message to
confirm they are equal, proving that the timestamp and message is unaltered and was issued by the TSA.
If not, then either the timestamp was altered or the timestamp was not issued by the TSA. In 2001
electronic transaction act was announced allowing digital signature can be legally used in electronic
documents. Therefore the time-stamping on the document can be legally referenced by the law.
The requirements around correspondence letter management system (e-CMS) timestamp include;
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A timestamp standard methodology and storing format to guarantee that the correspondence letter
has not been changed since a specific point time is required.
A request/response styled standard protocol, which is technology neutral and easy to implement, is
required.
A national timestamp service for correspondence letter needs to be developed and made available
using the reliable standard time.
Centralized network congestion and data confidentiality need to be considered.
A national data standard of correspondence letter with time timestamps needs to be developed.
Figure 4: The trusted time-stamping process shows that the time-stamping is computed using private key
in PKI
Figure 5: Verifying the validity of the time-stamping afterward
3. Main idea
The main idea is to use the trusted time-stamping model in correspondence letter communication. One
time-stamp server (TSS) is established in order to perform the centralized time-stamping process. The
TSS clock is synchronized with Thailand public standard time maintained by National Institute of
Metrology as specified by law, stratum 2.
The correspondence letter communication time-stamping model is introduced as shown in figure 6.
Logically one time-stamp server (TSS) is established as one document stamper with one standard time
clock. The TSS is authorized as a trusted party to stamp time together with the document at a certain
point of time.
There is one centralized document stamper called Time-stamp server (TSS) as shown in figure 7. The
TSS works like a centralized document stamper. It receives the time-stamp requests, computes the timestamp
with the requested document then returns the digital signature to the requester. When a
correspondence letter is sent, is received or is accepted, a request for time-stamp is sent to TSS in order
to compute the document time-stamping properly. The TSS processes the request by computing the PKI
digital signature with the document and current time then returns the digital signature called time-stamp
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vouches. The digital signature service protocol is selected to be used as the open standard timestamp
protocol.
Figure 6: The proposed model for correspondence letter time-stamping set one document stamper as
time-stamp server (TSS) with one clock synchronized to the Thailand public standard time
Figure 7: Time-stamp server (TSS) works as a centralized document stamper, it receives the time-stamp
requests, computes the time-stamp with the requested document then returns the digital
signature to the requester as its response
Figure 8 shows the concept of the correspondence letter with three time-stamps; sending, receiving and
accepting time-stamps of the letter. The timestamps are digitally signed using PKI. They can also no
longer be repudiated that the requester of the timestamp was in possession of the original data at the
time given by the timestamp. Since this information need to be shared among government agencies and
becomes significant in various situations, the national accepted open data format need to be specified.
Since the correspondence letters need to be sent, received and shared by various kinds of e-CMS
software systems, the common standard electronic format had to be specified and announced based on
world wide web consortium (W3C) ‘s XML signature standard. All electronic correspondence letter
documents have to be formatted compliant with the common format. Figure 9 shows the sample standard
format of the correspondence letter without time-stamp vouches. In the figure left picture is the paper
based correspondence letter while the right picture shows the corresponding electronic format.
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Figure 8: The correspondence letter with time-stamp vouches; sending, receiving and accepting of the
letter
Figure 9: Sample standard format of the electronic correspondence letter without time-stamp vouches
Respectively since the time-stamp vouches need to be shared by various parties, the common standard
electronic format had to be specified. All electronic correspondence letter with time-stamp vouches have
to be formatted compliant with the common format. Figure 10 shows the sample standard format of the
correspondence letter with time-stamp vouches. In the figure the left picture is the paper based
correspondence letter while the right picture shows the corresponding electronic format with time-stamp
vouches. This standard format has been then formally accepted to store and manage the
correspondence letter among Thai government agencies.
In the model proposed the time-stamp server (TSS) need to be developed using some specific protocols
and standards. The communication between time-stamp requester and TSS can be designed as simply
as request-response style web services.
Figure 11 shows the request-response style communication between time-stamp requester and TSS. The
time-stamp requester sends a time-stamp request with document to the TSS. The TSS then computes
digital signature of the document with current time and returns the time-stamp vouch with signature value
back to the requester. According to TH e-GIF mentioned earlier the open standards and/or protocols
have to specified and announce openly for the higher interoperability. The OASIS Digital Signature
service specification had been chosen for the communication (Nick 2006) (Stefan 2007) (Trevor 2007).
The specification describes two XML-based request/response protocols – a signing protocol and a
verifying protocol. Through these protocols a client can send documents (or document hashes) to a
server and receive back a signature on the documents; or send documents (or document hashes) with a
signature to a server, and receive back an answer on whether the signature verifies the documents.
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Figure 10: Sample standard format of the electronic correspondence letter with three time-stamp
vouches; sending time, receiving time and accepting time
Figure 11: Request-response style communications between time-stamp requester and TSS
These operations could be useful in various contexts – for example, they could allow clients to access a
single corporate key for signing press releases, with centralized access control, auditing, and archiving of
signature requests. They could also allow clients to create and verify signatures without needing complex
client software and configuration.
Figure 12 and 13 show samples of time-stamp request/response which are send/receive to/from
requester and TSS based on OASIS DSS standard. This customized timestamp service protocol
becomes a national accepted standard for correspondence letter timestamp.
Figure 12: Sample time-stamp request which is sent from the requester to the TSS.
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Figure 13: Sample time-stamp response which is sent from the TSS back to the requester to
The proposed idea mentioned above can be summarized as followed;
XML signature standard published by W3C has been chosen for timestamp open standard to
guarantee that the correspondence letter has not been changed since a specific point time.
OASIS digital signature service (DSS) with timestamps has been chosen as an open standard
request/response styled protocol which is technology neutral, easy to implement, to allow fair
competition in the e-CMS market.
National standard timestamp service for correspondence has been developed and made available in
the government network using the clock synchronized with national standard time.
The timestamp service request has been specified so that the correspondent letter itself is not sent
with the timestamp request, but only the computed hash number is sent to the timestamp service to
solve the central network congestion.
XML encryption standard published by W3C has been chosen to encrypt the data to keep the
confidentiality during the timestamp communication.
A national data standard of correspondence letter with timestamps has been developed using XML
schema under TH e-GIF. It is independent and self-contained it can be viewed by using any software
not a specific software.
4. Experiments and analysis
In 2009 the proposed time-stamp model had been introduced. The ministry of information and
communication technology (MICT) started the pilot project to implement the concept in the real systems.
More than 40 ministerial departments had involved in the project. Those parties have their own different
e-CMS software in use. The software systems had been modified to support the new concept of timestamping.
There had been more than 15 software vendors involved in the software modification. One
newly introduced time-stamp server was developed to support the time-stamping concept proposed in
this paper.
The development and implementation of the new concept finished successfully. After a real use of the
system for a period of time, we found that some problems arise. One important problem, due the stability
and bandwidth of the overall network connection, is the bottle-neck of the only one time-stamp server
(TSS). On every sending/receiving of document the request/response type connection to TSS have to be
established, cause the large traffic from all nodes toward TSS. This problem may need to be studied
more in the future.
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The result of the experiments can be summarized as the following;
The international standard, XML signature published by W3C has been used to store timestamp
required to guarantee the integrality of the correspondence letter at or before a point time.
The open standard protocol for OASIS digital signature service (DSS) has been selected to use with
timestamp which is technology neutral, easy to implement, to allow fair competition in the e-CMS
market. However some supports and services may be needed to promote the development, for
example, software compliant test services.
The national data standard for managing correspondence letter with timestamp has been established
and openly available.
Without sending the clear text correspondence letter with timestamp request, the required bandwidth
for centralized timestamp services become smaller. The congestion problem is then resolved.
However for security reason the redundant design of the services may be required.
Since the XML encryption standard is chosen as a methodology to encrypt the confidentiality of data
is resolved while keeping fair play in the market place. However this process consume much
computing resource, further study on this may be required.
The procedures, protocols and formats of storing and managing correspondence letters with timestamp
have been established. They can be retrieved and reused later in various situations as legal evidences
with high interoperability.
5. Conclusions
By using the common data format more than 40 government agencies can send/receive letter to/from
each other by using more than 15 different electronic correspondence management systems (e-CMS).
The document time-stamping becomes as important in electronic communication. The trusted timestamping
is the required process of securely keeping track of the creation and modification time of a
document. The main idea is to use the trusted time-stamping model mentioned above. One time-stamp
server (TSS) is established in order to perform the centralized time-stamping process. When a
correspondence letter is sent, is received or is accepted, a request for time-stamp is sent to TSS in order
to compute the document time-stamping. The TSS processes the request by computing the PKI digital
signature with the document and current time then returns the digital signature called time-stamp vouch.
The time-stamp requester sends a time-stamp request with document to the TSS.
The TSS computes digital signature of the document with current time and returns the time-stamp
vouches with signature value back to the requester. The open standards and/or protocols have to
specified and announce openly for the higher interoperability. The OASIS Digital Signature service
specification, XML-based request/response protocols, was chosen for the communication. More than 40
ministerial departments and more 15 vendors had involved in the time-stamp implementation project. The
centralized network congestion problem needs to be studied more in the future.
Acknowledgements
We thank to the ministry of information and communication technology and electronic data interchange
promotion association (http://www.edipa.org/) to provide support to the project. We also thank to all
government agencies for the great contributions.
References
Arne Ansper, Ahto Buldas, Margus Freudenthal, Jan Willemson (2003) “Scalable and Efficient PKI for Inter-
Organizational Communication”, 19 th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC ’03), acsac,
pp.308.
Apitep Saekow, Ajin Jirachiefpattana, Choompol Boonmee (2008) "Electronic Government Interoperability in
Thailand: A Pilot Project on Official Electronic Correspondence Letters Exchange between Heterogeneous
Software Products", 8th European Conference on EGovernment.
Hong-Jiao Ma, Yu Hua, Wei Guo (2008) "Electronic Time Stamping Safety and Efficiency Optimize Technique
Research," isecs, pp.1033-1036, 2008 International Symposium on Electronic Commerce and Security, 2008
Japan Nation Printing Bureau (2011) "Official Gazette - Digital Signature and Time Stamp", [online],
http://www.npb.go.jp/en/books/index.html
Kok-Wah Lee, Gita Radhakrishna, and Lake-Tee Khaw, (2007) “The Proof of Copyright Ownership Using Digital
Timestamp in Malaysia”, Proceedings of the MMU International Symposium on Information and
Communications Technologies 2007 (MMU-M2USIC 2007), TS3A-1.pdf, pp. 20 & 37.
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Nick Pope, Juan Carlos Cruellas (2006) “Oasis Digital Signature Services: Digital Signing without the Headaches”,
IEEE Internet Computing, vol.10, no.5, pp.88-84.
Karel Wouters, Bart Preneel, Ana Isabel, Arturo Ribagorda (2002) “Towards an XML format for time-stamps”,
Proceeding XMLSEC’02 Proceedings of the 2002 ACM workshop on XML security, ISBN:1-58113-632-3.
Luon-Chang Lin, Chin-Chen Chang (2008) “A Novel Digital Signature Scheme for Application of Document Review in
a Linearly Hierarchical Organization”, 2008 International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and
Multimedia Signal Processing, iih-msp, pp.1367-1370.
Pei-yih Ting, Fang-dar Chu (2008) “Enhancing the Security Promise of a Digital Time-Stamp”, 22 nd International
Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications, aina, pp.342-347.
Stefan Drees (2007) "Digital Signature Service Core Protocols, Elements, and Bindings Version 1.0
OASIS Standard", Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, http://docs.oasisopen.org/dss/v1.0/oasis-dss-core-spec-v1.0-os.pdf
Sunet Boonmee, Mr.Apitep Saekow, Choompol Boonmee (2008) "A Group Collaboration Support System to Assist
Building and Managing National Core Component Dictionary and XMLSchema Standards", 8th European
Conference on EGovernment.
Thailand, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (2006) “Thailand eGovernment Interoperability
Framework Version 1.0”
Trevor Perrin (2007) "XML Timestamping Profile of the OASIS Digital Signature Services Version 1.0 OASIS
Standard", Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, http://docs.oasisopen.org/dss/v1.0/oasis-dss-profiles-timestamping-spec-cs-v1.0-os.pdf
Xiaomi An, (2009) "The Electronic Records Management in EGovernment Strategy: Case Studies and the
Implications," 2009 International Conference on Networking and Digital Society, icnds, vol. 1, pp.17-20
Xin Yu, Lishuan Hu (2009) “Digital Signature Based on User Role Token and Its Application to EGovernment”, 2009
International Conference on E-Learning, E-Business, Enterprise Information Systems, and E-Governemtn.
Zhu Na, Xiao Guo Xi (2008) "The Application of a Scheme of Digital Signature in Electronic Government," csse, 2008
International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering , vol. 3, pp.618-621
106

Framework Guidelines to Measure the Impact of Business
Intelligence and Decision Support Methodologies in the
Public Sector
Roberto Boselli, Mirko Cesarini and Mario Mezzanzanica
University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy
roberto.boselli@unimib.it
mirko.cesarini@unimib.it
mario.mezzanzanica@unimib.it
Abstract: Public Administrations started exploiting decision support systems (DSS) only in (very) recent times with
respect to the private sector where such systems have been used for long time to improve decision making activities
(e.g. the DSS and Business Intelligence realm). Service efficiency and effectiveness improvement are the expected
results of DSS exploitation, together with increased value for stakeholders. The adoption of DSS in the public sector
raises some questions: how to identify the areas where DSS introduction could greatly improve service quality and
how to measure the resulting added value? The paper will provide a literature review supporting the authors in
identifying the key factors influencing DSS value generation in the public sector. An evaluation model will be
sketched including a detailed set of dimensions. This paper aims at providing the ground for building an evaluation
methodology for assessing DSS adoption and exploitation in the context of public sector and public service provision.
Keywords: business intelligence, decision support systems, public administrations, public sector services, added
value measurement
1. Introduction
Service delivery is among the most important functions of Governments and Public Administrations.
Service delivery can be viewed as a value producing process for several stakeholders (Sanderson et al.
2000). Service design and improvement issues have gained attention from the research community (e.g.
Chesbrough and Spohrer 2006). Focusing on the public sector and services, several Public
Administrations are adopting ICT to support and improve decision-making activities and active policies
enactment. This is done on the basis that methodologies, paradigms, and approaches developed in the
frame of the Business Intelligence (BI) and Decision Support Systems (DSS) areas could greatly improve
the decision-making activities. Furthermore, the adoption of BI and DSS in Public Administrations (PAs)
is expected to start an enhancement process where information integration, data quality, and
development of analytical and reporting models activities can be improved.
Some questions arise by focusing on the decision-making activities supported by ICT: which is the real
added value provided by these systems in the public sector? Can existing methodologies be used for
measuring the value generated by ICT in the public sector? Some literature works present models and
methodologies to calculate the ICT value in the private sector, for example they address issues such as
how to calculate the ICT impact on the organization's processes. Can these approaches be smoothly
applied to Public Administrations? Can the ICT impact on public organization processes be evaluated in
a similar way as in the private sector?
These research questions stimulated the authors to define some framework guidelines trying to address
these questions. The research presented in this paper focuses on BI and DSS adoption in PAs, and
whether it is possible to identify and measure the BI and DSS impact on PA processes, especially on
knowledge production and sharing. Different levels of PAs can be identified, e.g. local regional or state
(i.e. National), this paper focus on common considerations valid for both levels, although each level has
some peculiarities (e.g. extension of datasets, capabilities of funding DSS projects, involved processes,
economy of scales) which have to be considered when applying the framework sketched in this paper.
ICT impact measurement is strictly related to the evaluation of public service performance, and both are
challenging research topics. BI and DSS impact measurement is also challenging, and still poorly studied
especially in relation to the public sector. This paper will make a contribution in this direction.
The novelty of our approach is in combining public sector services evaluation with BI and DSS systems
adoption to improve public services performance. Issues such as the evaluation of service performances
or the BI use in services are widely discussed in the literature, but the two issues have not been jointly
addressed to the best of our knowledge. The public sector service performance is discussed in (Djellal
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and Gallouj, 2008; Di Meglio et al. 2010; McAdam et al., 2005) with focus on measuring tangible
performance indicators. The evaluation of public sector Information Systems is discussed in (Newcomer
and Caudle, 1991) where the authors focus on specific success indicators. DSS adoption to improve
service quality is addressed by (Pyon et al. 2009) but differences between the private and the public
sectors are not considered; while (Ramamurthy et al. 2007; Khan et al. 2010) consider only the private
sector when investigating the barriers and factors involved in DSS adoption. Another issue discussed in
this paper is the measurement of ICT impact on services. Works such as (Brynjolfsson, 1993; Bielowski
and Walczuch, 2002) consider the relation between service efficiency and ICT impact measuring outputs
on the basis of statistical and economic models, still with focus on private sector.
Furthermore, the paper introduces a framework to measure value, impact and adoption levels of BI in the
public sector, on the basis of measurable indicators such as knowledge intensity, decision-making
intensity and automation degree. The paper investigates the relationships among the aforementioned
measures and indicators in the context of public services, and such relationships have been poorly
discussed in literature.
The paper is structured as follows: Sec. 2 will provide an overview of the differences between services in
the private and public sectors, Sec. 3 will provide some definitions of BI and DSS, and will analyze some
BI measurement methods, Sec. 4 will focus on the adoption of BI in the PAs, Sec. 5 will introduce the
framework to evaluate and classify public services, and finally Sec. 6 will draw the conclusions and will
illustrate directions for future work.
2. The public sector services
The public sector provides several types of services, from health services, education, to social and
cultural services, infrastructure, defence. A shared classification of public sector services (NACE)
includes: public administration, defence and compulsory social security, education, health and social
work, other community, social and personal services. Service research and literature provide several
definitions of the public sector, in this paper the authors consider the public sector to include all
organizations providing the aforementioned services.
2.1 Differences between private and public sectors
It is worth to understand the PAs characteristics and to focus on the differences between the public and
the private sectors in terms of objectives, information and knowledge utilization, and decision-making
processes. One obvious difference between the public and private sectors is that the public sector is not
profit driven and its primary goal is not to maximize profits (Røste and Miles 2005; Euske, 2003).
Nevertheless, this should not lead to believe that public sector employees and managers are not
concerned about financial matters. Similarly to private companies, PAs fight for funding and power, and
mainly for costs saving, but operate in a political environment and basically work to reach political goals
(Murray, 1975). The PAs implement policies to provide benefits to the society as a whole, by delivering
basic services to citizens that other organizations are not able to efficiently or equitably provide. To do
this, PAs have to meet objectives regarding productivity, efficiency and quality of services.
The way political goals are reached is influenced by the PA decision-making processes which are mainly
conditioned by the available information and the knowledge quality. Knowledge is essential to support
decision-making activities (McAdam and Reid, 2001). Decision making and process activities are strongly
based on knowledge sharing and production processes that involve different actors, the service users
being the most important.
According to (Halvorson et al. 2005) PA services depend on revenues that are allocated according to
political decisions rather than market performances. The central government funds public sector activities
to cover the costs. The national budget makes public sector activities possible, and its allocation defines
the boundaries for public sector activities. Often public sector activities contents and scopes are far from
being fully understood by citizens. Typically PAs do not specify in details how the funds are allocated and
used. The next section will provide some answers on how PAs may improve their services.
2.2 Evaluation and improvement of public services
Citizens demand for better services while supporting PAs services with their taxes (Langergaard and
Scheuer 2009). Therefore, two requirements deserve special attention among PAs: cost reduction and
service improvement, the latter involving concepts like service quality, effectiveness, and efficiency.
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Service improvement may require several actions: to modify the service processes, to improve the
information quality, and eventually to carry out strategic knowledge management activities. Knowledge is
a key factor in affecting PA service quality: knowledge is required to design, produce and deliver better
services, furthermore knowledge may also represent the main output of some services.
Service quality improvement relies on evaluation, process and service evaluation requires useful and
measurable indicators. As widely reported in the management literature, processes or services cannot be
appropriately managed without measurements (Pyon 2009).
In the private sector efficiency and effectiveness measures are ultimately related to profit maximization
and to profitability for stakeholders. Therefore, in the private sector a classic performance metric is the
return on investment (ROI) and the set of related indicators. However the public sector does not have
profit maximization as main objective, but rather focuses on policy and service outcomes improvement.
Unfortunately outcomes indicators are hard to identify since they are strictly domain dependent, and they
are affected by the complex set of factors influencing the customer perception and service satisfaction,
both in short and long terms (Djellal and Gallouj, 2009).
Public services performance evaluation activities have been carried out only in recent times (Afonso,
2006; Di Meglio et al. 2010). Two main approaches can be found in literature: the technical approach
evaluates performances on the basis of productivity gains (Wölfl 2005; Kox and Rubalcaba 2007; Timmer
et al. 2007); on the other hand, performances are evaluated according to management viewpoints
(Osbourne and Gaebler 1992; Boland and Fowler 2000; Propper and Wilson 2003; de Brujin 2002).
Service productivity measurement is a challenging issue in the service research. Measuring public
service performances only on the basis of productive efficiency is undoubtedly a partial indicator of
overall performance, on the other hand it is restrictive to consider only the economic indicators. Some
scholars started adopting a more holistic perspective outlining innovation as a lever for improvement
(Andersen and Corley, 2009). Therefore, the use of performance indicators in PAs has generated
innovation demands and expectations in public service delivery processes.
PAs should introduce innovation at different levels to improve services: organizational and administrative
innovations, conceptual and policy innovations, innovations in service design processes, in the delivery
processes, and in the systems of interaction (Halvorson et al. 2005; Langergaard and Scheuer 2009).
Innovation in the public sector is mainly driven by the need to improve governance and service
performance, including improved efficiency, in order to increase public value (Hartley 2005). ICT is being
promoted within government and PAs as a means of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of service
delivery to produce value for internal and external stakeholders (Sanderson et al. 2000; Beynon-Davies
2007).
Several methodologies and paradigms are available in the literature to evaluate the added value provided
by ICT in the service sector. Few of them focus on calculating the ICT value in the public sector and
fewer on BI and DSS. In the next sections the authors will show how BI and DSS can be used for PAs
services, and how the output of these systems can be evaluated for improving services.
3. BI and DSS
According to (Golfarelli et al. 2004) “BI can be defined as the process of turning data into information and
then into knowledge […] BI was born within the industrial world in the early 90’s, to satisfy the managers’
request for efficiently and effectively analyzing the enterprise data in order to better understand the
situation of their business and improving the decision process”.
According to (Lonnqvist and Pirttimäki 2006) BI has the purpose to aid in controlling the stocks and the
flows of business information around and within the organizations by identifying and processing the
information into condensed and useful managerial knowledge and intelligence. BI presents business
information in a timely and easily consumed way and provides the ability to reason and understand the
meaning behind business information through, for example, discovery, analysis, and ad hoc querying
(Azoff and Charlesworth 2004). A BI system can be viewed as a DSS system focusing on data. The
terms will be alternatively used in this paper.
Different PAs have started projects for integrating the content of several administrative archives into
comprehensive repositories for statistical and analytical purposes, however the “BI portion” of the task
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often lags behind. The delay of BI and DSS exploitation is only one of the differences between the public
and the private sector.
3.1 BI measurement methods
In the BI literature several authors have identified BI measurement as an important task (Solomon 2006;
Viva 2000) but scholars agree that it is a difficult task to carry out (Gartz 2004; Hannula and Pirttimäki
2003; Simon 1998). According to a recent survey only few organizations have any metrics in place for BI
value measurement (Marin and Poulter 2004).
According to some works in literature (Popovic et al. 2010; Williams and Williams 2004; Lonnqvist and
Pirttimäki 2006) BI is an activity or a process like any other business process. Therefore, it is possible to
apply business performance measurement methods to BI.
BI measurement serves two main purposes: first, to prove that it is worth the investment, and second to
help managing the BI process, i.e. to ensure that the BI products satisfy the users' needs and that the
process is efficient. Before describing methods for measuring BI value, it is necessary to clarify the
concept of value in this context. From the point of view of a company using BI, the value is related to
profit improvement; while from the BI (end) user point of view, the value is somewhat related to perceived
usefulness. Any BI value assessment needs to answer the following questions:
1) How much does BI cost?
2) Which are the expected benefits of applying BI?
Calculating BI costs requires calculating labour costs, software and hardware expenditure, external
information purchases, and other related expenses. BI benefits measurement is not as simple as
measuring the costs. Indeed, BI provides mainly non-financial, intangible benefits such as improved
quality and timeliness information (Hannula and Pirttimäki 2003). ROI calculation is the typical method to
measure an investment value, however the “BI outputs” (e.g. information and knowledge) are very
difficult to assess and quantify (Popovic et al. 2010). In literature (Davison 2001) proposed the CI
Measurement Model (CIMM) to calculate the ROI of a BI project. This model identifies various nonfinancial
measures of strategic outputs useful to quantify the success of a BI project, for example whether
the targets set at the beginning of the project have been met, as well as the decision makers’ satisfaction.
The limit of this model is that it is based mainly on qualitative assessments.
Shifting from the private to the public sector, measuring the value of BI gets even more difficult for
several reasons, firstly the lower importance given to profit and other financial indicators. Furthermore,
the public sector is characterized by complex systems and multiple intangible variables which are difficult
to measure.
Effectiveness and efficiency are considered among the main measures to assess the public sector. The
effectiveness of BI in public sector could be evaluated by exploiting the measures defined by (Herring
1996) and (Sawka 2000) for the private sector. These measures could help investigating the decision
outcomes while taking into consideration the public sector specificities. Namely, the BI contribution could
be evaluated by focusing on the specific decisions or actions (supported by the BI) and then looking at
the benefit or detriment this decision brought to the related policy. This method identifies four paradigms:
1) BI can help in avoiding unnecessary costs, 2) decisions based on BI processes may lead to enhanced
revenues (e.g., from taxes), 3) BI information may help in improving resource allocation, and 4)
identification of the direct link between a BI decision and service performance. The BI professional is the
principal user of the information, therefore some of the most important BI measures focus on the
efficiency of the personnel using BI, the resource allocation, the quality of the BI products and the user
satisfaction. The CIMM model is useful for this scope. Other methods to measure BI performance, mainly
in the private sector are the Balanced Scorecard and the Performance Prism (Lonnqvist and Pirttimäki
2006). Nevertheless they should be tailored to meet the public sector peculiarities.
4. BI adoption in PA
BI and DSS exploitation in the public sector is far behind the private one. Several reasons can be added
to explain this. (Nutt 2006) has investigated the differences between public and private decision-making
practices. Some of the differences found can also be used to explain the aforementioned lag.
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Private sector managers are more apt to support budget decisions made with analysis and less likely
to rely on bargaining. Public sector managers are less likely to support budget decisions backed by
analysis and more likely to support those that are derived from bargaining with agency people.
Legislative mandates constrain budgets, in the past public sector leaders were limited or even
prohibited from spending money to collect information for decision-making. Many PAs were
prohibited from diverting funds from service delivery to collect data on emerging trends in service
delivery. Even when information collection is now possible, professionals are reluctant to divert
resources from service provision to collect such data.
PAs have multiple goals, which can be vague, controversial, or both (Baker 1969; Bozeman 1984).
Goal ambiguity makes vital performance outcomes unclear for public sector organizations.
Although many of the reasons just introduced still hold in the PA, the pressure for obtaining knowledge
about the population (and in real time), the need to offer better services with constrained resources have
reduced the barriers for BI exploitation. Furthermore the cost of the technologies necessary to implement
a BI/DSS project has diminished significantly in the past years, making the development of such projects
affordable by all levels of the PA.
Therefore, BI is playing more and more a key role in successful performance management initiatives
because it allows managers to easily access up-to-date information and provide a comprehensive view of
what is happening in their area of responsibility. The information that BI provides aids decision-making
and helps civil servants monitoring and managing performances. Increasingly, public sector managers
are using BI dashboards – visual displays that provide up-to-date indicators – and scorecards to track
performance and budgets. In this way specific strategies can be defined and enacted by using a series of
metrics and by setting thresholds that trigger alerts when they are exceeded.
In private organizations often the introduction of BI has acted as a catalyst to improve the data quality
and to restructure the management processes, leading to big improvements in information accuracy and
availability. The same goal is pursued in public sector organizations where data quality is felt as a big
issue. Moreover, BI strategies, technologies, and solution exploitations within the public sector lead to
better business outcomes. For the past few years, BI has consistently ranked as a top priority for
government CIOs (Khan et al. 2010). Through collecting and analyzing data, BI creates detailed reports
that provide inestimable insights. The benefits of these analyses are manifold; they can help better
managing an organization, improve performance and lower the cost of service delivery and so on. In
summary, BI can be useful in the public sector for several activities, including:
Measure, manage and report on performances
Policy formulation
Planning and budgeting
Explore data hidden relationships
Disease surveillance and public health
Identify tax fraud and money laundering
Homeland security
Crime prevention
Moreover, BI technology has proved a useful application in many different areas of the public sector,
including:
Financial Systems
Acquisition, Logistics and Supply Chain
Health & Human Services
Citizen Relationship Management
Knowledge / Case Management
Intelligence Assessment
Education & Campus Management
PAs can apply BI to improve their constituency’s knowledge, their ability to provide services and to obtain
accurate measurements of actions and policies effects. Moreover, PAs need to improve decision-making
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processes, and BI tools and methodologies can enhance efficiency and performance, helping policy-level
decision-making.
5. Framework guidelines
The framework this paper proposes is based on the public service key features highlighted and on the
considerations made in the past sections. Moreover, some specific models and frameworks in the service
literature influenced this work. One of them is the framework about knowledge and technology
dimensions in the service sector (Kang 2006). Kang studied the different roles of technology and
knowledge in services, and proposed a framework where services are classified in two categories:
Knowledge-embedded services, where the majority of knowledge is embedded in the service
production system (i.e. the technology);
Knowledge-based services, where the majority of knowledge is held by the actors providing the
service (e.g. knowledge intensive business services - KIBS).
The Kang framework is mainly aimed at classifying private sector services, but its logic can be applied to
the public sector.
The authors propose to integrate the Kang classifications with some other dimensions in order to build a
framework useful for classifying public services. The resulting framework allows to evaluate (and to lay
the ground for improvement of) ICT-based services focusing on the following aspects: cost savings,
knowledge as value, improved policy and decision-making processes, data and information integration.
The identified dimensions are: expenditure, knowledge intensity, decision-making intensity and
automation degree. The knowledge-intensity and the automation degree dimensions are drawn upon the
Kang framework logic. The knowledge-intensity evaluates the importance of knowledge within the service
while the automation degree evaluates how much ICT automates the information management
processes and conversely how much human intervention is required.
Services will be evaluated using a variable for each of the aforementioned dimensions. Some public
sector areas have been chosen to test the framework: administration, health, education and employment
services. These areas provide knowledge intensive services and have different expenditure levels.
Furthermore, the services of the same area may have different degrees of ICT-based automation and
different degrees of decision-making intensity.
The public sector services considered for the present framework (and showed later in the quadrants) are:
Administrative services, e.g. registry certifications;
Healthcare services;
Vocational training services;
Public employment services (PES).
The services are showed in the quadrants of Figure 1 and Figure 2. The Health services are
characterized by high expenditure and high knowledge intensity; administrative services are less
knowledge intensive but still have a high level of expenditure, while the other services have low
expenditure and a middle degree of knowledge intensity. Figure 1 classifies the services according to the
Expenditure and Knowledge intensity dimension.
In the second quadrant (Figure 2) the same services are classified with the other two dimensions, namely
degree of (ICT-based) automation and degree of decision-making intensity. According to these
dimensions health services, PES and vocational training services have low level of automation, while
health services have higher decision intensity than the others. Only the administrative services show a
high degree of automation and low decision intensity.
The development of a BI or a DSS system is a very resource consuming task, DSS and BI projects are
on/off investments: they return positive results (i.e. they provide value to the decision-making activities)
only if the decision maker’s needs are correctly identified, useful indicators and measures are computed,
data quality issues are resolved, the technological support is correctly deployed, the data provision
system is user-friendly and affects the decision-making process and the overall service provisioning
process. Should only one of this aspects not being properly managed, the resulting decision support
system will fail to provide an added value to its users.
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Figure 1: Knowledge and expenditure dimensions
Roberto Boselli et al.
Figure 2: Decision and automation dimensions
The costs and the probability of failure are lower when prior knowledge about the domain and the project
are available among the users and the ICT personnel involved in the project (e.g. because people
already worked on similar contexts). However, fewer successful projects are available in the public sector
compared to the private, because of the aforementioned lack of DSS diffusion among the public sector.
For these reasons, it can be suggested to start DSS projects in the public domain where the probability of
failure is low and where the expected benefits could be very high. The dimensions and the quadrants
introduced in this section help identifying the PA sectors where DSS projects could provide tangible
results lowering at the same time the probability to fail (and consequently to waste public funds). Namely
PA sectors (or services) having high knowledge intensity could benefit from the introduction of DSS
systems, furthermore the decision-making activities would benefit from the introduction of BI systems (i.e.
DSS systems focusing on data). The introduction of DSS systems could lead to huge savings in sectors
having high expenditures, or could lead to a service level improvement without cost changes. Services or
sector having a high degree of decision will have a relief from the introduction of DSS systems, while a
high level of automation is an indicator of the availability of electronic data upon which the DSS can be
built. Where a lot of electronic data is available, a lot of useful information can be identified and extracted
with low effort. Thus a high level of automation may contribute to lower the costs (and the risk of failure)
of a DSS project.
6. Conclusions
The research presented in this paper focuses on BI and DSS adoption in PAs, and whether it is possible
to evaluate the BI and DSS impact on knowledge production and sharing processes within PAs. A
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literature survey on public sector services helped to identify available service measurement and
evaluation methodologies. With the analysis of BI and DSS adoption in PAs it was possible to identify
some drivers and motivations to use BI in public services, and also to identify some dimensions which
are useful to classify public services. These dimensions shape an initial framework to classify public
services.
Moreover, the framework should also help to identify dimensions of analysis to assess the BI impact in
public services. The quadrants proposed in the paper will allow to create a map of all public sector
services, and to identify areas where BI adoption could be effective in improving the service efficiency
and effectiveness. BI and DSS are especially useful in areas having complex service production
processes (e.g. Healthcare sector). These areas are characterized by high expenditures and by high
knowledge intensity and decision intensity degrees. In future works the framework will be tested with
empirical data collected in the frame of public service case studies. The proposed framework dimensions
have to be enriched with indicators about, for example, user satisfaction, policies outcome and other
related topics.
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115

Avoiding Disasters – Ensuring PKI-Service Availability
Harald Bratko, Peter Lipp, and Christof Rath
Graz University of Technology, Austria
harald.bratko@iaik.tugraz.at
peter.lipp@iaik.tugraz.at
christof.rath@iaik.tugraz.at
Abstract: Public-Key Infrastructures have become critical infrastructures. A breakdown of such a critical
infrastructure would have disastrous consequences. This paper describes our research work that focuses on
enabling transferability of such services, designing a framework and creating a prototype implementation for the
design.
Keywords: public-key infrastructures, critical infrastructures, emergency CA services
1. Introduction
As a result of implementing the European Digital Signature Directive (European Commission, 1999) in
Austria as well as in other European countries, Public-Key Infrastructure technology based on X.509
(ISO, 2005) has become a critical infrastructure. The state depends on the operativeness of that
technology. Austria is especially exposed, since electronic signatures are deeply interweaved into
administrative and legislative processes. A breakdown of this critical infrastructure would have disastrous
consequences. In this paper we present a project we are working on, aiming at securing the
operativeness and availability of the Austrian PK Infrastructure to ensure smooth and uninterrupted
functionality of applications relying on these technologies. Core goal of research is the definition of the
required properties for a service to be transferable. In an emergency, the service will have to be taken
over from an existing service provider, whose infrastructure typically will not be ready for transfer.
We will discuss the prerequisites and required properties of a “change management enabled PKI”
framework, a full design of such a framework and a prototype implementation. Based on a
comprehensive survey and definition of emergency scenarios, a concrete framework with the required
properties will be designed. This framework must safeguard the PKI and keep downtime to the absolute
minimum. This design will be implemented as a prototype and tested with a simulated emergency
scenario. Experiences with this test will be fed back into the prototype. After the end of the project a
concrete implementation for an emergency service provider will be realized based on further
development of the components. This implementation will be made available to be ready for any real
emergency that may occur. This research is accompanied by studies on privacy issues and loss of trust,
resulting from the involved takeover of critical data from one service provider to another service provider.
It will provide suggestions to minimize such loss of trust. Since European standardization and
interoperability issues are influencing the details of the emergency service design, a survey, gap analysis
and concrete suggestions for improvements of standards, interoperability guidelines and conformance
checking are also an important part of the project.
For the following, we assume a single service provider to operate a critical PKI, who decides to close
down its operation, for example, because of bankruptcy. §12 of the Austrian Signature Act requires the
service provider to announce the end of operation at least three weaks before closing. If no other service
provider can take over the tasks of providing revocation- and directory-services, and if the federal
government doesn’t declare providing such services of public interest, all certificates will be revoked. If
instead the certificates are declared being of public interest, the federal government has to ensure
continued provision of these services. In this case, the former service provider is legally forced to provide
all necessary means and information to allow for such provisioning. This paper focuses on the scenario
where the federal government needs to ensure such provisioning and thus needs the means to take over
the services itself or have them taken over by some third party. While the law requires the service
provider to cooperate, we can’t take full cooperation for granted and will discuss different options.
2. The initial situation assumption
In the case of cessation of operation of a service provider, taking over directory- and revocation services
for CA-services that have been declared to be of public interest is the first and most important step for an
emergency service provider. Thus, all essential services have to be identified first.
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For this project, we assume having a single certification service provider, A-Trust, issuing qualified
certificates to the public. This provider currently is the only Austrian provider of qualified certificates and
also essential for all eGovernment services. This is the only reason for assuming an emergency take over
for A-Trusts services. We in no way want to imply such a scenario would at all be likely to occur. A-Trust
offers several services:
Certification services: services issuing X.509 certificates. These may be qualified certificates or non
qualified certificates (European Commission, 1999) for persons or certificates for other purposes, like
SSL-certificates for webservers. Such certificates certify that a certain entity (person, web server) is
in control of a key.
Revocation services: services for revoking certificates issued by one of the CA services. Revocation
information is published using certificate revocation lists (CRLs) (Cooper et al., 2008) and OCSP
(Sermersheim, 2006) .
Directory services: A-Trust supports LDAP (Myers et al., 1999) as an access protocol to their
directory services. LDAP can be used to retrieve certificates as well as certificate revocation lists .
A-Trust currently runs the following CA-services:
Service for qualified certificates a-sign-Premium-Sig-01, a-sign-Premium-Sig-02, a-sign-Premium-
Sig-03 and a-sign-premium-mobile-03, which themselves are placed under the top-level root CAs A-
Trust-Qual-01, A-Trust-Qual-02 and A-Trust-Qual-03 (see fig:Qualified-CA-Services-in). CA-service
a-sign-Premium-Sig-01 seems not to issue any certificates any more while a-sign-Premium-Sig-03
seems not to have issued any certificates so far (no certificate has been published to their LDAPserver).
a-sign-Premium-mobile-03 issues certificates for mobile signature services.
Service for non-qualified SSL/TLS-certificates for webservers Generally taking over non-qualified
services like this one is not required. Such certificates can be easily replaced by conventional
certificates from other commercial service providers. However, a certain class of servers are critical
within Austrian EGovernment and hence must be supported in any case. These servers belong to a
specific domain (.gv.at) and the corresponding certificates can therefore be identified by their names.
Service for non-qualified certificates used for specific purposes, e.g. the identity link signer
certificates or public authority certificates. The Person Identity Link is an integral part of the Citizen
Card concept. It is a data structure signed by the issuing public authority that assigns a unique
identification feature of a person (for example a registration number) to one or more certificates
belonging to this person. As such, the person identity link can be used for the unique, automated
identification of a person when that person approaches the public authority during the course of a
procedure. (Bundeskanzleramt Oesterreich, 2005) These certificates can be identified by extensions
including specific OIDs and must be supported by the emergency CA, since they are used in
eGovernment applications.
Service for other non-qualified certificates These certificates are not of interest and must not be
supported.
Figure 1: A-trust's qualified CA-services in Austria
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Harald Bratko et al.
A functional revocation service is the foundation for all Austrian eGovernment processes based on the
Austrian citizen card. Taking over revocation services therefore is the most critical element of an
emergency certification service and has to be made available as soon as possible. A-Trust offers two
types of revocation status information services for their certificates. They are based on
Certificate revocation lists (CRLs) and
The on-line certificate status protocol (OCSP)
Both services will have to be provided by an emergency service. We have developed two scenarios for
providing such a service:
In the first scenario the takeover will be a planned action where it will be possible to get access to the
keys used at the time of takeover. Keys are stored and handled by a hardware security module
(HSM), so we assume to be able to get that HSM, that it can be transported to a new location without
a loss of keys or that it can continue to work in the original environment using the emergency CA
software.
The other scenario assumes this not to be possible, for whatever reason. Either the service provider
is not cooperative or the HSMs cease to work or any other reason that may exist for not getting
access to the keys.
The following sections describes our model for each case.
3.1 Certificate revocation lists
All certificate revocation lists in the hierarchy of qualified CA services of A-Trust are direct CRLs. This
means that the CRL has to be signed with the same key that is used for signing the certificates. This
structure is shown in fig:Certificate-Revocation-Lists. In these diagrams, boxes are entities like CAs, CRL
or OCSP issuers (represented by their certificates). Solid lines show that an entity issues something,
dashed lines point from a certificate to an entity that makes statements on the validity of a certificate.
Figure 2: Certificate revocation lists
3.1.1 Keys taken over from A-Trust
In case the emergency CA service can continue using the keys from the original service provider, the
revocation service structure of the emergency CA service can be identical to the original service.
3.1.2 No keys taken over from A-Trust
In case the original keys cannot be used by the emergency service, two different scenarios exist:
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Harald Bratko et al.
If it is not possible to continue using the key material, or if the key material has been destroyed or lost,
but it is possible to continue using the original domain name and all names used in the certification
services, the structure of the revocation service can mirror the one from the original CSP. The emergency
CA service however has to reissue all CA-certificates. The identical names make it possible to build valid
chains from unchanged end entity certificates to the old root certificates and to use the new CA
certificates for validating the corresponding new crls. Care has to be taken to use names that are fully
identical to those from the corresponding certificate from the taken over services. Fully identical means
that even the encoding must be identical.
Figure 3: Takeover of all names
All this allows a signature verification application to accept the revocation list, even if it was in fact issued
by a CA different from the one used to sign the certificate. This is similar to the renewal of an old CAcertificate
together with a key rollover (replacement of the old keypair with a new keypair), but without
doing an explicit key rollover procedure. This type of renewal of CA-certificates is common and also used
by A-Trust and does not conflict with the requirements defined in (Cooper et al., 2008) regarding the use
of direct CRLs. However, the new CA certificates must be distributed to all certificate verification clients.
Care has to be taken of course that the serial numbers used do not conflict with the serial numbers of
already issued certificates.
No takeover of names or domain name possible
If neither the domain nor the names within the certificates can be kept, the structure in fig:Certificate-
Revocation-Lists cannot be taken over. An indirect method has to be used then, where the key and
certificate used for signing a CRL is different to the one used for signing the certificate to be checked.
Several options to do so exist:
A single CRL issuer issuing a single CRL for all A-Trust certificates In this model a single key pair
and certificate is used to issue a single CRL for all qualified certificates taken over from A-Trust,
irrespective of the CA that had issued a certificate. This is possible, since according to the certificate
policy (A-Trust, 2009) used by A-Trust, all certificates issued by them (whatever hierarchy they are
placed in) get a unique serial number.
A single CRL issuer per A-Trust hierarchy issuing one CRL for each hierarchy Similar to the first
case, but separate CRLs are kept for each hierarchy. Here we create separate keys and certificates
for CA services issuing a single CRL per hierarchy. In addition, each CA could also issue new
certificates. This version again has two options:
All new issuers are directly placed under the NCA-root This makes the new issuers independent from
each other. However, this does not allow to use them to issue certificates under the direct model of
the NCA since this would mix qualified and non qualified certificates under one root..
Each CRL is responsible for old certificates, that have been taken over, and newly issued certificates
Here each CRL has direct entries for certificates newly issued by the emergency CA and indirect
entries for the certificates taken over from A-Trust. For performance reasons this option is not
recommended, since certain A-Trust CRLs are already large in size (approx. 873kb for the a-sign-
Premium-Sig-02-CRL) and will grow when revoking certificates issued by the emergency CA. Hence
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separating CRLs for certificates taken over and newly issued certificates into two entirely
independent hierarchies is the preferred way.
The CAPSO-Model CAPSO is the CA-Software the presented implementation will be based on.
CAPSO uses the same model as A-Trust : direct CRLs. This model has to be extended for indirect
CRLs, as discussed. The result is depicted in fig:CAPSO-Model. There is one CA only used for
signing CRLs for certificates having been taken over. This results in a clear separation from newly
issued certificates and keeps the CRLs as small as possible. It also allows keeping certificates that
have been taken over in a separate CAPSO instance than the newly issued ones.
Figure 4: CAPSO-model
Thus we believe the structure depicted in Figure 5 on page 7 will be best suited for the purpose:
3.2 Checking revocation
By changing from the direct to the indirect model, the following problems occur when checking certificate
revocation:
According to PKIX, support for indirect revocation in client applications is optional. Thus we cannot
expect every client to support indirect CRLs.
The CRLDistributionPoints-extension of the certificates doesn’t fulfill the requirements set in section
4.1.2.13 of (Cooper et al., 2008).There a certificate is required to contain the CRLIssuer field in the
DistributionPoint. This is not given for A-Trust certificates since their use of direct CRLs. Hence a
PKIX-conformant client must reject a CRL issued by the emergency CA.
For Austrian eGovernment, MOA-SP (Modules for On-line Applications - Signaturprüfung) is responsible
to check signatures (and thus revocation). MOA-SP can be configured with alternative CRL-distribution
points, allowing MOA-SP to accept these CRLs.
3.3 OCSP
As an alternative to CRLs A-Trust offers an OCSP service. However, OCSP is supported for enduser
certificates only, but not for CA certificates. fig:Revocation-structure-for shows that structure. A-Trust
uses a structure for OCSP that is totally different from the one used for CRLs. A systemwide pseudodelegated
OCSP-responder answers OCSP-requests for all parts of the hierarchy. We call this pseudodelegated,
since it is not a real delegated responder but a responder using a certificate issued by a CA
fully independent of any other CA in the hierarchy. Strictly speaking a validation client should not accept
an OCSP response from such a responder, since it is neither direct nor delegated. However, in practice
all clients accept such a behavior. A-Trust follows here the Common PKI-Model (T7 and Teletrust, 2009).
Validating certificates this way requires more effort than using direct CRLs, since the certificate chain for
the OCSP-responder has to be validated as well. In the context of qualified certificates it might be seen
as problematic too, because it requires a validator to either explicitly trust the OCSP-responder
certificate, or one of the CA certificates above. As a result the trust store for validating qualified
certificates has to contain a non-qualified (CA) certificate, which is problematic since the CA certificate
issuing the OCSP responder certificate is used by A-Trust to issue other non-qualified certificates, too.
One has to avoid the trap of accepting non-qualified certificates; the trust store is no longer a sufficient
configuration method for that purpose.
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Figure 5: The final model
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Figure 6: Revocation structure for a-sign-Premium-Sig-02
3.3.1 Keys taken over from A-Trust
Even if all keys can be taken over, using the A-Trust hierarchy for OCSP doesn’t make sense, since it
would also require providing revocation services for the A-Trust-OCSP-responder certificate. Thus, the
single OCSP-responder certificate will not be taken over in any case.
In principle it would be possible to replace the single responder by a responder per CA. Each CA then
would sign it’s own OCSP-responses. However, all certificates contain the AuthorityInfoAccess-extension
pointing to the single responder. A single pointer cannot be used for multiple services easily. In case
MOA-SP is the only validation client in use, this problem could be circumvented with multiple alternative
distribution points as describe above. For the general case, an OCSP proxy could be installed parsing the
OCSP-requests and forwarding it to the correct OCSP-responder based on the CertID contained in the
request.
The AuthorityInfoAccess-extension in CA-certificates however does not contain an accessMethod-field
for OCSP. Using OCSP for CA certificates would therefore only be possible if the validation client could
be manually configured to do so. Otherwise, CRLs have to be used.
3.3.2 No keys taken over from A-Trust
If naming and domain names cannot be taken over, or it is decided against doing so, take over of the A-
Trust OCSP certificate does not make any sense at all. Basically, all strategies discussed in the CRLsection
can also be applied for OCSP. Generally, revocation checking using OCSP is much less
problematic, since most validation implementations support the single-responder model. fig:OCSP-
Model-for-the shows a possible structure. It is similar to that of A-Trust, with the exception that under
certain conditions (configuring alternative distribution points) OCSP for CA certificates would be possible
too. The single responder is responsible for dealing with all requests relating to certificates taken over
from A-Trust. However, since the domain is not being taken over, validation clients need to be
reconfigureable to be able to access the new service.
If the domain is taken over, the new OCSP-responder will listen at the original address or requests to this
address will be redirected to the new address.
Since the new OCSP-responder certificate will be issued by a new root, the new root has to be added to
the clients trust stores to be able to accept the new responders certificate. Note, that this root will issue
no other certificate than the OCSP responder certificate and hence it can be added to the trust store used
for validating qualified certificates without trapping the side effects discussed above regarding A-Trust’s
original OCSP responder certificate.
4. Directory services
When taking over directory services, the emergency service has to provide ways to search and download
certificates and CRLs taken over from the previous provider. A-Trust uses an LDAP-server for providing
directory services, which contains all certificates and CRLs from all parts of the hierarchy. Certificates
only refer to CRLs (CRLDistributionPoints) using the LDAP-method. AuthorityInfoAccess-extensions use
HTTP as the protocol to point to CA-certificates and OCSP-responders.
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Replicating the A-Trust structure exactly would be advantageous, as this can be done by an LDIF ex- and
import.
Figure 7: OCSP-model for the emergency CA
5. Conclusions
We have presented several options for taking over revocation and directory services from an existing PKI
in case of an emergency and discussed their advantages and disadvantages. Which one will be chosen
in case of an emergency will depend on the conditions for the takeover. For our prototype implementation
we assume being able to continue using domain names and the names of the CAs, and possibly the keys
as well. We have finished implementing parts of the emergency CA software and will now try to simulate
a real emergency case including the takeover of services. Results of these tests will be fed back into the
design and implementation of the prototype. We also plan to adapt this emergency software to make it
useful for other scenarios, not restricted to the Austrian boundary conditions.
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version 2.1’. URL: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3447.txt
Myers, Ankney, Malpani, Galperin and Adams (1999), ‘X.509 internet public key infrastructure online certificate status
protocol - ocsp’. URL: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2560
Polk, W., Housley, R. and Bassham, L. (n.d.), ‘Rfc 3279: Algorithms and identifiers for the internet x.509 public key
infrastructure certificate and certificate revocation list (crl) profile’. URL: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3279.txt
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T7 and Teletrust (2009), ‘Common pki specifications for interoperable applications’. URL: http://www.t7ev.org
123

Achieving Optimum Balance in the Simplification of tax
Compliance Obligations for Business Customers and
Management of Compliance and Collection Risks by
Revenue
Leonard Burke 1 and Kieran Gallery 2
1
The Revenue Commissioners, Limerick, Ireland
2
University of Limerick, Ireland
lenburke@revenue.ie
kieran.gallery@ul.ie
Abstract: Governments and Revenue administrations worldwide strive to simplify tax administration. This paper
examines whether the Irish Revenue authorities have achieved the optimum balance in relation to business
customers between easing their filing and payment obligations relating to fiduciary taxes on the one hand and
managing risks to compliance and collection by Revenue in respect of these taxes on the other. It focuses on
advances made in the past decade to progress the wider simplification agenda, focusing in detail on the
advancement of administrative arrangements in respect of three business taxes – Employers’ payroll taxes, VAT and
Relevant Contracts Tax - and also considers what further possibilities exist and merit consideration both for these
specific taxes and the wider simplification agenda. Advancement of the wider agenda in tax systems in developed
countries is a continuous process. It necessarily requires having a balanced approach between simplification on the
one hand and management of compliance and collection risk on the other. What is arguably the most challenging is
simplifying the tax code or tax design. Taxes that are sensibly constructed are cheap and easy to operate tend to be
easier for taxpayers to understand and pay. Continued examination and reshaping of existing tax administration is
required to make it as easy as possible for taxpayers to meet their obligations in terms of information provision and
compliance. In many countries such simplification has been achieved in an ad-hoc rather than a strategic way.
Additionally there is limited evidence of it being championed amongst administrations and an argument can be made
that such an approach ought to be taken. Measuring the real cost to business of tax administration in meeting
compliance obligations is something that needs to be examined as part of determining what needs to be done to
attain optimal balance. Consultation with taxpayers and their representatives, continued use of analytics, risk
management tools, and the electronic medium are all key in furthering the simplification agenda in Revenue
administrations.
Keywords: simplification, collection, administration, risk
1. Introduction
Simplification of tax administration is a continuing goal of revenue administrations worldwide. It is widely
recognised that well designed tax systems facilitate ease of compliance, which in turn contributes to
successful tax regimes. The Irish revenue authorities (The Revenue Commissioners, hereinafter referred
to as “Revenue”) have achieved some success in this regard, being ranked as the easiest country for
businesses to pay taxes within the EU (Forum on Tax Administration 2010a).
Achieving simplified tax administration requires revenue authorities to continually focus on how they can
ease the compliance burden on taxpayers, while at the same time ensuring that risks to compliance in
filing tax returns and making timely payments are not compromised.
When dealing with its business customers, Revenue’s strategic direction and priorities so far this century
have been driven by the need to identify and manage risk, while making it easier to comply on a voluntary
basis. Combining risk management and simplification agendas brings about a natural tension in
delivering on Revenue’s commitment to ensuring that everyone complies with their tax and customs
responsibilities while providing quality and innovative services that support all its customers (Revenue
Commissioners 2008). A balanced approach to both these agendas therefore is necessary.
Taking the above into account, this paper will examine whether the Irish Revenue authorities have
achieved the optimum balance in relation to business customers between easing their filing and payment
obligations on the one hand and managing risks to compliance and collection on the other. Efforts that
have been made to date by Revenue in advancing simplified administrative arrangements in respect of
the three business taxes, (with due regard to compliance and collection risk) are reviewed, while further
possibilities that may exist and merit consideration at this juncture are also explored.
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The remainder of this paper is divided into four parts. Part 2 examines some of the literature from
academic, government and economic organisations published to date concerning tax simplification. Part
3 provides information on Revenue’s activity in progressing the simplification agenda from 2006 onwards
in relation to three of the most burdensome taxes encountered by businesses in Ireland, namely
Employer’s PAYE/PRSI (Payroll Taxes), Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Relevant Contracts Tax (Relevant
Contracts Tax (RCT) applies to payments made by a principal contractor to a subcontractor in respect of
goods and services provided in the construction, forestry or meat processing industries. Part 4 outlines
the methodology and analyses the results of interviews with top-ranking Revenue officials. Finally,
Chapter 5 details the authors’ conclusions arising from the research (while also acknowledging its
limitations), together with proposed recommendations.
2. Literature review
Tax simplification can easily be seen as a contradiction in terms. Due to the multi-faceted nature of most
modern tax systems, simplifying tax is far from being a simple issue (Tran-Nam 1999, James 2007).
Cooper (1993, cited by James and Wallschutzky 1997) suggested that when commentators referred to
the simplicity or complexity of a tax system, they may be referring one or more of at least seven different
issues, namely: predictability, proportionality, consistency, compliance, administration, co-ordination and
expression. In addition, Cooper posited that tax simplification could be approached from four different
levels:
The tax base;
The design of rules to be applied to the tax base;
The expression of those rules, and
The administrative requirements imposed on those taxpayers.
It follows that tax simplification measures can focus on one aspect of the compliance regime (such as
changes to tax legislation) or can equally deal with process re-engineering designed to improve the
taxation system as a whole (Forum on Tax Administration 2010a). James highlights that simplifying one
level cannot be undertaken without due consideration do the potential repercussions to the other levels.
Tran-Nam (1999) describes the required level of complexity (or conversely, simplicity) in any tax system
as “a two-way, interactive process” (p.514), believing that complexity can in part be attributable to
taxpayers seeking ways to minimise their tax liabilities.
Tax simplification does not come without potential conflicts that need to be considered. While it may be a
desired trait of the tax system, many leading commentators stress that it should not be achieved at the
expense of other potentially more important characteristics (as set down by Adam Smith(1776)), such as
certainty (James 2008) and fairness (James and Ewards 2007).
Numerous examples exist of previous attempts at tax simplification from around the world. The OECD
(2010a) lists various measures being used to achieve simplification in OECD countries, such as:
Regulatory management reform to improve the framework of the administrative system;
Organisational re-engineering including process redesign, use of information and communication
technologies (or “ICT”),
Better information on the delivery of services, administrative requirements, and
Co-ordination of multiple requirements stemming from public administration.
Another trend has been to organise operations principally around taxpayer segments, a model adopted
by the US Internal Revenue service as part of the 1998 Restructuring Act. This rationale is based on
different characteristics and tax compliance behaviour that presents different risks. Grouping key
functional activities in this way increases the likelihood of improving overall compliance (Owens 2006).
Studies into the effectiveness of such measures have also evolved. For example, investigations have
been undertaken to determine the impact of improving the comprehensibility of tax legislation (Tan and
Tower 1992, Richardson and Sawyer 1998, Richardson and Smith 2002), providing taxpayers with prefilled
tax returns (Klun 2009) and improvements to on-line administration (Forum on Tax Administration
2010b).
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3. Recent revenue simplification initiatives
McKerchar (2007) identifies those parties that are directly affected by tax complexities (or lack of
simplification) as taxpayers, practitioners and the tax administrators.
“In a self-assessment tax system ... these three parties by necessity have a close and dynamic working
relationship. They may not always be working together, but they are working side by side, observing what
they can of each other, and adjusting and readjusting their behaviours and strategies according to their
assessment of the risks they face”(p.185).
Reducing the compliance burden for business continues to be a priority for Revenue (High Level Group
on Business Regulation 2009). As part of the High Level Group on Business Regulation, it has committed
to continuing with the simplification agenda in accordance with the Government’s target of reducing the
administrative burden on business by 25% by 2012. Revenue has carried out a number of wider
developments that impact on the business taxes in the areas of electronic filing and payment, and VAT
reverse charging. However, the focus of this paper relates to the reduction in payment and filing
obligations.
3.1 Payment and filing obligations
In Ireland, Payroll Taxes, VAT and RCT each have significant administration requirements. Payroll Taxes
are normally paid and filed on a monthly basis, with any potential balancing payment to be made in
conjunction with an annual return. Similarly, VAT is collected by VAT registered traders on their supplies
of goods and services supplied within the State and is usually paid and filed on a bi-monthly basis. VAT
registered traders are also required by law to submit a detailed annual information return of trading
details. For RCT, where tax clearance has not been authorised (i.e. where Revenue is satisfied with the
tax compliance record of the subcontractor), a principal contractor deducts RCT at 35% from payments to
subcontractors and returns this to Revenue on a monthly basis. Principals are also required to submit an
annual informational return. The principal must also provide the subcontractor in question with an RCT
deduction certificate, setting out the amount of RCT that has been deducted from each payment (When
the subcontractor submits this to Revenue, Revenue will credit the subcontractor’s account with an
equivalent amount, generally by offsetting an equivalent figure against outstanding taxes, or make a
repayment to the subcontractor).
In Ireland Irish businesses classed as small to medium face a proportionately greater administrative
burden in terms of compliance obligations (Forum on Tax Administration 2010a). It is logical therefore
that efforts to ease this burden have formed part of Revenue’s agenda in recent times.
Revenue has made significant efforts to reduce payment and filing frequency. From 2006 Employers’ with
an annual Payroll Taxes liability of less than €28,800 are now only obliged to submit returns and
payments on quarterly basis. This was followed in 2007 by similar measures for VAT, with payment/filing
requirements reduced from once every two months to once every four months (for annual liabilities of
less than €14,400) or once every six months (for annual liabilities of less than €3,000).
Historically, an annual payment and filing option for Payroll Taxes and VAT was available to small
businesses. Revenue considered extending this to all business customers but the annual liability was
viewed as being potentially too high for many to pay at once. When the four and six monthly frequencies
were introduced for VAT in 2007, the annual filing option was withdrawn for new customers. For
consistency the arrangements were also withdrawn for new Payroll Taxes customers. In January 2011
quarterly payment and filing for RCT for small businesses was introduced to 40,000 taxpayers whose
annual RCT liability was less than €28,800.
3.1.1 Risks versus benefits
It is important to acknowledge that simplification measures bring with them the risk of increased noncompliance.
The identified risks for Revenue centred on the potential for an increase in the level tax
debts that would more readily accumulate without Revenue intervention. Management of these business
taxes is vital to Revenue in terms of cash flow, with Payroll Taxes and VAT accounting for over 57% of
Revenue’s total receipts in 2009 (Revenue Commissioners 2010). There is also a significant risk to the
Collector General should taxes go unpaid. The scale of this risk is a function of the size of the business,
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Leonard Burke and Kieran Gallery
its associated tax liability and the length of time between returns being required – the smaller the
business/liability, the lower the risk in less frequent payments.
Historically, data available to Revenue showed that 85% of Payroll Taxes, VAT and RCT were paid by
15%-16% of business taxpayers. The data for 2010 shows that the proportion of business taxes
accounted for by this group increased to approximately 90% (Table 1 refers). Consequently while the risk
attached to this group is significant, reduced payment and filing frequency for smaller businesses is seen
as a positive approach to easing the burden on compliance while having due regard to compliance and
collection risks.
Table1: % of tax paid by business type – payroll taxes, VAT and RCT
Tax Type % of businesses % value of tax payments
Large Other Large Other
Payroll Taxes 16.5% 83.5% 93.8% 6.2%
VAT 15.4% 84.6% 89% 11%
RCT 15.8% 84.2% 91.3% 8.7%
Source: Collector General’s Management Information Services September 2010
In addition to the expected benefits to small businesses in terms reducing all aspects of compliance costs
(i.e. time, financial and psychological costs (Bennett et al. 2009)) and cash flow gains (Revenue
Commissioners 2007),there are administrative benefits to Revenue, with reduced time, printing, postage
and administration costs resulting from the number of returns and payments that have to be handled.
4. Revenue interviews
In order to establish Revenue’s understanding of the simplification agenda, and how it managed
associated compliance and collections risks involved, a series of in-depth interviews with senior
management within Revenue was undertaken.
Qualitative research was seen as the most appropriate method for the purposes of this study. The focus
was on gleaning what McKerchar (2008 p.15) describes as ‘thick’ data, i.e. “the rich information that the
researcher is looking for that doesn’t fit into Likert scales, the data that will help the researcher explore
the complexity of the research problem and build an understanding or an interpretation”.
The interviewees were selected using purposive sampling, i.e. based on their intimate knowledge of, and
exposure to, the subject matter. According to Patton (1990 p.169):
“The logic and power of purposeful sampling lies in selecting information-rich cases for study in depth.
Information-rich cases are those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central
importance to the purpose of the research, thus the term purposeful sampling.”
In advance of the interviews a detailed set of questions was forwarded to each interviewee for
consideration, examining tax simplification and the management of associated compliance risks.
In addition, as part of the overall tax simplification agenda, the interviewees were asked for their views on
aspects of compliance automation, primarily dealing with Revenue’s Online Service (ROS).
4.1 Simplification and the management of compliance risks
Views varied as to what was understood by simplification. Characteristics identified by the interviewees
tended to conform with the various aspects of tax simplification identified by Cooper (1993, cited by
James and Wallschutzky 1997). Tax simplification was seen as including:
Tax codes that were simple to administer, easily understood and not alone benefited business, but
also Revenue.
Minimal administration costs.
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Easy payment of tax and filing of returns.
Refunds should be provided automatically.
Leonard Burke and Kieran Gallery
Less time should be spent on filling in returns and making payments.
One interviewee suggested that simplification was best viewed as a subset of the compliance agenda,
making it easier for businesses to comply but not impacting adversely on tax take and flow to the
exchequer. It included a range of measures including reduced filing frequency, working with
intermediaries, communicating with taxpayers and business representatives and responding to their
concerns.
4.1.1 Payroll taxes, VAT and RCT
Regarding the payment and filing simplification measures introduced to Payroll Taxes, VAT and RCT, it
was acknowledged that progress had been made, with minimal cost to the exchequer in the year of
introduction. Despite the possibilities of other agendas taking precedence, simplification and
management of compliance risk we viewed as being at the core of the new measures. However, the
economic downturn was seen as negatively impacting the opportunity for further simplification, due to the
possible loss of cash flow to the exchequer.
Views on the impact of simplification measures on compliance risk varied. Interviewees agreed that
Revenue has managed the administrative arrangements around payment and filing frequencies well,
focusing on those who are low risk from a compliance perspective. The underlying sense was that it
worked well for taxpayers and Revenue alike, with cash flow wins for business and productivity benefits
for Revenue. It was disclosed that feedback from representative bodies on the changes to the
payment/filing arrangements has also been positive. However, one potential downside from the
measures which had not been anticipated related to smaller tax practitioners, who heretofore were reliant
on income they received from taxpayers for making returns frequently for customers. It was suggested
that this may have militated against some taxpayers availing of the reduced frequency.
Interviewees were asked if a taxpayer’s compliance record should determine frequency of payment and
filing regardless of case size. Practical difficulties such as cash flow to the exchequer, cash flow
management by taxpayers, resulting in a risk to Revenue were identified. One interviewee suggested that
reduced frequency arrangements could have the impact of reducing compliance, as some taxpayers
would take the opportunity to opt out of the arrangements altogether.
Management of compliance risk was not seen as necessarily being about a good enforcement regime,
but rather an efficient organisation that does not want to place unnecessary administrative burdens on
taxpayers. For example, if Revenue could increase compliance levels through simplification or other
similar measures, then audit levels could be reduced. It was contended that this would be the ultimate tax
simplification, as the expense to both the taxpayer and Revenue of audits would be reduced.
The overall direction of the simplification agenda was seen as a potential issue. While different Revenue
divisions are involved in managing simplification, overall ownership of the simplification agenda within
Revenue was described as ‘woolly’. As one interviewee described it ‘if everybody owns something and
nobody has responsibility for it, it probably isn’t going to get done particularly well’. It was posited that if
Revenue was to drive the simplification agenda both internally and externally it needed to properly assign
ownership. It was also pointed out that ‘when Revenue wants to achieve significant things, an Assistant
Secretary is given responsibility for a project board or programme’. Examples cited included the E
Stamping initiative (for Stamp Duty) and the redesign of Capital Acquisitions Tax. It was suggested that a
similar approach should be taken regarding simplification. While not on the same scale as the UK
Government’s introduction of an Office of Simplification, this approach would demonstrate simplification is
a major agenda item for Revenue.
4.1.2 Automation
ROS was described by interviewees as a good cheap system for obtaining payments and returns. It was
not seen as a risk in terms of seeking less information from taxpayers. In addition its introduction allowed
for far earlier availability, collation and transfer of data to other Government Departments.
Caution was signalled against ROS being the only business channel, with the need to acknowledge that
taxpayers might not or could not use it. The operation of ROS was not seen as being simple, with
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interviewees concerned that its use might be beyond some taxpayers. Other inhibitors to ROS take up
posited were the complex registration process and a fear of being audited. In addition, it was
acknowledged that the simple requirements in completing some paper-based returns militated against
them being completed electronically because a taxpayer could manually enter figures quickly, attach a
cheque and submit the form and payment via post.
4.1.3 The future of simplification
While accepting that payment and filing in some instances had been made easier, interviewees
acknowledged that work remains on the filing of annual returns around payroll taxes and return of trading
details for business. It was observed that some information requested on forms might be already
available to Revenue. A commitment was suggested to review information received from businesses to
establish if all information sought is still required. In addition, it was suggested that seeking information
less frequently could allow for targeted compliance campaigns. An inventory of the data obtained by
Revenue could be undertaken, attributing a value score to each piece of data.
Further initiatives were also highlighted, such as upfront soliciting of input from business prior to
developing future strategy statements.
Technology can assist further simplification by using third party web technologies to allow taxpayers meet
tax obligations. The E agenda overall is important in this respect, with the suggestion made that the use
of web portals would allow greater interaction between business and Revenue.
The potential for further use and refinement of ROS as an aid to simplification and compliance was
identified and included:
An outward channel where Revenue would advise taxpayers of things known through third party
information supplied (caution would need to be exercised to ensure that taxpayers did not conclude
that this was all that Revenue knew about them!).
Developing internet applications to make it easier for taxpayers to pay and file returns should be
considered.
Linking of company accounting/reporting systems into ROS would enhance the information available
to Revenue.
Reviewing rules around the self-service channel for employees that inter alia allows updating credits
and allowances.
While Revenue has introduced reduced payment and filing frequencies it has not surveyed those who
were directly affected by these arrangements. Interviewees were asked whether this should now take
place to determine satisfaction levels. Views on this were mixed. Some suggested that the need to
engage meaningfully with intermediaries, practitioners and business was vital, as it allowed the parties to
identify blockages that could be removed - provided there was no compliance risk. In addition, an
opportunity to develop an agenda recognising the cost associated with having to provide information,
while advancing an agenda for streamlining requirements, was now seen as possible. Measuring the
compliance cost for business through an academic study was suggested, where cost of normal bookkeeping/accounting
compliance would be disaggregated from the compliance cost associated with tax
payment and filing of returns.
In contrast, a number of interviewees remained unconvinced of the need to undertake such surveys. A
more appropriate approach suggested was to engage in a structured format (through consultative fora or
by issuing consultation documents) in conjunction with adopting a simplification programme as part of
Revenue’s overall strategy.
Customer segmentation, personalisation and pre-filling of forms were also advanced as means of
simplification. It was felt there was scope for Revenue to do more here.
While it was acknowledged that Revenue has made it easier to comply through reduced payment and
filing frequencies, the overarching view was that simplification must go beyond this and address tax
design. Design was seen as the most critical element of simplification, with one interviewee concluding
that ‘if we don’t get design simplified – administration is always playing catch up.’ A value for money
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Leonard Burke and Kieran Gallery
review of the design of the tax codes was suggested to re-clarify what are the objectives of the different
taxes. It was accepted that this would be a major undertaking.
5. Conclusions and recommendations
The overall impression gleaned from the interviews is that Revenue perceives that the simplification
measures around the three Taxes have been positively received by business. There have been benefits
for Revenue administratively with amongst other things the opportunity to grow its strategy of dealing with
compliance from a risk standpoint by using various data analysis tool at its disposal. Structured feedback
from business falls short, however, and more should be sought.
The interviewees agreed that consideration of the three business taxes specifically examined could not
be isolated from a wider examination of what Revenue and other tax administrations are seeking to
achieve through the simplification process, and how the associated compliance risk is managed.
5.1 Recommendations
Both in the literature reviewed and the primary research undertaken the need for balance in advancing
simplification of tax compliance obligations for business customers and management of compliance risks
by Revenue authorities frequently is raised. There is a marked reluctance to suggest that optimal balance
has been attained in this area. Indeed the evidence suggests that this might not be possible but rather
opportunities exist with changes to tax codes and economic conditions that prevail to continually look at
advancing the simplification and compliance agenda with risk at the heart of such advancements.
Revenue is engaged in worthwhile simplification initiatives, but similar to other developed countries, is on
a continuous learning curve. The view of those interviewed (and that of the authors) is that there is some
scope to introduce further simplification measures in respect of the three business taxes, such as:
Reduced payment and filing frequency should be extended to regular ‘nil’ filers.
Annual filing and payment arrangements for taxpayers with very small liabilities should be
reconsidered.
A review should be carried out aimed at eliminating or reducing the need for annual information
returns.
Taxpayers and representative bodies should be surveyed to inform as to possibilities for further
simplification.
The recent introduction of a universal social charge offers the opportunity to look at the construction
of payroll taxes and levies to establish what design changes may be merited.
It is also suggested that a wider simplification agenda needs to be embraced by Revenue at a strategic
level. Suggested measures would include the following:
Make tax simplification a primary Revenue objective.
Assign overall responsibility to one of the management team to champion simplification.
Further develop a simplification programme that would include an expenditure review of tax codes to
re-clarify their objectives.
Continue structured consultation with representative bodies.
Benchmark with other tax administrations as a norm.
Conduct an academic study to measure the real cost to business of tax administration in meeting
compliance obligations.
Explore further the use of analytics and avail of the REAP system to assist both the simplification and
compliance agenda.
Re-assess the need for the range information currently being sought from taxpayers.
While there is a degree of satisfaction and acceptance that simplification measures in relation to the three
business taxes has been well advanced these are only a few of the measures undertaken by Revenue,
and are presented as an indication of the much wider simplification agenda that exists within Revenue.
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It should be noted that, while the experience and status of the interviewees should give a good indication
of the Revenue perspective on the simplification/compliance issue, the interviewees’ views do not
represent the views of the Revenue Commissioners as a whole.
Moreover, the authors acknowledge that the study only sought Revenue’s perspective on whether an
optimal balance has been achieved between tax simplification and compliance risk. However it is
suggested that establishing a business perspective on this issue merits a study to give the external view
on the topic. Research on tax simplification, and indeed, the implementation of the tax simplification
agenda itself can be summed up in a slogan borrowed from Irish Rail: ‘We’re not there yet, but we’re
getting there.’
References:
Bennett, F., Brewer, M. and Shaw, J. (2009) Understanding the Compliance Costs of Benefits and Tax Credits, The
Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Cooper, G. S. (1993) 'Themes and issues in tax simplification', Australian Tax Forum, 10.
Forum on Tax Administration (2010a) Information Note: Programs to Reduce the Administrative Burden of Tax
Regulations (follow-up report), OECD [online], available: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/58/27/44972185.pdf
[accessed 04/05/2010].
Forum on Tax Administration (2010b) Survey of Trends and Developments in the Use of Electronic Services for
Taxpayer Service Delivery, OECD [online], available: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/20/49/45035933.pdf
[accessed 01/03/2011].
High Level Group on Business Regulation (2009) Second Report of the High Level Group on Business Regulation,
Dublin: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation.
James, M. (2008) 'Tax Simplification: The Impossible Dream?', British Tax Review, (4).
James, S. (2007) Tax Simplification is not a Simple Issue: The Reasons for Difficulty and a Possible Strategy,
Discussion Papers in Management, University of Exeter, unpublished.
James, S. and Ewards, A. (2007) How Far Should Tax research Take Account of the Wider Context? The Cases of
Tax Compliance and Tax Simplification, Discussion Papers in Management, University of Exeter, unpublished.
James, S. and Wallschutzky, I. (1997) 'Tax Law Improvement in Australia and the UK: The Need for a Strategy for
Simplification', Fiscal Studies, 18(4).
Klun, M. (2009) 'Pre-Filled Income Tax Returns: Reducing Compliance Costs for Personal Income Taxpayers in
Slovenia', Financial Theory and Practice, 33(2).
McKerchar, M. (2007) 'Tax Complexity and its Impact on Tax Compliance and Tax Administration in Australia', in
2007 IRS Research Conference, Washington D.C.,
McKerchar, M. (2008) 'Philosophical Paradigms, Inquiry Strategies and Knowledge Claims: Applying the Principles of
Research Design and Conduct to Taxation', eJournal of Tax Research, 6(1).
Owens, J. (2006) 'Fundamental Tax Reform: an International Perspective', National Tax Journal, 59.
Patton, M. Q. (1990) Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods, Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Revenue Commissioners (2007) Unpublished Minutes of Collector General Management Executive Meetings,
Revenue Commissioners (2008) Revenue Statement of Strategy 2008-2010, Dublin: Revenue Commissioners.
Revenue Commissioners (2010) Annual Report 2009, [online], available:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/publications/annual-reports/2009/strategy1-1.html#table1 [accessed
01/03/2011].
Richardson, G. and Smith, D. (2002) 'The Readability of Australia's Goods and Services Tax Legislation: An
Empirical Investigation', Federal Law Review, 30(3).
Richardson, M. and Sawyer, A. J. (1998) 'Complexity in the Expression of New Zealand's Tax Laws: An Empirical
Analysis', Australian Tax Forum, 14.
Smith, A. (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Methuen & Co., Ltd [online],
available: http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html [accessed 01/03/2011].
Tan, L. M. and Tower, G. (1992) 'The Readability of Tax Laws: An Empirical Study in New Zealand', Australian Tax
Forum, 9(4).
Tran-Nam, B. (1999) 'Tax Reform and Tax Simplification: Some Conceptual Issues and a Preliminary Assessment',
Sydney Law Review, 21.
131

Risk Management in a Cooperation Context
Walter Castelnovo
University of Insubria, Italy
walter.castelnovo@uninsubria.it
Abstract: One-Stop Shop for Production Activities (SUAP) is the solution Italian Government has chosen to adopt,
since 1998, in order to make it easier doing business. However, despite more than ten years of efforts, the ranking of
Italy among the countries that have facilitated going into business have not improved over the past years. Thus, in
2010 the Italian Government decided to further simplify the procedures by turning the current legislation from the
traditional ex ante authorization regime into an ex-post controls regime. Under this new regime, all the required
controls have to be operated within a fixed time interval defined by the law. Most often these controls have to be
operated by different public agencies, thus determining two main problems: (a) the agencies involved should
cooperate in order to make the controls efficient and effective; (b) since these agencies usually suffer from a chronic
lack of resources, the only way to safeguard the public interest is by identifying, through a careful analysis of the
potential risks involved, what controls really need to be made. In the paper I will consider how the public agencies
involved in the functioning of the SUAP can satisfy the requirements determined by the new Italian legislation, by
resorting to a form of inter-organizational risk management. In the first section of the paper, I will first provide a full
explanation of the Italian model of SUAP and the recent changes in the Italian legislation concerning its functioning,
and then I will show why the current regime of ex-post controls requires the SUAP to implement an adequate risk
management system. In section 2 I will consider the Team Risk Management (TRM) model that has been originally
developed to manage risks in software-dependent development programs involving different organizations. In section
3, I will show how a slight revision of the TRM model can be integrated within the SUAP’s workflows to help all the
public agencies involved to cope with the requirements stated by the new Italian legislation concerning starting,
transforming or closing a business. Finally, I will discuss what conditions different public agencies should satisfy in
order to implement an effective and efficient inter-organizational risk management system.
Keywords: risk management, One Stop Shop, inter-organizational cooperation, interoperability
1. One-Stop Shop for Production Activities
Italy is one of the major economies in the world; notwithstanding this, Italy suffers from a serious problem
of competitiveness. This mainly depends on the difficulty of doing business in Italy: in the 2010 World
Bank’s ranking Italy occupies the 80 th position among the countries in which doing business is easier
((World Bank 2010)). The Word Bank’s index is based on some general economic indicators, some of
which directly concern the administrative burdens affecting businesses. For this reason the policies
implemented in Italy to improve competitiveness have been mainly based on the simplification of the
administrative procedures needed for starting, transforming or closing a business.
Due to the legislation in force, most of the administrative procedures concerning business involve
different public agencies. Thus, as a first step for reducing the administrative burdens on business, Italian
municipalities have been required to implement One-Stop Shops for Production Activities (Sportello
Unico per le Attività Produttive – SUAP), as a single point of access to services and information for
business offered by different public authorities. The first legislation concerning the SUAP dates back to
the late ‘90s and contains two fundamental principles: (i) municipalities are put in charge of the
functioning of the SUAP, that could also be shared by different municipalities; (ii) the SUAP must give or
deny a final authorization within a fixed term defined by the law, having previously acquired all the
required authorizations from the competent agencies.
Over the years the model of the SUAP has been under ongoing improvement, mainly by making it more
and more ICT-based. The evolution of the SUAP toward virtualization can be described by the reference
framework for One-Stop EGovernment of figure 1 (the dotted lines represent the evolution path of the
SUAP):
At the very beginning the main problem for the SUAP was how to bundle the services offered by different
agencies (the step 1 in the figure above); this problem has been solved mainly in terms of inter-agencies
agreements, often without considering how inter-agencies communications and workflows could be
virtualized. A fundamental step toward the virtualization of the SUAP has been made with the innovation
projects funded under the Italian National Action Plan for EGovernment between 2003 and 2008.
Actually, 79 out of the 134 funded projects directly concerned the implementation of online services for
enterprises. Moreover, despite their not being directly geared toward enterprises, most of the other
infrastructural projects funded under the Action Plan aimed at creating the technological conditions for the
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virtualization of inter-agencies communications and workflows, thus enabling the complete virtualization
of the SUAP (the step 2 of figure 1). However, the ease of doing business in Italy has not improved
during the past years, notwithstanding the simplification induced by the virtualization of the SUAP.
Figure 1: Reference framework for one-stop eGovernment ((Hogrebe and Kruse 2008))
To change this situation, in 2010 the Italian Government took new initiatives to make it easier starting,
transforming or closing a business. Not only were new measures defined, in order to favour the complete
digitalisation of inter-municipal communications and workflows, but even the procedures for starting,
transforming or closing a business have been further simplified by turning the current legislation from the
traditional ex ante authorization regime into an ex-post controls regime. Under this new regime, a new
business can be started up simply through a communication (Segnalazione Certificata di Inizio Attività –
SCIA, Certified Communication of the start of the activity) submitted online to the SUAP through the
national portal www.impresainungiorno.it.
The online procedure is such that it guarantees that the SCIA contains all the required information and
that all the required documents have been attached (if the communication is incomplete it is rejected). A
SCIA that has been checked for completeness gets registered to the system that automatically sends a
receipt to the applicant. Upon receiving this receipt, an entrepreneur can start a new business without
necessarily having to wait for the SUAP to complete the required controls. This is the main reason why
the new ex-post controls regime is expected to make it easier to start a business in Italy.
Upon registering the SCIA the SUAP has to operate all the required controls within an interval of time
defined by the law (60 days). If any of the controls detects some inadequacy, then the business can be
stopped (either temporally until the inadequacy will be removed or definitively, if the inadequacy can not
be removed), otherwise it can operate without requiring any further authorizations.
The new legislation is in force since 2010; hence it is not possible to evaluate yet, not even tentatively,
the effects it can have on the ease of doing business in Italy. However, it is possible to evaluate the
impact the new legislative regime has on the functioning of the SUAP, considering that it maintains the
responsibility of the municipality on the SUAP and it does not reduce the number of public agencies and
authorities having competences concerning starting, transforming or closing a business. This determines
two relevant consequences; on the one hand, it is a responsibility of the municipality to implement,
through the SUAP, an effective and efficient system for the management of all the ex-post controls
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required by the new legislation. On the other hand, such a system must be based on the cooperation
among the different public bodies involved. Both consequences can be problematic, given the chronic
lack of resources characterizing the Italian municipalities, as well as many of the other public agencies
having competences on starting, transforming or closing a business. Actually, even if they can be made
more efficient by the use of ICTs, especially in coordinating the activities of the different agencies
involved, the ex-post controls cannot be completely automated. They most often have to be manually
performed by people that are likely to be also allocated to other activities within their organizations and
that, for this reason, could have difficulties to promptly operate the controls.
In such a situation the risk that the SUAP can not guarantee that all the ex-post controls will be operated
within the required terms is concrete. It is a risk that can affect seriously the capacity of the municipalities,
and other public agencies as well, to pursue public value through a careful management of the territory.
Actually, given the lack of resources affecting the public bodies involved, the only way to safeguard the
public interest is by identifying what controls really need to be operated, based on a careful analysis of
the potential risks the SCIAs that have been submitted to the SUAP could entail.
2. Risk management
The word risk can assume different meanings according to the context in which it is used. (Alberts and
Dorofee 2005) suggests that in order for a risk to exist the following three conditions must occur:
There must be a loss associated with a situation
There must be some uncertainty with respect to the eventual outcome
Some choice or decision is required
In the case we are considering (that is the processing of a SCIA under the new Italian legislation), all the
three conditions occur.
In 2009, 385.512 procedures for the starting of new enterprises and 406.751 procedures for the closing of
enterprises have been registered in Italy. Even without considering the procedures for the transformation
of already existent enterprises, it is apparent that in order to carry out all these procedures an intense
activity is required to all the public bodies involved. Because of the lack of resources mentioned above, in
order to guarantee that they will be operated at least on the more critical cases, the SUAP could be
forced to decide whether or not a SCIA deserves all the ex-post controls normally required. Thus, in the
case we are considering the condition (3) above holds.
For the same reason, the condition (2) holds as well; actually, when the SUAP decides not to make the
controls on a given SCIA, no one knows for sure what the consequences of that decision will be. Hence,
the decision involves a certain degree of uncertainty with respect to its eventual outcome.
For condition (1) above to hold there must be a possible loss related to the decision that is being taken. If
the business whose starting has been communicated through a SCIA completely conforms to the
regulation in force and does not involve any peculiarity that could recommend not establishing it there,
not performing the ex-post controls has no problematic consequences. However, if the starting of that
business involves some problems that would need attention, not performing the ex-post controls could
have problematic consequences. In this case, by identifying the potential problems involved, the ex-post
controls could avoid the occurrence of problematic situations (for instance in terms of non conformance to
the building regulation, potential environmental risks or health risks for the employees and/or for the
surrounding population, etc.). From this point of view, performing the ex-post controls is a way of
preserving the public interest and pursuing public value.
Similarly, disregarding the case in which in starting a new business something not conforming to the
regulation in force has been consciously done, the ex-post controls allow an entrepreneur to know timely
that something wrong has been done that could lead to some form of sanctioning or even to the closing
of his business. In this sense, the ex-post controls can help an entrepreneur to avoid the occurrence of
problematic situations, thus helping him doing business. This is a way to contribute increasing a country’s
economic wellness and, consequently a way to indirectly pursuing public value.
In both the cases considered, the decision of not performing the ex-post controls could cause a loss that
ultimately concerns the pursuing of public value, that is the fundamental mission of a public
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administration body. Hence, the SUAP’s decision whether or not to perform certain ex-post controls
satisfies also the condition (1) above characterizing the existence of a risk.
It can thus be concluded that, under the new Italian legislation concerning starting, transforming or
closing a business, the activity of the SUAP could indeed involve some risk that needs to be managed to
preserve public value. From this point of view, risk management should be considered as an essential
part of the functioning of the SUAP.
In the case we are considering, all the public agencies involved in the processing of a SCIA may have to
decide whether or not to perform the ex-post controls normally required. However, the individual decision
of each agency involved has consequences on the final result of the processing of that SCIA, thus
affecting the other authorities' capability of pursuing their strategic mission. In order to avoid this
possibility, it is necessary for all the actors involved in the processing of a SCIA to share both their
evaluation of the potential risks it could entail and their decisions whether or not to perform some controls
on it. This rises the problem of implementing an interoperable risk management system, that is a system
whose goal is “to more effectively allow organizations to share information and perform necessary
activities with regard to risk management that may affect their collective behaviour” ((Meyers 2006, 6)).
The fundamental function of risk management is to help an organization to handle the risks it could
encounter in its activities. As defined, for instance, in (Strategic Partnering Taskforce 2004) risk
management includes identifying risks, assessing risk areas, developing risk-handling options, monitoring
risks to determine how risks have changed, and documenting the overall risk management programme.
In an inter-organizational risk management system all these activities must be shared by the partners.
Although it has been devised specifically for managing risks in software-dependent development
programs, the Team Risk Management (TRM) approach described in (Higuera et al. 1994) defines
methods and tools that can help organizations to manage risks also in the cooperation scenario we are
considering.
Figure 2: The team risk management approach ((Higuera et al. 1994))
In the original TRM approach three types of risk management processes are considered: (i) an intraorganizational
process executed independently by each partner organization (the Baseline Risk
Assessment); (ii) a set of continuous processes implemented as both intra and inter-organizational; (iii)
an inter-organizational process conducted jointly by the partners (the Team Review Process).
The risk management process begins with the baseline risk assessment that allows all the partners to
identify the risks that are associated with their respective organizations. These risks are shared and
jointly evaluated through the team review that combines the most important risks identified by the
partners into a list of the most important risks faced by the program. The continuous processes comprise
a cyclic set of activities, that roughly correspond to the risk management activities mentioned above;
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these activities allow each partner to manage risks both at the intra-organizational level and at the interorganizational
level, through a repeated execution of the team review process.
Strictly speaking, the case we are considering does not involve the execution of a single mid to long term
program, that is what the TRM approach has been specifically devised for. This means that, to be applied
here, the model has to be modified in some ways. On the one hand, the original model only considers a
dyadic relation between the partners, whereas in the processing of a SCIA many agencies could be
involved. On the other hand, since there could be many different SCIAs that have to be simultaneously
processed by the SUAP, it could happen that the partners are involved in the concurrent execution of
different instances of the global risk management process described in figure 2 above. Finally, since the
processing of a SCIA has to be completed within 60 days from its submission to the SUAP, the reiteration
cycles of both the team review and the continuous processes must be much more shorter than those
described in the original model. All these elements obviously affect the way in which the TRM model
could be implemented as part of the SUAP’s activity.
In the next section I will consider how, a slight revision of the TRM model can be integrated within the
SUAP’s workflows to help all the public agencies involved to cope with the requirements stated by the
new Italian legislation concerning starting, transforming or closing a business.
3. Inter-organizational risk management
As argued above, the need for the SUAP to implement a risk management system derives from the
necessity to rest upon a careful analysis of the potential risks involved the decision whether a SCIA really
deserves the ex-post controls normally required. Such controls most often concern matters on which
different public agencies have competences besides the municipality that is responsible for the
functioning of the SUAP. This determines two relevant consequences:
The decisions should be shared among all the agencies involved;
All these agencies should coordinate their control activities, since a possible delay in one agency’s
activity could have consequences on the final result of the processing of a SCIA.
A way to satisfy both these requirements is by integrating the TRM model within the SUAP’s workflows as
defined by the new Italian legislation concerning starting, transforming or closing a business. The
workflow of figure 3 below describes such an integration.
Figure 3: Integration of TRM within the SUAP’s workflow
The whole process is activated by an applicant submitting online a SCIA (and all the required documents)
through the portal www.impresainungiorno.it. The SCIA and all the documents attached to it are
forwarded to the competent SUAP that, after verifying the completeness of the documentation, releases a
receipt to the applicant. From this moment onward, the activity that has been object of the SCIA can be
started.
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After registering the SCIA, the SUAP sends the relevant documentation to all the agencies having
competences on it. Upon receiving the documents, the agencies can individually perform the baseline
risk assessment process, with the aim of identifying all the potential risks that SCIA could entail. By using
standard tools for risks analysis and evaluation (for instance those considered in (IMA 2007) and in
(AIRMIC, ALARM, IRM 2002)), through this step each partner is thus able to associate to the SCIA under
processing a level of risk, with respect to the matters on which he has competence. For each partner, this
level corresponds to how much attention he thinks that SCIA deserves, based also on previous
experiences in similar cases.
Besides evaluating the potential risks involved, during this phase each partner can also plan the
execution of the control activities on that SCIA. The timing of these activities depends both on the level of
risk detected and on the other activities in which that agency is possibly already occupied. Actually, as
observed above, the agencies involved in the processing of a SCIA are most often characterized by a
limited availability of resources that usually have to be allocated also on different activities, besides those
concerning starting, transforming or closing a business.
The team review allows the partners to jointly evaluate the SCIA on the basis of the potential risks each
one of them identified individually, thus arriving at a shared risk evaluation. Such an evaluation forms the
basis for determining what is the more adequate risk treatment strategy to assume among accepting,
rejecting or handling the risks. Accepting the risk means that the team evaluation is such that the level of
risk of the SCIA is not ranked high; thus, also considering the other constraints that could possibly limit
the partners’ activities, there is no particular problem in delaying, and even possibly avoiding, the ex-post
controls. Rejecting the risk amounts to recognizing that the SCIA does not involve any particular risk and
could thus be treated in terms of a silent-assent procedure. Finally, handling the risk means adopting
mitigation plans with the aim of reducing the risks involved in the SCIA by implementing appropriate risk
mitigation actions. Such actions will amount to the competent authorities planning and performing all the
required ex-post controls with a timing that will allow the processing of the SCIA to be completed within
the terms provided by law.
In defining the risk handling actions through the team review, the partners are in position not only to
identify what controls really need to be made, and by who, but also to consider what controls could be
delayed or, possibly, even be dispensed with. Due to the scarcity of the resources each partner can
devote to the controls, this is a way to optimize their use through a collaborative distribution of tasks.
This point can be illustrated with an example. Suppose that a SCIA S has been submitted to the SUAP
such that three public agencies (AG1, AG2, AG3) are involved in its processing. Suppose, moreover, that
the baseline risk assessment is such that AG1 rates S as high risk, whereas AG2 and AG3 rate it as low to
medium risk. All the three agencies involved should make the required controls, which forces all of them
to allocate resources on this task. However, it could happen that despite the controls performed by AG2
and AG3 didn’t detect any inadequacy, the SCIA has nevertheless to be rejected because of a serious
problem detected by AG1. In this case, AG2 and AG3 have been forced to spend their scarce resources on
activities that they could have avoided if they already knew the result of the controls operated by AG1.
Given the scarcity of the available resources, the occurrence of such a situation should be avoided.
In the example above this result could be achieved by scheduling the controls activities to be performed
by AG2 and AG3 after those pertaining to AG1. The general strategy could then be scheduling the control
activities the different agencies have to perform so as to execute first those with the highest level of risk
detected, compatibly with the timing the agencies involved assign to the SCIA under processing. With
respect to the example this means that, in case the timing for S defined by AG1 is not compatible with the
general strategy, the partners could ask AG1 to revise its scheduling and to re-allocate its resources so
that S could be processed earlier than originally planned. Of course, this requires AG1 to agree redefining
its priorities in order to cope with those shared within the team review. However, this can be done only if
there is a strong commitment of the partners toward the collaboration.
Once defined and agreed on by all the participants to the team review, each partner has to implement its
own risk handling actions, by entering in the continuous processes phases. These phases include action
planning, tracking, control and routine risk identification and analysis.
Action planning essentially amounts to each partner redefining its priority to align them to those defined
by the team review. This step also presupposes a strong internal commitment, especially in the case the
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agencies involved are small organizations. Actually, team risk management requires a strong internal
commitment both to support the baseline risk assessment and to implement the risk handling actions
defined within the team review.
Consider, for instance, the case of a small municipality in which the presence of an organizational unit
specifically devoted to the processes concerning starting, transforming or closing a business is extremely
unlikely. Risk analysis and risk handling processes in small municipalities would most often be managed
by resorting to resources available within different organizational units, that is people who already have a
full-time job in the organization and are now tasked with something else. Of course, this rises a serious
coordination problem within the organization, whose solution requires the commitment of both policy
makers and senior managers that are asked to fix the priorities. Actually, a strong intra-organizational
commitment is one of the fundamental conditions for the effectiveness of all risk management processes
((ISO 2009), (AIRMIC, ALARM, IRM 2002, 2010)).
By means of the tracking and control processes each partner can monitor the results of the risk handling
actions implemented, at the same time providing a documentation of the whole risk management
process. Once shared with the partners, these monitoring information constitute a common knowledge
base that can be referred to, both at the intra-organizational level and the inter-organizational level, in the
treatment of similar situations that could arise in the future. Of course, this can be done only if the
partners share the risk monitoring system and the monitoring information are gathered and
communicated by means of standardized reporting structures.
Finally, the routine risk identification and analysis process amounts to a continuous activity through which
all the partners can identify new threats arising during their day to day activities. These threats can
depend on the occurrence of unforeseen situations that could affect the partners’ capacity to execute the
risk handling actions within the terms agreed on. Such risks should be identified and treated timely since
a delay in one partner’s activity could affect the final result of the processing of a SCIA. Moreover,
because of the potential consequences they could have on the other partners’ activities, the emergence
of these risks should be promptly communicated to the partners, in order to let them assume timely all the
measures apt to cope with the new situation.
In the TRM model, the sharing of the risk identification and the joint definition of the risk handling actions
are part of the team review process. However, due to the strict temporal constraints the processing of a
SCIA must satisfy, in the situation we are considering the team review process cannot be implemented
simply as a periodic meeting among the partners. Rather, also team review should be implemented as a
continuous communication process through which the partners interact on a day to day basis.
4. Conclusions
Joint risk management is a form of inter-organizational cooperation for the management of the risks
related to activities involving the joint effort of different organizations. Such organizations could be highly
heterogeneous, not only as regards their dimensions, organizational culture, competences in the use of
ICT, but also as regards their legal status. However, the efficiency and effectiveness of an interorganizational
cooperation strictly depends on how the partners will be able to ‘mesh’ their efforts, aiming
at some degree of homogeneity with respect to some aspects of their activities, while maintaining
heterogeneity in others. This raises the problem of what conditions can make it possible for
heterogeneous partners to share an inter-organizational risk management system.
The effectiveness of the inter-organizational risk management system described above, strictly depends
on some conditions the partners must satisfy. Such conditions include:
The sharing of the strategic vision among the partners, as the condition that allows them to assume a
common view of what counts as a risk
A strong commitment of the partners toward the cooperation, such that they consider themselves as
part of an inter-organizational system (conceived as a system of systems)
Considering the interaction with the partners as a standard modality in the day to day operations
A continuous communication and sharing of information among the partners
The integration of the inter-organizational risk management processes within each partner’s internal
processes
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A high operational flexibility of the partners, to cope with unforeseen situations and exceptions that
can derive also from the activities of the other partners
The sharing of standardized tools and methodologies for the identification, analysis, evaluation and
description of risks
Satisfying these conditions makes the partners interoperable with respect to risk management.
Considered as interoperability requirements, these conditions are quite different from the usual
requirements for systems interoperability. In risk handling the rapidity of the answer to threats is a key for
success. In situations in which, like in the case considered in this paper, different organizations are
involved, the rapidity of the answer strictly depends on the partners’ capability of working together. Of
course, this entails the sharing of information, the efficiency of inter-organizational communication and
the compatibility of the organizational processes; but it also presupposes a common organizational
culture and a shared system of values. Risk management is a central part of any organisation’s strategic
management; it is not possible for different organizations to share risk management without also sharing
(some or all of) their strategic objectives. This means that, in order to share an inter-organizational risk
management system like the one described in section 3, the partners have to achieve a high level of
interoperability, not only in the technological domain but in the organizational and strategic domains as
well.
References
AIRMIC, ALARM, IRM (2002), A risk management standard, The Association of Insurance and Risk Managers
(AIRMIC), Association of Local Authority Risk Managers (ALARM) and The Institute of Risk Management
(IRM).
AIRMIC, ALARM, IRM (2010), A structured approach to Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and the requirements of
ISO 31000, Association of Local Authority Risk Managers (ALARM) and The Institute of Risk Management
(IRM).
Alberts, C.J. and Dorofee, A.J. (2005), Mission Assurance Analysis Protocol (MAAP): Assessing Risk in Complex
Environments,TECHNICAL NOTE, CMU/SEI-2005-TN-032, Carnegie Mellon University.
Higuera, R. P., Gluch, D. P., Dorofee, A. J., Murphy, R.L., Walker, J.A. and Williams, R. C. (1994), An Introduction to
Team Risk Management. (Version 1.0), Special Report CMU/SEI-94-SR-1, Carnegie Mellon University
Hogrebe, F. and Kruse, W. (2008), “One Stop eGovernment for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME): A
Strategic Approach and Case Study to Implement the EU Services Directive”, eCollaboration: Overcoming
Boundaries through Multi-Channel Interaction, Proceedings of the 21st Bled eConference, Bled, Slovenia, June.
IMA (2007), Enterprise Risk Management: Tools and Techniques for Effective Implementation, Institute of
Management Accountants.
ISO (2009), ISO 31000:2009, International Organization for Standardization.
Meyers, B.C. (2006), Risk Management Considerations for Interoperable Acquisition, TECHNICAL NOTE, CMU/SEI-
2006-TN-032, Carnegie Mellon University.
Strategic Partnering Taskforce (2004), Risk Management - Technical Notes, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, UK.
World Bank (2010), Doing Business 2011 – Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs, The International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank.
139

The Effect of User's Satisfaction of web Security on Trust in
eGovernment
Lichun Chiang 1 , Ching-Yuan Huang 2 and Wu-Chuan Yang 3
1
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
2
Shu-Te University, Kaoshiung, Taiwan
3
I-Shou University, Kaoshiung, Taiwan
gardfieldc@gmail.com
Abstract: The way that Web security has been managed by the government will influence user’s satisfaction and
intention toward using web and trust in the government. The purpose of this research is to link user's satisfaction with
web security in eGovernment and trust in government; that is, it aims to study the relationships among user’s
satisfaction, trust and government. The main question is “does user’s satisfaction of web security in eGovernment
influence user’s trust in the government?” The research explores the status quo of web security in government, and
studies user’s satisfaction of web security which influences user’s trust in the government. The research focuses on
the investigation of users’ satisfaction and trust of web security via the method of questionnaires applied the
structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze users’ trust in the use of web security. The statistic method is applied
LISREL 8.54 to analyze questionnaires’ data. This research shows that the precursors of user intent to trust web
security are multidimensional (i.e., ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude and satisfaction) and identifies their
critical influences on realizing government web security. These two dimensions are interwoven, and one must not
focus exclusively on any single factor in assessing overall intention toward trust eGovernment.
Keywords: eGovernment, satisfaction, service quality, trust, the structural equation modeling
1. Introduction
Since the government applied information technology (IT) to improve public services, government web
application has become a convenient tool for users to search official documents and participate in public
activities. Users using government Web sites are not only critical consumers but also demanding citizens
(Welch et al 2005). Therefore, what citizen demand are on government web sites is concerned by
eGovernment when developing digitalized public services via the Internet; that is, the way making citizens
satisfaction with public services has to be considered by eGovernment. Welch, Hinnant and Moon (2005)
pointed out that appropriate IT utilization, especially the Internet, by government has the potential to
increase citizen satisfaction with government at the reason that more convenient services, more
accessible and complete information can improve citizen trust in government. As Chadwick and Basden,
(2001) said, trust built from experience, personal knowledge, and bias, and also based on the action that
the trustee is about to take. Thus, user’s experiences with eGovernment, satisfaction with eGovernment
and government Web sites are interrelated to trust in government and they affect each other.
The way that Web security has been managed by the government will influence user satisfaction and
intention toward using web and trust in the government (Welch et al. 2005; Liu, Guo & Hsieh 2010). As
Hisamitsu and Takeda (2007) stated, the security of e-voting systems and their operational procedures
are important factors to assess the attitude of trustworthiness of e-voting practices in Japan. The key
factor affected user satisfaction of government web sites is considered as Web application security
because of the nature of online activities: information exchange, payments and individual privacy. In
addition, the quality of the public e-services users perceived is necessary consideration when discussing
user satisfaction with government websites (Magoutas & Mentzas 2010). User behavioral intention
towards e-service continuance is influenced by customer satisfaction, perceived usefulness and
subjective norm according to the theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Technology Acceptance
model (TAM) (Bhattacherjee 2001; Liao et al. 2007). Thus, government web application security is
interrelated to user satisfaction and trust.
The purpose of this research is to link user's satisfaction with web security in eGovernment and trust in
government; that is, it aims to study the influential factors which possibly affect the relationships between
user’s satisfaction of government web security and trust in government. The main question is “does
user’s satisfaction of government web application security influence user’s trust in the government?” In
order to answer this question, the authors examine users perceptions of government web application
security based on the Technology Acceptance model and other influential factors, such as perceived
ease of use (PEU), perceived usefulness (PU), attitude of web security (AWS), service quality (SEQ),
satisfaction of web security (SWS), confidence in web security (CWS), intention toward trust in
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Lichun Chiang et al.
eGovernment (ITG), to assess user trust in government. TAM is seemed as the most widely used models
in Information Systems, in part because of its understandability and simplicity (King & He 2006).The
research method uses questionnaires with application of the structural equation modeling (SEM) to
analyze user trust in the use of web security. The statistic method is applied LISREL 8.54 to analyze
questionnaires’ data.
In addition to Introduction, this paper is divided into four main parts: First, a review of the theoretical
literature on the relationship among web application security, user satisfaction and trust in eGovernment,
and discussion on some of the experimental evidence in support of the theory. The second part describes
the research method used in this paper, including the methodological approach, the variables used in the
analysis, the sampling of cases and the questionnaire design. In the third part, data analysis and results
are presented. Finally, a discussion of these results is provided along with description of some of the
implications and future work to be done in this research area.
2. Literature review
Since customers feel satisfied with e-services provided by the private companies, they know the
efficiency and convenience to do business over the Internet; therefore, users demand the same level of
digitalized services from government that they have come to expect from the private companies
(Stamoulis et al. 2001). The concept of satisfaction implies the fulfillment of expectations as well as a
positive and affective state based on previous results obtained in the relationship with the web site
(Martin & Camarero 2009, p.4). The digitalization of the service functions has given a new idea about
user satisfaction with the government. Service quality has been considered to be one of the primary
drivers of customer satisfaction (Kristensen, Martensen, & Gronholdt 2000; Martensen et al. 2000; Hsu
2008). In using e-services, customer interface quality and perceived security also positively affected
customer satisfaction (Chang & Chen 2009; Magoutas & Mentzas 2010). Satisfaction with previous
purchases, the Web site security and privacy policies, and service quality are the main determinants of
trust (Hsu 2008; Martin & Camarero 2008). Mármol et al. (2010) applies a trust and reputation model for
identity management systems to guarantee an acceptable level of security. Users built their institutional
trust (or confidence) inductively through their experiences and reputation of e-services (Smith 2010).
Therefore, user satisfactions are determined by their experiences of e-services, web security, and
confidence in eGovernment.
In addition to the above mentions, user attitude in accepting information technology has been an
important issue in discussing security and trust regarding use of information technology. Since Davis
(1989) provided the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and showed that the theoretical basis for
actual use depends on behavioral intention, TAM has been primarily used to explain the usage of
information technology (Ma & Liu 2004). This model focuses on the attitudinal explanations of individual
intentions to use a specific technology. TAM involves two primary predictors: perceived ease of use and
perceived usefulness. TAM uses the dependent variable of behavioral intention to predict attitude
towards use of a technology. McKnight et al. (1998) and McKnight and Chervany (2001) are categories of
research on trust: one is topology (conceptual types), such as, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and
dispositions, and the other is object of trust (different referents), which includes trust in something or in
someone (e.g. the system). The former refers to the typology of trust construct, and the latter refers to the
object of trust. According to conceptual trust, two important beliefs – perceived ease of use and perceived
usefulness–are instrumental in explaining the variance in intention (Agarwal & Prasad 1999; Kramer 1999;
Li et al. 2004). ‘Perceived ease of use’ encapsulates the degree to which a potential adopter views usage
of the target technology to be relatively free of effort; ‘perceived usefulness’ captures the extent to which
a potential adopter views the innovation as offering value over alternative ways of performing the same
task (Davis et al. 1989; Karahanna et al. 1999; Gefen et al. 2005). In brief, ease of use refers to the
property of a product or thing that a user can operate without having to overcome a steep learning curve.
It expresses the relationship between experience and efficiency. In contrast, perceived usefulness means
that a user believes in the existence of a positive use-performance relationship (Davis 1989). Johnson
(2005) stated that perceived usefulness influenced a manager’s attitude to invest in information security.
The importance of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness as determinants of user intention is
indicated by their joint effects on attitude towards using the system, such as e-commerce, information
technology and the voting system (Al-Gahtani & King 1999; Xenakis & Macintosh 2005).
Using new technology may involve both benefits and risks to the end-user, and before deciding to adopt
the technology the individual may want to weigh risks and benefits (Horst, Kuttschreuter & Gutteling
2007). For instance, if voters lacked trust in the electoral process that was used to select those who filled
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the offices of those institutions of government, it seems unlikely they will then have trust in the
performance of those institutions themselves (Parent, Vandebeek & Gemino, 2005; Alvarez, Hall &
Llewellan 2006:4). In considering e-voting, voters are concerned with the process of electronic voting
which must be confidential. At the same time, the process must be capable of satisfying the needs of
participants and their security expectations. Security refers mainly to the technically guaranteed respect
of confidentiality (secrecy), integrity and availability, but it also refers to a whole range of functions such
as registration, eligibility and authentication (Gritzalis 2002; Dini 2003). Therefore, trust is not taking risk
per se, but rather it is a willingness to take risk (Johnson-George & Swap 1982; Mayer, Davis &
Schoorman 1995). Trust has a personal element to it. Trust is built from experience, personal knowledge,
and bias (Chadwick & Basden 2001). The definition of trust is the willingness to believe in the reliability,
honesty, worthiness and capability of another entity (Chadwick & Basden 2001; Lekkas 2003). Cho
(2006) pointed out that perceived risk and trust were less important at present most likely because online
legal services are still somewhat immature and focus mainly on less risky areas, such as information
dissemination and marketing. Therefore, a safe and legal infrastructure in cyberspace would be important
for regulating and protecting user privacy and rights. Trust is the main influential element on user attitude
to apply information technology, technology acceptance and adoption (Bahmanziari 2003; Suh & Han
2003). Perceived usefulness, ease of use, compatibility, risk perception and security control are
significant antecedents of initial trust in predicting user intention to use information technology, such as
eGovernment services and websites (Koufaris & Hampton-Sosa 2004; Carter & Belanger 2005; Horst
2007).
According to the above mentioned, user satisfactions of web security are determined by user perceived
ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, e-service quality and trust. User intentions to apply eservices
provided by government web application are affected by their confidence and satisfaction in
government.
3. Research method
3.1 Research hypotheses and research model
The research model shown in Figure 1 is based on prior research about TAM based on Davis (1989),
Gefen et al. (2003), Koufaris & Hampton-Sosa (2004), Carter & Belanger (2005), Horst (2007). Note that
the model discusses user perceptions of satisfaction in relation to trust eGovernment which led to the
hypotheses. The research model, utilizing structural equation modeling, posits that user perceptions of
ease of use, usefulness, service quality, satisfaction and confidence are research variables that are
important to user attitude and intention toward trust in eGovernment.
Figure 1: Research structure and hypotheses
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Lichun Chiang et al.
In this research based on TAM model, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are to explore
user acceptance of web application security when operating government web interface, as Davis et al.
(1989) and Agarwal & Prasad (1999), Kramer (1999) and Li et al. (2004) stated. Furthermore, perceived
ease of use and perceived usefulness influence attitudes toward using Web application security.
According to Davis et al. (1989 & 1993) researches, perceived ease of use is an antecedent to perceived
usefulness. Hsu (2008) and Martin & Camarero (2008) postulated that service quality was closely related
to user attitude and that attitude in using government Web application security would influence user
satisfaction. These hypotheses are replicated in H1, H2 and H3.
H1: Perceived Ease of use (PEU) will have positive influence on Perceived Usefulness (PU) in using
government Web application security.
H2: Perceived usefulness (PU) will have positive influence on Attitudes (AT) toward using government
Web application security.
H3: Service Quality (SEQ) will have positive influence on Attitude (AT) toward using government Web
application security.
As Mármol et al. (2010) and Smith (2010) showed in their attitudinal research, using attitude can be used
to predict user satisfaction. Therefore, the security of the Web system may influence user attitude and
satisfaction to use government Web application security, as H4 postulates.
H4: Attitudes (AT) towards using government application security will have positive influence on user
satisfaction in using government Web application security.
Chadwick & Basden (2001), Bahmanziari (2003) and Suh & Han (2003) argue that people have
confidence in whatever they have had government web application security, such as information system
or interface, to make them satisfy government web security. The decision to engage in user satisfaction
requires citizen confidence in the government agency providing the service and security (Koufaris &
Hampton-Sosa 2004; Carter & Belanger 2005; Horst 2007). Therefore, it is hypothesized that confidence
directly affects user satisfaction to use Web while mediating satisfaction toward the intention to trust
eGovernment, as shown in H5 and H6.
H5: Confidence in web application security (CWS) will influence on user Satisfaction (SWS) in using
government web application security.
H6: User Satisfaction (SWS) in using government web application security will positively influence on
intention (IN) toward trust in eGovernment.
3.2 Research questionnaire design
For testing the structural model, a draft questionnaire, based on relevant research literature identified
above, was developed and given to doctoral students studying in the Department of Electronic
Engineering (EE) in National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Tainan, Taiwan. After revising the
questionnaire based on their feedback, a test trial was given in December 2010. The trial of the structural
model was first conducted using 48 undergraduate students in EE of NCKU, each of whom completed a
questionnaire. In analysis of these samples, Cronbach’s α for each item in this pretest questionnaire is
greater than .70 (Cronbach’s α ≥ .70). In addition to asking about service quality, satisfaction and
confidence, the questionnaire also elicited information regarding the respondent’s demographic data,
such as gender, age and computer experience.
Five-point Likert scales were used to measure the model variables in this study. Information regarding the
relationships among the variables in the Structural Equation model (SEM) included model fitness and
model explanation, selected χ 2 , the ration between χ 2 and degrees of freedom (df), goodness of fit index
(GFI), adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and
Comparative Fit Index (CFI) to evaluate the suitability of the whole model (Bagozzi & Yi 1988; Bentler
1990; Jöreskog & Sörbom 1992; Hair et al. 1998; Hu & Bentler 1995). Empirical data was supporting the
theoretical relationship specified at the conceptualization stage was assessed. LISREL 8.54 was used for
exploratory purposes with sequential steps of path analysis and factor analysis. Path analysis was used
to provide visual representations of hypotheses.
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3.3 Research samples
Lichun Chiang et al.
In testing the structural model, a questionnaire based on the relevant research literatures, identified
above, was developed and given to a sample of students in Kaoshiung City, Kaoshiung county and
Tainan City in Taiwan. The decision to survey students at this location was based on both geographic
and demographic rationales. First, the research was done at I-Shou University, Shu-Te University,
National Sun Yat-sen University and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), because the percentage
of undergraduate students used the Internet is higher than that of other groups. Secondly, the study
targeted university students because these individuals should have relatively high skills in learning how to
use information technology and their interest in such a system should also be higher. Students at these
campuses were randomly sampled to obtain 320 respondents, who participated in the study at the first
week of January 2010. A total of 30 questionnaires were not analyzed because they were incomplete;
thus, there were 290 valid respondents (99.91% of all respondents). Further, 269 of participants (75.40%)
in valid questionnaires have used government websites, 21 participants (24.60%) do not have
experienced to use them, therefore, these participants were excluded from the research sample.
4. Research results
The sample size for this analysis was Ν=269. As shown in Table 2, the sample of 269 participants
included 139 (51.70%) males and 130 (48.30%) females. 97.40% of participants age are less than 25
years old. About 61 percent of the respondents consider themselves having about average knowledge of
Web security, and 22% of participants think themselves having knowledgeable or very knowledgeable of
Web security. Table 1 shows the demographic data of the samples.
Table 1: Demographic data
Terms
Sex
Frequencies Percentage (%) N=269
Male 139 51.70
Female 130 48.30
Total
Age (Years Old)
269 100
Under 20 119 44.20
22-25 143 53.20
26-30 4 1.20
31-35 0 0
36-40 1 0.40
41-45 1 0.40
46-50 1 0.40
Total
Understanding Web Security
269 100
Barely 7 2.60
Some 38 14.10
About Average 165 61.30
Knowledgeable 47 17.50
Very Knowledgeable 12 4.50
Total 269 100
The items for each dimension were measured through a 5-item scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5
(strongly agree). In discussing the threshold reliability of the measures, .60 is a recommended value for a
reliable construct (Hu & Bentler 1995). As Table 1 shows, the composite reliability values range from .75
to .85 (Cronbach’s α ≥ .60). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was applied to assess the construct
validity of the 7 scales (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, service quality, satisfaction
of web security, confidence in web security and intention to trust eGovernment) with LISREL. Each item
was modeled as a reflective indicator of its latent construct in the CFA model. Table 2 presents the
results of the CFA analysis. For the average variance extracted by a measure, a score of .50 indicates
acceptability (Jöreskog & Sörbom 1989). Table 3 shows that the average variances extracted by these
measures range from .51 to .67, which fall within the acceptable range.
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Table 2: Results of confirmatory factor analysis
Lichun Chiang et al.
Variables Terms Reliability AVE
Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) 3 0.79 0.51
Perceived Usefulness (PU) 3 0.84 0.67
Attitude (AT) 3 0.85 0.63
Service Quality (SEQ) 4 0.81 0.61
Satisfaction of Web Security (SWS) 3 0.75 0.65
Confidence in Web Security (CWS) 3 0.85 0.59
Intention (IN) 3 0.84 0.63
Note: N = 269, Cronbach’s α should exceed .60, the composite reliability values range from .76 to .87 (Hu
& Bentler 1995), AVE (Average Variance Extracted) should be near .50 (Jöreskog & Sörbom 1989).
As shown in Figure 2, the structural model reflecting the assumed linear and causal relationships among
the constructs is tested with the data collected from the validated measures (Bagozzi & Yi 1988; Bentler
1990; Jöreskog & Sörbom 1992; Hu & Bentler 1995; Hair, et al. 1998). The model fit indices are within
accepted thresholds: χ 2 to degrees of freedom ratio of 2.93 (χ 2 = 586.11; df = 200), AGFI = .82, GFI = .86,
CFI = .94 and RMSEA = .08, suggesting adequate model fit, as Table 3 shows.
Table 3: Model fit indices for the structural model
Fit indices Results Recommended value
χ 2 (p-value) 586.11 (.05) P ≥ .05
χ 2 /df 2.93 (df=200) P ≤ 3~5
AGFI 0.82 P ≥ .80~.90
GFI 0.86 P ≥ .90
CFI 0.94 P ≥ .80
NFI 0.92 P ≥ .80
RMSEA 0.08 P ≤ .10
Note: GFI: Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit index, GFI: Goodness of Fit Index, CFI: Comparative Fit Index,
NFI=Normed Fit Index, RMSEA: Root Mean Square Error of Approximation.
Figure 2: SEM analysis of research model
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Note: χ 2 =586.11; df=200; p≦0.05; RMSEA=0.08
Lichun Chiang et al.
The results of the analysis are shown in Figure 2. The six paths exhibit a P-value less than .05. In the
usefulness factors shown in Figure 2, perceived ease of use (PEU) presents a strong positive effect on
perceived usefulness (t = 8.88, p ≤ .05). The results also showed that students perceived ease of use as
influenced by several perspectives, such as ease of learning, simple and clear understanding and skillful
users to use government web application security. Coinciding with Davis (1989, 1993), perceived ease of
use may actually be a causal antecedent to perceived usefulness for user acceptance of information
technology. This implication is helpful for research on user acceptance of government web application
security.
Figure 2 also shows perceived usefulness has significant influence in user attitude to use government
web application security (t = 3.87, p ≤ .05). In addition, perceived ease of use required perceived
usefulness as the intermediate factor to affect user attitude to use web application security in
eGovernment. That is, perceived ease of use positively associated with perceived usefulness influenced
user attitude to use web application security in eGovernment. Thus, hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2 are
supported, as many previous studies applied perceived ease of use to explain perceived usefulness,
such as Agarwal & Prasad (1999), Kramer (1999) and Li et al. (2004) postulated. The respondents
perceive the usefulness of government web application security because web application security can
provide secure services, easily maintain data, and protect access to information.
The perceived usefulness and service quality in government web application security both show
significantly positive influences on Attitude toward using web application security (t = 3.87 and t = 5.02,
respectively, p ≤ .05). This result also shows that service quality exhibits a significant influence stronger
than perceived usefulness in user attitude for using government web security. The participants care about
service quality for these reasons: government web application security can maintain the data
confidentially, and most importantly, has a good secure system. Thus, hypothesis 3 is supported (See
Table 5), as Hsu (2008), Martin & Camarero (2008) postulated.
As shown in Fig. 2, the attitude toward using government web application security positively influences
user satisfaction of web security (t = 3.76, P ≤ .05). Thus, hypothesis 4 is supported, as Lekkas (2003),
Mármol et al. (2010) and Smith (2010) postulated. In fact, the participants pay attention to web security
because of several important characteristics, such as good management, and confidentiality. As a result,
when users have confidence in web application security, they have satisfaction to use web security.
Therefore, confidence is an influential factor for user satisfaction of web security to influence user
intention toward trust eGovernment. From perceiving usefulness and confidence in web application
security, the respondents express strong willingness to use web application security for the protection of
personal data and for work.
Attitude and confidence in government web application security both show significantly positive
influences on satisfaction toward using web application security (t = 3.76 and t = 8.15, respectively, p ≤
.05). This result also shows that user confidence in web security demonstrates a significant influence
stronger than user attitude for using government web security. The participants have confidence in web
security for these reasons: government web application security is a worthwhile system to trust, maintains
the data confidentially, and most importantly, accords with ethic norms. Thus, hypothesis 5 is supported,
as Chadwick & Basden (2001), Bahmanziari (2003) and Suh & Han (2003) postulated. Figure 2 also
shows user satisfaction to use web application security has significant influence in user intention to trust
eGovernment (t = 2.54, p ≤ .05). Users are willing to trust eGovernment in the future because of good
web application security management. Thus, hypothesis 6 and is supported, as many previous studies
applied in the similar study, such as Koufaris & Hampton-Sosa (2004), Carter & Belanger (2005) and
Horst (2007) postulated.
5. Conclusions and limitations
This study utilized the Technology Acceptance Model and accompanied it with the Structural Equation
model to analyze the relationships among ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude, service quality and
investigated the effects of confidence on user satisfaction and intention toward trust eGovernment. The
importance of this study lies in the attempt to model user satisfaction of web security and trust
eGovernment in a single design. Structural equation modeling with Liseral revealed that intention to trust
eGovernment is mainly predicted by perceived usefulness of web security in general. The results of this
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Lichun Chiang et al.
analysis help us understand the complex process in which perceived ease of use and perceived
usefulness influence intention towards trust eGovernment, and how confidence in web application
security affects user satisfaction to use web application security. The research findings indicate that
perceived usefulness is an important determinant indicator between perceived ease of use and attitude
toward using web application security in Taiwan. Perceived ease of use presents a significant and
positive influence on perceived usefulness. Government web application security is a secure and trusted
electronic system to maintain the validity of information, keep original data and uphold a solid reputation
in the information system and eGovernment infrastructure. In this research, the confidence in web
security has a strong and positive effect on user satisfaction toward using it. If government web security
can maintain these reliably along with privacy, then it can possibly gain user satisfaction.
The second influential finding is that service quality is more influential than perceived usefulness in
influencing user attitude toward using web security. In our findings, the indicator of service quality plays a
determinant role to influence user attitude to use or accept web security. Therefore, when the
government emphasizes the management of web application security, it has to primarily improve service
quality for web security. Otherwise, without service quality of web security, users may not have positive
attitude to accept web security. In addition, it is important for users to operate web application security
easily. When they do not have difficulties using web security, they perceive the usefulness of web
security, and then they will likely use it when they use government web sites. Therefore, perceived
usefulness and service quality on web security show strong influence on user attitude toward using web
application security.
Finally, the results also indicate satisfaction of using web security is related to attitude and confidence in
web security. Without confidence in web security, users do not have satisfaction regarding web security.
This may lead to a drastic overhaul of existing ways of realizing government web security. If the
government plans to spread adoption of web security, then it has to train user awareness of government
web security, and show them web security to earn their confidence. Importantly, the government has to
create an easy channel for users to apply and use web application security, then users have confidence
in web sites which influence their satisfaction toward using government web security. The government
must seriously rethink how to build user confidence and trust on web security while encouraging users to
apply it. Therefore, security and confidence undoubtedly plays essential roles when users decide to use
web security.
In summary, the contribution of this study is threefold: First, this research analysis provides a better
understanding of how user satisfaction of government web application security will impact user intent
toward trusting eGovernments. Second, this research shows that the precursors of user intent to trust
web security are multidimensional (i.e., ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitude and satisfaction) and
identifies their critical influences on realizing government web security. These two dimensions are
interwoven, and one must not focus exclusively on any single factor in assessing overall intention toward
trust eGovernment. Finally, this research further explores user satisfaction of web security based on
confidence for implementing web security. That is, without confidence, user satisfaction cannot influence
user intent toward trust eGovernment. It is helpful to understand what factors interfere when trusting
eGovernment. This study further provides several inductive results to enhance our understanding and
management of government web security. Finally, regarding the research limitation, future studies should
seek larger sample sizes to perform more complex model testing. This study selected only 4 departments
in the 4 universities, but attempted in our selection to include four very different major subjects in different
universities. Future studies should include a broader set of universities to validate these results.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the National Science Council in Taiwan (NSC- 99-2410-H-
006 -060).
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148

A Common Process Model to Improve eService Solutions -
the Municipality Case
Marie-Therese Christiansson
Karlstad University, Sweden
marie-therese.christiansson@kau.se
Abstract: This paper describe a model for working on business processes as a result of a co-production between
Karlstad University and Karlstad municipality, in the Smart Cities project focusing on eGovernment and eServices in
the North Sea Region Programme of the European Union. The co-production began in February 2009 with an action
research approach to develop a Common Process Model (a light-weight process methodology) to support the
municipality in thinking, describing and improving business processes in a uniform, focused and reflective way. The
co-production process was based on a close relationship, openness and willingness to learn and share in a large
number of informal meetings, workshops, structured and unstructured interviews, as well as working together with
analysis and outcomes of the project. The contribution of this paper is to present the building blocks in a Common
Process Model and their implications in eService development. At the core of the process methodology is a set of
values, concepts, a modelling structure, roles, directives, guidelines and templates to be able to identify, measure
and improve business processes and eService solutions.
Keywords: co-production, lightweight process methodology, eGovernment, eServices
1. Introduction
The European Commission initiatives strive towards a new generation of open, flexible and collaborative
eGovernment services. Wider deployment and more effective use of digital technologies will provide
Europeans with a better quality of life through better health care, safer and more efficient transport
solutions, a cleaner environment, new media opportunities and easier access to public services and
cultural content. To support and complements the Digital Agenda for Europe (European Commission,
2010a), an Action Plan for 2011-2015 (European Commission, 2010b) identifies four key objectives to
achieve (based on the Malmö Ministerial Declaration, 2009); to empower citizens and businesses in their
needs for services; enable efficiency and effectiveness by reducing administration; facilitate mobility for
setting up a business, studying, working, residing and retiring in Europe and to create the necessary key
enablers and preconditions to make these things happen. By 2015, 50% of citizens and 80% of
businesses should communicate in terms of eGovernment (European Commission, 2010b).
EGovernment can be described as an instance of e-Commerce (Schneider, 2003), where governments
provide administrative processes as eServices for their customers (citizens, visitors, companies and other
government agencies) through web sites. This paper takes a holistic view on eServices beyond the frontend
web site to the back-office and business processes supported or performed by IT (information
technology), improving daily life for citizens and businesses. Well-structured and effective business
processes are prerequisites for business performance in providing and performing eServices. Working
with business process improvements is challenging. Major issues that organisations face in their efforts
include e.g. lack of management or employee buy-in, lack of a common process mind frame, lack of
standards, weaknesses in process specification, low modeling and process education and lack of
methodology (Bandara et. al, 2007, zur Muehlen, 2008). This complexity requires a methodical approach
to the implementation of process oriented EGovernment projects (Becker et. al 2003). This paper
presents building blocks in a Common Process Model (a process methodology not the result of a process
modelling) in a municipality case to support employees with guidance to think, describe and improve
business processes in a uniform, focused and reflective way.
2. Research design in the co-production
The co-production between Karlstad University and Karlstad municipality can be described as a joint
research-/development process based on a close relationship and an open mind to learn and share.
Participating parties take part in formulating research questions and are investing in knowledge
development and value creation. This means formulating the point of departure, contributing by producing
and delivering results (e.g. a Common Process Model) as well as evaluating the co-production process.
(Orr and Bennett, 2009; Christiansson, 2010). Karlstad University is part of the Smart Cities Regional
Academic Network (SCRAN, 2011) with the principal role “to offer hands-on support to the government
partners, to qualify good practices and to accurately translate pilots into transferable good practice, white
papers and methodologies” (Smart Cities, 2011). Academic partners are working closely with local
municipal partners to develop better eServices. In the municipality case, the close relationship can be
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described in terms of a mutual interest in the research question; - How do we get process modelling to
happen in practice? This is a question that is placed high on the BPM (Business Process Management)
agenda in conferences this year.
The municipality case is an organisation with around 7000 employees performing services and
operations to attract both people and companies to work and live in the city. Technical services and
property management administration, with around 500 employees, works according to a management
directive with mapping, measuring, benchmarking and improving their business processes. One driver (of
many) to the process mapping is the possibility to identify needs and possibilities for eService solutions.
The action research approach involves solving organisational problems through intervention and at the
same time contributing to research (Benbasat et al. 1987; Davison et al. 2004). Strengths in this research
method are the insider’s view as a participant to obtain in-depth and first hand understanding. The first
version of the municipality Common Process Model was developed during five workshops (April –
December 2009) and many meetings in between. The university and participants from five different
administrations, with more or less experiences in process modelling and its use in business and systems
development, defined ‘the process of mapping processes’ and identified experiences to share in terms of
directives, guidelines and templates.
To gather knowledge and experience in eService development, the municipality created a virtual
organisation called the e-Office. The task of the e-Office is to coordinate and support the development of
eServices in the municipality in order to offer more and better services to citizens and companies.
Methodologies, tools, skills, common eService solutions and implementations are handled as well as the
cooperation with the university. With a knowledge management approach with increasing collaboration,
learning and sharing by the e-Office, administrations may work at the pace they prefer. The university has
direct contact to the e-Office (mail, telephone, local web-based project management tool and a
transnational wiki) and several meetings (informal and with a common interest to solve a problem) with
employees from different areas and in different roles from management, business development and
eService development. The municipality is continuously describing business needs and their BPM
agenda at hand. Employees in key process roles (mainly from the e-Office and the Technical services
and property management administration) study at the university (the flexible campus and/or distance
course, Process Orientation in Practice). In the course participants have the opportunity to work with
course assignments in their own business context learning from theory, using process methodologies and
by experiences suggesting further improvements and development of the Common Process Model.
In case study research, the objective is research and theory at their early, formative stages and practicebased
problems where the experiences of the actors are important and the context of action is critical
(Benbasat et al. 1987). Researchers with prior discourse (to stand objective of research, see e.g.
Alvesson and Sköldberg, 2000) and practitioners with business context and prior experiences (Orr and
Bennett, 2009) are characteristic features of co-production projects. A research relationship is based on
each participant having their own interests and their own communities (which have a political impact on
the research process) together with mutual interests in an issue and the mutual context of the coproduction
(Christiansson, 2010). Employees in the municipality are anxious to bridge the gap between
different kinds of process modelling techniques for business and IT solutions to be able to provide better
services. For the municipality, the university’s presence is valuable in terms of access to research results
as well as practical experiences from courses and research projects, and an independent partner in
discussions and the assessment of BPM activities. The university will develop new knowledge in terms of
supportive content, implementation and maintaining in practice in order to achieve usable and used
process description as a basis for e.g. eService development. Knowledge increases the quality in
university courses and the collection of empirical data further develops the generic process methodology
to be suitable for different organisations and business contexts. The university gains access to real world
data and the possibility to apply research results in practice, as well as new insights. Producing
consumable research demands both rigour and relevance (Robey and Markus, 1998). In the municipality
case, the researcher has acted in a more mentoring and supervising mode. Writing research papers
together, attending conferences as well as transnational benchmarking is addressed in the co-production.
A transnational workshop in Processes (September 2010) has evaluated the Common Process Model
and generated new input to the generic and transnational model as a deliverable of the Smart Cities
project (Christiansson, 2011).
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Marie-Therese Christiansson
The concept of eService is two-fold, as service is something being produced and consumed in business
processes and a result experienced by the consumer at the same time as the service is provided. The
customers’ engagements include receiving information and requesting services (Warkentin et. al 2002)
but also performing, receiving and experiencing business performance. The customer is a co-producer in
the service and the ‘e’ states that the service is conducted, more or less, by IT solutions. Alsaghier (et. al
2009) stress that most definitions of eGovernment revolve around the concepts of a government’s
employment of technology, in particular web-based applications to improve the access and delivery of
government services. EGovernment can be described in terms of the execution of administrative
processes to enable governments to provide services for their customers (citizens, visitors, business and
other governments) through web sites. Customer interact with the government through the Internet,
asking questions and receiving answers, obtaining updated government regulations and government
official documents, filing applications etc. (Alsaghier et. al 2009). EServices are one part of municipality
business performance and provide access to government information and services. Services accessible
across the EU strengthen and complement existing legislation in domains like e-Identification, e-
Procurement, e-Justice, e-Health, mobility and social security (European Commission, 2010 b).
Organisations focusing more on the ‘e’ than on the ‘business’ may forget that value-added idea, the
understanding of the organisational environment and IT as enabler in the business and customer context,
as well as the changing requirements (Hammer, 1993; Davenport, 1993) are essential prerequisites for
an organisation’s return on its investments into modern information and communication technology (Alpar
and Olbrich, 2005). With a view to realising an effective business development, a Common Process
Model is developed as a general approach to support different applications, with eServices as one of
many in the organisation. The model is designed to support applicable hands-on knowledge in a
lightweight manner to be used for employees with various process modelling skills and use of tools, from
drawing tools to more advanced modelling language and process tools. One success factor for usable
process descriptions is that employees and management understand the ‘process thinking’. The goal is
to bring about usable process descriptions that can be used by different roles and levels in the
municipality case – political, management, operational and systems – so that development decisions are
based on knowledge acquired by those who are performing the business operations and will be a part in
or be affected by the solution. An understanding of the basic ideas in process orientation will explain what
to describe and why in process modelling.
A process oriented approach in services means (based on concepts in e.g. Davenport, 1993; Hammer,
1993, Grönroos, 2000):
Ensuring that the purpose and objectives of a business process are linked to the goal of the
organisation.
Basing the mapping on the knowledge of people who know the operation in question and on those
who have expectations on it and are affected by its result; that is, a focus on how citizen and
business service is created and delivers value.
A holistic view on end-to-end processes adding significant value for an external customer’s
experiences and results.
Considering and describing operations horizontally from the point at which an external
customer/client makes some kind of request which leads to a number of tasks being performed in a
logic flow (in and between organisations) in order to meet the request.
Proceeding from the user view of the result identifying value-creating tasks (what) and work
procedures (how) that will satisfy the user and ensure a tangible value (e.g. an effective and useful
eService).
Identifying and describing available resources (e.g. IT) for optimal use and requirements/ requests for
them.
Ensuring that employees can identify their roles in the process flow and serve as the basis for their
understanding and ability to change/improve operations.
A Common Process Model will support employees to get useful process descriptions in an effective
business development. Explicit preconditions, concepts, directives, guidelines, templates and roles will be
used to create a platform for how to think, describe and work towards process improvements. See Figure
1.
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Figure 1: A common process model
Communicating knowledge of business operations is important in all organisations and development
work. To achieve this, it is necessary that those who partake in development and those who need to
explain, understand, and make decisions speak the same language. Across organisational boundaries,
there is a shared obligation to meet the needs of citizens and companies in the municipality. Concepts
and process descriptions must be understandable in and between organisations as this can become a
national and international need as well when developing eServices across municipal and national
boundaries. Working uniformly in a development project in and between organisations makes the work
more effective and increases the chances to communicate and spread information. The opposite
scenario, where process mapping is done differently, means that a great deal of reworking by the same
people using different tools might be necessary, and this requires resources and consumes energy. A
Common Process Model will work as a ‘living model’, maintained and continually updated by the e-Office
and a model owner. The model is designed to be employed in all types of business development projects,
major as well as minor efforts, and be operative without a modelling tool and/or modelling language as a
driving force.
A ‘process staircase’ may illustrate the intended degree of process orientation or process maturity in an
organisation. See Figure 2. Working according to the Common Process Model will increase the
possibilities for generating process descriptions in a way that ensures progression up the steps with a
useful process description of all steps.
Mapping processes entails identifying and describing processes. It is not until business operations are
described in the form of processes that can we see and become aware of them as processes. A process
modeller needs guidance at different points in the process modelling process, in different roles and with
different levels of competence in modelling. A useful process description will be a result of a process
mapping describing a business process with its elements, customer focus and a horizontally view
according to the motives.
Establishing processes can mean labelling the identified processes, saving and storing process
descriptions to make them available to the appropriate people. It can also mean allocating responsibility
for administering process descriptions. The idea in the municipality case is to store one core process
description, which can then serve as a basis for different users, roles and target groups. A core process
description will allow for measuring and improving business processes. It can also be copied and
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modified across administrations to be useful for e.g. different target groups, roles and multiple
perspectives, as well as for people who don’t ‘think in boxes and arrows’. An established process will
have a suitable name close to its purpose in business according to a convention easy to store, find and
access. A useful process description can be used in communications and be published across
administrations and organisations.
Figure 2: Degree of process orientation (Christiansson, 2001)
Evaluating processes can be based on measuring points and quality indicators identified in the
descriptions of the current situation in order to clarify what is needed to move in the direction of a goal
objective. Analysis of processes can take place from internal or external demands on performance and
quality. An evaluated process will have suitable and defined indicators to support e.g. business process
comparisons and improvements. A useful process description describes a business process with
elements to measure (what) and relevant measurements (how) based on the use of process descriptions
and motives for the evaluation (why).
Monitoring processes means that employees and systems know how the operations work and are related
to the whole. This step presupposes a horizontal view of management and control, which allows
employees to be able, and have authority, to make decisions on how and which tasks contribute to value.
A useful process description in this step is most likely automated and supported by a tool to prioritise and
signal which task to act on.
3.1 Preconditions
Preparation is essential for business development and process modelling. To ensure that the municipality
achieves applicable process descriptions the following preconditions must be met:
The Common Process Model constitutes a knowledge base that all employees can access via the
webpage (intranet) and via the tools to be used in the process mapping.
Employees who map processes can understand and master the model.
Employees who map processes use the model.
Employees who map processes always store a core process description based on the directives in
the model to be able to communicate across organisational boundaries.
Employees with experience of process mapping can document and collect these experiences in a
process report as feedback to the model owner to further development of the model.
Continuous development of the model is based on internal experiences together with research results
and experiences gained in other municipalities/organisations nationally and internationally.
Current and future processes are mapped as a basis for defining the end objective, and should be
described in process description according to the process model guidelines.
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The process descriptions are labelled, stored, published, disseminated and updated so that business
developers can find and use current descriptions; that is, someone is responsible for them.
A strategy (in terms of why, what and how) for performing business development as well as process
modelling facilitates an effective business development (Christiansson, 2001; Becker et. al 2003). Becker
(et. al 2003:148) states that, “When considering the aim of the process modelling (‘why’ modelling should
be done, e.g. certification, selection of software, organisation design), it is necessary to determine both
the object of modelling (‘what’ should be modelled, for example, a total model of the business vs. a partial
model), and the modelling methods and tools (‘how’ modelling should be done)”. Relevant problem areas
or target services for process improvements should be identified and prioritised with respect to financial
and personnel resource constraints (ibid.). Drivers for eService development may also arise from
demands from EU and national directives (to local action plans, see e.g. Magnusson and Christiansson,
2011) as well as explicit service catalogues and customer demands for web-based communication
(Christiansson, 2011).
The main objectives of process modelling in eService development are business operations and system
design. Becker (et. al 2003) mention that services can be classified by level of interaction (information,
communication and transaction) and degree of integration (media break, no media break, and
automated) to support decisions on business improvements and processes to analyse. A process
modelling may focus on the current processes (as-is) to analyse and evaluate the service level. The
process description communicates an administrative transparency to identify and explain weak points
and arguments for potential improvements. The final decision to make, not the first, is the selection of
suitable modelling methods and tools. Moving towards a process-oriented and eService supported
administration needs process descriptions with a high level of clarity to be able to identify (e.g. problems,
strengths, possibilities) in analysis. Moreover, the final target (to-be) processes must be understandable
for a range of employees with heterogeneous backgrounds and different roles as well as customer and IT
suppliers.
3.2 Concepts
The process model and its application have been explained with a number of central concepts. As an
example, directive is defined as a steering instrument and directive should clearly stipulate prerequisites
and basic ideas/rules to make it ‘happen’. The ambition to develop a common language makes it
imperative that the concepts are made familiar, defined and disseminated in and between
organisations/administrations. This effort also demands that the concepts are updated with changes in
the language of the organisation. Concepts familiar in the business context to employees and customer
may be part of the eService solution, digital forms and GUI (Graphical User Interface) to make sense and
be usable for customer and employees.
3.3 Guideline – motive, use, scope
Business process improvement is key to providing, performing and delivering eServices, contact centres
etc. in a municipality service portfolio. A range of different improvement activities is restructu-ring existing
business process to provide new eServices and to implement new ways of working in municipalities. In
customer services strategies and development of ever more complex eServices, understanding local
business processes is a precondition (Christiansson, 2011).
Establishing motives for business development at the same time define expected impacts.
With a business driven eService development, business process improvements can be
measured in business performance and customer value. Benefits in business performance
can be mapped in process descriptions of e.g. case handling, explaining in detail what
should be done, why, how and in what order. It will be traceable and possible to get reports
of time spent in comparison with deliverance guarantees; indicators of quality can be
determined and published. One of the main benefits is the empowering possibility for the
employees to form their own job by giving knowledge of operational work in the design of
how the work actually should be done. Other benefits in eService solutions are the use of
digital forms for applications to ease the access ability for customers and reduce the
workload for the employees. Further more, personnel changes and new employment will be
eased by identified, defined, standardised and in some cases automated business
processes. Employees may also find it a benefit to see the results of their work monitored
continuously, and even published on a service level on the web. (Christiansson, 2011)
According to Grönroos (2000), creating value is about a relationship with the customer in
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interactions and over time. Customer value includes benefits in service performance and
service experience, e.g. in the possibility to do all communication by digital forms and emails
and the customers ability to use the services (Christiansson, 2011).
The purpose for developing and using process descriptions can pertain to operations and/or systems
designed to e.g. identify, describe/illustrate/explain, analyse, communicate/disseminate/publish (internally
and externally), understand/develop/learn from and learn new things, specify, evaluate, test, assess
effects, construct/design solutions, purchase existing solutions, administer/maintain and introduce/train.
Clarifying the use of process descriptions is important in regard to e.g. clarifying the motives to the
participation in the mapping, to give incentive and make people committed.
Defining the scope of a process involves identifying relevant stakeholders that need to be included in the
mapping (e.g. affected actors/organisations) in order to obtain the knowledge required.
The scope of the process mapping can be relevant to:
Internal processes
Externally oriented processes towards an external client
Processes across organisational borders
Interface (interaction/exchange) between stakeholders
3.4 Mapping structure
A process mapping can vary in size and complexity. In each step in the process mapping process, see
Figure 3, there are different ‘lines’ to follow in directives, guidelines and templates. The green line, which
refers to simple processes, must be followed by all employees and can be seen as mandatory in order to
achieve a process description that can be used in the ‘process staircase’. The yellow line represents
uncertain processes and the red line refers to complex processes across organisational boundaries. The
colours reflect a view of the mapping assignment and the business development at hand; where green
and yellow are sufficient to explain the business and the red line is needed to reach an understanding of
it. Experience gained internally (via process reports) may determine the directives, guidelines and
templates that will be recommended for use in each of the situations.
Figure 3: The process of process mapping
The modelling structure is clickable (white arrows in Figure 3) and is accessible via the municipal Intranet
and a process tool (using the BPMN notation, see e.g. White, 2004). Activities in the detailed view of the
modelling structure are connected with applicable directives, guidelines and templates. Given that the
quality of process descriptions affects the outcome and impacts the benefits in business process
improvements, it is important to reflect on the process by which the process descriptions are actually
constructed. With a uniform way of describing processes, process descriptions may work as a basis for
discussions and development between various administrations. For the municipality to appear as a single
and integrated municipality to citizens, companies or visitors, eService solutions across administrations
and other government agencies must be performed and experienced as one service provider. Identified
and described daily operational business processes are particularly important to the specification of
requirements for technology-based products/services, where a clear business understanding is needed. It
is essential to understand not only how the municipality is delivering services, but also how people are
accessing these services. Understanding business performance in delivery, customers and usage
provides you with a context you can use to plan how to revise services.
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3.5 Directives – process modelling, to model, measure and re-design business
processes
Based on the motives for the mapping process and the use of process description, it may be relevant to
document (to explain) or to model (to understand and change) processes. EService solutions are always
changing. With a description of the current business process and the ability to measure flow, activities,
information, experiences in results and so on, ‘a close to business’ requirement specification
(Christiansson and Christiansson, 2006) can be used in the design of the eService solution. It is
important to clarify what is relevant in each process mapping to get the right staffing and work
procedures. The main message in modelling a process is to describe all mandatory elements required to
describe a business process together with employees who know the daily business as well as customers
and/or suppliers. If each process elements is mapped with a separate symbol, they can be translated
between different kinds of modelling techniques if necessary. What you see in your process description is
what you are able to communicate, measure and improve.
4. Conclusions
Process oriented analysis and improvements of administrative procedures are key for re-structuring
municipal administration to eService solutions based on value-added business operations with digital
support/enablers. The full potential of eServices can be achieved through structured processes to identify
the needs and uses of information and communications technology. The building blocks in the Common
Process Model entails agreement on the basic idea of and values in a process oriented approach –
meaning and impacts to be achieved; central concepts – relevant definitions to use in offering, providing
and delivering services; degree of process orientation – relevant motives and actions in the ‘process
staircase’; roles and tools – necessary roles in organising and performing and possible support by
functionality in tools; and modelling structure – modelling actions supported by directives, guidelines and
templates to be able to identify, measure and improve business processes and eService solutions.
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157

Measuring Performance of eGovernment to the Disabled:
Theory and Practice in Taiwan
Pin-yu Chu, Tong-yi Huang and Ning-wan Huang
National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan
vchu@nccu.edu.tw
tyhuang@nccu.edu.tw
96256011@nccu.edu.tw
Abstract: Taiwan’s eGovernment programs have been formulated to improve the quality of government services. The
success of eGovernment programs depends on a robust performance assessment that provides a valuable
understanding of the impacts of individual projects on stakeholders, including citizens, government employees,
businesses, and minorities. In this paper, we emphasize the importance of a citizen-centric approach and propose key
indicators for measuring eGovernment programs. We examine the antecedents of the impact assessment of
eGovernment in the context of an integrated model. The model incorporates a wide variety of important factors from
previous research into a theoretical framework. In 2010 with the assistance of the Research, Development and
Evaluation Commission, Executive Yu, we conduct an online survey and made detailed impact assessments of a
Government to the Disabled (G2D) program in Taiwan. 5,895 members of three major non-profit organizations for the
blind were invited to complete the online questionnaire. The main foci of the questionnaire are project impacts
(including cost savings, benefits, and satisfaction), program quality (including program scope, marketing strategy, and
social inclusion), web quality (including system quality, information quality, and service quality), user satisfaction, and
public trust. This paper presents the results of the survey and summarizes the key findings from the impact
assessment of the web accessibility program. The lessons from this study will help us identify the key factors affecting
the success of eGovernment and pave the path for future eGovernment initiatives.
Keywords: eGovernment, performance evaluation, impact assessment, web accessibility, disabilities
1. Introduction
The success of eGovernment programs hinges on a robust performance assessment that not only provides
a valuable understanding of the impacts of individual programs on stakeholders including citizens,
government employees, business, and minorities, but also provides an effective feedback mechanism for
mid-course corrections. Thus, the performance evaluation of eGovernance has become an important issue
for governments around the world. Among various approaches to eGovernment performance evaluation, a
demand-side evaluation, which is the assessment in terms of citizen’ demands or needs, is highly
desirable, because the promise of eGovernment is to engage citizenry in government in a citizen-centered
manner.
Among various e-services provided by eGovernment, Government to the Disabled (G2D) has gained much
attention in recent years. Since 2003, Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC),
Executive Yu, based on the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0), has
launched a Web Accessibility Initiative Program to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web for
people with disabilities in Taiwan. In section two, we, as researchers of the Taiwan EGovernance Research
Center (http://www.teg.org.tw), review the development of web accessibility, and several essential
theoretical models, such as the eGovernment value chain model (Heeks, 2006), the information system
success model (DeLone and McLean, 2003) and e-SERVQUAL (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Malhotra,
2002). Based on the eGovernment value chain model and the information system success model, we
introduce our theoretical framework, which covers three aspects of eGovernment (quality, usage, and
impact) in section three. In section four, we use survey methodology to examine the framework and make
detailed assessments of performance of the G2D program. The concluding section discusses the key
contributions of our research to the eGovernance impact assessment literature.
2. Literature review
2.1 Web accessibility
Web accessibility means that individuals with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact
with the Web. It not only allows individuals with disabilities, regardless of the types of disabilities they have,
to use the Web in a manner that is equal to the use enjoyed by others, but also benefits others, including
older people with changing abilities due to aging (Jaeger, 2008). Indeed, web accessibility is of the utmost
importance in current network society.
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Pin-yu Chu et al.
In 1995, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium first published WCAG 1.0
based on needs of individuals with disabilities for accessing the Internet. In 2008, WAI further published
WCAG 2.0 to correspond with changing information applications and provided strategies, guidelines, and
resources to make the Web more accessible to people with disabilities (WAI, 2008). Lately, many countries
all over the world are also concerned about the issue of web accessibility. For example, the United States
passed the Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act to ensure Federal employees and members of the public
with disabilities have access to the Federal government's electronic and information technology. Similarly,
the United Kingdom passed the Disability Discrimination Act to ensure web accessibility for blind and
disabled users in 1995. In 2002, The Cabinet Office further established guidelines to ensure that UK
government websites are developed to serve the largest possible audience using the broadest range of
systems and that the needs of users with disabilities are considered (Cabinet Office, 2007). Australia
passed Disability Discrimination Act in 1992 to ensure the rights of people with disabilities in provision of
goods and services through websites (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2009).
With all the mentioned efforts, users with disabilities still often face many barriers to accessing the Internet.
Recently, researchers have addressed the complexities of accessibility and the reasons for continued
inaccessibility on eGovernment sites, such as a fundamental lack of understanding of the true meaning of
accessibility, requirements of law, web managers’ attitude, rapid improvement of technology, and lack of a
standardized approach (Jaeger, 2006a, 2006b; Curran, Walters, and Robinson, 2007). Jaeger (2006a)
argues that many researches did not sufficiently evaluate the depth and content of accessibility and
proposes a multi-method approach to studying the accessibility of eGovernment sites in a user-centric
context. The methods include a law and policy analysis of the standards of Section 508, user testing
involving persons with disabilities interacting with eGovernment websites, expert testing of eGovernment
websites, testing of eGovernment websites with automated testing software, and a survey of federal web
developers regarding their perceptions about accessibility. Jaeger and Matteson (2009) further employ
Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) to examine the policy-adoption behavior of government
agencies.
2.2 eGovernment value chain
Heeks (2006) advocates the significance of developing a comprehensive eGovernment assessment
framework and proposes the model of eGovernment value chain (EVC) to illustrate how an eGovernment
initiative turns inputs into impacts and outcomes (see Figure 1). The EVC model suggests that the process
of creating eGovernment value starts from the precursors such as telecommunications infrastructure and
legal environment, and inputs such as the required financial and political support for eGovernment
development. As a result, these precursors and government inputs, the so-called “readiness”, produce
quality governmental web channels or systems and enable eGovernment adoption by both external and
internal customers. Finally, these adoptions result in the desired outputs and outcomes (Heeks, 2006).
Precursors
Data systems
Legal
Institutional
Human
Technological
Leadership
Drivers/Demand
Inputs
Money
Labor
Technology
Political
support
Strategy Targets Development
READINESS
Intermediates
Web channels
Other e-channels
Back office
systems
AVAILABILITY
Adoption
UPTAKE
Outputs
Information &
Decisions
Actions &
Service
Transactions
Exogenous Factors
Figure 1: eGovernment value chain (source: Heeks, 2006 (p.14))
Early studies (Wassenaar, 2000; Jassen, Rotthier, and Snijkers, 2004; Heintzman and Marson, 2005;
Holden and Fletcher 2005; Wauters, 2006; Millard, 2008) apply EVC to understand factors affecting
159
Use
Impacts
Financial
benefits
Non-financia
l benefits
IMPACT
Outcomes
Public goals
(e.g.MDGs)

Pin-yu Chu et al.
eGovernment adoption. Some eGovernment benchmarking studies, such as the eGovernment website
evaluation conducted by the United Nations (UN, 2001, 2003, 2008), mainly focused on system evaluation.
These eGovernment studies, unfortunately, ignore the EVC downstream elements, e.g. impacts and
outcomes (Huang and Lee, 2010). This limited focus is not only problematic but also makes it difficult to
address the questions of whether eGovernment produces the desired value and how it does so. Until
recently, researchers in various fields such as economics, information management, and public
administration have addressed the importance of impact assessment of eGovernment (Chu and Huang,
2010; Hsiao, Lee, and Chu, 2011; Verdegem and Verleye, 2009).
2.3 Information system success model
Based on thorough literature review and significant empirical efforts, DeLone and McLean (1992, 2003)
develop a widely accepted information system success model, the so-called D & M Information Success
Model (see Figure 2). In the model, information quality, systems quality, and service quality are the main
factors affecting a user’s willingness to use a system, their satisfaction with its use, and its level of impact.
More than 300 articles have referred to or made use of the D & M model. Wang and Liao (2008) provide the
first empirical test of the D & M model in the context of eGovernment. They find that most hypothesized
relationships in the D & M model are significantly supported except the link from system quality to use.
Information
Quality
System Quality
Service Quality
Figure 2: DeLone and McLean’s updated IS success model (source: DeLone and McLean (2003))
Besides the EVC model and the D & M model, various theoretical models and instruments, such as
e-SERVQUAL (Zeithaml et al., 2002), WEBQUAL/eQual (Lociacono, Watson, and Goodhue, 2002), and
eTailQ (Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003) that originated from the service sector, have been employed to
examine service quality in eGovernment services. For example, Barnes and Vidgen (2003) use WebQual,
with dimensions including usability, information quality and service interaction, to assess the quality of a
specific cross-national website provided via the OECD. Connolly, Bannister and Kearney (2010) apply
e-SERVQUAL to analyze user perceptions of the quality of the Irish revenue online service.
3. eGovernment impact assessment framework
We examine the impact assessment of G2D programs in the context of an integrated model. The model
incorporates a wide variety of important factors from previous research into a single theoretical framework
provided by the EVC model and the D & M Model. The framework proposes to divide the eGovernment
impact assessment into three related causal parts: quality, adoption, and impact (see Figure 3). Since the
aim of the Web Accessibility Initiative program is to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web for
people with disabilities in Taiwan, the impact assessment includes not only program quality, program
adoption, and program impact but also web quality and web adoption. We define each of these constructs
and develop the theoretical rationale for the causal relationship in this framework as follows (see Figure 3)
3.1 Quality dimension – program and web
Intention to
use Use
User Satisfaction
Net Benefits
Quality covers two parts: quality of the G2D program and quality of government websites. For the program
quality, we evaluate scope, marketing strategy, social acceptance, and goals of the G2D program
perceived by individuals with disabilities. For the web quality, we evaluate system quality, information
160

Pin-yu Chu et al.
quality, and service quality of government websites visited by individuals with disabilities. System quality
refers to usability (Holzer and Kim, 2007) and linkage between websites; information quality refers to
reliability, completeness, and accuracy features of the web information; and service quality refers to
problem-solving and privacy protection level of the websites.
Program quality
1. Program scope
2. Social acceptance
3. Program goals
Program adoption
1. Awareness
2. Support for the program
Web quality Web adoption
(D & M Model)
1. System quality
2. Information quality
3. Service quality
Usage experience of
government websites
Program impact
1. Costs
2. Benefits
3. Attitudes
Figure 3: Conceptualization of the eGovernance impact framework (source: this study)
3.2 Adoption dimension – program and web
Similarly, adoption covers two parts: adoption of the G2D program and adoption of government websites.
For the program adoption, we evaluate awareness and support for the G2D program from individuals with
disabilities. Web adoption refers usage experience of government websites.
3.3 Impact dimension
The impact construct encompasses costs, benefits, and attitudes of the users. For individuals with
disabilities, the first impact of the G2D program can be in the form of time and money saved by finding
information online and using accessible public web services (OECD, 2005). The second type of impact
relates to attitude, which includes user satisfaction and trust in government (Hsiao et al., 2011; Welch et
al., 2005).
4. Method
4.1 Data collection
In 2010 with the assistance of the RDEC, we conduct an online survey and made detailed impact
assessments of the particular G2D program. Based on the preceding theoretical framework, this section
details the subsequent constructs and questionnaire items and the survey settings to collect the empirical
data from individuals with disabilities.
The main foci of the questionnaire are project impacts (including cost savings, benefits, and satisfaction),
program quality (including scope, marketing strategy, and social inclusion), web accessibility quality
(including system quality, information quality, and service quality), user satisfaction, and public trust. As the
nature of web accessibility for blind people is quite different from that for regular people, quality
measurement scales in eGovernment literature have been modified significantly. We also collect
demographics and characteristics (information technology literacy, government website experience,
willingness to reuse government websites, etc.) of the users with disabilities through the questionnaire.
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Pin-yu Chu et al.
The questionnaire was reviewed by a committee (a team of government officials and experts from various
domains like public administration, public management, and information management) and pretest on
several people with disabilities to ensure its content validity and verify the clarity of the questions.
According to their comments, the terminology in various sections was improved, and greater clarification of
why individuals with disabilities are surveyed is made. Finally, the online questionnaire was designed to
comply with WCAG 2.0.
5,895 members of three major non-profit organizations for the blind, i.e., Tamkang Resource Center for
Blind Students, Taiwan Foundation for the Blind, and Taiwan Digital Talking Books Association, were
invited to complete the online questionnaire between August 2nd and August 31st; 563 of them finished
the questionnaire, with 504 providing valid responses. The average reliability measure in terms of
Cronbach’s alpha is 0.67.
4.2 The results for the program quality and adoption
Of the respondents, 53% are male. 60.3 % are fully blind, and 20.2% are mild low vision. The survey
findings show that 74.8% of the respondents have used computers for over 6 years, and 64.1% of them
have used the Internet for over 6 years. Almost half of them spend 1 to 5 hours surfing the Internet, and
82% of them spend over 4 days a week on the Internet (see Table 1). The results imply that our
respondents are experienced in using computers and surf the Internet frequently in their daily lives.
Table 1: Characteristics and demographics of the respondents (n = 504)
Gender
Degree of visual
impairment
Experience of using
computers
Experience of surfing
internets
Days spent on the Internet
per week
Hours spent on the
Internet per day
Male Female
267
(53%)
Mild low
vision
102
(20.2%)
237
(47%)
Moderate low
vision
88
(17.5%)
Severe vision
impairments
314
(60.3%)
1-5 years 6-10 years 11-15 years
127
(25.2%)
204
(40.5%)
125
(24.8%)
1-5 years 6-10 years 11-15 years
181
(35.9%)
Less than 1
day
21
(4.2%)
222
(44%)
81
(16.1%)
16-20
years
48
(9.5%)
16-20
years
20
(4%)
2-3 days 4-5 days 6-7 days
70
(13.9%)
92
(18.3%)
321
(63.7%)
1-5 hours 6-10 hours 11-15 hours 16-20
hours
253
(50.2%)
156
(31%)
162
56
(11.1%)
16
(3.2%)
More than 20
hours
14
(2.8%)

Pin-yu Chu et al.
4.3 The results for the program quality and adoption
Table 2 summarizes the program quality and adoption perceived by our respondents. With all the efforts
made by the RDEC, only 58.1% respondents are aware of the program, and those who have surfed
government websites learn more about it. Not surprisingly, over 50% respondents are not really satisfied
with the limited program scope and promotion strategies. Even though the rate of program awareness and
satisfaction is not so high, more than 70% respondents are still willing to use government websites due to
the accessibility improvement and 93.9% respondents think the government should continue promoting
the web accessibility program.
Table 2: The survey results of the program quality and adoption (n = 504)
Yes No
Aware of the program 293 211
(58.1%) (41.9%)
Very
negative
Program scope
Completeness of accessible web 65
(12.9%)
Promotion of accessible web 147
(29.2%)
Social acceptance
Willingness to surf the Internet 8
(1.6%)
Negative Neutral Positive Very
positive
196
(38.9%)
186
(36.9%)
23
(4.6%)
Continuous promotion 0 7
(1.4%)
Program goals
Time saved on searching government information 11
(2.2%)
Trust in government 4
(0.8%)
4.4 The results for the web quality and adoption
20
(4%)
38
(7.5%)
153
(30.4%)
124
(24.6%)
103
(20.4%)
22
(4.4%)
138
(27.4%)
217
(43.1%)
51
(10.1%)
28
(5.6%)
186
(36.9%)
133
(26.4%)
191
(37.9%)
164
(32.5%)
13
(2.6%)
9
(1.8%)
174
(34.5%)
340
(67.5%)
125
(24.8%)
67
(13.3%)
Don’t
know
26
(5.2%)
10
(2%)
10
(2%)
2
(0.4%)
19
(3.8%)
14
(2.8%)
More than 70% of them think government websites are easy to use and government online information is
easy to understand. Overall, our respondents largely approve of the system and information quality of
government websites since both measures receive less than 18% negative evaluation. Service quality,
however, demonstrates much room for improvement (see Table 3).
Web adoption refers our respondents’ usage experience of government websites. The results show that
nearly 60% of government websites provide accessibility features of link purpose, bypass block, sitemap,
and page titled. However, features of access key and alt design demonstrate room for much improvement
(see Table 4).
Table 3: The survey results of the web quality (n = 504)
Usability of the government website
Very
negative
Negative Neutral Positive
System Quality
11
(2.2%)
70
(13.9%)
Successful linkage between websites 10 78
(2%) (15.5%)
Information Quality
163
221
(43.8%)
188
(37.3%)
158
(31.3%)
168
(33.3%)
Very
positive
29
(5.8%)
43
(8.5%)
Don’t
know
15
(3%)
17
(3.4%)

Readability of the government website
Understandability of the government website
Completeness of the government website
Problem-solving level in general
Effectiveness of privacy protection
Pin-yu Chu et al.
5
(1%)
Very
negative
9
(1.8%)
9
(1.8%)
Service Quality
20
(4%)
25
(5%)
83
(16.5%)
223
(44.2%)
150
(29.8%)
Negative Neutral Positive
52
(10.3%)
52
(10.3%)
104
(20.6%)
102
(20.2%)
211
(41.9%)
201
(39.9%)
205
(40.7%)
177
(35.1%)
186
(36.9%)
199
(39.5%)
141
(28%)
141
(28%)
Table 4: Accessibility features of government websites perceived by respondents (n= 504)
31
(6.2%)
Very
positive
35
(6.9%)
31
(6.2%)
21
(4.2%)
34
(6.7%)
Yes No Don’t know
Link purpose 278 (55.2%) 122 (24.2%) 104 (20.6%)
Access key 179 (35.5%) 215 (42.7%) 110 (21.8%)
Bypass block 320 (63.5%) 91 (18.1%) 93 (18.5%)
Sitemap 289 (57.3%) 135 (26.8%) 80 (15.9%)
Non-text content 166 (32.9%) 257 (51%) 81 (16.1%)
Page titled 328 (65.1%) 119 (23.6%) 57 (11.3%)
4.5 The results for the impact dimension
12
(2.4%)
Don’t
know
11
(2.2%)
12
(2.4%)
13
(2.6%)
The main purpose the government promotes web accessibility is to satisfy the needs of people with
disabilities, as well as earning positive perception from the general public. The impact measures
summarized in Table 5 indicate positive responses from the respondents regarding their experience using
the government webs. In the cost reduction dimension, though nearly 35% respondents think they need
better computer hardware and software and 30% of them agree that the government should try to reduce
their costs, 71.4% respondents are still more willing to use government websites due to the accessibility
improvement. Most measures of time and effort saving benefits earn more than 60% positive perceptions
from the respondents. For example, over 60% of the respondents reveal that they are able to access most
public services online and complete their tasks without any assistance from others. Web accessibility even
makes purchasing railway tickets online easy. However, over 30% of them still think search time efficiency
for government websites needs to be further improved.
As for the attitude toward the program, more than 90% of the respondents will continue using the online
public services, and encourage the government to make efforts to promote the program. As for the future
direction of the program, 80% of the respondents think that an official accreditation mechanism and
organization is necessary. Also, inviting people with disabilities to get involved in the accreditation process
will also be very helpful.
We further compare the perceived impact of the G2D program on our respondents with different vision
disabilities. Regarding trust in government and satisfaction with the particular program, there is no
164
25
(5%)

Pin-yu Chu et al.
significant difference between people with mild and moderate low vision and people with severe vision
impairments (see Table 6).
Table 5: The survey results for the impact dimension
Need of better computer hardware (n = 504)
Willingness to use government websites (n = 504)
Be able to access most public services online. (n =
504)
Be able to access most public services without
assistance from others (n = 504)
Convenience of purchasing Taiwan Railway ticket (n
= 234)
Make continuous efforts to promote the program (n
= 504)
Willingness to continual usage (n = 504)
Improving information literacy (n = 504)
Institutionalization of web accessibility (n = 504)
Building license system for web accessibility
inspector (n = 504)
Very
negative
Cost reduction
14
(2.8%)
8
(1.6%)
Negative Neutral Positive
84
(16.7%)
23
(4.6%)
Time and effort saving benefits
15
(3%)
18
(3.6%)
5
(2.1%)
56
(11.1%)
61
(12.1%)
19
(8%)
Attitude toward the G2D program
0
(0%)
2
(0.4%)
1
(0.2%)
1
(0.2%)
2
(0.4%)
7
(1.4%)
2
(0.4%)
3
(0.6%)
5
(1%)
13
(2.6%)
201
(39.9%)
103
(20.4%)
103
(20.4%)
106
(21%)
48
(20.3%)
22
(4.4%)
37
(7.3%)
33
(6.5%)
39
(7.7%)
62
(12.3%)
124
(24.6%)
186
(36.9%)
167
(33.1%)
170
(33.7%)
85
(35.9%)
133
(26.4%)
200
(39.7%)
132
(26.2%)
148
(29.4%)
156
(31%)
Very
positive
52
(10.3%)
174
(34.5%)
153
(30.4%)
139
(27.6%)
66
(27.8%)
340
(67.5%)
251
(49.8%)
332
(65.9%)
303
(60.1%)
247
(49%)
Table 6: The impact comparison among people with different vision disabilities
Negative Neutral Positive Don’t
know
T test
Trust in government
People with mild and moderate low 11 98 75 6
χ
vision
(69.5%) (22.6%) (4.7%) (3.2%)
People with severe vision 31 119 156 8
impairments
(72.6%) (19.1%) (7%) (1.3%)
2 = 10.364 (df=3) ,
p-value=0.016

Pin-yu Chu et al.
theoretical underpinning on the impact assessment of eGovernment programs. We propose a conceptual
model to examine elements of web accessibility and the associations between program/web quality and
program impacts with empirical evidence. We use survey methodology to examine this framework and
make detailed assessments of performance of the Web Accessibility Initiative Program in Taiwan.
Generally speaking, most respondents regard the program is in the interest of them, but there is still
something left to be desired. In the short term, this research suggests the government should create
incentives for compliance with the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. The government can promote the program
through policy advocacy and marketing and let more potential users understand the policy and use public
online services so to enlarge the advantage of the policy. For providing more incentives for government
agencies, the government is suggested to add the Guidelines as criteria for financial subsidies and
program evaluation for proactive compliance. The government can award enterprises with high
performance on web accessibility and subsidize non-profit organizations to enhance their ability to provide
Accessible Web.
At the same time, the government should communicate closely with the demand side. The government is
suggested to conduct more surveys and forums to understand the needs of the disabled so that the design
of the websites can really meet their needs. We also suggest that the responsible agencies should provide
professional trainings for both webmaster and users to strengthen their ability for operating and accessing
websites.
In the mid-future, the government is suggested to build an accreditation mechanism to certify webs with
accessibility. Because the criteria of Accessible Web are stricter than general website, we suggest that only
organizations with official accreditation are eligible for inspecting the web pages and certain ratio of the
inspectors should be the blind. The inspecting organization should establish formal complain channel and
clear punishment rules. Furthermore, if the government develops a barrier-free cross-boundary
eGovernance mechanism, the program would be greatly strengthened. To be more specific, the
government should proactively check whether governments’ website meet the disabled’s need, especially
for those websites closely related to citizens’ lives such as public transportation and public banks. The
governments should further offer one-stop web page and integrate back-office services to enhance policy
satisfaction.
In the long term, the governments should continue public communication and build a cross-sector
eGovernance system. The government should let the public understand that Accessible Web is not only
built for the disabled. Its design concept can also create advantage for the elders and the younger
generation. Therefore, the government should start education and building a friendly environment to
deepen the spirit of Accessible Web. The mentioned tasks not only pertain to technology provision and
customization, but also need the cross-sector cooperation among government, private organizations, and
the third sectors. The ultimate end is to make the Accessible Web concept realized in citizens’ lives.
Despite all the care given to this study, there are several limitations that should be noted and addressed in
any future research. First of all, the changes in perception and user behavior over any significant period of
time, with regard to the promotion of the G2D program, have not been investigated in this research. It is
therefore recommended that further research should be undertaken to examine whether, with increasing
experience over time, there is any change in satisfaction and usage of public online services. Secondly,
this paper only covers the program impact on people with eyesight problem. Further investigation on
people with various disabilities should be carried to identify the key factors affecting the success of the
web accessibility program in general.
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167

Predictive Analytics in the Public Sector: Using Data Mining
to Assist Better Target Selection for Audit
Duncan Cleary
Revenue Irish Tax and Customs, Ireland
dcleary@revenenue.ie
Abstract: Revenue, the Irish Tax and Customs Authority, has been developing the use of data mining techniques as
part of a process of putting analytics at the core of its business processes. Recent data mining projects, which have
been piloted successfully, have developed predictive models to assist in the better targeting of taxpayers for possible
non-compliance/ tax evasion, and liquidation. The models aim, for example, to predict the likelihood of a case
yielding in the event of an intervention, such as an audit. Evaluation cases have been worked in the field and the hit
rate was approximately 75%. In addition, all audits completed by Revenue in the year after the models had been
created were assessed using the model probability to yield score, and a significant correlation exists between the
expected and actual outcome of the audits. The models are now being developed further, and are in full production in
2011. Critical factors for model success include rigorous statistical analyses, good data quality, software, teamwork,
timing, resources and consistent case profiling/ treatments. The models are developed using SAS Enterprise Miner
and SAS Enterprise Guide. This work is a good example of the applicability of tools developed for one purpose (e.g.
Credit Scoring for Banking and Insurance) having multiple other potential applications. This paper shows how the
application of advanced analytics can add value to the work of Tax and Customs authorities, by leveraging existing
data in a robust and flexible way to reduce costs by better targeting cases for interventions. Analytics can thus
greatly support the business to make better-informed decisions.
Keywords: tax; predictive analytics; data mining; public sector; Ireland
1. Introduction: Revenue and Ireland
The Irish Revenue Commissioners were established by statute in 1923. Their mission is to serve the
community by fairly and efficiently collecting taxes and duties and implementing Customs controls. In
broad terms Revenue’s work includes:
Assessing, collecting and managing taxes and duties that account for over 93% of Exchequer
revenue;
Administering the Customs regime for the control of imports and exports and collection of duties and
levies on behalf of the EU;
Working in co-operation with other state agencies in the fight against drugs and in other cross
departmental initiatives;
Carrying out agency work for other departments;
Collection of PRSI (Pay Related Social Insurance) for the Department of Social Protection;
Provision of policy advice on taxation issues.
Net total receipts in 2009 were EUR 33bn. In 2010 receipts were ~ EUR 31.5bn.
Increasingly, Revenue is applying advanced analytics in its business processes. One of these initiatives
is applying predictive analytical techniques to assist in better case selection for audit. This paper
describes this approach as applied recently by Revenue.
2. Revenue’s research and analytics branch
Revenue's Research and Analytics Branch conducts program-wide and macro-level research at a
corporate level. The branch conducts analyses to transform data into information often using SAS
analytical software. The branch’s work in Revenue includes large sample surveys, data mining
(population profiling/ customer segmentation, pattern recognition, forecasting, predictive modelling) data
quality exercises, experimental design for evidence based decision support, economic research and risk
analysis. The branch uses both Revenue data and data from other sources. This work enables Revenue
to make better use of its data and provides an improved understanding of the taxpayer population. The
results are used to better target services to customers and to improve compliance.
This paper focuses on a number of recent uses of predictive analytics in Revenue.
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2.1 Business context
Duncan Cleary
Revenue has a dual focus on its taxpayers. The first is on customer service, and the second is on
compliance. RAB have conducted a number of exercises using analytics with a customer service focus
(Refs). This paper will focus the use of analytics from a compliance perspective, with the following
targets:
Likelihood to yield if audited
Likely amount of yield if audited
Likelihood to liquidate (business failure)
The aim of using analytics in Revenue is to show how analytics can assist the development of effective
business strategies for Revenue, therefore optimising the use of Revenue resources. Analytics can
demonstrably reduce costs, increase yields, and improve Revenue’s service to taxpayers.
3. Why use predictive analytics for target selection?
Increasingly analytics are being used in companies and entities that are seeking means of making
smarter decisions and getting better results by utilising their data assets, advances in computational
power and software and a new emerging class of analysts who can extract the knowledge from the vast
amounts of data and information currently available. Thought leaders in this area are offering sound
guidance to those who wish to improve how they go about their business and achieve their goals.
Revenue is pursuing the use of analytics as it recognises the value that can be gained by such an
approach. The reader is referred to a number of recent publications for a more detailed exposition of why
using analytics is making increasing sense in both private and public sector (Davenport & Harris, 2007;
Davis et. al, 2006; Miller et. al, 2006; Davenport & Harris, 2010).
3.1 Data and variables: Data integration
The primary source of data for the predictive models is Revenue’s sophisticated risk analysis programme,
REAP (Risk Evaluation Analysis and Profiling), which electronically screens taxpayers’ data covering
several years. It uses ~300 business rules to quantify risk for approx. 800,000 taxpayer entities, and a
risk run is created at least three times annually. Predictive analytics can be used to extend from the
quantification of risk in a case, to predicting, for example, likelihood of yield, if a case were to be audited,
and the potential amount of yield, or likelihood to liquidate. The inputs for predictive models were
therefore the outputs from the REAP system.
As with any Data Mining exercise, there is considerable effort required at the data integration stage,
before modelling proper can begin. A process of ETL (Extraction, Transfer and Load) must be conducted,
and RAB use SAS DI Studio (DI = Data Integration). The purpose of using this DI tool is to establish a
process that would be scalable and semi automatic. Data from the REAP system and other sources in
Revenue’s Data Warehouse Environment are sourced and processed. Inherent in any data mining
exercise is a review of data quality, which is not a trivial matter, and needs care and attention. The REAP
system data is an opportunistic source of data, i.e. it is not designed specifically for predictive analytics.
However, it is good quality in its format and completeness, which offers a solid platform for analysis. It is
also readily available. Extensive work was required to understand the business context, the logic of the
rules in REAP, and the underlying data that leads to those rules firing. A number of summarisations of the
REAP system are produced for use in modelling, these included a table with the frequency of the rules
fired in each case, and a binary indicator for rules firing/ not firing. In instances where data entailed many
rows per entity, transpositions were performed, to create a flat file with one row per entity. Variables from
the REAP system that summarise certain classes of rules, such as monetary risk and behaviour, are also
assessed and incorporated for analysis. A target variable must be created for the training data (e.g.
cases that had been audited in the previous two years). The target can be set as a binary target, e.g.
where any yield over EUR 2,500= ‘1’, and yield < EUR 2500 = ‘0’. The reason why the target should be
set at EUR 2,500 is to avoid modelling for cases where the yield will be below the cost of a typical audit. If
the target is the monetary amount of yield, this can be the second stage of a two stage model with the
binary yield/ no yield as the first stage. In the case of liquidations, a database of known liquidations is
used to train the model, using the profiles of the cases in REAP before the case liquidated. Additional
data can include variables such as geography and economic sector.
This data integration process results in an ABT (Analytics Base Table) of one row per taxpayer with all of
the attributes of interest as variables included for each taxpayer. These ABTs form the core inputs into
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the models. There will be a sub set where the target variable is populated (i.e. the data to be used to
create the model). The bulk of the ABT will describe the population, which will be scored once the model
is constructed. It should be noted that a lengthy exploratory analysis phase at univariate, bivariate and
multivariate levels should be factored in and conducted with the raw input data and the final ABT. These
univariate and bivariate analyses are performed by RAB in SAS Enterprise Guide (Ver. 4.3). Many
variables are transformed to allow for better modelling, for example, to improve normality assumptions for
continuous variables, or to optimally bin variables to better predict the target variable. ‘Unsupervised’
techniques (i.e. analyses without a target) are also conducted on the data, to further understand the data
before predictive models are attempted. These unsupervised techniques can typically include cluster
analysis and association analysis. If time allows, a full segmentation of the ABT can prove fruitful prior to
modelling.
4. Data mining methodology
A predictive model by its nature has a target or interest. It can therefore be described as a ‘Supervised’
technique. Cases that have been audited (and been concluded), or cases that have gone into liquidation
in the past can be used to train models. A predictive model produces a probability score for current and
future cases of the likelihood of some outcome of interest occurring. This score can be deployed and
used for decision support, e.g. case selection for audit. If the target is binary, both positive and negative
outcomes need to be available to create a model to score unknown cases. If the target is numeric, e.g.
monetary, a good range of values can be helpful.
RAB use SAS Enterprise Miner as their tool of choice for producing predictive models. Essentially the
modelling process can be summarised as SEMMA: Sample, Explore, Modify, Model, & Assess. This
process has been developed by SAS and it forms a solid framework for analysis. Scoring the full
population completes the process. As cases are worked/ events happen, these can be used to improve
the model. It is a very iterative process, with backwards and forwards movement within the SEMMA
steps. Figure 1 illustrates a typical process flow.
Figure 1: Screen grab of SAS E Miner project, showing a SEMMA process flow
4.1 Sample
The ABT having been created, this essentially reflects a snapshot of the population of interest. Revenue
is in the relatively luxurious position of not needing to worry about sampling as others may have to, who
do not have access to full population data. However, training cases, or cases with a known outcome of
interest, e.g. audit result, are often a biased sample. There are a number of ways of addressing this bias.
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One is to utilise a method known as ‘Reject Inference’. This is a common method used in Banking and
Insurance, wherein cases that have been accepted, for example for a loan, form a biased sample for
modelling. Reject Inference assigns an imputed outcome to cases (based on their profile) that never had
a loan, so that they can be used in further modelling. This method has been used successfully by
Revenue in instances where audit cases, which form an analogous biased training dataset, can be
augmented by cases as yet not audited.
Another means of addressing bias is to conduct random sample exercises, and record the outcome of
interest for the random cases. This has two advantages. Firstly, it gives an approximation of the true
proportions of, for example, a binary target’s two levels in the population, which may be very different to
the proportions in biased training data. These proportions can be used to adjust any model using biased
training data by telling SAS E. Miner in the Decisions Processing function the approximation for the true
population proportions. Secondly, a random sample may surface factors that lead to an outcome of
interest, that are not typically used in case selection, thus giving a better picture of the overall population,
for example the full range of taxpayer risk types. Revenue has therefore used data from its Random Audit
program as inputs to training predictive models.
Over-sampling can be used when modelling rare events, such as liquidations. This is a process whereby
when the target is binary (0,1), for example, a 100% representation of the ‘1’s is included in the sample,
and a complimentary random sample of ‘0’s is selected from the population, often as a similar proportion.
Thus one may have 50:50 proportioned ‘1’s and ‘0’s in the training data, even though the proportion of
‘1’s in the population is very low, e.g. less than 1%. The purpose of this exercise is to avoid creating a
model that is very accurate, but that classifies every case as a ‘0’.
Data partition also occurs at the sampling stage. This is where the training data is divided randomly into
two or three groups. These groups are used for different aspects of the modelling process. In SAS they
are labelled ‘Training’, ‘Validation’, and ‘Test’. The proportions of cases in each category can vary
according to the modeller’s preferences and the data available. A model will be created using the training
data, often judged by the validation data, and finally verified by the test data (which is not used in model
creation). One must maximise the data available for modelling, while allowing enough data for validation.
Typically proportions such as 60:20:20, 70:30:0 and 40:30:30 are used, depending on the model method
used and the amount of training data available.
4.2 Explore
A thorough statistical exploratory analysis must take place next, before modelling. Univariate, bivariate
and in some instances multivariate (perhaps ‘unsupervised’) analyses should be conducted. This can
surface any data quality issues, data distribution and content should be assessed, outliers identified etc.
The findings from this analysis may demand that the ABT be reconfigured, or that the raw data is
augmented, or that new derived variables be created. This process then leads to the next stage of data
modification.
4.3 Modify
Nearly always in predictive modelling, it is wise to perform some transformations of the data. Typically
this involves log (or other) transformations of highly skewed numeric variables, imputation of values
where they are missing in the data, binning of categorical variables to remove rare levels, ranking of
numeric data and creating a monotonic relationship between independent variables and the target
variable. This last method is typically achieved by RAB using SAS Credit Scoring ‘Interactive Grouping’
node, which allows manual adjustment of the bins in each variable to maintain their usefulness at
predicting the target, but to also ensure that they do so in a logical way.
4.4 Model
Once the process flow has been developed to a sufficient point, modelling can begin.
Several model methods are available in SAS E. Miner. Typically, a regression (for binary targets use
logistic regression), a decision tree, and a neural network are chosen to prepare models. Various
parameters can be set to suit the model requirements (see Sarma, 2007). For example, with logistic
regression, a logit stepwise regression can be specified. The ranges of the options that are available in
SAS E. Miner are beyond the scope of this paper, and the reader is referred to www.sas.com for details.
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Often, once models are produced, there is an iterative process involving returning to earlier steps in the
model process flow. Issues heretofore unseen can be highlighted in the model results, and the modeller
needs to adjust for problems like over-fitting. Typically many parameter changes will be made to
maximise the predictive performance of the models, by for example making changes that increase the lift
provided by the models, and by getting similar results for both training and validation data (i.e. making the
model more robust). It should be noted however, that tweaking model parameters rarely exceeds the
addition of new variables as a means of improving model performance.
Figure 2: Results screen from a neural network
The outputs from each model are examined and then their comparative performance is assessed.
Outputs from a neural network (Figure 2) and a decision tree (Figure 3) are shown as examples here.
Figure 3: Results screen from a decision tree
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4.5 Assessment
Duncan Cleary
Assessing models can be done in a number of ways. Three main methods are:
Within model process-flow assessment
Sample tests of cases ranked by a model
Back validation of model with subsequent events.
This section covers the first of these three; the next two are covered under the Results section below.
SAS E Miner offers an assessment node. There are many criteria for assessing the performance of a
model. As an example, here a logistic regression with a binary target will be used. Criteria such as
misclassification or average square error can be used, but often the most effective measure of the
success of a model is the ROC curve (Receiver Operating Characteristic). A ROC curve shows the
values of the true positive fraction and the false positive fraction at different cut-off values (Sarma, 2007).
The cut-off values can be set to maximise the number of true positives in a set of cases. A set of ROC
charts can be produced, that compares Training, Validation and Test data (see Figure 4), for all of the
models fed into the assessment node. Essentially, the model that looks most similar across the three
modelling data sets, and also has the maximum distance between the curve and the diagonal line (which
represents no predictive power, i.e. an equivalent to flipping a coin), is usually the best model to use for
scoring the full population/ new cases.
Figure 4: Results screen from a model comparison node
5. Results and evaluation
A number of successful models have been produced by RAB. Following within modelling process
validation, these have also been field tested and back validated with success.
Each model has been used to score the population of relevance. These scores have been assessed,
binned into deciles and demi-deciles, and have been used to rank the case base in descending order of
likelihood. Cut-offs have been set based on criteria such as misclassification rate and the amount of
cases that can be worked based on resources available.
For this paper the example results to be shown are for the Yield model, i.e. the Likelihood to yield if
audited model.
6. Yield prediction model
A successful pilot exercise testing a predictive model focused on yield was conducted in 2009/2010. The
pilot exercise resulted in a 3:1 hit rate for the cases provided for working. Both case specific reviews and
‘Back Validation’ against all closed audits suggested that the approach was robust. Following on from
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this, a new predictive model was created using similar Data Mining techniques (the pilot used Credit
Scoring, the subsequent model used a Neural Network model). The model uses data from the most
recent REAP Risk run available as inputs, and was trained with closed audits from prior years, as before.
As noted above, the purpose of the model is to identify cases, which have a similar profile to known
yielding audits, and to rank the likelihood of yield in the event of an audit of those cases. The full case
base receives a probability score, and for the purposes of this model a cut-off of 80% probability to yield
has been set. This cut-off, which in effect creates a binary Yes/No indicator for each case, has been
provided to auditors for case selection, through the REAP system. As such, each case selector and
worker can access some of the power of this predictive analytics model. Approximately 40,000 cases (5%
of case base) fired the rule. As with any model, feedback is critical for evaluation and model
improvement.
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0.95 - 1.00
0.85 - 0.90
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0.25 - 0.30
0.15 - 0.20
0.05 - 0.10
NonEvents
Events
Figure 5: Training cases, with yielding and non-yielding, by model probability score. X axis: Probability to
yield left to right, high to low, Y axis: Training cases, frequency, events= yielding cases, non
events = non yielding
At the 0.8 (80%) cut-off and above shown by the red line (i.e. to the left) in Figure 5, the majority of cases
were yielding in training data. Thus the focus was placed on cases scoring similarly to these cases in the
full risk run population.
An evaluation of the Predictive model using the latest REAP run was conducted in mid January 2011.
The method used was ‘Back Validation’ of the 2010 yield prediction model, with closed audits (i.e. known
results) from 2010. These audits were not used in the training of the model; hence the model can be
assessed on the basis of how well it predicted events unknown to it at the time of its creation. The results
were very positive, showing a strong relationship between predicted likelihood to yield and actual average
yield. Each point on the graph below represents approximately 475 cases (total of 9500 cases
represented in Figure 6). There is a strong positive correlation between realised yield and predicted audit
outcome, i.e. as the probability to yield increases so too does the average (median) yield. This suggests
that the model is robust and a good case selection tool. Cases from the uppermost probability deciles
have yield on average twice that of cases from the lowermost deciles (Figure 7).
7. Conclusions
The Yield model has since been rerun (late 2010 REAP run), with modifications based on feedback, and
incorporated in the nationally disseminated current REAP run in the form of an indicator rule for cases
where there is a high probability to yield. In effect, the model output is available to case selectors. This
qualifies the model as being in production. As cases are selected using this rule, results will be assessed
and incorporated into future models. In addition, a liquidation probability model has also been made
available by similar means, having been validated with events since model creation.
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Figure 6: Correlation between modelled likelihood to yield and actual audit yield, probability demi-deciles
and median yield per decile
Figure 7: Median yield per decile of model probability to yield
RAB is developing more models for the business (e.g. quantity of monetary yield, specific economic
sectors, regional models etc.). RAB continues to evaluate models through field-testing, in co-operation
with Revenue regions. RAB thus hopes to extract more value from the data and information Revenue
already has, and is increasingly making analytics more central to how Revenue performs its work.
References
Davenport, T.H. & Harris, J. 2007. Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning. Harvard Business School
Press.
Davenport, T.H. & Harris, J. 2010. Analytics at Work: Smarter Decisions, Better Results. Harvard Business Press.
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Davis, J., Miller, G.J. & Russell, A., 2006. Information Revolution: Using the Information Revolution Model to Grow
Your Business. Wiley.
Miller, G.J, Bräutigan, D. & Gerlach, S.V. 2006. Business Intelligence Competency Centres: A Team Approach to
Maximising Competitive Advantage. Wiley.
Sarma, Kattamuri S. 2007. Predictive Modelling with SAS Enterprise Miner: Practical Solutions for Business
Applications. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.
SAS E. Miner reference (accessed March 2011):
http://www.sas.com/technologies/analytics/datamining/miner/index.html
176

Citizen Participation in Urban Planning: Looking for the “E”
Dimension in the EU National Systems and Policies
Grazia Concilio 1 and Francesco Molinari 2
1 DiAP-Politecnico di Milano, Italy
2 PARTERRE Project, Italy
grazia.concilio@polimi.it
mail@francescomolinari.it
Abstract: This paper maps the EU27 national urban planning systems according to the provisions for citizens
involvement at various stages of the decision making process. It also analyzes the scope and potential for ICT
implementation in support to public participation as framed within the existing EU and Member State legislative and
regulatory framework. To this end, it briefly overviews a variety of recently established methods and tools in a
number of European countries. The common traits and the current gaps of a prospective European Union-wide (EU),
Electronic (E), participatory governance model in the domain of spatial planning are introduced and assessed.
Keywords: eParticipation, spatial planning, territorial development, strategic environmental assessment,
participatory governance
1. Background
Empowering citizens and businesses through ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) for an
increased access to public information and stronger involvement in the policy process is one of the four
political priorities of the Malmö Declaration on eGovernment [2009] and the resulting Action Plan
[European Commission, 2010b]. The latter borrows from the Digital Agenda for Europe [European
Commission, 2010] in underlying the capacity of people to have their voice heard and make decisive
suggestions for policy actions as connatural to a new, extended concept of “digital citizenship” in modern
Knowledge and Information Society.
Traditionally, the spatial planning domain has been one of the earliest where the concept itself of public
participation – and its opposites, see [Arnstein, 1969] – was rooted. Thus, it would be (and partly is) quite
normal to find fertile ground here for ICT supported participation (eParticipation) as well. Yet the
European scenario, not to speak of the international one [Yeh et al., 2010], is far more complex, and
available evidence less clear-cut. Not only do we record a plethora of one-off experiments, some of which
quite innovative under a purely technical viewpoint (as it is the case, by the way, for the whole electronic
participatory governance model), but mostly unrelated to the underlying normative process and possibly
unaware of each other’s achievements. Also, the majority of these experiences does not seem to grasp
the full potential of ICT for improved transparency and better community engagement in any particular
way.
Does this have to do with the distribution of planning competences across public sector authorities in the
various Member States? As it is well known [Nadin and Stead, 2008], spatial planning remains one of the
very few policy domains in Europe where “diversity” and “self-government” are still more pronounced with
respect to the usual strive for “harmonisation” and “coordination” deriving from the political centre – i.e.
the Union’s institutions. However, there are some good examples of substantial improvement, even in
that very respect: just think of the EU Territorial Agenda [Expert Document, 2003; COPTA, 2008] and the
revised Cohesion Policy [European Commission, 2008], or the adoption of the Aarhus [2003/35/EC] and
of the SEA - Strategic Environmental Assessment - [2001/42/EC] Directives, both of which have had
substantial impact on enforcing, enlarging and systematising the available spaces for stakeholder
integration into the design and implementation phases of key plans, programmes and projects for any
urban and rural community in Europe.
This paper aims to shed light on the current situation of participatory planning (whether technology
assisted or not) in the EU27 Member States, assuming a particular, normative perspective: the one of
identifying, and possibly nurturing, the possibility of introducing ICT solutions and tools as a stable
component, not an optional alternative, of the policy making process. This is what has been called
elsewhere [Molinari, 2010] a “sustainable approach” to eParticipation.
The structure of the paper is as follows: Section 2 examines the provisions for public participation
deriving from the Community initiative in the domains of SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) and
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ESDP (European Spatial Development Perspective), as well as their historical antecedents. It also maps
the situation at EU27 Member State level as far as the transposition of the ESDP and the participatory
urban planning legislation and practice are concerned. Section 3 discusses the results and Section 4
draws some conclusions and recommendations for future work.
2. European state of the art
In 1983, the Council of Europe’s Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT)
adopted the European Regional Spatial Planning Charter (so-called “Torremolinos Charter”). The Charter
[http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/cemat/versioncharte/Charte_bil.pdf] defined the scope
of spatial planning and identified its key objectives and activities, including:
Coordination between different policy sectors,
Coordination and cooperation between the various levels of decision-making, and
The promotion of public participation.
A “participation principle” was stated as follows: “Any regional/spatial planning policy, at whatever level,
must be based on active citizen participation. It is essential that the citizen be informed clearly and in a
comprehensive way at all stages of the planning process and in the framework of institutional structures
and procedures”. Clearly, there was a gap between this broad statement of principle (the promotion of
“active” participation) and the resulting enforcement of citizen’s right to “clear and comprehensive”
information, which is only preliminary to effective involvement in decision making.
Later in 1992, the Agenda 21 Action Plan, adopted by 178 Governments at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), devoted a whole chapter (#10) to the public’s
participation in the planning and management of land resources. Here the “participation principle” was
reformulated as per the following paragraphs:
5.(d) “Create mechanisms to facilitate the active involvement and participation of all
concerned, particularly communities and people at the local level, in decision-making on
land use and management, by not later than 1996”.
11.(c) “Provide the appropriate technical information necessary for informed decision-making
on land use and management in an accessible form to all sectors of the population,
especially to local communities and women”.
10. “Governments … should establish innovative procedures, programmes, projects and
services that facilitate and encourage the active participation of those affected in the
decision-making and implementation process, especially of groups that have, hitherto, often
been excluded, such as women, youth, indigenous people and their communities and other
local communities”.
Basically the first two paragraphs are simply rephrasing the Torremolinos Charter, so the third one
represent the most important advance – although it shares with the former statements a generic
reference to the nature of these “innovative procedures, programmes, projects and services” that are
required to “facilitate and encourage” participation.
In fact, a wide number of participatory approaches have been implemented to define the specific contents
of Agenda 21 at local level worldwide. In retrospect, the role of ICT has been supportive, but apparently
not decisive in making the difference with more “traditional” community involvement and evaluation
processes [Lombardi et al. 2010].
Another European-level instrument to coordinate spatial planning and public participation in policymaking
is the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which was introduced by the Directive
2001/42/EC of 27 June 2001 – hereinafter the 'SEA Directive'. The SEA is a “systematic process for
evaluating the environmental consequences of proposed policy, plan or programme initiatives, in order to
ensure they are fully included and appropriately addressed at the earliest appropriate stage of decisionmaking,
on par with economic and social considerations” [Sadler and Verheem 1996]. In particular,
Article 6 requires the introduction of public consultations of the citizens and environmental authorities,
which reflect (and in some cases overlap to) the publicity and participation provisions of spatial planning
regulations at Member State level.
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By 2009, all EU27 Member States had transposed the SEA Directive. Recently, the Environment
Directorate-General of the European Commission undertook a study to check the conformity of this
transposition [http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eia/pdf/study0309.pdf], reaching the following results:
A majority of Member States highlighted the contribution of the SEA Directive to an improved
organisation and structure of the whole planning procedure;
In terms of duration of the public consultation, only a few Member States have set fixed time frames.
Most allow for consultations of at least one month, while others decide on a case-by-case basis.
Generally speaking, the requirement of consulting with other competent authorities and the public
have led to increased transparency in the planning and programming procedures;
Experience also shows that public consultation, especially when organised at an early stage of
planning and when understood as a process, contributes to a higher acceptance of the new plan or
programme, and therefore to an early identification and resolution of conflicts.
Since the SEA Directive does not provide detailed specifications about the procedures for public
consultation, a wide range of methods are actually used: public announcements, publication in official
journals or the press, public meetings, internet surveys and questionnaires. To a certain extent, the
transposition process of Directive 2003/35/EC, providing for public participation in respect of the
preparation, modification and review of plans and programmes relating to the environment – hereinafter
the ‘Aarhus Directive' – has contributed to defining the above scenario in the following manner:
Article 2 of the Directive had the effect of firmly establishing the right of the public to participate in the
decision making process on plans and programmes uniformly in the environmental legislation of
Member States, following the provisions of Article 7 of the Aarhus Convention signed on 25 th June
1998;
In particular, the new principle has been introduced that the public must be informed, “whether by
public notices or other appropriate means such as electronic media where available”, about any
proposals for such new plan or programme, “including inter alia information about the right to
participate in decision-making and about the competent authority to which comments or questions
may be submitted”.
By 2009, all Member States had transposed the Aarhus Directive except Ireland. Article 2, however, has
been transposed into all the national legal systems.
In April 2010, the European Commission issued another report [COM(2010)143 final] to check the degree
of conformity of the Aarhus Directive transposition and particularly of Article 2, with the following results:
Some Member States, notably France, the Czech Republic and Belgium, have transposed, at least in
part, Article 2 jointly with the adoption of the acts transposing the SEA Directive.
Numerous Member States pointed out that, thanks to the new rules regarding public participation, the
standard of information acquired by the public on environmental issues, including those linked to
plans and programmes, had been raised significantly.
This has kindled the public's interest in environmental issues, as well as the sensitivity of officials
responsible for drafting plans and programmes, and of the political authorities responsible for
adopting them with respect to the need to seek the public's opinion before approving them.
“Greater effort might, however, prove necessary on the part of local authorities”, the report
concludes.
The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) was approved in Potsdam by the Informal
Council of EU Ministers of Spatial Planning in May 1999. It is a (legally non-binding) policy framework
presenting action items for all tiers of administration with a planning responsibility. Its strategic aim is to
achieve a balanced and sustainable spatial development across the EU, via a “Europeanisation of state,
regional, and urban planning”.
Increased public participation is seen as an integral part of a well co-ordinated spatial development policy
across the various administrative levels of a single Member State, among the different Member States by
transnational cooperation, and within the EC Directorates involved. At national level, it is proposed that
the Member States should take more account of the European dimension of spatial planning in their
national policies and inform the public about European cooperation on spatial development. Moreover,
cooperation and collaboration should involve, with a more prominent role than in the past, the lower tiers
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of public administration (such as cities and regions) and the private sector as part of an extended
governance system, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity:
(par. 7) “European integration could benefit spatial development by encouraging the
participation of cities and regions”.
(par. 21) “The ESDP conveys a vision of the future territory of the EU. In its aims and
guidelines it provides a general source of reference for actions with a spatial impact, taken
by public and private decision-makers. Beyond that, it should act as a positive signal for
broad public participation in the political debate on decisions at European level and their
impact on cities and regions in the EU”.
(par. 100) “Many local problems cannot be solved nowadays without an integrated way of
looking at towns and countryside, since they tend to be regional problems. Practical
partnership expresses itself through co-operation and co-ordination. However, in order for
co-operation to grow into a long-term successful partnership, several preconditions have to
be created:
The equality and independence of the partners;
Voluntary participation in partnership;
Consideration of different administrative conditions; and
Common responsibility and common benefit”.
(par. 164) “The successful development of a European … network depends on a spatially
co-ordinated approach between different Community policies and on corresponding national
measures. (…) The relationships between the elements of this network (…) must be
identified and co-ordinated at a European level with the active participation of the local and
regional levels”.
(par. 186) “A number of Member States have institutionalised consultation processes on
matters concerning spatial development. For development projects with a considerable
spatial impact, some carry out territorial impact assessments. This is aimed at increasing the
positive effects of investments on spatial development at an early stage through the
participation of those affected”.
(par. 316) “A well co-ordinated spatial development policy across the various administrative
levels, including participation of the public, can assist…”
In spite of all these references to public participation, no statement of principles is made (at least
indirectly) and the ICT potential in support of electronic governance is not even mentioned.
As there was no Community legal basis for ESDP, the policy debate on how to best ensure its
implementation has continued over the years, leading to the formulation of a Territorial Agenda for the
European Union, which was approved by the Informal Council of Ministers of Spatial Planning and
Development in Leipzig in May 2007. The Agenda generically outlines the need for social dialogue and
cooperation between stakeholders to reach the integration of the territorial dimension into national and
EU policies, but once again, it falls short of highlighting the need for ICT take-up to ensure better
participation.
It is planned that the coming Hungarian EU Presidency will evaluate and review the Territorial Agenda in
the first half of 2011. On that occasion, we would recommend:
Generalising the “right to information” principle included in Article 2 of the Aarhus Directive (Directive
2003/35/EC), so that electronic media become the “standard means of publicity” for any new plan or
programme, including those concerning spatial development;
Introducing the new principle that “electronic participation, where available” should integrate the
technical means to involve citizens and stakeholders in thematic consultations and decision-making
sessions.
There is ample rationale for expanding these principles: everywhere, spatial planning decisions have
such a wide and direct impact that the opportunities to participate in those decisions should be extended
beyond the normal democratic process. Effective procedures for community involvement may enhance
the legitimacy of policy- and decision-making by creating a sense of local ownership and ensuring
appropriate consideration of citizens’ and property owners’ rights. A transparent decision-making process
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implies that all citizens should made aware of the reasoning behind spatial planning decisions. ICT
should be widely adopted to make sure that – without much pressure on financial and organisational
costs for the competent authorities:
Citizens get full access to information about development proposals, plans and policies,
They are enabled to comment on proposals and if necessary, to make formal objections on draft
plans
They can easily communicate to the officers and political committees in charge for the process
Those making proposals are enabled to appeal to a higher authority on negative or unfavourable
decisions.
2.1 National urban planning systems
According to the EU Treaty, spatial planning is not the responsibility of the Community; this in spite of the
paramount importance of the spatial planning aspects of EU and national policies, because:
All political decisions are implemented in a given territory
For the public opinion, the territory and its development are “vectors of coherence” for the Community
policies.
Land use planning is normally based on framework and regulatory instruments, the latter under the legal
competence of the Municipality, while the former may belong to the State (in the relatively smaller
countries), or to the Regional and/or Metropolitan tier of public administration (in the majority of EU27
countries). Framework plans cover important parts of the national territory (if not the whole of it) and
introduce general land use principles and infrastructure patterns through zoning criteria and land
allocation maps. Regulatory plans provide detailed and site-specific indications like zonings for building,
land use, and infrastructure.
As the following picture shows, two main trends are characterising the EU27 Member State scenario:
Devolution of planning power from the State to the “2 nd tier” (Regions and Counties or Districts),
particularly as far as the framework instruments are concerned;
Devolution of regulatory autonomy from the Regional/County/District level to the “1 st tier” (City and
Municipality) level, in compliance with the framework instruments established.
Figure 1: Devolution of spatial planning power – major trends
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As a result of these trends, we can identify a first group of EU27 countries (such as Bulgaria, Cyprus,
Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Romania, the three areas depicted in light
blue in the diagram), where the role of the central government is still predominant, and a second group of
Member States, typically rather small in terms of population (such as Denmark, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia), which have transitioned to a more uniform balance of power and
competences.
The remaining Member States can be clustered into three additional groups of almost the same
numerical size:
Countries where the devolution of power to local government is not associated with a strong role of
the Regional level compared to the State – i.e. Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Sweden and the United
Kingdom (depicted in pink colour);
Countries where this devolution has progressed on par with the enhancement of the Regional
government role in the planning system – i.e. France, Italy, and Netherlands (depicted in green);
Countries where the devolution to Regions has not been associated with a stronger local autonomy –
i.e. Austria, Belgium, Germany, Poland, and Spain (depicted in yellow).
2.2 Participative planning practices
Citizen engagement in planning decision-making is widely investigated in its current developments. Yet,
academic research falls short of a comparative assessment of state of the art experiences and best
practice at national level in Europe, particularly of identifying the government “tiers” holding the legal
competence to act. Recently, the European Institute of Public Participation published a state of the art
report [EIPP, 2009] referring to a wide range of policies, including the spatial planning domain, in three
European countries (Germany, Italy and the UK). Among its conclusions is that “most public participation
takes place at local and regional level” [EIPP, 2009: 40]. This is of no surprise, given the better proximity
of this level to citizens and the significant devolution trends described in the previous section. At local
level, many experiments of eParticipation in spatial planning have also been carried out [for a review see
Kubicek, 2010] and others are being developed at present [see for example
http://engagingcities.com/tagged/Project]. Support by electronic means looks promising to reduce the
limits to participation [Innes and Boher, 2000; Coekoek et al., 2009; Brabham, 2009; EvansCowley and
Hollander, 2010]. However, the use of ICT is often limited to rudimentary shifts of spatial planning
settings into web-based environments, with reduced opportunities for process innovation. Most cases
depend on the planners’ individual initiative and are therefore constrained by the planners’ ability to
conceptualize the role of technologies with respect to participation.
According to [Brabham, 2009: 2], “an embrace of technological solutions is needed. The medium of the
Web enables us to harness collective intellect among a population in ways face-to-face planning
meetings cannot. As open source production on the Web has proven itself as a collaborative method for
designing superior software products, the crowdsourcing model may prove itself as a superior method for
designing real spaces, planning the built environment.(...) The crowdsourcing model, a successful, Webbased,
distributed problem solving and production model for business, is an appropriate model for
enabling the citizen participation process in public planning projects”.
3. Discussion
The modes in which participation outputs are integrated into the plans are varying, in dependence of:
The stage of planning process where participation is activated: it is widely shared that participation in
spatial planning should have the purpose to develop a plan collaboratively and not to look for public
consensus when the plan is already completed; even when purposes are high and intentions good,
the integration is a really complex task;
The real commitment of politicians and authorities and the related political mandate: participation is
often a cosmetic stratagem of political actions, it adds an useful adjective to it thus enlarging the gap
between citizens and administrators, reducing the will to participate and the trust towards institutions;
The modes knowledge is managed and translated into planning action: knowledge is embedded in
action, not revealed outside of action; it cannot be acquired, moved into and used in the planning
action [Concilio, 2010]; rather it is planning that needs to enter the social space where (collective,
collaborative, individual) knowledge is active within the public action;
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The ability of participation managers to enable public capacity to negotiate their interests within a
public discussion;
The way participation is considered and regulated in the spatial planning normative environment (see
previous sections);
The structure and form of a plan: differently characterized by frameworks that vary across national,
regional and local regulation systems, plans share a significant commonality, i.e. they have the form
of “end products” that are not prone, in the way they are conceptualized, to be managed as “open
products”. Academics being aware of these intrinsic limits have transferred their attention from the
plan (as product of plan making) towards the plan making process itself [Tewdwr-Jones, 2002; Hillier,
2007; Albrechts, 2010b].
Although participation in spatial planning is growing in importance as well as the acknowledgement of
ICT potential, evidence shows persistent barriers [Brownill and Carpenter, 2007] that are basically the
same all over Europe, if we control for national differences in democratic cultures and traditions
[Wassenhoven, 2008].
As early as in 2002, a survey of academics and practitioners within a Delphi framework [Albrechts, 2002]
identified three main issues: 1) providing access to citizens and stakeholder groups to spatial planning
settings; 2) adequate capacity building of citizens and public sector officials; and 3) how to ensure and
visibly demonstrate real impact on decision making and outcomes.
Concerning the first issue, structural, cultural and governance style barriers appear the most relevant
obstacles to effective participation. Transversal to these barriers is the complexity of the planning task -
especially when related to the larger geographical scale of individual plans. This in turn derives from the
fragile attitude of non-experts to make their knowledge of large-scale spatial dynamics explicit and
operational for plan making purposes. Non-expert knowledge is specifically linked to the micro-level: nonexperts
are hardly aware of the interdependency of their experience with large-scale phenomena and the
operational use of this knowledge into the plans is very difficult. This distance is particularly evident when
dealing with participation of the weakest social groups: the problems discussed are far from their daily life
and it is not clear enough how the decisions to be made will directly affect them [Piffero, 2009; Bauer et
al., 2010; Monno, 2010].
Related to the second issue, lack of experience in participation, in some cases this is mirrored by the
inadequacy of rule settings, participatory protocols, and environments, which limits the collective capacity
towards participation. Inadequacy has effect on both the public (citizens do not participate even when
they are given the opportunity) and the planners or policy makers side (participation is not well prepared
in advance, there are no codified procedures and its outcomes are inconclusive). Likewise, experience is
very small in the use of eParticipation tools and methods in spatial planning, particularly considering the
dynamics related to the explosion in the number of participants provoked by social networks and the
small effectiveness these “wise crowds” seem to have in producing actual results [EvansCowley and
Hollander, 2010].
However, most crucial is certainly the third issue, represented by the need to guarantee participants that
their views and interests will actually have an impact on policy making and related actions and decisions.
This is generally true in a public policy domain [Friedmann, 1987], yet it is an extraordinary critical issue
in spatial planning, which is strongly rooted in the political agenda of regional and local administrations
and therefore under the risk of power groups’ influence and deviation. As the EIPP report puts it, “a core
challenge for all public participation processes is the way the outcomes are fed into the decision making
process; in order to increase the chance of public participation being successful, arrangements ought to
be made in all countries to link public participation formally to the heart of decision making” [EIPP, 2009:
40]. We agree with the conclusions of the Delphi survey of academics and practitioners according to
whom “a legal guarantee is impossible” [Albrechts, 2002: 340). Yet, there actually are advantages from
citizen involvement in spatial planning. According to Innes and Booher (2004), most justifications for
public participation in planning decision-making are covered by five purposes:
Public participation advances fairness and justice;
Public participation helps ensure legitimacy for public decisions;
Through participation, decision-makers can find out what the public’s preferences are and take
Account of them in their decisions;
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Decisions can be improved by incorporating citizens’ local knowledge;
Participation is offered by planners and public officials because the law requires it.
Apart from law requirements, we can split up these advantages in two groups:
Reputation gains, as well as compliance with broader improvement and accountability goals for the
government agency involved;
Content related gains, which can be availed of either before or during the decision-making process
(or in both stages of course).
Grasping these benefits requires rethinking of spatial planning in several ways. The one that is most
relevant to our discussion is to overcome the simplistic dichotomy of participation as something parallel
or added on to the planning process [Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1993; Cerreta et al., 2010]. A second way is
to reconceptualise the plan and make it a product of collective intellectual effort [Celino and Concilio,
2006; Brabham, 2009]. Finally the planning process itself should fully open up to the potential of ICT,
which are deeply restructuring the governance concepts, frameworks and dynamics.
4. Conclusions and recommendations
To sum up, existing evidence on EU27 spatial planning systems and policies displays a fair degree of
complexity, a few commonalities across countries, and a considerable (context-related) variation in the
provisions for public consultation and citizens involvement, both horizontally (= between) and vertically (=
within) Member States. Cultures and traditions affect conceptualizations of participatory decision making;
legal and social infrastructures determine different degrees of readiness of citizens and institutions
towards public involvement; planning systems at different scales affect the way planners interpret their
roles and related practices.
Public participation has been a feature of the planning process for over 30 years during which many
attempts have been made to improve access to citizens. Still spatial planning practices show inexorable
barriers to participation, which have different causes. In spite of the wide development of ICT, there still is
very limited usage of these in the context of participatory planning and programming processes.
Practitioners act as if the demonstration of utility (= efficiency, effectiveness, quality of results) of ICT
implementation into participatory spatial planning were required every time and on a case-to-case basis.
In this scenario, it remains hard to disentangle how big the impact of Community policy has been on the
creation and enlargement of “mandatory spaces” for civic engagement in the spatial planning process –
not to speak of electronically enhanced participation.
Lessons learnt are threefold:
Evidence gathered shows a significant plurality and diversity of participative planning practices. This
is mainly explained as a result of the growing and crucial need of planners to reinterpret wellestablished
communication frameworks out of institutional protocols and to develop new ones that
are better rooted in the dynamic contexts of the planning process. Consequently the use of ICT is still
very differentiated and almost exclusively depending on planners’ personal visions and skills.
The full potential of ICT is far from being grasped at the moment. ICT usage is currently limited to
rudimentary protocols of the planning process and focused on the migration of selected stages of the
process from off- to on- line environments. The majority of adopted systems merely mirror the
traditional modes and tracks of citizen and stakeholder interaction with local planning agencies.
There is significant room for European policy making here. Many electronic services already
available in this domain are not scaling up at EU level (also) because of the different weight assigned
to the “e” dimension in participation by the national urban planning systems. Based on the good
progress made in the Aarhus and SEA directive implementation, additional efforts should be
envisaged by the Commission and Member States towards the creation of electronically enhanced
governance models for spatial planning and territorial development related issues.
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Comparative Perspective. Taylor and Francis group
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Social Media and Local Government in England: Who is
Doing What?
Martin De Saulles
University of Brighton, UK
mdesaulles@gmail.com
Abstract: This paper presents research on the use of social media by English local authorities. It presents
quantitative data on the extent to which unitary authorities in England use social networking services such as
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to communicate with interested parties. A more qualitative analysis is carried out on
a sample of the bodies in terms of the types of information they are pushing out through these services. The research
presented in this paper shows a considerable range in the usage of social media by these bodies and raises
interesting questions about why this might be the case. The paper provides some tentative answers to these
questions and offers practical advice to local authorities wanting to better understand this area and how it might help
them in their relations with the communities they serve.
Keywords: social media, local government, eGovernment, web 2.0
1. Introduction
1.1 English local government
The structure of local government in England is relatively complex with several tiers of bodies each with
varying levels of authority. It is worth noting that the system in England differs to that found in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland. At the highest level in England there are 9 regional bodies which vary in
authority from the London Assembly that has elected members and a Mayor to less powerful bodies that
do not elect members and are more concerned with regional development issues. Below these 9 regional
authorities are the county and then district level bodies which comprise 369 councils varying in size from
the 6 large metropolitan counties down to far smaller district councils. This paper focuses on the 55
unitary authorities that cut across county and district level bodies and range in size from 39,000
constituents to over 500,000, representing over 12 million citizens in total. Most of these 55 bodies were
established from the 1990s onwards and have responsibilities ranging from education and housing to
transport, waste collection, leisure, recreation and libraries. Significantly, they also have revenue
collection powers via the system of council tax. These wide-ranging responsibilities and fiscal duties give
unitary authorities a high public profile, particularly in the current climate of budget cuts from central
government. Many of the austerity measures being implemented by the current British coalition
government will be most visible at the local level as libraries and leisure facilities are cut back and, in
some instances, closed. Elected leaders of the unitary authorities and other local bodies will be under
increasing pressure to explain to their constituents why the cuts are being made and what measures are
being adopted to minimise their impact on front-line services. It is within this context of budgetary
pressures and the increasing expectation by citizens of more transparent public bodies that the research
described in this paper has been undertaken. Social media offers organisations of all types cost effective
channels to communicate with individuals in a more interactive way than has been possible with more
traditional media.
1.2 The state of social media
The term social media refers to a range of web-based services which emerged out of the second wave of
internet innovation, often referred to as Web 2.0. According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010):
“Social Media is a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and
technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User
Generated Content.” (page 61)
They use the term, User Generated Content (UGC) to describe one of the key differences of social media
and Web 2.0 services from the first generation of internet services. The first wave of internet services
were less dynamic and often resembled traditional media in that information was broadcast out via
websites from centralised producers of content. Following the dotcom bust of the early 2000s, a new
wave of web services emerged that offered far more interaction with users and, in many cases, relied on
their users to generate much of their content. A good example of this is YouTube that hosts hundreds of
millions of videos, many of them uploaded by individuals. Facebook also relies on UGC as it offers a
platform for individuals and organisations to communicate and share information. Without the content that
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is uploaded by users, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace and other social media services would not
exist. It is the rapid growth of many of these services and their daily use by hundreds of millions of people
across the world that has attracted the interest of organisations, public and private. Communicating with
large numbers of people, whether for public service or commercial marketing reasons, has traditionally
been an expensive and often inefficient process. Printing and sending out leaflets and brochures,
advertising across traditional media or conducting telephone marketing campaigns is costly in time and
money and beyond the budgets of many organisations. The internet and, more specifically, social media
offer a chance to bypass the old media gatekeepers and to communicate directly with customers, voters
or any other social media users at no or extremely low cost. Mui and Whoriskey (2011) point out that
Facebook in mid-2010 had over 500 million active users, a number that had doubled in less than 2 years.
For many people now, Facebook and other social media sites provide their primary interaction with the
internet and are increasingly attracting public organisations, including local government bodies. Of
course, the dynamic and rapidly changing nature of the internet means that services such as Facebook
and YouTube come and go and organisations can be swept up in the general enthusiasm to have a
presence on these sites. However, the extent to which the internet and certain social media services are
now a part of many people’s lives is a sign that they or whatever new services replace them are
significant channels for communication. Gibson (2010) argues, in the context of local government and
social media, that:
“...not engaging now represents a far greater risk than engaging. Citizens will still use these
networks to talk about you, whether you add your voice to the conversation or not....The
challenge for all councils now is to move social media off their list of challenges, and on to
their list of opportunities.” (Page 5)
While Gibson has practical experience in the use of social media to promote causes and organisational
objectives and is broadly enthusiastic about its potential for enhancing democracy, it is important to
beware of adopting a technologically deterministic approach to studies of social media use and impact.
Technologies can be transformative but organisational changes are usually achieved in conjunction with
other factors whether social, political or economic. Bertot et al. (2010) point out that the use of social
media tools by government bodies can help increase transparency but the political will for change needs
to exist first and that the technology comes second to aid the process.
2. The study
A key objective of the research described here was to measure the extent to which the 55 unitary
authorities in England use social media in their external communications. The methodology adopted was
a detailed analysis of the websites of these bodies to determine what social media profiles they linked to
and the level of engagement with these services. This analysis was carried out on the 26 October 2010.
Engagement with any social media services were looked for during the data gathering stage and, after
examining all 55 websites, the following social media services were found to be used: Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube and Flickr as well as the syndication technology RSS for updating users of new content being
posted to the websites. The level of activity by the authorities on each of these services, where they were
being used, was then measured to determine how engaged they were. These measures took the form of
the number of tweets on Twitter, regularity of posting, number of videos uploaded to YouTube and
number of views, number of photographs posted to Flickr and number of “likes” and members of
Facebook pages and groups. A score was allocated to each authority based on whether they used any of
the 5 social media services listed above. Giving a point for each service used, Figure 1 summarises the
distribution of points awarded.
As Figure 1 shows, only one unitary authority was found to be using all 5 of the social media services
while 17 were not using any. Twitter was the most popular service with 27 authorities using the
microblogging service followed by RSS (20 authorities), Facebook (16 authorities), YouTube (8
authorities), Flickr (8 authorities). A statistical analysis was carried out to look for correlations between
the size of authorities, in terms of both the geographical areas covered and populations served, and their
social media usage but no statistically significant correlations could be found. The 23 authorities that
scored 2 points or more in their aggregate social media usage score are shown in Figure 2.
The ways in which the authorities use social media varies quite significantly but a common theme seems
to be using these channels to make announcements relevant to their constituents. The most active
council in this space, Darlington (www.darlington.gov.uk), uses Facebook and Twitter to post
announcements about council meetings, news-worthy stories about local schools and council initiatives
as well as job postings for the bodies they are responsible for. The local nature of these postings means
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their appeal is limited primarily to local people but for this group their relevance is significant. In terms of
multimedia, Darlington uses YouTube to post public information videos it has been involved in producing
while it uses the image sharing site, Flickr, for sharing photographs of local events as well as the entries
to local photography competitions.
Figure 1: Aggregate social media scores
Figure 2: Most active social media users
One of the issues that many organisations face when starting to use social media to communicate with
stakeholders is being able to sustain the maintenance of their online presence. Opening a Twitter or
Facebook account only takes minutes but creating a successful and thriving profile requires steady and
sustained input from those responsible. A Facebook or Twitter page that has not been updated in weeks
or even days may be worse, in terms of public perceptions, than not having a social media presence at
all. This is particularly true with Twitter that is used by many people as a notification service. Unlike a blog
where visitors may spend the time reading archived posts, Twitter posts which are more than a day or
two old are seldom looked at. The frequency of posting to Twitter was considered in the analysis of
unitary authority social media usage by looking at the number of tweets posted in the previous 7 days.
The average was 13 tweets but the range went from 0 to 69. This wide variance may be an indication of
the novelty of such a service with authorities still experimenting in terms of optimal activity. Of the 8
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authorities with their own YouTube channels there was also a considerable range in the extent to which
they posted videos as well as the number of viewers for their videos. One council’s YouTube channel had
received over 126,000 views while another had only 300. These variances are partly explained by the
length of time the council had been on YouTube but the frequency of updates and how the main council
webpage promoted the channel also seemed to play a part. A closer look at the content of the videos
posted to YouTube by the councils offers the greatest clue to the popularity of their channels. The
YouTube channel with the lowest number of views was dominated by relatively dry interviews with
councillors while the channels with significantly higher views had a broader range of videos that looked at
council activities such as library and welfare services. While 20 authorities offered RSS feeds of updates
to the content posted to their websites, the visibility and utility of these feeds varied. Cheshire West and
Chester’s website, for example, offered 4 clearly marked RSS feeds covering news, events, its Twitter
posts as well as one for information about its cold weather initiatives such as road gritting. Other councils
offered RSS feeds for job vacancies, press releases and road works updates. Most of the councils that
provided RSS feeds also had a webpage explaining what the technology was and how people could use
the feeds as well as, in some instances, providing links to RSS feed readers.
3. Benefits of social media to local government
By its nature, much of the content uploaded to social media sites is of limited utility and appeal to most
people. The conversations and images that are shared are often very personal in nature and not intended
to viewed or read by users outside the social circles of the people that posted them. However,
organisations are beginning to realise that the amount of time many people spend on these networks and
their wide reach offer opportunities for communication and sharing information that can be of mutual
benefit to all (Agichtein et al. 2008, Qualman 2010, Scott 2010, Weber 2007). Large corporations such as
Starbucks, Coke and Nike have created and developed large online communities around their brands
and, to varying degrees, been successful in building customer loyalty through engaging in conversations
with those purchasing their products. However, the potential of social media to directly connect with
customers can also be a double-edged sword. Kiley (2009) describes the marketing challenge for
Dominoes Pizza in the United States when 2 employees posted a video of themselves at work to
YouTube showing them performing unsavoury acts with the pizzas they were making. Although
Dominoes fired the employees and eventually restored consumer confidence in their products, the video
did have an immediate impact on pizza sales as well as confirming the worst fears of many managers
about the dangers of social media.
While media coverage on the success and failure of high-profile social media initiatives tends to focus on
the activities of large companies, less attention has been paid to how smaller and less visible
organisations are engaging with these new technologies. Park and Cho (2009) and Kuzma (2010) point
to the opportunities that social media offers public bodies in terms of connecting with their stakeholders
and developing trust. This could be seen as particularly important at a time when politicians in many
economies are increasingly viewed with suspicion. The personal nature of many social media services
allows human voices and real personalities to be seen and heard as opposed to the faceless corporate
messages of traditional public relations initiatives. However, as with the Dominoes example mentioned
earlier the potential for public bodies and officials to be embarrassed by these channels is also a reality.
The recent Wikileaks releases of confidential documents relating to the Iraq and Afghan wars is evidence
of this.
As well as using social media to develop trust between local government and their electors, there are
also financial benefits from migrating services to the web. According to Gibson (2010), research by the
Society of Information Technology Management concluded that customer service interactions cost on
average 27 pence when conducted via the web, £3.22 by phone and £6.56 face-to-face. Gibson (2010)
sees a broader role for social media in this context and believes:
“...the really exciting cost-savings will come from restructuring the existing processes
entirely. Social media allow far more people to contribute to solving a problem, which means
potentially far greater efficiency overall, even given the increased burden on communicating
and responding to the public.” (page 10)
The heavy snow that fell across the UK in January 2010 showed the value of social media and Twitter, in
particular to local councils in their attempts to help residents with transport problems. Cartmell (2010)
describes how Brighton and Hove used Twitter successfully to appeal to residents with 4x4 vehicles to
help with meals on wheels deliveries while Kirklees Council and Essex Council used Twitter to broadcast
messages about the status of road gritting. Following the snow and in an attempt to deal with the
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resulting potholes in the roads, Birmingham City Council encouraged its residents to contact them via
Twitter with details of the location of holes in the road.
4. Best practice for deploying social media
In terms of making the most of social media initiatives, the lessons for local government are often no
different than for any organisation. Drawing on literature from digital marketing and social media
practitioners, there are some key factors that need to be taken into account:
Although it will probably evolve once a council starts experimenting with social media, it is important
to set objectives for what it hopes to achieve. This will help in the selection of the most appropriate
social media platforms (Hay 2011);
Employees need to know who is responsible for posting information and responding to messages
and time needs to be allocated to them for these tasks. Unless working with social media is seen as
part of someone’s job description it is unlikely it will be taken seriously across the council (Safko &
Brake 2010);
Before creating profiles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or other services, it is worth experimenting in
a low-key way to develop a feel for how those platforms work and the ways that users interact with
them. Observing the types of messages and information that are being posted and looking at the
discussions that take place online help develop an understanding of what people value (Fox 2010);
Where appropriate, try to inject a personal touch into the information and messages that are posted.
Simply posting press releases onto Twitter or Facebook is unlikely to be of much interest to
constituents. However, posts that show a genuine concern by council employees for the services
they provide can break down barriers. This does not need to be applied in all instances as sometimes
just a straightforward information broadcast is most appropriate such as pushing out travel updates or
cold weather warnings (Fox 2010);
Without being too prescriptive it is important that a council sets out some broad guidelines for what is
and is not appropriate as subjects for posting online as well as expectations in terms of style and tone
(Elser & Lee 2010);
Monitor the success of social media initiatives by using free tools such as Hootsuite for tracking
Twitter postings. It is important to know which initiatives are generating the most interest so efforts
can be focused on those and away from activities that are not working (Kaushik 2009).
One of the problems that many councils have when starting to use social media is determining which are
the most appropriate. This will largely depend on what the body wants to achieve but it is important that
they tread carefully and not be seen as acting inappropriately. 16 of the 55 unitary authorities surveyed in
this research were using Facebook to share information but some argue that Facebook, in the way it is
used by private individuals, is often not the best place for councils to be online. The Head of
Communications and Marketing for Medway Council, Simon Wakeman ((Wakeman 2009)), believes
Facebook users identify with specific services that their council provides but are not generally interested
in the council itself:
“In Medway we’ve not created an official Facebook presence for the council, but we have
used Facebook groups to promote festivals and theatres – as we know that the customers
for these services do have a sense of belonging with the service and so there’s a basis for
an online community to form.” (Wakeman 2009)
5. Conclusion
The rise of social media is a very recent phenomena with most of the high-profile services such as
Facebook and Twittter only gaining a mass base of users in the last several years. The rapidly changing
and dynamic nature of the sector means that new services will come and go; the rapid decline of
MySpace and Bebo are evidence of that. However, the hundreds of millions of people that engage with
social media on a daily basis mean that any organisation wanting to develop closer ties with its
stakeholders needs to, at the very least, be aware of the potential of these services to strengthen links.
Assuming that social media is a fad and only something for young people might be similar to someone in
1995 dismissing email as a viable communications tool. Local government, in particular, may have a lot
to gain from using these platforms to get closer to its electors and enhance the services it already offers.
As Gibson (2010) states:
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“Citizens will expect their council to engage with them on their terms, via their channels, and
to be openly available online. In fact, it is becoming increasingly clear that if councils don’t
use these tools, the citizens will do it for them, and bypass the council entirely.” (page 5)
As someone who makes his living by consulting on social media for organisations, Gibson could be
accused of exaggerating the potential dangers to local government from neglecting to use these tools in
their communications with electors. It is obviously in the interests of such consultants to encourage a
perceived need for their services amongst potential clients. It is certainly true that many public sector
investments in information and communications technology projects do not have a good track record
(Gauld & Goldfinch 2006). However, the fact that the social media services described here are already
being used by a significant proportion of the English population and, in most cases, cost little or nothing
to deploy might indicate there may be real value in their use. The research described here is a
preliminary step to developing a better understanding of how social media is being used by local
government and what its potential might be for enhancing democracy. Further studies are planned to
explore some of the more qualitative aspects of social media use through interviews with both local
government employees deploying these services as well as members of the public interacting with them.
It is hoped these interviews will allow a better understanding of the value being derived from using such
tools. The research methodology presented here will also be repeated at the end of 2011 to determine
the extent to which the use of social media tools by English unitary authorities is increasing or declining.
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social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies. Government Information Quarterly, 27(3),
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192

Electronic Health Records Management and Preservation:
The Case of Slovenia
Mitja Decman
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
mitja.decman@fu.uni-lj.si
Abstract: This paper presents and discusses the technological possibilities that information technology (IT) offers
within the health sector, focusing on health information technology (HIT), electronic health records (EHR), personal
health records (PHR) and practice management systems (PMS). The current development in this area in the world
shows that this topic is important and is included in the strategies, policies and plans of many countries, in some
places even being pushed to the obligatory level. Consequently, there is a huge interest within the private sector for
development and marketing of products that cover this area. Governments also therefore include the private sector in
the strategic planning of solutions that can integrate different networks of public administration, particularly in the
health sector. As is always the case and particularly here, because of the many players involved, these projects cost
a lot of money, causing sceptics and critics to question the reasonableness, usefulness, ROI and similar topics.
Slovenia is no exception in this area, in both positive and negative sense. Slovenian health reforms include the
development of integrated health systems costing over a hundred million Euros, and many health practitioners in
Slovenia lack internet connections, modern IT equipment, etc. Empirical research regarding the Slovenian health
sectors, which was carried out in 2011 and is examined within the preliminary analysis presented in this paper, will
outline the real situation in this area.
Keywords: e-Health, health information technology, health information systems, electronic health records (EHR),
medical health records (MHR), public health services
1. Introduction
Healthcare is a strategic element of each country, because it influences many areas of the society and
the development of the whole nation. Although minor deficiencies might not cause a lot of damage,
broader negative health trends and diseases may cause a lot of damage to the population, economy,
growth, etc. In more recent years, informatics is gaining a more important role in many fields, including
health. As stated in the communication of the European Commission, e-Health is important and enables
improvements in terms of access to healthcare and boosts the quality and effectiveness of the services
offered (European Commission, 2004).
E-Health covers the area of services and systems that are available to citizens (patients), professionals
and health authorities and includes electronic health record systems (EHR), practice management
systems, personal health record systems (PHR), health portals, etc. These are primarily based on the
internet and other information and telecommunication technologies that enable cooperation, sharing of
data, exchange of data, knowledge based tools, etc.
The reason for our research in this field is the lack of research regarding the drivers and barriers related
to the implementation of EHR systems. Using the theory of EHR, we conducted empirical research in the
Slovenian health sector to prove or disprove the theoretical statements and stress or weaken their
importance.
1.1 EHR, EPR, EMR, PHR, PMS …
To have a clear start, it is important to resolve the definition of electronic health records (EHR) and other
similar terms. There are many various definitions of what EHR is. At the same time, the term’s definition
overlaps with terms like electronic patient record (EPR), electronic medical record (EMR), personal health
records (PHR) and practice management system (PMS). PMS basically deals with the day to day
operations of a medical practice including data about patient’s demographics, appointments, bills, etc.
(administrative and financial data). These same data can also be found in EMR, which is more focused
on clinical data and whose principle purpose is to support individual patient care (Rector, Nowlan & Kay,
1991). The EMR can also be the legal patient record that is created in hospitals and ambulatory
environments and is the data source for the EHR (Habib, 2010). The National Alliance for Health
Information Technology (2008) defines EMR as “The electronic record of health-related information on an
individual that is created, gathered, managed, and consulted by licensed clinicians and staff from a single
organisation who are involved in the individual’s health and care,” while EHR is defined as “An electronic
record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognised
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interoperability standards and that can be created, managed, and consulted by authorised clinicians and
staff across more than one healthcare organisation.” The Healthcare Information and Management
Systems organisation (HIMSS) stressed that EMR is “a legal record created in hospitals and ambulatory
environments that is the source of data for EHR.” While EMR is owned and managed by an organisation,
EHR is the aggregation of EMRs from different sources and demands connectivity. In the case of a
country wide solution, it requires a network that is accessible to all stakeholders including patients, who
can access and append information by using health portals. The HIMSS even developed a 7 stage
adoption model (Figure 1) for EMR with the abilities of EHR (HIMSS Analytics, 2010). Thus the key
property of EMR in order to be a part of EHR is interoperability according to standards (e.g. HL7, CCHIT)
(Brailer, 2005).
Stage Cumulative Capabilities
Stage 7
Complete EMR; CCD transactions to share data; Data
warehousing; Data continuity with ED, ambulatory, OP
Stage 6
Physician documentation (structured templates), full CDSS
(variance & compliance), full R-PACS
Stage 5 Closed loop medication administration
Stage 4 CPOE, Clinical Decision Support (clinical protocols)
Stage 3
Nursing/clinical documentation (flow sheets), CDSS (error
checking), PACS available outside Radiology
Stage 2
CDR, Controlled Medical Vocabulary, CDS, may have Document
Imaging; HIE capable
Stage 1 Ancillaries - Lab, Rad, Pharmacy - All Installed
Stage 0 All Three Ancillaries Not Installed
Figure 1: 7-stage EMR adoption model, (source: HIMSS Analytics Database),
http://www.himssanalytics.org/
We might transfer the definition to a mathematical formula: EHR = EMR + data exchange capability. The
data exchange capability is also called the health information exchange (HIE). EMR systems therefore
include much data and functionality. Within a data set, we can find a patient’s demographic details, family
history, medical history, allergies and alerts as well as a summary of services provided to the individual
that are gathered from hospitals, dental clinics, emergency departments, etc. (Lazakidou, 2006). Within
the set of functionalities, we can include the management and exchange of data, orders for laboratory
tests, prescriptions, etc. A survey done in the United states defined a fully functional EHR as a system
capable of “recording patients’ clinical and demographic data, viewing and managing results of laboratory
tests and imaging, managing order entry (including electronic prescriptions) and supporting clinical
decisions (including warnings about drug interactions or contraindications)” (DesRoches et al., 2008).
Despite these definitions, the primary goal of any health information system should be patient
participation, because the patient’s improved health care must be the main objective, as is argued by
Karsh (Karsh, Weinger, Abbott, & Wears, 2010).
1.2 Benefits
We could endlessly expound upon the benefits of EHR as stated by various authors. In 2003,
Waegemann stressed data sharing, uniform documentation, better information management and
consecutively improved workflow and efficiencies of the patient care process (Waegemann, 2003).
DesRoches also found a positive link between more capable systems and greater benefits (DesRoches
et al., 2008). Galani and Nikiforu divide the benefits into groups including patients, the general public,
health professionals, health administrators, policy makers, researchers and governments (Lazakidou,
2006).
From the patients’ point of view, the improved availability of data from various medical treatments,
increased security through encryption, fewer mistakes during pharmacy orders by using the
pharmaceutical database and electronic prescriptions are the most important benefits. Medical data can
be available to them for access, checking and education (linking to the web pages or medical knowledge
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databases). All of this allows patients to assume more control over their health records and become more
active in their own care. Currently, one of if not the biggest healthcare IT programme in the world is
gathering patients’ data into one huge IT system (the NHS database) in Great Britain and is expecting to
gather over 50 million health summary records (Davies, Eccles, Braunold & Thick, 2008).
From the health professionals point of view, there are benefits such as easier access to patient data, thus
providing better decision-making support and consequently reducing medical error rates (Ford,
Menachemi, & Phillips, 2006). The accessibility can also cause an increase in productivity. There is also
a greater accountability of staff since their actions are tracked more easily (Hillestad et al., 2005).
By moving away from paper media, electronic health systems also reduce out-dated and cumbersome
paperwork, reduce the need for large storage facilities, do away with the problems of paper fragility and
searchability, enable its availability to many people while storing it in only one place and enable an
efficient aggregation of data (Lazakidou, 2006). At the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, a
significant reduction (more than 85%) in the volume/cost of paper forms and a significant reduction in
space required for storage was recorded after EHR implementation (HIMSS Analytics, 2010). Hillestad
also adds that eliminating handwritten documents would improve the accuracy of patient data, adding
that electronic forms would eliminate the danger of data loss resulting from natural disasters such as
hurricanes, floods and fire (Hillestad et al., 2005).
From the governments’ point of view, reduced health care costs are another benefit of health information
technology (Lazakidou, 2006) and could save $81 billion annually in the US if the healthcare system
would be properly upgraded (Hillestad et al., 2005). The potential includes reducing the hospital lengthof-stay,
medication usage, nurses’ administrative time, etc. With electronic records, there is a huge
potential for thorough statistical analysis, enabling better decisions, actions and planning and leading to
better quality of health services (Ford, Menachemi, & Phillips, 2006). Researchers and scientists would
also be stakeholders that would benefit from those data.
1.3 Weaknesses
So if there are so many benefits, why don’t we see EHR systems implemented everywhere? That is
because there are also many weaknesses, and in that regard, Waegeman in particular indicated the lack
of frameworks and standards, lack of motivation, lack of direct benefits for practitioners and confusion
regarding the concept (Waegemann, 2003).
At the level of the IT itself, EHR is a very crucial system that needs to run not only 24x7, but without
mistakes, bugs, crashes, unpredicted states, etc. A dropping of the network connection or the crash of a
system might mean losing lives, and it is indicated that EHR systems are among the least reliable
(Johnson, 2006). The influence of errors is strong as well. A mistyped piece of information about a
specific drug at the National Drug Centre might lead to hundreds of wrong decisions the next second
within the EHR systems. Although a less-errors benefit is argued as a positive side of EHR, the risk of
errors is shifted to system users since they make the decisions and confirm it in the system. This paradox
is also stressed by Karsh et al. (2010).
Economic barriers such as the lack of easily apparent returns on investments and the inadequate
usability of ERH because of the network effect problems might cause a negative decision regarding
implementation of EHR. Although the HIT Leadership Panel in the United States concluded that the
potential benefits outweigh costs (Lewin Group, 2005), there is a problem of necessary large investments
in software, hardware, installation, training, wiring and communications as well as a lack of certification
and standardisation (Hillestad et al., 2005). The ability EHR has to exchange the data of individual
organisations (e.g. one hospital) with others (e.g. competing hospitals) for free also represents a
problematic issue in this area.
Focusing on EHR as the interoperability portion of EMR, it often integrates or connects existing EMR or
EHR systems. Such an integration of many different legacy systems might be very problematic. Not only
within one organisation, such as hospital with different departments using different systems, but even
more so on a national or international level. Within such a process, standards play a very important role.
The users of EHR are countless: physicians, nurses, patients, pharmacies, insurance companies, drug
providers, social workers, governments, etc. All of them need knowledge about EHR and training to use
and gain from EHR. On the patient’s side, within environments where the digital divide and computer
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illiteracy are problematic, not to mention problems such as using advanced secure technologies like
smart cards, digital certificates and similar, are facing huge problems with the potentially low acceptance
and adoption of EHR systems.
We could not agree more with the National Academy of Science quote that EHR should be considered as
“guilty until proven” (Karsh, Weinger, Abbott, & Wears, 2010).
2. Health record management and preservation in electronic world
E-Health promises a lot: assisting prevention, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and lifestyle management
(European Commission, 2004). Therefore, governments are expected to strengthen efforts to coordinate
the adoption and use of health information technology and develop policies to achieve the goals (Lewin
Group, 2005). The European Commission, in its Community Health Strategy for 2008–2013, stressed
that one of the objectives is to “support dynamic health systems and new technologies, recognising that
new technologies can improve disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, facilitate patient safety and
improve health systems’ coordination, use of resources and sustainability” (European Commission,
2007). Within its i2010 strategy, the European Union also proposed a benchmarking system for e-Health,
covering 27 European member states, Iceland, Norway, Canada and the United States. In its report from
2009, the recommended set of indicators and the recommendation for the e-Health benchmarking
approach were proposed (European Commission, 2009).
A report from Empirica showed that almost all of the General Practitioner (GP) practices (87%) in the
European Union use a computer, 69% of the EU27 GP practices have an Internet connection and
broadband connections are used by almost half of the EU27 GP practices (Empirica, 2008). The same
report stressed that simple e-Health applications (EMR) such as having electronic data regarding patients
are quite common, while complex EHR systems are not. Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden
and the UK emerge as the European frontrunners in this regard.
Since the primary player in the health system is of course the patient, countries are focused on the
patient’s role and how to engage the patient. Eurostat data show that more and more people are seeking
health information over the Internet (Figure 2). Research results from Norway, Denmark, Germany,
Greece, Poland, Portugal and Latvia also indicated that people are seeking that information to read
information about health matters and to decide whether to see a doctor and to prepare for and follow up
on doctor's appointments (Andreassen et al., 2007).
Figure 2: Percentage of individuals using the Internet to seek health information, whether for themselves
or others (Source: Eurostat)
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3. The case of Slovenia
Mitja Decman
According to the Slovenian healthcare strategy, the benefits of health information technology correlate
with the strategic goals of healthcare reform, namely an increased citizen role in health care and
wellbeing, the enabling of safe and reliable access to medical records for health workers including for
learning and knowledge management, easier planning and management of health organisations and
health systems and increased ease of access for patients that would benefit from electronic means of
healthcare (Ministry of Health, 2005).
The Slovenian development of e-health was very influenced by the Slovenian Electronic Commerce, the
Electronic Signature Act from 2000 as the base of e-commerce in public administration and the Strategy
of Informatisation of the Slovenian Health System 2005–2010 (Ministry of Health, 2005), where e-Health
was defined as a wide spectre of usage of information and communication technology within the
Slovenian health system. It was more widely specified as a cluster of information systems and services
that together with organisational changes and the development of new skills contribute to the progress of
health, advances in the accessibility of health care, quality of services and efficiency and productivity.
The strategy was also submitted to the European commission as a demand in the Alignment to
Communication Regarding e-Health – Making Healthcare Better for European Citizens: An Action Plan
for a European e-Health Area (European Commission, 2004).
Despite all of this, the development did not produce the integration or interconnectivity of different
systems. The reasons were the following:
The development of informatics in health care was dispersed and not coordinated with the national
strategy;
Systems were used for administrative and technical support and lacked support for health workers
while treating patients;
A lack of technological and content-related exchange of data between health workers and
organisations and between the primary and secondary level;
Lack of knowledge regarding the importance and possibilities of informatics in health – expenses on
average were 1% of the yearly health budget compared to 2.5 – 3% as the European average;
Huge gap between the needs and possibilities of informatics within healthcare and other sectors
(Ministry of Health, 2005).
A similar situation was shown through Empirica’s benchmarking results, where Slovenia is one of the top
places for indicators like the use of computers, internet access, practice websites, electronic recording
and the storage of individual administrative patient data. It was among the worst, however, for indicators
like the electronic storage of patients’ basic medical parameters, diagnosis data, medication data and the
use of a computer during consultations (Empirica, 2008). This clearly shows that computer hardware and
networking was widely adopted as part of the compulsory health insurance card system, while EMR and
EHR systems were generally missing.
Figure 3: Percentage of individuals in 2009 using the Internet to seek health information whether for
themselves or others (source: Eurostat)
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Mitja Decman
The last big milestone for Slovenia was the Action Plan for e-Health (April 2009) that announced the
project called e-Health. This is one of the biggest national projects in the area of e-government, as it is
projected to cost around 67 million Euros by 2015 (27 million Euros will be provided by the European
Social Fund). By the year 2023, the cost would total more than 130 million Euros. It is an important step
for establishing efficient, flexible and modern national e-Health systems to support the strategic goals of
the Slovenian healthcare system. The goal of the e-Health project is to create a modern interoperable
health information system that would enable secure electronic business and efficient management of
health and health related data. It includes three phases. The first one is the national EHR system (called
eZIS) including the zNET health network (at a cost of 55 million Euros), the zVEM health portal (at a cost
of 26 million Euros) and the EZZ health record notation. In the second phase, a national centre for health
informatics (CIZ) would be established that would master and manage the eZIS system, and in the third
phase, the improvement of health processes and accessibility of health services through promotion and
education.
It is obvious and logical that such a big project would need outsourcing. The huge amount of funding
means good business for the private sector so “the battle can begin.” Already at the beginning of the first
phase, the public procurement did not succeed, because the chosen provider was blamed for being
connected with politicians and the leaders of health care institutions. That hindered the development of
the project and the Minister of Health ordered a revision to find a solution. In the summer of 2010, the
group of revisers from the European commission also came to Slovenia to check-on the spending of
European money.
4. Empirical research – analysis and findings
Because of the lack of available data regarding the current state in the area of e-Health at the primary
and secondary level of Slovenian health care, we decided to perform empirical research that would focus
on practitioners in Slovenian health care at both levels.
The survey was intended to find the level of general IT penetration into the health sector, the level of
implementation of health systems, the opinion of respondents regarding the benefits and weaknesses of
different properties of such systems and the level of agreement regarding the processes that are going
on currently in the Slovenian health sector.
The subject of the survey was one health care unit, for instance an outpatient’ department, hospital
department, dispensary or whatever unit that involves a smaller group of people working with patients in
a specific health area. We decided to use a web survey, finding respondents using the Business
Directory of the Republic of Slovenia that includes data regarding basically all public and private
organisations in the health care sector. We used a special standardised category filter that focused only
on organisations working in the area of health care including hospital activities, general medical practice
activities, specialist medical practice activities, dental practice activities, alternative medicine activities
and residential care activities for the elderly and disabled (European Parliament, 2006). The survey email
invitations were sent to 1064 organisational email addresses with requests to forward them to
individual departments, dispensaries or divisions. Therefore, the primary focus group was not a final
sample of respondents since forwarded invitations reached a second level of respondents unknown
before the sending process. In 20 days, we received 161 fully answered questionnaires (N=161) from 97
various organisations. We were using Survey System 10 software for invitations delivery, web surveys,
password protection, data gathering, etc. Some answers were not answered by all respondents therefore
N can be different in various charts. Among 161 respondents, 94 were doctors, 30 nurses, 10 heads of
departments, 15 other medical staff and 12 other staff. Regarding the types of institutions, 21
respondents were from hospitals, 54 from health centres, 28 from dental offices, 35 from specialist
practices and 23 from other practices. Among respondents, 93 work in the private sector, 17 in the
private sector only and 51 in private practices with concession.
The analysis showed that although in 2004 Slovenia was already among the better equipped countries
within the EU (number of computers per employee in the medical sector) (Meglič, Marušič, Anžur &
Kodele, 2007), the situation in 2010 looks worse. Surprisingly large percentages of respondents
described their internet connection and basic computer equipment as poor or very poor (Figure 4). The
same respondent opinion was noted regarding printers, email, connection to the HIIS (which is
compulsory for treating a patient and checking his/her insurance data) and EMR. Comparing them
amongst each other, we noted that only basic IT, such as computers and printers with the addition of
some application software for data management, was slightly better graded compared to other indicators.
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Mitja Decman
Figure 4: Percentages of respondent answers to questions regarding basic IT satisfaction (N=154, 144,
154, 160, 159, 160)
Considering the benefits of IT in the area of the health sector, respondents agree with almost all benefits
put forward by the theory, but they show more uncertainty regarding the benefits of faster patient
treatment, lower health costs and improved patient care (Figure 5). Particularly regarding faster patient
treatment, the level of disagreement was the highest.
Figure 5: Percentages of respondent agreement with HIT benefits (N=152, 145, 152, 153, 154, 152, 153,
153, 149)
Considering the weaknesses of HIT, opinions are less one sided (Figure 6). On average, the respondents
do not recognise problems in relation to data security threats but primarily in focusing on the computer
instead of the patient and the “fear” of errors from process changes that arise with implementation of HIT.
They do realise the importance of the widespread-ness and connectivity of EHR systems to minimise the
weakness and inefficiency of isolated systems.
Figure 7 shows that among the capabilities of EHR systems, the most important to respondents are the
results from specialists and laboratory results. Various treatments can continue at the primary level after
these results are received and even stored for future medical decisions at the health organisation instead
of patients keeping them at home. Respondents also feel that the online checking of personal health
records by the patients is not important including updating of this data by the patients alone. On average,
however, they agree that all of the stated capabilities of EHR systems would significantly influence
patients’ treatment and physicians’ work.
Respondents detect various threats while implementing and using EHR systems (Figure 8).The most
important on average is certainly the high costs of purchase and maintenance, while there is no fear that
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Mitja Decman
the management of the organisation would not have enough interest is such projects. All of the other
threats are graded on average to be relatively equal, giving some more concern to the limited or
inadequate functionalities of existing solutions on the market.
Figure 6: Percentages of respondent agreement with HIT weaknesses (N=144, 152, 155, 155, 155, 152)
Figure 7: Percentages of respondent agreement regarding the importance of the stated capabilities of
EHR (N=146, 147, 144, 145, 145, 151, 148, 150, 153)
5. Conclusion
Information technology in health care is a clear example of how complex and interconnected the field of
informatics is. If not here, then where else are technology, legislation, knowledge, people and policies so
connected and dependant upon one other? Each of these elements is important if not crucial for the
whole and should be treated like that – carefully and of equal importance.
Health information technologies, particularly EHR, are trends in health care, bringing together many
theoretically and practically proven benefits and weaknesses as well so careful planning is essential.
Although many papers question and criticise the most obviously stated benefits, they do not deny that
health information technology should be in place now and in the future but warn that careful planning,
design and implementation should also take place.
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Figure 8: Percentages of respondent agreement regarding the importance of the stated obstacles to
EHR implementation (N= 145, 146, 141, 136, 132, 138, 143)
It should be understood the EMRs and EHRs are here to serve patients and their treatments. This is
shown in the results of the Slovenian empirical research presented in this paper. EHR should be easy to
use so doctors can focus on patients and not on computers as well as entering and retrieving data.
Systems should be connected so patients would cease being the messengers, transporting prescriptions,
laboratory results, orders, etc. Strategists, developers, managers, medical workers and other
stakeholders should carefully consider existing and re-engineered business processes so as to create as
few errors as possible when implementing health information technology.
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Sustaining Electronic Governance Programs in Developing
Countries
Zamira Dzhusupova, Tomasz Janowski, Adegboyega Ojo and Elsa Estevez
UNU-IIST Center for Electronic Governance, Macao, China
zamira@iist.unu.edu
tj@iist.unu.edu
ao@iist.unu.edu
elsa@iist.unu.edu
Abstract: This paper focuses on the challenge of sustaining Electronic Governance (EGOV) initiatives in developing
countries to ensure their real impact on the society. While the challenge is well-recognized in the international
development community, there is little evidence of research that discusses this challenge and how it could be
addressed. This paper attempts to fill this gap by presenting a comprehensive approach which directly addresses the
sustainability issues as part of the EGOV development lifecycle, and demonstrates how this approach was applied in
a real-life project context in Afghanistan, aimed at addressing country-specific EGOV sustainability challenges. In
view of this experience, the paper also discusses the adequacy of the approach to meet a range of sustainability
challenges, with concluding remarks to guide developing countries in their endeavors to sustain EGOV programs.
Keywords: electronic governance program sustainability, electronic governance in developing countries, EGOV.*
framework, national ownership, stakeholder engagement, institutionalization
1. Introduction
Electronic Governance (EGOV) in Developing Countries (DCs) is receiving increased attention given the
‘leapfrogging’ opportunities available through modern technologies (Basu 2004). As in such countries,
governments face resource constraints in improving their operations and delivering services to citizens,
EGOV has been touted as a means of saving costs while improving quality, response times, and access
to services (Westcott, C., Pizarro, M., Schiavo-Campo 2000). However, EGOV has yet to prove
successful in the vast majority of DCs governments (Furuholt & Wahid 2008). Among other factors, the
countries struggling with providing basic necessities to their citizens will not have the same priority for
EGOV development as the wealthier nations (Evans & Yen 2006), (Backus 2001), (Heeks 2008).
A general problem associated with EGOV in DCs, well recognized in the international development
community, is the challenge of sustaining the benefits created by the EGOV programs. Many EGOV
initiatives in DCs are supported by donor organizations which are more successful in achieving their initial
objectives than in sustaining such initiatives beyond their completion time (Heeks 2003). Unfortunately,
few studies focus on the challenges affecting sustainable implementation of EGOV initiatives and how
these challenges could be addressed. This paper attempts to fill this gap. It presents an EGOV
development framework (EGOV.*) which directly addresses a number of sustainability challenges as part
of the EGOV development life-cycle, and discusses the experience with implementing this framework in a
real-life EGOV project in Afghanistan (EGOV.AF).
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents a methodology adopted in this
research. Related work is reviewed in Section 3, followed by background in Section 4. The definition and
major challenges for sustaining EGOV programs in DCs are outlined in Section 5, while the EGOV
development framework and the experience of its practical application in Afghanistan are described in
Sections 6 and 7 accordingly. Section 8 includes a discussion about the findings of this research, and
Section 9 presents concluding remarks and recommendations for future work.
2. Methodology
This research was carried out in five steps. First, we conducted an extensive literature review related to
EGOV sustainability, with the aim of synthesizing the EGOV sustainability factors. Second, we applied
these factors to review an existing EGOV development framework called EGOV.* (Janowski et al. 2010)
to address sustainability issues. Third, we localized the generic EGOV.* sustainability requirements to the
case of Afghanistan. Fourth, we developed and implemented a concrete instance of the EGOV.*
framework in Afghanistan (EGOV.AF) based on the localized requirements which include: collecting
readiness assessment data at the national- and agency-levels, conducting interactive visioning and
strategy development activities with focused groups, building human capacity in government agencies
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Zamira Dzhusupova et al.
based on the training needs of the civil servants, etc. Fifth, based on the EGOV.AF experience, we
identified certain preconditions for effective utilization of the EGOV.* framework in other DCs.
3. Related work
The discussion about sustainability of EGOV initiatives in DCs is still in its infancy (Schuppan 2009). A
handful of the relevant scholarly articles are reviewed in this section. (Furuholt & Wahid 2008) indicated
that long-term sustainability of the EGOV initiatives in DCs remains a challenge, even after a year of
operation, and investigated the reasons. The paper claims that the greatest constraint to EGOV in DCs,
and the reason of exposure to sustainability failures, is dependence on the aid agencies. The paper
argues that strong political leadership, clear vision, early involvement of stakeholders, regular feedback
and partnership are important to sustain progress with limited resources.
Heeks claims that sustainability failures frequently occur because of the design-reality gap (Heeks 2003),
lack of national ownership and weaknesses of the central EGOV institutions which fail to balance external
and internal interests (Heeks 2001a). He argues that when many EGOV initiatives are donor-driven and
key stakeholders are often ignored in planning, this results in insufficient focus on the local context. He
highlighted the role of leadership, commitment of public officials, and the presence of institutions able to
lead, coordinate and sustain EGOV. He emphasized the importance of strategic thinking, knowledge, and
skills and attitudes, especially within the public sector.
(Grönlund et al. 2005) identified the sustainability problem as a critical factor to overcome, claiming that
even DCs at an early EGOV development stage require a comprehensive strategy in a country-specific
context, with long-term political commitment to avoid dependence on the donor organizations. The paper
also argues that sustaining the EGOV effort requires a decision-making system that provides substantial
investment in human resources and social embedment to utilize local labor. (Kumar & Best 2006)
examined the sustainability of EGOV projects in DCs and postulated that such projects fail to be
politically and institutionally sustainable due to a range of people, management, cultural and structural
factors: lack of effective public leadership and sustained commitment, inadequate training of government
officials, and lack of performance evaluation and monitoring, and stakeholder involvement. (Schuppan
2009) analyzed the potentials, opportunities, risks and implications of EGOV development in DCs, and
claimed that a simple transfer of EGOV concepts from North to South is not working. The paper makes
the case for considering the institutional, cultural, and wider administrative contexts to avoid unintended
effects and for focusing on capacity development to build local management competence.
Among the challenges to sustainable EGOV implementation in DCs, (Ali et al. 2009) identified the lack of
capacity in government, limited financial and human resources, dependence on donor funding, lack of
coordination among isolated projects and between levels of government, and lack of awareness and
interest in EGOV from citizens. The paper argues that the reliance on foreign experts leads to little
consideration of the cultural and social issues in the national context. In a summary, the reviewed
literature identifies critical factors causing the EGOV sustainability failure in DCs. However, there is little
evidence of research on possible ways of addressing such challenges.
4. Background
4.1 EGOV programs
The evidence of the benefits and challenges facing EGOV implementations around the world was
reported by the UN surveys (UNDESA 2010), OECD studies (OECD 2003b), reports by the World Bank
and Asia Development Bank, and discussed in (Heeks 2001b), (Zwahr et al. 2005), (Gilgarcia & Pardo
2005) and (Leitner 2006). Successful EGOV programs increase citizen satisfaction, improve government
efficiency, drive down transaction costs (Jaeger 2003), (Evans & Yen 2006), transforms how citizens
interact with government, and influences policy-making processes through e-democracy and eparticipation
(Stanforth & Flynn 2008). However, the observation of the EGOV programs around the world
shows that management-oriented organizational reform creates better conditions to EGOV
implementation (Schuppan 2009).
4.2 EGOV programs in DCs
Many DCs initiated EGOV strategies and programs with support from donor organizations (Heeks
2001a), (Schuppan 2009), (Grönlund et al. 2005), (Hanna & Qiang 2005), (Bhuiyan 2011) aimed at
improving public services and delivering them efficiently and conveniently to customers (Schware &
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Zamira Dzhusupova et al.
Deane 2003). Experience shows that EGOV can improve transparency and thus reduce corruption and
poverty (Bhuiyan 2011). While the benefits of EGOV in DCs and developed countries are the same
(Ndou 2004), many benefits remain unrealized in DCs due to their limited use of ICT.
4.3 EGOV programs in DCs – implementation challenges
As well described in the literature, EGOV initiatives face various challenges for successful
implementation in DCs. (Furuholt & Wahid 2008) classified these challenges into: 1) management -
strategy, change management, political leadership, institutionalization, and continuous project monitoring
and evaluation; 2) infrastructure - ICT infrastructure, legislation and financial resources; and 3) human
factors – competence, skills, training and trust. Alternatively, (Backus 2001) classified them into: 1)
political - strategy and policy, law and legislation, leadership, decision making, funding, international
affairs and political stability; 2) social - people, education, employment, income, digital divide, rural versus
urban areas, rich versus poor, literacy and IT skills; 3) economic - funding, cost-savings, business
models, e-commerce; and 4) technological - software, hardware, infrastructure, telecom, IT workforce,
maintenance, safety and security. (Heeks 2008) identified ten success factors: 1) external pressure, 2)
internal political desire, 3) overall vision and strategy, 4) project management, 5) change management, 6)
politics and self-interest, 7) design, 8) competencies, 9) technological infrastructure and 10) others.
(Grönlund et al. 2005) expressed concern about the lack of long-term political commitment, dependence
on donor organizations and weak human capacity. Among EGOV failure factors (Kumar & Best 2006)
pointed out the lack of effective public leadership and sustained commitment, inadequate training of
government officials, lack of performance evaluation and monitoring, and lack of stakeholder
involvement. (Schuppan 2009) postulated considering the institutional, cultural and administrative
contexts, with particular focus on building local capacity in the setup of EGOV initiatives. Finally, (Ali et al.
2009) identified the challenges to include lack of government capacity, lack of collaboration and
partnership, dependence on external aid, lack of citizen awareness and cultural and social issues.
Table 1 depicts a variety of views on the EGOV implementation challenges in DCs. Despite this variety, a
common understanding among development researchers and practitioners is that the biggest concerns
are policy, management, capacity, funding, cultural and social issues, not technology.
Table 1: EGOV programs in DCs – implementation challenges
(Furuholt & Wahid
2008)
Management - strategy, change, leadership, monitoring, evaluation
Infrastructure - ICT, legislation, financial resources
Human - competence, skills, training, trust
(Backus 2001) Political - strategy, policy, legislation, leadership, funding, stability
Social - education, employment, digital divide, literacy, IT skills
Economic - funding, business models
Technological - infrastructure, maintenance, safety/security
(Heeks 2008) External pressure
Internal political desire
Overall vision and strategy
Project management
Change management
(Grönlund et al.
2005)
(Kumar & Best
2006)
Lack of long-term political commitment
Dependence on donor organizations
Lack of focus on the country development context
Weak human capacity
Lack of public leadership and sustained commitment
Weak government capacity
Lack of evaluation and monitoring
Lack of stakeholder engagement
Politics and self-interest
Design
Competencies
Technological infrastructure
(Schuppan 2009) Lack of focus on institutional, cultural, and administrative contexts
Lack of focus on local capacity and management competence
(Ali et al. 2009) Lack of government capacity
Dependence on donor organizations
Lack of coordination in government
5. Sustaining EGOV programs in DCs
Lack of private sector partnership
Lack of citizen awareness
Cultural and social issues
In this section, we explain the concept of EGOV program sustainability and determine the major
challenges for sustaining EGOV programs in DCs.
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Zamira Dzhusupova et al.
Despite the growing interest in EGOV program sustainability, no explicit definition was proposed in the
literature. We refer to program sustainability as program continuation (Shediac-Rizkallah & Bone 1998)
and particularly how a program can continue creating benefits to the stakeholders (Harvey 2006) through
institutionalization (Pluye 2004) and local capacity building (Harvey 2006).
5.2 Sustaining EGOV programs – challenges in DCs
From the literature review in Sections 2 and 3, sustainability issues are common reasons for failure of the
EGOV initiatives in DCs. Based on this review and our own experience, we identified seven challenges
influencing the sustainability of EGOV programs in DCs:
C1. Ownership - Lack of national ownership (Heeks 2001a), (Sarantis et al. 2011) results in the absence
of a cohesive EGOV strategy (Ronaghan 2002), little consideration of the local context (Dada 2006) and
cultural and social issues (Cloete 2004), (Schuppan 2009), (Bhuiyan 2011), (Kumar & Best 2006),
(UNDESA 2008). The reasons are: reliance on external experts (Ali et al. 2009), (Grönlund et al. 2005),
(Heeks 2003) and ignoring the main stakeholders in EGOV planning, causing lack of ownership, and
dominance of politics and self-interest (Heeks 2001b), (Stanforth & Flynn 2008).
C2. Leadership - Lack of leadership at different levels of government, especially sustained political
leadership, (Heeks 2001b), (Grönlund et al. 2005), (Kifle et al. 2009), (Backus 2001), (OECD 2003a), lack
of commitment from top management and senior officials, causing resource misallocation and negative
message to other groups (Furuholt & Wahid 2008), (UNDESA 2008), (Rose & Grant 2010).
C3. Vision and Strategy - Absence of a long-term vision (Backus 2001) and cohesive implementation
strategy (Sarantis et al. 2011) results in the lack of guidance and connection between ends and means
(Heeks 2008), uncoordinated and isolated projects, and dispersed responsibilities due to multiple
ownership (Cloete 2004), (Ndou 2004).
C4. Institutional Capability - Weak or absent institutions for EGOV policy and coordination (Heeks
2001a), (Schuppan 2009), with low administrative capacity and management liabilities within government
(UNDESA 2003), resulting in the lack of coordination among EGOV projects (Dada 2006), and lack of
collaboration between different functions and levels of government and between public and private
sectors (Heeks 2003). Also, poor project and program management, weakness of controls, ineffective
procurement and change management (Ronaghan 2002), (Heeks 2001b), (Jaeger 2003).
C5. Design Versus Reality - Unrealistic expectations (Dada 2006) and poor understanding of the needs
of people (UNDESA 2008) resulting in poor design which does not match the local environment including
culture, values and needs. This is caused by the lack of inputs from local stakeholders and occurs when
foreign donors and consultants drive the EGOV efforts (Cloete 2004), (Heeks 2003).
C6. Capacity and Awareness - A huge gap exists between the capacities required for EGOV and the
capacities present in most DCs (Heeks 2001a), with shortage of qualified personnel in government and
lack of awareness among officials (Ronaghan 2002) and citizens (Ali et al. 2009). Also the gaps between
the educated and uneducated, the rich and poor result in negative attitudes to EGOV, resistance to
change, and biased provision of e-services (Basu 2004).
C7. Dependence on External Assistance - Because of limited financial and human resources, many
EGOV initiatives in DCs are dependent on the aid agencies, vendors and consultants, making them
particularly vulnerable when the outside funding ends (Heeks 2003), (Grönlund et al. 2005), (Furuholt &
Wahid 2008). When donors work with different agencies, isolation, fragmentation and duplication of
applications may be reinforced (Hanna & Qiang 2005), (Schware & Deane 2003).
To address these factors, there is a need for a comprehensive approach to EGOV design and
development which explicitly considers the sustainability issue.
6. Sustaining EGOV program in DCs: The EGOV.* framework
This section presents a holistic approach to EGOV program development in DCs called EGOV.*. By
design, the approach addresses the challenges related to EGOV program sustainability.
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6.1 EGOV.* framework - overview
Zamira Dzhusupova et al.
The aim of the EGOV.* framework is to build the local ownership and capability for establishing and
sustaining EGOV development in a given Public Administration (PA), particularly in the DCs context. The
framework prescribes a set of six inter-related activities as follows:
A1. Assessing EGOV Readiness – Establishing the state-of-readiness for EGOV development in the PA
and identifying potential stakeholders and their interests, willing to provide inputs for developing a realistic
strategy for EGOV in the PA and to engage in the implementation of this strategy.
A2. Formulating EGOV Vision and Strategy – Engaging the stakeholders identified in A1 in formulating
the long-term vision for EGOV in the PA and the goals, strategies and targets to realize this vision, based
on the findings of the activity A1 and lessons learned from other countries.
A3. Constructing EGOV Program – Setting up a whole-of-government program through which the EGOV
strategy defined through A2 could be implemented across the PA, engaging the stakeholders.
A4. Building Human Capacity – Raising the capacity of the government workforce in the PA, including
leadership, management and technical skills to be able to lead, implement and maintain EGOV
operations, and the capacity of citizens to be able to benefit from the EGOV program.
A5. Building Institutional Capacity – Strengthening the organizational capacity in the PA to be able to
implement and benefit from the EGOV Program constructed through A3.
A6. Building Research Capacity – Building local EGOV research capacity, including the development and
adaptation of methodologies, survey instruments, assessment tools and guidelines, and capacity for
strategic planning and program management adapting international best practices to the local context.
Three main actors in the EGOV.* framework is: government, local stakeholders and external assistance.
The government acts in the role of driver, owner and leader. Local stakeholders are the major
contributors to the EGOV strategy and its implementation. External assistance acts as a facilitator and
mentor. Table 2 shows how the framework ensures a balance between these roles across its six
activities.
EGOV.* promotes the principles of:
P1. National ownership
P2. Strong leadership
P3. Stakeholder engagement
P4. Balancing internal and external roles
Figure 1 depicts the six activities and four principles of the framework.
6.2 EGOV.* framework – addressing sustainability challenges
Here is how EGOV.* addresses the challenges to EGOV sustainability in DCs, identified in Section 4.2:
C1.Ownership - EGOV.* helps secure the national ownership of the EGOV program by balancing the
internal influences from the PA and external influences from the aid agencies, vendors and international
consultants, and building leadership at all levels of the PA. Table 2 elaborates how this balance is
achieved by all actors involved and across all EGOV.* activities.
C2. Leadership - In order to build leadership in government, A4 prescribes the organization of schools for
policy-makers, decision-makers and public managers to overcome EGOV implementation challenges
through new competencies. Moreover, a governance structure defined within A3 aims at political,
strategic and managerial leadership and long-term commitment to sustaining the EGOV program.
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Zamira Dzhusupova et al.
C3. Vision and Strategy - Based on readiness assessment carried out in A1 and international
experiences investigated in A6, A2 defines the vision and strategy for long-term EGOV operation, with
concrete benefits created to various stakeholders. The participatory process ensures consensus on the
EGOV direction among the key stakeholders and their collaboration in the EGOV implementation.
P2 – Leadership P3 – Engagement
A3 - Constructing EGOV Program
P1 – National Ownership
A2 - Formulating EGOV Vision and Strategy
A1 - Assessing EGOV Readiness
Figure 1: EGOV.* framework – principles and activities
Table 2: EGOV.* framework – actors and roles
Activities
Government
Actors and Roles
Local Stakeholders External Assistance
A1 -
Raising awareness
Providing information on Facilitating assessment process
Assessing Building assessment team stakeholder profiles and Providing methodologies and tools
EGOV Identifying/analyzing stakeholders
interests
Building assessment capacity
Readiness Communicating with stakeholders Participating in the survey Adapting assistance to local
Defining the scope of assessment Partnering in the assessment
conditions
Organizing the survey
exercise
Designing the assistance process
Gathering data, providing Advisory and consultancy Analyzing survey data
helpdesk
services
Providing feedback on
assessment
Offering recommendations
A2 - Organizing visioning/strategy Providing inputs for vision, Facilitating visioning and strategy
Formulatin
events
goals, strategies, directions development process and
g EGOV Engaging stakeholders
and action lines
mentoring
Vision and Gathering inputs from Providing feedback during Providing methodologies and tools
Strategy
stakeholders
public consultation Building capacity for strategic
Drafting strategy document Partnership for capacity
planning
Organizing public consultation building and strategic Analyzing and summarizing the
Driving strategy adoption
planning
inputs from major stakeholders
Building a partnership platform Advisory and consultancy
services
Offering recommendations
A3 - Defining program objectives, Providing inputs for program Facilitating program development
Constructin
governance
development
between government and
g EGOV Setting up planning, Capacity building for project
stakeholders
Program implementation, monitoring and
management
Providing methodologies and
control of projects Partnership in implementation
tools
Adopting stakeholder, benefits, Advisory and consultancy Building program management
portfolio and risk management
services
capacity
Providing feedback on
program design
Offering recommendations
A4 – Building Human
Capacity
P4 – Balancing Internal and External Roles
208
A5 – Building
Institutional Capacity
A6 – Building Research
Capacity

Activities
A4 -
Building
Human
Capacity
A5 -
Building
Institutional
Capacity
A6 -
Building
Research
Capacity
Zamira Dzhusupova et al.
Actors and Roles
Government Local Stakeholders External Assistance
Raising awareness
Organizing workshops and
trainings
Disseminating training materials
Anchoring the culture of capacity
building
Disseminating learning materials
Defining a platform for long-life
learning of government managerial
IT staff
Adaptation of methodologies,
surveys, tools and guidelines to
local conditions
Benchmarking studies and data
analysis
Partnership in developing
human capacity for EGOV
implementation and use
Proving advisory and
consultancy services
Partnership in building
leadership and management
capability in government
Advisory and consultancy
services
Designing capacity building
programs
Partnership in developing
research capacity
Providing advisory and
consultancy services
Facilitating partnership to build
human capacity
Providing methodologies, tools
and courses
Offering recommendations based
on international experience
Facilitating partnerships to build
leadership and management
capability
Providing methodologies, tools,
courses
Offering recommendations
Supervising and mentoring staff
Facilitating partnership for
research
Engaging local staff in adapting
instruments and data analysis and
benchmark studies
Providing methodologies, tools,
courses, supervision, and
mentoring
C4. Institutional Capability - An EGOV program defined in A3 aims at raising the efficiency and assuring
the alignment of EGOV initiatives with whole-of-government goals, towards institutionalizing EGOV
development and ensuring its sustainable operation. The program facilitates the creation of new
capabilities within government and engages various stakeholders in adopting tools to local conditions.
C5. Design Versus Reality – A1 helps address this challenge by assessing the demand, capabilities and
environment for EGOV, underpinning the development in A2 of a realistic EGOV strategy that responds
to the local needs and context, and establishing within A3 a platform for sustaining EGOV.
C6. Capacity and Awareness – In order to raise awareness of EGOV among the stakeholders and their
capacity to contribute and benefit, A5 prescribes workshops on global trends, opportunities and
challenges of EGOV in DCs, while A4 provides training to build capacity in the PA to lead, coordinate and
implement the EGOV program. In addition, while implementing the EGOV program, a key strategy is
building PA’s capacity to implement EGOV and citizen awareness to benefit from it.
C7. Dependence on External Assistance - Active engagement of the EGOV stakeholders and building
partnership with the private sector, academia and non-government organizations helps address the
dependence on external assistance. In addition, balancing internal and external influences by defining the
roles of different actors, focusing on building local capability and using local workforce for EGOV program
implementation support self-sustained EGOV operation.
7. Case study – EGOV.AF
In this section we present our experience in applying the EGOV.* framework in Afghanistan and explain
how the EGOV sustainability issues were addressed within the EGOV.AF project.
7.1 About EGOV.AF project
One of the poorest countries in the world, affected by long history of war and conflicts, Afghanistan has
weak institutions (World Bank 2010) and low human development index (UNDP 2010). At the same time,
the government recognizes that good governance, rule of law, human rights and public engagement are
imperative for the country, and views the rapidly developing ICT sector as a huge opportunity.
The EGOV.AF project was jointly initiated by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
(MCIT) and the UNU-IIST Center for Electronic Governance (UNU-IIST-EGOV), aimed at developing the
nationally-owned EGOV strategy and program, well-aligned with the national development and public
reforms priorities. The authors designed this project and implementation it with MCIT.
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Zamira Dzhusupova et al.
7.2 Addressing sustainability challenges within EGOV.AF
The EGOV.* framework was utilized in Afghanistan through the project instance called EGOV.AF. Here is
how EGOV.AF addressed the sustainability challenges specific to the Afghanistan context:
C1. Ownership - Aiming to secure the local ownership of the EGOV program, the roles of the project
partners and local stakeholders were agreed as follows: 1) MCIT, as project owner, coordinated all
activities and communicated with internal and external stakeholders; 2) Local stakeholders - agencies,
NGOs and international organizations, private sector ICT providers, banks and universities contributed to
the assessment, vision, strategy and program design; 3) UNU-IIST-EGOV provided the direction,
facilitation, methodological support, training, supervision and mentoring; and 4) program board was
recommended to ensure the long-term top-level support to the EGOV program.
C2. Leadership - While strong leadership exists in MCIT to drive EGOV and a few ICT champions are
located in different ministries and agencies, the awareness of the role of EGOV is limited and the
leadership capacity at different levels of PA to drive EGOV implementation is scarce, leading to isolated
and often duplicated initiatives supported by different aid organizations and foreign consultants. In view of
this, the project organized a series of schools and workshops for senior officials and managers from the
central and provincial governments to build leadership at all levels. Active participation of government
leaders from ministries and agencies and collaboration with MCIT during assessment and strategic
planning were most useful. To ensure whole-of-government collaboration during program implementation
and operation, it was recommended to establish the Government Chief Information Officer structure.
C3. Vision and Strategy - A series of multi-stakeholder workshops were organized by MCIT and
facilitated by UNU-IIST-EGOV, using local assessment data and international experiences to produce the
whole-of-government EGOV vision, strategic goals and concrete action lines. The vision and strategy will
guide MCIT in implementing EGOV to utilize the strengths of various stakeholders and to respond to the
needs and development priorities of Afghanistan
C4. Institutional Capability - In order to strengthen government capacity for developing and implementing
the EGOV program, UNU-IIST-EGOV provided training, supervision and mentoring across all activities of
the project, supplied methodologies and tools for stakeholder analysis, readiness assessment and
strategy and program development, and offered fellowships to the staff from MCIT and Kabul University
for learning and research. A whole-of-government EGOV program resulting from EGOV.AF will result in
the institutionalization of EGOV development in Afghanistan.
C5. Design Versus Reality - UNU-IIST-EGOV provided the assessment methodology and instruments,
adapted them to the local context, and trained the local assessment team from MCIT. The team
interviewed various stakeholders and reviewed official documents and reports, collecting information on
the demand for EGOV, public services, enabling environment, available resources and capacity,
perceptions and challenges, and stakeholders and their interests. The assessment helped develop a
realistic EGOV strategy and a sustainable program that respond to the needs of Afghanistan.
C6. Capacity and Awareness - A series of awareness-building events were organized by MCIT and UNU-
IIST-EGOV to build support for EGOV, targeting representatives from government, private sector, NGOs
and universities, while capacity building events developed the skills required for EGOV implementation -
leadership, strategic planning, change management, program management and research. Among the
key EGOV implementation strategies are: creating the enabling environment; building stakeholder
partnership; and raising citizen awareness to be able to benefit from EGOV.
C7. Dependence on External Assistance - This challenge has been addressed by assigning clear roles to
major actors - MCIT as project owner, UNU-IIST-EGOV as facilitator and mentor, and local stakeholders
as contributors, and using partnership arrangements to engage the stakeholders in implementation. For
example, EGOV.AF enabled MCIT to establish the EGOV Competency Center in partnership with
academia and international, to act as a source of local expertise.
8. Discussion
The sustainability of EGOV initiatives in DCs, characterized by resources constraints, corruption, weak
governance and unstable political and economical conditions is a major need and challenge. In this
study, based on existing works and our own field experience, we examined the major challenges to
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Zamira Dzhusupova et al.
EGOV program sustainability in DCs. Our findings identified seven challenges: C1) lack of local
ownership; C2) lack of leadership; C3) unrealistic or absent vision and strategy; C4) weak institutional
capability; C5) design-reality gap; C6) lack of awareness and capacity; and C7) dependence on external
assistance. To address such challenges, we proposed to use a holistic EGOV development framework
called EGOV.*. EGOV.* prescribes six activities involved in the EGOV design and implementation, and
focuses on building human, organizational and institutional capacity to be able to plan, coordinate,
implement and sustain EGOV locally. EGOV.* identifies three main categories of actors and assigns
them specific roles in EGOV development: the government leads, coordinates and implements EGOV;
local stakeholders contribute to EGOV design, development, implementation and operation through
partnerships; and external assistance facilitates the development of the national capacity. In particular,
EGOV.* addresses the sustainability challenges throughout the EGOV program lifecycle, by utilizing
strong leadership and stakeholder engagement to build the national ownership of the EGOV efforts, and
by carefully balancing the internal and external influences to avoid dependence on external assistance.
From our experience applying the EGOV.* framework in Afghanistan (EGOV.AF project), we observe that
the presence of the following conditions is essential for successful EGOV implementation: 1) A
government organization responsible for leading EGOV development, with dedicated staff for planning
and coordination; 2) A few EGOV promoters at the political and strategic level, who can mobilize internal
and external stakeholders; 3) Understanding of the complexity of EGOV design, development and
implementation, at least within the government organization responsible for EGOV, and the recognition of
the importance of building partnerships; 4) Some organisations outside government, with sufficient
interest and capacity to engage in the partnership for EGOV; 5) A shared understanding within the
government of the national development priorities and the potential of EGOV to offer improvements within
and outside government; and 6) A critical mass of e-champions present in government ministries and
agencies. When these conditions are not met, the effectiveness of the EGOV.* framework can be limited.
9. Conclusions
In this research, we examined the key challenges to sustaining the Electronic Governance (EGOV)
programs in Developing Countries (DCs), and presented an approach to overcoming them, based on the
EGOV development framework called EGOV.*. EGOV.* addresses the sustainability challenges
throughout the EGOV program lifecycle by localization - considering the local context, promoting local
ownership and developing local capability for leading, implementing and sustaining EGOV initiatives.
Based on the EGOV.* implementation experience in Afghanistan (EGOV.AF), we argue that this
approach could guide the development of sustainable EGOV programs in DCs. However, the effective
application of this framework requires a number of conditions to be met. At present, the framework is
being implemented in another country in Africa and a formal evaluation framework is under development
to assess the sustainability of the resulting EGOV programs.
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pp. 1-9.
UNDP 2010, Human Development Report, viewed 25 April 2010, .
World Bank 2010, Countries and Economies, viewed 20 April 2010, .
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Adapting Family Card System by Means of Smart Cards
Magdy Elhennawy, Tarek Saad, Ashraf abdel Wahab and Sameh Bedair
Ministry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD), Cairo, Egypt
mhennawy@ad.gov.eg
tsaad@ad.gov.eg
awahab@ad.gov.eg
sbedair@ad.gov.eg
Abstract: The Egyptian government has defined policies to provide subsidies to support its citizens. However, there
have been obstacles in defining the citizens who truly deserve the subsidies as well as a need to monitor the
allocation of funds more closely, and enhance the level of implementation of the process. The smart family card
would replace the traditional ration book, which was filled out by hand at the grocery store registered as an outlet for
rations and signed by the ration book holder. The system was no longer efficient enough to accommodate the
growing population, and documentation was not accurately updated to ensure that subsidized goods were reaching
targeted citizens. The new system allowed the registered outlet only replacing goods that have already been claimed
by smart card, with all transactions being electronically monitored and documented, thus eliminating waste or illegal
transactions. The electronic system for the family card was designed to provide citizens with the services offered by
the government; such as pensions and medical insurance as well as subsidized goods or their monetary equivalent.
The smart cards can be used at grocery stores authorized to sell subsidized goods as well as at ATM machines. The
family card project has provided a comprehensive database of Egyptian families which can be used by decision
makers in defining the families in need, as well as tracing consumption levels and patterns across the country. The
implementation has resulted in over US$1,217 Million gross till now in savings through controlling distribution of
subsidies. The system takes into consideration the need for constant updates to guarantee the accuracy of
information. After in-depth study and analysis it was found to be financially feasible to outsource the project to a
private sector company, who would be responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of the
technology related to the project as well as applying high level international standards for data and process
security.In this research, Family Card System has been presented. In section 1, background about MSAD is
presented. The case is introduced in section 2. The reason why using smart cards is introduced in section 3. The
case is introduced in section 4 covering the operatuional aspects, the technical architecture, acceptance and
development methodologies, then the lessons learned. The encountered obstacles is introduced in section5. The
neat profit from the system deployment is introduced in section 6. The analysis of the system results is discussed in
section 7. Finally the conclusions and future work is written in section 8.
Keywords: smart cards, network communications, Information security
1. Organization background
One of the main roles of the Ministry of State for Administrative Development is to improve the
governmental services provided to citizens, through evolved information and communications
technologies.
MSAD has been doing a lot of effort to achieve its roles, which improved Egypt international rank in
human capital index; from 140 in 2003 to 138 in 2010, in e-Government; from 162 in 2003 to 23 in 2010,
and in general rank; from 140 in 2003 to 86 in 2010. Figure 1 shows the above status over years.
Figure 1: Egypt’s ranking in human capital, e-Government, and general ranking worldwide
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Magdy Elhennawy et al.
MSAD has designed its organization structure in a resilient and effective way to cope with the rapidly
changing market, as it divides its core activities into four programs; 1) Government Services
Development, 2) Enterprise Resource Planning, 3) Establishing and Linking National Databases, and 4)
Institutional Development Program.
1.1 The government services development program
In this program, objectives are set at: 1) Provide distinguished services for citizens, businessmen, and
investors, 2) Provide a convenient working environment for both employees and citizens, 3) Promote
transparency through separation between citizen and service provider , and 4) Enhance monitoring and
follow-up procedures.
To achieve such objectives, MSAD proposes the following service delivery channels which are: 1)
Internet, through the Egyptian Government Portal (www.egypt.gov.eg), Investment Portal
(www.investment.gov.eg), Business Portal, Education Portal, Governorates Portals , Phones ,
Landline Phones (Call centers and CRM’s), and Mobile Phones, and 2) Service Providers, such as:
Service Bureaus , and Individuals.
For Internet Services, the number of visitors to the e-government portal www.egypt.gov.eg is about one
million/month. On the other hand, the information provided on the investment portal
www.investment.gov.eg is in four languages, for investors. Total number of visitors during 2009: 10
million.
1.2 The enterprise resource planning program
In this program, objectives are set to increase accuracy & efficiency, and reduce expenditure. Many
applications have been implemented to serve such objectives, such as: e-archiving & document
exchange, financial units, purchasing, personnel & payroll, e-Inventory-exchange between different
governmental bodies to reduce stagnant stock, Egyptian products online catalog, medical e-archiving,
and payroll databases.
Also, the government e-procurement portal, launched: January 2010, targets the following objectives:1)
promote transparency in government procurement process , 2) provide Central registration of suppliers,
3) optimize the procurement cycle through all government entities, 4) reduce procurement costs while
increasing ROI, 5) optimize inventory levels through the adoption of efficient procurement practices, 6)
improve the ability to audit the public procurement expenditures.
1.3 The establishing and linking national databases program
In this program, objectives are set to establish an integrated national database, where government
entities and institutions can exchange data with one another in an efficient and safe environment. This
will lead to simplifying the procedures for citizens, when requesting governmental services throughout the
country. In addition, the program will also contribute to identifying various methods that could be used in
delivering the different subsidized items to the specified target groups
The objectives are to provide accurate & updated information to support the decision making process and
serve investors, to cover both: social and economic outcomes.
The social outcomes can be achieved by the family database, education database, and national ID
database. Linking them together will reduce drop out from schools at for children in earlier stages. On
the other hand, the economical outcomes can be achieved by the real-estate registration and unified
economical establishments’ records.
1.4 The institutional development program
The objective is to study existing organizations in terms of roles & responsibilities, laws & regulations,
and organizational structures to move from static hierarchical structures to dynamic structures from point
of view of both teams & projects, cycles & processes, and human resources development & capacity
building.
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2. Case introduction
Magdy Elhennawy et al.
The family card system has been proposed, studied, analyzed, designed, contracted and is currently
operationally monitored by the MSAD. The stakeholders of the system include the Ministry of Social
Solidarity (MSS), MSAD, and the Egyptian society.
MSAD has outsourced the implementation of the system to a consortium which was responsible for the
following: building the system components, technical support to system programs and applications,
hosting of family card database, availing service provision centers, availing call center, applying networks
and communication lines, training of civil servants responsible for managing the system, system
management, system operation and maintenance, and availing of necessary applications and tools.
The family card system is intended to build a complete system for achieving a set of objectives. Such
objectives are: Guaranteeing the delivery of the support services to the deserved people, provide a
families database to support the services delivery and help decision maker, allow civilized environment to
provide the service in a civilized mode. The system was composed of a set of basic components as
shown in Figure 2, namely: centralized database hosted in a specialized data center, set of applications
to achieve the system functionalities, call center to allow interaction with the citizens, technical support
center to guarantee the system security and service provision continuity, supply offices automation to
supervise system activities, service centers to conduct families data manipulation. To allow delivering
more than one service to the citizen using the same smart card, the system employs a multi-application
smart card technology. (Hendry, 2007).
Call
Center
Interaction
Wholesaler
Technical
Support
Technical Support
Family Database
System Applications
Data
Manipulation
Supervision Service
Center
Supervision
Technical
Support
Technical Support
Centers
Technical
Support
Supply
Offices
Figure 2: The system basic components
The Egyptian government adopted some strategies and objectives to implement the project:
Big projects should start by a pilot to measure the feasibility before generalization all over the
country.
Outsourcing the implementation, operation, and maintenance of the system.
Employing only one smart card to support all support services.
Ensuring that the citizen should not bear any extra costs.
Centralizing the design and decentralizing the implementation. The system is designed once and
implemented as a pilot, then it is deployed in other governorates in Egypt with little customization
according to each governorate requirements.
Decentralizing service provision by creating untraditional outlets to fulfill the citizen's needs. Before
the system, the social pension was delivered to the citizen from a specific social unit, which led to
long queues and crowdedness. After the implementation of the system, other outlets like banks
branches, ATM units, etc… are present to deliver the pension from anywhere
Applying new methods of management that consider the aspect of efficiency and guarantee the ideal
usage of the resources
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3. Why was the implementation through smart cards?
The Egyptian government decided, in 2005, to deploy a system allowing the citizen to deliver his monthly
ration commodities from any grocer all over the Egypt. Before the system deployment, in the paper card
system, each family is associated with a specific grocer that can deliver his monthly commodities only
from hem. The requested system should be reliable enough such that each family can deliver her
monthly ration commodities in more than one time and from any grocer all over Egypt. To achieve this
aim, we need a smart token that can provide the following facilities: can store information about the
deserved monthly commodities, can process such data to deliver part of his monthly total and compute
the remaining for a next delivery time, and can communicate on-line with the central system to control the
delivery of the monthly commodities from any grocer anywhere in Egypt. Besides, it can store and
communicate such data securely with the central system. The only smart token that allows such
specifications is the smart cards.
4. Case description
4.1 The situation before implementing the project
Before the project implementation, the process of delivering food commodities was completely manual
and paper based, which led to lack of follow up, high leakage ratios, and in-accurate delivery of the
commodities to the deserved families. The process implied that, each group of targeted families, to
receive food commodities, is linked to a specific grocer. Accordingly, each grocer receives, on a monthly
basis, the products corresponding to the summation of commodities for all families linked to that grocer,
referred to as a full quota even if the grocer did not deliver all such quotas to deserved families.
Each family is provided a paper card to receive the relevant monthly commodities. The family used to go
to the grocer, receives the commodities, and then, pays for what has been received and then signs a
grocer paper document. As a matter of fact, the subsidized commodities are cheaper than the market
prices as it is supported by government.
Eventually, indispensable commodities are not monitored and the grocer can sell them outside the
system. The grocer prepares a monthly report stating his quota, revises it with the associated supply
office, and gets approval that the full quota has been delivered to deserved people and eventually proof
that what he will receive is correct. Then, the report goes to the wholesaler to receive the grocer's quota.
So, the grocer receives, on a monthly basis, the full quota irrespective if he is actually delivering all of
them to the citizens or not.
Another weakness of the manual and paper based system is when the grocer receives his full quota from
the wholesaler; he can manipulate the quota limit assigned to him illegally and informally with the supply
office.
Moreover, any changes that occur in the family data (new born insertion in the paper card, family address
change, grocer change …) should be registered on the paper document in the supply office, manually.
The manual system is time consuming and gives great chances for inconsistency of registries, corruption,
and mistakes. Not to mention the large storage space needed for filling such documents.
Similarly, the delivery of social pensions suffered the same shortcomings before the system, (same
process, and same disadvantages). The people attaining the social pension were registered and received
the service manually. However, the social pension is given to families according to certain social criteria
which, in the manual system, can be forged, consequently, non-eligible citizens can privilege from
pensions.
This is similar in the delivery of health insurance; it suffered the same weak points before the system. It
subject to bad manipulation and weak provision of the service.
Hence, the Egyptian government has adopted smart cards as a tool to provide various social and support
services (food commodities, social pension, health insurance, educational support,…) to underprivileged
citizens. Thus, the government relied on the use of information and communications technology as a
means to manage and control the delivery of social services to citizens. Meanwhile, a database for the
Egyptian family is implemented to support the decision making related to subsidized services.
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4.2 System operational aspects
Magdy Elhennawy et al.
The family card system consists of operational components, which allows the successful delivery of
services to eligible families. Each family receives a smart card. Smart card contains indicators for the
quantities allowed for that family. The grocer is equipped with a point of sale, POS, to register the
commodities delivery transactions. The family card holder inserts his card in the POS located in the
grocer shop and chooses the needed commodities, the POS issues a receipt of such chosen quantities.
Accordingly, family card holder receives commodities, pays the grocers the value of money, and the
transaction is sent to the central system through the system network. Accordingly, a lot of processing and
many operational and statistical reports can be issued to plan for the service delivery and the decision
making support. Figure 3 shows the system operational aspects.
Issuing &
personalizing
Smart Cards
Grocer Card Distribution
Citizen Card Distribution
Paper
Cards
Figure 3: The system operational aspects
Generating Electronic
Data
Electronic
Database
Citizen
Card
Transaction
Registration
Grocer Shop
POS
Central
System
Grocer
Card
4.3 System technical architecture
The system technical architecture defines the technologies to be used by (or built in) one, more, or all
information systems in terms of its data, processes, interfaces, and network components. (Kendal, 2003).
It defines the framework for the general design of the system.
To avoid monopoly, the system has been implemented by three vendors, each is responsible about
implementing the system in a group of governorates. MSAD has studied the system requirements,
prepared its specifications, then delivered specifications to various vendors for implementation.
The system is transaction based one; it records the transaction of delivering commodities to the citizens.
This transaction happened in the grocer shop, is be transferred to the central system, in which the system
applications and database are hosted. The applications and database are hosted in professional center
that provides the standard specifications needed to secure database and applications. Such center has
been equipped with several power sources, main and alternate power generators, more than one Internet
connections. Meanwhile, firewalls and protection equipment are installed to prevent any inbound
suspicious. Figure 4 shows the system technical architecture. MSAD, on the other hand, continually
restores master and backup copies of family database for safety reasons.
As the family card system is a national and process critical system; expandability, system resilience,
system robustness, key management and security, interoperability, and continuity, were critical factors
that have been taken into consideration during its design process.
As the system is designed for expandability, the system allows to add new services in the future, even
after the distribution of cards to citizens. It has been achieved by employing multi-application smart card
technology (Hendry, 2007; EMVCO, 2000; Katherine, 2002), which allows installing more than one
application on the card. This technology should allow adding new application to the card remotely.
Moreover, the internal file structure of the card should be built to be adoptable and expandable.
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Magdy Elhennawy et al.
As system is designed in such a way to achieve resilience, the system has been designed to be
completely fault tolerant system (two nodes of each server, using high availability clusters). It has been
also designed to have double communication lines between different components (POS can
communicate either over LAN or GPRS with more than one operator - support centers communicate with
data center using frame relay and backup internet lines - availability of backup strategy.
Service
Centers
Date Center
Group#1 Govs.
System Applications
Grocers
3 rd Vendor
Backup Copy
Family Database
Supply
Offices
Service
Centers
Main Copy
Family Database
Date Center
Group#2 Govs.
System Applications
Grocers Supply
Offices
2 nd Vendor
Service
Centers
Date Center
Group#3 Govs.
System Applications
Grocers
1 st Vendor
Supply
Offices
Figure 4: The system technical architecture
As system is designed in such a way to achieve robustness, the system should be rigid, and robust, and
can work under worst condition. To achieve this, the system has been designed such that POSs can
work offline as well as online. Besides, reports can be available both on application server over http and
using client/server over TCP/IP. Relevant tools have been built to support manual operations for
uploading transactions using USB to transfer and upload batches even if communication between POS
and data center is down. If batches are corrupted, tools are available to fix corruption. If batch is lost,
manual screen is used to enter them manually using the printed receipts. Meanwhile, data is available in
more than one location which helps the reconstruction of information even when some data is lost.
The system should be secure and protected from any unauthorized entity, process, or individual.
(Schneier, 1996; Stalling, 1995). To achieve this, the transactions exchanged over the system are
encrypted to allow confidentiality of exchanged information over the network. (Schneier, 1996; Stalling,
1995). This process has been achieved by acquiring the Host Security machine, HSM, which is
responsible for encryption key generation, referencing when encrypting or decrypting the exchanged
transactions. Besides, the system has a Communication & switching server software which facilitates the
transaction authentication API, card management system API. Meanwhile, each card has unique
different 24 keys derived from a master key, Smart cards support multi-applications technology, so, each
application is protected by different set of keys which helps the concurrent use of card between different
service providers.
As for the interoperability, any component in the system in one governorate is able to interface with other
components in other governorate. Since three vendors were responsible for building the system in
various governorates of Egypt, the interoperability between them is a vital issue. A group of
interoperability tests have been designed and executed to insure the POS, smart cards, and other system
components in belonging to various vendors are interoperable.
The system continuity means the system continues working even in case of any unexpected events
happened. This has been achieved in the system through using main and alternate servers, applying
backup and disaster recovery strategies, providing the various security features, using uninterrupted
power supply UPS with grocers POSs, training the system operators and servants, and finally, procuring
the system HW with a specifications suitable to the field of application.
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The system development strategy provides development environment, followed by testing and staging
environment where we can develop the system initially, or modify any bugs in batches, as well as adding
any new required features in the system. This strategy allows the operational system is continually
operated while any requested modifications are in progress as shown in Figure 5.
Production
Environment
Family Database
Hosting
Figure 5: System development strategy
4.4 System acceptance
Test/Staging
Environment
Development
Environment
The system acceptance has followed a user acceptance methodology, which guarantees the correct
deployment of the system. During the system design phase, the acceptance tests document has been
prepared, revised, and approved by MSAD project team. This document includes the set of tests to be
conducted, which are classified as: functional tests, performance tests, installation tests, network
connection tests, and database hosting tests. The document covers, for each test, the following: test
name, test objectives, tests steps, expected results for each step, and corresponding test report that
should be filled during execution of the test. On the other hand, the document should contain the test
data, the tests scenarios, and timing execution frame. Finally, each test has been executed on the
system platform as well as on the field after system installation.
4.5 Key benefits of implementing the project
The system guarantees the delivery of the services to the underprivileged citizens through a
computerized application, up-to-date database, and efficient incurring system. It establishes monitoring,
controls over the infiltration and loss in supports, and allows creation of a civilized environment through
which underprivileged citizens can acquire their services. It achieves transparency through the
establishment of clear and neutral processes for acquiring and managing subsidies.
The project also resulted in reduction of consumption/beneficiary. This is mainly due to the fact that
distribution was not as controlled in the past. And even though 18 million new beneficiaries were added to
the subsidies system, it still resulted in savings of US$1,217 Million Egyptian Pounds gross till now over
subsidies.
The system includes building an integrated family database to support the system together with relevant
statistics needed to analyze the behavior of the Egyptian families. It avails accurate, up-to-date, and
timely data needed for future support planning and supporting decision making which targets a better
quality of living. Hence, the government can use such database to identify social problems and
consequently exert efforts to enforce Egyptian families to change their living style. This can happen
through eradicating illiteracy, and working against unhealthy habits.
The system includes a call center, with low cost call fees, to allow citizens call and record their problems,
remarks, comments, and recommendations that may lead to improve the system. Accordingly, the citizen
has the chance to participate and better express their needs through electronic mean leading to influence
policy-making.
The system was implemented in phases. Phase 1 consisted of a pilot project in one governorate in 2005.
In Phase 2, other fifteen governorates were covered in 2008. In addition, the social pension service has
been added to the smart card, as well. Phase 3 was covering the remaining governorates. It has been
completely covered by July 2010. It is working now properly. The system currently covers 29
governorates with 12 million smart cards. The Health Insurance service has been added to the card for
one governorate (as a pilot) and has started from January, 2010. (Elhennawy, 2011). New governorates
are soon starting to be covered.
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Moreover, the culture of using smart cards, which is one of the worldwide De facto delivery mechanisms,
is expanding in Egypt. Hence, Egypt's technological pointer is subject to improvement.
4.6 The development and implementation Methodology
The Egyptian government has planned to enlarge and empower the subsidy of commodities, the social
pension, health insurance, and other services to cover underprivileged families. The family card is geared
towards achieving such goal. As a key development issue, MSAD has followed the spiral methodology to
implement the system development life cycle.
The key development and implementation steps were:
Establishing an electronic database for Egyptian families including the transactions performed for
each type of service.
Defining the overall system technical architecture, and defining the various technologies and
implementation strategies.
Preparing the top-level design of the system, and defining the system configuration.
Developing, for each service, an application to manage the service database to support provision of
the service to the deserved families.
Issuing multi-application smart cards for services delivery.
Building the network infrastructure of the system that allows all stakeholders for the service to
communicate together.
Building the service centers that will manage the database updates according to predefined rules. It
also manages the replacement of the damaged and lost smart cards. A formula defining the number
of service centers corresponding to the number of families required to be covered has been proposed
and implemented accordingly.
Building a call center to receive the citizens' requests and complaints. The call center is equipped
with a complaints management system that traces the received complaints until fulfillment.
Training the system users. The training includes a theoretical and on-the–job training sessions.
Hardware and Software installation and overall system deployment.
4.7 The resources allocated for the system
MSAD has allocated four different resources for the below mentioned purposes:
Database Technical Unit (DTU); a dedicated unit to electronic database activities management, such as
database design, validation and verification procedures. In addition, the unit proposes and implements a
set of criteria to link the Family database with other national databases for further validation and
verification purposes as well as fulfillment of other citizen support services.
Distributed Team (DT); a contracted team dedicated to survey the system activities amongst different
Egyptian governorates. It is responsible for enforcing the system regulations and implementations in the
governorates. Also, ensuring the right and smooth distribution of smart cards to citizens, as well as
making sure that the PIN mailer distribution is proceeding correctly. After establishing the service, DT
responsibility extends to monitor and guarantee the quality of the service provision.
Family Project Task Force (FPTF); responsible for DTU supervision, DT follow-up, and ensuring that the
overall system components are correct. It also manages and ensures the follow up of various system
standards, such as: system development life cycle, data entry and conversion procedures, fault resolution
and analysis, performance evaluation activities, and smart cards versus PIN mailer restrictive distribution
procedures.
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Project Management Group (PMG); responsible for the follow-up of all previously mentioned resources,
as well as managing other project procedures, such as: financial, management, and technical issues. It
manages the contractual aspects of the project.
4.8 The impact and lessons learned
The system have resulted in better targeting of underprivileged families (since all relevant data is stored
in an electronic database, it was easy to identify them), and better decision making; if statistical data
show less tendency to use certain items, they can be replaced by other highly demanded ones.
The main lessons learned, can be summarized as follows:
Big projects should start with a pilot project to prove the success of the system even if on a smaller
scale, to discover problems, rectify them and create a win-win case with all stakeholders.
Social considerations of the project should be considered prior to technical aspects. Citizen
considerations and requirements should be taken into account from the start before planning and
implementation phases.
Capacity building of different stakeholders is crucial to the success of the system. The system covers
a training to grocers, supply offices employee's, and service centers employee's
Considerable effort is required to change the citizen’s culture to use new technologies for service
delivery. Public symposia for each new implemented governorate have been executed, the system
has been explained and a round discussion for all the participating entities was conducted.
The key performance indicators of the system should be clearly stated and followed up.
5. The main obstacles during design phase.
The system has encountered various obstacles that have faced the deployment of the project. They can
be summarized as follows:
The first obstacle: To achieve the system objectives, we need a network that covers all grocers all over
Egypt. It can be through the dial up or ADSL connection. Unfortunately, some grocers have no telephone
lines. It can be achieved through the GSM mobile networks. But, the three available mobile networks
(Mobinil, Vodafone, Etisalat) have shortage in coverage of some regions in Egypt. The selected optimal
solution is to use manual transfer of batches through flash memory wherever there is no available dial up
or ADSL connection or mobile networks coverage.
The second obstacle: During the deployment of the system, the grocers and supply offices employees
culture, who used to use manual system and paper cards, was one of the obstacles. The grocer
reluctance to use the automated system is another obstacles. They did not use any automated systems
or smart cards technology, and have no any technical background before. It has been overcome by
conducting public announcements through different seminars, meetings, and symposiums to explain the
system components and roles of individual system stakeholders. On the other hand, training to grocers
and supply offices employees has been conducted. Training has covered theoretical in class rooms,
practical upon the system equipments and on the job training during the system installation on site.
The third obstacle: The system should guarantee the continuation of the service provision, even in case
of power failure or in case of equipment failure. The continuation of the service provision, in case of
power failure has been solved by providing UPS units accompanied with each POS, or using a
rechargeable battery. The continuation of the service provision, in case of equipment failure has been
solved by duplicating the POS in sites, besides, contracting with a support policy that enforces the
contractor to replace the failed POS during 2 hours of failure announcement, on site.
The fourth obstacle: The environmental condition on grocer shop, which faces the POS and system
equipment with shocks. On the other hand, with reference to the grocery store environment, the Point of
Sale (POS) used lies between packs of sugar, oil, flour, and other types of commodities. This can make
the POS liable to be intentionally or non-intentionally damaged and broken by the grocer. This has been
overcome by selecting POS with rigid characteristics and making covers to such equipments to keep it
clean from any environmental contamination.
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Other obstacles: Other minor obstacles have been encountered. obstacle lies in the culture of the
citizen who used to deal with paper card and may never have dealt with electronic equipment, making it
difficult for her/him to get acquainted with the new system. In addition, getting to know the citizens'
feedback, complaints, and comments, was a major obstacle that we encountered. Another obstacle
related to the citizen, was how to force her/him to keep her/his smart card and PIN number away from the
grocer to avoid illegal transactions. Big propaganda and announcement campaign have been conducted
leaded by the ministries themselves to convince the citizen overcome such problems..
6. The neat profit of the system deployment can be summarized as follows
The neat profit of the deployment of the project can be summarized as follows:
Direct saving in allocated budgets, comparing with the status before the deployment. There is a save
in budgets for about US$1,217 Million gross till now according to the first issued reports about the
actual system operation. The following chart shows the ratio of saving from start deployment till now.
Building a complete database for the families deserving ration support, together with the related
delivery transactions. The transaction contains enough data to trace the delivery process, and
delivery evaluation. It have had helped government to optimize the support delivery. The evaluation
process have led to cancel the delivery of some rations (ex: the blubber delivery ratio was 2%), other
doze have been increased (ex: the sugar with delivery ration 94% have been doubled from 1kg. to 2
kg. per person, the same for oil with delivery ration 98%).
A system infrastructure have been built, covering the system technical architecture, called centre,
database hosting, service centers, which can be used to launch other types of citizen support using
the same smart card and the same infrastructure. It is worthy to state that already two other services
have been installed on the same card, using the same infrastructure, namely: social pension and
health care services.
The change of citizen culture, to be accommodated with smart card technology. And automated
system is another big profit to the deployment of the system.
7. Analysis of the achieved results after system deployment
The system has been deployed using the incremental approach. Deployment has started in 2006 by one
governorate, until finally the last group of governorates have been deployed in 2010. Table 1 shows the
gradual deployment of Egypt’s governorates. Figure 6 shows the gradual deployed smart cards in
thousands cards.
Table 1: The gradual deployment of Egypt’s governorates
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Number of governorates deployed 1 1 5 16 29
Annual Number of deployed Smart Cards (in
thousands)
765 1020 10860 72396 144000
Figure 6: The gradual deployed smart cards and associated governorates
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The direct save in quantities of commodities have been calculated starting from 2006 till 2010. Table 2
shows the save in quantities of commodities during the above 5 years. Figure 7 shows such saved
quantities, as: sugar (main), oil (main), sugar (added), oil (added), noodles, and tea. However, the direct
save in support budgets have increased gradually, until reaching the maximum in 2010. The total value of
save till now is US$1,217 million gross with average about US$243 million gross. If we consider the
implementation cost of the system, which is about US$492 million tell now, the total value of save till now
is US$725 million net with average about US$175 million, since the system has been deployed partially
in 2005. Figure 8 contains a chart that shows the gradual growth in direct save in support budgets.
Table 2: The save in quantities of commodities during the years 2006 to 2010
Name
Oil (main)
Sugar (main)
Tea
Rice
Oil (added)
Sugar (added)
Total Save in Quantities (in Tons)
2010
2009
9,859,980
18,754,055
21,682,510
152,661,198
33,143,472
14,407,421
5,672,291
11,349,134
10,161,084
77,096,739
27,467,676
9,374,054
Figure 7: The saved quantities, as: sugar, oil, noodles, and tea
Figure 8: The gradual growth in direct save in support budgets
223
2008
900,720
1,865,893
1,469,074
7,102,142
4,394,865
3,520,800
2007
56,976
113,618
91,291
295,097
49,256
48,903
2006
42,173
84,070
66,551
96,202
37,705
37,029

Magdy Elhennawy et al.
It is obvious that these saved values in commodities quantities, and eventually in direct save in budgets
will continue to be exist as the system controls the leakages holes in the system. This save will increase
when new services will be added to the system.
8. Conclusions and future work
The family card system together with its design and implementation issues has been presented. The
system have been resulted in direct save in support budgets for about US$1,217 million gross till now,
US$725 million net with average about US$175 million, and it is expected to increase this value after
the addition of new support services. It is assumed that there is a complementary G2G (Government-to-
Government services) system that will be linked with this system in the future to support the direct
updating of the family databases from the original sources responsible for updating of such data. The
expected completion of the total system will lead to a great electronic society.
References
Elhennawy, M. (2011) ‘Health Care Implementation by Means of Smart Cards’, The International Journal of
Computer Science Issues, IJCSI, Volume 8, Issue 1, January.
EMVCO, (2000), EMV2000, Integrated Circuit Card Specification for Payment Systems, Version 4.0, [Online],
Available: http://www.emvco.com/Specifications.cfm [December 2000].
Hendry, M. (2007) “Multi-application Smart Cards Technology and Applications”, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Katherine M. Shelfer and J. Drew Procaccino (2002), Smart Card Evolution, Communications of ACM, Volume 45,
Issue 7, ACM Press.
Kendal, E.(2003) “System Analysis and Design”, Printic Hall, 2003.
Schneier, B. (1996), Applied cryptography, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996
Stalling, W. (1995) “Network and Inter-Network Security”, Printic Hall, 1995.
224

Collaborative Network Analysis of two eGovernment
Conferences: Are we Building a Community?
Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
nusa.erman@fu.uni-lj.si
ljupco.todorovski@fu.uni-lj.si
Abstract: In the last two decades, eGovernment research maturated into an active scientific field with a number of
publication venues, many of them taking form of regular annual conferences. In this paper, we address the central
question of whether the active researchers of these different venues converge towards a joint eGovernment research
community. To answer this question, we perform a comparative analysis of the collaborative networks of coauthorship
relationships between scholars that published papers at the two leading conferences in the field: this one,
the European Conference on eGovernment, and the International Conference on eGovernment. Surprisingly, the
obtained results show that each conference has built its own relatively stable community, and there are only weak
ties that do not really indicate an emergence of a joint eGovernment scientific community.
Keywords: co-authorship network, scientific community, social network analysis
1. Introduction
eGovernment research (EGR) focuses on studying the use of information and communication technology
in public administration and government activities. In the last two decades, the interest in EGR has
dramatically grown, resulting in its evolution into an active scientific field. EGR scholars established a
number of formal and informal communication channels to disseminate knowledge and research results.
Among them, academic conferences comprise the exchange of information and reinstatement of
discussion among the participants through the formal and informal patterns, which represent a useful
feedback for the improvement of scholars’ work (Lisée et al. 2008).In the relatively young and dynamic
area of eGovernment, a number of conferences have emerged. Three of them get most of the attention
from the EGR scholars: International Conference on eGovernment (EGOV), European Conference on
eGovernment (ECEG), and International Conference on Digital Government Research. Two other more
general conferences hold regular sections on eGovernment: Hawaii International Conference on System
Sciences and the European Conference on Information Systems.
Many authors have analysed the process of development and the state-of-the-art of the EGR field and its
community. The abovementioned conferences and other EGR publication venues represent a rich data
source for such analysis. Authors have considered maturity (Grönlund 2004, Grönlund and Andersson
2006) and the development (Heeks and Bailur 2007) of EGR field, as well as the analysis of the nature of
contributions and the evolution of research interests(Bannister and Connolly 2010). The main analytical
approach used in the above exemplary studies is content analysis (Busch et. al 2005) of articles used to
identify article types, methodologies, and data used or topics and issues addressed. Although content
analysis is widely used approach in the study of scientific communication, it is often limited with the
number of papers we can include in the study and therefore it is also often limited to a single publication
venue or a limited sample of papers from different venues. Scaling up those studies to a large number of
papers and venues can be a serious challenge and mostly prohibitive.
In our previous studies (Erman and Todorovski 2009, 2010), we proposed an alternative approach based
on social network analysis (Nooy et. al 2005). We focus on qualitative analysis of networks of various
types of scientific communication (collaboration and citation) among researchers in the EGR field. One of
the limitations of our previous studies is that they focused on the papers published at a single publication
venue, the EGOV conference. In this paper, we overcome this limitation by extending our study of the
EGOV collaboration networks to the ECEG conference. More specifically, we observe the networks of
relations between authors publishing at the two conferences, where the relations represent coauthorships
of joint papers. We build these networks using the electronic manuscripts of the papers
published in the respective proceedings in the five-year period from 2005 to 2009. The main aim of this
paper is then to compare the networks emerging from ECEG and EGOV to the joint network of coauthorships
between all the authors from both conferences. By this comparison, we can check the validity
of our central hypothesis that through the time, the scholars publishing at these two conferences
converge towards a joint community of eGovernment researchers. We also use the collaborative network
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Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski
analysis to identify the most prolific authors in the community and identify emerging sub-communities
dealing with specific eGovernment topics.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2introduces the notion of scientific community and
collaborative co-authorship network as formalism for representing and analysing communities. In
continuation, it presents the data used in this study and the resulting collaborative networks for the
ECEG, EGOV and the joint community. Section 3 presents the results of the comparative analysis of the
networks. Section 4 discusses and compares the results, putting them in the context of related work.
Finally, Section 5 draws conclusions and outlines the directions for further research.
2. Scientific community as collaboration
Scientific community, defined as a totality of working and interacting scientists through common and
standardized procedures of scientific communication, is usually quantified through the analysis of
scientific publications. The most commonly used methods to perform such an analysis are methods of
scientometrics and bibliometrics which measure scientific activities through different levels of
aggregation, enabling the analysis of research collaborations, evolution of scientific fields, and
corresponding scientific networks (Borgman 1990).
The defining aspect of every scientific community is the scientific communication performed according to
several communication patterns. In contrast to other communication scenarios which usually capture only
formal part of scientific communication, academic conferences comprise the exchange of information and
encourage the discussion among the participants, and hence as a data source enable to examine formal
and informal part of scientific communication. Among several communication patterns, the collaboration
among scientists is measured through the cooperation of scientists in writing scientific papers, better
known as co-authorship collaboration. The most approximate way to study co-authorship collaboration is
a network approach, where the nodes represent individual researchers, and links among them represent
co-authorship relations. (Bordons and Gomez2001).
In this paper, we are interested in the analysis of a community formed through the papers published in
the proceeding of two major eGovernment conferences, ECEG and EGOV from 2005 to 2009. In the
continuation of this section, we introduce the data and corresponding co-authorship networks.
2.1 Data description
We build the data set for this study as extension of the data collected in Erman and Todorovski
(2010).Hence, the bibliographic data about papers from EGOV conference is upgraded with data about
papers published at ECEG conference. For both conferences, we included papers published from 2005
to 2009. The extended data set includes 475 papers; 314 new papers from the ECEG proceedings and
161 papers from the EGOV proceedings. These 475 papers were co-authored by 765 different
researchers.
The graphs of Figure 1 depict the dynamics of the number of papers and the number of authors through
years for each conference. The number of papers published at EGOV conference is relatively stable and
ranges from 30 to 40 papers per year. In contrast, the number of papers published at the ECEG
conference is higher, fluctuating between 50 and 83 papers per year. The similar pattern is observed
when the number of authors is considered; the number of authors at the EGOV conference varies
between 70 and 100, whereas at ECEG it varies from 100 to 180 authors per year.
2.2 From data to co-authorship network
The bibliographic data can be transformed to a co-authorship network following a simple procedure. For
each paper, we collect the list of paper authors A. For each of them, we add a corresponding node to the
network, if one has not been there yet. If the list consists of a single author we proceed with the next
paper, since it does not introduces any co-authorship links in the network. Otherwise, for each pair of
authors from A, we add an undirected link (edge) connecting the corresponding network nodes. If the link
has been present already, we increase its weight by one; if the link is new, we set its weight to one. Thus,
the weight assigned to an edge connecting two nodes in the network denotes the number of papers that
the corresponding two researchers co-authored.
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Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski
Figure 1: Number of papers published in the proceedings of the ECEG (left-hand side) and EGOV (righthand
side) conferences and number of authors thereof in the period from 2005 to 2009.
Following the outlined procedure, we generated five weighted undirected co-authorship networks for the
yearly proceedings of ECEG and EGOV as well as a joint network of both proceedings for each year from
2005 to 2009. Using the single-year networks, we also constructed five “cumulative” co-authorship
networks; the first network contains data from 2005 and each successive network is built by joining the
next year network to the current one.
Table 1 summarizes the basic properties of the five cumulative networks for the three analyzed
communities, i.e., EGOV, ECEG and the joint community. The number of nodes corresponds to the
number of authors, while the number of edges corresponds to the number of co-authorships between
pairs of researchers. The percentage of edges with weight larger than one represents the portion of
research pairs that co-authored more than one paper, and the density represents the portion of all
possible edges that are present in the observed network.
As expected, all three communities induce steadily growing networks both in terms of the number of
nodes and edges. This increase in size is being strictly followed by density decrease. The ECEG
community network is very sparse and has three times lower density than EGOV network in 2005.
Densities of both networks, as new authors enter both communities, decline, and the more rapid decline
is observed in the EGOV network. The low density of ECEG community network is reflected in the
sparseness of the joint community network, where in 2009only 0.33% of all possible edges are present.
The very low density of the joint network might also indicate the lack of communication between the
ECEG and EGOV community.
Table 1: Basic properties of the “cumulative” co-authorship networks for the ECEG, EGOV, and joint
ECEG+EGOV community
Community
ECEG
EGOV
Network
Property 2005 2005-2006 2005-2007 2005-2008 2005-2009
#nodes 123 192 266 353 491
#edges 92 164 234 326 500
%edges(w>1) 2.2 9.8 12.0 12.3 11.4
Density 0.0123 0.0089 0.0065 0.0052 0.0041
#nodes 74 136 208 262 307
#edges 91 170 295 395 467
%edges(w>1) 0.0 1.2 7.5 7.8 9.4
Density 0.0337 0.0185 0.0137 0.0116 0.0100
#nodes 194 318 456 588 765
ECEG+EGOV
#edges
%edges(w>1)
183
1.1
328
7.0
516
11.1
706
10.9
950
11.2
Density 0.0098 0.0065 0.0050 0.0041 0.0033
On the other hand, the portion of edges with weight larger than one is higher in case of ECEG community
networks stabilizing at the level of 12% in the last three years, indicating the establishment of long-term
collaboration between community members. The higher collaboration level in ECEG community
influences the increase of collaboration activity in the joint community. The higher percentage of long-
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Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski
term collaboration edges might be also due to the fact that ECEG conference publishes more papers per
year.
To further explore these initial conjectures based on the basic network properties, we will continue with deeper
analysis of the structural properties and dynamics of the observed networks.
3. Structure and dynamics of the EGR community
To perform the analysis of the built cumulative co-authorship networks, we use Pajek software tool (Nooy
et. al 2005). The results are presented in three subsections: in the first one, we quantify and analyze the
dynamic change of the EGOV, ECEG and joint networks from 2005 to 2009; second section identifies the
most active and most collaborative authors in the joint community; and in the third subsection we analyze
the joint community structure in terms of subgroups of co-authoring researchers, their geographical
distribution, and the thematic topics of their research. In each section, we also compare the results with
the extract from our previous research (Erman and Todorovski 2010) emphasizing the aspects of
interaction between the two observed conferences.
3.1 Comparative community dynamics
Table 2 summarizes the results of the analysis of the dynamics of the three observed communities. We
first observe the percentage of “stable” community members, that is, “returning” scholars that published
their papers in more than one proceeding. At the beginning of the observation period, in 2005, all authors
are considered to be new to the community. The portion of returning authors in both communities is very
high: more than half of the authors publish their papers repeatedly at the same conference. The
percentage steadily increased to more than 75% in all three communities. A notable exception is the drop
to 72% in 2005-2009 ECEG community, which is due to the fact that a large number of 180 authors
contributed 83 papers to the 2009 ECEG proceedings. This is in contrast with the tightly constrained
EGOV publishing policy, where small number of accepted papers stabilized the community with up to
85% of returning authors. The latter situation can be considered as a sign of a stabilizing community.
The joint community shows similar stabilizing trend with 77% returning authors. However, note that the
joint community is merely a “joined” community network. A surprisingly low percentage of authors (1.6)
published papers at both ECEG and EGOV in 2005. The percentage steadily increases through the
years, and hardly hit 4% in 2007, but still remains below 5%. This indicates that we still have to wait for
the co-existence of different eGovernment scientific venues to evolve into a synergy of real joint
eGovernment scientific community.
Table 2: Dynamics of the ECEG, EGOV and the joint community from 2005 to 2009 in terms of number
of authors, percentage of returning authors, percentage of authors publishing at both
conferences, number of papers, and percentage of papers with more than one author
Community 2005 2005-2006 2005-2007 2005-2008 2005-2009
#authors 123 192 266 353 491
ECEG
%returning
#papers
0.0
68
64.1
118
72.2
175
75.4
231
71.9
314
%co-authored 54.4 57.6 60.6 64.1 66.2
#authors 74 136 208 262 307
EGOV
%returning
#papers
0.0
30
54.4
59
65.4
95
79.4
127
85.3
161
%co-authored 66.7 69 75.8 78.0 80.7
#authors 194 318 456 588 765
%returning 0.0 61.0 69.7 77.5 76.9
ECEG+EGOV %joint 1.6 3.1 4.0 4.6 4.3
#papers 98 177 270 358 475
%co-authored 58.2 61.6 65.9 69.0 71.2
The extent of collaboration between community members can also be measured through the percentage
of co-authored papers. All three communities show stable increase in the percentage of co-authored
papers, reaching the maximal value of 81% (EGOV), 66% (ECEG), and 71% (joint). In sum, there is a
clear trend of growing collaboration among community members in both ECEG and EGOV. In both
communities (and especially EGOV), this trend is accompanied by the process of community
convergence and stabilization with researchers that regularly publish in the proceedings. On the other
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Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski
hand, results indicate that the ECEG and EGOV induced two separate communities, where only a very
modest number of authors publish papers at both conferences.
3.2 Productivity and collaboration among community members
We measure the productivity of a community member by the number of his/her published papers and the
number of her/his appearances in the yearly proceedings. Table 3 presents the list of the ten most
productive authors in the joint community in the period from 2005 to 2009. Five or 50% of them have
published their papers at only one conference, and five of them at both conferences.
Table 3: The ten most productive authors in the ECEG and EGOV conference community in the period
between 2005 and 2009 measured in terms of number of published papers and number of
years in which authors published their papers, the names of the authors that published at both
conferences are emphasized (bold)
Author #papers #ECEG-papers #years
Janssen M. 9 7 5
Fairchild A. 7 7 5
Askounis D. 7 3 4
deVuyst B., Neumann L. 6 6 4
Polzonetti A., Corradini F. 6 4 4
Grönlund Å. 6 0 4
Lubbe S. 6 6 3
Becker J. 6 0 3
The list is, however, biased towards ECEG authors, since the number of papers published at ECEG is
much higher. Thus, at the top of the list, Janssen M. has published nine papers, seven of them in the
ECEG conference proceedings. Further down the list, we include authors that published at least six
papers at any of the conferences. The list of most prolific authors in Table 3 includes a high percentage
(33%) of authors that are active in both communities relative to the percentage of joint authors in the joint
community (5%). This might be an early indicator of a trend of convergence towards joint community in
the future.
Activity of individual members is not as important to the process of community building as the degree of
collaboration of an author with others. We can observe the collaboration through the degree of
connectedness among nodes within a co-authorship network. In social network analysis, the degree of
connectedness is expressed through measures of centrality of individual network nodes, i.e. degree,
closeness, and betweenness centralities, which differ in the way the position of individual authors within
the co-authorship network is referred (Nooy et al 2005). In co-authorship network, degree centrality
equals the number of collaborators an author has, closeness centrality indicates the accessibility of the
observed author to the others, and betweenness centrality indicates the number of shortest paths that
pass through the observed node. Table 4 lists the most central authors with respect to each of these
three measures.
Table 4: The most central authors in joint conference community in the period between 2005 and 2009
according to the degree, closeness, and betweenness centrality, emphasized (italic) names
correspond to the most central authors according to three (two) centrality measures
Degree centrality Closeness centrality Betweenness centrality
Author % Author % Authors %
1 Askounis D. 1.57 Askounis D. 1.72 van Dijk J. 0.02
2 Corradini F. 1.44 Corradini F. 1.57 Henriksen H.Z. 0.02
3 Polzonetti A. 1.44 Polzonetti A. 1.57 van der Geest T. 0.02
4 Janssen M. 1.31 Charalabidis Y. 1.53 Tan Y.H. 0.02
5 Charalabidis Y. 1.31 Janssen M. 1.44 Askounis D. 0.01
6 Hahamis P. 1.18 Sourouni A.M. 1.44 Corradini F. 0.01
7 van der Geest T. 1.18 van der Geest T. 1.43 Polzonetti A. 0.01
8 Sourouni A.M. 1.18 Lampathaki F. 1.37 Janssen M. 0.01
9 Lampathaki F. 1.05 van Dijk J. 1.36 Vintar M. 0.01
10 Vintar M. 1.05 Hahamis P. 1.32 Wimmer M.A. 0.01
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Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski
The lists presented in Table 4 contain 14 authors, most of them not being among the most prolific ones in
Table 3. Five of them are among top 10 according to all three centrality measures: Askounis D., Corradini
F., Polzonetti A., Janssen M. and van der Geest T. Further six authors are central according to two of the
observed centrality measures. Most of these eleven authors come from the ECEG community, which is
due the fact that ECEG authors and collaborations prevail the joint network in both number of nodes and
edges (see Table 1). EGOV authors correspond mostly to the network nodes with high betweenness
centrality.
3.3 Community structure
In this final part of the analysis, we shift our focus from the quantitative network properties to the network
structure. We search for clusters of highly inter-connected nodes that might correspond to emerging
eGovernment sub-communities. To this end, we apply methods for identifying components and cores in
social networks.The search for components in co-authorship network enables to identify possible subgroups
of authors which collaborate frequently and, presumably, share common research topic(s). On the
other hand, the search for cores makes possible to identify such sub-groups of authors in which the
authors are mutually linked. Hence, suchcore-sub-groups actually representsets of paper(s) in which all
core members collaborated (Nooy et al. 2005).
Our co-authorship joint network for the 2005-2009 period has 263 components. Out of these, 80
components contain only one author; 80 authors are isolated since they never in the observed period coauthored
a paper with others. On the other hand,we identified the largest component consisting of 16
tightly interconnected authors. Note however, that here we can perceive the impact of papers with
significantly higher number of authors compared to other papers: namely, in such a situation a single
paper co-authored by many authors would induce a (non-)representative component. To overcome this
problem, we augment each component with the list of corresponding papers and consider only those
components that are induced by at least four joint publications. In addition, we also filter out all the
components with less than five researchers.
Table 5 presents the results of the component analysis by enlisting all eleven components that satisfy the
four-joint-papers criterion explained above. Each community subgroup is described with the leading
researcher that is a co-author of majority of the papers in the component, the geographical distribution of
authors’ affiliations, and the list of thematic topics of the papers in the component.
Table 5: The analysis of eleven largest components of the joint co-authorship network, we only
considered components that correspond to at least four papers
#authors/
#papers
Representative
Geographical
distribution
16 9 Van Dijk J. Netherlands
15 9
Andersen K.N.
Tan Y.H.
Denmark,
Norway,
Netherlands
14 8 Charalabidis Y. Greece
12 10 Janssen M. Netherlands
12 8 Vintar M.
12 7
Corradini F.
Sabucedo L.A.
11 8 Grönlund Å.
Slovenia,
Greece
Thematic topics Conferences
citizen-centric e-services; user profiling;
delivery channels; e-services adoption
and usage
project evaluation; benefits of IT usage; ecustoms;
super-national e-services
interoperability; meta-data and (semantic)
annotation of e-services
service-delivery, eGovernment stage
models
indicators of eGovernment development;
e-services adoption and usage; life events
and integration of e-services
Italy, Spain semantic-driven integration of e-services
Sweden,
Norway
11 6 Ayo C. Nigeria
eGovernment research analysis; misc
e-voting, eGovernment progress,
eGovernment and public administration
reforms
EGOV (9)
EGOV (9)
EGOV (5)
ECEG(3)
EGOV (3)
ECEG (7)
EGOV (7)
ECEG (1)
EGOV (3)
ECEG(4)
EGOV (7)
ECEG (1)
ECEG (6)
9 7 Becker J. Germany Misc EGOV (7)
8 6 Ferro E. Italy, USA digital divide and IT literacy EGOV (6)
5 4 Mentzas G. Greece evaluating quality of e-services EGOV (4)
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Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski
The results show that most of the components representatives (all but the representatives of the eighth
and last components) were already identified as most productive or most central ones. Furthermore, most
of the identified sub-groups have narrow geographical distribution: ten out of eleven components are
entirely from Europe, six are even tighter, including single region or country, or, in some cases, a single
institution. International or trans-Atlantic collaboration is relatively rare. Finally, there is a great variety of
thematic topics addressed by the researchers in different groups. Note also, that the identified subcommunities
are orthogonal in the topics they deal with; each of them develops its own (relatively narrow)
expertise area that is different from the others. Most of this groups are mainly affiliated with EGOV
conference. This is in line with our previous results that show the greater cohesivness of the EGOV
community. Here it is reflected in a greater ability to stir groups of researchers with a commong research
interest.
When identifying the cores of the network, we applied the same four-joint-papers criterion. Figure 2
depicts the six cores of the joint co-authorship network that follow this criterion. They confirm the findings
of the component analysis: each of the six cores corresponds to one of the identified components from
Table 5. Another fact can be derived from the result depicted in Figure 2: only these 15 authors (out of
765; 2%) have been involved in more than three joint collaboration ventures. This is another piece of
evidence that the long-term collaboration within the joint conference community is relatively rare.
Figure 2: Six cores of the joint (ECEG+EGOV) community co-authorship network
In sum, the structural analysis shows that a number of sub-communities have emerged, each of them
dealing with topics that are orthogonal to the thematic topics of the other. Virtually almost all the subcommunities
have a representative researcher that is ranked among top active or collaborative
community members. Most of the sub-communities have narrow geographical distribution including a
single region, country or even institution. The community members are mostly affiliated at institutions in
European countries, and large-scale international collaborations are very rare. The findings virtually
resembles the ones for the EGOV conference.
4. Discussion
There are number of studies that analyze the state-of-the-art and the dynamics of the development of the
eGovernment research (EGR) field mentioned in the introduction. Our study differs from them in several
ways. First, it relies on a standard scientometric method widely used to analyze other research fields. In
this sense, it continues our previous studies (Erman and Todorovski 2009, 2010), where we have dealt
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Nuša Erman and Ljupčo Todorovski
with the analysis of citation and co-authorship networks induced from the papers published in the EGOV
conference proceedings. Here, we extend the scope of those studies to the ECEG conference.
Another distinguishing property of our study is that we collect the empirical data systematically from all
the papers published in the proceedings of the ECEG and EGOV conference in the five years period
between 2005 and 2009. Most other studies perform analysis of a sample of data about articles and
papers from various publication venues. Although this decision makes the definition and the scope of the
scientific community clear, as opposed to the definition from another study of eGovernment community
(Scholl 2009).
The present paper offers the findings of co-authorship network analysis which is latterly used as a proxy
for the study of collaboration (Bordons and Gomez 2001). We should note however, that there exist
limitations related to the study of scientific collaboration through publications and to the bibliometric
studies in general. The first is related to the practice of making colleagues or superiors “honorary coauthors”
for purely social reasons. The second is that scientific collaboration does not necessarily lead to
co-authored papers.
5. Conclusion
The answer to our main research question, outlined in the title of the paper, is clearly: No. The two
publication venues considered in this study, proceedings of ECEG and EGOV conferences, do not
converge towards a joint eGovernment scientific community. Only few authors (less than 5%) publish
papers at both conferences. However, both communities do show maturity, in terms of large number of
members publishing regularly, increasing collaboration between community members, and emergence of
clearly profiled sub-communities. In this sense, EGOV community seems to be ahead of ECEG; the
profiling and stability of the community being more evident. The high share of authors publishing at both
conferences among the most prolific authors in the communities might be an early indicator of the
emergence of the eGovernment community.
The (non-) existence of eGovernment research community has to be further tested with extending the
scope of this study. We have to include papers from other publication venues, both conference
proceedings and journals, in our data set. Note also that in the present paper we focused on the coauthorship
network, a study of the citation network of ECEG papers can be another line of further work.
Finally, one can also look into other types of networks analysis of the citation networks that has
publication venues where the referenced papers come from in the nodes. Such analysis would reveal the
most influential “neighboring” scientific fields and publication venues with highest impact on the
development and shape of the eGovernment research field. Ultimately, there is a challengeable issue of
integrating the results of analyzing different networks of relations among scientists and/or publication
venues into a unified map of the EGR field.
Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the Slovenian Research Agency through the funds for
training and financing young researchers. Thanks also to Mitja Dečman who provided the electronic
versions of the ECEG proceedings.
References
Bannister, F. and Connoly, R. (2010) “Researching eGovernment: A Review of ECEG in its Tenth Year” in O’Donnell
D. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 10 th European Conference on eGovernment, Ireland, 17-18 June 2010, pp 53-62.
Bordons, M. and Gómez, I. (2001) “Collaboration Networks in Science”, in Cronin, B. and Atkins, H.B. (Eds.), The
web of knowledge: a festschrift in honor of Eugene Garfield, ASIS Monograph Series, Medford, Nj: Information
Today.
Borgman, C.L. (1990) “Editor’s Introduction”, in Borgman, C.L. (Ed.), Scholarly Communication and Bibliometrics,
Sage Publications, Newbury Park, London, New Delhi.
Busch, C., de Maret P.S., Flynn, T., Kellum, R., Le, S., Meyers, B., Saunders, M., White, R., and Palmquist, M.
(2005) Content Analysis.Writing@CSU, Colorado State University, Department of English. Retrieved
[20.12.2010] from http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/content/.
Erman, N. and Todorovski, L. (2009) “Analyzing the Structure of the EGOVconference community”, in Wimmer, M.A.
et al. (Eds.), EGOV 2010, LNCS vol 6228, pp 73-84, Springer, Heidelberg.
Erman, N. and Todorovski, L. (2009) “Mapping the eGovernment Research with Social Network Analysis”, in
Wimmer, M.A. et al. (Eds.), EGOV 2009, LNCS vol 5693, pp 13-25, Springer, Heidelberg.
Grönlund, Å. (2004) “State of the Art in eGov Research – A Survey”, in Traunmüller, R. (Ed.), EGOV 2004, LNCS vol
3183, pp 178-185, Springer, Heidelberg.
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Grönlund, Å. and Andersson, A. (2006) “e-Gov Research Quality Improvements Since 2003: More Rigor, but
Research (Perhaps) Redefined”, in Wimmer, M.A. et al. (Eds.), EGOV 2006, LNCS vol 4084, pp 1-12, Springer,
Heidelberg.
Heeks, R. and Bailur, S. (2007) “Analyzing eGovernment research: Perspectives, philosophies, theories, methods,
and practice”, Government Information Quarterly, Vol 24, pp 243-265.
Lisée, C., Larivière, V. and Archambault, É. (2008) “Conference Proceedings as a Source of Scientific Information: A
Bibliometric Analysis”, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol 59, No. 11,
pp 1776-1784.
Nooy, de W., Mrvar, A. and Batagelj, V. (2005) Exploratory social network analysis with Pajek, Cambridge University
Press, New York.
Scholl, H.J. (2009) “Profiling the EG Research Community and Its Core” in Wimmer, M.A. et al. (Eds.) EGOV 2009,
LNCS vol 5693, pp 1-12, Springer, Heidelberg.
233

E-Identity, E-Activities and E-Political Participation: How are
College Students Embracing the Promise of the Internet?"
Marcoux Faiia
Rivier College, Nashua, U.S.A
mfaiia@rivier.edu
Abstract: The Internet is everywhere from the classroom to the bedroom. Online social networking sites like
Facebook, have replaced the local hangouts and the mall for interacting with friends. Virtual communities and the
Internet are evolving technologies that are intertwined with every aspect of society. This makes it a focus of interest
for sociologists. Neither freedom nor exploitation is inherently promoted by new technologies. The Internet does
harbor dangers but it also offers great promise. Those born into the Internet generation are referred to as "digital
natives." Digital communication is "taken for granted" by young people who have grown up with the Internet. Political
participation, books, and newspapers have evolved into digital formats that these "natives" feel comfortable using.
Full participation in public life will soon require Internet access and competencies. The main domains of the Internet-
1) communication, 2) information, 3) production, and 4) consumption- are significant areas of sociological
investigation with regard to digital natives. This exploratory study was conducted in three phases over the academic
years 2008-2011. It utilized a select sample of undergraduate students in a New England college in the U.S.A. A twoprong
data gathering technique was employed: 1) questionnaires and 2) interviews. A total of 150 questionnaires
were administered and 50 interviews were given. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative
methodologies. It aimed at developing a descriptive "snapshot" of college students’ perceptions of safety and privacy
online, of describing the creation of “self” online and of identifying participation in online activities.
Keywords: e-identity, e-youth, e-activities, e-politics
1. Background
Sociologists are interested in what holds society together and in how society changes over time. One
explanation for social change considers the impact of new technology. Major social revolutions that
transformed whole societies have been identified throughout history. For example, the invention of the
plow introduced the agricultural society, the invention of the steam engine helped to create the industrial
society and now the invention of the micro-chip has brought us into the digital age. Today’s youth have
grown up living in this digital society and are digital natives. The Internet is very much an aspect of their
daily lives. According to Whit and Wyn (2008), the digital world offers an alternative space that is far more
attractive to some young people than the non-digital world. Some young people spend as much time as
possible in the virtual worlds.
Through web pages, chat rooms, and blogs anyone can find out what others think about them. Online
communication is very direct stimulating self-disclosure and anonymity. Online communication can be
rude compared to face-to-face interaction. Face-to-face interactions are replaced by words and images.
The nonverbal communication that is present in face-to-face encounters is missing. Cues from words and
pictures are being used to form opinions of others. With the use of photo shop you can create your
desired appearance. This may change the way that offline relationships are formed and structured
(Andrews 2006). Meeting “dates” online, finding old friends and making new friends is a lucrative and
growing business. A new form of popular culture is “cyber world cultures.” Sites like “Zine” culture allow
young people to self-publish lists of text and images that present themselves to specific communities
(Whit and Wyn 2008). Digital communications are giving young people a resource for expressing many
different “personas.” In sites such as “Second Life” individuals can become someone else online.
Creating avatars and interacting with others, as avatars, you can behave however you like (Coyne et al.
2009).
Social Interactionism as expressed by Erving Goffman emphasizes the interpretive, symbolic and
meaning attachment aspects of human interaction. This exploratory study was informed by Social
Interactionism and specifically by the work of Erving Goffman (1959, 1963, 1971). One important concept
of Goffman’s (1959) thinking is the notion of “segregated audiences.” Individuals who may see us in one
social role will not see us perform other social roles. This is pertinent to electronic communities where the
audience who sees us on Facebook may never see us perform in any other social role. This allows
individuals to create and recreate their presentation of self. Having different audiences witness different
presentations of self allows inconsistent or contradictory role information to go unnoticed. There exists
online a “pastiche personality” where members of the digital generation change their presentation of self
in different ways for different audiences.
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The “definition of the situation” is not clouded by these contradictory presentations of self. Also “covering
up” or explaining the inconsistencies are not required in electronic communities. Online impression
management is less challenging. Even for those individuals who carry “stigma” due to physical
appearance or physical deformities their presentation of “self” online can be controlled (Goffman 1963).
Several respondents in this study admitted to having flattering and “doctored” photos of themselves
online. Goffman (1971) discusses “social identity” and “personal identity.” Social identity is expressed in
broad categories like age and sex. Personal identity is more unique, expressed by names and
information about personal biography and social attitudes. Each of these identities can be manipulated
online. Nicknames can convey age, likes and dislikes and can be indecent, which challenges social rules.
In this study several respondents admitted to lying about their age, their sex and of giving misleading
data on their social attitudes. For example, “I told people on MySpace that I was a boy, I wanted to get
dirt from boys on my girlfriends.” “I lied about my age, I said that I was 22 not 18 because I wanted to see
if anyone would date me.” In electronic communities we can control the cues that we emit to others and
manage the audience impression of us more firmly than in face to face interactions.
The uncensored nature of digital communications creates opportunities for both healthy and unhealthy
interactions. The Internet can provide opportunities for marginalized and isolated individuals to meet with
others and to share their concerns and connect for support. Texting has been introduced as a new
therapeutic technique for interventions with alienated and disturbed young people. For many of them
texting is easier and more familiar than the traditional “talking cures” of psychotherapy (Haxell 2010). The
Internet can encourage civic action and promote political and social responsibility. The Internet can
educate and minimize workloads. The virtual network has many positive potential uses and applications.
Richardson (2007) discussed the way the Seattle school system uses the Internet to improve student
communications and to enhance learning. Digital communities are active participants in identity formation
in very positive and helpful ways. Individuals can access important information regarding health, political
positions and financial data that enables them to be better informed and to make better life decisions.
Some social networks, however, are designed to foster harm and create social exclusion. Sufferers of
bulimia can learn innovative ways of hiding their eating disorder. Pedophiles and other predators can
communicate, share their tactics and pornographic literature and photos. Hate ideologies can be
developed and spread and the net can be used to recruit new members to these hate groups.
Cybercrimes, identity theft and cyber bullying are all growing concerns. In some ways it is harder to be
anonymous or escape in the virtual world. Bullying online may be worse than in person (Andrews 2006).
According to Ybarra and Mitchell (2004) bullying and harassment in the cyber world is a “significant”
public health issue. Interestingly, while the typical off line bully is usually a boy, the online bully is just as
likely to be a girl. The media has recently reported on several suicides within the USA that are linked to
cyber bullying (Donaldson 2010).
“Digital Addiction” is a recent mental health concern. Excessive video game playing, accessing gambling
and pornography sites constantly and hour after hour spent in chat rooms, are some of the risks involved
with digital addictions. Clemmitt (2006) states that social networking sites like Facebook raise many
troubling issues of privacy and safety. She states that, “social networking is based on a faulty view of
friendship—the premise that …if A is a friend of B, and B is a friend of C, then A must be C’s friend too…”
(p.12). Chalfen (2009) gives the example of sexting (using the cell phone to send dirty pictures or nude
photos) as a highly problematic behavior with serious repercussions. Some young sexters are being
charged with felonies.
Facebook was created for students by students but now many older adults are using it. Employers,
college admissions and parents are all watching and learning about activities and behaviors that were
once in the realm of “youth culture.” West, Lewis and Currie (2009) conducted an exploratory study to
focus on the extent to which parents were accepted as “friends” on Facebook and what impact that had
on feelings of privacy. They found that parents were not wanted as a “friend.” Worries about “mother’s”
reactions and embarrassment were cited as reasons why parents were not welcome. The study also
found that the line between the public and the private social worlds was blurred. Students did not seem to
see these as two distinct fields. Similar findings emerged in the exploratory study presented in this paper.
2. Methods
Major research questions in this exploratory study included: 1) Do college students perceive the Internet
as a safe and private space? What do they see as risks and dangers? 2) How do they create a
“presentation of self”? Are online identities fluid? Is there a "pastiche personality"? Are there different e-
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identities on different sites? 3) How do students use new technologies to get and share information? How
do students communicate online? What social activities are engaged in online? How does the Internet
foster political action?
This research was conducted on the campus of a medium size New England college in the USA during
the academic years of Fall 2008/Spring 2009 and Fall 2009/Spring 2010 and Fall 2010/Spring 2011. The
initial impetus behind this exploratory study was a story the researcher heard about a part-time summer
police officer who lost his position because photos of him partying with underage drinkers surfaced on
Facebook. He was a student criminal justice major with hopes of attending the FBI academy. All that
changed when he was fired for “immoral” acts. He was amazed at the “fallout” and outcome of his
actions. I wondered if college students perceived risk online and had naïve notions of privacy. From this
initial query this study evolved to focus on construction of identity online and participation in activities
online.
This research was conducted in three phases. The first phase examined student perceptions of safety
and privacy online. In phase two "presentation of self" and constructing an e-identity with a focus on eactivities
was studied. Phase three queried civic and political participation. Each phase considered the
four domains of the Internet: 1) communication, 2) information, 3) production and 4) consumption.
The sample consisted of a select sample (please see table 1 for demographics). The sample was 70%
female and 30% male. The ages ranged from 18-25. Everyone who participated in this study was a
college student with access and skill on the Internet. The digital divide today in the USA is about more
than just access to the Internet. We must also consider differences in skills and uses that individuals have
for the Internet. There are huge differences in the sophistication that people have in navigating the web
(DiMaggio et al 2001). Spelling mistakes and functional literacy limit the ability of the less educated to
conduct and benefit from online searches (Hargittai 2006). The result is social inequality. In this sample
access to the Internet and their skill levels with the Internet were high due to social class and educational
characteristics. College majors in this study included nursing, criminology, sociology and education. Over
80% of the sample was single without children, 18 respondents were married and 5 had children. There
were 17 respondents who identified themselves as non-white. One respondent was Hindu, seven were
Protestant, two were Wiccans, five were Mormons, three stated that they were Atheists and the rest
stated they were Catholic.
This study utilized a two-prong data collection strategy: 1) questionnaires and 2) interviews. One hundred
questionnaires (18 questions) were given out in classes in phase one and 50 questionnaires (24
questions) were sent out via Surveymonkey.com in phase three. In phase two, 50 interviews were
conducted by students trained to use a ten-question interview guide. The interview sample was chosen
by the student researchers as a convenience sample. Most questions were open ended. There was no
pilot for the data collection instruments as this was an exploratory study. Questions were developed in
focus groups in various classes and pre-tested for clarity in these focus groups. Following Babbie (2008),
the response categories were exhaustive and mutually exclusive giving an option for respondents to add
details.
Table 1: Demographics of respondents and interviewees
Characteristics Number of respondents N=200
Female 150
Male 50
Aged 18-21 188
Aged 22-25 12
Employed 160
Married 18
3. Results and discussion
In each phase of this exploratory study it was found that the respondents felt very safe and secure selfdisclosing
online. Most respondents relied on safety settings on their computers to control privacy. There
was a perception of safety and also of privacy, even for those respondents who gave examples of being
“fooled” or “fooling” others online. No one expressed a fear of a threat or of an invasion of privacy. Typical
responses by students were: “People in virtual communities are not very honest. You often know the
individuals that you are ‘friends” with, and are able to determine whether or not they are falsifying
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information.” “I created a fake MySpace with friends to determine the identity of my ex-boyfriend’s new
girlfriend.” “Some people lie about one thing or another for protection or malicious reasons.” “I know that I
am safe because I am careful and because I always use the privacy settings.” Given that the websites
warn users (EULAS) that they are not secure this was an interesting finding.
In phase two this study found that in their “presentation of self” and construction of an e-identity college
students do create a “pastiche” of their personalities and do as Goffman suggests, manipulate their
identities on various websites. Their constructed identity on Facebook is different than the one on
Linkedin. They employ various strategies (textual, nicknames or screen names, and visuals) to show
different e-identities to different audiences (see table 2). According to this study digital natives are
strategic manipulators with characteristics of independence and immediacy. Their self-disclosure on line
depends on the web site. Their visual self-presentation strategies include photos and occasionally text.
Respondents in this study stated that they never gave their social security numbers, cell phone numbers
or financial information. All of the respondents in the study had photos of themselves online and many
had photos in compromising or intimate settings, one girl stated “I have a photo of me topless”. Several
respondents admitted to “playing jokes” and “tricking” others online. Several described creating fake
MySpace accounts that fooled friends, “I was chatting for weeks before they knew it was me.”
Respondents discussed having people lie about their age, their marital status and their gender. One 17
year old was lying about his age to get more girl-friends. One respondent stated that she lied about her
abilities online, to make others jealous. She claimed that she was a gourmet cook and that she spoke
French. Another stated that she lied about being a virgin. Some respondents in this study stated that they
showed their defiance and personality with their screen names. One respondent, who used a snake as a
prop, stated that she used “Eve” as a screen name. She wanted to convey that she was like “Eve” in the
Bible, “Eve” as the temptress and sinner. Another respondent had himself sitting on a surfboard in the
middle of the ocean when he had never tried surfing.
Table 2: Presentation of self
Characteristics Number of respondents N=50
Drawings 12
Nicknames 37
Screen Names 50
Photos 43
Text 28
Costumes 18
Props 06
Settings 19
Phase three data focused on political participation and contributes directly to the focus of this conference
on E-politics. Thirty three percent of respondents used new technologies to participate in political or civil
action. Examples of answers are: “I have used video and social networking posts about pro-life day and
other events and my involvement.” “I have used video and social networking posts for cancer awareness
and my experience.” “I have sent emails to my state representative giving my opinions on certain issues.”
“I use Facebook to stay connected with a civil lawsuit.” Forty percent visited the Internet to obtain
information about local, state or national election coverage. Responses included: “I used the Internet to
research the candidates' views to see which one I wanted to vote for and I also used it to know the
winners of the election.” “I don't usually go searching for it but if I come across something political, I will
read it.” “I looked up policies, candidates, and opinions online.” Twenty percent of respondents stated that
they did use the Internet to promote a candidate and twenty-six percent said that they engaged in civic
activity online. One respondent stated, “on occasion I will post on my Facebook about laws that I believe
should be passed.” Another, “I have used the Internet to promote for Pro-life awareness involvement. “
One student signed petitions online and three stated that they wrote to their Senators urging attention to
the Uganda conflict. One respondent stated “I am on the side of Libertarianism and I actively support the
use of reason in politics.” Five students were working online with students at George Washington
University to form a political action committee.
Initial findings indicate that daily Internet use is prevalent with many students going online several times a
day with every expectation of safety and privacy. This finding is consistent with the Pew Internet and
American Life Project (2010) trends. The Pew Internet survey (2010) activities’ list results were also
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mirrored in this study (see table 3). College students in this sample reported avoiding e-mail. They
indicated that they only looked at e-mail to see if professors were communicating with them. Social
communication was conducted via texting and Facebook. Carnevale (2006) noted similar findings and
suggested that to reach college students, new technologies should be employed.
During the 2010 mid-term elections in the U.S., online political activities were examined in each of the
four domains. According to Calenda and Meijer (2009), the Internet does “reinvigorate the participation of
youth in political process however it does not encourage a shift to new political thinking.” Young people
are using the Internet within the domains of information and communication. This use of the Internet was
apparent here with regard to online activities and political participation. Students gathered information on
political parties, “I wanted to know what this Tea party was all about” and also on policy plans by different
candidates. This sample discussed using new technologies to get information and to communicate.
information on candidates' positions on specific topics and to see biographical information. The domains
of communication, information and consumption were visited with very little use of the domain of
production. One exception was a respondent who created an ad for her student government election
campaign.
College students engaged in a wide range of activities online, however civic and political activities did not
rate high in this exploratory study. One interesting finding in this study was the blending of consumption
with civic action. After learning about Nike shoe production online, one respondent stated “I would never
buy another Nike product knowing how they are made.” Scammell (2000) discusses the “citizen
consumer” who uses political power within the marketplace to make decisions about civic action.
Table 3: Internet activities in the last 48 hours, phase one questionnaire (October 14 and 15, 2010)
Domain One
Communication
e-mail
Facebook
Second Life
online dating
Twitter
post comments
send IM
Domain Two
Information
Google
ASK
online discussion
get political information
research a job
find health, financial information
get news and weather
get directions
use government websites
find apartment
use Wikipedia
watch live webcam
get family history
Domain Three
Production
Blogs
Journal
create webpage
remix songs, images
share your creations
engage in hobby
organize issue meeting
donate to charity
create an advertisement
N=50
Domain Four
Consumption
e-bay
sell stocks
online auction
buy product
play games
just fun
surf net
buy tickets
reservations
bank online
watch video
download music
This study provides a snapshot of how college students are using the Internet. It examined the creation of
self online and general feelings about safety and risk. It also demonstrated some activities that students
engage in online. One limitation of this study is that the sample was restricted to undergraduates
attending a small Catholic liberal arts college. Utilizing a convenience sample will always limit the
generalizability of the findings. The sample had far more women than men and far more whites than nonwhites.
Some of the findings may actually reflect more “general” understandings of the new technologies
than “personal” competencies and abilities in using new technology. The respondents in this study were
not as “computer savvy” as stereotypes hold for this youth population.
4. Conclusions
Today’s “digital natives” have grown up living in a digital society. The Internet and the cell phone are very
much an aspect of their daily lives. Technology can be understood as both the tools and the ability to use
the tools created. In the past technology was what we did, for today’s youth technology is who they are. A
new form of communicating, using emoticons and abbreviations, has replaced many face-to-face
interactions. Old interaction rituals, like greetings, are disappearing. Miscommunication online is
prevalent. In “constructed self” many now negotiate between self-description and social ascription.
Students are struggling with the tensions created by technology. Tensions over “presentation of self”
and expressing emotions are created. Technology provides emotional distance, e.g.: youth are being
“dumped” online. Significant relations are ended without ever seeing each other. Respondents reported
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texting to someone who was in the same room. What will be the impact of this new form of technology on
communication and relationships?
Overall, there exists a kind of cultural lag between technology and emotions. The cultural lag argument
also suggests that concerns over technology will decrease over time as trust in new technologies
increases. In this study respondents reported spending 10-15 hours a day online. What will be the impact
of this new form of technology on communication and relationships? Will global citizenship be
encouraged by the new technologies and the Internet? What is the role of the Internet in e-politics? Is it to
promote social policy aimed at increasing youth participation in politics or is it a place where new forms of
political participation are being created? What does this exploratory study suggest about “digital natives”
and the promise of the Internet? Very simply, the opportunities presented by new technologies are
embraced in some domains and not others. More specifically, respondents in this study used domains of
communication, information and consumption more than the domain of production. Political participation
was minimal and traditional. New forms of political participation were not found.
Future research directions are plentiful. A larger and more diverse sample needs to be studied with
greater in-depth focus on each of the domains of the Internet. The investigation about perception of
privacy should look at the website disclaimers (EULAS) more closely. The literature that looks at the
construction of meaning can be incorporated more fully. Recognizing how relationships impact the
construction of meaning and how relationships are created online needs further study. What does a
person’s online profile mean and how is it constructed?
There is a task for the future here and it may require sociologists to move outside the boundaries of the
traditional discipline. The task for the future is best seen as one for coordinated research by investigators
drawing from many different traditions. The advances in cybernetics, computer technologies and related
fields since WWII has stimulated the necessity of a new approach to the study of social action that will
emphasize a systems’ framework instead of a one-way cause and effect sequence of action.
5. Appendix 1: Questionnaire administered to classes during 2008/2009
Title:"Virtual Social Networking: College Students' Perceptions of Privacy and Risk"
Directions: This is an exploratory study of students’ perception of privacy and safety on virtual networks
like MySpace and Facebook: The questionnaire takes about twenty minutes to complete. The study does
not need any names, your participation in this survey is ABSOLUTELY VOLUNTARY and individual
responses will be kept CONFIDENTIAL.
1) Do you own a computer? Yes No
2) Do you visit virtual networks? Yes No
3) Do you have a web page? Yes No
4) Who else should be asked to be a respondent?_______________________________
Year in school_________ Major___________________
Marital Status ________________ Age_____________________
Number of Children______________________ Occupation_______________
Religious affiliation_________________
Gender___________________
1) Do you have a Facebook or MySpace account? ___________________
2) How often do you use the account? _____________________________
3) How many contacts/friends do you have? _________________________
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4) Do you know how to tell if a webpage is secure? _________________
How? _____________________________________________________
5) Are you familiar with your browser's security settings? ______________explain
6) Do you put information on your account that you would share with your parents?
_____________________ explain______________________________________
7) Do you respond to people who want to be your virtual friends that you do not know?
________________________________________________________________________
If yes, how often______________ What happened?______________________________
8) How did you feel about MySpace going worldwide? ___________________________
9) Do you worry your activities are being broadcast without your knowledge?
Explain________________________________________________________________
10) Do you think about seeing images of yourself online at parties or drunken?
________________________________________________________________
11) Would you consider it a breach of privacy if pictures of you were posted without your knowledge?
____________________________________________________________
12) Do you think prospective employers look at these websites?________________
13) Is your account limited to only your friends or do you use the security settings to limit those who can
access your pictures and profile?________________________
14) What would have to happen for you to consider your privacy had been violated?
15) How do you think people would respond to the images you post of yourself?
16) Would you use Facebook or MySpace to get revenge?
_____________________________________________________
17) Do you use Facebook or MySpace to get information about other people?
_________________________________________________________________
18) Is there anything about virtual networks that you know and that would be interesting for this study?
Describe:______________________________________________________________
6. Appendix 2: Interview guide for 2009/2010
Title: “Presentation of Self in Virtual Communities”
Directions to Student Interviewers: Choose five respondents for the interviews. You may choose other
students, friends, staff or faculty. Please be sure that you do not interview anyone who was previously
interviewed for this research. You need to choose someone who has been involved with Facebook,
MySpace or some other virtual social network. Please identify yourself as a student researcher. Set up an
appointment to conduct the interview. You will need at least one half hour for each interview and an
additional half hour to record your responses. You will follow the interview guide provided by professor.
Be prepared with pen and paper to take notes. Do NOT just hand the questions to the interviewees to fill
in the answers .YOU are conducting the interviews with the questions as an interview guide. If an
interviewee does not fully respond to a question then use a probe question. For example: “Please tell me
more about that…” Tell your interviewees that their responses will be confidential not anonymous. Ask
the questions in the order of the guide, record answers in detail. Following the interview add any other
notes or observations to the data. Include plenty of direct quotes in your recording.
Interview Guide:
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Identifying Data:
Age:_____________
Sex: Female_______Male______
Occupation______________
Major_____Year_________
Marital Status:____________
Children: yes______no____
Marcoux Faiia
Who else should be interviewed for this study?___________________
Question One: Are you using a virtual network and if so which one/s?
Question Two: How often are you on Facebook? Etc?
Question Three: Do you have a photo/s online? If so, please describe
Question Four: Do you have a special screen name?
Question Five: Is there anything that you would not put into the virtual community?
Question Six: Have you ever been “fooled” by someone in a virtual network? Please explain.
Question Seven: Have you ever “fooled”someone else in a virtual network? Please explain.
Question Eight: How honest are people in virtual communities?
Question Nine: Have you ever been embarrassed by something you saw or placed in a virtual
community? Please explain.
Question Ten: Do you know of any cases where someone misrepresented themselves online and were
“caught”? Please give details.
7. Appendix 3: Questionnaire administered to classes during 2009/ 2010
Title:"Student Online Activities and Use of Internet and New Technologies in Political and Civic
Participation"
Directions: This is an exploratory study of students’ online activities and use of the internet and new
technologies to engage in political and civic social action. The questionnaire takes about twenty minutes
to complete. The study does not need any names, your participation in this survey is ABSOLUTELY
VOLUNTARY and individual responses will be kept CONFIDENTIAL.
1) Do you own a computer? Yes No
2) Do you visit virtual networks? Yes No
3) Do you have a web page? Yes No
Year in school_________ Major___________________
Marital Status ________________ Age_____________________
Religious affiliation_________________ Gender___________________
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Occupation________________________ Number of Children__________
Who else should be contacted for this study?______________________________
1) Do you have a Facebook or MySpace account? ___________________
2) How often do you use the account? _____________________________
3) Do you use the Internet to get information or share information on politics?
_________________________
4) Have you used new technologies to participate in political or civic action?_________________
How? _____________________________________________________
5) Did you go online to get any information about the mid-term elections? ______________
Was it biographical information?_______ Policy information?__________ Candidate’s positions on
issues?________________
6) Did you engage in any first time voter strategies with the help of Internet? _____________________
explain______________________________________
7) Have you ever used the Internet to promote a candidate or solicit for votes?
________________________________________________________________________
If yes, how often______________ What happened?______________________________
8) Have you engaged in any civic action using new technologies ( boycotts, rallies, support for social
movements) ___________________________Explain__________________
9) Have you used a blog or wikis to enhance your participation in civic or political participation? Explain
______________________________________________________________
10) Make a list of everything that you have done on the Internet In the last 48 hours. In economic, social
and political terms what did you get from these tasks? Use extra paper if needed.
8. Appendix 4: Questionnaire administered to classes during fall 2010/spring
2011
Title:"Social Media and Civic Action: Student Online Activities and Use of Internet and New Technologies
in Political and Civic Participation"
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/e-politics
Directions: This is an exploratory study of students’ online activities and use of the Internet and new
technologies to engage in political and civic social action. The questionnaire takes about twenty minutes
to complete. The study does not need any names, your participation in this survey is ABSOLUTELY
VOLUNTARY and individual responses will be kept CONFIDENTIAL.
1. Do you own a computer?
2. Do you visit virtual networks?
3. Do you have a web page?
4. Are you actively engaged in social media networks?
Year in school:
Major:
242

Marital Status:
Age:
Religious Affiliation:
Gender:
Occupation:
Number of Children:
5. Who else should be contacted for this study?
6. Do you have a Facebook or MySpace account?
Marcoux Faiia
7. If Yes, do you maintain an account on any other social networking sites?
8. How often do you use the account?
9. Do you use the Internet to get or share information regarding politics?
10. Have you used new technologies to participate in political or civic action?
11. If Yes, please describe.
12. Did you visit the Internet to get information about local, state, or national election coverage?
13. If Yes, what type of information were you looking for? (Circle all that apply)
Biographical
Policy related
Candidate positions on particular issues
14. Did you engage in any first time voter strategies with the help of the Internet?
15. If Yes, please explain:
16. Have you ever used the Internet to promote a candidate or solicit for votes?
17. If Yes, how often?
18. What was the outcome?
19. Have you engaged in any civic action using new technologies? (Please circle all that apply)
Boycotts
Rallies
Social movement support efforts
20. If Yes, please explain.
21. Have you used a blog or wikis to enhance your participation in civic or political participation?
22. If Yes, please explain.
243

23. Do you follow any political figures on Twitter?
Marcoux Faiia
24. If Yes, please list all those you consider politically relevant.
References
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Calenda, D. and Meijer, A. (2009) “Young People, the Internet and Political Participation: Findings of a web survey in
Italy, Spain and the Netherlands”, Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 12, No. 6, pp 879-898.
Carneval, D. (Oct. 6, 2006) “E-mail is for Old People”, Chronicle of Higher Education.
Celizic, M. (2009) "Her teen committed suicide over 'sexting'", TODAY. Retrieved on 4 Feb 2010 from
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/.
Chalfen, R. (2009) “It’s only a picture: sexting ‘smutty’ snapshots and felony charges”, Visual Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3,
pp 258-268.
Clemmitt, M. (July 28, 2006) “Cyber Socializing: Are Internet sites like MySpace potentially dangerous?”, CQ
Researcher Plus Archive, Vol. 16, No. 27, pp 1-14.
Coyne, I., Chesney, T., Logan, B. and Madden, N. (2009) “Grieving in a virtual community: An exploratory survey of
Second Life residents”, Journal of Psychology, Vol. 217, No. 4, pp 214-221.
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Numan, W.R. and Robinson, J.P. (2001) “Social Implications of the Internet”, Annual
Review of Sociology, Vol. 27, pp 307-336.
Donaldson, S. (2010) “Immigrant Teen Taunted by Cyber bullies Hangs Herself”. Retrieved from
www.cyberbullying411.org/what-is-cyberbullying.php
Farrell, E.F. (Sept. 1, 2006) “Judging Roommates by Their Facebook Cover”, Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 53,
No. 2.
Garfinckle, S. (August 2009) “Privacy Requires Security, Not Abstinence: Protecting the Inalienable Right in the age
of Facebook”, Technology Review.
Goffman, E. (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Doubleday, New York.
Goffman, E. (1963) Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Simon & Schuster, New York.
Goffman, E. (1971) Relations in public:Microstudies of the public order, Harper Colophon Books, New York.
Hargittai, E. (2006) “Hurdles to Information Seeking: Spelling and Typographical Mistakes During Users Online
Behavior”, Journal of the Association of Information Systems.
Haxell, A. (2010) “Empowerment in tight spaces; youth counseling in a text-messaging medium”, Conference paper
at E-Youth, Antwerp, Belgium, June.
Livingstone, S. (2008) “Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers’ use of social networking
sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression”, New Media and Society, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp 393-411.
Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2000-2010. “The Internet Life Report”, Washington D.C. Reported in Witte and
Mannon (2010) The Internet and Social Inequality, Routledge, New York.
Richardson, W. (Sept. 2007) “From MySpace to SchoolSpace”, District Administration, pp 65-68.
Scammell, M. (2000) “The Internet and Civic Engagement: The Age of the Citizen Consumer”, Political
Communication, Vol. 17, pp 351-355.
West, A., Lewis, J. and Currie, P. (Dec. 2009) “Students’ Facebook “friends”; public and private spheres”, Journal of
Youth Studies, Vol. 12, No. 6, pp 615-627.
White, R. and Wyn, J. (2008) Youth and Society. 2 nd edition, Oxford Press, Oxford.
Ybarra, M. and Mitchell, K. (2004) “Youth engaging in online harassment: associations with caregiver-child
relationships, internet use, and personal characteristics”, Journal of Adolescence, Vol. 27, pp 319-336.
Young, K. (2004) “Internet Addiction: A new clinical phenomenon and its consequences”, American Behavioral
Scientist, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp 402-415.
244

Semantic-Driven eGovernment: Correlating Development
Phases With Semantic eGovernment Specific Ontology
Models
Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu 1, 2 and Magda Huisman 2
1
Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
2
North-West University, South Africa
fonoudombeu@gmail.com
Magda.Huisman@nwu.ac.za
Abstract: Electronic government (eGovernment) has been one of the most active areas of ontology development
during the past six years, resulting in several EGovernment Specific Ontology Models (ESOM) being developed in
various researches and projects. However, the specific ontology models proposed are not aligned to any
circumstance or phase of eGovernment development nor are detailed guidelines provided to facilitate their
repeatability in the broader eGovernment community. This paper establishes a correlation between existing ESOM
and eGovernment development phases. Firstly, ESOM developed in various eGovernment researches and projects
are investigated and encoded. Thereafter, a semantic-driven eGovernment development framework based on
ontology models prescribed in the ontology engineering field is proposed. Finally, an alignment scheme is drawn to
correlate the encoded ESOM with the proposed eGovernment development framework phases. The aims of the
study are twofold: (1) providing eGovernment developers, particularly those from the developing world with
guidelines for adopting existing semantic ESOM in their eGovernment projects, and (2) strengthening the adoption of
semantic technologies in eGovernment processes. The main contribution of the study is the investigation, analysis
and correlation of existing ESOM with a proposed semantic-driven eGovernment development framework phases,
which provides methodologies and techniques for the iterative adoption of ESOM in other eGovernment projects
within the eGovernment development community.
Keywords: eGovernment, ontology models, correlation, eGovernment development framework, semantic
technologies
1. Introduction
As eGovernment evolves in maturity, heterogonous systems of government departments and agencies
need to be integrated and interoperate to provide a seamless services delivery to citizens. In view of the
current state of methodological approaches for eGovernment development, semantic technologies
provide the best solutions for achieving seamless services delivery in eGovernment (Sanati and Lu 2007;
Muthaiyah and Kerschberg 2008). These semantic-based solutions consist of describing, composing,
mapping and merging eGovernment services (e-services) using ESOM (Apostolou et al. 2005a, 2005b;
Sabucedo and Rifon 2006; Puustjarvi 2006; Xiao et al. 2007; Chen et al. 2008; Gugliotta et al. 2005;
Sanati and Lu 2009; Sabucedo et al. 2010). The concern of this paper is the fact that these ESOM do not
correlate with eGovernment development phases nor are detailed guidelines provided to facilitate their
repeatability in eGovernment projects within the eGovernment development community. This paper
establishes a correlation between existing ESOM and eGovernment development phases. Firstly, ESOM
developed in various eGovernment researches and projects are investigated and encoded. Thereafter, a
semantic-driven eGovernment development framework based on ontology models prescribed in the
ontology engineering field is proposed. Finally, an alignment scheme is drawn to correlate the encoded
ESOM with the proposed eGovernment development framework phases. The aims of the study are
twofold: (1) providing eGovernment developers, particularly those from the developing world with
guidelines for adopting existing semantic ESOM in their eGovernment projects, and (2) strengthening the
adoption of semantic technologies in eGovernment processes. The main contribution of the study is the
investigation, analysis and correlation of existing ESOM with a proposed semantic-driven eGovernment
development framework phases, which provides methodologies and techniques for the iterative adoption
of ESOM in other eGovernment projects within the eGovernment development community.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 conducts a review of existing ESOM and the
ontology models prescribed in the ontology engineering field, as well as their semantic alignment. The
proposed semantic-driven eGovernment development framework is presented in section 3. Section 4
describes the correlation scheme of the ESOM with eGovernment development phases. A discussion is
carried out in section 5 and a conclusion is drawn in the last section.
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2. Methodology
Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
Figure 1 describes the correlation process. Firstly, a literature review is carried out in both eGovernment
and ontology engineering domains to identify existing ontology models. As a result, eGovernment specific
ontologies (eGovernment domain) and prescribed ontologies (ontology engineering domain) are
identified. Thereafter, a semantic alignment of both categories of ontologies is established. The alignment
result and a proposed eGovernment development framework are used to correlate the eGovernment
specific ontologies with the development phases.
Figure 1: Flowchart of the correlation process of existing ESOM with eGovernment development phases
2.1 Background on existing ESOM
There is no universal definition of ontology in the literature (Gomez-Perez and Benjamins 1999). The
most commonly used definition was proposed by Gruber (1995). He defined ontology as an explicit
specification of a conceptualization. A conceptualization is an abstract and simplified view of a domain of
knowledge one wishes to represent for a certain purpose; the domain could be explicitly and formally
represented using existing objects, concepts, entities and the relationship that exist between them
(Gruber 1995). Ontology is widely used in disciplines such as computer science, software engineering,
databases, artificial intelligence, and many more (Welty 2003; Calero et al. 2006). In these fields,
developers use ontology to represent knowledge in a manner that can be automatically processed by
computers. In eGovernment, ontology is being used to describe and specify e-services aiming at their
easy composition, mapping, matching and merging for a seamless services delivery to citizens through
one-stop portals (Wimmer 2002; Lee et al. 2009). Therefore, specialized ontologies are being developed
to model government’s structures, laws and regulations, service delivery processes, interactions between
government and citizens, integration and interoperability processes, and the like.
Sanati and Lu (2009) use three kinds of ontologies namely: government ontology, regulatory ontology
and service ontology to describe the e-services integration process. The ONTOGOV project (Apostolou
et al. 2005a, 2005b) provides a platform which allows the composition, reconfiguration and evaluation of
e-services using eight kinds of ontologies including legal ontology, organizational ontology, life-cycle
ontology, domain ontology, service ontology, life-event ontology, profile ontology, and web service
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
orchestration ontology. Other solutions for services integration based on specific ontologies are proposed
in Chen et al. (2008) and Gugliotta et al. (2005). Chen et al. (2008) propose a framework for services
integration based on citizen ontology, domain ontology, and generic eGovernment ontology, whereas,
Gugliotta et al. (2005) establish the mapping of legacy ontology, workflow ontology, service ontology, lifeevent
ontology, and eGovernment domain ontology to a predefined eGovernment system reference
model, aiming at achieving services integration and interoperability for One-Stop portals. The issue of
services interoperability is further addressed by Sabucedo and Rifon (2006), Xiao et al. (2007) and
Sabucedo et al. (2010) with specialized ontology models. Xiao et al. (2007) model the interoperability
process using the eGovernment business ontology. Sabucedo and Rifon (2006) use the life-event
ontology, variable ontology, and legal document ontology, developed in a semantic-based platform, to
enable the interoperability of eGovernment services. A holistic solution for services interoperability is
proposed by Sabucedo et al. (2010) based on the life-event ontology and document ontology. Another
relevant literature by Puustjarvi (2006) proposes a process-document ontology model for the business
process modeling in eGovernment.
None of the above researches and projects has established a correlation between the proposed ESOM
and eGovernment development phases nor do they provide detailed guidelines to facilitate their
repeatability in other eGovernment projects and strengthen the adoption of semantic technologies in
eGovernment processes. This research establishes a correlation of the abovementioned ESOM with a
proposed semantic-driven eGovernment development framework phases; which provides methodologies
and techniques for the iterative adoption of ESOM in other eGovernment projects.
Table 1 summarizes the 26 existing ESOM presented above (see the third column of Table 1), the
eGovernment issues they were used to address (see the second column of Table 1), as well as a brief
summary of their purposes and/or roles in the eGovernment domain (see the fourth column of Table 1).
In the third column of Table 1, the ESOM are also encoded to facilitate their later reference in this paper.
Each eGovernment specific ontology model in the third column of Table 1 is encoded as EGovernment
Ontology x (EOx); where x is a number between 1 and 26 inclusive. It is worth noting that some ESOM in
Table 1 which are sharing the same name have been assigned different codes; this is due to the fact that
in certain cases, the purposes and/or roles for which these ESOM were used are different from one
author to another. The ontology models prescribed by the ontology engineering field are described in the
next section.
2.2 Ontology models prescribed by the ontology engineering field
There is no universal classification of ontologies in the ontology engineering research domain. Several
classifications of ontologies are provided in the literature (Mizoguchi and Ikeda 1995; Uschold 1996;
Gangemi et al. 1999; Gomez-Perez and Benjamins 1999; Beck and Pinto 2003). However, two main
criteria could be used to classify ontologies: the formality used and the nature of the domain of
knowledge that the ontology is characterizing. The formality refers to the level of detail employed to
create the ontology’s vocabulary and specifies the meaning of terms. The domain of knowledge could be
anything at all; it could refer to a domain such as medicine, geographic information system or
eGovernment; it could also refer to an area of problem solving or knowledge representation language
(Uschold 1996). A classification of ontologies according to the above criteria is as follows:
1. Formality
Informal ontology (Uschold 1996; Gangemi et al. 1999): expressed either in natural language or in
a semi-structured form of natural language.
Semi-formal ontology (Uschold 1996): expressed in a formally defined language.
Formal ontology (Uschold 1996): terms are meticulously defined with formal semantic, theorems
and proofs.
2. Domain of Knowledge
Domain ontology: characterizes domains such as medicine, geology, eGovernment, etc; provides
vocabularies about the concepts within a domain and their relationships, the activities that take place
in that domain, and theories and elementary principles governing the domain (Gomez-Perez and
Benjamins 1999; Beck and Pinto 2003).
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
Table 1: Existing ESOM, eGovernment issues addressed, and purposes and/or roles
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
Task/Method/Problem solving ontology: terms are specific to a particular task or problem solving
methods (Uschold 1996; Gomez-Perez and Benjamins 1999); describe specific tasks or activities
using the vocabulary specified in the domain ontology (Gangemi et al. 1999).
Representation or Meta ontology: represented in an existing ontology language (Uschold 1996);
written in description logic (Beck and Pinto 2003); uses the syntax employed to formalize knowledge
in knowledge representation paradigms; reusable across domains (Gomez-Perez and Benjamins
1999)
In the remaining sections of this work, we will refer to the above types of ontologies defined in the
ontology engineering field as Prescribed Ontology Models (POM). The next section establishes the
semantic alignment of ESOM in Table 1 with the POM.
2.3 Semantic alignment of existing ESOM with POM
To semantically align ESOM with the POM, we have formulated three propositions which broadly define
the characteristics of the POM. Then, an eGovernment specific ontology model is aligned to a prescribed
ontology model i.e. it belongs to the class of ontologies formed by the prescribed ontology model, if its
purposes and/or roles described in Table 1 satisfy the corresponding proposition. Let’s consider an
ontology O. The propositions are formulated as follows:
P1: O describes the entities of a domain of knowledge and the relationships between them; these entities
may have a physical, abstract or moral representation.
P2: O describes the processes of a domain of knowledge; it describes specific tasks or activities needed
to carry out the processes using the domain concepts.
P3: O describes either the entities or processes of a domain of knowledge and it is formally written in
such a way that it can be processed by a computer.
Figure 2: Alignment of ESOM with POM
After having defined the propositions, the semantic alignment is carried out manually by analyzing the
purposes and/or roles of each eGovernment specific ontology model in Table 1 and finding out which of
the above propositions is satisfied by these purposes and/or roles. The result of the semantic alignment
is provided in Figure 2. The ESOM are represented using the encoding established in the third column of
Table 1. Furthermore, ontology models which purposes and/or roles satisfy a common proposition are
grouped into a set (see the left part of Figure 2). The proposed semantic-driven eGovernment
development framework is presented in the next section.
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
3. Proposed semantic-driven eGovernment development framework
In Fonou-Dombeu and Huisman (2010), we have proposed a three phase semantic-driven eGovernment
development methodology framework amalgamating eGovernment development methodological features
from the public administration, software engineering and Semantic Web domains. Figure 3 depicts the
architecture of the proposed semantic-driven eGovernment development methodology framework.
Figure 3: The proposed three phase egovernment development framework aligning the united nation
maturity model stages with ontologies
A complete description of the specification of the proposed methodology framework in Figure 3 is out of
the scope of this research; more information could be found in Fonou-Dombeu and Huisman (2010). This
research provides a brief description of the framework and emphasizes on the semantic alignment of the
development phases with the ESOM.
In the proposed methodology framework in Figure 3 we present a new generation of eGovernment
applications development methodology as a system with three layers namely: maturity model stages
layer, service development layer and ontology layer. The maturity model stages layer is the domain of
public administrators who provide a certain number of stages for eGovernment development as well as
guidelines for the planning and implementation of eGovernment systems. The service development layer
in the middle, falls under the software engineering domain and provides tools and platforms for the
analysis, design and effective implementation of e-services; in particular, we are more interested at this
layer by the agile software development techniques which would allow fast development of e-services,
iterative and incremental development, constant review of e-services requirements as well as constant
prototyping during development. The ontology layer is the semantic-based layer which prescribes the use
of semantic technologies as ontologies for the modelling and specification of e-services at each stage of
development to facilitate their integration, maintenance and interoperability at advanced stages of
development.
More importantly, the proposed methodology framework in Figure 3 provides three phases for
eGovernment development namely: scope definition, identification and categorization of services, as well
as Web Services development. At each phase of the framework is aligned a POM for the semantic
description and specification of eGovernment services at that particular phase. The aim of this study
being to correlate the ESOM with the three phases of the proposed framework in Figure 3, we present in
the next section the correlation scheme of the ESOM with the framework phases.
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
4. Correlating ESOM with the proposed eGovernment development framework
phases
We recall that the proposed eGovernment development framework in Figure 3 is based on ontology
models prescribed in the ontology engineering field. It can be noticed that these prescribed ontology
models represented at each phase of the framework, under its ontology layer, are the same as the POM
mentioned earlier in this research. Then, correlating the ESOM with the framework phases will consist of
establishing an alignment of the POM in Figure 2 with those in Figure 3. To this end, the following
propositions have been formulated:
P4: A prescribed ontology model is aligned to one or many phases of the proposed eGovernment
development framework.
P5: If a prescribed ontology model is aligned to a phase of the framework, then, the ESOM which are
aligned to it are also aligned to that same phase of the framework.
In light of the above propositions, the correlation of ESOM with the proposed eGovernment development
framework phases in Figure 3 is provided in Figure 4. Figure 4 shows that all the ESOM classified as
domain ontologies in Figure 2 are aligned to the first and second phases of the proposed framework.
Similarly, all the ESOM classified as task and Meta ontologies respectively are aligned to the second and
third phases of the framework respectively. More information on the structure of the framework phases is
given in Figure 3.
Figure 4: Correlation scheme of ESOM with proposed eGovernment development framework phases
5. Discussion
This research has investigated, analysed and correlated specific eGovernment ontology models that are
being developed in various researches and projects, with the phases of our proposed eGovernment
development framework (see Figure 3). The correlation scheme in Figure 4 has aligned thirteen ESOM to
the first phase of the framework namely: scope definition; at this phase of eGovernment development, the
aligned ESOM will mainly be used to describe and specify the government business domain. In
particular, the ESOM at the first phase of the framework will be employed to model government structure
and services ([EO1], [EO4], [EO16], [EO20], [EO21], [EO25]), describe government documents, laws and
regulations that govern government services ([EO2], [EO3], [EO10], [EO14], [EO22]), describe citizens’
status ([EO13]), and concepts related to the interaction of citizens with government ([EO19]). Eight
ESOM as well as some of the ESOM aligned to the first phase, are aligned to the second phase of the
framework namely: identification and categorization of services; at this phase of the framework, the
ESOM will serve to model government processes ([EO5], [EO9], [EO11], [EO15]), describe e-services
flows ([EO6], [EO17]) and transitions of citizens’ life ([EO12], [EO24]). At the third phase of the
framework, five ESOM are aligned; they are formally written with Semantic Web technologies ([EO18])
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
and provide mechanisms for automatic composition, mapping, matching and merging of e-services
([EO7], [EO8], [EO23], [EO26]) and facilitate their integration and interoperability.
As mentioned previously, the researches investigated to identify the ESOM described above do not
provide detailed guidelines on how one can repeat the proposed ESOM in other eGovernment projects.
This study has overcome this weakness by aligning the various ESOM to the ontology models prescribed
in the ontology engineering field. This is a great opportunity to eGovernment developers as the wider
range of methodologies and techniques for building ontologies (Uschold 1996; Fernandez-Lopez 1999;
Beck and Pinto 2003; Calero et al. 2006) which are available in the ontology engineering domain could
be exploited for a widespread use of the ESOM in future eGovernment projects. Furthermore, the
correlation of the proposed ESOM with the phases of the proposed eGovernment development
framework presented above, provide eGovernment developers with a stepwise based mechanism for the
iterative adoption of ESOM in future eGovernment projects.
6. Conclusion
The study reviews researches focusing on semantic eGovernment and published between 2005 and
2010 inclusive. As a result, 26 eGovernment specific ontology models were identified, analysed and
correlated with a proposed semantic-driven eGovernment development framework phases; this provides
methodologies, techniques and mechanisms for the iterative adoption of the proposed eGovernment
specific ontology models in other eGovernment projects within the eGovernment development
community.
The study reveals that various authors are proposing eGovernment specific ontology models under the
same name, but with different purposes/roles. Then, it would be useful to normalize the semantic
ontology models characterizing the eGovernment domain in the near future, so as to prevent
inconsistency and confusion in the semantic eGovernment development community.
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253

Towards a Unified Semantic-Driven Methodology Framework
for eGovernment Systems Development
Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu 1, 2 and Magda Huisman 2
1
Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
2
North-West University, South Africa
fonoudombeu@gmail.com
Magda.Huisman@nwu.ac.za
Abstract: The ultimate goal of e-governance is to reach the stage of seamless service delivery in one-stop
eGovernment. This raises the engineering issues of integration, reusability, maintenance and interoperability of
autonomous eGovernment systems of government departments and agencies. Therefore, appropriate methodologies
which consistently address the aforementioned engineering issues throughout eGovernment development phases
are needed. This study presents a methodology framework which amalgamates features from maturity models,
traditional software engineering and semantic knowledge representation research domains for a unified and agile
semantic-driven development of eGovernment systems. Firstly, the methods and techniques currently used for the
planning, design, and implementation of eGovernment systems worldwide are investigated; a critical analysis is
carried out to identify their advantages and disadvantages, as well as their contribution towards addressing the
aforementioned engineering issues. Secondly, the proposed methodology framework is drawn and described.
Finally, a flowchart is used to specify the iterative and incremental business process model of the proposed
methodology framework. The aims of the study are twofold: (1), providing direction for the semantic-driven
development of future eGovernment systems which would facilitate their integration and interoperability towards onestop
eGovernment, and (2), unifying the currently used methods and techniques for efficient planning and
implementation of future eGovernment systems based on semantic technologies. The main contribution of the study
is the investigation and amalgamation of features from the maturity models, traditional software engineering and
semantic knowledge representation research domains to enable the planning and agile semantic-driven
implementation of future eGovernment systems. The research would be of interest to eGovernment project teams,
particularly those of developing countries where little or no progress has been made towards the development of
one-stop portals for online services delivery to citizens.
Keywords: eGovernment, methodology framework, one-stop portal, ontology, semantic technologies, maturity
models
1. Introduction
In recent years, many countries worldwide have adopted e-governance, resulting in several web-based
applications being developed in various government departments and agencies for online services
delivery to citizens. The increasing number of these autonomous eGovernment applications (eapplications)
has raised several software engineering issues such as reusability, maintenance,
integration and interoperability of these applications (Choudrie and Weerrakody 2007; Muthaiyah and
Kerschberg 2008; Lee et al. 2009; Saekow and Boonmee 2009), in the context of one-stop eGovernment
which requires e-applications to be accessed at a single point and function as a whole for better
efficiency and seamless services delivery (Wimmer 2002; Lee et al. 2009).
On the other hand e--government is a broad research field with several research works being undertaken
in various domains (Lofstedt 2005); aiming at addressing simultaneously political, institutional, legal,
technological, cultural and societal issues for effective electronic services (e-services) delivery to citizens.
However, the development and deployment of e-services in one-stop portal/shop remain a key and
challenging priority in eGovernment development. In fact, (1), eGovernment strategies of various
countries include e-services development as vehicle for effective online delivery to citizens and
stakeholders; examples from countries with successful eGovernment implementation encompass
Singapore(Devadoss et al. 2003), Australia (Teicher and Dow 2002), Taiwan (Sang et al. 2005) and UK
(Beynon-Davies 2005) and (2), research studies reporting on successful eGovernment implementation
show that few countries have reached the stage of one-stop portal where citizens can seamlessly access
all government’s services; in fact, a United Nations survey in 2002 reported that amongst its 190 member
states, only 26 out of 169 websites had one-stop portals and less than 20 offered online transactions
(Chen et al. 2006). Therefore, it is important to look at appropriate methodologies for developing eapplications
which provides structured guidelines for the design, implementation and deployment of
various government services on the Web to citizens, while consistently addressing the aforementioned
engineering issues in an incremental and iterative manner, towards one-stop eGovernment portals. A
review of current literature in eGovernment implementation has allowed identifying three main methods
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
and techniques that deal with the planning, design, implementation and deployment of e-services for
effective online delivery to citizens; these include maturity models (MM), traditional software engineering
(TSE) and semantic-based techniques (SB).
Considerable research has been conducted by public administrators for eGovernment planning and
implementation. They propose different stages for eGovernment development in maturity models or stage
of growth models (Layne and Lee 2001; Howard 2001; Deloitte and Touche 2001; Moon 2002; United
Nation 2003; West 2004; Zarei et al. 2008; Bri 2009). A maturity model or stage of growth model is
designed as a sequence of stages of eGovernment growth and constitutes a guiding and benchmarking
tool for eGovernment planning and development. Each maturity model stage prescribes a list of web
features that are needed online or mechanisms required to create changes at that particular stage of
eGovernment development. An example of eGovernment initiative that has used the Layne and Lee
(2001) model is the Integrated Acquisition Environment (IAE) eGovernment project in the US (Sang et al.
2005). The shortcoming of maturity models or stage of growth models is that they lack design guidelines
throughout their various stages. Furthermore, maturity models emphasize eGovernment services
integration at advanced stages of eGovernment growth but they do not mention how this can be done.
The authors carried out a detailed review of maturity models in Fonou-Dombeu and Huisman (2010).
Despite their shortcomings mentioned above, maturity models provide useful methodological features for
eGovernment planning and development (Estevez et al. 2007). However, the aforementioned
shortcomings could be addressed with TSE and SB techniques as described below.
In the software engineering field, it is believed that an eGovernment application is a software system;
existing software development methodologies (SDM) are used in eGovernment projects and existing
standards are employed for services integration and interoperability (Vassilakis et al. 2002; Heeks 2006;
Janowski et al. 2007; Salhofer and Ferbas 2007; Sanati and Lu 2007; Arif 2008; Lee et al. 2009). In this
research, existing SDM refers to structured and object-oriented analysis and design methods, and agile
methods. The advantages of TSE techniques is that they provide a large range of tools and mechanisms
for analyzing and describing the requirements of the complex public administration systems (Arif 2008;
Janowski et al. 2007; Lee et al. 2009), and provides platforms for implementing and deploying web-based
eGovernment applications. However, traditional software development methodologies are inappropriate
for the planning and benchmarking of e-services development as public administrators do with maturity
models. Furthermore, the traditional software engineering techniques use existing Web services
standards for e-services integration and interoperability as described in Arif (2008) and Lee et al. (2009).
However, Muthaiyah and Kerschberg (2008) have demonstrated that existing Web services standards
provide only syntactical interoperability and that the trend is towards semantic interoperability which is
more reliable. This is in line with the work of Sanati and Lu (2007) who argued that traditional software
engineering methodologies provide only limited solutions to the problem of services integration in
eGovernment. They recommended that more research work be carried out to develop new
methodologies approaches that provide appropriate solutions to the integration problem in eGovernment.
To this end, semantic technologies have emerged as promising solutions (Muthaiyah and Kerschberg
2008; Sabucedo et al. 2010).
The SB techniques belongs to the semantic knowledge representation field which uses ontology to model
eGovernment systems (Apostolou et al. 2005a, 2005b; Xiao et al. 2007; Muthaiyah and Kerschberg
2008; Sanati and Lu 2009; Sabucedo et al. 2010), facilitating their semantic integration and
interoperability. The advantage of SB techniques is that they provide efficient and reliable solutions to the
engineering issues of integration, reusability, maintenance and interoperability in eGovernment (Sanati
and Lu 2007; Muthaiyah and Kerschberg 2008). Further, the SB techniques share some tools and
platforms with TSE techniques (Sanati and Lu 2007) for the analysis and design of e-services, and the
development of web-based eGovernment applications. However, the semantic ontology models being
developed in the eGovernment domain are mainly ad hoc solutions and are not aligned to any
eGovernment development phases or stages as proposed by maturity models, which might makes it
extremely difficult to plan and benchmark a semantic-driven eGovernment development project.
Furthermore, various ontologies are being used in different research and projects for the modeling and
specification of e-services, but it is unclear which kinds of ontologies were used (Muthaiyah and
Kerschberg 2008; Saekow and Boonmee 2009) and when and in which circumstances of e-services
development processes the proposed ontologies are required (Apostolou 2005b; Xiao et al. 2007;
Muthaiyah and Kerschberg 2008; Salhofer et al. 2009; Saekow and Boonmee 2009; Sanati and Lu 2009),
nor how to represent them from the complex public administration system (Apostolou 2005b; Xiao et al.
2007; Muthaiyah and Kerschberg 2008; Saekow and Boonmee 2009; Sanati and Lu 2009; Sabucedo et
255

Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
al. 2010). Finally, to the best of our knowledge, none of current semantic based eGovernment solutions
provides a holistic stepwise methodology for a semantic-driven planning and implementation of
eGovernment systems.
This study presents a methodology framework which amalgamates features from maturity models,
traditional software engineering and semantic knowledge representation research domains for a unified
and agile semantic-driven development of future eGovernment systems. Firstly, the proposed
methodology framework is drawn and described. Secondly, the methodology of the research is
presented. Finally, a flowchart is used to specify the iterative and incremental business process model of
the proposed methodology framework. The aims of the study are twofold: (1), providing direction for the
semantic-driven development of future eGovernment systems which would facilitate their integration and
interoperability towards one-stop eGovernment portals, and (2), unifying the currently used models and
techniques for efficient planning and implementation of future eGovernment systems based on semantic
technologies. The main contribution of the study is the investigation and amalgamation of features from
the maturity models, traditional software engineering and semantic knowledge representation research
domains to enable the planning and agile semantic-driven implementation of future eGovernment
systems. The research would be of interest to eGovernment project teams, particularly those of
developing countries where little or no progress has been made towards the development of one-stop
portals for online services delivery. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents and
describes the proposed methodology framework. The methodology of the research is explained in
Section 3. Section 4 draws the flowchart of the business process model of the proposed methodology
framework. The limitations and future trends of the research are described in Section 5 and a conclusion
ends the paper.
2. Proposed methodology framework for eGovernment systems development
The methodology framework described here was presented in Fonou-Dombeu and Huisman (2010). It
was employed to show how maturity model stages could be complemented with tools and platforms for
the stepwise semantic-driven design and implementation of e-services to enable their easy integration
and interoperability at advanced stages of eGovernment development towards one-stop portals. The
proposed methodology framework is depicted in Figure 1; it displays and overlay of features from
maturity models (top layer), traditional software engineering (middle layer) and semantic knowledge
representation (bottom layer) domains as mentioned earlier. This study explains why the proposed
methodology framework is useful for eGovernment systems development and emphasizes on its
business process model for the iterative and incremental development of e-services towards one-stop
portals. The study does not repeat the explanation of the e-services development processes at various
phases of the framework. Interested readers may refer to Fonou-Dombeu and Huisman (2010) for more
information.
First of all, in a software engineering perspective, eGovernment systems implementation entails
gathering the requirements of the government service to be delivered online to citizens, design,
implement and deploy the e-service on the Web for online interaction with citizens; these processes could
be carried out iteratively and incrementally with state-of-the-art software engineering techniques. In view
of the complexity of the public administration system, eGovernment implementation as described above
requires (1), mechanisms for the planning and implementation of e-services at various stages or phases
of eGovernment development, (2), state-of-the-art software engineering techniques and platforms for the
design and implementation of e-services, as well as (3), emerging technologies as the Semantic Web
technologies which have potential to facilitate the integration and interoperability of e-services towards
one-stop eGovernment (Muthaiyah and Kerschberg 2008). These three requirements are provided in the
proposed methodology framework in Figure 1. The framework in Figure 1 is composed of three layers
namely maturity model stages layer (MMSL), services development layer (SDL) and ontology layer (OL).
The MMSL provides various stages for eGovernment development; each stage prescribes the web
features that should be implemented and launch on the web site of the government department or
agency for online interaction with citizens. The stages are complemented with software engineering and
semantic-based tools and techniques at various phases of the framework to enable the effective design,
implementation and deployment of the prescribed web features of maturity models. At each phase of the
framework, the SDL and OL provides system analysis and design techniques as well as platforms for the
implementation and deployment of the required web features at the corresponding maturity model
stage(s). In particular, the SDL provides state-of-the-art software engineering techniques as objectoriented
and agile methods for the design and development of e-services; these e-services can further be
integrated and interoperated using existing Web services standards (Arif 2008; Lee et al. 2009) and
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
promote the advancement towards one-stop portals. Furthermore, the proposed framework phases might
not be followed chronologically or in a linear order in practice, then, agile methods at SDL provide
mechanisms for the iterative and incremental development of e-services through a continuous review of
e-services requirements and prototyping to enable the quick development of required e-services (Greg et
al. 2006). The OL provides various ontology models that capture at each phase of the framework the
semantic content of e-services under development; the resulting e-services ontology models are
implemented in Semantic Web ontology languages such as XML, Resource Description Framework
(RDF) and/or Web Ontology Language (OWL) with Semantic Web platforms to enable their easy
composition, matching, mapping and merging and facilitate their integration and interoperability towards
one-stop eGovernment. The next section describes the methodology that was used to carry out this
study.
Figure 1: The proposed three phase egovernment development framework aligning the united nation
maturity model stages with ontologies
3. Methodology
Several journals, conferences papers, research reports and magazines on eGovernment topic published
between 2000 and 2010 inclusive were reviewed. The aim was to investigate the current methods and
techniques used in eGovernment systems development worldwide. Firstly, the selection of relevant
papers was done by mean of keyword search in Google search engine. Keywords include "eGovernment
development", "eGovernment development methodology", "eGovernment development framework", "eservice
development", "semantic eGovernment", "semantic-driven eGovernment", " eGovernment in
country"; where country include US, UK, Singapore, etc, which are countries with successful
eGovernment implementation experiences (Chen et al. 2006). In total, 244 related research works were
downloaded. Secondly, the content analysis of the downloaded research was carried out based on the
title and abstract; in certain cases, the introduction and selected sections were analysed as well. As a
consequence, (1), research which focuses on eGovernment development methodology or framework in
general i.e. which address general issues such as adoption, strategies, etc., and (2), research which
does not focus on or discuss processes for eGovernment systems development, e-services development,
or semantic web integration and interoperability of e-services was discarded. 59 research works which
meet the abovementioned criteria remained. These remaining research works were read one by one and
analysed thoroughly; finally, journal articles and conference papers where sources were widely
accessible were selected as well as research reports from specialized institutions as the United Nations.
The selected papers were published in various peer reviewed journals, conferences and magazines
worldwide including : Electronic Journal of EGovernment (EJEG), International Journal of Electronic
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
Government Research (IJEGR), Government Information Quarterly, Public Administration Review (PAR),
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research (JTAER), Journal of Expert Systems
with Applications (JESA), Electronic Markets (EM), The International Information & Library Revew,
Government Finance Review, International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), European
Conference on EGovernment (ECEG), International Digital Government Research Conference (IDGRC),
IEEE International Conference on Wireless Communication, Networking and Mobile Computing
(WiCOM), CMA Management, etc. Based on a thorough analysis of these selected research, it was
discovered that, methods and techniques that are widely used for the planning, design and
implementation of eGovernment systems include, (1) maturity models or stages of growth models which
prescribe iterative processes of development through various stages (Layne and Lee 2001; United Nation
2003; West 2004), (2) traditional software engineering techniques including structured, object-oriented,
and agile methods (Vassilakis et al. 2002; Heeks 2006; Janowski et al. 2007; Salhofer and Ferbas 2007;
Sanati and Lu 2007; Arif 2008; Lee et al. 2009) and (3) Semantic Web technologies (Saekow and
Boonmee 2009; Sanati and Lu 2009; Sabucedo et al. 2010). Then, current eGovernment systems
development methods and techniques that dealt with e-services planning, design, and implementation
into three main categories namely: the Maturity Model Stages (MMS), the Traditional Software
Engineering (TSE) and the Semantic-Based (SB) were classified. These three classes correspond to the
three layers of the proposed methodology framework in Figure 1. Table 1 presents some selected
research that we have reviewed. Furthermore, some of the works reviewed were describing practical
experiences of eGovernment implementation processes; the corresponding papers are presented in
Table 2.
Table 1: Selected research studies reviewed
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
It is worth noting that Table 2 does not refer to developed countries with successful eGovernment
implementation experiences such as US, UK, Singapore, etc. because detailed studies on the software
development techniques or processes of their eGovernments systems was unavailable. In fact, available
research is mainly reporting or evaluating the implementation strategies of eGovernment systems of
these developed countries as well as their success and/or failure factors without providing any
information on the software engineering methods or techniques employed for e-services design and
implementation. This situation is in part justified by the fact that in these countries, eGovernment systems
implementation is mainly outsourced by private companies which are known to protect their proprietary
information; examples include the implementation of the eGovernment system of the department of
Inland Revenue in the UK (Beynon-Davies 2005), the Government Electronic Business (GeBIZ)
procurement system in Singapore (Devadoss et al. 2003) and the e-Tax system of the National Tax
Agency in Japan (Chatfield 2009). The business process model of the proposed methodology framework
in Figure 1 is presented in the next section.
Table 2: Research studies describing eGovernment implementation case studies
4. Flowchart of the business process model of the proposed methodology
framework
As shown in Figure 1, the service development layer provides the names of the framework phases: scope
definition, identification and categorization of services, and web services development. It represents the
process of e-services development, from the requirements of a government’s business domain to the
effective e-services implementation. Figure 2 depicts the flowchart of the business process model of the
proposed framework in Figure 1; it describes the incremental and iterative process for realizing the web
features prescribed by the maturity models stages, at each phase of eGovernment implementation. Table
3 describes the variables used in the flowchart.
Table 3: Variables of the business process model algorithm
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
The incremental and iterative process in Figure 2 follows the agile software development paradigm (Greg
et al. 2006; Clutterbuck et al. 2009); it commences with the selection of a maturity model. This means
that, at the beginning of an eGovernment project, a maturity model has to be chosen. The chosen
maturity model will provide the stages of development as well as guidelines for the planning and
implementation of the system from a simple web presence to a one-stop portal. Further, each maturity
model will provide the web features required at each stage of eGovernment growth. After having chosen
the appropriate maturity model, its stages need to be aligned to the framework as described in Fonou-
Dombeu and Huisman (2010). Thereafter, the iteration starts with the first phase of e-services
development (see the outer loop in Figure 5). At each phase of development an iterative process is
performed (see the inner loop in Figure 5) to realize and launch the web features required by the maturity
model stages aligned to the corresponding phase of the methodology framework. The iterative process is
performed until the required web features are realized at that particular phase, or the required web
features are to be completed in the next phase of the framework as it is explained in Fonou-Dombeu and
Huisman (2010).
Figure 2: Flowchart of the business process model of the methodology framework
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Jean Vincent Fonou Dombeu and Magda Huisman
In all the cases, after the semantic modelling of the business requirements of the eGovernment business
domain during iteration, a prototype has to be developed and tested or the resulting prototype from the
previous iteration has to be improved and tested. After all the web features or changes required by the
maturity model stages aligned to the current methodology framework phase have been realized, the
iterative process continues to the next phase of the framework. The requirements of the eGovernment
business domain are revisited during iterations (See the inner loop in Figure 5) to ensure that the
prototype systems developed meet the requirements of users who are the citizens and civil servants. The
process is repeated until all the web features or changes prescribed by the maturity model are realized
i.e. until a complete one-stop portal is implemented. The phases of the framework might not be followed
in a linear order in practice; then, the business process model in Figure 2 allows a direct selection of a
particular phase in order to implement and launch a desired web feature on the government web portal.
5. Future trends
This study has presented a conceptual model of a semantic-driven methodology framework for
eGovernment applications development. However, there are certain limitations; firstly, eGovernment
development is not only about technology adoption; other issues including political, institutional, societal,
cultural, etc., may influence the application of the proposed framework in the eGovernment development
context of a given country; secondly, the proposed model has to be empirically validated to demonstrate
its feasibility. Finally, the specification of the proposed model has to be expanded to provide more
insights on the semantic modelling and description of e-services during iterations. This will be the focus of
the next stage of research.
6. Conclusion
This study has presented a methodology framework for eGovernment systems development. The
proposed framework provides stages, tools and techniques for the implementation of e-applications at
various phases of eGovernment development. Due to the fact that the framework phases might not
always be applied chronologically or in a linear order, its business process model was developed to
enable the iterative and incremental development of e-applications.
The proposed framework provides directions for the software development of future eGovernment
systems based on semantic web technologies which are emerging in the field of eGovernment and which
have potential to facilitate the integration and interoperability of resulting eGovernment systems towards
one-stop eGovernment. The technology oriented nature of the framework makes it a useful tool to be
used by eGovernment project teams in conjunction with political, cultural, institutional, legal, and societal
conditions of each specific country.
Finally, the study would particularly be of interest to eGovernment project teams of developing countries
where little or no progress has been made towards the development of one-stop portals for seamless
online services delivery to citizens.
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No. 3, pp.149-156.
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Zarei, B., Ghapanchi, A. and Sattary, B. (2008) “Toward National EGovernment Development Models for Developing
Countries: A Nine Stage Model”, The International Information & Library Review, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 199-207.
262

An Information System to Collect and Analyze Data From
Educational Units During Epidemy Spread Periods
John Garofalakis, Andreas Koskeris, Evangelia Boufardea, Theofanis Michail and
Flora Oikonomou
University Campus of Patras, Greece
garofala@cti.gr
koskeris@cti.gr
mpoufard@westgate.gr
michail@westgate.gr
oikonom@westgate.gr
Abstract: The 2009 flu pandemic was a global outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 influenza virus, often referred to as
"swine flu", which infected thousands of people. In order to improve Public Service efficiency and effectiveness for
the virus’s prevention, governments all over the world started collecting data and recording laboratory-confirmed
cases of the flu. Due to the proliferation of the Internet and the World Wide Web applications and the increasing
interaction of people with eGovernment systems, the recorded flu occurrences were available to scientists around the
world in order to help them draw meaningful conclusions regarding the H1N1 spread. In Greece apart from the other
measures which were taken, special interest was given to the flu high risk groups, such as young children. The
presented project concerns the development and the use of a web based tool to collect and analyze students’
absences on a daily basis from the educational units in Greece. Aim of this effort was to assist the epidemiology
monitoring of H1N1 epidemic evolution in Greece, in the whole country and per Region, leading – in comparative
analysis with other factors collected from other sources – to the extraction of important conclusions for taking
precautionary measures against the flu (e.g. temporarily school closures). Such a survey system to collect and
analyze the daily students’ absences from Greek schools is very useful due to the fact that it provides a precise view
concerning the H1N1 spread in “real time”. The whole system has been integrated to the central Resources
Management System of the Greek Ministry of Education and it operated utilizing the backbone of Greek School
Network. The daily data entry was carried out in a secure hierarchical way (data entry from schools, and data
monitoring from administrative offices). Several statistics were presented, providing capability for comparative
analysis results.
Keywords: electronic government (eGovernment), public sector, H1N1 virus, school units, information system
1. Introduction
The pervasive adoption of the Internet since the 1990s has stimulated business to embrace e-commerce.
In the public sector, eGovernment has emerged and grown enormously as well. Indeed, the development
of eGovernment has clearly mirrored the development of e-commerce. As a result, public organizations
across the globe and at different governmental levels have been applying Internet technologies in
innovative ways to deliver services, engage citizens, and improve performance. Many information
systems have been developed in order to provide quality public services, make interactions between
citizens and government agencies smoother, easier and more efficient and assist government agencies
in the decision making process.
The presented work, concerns an e-tool which was developed for the Greek Ministry of Education and
the “Greek center of monitoring and prevention of deceases - KEELPNO”. The tool has been used to
assist the daily collection and statistical analysis of students’ absences from primary and secondary
educational establishment in Greece. The objectives of this application were:
To support the epidemiological monitoring of H1N1 evolution in Greece (for whole country and per
region), leading to the extraction of several important conclusions for taking public health measures in
the country. Additionally, the extracted conclusions were combined with several additional data
collected from the epidemiological monitoring system of Greece.
To assist the Greek Ministries of Education and Health on their effort to monitor constantly the
evolution of H1N1 virus in Greek schools.
The tool which will be presented within the following sections, is collecting daily data from all Greek
schools and it produces several statistics on various levels (per municipality, region etc), as long as
important alerts and comparative analysis reports. It has been integrated in the existing Resources
Management System of the Greek Ministry of Education (Garofalakis, et al., 2007) and it operated over
the Greek school network (Greek School Network, 2010) utilizing its access / security policies. The
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application started on October 2009, leading to important results assisting in real time the relevant Greek
Authorities responsible to deal with the H1N1 spread. Within the next sections, we present: the
Background information concerning specific needs leading to the decision to implement the tool, the
whole system (on user and technical level), the actual results (quantitative and qualitative) of the
application and the planned further work.
2. Background
Since the late 1990s governments at all levels have launched electronic government (eGovernment)
projects aimed at providing electronic information and services to citizens and businesses (Torres, et al.,
2005). Many governments have realized the importance of using information and communication
technologies (ICT) to provide efficient and transparent government (Prattipati, 2003). Government
agencies around the world have embraced the digital revolution and placed a wide range of materials on
the Web including publications, databases and actual online government services (West,
2002).EGovernment can be broadly defined as a government’s use of ICT, particularly web based
internet applications, to enhance the access to and delivery of government information and service to
citizens, business partners, employees, and other agencies and entities.
The construction and management of eGovernment systems are becoming an essential element of
modern public administration (Torres, et al., 2005). For example, individual citizens may interact with
government electronically by filing their income tax documents online. In Korea, for example, Choudrie &
Lee (2004) found that the use of broadband within government departments and agencies has had a
catalytic impact on the quality of public services, and encouraged previously bureaucratic organizations
to re-engineer the way services are delivered to citizens. In India the online delivery of municipal services
to citizens minimized the time and speed of services and made the active participation of citizens in
public decision-making process possible. In Jamaica customs automated services online led to fewer
errors and inconsistency and increased the speed in entry processing. In Columbia a governmental portal
has been designed which contains all federal government agencies and their relative information and
services in order to facilitate search and information retrieval and enhance the active participation of
citizens in the decision making process. (Ndou, 2004).
Governments in delivering services may do so directly or indirectly through intermediaries such as banks,
postal outlets in private businesses, and by other means. Consequently, any eGovernment effort must
meet the needs of a diverse set of stakeholders that operate in the political, business, or civic spheres of
influence. EGovernment, however, is more than a technological phenomenon. Whether through
deliberate choice or passive acceptance, it is transformative in nature, affecting the management of
human, technological, and organizational resources and processes and facilitating the decision making
process of national interest matters.
One of these matters is the monitoring of factors related with epidemiology, which is a crucial element of
the strategies used for the control of diseases. Various data sources are available to epidemiologists for
routine, prospective monitoring of public health. The efficient collection and analysis of data requires
specialized methods and tools (‘What is Epidemiology All About’, 1999 and Burkom, et al., 2005, ‘The
changing phases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in Queensland: an overview of public health actions and
epidemiology’, Appuhamy et al, 2010). Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can play a
very important role to achieve this efficiently (Dialynas, et al., 2009 and Garofalakis, et al. 2007) providing
efficient utilization of Geographical Information systems to provide mapping and constant analysis of
correlated factors (e.g. cancers in relation with pollutants nearby a specific area (Garofalakis, et al.,
2007), sexual activity and HIV spreading (Lenselink, et al., 2008)).
The wide fast spread of the new H1N1 virus all over the world is a specific case where such ICTs can
provide important help on relevant authorities at their effort to: take the needed measures on time (e.g.
closing of public organizations) and communicate the reality effectively to the public (e.g. to avoid public
panic). Automated applications can easily collect and analyze various data concerning different factors
(directly or indirectly related with the epidemic) Leonardo (2009) giving information which otherwise will
have to take days to assemble. Successful cases of such systems have already applied world widely
(‘TheraDoc’, 2009). The presented project concerns a specific tool developed to collect and analyze data
concerning factors indirectly related with H1N1 spread. That is, students’ daily absences from schools.
Studies have shown that children are prone to viruses and the monitoring of this age group can provide
useful information about the H1N1 spread in a country. The analysis of data collected daily from all
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schools in Greece, provides a useful tool for relevant public health authorities on their effort to take the
needed measures to control, as much as possible, the H1N1 spread.
3. The system
The Absences system is a web application resembling a portal. The application is accessed after
authentication through a browser and the authenticated users belong into five levels with different
privileges. The authentication is made by using the Greek Schools Network Directory Service
infrastructure. After the authentication the system is customized according to the user level. In the
following paragraphs there is an extent description of the structure and the system’s special
characteristics. In order to better understand the system, we will first depict the structure of the
administration of the Educational System in Greece upon which the project has been based. Afterwards
we will present the “survey system” on which the “absences system” is based for the data retrieval. At
next we will analyze in detail the presented system.
3.1 Multilevel system
The organizational model of the Ministry of Education includes six levels of structures (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Levels of educational system in Greece
Starting from the top, the uppermost level of the Central Administration is the Ministry departments which
supervise every managerial and school unit of the Primary and the Secondary Education. The next level
includes the Educational departments in the Regional Offices, which are responsible for the Direction
Offices, the Local Offices and schools that are set in the specific Regional body. The further down level is
the level of Direction Offices that has under observation the Local Offices and the schools in the
prefecture. The following level is the one of the local offices that is responsible only for the schools that
they supervise and also have access to the data the schools register. The bottom level is the combination
of the fifth and the sixth level of Figure 1. By this we mean that in the Educational level the teachers in the
school fill in the data about themselves and the school unit they belong to. Every level has access to the
units that supervises. Also, the above level has under observation the below level ensuring the right
functioning of the project. The Local Offices monitor the data storage of their teachers and schools, the
Direction Offices of their Local Offices, the Regional Offices of their Direction Offices and the Ministry of
the Regional Offices. The schema that has been described is not strict and allows every higher level to
have access to the data of a unit. For example the data of a school unit is available to the Ministry, to the
Regional Office, to the Direction Office and to the Local Office that it belongs to.
This model proposes a concrete interaction method in which each level has to collaborate only with its
predecessor and its successor. Each user who belongs to an upper level can access queries, statistics
and services referring to all other levels below them. For example: Central administration authorized
users can have access to integrated statistical reports concerning number of schools and teachers in the
whole Greece. Teachers can have access to their own information (history, hours teaching etc.).
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3.2 The “survey system”
John Garofalakis et al.
The Survey system (Garofalakis, et al., 2007) is used to record data about students in school units and
teachers employed either in school units or in administration offices. In particular, every school unit fills in
data about the unit, the students and the teachers. The data about the unit include data about the upper
level which belongs to, address and contact information, information about the category, the type, the
special characteristics and the working hours. Every school unit enters the number of students in every
class including the additional classes for foreign languages and other parallel activities. Special classes
that may exist in the unit are also stored due to Survey system. Moreover, every unit fills in information
about the teachers who work there. The information entered is about their personal data, their specialty,
their working hours, the classes they teach, their additional studies and their working status (permanent,
replacer, time worker). There is also a recording about the amount of hours of a specialty that are missing
or are in excess in a school unit. The next three levels of administration, the “Local offices”, the “Direction
Offices” and the “Regional Offices” enter the same data about the teachers working there as well
information about the administration unit like address, contact information etc. These users also have the
responsibility to monitor the procedure of data entry at the lower levels that they are supervising.
Moreover they have access to various statistics concerning data entered by all users belonging to their
responsibility area.
3.3 The presented “absences system”
The Absences System is essentially an extension of the previous described Survey System of the Greek
Ministry of Education (Garofalakis, et al., 2007) since it retrieves data from the latter and uses it properly
for collecting the daily students’ absences from all the school units in Greece. It is a web application and
as such requires authentication in order to access it. Every system’s user has access codes and
according to them the application interface is organized appropriately, rendering only the content that the
user is authenticated to deal with. In this paragraph there is a description of the way the Absences
System interacts with the Survey System and the data that each user level enters.
Every school unit connects to the Survey System and enters a plethora of information as mentioned in
the previous section. This is usually done once at the beginning of the school year. Afterwards the units
connect to the Absences System daily and enter or monitor information about the students’ and the
teachers’ absences. Due to the fact that the school units connect primarily to the Survey System, the only
thing they have to report is the school’s status and the number of absences. All the other information
about the school’s data (like address, contact information, students’ and teachers’ number, classes) is
retrieved automatically from the Survey System and thus the required effort to handle the system is
minimized. After connecting to the Absences System every school unit fills in the school’s state on a daily
basis, reporting if the school is open or closed. If the school is closed, the unit must declare the reason of
its closure by selecting the appropriate choice from a dropdown menu. For example the 1st primary
school of Athens was closed on 15th January of 2010, due to flu symptoms. Furthermore every school
unit enters how many students were absent on a specific day and if the class in which they are attending
is closed. If a school unit has a lot of classes closed, then the school will not function for a few days in
order to prevent the spread of the flu virus. Besides students’ absences, a school unit enters the
teachers’ absences on a specific day. If a mistake is made during the data entering process, the system
provides the functionality of correcting the inserted data. Every school unit has one administration level to
supervise it and the latter have access to the data which the school units enter and to many statistics and
graphic charts which allow them to monitor the whole process. For example, the aforementioned levels of
administration can see how many school units were closed and for what reason, how many students or
teachers were absent and in which school and class these absences were reported. The uppermost level
of the Central Administration is the Ministry departments which have the administration of the system.
They supervise every managerial and school unit of the Primary and the Secondary Education and with
the use of various statistics can have a precise view concerning the daily absences in schools in ‘real
time’.
The data entry of the information is completely converse from the way that can be accessed. By this we
mean that the highest level, which is the central administration, can access the whole information in
contrast with the school units which are the lowest level and the main action allowed is the data
completion. By the description of the data storage in every level it is obvious that there is a strong
interconnectivity among them. The flow of the data from one level to the other integrates the procedure
and facilitates the decision making process since a lot of statistics and graph charts are provided to the
higher administration levels. The way that every level takes an input from the lower levels is done in an
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automatic way releasing the Ministry of the continuous computations. At the end, the Ministry has access
to statistic results and graphs concerning the teachers and students absences in the whole country and
thus can extract important conclusions about viruses’ proliferation. These conclusions are important for
the implementation of public health measures in the country.
3.4 Functionalities
Account Management. This is the first important functionality and this technique enhances the security so
as the access is forbidden in malicious users. Every user in every level has to be authenticated so as to
enter for filling in, extracting or manipulating with the data, giving the opportunity of a control to the users
that use and react with the system. The account management is also used for the specification of the
interface to the users of every level.
Data entry. In this functionality most of the data have been retrieved from the Survey System. In the form
which contains the general status of the school the only thing the user has to do daily is to select if the
school is open or closed as seen in the following figure.
Figure 2: Data entry
The System also contains more detailed forms about the students’ absences in every course and the
teachers’ absences on a daily basis (Figure 3 and Figure 4). Apart from the absences the user reports if a
specific course is open or closed. The depicted data are based on the data the school has entered at the
Survey system.
Statistics. The main goal of this eGovernment project is the monitoring of H1N1 virus spread at the
school units in Greece, by inspecting the daily teachers’ and students’ absences. One of the most
important functionalities of the system is the provision of statistics to the higher levels of Administration.
The system was implemented to give the government the ability to have a general view of the number of
closed school units and the total number of teachers’ and students’ absences in Greece at every
moment. The system provides its administrative users with this information through the statistics which
are extracted from the application. The statistics provided by the system daily, are as follows: Report of
the number of schools which used the system, Closed schools and for what reason they are closed (flu,
holiday, etc), Number of closed school classes in open schools, Daily analysis of students’ and teachers’
absences, Daily analysis of students’ absences above a specific threshold level. For all these statistics
results, weekly graphic charts are available (see Figure 6) in order to enhance the readability of the given
results.
Figure 3: State of courses (open or closed) during a period
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Figure 4: Number of teachers’ absences week period
The system is connected with a central database server and every moment the user can enter the
system and extract information relevant to the data entered. The statistics can extract information about
the whole country (see Figure 5). Moreover, with the filters used, the user can select a specific region or
type of school to extract only the data he needs eliminating the work load for the server and taking a
more readable format of information.
Figure 5: Students‘ absences in whole Greece on a specific date
It, also, gives the ability to monitor the status of every school in the country. That is to view how many
students and teachers were absent, how many school classes were not operating and if the school was
closed and for what reason, in a specific date. The Ministry, which is the highest level of the Educational
System, uses the statistics of the Absences System as a consulting tool. From the data entered the
Ministry is lead to the extraction of important conclusions for the implementation of public health
measures in the country. For example, if in a specific region a peek of students’ absences is recorded
within a week period the Ministry will examine if there is a virus spread in this region and take needed
precautionary public health measures.
Figure 6: Graph chart of students' absences for a week period
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4. Results obtained
John Garofalakis et al.
The system which is presented here is an eGovernment system and as such is used for facilitating Greek
Ministry of Public Education to assess the spread of virus H1N1 in Greece. It is well known that this virus
has widespread trends in crowded places. Schools are such crowded places, so, through this Absences
system, Greek Community has the ability to know almost exactly how widespread the flu in the country is.
Furthermore, with this system it was easy for the Ministry of Education, Life Long Learning and Religious
Affairs to have an overview of how many schools are closed in a daily basis. Moreover, the Absences
system provides valuable information for the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, which monitors
the evolution of the epidemic and provides several statistics for comparative analysis results. The site of
Center of Disease Control and Prevention presents weekly results especially for the school absences. It
informs people how many schools are updated from the total number of the Greek schools and shows the
total absences. Below you can see the periodical analysis of some statistics from the Absence system,
which are very useful for all the above mentioned considerations.
In Figure 7 we can see the rate of the schools which update the system for two months. Secondary and
High Schools had better percentage of update for this period. This happened because of the fact that
most of primary and nurseries schools have not informed the survey system. Another important statistic
refers to the closed schools all over the country and in every region separately. You can see above
Figure 8 the closed schools all over the territory a specific period. Other important statistics which are
produced from the system are the students’ and teachers’ absences for every level of Greek education
system. Figure 9 and Figure 10 correspond to these statistics. An obvious clue from these results is that
students of first levels of education were more vulnerable to the virus than the older ones. In contrast to
this, teachers have the same rate of absences. As a concluding remark it has to be mentioned that the
above presented statistics from system utilization provided two important results for relevant authorities
dealing with H1N1 outbreak in Greece: a) The Greek Center of Disease Control and Prevention used the
data to proceed on important comparative scientific analysis of the correlation of absences with data
collected from the Greek Health system. This analysis made possible to properly design needed actions
towards the dealing with the H1N1 crisis. b) The Greek regional offices responsible for Schools operation,
utilized the results from the system in correlation with info on H1N1 instances to decide on daily basis, on
which schools had to be closed to prevent the further H1N2 spread.
Figure 7: Schools’ update rate over a two month period
5. Further work
A planned and under development upgrade to the system is the integration of a web GIS adaptive
interface for better visualization of absences in the whole country and per Region. This GIS interface will
not only be platform independent but also context aware, since system’s data have to be updated
frequently and in a distributed way. The context aware interface will be adapted to the delivery of
information and the spatial representation according to the user’s objects of interest. For example, if a
user wants to see the number of absences in the whole country fewer details will be depicted in the map
whereas if a user wants to see specifically which school units are closed in a town more details
concerning the school unit and the exact location of that unit will be represented. Another further upgrade
will be the enhancement of provided statistics with various types of graphs, more complex from those
which are already provided, which would assist to the more effective visualization of the extracted results.
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Pie charts, bar charts and line graphs will be produced automatically and presented online to enhance
the already provided statistical reports.
Figure 8: Rate of closed schools
Figure 9: Students’ absences
Figure 10: Teachers’ absences
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6. In conclusion
John Garofalakis et al.
In this paper we presented an EGovernment application, which is a web based tool, in order to assist the
epidemiology monitoring of H1N1 epidemic evolution in Greece, in the whole country and per Region,
leading to the extraction of important conclusions for the implementation of public health measures in the
country. One of those measures would be the development of vaccination plans based on the virus’s
spread in order to protect the most vulnerable age groups in the country. Another measure would be the
preventive closure of school units at areas where high percentages of students’ absences due to the
virus are recorded. This would assist in minimizing the virus’ spread at facilities where high concentration
of students is observed. In the clinical domain, focus can be given on preparing for the expected surge in
admissions and requirement for intensive care services. Due to the fact that the created system provides
real time information about the virus’s spread, the public health officials are able to keeping up with the
stream of changing information and take priorities for public health action.
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271

Interoperability in the Justice Field: Variables That Affect
Implementation
Mila Gascó 1 and Carlos Jiménez 2
1 Institute of Public Governance and Management (ESADE), Barcelona, Spain
2 Information Systems Service, Justice Department of the Autonomous
Government of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
mila.gasco@esade.edu
carlosjimenez@ieee.org
Abstract: Several public institutions and agencies around the world have designed and implemented important
electronic government strategies and plans. This has not been the case in the justice field. However, in the last very
few years, the growing demand for efficient judicial systems has sped up the adoption of information and
communication technologies (ICT) aimed at improving access to justice, increasing cooperation between legal
authorities and strengthening the justice system itself. As in other areas, the new technologies are becoming a key
tool in order to achieve these goals. That is so because information systems contribute to homogenize tasks and
activities, to obtain management indicators and to make telematic connections with other public administrations and
registers, with professionals and judicial institutions and with citizens. One of the more important aspects of this
technological modernization has to do with interoperability since it guarantees the harmonic and cohesive functioning
of different existing systems, processes, and applications that, in the justice field, are many as a result of the big
variety of actors that are involved: judicial institutions but, also, different public administrations, such as those
responsible of police forces, and law professionals. Taken this context into account, this paper is the result of an
empirical research that was conducted during 2010 in the Generalitat de Catalunya (Autonomous Government of
Catalonia) with regard to the e-government project “e-Justícia.cat”, an electronic justice initiative. In particular, the
research was aimed at finding what factors conditioned the implementation of the interoperability modules of the
project. In this respect, the paper presents the experience of GRP (management of police requests) and analyzes
those variables that have been key in the implementation process in order to identify common patterns that may
guide future interventions and projects in a field that is characterized by specific attributes that hinder technology
adoption.
Keywords: electronic justice, interoperability, back office integration, implementation
1. Introduction
Several countries around the world are attempting to revitalize their public administrations and make
them more proactive, efficient, transparent and especially more service oriented. More and more, these
countries’ leaders realize that information and communication technologies (ICT) are an important ally
when it comes to modernize the public sector. In this context, e-government has become a powerful tool
in the process of transforming government itself.
Several public institutions and agencies have designed and implemented important e-government
strategies and plans. This has not been the case in the justice field. However, in the last few years, the
explicit recognition of the administration of justice both as a key component of the State of Law (it is one
of the three powers) and as a public service has made evident the need to attain efficacy and efficiency in
order to improve access to justice and to increase society’s trust towards the administration of justice. As
a result, structures and organizational rules and procedures have had to adapt to the new situation.
Investment in information and communication technologies can be considered one of the key elements to
significantly improve the administration of justice. Velicogna (2007) gives a few examples of the potential
of ICT in this field: “the availability of web services, the possibility of consulting on-line legislation and
case law, the use of electronic filing, the electronic exchange of legal documents, are only some
examples that are spurring the judicial administrations around the world to rethink their current functions
and activities. ICT can be used to enhance efficiency, access, timeliness, transparency and
accountability, helping the judiciaries to provide adequate services. New possibilities are emerging for the
integration and automation of court procedures and practices. In addition, the use of the internet, can
offer the chance to open the judiciary to the public, providing both general and specific information on its
activities, thereby also increasing legitimacy” (p. 129). Other authors, such as Cerrillo and Fabra (2009),
confirm his words and maintain that since the very organization of judicial systems is based on the
exchange of information, the potential to be attained by the introduction of ICT is even higher in this area
than in other fields.
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The growing attention to ICT as a means to reduce delay and to improve economy, efficiency and
effectiveness as well as to promote confidence in the justice system has given rise to a new term, now
generally accepted: e(lectronic)-justice.
According to the European Commission (2008), e-justice is a specific field under the more general
umbrella of e-government. In particular, it refers to the use of ICT aimed at improving access to justice,
increasing cooperation between legal authorities and strengthening the justice system itself. Its main
benefits, as listed by Cerrillo and Fabra (2009), are: 1) a more efficient judicial system (ICT increase
productivity and diminish costs of transaction within a system that is highly information intensive), 2) a
more effective judicial system (ICT reduce the duration of procedures –thus saving both time and money-
and put systems for document resources administration within the reach of judges and courts), 3) a
greater access to justice (ICT provide the best information available and a better understanding of both
the way the courts work and the legal instruments citizens have to ensure recognition of their rights), 4)
more transparency (ICT make possible an improved control of cases and allow a better qualitative
evaluation of outputs), 5) an increase of beneficiaries’ confidence, and 6) a greater legitimacy of the
judicial power.
One of the more important aspects of this technological modernization and of the implementation of ejustice
initiatives has to do with interoperability since it guarantees the harmonic and cohesive functioning
of different existing systems, processes, and applications that, in the justice field, are many as a result of
the big variety of actors that are involved: judicial institutions but, also, different public administrations,
such as those responsible of police forces, and law professionals.
Taken this context into account, this paper is the result of an empirical research that was conducted
during 2010 in the Generalitat de Catalunya (Autonomous Government of Catalonia) with regard to the egovernment
project “e-Justícia.cat”, an electronic justice initiative. In particular, the research was aimed
at finding what factors conditioned the implementation of the interoperability modules of the project. In
this respect, the paper presents the experience of GRP (management of police requests) and analyzes
those variables that have been key in the implementation process in order to identify common patterns
that may guide future interventions and projects in a field that is characterized by specific attributes that
hinder technology adoption.
2. About interoperability
According to the European Commission (2010), interoperability is “the ability of disparate and diverse
organizations to interact towards mutually beneficial and agreed common goals, involving the sharing of
information and knowledge between the organizations, through the business processes they support, by
means of the exchange of data between their respective ICT systems” (p. 2). Generally speaking, three
levels of interoperability are recognized: the technical level (planning of technical issues involved in
linking computer systems and services), the semantic level (precise meaning of exchanged information
which is preserved and understood by all parties), and the organizational level (coordinated processes in
which different organizations achieve a previously agreed and mutually beneficial goal).
To achieve interoperability at any of these levels, it is important to establish a governance process that,
according to Abramowicz et al. (2008), is concerned with the definition of 1) rules, processes, and
procedures guiding strategic decisions, 2) roles, relationships and responsibilities of people/organizations
involved, and 3) objective evaluation metrics of performance.
The benefits of interoperability might be identified in terms of the defining purposes of digital government.
In Gottschalk and Solli-Saether words (2009): “high-ranking issues among the defining purposes of egovernment
are highly agile, citizen-centric, accountable, transparent, effective, and efficient government
operations and services (…). For reaching such goals, the integration of government information
resources and processes, and thus the interoperation of interdependent information systems are
essential” (p. 10).
However, interoperability initiatives are not easy to implement and current research has identified several
factors that affect government efforts to improve data exchange and information sharing. The challenges
that the academic literature has addressed first and most practitioners begin to tackle when a problem
arises are those requiring technical know-how and a high degree of attention to details. In this respect,
several authors have referred to technical and technological difficulties such as ownership and
stewardship of data, security and privacy, data redundancy, data inconsistency, timeliness of data flows,
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legacy computer systems, or the complexity of setting and adhering to a common set of standards
(Criado, Gascó and Jiménez 2010; Fedorowicz et al. 2006).
Contrary to what it may seem, these variables are relatively easy to undertake. Actually, beyond
technological challenges, there exists a set of political, cultural and organizational variables that may
hinder success of interoperability projects. Due to their intricacy, they have not always been addressed
by the scientific literature on interoperability neither have practitioners known how to deal with them.
What’s more, these are unstructured problems in that little consensus exists about how to define them,
cause and effect are unclear, and attempts to solve them often cause them to morph into different
problems (Pardo and Burke 2008).
Some of these challenges have been identified by Archman and Kudlacek (2008) who, in a study of the
European Union, found problems related to cultural differences between agencies, unsatisfactory
workflows, convincing stakeholders of the importance of the system, legal issues, political support, and
funding. In different works, Scholl and Klischewski (2007) and Eynon and Margetts (2007) referred to
interoperability limitations such as leadership failures, financial inhibitors, differences in motivations and
competences, poor coordination across jurisdictional, administrative, and geographic boundaries,
workplace and organizational inflexibility, or legal barriers. Similarly, Gascó (2010), after analyzing
different experiences all over the world, concluded that an interoperability initiative usually fails as a result
of a mix of circumstances that may include the absence of a wide collaboration culture among public
administrations, the lack of a public information management policy, the shortage of personnel trained
according to the capacities and attitudes that interoperability projects require, the nonexistence of a
transversal governing body in charge of leading and promoting (technological) innovation initiatives, and
the lack of a legal framework specifically referred to interoperability.
Other authors have focused on specific issues. Thus, Pardo et al. (2009) carried an in-depth research on
the clarity of roles and responsibilities (CRR). According to the authors, three are the most important
determinants of CRR: the exercise of authority, diversity of the participating organizations and their goals,
and past experiences. They all influence the effectiveness and performance of both organizational and
inter-organizational or cross-boundary group efforts. In the same way, Bekker (2007), as a result of a
comparative study in which four projects in the Netherlands were studied, referred to the political nature
of back office integration and pointed out several issues such as the emerging dependency patterns, the
strategic behavior of back office, or the existence of different rationalities that mix conflict and
cooperation.
In the specific field of electronic justice, Jiménez (2010) draws attention to some of the factors, previously
identified by the literature, that play a particularly important role regarding the implementation of
interoperability projects. Beyond technological and security variables, the author refers to: 1) a lack of
strategy, which he links to a weak political commitment, 2) normative barriers that have to do either with
insufficient or with contradictory legislation when it comes to regulate the new situations, 3) poor
processes of collaboration and coordination among the many public administrations and governing
bodies of the judicial power in the administration of justice and therefore in electronic justice initiatives, 4)
resistance to change, particularly experienced by those actors with plenty of power (for example, judges)
or with a lot to lose (such as intermediary bodies, like procurators in Spain), and 5) a deficient
governance or institutional framework.
3. The research
Given this context, in order to identify new issues and confirm some ideas already presented by
academicians and practitioners in relation to interoperability and e-justice initiatives, during 2010, an
empirical research was conducted within the Generalitat de Catalunya (Autonomous Government of
Catalonia) with regard to the e-government project “e-Justícia.cat”. In particular, the GRP module
(“gestión de requerimientos policiales” - management of police requests) was studied.
The research aimed at analyzing those variables that had been key in the implementation process in
order to identify common patterns that might guide future interventions and projects in a field that is
characterized by specific attributes that hinder technology adoption. Therefore, the main research
question was: what are the factors/variables that condition the implementation process of interoperability
projects in the e-justice field?
Together, the specific research questions were:
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How did the GRP implementation process develop?
Was it a successful implementation process? Why?
What are the lessons that can be drawn from this experience in order to start new interoperability
projects in the e-justice field?
Who were the key actors in the GRP implementation process and what type of leadership did they
exert?
Accordingly, the main hypothesis was: interoperability projects in electronic justice initiatives are less
conditioned by technological variables than by strategic, political, management, institutional or legal ones.
Field work was conducted during the second semester of 2010. Two qualitative methods were used
during the field work in order to collect the needed information. First, several documents and web pages
were observed and examined. Conceptual papers about e-government, e-justice and interoperability,
case studies, plans, legal measures, project presentations, indicators, and performance reports were
detailed studied.
Second, seven in-depth interviews were conducted: four with different people from the Department of
Justice and three with police officers from the Catalan police force, Mossos d’Esquadra. In the main, the
interviewees were selected according to three criteria: 1) their level of involvement in e-Justícia.cat, 2)
their seniority, and 3) the degree to which they had been affected by the implementation of the GRP
module. Different interview guides were prepared to make sure that all relevant topics were covered and
to keep the interaction focused. However, individual perspectives and experiences also emerged during
the conversations.
Finally, in order to collect more information and to be able to get the insights of other actors involved, a
survey was administer to 17 additional individuals who included civil servants from the Justice
Administration, one person from the Information and Communication Technologies Department, two
individuals from the training centre of the Department of Justice and two more from the communication
team and one person from the change management unit.
4. Results
The Spanish Constitution forces the police to assist the Justice Administration. Since the limits of this
collaboration are not clear, the Justice Administration uses police forces to carry out many different tasks
and the police forces have to accomplish the orders. Given this context, before the GRP module was
implemented, paper and fax were used in order to communicate the orders. This was very bureaucratic:
not only tasks were repeated (the Justice Administration faxed the requirement and, after getting it, the
police had to type the data in their system again) but information was also lost. There was also the need
to make the communication between the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Justice Administration more agile
and effective. In this respect, the project was a need for the Justice Administration and a claim for the
Mossos d’Esquadra police force.
The GRP module started back in 2006. It was initiated by the Information System Service of the
Department of Justice of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia in the framework of the e-Justícia.cat
project. However, the design of the application was done jointly with the Mossos d’Esquadra. In this
respect, a functional analysis was carried out both from a technical and an operational perspective.
The last version of the module was finished in 2009 and a pilot was carried out between July and October
of that same year. In October 2009, it was the court of first instance number 11 of the city of Barcelona
the first one to send requests by means of the new system.
The project has been gradually implemented throughout the territory (by administrative areas) because
the Justice Administration needs to implement it progressively. Currently, the system is already working
in Barcelona and 80% of the South metropolitan area. This process is expected to end by mid 2012. By
that date, the civil servants of all the Catalonian penal courts will be trained and therefore the new system
will be put into service all around Catalonia.
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Generally speaking, field work shows that the implementation of the GRP module is thought to have been
successful. In this respect, 87,5% of the survey respondents stated that the process had been positive or
very positive 1 . The following reasons were given to justify such perception:
The coordination between the Information Systems Service of the Department of Justice and the
Mossos d’Esquadra police force was very good.
The participation of other actors made the implementation process easier.
The users were very involved.
Dead-lines were respected and actions were carried out in time.
Training activities were simple and easy to follow.
Communication was efficient.
Regarding areas of improvement, only two issues were significantly underlined: the existence of technical
problems that could have been avoided (27,03% of the survey respondents) and the scarce political
leadership and commitment (15,39%).
Next, some explanations are given regarding the above topics.
4.1 Technology
Both survey respondents and interviewees referred to the importance of technical and technological
obstacles. For them, these problems made implementation more difficult, particularly, because they gave
rise to a greater resistance to adopt the new system. Thus, they were important issues to take into
account. However, the people consulted also stated that, despite their existence, technology was not the
main difficulty to address and, in any case, it did not make the project fail.
4.2 Actors
As has been stated, although the Information Systems Service of the Department of Justice was the
leader of the initiative, the design of the application was done jointly with the Mossos d’Esquadra police
force but also with several other actors, such as expert users, members of the provider private company
or technical staff of the Information and Communication Technologies Department. Therefore, since the
beginning of the project, there was a need to set up coordination rules that included periodical meetings,
working protocols, joint pilots, or transversal contingency plans.
According to the interviewees, the will to collaborate proved key, both at a strategic and at operational
level. In this respect, although consensus was not always reached easily, the existence of a common
goal (the search for efficiency) redounded to a higher level of cooperation and collaboration. This was so
despite the fact that, according to 43,75% of the survey respondents, it was the Mossos d’Esquadra
police force the most important beneficiary of this project 2 .
4.3 Strategy and political commitment
e-Justícia.cat is an electronic justice initiative aimed at making the Justice Administration in Catalonia
more effective and more efficient. The main goals of e-Justícia.cat are to homogenize the tasks of the
new judicial office and to electronically connect several public administrations and registries, citizens, and
law professionals.
Simultaneously, e-Justícia.cat is the result of the need to modernize the Justice Administration. In this
respect, its conception dates back to 2006, a little after the Green Book on Justice Administration was
launched (July 2005). The strategic plan 2007-2010 of the Department of Justice of the Autonomous
Government of Catalonia emphasized the adoption of ICT and stressed the need for innovation and
interoperability and decided on e-Justícia.cat to be the tool in order to do so.
1 A 5-point scale was used (1 - very negative, 2 - negative, 3 - neutral, 4 - positive, 5 - very positive).
2 Although the outcome of the project has not been assessed yet, it is already known that 1) the information Mossos d’Esquadra get
is of more quality than before; therefore, the number of orders that are returned is lower than it used to be, 2) police officers can
monitor the requirement, something they were not able to do before, and this supervision increases the quality of performance, 3)
there have been savings in paper and people (with less people, the task is carried out faster and with more quality), 4) the time it
took to transfer/delegate the requirement has decreased (currently, in five minutes, one can do it).
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E-Justícia.cat is structured into several management modules that facilitate adaptation to different
organization models. The GRP module is only one of them. Each module, and also GRP, has therefore,
been designed and implemented following the main philosophy of e-Justícia.cat: to have a paperless
judicial office.
A clear strategy is only possible when there is political support. This has been the case in e-Justícia.cat.
Mainly, the last Councilor of the Department of Justice. Mrs. Montserrat Tura, noticeably promoted this
electronic justice initiative to such an extent that several agreements, rules, and laws were approved (that
is, there were important changes in the legal framework). But other political actors, such as the General
Council of the Judiciary’s (“Consejo General del Poder Judicial”) or the Superior Court of Justice of
Catalonia (“Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña”), also backed the project. In the particular case of
the GRP module, political commitment was even more obvious since Mrs. Tura had previously been the
Councilor of the Department of the Interior, which is in charge of the Mossos d’Esquadra police force.
Therefore, she knew the problems both Departments experienced when they had to work together.
Although high level political commitment seems to be a fact, several interviewees referred to a lack of
political support at a lower level and in specific situations (which explains the survey results). In this
respect, operational and technical leadership was perceived to be very valuable but also exhausting,
particularly, in critical circumstances when a stronger support would have been very motivating to keep
going.
4.4 Planning
The existence of a plan to implement GRP proved decisive for its success because it made clear the
steps to follow as well as the roles and responsibilities each of the actors had. Therefore, it was quite
easy to comply with dead-lines and tasks to carry out.
More important was the decision to carry out a pilot. Pilots are especially positive when there is no
previous experience. Phased introductions help not only to inform implementation but also to identify and
prevent unintended consequences. A pilot is an important first stage of regular, longer-term project
monitoring and evaluation. In the case of the GRP module, 92,31% of the survey respondents maintained
that conducting a pilot had been useful or very useful. Particularly, the pilot was important because it
helped identify resistance to change, technological problems as well as impacts on workflows.
4.5 Change management
Institutional adaptation to innovation in the Spanish justice field has always been a slow process because
of the poor constitutional and legal designs included in the rules and because of the huge weight carried
by an organizational structure anchored in nineteenth century criteria and a very strong corporate
presence. E-Justícia.cat has not been an exception. In this respect, with the implementation of the GRP
module (but also, of other modules), civil servants from the Justice Administration had to change their
way of working and this was not easy. Thus, there was a need to show them the benefits of the new
system, to train them and to engage them in the project.
Several activities were carried out to manage resistance to change. In particular, the training and the
communication strategies were perceived to be successful and to endorse the implementation process
(86,67% of the survey respondents thought training had been useful or very useful; also, 78,57% of them
stated that communication had been positive or very positive).
Particularly interesting was the training strategy, led by the Information Systems Service and sponsored
by the Training Centre of the Department of Justice: the former trained several civil servants (the socalled
super-users) and these trained the rest of the employees (the users). This way of working gave
rise to a high level of users’ involvement which, in return, reduced reluctance to use the new system (the
users were being trained by their own colleagues who were also users of the module and therefore could
encounter the same types of problems and difficulties).
5. Conclusions
Generally speaking, field work shows that the implementation of the GRP module was successful.
Further, it can be more specifically concluded that:
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The GRP module is part of a wider project: e-Justícia.cat. Therefore, e-Justícia.cat’s strategy guided
its implementation and gave meaning to the actions that were carried out. Also, the existence of a
plan regarding GRP let address implementation setbacks.
The start of GRP took into consideration the existing legal framework. However, its completion led to
the need to adopt new norms and agreements.
The implementation of GRP required a high level of collaboration between the Mossos essentially
d’Esquadra (the Catalan police force) and the Department of Justice of the Autonomous Government
of Catalonia. However, the participation of other actors proved also key.
Despite the natural resistance to change, training and communication were decisive elements of the
change management strategy, which led to a successful implementation of the GRP module.
Conducting a pilot gave rise to the possibility of detecting errors in time and therefore led to a
successful implementation.
The above issues can, therefore, be regarded as factors that positively conditioned the implementation of
the project. The aforementioned variables are not related to technology or to technical topics. In fact, field
work showed that these types of difficulties took place throughout the implementation process and,
sometimes, even delayed it. Nevertheless, despite these situations, the GRP module was successfully
put into service. This statement seems to confirm the main hypothesis of this research 3 : interoperability
projects in electronic justice initiatives are less conditioned by technological variables than by strategic,
political, management, institutional or legal ones. It also supports what other scientific works, such as
those of Gascó (2010), Pardo et al. (2009), Archman and Kudlacek (2008), Scholl and Klischewski
(2007), Eynon and Margetts (2007), or Bekker (2007), showed in the past.
But research on electronic justice and on e-government interoperability is in its infancy and further work is
needed in order to keep building a strong theoretical and conceptual body and to identify good practices.
In this respect, in the light of the previous results, future studies could analyze the influence of the
identified variables on the implementation of other modules of e-Justícia.cat or even on different
electronic justice projects. Further, they could assess the outputs and the outcomes of this type of
developments. Doing so would provide a holistic picture and understanding of electronic justice initiatives
that necessarily involve interoperability.
References
Abramowicz, W., Bassara, A., Wisniewski, M. and Zebrowski, P. (2008) “Interoperability governance for egovernment”,
Information Systems and E-Business Technologies, Vol. 5, part 2, pp 14-24.
Archman, S. and Kudlacek, I. (2008) “Interoperability and the exchange of good practice cases”, European Journal of
ePractice, Vol. 2 (February), pp 3-12.
Bekker, V. (2007) “The governance of back office integration. Organizing co-operation between information
domains”, Public Management Review, Vol. 9, Issue 3, pp 377-400.
Cerrillo, A. & Fabra, P. (2009) E-Justice: Using Information Communication Technologies in the Court System, IGI
Global, Hershey, PA.
Criado, I., Gascó, M. and Jiménez, C. E. (2010) Marco Iberoamericano de Interoperabilidad, CLAD, Caracas,
Venezuela.
European Commission (2010) European Interoperability Framework for European public services, [online].
Commission of European Communities, Brussels, http://ec.europa.eu/isa/strategy/doc/annex_ii_eif_en.pdf.
European Commission (2008) Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and
the European Economic and Social Committee. Towards a European e-Justice Strategy, [online]. Commission
of European Communities, Brussels, http://ec.europa.eu/civiljustice/docs/com_2008_329_en.pdf.
Eynon, R. and Margetts, H. (2007) “Organizational solutions for overcoming barriers to eGovernment”, European
Journal of ePractice, Vol. 1 (November), pp 73-85.
Fedorowicz, J., Gogan, J. L. and Williams, C. B. (2006) The e-government collaboration challenge: Lessons from five
case studies, IBM Center for the Business of Government, Washington DC.
Gascó, M. (2010) “Los retos de la colaboración. ¿A qué, si no a eso, pretendemos hacer frente con la
interoperabilidad?, Paper read at XV CLAD Conference, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, November.
Gottschalk, P. and Solli-Saether, H. (2009) E-government interoperability and information resource integration.
Frameworks for aligned development, Information Science Reference, Hershey, PA.
Jiménez, C. E. (2010) “Interoperabilidad en la administración de justicia: Experiencias y buenas prácticas en un
ámbito complejo”, Paper read at XV CLAD Conference, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, November.
3 It is important to take precautions when confirming the main hypothesis since this was, mainly, a qualitative study and, therefore, it
has limitations (for example, the views of the people consulted are not representative or the findings cannot be extended to wider
populations with the same degree of certainty that quantitative analyses can).
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Pardo, T., Burke, B., Gil-García, R. and Guler, A. (2009) “Clarity of roles and responsibilities in government crossboundary
information sharing initiatives: Identifying the determinants”, Paper read at the 5 th International
Conference on E-Government, Boston, October.
Pardo, T. and Burke, B. (2008), Improving government interoperability: A capability framework for government
managers, [online], Center for Technology in Government, Albany, NY,
http://www.ctg.albany.edu/publications/reports/improving_government_interoperability/improving_government_i
nteroperability.pdf.
Scholl, H. J. and Klischewski, R. (2007) “E-government integration and interoperability: Framing the research
agenda”, International Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 30, No. 8, pp 889-920.
Velicogna, M. (2007) “Justice systems and ICT. What can be learned form Europe?”, Utrecht Law Review, Vol. 3,
issue 1 (June), pp 129-147.
279

eGovernment and Service Delivery at the Local Level: A
Comparative Analysis of Three Canadian Municipalities
John Grant 1 , Frank Ohemeng 2 and Roberto Leone 3
1
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
2
University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
3
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
grantkj@mcmaster.ca
fohemeng@uOttawa.ca
rleone@wlu.ca
Abstract: The emergence of the Internet and information and communications technologies (ICTs) has, to varying
degrees, transformed how governments deliver public services. However, while the role of ICTs in the provision of
public services is well documented, contemporary literature, particularly North American, tends to neglect the impact
of ICTs at the local level, focussing instead on the federal and state/provincial levels of government. This
demonstrates a problematic void in the literature, especially when one considers the relationship between citizens
and local government – it is, in many instances, the first point of contact for public service delivery. This paper
examines the development, implementation and current state of eGovernment at the local level using three
municipalities of similar size in the province of Ontario, Canada. In all three cases, the impetus for the adoption of
eGovernment stemmed primarily from a province-wide push for municipal amalgamation, as well as the desire by
local bureaucrats to realize the potential cost savings associated with enhanced service delivery options. The study
also identifies some of the challenges associated with the implementation of local eGovernment and outlines what
has and can be done to overcome those challenges. One of the key problems, for example, deals with efforts to
reduce overlap and fragmentation through the creation of so-called one-stop-shops. This has proved difficult to coordinate
at best, as there are myriad stakeholders involved, including entrenched and oft-times competing
bureaucracies. The real question, however, is the extent to which ICTs have actually impacted or transformed
service delivery at the municipal level, and what the prospects are for the acceptance and adoption of contemporary
concepts such as eDemocracy.
Keywords: ICTs, service delivery, eGovernment, eDemocracy
1. Introduction
The emergence of the Internet and information and communications technologies (ICTs) has, to varying
degrees, transformed how governments deliver public services. However, while the role of ICTs in the
provision of public services is well documented, contemporary literature, particularly North American,
tends to neglect the impact of ICTs at the local level. Very few studies have addressed the impact of ICTs
at the municipal or local government level (see, for example, Bontis, in Borins, Kernaghan, Brown, Bontis,
and Thompson, 2007: 137-154; Lenihan and Hanna, 2002; Reddick and Frank, 2007; and Roy, 2006).
This demonstrates a problematic void in the literature especially when one considers the relationship
between citizens and local government – it is, in many instances, the first point of contact for public
service delivery.
This paper examines the development, implementation and current state of eGovernment at the local
level using three municipalities in the province of Ontario, Canada: Ottawa, Hamilton and Kitchener. In all
three cases, the impetus for the adoption of eGovernment stemmed primarily from a province-wide push
for municipal amalgamation, as well as the desire by local bureaucrats to realize the potential cost
savings associated with enhanced service delivery options.
The paper is in five parts. The first describes the concept of eGovernment and the benefits alluded to in
the literature on the subject. The second provides a brief outline of the study’s methodology. Part three
presents an overview of the emergence and development of eGovernment in each of the three case
studies. Part four compares the cases and outlines some of the challenges facing municipalities with
respect to eGovernment implementation. We conclude with some general observations and proffer some
suggestions as to what can be done to overcome identified challenges.
2. Examining the concept of eGovernment
The notion of eGovernment emerged in the 1990s as many governments attempted to find alternative
ways of delivering improved services to the public. This followed the private sector adoption of e-business
and e-commerce (Moon, 2002: 425). According to Bekkers and Zouridis (1999: 185), the idea was
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premised on the assumption that improved public service delivery and a more efficient organization of
public administration would restore citizens’ trust in politics, especially local politics. Politicians and public
managers, therefore, saw ICTs as a means of achieving this objective. The outcome was the
overwhelming adoption of ICTs for service delivery and, hence, the emergence and implementation of the
eGovernment concept.
Currently, there is significant discussion in the academic literature on the importance of eGovernment to
public administration and, for that matter, service delivery. Despite this, there appears to be little
consensus among scholars as to the term’s actual meaning. The definitional quagmire has arisen as a
result of the incorporation of many different concepts into the mix (Chadwick, 2006; Grant and Chau,
2008; Jaeger, 2003; Norris, 2001). Thus, the term “eGovernment” now encompasses the many
dimensions of government’s presence online, including “the state’s economic and social programs; its
relationships with the citizen and the rule of law (eDemocracy); its internal operations and its relationship
with the international environment” (Brown, 2005: 241).
Some scholars have defined eGovernment in a rather broad manner to include all the activities of
government online, while others have tended to focus more on specific aspect of government activities
such as service delivery. Jeffrey Roy, who has written extensively on eGovernment in Canada, refers to
the concept as “the continuous innovation in the delivery of services, citizens’ participation, and
governance through the transformation of external and internal relationships by the use of information
technology, especially the Internet” (2006: 307).
Other scholars have defined the concept from a narrower perspective. According to Jaeger (2003),
eGovernment is the use of “technology, particularly the Internet, to enhance the access to and delivery of
government information and services to citizens, business, government employees, and other agencies”
(323). Therefore, from a technical standpoint, eGovernment involves several types of electronic and
information systems, including databases, networking, discussion support, multimedia, automation,
tracking and tracing, and personal identification technologies (323). The problem with these narrower
definitions, however, is that they fail to “capture the more complex aspects of transforming government or
acknowledge the roles of the information and information technology elements” (Grant and Chau, 2008:
4). Thus, we have somewhat of a definitional dilemma: too broad on one hand, and too unrefined on the
other. However, in order to avoid becoming obsessed with finding a concise, yet all-encompassing
definition of eGovernment, we agree that it simply involves, to various extents, the many facets of
government online.
3. Methodology
This comparative case study involves a qualitative examination of the development, implementation, and
current state of eGovernment at the local level in three municipalities in the province of Ontario, Canada:
Ottawa, Hamilton, and Kitchener. The three municipalities are similar in that they are roughly equal in
size (between 500,000 and 800,000 people) and are located in the same province, which means that
they are subject to the same provincial legislation that governs municipalities in Ontario. In addition, they
possess similar timelines in terms of the eGovernment implementation process and thus experienced the
same broader political dynamics (provincial and national) throughout. The municipalities differ, however,
with respect to national prominence, economic activity and affluence. Ottawa, apart from being the capital
of Canada, was until recently, Canada’s equivalent of the Silicon Valley. The economic activity in
Hamilton is largely dominated by the steel and manufacturing sectors, while Kitchener is transforming its
economy from a manufacturing base to one that is technology-driven.
The research was designed to determine two things: the key actors and their relative impacts with
respect to the implementation of eGovernment in each of the three municipalities; and, if and how the
developmental processes differed from case to case. Ultimately, the objective was to compare the
trajectory of eGovernment in the three municipalities and the prospects for the development of related
activities such as e-governance, i.e., the movement from online service delivery to other areas such as
eDemocracy.
Data collection was undertaken using three methods: analysis of primary documents, review of relevant
academic sources, and informal meetings and interviews. Primary documents included those generated
by various governments and agencies (e.g., legislation, guidelines), Academic sources included relevant
publications by political scientists, social scientists and those engaged in public administration. Meetings
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and interviews were conducted on an ad hoc basis with key municipal bureaucrats, politicians, and
stakeholders.
4. The case studies
In the early 1990s, the citizens of the City of Hamilton, together with councillors and City staff, articulated
a vision for the development of the Hamilton community to the year 2020. Vision 2020: Strategies for a
Sustainable Community identified several key priorities or goals which included, among others, “full
participation by all citizens” in the City’s governance, and “building upon existing community information
services to best organize the content and make it available in a user-friendly, needs-driven manner” (City
of Hamilton, ND). It was not until 2001, however, that the vision began to be realized.
On January 1 st 2001, six local municipalities, which had comprised the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-
Wentworth, amalgamated to become the new City of Hamilton (for more information on the amalgamation
process see, for example, Vojnovic and Poel, 2000). At the time, smart services were being provided in a
piecemeal fashion through a variety of community networks, local organizations, and several partnership
initiatives. Accordingly, the greatest smart service that needed to be realized was “to bring together a
number of [those] systems and database applications via a single mechanism or suite of technologies,
offering users a single point of entry” (City of Hamilton, 2001: 11), i.e., one-stop-shopping. In order to
address this issue, the Connect Hamilton-Create Community project was implemented to develop a next
generation community portal – the Hamilton WEB (Where Everything Begins).
The Hamilton WEB was to be “a comprehensive integrated system” based on three components: “1) The
integration of existing community information using meta data 2) Geo-Hamilton [a Geographic Information
System for locating services] and 3) eGovernment/e-Service” (City of Hamilton, 2001: 11). The
eGovernment/e-service component of the project was to utilize technology to provide an efficient,
convenient and cost-effective service delivery channel for the municipal government.
After amalgamation, and concurrent with its involvement in the Connect Hamilton-Create Community
initiative, the City of Hamilton began to design a new IT strategy. A three-year Hamilton Information
Technology Strategy (HITS) plan was unveiled in January of 2003, which concentrated on optimizing and
enhancing the City’s support services to improve service delivery (City of Hamilton, 2003: 7-8). The City
had long realized that transformation was necessary in order to move from a fragmented approach to
service delivery to one that provided value through integration, agility and flexibility (9). After a two-year
implementation period, the myhamilton.ca community portal was launched in September of 2005. Billed
as a “supersite”, the portal represented an investment of almost $4 million in cash and in-kind
contributions from over 40 community partners (McKay, 2005: 21-22).
The Hamilton experience with the development of eGovernment was much like that of many other
municipalities in that it was a logical step in the evolution of service delivery. However, although the
priorities and goals for the implementation of eGovernment were articulated in the early 1990s by way of
Vision 2020, much of the impetus resulted from the amalgamation process at the turn of the 21 st century.
Nevertheless, according to Ken Roberts, the myhamilton.ca project co-director, what made the Hamilton
experience truly unique was that it highlights “one of Hamilton’s greatest strengths – a willingness of
organizations to work together” (2005: A17). Community partnership and collaboration effectively resulted
in the project being delivered under time and under budget (McKay, 2007a).
The City of Kitchener is an interesting case study because, unlike Hamilton and Ottawa, it resisted the
movement toward single-tier government through the amalgamation process undertaken by many
Ontario municipalities around the turn of the century. The City of Kitchener is a “lower tier” government
within the Region of Waterloo, which acts as an “upper tier.” Thus, some of the services are split between
the municipal and regional governments. Even with this institutional reality, however, the City of Kitchener
still has a significant need for eGovernment services.
The rationale for municipal amalgamation provided the original momentum for implementing
eGovernment in Kitchener. Local Service Realignment (LSR) was the provincial government program in
the late 1990s that sought to alter the state of municipalities in Ontario. LSR aimed to improve efficiency
in local government service delivery. In Ottawa and Hamilton, this included municipal amalgamation. In
Kitchener, however, it meant that many services, which were previously the domain of local
municipalities, were now transferred to the upper-tier regional government. The whole goal of this
realignment of services related to the desire to improve efficiency in service delivery.
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LSR became the policy of the provincial government in 1997. It was around the same time that the City of
Kitchener was attempting to broaden the use of ICTs in the provision of public services. Because of the
discussions that were taking place within Waterloo Region and its constituent cities and townships, it was
natural that the City of Kitchener’s development of eGovernment was largely in conjunction with the other
local governments. There are three reasons for this collaboration. First, the mayors of all constituent
lower-tier municipalities sit on regional council. Prior to the restructuring in the 1990s, even more
municipal leaders sat on both city and regional councils. This linkage still remains even though it is
somewhat diminished. Second, there is collaboration among bureaucrats of all governments in the
region. For example, the Chief Administrative Officers of all the local governments frequently meet to
share information about best practices. Third, everybody was doing it. Not only was this something that
was occurring across Ontario, but the vision of the Government of Canada was for the country to be the
most wired and connected in the world.
The significant hype that surrounded eGovernment in Kitchener led to the speedy implementation of a
corporate web site. The emphasis appeared to be on getting as much as possible onto the web site at an
expedited rate. What this policy lacked, however, was a comprehensive outlook as to a coordinated web
portal that would be easy to access for both citizens and industry. The web site existed, but there was no
real articulation of its purpose or goals. In addition to this, the City took quite some time to actually come
up with meaningful performance measures to benchmark the success of its eGovernment program. It
was not until the middle of the decade that Kitchener got around to fixing these problems.
The City of Kitchener 2007-2010 Strategic Plan highlights some of the initiatives that were planned to
improve the coordination and comprehensiveness of eGovernment service delivery. Under the theme of
providing effective and efficient government, the document outlines three ways in which the City can
utilize information technology in an innovative way: (a) to maximize technology to support timely, relevant
and accurate information; (b) to optimize technology solutions that will enhance the ability to interact and
communicate more effectively with internal and external clients; and (c) to develop an enabled and
knowledgeable workforce (City of Kitchener, 2008: 6). These now represent a set of values that guide the
City in implementing its eGovernment strategy.
The historical development of eGovernment in the current City of Ottawa can be traced back to the early
1990s when the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton (RMOC) and the City of Ottawa accepted a
proposal from the newly established Ottawa-based non profit community network, National Capital
Freenet (NCF) to establish a presence on its network (Gattinger, in Graham and Phillips 1998: 200-240).
The NCF had been incorporated to link the people and organizations of the region, provide useful
information, and enable an open exchange of ideas with the world (Patrick, 1997).
This invitation received a strong reception from administrators rather than politicians from the two levels
of government. These administrators attended various meetings with FreeNet officials and were
convinced about the need to move online. Their convictions enabled them to vigorously campaign in
favour of their local governments’ participation in the NCF, not only by sharing their passion with other
colleagues, but by investing time and effort in research to persuade regional and municipal councils to
accept the idea (Gattinger, in Graham and Phillips 1998: 201-202).
On January 1 st 2001, the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, the City of Ottawa, and eleven other
area municipalities amalgamated to form the new City of Ottawa. In creating the new city and to help
facilitate smooth administrative transition, the provincial government established the Ottawa Transition
Board (OTB). The OTB enjoyed tremendous powers to oversee, review, and restrain (if necessary) the
action of the various municipal councils as well as implement the model for the introduction and function
of the single municipality (Government of Ontario, 1999; Roy, 2003).
The OTB recognized the importance of technology to enhance service delivery, and took every
opportunity to ensure the integration of technology in the City’s service delivery model. The newly
amalgamated City was thus forced to make on-line service delivery a key priority through a portal-led
infrastructure designed and operated by the private sector (Roy, 2003: 391)
The City created its first IM/IT Strategic Plan in 2002. The plan contained a set of priorities for a newly
established Information Technology Services (ITS) organization and included the expectations for IT
service delivery and governance. In addition to this, the City developed a new eServices Plan, which was
developed in conjunction with two partners: Deloitte Consulting and the National Information Consortium
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(NIC). The consortium was expected to provide services and infrastructure required to develop and
maintain the eGovernment portal, while the new City of Ottawa retained ownership of, and control over,
all data and portal operations.
For two years, beginning in 2001, the consortium worked on the creation of an eGovernment enterprise
portal (www.ottawa.city.on.ca), a “one-door” web-based gateway. In short, the City’s eGovernment portal
was to enable it to meet the higher expectations of citizens and businesses in the Internet economy. It
was also expected that through this investment, the City would save sufficient money in operating costs
in the following years. Thus, it would be in a position to re-invest these savings to improve municipal
services or to provide further tax relief to its residents (OTB, 2001: 39)
After two years, the City and the consortium parted company and this allowed the City to assume full
control of its portal. Currently, Ottawa is in the second phase of its eGovernment development, which
began in 2006. This phase has been necessitated by the fact that, although the City made a great deal of
progress under its original eService Plan including migrating many services online, a major site redesign
in 2003, and a fivefold increase in the number of weekly visits to the site, there have been a number of
concerns expressed by citizens (City of Ottawa, 2007). For example, the City currently supports several
independent Internet sites including ottawa.ca, octanspo.com, bibioottawalibrary.ca,
centrpointetheatre.com, ottawapolice.ca, ottawa.com, landsdownpark.ca, and teamottawagatineau.com.
The problem associated with this is that there are too many inconsistencies across sites as well as
dilution of brand. Hence, many citizens find it confusing in terms of obtaining information or services from
the City. It is imperative, then, that the City integrates its family of web sites to provide uniformity, as well
as reduce duplication of efforts such as multiple web metric tools.
5. Comparative analysis of eGovernment in the three municipalities
At the outset, it is clear that there are many similarities between the municipalities. First, bureaucrats
initiated the push for eGovernment. This is not surprising since, at the municipal level, bureaucrats hold
more sway in terms of policy development due to their knowledge and expertise, and the fact that
Individual local politicians do not attend meetings with political party officials or advisers in tow, as do
those at the provincial or federal levels. Thus, bureaucrats were able to get politicians onside and to
garner continuing support for key strategies and programs.
Second, the focus has centred on service delivery rather than on governance (e.g., eDemocracy). This
follows the pattern noted by Bekkers and Zouridis (1999), whereby politicians and public managers saw
ICTs as a means to improve service delivery and to manage the administrative apparatus more
efficiently, which in turn would restore citizens’ trust in local politics. While eDemocracy is mentioned in
most of the literature relating to the development of eGovernment in each of the municipalities we
analyzed, the focus was clearly on service delivery. The Hamilton Information Technology Strategy
(2003), for example, related to management expectations for efficiency and savings, and citizens’
expectations for service. In the Ottawa case, the OTB’s recommendations were aimed at achieving
greater efficiencies in service delivery through the introduction of new technologies. The City of
Kitchener, although successfully resisting the amalgamation process, nevertheless cooperated closely
with other municipalities in the desire to improve efficiency in service delivery. Only recently, however,
with the establishment of an Accountability and Transparency Committee, do we see any serious
implications for eDemocracy.
Third, the amalgamation process facilitated the push for eGovernment considerably. Politicians and
bureaucrats alike realized the need to integrate and standardize fledgling e-services. In the Hamilton
case, the Province of Ontario provided much-needed funding, while the City of Ottawa received its
impetus from the provincially established Ottawa Transition Board. Many other amalgamating
municipalities received similar support from the province, although it may be argued that this was part of
a downloading strategy undertaken by the province, which began immediately prior to the turn of the
century. The City of Kitchener is unique in that it successfully resisted amalgamation; however, the
underlying rationale for amalgamation (efficiency in service delivery) still provided the impetus for the
implementation of eGovernment.
In all the cases, there have been attempts to clean up the number of fragmented and/or overlapping
websites with the delivery of municipal services. Such fragmentation and overlap makes it difficult for
citizens in the search for services associated with their municipality’s website. The three municipalities
under study have created, or are endeavouring to create, one-stop-shops through the integration of their
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own sites and those of organizations that deliver services for the municipal government themselves. This
has presented an important challenge: coordination. In Hamilton, for example the task of coordination has
been onerous at best as a result of the fact that there were varied and numerous stakeholders, which the
city had to deal with. This was complicated by the necessity of working around the established
bureaucratic culture.
In the case of Kitchener, even though it appears to be on the right track with regard to its eGovernment
initiatives, coordinating of information among the various city organizations still presents a significant
challenge. The City has a corporate web site for clients to access, it has an intranet that staff access, and
it is creating a contact call centre that will be fielding phone calls from the public on behalf of the City. The
major challenge that will unfold here is the extent to which the information available to one of these
mediums is shared by them all.
In Ottawa, there have been concerns relating to issues of inconsistencies across web sites and dilution of
brand. Consequently, the municipality has initiated a number of steps including a standardized web
design, consistent navigational element, and common feel to enhance the overall web-user experience.
Further, it is coordinating and reducing organizational duplications as well as creating web standards
across organizations. In Kitchener, the City would like to maintain uniformity of identity related to cityowned
organizations and facilities that currently operate different corporate websites because municipal
tax dollars are supporting these functions. At the same time, however, municipal organizations like golf
courses are competing for clients with other similar private organizations, and this necessitates branding
that promotes an identity that is different from that of the City. This becomes a very tricky game between
brand marketing and civic identity with no obvious winner. To overcome these obstacles requires
exceptional leadership and management skills, as well as extensive training of all personnel involved in
municipal eGovernment initiatives.
Overall, in terms of the development of fully functional eGovernment, it would appear that the three
municipalities are on the cusp of horizontal integration, i.e., “integrating government services across
different functional walls (Layne and Lee, 2001: 132). However, while this poses somewhat of a technical
challenge, the greater difficulty lies in transforming the entrenched bureaucratic culture. Certainly,
functional specialization has resulted in a tendency to silo information and processes within different
departments, at different levels of government.
Notably, one of the greatest challenges faced by the municipalities, in terms of eGovernment, relates to
measuring value. In Hamilton, McKay (2007a) has observed that, while continuous data gathering and
analysis must be undertaken in order to measure value, it is difficult to determine accurate indicators. For
example, is it increased revenue, or a reduction in the number of telephone calls to municipal
departments? The City of Kitchener uses the number of web hits to benchmark use of eGovernment
services. It can thus track the perceived increase in demand for services and measure how many more
citizens visit a site with more services added. Again, however, the statistics fail to measure precisely what
is being assessed. Are citizens simply information seeking, or are they actually accessing a service?
Ottawa uses an approach similar to the City of Kitchener to track and measure the use of its online
services. It also uses mail-in forms and telephone surveys to determine who is using its online services,
and any other information that may help make its homepage more user-friendly.
6. Conclusions
This paper set out to examine the development and implementation of eGovernment, which has become
a global phenomenon, as a way of enhancing service delivery. The evidence indicates that the adoption
and implementation of eGovernment in Ontario emerged from two main sources: the provincial
government, through its amalgamation policy; and, the influence of municipal bureaucrats. Currently, the
focus of the municipalities has been on how to adequately expand web services with the development of
various service initiatives. This is not surprising since municipalities are the first point of contact for
citizens in terms of service delivery. However, municipalities still face enormous challenges in this regard
as they possess fewer financial resources as compared to the federal and provincial levels. In short, the
power to tax is far less than at the higher levels of government.
A related problem is the challenge of finding the needed resources to preserve the “one-door” or “onestop-shop”
concept, which requires continuous updating of information from the various contributing
organizations. While it may seem that integrating the numerous websites may be efficient in term of costs
and accessibility, the cost of gathering the information and the timing of the release of this information for
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uploading may outweigh the benefits. One potential fix to the one-stop-shop is to apply a decentralized
environment for the uploading of information. However, under this scenario, there is the potential for
some business units to upload information more frequently than others.
Another important issue is the use of consultants to provide expert advice with respect to web-based
service strategy. Despite the fact that these municipalities have well trained bureaucrats, there has been
a shortage of in-house specialists necessary for the development of new websites. Thus, municipalities
continue to rely on outside expertise for their technological needs. Nevertheless, the benefit to this is the
sharing of ideas, not only between experts and the municipalities they serve, but also among all members
of the community at large. Indeed, there has been the recognition by municipalities of the essential role of
citizens in eGovernment development and implementation.
The three municipalities studied have also attempted to reduce the digital divide (see, Norris, 2001; and
Powell and Shade, 2005) that exists in their respective communities. For example, significant attempts
are being made to provide accessibility for on-line service delivery to disabled persons. The City of
Ottawa has initiated a project called Mobile Web Access Strategy, which is expected to provide service
delivery to the public anywhere and anytime. Similarly, the City of Kitchener has developed an access
plan to enable residents with vision impairment to use online tools to enhance service. In this respect, the
City has also increased the font size on the corporate web site. However, not all services can or should
be offered exclusively online because of the inherent technological barriers that some people face. This is
demonstrated by the continuing use of traditional service channels. There are still a number of services
that cannot currently be delivered without some form of face-to-face or verbal interaction. Applications for
building permits, for example, which involve the submission of plans and detailed information, are more
likely to require the assistance of a real person. Thus, as well as service delivery, there is also a need to
focus on service transformation (McKay, 2007a).
Finally, it is also important to examine the overall impact ICTs are having at the municipal level in terms
of attempts to include citizens in the policy making process. Here lies the true untapped potential of
eGovernment: eDemocracy. In terms of eGovernment maturity models, this represents the final stage of
development (Siau and Long, 2005). However, only the City of Kitchener has come close in this regard,
through its Accountability and Transparency Committee, which has sought to utilize the City’s web site as
an electronic means to disseminate information, not sensitive to City business, to the public. Thus,
although there have been attempts to incorporate democratic ideals/values such as transparency and
accountability into the model, the original thrust of eGovernment remains on efficiency in service delivery.
This demonstrates where the political will still resides. Addressing such issues may help to enhance
public trust in government.
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287

Crowd-Sourcing Techniques: Participation, Transparency
and the Factors Determining the Co-Production of Policy
Mary Griffiths
University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
mary.griffiths@adelaide.edu.au
Abstract: The establishment of trust in the transparency of government and the commitment to collaboration with
citizens, through engagement initiatives, remain strong priorities for Australian governments. The paper discusses
the Gov 2.0 Taskforce recommendations within the context of Australian uptake of social media, and the Web 2.0
features of government initiatives. It compares the relative success of two engagement projects: Community
Cabinets at the federal level; and SAPLAN consultation processes at state level. Comparative analysis suggests that
participatory initiatives depend for their success on expanding the role of public servants; and on realistic
assessments of citizen expertise and expectations of collaboration, which take account of the online capacities being
formed by social media protocols in civil society sectors.
Keywords: public servants, social media, community cabinets, SAPLAN consultations; citizen experts; dotmocracy
1. Introduction
The success of Australian state and federal government initiatives in citizen engagement depends on the
recognition given to significant changes in citizens’ motivations and preferred methods of connecting
since the social media revolution. New online means of connecting, in which collaborative work is made
possible through crowd-sourcing and blended techniques, can be put to work in the engagement and
policy formation areas.
The creativity of large numbers of people who give their labour freely can result in stronger citizengovernment
relations. In a commitment to the co-production of policy, Australian governments are using
blended citizen forums and online means to crowd-source ideas, and to form and test policy proposals
with the public. For example, nation-wide Prime Ministerial Community Cabinets (CC) ran on the initiative
of the 2007-2010 Australian Labor Government, under the ex-PM, Kevin Rudd. CCs were designed as
participatory engagement exercises for regional and district communities, to encourage deeper trust in
democratic transparency and more citizen involvement in governmental processes. The calls for
participation were open, but formal, resembling a scaled-up version of town hall discussions. In contrast
to the theatricality and political focus of the federal CCs, the South Australian government’s strategic
planning process (SAPLAN) was designed as a long, focussed period of broad consultation. Its
engagement tactics demonstrated a greater knowledge of the viral communications techniques being
used in civil society to mobilise, persuade, reassure and influence people. SAPLAN involved themed
expert and citizen face-to-face community conversations, and used Web 2.0, social networking,
community ambassadors, and dotmocracy protocols at face-to-face round-table consultations.
By comparing the two main instances of government-citizen engagement, the paper prioritises the more
sustainable and productive approaches to reinvigorating the citizen-government relationship.
1.1 Engaged government and information culture
eGovernment in Australia has a history of rapidly developing transparency and inclusiveness in its
approach to multicultural citizen engagement and education. Complex, informative websites are provided
at all three levels of government: federal, state and local. Citizens have gradually become more
autonomous both as ‘consumers,’ by accessing government services and making informed decisions on
available information; and as participants, in the co-production of policy. Broad federal engagement
policies, allied to high national connectivity levels and a general willingness to adopt new technologies on
the part of citizens, ensure that Australia has a growing number of Gov 2.0 projects.
In fact, an open version of Internet culture and a radical re-visioning of public service traditions drove the
considerations of the Gov 2.0 Taskforce, established in June 2009 and comprised of a group of ‘policy
and technical experts and entrepreneurs from government, business, academia, and cultural institutions’.
‘Engage’ was the Taskforce’s key theme, defined through three main trajectories of change. Firstly, it
recommended that public agencies and the Australian Public Service (APS) should be encouraged to use
the ‘collaborative web’ to join up existing communities of interest, and help deliver a more ‘informed,
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responsive, innovative and citizen-centric democracy.’ Secondly, public sector information should be
‘liberated as a national asset’ to encourage people to create new public value. Lastly, the hierarchical
public service culture must change in order to reward engagement while staying true to the values of
‘impartiality, propriety and professionalism.’
The Report itself demonstrated the openness and ‘gift culture’ which are hallmarks of much everyday
online participation. Compiled by global experts and peers, and an example itself of crowd-sourcing
protocols, it was published under a Creative Commons license. The three pillars of the thirteen
recommendations are leadership, engagement and open-access Public Service information. The central
recommendation is a ‘declaration of open government by the Australian government.’ This would require
whole of government commitment to government 2.0, to the provision of all possible access to data, and
to the facilitation of Australian citizens’ participation in their own governance. In order to make that
happen, Web 2.0 collaborative tools would be applied to the processes of government, causing a culture
of collaboration at all levels of government. The overarching tenet is radical enough, but of special note is
Recommendation 4: ‘encourage public servants to engage online.’ The Taskforce argued that over time,
public servants become experts in their fields, and can therefore make a more useful contribution to
public debate by speaking out online on issues of public interest and concern; and also by contributing to
cross-agency policy discussions. They could thus model engagement to other citizens. Info-philanthropy,
if treated as an eligible activity for tax reduction, could help Government 2.0 flourish. There was an inbuilt
contradiction in what the Taskforce proposed, and APS culture. The APS is governed by strictly enforced
professional guidelines, which limit public comment by public servants in order to protect officials from
accusations of political interference (see below).
Among many innovative recommendations, Recommendation 6 suggested that Public Sector Information
(PSI) should be open and re-usable by citizens, and released under a Creative Commons license, after
de-identification of personal citizen information. Overall, the sixteen members of the taskforce were
recommending a major information culture change in Australian government, which would first match and
then overtake what was already happening in Australian society. Taskforce members were asking
government to exert control, to influence, and to lead by example.
The Report’s final appendix notes thirteen OECD principles for the access and use of PSI, which are
couched in terms of use and reuse, and the education of users and re-users, to promote innovation,
entrepreneurship, economic growth and social effects. Reception of the Report has been welcoming in
some sections, although there are critics (Grubb, 2010).
The radical nature of the report illustrates that the government’s crowd-sourcing approach begins with
asking for expert commentary about distributed information and networks. The advice from the Taskforce
chair was forthright:
The use of the internet as a platform for collaboration is already transforming the economy.
Whole industries and sectors are being refashioned by adoption of the social web. Citizens
are being empowered to express themselves, organise and collaborate in myriad new ways.
2.0 communicative tools include blogs, wikis, and social networking platforms. These tools
enable communities of interest to develop rapidly to find people with local knowledge or
technical expertise to build understanding of issues and solve problems as they emerge.
They enable communities to filter the torrent of information on the internet and identify the
most useful parts of it…These new tools and the culture of open collaboration which
distinguishes the culture of Web 2.0 present important new challenges and possibilities for
government.
(Gruen, AGIMO, 2009, p.xi)
Citizens are already familiar with, and ready to use Web 2.0 in multiple aspects of their daily lives.
Crowd-sourcing approaches need to recognise that Australia has a strong internet connectivity profile,
set to improve after the high-speed broadband network is completed. According to ‘The Australian
Internet and Technology Report 2009-2010’ (Nielsen, 2010), internet participation in Australia is already
high (84% in 2009). Participation has also matured, placing Australia almost as high on the global scale
as North America (p.15). In terms of household technology ownership, 93% of users 16 + have home
internet; but 13% now also have the new consumer item, BluRay players, and 4% registered their
ownership of portable reading devices (p.25), demonstrating the country’s fast adoption of new
technologies. Other indicators include the mobile market, which has almost reached saturation, with most
future growth expected in online services, such as ticket bookings (see also Worthington, 2009).
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Australian Internet users spend about 17.6 hours online, the Internet being the preferred source of news.
Usage patterns recorded by Nielsen reveal that most frequently conducted activities are email, banking
and bill-paying. 45% of Internet users participate more in social networking in 2009, up from 28% since
2007. Of the Nielsen survey’s 38 categories of online activity, online social networking is ranked at
number 6 (45% ‘use regularly’) and the percentage who ‘use but not regularly’ are 23%. Nielsen trend
indicators indicate that internet use is driven by socialising, customisation, user-friendliness, time saving
and support of lifestyle activities.
1.2 Government-citizen online interactions
However, in contrast, Nielsen tables show that the first government-citizen interaction online is ranked
number twelve, and is at the transaction level activity of ‘submitting forms/info to govt websites.’ Here
31% regularly submit and 34% use the facility but not regularly. Ranked number fourteen and fifteen are
‘local/community information’ - 29% and 27% respectively; and ‘make payments for govt services’ 28%
and 27% respectively (Nielsen, p. 133).
Thus, governments wanting to engage citizens through ICTs have strong online competition and big
challenges to overcome. Nielsen is predicting growth of only 2% in the interactions with government.
Governments aiming to promote active citizenship need to do more than provide online customer servicestyle
transactions. New media theorists describe Internet culture as inhabited by online participants who
see themselves as peers engaged in business, work or leisure activities and transactions, in usually
horizontally-structured communities and organizations, frequently defined by mutual interests. The codes
of organizational and personal interaction evolve through peer development work, and community
acceptance (Tapscot and Williams, 2006; 2010). The phenomenon of gift culture and collaboration is now
being embedded in new legal practices of sharing information, thus replacing long-established traditions
for dealing with published material and intellectual property rights (Lessig, 2002, 2008). Alternative points
of view and creative commons practices in the digital world exist, flourish, and can set the agenda for
future change simply by being practised. Non-professionals may become co-creative ‘produsers’, rather
than the consumers of others’ production content (Bruns, 2008). Creativity, innovation and participation
can be seen as Internet norms.
Citizens may see themselves as necessarily owing allegiance to communities and nations, but single
online actors have no need to stay in any group or community failing to meet the personal needs of its
members; or where disagreements occur over roles or practices of interaction. These characteristics of
the social web were brutally illustrated in the overall lack of interest generated by the government-themed
blog threads in the Australian E-Gov Blog in 2008. In the social media world, another example is provided
by the desertion of the site by MySpace users when new protocols of user engagement were instituted
without consultation. The site, which relies on freely given user time and content rapidly dropped in
popularity, causing financial losses to its owner, NewsCorp. Citizens, as consumers and online peers, are
developing familiarity with their own preferred online modes of interaction and have expectations of
customised access and control.
1.3 Citizen-driven interactions
A striking example of successful political activism based on crowd-sourcing is GetUp!Australia, a
mobilized, networked activist group of 437, 892 members (March, 2011) in a population of 22 million.
GetUp!Australia campaigned successfully to change Australian Election Office rules to allow late
subscribers to the 2010 electoral roll by auspicing a teenager’s High Court challenge; handed out issuebased
scorecards on the 2010 national election day ranking the parties according to their policies; acted
as a mediator between independents and rival parties during the 2010 federal ‘hung election’; tried with
some success to change government policy on the mandatory filter through email and ad campaigns;
and displayed a Pollute-O-Meter to track party policies on carbon emissions on its website, courtesy of
the Climate Institute (GetUp!, 2010). Its avowed intention is to change democratic practice in Australia
and create a new democracy (Sheikh and Marsh, 2010). It is swift to canvass its members through email,
and then to use Web 2.0 tools to influence others, and action its ideas. It quickly garnered funding for the
New York Times one-page advertisement supporting Wikileaks’ founder, Julian Assange. Given the
requisite information, issues, and technology platforms, many Australian citizens engage in a variety of
lobby and protest activities.That willingness to engage across a range of issues cannot be further
discussed here, but suffice it to say that GetUp!Australia is successful, and the APS could copy its
techniques.
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1.4 OECD advice: Citizens as partners
Mary Griffiths
How can government improve its own performance in co-producing policy alongside citizens?
Governments have to place higher levels of importance on ensuring equity, risk-management,
accountability, transparency, openness, good governance, and building trust than is required of a social
networking site. Governments promoting the active citizenship recommended by the OECD and
democratic theorists of co-production (e.g., Roberts, 2008) need to consider the 2.0 context and existing
competencies before participatory consultative design takes place. Earlier OECD advice handbook
(2001; Vergez, 2002) gives practical assistance to government workers planning strategies for
strengthening democratic and business practices. It identifies guiding principles such as commitment,
rights, clarity, time, objectivity, resources, co-ordination, accountability, evaluation, and active citizenship.
Written before the five year old explosion in social media, its ten tips for engagement strategies are still
good principles, but seem naïve now: ‘take it seriously; start from the citizens’ perspective; deliver what
you promise; watch timing; be creative; balance different interests; be prepared for criticism; involve your
staff; develop a coherent strategy; and act now!’ Communication practices have since developed in
complexity, as sectors copy and recopy successful techniques of information distribution and the
establishment of online communities of interest, practice and consumption. However, in contrast to nongovernment
groups, the Taskforce Report identified the Australian Public Service (APS) as falling behind
in engagement, missing the opportunities to unlock the ‘invention, creativity, and hard work of citizens,
business and community organizations; and to ‘create public value’ (iii).
Companies use social media and networked information distribution to develop new relationships with
their customers and the communities where they operate. Business interest is growing in online brand
communities and in the idea of developing customer competence so that sustainable networks can be
established which include customers, employees, and the wider community. Importantly, Schau et al
(2009) argue that value can be co-created. Using consumer culture literature, they argue that all
collectives ‘exhibit community-like qualities, as understood by sociology, and address identity-, meaning-
and status-related concerns for their participants’, continuing, ‘Moreover, this work suggests that such
collectives provide value to their members through emergent participatory actions of multiple kinds and
that consumer collectives are the site of much value creation.’ Values are changed by participation and
co-creation in business practices (Benkler, 2006; Bauwens, 2007). Ten years ago, Web 1.0 government
websites provided information with unintuitive navigation, and website design which was so text-based as
to differ little from a government print brochure. Web page design has since improved and interactive
features are being incorporated on a daily basis, and at more sophisticated levels of complexity on many
government sites. This is a technology design change and a social one.
2. Building new relationships with citizens
The following examples are representative of the trend to change information culture and enable
meaningful interactions between citizens and government workers through portals with a high
interoperability. They demonstrate government’s commitment to engagement in key areas of citizen
concern, tax and benefits.
2.1 Australian Tax Office
Transparency in taxation collection is an important feature of the relationship of trust between citizens
and government. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) homepage offers citizens a clear step-by-step process
for lodgement of tax returns, an online lodgement facility, tools and calculators, and FAQs. It offers a
Twitter subscription, from which it sends a subscriber ‘no more than five tweets a day’ of the tax-related
content which appears on news platforms, in publications, publicity campaigns, and ministerial speeches.
Interactivity in terms of ATO responses to individual tweets is low. Return tweets are monitored weekly.
The ATO promises not to ‘follow’ its subscribers (numbered 1842 in August, 2010). Project Wickenby, set
up in 2006 and with operations’ leadership from the Australia Crimes Commission, represents its work as
‘protecting the community’ on a related ATO website which documents the success of crime-prevention
in tracking tax crime. These initiatives show the educational aspects and approachability of one of the
main agencies through which citizens interact personally, and regularly, with government.
2.2 Centrelink
An important statuary government agency, Centrelink delivers a range of services in employment, tax,
family and sickness and benefits. It reported six billion transactions annually in 2008 (Wadeson, 2008).
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Centrelink’s purpose is ‘serving Australia by assisting people to become self-sufficient and supporting
those in need.’ Citizens are provided with choices from which they manage their own interactions with the
agency. The growth of the Centrelink website demonstrates a neo-liberal approach as whether right or
left-wing governments are in power, the focus is on information provision and the expectation that
citizens will take up their own responsibility for conduct in the areas which the agency governs.
Centrelink’s website developed a simple information provider online (in 1998, one year after its launch),
to a dynamic portal with a range of potential interactions and feedback channels in 2011. Like the ATO,
and most federal government sites, sixty-four community languages make it inclusive of multicultural
Australia. Weblinks help citizens to link the homepage to their favourite social media sites, for example,
Delicious, Facebook, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn and Twitter. Centrelink frequently adds new webpages and
service information. For example, the Basics Card, a new service, is a PIN protected card, which assists
subscribers to manage their own income, and any risky behaviour patterns. It permits all essential
purchases such as food, clothes, health items and basic household products, but not alcohol,
pornography, tobacco, gambling products or home brewing kits. Once a member of the Basics’ ‘brandcommunity’,
a citizen is treated as a loyalty-card customer with special needs and rights. The adoption of
viral advertising and social media marketing techniques works from a benefit, not deficit, model in the
behaviour modification of citizens at risk. This approach helps citizens maintain a measure of control and
self-respect, as recipients of government support.
2.3 Victoria Online
At state level, Victoria Online - ‘the fastest way to find local, state and federal government information
and services’ - has developed from its 2008 minimalist approach, through including consultations on, for
example, GIS data. The proof of concept trial on VisualPlace, even when ‘closed’ as a formal
consultation, remains ‘open’ for comment, education and information. VictoriaOnline also supplies
information about Australian government connections to social media: Twitter, (109 entries), Facebook
(86 entries), MySpace (5 entries), Flickr (25), RSS (76 entries), Podcasts (20 entries), Video (60 entries),
and YouTube (39 entries). This state example demonstrates the aggregator power of government
portals. Through website descriptions of social media specifics, and notations of best practice use of
social media, this site educates citizens in online risk management.
The three examples above, ATO, Centrelink, and Victoria Online illustrate a policy framework aimed at
developing co-ownership of national governance: citizens and governments working for mutual benefit in
an integrated fashion. The two examples below show that ideas can be harnessed from the polity to
improve the value chain in developing software applications.
2.4 AppMyState
AppMyState illustrates grassroots-citizen participation in Victorian state governance in the technology
area. An innovative outreach competition in which citizens were invited to submit an idea for the design of
a web or mobile application of benefit to Victorians, AppMyState ran for twelve weeks from April, 2010.
Of the seven application winners, first prize was awarded for a phone application with a barcode scanner
to assist people to recycle the right items, called ‘Which Bin?’ Other applications recognised included
‘Transportle’ which tracked the best route from A to B in the city of Melbourne, and MymarketsVic, which
used location tracking and user rankings to promote the pleasure and convenience of shopping in
Victorian markets. AppMyState, an example of the crowd sourcing of good governance ideas, is a rich
vein of citizen thinking about how public goods can be produced. Copied, it can build community capital
elsewhere. It illustrates crowd-sourcing techniques.
3. Raised expectations about inclusion
As well as consultations and advice on the digital economy, social inclusion and sweeping change to the
APS were strong messages after the 2007 election, as the Taskforce commentary above illustrates.
When launching the Social Inclusion Toolkit on 20 th August 2009, Julia Gillard, then Minister for Social
Inclusion, saw the social inclusion agenda as, ‘a whole of government effort, indeed an effort by all
governments in this country, to bear down on both the causes and the consequences of long term
disadvantage (Gillard, 2009).
Falzon, a member of the Australian Social Inclusion Board (ASIB), explained the concept behind policy
formation this way: ‘What it means is that this is really about ‘us’ not about some kind of imaginary ‘them’.
It’s about all of us recognising that we have so much in common.’ He went on,
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First of all I would simply say that we’ve got to reclaim that sense of being in this together,
this sense of the social, this sense that it’s not all about private interests, private gains; it’s
about being in this together… So first of all there’s got to be that really strong change of
consciousness, that sense of awareness. Secondly, we’ve got to act on it, we’ve got to
embrace that sense of being in it together, of not leaving people out, not talking about ‘us’
and ‘them’, but just we ourselves together. And thirdly, we need strong government
leadership backed by strong public opinion to address those causes. (Falzon in ASIB, 2009)
Australia was to be imagined as a strengthened, healthy democracy, with strong and reciprocal relations
forged between citizens and government. To win in the so-called ‘YouTube’ election, the Australian Labor
Party (ALP) had deployed the persuasive help of social media like My Space, YouTube and Facebook,
creating new political commitment amongst the young (see also Macnamara, 2008). Kevin Rudd, the
ALP leader, ran a presidential-style electoral campaign making sophisticated use of social media. Thus, a
high level of ‘Obama-style’ expectancy was evident among political elites and the citizenry at large in late
2007. On the part of government, there existed a commitment to technocratic means of providing
solutions, which prioritized expertise and a speedier public service delivery of policy drafts and
implementation. Why then implement the face-to-face Community Cabinets?
4. Community Cabinets – a return to face-to-face
‘it’s personal’
‘..it’s really important that government does come to the people…’
‘…it’s nice to see someone in the flesh rather than on the news…’
‘…I think it’s a good sign of democracy.’ (Community Cabinet website 2008.)
The Community Cabinets were designed because of Rudd’s published ‘commitment ensure consultation
with the Australian people on the things which concern them whether they be national or local matters.’
(Community Cabinet website, 2008) They were also a return to presidential ‘meet the people’ politics.
Rudd chaired 24 ‘Community Cabinets’ (CC) to which most members of the Cabinet accompanied him.
The events were community endorsement of a prime minister who was under attack within his own party.
A recent biography of the former PM outlines the reasons for the personal difficulties that Rudd
experienced blaming them on his leadership style (Sturt, 2010).
The CCs were conceived of at the celebrated 2020 Summit and began in January 2008 in Canning Vale,
Western Australia (WA). The last was held on June 9 th , 2010 in Perth WA, In between these dates
Federal Cabinet crossed the Australian continent monthly. CCs were held in city suburbs, provincial
towns and districts. Organising the online and offline features of such Cabinets was costly in terms of
time and resources, not only because of the lengthy internal cross-Australia flights, but because of the
security and numbers of staff involved. Online registrations were required by all citizens hoping to attend
a CC. Background and police checks were conducted on those who wanted to meet government
ministers for an individual meeting. Citizen applicants needed to provide advance notice online of the
theme of their ministerial discussion, and a staffer would ring to check the details. Kevin Rudd chaired
each CC and took randomly chosen questions from the floor. These he occasionally relayed to an
appropriate minister. Staffers took notes on suggestions made.
As feel-good government-community engagement they were on the whole mutually respectful events,
and non-controversial enough - in their content - to draw little or only bemused media attention. The
coverage by newspapers and television offered little detailed analysis, or much understanding of the
opportunities offered by CCs.
Rudd dominated the CCs, which were well attended. Policy areas such as Veterans’ Affairs, visas, or
aboriginal health were discussed at a typical CC in South Australia. Follow-up to a citizen’s personal
concerns was instantaneous, if possible, and included an answer, advice, or meetings with ministers.
Crowd-sourcing ideas on policy was minimal. A question on the benefits of euthanasia and a query
about whether relevant legislation would be introduced in future drew forth a personal memory fro the
PM.
They were resource-hungry. The expenses associated with CCs became a target of Coalition Opposition
party attacks. Public servants from the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, on the other hand, cite
the numbers of citizens applying for attendance at the evening events, and point to the regular number of
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one-to-one conversations held with Ministers. Anna Bligh, the Queensland Premier copied the CC
approach, running a number of CCs in regional towns.
Overall the public effect achieved was of a government, in control, yet accessible at a personal level -
without too much difficulty - to citizens. Despite the promising nomenclature, the Community Cabinet
could be thought of as a sounding of citizen concerns, a gauging of popular opinion, rather than the
through-going commitment to co-production of policy with citizens.
5. Re-visioning the SA strategic Plan: A bi-annual consultation
As engagement exercises, the 2010 South Australian community consultations were policy-focussed and
peer events. Citizens’ ideas were collected, voted on, archived and would then have a direct impact on
the words of themed planning documents. A transparent process involved the public servants as peers
and partners in the open call to work on the South Australian plan.
Participants were self-selecting: there was no vetting process, police checks or prior requests to register
topics. The consultation themes were published online, well in advance of consultation events. Prior
online discussion was invited, with moderators provided. YouTube-style videos by prominent SA figures
and then, later, the videoed quotations of participants were used to encourage broad participation. At the
‘Creativity and Innovation’ consultation, citizens (including public servants) were guided through an
exercise in re-visioning the state by a professional consultant, an ‘honest broker’, before being asked to
look at existing state targets, and the outcomes so far achieved in the SAPLAN documents.
Using dotmocracy protocols, tables of citizen-peers drafted, discussed, eliminated and refined state
targets, and identified potential metrics until the top three concepts emerged. By a process of displaying
results, and voting with dots on paper, top-level group aspirations were identified, for publication online,
further discussion, and implementation.
At one panel, 100+ citizens worked on a set of targets over a morning session. There was time for
individual reflection and small group deliberation. Later, online discussion boards continue on all themes
and targets. The full set of ideas has been archived online, on an attractive social networking-style
website. This facilitated an effect which social media expert Hopkins calls ‘brand evangelism’ (Hopkins,
2009, 54), this time, it is citizen evangelism for a state.
In comparison with the select groups attending CCs, the philosophy, tools used and organisational
differences in SA are clear: collective motivation and participation seemed high; common broad goals
were achieved; a de-politicised process took place; public servants assisted the process as citizen peers
and sometimes experts; and a citizenry versed in democratic practices demonstrated its proficiency in the
‘give and take’ of free discussion offline and online.
6. Conclusion
Australian governments have designed numerous projects to adapt to citizen expectations of information
culture, with varied success. ICT uses include online management of face-to-face Community Cabinet
consultations; the archiving of visual evidence of processes of policy consultations and the raw materials
of discussions; the development of sophisticated test-beds and portals; the tentative use of social media
to educate and network citizens; the adoption of viral marketing and social media techniques in managing
risk; and the futures-oriented proposals of the Gov 2.0 Taskforce.
Of all the projects discussed, the recent SAPLAN experimentation demonstrates many elements of viral
online information culture, collaboration, and value creation (Rosen, 2007): transparency in the open call
for contributions and ideas; a crowd-sourcing emphasis on treating participants, including public servants,
as peers; an external moderator for multiple and inclusive public consultations; the visual display of
participants’ ideas; and transparent voting on the value and ranking of proposals, using dotmocracy. In
two years’ time, the exercise will occur again. Then, citizens will be able to judge how much of a
difference their creative contribution has made.
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295

Implementation of a Contact Centre in a Swedish
Municipality
Kerstin Grundén
University West, Sweden
kerstin.grunden@hv.se
Abstract: Implementation of a contact centre (CC) in a Swedish municipality was analysed and discussed.
Interviews were made with 16 respondents in different organizational units and positions. The implementation of CC
was successful so far, but it will be a challenge to have continuous learning possibilities for the municipality guides, in
order to avoid future monotonous work situations. There was an alternation between a top down and bottom up
approach in the implementation work. There was even a need for increased focus on back-office and social aspects
in the further implementation work. There was also a need to communicate personnel strategies related to the
transfer of work tasks from the administrations and CC, in order to reduce anxiety and concerns about change of
work situations for the handling officers. There were some problems with different mental images among the handling
officers and the project management regarding the vision for the implementation. There was also a need for more
co-operation between the project team and the handling officers in order to have a more homogenous
implementation process at the different units. Furthermore, there was a need for increased competence development
education of the handling officers. ELearning combined with group discussions could be relevant educational forms.
Keywords: contact centre, eGovernment, implementation, municipality, evaluation, eLearning
1. Introduction
In this article we will analyze and discuss the implementation work of a contact centre (CC) in a Swedish
municipality. The case study is part of a three-year research project Innoveta financed by Vinnova, and
intends to support and evaluate the efforts of the municipalities to implement CC and e-services. The
motivation for the project stems from the background aspects of access problems with very long waiting
times for citizens needing to get in contact with a relevant handling officer for solving their personal
matters. The long waiting hours could even lead to a drop of the call. Such drops of calls have been
reduced from 15-20% to less than 10% due to the implementation of CC. The traditional bureaucratic
structure of the municipal organization also had hampered the citizens’ understanding of the relationship
between their needs and the organizational functions, a fact that had complicated contact even more. In a
process-oriented organization the needs of the citizens are more focused. The customers should only
need to make one contact with the municipality, in order to get their matters solved, instead of being
juggled between different handling officers.
The implementation of CCs in Swedish municipalities is inspired by the concept of a call centre. A call
centre is a place where you deal with phone calls completely dependent on the use of IT. A call centre
can be an internal function of an organization or an outsourced detached function. The use of the concept
“contact centre” is more and more common indicating an extended function, not only focussing phone
calls, but also other contiguous work tasks (Andersson, Bäck 2008). Office work is more and more
decentralized and outsourced in the private sector to geographical areas with low salaries and real estate
costs. It is not as easy to outsource activities within the public sector. The development of call centres in
public sectors is especially influenced by aspects such as increased service and availability from a
citizen’s perspective and internal efficiency.
Implementation of eGovernment is often associated with increased customer availability to public eservices,
but means also a fundamental organizational change of public organizations (Grönlund 2001).
Implementation of CC is strongly related to implantation of eGovernment and contributes to increase
customer availability to municipality services. There is, however, also a need for reorganization of the
back-office routines in order to optimize the efficiency and quality aspects of the implementation of CC.
The theories of New Public Management (NPM) have inspired some changes of organization and
administration when eGovernment is implemented. According to NPM the use of lean and highly
decentralized structures is stressed in public service, resulting in the breaking down of the former unitary
bureaucracies (Homburg 2008). There is also emphasis on contract-like relationships and attention to
management strategies, performance indicators and the service produced. The use of information and
communication technology (ICT) is essential for this organizational transformation. In a virtual
organization ICT mediates the communication among different units at different geographical locations.
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The implementation of CC in the public sector is influenced by national policies and regulations. In a
recent action plan the Swedish government stresses the importance of using ICT in order to effectively
develop public administration (Regeringskansliet 2008). This could be done by combining organizational
changes and new skills within the municipalities leading to improved accessibility and understanding. The
278 municipalities in Sweden make up 70% of the total public administration and they are considered to
be the closest to the citizens’ needs in terms of public service. They are governed by elected regional
politicians and have a high degree of autonomy. The internal context of each municipality could be very
different due to different geographical locations, different numbers and social structures of the inhabitants
and different economic conditions. The service to the inhabitants concerns e.g. building permits,
environmental permissions, matters regarding social services and schools, healthcare, day-care and
welfare and booking of public halls.
Swedish municipalities do not have a regulated obligation to set up offices or similar service places for
their inhabitants. However, it is regulated by Swedish law that all Swedish municipalities should provide
individual service, e.g. to meet visitors and to answer telephone calls from citizens. Such service should
have as high a quality as possible from an economic resources perspective in the municipality. The
development of eGovernment also varies to a great extent among municipalities.
The main challenges for implementation of eGovernment seem to be the integration of front-end services
with back end processes. According to a study of more than twenty governments in different countries
Accenture (2007) found many governments at important crossroads. The main focus for public service
organisations has been on improvements of front end services to the citizens, neglecting the importance
of also aligning back end aspects.
The main aim of this article is to analyze the implementation of CC in municipalities with focus on social
implementation aspects such as strategies, participation, changes of work situations, competence
development, attitudes and motivation.
2. Research method
The research method used in the case study were semi-structured interviews. The CC was launched in
late 2010 and the interviews were made during the spring of 2010 with 16 managers, employees and
trade union representatives at the CC, the technical and the social administrations of the municipality.
The interviews were semi-structured and lasted about an hour. All interviews were recorded and written
word-by-word. The analysis of the interviews was made by contents analysis.
3. The municipality
The studied municipality had a population of more than 100 000 inhabitants and was rapidly expanding.
The municipality was situated in the middle of Sweden. Trade and industry were well diversified and
represented many industries. The municipality was organized in nine operative administrations and
departments. Most of these organizational units were led by a board or committee of political
representatives. The departments and administrations carried out a wide range of operations such as
childcare and care of the elderly, town planning, property management, traffic projects, street and road
maintenance, water and sewage services, fire and rescue services, etc.
4. The implementation process
Some background aspects for the implementation were access problems with very long waiting times for
citizens needing to get in contact with a relevant handling officer for solving their personal matters. The
bureaucratic structure of the municipal organizations had also hampered the citizens’ understanding of
the relationship between their needs and the organizational functions, a fact that further complicated the
contacts. Another driving force behind the implementation was directives from the Swedish government.
In the program formulated by the municipality a vision for the implementation was described. The image
of the municipality should be profiled: service, meeting behavior towards the citizens, and availability. The
use of IT should contribute to service production improvements.
The discussions of consistent customer services were initiated in 2006 at the IS/IT department of the
municipality during the procurement of a new telephone system. The concept of a “call center” was used
in the initial discussions, but was later replaced with the concept of a “contact centre”. A pre-study was
made with about 800 handling officers at the technical and social authorities. All incoming issues from
citizens were classified by the handling officers according to the complexity of each matter. About 80% of
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all matters (2.300) were classified as “simple matters”. The result from the pre-study was used as a basis
for launching the implementation work of the CC. The project management was also inspired by the
successful implementation of a contact centre in another municipality in Sweden.
4.1 The implementation of the contact centre
A qualified external manager was recruited for the implementation and management of the contact
centre. The co-workers at the CC were recruited internally from the biggest administrations of the
municipality. They were “handpicked” by the manager, and their most important qualifications were
described as ”service minded”. About ten co-workers were recruited, mostly women. The recruited coworkers
were called “municipality guides”. About six of the previous switchboard operators were also
included in the organization of CC, but did not change their work roles. The municipality guides sat
together in an open office. Their work tasks were mainly to answer simple phone questions from the
citizens. They were given some initial internal training and after a few weeks the current work of the CC
began. Employees from the different administrations informed and explained tasks that the municipality
guides needed to know in order to answer the questions from the citizens correctly. The municipality
guides could search in relevant home pages, in paper files and folders at their office, in order to answer
the questions from the citizens.
If handling of issues was required, the call was connected to a handling officer at the appropriate
administration. It was still possible for the citizens to be connected directly to the handling officers at the
different administrations, but there was a push to minimize such direct contact. The municipality guides
were defined as generalists, according to the competence needs.
The implementation of the CC was not externally marketed in the beginning. The only formal information
about the CC was given by an automated telephone service when citizens called the municipality. There
were separate dial tones for the switchboard and the CC. The phone calls to the municipality had
decreased since the establishment of CC. The reason for the decrease of phone calls was interpreted as
being due to fewer incorrect connections being made, and that the customers did not have to phone as
many times as before. There were also fewer “lost calls”, according to the statistics. It was not possible
for the citizens to visit the CC, but within a year the CC will be moved to the centre of the town, and then
it will open for “face-to-face” visits by the citizens. The CC will then also be externally marketed.
In order to initiate the co-operation among CC and the administrations, there was a need for anchoring
the establishment of the CC with the different administrations, according to the manager of the CC. There
was a need for a cultural change among the handling officers at the municipality administration, because
of their traditional focus on internal processing instead of the needs of the citizens. The general culture of
the municipality was to use few resources but with good cooperation considering the available resource
and these ideas also influenced the implementation work, according to a respondent.
An information system for registration of citizen’s questions and matters was developed using open
source software as part of the Innoveta project. The system was not completed when the CC was
launched, a fact that contributed to some user difficulties. The development work was made using agile
work methods. Sometimes there were difficulties to co-ordinate the systems development work with the
organizational development work, and resources had to be transferred from the development work to the
work of the switchboard operators.
The manager of CC was very appreciated by the municipality guides, and he described himself as an
attentive, listening and guiding manager. He also supported a high degree of empowerment for the
municipality guides at the CC. He was striving for a balance between formal and informal work routines,
in order to produce high quality service for the citizens.
The municipality guides at the CC seemed to like their work, according to the interviews. However, they
still met new challenges and there were new questions to be answered in their work. Their work was
individually oriented but the municipality guides tried to solve problems together, and help each other.
Every municipality guide had an individual field of responsibility and a department that they had more
close contact with than others. The departments had contact persons who participated in meetings with
the municipality guides. The co-operation between the CC and the department could be discussed at
such meetings. Work tasks that could be transferred from the department to the CC could be discussed
and specified. The municipality guide then transmitted the information from the meeting to the other
guides at the CC.
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The municipality guides did not generally receive any feed-back from the handling officers at the
administrations, when a matter was solved. Citizens could however ask the municipality guides about
matters that not had been solved in time. It could be somewhat frustrating for the municipality guides to
depend on other’s work in this way, when they not could affect the work of the handling officers.
4.2 The implementation at the administrations
4.2.1 The implementation at the technical department
The implementation at the technical department was initiated with information from the project
management and discussions with the top management of the technical administration. Then the local
managers at the administration were supposed to pass the information on to their employees in the
organisation. According to the initial information given, the handling officers at the administration should
receive fewer phone calls when the CC was implemented. The municipality guides were supposed to
inform the citizens about information that already existed on the home page of the municipality. There
were no pressures on the administration to transfer work tasks to the CC. Instead the administrations
were supposed to analyse such issues themselves, and suggest suitable work tasks to transfer.
The amount of work tasks transferred from the administration to the CC varied among the different
administration units. The administration unit dealing with land and utilization had transferred more work
tasks compared with the unit dealing with property management. For example, this unit had also started
to develop e-services. The unit that not had transferred many services stressed the fact that many
questions from the citizens were about contracts and required a high level of expert-knowledge to be
answered correctly.
Initially, there were some concerns among the employees about what would happen with their jobs when
the CC was implemented. Their fears were however reduced, when they realized that they could
influence which work tasks were to be transferred and that their own work still seemed to be needed.
Most of the respondents at the unit had a positive attitude towards the CC, but initially one unit did not
want to co-operate very much. They were used to having a very independent work situation and were not
available for the citizens during coffee breaks, for example.
There were varied opinions as to whether the implementation of the CC had led to a reduction of calls for
the handling officers at the unit. Some respondents meant that there was no need to transfer more work
tasks to the CC, and meant that the work division already was optimal, although there was processmapping
of more complex work tasks going on. Others showed more optimistic attitudes.
4.2.2 The implementation at the social department
The political decision about launching a CC in the municipality was already taken, when the top
management was informed. It did not make sense then to argue against the decision, a respondent
pointed out. Instead of first launching a CC and then trying to find motives to defend the decision, the
reverse order would have been better, according to the respondent. There was not any intrinsic
resistance among the employees towards the decision, but the researchers had difficulties getting
interview respondents at the unit. Four proposed respondents declined interviews or were otherwise
unavailable.
The amount that the administrations should contribute for financing the CC was based on the results from
the initial pre-study. The relevance of the study was however discussed, especially at the social authority.
Some employees questioned whether all respondents had used the same basis for the classifying of
different matters, for example. However, they had not found any relevant model at the department for
specifying work tasks that could be transferred to the CC. The work at the unit was characterized by a
high level of exercising public authority, legal security, and integrity for the clients. The matters of the
clients required professional judgement and therefore it could be difficult to transfer such matters to the
CC. “There are no simple solutions”, a respondent stressed.
According to a respondent many employees at the unit were anxious and feared that their work tasks
would “disappear”. In the long run, the saving requirements could lead to a reduction of reception clerks
at the unit, according to a respondent. But the local receptions at the unit need to be manned even if the
work of the local receptionists was reduced.
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The knowledge about the implementation of the CC varied a lot among the respondents at the unit. One
respondent stressed that there are many employees working as assistant nurses at local work units that
did not even now about the CC yet. The involvement by the contact persons from the unit in the
implementation work seemed to have been rather low.
5. Discussion
5.1 The implementation work
The implementation strategy of the municipality seemed to be inspired by the general culture of the
organization. The ambition was to use few resources but with good cooperation considering the available
resources. The establishment of the CC was made in a very smooth way. There were no initial external
marketing of the CC for example. Transfer of work tasks from administrations to the CC usually start with
the technical department, due to the formal character of much information and work tasks related to their
field. It is more difficult to transfer work tasks from social services, related to issues of integrity,
regulations and law. But the social department seemed to be forced to transfer work tasks because of the
amount that the administration should contribute with to the work of CC.
The management strategy of the implementation work in the case study seems to alternate between top
down and bottom up strategies. The decision making regarding the establishment of the CC was made at
the political and top management level, but the realization of the transfer of work tasks from the
administrations to the CC was left for the administrations to judge (bottom-up). A combination of a topdown
and bottom-up strategy could have been an alternative strategy.
The implementation strategy chosen is often a consequence of the prevailing organisational culture and
decision-making processes in the organisation. Changes in municipality organisations are often
influenced by established tradition (Bergström 2002). The implementation strategy at the municipality
could have both advantages and disadvantages. The top-down strategy could be relevant in order to
“make the change happen”, but a lack of participation could contribute to a sense that “the
implementation has nothing to do with my work” and affect the willingness to contribute to the change.
The management strategy of the implementation could thus affect the employees’ competencies and
motivation. Participation in implementation work could instead increase motivation and reduce resistance
towards change (Angelöw 1991). Participatory design has a long tradition (Kensing & Blomberg 1998),
especially in Scandinavia (Scandinavian Journal of Information systems 1994). Participation of all users
is however difficult to put into practice in large organisations. Representative participation could be used
in such organisations when many users are affected by a new system or changes to systems (Ranerup
1996). The organisation and forms of participation and change work could probably be developed and
extended with relevant group discussions and competence development in order to include all users in
new ways. Participation in the implementation process could be a way to learn and develop competence
for the users. If the implementation work also focuses on organisational and competence issues then the
mutual understanding of the different responsibility fields and changed work roles increase during the
analysis work. Such an analysis of the work process could be a relevant basis for learning in the
implementation work (Svensson & Åberg 2001).
5.2 Increased focus on back-office and social aspects
There is a need for increased focus on back-office and social aspects in the further implementation work
at the municipality. Implementation of eGovernment has earlier been criticised for focussing too much on
technical aspects (Grönlund 2001, Schedler and Summermatter 2003, Kifle and Low Kim Cheng 2009),
thereby ignoring the importance of social aspects. According to a study of Accenture (2007) many
governments face great challenges in order to integrate back-office aspects in the eGovernment
development. According to the study of Accenture (ibid.) many governments have tended to
underestimate the importance of attitudes and change of the work for employees, when eGovernment is
implemented.
Many handling officers seemed to react with initial anxiety and fear of the effects on their jobs, when work
tasks were transferred to the CC. Their worries seemed to have been reduced when the handling officers
realized that their jobs were still needed. There seemed not to have been clear strategies from the project
management as to how to handle such issues. Such worries could probably have been reduced at an
earlier stage, if clearer personnel strategies were formulated and communicated from the project
management. It is not unusual however, that project management makes a stand by not emphasizing
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such aspects, in order to eliminate potential conflict aspects in the implementation work of eGovernment.
There is a tendency for “problematic silences” of such issues in implementation of eGovernment,
according to Seyfyrin and Mortberg (2009). The project management seemed to be afraid that such
aspects could contribute to increased anxiety and fear among the employees concerned. Instead such a
strategy could have reverse effects. Important aspects that are not clearly formulated in the
implementation work could contribute to uncertainty and lack of motivation. If all expected consequences
of the implementation were more clearly formulated and discussed in a dialogue with the employees
concerned, the sense of uncertainty could be reduced and affect motivation. Such a dialogue could be
the basis for a strategy formulated for how to deal with the issues. Usually there are many employees
retiring in the coming years in public organisations, and some strategies could be to not refill their
positions changes of the current work division for example to enrich work situations with new work tasks
or work rotations for the handling officers affected.
5.3 The work situations for the municipality guides
There are documented common risks with work in call centers as being monotonous, stressful and
lacking variation (Tengblad et al 2002). The employees are generally women sitting in open offices,
bounded to their work most of the day answering a lot of phone calls. The municipality guides were
however, very satisfied with their work situations hitherto, and motivated to produce efficient service with
high quality to the citizens, according to the interviews. There were still new questions to be answered
and new competence challenges in the work. According to an evaluation study of the implementation of
the CC in other municipalities (Grundén 2010a), there had been fears of increasing monotony and a lack
of variation in the work situations when the “honey moon” was over. A lot of attention is generally given to
the work of the municipality guides when a CC is launched, but it is a challenge to have continuous
learning possibilities. The initial strong focus on the work of the municipality guides could contribute to the
so-called Hawthorne-effect (Mayo, 1949), and increase the initial motivation of the work.
5.4 Information and education
The respondents in the study had very different views of the ambition and vision for the implementation
work compared with the vision formulated by respondents from the project management. A common
mental image facilitates the communication and dialogue in the implementation work. There is also a
need for an understanding of connections between the internal implementation of eGovernment in the CC
and external tendencies within the field. Lack of relevant competence and knowledge could contribute to
misunderstandings, fears, lack of motivation and negative attitudes towards the implementation.
There seemed to be a need for more information and education of the handling officers at the
municipality in order to increase their competencies about implementation of the CC and eGovernment
both from an internal and external perspective. ELearning could be a relevant educational form for such
competence development in combination with group discussions. When eLearning courses are
developed they could easily be spread to many users located at different geographical locations of the
organization, and the studies could be made at different points in time. In-house development of
eLearning education becomes more and more common, especially for larger organizations that can
afford the development and production costs (Nunes et al 2009). A development strategy of such courses
could be to co-operate with other municipalities in the same situation.
According to an earlier study by Grundén (2010b) an eLearning course for competence development of
handling officers at the County Administration of Sweden was developed and evaluated. The focus of the
course was both internal and external aspects regarding the implementation of eGovernment. The
pedagogy approach of the course was inspired by study circles. Study circles have a long tradition within
the Swedish popular movement and have frequently been used by educational associations. Study
circles have also been used in working life, most often as a complement to other change activities
(Erikson & Holmer 1991). A study circle usually consists of a smaller group with a study leader, who is
more of a co-ordinator than a teacher. The study circle often has a generally formulated subject for study,
but the participants can decide what aspects of the subject they will study more thoroughly. Study circles
could be a relevant pedagogical approach for learning together in a community of practice (Lave &
Wenger 1991). Study circles could support productive reflection at work emphasizing the social collective
aspects of reflection; people reflecting together in the workplace (Boud et al 2006).
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6. Conclusions
Kerstin Grundén
There was a need for increased focus on the back-office and social aspects in the further implementation
work at the municipality. The implementation of the CC was successful so far, but it will be a challenge to
have continuous learning possibilities, in order to avoid a future monotonous work situation for the
municipality guides. There is also a need for the project management to articulate and communicate
personnel strategies related to the transfer of work tasks from the administrations and the CC, in order to
reduce anxiety and concerns about the change of work situations for the handling officers.
The implementation strategy of the CC alternated between top down and bottom up strategies. There
seems to be a need for more co-operation and dialogue among the project team and the administrations,
in order to have a more homogenous implementation process at the different units. There were some
problems with different mental images of the vision for the implementation among the handling officers at
the administrations and the project management. There was also a need for competence development of
the handling officers in order to develop their competencies about implementation of the CC and
eGovernment. ELearning combined with group discussions could be relevant educational forms for such
competence development.
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302

An Outline of the Technical Requirements on
Governmental Electronic Record Systems Derived from the
European Legal Environment
Bernhard Horn, Gerald Fischer, Roman Trabitsch and Thomas Grechenig
(INSO), Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
bernhard.horn@inso.tuwien.ac.at
gerald.fischer@inso.tuwien.ac.at
roman.trabitsch@inso.tuwien.ac.at
thomas.grechenig@inso.tuwien.ac.at
Abstract: In modern e-government administrations, regulatory documents are not only drafted using computer
tools but are increasingly managed using Electronic Record Systems (ERS). Such tools mean that coordination
and administrative procedures do not only have to occur via e-mail or similar technologies. To execute the next
administrational step using traditional methods, each officer has to know the inner organisational workflow and
therefore those clerks responsible for performing the next administrational step to be able to forward the record to
the correct person. Though till now this way of working has been quite common in many official organisations,
there are a considerable number of software products available, which implement ERS, to assist performing
administrative procedures electronically. When an officer has finished his respective process step, such a system
automatically forwards the documents to the next responsible person. Moreover if several clerks have to perform
a step in parallel, it is not necessary to copy the whole file several times but only to grant appropriate access
permissions to the documents. Thus at any moment, everyone has the record in its latest version. Furthermore
the whole administrative act can be tracked and monitored. It is important to remember however that within the
European Union a couple of regulatory rules have to be obeyed when implementing and using such ERS. The
providers of such systems as well as the authority using them are responsible for ensuring legal conformity. The
aim of this paper is to give a brief overview of the applicable European regulations concerning ERS for
responsible stakeholders, such as IT-system designers and providers, administration chiefs, or researchers in the
field of e-government.
Keywords: European legal framework, public administration, governmental electronic record systems, data
protection directive
1. Basics of the European legal system
The European Union’s legal order differentiates between Primary Law and Secondary Law. Primary
Law represents all the contracts signed by the Member States concerning the European Communities
and the European Union. Since the commencement of the Treaty of Lisbon on December 1, 2009, in
practice the most relevant of these contracts are the consolidated versions of the Treaty on the
European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2010/C 83/01) as well as the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union on behalf of Article 6 of the Treaty on the EU
(Westphal in Bauer and Reimer, 2009: 63-68).
However, Secondary Law is based on Primary Law and is established by the organs of the European
Union within an accurately defined process constituted by Primary Law. The fundamental instruments
of Secondary Law are the European regulations and directives. Regulations are applicable in each
Member State directly and without any legislative transformation process. In contrast to regulations,
directives only set regulatory objectives, which have to be accomplished by the Member States by
legislating corresponding national law and regulations. Thus directives have to be transformed by
each national legislator into national law (Streinz, 2008: 145-153).
Three directives were identified as being applicable to administrative procedures supported by
governmental ERS: the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC), the European Directive on Electronic
Signatures (1999/93/EC) and for some cases even the Electronic Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC).
But as described above, these directives are not applicable directly and must be transformed into
corresponding national legislation. Nevertheless by looking at these directives, legislative minimum
standards can be discerned and the relevant national regulations to be found and obeyed can be
identified (Streinz, 2008: 150-153).
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2. The data protection directive
Bernhard Horn et al.
The EU Data Protection Directive (DPD, 95/46/EC) contains the most relevant regulations.
Summarized, this directive governs the processing of personal data irrespective of the way and
method of processing (electronically or manually) (Recital 27), the purpose, area and industry, public
or private sector (Recital 5 and 30) as well as whether this happens by a natural or juridical person.
Thus the directive lays down general rules for processing personal data independent from the area of
life or special circumstances. Because personal data processed within an ERS are to be seen as a
structured set of personal data accessible according to specific criteria, such systems are to be seen
as a “personal data filing system” in the sense of Article 2 subparagraph c DPD. As a consequence
the DPD is relevant for the implementation and operation of ERS (Ehmann and Helfrich, 1999: 76-79).
2.1 Applicability and implementation of the DPD
Article 2 subparagraph a defines “personal data” as ‘any information relating to an identified or
identifiable natural person ('data subject')’, irrespective of whether the person can be identified directly
or only indirectly 'by reference to an identification number (e.g., passport, driving license, student
number, national insurance number, etc.)'. The correlation’s intensity may vary case-by-case, but if
the appropriate individual can be identified from the data, the DPD regulations are applicable. The
legal term “processing of personal data” means ‘any operation or set of operations which is performed
upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording, organization,
storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission,
dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, blocking, erasure or
destruction’ (Article 2 subparagraph b).
Thus the DPD is also applicable to the processing of personal data in (ERS-supported) administrative
procedures, because in such procedures usually data that can refer to a definite individual as a data
subject (e.g., party, national, litigant, etc.) are processed. But the directive is not applicable to any
processing in the course of an activity which falls outside the scope of (EC-) Community law like
public security, defence and State security. Nevertheless the DPD’s regulations can be relevant for
data processing within authorities, if such a processing does not concern one of the mentioned
governmental core tasks.
2.2 Definition of actors and roles
After analysing the applicability of the DPD, the participating actors and their roles in the entire
processing have to be identified and assigned in a second step. Certain rights and obligations arise,
dependent on the role of the actors (Jahnel, 2010: 96).
The Data Controller is that actor for whose purposes and advantages the processing of personal data
occurs. This could be ‘a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body which
alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data’
(Article 2 subparagraph d). In the case of processing personal data within a (ERS-supported)
governmental procedure, the Controller is the concerned authority. So this authority is responsible
that the processing of personal data is conducted according to the applicable regulations.
Nevertheless the Controller is legally allowed to outsource the processing to another third party. Such
a third party is termed Processor by legal definition (Article 2 subparagraph e) and could be either a
private company or another authority. The Processor is only allowed to process the disclosed
personal data according to the contract to be concluded between Controller and Processor (or any
other legal act like a decree) and therefore acts like the Controller’s “elongated arm” (BSI, 2002: 21-
22). However the responsibility for the legal conformity, reliability and security of the data processing
remains with the Controller. (Ehmann and Helfrich, 1999: 242-243; Graf, 2010: 46)
(Natural) persons, whose data are processed by or on behalf of the Controller, are termed Data
Subjects.
2.3 Legal requirements for the legitimacy of processing personal data
The fundamental principle of processing personal data is that such processing is basically prohibited
unless a legal exception is applicable. (Knyrim, 2003: 8)
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Such legal exceptions can be found in Article 7 of the DPD and are to be transformed into national
law. In the environment of (ERS-supported) governmental procedures such exceptions could be: a)
the data subject's informed consent, c) ‘processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation
to which the controller is subject’ or e) ‘the processing is necessary for the performance of a task
carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller or in a
third party to whom the data are disclosed’ (Article 7). Because of the principle of mandatory
prosecution, in most cases exceptions to this prohibition will be found in national legal regulation.
2.4 The principles relating to data quality
In addition to observing the above-mentioned legal requirements, regulatory regulations concerning
data quality have to be obeyed. To do this, Article 6 defines five fundamental principles (Dammann
and Simitis, 1997: 139-143; Ehmann and Helfrich, 1999: 111-117):
Fair and lawful processing: If none of the other principles is applicable, this principle ensures a
lawful processing of personal data as a general rule. For instance, this prevents the secret
collection of personal data using special technical tools without the Data Subject’s notice.
Principle of legitimate purposes: This principle lays down that personal data may only be
‘collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a way
incompatible with those purposes’. Therefore it is illegitimate to collect any personal data in
advance or for indefinite purposes. Thus before the recording of personal data is started, the
purposes, (legitimate) objectives and scope of the processing have to be defined (BSI, 2002: 37).
Principle of proportionality: This principle restricts the extent to which personal data can be
collected legitimately and recorded to serve the defined purpose as mentioned above. Excessive
collecting of personal data therefore is prohibited and shall protect data subjects from sprawling
data recording.
Principle of factual validity and actuality: Not only data provide information, but also the context in
and extent to which data are processed. So in several cases data may not provide accurate
information if the recording of certain details is omitted. A relevant factor in this context
concerning the accuracy of personal data is time, because the background of processed data
may have changed since they had been recorded. So in such cases personal data must always
be updated, as necessary, to meet the purposes for which the data are to be processed.
Principle of mandatory deletion: The last principle of Article 6 is the obligation to delete personal
data irretrievably, if the purpose for which the data have been recorded is accomplished (e.g., the
legal time span for mandatory archiving has expired). Therefore personal data may only be ‘kept
in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the
purposes for which the data were collected or for which they are further processed’. So for that
reason an anonymisation of such data would be conform to this principle as well (Ehmann and
Helfrich, 1999: 75, 117).
If no ERS is used, practice has shown that in many cases such mandatory deletions do not occur. If
the personal effort necessary for doing this is taken into account, it is much cheaper to procure
extended disk space instead of searching the whole stock of electronic files for those files to be
deleted. To support an authority in complying with the last mentioned principle, an ERS could provide
the functionality of an automated deletion at a definite date, such as if the period of time for which the
data archiving is required by law has passed (This may also occur after an acknowledgement.). To do
this, the records could be classified according to their mandatory period for archiving and would be
deleted if this period expires.
2.5 The gap between legal regulation and feasibility
As mentioned above, in certain cases there is an obligation to delete files or specific documents/data
within such files. At first glance such a legal regulation seems to be simple and plausible, but on
closer examination certain difficulties become manifest concerning its technical implementation.
Article 2 subparagraph b also legally defines the processing of personal data as the blocking, erasure
or destruction of such data. Now in this context the question arises: Which action has to be performed
so that the “processing” of personal data is terminated?
The German Data Protection Act (BDSG) defines “blocking” as an action which denotes the
appropriate data as blocked. As a result such data can no longer be accessed, used or processed by
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the users (e.g., within an ERS). But such data are still stored in the database or similar data storages
and as a consequence available to the Controller, though direct access is no longer possible. In
effect, only blocking personal data does not lead to the termination of processing (Simitis, 2003: 267-
268).
Afterwards the question has to be discussed, whether it is sufficient to delete personal data logically
(e.g., using the operation system’s standard deletion functionality) or whether an irretrievable deletion
(destruction) is necessary. Recently this question was resolved by a judgement in the Austrian
Supreme Court (April 15, 2010, 6 Ob 41/10p): The processing of personal data terminates only then if
the data are destructed irretrievably. If such data are deleted by using the operating system’s function,
such data will only be interpreted as being deleted, but in fact not destroyed. According to the first
method of deletion there is no recognizable difference from “blocking” the data, because the
Controller still (in most cases) is able to recover such data by using special recovery software.
Therefore only blocking direct access does not fulfil the requirement of an irreversible deletion
(Jahnel, 2010: 159).
Furthermore the implementation of backup strategies can lead to considerable problems concerning
the irreversible deletion of data. Article 17 requires the Controller to implement any technical solution
to avoid accidental or unlawful destructions or accidental losses of personal data. To fulfil this
obligation, in many cases the whole data stock is copied and saved to backup volumes. Now if certain
data have to be deleted, it is not adequate to oblige the Controller to process such a deletion in all
backup volumes in addition to the regular data store. In such cases, it is therefore only necessary to
delete such data in the regularly used database, but those data also have to be deleted in backup
volumes as soon as possible (Simitis, 2003: 270-271). If there is only a limited number of backup
volumes used, this could be done by letting the data to be deleted be “outgrown” out of the backup
data stock. Using this procedure, restore cases have to be considered to avoid data to be deleted
from being restored into the regular data stock.
Though considering all these cases and circumstances, many situations still remain in which a
permanent and entire deletion of personal data is nearly not feasible. Nowadays data storage is not
only performed on central hosts, but also decentralised on ambiguous storage media like local copies
on employees’ PCs, online-drives, online-storage, network components, caches, flash drives,
mobile/smart phones, temporary files and so on.
2.6 Publicity and monitoring of the processing of personal data
To ensure the legitimate processing of personal data and the Data Subject’s fundamental right of
privacy, the DPD provides two different instruments:
2.6.1 Publicity and monitoring by the supervisory authority
Pursuant to Article 28 each Member State has established an independent supervisory authority to
monitor the legal conformity of the processing of personal data generally. For this reason ‘the
controller or his representative, if any, must notify the supervisory authority referred to in Article 28
before carrying out any wholly or partly automatic processing operation or set of such operations
intended to serve a single purpose or several related purposes’ (Article 18 paragraph 1). Responsible
for this notification is the Controller, therefore in this context the authority processing personal data.
Article 19 lists the information, which must be provided to the supervisory authority. If only nonsensitive
data are to be processed, the processing can be initiated immediately after the notification. If
a processing presents specific risks for the Data Subject (e.g., medical data, offences, criminal
convictions), such a processing has to be examined by the supervisory authority before starting and
may only be initiated, if the authority approves (Article 20).
2.6.2 Publicity and monitoring by individual Data Subjects
The second instrument provided by the directive to ensure a legitimate processing of personal data is
the granting of comprehensive rights to Data Subjects. Such rights enable Data Subjects to control
the processing of their own personal data by exercising these rights.
Articles 10 and 11 grant Data Subjects the right to be informed about any processing of their personal
data. Before initiating any processing, the Controller is obliged to inform the concerned data subjects
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about the Controller’s identity, the purpose of the processing, the data to be processed, if such data
will be transmitted to any third parties and, if any, their identity as well as the existence of the Data
Subject’s right to access the personal data. This obligation ensures that Data Subjects are informed
about any processing and, as a consequence, to have the ability to exercise their rights. Pursuant
Article 12 concerned Data Subjects have the right of access to their data and to receive certain
information about the processing to be obtained from the Controller.
Data Subjects have the right to have inaccurate data corrected so that processed data are completed,
corrected or deleted if the information represented by them is not accurate or is not accurate any
more. Such a correction need not be performed only then, if the accuracy is not relevant for meeting
the designated purposes of the data processing (e.g., files of closed proceedings need not be
accurate unless the proceeding is resumed). If personal data are processed by any Controller not
complying with the DPD, the Data Subject has the right to have such data deleted. Concerning the
process of deletion, see the remarks discussed above. If an entitled rectification or deletion of
personal data has been processed and such data had been disclosed to any third party before, such
parties have to be notified to process the rectification or deletion as well, unless such a notification is
impossible or undue. To do this, an ERS could provide appropriate support.
But note that especially for the governmental sector Article 13 contains several exceptions for specific
fields of processing for which these rights are not granted.
2.7 The legitimacy of automated individual decisions
Concerning an electronically supported file administration, Article 15 contains a quite relevant
regulation: This affects automated decisions by IT-systems which concern an individual in a way
‘which produces legal effects concerning him or significantly affects him and which is based solely on
automated processing of data intended to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to him, such as
his performance at work, creditworthiness, reliability, conduct, etc.’ (Article 15 paragraph 1). As Jahnel
(2010: 471-480) outlines this regulation does not concern IT-supported decisions where a human
being makes the final decision based on information provided by the IT-system, but decisions which
are fully made by the IT-system. In the context of governmental IT-Systems, automated individual
decisions are only legitimate if they are executed according to national law providing suitable
measures to safeguard the Data Subjects’ legitimate interests or do not concern a Data Subject
significantly.
2.8 Legal requirements concerning the ERS’s technical implementation
The previous sections dealt with the question: Under which legal premises and circumstances is the
processing of personal data legitimate? Article 17 establishes regulations about technical measures to
be adopted for such a (legitimate) processing of personal data: ‘Member States shall provide that the
controller must implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect personal data
against accidental or unlawful destruction or accidental loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure or
access, in particular where the processing involves the transmission of data over a network, and
against all other unlawful forms of processing. Having regard to the state of the art and the cost of
their implementation, such measures shall ensure a level of security appropriate to the risks
represented by the processing and the nature of the data to be protected.’
As can be seen, concrete technical measures or security standards to be implemented cannot be
found in this article. The core element of Article 17 is the Controller’s obligation to implement
organisational as well as technical measures and standards, which—as a whole—prevent ‘an
accidental or unlawful destruction or accidental loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure or access, in
particular where the processing involves the transmission of data over a network, and against all other
unlawful forms of processing’ (Subparagraph 1). How these objectives can be achieved by the
Controller is not addressed in this regulation. Therefore the Controller is responsible and has to fulfil
these requirements by any means. Relevant is only the success of those measures.
But on the other hand, not every effort has to be made to achieve this objective. Such measures need
not to be implemented are those which are undue in relation to and dependent on the processed
data’s sensitivity, the current technical state of the art and the economical effort. Therefore the more
sensitive processed data are, the more effort has to be made to ensure the confidentiality, integrity
and availability of processed data. Such security measures have to be safeguarded throughout the
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entire period of processing and not only at the very beginning. Such measures can be of a structural
(restricted access to server rooms, fire protection, alert systems), organisational (strict access rules to
rooms, technical infrastructure and systems, staff trainings, staff sensitisation to critical dangers and
threats) or technical (data protection mechanisms, backups [also to external locations], mirroring,
encryption of data volumes as well as data transmitted via the internet, implementation of a
comprehensive logging concept so that the access, addition, alteration or deletion of data and the
performing person can be tracked, regular performance of system and software updates or the
pseudonymisation of data) nature (Dammann and Simitis, 1997: 227-229).
Moreover such measures not only concern the confidentiality of data with regard to external parties,
but also with regard to internal actors. To avoid potential data misuse by employees and to ensure
data privacy with respect to Data Subjects, processed data may only be accessible to such persons,
for whom these data are necessary to perform their job. For this reason illegitimate access to
personal data or the extraction of information out of the ERS by persons external to the administration
as well as to those internal to the administration must be prohibited. As a consequence the ERS must
implement an authorisation concept which ensures that access to files and personal data will only be
granted to those persons who need access for their work (Hof, 2005: 50). But even in this case, it
must be ensured that information obtained via search functions cannot be retrieved illegitimately. The
simple existence of a file (shown as the result of a search query) can provide comprehensive
information about certain circumstances.
3. Data processing using third parties
Besides security measures, Article 17 also regulates the situation in which personal data are not
processed by the Controller himself but by a third party on behalf of the Controller (e.g., an external
data centre, a private company or another authority). In this case, the Controller remains responsible
for the legitimacy of the data processing and has to ensure that appropriate organisational and
technical security measures pursuant to Article 17 are implemented by the Processor. The
implementation of these measures can be examined by the Controller, by external specialists or by a
certification authority. The concrete details of this external data processing have to be regulated in a
written contract or other legal act (Jahnel, 2010: 117-123). For the assignment of external processors
the national regulations based on Article 17 paragraphs 2–4 have to be obtained and the Processor
may process the disclosed data exclusively on behalf of the Controller.
On the other hand, it is not necessary for an external processor to observe all of his customers’
national legal orders, but only those regulations as defined by the law of that Member State in which
the Processor is established (Article 17 paragraph 3).
4. An ERS as an information society service
The functionality of an ERS can also be provided by an external service provider via the internet as a
cloud-service (Software as a Service, SaaS). Such a service is to be qualified as an “Information
Society service” according to Article 2 of the Directive on Electronic Commerce (2000/31/EC). Hence,
this directive is applicable to the provision of SaaS services, even if they are provided for
governmental authorities. The directive defines “services”, for which the regulations of the directive
are applicable, as ‘any Information Society service, that is to say, any service normally provided for
remuneration, at a distance, by electronic means and at the individual request of a recipient of
services’ (Article 1 Directive 98/34/EC), which also includes the provision of ERS as a service.
Articles 3 and 4 oblige the Member States to ensure that the taking up and pursuit of the activity of an
Information Society service provider may not be made subject to prior authorisation, and prohibit the
establishment of any legal regulation restricting the provision of Information Society services from
another Member State—if the provider obeys the legal regulations concerning taking up and pursuit of
the activity laid down in the Member State in which it is established (Laga, Sehrschoen and Ciresa,
2007, 8-23). Therefore a Provider can offer its services to any authority in any Member State as long
as it is in compliance with the legal regulations of its Member State. But Member States can lay down
exceptions to these principles for reasons of public security, including the safeguarding of national
security and defence as well as public policy.
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Usually paperwork to and from an authority has to be signed manually either by the applicant or the
officer establishing the governmental decision. By signing such documents, the identity of the
signatory as well as the authenticity of the document can be proven (BSI, 2002: 24-25). As an
alternative to manual signatures, the directive 1999/93/EC establishes a legal European Community
framework for electronic signatures, which standardises the technical and organisational requirements
for such signatures to have equal legal standing as manual signatures (Brenn, 1999: 23-28). Such
electronic signatures can also be used to send electronic documents to an authority by an applicant or
to be delivered by an authority to an addressee as a subject of a governmental act (Recital 19). But
only national law governs the legal spheres in which electronic documents and electronic signatures
may be used (Recital 19 and 21). Therefore the directive does not provide any regulations, for which
cases and legal affairs signatures are necessary in general or which legal effects are caused by such
signatures. Only the premises are standardized, under which an electronic signature causes legal
effects equal to a manual signature (Recital 17). Pursuant Article 5, such signatures have to be
advanced electronic signatures (Article 2 paragraph 2) based on a qualified certificate and created by
a secure-signature-creation device (e.g., smartcards, SIM-cards). A qualified certificate must provide
specific minimum information and be (digitally) signed by a certification service provider. Because of
such a harmonisation of electronic signatures, techniques for the digital identification of citizens can
be developed (e.g., eID cards) to be used across EU.
6. Conclusion
It can be stated that most of the relevant legal requirements concerning the implementation and the
operation of an ERS can be found in the DPD. If an ERS is provided or utilized as a cloud-service, the
E-Commerce-Directive is also applicable, because such a service has to be qualified as an
Information Society service. The third directive which, if any, could be applicable is the Directive on
Electronic Signatures. This directive provides harmonized standards to be transformed into national
law by which—fulfilling special organisational and technical requirements—electronic signatures are
to be treated equally to manual signatures. But as mentioned in the very beginning, these directives
are—as directives are in general—intended to be transformed into national law by the Member
States. Nevertheless these directives provide indications to each party (like software producers,
service providers and authority members) as to which regulations can be found and must be obeyed
in every Member State’s laws.
To sum up, detailed technical or organisational implications for the operation or utilization of an ERS
could not be derived from any of these directives. Only Article 17 of the DPD obliges the Controller to
implement effective and reliable technical or organisational measures, which ensure the
confidentiality, integrity and availability of processed personal data, concerning both external and
internal parties. Using ERS has considerable advantages for modern governmental administrations
like simultaneous and transparent processes, standardised and comprehensible workflows, full
provision of necessary information to clerks, online access to records and digital preservation of
records (Centner (ed.), 2006: 102). Moreover ERS enable consistent electronic administrative
workflows from the petition to the service of regulatory documents and can provide comprehensive
assistance in complying with the legal requirements.
References
Brenn, C. (1999) Signaturgesetz, Wien: Manz Verlag.
Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) (2002) Datenschutzgerechtes E-Government, Exeter:
Thomas Knaak.
Centner, M. (ed.) (2006) Administraion on the Net, Wien: Federal Chancellery.
Dammann, U. and Simitis, S. (1997) EG-Datenschutzrichtlinie, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft.
Graf, W. (2010) Datenschutzrecht im Überblick, 2 nd edition, Wien: facultas.wuv.
Hof, S. (2005) Alternative Security Approaches in E-Government, Linz: Trauner Verlag.
Jahnel, D. (2010) Handbuch Datenschutzrecht, Wien: Sramek Verlag.
Knyrim, R. (2003) Datenschutzrecht, Wien: Manz Verlag.
Laga, G., Sehrschoen, U. and Ciresa M. (2007) E-Commerce Gesetz, 2 nd edition, Wien: LexisNexis Verlag.
Simitis, S. (2003) Kommentar zum Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, 5 th edition, Baden-Baden: Nomos
Verlagsgesellschaft.
Streinz, R. (2008) Europarecht, 8 th edition, Heidelberg: C. F. Müller Verlag.
Westphal, D. (2009) ‘Grundlagen und Bausteine des europäischen Datenschutzrechts’, in Bauer, L. and Reimer,
S. (ed.) Handbuch Datenschutzrecht, Wien: facultas.wuv, pp. 53 - 94.
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Examining Influences on eGovernment Growth in the
Transition Economies of Central and Eastern Europe:
Evidence from Panel Data
Princely Ifinedo
Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
princely_ifinedo@cbu.ca
Abstract: This research examines the impact or influence of six (6) relevant factors on E-gov growth in Transition
Economies of Central and Eastern Europe (TECEE). A 5-year panel data of sixteen (16) TECEE categorized as
Leaders and Followers was used for data analysis in conjunction with the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) technique.
To test the influence of the selected factors on E-gov growth in the region, six hypotheses were developed
accordingly. The results supported four (4) hypotheses indicating that E-gov growth in TECEE is positively influenced
by such factors as national wealth i.e. GDP per capita, democratic/political rights, quality human capital resources,
and government efficiency. The data did not confirm the significance of technological infrastructure and rule of law on
the growth of E-gov in the region. The implications of the findings for research and policy making are discussed.
Keywords: Transition Economies of Central and Eastern Europe (TECEE), eGovernment, new growth theory,
regional development theory, regional eGovernment divide, contextual factors
1. Introduction
Electronic government (E-gov) is described by the World Bank as the use of information and
communication technologies (ICT) including the Internet to transform governance (InfoDev, 2004).
Essentially, E-gov allows government’s services to be more effective and accessible to citizens
(Fountain, 2001; Moon, 2002; West, 2004). Empirical data from international agencies, consulting
organizations, and research shows that E-gov has become a global phenomenon with nearly all
governments around the world adopting it to promote citizen engagement and empowerment (Accenture
2001, West, 2007; UN Public Administration Programme, 2010). Although E-gov is popular around the
globe, there are parts of the world where slow progress have been reported (Norris, 2001, Gascó, 2005;
Siau & Long, 2006; Singh et al., 2007; Azad et al., 2010). In fact, evidence indicates that more
economically endowed countries occupy the upper echelons of innovators or adopters of advanced E-gov
initiatives (West, 2007; Azad et al., 2010; UN Public Administration Programme, 2010).
Norris (2001) asserted that the emerging digital divide (in this case, E-gov divide) has three distinct
aspects: the social digital divide, the democratic digital divide, and the global digital divide. Gascó (2005)
noted that the regional digital divide is a variation of the global digital divide in the sense that it signifies
the differences that exist in E-gov initiatives between countries from the same geographical region. For
instance, while the E-gov index (i.e. an indicator of a country’s EGovernment adoption) for Eastern
European countries averaged 0.5449 in 2010, Hungary and Belarus had 0.6315 and 0.4900 respectively
(UN Public Administration Programme, 2010) to indicate the existence of regional differences. In view of
the disparities that exist at regional levels, it is argued that more attention needs to be paid to
understanding E-gov issues at the regional level to enrich insight.
Very little has been written about the factors impacting the growth or development of E-gov in Transition
Economies of Central and Eastern Europe (TECEE). Two considerations informed the choice of TECEE
for examination in this study. First, TECEE share a common political and cultural history (Ifinedo &
Davidrajuh, 2005) as most countries in the region only recently metamorphosed from centrally planned
systems to free market democracies. Thus, it is pertinent to continue monitoring progress in TECEE
especially with regard to ICT use for development and governance (Levada, 2004; Alexander, 2004; EU
Regional Policy; 2009). Second, researchers such as Roztocki and Weistroffer (2008) indicated a lack of
adequate research related to information systems and technologies (IS/IT) issues in TECEE; they called
on researchers to focus on such issues in that part of Europe. As E-gov initiatives aim at reforming and
improving administrative services and citizen empowerment, research such as this current one could
provide a lens through which efficiency in governance through IS/IT use is viewed.
The academic literature on cross-national E-gov growth in TECEE is sparse, perhaps due to the relative
novelty of the subject (Katchanovski & La Porte, 2005). Moreover, research done in this area has used
global E-gov data rather than focus on particular regions on the world (Azad et al., 2010; Kovačić, 2005;
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Katchanovski & La Porte, 2005; Singh et al., 2007; Siau & Long, 2006; Moon et al., 2005). By not
focusing on specific regions of the world, it is possible that a deeper understanding of the factors
impacting E-gov growth in differing parts of the world is underreported. To that end, this current research
effort is designed to investigate factors that influence E-gov growth in TECEE. This study draws from the
new growth and regional development theories. Published data from reliable sources such as the United
Nations (UN) and the World Bank for selected TECEE over a 5-year period is used for analysis.
2. Background information
2.1 eGovernment: Focus
The research’s focus is on the aspect of E-gov measures dealing with the extent to which each TECEE
has advanced with respect to using ICT in governance, over the years. The UN indicator for this aspect of
E-gov measurement is captured by the Web measure/online service index, which consists of a four-stage
growth model (UN Public Administration Programme, 2010) that compares with similar frameworks in the
literature (e.g. Layne & Lee, 2001; Srivastava & Teo, 2004a). Figure 1 and Table 1 illustrate each stage
in the UN model. In brief, the UN's model indicates that countries that have advanced to higher levels of
the model are the ones with relatively high Web measure/online service index scores.
2.2 Transition economies: Definition and categorizations
Transition economy (TE) refers to an economy that is changing from a centrally planned economy to a
market economy (IMF, 2000; Samoilenko & Osei-Bryson; 2008). The characteristics of TEs include rapid
economic liberalization, legal and institutional reforms, restructuring and privatization, and
macroeconomic stabilization (IMF, 2000). Two groups of TECEE can be found in Europe. The group of
eight countries that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 (i.e. Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) is in fact considered as having completed the transition
process. The second group comprises such countries as Romania, Russia, Moldova, Croatia, Bulgaria,
Belarus, Ukraine, and Georgia that are still transiting. The latter eight were selected from the list of
TECEE in IMF (2000) for illustration purposes. It is suggested that the former and latter groups can be
categorized Leaders and Followers, respectively (Samoilenko & Osei-Bryson, 2008; EU Legislation,
2010; World Bank, 2010). Both groups differ significantly with respect to economic prosperity and ICT use
for development (Samoilenko & Osei-Bryson; 2008; WEF, 2010). For instance, a Levene's test for
equality of variances between the 16 TECEE in this research showed that the two groups’ E-gov (Web
measure/online services index) differ significantly (F = 3.82, p < 0.000, df = 70.4). Thus, this result
showed that the level of advancement regarding the use of ICT in governance differ significantly between
Leaders and Followers TECEE. Table 2 highlights the national wealth and E-gov indicators for the
selected TECEE.
Figure 1: The UN's four stages of online services growth
3. Theoretical foundation and hypotheses
This research drew from the new growth theory and the regional development theory. The new growth
theory is an economic theory that seeks to provide reasons for technological progress, creativity and
diffusion of knowledge (Romer, 1994); its basic proposition is that continuous technological progress and
advancement results when the combined effects of relevant exogenous factors are relatively high. On the
other hand, the regional development theory seeks to explain differing growth rates across regions; the
role of “space” in shaping regional development is underscored (Richardson, 1973; Dawkins, 2003). In
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other words, the “space” in which a country exists in or occupies is a determining factor with regard to its
capability to utilize technological innovations such as E-gov initiatives or tools for advancement.
Table 1: The description of the UN's online services stages
Table 2: Selected indicators for countries in the TECEE region
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3.1 Hypotheses formulation
3.1.1 Economic factor
Princely Ifinedo
A study of the diffusion of technological innovations such as the Internet, e-commerce, and E-gov found
that economic wealth strongly predicts the adoption of such innovations across countries (Norris, 2001;
Moon et al., 2005; Singh et al., 2007). This is because more affluent countries have financial resources to
invest in the implementation of such innovations while countries lacking in such resources usually
experience greater difficulties in allocating needed resources for such initiatives, perhaps because of
other pressing priorities. While studies by Azad at al. (2010) did not find support for a relationship
between wealth and E-gov diffusion; several other researchers including Moon et al. (2005), Singh et al.
(2007), and West (2007) confirmed that national wealth (GDP per capita) and E-gov diffusion are
correlated. Thus, it is predicted that:
H1: National wealth (GDP per capita) levels will positively influence E-gov growth in TECEE
3.1.2 Technological factor
Moon et al. (2005) showed that the more technologically advanced (i.e. a higher level of technological
infrastructure) a country is, the more likely it is for the country to advance its E-gov agenda. Prior studies
have shown that the spread of technological innovations across countries is contingent upon the
availability of enabling ICT infrastructure (e.g. Norris, 2001; West, 2007; Shirazi et al., 2009). Likewise,
Singh et al. (2007) and Azad et al. (2010) showed that the availability of ICT infrastructure positively
influences E-gov maturity across nations. Thus, it is predicted that:
H2: Technological infrastructure will positively influence E-gov growth in TECEE
3.1.3 Social factor
It has been suggested that one of the reasons why digital divide exists around the world is that some
countries suffer from illiteracy and poor educational attainment (Kiiski & Pohjola, 2002; Moon et al., 2005;
Shirazi et al., 2009). Illiteracy tends to hinder the growth of an information society at a fundamental level
(Norris, 2001; WEF, 2010). The UN human capital index, which encompasses average years of schooling
(across the three main levels) in populations, as well as literacy rates, captures this social measure
across countries. Moon et al. (2005) and Singh et al. (2007) found the human capital index is positively
related to E-gov growth and maturity across countries. Thus, it is predicted that:
H3: Human capital index will positively influence E-gov growth in TECEE
3.1.4 Political/democratic factor
E-gov aims at fundamentally improving the efficiency of public administration (Fountain, 2001; Moon,
2002; West, 2004; InfoDev, 2004). Thus, E-gov projects are being adopted by governments to increase
productivity, improve decision-making, reduce costs, increase revenues and integrate services (e.g.
Grönlund, 2001; Srivastava & Teo, 2004b). While some researchers (Davis, 1999; West, 2004; Fountain,
2001) predicted that the utilization of ICT tools will revolutionize the efficiency of governance in the long
run. Others (e.g. Kraemer & Dedrick, 1997) however do not share this viewpoint. The latter researchers
asserted that ICT often improves technical efficiency and not organizational efficiency. Arguments have
also been put forward noting that an ineffective government is not likely to use E-gov beyond basic
information publishing, i.e. mainly for propaganda purposes (Alexander, 2004; Singh et al., 2007).
Indeed, Srivastava and Teo (2004b) revealed that there is a significant association between E-gov
development and government efficiency. Thus, it is predicted that:
H4a: Government efficiency will positively influence E-gov growth in TECEE
Another political issue that influences the diffusion of innovations such as e-commerce and E-gov is a
country’s “rule of law” (Shih et al., 2005; Oxley & Yeung, 2001). Rule of law is developed in the context of
the institutional environment that establishes the basis for exchanges. According to Shih et al. (2005,
p.58), “it includes sound political institutions, an impartial court system, legal protection of property rights”,
as well as the extent to which citizens have confidence in the legitimacy of these institutions and accept
their authority. Shih et al. (2005) found that the relationship between the technological readiness of a
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Princely Ifinedo
country and its e-commerce activities is moderated by “rule of law”. Accordingly, it is expected that E-gov
growth in a country will be influenced by the prevailing rule of law in its context. Thus, it is predicted that:
H4b: Rule of law will positively influence E-gov growth in TECEE
Political rights are simply rights and freedoms protecting an individual from the state (Freedom House,
2010); such rights are pertinent for good governance. Martin and Feldman (1998) argued that countries
with favorable political climates are better served with respect to enhancing democratic values and
promoting the dissemination of information. Research has shown that countries with higher levels of
political rights often reap the benefits of technological innovations such as E-gov as opposed countries
lagging behind in such values (Katchanovski & La Porte, 2005; Shirazi et al., 2009; Kovačić, 2005; Azad
et al. 2010). In particular, Katchanovski & La Porte (2005) found that political rights have significant effect
on E-gov development. Thus, it is predicted that:
H4c: Political rights will positively influence E-gov growth in TECEE
4. Research method
4.1 Data sources
As noted above, this study’s dependent variable (E-gov) was represented by the Web measures/online
services index, which was obtained from the UN's Global EGovernment Reports (UN Public
Administration Programme, 2010). The UN EGovernment Reports have been widely used by other
researchers investigating similar issues (e.g. Moon et al., 2005; Kovačić, 2005; Azad et al., 2010). In
deriving the index score, the UN agency aggregated scores for the online services, in each country, on
the model’s stages presented in Figure 1 and Table 1.
Each country’s technological infrastructure level was assessed using a weighted index comprised of
Internet users/1000 persons, PCs/1000 persons, telephone lines/1000 persons, online populations,
mobile phones/100 persons, and TVs/1000 persons (UN Public Administration Programme, 2010). Other
researchers have represented technological infrastructure with these items (e.g. Singh et al., 2007). The
human capital index was obtained from the UN Public Administration Programme (2010); it is derived
from measures related to the educational attainment and literacy levels across countries. The variables of
Rule of Law and Government Efficiency were obtained from Kauffman et al. (2009). The scores for
Political Rights were taken from Freedom House (2010). The rating scale developed by Freedom House
ranged from 1 to 7 with 1 representing the maximum value for the measure. This item was rescaled for
this study to indicate 7 as the maximum value for rights or liberties. The GDP per capita was obtained
from the World Bank’s Development Index (World Bank, 2010).
4.2 Analytic procedures and the estimation model
This current study used a 5-year data for periods: 2003-5, 2008, and 2010 for both Leaders and
Followers TECEE that was collected over 8 years. As such, the research used panel data (also known as
longitudinal time-series data) to capture E-gov growth, over time. The advantage of using a panel data is
that greater variations with respect to changes in variables are captured; a single year study may not
reflect such changes. For the data set of 16 countries, 80 points or observations were obtained. The
ordinary least squares (OLS) regression multivariate technique was used to test the model.
Multicollinearity was assessed and this does not appear to present any major problems for the study.
Problems with homoskedasticity could arise from distributions that are not normal; to that end, effort was
made to transform variables requiring normalization. Thus, the GDP per capita variable was transformed
and normalized with a logarithmic function, i.e. In. The regression model for the study is represented as
follows:
Yit= α +β1log(Ait)+β2Bit+β3Cit+β4Dit+β5Dit+β6Dit + eit
Where the subscript “i” is the country, “t” is the year, α is the unknown intercept, e is the error term, A1 =
GDP per capita; B = Technological infrastructure; C = Human capital index; D1 = Government efficiency;
D2 = Rule of law; D3= Political rights
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4.3 Results
Princely Ifinedo
The regression results of the research conceptualization are provided in Table 3. As predicted, the result
showed that national wealth (GDP per capita) significantly influences E-gov growth in TECEE, over time
(β = 1.84). The hypothesis indicating that human capital index positively influences E-gov growth was
supported as well (β = 1.55). The data analysis confirmed the positive association between government
efficiency and E-gov growth (β = 0.092). Support is provided for the prediction suggesting that Political
Rights is positively related to E-gov growth in TECEE (β = 0.023). The theorized model did not provide
evidence in support of the positive influences of Technological infrastructure and Rule of law on E-gov
growth in TECEE.
Table 3: The regression results for the research model
5. Discussions and conclusion
This study focuses on E-gov growth in TECEE. The literature on E-gov issues with perspectives from the
TECEE is rare. This current research used relevant theoretical frameworks to investigate the influence of
social, political, economic, and technological factors on E-gov growth in TECEE. The data analysis,
facilitated by a panel data over a five-period for 16 countries categorized into two main groups, permitted
greater insight. All the research’ variables accounted for 72% of the variation in the research model to
indicate that conceptualization is of interest. The analysis showed that National wealth positively
influences E-gov growth. This is not surprising as the deployment of E-gov initiatives require the
availability of substantial financial capital (Singh et al., 2007; UN Public Administration Programme,
2010). The data is suggesting that wealthier TECEE with higher financial resource levels might have
allocated adequate financial resources to their E-gov schemes, which relatively poorer countries in the
region cannot afford to make. The relevance of wealth for E-gov growth is consistent with results in Siau
and Long (2006), Katchanovski and La Porte (2005), Norris (2001), Gascó (2005) and Kovačić (2005);
however, it is unsupported by Azad et al. (2010) who found no association between wealth and E-gov
diffusion.
As predicted, the data confirmed that a country’s human capital resources strongly influence its ability or
inability to benefit from innovations such as E-gov. Over the years, countries with higher human capital
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Princely Ifinedo
development indexes (Leaders TECEE) tend to do better than counterparts (Followers TECEE) with
respect to instituting higher levels of E-gov initiatives. Consistent with the new growth theory, countries
with greater pools of knowledge are more likely to appreciate the ways in which E-gov can be used to
serve their well being. Put differently, low levels of skills and knowledge may not augur well for E-gov
growth. Educated and knowledgeable individuals easily adjust to the diffusion of new ideas as such
enlightened people tend to have reduced opposition to social changes associated with adoption of
innovation (Romer, 1994; Robinson & Crenshaw, 2002). The finding underscoring the importance of
quality human capital resources in the diffusion of ICT-enabled initiatives supports results in prior studies
(e.g. Kiiski & Pohjola, 2002). This finding lends credence to the viewpoint indicating that human capital
resources is pertinent to E-gov growth across countries (Moon et al., 2005; Singh et al., 2007). The data
analysis confirmed that E-gov growth in TECEE is strongly impacted where overall government efficiency
is available. In this regard, higher levels of E-gov growth over the years in Leaders TECEE might have
resulted from such governments realizing how E-gov could be used to enhance their overall efficiency.
The fact that countries in the region with better government efficiencies were the ones with more
favorable E-gov outcomes bears out the foregoing statement. This study’s finding in this aspect lends
support to the result in Srivastava and Teo (2004b) indicating that there is an association between
government efficiency and E-gov development across nations.
The current research found that the Political rights dimension was significantly related to E-gov growth,
thus supporting the view espoused by Kovačić (2005, p. 29) who asserted that “the government of a
more democratic country appears to be more enthusiastic to pursue an eGovernment initiative than an
authoritarian government” (See also Wong & Welch, 2004; Alexander, 2004). In the context of this
study’s data, Leaders TECEE with relatively better Political rights for their citizens had higher E-gov
development ratings than Followers TECEE lagging behind on this item. With respect to the unconfirmed
hypotheses, the results were unexpected as they seem to highlight counter-intuitive reasoning.
Regarding Technological infrastructure, the data could be indicating that ICT infrastructure across the
region might have converged to the point where no marked differences exist between Leaders and
Followers TECEE. Growth theories tend to point toward convergence in the long run (Mankiw et al.,
1992). Similarly, Rule of law across TECEE was not found to have a significant association with the
dependent variable. Prior studies have shown that political or democratic factors tend to have less
influence on E-gov maturity or growth. For example, West (2007), Azad et al. (2010), and Moon et al.
(2005) also reported weak association between selected political or democratic measures and E-gov
diffusion and growth.
5.1 Implications, limitations, and future research
This research has implications for both research and policy making. To some degree, this study has
answered the call for research to focus on IS/IT issues in Central and Eastern Europe. The scan of the
extant literature shows that no previous E-gov study has examined the influence of relevant contextual
factors on E-gov growth in TECEE. This study’s findings and conclusion add to the body of knowledge on
E-gov studies with a perspective from emerging economies given that progress in such parts of the world
have been reported to be slow in comparison to achievements in advanced countries. As this current
study provides preliminary insight from Central and Eastern Europe, its findings could be compared with
similar studies from other comparable regions of the world. In that regard, it would be interesting to know
whether the same four (4) factors identified here as being relevant to E-gov growth in TECEE compare
with insights from elsewhere. Theory development stands to benefit from such comparative analysis.
Unlike previous studies that used case studies, literature reviews, and conceptual methodologies to
discuss E-gov issues across the world, this current research utilized cross-country empirical data to
enrich knowledge. Moreover, empirical studies readily lend themselves to validation. Further to this, the
use of longitudinal or time-series data to discuss E-gov growth in TECEE is welcoming to the literature as
it permits a rich understanding of issue under focus. Other IS researchers investigating similar issues
could be enticed to use an approach similar to the one used here or build upon this study’s research
framework.
The attention of policy makers in the region is drawn to factors that could help them understand why
some countries appear to be outperforming others with respect to E-gov growth. To that end, this present
study is suggesting that enhancements to E-gov activities would benefit if more attention was paid to
issues related to the availability of financial resources, government efficiency, political rights, and
educational attainment in lagging TECEE. Additionally, the information provided herein could benefit
administrators and policy makers that might have expended time and energies on a vast array of
contextual factors in understanding factors influencing or hindering E-gov growth in TECEE and in
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Princely Ifinedo
comparable regions. It is safe to suggest that E-gov policies, initiatives, and directives in Leaders TECEE
could be used, to some degree, as benchmarks for efforts in Followers TECEE as attempts are made to
narrow the gap between both groups. This research has its share of limitations. First, the study relied on
secondary data sources; as such, it is difficult to ascertain with certainty the reliability and validity of items
used in composing the various measures. Second, some of the items obtained were not consistent over
years; this might have negatively impacted the data analysis. Third, in choosing the 8 Followers TECEE,
the UN Public Administration Programme's (2010) E-gov scores were used to guide the selection. To that
end, care was exercised in selecting countries with scores at all levels, i.e. above and below scores for
the region’s average, as well as scores close to the average. Notwithstanding, selection bias cannot be
ruled out. Other relevant factors such as cultural norms and values, political actors' actions, citizens’
awareness were not included in this study; this might be limiting to insight.
Future studies should endeavor to work with a more comprehensive framework to include national culture
and other contextual factors not considered in this study. If possible, all Followers TECEE should be
included in future analysis. Case studies should be considered to permit the emergence of rich qualitative
data to compliment secondary data measures. This study was limited to a five-year observation period; it
is advised that as more data become available, a much longer observation period should be considered
to enhance insight.
6. Appendix 1: The correlation matrix (N=80)
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2tailed).
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Legend: Goveff = Government effeciency; Rule = Rule of law; Web = Web measures/online services
index (dependent variable); Tech = Technological infrastructure; Human = Human development index;
GDP = GDP per capita; PR = Political rights
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319

Management of Latvian Government Communications
During an Economic Crisis: The Role of Information
Strategies in the Public Sector
Aleksis Jarockis
University of Latvia, Latvia
aleksis.jarockis@gmail.com
Abstract: The focus on this paper is on an analysis of the management of Latvian government and public sector
communications, offering a more detailed review of the importance of communications policies and practices in the
process of overcoming an economic crisis. Effective crisis communications, indeed, are one of the most important
components in overcoming a crisis. During a crisis, an open and empathetic style of communication – one which
engenders public trust – is most effective when officials try to galvanise the population in terms of doing something
positive or refraining from doing something that is harmful. Although trust is imperative in a crisis, public suspicions
about scientific and government experts have increased for a variety of reasons. These include the increased
availability of sources of conflicting information, a reduction in the use of scientific reasoning in decision making, as
well as political infighting. Trust and credibility, when demonstrated through empathy and caring, competence and
expertise, honesty and openness, and dedication and commitment – these are truly essential elements of persuasive
communication.
Keywords: crisis communication, economic crisis, government communication, public sector, Latvia
1. Introduction
There were very rapid changes in Latvia's economic situation in mid-2008. These led to changes in the
political and media agenda. Political parties and the government were forced to change the logic of their
agenda, moving from symbolic elements to fundamentally important processes such as budget
consolidation, changes in laws, etc.
Rapid economic growth in Latvia up until 2008 led to improved standards of living, but the growth was
mostly based on private consumption, as well as on investments in real estate and other sectors of nonexportable
goods and services.
Late in 2008, the Latvian Finance Ministry announced that the 2008 national budget would have to be
amended so as to ensure a subsidy. At the same time, however, the global economic crisis and domestic
financial difficulties in Latvia led to a situation in which the government was forced to take over one of the
privately owned systemic banks of the country – the Parex Bank, so as to save it from bankruptcy. In
December, the government announced that it was seeking loans from the International Monetary Fund,
the European Commission, and the World Bank for a total of EUR 7.5 billion.
In parallel to the economic crisis, there was increasing distrust among the public at large in terms of what
Parliament (the Saeima) and the government were doing. In July 2008, only 18% of respondents in one
survey said that the country was moving in the right direction. In September 2009, only 5% said so.
Eurobarometer results in 2008 and 2009 showed that there was a great level of distrust in Latvia in terms
of the government and the national parliament. It is important to note that this level of distrust was higher
in Latvia than anywhere else among the European Union’s 27 member states. The vast majority of
respondents in Latvia (92%) expressed full distrust in the Saeima, and only 6% said that they trusted it
(EC, Eurobarometer 72).
It was during the 9 th session of the Saeima that public trust in Parliament’s work diminished quite
convincingly. Immediately after the 2006 election of the 9 th Saeima, 33% of respondents in a survey
expressed trust in the legislature, while, as noted, four years later the same was said only by 6% of
respondents (Diena.lv, 26 Sept 2009).
The overall situation in Latvia is that people have had to deal with very rapid changes in the economy, in
politics, and in everyday life. The fact is that over the course of two years, the government took a number
of decisions which had a very direct effect on every member of society. This meant that citizens were
forced to adapt very quickly to entirely new circumstances. This also applied to the agenda and
operations of the mass media, because the media focus a great deal of attention to crises while providing
information to the public and defending public views about these matters.
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Aleksis Jarockis
It is of key importance for the media to shape their agendas independently, correlating these with the
many different agendas which exist in society, as opposed to reframing frames which emerge from the
context of the political agenda.
2. The importance of communications under crisis conditions
Even though there has been a vast amount of research in the area of communications, management
crisis communications are an area in which there has been comparatively little scholarly examination.
Crises are unique events which shake up the ordinary activities of countries or organisations. They
involve an element of surprise, because crises tend to be unexpected. In some cases, a crisis can be
forecast, but very seldom is it the case that the prognosis can be so precise that information about the
threat of a crisis makes it possible to avoid it completely. At the foundation of crises are the threats which
they create. These are dependent on the intensity, type and scope of the relevant crisis.
Crises create serious threats against fundamental structures and values, as well as norms in the social
system which are subject to the effects of time. Because this creates pressures and an inability to
forecast events, prerequisites emerge for the taking of critically important decisions. Crises, in other
words, as seen as sets of events which lead to the taking of urgent and, frequently, unpopular decisions.
From the perspective of decision making, there is no other alternative but for (formal or informal) leaders
to make sure that the relevant system (organisation, government) returns to normalcy (Boin and Overdijk,
2004: 26).
For that reason, the concept of a crisis speaks to a situation in which decisions must be taken quickly,
during a limited time frame, and with a level of information that is either minimal or, quite oppositely,
excessive. There must be assumptions in this process for which there is not enough time to examine or
analyse them with any detail. The lack of time will also have an effect on communications and on the
quality of what the relevant organisation (government) does in response to the crisis.
The concept of a crisis is brought to bear in various spheres of psychological, social, economic and
political complications in the lives of individuals and in societies at large. The concept of a crisis was
studied in much depth in the 1930s as a part of cultural theory. During crises, the need for and
effectiveness of communications will be related to psychological processes that are faced by individuals
during a time of crisis. Crises create a lack of clarity, and that breaks down the individual’s ideas about
the existing period in time. The individual must face changes in realities in terms of values, as well as the
fears which the threats create in relation to the individual’s expectations: “When an individual finds that
expectations are not satisfied or traumatic events occur, it is increasingly complicated to implement
effective communications” (Ulmer, 2007: 21).
A financial crisis is the result of inadequate policies related to monetary policy and management of
unclear financial resources. It has to do with the flow of money and means that the distribution and
availability of money, as well as other issues related to finances, can no longer function effectively, thus
endangering the relevant financial system. If there are unsuccessful attempts to address the problems,
the financial crisis can turn into a sectoral (economic) crisis (Eichengreen and Portes, 1995: 12).
An economic crisis can lead to a political crisis – one in which the system of governance becomes
ineffective in addressing issues related to the national economy which is, after all, its responsibility. There
can also be a social crisis – one in which a government can no longer control the situation under which
the economic crisis has eliminated the ability of the relevant society to function adequately whilst at the
same time, endangering education, medicine, and the fundamental rights of individuals (Eichengreen and
Portes, 1995: 15).
When the origins of an economic crisis are at a foreseeable distance from the specific system that is to
be studied, the origins of the crisis can be explained via attribution theory, which says that people make
judgments about the causes of events. The theory is usually applied to unexpected events with
unexpected consequences. “Attribution is the perception of causality or of the perceived causes of a
specific event. Individuals attribute a concrete cause to an event in which they themselves have taken
part, as well as to events in which they have simply been observers. The attribution of the cause of a
specific aspect of the existing situation describes the attitudes of individuals (i.e., whether the individuals
who were involved in a specific event in the past could have been able to control the causes)” (Coombs,
2009: 265).
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The maintenance of the trustworthiness and legitimacy of a democratic system in the eyes of the public
will be the main prerequisite for a government’s ability to handle a crisis successfully. Crisis managers
begin to address the situation at different levels of trust which can increase or decrease during the crisis
itself. That is why an exchange of information between crisis managers and their target audiences is very
important. Channels for information exchange and communications often are subject to great risk during
a crisis period. Evaluations of the existing situation and of strategies that are adequate in response to the
situation can have a deleterious effect in terms of changing the flow of information. A mandatory
prerequisite for responses to a crisis will be an adequate exchange of information among the major
actors in the situation – decision makers, advisors, the mass media, and the public at large. From a
strategic perspective, that will depend on the main actors, their areas of responsibility, and their identified
roles (Stern and Hansen, 2001: 233).
One of the most important components in crisis management is the management and strategy of crisis
communications. This is an area of corporate communications in the field of public relations, and the job
is to establish contacts with groups that are affected by the crisis and with the public at large. The goals
in this are:
To overcome the crisis as effectively as possible and with the involvement of the affected groups;
To minimise the harm which the crisis causes on the reputation and future activities of the
organisation (government);
To ensure, therefore, public opinion in the wake of the crisis which is as positive as possible for the
organisation (government).
In other words, one goal in crisis management is “damage control,” which is aimed at protecting the
organisation (government) from drastically negative changes in terms of the components of the
environment in which it exists. The fact is, however, that if all of the relevant activities are focused
exclusively on damage control, that may not be enough to ensure that the organisation (government) can
preserve positive relations in important areas (Coombs, 2007: 124).
Theoretical approaches toward crisis communications are analysed so as to explain what happens during
crises, what decisions should be taken in response, what should be done in response, and how various
aspects of a crisis are interrelated. Marra (1992), for instance, proposes that organisations (governments)
use relevant theories to draft a public relations model for crisis events that would allow crisis managers to
identify the changing variables which are appropriate for a crisis communications plan, as well as those
which would cause failures if they are not included in such a plan. The scholar argues that such
knowledge would allow public relations people to know in advance of a crisis what would be effective and
what would not be effective.
Crises are also a very decisive test for the sustainability of political governments in countries. They
challenge the governing elite or the upper reaches of the relevant country’s Civil Service in terms of
overcoming acute threats against the legitimacy of the political system. Accordingly, crises are often of
critical importance in terms of the reputation of the relevant decision makers (heads of government,
government ministers) in terms of their future career or, even, their political interests. Decision makers
are concerned about the government’s reputation and existence, and so the things that they do are often
dependent on their ability to overcome the crisis. In the government sector, a failure to deal with a crisis
typically leads to a reassessment of power relations, and that endangers the future of the power elite.
Furthermore, the emergence of a crisis can cause doubts about the quality of governance, because
crises raise questions about the effectiveness or lack thereof in terms of how government institutions and
bureaucrats have tried to prevent the things that are happening (Horsley and Baker, 2002: 413-415).
For these reasons, political considerations vis-a-vis the management of a crisis and the relevant
communications can take priority over technical considerations or the advice of professionals. Best
practice in the taking of decisions which are linked to objective rationality and which relate to decision
makers who have as much information and time as possible and who are completely convinced that they
are doing the right thing – such best practice is not possible in a crisis situation. Indeed, crises are the
direct opposite of objective rationality, because they typically involve threats, a lack of clarity, hurriedness
and, often enough, surprises.
Horsley and Baker have proposed a synthesis model for crisis communications in the public sector. They
argue that crisis communications relate to the internal and external environment of the relevant
organisation. For that reason, crisis communications plans are based on an analysis of the origins of
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crises. If the identified goals are to be achieved and the activities of the process are to be successful,
there must be a proactive approach to determining the public agenda. When it comes to overcoming a
crisis, the actors which seek to ensure strategic communication of their messages will use the media in
pursuit of their own political goals. In order to achieve those goals and to enhance their popularity,
political actors – governments, political parties, parliamentary factions, interest groups, and social
movements – will fight for favourable attention from the mass media. Governments are privileged in this
regard, because they are the leading decision makers with a role that has been legitimised during the
most recent election. The government’s advantages in public communications are also based on the
human and financial resources that are available to it.
The mass media have a very important role during a crisis, because they provide information to the public
and seek to defend it. Thus the media warn and inform the public about what is happening, focusing
public attention on processes that could endanger individual groups or the public at large. When
informing the public about a crisis and its development, the media also encounter a complete lack of
information and many different questions.
The things which the mass media do in terms of crisis communications processes will have both positive
and negative consequences. The media need to inform the public quickly about that which is happening
in the relevant organisation or country. This allows people to know that an emergency situation has
emerged. If the information, however, is incomplete, the work of the media can have negative effects.
When the media disseminate negative information, people may feel more threatened than the actual
situation would otherwise ensure. This can create public panic and provoke inadequate reactions to what
is happening. In those cases, in turn, where crisis managers avoid the dissemination of more extensive
public information about what’s happening, the effects of media operations are different – the media
focus public attention on that which is happening, also serving as “watchdogs” on behalf of the public
(Horsley and Baker, 2002: 26).
3. The Latvian government’s communications strategies within the public
sector: A case study
An important prerequisite for the development of any system of national governance is the ability of the
government and the governing system to work effectively with society. The planning, co-ordination and
implementation of communications and public participation are inviolable components in policy planning.
It is the duty of governing systems, therefore, to listen to the views of the public and of the nongovernmental
sector, also providing timely public information about policy planning documents, legal acts
and services. Dialogue with the public must be ongoing, open, understandable and trustworthy.
Until April 14, 2010, the Latvian government’s communications processes were defined in a document
that was called “Basic Aspects of the Government’s Communications Policies, 2008-2013.” The
document states that government communications are based on administrative or national governance
communications (CMofLV, 2008: 4). Communications, in turn, are defined as an inviolable component of
government policy planning, dialogue with society, efforts to promote public participation, and
implementation of the culture of client services at all levels of governance.
The aforementioned document on policy positions for 2008-2013 has been repealed. In April 2010, the
Cabinet of Ministers declared that it, along with several other documents, were out of date, instructing
ministries to look at ways of optimising the document and drafting a new one (Latvijas Vēstnesis, 2010:
61).
The government’s strategic policy planning document, moreover, states that the government must ensure
public support and participation in efforts to overcome the crisis. This is to be done by working together
with the government’s social partners and by providing public information about the decisions that are
taken (CMofLV, 2010).
In an effort to prevent the country’s insolvency, the government had to draft and approve decisions
beginning in 2008 which had a very serious effect on the public. Because of a lack of time, there was
insufficient public involvement and information in this regard. Decisions about the availability of health
care, education, social supports and pensions, about changes in taxes and employment opportunities,
etc., affected the everyday lives of all of Latvia’s residents, but the system of public governance proved
unable to offer clear and unequivocal information about the government’s decisions and their effects.
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In order to carry out a more wholesome analysis of public administration (government) communication
management in economic crisis conditions, I propose an analysis of announcements of government
leaders (from late 2008 till late 2010). Rapid changes in the economic and financial situation in the state
forced the government and parliament to change communication messages ensuring overcoming
economic difficulties and their communication.
From a qualitative analysis of government’s official announcements (press releases) during the said
period it can be concluded that in 68% of cases the following frames of basic factors which caused the
economic crisis and changes in the economy have been mentioned: complicated global development,
imbalances on global financial markets, global economic processes, global banking crisis, global financial
crisis, consequences of the global economic crisis.
The above mentioned frames show that responsible officials shift responsibility for the existing situation to
others rather that recognize their own faults thus causing uncertainty. All these interacting and nonlinearly
related factor frames show lack of political responsibility for recognizing unperformed tasks. The
frame of run from political responsibility was given in official announcements which can be explained as a
contextual frame of the economic crisis in the state.
Having analysed communication messages of government leaders, framing economic crisis
management, it can be concluded that they are linked with the decisions made by the government.
Having summarized the frames of adopted decisions, it can be concluded that politicians and Latvian
government did not have a decision-making strategy according to which actions had to be made in order
to avoid changes in the economy in general. Politicians fumbled about and reacted with their decisions to
the consequences of the irritant, rather than tried to avoid escalation of the changes. Thus the
government was forced to react often to the media agenda subordinating its own agenda.
Unfortunately frames of government decisions did not respond to the changes caused by the crisis in the
public administration in order to transfer from an optimal “rest time” model to a deliberative model for the
crisis period. Actions or even inactivity of the government were oriented only towards minimal or
secondary changes which in order to maintain normal administration had to be done irrespective of how
“rich time” came.
Frames of government decisions were very general which cause mistrust in the society which was also
greatly intensified by the media by framing government’s decisions. Media frames were oriented towards
sensations thus maintaining tension in the society. The media tried to avoid evaluation of the wording,
however it was indirectly achieved by the frames imposed by experts focusing on more detailed outline.
The main shortcoming of government leaders in framing their decisions was the lack of explanations of
actual facts. Frames of government changes were targeted towards a very narrow audience – often it
was the public administration itself and the media. The public administration paid its attention to the facts
that influenced most directly changes in the public administration and its existence, however they lacked
orientation towards all taxpayers which were affected most directly by the economic crisis and changes.
Frames focused on increasing self-sufficiency syndrome, because mainly taxpayers were not to be
blamed for ineffectiveness of the bureaucratic public administration and it had to be reduced.
Absence of detailed change frames or their lack does not provide the society with a wholesome view on
the economic crisis, because the public communication lacks an important element to explain changes
objectively or in an understandable way. Without such framing the view on interconnections in the
economy is completely destroyed in the public space.
Active and regular discussions on the crisis-related topics in the public space started in the second half of
June 2008 and were actively maintained till the end of 2010. The crisis topics were also included in the
media agenda. Economic crisis frames of the government have been hypertrophied which causes worries
and feeling of danger in the society thus opening a new discourse of situation evaluation which
dramatically overwhelms the rational discourse.
It is also important in this regard that in his annual report to the Saeima about the achievements and
plans of the Cabinet of Ministers, Prime Minister stated that “dialogue with the public and social partners,
information about the country’s economic situation and relevant government decisions, as well as
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explanations about planned and approved decisions are one of the most important prerequisites for
overcoming the crisis.” (CMofLV, 2010).
Data about the way in which public government communications policies were co-ordinated in 2009 show
that only five of the country’s government ministries (five of them) had sectoral communications
strategies, while 72% (12) did not. At the same time, however, ten of the ministries had plans to draft and
confirm communications strategies in accordance with the aforementioned policy document for 2008-
2013.
The most dramatic situation existed in other institutions of public governance, not ministries. Only 33% of
them had communications strategies, while 67% did not. Most of the public governance institutions (34)
had planned to prepare a communications strategy in 2010. Another 14 had no plans in this regard at all,
while a few others planned to prepare their strategies only after the relevant government ministry had
drafted and approved a communications strategy. At this writing, more up-to-date information about the
implementation of communications policies in public governance in 2010 is not available.
Because of reforms in the system of national governance and the cutting of costs in this regard, the
resources that are available for the communications processes of institutions of national governance
have shrunk substantially. Several sectors have centralised their communications functions at the
ministerial level, as opposed to individual functions for the various institutions that are subordinated to
them. This means that the communications units of government ministries ensure communications about
entire sectors. Several ministries have communications units which also ensure the functions of the
relevant ministry’s press secretary. A survey conducted by the National Chancery found that the number
of people involved in ministerial communications declined by one-third. As of April 14, 2010, ministries
employed 67 communications specialists, as opposed to 96 specialists who did the work in 2007.
Another key aspect in analysing the importance of communications in the public sector is public trust in
the government and Parliament. Several scholars have looked at the foundations of public trust. The
Swedish researcher Ylva Noren, for instance, has concluded that trust in a government is based on
public satisfaction about the relevant country’s financial situation and legal system, as well as open and
thorough communications between the government (parliament) and the country’s residents (2000: 11).
Communications are of decisive importance in overcoming a crisis and increasing political trust. Trust, in
turn, is closely related to the establishment of different kinds of links among a country’s residents. Trust is
needed if there are to be positive linkages between the needs of residents on the one hand and the
responsiveness of the political elite on the other.
Studies in Latvia show that when it comes to budget cuts during the economic crisis, most people in
Latvia support limited government. This desire is not based on liberal beliefs. Instead, the issue has to do
with universal distrust in government institutions. As soon as the question is about government financing
in specific areas such as the economy, health care, education, etc., approximately the same majority
says that there is a need for even greater spending.
The level of responsibility in national governance (or the lack thereof) can be clearly seen in the area of
public trust in government. Ever since the restoration of independent statehood, it has to be said, trust in
the system of governance in Latvia has been low, and at this writing, it has sunk to a critical level.
Statistics show that people in Latvia distrust the governing system more than people in any other country
of the European Union – 88% distrust the Cabinet of Ministers, 92% distrust the Saeima, and fully 95%
distrust the country’s political parties (EC, Eurobarometer, 2009).
These data confirm public opinion about the work of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Civil Service and the
country’s local government in terms of overcoming the economic crisis, among other issues. As far as
people are concerned, this work is not in line with public expectations or with public understanding about
the responsible handling of the relevant duties. The trust which people have or do not have in the
executive branch of the government also has to do with the attitudes which politicians have demonstrated
vis-a-vis the system of public governance. Politicians blame the system for failures and the inability to
implement specific policies, and this enhances distrust in the system of governance, as well as in
politicians (Rozenvalds and Ijabs, 2009: 81). As is seen in this paper, the government has not even
prepared strategic documents related to communications policies.
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4. Conclusions
Aleksis Jarockis
In summarising the importance of communications for systems of national governance, we can conclude
that communications are among the most important elements of the overall system. A prerequisite for the
successful development of a governance system will always be effective co-operation between the
government and the system of governance with the public at large. The planning, co-ordination and
implementation of communications and public participation are an inviolable component of policy
planning in any country. For that reason, it is the duty of the system of national governance to listen to
what members of the public and the interest groups which represent them have to say. The system must
also ensure timely public information about those issues that are current, thus promoting the
establishment of a constant, open, understandable and trustworthy dialogue.
The data of this survey show that the system of governance in Latvia understands the importance of
communications, but ever since the beginning of the economic crisis, the government has not done
anything to prepare a crisis communications strategy or plan. Even more, the government has no
communications policy documents to regulate this sphere. Certain institutions of public governance, too,
have no crisis communications strategies. During the economic crisis, the communications units of
governance institutions have been shrunk, and the system of national governance has rejected the
principle of long-term strategic planning in favour of a situative, ad hoc approach to communications. In
other words, the economic crisis has laid bare the problems which the public sector has in terms of longterm
policy planning.
Governmental communications and the media have constructed incomplete frames related to the
economic situation. They tend to be contradictory, and this makes public agenda-setting more difficult.
The frames related to government decisions and activities have been unclear and generalised in the
public arena, even though people expect clear (albeit perhaps negative) prognoses and concrete
information about what the government will do if any of the possible crisis scenarios come to pass. This
problem has been criticised harshly in the media, but the communications between the government and
state administration and the people of Latvia have not improved. Besides, the media base their
characterisations and analysis of the situation largely on the governmental resources which they
themselves have criticised, reframing the proposed frames and often hypertrophying them, too. Thus the
people of Latvia increasingly feel concerned and scared about the future.
Analysis of the frames of the government during the 2008 – 2010 financial and economic crisis shows
several risks and problems in terms of setting agendas. The media focus on governmental resources
and sources of information do not make it possible to create an agenda that is in line with the public
agenda, even though the frames do simulate reflection of the public opinion.
The absence of a crisis communications policy and the situative approach which exists in this regard
could, in fact, lead to another crisis in Latvia – even lower trust in the government, Parliament and the
entire system of public governance. This will certainly make it more difficult to overcome the economic
crisis.
Here we are looking at an unusual and very dangerous tendency – enormous distrust in the executive
branch of government and the increasingly common view that the system of public governance is
ineffective and incompetent. This dangerous tendency can seriously endanger the implementation of
policies irrespective of their level of quality and the things which are done in regard to the policies. If
people refuse to accept the policies and the relevant obligations, that will mean the need for greater
controls on the part of the system of public governance. This creates greater distrust and an out-ofcontrol
spiral of greater and ever greater controls in the system, and the system of public governance and
the politicians who are a part of it must take the first step in breaking this system down.
The low level of trust indirectly points to the belief among residents that they cannot trust politicians. The
things which have happened in Latvia’s political system, true, have done very little to encourage
government officials and bureaucrats to act in a responsible way.
Because trust in government institutions in Latvia is at a very low level at this time, more open debates
about the country’s further developmental goals might help in enhancing public understanding and
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support in this process. The most important first step in this regard is to set priorities and to link them to
documents of a strategic nature.
References
‘9 th Saeima Has Lowest Public Trust’, Diena.lv (26 Sept 2009), [Online], Available: http://diena.lv/lat/politics/hot/defacto-9-saeimai-vismazaka-sabiedribas-uzticiba
[24 Nov 2010].
Boin, A. and Overdijk, W. (2004) Crisis simulations: exploring tomorrow’s vulnerabilities and threats, [Online],
Available: http://sag.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/35/3/378 [20 Dec 2010].
Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia, (2010) Instruction No. 209, ‘On policy planning documents and Cabinet
of Ministers instructions that are out-of-date’, Latvijas Vēstnesis, 16 April, p. 61.
Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia (CMofLV), (2010) Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis’ annual report to
the Saeima on the achievements and plans of the Cabinet of Ministers, [Online], Available:
http://titania.saeima.lv/LIVS/SaeimaLIVS_LmP.nsf/0/959e61e9f7420735c22576d900482c8a/$FILE/MP%20atsk
aite%20Saeimai%202009-2010.doc, 1 March, [27 Dec 2010].
Coombs, W. (2007) Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding, London: Sage
Publications.
Coombs, W. (2009) Impact of past crises on current crises: Communication insights from situational crisis
communications theory, [Online], Available: http://job.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/41/3/265 [24 Nov 2010].
Eichengreen, B. and Portes, R. (1995) Crisis? What crisis? Orderly workouts for sovereign debtors, London: Centre
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Business and Technical Communication, vol. 16, no. 4, August, pp. 413-415.
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Ulmer, R. (2007) Effective communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity, London: Sage Publications.
327

Business/IT Alignment as Enabler for eGovernment in Syria
Raed Kanaan and Kamal Atieh
Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Jordan
raedkk@yahoo.com
K-atieh@scs-net.org
Abstract: Critical success/failure factors (CSFs) to eGovernment implementation and the reasons behind such
failure or success, have been the focus of research in many developed countries and some developing countries.
The Syrian Arab Republic has not, until now, been the context for such studies. The purpose of this paper is to
investigate the effect of Business/IT (BIT) alignment on the success of eGovernment implementation in developing
countries and the pertinent factors that affecting this alignment. This paper, therefore, studies the multiple factors on
BIT alignment such as people process and organizational factors. The authors will discuss all possible factors that
affect the BIT alignment in developing countries in general and in Syria in particular. Knowing that eGovernment
project needs all government existed resources (IT, financial and human) in order to be able to take benefits from all
resources to improve an organization work, this infer the existence of BIT alignment. However, in order to build and
implement the best eGovernment strategy the gap between business and IT teams seems to be one of the most
important factors in the eGovernment implementation. Therefore, bridging this gap may help in avoiding the failure of
eGovernment project in developing countries in general and in Syria in particular. This paper draws upon qualitative
research that was undertaken by the authors to investigate the effect of technical and non-technical alignment on
eGovernment success in Syria and all factors affecting this alignment. The data, primarily collected via 20 semistructured
interviews with representatives of major Syrian eGovernment implementation stakeholder groups, was
analyzed. This paper enunciates the significance and the need of BIT alignment as the most important factor to
eGovernment success, especially in the first phase in eGovernment project.
Keywords: information technology, eGovernment, critical success/failure factors, business and IT alignment
1. Research motivation and objectives
Information and communication technology (ICT) revolution increases day by day. This revolution offers
new opportunities for organizations’ decision makers to take benefits from new forms of their resources.
And their success or failure depends not only on one factor but also on reaching objectives within the
planned time and cost.
Ndou (2004) confirms that ”recognizing the power of ICTs, many developing countries, assisted by
international organizations for development, have started building and encouraging e-strategies and
initiatives to address a wide range of economic, social, technological, infrastructural, legal and
educational issues”. It is true that the use of ICTs in the developing countries is at its infant stage. UN
(2008) confirms that all countries try to build their strategy toward EGovernment by increasing their
readiness in different domains in order to provide better public services knowing that the majority of
eGovernment projects failed (Kumar, 2007).
The eGovernment system needs all types of resources such as financial, human, and technical resources
from different departments and different organizations in different forms regardless the computerization
process in each department.
Eid (2009) states that, any eGovernment project depends on ICT in general. The relation with ICT was
understood in most developing countries as spreading more computers in their organizations (Ndou,
2004). If the organizations departments understood the relationship with ICT well, they can provide the
right information to the right people at the right time to both government organizations and citizens.
Many governments try to offer services to their citizens by developing eGovernment projects, but they fail
in their objectives especially in developing countries regardless high spending on eGovernment projects
(Kumar, 2003). The problem is the lack of accepted and satisfactory services to citizens because of
several factors.
The gap between business and IT strategies/people appears as one of the eGovernment challenges in
order to get success. Therefore, BIT alignment assessment is one of the most interesting topics in the IS
research fields, many unlimited efforts in both practical and academic domains. Practical people in
EGovernment project try to do the alignment to improve their success with help from researchers to
introduce new models and frameworks to achieve alignment in general and some specific domains
(Chan, 2007).
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Raed Kanaan and Kamal Atieh
In spite of the existence of many IS literatures discussing the eGovernment critical success factors
(CSFs) (Prananto, 2007), there are a few empirical researches discussing the CSF/CFF of eGovernment
projects implementation in developing countries. This was reflected in low contributions to international
conferences and journals. Therefore, academic and practical researches are very important in
eGovernment field, noting that the research in eGovernment systems is a relatively new area driven by
the IT and business industries and affected by the BIT alignment.
While carrying out the research, we discussed the following points:
eGovernment projects and their success and failure factors,
The role of BIT alignment in eGovernment project success,
And, the factors affecting this alignment and their effect on eGovernment project.
This research is based on qualitative research taking the eGovernment project in Syria as a case study.
The researchers know from their experience the important role of BIT alignment on the success of
eGovernment.
In this research, the next section presents a background about the research then discusses the research
methodology which was used to have a comprehensive framework and details all the framework parts. In
the last section, the researchers state the conclusion, research contribution and future study.
2. Background
The letter “E” is very common these days; the researcher deals with e-commerce, e-business,
eGovernment, eGovernance…etc. it was known because of the important use of information technology
and especially the widespread use of internet (Eid, 2009).
In studying the relationship between the eGovernment and information technology, the researcher finds
two points of view. The first shows the importance of information technology in order to implement
eGovernment project, while the second considers that eGovernment as new wave of information age
(West, 2004). Regardless the two points of view, the eGovernment is the second form of the government
in any country, which tends to offer qualified secure services to its all citizens trying to build the trust in
these services. Therefore, the “E” form of government must respect this rule in the same time with cost
and effort reduction, efficiency, transparency and simplicity increasing via electronic channels in any time
and place (Reffat, 2006).
Therefore, any country in the world needs the new form of government because of its benefits, in both
developed and developing countries, at least because it tends to have cost reduction (Abuali, 2010).
Regardless eGovernment definition, strategy and its relationship with information system from both
technological and management sides is not the same in all countries but, on the contrary, the researcher
cannot find it the same in any two countries since it has cultural aspects.
Regardless the objectives of any eGovernment project, it has a percentage of success and failure
depending on its objective and the measuring method. There are several studies for measuring the
eGovernment in-group of countries or discussing the eGovernment project in a specific country.
Some eGovernment teams concentrate on a part of eGovernment project, such as the relationship with
citizens, other government organizations, business enterprise and government employees which form the
four categories of eGovernment in general; and in some projects they mix between eGovernment and ecommerce.
Noting that the general mission of eGovernment is to facilitate the complementary use of information
systems in government, it comprises both operational and strategic use (Kim, 2006). The researcher
finds four categories of eGovernment stated in majority of literatures, such as G2E, G2B, G2C and G2G.
This research focuses on G2G directly as it could be considered as the backbone of any eGovernment
project. G2G concerns the interactions between government agencies at different levels in different
locations as well as governments of other countries (Ndou, 2004). G2G task is to do the communication
and cooperation among the government agencies to share resources, skills and capabilities in order to
enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes in the government (Valentina, 2004). The G2G
relationship includes the government internal systems and functions. This relationship is most complex
between the eGovernment categories relationship because it depends on data sharing and interaction
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between government organizations, employees, departments, agencies, ministries, and even other
governments.
Realini (2004) sees that G2G is an emerging area of research. This might be responsible for the lack of
models concerning the adoption of eGovernment G2G in general and those convenient to developing
countries in specific, knowing that existing models are designed without consideration for the peculiar
nature of the public sector (Ezz, 2005). In addition, none of the existing models is designed to suit the
Middle East countries such as Syria, which raise the importance of having a model or framework for Syria
or for Middle East countries.
Eid (2009) focuses on the role of information technologies as enablers of eGovernment project which any
government creates to take more benefits in multiple areas, and that the government must study all
success and failure factors affecting the eGovernment project from different sides: social, organizational
and political.
The success of eGovernment could be seen from three perspectives: citizens, business and government
(Wang, 2010); and every eGovernment project requires five kinds of skills to success: analytical skills,
information management skills, technical skills, communication and presentation skills and project
management skills (Kumar , 2003). Knowing that there are no fix lists of critical success factors for all
eGovernment projects in all countries; especially from social and political point of view.
eGovernment leaders must play dual roles, technical and process engineering, since the government
consists of political, legal, public policy, organizational, technological, and human capital factors, and
knowing that citizens, the end users, are very diverse in their ability to understand government services
and their desire and ability to use self-service computer systems. Therefore, the eGovernment team must
be ready to deal with apparent challenges from previous factors as with other factors from the political,
economical and social environment (ITU, 2008).
OECD (2004), WEST (2004), Ndou (2004), UN (2008), Abuali (2010) and ITU (2008) developed many
challenges and sources of failures facing eGovernment projects in developing countries, like technical,
Social, national and organizational. The direct dependence on ICT makes it play the main role of
eGovernment success or failure; the success or failure not only on the technical side but also on all other
sides.
The existed gap between IT and business teams will prevent the planners and decision makers from
building a comprehensive strategy of eGovernment project. The eGovernment team needs the
information at the right time in order to be useful in their plan and operation, which means the need to the
right access to multiple forms of data, information and knowledge in convenient forms. This is not the
case of many developing countries where the IT is needed but seems as a barrier for business people.
Therefore, bridging the gap between business and IT people is more than a need, which will lead to
organizations outcomes and performance improvement (Tallon, 1999).
According to Pollalis (2003), the integration between organization business and IT strategies is very
important which imply bridging the gap between business and IT people. The alignment is not a simple
procedure, but it needs to define alignment mechanisms, which will help in facing the alignment
challenges (Venkatraman et al., 1993).
Thus, the BIT alignment is fundamental to eGovernment teams. Bridging the gap between business and
IT teams seems to be the main task of the eGovernment project leader, and in order to achieve that, it is
very important to have a framework, which help in BIT alignment in all phases of eGovernment project.
However, in this research we propose the BIT alignment which helps in analyzing and selecting the right
answer (means in the right form and in the right time for the right people), for eGovernment applications
in Government-to-Government (G2G) category of eGovernment environment.
3. Research methodology
Taking in consideration the research objectives, we followed a qualitative research methodology.
Qualitative research is used to answer questions with a “how” or a “what” (Yin, 2003). Our research role
tries to answer questions about the eGovernment success/failure factors especially the role of BIT
alignment on multiple factors affecting this alignment. Taking the case study of Syria, we studied many
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related documents and did double round interviews with many participants from different sectors like
public sector organizations, eGovernment developers, employees, citizens, etc.
Table (1) lists information about the participants of this research. The participants have enough
experience, C-level with experience of ten years at least, and the age average is 39 year.
Table 1: Participant’s information
No Organization Name Classification No of participants
A EGovernment Team Public sector 5
B Ministry of Communication Public sector 2
C Ministry of Interior Public sector 3
D Banking sector Public sector 2
E GSM provider Private sector 2
F Universities Academic field 3
G Focus Group Multi field 3
Total 20
We adopted a methodology with the following steps:
Defining the purpose and objectives of the research and discovering the obstacles, benefits,
suggestions and recommendations.
Doing a literature review.
Adopting the case study of Syria.
Studying many documents about Syrian eGovernment strategy and related documents (14
documents such as strategies, plans, newspaper clippings, schedules, presentations and reports)
besides browsing articles and websites, and visited so many organizations that have good
experience in information system and have successful projects on the organizational level.
Doing semi structured interviews with different participants. Two rounds of interview sessions in order
to gather data and information, asked a set of interview questions resulting in more flexibility and
ability to extract detailed information from the participants
Analyzing data such as data examination, categorization and tabulation.
The focus of the questions and analysis was the role of BIT alignment and its effects on EGovernment
success and the factors affecting this alignment.
4. eGovernment success/failure factors
The building of eGovernment depends on the ICT as main enabler of eGovernment, which needs an
important improvement regarding all related requirements with good relationship with private sector in
both strategically and operational sides. One of the IT managers in a ministry commented on these
issues: "With some experiences in public sector to move in working from traditional ways to automated
ways, taking benefits from ICT as enabler of those projects as steps towards eGovernment.”.
Accordingly to a respondent: "eGovernment will enhance the use of ICT within organizations; employees
will learn new skills to deal with this technology. In addition, the citizens by that time will be familiar
enough to use this technology”, of course, this will need a strong support from the government from
financial point of view.
In Syria, there is a big interest from political leaders in the development of an eGovernment system for
multiple reasons like to reform the public sector, to reduce costs, and to provide high quality services to
citizens making the resistance for change more negligible. Moreover, the success in the eGovernment
project needs a study of all eGovernment barriers which are not the same in all countries. One of the
independent experts commented: “In spite of the existence of political support, so many projects start but
without being finished since there is no projects management or follow up, and this is the case of
eGovernment project."
The main problem in the strategy is the focus on the technological side more than others, which is clear
in the related documents since the eGovernment team write the strategy from technical background.
Many interviewees mentioned this problem, one expert said, “The main problem in Syrian government
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organizations is that they see their projects as technical projects, without any mention to other sides
which lead to failure, but with eGovernment project the alignment between technical and other sides is
very important to success”. However, it differs from one to another, especially for eGovernment team
members, one of them said: “In Syrian environment, the IT sector is more advanced than other sectors,
like this, the IT sector must go ahead without waiting the others and must lead them”.
The action plan will include many projects that help to prove the eGovernment plan success in providing
some urgent services with all services requirement, which must planned from technical and non-technical
points of view, confirming that the eGovernment project is based on ICT. One IT manager stated, “You
can’t offer any service without ICT, and to proof the new services the eGovernment team must select the
most appropriate services to offer.”
The participants agree on the positive role of BIT alignment on the eGovernment project success in Syria,
one senior manager said, “Since the eGovernment project is based on ICT, we must group the business
and IT people in work groups to success”.
5. Business/IT alignment
All participants agree on the main role of IT in eGovernment success with mentioning the need to BIT
alignment, but some of them focus on the need to way that measure the alignment level and its benefits.
One senior manager states, “We know the need to IT strategy in our organization, but we don’t know how
we can control it, since we aren’t IT”, like that the CEOs will not know the benefits of IT directly as
tangible benefits. This narrow point of view was clearer by an independent expert, who considers the BIT
alignment as more than necessary to solve this problem and will help all people to know the benefits of
the others and the IT department will be seen as profit center. One senior manager explained the benefits
from the BIT alignment process saying: “the B IT strategy alignment benefits are the differentiation, cost,
innovation, growth and alliance advantage”.
In spite of that, all people agree with the alignment, but in practice they work to, so, it is very important to
know multiple behaviors related to the alignment process. There are many behaviors forms of alignment
process. One expert justifies: “People declaration about alignment is not enough, we need to have it to
appear in their behavior in practice”. The alignment process starts from the beginning of the project when
the eGovernment team defines the strategy and put the plan, so BIT integrated planning is important
which must be as result of the alignment. One eGovernment team said, “In order to get the BIT
alignment, we must plan to have high BIT collaboration as factor of success”, which must be planned
before the beginning of the project to have the desired results.
The BIT alignment is important to eGovernment project success, but it is not an entertainment. One
expert focuses on BIT alignment challenges by saying:”we must be on the right way, our objective is the
eGovernment success and not the alignments itself, there are many challenges facing the alignment such
as the IT enablement of business through collaboration, communication and involvement in strategy
development”.
6. Business/IT alignment factors
Almost, all participants agree on people, process and organization role in building successful BIT strategy
in non-ended eGovernment project. The integration of BIT strategies requires effective BIT teams’
communication. One eGovernment team members focused on this point “the key factor of the BIT
alignment is the effective communication”, the effective communication will result in continuous
improvement of active relationship management from BIT teams appearing as a culture in the
organizations.
Many participants discuss the BIT alignment enablers. One of them said, “The alignment is between BIT
teams, therefore the main element of its success is the business and IT teams “. The BIT teams will
understand the alignment between them as way to cooperate in order to have on objective, it is the
project success. The success or the failure is related to all teams and not to IT or business team. The BIT
alignment requires the full understanding of other teams by any team and considers the project as a
shared project between all. One participant said, “The alignment could be happened without the support
of top management to BIT teams”. The alignment will lead IT involvement in eGovernment strategy
development since the ICT is the backbone of the eGovernment project and in the same time, its success
depends on IT understanding of business requirements. According to one participant, “the problem of
eGovernment project in developing countries like Syria is that we need everything to be done in one
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project and to plan everything from the beginning, therefore we do not start, never”. The nature of
eGovernment project differs from other projects, the strategy must adopt a plan based on dividing the
project to sub projects and prioritize them in way that ensures their success.
Process, people and organizational factors were seen from many experts as enablers and barriers
depending on their role played by the BIT teams.
The role of people is more than clear since they are the main elements of such alignment. One expert
focuses on the decision makers’ capabilities and behaviors, he said “the alignment procedures start by
decisions makers, we could consider that, BIT decisions makers’ capabilities and management skills as
our first interest, besides meeting of the minds between them and continuous communication”. So many
participants see the role of people in the strategy building, one of them said, “The alignment is very
important in eGovernment strategy building, which need the involvement of BIT decision makers in the
strategy formulation”. The people tasks differ in eGovernment project from different project, since this
project is agile and need continuous follow up and evaluation, similarly, it depends on the cooperation
between all government organizations. The communication skills of people who are in the EGovernment
differ from other projects like those that they must communicate with people from outside the
organization.
The role of organizational factors was seen as they help in facilitating the BIT alignment. Before starting
the eGovernment project, the government must do some preparations, such as changing the
organizational structure of government organization and build a new culture of cooperation between all
organization department and inter-organizations. One participant mentioned, “The cooperation between
organizations is not a decision to be taken only, we must work for it”. Restricting the organizations include
many steps such as having the CIOs in all organizations, move the technology departments in the
organizations in order to have information system departments which have development and
management sections and not only computerization and networking. The new form of IT department will
change it to be as profit center and not cost center in the organization. One senior manager said, “The
good structuring of IT department internally and in the organization will lead to good understanding from
the business people, especially from top management who will support the IT department “, some
organizations found new ways to increase profits by the use of IT.
The process role was ignored in Syrian organizations, in spite of the confirmation from all participants on
its importance. The process consistency and clarity is very important and they must ensure the
integration to achieve the BIT strategies, consequently the eGovernment strategy. One senior manager
clarified the specifications of the process, he said, “Since the project is continuous, the process design
must agile and long term focusing and help the BIT alignment“. The process must relate to eGovernment
strategy and ensure the BIT alignment in the simplest way.
The BIT alignment in eGovernment project differs from other projects. It takes many aspects from the
project itself. It is a long time operation on all levels (strategically, tactical and operational). One
participant said, “The BIT alignment level reflects the success of eGovernment project and measure the
value added by the cooperation between BIT teams”.
7. Conclusion
This research focuses on G2G category of eGovernment, and the factors affect eGovernment adoption in
this area. This research presents the BIT alignment role in eGovernment project and the multiple factors
affecting this alignment, based on qualitative research methodology.
The research results showed that eGovernment is based on ICT but not only an IT project. In general, in
countries like Syria, there is a gap between IT and business strategies/people which could be considered
one of the challenges facing the eGovernment project. Therefore, studying the BIT alignment and its
dependent factors is very important in order to bridge the gap between them. Many factors affect the
alignment such as people, process and organizational groups of factors including so many sub-factors,
which differ from country to others. The eGovernment adoption is long and hard project which needs all
government resources. BIT alignment between IT and business strategies/teams must be considered and
planned from the beginning.
Future researches are very important to find multiple other factors in order to bridge the gap between
business and IT strategies and teams of eGovernment project. Validating the effect of those factors in
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many countries is very important to enhance the research results and suit them in all levels of
eGovernment project.
References
Abuali A. (2010). Factors and Rules Effecting in eGovernment, © EuroJournals Publishing,
http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.htm.
Chan, E. and Reich, Y. (2007). IT alignment: what have we learned? Journal of Information Technology. 22, 297—
315.
Eid, E and Abd El-Razek , M (2009). eGovernment Theory & Implementation Case Study Egyptian EGovernment
Model. The International Conference on Administration and Business. ICEA - FAA 2009, University of
Bucharest.
Ezz, I. and Themistocleous, M.(2005). Investigating the Barriers to G2G Adoption. eGovernment Workshop ’05
(eGOV05), September 13 2005, Brunel University, West London UB8 3PH, UK.
ITU (2008). Electronic Government for Developing Countries.
Kim, V.A. (2006). eGovernment: Five Key Challenges for Management, Electronic Journal of EGovernment, Volume
4 Issue 1.
Kumar , R (2007). Making eGovernment Projects in Developing Countries More Successful and Sustainable: Some
Case Studies from India. CPRsouth 2007: Research for Improving ICT governance in the Asia-Pacific.
Philippines.
Ndou, V. (2004). eGovernment for Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges, The Electronic Journal on
Information Systems in Developing Countries.
OECD (2004). The eGovernment Imperative, France.
Pollalis, Y. A., (2003). Patterns of co-alignment in information-intensive organizations: business
performance through integration strategies, International Journal of Information Management, pp. 469-492.
Prananto, A. and McKemmish, S. (2007). Critical Success Factors for the Establishment of eGovernment: A Critical
Analysis of the Indonesian Cabinet Secretariat’s Legal Document Retrieval System (LDRS) Project. Swinburne
University of Technology, Australia.
Realini, A. F. (2004). G2G EGovernment: The Big Challenge for Europe, Master Thesis, Department of Informatics,
University of Zurich, 15 September 2004.
Reffat, R. (2006). Developing a Successful eGovernment, NSW 2006 University of Sydney, Australia.
Tallon, P. and Kraemer, K. L., (1999). A Process-oriented Assessment of the Alignment of Information Systems and
Business Strategy: Implications for IT Business Value, University of California, Irvine, Center for Research on
Information Technology and Organizations.
UN (2008). eGovernment Survey. New York , USA.
Valentina, N. (2004). E – Government for Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges, The Electrical
Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries, EJISDC.
Venkatraman, N, Henderson, J. C., and Oldach, S. (1993). Continuous Strategic Alignment: Exploiting Information
Technology Capabilities for Competitive Success, European Management Journal, 1993, pp. 139-149.
Wagner, C., Cheung, K., Fion, L., and Rachael, P. (2003). Enhancing eGovernment in Developing Countries:
Managing Knowledge through Virtual Communities.
Wang, H. (2010). Perspectives, skills and challenges for developing a successful eGovernment . IEEE, ISBN 978-1-
4244-6931-4.
West, D.M. (2004). eGovernment and the transformation of service delivery and citizen attitudes, public
administration review.
Yin, R.K., (2003). A Case study research: design and methods. 3rd edition, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage
Publications.
334

Does eTaxation Reduce Taxation Compliance Costs
Maja Klun
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
maja.klun@fu.uni-lj.si
Abstract: Improving government performance is one of the key elements of public sector reform. Introducing
eGovernment is one element in improving performance. There are several discussions about the issue of cost
effectiveness of eGovernment. The paper discusses whether eTaxation decreases taxation compliance costs. It was
found that different research comes to different conclusions and therefore one could not conclude that that eTaxation
reduces compliance costs. Nevertheless some other non-financial positive effects have been observed by different
researchers, such as accuracy, logic controls, and better compliance.
Keywords: compliance costs of taxation, eTaxation, Slovenia
1. Definition of compliance costs
According to Sandford et al. (1989), tax compliance costs are generally defined as costs incurred by
taxpayers in meeting the tax requirements imposed on them by the law and revenue authorities, over and
above the actual payment of taxes, and over and above any distortion costs inherent in the nature of the
taxes. The measurement of tax compliance costs became an important research subject in the most
developed countries more than twenty years ago (e.g. Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, United
Kingdom, United States), in countries in transition at the beginning of 2000 (Slovenia, Croatia, Czech
Republic), and also in other countries in Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India), Africa (Tanzania,
Ethiopia) and South America (Brazil)(see Evans, 2003). The research results on tax compliance costs
(i.e. Sandford et al., 1989; Allers, 1994; Evans et al., 1998; Tran-Nam et al., 2000; Ariff, 2001; Chittenden
et al., 2003, Vitek et al., 2003; Klun and Blažić, 2005, Das-Gupta, 2003; OECD, 2001; and others)
indicate that tax compliance costs are regressive (the larger burden is on smaller taxpayers) and
substantial (up to 2.5% of GDP) (see Evans, 2003) and therefore a significant part of tax-related costs.
The simplification of legislation and tax procedures has become an important element in policies to
reduce administrative burdens and costs. One common tool is offering electronic services and one-stop
shop services. According to OECD (2007) a tool should decrease compliance and administrative costs.
According to the European Commission’s eGovernment portal, new technology can radically improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of public services. Initiatives in the i2010 eGovernment action plan are
intended to expand e-services, cut back on red tape and increase the satisfaction of all users. Increased
ICT investment is also used as a tool to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness. It is interesting that
empirical studies have not persuasively established a correlation between ICT investments and
corresponding improvements in organizational performance and productivity in general. Some studies
report no relationship, some provide evidence that a correlation does exist, and in a few studies a
negative relationship between enterprise performance and ICT investment was observed. ICT makes
compliance costs ‘lower’ in regard to time consumption and monetary expenses, but ICT itself is not
cheap. The use of ICT for some services and compliance procedures needs a high level of resources and
not only initially, since support costs are also high. Moreover, ICT investment cannot be treated as a
long-term once-only investment since constant changes in the information technology world demand
constant upgrading, adaptation and development.
Throughout eGovernment development, taxation services have been one of the most popular areas for
change, since they are an important financial source for the government, are often already computerized
in the back-office and therefore easier to implement online on the front-office side. With the current
widespread availability of IT they were also instantly available to the users. At the same time online
personal income tax services gained much of the publicity. It is also one of the more frequently used
government services by citizens (most of the services are used only a few times in a lifetime, such as a
building permit, change of address, a marriage certificate, etc.). Even the eEurope measurement reports
indicate that year-by-year the services included in the income generating cluster (income and corporate
tax, social contributions for employees, VAT, customs declaration) were and remained the most
developed. Coverage on the supply side in the area of online personal income tax is therefore now quite
good.
The personal income tax online service was one of the first online services fully available online to
Slovenian citizens. It was the result of developments that began in 2003 with the implementation of the
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Maja Klun
eTaxation portal, soon after the main eGovernment portal. The tax administration estimated that 10% of
taxpayers would file personal income tax returns online. The estimates have not been realized, since only
2.8% of personal income taxpayers filed their tax returns electronically in 2006, while in 2008 a pre-filled
tax return was introduced with the online service only used for special cases. The proportion of
businesses and self-employed taxpayers was higher and become the only way of tax filling from 2009
according to law change in 2007, when it become obligatory.
The use of electronic filling or use of different software increased in several countries (i.e. in U.S. the
proportion of self-prepared tax returns without software is dropped between 1993 and 2003 from about
41% to 13% (Guyton et al., 2005); in Germany the number of electronic declarations increased to 8.2
million, which is over 300 times more than ten years ago (Bavarian State Office for Taxation 2009)). The
research question is whether the use of IT really decreases costs of compliance. According to Schaupp
and Carter (2009), effort expectancy, performance expectancy, social influence, perceived risk, and
optimism bias all have a significant impact on the intention to e-file.
2. Overview of the research about compliance costs and eTaxation
2.1 Slovenia
The research into compliance costs for personal income taxpayers was carried out during 2007. The
sample of 600 potential personal taxpayers was selected at random from the telephone directory. The
letter enclosed with the questionnaires sent by mail includes information that the questionnaire could be
completed online, since they are prepared electronically. A total of 481 taxpayers completed the
questionnaire. We compared estimated compliance costs for personal income taxpayers that use online
filling-in with those who use the traditional method. The share of taxpayers that returned the
questionnaire and used e-filing of tax return was 26.9%. Using the chi-square test one can assume that
there are statistically significant differences in the decision to use e-filing, depending on age, income
level, education level and sex. The answers indicated that taxpayers aged 25 to 45 (30.7%) were the
most common users of e-filing. If one compares the use of e-filing among taxpayers with different
incomes, results showed that the higher proportion was for those with the highest income (34.1%). Men
(35.6%) used online filing more often than woman. Online filing was more frequent among taxpayers with
higher education qualifications (33.2%). It was found that average compliance costs per taxpayer did not
differ significantly. Taxpayers that did not use online service had compliance costs that were on average
€ 0.087 higher than for others. The Pearson correlation coefficient was also low (0.002) with high risk (2tailed
significance=0.975). When all compliance costs parameters were compared (time spent by
taxpayers, their family and their friends, consultancy costs and other expenditures) there were differences
between both groups. It is interesting that the two groups of taxpayers on average needed practically the
same time to file their tax returns (the difference could be measured only in seconds). The time spent by
family and friends was higher for taxpayers who used e-filing, on average by 10 minutes. Correlation
tests also showed that e-filing influenced the time spent by family members. In both groups only a very
small portion of taxpayers used help from tax advisers and the costs spent on advisers are equal. The
main difference appeared when other cash expenditure was compared. All taxpayers using e-filing stated
that they did not have any monetary expenses. On the other hand 74.2% of taxpayers that used
traditional methods had additional expenses. On average they spent € 7.00, mostly for copying and
sending tax returns. The correlation between the decision to use online filing of tax return and cash
expenditure was relatively high (Pearson’s correlation=0.620, p

2.2 Other countries
Maja Klun
In U.S.A. the IRS budget was nearly $10 billion (€ 7.3 billion) in the 2002 fiscal year, but the compliance
costs of citizens far exceed the budget of the IRS. In 1993, 41 percent of taxpayers prepared their own
tax returns without software and only 8 percent prepared their own returns on a computer. The tax
software share tripled in a decade to 25 percent in 2003, while paid preparer use – the most common
preparation method – rose to 62 percent. Paid preparers in most cases used computers (97%), while the
percentage was lower for taxpayers (66%). Returns filed electronically quadrupled over ten years from
12% to 48% in 2003. The proportion of individual tax returns filed electronically for the 2004 tax year was
about 54% (Toder, 2005). In the research by Guyton et al. (2003) the average time burden is higher
among taxpayers who use software (40.1 hours) or a paid professional (26.1 hours) than it is among
taxpayers who prepare their return independently (18.2 hours). These results are likely due to differences
in the average complexity of tax returns. Compliance costs of personal income taxpayers are the highest
for taxpayers who use a paid professional ($244 or €178) than software users or self-preparers ($47 and
$20 (€34 and €15), respectively). The research also stresses that average return complexity prepared by
a paid professional or with tax software tended to be greater. A further explanation provided is that
software users spend more time because of other benefits from software (i.e. better ability to do tax
planning). Further research by Guyton et al. (2005) found out that “each group of taxpayers on average
selects the preparation method that costs the least for them. For example, software costs more than selfpreparation
for current self preparers, but costs less than self-preparation for current software users”.
Taxpayers want to minimize their costs taking into account the value of their time.
Research into compliance costs of taxation in Canada (Vaillancourt & Clemens, 2008) in 2005 estimated
the costs between $16.2 billion and $25.0 billion (€12 billion and €18 billion) for personal income taxes,
business taxes, and property taxes. Estimates for personal income tax were divided into the time
required ($2.4 billion, which is app. €1.7 billion), the costs associated with tax preparers ($400.2 million to
$1.3 billion - €293.2 million to €0.95 billion), and the costs of tax preparation software ($68.2 million to
$163.6 million - €50 million to €119.9 million). Using IT in tax preparation therefore increased compliance
costs for taxpayers. At the same time it was stressed that some advantages of software use were not
included (i.e. increased accuracy of tax returns). The relationship between compliance costs and
software usage has already been analyzed in previous research by Vaillancourt (1989), who found no
significant evidence for a cost reduction resulting from the use of electronic tools. No significant
relationship between the business compliance burden and an electronic data interchange with the tax or
social insurance authorities was confirmed in Germany (Eichfelder & Schorn, 2011). In the research by
Hansford et al. (2003) in the UK, estimates showed that businesses using a computer system for tax
administration bore higher compliance costs.
Some other research indicated positive effects of IT use on compliance costs. In 2004-05, Australians
spent over 1.2 million Australian dollars (€0.9 million) managing their tax affairs, mainly because 74% of
taxpayers need professional help. Estimates indicated that pre-filled electronic individual tax returns
would reduce these costs for the 9 million Australians using e-tax or filing electronically via a tax agent
(Sampson, 2007). According to Verwaal and Donkers (2001) international firms in the EU use IT for
customs procedures. They stressed that the “integration of the information system can reduce the labour
time needed to produce the required information. Furthermore, external integration by electronic data
interchange between buyers, suppliers and customs authorities may reduce customs-related transaction
costs”. They also pointed out the advantage of the reduced probability of mistakes.
Fu et al. (2006) stated that “electronic filing of personal income taxes has the potential of improving the
overall process of tax filing for the individual filer while at the same time reducing the cost to both
taxpayers and tax collection agencies”. Kopczuk and Pop-Eleches (2007) found that electronic filing
stimulates non-filers since participation in the Earned Income Tax Credit in the US is significantly
correlated with e-filing and potentially reduces compliance costs.
3. Conclusion
ETaxation is one of the first and most commonly used electronic services by governments. Performance
issues are often given as the main reason for implementing e-services. ETaxation offers several
advantages, such as better data collection, better control, logic control of the system, quicker processing
of data, better accuracy etc. The overview of research in the field indicates that a decrease in the
compliance costs or even administrative costs of taxation is not a definite positive effect of eTaxation.
Since different research has provided different results, from positive to negative and with no effect of
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eTaxation on compliance costs, it is difficult to confirm any of the presented effects. The research is in
most cases partial and focused on separate issues of compliance costs. There is no research testing the
positive and negative effects of eTaxation at the same time, and this is one of the limitations of the
present research. Even if this were investigated, it would be difficult to compare the financial and nonfinancial
pro and cons of eTaxation in arriving at a definite result.
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338

International Assistance Relationship to eGovernment
Development and Benchmarking
Endrit Kromidha
Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Endrit.Kromidha.2009@live.rhul.ac.uk
Abstract: Purpose – The changes that happen as a result of international interventions in eGovernment initiatives
present not only a number of challenges but also an interesting area of study. In this context, this paper analyzes the
relationship between eGovernment and international assistance in a group of developing countries. International
organisations could have multiple involvements as donors, implementers and evaluators of eGovernment. This leads
to complex eGovernment mechanisms and situations, when international assistance is related to public
administration reforms. The aim in this paper is also to critically analyze benchmarking as an evaluation tool in
international eGovernment assistance. Research approach and design – This is a comparative and longitudinal
study of eGovernment development processes in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. In this context, the simple eGovernment strategy- implementation -
evaluation cycle is used from a neoinstitutionalist perspective as a framework for the analysis. Quantitative data such
as the eGovernment benchmarking index and the amount of international assistance are combined with qualitative
information from reports and legal documents to analyze the relationship between international assistance and
eGovernment development. Findings – This study shows a positive relationship between international eGovernment
assistance and eGovernment development reflected on benchmarking indexes in the event when the same donor
(the United Nations in this case), is involved in both processes. The research also suggests that the effect of
international assistance on eGovernment is generally positive in less developed countries. The discussion on
benchmarking reveals some important issues related to the role of international organisations as both eGovernment
assistance donors and performance evaluators. Limitations – The study is focusing on international assistance from
only one donor in only one area, that of eGovernment strategy making. A comparison of other factors and actors
could contribute to analyze not only the correlation but also the effectiveness of international assistance on
eGovernment. A comparative analysis of different eGovernment benchmarking methods and actors could be the
subject of future studies related to international eGovernment assistance. Original value – This is an original effort to
identify the relationships that exist between international assistance and eGovernment development. Taking a
neoinstitutionalist approach this study shares some theoretical insights on the evolution of internationally assisted
eGovernment initiatives and benchmarking into institutions. A converging point between the two is the donorbenchmarker
institutional duality. The critical analysis of eGovernment benchmarking is based more on the
involvement of actors rather than on its methodology as in many other studies. Finally, this research points out the
complexity of internationally assisted eGovernment reforms in developing countries and gives some suggestions for
future studies in this field.
Keywords: eGovernment, international assistance, benchmarking, neoinstitutionalism, donor-benchmarker duality
1. Internationally assisted eGovernment initiatives as institutions
Significant work is done recently in the context of companies to analyse how people interact with
technology (Geels, Schot 2007, Orlikowski 2008, Harrison, Koppel & Bar-Lev 2007, Orlikowski 1992,
Walsham, Waema 1994, Poel 2003). There is an ongoing debate whether action and structure need to
be considered separately or together (Kallinikos 2004). The debates and fast developments in this field
evidence a persisting problem with the theoretical framing of socio-technical dynamics as evidenced very
early on (Archer 1982, Orlikowski, Robey 1991). Although many conceptual implications can be derived
from these studies about the use of technology in the public sector, even in eGovernment studies the lack
of theoretical frameworks remain a persistent problem (Heeks, Bailur 2007). Because of their complexity,
the choice of research approaches and methods becomes of great importance at this point.
Starting with international assistance, eGovernment, and benchmarking, a theoretical framework or
model should be able to describe the dynamics between the different types of organisations involved.
The focus in this study is not only on the human-technology micro interactions, but more on the macro
development of systems, policies, organisational changes and their environment. In early new
institutionalist research it is noted that ‘organisations are structured by phenomena in their environments’
as well as ‘by technical and exchange interdependencies’ (Meyer, Rowan 1977) resorting to isomorphism
or in other words ‘becoming similar’ explanation. This initial idea of organisational institutionalisation of
technology was not new (Hawley 1950, Thompson 1967, Aiken, Hage 1968). However is was DiMaggio
and Powel (1983) who tried to explain isomorphism in the new institutionalism by three types of forces:
coercive based on pressures, normative based on rules and mimetic based on similarities. In this early
context, the new institutionalism deals with the idea of rules that influence the way organisations are
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Endrit Kromidha
transformed and become similar to each-other, even when they develop in different ways (Meyer, Rowan
1977, DiMaggio, Powell 1983, March, Olsen 1989, North 1990, Zucker 1977, Scott 1995). The theory
tries to explain how institutions evolve thus influencing organisations and society as a whole. More recent
studies on technology and institutions (Orlikowski, Barley 2001, Baptista (John), Newell & Currie 2010,
Colyvas 2007) and specifically on eGovernment institutionalisation (Fountain 2001, Madon et al. 2009)
increasingly take an system approach, suggesting a balanced view of socio-technical or techno-social
relationships. In this context, this paper follows the route suggested by Orlikowski and Barley (2001) for
developing more powerful explanations of how technological systems and institutions evolve in an
environment of political and human factors. Therefore, in this study, international eGovernment
assistance is considered not only as an instrument, but also as an institutional actor.
Like a long term business contract and its outcomes can lead to the development of institutions between
companies doing business together, so are considered internationally assisted eGovernment initiatives
for donors and governments in this study. By default assistance is given and received based on certain
needs (Burnside, Dollar 2000, Alesina, Dollar 2000, Collier, Dollar 2002), aiming at some positive results
for both the donor and recipient (Crawford 2001). In this context it is argued that ‘there is no intrinsic
difference between behavioural regularities and institutions’ (Diermeier, Krehbiel 2003). When
international assistance as well as its benchmarking is routinised, standardised and formalised by
international organisations and recipients, they become institutions that influence all parties involved.
International assistance on eGovernment is not sufficiently covered by the literature and this paper
contributes to filling this gap. The evidence in the following part highlights some similarities in the
development of national eGovernment and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) strategies
from international assistance in different countries. Even more interesting is the eGovernment evaluation
and its relationship to international assistance from a single benchmarking report’s perspective. Analysing
and some comparative evidence and a providing critical analysis, this study tries to share some light on
the complexity of this field of study.
2. Methodology and findings from a neoinstitutionalist perspective
Following the previous part on the theoretical conceptualisation of internationally assisted eGovernment
initiatives as institutions and looking at the policy development framework (Stone, Maxwell & Keating
2001), it is possible to assume that their development happens in stages. The Strategy-Implementation-
Evaluation eGovernment cycle can be used to “qualify” and lead the analysis of quantified eGovernment
development given by benchmarking.
Figure 1: Strategy - implementation - evaluation cycle
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Endrit Kromidha
In the case of international assistance on national eGovernment and ICT strategies, it is assumed that
some international ideas, experiences and practices including benchmarking itself are combined with
national policies and characteristics. The connected ‘institutional’ mechanisms of assistance and
benchmarking are related to both the donor and the recipient country. This study attempts to give a
simple quantified view and a critical analysis of this institutionalising relationship. Rather than simply
defining a relationship between international assistance and eGovernment, the use of the strategyimplementation-evaluation
cycle in this study suggests a shift of focus towards these three different
stages of institutional expansion.
This study starts with an empirical analysis of data and benchmarking to then dynamically move towards
an interpretivist perspective, often used in information systems research (Walsham 1995, 2006). This
approach tries to capture some of the institutional dynamics of international eGovernment assistance
based on the strategy-implementation-evaluation cycle. International assistance on eGovernment and
ICT strategies is often an evolving process of change. Designing strategies is only the first step towards
fully functional and sustainable eGovernment solutions in the following six Western Balkan countries
considered in this study:
AL - Albania
BH - Bosnia and Herzegovina
CR - Croatia
MN - Montenegro
MC - Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
SR - Serbia
Most of the countries are considered as developing transition economies (UNCTAD 2010). The purpose
of the international public sector involvement in these countries is to develop democratic governance
systems (UNDP Europe and CIS 2010). In order to understand the role international assistance on
eGovernment and ICT national strategies, implementation and evaluation, first it is necessary to compare
the six countries based on the Global UN eGovernment Survey benchmarking index (UNPAN 2003-
2010). The survey is a consistent benchmarking database on eGovernment, allowing comparisons for the
period 2003-2010, based on three main index components: Web Measurement, Telecommunications and
Human Capital with 1/3 weight each. United Nations’ organisations are the source of both international
assistance (UNDP) and benchmarking (UNPAN). In this study this situation is assumed to increase the
credibility of findings and analysis by means of data consistency and triangulation of information focus on
a single international organisation to have a sound basis for comparison. The results for the six western
Balkan countries based on the United Nations eGovernment Development Knowledge Base (UNPAN
2003-2010) are given in the following table:
Table 1: eGovernment Index 2003-2010 for six Western Balkan countries
Change Change 2004
Country 2003 2004 2005 2008 2010 2004 -2010 – 2010 in %
AL 0.3110 0.3400 0.3732 0.4670 0.4519 0.1119 0.3291
BH 0.3090 0.3790 0.4019 0.4509 0.4698 0.0908 0.2396
CR 0.5310 0.5227 0.5480 0.5650 0.5858 0.0631 0.1207
MC 0.3620 0.3699 0.4633 0.4866 0.5261 0.1562 0.4223
MN N/A 0.4282 0.4282 0.4282 0.5101 0.0819 0.1913
SR 0.3710 0.3871 0.1960 0.4828 0.4585 0.0714 0.1844
Source: UNPAN
The information summarised in this table shows that the countries with the lowest level of eGovernment
index in 2003, BH, AL and to a certain extent MC experienced the highest increase until 2010, with MC
and then AL being first with 42% and 33% increase respectively. Countries like CR that started at a high
level of eGovernment index in 2003 experienced a low increase until 2010 of only 12%. The object of this
study however is to analyze how international assistance on ICT and eGovernment strategies is related
to the eGovernment index change for the period from 2004 when most of this assistance was given to
2010. The amounts of international assistance given for this purpose, summarised in the table below,
were adjusted according to the population in each country. A standard unit for the comparison of all
countries in this case is ‘USD assistance / capita’ in total for the period:
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Endrit Kromidha
Table 2: International assistance on national eGovernment and ICT strategies
Country Donor Period Amount Population in
2004
USD assistance
/ capita
AL UNDP AL From 2003 $217,654 3,100,000 0.0702
BH UNDP BH From 2004 $250,000 3,780,000 0.0661
MC UNDP MK From 2005 $138,928 2,030,000 0.0684
SR UNDP SR From 2005 $10,000 7,460,000 0.0013
Source: UNDP, World Bank
The population figures in 2004 (World Bank 2010) were used because this is the year in which most of
this assistance for the development of strategies was given/received. Croatia and Montenegro are not
included in the table because they didn’t receive any international assistance from UNDP or any other
donor for their eGovernment and ICT national strategies. Their USD assistance / capita index is obviously
It is clear from the table that the countries with the lowest level of eGovernment index in 2003-2005
received most of the support, Albania being in the first place with 0.0702 USD assistance / capita. The
chart represents the relationship between the international assistance for the development of national ICT
strategies and the UN eGovernment index change in 2004-2010:
Figure 2: International assistance and eGovernment index change
Looking at the chart, it is clear that the improvement in the ICT sectors and eGovernment for the period
2004-2010 has been bigger for the three countries, AL, BH and MC that received the highest international
assistance per capita for their national strategies. According to the data and the trend-line in this chart,
there is a positive relationship between international assistance per capita given in 2004 and change in
percentage on eGovernment index until 2010. Reports on respective countries reveal that assistance on
ICT and eGovernment strategies in these three countries was supported by other projects as well
(UNDP). This shows a pattern in the donors’ behaviour to support and follow-up previous projects,
especially those focused on strategies, with other ones to help their implementation. It is during this
process of continuous support, long-term joint interest and isomorphic sustainable development where
internationally assisted eGovernment initiatives are transformed from instruments into institutions.
Although a positive change might be a very good indicator for the donor to show the effectiveness of its
assistance, the receiving country is interested on the final result of that assistance compared to other
countries. This is related to the implementation stage in the institutional evolution of internationally
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Endrit Kromidha
assisted eGovernment initiatives. In this context, comparing the eGovernment indexes for 2010 for the six
countries in the Western Balkans, we get a different picture, as shown in the following chart:
Figure 3: International assistance in 2004 and the eGovernment index in 2010
In this chart the fixed 2010 eGovernment index values are considered and not the change as in the
previous one. The results presented here are to some extent controversial to the previous one. It is clear
that the countries that received very little (SR) or no international assistance at all (CR and MN) to
develop and implement eGovernment and ICT strategies, are in similar or higher position (CR) than those
that received most of it (AL, BH and MC). The eGovernment index development between 2004-2010 for
each of the countries in the following chart gives a better picture of this situation.
Figure 4: Comparison of countries based on the EGovernment index level 2004 - 2010
By simply looking at this chart it is evident that all countries that received international assistance to
develop their national eGovernment and ICT strategies around 2004 experienced a quicker growth in
their eGovernment index around 2005, but after that, their incremental increase was smaller compared to
the countries that didn’t receive any assistance. It is easy to notice on the other hand that CR or MN have
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Endrit Kromidha
a steady or increasing marginal change in their eGovernment indexes up to 2010, although they didn’t
receive any assistance for their strategies. These results suggest that in the context of ICT and
eGovernment, development is easier with a higher involvement of the recipient countries. However, it can
be noticed that almost all countries (maybe except Serbia due to political instability and issues with
Kosovo in the meantime) present a very similar increasing trend, regardless of receiving international
assistance on eGovernment and ICT strategies or not. This could suggest that international assistance
has a week influence in this sector. Furthermore the institution of international partnership between the
donor and the recipient of eGovernment assistance is not strongly related to the amount and scope of
this assistance.
The critical approach of the quantitative data analysed here could suggests that benchmarking as the
evaluation stage of eGovernment could be a self assessment tool for the evaluating organisation itself if
involved in the two previous stages of strategy and implementation. In this process when benchmarking
becomes a trend, creates continuity and introduces some isomorphic characteristics, it turns from an
evaluation instrument into an institution. The advance of this institution influences both the donor and the
recipient, potentially leading to the consequent stage of strategic reformulation.
3. A critical analysis of eGovernment assistance and benchmarking
An important element at this point is to understand the “Why?” of the situation shown by the data.
According to a constructivist approach of institutionalisation, the strategy-implementation-evaluation cycle
is assumed to be a normal process intended to benefit both the donor and the receiving party suggesting
‘institutionalisation as the normalisation of policy paradigms’ (Hay 2006). EGovernment benchmarking as
a developing institution has become an increasing trend from the late 90s, sometime considered also as
‘a booming business’ (Bannister 2007). However, as Bannister (2007) points out, due to its problems with
standardisation, purpose and the distortion effects, ‘benchmarks are not a reliable tool for measuring real
eGovernment progress’. Contributing to this discussion and following the previous session with the data,
there are some important issues that should be considered carefully before deriving any conclusion in
this study.
The starting point: Comparing countries with each other requires having a standard or common starting
point. While the international assistance was adjusted according to the population in each country, the
eGovernment index was not modified. For different reasons, countries like Croatia for example had a
starting point far above all other region countries compared here. Assuming that Croatia is not developing
fast enough now compared to the other countries is not entirely correct, since we don’t know what will be
the development of the other countries when they reach the starting level of Croatia in 2004.
The marginal change: The simple difference between the eGovernment index in 2010 and the one in
2004 shows that the change is marginal, meaning that the more developed a country is, the smaller its
incremental development (AL, BH, MC in Figure 6). Already developed countries that have reached a
high development level do no experience the same growth compared to more developing countries.
Because of this reason, it could be not entirely correct to assume that the least developed countries
considered here in terms of ICT and eGovernment development are doing better than more developed
countries when receiving international assistance.
Donor-benchmarker duality: The scope of this study was not only to compare some countries, but also
to analyse the role of that one actor, the United Nations, that is directly involved in the strategy,
implementation and evaluation/benchmarking stages. Careful consideration is needed when the same
organisation that is evaluating eGovernment is also supporting it for some countries through international
assistance while leaving other countries to use their own resources. This situation could have an
important role on the strategic implications and planning of national policies. Normally a country would be
inclined to accept international assistance on strategic sectors such as ICT and eGovernment from such
organisations. In the context of this study, it was not possible to find any case of such international
assistance from donors being refused. The reason could be simply the fact that the donor has a strong
international position also as the evaluator. Who would know better what is needed to rate higher in the
next evaluation if not the evaluator itself? In the worst case a government might have to pay for this
assistance. Again, the same private companies such as Capgemini or Ernst and Young that prepare the
benchmarking (Bannister 2007) could be among the first to contact for premium expertise. It is necessary
to highlight however that the interest and motives of UN and other international organisations giving
assistance are different from those of the companies that benefit directly from the benchmarkingconsultancy
combination.
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Regardless of the criticism on international eGovernment assistance and its evaluation, this study has
shown that improvements are being made. International donors are realizing the importance of evaluation
and assessment on assistance, especially on democracy and government assistance (Crawford, Kearton
2002), however they need to be careful on their involvement. As a final remark, regardless of its
challenges, international assistance given for the development and implementation of eGovernment and
ICT strategies could be considered more as a success rather than as a failure.
4. Limitations
The use of neoinstitutionalism as a theoretical approach to explain some of the main issues in this study
is only an exploratory one based on an attempt to combine quantitative and qualitative data analysis. A
more detailed analysis could contribute to neoinstitutionalism focusing more on the issues of power,
without excluding here the potential of other theoretical and methodological approaches such as the
Actor Network Theory to provide a different explanation of international eGovernment assistance
networks and dynamics.
This study is limited to a few countries and one donor, analyzing only the eGovernment and ICT strategy
assistance. Other international donors and organisations might show different characteristics in the
strategy – implementation – evaluation cycle, especially in the absence of the donor-benchmarker duality.
The donors’ interaction with each other, especially when they share common objectives and goals is
something that deserves some more attention in future research.
5. Conclusions
This study suggests that international assistance on ICT and eGovernment strategy development could
have a limited but positive impact on overall eGovernment levels based on their positive relationship
identified here. This could be especially true in less developed countries, similar to the ones studied in
this research. At the same time, the research identifies some important problems that need to be
addressed carefully before driving any results on international eGovernment assistance efficiency such
as the starting inequalities between countries compared and the involvement of organisations and donors
in different stages of the strategy – implementation – evaluation cycle. In this study, using both
quantitative and qualitative data, critically analysing benchmarking and trying to explain phenomena
through a theoretical framework was indeed challenging. However, this might be the only way to analyse
complex situations of international assistance throughout the strategy, implementation and evaluation
stages especially in fast developing sectors such as ICT and eGovernment.
Long term development remains one of the biggest challenges, both for the international assistance
donors and the recipient countries in all stages of ICT and eGovernment development from strategy to
evaluation. It is generally implied that countries receiving international assistance have, at a certain point
to develop their own capabilities. The ICT and eGovernment national strategies are only the first step
towards long lasting reforms.
From a neoinstitutionalist perspective, internationally assisted eGovernment initiatives in one hand and
benchmarking on the other can be transformed from instruments into institutions. For this to occur, a
process of trend creation, continuous support, long-term joint interests and isomorphic changes is
needed. The donor-benchmarker duality critically analyzed in this study suggests that these two
institutions are inter-related and could develop jointly. A major role in this case is played by international
organizations with multifaceted involvement in the strategy-implementation-evaluation cycle of
institutional development.
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346

Challenges to the Design and use of Stages-of-Growth
Models in eGovernment
Devender Maheshwari, Anne Fleur van Veenstra and Marijn Janssen
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
D.Maheshwari@tudelft.nl
A.F.E.vanVeenstra@tudelft.nl
M.F.W.H.A.Janssen@tudelft.nl
Abstract: In the past decade stages-of-growth models have gained considerable attention in eGovernment research
and practice. Stage models often regard eGovernment development as a progressive accumulation of steps.
Although stage models have advantages as they give direction to development and help to outline the desired
outcomes, they provide limited help at the organizational level and attract much criticism. This paper investigates and
compares a number of stages-of-growth models to identify challenges to the design and use of these models in
eGovernment. Based on existing literature and by analyzing stages-of-growth models, challenges are identified and
discussed to give better insight into the design, use, and application of these models both for research and practice.
We found that many of the stage models propose a linear sequence of activities, and only provide help at the early
stages of development. Although conceptually appealing, most stage models are hard to translate to the situation of
individual organization. Stages-of-growth-models do not have any standardized design and development structure as
the majority of models evolved from an effort to achieve specific objectives of an organization, business or
researcher. Measuring and benchmarking the stages models is a multifaceted exercise as the models not only differ
in scope and dimensions, but also give scant attention to the back-office stages-of-growth.
Keywords: eGovernment, stages-of-growth models, benchmarking, measurement, stages
1. Introduction
eGovernment development started in the mid-1990s when organizations realized the significance of
information technology (IT) for their performance and began to use IT to excel in their administrative
processes (Siau and Long 2004; Siau and Long 2005). At the same time, stage models describing
eGovernment development gained attention and they are used by many government organizations all
over the world (Layne and Lee 2001; Moon 2002; Reddick 2004; Siau and Long 2005; Klievink and
Janssen 2008; Lee 2010). The development of stage models by different organizations and governments
has resulted in a wide variety of models, varying in their scope and focus. Currently, however, the stage
models are increasingly criticized for their design, operation, implementation, measurement and
benchmarking methods (Janssen, Rotthier et al. 2004; Kaplan and Norton 2004; Bannister 2007;
Coursey and Norris 2008; Janssen 2010). After having been applied for over a decade, these authors
also discuss a range of problems related to the application of stage models in eGovernment. Thus, the
development and application of stage models faces several challenges. Furthermore, the wide variety of
stage models present also leads to questions on which stage model is applicable in a specific situation.
The development and use of stage models depends on the benefits that are realized and any adverse
effects that might exist. Although benefits of stages-of-growth-models are highlighted by many, providing
an insight into the challenges and disadvantages of these stage models is likely to give policy and
decisions makers the opportunity to better exploit the advantages and overcome these challenges.
Therefore, in this paper we analyse the characteristics of existing stages-of-growth-models and identify
challenges to the design and use of the stage models. In section 2 we give an overview of the most
commonly used stage models in literature by discussing their characteristics, differences, and the
criticism that they have attracted. Then, in section 3 we identify challenges to the design and use of stage
models based on the characteristics and comparison of stages-of-growth models, followed by a
discussion of these characteristics and challenges in section 4. Finally, in section 5 we present our
conclusions and recommendations for future research.
2. Background of stages-of-growth models in eGovernment
2.1 Origins and application
eGovernment aims to implement electronic services for citizens and businesses, as well as digitizing
processes and applications in governments across the globe. After the emergence of eGovernment,
researchers as well as public and private sector organizations started to draw frameworks to fulfil the
objectives of eGovernment initiatives. Stage models were introduced in eGovernment to describe
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
eGovernment development (descriptive) and guide eGovernment implementation (prescriptive). Many
different stage models have been developed by governments, private organizations, and by researchers.
In 2000, the Gartner group presented a stage model defining the roadmap to achieve objectives of
eGovernment (Baum and Di Maio 2000). In 2001 four more stage models were developed (Hiller and
Bélanger 2001; Layne and Lee 2001; UN 2001; Wescott 2001), followed by another one in 2002 (Moon
2002). Since then, many more stage models have been proposed, tested and implemented by various
researchers and organizations. Most of the eGovernment stage models focus on the front-office as
starting point to satisfy the needs of citizens and businesses, (see for, example (Baum and Di Maio 2000;
Hiller and Bélanger 2001; Kaplan and Norton 2001; Layne and Lee 2001; Moon 2002).
Applications of eGovernment stages-of-growth are many, e.g. publishing, interaction, integration, political
participation, and transformation (see Table 1); whereas the applications for using the stages-of-growth
models are based on the design and implementation objectives of eGovernment. An advantage of
applying stage models to the implementation of eGovernment is the reduction of complexity. Depending
on the scope of the implementation and on its complexity, similar blocks are combined and renamed as
stages, and used to implement eGovernment step-by-step in a customized manner. Layne and Lee
(2001) state that the unmanageable and chaotic challenges of eGovernment implementation can be
resolved to some extend by defining a stages-of-growth model.
Stage models illustrate the growth and maturity of eGovernment that helps organizations to determine the
current status and provides guidelines for further developments. Stage models can be used to determine
the maturity level of eGovernment within a stage or on the preferred roadmap. The term maturity
describes the current state of a given level in a continuous process (Andersen and Henriksen, 2006).
Furthermore, the stage models can also be used for measuring and benchmarking. In order for this to be
effective, the stage models need to be aligned, structured and designed comprising balanced front-office,
back-office, and political participation stages. Stage models are flexible and can be designed for
achieving the objectives of policy makers. Hence, the designers can develop software applications to
implement the stages as per the policies. Whereas the designers only implement policies, the policy
makers and strategy developers can also indirectly inherit the consequences and re-define the policies
based on design constraints.
2.2 Comparing stages-of-growth models in eGovernment
A number of eGovernment stage models is listed in Table 1. We conducted a comprehensive literature
review and selected some of the most common stage models from literature using scientific search
engines (e.g. Google scholar and Scopus), by looking at well-known eGovernment journals, and through
snowballing (by following cross referencing). Furthermore, the selection of models is limited to the
maximum number of six stages. The stages-of-growth models listed in Table 1 are developed both by
researchers (Hiller and Bélanger 2001; Layne and Lee 2001; Wescott 2001; Moon 2002; West 2004;
Siau and Long 2005; Andersen and Henriksen 2006; Klievink and Janssen 2008), as well as by public
and private organizations e.g. (Research, Deloitte et al. 2000; UN 2001; Accenture 2003; UN 2003;
Global 2005; UN 2008; Leveraging 2010). Assessment and comparison of stages-of-growth is a complex
endeavour because stages that have similar names, in fact, have different definitions and explanations.
Table 1 shows the comparison of different stage-of-growth models, by comparing the order and topic of
their stages.
Stage models define stages in series starting from the very initial stage progressing stepwise to the final
stage e.g. (Baum and Di Maio 2000; Howard 2001; Accenture 2003; Siau and Long 2005; and UN 2008
etc.). For example, Moon (2002) describes the minimum or initial stage as one-way communication,
which increases gradually step-by-step to two-way communication, service and financial transaction,
integration, and political participation. Although the stages are defined in series, the stages themselves
are different. Table 1 clearly shows that majority of stage models start with a front-office based first stage,
for example, often the stage models have information provisioning on government websites as a first
stage. The later stages aim for different levels of maturity, although some of the more advanced stages
are recurrent, but in a different sequence. For example, integration is defined as the second stage by
Klievink (2008); as the fourth stage by Moon (2002); and as the sixth stage by Baum and Di Maio (2000).
The stage models listed in Table 1 also show that the back-office stages are mostly in the later stages as
most stage models predominantly focus on the front-office.
348

Table 1: Overview of stage models in eGovernment
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Stage
Model
Gartner
Group
(2000)
Deloitte
Research
(2000)
Layne
and Lee
(2001)
Hiller and
Belanger
(2001)
UN
(2001)
Wescott
(2001)
Howard
(2001)
Moon
(2002)
9 Accenture
(2003)
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
UN
(2003)
West
(2004)
Siau and
Long
(2005)
UN
(2005)
Anderson
and
Henriksen
(2006)
UN
(2008)
Klievink
and
Janssen
(2009)
Devender Maheshwari et al.
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6
Web presence Interaction Transaction Transformation
Info publishing
and
dissemination
Two way
transaction
Catalogue Transaction
Info
dissemination
and catalogue
Emerging
presence
Email and
internal
network
Two-way
communication
Enhanced
presence
Interorganization
and public
access to
information
Multi-purpose
portals
Vertical
integration
Service and
financial
transaction
Interactive
presence
Two-way
communication
Publish Interaction Transact
One-way
communication
Online
presence
Emerging
presence and
enhanced
presence
Billboard stage
Two way
communication
Basic capability
Interactive
presence
Partial service
delivery stage
Service and
financial
transaction
Service
availability
Transactional
presence
Portal stage
Portal
personalization
Horizontal
integration
Vertical and
horizontal
integration
Transactional
presence
Allowing
exchange of
value
Integration
Mature
delivery
Networked
presence
Interactive
democracy
Clustering of
common
services
Political
participation
Seamless
presence
Joined-up
government
Political
participation
Service
transformation
E-participation
index
Web presence Interaction Transaction Transformation E-democracy
Emerging
presence and
enhanced
presence
Interactive
presence
Transactional
presence
Networked
presence
Cultivation Extension Maturity Revolution
Emerging
presence and
enhanced
presence
Stove-piped
applications
Interactive
presence
Integrated
organization
Transactional
presence
Nationwide
portals
349
Connected
Interorganizational
integrations
E-participation
index
E-participation
index
Demanddriven,
joined-up
government
Full
integration
and
enterprise
transaction
Digital
democracy

Devender Maheshwari et al.
Not only do these models have a different placement of the respective stages, also the number of stages
differs. For example, Howard (2001) distinguishes three different stages, West (2004) four, UN (2005)
five, and Deloitte Research (2000) six stages. Furthermore, some stages such as multi-purpose portals,
portal personalization, nationwide portals, mature delivery, and portal stage are a combination of frontoffice
transactions and back-office integration. The stage models also seem to be designed and
implemented based on biased criteria to fulfil objectives that vary across organizations and governments.
Many of the growth stage models actually do not explicitly describe and discuss the important back-office
attributes such as inter-operability, policies and regulations, and unified standards.
3. Typical challenges of stage models
Based on the overview of stages-of-growth models, a number of challenges for developing and using
stage models is derived. Some of the challenges are based on the criticism given to stage models by
other authors (Janssen, Rotthier et al. 2004; Bannister 2007; Coursey and Norris 2008; Janssen 2010),
and some of the challenges are derived by the comparison of the different stage models in the previous
section. Bannister (2007) pointed out that the outcomes of ill-designed stage models risk distorting the
policies of the governments. Therefore, it is important to have an understanding of the challenges that are
related to deploying stage models. Understanding the problems of eGovernment stage models is vital for
improving current stage models to become less complex, better structured, more easily implementable,
and more sophisticated. A short description of the identified challenges is given in Table 2. Hereafter we
discuss each challenge and how it is derived.
Table 2: Overview of challenges of stage models
No. Type of challenges Short Description
1 Bias (non-empirical) Existence of bias and lack of theory-based developments
2 Lack of explanation Unclear design, development, and implementation approaches
3 Number of stages Unclear how the number of stages in a stage model is decided upon
4 Linear implementation Shortage of future predictions, and due to step-by-step linear implementation
5 Common frameworks
6 Concatenation
Difficulties to assess and compare the stages-of-growth models due to the
difference in structure and scope
Maturity of stage models cannot be determined if the growth stages are
overlapping
7 Economical Adverse effects of high costs and low return on investment (ROI)
8 Inter-connection Interruptions and time delays in the transition from one stage to succeeding stage
9
Measuring and
benchmarking
10 Meta-synthesis
11
Time and growth
relationship
Stage models do not describe assessment and evaluation methods, and existing
evaluation methods are based on end results and rarely measure back-office
Integrative review of different eGovernment stage models may increase the
overall complexity
Stage models can take indefinite time to achieve desired maturity level as the
model do not define any time frame for growth
Bias (non-empirical) The mature stages of the majority of eGovernment stage models are yet not fully
reached by most of the organizations (Klievink and Janssen 2008). It can, thus, be concluded that
majority of stage models is not based on empirical grounds and remains speculative and based on
presumptions (Coursey and Norris 2008). Many of the stage models (e.g. Hiller and Bélanger 2001;
Layne and Lee 2001; Wescott 2001; Moon 2002; West 2004; Siau and Long 2005; and Andersen and
Henriksen 2006 etc.) discussed in this paper are not based on theoretical foundations and do not provide
any structure or guidelines of theory development for strategy and policy makers.
Lack of Explanation Not one model explains how to achieve the highest maturity level. Thus, the lack of
explanation of how to achieve the next growth stage does not provide enough information for
governments to achieve the desired maturity level. Klievink and Janssen (2008) criticize existing stage
models on the basis of these being derived based on past performance of eGovernment organizations
and rarely providing any information related to the future predictions.
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
Number of Stages Stage models often have a different number of stages, some have as many as up to
ten different stages (Zarei, Ghapanchi et al. 2008), and others as little as two stages (Reddick 2004).
Stages are placed into separate similar blocks of growth processes for better performance and
effectiveness of eGovernment. However, the varying number of stages makes eGovernment growth and
maturity assessment and benchmarking complex. So far, there has been little discussion about the
criteria for choosing a number of stages.
Linear Implementation Stage models are normally deployed in linearly concatenated steps progressing
from first stage to the final stage (Coursey and Norris 2008). According to Coursey and Norris (2008)
eGovernment progression is non-linear, whereas the stage models are based on linear implementation of
stages starting from the basic level.
Common Framework Depending on the organizational manifestos some public organizations focus on
customer-oriented service delivery, others focus on effective internal processes and ICT systems (Jansen
2005). The stage models listed in Table 1 do not have a common scope and order of stages. Some
models define back-end integration in the initial stages while others define them in the later stages,
whereas none of these stage models is applicable for both local and national governments. EGovernment
growth stage models do not have a generic common framework, making measuring and benchmarking,
as well as comparing such models very difficult.
Concatenation Each stage is dependent on the previous stage and should not be implemented unless
the desired maturity level of previous stage is achieved. This means that the linearly concatenated stages
should not overlap with each other as they are not implemented simultaneously. Therefore, if a stage
overlaps with preceding and/or succeeding stages in linear progressive fashion, the status of current
growth stage cannot be determined.
Economical Stages-of-growth models are also referred to as maturity models. Therefore, public
organizations can use stage models for measuring and benchmarking purposes. Bannister (2007)
highlighted that the benchmarking costs for widespread areas like eGovernment might be exorbitant if the
benchmarking parameters are not carefully chosen, whereas the misinterpretation of such benchmarks
can also result in economic problems (e.g. ROI) and wrong decision-making.
Inter-connection: Stage models comprising a number of stages hardly allow any inter-connection
(smooth transition from one stage to another) within stages for continuum of eGovernment development.
Growth of the stage models experiences time delays and interruptions during inter-connection. Stages-ofgrowth
models do not define a threshold maturity level so that the overlapping, interruptions, and the time
delays can be avoided. For example, a service can only be offered once the ICT infrastructure is in place
and fulfills minimum technical requirements to provide services. In this case, the implementation of next
stage already starts if the minimum threshold maturity level is achieved.
Measuring and Benchmarking: Through measuring and benchmarking, government organizations
determine the current status, advantages and disadvantages, and further growth and progress of the
level of eGovernment. Stage models shown in Table 1 vary in structures, dimensions, and scope,
therefore, the measurement methods can also vary for different types of models. Stage models do not
explain evaluation methods, and often the evaluation is based on the end results. Growth stages for
back-end are rarely measured (Janssen 2010) because the existing evaluation approaches
predominantly focus on the front-end. EGovernment measures are mostly qualitative and lack
quantitative measures.
Meta-Synthesis This is one approach for theory development by integrative review of existing stage
models. It is, however, subjective to selecting particular stage models since the models themselves are
biased and developed to achieve specific objectives as discussed in section 2. According to Siau and
Long (2005) the advances and evolution of stage models increase the complexity and the desired level of
integration of ICT-systems. Hence, meta-synthesis of existing different stage models is a complex
endeavor. Furthermore, the meta-synthesis approaches do not deal with futuristic predictions and may
result in less effective stage model.
Time and growth relationship Stages-of-growth models comprise a number of stages (0,1,2,3..n) and
stages are implemented in concatenated linear fashion. Each stage achieves the minimum required
maturity level before the stage models progresses to the next stage. The growth of linear stage models
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
can be measured at different instants of time (t) to determine the maturity level of the current stage as
well as the model itself so that the stages can be plotted against the time. This type of time and growth
relationship may face problems, i.e. stages might not reach the highest desired maturity level, stages
might overlap when the next stage start before the current stage reaches the desired maturity, and the
growth might be discrete with steady states where no progress can be observed due to the time delay
between different maturity growth stages. Finally, benchmarking the overall growth of the stage models is
not possible because the stage models designed for similar objectives do not adopt standard time frames
(comprising of n number of stages) to reach the maximum maturity.
4. Discussion
A wide variety of stage models exists in literature, but it is difficult to determine which model is the best
model in which situation. By looking at the number of citations in indexes as Google Scholar and Google
the model of Layne and Lee (2001) is the most cited model. Their model is also criticized very often. It
seems that no model has ever been accepted and recognized as a standard benchmark. The design
methodology, objectives, and outcomes vary greatly from model to model. Growth stage models have
traditionally been designed and implemented according to the objectives of the particular organizations,
governments or individual researchers. Stage models that are effective in one organization can be
ineffective in another organization. As it is dependent on the specific situation, none of the stage models
can be regarded as the best model, but policy makers wanting to use these models, need to look
carefully which model suits best their environment.
Stages within stage models can be generally classified into three categories: front-end, back-end and eparticipation.
As discussed earlier, the proportional weight of the stages in a model lacks the balance
between these three classification categories. Stage models bear certain characteristics based on the
desired objectives, applications, and processes. A model requires trade-offs like the level of abstraction,
implementation help, time and growth, costs and achievements, and ease of understanding. There
always exists a trade-off between different stages and the balance of stages. Some eGovernment
applications need more attention on the front-end, while others need more focus on the back-end or on eparticipation.
Although limited attention is given to the trade-offs; they can be really useful in reengineering
the existing stage models to overcome disadvantages. Stage growth models supporting such
kind of flexible design methods with different trade-offs can be adopted by more private as well as public
organizations. Thus, a common standardized framework can be formed that is more of less acceptable in
different eGovernment scenarios and applications for different types local, national and international
public organizations.
eGovernment growth stage models can be vulnerable if there are no measurement and evaluation
methods to identify the current status of an organization. There is a lack of instruments to monitor the
growth of the stage models. Almost none of the stage models include measurement methods (qualitative
and/or quantitative) to evaluate and assess the maturity level of different stages and the model itself.
Furthermore, the evaluation gets more difficult when it becomes impossible to measure the growth during
overlapping time between various stages. This may support the argument that the stage models do not
have linear growth, while the stages could start growing parallel to each other at different times. Back-end
measurements, which make up a major part of the overall measurements, have been widely ignored,
since the major focus of the growth stage models has been on the front-end.
5. Conclusion
This paper aims to explore the challenges of existing eGovernment growth stage models to advance the
use of these models in practice. Stage models have gained considerable attention in eGovernment and
are widely applied as they give direction to development and help to outline desired outcomes.
Furthermore, stages-of-growth models can be useful for benchmarking, when characteristics and criteria
of steps are clearly defined. We compared a number of stage models by outlining their respective stages.
Our comparison shows that stage models differ greatly in the number of stages and their proposed
course of action. On the basis of literature and by comparing the stage models we derived eleven
challenges to the development and use of these models. We found that the majority of the stage models
predominantly focuses on front-office and largely ignores back-office developments. Another matter is
that stages are implemented in concatenated linear fashion, but depending on the preceding stages to
reach full maturity can lead to indefinite delay due to technical and political issues.
Currently, eGovernment stage models are not empirically derived, but instead, based on predictions for
the future, whereas empirical approaches are necessary to advance the accuracy of these stage models.
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
eGovernment is a broad area and successful outcomes of a particular past event do not necessarily
represent various pertaining aspects of eGovernment. Furthermore, differences in structure, scope, and
design criteria of stage models limit the possibilities for comparison and benchmarking. Also, there are no
measurement and evaluation methods to monitor the current status and growth of stage models. Stage
models need to describe measurement instruments to evaluate the maturity level of each stage and the
overall model. And finally, whereas stage models are designed for policy makers, they provide little help
for business process reengineering, infrastructure development and IT decision-making.
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353

Developing Measures for Benchmarking the Interoperability
of Public Organizations
Devender Maheshwari, Anne Fleur van Veenstra and Marijn Janssen
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
D.Maheshwari@tudelft.nl
A.F.E.vanVeenstra@tudelft.nl
M.F.W.H.A.Janssen@tudelft.nl
Abstract: Public organizations increasingly collaborate with each other by forming public service networks for
realizing joined-up service delivery to facilitate their clients, citizens and businesses. In such networks, similar data is
collected, stored, and maintained recursively and repeatedly among governmental agencies. Many managers and
decision-makers in organizations are aware of the need for interoperability, but they are unaware of their
interoperability maturity level. Although some maturity models exist, they do not define procedures to measure and
benchmark interoperability. There is a lack of measures for benchmarking interoperability and measuring is
complicated as interoperability is a multifaceted concept, covering many interdependent aspects. This paper aims to
develop a set of measures for benchmarking interoperability in public organizations to enable them to avoid
repeatedly gathering already existing data. Firstly, based on a literature review we define measures for
benchmarking interoperability. Secondly, we present a measurement model for interoperability between
organizational divisions as well as for the overarching interoperability of organization. Measures of benchmarking will
not only help public organizations ascertaining their position of interoperability maturity, but will also allow them to
compare their status with other organizations in service networks as well as assist them to provide effective and
efficient services.
Keywords: eGovernment, interoperability, measurement, benchmarking, public service organizations
1. Introduction
The field of electronic government (eGovernment) predominantly focuses on the introduction of
information and communication technology (ICT) in the front-office, and it requires online access and
availability of public resources desired by citizens, employees, businesses, and government
organizations (e.g. Breen 2000; Layne and Lee 2001; Moon 2002; Lee 2010; and Leveraging 2010 etc.).
In order to make governments and governance more efficient, transparent, effective, and accountable,
the central focus of eGovernment initiatives shifts to the back-office processes, procedures and services.
This requires that disparate systems need to work together. Hence, one of the central challenges faced
by public service organizations (PSOs) today is achieving interoperability.
Scholl and Klischewki (2007) argue that achieving interoperability in PSOs is challenging and evaluation
of interoperability is also underdeveloped and needs to be properly investigated. In literature,
interoperability is usually defined from a technical perspective, for example as the “technical capability for
eGovernment interoperation” (Scholl and Klischewski 2007,p. 901), and the “ability of different types of
computers, networks, operating systems, and applications to work together effectively, without prior
communication, to exchange information in a useful and meaningful manner” Moen (2000). IEEE
definition of interoperability given as the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange
information and to use the information that has been exchanged (IEEE 1990). Scholl and Klischewski
(2007) identify nine different constraints that influence interoperability of PSOs: 1) constitutional, 2)
jurisdictional, 3) collaborative, 4) organizational, 5) informational, 6) managerial, 7) technological, 8) cost,
and 9) performance.
A number of eGovernment models mention interaction and integration as essential components (Baum
and Di Maio 2000; Breen 2000; Hiller and Belanger 2001; Layne and Lee 2001). Although there is an
informal agreement between all concerned parties that eGovernment interoperability is not only a
technical subject, but it also applies to organizational aspects (Goldkuhl 2009), in extant literature it is
predominantly regarded as a technical matter. Technical aspects of interoperability are discussed in
detail by several authors and organizations having a major focus on information systems, e.g. (DoD
1998; Clark and Jones 1999; NATO 2003; Tolk and Muguira 2003; ATHENA 2004; Turnitsa 2005). The
level of interoperability is relative and difficult to determine since it depends on the needs and desires of
services, processes, and procedures that an organization has to offer to meet the objectives.
Interoperability can be between two individual systems, between entire sets of systems within
organization, and within the multiple systems in different public service organizations. In this paper, we
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
consider a single organization with multiple systems. Our focus is to highlight the organizational as well
as technical aspects and measures that influence the overarching interoperability in organization.
The goal of this paper is to investigate the eGovernment interoperability models and develop a set of
measures for benchmarking. In this explorative paper we identify measures of benchmarking
interoperability in PSOs, investigating both technical as well as organizational aspects. Section 2 gives a
brief description of the existing interoperability measurement and benchmarking practices in PSOs and
related approaches. In section 3 we propose an instrument for benchmarking interoperability of PSOs,
which is subsequently used in a case study. Finally, we present conclusions and recommendation for
future research in section 4.
2. Literature review
2.1 Interoperability in public service organizations
eGovernment interoperability maturity is often referred to as a technological issue. For example, (Moen
2000; Scholl and Klischewski 2007) discuss the Z39.50 middleware standard with four interoperability
levels: syntactic, functional, semantic, and user task. Others consider interoperability to be a combination
of organizational as well as technical issues, (e.g. Janssen and Scholl 2007) described four
interoperability architecture layers: pragmatic, syntax, semantic, and technical. These layers were
previously referred to as standardisation requirements of interoperability with a brief explanation of the
pragmatic level (Papazouglou 2006). PSOs across the globe use different interoperability models with
different levels. An overview of various models including their levels of interoperability maturity is shown
in Table 1.
Table 1: Models of interoperability maturity
No. Model Year Author Level - 0 Level - 1 Level - 2 Level - 3 Level - 4 Level - 5 Level - 6
1 LISI 1998 DoD
2 OIM 1999
3 NMI 2003 NATO
4 LCIM 2003
Clark, T. and
R. Jones
Tolk, A. and
J. Muguira
Isolated
systems
Connected
systems
Functional
distributed
Domain
integrated
Enterprise
universal
Independent Ad-hoc Collaborative Integrated Unified
System
specific data
Unstructured
data
Documented
data
Structured Seamless Seamless
data data sharing information
Aligned static Aligned Harmonized
data dynamic data data
5 EIF 2004 IDABC Organizational Semantics Technical
6 EIMM 2004 ATHENA Performed Modeled Integrated Interoperable Optimizing
7 LCIM 2005 Turnitsa CD No - Interop: Technical Pragmatic Semantic Syntatical Dynamic Conceptual
8 ALI
Janssen, M.
2007
and H. Scholl
Pragmatic Syntax Semantic Technical
9 EIF 2.0 2008 IDABC
(Proposed)
Organizational Semantics Technical Political Legal
10 MLIDG 2009 Gottschalk, P
Computer
Interop:
Process
interop:
Knowledge
interop:
Value interop: Goal interop:
As shown in Table 1, early interoperability models lacked organizational (non-technical) aspects, and
technicalities of information systems were the centre of attention. The US Department of Defence (DoD
1998) developed an interoperability model called Levels of Information Systems Interoperability (LISI)
including five levels: isolated systems, connected systems, functional distributed, domain integrated, and
enterprise universal (DoD 1998). Clark and Jones (1999) developed the Organizational Interoperability
Maturity (OIM) model including five levels: Independent, ad-hoc, collaborated, integrated, and unified.
Whereas the LISI model predominately focuses on the technical aspects of information systems
interoperability, the OIM model is an extension of LISI model including the modes and ability of
interoperation between organizations (Clark and Jones 1999; Guédria, Naudet et al. 2010). Other models
shown in Table 1 were developed by government organizations, e.g. the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO 2003) interoperability model NC3TA Reference Model for Interoperability (NMI)
(NATO 2003), the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) set up by Interoperable Delivery of
European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (IDABC 2004) as
well as an extension of this model (IDABC 2008), the European Interoperability Maturity Model (EIMM) by
Advanced Technologies for interoperability of Heterogeneous Enterprise Networks and their Applications
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
(ATHENA 2004); and also by individual researchers, e.g. Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model
(LCIM) (Tolk and Muguira 2003), which was reproduced by (Turnitsa 2005) with seven different
conceptual levels, Architecture Layers of Interoperability (ALI) by (Janssen and Scholl 2007), and
Maturity Levels for Interoperability in Digital Government (MLIDG) by (Gottschalk 2009). The models
clearly lack to define the measures as well as the procedures to measure interoperability. The
interdependence of sequentially layered divisions is a multifaceted concept and complex to measure.
2.2 Overview of major related approaches
As interoperability is only one of the issues governments around the world are trying to measure, this
section gives a short introduction to related approaches that are utilized by various governments and
private sector organization for design, development, implementation and measurement.
Stage models Stage models are commonly used in the field of eGovernment; in which each stage is
defined as a state on the roadmap, interconnecting these states in a systematic order to accomplish the
desired objectives. Stage models are utilized for multiple purposes, i.e. growth and development,
maturity, policy designing, measurements, and benchmarking. Existing stage models in eGovernment are
a set up by researchers, e.g. (Hiller and Belanger 2001; Layne and Lee 2001; Moon 2002; Andersen and
Henriksen 2006; Klievink and Janssen 2008) or developed by public, private, and semi-public
organizations, e.g. (Baum and Di Maio 2000; Hunter and Jupp 2002; Global 2005; UN 2008; Leveraging
2010). Despite the overwhelming acceptance of stage models in eGovernment, some authors (Bannister
2007; Janssen 2010; Maheshwari, Veenstra et al. 2011) have described them as predominantly frontoffice
focused and ill-structured, specifically in relation to interoperability.
Capacity Maturity Model (CMM) The concept of CMM was first described by Humphrey (1988). He
describes that the CMM maturity framework regulates each stage to provide the foundation for
improvements undertaken in the next stage. It was later published in a report in February 1993 as the
Capability Maturity Model SM for Software Version 1.1 (Paulk, Weber et al. 1993) and as a book in 1995
(Paulk, Curtis et al. 2002). CMM helps organizations to select appropriate strategies by determining the
current process maturity and critical issues for software process improvements. For continuous process
improvements, the evolutionary path steps are organized into five maturity levels in CMM framework,
respectively: 1) initial, 2) repeatable, 3) defined, 4) managed, and 5) optimizing (Paulk, Curtis et al. 2002).
Balanced Scorecard (BSC) The BSC method is a multi-perspective approach for the balance of
premeditated goals and their translation into computable objectives. The basic framework of the BSC
approach was based on cause-and-effect relationships of four perspectives, i.e. finance, customers,
internal process and, learning and development (Kaplan and Norton 2004). The BSC approach was
initially implemented by profit-based organizations, but later it was also applied in PSOs. Originally, the
focus of BSC is on the financial perspective at the top of the hierarchy, while PSOs do not necessarily
have financial success as their primary objective (Kaplan and Norton 2001; Tolk, Turnitsa et al. 2006;
Guédria, Naudet et al. 2010).
European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Model The EFQM model is a framework for
organizational management systems, promoted by the European Foundation for Quality Management
(www.efqm.org). The model is designed for helping organizations in their drive towards being more
competitive, effective, and efficient. The EFQM model has nine criteria, including five ‘enablers’ (i.e.
leadership, people management, policy management, resources and processes) and four ‘results’ (i.e.
people satisfaction, customer satisfaction, impact on society and business results). The enablers include
processes, structure and means of the organization, while the results criteria cover the characteristics of
performance (Nabitz and Klazinga 1999; EFQM 2003).
Extended Enterprise Architecture Maturity Model (E2AMM) E2AMM is a maturity model that provides
a path towards improvement of enterprise architecture and procedures within an organization. The model
has six levels, i.e.: level 0: no extended enterprise architecture, level 1: initial, level 2: under
development, level 3: defined, level 4: managed, and level 5: optimized. The E2AMM model requires
iterative efforts to accomplish the desired objectives and missions of an organization. E2AMM model
guides the operating disciplines to effectively and efficiently organize and engage the technology entities
and business components (Schekkerman 2006).
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
The literature review of interoperability models and related approaches in section 2 makes clear that
interoperability of PSOs is complex to measure and benchmark, as it covers a wide range of diverse
areas and dimensions. Furthermore, the levels shown in Table 1 are mostly interrelated and
interdependent. Implementing these levels in the ordered form starting at level 0 can be abysmal as
some models have technical interoperability as their first level while others consider it to be the last level.
Most of the interoperability models lack a clear explanation of various organizational and architectural
aspects that influence the maturity of interoperability in PSO’s. While the maturity of technical levels is
concrete and can be achieved by utilizing state-of-art technological method and techniques, the maturity
of organizational levels (e.g. pragmatic, governance, business process, judicial, political, and organization
etc.) is much more vague (Janssen and Scholl 2007).
Related measurement and benchmarking approaches, as discussed in section 2.2, provide insight for
developing a measurement model that fulfils the overarching objectives. These approaches are
developed by different organizations as well as individual researchers for predefined objectives. The
majority of these approaches is used in PSOs as well as in private organizations. Stage models face
similar problems as mentioned above, while the quality models (BCS and EFQM) only focus on quality
aspects. The CMM model is famous for software-based solutions for software process assessment,
improvement and evaluation. Finally, EAMM is purely based on organizational aspects and lacks
technical aspects. All of the approaches discussed in section 2.2 lack a balance of organizational and
technical aspects, and not one of them caters for financial constraints. Moreover, none of the
interoperability maturity models provide any measures for benchmarking and implementing the
interoperability levels. Furthermore, the majority of interoperability models still remains conceptual and
needs to give more attention to unexplored aspects. In this paper we propose a maturity model without
an ordering format of levels and we define the related measures for benchmarking.
3.1 Proposed instrument
The instrument proposed in this paper is adapted from the interoperability architecture layers (technical,
syntactical, semantic and pragmatic) proposed by (Janssen and Scholl 2007). The layers carefully
address the organizational as well as technical aspects of interoperability. They split the pragmatic layer
into: 1) organizational level and 2) business process level. The instrument is valid for inter-connecting
various components of a single public service organization as well as different organizations, but for
reasons of simplicity we limit our scope to one organization.
Pragmatic Level: LCIM model explains pragmatic interoperability as the awareness level of procedures
and processes between the interoperating systems. Highest maturity at this level is achieved when
exchange of information is clear, transparent, and truly interpretable by the sender as well as the receiver
(Tolk, Turnitsa et al. 2006). This level also includes the sender’s intension of information exchange, and
contemplates contextual, personal, and psychological factors for differentiating different type of
communication (Picot, Reichwald et al. 2008). The pragmatic level helps PSOs to identify limitations to
avoid the adverse effects by analysing the maturity of organizational aspects and provides the guideline
to the right path for improving organizational aspects (Janssen and Scholl 2007). The pragmatic level
deals with various organizational and architectural aspects of PSOs; therefore we split this level into
further sub-levels: organization, business process, judicial, governance and financial (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Instrument for measuring and benchmarking interoperability
Organization: This sub-level deals with procedures, contracts, processes, services, and agreements
within organizations that affect the exchange of information between back-office systems. Organization
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
level helps PSOs with the development of a functional infrastructure for information systems
interoperation. Components of level surround several organizational issues e.g. uninterrupted progress,
horizontal implementation, reliance, collaboration, friendliness, readiness, business process reengineering
(BPR), relationships, and coordination. (Feenstra, Janssen et al. 2006).
Business process: PSOs aim to deliver better services by improving their processes; whereas the
intricacies in business processes not only impact the service provision, but also complicate the
information interpretation and understanding. This level deals with the alignment of business processes
and procedures, value creation, monitoring and controlling activities, long-term and short-term process
triggered integration, and continuously tracking and managing responsibilities, etc. Collaboration and
interaction between different information systems require clear, explicable, and lucid orchestration of
business processes.
Judicial: This level contains laws and regulations, constitutional and legal restraints, and organizational
safety and security issues. Unfortunately, judicial issues related to interoperability are sparsely discussed
(e.g. ATHENA 2004; IDABC 2004; Turnitsa 2005; Janssen and Scholl 2007; Scholl and Klischewski
2007; Cimander and Kubicek 2009). Goldkuhl (2009,p-4) defined the judicial interoperability layer as
“congruence between different laws and regulations”. We extend the scope of the judicial maturity level
by adding all concrete inflexible rules, regulations, laws, restraints, and issues that affect the interaction
of information systems in PSOs.
Governance: Pragmatic governance is characterized by the efficient and effective interoperation
between organizational mechanisms, provided these mechanisms steer the organizations in the right
direction (Janssen and Scholl 2007). According to Janssen and Joha (2007) “governance mechanisms
determine how communication, responsibilities, and decision-making structures are formalized”(Janssen
and Joha 2007, p.2307). Maturity of this level depends on the political and jurisdictional regulations,
official communication mechanisms, and execution of assigned responsibilities.
Financial: This maturity level concerns the economic issues that limit the overarching scope of
interoperability in PSOs.
As the explanation of semantic, syntactical, and technical levels is already well defined by many
organizations as well as individual authors (e.g. IDABC 2004; Turnitsa 2005; Janssen and Scholl 2007;
IDABC 2008; Maheshwari, Veenstra et al. 2011), we do not explain these issues further here. Although
the concepts of these levels are well-understood, unfortunately, there are no explicit measures for
benchmarking interoperability. Therefore, we adapt the already existing concepts of these technical levels
for developing measures for benchmarking interoperability.
3.2 Measures of benchmarking interoperability
The measures for benchmarking interoperability are developed based on the instrument shown in Figure
1, and on the literature review of section 2. The instrument that is developed comprises four maturity level
that are divided into sub-levels. The pragmatic level comprises five sub-levels that were described in the
previous section. The measures for each sub-level of the pragmatic level are: 1) organizational (context
and demarcation, collaboration and interaction, standards and policies, enterprise architecture (EA), and
environment and ethics); 2) business process (processes and procedures alignment, and service level
agreements (SLAs)); 3) judicial (laws and regulations, constitutional and legal restraints, and
organizational safety and security); 4) governance (political and jurisdictional regulations, formal
communication and responsibilities); and 5) economical (Return on Investment(ROI)). The semantic level
comprises three measures (definitions, classifications and relationships among systems). The syntactic
level makes sure that the data follow similar standards and structures (Janssen and Scholl 2007) and
comprises three maturity measures: solicitation, presentation, and translation. Finally, the technical level
deals with physical infrastructure for communication and information exchange, transportation of data,
and different types of information and communication protocols. The technical level is further divided into
two sub-levels: 1) physical (infrastructure, and telecommunication standards); and 2) information (Quality
of Service (QoS), and protocols). Table 2 shows the maturity levels and their respective measures with a
brief description of the concepts of the measures.
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
Table 2: Levels of interoperability and overview of measurement elements
Pragmatic Measures Description
Context and Level of to-the-point clearness and distinctiveness of the definitions,
demarcations
goals, objectives, challenges, and expectations of the PSOs.
Collaboration and Interactive, willing-full, and collaborative working relationships
interaction
among all quarters in PSOs.
Organizational standards and policies for horizontal implementation,
Organizational
Standards and policies reliance, uninterrupted progress, and BPR across different
departments, sections and divisions.
EA portrays the adverse effects of unprecedented nuts and bolts of
Enterprise architecture any organization at low level that effect the information exchange in
an organization.
Environment and ethics
Internal rivalries, monopolies, and un-willingness of the stakeholders
in PSOs.
Business
Processes and
procedures alignment
Smooth business transitions, control and monitor, integration, valuecreation,
and management and tracking of relative activities in
PSOs.
Process
Service level agreements
(SLAs)
SLAs assure the quality of service (QoS) and trigger the concerned
stake-holders to abide minimum requirements of information
exchange and interoperation.
Laws and regulations Correspondence between different laws and regulations in PSOs.
Judicial
Constitutional and legal
restraints
constitutional and legal limitations, correspondence restrictions, and
compatibility issues concerning information exchange and
interoperation in PSOs.
Organizational safety and Privacy, discretion, security limitation boundaries, and compliance of
security
information exchange.
Political and jurisdictional Avoiding imbalance and ill-use of power and prevention from wrong
regulations
decision making.
Governance
Formal communication
Cooperation and understanding among different concerned
quarters.
Responsibilities Smooth execution of tasks by assigning right-job-for-right-person.
Economical
Return on investment
(ROI)
Effects of economic constraints on maturity of interoperability.
Semantic Measures Description
Definitions
Describing the actual concepts that underpin the real meaning and
avoid misconceptions.
Semantic Classifications
categorical classification of information data to enable sender and
receiver (vice versa) to recognize the message.
Relationships among Understanding and cooperation among system for improved quality
systems
of service (QoS).
Syntactical Measures Description
Solicitation
Format of information for encoding and decoding the exchanged
information.
Syntactical Presentation
Structure of information for encoding and decoding the exchanged
information
Translation
Translation of exchanged information for proper interpretation of
different formats of data.
Technical Measures Description
Physical
Infrastructure
Telecommunication
standards
Physical infrastructure for reliable information exchange and
communication.
Communication medium, equipment, hardware, and software
Quality of service(QoS) Timestamps, sessions, and accessibility
Information
Protocols
Routing, transport, data management, security, and quality protocols
etc.
4. An illustrative case study for the pragmatic level
To illustrate the pragmatic level of the interoperability benchmark, we invited experts from the Dutch
Inland Revenue Service to participate in a survey. We focused on the pragmatic level as the other levels
of benchmarking interoperability are already well defined. The Dutch Inland Revenue Service is one of
the largest public organizations that employs more than 3000 staff involved in ICT. In this illustrative and
explorative case study, we asked experts in Dutch tax organization to fill out a questionnaire on
organizational issues related to EA and interoperability. This survey was part of a session on EA in which
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
we eleven participants took part, from which five persons filled out the questionnaire . The participants
were encouraged to reflect on the measures and provide suggestions for improvements. The questions
were put together to measure organizational aspects influencing the overarching EA and interoperability
by categorically specifying the maturity value of each measure of the pragmatic level from 1 (low) to 5
(high). Table 3 shows the list of twenty questions related to interoperability out of a total of 96 questions
that were included in the survey.
Table 3: Questions related to the measures developed for the pragmatic layer
Table 3 shows the average and the standard deviation calculated for each question. The resultant
average values for each measure show the maturity level, where the standard deviation shows the level
of consensus or disagreement among the participant’s perceptions on these measures. Table 3 shows
that different questions related to the same measure might have different outcomes. For example,
question 4 has a relatively low average value compared to the questions 1, 2 and 3. Whereas the vision
on interoperability is clear, there is a lack of organizational principles guiding the implementation of
interoperability. The discussion with the five participants showed that there was space for further
refinement and extension of the questions asked as shown in Table 3 and that measuring interoperability
and covering all levels requires a large amount of questions. It is, however, questionable if it is desired or
feasible to have hundreds of questions for measuring all levels and details of interoperability. Hence, our
further research concentrates on better understanding the level of abstraction that is required to measure
interoperability at a satisfactory level. The elements of Table 3 provide a starting point for this.
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Devender Maheshwari et al.
The results of the illustrative case study show that although the level of interoperability can be measured,
interpreting and understanding the measures remains difficult. This is explained by the high standard
deviations of some responses, which means that the persons have limited agreement about the answer.
Furthermore, we found that there were discussions about the outcomes on some questions. For example
Q19 shows that there is cooperation among stakeholders, however, this does not mean that the
cooperation is smoothly. This finding is confirmed in the literature. Benchmarking is a difficult
phenomenon since a wrong interpretation can result as a disguise rather than blessing (Bannister 2007).
Furthermore, benchmarking measures for interoperability are difficult to select as they vary in scope,
based on desired objectives of PSOs. Hence, a trade-off between completeness and level of abstraction
(how much detail is measured) is present. As the measures of the pragmatic level were identified after
the survey was sent out, this illustrative case study only focuses on part of the pragmatic. The illustrative
case study shows that the measurements that identified, provide further insight into interoperability
benchmarking. Therefore, the measures will be extended in further research.
5. Conclusion and future work
Interoperability measuring and benchmarking remains a challenging subject for public organizations. It is
often defined as a merely technical problem, even though organizational aspects of interoperability have
proven to be equally important. Based on a division between technical, syntactical, semantic and
pragmatic interoperability, we developed a list of measures for benchmarking interoperability on the
pragmatic level. These measures were applied in an illustrative case study to evaluate whether they
provide greater insight into pragmatic operability in organizations. Furthermore, we developed an
instrument for determining overall interoperability of organizations. We found that the measures for
benchmarking interoperability on the pragmatic level were seen as useful, although a trade-off between
the scope and abstraction level was identified. Further research will look closer into the application of the
interoperability measures and the benchmarking instrument. This paper is a first step toward further
expansion of the measures for benchmarking interoperability. We intend to carry out an extensive case
study in future. Furthermore, this study should include more respondents to evaluate further the
measures proposed in this paper.
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786
Barriers to Developing eGovernment Projects in Developing
Countries
Zaigham Mahmood
University of Derby, UK
z.mahmood@derby.ac.uk
Abstract: eGovernment is about transforming the way a government interacts with its citizens and harnessing the
information and technology revolution to improve the efficiency of the government. It is the use of information and
communications technologies (ICTs) to operate more effectively and transparently to strengthen support to public
policies and involve the citizens in decision making processes. eGovernment is not a one-off process or a single
event: its implementation is a staged and iterative process that requires a clear vision and long term strategy. If
implemented appropriately, eGovernment offers numerous benefits including: 1) cost reduction, efficiency gains and
improved quality of service delivery; 2) transparency and accountability; 3) development of a networked digital
community and a true information society; 4) better and efficient decision making on the part of government leaders
and 5) citizens’ participation through e-democracy. Whereas, developed economies of the world are well advanced in
the process of achieving vertical and horizontal full integration within the eGovernment provision, many developing
countries are only at the initial stages of such developments and are finding it difficult to progress to the next stages
to achieve full eGovernment. Difficulties are due to the fact that eGovernment is a huge undertaking and there are
numerous inherent issues and barriers to successful development and implementation which include: 1) lack of clear
vision and commitment from political leadership; 2) inappropriate assessment of eReadiness of the nation; 3) lack of
ICT infrastructure and provision; 4) unavailability of ICT equipment and citizens’ limited access to such technology
and 5) citizens’ inability to make full use of ICT usually due to lack of e-literacy and the digital divide that normally
exist in most developing countries. This paper discusses such limitations and barriers and presents a way forward by
suggesting that governments need to ensure that: 1) they have a clear vision, strategy and commitment; 2) they
understand the complexity of the undertaking and the level of investment required; 3) they develop workable and
transparent policies and structures and 4) they also consider human factors including people’s preferences and ways
of actions. The aim of this paper is to provide some useful practical guidance so that the eGovernment projects have
a better chance of being more successful.
Keywords: eGovernment, eReadiness, barriers, issues, developing countriest
1. Introduction
eGovernment is a multi- and interdisciplinary field. It is about harnessing the information revolution to
improve the efficiency of a government. According to the European Commission (2003), EGovernment is
the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in public administrations combined with
organizational change and new skills in order to improve public services and democratic processes and
strengthen support to public policies. InfoDev (2002) define it as the use of ICT to transform government
by making it more accessible, effective and accountable. The World Bank (Kannan, 2009) provides a
much more succinct definition suggesting that eGovernment refers to utilising ICT for changing and
improving the relationship between governments, citizens, businesses and other government entities.
The aim is to enhance the transparency of government operations and enrich the lives of its citizens. It
provides a citizen centred vision of a government that facilitates effective governance, better
management and efficient services through the use of ICT.
In this context, world governments are mobilizing huge amounts of resources to develop, implement and
promote the use of eGovernment. Depending on the clarity of governments’ vision and availability of
resources, world governments are at different stages of eGovernment developments. It should be noted
that eGovernment is not a single event that immediately and forever alters the universe of government. It
is a staged and iterative process. Provision of eGovernment is a complex undertaking and it takes years
of implementation effort. Numerous models for eGovernment development have been suggested by
researchers e.g. Gartner (2000), Howard (2001), Chandler and Emanuels (2002), Hiller and Belanger
(2002), Layne and Lee (2001), Moon (2002), Alpar (2005), Andersen and Henriksen (2006). Based on
these, Mahmood (2009a) suggests a five-step model with the following stages:
Informational: this is the first stage, often termed as G2C (government-to-customer) integration which
refers to the provision of one way information via one or more government portals. The aim is to
provide static information with respect to services and make announcements. The C2G (customer-togovernment)
interaction is missing at stage.
Interactive: this is the next stage in the process that provides a two-way interaction (G2C and C2G)
for the provision of further information. Here, a certain amount of interaction is available e.g. citizens
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can make enquiries through the use of e-mail and engage in discussion through the use of bulletin
boards etc.
Transactional: this stage is the real beginning of effective eGovernment where transactions can take
place via the telephone and other Internet technologies. At this stage, citizens can make online
payments of bills and purchase goods via the Internet. This is where citizens can engage in ecommerce
(and e-business) activities. The relevant terms include: G2B (government-to-business),
B2B (business-to-business), B2C (business-to-customer), C2B (customer-to-business).
Integrated: this is the next stage where G2G (government-to-government) interaction takes place
(along with G2C, C2G and B2B). It refers to aligning the horizontal integration of government services
within departments as well as implementing vertical integration so that there is a complete network
where two-way communications and transactions takes place between and across government
divisions (as well as between the government departments and the governed).
Participative: this is final stage which provides the highest level of interaction. Here, citizens can
participate in the provision and affairs of the government to further affect the government decisions
and processes. A term commonly used, in this context, is e-democracy.
Whereas, developed economies such as those in Europe and the US are well advanced in the process of
achieving vertical and horizontal integrating with respect to eGovernment projects and are, therefore, at
Integrated and Participative stages, many developing countries are at the first three stages of such
developments and are finding it somewhat difficult to progress to the next stages of eGovernment.
Difficulties are due to the fact that eGovernment projects are huge undertakings and there are numerous
inherent issues and barriers to successful implementation.
Successful development of eGovernment requires robust ICT infrastructure to be in place, serious
commitment from political leadership and investment of huge amounts of time and money resources as
well as provision of education to citizens. It is also imperative that relevant technologies are easily
available to citizens and they have full access to their capabilities.
In this paper, we first discuss, in some detail, the issues and barriers to successful development and
implementation of eGovernment projects in the context of developing nations, and then present
suggestions for a way forward. The aim is to provide some useful practical guidance so that the
eGovernment projects have a better chance of being more successful.
2. Barriers to developing eGovernment
Barriers to developing eGovernment projects can be categorised as belonging to the following varieties:
cultural, political, institutional, external, human, financial and citizens concerns (Kannan, 2009). In the
case of developing countries, the issues and limitations are many. These generally include the following:
Lack of commitment from political leadership: unfortunately, this is generally the case in developing
countries
Inappropriate assessment of eReadiness: often due to the fact that the inherent complexity is not well
understood
Lack of ICT infrastructure and provision: often because of limited financial resources as well as due
to lack of understanding and commitment
Citizens’ limited access to ICT: usually due to the digital divide but also due to the general lack of ICT
provision
Citizens’ inability to make full use of ICT: usually due to lack of awareness and education and fear of
embracing the new technologies.
Government’s lack of full support to e-business community and certain highly embedded cultural aspects
are also important limiting factors. EGovernment in the developing world must also accommodate certain
conditions, needs and obstacles, that are unique to such societies, including a continuing oral tradition,
corruption at the government level as well as in the society, lack of clear legal frameworks and weak
educational systems.
InfoDev (2002) mentions 17 challenges with respect to eGovernment development. Some of these, more
relevant to developing countries, include: 1) developing infrastructure; 2) establishing policies - public and
legal; 3) developing e-literacy programmes; 4) marketing of innovation and 5) gaining citizen’s trust. The
last two points are particularly interesting. Lack of proper marketing of innovation is due to lack of
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commitment and responsibility on the part of the government officials and a lack of citizen’s trust is often
due to corruption in government circles (and perhaps also within the society).
Ndou (2004) mentions a number of similar challenges facing the developing countries, in particular:
ICT infrastructure – referring to a lack of eReadiness and computer literacy in the society as well as
unavailability of ICT equipment
Policy issues – referring to inappropriate legislation with respect to legal and data protection
regulations
Human capital development – referring to a lack of opportunity for sustained learning and acquiring
skills
Change management – referring to the masses’ resistance to change to adopt new attitudes due to
the way the society normally operates
Strategy (vision, mission) – referring to insufficient political commitment
Leadership role and strategy – referring to a lack of motivation, commitment and long term strategy.
This also suggests that developing countries must pursue a more active role in the formulation of national
policies and strategies to promote the information economy, to develop opportunities for long-life learning
and to show the required commitment and political will to reap the benefits in terms of economic and
social growth and development that come as a result of successful implementation of eGovernment.
Ndou (2004) has no doubt that eGovernment is often limited and largely hampered by the existence of
many political, social and economic hindrances.
One primary reason for inherent issues has been described as due to a mismatch between the existing
reality and the future desired system. According to Heeks (2003), there are three types of such gaps:
Technology vs. Human Factors gaps: this refers to the difference between the existing technology
(hardware) and the reality of the social context by way of the culture, people attitudes etc (soft).
Private-Public gaps: this refers to the way the private and public sectors operate. There is usually a
big difference, mainly due to the digital-cultural-affluence divide.
Country-sensitive gaps: this refers to the difference in the way the developed and developing
countries approach in organising a system. Often the developing countries copy the approaches
taken by developed countries disregarding the differences in context.
An investigation conducted by Heeks (2003) suggested that implementations of eGovernment in
developing countries failed in case of 35% of projects in the sense of total failure when the projects were
abandoned and roughly half of the projects were judged as partial failures. Although, situation has
improved, failure rates or number of unsuccessful or abandoned projects is still unacceptably high.
The following sections provide guidance with a view to suggesting solutions to some of the issues
mentioned above.
3. Guidance on implementation of eGovernment
In view of the issues and barriers outlined in the previous section, it is clear that appropriate technology
infrastructure needs to be put in place and adequate marketing of the innovation is carried out. It is also
imperative that the following human factors are taken into account:
Peoples’ attitudes and fears towards new technologies, their existing educational level, the level of
their willingness to embrace new products and procedures based on their preferences and cultural
backgrounds.
Digital-educational-affluence divide that often exists in developing countries. If ignored then
acceptance of new innovation by educated, e-literate and affluent sectors of the society will results in
the gap getting even wider.
eGovernment also implies fundamental knowledge redistribution and requires a careful rethinking of the
management of project know-how, domain expertise, information resources and knowledge bases. At the
same time, the specific problems of public administration, governance and document management
system also need to be taken into account. This suggests that knowledge management, in all its aspects,
is an area not to be ignored.
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It is important that a proper assessment of the country’s eReadiness is carried out, before agreeing a
strategy. Once a strategy is devised, the process of implementation can begin. A review of e-assessment
approaches can be found in Mahmood (2009b). At a very basic level, therefore, it is important that the
framework for the adoption of eGovernment includes the following steps in the same order (Siemens,
2008; Mahmood, 2009b):
eReadiness assessment – of the current situation, existing infrastructure, available skills and the
existing processes.
Strategy – based on the assessment reports for the overall project specification, roadmap for
eGovernment implementation and projects’ management.
Processes – required for the fulfilment of the project goals and monitoring of activities.
If implemented correctly, considering the factors as mentioned above, the benefits to be achieved are the
same as those in developed countries. These include (Ndou, 2004):
Cost reduction, efficiency gains and improved quality of service delivery
Transparency and accountability
Development of a networked digital community and a true information society
Better and efficient decision making on the part of government leaders
Citizens’ participation through e-democracy.
The following sections discuss some of the important factors that are important for successful
development of eGovernment projects.
3.1 Developing Infrastructure
Developing even a basic infrastructure for the entire nation, to take advantage of the latest ICTs, is a
complex undertaking. It takes a considerable amount of time, financial resources as well as a long-term
commitment. It requires a policy decision and sensible workable strategy and implementation plan. If a
country is limited in the financial resources required, which is often the case for developing countries, the
task at hand becomes even more difficult. In practice, therefore, implementation is carried out in stages.
Often, certain areas are chosen (initially big cities) to pilot the scheme and then the areas extended
slowly over a period of time – to cover the entire country in the fullness of time. This is sensible and
workable strategy as there is a good chance that the citizens in the pilot areas are more affluent and
better e-literate than their countrymen in other areas.
It should be noted that infrastructure is not just laying the cables; it also includes provision of business
opportunities for the marketing of ICT tools and technologies (e.g. computing equipment, telephones,
modems, software) so that citizens can have access to these. With this in place, other related businesses
will also begin to appear to provide related services (e.g. internet service providers, software and
hardware vendors).
3.2 Policies and controls
When the infrastructure exists, it is imperative that the civil and legislative policies are also in place,
especially in relation to the following:
Data transmission protocols
Data protection and data privacy legislation
Legislation to protect citizen’s rights in connection with all aspects of the new innovation.
This, again, is not easy. Although, this does not necessarily require investment of money, it does require
a commitment on the part of political leaders as well as a clear foresight to ensure that the resulting
policies are appropriate and workable. In doing so, the government must take a holistic view so that the
focus is not just on technology but also on human and social aspects. The idea is to protect citizens as
much as smooth introduction of technology. Transparency of such regulations is also important. It is
imperative that such policies are seen to be working – rather than just being in the rule books. A useful
side effect of this is that the citizens will feel secure and be more willing to embrace the innovation; this
being the ultimate goal of implementation of eGovernment. It is noticed that policies are often not seen to
be working in developing countries and therefore the political leaders need to be extra committed that
best practices, as suggested by other successful nations, are transparently adhered to.
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3.3 Training of the masses
Zaigham Mahmood
In developing countries, opportunities are often lacking, whether these are in relation to business,
education or training. If the government is investing in the ICT infrastructure and developing correct
policies then it is imperative that citizens are appropriately empowered to take advantage of the new
opportunities. In this context, relevant training and increase in e-literacy is of paramount importance. This
may mean providing training opportunities during evenings and weekends and through local schools and
other similar organisations. This may also mean setting up a new breed of training places just for this
purpose and ensuring that the expertise is readily available in case people have difficulties or issues.
This also requires a sensible long-term plan and a phased approach: piloting the scheme in a few
geographical areas to begin with and then extending it to other regions over a period of time. There is
often a fear when venturing into new technological areas, so one aspect of such training must be to alley
such fears otherwise citizens will remain reluctant to embrace the innovation.
3.4 Transparency of functions
Transparency must be a primary guiding principle behind all such development. In developing countries,
there is often a lack of vision and commitment on the part of government officials which causes mistrust
within the government departments and between the government and the governed. Policies need to be
seen to be working and working equally and fairly for all sections of the society. Transparency of
whatever the government does is much more important for developing nations than it is for the
developed. Strategy should be to start small, have it seen to be working efficiently and effectively and
then build on it to develop further. Marketing of the new approaches must be with honesty that people
can see. Officials and government departments must lead by example.
This also requires an understanding and admittance of the fact that there may well be a trust deficit;
otherwise, the efforts will not bear the fruits expected of such developments.
4. Conclusion
eGovernment is the use of ICT for the government to operate more effectively and the use of same
technologies by the citizens to participate in government’s decision making processes. It is a huge
undertaking that requires a long term planning and commitment of effort and resources. Whereas,
developed countries are being successful in implementing eGovernment, developing countries face many
barriers and limitations. Such difficulties are, generally, due to the following reasons:
Lack of clear vision and commitment from political leadership
Inappropriate assessment of eReadiness of the nation
Lack of ICT infrastructure and provision
Unavailability of ICT equipment and citizens’ limited access to technology
Lack of e-literacy of the masses
Digital and economic divide that normally exists in developing countries.
The solution is to ensure that: 1) a proper eReadiness assessment is conducted; 2) a workable strategy
is devised; and 3) appropriate process are designed and implemented. It is important that human factors,
a nation’s cultural values and people’s attitudes to new technologies are taken into account. Commitment
of political leaders and a clean vision with respect to eGovernment development is a pre-requisite. Case
studies from other nations and elements of good practices must also be studied. It should be noted that
eGovernment is a staged process and it should be implemented in an iterative manner.
This paper has discussed the issues and barriers to successful development and implementation of
eGovernment projects in the context of developing nations. It also provides some useful guidance so that
eGovernment developments have a better chance of being more successful.
References
Alpar, P. and Olbrich, S. (2005) ‘Legal Requirements and Modelling of Processes in EGovernment’, Electronic
Journal of EGovernment, Vol 3, Issue 3, pp 107-116
Andersen, K. V. and Henriksen, H. Z. (2006) ‘EGovernment Maturity Models: Extension of the Layne and Lee Model’,
Government Information Quarterly, Vol 23, No 2, pp 236-248
Baum, C. and Di Mayo, A. (2000) ‘Gartner’s Four Phases of EGovernment Model’, Gartner Group, Research Note
367

Zaigham Mahmood
Chandler, S. and Emanuels, S. (2002) ‘Transformation not Automation’, Proc. European Conf on EGovernment,
Oxford, UK
European Commission (2003) ‘The Role of EGovernment for Europe’s Future’, European Economic and Social
Committee Report, European Parliament, Brussels
Heeks (2003) ‘Most EGovernment-for-Development Projects Fail: How can risks be reduced?’, iGovernment Working
Paper Series, Paper no 14, IDPM, University of Manchester, UK
Hiller, J. S. and Belanger, F. (2001) ‘Privacy Strategies for Electronic Government’, The Price Waterhouse
Endowment for the Business of Government, Virginia, US
Howard, M. (2001) ‘EGovernment Across the Globe: How will ‘e’ Change Government’, Government Finance
Review, 17(4), pp 6-9
InforDev (2002) ‘The EGovernment Handbook for Developing Countries’, Centre for Democracy and Technology,
Washington D.C., Nov 2002
Kannan, R. K. (2009) ‘Making Sense of EGovernment Implementation in Jordan: A Qualitative Investigation’, PhD
Thesis, De Montford University, UK, April 2009
Layne, K. and Lee, J. (2001) ‘Developing Fully Functional EGovernment: A Four Stage Model’, Government
Information Quarterly, 18, pp 122-136
Moon, M. J. (2002) ‘The Evolution of EGovernment among Municipalities: Rhetoric or Reality?’, Public Admin
Review, Vol 62, No 4, pp 424-433
Mahmood, Z. (2009a) ‘EGovernment: Stage Models for Successful Development’, Proc 13 th Int. IBIMA Int.
Conference, Morocco, Marrakech, Nov 2009
Mahmood, Z. (2009b) ‘EGovernment: EReadiness Factors and Implementation Strategy’, Proc 13 th Int. IBIMA conf.,
Marrakech, Morocco, Nov 2009
Ndou, V. D. (2004) ‘EGovernment for Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges’, Electronic Journal on
Information Systems in Developing Countries, 18.1, pp 1-24
Siemens, A. G. (2008) ‘EGovernment Framework – Building Blocks of EGovernment’, Siemens AG
368

Digital Inclusion: A Target not Always Desirable
Fausto Marcantoni and Alberto Polzonetti
School of Science and Technology, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
fausto.marcantoni@unicam.it
alberto.polzonetti@unicam.it
Abstract. Activities directed at "including" more people in the use of digital technology are predicated on the
assumption that such inclusion is invariably a good thing. It appears so, when judged solely by immediate
practical convenience. However, if we also judge in terms of human rights, whether digital inclusion is good or
bad depends on what kind of digital world we are to be included in. If we wish to work toward digital inclusion as a
goal, it behooves us to make sure it is the good kind. In this paper after introducing the problem, we analyzed the
threats faced by the surfers. In this context, we examined the challenges of human rights in society and we have
provided some final evaluations that justify our title.
Keywords: digital divide, digital inclusion, information society
1. Introduction
In the social sciences, inclusion refers to a process, de facto and/or de jure, of including people in a
given social structure, most often, in society at large. Conversely, social exclusion describes ‘‘the
inability of our society to keep all groups and individuals within reach of what we expect as a
society…[or] to realize their full potential’’.(Power and Wilson,2000). Although an echo of a pure
economic theory can be traced in EU policies on e-inclusion (e.g., the emphasis accorded to the need
to promote ‘‘active’’ living), it is indisputable that the EU approach to e-inclusion is based on a
different vision. Ethics are an integral part of the EU concept of e-inclusion: ‘‘e-Inclusion is necessary
for social justice, ensuring equity in the knowledge society’’. (European Commission A. (2007)).
On 11–13 June 2006, the European Commission, together with the Latvian government and the
Austrian Presidency of the EU, organized a high-level conference on the theme ‘‘ICT for an inclusive
society’’ in Riga. The conference included an informal meeting of Ministers ,where Ministers of the EU
Member States and accession and candidate countries, European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries
and other countries adopted a Declaration on e-inclusion, commonly known as the ‘‘Riga Declaration’’
The Riga Declaration explicitly calls for increasing ethical awareness:
Particular attention must be paid to further improve user motivation towards ICT use, as well as
trust and confidence through better security and privacy protection. Furthermore, greater gender
balance in the information society remains a key objective.
Realizing increased quality of life, autonomy and safety, while respecting privacy and ethical
requirements.
The centrality of ethical issues in e-inclusion has been further reasserted by the Communication on
Ageing well in the Information Society. (European Commission B (2007))
Solutions can only bring benefits if users have access to basic ICT facilities, have the appropriate
education and motivation, and ethical and psychological issues are properly addressed. There is no
specific reference point for ethics in ICT for ageing, for example, in safeguarding human dignity and
autonomy where solutions require a degree of monitoring and intervention.
The concept is also affirmed in the associated Commission Staff Working Paper (European
Commission. C 2007) . With the emergence of ICT and ageing new ethical questions are being
raised. These questions find their origin in the vulnerability of the user, the changing characteristics of
the user population (e.g. more people surviving at high age but also the trend towards more educated
and empowered users), economic constraints such as public budgets that are at tension with serving
all fully in health and social care and the constant renewal of science and technology.
Still more specifically, the recent Communication ‘‘European i2010 initiative on e-Inclusion” says that
‘‘It is also important to raise awareness of the risks involved in processing personal data through ICT
networks and educate users in this field, e.g. risks of identity theft, discriminatory profiling or
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Fausto Marcantoni and Alberto Polzonetti
continuous surveillance.’’ Yet until the Seventh Framework Program, there have been few systematic,
coordinated initiatives on ethics and e-inclusion.
2. Threats
Digital information and communication technology offers the possibility of a new world of freedom. It
also offers possibilities of surveillance and control which dictatorships of the past could only struggle
to establish. The battle to decide between these possibilities is being fought now. Activities directed at
"including" more people in the use of digital technology are predicated on the assumption that such
inclusion is invariably a good thing. It appears so, when judged solely by immediate practical
convenience. However, if we judge also in terms of human rights, the question of whether digital
inclusion is good or bad depends on what kind of digital world we are to be included in. If we wish to
work toward digital inclusion as a goal, it behooves us to make sure it is the good kind. The digital
world today faces six major threats to users' freedom: surveillance, censorship, proprietary software,
restricted formats, copyright enforcement. A program to promote "digital inclusion" must take account
of these threats, so as to avoid exposing its intended beneficiaries to them.
2.1 Surveillance and censorship
In general, the various texts relating Information Society refer in euphoric terms to the potential
benefits of ICTs and the new opportunities they open up, but fail to address the threats and
challenges they can bring with them. These are particularly apparent with regard to the right to
privacy. It is true that ICTs can and should be used to protect the right to privacy, but they also
provide unprecedented possibilities for massive violations of this right. Contrary to the Summit, the
International Symposium considered the following issues: The use of increasingly invasive means of
surveillance and of interception of communications, of intrusive profiling and identification, and of
biometric identification technology, the development of communication technologies with built-in
surveillance capacities, the collection and misuse of genetic data, genetic testing, the growing
invasion of privacy at the workplace, and the weakening of data protection regimes give rise to
serious concerns from the point of view of respect for human rights (Statement on Human
Rights,2005). The Statement adopted by the International Symposium emphasized that "[n]ew means
must be developed to protect the human right to privacy, such as the right to know about one's
personal data held by public and private institutions and to have them deleted where not strictly
necessary for a legitimate purpose in a democratic society” The Symposium also stated that "the
development, transfer and use of technology permitting illegitimate invasion of privacy must be
controlled and curbed.”
The digital divide is no more than a symptom of a far more serious and deep-seated evil, i.e. the
unequal distribution of wealth among and within countries, the growing gap between the rich and the
poor. Any serious effort to heal, remedy or alleviate this state of affairs must obviously address the
disease and not simply the symptom. ICTs are not the panacea. It is certainly naive to believe that
giving people in poor countries mobile phones or Internet connections will in itself eradicate or reduce
poverty. Is it necessary to recall that for the Internet one needs electricity and that the use of the
Internet is difficult for people who are illiterate? It is true that there is a boom in cellular phones in
many countries of the South; however it is essentially concentrated in the cities. This certainly serves
the interests of the producers of cellular phones, but does it serve the interests of the poor in the
South and will it reduce poverty? Are costly cellular phones or Internet connections priorities for
people who lack nutrition, water and health? ICTs should not be seen as ends in themselves. Any
serious policy of ICT development must be part and parcel of a global policy of human and
sustainable development and poverty reduction.
When the topic of Internet censorship is mentioned, people are likely to think of China, but many
supposedly freedom-respecting countries have imposed censorship. Denmark's government has
blocked access to a secret list of web pages. Australia's government wants to do likewise, but has
met strong resistance, so instead it has forbidden links to a long list of URLs. Australia now says it will
censor access to a secret list of foreign sites starting this year. (Electronic Frontiers Australia,2009).
Censorship of the contents of web sites is also a threat. India just announced a broad plan of
censorship that would effectively abolish freedom of the press on the Internet (The times of
India,2009).Some European countries censor particular political views on the Internet. In the United
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States, people have been imprisoned as "terrorists" for running a web site which discussed actions
taken against experiments on animals.
Censorship is nothing new. What is new is the ease and effectiveness of censorship on electronic
communication and publication (even where a few wizards have ways to bypass it). China in 1960
achieved effective censorship by cutting its population off from the world, but that held back the
country's development, which was painful for the regime as well as for the population. Today China
uses digital technology to achieve effective political censorship without cutting itself off in other ways.
(Network World, 2009)
2.2 Proprietary Software And Restricted Formats
In order for computer users to have freedom in their own computing activities, they must have control
over the software they use. This means it must be free software. A program is free/libre if it gives the
user these four essential freedoms: (GNU,2009)
- The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
- The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish
(freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
- The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this
you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the
source code is a precondition for this.
When software is free, the users control what it does. A non-free or proprietary program is under the
control of its developer, an functions as an instrument to give the developer control over the users. It
may be convenient or it may not, but in either case it imposes on its users a social system that keeps
them divided and helpless. Avoiding this injustice and giving users control over their computing
requires the four freedoms. Freedoms 0 and 1 give you control over your own computing, and
freedom 3 enables users to work together to jointly control their computing, while freedom 2 means
users are not kept divided.
Many argue that free/libre software is impossible on theoretical economic grounds. Some of them
misinterpret free/libre software as "gratis software"; others understand the term correctly, but either
way they claim that business will never want to develop such software. Combining this with a
theoretical premise 'Such as "Useful software can only be developed by paying programmers," they
conclude that free software could never exist. This argument is typically presented elliptically in the
form of a question such as, "How can programmers make a living if software is free?" Both premises,
as well as the conclusion, contradict well-known facts; perhaps the elliptical questions are meant to
obscure the premises so people will not compare them with the facts.
Restricted file formats impose private control over communication and publication Those who control
the formats control, in a general sense, society's use of information, since it can't be distributed or
read/viewed without their permission. For instance, text files are often distributed in the secret
Microsoft Word format, which other developers have only imperfectly been able to decode and
implement. This practice is comparable to publishing books in a secret alphabet which only officially
approved scribes know how to read.
A restricted format is a trap; any and all use of the format has the effect of pushing computer users
into the trap. Inclusion in dependence on these formats is not a step forward.
2.3 Copyright and sharing
The biggest conflict over freedom in the Internet is the War on Sharing: the attempt by the publishing
industry to prevent Internet users from enjoying the capability to copy and share information.
Copyright was established in the age of the printing press as an industrial regulation on the business
of writing and publishing. The aim was to encourage the publication of a diversity of written works.
The means used was to require publishers to get the author's permission to publish recent writings.
This enabled authors to get income from publishers, which facilitated and encouraged writing. The
general reading public received the benefit of this, while losing little: copyright restricted only
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publication, not the things an ordinary reader could do, so it was easy to enforce and met with little
opposition. That made copyright arguably a beneficial system for the public, and therefore legitimate.
One obstacle stands in the way of this utopia: copyright. Readers and listeners who make use of their
new ability to copy and share published information are technically copyright infringers. The same law
which formerly acted as a beneficial industrial regulation on publishers has now become a restriction
on the public it was meant to benefit.
In a democracy, a law that prohibits a popular and useful activity is usually soon relaxed. Not so
where corporations have more political power than the public. The entertainment companies' lobby is
determined to prevent the public from taking advantage of the power of their computers, and has
found copyright a suitable tool. Under their influence, rather than relaxing copyright rules to permit
productive and free use of the Internet, governments have made it stricter than ever, forbidding the
act of sharing
3. New economy motivations
In common parlance, the .new economy. is defined as the transformation of the economy from one
based on agriculture and manufacturing into one based on services and high-technology skills
(Greenspan 2000). Information technology enables firms and governments to push the limits of
economic efficiency. Developed countries are faced with a shortage of skilled labor and are, therefore,
trying to attract qualified labor from developing. countries. This has a dual effect for the developing
nations: the flow of remittances into the country increases, but they lose qualified workers for their
own national development (United Nations 2000). Human talent becomes just another one of the
commodified natural resources exported for consumption in the developed world. For workers
worldwide, this practice leads to a decline in job security and solidarity because individuals must now
compete in a global labor force. Long-term employment in one company becomes increasingly rare. It
signals a cultural change where loyalty to institutions and places becomes a liability. Those who do
manage to obtain longevity are seen as either having a lack of initiative or as simply being
incompetent.
This loss of solidarity and collective reference is also seen in the management ranks where the focus
is on short-term financials. This leads to a reign of flexibility with recruitment on temporary contracts,
repeated downsizing, and competition within firms by profit centers. Managers are individually
monitored and controlled with practices such as pay-for-performance, individual objective setting,
bonuses, and incentive based on individual merit. Managers act more like independent proprietors,
often abdicating their social responsibility to their subordinates. Therefore, it is not surprising that talk
of trust, knowledge sharing, communities of practice, and corporate culture are prevalent because the
organization is stripping its workers. commitment through short-term employment. In a world of
downsizing, anxiety, and demoralization, there is a strong need on the part of management to give a
discourse of continuity to workers (Bourdieu 1998).
Information technologies have allowed for enormous flexibility in several key dimensions. Economic
capital flows from place to place electronically. Intellectual capital is captured and distributed in much
the same fashion. Virtual teams are assembled when and where specific skill sets are required. When
the task is accomplished, the team is dismantled. Temporary or full-time workers move on to new
tasks, new settings, new teams. Management becomes increasingly virtual in a world of increasingly
virtual organizational and social arrangements. In this new economy, the traditional employment
covenant has been discarded (Truex et al. 1995). Skill sets change rapidly and the employee must
take responsibility for gaining these skills and keeping them current. Retraining is akin to school
exams within the enterprise where employees have to prove their mastery of new skills and
competencies. Insecurity and a sense of unworthiness are being reinforced because the aptitudes
that served workers well in the past are now being evalued and replaced with often short-lived
knowledge-based skills. Such messages coupled with the structural violence of knowing that the
people next door as well as people on the other side of the globe can take one’s job are perquisites
for creating a submissive and exploitable workforce (Bourdieu 1998).
In short, the new economy is fueled and driven by information and communications technologies.
Thus it has become a matter of faith that everyone must be technology literate, web connected, and
willing to change at Internet speeds. How are we to make sense of all this?
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4. Challenges to human rights in information society
Information technology presents opportunity and risk to people in the information society. New
challenges to human rights have been emerged in the information age. These new challenges include
but not limited to the commercialization of the Internet, invasion of the personal privacy, the growth of
law enforcement authority, and the globalization of decision-making authority. Equally important are
limitations, surveillance and censorship by the State or private parties, especially in the post-
September 11th, 2001.
Central to these challenges is the exclusion of most people in developing countries from the
advantages of advances in digital information, the commoditization of information and knowledge, and
the growing concentration of ownership and control of the means of producing and disseminating
information and knowledge. The massive disparities in access to information and to the means of
communication, known as “the digital divide,” are a result of the unequal distribution of wealth among
and within countries. The digital divide results in unequal access to information and to the means of
communication and information, thus producing massive exclusion. All avenues must be explored to
ensure to all equal and affordable access to information, means of communication, and the necessary
technology and infrastructure.
Concentration of ownership in the hands of a few major corporations limits the opportunities for
information and communications technologies to adequately reflect the pluralism of perspectives and
diversity of cultures The Information and Communication Society will not contribute to human
development and human rights unless and until access to information is considered a public good to
be protected by the State and promoted by the market.
The Commercialization of the Internet. The graphical interface of the internet has made it easier for
many individuals, organizations and nations to take advantage of global networks, to establish an
online presence, interaction, use and to exchange information and ideas in the global information
society. Information society for all and all have benefited from it.
First, commercialization of the Internet also poses the threat to the rights which would otherwise be
protected in the physical reality. Individuals have forced to pay for services that might otherwise be
routinely provided free. A critical example is the confidentiality of correspondence. By tradition,
communication services have assured the privacy of personal correspondence and personal
communication. But these rights are not protected in the cyber environment records of
communications and the transactions are valuable for marketing purposes.
Secondly, commercialization of the Internet may pose a threat to the freedom of expression. And
finally, the threat is the use of the Copyright Management Systems to track the interests of Internet
users. Figure presents internet users by region
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Fausto Marcantoni and Alberto Polzonetti
The Growth of Law Enforcement Authority. An increased concern about cyber crime, computer
crimes and internet crimes (i.e., child pornography on the Internet, women and children trafficking)
have led to calls for government intervenes and attempts to censorship the use of the Internet. While
there is a need to protect people’s security and safety and investigate and prosecute criminal
behaviors. But unrestricted government authority or power and control coupled poses threats to the
rights and freedoms of citizens in the information society. Because the Internet has no boundaries,
government censorship and surveillance not only affect the citizens’ rights of one society, but
threatens the freedoms and rights of people on the globe.
Globalization of Decision Making. In information society economy has become globalized.
International organizations, such as the World Trade Organization and the World Intellectual Property
Organization have gained greater prominence in setting public policy for the digital age. This poses
challenges to human dignity, as these international organizations tend to emphasize commercial
interests and do not generally recognize the broader values of the local cultural, social, political, or
artistic activities, Individuals may threats their rights may not be recognized by the international
organizations.
Personal Privacy. It is fundamental to an understanding of the Information Society to recognize that
information is power. Control of personal information and the deprivation of the right of privacy are
ways of exercising power over individuals. The protection of personal information and privacy is
central to the autonomy of the individual and for the respect of human rights. The development,
transfer, and use of technology permitting illegitimate invasion of privacy must be controlled and
curbed. Anonymity and protection of privacy and free expression enable individuals to receive
information and ideas without the requirement of routine tracking and surveillance (Rotenberg,2007).
Free Expression. Free expression is not possible without the protection of private life Full respect for
freedom of expression and information by State and non- State actors is an essential precondition for
the building of a free and inclusive Information and Communication Society. There must be no
censorship and no arbitrary controls or constraints imposed on participants in the information process,
that is, on the content of information, its transmission, or its dissemination. Pluralism of sources of
information and media must be safeguarded and promoted. The trend to provide public access to the
information produced or maintained by governments and protected under “freedom of information”
legislation should be extended to all countries that do not have such legislation, ensuring that
government-controlled information is timely, complete, and accessible in a format and language the
public can understand. Freedom of expression should be protected through the Internet in the same
way it is protected offline and Internet service providers should be guided by this freedom rather than
by codes of conduct that are not based on human rights (Rotenberg, 2007).
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Fausto Marcantoni and Alberto Polzonetti
The Right to Education. Connectivity to the net and Access to information stimulate wider
dissemination of information regarding social, economic, and cultural aspects of life. E-learning has a
potential for promoting democratic citizenship through education and enhancing the level of people’s
knowledge on the globe.
The Right to Free Election. E-voting should respect the principles of democratic elections. ICTs
have the potential to strengthen representative democracy by making it easier to hold elections.
Citizen’s consultations are accessible to all citizens.
The Right to Assembly. The right of assembly is related to the right of free election. Free assembly
is a crucial factor in a democratic society. All groups should have the freedom to participate in a
cyberassociation.
The Right of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity. Language is very important tool in every day
interaction as well as for F2F cyber interaction. Internet has a heterogeneous population, cultural
understanding and competitiveness has become critical issue over the net. In information society
plurality of identities, including cultural diversity has increasingly regarded as an asset and a
fundamental value to be defended and promoted. Fostering diversity is crucial to respecting cultural
rights, promoting tolerance and fighting discrimination. The preservation and promotion of cultural and
linguistic diversity and interaction must be a character of a flourishing Information Society. Figure
presents top ten languages used on the net.
5. Conclusion
In the age of information where information is the corner stone of all types of human activities. A rapid
development in technologies, (i.e., the commercialization of the Internet, and the increase of
globalization) Has affected human life on all levels. On one hand Light side of such developments
enhance and support the protection and building of a global human rights. Availability of information,
public awareness and borderless global society, connectivity and interdependence among other
characteristics of information society all contribute toward a global physical and virtual system of
human rights. On the other hand the dark side of this development (i.e. threats to human rights in
general and personal privacy and freedom of expression in specific). All efforts should be directed
toward the protection of human rights on the global level. In the area of privacy protection, the primary
goal should be to ensure adoption and enforcement of “Fair Information Practices” that are the basis
for privacy protection around these world. It is appropriate to encourage adoption of “Privacy
Enhancing Technologies,” after assessing its adaptability and legality with human rights. Encryption
can be used both to protect the privacy of personal communication and to compel the disclosure of
identity. Also it is important to minimize government censorship and unlawful police surveillance that
takes place around the globe. The right of all should be protected against unlawful intrusions into
private life.
Free exchange of information should be protected and maintain the openness of the Internet. The
Internet continues to offer extraordinary opportunities to expand human knowledge, to strengthen
human understanding, and to promote cooperation across borders. Efforts by government to restrict
access to information on the Internet or to limit the distribution of information on the Internet,
particularly information that is political, cultural or artistic should be opposed.
Organization should promote open, non-proprietary standards that enable competition and discourage
the development of “bottlenecks” in the communications infrastructure. Organizations should
discourage the adoption of network-based techniques that “filter” information, which is more
accurately described as “digital censorship.” While individual users may choose to use software that
limits access to certain information, the use of these techniques at the network level is a direct threat
to freedom of expression in the digital world.
The growth of the Internet has a witnessed the growth of a new type of Non Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) can be named cyber NGOs or (CNGOs). These CNGOs are easily identified
by their “.org” suffix. They are independent of the government (.gov) and business organizations
(.com). They focus on the social issues arising from the impact of information technology, such as
privacy and free expression, but they also use the Internet for public education, organizing, and public
action. Typically, they maintain a web site, publish an electronic newsletter, organize public
campaigns, issue reports, and host conferences. Theses CNGOs forms a collective action against the
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violation of human rights on the globe and arising public awareness of regarding social and political
issues (Rotenberg, 2007).
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Technology in the Context of a Knowledge-based Global Economy, United Nations, May 18, 2000.
376

Multi-Level Interoperability for ICT-Enabled Governance: A
Framework for Assessing Value Drivers and Implications for
European Policies
Gianluca Misuraca 1 , Giuseppe Alfano 2 and Gianluigi Viscusi 3
1
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Prospective
Technological Studies, Seville, Spain
2
University of Udine, Italy
3
University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
gianluca.misuraca@ec.europa.eu
giuseppe.alfano@uniud.it
viscusi@disco.unimib.it
Abstract: In the context of European policy and strategy for e-Government, Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) are seen not only as a means to improve public services, but a way to facilitate multi-level
governance. As a consequence, interoperability is predominantly seen as an instrument for enabling cross-border
collaboration between public administrations within and between different Member States. Many initiatives and
projects have been promoted and carried out during the last decade resulting in a growing number of potentially
reusable best practices and benchmarks. Nevertheless, the complexity and volume of resulting project outcomes
represent a challenge for effective exploitation of the results in other initiatives and intervention contexts.
Furthermore, despite the recognition of interoperability as a multi-faceted concept (i.e. technological, organizational,
and semantic), it seems to be mainly the technological aspects of interoperability that emerge from the available
project results. This paper proposes an interpretative framework which aims to provide a systemic perspective and
an instrument to elicit the links between interoperability and governance, outlining the various challenges that this
poses. It considers state-of-the-art contributions at both academic and practitioner level. In particular, it discusses the
multiple dimensions of interoperability and the value drivers underpinning the conceptual and measurement
framework proposed. It also looks at how this framework could be applied to the evaluation of two case studies at
cross-border, and national-city level in Europe. The paper concludes with the main findings of this exploratory
analysis, outlining indications for future research on interoperability as a key driver for ICT-enabled governance.
Interoperability is found to play a strategic role in the delivery of e-Government services to local and national
communities within the EU. Moreover, its significance is expected to increase over the next few years, especially in
terms of how it supports emerging city governance models and acts as the backbone of communications at a pan-
European, national and local level.
Keywords: interoperability, eGovernance, information systems, Europe, policy, value
1. Introduction
The interpretative framework for ICT-enabled governance proposed in this paper resulted from
exploratory research conducted by the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective
Technological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, on emerging ICTenabled
governance models in EU cities (EXPGOV) (Misuraca 2010a). This research aimed to better
understand the interplay between ICTs and governance processes at city level and formulate an
interdisciplinary framework to assess the various dynamics emerging from the application of ICT-enabled
service innovations in European cities. The proposed framework aims to provide a systemic perspective
and an instrument to elicit the links between interoperability and governance, outlining the various
challenges that this poses, especially from a European perspective, in order to link local to pan-European
perspectives. It is feasible to say that local authorities should be considered a fundamental part in this
multi-level or - as it is often called in official documents – “pan-European” governance, which consists of
increasing networking between local and national administrations across the European Union and of the
emergence of a new and more integrated “European public space”. European strategy related to the
harmonization of policy-making in the field of e-government among the Member States is not a “lawmaking
system”. On the contrary, it is based, as Criado states, on “‘soft’ institutional mechanisms of
coordination, which consist of spreading best practices, benchmarking, defining common policy
objectives and common technological, semantic and organizational standards. While vertical
mechanisms are based on adaptive pressure and coercion, horizontal mechanisms indicate policy
framing, mutual adjustment and policy learning” (Criado 2009, p. 301). In this sense, local e-government
initiatives and experiences play an important role in this process of “soft Europeanization”. This paper
looks at the state of the art in e-government, which has to deal with a cross-border European project and
a local experience. It discusses the multiple dimensions of interoperability within the EU, the value drivers
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Misuraca Gianluca et al.
underpinning the conceptual and measurement framework proposed, and how this could be applied to
the evaluation of ICT-enabled governance systems in two case studies at cross-border and national-city
level in Europe.
The paper concludes by presenting the main findings of this exploratory analysis, and outlines policy
challenges and indications for future research on interoperability as a key driver for ICT-enabled
governance.
2. Background and motivations
Interoperability plays a strategic role in the delivery of e-Government services to local and national
communities within the EU. In terms of technical definition, an interoperability platform is a solution that
enables two or more software applications to exchange data and achieve a common objective, even if the
two applications were not originally intended to cooperate. However, interoperability can take place at
different governance levels; i.e. from the exchange of simple data items, to structured documents (e.g., a
purchase order), to business process cooperation where different organizations are enabled by
interoperable software applications to achieve a common objective (Gottschalk 2009). According to the
European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and the UNDP e-Government Interoperability Study Group
(UNDP 2007), there are three layers of interoperability: technological interoperability (hardware and
software issues), semantic interoperability (meaning interpretation issues) and organizational
interoperability (cooperation issues).
These three layers are interdependent. For instance, the user interface and interaction methods (for civil
servants and end users) require solutions that cut across the three layers. They also have an inherent
progression, in terms of the achievable interoperability scope. Interoperability initiatives should consider
the actual administrative needs and available resources according to the defined objectives. Therefore
Interoperability has no value per se; its value depends on the context of cooperation among
organizational units and the benefits produced in terms of public value (Misuraca and Zambrano 2009).
Public value refers to the value created by government through services, law regulations and other
actions (Moore 1995). The close relationship between the concept of public value and e-Government was
first noted by Kearns (2004). From this perspective, the use of ICTs to improve government and
governance is also a means to improve the production of public value. Thus, an e-Government system
resulting from a process of technological and organisational innovation can be indirectly evaluated by
considering the possible increase of public value deriving from the adoption of that system. In general, a
public value-based evaluation must be performed by considering the value that citizens perceive in their
interactions with Public Administration (Alford 2002; Bannister 2002). Since the interactions between
stakeholders and Public Administration can concern both stakeholders as users (mostly citizens) and
stakeholders as operators of Public Administration (mostly private organizations and suppliers), public
value can be measured both from an external point of view (stakeholders as users) and from an internal
point of view (stakeholders as operators). In the first case, the policies for e-Government can be
evaluated with respect to the quality of the services delivered. In the latter case, they can be evaluated
with respect to their ability to improve the system of local government. All these results can be achieved
only by means of a governance framework that considers the various relations and effects (not only from
a technical perspective) in a 'dynamic' manner, and maintains the aggregations (for example, at city or
community level) stable in time. Thus, in our research, we define governance as the process of decisionmaking
and the process by which decisions are implemented, monitored and evaluated. These changes
in decision-making are strongly conditioned by historical transformations in society’s underlying values
and organisational models and can be analysed from several research perspectives (Misuraca 2010b). In
particular, ICTs are important tools to support the transformation of governance processes through
eGovernance. Here, we define eGovernance as the field of activity where policy design, decision-making,
co-ordination, arbitration, networking and regulation, with ICTs, but also of ICTs, take place (Misuraca
2010b). eGovernance can therefore be considered as a broad framework to capture the co-evolution of
ICTs' various stakeholders with the political institutions, at local, national and global level. eGovernance
can also be regarded as a multidimensional construct that encompasses ICT research, at the
intersections with social, economic, political, and organizational science research, and addresses the
investigation of the missions of government in relation to the interests of society (Misuraca 2010a).
3. An interpretative framework
ICT applications that support the transformation of governance processes and innovative forms of local
service delivery have been developed in pioneering experiments and pilot projects in several large and
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Misuraca Gianluca et al.
medium-sized cities all over the EU. In particular, as mentioned above, we will look at a study conducted
by the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Perspective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the
European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, namely the Exploratory Research on emerging ICTenabled
governance models in EU cities (EXPGOV). Making reference to recent work in the area of
social studies, public policies and ICT (see e.g. Viscusi et al. 2010), the EXPGOV theoretical framework
argues for the adoption of a wide definition of e-Government as a system of ICT-enabled innovation
policies for public administration and related governmental functions. From this point of view, ICTenabled
projects – and the implementation of interoperability systems are included as part of this
category – can be considered high-level, context-sensitive interventions that aim to introduce and
facilitate gradual changes. In this connection the EXPGOV project has identified three main value drivers
that constitute the basis of a theoretical framework for ICT-enabled governance at the local level:
Performance: effectiveness and efficiency (enabling optimal use of resources for citizens and tax
payers in the service delivery); and also, indirectly, responsiveness (serving all citizens in a
consistent and predictable way).
Openness: access to information as a proxy for participation (enabling the empowerment of citizens
so that they can legally control service delivery to their advantage) and transparency (bringing
visibility to citizens of the service workflow by means of automated service delivery); and
accountability (creating standards against which the individuals providing a service and the service
delivery can be held accountable), that also serves the goal of ensuring consensus orientation
(following democratic practices).
Inclusion: equity and inclusiveness (referring to citizens receiving a service on an equal basis and
providing services to disadvantaged and minority groups), which implicitly ensures respect for the
rule of law (ensuring that laws and regulations governing the service are applied impartially).
These value drivers represent the principles and the expected outcomes of the e-Government initiatives,
experiments and pilot projects taking place at different governance levels. Though it has been recognized
that interoperability plays a key role in ICT-enabled governance, there has been little research into the
non-technical dimensions of this phenomenon, or into the relation between interoperability and
governance processes. Furthermore, there are few instruments which allow the systemic perspective
needed by scholars and public administration managers to face up to the challenges of these multiple
facets of interoperability. At the moment, a silo representation of interoperability tends to prevail. For this
reason in this paper we discuss a conceptual model built on the analysis of state-of-the-art research and
literature on ICT-enabled governance, and also the authors’ previous experiences in the implementation
of concrete projects.
The conceptual model represented in Figure 1 aims to support the elicitation of different configurations of
Interoperable governance systems on the basis of the relationships between the following factors:
Governance model characteristics (i.e. cultural administrative tradition and socio-economic
characteristics of the intervention context),
Value drivers (i.e. performance, openness, inclusion).
This conceptual model aims to provide an interpretative instrument to deal with the multiple facets and
layers of ICT-enabled interoperability and governance. In particular, the role played by interoperability
and its impact on the value drivers, in turn influenced by governance model characteristics and related
dimensions (see Figure 1), can be evaluated in terms of quality dimensions associated with the
considered value drivers. Thus, for each driver we provide a set of quality dimensions, which enable a
better interpretation of the type of contribution offered by interoperability initiatives. The relevance of a
systemic perspective on quality assessment to support the strategic planning of e-Government initiatives
has been discussed in Viscusi, G. et al. (2010), who also propose a quality framework. This framework
has been applied to eGovernance issues in Misuraca, G and Viscusi G. (2011) and Misuraca, G., Alfano,
G. and Viscusi, G. (2011 forhcoming). In this paper, we apply some of the dimensions of this framework
to the elicitation of interoperability targets and goals for each considered value driver (see Table 1).
In the following section, we apply the conceptual framework to two European case studies at different
governance levels: one is a cross-border pan-European project and the other, a city government
initiative.
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Figure 1: The conceptual model
Misuraca Gianluca et al.
Governance models’ Valuedrivers
characteristics
Cultural administrative
tradition
Table 1: Drivers, quality dimensions and related levels of application
4. A pan-European case study: STORK
Influence
Performance
Openness
Socio-economic
characteristics Inclusion
Interoperabilitysystems
Value driver Dimension Qualitylevel
Performance
Efficiency Service
Effectiveness Organization
Openness Transparency Service
Organization
Accountability Organization
Legal
Accessibility Organization
Technology
Information
Inclusion Accessibility Service
Technology
Information
STORK (Secure idenTity acrOss boRders linKed) is a large-scale project involving 17 EU countries, with
backing from the European Commission. The STORK project deals with the use of electronic identities in
a cross-border context and it has established a number of pilot projects to test the mutual recognition of
eIDs by public authorities in different European Union member states (Tauber, A. and Rössler, T., 2010)).
STORK is working on an EU-wide interoperable solution to provide mutual recognition of eID and eIDbased
services such as authentication, which will enable citizens and businesses to use their national
eIDs in any Member State involved in the project.
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The six STORK pilots (’Cross-border authentication platform for electronic services’, ’Safer Chat’,
’Student Mobility’, ’Electronic Delivery’, ’Change of Address’ and ’ECAS Integration’) are testing common
eID specifications for several applications that have a substantial impact on e-Government across
Europe. In particular, the technologies and services developed and tested by the STORK project are
expected to be key enablers of interoperable electronic identification management (eIDM) for access to
eGovernment services across Europe. The STORK electronic identity project has gone live with a pilot
initiative, which demonstrates how European Union citizens can use their national eIDs to receive
electronic documents securely from eDelivery portals of any participating EU Member State. The crossborder
eDelivery pilot demonstrates how citizens of Slovenia, for example, can register at Austria’s
eDelivery portal. Using their existing national eID cards, citizens are able to receive and pick up electronic
documents by accessing the Austrian eDelivery portal. In addition, citizens may also receive eDeliveries
from senders in other Member States through the Austrian portal. Currently, Austria, Estonia, Finland,
Luxembourg and Slovenia are participating in the cross-border eDelivery pilot.
The STORK project is expected to be a best practice or benchmark for further cross-border initiatives
dealing with the exchange of sensitive information and documents. Indeed, the main outputs of projects
like STORK are expected to be functional documents for ICT-applications integrated in a cross-border
platform.. In summary, the final outcomes of projects like STORK tend to focus mainly on the
technological facets of interoperability initiatives. In fact, however, the main challenge is to elicit the
multiple dimensions of interoperability, and the value drivers that underpin ICT-enabled governance
systems. In Error! Reference source not found., we apply the interpretative model discussed in
Section 3 to the STORK project.
Table 2: Governance value drivers, quality dimensions, and type of interoperability
Value driver Quality dimension/level Type of interoperability (enabling layer)
Openness Accountability/Legal Organizational
Accountability/Organization
Transparency/Organization
Accessibility/Service Semantic
Accessibility/Legal
Accessibility/Technological
As shown in Table 2, the main challenge for cross-border initiatives dealing with the exchange of
sensitive information and documents is related to the fitness or alignment of the openness value driver
(as the strategic and political guiding principle) and the different cultural administrative traditions at
operational and procedural level. In the STORK project, the alignment has been reached by dealing first
with the legal and organizational issues, and then with the service and related technological issues.
In terms of quality elicitation, the implementation of the openness value driver focused first on
accountability at legal (who is the guarantor of information flow? how can rules and laws from different
legal frameworks be aligned?) and organizational level (how can the administrative process be
coordinated in order to make transparent the service provision and the local responsibilities?). As a
consequence, accessibility was also a relevant quality dimension which could improve the abovementioned
accountability and transparency levels: e.g. accessibility to citizens of services (in terms of
language and appropriateness for the e-readiness level of constituencies); accessibility at legal level to
public administration employees and managers (in terms of understanding laws and rules from foreign
legal frameworks); accessibility at technological level (in terms of cooperative information system
architectures, allowing multichannel provision of services at front-office level).
Thus, the application of the interpretative model discussed in Section 3 shows that organizational and
semantic interoperability are the main focus for projects like STORK and should be addressed in parallel
to technological interoperability issues. Furthermore, the model allows us to elicit the critical quality
dimensions to be considered and the level at which they have an impact. This again highlights the need
for a multi-level analysis when conceptualizing and implementing such a broad and ambitious
interoperability initiative at pan-European level.
5. A city case study: VENIS
VENIS (Venezia Informatica Sistemi S.p.A.) is an ICT company owned by the local authorities and the
public utilities of the City of Venice. It has a wide spectrum of objectives concerning the design,
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implementation, management and maintenance of the information systems, the software, the
technological infrastructures and the telecommunication networks used by the majority of the local
authorities and the public utilities of Venice. Venis states on its internet page that the ‘innovation of the
City’ is the brief it has been given by the local authorities.
The local government is the biggest shareholder in Venis (75.1%), followed by ACTV S.p.A – a local
transport company (14.9%), the municipal Casinò of Venice and Veritas S.p.A a local public utility (5%
each). Moreover in the future shares will be issued to other important institutions of the City of Venice,
such as, for example, the “Fondazione Musei Civici” – the municipal cultural foundation that manages
and promotes the museum system of Venice. This broad sharing of ownership of VENIS amongst
Venetian public institutions aims to secure wide product diversification, with economies of scales.
Furthermore, it contributes to fostering interoperability between the information systems of local
authorities - the backbone for enabling an ICT-enabled governance system for the City of Venice.
Although it is owned by local institutions, VENIS has considerable managerial autonomy in the industrial,
commercial, and financial operations covered by its statutory purpose. It is fair to say that the projects
managed by VENIS are not focused on the technological needs of a given institution but on the urban
systems as a whole. In 2009 and 2010, two of the main projects VENIS dealt with were the construction
of an urban fibre-optic network and the design of “Venice Connected”, the official city website for tourism
that aims to develop a sustainable tourist flow into Venice. The fibre-optic network provides a high
transmission capacity (10 Gigabits) and connects not only municipal offices but also the whole University
system of the City (University of Venice Ca’ Foscari, IUAV). Moreover, the urban fibre-optic network
constitutes the backbone for 120 free WiFI hotspots that provide high-speed access to the Internet in the
whole urban area to citizens and tourists. The website “Venice Connected” is defined as an
“interoperable platform” (Figure 2) for the online booking and sales of the City’s tourist services
(transport, museums, etc,). It helps visitors to reserve the services they are interested in and, at the same
time, it helps the City to organize services according to the actual number of visitors expected. Venice
Connected allows the purchase with a single payment transaction of various tourist services from
different providers. Tourists get a single booking number which they can use to access all the most
important services in Venice (from transport to museums). The website aims to encourage tourists to
reserve services before they arrive in the city through a differentiated pricing policy. The lowest prices
are applied if you book online and the website explains the different prices, depending on the season. It
thus contributes to guiding the flow of tourists and limiting the number of unsustainable peaks of too
many tourists in the City.
Figure 2: The interoperable system of Venice Connected (www.venis.it)
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As shown in Figure 2, the technological infrastructure shared amongst different Venetian local authorities
and public utilities fosters the development of interoperability projects for the urban system. Another
important project in this sense is the “imob” smart-card that, in the near future, will contain all the
information and the codes for access to mobility services in the city (e.g. public transport, parking spaces,
car-sharing, bike-sharing, and others). In this regard, the high-speed network and interoperability
between the information systems of local institutions and public utilities are important enablers for
technological and organizational innovation in the City’s public services.
In summary, the case of VENIS is important as it highlight how far the aforementioned technological,
semantic and organizational levels of interoperability can be connected and interdependent. The
development of interoperable systems amongst public authorities in this case is conditioned by an
institutional and organizational structure that is peculiar to Venice. This structure enables city policies and
city governance models that are strictly dependent on the technological infrastructure and the
interoperable systems – as seen in the example of tourism policies and coordination between tourism
services in the city (Venice connected). In this sense, it can be argued that the ICT-enabled governance
system of Venice is characterized by the presence of a single organization, which is owned by the local
authorities, and is focused on the technological development of the urban area. In the Table 3, we
applied the conceptual model proposed in this paper in order to understand the specificity of the
interoperability system in this city.
Table 3: Governance value drivers, quality dimensions, and type of interoperability
Value driver Quality dimension/level Type of interoperability (enabling layer)
Performance
Efficiency/Service
Technical /Semantic
Effectiveness/Organization
Inclusion Accessibility/Service Technical
Accessibility/Legal
Accessibility/Technological
Indeed, the aforementioned interoperable applications and projects are interconnected with a significant
change in policy strategies, in stakeholder relationships and in organizational structures (Alfano, 2011). In
this case, Performance and Inclusion (see Table 3) are the two main value drivers as the improvement of
the urban system via ICT and interoperability infrastructures and policies both set out to improve public
services and provide wide and ubiquitous accessibility.
Thus, the application of the interpretative model shows that technical and semantic interoperability are
the main concerns in the Venice case; whereas, organizational and semantic interoperability were more
relevant in the cross-border pan-European case described in Section 4.
6. Conclusions and future work
The paper has proposed and discussed an interpretative framework for interoperability in ICT-enabled
governance. This framework aims to provide a systemic perspective and an instrument to elicit the links
between interoperability and governance, outlining the various challenges that this poses. In this
connection, the paper has discussed the multiple dimensions of interoperability and the value drivers
underpinning the conceptual framework proposed together with its application in evaluating more
specifically the ICT-enabled governance systems in two case studies at cross-border and city level in
Europe. The application of the framework showed how at both cross-border and city level different
cultural administrative traditions and objectives influence the critical governance value drivers and
characteristics of interoperability systems deployed. Different governance levels of focus and objectives
influence different value drivers at cross-border (openness) and city level (performance/inclusion)
enabled by different types of interoperability, i.e. organizational/semantic at cross-border level and
technical/semantic at city level. It is worth noting how semantic interoperability is relevant for service layer
at both levels of investigation: accessibility/service (cross-border level) and efficiency/service (city level).
The results of this preliminary analysis of the application of the interpretative framework provide insights
for further analysis and research on how the design and reuse of interoperability initiatives should be
implemented. As shown in the two examples analysed, technical interoperability seems to be more
appropriate for local initiatives focused on elementary services (such as payments, booking services,
etc.); whereas organizational interoperability is a critical factor in cross-border initiatives, where the
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Misuraca Gianluca et al.
alignment of legal framework constraints and administrative requirements are the key to an effective
(and reusable) outcome of the initiative.
In both case, however, semantic interoperability plays a intermediate role as a representational tool which
enables both the correct translation of organizational and legal requirements (at cross-border level) and
the efficiency of the technical infrastructure (at city level).
However the sample of application of the framework does not yet allow more than a classification of the
initiatives and the elicitation of the relevant type of interoperability to be considered by policy makers
when planning interoperability initiatives. In future work, we aim to further refine and apply the quality
dimensions of the conceptual framework proposed to rank and also benchmark the type of barriers to
interoperability initiatives. This should allow us to reach higher granularity in the analysis of the
application of the interpretative framework. Finally, we will extend the analyses in order to have a wider
set of case studies for comparison of experiences at the same and different levels of policy design and
implementation.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper are purely those of the authors and may not in any
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission.
Acknowledgments
This article is inspired by and in part drawn from the Exploratory Research on emerging ICT-enabled
governance models in European cities (EXPGOV) conducted by Gianluca Misuraca as part of his work
for the Information Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the
European Commission's Joint Research Centre, in collaboration with EUROCITIES.
(See http://is.jrc.es/pages/EAP/EXPGOV.html ).
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https://www.eid-stork.eu/
385

Strategies for eGovernment Implementation in Developing
Countries: A Case Study of Botswana Government
Racious Moilamashi Moatshe and Zaigham Mahmood
University of Derby, UK
R.Moatshe@derby.ac.uk
Z.Mahmood@derby.ac.uk
Abstract: eGovernment as a multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary field, its implementation in developing countries
is confronted with many barriers which require winning strategies in order to successfully implement the projects.
Inter alia, the barriers include; weaknesses in governance systems, ineffective political structures, lack of requisite
technical skills, proficiency and implementation capacity, ineffective information provision and access, poor
infrastructure, a non-conducive policy environments and legislation. The fundamental aspect of eGovernment is that
it must deliver public information and services in ways that citizens and businesses want them using internet and
other ICTs as enablers. Thus eGovernment serves as a platform of infrastructure that governments today are
building to transform the way they complete their missions, values and aspirations. This should have direct impact on
the effectiveness of public services and government’s continuous contacts with citizens, especially those living in
remote areas. Winning strategies are therefore needed for successful implementation of eGovernment. The
identification of barriers and determining critical success factors for eGovernment are a crucial part of winning
formulae to eGovernment projects success. A case study of Botswana, a developing country is used as part of an
ongoing broader research, to identify and discuss the barriers and consequently suggests strategies for developing
eGovernment by introducing a new framework called; EGovernment Implementation Critical Success Factor Model
which is intended to guide Botswana government and other developing countries in their eGovernment
implementation pursuit. The new model and discussions thereof are necessary to give a detailed perspective of
requisite factors that enable the successful impementation of eGovernment projects. These factors are classified into
(a) technical and proficient personnel to implement eGovernment, (b) enabling high political leadership involvement,
(c) A conducive legislation and public policy environment, (d) dedicated and sustainable budgetory framework, (e)
equitable provision and access to information, (f) innovative government to foster economic development (g) vision
and strategic decision capability, (h) adequate infrastractural development, and (i) creation of all stakeholders
Inclusive environment. The methodology for the case study comprises of both secondary and primary data sources.
The primary sources covered interviews with general members of the public and project office in Botswana, whilst
secondary sources included, external and internal reports, policy documents and publications by individual
researchers and other research organisations.
Keywords: eGovernment, eCommerce, eBusiness, ICTs, Botswana
1. Defining eGovernment
eGovernment concept originated at the beginning of 21 st century as a copy of eCommerce into public
sector (Spremic, et al (2009). According to (Almarabeh and AbuAli, 2010) the eGovernment idea was
raised by the United States of America vice president (Algore) within his vision of linking the citizens to
the various agencies of government for getting all kinds of government services automated, reduce costs
and improve performance. It allows government departments to integrate services using information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and better services delivery to citizens and empower people through
participation in public decision making (UN, 2005).
2. eGovernment in developing countries
The traditional model of government is ineffective and inefficient and is not working any longer, as the
emerging vast networks in interacting public and private organisations could no longer be served using
the traditional setups of a single administration for single services and specific functions. As a result
eGovernment attracted the attention of political leaders and statesmen around the world (Hwang et al,
1999; Sharifi and Zarei, 2004). In developed countries, the services are offered in a self service mode
through internet portals that become a single point of interaction for the citizens to receive services from a
larger number of departments (Bhatnagar, 2003). For example, in Singapore, Canada, New Zealand,
citizens can pay parking tickets, job seekers can search for employment and public trustees can file an
application for estate administration using opportunities provided by eGovernment (Ngulubane, 2007).
In developing countries, businesses face challenges different from those in developed countries (Molla
and Licker, 2005). The potential for eGovernment in developing countries remains largely unexploited
and compared to the developed, developing countries lack in (1) history and culture; (2) technical
capabilities; (3) Infrastructure; (4) e-citizen development; (5) public service focus (Ndou, 2004; Chen, et
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Racious Moilamashi Moatshe and Zaigham Mahmood
al, 2006). There is digital divide between developed and developing countries, hence, developing
countries need winning eGovernment strategies to catch up.
A number of authors (Ndou, 2004; Molla and Licker, 2004; Schuppan, 2008; Chen et al, 2006; Heeks,
2003; Sharifi and Zarei, 2004; Akman et al, 2005; InfoDev, 2002; Reffat, 2006; Al-Busaidy &
Weerakkody, 2009; Mahmood, 2011), have outlined the barriers and challenges facing eGovernment
implementation in developing countries as (a) Inadequate ICT infrastructure development; (b) Lack of
supportive legislation and policy environment; (c) Security and protection of privacy; (d) organisational,
managerial skills; (e) lack of monitoring capacity; (f) Lack of transparency and citizens trust; (g)
Information and data challenges; (h) Information technology challenges; (i) Digital divide, accessibility
and e-literacy; (j) E-readiness challenges; (k) Inadequate funding.
3. Botswana Government case study
Botswana, a developing country situated in Southern Africa like any developing country face challenges
which include inter alia; declining rankings in global competitiveness, labour market and public sector
inefficiencies, escalating unemployment and crime, declining quality of life and reduced trust in
government. These challenges compelled government to embark on eGovernment implementation.
Botswana government conducted an e-readiness assessment in 2004 and enacted the National ICT
policy, 2007. This policy set the platform for eGovernment implementation for provision of e-information
and e-services through government web portal by setting targets. The Botswana eGovernment targets
were set guided by the seven pillars of (a) Connecting Communities; (b) Government On-line (GOL); (c)
E- learning/Thuto Net Botswana; (d) E-Health Botswana; (e) Economic Development and Growth of the
ICT Sector; (f) Infrastructure, and (g) Legislation and Policy.
In pursuit of the Botswana case study, as part of an ongoing broader research we carried out
investigations, which methods are presented in the next section.
4. Methodology and approach
In order to identify barriers and challenges facing eGovernment implementation in Botswana and
subsequently develop a model or framework for successful eGovernment implementation, A primary
research was carried in two urban villages and three surrounding sub villages in the capital city southern
part of Botswana within a 100km radius of Gaborone city. A total of 66 ordinary citizens in urban villages
were randomly approached and probed on the level of ICT and internet usage, frequency and type of use
and further to establish awareness and gather citizens initial responses about the eGovernment project.
A further 38 citizens were also randomly approached in Gaborone city. The choice of location was based
on population densities of Botswana, where the majority of the population (over 50%) live in the
southeast and mainly in Gaborone and within a 100km radius of Gaborone, (Botswana Central Statistics
Office, 2001).
Furthermore, reports and publications were perused through (Botswana E-readiness Assessment Report,
2004; Botswana National ICT Policy, 2007; United Nations EGovernment Survey, 2008; Botswana
Budget Speech, 2009; ICT Development in Africa: Botswana Country Presentation; 2009; UNPAN Portal
project: Modernising Botswana government in the Digital Era, 2009; The Botswana Minister of Science
Communication and Technology –MCST Speech, 2010; Bwalya, 2010).
The findings are presented as; (a) citizens’ questionnaire survey results, (b) outcome of discussions with
Botswana eGovernment project office, and (c) observations and analysis made from secondary data
sources.
4.1 Citizens’ questionnaire survey results
Lower levels of ICT are revealed as most people especially in the villages do not have access to internet,
computers, unaware of the eGovernment project, have not accessed the website and those who did
found the website not helpful. People in Gaborone (City) generally are aware about internet but resources
limit access and those aware mostly had secondary and tertiary education and use ICT mostly for their
work especially in the private sector. The three sub villages in south of Botswana did not have any
internet facilities let alone privately run and a few privately run internet cafes’ existed in urban villages
and the broadband speed was cited as a challenge together with the access costs. The investigations
further revealed lack of adequate user engagement and focus, somewhat lack of citizens’ lacked trust
and confidence in eGovernment due to lack of knowledge.
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Racious Moilamashi Moatshe and Zaigham Mahmood
4.2 Outcome of discussions with eGovernment project office
As aforementioned, eGovernment project team was visited and findings of issues probed are; Unrealistic
and non rational based targeting; (a) Botswana government targets for non mining to be 80% of GDP by
2009 when currently the mining contribution to GDP is approximated at 50%; (b) Development of policy
and legislation dealing with electronic signature not achieved by targeted date of 2005 and 2006, In
August 2010 the legislation had not been developed; (c) Botswana eGovernment targets for a fully
transformed and seamless government by 2016 reflected a serious reality gap challenge.
Poor implementation capacity; Data protection, electronic commerce, privacy, electronic signatures and
freedom of information laws not in place despite targeted for enactment 5years ago.
Inadequate authority and autonomy of the project team; (a) Project office relied wholly on government
officials to drive the intiative to facilitate project implementation, e.g. effecting necessary legislation; (b)
Lack of budget control and unware of the funding source, that is, whether State President Ministry or
Ministry of Communication Science and Technology (MCST).
Lack of Stakeholder inclusion; (a) Lack of government and private sector partnerships for sharing of
resources, resources and co-funding of the eGovernment project; (b) The private sector is considered
key as is mostlly considered more technologically advanced than the public sector.
4.3 Observations and analysis from secondary data sources
The secondary data sources revealed further constraints facing the Botswna eGovernment initiative
which are:
ICT Status; lower levels of ICT usage and penetration, that is, internet user 6%, Broadband 1% and
PC 2-3%).
Speech by Minister of Communications, Science and Technology (MCST) May (2010) highlighted (a)
lack of strategies, and initiatives for citizens safe access to online resources; (b) disparities between
people in urban and rural areas in the provision of ICT services; and need for adaptation of policies
and strategies to help promote ICT in rural areas. Worth noting is that the Botswana eGovernment
project falls under the MCST.
Botswana dropped in ratings, (The United Nations EGovernment Survey, 2008), Botswana
experienced a major drop from 90 th position in 2005 to 119 th in 2008 on web measure index and
connectivity scorecard survey.
Other individual research (Bwalya, 2010) reveal that the majority of the ordinary individuals do not
appreciate the value of eGovernment applications in as far as public service delivery is concerned
and further that few individuals have exploited public services offered mainly through the
eGovernment web portal.
4.4 Summary of findings
The above findings identify (1) design reality gaps [where the eGovernment project is now and where it is
intended to get Botswana to by 2010 and 2016] and inadequate strategic capabilities and decisions
issues (e.g. unrealistic and non rational based targeting and master plan had not yet been developed). It
worth noting that winning strategies and appropriate decisions are a key success factor in implementing
eGovernment (The working group, 2002; Infocomm, 2006); (2) ICT status (e.g. low PC and internet user
penetration and lack of e-human capital as the vast majority of the population is not e-ware and e-ready),
does not support the ambitious eGovernment targets and raises access and connectivity issues.
Infrastructure development is a prior necessity to pursuing eGovernment project. It facilitates the creation,
distribution and manipulation of information (Wesso et al, 2004; Chen et al, 2006); (3) access and
connectivity challenges invariably lead to digital divide and e-illiteracy [rural and urban digital gap], these
disparities between people in urban and rural areas in the provision of ICT services further hinders
equitable provision and access to government information by all citizens; (4) resulting in serious exclusion
and marginalisation of most stakeholders ( that is, Lack of enabling environment for all stakeholder
inclusion). The literature states that achieving participation of citizens and other stakeholders in
eGovernment has become a pivotal criterion (Wimmer, 2002). It is also reported (UN, 2005)
developments in ICTs allows an unprecedented opportunity for countries to leap frog traditional modes of
service delivery and make manifold improvements in process effectiveness and efficiency; (5) thus,
internet and eGovernment are new world’s trade routes and the nation’s ability to leverage on the internet
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Racious Moilamashi Moatshe and Zaigham Mahmood
will determine its competitive and comparative advantage in the global digital economy (Caldow, 1999;
Moodley, 2001). Hence, establishing eGovernment requires eCommerce, eBusiness, and eGovernment
plans strategic enough to achieve the much need competitiveness (Peters, 2001; Moatshe et al, 2010);
(6) Lack of supportive and enabling laws (e.g. data protection and eCommerce laws) clearly shows lack
of conducive legislation and public policy environment (Raman et al, 2007; Ebrahim and Irani, 2005); (7)
Lack of these laws raises fundamental issues of public trust in government activities inclusiveness of
eGovernment services and has an impact on the public administration transparency, of which Freedom of
Information Act is paramount. This position points to inadequate high political leadership involvement as
revealed that the Botswana eGovernment project is not embraced at the highest political level [not fully
driven from office of the president] (UN, 2008). Undoubtedly, state politics and culture can support or
impede eGovernment (Seifert and McLoughlin 2008; OECD, 2003), thus political leadership and
commitment is a critical success factor for implementing eGovernment project; (8) Citizens survey and
inquiries with the eGovernment project office highlighted challenges of; Lack of eGovernment awareness,
inadequate user engagement, inadequate strategies to manage society’s resistance to change, lack of
common understanding among change agents and project team members, lack of project buy-in by
public sector middle management, inadequate collaboration with the private sector for sharing of skills,
resource and expertise, and citizens inability to access government website. All these show limitations in
the implementation capacity and project management; (9) Lastly, although Botswana has budgeted
approximately GBP 95 Million over 5 years for the project, it may not be enough given the infrastructure
development required and that all finding comes from government, design reality gap will worsen this
position, thus a funding issue.
The above barriers could lead to project failure if not mitigated with appropriate strategies. In light of this,
we have developed a new model presented below.
5. New eGovernment critical success factor model
Figure 1::eGovernment implementation critical success factors model
The new model identifies and establishes the critical success factors impacting on eGovernment
development and is intended to guide Botswana government and other developing countries when
implementing eGovernment projects, herein classified into nine categories:
Technical and Proficient Personnel to implement
The key skills are:
Analytical and Project Management Skills, covering ability to analyse processes, practices, policies and
other factors contributing to eGovernment implementation. project management skills refers to planning,
organising, estimating and allocating resources, negotiation, results measurement, trouble shooting and
progress tracking.
Technical and Information Management Skills, this covers; higher understanding and skills to implement
eGovernment solutions; and information is a valuable public organisational resource and skills required
include information context quality, format, storage, classification, searching, transmission, accessibility,
usability and security
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Communication and Presentation Skills, it covers; on going and adequate training education and
marketing initiatives. The need for ongoing communication of project goals, issues and results, continued
interaction with stakeholders can lead to buy-in and participation. Various types of communication, for
example, emails, bulletins and formal reports on the project need issuing. However, information needs to
be categorized, summarized and presented into briefings that convey crucial facts without over
simplification beyond underlying data (Reffat, 2006).
Enabling High Political Leadership Involvement
eGovernment is at the mercy of the political leadership who govern the state and can decide to /not
finance and implement eGovernment project, fully or partially irrespective of its value to citizens. The
fundamental question now is, how best can the political leadership be compelled to embrace, initiate and
sufficiently finance and fully get involved to make an eGovernment initiative a success? Should there be
an eGovernment Act? to make implementation a legal requirement. Since the political ownership is vital,
in the UK, a minister was entrusted with the implementation responsibility and reported directly to the
Prime Minister (Sigh, 2003)
The political ownership gets reflected when political leadership take the responsibility and find resources
to take the initiative forward. Only such a commitment can bring about the necessary momentum in over
coming inter departmental rivalries and burreaucratic hurdles that are encountered in the implementation
process, (Seifert and McLoughlin, 2008). In Italy, Parliment applied a law (4/2004) which imposed that
impaired people should not be discriminated and must have access to sources supplied using ICT
technologies (Signore et al, 2005).
A Conducive Legislation and Public Policy Environment
Legislation and regulatory issues can impede the uptake of eGovernment (OECD, 2005) and developing
eGovernment services requires a high penetration in homes or presence of a large number of public
kiosks, e.g. handling e-payments and building trust between citizens and government in doing
transactions over long distance requires an enabling legal framework, (Bhatnagar, 2002; Caldow, 1999).
This covers data protection, access to sensitive data, networking of activities and database, electronic
signatures, cyber law, security policy, transparency etc, (Reffat, 2006; OECD, 2005; Wimmer, 2002)
Government must set up law supported structures, maitaining a healthy policy environment to address
security issues, service requirement of eGovernment, eGovernment model. An aware and demanding
citizenry, which understands its rights, willing to express them and to fight for them in case of laxity and
ineffeciency becomes critical. Hence, e-governement can be an instrument for promoting citizens
awareness and publishing performance data and citizens charters, (Bhatnagar, 2002; Hwang et al 2004)
Dedicated and Sustainable Budgetory Framework
Developing countries mostly given lack infrastracture, resources and eGovernment initiative would
compete for limited resources with other national needs (e.g. roads construction, schools etc.) Therefore,
implemention costs inappropriate cost benefit analysis approaches, can constrain or block the flow of
investment at the level necessary to support eGovernment innovation (European Commission, 2006).
While planning under a difficult financial climate, governments should seek to invest in sustainable
programs that can produce savings (Almarabeh and Abu Ali, 2010). This can be achieved by: activating
functionalities clearly and try not to add details that will push budget into deficit; develop projects that are
achievable within the resources available; consider the government’s current use of technology and study
past successes and failures; and designate competent officer or organising body to oversee costs.
Funding is really the life blood of eGovernment, in many OECD countries, budgetary arrangements
restricted eGovernment initiatives, funding was done through traditional government silos and ITC
expenditure not recognised as an investment (OECD, 2003). EGovernment requires level of certainity on
future funding of projects and a central funding programme could help faster innovations and allow for
key demonstration projects. Public private partnerships are necessary to share expertise,facilitate
innovating flexible longterm relationships with partners sharing risks and rewards. This help on how to
respond to changing technologies and opportunities (Seifert and McLoughlin, 2008)
Equitable and Access to Information
A mature private sector has enabled business process outsourcing and public-private partnership while a
technologically mediated world made possible self service delivery and government online not ín-line”,
(Sigh, 2003). Why could not government services be accesable 24/7 like the Automatic Teller Machines
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Racious Moilamashi Moatshe and Zaigham Mahmood
(ATMs)? Citizens and businesses increasingly expect government to perform more like commercial
entities, they want convienent, instant access to public information and services 24hours a day, 7 days a
week.
The eGovernment rethinking transformation of the functioning of the democratic process is all about
enhancing, facilitating convienant and instant access to government information and services by citizens,
businesses, employees, government entities and other agencies (Aicholzer and Schmutzer, 2000; Wong
et al, 2007); Lyane and Lee, 2001; Sharifi and Zarei, 2004)
Government must be prepared to employ technology strategy that include interactive capabilities which
allow citizens to take active real time participatory roles in government on line and unrestricted secure
access to information (24/7) provides opporturnities of real time participation throughout the democratic
process, not simply disseminating stale, inaccurate and irrelevant information (Caldow, 1999)
Information is a competitive tool, knowledge power, and life blood of every nation, hence eGovernment
initiative should be backed by sound policies to improve access to information and online services and
customers and citizens should have a choice in the method of access and interaction. Understanding
customer needs should drive the 24/7 on line information access is critical in the current globalised and
privatised world economy. Existing laws that support equitable flow and access to information are a
necessity, e.g Freedom of Information Act and broader government policy on information sharing.
Through the use of eGovernment (internet) various stakeholders are able to share ideas and information
and inform specific policy outcomes e.g sharing of information between central and local level
government can facilitate environmental policies, sharing information on health sector can improve
resource use and patient care, (OECD, 2003). Within the information and knowledge society, data
information and knowledge objects are the major resources to be elaborated, therefore appropriate
design of the data, information and knowledge object is required, standardization, interoperatability,
comminicability and intergration to distinct IT systems over a corporate semantic web becomes important
(Wimmer, 2002); with the strategies to provide electronic public services through virtual or physical self
service shops, information needs to be transfered adequately so that citizens and businesses are able to
use these facilities in a smart way
Innovative Government to Foster Economic Development
Becoming a competitive eGovernment involves systematic technological transformation of traditional
economic development assets such as great schools, safe streets, a clean environment, quality health
care, viable land use and good governance. How well the technology and/or internet is exploited in each
of those assets is the new differentiation, critical issues are, what is the student-to-pc ratio? Are the
school wired? Can citizens and businesses conduct business with the government online? Is there a
healthy and growing market of high capability, telecommunications, wireless cables to the homes and
businesses? Do transportation systems, law enforcement and hospitals employ the latest technological
advances? Are higher education resources connected to new technologies, re-skilling and producing a
workforce of knowledge workers? Are technology strategies employed in urban planning and help to
alleviate urban sprawl? Are processes in place to continually re-evaluate traditional competitive assets in
a digital society? Are public policies and the legal environment conducive to eCommerce, eBusiness and
eGovernment? (Caldow, 1999). For eGovernment to succeed, implementing goverments need to have a
clear vision and priorities for eGovernment and promote priority economic sectors through the best
selection of projects (The working group, 2002)
Vision and Strategic Decision Capability
Vision and strategic decisions capabilities are critical to; (1) determine goal for pursuing eGovernment;
(2) define and set clear vision, mission and priorities for eGovernment; (3) determine the eGovernment
the nation is ready for; (4) assess the political will to support and lead eGovernment efforts; (5) decide on
the best method of selection of eGovernment projects; (6) Planning and managing eGovernment
projects; (7) decide on change management processes to overcome resistance from within governments
and outside government; (8) determine progress measurement and communication strategies and how to
depict failure; (9) determine relationship level with private sector; (10) determine how can eGovernment
facilitates and improves citizens participation in public affairs, (Almarabeh and AbuAli, 2010;Working
Group 2002).
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Racious Moilamashi Moatshe and Zaigham Mahmood
For necessary transformation of governments towards a customer- oriented virtual administration,
eGovernment needs proper vision, decisions and strategies(Wimmer, 2002) These must be formulated
into innitiatives, here the financial and operative resources for realising eGovernment initiatives are
allocated and strategic decisions made to implement the strategy.
Strategic vision and decisions determine the extent of partnership with private sector given the private
sector experience in developing IT applications. Partnership could be to find a single partner for the entire
strategy, producing guidelines for design, re-engineer processes, developing software, helping in
procurement and providing training (Bhatnagar, 2002).
Adequate Infrastractural Development
eGovernment can only thrive when the required and necessary information and communication
technology (ICT) infrastracture is available. A developed telecommunications sector with a fast reliable
and security ICT networks to facilitate voice, data and media is critical.
Different access methods such as remote access by Cellular Phones, Satellite Receivers, Kiosks etc,
need to be considered by governments in order that all members of society can be served irrespective of
their physical and financial capabilities (Ndou, 2004), without ICT effective and competitive public sector
is unattainable.
Global market based networks on IT based communication platforms a pre-requisite for successful
implementation of eGovernment (Moatshe et al, 2010).
Enabling Environment for all Stakeholders Inclusion
eGovernment is not about using the internet in performing administrative work, it is also more about reengineering
of administrative processes, re-organising and restructuring of public organization and
shifting focus towards a citizen and customer centred service provision. EGovernment is strongly shaped
and driven by social, cultural and political factors on local, regional and supra-natural levels. It therefore
calls for focus on programmes and policies aimed at the diversification of the ICT base such that those
with low income, women, youth, disabled, disadvantaged and those living in rural areas are
systematically included in the impending benefits of newer technologies (UN, 2005).
It worth recognising that people are not just citizens of government, they are parents, volunteers,
neighbours, business owners and employees, people with shared ethnic backgrounds, consumers,
students, sports enthusiats, senior citizens and children (Caldow, 1999). Inclusion of a community service
in the overall web strategy is the way to go, conducting seminars, educational programs, establishing
outreach to citizens, underserved communities, community groups and non-governmental and civic
organisations are also important aspects to an informed and participative community.
All stakeholders inclusion is key to successful eGovernment initiative. Citizens in their interaction with
government agencies, should have greater awareness of services and priorities, wider choice of access
channels, greater convienance, low costs, flexible and more personalized services as well as greater
participation and openness in the democratic process. Equally, businesses would benefit from quicker
and faster interactions, minimum transaction costs and regulatory burdens, greater benefits such as eprocurement,
better inventory management and shared data management, greater openness and
transparency would benefit the whole economy by attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), (Sigh,
2003; OECD, 2003; Wesso et al 2004; European Commission 2006)
6. Conclusion
eGovernment is not an easy initiative and there are no short cuts, hence, the new model identifies and
establishes the critical success factors impacting on eGovernment development. Whilst a number of
studies have invariably outlined the challenges and barriers facing eGovernment in developing countries,
the same studies have not made a significantly strong case to present explicitly factors of (stakeholder
inclusion; equitable provision and access to information; Innovative government to foster economic
development; enabling high political leadership involvement; vision and strategic decision capability) as
critical components of successful eGovernment implementation. The new model though not prescriptive
offers developing countries in pursuit of eGovernment initiatives an implementation framework. The
model hopefully fills the knowledge gap and goes a long way in assisting Botswana and other
governments to better implement eGovernment projects.
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Racious Moilamashi Moatshe and Zaigham Mahmood
Aicholzer, G. and Schmutzer, R. (2000) EGovernment: the hard way from political agendas to service improvements;
the Special European Council of Lisboa, 23 and 24 March 2000
Almarabeh, T and Abu Ali (2010); A General Framework for EGovernment; Definition Maturity Challenges,
Opportunities, and Successes; European Journal of Scientific Research ISSN 1450-216X, Vol 39, No 1 (2010),
pp 29-42
Bhatnagar, S (2003); Transparency and Corruption; Does EGovernment help? Indian Institution of Management.
Botswana; ICT helps improve lives (2010); Speech by the Botswana Minister of Communication, Science and
Technology, Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Botswana National ICT Policy (2007) Botswana Government policy Document
Botswana E-readiness Assessment (2004): Botswana Government policy Document
Caldow, J (1999), The Quest for Electronic Government: A Defining Vision; Institute for Electronic Government, IBM
Corporation
European Commission (2006) Breaking Barriers to EGovernment: Case Study Report; Overcoming Obstacles to
Improving European Public Services; Deliverable 2
Hwang, M.S., Tali, C., Shen, J.J. and Chu, Y.P. (2004); Information and Security. International Journal, Vol 15, No 1,
2004, 9-20.
Kereletswe, O.C, (2009) ICT Development in Africa: The Case of Botswana, Botswana Country Presentation: Public
Sector Reforms; Office of the President
Lyane, K. And Lee, (2001), Developing fully functional EGovernment: A four stage model, Journal of Government
Information Quarterly 18, pp 122-136
Mahmood, Z. (2011), Barriers to Developing EGovernment Projects in Developing Countries, Proc 11 th European
Conf on eGovernment – ECEG-2011, Ljubljana, Slovenia, June 2011
Moatshe, R. M., Mahmood. Z. and Antonopoulos, N. (2010): SDEAT; A Six Dimensional Framework for Assessing Ereadiness
for EGovernment Projects. Proceedings of the 15 th IBIMA Conference Cairo, Egypt 6-7 November
2010. www.ibima.org/CA2010/papers/rmsn.html
OECD (2005); EGovernment for Better Government ISBN 92-64-01833-6-OECD.
Reffat, M (2006) Developing a Successful EGovernment: University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Sharifi, H. and Zarei B (2004): An adaptive approach for implementing eGovernment in I.R. Iran: Journal of
Government Information 30 (2004) 600-619
Seifert, J.W and McLoughlin (2008) State eGovernment Strategies; Identifying Best Practices and Applications
Sign, S.H (2003) Governments in the Digital Era and Human Factors in EGovernment
Signore, O., Chise, F., and Pallotti, M. (2005) EGovernment Challenges and Opportunities: CMG Italy- XIX Annual
Conference 7-9 June 2005
Spremic, M., Simurina, J., Jakovic, B. and Ivanov, M. (2009) EGovernment in Transition Economies: World Academy
of Science, Engineering and Technology 53, 2009
The Working Group on EGovernment in the Developing World (2002) Roadmap for EGovernment in the Developing
World (10 Questions EGovernment Leaders should ask themselves): Pacific Council on International Policy.
The World Bank. A Definition of EGovernment [online]. http://www/.worldbank.org/ publicsector/egov/definition.htm
UN (2005). UN Global EGovernment Readiness Report 2005 from EGovernment to E-inclusion.: United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division of Public Administration and Development Management.
New York
UNPAN Portal Project (2009) Modernising Botswana Government in the Digital Era: Botswana Experience, CPS/
UNPAN Workshop Johannesburg, South Africa
Wesso, H., Naidoo, R. and Neville, M. (2004) Technology EGovernment and Economic Development: A Background
Paper to Inform the Strategy of the Centre for E-innovation
Wimmer, M.A. (2002) Towards Knowledge Enhanced EGovernment: Integration as Pivotal Challenge
393

The use of ICT by Government Departments and Parastatals
in South Africa
Matsobane Frans Mosetja
North West University, Mafikeng Campus, South Africa
frans.mosetja@nwu.ac.za
Abstract: There are some success stories in eGovernment in South Africa. The South African Revenue Services
(SARS) e-filling was created in 2003 and proved to be successful. The successful application and conversion from
proprietary software to open source for National Traffic Information Systems (eNaTIS) is another. In a previous
paper, Trusler (2003) argues that EGovernment in South Africa has a particularly important historical and social
context due to the previous dispensation. He noted that as a result, a ten year eGovernment implementation horizon
has been created from tested world-wide practices. From the examples mentioned above it is clear that the plan is
not being realised. The result is that a gap is appearing between what the policy says should be happening and what
is actually happening. This paper examines what has been done and what can be done to increase service delivery
and to encourage citizen participation through an efficient ICT structure. It ends with some guidelines on what could
help the situation.
Keywords: eGovernment, South Africa, SARS e-filing, e-Natis, citizen, policy
1. Introduction
South Africa has a population of over 49 million people scattered across the Country in 9 nine provinces.
Each province is divided into municipalities. Municipality also referred to as Local government is the
sphere of government closest to the people.
All provinces have websites that provide provincial information. Two provinces namely Western Cape and
Gauteng are ahead of the rest. The advantage of these provinces is their developed communication
infrastructure due to them being the economic hubs, (SITA, 2002).
The South African government understands the need to develop an Information Society and harness the
power of ICTs for economic and social development for the benefit of the country and its citizens.
Government understands the need for reform and the transformation of its core activities to make
processes more effective and efficient and more citizen oriented. The need to manage information,
internal functions as well as serving business and citizens is core to their strategy. EGovernment is part
of Public Service transformation guided by the principle of public service for all and Batho Pele, (Farelo
and Morris, 2006).
Currently the government is seeking to achieve three main objectives through its eGovernment initiatives:
increased productivity; lowered costs; and increased citizen convenience. This indicates a strong focus
on service delivery improvement. Achieving eGovernment success also requires active partnerships
between government, citizens and the private sector, (Farelo and Morris, 2006). South Africa's
eGovernment strategy is led by the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) in partnership with the
Department of Public Service and Administration and the State Information Technology Agency.
2. Success stories
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) plan of action foresees the formation of a peoplecentred,
inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can access, utilise and
share information and knowledge. South Africa has made great strides towards meeting the
commitments of the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action to which the country is a signatory,
(Farelo and Morris, 2006). Various arms of the South African government have embarked on a number of
eGovernment programmes. Examples of these include inter-alia, the Batho Pele portal, SARS e-filing, the
e-Natis system, electronic processing of grant applications from remote sites, and a large number of
departmental information websites, (Kaisara & Pather, 2009).
Statutory bodies have established to co-ordinate implementation of eGovernment projects. Amongst
these are the State Information Systems Agency (SITA) and Government Information Technology
Officers Council (GITO Council). SITA is responsible for the acquisition, installation, implementation and
maintenance of IT in the public sector. On the other hand the GITO Council, which consists of national
and provincial IT officers, is responsible for consolidating and coordinating IT initiatives in government,
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Matsobane Frans Mosetja
including eGovernment, to facilitate service delivery Regulatory frameworks have also been developed to
direct the implementation of eGovernment initiatives, (Matavire, 2010).
South Africa Online” website (www.gov.za) shows that some progress is being made. Almost all
individual government departments and municipalities have their own websites. A comprehensive
resource of government documents including White Papers, Green Papers, speeches, annual reports,
legislation, policies and other information is available for download, (Trusler, 2003).
2.1 SARS efiling
Government has since I can remember been critisised for their poor service delivery, lack of performance
and general lack of good process management and governance. With the launch of SARS eFiling in 2003
as a free online replacement process for the manual tax return submissions, the government should be
congratulated for one of their departments which has the most efficient online application. SARS eFiling
is a free service that allows individual taxpayers, tax practitioners and businesses to register for free and
submit tax returns, make payments and perform a number of other interactions with SARS in a secure
online environment. All employees earning more than R60 000 a year must complete their tax returns
and ensure that the IRP5 forms accompany them when submitting the information to SARS. The
employees must be registered with SARS before they can complete their returns. The SARS e-filing
system makes it possible to submit the information electronically.
The system is aimed at removal of the risks and inconvenience normally associated with the traditional
form of manual tax return submission. The eFiling service is on a par with international standards, being
comparable with services offered in the US, Australia, Singapore, Ireland, Chile and France. SARS has
seen eFiling in South Africa grow significantly since it was initiated. For the 2009 tax year, more than 2.7
million individual tax returns were submitted through e-Filing and annually over 7.5 million returns are
submitted by businesses and practitioners.
2.2 eNaTIS
eNaTIS is a system which provides for the registration and licensing of vehicles. It manages and records
applications for and authorisation of driver's and learner's licences. It is also a law enforcement tool used
to ensure that the details of vehicles that are stolen are circulated in order to prevent irregular and
fraudulent re-registration of such vehicles.
eNaTIS is today recognised as the most advanced of its kind on the continent, with, on average, more
than 16 million monthly transactions.
In January 2009, eNaTIS recorded a massive 16 167 279 transactions– by far the most transactions
recorded in a single month since the system’s launch. Compared to January 2008, this represents a yearon-year
increase of 22.56%. The system once again performed flawlessly and users experienced
excellent processing speeds. As was the case in December 2008, two major factors contributed to the
record volumes experienced. At the end of 2008 functionality was enabled to prevent the issuing of a
licence disc to a vehicle if any other vehicle of the owner in question was still unlicensed. The
functionality was introduced to compel owners to also license their other vehicle(s) before obtaining a
licence disc. This contributed to an increase in vehicle licensing volumes as well as related queries and
reports.
eNaTIS has achieved significant improvements to performance, functionality and stability over the past
two years. The system has also accommodated growth of 53% in the country's vehicle population, a 50%
increase in system users and a 90% increase in Department of Transport sites. eNaTIS processes 99,8%
of all transactions in under one minute.
2.3 Electoral voting system
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is a permanent body established in terms of the Electoral
Commission Act of 1996 to promote and safeguard democracy in South Africa. It is a publicly funded
body and is accountable to Parliament, but is independent of government. Elections in South Africa take
place on national, provincial, and local levels. The IEC voting system supported the 48 percent of South
Africa's 18 million registered voters who visited 15 000 voting stations around the country to cast their
ballots in municipal elections.
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Matsobane Frans Mosetja
The election centre was extraordinary in terms of technological and logistical achievement. It acted as the
hub of activity over the election period. The concept behind the election centre was to establish an
operational centre where the IEC, members of the public, media and politicians could have access to
information as it became available. This required the IEC not only to share its successes but also
problems, (Mutula, 2010).
The IEC relied on large-scale innovative technology to transform the processes and management of the
elections and it succeeded. One of the world's most extensive Geographic Information Systems was used
to accurately map and plan out the voting districts. The GIS produced over 75,000 electronic and color
scale maps which drew the voting districts. The GIS system allowed the IEC to quickly identify and react
to problem areas. For example, aerial photographs were incorporated into the GIS to provide "quick
mapping" for the movement of informal settlements, (Mutula, 2010).
2.4 ePassport
The Department of Home Affairs' turnaround strategy is on track, marking a change in the way the
department does business and delivers services to citizens and residents.
The department acquired a new ePassport production system, which is installed in the government
printing works, with staff already having been trained and working on the new system. The main benefit
of the new system is the reduction in the passport production turnaround time due to the printing systems
ability to print higher volumes. The implementation of online fingerprint verification and subsequent
interface with the passport completion processes further enhanced the turnaround times and issuance
within 10 days.
The fingerprint verification system enables the department to verify fingerprints electronically at local
offices even before applications are sent to the head office in Pretoria. The online verification makes it
possible for counter staff to conduct real-time fingerprint comparison of citizens whose fingerprints were
previously registered on the automated fingerprint identification system. This has lead to further improved
turnaround times in respect of issuing ID documents, temporary identity certificates, emergency and
temporary passports. Previously centralised manual fingerprint verification took an average of seven days
to process.
"We can report that the system is now fully operational in all our permanent offices
nationwide. We are receiving positive feedback both externally and internally. The system
has clearly worked as a management and a service tool", (Mapisa-Nqakula, 2008).
2.5 Track and trace system
Track and Trace system has transformed the way in which the department handled customer enquiries
about progress of their applications. The system allows departmental managers to trace and, if
necessary, speed up the progress of an ID application document from the moment it was lodged until
delivery to the applicant.
Specially developed matrixes allow managers to establish which official had assumed responsibility for
processing at each stage of the application, from acceptance at a home affairs office to transport to
headquarters, verification of the applicant's identity, permission for an ID document to be printed, printing,
return to the issuing office, and handover to the applicant. Citizens can also track the progress of their
application via cellphone or internet.
2.6 Paymaster
The South African Post Office’s Paymaster to the Nation project promises to make life considerably
easier for recipients of pensions, particularly those who live in remote rural areas. Under the scheme,
welfare grants and pensions are paid into a Postbank account that is linked to a smart card containing a
magnetic strip and a chip, which contains the beneficiary’s fingerprints and photo to eliminate fraud,
(Farelo and Morris, 2006)
3. Work in progress
Citizens have rights and duties. For example, the right to actively participate in the government’s
decision-making processes and the duty to pay for services received. The provision of accurate and
verifiable accounts to customers, and the collection of rates, services charges and other taxes is one of
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Matsobane Frans Mosetja
the critical duties of a government. Accurate and reliable customer data has become the central focus of
most government departments.
4. Water meter project – Mafikeng Local Municipality
The vision of the Mafikeng Local Municipality is to enhance the quality of services offered to its clients
through the use of new technology. This prompted the city administration to embark on a project to verify
its consumer data and water meter registration numbers. The migration of new information system
requires that data from the existing system be in a process that is transparent, error-free, and compatible
with current and future municipal information systems.
The project will allow the municipality to capture a water meter number, its meter reading, its GPS
coordinates as well as the GPS coordinates of its plot. Once the information is captured the municipality
will be able to respond quickly to queries and maintenance issues. At end of the project citizens should
be able to access their information online. Error free accurate, easily accessible information will
encourage members of the community to pay for services received.
4.1 Smartcard ID
The Department of Home Affairs promote the vision on re-defining the relationship between government
and citizens. A smartcard-ID is under development that focuses on the automation of finger prints and the
development of an electronic Population Registry. The smart ID card system is supposed to replace the
current green ID book that South African residents are required to have as proof of identity for various
official institutions, such as banks, government services and to vote. Residents can apply for one from
the age of 16. However, these ID books are often forged or altered.
Through its Home Affairs National Information System (HANIS) project citizens can access birth and
death registration forms online. To the extent that increased transparency, accountability and
predictability (of rules and procedures) are made priorities, eGovernment may offer a weapon against
corruption, (Farelo and Moriss, 2006).
5. Conclusion
eGovernment has already arrived in Africa, though it is essentially an imported concept based on
imported designs. There are growing numbers of eGovernment projects, some of which are contributing
to public sector reform and delivering gains of efficiency and/or effectiveness across a broad agenda,
(Richard Heeks, 2002). For South Africa to achieve the objectives of the Local Government Turnaround
Strategy (LGTAS) of improving service delivery, increasing efficiency, accountability and responsiveness
in government, a citizens-centred integrated ICT system and eGovernment is one of the key interventions
South African local government requires, Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs,
(Sicelo Shiceka, 2010).
Instead of the Presidency simply blurting out buzzwords like ‘community engagement‘, ‘cooperation‘ and
‘working together‘, the state needs to confirm these measures with local authorities and community
residents – get sign-off from all the stakeholders concerned.
The government should introduce Multipurpose Portals Single entry point to enable citizens to transact
with Multiple Government Departments via Gateway and Portals and downscale it municipal level.
Government need to provide more training to the ordinary citizens on how to use these UCTs facilities to
access e-governance service, (Mphidi, 2009). Having witnessed the success of various eGovernment
systems and projects at national and provincial level, the municipalities should follow suit and automate
most of their services and help government achieve the objectives of Batho-Pele.
References
Farelo, M. and Morris, C. (2006). The Status of EGovernment in South Africa.
Heeks, R. (2002). eGovernment in Africa: Promise and practice.
Mapisa-Nqaula N. (2009). Home Affairs Budget Vote 2008/09
Matavire, R, et al. (2010). Challenges of eGovernment Project Implementation in a South African Context
Mphidi, H. (2009). Digital divide and e-governance in South Africa.
Mutula, M. (2010). Challenges and Opportunities of eGovernment in South Africa.
Kaisara, G. and Pather, S. (2009). eGovernment in South Africa: e-service quality access and adoption factors.
SITA. (2002). eGovernment Experience in South Africa.
Trusler, J. (2003). South African EGovernment Policy And Practices: A Framework to Close The Gap.
397

The Workload for the Structural Implementation of
eDemocracy: Local Government Policy Issues Combined
With the Policy Cycle and Styles of Citizenship.
Bert Mulder and Martijn Hartog
eSociety Institute of The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
bertmulder@esocietyinstituut.nl
martijnhartog@esocietyinstituut.nl
Abstract: Today, governmental bodies in many countries acknowledge ICT applications to be powerful tools for
increasing involvement of citizens in public policy-making, and as such a sound investment in better public policy
(OECD 2003: 9). Within the Dutch governmental bodies a study by Prof. Dr. Kickert (2005:10) has shown that these
ICT developments also demand an optimal public service. Furthermore citizens are inclined to participate more often
if governments use digital tools, because of their (usability) speed and comfort (Beffers & Van den Brink, 2007). The
last decade the Dutch governmental bodies have become increasingly aware of the possibilities of ICT applications
and the growing digital behaviour of its citizens. To prepare the next phase of large scale and structural
implementation of eDemocracy, the size and range of that task must be researched. This paper describes research
conducted at the municipality of The Hague (The Netherlands). It was aimed to determine how many political issues
lend itself to e-democratic support. The research then categorized the issues using the policy cycle (agenda-setting,
preparation, determination, execution, monitoring and evaluation) and styles of citizenship (dutiful, pragmatic and
society critic). Some results of the research: During the course of 3 years the city council and its committees treated
1834 issues. Of these, 69% were treated by the city council committees and 31% by the city council itself. 78% of
issues could be categorised within the policy making process. According to the styles of citizenship, citizens are most
likely to participate when issues directly relate to their personal environment (pragmatic), as well as issues
concerning the qualitative functionality of the local government (society critic).
Keywords: eDemocracy, public agenda issues, local policy-making, policy cycle, styles of citizenship, digital
participation
1. Introduction
1.1 Context
This exploratory research grew out of an interest in the future of eDemocracy. The large-scale practical
adoption of eDemocracy that is to be expected creates many questions that are not asked or answered.
Based in The Netherlands, we wanted to inquire what adopting eDemocracy would actually mean when
each and every one of the 430 Dutch municipalities would structurally enrich all their democratic
processes with it. How many democratic issues should be active in a municipality at any one time? Who
would be interested in digital participation on those issues and what type of support would they require?
Should such digital support be consistent over different municipalities, possibly adding to the legitimacy of
government? What is the magnitude of such an endeavour, would it require extra people and would
enough funds be available? The aim of this research is to take a first step towards providing answers to
these questions.
We found a lack of available research that could assist in the predictive planning of eDemocracy. While it
is assumed that eGovernment will see continued development and possibly widespread adoption, current
research focuses on issues such as conceptual context, the process of development, the various tools
available, the transformation of government and the possible effectiveness of such applications. There is
little or no research that prepares government organizations with actual practical and predictive planning.
1.2 eGovernment development
The widespread and global development of eGovernment has been addressed by many institutions,
including the UN, in their reports on the civil society (2001, 2003 & 2005). Several parties describe the
stages of development for eGovernment: Gartner (2000); The United Nations (2001); Layne and Lee
(2001); Janssen en Van Veenstra (2005) & Al Hashim and Darem overview (2008). Those models of
development may have information management (Gartner, UN & IBM) or technical management
(Janssen & Van Veenstra 2005) as their angle, but all models assume growth in use, size and quality of
eGovernment infrastructure and applications, often implicitly. The new research agenda’s described
(Codagnone & Wimmer 2007) identify ‘research into e-participation’ as one of the 13 trends and mentions
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the ‘broad realization of e-participation’ but does not designate the magnitude of the practical application
of eDemocracy as an area of interest.
1.3 eDemocracy: is democratic decision making a constant?
This research adopts a narrow focus and looks at existing policy development processes within current
government: what would it mean when a municipality adopts eDemocracy throughout its existing
processes? The research is exploratory and preliminary in that it seeks to outline the validity of a
viewpoint and an approach. The viewpoint is that most democratic processes exist for a reason, such as
running a city or a state. Performing that task requires a certain number of issues that have to be decided
upon. The question is whether the number of democratic issues in a process such as running a city is a
relative constant. It is an interesting question: when that would be the case, adding eDemocracy might
possibly change the dynamics of the process and the quality of the outcome, but it would not dramatically
increase the number of issues decided upon. The approach that this research tries to develop is using
the entries on the municipal agenda’s to gauge to amount of democratic issues, and use life style
research to gauge possible interest in the population. It is the first in a series that in the coming years
tries to develop a model that may allow municipalities to assess the necessary investment required to
support its core democratic process and answer the question whether democratic decision-making within
a certain context is a constant.
1.4 Research question
But the widespread adoption of e-democratic tools and applications throughout government will require
an extensive effort and investment in time and tools. Our research aims to outline those practical
requirements: what would the broad adoption of eDemocracy mean in the current democratic processes?
Although the exploratory research is simple, the aim is to create a model that allows municipalities to
determine the possible workload of broad digital support for democratic processes. Such a model would
be based on at least two aspects: the number of democratic issues that lend themselves to digital support
and the latent need of citizens to participate in the democratic process. Thus the main question translates
into three sub-questions:
How many democratic issues are active at any one time?
How many issues lend themselves for digital support?
How many citizens would be interested in e-participation?
2. Method
In order to answer these questions, we have utilised the following method;
Inventory democratic issues on the agenda of a large city, in this case The Hague
Categorize them according to the policy cycle
Assess citizen’s possible interest in participation according to lifestyle
Map lifestyles preferences onto democratic issues citizens may wish to participate in
Match citizen’s interests and democratic issues
The study in question was conducted at the municipality of The Hague, one of the four largest
municipalities of The Netherlands with circa 450.000 inhabitants. The city of The Hague was selected
since research shows that larger municipalities are able to reach larger groups of citizens for
participation, due mainly to the fact that they have more possibilities of offering information when
compared to smaller municipalities (Cascadis 2007: 6).
2.1 Inventory of the number of democratic issues
To determine the number of democratic issues treated by municipal governing bodies we created an
inventory of the topics on the agenda and the list of decisions of both the city council and its committees.
To that end we looked at the agenda’s of a three year period of one council (following elections in 2006)
for the city of The Hague (Beleidsakkoord Den Haag 2006-2010, [Policy agreement of The Hague 2006-
2010] 2006).
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2.2 Categorizing issues according to policy cycle
In order to determine what issues would lend themselves to e-democratic support the issues were
categorized according to the phases of a model of the policy cycle. Policymaking can be defined as ‘the
case-to-case determination of guiding and controlling the developments within the society by the
government’ (Bovens, ’t Hart & van Twist 2007: 99). The process of shaping and executing policy implies
a policy making process that is cyclical in character, and indicates policymaking is an ongoing
development process.
For our research we adopted the policy cycle model of Simon (in Edelenbos & Monnikhof 2001: 44),
consisting of six phases: agenda-setting, preparation, determination, execution, evaluation and
monitoring. The characteristics of the phases can be found in table 1.
Table 1: Phases policy cycle
Phase in the cycle
Characteristics
1 Agenda-setting The process in which citizens and /or government policy makers are confronted with
problems that are occurring within the society (Bovens et al 2007).
2 Preparation The collection and analyses of information concerning the specific problem in order
to formulate a recommendation concerning the conducted policy (Bovens et al
2007), as well as finding and proposing workable and affordable solutions for the
problem (Herweijer & Pröpper 2008).
3 Determination Decision making concerning the content of the policy (Bovens et al 2007).
Specifically, the policy must be coherent with the wishes of the society concerning
the problem, including the conditions in which the execution of the policy occurs
should be determined (Pröpper & Steenbeek 1999).
4 Execution This phase concerns the actual execution of the policy (Pröpper & Steenbeek 1999)
by transforming policy proposals into concrete actions (Bovens et al 2007).
5 Evaluation Judging and analysing the content of the policy and its gained results/effect (Bovens
et al 2007).
6 Monitoring Processing the results from the evaluation concerning an eventual continuous follow
up on the policy, otherwise redefining the policy core and the execution of the policy
(Bovens et al 2007).
Each phase within the cycle creates a different context for participation. The influence of citizens depends
on their right/ability to participate and their desire to do so. Local government may choose to only inform
citizens, to let them give advice or involve citizens in the co-production of local policy. Some research
indicates that the effectiveness of policy and its execution is related to the influence citizens have or had
(Peeters 2002). Each of the phases in the cycle provides different opportunities. According to Peeters
(2002) the phase of agenda setting is specifically shaped by social and political issues. In choosing their
political representatives, citizens exercise one means of influencing whether certain issues are treated by
the city council (Herweijer & Pröpper 2008). In some situations citizens have the right to generate “citizen
initiatives” that has legal validity. It may be advantageous for local government to let citizen’s advice or
co-produce within the policy preparation phase. Additionally, it is mandatory by law for the municipality to
offer at least a voting opportunity for citizens to approve certain policy actions (Herweijer & Pröpper
2008). Within the execution phase experienced citizens may participate, because there transparency may
have citizen’s recognize whether governmental action was appropriate. The phases most geared to
contributions by citizens seem to be agenda setting, preparation, execution and evaluation.
2.3 The interest of citizens in participation: Lifestyle analysis of citizenship
The second factor determining the magnitude of adoption of eDemocracy is the interest and motivation of
citizens in participating. In order to determine such interest in participation by citizens we looked at the
method of lifestyle analysis. In 1997 the Dutch research and strategy organization, Motivaction,
developed a Mentality lifestyle model identifying seven lifestyle clusters.
On the basis of that model they went on to further develop the notion of ‘styles of citizenship’ (Motivaction
2001) in which four styles of citizenship are distinguished based upon their research on the mentality and
society norms of citizens:
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Outsiders/inactive
Dutiful/dependent
Pragmatic/conformist
Society critic/responsible
Bert Mulder and Martijn Hartog
This research, undertaken for the Commissions Toekomst Overheidscommunicatie (Committee of Future
Governmental communication) and the Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid (Scientific
Council for Governmental Policy), is used by many different Dutch government organizations to segment
their clients. In this exploratory research we use this method to determine both what part of the
population might be interested in policy issues, as well as what issues they might be interested in.
The first style, called ‘outsiders’, is characterized as low intensity participants. These types of citizens are
rarely invited to co-produce policy (Motivaction 2001). That is the reason this group ‘outsiders’ is
excluded from this research.
The second style, called ‘dutiful’, is characterized as having a passive attitude towards developments in
society (Motivaction 2001). Although they are involved with activities within their immediate and local
environment, they distance themselves from other forms of involvement. These citizens may be active
within local activities such as volunteering for social organizations. This group is missing key
competencies to keep up to date on developments within society and they have to build on the
experience of local governments.
The third style, called ‘pragmatic’, is a large group in Dutch society. They are not directly involved nor feel
responsible, show a selective reactive attitude and they prefer information in main points which are easy
and straightforward to understand. They expect (local) governmental bodies to perform according to a
predetermined framework and do their work in the background (Motivaction 2001).
The last style, called ‘society critics’, is described as having the most involved and responsible attitude
towards the society. The group is characterized by initiative and participative activities and an open
attitude with interest in the democratic process of (local) government. This group of citizens is particularly
interested in the functioning of government bodies, such as financial prognoses and elected management
functions (Motivaction 2001).
3. Results
3.1 The number of democratic issues
Over a period of three years the city of The Hague had 1834 issues on the agenda’s of both city council
and committees. This follows from a meeting frequency with city council meetings every three weeks and
two committees meetings every week.
Of the 1834 issues counted 31% were treated by the city council and 69% by its committees. If we look at
the issues we notice that 1266 issues were treated by the committees and could be divided into seven
topics, roughly following the structure of working committees displayed in table 2.
Table 2: number of issues and committees
79 accounts / process
132 mobility and environment
254 safety, governance and finances
107 social affairs, employment, economics and international affairs
395 urban development
116 welfare development
183 youth and citizenship
In corporation with the office of the clerk we were categorize 67% of the 1834 issues according to a
phase in the policy cycle. 227 issues were marked a phase ‘0’ because they were identified as internal
and procedural and I) of little interest to those outside the municipal organization and II) the policy making
phases offer no functionality.
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Some issues on the agenda could be categorized in two or more phases at the same time, for example
when they may be interpreted as creating new policy as well as contributing to the effectiveness of
existing policy. That way they would fir the preparation as well as evaluation phases. Such the double or
triple appearances are divided proportionally over their different phases as detailed in table 3.
Table 3: Policy making phases and number of issues
Number of issues according combined phases
Phases # 1/2 2/3 2/5 2/5/6 3/5 4/5 5/6
Agenda-setting (phase 1) 95 58
Preparation (phase2) 597 58 118 16 125
Determination (phase 3) 177 118 2
Execution (phase 4) 20 2
Evaluation (phase 5) 176 16 125 2 1 21
Monitoring (phase 6) 158 125 21
After categorization the differences are clear: most issues that might benefit from citizen’s participation
are found in the preparation, the determination and the evaluation phases.
3.2 Determining citizen interest in policy and preference for issues
Using questionnaires, Motivaction determined how the four different citizenship styles - outsiders, dutiful,
pragmatic and society critic - were present within the population of The Hague. This research does not
only show the number of people characterized by each of the different lifestyles, but it will in fact allow us
to determine which part of the population might be interested in democratic participation and on which
topics.
The research shows a marked difference between the population of The Hague and that of the rest of
The Netherlands in table 4.
Table 4: Styles of citizenship The Hague compared with The Netherlands (Motivaction 2005)
Style of citizenship The Netherlands The Hague Population
Outsiders 36% 32% 144.000
Dutiful 21% 7% 31.500
Pragmatic 24% 35% 157.500
Society critic 19% 26% 117.000
The city of The Hague shows a more prominent group of pragmatic (24%) and society critic citizens
(19%) than other parts of The Netherlands. These groups have an individual attitude, are well informed,
are used to expressing their opinions and stand their ground on such issues. They also want to co-decide
with the (local) government. The pragmatic group has a more distanced attitude and is mostly concerned
with its grounds. The society critic group is politically active and also stands for social ground. The groups
named outsiders and dutiful are relatively outnumbered and represent themselves as family orientated
and less socially concerned. Dutiful take a more docile approach towards the government, while
outsiders stay distanced. Due to the large distance of the ‘outsider’ style to the democratic process, they
are assumed to be fully disinterested and do not play a further role. To determine what part of the
population might be interested in what kind of democratic participation we categorized the democratic
issues on the agenda according to the qualities of the different styles of citizenship. The result may be
seen in the table 5. With both the number of citizens for a lifestyle and democratic issues, we can infer
the number of citizens with a probable interest in those issues.
Table 5: Styles of citizenship and issues
Lifestyle Percentage Population Issues Issues
3 yr 1 yr
Outsiders 32% xxx.xxx x x
Dutiful 7% 31.500 218 73
Pragmatic 35% 157.500 243 81
Society critic 26% 117.700 540 180
Total 450.000 1001 334
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This shows that when a city like The Hague wants to provide digital support for eDemocracy it will mean
providing that support for around 330 policy issues each year. Of the total population of 450.000 people,
around 275.000 citizens would be interested in participating, being a member of either the pragmatic of
the society critic styles of citizenship.
4. Concluding observations and further directions
With this research we address eDemocracy from a different angle. We focus on the broad and structural
support of digital democratic processes in the future. Rather than researching available new technologies
we look at democratic processes in real life: how many democratic issues does it take to run a city and
how many of its citizens would be interested? And as a consequence: what would it take for local
governments to start supporting that in the coming years?
The results of this initial exploratory research show that a Dutch city with a population of around 450.000
inhabitants handles approximately 300 democratic issues per annum. In the case of the broad adoption
of eDemocracy with full digital support for current democratic activities that would mean setting up and
maintaining approximately 300 democratic dialogues online. Such digital support might allow citizens to
inform themselves, reflect on and participate in the democratic process. That reality of maintaining 300
online democratic dialogues could turn out to be quite an effort. In its simplest form it implies the
necessity for supportive document management systems, appropriate meta data and appropriate forms
of presentation. Though simple in concept, in reality each of these aspects is a challenge: we would need
to develop a consistent online representation of political issues, including its financial aspects. These do
not exist today. In its most complex form online case files would be enriched with news and background
information, communities and forums and special applications that solicit advice from interested parties.
In that form such online case files would require constant attention from a new breed of professionals that
is able to inspire, maintain and structure a complex set of interactions on many different levels such that
the contributions of the audience provide a constructive addition to the existing process.
All this would be worth it if enough citizens would be interested. Using lifestyle research as an angle to
gauge possible interest shows that around 275.000 or 60% of this city’s inhabitants might be interested in
participating on some of these issues. They might be interested: it wouldn’t mean they actually would be
interested. This research also revealed a marked difference between the population of The Hague (the
seat of government, parliament and many other international organizations) and the general population,
which might indicate that democratic participation is sensitive in its context and would have to be
determined in each city again. It also provided the initial view of the size and scope of digital support for
democratic processes online.
The aim of our research is the creation of practical support for local governmental bodies, creating a
model allowing municipalities to assess the investment necessary to realize digital support for
eDemocracy. Such a model might balance on two aspects: operational en democratic.
Firstly, since we are interested in questions of implementation we would pay attention to the operational
complexity of implementing online support for democratic issues. Operational complexity may identify
both the technical and procedural effort required to realize digital support for democratic issues. It may
seem odd to have operational issues as a main element in deciding the quality of democratic support, but
creating true digital support for eDemocracy may be technically complex requiring the replacement of
current IT systems and web environments, and might even need preliminary research to create the
solutions necessary. The time and money required by that process determines the pace of adoption of edemocratic
support.
Low operational complexity might consist of issues that may be supported by a small number of existing
documents, delivered from existing information systems. High operational complexity might consist of
issues needing to be supported by live coverage or meetings with meta data, crowd sourcing, intensive
dialogues with the population, e-petitions or even voting. These would require extensive investment in
research and testing before being able to be used routinely.
Secondly, we need to assess the democratic necessity of creating online support for issues. This is
determined by size, procedural constraints and importance for individual citizens or politics. On the one
hand democracy consists of many rather inconsequential issues with relatively low interest and
involvement, while on the other end it has issues which are high visibility, high importance and high
involvement.
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This might lead to a matrix that, when filled, allows us to decide whether and how we may prioritize the
implementation of digital support for eDemocracy.
The figure below displays the matrix.
Figure 1: Matrix to prioritize the implementation of digital support for eDemocracy
The broad and structural implementation of eDemocracy is not a simple matter. Further research will
need to determine what kind of support is suitable for what issue, how e-democratic case files should be
represented online to achieve the most effective participation, how a collaborative decision making
process could be supported for larger audiences and how the financial structure of underlying issues
should be visualized to be understandable. Such research may show the many different tools we may
need to really support eDemocracy on a larger scale and allow government professionals to make a
reasonable decision how to develop the systems and tools needed to realize that.
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405

Channel Shift - a UK Customer Response
Darren Mundy 1 , Qasim Umer 1 and Alastair Foster 2
1 University of Hull, Scarborough, UK
2 Independent Researcher, UK
d.mundy@hull.ac.uk
q.umer@2008.hull.ac.uk
alifozzy@hotmail.com
Abstract: This paper details the findings from a project carried out on behalf of a group of local councils in the UK to
discover scope for channel shift (i.e. migrating users from mediated to self-help solutions) within local services. The
project consisted of four clear stages: identification of scope from service managers; discovery of case study
examples from councils within the UK; an investigation of customer perspectives on channel shift linked to particular
areas of service; and, finally a framework to establish a business case for introducing new channels to identified
government services. The first stage of the project demonstrated that there is no shortage of ideas in relation to the
potential that individual services have for channel shift. Customer Service Managers identified a range of
independent areas worth exploration from basic reporting linked to customers in the local area, through automation of
benefits services, to online services to support waste and recycling management. Whilst individual areas where
benefit could occur were identified it was also clear that data may not be easily accessible to support a case for the
provision of new channels. The areas highlighted by the initial stage of the project formed the basis for exploration at
the second stage in identifying thirteen case studies linked to channel shift from a range of different levels of
government and a private organisation. A brief description of a couple of these studies is provided in this paper along
with key lessons learnt. The third stage of the project enabled analysis of the customer views towards channel shift.
This stage illustrated a number of critical observations found within local customer groups through a detailed
questionnaire and location based canvassing (n=197 customers). The first observation is that there is a sub-set of
the local customer group who access council services that are not equipped in knowledge, equipment or in terms of
motivation for access to channels other than face-to-face and telephone. Indeed some customers in this group see
channel shift as potentially discriminatory. Secondly, whilst the findings do not establish a substantial demand for
channel shift in relation to council services, many of those questioned recognised that provision of council services
through more cost effective channels was a good thing (for other people), or in the case of web access was
inevitable. Thirdly, it is clear that at present the most valuable service offered on the web by local government is
access to local information. Finally a Business Case Template is presented which is derived from the findings of all of
the stages above. This is designed to enable the evaluation of requests for service channel growth with critical
examination of potential success factors for shift of government services. Overall, local government around the
country is investing in channel shift, it is clear that not all of these ventures are meeting with success, however, if full
consideration is given to the business case for channel shift and time is taken to understand and target customer
groups successful channel shift can be achieved.
Keywords: eGovernment, channel shift, transformational government, citizen requirements, e-services
1. Introduction
With the global economic downturn has come a wave of austerity measures in national and international
public services expenditure. In this context, the UK government has recently announced 7.1% of cuts per
year in funding allocation to regional and local government (Her Majesty’s Government, 2010). This
translates to a loss of 27% of funding over 4 years. Therefore the present focus is to look at ways in
which to increase efficiency in government expenditure. One of the ways that is continually lauded, is to
take advantage of the web in the delivery of public services, primarily because “the cost ... (is)
approximately one-tenth the cost of a contact by telephone” (Socitm Consulting, 2010). However,
managers within government organisations face questions of, whether reduced costs are myth or reality,
and whether or not the addition of web based functionality will work for them.
Channel shift has been defined as “the design and marketing of effective and efficient channels because
they are the most appropriate channel for the type of contact, customer and organisation….” (Simon
Pollock, Head of Customer Services at Surrey County Council, as quoted in Public Networks, 2010).
Channel shift is not simply limited to the transformation of service to take advantage of technology such
as the World Wide Web but instead should involve a comprehensive strategic evaluation of the most
appropriate approaches for the delivery of service. The evaluation of the most appropriate channel can
obviously be quite complex but will generally come down to a balance of metrics such as cost, quality of
service, access and demand.
This paper reports on the findings of a short research consultancy project delivered by academics within
the University of Hull for a partnership of nine UK councils and other public service bodies. The aim of the
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project was to explore moving services from one-to-one or telephone based interaction to self-help web
based channels. This ‘channel shift’ project was designed to consist of four clear stages: identification of
the potential for channel shift from within partner councils; analysis of the impact of channel shift from
within local governance case study scenarios; an investigation of customer perspectives on channel shift
linked to particular areas of service; and, finally a framework to establish a business case for introducing
new channels to identified services within government areas. This papers contribution is in detailing the
outcomes of the four stages and in presenting a new framework for the strategic planning of switching
public modes of access to council services.
2. The project problem and literature review
In July 2010, a short research project (funded by a partnership of nine UK councils) commenced focused
on exploring the potential for the transition of a variety of eGovernment services to self-help web based
channels. Motivation for the project came from questions being asked by managers of customer focused
council services around the benefits/limitations of moving services to the web, and the need to gather an
understanding of best practice in relation to transformation of services. To understand the issues and
provide some answers to the questions being asked it was thought a four stage process would be of
benefit. In the first stage the scope for channel shift would be evaluated from within, therefore time would
be taken to understand a number of internal stakeholder views on the potential for channel shift within
governmental services. This would be followed by a detailed exploration of literature relating to
successful and unsuccessful channel shift in private and public sector environments. This case study
material would provide the partner organisations with an understanding as to what has been successfully
translated in the past and give some examples of best practice. In the third stage of the project, the
research would focus on the customer and trying to understand customer perspectives on channel shift in
relation to governmental services, taking into account the nuances of some customer responses to shifts
of service provision. Finally, from the results of each of the stages, there was a requirement to establish a
mechanism to enable better evaluation of service potential for channel shift. The form of this evaluation
mechanism was established as a business case template for service transition.
Looking towards related research to the project described within this paper we find that the research
essentially can be categorised into three sections. The first section being analysing and understanding
perspectives on channel shift from within government and from citizens. The second being the research
of barriers to shifting services to self-help web content. Finally, the identification of best practice case
examples of shifts of service provision.
As outlined in Transformation Government published in 2005, there is a clear need in governmental
organisations to focus not just on the provision of appropriate channels for delivery but also re-evaluation
of processes to put the customer at the heart of online services (Cabinet Office, 2005). This was followed
by David Varney’s book “Service Transformation – A better service for citizens and businesses, a better
deal for the taxpayer” (Varney, 2006) in 2006 outlining the clear case for the transformation of
government services to take account of other channels of delivery. Since these publications, researchers
such as Pumphrey (Pumphrey, 2006) have concentrated on developing guidance for successful channel
migration. For example, Pumphrey suggests in his paper “golden rules for formulating future channel
strategies in consumer-facing organizations in both commercial and public sectors”. These rules are
developed from Pumphrey’s experience in implementing online services for public private sector
organisations and from identified best practice. Organisations such as Socitm (see
http://www.socitm.gov.uk/) produce a wide range of consultancy papers focused on developing strategies
for channel shift, for example (Socitm Consulting, 2010). In addition governmental guidance in relation to
shifting of governmental services including planning for channel shift (Cabinet Office, 2010) is also
available. These papers, associated events and workshops provide targeted support for government
service managers to understand how channel shift can best work for them.
In relation to the identification of barriers in the shifting of service delivery, Kernaghan (Kernaghan, K,
2005) suggests that there are “four major categories of barriers to integrated service delivery (these) are
political/legal, structural, operational/managerial and cultural ones”. He suggests that successful services
are generally seamless in operation between front and back end systems, helping government leverage
efficiencies and helping customers also gain advantages. There are also papers discussing issues such
as marketing practice of public online services (Apicella and Streatfeild, 2010).
The identification of best practice case examples of shifts of service provision formed part of the research
conducted for this project. This is detailed within section 4 of this report.
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3. Scope for channel shift in local government
To establish an understanding of the potential scope for channel shift within government organisations
the project started with a workshop for customer service managers. The workshop provided an
opportunity to collect qualitative perspectives about which services had the most potential for a shift of
service provision. To begin with the workshop outlined a short explanation of the channel shift project and
some brief case study material related to channel shift. It then moved on to outline some of the issues
needing discussion and identification in relation to the scope for specific services to shift channels.
Following this an activity took place focused on identifying council services that attendees felt were
appropriate for exploration, in relation to, shifting some of the present interaction between customers and
the services to self-help web based channels. Some of the services identified were:
Benefits Services
Leaflet Provision and online information regarding access to services
Licensing and Planning Applications
Parking (including Parking Permits and the Blue Badge process)
Reporting
For each of the services identified by the Customer Services Managers time was taken to outline the
expected benefits and issues associated with adopting them to being provided over other more cost
efficient channels. Further services were explored in relation to the perceived complexity of transactions
conducted and transaction cycles. Finally, the potential impact of transformation of services was
discussed.
The first stage of the project demonstrated that there is no shortage of ideas in relation to the potential
that individual services have for channel shift. Customer Service Managers identified a range of
independent areas worth exploration (as noted above) from basic reporting linked to customers in the
local area, through automation of benefits services, to online services to support waste and recycling
management. Whilst individual areas where benefit could occur were identified it was also clear that data
may not be easily accessible to support a case for the provision of new channels.
4. Case study examples of channel shift success
After analysing the scope for the potential shift of governmental services to self-help services, the
research focus shifted to the identification of case studies linked to the previously identified services. The
case studies were identified through desk research identifying through available literature best practice
examples (and some poor examples) of successful channel migration. Thirteen case studies were
identified through the project; in the paragraphs below we outline three of the identified services and
findings from related case studies.
Reporting services are mainly concerned with citizens informing council operatives regarding poor
services (e.g. damaged roads) or other problems within their neighbourhood (anti-social behaviour).
Waste and environmental services are one of the most important council and getting more significant with
the increasing trend of recycling. Different councils have employed a shift of delivery channel for
reporting. For example, South Tyneside Council shifted its main reporting mechanism to the internet in
2008 (Astun Technology, 2009) (see http://my.southtyneside.info/). This resulted in increases in the
number of transactions (from 203 to 2873) coupled with a reduction in cost (from £2.97 to £1.25). The
council gained 2000 new subscribers to this service in 2009. Subscriptions keep subscribers updated
about the services and anything new going on around them. Another council which has experimented
with electronic reporting are, Tameside Council. In 2008, they started using email related to waste and
recycling (Experian, 2009). Tameside Council also provides a form based system for the customer
registration of council services such as bulky waste collection allowing residents to report anything such
as abandoned cars and fly tipping.
Case studies were also identified relating to the availability of online information instead of print leaflets
(Department for Work and Pensions, 2006)( Kirklees Metropolitan Council, n.d.). For example, Kirklees
Council have adopted a web based multi directional communications system to aid with citizen
interaction. The system uses a low cost SMS service to enable council-citizen and citizen council
messaging. People register with the service and text key words about the information that they want.
Reponses to their information requests are sent to their phones in response. This service has been used
to provide a mechanism for engaging young people with council services providing information about
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events happening in the region and information regarding entitlements to benefits etc... In addition, the
system has also been used to help communication between the council and those in debt arrears from
rental accommodation (with the levels of response from tenants in arrears increasing by 85%) and to
provide a communication system for the deaf community.
Benefits services in the UK include items such as housing benefits, job seekers allowance, free school
meals and clothing grants, etc. Different councils are taking advantage of channel shift in giving benefit
services to citizens in various ways. For example, Tameside Council has introduced a system of online
application for child related benefits (PublicTechnology.net, 2009). The online system focused initially on
providing applicants with an online form for applying for school meals benefits. However, Tameside
quickly realised the linkage between benefits schemes and introduced a mechanism for using single
forms to apply for multiple benefits i.e. many of the individuals who claim for certain benefits are also
entitled to other benefits e.g. in this case school clothing grants. Instant decisions are provided to the
customer on their entitlement, with the web system carrying out the validation of data entered and
checking benefit entitlements. It is estimated the system has reduced the number of transactions for the
service by 40,000 and reduced the majority of transaction costs to 6p. Dundee City Council has also used
a single application form for access to benefit services with integration to back end systems. The system
pre-fills in form information for benefits claimers on an annual basis, without the need to re-visit the
council or re-submit proof of eligibility. Calculations are performed and payments are directly made to the
customers’ account.
The vast majority of case studies identified involved the introduction of targeted systems which have
combined in linking back office to front end services. It is also evident from the material publicly available
on the web that there is a lack of reporting on the fundamental benefits of transformation in the move to
online services. Taking into account documents such as the Channel Strategy Guidance (Cabinet Office,
2010) and Citizen Service Transformation (CSTransform, 2010), it is clear that at the heart of a
successful transformation is an understanding of information such as present channel strategy, cost per
transaction, customer satisfaction and potential scope for savings. Key lessons learnt from the case
studies include:
The need to clearly target the service or part of service for channel shift.
To think clearly about the marketing strategy including segmentation of customer groups.
Take time establishing key performance indicators which can be used to support a case for channel
shift and to evaluate success.
That channel shift can reduce costs and a proportion of customers are willing to move but it will not
replace frontline services.
5. Investigation of customer perspectives on channel shift
The third stage of the project enabled analysis of customer views towards migration of council services to
self-help web based channels. Customer views were captured through the design and use of a multi-part
questionnaire. The multi-part questionnaire essentially covered a range of generic information related to
access to council services, web access and future access; captured information from leisure users about
potential for channel shift; captured information from tourists about potential for channel shift and
captured information from residents about potential for channel shift across a range of services. 197
Individuals were questioned across six town centre locations on three separate days from nine in the
morning until five in the evening. There are limitations of the survey related to location (attracting sub-sets
of council customers), timing (limits sample respondent group reducing the number of employed
individuals surveyed) and to the methods of collection (some individuals will not respond to the survey
method chosen). However, the survey provides a selection of customer responses to service transition.
The main findings from the survey are outlined below, however, access to the full report and findings can
be requested from the author (Mundy and Foster, 2010).
Observation 1: Whilst there may be an economic imperative to switch service provision to web based
self-help services there are some major problems. The results of the survey suggest that there is a subset
of the local customer group who access council services that are not equipped in knowledge,
equipment or in terms of motivation for access to channels other than face-to-face and telephone. 46% of
survey participants reported never having accessed council web pages. A wide range of barriers to
access were stated, however, 69 % of those sampled who had infrequent or no access to council pages
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cited either a lack of a computer, lack of an Internet connection, lack of knowledge, lack of interest or
preference of the personal approach as their main barrier to council web page access.
Observation 2: Whilst the findings do not establish a substantial demand for channel shift in relation to
council services, many of those questioned recognised that provision of council services through more
cost effective channels was a good thing (for other people), or in the case of web access was inevitable.
In terms of the services residents would like to see online, parking attracted the largest interest (17%)
followed by reporting and general information (each attracting 10%). Some citizen : council interactions
(e.g. loss of job, death, disabilities, licensing, parking permits etc) can involve a lot of clarifications,
clearances and paperwork. Although, the channel shifting of these services may be beneficial for some
customers groups there are associated risks, for example, privacy and security (as illustrated by
customer comments, “I don’t like filling in forms online, I feel uncomfortable” and the description of online
services as a “total invasion of privacy”) and fraudulent claims. Government organisations are sometimes
reluctant to deal with these issues in the ways they can be dealt with by private enterprise (e.g. through
customer log-in) because of the associated potential for ‘big brother’ related issues. In addition there are
financial issues regarding the need to properly link front end and back end operations.
Observation 3: It is clear that at present the most valuable service offered on the web by local
government is access to local information. Of the 58% of citizens surveyed who accessed council web
pages 35% suggested their main reason of use was to find out local information (interestingly fo some
this was the telephone number of particular services). Local government procedures and policies relating
to delivered services can sometimes be difficult to gather and understand. Individuals requiring this
information generally have to visit council offices or book appointments with advisors to guide them to
more detailed information about these processes. For example, bus timetables, council tax rates,
recycling information, and helpline and security numbers, etc. Availability of this information online can
reduce these visits substantially.
Observation 4: Some current eGovernment services have not necessarily delivered a standard of service
commensurate with the standard delivered previously. Taking an example, negative views were
expressed regarding the provision of service in place for online planning applications. At present there
are concerns over the reporting of planning permission status using the online system. Customers
enquire about the status of planning applications through the site and sometimes the online system can
present an inaccurate understanding of planning permission status e.g. at the top level of the site it can
state rejection, but only when examined in detail at lower levels might you find that the application had
been accepted on appeal. Of critical importance is, services when delivered through different channels
should take advantage of the channel in order to improve the service. Comments about the provision of
forms to complete and physically take into council facilities don’t promote a reason to ‘Do It Online’.
6. Developing a framework for service assessment
The final stage of the research project involved drawing together the research findings from scoping the
potential for channel shift, investigating successful channel shift case studies and investigating customer
perspective on channel shift. As noted in the introduction research shows that at present approaches to
channel shift within governmental organisations do not generally go through a substantial planning
process. Therefore there is a need to suggest a comprehensive strategy for assessing the potential for
successful channel shift. The final output of this project is in the outlining of a business case template for
channel shift.
The business case template (Mundy and Foster, 2010) involved the analysis of requirements, issues and
concerns extracted from the project’s research findings. Drawn out from this analysis was a range of key
criteria to enable evaluation when judging whether a service is or is not appropriate for channel shift.
These key criteria are detailed in table 1.
Once these key criteria had been identified questions relating to them were categorised and organised
into a business case template document requesting information from the proposer of a channel shift
project. The aim of this was to enable evaluation of the potential impact of new channels so that
decisions can be made about potential success.
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Table 1: Key criteria
Benefits to the
Customer
Benefits to the Council
Complexity
Cost and Savings
Customer Demand
Service Integration
7. Conclusions and further work
Darren Mundy et al.
The provision of additional channels does not necessarily indicate a benefit to the
customer. Web based access has the potential to streamline processes and provide
other more substantial benefits to the customer rather than the simple creation of an
extra channel. Benefits can lead to shifts in usage when customers realise there are
added benefits to web based service over other forms of access they may perceive to
be easier (e.g. picking up the phone).
Potential benefits to the council from the provision of extra channels should not be
ignored. However, these benefits must be balanced against the other factors given
that members of the public are unlikely to move to a different channel for the sole
benefit of increased council efficiencies. As has been evidenced elsewhere
mechanisms for public change may come in the form of simplified service offerings or
by passing on the cost of channel interaction to the customer.
In simple terms services can be informational, transactional or provide mechanisms
for customer interaction, they also all contain varying degrees of complexity. Even
what may seem the simplest service may relate to a complex system e.g. in relation to
leisure centre bookings an existing culture (i.e. a group always books on Fridays) may
impact on an online booking system. The complexity of the service requires evaluation
of the potential impact on its customer groups. As mentioned previously extra
channels may provide the potential to streamline individual processes. A final thing to
consider in relation to complexity is the service and its relationship to other services,
potentially providing a mechanism to join up services and provide simplified combined
processes for the customer.
Detailed understanding of cost to serve and use of service provides a mechanism to
evaluate the potential impact of extra channel provision. When this is coupled with
projections about growth in web usage over time, this can provide an understanding of
the potential savings from the shift of service.
As evidenced within the case studies and through the primary research, it is important
to understand the customer base for particular services. If the customer base is such
that there is substantial potential for channel shift (and growth in use of service) then
this could represent potential future savings. However, if the customer base has
limited access or knowledge at present then the costs may be far greater than the
benefits.
There is limited benefit to providing additional front end channels if these channels do
not lead to back end savings. Additional front end channels without integration lead to
continued costs as front end service staff are required to pass messages on and
respond in similar ways to present face to face or telephone contact.
The current austerity drives within the public sector are driving a growing imperative to reduce the costs
per transaction in the delivery of government services. With this pressure comes a risk of simply adding
channels without fully considering the financial impact and potential benefits to local customer groups.
From the research conducted for this project come a number of simple steps forward towards the
successful shift of delivery channel.
1. Selecting services which will provide the greatest impact both in terms of finances and customer
service will lead to a growing confidence in local council online services. Once chosen these services
need to be easy to use and add value to the user experience as noted by a number of customers, many
still it easier to pick up the phone than access online services.
2. Understand the cost of service and potential costs of service across different channels.
3. One of the main problems identified within this research is the requirement to understand nuances with
individual systems. The better online services will provide personalised and customised information which
helps the customer deal with this feeling that face-to-face or phone call engagement with service staff will
provide them with more tailored information. Facilities such as online archiving of forms requiring annual
completion and simple collection of only update information are examples of how online systems can be
designed to make particular tasks much easier for the average customer to complete.
4. Taking time to understand different elements of the customer groups which engage with particular
services can lead to more targeted marketing strategies in relation to promote engagement with new
channel services. These strategies may not cost substantial amounts.
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5. Successful channel shift comes through integration of services. Automated channels have the potential
to bring clear efficiencies to process, however, they need to be linked directly to back-end systems. An
absence of integration can lead simply to additional tasks for front end customer service staff to handle.
Follow on work from the work presented within this research paper, will centre around the use of the
developed business case template in practice, to evaluate its potential for providing clarity over the
potential for channel shift success. In addition, more can be learnt from better understanding current
successful case studies of eGovernment channel shift to better understand strategies for success and
failure.
References
Apicella, S and Streatfeild, N. (2010), Direct, database and digital marketing practice in the government sector: Black
hole or parallel universe?, Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 11, 302–316
Astun Technology, (2009): GI Data Integration and Publishing - the evolution of a platform,
(Accessed 12.01.11).
Cabinet Office, 2005, “Transformational government enabled by Technology”, Cabinet Office publications,
(accessed 12.01.11)
Cabinet Office, (2010): Channel Strategy Guidance,
(Accessed 12.01.11).
CSTransform, (2010): Citizen Service Transformation: A manifesto for change in the delivery of public services, <
http://www.cstransform.com/white_papers/CitizenServiceTransformationV1.pdf> (Accessed 12.1.11).
Department for Work and Pensions, (2006): Using leaflets to communicate with the public about services and
entitlements, (Accessed
12.01.11).
Experian, (2009): Case study: Connecting with Communities and Customers Online,
(Accessed 12.01.11).
Her Majesty’s Government, (2010), Spending Review Statement, Her Majestys Government, http://www.hmtreasury.gov.uk/spend_sr2010_speech.htm
(Accessed 12.1.11).
Kernaghan, K. (2005):Moving towards the virtual state: integrating services and service channels for citizen-centred
delivery, International Review of Administrative Sciences March 2005 vol. 71 no. 1 119-131
Kirklees Metropolitan Council, (n.d): Text Messaging for Local Authorities,
http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/business/consultations/itex/iTexOverviewAndCaseStudies.pdf (Accessed 12.01.11).
Mundy, D. and Foster, A. (2010): Transforming Government Services: Channel Shifting – An exploration of moving
services from mediated to self-help web based channels, Consultancy report, Available on request from author.
PublicTechnology.net, (2009): Case study: Dundee City Council - Transforming the Free School Meals/School
Clothing Grants Application Process, (Accessed 12.1.11).
Pumphrey, S. (2006): "A vision for channel strategies", info, Vol. 8 Iss: 5, pp.56 - 66
Socitm Consulting, (2010): Putting the web at the heart of your business, Socitm Consulting Report, available with
subscription to Socitm.
Varney, D, (2006): Service Transformation – A better service for citizens and businesses, a better deal for the
taxpayer, Crown Copyright, ISBN: 0-11-840489-X
412

eGovernment in Social and Economic Development: The
Asymmetric Roles of Information, Institutionalization and
Diffusion
Bongani Ngwenya
Solusi University, Zimbabwe
ngwenyab@solusi.ac.zw
nbongani@gmail.com
Abstract: There are documented differences between the success and failure factors in the developed and
developing countries with regard to the adoption and embracement of Openness in eGovernment practice models.
This paper posits that eGovernment constitutes a critical context for social and economic development in both
developed and developing countries. The paper also suggests that eGovernment encompasses more than just
technology, that is, attempts to highlight the social and economic implications of changes that have occurred in
recent years as a result of the transparency and accountability of government and how software usage can influence
digital inclusion, trust and privacy and possible strategies to eliminate the digital divide by encouraging greater public
and commercial use and re-use of government information through putting government data on the Web. In addition
to leveraging economic development, eGovernment also helps to stream line government services to more social
based values of inclusion and citizens participation, accessibility and power relationship ratios. Although
eGovernment is not a new phenomenon in most developed countries such as the US, UK, Japan, most of the
European countries and some developing countries in Asia and Africa which have already announced their Open
Government Initiatives and data portals it also leads to greater information asymmetry among citizens and
government and also, institutionalization and diffusion asymmetry of the practice of the current Openness in
eGovernment models within developed and developing countries. Drawing on organizational decision-making
research and following the explorative and grounded based research approach the findings of this research are that
the information asymmetry between citizens and government and asymmetry in institutionalization and diffusion
within developed and developing countries are widely attributed to socio-economic and political variations in
developed and developing countries. Unless these differences are skill fully identified and accommodated as such
into the development and use models, Openness in eGovernment efforts would not help achieve the social and
economic development goals by both developed and developing countries.
Keywords: eGovernment, institutionalization, diffusion, asymmetric roles, social and economic development
1. Introduction
eGovernment is about using the tools and systems made possible by Information and Communication
Technology (ICTs) to provide better public services to citizens and business. ICTs are already widely
used by government bodies, just as in enterprises, but eGovernment involves much more than just the
tools (Ngwenya et al, 2010). Effective eGovernment involves rethinking organizations and processes, and
changing behaviour so that public services are delivered more efficiently to the people who need to use
them. Implemented well, eGovernment enables all citizens, enterprises and organizations to carry out
their business with government more easily, more quickly and at lower cost (Reding, 2006). Differing
characteristics of local environments, both infrastructural and socio-economic, have created a significant
level of variation in the acceptance and growth of eGovernment in different regions of the world. This
paper posits that eGovernment constitutes a critical context for social and economic development in both
developed and developing countries. This paper also suggests that eGovernment encompasses more
than just technology, that is, attempts to highlight the social and economic implications of changes that
have occurred in recent years as a result of the transparency and accountability of government and how
software usage can influence digital inclusion, trust and privacy and possible strategies to eliminate the
digital divide by encouraging greater public and commercial use and re-use of government information
through putting government data on the Web. There are documented differences between the success
and failure factors in the developed and developing countries with regard to the adoption and
embracement of Openness in eGovernment practice models. In addition to leveraging economic
development, eGovernment also helps to stream line government services to more social based values
of inclusion and citizens participation, accessibility and power relationship ratios.
Although eGovernment is not a new phenomenon in most developed countries such as the US, UK,
Japan, most of the European countries and some developing countries in Asia and Africa which have
already announced their Open Government Initiatives and data portals it also leads to greater information
asymmetry among citizens and government and also, institutionalization and diffusion asymmetry of the
practice of the current openness in eGovernment models within developed and developing countries.
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Bongani Ngwenya
Drawing on organizational decision-making research and following the explorative and grounded based
research approach the findings of this research are that the information asymmetry between citizens and
government and asymmetry in institutionalization and diffusion within developed and developing
countries are widely attributed to socio-economic and political variations in developed and developing
countries. Unless these differences are skill fully identified and accommodated as such into the
development and use models, Openness in eGovernment efforts would not help achieve the social and
economic development goals by both developed and developing countries.
The author is proceeding in the following order of consideration, the author first examines some insights
from the literature and conceptual framework. Following the discussion of the conceptual framework, a
discussion of this explorative and grounded based research approach into information asymmetry
between citizens and government and asymmetry in institutionalization and diffusion within developed
and developing countries is done, based on comprehensive literature review and the interpretivist
research conventions used in this study. The research methodology is outlined, followed by the analysis
of the data, and discussion. Finally, the conclusions are drawn and suggestions for further future studies
are made.
2. Insights from the literature and conceptual framework
2.1 The concept of eGovernment
eGovernment involves the use of online information technologies by government agencies to provide
services. eGovernment services are essentially concerned with the delivery of public services to citizens,
employees, businesses, and government organizations through the use of information communication
technology (ICT).Belanger and Hiller (2005) suggest three aspects of eGovernment, that is, Government
to Individuals (G2Is) or Government to consumer (G2C).On the other hand, (Carter 2008) suggests
Government to Business as a Citizen (G2BC) and Government to Business in the Marketplace
(G2BMKT).Government to Individuals(G2Is) or Government to Consumer(G2C) takes public agencies to
provide services to citizens such as issuance of national identity documents, drivers’ licenses, tax return
applications, or obtaining passport via online, etc. Similarly, G2BC is involved with commercial
transactions, such as institutional payment of taxes or fines by the commercial enterprises to public
agencies. G2BMKT is concerned with the business transactions between government and businesses
such as e-procurement, government hiring of contractors, and government acquisition of goods or
services. The term “eGovernment” is a comprehensive term that is sometimes referred to as “on-line
government” or “Internet-based government.” Dawes (2002) gives us a sense of the multidimensionality
of the term when she states that it is “…the use of Internet technology to support government operations,
engage citizens, and provide government services”. The first of these, government operations, primarily
involves management practices that, although critical, are largely invisible to the public.
Implementation of Internet technology in American state governments for example is taking place at a
brisk pace. In his annual review of features available online in American federal and state websites, West
(2007) documents changes that have occurred since he began his review in 2000. In 2000 only two
percent of government sites offered three or more services online; in 2007 that figure was 58 percent. He
notes that almost all sites now provide publications and databases (98 and 84 percent respectively).
Almost half the sites (46 percent in 2007) now comply with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
standards for disability access. This is a phenomenal social development. The most common services
offered by the states include business registration, professional licensing, driver license and license plate
renewal, filing and paying taxes, locating information on sex offenders and missing persons. This reflects
considerable effort towards achieving socio-economic development. Many state legislatures offer bill and
legislation search and live broadcasts of legislative sessions. In addition, many states offer unique
services. For example, in New York and New Jersey, using Privacy Policy links, citizens may request any
site information that is public record. Georgia citizens may search for the lowest gas prices in the state,
and South Carolina legislators provide legislative broadcasts with closed captioning (West, 2007).From
2007, for example 89 percent of government sites allowed the public to e-mail public officials directly
rather than simply e-mailing the webmaster (West, 2007). While state implementation of digital services
and outreach is changing quickly, there is considerable progress to be made. Most sites exceed the
reading level of the average citizen. Many are poorly organized; portal pages make it difficult to navigate
through the sites. Some sites have limited accessibility, while others have no apparent privacy provisions,
leading to more challenges of digital divide.
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2.2 eGovernment and the digital divide
Bongani Ngwenya
Just because technology is available does not mean it is accessible to all. The term digital divide has
been used since the 1990s to describe patterns of unequal access to ICTs—primarily computers and the
Internet—based on income, ethnicity, geography, age, and other factors, such as lack of skills. The
realization of these goals requires that the digital divide be addressed. Indeed, in a study of eGovernment
use by citizens, the digital divide was found to be more pronounced among government web site visitors
than among internet users in general (Thomas and Streib 2003). A lack of access to the Internet is a
major element of the digital divide. Research consistently identifies ethnicity, income, age and education
as significant predictors of access to technology. According to Wright and Larsen (2001),60 percent of
white households had Internet access, while only 34 percent of African American and 38 percent of
Latino households did. Also, roughly 78 percent of households with income between $50,000 - $75,000
by then had Internet access, while only 40 percent of those with household incomes between $20,000 -
$25,000 had Web access. Thomas and Streib (2003), found that ethnicity, education, income, and age
discriminate Internet users from non-users. They conclude that among Internet users, ethnicity and
education are important predictors of which Internet users will also utilize government Web sites, with
those users more likely to be white and better educated. The perpetuation of digital exclusion in
Zimbabwe and other developing countries for example is contradictory to citizens’ constitutional right to
the access of information as enshrined in their constitutions, notwithstanding the negative impact of
information asymmetry, another critical challenge to eGovernment in social and economic development.
In Zimbabwe there is Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). The Act enshrines the
citizens rights to access to information, at the same time gives the government agents authority to pry on
individual citizens use and dissemination of information. The whole thing is politically motivated, and used
to curtail opposition to the ruling party. There is a clear contradiction here.
2.3 Information asymmetry and its problems
The theory of asymmetric information has been lively developed in the field of economic research for the
last two decades. The prominent foundations for this theory were established by George Akerlof (Akerlof,
1970), Michael Spence (Spence, 1973) and Joseph Stiglitz (Rothschild and Stiglitz, 1976). Information
asymmetry occurs when one party has more or better information than the other party; it assumes that at
least one party to a transaction has better relevant information whereas the other(s) do not. This is
typically with governments. Naturally government would have more or better information about itself than
its citizens. Information asymmetry has mass effect on the business networks, for example, supply
chains. Fiala (2005) indicates that information asymmetry is a key source of supply chain inefficiency and
strategic partnerships and information sharing can help to cope with the “bullwhip effect”, caused by the
information asymmetry in supply chains. Mishra et al. (2007) point out that information distortion may
reduce the benefit levels or even stop information sharing in supply chains. There are two typical
problems asymmetric information may trigger, namely, moral hazard and adverse selection. Moral hazard
refers to “situations where one side of the market can't observe the actions of the other. For this reason it
is sometimes called a hidden action problem” (Varian, 2002). In addition, it means the chance, or hazard,
that a party in a transaction with more information about its intentions or actions behaves in a way that a
party with less information would consider inappropriate, or in the extreme, "immoral". An example of
moral hazard is when people are more likely to behave recklessly if insured, either because the insurer
cannot observe this behaviour or cannot effectively retaliate against it, for example by failing to renew the
insurance.
On the other hand adverse selection generally refers to a market process in which bad results occur due
to information asymmetries between buyers and sellers, where the "bad" products or customers are more
likely to be selected and the “good” ones are driven out of the market. It has been discussed extensively
in the fields of economics, insurance, and risk theory. An example of adverse selection in the insurance
market is when people who are of high risk are more likely to buy insurance, because the insurance
company cannot effectively discriminate against them. In some countries, for example, people living with
“HIV, AIDS”. The same premiums are set by the insurer for both groups with high risk and low risk. The
insurance company anticipates or learns that the cost of the combined policy holders exceeds that of the
general population, and sets the higher premiums accordingly. The result is that people with lower risks
tend to go uninsured.
Another famous example is illustrated by (Akerlof, 1970) for the second hand car market, which is
referred to as the "lemon market"-people buying used cars do not know whether they are "lemons" (bad
cars) or "cherries" (good ones), so they are willing to pay an average price that lies in between the
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lemons and cherries. As a result, the same situation as in the insurance market happens here, the
“cherries” will be driven out and “lemons” will dominate the market. The similar findings are also
supported by the recent e-commerce research of Liao and Cheung (2001) that the “poor vendor quality,
especially as regards “lemons”, is identified as a significant disincentive to virtual retailing over the
Internet”. Arrow (1984) equates these two terms, that is, moral hazard and adverse selection with hidden
action and hidden information, respectively. Moral hazard arises when the action undertaken by the agent
is unobservable and has a differential value to the agent as compared to the principal. With the fast
development of information technology (IT), more recently, the theory of asymmetric information has
been expanded in the field of economics of information technology and discussed by various researches,
such as,(Garicano and Kaplan, 2001; Varian, 2002; Varian et al., 2004; Wigand et al., 1997; Stiglitz,
2000; Kauffman and Mohtadi, 2003). In addition to “moral hazard” and “adverse selection” information
asymmetry would also increase costs of acquiring information, such as transaction costs (which raise
more in opaque situations). These could be: search costs; information costs; decision costs; policing
costs; and enforcement costs.
2.4 Information asymmetry problems between business and government
Very little attention has been paid to the asymmetric information issues between profit driven businesses
and public good oriented government. However, the recent movement of the public sector transformation
of forming the so called public-private partnerships (PPP) by many countries in this world, where a
government and a private entity collaboratively undertake traditionally public activity (Naschold and Von
Otter, 1996), has made the boundary between the government and private business become less and
less obvious. In this section the researcher puts his focal point on this transforming regime and discuss
whether asymmetric information problems of moral hazard and adverse selection can also be triggered
during the business and government interaction. One of the most important roles for government in the
G2B relationship is the government control role.
A good example of such control is in Tax and Customs Administration, as it is directly related with the
collection of government revenues. European Union (EU) governments for example have been
experiencing severe losses from various tax frauds. According to EU Commission (2006a), estimates of
tax fraud of 2 to 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are mentioned, which is about 200 to 250 billion
Euro per year at EU level and at unprecedented levels in developing countries, especially in Africa. Such
tax fraud is a fitting example and can be interpreted as the moral hazard problem caused by the
asymmetric information. An illustrative example is the value added tax (VAT) collection. Simply two
parties are involved here: a private company who is obliged to declare VAT and pay the tax; and a Tax
office as a government agency who audits the tax report and control the VAT collection. However in the
real world, especially in developing countries the private company always, knows better about its own
operating details and the real value of transactions, whereas the Tax office does not. Private company
has better information than the Tax office and thus has motivation to hide and even falsify certain
information from Tax office to get tax advantages. If such motivation is obvious and easy to achieve
without tax office knowing, or the penalty of defaulting is not severer enough, the private company will
choose to cheat - a moral hazard problem is caused that the tax office receives less VAT than it should
have. The researcher posits that the problem of asymmetry does not only lie with information, in this case
pertaining to eGovernment but also with institutionalization and diffusion of organisational practices, such
as eGovernment.
2.5 Asymmetry in institutionalization and diffusion
In accordance with the existing literature, diffusion is defined as a process by which policy innovations
are communicated in the international system and adopted voluntarily by an increasing number of
countries over time (Elkins and Simmons 2005; Rogers 2003; Dolowitz and Marsh 2000). Diffusion refers
to an international spread of policy innovations driven by information flows rather than by hierarchical or
collective decision-making within international institutions. At the micro-level it is triggered by
mechanisms of social learning, copying or mimetic emulation (Jo¨rgens, 2004; Orenstein,
2003). The essential feature of policy diffusion is that it occurs in the absence of formal or contractual
obligation. Moreover, diffusion is basically a horizontal process whereby individually adopted policies and
programmes add up to a decentralized regulatory structure (Levi-Faur, 2005). Unlike in the case of
multilateral legal treaties, which are negotiated centrally between states and subsequently
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implemented top-down, with diffusion, decision-making procedures are decentralized and remain at the
national level, at its own pace and ability to implement. In the absence of a centralized regulatory regime
with highly visible and explicitly stated aims, international policy diffusion may thus result in a ‘regulatory
revolution by stealth’ (Levi-Faur and Jordana, 2005). While our understanding of diffusion follows the
predominant use of this concept in the recent literature (Elkins and Simmons, 2005;Rogers, 2003;
Howlett, 2000; Bennett 1991a, 1997) it contradicts those approaches that view diffusion as an outcome
rather than a process. A prominent example for this body of literature is Eyestone’s understanding of
diffusion as ‘any pattern of successive adoption of a policy innovation’ (Eyestone, 1977). This
understanding of diffusion as the sum of all domestic adoptions of a policy innovation, regardless of the
particular causal mechanisms through which these adoptions were brought about, certainly is legitimate.
3. Research methodology employed in this study
At an early stage of investigation, the research was exploratory, for which a single country case study
was appropriate (Benbasat et al. 1987 and Galliers 1992). The selection of Zimbabwe`s government
departments, that is, Department of Information; Department of Local Government; Department of
Registry and Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) constituted this case study in a developing country,
while literature review sufficed to appreciate the same developments in the developed countries, that is,
US and EU. The researcher conducted a purposeful sampling technique, which provided a total of168
households, based on the community members surrounding these government departments, and as
representative of the technologically disadvantaged. These represented the intended beneficiaries of
eGovernment services in Zimbabwe. Very few possessed skills or training in computer technology or had
any knowledge and information about on-line government services and some communities had virtually
no access to computer technology. The author served as volunteer within the community, which
cultivated familiarity and trust necessary to collect data (Rubin and Rubin 1995). Any unintended
influence of the author was minimized as the author was volunteer among several other volunteers who
were not even aware of the research objectives. In addition to 168 households, the author interviewed 8
heads of these selected government departments, 17 Members of Parliament of Zimbabwe, 7 Permanent
Secretaries and 11 Principal Directors of some key ministries in the Zimbabwean government as well, in
this explorative and interpretivist research. The semi-structured interviews lasted between 30 minutes
and 1.5 hours and all of them were recorded. The interviews were transcribed and their contents were
analysed. The processing and analyses of the information had the following stages:
Creation of a content analysis matrix segment
Detailing the Data Collection and Analysis Procedures
Discussion and Summary of Research Findings
Conclusion and Suggestions for Future Studies
3.1 Interview script
The script for the interview had some of the following “grand tour” questions:
Do you have any knowledge and information about eGovernment practices in Zimbabwe?
What is your opinion and understanding of eGovernment practice?
What is the government doing about information asymmetry within its departments?
In your opinion how far is Zimbabwe in terms of Open Government Initiatives and data portals?
What challenges is Zimbabwe facing with regard to adopting and implementing Openness in
eGovernment practices?
What is your assessment of the digital divide levels in Zimbabwe?
What is your assessment of the digital inclusion levels in Zimbabwe?
Are there any plans to expand technology accessibility to rural areas as well?
Do the promoters of technology usage participate readily? Where is there most resistance?
What is your role in the implementation of eGovernment practice?
With increases in internet usage, is there improvement in terms of government service delivery?
With increases in open government data portals and internet usage, is there changes in social
development of communities in the country?
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With increases in open government portals and internet usage, is there changes in economic
development within the country?
What are the areas in which the department has most difficulty in implementing the usage of
technology?
In terms of eGovernment practices, can one say that there is a set of best practices which are
transmitted by people?
With eGovernment data portals usage, have there been changes in the sharing and distribution of
information within the stakeholders in the country?
Is there an Intranet where the processes are managed within the departments?
What kind of innovations have emerged with eGovernment practices?
Does the entire department staff have training?
How is the know-how of employees transmitted? Orally? Written? Have there been changes with
information technology usage?
Is the government department well aware of its clients? How evident is it? How does the department
try to meet the needs of its customers or clients?
Are there partnerships with various organizations? Are they the same as those that existed before
eGovernment practices or improvements were made? What kind of partnerships are these?
Does the department share knowledge and information in the network of openness in eGovernment
organizations? What are the advantages?
Do you consider that eGovernment practice has made processes simpler or more bureaucratic?
4. Detailing the data collection and analysis procedures
The analysis was undertaken in a systematic format that is similar to previous interpretive research
(Brockman et al., 2008). An extensive systematic and interpretive analysis employing categorization,
abstraction, comparison, dimensionalization, integration, iteration, and refutation was conducted
(Spiggle,1994). As interviews were conducted and transcribed notations were made regarding
respondents opinions and perceptions of the effectiveness of eGovernment as a leverage for social and
economic development. This paper posits that eGovernment constitutes a critical context for social and
economic development in both developed and developing countries. However the findings of this study
are that eGovernment also leads to information asymmetry among citizens and government and also,
institutionalization and diffusion asymmetry of the practice of the current Openness in eGovernment
models within developed and developing countries. An interpretive analysis was developed, refined, and
reviewed by the researcher. First, an individual or ideographic understanding of each interview was
sought. Secondly, separate interviews were related to each other as the researcher attempted to grasp,
rather than impose meanings that emerged from the dialogue. In this way, the interpretations sought do
describe common patterns of experience (Thompson et al.,1989). Still further, the researcher formulated
a classification analysis of the data to identify concepts, guided by the literature in what is prevailing in
the developed countries. Next, the researcher elaborated on this analysis by integrating concepts and
bringing into the picture a process analysis that the perceptions of Openness in eGovernment
institutionalization and diffusion asymmetry are subject to change over time. Upon closer inspection of
the eGovernment, digital divide, information asymmetry and institutionalization and diffusion asymmetry
literature and the transcriptions of the 211 interviews, this interpretivist research analysis revealed two
underlying attributes to this “asymmetry challenge” in eGovernment: (1) Socio-Economic Variation and
(2) Political Variation in developed and developing countries. Unless these differences are skill fully
identified and accommodated as such into the development and use models, Openness in eGovernment
efforts would not help achieve the social and economic development goals by both developed and
developing countries.
Figure 1, combines these elements to present potential adoption motivations in a simple matrix diagram.
Developing countries` motivations appear in the left and upper segment; this segment is characterized
by high socio-economic and political variation, and high information, institutionalization and diffusion
asymmetry and hence, high digital divide intensity. Developed countries` motivations appear in the right
segment; this segment is characterized by low socio-economic and political variation, and low
information, institutionalization and diffusion asymmetry and hence, high digital inclusion intensity.
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Figure 1: Motivations for adopting innovation and diffusion
However, connecting this part of the conventional diffusion model with theories of issue interpretation
requires suggested hypotheses, which is not the focus of this paper at this stage. The researcher
suggests future non interpretivist research to consider sighting hypotheses and testing them.
5. Discussion and summary of research findings
This article offers a look at combining rational and social accounts of eGovernment practice
institutionalization and diffusion by asking whether a concern with “asymmetry problems” discussed
before are necessarily influenced by the level of a country`s development. The researcher`s argument is
that the higher the socio-economic and political variation in a country the greater the challenge and
problem of asymmetric information and asymmetry in diffusion of innovation like eGovernment models.
This study`s findings thus suggest that both developed countries based on previous studies and
developing countries based on the results of this interpretivist study are challenged by information
asymmetry problems, digital divide and asymmetry in diffusion. As a result concerns with social and
economic development gains driven by eGovernment practice models are not as period-dependent as
has been argued; rather, they may be more universally shared. On the basis of this study, the researcher
can only suggest as to why this is the case, but it appears possible that aspirations to achieve social and
economic gains may be, to some extent, independent of the diffusion process. For instance, if the
theorization of eGovernment as offering performance benefits of greater social and economic gain
appears compelling to adopting organizations throughout a diffusion process, then one would not expect
to see differences between developed and developing countries in terms of social and economic gains as
a motive for adoption. The findings of this interpretivist research are that the information asymmetry
between citizens and government and asymmetry in institutionalization and diffusion within developed
and developing countries are widely attributed to socio-economic and political variations in developed
and developing countries. These findings prompt rethinking of the classic institutional, and diffusion
theory, to suggest eGovernment models that will suit the socio-economic and political context of
developing countries in particular. Specifically, this study has shown that both developed and developing
countries report having both social and economic motivations for adopting openness in eGovernment,
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albeit for pursuing social gains and economic gains. Overall, the findings support rethinking the
institutional diffusion theory’s dichotomization of social and technical motivations for adopting innovations.
Finally, this study deepens understanding of why the implementation of new practices is frequently
shallow or even nonexistent (Meyer and Rowan, 1977; Westphal and Zajac, 1994)-an area that has
drawn increasing research attention. Developing countries, in this instance, are equally motivated by both
social and economic gains for adopting innovation, however from the information gathered from the
interviews conducted in this study, it became clear that developing countries have concern about their
social, economic and political contexts and that they may not be ready to adopt the current
eGovernment models that are adopted by the rest of the world.
6. Conclusion and suggestions for future studies
In this study the researcher posits that eGovernment constitutes a critical context for social and economic
development in both developed and developing countries. The study also suggests rethinking of the role
of motivations in the diffusion of practices among organization by extending the diffusion of practices and
innovation to eGovernment model. Specifically, this study has shown that both developed and developing
countries report having both social and economic motivations for adopting eGovernment models or
practices, albeit for pursuing social gains and economic gains. Although organisations and managers or
leaders are frequently subject to constraints that limit their ability to be mindful of practices or habits of
thinking that are taken for granted in their institutional environments, the researcher believes that the
extent of mindless imitation has been overstated. This study has taken considerable steps toward
recognizing greater managerial or leadership rationality and agency (Dacin, Goodstein, and Scott, 2002).
For instance in this research, the findings are that the information asymmetry between citizens and
government and asymmetry in institutionalization and diffusion within developed and developing
countries are widely attributed to socio-economic and political variations in developed and developing
countries. Unless these differences are skill fully identified and accommodated as such into the
development and use models, eGovernment practice efforts would not help achieve the social and
economic development goals by both developed and developing countries. These findings prompt
rethinking of the classic institutional, framing and diffusion model, to suggest full grounded theory
research in future, that would develop eGovernment models that suit the social, economic and political
context of developing countries in particular. The findings and conclusions of this interpretivist study could
be strengthened by hypothesizing and testing the assertions on “asymmetry challenges” in the future.
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National Electronic Government Strategies in Austria
Birgit Oberer 1 and Alptekin Erkollar 2
1 Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey
2 Halic University, Istanbul, Turkey
birgit.oberer@khas.edu.tr
erkollar@etcop.com
Abstract: One of the most emerging concepts of information technology is the one of electronic government.
Electronic services that are made available by governments to citizens, businesses, and other governments
(international) or governmental authorities (national) are general proof of the changes being made in the public
sector. Intersecting the government, citizen, and business domain, a business model can be defined considering the
government-to-business, government-to-citizen, and government-to-government approaches. Governments around
the world try to follow their, most of the time, ambitious strategies to become, or stay, competitive. In this study
Austrian strategies and projects for electronic government as well as their implementation plans were analysed,
followed by an examination of the electronic services offered by the national governmental authorities in Austria, one
pioneer in electronic government in Europe, leading in the European E-Government ranking 2010, and the declared
'European champion in eGovernment' for the fourth time in a row. The results revealed that Austria has developed
hybrid electronic government strategies, and has launched projects in that field, in which national governmental
authorities have to participate, in order to offer electronic government services at a high level and in a competitive
international environment. On a whole, offering a one-stop shop gateway to governmental information and
transactions generally offers higher attractiveness for conducting nationwide business and all incentives for electronic
government focus on developing good practices in the area of efficient and effective electronic government.
Nevertheless, national strategies are transformed and implemented in different ways not always following the onestop-shop
approach and contributing to the development of isolated applications instead of integrated ones.
Keywords: electronic government, e-Austria, digital Austria explorer, gateway, one-stop-shop
1. Introduction
Electronic government is an instrument to provide a customer centric, one stop delivery of governmental
services using a variety of channels, such as web portals, call centres, self service functionalities, or
mobile applications. The term customer stands for a citizen, business, as well as a governmental
authority itself. Electronic government portals are powerful tools for administration related reforms, reengineering
and anti-corruption incentives enabling more customer oriented, transparent, effective, and
efficient governmental services. Government to citizens and businesses focuses on easy access, a 'one
window' approach, enhanced quality services, and multichannel service delivery. The 'intra agency' view
focuses on process development and process improvements, whereas the targets for 'inter agency'
activities smooth information flow, enhanced capability for analysis, and enhanced use of multimedia. For
being competitive in global markets and to meet the needs of being competitive in an increasing area of
globalisation, public authorities have to think about how to make their services more competitive. One
aspect of becoming more competitive and contrasting with competitors on the market is investing in
global oriented electronic government strategies. Based on the approach of business process reengineering
and the improvement and increase of customer satisfaction, governments have to improve
their public appearance within an international, competitive environment. Among other things, they can
do so by using electronic government strategies following predefined goals, in turn transforming these
strategies into measures in order to reach the defined goals and developing control structures for strategy
progress analysis. One of the most emerging concepts of information technology is the one of electronic
government. Government portals are an increasingly powerful element of the worldwide public
administration reform strategies providing one stop online access to governmental services (Erkollar and
Oberer 2010, Aichholzer and Schmutzer 1999). By providing benefits to citizens, electronic government
has already become a part of life. The main targets are overcoming barriers of bureaucracy, reducing
service time, increasing the efficiency of governmental processes, and permitting citizens and businesses
as well as other governmental authorities to connect to government information. Electronic government
enables communicating with governmental authorities and offering transaction possibilities for
government driven processes in the private and business spheres. That is the case for not only citizens
and businesses but also for governmental authorities as well. Electronic government established
structures are able to change their business processes on a whole, interacting with each other using
information technology avoiding media breaks, time delays, quality loss for process outcomes, and lost
information due to lost data or available but not used data.
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2. Literature review
Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
Electronic government is the use of information and communication technologies for providing and
improving governmental services by enabling electronic information provision, communication, and
transactions for administrations and their customers, who are citizens, businesses, as well as
governments or administrative authorities themselves. Electronic government includes all administration
measures at all levels (federal, state, as well as regional) to improve the requirement satisfaction for
citizens (qualitative improvements in spheres of life), businesses and for governments to improve internal
processes and procedures and to force structural changes. An electronic government strategy is a
fundamental element of the modernisation process in administrations. Electronic government activities
worldwide are driven by a need for higher efficiency, effectiveness, and the accessibility of public services
for the administration's customers. Most governments follow certain strategies for electronic government
or launched projects in this area to ensure a web presence of the administration, to offer communication
methods, and on a higher level to offer transactional services for the government's customers (Aichholzer
and Schmutzer 1999, Burn and Robin 2003, Chesher et al. 2003 and Ebrahim and Irani 2005).
Governments produce, manage, and use huge amounts of data that become more valuable the easier
the customers, which are citizens, businesses, and governmental authorities themselves, access these
data. Information and communication technologies evolve into complex, globally oriented networks and
governments are under pressure offering reliable, efficient, and effective services to their customers
including, apart from citizens services trade and travel security, social service delivery and support for
military services (Simon 2005). Electronic government refers to the improvement of internal service
provision within administrations for external as well as internal customers and is related to the need for
the higher transparency of public processes and procedures. Electronic government is an approach to
increase governmental transparency, create added value for administration's customers and to ensure
the effectiveness, efficiency, and security focus of internal processes. Stakeholder orientation is the main
focus for electronic government oriented administrations. Around the world, a significant range of
developing and developed countries have committed substantial resources to electronic government
implementation. Electronic government as an instrument to strengthen competitiveness, increase
efficiency, and enhance modernisation is a valuable component of public sector reform. Developments in
electronic government comprise not only web-based developments but increasingly also mobile
applications (m-government) (Al-Sebie and Irani 2003, Georgescu and Georgenscu 2008, Budde 2010
and Claver-Cortés and de Juana-Espinosa 2006). According to a survey conducted by the United Nations
in 2008, approx. 98% of member countries at least operate government websites (United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2008).
3. The Austrian electronic government framework
In 1998, the task force 'E-Austria', composed of leading experts in Austria, recommended to institute an
'Information and Communication Technologies Board', responsible for the planning and coordination of
electronic government implementation for federal government, provinces, and local governmental
authorities. The board was headed by a federal chief information officer, who was responsible to
coordinate the ideas and strategies of the board with the needs of the provinces and local authorities. For
the board to be able to communicate with the federal government and provinces, an IT platform has been
established that can be seen as the father of today's electronic government solutions: information
exchange for all the parties involved, using simple information, best practices, white papers, or use cases
to communicate and publish recommendations of specific work groups.
In Austria, regulations regarding electronic government are not confined in a single law, in which there is
a plenty of regulations and laws dealing with electronic government. The basic framework for Austrian
electronic government consists of The eGovernment Act, General Administrative Procedures Act, Service
of Official Documents Act, and the Electronic Signature Law. All of these laws are supplemented by other
laws or regulations. Compared to other European countries, Austria was one of the first to pass
comprehensive legal regulations in the area of electronic government. The eGovernment Act is the core
of the Austrian laws on electronic government, enacted in 2004. 'It enables closer co-operation between
all authorities that provide eGovernment services and gives them the opportunity for networking together.
Many mechanisms such as the citizen card, sector-specific personal identifiers, and the electronic
delivery of documents are also able to be put to use in the private sector' (Digital Austria 2010). The
important principles are freedom of choice for citizens selecting the means of communication contacting
government or public authorities, security and legal protection as well as unlimited access for people with
special needs. The General Administrative Procedures Act lays the principles of administrative
procedures, among other things regulating the ways how citizens and public authorities can communicate
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Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
with each other. The Service of Official Documents Act handles the delivery of all documents that
governments are required to publish following the laws and regulations distinguishing between deliveries
that require proof of delivery and others where no proof is required. Proof of delivery is carried out via an
electronic delivery service that is available from delivery service providers, in turn allowing customers to
register with their citizen card to confirm that they want to receive administrative documents
electronically. Registering is sufficient notice in order to receive administrative documents. 'Proof of
delivery is verified when the document is retrieved using the recipient’s citizen card, or when an explicit
agreement exists that allows documents to be picked up automatically using an automated signature.
Confirmation of delivery is also made even if the document is not picked up by the recipient. Electronic
delivery can also be carried out in cases where the recipient gives an e-mail address to the public
authority as his or her 'electronic delivery address' during a procedure' (Digital Austria 2010). The
Electronic Signature Law lays down the principles of electronic signatures following the European
signature guidelines, differentiating simple, advanced, and qualified signatures. By definition, a qualified
signature, as is used for citizen cards, is equal to a handwritten one. Apart from regulations for citizens,
the law also defines the requirements for businesses that issue qualified certificates and procedures for
the authentication of foreign certificates.
IT and infrastructure: The Austrian electronic government strategy focuses on a secure, flexible, and
expandable IT infrastructure. Basically, apart from a computer and a card reader, a citizen card
environment, which is free for download software, is needed for enabling participation in the Austrian
electronic government community. The citizen card environment is built upon open standards and allows
all signature cards, which fulfil the predefined specifications and legal requirements, to be used as a
citizen card. The same is valid for ID cards of foreign citizens, which follow the rules for electronic
signatures. For the implementation of the citizen card, a secure layer, an interface between applications
and citizen card, has been defined. The security layer, as a middleware, is embedded in the citizen card
environment software and is hardware and technology independent as well as independent of
cryptographic algorithms (Digital Austria 2010). To make applications available to the government’s
customers, the Austrian electronic government strategy defined the need for modules for online
applications, which are software components that encapsulate the procedures needed to carry out
specific functions, such as reading identification data from the citizen card, delivering notifications from
governmental authorities or verifying electronic signatures, within the electronic government area and
implement open standard interfaces for web applications. An open source platform Digital Austria,
EgovLabs, for developers was established offering information, distributions, releases, development data,
and processes for Austrian electronic government projects. Being a registered user you can define your
personal page (figure 1), monitoring assigned items, forums, file modules, and projects. According to
Digital Austria (2010), by now modules supporting identification, signature verification, delivery, and
server-side signature creation are available. For identification, a module is used to uniquely identify and
authenticate users who want to conduct online procedures with their citizen cards. Using an identity link
and the signature on the citizen card, the server-side module and the citizen card software interact and
allow for identification and authentication. Public authority procedures can also be carried out by third
parties on someone else's behalf. A valid electronic proxy authority agreement is needed between the
parties. For this purpose, a module for 'authorisation and representation' has been created. For
professional representatives, such as lawyers, there is an extension to the signature certificate on the
citizen card showing that the representative is authorised to conduct electronic transactions on behalf of
the principal. One module creates an interface between record delivery services and electronic file
systems or special applications.
3.1 Current electronic government initiatives
In 2006, the Austrian Federal Government launched an initiative to reduce the administrative burden for
businesses by 25% for each ministry by the end of 2007. The USP.GV.AT Portal, which is explained in
section 4, is the flagship project for this initiative and one out of approximately 200 measures defined to
reduce the administrative burden. For calculating the administrative burden for businesses, the standard
cost model is used. By adding the costs of administrative procedures, data requirements, and information
obligations to the individual legal provision, the total costs for individual regulation can be obtained.
Administrative costs are the result of cost per administrative activity multiplied by the quantity of
administrative activities. The initiative is coordinated by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance. The
overall reduction should be achieved in two phases: the reductions for national induced burdens (by
2010) and reductions for EU induced burdens (by 2012). For reducing the national burden by the end of
2010, 50% of the reduction measures have already been implemented and, according to the Austrian
Federal Government, approx. 40% are in the pipeline and an update process with the ministries ongoing
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Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
(Austrian Federal Government 2010). The final results for 2010 are currently not available but are
expected to be below 90%.
Figure 1: EgovLabs – personal page
In 2009, the Austrian Federal Government launched a programme on the reduction of the administrative
burden for citizens, including a focused baseline measurement, accompanied by actions in the areas of
birth, marriage, and death, and increasing the quality of governmental services. The programme consists
of two elements, the use of the standard cost model for the 100 most burdensome information obligations
and fast track measures for priority areas such as birth, marriage, and death' (Austrian Federal
Government 2010). To be able to calculate the administrative costs for citizens, the standard cost model
has been adapted. Burdens are measured in time (hours) and out-of-pocket costs, such as travel
expenses. The administrative burden for citizens in time is the result of time multiplied by quantity, which
is the number of citizens multiplied by frequency. The administrative burden in costs is the result of the
quantity multiplied by direct costs. Approximately 4,000 interviews have been conducted and, after the
extrapolation of the results and the analysis of qualitative questions, workshops aiming at the
identification of tangible reduction measures for citizens were organised. According to the 'less burden for
the Austrian economy' initiative, an initiative of the Austrian Federal Government, coordinated by the
Federal Ministry of Finance, more than 150 of the measures identified in these workshops have been
reported to the Council of Ministers in fall 2010, where the next steps for the programme have been
decided on. In addition, it will be implemented through defined measures starting from fall 2010 onwards
(Stork 2010). The platform Digital Austria is a committee of the Federal Government for the coordination
and management of electronic government in Austria. According to Digital Austria, more than 80% of all
businesses use electronic government and more and more citizens become electronic customers.
3.2 Electronic government tools and applications
HELP.GV.AT is an interface between government, its authorities and citizens with a special emphasis
placed on criteria such as transparency, clarity of information, and concentration on essential facts. The
portal is designed to be accessed nearly without limits, dealing with information on hundreds of life
situations within which different governmental authorities are involved. All content is listed in alphabetical
order and arranged in main categories, such as documents, education, or finances, and themes. The
HELP.GV.AT portal allows citizens and businesses to prepare interactions with authorities offline, handle
administrative procedures electronically, and plan dealings with authorities. For governmental authorities,
it is a new type of co-operation between authorities and their customers. HELP.GV.AT is an Internet
platform with routes to a large number of public authorities, provides information on different interactions
with Austrian authorities required in most frequent life situations such as housing, permits, pregnancy,
childbirth, or marriage and the electronic processing of these procedures. HELP.GV.AT has offered
services to citizens for years now and has been continuously improved since it was launched. An
increasing number of administrative procedures can be done electronically using this portal. Apart from
the main portal in the German language, a view in English is available that offers orientation to foreign
nationals. Structured in accordance with individual life situations (e.g. work, car, retirement pension),
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Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
HELP.GV.AT provides information and support to foreigners who go to Austria in order to live and work
there. It is the portal’s objective to guide foreign users step by step through the required administrative
procedures. The entrance view of the portal is shown in figure 2.
Figure 2: HELP.GV.AT portal
USP.GV.AT – business service portal
Electronic government for businesses means enabling them to make enquiries and file applications
electronically, receive information online and to improve transactions with public authorities. In Austria, a
customer centred approach is followed. Businesses should be able to apply for different services online
or request documents such as criminal record certificates or income tax forms.
In 2010, the USP.GV.AT (the abbreviation USP stands for 'Unternehmensserviceportal') portal, offering
business services, was launched. By offering information, communications, and transaction services, the
portal intends to help businesses fulfil their information obligations and to reduce their administrative
burden. The Business Service Portal is an initiative of the Austrian Federal Government. The entrance
view of the portal is shown in figure 3. The information provided is based on the business content
originally offered under HELP.GV.AT that has been absorbed by the Business Service Portal. Generally,
USP.GV.AT offers a links system, making it easy for businesses searching on a specific topic, contacting
the authorities involved, and the forms needed for communication or transaction processing. One focus is
offering regulatory news, thereby increasing transparency for businesses and deliver up-to-date
information to businesses and enabling transactions processed fully or in the beginning at least partly
(with media breaks).
The Digital Austria Explorer provides all Austrian inhabitants and businesses access to over 1,000 forms
and approximately 350 government procedures using one single portal. The portal developed by
Microsoft Austria in co-operation with the Austrian Federal Chancellery was launched in 2010. It is a
toolbar that, once downloaded and installed, provides the user with a virtual environment of the national
government. Digital Austria Explorer enables easy access to the portals USP.GV.AT and HELP.GV.AT all
under one flag, the Digital Austria Explorer. Generally, using this electronic platform, citizens and
businesses can search for services, use electronic government applications, request certificates, and find
useful information about daily services such as doctors, pharmacies, social security benefits, or public
transport. After the platform has been installed, the Digital Austria Explorer can be opened using Internet
Explorer and optionally the Digital Austria toolbar, which offers fast and easy access to different areas
such as news, my help site, my citizen card, my region, Internet security, my Austria, and settings can be
activated. In figure 4, the Digital Austria Explorer Toolbar is shown. In the section News, the user can find
current information on new regulations in different areas (citizens and businesses as well) and can scroll
down the menu searching for the relevant topics to them. For the other sections, such as my citizen card,
there is a link system available for searching that is shown in figure 5. Because the toolbar is available in
German, an English translation of the relevant terms has been added. The section 'my HELP' follows the
link system of HELP.GV.AT and defines different topics regarding the life spheres of citizens, such as
working, housing, education, documents, financial issues, social issues, families, the MYHELP portal,
and information for businesses.
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Figure 3: USP.GV.AT portal
Figure 4: Digital Austria explorer toolbar
Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
My HELP is a personalised view on the Digital Austria Explorer. After filling in some relevant information
about life spheres and identification using an Austrian citizen card and mobile phone, citizens can use the
personalised view to get faster access to relevant information, data and forms, and finding authorities in
the needed region easily. The citizen card is the key to electronic government services and to web
services from businesses. The citizen card is increasingly becoming the "electronic identification for the
Internet" and opportunities for using the citizen card are continuing to expand. The Austrian citizen card
functionality can be activated on the e-card (the national insurance identification card), a bank card,
student ID cards, or other official identity cards (Aichholzer and Strau 2010). For activating the citizen
card, apart from a computer and Internet connection, you need a card reader, a chip card and the citizen
card software. The a-sign citizen card installer from A-Trust makes it easy to install these components on
Windows operating systems and no local software installation is needed. Using JAVA technologies, the
citizen card software runs as an applet in the web browser. Foreigners can also use this service by filling
in their foreign ID and selecting their home country, which is shown in figure 6. In using the 'Foreign Test
ID' functionality, there are several countries available, as shown in figure 7.
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Figure 5: Digital Austria explorer link system
4. Discussions
Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
Austria started electronic government earlier compared to other European Union members and
developed services such as Finanzonline, which is a portal where citizens can find services related to
income and tax, which became show cases for solutions within the EU. One milestone for Austria was the
successful go live of HELP.GV.AT, a service portal for citizens (at least in the beginning businesses as
well), which is introduced in section 4. This portal has received the 'eEurope eGovernment Award' in
2003. With the 'eGovernment Initiative 2003' that Austria wanted in order to make Austria one of the
European Leaders in electronic government and ensure a position among the best five electronic
government countries in the European Union. This initiative was started in addition to the Information and
Communication Technology Board. In 2004, Austria reached fourth place within the European ranking
and in 2005 placed second, claiming the title 'European Champion' in 2006, defending this title in 2007
and becoming a showcase country for electronic government in Austria. On the whole, Austria decided in
2001 to focus on a long-run strategy, developing a flexible infrastructure that could be expanded and
shows sustainability and security in the long-run (Digital Austria 2010). Basically, the Austrian electronic
government strategy follows the concepts 'base components and open standards, which serve as
guidelines for the implementation of electronic services and the creation of the underlying infrastructure'
(Digital Austria 2010). The basic idea is that every citizen in every province has access to all electronic
government services at all governmental levels focusing on secure communication, transactions, data
integrity, and the appropriate handling of sensitive and confidential data. Following the main strategies of
the European Union besides for cost reduction, more efficient government internal processes, improved
services, and electronic government should make government activities and communication between the
government and its customers, which are citizens, businesses, and the government itself, more
transparent. The main focus of the information level is the downloading of forms, guides, and law
information, electronic web forms in the communication area to start administrative processes and for
transaction level tax declarations, public library systems, electronic procurement, or the registration of
residence are the first results of the electronic government incentives in Austria (Oberer 2002, Rupp 2004
and Digital Austria 2010). In the Austrian strategy, electronic government is seen as the basis for
electronic democracy. E-democracy services, according to Rupp (2004) may cover all the stages of the
political process from agenda setting over deliberation and decision making to the monitoring of the
decisions made'. Austrian best practices in electronic democracy lie, according to Rupp (2004), in the
downloading of political programmes, pages run by representatives, both of them at the information level,
and moderated discussion fora and e-mail communication with representatives at the communication
level. Sample services for the transaction level are voting, petition, and initiative, as in WWW.E-
VOTING.AT. Electronic democracy systems require identification and authentication, which are
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Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
implemented in Austria with the citizen card and digital signature for public authorities as explained under
the heading IT and infrastructure within section three. For Austria, the integration of all citizens, customer
orientation, and management of data protection are of high priority. In a study conducted in 2010
sponsored by the European Commission investigating electronic Government offerings in Europe as well
as Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland, Austria was declared the 'European Champion in eGovernment' the
fourth time in a row. 'For the benchmark, 20 base services were defined; 12 for citizens and 8 for
businesses. These were used to measure progress in the implementation of eGovernment in the more
than 14,000 public administration websites that were analysed. The sophistication of each service is
judged on a 4 or 5 level scale, starting from the net amount of information, to procedures that can be
conducted completely online. In addition, they are also judged on the percentage of services that can be
carried out completely online. Those services that achieved this are awarded the highest level' (Digital
Austria 2010). The HELP.GV.AT site as a one stop portal as well as the application of the citizen card as
a unique system of identification in Austria have mainly contributed to Austria’s success. Generally,
procedures are able to be carried out electronically without media breaks (filling out applications, paying
fees, government internal processing, document delivery, and notifications). Within the electronic
government ranking conducted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in
2010, published in the UN government survey 2010, the Austrian approach for operating a gender
equality website is especially mentioned. The website provides information about current electronic
government initiatives and promotes a programme providing parents with additional income during the
first 14 months of their child's life. The website can be seen at WWW.FRAUEN.BKA.GV.AT. According to
the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2010), in addition to the USA, Canada,
Denmark, the Netherlands, and about 15 other countries, Austria is one of the leaders in transactional
and connected electronic government that currently has reached their third or fourth stage of online
service development. 'Back office operations are integrated and electronic services to citizens are
provided in a seamless manner while information is efficiently transferred between agencies and
departments' (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2010). HELP.GV.AT is a one
stop shop in which procedures can be carried out without changing types of media, starting from filling
out the form, paying fees, internal processing, and the final delivery of documents and notifications. The
USP.GV.AT business service portal serves as a single entry point as well, and offers access to
governmental services for businesses. To sum up, both portals follow the one-stop-shop idea.
Historically, HELP.GV.AT was divided into two parts, one for citizens, and one for businesses. When
developing detailed national strategies for electronic government for reasons of clearness and
transparency Austria decided to divide this portal in two parts, offering two related but separated portals
for different target groups. This means away from a one-stop-shop approach, to a one-stop-shop
approach per target group. Responsible groups wanted to reach higher effectiveness and efficiency in
offering separate portals, but neglected the aim of a one-stop-shop approach, having one single access
point to governmental information, communication and transformation processes. The step towards to
portals means a regression. Therefore, the Digital Austria Explorer was launched, which is a toolbar
enabling access to USP.GV.AT and HELP.GV.AT all under one flag to make sure that target groups have
(again) one single entry point. The benefit Austria communicated to justify the detouring from one portal
over two separate ones, back to a toolbar combining these separate portals is, that the Digital Austria
Explorer, once installed, can be used from a web browser to get easy access to governmental authorities
without the need of opening some portal or different web pages, following the idea of simplification,
efficiency and effectiveness demanded. With MY HELP, Austria offers personalized access for its target
groups.
Electronic government is of interest at all governmental levels, regional, state, as well as federal, and
based on the success of modern information and communication technologies in the private sector,
governments become increasingly more interested in embracing modern information and communication
technologies. Electronic government is a key factor for increasing government productivity and efficiency
and a driver for a customer-centric modern government with end-to-end one-stop-shop processes
offered. Today, electronic government is a 'force for effective governance and citizen participation at the
national and local levels. All European sub-regions excel in the e-government index and achieve high
scores far above the world average'. Western and Northern Europe perform well in e-government,
followed by Southern and Eastern Europe (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
2010). The historically leading position of Austria is based on the first applications the country developed
as one of the first member countries within the European Union, and these applications became show
cases of highest relevance for all European Union member states. In 2009, the Austrian Federal
Government launched a program on the reduction of the administrative burden for citizens, including a
focused baseline measurement, accompanied by actions in the areas of birth, marriage, and death.
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Figure 6: MYHELP for foreigners
Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
Figure 7: MYHELP for foreigners: foreign Test ID
The first phase for this project ended in 2010 with the definition of about 150 measures to be taken to
reduce the administrative burden, followed by the implementation of these measures, which started in in
2011.Today, Austria has a leading position in doing electronic government because the country
contributes to several pilot projects launched since 2010 within the European Union, offering inter alia
cross border applications for electronic government: The applications include national portals from
Austria (help.gv.at), Estonia (eesti.ee), Germany (mein-service-BW), Portugal (portaldocidadao.pt), the
UK, one regional portal from Catalonia in Spain, and one specific service for compliance activities for
working in Belgium (limosa.be)' (STORK 2010).To conclude, Austria has developed hybrid strategies on
electronic government following the guidelines offered by the European Union, contributes to several
leading pilot projects within the European Union to improve union-wide best practices on electronic
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Birgit Oberer and Alptekin Erkollar
government. Nevertheless some inventions need to be revised because of missing linkage to the overall
one-stop-shop approach.
Lessons learnt from the Austria management on electronic government are that countries should develop
an electronic government vision, conduct an electronic government strategy and define measures for
implementing this strategy, always focusing on the one-stop-shop approach. This approach means
focusing on all different target groups with one single entry point to governmental information,
communication and transaction processes and not defining one-stop-shops per target group. With the
Digital Austria Explorer Austria gave an example that, when focusing on single-access points per target
group to be competitive in the longer run countries have to re-union these single approaches to one
central one focusing on all target groups. One success factor for international competitiveness is as a
country’s contribution to cross-country related electronic government projects. Within the European Union
there are several cross-national pilot projects in the area of electronic government. Currently, there are
two main pilots running: Pilot A covers 'secure identity across borders linked (STORK)', 'Pan European
public procurement online' and 'simple procedures online for cross-border services'. Pilot B runs 'e-
Guidance and e-Government Services', 'European Citizens' Attention Service', 'e-Government Lowering
Administrative Burdens for Rural Businesses', and a 'European Civil Registry Network'. The aim of the
EU STORK Project is to establish a 'European eID Interoperability Platform that will allow citizens to
establish new e-relations across borders, just by presenting their national eID. Cross-border user
authentication for such e-relations will be applied and tested by the project by means of five pilot projects
that will use existing government services in EU Member States' (STORK 2010).
To be successful and competitive in an international environment countries have to be active partners for
cross-national electronic government projects and not simple followers facing time lacks for
implementation and run of electronic government applications.
References
Aichholzer G. and Strau, B.S (2010) The Austrian case: multi-card concept and the relationship between citizen ID
and social security cards, Identity in the Information Society, March, 2010, Springer Netherlands.
Aichholzer G. and Schmutzer R (1999) E-Government - Elektronische Informationsdienste auf Bundesebene in
Österreich, Institut für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien.
Al-Sebie, M. and Irani, Z. (2003) E-Government: Defining Boundaries and Lifecycle maturity, In Proceedings of the
3rd European Conference on e-Government, Ireland: Trinity College of Dublin, 2003, pp 19-29.
Austrian Federal Government, [online], www.verwaltungskostensenken.at
Budde, P. (Ed.) (2010) World Digital Economy - E-Government, E-Health and E-Education Trends, report,Australia
Burn, J. and Robins, G. (2003) Moving towards e-government: a case study of organizational change processes,
Logistics Information Management, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp 25-35.
Chesher, M., Kaura, R. and Linton, P. (2003) Electronic Business & Commerce, Springer, London.
Claver-Cortés, E., de Juana-Espinosa, S. & Tari, J. (2006) e-Government maturity at Spanish local levels, In
Proceedings of the 2006 EMCIS Conference, Alicante, Spain, 2006.
Digital Austria, [online], www.digitales.oesterreich.gv.at.
Ebrahim, Z. and Irani, Z. (2005) E-government adoption: architecture and barriers, Business Process Management
Journal (Vol. 11, No. 5, pp 589-611.
Erkollar, A. and Oberer, B. (2010) Globally branded E-Government IBIMA Publishing, Communications of the IBIMA,
Vol. 2010 (2010), Article ID 267975.
Federal Chancellery Austria, [online], www.austria.gv.at
Georgescu, M. R. and Georgenscu, I. (2008) Do we Need a Powerful E-Government? IBIMA Publishing,
Communications of the IBIMA, Vol. 5.
Oberer, B. (2002) International Electronic Government Approaches, 35th Annual Hawaii International Conference on
System Sciences (HICSS'02), Vol. 5, pp 127-133.
Rupp, Ch. (2004) E-democracy in E-Austria, In Prosser, A. and Krimmer, R. (Eds.) (2004) 'Electronic Voting in
Europe – technologies, law, politics and society, Proceedings Vol. P-47 (2004). Workshop of the ESF TED
programme together with GI and OCG, June 7 -9, 2004, Bregenz, Austria. pp17-20.
Simon, K.D. (2005) The value of open standards and open-source software in government environments, IBM
Systems Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp 227-238.
STORK, secure identity across borders linked, URL: http://www.eid-stork.eu
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2010) UN Government survey 2010: Leveraging egovernment
at a time of financial and economic crisis, [online],
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN-DPADM/UNPAN038853.pdf
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to Connected Governance, [online],
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN028607.pdf
431

Smoke and Mirrors: Can a Useful Approximation of the
Cigarette tax gap be Determined?
Clare Omelia
Irish Revenue Commissioners, Dublin, Ireland
comelia@revenue.ie
Abstract: The tax revenue derived from cigarettes is a key contributor to the Irish Exchequer. Total net revenue
receipts for 2009 amounted to €33.28 billion and within that, receipts of excise on cigarettes amounted to €1.159
billion. The estimated return for VAT on cigarettes for 2009 is €0.325bn. Therefore, taken together, excise and VAT
on cigarettes amount to a significant 4.5% of total net revenue receipts returned to the Exchequer. However,
governments, health lobbies and tobacco companies universally acknowledge that the illicit trade in cigarettes is
significant and growing and the consequent displacement of trade from the regulated to the unregulated market will
reduce revenue, increase enforcement costs, and effectively undermine the fiscal planning process. This paper
explores whether a useful approximation of the cigarette tax gap in Ireland can be arrived at. The factors affecting the
cigarette tax gap are considered, and various approximation techniques are reviewed in order to choose a method
that is appropriate in terms of cost and complexity. The selected method is adapted to Irish circumstances and
applied for the years 2006-2009 to approximate the notional cigarette tax gap in Ireland for each of these years,
highlighting that a significant cigarette tax gap exists and is growing.
Keywords: Ireland, cigarette tax, illicit market, tax gap, tax gap approximation
1. Introduction
Government budget deficits by their nature create uncertainty, which can raise questions about fiscal
policy and economic stability. In the context of Ireland’s national debt crisis, the economic recession,
diminishing Exchequer returns and increasing pressure on the public purse, it is appropriate to monitor
any erosion of the tax base.
The “tax gap" is defined for the purposes of this paper as the difference between the tax revenue legally
due to the Exchequer and the amount actually collected. It exists because revenue is lost due to error,
non-payment, tax avoidance, evasion and fraud, and is sometimes described as the difference between
potential and actual tax revenue. While actual tax collected by tax type can be measured with relative
ease, significant challenges arise in obtaining a reasonably accurate measure of potential tax revenue.
One of the reasons for the difficulty is that fraud is a significant element of revenue loss in the general tax
gap. This is especially so in the case of cigarette tax. Cigarettes are lightweight, compact and highly
taxed. Cigarette transport costs are relatively insignificant due to their high value-to-weight ratio and this
renders them suitable for illicit trade. Despite regular increases in cigarette taxes, Ireland is currently
experiencing disappointing tax returns in this area. It is of course possible that consumption has fallen in
response to tax increases, anti-smoking initiatives and concerns about health. It is also possible that
there has been significant product substitution (such as a switch to hand rolling tobacco), or other
legitimate tax avoidance (e.g., cross border and duty free purchases). The alternative explanation is tax
evasion and fraud.
Deployment of mobile scanner technology is among the range of initiatives in place to improve antismuggling
capability. Review of the effectiveness of this and other detection technologies is an essential
element of any strategy to combat the illicit trade in cigarettes. In developing an effective response to
erosion of the cigarette tax base and also to justify further investment in technology, it would be helpful to
have a workable mechanism to approximate the extent of the tax loss and track changes. This paper
explores whether a useful approximation of the cigarette tax gap in Ireland can be determined.
The remainder of the paper is set out as follows. Section two briefly reviews the literature on tax gaps
and the illicit cigarette trade. Section three examines cigarette tax in an Irish context and the factors
affecting the tax gap, while section four investigates potential tax gap approximation methods. Section
five describes how the measurement mechanism considered most appropriate in an Irish context is
adapted and applied to approximate the Irish cigarette tax gap for each of the years from 2006 to 2009.
Section six assesses the usefulness of the potential measure and concludes.
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2. Relevant literature
Clare Omelia
The literature indicates general agreement that the term ‘tax gap’ refers to tax revenue not collected and
that the limitations of tax gap estimates are outweighed by potential benefits. Bird (2004) summarises the
importance of general tax gap estimates in terms of maintaining and improving existing levels of
compliance and facilitating fiscal planning. Feige (1990) contends that some method of measurement of
the economic activity that takes place in the underground economy is essential to making informed policy
decisions, arguing that “...while measurement alone is unlikely to provide definitive answers, it is sure
folly to proceed without it.”
Much work has been done both in the area of estimating the size of the hidden economy, (Feige 1982),
(Frey and Weck Hannemann 1984), and of measuring tax evasion. One general approach to measuring a
country’s tax gap, known as the ‘top down’ approach, uses aggregate data to estimate the size of the
underground economy and multiplies this by the effective tax rate. Barthelemy (1988) and Schneider and
Enste (2002) find that this macro approach has significant weaknesses and limitations.
The literature does not always distinguish between cigarette tax avoidance and evasion. Saba et al
(1995) found significant evidence of US citizens crossing state borders to purchase lower-priced
cigarettes. In particular, they found that residents in high-tax jurisdictions, close to low-tax jurisdictions
were very likely to cross the border to purchase. The factors influencing the level of cigarette smuggling
include the income level in the country, the tax inclusive price of cigarettes, presence of informal
distribution networks, tobacco industry participation, organised crime and corruption (Merriman et al.
2000). The literature suggests a variety of estimates of the extent of cigarette smuggling. In 2000,
Merriman et al summarised implied estimates of tax evasion, finding that worldwide cigarette smuggling
could account for 6%-8.5% of consumption. More recently, Joossens et al. (2008) review a range of
estimates and conclude that around 2007, 11.6% of the global cigarette market was illicit.
Stehr (2005) compared consumption data from a telephone survey to tax-paid cigarette sales in the US,
noting that reported consumption as a percentage of tax-paid sales averaged 57.1% from 1985 to 2001
and indicating an issue in relation to under-reporting in such surveys. An earlier study of Mexican
American smokers by Perez-Stable et al (1990) found occasional and light smokers under-reported their
consumption by 20-25%, regular smokers by 8-10% and heavy smokers by 2-9%.
The literature confirms that fraud and evasion are significant contributors to the tax gap. Inherent
difficulties are identified in measuring tax evasion in general and cigarette tax evasion in particular. Selfreported
consumption data has been shown to understate consumption levels. Despite these concerns,
there appears to be widespread agreement that tax gap approximation adds value. It is increasingly
recognised that such work can complement other forms of compliance and risk management, and can
alert revenue authorities to emerging difficulties.
3. Cigarette taxation in Ireland
Excise taxes, or levies on specific commodities, have existed since the foundation of the State. While
historically the primary aim of tobacco taxation was revenue generation, it is now increasingly used as a
deterrent to consumption, to promote public health by reducing smoking. The tax on cigarettes in Ireland
comprises three elements:
A specific excise of a fixed amount per thousand cigarettes plus
An ad valorem excise, levied at a fixed percentage of retail selling price (RSP) plus
Value Added Tax (VAT)
Customs duty in the form of Common Customs Tariff (CCT) is also chargeable on import of cigarettes
from countries outside the EU.
As the body of medical evidence on the negative health consequences of smoking grows, popular
support for the Government health protection strategy and its objective of curbing smoking increases.
Ireland is noted internationally as being to the forefront in implementing a range of tobacco control
policies, which include tobacco taxation. In 2004, Ireland became the first EU country to implement a
smoking ban. In 2007 and again in 2008 the Department of Health and Children raised the minimum price
of cigarettes. During this period there were also notable increases in excise duty on cigarettes, which
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increased in each of the five Government Budgets from 2006 to 2009. The total increase in specific duty
per one thousand cigarettes in this period was 38%.
Table 1: Rate of excise duty on cigarettes 2006-2009
Year Specific duty per 1000
cigs
% var on last year Ad valorem duty as % of
RSP
Notes
2006 133.39 18.32%
2007 151.37 +13% 17.78%
2008 160.57 +6% 17.92%
2009 175.30 +9% 18.28% Oct 08 Budget
2009 183.42 +5% 18.25% Apr 09 Budget
Source: Revenue Commissioners Statistical Reports
The tax inclusive retail selling price (RSP) of a standard pack of twenty Marlboro Red cigarettes in Ireland
is 18% higher than that in our nearest neighbour the UK and 234% higher than the RSP in Estonia.
Price € for 20 Marlboro
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
EU Cigarette RSP Comparison April 2010
8.55
7.22
2.63 2.65 2.56
Country
Figure 1: Cigarette price comparison within EU (source: Philip Morris International (PMI))
Ireland
UK
Latvia
Poland
Estonia
In Ireland, excise and VAT currently account for almost 79% of RSP of a pack of 20 cigarettes and the
excise yield per 1000 cigarettes, at €260.98, is the highest in the EU. (European Commission 2010).
The rational consumer response to high taxation is to minimise, avoid or evade the tax. There are a
number of ways to reduce or escape cigarette tax without affecting ones level of consumption. This can
be achieved legally by travelling to a low-tax jurisdiction to purchase cigarettes for personal use.
Difference in price and the extent of international travel are key determinants of the extent of cross-border
duty paid and duty-free cigarette purchases and it appears reasonable to assume that cigarettes
purchased abroad are an element of total cigarette consumption in Ireland.
Another option is to switch to a cheaper substitute product for manufactured cigarettes. In the period
2006-2009, the quantity of RYO tobacco on which duty was paid more than doubled, suggesting that
reduced Exchequer receipts of cigarette tax may be partly attributable to product substitution and a
switch by consumers to RYO tobacco. Of course, the issue of smuggling RYO also arises as an element of the
overall tobacco tax gap. However, this is outside the scope of this paper and RYO is dealt with only insofar as it is a
substitute product for manufactured cigarettes.
Alternatively, tax can be evaded by purchasing smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes within the
underground economy. While it is clear that high taxation may reduce the demand for cigarettes, it is
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equally clear that it specifically reduces the demand for highly taxed cigarettes. Thus, within the
progression of normal consumer responses to taxation is introduced a displacement of demand from the
regulated to the illicit market.
In its submission to the Commission on Taxation in 2009, the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory
Committee (ITMAC) stated that Irish people spend €2bn on cigarettes annually, approximately 20% of
which are smuggled into Ireland resulting in a loss to the Exchequer of some €387m. In 2009, the (then)
Irish Minister for Finance commented that, “While Revenue are not in a position to estimate the volume of
smuggled cigarettes, they very tentatively estimate that about 20% of cigarettes consumed in Ireland may
be untaxed. This however included substantial quantities of legitimate personal imports from other EU
Member States and should be treated with caution”. (Lenihan 2009). Paul Cullen, writing in the Irish
Times suggests “[Ireland is] The cigarette smuggling centre of Europe....the country is a tobacco
smuggling black spot and a quarter of the cigarettes smoked here are illegal”. (Cullen 2010). The
consensus view is that a significant part of the cigarette market in Ireland is illicit trade operating in the
hidden economy.
Figure 2: Annual RYO tobacco duty paid (source: revenue commissioners statistical reports)
In period from 2006 to 2009, cigarette tax rates in Ireland increased progressively. Estimates by the
Central Statistics Office indicate no decline in the ‘potential smokers’ population (aged fifteen years and
over) in this period, and cigarette consumption surveys suggest no substantial change in smoking
prevalence or in levels of cigarette consumption. It would therefore be expected that the number of
cigarettes on which tax was paid would remain consistent and the amount of excise duty collected would
increase. This was not the case. In 2009, the rate of excise duty on cigarettes increased twice and
between 2008 and 2009 the duty collected on cigarettes increased by 2%. However, during this same
period, the quantity of cigarettes on which duty was paid fell by 7%, indicating that a significant and
persistent cigarette tax gap has emerged in Ireland. The facts are set out by the data in Table 2 and
illustrated in Figure 3.
Table 2: Quantity of cigarettes duty paid and amount collected 2006-2009.
Year €m Duty collected % var on last year Quantity 000s Cigs duty % var on last year
paid
2006 1,071 5,604,884
2007 1,155 +8% 5,401,702 -4%
2008 1,132 -2% 4,940,567 -9%
2009 1,159 +2% 4,607,146 -7%
Source: Revenue Commissioners Annual Reports and Statistical Reports
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Figure 3: Fall in quantity of cigarettes duty paid
4. Measurement options
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Approximation of the cigarette tax gap requires a measurement of the illicit trade in cigarettes. Estimates
of the extent of the illicit market may be based on academic articles, or compiled by market research
organisations whose clients may be the tobacco industry, the EC, government agencies or health lobbies.
It is common to see such estimates based on customs seizures, and not unusual for the calculation to be
made by multiplying the number of cigarettes seized annually by ten, to arrive at a total estimate. Clearly,
one major seizure such as that of 120 million cigarettes at Greenore Port in County Louth, in October
2009, will skew such estimates. Furthermore, it is a recognised feature of illicit cigarette imports to Ireland
that they are often destined for the Northern Ireland or United Kingdom markets, and are merely
‘transiting’ Ireland. This approach is considered to be unsuitable for approximating of the cigarette tax
gap in Ireland.
An alternative is to measure total cigarette consumption and subtract legitimate consumption, the residual
being the illicit market, from which the revenue loss can be derived. The challenge with this approach is
the accurate measurement of total cigarette consumption.
To assist in arriving at unbiased estimates of cigarette smuggling, the World Bank has developed a
tobacco smuggling measurement toolkit. Five methods are identified to measure illegal circumvention of
tobacco taxes and these are ranked from lower to higher, in terms of their level of technical complexity
and statistical sophistication. The measurement methods are outlined below:
1. Observe the producers and ask the experts for smuggling data.
Experts, such as tobacco industry professionals, tobacco control advocates, academic experts,
journalists, police, customs officials and, if possible, smugglers are identified and interviewed seeking
estimates of changes in, rather than levels of, smuggling. The answers of different experts are weighted
to arrive at a final estimate. While the objectivity of this method is clearly open to question, it can be of
limited indicative use where a quick approximation is required.
2. Observe smokers and ask them about their methods of obtaining cigarettes.
Consumer’s cigarette packs are examined and on-street “show your cigarette pack” surveys and mail-in
surveys are conducted. Social and demographic data about smokers whose packs are examined is also
collected and the data is weighted so that it is representative of the population. This is recognised as a
very high cost exercise requiring a high level of expertise.
3. Monitor data on the import and export of cigarettes.
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Data on recorded imports of cigarettes by country of origin is gathered. This is compared with the
exporting countries’ recorded exports of cigarettes to arrive at an import/export discrepancy figure. Like
method 1 above, this is said to be a suitable method for use when there is little data available and a quick
approximation is required.
4. Compare the sale of cigarettes with estimated consumption by using household surveys.
Data on tax paid sales is compared with estimates of consumption that are based on household surveys
for the same period. These figures used to estimate consumption of illicit cigarettes as a percent of total
estimated consumption.
5. Compare the sale of cigarettes with estimated consumption by using a mathematical formula and
economic inference.
An econometric study of the relationship between observed tax paid sales, variables associated with the
demand for tobacco, and variables associated with smuggling, are used to estimate the level of
smuggling. As the most technically demanding method, this is suitable only where there is adequate time
and expertise is available.
Methods 1,2, 3 and 5 are considered unsuitable for the purposes of this paper for the reasons as
indicated. This leaves Method 4.
5. Adjustment and application of method 4
The six steps involved in the process are set out as follows:
1. Estimate reported consumption from survey data
2. Record tax paid sales from Revenue data
3. Apply an uplift factor for assumed under-reporting
4. Derive estimated consumption (1+3)
5. Estimate the level of smuggling (4-2)
6. Estimated smuggling as a percent of total estimated consumption
Two further steps are added, to estimate legal tax avoidance and to factor in product substitution, given
that both may feature in legitimate consumption in Ireland.
Step 1 - Estimate Reported Cigarette Consumption in Ireland
Household surveys are often seen as a source of independent data on cigarette consumption. However,
we have seen in the literature that respondents to surveys may understate their consumption. Equally,
caution is required in interpreting survey data based on different definitions of smokers, different survey
methods and different sample groups. In search of reliable independent estimates of total cigarette
consumption, a range of data sources was reviewed for this paper.
A Eurobarometer survey was published in May 2010 based on approximately 1000 interviews per
Member State, of citizens aged 15 years or over. Previous such surveys found that 98% of smokers in
Ireland reported that they smoke every day. In 2005 it was found that the average number of cigarettes
smoked per day was 16.7, and this reduced to 16 in 2009.
Euromonitor International provides market research and business intelligence reports to industry. In a
report published in July 2009, smoking prevalence, defined as the percentage of the total adult (aged 18
years and over) population who report that they are daily smokers, was tracked for Ireland.
In 2009, the Irish Department of Health and Children published SLAN 2007 ‘Smoking Patterns in Ireland’.
A smoker was defined as someone who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, and now
smokes ‘every day’, or ‘some days’ and 10,364 adults aged 18 years or over were interviewed.
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The Office of Tobacco Control conducted monthly tracker surveys from June 2003 to March 2008, of
1000 adults each month, to collect data on smoking status and quantity consumed. A smoker was
defined as someone who had smoked at least 1 cigarette in the previous 12 months. Smokers fell into
four broad categories:
10% of smokers are heavy smokers (21+ cigarettes per day),
45% are regular smokers (11-20 Cigarettes/day),
27% are light (6-10 cigarettes/day) smokers and
18% are occasional (1-5 cigarettes/day) smokers.
If the maximum smoked is 60 per day, this equates to an overall average of 13.7 per day and the data
shows no significant fluctuation over the period.
All these data sources indicate that smoking prevalence and quantity smoked have remained relatively
stable in Ireland in the years 2006 to 2009. The findings of the various prevalence surveys are
summarised below:
Table 3: Summary of smoking prevalence surveys
Year Eurobarometer:
Smokers aged 15 and
over
Euromonitor:
Smokers aged 18 and
over
SLAN 2007:
Smokers aged 18 and
over
OTC:
Smokers aged 18 and
over
2006 29% 20% Na Na
2007 Na 20% 29% 24%
2008 29% 20% Na Na
2009 31% 19% Na Na
While there are disparities in the definitions, the population base surveyed and the results, there are also
some common threads. For the purposes of this paper, these have been pulled together as follows, to
derive an objective basis for estimating cigarette consumption in Ireland in the period 2006 to 2009:
The ‘smoking population’ is calculated as a percent of the total population aged 15 years and over,
based on population estimates supplied by the Central Statistics Office for each of the years 2006-
2009.
A constant estimate of 29% smoking prevalence is used.
A constant estimated average quantity consumed of 16 cigarettes per smoker per day by 98% of all
smokers is used.
This leads to an estimate of total consumption as set out in Table 4 below:
Table 4: Estimate of cigarette consumption
Year Population
aged 15 years
and over (000s)
Smokers
Consumption
Estimate
2006 3375 979 5,601,582
2007 3455 1002 5,734,360
2008 3510 1018 5,825,645
2009 3522 1021 5,845,562
Step 1a - Estimate Legal Cigarette Tax Avoidance
Although legal tax avoidance is not typically a feature of the World Bank’s method four, it has been
identified as a potentially relevant factor in Ireland. The 2009 Eurobarometer survey on Tobacco
included data on EU citizens buying lower-priced cigarettes in another EU country during 2008 (European
Commission, 2009). The survey found that 20% of the Irish resident sample (both smokers and nonsmokers)
who had travelled, purchased cigarettes at a lower price in another EU country. Focussing on
this 20%, the quantities purchased are set out in Table 5 below.
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Table 5: Declared cigarette quantities purchased abroad
21 packets or more (400+ cigarettes) 7%
11-20 packets (220-400 cigarettes) 6%
5-10 packets (100-200 cigarettes) 5%
1-5 packets (20-100 cigarettes) 2%
While the Eurobarometer estimate refers to purchases in another EU country only, for the purposes of
this paper, the same percentage is used in relation all travellers. Table 6 shows this data extrapolated to
the entire population aged 15 years and over, combined with data from the CSO as to the number of
visits abroad by Irish residents for each of the years 2006-2009. The resulting estimate of cigarettes
purchased that avoid tax are added to tax paid quantities from Revenue data.
Table 6: An approximation of the quantity of cigarettes purchased abroad
2006 2007 2008 2009
Total Population (‘000s) 4,240 4,339 4,422 4,459
Number of visits abroad by Irish residents 6,848 7,713 7,877 7,047
Population aged 15 years and over 3,375 3,455 3,510 3,522
20 per cent purchase cigarettes abroad
Aged 15 years and over, purchased cigarettes abroad 675 691 702 704
Average trips abroad per person 2 2 2 2
7% buy 800 75,600 77,392 78,624 78,893
6% buy 320 25,920 26,534 26,957 27,049
5% buy 160 10,800 11,056 11,232 11,270
2% buy 60 1,620 1,658 1,685 1,691
Number of cigarettes purchased abroad (‘000s) 113,940 116,641 118,498 118,90
3
Step 1b Estimate Product Substitution
Consumers reacting to the high price of cigarettes may switch to a substitute product. Revenue data
shows that in the period 2006-2009 clearances of RYO tobacco more than doubled. Table 7 shows how
an estimate of 25 cigarettes per 12.5g pouch of tobacco has been applied, to derive the estimated
number of RYO cigarettes consumed in each of the years 2006-2009. This is also added to tax paid
quantities, to arrive at total legitimate consumption.
Table 7: EstimatinG PRODUCT SUBSTITUTION by RYO tobacco
2006 2007 2008 2009
RYO Excise duty paid (kgs) 109,461 122,848 128,502 219,985
Equivalent number 12.5g pouches 8,756,880 9,827,840 10,280,160 17,598,800
Average cigarettes (000s) at 25 per pouch 218,922 245,696 257,004 439,970
Step 2 Record Tax Paid Cigarette Sales from Revenue data
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Information is available within Revenue as to the quantity of cigarettes on which excise duty was
collected annually, as set out in Table 2 above.
Step 3 Apply an Uplift Factor for Assumed Under-reporting
An uplift factor is applied to allow for survey respondents understatement of their consumption levels.
For the purposes of this project, an arbitrary uplift factor of 10%, thought to be conservative, has been
applied each year.
Steps 4-6 Estimate of the Illicit Cigarette Market
Data from steps 1 and 3 is used to derive estimated total consumption. Combining this with Revenue
data as to the number of cigarettes on which duty was paid, we derive the estimated illicit market
percentage of total consumption as set out in Table 8 and illustrated in Figure 4 below.
Table 8: Estimating illicit market percentage of total consumption
2006 2007 2008 2009
Total consumption 5,828,878 5,945,459 6,032,708 5,871,245
Duty-paid 5,604,884 5,401,702 4,940,567 4,607,146
Estimated illicit consumption 223,994 534,575 1,092,141 1,267,099
Estimated illicit market percentage 4 9 17 20
The emerging trend over the period from 2006 to 2009 is of a significant escalation in the proportion of
cigarettes consumed that are likely to have been supplied by the illicit market.
Figure 4: Estimated illicit market percentage of total consumption (source: Derived as set above)
Approximating the Cigarette Tax Gap
The tax loss is calculated by applying the relevant tax rates for each year to the estimated illicit cigarettes
traded. It should be noted that the ad valorem rate of excise is based on the brand RSP and for the
purposes of this project calculations are based on the RSP of a standard pack of 20 cigarettes of
“unknown brand” in each year. This is the minimum RSP for cigarettes, as set by the Minister for Health
and Children.
The approximated cigarette tax gap for each of the years 2006-2009 is depicted in Figure 5:
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Figure 5: Approximate cigarette tax gap €bn.(source: Derived as set out above)
Given that total net tax receipts by the Irish Exchequer for 2009 were €32.28bn, the cigarette tax gap for
2009 represents approximately 1.25% of Exchequer funds.
6. Assessment and conclusions
When demand for a popular commodity shifts from the regulated to the illicit market, the problems faced
by our society are broader in their range than purely fiscal. That said, the relative simplicity of cigarette
tax collection and the negative health effects of smoking, mark the commodity out as a sensible and
politically acceptable target for taxation and there are obvious benefits in quantifying and monitoring any
significant erosion of this tax base.
Tax gap approximation is useful in indicating the existence of a tax compliance problem or warning of its
emergence, suggesting the size of the problem and showing whether it is escalating or diminishing.
However, any exercise based on estimates, extrapolation and data gathered from groups with vested
interests has obvious limitations. A key question is whether the quality of the data output justifies the
resources invested in deriving the approximation. The compilation of reliable objective cigarette
consumption data is very costly, so the model used in this paper depends on previously published data.
The disadvantages of using data compiled by interest groups are acknowledged, as is the established
under-reporting bias in consumer surveys. Significant over- or under-estimation of any of the variables
will seriously undermine the outcome of the exercise. Therefore, the findings carry a substantial ‘health
warning’.
Reliable consumption data is critical in this exercise and there is much scope for review and refinement of
the data used here. Statistical assessment of all available data may produce a more reliable basis for
estimating consumption. More detailed research into the phenomenon of under-reporting should be
undertaken and the ‘uplift factor’ refined. The extent of legitimate importation of cigarettes from within the
EU and from elsewhere merits further research, as does the extent of product substitution.
Limitations aside, approximation and monitoring of the cigarette tax gap can focus attention on the factors
that affect erosion of this tax base and can inform Revenue’s response to the issue. In the absence of
another reliable measurement mechanism, such an approximation could be particularly useful in
determining the effectiveness of the enforcement effort, possibly providing a trigger for changes in
approach. It could be a reference in investment decisions for anti-smuggling technology such as
scanning/imaging equipment, which require a large capital outlay. In considering whether to raise taxes
further, it could also be a helpful reference in gauging the point of diminishing returns.
Revenue’s primary goal is to ensure that all tax legally due is collected. While an approximation can
never provide definitive answers, a consensus exists that it is an essential staring point in addressing the
problem of tax base erosion. This paper set out to explore whether a useful approximation of the cigarette
tax gap can be determined. From the methods suggested in the literature an approach suitable to Ireland
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was adapted and applied for each of the years 2006-2009. The notional gap between actual and potential
cigarette tax for each of these years has been approximated, clearly illustrating that a cigarette tax gap
exists and is growing. With some refinement, the approach outlined in this paper has a potential
application in focussing attention on the factors driving the illicit market and assisting in decision-making
when responding to the erosion of this tax base.
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442

Adopting Web 2.0 in Building Participatory eGovernment: A
Perception Contour From Inside the Government
Ching-Heng Pan 1 and Lichun Chiang 2
1
National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
2
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
chpan@nchu.edu.tw
lcchiang@mail.ncku.edu.tw
Abstract: Nowadays, the government is searching for new ideas to improve public governance so that it is not only
more cost-effective in service delivery but also more responsive to the needs of multiple stakeholders including the
citizens, political authorities, and administrative bodies. The Web technologies and applications have entered the
phase of the conceptual umbrella of Web 2.0, which has been drawing increasing attention from public agencies. It is
argued that Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis, web syndication or web feeds, and a number of social
networking services are useful tools for enhancing interactive collaboration and public participation. Web 2.0 can
facilitate better service delivery by offering a platform where the government officials can exchange information more
efficiently. Web 2.0 may as well help establish citizen-centric initiatives that reflect the core values of public services
such as responsiveness, transparency, and social inclusiveness. In turn, this paper empirically examines the
proposition that Web 2.0 enhances citizen participation. The literature suggests that the adoption and diffusion of
technology-based initiative is subject to bureaucrat attitude. The purpose of this paper aims to explore government
officials’ perception and intention to adopt Web 2.0-based citizen participation initiatives. The research model
integrates the concepts of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A questionnaire is used to measure government
officials’ intention to adopt Web 2.0 in eGovernment. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used to further analyze
the data and to design a theoretical model delineating the effects of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness of
e-services, attitude and trust. As the government is paying increasing attention to what Web 2.0 has to offer in public
governance, this paper proposes a synthetic model in a timely manner to understand government officials’ intention as
well as perceived obstacles to adopt Web 2.0 in participatory eGovernment initiatives.
Keywords: technology acceptance model (TAM), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), Web 2.0, public consultation
1. Introduction
In the first decade of the 21 st century, one of the most phenomenal trends in the internet world has been
the growth of Web 2.0, a conceptual umbrella that describes the recent development of internet
technologies and applications. The potential benefits of Web 2.0 are multifaceted. One key aspect is the
remarkable networking capability that may pool people from around the globe to be “on the same page.”
Private firms are seeking business opportunities by incorporate wikis, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other
social networking services into their marketing strategy. The Web has become an indispensible platform
for many firms to maintain good relationship with their customers. Governments are also aware that Web
technologies can be of use to improve citizen engagement. Ever since the New Public Management era,
concurrent with the take-off of internet usage, democratic governments around the globe have turned to
utilizing internet technology to make the policy process more deliberative, transparent and citizen-centric.
The positive experience of Web 2.0 applications that facilitate participation in the marketing context and
political campaigns has drawn the attention of eGovernment reformers, who have been searching for
ideas to improve public governance so it can be more responsive to the needs of diverse policy
stakeholders. If Web 2.0 applications, characterized by participation, collaboration and network effects are
effectively adopted to connect the government and the citizens, it will help reshape the governance
structure and turn people from inert stakeholders to proactive designers and co-innovators of public
policies (Tapscott & Williams 2006).
This study specifically examines people’s perceptions of trust and their attitudes toward using Web 2.0 for
public consultation. Social network service has been fast to gain general acceptance, suggesting that
users hold positive attitudes toward it. Social network site such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter is a
major category of Web 2.0 applications, and it would be an important venue for public consultation should
the government chooses to deploy online public consultation. Besides the popularity of this Web 2.0
application, the literature indicates that security and privacy are major concerns of using social network
sites (Cain 2008). The perception of compromised security and privacy may result in lower user trust in
participating in online communities. Meanwhile, other study shows that users were either unaware or
unconcerned about their personal privacy while using social network services (Govani & Pashley 2005). If
the government uses social network site as platform for public consultation, what would be the important
factors that affect policy stakeholders’ intentions to use the platform?
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Ching-Heng Pan and Lichun Chiang
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a widely used model in management of information systems,
offers an explanation of the determinants of adoption of a wide range of technology innovations (Davis
1989; Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw 1989; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis 2003). TAM theorizes that an
individual’s behavioral intention to adopt a new technology is determined by the person’s attitude toward
the use of the technology, and attitude is determined by two basic beliefs: perceived ease of use and
perceived usefulness. The literature also shows that trust is an important factor of purchase intention in an
e-commerce context (Gefen 2002; Koufaris & Hampton-Sosa 2004). In the context of eGovernment, the
lack of citizen trust brought on by the novelty and uncertainty of online transactions has inhibited the
widespread acceptance for public e-services (Tan, Benbasat & Cenfetelli 2008; Susanto & Goodwin
2010). Citizen trust is also deemed as a determinant of using e-voting system (Oostveen & Besselaar
2005; Alvarez & Hall 2006). The underpinning rationale is that online environment is usually characterized
by anonymity, uncertainty, and lack of control. These characteristics are simply stronger in a Web 2.0
environment because Web 2.0 architecture diminishes centrality and control. User generated content
becomes the core of a Web 2.0 service, and the service gets better as more people use it (O’Reilly 2005).
The notion of relaxing control may bring about distrust in information authenticity and privacy protection. In
turn, this study includes the perception of trust in the research model to explain the intention to use a Web
2.0-based platform for public consultation. In sum, this study is composed of five constructs: (1) perceived
ease of use, (2) perceived usefulness, (3) attitude toward Web 2.0-based public consultation platform, (4)
trust, and (5) intention to use Web 2.0-based public consultation platform. Questionnaires were used to
collect data and measure the five constructs. Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL 8.54 was used to
analyze the research model.
This paper is divided into four main parts: First, a review of the theoretical literature on Web 2.0 and the
implication of citizen participation, and discussion on some of the experimental evidence in support of the
theory. The second part describes the research method used in this paper, including the methodological
approach, the variables used in the analysis, the sampling of cases and the questionnaire design. In the
third part, data analysis and results are presented. Finally, a discussion of these results is provided along
with description of some of the implications and future work to be done in this research area.
2. Literature review
2.1 Bureaucrat perception of Web 2.0 and participatory eGovernment
The government ought to include public opinion in the political process by creating diverse participative
mechanisms in order to build a responsive and legitimate “strong democracy” (Barber 1984). In the era of
Web 2.0 that began in the early 2000s, the notion of e-governance has expanded to encompass
e-citizenship and e-democracy that involve the general public in the policy process through e-engagement
and e-participation (Misra 2008). The meaning of Web 2.0 may be diverse, but the notion is centered on
the concept of “the Web as platform” on which all users including program developers and corporates
interact with one another for pursuing their respective interests. Norris (2001) construed civic engagement
from three aspects - political knowledge on public affairs, trust in the political system, and the impacts of
participation on policy decisions. Web 2.0 applications are characterized by participation, collaboration
and network effects. If the government effectively adopts the applications to connect with citizens, it will
help reshape the governance structure and turn people from inert stakeholders to proactive designers and
co-innovators of public policies (Tapscott & Williams 2006).
Neutral information technologies can impact organizations and institutions through the hands of
bureaucrats (Fountain 2001). The success of adoption depends on how organization members use it.
Positive outcomes result from user acceptance and maturity of usage. For the full benefits of the
interactive consultation platform to be realized, members within the supplying organizations must hold
positive attitudes toward the platform. Therefore, e-participation is not an issue merely about the citizens.
The attitude of the government employees who are responsible for operating the platform therefore is a
crucial factor of successful adoption. Web 2.0 offers a new venue for public consultation, of which
bureaucratic attitudes toward the venue is an important contingency.
2.2 Attitude, trust and technology acceptance in using Web 2.0
Since Davis (1989) provided the TAM as a theoretical foundation for analyzing behavioral intention, TAM
has been widely used to empirically test and explain the use of information technology (Ma & Liu 2004).
TAM theorizes that a person’s behavioral intention to adopt a new technology is subject to the person’s
attitude toward the technology, and attitude is the function of perceived ease of use and perceived
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Ching-Heng Pan and Lichun Chiang
usefulness. This model focuses on the attitudinal explanations of individual intentions to use a specific
technology. TAM involves two primary predictors: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness; the
model uses the dependent variable of behavioral intention as a function of attitude toward use of a
technology. In adopting new information technologies, user attitudes directly or indirectly affect their
intention to use because only when a person holds a positive attitude toward the new technology would he
or she have the intention to use (Davis et al. 1989).
McKnight and Chervany (2001) argue that there are two categories of research on trust. One category
focuses on the typology of trust construct such as attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and dispositions; the other
refers to the object of trust such as someone or something. Warkentin et al. (2002) argue that trust in
technology and trust in government are determinants of using electronic service offered by the
government, which suggests that trust is a determinant of the intention to use. Carter and Bélanger (2005)
investigate the factors of using eGovernment services among the citizens and find a positive relationship
between the intention to use and level of trust in the system. It follows that trust also may be a determinant
of the intention to use Web 2.0-based public consultation system.
According to the TAM, the two important beliefs – perceived ease of use (PEU) and perceived usefulness
(PU) – are instrumental in explaining the variance in intention (Agarwal & Prasad 1999; Kramer 1999; Li et
al. 2004). Perceived Ease of use denotes the degree to which a potential adopter perceives using the
referred technology to be relatively free of effort. Perceived usefulness denotes the extent to which a
potential adopter views the referred technology as offering value over alternative ways of performing the
same task (Davis et al. 1989; Gefen, Rose, Warkentin, & Pavlou 2005). In other words, perceived ease of
use refers to the property of a technology that a user can operate without having to overcome a steep
learning curve. Perceived usefulness means that a user believes in the existence of a positive relationship
between use and performance (Davis 1989). The importance of perceived ease of use and perceived
usefulness as determinants of user intention is indicated by their joint effects on attitude towards using the
system, such as e-commerce, information technology, and voting system (Al-Gahtani & King 1999;
Xenakis & Macintosh 2005).
In sum, this study specifies the two determinants of a person’s behavioral intention (IN) to use Web
2.0-based public consultation system: (1) perceived ease of use (PEU), denoting the belief of using the
system without difficulties; (2) perceived usefulness (PU), denoting the belief that using Web 2.0-based
consultation system would enhance one’s job performance. These beliefs affect user attitude and trust of
the system. Specifically, attitude toward using the system (AT) express a person’s preference for the
system, and trust in the system (TR) means that a person willingly accepts the consultation system.
3. Research model and hypotheses
It is commonly hypothesized that perceived ease of use impacts on enjoyment and perceived usefulness
in the acceptance of information technology (Davis et al. 1989, 1993; Agarwal & Prasad 1999; Al-Gahtani
& King 1999; Sa´nchez-Franco 2006). These postulations indicate that perceived ease of use is an
antecedent to perceived usefulness. Furthermore, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness
influence attitudes toward using the system or IT adoption. The literature on the effect of attitude toward
intention to adopt a technology appears to be indefinite. Yet, Sheppard, Hartwick, and Warshaw (1988) in
their attitudinal research found strong support for using attitude to predict intentions. Chang and Cheung
(2001) found that attitude plays a key mediating role or a partial mediator. These hypotheses are
replicated in H1, H2 and H3.
H1: Perceived Ease of use (PEU) will have positive influence on Perceived Usefulness (PU) in using Web
2.0 for the purpose of public consultation.
H2: Perceived usefulness (PU) will have positive influence on Attitudes (AT) in using Web 2.0 for the
purpose of public consultation.
H3: Attitudes (AT) will have positive influence on Behavioral Intention (IN) in using Web 2.0 for the purpose
of public consultation.
McKnight, Choudhury and Kacmar (2002) argue that people use whatever information they have, such as
perceptions of a web site, to make trust inferences. The decision to engage in eGovernment transactions
requires citizen trust in the government agency providing the service and citizen trust in the technology
through which electronic transactions are executed (Lee & Turban 2001; McKnight et al. 2002). Therefore,
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Ching-Heng Pan and Lichun Chiang
it is hypothesized that trust directly affects a person’s intention to use Web 2.0-based consultation while
mediating attitude toward the intention to use, as shown in H4 and H5.
H4: Attitudes (AT) will have positive influence on Trust (TR) in using Web 2.0 for the purpose of public
consultation.
H5: Trust (TR) will have positive influence on Behavior Intention (BI) in using Web 2.0 for the purpose of
public consultation.
Figure 1: Research model and hypotheses
The research model and hypotheses are shown in Figure 1. The general form of the model is as follows:
PU =γ1 EU
IN = (ɵ1+ɵ2 β1+ ɵ3α1β1)PU
where perceived usefulness (PU) is influenced by perceived ease of use (PEU). Attitude toward Web 2.0
consultation (AT) reflects the influence of PU. Furthermore, trust in Web 2.0 consultation (TR) is
influenced by AT. Then, γ1, β1, α1 and ɵ1, ɵ2, ɵ3 are correlation coefficients in the multiple regression
analysis.
4. Methodology
4.1 Measures
The study was conducted through a survey of a broad diversity of respondents from. The
operationalization of each construct follows. Perceived Ease of use (PEU) is an indication of user belief in
his/her capability of operating Web 2.0 consultation system without difficulties. PEU is measured by three
question items: (1) Learning to use Web 2.0-based platform for public consultation would be easy for me;
(2) I can easily adapted to the Web 2.0-based consultation system, and (3) It is comprehensible for me
using Web 2.0-based platform for public consultation. Perceived usefulness (PU) is measured by three
questions: (1) Using Web 2.0-based platform for public consultation is helpful to do my job; (2) Using Web
2.0-based platform for public consultation may help improve my job performance; (3) Web 2.0-based
public consultation is useful.
Attitudes (AT) are captured in the following items: (1) Using Web 2.0-based platform for public
consultation is a wise idea; (2) I will support the government to use Web 2.0-based platform for public
consultation; (3) It is a good concept to use Web 2.0-based platform for public consultation.
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Ching-Heng Pan and Lichun Chiang
Trust (TR) is measured by such questions as: (1) I believe that information or opinions on the public
consultation website would be trustworthy; (2) I believe that most opinions offered in Web 2.0-based
consultation are from people of goodwill; (3) I believe that a Web 2.0-based public consultation system is
trustworthy.
Intention (IN) is measured by the following items: (1) I am willing to use Web 2.0-based platform for public
consultation in the future; (2) I will continue to use Web 2.0-based platform for public consultation in the
future; (3) When I have access to the internet, I will use it for the purpose of public consultation as much as
I possibly can. The question items of the survey were measured using a five-point Likert scale, with 1
indicates strongly disagree and 5 indicates strongly agree.
4.2 Samples
The study adopted a non-probability sampling. The survey was administered in December 2010 to 250
graduate students of the executive master in public administration (EMPA) programs in 10 different
schools, of which the geographical locations are fairly dispersed in Taiwan. The majority of EMPA
students are government employees, who are considered more aware of the issue of public consultation
and capable of reflecting the perceptions of Web 2.0-based consultation from inside the government. Of
the 250 administered questionnaires, 219 were completed and used in the analyses, including 117 males
(53.40%) and 102 females (46.60%). The samples are evenly distributed among age groups, with the
largest group of age 36 to 40 (25%). About 70 percent of the respondents consider themselves having
about average knowledge or knowledgeable of the Internet. Table 1 shows the demographic data of the
samples.
Table 1: Demographic data
Terms
Sex
Frequencies Percentage (%) N=219
Male 117 53.40
Female 102 46.60
Total
Age (Years Old)
219 100
25 and under 10 4.60
26-30 34 15.50
31-35 35 16.00
36-40 55 25.10
41-45 38 17.40
46-50 34 15.50
51-55 4 1.80
Over 56 6 2.70
Missing 3 1.40
Total
Knowledge of the Internet
219 100
Barely 1 0.50
Some 61 27.90
About average 127 58.00
Knowledgeable 27 12.30
Missing 3 1.40
Total 219 100
5. Results and findings
The analytical procedures utilized a two-step approach; the first step used the analysis of the
measurement model and the second step tested the structural relationships among latent constructs (Hair,
Anderson, Tatham, & Black 1998). The aim of the two-step approach was to assess the reliability and
validity of the measures before their use in the full model. The items for each dimension were measured
through a 5-item scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In discussing the threshold
reliability of the measures, .60 is a recommended value for a reliable construct (Hu & Bentler 1995). As
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Ching-Heng Pan and Lichun Chiang
Table 22 shows, the composite reliability values range from .81 to .89 (Cronbach’s α ≥ .60). Confirmatory
Factor Analysis (CFA) was applied to assess the construct validity of the 5 scales (perceived ease of use,
perceived usefulness, attitude, trust, and intention to use Web 2.0-based platform for public consultation)
with LISREL. Each item was modeled as a reflective indicator of its latent construct in the CFA model.
Table 2 presents the results of the CFA analysis. For the average variance extracted by a measure, a
score of .5 indicates acceptability (Jöreskog & Sörbom 1989). Table 2 shows that the average variances
extracted by these measures range from .60 to .75, which fall within the acceptable range.
Table 2: Results of confirmatory factor analysis
Variables Terms Composite Reliability AVE
Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) 3 0.82 0.61
Perceived Usefulness (PU) 3 0.81 0.60
Attitude (AT) 3 0.81 0.61
Trust (TR) 3 0.84 0.64
Intention (IN) 3 0.89 0.75
Note: N = 219, Cronbach’s α should exceed .60, the composite reliability values range from .81 to .89 (Hu
& Bentler 1995), AVE (Average Variance Extracted) should be near .50 (Jöreskog & Sörbom 1989).
As shown in Table 3, the structural model reflecting the assumed linear, causal relationships among the
constructs is tested with the data collected from the validated measures (Bagozzi & Yi 1988; Bentler 1990;
Hair et al. 1998; Hu & Bentler 1995). The model fit indexes are within accepted thresholds: χ 2 to degrees
of freedom ratio of 1.89 (χ 2 = 164.24; df = 85), AGFI = .87, GFI = .91, CFI = .99 and RMSEA = .06. Except
RMSEA that falls slightly below the recommended value, the indexes in general suggest adequate model
fit.
Table 3: Model fit indices for the structural model
Fit indices Results Recommended value
χ 2 (p-value) 160.24 (.01) P ≥ .05
χ 2 /df 1.89 (df=85) P ≤ 3~5
AGFI 0.87 P ≥ .80
GFI 0.91 P ≥ .90
CFI 0.98 P ≥ .80
NFI 0.96 P ≥ .80
RMSEA 0.06 P ≤ .10
Note: GFI: Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit index, GFI: Goodness of Fit Index, CFI: Comparative Fit Index,
NFI=Normed Fit Index, RMSEA: Root Mean Square Error of Approximation.
The results of the analysis are shown in Figure 2. As shown in Figure 2, the ease of use presents a strong
positive effect on perceived usefulness (t = 8.54, p ≤ .05). Thus, Hypothesis 1 is supported, agreeing with
previous studies specifying perceived ease of use as antecedent of perceived usefulness. The perceived
usefulness shows significant influences on attitude toward using Web 2.0 for public consultation (t = 8.12,
p ≤ .05). Thus, Hypotheses 2 is also supported. Perceived usefulness shows significant mediation effects
between ease of use and attitude toward using Web 2.0 for public consultation. The results of PEU and
PU agree with the literature of TAM, confirming that perceived usefulness mediates perceived ease of use
and is a determinant of attitude. Attitude and trust are both significant factors of intention to use Web
2.0-based venue of public consultation (t = 6.79, p ≤ .05 and t = 2.96, p ≤ .05 respectively). Furthermore,
attitude influences trust (t = 6.12, p ≤ .05), and trust also shows significant mediation effect of attitude on
intention. Hypotheses 3, 4, and 5 are also supported. Consequently, this study found TAM suitable for
explaining user intention of using Web 2.0 for public consultation. In terms of the measurement variables,
the results suggest that ease of learning, operation, and use are three significantly influential factors to
adopt web 2.0 for public consultation. Usefulness of web 2.0 for public consultation is helpful for
completing respondents’ jobs and improving performance. Respondents agree that using web 2.0 for
public consultation is a good and wise ideal. Based on the self-assessment of respondents’ knowledge of
Web 2.0, they trust that Web 2.0-based public consultation will provide reliable and trustworthy
information. In addition, respondents also believe that Web 2.0 is helpful for goodwill citizens to participate
in online public consultation. In general, the results show that the respondents are willing to use Web 2.0
technology for public consultation if the government launches such platforms in the near future.
448

Figure 2: Path coefficients for the research model
6. Conclusion
Ching-Heng Pan and Lichun Chiang
The statistical results show that the research model fits adequately. The specified variables all show
significant effects on the postulated paths. The study also found that trust is not a dominant factor of the
intention to use Web 2.0 for public consultation. In contrast, the basic predictors, i.e., perceived ease of
use and perceived usefulness, are more salient in shaping the attitude toward using Web 2.0 for
consultation. It seems to indicate that users concern more about the relationship between their use
experience and efficiency, and pay relatively less attention to the trustworthiness of the innovative Web
system. It is worth noting that the respondents were mostly government employees, and hold positive
attitudes toward using new Web technologies for public consultation. As members from the supply side of
public policies, government employees’ positive attitude toward Web 2.0 consultation platforms implies
that engaging the constituents via innovative Web technologies is not some unrealistic speculation among
the optimistic disciples of e-democracy. A few research limitations in this study should be noted. The
model is a relatively reduced one. Other constructs such as perceived risk and service quality may also
affect user confidence. The emotion constructs such as pleasure and fear, as opposed to such cognition
constructs as belief and experience, might as well play a role in influencing behavioral intentions.
Moreover, the theories of innovation diffusion may also have some insights to offer in understanding the
adoption of Web 2.0-based public consultation. Future research can consider including these constructs.
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450

Combating Identity Fraud in the Public Domain: Information
Strategies for Healthcare and Criminal Justice
Marijn Plomp and Jan Grijpink
Utrecht University, The Netherlands
m.g.a.plomp@cs.uu.nl
jan@grijpink.org
Abstract: Two trends are present in both the private and public domain: increasing interorganisational co-operation
and increasing digitisation. Nowadays, more and more processes within and between organisations take place
electronically. These developments are visible on local, national and European scale. Research, strategy and policy
often focus on the technological issues, whereas the organisational issues are complex and important as well. These
issues prove to be difficult on a local scale and barely manageable on national and European scales, because the
number of parties increases greatly and because of differences in culture, legislation and IT infrastructure. We
introduce the theoretical framework of Chain-computerisation that explains large-scale chain co-operation as an
answer to a dominant chain problem. Identity fraud proves to be the dominant chain problem in many chain cooperation
situations. Therefore, our main research question is: what is a successful information strategy to combat
identity fraud in the large-scale processes that constitute the public domain? Next, we demonstrate the problem of
identity fraud using the example of the Dutch criminal justice chain, showing that a certain chain communication
system enables to stop identity fraud using forensic biometrics. The second example is about healthcare. In the
Netherlands, the government is introducing a national system of medical information exchange based on the national
personal number as the sole identifier for recognition and linking. We show that people sometimes have interest in
using somebody else’s number, to be treated in cases (s)he is not insured. This identity fraud can contaminate
medical records on a national scale. We ponder about infrastructural elements that enable international exchange of
medical information on a European scale and ask ourselves which additional safeguards will be necessary on this
enormous scale. The examples are taken from our chain analysis programme that has an exploratory, empirical
character. A chain analysis tests empirical findings against the theoretical framework of Chain-computerisation, to
derive a suitable chain-specific information strategy. We use this novel approach which is specifically tailored to the
peculiarities of large-scale situations, as opposed to the small-scale approach usually employed in these cases. The
traditional authentication procedures do not take into account ‘wrong person’ identity fraud that causes fraud
surreptitiously spreading from chain to chain. Therefore, in both cases, the problem of identity fraud presents a threat
to the chain co-operation that has to be tackled with a large-scale approach and with person-oriented security
procedures and instruments that are indeed able to prevent identity fraud from happening undetected. It is precisely
this approach and this type of procedures and instruments that are explained here. This is a novel contribution to
information science and to the security realm that still pivots only on traditional authentication frameworks. Taking
into account that it is probable that the problem of identity fraud rises in many other domains and countries as well,
we conclude that identity fraud is a major threat to the European society. Finally, we argue that an information
strategy using basic, but chain-specific information systems, combined with random identity verification procedures
enable combating identity fraud.
Keywords: chain-computerisation, interorganisational information systems, chain co-operation, Information
strategies within the public sector, Identity management
1. Introduction
Interorganisational co-operation is becoming increasingly important, as organisations are more and more
interdependent. ICT can support the development of interorganisational relations through cost reduction
and/or increasing possibilities for communication and coordination (Williams 1997). Since the internet has
become mainstream, many organisations communicate with each other through this channel. This can be
in the form of basic means like e-mail messaging, but nowadays also often takes place using advanced
ICT applications like chain information systems. These developments are visible on local, national and
European scales.
Research, strategy and policy often focus only on technological issues, like standards for
interorganisational information exchange. Organisational issues however, like who co-operates with
whom, shares which information and why, are complex and important as well. It can therefore be argued
that attention should be given to both dimensions (Plomp and Batenburg 2010). Both technological and
organisational issues prove to be difficult on a local scale and barely manageable on national and
European scales, because the number of parties increases greatly and because of differences in culture,
legislation and IT infrastructure. For example, in the Netherlands processes in public sectors like
healthcare and justice are digitised to a higher degree than in other European countries.
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Marijn Plomp and Jan Grijpink
This example illustrates the difficulties and sensibilities that are encountered in the design of cross-border
chain information infrastructures. Even when these large-scale communication initiatives are successfully
deployed, there are many potential problems in their use that need to be taken into account. As
interorganisational co-operation in the information age is becoming increasingly important, everyone
working in (e-)government should be aware of its inherent risks. In this paper, we present those risks
using two cases from the vital domains of criminal justice and healthcare. We argue that one of the main
threats in these domains is identity fraud, and show the potential danger if this problem is not properly
addressed.
In this paper, we introduce the theoretical framework of Chain-computerisation that explains large-scale
chain co-operation as an answer to a dominant chain problem (see §2). Identity fraud proves to be the
dominant chain problem in many chain co-operation situations. Many people think that through further
securing the authentication process, the risk of identity fraud can be reduced (e.g. Drogkaris,
Geneiatakis, Gritzalis, Lambrinoudakis and Mitrou 2008). This basic security is necessary, but we claim
that this is only sufficient for small-scale situations. Truly large-scale chain co-operation is much more
complex and identity fraud proves to be hard to prevent in these situations. Therefore, our main research
question is:
What is a successful information strategy to combat identity fraud in the large-scale processes that
constitute the public domain?
In order to provide an answer to this question, the remainder of this paper is structured as follows. First,
we present the theory of Chain-computerisation and the three components of its chain perspective. This
provides the background against which we formulate our approach for combating identity fraud. We
describe our research method and pay specific attention to the process of conducting a chain analysis
and deriving an information strategy from that. Next, we present our two cases in which identity fraud
plays a central role, and indicate how this phenomenon can be countered. We conclude with our main
findings and suggest some topics for future research. Parts of this paper are based upon Grijpink
(2010b).
2. Chain-computerisation and its specific chain perspective
Chain-computerisation (Grijpink 1999; 2010a) is a theoretical framework which explicitly focuses on
social chains, not on logistical chains (the process of handling goods), nor on information chains (closely
linked information systems). Examples of social chains are social security, criminal law enforcement or
drug addicts’ healthcare: large-scale interorganisational processes that yield a social product such as
income support, safety or survival.
Central to the theory of Chain-computerisation is a specific chain perspective to better understand chain
co-operation as large-scale processes and systems. This chain perspective consists of three
components. The first component is the concept of a dominant chain problem; a problem that no party in
the chain can solve on its own. The second component is the idea that a chain should be seen as a multilevel
phenomenon, enabling a distinction between automation at the ‘base level’ and the ‘chain level’.
The third component is the acknowledgement of irrational decision making at the collective chain level.
The rationale of this chain perspective is recognising fallacies of the wrong level. They lead to invalid
assumptions and unjustifiable expectations causing large-scale communication systems to fail or
sometimes even backfire. We will now discuss these four central elements.
2.1 The dominant chain problem as the trigger of chain communication
In a social chain, thousands of organisations and professionals work together without a clear relationship
of authority, in ever-changing combinations depending upon the actual case. However, co-operating with
other organisations and professionals takes a great deal of effort, time and money. There must be a castiron
reason for doing so. Chain partners only co-operate if they are forced to do so by a dominant chain
problem. A dominant chain problem is one that none of the partners can solve on its own. It is only by
effectively co-operating that chain partners can prevent the systematic failure of their own organisation
and the entire chain. Because common interests are less pronounced than people usually think – and are
also often unclear – the badly needed cohesion can only be provided by a pressing dominant chain
problem. Only such a barely-manageable problem can create an interplay of forces which triggers largescale
co-operation of so many organisations and individuals and promotes the development and
maintenance of a large-scale chain communication system focused on the dominant chain problem.
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However, in most chain co-operation situations, there is insufficient support for the large-scale exchange
of information.
2.2 The chain as a multi-level phenomenon
The theoretical framework of Chain-computerisation sees a chain as a multi-level concept (see Figure 1).
It makes a distinction between chain information systems at ‘chain level’ on the one hand, and intraorganisational
information systems at the ‘base level’ of the chain, that can be linked to a chain
information system, on the other hand. A chain information system automatically detects in which intraorganisational
system relevant information can be found or, for instance, which organisation should be
informed. This chain communication is brought about even when chain partners themselves do not know
which organisations are involved in the case at hand. This distinction – for a better understanding of the
problems inherent in large-scale co-operation and communication – can be applied to any large-scale
phenomenon.
Figure 1: Two distinct levels of analysis, with different types of information systems
This analytic distinction is useful for two reasons:
According to the theory of Chain-computerisation, only the critical details that are absolutely
necessary for preventing the dominant chain problem should be available at the chain level.
Irrational decision making takes place at the chain level, as will be explained next.
2.3 Acknowledgement of irrational decision making at the collective chain level
Because overall leadership or authority is absent, the chain is a difficult administrative domain in which
decision making and information exchange proceed differently than within organisations. Rationality and
efficiency are often hard to find at the collective chain level and, as a consequence, unpredictability and
lack of control are the order of the day. A model of irrational decision making that fits well with the
processes that take place at the chain level is the garbage can model of Cohen, March and Olsen (1972;
March and Olsen 1976). This model states that the outcome of decision processes are a random
selection of problems, solutions and decision makers. Often this concept of irrationality at the chain level
is hard to grasp. The crux is that – as there is no single party in command – group processes at chain
level are not rational, even if every individual professional and organisation acts rationally. Chaincomputerisation
takes this lack of an overall co-ordinating and enforcing authority as its starting point.
Large databases containing substantive data to be used by many independent organisations call for more
authority and willingness to co-operate and pool resources than are usually present in chains. Collective
decision making is chaotic and unpredictable. Therefore, chain solutions should be basic and noncomplex.
A simple alert mechanism is often the maximum result that can be attained.
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2.4 Fallacies of the wrong level
Marijn Plomp and Jan Grijpink
In information science – as well as in management – we usually derive insights from small-scale
situations such as a local information system, a small group experiment or a regional pilot. Thus, we have
gained insights into the power of recording data and in management tools, such as time schedules and
budgets. If we transpose such insights to large-scale situations without checking the validity of underlying
assumptions at that level, we often make a ‘fallacy of the wrong level.’ This might partly explain why so
many policy measures and large-scale systems unexpectedly produce poor results – or sometimes even
backfire.
The concept elaborated upon in the previous subsection provides a good example of such a fallacy of the
wrong level. Expecting that chain decision making takes place in a rational fashion seems logical, as
individual organisations behave largely rational. At the chain level however, this proves to be not the
case. Another example is providing a single sign-on e-government architecture, as discussed by
Drogkaris et al. (2008) for the Greek situation. Although this may seem convenient from the perspective
of an individual user, it also means that once a malevolent person obtains the possibility to fraudulently
sign on, (s)he has access to all e-government services. The notion that a person who provides the right
credentials (e.g. username and password) does not necessarily imply that this is also the right person, is
important in the respect. In small-scale situations, the focus is often only on optimizing the authentication
procedure. In large-scale situations, the focus should also be on preventing malicious use of these
authentication means by someone other than the authorised person.
The theoretical framework of Chain-computerisation suggests several remedies against making fallacies
of the wrong level, while taking into account the needs and preconditions of large-scale chain cooperation.
One such remedy could be, for instance, taking a gradual approach to the development and
implementation of large-scale systems. Most of all, we must stop treating large-scale communication
systems as intra-organisational information systems with a somewhat larger group of users. This is a
classic fallacy of the wrong level. Chain-computerisation features a chain approach providing
professionals and researchers with a compass that is better suited for a working environment without a
co-ordinating and enforcing authority.
3. Chain-computerisation and its method of chain analysis
Apart from the chain perspective, the theoretical framework of Chain-computerisation offers a specific
method for chain analysis. The two examples that we present in the following two sections are case
studies taken from the chain research programme at our university based upon this method. This
programme has an exploratory, empirical character. A chain analysis tests empirical findings against the
theoretical framework of Chain-computerisation, to derive a suitable chain-specific information strategy.
By now, we have performed over 25 analyses of Dutch and international chains. For each chain analysis,
desk and field research have been performed. Data collection took place from 2005 till 2010. By
interviewing multiple stakeholders within a single chain, we try to obtain an accurate picture of a chain
focused on the variables used in the chain analysis. Each chain analysis consists of constructing the four
assessment profiles provided by the theory of Chain-computerisation: the mission, coordination,
information, and co-operation profile. Completing these profiles entails, among other things, determining
what the dominant chain problem is and what critical details are necessary to prevent the dominant chain
problem from spoiling the result of the chain co-operation effort, assessing the required coordination
forms in this specific chain and gauging the current level of chain-wide co-operation. An example of
constructed assessment profiles for the chain analysis of the manic-depressive disorder chain-of-care
can be found in a recent article in the Journal of Chain-computerisation (Grijpink, Visser, Dijkman and
Plomp 2010, pp. 5-6). The results of this chain analysis, together with other input from the interviews,
make it possible to formulate a workable information strategy. In the example mentioned above, this next
step can also be seen (Grijpink et al. 2010, p. 7). In the future, more chain analyses based upon this
method (Grijpink 2010a) will be published in the Journal of Chain-computerisation, thus enabling
comparison of the chain analysis results of different chains and longitudinal analysis.
The chain research programme at our university has resulted in a more realistic view of our
interorganisational world and will in turn lead to better information strategies for large-scale information
infrastructures supporting national or international public and private chain co-operation. We now turn to
two cases studies to illustrate this point.
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4. Identity fraud in the Dutch criminal justice chain
Before describing the specific situation of the Dutch criminal law enforcement chain, we present a brief
general introduction to the peculiarities of identity fraud. After indicating the Dutch problems and how they
are dealt with, we look at some elements that come into play when we look at criminal law enforcement
from a European perspective.
4.1 Identity fraud: An introduction
Identity fraud – using or stealing somebody else’s identity with malicious intent – is becoming a major
issue in our information society. The real problem is that if an identity fraud succeeds, all clues and traces
lead to the victim instead of the culprit. The culprit cannot be found afterwards and the victim
subsequently has much difficulty proving his/her innocence. Identity fraud is difficult to detect while it is
taking place unless special preventive tools and procedures are installed. This is usually not the case.
Thus, identity fraud forms a major challenge.
The chain perspective has provided a better understanding of the problem of identity fraud, revealing that
its real damage will be the disruption of important large-scale communication systems. Once a person
has fraudulently changed his/her identity, the new 'identity' can affect other situations along regular
channels. In these situations it usually is no longer possible to see through the preceding fraudulent
identity change.
4.2 The situation in the Dutch criminal justice chain
Because successful identity fraud cannot easily be detected and mostly goes unnoticed, only rarely can a
successful fraudster be detected because (s)he is still there. One such situation where this is possible, is
the prison cell. If a criminal finds someone willing to sit out his/her sentence in his/her place, we find
his/her stand-in person in the cell. Alternatively, if the criminal has been successful in using the identity of
someone else, we find the right person in the cell but with an identity that is not his/her own. If this identity
fraud goes undetected, the criminal is untraceable after his/her release because the administrative details
of the verdict – stored in the criminal registry for later use – point to someone else. This scenario could
explain how a criminal sometimes succeeds in pursuing his/her career with a clean slate without links to
his/her previous aliases.
In 2004, more than 100,000 sets of criminal fingerprints linked to more than one administrative identity
had been registered in the Dutch national forensic biometrics system HAVANK. The cleverest criminals
had succeeded in using more than 50 aliases, implying that they had managed to get their criminal
verdicts spread to as many criminal records of other persons (who may not be aware of this). Note that
this volume of identity fraud may be even bigger because a fingerprint set linked to a single name does
not guarantee that this name actually belongs to the criminal. This volume of aliases was the result of
only fifteen years of automatic biometric fingerprint checking in only some criminal cases. Until October
2010, the Criminal Procedure Law only allowed the use of forensic biometrics if necessary to prove
someone’s involvement in the criminal case at hand. An immediate confession thus prevented biometric
identity checking. For serious crimes, the Dutch Criminal Procedure Law now provides for compulsory
biometrical identity checking.
Apart from the HAVANK system, which is positioned at the base level of the chain, the criminal justice
chain also has a chain information system, a reference index called VIP. This chain information system
consists of a personal criminal number (the VIP-number) and a set of references pointing to criminal law
enforcement agencies actually involved in this person’s criminal justice procedures. The VIP-number is
issued to a criminal when (s)he is registered in the information system of one of the chain partners for the
first time; it will never be re-issued to another person and will be used at every new contact with one of
the chain partners during the rest of his/her life. By 2004 however, the VIP system had already
administered more than 1.2 million VIP-numbers since the system was introduced in 1993. This amount
of VIP-numbers suggested serious problems, because the Dutch population could not possibly account
for so many criminals.
The above two systems, HAVANK and VIP, illustrate the apparent pollution that is present in the
information systems of the Dutch criminal justice chain, as a consequence of successful identity fraud. In
the future, this can be prevented or at least reduced by improving identity checking of criminals (i) by the
police and (ii) in prisons:
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(i) The police perform identity checking at the beginning of the chain. They used to do this by asking for
an identity document or for name and address which are then checked against the residents’ register of
the relevant municipality. However, if name and address go together but belong to another person, this
checking causes a wrong name mentioned in the official report as well as in the subsequent summons
and criminal verdict. This way the criminal will be processed incorrectly throughout the entire chain. In the
new procedure the police have to perform a biometric identity check first together with high resolution
photographs, both taken simultaneously at the start of the procedure.
(ii) Until recently, the detention process was only supported by an administrative information system.
Nowadays, prison management can also use biometric details in order to check with every interaction
whether there is a match.
Still, we are left with the challenge of ensuring that older verdicts have been booked under the right
name.
4.3 Fading borders: The criminal justice chain at EU-level
As criminals more frequently operate internationally, criminal justice will also need to operate across
borders more often. Let us now see how extending this national scale to international complicates our
national approach. Within the European Union, this chain co-operation takes place within the realm of
intergovernmental co-operation. The difficulties that make national chain processes barely manageable
hold even more for the European situation.
An illustrative example of this increased complexity is the case of Michel Fourniret. This French moral
delinquent was able to start with a ‘clean slate’ in Belgium and even work at a school there. Apparently,
the Belgian police never questioned the French criminal registry. The Belgian education chain might have
questioned the Belgian criminal registry because, in many EU member states, Fourniret’s job was
considered sensitive enough to ask a job candidate for a so-called declaration of good conduct. However,
consulting the Belgium criminal registry from the Belgian education chain would wrongly have produced a
clean slate. To avoid this from happening in the future, criminal record information must be exchanged
between two member states at the moment of a sensitive appointment of a person with another
nationality. This communication will only be correct if two conditions are met:
The national criminal law enforcement chain in every member state prevents identity fraud in its own
criminal procedures.
Each member state sends every criminal verdict to the convict’s member state of nationality while
preventing identity fraud during this transfer.
This implies a close co-operation among police forces within the EU, focused on the identity of their
nationals in other EU-countries using the forensic biometrics procedures of the home country (i.e. the
country of origin, not the country were the crime was committed). Chain-computerisation theory tells us
that a physically centralised EU registry for criminal justice cannot be expected to work adequately at this
enormous scale. Fortunately, at the moment, the efforts are being aimed at a bilateral exchange of
criminal verdicts regarding member states’ nationals based on a central access system and the use of
the national biometric identities. In line with the theory of Chain-computerisation, this will eventually lead
to a distributed EU criminal registry based on biometric identities that might be able to prevent criminal
cases such as Fourniret’s from happening again. At the moment, we are very far from this ideal situation,
but much will already be gained if every transferred criminal verdict is accompanied by fingerprints and
photographs, similar to the Dutch national solution.
5. The importance of identity in Dutch medical chains
We now shift our attention to another vital domain of our society where identity plays an important role:
the healthcare sector. In the Netherlands, the government wants to introduce a national system of
medical information exchange based on the national personal number as the sole identifier for
recognition and linking. Recently, there has been much debate about the implementation of this
Electronic Personal Record (Schäfer et al. 2010). With the chain perspective of Chain-computerisation in
mind, it is clear that the small-scale doctor-patient relationship does not adequately represent the largescale
field of forces in healthcare between more than half a billion EU-patients and the EU’s hundreds of
thousands of medical service providers. A simple risk assessment might reveal, for instance, that some
patients have a clear interest in using somebody else’s personal number to be treated in cases (s)he is
not insured, or to hide his/her illness from other persons. This identity fraud can take many forms but
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inevitably contaminates the medical record of the patient and of his/her victim. Identity fraud will probably
surface in this large-scale healthcare chain as the dominant chain problem to be countered on national
and international scales. This problem proves to be barely manageable on a regional scale and on a
national scale many preventive measures are needed. We are very far from an ideal situation, but much
will already be gained if any national linking of medical records would not be based on the patient’s
personal number alone and – additionally – would also automatically present a clear picture of the patient
on the doctor’s computer screen. In the near future, research should also establish which infrastructural
elements and which additional safeguards are needed for the safe exchange of medical information on a
European scale.
One such infrastructural element – that is also relevant for computerisation on national level – is the
consideration that not all medical chains are similar, and thus may benefit from different information
infrastructures. In our chain research we have found differences between for example the diabetes
control chain and the manic-depressive disorder chain-of-care (Grijpink et al. 2010). These two diseases
require fundamentally different medical data in order to provide adequate treatment. Furthermore, for
diabetes it is usually sufficient to share patient data regionally, whereas manic-depressive people tend to
be less ‘sedentary’, so it may be wise to share their data on a larger scale. And there are more relevant
variables that vary across medical chains: differences in speed required, differences in the role of the
patient (active/passive) and differences in the nature of the process (e.g. monitoring an illness,
discovering an illness). For instance, the aforementioned illnesses are both chronic, but it is not hard to
see that the acute medical care chain has other requirements.
Similar to the criminal justice example, we again see that a central – be it national or European –
database for healthcare records is undesirable, as this facilitates identity fraud, makes it harder to keep
all information up to date, and is more difficult from a privacy perspective.
6. Conclusion and discussion
Identity fraud/theft is easy and very profitable. In both cases discussed above, the dominant chain
problem of identity fraud presents a threat to the relevant chain co-operation that has to be tackled with a
large-scale approach and with person-oriented security procedures and instruments that are indeed able
to prevent identity fraud from happening undetected. Taking into account that this problem exists in many
other domains as well, we conclude that identity fraud is a major threat to our society. The main reason is
that our social systems are not designed to prevent or detect identity fraud. Because committing identity
fraud is not a seriously sanctioned criminal offence, the culprit can effectively evade such unpleasant
consequences as long-term imprisonment. Often, the cost-benefit relationship is in his/her favour.
Moreover, the interests and motivations of the target persons in a chain process vary greatly, depending
on the dominant chain problem. We have seen that only preventive measures can protect against identity
fraud. Our examples illustrate that the chain concept is a powerful tool in understanding how large-scale
public information infrastructures can effectively tackle identity fraud, even on an enormous scale. The
chain perspective and chain analysis have proven useful to uncover hidden aspects of large-scale social
systems and to develop and deploy successful chain information systems geared to the dominant chain
problem at hand. Therefore, we argue that basic, but chain-specific information systems, combined with
random identity verification procedures enable combating identity fraud.
An important contribution of this paper is that we have shown how the chain analysis method (Grijpink,
2010a) is tuned towards the peculiarities of large-scale chain co-operation and the corresponding chain
information infrastructures. The pressure of the dominant chain problem and irrational decision making at
the collective level bring about that simply scaling up the usual authentication procedures and traditional
defence measures working on the individual or organisational level is not good enough. This does not
take into account identity fraud of the type of ‘wrong person’-situations that surreptitiously spread from
chain to chain.
Future research could focus on how identity fraud differs across various social chains. How do the
severity of the consequences, the ease of detection and the available prevention methods differ? We
have already seen in this paper that there are similarities but also great differences between identity fraud
in the context of serving a sentence in a prison cell and receiving medical treatment at a hospital.
Politicians and public managers like to simplify complicated interdependencies between and within largescale
systems and produce simple measures. Our chain research has taught us that this is fruitless in the
real world; we had better deal with the world as it really is. This does not exclude a simple solution, as
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Marijn Plomp and Jan Grijpink
these two examples show. The example of the criminal law enforcement chain also applies to many other
large systems at EU scale. If it proves to be that easy to use other people’s identity under the watchful
guard of the criminal law enforcement officials, we must not delude ourselves about the future of identity
fraud in less well-guarded public information infrastructures, such as employment, education or travel. If,
in the future, we are not able to adequately counteract identity fraud – even, for example, in large-scale
EU co-operation in the fields of identity management and healthcare – governments will ultimately lose
much of their legitimacy.
References
Cohen, M.D., March, J.G. and Olsen, J.P. (1972) "A garbage can model of organizational choice", Administrative
Science Quarterly, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 1-25.
Drogkaris, P., Geneiatakis, D., Gritzalis, S., Lambrinoudakis, C. and Mitrou, L. (2008) "Towards an Enhanced
Authentication Framework for eGovernment Services: The Greek Case", in Ferro, E., Scholl, J. and Wimmer, M.
(Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Electronic Government, pp. 189-196.
Grijpink, J.H.A.M. (1999) "Chain-computerisation for interorganisational public policy implementation: A new
approach to developing non-intrusive information infrastructures", Information Infrastructure and Policy, Vol. 6
No. 2, pp. 81-93.
Grijpink, J.H.A.M. (2010a) "Chain Analysis for Large-scale Communication Systems: A Methodology for Information
Exchange in Chains", Journal of Chain-computerisation, Vol. 1, pp. 1-32.
Grijpink, J.H.A.M. (2010b) "Public information infrastructures and identity fraud", in Van der Hof, S. and Groothuis, M.
(Eds.), Innovating Government: Normative, policy and technological dimensions of modern government, T.M.C.
Asser Press/Springer, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Grijpink, J.H.A.M., Visser, T., Dijkman, J.J. and Plomp, M.G.A. (2010) "Towards an Information Strategy for the
Manic-Depressive Disorder Chain-of-care", Journal of Chain-computerisation, Vol. 1, pp. 1-11.
March, J.G. and Olsen, J.P. (Eds.) (1976) Ambiguity and choice in organisations, Universitetsforlaget, Bergen,
Norway.
Plomp, M.G.A. and Batenburg, R.S. (2010) "Measuring chain digitisation maturity: An assessment of Dutch retail
branches", Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 227-237.
Schäfer, W., Kroneman, M., Boerma, W., Van den Berg, M., Westert, G., Devillé, W. and Van Ginneken, E. (2010)
"The Netherlands: Health system review", Health Systems in Transition, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 1-229.
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458

Approaching the eGovernment as a Strategic Driver for
Improving the Ethical Model: An Empirical Analysis From
Business Economics
Massimo Pollifroni
University of Turin, Italy
pollifroni@econ.unito.it
Abstract: The paper presents a research regarding the effective correlation between innovation (where the
eGovernment processes are included) and ethical behaviour model. The final result applied in European Union
States (approximately the final results is 0,90, as average value for the period of six years 2003-2008) shows us that
is possible to approach the eGovernment as a strategic driver for improving the ethical model shared by the people in
a nation, as well as in a business company or - in general terms - in a community.
Keywords: business economics, eGovernment, ethics, innovation, information system
1. Introduction to the research methodology
The first part of the paper presents the research regarding the effective correlation between two clusters:
innovation and ethical behaviour model : the empirical research studies the European Union States and
covers a six years period (2003-2008). The innovation cluster includes eGovernment processes,
Information Communication Technologies (ICT), Research & Development Expenditure, Education
Investment, (etc.), while the second one (ethical behaviour model) contains elements such as e-
Governance processes, ethical values, the observance of the law, merit rating system, social cohesion,
(etc.). The research of the indicators was carried out by consulting the data sources offered by the
following international bodies: European Commission, Eurostat, Transparency International, World Bank
and Ethical Rating Agencies (Agenzia Europea di Investimenti Standard Ethics). The contribution of this
research has had, as prerequisite, the identification in the current processes for improvement and
development of models of eGovernment (Mofleh et al., 2009), where the crucial role is represented by the
share of the underlying reference model value, measured by ethical parameters. In the model, the issue
of governance (Power, 2010; Spirakis et al., 2010) and their criticality, has been pressing an action that
often, as we have already registered, leading to inefficient results, or in some cases, insufficient demand,
born spontaneously the reasoning above is whether there are other ways in addition to that legislation,
the improvement of these imbalances: the alternative way (followed in this study) was designed to
measure the level of innovation, cluster where the eGovernment processes are located. In a short period
study the eGovernment processes represent a right way to introduce efficiency and effectiveness in the
public sector management and innovation improve the ethical behaviour model; while in a long period
study, it can be argued that there is an exchange on dependence between the two variables: the ethical
behaviour model can improve the innovation level standard, including, therefore, also an optimization of
the processes of eGovernment (Kumar et al., 2007). The first part of the paper presents the research
regarding the effective correlation between two clusters: innovation and ethical behaviour model: the
empirical research studies the European Union countries area and covers a six years period (2003-
2008).
To achieve the above mentioned goal, two baskets of indicators have been identified:
The first basket (basket of innovation indexes) is the Summary Innovation Index (SII), that is an
arithmetic weighted average of 33 innovation indexes (data sources: European Com-
mission/Eurostat);
The second basket (basket of ethical indexes) includes the following seven ethical indexes: 1) AEI
Standard Ethics (data source: Agenzia Europea di Investimenti Standard Ethics); 2) Corruption
Perception Index (CPI) (data source: Transparency International); 3) Control of corruption (data
source: World Bank); 4)Voice and accountability(data source: World Bank); 5) Government
effectiveness (data source: World Bank); 6) Political stability and absence of violence (data source:
World Bank); 7) Regulatory quality (data source: World Bank) and 8) Rule of law (data source: World
Bank).
Each index has presented the following characteristics:
Availability for the period 2003-2008;
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Massimo Pollifroni
Applicability to almost all of the 27 European Union countries;
Representativeness of the country;
Possibility of comparison between them.
1.1 Presentation of the basket of innovation indexes
The basket of innovation indexes includes the Summary Innovation Index (SII), that is an arithmetic
weighted average of 33 innovation indexes (data sources: European Commission/Eurostat). The indicator
is composed of a basket of sub-indicators that vary over time. This composite index measures the
“innovation performance” through three innovation inputs [A1) drivers of innovation, A2) creation of new
knowledge, A3) innovation and entrepreneurship] and two innovation outputs [B1) applications, B2)
intellectual property]: the sub-indicators considered for the purposes of this study have the characteristics
specified below.
A1) Drivers of innovation (7 indexes).
• 0Graduates in science and engineering per 1,000 population (age group 20-29 years) - S & E
graduates (% of population aged 20-29).
• Population with tertiary education in the field (age 25-64) - Population with tertiary education (%
of population aged 25-64).
• Rate of broadband penetration (number of broadband lines per 100 inhabitants) - Broad-band
penetration rate (number of broadband lines per 100 population).
• Participation in a long training period (age 25-64) - Participation in life-long learning (% of
population aged 25-64).
• Level of education achieved at a young age (% of population aged 20-24 years who have
completed university) - Youth education attainment level (% of population aged 20-24 having
completed at least upper secondary education).
• Internet Access or domestic - Level of Internet access of households.
• Share or SMEs with a website - Level of Internet access of enterprises.
A2) Creation of new knowledge (6 indexes).
• Public expenditure on research and development (% of GDP) - Public R & D expenditures (% of
GDP).
• Private expenditure on research and development (% of GDP) - Business R & D expenditures (%
of GDP).
• Share of R & D in medium-high and high technology (% of expenditure in R & D in Industry) -
Share of medium-high-tech and high-tech R & D (% of manufacturing R & D expenditures).
• Proportion of firms that receive public funds for innovation - Share of enterprises receiving public
funding for innovation.
• University R & D financed by the private sector - University R & D expenditures financed by
business sector.
• Share of venture capital investments in High-tech venture capital (% of venture capital invested).
A3) Innovation and entrepreneurship (6 indexes).
• Industrial products and services, created in SMEs (% product and service).
• Proportion of Early-stage venture capital (% of GDP).
• SMEs innovating in cooperation (% product and service).
• Expenditure on innovation - Innovation expenditures (% of turnover).
• ICT expenditure (% GDP) - ICT expenditures (% of GDP).
• Share of SMEs that do not change on a technical level - SMEs using non-technological change
(% of SMEs).
B1) Applications (7 indexes).
• Employees in high-tech services (% of the workforce) - Employment in high - tech services (% of
total workforce).
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• Employed in the production of high-or medium-high technological content (% Labour Force) –
Employment in medium/ high and high - tech manufacturing (% of total work-force).
• Exports of high technology products as a share of total exports.
• Sales of new products (% of sales) - Sales on new market products (% of turnover).
• Sales of new products for the firm, but not new to the market (% of turnover).
• Value-added in high-tech manufacturing (% of manufacturing value-added).
• SMEs Rate of volatility (sum of birth rate and death rate).
B2) Intellectual property (7 indexes).
• European habitants: this indicator brings together the number of high-tech patents validated by
the European Patent Office, with the total population.
• American habitants. (New) USPTO high-tech patents: this indicator is the U.S. equivalent, of the
above described for Europe.
• EPO patents: this indicator brings together the number of patents approved by the European
Patent Office (EPO) with the total population.
• USPTO patents per million Americans: this indicator brings together the number of patents
approved by the U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) with the total population.
• New Triadic patent families per million population: this indicator brings together the number of
patents of the “triad”, with the total population. A patent is the triad if and only if it was lodged with
the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) and the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO).
• Number new domestic community trademarks (CTM) per million population.
• Number of (new) domestic community industrial designs per million population.
1.2 Presentation of the basket of ethical indexes
The second basket (basket of ethical indexes) includes the following seven ethical indexes: 1) AEI
Standard Ethics (data source: Agenzia Europea di Investimenti Standard Ethics); 2) Corruption
Perception Index (CPI) (data source: Transparency International); 3) Control of corruption (data source:
World Bank); 4)Voice and accountability(data source: World Bank); 5) Government effectiveness (data
source: World Bank); 6) Political stability and absence of violence (data source: World Bank); 7)
Regulatory quality (data source: World Bank) and 8) Rule of law (data source: World Bank).
AEI Standard Ethics (data source: Agenzia Europea di Investimenti Standard Ethics). Evaluations in
terms of ethical Rating (national or regional) have as a reference the concept of Ethics and Social
Responsibility issued according to parameters set by international bodies like the UN, OECD and the
European Union. The final evaluations of the EEA Ethics Standards are expressed in the form of a rating
to eight levels (EEE, EEE-, EE+, EE, EE-, E+, E, E-). The rating is the result of statistical and scientific
activity carried out with the intention of photographing the world of business in relation to ethical
principles promoted by large international organizations.
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) (data source: Transparency International). The index of perceptions of
corruption in English Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is an indicator published annually since 1995 by
Transparency International ordering the countries of the world on the basis of the level that the existence
of corruption is perceived among public and political office.
Control of corruption (data source: World Bank). The indicator provided by the World Bank measures the
ability of the political, legal and judicial systems to prevent and combat corruption.
Voice and accountability(data source: World Bank). This index provided by the World Bank measures the
degree of civil liberties and political rights and influence of the effective population in the election of
political leaders, so far, to the level of independence of the media from political pressure.
Government effectiveness (data source: World Bank). The indicator published by the World Bank that
measures the quality of public services, the credibility of the Government on the measures to be
implemented, the quality of the bureaucracy and the independence of civil servants from political
pressure.
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Massimo Pollifroni
Political stability and absence of violence (data source: World Bank). The index published by the World
Bank, which measures the perceptions of the likelihood that destabilize the government or be removed by
unconstitutional or violent means, including domestic violence and terrorism.
Regulatory quality (data source: World Bank). Indicator published by the World Bank, which measures
the ability of the government to formulating and implementing policies that can enable and promote the
development of the private sector.
Rule of law (data source: World Bank). Indicator published by the World Bank, which captures
perceptions of the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society, and in
particular the quality of contract enforcement, property rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the
likelihood of crime and violence.
2. Standardization original data
In order to compare these indexes, their values have been standardized, and traced back to a single
scale in terms of cents: the process used is explained below.
Innovation Indicators. Summary Innovation Index (SII) (data sources: European Commission/Eurostat).
Summary Innovation Index standardization was obtained by multiplying by 100 the original data,
according to the following proportion: Since the original: Given standardized (x) = 1:100.
Ethics Indicators.
AEI Standard Ethics (data source: Agenzia Europea di Investimenti Standard Ethics). Cents in the
conversion of this quality indicator is obtained through the following conversion scale: EEE=100; EEE-=
85.71428571; EE + =71.42857143; EE=57.14285714; EE-=42.85714286; E +=28.57142857;
E=14.28571429 and E-=0.
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) (data source: Transparency International). The indicator in question is
represented by a scale from 0 to 10, its conversion into cents was realized through the following
proportion: since the original: Given standardized (x) = 10:100. Control of corruption, Voice and
accountability, Government effectiveness, Political stability and Absence of Violence, Regulatory quality
and Rule of Law (data source: World Bank). The six indicators of the World Bank are expressed on a
scale whose values range from -2.5 to +2.5. Cents in the conversion has been obtained through the
following conversion scale: since normalized (x) = (as original + 2.5) * 20.
For achieving the aim and the scope of the research, the calculation of the correlation was obtained by
the following indicators:
The independent variable “Innovation”: the indicator is calculated as a result of several sub-indicators
and corresponds to the Summary Innovation Index;
The dependent variable “Ethics”: the data used is the value that results from the average of the
basket composed of the seven indicators described above;
The values that derives from the process of normalization of the original data bases.
In the following pages the research presents the tables “Calculation of correlation between “Innovation”
(x) and “Ethics” (y), Years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008” (see Tables: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6):
once completed these Tables the correlation index has been calculated, separately for each year, using
the Pearson index model.
Table 1: Correlation between “innovation” (x) and “ethics” (y) – year: 2003
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx) 2 (y – my) 2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Austria 47 82,19 8,48 10,11 71,91 102,21 85,73
Belgium 51 76,69 12,48 4,61 155,75 21,25 57,53
Bulgaria 20 50,91 -18,52 -21,17 342,99 448,17 392,07
Cyprus 29 67,77 -9,52 -4,31 90,63 18,58 41,03
Denmark 68 89,40 29,48 17,32 869,07 299,98 510,59
Estonia 35 68,60 -3,52 -3,48 12,39 12,11 12,25
Finland 69 89,46 30,48 17,38 929,03 302,06 529,74
France 48 74,94 9,48 2,86 89,87 8,18 27,11
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Germany 59 79,79 20,48 7,71 419,43 59,44 157,90
Greece 26 63,80 -12,52 -8,28 156,75 68,56 103,67
Ireland 50 79,89 11,48 7,81 131,79 61,00 89,66
Italy 32 65,28 -6,52 -6,80 42,51 46,24 44,34
Leetonia 16 61,34 -22,52 -10,74 507,15 115,35 241,86
Latvia 23 63,89 -15,52 -8,19 240,87 67,08 127,11
Luxemburg 50 84,65 11,48 12,57 131,79 158,00 144,30
Malta 27 76,37 -11,52 4,29 132,71 18,40 -49,42
Netherlands 50 84,96 11,48 12,88 131,79 165,89 147,86
Poland 21 58,72 -17,52 -13,36 306,95 178,49 234,07
Portugal 21 73,48 -17,52 1,40 306,95 1,96 -24,53
United Kingdom 57 82,04 18,48 9,96 341,51 99,20 184,06
Czech Republic 32 63,90 -6,52 -8,18 42,51 66,91 53,33
Romania 16 45,91 -22,52 -26,17 507,15 684,87 589,35
Slovakia 23 59,84 -15,52 -12,24 240,87 149,82 189,96
Slovenia 32 68,49 -6,52 -3,59 42,51 12,89 23,41
Spain 32 75,34 -6,52 3,26 42,51 10,63 -21,26
Sweden 82 88,83 43,48 16,75 1890,51 280,56 728,29
Hungary 24 66,60 -14,52 -5,48 210,83 30,03 79,57
European Average 38,52 72,08 === === 310,69 129,18 174,06
Correlation Index 0,87
Table 2: Correlation between “innovation” (x) and “ethics” (y) – year: 2004
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx) 2 (y – my) 2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Austria 46 82,79 7,63 11,09 58,22 122,99 84,62
Belgium 49 78,66 10,63 6,96 113,00 48,44 73,98
Bulgaria 21 51,63 -17,37 -20,07 301,72 402,80 348,62
Cyprus 29 65,63 -9,37 -6,07 87,80 36,84 56,88
Denmark 66 90 27,63 18,3 763,42 334,89 505,63
Estonia 34 69,37 -4,37 -2,33 19,10 5,43 10,18
Finland 68 89,59 29,63 17,89 877,94 320,05 530,08
France 48 75,74 9,63 4,04 92,74 16,32 38,91
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx) 2 (y – my) 2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Germany 59 80,16 20,63 8,46 425,60 71,57 174,53
Greece 26 63,4 -12,37 -8,3 153,02 68,89 102,67
Ireland 49 79,69 10,63 7,99 113,00 63,84 84,93
Italy 33 63,53 -5,37 -8,17 28,84 66,75 43,87
Leetonia 16 60,26 -22,37 -11,44 500,42 130,87 255,91
Latvia 24 63,03 -14,37 -8,67 206,50 75,17 124,59
Luxemburg 50 84,75 11,63 13,05 135,26 170,30 151,77
Malta 27 74,2 -11,37 2,5 129,28 6,25 -28,43
Netherlands 49 84,91 10,63 13,21 113,00 174,50 140,42
Poland 21 56,72 -17,37 -14,98 301,72 224,40 260,20
Portugal 24 72 -14,37 0,3 206,50 0,09 -4,31
United Kingdom 57 82,36 18,63 10,66 347,08 113,64 198,60
Czech Republic 33 62,93 -5,37 -8,77 28,84 76,91 47,09
Romania 15 46,51 -23,37 -25,19 546,16 634,54 588,69
Slovakia 22 60,59 -16,37 -11,11 267,98 123,43 181,87
Slovenia 34 68,29 -4,37 -3,41 19,10 11,63 14,90
Spain 31 74,19 -7,37 2,49 54,32 6,20 -18,35
Sweden 80 88,8 41,63 17,1 1733,06 292,41 711,87
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Hungary 25 66,15 -13,37 -5,55 178,76 30,80 74,20
European Average 38,37 71,70 === === 288,97 134,44 176,07
Correlation Index 0,89
Table 3: Correlation between “innovation” (x) and “ethics” (y) – year: 2005
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx) 2 (y – my) 2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Austria 48 82,61 9,44 11,64 89,11 135,49 109,88
Belgium 49 77,39 10,44 6,42 108,99 41,22 67,02
Bulgaria 20 51,38 -18,56 -19,59 344,47 383,77 363,59
Cyprus 30 66,17 -8,56 -4,8 73,27 23,04 41,09
Denmark 65 88,88 26,44 17,91 699,07 320,77 473,54
Estonia 35 69,03 -3,56 -1,94 12,67 3,76 6,91
Finland 65 88,86 26,44 17,89 699,07 320,05 473,01
France 48 75,69 9,44 4,72 89,11 22,28 44,56
Germany 59 80,64 20,44 9,67 417,79 93,51 197,65
Greece 26 62,23 -12,56 -8,74 157,75 76,39 109,77
Ireland 50 80,59 11,44 9,62 130,87 92,54 110,05
Italy 33 60,12 -5,56 -10,85 30,91 117,72 60,33
Leetonia 17 60,6 -21,56 -10,37 464,83 107,54 223,58
Latvia 24 62,89 -14,56 -8,08 211,99 65,29 117,64
Luxemburg 53 83,3 14,44 12,33 208,51 152,03 178,05
Malta 28 72,63 -10,56 1,66 111,51 2,76 -17,53
Netherlands 49 83,69 10,44 12,72 108,99 161,80 132,80
Poland 22 55,01 -16,56 -15,96 274,23 254,72 264,30
Portugal 23 71,63 -15,56 0,66 242,11 0,44 -10,27
United Kingdom 56 80,39 17,44 9,42 304,15 88,74 164,28
Czech Republic 33 62,37 -5,56 -8,6 30,91 73,96 47,82
Romania 16 46,86 -22,56 -24,11 508,95 581,29 543,92
Slovakia 23 61,51 -15,56 -9,46 242,11 89,49 147,20
Slovenia 34 67,37 -4,56 -3,6 20,79 12,96 16,42
Spain 32 73,39 -6,56 2,42 43,03 5,86 -15,88
Sweden 78 86,93 39,44 15,96 1555,51 254,72 629,46
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx) 2 (y – my) 2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Hungary 25 63,97 -13,56 -7 183,87 49,00 94,92
European Average 38,56 70,97 === === 272,77 130,78 169,41
Correlation Index 0,90
Table 4: Correlation between “innovation” (x) and “ethics” (y) – year: 2006
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx) 2 (y – my) 2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Austria 48 82,84 8,85 11,76 78,32 138,30 104,08
Belgium 48 77,69 8,85 6,61 78,32 43,69 58,50
Bulgaria 22 51,36 -17,15 -19,72 294,12 388,88 338,20
Cyprus 32 67,54 -7,15 -3,54 51,12 12,53 25,31
Denmark 64 89,33 24,85 18,25 617,52 333,06 453,51
Estonia 37 70,46 -2,15 -0,62 4,62 0,38 1,33
Finland 67 88,84 27,85 17,76 775,62 315,42 494,62
France 48 75,19 8,85 4,11 78,32 16,89 36,37
Germany 59 80,79 19,85 9,71 394,02 94,28 192,74
Greece 25 61,93 -14,15 -9,15 200,22 83,72 129,47
Ireland 49 80,74 9,85 9,66 97,02 93,32 95,15
Italy 33 62,26 -6,15 -8,82 37,82 77,79 54,24
Leetonia 18 62,11 -21,15 -8,97 447,32 80,46 189,72
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Latvia 26 61,97 -13,15 -9,11 172,92 82,99 119,80
Luxemburg 57 79,53 17,85 8,45 318,62 71,40 150,83
Malta 29 73,51 -10,15 2,43 103,02 5,90 -24,66
Netherlands 48 83,41 8,85 12,33 78,32 152,03 109,12
Poland 23 54,38 -16,15 -16,7 260,82 278,89 269,71
Portugal 25 69,85 -14,15 -1,23 200,22 1,51 17,40
United Kingdom 55 82,29 15,85 11,21 251,22 125,66 177,68
Czech Republic 34 63,14 -5,15 -7,94 26,52 63,04 40,89
Romania 17 48,33 -22,15 -22,75 490,62 517,56 503,91
Slovakia 24 61,13 -15,15 -9,95 229,52 99,00 150,74
Slovenia 36 68,51 -3,15 -2,57 9,92 6,60 8,10
Spain 32 70,41 -7,15 -0,67 51,12 0,45 4,79
Sweden 76 87,23 36,85 16,15 1357,92 260,82 595,13
Hungary 25 64,27 -14,15 -6,81 200,22 46,38 96,36
European Average 39,15 71,08 === === 255,76 125,59 162,71
Correlation Index 0,91
Table 5: Correlation between “innovation” (x) and “ethics” (y) – year: 2007
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx)2 (y – my)2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Austria 48,00 83,04 9,00 11,82 81,00 139,71 106,38
Belgium 47,00 77,56 8,00 6,34 64,00 40,20 50,72
Bulgaria 23,00 51,53 -16,00 -19,69 256,00 387,70 315,04
Cyprus 33,00 67,49 -6,00 -3,73 36,00 13,91 22,38
Denmark 61,00 89,53 22,00 18,31 484,00 335,26 402,82
Estonia 37,00 70,31 -2,00 -0,91 4,00 0,83 1,82
Finland 64,00 87,49 25,00 16,27 625,00 264,71 406,75
France 47,00 74,59 8,00 3,37 64,00 11,36 26,96
Germany 59,00 80,64 20,00 9,42 400,00 88,74 188,4
Greece 26,00 61,45 -13,00 -9,77 169,00 95,45 127,01
Ireland 49,00 81,49 10,00 10,27 100,00 105,47 102,7
Italy 33,00 60,04 -6,00 -11,18 36,00 124,99 67,08
Leetonia 19,00 59,11 -20,00 -12,11 400,00 146,65 242,2
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx)2 (y – my)2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Latvia 27,00 62 -12,00 -9,22 144,00 85,01 110,64
Luxemburg 53,00 84,13 14,00 12,91 196,00 166,67 180,74
Malta 29,00 73,49 -10,00 2,27 100,00 5,15 -22,7
Netherlands 48,00 84,29 9,00 13,07 81,00 170,82 117,63
Poland 24,00 59 -15,00 -12,22 225,00 149,33 183,3
Portugal 25,00 69,65 -14,00 -1,57 196,00 2,46 21,98
United Kingdom 57,00 81,59 18,00 10,37 324,00 107,54 186,66
Czech Republic 36,00 63,09 -3,00 -8,13 9,00 66,10 24,39
Romania 18,00 49,21 -21,00 -22,01 441,00 484,44 462,21
Slovakia 25,00 61,52 -14,00 -9,7 196,00 94,09 135,8
Slovenia 35,00 68,6 -4,00 -2,62 16,00 6,86 10,48
Spain 31,00 70,31 -8,00 -0,91 64,00 0,83 7,28
Sweden 73,00 88,45 34,00 17,23 1156,00 296,87 585,82
Hungary 26,00 63,29 -13,00 -7,93 169,00 62,88 103,09
European Average 39,00 71,22 === === 223,56 127,93 154,35
Correlation Index 0,91
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Massimo Pollifroni
Table 6: Correlation between “innovation” (x) and “ethics” (y) – year: 2008
Nations x y (x – mx) (y – my) (x – mx)2 (y – my)2 (x – mx)*(y – my)
Austria 53 82,71 10,33 11,83 106,78 140,04 122,28
Belgium 51 76,21 8,33 5,33 69,44 28,45 44,45
Bulgaria 22 51,23 -20,67 -19,65 427,11 386,02 406,05
Cyprus 47 67,03 4,33 -3,85 18,78 14,80 -16,67
Denmark 57 88,57 14,33 17,69 205,44 312,99 253,58
Estonia 45 69,20 2,33 -1,68 5,44 2,82 -3,92
Finland 61 85,70 18,33 14,82 336,11 219,67 271,73
France 50 75,07 7,33 4,19 53,78 17,58 30,75
Germany 58 80,10 15,33 9,22 235,11 85,03 141,40
Greece 36 60,26 -6,67 -10,62 44,44 112,75 70,79
Ireland 53 81,36 10,33 10,48 106,78 109,80 108,28
Italy 35 58,85 -7,67 -12,03 58,78 144,76 92,24
Leetonia 24 60,60 -18,67 -10,28 348,44 105,68 191,89
Latvia 29 61,13 -13,67 -9,75 186,78 95,00 133,20
Luxemburg 52 81,78 9,33 10,90 87,05 118,72 101,66
Malta 33 71,17 -9,67 0,29 93,51 0,08 -2,77
Netherlands 48 84,33 5,33 13,45 28,41 180,90 71,69
Poland 30 61,86 -12,67 -9,02 160,53 81,33 114,27
Portugal 36 70,32 -6,67 -0,56 44,49 0,32 3,74
United Kingdom 55 79,50 12,33 8,62 152,03 74,33 106,30
Czech Republic 40 64,11 -2,67 -6,77 7,13 45,89 18,09
Romania 28 50,44 -14,67 -20,44 215,21 417,91 299,90
Slovakia 31 62,85 -11,67 -8,03 136,19 64,50 93,73
Slovenia 45 69,30 2,33 -1,58 5,43 2,50 -3,68
Spain 37 69,42 -5,67 -1,46 32,15 2,14 8,30
Sweden 64 87,77 21,33 16,89 454,97 285,32 360,29
Hungary 32 62,76 -10,67 -8,12 113,85 65,89 86,61
European Average 42,67 70,88 === === 138,30 115,38 114,97
Correlation Index 0,91
3. Research results and final conclusions
The aim and the scope of this research has been to investigate - by a Business Economics approach -
the potential correlation between two clusters (or variables): innovation and ethical behaviours related to
the life standards in a country or inside a public institution. The first cluster (innovation) includes
Information Communication Technologies (ICT), Research & Development Expenditure, Education
Investment, (etc.); while the second one (ethical behaviours) contains elements such as ethical values,
the observance of the law, education, meritocracy, (etc.) (Barzelay, 2000).
In the public sector management it is necessary to introduce the related concepts of eGovernment and egovernance
(or e-democracy) to improve the ethical model by innovation (Northrop, 2002). The concept
of eGovernment (or e-administration) is referred to the use of modern Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) linked to the development of electronics and the Internet in the modernization
process of the Public Administration (Rahm, 1999; Hood, 1983). The different processes of eGovernment
may be analyzed with reference to the various models, that the Public Institution may adopt during the
modernization process of the structure (Layne et al., 2001; Reschenthaler et al., 1996). The development
of the eGovernment processes (conditioning processes or causes) determines an improvement in the
governance processes of the Public Institution that – using highly technological solutions – now called egovernance
processes (conditioned processes or effects) (United Nations, 2008). Consequently, the egovernance
is the second aspect of technological innovation applied to Public Administration processes
(Kettl, 2000; Aucoin, 1990): that is to say the possibilities to improve of the democratic participation
processes offered by the new technologies (Milward et al., 1996; Pollifroni, 2003). In recent years, in
addition to the implementation and development of technological innovation, it has been developed a
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Massimo Pollifroni
parallel process of attention to ethics, as a related discipline (Landsbergen et al., 2001); some studies
have sought to show how innovation is able to influence the ethical behaviour (Osborne et al., 1992).
With reference to the EU Countries Area in the following pages the paper has tried to achieve this goal:
measuring the possible correlation between the indicators that consider the level of innovation
(independent variable) and ethical behaviours (dependent variable).
The contribution of this research has had, as prerequisite, the identification in the current process of
improvement and development of governance models of the crucial role of the underlying share
represented by the reference model of values, measured by ethical parameters (Freeman, 1984).
Looking at the Italian model the governance of the public institutions has been the subject of several
actions that have often led to inefficient and inadequate results (the same problem concerns the private
business sector): the question then arises spontaneously from the reasoning outlined here and if there
are other ways, in addition to legislation, for the improvement of these imbalances: the alternative way
followed in the present study was aimed at measuring the level of innovation.
The final part of the paper is dedicated to comment the research result that shows the several actions of
eGovernment processes. According to the empirical evidence outlined above it was possible to measure
a significant positive correlation (ranging between 0.87 and 0.91, for the six years 2003-2008) between
the values and ethical behaviour, and implementation of variable “innovation” of a Country. The results of
the research have shown that in countries where the economy is more oriented to innovative practices
(such as, for example, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) it is possible to find the highest ethical standards.
These results lead us to theorize new profiles of analysis applicable to the concept of innovation (Chung,
2002; Carter et al., 2004), such as, e.g.:
The profile of innovation financing, which should be systematic, stable and continuous (strategic view
of the resource in the long term) (Kim et al., 1994),
System making (synergy in knowledge management, for example, between enterprises located in the
same economic sector or between subjects located both in the public sector and the private one)
(Rocheleau et al., 2002; Bajjaly, 1998).
So it is possible to say that implementing innovation (defined above), may represent a right way for the
growth of the ethical shared model; environmental sustainability and social responsibility (McWilliams et
al. 2001; Orlitzky et al., 2011) are the areas of contact between the two variables considered and the
corporate durability depends on them: innovation and ethics are thus highly correlated to each other,
forming at the same time, essential “driver” for the durability of the public institution also oriented to
environmental sustainability and social responsibility (Grimsley et al., 2008). The research results could
shows the biphasic action of eGovernment processes (Chourabi et al., 2009): these processes represent
a right way to introduce efficiency and effectiveness in the public sector management (Heeks, 1999;
Moon et al., 2005) and eGovernment applications can have a useful effect on the ethical shared
behaviours, such as tax evasion control, observance of the law, reengineering a public merit rating
system, (etc.). It is also possible to observe various roles for eGovernment in addressing the ongoing
world financial and economic crisis (United Nation, 2010). The United Nation eGovernment Survey 2010 -
above mentioned - explains that: “(…) the ability of eGovernment to handle speed and complexity can
also underpin regulatory reform. While technology is no substitute for good policy, it may give citizens the
power to question the actions of regulators and bring systemic issues to the fore. Similarly, eGovernment
can add agility to public service delivery to help governments respond to an expanded set of demands
even as revenues fall short (…)”.
In conclusion, following a Business Economic approach, the research result (the value of the correlation
detected) shows us that it is possible to state that the implementation of the component of innovation (a
cluster that includes Information Communication Technologies, Research & Development Expenditure,
Education Investment, etc.) is one way to improve the ethical model shared by the people in a nation, as
well as in a business company or - in general terms - in a community: on the other hand, the processes of
eGovernment (included inside the innovation cluster) are also a strategic tool to contrast the present
crisis, as the United Nation report (mentioned above) has explained us.
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468

Public Procurement and Internet-purchasing: the Defence
Sector Evidence
Nataša Pomazalová and Zbyšek Korecki
University of Defence, Brno, Czech Republic
natasa.pomazalova@unob.cz
zbysek.korecki@unob.cz
Abstract: The defence sector uses both centralized and decentralized platforms for the acquisition and purchase of
supplies, materials and services. The decentralised platform is eCommerce where the basic evaluation criterion for
public tenders is the lowest price offered. The purpose of this research is to analyse purchase price variability of
selected property in the observed years. The comparison of purchase of different property arrangements differs due
to the material, the purchase amount, and other exogenous and endogenous factors. We found that the purchase
price variability for materials for general use was over 11%. The purchase price variability for military transport and
support services was lower than 10%. The achieved annual purchase prices of material for general use in observed
years 2006 – 2009 were different.
Keywords: eCommerce, price variability, property arrangements, defence sector
1. Introduction
Public procurement by Internet-purchasing is one of the more important governmental logistics activities.
These activities have impact on decision making by citizens and companies. The task to purchase goods
and services of high quality, with on-time delivery, at a low purchase price, and in accordance with public
procurement law is a crucial eGovernment application accomplishment. ECommerce usage is also one of
the possible solutions for improvement of public comprehension of government procurement as
ECommerce procurement technology supports transparency and non-discrimination for commercial
users.
In the governmental sector of the Czech Republic, ECommerce usage was straightforwardly suggested in
the Ministry of Defence (MoD), during the transformation processes of its acquisition system (2001 to
2003). Barriers in the area of public procurement were identified and analyzed. It was determined that
public procurement in the defence sector was not managed well enough to achieve the principles of
effectiveness, efficiency, and economy (3E). It was also recognised that it was very difficult to complete
and review information on public procurement at decentralized point. Other principles of public
procurement were recognised as limited or at risk (transparency, discrimination, corruption during
competition, etc.). Other aspects of the problem were based on organizational structure; complexity of
procurement operations, processes and management; especially control system and formal control
instruments, and also administrational supervision of written guidelines.
This case has been important for policy decisions in the defence sector in the Czech Republic. An
eCommerce instrument for automated purchasing – the Electronic Support System of Purchasing (ESSP)
-- has been implemented in the defence sector to achieve the lowest prices, best quality and best time of
delivery of material goods and services in accordance with 3E principles and also for better
communication with companies offering products and services. ESSP is also designed to provide for
transparent purchasing of property and services purchase (in the defined scope) within anti-corruption
policy framework, and abolition of discrimination barriers. Legally, when ESSP is used as a decentralised
platform for e-public procurement, the total amount of financial liability shall not exceed 2mil. Czech
crowns (CZK) without value added tax. This tool was recently used in the defence department condition
according to governmental tasks for support of e-public procurement (Government of the Czech
Republic, 2006). ESSP selects the Czech military is continuing to learn from the private sector to
automate and modernize military logistics. ESSP selects offers according to automatic evaluation
procedure based on defined major purchase criteria for each responsible organizational part of MoD and
Armed forces of the Czech Republic (ACR). However ESSP has some limitations on the side of
exogenous and endogenous factors. ESSP remains a developing area with a critical sense for
innovation.
2. Literature review
Zott et al. (2000) regarded the year 1999 as one of explosive growth and expansion of eCommerce in
Europe which continued into the year 2000 despite worldwide high volatility in tech stocks. Global
469

Nataša Pomazalová and Zbyšek Korecki
eCommerce is based on structural conditions, which vary from country to country and even within country
(Marcus and Soh, 2002). Global eCommerce activity is strongly formed by structural conditions –
physical, social, and economic and also dimensions of national culture (Nakayama, 2009). The public
and governmental sector has adopted, or modified as required, purchasing tools, new business
marketing paradigms and marketing methods for purchasing, supported with usage of new information
and communication technologies (eCommerce, e-marketplace, business to business, business to
customer etc.) from the private sector.
According to Stemberger and Jaklic (2007) e-business is enormously important in the private sector for
business and business relationships and relationships with customers. ECommerce is regarded as
a revolution that has transformed the structure of business and the mechanisms of economic systems.
Hence at al. (2004) conducted research on price competition and strategic behaviours in eCommerce. It
is also a new approach in governmental organizations as instrument with another function compare with
business. In government specific conditions, this electronic instrument and related processes are referred
to as eGovernment. It is possible to find many explanations of eGovernment. Some definitions of
eGovernment note the technology for enhancing the access to and delivery of governmental information
and services to citizens, businesses, government employees, and other agencies (Hernon at al., 2002).
Usual use of eGovernment is conducted in combinations of political reforms and organisational changes
to enact, support and drive profound transformations in the organisation of the public sector (Cordella and
Iannacci, 2010). Governmental sector use the purchasing tools for the procurement of services and
material goods for achieving effectiveness, efficiency and economy (3E). The e-procurement as
commercial practice adopted from the private sector may provide cost-saving opportunities to both
suppliers and the government (Erridge et al., 2001).
The problems of the implementation of the new technologies for public purchasing are recognised and
analysed in different public procurement literature from the points of view of public procurement process,
e-procurement, managing public procurement processes, impacts of eCommerce usage to the
organizational structures, and managing information and knowledge etc. (Vaidyanathan and Devaraj,
2008). Hence, eCommerce technology can be defined as a technology that allows business transactions
based on processing and transmission of digital data on the Internet, in contrast to the traditional
business technology, the logistics of which are based on the physical environment (Dinlersoz and
Pereira, 2006). Corbitt et al. (2003) explored the Internet which has become an essential business
marketing paradigm related to the development of platform for trading, distributing and selling products
between organisations, among organisations and consumers, and even between consumers where trust
and trustworthiness play the key role. In their survey the trust relationship was established as the centre
of technical systems of eCommerce. Trust is a centre and is fundamental for business relationships
factors and for relationships between citizens and public organizations. Gunasekarana et al. (2002)
focused on eCommerce as popular topic in the mass media and in informatics circles as well and argued
that eCommerce is an emerging area that encompasses processes directly and indirectly related to the
buying, selling and trading of products, services and information via computer networks – including the
Internet (Oxley and Yeung, 2001).
E-procurement has been viewed as an opportunity for efficiency in the governmental sector. Business-togovernment
e-procurement, in the framework of eGovernment is understood as an instrument for cost
reduction and has been developed due to the concentration on qualitative higher level of connections of
government with the civilians and the companies (Towns, 2001). Hardy and Williams (2008) highlighted
the information technology use to achieve better information, value for money, efficiencies, and maximize
procurement effectiveness with respect to public and private sector. The goals of this usage in the case
of public procurement are given by special needs of public and also defence sector and there are
differences to private sector because of its focus on value, competitiveness, and accountability, it differs
because of its social welfare implications (Panayiotou, Gayialis and Tatsiopoulos, 2004). Shu-Hsien at al.
(2003) found implementing of eCommerce into the procedures of military organizations for electronic
procurement and analysed benefits of e-procurement procedure for military organizations, diagnosing
and preventing procurement faults for achieving procurement efficiency.
The common further question of eCommerce in the defence sector is adapted, refined and built up nonconventional
reliable approaches to the quality measurement of procurement processes and awareness
evaluation of these processes, sharing complex knowledge and knowledge networks in according to the
knowledge paradigm shifts.
470

3. Research approach
Nataša Pomazalová and Zbyšek Korecki
The purpose of this paper is to analyze variability of purchase price of property arrangements (PA).
Purchase prices of different PA have been based on ESSP. In all researched cases has been the lowest
offered price as the major purchase criterion according to law order for public procurement and internal
orders of defence sector.
In this research was used the statistical analysis of average year purchase prices of goods from two
different PA with different coding. Military transport and support technique are coded PA 2.3 and for
analyse were selected two different types of detector tubes and special filter were selected and purchase
prices of these goods were observed. Material for general use are coded PA 4.1 and in this sample here
are flag, battery and drill.
For study has been conducted comparison of two samples of different types of goods coded as PU 2.3
and PU 4.1 to each other and the mean of prices in sample was also compared year to year. The sample
number of observation for each coded observed PA was year to year as an annual means of prices and
the sample was n=11 for each year. For the research were conducted t- tests and for multiple
comparisons were used methods, such as Bonferron and F-test. Degrees of freedom (d.f. 22) and
significance level (α = 0.05), Bonferron significance level is in our case 0.0125. Purchase prices of both
chosen PA 2.3 and 4.1 were observed for each year 2006 – 2009. Data were collected in Distribution
Centre in Pardubice. The measuring of purchase prices variability was based on available annual means
of purchase prices of PA 2.3 and PA 4.1 were achieved via use of ESSP.
For two sample t-test were measured average purchase prices of PA 2.3 in year 2006 for clarification,
that average purchase prices of PA 2.3 are not otherwise in years 2007– 2009. In this study was
expected, that the average purchase prices (means) are equal cause of usage of automatic instrument
ESSP and the major criterion of the lowest offered price. The same procedure was used for average
purchase prices of PA 4.1.
For the case of PA 2.3: The null hypothesis H0: Considered annual purchase prices of PA 2.3 from
observed in each year 2006 – 2009 are similar. Alternative hypothesis HA: Considered annual purchase
prices of PA 2.3 from observed in each year 2006 – 2009 are different.
For the case of PA 4.1: The null hypothesis H0: Considered annual purchase prices of PA 4.1 from
observed in each year 2006 – 2009 are similar. Alternative hypothesis HA: Considered annual purchase
prices of PA 4.1 from observed in each year 2006 – 2009 are different.
According to limitations of this research on purchase price variability, here was not analysed on findings
depending of purchase prices on the types of specifications, types of commercial subjects, socioeconomic
circumstances and also crisis management and security in electronic environment (Nečas at
al., 2006).
4. Results and findings
The results of purchase price variability analysis are presented in Table 1 using year-on-year data. The
coefficient of variation of PA 2.3 is up to 10%, comparing PA 4.1, where is coefficient of variation 12% -
70%. These findings show that the variability of purchased price of the PA 2.3 observations is
concentrated around its mean. Goods contented in PA 4.1, however, scattered at a considerable distance
from the mean. It may be expected for purchase prices of PA 2.3, here is less competitiveness between
offered gaps of firms required goods. Hence, here are some specifics of this material, hygienic conditions
etc. PA 2.3 is used in specifics conditions and quantity of purchased peaces is smaller than usage of PA
4.1.
For test of PA 2.3 in years 2006 and 2007 is t (22) = 0.96, p-value = 0.345 and F(11,11) = 0.46, p-value =
0.208. The p-value for this test is over α = 0.05 and Bonferron significance level 0.0125. for years 2006
and 2008 is t (22) = 1.38, p-value = 0.182, F(11,11) = 0.46, p-value = 0.228 and for years 2006 and 2009
is t (22) = 1.23, p-value = 0.231 and F(11,11) = 1.65, p-value = 0.420 The p-value for these tests is over
0.18 as a result with 95% confidence that the effect was not found to be statistically significant, thus the
null hypothesis is not rejected.
471

Nataša Pomazalová and Zbyšek Korecki
Table 1: Purchase price variability of PA 2.3 and PA 4.1
PA code and types
PA 2.3
Average
pcs./CZK 2006-
2009
Range
pcs./CZK
Variance
pcs./CZK S. d. pcs./CZK
Detector tube I 63.73 3.25 0.81 0.90 1.47
Detector tube II 53.87 42.80 10.70 3.27 6.07
Filter 2123.28 36120.49 9030.12 95.03 4.48
PA 4.1
Flag 613.33 741884.55 185471.14 430.66 70.22
Drill 4,98 1.35 0.34 0.58 11.67
Accumulator 4,95 0.49 0.12 0.89 17.98
Coefficient
of variation %
The case of PA 4.1, where for observed years 2006 and 2007 is t (22) = 5.32, p-value = 0.000, the
statistics are F(11,11) = 22.68. The statistic is significant (p-value = 0.000). For years 2006 and 2008 is t
(22) = 6.07, p-value = 0.000, F(11,11) = 485.72, p-value = 0.000 which is less than the critical value
corresponding to α = 0.05 and Bonferron significance level 0.0125. The latter test, hence years 2006 and
2009 is t (22) = 5.91, p-value = 0.000 and F(11,11) = 203.16, p-value = 0.000 for this test. Thus, the
conclusion with 95% confidence is that the effect was not found to be statistically significant and the null
hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is supported.
From the results of this analysis, it seems to purchase price levels vary according to kind and especially
specification and purchased quantity of PA through ESSP – the null hypothesis for PA 2.3 is not rejected
and for PA 4.1 is the alternative hypothesis supported as well. However, analysis has some limitations.
Hence, limitations of this study cannot identify a set of endogenous and exogenous variables affected
purchase price variability of PA 2.3 and PA 4.1.
5. Discussion
The need of usage ESSP tool is based on transformational processes in the Czech defence sector.
Development of ESSP is also used for transmission of information from defence department to
commercial users. Here is evidence that use of eGovernment is conducted in combinations of political
reforms and transformation and processes changes in the organisation of the public sector (Cordella and
Iannacci, 2010). Changes in ESSP use are based on new development on logistics support procedures
and information technology improvement.
MoD performs a methodical and legal assistance for military units in order to realization of e-public
procurement. Usage of ESSP may perform professional activity in/out defence sector with many
companies as well. ESSP is also tool for managing logistic support of ACR units on the Czech territory
and missions abroad. The logistic support is realized in this case from the Czech Republic to National
Support Elements. The responsible body for purchase conduct is the logistics division of the General
Staff on strategic level and Support Command Headquarters on the operational level. The logistics group
manages purchasing via eCommerce on the tactical level.
This study has presented average purchase price variability of different property arrangements (PA 2.3
and PA 4.1) through analysis. These prices are based on usage of automatic instrument ESSP as
instrument of eCommerce used in the defence sector; in this case it is MoD of the Czech Republic.
ECommerce could be understood as a toll of eGovernment (Hernon at al., 2002) and may support
achieving governmental goals. Through ESSP commercial subjects offer their products or services which
are required by organizational parts of MoD and units of ACR both on the Czech territory and in abroad in
the conditions of foreign operation. The e-procurement is discussed as an instrument for cost-saving in
the governmental side, but also for suppliers (Erridge et al., 2001).
The results showed large purchase price variability of goods coded in PA 4.1 is over 11% and variability
for PA 2.3 is lower 10%. Considered annual purchase prices of PA 2.3 from observed in each year 2006
– 2009 are similar. According to result it seems considered annual purchase prices of PA 4.1 from
observed in each year 2006 – 2009 are different.
472

Nataša Pomazalová and Zbyšek Korecki
The results have relevance in the current debate on the impact of the level of knowledge needs and
practical experience of logistic experts as decision makers in daily routine analytic procedures for
achieving operational goals reflecting governmental goals on one side and expectations of commercial
partners on the market. The participation of private firms for achieving goals of the public procurement is
assumed on this base much more attractive for suppliers of PA 4.1, than PA 2.3. But for suppliers of PA
2.3 are on the other side also strength in usage of ESSP, cause of considering quality can be higher
priced. This analytical result is supported by empirical evidence; those property arrangements with low
sale cause of its specific tend to have higher price in the market.
ESSP technology may make purchase price of property arrangements as military transport and support
technique and material for general use lower and property arrangements comparisons of public
procurement for defence sector. The idea of ESSP is to gradually increase the level of credibility and
validity to give evidence to support procurement decision makers especially at the tactical level. Public eprocurement
has somewhat uncomfortable with these ideas as political sensitivities, divergent viewpoints
and different approaches for complex e-procurement planning process with many stages and
interrelationships. ESSP in the future development may correct critical problems. ESSP as a tool shows
some kind of improvement and optimize the procurement processes. However, in reality, there were
many non-rational goals in the public procurement.
These results bring understandings that permanently adjust ESSP, procurement knowledge needs to suit
the needs of the end users in ACR and also for ACR planning processes. Public procurement
methodology may reinforce competition between commercial organizations as suppliers of property
arrangements – military transport and support technique and material for general use. This result is
supported achieved findings.
6. Conclusion
Material support and supplies of property in the property arrangement groups and services and also
procurement administration at decentralised subset is realised through an appropriate ESSP. ESSP
addresses and ensures an effective dealing with financial means from the state budget, makes public
purchasing professional and takes control over the public procurement activities.
The key sense of ESSP for defence sector usage is reduction of expenditures, non-discrimination, and
transparency of public procurement. Reasons for usage this tool is also on the side of processing of
relationships defence sector with the commercial organizations as others governmental goals (Cordella
and Iannacci, 2010). In addition the platform for achieving efficiency is expected on the side of strategy
processes of allocation of resources and on innovation of ESSP and increasing of participation of
commercial subjects and advantages for both public and private sector.
Analysis of the dataset and a comparative analysis show the comparison of purchase prices of different
property arrangements. The achieved annual purchase prices of material for general use in observed
years 2006 – 2009 were different. We found that the purchase price variability for materials for general
use was over 11% and the purchase price variability for military transport and support services was lower
than 10%. These results may be interesting for achieving effective use of military and commercial
capabilities in the logistics support process of the units located in the foreign countries, but also for
entrepreneurs, companies and enterprises as suppliers of property arrangements.
Possible direction for future research and methodology development is to investigate how to develop risk
procurement strategy (exactly what defence department wants and can therefore estimate the value of
items), new organisational structures with new information technologies and using various well-developed
and accepted commerce principles. The same ways to deal with such complexity can be applied to
standardisation of the use eCommerce in defence department and organizational levels. The possible
way is description of complex logistic and procurement processes in the foreign operations for saving
internal costs, improving e-procurement realization and increasing of e-purchase security.
Acknowledgement
The paper has arisen within the Research Projects of Organizational Development/Economic Laboratory
No. 9079301010 of the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management of the
University of Defence. Special thank to Distribution Centre in Pardubice.
473

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474

Evaluating the Development of eGovernment Systems: The
Case of Polish Local Government Websites
Leszek Porębski
AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland
leszekpo@agh.edu.pl
Abstract: The evaluation of public institutions’ web sites in the context of eGovernment sophistication constitutes an
important part of the literature on eGovernment. However, the decided majority of studies of this kind is focused on
central administration (government, its agencies and state institutions coordinating public services delivery). This
paper undertakes the issue of the major functions performed by public institutions’ web sites, in a different – much
less developed – perspective. The focal point is local government web sites and their role in constructing new model
of relations between government and citizens. The major part of the paper is the presentation of results of the
empirical study carried out in the period of 2005-2009. The project comprised the analysis of the content of the
official web sites of the Polish counties, which are the secondary level of the local government system in Poland.
During the research, web sites of all 314 counties were analyzed. The evaluation of each web site was focused on
the availability of specific type of information and/or online service. Therefore, the research depicts the “supply”
aspect of eGovernment. The quantitative method of analysis, based on the concept of Website Attribute Evaluation
System (WAES) was applied in the research. The analytical framework of the study is based on the assumption that
there are four major functions performed by local government web sites. They are: information, promotion,
consultation and service delivery. The results of the analysis prove that information delivery is the dominating
function performed by local government web sites in Poland. It is so at the sacrifice of more sophisticated types of
the Internet use (consultation and electronic service delivery). At the same time, a modest but stable progress can be
observed in the number and variety of information and services offered by web sites of Polish local governments.
Keywords: local government, eGovernment, eDemocracy, web site content, ICT
1. Introduction
Signs of rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICT), often referred to as “the
information revolution”, are evident in various aspects of everyday life. Mutual relations between citizens
and political institutions are an important part of the realm of the ICT use in public domain. Originated
during recent decades extensive literature of that field, deals with such range of problems as e-voting on
one hand and Internet-based political communication on the other. An issue of eGovernment can be
considered one of the most often debated aspects of political dimension of ICT use.
Various elements of eGovernment can be emphasized when defining this notion. The focus could be the
cost effectiveness of public service delivery (Carbo and Williams 2004), back office operations of
administrative structures (Kunstelj and Vintar 2004) or the role of ICT in the formulation of the public
policy (Bannister 2007). Nevertheless, each specific definition can be placed on a continuum, the
extremes of which are set up by a “narrow” and a “broad” concept of eGovernment (Janssen, et al. 2004).
The former model reduces the concept of eGovernment to: “the use of technology to provide electronic
services to citizens, businesses and organizations” (Berntzen and Olsen 2009: 77). According to the
latter, the notion of eGovernment should be associated with: “the entire range of government roles and
activities, shaped by and making use of information and communications technologies” (Brown 2005:
241). This paper adopts the broader definition of eGovernment, the one referring to the use of ICT by
public bodies in their interactions with citizens and organizations. Such a wide-ranging approach makes
the concept of eGovernment closely related to eDemocracy defined in descriptive (and not normative)
terms. Thorough analysis of the scope and meaning of both terms goes beyond the subject matter of this
paper but can be found in numerous studies (Sakowicz 2004, Holzer and Kim 2006, Schellong 2009).
One of the most important planes of the analysis of eGovernment is the inquiry of the web sites of public
institutions. Regardless of the emergence of new instruments employed to stimulate virtual contacts (e.g.
social network services), web sites still play the role of the major channel used by public bodies for digital
interactions with both individuals and organizations. Furthermore, in case of many local and/or small
entities they remain the only tool used for institutional ICT-mediated activity. Consequently, various
aspects of the analysis of web sites can be found in studies concerning eGovernment. They propose
models of web sites evaluation (Henriksson, et. al. 2007), present international benchmarking reports
(West 2006, 2007), or simply offer an in-depth assessment of a selected group of public bodies web sites
in individual countries (Ferber, et. al. 2003; Stoica and Ilas 2009). This presentation can be included to
the latter category of research.
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Leszek Porębski
2. Polish local government system: The role of counties
The current system of local government in Poland was introduced in January 1999 (following the law
approved by the parliament in June 1998). It is based on the three-tier division of local government units.
A primary level consists of 2478 municipalities (gmina), secondary level of 314 territorial counties and 65
urban counties (powiat), while sixteen provinces (województwo) make up the third tier of local
government system.
Urban counties are cities, which are legally endowed with rights of counties. In this case the territory of
the county is limited to the area of the single city – the county seat. Cities with population over one
hundred thousand residents as well as some smaller ones (which used to be the seat of the province
authorities prior to the local government reform in 1999) have the status of urban counties. Territorial
counties consist of several rural and urban municipalities. The largest municipal city of the area usually
takes the role of a seat of a county in addition to serving as an economic, cultural and educational centre
of the region. The elected organ of the county is the council (its term of office is four years). The
executive branch is represented by the county board, comprising four to six members and headed by the
chair. The most important numerous statutory tasks of the county include: health care, social welfare,
public transport and public roads maintenance, culture and tourism, education and building supervision.
Territorial counties represent regions often linked with strong ties, rooted in distant history and based on
traditions shared by local community. Thus, they are a good example of the local government unit, which
is responsible not only for the everyday performance of public institutions but for the preservation and
support for local identity as well.
3. Scope and methodology of the research
The purpose of the research presented in this paper was the assessment of the Polish local government
web sites. The level of local government selected for the research was territorial counties. Urban counties
were excluded from the study to ensure the internal cohesion of the sample and to allow for generalized
conclusions. Cities with populations often close to or even greater than half a million inhabitants are very
much different from the majority of territorial counties. The latter are typically rural and sparsely populated
units, often – as mentioned above – founded around common history and enduring social ties. Therefore,
the assumption that both types of counties are equal (and, consequently, including them within the same
sample) would distort the results of the study.
The main goal of the study was to create the comprehensive, broad profile of the Polish local government
web sites and thus the quantitative method was selected for the purpose of this analysis. The
questionnaire constructed for the study and applied in the research was based on the concept proposed
by the Cyberspace Policy Research Group, known as the Website Attribute Evaluation System (WAES).
The WAES, commonly used for the assessment of various aspects of web sites performance (see e. g.
Ferber, et. al. 2003), is the binary tool. It analyses the content of the web site in the context of specific
detailed criteria (types of information, services, web tools). The component in the content either exists or
is absent. As a result, a score of either “0” or “1” is assigned to the specific criterion. The same formula
was used in the research of Polish local governments.
Online communication with citizens can lead to the accomplishment of various goals. The point of
departure for the presented research project was: What is the role of web sites in everyday activity of
local governments? Or, more precisely: What major goals are fulfilled by local governments through their
web sites? Consequently, based on the preliminary qualitative study, four major functions performed by
the analyzed web sites were identified. They were: information, promotion, consultation and service
delivery.
The information function is associated with the online publishing of basic data on local government
bodies (e. g. personal composition of the county council and the county board) and their work, such as:
office hours, texts of acts accepted by the council, county budget). This function includes also information
concerning the broader context of the Polish local government system (e. g. links to the web sites of
government institutions or municipalities located in the specific county). Promotion refers to the online
presentation of the county assets, both from the perspective of possible individual visitors (touristic
attractions of the region, accommodation) and the commercial viewpoint (investment offer). Availability of
the web site content in foreign languages is also regarded as the element of the promotion function.
Consultation is closely interrelated with interactive capability of the Internet and its ability to stimulate the
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Leszek Porębski
public debate. Thus, this particular aspect of web sites’ content fulfills the essential aspect of
eDemocracy. Several tools can be considered especially useful in this function. The basic one is the
email address of the office and/or to the local government representatives. More sophisticated online
devices include: a discussion forum on local problems, polls, chat or interactive service dedicated to the
direct contact with members of the county board (often performed with the use of instant messaging
applications). The degree of responsiveness of local authorities is also an important aspect of the
consultation function. It can be measured by a reply received/not received to the message sent to the
email address of the office placed on the web site. The last function, electronic service delivery, is
tantamount to the narrowly defined notion of eGovernment. It refers to various aspects of relations
between the office and the individual regarded as the consumer – the beneficiary of public services.
Detailed criteria of this function performance reflect stages of eGovernment evolution and include:
downloading of administrative forms, ability to apply online, electronic transactions with the office (e. g.
paying parking tickets online). Regardless of four major functions the availability of a few additional
services was assessed during the research. They were: accessibility of the web site for the disabled
persons and presence of various types of multimedia content (pictures, audio and video materials).
In the course of the research all the country’s 314 territorial counties’ web sites were examined. They
were only the official sites, formally maintained by the county, as opposed to community portals or web
sites of local NGOs. The research was carried out for five years, from 2005 to 2009, between April and
May of each year.
The questionnaire used in 2005 included 55 detailed criteria. After minor modifications introduced in 2006
(a few criteria were substituted with new ones – e.g. the problem of online payments for public services
was included in the questionnaire) the number of criteria was reduced to 54. This final version of the
questionnaire was used in the research from 2006 to 2009.
4. Research results
4.1 eGovernment Advancement Index: Longitudinal trends
Longitudinal research project provides the opportunity to both present the picture of the analyzed
phenomena in the particular moment and reflect upon more general trends observable in the area of
consideration. Research of Polish counties allows for a generalization of the transformation trends of the
overall ICT use between 2005 and 2009 and the degree in which specific Internet tools and services are
available on the local government web sites.
Table 1 presents scores of The eGovernment Advancement Index of the county web sites in the
consecutive years of the study. Depicted are results for each of four basic functions as well as the total
score. The total raw score obtainable in the research was 54 (1 point for each criterion in the
questionnaire). The eGovernment Advancement Index score represents the result of county web sites as
the percent of the total number of points, which could be obtained in the whole research and within the
particular function. Therefore, the maximum value of the index is 100. Results in the table illustrate the
overall advancement of eGovernment use in Polish territorial counties, measured by means of the
content of their web sites and perceived from the perspective of Internet users.
Table 1: eGovernment Advancement Index: Websites of Polish counties (2005-2009)
Total score
Information
Promotion
Consultation
Service Delivery
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
40,00
39,98
44,21
46,05
47,76
49,30
46,86
26,56
19,33
50,35
43,86
29,86
11,50
55,80
47,14
32,29
17,00
57,15
48,00
36,57
19,00
58,15
48,00
34,29
28,75
The index scores reveal that new options of communication with citizens opened by the Internet are
exploited by Polish local governments at relatively low level. For 2005 results, in case of none of five
analyzed aspects, the overall score was greater than 50. It means that less than half of various online
resources, taken into account in the research questionnaire, was available for users of the analyzed web
sites. Performance of two out of four functions (information and promotion) is visibly more advanced,
while the remaining two (consultation and service delivery) are considerably lagging. The case of service
delivery is especially striking. Its index score (19,33) in not only less than half of the total score of the
whole index (40,00) but it also stays far behind results of all other functions. If the total score of the index
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Leszek Porębski
in 2005 is considered to be 100, the same year scores of particular functions are the following:
information – 123,2, promotion – 117,2, consultation – 66,4, service delivery – 48,32. In fact, in 2005 web
sites of Polish territorial counties were based on the availability of information on the office activity and
advantages of the region, while interactive potential of the net was hardly explored. The latter claim refers
both to communication with individuals as citizens (consultation) and contacts with residents regarded as
consumers (service delivery).
The comparison of 2005 and 2009 results indicates that there is a gradual but steady increase in the use
of the ICT by Polish counties. It refers to all the dimensions analyzed in the research, yet the magnitude
of the growth is very much different in case of particular aspects of the web content. If scores of 2005 are
taken as 100, the 2009 results illustrate these different rates of advancement (see table 2).
Table 2: Growth of the eGovernment Advancement Index (2006-2009): Websites of Polish counties
(2005 = 100)
2006 2007 2008 2009
Total score
99,9
110,5
115,1
119,4
Information
Promotion
Consultation
Service Delivery
102,1
93,6
112,4
59,5
113,2
100,6
121,6
87,9
115,9
102,4
137,7
98,3
118,0
102,4
129,1
148,7
During five years the overall score increased only by about twenty percent, which does not seem to be a
spectacular achievement, considering relatively low point of departure in 2005. Nonetheless, it is worth
stressing that EGovernment Advancement Index, taken as a whole was growing at a very stable rate.
Starting with 2006, it gained a few percentage points during each consecutive year of the study.
Information and promotion, functions which were performed relatively well even in 2005, have not added
to the general progress in the five year period. This refers especially to the use of web sites for the
promotion of the county – the only function that failed to grow during five years of the research. Moreover,
this remains to be true regardless of the fact that in 2009 the index score for the promotion function was
only 48. Thus, there are still many online resources, which could be used for the promotion of the region
but are unavailable on the web sites.
Two remaining functions: consultation and service delivery, registered significant growth between 2005
and 2009. Both of these aspects of online endeavors performed disappointingly low in 2005. Hence, ‘the
lower you start, the higher you finish’ rule can be applied to explain the substantial progress in making
use of various forms of e-consultation and e-delivery of public services. Service delivery function,
improved by almost fifty percent between 2005 and 2009, in fact recorded the greatest progress only in
the last year of the study. The enormous breakdown, which can be observed in service delivery between
2005 and 2006 can be attributed to, as mentioned before, changes in the research questionnaire. The
addition of the online payments criterion – the option barely accessible on web sites – remarkably
lowered the overall performance of this function in 2006.
This tendency of fast growth of interactive aspects of web sites content at the sacrifice of more passive,
information-oriented features reflects the general characteristic of eGovernment expansion observed
globally. Moreover, it represents the switch from the rudimentary stage of eGovernment maturity to no
more than intermediate phase in the whole sequence of eGovernment development (see e. g. Capgemini
2007, Hiba, et. al. 2009). It seems that in case of the Polish counties the moment of that transition
occurred between 2005 and 2009 and it was identified by the research project presented in the paper.
4.2 Resources available on web sites of Polish counties
The overall picture of the eGovernment development on the level of Polish local governments should be
supplemented by more detailed presentation of the web sites content. An Internet user, accessing a city
or municipality official web site is not seeking ‘information content’ or ‘consultation tools’. He simply wants
to verify office hours in the public transportation department or express an objection to the idea of new
shopping center construction (next to his place of residence). Thus, from the perspective of a
responsiveness of a local government to residents’ needs and expectations, online presence of the
specific information and services is of great importance for the eGovernment analysis.
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Leszek Porębski
Selected types of the content available on the web sites of Polish counties are presented in table 3.
Beside tools, services and information assigned to four basic functions, some additional data collected in
the research is displayed.
Table 3: Selected services and information available on official web sites of Polish counties (%)
Content 2005 2009
Information
Organization of the office
Information on handling specific matters
County budget
EU and/or European funds availability information
Searchable archive of the web site content
Promotion
Tourist attractions of the region
Tourist amenities (restaurants, accommodation)
Commercial investment offer
Availability of at least part of web site content in a foreign language
Consultation
Email address to the office available on the web site
Response to the message sent to the office was received
Online discussion forum
Online poll on local issues
Interactive service for the direct contact with county officials
Service delivery
Downloading forms
Ability to apply online
Online transactions with the office*
Possibility of tracking the individual matter handling
Additional content
Audio files accessible
Video files accessible
Web site accessible by persons with disabilities
* Criterion not included in the 2005 questionnaire
Regarding the information function, the growth of online accessibility of all presented information and/or
services is noticeable. The role of electronic bulletin board is played effectively by the web site, yet
general political information (e.g. concerning the EU) or information on the office itself are available more
often than specific outcomes of the activity of the council (e. g. county budget). Internet is thus still not
sufficiently perceived as the tool of local democracy reinforcement. Transparency of local power and its
openness towards citizens appear to be values easily obtainable via Internet use. Nonetheless, in case of
Polish local government they still await appreciation.
Promotion is the only function of local government web sites, that is aimed mainly at visitors and not
members of the local community. Almost all counties take advantage of opportunities produced by the
Internet in the field of self-presentation and construction of the favorable image. So far this task is
performed better with respect to potential individual tourists than possible commercial investors. The
former can find online all types of information required for planning summer holidays, skiing weekend or
participation in local folk fiesta. The offer for the latter is much more limited. Moreover, commercial
investment solicitation is the only type of promotional material, which has diminished in the analyzed
period. It is probably the result of the relocation of such information from the official web site to more
specialized services. Promotion refers also to the presentation of at least basic information on the region
in foreign languages. The number of county web sites offering such an option has increased from one
third in 2005 to almost one half in 2009. The accession of Poland to the European Union (effective May
2004) seems to be associated with these relatively large and still growing numbers. International
cooperation and access to the EU funds is perceived more and more as the regular aspect of local
community existence. Consequently, making the web site accessible in foreign languages becomes selfevident.
English is the most popular foreign language on county web sites. In 2009 more than one third of
all sites (36,3%) were accessible in English. German was only slightly less common (31,5%) while
French (8,9%) followed by Russian (7,0%) took the third and fourth position, respectively.
479
89,2
38,5
24,5
38,2
54,1
85,6
63,1
54,8
32,8
90,8
21,3
27,1
15,6
8,0
46,2
2,9
-
9,2
3,8
6,1
0,3
92,0
49,4
28,3
62,4
72,3
90,1
72,0
42,4
44,6
95,6
21,7
13,7
18,8
16,9
59,6
28,7
1,0
25,5
24,2
25,5
3,8

Leszek Porębski
Consultation capacity of the Internet, implied by its interactive attributes, is of essential importance with
respect to the stimulation and the strengthening of eDemocracy. It refers mostly to its deliberative
dimension, regarding public debate and articulation of one’s views to be the very foundations of
democracy. In this perspective web sites analyzed in the study are still in the beginning of the path
leading to mature eDemocracy. The only interactive feature, which can be identified as common is an
email address. Yet, this does not necessarily mean that electronic mode of contacts with local authorities
is effective. Only around one fifth of county representatives emailed during the research replied to the
message. Moreover, that number is stable and has not grown since 2005. Among tools, which enable
real online debate, the most widespread – poll on local issues – can be found in less than one fifth of all
web sites. Diminishing popularity of discussion forums goes together with prevalence of various forms of
services facilitating direct contact with a particular member of local authorities. However, while online
forums protect anonymity in case of more than half of interactive services constructed specially for
debate, revealing personal data is required. It shows apparent tendency of local power holders to control
online deliberation in a more rigorous way. Such aspirations do not seem to be the best forecast for the
future of eDemocracy.
Online delivery of public services still remains the weakest aspect of web sites content. Apart from the
substantial progress during last five years, some tools are still hardly available. Primarily it refers to online
transactions, which in 2009 could have been handled on no more than one percent of web sites. Delays
in the introduction of mature e-services platform in Poland have many sources. The decisive one is
perhaps the vague division of powers between various institutions of central administration and local
government institutions. Where too many are responsible, no one can be blamed.
An important feature of the Internet is its multimedia character. The analyzed web sites are slowly but
gradually reaching the status of multimedia portals. Yet, it is worth stressing that in 2005, the point of the
departure for the research project, any audio or video materials were hardly available on county web
sites. Currently, about one fourth of all sites give access to various audio or video files. They are mostly
promotional films or tourist guides but records of the county council meetings are also available. For the
majority of web sites the only kind of multimedia file is pictures documenting local events or just
presenting the chair of the county board who ‘welcomes all dear virtual visitors to our charming region’.
The problem which still awaits its resolution is accessibility of web sites for the persons with disabilities. In
2005 only one site (out of 314) applied some services facilitating the use by the handicapped. After five
years, in 2009, that number has risen to twelve sites (3,8%) and two most popular services are: the
possibility of enlarging characters on the site and audio transcript of selected texts.
5. Conclusion
Hopes for the spectacular democratic breakthrough, brought on by new technologies and promising real
empowerment of citizens in their relations with the state and its representatives turned out to be an
illusion. Nevertheless, eGovernment, defined as the use of the ICT by public institutions, is one of the
most important instruments which modify the current meaning of democracy. Public bodies, while
interacting online with citizens, make use of variety of tools, thus web sites are no longer the only channel
of computer mediated communication. Yet, in many cases they still remain the basic means employed for
that purpose. It refers especially to relatively small units of local government, in countries representing
the intermediate level of economic development. They are often located far from urban regions and
experience both drawbacks of technological infrastructure and shortage of funds for investments. Polish
territorial counties appear to match that characteristic, hence the assessment of their web sites –
presented in this paper – should be regarded as the preliminary step to the comprehensive account of the
local dimension of Polish eGovernment model.
Results of the study prove that the overall picture is very much changing and Polish counties portrayed in
2005 differ considerably from those examined five years later. They are still focused on information
delivery but interactive aspect of the ICT is emerging as an important part of their online offer. Step by
step local governments recognize the value of the Internet. Nevertheless, however fast, this rate of
transition will not put the Polish local government among the leaders of the race. Users of Polish counties
web sites can already benefit from some signs of the information revolution. They still need a lot of time
to enjoy the full flavor of it.
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Acknowledgments
Leszek Porębski
This work was funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (research project N N116
331338).
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481

Comparative Analysis of Information Security Governance
Frameworks: A Public Sector Approach
Oscar Rebollo 1 , Daniel Mellado 2 , Luis Enrique Sánchez 2 and Eduardo Fernández-
Medina 2
1
Social Security IT Management, Ministry of Labour and Immigration, Madrid,
Spain
2
GSyA Research Group, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
orebollo@gmail.com
damefe@esdebian.org
LuisE.Sanchez@uclm.es
Eduardo.FdezMedina@uclm.es
Abstract: Security awareness has spread inside many organizations leading them to tackle information security not
just as a technical matter, but from a corporate point of view. Information Security Governance (ISG) provides
enterprises with means of dealing with the security of their information assets in a comprehensive manner, involving
every stakeholder through the whole governance and management processes. Boards of Public Entities cannot
remain unaware of this development and should make efforts to include ISG in their business processes. Realizing
this relevant role, scientific literature contains a variety of proposals which define different frameworks to foster ISG
inside any corporation. In order to facilitate the adoption of any of them by the public sector, this paper compiles
existing approaches, highlighting the main contributions and characteristics of each one. Senior executives and
security managers may need support on their decisions about adopting one of these frameworks, so a comparative
analysis is performed. Although some comparative reviews are found in literature, they lack a systematic and
repeatable methodology, ignore recently published contributions or focus on specific areas, making results biased
and inappropriate for general use in corporations and the public sector. This paper tries to guarantee an objective
comparison through a set of comparative criteria that have been defined and applied to every proposal, so that
strengths and weaknesses of each one can be pointed out. These criteria have been selected from a deep analysis
of existing ISG papers, including both governance and management aspects. As results show, each proposal
focuses on different aspects of ISG giving priority to some of the defined criteria, and none of them covers the entire
required spectrum. Most of the selected frameworks can be used by any public organization as a starting point
towards integrating security into their processes, but this paper helps managers to be aware of their limitations and
the gaps which need to be covered in order to achieve a complete integration. Consequently, more investigation is
needed to fulfill detected gaps and define an ISG framework that organizations can rely on, and which offers security
guarantees of covering every information asset of the company. Public sector´s idiosyncrasy must be taken into
account in this development, resulting in a general framework eligible for adoption by both public and private
companies.
Keywords: information security governance, security governance, comparative analysis, review, governance
framework
1. Introduction
Information Technology (IT) security can no longer be considered as a technical issue that can be
assessed through hardware implementations, but it is a process that involves the whole company
(Pasquinucci, 2007). It is widely accepted that security needs to reach the governance level so that
senior directors understand the risks and the opportunities, and have assurance that these are being
properly and continuously managed (Williams, 2001). The motivations to introduce IT in the corporate
executive agenda is twofold: many countries have developed legislation to hold responsibilities for
security breaches (BSA, 2003, Hardy, 2006), and achieving a higher security degree may become a
competitive advantage to the organization (Humphreys, 2008, Johnston and Hale, 2009).
Public entities are also involved with these considerations, as higher IT security usually strengthens the
trust relationship between Administrations and their citizens. A recent European Union research shows
existing gaps related to security and privacy concerns that need to be fulfilled in the field of electronic
governance and policy modelling (Crossroad, 2010).
All these objectives may be achieved through Information Security Governance (ISG) which is an
overarching category directly affecting the entire policy management process (Knapp et al., 2009). There
is not a unique definition of ISG, but among the most widespread conceptions it is generally accepted
that ISG consists of the leadership, organizational structures and processes that safeguard information
(ITGI, 2006b). ISG can also be defined more specifically as the process of establishing and maintaining a
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Oscar Rebollo et al.
framework and supporting management structure and processes to provide assurance that information
security strategies are aligned with and support business objectives, are consistent with applicable laws
and regulations through adherence to policies and internal controls, and provide assignment of
responsibility, all in an effort to manage risk (Bowen et al., 2006). Finally, focusing on the stakeholders’
roles, ISG consists of the frameworks for decision-making and performance measurement that Board of
Directors and Executive Management implement to fulfil their responsibility of providing oversight, as part
of their overall responsibility for protecting stakeholder value, for effective implementation of Information
Security in their Organization (Rastogi and Solms, 2006).
In order to secure their information assets, companies need to adopt an ISG framework that assures
effective implementation and makes process operational (Corporate Governance Task Force, 2004).
Although there exist a variety of proposed frameworks, organizations neither know which one to adopt
nor which one tailors to their own necessities. To help managers in their decisions, the following three
comparative reviews have been found: (Rastogi and Solms, 2006) provide existing guidance on ISG and
use four frameworks to propose a new definition of ISG; (Park et al., 2006) develop a literature review to
look for ISG definitions and use this research to find which security management approaches cover
governance success factors, and to know their limitations; (Mahncke et al., 2009) offer a literature review
of approaches to measure ISG, and evaluate their suitability to general medical practice.
Existing literature reviews do not compare the proposals in a systematic comprehensive manner, so an
additional effort has been performed, presenting the results in this paper. This analysis will show the most
relevant ISG frameworks, their characteristics, and the gaps that need to be filled in by future research.
Achieved results may help security professionals identify the proposal that best suits their organizations;
and lay the foundations of new researches focused on the thorough development of these frameworks.
The research has lead to a set of criteria that allow performing an objective comparison and the
repeatability of the results. These criteria have been selected from existing ISG definitions through the
extraction of compulsory and desirable features that every framework should accomplish.
During the process, specific and differentiating characteristics of the public sector are taken into account.
While E-government is subject to the same threats as e-business, E-government operates within different
constraints(Stibbe, 2005). Government entities exist for the purpose of serving society, while commercial
firms exist for the benefit of their shareholders (Conklin and White, 2006); therefore the resulting security
implementation must have specific considerations. Public organizations may be bound to security
considerations according to applicable legislation, but an ISG framework can complement them or even
be a substitute in case of lack of regulation (Ozkan and Karabacak, 2010).
This paper is structured as follows: next section offers a brief description of the nine frameworks that
have been studied; section 3 presents the comparative criteria that have been defined and the analysis
performed; finally, our conclusions and future work are set out in section 4.
2. Information security governance approaches
A literature review has been carried out in depth to locate existing ISG frameworks. The nine most
relevant ones are summarized in this section.
2.1 A practical guide to implement and control Information security governance
In (de Oliveira Alves et al., 2006), authors propose a framework for implementing ISG. It focuses on
selecting metrics and indicators to track information security evolution, and also on measuring the
maturity level of information security inside the organization.
The approach considers the integration of corporate governance indicators, such as Balance Scorecard,
with IT and security governance best practices, such as those included in COBIT and ISO/IEC 17799.
The practical guide to implement ISG is composed of five stages, which are divided into activities,
detailing the actions to be taken and who is responsible for performing each one.
2.2 Business Software Alliance
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) formed the Information Security Governance Task Force whose
goal is to frame a response in terms that organizations can understand and implement. This Task Force
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Oscar Rebollo et al.
has resumed in two white papers many ideas and concepts contained in other reports, legislation and
guidelines.
Firstly, in (BSA, 2003), authors state that there is already a legislative and regulatory regime around IT
security and it must be enough so that companies stop treating security as a technology issue and start
dealing with it as a corporate governance issue. They recommend adopting best practices and standard
procedures such as ISO/IEC 17799 (later included in ISO/IEC 27000 family) and recognize the lack of an
ISG framework that organizations can adopt. The Task Force proposes a framework where each
management role knows what its functions are, how to accomplish its objectives and how to measure and
audit the activities performed.
Secondly, the proposal (Corporate Governance Task Force, 2004) expands the framework formerly
introduced detailing the functions and responsibilities of every stakeholder involved in security. To
implement this framework, authors propose the IDEAL model which is based on five steps: Initiating,
Diagnosing, Establishing, Acting and Learning. Finally, tools are provided for the assessment, verification
and compliance of the corresponding implementation.
2.3 Information security policy: An organizational-level process model
The proposal (Knapp et al., 2009) focuses on the policy side of ISG. Following a different approach from
other studies, authors’ methodology includes data collection from security experts and some interviews
and questionnaires with security professionals. The result is an information security policy model based
on a set of interrelated processes that can be implemented in a repeatable cycle.
Similar to other governance proposals, the model considers the impact of external and internal
influences, as well as the role of corporate governance. Also, there is a great emphasis on training and
awareness of developed policies through out the whole cycle.
2.4 Information security governance (Von Solms)
Authors have been researching the field of ISG, and as a result they have published a wide variety of
papers and a compendium book.
In (Posthumus and Solms, 2004), authors introduce the reason why information security should be
considered as a corporate governance issue. They propose an information security framework clearly
distinguishing between the governance and management sides.
The approach (Posthumus and Solms, 2006) gives more detail on ISG and Information Security
Management, as a part of corporate governance; and describes the tasks, roles and responsibilities of
any key individual in an organization.
As stated in (Solms and Solms, 2006), considering that Corporate Governance can be modelled using
the Direct-Control Cycle, the same model is applied to Information Security Governance. Each of the
steps of this cycle is analyzed through the three management levels: strategic, tactical and operational.
All these results are compiled in the book (Solms and Solms, 2009), where authors describe ISG as part
of Corporate Governance and also sharing some aspects of IT Governance. The Direct-Control Cycle
anticipated in the previous paper is applied to a group of dimensions of information security and is
combined with COBIT and ISO/IEC 27000 as best practices. Also, a methodology of 14 steps is
developed to establish an ISG environment.
2.5 ISACA
The Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) has proposed (ISACA, 2009), where
they define a generic model to tackle Information Security within a corporation. The model is based on
systems theory and, therefore, consists of processes with inputs and outputs viewed holistically as a
complete function unit.
The model has the structure of a tetrahedron with four elements situated in its vertexes and six dynamic
interconnections between them that link the elements together. The four elements are:
Organization Design and Strategy
484

People
Process
Technology
The six dynamic interconnections are:
Governing
Culture
Enabling and support
Emergence
Human factors
Architecture
Oscar Rebollo et al.
2.6 ISO/IEC standards
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has a wide portfolio of standards. Among these,
the ISO/IEC 27000 family is dedicated to Information Security Management Systems, which can be used
by organizations to develop and implement a framework for managing the security of their information
assets and prepare for an independent assessment applied to the protection of their information. These
standards provide guidelines to protect information assets through defining, achieving, maintaining, and
improving information security; what is achieved implementing suitable controls and treating
unacceptable information security risks.
Although at first instance, it may seem that this publication only deals with management issues, there are
some proposals to integrate them with information security governance. The paper (Solms, 2005)
recognizes the broader scope of COBIT, as it covers the whole field of IT Governance, but states that
COBIT focuses on what to do but without giving details on how to do it. Here is where the ISO/IEC 27000
family has a chance, as it focuses on Information Security and gives more detail on how to do things.
Both frameworks complement each other as shown in (ITGI, 2006a). Standard ISO/IEC 27014, currently
under development, pretends to be a proposal on an ISG framework. Its scope includes defining ISG
clarifying its relationship with corporate and IT governance; and developing a framework establishing its
objectives, principles, and processes. The ISO/IEC 38500 family (ISO/IEC, 2008), which is related to
Corporate Governance of information technology, can also be taken into consideration when dealing with
ISG. The governance framework proposed in this standard, can be exported to information security
implementations.
2.7 ITGI
The IT Governance Institute (ITGI), established in 1998 by the ISACA to focus on original research on IT
governance and related topics, has developed COBIT (ITGI, 2007), which is a framework for IT
Governance. COBIT 4.1 introduces a set of 34 processes grouped into four domains; detailing the control
objectives, metrics, maturity models and other management guidelines for each of these processes.
Although COBIT is mainly focused on IT Governance, four of its processes are more related to ISG,
namely:
PO6—Communicate management aims and directions
PO9—Assess and manage IT risks
DS4—Ensure continuous service
DS5—Ensure systems security
Surrounding COBIT, there are a group of products which complement it beyond the main framework (i.e.
implementation guide, assurance guide, value of IT investments, etc). The most relevant ones in relation
to ISG are the following guides:
In (ITGI, 2006b) ITGI describes what ISG is and why it is important; details what the Board of
Directors and Senior Executives should do, how it can be implemented and what, as consequence,
can be achieved.
The proposal (ITGI, 2008b) is based on the foundations presented in the previous one. It provides
more detail on the definition of Information Security Objectives, and the strategies and action plans
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Oscar Rebollo et al.
that can be used to reach them. Furthermore, critical success factors and metrics are introduced to
monitor and measure Information Security, showing that this guide is directed to a lower
management level than the aforementioned one.
2.8 NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of
Commerce, has published many guidelines related to Information Security. The guide (Bowen et al.,
2006) has its second chapter dedicated to ISG.
According to this book, there are five components of ISG:
Strategic Planning
Organizational Structure
Roles and Responsibilities
Enterprise Architecture
Policies and Guidance
All of these components of governance must be linked to the current implementation of security through
on-going monitoring. In order to achieve this result, a description of activities and supporting processes to
perform this monitoring is offered. In another NIST publication, (Bowen et al., 2007), the focus points
towards developing an Information Security Program, so the key activities of this task are detailed.
Among these activities, ISG is highlighted. Also, applicable laws and regulations to security programmes,
from the U.S. point of view, are resumed.
2.9 Software engineering institute
The Software Engineering Institute, from the Carnegie Mellon University, has published the guide (Allen
and Westby, 2007), as part of the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) programme. This guide
defines governance for enterprise security and what the characteristics of effective ISG are so that
readers can distinguish between effective and ineffective security governance. To succeed on ISG, the
guide proposes the definition of an Enterprise Security Program within the corporation. This programme
involves personnel at all levels throughout the organization, so different roles are identified pinpointing
their functions and responsibilities. Each role has associated a set of activities with their correspondent
outputs and supporting documents, which are described in a sequential way.
3. Comparative analysis
This section contains a comparative analysis of the most relevant approaches to Information Security
Governance described previously. There is not any standardized framework to compare this kind of
proposals so a set of criteria from different research fields will be utilized. These criteria have been
selected taking into account the wide variety of existing literature definitions related to ISG. Most of these
definitions place this subject as closely linked with IT Governance, Corporate Governance and
Information Security, among other areas. Considering these three points of view, a comprehensive group
of criteria has been defined, which covers both governance and management aspects.
Selected criteria facilitate performing an objective analysis of the nine identified frameworks. With the
proposed comparison topics, the whole spectrum of desirable characteristics related to ISG that can be
found in literature is taken into account. To achieve unbiased results, some of the criteria are subdivided
into different sub-criteria as a second aggregation level, so that each proposal may be easily classified.
Furthermore, besides these three comparison groups, which are shared by every organization, public
sector distinct characteristics have been considered. This constitutes a fourth criterion, which reflects the
fact that governance processes have their own peculiarities within institutional units. Therefore, the
comparative analysis will be based on the criteria detailed in the following subsections.
3.1 IT governance criteria
The literature review shows that there are many definitions of IT Governance. Papers such as (Webb et
al., 2006) and (Dahlberg and Kivijärvi, 2006) analyze more than a dozen definitions and highlight five
elements, which provide the foundations of IT Governance. These elements are:
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Oscar Rebollo et al.
Strategic Alignment: information security must be aligned with business strategy towards the goals of
the organization.
Delivery of business value through IT: optimization of security investments delivering the promised
benefits.
Performance Management: monitoring security strategies to ensure reaching the organization´s goals
in time.
Risk Management: security risk awareness, identifying threats, vulnerabilities and impacts to control
and reduce risks over the whole enterprise.
Control and Accountability: every person in the organization needs to be involved in the security
controls and has to know the responsibilities he owns inside the defined framework.
3.2 Corporate governance criteria
As a part of Corporate Governance, the following domains taken from (Simonsson and Johnson, 2006)
will be considered:
Goals: strategy decisions, development of information security policies and guidelines, and controls
to monitor whether the goals are achieved.
Processes: implementation and management of information security processes, with their related
activities and procedures.
People: structure within the organization; defining roles and responsibilities of the different
stakeholders.
Technology: link between Information Security Governance and the physical IT assets that the
organization manages (inside and outside).
3.3 Security criteria
Information Security Governance is obviously related to the Information Security field, so a set of security
criteria have been selected:
Standards integration: some proposals refer to controls and best practices included in security
standards (i.e. ISO/IEC 27000).
Information Security Management: policies and procedures defined on the governance side can be
linked to the management and operative side of information security.
Tools and techniques: usually frameworks utilize tools to facilitate their implementation, such as
metrics to measure the degree of compliance or maturity models to enable benchmarking between
organizations.
Practical implementation guidelines: theoretical approaches may be distinguished from practical
ones; the latter involve detailing implementation activities, including case studies and even practical
examples.
3.4 Public sector suitability
Although every identified ISG framework may be adapted to a public organization, some of them include
differentiating characteristics that make them more suitable for the public sector. These particularities
range from the compliance with specific laws, policies and regulations to requirements originated from
multiple governing bodies; going through funding limitations in budgets and investments. Public
institutions need to consider security beyond technical aspects in four domains: social, political, cultural
and legal (Wimmer and Bredow, 2002). This fourth criterion evaluates these domains so that it may help
boards in their decisions, avoiding unnecessary efforts in tailoring an ISG framework to a public entity.
3.5 Analysis results
The former defined criteria have been applied to the nine frameworks presented in section 2. The results
are summarized in Table 1, which has been elaborated assigning three levels of conformance (high,
medium and low) to each of the criteria.
487

Table 1: Comparison of ISG frameworks
Public Sector Suitability
low
medium
low
low
low
low
low
high
low
Practical implementation guidelines
medium
high
low
medium
medium
high
low
medium
medium
Tools and techniques
high
high
medium
low
low
high
medium
low
low
Information Security Management
medium
low
medium
high
low
high
medium
medium
medium
Standards integration
high
medium
low
high
low
high
low
high
medium
Security
Technology
high
low
medium
medium
high
medium
low
low
medium
People
high
high
low
high
high
medium
medium
high
medium
Oscar Rebollo et al.
Processes
high
high
high
high
high
high
high
high
high
Goals
medium
medium
high
medium
high
medium
high
high
high
488
Corporate Governance
Control and Accountability
medium
low
medium
high
low
medium
high
low
high
Risk Management
high
high
high
high
low
high
high
high
high
Performance Management
low
medium
medium
medium
medium
high
high
medium
low
Delivery of business value through
IT
medium
low
low
low
medium
low
high
low
medium
Strategic Alignment
medium
medium
high
medium
high
medium
high
high
high
IT Governance
Criteria
A practical guide to
implement and
control Information
Security Governance
Business
Software
Alliance
ISG Frameworks
Information
security policy:
An
organizationallevel
process
model
Information
Security
Governance
(Von Solms)
ISACA
ISO
Standards
IT
Governance
Institute
NIST
Software
Engineering
Institute

Oscar Rebollo et al.
Table results can be analyzed from two different perspectives. On the one hand, horizontally, some of the
proposed criteria are more widespread over the ISG frameworks than others. Among the governance
criteria, nearly all of the proposals deal with strategic alignment, risk management, goals and processes;
however, delivery of business value through IT is only deeply developed by the IT Governance Institute
on the Val IT Framework (ITGI, 2008a), and technology relations with physical IT implemented assets are
seldom considered. Generally speaking, security criteria seem to be less relevant than the previous ones,
as authors tend to offer high level solutions, distant from implementation details.
On the other hand, vertically, three of the frameworks seem to be more aligned with the groups of criteria
and could be considered as reference starting points. Namely: IT Governance Institute focuses on IT
Governance, ISACA is mainly related to Corporate Governance, and ISO Standards deal principally with
Security criteria. The rest of the approaches are situated in intermediate positions, leveraging the
importance each one gives to every comparative aspect.
With respect to public sector suitability, most of the frameworks do not detail the specific implications of
implementing ISG into a public entity. The guidelines proposed by the NIST are the main exceptions
which take into account these considerations, but they are much localized as a consequence of having
their foundations based on US regulations and laws. Therefore, additional efforts are needed when
adapting this framework to other country´s organizations. Also, some guidance is included in BSA´s
proposal, which offers some key notes when adopting information security by educational and non-profit
institutions.
Public organizations are usually bound to a specific regulatory framework which results in different
governance processes. This is the consequence of the application of the corresponding legislation which
emanates from various level authorities (national, regional, etc). In most cases, the selected ISG proposal
needs to be localized to the regulations where the organization resides.
4. Conclusions and future work
The security of any organization´s assets must involve every stakeholder from senior executives to
operational personnel. Information Security Governance helps to carry out this task providing a
framework which can be adopted by enterprises. The board of governance of any company that relies on
this methodology should be confident about compliance with a wide set of security measures and even
regulation requirements; furthermore, information security becomes a process inside the organization
covering all of the information assets and provides alignment with business strategy.
The nine most relevant ISG frameworks existing in the literature have been reviewed in this paper,
performing a comparative analysis between them using a comprehensive set of conformance criteria.
The performed review has shown that none of the approaches, not even the most recent ones, fulfil every
necessity field that organizations need to tackle. Although these proposals include desirable features,
their main lacks have been highlighted.
Special attention has been paid to public sector suitability, but most ISG proposals are more focused on
private corporations than public organizations. This issue may be considered by the directors of any
public institution when adopting one of these methodologies.
Additional research work is needed to develop a general ISG framework which fills the detected gaps.
Either taking any of the approaches included in the comparative study as a starting point, or building it
from scratch, it is imperative that such a task is undertaken. Future work will follow this line,
complementing existing proposals to reduce their weaknesses as well as to achieve a comprehensive
framework that can be systematically extended to any organization.
Acknowledgements
This research is part of the following projects: MEDUSAS (IDI-20090557), financed by the Centre for
Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), ORIGIN (IDI-2010043(1-5)) financed by the CDTI and the
FEDER, BUSINESS (PET2008-0136) awarded by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Technology and
SEGMENT (HITO-09-138) and SISTEMAS (PII2I09-0150-3135) financed by the Council of Education
and Science of the Castilla-La Mancha Regional Government.
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490

Web 2.0 on the Mexican State Sites: An Overview
Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán 1 , Gabriela Díaz Murillo 2 , Ramón Gil-Garcia 3 , Luis
Luna-Reyes 2 and Dolores Luna-Reyes 2
1 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Toluca, México
2 Universidad de las Américas Puebla, México
3 Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, México
rsandovala@uaemex.mx
gabriela.diaz@udlap.mx
joseramon.gil@cide.edu
luisf.luna@udlap.mx
dolorese.luna@udlap.mx
Abstract: The use of Web 2.0 features to increase the number of users on e-commerce sites is a trend that is even
expanding to government sites. Web 2.0 features, such as blogs, wikis, forums, RSS, podcasts and videocasts, as
well as social markers such as Del.icio.us, Technorati, Facebook and Digg have reached government sites. The
purpose of this research is to assess the impact of this tendency on Mexican local government sites by asking the
following question: To what extent have local eGovernment sites in Mexico adopted Web 2.0 tools? As a result of an
evaluation of Mexican local government sites in 2009, we found that several Web 2.0 characteristics are being used;
however, we also found that not all features are as equally well-developed or used on the local sites. Web 2.0 is only
a starting point for innovation in eGovernment sites. This paper is organized into four sections: The first section
introduces the trend of Web 2.0 over internet sites and how it is different from Web 1.0 and Web 3.0. The second
section is dedicated to discussing the link between eGovernment and Web 2.0 according to the evolutionary model
proposed by the authors. The third section describes the methodology used to collect data from local states in
Mexico and the eGovernment ranking where this data was collected. The fourth and final section describes the
findings of Web 2.0 and discusses the future of this trend in eGovernment sites.
Keywords: Web 2.0, eGovernment, websites, twitter, social media
1. Introduction
Web 2.0 represents an evolution in Internet applications and sites for presenting unidirectional content
and information through to the creation of applications that facilitate higher levels of interaction between
Web content users. These applications promotes collaboration and provide services which seek to
replace traditional processes for creating content. Specifically, Web 2.0 refers to a new version of the
Web based on the creation of content produced and shared by the very same users of a Web site. In
other words, consumers of information have become “prosumers” or producers of part of the information
that they consume (Tapscott, 2006).
This way, Web 2.0 applications may be considered as the next step in the development of technologies
related to the Internet. Some of these applications are the so-called social networks, micro-formats,
social labels, RSS (content syndication), blogs, videoblogs, podcasts, wikis and forums, etc. Examples of
commercial websites that implement these applications include Technorati, Digg, Facebook, Flickr,
YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Del.icio.us, amongst others. Some government sites are also starting to
include some of these applications. Part of this study evaluated the use of Web 2.0 tools on state sites.
Specifically, we noted the use of Blogs, Wikis, Forums, RSS, APIs (such as Google Maps), Podcasts,
Videocasts, Social Markers (such as Del.icio.us, Technorati, Facebook or Digg) and social networks.
All of these applications, despite the fact that their purpose and make-up appear to be very different,
share certain characteristics, such as the generation and classification of information and content in a
collective manner, the integration of communities, and the production and consumption of knowledge
distributed socially. These common characteristics allow them to be catalogued as Web 2.0 tools and
applications. These tools have proven themselves to be efficient mechanisms for developing political
activism (perhaps the most well-known case in the world is that of the Barack Obama presidential
campaign in the United States), as tools for handling relationships with the media, as in the case of
Twitter, and as an alternative ways of disseminating content, like the case of YouTube, in the face of
social problems or political crises, such as the recent elections in Iran or the coup d’état in Honduras, and
the deposition of the Tunisian President.
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Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán et al.
For government sites Web 2.0 applications have the potential to generate greater interaction between
different social actors, and as a consequence, greater citizen participation in government processes,
which have recently been labeled as Government 2.0. These applications are beginning to be used at all
three levels of government and within diverse public policy areas. A recent study revealed that Mexicans
between the ages of 18 and 28 years were dissatisfied with the level of communication established
between them and the government, and suggests that Web 2.0 tools could be an effective mechanism for
opening alternative channels of communication (Deloitte, 2009). However, the use of these tools is still in
its early stages, and we know little about the outcomes reached by these social experiments, given the
scarcity of research on this field. Furthermore, despite signs that some Mexican state sites already have
working Web 2.0 tools, a significant number of users are unaware about how these tools work. Based on
measurements of these technologies taken from Mexican state sites in 2008, this paper will show the
extent to which they are currently used, and in which areas of state government sites are used more
frequently.
Web 2.0 Internet Sites and Tools
The term Web 2.0 has yet to be fully defined in a manner widely accepted by experts in the field. It was
coined by O’Reilly in 2005 (O'Reilly, T. 2005) who defines it as: “the web as a platform that extends to all
connected devices”, although these devices are not just limited to being interconnected, instead much of
their functionality rests on the fact that they use technologies that allow users to build the content and
format of sites. Table 1 shows a comparison made by O’Reilly (O'Reilly, T. 2005) between Web 2.0
applications and traditional applications.
Table 1: Comparison between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0
Web 1.0 Web 2.0
Double click Google AdSens
Ofoto Flickr
Akamai BitTorrent
mp3.com Napster
Encyclopedia Britannica Online Wikipedia
Personal Web sites Blogging
Screen scraping Web services
Page views Cost per Click
Domain name speculation Search engine optimization
Directories (taxonomy) tagging ('folksonomy')
Publishing Participation
Content management systems Wikis
Stickiness Syndication
Source: O’Reilly, 2005
O’Reilly says that Web 2.0 is a mechanism for social cohesion and cooperation. More recent works, such
as that undertaken by Tapscott and Williams (Tapscott and Williams, 2006) describe the phenomenon as
follows: “The new web is fundamentally different in both its architecture and applications. Instead of a
digital newspaper, it is a canvas where every splash of paint contributed by a user enriches the tapestry;
whether people are creating, sharing or socializing, the new Web is about participating rather than
passively receiving information” (p. 37).
Web 2.0 reveals itself as a revolutionary way of gathering, organizing and sharing information. Some of
its better-known examples include: Google, Weblogs, Wikipedia, YouTube, Twitter and Second Life.
Other authors have mentioned that it is a standard platform or model for current websites, and is not an
improved version of the earlier Web 1.0. Zappen and his colleagues (Zappen, M. Harrison and David
Watson, 2008) point out some differences:
Web 2.0 facilitates flexible design, creative reuse and updating,
It offers the user an enriched and interactive interface,
It facilitates collaboration for creating and modifying content,
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It allows new applications to be created by reusing and combining different data and sources,
It establishes social networks between people who have the same interests, and
It supports cooperation in gathering collective intelligence.
Web 2.0 is a social network platform because its content is user-generated –as if it were a collective
intelligence— converting into co-producers of content and not just passive subjects who only receive the
information. Interaction plays a vital role in this platform. This capacity for interaction is vital and to
achieve it; governments must consider this type of tool very seriously (Woods, 2007), not just to enable
the bureaucracy to reduce its costs and allow a greater flow of information, but as a way of approaching
citizens and making sure their participation enriches government efforts.
Although relatively new, Web 2.0 tools and applications have been used on government websites in such
countries as Germany where De Kool and Van Wamelen (2008) proposed six categories for analyzing
electronic government using Web 2.0, gathering case studies in their country to demonstrate the use of
Web 2.0. It has also been suggested as a way of solving problems related to information transparency in
governments. Kubicek, who submited those ticket systems used for providing services, suggested that
this tool could also be employed to improve transparency and rendering of accounts, through the use of
social networks (Kubicek, 2008). Lastly, Eliason and Lundberg focused their attention on investigating the
specific use of Web 2.0 in designing municipal websites using gender as a tool to reduce the complexity
of sites and better organize content (Eliason, 2006).
Currently, the notion of open government (o-government) or transparent government has begun to use
Web 2.0 tools to interact with the citizenry and request their opinions on just how open federal
government should be to its citizens. This initiative from the United States’ President, Barack Obama
(Memorandum of Transparency and Open Government), and the White House website which invites
citizens to participate in this initiative through discussion forums whose purpose is to establish principles
(United States Government, 2009) and come up with proposals for law reform (United States
Government, 2009) are clear examples of how these technologies can be used by government (United
States Government, 2009).
Even though the usefulness of Web 2.0 in governments is promising, the great question that prevails is
whether public sector organizations are able to commit to this new way of interrelating with their citizens,
and improving user-experience and their perceptions of public services. Some of the risks that may arise
from the use of Web 2.0 tools and applications are: data isolation, exclusion of content, privacy issues
and the risk of improper use of the information (de Kool and Wamelen, 2008).
2. Electronic government and Web 2.0
There are different definitions for electronic government but all contemplate the use of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) in carrying out the activities of governments (Gil-García and Luna-
Reyes, 2008). In Mexico, in addition to the Federal Government’s significant presence on the Internet,
occupying the 56 th place on the last UN classification (UNPAN, 2010), all state governments and a
significant number of municipal governments have a presence on the Internet. Internet sites are now one
of the primary means of providing information, dealing with applications and services, and interacting with
different government dependencies. Web 2.0 tools have the potential to take these relationships to the
next level and change interaction schemes between citizens and their participation in government
processes and decision making (Yáñez, 2009).
Electronic Government and Web Sites
There is still not an unified vision of the Electronic Government term. From analysis made from the
literature on the topic, Gil-García and Luna-Reyes (2008) concluded to define electronic government as
“the selection, implementation and use of information and communication technologies in government to
provide public services, improve the effectiveness of administration and promote democratic values and
mechanisms, as well as to create a legal framework that facilitates the development of intensive
initiatives for the use of information resources and promote the development of the knowledge society”.
State government sites are just one example of the application of electronic government. The
development of these applications are applicable not only to pressure from the public to receive the same
service it receives from the private sector, but also the perception of a multitude of potential benefits to
public administration (Luna-Reyes, Hernández-García and Gil-García, 2009). A government site is
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understood as “an access point integrated into a state government Internet site which provides both
external entities and government personnel with a single online access point to state resources and
information” (Gant-Burley, Gant and Craig-Johnson, 2002).
Government Sites as Communication Systems
State websites can be considered government-citizen communication systems via the computer and
Internet. This communication system via computers is characterized by the integration of different media
and its interactive potential. Multimedia, as Castells puts it (Castells, 1998), extends the reach of
electronic communication to every aspect of life (from home to the workplace, from schools to hospitals,
from entertainment to trips).
In this sense, state sites are immersed in a new multimedia system which includes and covers all
expressions of culture. In this new kind of society, all types of messages work in a binary fashion:
presence/absence, whereby presence enables the communicability and socialization of the message.
While the function of communicability is present in all state websites, socialization is only present in some
given that not all have the tools and applications for this (socialization) to take place between users and
government. From a society perspective, communication based on electronic means (typographic,
audiovisual or via computer) is communication (Castells, 1998). This means that the media –in this case,
the site–, is immersed in this multimedia universe, fulfills the role of communicating Government
information.
The evolution of Sites and Models for Communication and Socialization
There are different models that explain the processes of development and evolution of Internet sites
(Layne and Lee, 2001). A few years ago, and taking these evolutionary models as a base, an evaluation
was carried out of state government sites in Mexico (Sandoval Almazán, Gil-Garcia and Luna-Reyes,
2007 and 2008). The stages of Information, Interaction, Transaction, Integration and Participation were
proposed as complementary, but not mutually exclusive components, which can be used to characterize
the development of government sites. Furthermore, this reference framework can be reinterpreted from a
theoretical standpoint in relation to the communication systems included in the previous section. The
communication that arises from the interaction between government and citizens can take place in
different ways, which are explained below.
The Information stage. The characteristics of the sites that belong to the information stage are
comprised by those that only display information on the activities of public administration. Examples of
these characteristics include news or announcements about events, as well as services available to
citizens. The communication that takes place between the Government and Citizens at this stage is one
of sender to receiver, which is horizontal and one way. In this, as well as other levels of site development,
the receiver plays both roles mentioned by Castells (1998). They can be interactors by choosing their
communication path, deciding and selecting the topic, and the knowledge they hope to obtain, as well as
the media; or they can be interacted, users that, within their own capabilities and possibilities, select and
seek out knowledge from inside a media which provides them with limited options. Nevertheless, the
inherent characteristics of the information stage limit the users’ capacity to interact, relegating them to the
position of interacted.
The Interaction Stage. Characteristics inherent to sites in the interaction stage include applications that
allow interaction between citizens and the government, such as forms for asking questions and making
enquiries, forums or automated applications like virtual public servers. Communication between Citizens
and the Government at this stage is two-way, from the sender to the receiver and vice versa, establishing
channels for interaction, such as electronic mail or those mentioned previously. At this stage of two-way
communication, there are more opportunities for interactors to choose their means of communication.
The Transaction Stage. Characteristics of Internet sites at the transaction stage mainly include what
have been electronic commerce topics. The main difference between this and the interaction stage is the
interchange of services and application processes with a well defined cycle and on many occasions, the
fees payments. Nevertheless, since these are services with clearly defined cycles and processes, it is
more common to find an interest in obtaining feedback on how they have performed. One example is
online services that can be carried out by citizens.
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Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán et al.
The Integration Stage. Characteristics inherent to the integration stage make reference to the capability
of the site to present itself as a single window for providing services to the citizen and making it
transparent which agency or agencies are in charge of delivering the services or information. At this
stage, not only does communication take place between the Government and Citizen, but also between
Government dependencies which in turn, communicate this information to the citizen and provide
feedback from the government to the citizen, the citizen to the government and between government
dependencies. For example, municipal government sites that make it easy to obtain construction permits
and licenses needed to start a business on the same site, requiring different agencies that participated in
this process and that were coordinated in order to offer this service to the citizen. This coordination can
be achieved in different ways from using an agent to process all the applications submitted by the
citizens through the technical integration of data and processes between different agencies that enabled
them to offer the service without the need for an agent.
The Participation Stage. Government sites that show characteristics of the participation stage offer the
citizen the ability to socialize and get this way to a full interaction. At this stage, communication is most
extensive, taking place between Government and Citizen, between dependencies, between citizens and
providing feedback.
Communication produced through the use of Web 2.0 tools takes place according to the type of
population and media they choose to obtain information from. In the case of interactors, as mentioned by
Castells (1998), Web 2.0 tools are useful applications for obtaining information without the need to
search for it, which simplifies the job for the user. As for the interacted population, searching for and
finding information within media is made easier by the introduction of these tools on the site. But it is not
only important depending on the type of population that uses the media, it is important because Web 2.0
is implementing applications that make communication possible between different actors within a site, in
which communication takes place in settings where citizens and government communicate between each
other.
3. Methodology
This section describes the data collection methods and the procedures followed to analyze them. The
target population for this analysis is the sites of the 31 Mexican states and the Federal District. Sites were
viewed by three independent observers during the first half of 2008. Observers used a guide to evaluate
the state sites and record the inclusion of Web 2.0 tools, as well as the sections of the site that used
these tools. Data from these observations were collected by each observer and collected by one of them.
In order to get to results related to the use and the frequency of Web 2.0, it was first determined whether
the Web 2.0 tools were used, followed by their frequency. In other words, the number of times a tool in
the sections of the different state sites was used.
To complement this initial measurement in 2008, a second one was undertaken for the 32 state sites
which only looked at Web 2.0 tools linked to the Twitter and Facebook social networking sites in order to
understand what impact this social media technology has on the web pages of state governments. More
specific questions include: How do these governments currently use social media tools? Which state
governments use Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness?
Once the sample from the 32 states and the two social networking platforms were chosen, the procedure
that followed was: Each platform was visited to find out whether the government web pages had valid
accounts –Twitter or Facebook– which were validated by entering them and verifying that they did in fact
belong to the elected government and not a fictitious or erroneous name, or one from another country.
During this validation, data provided by the websites were noted down, such as: followers, individuals
that follow twitter and lists in the case of Twitter, and the number of “friends” in the case of Facebook.
This information was collected during the months of May and October, 2010, using the web browsers
Firefox and Safari, and a broadband Internet connection.
4. Findings and discussion
This section contains a summary of the data collected during the first evaluation of the use of Web 2.0
tools by Mexican state government sites for both the 2008 and the 2010 measurements. Figure 1 shows
the use of the different tools evaluated expressed as a percentage. The most commonly used tools are
APIs at 65% of all Mexican state government sites which use this tool to display dynamic content to
users. The next most used tools are Podcasts (40.6%) and Videocasts (37.5%). It is worth noting that, for
this first evaluation, Podcasts or Videocasts were considered as any sequence of audio or video content
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Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán et al.
posted on the site, regardless of whether it was tourism-related, general information or simply promoted
the state or the incumbent governor. Only 34.4% of state government sites used RSS to distribute
content related to news items or events. The least used mechanisms were forums (25%), wikis (15.6%),
social markers and social networks (6.3%), and only 3.1% of all sites evaluated used blogs. It is clear that
state government electronic sites focus mostly on displaying informative content in text, video and audio
format (Podcasts, Videocasts and RSS) rather than on applications that allow easy communication
between public officials and citizens.
Figure 1: Percentage use of tools by state sites 2008
Regarding to the frequency with which these Web 2.0 tools from the different sections of the sites are
employed, we found that tools located in the Citizens section generally received the most use, followed
by the Government and Tourism sections. The most commonly used tool in the Citizens section was
APIs, which suggests that states are interested in creating interactive applications in this section of the
site. The Government section demonstrates the greatest diversity of tool use, which reflects wide-ranging
interest on the part of the states in terms of the type of communication they seek to create with their
citizens through this section. The tourism section showed a pattern for including multimedia information in
audio and video format. This same pattern was observed in the culture section, albeit with less
frequency. It is interesting to note that only a couple of sites used content syndication services (RSS) in
the press area.
Table 2: Sections where Web 2.0 tools were found
Tools/Section
s
Governme
nt
Citizen Tourism Culture
Application
s and
Services
Transparency Press Othe
rs
Podcasts 1 1 6 2 1 0 0 2
RSS 3 4 0 1 0 0 2 0
Blogs 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Forums 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Videocasts 1 0 4 2 0 1 1 0
Chat 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
API 4 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Red Social 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
TOTAL 12 25 10 5 2 1 3 3
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Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán et al.
2 nd Observation of Twitter and Facebook on state sites 2010
Data collected reveals that 16 states, in other words 50 percent, have Twitter and Facebook. Only three
states (9%) have a Facebook account and only five states have Twitter. Eight states (25%) do not have
accounts with either social networking platform.
Facebook
Several Mexican states show no potential growth in the number of registered friends. The states of
Morelos, Durango, Colima, State of Mexico, Sonora, Hidalgo, Baja California, Campeche and Quintana
Roo have remained the same in each case. Morelos and Durango stand out from the others with more
than three thousand friends each one.
States that have shown growth in the number of “friends” or followers on this platform are: Jalisco and
Guerrero. Jalisco increased from 13 to 3611, growing 27 times. As for Guerrero, it is also noteworthy that
it began with 46 individuals and has now 2973. Nuevo León also experiences a sustained growth going
from 2150 to 4972, an increase of 131 percent. States, such as the Federal District –the capital–
Zacatecas, Chihuahua, Michoacán and Guanajuato, show the same trend. (See Append 1)
Twitter
One of the components of Twitter is its followers. Without doubt, this is one of the most interesting
categories as it relates to the number of individuals or institutions that want to have a link with the
government using this technological tool. Followers of the web page of the president, standing out with a
growth of more than 10 times, going from eight thousand followers to more than one hundred thousand in
six months (see Append 2). This however, is exceeded by Querétaro, Sinaloa and Chiapas –which grew
20 times– and Guanajuato -69 times– amongst others. States experiencing more modest growth
included: the Federal District, the State of Mexico and Baja California.
The phenomenon related to increases in the number of followers is explained in the section individual
followers. Nevertheless, it should be added that it is also dependent on the viral effect (Boynton, 2009),
the replication and spread of links among citizens and government officials promoting the page, which
can lead to a significant explosion in the number of followers in just a few days.
5. Conclusions
Web 2.0 tools and applications seem to be an important alternative for governments and their websites in
the not too distant future. The so-called Government 2.0 has the potential to bring governments and their
citizens closer together simple and effective way. These types of tools will allow greater citizen
participation and enable government dependencies to transmit more and better information. However, it
is also clear that these tools and applications are currently receiving little use on state government sites.
This evaluation reveals some preliminary data on the use of Web 2.0 by state government sites in
Mexico. Given the speed at which Web 2.0 tools change and their availability on the Internet, many sites
could be using them already. Nevertheless, this initial data offers up a first look at this phenomenon and
serves as the grounds for future studies on the topic.
A next stage for the Mexican states that have connected using these tools is for them to hold a dialog
(Boyd, Golder, & Lotan, 2010) –an exchange of tweets and retweets– between users to bring about a
citizen-government collaboration (Honeycutt & Herring, 2008) using Facebook or Twitter. Twitter can help
to both exchange information and recommend news, data or relevant information (Phelan, McCarthy, &
Smyth, 2009). In recent research into the impact of Twitter on the government, Wigand (2010) tried to
analyze the participation of Twitter in the government using four theories: Diffusion and Innovation; Social
Influence, Social Presence and Collective Intelligence Theories through which social networking tools
can interact with the government.
We can conclude that the evaluated Mexican states are beginning to use social networking tools in a
rudimentary fashion. More research is needed to observe the level of interaction with the citizens, their
use to generate value within an organization –and that they’re not just a waste of time– as well as to
determine whether these technologies are useful for improving local government practices and the
relationship with citizens.
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Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán et al.
Finally, the use of Web 2.0 tools on electronic government sites is not just limited to posting the tool.
Including tools and applications on the sites is just the first step; there needs to be a strategy and clear
approach as to what they are expected to achieve. Government 2.0 has great potential to transform and
improve relations between government, citizens, companies and other interest groups, but these tools
must be combined with a clear vision and effective strategies if their effects are to be valuable and
meaningful to governments and citizens alike, as well as to society as a whole. We hope that this first
look at the topic proves useful and arouses greater interest in these types of applications, and leads us in
the near future to internet sites that can really be considered shining examples of Government 2.0.
6. Appendix 1: Evolution of Facebook friends on state websites
Government March 2010 October 2010 Numerical Dif. % Dif.
Presidency 0 83067 83067 8306700,0
Morelos 0 5003 5003 500300,0
Querétaro 2628 7225 4597 174,9
Durango 0 3927 3927 392700,0
Jalisco 13 3611 3598 27676,9
Colima 0 2958 2958 295800,0
Guerrero 46 2973 2927 6363,0
Nuevo León 2150 4972 2822 131,3
State of Mexico 0 2602 2602 260200,0
Sinaloa 0 2023 2023 202300,0
Hidalgo 0 1930 1930 193000,0
Federal District 1121 2751 1630 145,4
Zacatecas 882 2360 1478 167,6
Chihuahua 543 1280 737 135,7
Michoacán 211 948 737 349,3
Guanajuato 182 456 274 150,5
Baja California 0 256 256 25600,0
Campeche 0 215 215 21500,0
Quintana Roo 0 118 118 11800,0
Aguascalientes 0 0 0 0,0
Baja California Sur 0 0 0 0,0
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Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán et al.
Chiapas 0 0 0 0,0
Coahuila 292 292 0 0,0
Nayarit 0 0 0 0,0
Oaxaca 0 0 0 0,0
Puebla 0 0 0 0,0
San Luis Potosí 0 0 0 0,0
Sonora 0 0 0 0,0
Tabasco 0 0 0 0,0
Tamaulipas 0 0 0 0,0
Tlaxcala 0 0 0 0,0
Veracruz 0 0 0 0,0
Yucatán 0 0 0 0,0
7. Appendix 2: Twitter followers on Mexican local government websites
Government Followers March Followers October Numerical Dif. % Dif.
Presidency 8990 100849 91859 1021,8
Federal District 6605 19506 12901 195,3
Queretaro 910 11110 10200 1120,9
Hidalgo 0 9135 9135 913500,0
Chiapas 448 9500 9052 2020,5
Guanajuato 127 8890 8763 6900,0
Sinaloa 329 8837 8508 2586,0
Yucatan 0 8039 8039 0,0
Nuevo León 928 8467 7539 812,4
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Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán et al.
Durango 273 7094 6821 2498,5
Colima 0 6470 6470 647000,0
Baja California Sur 0 5695 5695 569500,0
State of Mexico 2781 6347 3566 128,2
Jalisco 502 3401 2899 577,5
Guerrero 346 1730 1384 400,0
Sonora 20 1386 1366 6830,0
Nayarit 0 1352 1352 135200,0
Baja California 426 1471 1045 245,3
Michoacán 219 1206 987 450,7
Morelos 0 942 942 94200,0
Zacatecas 46 738 692 1504,3
Puebla 0 527 527 52700,0
Quintana Roo 0 51 51 5100,0
Aguascalientes 0 0 0 0,0
Campeche 0 0 0 0,0
Chihuahua 0 0 0 0,0
Coahuila 0 0 0 0,0
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Rodrigo Sandoval Almazán et al.
Oaxaca 0 0 0 0,0
San Luis Potosi 0 0 0 0,0
Tabasco 0 0 0 0,0
Tamaulipas 0 0 0 0,0
Tlaxcala 0 0 0 0,0
Veracruz 0 0 0 0,0
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501

eGovernment in Serbia: Prospects and Challenges
Laslo Šereš and Ivana Horvat
University of Novi Sad, Serbia
laci@ef.uns.ac.rs
ivana.horvat@ef.uns.ac.rs
Abstract: eGovernment is a great opportunity for every country to improve the efficiency of public administration
and to gain a competitive edge. Despite the early recognition of the information society importance, Serbia is, like
many other transitioning countries, struggling with the transformation of its legacy bureaucratic and administrative
processes. This document describes a short history of eGovernment in Serbia, gives an overview of current state
of eGovernment services, and proposes guidelines that would help future eGovernment deployment in Serbia.
Through comparison of Serbian eGovernment solutions with those implemented in a number of EU countries,
some of the strengths and weaknesses of the eGovernment deployment in Serbia are pointed out. The empirical
research conducted in this paper reveals the areas which are crucial in terms of greater public access to
information, and a more efficient, cost-effective government. In this sense, the paper particularly emphasizes the
need to: a) strengthen the legislative framework and the institutional capacity related to the use of eGovernment
within the Serbian public administration; b) support the implementation of public administration reforms necessary
for the further development of eGovernment; c) provide assistance to the development of a National
Interoperability Framework; d) create and/or further develop basic public services to citizens through the use of
eGovernment. In order to develop citizen-centered interoperable eGovernment services, all these areas require
adequate strategy and action plans. This paper aims to analyze different areas and their concepts in order to
define and elaborate guidelines that would initiate evolving of eGovernment in Serbia. The findings and
implications of this survey could contribute to better understanding of conditions and determining the priorities of
further eGovernment development in Serbia.
Keywords: eGovernment, eServices, Serbia, public administration
1. An overview of eGovernment evolution in Serbia
Serbia (as a part of former Yugoslavia) recognized the importance of the information society in the
late 80’s, when regulatory activities and organizational preparations in this area started. The first step
was the adoption of The Guidelines for Developing and Adoption of the Governmental Institutions
Information System Projects by the Executive Council of Serbia Parliament in October 1989. Since
then, there is more or less continuous work on institutionalization and development of governmental
institution’s information systems. Some of the most important acts adopted in the 90’s, which defined
the guidelines for development, were: The Legal Act on Securing and Protecting of Governmental
Institutions Information Systems (1990), Law on Information System of Republic of Serbia (1996),
Legal Act on Program of Information System Development of Republic of Serbia (1997), etc. From the
middle of ‘90s, the realization of several important projects started, but only a few of them were
applied: The Project of Database for IT Standards (1996), Project of Database for Codes and
Classification in Governmental Institutions (1997), Project of Common Computer-Telecommunication
Network of Governmental Institutions (1998) and others. Over time the number of projects with
successful implementation increased: in 2000/01 the Project of Information System about Personal
Status of Citizens was adopted, along with the program system which involves three functional
subsystems: Master register, Electorate and Citizens. In the same year the Project of Unique Register
of Streets and Home Numbers in the Republic of Serbia was adopted and a program system for
maintaining the registry was developed.
Significant results in realization of important eGovernment projects were visible from 2002, when
technological prerequisites were satisfied for intensive and efficient development. An important
milestone in these efforts was the signing of the eSEE Agenda for Information Society Development
in 2002 as a basic document for development of information society in the region. The aim of
Electronic South Eastern Europe (eSEE) Initiative is the better integration of SEE countries into the
global, knowledge-based economy by regionally supporting the development of Information Society.
In order to prove the commitment to the Agenda, in 2004, the Government of Serbia has adopted a
Strategy of the State Administration Reform with the aim of public administration modernization. The
Strategy defined three basic stages according to which the modernization of the Serbian
administration should be implemented. The first stage includes analysis within which is necessary to
analyze the current state of existing infrastructure and currently used information systems as well as
the impact and necessary extents of laws and regulations. The second stage deals with integration
and implementation of international standards in the design and development of state bodies
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communication infrastructure, while the third stage consists of introducing e-services to citizens and
commercial subjects on the levels of both central and local government. In order to establish
appropriate legal surroundings the following laws have been adopted: Law on Electronic Signature
(2004), Law on Free Access to Information of Public Significance (2004), Criminal Code (2005), Law
on the Organization and Jurisdiction of State Organs against High-Tech Crime (2005), Law of
Ministries (2007) – upon which the Republic Office for Informatics and Internet as a special
organization appointed by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society was formed,
Law on Personal Data Protection (2008), Law on e-Commerce (2009), Law on Electronic Documents
(2009).
At the end of this brief overview of important events that signified the development of eGovernment in
Serbia, it is necessary to point out three documents adopted in 2009 & 2010 which will determine
further development: the Strategy of Development of eGovernment in the Republic of Serbia in the
Period 2009-2013 (2009), Strategy of Development of the Information Society in the Republic of
Serbia from 2010 to 2020 (2010) and the Strategy of Development of Electronic Communications in
the Republic of Serbia from 2010 to 2020.
2. Comparative analysis of eGovernment usage: Serbia, Croatia, Austria and
Germany
In order to provide the most accurate information on eGovernment implementation in EU countries,
we used the results of EU eGovernment benchmark conducted in 2009. This benchmark comprises
31 European countries (Cap 2009), whereas four of them are non-EU countries - Croatia, Iceland,
Norway and Switzerland. 12 services for citizen and 8 services for business were tested, as it used to
be a practice in earlier benchmarks. In this benchmark we focused to Austria, Germany and Croatia
while comparing them to Serbia.
2.1 Institutional framework
Austria claimed the State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery to be in charge for eGovernment. The
federal CIO represents “a personal function (i.e. not an institution) supporting coordination of
eGovernment activity, advising the government and representing Austria abroad” (Cap 2009). The
central forum for eGovernment in Austria is a platform ‘Digital Austria’, which comprises
representatives of the federal government, regions, cities, municipalities, private and public sector
bodies. This platform represents an institution that has to do everything with all present activity in
eGovernment, and ensures interconnection among all government levels and stakeholders. It is
chaired by the federal CIO and contains a number of task forces and thematic working groups.
Furthermore, the ICT Strategy Unit does coordination at the federal level. Each ministry and agency
carries out its’ own projects, even though the strategy is overall directed toward binding and
coordinating.
In 2003 Germany launched eGovernment strategy Deutschland-Online, which remained mostly
unchanged. The BundOnline2005 Programme was launched in 2000 at the federal level, and later
was followed by the EGovernment 2.0 Programme. In order to downsize the bureaucracy, and involve
e(participation) as much as providing public services delivery over the Internet, Germany developed a
very comprehensive eGovernment programme. In parallel, this programme focuses on integration of
different levels of government and management of legacy systems. Germany introduced the new
Federal IT Steering System in 2008. This system has governance provided by the Federal CIO
system and the new IT Planning Council. It has deployment that “is largely decentralized, following
Germany’s federal structure. Different states are responsible for piloting new services” (Cap 2009).
In 2003, Croatia has incepted the eGovernment as a part of the general ICT strategy eCroatia. In
2009, it has gained more prominence after a dedicated eGovernment strategy was adopted, which
was primarily focused on separating the development and delivery of services by putting each in
place. Inspired by bid for EU membership, Croatia’s eGovernment activities are strongly aligned with
EU’s policies. Many well organized practices can be found here. On the other hand, due to its’
complex administrative structure, achieving progress might seem a little bit out of limits. Sharing
knowledge, experience and technical know-how with developed countries could speed up this
process. In favor of this “the updated joint national eGovernment strategy (2010-2015) of the federal
states and municipalities level encourages a more streamlined development” (Cap 2009). Croatia has
recently identified eGovernment as a specific policy area, which is under a jurisdiction of the Prime
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Minister, who is appointed by the Central Administrative Office. Furthermore, this office is responsible
for the eCroatia programme, rationalization of the ICT investments and international cooperation.
Decentralized governance that has some involvement of non-government actors (mixed National
Council for the Information society) advises the government about issues being related to the
Information society development as a whole. In Serbia eGovernment has become a part of the
national strategy of administrative reform in 2004. Similar to Croatia, it gained a much greater
significance in 2009 when a separate eGovernment strategy was established. Operations of
eGovernment administration and tasks are under jurisdiction of Ministry of Telecommunications and
Information Society (MTIS), National Information Technology and Internet Agency, and Office for
Common Operations of Government Institutions. The Ministry performs the role of national
certification body for electronic signature, which is different from the majority of EU and South Eastern
Europe countries, where the practice is that this body (Root CA) is independent from the executive
authorities. Serbia is much more centralized than the above mentioned countries and the
eGovernment development is largely under the patronage of central state organs. In terms of effective
development, the large number of government institutions participating in this development can be an
obstacle.
2.2 eGovernment portals
In Austria the Federal Computing Centre is the leading eGovernment service provider with solutions
like: ELAK, MOA Services, eDemocracy, eDK, and help.gv.at. “Combining a document management
system with a workflow system, workgroup applications and an archive, ELAK is designed to enable
administrative units to electronically record, save, find and re-work information, thereby supporting the
transfer of paper files to electronic files for all inter-ministerial processes at federal level.” (PoA 2010)
The government agency’s help site HELP.gv.at offers information necessary for living and working in
Austria. At the moment, many of the connecting links are available only in German (some of them in
English, too). This type of linked portals builds a solid basis for cooperation and collaboration.
Germany has a portal www.bund.de whose main purpose is to provide services and online
information of the German Federal Administration and other public services. This portal represents the
basic component of eGovernment in Federal Government initiative – BundOnline 2005. “The aim of
this initiative, launched at the Expo 2000, was to render all eGovernment services accessible by
2005. The web portal bund.de is an active partner of Deutschland-Online and is involved in the
implementation of harmonization and networking aims.” (PoG 2010)
In order to provide eGovernment to citizens and business users, Croatia developed portal
“MojaUprava“ (http://mojauprava.hr/) which serves as a gateway to various kinds of eGovernment
services and information. This portal gives valid information about every matter in state administration
for all users, both citizens and business users.
The central portal of eGovernment in Serbia “e-Uprava“ (http://www.euprava.gov.rs/) was created in
2007 in order to obscure citizens and business users with relevant information, so they could easily
carry out the administration processes. The most important contents of the portal are: electronic
services, the latest news, FAQ etc. Electronic services can be searched by several criteria - life
situation, initial letter, as well as the competent authority in charge of service implementation. The
execution of certain electronic services is available only to users registered with an electronic
certificate. As a result of the e-Procurement project (2007) a public procurement web portal is
established too (www.ujn.gov.rs). At this moment there is no infrastructure on governmental level for
knowledge management in Serbia.
2.3 Quality of eGovernment services
Considering eGovernment availability “Austria has held a leading position in eGovernment in the EU
for the last few years”. eGovernment as a service is a “fully integrated aspect of government, which is
demonstrated by 100% level of services on line” (Cap 2009). Both government and stakeholders are
taking care of improving strategy and implementation of eGovernment. Germany, on the other hand,
accomplished expansion of broadband access as much as the Internet availability but still keeping
availability and usage stagnated, particularly in business. Croatia has just started to develop
eGovernment and has not reached the maturity level yet. A certain efforts were made to increase
availability of online services, as much as to deliver those services in user-friendly manner. Serbia, as
a country that is by economical, social and geographical position the most similar to Croatia, is at the
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maturity level of eGovernment that is the closest to Croatia. There are many services delivered online
which are user-friendly, but the level of usage is low, due to broadband access and readiness of users
to use eGovernment services, as well to invest in ICT.
Analysis of eGovernment as a service shows that Austria has a fully integrated solution that reduces
administration business for both sides – citizens/business and public administration, primarily taking
care of their users. On the other hand, even if it has 100% services offered online (like Malta, Portugal
and the United Kingdom), there is a minor negligence from citizens, partly due to the rear use of
Internet as well as broadband unavailability. When it comes to online sophistication, Austria achieves
99%, the 3 rd best result in Europe right behind Malta and Portugal. Austria sets an example for Userfocused
Portal Design by scoring over the average of the EU27+, while below the average for
Usability and One-Stop-Shop Approach. “Germany scores 74% on full online availability. In terms of
User Experience, Germany obtains 39% on Usability, 24% on User Satisfaction Monitoring, 70% on
One-Stop-Shop Approach and 71% on User-focused Portal Design.” (Cap 2009) Croatia has userfocused
portal design which scores 100% and One-Stop-Shop Approach reaching even 80%. “On
usability, Croatia scores 34% while 24% of the screened web sites score positively on the User
Satisfaction Monitoring metric.” (Cap 2009) When this benchmark was conducted, usability of
eGovernment services in Serbia was 12.9%, while in 2010 it slightly arose and scores 13.2%. Figures
1 and 2 compare full online availability of eGovernment services for citizen’s and business in Austria,
Germany, Croatia and Serbia in 2009 (Eur 2010, Ins 2009). These figures point out that eGovernment
services designed for citizens have lower availability in Serbia than in any other of compared
countries. On the other hand, in G2B segment Serbia accomplished better results than Croatia,
almost equal to the results of Germany, but still lagging behind Austria.
Figure 1: Full online availability of eGovernment
services – citizens 2009
Figure 2: Full online availability of
eGovernment services –
business 2009
According to Capgemini’s benchmark (Cap 2009), sophistication of 20 basic services in EU 27+ was
76% in 2007 and 83% in 2009. Total sophistication level of eGovernment in Serbia scores 38% in
2007 and 46% in 2009 (Ins 2009). These results show a great backlog of Serbia when compared to
EU countries and justify giving a wakeup call to government and IT society to develop strategy that
would ensure future success in this segment and undertake an appropriate action Plan.
Figure 3: Comparison of eGovernment sophistication
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3. Strengths and weaknesses of eGovernment in Serbia
For several years the Statistical Office of Serbia conducts researches concerning information and
communication technologies usage. In 2010 the research is conducted with 2400 households
(including the individuals that were 16 to 74 years old) sample that was two-phase stratified, in
accordance with the Eurostat methodology. This research was divided in two separate studies: the
first one relates to the citizens, both households and individuals, while the second one is concerned
with the business companies. According to the data provided by these studies, it can be noticed that
there is a constant growth in the number of computers as well as in a number of internet access
points in the last five years.
The research results for 2010 (Sta 2010) showed that more than 50% of households in Serbia had a
computer and 39% of them had an internet access. Analysis of the household data for the last five
years shows that there is a constant growth both, in the number of computers and internet access
points, while the ratio of Internet access points and computer owners is more or less unchanged -
about 80% of computer owners have Internet access (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Percentage of households in Serbia with computer and internet accessIt would be rational
to expect that the trend of computer owner’s growth will continue until it reaches a saturation point, at
the level of 70-80% of households with a computer, which is expected in a few years’ time.
Concerning the usage of eGovernment it is important to note that there is a significant increase in the
number of households with a broadband connection: 47.3% of households have DSL (ADSL)
connection, while 24.5% use cable internet.
In order to get an adequate insight, the results for business companies are also shown here. Based
on a sample of 1400 business companies it was found that in 2010 almost 98% of the Serbian
companies owned a computer, 97% of them had Internet access, and over 90% of them used a
broadband connection.
The research conducted in 2010 (Sta 2010) also included the analysis of users readiness to use
eGovernment services that has provided very interesting results (Figure 5).
It is obvious that there is a significant stratum of citizens who are interested in using the eGovernment
services but many of them are missing the technical prerequisites needed for it. The proportion of
those who use or are interested in the use of eGovernment services is over 60% of the population
while less than 40% of the population has internet access. Another question is why only a third of
citizens with Internet connection are using eGovernment services.
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Laslo Šereš and Ivana Horvat
Figure 5: Readiness of the citizens of Serbia to use eGovernment services
Another survey conducted (Ins 2009) showed similar results: slightly above 40% of citizens with
Internet connection were using eGovernment services both in 2007 and 2009 (Figure 6), while this
percentage is growing in the case of companies.
Figure 6: Percentage of eGovernment services users in Serbia calculated in relation to the number of
internet connection owners
These facts indicate that there is still much work to do in Serbia to increase citizen’s willingness to
adopt eGovernment. In order to develop “citizen-centered” eGovernment services that provide citizens
with accessible, relevant information and quality services the government agencies should pay much
more attention on the factors that influence citizen adoption of this innovation. The maturity model
from the 2009 benchmark is used in order to provide an adequate description of strengths and
weaknesses of eGovernment in Serbia. This model differ five different stages which define the level of
sophistication and online availability of some services. The stages are defined as follows:
Stage 0 the service provider doesn’t have a publicly accessible website or it doesn’t qualify for
any of the four levels.
Stage 1 (information) all information is available on website which is accessible. The website is
managed by the service provider.
Stage 2 (one-way interaction) provides a user to obtain a necessary paper in non electronic way.
Stage 3 (two-way interaction) gives an opportunity to electronic intake with an official electronic
form.
Stage 4 (transaction) offers the possibility to completely keep track of a process via the website.
There is no other formal procedure for applicant.
Stage 5 (targetization) the provider of the service is already familiar with the user’s data, provides
him/her with regulations for data protection and brings up a certain level of personalization.
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Figure 7: Five-stage maturity model used in benchmark (Cap 2009)
The table below gives a detail overview of online availability and sophistication stage of 20 basic
services and their current stage of maturity (Ins 2009). All table data are gathered from the research
conducted by Republic Office for Informatics and Internet. The research was conducted according to
the Capgemini’s methodology including both, the republic authority, at the highest level of service
suppliers, and the local authority, at the lowest level. The level of sophistication was calculated as an
average value of local authority values. In order to evaluate strength of these services, a maximum
stage is supplied.
Table 1: Sophistication stage of 20 basic government services in Serbia (2009)
Service name Current Max.
Service name Current Max.
stage stage
stage stage
Citizen service Business service
Job search 4 4 Corporate tax 3 5
Social security benefits 2 4 Building permission and
environment-related permits
1 5
Personal document 1 5 Electronic cadastre and property
registries
2 4
Car registration 1 5 Health-related services and social 2 4
contributions
Public libraries 4 5 Company registration 3 4
Certificates 1 4 Registration of company revenue 3 4
Enrolment in higher education 1 4 VAT 2 4
Announcement of moving 1 4 Customs declaration 4 4
Registration of foreign trade 1 4
transactions
Public procurement 3 4
Registry of legal persons mortgage 4 5
Statistical data 2 5
The most developed services are those related to budget inflow, while the services connected with
licenses and certificates are less developed. In 2008 the sophistication level of eGovernment in
Serbia was 47%, while in 2009 it reached 51%. This increase is a consequence of higher
sophistication levels of some services: Electronic cadastre and property registries, Register of legal
persons mortgage, Social security benefits and Public libraries.
Observing the sophistication stage of services it is obvious that great part of them, 7 of 20 services
are developed to match the first stage. Five services are at the second stage, 4 are at the third stage
and only 4 of them achieved the forth level. The lowest sophistication of all services is measured in
the Personal documents group (birth certificates). There is a (bit strange) sophistication level downfall
– from stage 2 in 2008 to stage 1 in 2009. Although the average has fallen, 34% of local governments
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Laslo Šereš and Ivana Horvat
supply service at the third stage. Considering that the forth level implies electronic signature and
document this is a really good result. Considering that the use and exchange of electronic documents
in certain areas (customs, accounting jobs, banking and others) becomes a reality, the achieved
results can be assessed as partial. In order to achieve better results it is necessary to eliminate or at
least reveal obstacles that tie down further development. The existing situation in this area is featured
by:
Insufficiently developed shared computing;
Underdevelopment of official records in electronic form, as the core data necessary for the
development of electronic government;
Inevitability of paper documents in almost every proceeding;
Lack of standardization and coordination of authority’s information systems;
Lack of competent personnel.
Although the weaknesses are much more widespread there are a few bright sides:
Strong political commitment in terms of eGovernment development;
Experience gained through successful development of solutions in other areas of e-business.
4. Guidelines for future development of eGovernment in Serbia
The strategy of eGovernment development in Serbia is compatible with the objectives of the Action
Plan for implementation of priorities from eSEE Agenda+ for the Information Society in South Eastern
Europe in the period 2007-2012. It is based on the condition of legislative regulation of this area and
results achieved in implementation of legislative solutions. In this context the significance of
implementation of the Law on Electronic Signatures is particularly emphasized (TGS 2010). The
strategy is based on the results of ongoing projects, such as the introduction of electronic government
sessions, electronic cadastre, initial results in the introduction of electronic services for some tasks
and others. It is very important to raise the motivation of all participants in order to intensify activities
in this field and establish an institutional framework for managing and coordinating the development of
eGovernment at the strategic and operational levels.
The realization of the vision and general objectives of eGovernment should be guided by the following
principles:
User satisfaction - it is crucial to identify main adoption factors (perceived usefulness, relative
advantage, compatibility, etc.) in order to raise users’ intention to use online government services.
Single access point (one stop shop).
Public information availability in electronic form - without charge or other conditioning.
Electronic services availability - free access for all users, including people with disabilities, by
using open and widely accepted standards.
Not neglecting the classical forms of service delivery - all users should benefit from the
eGovernment development, regardless of whether they use electronic means to access services.
New ICT based services - public services should be provided through different communication
channels.
Avoiding technological dependence - technological foundation for the development and
exploitation of electronic public services related to computers, software solutions and
communication network should be independent from suppliers of goods and services as much as
possible.
Information security - security and reliability of eGovernment must be in accordance with
established standards of information security and protection of personal data.
Staffing - electronic public services must be supported by professionally trained officers.
The priorities of eGovernment development could be grouped into the following pillars:
Establishment of key levers;
Process automation;
Establishment of electronic public services;
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Human resources development
4.1 Establishment of key levers
Laslo Šereš and Ivana Horvat
The first pillar of eGovernment includes system solutions which are essential for an effective
development of eGovernment. It includes the following priorities:
ICT infrastructure
− Communication infrastructure that enables computer-based connectivity between authorities
and Internet connection;
− Computer centers with servers and other information and communication resources –
database servers, application servers, etc.;
− Infrastructure at different locations, including local area networks.
Electronic identity, electronic signature and electronic document
It is necessary to ensure reliable and secure authentication of electronic documents signatories
and electronic services users. It is also necessary to achieve the electronic document being used
as the original.
Electronic official records.
In addition to keeping records in electronic form, it is necessary to ensure efficient and secure
electronic access to this data by officers conducting proceedings, to eliminate the need for a party
in the proceedings to obtain fact’s evidence from the records.
Standardization in the field of ICT implementation and coordination of ICT projects in government.
Standardization and coordination could contribute to the rationalization of resources, security,
interoperability, and a simpler and better implementation of individual projects.
4.2 Process automation
The second pillar of eGovernment should substantially contribute to better execution of business
processes by using ICT, along with improving efficiency and streamlining of costs. The introduction of
electronic documents speeds up communication and retrieval of the documents, but does not
necessarily change the processing of the documents. Electronic documents can be created in the
same way the paper documents were previously prepared with a computer, but instead of delivering a
printed document on paper, it is delivered in electronic form. Any processing of such documents still
includes the need to be read by someone, which is essentially not an automated processing.
Electronic documents should be produced, stored and delivered in a form which is suitable for further
automated processing, in other words as a structured electronic document (which enables
independently developed information systems to communicate via standard protocols and formats of
structured electronic documents).
4.3 Establishment of electronic public services
This pillar includes the following priorities:
eGovernment portals and shared electronic services
Portal is a single point of access to multiple electronic public services. Shared electronic services
are important for the realization of many electronic public services (central authentication system,
electronic payment, electronic forms, etc.).
Electronic public services.
4.4 Human resources development
It is necessary to improve the official staff’s competence as information systems and electronic
services users, as well as the competence of ICT experts’ responsible for functioning of technical
systems and their improvement. Main priorities of this pillar are:
Computer literacy and skills of officers
It is necessary to raise the general IT literacy of employees in state administration, as well as
skills in using specific IT solutions.
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Laslo Šereš and Ivana Horvat
In favor of sustainable ICT solutions needed for eGovernment development, it is necessary to
provide adequate ICT support. In addition, special attention should be paid to the formation of
expert teams who provide ICT services.
4.5 Abbreviated action plan for the period 2011-2012
In order to achieve defined objectives and realize priorities listed above it is necessary to define an
action plan. Some of the most important activities that should be implemented in the next two years
are listed in table 2 (TGS 2010).
Table 2: Abbreviated action plan of eGovernment development in Serbia for the period 2011-2012
Year of
Priority Activities
implement.
State network establishment 2011
ICT Infrastructure
Standardization in the field of ICT
implementation and coordination
of ICT projects in public
administration
Exchange of structured
documents and inter-agency
process automation
Process automation
eGovernment portals and shared
Establishment of electronic official records Data Dictionary 2011
Plan for EU identifiers (passwords, identity or registration
numbers, codes, etc.) in various official records
2011
Development of the National Interoperability Framework 2012
Development of a plan for structured documents exchange
establishment in individual transactions and process
automation
General administrative procedure reform in order to adapt to
prevailing use of electronic communication and process
automation capabilities.
2011
2012
Establishment of a national Geoportal 2012
e-Services Initiation of electronic payment services 2011
Realization of single electronic counter for taxpayers 2012
Realization of electronic service for issuing environmental
licenses
2012
Implementation of electronic services related to building
permits issuance
2012
Realization of electronic real estate and real estate rights
Realization of e-services related to health and pension
2012
insurance of employees (full e-service in filing returns,
payments and obtaining information on the state tax
2011
Individual e-Services
liabilities and tax laws change)
Realization of e-service application for corporate income tax 2011
Realization of e-service application for value added tax
Establishing a single electronic counters for foreign trade in
2011
accordance with the recommendations of UN Economic 2011
Commission for Europe
Realization of electronic services for the achievement of
statutory rights in the field of social protection and financial
support to families with children
Realization of electronic services related to the issuance of
identity documents (identity card, passport and driving
license)
Realization of e-services of motor vehicle registration (new,
used and imported) that do not require a physical visit of
citizens in case of an extension of vehicle registration
Public libraries (realization of e-accessibility of catalogs and
search tools publications)
Realization of e-services for issuing birth and death
certificates and citizenship certificates
Realization of e-services related to citizens annual income
tax
Realization of e-services related to provision of health
services (interactive advice on the availability of services,
scheduling of examinations, ... )
511
2012
2011
2011
2011
2012
2011
2011

5. Conclusion
Laslo Šereš and Ivana Horvat
Investment in ICT by governments in the SEE countries has increased dramatically in recent years.
Most SEE countries are adopting ICTs primarily to modernize and increase internal effectiveness as
well as to improve service delivery. They consider eGovernment applications as an enabling tool to
increase efficiency, enhance transparency, collect more revenue and facilitate public sector reform.
Observing the results of the adoption of eGovernment concepts in Serbia, it can be noticed that a lot
has been done with regard to the legislative regulation in the last few years, but there is much to be
done in the field of implementation, for instance - e-signatures. Although Serbia lags behind most
European countries in terms of eGovernment adoption, there are many similarities: the sophistication
level as well as the full online availability of eGovernment services is much higher in the business
area than it is in the citizen.
According to the reached level of sophistication (51%), eGovernment in Serbia reached the stage of
two-way interaction which implies the ability to send completed forms via the Internet. The situation is
considerably better in the case of services used by business, while in terms of citizen services
sophistication the average level is closer to one-way interaction. When compared to particular
domains, the highest level of sophistication is related to the Registry of legal person’s mortgage,
Customs declaration and Job search, while the lowest level is achieved in Permits and documents. In
contrast to EU countries (27+) where, on average, more than a half of services are fully available
online, in Serbia none of the eGovernment segments is on the level that can completely replace direct
or written communication.
As extracted from the results presented in this paper, a substantial obstacle in creating a fully
computerized eGovernment in Serbia is the lack of appropriate internet infrastructure and the low
level of internet penetration. Serbia should allocate budgetary funds and create the ideal conditions
that will boost the development of modern communication networks. In parallel, stimulation of public
awareness on the availability and potential benefits of eGovernment services is vital towards
reinforcing democracy, improving public services, and strengthening economic and business
development. In addition to the current strong political commitment, Serbia needs to ensure active
involvement of the entire society in eGovernment and IS development. By following the best practices
of other countries, planning realistic eGovernment projects and identifying issues of technical and
human capacity Serbia has an opportunity to catch up and reach the goal of modern eGovernment.
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An Organizational Framework for Managing eGovernment
Systems in Developing Countries: The Case of Kurdistan
Region of Iraq
Shareef Shareef, Elias Pimenidis, Hamid Jahankhani and J. Arreymbi
University of East London, UK
s.shareef@uel.ac.uk
e.pimenidis@uel.ac.uk
Hamid.jahankhani@uel.ac.uk
J.Arreymbi@uel.ac.uk
Abstract: This paper aims at proposing an organizational framework for implementing eGovernment in developing
countries. Furthermore a management process to meet the modernization goals of government based on a proposal
by Heeks (2006), in his work on managing eGovernment systems, is specified. The challenges that affect the
implementation and management of eGovernment systems are critically analysed and the authors expect
practitioners and authorities to find the results useful in the planning and implementation of new eGovernment
systems.
Keywords: KRG, KRI, eGovernment, centralize, decentralize, hybrid approach, management process.
1. Introduction
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are utilized as tools of eGovernment aiming to
decrease the load of public administration and enhance performance in service provision to the
community. Additional benefits include the expected decrease in the gap between the urban and rural
area population in terms of access to service provision (Kamar, and Ongo’ndo, 2007). The mission to
initiate and implement eGovernment is inspired by policies aiming at increased accountability, efficiency,
effectiveness and improved transparency; thus enhancing governance tools and practice (Grant & Chau
2005). This paper investigates the above desired qualities of governance based on literature review and
proposes an organizational framework for managing the eGovernment sector and its operation with the
confines of a regional government structure.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq focuses on the role of new technology to develop
public administration and at the same time improve the government’s capability to supervise key activities
in the re-construction of Kurdish social life, infrastructure, services, increased political freedom and
tangible improvements in the people’s daily lives. The electronic government strategic plan is a national
initiative for KRG (see www.KRG.org). It aspires at improving effectiveness and efficiency in government
services by improving the quality of service delivery to its citizens and businesses through ICT adoption,
and the potential of multi-channel delivery of services. To carry out this plan, the IT department of the
council of ministries of KRG has been established, in order to prepare eGovernment initiatives and their
implementation in collaboration with various stakeholders, and also to plan the way for Kurdistan and its
citizens would become competitive members of the global economy and information society.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: the next section discuses the need for an organizational
framework of eGovernment. Section three discuses the proposed organizational structure for the
eGovernment sector in developing countries. The fourth section explains the current state of affairs of
KRI, while section five discusses the proposed management approach as applied to the eGovernment
sector in the IT department of a regional government in a developing country, namely the KRG. Before
concluding, section six provides the authors’ views on challenges and dilemmas in managing
eGovernment systems.
2. Need for organizational framework of eGovernment
eGovernment is a dynamic form of continuous service provision process which makes availability of
services to the community electronically via multiple channels of delivery; such as the Internet, telephone,
wireless devices, and other communication systems, through an effective management process (Shareef,
et al. 2010). Managing eGovernment is vital in attaining and sustaining a high level of service provision,
because eGovernment could fail due to weak implementation and poor management (Heeks, 2006).
Without good management it would be impossible to make good decisions continuously and egovernance
will not be able to succeed and provide services effectively and efficiently, and as a
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consequence the system will be abandoned and will fail. Therefore, to implement a successful
eGovernment, a robust and rigorous managing process is essential. In order to understand how to
manage eGovernment sector, it’s also necessary to understand the concept of management.
Many governments face troubles and problems when undertaking large ICT projects for implementing
eGovernment systems. Budgets and completion deadlines are often exceeded, and progress is out of
control, often resulting in the quality of the resulting services being compromised and possibly falling
behind the project’s targets at the conception stage (Goepp et. al., 2006; Wang et al. 2004).
Investment in ICT is not always synonymous to success in eGovernment; even in the case of Saudi
Arabia which has seen massive investment in ICT and has seen considerable improvements in
infrastructure (Al-Kamali, 2005). Despite all the above investment, Saudi Arabia was still ranked number
70 in the world in terms of eGovernment readiness two years ago and has not seen any significant
changes since (UN 2008). Heeks (2006) believes that the potential failures of eGovernment systems can
be attributed to the wide divide between system design and institutional reality. That implies the gap
between the current situation of government and the assumptions built into the design of the system.
The success and failure of eGovernment relies on the extent of the divide that exists between the current
state of affairs and the design of eGovernment systems employed. The root cause of eGovernment
failure has not been well captured and analyzed by literature so far. In order to overcome eGovernment
failure, a proper and robust management process is essential.
2.1 Management forms
According to literature there are various concepts, applications, and models used to manage
eGovernment systems; the prevailing emphasis is on consumer requirements and consumer information.
In one of the most predominant amongst these words, Arif (2008) has applied (Jaworski and Kohli
1993)’s model to eGovernment management. This model measures the consumer orientation and
comprises three mechanisms; the first mechanism is institution-wide generation, the second is diffusion,
and the last mechanism is institution-wide-responsiveness. The simplicity and ease of this model make it
easily adaptable to varying situations and hence could be adapted to any special situation such as the
specific requirements of a regional government. The versatility of this model has been proven by a
number of researchers by having been applied to a wide range of application domains; supply chain
(Saiguaw et al, 1998), hospitality and tourism (Sin et al, 2005; Qu et al, 2005), manufacturing (Singh and
Ranchodd, 2004), new product development (Kahn, 2001), and construction (Dulaimi, 2005).
Coursey, et al. (2007) explain the two different trends of eGovernment systems, as such conventional
public information management and institutional. The first trend concentrates on organizational approach
such as politics, application features, and resources. This type of trend comes from authors and public
administration researchers, in which they are more trained in conventional public IT research and not
eGovernment. The second trend concentrates on more common political features, such as government
structure.
Wang et al. (2004) have proposed an information knowledge management model and refer to some
missing links in the managing of eGovernment IT infrastructure. Firstly, lack of the essential software and
the fundamental systems and mechanism information for design, implementation, and deployment
stages. Secondly, lack of tools for providing precise and up-to-date information regarding the hard or
physical IT environment. Thirdly, the lack of system that plans for the large amount of data into a
collected knowledge-based to support and decision analysis. Fourthly, the lack of process for
systematically dealing with IT functions.
Heeks (2006) categorized eGovernment management into three approaches namely; Centralized,
Decentralized and Hybrid. In the first category decision making is performed by upper, senior or central
level decision makers. Decision making being the responsibility of lower level, under senior level or
individual institution staff and individual work unit, is the format of the second category. Finally the third
category involves both lower level and senior level staff in the decision making process, either alone or in
an integrated mode.
The method proposed in this paper is based on Heek’s third category. The details of the model are
discussed in details in section five.
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3. Proposed framework
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This section discusses the proposed organizational framework for the eGovernment sector in developing
countries. The structure of the proposed framework is depicted in figure 1.
Electronic Government Director General
E-council Deputy Director General
E-Gov. planning centre
Includes: Web designer, Database, Programmer,
Language Interpreter, and Implementation
Networking Centre
Includes; Wiring and Installation, Technological
equipment maintenance, Hardware and Software.
Computer applications & Training Centre
Includes; ICT skills, Citizen and Stakeholder
awareness programme
Financial Centre
Includes; Business Analysts
E-Gov. Support Centre: Includes; Analysis
E-Gov. service development Centre
Includes; Data management, Testing,
Quality Assurance, and Production
Security Centre; Confidentiality, Integrity,
and Availability
Figure 1: Structural framework for eGovernment sector
The proposed framework is based on Arif’s (2008) IT project management model, but the focus is on
eGovernment and its management in general rather than a specific project.
In order to implement a proposed integrated eGovernment model it is essential to derive an
organizational framework of the eGovernment system in terms of implementation and management.
Moreover, the initial pace towards eGovernment is to digitize and develop back-office processes in order
to empower government employees to conduct citizens’ transaction effectively and efficiently.
In the proposed framework the electronic government sector comprises seven centres, all of which are
managed by an electronic council, and the sector will be managed by a Director of General (DG). The
director general should be thoroughly knowledgable and experienced in ICT managment at strategic
level, preferably by exposure to knowledge management (Berce, et al. 2008; Rodriguez & Edwards,
2007). The responsibilities of the DG will range from critically assessing employees in terms of IT
competences to evaluating whether the current methods of using technology and the tools used (wireless
devices, SMS, kiosks, and others) are adequate to ensure acceptance of eGovernment technologies
amongst citizens (Andersen, 2006). The Deputy Director of General (DDG) will be in charge of an
electronic council. This will be responsible for developing the vision and direction of eGovernment
applications and practices. Membership of this council will comprise the corporate directors of all other
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centres in the sector. The main responsibilities of the proposed structure of the eGovernment sector can
be considered as a five main responsibilities.
A. Plan, design, monitor, control, upgrade, supervise, manage, develop, support all computer
networks of eGovernment system and respond to any risks facing the system.
B. Systematize, recognize the technical standards, and criteria relevant to the development of
eGovernment.
C. Train government staff and other stakeholders in order to be able to upgrade and develop the
system. Furthermore to promote, and encourage citizens to utilize eGovernment services by raising
awareness.
D. Organize all the ICT units in government institutions and ministries in order to cooperate and
contribute to the development of the eGovernment system.
E. Financially manage, organize, and control budgets and projects for eGovernment implementation.
The above tasks will be carried out by seven main centres in eGovernment sector as follows:
3.1 eGovernment planning centre
This centre deals with the planning and designing of the eGovernment system with short, medium, and
long term objectives embedded into the strategic plan (Arif, 2008). Furthermore it is responsible for web
design, programming, creating databases, interpreting the information into various languages such as;
national and international language, in order to facilitate understanding of information and services to the
stakeholders(Moore, 2005; Jaeger and Thompson, 2003).
3.2 Networking centre
This deals with the design and maintenance of networks. It is also involved with the operation of external
and internal computer networks. Finally it is responsible to wiring and installing all the peripheral
equipment, also technological component maintenance such as hardware and software.
3.3 Computer application and training centre
The centre manages the web site and the eGovernment system. Further responsibilities include training
employees and other stakeholders in terms of ICT skills, aiming at reducing the effects of the digital
divide (Ke, and Wei, 2004).
Finally the centre is responsible for creating and managing citizen and stakeholder awareness
programmes, aiming to enhance the relations with stakeholders; namely citizens, business, and
employees (Weerakody, 2009; Carter, and Belanger, 2005).
3.4 Financial centre
The centre manages financial issues such as budget setting and its monitoring process. It is also
responsible for funding sources to support the projects and the day to day running of the eGovernment
systems (Gant, 2002).
3.5 eGovernment support centre
It addresses the need for technical and economical support to the sector, and supports any technical
principles and values for development. It also studies all the trends of the system in terms of regulatory
units at government institutions in order to construct the suitable decision. This centre is analysing the
services in terms of coding and programming. The services will be prepared and send to the
development centre.
3.6 eGovernment service development centre
This centre deals with the flow and type of services provided to the community, through gathering
information and researching in order to improve and develop services. It guarantees that the information
and services that provided to the community are in a good order (Jaeger and Thompson, 2003). Finally, it
is responsible to test the flow of services, and to evaluate the various aspects of the services in terms of
human resource, quality assurance and the quality of services (Nygren, 2009; Wang and Liao, 2008;
DeLone and McLean, 2003).
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3.7 Security centre
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This centre is responsible for security of the system in general and the gateway or web site in particular.
This centre is vital to guarantee and facilitate citizen’s transaction, make citizens’ information safe; secure
their privacy and confidentiality of information network (Reddick and Frank, 2007). Moreover, is
responsible to protect the system from any inter and intra hackers and theft of information.
4. Current state of affairs of Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)
Kurdistan is a federal region of Iraq. It is a secular and democratic region with a parliamentary system of
Government. It comprises three cities, namely; Erbil (capital), Sulaymani, and Duhok with Kurdish
inhabitants around five million (KRSO, 2007). The new Iraqi constitution recognizes the KRG as the legal
government of the Kurds, and lets it to continue to live within the new federal country. The KRG vision of
its IT department is to transform government and to act in a customer oriented approach as an effective
and accountable entity, instead of being a bureaucratic institution. This was a major hypothesis of the IT
department administration found during the interview that the leading author has had with the head of the
IT department. Given the above context, the government has managed to sign an agreement with Price
Water House Cooper UK (PWCUK) in order to create an IT strategy for Kurdistan Regional Government,
which will facilitate the initiative of eGovernment system in the region. In addition, the KRG has launched
the IT academy on 10th September 2009 as a centre for training government employees in diverse topics
such as, IT skills, managing, human resource, capacity-building and others (www.krg.org). The strategic
plan is essential for the success of eGovernment implementation, and the organizational framework is
expected to contribute to this (Heeks 2006). Therefore, for the purpose of this research it is essential to
consider the proposed framework of an eGovernment implementation in regional governments in
developing countries. In addition, this proposal precisely could be applied to the IT department in the
council of ministries in the KRG, within the management process of the sector. Therefore, this will
contribute to the effective and efficient integration of customer requirements into service design.
5. Proposed management process
To manage the proposed integrated eGovernment system, a robust and professional management
process is essential. Heeks (2008) revealed in his study that, most eGovernment implementation projects
fail. 35% of eGovernments are total failures, in which the implementation were abandoned or the system
were never implemented such as East Africa. 50% can be measured to be partial failures, in which main
goals of the implementation were not attained such as Eastern Europe. Merely, approximately 15% are
successes, where most of the aims of the stakeholders were achieved. However, eGovernment initiatives
could be successful if the government authority identifies community requirements and takes them into
account (Savvas et al. 2009).
In addition, the discipline and rigor of system management can considerably contribute to the overall
success of the eGovernment system (Rose and Grant 2010). In other words, proper management will
enhance the success of eGovernment implementation. Each part of the eGovernment sector will perform
a distinct function if managed correctly. In order to improve and enhance the management process, the
entire staff working in eGovernment sector should have ICT skills, and the directors should have
management knowledge.
Furthermore, should meet on regular bases in order to share and exchange information and to work as a
team, which is a critical success factor (Milis and Mercken, 2002). The ability of all staff to cooperate with
each other and the ability of a formal mechanism of performing that, if not that will create a lack of
knowledge sharing. Heeks (2006) mentioned three main approaches regarding eGovernment
management namely; centralized, decentralized, and hybrid approach.
5.1 Centralized approach
This approach is an effective and efficient approach that makes an institution more independent. It makes
lots of staff and consumers depending on a single management unit and larger dependence on a staff
that plan, expand, and organize eGovernment. This approach suffers from various problems such as;
many changes should take place in terms of information system (IS) in government institutions, such as
IS architecture, new hardware, software, and new process to perform decisions. Such changes will
consume time and money to gather information from decentralized institutions as an input to centralized
decision, and also need more time to distribute this information to the down institutions. That will affect
the delay of system process development such as in social security systems in the UK (Margetts, 1999).
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This approach is recognized as introducing fewer gaps between the user of the system and system
developer and, this system is likely to be faster in terms of development. Other features of the system
include operation, troubleshooting, implementation and maintenance, with a possibility of being
completed faster under this approach. In addition, this approach presents lower costs compared to the
centralized one. This is due to faster progress, greater focus on buying software packages rather than
progressing software in-house and greater focus on smaller computers.
However, this approach also suffers from diverse problems and constraints such as high initial cost
investment on IT, lack of skills in government institutions employees to support decentralized decision
making, and work on the eGovernment implementation system. In other words buying computers for
information collection, staff training to system maintenance and operation, these will increase, cost, and
duplicate efforts.
Data sharing in this approach also is one of the main dilemmas facing eGovernment management. In
other words the same data distributed amongst various institutions with different formats, name, and
codes. Sharing other resources, for instance if an institution wants to create its own eGovernment
system, that may be difficult to replace software and hardware. However, each system needs a unique
set of skills for system operation, implementation, and evolution.
5.3 Hybrid approach
This approach is the most effective approach for eGovernment management, because the decision is
executed by both senior level and lower level officials and would be a combination of both centralized and
decentralized approach into some type of compromise. The Canadian government has used the hybrid
approach of a federated architecture, in which it allows institutions to make their own networks together,
communications integrate a computing architecture to allow the technology to connect together, and data
exchanged through common information architecture (D’Auray, 2003).
The authors propose this approach as a main principle to manage eGovernment sector in regional
governments in developing countries. This approach has also been used by various federal governments
in different countries such as Germany, and the USA. The idea is to create a single portal that links to
sub-portals with users being free to access the main portal or the sub-portals. The responsibilities of main
data management are reserved at sub-portal level, and managed by individual ministries and institutions
(Curtin et al. 2003).
Furthermore, this approach involves division of labour or division of responsibilities such as, recognizing
particular types of eGovernment system as appropriate for central evolution, and others appropriate for
end user/decentralized evolution. The hybrid approach is better than both centralized and decentralized
approaches, “because it can simultaneously provide the control necessary to share key resources
(including data), to avoid duplication, and to achieve economies of scale; and the freedom necessary to
meet user needs, and to overcome blocks to IT usage and system development” (Heeks, 2006, p 29).
Nevertheless, the hybrid approach is not easy to implement and is not panacea. It can suffer from some
of the disadvantages and shortfalls encountered in the other two approaches.
To succeed, any system should be evaluated and monitored in order to be able to consider its potential
for implementation. The core of ICT evaluation requires consideration of internal managerial behaviours
and external interactions such as citizen responses (Hackney, et al. 2005). Literature demonstrates that a
wide range of approaches and methodologies have been used to evaluate eGovernment systems. The
Analytic Hierarchy Process & Grey (AHP-Grey) method uses multi-criteria to perform a comparative
assessment between new and existing systems (Ji, 2009; Wang, et al. 2007). The consideration of key
performance indicators (KPI), consumer satisfaction surveys and other monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
tools to a different way of testing the success of eGovernment systems (infoDev, 2008). Furthermore, the
Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis method can also be used to evaluate
the proposed framework against best practice frameworks in developing countries (Backus, 2001;
Kahraman, et al. 2007; Mousavi, et al. 2010; UN, 2010).
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In addition, there are a variety of methodologies that have been deployed to evaluate IT projects such as
Real Option Valuation (ROV) by Paul & Evan (2007), Return on management (ROM) and also Multi-
Objective and Multi Criteria (MOMC) by Remenyi et al. (1999).
The above mentioned methodologies can also be applied to evaluate the eGovernment sector. This
research is ongoing and its next phase will address the evaluation of eGovernment systems, allowing the
authors for more close focus on evaluation models and methodologies.
6. Challenges
Information technologies play a vital role in the running of every institution across the globe.
Nevertheless, three out of five IT projects fail in terms of satisfying user requirements (Goepp et. al.,
2006). Furthermore, most of the above also fail by exceeding their completion deadlines and/or budgets.
Such failings represent a substantial financial loss for the organizations involved (Sauer et al., 2001).
EGovernment projects face the same challenges as any other IT project (Arif, 2008). Literature contains
the results from various researches on the challenges in developing eGovernment systems such as the
lack of awareness (Reffat, 2003), bureaucratic culture, lack of government support (Karunanada &
Weerakody, 2006), lack of usability of websites, trust, human resource, and capacity building. All of the
above can also be considered as key risks in IT projects of diverse types. Overcoming such challenges
would therefore be the fundamental tests for citizens and government for any country planning to
implement eGovernment.
Currently, most local, regional, federal, and state governments face severe dilemmas in managing
eGovernment, both in developing and even developed countries. As far as literature is concerned, most
of such challenges arise not from the application, but from the complexity of the infrastructure itself
(Wang, et al. 2004). Furthermore, another key factor of failure in eGovernment management is that of
poor management process inherent within the organization (Heeks, 2008).
Proper management will enhance the success of an eGovernment initiative. Lack of discipline and rigor
of system management can also considerably contribute to the failure of the eGovernment system (Rose
and Grant 2010). Another factor that can impact on eGovernment systems is the lack of interoperability
among government institutions (Moore, 2005; Ogilvie, 2005), where each institution sets up their own
system without sharing data or information with the others. In addition, misunderstanding and lack of
collaboration between the services and ICT may cause tension (Socitm, 2003).
The interference of politicians in public management may contribute to the failure of systems, particularly
in developing countries. Politicians should support the development process in order to implement
successful systems (Reddick & Frank, 2007). The lack of direct contact can result in multiple iterations,
weak leadership and poor IT skills employed in the eGovernment sector will also invoke failures in the
eGovernment system (Prybutok, et al. 2008).
Moreover, lack of participation from business, employees, citizens, and others of different ICT means and
capabilities may influence failure in eGovernment systems (Brown & Schelin, 2005; Carter & Bélanger,
2005; Jaeger & Thompson, 2003; Moore, 2005; Löfstedt, 2007). The cooperation of all stakeholders
therefore is a key factor for a successful eGovernment system.
7. Conclusion
In developing countries and particularly in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) both government sector and
private sector are commonly technology-based rather than information-based, in terms of service
provision. That may cause significant divide between the evolving program in the private sector and the
expectation of the government. Therefore, the authors propose an organizational framework for the
eGovernment sector. A management process that focuses on the effect of citizens’ orientation and the
cooperation of all stakeholders for successful eGovernment initiative. Thus, senior managers and chief
executives should consider these issues in the context of implementing eGovernment. A hybrid concept
for managing eGovernment system for IT department relevant to the initiative of an eGovernment for
KRG has been proposed. This framework can be applied to other regional governments in developing
countries. The authors believe that the hybrid approach of managing eGovernment implementation is
very useful as it combines both centralized and decentralized features in managing the eGovernment
sector. The above framework fulfils the key requirement of considering the organizational aspect as an
equally important factor while managing IT projects for eGovernment implementation. Environmental and
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societal challenges might have a significant effect on eGovernment failure and, should be considered to
allow for success in the sector.
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521

Outsourcing of IT Projects in the Public Sector – Sustainable
Solution or Erosion of the Public Sector?
Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
dalibor.stanimirovic@fu.uni-lj.si
mirko.vintar@fu.uni-lj.si
Abstract: While the number of outsourcing projects in the last ten years has been growing exponentially in Slovenia,
sourcing strategies seem to be one of the core factors in creating a sustainable while effective and efficient public
sector, at the same time. Outsourcing projects ought to reduce costs and help organizations to focus on core
business processes which should consequently improve service provision and quality. Past experience and recent
research carried out in the public sector show that outsourcing can indisputably bring many benefits to the
organizations which master the art of devising, deploying, and maintaining outsourcing relationships, but for many
organizations, these benefits remain elusive. The research focuses on in-depth analysis of the essential factors
within the concept while examining the current situation in the field of outsourcing in the Slovenian public sector and
eventually presents research findings on outsourcing of information technology projects (IT-projects) at the municipal
level. According to some experts and rough estimates, the amount of outsourcing projects in the Slovenian public
sector have doubled in recent years and during the present economic and financial crisis, reach tens of millions of
Euros. The article analyzes the methodological, substantive, procedural and other relevant factors within the process
of outsourcing and summarizes the results of our own empirical research on outsourcing of IT-projects in the
Slovenian public sector. Paper finally provides a set of relevant criteria and guidelines for critical evaluation of such
projects and eventually presents the conceptual design of sustainable model for quality selection as well as effective
and efficient implementation of outsourcing projects in the public sector.
Keywords: IT outsourcing, public sector, outsourcing criteria, sustainable outsourcing model
1. Introduction
Concept of New Public Management has had undoubtedly a major impact on development and
functioning of Slovenian public sector in the last more than one decade, however it should be noted that
apart from positive results, many negative, unexpected effects have been experienced as well. The first
phase of its implementation was very promising in the field of improving the effectiveness and efficiency
of public sector, which was indisputably true to some extent. Problems came later when the euphoria
gave way. New Public Management started straying to the growing and increasingly less justified
outsourcing of public services, leading to a completely opposite effect than expected and desired.
Despite the high expectations, subsequent experience has shown that outsourcing cannot be a panacea
for the majority of problems in the public sector, which most frequently occur due to poor long term
strategy, or even lack of it. While on the other hand, regardless of the long term strategies and goals,
public sector often acts uncontrollably, indiscriminately and non-critically while implementing and
pursuing somehow non-reflectively set objectives.
Furthermore, significant problems are charted in movement to the wholesale use of competitive tendering
and positioning outsourcing as a strategic tool of public management. Over the last two decades external
provision of IT projects (outsourcing) has become a principle in most parts of public sector, which caused
uncontrolled “brain drain’’, outflow of vital professional knowledge and loss of core competencies in public
sector. It is evident that situation has escalated to the point that some government departments
completely lost control over preparation, development and realization of planned projects, which
consequently results in weak control over increasing costs and reduced accountability for services.
Furthermore outsourcing very often means absolute dependence on external providers. This issue is
currently a very hot topic and represents one of the fundamental problems of cost-effective while longterm
successful and user-oriented public sector.
Objective evaluation of outsourcing projects should be based on formalised methods and tools rather
than intuitive, often political criteria, used in many countries today. The latter statement provides a basis
for the main hypothesis in this research paper which argues that future planning, implementation and
evaluation of outsourcing projects should be based on formalised multi-criteria models supported by
information tools, which could significantly facilitate and improve decision making process while
minimizing risk and reducing project costs.
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Thus the main objective of this paper is to highlight implications of outsourcing on achieving long-term
goals, human resources management, provision of quality public services and cost effectiveness of public
sector organizations. Given the theoretical foundations of foreign and domestic authors and the results of
our own empirical research, the paper is focusing primarily on the following research questions:
Organizations in the Slovenian public sector are largely unaware of the long-term implications of
outsourcing of IT-projects to their continued operation and reorganization of human resources.
Decision making process on outsourcing of IT-projects in Slovenian public sector organizations is
conducted largely without the use of formalized multi-criteria methods and models.
Is it possible to develop relatively simple and practically applicable multi-criteria decision making
model for selection and implementation of IT outsourcing projects in Slovenian public sector?
The following paper is based on various theoretical issues, our own empirical research and presents a
conceptual design for creation of a structured and balanced model for the selection and implementation
of outsourcing projects in the public sector. Development of sustainable multi-criteria model for effective
decision-making process, planning and implementation of outsourcing projects in the public sector
inevitably requires a multidisciplinary approach and involvement of different stakeholders in all stages of
development and decision making process.
After a brief introduction, the second chapter of this paper presents the concept of outsourcing and an
overview over the relevant literature while outlining its contextual considerations and implications of
sourcing alternatives. The third chapter reveals the characteristics of our own outsourcing research, its
results and their synthesis, as well as offers guidelines for successful implementation of outsourcing
strategy. The fourth chapter describes the development of a comprehensive approach when deciding to
outsource IT-projects in the public sector, based on a set of selected quantitative and qualitative criteria
and presents an integral approach in developing a conceptual model of outsourcing, while at the end of
the chapter we are respectively presenting our own solution to support decision making process in this
field. The fifth chapter contains the evaluation of the presented model, discussion on its practical
applicability and description of its positive features and limitations, and subsequently submits the final
arguments and observations regarding the described approach.
2. Outsourcing - the conceptual definition, implications and literature review
Ellram and Maltz (1997) argue that outsourcing is a contractual transfer of organizational activities and
responsibilities to other (external) business entity. They emphasize that the volume of outsourced
activities depends on their content and the needs of the parent organization. Kubr (2002) defines
outsourcing as a contractual elimination and transfer of the activity, for which the organization decides not
to perform it itself in future, to the external business entities. Such an operating strategy in his view,
allows the efficient allocation of resources. Literature presents a wide range of different definitions,
ranging from the most consistent and accurate up to superficial and partial definition of the phenomenon.
We think that the most useful and versatile is its most widespread and widely accepted definition, which
reads as follows: Outsourcing is a contractual transfer of certain activities and business processes from
the parent organization to the external contractor (Greaver, 1999).
Outsourcing within the concept of New Public Management since 1980’s can be seen as a business
strategy in which the organization is striving to improve business performance and primarily cut back
costs as well as focus on its core functions and core activities. Non-critical and over abundant
implementation of outsourcing projects has led to some unforeseen problems in public sector. Slovenia
has encountered problems with outsourcing especially in the last five years and ongoing financial and
economic crisis just revealed its magnitude. Seeking short-term solutions on account of the New Public
Management philosophy and lack of experience in this field as well as neglecting all other organizational
aspects except costs (even cost-effectiveness of some outsourcing projects is very doubtful in the long
run) has led some public sector organizations to the unenviable situation. Because of a variety of
negative implications caused by outsourcing, some public sector organizations found themselves in a
vicious circle. In fact, their continued operation is no longer possible without external contractors, while on
the other hand, outsourcing is undermining their organizational foundations such as control over costs,
human resources and future development.
Considering the above assumptions and international research (Bongard, 1994, Chapman and Andrade,
1997, Greaver, 1999, Jensen, 2007) as well as our own, the potential negative consequences of
outsourcing are highlighted as they follow:
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Loss of core competencies,
“Brain drain”,
Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar
Loss of control over the most important organizational functions,
Reduced quality of services,
Reduce accountability for services,
Complete dependence on external contractor,
Collusive tendering and other tendering problems.
The continuation of this paper will present up to date literature and research concerning the outsourcing
phenomenon, which have been trying to resolve the problems addressed above and facilitate more
objective and sustainable decision making in this field of public sector.
2.1 Overview of the literature and recent research
Most literature does not illuminate the complex and multidimensional strategy of outsourcing through a
wider perspective. Authors are most often focusing on a rather narrow perspective, usually costs and
other particularly financial benefits, but do not provide sufficiently comprehensive answers regarding the
advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing strategy. Public sector is particularly at risk here, because
meeting broader societal needs cannot easily be passed to the outside (private) contractor for cost
reductions and other somewhat controversial reasons. Nevertheless, because of its complexity,
pervasiveness and its broad implications, number of outsourcing researchers has been rising in recent
years.
The first systematic and scientific research of outsourcing can be found in the late 80’s and early 90’s of
the last century (Ford and Farmer 1986, Due, 1992, Willcocks and Lacity, 1995 etc.). Thorough scientific
studies of the impact and importance of outsourcing are still rare. Experts in this area (Corbett, 2004,
Jensen, 2007) claim that the phenomenon of outsourcing gained so much importance over the last
twenty years due to global social change and transformation as well as the booming public sectors
worldwide.
Previous research of outsourcing (Quinn and Hilmer, 1994, Johnson, 1997, Lonsdale and Cox, 1997,
Wasner, 1999, Jacobides, 2005) is largely exploring the financial implications of outsourcing and mainly
presents parent organizations dissatisfaction with the ongoing projects which are often terminated before
expected (Kavcic and Tavcar, 2008). Despite the growing interest in the phenomenon of outsourcing,
which have recently raised increasing attention among researchers in the most propulsive economies
over the past few years, namely the authors in India (Pandey and Bansal, 2003) and China (Choy et al.,
2005), it is difficult to trace a comprehensive strategy for preventing or resolving problems of outsourcing
projects. Studies (Thoms, 2004, Schniederjans et al., 2005, Taylor, 2006) often reveal the hidden costs
as the most problematic segment of outsourcing, in which problems usually occur when organizations are
already heavily involved in the outsourcing projects and the termination of contract in that phase would
inflict large financial losses for both sides. Surprisingly, research is rarely dealing with the other negative
consequences that may pose a potential threat.
On the other hand, outsourcing literature (Barney 1991, Peteraf, 1993, Nellore and Soderquist, 2000)
deals with separate aspects of the parent organization and the external contractor and rarely addresses
the outsourcing projects in an integrated manner in which attention is focused to the whole project, rather
than individual business entities within the project (Kavcic and Tavcar, 2008). Here it should be noted that
the substantive and formal criteria presented by the most literature, which should form the basis for
quality decision making in the process of selection and implementation of outsourcing projects, are
extremely vague and arbitrary and consequently prevent organizations to adopt comprehensive and
objective evaluation of such projects. Previous research (Kern et al., 2002, Linder, 2004, Power et al.,
2006) is mainly focused on a small number of criteria, which consider only short-term and partial aspects
of business cooperation and do not address long-term, strategic implications of outsourcing projects.
Presented study exceeds the weaknesses and limitations of previous research, since it is exploring the
implications of outsourcing on different organizational aspects and conducting substantive analysis of
decision making criteria in the broader perspective. As seen in previous surveys, the studies are
predominantly unilateral and focused primarily on short-term cost indicators that highlight mainly the
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financial background of the whole problem, which makes it impossible to adopt quality and
comprehensive decision.
In analyzing the suitability and viability of outsourcing strategy, multidisciplinary method which includes
structured and balanced approach in addressing the overall problem, is essential. The presented
empirical study used the Balanced Scorecard (Balanced scorecard, Kaplan and Norton, 2001) to achieve
conceptual and long-term solutions. Balanced Scorecard facilitates analysis of dynamic criteria and
quantifies the important strategic elements of organization. The method used will help generate effective
long-term strategy and align organizational goals with four perspectives: Financial, Customer, Internal
Business Processes and Learning and Growth.
3. Research of outsourcing projects at the municipal level
The survey was conducted during the first six months of 2010 at the Institute for Informatization of
Administration at the Faculty of Administration (University of Ljubljana), in a sample of 85 municipalities
(212 municipalities in Slovenia, which means that the sample covered 40.09% of all municipalities). 64
municipalities responded to the survey (75.3% response rate of the sample, which means that the
realized sample amounted 30.18% of the total number of municipalities in Slovenia). The questionnaire
consisted of qualitative and quantitative indicators, adjusted for objective and comprehensive ex ante
evaluation of the outsourcing projects in public sector organizations.
The purpose of the research is thorough and comprehensive analysis of the situation in the field of
outsourcing at the municipal level in Slovenia, with special emphasis on the analysis of organizational
factors within the Balanced Scorecard. Methodology within the survey focuses particularly on the
financial, organizational, developmental and human resources perspective. The findings obtained will
enable the development of concrete guidelines and recommendations for an integrated outsourcing
strategy and the development of a sustainable model for outsourcing of IT-projects in the Slovenian
municipalities.
3.1 Results of empirical research and their synthesis
The results of empirical study presented below provide answers to two research questions, while the
answer to the third question, which addresses a construction of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM)
model for selection and implementation of outsourcing projects in the public sector, is offered in the next
chapter. Paper focuses on a comprehensive and systematic classification of the results and in-depth
content analysis. The survey results, which are directly related to the first research question showed that
as many as 51 (80%) surveyed municipalities believe that outsourcing cannot negatively affect the
organization and its human resources. The study has also revealed that 64% of the surveyed
municipalities are not familiar with the long-term impacts of outsourcing which are directly linked to loss of
competencies, quality human resources and staffing problems, and are consequently unaware of
potential risks which they are exposed to, when signing an outsourcing contract. Furthermore, the results
showed that 37 (57.82%) municipalities believe that the financial sector is most exposed to potential
negative impacts of outsourcing in the long run, 10 (15.63%) municipalities believe that human resources
and development are compromised because of outsourcing, while 7 (10.92%) municipalities believe that
outsourcing poses the biggest threat to the organizational aspect of municipalities (Figure 1).
The latter results directly reveal the need for better strategies, more responsible decision making and in
particular, a better understanding of this complex phenomenon, whose negative consequences,
especially in the long run, affect almost all aspects of organizational performance.
Concerning the second research question, results revealed that the municipalities do not use formal
multi-criteria decision making models in the process of decision making on outsourcing projects,
thereafter, it was confirmed that their decisions to outsource are based primarily on short-term financial
benefits. The latter was confirmed, while as many as 46.90% of municipalities surveyed, identified
financial reasons as the main argument for the selection of external providers (Figure 2).
The survey also revealed that 60 (94%) municipalities do not have comprehensive long-term strategy in
the field of outsourcing (Figure 3). In addition, research showed the vast majority of surveyed
municipalities (80%) have no actual evaluation framework, including objective criteria or a system of
indicators to measure the eligibility of outsourcing decisions (Figure 3). The latter results indicate that the
municipalities’ decisions on outsourcing are mainly based on intuition and the inertia of previous years,
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Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar
rather than pre-established objective criteria and measurable indicators. This kind of decision making
allows a multitude of speculation. The issue requires a comprehensive and sustainable solution, which is
not possible without considering modern concepts of management in public sector organizations and
professional attitude of the management.
Figure 1: Potential negative impacts of outsourcing on certain organizational aspects
Figure 2: Reasons for outsourcing
Figure 3: Long term strategy and indicators for outsourcing
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Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar
3.2 Guidelines on conducting outsourcing projects in the public sector
In surveyed municipalities following problem areas can be identified and highlighted:
Non-defined core and non-core activities in municipalities.
The excessive and indiscriminate outsourcing and lack of strategy in the field of outsourcing.
Unawareness of the potential long-term negative implications of outsourcing projects.
Utilization of human and other resources and the synergies within the public sector organizations.
Lack of vision and strategic objectives of organizations within the public sector, exceeding a period of
government mandate.
Unfortunately, research results cannot always be easily transferred into action, especially when the poor
performance of the organization is related to several areas. Such situation requires a detailed analysis
and preparation of solutions, which often necessitate a radical systemic change in the organization.
Bellow will be presented guidelines that could bring improvement to the areas of particular concern and
risk, which were disclosed by the results of the survey:
Definition of core and non-core activities in the functioning of municipalities.
Formulation of outsourcing strategy, creation of formal multi-criteria decision making models and
indicators for decision making in outsourcing processes.
Assessment of the potential long-term negative implications of outsourcing projects.
Utilize human and other resources as well as hidden potential and synergy within numerous public
sector organizations.
Formulate a vision, strategic objectives, and precise tactics as well as provide funds for achieving
long-term organizational goals, beyond a period of government mandate.
Next chapter presents the development of a sustainable MCDM model for quality selection and
implementation of outsourcing projects, presented model is also an answer to the third research question.
4. Development of sustainable decision making model for outsourcing in the
public sector
Development of sustainable MCDM model to decide on outsourcing of IT-projects in the public sector
inevitably requires balancing several different factors, such as: economic, social, political, regulatory and
technological. This requires the inclusion of numerous stakeholders with different priorities and objectives
in all phases of development and hence decision making process. Given the above arguments, the paper
focuses on the selection of appropriate criteria and suggests the possible construction of MCDM model
which will assist decision makers in setting priorities and making enhanced decisions in the field of public
sector outsourcing.
4.1 Criteria selection
Selection of the criteria is the most critical step in decision making process. Structure of the entire
decision making process should be limited only to the relevant factors that reveal the certain implications
on the problem. We must make sure that the whole procedure does not stray in over excessive dissection
of the problem, because it can blur the important issues and lead to lower quality decisions. Effective use
of the MCDM model requires a thorough understanding of the problem and a balanced application of data
for objective weighting of selected criteria. Over abundance of the criteria may lead to the devaluation of
relations among the criteria, while lack of relevant criteria may preclude a consideration of all relevant
aspects and provide an unbalanced and partial solution to the problem, as it does not include all the
relationships between elements and their mutual correlations (Saaty, 1988). Determining criteria
therefore requires accuracy, consistency and detailed knowledge of the nature of the problem. Criteria on
which the outsourcing decisions should be based are rarely studied in the wider context. Some of the
researchers who deal with such topics are listed below.
The most prominent experts and researchers of outsourcing and its wider socio-economic implications
(Bongard, 1994, Chapman and Andrade, 1997, Greaver 1999, Willcocks et al., 1999, Jensen, 2007 etc.)
emphasize the complexity of this phenomenon, which is reflected in the extremely multifaceted and
complicated evaluation of its numerous effects, while the long-term implications of outsourcing are often
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Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar
very well concealed. Evaluation criteria, which represent the core substantive aspect in the process of
decision making, should be based on organisational strategies, goals and objectives with strict regard to
organization’s strategic, tactical and operational considerations. Considering the numerous studies and
our own research in Slovenian public sector as well as the complexity of the entire field of outsourcing,
we selected the following criteria to be deployed in the practical utilization of constructed model (Figure
4):
1. Costs
2. Competencies
3. Quality
4. Customer satisfaction
5. Risk
6. Organization
7. Development
8. Innovation
It should be noted here that criteria selection, their absolute and relative weighting and their division into
sub criteria should be made on the basis of decision maker’s preferences and must be subordinated and
adapted to the organization’s core business, its needs and long-term goals.
4.2 Model design
Sustainable MCDM model for outsourcing requires integration of both substantive and formal aspects in
order to facilitate a structured and quality decision making (Figure 4). Evaluation criteria represent the
core substantive aspect in the process of decision making, while the formal aspect includes the market
analysis and specifications of project requirements as well as legal compliance with the set of strict
procedural regulations. Only the integration of both aspects in the comprehensive MCDM model can
represent a useful tool for quality decision making in the process of selection and implementation of
outsourcing projects.
The structure of the model (Figure 4) allows the weighting of the criteria according to their importance,
taking into account their impact on strategies, goals and objectives of the organization. However, the
selection of the most relevant criteria and their optimum weighting classification usually represent the
biggest problem which are the users of MCDM models exposed to. Thus, when criteria are selected and
structured according to their importance, the use of the presented model is rather uncomplicated.
5. Conclusion
The obtained results of the survey indicate only a partial, but a valuable insight into the outsourcing of ITprojects
in the Slovenian public sector. Partial, because the survey sample covered only 85 municipalities
of the 212 municipalities in Slovenia, this is 40.09% of the total population. 64 municipalities responded to
the survey, which represents 30.18% in terms of the total population. Relatively small sample precludes
generalization and prevents application of the obtained results to the entire public sector, but is
nevertheless a good indication of the particular problems faced by municipalities and, consequently, the
entire public sector.
Presented multi-criteria decision support model allows the integration of a large number of relevant
factors, which subjected to certain substantive and procedural requirements, provide quality and
comprehensive, while still “easy to use” approach in decision making and offer a good basis for objective
analysis of possible alternatives, as well as highlight some of the hidden aspects and potential problems
that may arise in the phase of selection and implementation of outsourcing projects. Accounting the
results of our own research as well as other relevant studies and literature dealing with the outsourcing
issues, we selected eight quantitative and qualitative criteria, which are in our view, the most relevant.
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Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar
PROJECT GOAL
Costs Competencies Quality
Customer
satisfaction
Risk Organization Development Innovation
Solution Outsourcing In house provision
Market analysis and identifying potential
providers
Preparation of the request for proposal
Conducting the request for proposal
Comparing and evaluating proposals
Selection of the provider
Signing the contract
Figure 4: Sustainable model for outsourcing in the public sector
Analysis and specification of project
requirements
Clearly presented multi-criteria decision making model do not represent universal solution to important
problems addressed in this paper in the self-sufficient form. However, on the other hand, developed
model may offer due to its simplicity of use and selection of sufficiently objective criteria as well as their
appropriate weighting, a lot of help in setting realistic goals and priorities. It can also provide help in
allocation of project management resources as well as facilitate decision making and reduce risk in
implementation of outsourcing projects. Despite some shortcomings, which can be seen mainly in noncritical
selection of the criteria and their weighting, along with the objective limitations of political,
regulatory and organizational nature within the public sector, such decision support models could become
a standard in the operating and decision making procedures at the municipal level. Application of
sustainable outsourcing MCDM model, despite required upgrading and adaptation to the specific area of
use, could become a novelty within the decision making procedures in the public sector. Even more, the
objective and critical approach to the selection and evaluation of outsourcing projects should, regarding
the context and magnitude of given problems, receive greater support from all stakeholders and become
a necessity. Current practice in this area is based on inertia, intuitive decisions and primarily on the
fabrication of studies evaluating such decisions much unilaterally and without regard to long-term effects
of such strategies in public sector organizations.
The scale of the studied area and numerous factors that affect the quality of decision making confirm the
multiplicity and complexity of outsourcing and its implications in many areas of organizational activity. The
latter substantiates the need for broader and deeper insight into the background and content of overall
business strategy of Slovenian municipalities. Search of primarily short-term solutions and inadequate
business strategy as well as uncritical approaches in recent years have brought municipalities in a very
complex situation, so it is high time for more critical reflection on their role in the future and mechanisms
that will have to ensure selection of appropriate business strategies, effective spending of budget funds
and the successful achievement of long-term goals.
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Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar
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530

Closing the Digital Divide gap in European Union: A Unique
Solution for Different Tiers?
Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania
virgilstoica@gmail.com
andan_i@yahoo,com
Abstract: Over the last two decades, eGovernance has rapidly advanced on the public agendas as it promised to
offer miraculous solutions of quickness and transparency to classic governing dilemmas. While some societies or
parts of them fully embarked for this adventure, others preferred a limited use of the new technologies. The term
“digital divide” has been coined to describe the newly appeared gap in access to or use of information and
communications technology (ICT) devices. As European Commission established in 2010 a Digital Agenda and
announced a significant spending on strategic ICT research, a question arises: is it appropriate to develop a unique
strategy for all European Union countries or rather a set of strategies to be differently applied for each society or
segment of it? Using a comparative method, our research describes the digital differences between the 27 European
members based on 2009 year data. The starting point is represented by the observation that in the least
electronically developed European states only a part of those having internet access is also using eGovernment. This
would suggest that the mere presence of ICT devices is not enough to trigger a “digital revolution”. Hence, in a
specific social framework, a moderate presence of electronic governance could be determined by other factors such
as: the lack of education, mistrust or absence of a real need. Consequently, the present paper is mapping the digital
divide within the European Union as a rapport between ICT devices, their use, and the relevant characteristics of
each society. The findings suggest that the societies under scrutiny are not in the same need of digital services and
closing the digital gap should not be the final goal. Instead, the resources could be directed towards meeting the
specific needs of one society. However, further country in-depth researches are needed to confirm our findings.
Keywords: digital divide, eGovernance, ICT devices, digital agenda, EU countries
1. The age of digital divide?
It is largely accepted today that the information and communications technology (ICT) is reshaping the
world we knew. Under its influence, even the most conservative areas are rapidly transforming (Susskind,
2008) while the very nature of industrial production is changed by users taking part in the products
making or adapting to their needs (Bruns, 2008).
Over the last two decades, eGovernance has rapidly advanced on the public agendas as it promised to
offer miraculous solutions of quickness and transparency to classic governing dilemmas. However, there
is no agreement on the long-term results of this process or on its benefits. On another hand, the change
may be radical and may happen at a very fast pace. For instance, the eGovernance could led to a “reordering
of the state’s administrative structures and of government itself” (Lanzara, 2009) and, depending
on specific socio-political realities, a country may be able to make impressive eGovernment progresses in
a very short period of time (Misuraca et al., 2010).
In analyzing this phenomenon, one should keep in mind that the changes are not determined only by the
ICT mere presence. Thus, the current features of administrations around the world had been drawn by
the fiscal crisis of the 70’s who invited the governments to “work better and cost less” (Denhardt, 2008).
This finally led to the development of the New Public Management (NPM) that focused on providing
public services using a business approach. Recently, the shortcomings of the NPM and the opportunities
offered by ITC encouraged scholars to announce the NPM’s death (Dunleavy et al, 2006) soon to be
replaced by an ‘e-paradigm’. To that, we can confidently add that the current economic crisis will also
take its toll and force further changes on the administrative systems as they are interconnected with the
economic ones.
The eGovernance is actually only one phenomenon in a much larger technological revolution that is
transforming the very structure of our societies. While some societies fully embarked for this new
‘industrial’ adventure, others seem to prefer a limited use of the new technologies. As it has been the
case throughout the entire modern history in the advent of new technologies, new disparities among
societies are created. A new term, digital divide, has been coined to describe the newly appeared ”gap
between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels
with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies and to their
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Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities”(OECD, 2001). Put differently, the digital divide is about
opportunities created or missed by having or using the new technology.
No doubt that in the ”knowledge era” the ICT access is vital, but one should not fall in the trap of a
technological determinism when explaining the digital divide (Malecki and Moriset, 2008). Indeed, when
approaching the digital divide one should not overlook the classic discussion on social inequalities. In
fact, the literature studying the ICT related evolutions has proved that the same ‘old’ factors are playing
the significant in this phenomenon too. For instance, having internet connections at home is influenced by
income, education, age, race and ethnicity (Mossberger, 2003). Also, while the gender is not reflected
into an Internet access divide, the men tend to use more the Internet than the women (Fallows, 2005).
The traditional difference between rural and urban is also reflected especially in developing countries
where the rural access to Internet represents a problem (Mahan, 2007).
Out of the above literature review we may assert at a theoretical level that the tendency should be for the
digital divide to mirror the social inequalities within a society and the differences between societies. This
is why we should probably agree that if the digital divide do not create, perpetuate or exacerbate social
inequalities, the government intervention should not be considered a necessity (Rooksby and Weckert,
2004). In other words, closing the digital divide should be not possible without diminishing other
persistent inequalities.
From this perspective, a comprehensive research on digital divide should always try to correlate the
digital inequalities with other social inequalities. Also, in-depth analyses of digital divides within the
countries are meaningful when explaining this phenomenon. However, none of these types of analyses is
provided by the present paper. Our established goal is to present some of the digital divides between
European Union (EU) states from an eGovernance perspective. This should allow us to evaluate if a
unique solution for all European states is possible or if the same results may be achieved throughout a
common action plan such as the recently released 2010 Digital Agenda. For a better understanding we
will next briefly present the EU from an administrative point of view and the 2010 Digital Agenda.
2. The targets of the 2010 Digital Agenda
With the Lisbon Treaty EU finally stepped up from the status of an international form of cooperation to an
international organization. Rooted in the three Communities build up in the ‘50s, the creation of the EU
has always been a pragmatic and economic process with envisaged political consequences. Its main
purpose of preventing a new devastating war between European nations has been achieved through
innovative solutions. When compared to other similar structures EU is arguably quite different being
comprised of both supranational and inter-governmentalist ingredients. But the complicated EU structure
comes with a cost of an unstable equilibrium in institutional terms, not likely to be change in the near-by
future (Nugent and Paterson, 2010). Being a mixture of rational choices and political compromises, EU
cannot be described from a unitary theoretical perspective. One has to look very close to understand how
things work in a particular area.
This allegation stands true for the European administrative system. Even if it has large policies and a
huge amount of legislation, within the EU does not exist a common system of public administration.
Indeed, the EU policies are delivered, to a large extent, by the national administrations of member states.
Without strong central agencies the EU cannot impose a generalized control across its governing system
as a whole. The consequence is that sometimes the public policies do not enjoy the same type of
implementation or results. The gap that appears between an EU policy and its implementation it is
known as the ‘implementation gap’. To bridge this gap within the Union there is a continuous exchange of
formal and informal between various actors.
Still, the EU situation is not entirely unknown for the science of public administration. In fact, any federal
or unitary state with bureaucratically independent regions encounters the same problem of multilevel
governance (Münch, 2010). It has been argued that, in order to be efficient, two related sets of
preconditions should be in place: “(1) administrative capacity in terms of management, programming,
monitoring, evaluating; and (2) political factors in terms of political interference, stability and
accountability” (Milio, 2010).
Unlike the nation-states, the EU lacks the homogeneity brought by the same language, ethnicity, social
ethos, traditions or history. The diversity stands not only in the European logo, but also as a fact even if
we look only at the 6 founder states that now have more than fifty years of close interactions. Moreover,
532

Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
19 out of the 27 member states are small states and they have to cope with structural disadvantages in
their day-to-day relations with the big states (Panke, 2010).
The only way to harmonize the different interests and perspectives within an EU without an European
identity (Vignon, 2008) was to include all the states in the process of the decision making. The key has
always been the simultaneous negotiation of several decisions that finally turned into package deals
(Nedergaard, 2007). However, once a decision is taken it has to be implemented by all states using the
same or different methods but always to achieve similar results.
Precisely about methods and results in closing the digital divide in EU is the communication document
launched in 2010 by the European Commission (EC) and entitled A Digital Agenda for Europe (hereafter
Agenda) (EC, 2010). The digital problems identified in this document are: the fragmentation of the digital
markets, the lack of interoperability, the rising cybercrime and risk of low trust in networks, the lack of
investment in networks, the insufficient research and innovation efforts, the lack of digital literacy and
skills and the missed opportunities in addressing societal challenges. The methods and results pursued
by EC in its Agenda are grouped in ‘seven pillars of development’: a digital single market, an increase in
interoperability and standards, an enhanced cyber security, a fast and ultrafast internet access for
citizens, more investments in research and innovation, an enhanced digital literacy, skills and inclusion
and ICT-enabled benefits for EU society.
It is useful to note that in its Europe’s Digital Competitiveness Report 2010 the EC recognized that, on
average:
(...) R&D [Research and Development] investment in relation to GDP is lower in the EU
compared to its main international competitors, and there are large differences between
Member States, with the Nordic countries and Austria and Germany clearly the top EU
investors (in relation to GDP) and most Eastern Member States and Greece having the
lowest ratios.
So the broader result to be achieved through the Agenda would be to close the gap between the EU and
‘its main international competitors’ and between the member countries. Leaving aside the extra-EU gap,
the observation we could make starting from the above theoretical observations is that the digital divide
cannot or should not be bridged if the other divides between European countries remain. A more realistic
objective of the Agenda would be to promote the presence and use of ICT to a larger extent in all the
member states. From a different perspective, one could argue that if the gap is too big the goal is not to
make it disappear but rather to shrink it to a size similar to other inequalities between member states.
Taking into the consideration the European realities, our research question can be refined as follows:
what kind of digital divide gap exists within EU? In order to respond to this we will examine the digital
divide only from an eGovernance perspective. The assumed goal of our research is both explorative and
descriptive. The goal is explorative from a methodological point of view: the methodology we developed
covers both the demand and the offer related to eGovernance. Hence, the digital divide is the difference
between ‘eGovernance markets’. The goal is also descriptive in the sense that we present the 2009
eGovernance data on EU countries.
3. Methodology
Measuring eGovernance performance in a relevant and reliable way can offer crucial explanations for
digital divide. Despite this, there is no international consensus about how to do it. There are several
measurement instruments developed by public and private sector organizations to meet their own needs
for assessing the state of eGovernance development (UN 2009). Many of these assessments include an
evaluation of governmental e-services, combined with data from national/international statistics.
However, most of the statistics are developed only from supply side indicators and often by websites
assessment alone.
The measurement techniques are also diverse. For example, the United Nations eGovernment
Readiness Index uses a composite formula comprising a web measure index, a telecommunications
infrastructure index and a human capital index (UN EGovernment Survey 2008). International
Telecommunication Union created the ICT Development Index, which has three sub-indices regarding
access, use and skills (ITU 2010).
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Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Table 1: Examples of Indexes created for eGovernment evaluation
Index Sub-indices Indicators
United Nations
eGovernment
Readiness
Index
ICT
Development
Index
The Web Measure Index
Telecommunication
Infrastructure Index
Human Capital Index
ICT Access Index
ICT Use Index
ICT Skills Index
Responses on a questionnaire based on the presence/absence
of specific facilities/services of governmental sites
Internet Users/100 persons
PCs/100 persons
Main Telephones Lines/100 persons
Cellular telephones/100 persons
Broad banding/100 persons
Adult literacy rate
Primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio
Fixed telephone lines/100 inhabitants
Mobile telephone subscriptions/100 inhabitants
International Internet bandwidth/100 users
Proportion of household with a computer
Proportion of household with Internet access at home
Internet users/100 inhabitants
Fixed broadband Internet subscribers/ 100 inhabitants
Mobile broadband subscriptions/ 100 inhabitants
Adult literacy rate
Secondary gross enrolment ratio
Tertiary gross enrolment ratio
One problem of this kind of measurement relates to the technological innovations. For instance,
indicators such as “fixed telephones lines” or “mobile telephone subscriptions” are considered, even if
they are not directly connected with eGovernance. On the other hand, the introduction of high-speed
mobile Internet access could further boost the number of Internet users and, therefore, “mobile
broadband subscriptions” seems a more adequate indicator in order to catch the technological
innovation.
A second problem relates to the reduced amount of information available on the demand side of
eGovernance. “Adult literacy rate” and “gross enrolment ratio” offer an image of the population degree of
education. However, these indicators are not appropriate measures of digital skills. Computer and
Internet literacy are different concepts from usual literacy, and should be evaluated in a different way.
A third problem of eGovernance measurement relates the total lack of information about citizens’
behavior regarding Internet or about their trust in Internet as a tool that can solve some of their problems.
As we argued, digital divide, as well as eGovernance, is a multifaceted concept, much larger than the
simple “access” to ICT infrastructure. It is also about the citizens’ will and ability to use the infrastructure
and web pages that government and/or market offer them. For this reason we consider that digital divide
should be measured both in terms of offer and demand (Ferr et al, 2005). A single indicator cannot track
different progress in eGovernance development process, thus requiring the construction of a composite
index. Therefore, considering the problems previously mentioned regarding eGovernance measurement,
we are proposing a new indicator, named the Digital Governance Index.
Based on our conceptual framework, the Digital Governance Index is divided into the following four subindices
(Table 2):
Digital Infrastructure Index: reflects the access dimensions and incorporates four indicators (Internet
subscriptions/100 inhabitants, Fixed Broadband subscriptions/100 inhabitants, Mobile Broadband
subscriptions/100 inhabitants, PCs/100 inhabitants).
Governmental Websites Performance Index: reflects the governmental offer in terms of e-services
and incorporates two indicators (EGovernment on-line availability and Web Measure Index).
Digital Skills Index: reflects the citizens’ ability in using computers and access Internet, and
incorporates two indicators (Individuals’ level of computer skills and Individuals' level of Internet skills)
534

Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Digital Behavior Index: reflects the citizens’ habitude in using Internet and incorporates three
indicators (Individuals regularly using the Internet, Individuals having ordered/bought goods or
services for private use over the Internet, and Individuals using the Internet for interaction with public
authorities).
We note that the offer and the demand sides have an equal influence in the Digital Government Index.
The four sub-indices have also an equal weight, as well as the indicators for the sub-indices.
The source of indicators which reflect the infrastructure has been International Telecommunication Union
while the 2010 United Nations eGovernment Survey has been the source for the “Web Measure Index”.
The web measure survey assessments were based on a questionnaire, which allocated a binary value to
the indicator based on the presence/absence of specific electronic facilities/services available. The
primary site was the national portal or the official government home page. The Survey assessed the
same number of functionalities of the same or similar sites in each country; these are the
Ministries/Departments of Health, Education, Social Welfare, Labor, and Finance, which are
representative of the government services citizens require most. In order to calculate Governmental
Websites Performance Index, this indicator was combined with “eGovernment on-line availability”, which
shows the percentage of the 20 basic services which are fully available online i.e. for which it is possible
to carry out full electronic case handling.
All the information for the demand side of the Index has been collected from Eurostat. “Level of basic
computer skills” is measured using a self-assessment approach, where the respondent indicates whether
he/she has carried out specific tasks related to computer use, without these skills being assessed, tested
or actually observed. Six computer-related items were used to group the respondents into levels of
computer skills in 2006, 2007 and 2009: copy or move a file or folder; use copy and paste tools to
duplicate or move information within a document; use basis arithmetic formula (add, subtract, multiply,
divide) in a spreadsheet; compress files; connect and install new devices, e.g. a printer or a modem; write
a computer program using a specialized programming language. The indicator has been generated by
adding the percentages of respondents which declared 1-2, 3-4, or 5-6 computer abilities. The same
procedure has been used in order to compute “Individuals' level of Internet skills”. Level of internet skills
is measured using also a self-assessment approach, where the respondent indicates whether he/she has
carried out specific tasks related to internet use, without these skills being assessed, tested or actually
observed. Six Internet-related items were used to group the respondents into levels of Internet skills in
2005, 2006 and 2007: use a search engine to find information; send an e-mail with attached files; post
messages to chatrooms, newsgroups or any online discussion forum; use the Internet to make telephone
calls; use peer-to-peer file sharing for exchanging movies, music etc.; create a web page.
“Individuals regularly using the Internet” represent the percentage of persons that use the Internet at least
once a week on average within the last three months before the survey. “Individuals having
ordered/bought goods or services for private use over the Internet” measures these actions within the last
twelve months before the survey, and “Individuals using the Internet for interaction with public authorities”
evaluate any kind of interaction within the last three months before the survey.
In order to have the same unit of measurement for all the indicators, we used a normalization of data: the
country having the highest score was considered the reference measure, and it received 100 points. The
other countries received rescaled scores proportionally with their performances. The sub-indices and the
Digital Governance Index were computed by adding each indicator, using the weights presented in Table
2.
This digital divide analysis follows the methodology proposed by Orbicom (2003). The digital divide was
measured as the relative difference in countries’ Digital Governance Index, benchmarked against EU 27
– obtained as the simple average of all 27 countries members of European Union. Those that performed
above-average were assigned a positive number, and those that performed below-average were
identified by a negative number. The same procedure was used for al four sub-indices, in order to
measure the gap in terms of infrastructure, governmental sites, digital skills, and digital behaviors.
4. Data
Applying the methodology explained above, we obtained a ranking of EU countries in terms of
eGovernance quality. Figure 1 shows the scores of member states regarding the Digital Governance
Index. Leader is Denmark, with a score of 89.1, closely followed by Sweden (88.2), Netherlands (86.5),
Luxembourg (83.6), and United Kingdom (80.1). The average of the 27 EU countries stands at a score of
535

Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
60.6. At the other end of the scale stand Cyprus (46.2), Poland (44.7), Greece (38.4), Bulgaria (33.2) and
Romania (31.5). The performance of Denmark is almost three times higher than Romania’s.
Table 2: Digital governance Index and its components
Dimensions Sub-indices Weight Indicators Weight Source of
data
Internet subscriptions/100
inhabitants
25% ITU
Digital
Infrastructure 25%
Fixed Broadband
subscriptions/100 inhabitants
25% ITU
Supply side
Index
Mobile Broadband
subscriptions/100 inhabitants
25% ITU
Digital Government Index
Digital Government Index
Demand side
100,0
90,0
80,0
70,0
60,0
50,0
40,0
30,0
20,0
Denmark
Sweden
Netherlands
Luxembourg
United Kingdom
10,0
0,0
Governmental
Websites
Performance
Digital Skills
Index
Digital Behavior
Index
Finland
France
Austria
Germany
Estonia
Ireland
Belgium
EU (27 countries)
Figure 1: Digital governance index
PCs/100 inhabitants 25% ITU
EGovernment on-line availability 50% Eurostat
25% Web Measure Index
50% UNPAN
25%
Individuals' level of computer
skills
Individuals' level of Internet
skills
50%
50%
Eurostat
Eurostat
Individuals regularly using the
Internet
Individuals having
33,3% Eurostat
25%
ordered/bought goods or
services for private use over the
Internet
Individuals using the Internet for
33,3% Eurostat
interaction with public
authorities
33,3% Eurostat
Spain
Slovenia
Malta
Slovakia
Portugal
Hungary
Italy
Latvia
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Poland
Greece
Bulgaria
Romania
The differences between European Union countries can be more easily observed in Figure 2. Twelve
countries are above average, with positive scores in terms of digital divide. The remaining 15 countries
are below average with the biggest gap between Denmark and Romania: 57.6 points.
As it may be observed, the group of countries for which the digital divide takes positive values comprises
the Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, and Finland), the Western Europe (United Kingdom, Ireland,
France, Belgium, and Luxembourg) and Central Europe countries (Germany and Austria). The only
"intruder" in this group is Estonia. The lagging behind group comprises the Southern European countries
(Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta) and the former communist countries.
536
Lithuania

-27,4
-29,1
-22,2
-8,9
-11,7
-11,9
-12,2
-13,6
-14,4
-15,9
Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Denmark
Sweden
Netherlands
Luxembourg
United
Finland
France
Germany
Austria
Estonia
Ireland
Belgium
EU (27
-0,6 Spain
-0,7 Slovenia
-4,0 Malta
-6,1 Slovakia
-8,1 Portugal
Hungary
Italy
Latvia
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Cyprus
Poland
Greece
Bulgaria
Romania
3,9
3,1
1,9
0,0
28,5
27,6
25,9
23,0
19,5
15,7
12,9
12,0
12,0
-40,0 -30,0 -20,0 -10,0 0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0
Figure 2: European Union digital divide 2009
These data suggest at least two possible explanations. The first is related to the level of economic
development: the most developed EU countries almost invariably belong to the first group. Economic
prosperity has led to the development of digital infrastructure, a high level of education of the population,
to its trust in the Internet both as a medium for economic transactions and as a medium of interaction with
the government. A second possible explanation involves the existence of a socio-cultural factor. In the
countries with a high social capital there is a greater confidence in the Internet as a new way for
strengthening communities while the countries lacking social trust are at the bottom of the list. Of course,
these hypotheses need to be tested.
The analysis of the Digital Government Index components shows a slightly different picture from the
global one. In terms of infrastructure (Figure 3), the same four countries are the leaders, but in a different
order: Luxembourg (87.5), Netherlands (79.4), Sweden (78.3) and Denmark (73.4). The EU infrastructure
average is 50.7. Romania is no longer in last place with a score of 28.9, being up the Czech Republic
(28.6), Poland (27.2) and Bulgaria (24.5).
The highest difference in terms of infrastructure divide is between Luxembourg and Bulgaria: 63 points
(Figure 4).
The European average of Governmental Websites Performance Index is 68.3 (Figure 5). Malta, with a
score of 86.3, joins Sweden (96.7) and Denmark (92.0) for the first three places in the rank. The last
places are occupied by Bulgaria (44.2), Romania (43.2) and Greece (43.2). The digital divide’s amplitude
on this index is of 53.5 points (Figure 6).
537

Infrastructure Index
100,0
90,0
80,0
70,0
60,0
50,0
40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Sweden
Denmark
United Kingdom
0,0
France
Germany
Austria
Figure 3: Digital infrastructure index
-10,5
-11,7
-14,2
-14,5
-15,6
-19,6
-21,8
-22,1
-23,5
-26,2
Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Finland
Ireland
Belgium
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Sweden
Denmark
United Kingdom
France
Germany
Austria
Finland
Ireland
Belgium
Italy
Spain
EU (27 countries)
-0,4 Slovenia
-0,8 Estonia
-5,2 Cyprus
-6,7 Malta
Portugal
Greece
Slovakia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Romania
Czech Republic
Poland
Bulgaria
Italy
Spain
EU (27 countries)
3
0,7
0,4
0
Slovenia
Estonia
Cyprus
Malta
Portugal
Greece
4,8
9,7
7,6
15,8
13,2
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Romania
Slovakia
22,7
20,9
Czech Republic
28,7
27,6
-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40
Figure 4: Digital infrastructure divide
538
Poland
Bulgaria
36,8

Governmental Websites Performance
100,0
90,0
80,0
70,0
60,0
50,0
40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0
0,0
Sweden
Denmark
Malta
United Kingdom
Austria
France
Estonia
Portugal
Netherlands
Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Finland
Ireland
Spain
Slovenia
EU (27 countries)
Figure 5: Governmental websites performance index
-24,1
-25,1
-25,1
Sweden
Denmark
Malta
United Kingdom
Austria
France
Estonia
Portugal
Netherlands
Finland
Ireland
Spain
Slovenia
EU (27 countries)
-2,5Germany
-3,9 Luxembourg
-5,9 Hungary
-6,0 Czech Republic
-6,4 Belgium
-7,7 Italy
-7,9 Lithuania
-13,4
Latvia
-14,9
Poland
-17,1
Slovakia
-19,4
Cyprus
Bulgaria
Romania
Greece
0,0
Germany
Luxembourg
Hungary
Czech Republic
Belgium
Italy
18,0
16,3
15,0
13,2
12,3
11,6
10,7
7,8
7,0
6,7
4,3
-30,0 -20,0 -10,0 0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0
Figure 6: Governmental websites performance divide
539
Lithuania
Latvia
23,7
Poland
Slovakia
28,4
Cyprus
Bulgaria
Romania
Greece

Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
The highest digital divide is on digital behavior: 77.7 points (Figure 8). Compared to a score of 93.9 for
Denmark, Romania (16.2), Bulgaria (22.2) and Greece (25.3) stand out in a negative way with extremely
low percentages in terms of those who regularly use the Internet, buy goods or services or interact with
public authorities over the Internet (Figure 7).
Digital Behavior
100,0
90,0
80,0
70,0
60,0
50,0
40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0
0,0
Denmark
Netherlands
Sweden
Luxembourg
United Kingdom
Figure 7: Digital behavior index
-36,5
Finland
Germany
Austria
France
Belgium
Estonia
Ireland
EU (27 countries)
Denmark
Netherlands
Sweden
Luxembourg
United Kingdom
Finland
Germany
Austria
France
Belgium
Estonia
Ireland
EU (27 countries)
-2,5 Slovakia
-3,9 Malta
-6,3 Slovenia
-7,6 Spain
-12,9 Czech Republic
-13,0 Latvia
-13,0 Hungary
-13,2 Poland
-16,8 Cyprus
-18,5 Lithuania
-20,2 Portugal
-23,4
Italy
-27,4
Greece
-30,5
Bulgaria
Romania
Slovakia
4,2
2,1
1,2
0,0
Malta
Slovenia
Spain
Czech Republic
11,1
10,3
Hungary
Latvia
Poland
Cyprus
Lithuania
Portugal
19,1
Italy
Greece
Bulgaria
Romania
41,2
36,2
34,9
32,8
27,5
25,6
-50,0 -40,0 -30,0 -20,0 -10,0 0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0
Figure 8: Digital behavior divide
540

Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Things are not better for the three Balkan countries regarding the digital skills, at about the half the
European average of 71.1, and far away from the European leader, Netherlands (98.8) (Figure 9). The
digital divide’s amplitude on this index is of 61 points.
Digital Skills
100,0
90,0
80,0
70,0
60,0
50,0
40,0
30,0
20,0
10,0
Netherlands
Denmark
Luxembourg
Finland
Sweden
0,0
Figure 9: Digital skills index
-25,0
-29,1
-33,3
Germany
United Kingdom
Austria
France
Slovakia
-8,4
-9,0
-12,5
-13,7
-14,3
-16,7
-16,7
Belgium
Estonia
EU (27 countries)
Slovenia
Ireland
Hungary
Spain
-0,7
-1,2
-2,5
-2,5
-6,0
1,7
0,0
Latvia
Czech Republic
12,9
11,7
11,7
8,8
6,4
Lithuania
Poland
Portugal
Malta
Italy
Cyprus
27,7
26,0
25,9
21,2
18,9
17,7
-40,0 -30,0 -20,0 -10,0 0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0
Figure 10: Digital skills divide
Netherlands
Denmark
Luxembourg
Finland
Sweden
Germany
United Kingdom
France
Austria
Slovakia
Belgium
Estonia
EU (27 countries)
Slovenia
Ireland
Spain
Hungary
Latvia
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Poland
Portugal
Malta
Cyprus
Italy
Greece
Bulgaria
Romania
541
Greece
Bulgaria
Romania

Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
We obtain a more nuanced image by grouping the EU states in a square matrix, depending on their
performance on the two dimensions (Figure 11). We will have thus not only a group of leaders, with high
scores on both the demand and the offer and one of the laggards with low scores on those dimensions,
but also two intermediate groups. One of these groups is composed of Belgium and Slovakia, countries
that scores well in demand (population educated in terms of confidently using digital and internet), but
weak in the government offer dimension. The second group of countries characterized by generous offer,
but with reduced demand, consists of Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, and Malta. The existence of this latter
group seems to support the hypothesis of cultural factor: well-developed infrastructure and official
websites combined with a lack of confidence and of digital skills are triggering a modest eGovernance
performance.
Demand
High scores
Low scores
Supply
High scores Low scores
Sweden
Denmark
Netherlands
Luxembourg
United Kingdom
Finland
Belgium
France
Slovakia
Austria
Germany
Ireland
Estonia
Malta
Spain
Slovenia
Portugal
Italy
Hungary
Cyprus
Lithuania
Czech Republic
Latvia
Greece
Poland
Romania
Bulgaria
Figure 11: EU countries classification according their score on the offer and demand
The differences between the best European country in terms of eGovernance, Denmark, and the worst,
Romania, may be seen in Figures 12 and 13. In terms of infrastructure, the divide between the two
countries is 44.5. This difference increases to 48.8 for government websites performance and to 59.3 for
digital skills and becomes huge for the digital behavior, reaching 77.7 points.
Figure 12 presents the four indexes that are making up the Digital Governance Index, while Figure 13
provides a detailed picture of all the 11 indicators. Thus we can see that the smallest difference (6.9
points) between the first and last rank is on Mobile Broadband subscriptions/100 inhabitants – the most
dynamic factor that measures the technological innovation. And the biggest differences are on the factor
measuring the number of individuals that ordered goods or services for private use over the Internet (82.8
points) and especially of individuals that used the Internet for interaction with the public authorities (91
points). These differences suggest that technological differences may be more easily recovered than the
cultural one and points to the trust as a fundamental influence on the eGovernance development.
In Figure 14 we observe the relative homogeneity of the scores obtained by leaders for the 11 indicators.
Only the Mobile Broadband subscriptions performance of Luxemburg subscriptions is to be noted. The
data are more heterogeneous for last countries in the rank (Figure 15). The lowest scores, shared by all
four countries are in the number of PCs per 100 inhabitants, for individuals having ordered/bought goods
or services for private use over the Internet, and individuals using the Internet for interaction with public
authorities. If for Romania and Bulgaria the poverty could be a reason for the reduced number of
computers, this explanation does not seem very appropriate in the case of Greece. The lack of interest in
buying PCs may be related to the fact that they are not used to buy goods on the Internet or to interact
with government. This again points to the importance of the cultural factor in the development of
eGovernance.
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Digital Skills
Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Infrastructure Index
100,0
80,0
60,0
40,0
20,0
0,0
Digital Behavior
Figure 12: The four component indexes for Denmark, EU, and Romania
Individuals' level of Internet
skills
Individuals' level of Internet
skills
20,0
0,0
Denmark
EU (27 countries)
Romania
Governmental websites
performance
Internet subscriptinos/100
Individuals regularly using
the Internet
Individuals having
inhabitants
100,0
80,0
60,0
Fixed Broadband
subscriptions/100
inhabitants
Mobile Broadband
ordered/bought goods or
40,0
subscriptions/100
services over the Internet
inhabitants
Individuals using the Internet
for interaction with public
authorities
Figure 13: The eleven indicators for Denmark, EU, and Romania
543
Denmark
PCs/100 inhabitants
E-government on-line
availability
Web Measure Index
EU (27 countries)
Romania

Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
Sweden
Internet subscriptinos/100
inhabitants
Netherlands
Individuals regularly using the
100,0
Fixed Broadband
Internet
80,0
subscriptions/100 inhabitants
Individuals having
ordered/bought goods or
services over the Internet
Individuals using the Internet
for interaction with public
authorities
Individuals' level of Internet
skills
Individuals' level of Internet
skills
60,0
40,0
20,0
0,0
Mobile Broadband
subscriptions/100 inhabitants
PCs/100 inhabitants
E-government on-line
availability
Web Measure Index
Figure 14: The eleven indicators for Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Netherlands
40,0
20,0
0,0
Denmark
Luxembourg
Internet subscriptinos/100
Poland
Bulgaria
Individuals regularly using the
inhabitants
80,0
Fixed Broadband
Romania
Internet
60,0
subscriptions/100 inhabitants
Individuals having
ordered/bought goods or
services over the Internet
Individuals using the Internet
for interaction with public
authorities
Individuals' level of Internet
skills
Individuals' level of Internet
skills
Mobile Broadband
subscriptions/100 inhabitants
PCs/100 inhabitants
E-government on-line
availability
Web Measure Index
Figure 15: The eleven indicators for Greece, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania
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Greece

5. Conclusions
Virgil Stoica and Andrei Ilas
The data presented in this research show without doubt that the digital divide is a complex reality in the
EU and cannot be bridged using the same tools across the whole territory.
From an eGovernance point of view, we identified two large groups of countries: the leaders –the Nordic
and Western countries and the laggards – Southern and ex-communist countries. However, while the
differences regarding the infrastructure and the performance of governmental websites are significant,
those related to digital skills and digital behavior are even bigger. The smallest digital difference is in
terms of Governmental Websites Performance where the distance between Sweeden and Greece is of
only 53.5 points. The biggest digital difference is scored in terms of Digital Behavior between Denmark
and Romania: 77.7 points. This suggests that the Agenda should rather concentrate on developing skills
and changing behaviors in the second group of countries.
This observation becomes extremely important if the goal is to make eGovernment accessible to the
majority and not only to an elite. The differences in the governmental sites performance seem the easiest
to overcome because it requests only a technical intervention. The gap between infrastructures could be
also diminished as the smallest difference on this indicator is for the most dynamic factor, Mobile
Broadband subscriptions/100 inhabitants, and that measures the technological innovation. The
Governments may take initiatives in this respect but it’s probably for the market to finally influence the
improvements in performances.
However, closing the gap on only the two mentioned dimensions would probably lead to a greater digital
divide inside the lagging states of our study between those few confidently and adroitly using the Internet
and the others. Hence, a governmental initiative that aims to increase the interconnectivity and the
interoperability of the administration will only improve the best area of these states. Based on our results
we would rather suggest that measures should be taken in order to improve the population’s
eGovernment related literacy and trust.
From a different perspective, it is surprising to find old and developed EU countries like Greece, Italy,
Portugal and Spain within the group of lagers. In our opinion, this finding points to the influence that
social and cultural factors may have on eGovernance development. If this hypothesis is to be confirmed
by future researches then the Agenda should be adapted according to each country cultural and social
environment. In this vein, the lack of an European administration could be an advantage in the sense that
the national authorities are better positioned to take the proper actions. But some authorities could lack
the interest of taking steps and in this respect the Agenda could play the major role of transmitting a
much needed initial push.
Out of the ‘seven pillars of development’ of the Agenda only two are targeting the human resources: the
enhanced digital literacy and the skills and inclusion and ICT-enabled benefits for EU society. If the
results of the present research are pointing into the right direction then these two “pillars” should be the
main ones if it is to build a non digitally divided Europe.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the strategic grant POSDRU/89/1.5/S/62259, Project „Applied social, human
and political sciences. Postdostoral training and postdoctoral fellowships in social, human and political
sciences” cofinanced by the European Social Fund within the Sectorial Operational Program Human
Resources Development 2007 – 2013.
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546

Towards Estimating Users’ Opinion Strength in Forum Texts
Regarding Governmental Decisions
George Stylios 1, 2 , Christos Katsis 2, Vasiliki Simaki 1 , Sofia Stamou 1 and Dimitris
Christodoulakis 1
1
University of Patras, Greece
2
Technical Educational Institute of Ionian Islands, Lefkada, Greece
gstylios@yahoo.gr;
ckatsis@teiion.gr;
simaki@ceid.upatras.gr;
stamou@ceid.upatras.gr;
dxri@upatras.gr
Abstract: The growth of Web 2.0 has facilitated interactive information sharing and interoperability on the World
Wide Web, allowing users not only to retrieve information, but also the opportunity to interact or articulate their
opinions on different topics. Numerous works on various social and political objectives devoted to the formation of
open Internet sources of information monitoring systems, in order to prepare digests and reports on keywords as well
as thematic queries regarding opinions on government decisions. Moreover, analysis of rubrics associations as well
as primary semantic and statistical interpretation of the texts is usually carried out. Therefore experts can accomplish
an intellectual data analysis and forecast. On the other hand, it is rather difficult to get punctual predicts and estimate
sufficiency forum users’ opinion strength. In this work we present a methodology in order to automatically estimate
the strength of users’ opinions on text forums regarding governmental decisions. According to our methodology,
quantitative features are automatically extracted from forum posts and then passed to a Support Vector Machine
based classifier where the users’ opinion strength is estimated. The proposed methodology has been validated in
real data. The initial experimental results are presented. Our schema could also be used in a wide range of
applications such as: scenario analysis of important events for political, social, and commercial tasks, public opinion
monitoring, forecasting of tendencies of public opinion and marketing research.
Keywords: eGovernment, knowledge extraction, linguistic analysis, machine learning, opinion strength mining,
support vector machines.
1. Introduction
Electronic government, or eGovernment, is correlated with the use of digital technology in the
management and delivery of public services, by enhancing the efficiency of the public sector and
developing more personal, customized relations between citizens and their government. EGovernment
indicates that management services and functions are transferred onto the internet. Thus, it is a way for
governments to use the most innovative information and communication technologies to offer citizens
efficient access to information and services (Hayat 2009). The Semantic Web plays a crucial role in
automatic delivery of customized eGovernment services. It extends the existing Web by providing a
framework for technologies that give meaning to data and applications for automatic processing. (Gribble
D.S.et al., 2000). Web 2.0 enhances the creativity, collaboration, information sharing and functionality of
the web. Wikis, social networking and folksonomies are often focused on personal life, and many on
professional life. In the professional or business environment, both private and public sectors are very
interested in offering the best services to the users. (Decman, 2009). With the explosion of the Web 2.0
platforms such as blogs, discussion forums, peer to peer networks, and various other types of social
media citizens have at their disposal a soapbox of unprecedented reach and power by which to share
their experiences and opinions positive or negative, regarding any product or service. (Zabin and
Jefferies, 2008).
It is well known that “What other people think” has always been an important piece of information for most
of us during the decision making process. Long before awareness of the World Wide Web became
widespread, many of us asked our friends who they were planning to vote for in local elections, requested
reference letters regarding job applicants from colleagues, or consulted Consumer Reports to decide
which product to buy. But the internet and the Web have now (among other things) made it possible to
find out about the opinions and the experiences of those in the vast pool that are neither our personal
acquaintances nor well known professional critics – that is, people we have never heard of. And
conversely, more and more people are making their opinions available to strangers via the internet.
(Pang and Lee, 2008). On the other hand, businesses firms have used data mining, for years, to analyze
customer demographics and transaction history to better target direct marketing efforts. Recent advances
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George Stylios et al.
in computer speed and the collecting of data by many businesses have inspired the improvement of
software to achieve today’s mining abilities. As parallel processing and the use of artificial intelligence
have met with improvements in software and growing business awareness of the benefits of database
analysis, DM and related fields, based on both statistical tools and computer science, have emerged.
Opinion mining has recently become a topic of interest trying to combine statistics, Artificial Intelligence
and Data Mining technologies in a unified framework. (Pang and Lee, 2008). Negative and positive
opinions can be used as guidelines for companies to change their strategies toward specific target
groups, customers to decide on the purchase of a product or destination place for their holidays and
lately for governments to improve services, launch campaigns etc (Ku et al, 2007). Traditionally opinion of
the people was acquired through Gallup polls and questionnaires. The latest trend however is to extract
public opinion expressed in text documents in the web (blogs, forums), information that might be more
objective since it is expressed without any “pressure”. On the other hand the tendency of a person for or
against an argument, a product etc is not as easily extracted as in the case of specific questionnaires. It
is therefore somewhat subjective posing an extra difficulty in the analysis of this information.
2. Related work
As is well known, opinions matter a great deal in politics. Some work has focused on understanding what
voters are thinking, whereas other projects have as a long term goal the clarification of politicians’
positions, such as what public figures support or oppose, to enhance the quality of information that voters
have access to. The field of web opinion mining and sentiment analysis is well-suited to various types of
intelligence applications e.g. Government intelligent. Web opinion mining aims to extract, summarize, and
track various aspects of subjective information on the Web. Ku, (Ku et al, 2007) applied web mining
techniques to mine positive and negative sentiment words and their weights on the basis of Chinese word
structures. Xu (Xu and Ramnath, 2009) proposed a system for opinion mining using poll results on the
web dealing with opinion answering question, opinion mining on a single object and opinion mining on
multiple objects. Furuse (Furuse et al., 2007) developed a search engine that can extract opinion
sentences relevant to an open-domain query -based not only on positive or negative measurements but
also on neutral opinions, requests, advice, and thoughts- from Japanese blog pages. Miao (Miao et al,
2009) proposed AMAZING, a sentiment mining and retrieval system which mines knowledge from
consumer product reviews by utilizing data mining and information retrieval technology based on a
ranking mechanism taking temporal opinion quality and relevance into account to meet customers’
information needs. Zhai (Zhai et al, 2011) developed Opinion Observe to compare consumer opinions of
different products based on online reviews, while Sun (Sun et al., 2006) created BlogHarvest which is a
blog mining and search framework that extracts the interests of the blogger, finds and recommends blogs
with similar topics and provides blog-oriented search functionality. An opinion utility named Jodange was
builted in the Leveraging Cornell University. Jodgane identifies opinion holders on issues, organizations,
or people of interest. It can track the impact of an issue via publication, region, opinion holder, tonality or
any other measurement, uncover important sentiment trends on key issues and correlate opinions
against specific outcomes. VIStology's IBlogs (http://www.vistology.com/about/about.html) project, funded
by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research’s Distributed Intelligence provides blog analysts a tool for
monitoring, evaluating, and anticipating the impact of blogs by clustering posts by news event and
ranking their significance by relevance, timeliness, specificity and credibility, as measured by novel
metrics. This technology allows analysts to discover, from the bottom up, the important/critical issues in a
local blogosphere, by providing measurements particular to that locale alone. The need for identifying
opinions has motivated a number of automated methods for detecting opinions or other subjective text
passages (Wiebe, Bruce, & O’ Hara, 1999; Hatzivassiloglou & Wiebe 2000; Wiebe 2000; Wiebe et al
2002; Yu & Hatzivassiloglou 2003) and assigning them to subcategories such as positive and negative
opinions (Pang, Lee, & Vaithyanathan 2002; Turney 2002; Yu & Hatzivassiloglou 2003). A variety of
machine learning techniques have been employed for this purpose, generally based on lexical cues
associated with opinions. However, current approaches share a common pattern. They focalize on an
entire document (Pang, Lee, & Vaithyanathan 2002; Turney 2002) or an complete sentences (Wiebe,
Bruce, & O’Hara 1999; Hatzivassiloglou & Wiebe 2000).
Although all the above mentioned research deals with web opinion extraction, according to our
knowledge there is no previous work reported regarding automated assessment of blog or post user’s
opinion strength. Apparently, it is of great importance not only to extract someone’s opinion (positive or
negative), but also to estimate if someone supports his/hers opinion with arguments or epicheiremas (i.e
opinion strength). In the following sections, initially we describe our methodology which automatically
estimates post/blog users opinion strength. The proposed methodology is validated using real data
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George Stylios et al.
coming from the website of a newspaper. The initial results are provided next in the experimental
evaluation section. Finally, our conclusions and future work are described in the concluding remarks
section.
3. Proposed methodology
Text materials from many web sources (e.g., posts, blogs) usually mix facts and opinions. Automatically
determining posts provided from users using arguments to support their personal opinion (positive
opinion strength) would help in selecting the appropriate type of information given an application and in
organizing and presenting that information. In this work, we provide a methodology that automatically
classifies user’s opinion strength into two classes, high or low, using quantitative features being extracted
from posts or blogs. For that reason a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classi er is employed (Vapnik,
1995) A classification task based on SVM usually involves training and testing data, which consist of a
number of data instances. Each instance in the training set contains one ‘‘target value’’ (class labels) and
several ‘‘attributes’’. The goal of the SVM is to produce a model, that predicts a target value of data
instances in the testing set in which only the attributes are given. Let a training set of instance-label pairs
be
(xi, yi ), i = 1, . . ., p (1)
where xi is the training vector of original data belonging to one of two classes (high opinion strength, low
opinion strength), p is the number of the blogs/posts and indicates the (one of the two) class
of xi . The support vector machine requires the solution of the following optimization problem:
subject to ,
(2)
(3)
where b is the bias term, w is a vector perpendicular to the hyperplane , ξ the factor of classification
error and c>0 is the penalty on parameter of the error term. The training vectors xi are mapped into a
higher dimensional space by the function , where is a feature space where the data are
separable. SVM finds a separating hyperplane with the maximal geometric margin and minimal empirical
risk in this higher dimensional space. is defined as
where is the decision function defined as
, (4)
(5)
with (6)
being the kernel function, the weighting factors and the bias term. In our case the kernel is a radial
basis function (RBF), which is defined as
where
, , (7)
(σ is the standard deviation) is a parameter on the kernel. The RBF kernel non-linearly maps samples
into a higher dimensional space, so it can handle cases when the relation between class labels and
attributes is non- linear. The parameters γ and C were defined heuristically. In our application we have
used the SVM training algorithm provided by the LIBSVM library (Chang and Lin, 2001).
In order to increase our classification results, a Correlation Feature Selection (CFS) procedure is used to
rank the extracted features. The CFS algorithm, proposed by Hall (Hall, 2001) is based in the central
hypothesis that good feature sets contain features that are highly correlated with the class (valid, not
valid), yet uncorrelated with each other. CFS is a filter approach independent of the classification
algorithm by considering the individual predictive ability of each feature along with the degree of
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George Stylios et al.
redundancy between them. Subsets of features that are highly correlated with the class while having low
intercorrelation are preferred.
4. Experimental evaluation
To evaluate the proposed methodology we have gathered data derived from 297 users’ comments
(posts) published on the Nafteboriki newspaper’s blog (http://www.naftemporiki.gr/debates/). The
comments were written about a certain subject about the issue of publishing the names of people who
don’t pay their taxes or not, and they concern a two months time period, during which the Greek
government would decide if the decision would be implemented. A comment can be added by any user,
anonymously or not, even when he is not a subscriber for the newspaper. An experienced sociologist
after reading carefully all posts, annotated each one of the as “high opinion strength” if the user support
his/her opinion using arguments or “low opinion strength” otherwise. The expert’s opinion is used as a
golden standard for our classification schema. A freely available tagger software initially created by
¨Natural Language Processing Group Department of Informatics - Athens University of Economics and
Business (http://nlp.cs.aueb.gr/software.html), is used to characterize every part of each post as noun,
adjective, verb or punctuation symbol. This software automatically tags nouns, adjectives, articles, verbs,
conjunctions and adverbs using different colors as shown in Figure. 1a
Figure 1: (a) The Tagger software automatically tags nouns, adjectives, articles, verbs, conjunctions and
adverbs using different colors. (b) A script is used to count the total number of nouns,
adjectives, verbs and punctuation symbols per post
In order to count (for every post) the total number of nouns, adjectives, verbs and punctuation symbols a
script is prepared (Figure. 1b). Finally, word count of Microsoft office Word software is used to count the
number of words in each post. Using the above described procedure the following features are extracted
for each post (Table 1):
The constructed dataset consists of the above mentioned features extracted for 297 posts. 186 of them
are classified by the expert as “high opinion strength” and 111 are classified as “low opinion strength”.
Having applied the RBF kernel SVM algorithm in our dataset the initial classification accuracy is 73.06%.
The confusion matrix of the classification problem is provided in Table 2.
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Table 1: Extracted features
George Stylios et al.
Feature # Feature description
1. # of words per comment.
2 # of nouns divided by the # of words per comment.
3 # of adjectives divided by the # of the words per comment.
4 # of verbs divided with the # of the words per comment.
5 The spelling mistakes divided with the # of the words per comment.
6 Usage of uppercase letters or not (usage designated as 1, where lack of usage was designated as
0).
7 Usage of punctuation symbols i.e. dots, commas, interrogation marks etc (usage designated as 1,
where lack of usage was designated as 0).
Table 2: Confusion matrix produced using all available features
Class Classified as
low opinion strength
Classified as
high opinion strength
Low opinion strength 62 49
High opinion strength 31 155
To enhance our classification results we have applied the CFS feature selection algorithm. The best
ranked features are shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Best ranked features according to CFS algorithm
Ranking # Feature
1 # of words per comment.
2 # of nouns divided by the # of words per comment.
3 # of verbs divided with the # of the words per comment.
4 Usage of uppercase letters or not
After selecting only the top ranked features we apply again the SVM classifier. The obtained accuracy is
78.11%. Table 4 provides the new classification problem confusion matrix. Finally Figure 2 provides a
graphical representation of the two classification schemas comparative results in terms of accuracy.
Table 4: Confusion matrix produced using CFS selected features
Class Classified as
low opinion strength
Classified as
high opinion strength
Low opinion strength 65 46
High opinion strength 19 167
5. Concluding remarks
We have presented an innovative methodology that is able to automatically extract quantitative features
from text web sources (e.g blogs) and classify the user’s opinions strength as “high” if the user supports
his opinion using arguments or “low” otherwise. To validate the proposed methodology we have
constructed a database consisting of seven features (described in Table 1) extracted of 297 posts arising
from a Greek newspaper blog. A Radial Basis Function kernel Support Vector Machine algorithm has
been trained and tested with the above mentioned database. To minimize bias error we have used 10
fold cross validation. The overall classification accuracy achieved from the RBF-SVM was 73,06%. To
increase the classification results we have applied a CFS feature selection method, which provided the
features describe best the classification problem (Low opinion strength, High opinion strength). The best
ranked features according to CFS algorithm are provided in Table 3. The RBF-SVM algorithm overall
classification results using the CFS selected features is 78.11%. Our future works includes the
enrichment of our dataset, the employment of more advanced classifiers in order to increase our
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George Stylios et al.
classification accuracy and the testing of our methodology into real world posts dealing with different
topics.
Figure 2: Classification comparative results in terms of accuracy.
References
Chih-Chung Chang and Chih-Jen Lin, 2001, LIBSVM : a library for support vector machines.
Decman. Mitja, 2009. “Web 2.0 in eGovernment: The challenges and opportunities of Wiki in Legal Matters”.
Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on eGovernment, pp 229-236.
Furuse O., Hiroshima N. Yamada S.and Kataoka R., 2007, “Opinion sentence search engine on open-domain blog”,
Proceedings of the 20th international joint conference on Artifical intelligence in Hyderabad, India, pp.2760-
2765
Gribble D. S.et al., 2000 “Scalable, Distributed Data Structures for Internet Service Construction,” Proc. 4th Symp.
Operating Systems Design and Implementation, Usenix Assoc., pp. 319–332.
Hall M.A., 1998, “Correlation-based Feature Subset Selection for Machine Learning” Hamilton, New Zealand, 1998.
Hatzivassiloglou, V., and Wiebe, J. 2000. “Effects of adjective orientation and gradability on sentence subjectivity.” In
proceedings of the Conference on Computational Linguistics.
Hayat. Ali, Linda Macaulay and Liping Zhao. 2009. “A Collaboration Pattern Language for e-Participation”:A Strategy
for Reuse”. Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on eGovernment, pp 29-39.
Jian-Tao Sun, Xuanhui Wang, Dou Shen, Hua-Jun Zeng, and Zheng Chen. 2006 “Cws: A comparative web search
system.” In International Conference on World Wide Web (WWW), 2006
Ku LW Chen H.H 2007 “Mining opinions from the Web: Beyond relevance retrieval Source”, Journal of the American
Society for Information Science and Technology Volume 58, Issue 12,October 2007
Pang Bo and Lee Lillian, 2008. “Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis.” Foundations and Trends in information
Retrieval. Vol 2 Nos. 1-2, pp1-135. DOI:10.1561/1500000001.
Pang, B.; lee, L.; and Vaithyanathan, S. 2002. “Thumps up? Sentiment classification using machine learning
techniques”. In Proceedings of the 2002 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing
(EMNLP-02)
Qingliang Miao, Qiudan Li and Ruwei Dai, 2009 “AMAZING: A sentiment mining and retrieval system”, Expert
Systems with Applications
Turney, P. 2002. “ Thumps up or thumbs down? Semantic orientation applied to unsupervised classification of
reviews. In Proceedings of the 40th Annual Meeting of the association for Computational linguistics.
V. Vapnik,1995, “The nature of statistical learning theory”, Springer, New York.
Wiebe, J., Wilson, T.; Bruce, R.; Bell, M.; and Martin, M 2002. “Learning subjective language.” Technical Report TR –
02-100, Department of Computer Science, university of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Wiebe, J.; Bruce, R.; and O’Hara, T. 1999. Development and use f a gold standard data set for subjectivy
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(ACL-99), 246-253.
Wiebe, J.2000. “Learning subjective adjectives from corpora”. In Proceedings of the 17th National Conference on
Artificial Intelligence (AAAI -2000).
Xu Z.and R. Ramnath, 2009 “Mining Opinion from Poll Results in Web Pages,” WWW2009, April 20-24, 2009, Madrid
Spain
Yu, H., and Hatzivassiloglou, V 2003. “Towards answering opinion questions: Separating facts from opinions and
identifying the polarity of opinion sentences”. In Proceedings of the Conference on empirical Methods in Natural
language Processing
Zabin J and Jefferies A, 2008 “Social media monitoring and analysis: Generating consumer insights from online
conversation”, Aberdeen group Benchmark Report.
Zhongwu Zhai, Bing Liu, Hua Xu and Peifa Jia, 2011 "Clustering Product Features for Opinion Mining." to appear in
Proceedings of Fourth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Minin, Hong Kong, China.
552

An Efficient, Effective eGovernment Enterprise Resource
Planning Model
John Douglas Thomson
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
doug.thomson@rmit.edu.au
Abstract: The purpose of this empirical research by two public servants over twelve months was to develop an
efficient and effective generic ERP database model and to minimize its impact on their agency. The ERP database
so developed met agency performance requirements, did not require adjustment of agency structures, systems or
processes, or any additional resources, change management or special training. The model, which may be suitable
for adoption by others (particularly developing countries), was based on the agency’s existing data across almost all
industry sectors over a period of six financial years. Contrary to vendor developed and imposed ERP models, the
impact of this model on the agency was minimal.
Keywords: ERP; agency; performance; impact
1. Introduction
The purpose of this empirical research by two public servants over twelve months was to develop an
efficient and effective generic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) database model and to minimize its
impact on their agency. The ERP database so developed met agency performance requirements, did not
require adjustment of agency structures, systems or processes, or any additional resources, change
management or special training. The model, which may be suitable for adoption by others (particularly
developing countries), was based on the agency’s existing data across almost all industry sectors over a
period of six financial years. Contrary to vendor developed and imposed ERP models, the impact of this
model on the agency was minimal.
ERP is an agency wide computer software system used to manage and coordinate all the resources,
information and functions of a business from shared data stores (Esteves and Pastor, 2004). An ERP
system can facilitate the smooth flow of common functional information and reduce cycle times. However,
without top management support and an appropriate business strategy, plan and vision, the reengineering
of business processes, effective project management, user involvement and education and
training, eGovernment agencies cannot embrace the full benefits of such complex systems. The risk of
failure might be at a high level (Al-Fawaz, Zahran and Tillal, 2008). Due to the complexities of most ERP
systems and the negative consequences of a failed ERP implementation, most ERP vendors have
included ‘best practice’ in their software. These are what the ERP vendor may deem as the most efficient
way to carry out a particular business process in an integrated enterprise-wide system (Monk and
Wagner, 2009) – that is, from the ERP vendor’s point of view and not necessarily from an agency’s point
of view.
Most ERP vendor systems were initially designed to be used by discrete manufacturing companies rather
than for government (Khosrow-Pour 2006). While this is changing, agencies have variously struggled with
different ERP vendors to modify core ERP vendor programs to their needs (Khosrow-Pour 2006).
Vendors have only recently begun to offer specially tailored ERP application sets, but there is still much
customization work to do (Khosrow-Pour 2006). Packaged applications now target agencies including
higher education (Khosrow-Pour 2006). Thus it is necessary for agencies to perform a thorough business
process analysis before selecting an ERP vendor and undertaking ERP implementation. Such analysis
should map current structures, systems and operational processes to enable the selection of an ERP
vendor whose standard modules are most closely aligned with the established agency’s (King 2005;
Yusuf, Gunasekaran and Abthorpe, 2004). ERP implementation is difficult and can be politically charged.
Agencies are often structured into nearly independent functions, each having different processes,
business rules, data semantics, authorization hierarchies and decision centres (Daneva and Wieringa,
2008). ERP implementation can cause significant centralization of arrangements, such that once
implemented may then limit the freedom and flexibility of agencies to adapt quickly to environmental
changes without incurring significant costs, lengthy duration delays, significant change management and
agency turmoil.
While the adoption of ERP has been viewed as a means of reducing costs, in practice such
implementation often increases costs (Cordella & Simon 97, Cordella 2001, Cordella 2006). Such costs
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John Douglas Thomson
vary from agency to agency. The ICT Development Index provides IT benchmarking information across
nations indicating that ‘large disparities remain among countries’ (ITU, 2009). Low income countries are
low on the index, with an important element being ‘the cost of ICT services’ (ITU, 2009).
ERP data is often spread throughout different agency functions such as accounting, project management,
purchasing and procurement, and supply logistics. Wittmann & Cullen (2000) suggest that such data is a
key value driver. In many agencies it remains an untapped source of core government business data. It
could be that this is because its value is not recognised or is deliberately obsfuscated by agencies (eg
recent anti-corruption initiatives by the UK government), or that some or all of these functions have been
outsourced to an external provider and so have become opaque to an agency’s management. Whilst it
may be an attractive option, outsourcing such core functions may lead to becoming dependent upon
external, often rent seeking, ERP vendors. Such rent seeking can take the form of demands for system
and software adoption and subsequent upgrades, specialist training for staff, ongoing license fees on a
per user basis (so limiting the number of users within the agency because of the cost per user),
consultancy fees, special service fees and so on. Once committed to such ERP arrangements, it is
difficult for an agency to break out of such contracts without suffering heavy costs. But to remain in the
arrangement is also very costly – it becomes a most effective monopoly for the ERP vendor.
It is critical for agencies to determine if their way of doing business will fit a standard ERP vendor
package (Khosrow-pour, 2006) before contracts are signed. There are options – agencies can change
their business structure, systems and processes to accommodate the ERP vendor software, or they can
modify the software to fit their structure and processes. ERP vendors argue that modifying their software
will ‘slow down the project, introduce dangerous bugs into the system and make upgrading the software
to the ERP vendor’s next release excruciatingly difficult because the customizations will need to be torn
apart and rewritten to fit with the new version’ (Khosrow-pour, 2006).
2. Case Illustrations
Waste Management announced in March 2008 that it was suing SAP, seeking the recovery of US$100m
in project expenses that related to a failed ERP vendor implementation started in 2005. In the complaint,
Waste Management alleges that SAP executives participated in a fraudulent sales scheme and that
SAP's Waste and Recycling ERP product was actually fake software that was still not ready for Waste
Management's use by Spring 2008 (Financial Times HE Supplement 2008).
An ERP study conducted by Lugwigshafen University of Applied Science (Ludwigshafen University 2004)
surveyed 192 companies. It concluded that companies which implemented SAP’s industry best practices
decreased mission-critical project tasks such as configuration, documentation, testing and training.
In a Deloitte Consulting survey of 64 Fortune 500 companies (Deloitte, 2008; Khrosrow-Pour 2006;
Saleh, Abdullaziz and Alkattan, 2006), one in four admitted they suffered a drop in performance when
their ERP vendor system went live - the most common reason for the performance problems was that
everything looked and worked differently from the way it did before, which occurs when people can’t do
their jobs in the familiar way and haven’t yet mastered the new way.
RMIT University, an Australian top 200 global university in 2007 (Financial Times HE Supplement 2008)
undertook to integrate basic student administration (and related financial) tasks with web-enrolments, the
alumni system and other peripheral tasks. It went live in October 2001. According to Gray (Gray, 2003),
the PeopleSoft ERP implementation was subsequently the subject of a Victorian Government Auditor
General's Report (Victorian Auditor General, 2003) following the ERP vendor system's failure to deliver.
The problems that followed cost RMIT University more than AU$47m, or 3.7 times the original budget
(Victorian Auditor General, 2003).
The hidden vendor costs of ERP most likely to result in budget overrun are training (expensive);
integration and testing (high risk); customization (expensive); data conversion (from old systems to new
ERP vendor systems); data analysis (combined with data from external systems for analysis purposes);
consultants (ad infinitum); retaining the agency’s trained ERP employees; implementation (never stops);
waiting for the agency’s ROI; post-ERP depression; and adjusting to the new ERP vendor system.
Similar examples abound. Gray (2003) suggests that rather than trying to modify the ERP vendor
software systems to suit an agency’s business processes, there is a need to look at ways of modifying
the business’s processes to suit the ERP vendor system. However, this may lead to other acute and
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John Douglas Thomson
expensive complications in writing software variations and revising and adjusting business structures and
processes. Is this ‘the tail wagging the dog’? Is an ERP system a tool of management or vice versa?
3. The story in brief
Why do ERP projects fail so often? At its simplest level, Wailgum (2007) suggest that ERP is a set of
‘best practices’ for performing different functions including e-procurement, logistics, finance, HR, and
other processes. To get the most from the ERP vendor software, they argue that employees need to
adopt the work methods outlined in the software. If public servants in the different agencies that will use
ERP don’t agree that the work methods embedded in the software are better than the ones they currently
use, they will resist using the software or will want IT to change the software to match the ways they
currently do things. This can be where ERP vendor projects break down. Political fights break out over
how, or even whether, the ERP vendor software should be installed. IT becomes involved in long,
expensive customization efforts to modify the ERP vendor software to fit the business requirements.
Customizations make the software more unstable and harder to maintain when it is implemented.
Because ERP covers so much of what an agency does, a failure in the software can bring an agency to a
halt.
Every agency is different, with unique work methods that an ERP vendor cannot account for when
developing its software. Further, changing a public servant’s work processes and habits will also create
difficulties, and getting them to use the ERP vendor’s software to improve the ways they do their jobs
may be a harder challenge, particularly if it means that on success, many will lose their jobs through
‘productivity benefits and efficiency gains’. If the government agency is resistant to change, then an ERP
project is more likely to fail.
So rapid have been software and hardware improvements that strategy developing and decision making
senior public servants are sometimes unaware of the inherent latent usable potential available to
prosecute their interests – there may also be generational issues here. In some agencies, existing public
servant ICT expertise may not be being realized or valued. Since 2000, there have been significant
improvements in the computing power of generic hardware and software database tools for which there
are ‘at no cost’ upgrades. Inexpensive training in the use of generic database software is accessible at
low cost. Such may be the skill and curiosity of many public servants about ICT that no additional training
is necessary. These ICT skills may be applicable to ICT challenges such as ERP, which function through
establishing central databases. Standardization of software code makes it possible for agencies to
develop their own ERP arrangements using their own employees who are already familiar with their
agency’s structure, agency and culture.
4. The challenge
There has been at least one agency which used its internal resources to develop an efficient and
effective ERP model at low cost over a period of 12 months. The innovation challenge was to implement
government ICT policy through the internal development of an agency wide central ERP e-procurement
database using standard generic database software, existing resources and data at lowest cost, in
minimum time with maximum agency acceptance. This became an evidence based, longitudinal action
research for a complex, high tech Australian Federal Government Department of around 90,000
employees. In F/Y 2008-09 the agency procured more than AU$9.6 billion equipment and services, and
employed over 7,500 people in more than 40 locations around Australia and overseas (DEF 09).
Hundreds of small to large enterprises are dependent on the agency for orders, so whatever software is
adopted would have an impact on them also. The more generic the software, the less cost and more
efficient and effective for suppliers. The selection of Microsoft Access software (MIC 07) was made
because the agency was already committed to generic Microsoft software as its standard and it was
readily available to suppliers.
The ERP design performance specification was determined after lengthy fieldwork discussions with many
internal and external stakeholders. These were:
First: it had to be simple, reliable, accurate and timely and kept current with new data entry as eprocurement
transactions occurred;
Second: it had to respond to internal customer’s many and varied needs on an established work
priority basis but be capable of modification or adjustment should these needs change;
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John Douglas Thomson
Third: it had to be user friendly, easy and intuitive to use with minimal if any training, simple to
understand in concept and structure, and be perceived and accepted by authorized users as of value
and not as a threat to their jobs; and
Fourth: it needed to be developed, installed and maintained using existing data and resources at no
additional resource, transaction or capital cost to the agency.
To achieve these performance criteria, the boundaries of the model were based on existing financial data
for each financial year’s transactions. This data was readily available, but spread throughout various
functional areas such as accounting, project management, procurement and supply logistics. Initial
exploratory research found there were around 250,000 electronic procurement transactions per annum,
around 200,000 of which were under AU$2,000 in individual value. The ERP data for these less than
AU$2,000 commodity purchases, large in number (greater than 90% of the total number of transactions)
but individually very small in value (less than 10% of the annual spend), was already available through
bank card statements and could be added to the database later if necessary. Details of the remaining
(approximately) 50,000 e-procurement transactions, each above the agency bank card delegation of
AU$2,000, were publicly available through the Federal Government Gazette and formed the basis of the
initial generic ERP database model. These data were collected from a range of internal and external
stakeholders.
5. One unique field required
For the ERP database model development, an unique attribute common to every transaction was
necessary. This unique field, the Purchase Order number, provided the means by which data within and
across each financial year was identified. This unique attribute thus provided the basis for the individual
records of related data to be selected, interrogated, dissected, grouped and extracted in many shapes
and forms. A ‘flat file’ structure made access to all data in the database easy and quick to access by
authorized employees with very limited training. This approach ensured every authorized employee was
able to intelligently determine the usefulness of the database to their own particular needs. Any masking
of the ‘flat file’ data restricted and limited the usefulness of the database. Usually ERP vendors do not
advocate such transparency of the entire database to all authorized users, but instead advocate ‘reports’.
This was found to be an inefficient and much less effective approach than keeping the data open and
transparent to all authorized users. Vendors also argue that a simple database such as MS Access is
inadequate to cope with such a challenge. Again this was found not to be the case. The simple MS
Access relational database ‘flat file’ structure used did not overload or make the database complicated or
difficult to interrogate by authorized users. In fact, other relational database fields were subsequently
added as ‘pull down’ menus, such as Zip Codes and Industry Codes (ANZIC). Pull down menus for buyer
and supplier attributes, such as address, contact person, email addresses, telephone numbers and so on
were also added. Any user that had a need for reports were able to design and develop them themselves
as necessary, because of their access to the ‘flat file’ database, simplicity of the software and the easily
understood database infrastructure.
6. Intuitive use
The structure of the extended relational database fields with each individual record tied to its unique
Purchase Order (P/O) number was based on the chronology of the capability acquisitions ie in the order
in which the processes occurred - from the agency buyer to product/price to supplier to delivery to final
location – no changes to existing agency structure, systems or processes were required. Data included
fields for the buyer’s name, buyer’s address and contact details, contract, contract type, account number,
purchase order number and date, portfolio, department, division, branch, agency, and postcode, and
details of payment arrangements and progress; product description and ANZIC industry code (Australian
Bureau of Statistics, 1998), value and industry sector; supplier company number, name and address, and
contact details. Other data required by specialist agency areas could be added as required (Figure 1).
In this systems format, the data was able to be intuitively understood and interrogated by authorized
users of the database, who were able to draw upon accurate and timely procurement, financial, project
and supply records continuously updated with new information at the end of each month. Thus the
AU$3b to AU$4b per annum history of strategic capability acquisition over six financial years was
established on a part time basis by two employees over a twelve month period. Good relations with all
stakeholders were maintained during the development period, no consultants, or expensive vendor
software, or special training or ongoing license fees were necessary in the development and
establishment of this ERP infrastructure.
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Figure 1: The chronology of capability acquisition
John Douglas Thomson
Some of the many possible fields in and uses of the database are shown in Table 1. These fields reflect
the nature of the ERP business of the agency, which are largely common to most agency procurement
activities. The ‘flat file’ database structure can be readily and rapidly ‘cut and diced’ by any authorised
user to obtain desired data or develop reports. No change management or adjustments to systems or
processes were required, no changes to agency or structure, and no threat of job losses to employees.
Table 1: An example of some few of the possible database attributes (columns) and records (rows).
P/O
no
Date 2008 Value
(AU$K)
A/P to date
AU$K)
Agency Cost
Centre
Supplies
description
446 18Dec 9,103 8,197 DCPM PINTAIL
radios
Qty Supplier
20 Stanilite
Electronic
447 25Dec 7,557 6,000 DNSDC Lep’chaun lease 1 Dan Murphy
448 01Jan 6,320 0 MM Goods 65 Disney
Land
7. Corrupt practices
With this ERP database, the coordination and knowledge management problems associated with
incomplete supply and transaction information and corporate governance issues are reduced. With
accurate scrutiny of historical e-sourcing data over several financial years, an agency is better able to
choose the most efficient and effective e-sourcing arrangements so reducing its transaction and other
costs. It is also able to better synchronize the motivation of its agencies and its suppliers by reducing the
differences of interest and information between the two, with panoptican transparency and trust
(Bentham, 1785). This reduces the opportunities for internal or external rent seeking activities. The ERP
database immediately provides accurate details of each product (good or service) purchased, by whom
and from which supplier in which industry, when and where, at what cost, as well as the current status of
the account. This transparency in itself reduces the potential for, or possibility of, corrupt practices.
8. Need to know, now
Government agencies, for a wide range of reasons, need to know with whom they are doing business,
what business, and what financial exposure they have at any particular point of time. They need to know
now, not in a month, or a week, or tomorrow, but now. Access to this ERP database enabled the agency
to know immediately the number and value of transactions, and with whom it was doing business over
the six financial years the database covered. This is demonstrated across two financial years of the ERP
database (Figure 2).
9. Benchmark buyer delegation limit
Figure 3 demonstrates both the value of notifications of value greater than the agency’s (then) bank card
delegation limit of AU$2,000 and the number of the notifications in this category. This information is
useful if the level of delegations is to be reconsidered, particularly as each product (good or service)
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John Douglas Thomson
comprising the data can be identified. Such information can also be used to benchmark an agency’s
performance.
AU$m
10000
1000
100
10
1
Figure 2: Value brackets of e-Transactions
AU$m
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
$150m and over
$100m to $150m
$50m to $100m
$20m to $50m
$10m to $20m
$5m to $10m
$1m to $5m
$100k to $1m
$30k to $100k
$2k to $30k
Less than $2k
Value Bracket of Procurement
3768 4054 3768 4159
Value of Notifications
>AU$2,000 (in then year
$m)
Value of Notifications
(AU$m ) at constant
prices
50989
Total greater than $2k
48995
Number of Notifications
>AU$2,000
Figure 3: eProcurement values – global summary
10. Strategic sourcing policy: technology transfer
Major agency contracts, often high tech projects, are a focus of strategic management policy because of
the potential for technology transfer, local high tech industry development and the national benefits to be
derived therefrom. Figures 4 and 5 provide an indication of whether a local high tech strategic sourcing
policy was working or not.
558
Number
F/Y1
F/Y2
F/Y1
F/Y2

FY1
FY2
0
60
52
52
40
John Douglas Thomson
Total number of contracts
Total number of contracts
Awarded to local suppliers
50 100
Figure 4: Number of eProcurement contracts greater than $5m & awarded to local suppliers
FY1
FY2
0
2209
1074
2383
1528
1000 2000
Total Value AU$m
Figure 5: Value of eProcurement contracts greater than $5m awarded to local suppliers
11. Offshore sourcing vulnerability
Total value of contracts
Awarded value to local
suppliers
If there was a major disaster such as a tsunami, earthquake or epidemic, then it is necessary for an
agency to be quickly aware of the possible effects on its offshore suppliers. Figures 6 and 7 provide
examples of aggregated data of country of origin from which the agency was obtaining supplies. The data
from each country can of course be broken down into individual supplier details, products being supplied
by each supplier, and contract progress details.
12. Agency business centre comparative performance
Figures 8 and 9 provide a summary of the activities being undertaken by each of the agency’s business
unit each financial year. Resourcing efficiency and effectiveness across agency business centres is a key
issue and such data can indicate the relative efficiency and effectiveness with which each business unit is
undertaking its business. Resources can then be justified or reallocated as appropriate, particularly useful
when contracts end and new contracts are let in other locations.
13. Top ten DoD industry sector spend
Each of an agency’s e-procurements can be placed in an industry sector (Figure 10). This extends into
other internal and external data base information relating to that particular industry sector. For example,
other industry agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics has a variety of data for specific
industry sectors (trend, growth, location, demographic etc). These data extensions can be most valuable
for a multitude of agency purposes, and particularly for the development of strategic industry policy.
559
3000

Number
1000
100
10
1
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Fiji
France
John Douglas Thomson
Country of Origin
Germany
Greece
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
NZ
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
UK
USA
Figure 6: Number of agency eProcurements greater Than $100,000 from non local suppliers
Value AU$
$10,000,000,000
$1,000,000,000
$100,000,000
$10,000,000
$1,000,000
$100,000
$10,000
$1,000
$100
$10
$1
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Fiji
France
Germany
Greece
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Country of Origin
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
NZ
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
UK
USA
Figure 7: Value of agency eProcurements greater than $100,000 from non local suppliers
14. Top ten suppliers by value
A summary of the top ten agency suppliers by number and by value each F/Y was also readily available
from the database. This data is significant from political, industrial, national and international perspectives
(Figures 11 and 12), as the data reveals agency conne4ctions and possible supply and supply chain
vulnerabilities.
DoD Program
Unstated
Washington
London
Science and Technology
Budget and Management
A cquis ition
Strategy and Intelligence
Air Force
Army
Navy
Forces Executive
Figure 8: Number of notifications by business unit
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000
Number of Notifications
560
F/Y1
F/Y2
F/Y1
F/Y2

DoD Program
Unstated
Washington
London
Science and Technology
Budget and Management
Acquisition
Strategy and Intelligence
Air Force
Army
Navy
Forces Executive
Figure 9: Number of notifications by value
11%
7%
7%
7%
19%
John Douglas Thomson
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
4% 1%
Value of Notifications AU$m
12%
18%
14%
Figure 10: Top ten DoD Industry sector spend for one F/Y
26
55
4
490
14
1730
36
646
Number of Procurements
Figure 11: Top ten suppliers by number of contracts awarded
9
561
3
Transport equipment (12%)
Construction and Construction services (14%)
Consultancy, Property and Business services
(18%)
Computer, office Equipment and Electrical
equipment not elsewhere classified (19%)
Chemicals, Petroleum and Coal Products (7%)
Industrial machinery and equipment (7%)
Electrical equipment,hardware,household
appliances (11%)
Photographic, Professional and Scientific
equipment (7%)
Textiles, clothing and footwear (4%)
Communication services (1%)
Lockheed Martin (14)
Civil and civic (9)
NQEA (36)
ADI (646)
Raytheon (3)
DAS (1730)
Rockwell (55)
CSP (26)
Forgacs (4)
Shell (490)

156
165
99
63 50
77
91
188
John Douglas Thomson
239
Value AU$m
916
Lockheed Martin (916)
Civil and civic (240)
NQEA (188)
ADI (165)
Raytheon (156)
DAS (100)
Rockwell (91)
CSP (77)
Forgacs (63)
Shell (50)
Figure 12: Top ten suppliers by value
15. Price setting and competitive bids
Supplier data can quickly reveal different or in some cases the same suppliers supplying an agency with
the same ‘off the shelf’ product at significantly different prices. This knowledge can be used to re-arrange
competitive bids by fewer suppliers at better prices and so lower an agency’s overall prices and
transaction costs. Alternatively, because ERP data is accurate, timely and easy to access, there may be
no need to limit the number of suppliers of a particular product but price setting may be to a buyer’s and
supplier’s advantage. Such technological innovation enables an agency to review, revise and renew its
existing buyer-supplier strategic sourcing relationships.
16. Conclusion
Many eGovernment agencies are taking advantage of the efficiency and effectiveness gains which can
result from the evolution of new e-business models (Panayiotou, Gayialis and Tatsiopoulos, 2004). Such
agencies are attempting to adopt and adapt the new technologies for public e-procurement in order to
achieve the benefits being realised by entities in the private sector (Panayiotou, Gayialis and
Tatsiopoulos, 2004). In the private sector, this is usually undertaken through the adoption of enterprise
resource planning (ERP).
This empirical research by two public servants over a twelve month period gave rise to an efficient and
effective generic ERP database for their agency. The database did not require any adjustment of existing
agency structures, systems or processes, or any additional resources, change management or special
training. The model, which may be considered for adoption by others, was based on the agency’s existing
data across almost all industry sectors. The model indicates that it is possible for ERP development to be
undertaken by internal resources, so providing both centralized and decentralized functionality, high
amenity, search sensitivity and speed to data by authorized users. The information is transparent,
arranged systematically and logically and can be easily searched intuitively by IT aware authorised public
servants. The high quality, timely data provides a routine basis for the collection, collation and
dissemination of both strategic and detailed e-procurement data. This established one central ERP
database using available generic database software with many uses and users. The model enabled the
sharing and networking of information and provided an accurate historical corporate memory which may
be used for many strategic, operational and audit/anti-corruption purposes.
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563

Citizen-Government Interaction in Russia: eGovernment as
Tradition Bearer
Anna Trakhtenberg
Institute of Philosophy and Law, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences
Yekaterinburg, Russia
cskiit@yandex.ru
Abstract: This paper contains information about the results of sociological study in Urals federal district of Russia
(2010). The study shows that the traditional model of citizen-government interaction based on a desire to move from
formal to informal interaction with the authorities and to appeal directly to the top powers service demand is still
preserved in large scale. Thus, while a state eGovernment proposal is based on the rational bureaucracy ideal and
seeks to maximize the anonymity of service delivery and reduce the number of citizen-official personal contacts the
public demand, on the contrary, is formed on the strategy which aims to convert a bureaucrat into «just a person».
Keywords: eGovernment, statist discourse, interaction with officials, strategy of weak
eGovernment transition, precisely, state and municipal service delivery in an electronic form, is one of the
prior points in the political agenda of the Russian public administration.
Russia is following the global trends. High expectations associated with the radical enhancement of the
quality of governance are set on eGovernment around the world. Therefore, eGovernment transition is
defined as one of the priorities of the UN within the larger process of a global information society
construction.
The statist discourse of eGovernment seems to be in the process of formation. EGovernment is defined
in terms of normative objectives tending to be achieved by «… public administration revitalizing, public
management overhauling, inclusive leadership fostering and moving civil service towards higher
efficiency, transparency and accountability» (United Nations United Nations EGovernment Survey
2010:1).
This is a classical progress discourse within which eGovernment is not an upgraded version of existing
control systems, but the embodiment of an ideal one that, by analogy with the Bill Gates’ term «friction
free capitalism» can be described as «friction free bureaucracy». eGovernment is claimed to ensure free
circulation of information within and between administrative bodies, as well as between authorities and
citizens. This phenomenon is to result in the replacement of hierarchical, inactive and closed bureaucracy
by flexible, horizontally interrelated, open service frameworks, providing services to citizens quickly,
anonymously and without a glitch at 7 / 24 format (seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day). In other
words, eGovernment will allow for a radical reform of administration which leads to elimination of
bureaucracy evils and maintenance of its benefits.
Certainly, there are skeptics, expressing doubt that a technological reform may entail such large-scale
socio-political changes. Few of them articulate their claims with such harshness, as Bradshaw-Lynne,
who described eGovernment policy as largely shaped by hype, rhetoric and normative arguments (2000).
Nevertheless, much attention is paid to the fact that administrative structures obtain strong inertia while
their employees acquire strong resistance to technological innovations and ability to exploit them in their
own interests. Hence, the problem of whether a latent logic of IT development is able to reform existing
governance practices has been reformulated by us in the problem of definition of a discursive practices
complex accompanying the IT emergence in public administration.
In some ways, the procedure of this discursive complex formation was reverse to the initial one. There is
a detailed analysis of how a computer being a soulless tool of bureaucratic control over the masses has
been transformed after discourse processing in the counterculture into an instrument of deliverance from
this control and formation of new, alternative sociality.
In the global statist discourse computers and the Internet once again are included in the dominant
ideology as a synthesis of countercultural democratic discourse with administrative discourse. In this new
discourse the watchword for eGovernment is «citizen-centered practice».
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Anna Trakhtenberg
The core categories of an eGovernment discourse were formulated in the framework of New Public
Management (NPM) - the movement for public administration modernization under the slogan «process
above hierarchy». The attempt to increase efficiency and quality of public services via transformation of
the government to a large corporation and citizens to customers failed, partly because of ignoring the
values broadcasted in the governance process. As Noordhoek and Saner noted the democratic process
has more goals than the delivery of services (2004). The fact that eGovernment supporters use a NPM
efficiency discourse causes suspicions that they would face the same problem: big promises and
disappointed citizens.
Even now the initiatives on eGovernment matters are constantly hampered by lack of understanding of
those who eGovernment is intended for and who are intended «to be empowered».
According to the UN survey this failure takes the form of divergence of state proposals and public
demand. Despite the fact that an increasing number of countries are making efforts to provide citizens
with electronic content and services and establish on-line dialogue with them a chronic discrepancy
between government offers and citizens’ expectations is noted (United Nations United Nations
eGovernment Survey 2010:5).
Unfortunately, there are relatively few surveys that examine citizens’ perception of eGovernment.
Nevertheless, they display that citizens’ opinion on electronic services is determined by their traditional
perception of the state. Thus, Jae Moon and Welch (2005) while analyzing the citizens and officials’
understanding of the USA eGovernment, highlighted the fact that authorized representatives think within
the bureaucratic (Hamiltonian) tradition while citizens are oriented on democracy (Jeffersonian) tradition.
For this reason, citizens are first of all concerned with the problems of security and privacy while officials
thinking primarily about eGovernment’s ability for provision greater convenience and more information do
not realize that these advantages are of little importance for citizens. The two groups are proved to have
fundamentally different mental practice within a single socio-cultural space.
This conclusion is true for Russia almost as much as for the USA. However, one should mind a radically
different tradition of citizens-officials interaction where the state is both «strict but fair father» and «the
only European» implementing a «catch-up» modernization in Russia.
Though international statist eGovernment discourse in Russia is used in a number of top government
documents, such as «Strategy for Information Society Development in Russia» (2008) and its derivative
«Concept of RF eGovernment formation by 2010» (2008), none of the documents speaks about «citizen
empowerment». These are partly consequences of Russian bureaucracy not being involved into
fascination for NPM in the 90-ies (for obvious reasons related to severe systemic crisis), hence, the
corresponding Russian equivalents for «citizen empowerment» and «inclusive leadership» were not
formed). When speaking about eGovernment authorities special attention must be laid to the problem of
eliminating «friction» in the functioning of administrative structures: «it is necessary to achieve
transparency, clarity and simplicity in everyday relations between the state and the citizens» (Medvedev,
2010). The above quote from the Message of the President D. Medvedev in 2010 outlines clearly an
eGovernment discourse framework in its Russian version. The term «e- government» is defined as «a
new form of public entities’ activities which via wide-spread application of ICT is to provide citizens and
organizations with a qualitatively new level of effectiveness and comfort in public service» (Strategy for
Information Society Development in Russia, 2008). Оne of the most important and logical functions of
eGovernment is the fight against corruption because it allows for breaking the direct relationship between
officials and citizens and moving to an anonymous service. In technical documents eGovernment is
regarded simply as an ICT system used for coordination and monitoring state entities’ activities at various
levels through the creation of a unified telecommunication infrastructure. Naturally, such technical
definitions coexist with more citizen-oriented. For example, the developers of the recently approved
«System Project of the RF eGovernment infrastructure formation» (2010) have placed a citizen back in
the discourse of «friction free bureaucracy». The System Project defines eGovernment as the
arrangement of functions of federal, regional and local executive authorities which provides:
Implementation of formal procedures for gathering information, preparing and making decisions
based on remote electronic interaction in all cases where there is no proven need for applicant’s
personal presence or paper documents;
Governance quality improvement measured as the rate of state bodies activities’ compliance with
legitimate interests of the RF citizens.
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Anna Trakhtenberg
However, there is a significant gap between eGovernment infrastructure developers’ idea of the
legitimate interests of citizens and how citizens themselves understand their needs (not much concern of
their legitimacy).
Numerous opinion polls have revealed a distinctive preference of customary personal communication
with the authorities to the online interaction. For example, the results of opinion poll conducted by the
Russian Public Opinion Research Centre in spring, 2010 are as follows: approximately three-quarters
(73.0%) of respondents aged 25 to 59 years are aware of public services being converted into electronic
form, whereas, only a quarter (25,0%) stated that they would prefer online addressing to the state bodies
to the traditional personal one. 42.0% of the respondents expressed their satisfaction with exceptionally
personal appeal while the others had no definite opinion on this issue (Russians are not accustomed to e-
government officials, 2010).
This conclusion was confirmed during a comprehensive survey conducted by us in the Urals Federal
District in June 2010. (Sample size - 1,500 people. Territorial multi-stage sampling was implemented by a
standardized telephone interview in the six regions: Kurgan region, Sverdlovsk region, Tumen region,
Chelyabinsk region, Hanti-Mansyisk autonomous region-Yugra, Yamalo-Nenezki autonomous region).
Nearly half of respondents over 18 years old (48.2%) stated that in the event of choice they would contact
the authorities in person rather than on the Internet. Other 30.3% would like to have a choice of how to
address- through the Internet or in person and only 16.5% unequivocally indicated they would prefer
exceptionally online interaction.
The highest level of readiness to use electronic services was typical for top management respondents: in
this group, the proportion willing to receive such services amounted to 80.0% of the total number of
respondents, while 34.7% expressed a desire to interact with the authorities only on the Internet.
The weakest readiness was demonstrated by pensioners: in this group 78.8% of the respondents were
focused on personal appeal to the authorities, 7.5% considered for a possible appeal both in person and
online and only 5.8% stated that the electronic form of an appeal was quite suitable.
In other words, eGovernment developers - young, highly educated, wealthy men in managerial positions
or highly qualified specialists meet the full understanding and willingness to use new possibilities in the
same social layer which they belong to and in this sense work on themselves.
Why did the representatives of other social strata show markedly less interest in electronic services? To
find it out we have conducted a series of focus groups on eGovernment transition. (This article uses the
results of focus groups conducted in the cities Ekaterinburg, Nizhny Tagil and Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk
region. Similar results were obtained in other five major cities of the Urals Federal District).
Focus groups have revealed that there is a clear discrepancy between the statist eGovernment discourse
and the types of discursive structures which eGovernment is inscribed by citizens. This discrepancy is not
too much alike to that described by Jae Moon and Welch (2005).
The security and privacy concerns are not typical for Russian citizens. More precisely, when asked
whether they fear for their personal information being used without their permission they replied like this:
«Why should I care? What can I conceal?» Moderator’s arguments about the dangers of universal
electronic control provoked laughter and replies: «They [state authorities] will do it all the same» and
older participants even approved such control.
Fears of Russian citizens were concentrated in another sphere. The participants agreed that the
transition to online public service delivery can reduce the «bureaucratic friction» and will permit to avoid
queuing at reception to the official. Here is a quotation of an elderly participant who is a skilled user of
computers and the Internet (she acquired skills at work):
«No need to go anywhere, no need to stand in a queue. You may stay at home, sit down,
think a little, type, load and mail. That is all. And then, you get a mark that your enquiry is
registered and dated. (Nizhny Tagil, female, former accountant, 60 years old).
However, such positive assessments are usually accompanied by specific stipulations. We give an
utterance of a middle-aged woman (a confident computer and the Internet user):
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Anna Trakhtenberg
«Of course, if you do not have to queue, then it is very well. But is this possible? I mean, that
my application could be lost. Could it get wherever needed? Would it be answered instead of
being deleted and then said to be never sent! Or they may say: «The server is badly working
and your e-mail has not come yet» and so on. There is some distrust left. Yet. Now ».
(Pervouralsk, a woman employee at a municipal institution, 44 years old).
Evidently, the participant has no doubt that «they / officials» could exploit new opportunities in their own
interests and find the way to shirk their duties whereas she could not feedback and protect her interest.
The idea «when online they (officials) can not be controlled» was articulated by younger and middle aged
men involved in a dialogue:
It is bad that you can not track how your application is being considered. It cannot be tracked
anyhow. You just e-mail it and never learns if it will be read at least! (Nizhny Tagil, a male,
student, 26 years old.)
Well, there will be a notification...(Nizhny Tagil, a male watchmaker, aged 36)
Notification is a pure notification, it is simply an automated issue. And they may not read, just
put a tick and delete it! (Nizhny Tagil, a male, student, 26 years old).
While traveling from one office to another you, at least, can supervise the process. (Nizhny
Tagil, a male worker, 40 years old)
The «control» here means a traditional «strategy of weak» - the desire for direct personal contact with an
official in order to create an informal atmosphere which will encourage him to fulfill his direct duties and
perhaps, even admit certain violations. The electronic form does not suggest such a strategy, therefore,
causes some mistrust (applicants do not know how to behave in the environment where contact with an
officer becomes mediate and impersonal).
Meaningfully, that the focus group participants tended to this strategy, regardless of sex or age. It was
important for them to have a chance to communicate with an officer «as a human being» rather than a
formal function performer. Here is a general reasoning given by a twenty-year old student, an active IT
user:
«In case you need something specific, well, eMailing on the Internet seems to be ineffective
- it is less likely that you will be replied and that your problem will actually be considered.
Because when you just ask someone for something … It is harder to refuse when you
communicate with a person face to face than like this (electronically). It generally can be
ignored, moreover, not replied. Оfficials are people of another sort. It makes no difference to
them - on line or alive addressing. But, nevertheless. At least you can remember the human
face when you are refused. May be helpful on occasion! » (Pervouralsk, a female student,20
years old).
It is noteworthy how much of this opposition is expressed by saying «we - they» («officials are different
people»). The fact that «eye to eye» contact gives an ordinary visitor at least some chance in
administrative entities was reasoned by both a middle-aged teacher and an elderly worker:
«I'll enter an office. And meet «face to face». With emotions expressed. I must see him and
his eyes. This is what communication means to me; senses are the most important matters...
How you should say, how to persuade and to convince, something like this. And eMailing is
just dry, emotionless. And I need alive communication! » (Pervouralsk, a female teacher of
sports, 40 years old).
«Man, probably, is arranged so that he might wish to get online answer but so far it is
soulless. You typed in, send and sit down guessing if it will get the office or not. And here, at
a visual contact you can see if the answer will be given or not. As for e-mail, we still have not
been developed enough.» (Nizhny Tagil, a male ex-worker at the city-forming enterprise,
aged by 59).
All these statements reflect a supplicant’s behavior at his interaction with officials when he applies a wide
range of strategies designed to induce an informal (not official) response to his application, and
consequently, gets focused on the most thorough «reading» interlocutor’s emotions, then a petitioner
makes attempts to manipulate these emotions (as another participant formulated: «…at least you can let
a tear»). The Internet interaction with authorities makes it impossible to use this basic strategy, hence,
the fear for finally losing control over the official interaction process arises. Here is a gloomy
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Anna Trakhtenberg
summarization made by a 26 year-old manager at Yekaterinburg IT-company: «Actually, they [officials]
will stop communicating with us at all. They have nothing to speak to us».
The focus group participants were not much inclined to believe the promise that eGovernment transition
will reduce corruption. They proceeded from the premise that «…insignificant [corrupt] may stop whereas
the more significant corrupt will remain, of course» (Ekaterinburg, a male engineer, 34 years old).
Thus, proponents of online interaction with government officials were mostly highly educated men,
residents of large cities who successfully and effectively use information technologies in everyday life.
Therein, the emphasis was placed on the fact that with no need to communicate with petitioners the
officials will contribute into their work effectiveness growth:
«I am for the Internet, just to get rid of this personal contact. When you sit and concentrate,
type faster and end up faster. Many people are executive in nature. They do not need
dialogue. They get annoyed of communication. But they are able to quickly and efficiently
perform their work».
(Yekaterinburg, a male solicitor in a commercial organization, aged 32)
Thus, while a state proposal is based on the «rational bureaucracy» ideal and seeks to maximize the
anonymity of service delivery and reduce the number of «citizen-official» personal contacts the public
demand, on the contrary, is formed on the strategy which aims to convert a bureaucrat into «just a
person» having nothing in common with this ideal.
There is another traditional «strategy of weak» that has been repeatedly described by specialists in
Russian and Soviet history. V. Kozlov, who devoted a special study to this strategy, pointed out that the
petition was an essential element of Russian culture management because it replaced the missing
institutions of civil society to a large extent: «the denunciation, along with petitions of complaint to the big
bosses over the heads of the bureaucrats and officials… gave the population a final hope that justice
would be done, preserved for the central power an aura of infallibility and righteousness, and redirected
the population dissatisfaction down the channel of «local criticism» (Kozlov, 2000: 118). In the XX
century, the term « denunciation» acquired a negative connotation, hence, for the description of true and
fair reports the term «signal» was introduced instead (Fitzpatrick, 1996), however, the essence remained
the same: any citizen must be provided with the possibility to directly contact with a senior person in the
hierarchy and complain to him on the arbitrariness of his subordinates. Traditionally, the Russian core
belief is that the authority does not extend upwards - from citizens to government (Jeffersonian tradition),
but top- down from some higher authorities center (empowered by God) to the periphery. This conception
of powers can be combined with a deep sense of alienation of lower and top classes («we - they»
scheme). However, this alienation does not exclude but even supposes an absolute power bearer at the
very top who is able to restore order and discipline at subordinate levels.
Characteristically, the discussion on eGovernment in all focus groups spontaneously passed into
«electronic petitions» subject. We present a conversation with residents of Yekaterinburg who on their
own tried to define what «eGovernment» is like, where a typical transition from online services to
personal apply to a «superior they» was performed:
I learnt about eGovernment! I guess, yesterday there was a TV broadcast on that subject in
some city, I do not remember ... I am not sure about the city name. There was an
eGovernment introduced, I think. Yes, they said you could receive a reply to your inquiry
very fast! (Yekaterinburg, a female, housewife, 35 years old)
Perhaps, we will have something like an online mayor. There could be any complaints
submitted. (Yekaterinburg, a female nurse, 39 years old)
Well, we can write to our mayor right now, no problem. But who is writing to you back on
behalf? (Yekaterinburg, a female housewife, 35 years old)
No one is writing on behalf. You answer will never come. (Yekaterinburg, a female nurse, 39
years old)
In the focus groups this idea was repeated and repeated, even by younger participants:
«There is a site «Russian President» with his blog created, where you can leave a comment,
write your opinion for something. On the one hand you are pleased to know that anyway it
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Anna Trakhtenberg
gets the President, at least, his Secretary and that is great. And the fact that anyone can
write is also very nice. That is, there are no restrictions, any person of our country is free to
write. Of course, everything will pass the censorship, but still it seems to be a positive sign».
(Nizhny Tagil, a male student, 26 years old).
Participants in the older age groups formulated their position more traditionally (and dramatically):
«The main thing for me is that I could send a complain myself! Otherwise, where is justice?
Do you agree with this? As for the President I would better use the Internet to mail to him, of
course. If I meet him face to face, I will not be able to say a word. He is the President indeed!
» (Pervouralsk, a male former worker at the city-forming enterprise,70 years old).
The older focus groups participants’ fears and expectations related to obtaining government services
online resulted in a utopia of absolute control over the officials and citizens’ behavior (utopia actually not
dystopia as might be expected):
«If we were entirely (100 per cent) computerized and everyone could estimate the officials’
work, then after summing up we would see the results: the quality of their work, the
effectiveness of it, someone should supervise this. Only that way could we enjoy the
efficiency» (Nizhny Tagil, a male former worker at the city-forming enterprise, 59 years old).
«Everybody must be under control. You are an official, for example, the chief. You should
swallow this pill. So that we can be aware of everything he is doing, with his whole life being
transparent. And the same if you are a bandit -then take the pill, as well. As soon as you
intend to commit something we are being reported without delay and we could get you in
advance and take to jail! » (Pervouralsk,
a male ex-worker at the city-forming enterprise, 70 years old).
Thus, according to the latter viewpoint the total control is equally obligatory for both a government official
and a gangster. In fact, the speaker puts no difference between them, he perceives them as similar
figures.
Another elderly member reinterpreted eGovernment in the spirit of utopia / dystopia «techno power»
popular in the 60-ies, which used to be a part of a closed computer discourse at the Cold War times.
According to his utterance an emotionless power machine is replacing the leaders guided in their
decisions by pure personal likes and dislikes. In other words, we are talking about the destruction of the
strategy that is acknowledged to be the only effective one on «citizen- official» interaction matters.
«I see the subject like this. At present, a human factor is playing a great role. For example,
there arrives the head of some region and asks: «Everything is getting from bad to worse in
our location. Give us a hundred billion (rubles)! As he is a good and respectable person, he
is given that money. Another leader comes with the similar or, perhaps, even worse
problems but may be refused because he does not please them, maybe he is too rough. He
might have said something wrong to someone. And eGovernment, I recon, is a huge
computer which makes totally impartial decisions .It works independently, distributes money
on itself. As for the legacy-then it follows the laws.» (Yekaterinburg, a male, an employed
pensioner, 62 years old).
Thus, for the focus group participants it is important both to get an opportunity for «softening» a
government official and to complain about him if necessary. In Russia the traditional model of «citizengovernment»
interaction with a «strategy of weak» based on a desire to move from formal to informal
interaction with the authorities and to appeal directly to the top powers is still preserved in large scale and
defines public eGovernment service demand. Prompt, high quality, but anonymous eGovernment
services do not fit into this scheme. Focus group participants concerns about controlling the government
activities are not similar to those of official eGovernment projects developers, because this control has
little to do with the bureaucratic «supervision on implementation». Nevertheless, the eGovernment
transition is hoped to encourage the modernization of traditional «citizen-government» relations.
Acknowledgements:
The materials used for writing are obtained with the support of the Sinara Charity Foundation
(Ekaterinburg).
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References:
Anna Trakhtenberg
Bradshaw-Lynne D. (2000) ‘Technology Launch in EGovernment’, Handbook of Public Information Systems, N.Y.,
Marcel Dekker, pp. 113 – 125.
Commission of European Communities (COM (2003) 567) (2003). The Role of EGovernment for Europe's Future.
Brussels. [Electronic]. Available:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/2005/doc/all_about/egov_communication_en.pdf. Last
updated11/15/2010.
Concept of EGovernment Formation in the Russian Federation until 2010 (2008). [Electronic]. Available:
http://www.ifap.ru/ofdocs/rus/egovconc.pdf. Last updated: Last updated11/15/2010.
Fitzpatrick S. (1996) ‘Supplicants and Citizens: Public Letter-Writing in the Soviet Russia in the 1930’, Slavic Review,
vol. 55, no 1, pp. 78 – 105.
Jae Moon M., Welch E.W. (2005) ‘Same Bed, Different Dreams? A Comparative Analysis of Citizen and Bureaucrat
Perspectives of EGovernment’, Review of Public Personnel Administration, vol. 25, pp. 243 – 264.
Kozlov V.A. (2000) ‘Denunciation and its Functions in Soviet Governance. From the Archive of the Soviet Ministry of
Internal Affairs, 1944 – 1953’, Stalinism. New Directions, L., Routledge, pp. 117 – 141.
Medvedev D.A. The President of the Russian Federation Message to the Federal Assembly of the Russian
Federation. [Electronic]. Availvable: http://kremlin.ru/news/9637. Last updated11/15/2010.
Noordhoek P., Saner R. (2004) ‘Beyond New Public Management: answering the claims of both politics and society’,
IX Congreso Internacional del CLAD sobre la Reforma del Estado y de la Administración Pública, Madrid, 2-5
November. 2004. [Electronic]. Available
mode:http://unpan1.un.org./intradoc/groups/public/documents/Other/unpan021304.pdf. Last
updated11/15/2010.
‘Russians are not accustomed to eGovernment officials’ (2010). [Electronic]. Available:
http://rumetrika.rambler.ru/review/2/4226. Last updated11/15/2010.
Strategy for Information Society development in Russia (2010). [Electronic]. Available:
http://www.rg.ru/2008/02/16/informacia-strategia-dok.html. Last updated11/15/2010.
System project of EGovernment Infrastructure Formation in Russia (2010). [Electronic]. Available: mode
[http://www.bftcom.com/upload/smi/Systemniy%20proekt.pdf. Last updated 11/15/2010.
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2010) United Nations EGovernment Survey 2010: Leveraging
EGovernment at a Time of Financial and Economic Crisis. [Electronic]. Available:
http://unpan1.un.org./intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan038851.pdf. Last updated 11/15/2010.
570

eGovernment Openness Index
Nataša Veljković, Sanja Bogdanović-Dinić and Leonid Stoimenov
University of Niš, Serbia
natasa.veljkovic@elfak.ni.ac.rs
sanja.bogdanovic.dinic@elfak.ni.ac.rs
leonid.stoimenov@elfak.ni.ac.rs
Abstract: We live in the era of rapid web technologies development that affects the growth and transformation of
eGovernment. These new technologies impact leads to the re-evaluation of eGovernment, re-focusing of target
characteristics and changing of general approach in eGovernment viewpoint. In today's electronic environment, the
concept of eGovernment 1.0 has been overcome and a new eGovernment concept is being created, known as Open
Government. Within this new concept, the focus is set on open public data, transparency, collaboration and citizen
participation. Benchmarking eGovernment is an important task that indicates the level of implementation of
eGovernment policies as well as eGovernment progress. Benchmarks of eGovernment concepts, eGovernment 1.0
and eGovernment 2.0, are not suitable for Open Government. In this paper we will evaluate different methodologies
for Open Government benchmarking and try to define eGovernment Openness Index (eGOVI) as a global measure
that indicates to which extent one government is open.
Keywords: open government benchmarking, eGovernment evolution, eGovernment openness index
1. Introduction
During the last decade, the concept of eGovernment has drastically evolved. It was firstly considered as
the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for delivering more effective and proficient
government services to citizens, businesses or government agencies by various communication means
such as the Internet, telephone, wireless devices or other communication systems. ICT provides various
ways for integrating information systems into one compact entity, offers relatively inexpensive
infrastructure for data interchange and the possibility of accessing information and eGovernment services
from any place and at any time. Over the years, as the ICT evolved, eGovernment model changed. Web
2.0 technologies provided new possibilities for eGovernment to become less service- and more useroriented.
By incorporating Web 2.0 technologies, eGovernment can facilitate communication with users
and improve the coordination of authorities within the different tiers of government. Web 2.0 brought new
concepts, such as interactive information sharing, interoperability, user orientation and collaborative work.
These concepts have led to creating tools and applications (blog, wiki, RSS, social networks, video
networks) that enable an average user to create, publish and change content on Web. More and more
people all over the globe are being drawn to the virtual world of Web 2.0. Social networks, blogs and
wikis are virtual places where people are together and where governments can reach them.
Governments have embraced Web 2.0 technologies, which enabled them to build a more close
relationship with users and ensure their place in this new virtual era. EGovernment concept has evolved
under Web 2.0 influence into eGovernment 2.0. But this was not the end of the road. Soon after adapting
to new technology concepts governments were able to achieve more open and transparent relations with
users. This influenced the creation of a new concept named Open Government. Opening governments
towards citizens is one of the major goals recognized all over the world. Participation, collaboration and
transparency are recognized as the most important features of Open Government.
Various benchmarks exist for each phase of eGovernment development and are suited for measuring
specific government goals. In eGovernment 1.0 focus was put on twenty basic public services and a set
of indicators that reflect the levels of services development. As eGovernment evolved and started its
transition towards eGovernment 2.0, new benchmarks appeared that were more oriented to user
experience and specific government services. When the transition to eGovernment 2.0 was finished, new
focus was brought to user's needs and public data. This caused the necessity for new changes in
benchmarking models. For eGovernment 2.0 evaluation, Osimo proposed a model in which twenty basic
public data should be evaluated against reusability and transparency, giving the final assessment of data
availability (Osimo 2008b). Open data movements rising in the United States and in Europe soon after,
caused further improvements of the eGovernment concept in which open data is set in the focus and the
opening of governments towards citizens became a new flagship goal around the world. In order to
evaluate the implementation of Open Government concept we need a new benchmark that will be
shaped well enough to express the level of government readiness to become more transparent,
collaborative and participatory. The overall goal of this paper is to present the eGovernment Openness
Index (eGOVI) as a measure of the extent one government is open. The model is developed according to
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the basic characteristics of Open Government concept and according to the authors’ experience in
eGovernment assessment. It should be emphasised that the model is not final, but there need to be a lot
of work on its improvements. The discussion on that subject is given in the final section of this paper.
2. Open government
Since the development of the Internet and understanding of its impact on society, eGovernment has
started entering the virtual scene and making its place in virtual community. At first, eGovernment meant
simple presence of state government on the Web, in the form of an informative web site, but in time the
concept of eGovernment has evolved. Ever since, we can track its development from eGovernment 1.0 to
Open Government.
eGovernment, when it first emerged, posed the why questions. Why do we need electronic government,
why do we need electronic services? As the digital world progressed, eGovernment has been refreshed
and modernized and eGovernment 2.0 has entered the scene. EGovernment 2.0 is more related with the
how and not why. How to provide better services, how to serve citizens faster and more efficiently, how to
use contemporary technology in order to meet citizens’ needs? The shift from services to citizens has
happened and technologies played the wheeler role. Web 2.0 provided answers for eGovernment 2.0
how questions. Governments have recognized the potential of the Web 2.0 environment in building
relationships with citizens and businesses.
Schellong and Girrger explain that Government 2.0 is two-fold term, it veils the new form of governance
and citizen-government interaction as well as the use of Web 2.0 application in Government (Schellong
and Girrger 2010). However, the prevailing opinion is that eGovernment 2.0 is a technical enhancement
of eGovernment. Eggers characterized eGovernment 2.0 as the application of Web 2.0 and Enterprise
2.0 applications and concepts in the public sector (Eggers 2005) and Osimo as the use of Web 2.0
applications in eGovernment (Osimo 2008a). EGovernment 2.0 is more oriented to technological aspects
of government. The 2.0 suffix comes from web 2.0. EGovernment 2.0 reflects government attempts to
renew and modernize eGovernment and its relationship with public sector using web 2.0 technologies.
eGovernment 2.0 uses the technology and innovation of Web 2.0 to address the needs of government.
Open Government is the new governmental concept, set to replace eGovernment 2.0 (e-Gov 2.0). There
are many implications on what the concept of Open Government represents and how it is related to
e-Gov 2.0. Di Maio (2010) sees Open Government as a subset of Government 2.0. Many authors argue
on this statement. Jenn Gustetic explains that Open Government wouldn't be possible without the
outcomes of eGovernment 2.0 (Gustetic 2010). From his perspective Open Government is the evolution
of e-Gov 2.0. Tim O’Reilly delivers the vision of 'government as a platform' and in this vision e-Gov 2.0 is
the next release (O’Reilly 2010). According to Microsoft Open Government is interoperable government
in which people and systems communicate freely (Microsoft 2010).
Open Government and eGovernment 2.0 relate to each other more than it seems at first. Open
Government is two-dimensional eGovernment, where one dimension is certainly technical, it refers to
technologies that will enable its development. The other is, we can say, social and it concerns citizens
and their relations to government and governmental data. Open Government is related to achieving
government accountability, open records and open access to public information. Openness, as the main
feature of this concept, is reflected through the notion of open data, open access to governmental
information and data transparency. Open Government is about information freely available to everyone,
about participation and transparency. Government is becoming more oriented towards citizens who have
the possibility to interact with the government and tell the government their opinion. They are becoming
requestors and creators of electronic services and moreover they are participating in government
decisions by giving their opinion and attitude toward important matters. Open data is an important
transparency indicator, and a must in an Open Government. Open data is governmental data of public
interest that can be easily found, it is accessible and available without restrictions. Government data of
public interest should be made available bit not just in any format. Given that reusable data format
enables data transformation suitable to citizens’ needs, governments should turn towards publishing data
in those formats.
In 2009, Open Government gained more significance in the light of new events. Starting with 2009, the
President of the United States of America, Barak Obama (2009), set creating an unprecedented level of
openness in government as a primary goal. This goal will be achieved when the government is
transformed into a transparent, participatory and collaborative entity. Following the USA government
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steps, the European countries are starting their own initiatives for government openness. The EU
Member states have ratified the Malmoe Declaration on the joint eGovernment strategy until 2015. A year
after signing the Malmoe declaration, the EU Member State ministers responsible for eGovernment
agreed on an Action Plan that will set out the path for the field of e Government up until 2015. This
Action Plan aims at transition from current eGovernment to a new generation of open, flexible and
collaborative eGovernment services at local, regional, national and European levels that will empower
citizens and businesses. The European Commission’s main responsibility in conveying this plan will be to
improve the conditions for development of cross-border eGovernment services provided to citizens and
businesses regardless of their country of origin. This further requires establishing pre-conditions
(interoperability, e-Signature, e-Identification) which will help strengthen the internal market and
complement EU legislative acts and their effectiveness in domains such as procurement, justice, health,
environment and others. In order to achieve these highly set goals, the Action Plan defines four political
priorities: user empowerment, internal market, efficiency and effectiveness of government and
administrations and preconditions for developing eGovernment, followed by actions identified as means
for their achievement. According to this Plan, the main focus of eGovernment for the next four years will
be on increasing user involvement, improving transparency and data reusability, and most importantly
improving internal markets and implementing cross-border eGovernment services. From this point of
view, the definition of Open Government can again be rephrased, and now we can say that Open
Government represents not two, but three-dimensional eGovernment, where one dimension is technical,
the second one is social, and the third one refers to collaboration between different state governments
through cross-border eGovernment services. Taking this definition into further consideration, we can
conclude that Open Government, analyzed on the one state government level, can be seen as a 2D
eGovernment, but on the Europe, or even the World level, from the aspect of collaboration among
governments, it definitely can be considered as a 3D eGovernment. So, at the same time we can talk
about 2D and 3D Open Government, just from the different perspectives.
In order to measure efforts put in government transformation into transparent, participatory and
collaborative government we cannot use the existing benchmarks that were designed according to the
old government perspective. In the next section we will analyze the possible indicators that will lead to a
notion of how much one government is open, a notion we have named eGovernment Openness Index.
3. Benchmarking eGovernment
Benchmarking eGovernment is a very important task. According to (Schellong 2009) it indicates the
progress in reaching eGovernment goals and can be used as a tool for learning, information sharing, goal
setting or supporting performance management. The eGovernment benchmarks have evolved over time
as the eGovernment concept changed. For each eGovernment evolution stage there is a suitable
benchmark with a different set of indicators. Figure 1 illustrates indicators used for benchmarking
eGovernment during its evolution.
The European Commission’s “eGovernment Benchmark” (EUeGovBe), together with the UN’s
“eGovernment survey” and West’s “Global eGovernment report”, belongs to the longest running efforts to
track the development of eGovernment (Bullivant 1994). Since its inception in 2001, EUeGovBe has
proven to be a policy accelerator among the EU Member States and beyond (Capgemini 2010). It is
applied on the yearly basis in order to provide review of twenty basic public services and eGovernment
progress in terms of core indicators. Over time, the EUeGovBe core indicators have changed, since it
was necessary to create a dynamic measurement instrument that will retain the existing comparability
and the principle of open collaboration with participating countries (Capgemini 2009). From the time when
the seventh measurement was taken, back in 2007 EUeGovBe has experienced a major enhancement in
measuring criteria and core indicators. In 2007 EUeGovBe benchmark consisted of a set of four
indicators (Capgemini 2007): sophistication, availability of services, user orientation and national portal.
In 2009 EU Member States and the European Commission decided that the benchmark had to move
away from its original supply-side focus. New benchmark focus is put on the high impact service areas as
well as on the usage side of eGovernment which was neglected in the previous measurements. Two of
the core indicators: national portal and user-centricity are removed and instead e-Procurement and User
experience have been added, reflecting a shift in policy priorities towards outcomes and impact.
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Figure 1: eGovernment benchmark evolution
Nataša Veljković et al.
eGovernment data was somehow left behind in the process of eGovernment 1.0 benchmarking that
defined twenty basic public services upon which full online availability and sophistication were measured.
From the eGovernment benchmarking perspective, the focus is slowly shifting from electronic services to
transparency and reusability of open public data. Therefore in eGovernment 2.0 (Osimo 2008b) proposes
a set of basic public data upon which reusability and transparency will be measured. He recommends
using five level scale for evaluation of public data in eGovernment 2.0. His scale shows the extent to
which public data is available on the web. Levels overview is given in Table 1, they gradually change
from no data to sheer data availability and reusability.
Table 1: Availability of public data
Level Meaning
0 No information available
1 Description of the procedure to obtain the information through FOI
2 Information available in non reusable, non-machine readable format
3 Information available in reusable and machine readable format such as xml or dbase
4 Information available as per stage 3 and visualizable through predefined tools
Benchmarking Open Government is something that will have to be addressed in the light of new policies
and action plans. The existing Open Government benchmarking frameworks focus only on data
reusability but there are also several other aspects for assessing government openness that need to be
addressed. Indicators for measuring government openness should reflect three main principles of Open
Government: transparency, participation and open data. In the following section, will propose a model for
benchmarking Open Government. The model will result with a measure which will determine government
openness.
4. eGovernment openness index
For assessing the extent of openness of a government, there should be introduced a new measure,
flexible enough to adapt to the constantly changing nature of government. We propose a government
openness benchmark model, depicted in Figure 2. The model uses four indicators: basic data set,
transparency, participation and maturity for calculating eGovernment Openness Index (eGOVI). First
three indicators are directly derived from open governmental concepts, while maturity represents the
efficiency of embracing these new concepts. The model is two-dimensional, where vertical dimension
leads towards eGovernment Openness Index while horizontal towards government maturity. Further in
this section we will explain in detail each indicator and dimension as well as the final measure –
eGovernment Openness Index.
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Nataša Veljković et al.
Figure 2: Open government benchmark model
Open data published on government's web sites is used as a data source for basic data set and
transparency indicators. Basic data set is the predefined set of high value data categories. These
categories can vary in different countries, but in order to establish a standard assessment model it is
crucial for a basic data set to be defined and adopted. Since this is a new concept, a unique basic data
set still does not exist. Upon analysis of the current government portals around the world we have singled
out eight most common data categories: Finance and Economy, Environment, Health, Energy, Education,
Transportation, Infrastructure and Population. Data belonging to these categories could form the basic
data set. Each category should be well defined so the user could know what kind of data can be found in
each of them. This basic set can be modified and improved over time according to user and government
needs. The assessment of this indicator requires analyses of available data on governments’ portals.
Governments' portals should publish all data categories from a basic data set along with corresponding
data types for each category. In that case a government can be maximally scored for the basic data set
indicator.
Transparency indicator is seen as authenticity, understandability and reusability of data made available
on the government website. Authenticity relates to data sources, data accuracy and integrity and the
degree of trust in data publishers. Non-governmental institutions and agencies that publish data should
be well known, with good reputation in order for users to utilize data safely and without prejudice. For this
purpose eGovernment portal should provide online catalogues of trusted data sources and allow users to
rate their authenticity.
Understandability of each data set as well as of contained raw data must be provided. This can be done
by publishing textual descriptions of data categories which in detail explain types of data that are
published under each category. Data reusability is the last transparency aspect that we are addressing. It
refers to providing data in open formats so that a user can search, index and download data using
common tools without any prior knowledge of data structures. Osimo proposes five level scale for
measuring data availability in eGov 2.0 (Osimo 2008b) which can be slightly modified and so used for
measuring data reusability in Open Government context.
User involvement is a data source upon which participation indicator is used. Participation reflects the
possibility for users to have impact on published data by sending feedback as well as opinion about
provided data sets and data sets for future publication. This further means that users become equally
significant participators in shaping legal framework and action plans of their country. Accepting the
concept of openness means accepting a user whose opinion matters and can influence government
decision making. Participation can be assessed based on two key aspects: user feedback and feedback
influence. User feedback relates to the possibility for users to leave comments and opinions on actual
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Nataša Veljković et al.
matters (laws, data sets, published data, etc.). This can be achieved via online forms, polls and content
ratings. Feedback influence is reflected through considering user feedbacks by government during the
process of making important decisions, law making and e-services provision. User feedback must be
considered as a people's voice in the government. A government is maximally scored for this indicator
only if both, user feedback and feedback influence are satisfied.
Basic data set
Transparency
Participation
Time
Maturity
eGOVI
Finance and Economy
Health
Energy
Education
Transportation
Infrastructure
Population
Authenticity
Understandability
Reusability
User feedback
Feedback influence
E-government openess index
eGOVI
Figure 3: Detailed open government benchmark model
The fourth indicator for measuring government openness, named maturity, is related to government
readiness for changing and embracing open concepts. Timely identification of necessary changes and
their application for the purpose of government evolvement is an essential element of maturity. Maturity is
an indicator that is calculated using eGOVI and time necessary for government to make same change
and improve its openness. This further means that government which progresses in short period is more
mature than government that makes the same amount of progress but much more slowly. It can be
expected that mature government makes larger progress in the upcoming period.
Based on these four indicators, eGovernment Openness Index (eGOVI) is calculated. EGovernment
Openness Index indicates the progress of government over time, the efficiency of recognizing and
implementing new concepts, as well as the willingness of government to recognize and embrace
innovative ideas. It is expressed in percentage, where 100% indicates total openness, while 0% a
complete lack of openness. Indicators and their belonging aspects, used for eGOVI calculation, are
presented in Figure 3.
The proposed model is certainly not final. Still a lot of work can be done regarding its improvement, yet
only after applying this model on governments around the world, that will be a part of our future work.
5. Future work discussion
Open Government benchmark model that we have proposed covers main aspects of Open Government:
transparency, participation and basic data set. Besides those aspects we have included the maturity
feature as government readiness to open towards new concepts. Based on those four aspects
eGovernment Openness Index is calculated as a percentage of government openness. EGovernment
Openness Index gives the final estimation of government's state regarding governmental efforts,
readiness to timely publish open data sets, orientation towards user needs and user participation. The
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Nataša Veljković et al.
maturity of eGOVI will be reached after its detailed elaboration through our future work and application on
Open Government implementations. We have explained all four indicators used for determining eGOVI,
but each of them needs further exploration and clarification. At first, we plan to develop metric scale for
each indicator in order to obtain a numeric value indicating the degree of accomplishment of Open
Government regarding that aspect. Afterwards, we will develop the final metric with percentage share of
each indicator in eGOVI. With the developed metric system this model can find real world application.
Our future plan is to apply the developed benchmarking model on governments around the world.
However, our main concern, regarding this model, is its application on evaluating Open Government in
different countries. Although this model covers every important aspect of Open Government, not many
countries in the world have achieved a satisfactory level of openness in order for this model to be applied.
Since the Open Government concept is in the early stages of its development it can be expected that in
the short period more countries will start to embrace the concept and lift off towards Open Governments.
The Serbian government is progressing very slowly towards Open Government, in fact it hasn't yet
achieved e-Gov 2.0 stage (Stomenov and Veljkovic 2010). We hope that the research presented in this
paper, will be a wakeup call for Serbian and other less developed governments to raise the issue of
governmental development to a higher priority level.
References
Bullivant, J. R. N. (1994) Benchmarking for continuous improvement in the public sector, Longman, London
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Capgemini (2010) "Method Paper: Preparing the 9th Benchmark Measurement",
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d_paper_2010.pdf
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Obama, B. (2009). "Memorandum for the Heads of executive Departments and Agencies: Transparency and Open
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of ePractice, No. 4, August 2008
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Services, JRC Scientific and Technical Reports; EUR 24080 EN, Seville.
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August 29-September 2 2010, Lausanne, Switzerland
577

Exploring Facilitators and Challenges Facing ICT4D in
Tanzania
Jim Yonazi
The Institute of Finance Management, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
yonazijim@gmail.com
Abstract: The success of implementing information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D)
requires an informed understanding of the context of application. This helps to inform decision making during
identification, planning, and evaluation of ICT projects. In the African context, this is of paramount importance.
However, empirical studies regarding ICT4D in Africa are still limited. This study aimed at identifying issues
underlying the implementation of ICT4D in Tanzania. Specifically, it focused at identifying key priorities on ICT4D,
facilitators, and challenges facing ICT4D implementation in Tanzania. The study also attempts to suggest possible
measures to be taken to facilitate the progress of ICT4D for next 10 years. The results show that it is imperative to
streamline ICT into the areas of i) Production and service provision ii) government iii) Health iv) Education, v)
Business, and vi) the growth of SMEs. This is facilitated by i) Tax relief in ICT equipment, particularly computers and
peripherals, ii) availability of low cost ICTs, iii) supportive social infrastructure, and iv) Government commitment. On
the other hand, ICT4D in Tanzania is challenged by i) unsupportive connectivity infrastructure, ii) inadequate content
quality, iii) unsupportive organisational issues such as policies, laws, and established systems and procedures, and
iv) people related issues including inadequate ICT skills, mindset, and awareness. We observe that successful
implementation of ICT4D in Tanzania is possible if facilitators can be exploited and challenges addressed. Specific
issues that can be addressed are i) improving ICT connectivity, ii) enhancing content quality, iii) addressing
leadership and organisational inertia, iv) emphasising on ICT effective strategic planning for ICT, v) enhancing ICT
skills, awareness and mindset, and vi) cultivating innovative the culture at organisation level.
Keywords: ICT, ICT4D, eGovernment, Tanzania, Africa
1. Introduction
In the past twenty years, we have witnessed the increasing pervasiveness ICT in our social and
economic development activities (Kramer, Jenkins, & Kats, 2007). As a commodity and a facilitator, ICT
is embedded in products and services we use and consume in our daily lives. As a result ICT influences
all aspects of development including social and industrial development (Cole & Roman, 2003). Currently,
various stakeholders including governments, international organisations, practitioners and civil societies
appreciate and engage in advocating for the utilisation of ICT in the development of the human race
(Yusof & Lim, 2003).
Cognizant of the role of ICT in development, the Government of Tanzania and other stakeholders have
embarked on various initiatives that aim at increasing the facilitation role of ICT4D activities. Typical
examples have been noted in various sectors including the government, business, health, and education
(IICD, 2008, Sawe, 2007). Progress in infrastructure improvement and local contents development has
also been noticed (Yonah, 2005). The government plans to streamline and implement more ICT4D
initiates across the country (URT, 2003).
Although Tanzania is continuing to invest in ICT4D, the country has not made significant progress in this
direction (UN, 2008). However, few studies (e.g. Mutagayhwa, Kinyeki, Ulanga, 2007) have assessed the
ICT4D situation and provided relevant recommendations relevant to the country. We could not notice a
study regarding facilitators and challenges of ICT4D in the country. Accordingly, this aimed at exploring
the current ICT4D priorities in Tanzania; and establishing key areas, potential to determine the success
or failure of ICT4D in the country. Recommendations will also be given on how the identified issues can
be approached in Tanzania.
2. Method
This research adopted a grounded theory approach - GTA (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). In GTA a researcher
is facilitated to inductively derive meanings from data by systematically utilizing a set of procedures
(Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p.24). Several reasons were considered to influence this choice. First the ICT4D
concept is still new in Tanzania. Therefore, the actual meaning of what respondents and other data
sources inferred needed to be interpreted rather than predetermined. Secondly, we anticipated to
encounter data availability challenges especially from the government organizations. Thirdly, the study is
was intended to identify issues typical to Tanzania. Therefore, it was wise to study the context inductively
rather than imposing theoretical propositions.
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Jim Yonazi
Various sources contributed data into this study. These include ICT practitioners, non-ICT practitioners
and ordinary ICT users. We also collected data through observation and analysed various documents.
ICT practitioners provided us with insights of how ICT is being currently applied in development
initiatives. Other sources provided us with referential information concerning ICT4D in Tanzania.
Interviews, workshops, and focus group discussions (FGDs) were used to collect opinions and
experiences from both experts and users. Observations were made during researcher’s site 1 visits and
participation in a government meeting 2 . Literature-based sources such as policies, and reports and other
recorded evidences were analysed at the beginning of the study and at the end of data collection.
Interviews were useful for capturing personal accounts of the respondents, while FGDs were instrumental
in revealing and discussing new issues and clarifying doubts. Literature based sources were consulted to
provide us with recorded and historical evidences.
Data were collected from four regions in Tanzania; Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Mwanza and Zanzibar. We
selected Dar es Salaam because it is the main business city of Tanzania, while Morogoro and Mwanza
were relevant sources to represent other regions in Tanzania with less business activities as compared to
Dar es Salaam. Zanzibar provided us with information from the other side of the Union of the United
Republic of Tanzania (URT)3.
The selection of potential respondents was done by first contacting professionals from the President’s
Office Public Services Management, Tanzania Global Development Learning Centre, and SWOPNET 4 .
The professionals were interviewed and requested to suggest other potential respondents. This method
helped to reduce researcher’s biasness in selecting respondents because the researcher had no control
of who will be invited hence minimise biasness.
2.1 Data capturing procedures
We interviewed ICT experts as well as ordinary users. Interviews were arranged to take place at
respondents’ most convenient locations, while those in distant places (e.g. in the diasporas) were
contacted by various ICT means (e.g. phone or skype). We used semi structured interview guides to
facilitate the flow of the interviews. All interviews were recorded except when respondents felt
uncomfortable with this approach. We conducted 29 (Table 1) interviews, and each had an average
duration of 80 minutes.
Table 1: Interview respondent profile
Category Number
Government 13
Private Sector 6
Diaspora 5
NGOs 3
International organisations 2
Total 29
We conducted three main workshops during this research. Additionally, we organised one purposeful
FGD with respondents from the Commission of Science and Technology (COSTECH). At the beginning
of each workshop and FGD we provided an introductory presentation to familiarise the participants with
the research topic, aim, and the information they were expected to contribute. We then divided the
participants into smaller discussion groups, and given them 40 to 60 minutes for discussion. Each group
was given an FGD guide to facilitate the discussion. Later, a joint group discussion was convened,
whereby groups presented their findings. This approach was useful because it facilitated active
participation, probing, and clarification of unclear concepts.
2.2 Data analysis
We used the Straus and Corbin’s (1990) framework of data analysis. The process was facilitated by
means of qualitative data analysis software, Atlas.ti. The software was used to manage data, code,
1
Site visits to TGDLC, Mwanza Municipal Council, Internet cafes in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, and Zanzibar
2 rd
E-government Meeting held at Utumishi on 3 March, 2009
3
Tanganyika and Zanzibar united in 1961 and formed URT
4
Sharing With Other People Network
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Jim Yonazi
analyse, and relate the emerging themes. Figure 1 shows an example on how the category ‘challenges’
was arrived at.
Table 2: Workshop participants profile
Category Number
Government 9
Private Sector 14
Academia 10
UN 3
Coos 4
Total 40
Figure 1: Example of coding in Atlas.ti
3. Results
3.1 Facilitators of ICT4D
We define the facilitators as factors which provide a favourable environment for the successful application
of ICT4D in a particular context. Understanding such factors informs ICT4D practitioners on issues that
can be exploited or influenced when planning or evaluating ICT4D related initiatives. In this study we
identified that the current facilitators of ICT4D in Tanzania are (1) affordability, availability, and adoption
of ICTs, (3) Supportive social infrastructure (levels of literacy and Kiswahili as a homogenous national
language), and (4) presence of government will.
3.1.1 Affordability, availability and adoption of ICTs
The government removed the Value Added Tax (VAT) on computers in July 2000 (Miller et al, 2004).
VAT was 20% until July 2009 when the government reduced it to 18% (UTR, 2009). As a result the cost
of computers decreased and facilitated the uptake of ICTs in the country. This is especially evident in the
urban areas where the number of internet access points (e.g. cybercafés), and the ownership of personal
computers has increased. Second-hand computers can be bought from a price of TSh. 150,000 (about
USD 150). This price can allow ordinary people, particularly in urban areas, to own a computer at home.
However, it is still too expensive for the poor in rural regions, and low income people in the urban areas.
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Jim Yonazi
The availability of low cost mobile phones, with a basic model from as little as TSh. 20,000 (about USD
20) has also resulted in widespread penetration.
“I recall there were hardly any cybercafés back in June 2000 which is when the tax on
computers was lifted. It was an ethinkTankTZ initiative during our first year of existence. We
sent a small delegation to meet the Minister of Finance around April or so that year. We
prepared a paper describing the advantages of increasing the penetrationn of IT as opposed
to targeting IT for Taxation. The boom of cybercafés is one of the advantages of the VAT
relief on computers.” R.1.
3.1.2 Availability and adoption of technologies
Technologies with high domestication potential are those which ordinary households can acquire and
own. Currently, technologies such as TVs, radio and mobile phones are widely available in Tanzania
(TCRA, 2009). Many citizens have demonstrated that they are willing to adopt new technologies as seen
in the sharp increase of mobile phones between 2000 and 2008 (Table 3). We noticed the increase of
TVs, and radios in rural areas. The availability of such technologies, and the willingness to use them,
allows more citizens to access information. They also facilitate users to advance their lifestyle and
economic activities. This plays an important role in development as evidenced below.
“Advancement in technologies is a facilitating factor. People have been fast in adopting
technologies. For instance, currently we have more than 10 million mobile phone
subscribers. Many people including secondary school pupils have and use mobile phones”.
R2.
3.1.3 Supportive social infrastructure: literacy and language
Although illiteracy is still a challenge to Tanzania, 64% of the adult population can read and write (CIA,
2009) and most can read, speak, and write Kiswahili. The existence of one national language has
contributed to political and economical stability (Mukuthuria, 2006). If adequately exploited, the use of
ICTs and content development and advocacy in Kiswahili could reach a wider audience who could benefit
from the utilization of ICT in their social activities.
“Tanzania uses one language, it is easy to communicate, advocate and develop contents in
a language that everyone understands. A typical example is the AIDS awareness campaign.
They mainly use Kiswahili. This makes it possible to reach people even in remote areas. I
think it is time that we have to shift from using English in ICT to localisation through
Kiswahili.”. R.3.
Table 3: Voice telecommunication subscribers (2000 - 2009)
YEAR
BENSO
N CELTEL TIGO
TTCL
Fixed
TTCL
MOBIL
E
VODAC
OM
ZANTEL
MOBILE
ZANTEL
Fixed TOTAL
2000 - - 56511 173591 - 50000 4007 - 284109
2001 - - 89056 177802 - 180000 6501 - 453359
2002 - 120089 160000 161590 - 300000 26770 - 768449
2003 - 320000 210000 147006 - 700000 68000 - 1445006
2004 - 504000 303000 148360 - 1050000 85000 - 2090360
2005 - 882693 422500 154420 - 1562435 96109 - 3118157
2006 - 1516832 760874 150897 6390 2975580 355246 747 5766566
2007 3300 2505546 1191678 157816 72729 3870843 678761 5453 8486126
2008 3000 3862371 2569527 116265 105804 5408439 1057652 7544 13130602
2009 3101 4910359 4178089 157321 115681 6883661 1378595 15601 17642408
Source: TCRA (as at December, 2009)
3.1.4 Presence of government will and support
Several aspects which indicate the presence of government will were observed. These include high-level
policies and support, and establishment of coordination and implementation government organs. We
summarise the indicators in table 4.
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Jim Yonazi
Table 4: Indicators of the presence of government will and support on ICT4D in Tanzania
Indicator Example
Recognition of the value of ICT
at the national top priority
policies and strategies
Establishment of ICT
coordination and regulatory
machinery
Involvement of top level
leadership
3.2 Challenges facing ICT4D in Tanzania
The value of ICT in Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (2005),
National ICT policy (2003) and other sectoral policies such as the ICT policy
for basic education (URT, 2007).
Ministry of Universal Communications Services Access Fund, Ministry of
Communications, Science, and Technology, Commission of Science and
Technology (COSTECH), and Tanzania Communications Regulatory
Authority
Memorandum of understanding signed by H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, the
President of Tanzania, and the Chairman of Microsoft, Mr. Bill Gates in 2006
We identified four categories of issues possible to challenge ICT4D in Tanzania. These include
connectivity, content (service) issues, organisational, and people related challenges.
3.2.1 Inadequate connectivity
Connectivity challenges relate to the difficulties that organisations or individuals encounter when
deploying or accessing ICT enabled initiatives. We related this issue to the inadequacy of the current ICT
networks and other supporting in the country (Table 5). Typical examples are the lack of availability and
the spread of broadband, the lack of electricity, and even the limited coverage of mobile phone networks.
ICT equipment, especially computers, are still not widely available, particularly in the rural areas. This
impedes the possibility of stimulating demand and deployment of ICT4D initiatives across the country.
Table 5: Tanzania Infrastructure Index, 2008
Element
Value
Internet per 100 users 1.00
PC per 100 users 0.93
Cellular subscribers per 100 users 14.78
Main telephone lines per 100 0.40
Users broadband per 100 users …
E-readiness index 0.2929
Regional average e-readiness index 5
0.2879
World average e-readiness index 0.4514
World leader e-readiness index 6
0.9157
Source: Source: UN, 2008
3.2.2 Content quality
The quality and quantity of the existing ICT enables services are yet to meet user expectations. For
instance much of the content, except news websites and blogs, is infrequently updated and also is not
local. Specific examples include the obsolescence of links and tender information on government
websites. These elements are often left unattended even when they are no longer useful. Other possible
content quality issues include insufficiency and fragmentation of the provided services or information.
Additionally, most of the websites, including government websites, are written in English. While English is
the official language, most ordinary Tanzanians speak Kiswahili. Consequently, the available content is
not perceived to be local. Other service related issues include lack of responsiveness, incompleteness,
lack reliability and dependability.
3.2.3 Organisational challenges
Organisational challenges refer to the characteristics or issues which determine the aggressiveness and
progress of an organisation towards ICT initiatives. Issues related to this category are the lack of
leadership, organisational inertia, inadequate planning, and unsupportive processes. Projects with strong
leadership conviction and commitment were succeeded (e.g. the Sengerema community centre project).
5 East Africa
6 Sweden
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Jim Yonazi
Other projects stagnated when committed leadership ceased (e.g. the Kilosa community centre project).
This situation is evidenced below:
“Leadership is another important challenge. I will also give you an example. The District
Executive Director for Kilosa went to Sengerema and wanted a similar project in her area.
That was done successfully. However, after she was transferred to another area support
problems started. People started calling even the local radio by her name. Madiwani 7 were
divided such that diwanis from distant areas where the community radio cannot be heard did
not want to contribute to the sustainability of the radio”. R.4.
Equally, inadequate planning; unsupportive policies, practices and processes; and organisational inertia
affect the application of ICT in development activities. These issues have also been observed by other
researchers (e.g. Mutagahywa, et al., 2007). For example; inadequate planning has lead to lack of
implementation of the National ICT Policy (URT, 2003). Consequently, no responsibility was assigned to
any government body. The NIP remains a legacy document with minimal interpretation and
implementation. The situation is similar at sectoral levels with exception of the Ministry of Education and
Vocational Training (URT, 2007). We could not identify other sectoral strategy was available on how NIP
will be implemented. One of our respondents cites this issue:
“I think many people are yet to be knowledgeable about ICT projects. For this reason they do
not know even how to write good ICT policies. The unsupportive ICT policies that we have
are results of such poor skills.” R.5.
3.2.4 People-related issues
Three people-related issues were identified to be important for the application of ICT4D- adequacy of ICT
skills, ICT awareness, and mindset. Although various initiatives are being deployed in Tanzania, many
Tanzanians, especially in the rural areas, do not have adequate skills and awareness to operate ICT
equipment, especially computers. Equally, organisations including the government do not have sufficient
skilled people to drive the application of ICT in development initiatives.
The third issue relates to unsupportive mindsets particularly among the older generation presently in
decision-making positions. This may have a historical reason as the Government of Tanzania banned the
use and importation of ICTs (e.g. TVs, computers) in the early 1970s. As a result, the ownership and use
of these technologies was perceived to be illegal and luxury. The long term effect has been that decision
makers lack the power to conceptualise and exploit the potential of ICT in development. This culminates
in a limited number of ICT initiatives, limited utilisation of ICTs in development initiatives, and inadequate
support, prioritisation and advocacy of ICT from the policy, implementation, and use levels.
“The perception of people as well as the general public has to change. Tanzania is yet to
grasp the importance of ICT. It is mostly regarded as a luxury rather than an important
developmental tool. Many leaders are not aware of ICT potentials. This makes it difficult for
them to put ICT as one of the priority issues in their activities. As a result ICT initiatives face
some difficult bureaucracies. This is one of the major problems.” R.6.
4. Recommendations
Tanzania’s Vision 2015 has the country’s overarching development ambition for about 10 to 15 years.
The vision is intended to be delivered through country’s MDGs, MKUKUTA, MKURABITA, national and
sectoral policies, e-Government strategies and the Universal Communications Services Access Fund.
Accordingly, we use our findings to synthesize recommendations to facilitate such efforts. Our
recommendations include the identified ICTD facilitators, and the need to overcome the highlighted
challenges. Although, the government has the sole responsibility for harnessing ICT4D, it may not
achieve this goal alone. Joint efforts and collaborations from other stakeholders are necessary. Hence,
our recommendations are relevant to the government, others current and future stakeholders of ICT4D in
Tanzania.
4.1 Exploiting existing opportunities
Tanzania can benefit from the production and utilisation of ICTs. While utilisation of ICT in various sectors
has been increasing, production of ICT is still underdeveloped. We therefore recommend that the
government should strategise and encourage local production of ICTs. Although hardware production is
7 Madiwani means local councillors
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Jim Yonazi
time and investment intensive, software and applications development can be prioritised. Experiences in
attracting investors in other sectors (e.g. tourism) can be used to benefit the ICT sector.
At a national level the government has demonstrated its intent and willingness towards ICTs through the
establishment of policies, strategies and coordination structures. These efforts need to be propagated
more widely. Awareness should be raised at the community, organisational and local government levels
where ICT implementation has to take place. This will facilitate the incorporation of ICTs into various
development initiatives.
Various development projects are being deployed across the country. However ICT deployment is still
limited. The government can take the advantage of the existing coordination and regulatory structures to
influence the integration of ICT into development initiatives. For instance, by collaborating with other
ministries, departments, agencies and others, the MCST can foster the integration of ICTs into other
large-scale projects such as road construction, and water supply. A road project may include the laying
down of fibre cable to expand connectivity. Other collaborative strategies such as shared infrastructure
and shared ICT skills training could also be considered.
The VAT relief on computers has contributed to increased availability of ICTs and related services in
Tanzania. The possibility of extending such measures to other areas of ICT should be considered,
particularly those with high domestication potential. This will facilitate the spread, availability, and
adoption of ICT in many other development activities. In addition, awareness should be raised about the
VAT relief presently available. This can help to stimulate the use of ICT4D across the country.
Existing educational levels and Swahili homogeneity were contextual facilitators identified during the
research. Such and other similar factors need to be identified and exploited.
4.2 Tackling the challenges
The government has the responsibility for constructing reliable and adequate ICT access for the country.
This relates to ICT networks and supporting infrastructure such as electricity and roads. However,
because such initiatives may take a long time and resources are scarce, we recommend that ICT4D
stakeholders should start integrating existing infrastructure for channelling services and advance the
reach of ICT4D to a larger population. Specific emphasis should be put on the use of widely available
technologies such as mobile phones, TV and radio. In addition, the use of alternative sources of energy,
e.g. solar energy, should be considered.
Service delivery needs to be adapted to meet the needs of local communities in an appropriate manner.
Simplicity is required in terms of language and ease of use, usefulness and comprehensiveness.
Responsiveness and reliability should also be promoted. The quality of websites needs to be improved
through contents localisation, specifically in the use of Kiswahili. Existing content provision is limited and
fragmentary - efforts should be made to increase the quantity of ICT based services. This will contribute
to the completeness, sufficiency, and usefulness of the provided services, mainstreaming ICTs into
citizen’s social-economic activities.
ICT4D initiatives require strong, persuasive, and committed leadership. However, it may not be easy to
achieve such leadership in every project. Mentoring and incentive schemes should be used to promote
innovation in ICT4D. Mentoring combines training and coaching of stakeholders to understand and
practise ICT4D. Incentive schemes can be used to coerce or attract stakeholders to adopt ICT4D
activities. Schemes can take the form of sanctions or rewards towards ICT utilisation and innovation. This
will attract and encourage leaders to engage and adopt ICT in development initiatives, and reduce
organisational inertia.
Other issues which may cause organisational inertia need to be identified and addressed. Issues such as
unsupportive policies, regulations and procedures need to be reformed. Models used in other
crosscutting issues such as gender advocacy and reforms can also be studied and used to highlight and
fast track such reforms.
As ICT4D is a crosscutting issue, more emphasis should be placed on intra- and inter-organisational
collaborative planning involving a broad range of stakeholders. This will allow the identification of needs
and priorities, as well as available opportunities for collaboration (e.g. standards, services, and
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Jim Yonazi
infrastructure development). Multi-stakeholder models applied in other successful sectoral projects can
be used where appropriate.
Addressing these issues will require a combination of approaches. In the short term, ease of use should
be prioritised. This may involve designing simplified and ease to use services which people can use to
build their skills and encourage adoption. However, in the longer term, the government needs to
emphasise ICT training into the country’s education system and workforce training. This will enhance
citizens’ ICT skills, and ensure availability of skilled ICT labour to facilitate ICT4D. The government needs
to establish a sustained ICT awareness campaign for mindset change, as has been done in other sectors
such as health in fighting HIV/AIDS. People need to be reminded, convinced, and continually persuaded
about the benefits of ICTs. Spontaneous and periodic campaigns will not produce expected results.
More innovative research is required to understand and develop the most relevant solutions for
communities. The establishment of centers of excellence in ICT is recommended as one possible
approach. Such centers can be useful for providing advice and practical solutions concerning ICT4D.
5. Conclusion
In this study we have identified issues possible to facilitate and challenge ICT4D in Tanzania. We
conclude that it is possible to successfully implement ICT4D in Tanzania. However, it is important to
understand and exploits the facilitators, while addressing the challenges in favor of ICT4D. This is can be
achieved though joint efforts of the government and other stakeholders of ICT in Tanzania. A specific
attention need to be paid on collaborative planning between government Ministries, Departments, and
agencies. This will facilitate the integration of ICT projects in other development projects. Otherwise,
fragmentation and duplication of initiatives will continue and cause unnecessary over expenditure and
loss of public resources.
6. Appendix 1: Open coding list from Atlas.ti
Administrative inertia challenge
Appropriate technologies
Challenge - Appropriate Financial Allocation
Challenge - Awareness
Connectivity
Corruption
Equipment
Expertise
Financial
ICT literacy
Illiteracy
Leadership
Local content
Mindset
Organizational inertia
Planning
Policy
Political will
Procurement process
Resistance to change
Updating
Viruses
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Current ICTs
Facilitating access
Facilitator - Cheapness of technology
Coordinating ministry
Education
high adoption rate
One language Kiswahili
Tax relief
technology-need fit
ICT applications
Information Management
Key responsibility
Less use in agriculture
education
financial services
Government
health
ICT application
in manufacturing
private sector
in rural development activities
specialized social services
Less utilization
Less utilization in SME
Most relevant technologies
Purpose of ICT
Recommending - ICT R & D
Access Fund
adoption factors
Benchmarking
Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO)
coordination
government commitment
human capacity development
ICT Curriculum
ICT education and training
ICT supportive policy
implementation plan (planning)
Jim Yonazi
586

incentives
infrastructure improvement
leadership commitment
Local content
Mindset change
on advocacy style
Open Source
prioritization of ICT communication
relevant application
sharing of infrastructure
simple initiatives
stakeholder involvement
tax rate cut
top leadership buy in
Respondent information
Jim Yonazi
Unable to own ICT
Agriculture
business transaction
commerce
Communication
development
education
Entertainment
financial services
governance
health
information management
infrastructure development
job creation
land management
Marketing
Media
Mining
office productivity
security and safety
Social life
travel and tourism
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Research
Papers
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590

Maturity Models Transition from eGovernment
Interoperability to T-Government: Restyling Dynamic Public
Services Through Integrated Transformation of Service
Delivery
Mohamed Mohyi Eddine El Aichi 1, 2 and Mohamed Dafir Ech-Cherif El Kettani 1
1
ENSIAS, University Mohamed V, Rabat, Morocco
2
Information Software Development Entity, Intelcom S.A., SATEC Group, Rabat,
Morocco
melaichi@intelcom.co.ma
dafir@ensias.ma
Abstract: Transforming public services through a global, common, measurable, achievable vision and clear
objectives, the use of Information and Communication Technology and referral to services focused on the citizens
needs have an important effect on economic, social and cultural life across the country that extends globally. The aim
of this paper is to outline the part of the transformation of government services by defining the guidelines for
implementation and monitoring procedures necessary to support any model of maturity to ensure the successful
transformation of public services in a safe flexible and adaptable. The model we seek to build is based on best
practices in service management, governance, enterprise architecture, and implementation of Information
Technology.
Keywords: maturity, t-government, service management, interoperability
1. Introduction
The requirement to provide citizen-oriented services in a controlled manner, easy, secure, flexible and
integrated approach has resulted in the presence of several maturity models that define the stages of
eGovernment evolution and use various frameworks to evolve from a maturity level to the next one or
within a same stage improvement. However, the absence of a shared relationship between maturity
models, used frameworks and key indicators had two major consequences: ranking in eGovernment
remains dependent on technological change, which compromises the convergence of transformational
services. In fact, public services represent a very large scale enterprise whose mission is to provide
citizen-oriented transactional services that invoke multiple canal, multiple processes, require the
solicitation of several entities and respond to citizen incentives and constraints. However, they suffer from
absence of a generic maturity model that all countries can adopt and the presence of numerous
eGovernment maturity models which have neither procedures for ensuring systemic transformation of
public services nor the motivations for the adoption of a specific model. We can notice also the absence
of key performance indicators to validate the evolution from one level to another, which presents a real
ambiguity with respect to the convergence of t-government models. (Mecum 2001)
Another problem related to t-Government progression is the presence of various Enterprise Architectures
-EA- that have been adopted and adapted by governments. Those Enterprise Architectures are
systematically adapted to a specific context. They faithfully reproduce a specific model of governance
and also depend on technological factors in the implementation phase. This paper is organized as
follows. After this introduction, we present in the second section a synthesis on eGovernment existing
maturity models, which lead to a proposed projected model that contains five stages as for standardized
maturity models related to other areas. The third section presents the Government Enterprise
Architectures as implemented by some countries. The fourth section discusses the transformational
government approach, and our perception to implement it within the context of a service management life
cycle. The forth section presents a case study for two eGovernment implementations on Morocco, in
connection with the proposed model. We finnish the paper with some concluding remarks concerning the
main contributions of the paper, the main deficiencies and directions for future work.
2. State of art: eGovernment maturity models
2.1 Research method
The goal of this research is to adopt a standard approach concerning eGovernment maturity models,
especially in terms of levels, in order to prospect the Transformation aspect of eGovernment. Indeed,
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eGovernment seems to be constantly evolving, and a number of stage models have been developed and
published (Lee 2010). The methodology used in this paper consists in synthesizing most important
eGovernment developmental models produced during the last decade, in order to propose a maturity
model that integrates stages that will facilitate the use of a common frame of reference for eGovernment
development. As this is a relatively new area, these models are presented as results of qualitative studies
rather than quantitative and empirical. Maturity models are defined as “A method for judging the maturity
of the processes of an organization and for identifying the key practices that are required to increase the
maturity of those processes”. The eGovernment Maturity Model is a model that measures public
institutions' readiness to manage and implement eGovernment (Al khatib 2009). In this section, we
summarize some recognized eGovernment maturity models, then we try to map them to a standard
maturity model levels like CMMI, Cobit, … and attach it to Key Performance Indicators (KPI) referenced
in section 4.
2.2 eGovernment developmental models
Table 1 summarizes a list of developmental models recognized and adopted by government to evolve
within eGovernment vision. This table doesn’t contain the exhaustive list but the most used around the
world and covered at this time by my research. (Saha 2009) (Lee 2010)
Table 1: eGovernment developmental models and stages (Lee 2010)
Author
s
Gartner
Group
Deloitte
Research
Layne and
Lee
Hiller and
Belanger
United
Nations
Accenture Siau and
Long
Anderson
and
Henriksen
Year 2000 2000 2001 2001 2001-2008 2003 2005 2006
# of
stages
4 6 4 5 4 5 5 4
1 Culti
2 Web
presence
Info
publishing &
disseminat
ion
3 Interaction Official twoway
transaction
4 Transaction Transacti
on
5 Multi
-
purp
Portals
person
nalizati
on
Catalog Info
dissemination
& catalog
Two-way
communication
Service and
financial
transaction
Emerging
presence &
enhanced
presence
Interactive
presence
Transactional
presence
Online
presence
Basic
capability
Service
availability
6
7
ose
port
als
Vertical
integration
Vertical and
horizontal
integration
Seamless
presence
networked
Mature
delivery
Clustering
presence
of common
services
connected
8 Fullintegrat Horizontal
ion &
enterprise
transaction
integration
9 Transformat
ion
10 Political
participation
Service
transformati
on
Eparticipation
index
Web
presence
Interaction
Transaction
Transformat
ion
E-
Democracy
vatio
n
Exte
nsion
Maturity
Revolution
These models present the developmental models as a sequence of stages. The numbers of stage can
vary from four to six stages. The sick of those models is the absence of the manner that explains how
citizen oriented service can be managed (Kim 2009). Some of those models combine the state of
eGovernment evolution and the eGovernment finality. For example, E-democracy (Siau Long model), or
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E-participation (Hiller and Belanger model) can be considered as goals of eGovernment vision rather
than the last stage in eGovernment life cycle. EGovernment evolution can be obtained through Web
presence (information need), transactions level (customer need) and transformation (citizen earned
value).
2.3 Standardization of eGovernment maturity model
One needs to have a generic eGovernment maturity model that matches 5 levels like other standards
maturity models applied to all kinds of government and under a governance vision (Tamara 2010). Each
level is defined with some required processes and attached KPIs to ensure the real classification and
ranking. The targeted capability maturity levels are defined below:
Level 1 “Government Presence”: it is an evidence that the government has recognized that the
Business alignment needs to be addressed through ICT. However, there are neither actions nor
approaches that tend to be applied. There are no formal actions to communicate the eGovernment
initiatives to its context. This level contains web site initiatives for each department. The goals,
design, content depend on persons. The web site can be static or dynamic. The customer must be
adapted to each web site navigation, information and vocabulary.
Level 2 “Online Services”: The eGovernment Vision is defined and it is integrated to the business
strategy. Defined and documented online services are provided to customers through ICT
implementation. The eGovernment vision, policies and strategy have been communicated and
understood by all employees. The web site presence is organized, standardized and enforced with
multiple digital services (applications centric). Customers must be adapted to digital service structure
and can get their need through services solicitation.
Level 3 “Consolidate Transformational Services”: The eGovernment Vision is fully citizen concentric.
The need to optimize citizen requests requires restyling public services design and architecture by
enabling the transformation. This transformation implies a radical architecture review by making
integrated horizontal and vertical public’s services architecture. In this level, governments must
document the motivation for citizen oriented services, define clear objectives and scope, the
dependence and constraints related to each new service. Another related Key to this level is the
importance to redefine transaction scope by making more offering service and less requested
service. The government in this level manages the citizen needs (Service centric). Citizen has
motivation, empowerment, knowledge and competence to use new transformed services based on
unique government portal. At this stage, the use of adopted Enterprise Architecture models is
required.
Level 4 “Rethought Government”: The vision, objectives and deployed public services are periodically
inspected and verified through Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and Service Level Agreement (SLA).
The goal is to measure the deviation between the offer and demand of transformed services and the
new citizen requirements. This stage can use the e-participation services, other shared services like
social and collaborative services and dashboard to manage the whole cooperation between
governing and governed person.
Level 5 “T-Gov improvement”: The vision is periodically reviewed according to citizen needs,
bottleneck and technologies evolution. The strategy and policies are periodically updated according
to feedback through e-participation and other shared or social services. The strategy process is
continuously compared with the industry standards and improved. Resources assigned to the t-Gov
initiatives are periodically adjusted according cost/benefit analysis (ROI) and citizen satisfaction. The
final goal of this level is to transfer the public services knowledge to the citizen (Citizen
Empowerment). Citizens can develop their own services (contributors), optimize the service’s
utilization, share learned lessons and experience with others, and tell governments how they can
improve services efficiency.
3. eGovernment from an Enterprise Architecture view point
Architecture at the level of an entire organization is commonly referred to as “Enterprise Architecture
(EA)”. An “enterprise” can be defined as any collection of organizations that has a common set of goals. It
consists in people, information, and technologies that perform business functions and has a defined
organizational structure. (Lathrop 2010)
Enterprise architecture is a conceptual framework that describes how an enterprise is constructed by
defining the components and their relationship. It is a coherent set of principles, methods, and models
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Mohamed Mohyi Eddine El Aichi et al.
that are used in the design and realization of an enterprise’s organizational structure, business
processes, information systems, and infrastructure. Figure 1 schematizes the Enterprise Architecture
Components relationship.
Figure 1: Enterprise Architecture relationship
3.1 Government Enterprise Architecture
Government Enterprise Architecture (GEA), according to the main government objectives, aims to
improve the quality of public services by understanding, defining, illustrating the new services, and
clarifying how the information resources will contribute. This architecture is a model of references
(guidelines, tools) that are made available to government entities, enabling them to position their projects
and anticipate opportunities for resources share and reuse (Dyer 2009). Therefore, the objectives of the
government enterprise architecture are:
Improve coherence in government and facilitate the transformation;
Provide guidance on four components Affairs, Information, Applications and Technology
Infrastructure and Security.
Allow the identification of elements that are common or can be shared or re-used by departments and
agencies;
Understand, define, illustrate and integrate new services to citizens.
3.2 Scope of the architecture
The government enterprise architecture is intended to clarify the structure of the following elements:
Description of service model delivery and general principles;
Definition of specific principles, concepts and approaches;
Identification of potential combinations of products or services;
Representations in the form of models, components, business information and Applications;
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Mohamed Mohyi Eddine El Aichi et al.
Sharing and reusing identified components and accuracy of critical success factors for
implementation of the GEA.
The life cycle of business is summarized on the figure 2:
Run the business by planning one or more service ;
Grow the business by extending the scope of existing service and creating more services;
Transform the business to respond to new requirements and optimization. Optimize the service
portfolio and processes solicitation.
Governm& ent M anagem ent
Business
Opportunities
Planning
D es ign & D eliv ery
Run the Business
Business Strategy IT St r ate gy
Enterprise Architecture
Business Architecture
Processes
In fo r ma tio n
People
Locations
BusineRun ss Othe perating Bu siness Environment and IT
Run infrastructure
the Business
G row the B u siness
IT So lutions
IT A r ch itec tu r e
Information
A pplication
Technology
T ransition Plann ing a nd G o uvernance
Tran sfo rm the B usiness
TechnologyA vailabi
li ty
Figure 2: Enterprise Architecture components
This life cycle is based on two components:
A clear business strategy (Business maturity)
An adapted IT strategy (IT capabilities) that responds to business opportunities.
Enterprise Architecture is the manner to align business vision to Technology availability by planning
Business Architecture and IT Architecture Items, planning and delivering Business Environment through
IT infrastructure.
3.3 Summary of the GEA implementation
This section summarizes the Government Enterprise Architecture as implemented by top ranking
countries in eGovernment. There are two major adoptions to achieve eGovernment evolution (Saha
2009):
Transforming e-gov by designing interoperability architecture (UK example). The problem with this
approach is the growth of architecture complexity and investment on time while the main goal of t-gov
is the resource’s optimization.
Transforming e-gov by adopting combined enterprise architecture with Maturity models (USA, ...).
This approach depends on technologies adoption and capabilities evolution. A clear vision
(eGovernment maturity) is a predominate key to success with this approach (Singapore as an
example)
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Table 2 presents a description of the most known Government Enterprise Architecture.
Table 2: eGovernment Enterprise Architecture
Country Description
Singapore There are four elements in Singapore Government Enterprise Architecture (SGEA):
Business Architecture, Information Architecture, Solution Architecture and Technical
Architecture.
The BA provides common terminology for government business, while the IA and SA
provide the data standards and ICT solutions for supporting the business functions
identified in BA. The TA defines standards and provides guidelines on the use of
technology components to support SA.
The Enterprise-Wide Architecture for Value Enhancement (eWAVE) is the next evolution of
the Singapore GEA efforts. The main objectives are:
Better alignment between business and ICT.
Increased communications and integration.
Increased reuse of business and ICT assets.
USA In September 1999, the Federal CIO Council published the "Federal Enterprise
Architecture Framework" (FEAF) for developing an Enterprise Architecture within any
Federal Agency for a system that transcends multiple inter-agency boundaries. It builds on
common business practices and designs that cross organizational boundaries, among
others the NIST Enterprise Architecture Model. The FEAF provides an enduring standard
for developing and documenting architecture descriptions of high-priority areas.
In 2001, the Federal Architecture Working Group (FAWG) was sponsoring the
development of Enterprise Architecture products for trade and grants Federal architecture
segments. The FEAF partitions a given architecture into business, data, applications, and
technology architectures.
The FEA develops a common taxonomy and ontology for describing IT resources. These
include:
Performance Reference Model,
Business Reference Model,
Service Component Reference Model,
Data Reference Model and
Technical Reference Model.
UK UK eGovernment Interoperability Framework defines the essential prerequisites for joinedup
and web enabled government. Adherence to the e-GIF specifications and policies is
mandatory: they set the underlying infrastructure, freeing up public sector organizations so
that they can concentrate on serving the customer through building value added
information and services. The main thrust of the framework is to adopt the Internet and
World Wide Web specifications for all government systems. There is a strategic decision to
adopt XML and XSL as the core standards for data integration and management of
presentational data. This includes the definition and central provision of XML schemas for
use throughout the public sector. The e-GIF is a pragmatic strategy that aims to reduce
cost and risk for government systems whilst aligning them to the global Internet revolution
Canada The FEA is composed of five reference models: Performance, Business, Service, Data,
and Technical. Each of the reference models represents specific aspects of the FEA, and
provides a framework, or a shared language, for departments and agencies to develop
technology solutions that can be used by the federal government collectively. The
reference models are updated as needed to reflect changes in applications and services.
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Australia The AGA aims to assist in the delivery of more consistent and cohesive service to citizens
and support the more cost-effective delivery of ICT services by government, providing a
framework that:
Provides a common language for agencies;
Supports the identification of duplicate, re-usable and sharable services;
Provides a basis for the objective review of ICT investment by government; and Enables
more cost-effective and timely delivery of ICT services.
AGIMO has adapted the established and proven Federal Enterprise Architecture
Framework (FEAF) developed by the United States Government.
Country Description
Chile The eGov-MM model allows the evaluation of public agencies against international best
practices in the area of eGovernment, including the formulation of organizational strategies
and policies, management of ICT, operative management, and organizational capabilities
of the organization and human resources. It also proposes specific roadmaps for capability
improvement, directives about where the financial and human resources of an organization
should be allocated to improve its ability to carry out eGovernment initiatives.
EGov-MM and its assessment methodology were evaluated, provided with feedback and
validated by expert public officials from several government agencies through a pilot study
and several workshops.
The absence of generic models that dress eGovernment evolution and architecture contributes to
different ranking points of view. Each one takes some KPI as repository and those KPI are generally
based on technological evolution, innovation and government investment. The need to get eGovernment
evolution as transformation matrix is important. The next section presents this point and our perception to
do design the transformation.
4. Transformational Government
4.1 What Is Transformational Government?
Transformational Government is the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to
enable thought, global and radical improvement to the public services delivery with full citizen and Market
centric and results oriented. The term is commonly used to describe a government reform strategy
(citizen centric) which aims to avoid the limitations which have come to be seen as associated with a
traditional eGovernment strategy (application concentric).
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards [OASIS] define t-Gov as :
“Transformational Government…. encompasses a new "virtual" business layer within government which
allows an integrated, government-wide, citizen-focused service to be presented to citizens across all
channels, but at no extra cost and without having to restructure government to do so.”
4.2 Why Transformational Government?
Traditional eGovernment investments tend to under-deliver because they overlay technology onto the
existing business model of government, based around unconnected departmental silos (i.e. with policymaking,
budgets, accountability, decision-making and service delivery all embedded within a verticallyintegrated
delivery chain based around specific government functions). The result of this has been
duplicated IT expenditure, wasted resources, low levels of customer satisfaction, no critical mass of users
for online services, and limited impact on core, cross-silo public policy objectives (Sahraoui 2009).
A recent study concluded that government transformation programs differ from traditional eGovernment
programs in those major ways:
T-gov takes a whole-of-government view of the relationship between the public sector and the citizen
or business.
T-gov takes a whole-of-government view of the most efficient way of managing the cost base of
government.
T-gov focuses on the “citizen” not the “customer”. It seeks to engage with the citizens as owners or
participants in the creation or rethinking of public services, not as passive service’s recipient.
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The OECD defines this change as a paradigm shift “Governments are shifting towards this broader view
rather than focusing on the tools themselves. They are shifting from a government-centric paradigm to a
citizen-centric paradigm….”
4.3 Transformation guidelines
The transformational government (t-Gov) is an eGovernment stage which seeks a new direction of
offered services to citizens by focusing on their needs through a horizontal and vertical integration and
rethinking government as Service Management life cycle.
All service solutions and activities should be driven by citizens and businesses needs and theirs
requirements. Within this context they must also reflect the strategies and policies of the service provider
organization. The service life cycle is initiated from a change in requirements (transformation needs,
developing new citizen centric service).
Those requirements are identified and agreed within the Service Strategy stage (Business Level) within a
Service Level Package and a defined set of business outcomes. The SLP must address some SLA like
availability of service, capacity management, security, disaster recovery …
This passes to the Service Design stage where a service solution is produced together with a Service
Design Package (SDP) containing everything necessary to take this service through the remaining stages
of the life cycle. In this stage we must decide or vote Government Enterprise Architecture to drive the
implementation.
The SDP passes to the Service Transition stage, where the service is evaluated, tested and validated,
the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) is updated, and the service is transitioned into the
live environment, where it enters the Service Operation stage.
Wherever possible, Continual Service Improvement identifies opportunities for the improvement of
weaknesses or failures anywhere within any of the life cycle stages. This stage is conduct by
eGovernment Maturity Models (Cartlidge 2007)
Those guidelines will be developed while the research advancement. The objective is to define, for each
stage the prerequisite, constraints and deliverable. It’s important to rely those guidelines with a voted
Government Enterprise Architecture to implement and trace the life cycle and especially the design
phase. Those guidelines must be also integrated with generic maturity model that we start to define in
section 2 as presented in figure 3.
Figure 3: Guidelines for T-Government
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Mohamed Mohyi Eddine El Aichi et al.
We try to summarize in table 3 the relationship between stages and maturity levels, through a mapping
between recognized maturity models, standard maturity models and actual technological evolution based
on guidelines indicated in this section. The actual statement and market needs must have a minimum
prerequisite: it must be action governed. That’s why Web site presence must be attached to interaction.
Table 3: eGovernment maturity models compared with a standard maturity Model
EGovernment
Maturity Models
Initial Repeatable Defined Managed Optimized
Gartner Group (2000) - Web Presence
- Interaction
- Transaction - Transformation
UN’s Five (2001) - Emergence presence
- Enhanced presence
- Interactive presence
Deloitte (2001) - Information publishing /
dissemination
Layne and Lee
(2001)
Hiller and Belanger’s
(2001)
- Transactional
presence
- Official two why
transaction
- Seamless or fully
integrated presence
- Multi-purpose portals
- Portal Personalization
- Clustering of common
service
- Full integration and
enterprise transaction
- Catalog - Transaction - Vertical Integration
- Horizontal integration
- Information
- Two way
communication
Moon (2002) - Simple information
dissemination (one way
communication)
- Two way
communication (request
and response)
Siau, Long (2005) - Web presence
- Interaction
Andeson, Henriksen
(2006)
- Cultivation
- Extension
- Transaction
- Service and
financial
transaction
- Integration
- Participation
- Vertical and horizontal
integration
- Political Participation
- Transaction - Transformation
- E-democracy
- Maturity - Revolution
The remark is that all maturity models actually present in the government market tend to reach just the
third level, compared the standard proposed eGovernment maturity model. These models must be
extended or consolidated to get generic models that are implemented by all governments.
4.4 Key performance Indicator
A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a kind of parameter intended to measure the performance of
eGovernment. KPIs are commonly used by an organization to evaluate its success of a particular activity
in which it is engaged. Success is defined in terms of making progress toward strategic goals, or the
repeated achievement of some level of operational goal. Accordingly, choosing the right KPIs is relevant
upon having a good understanding of what is important to the organization. The performance indicator
selection is often closely associated with the use of various techniques to assess the present state of the
business, and its key activities. A KPI can follow the SMART criteria. This means the measure has a
Specific purpose for the business, it is Measurable to really get a value of the KPI, the defined norms
have to be Achievable, the improvement of a KPI has to be Relevant to the success of the organization,
and finally it must be Time phased, which means the value or outcomes are shown for a predefined and
relevant period. It’s important to define a repository of eGovernment and T-government KPI to unify the
eGovernment ranking. For 2010, while Wadesa University put Singapore in the top ranking, the United
Nation Survey 2010 makes the Republic of Korea in this place. Table 4 presents a non-exhaustive list of
KPI that will be extended across the evolution of this research. It’s based on some domains and strongly
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attached to service management and enterprise architecture. It will be extend under the point of view of
maturity models.
Table 4: Key performance indicators
Domain KPI
Organization Clear vision and Objectives
Quality of stakeholders
Number of involved entity
Number of involved citizen in the life cycle
Defined role
Organization maturity
Services Number of Services in the catalogs
Number of Services centric citizen
Number of Services solicited by Citizen
Number of pushed Services
Number of service created by citizen
Number of ACID Service
Reliability
Availability
Service maturity
Processes Number of defined Process
Defined role and Actors
Number of SMART activities
Process maturity
Data Accountability
Security
Integrity
Data governance Maturity
Availability
Storage
Recovery disaster
Evolution Capacity Management
Service Level Agreement
Availability
Reliability
Evolution maturity
Infrastructure Networking capabilities (capacity, availability, reliability)
Systems and Application capabilities
Standardization
Interoperability
Infrastructure maturity
Services Management Defined process for service management
Defined role for service management
Certified process for service management
Scope of service management process on the organization.
5. Case study: eGovernment in Morocco
Based on UN indicators for 2010, Morocco is ranked on the 126 th place with 0.29. One year ago,
Morocco launched its IT 2013 Vision. This Moroccan digital project aims at strengthening its
eGovernment structure. This section presents the main components of this vision and two projects
characterized by their added value for citizens and transparency.
The National Strategy for Information Society and the Digital Economy "Numeric Morocco 2013 " aims to
make information technology (IT) "a vector of human development". This strategy tries to "make available
to the public broadband Internet and promote access to knowledge."
It also aims to bring government closer to citizen needs in terms of efficiency, quality and transparency
through an "ambitious eGovernment". In this context, he indicated that the implementation of 89 projects
and services identified eGovernment "will achieve a UN eGovernment index of 0.8 in 2013"
Through this strategy, the government tries also to upgrade and strengthen the legislative framework and
establish the appropriate organizational structures, including the Center for coordination and response to
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incidents involving the security of information systems and the national commission for the protection of
personal data.
5.1 Ministry of Justice: SAJ
SAJ is an integrated software solution for handling criminal, civil matters and fund management in 1st
and 2nd Instance according to the needs of courts and Department of Justice. The project objective is to
contribute to the improvement of the performance of the judiciary aspires to a higher level of ethics and
dispute resolution with transparency, independence and efficiency.
5.1.1 Requirements for internal use
First, the "Business Management" meets internal needs to improve productivity, efficiency and
responsiveness of different entities in the implementation and execution of their activities within the same
jurisdiction. This is possible by creating a centralized space that is the Intranet of the court which will
include everything a magistrate or an officer needs to perform its responsibilities: update and consult the
status of files or components on which they depend (hearing, diligence, notice, appeals, etc..) research in
historical records, access to news, dashboards and synthesis of applications, filing parts, etc.. This
intranet should be the primary tool in each jurisdiction.
5.1.2 Needs of citizens
The main need is the full transparency of information with the Moroccan citizens. Indeed, the main activity
of courts is citizen-oriented. It provides quick access to information and clarity. Under this vision, the
citizen needs:
To receive enough education and awareness to follow the evolution of civil and criminal cases.
To know at any time the involvement of different parts of a file (court appointment date, time
designations expert, disqualification of a judge, etc.)
This relationship can be established and maintained through communication and accessibility to
information and for the general public. The courts must give the citizen a place where he can find
answers to his questions.
5.2 Custom project: BADR
BADR is the result of Custom computerization process over fifteen years with the real-time processing of
summary statements and declarations. BADR includes many objectives:
The desire for greater openness between the Custom operators and partners;
The increased transparency of customs procedures through the use of ICT and the progressive
dematerialization of the clearance process to better control performance versus fluidity of customs
clearance;
The establishment of a system based on market standards (open, scalable and maintainable);
The computerization of customs clearance system to speed up operations and operators avoid costly
and unnecessary travel.
Providing a good visibility, a better integration and greater research possibilities;
Simplification the treatment of cases which now monopolize;
The integration of all partners (government, operators, ...) into a platform for trade policy;
BADR system is designed for:
Importers
Exporters
Forwarding
Maritime Consignees
Consignees air
Carriers
etc…
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In point of view of eGovernment, those applications offer an interest to government and citizen but they
must be reviewed depending on service management policies and maturity models.
6. Conclusion
T-government is more than a stage of maturity models; it’s a state of art that permits to government a
radical empowerment of its organization and citizen centric services. Using ITIL to promote a much more
“joined up government as value added services”, approach as IT service management replacing the
‘technology silos’ and isolated ‘islands of excellence’ by ‘service silos’ are the goals of the next step of my
research with conceptualize a generic maturity model based on 5 stages as described briefly in section 2.
The focus of IT management has been changing for some time and in the future management will be
even less focused on technology and still more integrated with the overall needs of the business
management and processes.
The goal is to define a light-motive to fill those objectives: first, it should be more focused on business
needs (citizen needs), more closely integrated with the business processes (permanent transformation),
less dependent on specific technology and more “service centric”, and more integrated with other
management tools and processes as the management standards evolve. Restyling dynamic public
services through integrated transformation of service delivery will be accomplished through three
components (triangle): first, through the adoption of ITIL as a service management life cycle, second the
extension of EGovernment Maturity models as defined in section 2, and at last the adoption of a
standardized Government Enterprise Architecture
References
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and Success, European Journal of Scientific Research”,Vol 39, No:1, Austria,2010.
Cartlidge, A. Hanna, A Rudd, C. Macfarlane, I. Windebank, J. Rance, S. (2007) “An introductory overview of ITIL V3”,
ISBN 0-9551245-8-1, itSMF .
Dyer, A. (2009). “Measuring the Benefits of Enterprise Architecture: Knowledge Management Maturity”, In Saha, P.
(Ed.), Advances in Government Enterprise Architecture
Kim, H. (2009) “Maturity Model Based on Quality Concept of Enterprise Information Architecture “ (EIA). In Saha, P.
(Ed.), Advances in Government Enterprise Architecture
Lathrop, D. Ruma, L. (2010) “Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice”, O'Reilly
Media, ISBN: 0596804350
Land, M. Proper, E. Waage, M., Cloo, J. Steghuis, C. (2009) “Enterprise Architecture: Creating Value by Informed
Governance (The Enterprise Engineering Series)” , Springer
Lee, J. (2010) "10 year retrospect on stage models of eGovernment: A qualitative meta-synthesis", Government
Information Quarterly, InPress, pp 220-230.
Mecum, V. (2001) Les clés de l’e-administration.
Saha, P. (2009) “A Methodology for Government Transformation with Enterprise Architecture”. In Saha, P. (Ed.),
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Zahir Irani and Peter Love (Eds.) Evaluating Information Systems. Elsevier: London
602

Quality of Services and Citizen Profiling in eGovernment
Guillaume Gronier 1 , Sandrine Reiter 1 and Mélanie Becker 1,2
1 Public Research Centre Henri Tudor, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
2 University Paul Verlaine, Metz, France
guillaume.gronier@tudor.lu
sandrine.reiter@tudor.lu
melanie.becker@tudor.lu
Abstract: This research, still in progress, aims at increasing eGovernment services (eGov services) appropriation
through recommendations for design of adaptive interface for eGov services. In order to reach this goal, we propose
to focus our research on eGov services quality, considering the fact quality is one of the most critical dimension
which influences website usage. This is particularly true when website addresses eGovernment services, where
confidentiality, quality and information authenticity are crucial. The eGov services quality measure is then a major
stake for public administrations if they want to promote eGov services use to citizens. The paper proposes a
methodology in several steps. At the end, we must be able to propose a quality model for eGovernment which will be
derived into several set of perceived quality models, trust models and acceptance models, corresponding to different
user’s profiles. Moreover, we propose to identify interaction way that is the most suitable for user regarding their
profile. To do that, we will define some interaction characteristics that have to be taken into account, such as
interface form, dialogue structure, manipulation preferences, errors treatment… and then propose interaction
typologies depending on user’s typology model. In the mid-term, our objectives are to provide tools and
methodologies to support European eGovernment. This research could help designers and developers in producing
better quality services regarding the eGovernance objectives and to benefit from recommendations closer to reality.
Keywords: quality, e-services, eGovernment, user profile, appropriation, adaptive interface, interaction
1. Introduction
Deploying online administrative services, already begun in the early 2000 in several countries, is actually
a main stake for all governments (Lu, Bai & Zhang 2007). EGovernment goals are hugged and a number
of individual, social as well as political perspectives is often mentioned (Jaeger & Thompson 2003).
Since a few years, it is possible for numerous administrative procedures to be performed remotely over
the Internet. The benefits can be considerable for governments that want to increase their process
efficiency as well as for citizens that can interact with public administrations more easily and comfortably.
For example, eGov services enable people with disabilities and people living in rural areas to improve
their living conditions by enhancing access to information and services. Based on the use of information
and technological communication increase, the Commission of European Communities (CCE) proposed
in 2006 (Commission of The European Communities 2006), a EGovernment action plan putting forward 5
main goals for 2010:
Carry on efforts regarding eGovernment, in order to allow everyone, including socially disadvantaged
groups, having access to online services;
Increase users’ satisfaction regarding public services, and reduce significantly administrative tasks
for businesses as well as for individuals;
Give the opportunity to any public administration in Europe to spend 100% of their procurement
electronically;
Give the opportunity to any businesses and individuals, in Europe to benefit from electronic means,
secure and convenient, in order to be able to identify themselves to public services in their own
country or in any other member state;
Reinforce the participation and the democratic process in Europe through electronicvoting.
Today, in 2011, results seem to be positive, even if all objectives have not been reached. This is
particularly shown through a study conducted by the “Caisse des depots et de l’Association de
l’Economie Numérique” (l’Acsel), published in 2010. According to this study, 60% of French internet
users are using online service to do their tax return and 46% of them consult their social security account
online. Moreover, 96% declare that they trust eGovernment services, which represent a higher score
than for online bank services (69%) or e-commerce (only 51%). However, this study also show that these
results are mainly positive for certain users’ profile, and that other profile are on the contrary more
reticent, and that specific studies have to be conducted in their direction, in order to promote eGov
services use.
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Therefore, since both governments and citizens have a shared interest in eGov services, it is important to
ensure that services provided meet citizens’ needs with maximum efficiency and satisfaction. In other
words, the issue of eGov services appropriation seems fundamental. By appropriation, we mean “the
process by which people incorporate advanced technologies into their (work) practices” (DeSanctis &
Poole 1994).
In order to answer to this question (eGov services appropriation for the largest number of citizens), and
based on a previous literature review (Gronier & Lambert 2010), we propose to consider the quality of
eGov Services as a starting point. According to (Halaris, Magoutas, Papadomichelaki & Mentzas 2007),
quality of eGov services could be define as “all the features of digital services in Public Administrations
that influence their capability to satisfy declared or implied citizens and firms’ needs”. In the proposed
approach we will target the eGovernment websites adaptation to different users’ classes, through citizens
profiling. Sometimes called e-Profile, user profiles can improve eGov services with the delivery of trusted
and personalized services (Pettenati, Pirri & Giuli 2010).
2. eGovernement service quality
Satisfaction and loyalty to a website are in response to a number of criteria for the individual. While
visiting a site, it is possible to distinguish several stages which the individual passes through before
deciding whether or not he/she will return to this site. At each moment during navigation, different
cognitive processes will sequentially occur in the individual, which will lead him (or her) to decide at the
end of the visit if the site has or has not met his/her expectations.
The concepts such as acceptance, trust, usability of the site or perceived quality are all variables that will
be involved in assessing the online service.
Figure 1 illustrates these different points of navigation and the main cognitive mechanisms involved by
the user. The review of literature that we are presenting therefore aims at showing how they can improve
the adoption, use and appropriation of eGovernment services.
Figure 1: Illustrates different points of navigation and the main cognitive mechanisms involved by the
user
2.1 Acceptance and e-trust as factors in the use and adoption of eGovernment services
System acceptability is often considered a key factor in the success or failure of a development project
for a new technology, and more specifically for an eGovernment service (Hamner & Qazi 2009). In fact,
technology is external to humans, and it is necessary to accept it in order to use it.
Acceptance refers to the attitude and intention that will decide whether or not to implement an usage
behaviour for a technology. The first to have modelled this concept are (Davis, Bagozzi & Warshaw
1989), with the TAM, "Technology Acceptance Model". The TAM predicts the individual acceptability of
new information systems by future users, and diagnoses problems that may hinder the system being
adopted.
The authors started with the premise that the perceived usefulness and ease of use of technology were
influencing our attitudes, which themselves were influencing our usage intentions, and are therefore a
prediction of our actual use. Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action laid the foundation for
this model.
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However, according to (Legris 2003), many criticisms are raised regarding this model, such as the fact
that it only takes into account the subjective aspects while omitting the importance of usability, or that it is
too deterministic and not social enough. These flawed aspects have fostered other models.
Thereby, the P3 model "Power, Perception and Performance" (Dillon & Morris 1996) aims to meet the
same objectives as the TAM, but takes into account both subjective and objective aspects, such as users'
perception of the actual usefulness and usability of technology. At present, according to (Brangier,
Hammes-Adelé & J.-M. C. Bastien 2010), the model that combines the most of other models, and best
explains the usage intention of a technology, is the UTAUT - "Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of
Technology" (Venkatesh 2000).
Trust in the online service, often called "e-trust" or "digital trust", is also a factor influencing the use and
adoption of a site. According to (Bélanger & Carter 2008), we define trust as "an expectancy that the
promise of an individual or group can be relied upon". The authors add that trust in eGovernment is
therefore composed of the traditional view of trust in a specific entity (trust of the government) as well as
trust in the reliability of the enabling technology (trust of the Internet). (McKnight, Choudhury & Kacmar
2002) demonstrated that consumer trust in electronic services influenced their transaction intentions.
Trust depends on a combination of factors, such as the level of use, the use of standards, reputation, and
past user experience with e-services.
2.2 Quality as a factor in the adoption and use of eGovernment services
Service quality is a fundamental marketing element to understand customer satisfaction. Specifically,
individuals will evaluate the perceived quality, which can be defined as a subjective assessment, in the
same way that a consumer will make about the superiority of a product.
Measuring the quality of online services has been the subject of many models. The SERVQUAL model
(Iwaarden van 2004) is perhaps one of the most widely used to measure the quality of online public
services. Based on a dichotomy between the service offered by a client and the service perceived by the
user-consumer, SERVQUAL has been applied to many industries and has undergone some
modifications (Li, Tan & Xie 2002).
Other models have also been proposed to evaluate commercial sites (Webqual, Sitequal, E-Qual, EtailQ,
ES-Qual, etc.). However, the criteria that define the quality of services offered by these models
seem too generic, and do not sufficiently take into account, for example, the interface quality or elements
that promote interaction. Furthermore, no scale of the perceived quality of e-services has specifically
been developed for eGovernment services. However, (Liu, Du & Tsai 2009) emphasize that a model
developed for one type of service is not necessarily applicable to another type. Also, eGovernment
services have several characteristics of their own:
They respond to a social demand (United Nations 2008) and therefore must be particularly attentive
to peoples' expectations;
They are the extension of an existing physical service. Therefore, people are still able to choose
whether to use the physical service or online service;
In addition to the efficiency principle, eGovernment services incorporate the equity principle by
remaining accessible to all citizens, consequently, the public sector cannot exclude any category of
the population;
The physical government service cannot be abolished. This comes from the fairness principle. The
eGovernment service should therefore be considered as related to the physical service;
eGovernment services have no competition. Therefore users cannot compare the quality of several
eGovernment services (Wang & Liao 2008);
Users of eGovernment services would be more heterogeneous in terms of socio-demographic
characteristics than users of commercial websites.
Consequently, eGovernment services differ from other types of e-services by the nature of the service
offered, their intrinsic characteristics and the characteristics of their users.
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2.3 The concept of usability and satisfaction as a factor in the long term use and
adoption of eGovernment services
Although often underestimated, usability plays a major role in the adoption and use of e-services
(Corradini, Polzonetti, Re & Tesei 2008). Usability (Norm ISO 9241-11) is defined as: "the degree to
which a product can be used, by specified users, to achieve defined goals with effectiveness, efficiency
and satisfaction in a specified context of use". Ease of learning and memory were subsequently
incorporated into that definition by (Scapin & J. M. C. Bastien 1997).
Literature thereby puts forward the following observation: the ease of using a human-machine interface
or a website influences the use of this technology (Brangier, Hammes-Adelé & J.-M. C. Bastien 2010).
Usability problems that may be encountered could influence his/her use.
Usability is therefore a key element, which promotes individual performance, error reduction, technology
acceptance and user satisfaction (Corradini, Polzonetti, Re & Tesei 2008). When applied to government
services online, usability is described as "an assessment of the relative “ease with which a novice user
interacts with a public agency website to accomplish the user’s goal(s)” (Baker 2009). According to
(Corradini, Polzonetti, Re & Tesei 2008), the quality of eGov sites is largely a product of usability and the
effectiveness and efficiency provided by the site.
3. Adaptive interfaces
In the previous part, we have proposed a literature review on quality models definition in order to be able
to better take into account users’ needs. However, as the research proposed here intends to have an
impact on the development of adaptive interfaces; we have to complete our state of the art, by a study of
existing researches in this domain.
3.1 General approach to personalisation, adaptive interface and profiling
Applications or services personalisation proposes a user adaptation, targeting his preferences, interests
and needs, as well as his own characteristics. Any personalisation process first needs a profiling stage,
i.e. a user model and its instantiation to each specific user representing then its profile.
In a second step, the adaptation itself consists in providing the user with relevant information at the right
time and in an adapted format. This adaptation stage is generally separated into two main classes:
information filtering and application modification. Current systems are more specifically developed for
general public, and mainly concern recommending systems, or information retrieval (on the internet or for
training courses (Mitchell, Caruana, Freitag, McDermott & Zabowski 1994).
Concerning the profiling approach, researches mainly focus on the way to identify user profile during the
interaction. This profiling could be either explicit, i.e. edited by the user, either implicit, i.e. determined by
behaviour and interaction analysis (Teevan, Dumais & Horvitz 2005). An explicit profiling can be obtained
through electronic questionnaires or interviews, while implicit profiling requires logging user activity,
analyzing it and deduct useful behavioural patterns, interests or preferences.
The explicit approach is intrusive and suffers from the bias of the evaluation doubts. The implicit
approach is more effective than an explicit profiling and does not need human intervention (at least only a
little). However, this approach suffers from “the cold start” problem and needs a large amount of data in
order to converge towards an effective user profiling.
Several approaches are proposed in the literature concerning data collection and analysis regarding
users’ profiling. Mainly (Gauch, Speretta, Chandramouli & Micarelli 2007) propose an interesting state of
the art on recent approaches as well as an overview of classical profile formalisation modalities.
A good compromise can be achieved by using both explicit and implicit approaches. Additionally, an
interesting solution can be found in the use of stereotypes (Rich 1979). Stereotyping allows to group
users by broad categories of similar profiles. As a consequence, regarding computer implementation, two
approaches are possible:
Create these stereotypes by grouping similar users’ profile after an implicit profiling;
Determine a priori stereotypes, and then use them as an initialisation of the implicit profiling process,
overcoming then the “cold start” problem.
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These two approaches can also be combined in a loopback, the initialization being based on a priori
stereotypes, refined through a posteriori stereotypes grouping. In addition, a posterior stereotypes
grouping can also be performed through methodologies used in collaborative filtering, such as clustering,
neural networks or evolutionary approaches (Adomavicius & Tuzhilin 2005).
In the project, the profiling stage will be conducted focusing on the evaluation of parameters defined by
the perceived quality model through priori stereotypes, as well as by the definition of interaction
typologies, explicitly and implicitly as we will now describe in the following paragraphs.
3.2 Personalisation and interaction
Nowadays, Human-Computer Interactions are part of our everyday life, from computers to mobile
phones, and in the near future, they will be practically in every artifact. There is a proliferation of devices,
acting in more and more different contexts and interacting with more and more users, thanks to the evergoing
technical breakthroughs. This propagation of electronic devices tends to complicate interaction
paradigms and leads to lose users’ attention.
In order to make the user focus on his task among a set of devices, new interaction paradigms came as a
response, such as the “pervasive computing” (a.k.a. “ubiquitous computing” abbreviated “ubicomp”).
Introduced for the first time by (Weiser 1995), this interaction paradigm describes seamless interactions
between the user and his surrounding electronic devices to an extent that the devices’ presence is
omitted by the user. While “pervasive” and “ubiquitous” literally means “manifesting throughout
everything”, by speaking of pervasiveness or ubiquity, Weiser is also referring to the seamless aspect of
interactions.
3.2.1 User interface adaptation
Interfaces adaptability is not a new subject. During the last years, a lot of studies have been carried out
on the subject, but they was mostly oriented on Adaptive Hypermedia Systems (AHS). (Brusilovsky 2001)
works focused on what can be adapted (content and navigation) and on adaptation methods and
techniques. Since, these works have evolved and multiplied (especially applied to web sites). Besides the
generic context, interface adaptation can be executed at different levels, namely at the user and device
ones. According to tour research, we will focus only on the user.
3.2.2 Interface adaptation according to the user profile
One important source of interface adaptation perspectives consists in the study and modeling of the user
profiles. It includes his identity information, his preferences and interests as well as his capacities. The
user profile can also be useful to define user disability, as an example a visual interface will be adapted
into an audio interface for a blind; or some set of colors will be never used for a color-blind. Adaptation
work will focus on the different interaction channels now available on mobile devices (e.g. entry:
keyboard or tactile screen, vocal command, body movements).
Adaptation to user profile implies modeling the user and profiling it, explicitly by asking for his personal
data or preferences, or implicitly. As it relies on an analysis of the user behavior, implicit profiling is more
efficient in the sense it is not biased by the inherent uncertainties of human assumptions.
3.3 eGovernment problematic
However, we can notice that these researches focus mainly on the software architecture and algorithms
(Calvary et al. 2002). (Thevenin & Coutaz 2002) have proposed taxonomy related to Human Computer
Interface adaptation, where notions such as « interaction », « presentation » « dialogue controller » are
mentioned. However, these aspects are only put forward in a software architecture perspective.
For their part, (Hariri, Lepreux, Tabary & Kolski 2009) mentioned the concept of « database design
patterns », fundamental to any adaptation process. As shown through these studies, having interaction
model is then a base for adaptive algorithm. The underlying question is then: on which bases these
concepts of “interaction, presentation, dialogue controller,” as well as “design patterns” should rely on?
Indeed, before constituting these databases, we must still identify the data that would be stored in.
In order to answer to this problematic, it seems essential to identify the interaction types corresponding to
users’ needs. This means, that we should be able to link user’ profile to interaction profile, and then
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identify underlying characteristics that should be present for eGov services and more specifically in our
case for eGov services.
The study proposed in the present project eProfiler, will mainly be based on such an approach; drawing
interaction typologies adapted to eGov services which could then be used as inputs for the adaptive
interfaces domain. Our study will be based here on literature references in the interaction domain and
which mainly concern:
Dialog mechanisms (menus, natural command languages, question/answer, direct manipulations,
forms, etc.) (Sears & Shneiderman 1994);
Way to manage the dialog (information filtering, information flow management, interaction objects
management, environment management, etc.);
Information presentation (visual characteristics – size, position, colours – notation conventions, data
format);
Help functions: Out of error (comprehension help, feedback, online help, navigation, warning) or in
case of error (When, why, task performed percentage, task backup, cancellation, etc.);
Tasks type (selection, positioning, orientation, path, quantification, text acquisition, images
acquisition);
Metaphor use (Carroll, Mack & Kellogg 1988). This domain is not new, and establishes Human
Computer Interaction bases since a long time and is always subject to actual studies, which will need
to be carefully analysed.
4. Methodology proposed
In order to improve the quality of eGov services, we propose a methodology based largely on the user, in
this case, the citizen. The main objective is to understand the factors that determine the appropriation of
eGov sites and to ultimately be able to increase the appropriation and use of online government services,
through adaptive interfaces.
We describe bellow each step of our methodology, which will be applied to Belgium and Luxembourgish
eGov services.
4.1 Identify user’s profiles and classes
The first step of our methodology consists of a preliminary study that will identify different profiles of
potential users of eGov sites. The data needed to characterize user profiles will be collected through an
online questionnaire, which will gather the following data:
Demographics (age, gender, socio-professional status, etc.);
Data on frequency of use;
Data on their experience of Internet use in general, and eGov sites in particular;
Statistical analysis (Hierarchical) with SPSS software.
Three classes of potential users may be identified a priori:
Regular users of eGov sites;
Infrequent users, for instance those who have visited an eGov site at least once but who did not
return, following, for example, a bad experience or low satisfaction;
Individuals who have never visited a government website.
4.2 Understand use and not-use of eGov services
The second stage is to collect qualitative data in order to understand what may or may not influence the
use and acceptance of eGov services. These interviews will be conducted by taking into account
previously identified user types and the reasons that motivate or do not motivate them to use these online
services:
Semi-structured interviews;
Flanagan's critical incident technique following interviews. This technique (1954) in its original context
can detect incidents that operators have deemed critical to a stage of their work. This methodology
will include potential bad experiences with eGov services;
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Focus groups.
4.3 Model of eGov services quality
Guillaume Gronier et al.
The third step is to substantiate questionnaires from the existing models (models for perceived quality,
usability, acceptance, trust, etc.). In order to do this, the methodology aims to:
Review literature and select several scales from different models;
Identify an eGov site;
Administer online questionnaires, relating to an identified eGov site;
Statistical analysis (linear regression).
4.4 Perceived quality and interaction typologies validation
This step will propose some recommendations for the adaptive interaction domain declined for eGov
services. However, we think that such recommendations should at least be validated through concrete
experiments. Since some years now, the Wizard of Oz paradigm has been used with success in complex
natural-language systems study and more recently in spoken dialog systems (Winterboer, Tietze, Wolters
& Moore 2010). This technique can be viewed as a rapid prototyping technique where the system
answers are implemented but simulated by human actors.
This technique consist to propose to the user a system which answers are simulated by a human (the
wizard), but, in order to study real situation, to let the user think that he is interacting with a real system.
4.5 Recommendations for adapting e-services interfaces
The main objective of our project is to improve quality of eGov services, through several
recommendations for adapting e-services interfaces. Using the previous steps, we will have two essential
types of information in order to improve e-services: on one hand, user’s profiles and on the other hand,
different types of interfaces in accordance with profiles. Thus, it will be possible to provide exact
information about what information and how to propose them to a particular type of user. In other words,
we can provide recommendations for adapted interfaces, and to a longer-term for adaptive interfaces.
For example, these recommendations will take the form: "if the user is a male over 45 years, with little
Internet experience, the interface must include elements which increases his trust with the e-service, and
must be reduced to only essential information needed to service for which he is connected”. Of course,
this example is not based on any experience and is given as illustration. These recommendations will
take the form of guidelines, which will be freely available to eGov services.
5. Expected results and conclusion
The research aims at facilitating eGov services and to improve their appropriation. The appropriation
concept is here proposed as the cognitive, organisational and social mechanisms that lead a user to
integrate a technology (eGov services in our case) in his practices, through spontaneous answer. The
main idea is to provide citizens with online services that better meet their expectations in terms of quality.
Three main results can be put forward:
The first result aims at establishing a citizens’ classification in relation to eGov services quality. Many
ergonomics recommendations addresses Web interfaces, works on this subject are consistent and
many heuristics and criteria have been defined (Scapin & J. M. C. Bastien 1997). However these
recommendations, like quality models, are formulated for the benefit of all internet users,
independently from their profiles. We propose to cover this gap, by identifying citizens’ profiles, in
order to develop a set of quality models as well as recommendations for designers.
The second result will lay the foundation for the design of a dynamic interface dedicated to eGov
services. As shown in the state of the art, the problematic of adaptive interface is mainly concerned
by software architecture considerations but less is mentioned about interaction model underlying this
question. The underlying objective is to propose an interaction model as well as interaction typologies
adapted to eGov services which would be used as inputs for adaptive interfaces;
The third result concerns the improvement of perceived quality and appropriation of egovernment
websites and online eGovernment services, through a new model of e_gov services quality included
trust, acceptance and usability aspects. In fact, very little research to date focuses on the concerns of
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public administration and in particular on increasing the use of eGov services. New elements of
understanding relating to the reluctance towards or adoption of government sites will be identified
from the user-centred approach that will be adopted. Moreover in recent years the concept of
acceptation, trust, perceived quality have not been rehabilitated or reworked.
The following table shows an example of what could be our result. We will identify the quality criteria of
their respective eGov service and the interaction will be adjusted according to these criteria. In this case,
we illustrate the example of post-users. The table will be completed and is in progress.
Table 1: An example of what could be our result
Pre user
Post user with
good
experience
Post user with
bad
experience
Quality
criteria
Interaction
element
Quality
criteria
Interaction
element
Quality
criteria
Interaction
element
Profile 1 Profile 2 Profile 3 Profile 4 Profile n…
i.e : usability, i.e : trust in
eGov
i.e : limit the
amount of
information
on screen
i.e:
strengthen
the
perception of
safety data
i.e: perceived
usefulness,
usability
i.e: highlight
the services
available
i.e :
perceived
quality
i.e :
efficiency,
usability,
design of the
web site
i.e:
availability of
information
i.e: citizen
support,
availability of
system
in progress in progress in progress in progress in progress
in progress in progress in progress in progress in progress
in progress in progress in progress in progress in progress
in progress in progress in progress in progress in progress
The objectives are numerous; nevertheless the main goal is to provide tools and elements for assessing
and improving the appropriation of eGovernment services. To finish, the interest of this research is that
results may be extended to other sectors that also have this type of organisation (e-commerce, eservices,
etc.).
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611

A Quest for an Applicable Model of Growth for Directgov
Panos Hahamis
University of Westminster, London, UK
P.Hahamis01@wmin.ac.uk
Abstract: This paper presents research towards the Henley Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Programme
which is in progress. The purpose of the paper is to review the most well known models of growth for
eCommerce/eBusiness and in particular eGovernment to date, on a quest to identify an applicable model for
mapping the progress made by the most prominent state-of-the-art eGovernment initiative of the UK government, the
Directgov portal.
Keywords: eGovernment, eBusiness, models of growth, portals, Directgov
1. Introduction
Even though the computerisation of organisations started over four decades ago, it is only since the
evolution of information and communication technologies (ICT) and, later on, their convergence with
Internet technologies, that dramatic change was brought into the landscape of conducting business.
The Internet and the hyperbole surrounding it brought new dimensions and consequently new
terminology in to the use of technology by organisations. Two concepts, those of eCommerce and
eBusiness entered every day business language and remained prominent ever since. Governments
followed suit soon after, hence a new term of jargon, or buzzword, was born, that of eGovernment.
Much has been written about both the benefits and drawbacks brought by this evolution for the
organisations that invested in these technologies and systems. With the advent of the Internet in
particular and its impact on business and the public sector, various maturity models have been developed
in order to predict the growth and development of the organisation and facilitate an understanding of the
changes caused by these technologies.
This paper presents research towards the Henley Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Programme
which is in progress. The purpose of the paper is to explore the most well known models of growth for
eCommerce/eBusiness and in particular eGovernment to date, on a quest to identify an applicable model
for mapping the progress made by the most prominent state-of-the-art eGovernment initiative of the UK
government, Directgov.
For that reason, a discourse on the impact of the Internet will be conferred first, followed by a literature
review and critique of maturity models in both the private and public sectors. An attempt will be made to
map the development maturity of Directgov to the most appropriate model or models of growth, followed
by recommendations and concluding with the acknowledgement of any limitations of this study.
2. The impact of the internet
The advent of the Internet provided business at first, and later on, the public sector with enhanced
opportunities, enabling them to gain competitive advantages and allowing them to establish better
strategic positions than those of previous generations of information technology (IT) (Porter, 2001). Whilst
early proponents of the Internet tried to predict its likely technological evolution, Angehrn (1997) argued
that “the Internet may accelerate certain trends whilst revoking others”. Porter (2001, p. 64) suggested
that the Internet is “an enabling technology – a powerful set of tools that can be used wisely or unwisely,
in almost any industry and as part of almost any strategy” and always as a complement to traditional
ways of conducting business.
2.1 Businesses go online
Although the term eCommerce literally “refers to the conduct of commerce or business electronically -
essentially using Internet technologies” (Ward & Peppard, 2002, p. 5), it had emerged before the Internet,
notably in the 1980s, with the use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in the financial sector, initially for
intra-company trading and consequently used for the exchange of documents and so on (Swatman,
1993).
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eBusiness, on the other hand, has come to refer to the automation of an organisation’s internal business
processes using web-based technologies and interfaces (Ward & Peppard, 2002). ECommerce is a key
component of eBusiness which includes “not just the buying and selling of goods and services, but also
servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, and conducting electronic transactions within
an organisation” (Turban, King, Lee, & Viehland, 2006, p. 4).
According to Earl (2000, p. 33), “It was in about 1994/95 that the cry let’s have a home page began to
ring out across corporations”. The prospect that the utilisation of the Internet and the World Wide Web
could increase their market presence and share, boost communications, reinforce their relationships with
customers and finally enhance their supply chain and other processes and operations, sounded very
attractive. Some businesses retained their physical high street presence but embraced these
technologies, thus becoming clicks and mortar incumbents, whilst on the other hand new business startups
became pure play dot-coms, with the notable example of Amazon.com.
2.2 Governments follow suit
Despite the antecedents of the dot-com boom and subsequent crash, there is no Chinese wall between
the private and public sectors preventing stakeholders’ expectations in one from informing their attitudes
and behaviour in another. Moreover, in the name of efficiency and effectiveness - the most perceptible
and intangible benefits - along with the aim of cost cutting, governments started to realise the potential of
going online.
A simple definition of eGovernment is offered by West (2004, p. 16): “eGovernment refers to the delivery
of government information and services online through the Internet or other digital means”. Curtain,
Sommer, & Vis-Sommer (2004) however, argue that is far more than simply making some information
and services for the citizens available publicly online. It is a transforming agent for all layers of
government, each providing a variety of different services.
3. Models of growth
Remenyi, Williams, Money, & Swartz (1998, p. 285) define a model as “a representation of an artefact, a
construction, a system or an event or a sequence of events” and it may consist of a picture or a drawing,
symbols, numbers, words or a combination of these depictions.
3.1 In eCommerce
The theories of growth first emerged in the mid-1970s well before the evolution of the Internet (Chan &
Swatman, 2004; Ghachem, 2006; McKay, Marshall, & Prananto, 2000; Prananto, McKay, & Marshall,
2001; Ward & Peppard, 2002). Computerisation prompted scholars such as Nolan (1973), amongst
others, to study the computing evolution within organisations. He developed a model to “determine the
degree of computing maturity of a company by taking into account the evolution of information
technologies as an organisational learning process” (Ghachem, 2006, p. 1). He is also “the first to have
presented a theoretical description of the phases dealing with the planning, the organisation and the
control of activities in association with the management of computer resources in the organisation”
Ghachem (2006, p. 1). Nevertheless, although Nolan consequently amended and expanded his model to
six stages in order to accommodate two new stages, namely integration and administration (of data), it
relied mainly on the organisation’s spending on computing to determine the different stages of the
computer evolution. Thus, it was deemed inadequate, by critics such as Galliers & Sutherland (1991) and
Swatman (1993) cited in Ghachem (2006), to represent the reality of implementation of information
systems.
Ghachem (2006) found a number of similar maturity models outlining the phases through which
organisations evolve in relation to the use of information and communication technologies and systems.
However, these models did not take into consideration the advancement of the Internet, its technologies
or other factors, as they were proposed long before the emergence of eCommerce. McKay et al. (2000,
p. 29) argue that among these models, the Galliers & Sutherland (1991) model appears to be the most
sophisticated of all, as most early models were criticised as being IT-centric.
Ghachem (2006) also conducted a review of the new maturity models, better tailored to the realities of
electronic commerce. In particular, he has focused on four models of growth. The models he reviewed
and are worth mentioning, are Earl’s (2000), McKay et al’s. (2000), Rayport & Jaworski’s (2001) and Rao
et al’s. (2003).
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In the late 1990s, an important contribution was made by Angehrn (1997). Instead of trying to predict the
likely technological evolution of the Internet, he proposed a generic framework (the ICDT model) for
understanding the opportunities and threats posed by the Internet to businesses, and for developing a
strategy to leverage these (See Figure 1 below).
Source: (Angehrn, 1997)
Figure 1: The ICDT model
According to Angehrn (1997, p. 2), the model takes its name from “the four virtual spaces created by the
Internet: a Virtual Information Space, a Virtual Communication Space, a Virtual Distribution Space, and a
Virtual Transaction Space. The four spaces are treated separately because they correspond to different
strategic objectives and require different types of investment, and organisational adjustments”. The Visual
Information Space (VIS) is about visibility, the Visual Communication Space (VCS) is about interaction,
the Virtual Distribution Space (VDS) is about service delivery and the Virtual Transaction Space (VTS) is
about trading. Although the ICDT model is generic, it has been used to diagnose Internet maturity and
strategies of whole sectors, such as banking. Furthermore, the model could be used in the context of
Intranets to highlight the space of opportunities available to companies internally and how they can utilise
this to their advantage (Angehrn, 1997).
3.2 In eGovernment
It was only after the advancement of the Internet, when the concept of eGovernment had emerged, that
practitioners and scholars alike started studying “the new face of government” (Andersen & Henriksen,
2006). Beside the impact, evaluation and good practices, a number of maturity models have also been
developed and proposed. The three most prominent models are examined below.
In 2001, Hiller & Belanger (2001) proposed an eGovernment framework that consists of six constituent
relationships and five stages of eGovernment (see Figure 2). Although it is supposed to be an adaptation
and/or an improved version of a model or models suggested earlier by other scholars, it is not clear as no
citations were made nor any references provided.
Hiller & Belanger (2001, p. 14) suggested that “eGovernment can be considered through two lenses: the
type of relationship and the stage of integration”. As far as the relationships are concerned, they
endeavoured to offer a broader view of the multidimensional relationships between the government and
all the entities they interact with. These are: Government Delivering Services to Individuals (G2IS), ie
delivering services or benefits directly to citizens, Government to Business as a Citizen (G2BC), ie filing
or paying taxes online, Government to Business in the Marketplace (G2BMKT), ie electronic procurement
(e-procurement), Government to Employees (G2E), ie providing information to their employees via an
Intranet and Government to Government (G2G), allowing collaboration between agencies at many levels
and aggregating various public sector websites.
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Source: Hiller & Belanger (2001)
Figure 2: Electronic government framework
The stages of eGovernment they suggest in their model are Information, Two-way Communication,
Transaction, Integration and Participation. At the Information stage, there is only provision of information
in a static form; however, content does not update itself and thus they stress the need for accurate and
timely information. At the Two-way Communication stage, there is supposed to be some interaction
between government and its constituents, allowing communication, simple requests and changes. At the
Transaction stage, constituents should be allowed to interact and transact fully online, through a webbased
interface without the need for human intervention. At the Integration stage, all services should be
integrated and offered through a single portal no matter which agency provides them. Portals are similar
to websites with the difference that they act as gateways and aggregators to many services offered by
various agencies/providers. Nonetheless, this requires another integration to take place first, that of both
back-office and front-office systems. At the final Participation stage, constituents should be allowed to
comment on/participate in the democratic process and to register and vote online. Although Hiller &
Belanger (2001) conceded that this stage could have been a sub-category of the Two-way
Communication stage, they considered it significant enough to merit a separate category altogether.
At the same time, Layne & Lee (2001) proposed a four stage model which outlines the complex
transformation within government as it makes its transition to eGovernment through each stage. Thus,
the model incorporates the complexity involved at each stage and the different levels of integration (See
Figure 3). Their discussion includes definition, functionality and challenges that arise at each stage.
In stage one of cataloguing, government websites are mainly static and limited, just for the sake of
establishing a web presence. There is limited functionality at this stage and among the challenges are
website development and ownership and maintenance of the information. In the second stage of
transaction, citizens are allowed to interact and transact online, again without – or with minimum – human
intervention as per Hiller & Belanger’s (2001) model, discussed above. At this stage, two-way
communication adds to functionality and along with organisational challenges, the issue of transaction
fulfilment should be taken seriously. Integration starts at this stage and governments are forced to go
further by integrating the “underlying processes not only across different levels of government but also
different functions of government” (Layne & Lee, 2001, p. 125). They argue that integration may happen
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in two ways, vertically and horizontally, and thus the next two stages correspond to these types of
integration. It is expected however that the vertical integration “within the similar functional walls but
across different levels of government will happen first, because the gap between levels of government is
much less than the difference between different functions” (p. 130). At this stage, the point of service
must be at local level as the citizen would feel more familiar and thus local portals connected to central
government and so on will add to functionality. This in its turn presents challenges as several
technological issues emerge, ie signal authentication, format compatibility of electronic data interchange,
exposure level of internal system to the outside etc. (p. 131). The last stage of horizontal integration
refers to integration of government services across different functional walls or silos. They foresee that
from the citizen’s perspective this would be ideal as such integration would facilitate the one stop shop
concept and serve their needs in one go. At this stage functionality is characterised by efficiency and
effectiveness, driven by citizens’ demands for a move towards more service oriented functions. The
challenges presented here are not only technical but also managerial; most importantly, “it requires a
change in the mindset of government agency directors” (p. 133). Among the technological and
organisational challenges Layne & Lee (2001) presented, they also pointed out three major issues ie
universal access, privacy and confidentiality and citizen focus in government management (p. 134), thus
the re-conceptualisation of government in order to achieve citizen-focused changes and development.
Source: (Layne & Lee, 2001)
Figure 3: Dimensions and stages of eGovernment development
After examining both Hiller & Belanger’s (2001) and Layne & Lee’s (2001) models, Reddick (2004)
proposed a two stage, combined with three different governmental relationships, model of eGovernment
growth. As his study examined eGovernment growth in American municipalities at the time, he conceded
that the two first phases of the Layne & Lee (2001) model, the cataloguing and transaction stages, would
be applicable as there was no evidence suggesting otherwise. He has also used Hiller & Belanger’s
(2001) model of major types of eGovernment relationship, Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to
Business (G2B) and Government to Government (G2G) as they “represent the heart of the governmental
relationships” (Reddick, 2004, p. 4), (See Figure 4).
Similar to Hiller & Belanger’s (2001) and Layne & Lee’s (2001) models, the first stage of growth,
cataloguing, is all about maintaining a web presence - merely a static web site that allows no
transactions. The second stage of transaction allows citizens and the business to interact and transact
directly online by paying taxes, fines and so on. With regard to eGovernment relationships, the results of
the Reddick (2004) study showed that the G2C relationship was mainly still in Stage I, whilst the G2G
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relationship was somewhat advanced with the application and use of intranets in government. The G2B
relationship was the most advanced, especially with the emergence of e-procurement and the realisation
of the cost savings via this innovative procurement channel. Similar results were obtained by Hahamis,
Iles, & Healy’s (2005) study of Greek municipalities, applying Reddick’s (2004) model of growth, although
to a smaller sample than the one he used for his study.
Source: As adapted from Reddick (2004)
Figure 4: Model of eGovernment growth
4. Critique of the models
All of the eBusiness/eCommerce models which were reviewed, with the exception of Angehrn’s (1997),
are somewhat linear, assuming progress through their stages of growth over time. In most cases
however, it was recognised that an organisation can leap over stages to accelerate its development,
assuming that previous issues were addressed. Also, the models are either descriptive, prescriptive, or
half and half.
As far as the strategy is concerned, although Angehrn’s (1997) model, was proposed prior to the rest of
the aforementioned models, it was a precursor and quite different in many respects. The aim was to
identify and understand the opportunities and threats that arise from the emergence of the Internet so
appropriate strategies could be developed in order to leverage these.
The relationships and stages in eGovernment are more complex than in eCommerce. As far as the
relationships are concerned, Hiller & Belanger (2001) stress that they are multi-dimensional. Although
Reddick (2004) used only the major types of eGovernment relationships, they are core to the model he
proposed. There is no mention of relationships between government and its entities in Layne & Lee’s
(2001) model. All of the eGovernment models examined here incorporate similar stages of growth, such
as cataloguing or information, two-way communication, transaction and integration. Due to the nature of
his study, Reddick (2004) used only two of the stages described above, cataloguing and transaction. At
the stage of integration, Hiller & Belanger (2001) suggested portals, whilst Layne & Lee (2001), in
addition to portals, suggested both vertical and horizontal integration, bringing to the fore back-office and
front-end processes and the issue of bringing down the silos. Hiller & Belanger (2001) went further than
the integration stage and proposed a participation stage, taking the argument to a higher level.
Furthermore intranets are discussed extensively by all scholars and the concept of the one stop shop
emerges as crucial to providing services to the citizen (Hiller & Belanger, 2001; Layne & Lee, 2001;
Reddick, 2004). They also attempt to map at each stage the challenges, both technological and
organisational, that the transition from government to eGovernment presents.
5. The case of Directgov
Directgov (www.direct.gov.uk) was launched in 2004 as the third generation British government portal. It
followed open.gov.uk which was just an online directory and UK Online, launched in 2000. UK Online
was the first citizen portal, at least in the UK, to group information into life events (Cross, 2004), and was
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part of the Modernising Government white paper’s strategy and eGovernment vision by the then Prime
Minister Mr Blair (HM Government, 1999).
Portals also act as hubs for other websites and on many occasions replace and aggregate a number of
these. “Cabinet Office figures show that 762 of the 1,649 targeted central government websites have
been closed, and a further 599 are expected to close this year” (Grant, 2009). Following a web
rationalisation policy endorsed by minsters in 2006 to rationalise content, the plan is to move the content
of most of government websites to two portals by 2011, Directgov and Business Link
(www.businesslink.gov.uk). “The rationale is that services enabled by IT, must be designed around the
citizen or business, not the provider, and provided to modern, co-ordinated delivery channels” (Saxby,
2007a, p. 214). It was part of the Cabinet Office’s Transformational Government Agenda which aimed to
improve return on investment of IT projects and inter, extra and intra-departmental information sharing
(HM Treasury, 2007; Norton, 2008; Pickering, 2009; Saxby, 2007b).
In the years since its inception, the Directgov supersite (and agency) had an interesting journey. Primarily
‘owned’ by the Cabinet Office, then the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and most recently,
ownership was moved back to the Cabinet Office. Directgov joined the powerful new Efficiency and
Reform Group in the Cabinet Office since last summer. Meanwhile, a strategic review of Directgov was
undertaken by Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of Lastminute.com who was appointed as the UK Digital
Champion. Her recommendations included advice on how the Government can use the internet to both
communicate and interact better with citizens whilst also delivering significant efficiency savings from
channel shift and by converging Directgov with Business Link into a single domain (Fox, 2010;
Transform, 2010). Indeed, most of her proposals were accepted by the Minister for the Cabinet Office,
Francis Maude in his response letter last November (Cabinet Office, 2010).
Directgov offers the user fairly sophisticated administrative, legal, regulatory and social public services,
and a number of online tools. Furthermore, its availability in the Welsh language and in many accessible
formats as well as via other media, such as digital television and mobile phones, enhances outreach to a
wider audience and broadens accessibility (Directgov, 2009; Kolsaker & Lee-Kelley, 2008; Norton, 2008;
Pickering, 2009). In addition, the introduction of the Connect to your Council (mycouncil.direct.gov.uk)
service offers seamless access, acting as a single point of contact instead of going through many layers,
directly to the local council’s service the user requires (Directgov, 2009; King & Cotterill, 2007; Kolsaker &
Lee-Kelley, 2008; Sarikas & Weerakkody, 2007).
On the participation front, it promotes public consultation by linking directly to the e-petitions section of
the 10 Downing Street (petitions.number10.gov.uk) website but it does not offer e-voting or any other
form of interactivity and participation, nor has it embraced Web 2.0 or social networking technologies.
Contrary to the service provision to both citizens and business which has been a success, improving
citizen engagement, input and participation have been minimal and of little benefit. Thus, citizens turn to
sites unaffiliated with government websites, such as YouGov (www.yougov.co.uk) to have a say and try
to influence politics and policy alike (Kolsaker & Lee-Kelley, 2008; Norton, 2008; Pickering, 2009).
If we were to apply any of the maturity models from either the eCommerce/eBusiness or eGovernment
areas examined above, in order to map Directgov’s maturity and stages of growth, these would be
Angehrn’s (1997) in synergy with Hiller & Belanger’s (2001) model. Angehrn (1997) was a pioneer of his
time and his model stands out from the rest as diachronic over time; in addition, its flexibility and
adaptability makes it applicable to many cases, levels and instances. The four virtual spaces Angehrn
(1997) proposed apply to Directgov, which with the creation of new channels within all of those spaces,
fulfils visibility, interaction, service delivery and multi-dimensional transactions at many levels,
accompanied by strategic planning and clear objectives. In particular, Directgov’s strong brand could be
mapped on the Visual Information Space (VIS) which is about visibility. Moreover, according to Directgov
Strategic Review which was published recently, the brand can be stretched to cover news,
announcements/press releases; corporate information from departments, campaigns and e-democracy.
This could be achieved by shared web services and a single domain (Transform, 2010). This move in
turn, will enhance citizens and business alike to engage in relationship, ideas and opinion-building
activities such as lobbying inter alia, which could be mapped to the Visual Communication Space (VCS)
which is about interaction. The distribution of information and transactional services via a multitude of
digital channels could be mapped to the Virtual Distribution Space (VDS) which is about service delivery.
The high quality user-friendly transactions that take place on Directgov, although in need of improvement,
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as they need to be more user-centred, along with more guidance to be provided (Transform, 2010), could
be mapped to the Virtual Transaction Space (VTS) which is about trading.
Hiller & Belanger’s (2001) model on the other hand, offers an integrated approach to map Directgov’s
evolution, maturity and sophistication of services. It covers all possible relationships Directgov is
designed to serve and the extra stage other models do not offer, that of participation. Directgov has bypassed
the Information stage by default, as it was not designed with the provision of information in a
static form. On the Two-way Communication stage, where there is supposed to be some interaction
between government and its constituents, we could map not only the tools provided on the portal for a
two-way communication, but also the feedback forms on each page containing the actual information
sought. Directgov also fulfils the Transaction stage where constituents are allowed to interact and
transact fully online, through a web-based interface without the need for human intervention. With regard
to the Integration stage, it is worth noting that Directgov had reached the integration stage which was
complex, as not only back-office processes and systems were integrated with front-end interfaces, the
integration of central and local government systems had to be achieved too. On the final Participation
stage, we could map some initiatives, such as the e-petitions and recent consultations with regard for
example the Directgov review, which was made public. However, citizens are still not allowed to comment
on/participate in the democratic process in various ways and to register and vote online. The recently
published Government ICT Strategy (Cabinet Office, 2011) pledges for a creation and delivery of policy in
an open and accessible forum which through digitally engagement and collaboration, it “will enable
citizens to influence, comment on and contribute to the decision-making process” (p. 19).
6. Conclusions
This paper presents research towards the Henley Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Programme
which is in progress. An attempt was made to map the development maturity of the Directgov portal on
applicable models of growth by means of content observation and review of the literature. This effort is
certainly not complete or holistic as the literature review is by no means exhaustive and a further
empirical study needs to be conducted.
Ideally there should not be a need to use a synergy of models as suggested above, but to build a new
model taking into account not only the relationships and the stages outlined by previous studies and
proposed frameworks, but also a new set of constructs. In the case of Directgov, issues such as full
democratic participation and engagement as well as e-inclusion, in order to tackle the digital divide, have
not been taken into account satisfactorily. Furthermore, it lags behind in embracing Web 2.0 and social
networking technologies, although the latest Government ICT Strategy and Directgov Strategic Review
promise more use and incorporation of social media (Cabinet Office, 2011; Transform, 2010). The citizen
is now served as a customer, not as a citizen, and so far it could be said that the project is successful,
mainly as a cost cutting exercise. For joined-up government, you need to have joined-up citizens.
References
Andersen, K. V., & Henriksen, H. Z. (2006). EGovernment maturity models: Extension of the Layne and Lee model.
Government Information Quarterly, 23(2), 236-248.
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Non
Academic
Papers
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622

Providing Public Services Through Digital Postal Networks:
A Position Paper
Liam Church and Maria Moloney
Escher Group Ltd, Dublin, Ireland
Liam.Church@eschergroup.com
Maria.Moloney@echergroup.com
Abstract: Extant government literature shows that, in recent decades, many western democracies have pursued a
program of liberalisation of public services. The once predominantly public telecommunications sector has seen
considerable privatisation. Postal systems have undergone multiple restructuring and streamlining programs to
ensure their continued viability. This privatisation trend has been largely driven by three factors influencing
government policy: a concern to lower costs in the provision of public services, the belief that private sector
companies tend to be more efficient, and the conviction that competition increases efficiency and effectiveness in the
delivery of public services. Additionally, as a result of the technological revolution, postal systems that were once
viewed as efficient, trusted and inclusive have rapidly come to be seen as outdated, expensive and slow. Even
though Posts are still recognised as essential to citizens, they are showing evidence of decline. A direct effect of this
decline is that the ability of posts to fulfil their universal service obligation (USO) is slowly being eroded. The aim of
this paper is to present a digital postal solution to counteract this decline. The new system restores, in digital format,
the full gamut of traditional universal services afforded by Posts to citizens in earlier times. The new system gives
every citizen a private digital space, where they can securely access, process and store official, personal and private
information such as bills, employment records, academic records, health and dental records and postal mail. From
this space, citizens can fully interact with digital society: privately on a one to one basis, socially, commercially and
politically. In addition, the system provides new services, such as informational privacy protection and the supply of
‘anonymised’ online statistical data which will provide information on online behaviour and trends. Currently, this type
of statistical data is largely in the hands of private companies and therefore of no benefit to the public good. A digital
postal system based on the concept described in this paper is proposed to be rolled out in Ireland over the next few
years.
Keywords: postal services, freedom of information, eDemocracy, informational privacy, digital government,
technology artefact, socio-technical design
1. Introduction
In recent years, and arguably as a result of governmental policy and rapid technological innovation, there
have been a number of fundamental shifts in the communications market that have affected the postal
industry. Since the 1970s, governments across Europe, and indeed elsewhere, have held the belief that
public service organisations were best managed as if they were 'businesses' (Cordella & Willcocks, 2010;
Hambleton, 1994). This resulted in a number of key government policy shifts to replace state services
with numerous competing providers. To a large extent, these providers took on the traditional role of the
public service, which in turn was portrayed as ‘enabling, not providing’ public services. The fundamental
driver of these reforms was the assumption that public services were better managed in the interest of
efficiency through private sector economic drivers as opposed to the ‘inclusive’ interest of citizens
(Cordella & Willcocks, 2010). The culmination of this trend, in the postal sector, was a political agreement
at the European level for the full opening of the postal services market to competition by the end of 2010.
In reaction to these neo-liberal policies, and to replace revenues lost by falling mail volumes, posts are
employing new technologies and business strategies not only to improve, and make more cost effective,
their provision of a universal service, but also to expand and develop their core competencies to
encompass expertise in the fields of ecommerce, e-government and hybrid mail. In fact, Posts are
particularly well placed to become key players in these fields because they are traditionally regarded as
Trusted Intermediaries (TIs) and are obligated to all citizens of a nation by their universal service
obligation (USO). Therefore posts have an advantage in that they have an established brand that is
recognised by the entire population of a state as that of an organisation that is controlled and regulated.
De Reuck and Joseph (1999) posit that the concept of a USO is relative to the historical moment in which
the USO occurs. That is to say that it is not a rigid concept but rather a dynamic one, which requires
continual revisiting in light of changing technological innovations and social needs (De Reuck & Joseph,
1999). For example, in Great Britain, the provision of broadband services to all households in the country
has recently become a universal service (Carter, 2009). Therefore, it can be argued that Posts are only in
decline because they are being allowed to decline.
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Liam Church and Maria Moloney
Posts have a valuable exploitable asset in that they have an established and trusted brand. Research
has shown that given the profit-driven and competitive nature of our digital society and individuals’
concerns surrounding issues like the protection of their personal information online, individuals prefer to
entrust their personal information to familiar and trusted brands. When individuals 'trust' an online brand,
it increases the likelihood of those individuals actually interacting with that brand because trust alleviates
concerns regarding possible negative consequences (Kim & Prabhakar, 2000). The challenge now facing
posts is to use their trusted brand to their advantage by extending it to encompass an inclusive,
affordable and high-quality electronic service.
In section two of this document, an historical snapshot of the postal system and the democratic
importance of its USO is presented. This is used to emphasise how the USO has been eroded over the
last number of decades, to the detriment of citizens. A comparison between past and present postal
systems is also outlined and in section three, a description of a proposed digital postal solution is given.
Section four concludes the paper.
2. The historical impact of privatisation on public services
Historically, in the paper-based world of three decades ago, posts played a significant societal role. Every
citizen, business and government depended on the Post for safe delivery of mail. The Post enabled
citizens to establish and maintain business relationships and links with emigrants. It helped them save
and send money, and connected them with information about their health, education and employment.
Given that the pace of business and of life in general was much slower at this time, the post had a very
safe, reliable and efficient system. The local post office and the postman were central to the lives of all
citizens regardless of location, age, gender or socio-economic status.
2.1 The government transparency and privatisation paradox
After World War II, the notion of ensuring transparency in government started to gain momentum
internationally (Braman, 2006). However, it took considerable time for many nations to actually implement
government transparency. In the mid-1980s, only 11 nations had freedom of information laws, but by the
end of 2004, 59 nations had implemented such laws (Relly & Sabharwal, 2009; Roberts, 2006).
Privatisation, on the other hand, became popular in the 1970s and 1980s in reaction to what had often
become, by that time, costly and bureaucratic public services. It was believed that privatising
governmental services would lead to greater efficiency and competition, which would in turn benefit the
citizen (Aman, 2005; Cordella & Willcocks, 2010).
In the last three decades, these two movements, privatisation and government transparency have grown
in parallel. Many governments have worked to increase openness and transparency in their actions,
through ongoing process improvements and the implementation of freedom of information acts.
Transparency in government and the right to access government information are now internationally
regarded as essential to democratic participation, prevention of corruption, informed decision-making,
and provision of accurate information to the public, companies, and journalists (Cullier & Piotrowski,
2009; Mulgan, 2007; Quinn, 2003; Reylea, 2009; Shuler, Jaeger, & Bertot, 2010).
Privatisation usually entails handing over to the market, the provision of services that were traditionally
provided by government. This political decision to move a service or governmental responsibility from the
public sector to the private sector has many consequences. Privatisation subjects the activity in question
to the forces of the market while freeing it from both substantive and procedural forms of regulation that
apply to public bodies. The privatisation of an industry or a social service means, by and large, that the
administrative laws of a country no longer apply to that industry or service, nor do any Freedom of
Information Acts (FOIA) (Aman, 2005).
Paradoxically, as governments strive for transparency, they are at the same time handing over public
services to private companies who are not publicly accountable. Traditionally, governments were in
charge of providing vital public services to all its citizens. Examples of such services that citizens enjoyed
at one time were the provision of:
The opportunity for every citizen to post their mail in their local post office and receive mail to their
door at least once every working day.
National maps. All maps of the country were owned by the state. This was considered a vital role of
the government to ensure that all citizens had access to maps of their nation;
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Liam Church and Maria Moloney
A national public directory to all households and businesses in the country, containing the contact
details of all the businesses and residences in the country;
Freely available books to all citizens through a nationwide network of public libraries.
Free post office savings accounts for all citizens
A central statistics office to provide information on economic, social and general activities and
conditions in the State, such as the productivity of school and hospitals.
In the last decade or so, all these services have either been completely or partially digitalised:
Every citizen, with access to a computer, has a means of written communication through the use of
Internet email applications, again most of which are privately owned.
Even though ordinance survey maps are now digitally available, they are not interactive. Interactive
maps of a nation and the world, detailing information on residential and business locations are
available through the Internet application, Google Maps, which is privately owned by Google Inc;
Access to public directories containing all the businesses and residences in the country is available
through Internet search engines such as Yahoo and Google, all of which are privately owned
companies;
Books are still freely available to citizens through public libraries but the digital versions of books are
available to citizens - at a price - through Internet applications like privately owned Google Books,
and wireless reading devices like Kindle privately produced by Amazon.com;
Free banking is still available through post offices but they do not offer online banking. Banks charge
for banking services which include online banking.
The central statistics office website has become the main information dissemination vehicle for the
office in recent decades. All their statistical data are now available in digital form on their website.
However, any statistical data regarding society’s online behaviour is held by private companies
usually for the sole benefit of that company and not benefiting society at large.
There are two noteworthy differences between these two scenarios. The first difference is the method of
communication for all these services has changed from physical to digital form. The second difference is
that many services once provided by the government are now being replaced by digital equivalents in the
hands of private companies. A significant consequence of this is that, unlike regulated governmental
bodies, private enterprise cannot be held accountable; they are not subject to national administrative law
or to the freedom of information act. As a result, all transparency within the service is either non-existent
or can potentially be eliminated.
In addition, all personal information these private companies aggregate about citizens or how they are
using it does not have to be disclosed. There are multiple consequences of this but two major
consequences are now discussed. Citizens have growing privacy concerns regarding their personal
information which is in the hands of private companies and secondly, the publicly owned central statistics
office does not have access to vast quantities of information pertaining to the online behaviour of the
nation’s population. These private companies have as their motivation, maximisation of profit not the
provision of efficient, publicly inclusive services.
Even though governments provide digital equivalents for some of the services previously outlined, given
the profit motivation and advertising strength of private companies, the privately owned digital equivalents
are developing faster and capturing a larger portion of the market. As a result, governments are no longer
competitive. However, in allowing a private monopoly to develop, citizens’ basic democratic rights to vital,
affordable, inclusive public services are under threat. In reaction to this situation, various approaches to
reforming public services have been proposed whereby public bodies can deliver efficient services, while
still remaining publicly accountable (Cordella & Willcocks, 2010; Hambleton, 1994; Mintzberg, 1996;
Osborne & Gaebler, 1993; West, 2005).
In the next section, a description is provided of how reliable provision of at least some of these services
can be restored to the public through a trusted third party or a government-owned corporation such as a
national postal operator.
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Liam Church and Maria Moloney
3. Co-networking: The networking of the future
Currently, the trend dominating the Internet is towards mass socialisation of services. That is to say,
individuals are looking to the Internet to take part in social activities. Social networking, a process of
forming online communities, is the most rapidly growing area of social online activity (Chubb, 2010).
However, social networking only covers the online social lives of individuals. As individuals begin to
spend more time online, their physical world becomes more intrinsically linked with their digital world.
Now everything that defines individuals, such as their identity and relationships, communications,
financial data, health data, academic and employment records can now be found both in physical form
and digital form. In light of this, it is only a matter of time before individuals start to look to the Internet for
networking sites that allow them to carry out not only their social activities but their financial, economic
and political activities as well.
3.1 The proposed solution
The proposed digital postal system will provide a de jure system which will allow citizens to have a
protected digital representation of themselves and of their community. What is meant by the term “a
protected digital representation” is that the proposed system will allow each citizen to register on the
system as a digital citizen with a digital private space, equivalent in many ways to a virtual home. From
this space, they will be able to securely access, process and store all their official, personal and private
information such as bills, employment records, academic records, health and dental records and official
and unofficial mail. Additionally, each citizen will be able to interact with the digital society on all levels.
That is to say, citizens will not just be allowed to communicate socially with friends and family but to also
communicate with government, business and other citizens just like the traditional postal system allows.
This is in effect, a progression from social networking to a more cohesive or fully communicative
networking or co-networking.
The significant difference between this proposed cohesive network and current networks on the Internet
is that, this network will be a protected network where private enterprise will not be allowed to access,
track or aggregate individuals’ personal information. As a result, all the personal information of a citizen
will remain their own and they will possess the choice of accessing the Internet privately and
anonymously through the secure postal network or ‘stepping outside’ their safe network and accessing it
freely as they do now. With this system and for the first time since the advent of the Internet, citizens will
have a layered level of privacy protection ranging from being fully in control of their actions and the
information generated by those actions to being fully and publicly available to the forces of the Internet.
Figure 1 shows this layered level of privacy protection within the postal system.
Figure 1: The layered privacy protection infrastructure
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Liam Church and Maria Moloney
Social communication conducted over the electronic postal system will be similar to the services offered
by social networking sites. One extra benefit is that the system will facilitate information sharing on a local
level. Additionally, for a fee, local businesses will be able to send Direct Mail through the system to all
local residents.
Formal communication over the system will allow all members of the community to send invoices, bills,
payments and official notices over a secure, digital channel. The local city/county council will be able to
send notifications in the form of bulk mail to all residents of the city or region, notifying them of issues of
public interest such as road closures and public meetings. Likewise, local politicians will be more
accessible to their constituents. Residents will be confident that such notifications are genuine as they
are delivered through and therefore authenticated by, the secure digital postal system. Residents looking
to find information on local businesses, services and community events will have a central reference point
for all such information.
This type of secure, formal co-networking within the system could easily scale from a local level to a
national, European and international level. A public directory stored within the system would provide a
lookup service, similar to the traditional White Pages, which residents could use to find contact details of
other residents, local businesses or governmental offices. A geo-location application would then pinpoint
the address of the service being sought on an interactive map which could provide extra information
about the service such as opening times and range of services offered. This free look-up service could be
a vital tool to local businesses in attracting back revenue lost to large online shopping stores.
Services like a national public directory, a national mapping service and secure transfer of electronic mail
are again provided to the public for the benefit of citizens and society rather than economic gain for
private enterprise. Figure 2 shows the various services offered by the proposed system.
Figure 2: A regulated electronic postal service benefiting all citizens of a nation.
Due to the fact that posts are based in the country where they offer their services, national governments
will be able to regulate the network with their own legislation as opposed to most social networks and ecommerce
sites that are frequently based in the US and thus governed by US law. National governments
can thus decide on how much legislation is required for their own electronic postal system as they have
done with their posts for centuries. This facilitates the existence of a trusted intermediary at the core of
the digital postal system like that at the core of the traditional post.
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Liam Church and Maria Moloney
The fact that this network could be governed and controlled by each individual country would be
particularly important when conducting secure transactions through the system. Online banking and bill
payments could be facilitated through the postal network and, for a fee, receipts of financial transactions
and other sensitive information, such as credit card details, account numbers, would be stored in secure
encrypted databases within the network. These secure databases that contained individuals’ private
information would be protected by the posts that manage the network. In effect, the posts would offer a
privacy management service to their customers.
Private enterprise would pay for the privilege of accessing ‘anonymised’ personal information. The notion
of ‘anonymised’ personal information means that all personally identifiable information that could link the
information back to specific individuals would be stripped prior to it becoming available to private
enterprise. This method of information exchange would allow private enterprise access valuable personal
information while still protecting individuals’ informational privacy and allowing them to monetise the
information they generate.
In the proposed postal system, all citizens, small and large businesses, government departments and
large enterprises would be entitled to an electronic Post Office (PO) box once they supplied proof of their
identity and their physical address. Each PO box in the system would require users’ authentication in
order to access it. All mail sent from a PO box, either business or personal, would be securely and
confidentially enclosed in electronic envelopes, through the use of encryption, while still in the PO Box
and then passed along a secure closed network. It would not be decrypted until it reached its destination.
If the mail was lost and needed to be handled by postal employees, the contents of the mail could not be
viewed, just like in the traditional system.
The infrastructure of the electronic postal system is set up in such a way that citizens could either access
their PO boxes at home through the use of a traditional browser or if they did not have a computer at
home, they could call to their local post office to access it. In this respect, the postal system would help
to bridge the digital divide within society. Citizens who cannot afford a personal computer or those who
are computer illiterate would have access, with the help of the post office, to digital society. Just like three
decades ago, the main function of the new postal system is their USO, to provide an inclusive system
which collects and delivers post privately and securely to every citizen’s (virtual) home. However in this
system, customers could also avail of all the traditional services offered by posts such as:
Protection of citizens’ personal information within communications;
Bill pay services;
Public directory lookup services;
Registered mail and other traditional postal services;
Free savings accounts
In addition, Post could offer other services traditionally provided by government such as:
Geo-location and mapping services which could include any information that businesses wish to
impart to their customers; A service similar to combining access to ordinance survey maps with
business directory services for citizens.
Provision of anonymised statistical data, gathered from the network, to the central statistics office for
the benefit of the public good.
The proposed digital postal system would facilitate the digitalising of the entire community, regardless of
age, gender, education level or socio-economic status. Additionally, it would digitalise a nation’s
communities on three significant fronts: the political, commercial and social fronts. The fact that this can
be achieved by one system makes the digital transition less complex for everyone. All citizens could
experience a complete digital community life, either at home or at their local post office. Citizens would
also have fewer concerns about privacy due to the secure and regulated nature of the network. With this
system, citizens could continue to interact and communicate locally, nationally and internationally as has
always been true of communications via the postal network.
In addition, by providing digital postal services throughout an entire nation, the proposed system supports
EU policy for e-Government and encourages the fair and balanced deployment of ecommerce
nationwide. It could be operated and managed by either national postal operators or state-sponsored
bodies regulated by law.
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4. Summary and conclusions
Liam Church and Maria Moloney
Posts have used many strategies over recent decades in an attempt to survive in the current competitive
communications market. Over the last two or three decades, governmental policies of prioritising market
competition over democratic goals have subtly but progressively affected both citizens and posts alike.
Many countries in Europe and worldwide have implemented certified electronic mail solutions to bring
their postal system into the digital age. However, if there is to be a truly international digital postal service
similar to the traditional postal service, a series of national digital postal solutions that work together is
required along with the implementation of legislation both at a national and international level.
This paper proposes a system that will establish posts in digital society and will also provide a holistic
solution to bridging the growing digital social divide. It achieves this by allowing citizens access their
electronic mail and the digital postal network at their local post office regardless of whether they have a
computer at home and if necessary, with the assistance of postal staff. In this way, young, old, computer
literate and computer illiterate citizens have access to the digital world through their postal system.
By bringing public services into the digital world, citizens can experience the benefits of publicly inclusive
services in digital form. Posts will also reap benefits in the form of increased market share and a renewal
of their role in modern society. The entire community will benefit through full and safe engagement with
their digital society. A solution based on the system outlined in this paper is proposed to be rolled out in
Ireland over the next number of years.
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629

An Evaluation of Expression of Doubt in the context of
Self-Assessment
(Section 955(4) Taxes Consolidation Act 1997) – Irish Revenue Commissioners
Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
Irish Revenue Commissioners, Ireland
University of Limerick, Ireland
ancorbet@revenue.ie
frank.rossney@ul.ie
Abstract:: Revenue has always been at the forefront of change in Ireland. 1988 saw a major change with the
introduction of Self-Assessment for taxpayers. This brought new levels of trust and a user-friendly operation into
the relationship between Revenue and taxpayer. It also brought a requirement for new levels of knowledge of the
tax system by practitioners and taxpayers. Ireland is one of the few EU countries to introduce a facility whereby
the taxpayer can express doubt on filing their tax return. This enables the taxpayer to file on time and remain
compliant despite having a doubt about a matter in their return. The facility in Ireland is referred to as an
Expression of Doubt (EOD), provided for under Section 955(4) Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. Ireland’s
interactive internet-based filing system, Revenue Online Service (ROS) used by taxpayers to submit their tax
returns is enhanced by the availability of this facility. A taxpayer expresses doubt by ticking a box on the tax
return and providing an explanation of the doubt. Revenue then examines the doubt, and because the taxpayer
has disclosed the matter, he/she will avoid interest and penalties should the doubt give rise to a liability of tax.
The author, using software and discussion with practitioners and Revenue personnel, examines the EOD facility
in a systematic way by asking: after many years, is it used and still valuable? Does it achieve the goal of aiding
voluntary compliance? What are the doubts of taxpayers? Are there patterns to its use, and are there common
issues arising?. This 2010 study looks at all Irish Income Tax and Corporation Tax returns filed for years 2007
and 2008 where an EOD was indicated. Whilst some issues arise regarding the general use of the system and
require to be addressed, this paper concludes that the introduction of this legislation is significant in aiding,
encouraging and facilitating voluntary compliance of the taxpayer. The recommendations and conclusions draw
together the data, the views of practitioners and Revenue officials in a systematic analysis of the EOD.
Keywords:Self-Assessment, Voluntary Compliance, Interrogative software, Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Anti-
Avoidance
1. Introduction
One of the most fundamental changes in Irish taxation and Revenue structures came with the
introduction of Self-Assessment for Income Tax in 1988, followed by Self- Assessment for Corporation
Tax. Under the Self-Assessment system, taxpayers are required to lodge a tax return containing
detailed information and calculations of their taxable income. The fundamental difference between
this new regime and the original system is that the onus of responsibility is now on the taxpayer to
prepare an accurate return, which is normally accepted by Revenue at face value. Previously, income
tax returns were examined by Revenue officials and assessments issued without input by the
taxpayer.
By 2008, over half of OECD member countries had evolved their systems of administration of income
tax to one based on Self-Assessment principles. (OECD 2008)
Acutely aware of the vital role played by practitioners and taxpayers in the success of the new regime,
Irish Revenue introduced various measures to assist compliance for taxpayers and their agents. The
EOD came into effect, accommodating situations where taxpayers and practitioners have a genuine
doubt about the application of the law to, or the treatment for tax purposes of, any matter included in
their tax return. The benefit to the taxpayer is the avoidance of interest and penalties should tax
become due arising from the doubt. The surcharge applying to late filing is also avoided, as the
taxpayer is deemed to have made a full and true return on time.
The purpose of this study is to examine the Expressions of Doubt of Irish taxpayers for years 2007
and 2008. The overall aim is to establish if the EOD facility is successful in aiding voluntary
compliance and to address the question of whether or not complexity of tax legislation is the driving
force for taxpayer to express doubt. The paper attempts to establish the value of the EOD facility to
taxpayers: to explore areas of doubt where Revenue might focus attention: to define areas where
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Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
further support is required to maintain voluntary compliance, and to contribute to best practice in the
future.
2. Background
Irish Revenue collects taxes and duties, which fund the provision of public services for the benefit of
all citizens.
Its primary goal as set out in its Statement of Strategy (Revenue 2008) is:
“to ensure, as far as possible, that everyone complies with their tax and customs
responsibilities – that they pay the right tax and duty at the right time and meet the
obligations set out in tax and customs law”
Prior to 1988, administrative assessment involved the examination of all tax returns by Revenue
officials prior to issuing assessments to taxpayers. On receipt of the Inspector of Taxes’ assessment,
the taxpayer would pay the tax due by certain deadlines. If in disagreement the taxpayer would
appeal against it.
However, this system became “bogged down in an endless paper chase of estimated assessments
and appeals.” (Department of Finance 1998).
The introduction of Self-Assessment for taxpayers and businesses in 1988 heralded a new regime for
taxpayers, giving them greater control over their tax affairs. Arguably, imposing the Self-Assessment
regime on taxpayers had the effect of forcing them to gain knowledge about tax laws, requiring them
to be sufficiently familiar with tax legislation such that they complete the return correctly.
For taxpayers to comply with Tax Law involves adhering to certain legislative provisions. One
involves submitting the tax return providing and full and true disclosure of all material facts pertaining
to the income, credits and allowances due. It is contended that the EOD aids voluntary compliance in
the context of the Self-Assessment regime, in enabling taxpayers and practitioners to fulfil their filing
obligations, knowing that they will not be penalised if wrong. A taxpayer expresses doubt by simply
ticking a box on the tax return and/or providing an explanation of the doubt. Revenue then examines
the doubt, and because the taxpayer has disclosed the matter, he/she will avoid interest and
penalties, which might otherwise apply, should Revenue rule that further tax is due.
During each of the years under examination, in excess of 450,000 Income Tax returns and 120,000
Corporation Tax returns were submitted in Ireland. The level of EOD included in those returns was
present in .5% of Income Tax and .3% of Corporation Tax returns (on average). To put these levels
into context, it is useful to examine the level of exchequer receipts for the same period, amounting to
in excess of 13 billion and 5 billion respectively (Tables IT2 and CT1)
3. Self-Assessment- the definition
There are two generally accepted systems of tax assessment applied by OECD countries –
Administrative Assessment and Self-Assessment. (OECD 2008) Self-Assessment gives the taxpayer
greater control and responsibility over their tax affairs, and brings with it a new level of trust in the
taxpayer.
The essential feature of the self-assessment system is the obligation on the taxpayer
company to estimate its liability to the tax concerned and to ensure that it makes a sufficient
preliminary tax payment, usually before any assessment is made by the inspector. (Feeney
2010, p. 2172)
The Australian Tax office introduced this regime in 1986, and noted that trust in the taxpayer is key to
the system working effectively. Self-assessment is premised on a tenet of trust. There is no way we
would have moved to self assessment if we did not have the conviction that returners, predominantly
tax agents, could be trusted to prepare returns with a high degree of integrity. If there is no trust,
there can be no self-assessment regime. (Michael D’Ascenzo, 1993)
Murphy and Torgler (2004) refer to literature reviews which argue that voluntary compliance improves
in those allowed to self-regulate, and contend that trust “appears to be a resource like no other: it is
not depleted through use but rather through lack of use”. By 2008, over 50% of all OECD countries
had abandoned the Administrative Assessment procedures, in favour of Self-Assessment on the
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Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
grounds of efficiency and effectiveness (OECD 2008). Under this system, tax is collected earlier, the
number of disputed assessments is reduced as they are taxpayers’ own calculations, and verification
of the returns is targeted based on risk
Source Irish Revenue Commissioners
3.1 The Expression of Doubt – the Legislation – Section 955 (4) TCA 97
(4) (a) Where a chargeable person is in doubt as to the application of law to or the treatment
for tax purposes of any matter to be contained in a return to be delivered by the chargeable
person, that person may deliver the return to the best of that person’s belief as to the
application of law or the treatment for tax purposes of that matter but that person shall draw
the inspector’s attention to the matter in question in the return by specifying the doubt and, if
that person does so, that person shall be treated as making a full and true disclosure with
regard to that matter.
(b) This subsection shall not apply where the inspector is, or on appeal the Appeal
Commissioners are, not satisfied that the doubt was genuine and is or are of the opinion that
the chargeable person was acting with a view to the evasion or avoidance of tax, and in such
a case the chargeable person shall be deemed not to have made a full and true
disclosure with regard to the matter in question.
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Source Irish Revenue Commissioners
Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
4. Tax Compliance and the Complexity of Tax Laws
The primary focus of tax administrations is to ensure compliance with tax laws. Compliance is the
willingness of taxpayers to fulfil their tax obligations to register, file and pay. It is generally believed
that there is huge complexity in Tax Law.
As Braithwaite (2007) observes “most people do not have much understanding of what tax laws
mean”.
Davies et al. (2001) citing William Stromsem, AICPA tax director, believes that in attempting to make
tax treatment fair for all taxpayers, the effect is to further complicate the legislation.
“simplicity and fairness are tradeoffs. The fairer you make the tax code the more
complex it becomes. The simpler you make the tax code, the rougher the justice”.
Martindale et al. (1992) commenting on the complexity of the US tax Laws, contends that it is feasible
to improve the readability of Tax laws by removing the complexity of the text. Citing Duffy and
Kabance (1982) the most important criteria in the usability of text is comprehensibility. The two
factors affecting the latter are the complexity of both the content and text. It is their contention that
President Reagan, during his term of office, criticised the fact that the Income Tax laws were too
complicated, resulting in the IRS revising their schedules and regulations in an effort to improve
readability.
Doyle et al. (2008 p. 177) contributing to the debate on ethics in tax practice suggests that tax
complexity has led to a change in the role of general practitioner.
Tax, once the remit of the ‘general practitioner’ accountant and considered an offshoot of
accounting has grown in complexity and importance and has become a distinct and highly
specialised profession in itself.
Is the Expression of Doubt the necessary counterbalance?
633

5. Methodology of the Study
Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
Data was extracted from the Central Revenue Database, interrogated and analysed using a software
tool. This data includes information from tax returns filed on Revenue Online Service together with
paper returns filed. The latter are input manually to Revenue’s database. Following export of the data
to Microsoft Excel, it was imported to the software tool IDEA. This tool was used to analyse,
interrogate and where possible aggregate the data over various categorisations. The extent of the use
of the EOD, the submissions by district, region, industry type, practitioner and size of business was
analysed for any trends or patterns. The profile of the submitter and the general nature of issues
arising were established. An initial examination of sample data revealed a mismatch, due to the
number of taxpayers who tick the box without providing narrative (or where no narrative is available),
and others providing narrative who fail to tick the box. The selection criterion therefore involved
extracting details for those taxpayers who ticked the box as appropriate and/or where only the
narrative field was populated. This data formed the basis of the analysis. Data was examined for the
whole country to obtain the complete perspective. This is facilitated with the use of area codes for
each taxpayer. Industry type was facilitated by the NACE code. Views of tax practitioners, revenue
personnel were sought and other EU administrations were requested to confirm the availability of
such facility in their administrations, to complete the study.
5.1 Revenue Online Service (ROS)
The ROS is regarded as the flagship of e-Government services in Ireland. ROS is a self-service
process, removing the requirement for the taxpayer or practitioner to make direct contact with
Revenue when filing the tax return. Mandatory electronic payments and filing using ROS is part of
Revenue’s strategy to establish the use of electronic channels as the normal way of conducting tax
business, with mandatory electronic filing for many categories of taxpayer from 1 st June 2011.
5.2 The Software
The file interrogation software used for this study was Interactive Data Extraction & Analysis (IDEA).
IDEA is a computer-based file interrogation tool for use by auditors, accountants, investigators, and IT
staff. It analyses data in many ways and allows extraction, sampling, and manipulation of data in
order to identify errors, problems, specific issues, and trends. It is capable of performing analyses,
checking calculations, cross matching data between systems, testing for gaps and duplicates and
sampling.
5.3 The Data
Full data on EOD was received for years 2007 and 2008. This included:
o Business description
o Nature of Doubt
o Level of turnover
o Types of income involved
o Capital allowances and deductions claimed
o Tax district dealing with the individual and business taxpayer
o Tax region
The data which was evaluated for this work was extracted from the Central Register, where each
individual taxpayer or taxpayer company has a unique identification number or personal public service
number (PPS) and the full gamut of data returned on their tax returns, including address, nature and
size of business, local inspector of taxes, and NACE code. In addition to the use of this software,
manual sampling was carried out, although the sheer volume of data could not be checked in its
entirety by manual sampling.
5.4 NACE codes
NACE codes are of primary importance in producing statistical analysis for Revenue reports. NACE
code classifications in tax records are compiled by reference to the primary area of economic activity
reported by individual and corporate taxpayers on their own behalf.
The maintenance of accurate NACE codes contributes to the effectiveness of Revenue’s system
analysis tools, such as the risk ranking tool, REAP, and in the selection of cases by sector through
various other systems.
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Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
Charts in this study are dependent on the accuracy of the NACE codes on our records.
6. Data Analysis and Discussion
(a) Volumes of EODs
EODs represent 0.55% or less of all returns (Table 3)
Table 3: Expression of Doubt as Percentage of Tax Returns Filed
2007 Income Tax Corporation Tax
Number of returns filed 466,692 126,698
No. of Expressions of Doubt 2,549 451
% of Returns with EOD 0.55% 0.36%
2008 Income Tax Corporation Tax
Number of returns filed 493,306 139,546
No of Expressions of Doubt 2546 374
% of Returns with EOD 0.52% 0.27%
(b) Geographical Spread across Regions
The regional distribution is examined. As can be seen below, the figures are consistent between the
two years for Income Tax (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Expressions of Doubt – Income Tax - Comparison by Region 2007/2008
The spread of Corporation Tax doubts over the regions was inconsistent, with Large Cases Division
seeing a sharp rise in cases in 2008 (Figure 2).
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Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
Figure 2: Expressions of Doubt - Corporation Tax – Comparison by Region 2007/2008
(c) District Analysis
Dunlaoghaire/Rathdown district receives the most Income Tax (IT) expressions of doubt, followed by
Fingal district. A sharp rise in Galway’s figures in 2008 draws attention, together with smaller rises in
Kildare and Meath. Interestingly, the figures are fairly standard year on year. Figure 3 provides a
visual comparison.
Figure 3: Expressions of Doubt – Income Tax – Comparison by District
The corporation tax graph in figure 4 shows a completely different trend. Galway, Westmeath/Offaly,
Cavan/Monaghan, Kildare and Cork South West had a much larger volume of doubts in 2007 than in
2008. This may be due to duplication of the same doubt across a number of taxpayers, but requires
further examination. A sharp rise in 2008 is noted in Large Cases Financial Services and
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Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
Construction/Property/Mining areas. This is in line with information provided by tax practitioners, as
will be seen later in the study.
Figure 4: Expressions of Doubt – Corporation Tax – Comparison by District 2007/2008
(d) Nature of Business
To establish the trend in business types indicating doubts, the data was interrogated for percentages
across business descriptions. As can be seen from Figure 5, for Income Tax, individuals involved in
rental and property submitted the most doubts. Significant numbers came from PAYE workers and
various types of farming business.
Figure 5: Expressions of Doubt – Income Tax – by Business Description 2008
Businesses submitting doubts for Corporation Tax show a different trend. The Financial Services
sector is the highest submitter of Expressions of Doubt followed by brokers, retailers, property
development, investment holding companies and construction. See figure 6.
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Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
Figure 6: Expressions of Doubt – Corporation Tax – by Business Description 2008
(e) How valid are the Expressions of Doubt?
A manual exercise on 300 individuals’ ROS returns sought to establish if they could be regarded as
valid doubts as opposed to informational. This was based on a general belief within Revenue from
those officers working them that there are a considerable number of informational items included as
expressions of doubt. Each “doubt” was examined separately and categorised. A limitation should be
noted here as only one auditor carried out the sampling. A random sample of Income Tax 2008 cases
was used and a common-sense approach to analyse them. They were divided into four categories as
follows:
1.EOD – not completed by taxpayer or just no details available
2.Informational items only
3.Some degree of complexity, but not regarded as technical
4.Could be regarded as technical and complex.
Table 4: Sample Level of Complexity noted in examination of 300 Income Tax returns for 2008
Level of Complexity Number of Cases % of Total
1 38 13%
2 128 43%
3 77 26%
4 57 19%
(f) Nature of issues arising for Income Tax
The data was examined for types of issues giving rise to the doubts. Certain key broad words were
used to make extractions from the data in an effort to find common issues. Table 5 tabulates the most
common issues noted for Income Tax.
Table 5: Sample of Expressions of Doubt received for Income Tax 2008
Income Tax 2008 – Type of Doubt No. of Cases % of Total Doubts
Rental Income 212 8.32%
Interest 85 3.33%
Losses 69 2.71%
Partnerships 61 2.39%
Capital Allowances 58 2.27%
Medical Expenses 56 2.19%
Farming 47 1.84%
Retirement 35 1.37%
Total 623 24.46%
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(g) Tax Practitioners/Agents
Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
The level of EOD, which included an agent name, was established (Table 6). It does not suggest that
all others were submitted by individuals privately. It may be that the agent omitted to provide details
or that details are not available.
Table 6: EOD Returns Showing Agent for IT and CT 2007 and 2008
Year Income Tax Corporation Tax
2007 35% 90%
2008 30% 96%
However, 47 cases, which were remitted for Corporation Tax without an agent, were examined to see
if they had an agent per Revenue’s records. 80% of them did not.
6.1 Tax Practitioners’ Views
Interviews were held with three of the ‘big four’ tax practitioner firms in Ireland, as well as a
representative from one of the Accountancy Bodies. The questions were designed primarily to
establish the value of the EOD to their clients, the level of interaction arising with Revenue regarding
the issues involved and the outcomes.
Contributor’s confidentiality and ethical considerations have been fully complied with.
The findings proved interesting. Satisfaction with the EOD facility was high. The attitude of tax
practitioners was very favourable toward the EOD, and confirmation was received in all discussions
that it provides comfort to taxpayers and practitioners and helps them meet the filing deadlines. Some
issues arose on both sides, with timing of responses to doubts by Revenue being considered too
long. Practitioners rarely pursued a response from Revenue, considering it not to be in their client's
best interest since the tax has generally not been paid. The taxpayer is not always looking for an
answer to the doubt. They are merely using the Legislation provided and believe it is Revenue’s
responsibility to pursue the matter if they wish. Some practitioners will not express doubt, fearing loss
of face with a client. Agents would like a timeframe from Revenue, which will allow the matter to
“wither on the vine.
Some of the issues giving rise to EOD according to practitioners were as follows:
o Financial Services sector – types of income and other issues
o Whether 12.5% or 25% applies to various income streams
o Capital versus Revenue items
o Interest on borrowings to fund dividends
o Land dealing – trade or non trade
o European Law issues.
6.2 Tax Officials’ Approach and Views
30 Revenue districts spread throughout the country were contacted for their views. The response rate
was 60%.
Large Cases Division has responsibility for businesses with tax payments in excess of 16 million
annually. The EOD on the annual tax return for these taxpayer individuals and businesses is
reserved for very complex situations. This is due to the fact that LCD engages in a process called Cooperative
Compliance, in which a relationship is built between taxpayer and a Revenue official
assigned to the case. A significant number of queries raised by taxpayers during the course of the
year, are dealt with eliminating in some instances the requirement for an EOD. All EODs of these
taxpayers are referred to Revenue Legislation Section (RLS) for consultation. A number of cases
where an EOD was received have been challenged by Revenue and have been appealed. Due to
taxpayer confidentiality rights, details cannot be provided. Cases, which were settled in Revenue’s
favour did not attract interest or penalties, in accordance with Legislation. Due to complexity of issues
the timeframe can span 2-3 years in having the matter settled.
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Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
Districts outside of LCD provided a different experience. Here, turnover and levels of tax are on a
smaller scale. All officers interviewed in these customer service areas considered that between 50%
and 90% of EOD could not be regarded as being in the spirit of the Legislation, by their interpretation,
with many being merely informational. Tax in dispute is usually small, with a mere 2 out of 10 EOD
relating to complex issues. The timeframe for dealing with them ranged from 10 days to 6 months.
Very little abuse of the system was noted.
6.3 Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations (IOTA)
To obtain an international perspective, the IOTA facility (an enquiry service for member tax
administrations) was used to establish whether similar facilities are available to taxpayers in other
jurisdictions.
Of those countries providing a response, two countries were identified as having a similar facility.
Table 7: EU Countries - Expressions of Doubt Responses
Country responding Yes No Country responding Yes No
The Netherlands X Azerbaijan X
Austria X Belarusian X
Luxembourg X Estonia X
Belgium X Finland X
Bulgaria X Hungary X
Denmark X Moldova X
Cyprus X Norway X
Portugal X Poland X
Spain X Serbia X
Czech Republic X Sweden X
France X Slovenia X
UK X Slovakia X
France has indicated that it has an EOD facility. The procedure is named “rescrit fiscal”. This allows
taxpayers to ask the Administration for the interpretation of legal conditions (Articles L. 80-A and L 80-
B of “Livre des procedures fiscales”). In this case, penalties cannot be applied under special
conditions listed in the articles L.80-A and L80-B of “Livre des procedures fiscales”. The legislation
about the expression of doubt is:
>Mention express: article 1727 –ll 0 2e du Code general des impost:
>Rescrit fiscal : l. 80-a ET l.80-b DUE Livre des procedures fiscales.
It is not clear whether this facility compares with the EOD or has properties similar to the Advance
Private Rulings. The difference between the EOD and the Advance Ruling is that the transaction
giving rise to the doubt has been completed, whereas the Advance Ruling must be applied for, in
advance of the transaction taking place.
6.4 Advance Private Rulings
The purpose of the advance tax ruling service is also to promote voluntary compliance. However, it is
not the same as the Expression of Doubt. In line with many EU and non-EU countries, Ireland
provides the facility to make an advance private ruling. Application is limited and can be made to the
Revenue Technical Service where strict guidelines apply. The matter must be complex, clarification
not already in the public domain, and detailed research carried out prior to submission. There is no
charge.
Poland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa also provide advance tax rulings at the
request of the taxpayer. In some instances the applicant is required to make a full disclosure of all
relevant facts and intentions and to set out his/her own legal analysis in their application. The
applicant must conclude with their view of the law, and usually the matter relates to specific schemes
or circumstances in respect of transaction not yet implemented by the taxpayer.
The IRS has private letter rulings, issued by their national office to the taxpayer, interpreting and
applying the tax laws to a specific set of facts. The IRS charges fees for ruling, opinion letters, and
similar requests.
Fees are also charged by Canada’s Revenue Agency, (CRA) who issue advance income tax rulings
indicating how the CRA will interpret and apply specific provisions to a definite transaction, which the
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Anne Corbett and Francis Rossney
taxpayer is contemplating. The provision of advance income tax rulings is an administrative service
and there is no legal requirement to issue them.
7. Recommendations
Recommendations based on the data findings and interviews with key personnel within Revenue and
practitioners are as follows:
• The use of the software tool used in this paper is highly recommended, to filter expressions of
doubt received by Revenue. This is capable of highlighting key areas of difficulty, following
trends and picking up fluctuation across districts, noting sharp increases or decreases in
sectors, on which they could focus attention. Duplication of the same doubt amongst groups,
for example, partnerships, can be located and perhaps the response from Revenue
streamlined. It many be possible to detect incidences of anti-avoidance.
• A drop down menu on the tax return should be provided. This would allow the taxpayer to
select the reason most appropriate to their doubt. Using a key word, the taxpayer would then
be guided to an area on the website which corresponds with the item selected, enabling them
to check the matter to find the answer. This would reduce Revenue staff time in dealing with
items for which the information is already available.
• Specific legislation causing difficulty could also be highlighted, and estimate of tax at issue be
provided. Where multiples of cases have the same difficulty responses could be streamlined
by Revenue, or global guidelines issued to clarify.
• New guidelines should be given to Revenue staff regarding the urgency of dealing with valid
Expressions of Doubt, to ensure that, in the event that Revenue requires to tax the matter,
interest is not lost.
• Genuine expressions of doubt should receive priority treatment, to avoid loss of interest to
Revenue in the event that tax is due, and to allow practitioners to close off their books for the
accounts year when the matter is resolved.
The EOD facility has real potential, and requires rejuvenation. In the early years after 1988 Revenue
issued regular notices to taxpayers and practitioners regarding its correct use, and what to expect
from Revenue in response. Literature relating to it is now outdated and needs immediate refreshing,
for taxpayers, practitioners and Revenue personnel. There should be a re-launch of the service.
8. Conclusion
This study examined the value of the EOD facility. The research confirms the belief that it provides
comfort for practitioners and their clients enabling them to file on time, therefore aiding voluntary
compliance. It provides certainty that they will not be pursued for interest and penalties in the event
that the treatment of a matter included in the return is incorrect. There is considerable value to
Revenue also, as it fosters the desire by the taxpayer to remain compliant.
However, there is strong evidence to suggest that full value is not being received from it. The findings
relating to years 2007 and 2008 raised concerns over the high level of expressions of doubt received
that were informational only. In some instances no response was required from Revenue, and this
could not be regarded as being in the spirit of the Legislation.
Complexity of the law is not the main driving force for most of the doubts. However, it clearly exists
for some.
The danger of interest being lost for Revenue in situations where the expression of doubt is not
resolved quickly, needs to be balanced with the benefits gained from encouraging and facilitating
voluntary compliance.
Following a thorough review of the internal process and a re-launch of the service, taxpayers and
Revenue should, in a combined effort, enable the EOD to reach its full potential.
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1642

Moving Fast Forward to National Data Standardization
Asanee Kawtrakul 1 , Intiraporn Mulasastra 1 , Tawa Khampachua 2 and Somchoke
Ruengittinun 1
1 Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand
2 King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
asanee_naist@yahoo.com
int@ku.ac.th
khampachua.tawa@gmail.com
somchoke.r@gmail.com
Abstract: Since 2007, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology has been developing the Thailand
eGovernment Interoperability Framework (TH e-GIF) as guidelines for transformation to a connected government.
However, the transformation has been slow for four main reasons: lack of national data standards, lack of best
practices to follow, no clear guidelines for how to start the project, and absence of a proactive mindset. This work
focuses on building national data standards to support government data interchange and data integration. We begin
to establish the footprint for data standardization by producing a manual containing implementation guidelines and
developing the roadmap for national data standard initiatives. These initiatives, we hope, will be implemented over a
five year period, from 2011 to 2015. By conducting an eSurvey of government information systems, the data
landscapes and information logistics were developed. Then, information exchange domains were outlined based on
task-oriented and organizational ontology. In addition, several workshops and seminars were conducted for both
executive and operational officials from several public agencies. As a result, fifteen information exchange models
were constructed; three of them were selected for study in detail to help create data standardization guidelines. The
survey, workshops, and seminars, along with a study of national strategic plans, enabled us to come up with the data
standardization roadmap that consists of three main activities: national data standard building, research and
development to support standardization mechanisms, and government personnel preparation. Based on this
roadmap, the creation of national data standards can be pursued in a strategic manner, strengthening the
government transformation to be completely eGovernment as well as to become connected government.
Keywords:, data standardization, eGovernment, data landscape, information logistic, ontology based information
exchange, domain classification
1. Introduction
The performance of government leaders is increasingly being measured by the benefits they can create
for their citizens, communities, and the private sector. These clients of government demand greater
efficiency, proper accountability and public trust, and a renewed focus on delivering better services and
results. Examples of service improvements needed are how to speed up payment of promised
compensation to flood-effected households, how to reduce waiting time and cost in referring patients from
one hospital to another, or how to provide a one-stop service to enable searching and viewing all data
pertinent to an individual citizen, such as records of birth, study, employment, sickness, and death.
In Thailand, almost all government agencies are actively grooming their organization to incorporate
eGovernment to provide better services. However, the processes have been individually designed and
developed by data owners or by software developers, which has resulted in a wide variety of nonstandard
data formats and data collection procedures. Starting in 2007, the Ministry of Information and
Communication Technology has developed the Thailand eGovernment Interoperability Framework (TH e-
GIF) as guidelines for transformation to connected government. Two main phases of TH e-GIF, TH e-GIF
1.1 and TH e-GIF 2.0 are put forth as recommendations and guidelines for eGovernment interoperability
implementation. The recommendations are related to data harmonization, data interoperability standards,
technical interoperability standards, eGovernment project development, etc. Some pilot projects have
been implemented. However, the transformation has been slow for four main reasons: lack of national
data standards, no best practices to follow, lack of clear guidelines for how to start the project, and
absence of a proactive mindset.
In order to reduce the gaps between TH e-GIF and the eGovernment project implementation, some key
challenges should be addressed (Dada,2006):
The ability of government organizations to interchange and integrate information using common data
standards,
Creating success cases for sharing and reusing best practices,
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Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
Strategies and policies to support transformation to a connected government.
This work, then, focuses on building the national data standards to support government data sharing. We
start to establish the footprint for data standardization by constructing a manual containing
implementation guidelines and developing a roadmap for national data standard initiatives. By conducting
an eSurvey of government information systems, the data landscapes and information logistics were
defined. Then, information exchange domains are outlined based on a task-oriented and organizational
ontology. In addition, several workshops and seminars were conducted for both executives and
operational officials from several public agencies. Fifteen information exchange models were created
during the workshops for initiating and prioritizing success cases; three of them were selected to study in
detail to help create data standardization guidelines with concrete examples.
The survey, workshops, and seminars, along with a study of the national strategic plan, enabled us to
come up with a data standardization roadmap that consists of three main activities for supporting
connected government activities: national data standard building with a universal core set, research and
development to support standardization mechanisms, and government personnel preparation. In the
future, based on the roadmap, the creation of national data standards will be promoted in a strategic
manner, strengthening government transformation to be completely eGovernment as well as to become a
connected government.
In section 2, the backgroud of TH e-GIF development is given, the problems of transformation and
implementation of the eGovernment pilot projects are described in section three. A holistic view of
ongoing efforts to develop national standards and roadmap is described in sections 4 and 5. The final
section presents observations and recommendations for future work.
2. Background and related work
In order to achieve the targets of a one-stop service: providing seamless data integration, and quality and
cost effective service delivery, the Thailand eGovernment Interoperability Framework (TH e-GIF) was
developed under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. TH e-GIF
1.1 and TH e-GIF 2.0 are put forth as recommendations and guidelines for eGovernment interoperability
implementation.
TH e-GIF version 1.1 (Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, 2009) provides six
recommended guidelines for eGovernment interoperability implementation, as follows:
Policies and guidelines for government data integration
eGovernment interoperability benchmarking
Business process modeling
Business information modeling with XML Naming and Design Rules
Interoperabilty technical standards that allow data, IT systems, business processes, and delivery
channels to interoperate such that services can be properly integrated
TH e-GIF change management and compliance.
Many public agencies have been implementing e-Document for back office functions and some
integrated service applications, such as e-Tax and e-Procurement, under TH e-GIF 1.1 guidelines.
TH e-GIF 2.0 provides more details for how to develop interoperability projects with one pilot project, and
indicates success criteria with evaluation methods. A one-stop driver licensing service has been
implemented as a proof of concept pilot project.
However, in practice, public-agencies need a footprint to start up information exchange projects,
especially the process of data standardization with the seed of existing national data standards. National
data standards can provide not only common syntactic but also semantic understanding of data among
government agencies. Without national data standards, government agencies are unable to share
information in a timely and effectively manner; data conversion or data mapping tools are needed to
facilitate information exchange.
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Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
According to NIEM (2007), data standards are classified into three categories: universal core data,
common core data, domain specific core data (see Figure 1).
Universal data standard is defined for data that is commonly shared and understood among all
domains, e.g., person, address.
Domain-specific data standards are defined for each specific domain.
Common core data standard is defined for use in two or more domains.
Universal
Core
Domain B
Domain C
Domain
Specific
Common
Core
Domain A
Figure 1: Domain data core concept (NIEM,2007)
There are three main types of data that should be standardized for information sharing: data component,
code list, and electronic document.
A data component describes a concept by giving its name and details (attribute names). For
example, a person is a data component describing an individual person by attributes such as the
person’s name, date of birth, sex, race, and ethnicity.
A code list is a list of codes and descriptions representing objects in the same set such as currency
codes (ISO-4217) and country codes (ISO-3166-1) defined by ISO (in Charalabidis et al. 2008:42).
An electronic document for interchange among government agencies compose of data extracted
from their internal databases. It is essential that the data contained in each document conform to
existing data standards. A commonly used document can be registered as a standardized document
for reuse or restructuring to create new related documents.
The universal data standards can be applied directly or can be reused and extended to create domain
specific or common core data standards as shown by example in Figure 2. This reuse makes common
data in many domains effectively interoperable since data have the same core attributes.
FirstName
U: Person
LastName
Gender
BirthDate
U: Person
Figure 2: Example of universal core data reuse (NIEM, 2007)
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Edu: Student
EntryYear
EducationField

Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
To become a universal data standard, consensus by all domains is needed on the semantics and
structure of the data (NIEM, 2007). An example of a universal address component defined by UK e-GIF
(2010) is shown in Table 1.
Table 1: UK e-GIF universal address (UK-eGIF, 2010)
BS7666 Address Component Cardinality
Basic land and Property Unit 0-1
Primary Addressable Object Name 1
Secondary Addressable Object Name 0-1
Unique Property Reference Number 0-1
Street Descriptive Identifier Structure 0-1
Unique Street Reference Number 0-1
Postcode 0-1
Note: details of each component are given on the UK e-GIF website (UK-eGIF, 2010)
Figure 3 illustrates the relationships between each type of data standard where the innermost, universal
core set, is necessarily defined first as core data standard for reuse in defining domain specific or
common core sets. For example, a person data component could be reused to create new kinds of
people components such as student, farmer, and patient. Compliance with the universal data standard
enables people data in all domains effectively interoperable. Based on the data standards, electronic
documents can be designed for exchange among government agencies.
Birth Birth Certificate Certificate
XML XML Schemas Schemas for for Documents
Documents
Student,
Student,
Soldier
Soldier
Farmer
Farmer
Tax Tax Payer
Payer
ID ID Card
Card
Domain Domain specific specific Core Core Set, Set, Common Common Core Core Set
Set
Citizen Citizen
Farmer Farmer Address
Address
VISA VISA Document Document
Farmer Farmer Record
Record
Tax Tax Clearance Clearance Criminal Criminal Record
Record
Universal Universal Core Core Set
Set
Person Person Address
Address
Document Document Organization
Organization
Period Period Payment
Payment
Patient Patient Transferred Transferred Record
Record
Code Code List: List: country code list, province code list, unit code list, currency Code,…
Figure 3: Basic data modeling concepts and their relations (modified from Charalabidis et al, 2008)
TH e-GIF 2.0 recommends using the Core Component Technical Specification developed by
UN/CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business) for electronic
document data modeling, XML Naming and Design Rules (UN/CEFACT), and existing international data
standards. However, there are many different international data standards which make it difficult for
public organizations to follow this guideline. Moreover, the international standards may not be applicable
in every case, for example, the address component of each country has both schematic and semantic
differences. In Thailand, there exist data standards, most are code list types, used in some government
agencies but they have not been declared as national data standards yet. In addition, there is some
redundancy in data standards by different government agencies.
3. A holistic framework for eGovernment interoperability implementation
As mentioned in section 2, the universal data core set is crucial for data integration and service
interoperability. In order to achieve the goal of both vertical integration (between tiers of public
administration either for a single function or for a number of functions) and horizontal integration (across
boundaries of functions, organizations, or nations) (United Nations, 2008), every domain should create its
domain specific core set; related domains need to collaborate to define common core data sets. Every
public organization should be motivated and educated to realize the necessity of data standardization so
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Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
as to collaborate on data standard development. To accomplish those goals, skills, culture, politics, and
mindsets of public officials with a holistic framework should be considered (Archmann and Kudlacek,
2008; Gottschalk and Solli-Saether, 2009).
To facilitate the national standardization, including building the universal data core set, common core
sets, and domain specific core sets, we conducted an eSurvey, several workshops, and seminars for
government agencies. As a result, a Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat analysis of Thailand
eGovernment Interoperability Implementation was developed as summarized in Table 2.
Table 2: SWOT analysis of Thai eGovernment
STRENGTH
Drivers from top-down: trust, political and legal
pressures as lubricants facilitating eGovernment
projects.
Active government agencies on transformation to
eGovernment
Government budget for enhancing network infrastructure
OPPORTUNITY
Increase of service innovation delivery
Improvement of Thailand's competitiveness
Equity and accessibility of rural public services
Greater efficiency, transparency, and cost reduction in
delivering services.
WEAKNESS
Lack of national data standards and standard
governance body
Lack of awareness about the necessity for data
integration.
Lack of clear understanding about common processes
across all involved stakeholders.
Lack of best practices and knowledge sharing in
implementation
Lack of data quality and data collection resources
Lack of laws and regulations in data sharing
Insufficient IT personnel in government sector
THREAT
Frequent change of political agenda
Data ownership mindset problems
No clear rules about financial support and hosting for
cross-ministry projects.
Effects of frequent political change on sustainable and
continuous project implementation
No clear direction and support to motivate government
agencies to participate in information exchange projects
(across organizations)
Using SWOT analysis, this work focuses on building the national data standards in support of
government data interchange and data integration. We begin to establish a footprint for data
standardization by producing a manual containing implementation guidelines and developing the
roadmap for national data standard initiatives partly based on the results of the SWOT analysis.
4. A practice in data standardization footprint establishment
To establish national data standardization, it is important to consider the re-engineering of processes,
tools and technologies, skills, and the mindsets of public officials within a holistic framework. In order to
accelerate connected government transformation, the footprint for data standardization has been
recommended.
4.1 Processes
Figure 4 describes the process to establish the footprint for data standardization resulting in a manual of
implementation guidelines and a roadmap for national data standard initiatives. Based on the eSurvey of
government information systems, data landscapes and information logistics were defined. Then,
information exchange domains are outlined based on a task-oriented and organizational ontology. In
addition, several workshops and seminars were conducted for both the executive and operational officials
from government agencies. As a result, fifteen information exchange models were created during the
workshops; three of them were selected for study in detail to help create data standardization guidelines.
The survey, workshops, and seminars, along with a study of the Eleventh National Development Plan
2012-2016 and ICT Master Plan 2020, provide the basis for the data standardization roadmap.
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1 eSurvey
3-4 Conduct
seminars and
workshops
Data Landscape
Information Logistic
Information
Exchange
Domains
Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
5 Create Manual
for Data
Standardization
6
Roadmap
Development
2
Study national
policy & plan
Figure 4: The process of data standardization guideline and roadmap establishment
4.2 Analysis of government information exchange model
Manual for Data
Standardization
Data Standardization
Roadmap
• short term (1 year)
• medium term (3 years)
• long term (5 years)
Information exchange domains are an important key to initiate national data standardization. Each
domain indicates which service should be integrated, what data is needed for interchange, and who are
the stakeholders. Figure 5 shows the process of generating the information exchange domains.
Data Landscape
• What (data)
• Where
(government agencies
producing data)
Information Logistics
• data flow among
government agencies
Process
Ontology Specified
Information Exchange Domain
Figure 5: Ontogy based information exchange domain identification
Using the eSurvey results, the data landscapes (Chisholm, 2008) and Information logistics are analyzed.
The data landscapes illustrate data stored and information produced by government agencies.
Information logistics are data flows among government agencies. Table 3 shows the data landscape of
crops and farmers. Data landscapes of all ministries can be integrated and extended to define
government information logistics.
An information logistic is defined as a directed graph where each node represents an organization and
each directed path represents the flow of data from one organization to another. Each directed path in the
graph is labeled with a name of a data element disseminated from one node to the other. An organization
that produces data for internal use has a path directed to itself. Also, each path can be categorized by
data dissemination methods: paper based, electronic, or online exchange.
Figure 6 a) illustrates flows of data among government agencies. When using graphical tools to depict a
logistic, the density of traffic can be easily detected and the status of data exchange method can be
explored. Figure 6b) shows that the information logistic can be reduced to a specific information logistic
by using the domain specific ontology: both the organizational and task-orient ontology.
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Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
Table 3: A part of the data landscape of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
Department Name
Data
Crops crop production area * * * *
crop production amount * * *
crop seed *
rice seed *
rice production cost *
Farmers farmer groups *
farmer registry *
economic crop farmer registry *
farmer crop production *
farmer career groups *
Cooperative Promotion
Note: * indicates that the department stores the data in a database
crop seed
soil
rice seed
forest
weather
crop
production
amount
specify concept
‘crop’
Agricultural Extension
Fisheries
Land Development
crop seed
ice seed
Agricultural Economics
rop
production
amount
6 a) Before Reduction 6 b) After Reduction
Note: crop is a main concept; rice is a lower level concept of crop
Figure 6: 6a) Information logistic generated from eSurvey, 6b) ontology based domain analysis
Based on the information logistic, we can use the reduction process to form a collaborative group of
agencies who use or produce related information. This group should be involved in national data
standardization in defining domain specific or common core data sets. For example, when we want to
develop a data standard in the justice domain, the reduction of government information logistic will result
in an information exchange domain: the groups of organizations that use, produce or disseminate data
involving the court of justice are shown in Figure 7.
In summary, we used eSurvey as a tool for Plan-Do-Check-Act the information exchange domains of
eGovernment services. The flow of data, the collaborative group of public agencies, and the integrated
services then, could be formalized to initiate data standardization.
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Rice
Agriculture

Prisoner Data
Ministry of
Finance
Ministry of
Justice
Prime
Ministry
Office
Ministry of
Education
Lawsuit data
Tax
Consumer data
Ministry of
Interior
Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
Education data
Bankrupt
Personal ID
Patient data
Ministry of
Commerc
Patents
Justice
Domain
Ministry of
Health
Absolver data
Politician data
Office of
Election
Commission
Lawyer
data
Foreigner data
His Majesty's
Principal Privat
e Secretary
Labor data
Ministry of
Foreign
Affair
Lawyer
Office
Ministry of
Labor
Warrant of arrest
Warrant of arrest
Insurance
Office
Police
Office
Figure 7: Organizations and information involved in the Justice domain.
Participants in the eSurvey process include 30% of government agencies comprised of seven main
domains being outlined: health, education, agriculture, transportation, security, enviroment, and
economy.
4.3 Top-down and bottom-up based implementation guidelines establishment
From analysis of government agency requirements gathered during workshops, fifteen information
exchange models were created (see Table 4). Three of them were selected based on prioritization factors
for study in detail to help create data standardization guidelines. Those are data integration for tracking
educational records, data interchange for patient referral, and data integration for traceability of
agricultural products.
Table 4: Information exchange models derived from workshops
Information Exchange Model Domain Integration Type
Data integration for tracking educational records Education Horizontal
Research data integration Education Horizontal
Data exchange for checking vaccine receipt records of students Health Vertical
Data interchange for patient referral Health Vertical
Data integration for traceability of agricultural products Agriculture Horizontal
Data integration for predicting the spread of brown plant hoppers (rice
insect pests)
Agriculture Horizontal
Individual and juristic person data exchange for ship registration Agriculture Horizontal
Data exchange for natural disaster assistance for farmers Agriculture Horizontal
Data exchange for rubber exporter subsidiary Agriculture Horizontal
Data exchange for criminal background checks Security Horizontal
Data integration for elderly monthly payment service Security Horizontal
Data integration for job finding assistance for disabled people Security Horizontal
Data integration for pollution control Environment Horizontal
Data integration for checking juristic tax fraud from water usage amount Justice Horizontal
Data exchange for facilitating application for factory building in
settlement industrial zones
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Economic Horizontal

Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
The projects were prioritized using six criteria: the readiness of technology infrastructure, data quality,
budget for implementation (compared to its cost), personnel readiness for project participation, impact on
the nation, and collaboration among related organizations. However, prioritizing projects based on their
impact is difficult, since the impact is not always quantifiable and comparable. Accordingly, prioritization
can be done by brainstorming ideas from people who are affected by each project (McGilvray,2008).
The implementation guideline (see Figure 8) starts with data standard concepts followed by data
standardization processes with the three selected cases as examples. Finally, cost-benefit analysis of
data exchange projects is presented along with project prioritization methods.
Introduction
and
Teamwork
Preparation
4. Validation
and Publish
1. Business
Scenario
Creation
3. Data
Standardization
2.
Information Exchange
Requirement Analysis
Figure 8: The data standardization guideline (modified from NIEM, 2007)
5. Roadmap
Cost-
Benefit
Analysis
Two executive seminars were conducted in 2010, with 109 executives invited from various government
agencies. The seminar participants brainstormed for ideas on the success factors of information
exchange among government agencies, resulting in identification of four success factors: human
resources, budget, policy, and incentives, for which the details are presented in Table 5.
Table 5: Success factors in eGovernment implementation
Success Factors Details
Human Resources Continuous training and education for both operational and management personnel
Forming data standardization groups (cross functional) in every public organization
Including data standardization topic in ICT curriculum
Budget Sufficient budget for ICT activities, e.g., data standardization, information exchange
projects, data quality improvement programs
Policy National policy for public information sharing with clear guidelines for each organization
to follow
Raising management awareness on ICT as strategic driving
Incentives Rewards for successful projects
Best practices for adopters
The roadmap highlights three categories of tasks: national data standard building, research and
development for supporting standardization mechanism and government personnel preparation in order
to tackle data standardization challenges as early as possible. The mindset for this strategy is that the
earlier a data standardization project can be established, the greater the likelihood that a connected
government can be successfully achieved. Figure 9 shows the 5-year roadmap (2011-2015).
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Data Standard
R&D
People
Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
Short Term
National Data Standard Committee
Appointment
Medium-Term Long Term
Universal Data Core Set Development Revision and Usage
Promotion
Establishment of Communities of
Interest for Strategic Domains
Extension
Development of Domain Specific
and Common Core sets
Extension
National Data Standard Registry
Development
Maintenance
Research Innovation for
eGovernment Services
Continuing
Data Standard Benchmark and
Evaluation System
Monitoring and Auditing
Information Regulation Study Propose for creating
Government Data Quality
Improvement Program
Raising Awareness and Building
Capacity
Establishing Benchmark
and Evaluation System
Knowledge Management
and Sharing
Strategic Planning Implementation Continuous
Improvement
Figure 9: The 5-year data standardization roadmap (2011-2015)
6. Conclusion and next steps
This work provides the necessary tools, data standardization manual, and roadmap, to complete an
eGovernment interoperability framework for government agencies at all levels in Thailand. A platform for
establishing the universal core set, domain specific core set, common core sets, and code lists are
established in the standardization manual. The data standardization roadmap, which consists of three
main activities: national data standard building, research and development for supporting standardization
mechanisms, and government personnel preparation, is also provided for faster and more effective
implementation.
Ontology development for eGovernment services is a current project led by the Uknow Center, Kasetsart
University. It will be constructed to function as a key word index to support online searching, and as a
“category list” to support navigational browsing. This ontology could support automated semantic
matching. For example, when users want to find data about farmers, by using the ontology, the search
system could find data elements in data landscapes that semantically relate to the word “farmer” such as
“rice grower” and “grains grower”.
In order that mindsets and work systems reflect best practices, the following issues should be
considered:
Initiate and promote events for sharing best practices in the public sector, such as an eGovernment
day for sharing service innovation, service innovation exhibition, etc.
Capture, share and reuse knowledge and best practices in data standardization
Develop and design innovative mechanism for driving the data standardization implementation
Market the benefits of data standardization
Establish a standardization evaluation system with
Attractive key performance indices which are academic based, outcome-oriented, and mission-based
Non-financial incentives for motivating proactive participation in data standardization,
Rewards for success cases in developing connected goverment applications
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Connected Government for Integrated Services

Acknowledgements
Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
This paper is the result of our work on the TH e-GIF project (phase 4) hosted by the Ministry of
Information and Communication Technology of Thailand. We would like to thank all representatives from
both public and private sectors who participated in TH e-GIF project activities and provided us the
comments and suggestions. Special thank goes to Dr. James Edward Brucker for English proofreading.
References
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Charalabidis, Y., Lampathaki, F. and Askounis, D. (2008) ‘Unified Data Modeling and Document Standardization
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and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 38-51.
Chisholm, M. (2008) Mapping the Data Landscape, [Online], Available: http://www.b-eye-network.com/view/6674, [10
January 2010].
Dada, D. (2006) ‘The Failure of eGovernment in Developing Countries: A Literature Review’, The Electronic Journal
on Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC), Vol. 26, No.7, pp. 1-10.
Gottschalk, P., Solli-Saether, H. (2009) EGovernment Interoperability and Information Resource Integration:
Frameworks for Aligned Development, Information Science Publishing.
Janssen, M., Wagennar, R. (2002) ‘Towards a flexible ICT-Architecture for Multi-Channel eGovernment Service
Provisioning’, Proceedings of the 36th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS'03), IEEE
Computer Society, pp.148-158.
McGilvray, D. (2008) Executing Data Quality Projects: Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information, Morgan
Kaufmann, MA.
Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (2009) Thailand Electronic Government Interoperability
Framework version 1.1.
Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (2010) Thailand Electronic Government Interoperability
Framework version 2.0 (in Thai).
NIEM (2007). Introduction to the National Information Exchange Model, [Online], Available:
http://www.niem.gov/topicIndex.php?topic=file-introduction, [25 Febuary 2010].
UK e-GIF (2010) Data Standard Cataloque, [Online], Available:
http://interim.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govtalk/schemasstandards/e-gif/datastandards.aspx, [20 March 2010]
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Work
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Progress
Papers
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656

Bridging the IT/Process Divide in Public Administrations by
Simple Semantic Interoperability Artefacts
Robert Orlowski and Veit Jahns
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
robert.orlowski@stud.uni-due.de
veit.jahns@icb.uni-due.de
Abstract: Semantic interoperability is an objective that has been addressed in many research projects and
publications in the past by the development or presentation of new artefacts (approaches, ontologies, tools, etc.).
Mostly, different aspects of semantic interoperability have been addressed, which distinguished these artefacts from
each other. But on the other hand, all these artefacts have one characteristic in common: they are big, complex,
complicated, not easy to understand for people who are not familiar with the concepts and technology of the
Semantic Web, and (sometimes) not easy to integrate into legacy systems. But this is crucial in the context of public
administration, because there are small- and medium-sized public authorities, e.g., municipalities with limited
resources, as well as big and advanced public authorities with a sufficient amount of resources, but existing
information systems that cannot be replaced easily, e.g., because they are customized to local needs. In this work in
progress paper the question is posed, how the technology regarding the facilitation of semantic interoperability can
be simplified, so that these concepts and technology are first of all more understandable to employees and second
easier to implement in small- and medium-sized public authorities like municipalities. A deliberation on this question
promises the possibility, that the barriers for using these concepts and technology in municipality can be reduced
and, that the municipalities can take advantage of these concepts and technology. Some ideas how this question can
be approached are outlined in this poster paper.
Keywords: eGovernment, public service, interoperability, semantic web
1. Introduction
In their vision for a semantic business process management Hepp et al. (2005) propose to use Semantic
Web technology to bridge the IT/process divide, i.e., that manual labour is needed to transfer the
artefacts from the sphere of business process analysis into the sphere of IT implementation and vice
versa (Hepp et al. 2005: 536). This issue has been addressed also in eGovernment. Many projects
dealing in one way or the other with issues of semantic interoperability were conducted in the past or are
still in progress. Examples for such projects are the Governance Enterprise Architecture (e.g., Peristeras
and Tarabanis 2004), Access eGov (e.g., Skokan et al. 2008), TERREGOV (Bettahar et al. 2009), or
Amt@Direkt (e.g., Jahns et al. 2009). On the one hand, these projects differ in the considered aspects of
semantic interoperability or the chosen approach to it, but on the other hand they share a common
characteristic: many complex and sometimes complicated artefacts are developed.
The reason for this complexity lies in the concept of public administration itself. In a simplified manner,
public administration can be defined as an organization providing services, which are assigned to it due
to a decision made by a sovereign, e.g., a parliament or a king (Lynn 2006: 24). But such a decision is
always based on epistemological and ideological assumptions. And as there are many different
epistemological and ideological assumptions, there are many different ideas about what a public
administration shall be and which services it shall provide.
Furthermore, the manifestation of public administration in practice covers a wide spectrum depending on
different degrees of autonomy, of resource availability, etc. With respect to the usage of information
systems to support the provision of services by the public administration and based on a similar analysis
by Jahns et al. (2009: 306) two types of organizations in the public administration can be identified:
Public authorities of small and medium size, e.g., municipalities or public authorities, which are
independent and not embedded in some kind of network providing the needed IT resources. In
general, those authorities possess simple structured information systems and amount of personnel. If
they want to use such technologies, they want to use them with minimal efforts and costs.
Public authorities of big size in general possess highly advanced information systems and business
processes, as well as the required resources in terms of budget, staff, and knowledge needed to
realize information systems by using highly advanced Semantic Web technologies. But on the other
hand those kinds of authorities already invested many efforts in their existing information systems,
which they want to protect.
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