e-GovernmentManaging Generational Transformation

David Spiteri GingellManaging Partner

Vid&Co Business ConsultantsPart II

1st November 2013

About the Author and Vid & Co Business Consultants Ltd

David Spiteri Gingell set up DSG Consulting in 2008. This was incorporated as DSG Consulting Ltd in 2011. In the beginning of this year, the shareholders agreed to rebrand the company to Vid&Co Business Consultants Ltd.

Vid&Co’s Website has been launched today. This is the first article that Vid&Co is publishing on our new Website.

David Spiteri Gingell is a recognised international expert on e-Government having performed design and implementation of e-Government strategies over ten countries including the Government of Malta.

This paper is a sequel to the one issued, on old website, in February 2013 – titled e-Government: A Compelling Reason.

Through this Blog, David will be sharing his experiences with regard to e-Government strategy design and implementation.

This second paper underlines that e-Government is a generational implementation process. Politicians, however, operate on far shorter time frames. Thus, balancing the politician’s interest over the long term with the generation of results in the short term is a tricky act. Yet it is a balancing act that is very important to secure to gain the necessary time for the more fundamental and long term reforms to be embarked upon and take root – without which the true benefits of e-Government will not be garnered. It is a balancing act this achievable.

The first Paper titled ‘e-Government: A Compelling Reason’ established that the best route to the attainment of e-Government is through the design of a holistic strategy that seeks to combine both government transformation, as well as the attainment of Millennium Development Goals and subsequently the transformation of a country into an Information Society or Information Economy.

The design of the strategic process to achieve such a transformation demands that the strategy is designed over a generational horizon. Transformation, however, will not happen overnight. It will require various stages of maturity – with each level of maturity leading to subsequent stages of development until these too reach a level of maturity.

Thus, both the strategy design and the process of implementation should be modular in form and incremental in terms of implementation. The strategy, and future iterations of the strategy over the generational horizon will ensure consistency and coherency as the process of e-Government implementation proceeds over time.

Shared Experience 01

The journey to attain e-Government should be generational and the implementation process set in the e-Government Strategy should be modular in design and incremental in terms of delivery, with future iterations of the e-Government strategy securing the consistency and coherency over the generational horizon.

As discussed in the previous Paper, developing, small and island states have to face unique challenges which will impact the tempo and pace of the implementation process.

This, however, does not mean that e-Government is not attainable. It is important to underline that a considerable number of the constituent parts to achieve e-Government do not carry major costs. Moreover, the economics of ICT have changed rendering the cost of technology cheaper and therefore more affordable.

Furthermore, the technology itself has changed. Smart mobile telephony has now proved that it is a strong enabler for the attainment of e-Government, as invariably it is less expensive to implement than dark fibre infrastructure, more affordable to citizens, and overcomes the challenge of distance.

An approach to the attainment of e-Government should be designed to be multi-pronged from the outset of the implementation process, particularly with regards to the establishment of the underlying soft and hard infrastructure necessary for its successful implementation.

The following streams should be embarked upon at the outset. Whilst each of these will be discussed in separate papers, it is pertinent to introduce them here in order to underline the importance of why they should be integrated within the first stage of the implementation process:

(01) Cyber Legislation. There are three key legislative components. The first is an e-Commerce legislation. Without an e-Commerce legislation, electronic transactions will have no legal validity and effect. The absence of legal validity and effect would create jurisprudence and legal issues. Thus, an e-Commerce legislation must be in place, ideally, prior to the initiation of e-Services.

The second component is a Data Protection legislation. A Data Protection legislation will secure the rules of how government entities are to employ ‘personal data’. The presence of data protection legislation will therefore increase the level of trust and confidence in the use and take-up of e-Services.

The third component is a Computer Misuse legislation. The cyber world, and thus e-Government, gives rise to new crimes that are not governed by traditional criminal legislation. The absence of computer misuse legislation will leave a government and citizens vulnerable to e-Crimes as they occur.

(02) Liberalisation of the Telecommunications Sector. International experience shows that the liberalisation of a country’s telecommunications sector results in a lowering, through competition, of user fees to access Internet and Mobile services. The uptake of e-Government can only take place if citizens and entrepreneurs have access to the technology and can afford the accessibility to the technology. An environment where technological choice is limited and access to the technology is not affordable will result in the failure of the e-Government strategy.

(03) Design of Inter-Operability Standards. Unless a Government introduces inter-operability standards to be adopted by all agencies within the government at the outset, then the e-Government strategy will be susceptible to failure.

e-Government means that government entities need to network with each other, and data seamlessly exchanged between one agency and the other to allow e-Services to take effect. The absence of an inter-operability framework will most likely result in a state of play where agencies introduce e-Services independently of each other. The likelihood is that, in striving to introduce their respective e-Services, they will adopt their own set of standards.

In the event that this happens, then inter-operability would require expensive retro-fitting to be achieved, which is an unnecessary and unwarranted financial cost that should be avoided.

Shared Experience 02

An approach to the attainment of e-Government should be designed to be multi-pronged from the outset of the implementation process and the design of cyber legislation, the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector, and the design of inter-operability standards should constitute amongst the first prongs embarked upon once the implementation process is launched.

The implementation of two of these prongs will take time. The quickest to implement should be the inter-operability standards. Good current practices that can be readily replicated exist.

Legislations require drafting - a process which can be shortened as good current practices exist. Nevertheless, the legislations may need to be issued for public consultation and would require parliamentary debate. Both entail time.

The process leading to the liberalisation of the telecommunications infrastructure is far more complex and will take time. Even once the liberalisation process is completed, it will take years until the full effects of a telecommunications competitive market start to come into play.

Yet, as with any other policy instruments, the pressure for delivery by both the political administration and the polity at large will be extremely high. A five year delivery strategy does not fit within the political agenda of parties in administration. Moreover, experience also shows that implementation of policy instruments that have a long time span before delivery becomes demonstrable will lose impetus and political support as attention will bias towards other policy initiatives and changes in the socio-economic environment.

Furthermore, e-Government constitutes a more efficient and effective communication and transactions channel with the public. Thus, a delivery time span where-in e-Government solutions and services trickle into implementation against the mobilisation of a strong critical mass will undermine the credibility of the e-Government initiative.

These two separate poles – the time required to introduce a robust e-Government platform and the need to mobilise fast to create a sustainable momentum and credibility in the initiative – need to be managed.

An effective strategy to balance these two important needs is to design a specific track that seeks to bridge the initial two years until the unified e-Government architecture and infrastructure is in place.

Such a track should embrace initiatives that continue to be well serving in the long-term, as well as initiatives that are considered as ‘throw-away’ activities – that is e-Government activities that are from the outset designed as interim solutions with a two year or so lifespan until the more robust e-Government platform comes on board.

Shared Experience 03

The design and implementation of a Short-Term Track of e-Government activities that. with intent include ‘throw away’ solutions, provides an excellent way forward in balancing on the one hand, the time required to introduce a robust e-Government platform and the need to mobilise fast to create a sustainable momentum and credibility in the initiative.

One immediate first step, if not already introduced, is to provide Internet access and an electronic mail account to every employee within a government entity. This will have two pervasive impacts. First, particularly if this is followed by a policy decision which mandates that all communication between entities is to be carried out by electronic mail and documents, it will instil an e-Culture amongst public officers and government employees. A consequential ripple effect is that such a step will also facilitate communications between government entities and external constituents.

Secondly, given that in small and island states the Government is normally the largest employer, the provision of electronic communications and Internet access translates into a good step in engendering an information society, as a large part of persons in employment would be exposed to ICT.

Such an approach may have a greater impact , should the diffusion of ICT within households still be limited. In such a state of play, access to electronic communications and the Internet from the office or terminals for public officers who are not necessarily desk bound (police officers, teachers, nurses) will initially be the primary gateway to the e-World. The experience of Malta has shown that the adoption of this approach, together with steps taken to reduce affordability to computer hardware and Internet access would, within a relatively short time, nudge such employees to invest in home connectivity as they recognise the power of the Internet in terms of knowledge, information and other opportunities.

Shared Experience 04

The provision of electronic mail and Internet access to every employee within the Government intensifies the migration towards an e-Culture as well as nudge, within a relatively short time if steps are taken to reduce affordability to computer hardware and Internet access, such employees to invest in home connectivity as they recognise the power of the Internet in terms of knowledge, information and other opportunities.

A Government should establish the appropriate policies relating to visual presentation, navigation facilities, accessibility features, information content, interaction channels and set up a web-site for every entity within it.

The costs to achieve this should be relatively low given that the sophistication of web-site design tools practically render development a ‘drag and drop’ process. The immediate visible impact in terms of the scale of activity being adopted by the Government in rendering basic e-Services available to the polity is, however, considerable.

Initially, such an approach will only meet the first phase of the e-Government pathway discussed in the first Paper: in that it will provide information to the public and establish an electronic channel between the public and with each and every entity within Government.

Shared Experience 05

Each Government should, within centrally designed policies relating to visual presentation, navigation facilities, accessibility features, information content, interaction channels and setting up a web-site for every entity within it, launch an electronic channel which

generates a considerable visible impact amongst the public of the scale of activity being adopted by the Government in rendering basic e-Services to the polity.

Too often, focus is directed towards launching a website as against managing the website once this is launched. Too often, web-sites remain static and electronic communication channelled through the web-site fails to receive the same level of attention as snail mail communication.

The introduction of a web-site is not merely an electronic ‘window dressing’ to the traditional organisational model. It is, rather, the first important step towards a virtual organisation. This means, that the roles and responsibilities within the traditional organisational model need to be calibrated to reflect this thrust into the virtual organisational world.

A static web-site is a strong negative signal of the fact that an e-Culture has not taken root within the organisation responsible for it. Static web-sites can only become dynamic if they are managed. The introduction of a web-site, therefore, must be followed by the allocation of a new role and responsibility within an organisation – that of Portal Master.

Shared Experience 06

The introduction of a web-site is the first significant step that an organisation must take in becoming a virtual organisation, which means that such an organisation must introduce the new role and responsibility of Portal Master to ensure dynamic management of this new communication and transaction channel.

In tandem with the activity directed to introduce a web-site within every organisation, each entity should be instructed to review its forms and to place each form for electronic access through the organisation’s web-site.

The forms can be placed either in static PDF format, where-in a person can download the said form and either scans it and electronically forwards it to the entity or posts it as snail mail; or as a semi-static form drawn up on EXCEL, which allows the person to input the required information and attach any other necessary information directly onto the form.

Whilst in either approach back office will still continue to be carried out in the traditional manner – given that a non-dynamic approach to the form is taken (that is the form does not trigger into the back end application or series of applications as the case may be), it provides an excellent channel for the end user to be able to interact electronically with a government entity without the need to physically obtain the forms from the relevant Government organisation.

Shared Experience 07

Each Government organisation should be tasked to review and place its forms in static or semi-static form onto its web-site, to provide an electronic channel for the end user with the Government entity by eliminating the need for physical presence to obtain forms as appropriate.

An uncoordinated approach towards the introduction of web-sites across government entities may replace difficulties in tracking down the right organisation for the right services that prevail in a traditional organisational model by an electronic one.

The interface between the public and the e-Government world must be seamless to the extent possible by establishing a clear, simple, and transparent gateway for the user.

The best way to achieve this is to design a Central Portal, owned by the entity responsible for e-Government initiatives – one that provides the user electronic access to both entities and services.

Services can be shown individually or designed around a cluster to facilitate the search for the appropriate service. One particular methodology is to design the clusters around a person’s life journey: health; education; employment; leisure; family affairs; etc.

Figure 01: Botswana Portal Figure 02: Ireland Portal

Figure 03: New Zealand Portal Figure 04: Belize Portal

Shared Experience 08

The establishment of a Central Portal will provide the public with a seamless, clear, simple, and transparent gateway to entities and services.

None of the above activities are transactional e-Services: that is the triggering of an electronic service without any physical intervention. The Short-Term Track should also provide a series of transactional solutions. It is these solutions which will demonstrate the true revolution of e-Government. In adopting transactional e-Services in the Short-Term Track there should be upfront recognition that to a large extent this will be a ‘throw away’ investment.

In identifying transactional e-Services for the Short-Term Track, the following considerations should be taken into account:

(i) Identification of existing back-end applications that with the investment of a level of effort can allow for web-enabled services – either in terms of adding a front-end or by appropriate modification.

(ii) Identification of payment based transaction services that can be designed through a temporary e-Payment services provider.

(iii) Identification of service related applications that impact a wide cross-section of audiences as against sectoral-based audiences in so far this is possible.

(iv) Identification of transactional e-Services that are of minimum risk. It is pertinent to underline that an over ambitious service that has a high level of risk may result in a potential fall-out which could jeopardise the entire e-Government strategy if it goes wrong.

Shared Experience 09

The Short-Term Track should include a number of ‘throw away’ transactional e-Services that are identified on the basis of low risk and wide cross-section public impact.

Moreover, the application of m-Government, that is the provision of e-Services through mobile telephony, can be an extremely effective way to roll out e (or m-)-Government – particularly with regards to ‘push down’ of e-Services: services where-in a citizen may require a service without the need to transact back with the government agency service provider.

For example, m-Services can be quickly introduced with regard to the dissemination of information relating to the communication of weather changes to citizens in zones that may susceptible to quick climatic changes; the provision of weather forecasts to farmers in rural villages; the provision of health education; etc.

Shared Experience 10

m-Government is an effective, quick and inexpensive way to introduce e-Government services – particularly with regards to ‘push down’ e-Services provided by government agencies.

Immediate action can also be taken to increase the level of ICT literacy. One effective measure is the establishment of an accredited ICT level of education and the provision of free or highly subsidised tuition to citizens in both rural and urban communities to obtain the said certification. The attainment of such an ICT accreditation can also be spurred by means of establishing the ICT accreditation as a mandatory entry criteria to enter employment with Government.

Table 01: Establishing an Accredited ICT Level of Education – www.ecdl.org

In 1995, the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS) created a task force, supported by the European Commission through the ESPRIT research programme, to examine how to raise the levels of digital literacy throughout Europe.  The new certification programme was launched as the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) in Sweden in August 1996.

ECDL quickly gained European-wide acceptance and a clear need was identified for the project to establish a central coordinating body to ensure a consistently high standard of implementation in all European countries.

ECDL was subsequently introduced outside of Europe, where the certification became known as ICDL (International Computer Driving Licence).

Computer societies and international organisations in Africa and South America began promoting ICDL, and a milestone was reached in 1999 when UNESCO, through its Cairo office, signed an agreement with ECDL Foundation to become the national operator for several Arab States. Shortly afterwards, ICDL was launched in the North American and Asian markets.

ECDL Foundation continues to work with its nationally appointed operators to extend the reach of its certification programmes through an international network of approximately 24,000 Test Centres spanning 148 countries.

Building on the success of delivering the ECDL / ICDL certification programme, ECDL Foundation's range of certification programmes has expanded to cover introductory courses for those with no ICT skills, through to advanced-level certifications for those looking to gain recognition for expert skills in specific applications, and entry-level professional IT practitioner skills for those working within a dedicated IT environment.

Shared Experience 11

The introduction of an ICT accreditation such as the European / International Computer Driving License and subsequent incentivisation by the Government to spur citizens to obtain the accreditation, provides a jump start to the building of the ICT skills of the country.

The attainment of industry specific accreditations such as CISCO, Microsoft, and other such accreditations will be expensive if the training delivery channels for such industry accreditations are not present in the country or run on pure private sector grounds.

Too often, such market players are ready to enter into vertical agreements with Governments to establish Academies with government or Non-Government Organisations to set up training centres for the provision of the full range of specific accreditations covered at rates that render them affordable to the citizens of the country.

Shared Experience 12

A Government should seek to enter into vertical partnerships with industry players so that

they establish Academies with a government institution and / or Non Government Organisations to deliver training for their respective industry accreditations at affordable local rates.