Rapid Development of

Information Technology in the 20th Century

1. Introduction
Historically, the term information technology referred to all the technologies associated with the
gathering, processing, storing, and dissemination of information. However, with the passage of time and
the progress of technologies, the term has acquired different connotations. The modern term,
Information Technology (IT), came into widespread use only in the late 1970s and is now used
generally to embrace both computer and communication technologies and their common basis –
microelectronic technology and all the related software technology.

Until the 1970s, computer and telecommunication technologies were still regarded as quite distinct.
However, powerful technology changes in microelectronics, software, optics and increasing integration
of telecommunications with computer technologies have made this distinction increasingly less
meaningful. Microelectronics technology has been the common basis both for rapid development and
the convergence of computer and telecommunications technologies. The shift from analogical to digital
technologies in telecommunications has led to switching and transmission systems increasingly
resembling computers and embedding an increasing amount of software. Many communications
facilities are now more or less like computers with special uses. In addition, with the development of
networking technology, communications between computers have expanded tremendously since the
early 1960s, when online computer systems were first developed. Together, these developments have
blurred the traditional distinctions between telecommunications and computer technologies and given
rise to the contemporary definition of information technology.

1.1 Evolution of Information Technology

Over the past fifty years, the evolution of information technology can be divided into three eras
(Fig. 1.1): Mainframe; PC (personal computer) plus LAN (local area network); and Internet computing.

Fig. 1.1 The Evolution of Information

Rapid Development of Information Technology in the 20th Century

1.2 The Era of Mainframe

The first functioning electronic digital computer, ENIAC (Fig. 1.2), was built in 1946 in the United
States. As the first entirely electronic calculating machine, it consisted of 30 separate units, weighed 30
tons, occupied 1,800 square feet, had 17,468 vacuum tubes, and could do nearly 400 multiplications
per second only. Thereafter, the decades from the 1950s to 1970s are deemed as the era for
organizational mainframe and minicomputers, i.e., the era of mainframe.

In the 1960s, business computing revolved around the mainframe, which performed batch-
processing tasks. Users submitted stacks of punched cards and waited for the printed results. Time-
shared approaches gave more people access to mainframes in the 1970s, and minicomputers gave
some people a less structured computer environment. Data communication technology linked the
computers together, but the mainframe was always the master in an unquestioned master/slave
relationship. The microprocessor brought a wave of personal computers and workstations, which freed
users from their dependence on expensive and overburdened mainframes and minicomputers. The
microcomputers and workstations were sometimes connected via networks for the purposes of
exchanging data/information and sharing resources, such as printers and disk storage. When smaller
computers were networked with mainframes, however, the master/slave relationship still ruled.

Fig. 1.2 The Birth of the Electronic Digital Computer

1.3 The Era of PCs + LANs

The first microprocessor (Fig. 1.3), which was invented by a young engineer, M. E. Hoff, Jr. in 1971
at Intel, a semiconductor company located in California, USA, changed the historical trace of
information technology development. Hoff invented an integrated circuit with 2,300 transistors that is
essentially equivalent to the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer, which paved the way for
embedding intelligence in inanimate objects as well as the personal computer. The CPU on a chip
became known as a microprocessor. Two memory chips were attached to the microprocessor: one to
move data in and out of the CPU and another to provide the program to drive the CPU. The
rudimentary general-purpose computer could not only run a complex calculator but also control an
elevator or a set of traffic lights, and perform many other tasks, depending on its program. This
invention has proved to be one of the most significant technological innovations of the 20th century.

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Rapid Development of Information Technology in the 20th Century

The first personal computer, “the Altair”, was developed in 1975. Two years later, Radio Shack
introduced the first personal computer with keyboard and CRT1 display. This was the first complete
personal computer to be marketed to the general public. IBM announced the IBM Personal Computer
(Fig. 1.4) and entered the personal computer market in 1981. An immediate success, the IBM PC
quickly became the industry standard, and was one of the reasons that Time Magazine chose the
"personal computer" as its 1982 ‘Man of the Year’. The PC also launched a whole industry of "IBM-
compatible" clones, software and accessory equipment. The IBM PC brought together all of the most
desirable features of a computer into one small machine. It offered 16 kilobytes of user memory
(expandable to 256 kilobytes), one or two floppy disks and an optional colour monitor. When designing
the PC, IBM contracted the production of its components to outside companies for the first time. The
processor chip came from Intel and the operating system, called DOS (Disk Operating System), came
from a 32-person company called Microsoft. This “outsourcing” entirely changed the face of the
computer industry.

Fig. 1.3 The First Microprocessor - Intel 4004B

Datapoint introduced the ARC system in 1977, which was the first commercially available Local
Area Network (LAN). There were three architectural components to the ARC: file processors,
application processors, and hubs, all connected with a coaxial cable. A revolution in microcomputer-
based network computing followed, gathering the benefits of all previous advances into a cohesive unit.
No matter what type of computing resource a user needs, network computing system makes it available
immediately. In its simplest form, a network computing system consists of computers connected to each
other and to users via a network. However, the rich potential offered by network computing systems
rests on the ability to access resources no matter what vendor they come from, and no matter where
they reside physically - as though a vast array of computers and software applications are on the user’s
desk. Yet the user can tap that array of resources in simple, intuitive ways. The computer industry had
to refine an enormous number of concepts to achieve this simplicity.

1
CRT-Cathode-Ray Tube

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Rapid Development of Information Technology in the 20th Century

Fig. 1.4 The First IBM Personal Computer

In the 1970s and 1980s, people had seen a rapid evolution of microprocessor technology. The
expeditious development of the microprocessor in the 1980s brought a major acceleration in
downsizing: the replacement of traditional mainframe and minicomputers with micro-based alternatives.
Computers of equal power to or greater power than the mainframe were able to sit comfortably on the
tops of desks or in laps. This trend also drove users to low-cost solutions based on PCs, LANs, network
servers, and multiple microprocessor-based systems. The 1980s marked the end of the first (traditional)
era of computer systems and the beginning of the second (micro-based PC and LAN). Compared with
other technologies in the last half of the 20th century, computer technology was experiencing the fastest
development, significantly changing the lives of human beings and making great contributions to
economic and social developments throughout the world.

1.4 The Era of Internet Computing

The rapid advance of microcomputers and the demands for communications between
microcomputers greatly stimulated the development of network computing and computer
communication systems. LAN technology rapidly developed in the second half of the 1980s.
Internetworking of LANs had been leading to the speedy development of Wide Area Networks (WANs)
technology during the 1980s and the early 1990s.

However, the project that established the foundation of the Internet started in 1969. Known as
ARPANET, it aimed to build a computer network enabling researchers around the country to share
ideas. The initial plan of the ARPANET project was to link four sites: the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA), where the first "node" was located; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the
Stanford Research Institute; and the University of Utah. There were nearly two dozen sites connected
by 1971, including computers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard
University. Three years later, there were 62 and, by 1981, more than 200. The ARPANET was the first
packet-switched network to connect heterogeneous computers. It made it possible for computers of
very different size, type and speed to exchange information for the first time. The ARPANET, however,
was not initially an Internet, because it connected hosts rather than networks.

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Rapid Development of Information Technology in the 20th Century

By the early 1970s, other countries wanted to join in. The ARPANET underwent many changes as
it reflected developments in networking and, eventually, in internetworking. These developments
allowed connections between multiple networks and paved the way for the Internet. The ARPANET
network opened to civilian access in 1983. In 1984, the ARPANET was split into two networks: the
ARPANET for research-oriented activities, and the Defense Data Network (DDN) for military operational
activities. The ARPANET itself was phased out in 1990 in favour of the more advanced NSFNET
backbone, a network established by the National Science Foundation of the United States of America.

As personal computers became cheaper and easier to use in the late 1980s, anyone with a
modem could get online. NSFNET then served as the technical backbone of the Internet. The Internet
is the network of networks. It is a unique collection of networks throughout the world. The computers on
the Internet use compatible communications standards and share the ability to contact each other and
exchange data. In the 1990s, the Internet became very popular and was embraced by people of
different cultures and backgrounds. Users of the Internet communicate mainly via electronic mail (e-
mail); via Telnet, a process that allows them to login to a remote host; and via implementations of the
File Transfer Protocol (FTP), a protocol that allows them to transfer information from a remote host to
their local site.

The existence of the Internet significantly facilitates the sharing of resources among participating
organizations, which includes government agencies, educational institutions, and private corporations.
It promotes collaboration among researchers and provides a test bed for new developments in
networking. Global internetworking and the information superhighway have thus been put on the
agenda, and the concepts of national information infrastructure (NII) and global information
infrastructure (GII) are gradually being formulated. In fact, the Internet, as a fundamental framework of
global and national information infrastructure, provides great opportunities for improving and reshaping
interactions among the three constituents of society: government, citizens and businesses.

The rapid development and popularization of Internet technology in the 1990s brought the use of
information technology into a new era. Thus, e-commerce, e-government, and e-society, which are
significant advances of the information age, have been booming within the past ten years. How to make
full use of the information resource on the Internet to assist organizations in achieving their strategic
objectives has become a primary challenge.

It is anticipated that the next dominant computing paradigm will combine the Internet, peer-to-peer
and wireless computing. Many experts predict that the next major revolution in business computing will
be called Grid Computing, which will provide access within the palms of users’ hands to virtually every
known electronic resource2.

2. Evolution of the Contents Processed by Computers

Computers were originally designed for the purpose of scientific calculations. Computers, however,
are now commonplace in schools, offices and homes and are used to store, process and retrieve
enormous quantities of information for an incredible variety of purposes. Computers are no longer just
calculating machines, as implied by the name, but are also tools for communications and are also able
to act as audio and video players and so forth. The content being processed by computers and
communications facilities has experienced fundamental changes over the past fifty years (Fig. 1.5).

2
Delphi Group: "Global Grid: The Quiet Revolution." April 2002

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Rapid Development of Information Technology in the 20th Century

2.1 Data Management

In the early stages of computer applications, computing power was largely concentrated in data
processing (DP), such as the first census data processing system and the first computer payroll
system, deployed in the USA in 1951 and 1954, respectively. At the beginning, data processing was
focused on batch processing. With the development of distributing computing, real-time and/or on-time
data processing was developed and widely used by government and business. In this stage, the main
content processed and managed by computers was data.

2.2 Information Management

With the development of computer technologies, the focus of computer applications development
was directed towards data and information management, which is used to support administration and
management of an organization, as well as its decision-making. During this period, numerous so-called
management information systems (MIS) and decision-making support systems (DSS) were developed
worldwide, in particular, in developed countries. In this stage, the main content processed and
managed by computers had shifted from data to information.

2.3 Knowledge Management

With the advent of the Internet age, particularly the information explosion on the Internet, the
content to be processed and managed by computers has been shifted again, from data/information to
knowledge. It is estimated that today there are more than 10 billion web pages existing on the Internet;
and the figure will continuously increase by about 2 million pages a day. The information explosion on
the Internet has put forward a serious challenge to all the people in the world. That is: how to make
adequate use of the information available on the Internet so that the information can be transformed to
organizational and/or personal knowledge which brings value and benefit to all. It is in this sense that
people worldwide have recognized the advent of the age of the information economy and the knowledge
economy. Thus, knowledge management becomes a significant part of the information age.

Fig. 1.5 The Evolution of Contents Processed by Computers and

The Guiding Principles in Government Informatization

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Rapid Development of Information Technology in the 20th Century

It is worth mentioning that the three-phased evolution, with regard to the content processed and
managed by computers, does not mean that data, information, and knowledge management are
exclusive of each other, nor does it mean that data and information management are less important
than before. The three-phased evolution only describes the focal shift in computer applications.

3. Evolution of the Guiding Principles of Government

Informatization
With the progress of technologies, the guiding principles in the use of information technology also
experienced significant changes over the past fifty years (Fig. 1.5). Recognizing these changes is
crucial for the leaders of governments. It can help them to formulate their visions for e-government and
work out government policies and strategies for its development.

3.1 Computerization

Before the middle 1980s, while dealing with either data processing systems or management
information systems, people actually had been making various efforts to computerize their business
processes. This involved using computers to automate or aid business activities wherever computers
could play a role for the sake of efficiency and productivity. The guiding principle, and the most popular
term in government informatization in this period, was “computerization”, i.e., just computerizing
existing business processes as much as possible.

3.2 Business Process Reengineering

After PCs and LAN technology became popular in the later 1980s, distributed processing and
network computing were made available to almost everybody. These technical advances made people
rethink the guiding principles of computer applications in an organization. Information technology often
provided new ways of doing business, and sometimes it was an essential factor in completely
transforming a business process. Hence, the focus of computer use shifted from the acquisition of
computer equipment and implementation of systems to optimal exploitation by means of adjustments to
procedures, organization and staff utilization. Accordingly, a shift in emphasis took place from efficiency
and productivity gains by automating routine tasks, to achievement of effectiveness expressed in terms
of applying new solutions to traditional tasks and providing solutions to new tasks. Thus, the application
of computers in organizations were redirected from computerizing existing business processes of
organizations to redesigning business processes and/or reengineering organizations so as to take full
advantage of and to maximize the benefit from information technology.

During the late 1980s and 1990s, the guiding principle and the most popular term in government
informatization in this period became “Re-engineering”. Many government agencies and enterprises
were quickly restructuring their organizations to make them computer-friendly and implementing more
appropriate procedures compatible with an IT environment. In this process, the main efforts include:

• Eliminating layers of traditional management;

• Compressing job categories;

• Creating work teams;

• Training employees in multilevel skills;

• Shortening and simplifying various business processes; and

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Rapid Development of Information Technology in the 20th Century

• Streamlining administration.

The results have been impressive. The success of business process re-engineering greatly
streamlined the organizational structure, improved management, raised effectiveness and efficiency,
and boosted productivity. As a matter of fact, in the United States, the success of business process re-
engineering prepared necessary conditions for the emerging of the new economy in the 1990s.

3.3 Transformation

The popularization and application of the Internet technologies have caused another big leap in
making full use of today’s information technology. By means of the Internet, people are able to acquire
any information and digitally communicate with anyone, anywhere and at any time. The various
information systems that governments have developed over the past years can now be extended to
reach businesses and citizens with the help of the Internet, no matter where they are located. Hence,
besides providing a public information service to businesses and citizens, government can also provide
various online public services to business and citizens through the Internet. In addition, the Internet can
help government in improving its interactions with businesses and citizens, while providing a sound
basis for establishing a new type of partnership relationship among these three bodies in the
information age. Therefore, government informatization is no longer simply an internal business of
government. Whenever an IT project is going to be put on the agenda, government must take its
internal demands and the external interactions with business and citizens as a whole into consideration.
Projects dealing with government informatization are no longer an issue just for the local area networks
of government agencies. Instead, they must be planned and designed under the architecture of the
Internet and under the circumstance of globalization.

Today’s government environment, which embraces enterprises, citizens and globalization, is totally
different from the previous one (government alone). Based on entirely new technical possibilities,
governments are facing a task of transformation. That is, in order to meet the needs of the information
age, government should take advantage of the advanced information technology, including the Internet,
to reinvent the existing modality and organizational structure of government, which was created for the
industrial age and has existed for about two hundred years. This is the transformation of government
and, to a large extent, a transformation by informatization. In other words, the task is to construct a
government of the information age by means of modern information technology.

Accordingly, the guiding principle and the most popular term in government informatization in this
period is “transformation”. The transformation process is, in fact, the process of development and
formulation of e-government. If a government claims that it offers an e-government but there are no
changes taking place in government organizational structure or in government business processes,
then it can be concluded that the e-government project of the government is certainly not a successful
one and the role of modern information technology is not in full play.

This three-phased analysis of the evolution of the guiding principles in government informatization
does not mean that computerization, re-engineering and transformation are exclusive of each other, or
that computerization and re-engineering are less important than transformation. The stress here is that
a government should analyse its mandate, its functions and its entire business so as to formulate a
complete set of views and visions on how to give full play to modern information technology while
planning its e-government projects.

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 Government Informatization

1. Introduction
With the advent of the information age, information technology has increasingly become an
indispensable part of any government. Its significance is far beyond the understanding of many people.
The development of e-government, on the basis of government informatization, has been the main
trend in the use of modern information technology in the public sector. E-government is a self-
explanatory term for the use of modern information and communication technology wherever possible
in government to reconstruct the government structure, to re-engineer business processes, to
computerize various executive and operational activities, and to provide better services to its clients so
as to establish a government of the information age. Although the concept of e-government was
popularized in the 1990s (first put forth in 1992 by Mr. Clinton, the former President of the United
States, and extensively accepted around the middle 1990s), government informatization has been the
subject of a long-term effort for many governments over the past fifty years or so.

The use of information technology in the public sector can be traced back to the early 1950s. In
1951, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly built the first commercial computer in the United States called
UNIVAC. The U.S. Census Department became their first customer. In 1954, the first computer payroll
system was also deployed in the United States. Since then, computers and government entered into an
indissoluble bond.

In many countries, government is the single largest user of information technology, and, in many
developing countries, it is the predominant consumer of information technology products. This is
because government is the largest owner and processor of public information in the society. The
current endeavour and effort of government informatization worldwide is focused on the following four
objectives:

1. To pursue higher effectiveness, efficiency and productivity.

2. To build up a more transparent, honest and clean government.

3. To provide better services to businesses and citizens.

4. To establish new types of partnerships with business and citizens in order to build a
more democratic and people-centred society.

Figure 1.1 summarizes the position and illustrates what can be achieved by the application of
modern information technology to government activities.
Government Informatization

F
i
g
.

2
Figure 1.1 The Role of Modern Information Technology in Government

2. Largest Owner and Processor of Public Information

Government is usually, the biggest public information owner, distributing vast amounts of
information used by all circles of the public. In many developing countries, it is often the only producer
of relevant economic and social information. Making information accessible to the public has become
an important part of public services to the citizens. Information resource managers within government
agencies are the key participants in general civil services. Experiences from industrialized and newly
industrialized countries show that public policies, which enable efficient private access to public data, are
key ingredients in achieving competitiveness.

Government exists to serve its citizens. In fact, one of a government’s primary activities is
recordkeeping. To a large extent, the public administration process is virtually a process of
data/information processing. Government authorities collect and process various data and information –
on individuals, families, organizations, and companies. Then on the basis of these data and pieces of
information, governments produce new information for the public, such as, policies, strategies, plans,
regulations, and also provide various services to the public. Essentially, information technology is used
to support the information processing of governments, including data gathering, storing, processing,
dissemination and utilization.

Moving elements of information efficiently is one of the major challenges in modern computing. It
could also be one of the primary impediments in making greater use of communications and computer
capabilities in the public sector. Before and after text, data, graphs, images, or voices are manipulated
they must be moved many times. They must be captured, stored in and retrieved from memory,
displayed on screens, copied, and sent to remote sites.

The use of information technology has been an absolute requirement in the development of public
administration and management. Thus, it can be said that modern governance and public
administration cannot be productive, effective and efficient without the support of modern information
technology.

At a fundamental level, information technology is changing or even eliminating many distinctions

between reports, publications, databases, records, and the like. Information technology now permits

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Government Informatization

information dissemination on a decentralized basis that is cost-effective at low-levels of demand. Many

types of public information, such as administrative, managerial, technical, statistical, scientific, and
referential, may best be stored and disseminated by electronic means. For example, national census
and statistical reports could be made available on optical disks and made accessible through the
Internet to anybody. Electronic and network distribution of government documents and increasing public
access to government data are being developed very fast in many countries. Such information systems
allow users to search, locate, view and download government reports, studies, computer software, data
files and databases, and CD-ROMs, with information being updated regularly. There is no doubt that
effective use of information technology can make governments work better while costing less.

Many governments have found that they can provide better services to their clients by taking
advantage of the revolution in computer and communications systems. For example, an integrated
revenue information system will improve tax data available to collection employees in the field; and
revenue officers will be able to receive cases more quickly and dispose of them sooner. A system using
distributed computing architecture and the Internet to automate and modernize the tax collection
process will enable the treasury department to collect tax more efficiently, which is, of course, a benefit
to all government agencies.

There are, therefore, at least three reasons why government informatization is crucial for any
government to reach its objectives of economic and social development. First, given the economic
importance of the public sector in any country, productivity increases in the public sector would entail
significant gains for the economy as a whole. The public sector accounts for a large per cent of total
employment, final consumption expenditure, and gross domestic fixed capital formation. Second, the
public sector usually is the biggest and most wide-ranging collector of public data and information.
These data range from economic and social activities to natural and geographic resources. Third, in an
increasingly information-intensive global economy, well-functioning government information systems
can facilitate access to global knowledge and international databases and the creation of new options
for mobilizing and using local knowledge and information resources.

3. The Role of Government: Stimulator of the Information

Society
Clearly, government is more than simply a user of information technology. Every government has
to chart policies and strategies to exploit its information resources, to develop its information
infrastructure, and to promote the utilization of information systems for the purposes of achieving more
effective growth of public services. Failure to initiate effective and timely action will have serious
ramifications for the ability of a government to stimulate effective social and economic development
and the formulation of an information society.

The development of an information infrastructure, information resources, and information systems

has to be planned and managed. This is true for any organization, not just national, local and municipal
governments. The planning and management of vast information resources are activities that are
developing, becoming more significant and being combined into a strategic sector in the economies of
many countries. In some developing countries, planning and management of information resources are
either in infancy or in a state of disarray. Lack of tradition and experience in planning and management
of information resources can have a catastrophic impact on the whole process of social and economic
development.

In all countries, the leadership role of government is increasing the promotion, enhancement and
proliferation of information technology industries, information service industries, and information system
development. In many developing countries, the government is the only existing option for promoting

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these vital industries and systems. Failure of government to exercise its leadership mandate would be
disastrous for these sectors.

In some developing countries, government is the primary supporter and stimulator of basic and
applied research in information systems and technologies. In other developing countries, basic research
in technology and systems is virtually non-existent. The absence of efforts in applied research is
seriously hampering the ability of these countries to benefit from the rapid changes in information
technology and information systems that are taking place.

In this context, governments can provide strategies and policies pertinent to the management of the
development and operation of the national information infrastructure, information systems, and
information resources. They can establish methodologies for information systems development and
standardize and coordinate relevant resources and reserves. They can efficiently plan, integrate and
develop the human resources needed for their information infrastructure and systems. They can also
establish procurement rules and methods, and set the tone for emerging legal and regulatory issues. In
addition, popularizing computer literature in schools is an important long-term strategy.

4. Evolution of Government Informatization

In the early stages of government informatization, the use of information technology in the public
sector was developed in two dimensions: office automation and information systems. The first
dimension (i.e., office automation) aspires to raise efficiency and productivity of office business. The
second aims at organizing and utilizing data and information to support administration and management
as well as policy development and decision-making, so as to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and
productivity of an organization as a whole, and to achieve informed decision-making.

Office automation consists mainly of three components: word/text processing, data processing and
calculation, and communications. Word/text processing technology includes word processors,
electronic editors, photocopying machines, scanners, printers, plotters, project panels, and desktop
publishing. Capture devices (OMR, OCR1 and digitizer) and mass storage support (magnetic, optical,
CD-ROM, WORM, CD-R/W2) are designed for accelerating data input and storage. Database and
spreadsheet software are used for data processing and calculation in an office environment. Multi-
function telephones, facsimile machines, electronic mail, electronic conference, etc., are the tools
provided by information technology to improve communication between offices. In addition to the three
aspects, some other applications of computer software, such as presentation, graphics, and a variety of
business software, are also extensively used to improve the efficiency and productivity of office
business.

An information system is a mechanism used for acquiring, filing, storing, and retrieving an
organized body of knowledge. Generally speaking, an information system is composed of computing
hardware, software, and communication facilities. These are tangible portions of an information system.
The intangible portion of an information system, which is very crucial and usually neglected, is the
organizational issue of an information system, called orgware. User requirements analysis, data
capturing and cleaning, data maintenance and updating, information dissemination and utilization, etc.,
all need to be well planned and organized. Any information system, no matter how advanced its
hardware and software are, cannot possibly be successful unless management and organizational
issues are a top concern.

1
OMR – Optic Marker Reader, OCR - Optic Character Recognition.
2
CD-ROM – Compact Disk-Read Only Memory, WORM – Writable Once Read Many, CD-R/W –
Compact Disk-Read/Write.

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The integration of microcomputers and other electronic office facilities was one of the main trends
of office automation in the 1990s. A typical example is the first wave of smart office equipment shown
on the market. The software allowed stand–alone computers to send and receive messages, including
binary or editable files or standard facsimiles, using a mail–enabled application and a fax modem.
Uniting computers and telephones into one logical unit is another example. In its simplest form, call
control lets the user’s computer control telephone functions. Software and a user–friendly interface
simplify calls, transfers, and conference calling. Auto dialing for single–party and multiparty calls can be
integrated with information databases or an organization’s directories to support custom applications.
Moving to unified messaging was another trend of microcomputers being used in office automation. The
day also arrived when an end-user could retrieve voice mail, electronic mail and facsimile messages
using a telephone or a personal computer. In fact, office automation and information systems have
been finally integrated with the efforts of government informatization to reshape governments, not only to
pursue high efficiency, quality and productivity, but also to provide good services to business and
citizens as well.

As described in the module ‘Rapid Development of Information Technology in the 20th Century’, the
contents being processed and managed by computers as well as the guiding principles of computer
applications have all significantly evolved over the past fifty years. In the meantime, the concepts on
government informatization also changed dramatically.

Figure 1.2 Evolution of Government Informatization

As shown in Figure 1.2, before the Internet became popular in the 1990s, government
informatization was focused on government’s internal businesses, either computerizing government’s
business activities or re-engineering government business processes. This can be characterized as
government-to-government interaction (G-to-G, or G2G). Many of these G2G systems are well known,
such as taxation, customs, and financial management, statistics and census data gathering, elections,
development planning, health, education and welfare, social security, land management and
agriculture, and so on. Other areas include police, national security and defence and research.

With the advent of the Internet, government began to extend its internal systems outwards so they
could reach enterprises and citizens, providing better services to them. For this purpose, government-
to-business (G-to-B, or G2B) and government-to-citizens (G-to-C, or G2C) were put on the agenda of

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government informatization and have since become central to endeavour of e-government. The
significance of e-government will be discussed in the next sections.

5. Three Levels of Government Information Systems

Government, like many other organizations, can be viewed as a three-level entity (Figure 1.3): (i)
strategic, (ii) managerial or administrative (tactical), and (iii) operational. Each level represents a
different level of control and has a different level of data requirement and perspective on the
government.

Figure 1.3 Government as a Three-Level Entity

The strategic level is the highest level either in a government organization or a government as a
whole. This level is responsible for the sector’s or entire government’s policy and direction; it is primarily
oriented toward functions rather than toward processes and tasks. Strategic data are highly
concentrated and usually contain little detail. In many cases, data at this level may be limited to critical
success factors (i.e., key numbers or graphs which indicate the basic situation and represent the
trends). Strategic data are a mix of internally generated and externally obtained information.

The managerial or administrative level controls and organizes the actions of an organization. It
also performs the supervisory activities aimed at ensuring correct input processing, and monitors
processing rates and quality. The managerial level is responsible for the tactical implementation of the
policies and directions received from the strategic level. It is oriented towards functions and processes.
Managerial data are more fluid and limited than those of the operational level; the people at the
managerial level are more dependent upon information than data. Managerial and administrative data
are almost solely derived from internal sources, and they reflect the operating status of the
management conducted by the organization. The data provides the basis for the day–to–day monitoring
of operations and may be used at either a summary or more detailed level. In most cases, data at this
level are extracted from operational reports. Managerial data needs are not as immediate as those of
the operational level.

The operational level is data and processing–oriented. Its inputs are specific and derived from
current data events. It is the operational level which is the predominant recipient of data in the
organization. The operational units and their related managerial overseer are fixed in focus; their

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horizons are limited to their own specific activities. The operational level is primarily oriented towards
processing and task, rather than towards functions.

These operational areas are usually the first to be systematized and computerized. Their activities
are particularly suited to procedure and systemization, and they are already subject to high degrees of
standardization and normalization.

Corresponding to the three levels of government organization, government information systems

also can be divided into three different categories: (i) operational systems, (ii) management information
systems, and (iii) decision-making support systems.

5.1 Operational Systems

Operational systems are the systems which support people at the operational level. They are
characterized as being transaction-based, cyclically processed, usually batch-oriented, and usually
operating in a current time frame. That is, the transactions are accumulated and processed on a
periodic basis. The files created from those transactions represent the accumulation period and are
designed for expediency of processing rather than for the production of information. Operational
systems are built on a function-by-function basis or functional collection-by-functional collection basis,
and each system-supported function is traditionally called an application.

Typical operational systems in a government include the statistical data processing system,
accounting system, payment processing system, revenue system, customs system and the like.

5.2 Management Information Systems (MIS)

Systems at this level are developed on a client-specific basis and are used to facilitate and control
the day-to-day business of the organization. These systems are customized to the needs of the user
and are usually under the control of the user.

Management information systems are broader based and more horizontal in nature, and they
usually arise from the operational files of government agencies. There are applications within the
management information systems, but, in contrast to applications in the operational systems, they are
reportage rather than processing in nature. Existing data are arranged and ordered to provide the
control, coordination, and planning functions necessary to the business.

Examples of management information systems in a government are financial management

information systems, personnel management information systems, programmes/projects management
information systems, civil registration systems, enterprise registration systems, motor vehicle
registration systems, passport management systems, patent management information systems, land
management information systems, police information systems, judicial information systems, information
systems for national defense and security, and information systems for various public sectors.

5.3 Decision-making Support Systems (DSS)

Emphasis in the use of decision-making support systems is on providing support to decision

makers in terms of increasing the effectiveness of the decision-making efforts. Generally, decision-
making support systems are used for strategic and sometimes tactical situations. The primary
components of a decision-making support system are a database management system, a model-base
management system, and a dialogue generation and management system. Obviously, decision-making
support systems are usually built upon the operational systems and management information systems
existing within an organization.

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Government Informatization

These systems are retrospective in nature in that they are concerned with the past. They are also
projective in nature in that they project future trends from the past events. The data in decision support
systems tend to be less precise and more statistically oriented. That is, they tend to look at the whole
(macro) situation rather than individual events.

Examples of decision–making support systems in a government are national, sectoral, and

urban/regional planning information systems, natural resources information systems, laws and
regulations information systems, scientific and technological information systems, social and economic
information systems, demography information systems, human resource information systems,
executive information systems, and so forth. Artificial intelligence and expert systems have been
developed rapidly as tools to support decision-making.

6. Two Special Types of Government Information Systems

There are two special types of government information systems which have great potential in
public administration and are worth mentioning here: the document management and retrieval system
(DMRS) and geographic information system (GIS).

6.1 Document Management and Retrieval System (DMRS)

DMRS is being groomed as the pre-eminent workhorse application for manipulating data across the
government. It will support text, image, audio and video data in real-time fashion and provide users with
much more flexibility than database applications when it comes to organizing and viewing critical data.
What chiefly distinguishes DMRS from DBMS (database management system) is its ability to manage
semi-structured or unstructured information, such as the running text in a word processing file or a bit–
mapped pattern in a faxed or scanned drawing. In other words, DMRSs have the potential to manage
the vast majority of information handled by any organization. DBMSs, in contrast, work principally with
character text that has been broken down into rigidly defined fields and records. A brief introduction to
the modern document management information system is given in the module ‘Document
Management’.

6.2 Geographic Information System (GIS)

GIS was originated in the mid–1960s. The origins of GIS and remote-sensing started at a similar
point in time. However, the growth of remote-sensing in the 1960s and 1970s vastly outpaced the
growth in GIS. GIS was virtually unknown until the early 1980s and was often seen as an add-on to
remote-sensing systems – an add-on providing geographic information only. However, people soon
found out that GIS tools can be used for the purpose of combining spatial data obtained from different
sources and relating to different subjects. The power of GIS comes from its ability to look at entities in
their geographic context and examine relationships between entities. GIS offers the possibility of
visualizing events at a much more spatially detailed level. Thus, a GIS database is much more than a
collection of objects and attributes. It has long been understood that visualization – e.g., maps, graphs,
charts and illustrations – helps the human mind to assimilate and understand information. In addition,
GIS lets users make decisions based on correct spatial context. The rapid development of
microcomputer and software technologies has greatly benefited the proliferation and popularization of
GIS.

GIS is increasingly being employed within public administration for purposes other than those
involving traditional surveying and property management. Its applications are becoming more common
in sectors such as environmental impact assessment, land management, natural resource
management, urban/regional planning, civil registration, population census and demography,

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optimization of transportation, etc. GIS is used mainly as a tool of planning and decision–making
support systems for public administration and management.

Although GIS represents a powerful tool, until the local computer community can support this type
of sophisticated application, it will be difficult for developing countries to use because it is technology-
intensive. Government agencies which have a critical need should also be aware that GIS is a data-
intensive approach to planning, and if local planning data are of poor quality or nonexistent, GIS does
not represent a good use of an agency’s computer, and human or financial resources. Prior to installing
a complex GIS application, a government agency should develop an overall plan for an information
system, computer application, and data support, even possibly providing management and end-users
with the experience of simple applications.

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1. Introduction
The rapid development of information technology in the twentieth century, in particular, the
Internet, greatly promoted the development of government online and e-government. According to a
study carried out by UNESCO in the year 2000, 89% of the 62 countries studied (39 developing
countries and 23 developed countries) were to some extent developing e-government and attached
great importance to it. As a matter of fact, almost all the industrialized countries have put the
development of e-government on their political agenda.

As early as in 1992, when Mr. Bill Clinton was elected as the President of the United States of
America, he declared that his government would be an e-government. The goal of his administration’s
endeavour on e-government was to transform the Federal Government of the United States into a
government which is paperless and more effective, efficient and productive; it would be re-engineered
and its business processes would be redesigned. After four consecutive years of effort, remarkable
outcomes had been achieved: by January of 1996, the employees of the Federal Government had been
reduced by 240,000; more than 2,000 federal offices were closed; about 200 federal projects and
executive bodies were removed; and the expenses of the Federal Government had decreased by 118
billion US dollars. As far as public services to business and citizens were concerned, more than 3,000
new standards for the public services had been established by 200 Federal Departments and Agencies;
16,000 pages or more of administration regulations were nullified; and 31,000 plus pages of
government rules were simplified. The successful development of e-government in the United States
had a far-reaching impact on the development of e-government worldwide.

There are two main reasons why e-government has become so important to government leaders
worldwide. The first is that, because government is the largest owner and processor of public
information and the largest user of information technology in a society, the effective use of information
technology can demonstrably improve the effectiveness, efficiency and productivity of the government
as well as build up a more simplified, transparent, accountable and competitive government. The
second reason is that modern information technology provides good opportunities for governments at
all levels to establish a citizen-centred and service-oriented government, while stimulating the
participation of people in the decision-making and policy development of the government. Modern
technology can help to build up a new type of partnership among the stakeholders of society and this
should ultimately help to promote democracy, economic development and social progress.

The development of e-commerce and the new economies also puts heavy pressure on
governments and becomes a primary driving force of e-government development. Business and
citizens look to governments to do what has been done by other enterprises in the development of e-
commerce. They hope that the development of e-government will remove bureaucracy and simplify and
integrate government business procedures so that it is easier for them to deal with the government.
They also hope that it will help to make the government more transparent, honest and accountable In
fact; the main desire of business and citizens in the information age is the transformation of the existing
multi-departmental, multi-hierarchic, and control-oriented government into an intelligent, service-
oriented, and customer-centred one.
Government Online and e-Government

In addition, many governments hope to take advantage of e-government to catch up with the
opportunities of the new economies by attracting enterprises associated with them to invest into the
local economy, as has been successfully achieved in Barcelona, Spain and Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
They also hope to reverse industrial decline and promote regeneration through the intelligent use of e-
government and other ICT systems encouraged by examples such as Knowsley in Merseyside of the
United Kingdom and Bremen in Germany.

2. Benefits of Government Online

Putting government online follows naturally from the continuous use of information technology in
governments. In fact, there are two factors driving the development. The first one is that, since the
1950s, governments of many developed countries have been developing their government information
systems, and by the early 1990s, to a large extent, they had computerized their government businesses
wherever computers could be of any help. The second factor is the Internet, which became available to
the public and popularized in the early 1990s so that anyone with a PC could have access to and enjoy
various information services either from businesses or governments. As a result, getting government
online is seen as an important step in the development of government and community interaction; its
aim is the improvement of service quality and increasing the responsiveness of the public service. For
many areas in government, the online environment will enable better programme outcomes. Online
technology has the potential to break down traditional barriers faced by clients of government and
contribute more broadly to service quality beyond just the impact on individual agencies and their
service charters.

The benefits of government online are becoming obvious, and include the following which have
been achieved by many governments.

• Expanded Government Services. Government online can address the inequities of

regional/rural areas of a country in accessing government information and services. It can
break down the barrier of distance or mobility that some clients face. Online service
delivery can complement and enhance existing traditional service channels for such
clients, and provide around-the-clock access to government from almost anywhere.
Government online will drive the development of a seamless national approach to the
provision of online services; and, there will be no need for the users of these services to
understand how government is structured - they will be able to interact with government
easily and safely.

• Simplified Procedures of Dealing with Government. Government online will remove the
need to understand the structure of a government and the distinction between its tiers. As
a matter of fact, it is not at all important for a client of government to understand how the
government is structured but rather how to access government services. With a traditional
government, business in particular has had to navigate the complex structure of
government in order to gain the necessary information or service - often having to deal
with more than one government agency or jurisdiction to resolve a business issue.

• Transparent Government. By means of modern information technology, various

government information systems can be developed which will be able to record, if
necessary, all the data and information within any government business processes.
Government online will enable these data and information to be open and accessible to
the public by means of online government information services, and accordingly,
government businesses will become observable to the public.

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• Reduced Government Costs. Government online will continue to provide opportunities to

reduce the costs of interacting between citizens, business and government, and speed up
operational processes for both business and government. In the short term, moving
information and services online will require new investments by government agencies
while retaining traditional service delivery channels. In the longer run, however, greater
use of the Internet will reduce overall costs of government.

Government must develop more and better services online, i.e., integrated services that break
down the barriers of government structure and jurisdiction, and services that meet the real needs of
individuals and businesses. Through concerted action between government departments, industry and
the community, the opportunities that are within reach can be realized and shown to be realistic.

3. Objectives of Government Online

According to United Nations Public Administration Network1, in 2001, among the 190 UN Member
States, the national governments of 169 countries, i.e., 88.9 percent had used the Internet in some
capacity to deliver information and services. For 16.8 percent of these governments, however, their
presence on the Internet was just beginning to emerge, and the official information offered was often
static in content and limited to only a few independent websites. More encouragingly, 34.2 percent of
the countries had an enhanced Internet presence and users could have access to an increasing
number of official websites that provide advanced features and dynamic information. This was the
situation then for the majority of Member States which used the Internet in 2001. However, only slightly
fewer, 30 percent, of the countries surveyed, offered interactive online services where users have
access to regularly updated content, and can, among other things, download documents and send e-
mails to government officials. The capacity to conduct transactions online, where citizens can actually
use the Internet to pay for a national government service, fee or tax obligation, was available in 17
countries or only 9 percent of the United Nations Member States.

Tremendous efforts have been made for the development of government online, particularly in
developed and newly industrialized countries. For example, the Australian Government made
commitments to

1. Deliver all appropriate Commonwealth services electronically on the Internet by 2001,

complementing - not replacing - existing written, telephone, fax and counter services.

2. Establish a Government Information Centre through the Office for Government Online as a
main point of access to information about government services.

3. Establish electronic payment as the normal means for Commonwealth payments by 2000.

4. Establish a government-wide intranet for secure online communication.

Government online is aimed to extend the benefits of the information revolution currently being
experienced by individuals, communities and businesses in their dealings with each other to their
dealings with government.

The interfaces between government and its clients used to lie with windows and counters, offices
of government and various telecommunication devices, such as telephones, facsimiles and telegraphs.
While face-to-face and telephone services have some limitations on availability, technological

1
www.unpan.org - the United Nations Public Administration Network.

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approaches offer the potential of around-the-clock access to government from any suitable electronic
device and from any location. The Internet frees users from having to deal with government at a
government office, and wireless communications solutions will provide even greater freedom.
Government online can aim to make the best use of available and emerging technology so that high-
quality, low-cost government services are available around the clock to anyone.

Of course, the online environment does not replace all the traditional ways of dealing with
government, and service quality in these traditional areas should be continuously maintained and
improved. At present, government online can provide opportunities to complement and enhance
traditional service delivery, by enhancing the range and quality of services that can be obtained from an
office or over the telephone. Users of government services should be naturally attracted to dealing with
government in an online manner because they should be more sure of finding what they want online
and more confident that the quality of the services will make the effort worthwhile.

In a traditional environment, clients often find it hard to access the full range of services that are of
interest or relevance to them. Sometimes, services are even hard to identify and locate. Consequently,
it can often be impractical for clients to access all services that they require. For this reason,
government online aims to tailor public services so that they are easy to use and allow people to
interact with government in a way which is natural to them.

In an online environment, the task of locating and identifying services will be made straightforward
and intuitive. Separate services will be integrated. Multiple approaches to accessing information and
services will be designed so that people who look for services targeted towards their sector, group or
community can easily find the information they need. Others may think in terms of subject matter, or
may expect services classified by their stage in life. Therefore, the creation of an online environment
aims to allow individuals to tailor and select their own approach to government.

Government online initiatives also aim to bring government closer to people to encourage people
to interact with government. Even though government agencies have taken efforts to improve the
quality of service to their clients, government can still seem remote to many people. The online
environment will allow government to reach out to individuals, communities and businesses to provide a
direct channel to government. People will have the ability to customize their online channel with
government, to make it more useful, familiar, convenient and in many instances, more transparent. This
will lead the communities to have a greater familiarity with government policy and programmes while
participating in the processes of policy development and decision-making.

4. Government Information Online

Information is a valuable resource. However, it must be developed so that it can better serve the
users. The traditional methods were books, journals, indexes, libraries and archives. Favoured today,
by contrast, are digitization and computerization of data and information in forms such as digitized
documents, digitized images, audios and videos, databases, data mining and data warehouse. Thus,
large amounts of data/information can be stored, reprocessed, retrieved and transmitted effectively,
promptly, easily and widely.

ICT also facilitates government information services in other ways. In democratic societies, one of
the government’s principal responsibilities is to report on its affairs to its citizens. The administration has
the duty to inform individuals of their rights and obligations and to maintain good relations with them. An
individual citizen’s understanding of the public service depends not on its outcomes only, but also on the
way in which he/she is informed. Therefore, the ability to make information accessible and intelligible to
the public is an important component of government services to citizens and a powerful means to

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facilitate popular participation in the processes of government.

ICT is changing the ways of public information. Electronic distribution of government

documentation and increasing public access to government information are being developed very
quickly in many countries where governments have set up websites and connected databases and
information systems to the Internet, thus enabling the public to search, locate, view and download
government reports, studies, computer software, data files and databases. ICT promotes the sharing of
information resources and allows governments to provide more and better information services cost-
effectively.

By improving public access to information, ICT has helped to foster transparency and accountability
in government. In the past two decades, IT has also played a major role in helping spread the concept
of a more efficient and responsive public sector, based on service management. Emphasis on this
concept has also led to the extensive use of ICT tools for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of
public services.

The experience of many governments shows that one of the most important and key features of
government presence online is the fact that comprehensive and authoritative public information can be
made available - the quality and quantity of public information services provided online should be fully
consistent, complete and up to date.

In many government portals, a minimum, common set of information about agencies and their
services is readily available online, and it is important to ensure that any information released to the
public in printed form is also available online at the same time. This includes basic information such as
organizational contact details and other corporate information, media releases, speeches and legislative
information.

All publications and forms for public use should be made available online concurrently with other
forms of distribution. The online availability of printable forms will enable anyone who needs to submit a
form to do so without the need of visiting an agency office. While agencies should strive for full online
service delivery where practicable, the availability of online forms will be a useful step in this direction.
In Australia, all forms for public use were available online, to be downloaded and/or electronically
completed, as of 1 December 2000. In the United States, a dedicated website, www.usforms.com, has
been developed for users to download the 500 most important forms of the Federal Government.

The government’s online presence must not only be comprehensive, but it must also be easy to
use. The main entry point, the portal, through which the public gains access to e-government websites,
is an essential and significant part of government online strategies designed to provide transparent and
comprehensive access to government agencies and information. There are many opportunities to
enhance these facilities and make them simpler and more powerful through the use of metadata and by
the creation of customer-oriented channels. (See module 4 in part 1 ‘Metadata’ for more information on
this subject.)

Many government agencies with responsibility for whole-of-government access and publication are
facilitating the development of an integrated network of customer-focused channels in conjunction with
other leading agencies, so as to complement and enhance existing channels and make them
accessible through the government’s main entry point, the government portal. Using these facilities,
individuals, communities and businesses will be able to locate information through a range of
approaches that suit their circumstances without the need to understand the structure of government.

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Many governments request that all information, including that provided online, should adhere to
established government frameworks and principles. For example, online information is subject to
considerations such as privacy, national security, social morality, and the business interests of third
parties. In addition, agencies should provide appropriate online information services in the performance
of their statutory functions. Governments may also set up a minimum obligatory standard to ensure that
government agencies will provide the public with completeness of public information.

Typical government information that can be made accessible online includes

• Directories of services and organization, including contact details.

• Information needed by the public and business to facilitate their understanding of

entitlements to government assistance and the requirements of government which affect
them.

• Legislative information, including bills, acts, treaties, subordinate information, legislative

status information, parliamentary timetables and records.

• Press releases, speeches and other public information released by ministers, their officers
and holders of statutory offices.

• Annual reports, corporate strategic plans and other public accountability-type documents.

• Reports required to be submitted to Parliament; and Information about agency powers

affecting the public, and manuals and other documents used in decision-making affecting
the public.

5. Improving Public Service Delivery

Besides providing better information services, improving public service delivery has been another
focus of government online. In particular, the development of a citizen-centred service delivery system
has been a goal of many government online projects.

5.1 Citizen-Centred Government

Government exists to serve its people. In a traditional environment, citizens are very often
confused about where the government agency that they are looking for is located and how to conduct
business with the government. Government agencies are usually geographically distributed, and each
agency has its own functions and responsibilities. Government agencies often do their business in their
own way a way which they think is best for them, thus they may give less consideration to the interests
of their clients. Agencies often function independently with or without poor inter-agency coordination. To
accomplish one piece of business, government customers may have to come and go many times and
visit several government agencies. In these traditional environments, government is at the centre and its
customers keep moving around; consequently, this style of government is described as a government-
centred government.

The Internet and information technology have brought about change. One of the important
characteristics of current government online and e-government endeavours is to put emphasis on
improving government services to its citizens. The concept ‘citizen-centered government’ is a vision
based on the recognition of the different ways that people interact with their government. Moving
government services online and integrating them can bring time/cost savings, and help take into

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consideration the needs of different customers - customers such as, taxpayers who expect value and
results; clients who expect accessible, quality services; and citizens who participate in the democratic
process. Accordingly, in a citizen centred online environment, citizens are at the centre and it is the
business of government that moves around by means of the Internet.

5.2 More Collaborative Services

The Internet and the other information technologies are powerful enablers for more collaborative
government service delivery. The potential for collaboration is becoming a priority of government online
and e-government and is being fully realized by many governments which are moving towards a more
collaborative, integrated model of delivering government services and programmes. In particular, focus
is being given to cross-agency or inter-department initiatives, because they are the foundation for
working together to shape the ongoing process of change and renewal. The efforts on collaborative
services are fostering a public sector service revolution, which is bringing government departments
together to integrate and rationalize services.

Expanding service delivery under an online environment has a number of advantages that are
difficult to achieve in the offline world. Particularly, in an online environment, government services can
be packaged and delivered in an integrated manner. Many governments have realized the opportunities
that exist to package together information and services, which would otherwise be delivered separately.
This can be useful where several services are closely related where more than one service needs to be
utilized (for example, when importing goods) and where information on a particular subject needs to be
acquired from more than one agency. In this respect, cross-agency initiatives provide efficiency benefits
both for users and for government. In Australia, a number of examples of cross-agency services have
been achieved. The Business Entry Point (BEP) and the joint clearance system of the Australian
Customs Service and the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) are noteworthy examples.

To create more collaborative services, government should identify potential areas and
opportunities for cross-agency online initiatives, for example

• Identifying specific areas with potential for joint initiatives with other agencies.

• Developing a number of trials of cross-agency initiatives.

• Consulting with other agencies when new services are to be launched.

• Facilitating research and information-sharing on the technological approaches appropriate

to implementing cross-agency initiatives.

Government should also facilitate the development of an integrated network of government

agencies, or develop a common government network architecture as a platform for all the government
agencies to share information and carry out business activities.

6. E-Participation
Information technology has made a good start at changing the modalities of public service delivery.
For centuries, the notion that citizens might actively participate in all public affairs and make substantive
inputs in policy decisions remained a distant prospect. Now government websites, e-mail and other
means could turn this into a reality. Electronic polling, for instance, by either public or private institutions,
will probably be a reality in the very near future. If family computers are connected to a national or local
information infrastructure and wired up to government websites, a two-way communication system will
have been established. At the local community level, an Intranet may also be set up. This Intranet may

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be used to sample opinions in a quick and painless fashion. Questions put on an administration’s
website would appear on the computer screens of all the households connected to it. Viewers could
click the icon on the screen which they select and thus a poll would be taken. Each household on the
network could then be briefly scanned, the choices accumulated and results would appear in a matter
of a few seconds.

Electronic referenda and electronic voting may also eventually happen. An online voter guide could
provide the public with current information about the elections. Consultation on national issues could
take place and elections, either local or national, could be conducted through the Internet. The voting
could take place wherever the voter is, provided that electronic votes are properly designed. It goes
without saying that such electronic polls, referenda and voting systems must meet the political as well
as technical requirements of accuracy and reliability.

7. Government Online and e-Government

Experiences from many governments show that the successful development of government online
relies on

• Strong leadership from the highest level of the government.

• Encouraging business and consumer confidence by the delivery of substantive benefits

through government online programmes.

• Getting key sectors of the country online so that business activities are increasingly relying
on online transactions.

• Fostering the development of information industries so as to benefit the economic and

social development of the country.

The terms ‘government online’ and ‘e-government’ can be confusing. Are they the same or not?
What are the relationships between these two concepts? As a matter of fact, government online and e-
government are two related but different concepts.

Government online is the extension of internal government information systems in the Internet age
in order to reach government customers, including businesses and citizens; i.e., it is designed to
increase the accessibility of public information and improve government services. As mentioned in the
previous section, government online is the natural outward development of government informatization
in the information age.

Obviously, without a minimum set of mature internal government information systems, it will be
difficult to achieve substantive outcomes from government online simply because there will be no
government information system which can support outward business. A typical example is the online
taxation system. Without an internal taxation management information system in taxation authorities, it
will be impossible to implement an online taxation service. This is because there is no internal capacity
to process the information gathered through the online taxation services. Under this circumstance,
perhaps, the only online projects which can be developed sensibly are online information services
linked to government websites.

E-government is a more extensive concept and idea. It goes beyond government online in that it
includes both the internal and external aspects of government informatization.

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8. Global Perspective of e-Government

E-government is a kind of transformation of the traditional government by means of modern
Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Its ultimate goal is to create a government adapted
to the information age, which therefore can be considered as government of the information age. Such
a transformation aims to optimize and relate internal and external functions of government so as to
provide government, citizens and business with a set of means that will fundamentally change the ways
in which their interactions take place. It will also change the way that services are delivered, knowledge
is utilized and policy is developed and implemented. It will support citizens to participate in governance,
and help ensure that good governance goals are met.

From a global viewpoint, there are two characteristics apparent in the current tide of e-government
developments. First, they are service-oriented and citizen-centred; and secondly, they are based on the
Internet technologies. These two characteristics stem from almost fifty years of efforts on government
informatization and the popularization of the Internet.

The essence of e-government is not simply computerization of existing government business

processes, or merely the drive for higher efficiency and effectiveness. It is the possibility of transforming
the processes and the structures themselves and the organizations that deliver them to provide new
ways of working within government and between government, business and citizens. If a government
claims that it has implemented and become an e-government while maintaining the original government
structure and operational modality with no change, then it is unlikely that it has taken advantage of the
full potential of modern technology, and the opportunity of reinventing government may have been lost.

Obviously, the full development of e-government will be a long journey, and it may take many years
to achieve all its goals. According to the statistics, even in many developed countries, e-government is
still very much about computerizing existing government business, rather than re-engineering or
transforming the government. In 2001, online, two-way interactions between government and its clients
had materialized in only 30 percent of government businesses. Needless to say, transformation of
government is a more distant prospect. This also means, however, that there is still ample space and
opportunity for creation, invention and innovation.

Up to now, the rate of success for e-government initiatives remains low worldwide. There are many
reasons for this. The primary reason is that a wrong formula may exist in the mind of leaders responsible
for the development of e-government, i.e.:

e-Government = Technology = Money + Technical Professionals

According to this formula, the top management assumes that they can simply give money and
technical professionals to the project manager who, in return delivers an effective e-government
system. Under this formula and with these assumptions, e-government projects will, without doubt, fail.
This is because the key dimension in the term e-government is ‘government’ not the ‘e’ or electronic
dimension. The ingredient most needed in e-government development is political leadership, not
technical leadership. Without powerful political leadership, there is no way to streamline existing
business processes, to resolve any conflict of interest among the stakeholders, to integrate existing
systems and development efforts, to standardize and normalize government information systems and
share data/information and other information resources. Consequently, e-government initiatives are,
almost certainly, unlikely to succeed.

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 Modelling of Government Business

1. Introduction
In any society, there are three active bodies which are closely related to the development of e-
government, namely, government, business and citizens (Figure 1.1). The activities and business of
government are performed and carried out around these three bodies. These activities mainly include
interactions between government and government; government and business, and government and
citizens. In an information society, the mapping of the interactions among the three bodies into the
digital world constitutes the three primary directions of informatization of today’s world, i.e., e-
government, e-commerce, and e-society (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.1 The Three Active Bodies in a Society

E-commerce, including the development of enterprise informatization, was the first one to boom in
the 1990s. After the bubble of US stocks was dashed to the ground in March 2000, e-commerce
experienced a reconsolidation stage and has since entered into a more steady and healthy stage of
development. The development of e-government received extensive attention in the second half of the
1990s, and soon became one of the focal points of informatization in society. It can be expected that e-
society will become another hot point in the global movement of informatization, because e-commerce
and e-government rely on the informatization of communities. Indeed, almost all the information of a
society comes from communities and a large portion of transactions of our society within either
eCommerce or e-government are done with citizens. E-society is the ‘root’ of the information society.
Modelling of Government Business

Fig. 1.2 Mapping from the Physical World to Digital World

2. Five Areas of e-Government

The interactions among the three bodies, i.e., government, business and citizens, are the basis for
the formulation of five different but correlated areas of e-government (Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.3 The Five Areas of e-Government

2.1 Government to Government (G2G)

This first area covers the interactions within government, including (i) the central government with
local government at all levels; (ii) different government departments and agencies with each other; and
(iii) government with its official staff and employees, etc. This area involves many administrative and
managerial activities, such as

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Modelling of Government Business

• Collection, processing and utilization of fundamental information of the state and regions;
for example, information on population, geography and resources.

• Collection and processing of managerial information for various government business

processes; for example, planning, macro-economic management, statistics, public safety,
national defense, and national security.

• Internal government management information systems; for example, financial, personnel,

documents, assets, archives, etc..

• Decision-making support systems and executive information systems at different levels of

government.

2.2 Government to Business (G2B)

This dimension is the one where government faces and supports business. It includes policies,
directions, rules and regulations, guidelines, procedures, etc., worked out by government in order to
create a legal and favourable environment for business to carry on its activities and development. The
activities cover

• Industrial policies, regulations on import and export, registration for various purposes,
taxation, employment, social security, and so forth.

• Various licenses for business permission, quality approval, authentication, etc.

The G2B activities are essentially the public services that government provides to business. The
purpose is to formulate a good business and investment environment, and to create an equal and
competitive market. This will assist enterprises, in particular, minor enterprises, to join in market
competition and enter into international markets. G2B provides all the information services available
from the government and does so online.

2.3 Government to Citizens (G2C)

This aspect is associated with government and citizens, covering the services that government
provides to its citizens and residents. In many cases, it is a headache for citizens to deal with the
government, as documents can be complicated and government departments overloaded. It often
happens that citizens do not know whom to ask, where to go, or what steps to take to get things done.
Hence, the first service that government provides to citizens should be the provision of basic
information, such as

• What are the regulations, procedures, and administrative or managerial branches of

government on what matters? Where can citizens get the right information or the help they
need?

• Information on public safety and community security, including what to do in natural

disasters such as floods and fire etc.

The services that government provides to citizens also include the public services, such as (i)
schools, hospitals, libraries, and parks; and (ii) registration services including those for birth and death,
marriage and divorce, driver’s licenses, migration, and registration of vehicles to name but a few.

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Modelling of Government Business

2.4 Business to Government (B2G)

The fourth area of e-government deals with the actions of business towards government. Activities
in this area include

• Payment of taxes due requested by laws and regulations.

• Provision of data, information and statistics requested by government.

• Bidding for government projects.

• Providing goods and services to government.

• Applying for government assistance and lobbies and appeals about difficulties faced in
business.

• Making proposals and suggestions for government to improve its services to business.

2.5 Citizens to Government (C2G)

The fifth area covers the actions that citizens take towards government. Activities in this area are
similar to those of B2G above and include

• Taxes and the variety of fees requested/due from laws and regulations.

• Forms and information requested by government for certain business and government
services.

• Penalties and other costs of public services.

• Services requested by citizens under emergency circumstances, e.g., fire, ambulance,

theft, and other forms of crime.

• Proposals and recommendations for good governance and participating in decision-

making.

This dimension of e-government will create a good channel for citizens to participate in national,
regional, or local policy development and decision-making processes of government. It has the potential
to stimulate the establishment of new partnerships between government and citizens. Through this
channel Government can better understand what citizens want in terms of better services and the
achievement of good governance.

3. Reference Model of Government Business

It is important to build a reference model of government business before developing an e-
government plan. A government business model can help in understanding how a government is
organized, what the functions of a government are, what a government is doing in terms of internal and
external business, how many business processes the government has, and what are their logical
relationships. Actually, the process of modeling government business is a process of evaluating
government business flows and clearly defining the relationships between government functions and
business flows.

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Modelling of Government Business

Of course, there is a need for central and local governments and their departments and agencies
to build their own business model, as each part of government has its own individuality. However,
commonalities also exist and may be identified through business models, some examples of which
follow. They include vertical and horizontal models and their combination into a reference model that
can be used for the planning and design of e-government and as the basis of an information model.

3.1 Vertical Model of Government

The vertical model of government (Figure 1.4) will assist us in identifying the main functions of a
government. A vertical view indicates that the administrative functions of a government can be divided
into three tiers: elementary tier, sector tier, and decision-making tier.

Figure 1.4 The Vertical Model of Government

The first tier, the elementary tier, deals with the administration and management of the basic
essentials of economic and social activities within a society. Among these, the most important are the
management of human beings, enterprises and land. The management of human beings covers
citizens, residents and tourists. The management of enterprises ranges from small to transnational
companies, including joint ventures and foreign companies, and profit and non-profit organizations. The
management of land involves all the land resources, including lakes, rivers, mountains, forests, etc.
This tier also contains the management of houses, vehicles, boats, as well as the management of
products, goods, raw materials and so forth. Indeed, a large number of administrative and management
functions of a government are based on effective management of the basic essentials.

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Modelling of Government Business

The second tier, the sector tier, relates to a series of government functions covering the
administration and management of different sectors of economic and social affairs. These range from
the management of treasury, taxation, finance, development planning, internal and external trade,
education, public safety, and social security, to national defense, foreign affairs, and national security.
Obviously, without effective management of the first tier, it is impossible to carry out effective
management of the sector tier.

The third tier, the decision-making tier, is a strategic tier of a government. Agencies within this tier
are head offices and units or departments for policy research and investigation, statistics and analysis,
and administration. A variety of national policies, development strategies, plans and programmes are
developed at this tier, based on the information and knowledge obtained from the elementary and
sector tiers.

The vertical model shows that government agencies are not at the same level in terms of
functioning and play different roles at different levels.

3.2 Horizontal Model of Government

A horizontal model of government will help us to identify common business activities of government
agencies carried out while fulfilling their duties. Consequently, the horizontal model reflects the
commonalities of government business activities.

Figure 1.5 The Horizontal Model of Government

Figure 1.5 provides a sketch of a horizontal business model of government. It can be seen from
this sketch that personnel management, ,financial management, official document management,
archive management, fixed assets management, government procurement, the management of
equipment and warehouses, and so forth, are common to almost every government agency. It is
apparent that the business flows of these common business activities can and should be standardized
and normalized. If this is achieved, not only would the quality and efficiency of these business activities
be improved, but also investment in e-government would be economized and become more cost
effective. Standardization and normalization will undoubtedly benefit government informatization.

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Modelling of Government Business

3.3 Reference Model of e-Government

A reference model of e-government can be obtained by combining the vertical and horizontal
models together, as shown in Figure 1.6. By means of this model, an overall picture of government
business functions and activities can be developed and used for planning and designing e-government.

Figure 1.6 A Reference Model of e-Government

4. Information Model of e-Government

Building on the reference model of e-government, an information model of e-government can be
created (Figure 1.7). An information model is very useful, as it can identify

1. Where and by whom the data and information that a government needs should be
collected?

2. Which government agency should have the ownership and be responsible for
maintenance and updating of the relevant data and information?

3. Which government agencies can share these data and information and for what purpose?

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Modelling of Government Business

Fig. 1.7 The Information Model of e-Government

Experiences from many governments show that being able to answer these questions clearly is
extremely significant to the management, maintenance, updating, security, and sharing of government
data and information, particularly from a long-term viewpoint of government informatization. The
experiences also show that only those information flows that are accompanied by correlated business
flows are reliable and sustainable. For this reason, the following activities are very important:

• Every item of government data or information, no matter which government agency needs
it, should be collected at the location where the corresponding business process takes
place. Also, each item of data or information should be collected only once so as to avoid
repeat collection.

• Data or information collected should be owned by the responsible agency where the
business activity is taking place.

• The data or information collected by an agency should be shared with the other
government agencies, which are authorized by a proper government information resource
management authority.

The collection and management of original data and information is the most difficult, disputed, and
hard-to-solve problem in the engineering of any information system. Unfortunately, this problem
happens to be one of the issues most critical to successful e-government development, and to the
realization of the economic and social benefits of e-government projects. In this regard, support and
intervention by the top management of government is imperative and extremely critical.

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 E-Government Readiness Assessment

1. Introduction
A clear understanding of the current status of government informatization in a country is a
necessary starting point for the strategic planning of e-government development. In this regard, e-
government readiness assessment is a useful tool in assisting governments to clarify the context of e-
government strategies and action plans. For specific as well as general e-government applications, it is
useful to begin with an understanding of existing capacities and needs. An assessment of e-government
readiness can also serve as a useful exercise in raising awareness, identifying obstacles and
opportunities, and charting a path for future actions. Readiness assessments are most useful means
when they are adapted to the national context and undertaken as a regular part of evaluation and
benchmarking.1

2. What is e-Government Readiness Assessment and What are

its Aims?
While the benefits of e-government are in theory numerous, the failure rate of e-government
projects has been estimated at somewhere between 60 to 80 percent. This points to the need for
sounder approaches to e-government development - approaches that not only take advantage of
experiences and lessons learned globally, but also very much reflect local realities and priorities. To this
end, a number of factors need to be considered during e-government development, such as vision,
objectives, infrastructure, legislation and regulatory environment, organizational and back-office re-
engineering and human resources. These factors together form an approach to e-government
development that is as comprehensive as possible and also organic, sustainable and meaningful.

It is recommended that programmes for the development of the more comprehensive and
sustainable e-government projects should begin with a vision, strategy and action plan. In cases of
other, less comprehensive or wide-ranging projects, development can be on a more ad hoc basis.
Regardless of the process, e-government readiness assessment is an important tool if the initiation of
e-government programmes and applications is to be carried out in a sound manner.

An e-government readiness assessment is meant to serve as an advisory tool and aims at

• Raising awareness as to the bottom-line motivations and capacities that have to be in

place in order to assure a reasonable basis for success in the e-government development
process.

• Describing, usefully and effectively, the environment in which e-government development

will occur, while confirming the viability of the application of the planned e-government
approaches.

1
‘E-Government Readiness Assessment Survey‘, http://www.unpan.org/egovkb/, by UNDESA is
used as a key reference for this session.
E-Government Readiness Assessment

• Pinpointing the ‘weak links’ in this environment – for remedial action and, in this way,
enhancing the chances for eventual success of e-government development.

• In extreme cases, advising against the application of e-government approaches in a given

public administration, either at an overall level or in a particular part of it.

• Informing the development of broad or sector e-government strategies and action plans.

• Providing a monitoring and evaluation tool.

3. E-Government Readiness: Understanding Key Factors2

E-government requires a conducive environment in order to maximize its potential. Before defining
an e-government development strategy or plan of action, a thorough analysis is required of the existing
environment in which e-government will be implemented. Government can pose some key questions in
order to assess how well it is prepared, strategically, for e-government.

An e-readiness assessment covers these key questions and the resulting ‘e-readiness’ score
shows the degree to which a country is prepared for the introduction of e-government. By assessing
relative advancement in the areas that are most critical for the adoption of e-government, countries can
be in a better position to evaluate opportunities and challenges, as well as their own strengths and
weaknesses.

However, as uniformity across borders is impossible, the objective of the e-readiness analysis is to
identify specific actions for improvements and potential niches for the initial start-up of e-government
programmes. It is not designed to give a positive or negative answer to the question of whether or not a
country should adopt e-government throughout its services as a whole.

An e-readiness assessment covers the areas and key factors shown in the following table. They
should be carefully analysed in order to examine and understand the risks and assess the obstacles that
may need to be overcome before entering into e-government.

2
‘Plan of Action: e-Government for Development, A discussion paper ‘, International Conference
on e-Government for Development, Palermo, Italy, 10-11 April 2002

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E-Government Readiness Assessment

Table 1. E-Readiness Assessment

Areas Key Factors

Political Conditions

Good governance, as a condition for • Awareness of political value of e-

sustainable development, requires genuine government.
commitment from political leaders, the private
sector and organizations of civil society. • Commitment to e-government and
good governance.
In the same way, the introduction of e-
government in society requires strong political • Leadership skills.
will to see it through the transformation process.
• National identity and perception of
This applies to government both in its internal
government.
operations as well as with regards to its
interaction with civil society. • Legislative framework.

• Citizens’ participation in government‘s

affairs.

G d d l fl
Organizational Conditions

International experience shows that the • Administrative structures and legacies.

introduction of e-government calls for and
causes profound and evolutionary change to • Public administration reforms.
existing institutional arrangements.
• Civil service reform.
To guide this transformation process,
• Central coordination and support unit.
appropriate management and coordination
mechanisms are needed.
• Policy coordination inter-governmental
relations.

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E-Government Readiness Assessment

Table 1. (cont.)

Areas Key Factors

Cultural and Human Resources Conditions

Positive attitudes, knowledge and skills need • Culture, traditions, and languages.
to be in place – especially within the public
sector – to initiate, implement, and sustain e- • Gender inequality.
government.
• Educational levels.
Cultural aspects may cause general resistance
• IT literacy and number of on-line users.
to change and information-sharing. Inadequate
human resource capacity may lead to a lack of • IT educational facilities and
customer-orientation and overall commitment.
programmes.

• Culture of information and knowledge

sharing.

• Prevailing organizational culture.

• Attitude and adaptability to change,

especially in public administration.

• Managerial skills in the public sector.

• Service orientation of public

administration towards citizens.

Financial Conditions

The initial costs related to implementing e- • Resource allocation process.

government can be considerable and
governments may have limited capacity to bridge • National income structure.
the period between initial investments and
• Access to alternative financing
returns.
mechanisms.
Proper resource planning and access to
• Partnerships with private sector and
innovative financing mechanisms is critical for
other role players.
e-government sustainability.
• Access to capital markets.

• Mechanisms for venture investment.

• Available financial resources.

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E-Government Readiness Assessment

Table 1. (cont.)

Areas Key Factors

Communication Environment

In today‘s world, communicating with citizens • Citizen‘s awareness and understanding

is a duty as well as a necessity for of ICT and e-government.
governments.
• Communication culture and channels.
E-government needs to be accepted and
understood by all stakeholders to ensure that • Information and knowledge sharing.
its benefits flow through to the society as a
whole.

Technological Infrastructure

Lack of technology is a major impediment for • (Tele) communications infrastructure.

countries aiming to implement and maintain e-
government. Legacy systems may also • Penetration rates of telecommunications.
represent considerable obstacles to change.
• Urban versus rural: demographic/
The demographic and geographic conditions of geographic bias.
different areas, accompanied by the distribution
• Software and hardware (legacy systems).
of economic activities, may also represent a
strong bias in the rollout of ICT infrastructure if • IT standards.
left to the market alone.

Data and Information Systems

Management systems, records and work • Legacy of data processing, management

processes must be in place to provide the information, and decision support
necessary data to support the move to e- systems.
government.
• Available and accessible data and
information.

• Data collection procedures and data and

information standardization.

• Data quality and data security.

• Capacity to analyze data and utilize

information.

• Capacity to direct the flow of information

as part of the decision-making process.

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E-Government Readiness Assessment

Countries should evaluate their e-readiness on a regular basis to assess the impact of
technological progress and ongoing changes in the governance system. At different stages of e-
government maturity, the relative importance of environmental areas and key factors may differ.

The stages of e-government maturity alluded to above are

1. Full digital data availability. This is when all government data processing operations
within its diverse of institutions are actioned in a digital format and data can move across
different operating platforms.

2. E-Publishing. This is when all government institutions are posting their relevant
information online, in an organized and easily accessible way to other government
agencies, businesses, and citizens.

3. E-Interaction. This is when all relevant interactions can take place online between
government agencies, as well as between government and business and government and
citizens.

4. E-Government Readiness Assessment Scope

The e-government readiness assessment seeks to emphasize the importance of ensuring that e-
government development is closely aligned with good governance goals and the needs of its citizens. It
also emphasizes that, in addition to building the basic enabling environment, governments should think
about e-government development over the long term and take steps to ensure its viability.

However, there are limits to e-government readiness assessments. They generally have a limited
shelf life in the rapidly changing ITC environment and thus, it is recommended that they are undertaken
when countries are prepared to follow an assessment with an immediate or near term action. The e-
government readiness assessment does not seek to reproduce efforts to develop the broader ICT
environment but is intended to complement them. These efforts take into consideration general factors
such as telecommunication liberalization, and are viewed as equally important to e-government as to all
other e-applications.

The e-government readiness assessment focuses on three underlying concerns:

1. The motivation and objectives in public sector reform and in pursuing e-government, from
both the government and public points of view;

2. The enabling environment for both the government and the public to utilize e-government;

3. Sustainability, or factors that should be present in order to ensure that e-government

initiatives, which are not intended to be short term catalytic exercises, can continue,
develop further, and eventually lead to a networked government.

The e-government readiness assessment will provide a functional approach to measuring a

country’s or agency’s ability to develop and implement e-government, including

• The physical infrastructure to be put in place.

• The human capacities which must be extended and fulfilled.

• The institutional requirements and services which over time must be delivered.

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E-Government Readiness Assessment

• The legal and regulatory aspects which are essential to the broadest utilization of e-
government.

• The organizational and cultural change that must be introduced.

Therefore, the criteria used for the assessment of the status of e-government readiness include the
following basic components:

• Compelling reasons for the government to develop and implement e-government.

• Compelling reasons for the public to utilize e-government.

• Ability of the government to initiate and sustain e-government.

• Ability of the public to begin and continue to utilize e-government.

Questionnaires for the surveys of central government, government agencies, and the general
public, can be obtained from the UNPAN website: http://www.unpan.org/egovkb/. Each country, region,
or sector can adapt the survey to its own situation and to elicit the information with which they are most
concerned.

5. E-Government Readiness Assessment Methodology

E-government readiness assessment methodology is structured around 3 surveys:

1. Central Government Survey. Information of a general nature from a central

ministry/department /e-government focal point.

2. Agency/Department Survey. Specific information from ministries identified as those

currently or most likely to go online, or those that would benefit most from going online.

3. Civil Society/Private Sector Survey. Information from citizens, academia, SMEs, and
other civil society, or professional organizations pertaining to citizens, civil society and
SME’s awareness, use, needs, and expectations with regard to the implementation of e-
government.

However, the extent of the assessment is left to a government’s discretion. Therefore, the above
approach to e-readiness is structured and presented as a menu from which governments can select the
types of assessment they wish to pursue.

The methodology is guided by two underlying considerations:

1. Acknowledgement that the compelling reasons for the government and public to develop
and utilize e-government are mainly the opportunities it offers to drive public sector reform
and pursue good governance goals.

2. Recognition that the ability of governments and the public to initiate, sustain, and benefit
from e-government development is variable. It is recommended that background
information and hard data be collected in parallel with conducting the survey, so that full
attention can be given to both of these considerations and the way in which they have
been applied.

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E-Government Readiness Assessment

The e-government readiness assessment addresses the national level, and is designed for use by
a government’s central unit or focal point responsible for e-government development. The assessment
can be used by a focal point from the office of the prime minister or a relevant ministry (e.g. one dealing
with ICT or public administration). The focal point can then administer the assessment and collect the
necessary information from relevant departments, ministries, and civil society organizations.
Alternatively, an ‘external’ assessor may send survey reports directly to government agencies and civil
society organizations.

For the purpose of probing qualitative issues and other specific aspects of e-government, as well
as assessing intangible cultural and political dynamics more deeply, it is recommended that in addition
to the surveys, interviews with policy makers, public officials responsible for e-government development
and civil society beneficiaries be conducted.

6. Result Analysis
The three levels of the e-government readiness survey (i.e. central, departmental, and civil
society), are aimed at identifying those motivational factors and ‘pressure points’ that are driving overall
public sector reform and good governance goals, from the perspective of internal government
operations, as well as from that of government to citizen and business interactions. They also aim to
identify the main governance and public sector reform expectations of citizens and business and
variables that will impact a government’s readiness to initiate and sustain more widespread or
advanced e-government. In addition, the three levels of assessment aim to assess the degree to which
citizens are able to benefit from and utilize e-government.

The full assessment involves surveys of all three levels. A number of methodologies may be
employed in analyzing the results of the surveys. These include checks and balances between hard and
soft data and cross-country comparison when surveys are conducted on a regional or a sub-regional
scale. Cross-agency comparison and consistency analysis may also yield a snapshot of readiness at
any given point in time. If a range of hard and soft data is available, or surveys are conducted
periodically, analysis may show evidence of trends and the effects of policy measures.

It is recommended that the results of the surveys should be presented in an analytical report
together with any background research and interviews. The analytical report should also contain an
overview of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as recommendations on policy
actions and possible next steps.

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 Metadata

1. Introduction
Government is one of the largest holders of information resources. Consequently, it has the
responsibility to ensure that these resources are of increasing value to citizens, businesses,
government officers, and users around the world. It also has the responsibility to ensure that
information can be easily found, accessed, and passed between the public and private sectors while
meeting obligations of privacy and security. Therefore, having a well-structured and consistently applied
metadata standard is becoming increasingly important for government; such a standard can help
people to navigate through masses of web pages containing information and to confidently locate
whatever they are looking for.

2. What is Metadata?
The most common definition of metadata is that it is ‘data about data’. The term is commonly used
to refer to descriptive information about online (world wide web) resources and it is a summary of the
form and content of a resource. In the broadest sense, metadata can be used to describe information
structures such as the technical standards and interconnection policies that are the province of e-
government interoperability frameworks.

Worldwide interest in metadata standards and practices is due to the increase in electronic
publishing, the proliferation of individual and organization websites, and the vast quantities of
undifferentiated digital data available online. Metadata make searching and retrieving information online
less frustrating. Metadata are intended to support resource discovery and record management which is
of particular concern to governments when they deliver programmes and services through electronic
means.

Searching through metadata rather than through the fine detail of information resources is more
effective because metadata provide seekers with information embedded in the resource. However,
metadata is separable from the information resource itself. This is an important feature of metadata.
Metadata can be made available when the actual resource cannot.

3. The Value of Metadata

Metadata describe resources in simple and small packages of information that are easy to find and
are available to a greater number of people. Metadata considerably improve the granularity of a search
within the sheer volume of data available. This enables web-based search engines to work more
efficiently and effectively in assisting people to find the resources they require. Metadata also maximize
the ability of people to locate resources online and can significantly increase the return on the initial
web publishing investment.

Metadata are a valuable tool for managing resource records. The change to an electronic record
provides an opportunity to streamline record management systems while making them more flexible,
efficient, and joined-up. Metadata can be used to identify, authenticate, describe, and manage official
Metadata

records. Metadata are a unique mechanism that provides a higher quality service for discovery and
management of these records.

Furthermore, metadata are invaluable for making non-text items available electronically. For
example, search engines cannot scan photo or music collections for keywords, as they do not contain
words. Metadata can lead users quickly to the right images or service providers in situations where
filenames and broad categories seldom do.

4. Metadata Standard
Metadata make it easier to manage or find information, whether in the form of web pages,
electronic documents, paper files, databases or anything similar. For metadata to be effective, it must
be structured and consistent across all organizations. Considerable work has already been undertaken
to standardize all metadata applied to government information systems.

The Dublin Core is adopted as an e-government metadata standard. It is a simple set of elements
for describing a wide range of networked resources. The Dublin Core comprises 15 basic elements,
they are: title, author or creator, subject and keywords, description, publisher, other contributor, date,
resource type, format, resource identifier, source, language, relation, coverage and rights management.
It was established through the consensus of an international, cross-disciplinary group of professionals
from the following disciplines: librarianship, archives, computer science, text encoding, the museum
community, and other related fields of scholarship.

The characteristic goals of the Dublin Core are

• Simplicity of creation and maintenance.

• Commonly understood semantics.

• International scopes.

• Extensibility.

The Dublin Core is a highly developed, flexible, and internationally recognized standard. It was
developed to meet resource discovery requirements. It does not, however, provide other functions,
such as records management. Further elements may need to be added to make the standard relevant
to e-government and to ensure that different or more specific metadata requirements will be met.

Indeed, further plans to develop additional elements that will enhance the e-government metadata
standard are in consideration. These additional elements will enable metadata to

• Meet all of government’s information management and retrieval needs.

• Develop the e-government metadata standard application profile to include element

refinements and encoding schemes.

• Develop a pan-government thesaurus.

When fully developed, the structure of an e-government metadata standard will consist of basic
elements, an application profile, refinements and encoding schemes. For any metadata, elements form
the building blocks, which are complemented by the application profile consisting of element
refinements. The element refinements will break down the building block elements into smaller divisions,
and the encoding schemes will specify the format in which the value for each element will be recorded.

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Metadata

The lack of a common vocabulary is one of the greatest barriers to effective information retrieval
across a number of organizations. A thesaurus can act as a guide to terminology, a common language
between the organization and the community, help to reduce the number of ‘false hits’, and ensure that
all of the correct items can be found. The development and maintenance of a pan-government
thesaurus, therefore, will facilitate communication among government, citizens, and business.

There are two types of thesauri, namely, subject and function. The subject thesaurus captures the
intellectual content of a resource, that is, what the resource is about. The function thesaurus captures
the role of the resource, that is, the business activity to which the resource relates. These thesauri will
be useful for both record keeping classification and online resource description.

5. Metadata Technical Issues

There are a number of technological options for creating, storing and accessing metadata. These
will evolve over time as new products and services become available and as new features are added.
However, this area is changing rapidly through the articulation of metadata needs to the marketplace.

A purpose-built tool can be used to create metadata, so that cataloguers need not be concerned
with the syntax of metadata. These tools can be part of a resource creation system, for example, a word
processor; part of a resource management system, such as a web content management system; or
they may be stand-alone tools.

Metadata can be stored in two main ways, either in a database separately from the resource, or
embedded within the resource being described. However, the choices will be determined by the specific
business needs and resource types.

A metadata record set at collection level is linked to the high-level entry pages on a website. It
describes all the resources in the collection, not just those of the high-level entry page. It is important to
provide a full description of the set of resources in a collection in order to help searchers find items
within it that might be relevant to their enquiry. This is especially necessary when describing collections
of electronic resources that are not individually described by their own metadata. Describing a service
in the resource requires a different approach as a service is a more active and dynamic resource than
documents containing information.

Syntax is the mechanism for ‘delivering’ metadata records. Therefore, consideration should be
given to supporting a common syntax for the communication and delivery of metadata independently of
how they are stored and accessed. Currently, HTML is the most commonly used form of standardized
syntax over the world wide web. The attributes of <META> elements permit the recording of aspects of
metadata records. XML is another syntax for expressing metadata records that is a more sophisticated
markup language than HTML. It can be used to express quite complex metadata structures.

Metadata should be accessible in a standard way so search engines can easily find the resource
descriptions and provide the required information to the searcher. The three main mechanisms for
accessing metadata are

1. Embedded metadata. Metadata records are included within HTML files using the
<META> tag. In this way the metadata become an integral part of the resource being
described and is written to conform to the syntax of the HTML version being used.
However, one drawback of this mechanism is that all resources must have HTML
descriptions if they are to be described using metadata. In addition, if parts of the
metadata change, some of the metadata embedded in each HTML file must be updated or
changed.

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Metadata

2. Metadata repositories. Databases are used to store and manage descriptions of

metadata. Metadata databases with standard query interfaces are often called metadata
repositories. This mechanism provides more flexibility, as metadata can be made available
in various arrangements or syntaxes that can easily be modified over time. Global
changes and amendments can be made after initial creation. However, the setting up of
the metadata repository is more difficult than simply embedding metadata in an HTML
page, and there are implications for the retrieval of the metadata by search engines.

3. Resource management systems. These systems provide significant amounts of

metadata describing resources and services. The metadata managed by resource
management systems is often sophisticated and may support record keeping activities,
resource management, and resource archiving as well as resource discovery. Such
metadata, however, can often be translated into the standards required by a resource
discovery system. This mechanism does not require significant new investment and helps
consolidate metadata management.

Care must be taken, however, to maintain access restrictions when exporting records or providing
direct public access to a resource management system.

6. Development Principles of e-Government Metadata Standards

The development and implementation of e-government metadata standards are substantial and
ongoing tasks, which require central support and mechanisms for development. The endorsement and
inclusion of the simple Dublin Core has become the cornerstone of e-government metadata standards.
Principles adopted in the further development and maintenance of an e-government metadata standard
should make sure that it is

• Independent. The standard should be flexible enough to meet the information retrieval and
records management needs of any information held in any format. It will not be based on
any software, application or project.

• Simple. It must be readily applicable by those with widely varying experience of preparing
resource descriptions.

• Compliant. It should not be in conflict with other local government standards and policies,
or international standards.

• Stable. It must be flexible enough to meet future and current needs, as any changes will
require considerable effort, time and resources to implement.

• Extensible. It must be easy to add additional element refinements where it can be shown
that these are essential and the existing set does not make provision for the requirement.
Consequently, a balance between the need for extensibility and the need for stability is
required.

• Economical. It should not be time and effort consuming.

• Inclusive. It should take account of many existing metadata schemes, with the aim of
minimizing the need to rework existing products. Hence, a balance will be required with the
need for maximum inter-operability, which requires consistency across all information
resource descriptions.

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Metadata

• Above all, the standard will meet the information retrieval and management needs of the
citizens and of governments.

7. Metadata Updating and Maintenance

The e-government metadata standard should be applied to all government-wide systems and to
interactions between government agencies (including foreign governments), worldwide businesses, and
wider public sectors. Information sharing between organizations will become increasingly difficult if they
do not comply with the e-government metadata standard. Mandating the use of a standard can take
place in four stages. Governments may require

1. Immediate use of an e-government metadata standard in all specified systems.

2. Use of the enhanced e-government metadata standard, including additional elements and
an application profile from the date of their completion.

3. Immediate use of a category list in the knowledge network, and then use of other systems
from the date of their completion.

4. Use of the pan-government thesaurus from the date of its completion.

The e-government metadata standard must be kept up-to-date and further development should
take into consideration the results of wide-ranging consultation and testing in the field.
Recommendations for changes to the standard should be made in response to input from the
community and the outcomes of studies on metadata usage. However, these changes must be in
compliance with the technology, the Dublin Core, and any other international standards being used.
This will ensure that the e-government metadata standard is at the forefront of development.

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