E-Government Top Grade Papers - Academic Assignment

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The impact that e-Government has on public services delivery and services
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E-government
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Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4 E-government .............................................................................................................................. 5 E-government models ............................................................................................................. 6 Working of E-Government ......................................................................................................... 8 Needs of Citizens .................................................................................................................... 9 Goals of government ............................................................................................................... 9 Differenoces in e-government in developed and underdeveloped countries: ............................... 15 Comparison between Manual & E-Government........................................................................... 16 User evaluations of manual and e-government services: .......................................................... 19 Costs of accessing services: .................................................................................................. 19
User Satisfaction: .................................................................................................................. 20 Methodologies and Application of e-government: ....................................................................... 21 The risks that needed to be managed to achieve an e-government ............................................... 25 Citizens take up ......................................................................................................................... 25 Supply side barriers................................................................................................................... 25
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People have different needs .................................................................................................. 26 People may be suspicious ..................................................................................................... 26 Citizens require the ability and confidence to use IT ........................................................... 26
CITIZEN TAKE UP ................................................................................................................. 27 Familiarity ............................................................................................................................. 27
Expectation ............................................................................................................................... 27
Ease of use ................................................................................................................................ 27 Benefits ..................................................................................................................................... 27 Social exclusion ........................................................................................................................ 27
Costs.......................................................................................................................................... 28 SUPPLY SIDE RISKS ............................................................................................................. 28 Leadership ............................................................................................................................. 28 Re-engineer ways of working ............................................................................................... 28 User focus ............................................................................................................................. 28
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Waiting Times:...................................................................................................................... 20
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Marketing and segmentation ................................................................................................. 28 Incentives .............................................................................................................................. 29 Creating security in an E-Government ......................................................................................... 36 Civilian agency services in Federal and state governments...................................................... 37 Firewall and VPN ................................................................................................................. 40 Application-level Security .................................................................................................... 40 It is simplified Management for Distributed Agencies ......................................................... 41 It has scalable administrative capabilities ............................................................................. 41 It provides internal network security and intelligent worm defense ..................................... 41 It has Mobility and Flexibility .............................................................................................. 42 It provides authentication ...................................................................................................... 42
Agencies of the digital age want self-service citizens .............................................................. 43 Agencies need to be efficient and effective .......................................................................... 43 Government need to function online..................................................................................... 44 Universal access .................................................................................................................... 44 There should be silos that restrict implementation efforts .................................................... 45
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The fundamental functionality .............................................................................................. 45 FUNCTIONAL PORTALS .................................................................................................. 45 This portal usability should be well established outside of the Government ....................... 46 The usefulness for a specific goal ......................................................................................... 47 Ease of functioning ............................................................................................................... 47 There should be an ability to derive value ............................................................................ 47 Visitors should perceive reliability and dependability.......................................................... 47
References ..................................................................................................................................... 51
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Making E-Government websites user-friendly ............................................................................. 43
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Introduction
Before starting on E-Government we must first learn and understand what is government? What are its functions and responsibilities? How it works? What are its different areas of influence? What are its types? How government is formed? What are the variations in it based on ethnic and economic conditions? In simplest words Government is a body that makes rules and regulations and imposes and enforces them. This body could be a political entity or organization within local community and/or on a broader scale that is, on national level. The emergence of the term government is lost in time but the cause and route of its emergence is
denser and larger communities, interactions between different groups increased and the social pressure rose until, in a striking parallel with star formation, new structures suddenly appeared, together with a new level of complexity. Like stars, cities and states reorganize and energize the smaller objects within their gravitational field. That gravitational field is Government. Generally the term government refers to a civil government or autonomous state. Though almost all organizations and businesses are also governed by some bodies but they are not called as government rather they are called as board of directors or by some other fancy name. The fundamental, essential and basic function of a government is the maintenance of basic security and public order. Governments consist of several layers of hierarchical administrators and workers whose combined efforts are responsible for its efficient working. The major areas that are strongly influenced by a government are Military defense, Social security, Legislation and legislative bodies. There are several types of governments in operation around the globe; Democracy, Monarchy, Dictatorship being the more popular ones. Government formation process differ s depending on its type. Democratic governments are selected by voting, Monarchy stays in family unless some other persons rages war and wins the throne whereas, Dictatorship, as the name implies, is the government formed by force. Almost all of the European and American countries have democratic forms of governments with some having constitutional monarchy as in United Kingdom.In Asia and Africa it is mostly dictatorship or monarchy that rules.
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very well stated by David Christian in Maps of Time; As farming populations gathered in
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E-government
Whatever, the type of government its operation and working is based on the way it interacts and serves the people. A democracy, the cherished form of government, could be a failure if its management systems and other operational institutes fail to interrelate and network adequately and satisfactorily with people and businesses, an example of such phenomenon is the government in Pakistan. On the other hand, monarchy could be a hit if its interactions and
Broadly defined, e-government includes the use of all information and communication technologies, from fax machines to wireless palm pilots, to facilitate the daily administration of government. However, like e-commerce, the popular interpretation of e-government is one that defines it exclusively as an Internet driven activity to which it may be added that improves citizen access to government information, services and expertise to ensure citizen participation in, and satisfaction with the government process it is a permanent commitment by government to improving the relationship between the private citizen and the public sector
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interactions namely

through enhanced, cost-effective and efficient delivery of services, information and knowledge. It is the practical realization of the best that government has to offer.(UN and ASPA 2001, 1) E-government is a modern world functionality of government that uses todays fast carry out its
information and communication technology to enable the government to
fundamental purposes and jobs like providing services for people, transactions and interactions with businesses and other parts of government forming bodies. E-government is not entirely another form of government rather it is only an instrument that aids in efficient and quick compliance of government operations. It could be used in all four of the basic government
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Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Consumer (G2C) Government-to-Business (G2B) Government-to-Government (G2G) Government-to-Employees (G2E)
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servings for people are good like in United Arab Emirates.
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In all of these four forms of interactions one or combination of following e-techniques are used
Publishing information and notice over the Internet, e.g.: basic government orders like regulatory services, general holidays, public hearing schedules, issue briefs, notifications, etc.
Two-way communications between the government body and the citizen, a business, or another government agency. In this methodology government bodies and people interact
all included in it. Examples of such operation could easily be seen in certifications by government accredited bodies such as PNAC.

Conducting transactions, e.g.: lodging tax returns, applying for services and grants. Governance, e.g.: online polling, voting, and campaigning.
Though internet is widely considered as THE media for interaction in a e-government setup but the fact is that any electronic means of communication and information sharing whether it be
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E-government models
TV or telephone are part of e-government setup.
Countries around the globe have developed service provisioning systems of some sort as
a direct result of advances in technology. Though the models being used for e-government worldwide may not vary greatly the extent to which they are implemented and acted upon vary vastly. The models used for e-government are very close to those that have and are being used for business organizations. But the public networks are quite different from the hierarchal steps involved in business organizations. This conflict arises because in a business organization, the various stake holders have round about the same resources and interests but in public networks or working machinery of government the resources vary widely. The same is true for capabilities. Successful operation of e-government requires bodies of different resources and capabilities to work together so their interdependency becomes very important. Thompson (1967) uses interdependencies between activities to describe coordination mechanisms. He
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as in real world. Dialogues, solutions of problems, comments, requests and feedback are
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distinguishes three types of interdependencies: pooled, sequential and reciprocal. Pooled interdependence is the situation where each activity contributes to the whole system, without the need for interaction between activities. Sequential interdependence is the situation where the output of one activity forms the input for another activity. Reciprocal interdependence occurs when two activities are interdependent.
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Against the importance of the public networks and the cross-agency coordination
through, leveraging the shared resources and creating network capabilities through effective applications of IT, we create a framework for designing and analyzing e-government business
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models. The logic of the service offering is captured by the following elements of the business model framework (based on Janssen &Kuk, 2007):
1. Organizational entities involved in the service delivery. Governmental agencies need to collaborate with each other to form a network and effectively coordinated the pools of resources and adjusting them using their pooled capabilities. The latter is likely to be enhanced when the public networks include agencies with unique resources and capabilities.
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2. Service offerings. Better bundling of the existing and new services is likely to by enhancing and modifying the existing service offerings and to improve the perceived quality of the service offering. 3. Coordination. Mechanisms comprising of managerial and organizational structures have to be in place to facilitate coordination and overcome problems caused by the division of tasks and labor.
4. Business processes. In a public service network, which involves the coordination among actors and infrastructures, the focus is on managing the intermediary processes and defining interfaces to enhance interand intra-organizational information flows; and enabling new levels of emphasis on coordination across agencies via workflow management, project management, and supply chain management.
technologies should aim at supporting the business models, including streamlining through system integration and standardization.
6. Dynamic capabilities. The adaptation of IT aims to better reuse of the existing knowledge and expertise dispersed in a public network through building interfaces among management, operation, and the design and development of the infrastructures.
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Working of E-Government
o Needs of Citizens
7. Longitudinal dimension: The framework is largely static because the business model is described in a discrete point in time and does not include anything about what happens in the face of change. Consequently, the longitudinal elements should be included, aimed at capturing the evolvement over time. This dimension captures the change processes that should enable the move towards a new or improved business model.
E-government is a working methodology of government that could also be applied to
formation of government, which is a very complicated and important step as it dictates the expectations that the people will have once the government is formed. Before going to that discussion on objectives and importance of government is made. Like other government functioning ways the drivers of E-government are
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5. Shared resources. The role of all kinds of resources, including IT- infrastructures, humans and
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o Goals of Government o Ethnical dynamics o e-Government objectives Needs of Citizens according to human nature is a never ending list but the major and more important ones are: Greater government accountability; this is very important as it brings peoples confidence towards government and its operation, Easy access to information; in a e-government setup easy access to information is very important as one may say that this is the moral fiber of this setup, Data Security and Confidentiality; is the right of every citizen. Its importance has been enhanced in todays e-government setup as loss or theft of smallest of the informations can cost the citizens dearly both monetarily and personally. Convenient services, Quick response to
indigenous only to this type of government setup. It is the e-working that raises these needs and expectations.
Goals of government in electronic setup are similar as the more conventional forms of government. Governments in electronic setup need to become more active and their response
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should be as fast as the tools for e-government. This tends to increase the overall efficiency and heights of services for the people. Another integral factor for the trust of people is the transparency. Government should provide transparency in their operation and should be accountable for their deeds. The major goal in a e-government setup is the reduction in operating expenses. This will also encourage citizens to save more ad help increases the resources of the country and/or community. Also proper consideration towards future growth and trends should
The above discussion is summarized in the following table.
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requests and Fast delivery of services are the other three requirements of citizens that are
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THE IMPORTANCE AND OBJECTIVES OF e-Government
The stage wise working of e-government is expressed in the following table
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to deliver their point of view to people.
As democracy is the most cherished and widely practiced form of government so
discussing it in relation to e-government, that is e-democracy is tackled here. Democratic form of government means rule of people or as many say rule of majority. In essence there are two features of democracy: Equality and Freedom. For a democratic government interactions of leaders with people are vital. Conventionally leaders were used to deliver speeches in processions for this purpose but in e-democracy this is achieved through internet and/or television. Leaders come on TV for debates before crucial elections and give interviews regularly
The next stride on route to government formation is voting. E-government employs e-
voting. In this form of voting mechanism people dont have to go long distances to cast their votes, they can do this from comfort of their homes online or from corner of their streets. This results in quick counting of votes and a higher turnout.
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After formation of e-government through e-voting comes the next step of the chain, the eadministration. Administrative part of a government is responsible for control of almost everything. It makes, amends, implements rules and regulations and then gathers feedbacks and works accordingly. In an e-government arrangement its importance is enhanced as this can become the weakest link in a chain or the slowest step. E-administration oversees all the activities and goals of an e-government cited above.
the way an e-government interacts with citizens and society on whole. There is a rapid growth in launching and renovating the e-services provided to the people by several e-governments but the
the fact that it should be readily and easily available to masses. In e-services civil servants use electronic Medias like internet or telephone to interact with citizens to know their problems. These problems are then transferred to problem solvers or designers of systems that provide remedy for the problems. These solutions are provided to the citizens who interpret them and then give feedback. This system is represented quite effectively in the figure below
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basic methodology or the soul is same in all. The strength of an e-service providing body lies in
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Probably the most interesting and intriguing element in an e-government is e-services and
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The execution of e-government radically changes the working, operation and functioning
techniques along with structure of public administrations. Unlike traditional working it brings multidirectional dynamic flow of information not only inside a department but also interdepartmental. It increases the participation of citizens in functioning of government. It improves communication between governments and their constituents in turn saving valuable time and money. The benefits of e-government are tabulated below
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The E-Government Diffusion, Policy, and Impact Advanced Issues and Practices There are no major standout disadvantages of e-government as such but the risks and disadvantages associated with the use of current technologies fuse into the e-government system. For example mobile phones are one of the tools that could be used for interaction with government in e-government setting but there are four public policy issues, which are related to mobile phone use. These issues are: (1) health problems that are thought to be caused by mobile phone use and the proximity of mobile phone masts to housing units; (2) the illegal trafficking, trade, and theft of mobile phones; (3) the use of mobile phones by drivers; and (4) problems related to mobile phone use in public spaces. Other risks involved in e-government setup are; Inaccessibility, False sense of transparency and accountability and Hyper-surveillance.
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Differences in e-government in developed and underdeveloped countries:
E-government is the modern setup that requires huge sums of money for startup. Therefore, an immense difference in its application and implementation could be seen around the crests and troughs of globe. Developed countries like USA, UK and Australia are way ahead in the race of
that come along with all innovations. On the other hand are the countries like Bangladesh, where less than 10% of total population have access to telephones and newspapers on daily bases. The major differences that arise in implementation of e-government in these two distinct types of countries are tabulated below:
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digitalizing their setups and as a result are reaping the initial gigantic benefits of e-government
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Comparison between Manual & E-Government
In order to compare the two different governance methodologies we would first compare them on their basic formation and functioning processes, then a survey carried out in India would be discussed to elaborate the facts and findings. In order to do a meaningful comparison we not only need to look at the surface structures of both methodologies but dig deep to have a look at various outcomes. Only analyzing the costs involved in setting up the e-government setup wont
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be discussed but results of packaged and combined efforts for optimize the performance and outcome from both setups would be discussed. Staring the discussion from the basic formation and working principles we would move on to
The first striking difference that pops up is the TIME FACTOR. Manual governing method has been in practice for centuries around the globe. E-government is a new concept that came with the advent of information and communication technology (ICT). People have huge experiences and bulks of books that tell in detail about working in manual government environment but the new governing concept under ICT is new and still under research and development process. The next dissimilarity of the two governing techniques is the selection mechanism. This includes concepts like democracy and e-democracy, voting and e-voting, administration and eadministration. The process of democracy has been revolutionized in the e-government setup. With manual government politicians / leaders had travel long miles to get to far ends of countries. But with e-government they can just deliver their message as effectively from their office via TV or internet. In the current worlds security and terrorism chronicle, addresses
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interaction with the people.
through TV are becoming more and more popular. Similarly no one has to wait in long queues for casting a vote any more in an e-government setup as this simple yet very important and time taking activity can be carried out from lounges of homes. E-voting also helps in counting process of votes. Where several mistakes could be made in manual counting of votes there is almost zero percent chance of a wrong or false count in e-government setup. This not only saves time but also saves chunks of money for the state. The changes brought about in a manual administration setup are a little less simple. A change of administration techniques means changing the entire setup. Going from manual to e-setup is synonymous to moving to zero paper environment. Heaps of files standing on desks in manual government setup vanish quickly into computer disks. Eadministration is also stronger than a manual administration because of its higher level of
SERVICE PROVIDING is an important job of a government. As we are discussing manual and e-government so this automatically reveals two different routes for service providing. In manual government service endowment was a slow and tedious process because of communication gap
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experimental results
between service providing agencies and people. In a e-government condition there is a massive increase in interactions thus yielding better results in the field of service providing. The two way interaction system in e-government for providing services is way ahead and better than the manual systems. For any project COSTs are very important. Manual government setup, that is equipments, tools and infrastructure has been there for quite some time. Thus there are no startup costs. But in case of the evolving e-government setup all equipment and design will have to face reengineering or
government system leads the e-government system. But in case of long term planning and analyses it is found that the initial investment on e-government setups pays off well.
feasibilities takes ages but in a e-government setup simulations can be used to design administrative techniques and test those.
BRIBERY a dark corner of manual government is greatly reduced by e-government. As not many changes could be made to process flow in e-government so bribes bring no positive or
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could easily be produced.
profitable gain, thus reducing the overall bribe rate.
In a fast flowing and consistent e-government system the biggest hurdle is system break down or overload, which unfortunately happens more than often even in the more developed setups. This is something that is not found at all in manual setup. Though glitches may occur if workforce does not show up but that happens only on few limited occasions. RECORDS KEEPING is an important function of government operation. In manual setups large spaces are required to store piles of files, the same thing is achieved in a e-government setup by storing data on hard drives of computers or some other optical data storage system. Safety of the stored data is also critical. Manually stored data is susceptible to destructions from fire etc. and it is not easy to produce its backup but in e-governance not only safety is ensured but data backup
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The QUICKNESS or rate of a project is chosen by the slowest step. In a manual setup making
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redesigning which are both tedious and expensive jobs. Thus on short term basis manual
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User evaluations of manual and e-government services:

Costs of accessing services: Success of public services depends largely on their costs of access. These include travel costs, bribes, documentation etc. As in case of manual services the delivery time of a service is unknown so a large number of trips to the offices are made which are avoided in e-environment also the first come first serve system of e-services has helped reduce bribes.
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Waiting Times: In e-government setup the waiting time at service providing offices has been greatly reduced due to predictability of ICT methods. In it information about delivery dates and time could be
people are specially employed to tackle the queries regarding delivery details etc. this not only increase the operational costs of government but also wastes valuable time of the service users.
User Satisfaction:
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A higher level of user satisfaction could be achieved in a e-government system more efficiently and economically than in case of manual operation. This is because of reductions in; bribery, wastage of time standing in queues, time of traveling etc.
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checked on web or through telephones. Manual functioning lacks this big time. In manual setups
The figures are from IC4D_2009_Chapter5 based on surveys of five projects in India in 20032006
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Methodologies and Application of e-government:
E-government, though new, is a very vast and broad concept. Its applications and methodologies to implement it range from a mini and tiny scale organizational operation to gigantic or mega scale operation of a country. Therefore, its implementation methodologies vary vastly. Egovernment is not simply e-business; it is much more complex and complicated. It deals with the relations of citizens with civil organizations. As stated earlier there are four major horizons of egovernment; e-services, e-administration, e-democracy and e-commerce. The best way to analyze the methodologies of implementation of e-government is to consider each of its horizons
individually but most of the analyses are carried out in combined form and are thus erroneous to some extent and their scope is somewhat narrow. Another factor that should be kept in mind while analyzing methodologies for e-government is that peoples satisfaction and needs not the technology should be considered as the top notch.
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The assessment tools of e-government methodologies are same as those employed for assessing other things that is via questionnaires, interviews and web surveys. The main criteria of judgment are:
Business and citizen satisfaction Preservation of public trust
The following table shows the methodology techniques used to assess the e-government in
while others deal with local and municipal operations of e-government only. .
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Methodology of collecting and analyzing data. In the field of information society, national statistics offices, all tiers of government. Website evaluation along with Questionnaire sent to public in Public sector professionals. Electronic Interviews, questionnaires worldwide, for selected advanced countries targeted
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Characteristic comparison services present objectively setup capacity and to development. such as interoperability.
various projects. Some of these projects are global (federal, local and municipality combined)
Project name (organization) e-Europe, EU
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UNPAN (The United Nations Online Network Administration and Finance) Benchmarking Service Delivery (July 2001, e- Envoy)
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features of evaluation, goals and results E-government is measured by of on-line development of 20 key public The study's primary goal is to facts and conclusions that define a country's e-government demonstrate sustain its online The 2001 study has focused on a range of back office and wider e-government issues, accessibility and
Application of service relevance
KeeLAN
Local and Regional Level web scanning of 700 websites and then thorough examination along with interviews in the 50 Case Studies
To elaborated road-maps for egovernment development at local level, to find top websites on the basis of Request/Application Handling
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legal, social considerations ICT means, servants, of public trust globally and 27
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range Questionnaires addressed primary to civil servants, face to face interview in order to collect information helping to assess broad trends in e-government development in Europe. Interviews from citizens and business sector The report is designed to measure the impact of the Internet on government nationally. The study is a result of telephone interviews with over 29,000 individuals across countries.
Eforum
National, Regional and Local
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Momentum Research Group The Government Online Study (GO), Taylor Nelson Sofres
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Analyzed issues: business model adopted, transformation of workflow, responsibilities and work processes and financial, and cultural e-government perceived expectations and fears from the point of view of the citizens, organizations, civil government, barriers and drivers in the process of eGovernment implementation Main criteria are: Application and service relevance, Citizens and business satisfaction, reservation Key Questions Answered: What are the levels of e-government usage? How is e-government being used? Is safety issue a barrier to e-government uptake? How does e-government uptake compare to internet use globally?
E-public services in Poland, CAP GEMINI ERNST&YOUNG (2002, 2003) Balanced E-Government Connecting Efficient Administration and Responsive Democracy
Front-office, in Poland 2002, 388 institutions analyzed, 74 % of those have got their own web sites
Web-based survey on Electronic Public Services
12 services was the subject of
closer analysis along with more
than 50 individual conversations were conducted
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fields: benefit, change analyzed Focus on end or face-to-face to citizen end local websites?
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Focus groups and large-scale postal questionnaires users in 8 municipalities
Infoville
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http://www.vus.uni-lj.si/nispa/,
How to Evaluate E-Government? Different Methodlogies and Methodes, Marcin Sakowicz1 KEeLAN, http://www.keelan.elanet.org/egovernment e-Forum for European e-Public Services, Public Services Requirements Survey (2002), http://www.eu-forum.org Taylor Nelson Sofres Government Online Study 2001, http://www.tnsofres.com/gostudy/index.cfm Vintar M., Kunstelj M., Leben A. (2002) Delivering Better Qaulity Public Servcies through life-event portals,
http://www.nispa.sk/news/papers/wg2/Vintar.doc
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Various dimensions of edemocracy and e-government services, 49 criteria in the five efficiency, participation, transparency, management were users, main question how people use
The risks that needed to be managed to achieve an e-government
There are two main risks which departments have to manage if the benefits of e-government are to be achieved:
Citizens take up
There is a huge risk that some groups in the society are excluded from certain benefits for example those without access to the internet or a computer, see no advantage in accessing services electronically and take up is low.
Supply side barriers
Another risk is that the department do not provide the citizens the services they want to access electronically or that the companies that supply internet services do not deliver them the intended services at the right cost, time and quality requirements of the citizens.
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If service is easily accessible and if Citizens see real benefit in doing so, only then they would interact with departments electronically. People need to be able to develop certain trust in order
to comfortably provide personal information on-line. Professor Helen Margetts and Professor Patrick Dunleavy comment in a paper that citizens exiting perception of departments will influence their attitude to electronic services. Citizens that have a low expectancy of a government organization are unlikely to look for that particular organization on the internet and thus will be more inclined to continue to use traditional paper methods and face-to-face contact in their dealings with government organizations. What this tells us is that departments may increasingly need to use intermediaries such as banks, building societies, post offices, retail outlets to provide services to citizens because people already have certain kind of experience of transacting with these organizations on a day-to-day basis.
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People have different needs It should be taken into consideration that departments should have a good understanding of the needs and preferences of the users of their services. Take for example the elderly have a range of
of the other groups which include students, children, parents, the unemployed and businesses will have different requirements. Departments however have a variation in the quality of information they have on their key users and client groups. This includes for example the frequency with which citizens access government services.
People may be suspicious
about how departments might use the information which they provide them electronically. Basically citizens may be simply uninterested or they are unaware of the fact that a range of public services are available on-line. Public and department communication is needed so that they may know what is available and have realistic expectations. In order to achieve this, departments need various marketing strategies which clearly target the key users of their
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order to achieve this.
services. Very few departments that have an e-business strategy that has yet to consider how best to marketed-government services. They also do not know how to formulate action plans for in
Citizens require the ability and confidence to use IT Departments need to take this into account in designing public services that they should avoid excluding any group in the society. There is a very few proportion of people in the lowest income group that have home Internet access compared those on higher income levels. So there will always be a risk that these people would be excluded from the benefits of e-government services. Access to It should be made easily available to all members of the society at various points such as libraries etc. free of charge.
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People may be suspicious of IT, because they are unfamiliar with it or they have certain concerns
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requirements depending on their income, health, general well-being and where they live. Some
CITIZEN TAKE UP
Familiarity
day life and that has to be accepted by some people as well. A risk that needs to be taken into consideration is that unless services are regularly used by citizens, take up of electronic services will not increase over time.
People have different expectations about various services. Some citizens have low expectations about IT and about the facts that can it deliver from this innate skepticism? Another important
expectations.
Ease of use
Unless new services are easy to use and not complex there is a risk that take up will be low, for example websites that are conservatively designed, use bureaucraticlanguage and contain no
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Benefits
remain low.
incentives to explore the site willremain largely unused.
It must be made clear to the public that heir interaction with the government departments online will be beneficial for them and the government otherwise demandandsubsequent take up will
Social exclusion
Certain groups in society which include the elderly,unemployed, those on low income and those with learningdifficulties may not have easy access to the Internet as it has been discussed earlier. It is simple that people would not benefit from the services delivered electronically if they donot have access to a computer or any means to access theInternet.It would only be successful if ways are found to enable these groups to access the services theyrequire in a way that best fits their
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risk is that if the services fail to go on-line properly then this would only reinforce people's low
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Expectation
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Time is a major concern because internet has yet to become a normal established part of every-
Costs
People will not want to use the services provided if the cost of accessing serviceson-line is expensive or time-consuming.
SUPPLY SIDE RISKS

Leadership
A certain amount of leadership and commitment is needed from senior management if successful implementation of e-government is required. Re-engineer ways of working
If departments believe that technology induced change will be minimal and that the benefits will be modest they may fail to reengineer services and ways of working. And when they will believe this they would fail to realize the benefits of e-government in terms of improved efficiency and service delivery because they will rely on existing increasingly inefficient channels of service delivery. User focus
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segmentation.
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Marketing and segmentation
Department should recognize citizen needs and if they fail to provide services in the way thatmeets them it will lead to low take up of services delivered on-line. Take for instance if departments only duplicate existing services on-line they will fail to secure the improvementsoffered by innovative on-line solutions.
If departments fail to marketservices sufficiently to the key user groups they would make servicesavailable on-line that are not fully used by citizens. But this can be done wrong because departments perceive a need to communicate with all citizens in the same way and they neglect to recognize the differences but different groups such as students and the elderly will need different approaches which suggest departments need to adopt an increasingly sophisticated
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Incentives Another aspect to be taken into consideration is that departments do not provide adequate incentives for staff or citizens to use services leading to lower than expected take up. For
confidence which may exclude users from making full use of the service as they lack the technology to access it or they fail to provide their staff access to the Internet and to the departments' websites.
E-Government barriers
By now it is clear that e-Government is a reality. There are many governments that are using the
citizens and government. A great potential is shown by internet-based applications for democratic renewal, especially with regard to reconnecting citizens to government. It ideally broadens participation in the policy process, and the citizens and public agencies save time and paperwork through electronic service delivery. But there are a number of barriers that potentially hinder E-Government adoption. Here barriers mean any factor that creates a disincentive for
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governments to develop new or further develop existing E-Government applications. The first potential supply side barrier is organizational or staff resistance. The source of this resistance is the perception that technology replaces the need for people. Basically, if services can be provided via the internet then the need for conventional office workers may decrease, resulting in fewer jobs. It is likely that these individuals will resist if they are fearful of being replaced by internet applications. Another possible barrier is lack of support from politicians and high level bureaucrats. Furthermore, a lack of public support may create a deterrent to pursue EGovernment. So there is a need for financial and human capital investments if E-Government is to flourish. This underlines a need to demonstrate perceptible gains from e-Government which is return on investments. The ROI associated with e-Government may include cost and time savings related to service delivery requests. The technical know-how and proper hardware and software are supply side barriers. There are security and privacy issues as well. The government must ensure that personal information is kept confidential and secure.
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internet to deliver services, propagate information, and enable a more open dialogue between
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instance departments may use higher levels of security than what is required to maintain user
E-Government adoption is a function of financial, technical, and human resources. If all other factors constant, municipalities with higher operating budgets, more full-time IT staff, and technical hardware are more likely to have a comprehensive E-Government platform. Some of the municipalities that are implementing new or significantly expanded E-Government platforms must realize the importance of making continued human capital investments. Basically, municipal leaders that view E-Government related IT staff as part-time consultants or individuals brought in primarily at the development and implementation phases is not likely to have comprehensive and fully dynamic E-Government applications. It is a fact that technology is ever changing, and thus keeping pace with it requires a commitment to maintaining a full-time IT staff.
The key determinant of municipal E-Government adoption is political support. Experts say that if a municipal manager held a positive view of E-Government, then that municipality would be more likely to have an advanced E-Government platform. This would then win over the powers that be could be done by stressing the benefits of E-Government. This can include cost and time savings due to reduced paperwork and the reduced need for face-to-face interactions. This would over time increase municipal performance. Basically by giving people the option of filing
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permits, paying fines, or making service requests via the Internet, administrative staff may be able to dedicate more energy to other activities. The privacy and security issues and a lack of community interest are not the only significant barriers to E-Government. This is maybe attributable to the explosion and widespread acceptance of E-commerce. We know that private goods and services are requested and purchased via the internet and the communications with service providers and customers is enhanced through online forums and instant messaging. Therefore, the proliferation of such applications throughout the public sector represents a natural transition. Another thing is the fact that lack of knowledge about E-Government is not a significant barrier is encouraging. This indicates that municipalities are aware of best practices and what types of applications exist. But still it is every nations duty
to broadcast information as it relates to new E-Government applications and feasibility studies that guide the implementation of such applications if it wants to implement an E-government. While E-Government is happening, there is a significant distance between high and low adopters. Even many high adopters have room to enhance their e-Government platforms. It
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should be taken into consideration that some municipalities may knowingly choose to be low adopters. This is because there are socio-cultural factors that are not captured in this analysis that predict E-Government adoption. Take for instance; some communities may view E-Government as too technology oriented and potentially isolating. This fosters greater detachment between government and its citizens. Some of the communities that are accepting this viewpoint are seemingly less likely to have comprehensive E-Government platforms. So in the end a better understanding of the socio-cultural barriers that impede e-Government adoption is ultimately needed.
E-Services and their Delivery
improve and simplify their day to day life activities. These services, provided by governments, vary greatly. They fall in several categories of work and environment. Judiciary, Taxation, Health, Safety, Business etc all require services from government in one form or another. Effectiveness of a service largely depends on the way its requirement was communicated to government thus making two way communications on important factor. The major services
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Broadcasting Education
Electricity Fire service Gas
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Military Police
Health care
Public transportation
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Services are something that are provided by governments to their citizen in order to enhance,
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Social housing Town planning Water services such as libraries Social services
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Telecommunications Waste management Environmental protection
Public information and archiving,
It could easily be seen in the list above that all of the services with exception of electricity, gas, water are not manufacturing services. That means their end result is not some finished product like bat or ball rather it is betterment in the life of citizens. An e-service mechanism usually consists of citizens reading some information and then submitting something to the government agency. During this interaction several things like assessment, proposal, commitments, orders etc. go along. This is shown in the following figure;
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This is also represented by a user led cycle like
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E-Education:
Broadcasting and telecommunications are the pillars of e-government setup that have already been discussed in detail earlier so in the following discussion on e-services these would be neglected with focus on other municipality or general services.
It is the right of every citizen to get educated the way he wants making it an obligation for government to provide appropriate educational services to its citizens. In several cases it is not possible to provide infrastructure enough for all citizens moreover, for some advanced level studies teachers cannot be arranged. These problems can easily be solved under e-services environment where citizens could be educated from a central location using the e-government communication tools. Such programs not only help reduce the costs involved in providing the infrastructure but also enhance the reach-ability of a course. Using these programs students can attend lectures and seminars across the continents from the comfort of their homes. 33
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Several such programs are being run successfully globally. One such example is the Virtual University of Pakistan that was established in 2002 and has been running successfully. It has solved many education related problems of the country.
Health Care:
Ask any doctor and he will tell you that a correct history of patient plays a vital role in solving
tedious job and takes up lot of time and paper work but in e-services for health care history of patients could be made available online according to their consent. This helps save the crucial seconds that are very important in life and death situations. Public Information and Archiving:
Public information and archiving has enormous impact on the way a society works. In the past information record were maintained on paper and to get useful information from them was not a one mans job. With e-services all of that has been digitalized. Now one can search about himself
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Fire Service and Police:
or other persons online in second. Accomplishments and punishments are all there to see. This helps in public deals. One can easily find reliable information about his partner from data base of law enforcement agencies, which adds a sense of security and comfort among the citizens. Libraries are also part of Public archiving system. Though catalogues are available at all libraries but it is not possible to search for a specific topic using them. In a library offering e-services this problem is resolved. Using simple software topic oriented searches could be made.
Under e-services, gone are the days when fire services arrived when someone after noticing smoke called them. This caused massive damages. In e-service setup sensors installed inside buildings detect the smoke and ring alarms in fire stations in turn reducing the time it took for fire services to arrive and also reducing the damages fire caused.
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the case efficiently. In conventional health service system gathering history of patients is a
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Similarly burglar alarms direct police to the attacked neighborhood quicker increasing the probability of recovery of goods. Case Study In order to better understand the e-services a case study based on child care services under municipality financed and administered program is cited below. It was carried out by GRAN GOLDKUHL, Department of Management & Engineering, Linkoping University, Sweden. In this e-service user (parent) had to log on using secure identity after which he could order for the required services or programs. The two way interaction for this is shown in the following figure
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Though it looks like a good enough setup but it has the flaws that almost all e-services have. They are unable to handle unique requirements. As these programs are based and designed on the basis of the information provided by certain users, which although is sufficient for most of the users, cannot fulfill unique requirement. This leads to making uninformed decisions which often 35
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cause troubles. One of the major causes for it is that not all information regarding e-service plans is available without authentication. This also includes NO or LESS information of supply/service options. This is inaccurate information system is shown below
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Creating security in an E-Government
In the future there is going to be a radical change or rather a radical self-transformation of the way business is done. In order for the provision of critical government services network and internet automation is necessary and is the key to national defense and law enforcement. The network and internet is now expanding and capable to support an initiative called E-Government. This would be a new way for conducting all Federal business. 36
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Technology, electronic communications and web-based applications are directed to be the business foundation of Federal agencies that are working between themselves and with state governments and private citizens. There are various acts that direct Federal agencies to ensure the security to ensure the security of critical networked E-Government services. These acts include the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002, some rules and guideline issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP).
The institutions that this security system protects are the National security and defense infrastructure. There should be a critical infrastructure for agencies managing vital services such as agriculture, meat, and poultry; chemical; electric power and distribution; banking and finance; and oil and gas production and storage; emergency services including law enforcement;
and water supply.
Civilian agency services in Federal and state governments

There should be a privacy of citizen information. In order to do this agencies are required to use
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Space Administration.
Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) security products whenever possible to achieve security of E-Government information and systems. These COTS products help agencies because they are easier to deploy, less expensive, and more efficient than creating firewalls, virtual private networks, and other security applications from scratch. There is usually a lot of research required in this regard but the use of these simple and easy to use products will help agencies transfer to this virtual network easily and efficiently. Some of the industry analysts have said that Check Point Software is the worlds leading provider of firewall and VPN security products. The Fortune 100 companies and approximately 97 percent of the Fortune 500 use Check Points security products. Many federal agencies in the US use Check Point. These include the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautic and
The security products provided by Check Point are the most efficient and effective. This is an intelligent choice for Federal agencies because its solutions are the most secure, scale with ease, and simplify management for distributed organizations. Not only this, but the solutions improve 37
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information technology; postal and shipping; public health; telecommunications; transportation;
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authentication between government users and civilian customers. This system interoperate with the broadest range of COTS industry solutions, they are mobile, flexible, and are certified for U.S. Department of Defense and other Federal agency purchasing under testing programs such as Common Criteria etc. If indeed an E-Government is to be created then it is essential that agencies seek more information about COTS security products and services so that effective policies can be developed.
The security of the Federal Networks should be ensured by the use of COTS.
information technology applications that are shrink wrapped for immediate use. There is no sort of customization or programming required from the purchasers side. The basic idea of COTS is that its easier, less expensive and more efficient to buy commercial security products such as a firewall or VPN applications, than it is to create one from scratch. The large-scale distribution operations of Federal agencies have many security requirements that are similar, if not identical to, requirements for large private sector businesses already served by commercial developers, so COTS security products often make sense for these Federal agencies. A change to such an E-Government would require months or years to develop but by using COTS security
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capabilities.
products Federal common operating environments, agencies can quickly implement security
The Title III of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) section of the EGovernment Act directs NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology to the development of standards and guidelines as follows to the maximum extent practicable, use flexible, performance-based standards and guidelines that permit the use of off-the-shelf commercially developed information security products. The NIST then subsequently advised their use as security controls for the management, operational, and technical safeguards or countermeasures prescribed for an information system to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the system and its information. Not only the NIST but even national security systems are required to use COTS products whenever they see fit and when it is possible. What type of security should an E-Government use? The answer to this question is Check Point, as it is the Leading Provider of COTS Security. 38
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The word COTS is an industry word that is termed as Commercial Off-The-Shelf products
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The Check Point Software is the worlds leading provider of COTS firewall and VPN Virtual Private Network security products. It has an 87-percent market share by worldwide revenue. Infonetics Research indicates that Check Point is considered the #1 provider of VPN and Firewall software. Moreover according to Frost & Sullivan, Check Point solutions have gathered 36-percent market share of the IPSec VPN and Firewall market. And META Group in their METAspectrum report designated Check Point as the enterprise firewall market leader.
Basically, Check Point products are relied on by large companies and governments worldwide. All of the Fortune 100 companies and 97 percent of the Fortune 500 use Check Point. 96% of the Global 500 uses Check Point. High-risk government networks are provided by the most intelligent security against worms and other dynamic threats by Check Point. It enables government agencies to securely communicate and coordinate between other agencies, the public
manage their entire security infrastructure from one command center. This is also done while distributing appropriate autonomy and control among headquarters and branch offices. The above facts are more than enough to make Check Point the right choice for Federal agencies because its solutions are the most secure, scale with ease, and that simplify management for distributed organizations.
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Check Point products can be used for interoperability. This is a key benefit for Federal agency buyers and information technology specialists. A single integration framework via the Open Platform for Security (OPSEC) Software Development Kit provides interoperability. The security software provided by Check Point goes through rigorously testing and has been certified as interoperability for products from more than 350 information technology companies. On top of all this the OPSEC Certified program has verified the industrys widest range of enterprise appliances upon which to deploy Check Point and other security applications which makes it easier and simpler for the agencies to trust and use Check Point products. Agencies can immediately demonstrate compliance efforts with the E-Government Acts FISMA and security guidelines from NIST by leveraging the powerful security benefits of Check Point COTS products. Agencies can also protect sensitive data transmitted between their servers and other agencies, constituents, employees, and E-Government partners. A trustworthy service can
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and the private businesses. The SMART management of Check Point enables governments to
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be provided to all users through Check Point COTS products and a secure E-Government environment would be created. Some of the benefits of COTS Security Solutions by Check Point are as follows:
Firewall and VPN
We have already discussed that Check Point is a widely recognized internet security software provider and it has become a standard for the government and industry. There is a lot to choose
internet. Companies that use Check Point products can provide remote and mobile workers secure access to resources and can also protect internal LAN communications.
There are various firewalls that provide effective access control. But what they are not able to do is to detect attacks and prevent them at the application level. Many of todays hackers are able to access control policies and directly target applications on the network, be it local or wide. So the trick to counter these attacks is to provide security on multiple levels. The attributes that an effective firewall should have are that it must be able to protect against network, application, and
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security environment. Some of the features of COTS include: 1. Application Intelligence 2. Web Intelligence 3. Smart Defense
Web attacks and on the same time provide vigorous access control to IT resources. The key to Check Points products is that they help the organizations or the user of their products look deeply into their network traffic. It makes secure choices and gives a greater visibility into
This is a comprehensive protection against attack and network security. It is protection of the entire web environment and a service for real-time updates and new attack protection capabilities for application intelligence, web Intelligence, and network defenses.
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Application-level Security
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It is simplified Management for Distributed Agencies Managing security through a central point has been made easy for distributed governments by the use of Check Point. The system among agencies is that they retain central control butentrust
is able to respond to emerging information security conditions and, succeeds the security policy of the locally managed offices. It has scalable administrative capabilities
(SMART) that comes with crucial tools that can be used to efficiently administering VPNs and ensure security in government environments which include administrating security, management
Administrators are assigned digital certificates for authentication, the ability to designate different permission levels for different administrators and an auditing mechanism that tracks all policy and configuration changes.
Management can reduce user management burdens through the use of LDAP information-stores. They can also use automated software management capabilities that streamline the process of
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deploying product updates, which makes it easier to keep security up to date. To ensure Federal business and critical services continuity VPN gateways, firewall gateways and management database components can all be deployed. The Smart Center offers automated and centralized updates from a single console.
It provides internal network security and intelligent worm defense The main concern for Government organizations is protection for the network perimeter. But the reality is that many of todays attacks come from inside an organizations networks. The major source of new worms and attacks is Mobility. Many government personnel and contractors travel frequently. And while they do this they remotely log into the network with infected laptops or hand-held computing devices. This increases the odds of mobile workers infecting their own
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efficiency and continuity of operations.
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Security managers can use Check Points comprehensive Security Management Architecture
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some authority to remote organizations or departments. This is so that headquarters security staff
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InterSpect, Check Points internal security gateway solution offers the most intelligent means to protect government networks against attacks. It provides proactive, adaptive and dynamic protection for known and unknown attacks that enables government and military organizations to defend in depth against vulnerabilities before it too late. Integrity, Check Points endpoint solution provides total access protection, which ensures that every endpoint is protected. These two combined provide the most comprehensive and intelligent internal security. It has Mobility and Flexibility
government agencies so that they may connect throughout the country and the world. The integrated VPN client and centrally managed personal firewall provides means for remote government employees to access data and resources securely. Federal agencies are able to comply with technology access requirements of Section 508 in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 through the use of Check Point mobility solutions.
Check Point provides a complete web security appliance gateway for secure remote access through a Web browser over SSL VPN. It provides secure connectivity for remote offices and teleworkers of government networks. And to simplify remote access developments while
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It provides authentication
providing maximum flexibility, these two above mentioned solutions are combined.
Authentication for users of E-Government applications is provided through Check Point COTS solutions. Creating secure applications and eliminating the need for redundant databases for user authentication information is simplified by the firewall and VPN solutions. Check point products should be the ideal choice for governments that are deciding to transform into E-Government. When agencies are able to have a security system then they want more self-
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The products offered by Check Points universal VPN solutions offer a wide range of options for
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Making E-Government websites user-friendly
It was envisioned by Government leaders that E-Government portals would be a set of low-cost, comprehensive, online access points for citizens to easily obtain government information and services. This is access to all individuals. Each and every one would be able to know the agenda of the political leaders and they would be able to truly vote for the right leader. The Presidents Management Agenda of the Bush administration had E-Government as its key part. Now-a-days Agencies spend millions of dollars on Web sites and systems to induce citizens to adopt selfservice so that their needs are fulfilled easily and quickly. This idea has yet to be materialized. The efforts done by various agencies to lure citizens online to conduct business with the government has been all in vain as not even two-thirds of the citizens are able to interact with the government. The agencies now face pressures from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and citizens to make E-Government successful as soon as possible. The question here is that why these pressure groups insist that agencies do this? We have seen over the years that many
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industries have turned brick-and-mortar business models into efficient, multichannel, and consumer-centric enterprises. These groups expect agencies to have the following attributes:
Agencies need to be efficient and effective An agenda is laid out by PMA in order to increase government efficiency and constituent satisfaction through online services. Another body the OMB is the taskmaster that is pushing these agencies and programs towards this goal. The concept is that a transformed government replaces an industrial-age model dependent on people with a digital-age model dependent on information and interconnected systems. But there is a big problem to this. There are only a few agencies having the necessary architecture and expertise to accomplish this act and more importantly even less than these are willing to change their business model to accomplish this
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Agencies of the digital age want self-service citizens
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Government need to function online. There is another very big problem. This is that citizens have the ability to use E-Government channels and statistics show that internet penetration among US households is 66% and expected federal government Web site. What could be the reason to this behavior? Why dont more citizens visit government websites? The reason behind this is a growing perception that the government is not able to meet their needs through the web. OMB stated in its annual expanding E-Government report that they are aware of what the public expects. They expect this kind of service from the government, and that it uses the Internet more. Polling data showed that over 40 million American went online to look at government policies and over 20 million Americans went online to look at federal, state and local government policies, and over
20 million used the Internet to send their views to governments about those policies. The fact is that if the US government can harness the power technology, it would be able to meet the needs of the citizens.
There is a hurdle that Program managers face in creating citizen self-service ideal. A well-
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follows:
designed portal can improve citizen-to-government interactions and thus increase the usability and consequent the uptake of information and services. This also improves program efficiency by reducing demand on agency staff. There are considerable challenges that Federal agencies face while implementing a comprehensive self-service model. Some of these challenges are as
Private enterprises have the privilege to choose which citizens agencies they will and wont serve but government manager do not have this choice. Policy by the OMB explicitly directs these agency managers to maintain a level of communication with citizens and with other levels of government. This is to be done with the help of information products that meet all potential needs of the audience. The policies also require that all the websites should be compliant and 44
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to climb but only 31% of US households that have access to the Internet have ever visited a
accommodate languages other than English. This would make the federal websites same in standards with private sector websites.
It is the basic right of the citizens that their questions answered and queries should be answered immediately, their opinions be taken into consideration, their tax return be processed, and their checks sent as efficiently as possible. In order for government managers to accomplish these
agencies must persuade an ingrained bureaucratic culture that is to shift from an industrial-age, program-centric model of public services to a consumer-centric model with services universally
The fundamental functionality
What was the reason for so few citizens to switch to Web channels? The reason behind this is agency managers. Agency managers have not ensured that agency Web sites are designed so that
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FUNCTIONAL PORTALS
users may have easy access to services. Neither did they re-engineer the process to optimize the channel. What is their web presence then exactly? It is just an Adobe Acrobat copy of paperbased forms and outdated static information. The only reason why citizens do use the web channel is because they only look at the rudimentary-level interactions such as downloading and printing out forms. This is then processed offline by the agencies. Then what do citizens need? They need portals that are functional.
In order to make government websites a one-stop portal to government information and services for citizens, then government site owners need to accomplish two things that they up to now not accomplished. Firstly attract citizens to the site and give site visitors a satisfying experience. The idea is to draw citizens to the site through tactics like search engine optimization, online and offline advertising, event sponsorship, and citizen education is limited only by managers 45
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ends online they must make significant changes to their business processes. The leaders of
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There should be silos that restrict implementation efforts
budgets and imaginations. Secondly agencies must design sites that help citizens accomplish their goals easily and quickly. Three key issues are to be satisfied before they can improve usability. These are as follows:
1. What are the targeted users for the web channel?
Setting a clear picture of ones target audience helps a lot in achieving the required goals. I separate persona of brand should be crated in order to attract the youth. This is because for example a 25 year old youngster that prefers rock climbing and adventures in the jungle would make reservations for a national park campsite, while a 65 year old would enjoy what he has and would love to take a road trip in his RV. There should be a formalized understanding of this difference. They should understand the different prospects of individuals that they have to deal
2. What are the goals of this target audience?
Citizens visit government walk-in centers; they go to websites, or they contact call centers to accomplish specific objectives. These include getting information, completing a governmentrequired transaction, or finding help with a problem that they just encountered. The web experience that citizens encounter should satisfy these specific needs and wants.
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evaluated it on the following areas:
3. How then agencies can help this audience achieve those goals?
It all boils down to one question, which is how well the system works. The main and core objectives of agencies must be to make it easy for target users to take each step on their way to achieving their goals by designing clear paths that anticipate what citizens need to know and would they like to do at each decision point.
This portal usability should be well established outside of the Government Some of the leading e-Commerce practitioners present in the private sector have learned how to engage site visitors and turn them into regular self-service clienteles. The Forrester Web Site Review methodology distilled these practices. Forrester looked at various E-Governments and
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with and especially the ones that are in their target audience.
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The usefulness for a specific goal There is always a purpose for which users come and visit the website. Each of the users has his own specific purpose. It can also be due to urgency as some citizens seek to meet their most
consideration specific scenarios that address the most likely user goals.
Ease of functioning
other hand a well-designed navigation creates awareness of site content and provides clear paths to value.
There should be an ability to derive value
The website content, language, text, graphics etc. should be tailored to the needs of different citizens that belong to different cultural, ethnic backgrounds. Another important point is that the page layouts that are easy to scan and consistent interface elements can help prevent site visitors from getting lost.
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Efficiency of E-Government
Visitors should perceive reliability and dependability The websites should be fast, highly available that build confidence in the citizens when it is needed. Many website have a clear statement of their privacy andsecurity policies to reassure citizens that are increasingly worried about confidentiality and exposure tohacking. This should also be done by the E-government website.
It is for sure that new technology can radically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public services, and this is already happening across the EU. There is a clear cut opportunity to speed 47
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If some of the content and functions are difficult to find then they are useless to the user. On the
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pressing needs by going online. Website designers must design websites taking into
up normal time consuming daily processes. For example insurance claims can be processed in days, or even hours, instead of months. Pension records can be consulted on-line in a matter of minutes. Initiatives are in place to help people interact with the government through the internet.
freight trucks are examined by officials. They check that the paperwork is correct and the ones that are wanted, these are dozens of different forms. This is vital for security and to ensure customs duties are paid, but it is a massive encumbrance on businesses which could be relying on just-in-time deliveries of raw materials. There are advanced ICTs and data-handling processes that can significantly reduce the waiting times for these trucks.
This should be the logic targeted against the opposition of E-Government. This is one of the key
We should find better ways of doing what we currently do which would be efficiency and, by doing it all well and getting the desired result is effectiveness.
This is just one example, similar examples can be found in many public services. These can be queues and delays while collecting benefits, repetitive form filling, time-consuming manual
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E-Government competitive edge
bureaucracy, and lack of connections between manual and electronic systems within a department, between departments or between. These things have two attributes in common, they are a legacy of a past age and they can be radically renovated by better leveraging ICTs.
If member states of any country cut a quarter of their administrative costs by 2012, they could save a huge amount which cannot be spent better elsewhere. The use of ICTs will help reduce the cost burdens on administrations and eventually on tax-payers. But this is only if their amalgamation in public processes is well structured.
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priorities of the e-Government action plan and making its efficiency and effectiveness a reality.
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Not just in one country but in nearly each and every country especially in the developed ones
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So if all this is done well, Member States will be the overall winners. They would be the ones with better satisfied citizens and businesses benefiting from a lighter administrative burden. One the other hand, public-sector efficiency, transparency and accountability will also show measurable improvements. Better E-Government services help Member States achieve fundamental political objectives, which include improving social inclusion and building a more competitive enterprise sector. Many companies, especially small and medium enterprises, devote considerable resources to
employees, or apply for permits to carry out their business. And if E-Government enables them to reduce such costs, they can focus on their core activities and generate stronger economic returns for the business.
Every country opting to have an E-Government should foster the deployment of its efficient and effective services with two-pronged strategies. They should promote co-operation and exchange of best practice and technical standards through the benchmarking and impact assessment of services. This will also support several pilot projects which would demonstrate the improvements that E-Government brings to public services in real life situations.
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These Pilot projects would focus on themes such as the development of specifications so that electronic documents can be recognised, authenticated and processed by different agencies. This would demonstrate that new methods can deliver E-Government services to groups of citizens and/or businesses that do not currently use them. And finally create a single structure for the delivery of social assistance services, such as (child support, unemployment, disability benefits, pensions, homecare, etc.) which are often provided by different agencies, so as to provide a better service to those citizens who fully rely on them. The basic fact is that improving efficiency and effectiveness in any kind of activity requires knowledge of the current situation and specific targets for improvement that are often set by comparison with counterparts seen to be doing better in a particular area. Some countries that have already adopted the E-government model, are now taking a leading role in developing measurement techniques and benchmarks against which organisations can judge their 49
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administration, regular tax declarations; they manage the social security status of their
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performances. This way governments and public authorities can better improve their use of EGovernment tools, and deliver real improvements to citizens and businesses through them.
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References
Creating Security for E-Government Services. (2004). Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
agency for digital Opportunity and Promotion.
Chang E. Koh, V. R. (Vol. 12 No. 1, 2006). The importance of strategic readiness in an emerging e-government environment. Business Process Management , 22-33.
Deepak Bhatia, S. C. (2009). How Do Manual and E-Government Services Compare? Experiences from India. In Information and Communications for Development (pp. 6782). India.
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E-Government Top Grade Papers - Academic Assignment

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NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY

CITIZEN TAKE UP ................................................................................................................. 27 Familiarity ............................................................................................................................. 27

Making E-Government websites user-friendly ............................................................................. 43

information and communication technology to enable the government to

Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Consumer (G2C) Government-to-Business (G2B) Government-to-Government (G2G) Government-to-Employees (G2E)

servings for people are good like in United Arab Emirates.

TV or telephone are part of e-government setup.

E-government is a working methodology of government that could also be applied to

The above discussion is summarized in the following table.

THE IMPORTANCE AND OBJECTIVES OF e-Government

The stage wise working of e-government is expressed in the following table

As democracy is the most cherished and widely practiced form of government so

The next stride on route to government formation is voting. E-government employs e-

Differences in e-government in developed and underdeveloped countries:

profitable gain, thus reducing the overall bribe rate.

User evaluations of manual and e-government services:

Methodologies and Application of e-government:

Business and citizen satisfaction Preservation of public trust

Project name (organization) e-Europe, EU

Application of service relevance

National, Regional and Local

Web-based survey on Electronic Public Services

12 services was the subject of

closer analysis along with more

than 50 individual conversations were conducted

The risks that needed to be managed to achieve an e-government

Supply side barriers

People may be suspicious

incentives to explore the site willremain largely unused.

SUPPLY SIDE RISKS

E-Services and their Delivery

Electricity Fire service Gas

Public information and archiving,

and water supply.

Civilian agency services in Federal and state governments

information technology; postal and shipping; public health; telecommunications; transportation;

Firewall and VPN

efficiency and continuity of operations.

Making E-Government websites user-friendly

Agencies of the digital age want self-service citizens

The fundamental functionality

delivered across multiple channels.

There should be silos that restrict implementation efforts

1. What are the targeted users for the web channel?

2. What are the goals of this target audience?

There should be an ability to derive value

agency for digital Opportunity and Promotion.

Webber, A. E. (September 28, 2005). Making eGovernment Web Sites.

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