Promise of E-Governance

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Promise of E-Governance
Operational Challenges
Foreword
The world is becoming quite a dynamic place to live in. Changes in technology, the pressures of
globalization and de-regulation in economic and social life are driving continuous changes in business
methods, personal lives of people and equally importantly the business of the governments. The rise
of media power and instant availability of information to the citizens are creating a slow, but definite
shift in the power relationship between the governments and their citizens. While there have been
large-scale changes in the corporate world in the last decade, the governments too cannot afford to be
static. People's expectations are rising day by day and the governments’ existing systems of working
are not sufficiently equipped to meet those aspirations. People expect better, faster and cost-effective
services from the government organizations to be delivered at their doorsteps. Democratic
governments face the direct threat of being thrown out of power if they do not perform.
Some governments have taken the lead in transforming their systems to deliver quality services to the
people in the manner desired by them. Technology is playing a key role in the modernization process
to get closer to the ‘customers’. Electronic governments are no longer pipe dreams; they are coming
in to existence slowly and surely in many parts of the world. Many governments have innovated even
in the traditional legacy organization to perform better. Developed countries like US, Australia,
Canada and Singapore have of course, taken the lead in the electronization process, by investing huge
funds in building quality infrastructure to support e-services. Some examples from the developing
world are also quite inspiring and credit must be given to the leaders in those countries, who have
envisioned a different path for their countries and their people. It is important for all governments and
others concerned to learn from those experiments and draw an inspiration to create similar advantages
in their own systems.
This volume is a very timely effort to discuss thought-processes and real-life cases relating to
electronic governance in order to draw the attention of the community and the leaders to effect
changes in their governmental systems. There are very committed people working in the area of egovernance and sharing of experiences with them would spread knowledge about various aspects of
e-governance. The papers appearing in this book cover a diverse range of topics and cumulative
wisdom therein offers a lot for the political leadership, the top-level planners, executioners and others
engaged in the e-governance projects directly or indirectly. There are many operational challenges in
realizing the vision of the e-government. The idea of compiling some of the articles in the shape of a
book titled-‘Promises of E-Governance-Operational Challenges’, is worthy of appreciation and
should be useful for many working in the area of e-governance. These papers provide some direction
for the aspiring leaders as well as their followers. The examples, methodologies and
recommendations relating to operational issues discussed in these papers present a holistic picture and
I am sure readers would like the contents and appreciate the efforts made by the authors and the
editor.
R.S.Sirohi
Director, IIT Delhi
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Preface
After knowing a feel of what e-governance is all about, what it appears apparently and
inherently as well, what it can do (or undo!), what all one needs to put in place for its growth,
a need is but natural to address the technicalities of e- governance. ‘Promise of EGovernance’ essentially brings out, the inner kernel of a huge and limitless phenomenon
hailed as e-governance, propelled by powerful ICT. Society is not a static concept. One really
wonders to count the endless dimensions of society. E-governance is neither about electronic
move about ‘governance” alone – it has very specific effects which are capable of impacting
upon almost all conceivable dimensions of the society, the critical processes which define
and bound the layers of social processes, the institutions which the society has created, the
delivery mechanism through which the institutions stay relevant. These micro-specificities
underpin the ultimate success or failure of a movement that the civilized society seeks to foist
on decision- makers to conform to the needs of the society. For the decision- makers, it is not
just implementing a defined process, but it is about implementing a process with higher skill,
efficiencies, purposes and above all, services for which the process and these guardians are
meant for. A simplicist approach can bring temporal and incremental gain to a limited extent
but that is not e-governance, e- governance is not merely informatization of administration, egovernance is just a medium of serving the society better. The learnings encapsulated in this
volume can certainly equip the decision- makers, administrators, ASPs with a focused
attention which would in turn help them individually and collectively to realize a result
which will certainly make the society richer in equity, justice and fair distribution on wealth.
M.P.Gupta
Department of Management Studies
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
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Acknowledgement
In the recent times, persons whose imprint of influence has been most significant on me are Professor M.G.K.Menon and
Professor R.S.Sirohi. Many of us would know that it was the Prime Minister’s high powered IT Task Force’s 108
recommendation brought out under the Co-chairmanship of Professor Menon, that sowed the seed e-governance in our
country-a subject remains dear to me. Locally, I had closer interaction with Professor Sirohi. The happening of the
International Conference on E-Governance in December 2003 where these collections of papers were scheduled for
presentation has prelude to several opportunities provided by him which were challenging and contributed immensely to my
academic growth. Particularly the last 2 years put me through an extraordinary experience. The most fulfilling one has been
completion of my book ‘Government Online’ (alongwith Prabhat Kumar and Jaijit Bhattacharya as coauthors). His oftenexpressed concerns to do something with direct relevance to society at large and favoring every proposal of this kind has
encouraged me to accept this challenge. I dedicate this volume to the spirit, which guides such a fine persons.
Blessings of noble and eminent people always give strength of the kind, which cannot be described in words. When the idea
of organizing the International Conference on e-governance (ICEG) was being conceived, many people put forward
suggestions and arguments that greatly helped in shaping the agenda and program. These included Prof.R.S.Agarwal (Indian
Institute of Technology Delhi), Prof. M S Swaminathan (M S Swaminathan Research Foundation Chennai),
Dr.T.H.Chaudhary (IT Advisor, Andhra Pradesh Govt), Pradeep Gupta (Chairman, Cyber Media), Prof. Henry H. Perritt, Jr.,
(Dean, Chicago–Kent College of Law), Prof.Rowena Cullen (Victoria University of Wellington), Dr.Clay Wescott (Asian
Development Bank), Prof.Herbert I. London (President of the Hudson Institute - Public Policy), Dr. Nachman Oron (IT
Supreme Committee, Government of Israel), Prof. Jamilur Reza Choudhury (Vice Chancellor, BRAC University,
Bangladesh), Prof. Mohanbir S. Sawhney (Kellogg School of Management), Prof. Prem Vrat (Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee), Prof. Shishir K. Dube (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur), Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala (Indian Institute of
Technology Madras), Prof. Devi Singh (Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow), Prof. S. Sadagopan (Indian Institute Of
Information Technology – Bangalore), Prof. C.R.Muthukrishnan (Indian Institute of Technology Madras), Pankaj Baveja
and Yogesh Khanna (Oglivy & Mather)
I thank all the contributors who have shown patience toward the review process. I am grateful to the reviewers who found
time to read all the papers and suggested authors with comments for improvement. It has immensely helped in identifying
suitable collection of papers and bringing out this volume. I am particularly thankful to my colleagues Prof.R.K.Baisya,
Prof.Vinayshil Gautam, Prof.D.K.Banwet, Prof.Sushil, Prof.S.S.Yadav, Prof. P.K.Jain, Prof.S.K.Jain, Prof. Subhash
Wadhwa, Prof.S.G.Deshmukh, Prof.Arun Kanda, Prof.S.K.Gupta, Prof.Prem Kalra, Prof.H.M.Gupta, Prof.Subrat Kar,
Prof.Virendra Upadhyay, Prof.Anuradha Sharma, Prof.Amulya Khurana, Prof.Sneh Anand, Dr.Kiran Momaya and Dr.Ravi
Shankar. Thanks are due to Prof.Thompson Teo (National University of Singapore), Prof.Shivraj Kanungo (George
Washington University), Prof.K.B.C. Saxena (Management Development Institute), Prof.M.P.Jaiswal (Management
Development Institute), Dr.Mokesh Mohania (IBM India Research Lab), Jaijit Bhattacharya (Oracle), RK.Mitra (Ministry of
Home Affairs), Prabhat Kumar (Central Excise and Custom), Somesh Bhagat (Oracle), Ravindranath (HP), Javed Tapia
(Redhat), Anantika (Oracle), and Gaurav Verma (Oracle) for their cooperation, timely advise and support. Ashok Kumar
Rai, IIT Delhi’s Web Master needs special mentioned for his sincerity and patience in creating and maintaining the ICEG
website. My staff Nipun, Vimal and Ashu deserves appreciations for their continuous and tireless support. Our research
scholars G.P.Sahu, Avneet Saxena, Bibhusan, and MBA students Binoo, Manik, Vikash, Surjo need special mention as they
showed maturity and commitment that supplemented my strength. Lastly I wish to share my feeling of gratitude to the most
important chain that has made me emotionally stable, is my wife Meenu and daughter Srishti
I wish to thanks all others whose name I could not mention but that remains in my subconscious. I close by a saying of
Mahatma Gandhi “Whenever I see an erring man, I say to myself I have also erred; when I see a lustful man I say to myself,
so was I once; and in this way I feel kinship with everyone in the world and feel that I cannot be happy without the humblest
of us being happy”.
MPGupta
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Promise of E-Governance
Operational Challenges
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgement
Government-to-Citizen Relationships
1
Government to Citizens Relationship in the Changing Economic Situation
Wajahat Habibullah
1
2
Formulation of Cit izens’ Charter
G.S. Malik and Gopal Meena
5
3
E-Governance: Evolving the End Users
Nitin Tanwar and Deepshikha Sharma
11
4
City-Zen-Chip
M.Yuvarani, D.Meera Gayathri and S.Balamurugan
17
5
Managing Multiplicity in Citizens’ Identity - A Taluka Level Case Study
H. M. Jha “Bidyarthi and P. V. Bokad
24
6
Indian Experience on G2C Service Delivery Models: Select Case Studies and Lessons for Future
Developments
M J Xavier and R P Pillai
32
7
How e-Governance is striving in Indian Panorama! A Panacea for Perfect ‘Government to
Citizen’ Relationship
Shiva Kanaujia and Amar Kumar Behera
42
8
A Study on Interest, Awareness Level, Perception and Acceptability of E-governance by Indian
Citizens
Anand Agrawal and Sanjay Fuloria
49
9
Impact of E-Governance in District Administration
Sunil D. Potekar, Rajesh D. Bhusari, Moiz Hussain and Tanaji Satre
57
10
Leveraging Information Technology for Rural Empowerment-An Experiment in North Eastern
States of India
Rajat K Baisya
64
11
A New Perspective of E-Governance by Web Services
Nayan Jain and Vikas Awasthi
68
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12
Healthcare E-Governance in Post 9/11 America
Stan Kachnowski
77
13
Information Technology Usage in a State Health System: A Case Study of Punjab
Sanjay Bedi
85
14
E-Commerce and its Implications to Malaysian Income Tax
Mohamed Nazim Bin Abdul Rahman and Kalaithasan Kuppusamy
92
15
E-government to Identify Corruption Abuses
G. S. Malik and Gopal Meena
101
16
Digital Divide and Digital Unity in E-governance: Indian Perspective
Ram Lal, Abid Haleem and A Rahman Khan
107
17
Issues in Bridging the Digital Divide in India
R K Bagga
115
Government-to-Business Relationships
18
Public Private Partnership for e-Government
J Satyanarayana
121
19
E-Governance: An E-Business Perspective
Avneet Saxena and S. Wadhwa
129
20
E-Transformation as a Strategic tool for SMEs in Developing Nations
Shiromi Arunatileka and Dinesh Arunatileka
137
21
Work force Diversity Perceptions from Indian Industries
Nirja Sharma and Anuradha Sharma
148
22
Management Challenges for Government Organizations
Vasant Godse
158
23
Implication of Information Technology on Corporate Governance
Sudhi Ranjan Dash, Surendra S Yadav and Kanika T Bhal
166
Government-to-Government (G2G) Relationships
24
Internal Management Challenges for Effective E-governance -An Indian Perspective
Raghunath Mahapatra and P. Sinnakkrishnan
170
25
Transformed Organization for Effective E-Governance through Genetic Algorithm
Pradeep Kumar, Tapas Mahapatra and Shalini Khandelwal
179
26
E-Governance and Re-Engineering Issues
Avneet Saxena and S. Wadhwa
186
27
Training in E-Government
A.K. Aggarwal
194
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28
Indian “tech” Managers at Work: A Case Study
Devi Akella
199
29
Educating the Administrators on E-Governance: The First Step for Success
Piyush Gupta
207
30
E-Governance Scenario in Delhi: Need for Change in Attitude
Amulya Khurana
215
31
A Multi-Level Analysis of IT Effectiveness in the Government: A Case Study of DIT
Shivraj Kanungo, M. P. Gupta and Rajesh Kumar
221
32
Technical Education System and E-Governance
Anil Kumar and S. Wadhwa
237
33
Knowledge Management in E-Governance: The Need for Effective Performance Measures
C. S. Arora
247
System Development and Framework
34
The Implementation of E-Government in Israel: The Five Layers Model of E-Government
Nachman Oron
255
35
Systems Development for E-Government
V B Kaujalgi
267
36
Managing Risk in Large E-Governance Projects
V.S.R. Krishnaiah
273
37
Sustainable Technology for Administrative Re-engineering (STAR) - A Model for E-Governance
Projects
Archana P. Nagvekar and Sivaraman
277
38
A Suggested Typology of E-Government Projects and Implications for Risks and Impact
Subhajyoti Ray
287
39
Architecture for Enterprise Workflow Reactive Services
S. Swamynathan, Moushmi Vasu and T.V. Geetha
295
40
A Collaborative Platform for Developing E-Governance Applications
Parul A. Mittal, Prasan Roy and Anupam Saronwala
304
41
Defining Data Administration and Operational Policies at the Business Object Level for EGovernance Applications
Dilip A. Joseph, Mukesh Mohania, Manish Bhide, Ajay Gupta and Mukul Joshi
313
42
A Secure Method for Electronic Management of Student Academic Records in a University
B.Hemalatha, Debipada Nanda, Jayanta Debnath and Dipak Kumar Pal
323
43
Community Software Solution Framework (CSSF): Delivering E-Governance through
Community Portals in Rural Areas
Rama Hariharan and D.C. Misra
330
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44
Desirability of E-Governance: A Review of ATMA Pilot Project in Muzaffarpur
Manish Kumar and Chitra Pathak
339
45
Database Design for Nationwide Information System to Govern Country Effectively
S K Jain, Gulab Singh and M M Gore
346
Experience Sharing
46
E-Governance: Some Initiatives and Lessons
Prabhat Kumar Mishra
354
47
Structuring and Implementing Citizen Service Centers– Lessons from Experience
Vishal Sehgal
363
48
The Success Factors of Electronic Government Services: A Malaysian Electronic Government
Pilot Project Case Study
Othman Ibrahim, Trevor Wood-Harper and Norafida Ithnin
370
49
E-Governance in Bellandur: A Success Story in ICT for Rural Development
Amit S Pande and Subramanya. R. Jois
378
50
Future Perspectives of E-Governance in Madhya Pradesh: Initiatives towards G2E and G2B
Anjali Khataokar and Saurabhi Chaturvedi
387
51
Gyandoot: Tales & Travails a Three Years E-Governance Experience
Sanjay Dubey
393
52
Performance Management Approach of the Government of Andhra Pradesh
P. K. Mohanty
402
53
A Preview on West Godavari ‘e-Seva’: An Information Technology Project for Masses
Sanjay Jaju
414
54
Impact of E-Seva in Andhra Pradesh: A Study
Ch. Radha Kumari
420
55
Saukaryam’: A Case Study of Municipal E-Governance
Sanjay Jaju
428
56
E-governance and Crime Analysis
Chintan Shivani and Ravi Shankar
437
57
Building Citizen Relationship Management and E-Government for Development - A Case Study
of ‘Bhagidhari’ in Delhi
Deepak Dogra and M.K. Mishra
444
Experiments
58
Innovative Approach to Deeds Registration - PRISM [Property Registration Information System
Module
Navneet Kukreja and Vikram Jeet Grover
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59
'E-Praman Patra': A Sector Specific Application on E-Government
Sanjay Kumar Shukla
459
60
e-Suvidha: A citizen Service at the Community Information Center in Northeast
Shefali S Dash, Dibakar Ray and Siva Prasath
465
61
E-Government Initiatives @ Tamilnadu Corporation for Development of Women Ltd – A Success
Story
C.K.Gariyali
471
62
E-Filing for Content and Knowledge Management in Government
A.K.Somasekhar and M.K. Mishra
477
63
HALRIS – Haryana Land Records Information System – Automation of Land Mutation and
Registration Workflow
Ghan Shyam Bansal, Vinay Thakur and Gurpreet Singh Saini
485
64
Core Information Technology Infrastructure for Statewide Computing in Haryana
Ashok Khemka and Satyender Kumar
492
65
District Level E-Governance Initiatives - A Case of Lokmitra in Himachal Pradesh
Amar Jeet Singh and Mahinder Kumar Sharma
500
66
A Case Study of a Lesspaper Office Environment
K.Kamal and M.R. Joshi
510
67
University Initiatives for E-Governance Successes
A.K. Ramani, Imroz Khan, Smita Gupta and Nitin Uikey
519
68
A Successful Rural Initiative in E-Governance
Vivek Harinarain
527
69
Grass-root-level Development by Creating Knowledge based Societies –EKPANCH
K. Rajasekhar and C.S.R Prabhu
534
70
E-Grama: The Rural Information Gateway of Ganjam District (Orissa)
Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra, N.B.S. Rajput, P.K. Mohapatra and R.K. Dash
540
71
Power Intranet – An Initiative to Improve Internal Efficiency: A Case Study
Arvind Jadhav, Saurabh Kumar and A.Rajendran
547
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Government to Citizens Relationship in the Changing Economic Situation
Wajahat Habibullah 1
Senior Fellow, United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC
The Nation in its entirety is faced with dramatic change. Governance itself therefore finds transition accelerated
both in concept and form. To retain its relevance an focus governance must of course always be open and
subject to continuing change, and this has been marked in the case of the Government of India from the time of
Independence. From an instrument designed to perpetuate imperial rule governance developed into an
instrument required to nurture equitable economic growth. But the imperial legacy of looking upon the ordinary
citizen as a subject rather than as master or even customer has persisted, except in semantics. In the fledgling
democracy of India in the ‘50s the Civil Services-the sahibs-were an object to be respected, worthy or not. The
Service, even though not legally so, was in practice close to being hereditary.
This civil service oversaw the running of a ‘socialist’ economy: the State was omnipresent. The Welfare State
was seen as a necessity. Time and experience have shown that achievements, even though stabilizing the
nation’s development, economic and social, through its initial years of freedom, have hardly been
commensurate with such expectation, nor indeed with the heavy investment made in time and money. Now,
partly for this reason and partly because of the trajectory being charted by the world’s economy the Indian state
finds itself in an era of transformation across the board: social, economic, political.
Politicization of the civil services, mainstay of government, commenced in the late ‘60s, and picked up pace in
the early ‘70s. This was the time when the term ‘committed bureaucracy’ came to be coined. The civil service
had been trained to keep a measured distance from political considerations in decision-making. With the
maturing of the political element in governance the political element also came to discover what was a hiatus,
and to realize its own strength. In the interest of promoting a citizen friendly ambience, there was therefore a
need for these two basic elements of the executive to cohere in terms of mutual understanding of functions and
demands. Despite much change however, this coherence has to this day remained largely elusive. The citizen
has continued to remain an increasingly indignant observer, not a participant, except through what is
increasingly seen as the ritual of electioneering.
The social change brought about by a socialist economy has impacted on the political factor. The earliest
dramatic manifestation was in what was then among the leading states of the country, Tamil Nadu, then the
State of Madras. This was with the onset of the DMK and its ascent to power in 1967 in a major province of
what had seemed at the time a monolithic one party State. By now, Tamil Nadu has largely made the political
adjustments required to cushion the impact. We find several northern States at present engaged in the process of
undergoing such change and seeking, not always with success thus far, the adjustments necessary.
An unfortunate ramification of these changes, which these factors of both political and social change have fed,
has been the rise of corruption2 and the dilution of established ethical norms. This has been compounded, not
mitigated by economic change. That change is signaled by liberalization. For the State this means giving up
control. Access to decision-making on matters to do with trade and commerce by those within government, is
receding. With the rise of the assertiveness of business houses, entrenched means of access to ill-gotten gains by
the state hierarchy is increasingly limited, with the erosion of established corruption channels. Collusion
instead of coordination is now increasingly marked between politicians (because of the need for election
funding), business houses, and bureaucrats. The Conference of Chief Ministers held on May 24, 1997
1
Telephone: (O) 91-11-23782807 (F) 91-11-23384716 (H) 91-11-26433422, [email protected]
BG Deshmukh IAS (Retd): Indian Bureaucracy-Facing the Future, TV Chidambaram Memorial Lecture, 1998; Indian
Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, 1998
2
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recognised this and called for “the need to deal ruthlessly with the instances of nexus among politicians, civil
servants and criminals”3 . There has been gossip of bureaucrats being on sale.
Into this rarefied environment has obtruded the entirely new, yet ancient measure of decentralization, seeking to
bring governance down to the level of the daily life of the citizen. Panchayat Raj and municipal administration,
brought into being by the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments enacted at the opening of the final decade of
the last century, are still nascent. But already the contradictions and diversity involved in this radical shift in the
concept of governance have begun to be felt. The essence of the concept of decentralization is to allow the
fullest diversity in governance in keeping with local aspiration and traditional culture. The present concept
therefore brings to fruition the promise of the Constitution that the Indian nation would provide complete
freedom to its citizens in choosing their way of life. Yet, that very Constitution guaranteed the continuance of a
bureaucratic structure founded on the concept of uniformity 4 . Is this a contradiction? Admittedly, it can be so
construed. On the other hand it can and in my view must be seen as a manifestation of the Bhagwat Gita
concept of Sthithapragya- giving a volatile social order the necessarily stable element-one that encourages, even
guides change, but is in itself unchanging.
Let us evaluate the economic achievement of bureaucrat led governance thus far. The premier thrust since the
‘80s has been towards Poverty Alleviation. Although there has been some success, there has also been heavy
leakage 5 . Assessments on reduction in poverty levels vary. While official figures 6 indicate a percentage of
population below the poverty line at 51.5% (54.1% rural and 41.2% urban) in 1973-74 coming down to 36%
(37.3% rural and 32.4% urban) in 1993-94, Dutt’s researches indicate that in 1973-74 the percentage of those
below the poverty line (BPL) in the rural sector was 55.72%, and urban 47.96%. In 1997 the rural BPL level
was still 35.78%, urban 29.99%. S.P.Gupta gives the following figures: in 1983 the rural BPL level 45.65%,
urban 40.79%; in 1997, rural 38.46%, urban 33.97%. Planning Commission Projections for 2007 indicate that
the percentage will in that year still be 19.3% (21.1% rural and 15.1% urban). The question would naturally
arise whether even the more optimistic levels indicate achievements, which could be concluded to have been
commensurate with the costs. And even if poverty levels have indeed declined a visit to a urban slum
neighborhood in any of our greatest cities will testify to the still lamentable level of the quality of life lived
therein even by those who are considered upwardly mobile in terms of the poverty line as defined by
government.
What then are the future prospects? Even as the changes sought become reality, I see the bureaucrat of the
future as a facilitator, and also, because of wide ranging field experience, particularly at the cutting edge, the
grassroots, a potentially effective motivator. He (or she) can stand apart from society as the Philosopher King in
Plato’s Republic, yet part of it. In this way society’s undulating course of change will be canalized into
constructive endeavour. But the structure as at present is, if anything ‘action shy’. This description by Paul
Appleby invited by India’s first Prime Minister to study India’s administrative structure in the ‘50s, is found by
N Vittal the former Central Vigilance Commissioner7 to still be true of our bureaucracy. He terms this a ‘power
paradox’ -when the civil servant “had the power to improve governance, he did not know the realities. When he
came to know, he was out of power” (upon retirement). The answer can only lie in a continuing cooperative, not
adversarial citizen-civil servant intercourse helping to build a vibrant action plan for an administration, which
will be effective by being sensitive to the citizens’ needs.
3
Statement; Action Plan for Effective & Responsive Administration, Adopted at the Conference of Chief Ministers,
Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, GOI, New Delhi, 1997
4
Constitution of India: Article 311
5
See PG Deshmukh -ibid6
National Sample Survey Ogganisation: 55th Round, 10 th Five Year Plan, Vol. I, Planning Commission, Delhi 2003
7
N. Vittal, The Proof of the Pudding:,Why Indian Administration is Action Shy S Ranganathan Memorial Lecture, New
Delhi, 30 November, 2001
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The 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution can in this regard be seen as ushering in a new era with
greater public participation in governance. Much will depend on how the new institutions are used by the public
and also by the bureaucrats. The time has come for change and restructuring8 . Any bureaucracy is by its nature
risk averse, thus reluctant to alter the status quo. It instinctively withdraws from being responsive to bold
initiatives 9 . In the view of eminent executive Nasser Moonjee, MD & CEO of IDFC bureaucrats-whom he
refers to occasionally as Commissars-are quick to supplant ‘good ideas’ with ‘bad ideas’! In his view the
remedy lies in divesting them fully of responsibility in matters requiring public interface. This sounds
suspiciously close to the ‘baby and the bathwater’.There are those with considerable experience and continuing
concern for governance like the former Cabinet Secretary BG Deshmukh who have offered other suggestions
for change. These include institutional protection from political interference, with a clear demarcation of
responsibilities between the politician and the civil servant, establishment of accountability, flexibility in
moving in and out of public service, a self imposed code of ethics and trimming of size. Of these I would
consider a change of mindset to be the principal reform necessary. This cannot of course be dictated unless we
wish to lapse into authoritarianism, but it can be brought on by a vigilant public aware not only of its rights but
of its responsibilities and served by a conscientious press.
With an increase in the range of demands on government arising from decentralization and outsourcing there is
actually likely to be an increase, not reduction in government size 10 . This is borne out by simple statistics,
which will attest to the fact that the US has more government servants per 1,000 inhabitants than does India.
Downsizing is therefore not the answer. The remedy lies rather in ‘rightsizing’. This is borne out by the fact that
many government services in India like the vital sectors of education and health are lamentably understaffed
while staffing at the clerical level of Secretariats is flatulent.
There is of course no need to import structural designs. Our own structure has a strong tradition both in its
functioning and in its public interface. This will need to be built upon, not replaced. But at the same time it is
necessary to study and learn from success stories, benchmarking those that can be effectively used here. In this
context the former colonies in South Eat Asia, with an administrative tradition almost identical with ours, could
be a useful case study. It requires to be borne in mind that in the infancy of their independence countries such as
Malaysia (then Malaya) and Singapore borrowed much from India’s concept and structural design, including
from our Constitution. Yet today these are more dynamic bureaucracies occupying a leading yet unobtrusive
role in their economies, with the application of principles of quality management to the task of administration.
Total Quality Management, of which customer satisfaction is the pivot, has now become the subject of study by
our own bureaucrats
To start with it is important to identify objectives. For much too long government in India has spread its net too
wide. We can all see the results. We need to focus and concentrate on fewer areas. NRIs have shown what
healthy and educated Indians can do. We must therefore prioritise and set for ourselves as a nation, norms on
what we expect from good governance, building service standards accordingly with the staffing necessary.
Government needs to identify and then withdraw from areas where it is not required, or where others can do the
job with greater cost efficiency. This was recognised by the Conference of Chief Ministers in 1997, but the
follow-up action continues to be tardy because we have no performance measures to judge implementation
.
Because the new commercialized environment will make the capacity to make financial profits a valued skill,
there is today an overriding necessity to build a viable code of ethics in service. This must go well beyond
8
For a description of the attitudes of bureaucrats, MLAs and MPs to Panchayats as effective institutions see D
Bandopadhyay, Amitav Mukherjee,Mitali Sen Gavai: Empowering Panchayats Handbook for Master Trainers, pp 1,
Chapter 1 Prelude, Concept Publishing, New Delhi, 2003
9
Daniel Druckman, Turning Points in International Negotiation, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol 45 No4 August 2001 p
519-544, Sage Publications
10
Swaminathan S Ankalesaria Aiyar Bureaucrats: Too many or too few? The Economic Times, Wednesday 6 August, 2003,
p 4.
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simply abstaining from monetary allurements 11 . We must reclaim in today’s world the position we once held of
being leaders and models, earning the respect both of our peers and those more developed.
Yet, the question still remains as to how to institutionalize government-citizen interaction. Experience has
shown that even though the basic need is met through institutions like India’s Parliament elected through
universal adult franchise, elected representatives on assuming office become part of government structure
subject to the rules that regulate it. Bringing representation down to the village level will help but does not by
itself constitute an institutionalized system of remedy Two important measures seek to address this need. The
Consumer Protection Act of 1986, investing the citizen with the power to enforce his rights as a consumer is an
important step forward, which remains largely underutilized. Under this law, recently reinforced by the
Amendment of December, 2002, the consumer, which term embraces the entire citizenry, is sought to be
protected against those armed with knowledge, finance and manipulative skills within and outside government.
The weakness of this law stems from lack of awareness of both rights and responsibilities among consumers
To be fully effective moreover, the citizen needs to know not only what rights are available to him but also if
their enjoyment is being unjustly kept from him through the labyrinthine ‘corridors of power’. The Freedom of
Information Act, passed by Parlimaent after a lengthy process of formulation and consideration in 2003 gives to
the citizen the power to become a rightful participant in governance. In the context of the revolution in
information technology this can help in enhanced knowledge gathering, and also in sharing. This is also an area
where the public and private sectors can work closely to satisfy the citizen who is customer to both.
These developments are of course still in their infancy. They have not been tested over time and have placed
rights and responsibilities before the citizen, which he has been unused to exercising. They can therefore be
suborned by the unscrupulous. While respect for well established ethical norms would be a necessity the role of
the manager within government, although different from what it has been so far, is thus clear. In the emerging
relationship between government and citizen, so integral a part of the governance of the future, the
bureaucracy’s role though changed, remains pivotal. It must facilitate this emergence, be looked upon as a
mediator in favour of the individual exposed to exploitation, pointing the way towards remedy for occasional
derailment and providing the leadership necessary to ensure the fullest use of these laws in building national
development. I use the term leadership not in the manner that it has been perceived over centuries, as the head
of a flock or a leader in the tradition of patriarchs. Rather, today’s leadership must develop from within and will
come from the listener able to fashion ideas and aspirations which he takes care to hear into a policy framework,
remains calm in times of crisis, able to guide the flow of events and so cultivate the seeds sown by the policies
devised on this basis that these will blossom into the fullest flower. 12
About the Author
Wajahat Habibullah is an Indian Administrative Service officer since 2 July 1968. He is MA (History) from University of
Delhi (1967). Before moving to United States Institute of Peace (Washington DC), he was Secretary to the Government of
India, Department of Consumer Affairs. He has served Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration,
Mussoorie, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of J&K Lakes & Waterways Development Authority, Srinagar, Minister,
Community Affairs, Embassy of India, Washington DC, Divisional Commissioner, of the six districts of Kashmir Valley
and two of Ladakh, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Development, Administrator of the Union Territory of
Lakshadweep and Director and then Joint Secretary, Prime Minister's Office, New Delhi.
11
For an exhaustive description of the requirements for an individual to be treated as truly ethical see Lord Nolan’s Report
1995 quoted approvingly by the Supreme Court in Vineet Narain vs. Union if India (AIR-1997)
12
For a lucid examination of the emerging trends in the concept of leadership in a new management order see Stephen R
Covey; A Roger Merrill; Dewitt Jones, The Nature of Leadership, Franklin Covey Co., Salt Lake City UT, 1998
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Formulation of Citizens’ Charter
G.S. Malik and Gopal Meena1
Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Ministry of Defense, Government of India
Abstract
Citizens’ charter is a concept by which the government tries to bridge the gap between its goals and objectives
and the accomplishment. It empowers the citizens with their entitlement of quality of service from the
Government. It is the hallmark of transparent, accountable and people-friendly good governance. It shows the
commitment of the organizational efforts to strive to achieve its objectives. Citizens’ charter is synergetic
symbiosis between the Government and citizens to continuously reform the quality of services. It should ensure
the participation of all the stakeholders such as citizens/clients/customers and expert agencies including the
employees of the organization. Training the staff and customers and their continuous improvement should be an
integral part of it through various feedback mechanisms.
Keywords: Citizens, Quality, and Service
1. Introduction
Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘A consumer is the most important visitor in our premises. He is not dependent on
us, we are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work, he is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider
to our business, he is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him, he is doing us a favour by
giving us an opportunity to do so’. The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection was adopted by the
UN General Assembly on 9 April, 1985. The Guidelines call upon Member Governments to develop, maintain
and strengthen a strong consumer policy, and provide for enhanced protection of consumers by enunciating
various steps and measures. In 1995, the Guidelines were reviewed, and some issues, which needed further
elaboration and expansion, were espoused by consumer organizations. Among these issues are access to basic
needs, appropriate regulatory policies, sustainable consumption, etc. Some countries such as Japan and Sweden
have adopted Consumer Policy Statements. The concept of Citizens’ Charter has gained wide acceptance in
many countries, particularly in UK., "It is a programme for a decade. The citizen charter programme will find
better ways of converting money into better services. I want the people of the country to have services in which
they can be confident, and in which public servants can take pride."
2. What is Citizens’ Charter?
The Citizens’ Charter is a preamble of an oraganisation’s commitment towards its objectives, with an aim to
improve the quality of service provided and the degree of responsiveness by laying down the minimum
framework of standards. These elements are fundamental to our faith in the organization capability, good
customer service and provide guidance to the Service Users and Industry to assess the quality of service
rendered by the organization. It is a partnership of trust between an organisation and its clients. The
organization will provide services in a very effective and efficient manner so as to win confidence of users in
tune with its motto. This Charter is a declaration of Organisation/ Government’s mission, values and standards,
and commitment to achieve excellence in the formulation and implementation of policies and procedures for the
1
Corresponding Author (Ph: 011-23794896, Fax No: 23794927, Email: [email protected])
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benefit of the citizens, which are partners in its progress. Citizens’ Charter is a document, which represents a
systematic effort to focus on the commitment of the Organisation towards its Citizens in respects of Standard of
Services, Information, Choice and Consultation, Non-discrimination and Accessibility, Grievance Redress,
Coutesy and Value for Money. This also includes expectations of the Organisation from the Citizen for
fulfilling the commitment of the Organisation.
The term ‘Citizen’ in the Citizens’ Charter imp lies the clients or customers whose interests and values are
addressed by the Citizens’ Charter and, therefore, includes not only the citizens but also all the stakeholders, i.e.
customers, clients, users, beneficiaries, other Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations, State Governments, UT
Administrations, etc.
3. Indian Scenario
As the citizen has become increasingly aware of his rights, and perhaps, of his civic responsibilities, the
administration has also become aware of the need for a total change of image and orientation. The task has its
difficulties on both sides, with the administration gearing itself not merely to respond to revised demands but to
anticipate them and the citizen becoming articulate and more responsible. It was in this scenario that from 1996
onwards a consensus emerged in Chief Secretaries Conference stressed on effective and responsive
administration culminating in the Chief Ministers’ Conference on May 24, 1997. One of the major decisions of
the Conference was to formulate and operationalise Citizens’ Charter at the Centre and in the States in sectors
which dealt with a large public interface such as Railways, Telecom, Post, Public Distribution Systems,
Hospitals, Revenue, Electricity, Petroleum etc. Ministry of Administrative Reforms, Public Grievances and
Pension has taken the initiative to help various governmental organizations to formulate Citizens’ Charter for
their organization. Many ministries have published their Citizens’ Charter on their websites.
4. What are the components of a Citizens’ Charter?
A good Citizens’ Charter should have the following components
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Vision and Mission Statement of the Organisation
Details of Business transacted by the Organisation
Details of ‘Citizens’ or ‘Clients’
Statement of services including standards, quality, time frame etc. provided to each Citizen/ Client group separately
and how/ where to get the services
Details of Grievance Redress Mechanism and how to access it
Expectations from the ‘Citizens’ or ‘Clients’
Remedies available at the disposal of the Customers/Citizens in case of deviation from standards
Grievance Redressal Mechanism
Additional commitments such as compensation in the event of failure of service delivery.
Characteristics of a Citizen Charter
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At the Time of fo rmulation all concerned parties should be involved
It must be crisp and comprehensible to a common man
It must improve continuously
It should be flexible to accommodate the views of clients/employees.
It should be pragmatic which can be implemented in reality
It should be given wide publicity by publishing it on Website, through Welcome counter, Newspaper and Television.
It should be made available in English as well as in other local languages.
5. Formulation of Citizens’ Charter
Citizen charter should be flexible to incorporate the views/suggestions of the clients, employees and expert
agencies to continuously improve it to keep pace with the changing needs of the customers and technology.
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Identification of All the
Stakeholders
Formation of Core
Group
Brainstorming
discussion
Feedback
Finalization of Charter
and Approval
Wide Publicity
Training to officers and
staff
Implementation
Review and Evaluation
Figure-1 Process of citizen charter formulation
Citizens’ Charter – Model Guidelines
The Charter arises from the dissatisfaction of the citizen/ consumer/ customer with the quality of service we offer
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To be useful, the Charter must be simple
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The Charter must be framed not only by senior experts, but also by interacting with the cutting edge staff and users who
finally implement.
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Merely announcing the Charter cannot change the way we function. Create conditions through interaction and training for
generating a responsive climate.
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Begin with a statement of the service(s) being offered.
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Place against each service the entitlement of the user, service standards and remedies available to the user for redressal for
non-adherence to standards.
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Procedures/ cost/ charges should be made available online/ display boards/ booklets, inquiry counters, etc at places specified
in the Charter.
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Indicate clearly, that though these are not justifiable, the commitments enshrined in the Charter are in the nature of a promise
to be fulfilled with oneself and with the user.
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Frame a structure for obtaining feedback and performance audit and fix a schedule for reviewing the charter regularly say
every six months.
Separate charters can be framed for distinct services and for organisations/ agencies attached or subordinate to a
Ministry/Department.
Citizens’ Charter – General Structure Guidelines
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A brief statement regarding the concerned service.
?Public Interface of the concerned service to be addressed (e.g. Reservation, Passenger amenities by Railways, Mail Delivery,
Premium services by Post; etc.)
Commitment to Standards (Time frame, Quality of service)
Our Staff: What to expect from them?
Where they are located?
Keeping you informed: What information do you need? If things go wrong: What could go wrong; whom to contact; what to
expect to set it right.
How you can help us?
Benefits of the Citizen Charter
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Empowerment of clients/citizens
Equip the clients with their entitlement for the Quality of services
It bridges the gap between Policy, vision and mission of the organisation and the real implementation of it.
Creates a sense of involvement of the users in achieving the goals of the organisation.
It delineates the responsibilities of the organisation and the clients.
It brings Transparency and accountability.
It is a hallmark of citizen-friendly good governance.
6. Citizens’ Charter for the Department of Defence Research and Development
Vision and Mission Statement:
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T o develop state-of-the-art defence technologies.
To achieve self-reliance in defence technologies and systems and provide indigenous systems to Defence Services.
To create synergy in the efforts of Research and Development organizations, Ordnance Factories, Public Sector Units,
academia and industries of the country t o achieve self-reliance in Defence Systems.
Details of the Business Transacted by the Organization
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Formulation, Direction and execution of scientific programmes of research and design, development, test and evaluation of
Defence systems, in fields of relevance to national security.
Design and Development of strategic and tactical missile systems for our Armed Forces.
Management of agencies, laboratories, establishments, ranges, facilities; programmes, and projects of the department.
Render advice on the technological and intellectual property aspects of the import of technology by production units.
Provide spin-off of the DRDO developed technologies for civilian use.
Rendering advice to Raksha Mantri and to the three services and Inter Services Organisation on all scientific aspects of
weapons; weapon platforms; surveillance; support and logistics, in all likely theatres of armed conflict.
Interaction with the Ministry of External Affairs, as the nodal coordinating agency of the Ministry of Defence on all matters
relating to the acquisition of technologies whose import to India is the subject of national security related controls of Foreign
Governments.
Details of Customers
Department of Defence Research and Development (Research and Development) is working for indigenous
development of weapons, sensors and platforms required by the three wings of the Armed Forces. To fulfill this
mandate, Deptt of Defence Research and Development, is closely working with academic institutions, Research
and Development Centres and production agencies of Science and Technology Ministries/ Departments in
Public and Civil Sector including Defence Public Sector Undertakings and Ordnance Factories.
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Expectations from the Customers
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From the User Services (Army, Air Force and Navy): Participation in development process starting from raising Qualitative
Requirements (QR) to product development and productionisation. It includes participation in the periodical reviews and
financial commitment in the Staff projects. Other is formulation of perspective plans for induction of equipment in the
Services.
From the Ministry of Defence (MoD): Evolving integrated plans in consultation with the Deptt.
From the Academia: Participation in research boards dedicated to basic sciences in the discipline of aeronautical, naval,
armament and life sciences; To become centers of specialization for new technologies and act as nurseries for trained
manpower in state-of-the-art technologies as applicable to Defence Systems.
From the Defence Production Agencies (PSUs & OFs): Concurrent transfer of technology, absorption and production; To
remain active and willing partners in developing new technologies and productionisation of indigenous developed products.
From the Industry: t o provide active participation in development and upgradation of technology programmes.
7. Concluding Remarks
Formulation of Citizens’ Charter is a complex and dynamic process, which require continuous change to keep
pace with the changing needs and aspirations of the citizens. To ensure the true democracy in which the voice of
the citizens is given its rightful place. It enables citizens to make ‘enlightened choices’ in exercising their right
to entitlement of ‘Quality Services”. It enables citizens to get quality service from the government i.e. ‘value for
money’. But just formulating Charter itself is not the end; its true implementation in its real ‘spirit’ is the
hallmark of real empowerment of the citizens. It is a positive gesture towards ensuring “Right to Information”.
Citizens’ Charter should be made justifiable in the court of law.
Acknowledgement
It is very difficult to express the cooperation we received from our colleagues in few lines but still we would
like to give sincere thanks to DRC(Departmental Review Committee) which allowed us to send this paper for
International Conference on E-Governance –2003. We would also like to mention the names of our team
members Mr. Jitendra Chugh and Mrs. Veena Pachori who helped me in documenting the paper in its present
form.
References
Defence Research and Development Organisation,Ministry of Defence,Government of India : Citizens’ Charter. Available
at: http://www.drdo.res.in (Accessed August 14,2003)
About the Authors
G.S. Malik is the eminent scientist and Director of the IT Division of the India’s premier defence research
organision i.e. Defence Research and Development Organization, Minstry of Defence in Government of India.
Gopal Meena is presently working as scientis t for last two years in Directorate of Computer Science, Defence
Research and Development Organisation, Ministry of Defence in Government of India. He has done his
Master’s Degree in Computer Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2001.
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E-Governance: Evolving the End Users
Nitin Tanwar 1 and Deepshikha Sharma
Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, India
Abstract
E-governance policies and projects are being formulated and launched all over world. However little effort is
being put into studying the changes these new happenings are causing .The End Users of the services are in
the midst of sea of change. This often leads to problems for both the End users as well as the government.
Certain practical and recent problems and failures are mentioned. The paper first identifies some of these
problems and then justifies the necessity of evolving an approach for such cases, by stating what everybody
has to gain by this. After this, the steps and measures to be undertaken are discussed. Change in Education set
up, involving end users, targeting existing population, establishment of “e-Analysis centre” and a few other
methods are discussed. Next, who will be doing what and the controlling mechanism are discussed. Throughout
the paper the stress has been on making better use of already existing infrastructure.
Keywords: Changes, Citizens approach, education, awareness
1. Introduction, Relevance And Justification Of Evolving End Users
Efforts have and are being made to look into various aspects of successful policies of E-governance. However a
particularly important ingredient, which has drawn attention but not much exercise, is the way we develop and
evolve the citizen to the whole process of change caused by E-governance. How does the common man
approach E-governance? What is to be done to evolve this approach? How do we spread the awareness? Here
we are talking about the whole new cultural and social set up, which would result because of the E-governance
initiatives. How do we make the new set up beneficial for the present and future society is what this paper
actually tries to convey? But what about the common man for whom all this is being done? Who trains him?
Who installs the confidence in him? But the very first question, when we talk about an as abstract topic as this,
that must be answered is – why do we need special consideration to this idea of formulating plans, strategies etc
to evolve the citizens approach and thinking in relation to E-governance. Lets look at the online activities
(Figure-1) for the United States of America. Here we see that though most of online people are using e-mail’s
not many are using government services. And we can rest assured about the fact that in our daily lives we do
have to interact with the government in a large way. But as seen in the figure, the percentage interaction is
much less than what is expected. In the above statistics, the profile of the users must be taken into account.
Firstly the age factor. Internet access continues to be most widespread amongst the 18-24 year age group and
the 25-34 age group. A significant development is that almost 11% of people over the age of 40 now access the
Internet. However the purposes for which people are going online are vastly different. But still, in none of the
age groups doe’s government services and related activities are a major factor. Next is the gender factor In the
USA, males and females are very close with respect to accessing the Internet. In E-governance activities terms,
more males were accessing the Internet in all major categories, except for “health services”. In India males
continue to outnumber females on the Internet, at 77% compared to 23%. Consequently E-governance is farther
to females than males. Another prominent factor is the Income factor. Overall Internet usage increases with rise
in income.
Also use of E-governance and related services increase for higher income groups. This is resulting in an “egovernance divide”. It is to be noted that the lower income groups require the E-governance, E-services more.
1
Corresponding author (Phone: 09417110289, E-mail: [email protected])
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Our approach should look in to the above factors and disparities also.
Let us look at a very relevant statistic. Above does UNESCO record data as in a survey. Considering figure 2, it
is clear that people are having knowledge about e-initiatives by government. But from figure 3, we see that
despite having knowledge about e-initiatives around 76% could not tell about the IT budget. That point which
comes out is that people have a very rough idea about the e-policy. It’s more of a buzzword rather than some
hard fact on ground. They are aware but not to the extent where it will be useful for them to take serious interest
about the e-initiatives. Again, in a survey report administered be the Indian Market Research Bureau under the
direction of the Confederation of Indian Industry the following were the comments: “Households are shaky
about buying over the net. Very high proportion amongst PC Owners (62%) and PC Non-owners
(75%) said they would not like to buy through the net. The reasons are they are not sure of quality and delivery
of products. They need to feel the products and bargain to buy them. Many do not understand this new method
of buying and selling in a digital environment. ”Computers are not bought for browsing Internet” Browsing the
Internet and purchasing products through Internet are amongst the least important perceived benefits of owning
a computer. Business, learning (self) & education for children were the main reasons to purchase a computer.”
Clearly E-governance and its services is the last thing on peoples mind. We should look at a practical example
here. In the process of admission to Delhi University in the month of June this year a record number of forms
were sold (about 20 lakh) .The chaos in the colleges during this period is well known. Though the university
web site was offering online forms, still students and parents wanted to use the old method. Why? Why didn’t
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the e-savvy people use the online applications? It is because of incidents like these that we must look into this
topic of awareness. We have a number of reasons for supporting such a policy of evolving a citizen’s approach.
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The first one being the by doing so we will let the people have pragmatic and realistic “expectations” from the services
provided. People should be clear in their minds about the fact that the process is the same; only the way of doing it has
changed. Hence they should not expect changes in the end result of the process.
Government is controlled but the masses are not. The government has a well- defined mechanism and structure. Any change in
it is effectively monitored. The change in the mindset of the employees can be monitored. But the way the common man reacts
to the new schemes or to the various changes in the set up can’t be monitored in a standard manner. We should there fore have
an infrastructure to get a hint about the peoples reaction.
This will also help the government in deciding as to which new service needs more priority to go the new way. Considering
the limited expenditure, which can be made by the Government, this step will be very relevant and useful.
Moreover the perfect timing of launch and subsequent with drawl or changes in a service can be estimated.
The service must reach to those people for whom it is really meant. The infrastructure, which will be set up, will also help in
solving this issue. The issue of ‘Digital Divide’ will be effectively addressed.
The steps will also help in installing timely confidence among the people the new set up works, is reliable and a better way of
doing things.
The need for formulating, implementation of plans and setting up of infrastructure is thus definitely there. If we
want to reap the full and timely benefits of E-governance we must therefore look at this aspect also.
2. What we do?
The first and foremost step, which we should take, is regarding the school and educational set up. We all know
that in school the students are taught that thing which will help them in future. So by making the younger
generation getting used to the processes of using the new technology in their daily life will be very beneficial.
They will get well oriented. Now we must realize that here we are NOT talking about introducing Egovernance, E-services etc as a subject at school level. Here what we want is that the way the student leads his
school life gets changed. Computer should not be limited to school labs only. The applications, which are
written on paper, should be through a school intranet. Assignments, homework, deceleration of results should
all be through the school intranet and Internet. When a student applies somewhere or changes school, his all
documents should be in the school database, which can be easily accessed. This will help in eliminating the
unnecessary tension students take for their original documents. It will increase transparency. The individual
schools database when integrated will also give a clear picture of the national level education status. This
national level database will serve as the first step towards the national ID card of our people.
All this will orient a student well in the E-environment and when he goes interacting with government and
services he will have no difficulties whatsoever. Similar is the approach and steps to be undertaken at the
university and college level. Over here the interaction with government services is much more. When students
use these e-services, even if they have problems there will be experienced people around him to clarify the
doubts. Though there are some institutions, which have made a start in the direction, however most of
institutions are nowhere near the start. Government should push hard for such initiatives, as this is the best way
forward. All this will involve quite some spending. From where do we get this money? For most schools, which
have got a large and financially strong backup, this won’t be a problem. Government would just have to provide
some tax concessions to such institutions. But the real problem will be with most of the government schools and
other schools, which lack in infrastructure and on ground “actual” funding. Special attention will have to be
given to academic institutions located in far-flung and rural areas. In the report of “ working group on
Convergence and E-Government for the 10th five year plan”, there are been proposals to set up Multifunctional
Converged Application Center’s (MCACs) at the village panchayat level. The MCACs are to provide the
following facilities:
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Telecommunication services such as Local/STD/ISD PCO , Fax.
E-mail and Internet access.
Telemedicine, Tele-education and E-governance.
Exchange of Social & Cultural heritage across the country.
Information about local data base, government programs
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As many on line services as possible to be brought through the network
A proposal of Rs 700 Crore was made for 1000 such community centres across the country. What we should do
is that local school at the village level should be made to function as the community center. Infrastructure will
be well utilized without any extra burden. Moreover school students will get exposure to a lot of other
technologies, services and community activities. Now for the already existing adult population who are in the
midst of this changing environment, we will first have to look at the concept of digital divide. If we carefully
analyze the present use of Internet and e-services we find four category of people: extensive users (already
making extensive use), occasional users (using for limited purposes only (for sending e-mail)), having access
but not using, and not at all using because of no access.
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For the category of extensive users the only thing to be looked into is that these people continue to use the new services. Due
to failure of certain services, at their individual level or at the government level, they don’t give up the confidence. For
example if somebody orders a particular commodity on the internet and doesn’t get its delivery on proper time he will be
tempted not to order anything again .To avoid such things we should have timely and prompt execution of customer services.
For the second category of “Occasional users” its again the efficient execution of services which will shift them in the first
category of extensive users. These people might be using e-mail regularly but don’t really use other services like online forms.
Applications etc. They don’t have much confidence in other services.
Now in the first category of non-users are the people who have access to the facilities and the infrastructure but don’t use it.
The most probable reason for this is again confidence and exposure. These people just don’t see the need or utility to go
online. Even for checking reservation status they will go to a far off railway reservation counter rather than using a nearby
computer with Internet to do so.
The first step for this category is the change in the educational set up already discussed. When the children of parents force
them to make use of the e-methods, parents will automatically get involved. This might include the correspondence between
school and the parents or the direct insistence by the children to try new methods.
The other step will be actual efficient performance of already existing services and the propaganda regarding the usefulness of
these services. For example the present Indian railway web site www.indianrail.gov.in is an extremely easy to navigate and
useful site . But due to lack of information regarding it, only a select group of people is using it.
The last group i.e. people not at all using because of no access posses an even more difficult challenge. Perhaps it is this group
who arguably need the e-governance the most. The reason being because most people living in far-flung areas fall under this
category, many have a feeling of being left out at the national level. This leads to extremism in many cases. Traversing long
distances, without proper transport, to government offices is a big hurdle for them.. Even people in rural areas, which are not
far off, pose a serious challenge for the planners. The infrastructure is not up to expectations in these areas. With services like
basic telephony not very old in these areas, E-governance activities will need a commendable effort (both in terms of
infrastructure and subsequent utilization of it) from the governments side.
If we want the government to establish the MCACs (discussed earlier) in each of these far of places and rural
areas, it will lead to a lot of expenditure which would become unsustainable in the long run. Moreover there are
problems of logistics and even bigger problem is that who will go in these far off areas (infected by extremism,
having harsh terrain). As the local population does not have the technical know how, initial setup will have to
be done by trained people from outside. For this we should take a look at a place named THEGU at a height of
15000 feet in the remote region of the district of East Sikkim in the state of SIKKIM. Over here is located,
perhaps the highest, computerized Railway reservation counter of the Indian Railways. The counter basically
caters to the need of large amount of Indian Army personnel deployed in the region. The infrastructure (like
building, electricity) has been all provided by the Army Battalion located there. The counter is manned by a
railway employee whose boarding and lodging are all with the army. The locals in the area might not be
requiring a railway reservation counter but do need something on the lines of MCACs (discussed earlier). We
can get the counter to modify a little and with the help of local authorities provide some basic amenities of Egovernance to the people. Similar set up can be tried at many other places. For other parts of the country, we
can get the private sector to get involved. We can get the agro-based companies, which extract from rural areas
as well as companies, which have a market here (seeds, tractors) to join up with local panchayat to open such ekiosks. They will get good advertisement and increase their business. People using these will also get to open up
with the e-services. Once people realize the usefulness and ease of these, they might invest by themselves to
expand the infrastructure.
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Another thing, which should be taken care of during this initial period, is the pricing of such services. In most of
cities though prices have fallen dramatically, at some charges prices are high. If an Internet café charges Rs 60
per hour not many middle class people will come to it unless necessary. In this initial period cyber café s are
perhaps the only means of accessing the Internet for most of the public. Government should try to regulate the
prices to minimum till the time our other set up (like having touch screens at Government offices and other
places) are not extensively developed. Except for the above mentioned specific steps there have to some general
initiative also. These include raising awareness about the online services through electronic and print media.
The usefulness of E-governance should be made known to all. E-services should be made like a new trend,
which everybody should try. People should know that they could avoid corrupted methods easily by doing
things online. Offering some incentives for people using the new methods should be undertaken as a temporary
measure. The involvement of the people themselves will benefit the government in the policies. Moreover it
will lead to a great deal of awareness regarding the plans. The implementation of IRMS (integrated resource
management system) in Canada underlines the importance of end user involvement. IRMS integrates human
resources, financial and material management services for the Canadian House of Commons. Active
participation of clients and support staff in all stages from planning the overall strategy to implementation of
sub projects has been integral to the project. More the 200 users participated in extensive consultations, and
many performed a variety of roles in individual IRMS projects. There goes a saying “ A wise man learns from
other peoples mistakes”. Same principle applies to the E-initiatives also. We must have a database for the
various E- governance activities. Best practices of implementation systems should be collected and
disseminated to all governments for implementation. For this a E-Analysis centre at the national level (which
will be a part of the overall governing body) can prove to be great help. The brief working of this centre is
shown in figure 4. Planners at the base (state, district, village/city levels) can take help form this centre. When
they plan a new activity, the E-Analysis centre will provide them with all helpful information in relation to
launch of new services. At the same time reports of initiatives, their working will be sent to the centre.
Comparisons will be made with other related already existing activities, at a global level, and a warning /
sustainability report sent back to the respective level. E-Analysis centre will thus have a large database, which
can be referred to by anybody. Successful examples will then be identified and dissipated to the public through
the media. The above step will help in reduction of failure of initiatives, provide a database to help
individuals/agencies, and help in creating awareness through the media.
3. Who does it?
The steps, which have been discussed, will be implemented by whom? National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the
Ministry of Information Technology is perhaps the only organization, which has the infrastructure and the
expertise required for the above mentioned steps. Though there is proposal (the report of “ working group on
Convergence and E-governance for the 10th five year plan”) to strengthen the existing NICNET infrastructure as
well as extending it to sub district levels of Government, we should be trying and make the NIC as a
coordinating agency rather than an absolute implementation one. The reason being that because of the digital
divide between various regions of the country, a single centralized policy is not likely to work everywhere. It
will also lead to failures and wastage of resources, which will have a disastrous impact. The NIC will have to
collaborate with local authorities to frame up plans for each block/district/region. The E-Analysis centre may be
a part of the NIC. The ministry of Human Resource Development will have to take initiative for changing the
education set up after working closely with NIC.
4. What We Can Expect As A Result
§
§
§
There would be no more under utilization of resources. The services launched will be well used.
With people getting actively involved, a lot more new ideas and relevant initiatives would reach the decision makers.
Because of the overall change in the end users approach and the power, which he/she has, we will soon see a new work culture
evolve in the government offices. Accountability, no corruption, efficiency, timely delivery would be in reality taken care off
by the departments. People will now have the resources and ease to pressurize the government and adjust its policies.
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§
§
§
§
There will be considerable impact on other E-governance, E-commerce activities. Moreover the end result of other activities
will be influenced.
National Integration will get strengthened automatically
Social and economic problems like Women’s rights, child labour, etc can now
Addressed more effectively. (As a much better complaint mechanism, response mechanism will be in place)
5. Concluding Remarks
The planners at all levels should try and incorporate appropriate plans and procedures, keeping in view the need
to evolve the End User, in their already existing procedures, new plans and policies. In order to reap the full
benefits of E-Governance what this paper has discussed, along with additional inputs, ought to be taken into
account.
§
§
§
§
§
§
Change in Education Set Up (as already discussed)
Addressal of Digital Divide issue. (As already discussed)
Innovative schemes should be promoted for the engagement of private enterprises at the community level. Such schemes
could, for example, engage local entrepreneurs to provide value added (information) services using publicly funded
infrastructure. In this context, a single window for both government and private sector information would be beneficial.
The conventional form s of advocacy (such as policy seminars and publications) may have a continuing role but seemingly
inappropriate and insufficient in face of fast moving developments and the multi dimensional relationships involved
(telecomm, government services, business services, literacy, disposable income etc). Much of the debate takes place within
organized vertical sectors (telecomm, commerce, education). Perhaps a shift to an integrated approach to governance needs to
be emphasized. The tools of advocacy should innovate a little (e.g. promotion of peer networks for senior policy makers, and
politicians, engaged in telecommunications, science and technology, education, public services etc). These may require the
sponsorship of a credible international institution,
Development of local community projects that embrace all level of society from the academic world, to businesses, large and
small, to non profit and volunteer organizations.
Putting maximum information about government online and developing web sites that seek input from people on all manner of
government programs and issues. This is the basis of involving people in the whole process.
References:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
http://egov.mit.gov.in/bground1.asp (Accessed on June 3rd, 2003)
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/anationonline2.pdf (Accessed on September 30th, 2003)
http://www.comnet.mt/unesco/finalrep.pdf (Accessed on September 30th, 2003)
http://www.giic.org/events/ec990615survey.asp (Accessed on September 30th, 2003).
http://planningcommission.nic.in/wrkgrp/wg_egovrn.pdf (Accessed on June 3rd, 2003)
http://www/oecd.org/puma/risk/ItfailuresE.pdf (Accessed on June 3rd, 2003)
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City-Zen-Chip
M.Yuvarani1 , D.Meera Gayathri, and S.Balamurugan
Dept. of Computer Applications, Sona College of Technology, Salem 636005
Abstract
City-Zen-Chip is a brainchild where information of each citizen is collected, collated and used strategically for
public benefits. It maintains the citizen information through the entire transition from birth to the ultimate
retirement from the Universe. A unique identification is generated by the system, achieving electronic
bureaucracy. The system’s prime focus is on the automation of tedious or repetitive governance tasks and
thereby improving efficiency of governance processes. When this entire tedious process is rationalized,
government can trace the productivity of the human resource in each area.
Keywords: E-Governance, Secured Citizenship Number, Human Resource, Information and Communication
Technology
1. Introduction
Electronic Government (eGovernment) refers to intensive utilization of information and communication
technology for the purpose of forming public intent and rendering services at the political and administrative
level. It is an electronic means to enhance the governing capabilities at different levels of government
organizations. E-Governance is concerned with transforming Government from ‘Procedure and Power
Centered’ to ‘Citizen and Service Centered’ using technology as a tool. Internet, connecting government
organizations, companies, universities and many other network users, has emerged the new organizational form
of enterprise, the “network enterprise”. Governments with a strong enough constitution to rise above the status,
thinking out-of-the-box and using the Internet to reinvent themselves, can expect a bright future. Governments
increasingly are rising to the challenge, and are thinking big. Manual Castells states “it is increasingly
impossible for organizations- be they large corporations or small businesses – to survive if they are not part of a
network.” With the innovation of internet and the growth of Information and Communication Technology,
organizations around the world are able to locate each other, enter readily into contact and coordinate joint
activities through an electronic medium whether wire or wireless. At E-Governance, a proper integration of
process and data could adequately lay emphasis on controlling corruption. Digital Governance therefore
includes Information and Communication Technology induced changes in delivery of governance services and
more importantly changes induced in the way citizens interact and participate in the governance sphere.
India’s might reside in its immense human resource. With a massive figure of more than one billion, it ranks
second in the world’s population. The success of the governing process with such a powerful manpower lies in
thinking strategically and optimally planning the usage of these human resources. Finding the right blend of
flexibility and technology to manage the people adds measurable values to profitability and productivity of the
nation. An effective mapping tool may always facilitate the process of fetching the man force and linking them
with the employability available. Due to the lack of such tools, the hidden human resources are not efficiently
extracted and hence are not purposefully channelized towards human capitalization. Even though with the
available system, the population, birth rate, death rate etc can be extracted and analyzed, a complete outline of a
civilian can never be mined. Adapting and implementing key human-capital practices are sure to drive positive
results. It certainly helps in the growth of the country in all dimensions, and its sustainability in turbulent
scenario.
1
Corresponding Author (Phone: 91-427-2446695, 2449174, Email: [email protected])
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In the governing process prevalently practiced, all tasks that furnish information regarding the human resources
are highly departmentalized. Due to its liquid nature, the governing system, even though efficient, is not
effectively implemented.
2. Need for a Secured Identification System
India is a country of excessive bureaucracy. It has a clearly defined governing system. All organizational
process evolves through a series of formal verification and validation. Procurement of any facility from the
government is scrutinized by factors such as ration card or any other identification that is acquired with the
confirmation of the ration card. The services provided by the government tend to congregate information of the
individual, with relevance to the service he wants. In such a situation, the predicament is that each sector has a
propensity to gather information of its significance, leading to the reoccurrence of the same, everywhere. The
worst case is that all process pertaining to each sector is highly compartmentalized that they are beyond
integrity. Hence no information tracking can be done. The foremost quandary leading to this lack of tracking
mechanism is the non-availability of unique identification for a citizen.
In our country, the birth of a child, as an Indian, is legally registered by issuing a birth certificate. This is one of
the crucial factors that govern the citizenship of any individual. But the concern is that it can be acquired with a
simple process that is feeble in validation. More over, this process has its own hitch of consumption of more
time, giving rooms for corruption and forging the certificates. The precariousness of this system goes beyond
comprehension when it comes for issuing a certificate to a fake perpetrator. Yet another factor that governs the
validity of an individual, as an Indian is the ration card. Ration card is actually used to obtain commodities.
Each family in the country is expected to have one, with the names of the members of the family included in it.
But as this is highly insulated from any other sector of the government, no amalgamation of activity is possible.
The most terrible situation is that there is no exhaustive mechanism to ensure that all Indian families are sure to
possess a card. Moreover, dispense of ration cards can be effortlessly forged.
Voters’ Identification card can also be an appealing tactics to identify individuals, but the criticality is that these
cards are meant for franchised citizens only. The same problem persists with other authentication available such
as PAN, passport, driving license etc. Hence, with the conventional governing practice, all processes are
department centered. Blending them to coalesce activities is a mammoth task, for certain. The root cause for all
issues is the non-availability of a unique identification for each individual, as a citizen.
3.
Specifications
The facts discussed above converge at the need for a secured identification system and the effective utilization
of all resources in the nation. To overcome all delinquency in identifying a valid citizen, a secure transparent
system is required to distinguish between citizens and non-citizens. While internal security is a national
concern, its violation is one of the prime drivers for a secure identification system. There are other equally
important issues —breaches in economic, social and administrative security. An authentic citizen identification
number not only helps in plugging these existing big gaps; it also makes sure they do not become recurring
issues for the country.
An accurate and dynamic proposal will not only help the central and the state governments streamline their
utilities management and in eradicating corruption at all levels, it will also help them move towards the much
hyped e-governance. A unique citizen identification number facilitates the elimination of all chronic issues
related to the governing tasks, as the isolated sectors are integrated. Once a secured identification is provided,
and all sectors are integrated, the statistical facts regarding the availability of manpower and other resources
along with the history of information and geography of location can be projected. This helps in giving various
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vital indication like the area best suited for erecting a firm, starting a trade or doing an agricultural activity with
regard to the soil nature and fertility. Man power required can be projected and well utilized. This is could be
made possible if the citizen database is well banded together with the database of all other sectors.
The central government has already thought about the utmost requisite for differentiating citizens from noncitizens. As the result, it has been proposed to make the birth certificates mandatory for all operations, by
inducing all citizens to posses one, within a deadline. The national ID card drive proposed by the government of
India is seemingly focused on the security issues of the country. It has been devised to defend the threat of
illegal immigrants. The system is more biased towards the security concerns and is fairly inclined in mapping
the country’s resources towards its productivity and utilization. Post 9-11, are sending us on a perilous course
into a future in which every movement and transaction is subject to monitoring and surveillance. In US, there is
debate going about a national ID system due to public concerns over terrorism. Japan also has decided the
implementation of the Japanese national ID program. This program, which as already passed as law will assign
11 digit numbers to everyone and will cause to be distributed by the local governments, IC cards that will
become ID cards including the national ID. However there are concerns expressed about the network
architecture being in a mess, the security is weak, there is very little in place limiting the use of the collected
information, there is no privacy watchdog organization and the privacy bill that is trying to be passed right now
actually deliberately allows for the government to use collected information quite freely.
CITY-ZEN -CHIP is an attempt to standardize the format and analyze the information captured, to project a
complete picture of the human resources in the country and the possibility of using them in collaboration with
the available material resources. The issue of managing and materializing human resource necessitates the need
for the emergence of a system that generates unique citizen identification number that distinguishes between
citizens and non-citizens. Since there is no valid identification available as of now, City-Zen-Chip can generate
identity to citizens, analyzing all information of relevance. Owing to the creation of the unique identity, the
rigidness in the compartmentalized activities can be well diluted and hence be integrated.
Functionalities
The major functionality of the system includes the registration of birth. This forms the keystone of the system,
which is the underlying pedestal on which the other functionalities of the system rest upon. The process is
governed by gathering the aggregate information regarding the parent and the child, to facilitate the scrutiny
involved in issuing certificates. This process is focused on the generation of the secured citizen identification
number. Purpose:
•
•
•
Gives perfect analogy of the birth rate.
Population figures can be updated automatically, by integrating systems.
Citizen identification number is focused to give the entire picture of the individual. Hence concepts such as community
certificates may be integrated well within.
The system is to be established with highest level of security possible, that after various stages of scrutiny and
period of monitoring, the citizen identification number is provided. Once that is issued, all other activities
specific to an individual can be traced. The intensity of security may be taken up to the peak of identifying
DNA composition of an individual. DNA configuration, being the basic identification factor, caters in fulfilling
many other facilities like
•
•
•
An anticipation of diseases can be comprehended far before they could be affected with.
A wide behavior analysis of the individual may be made.
Master tool to trace a criminal’s information from the scratch – as because the system is committed to hold the wide picture of
every individual’s DNA sequence.
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But the usage of DNA for identification is subjected to its cost effectiveness. Once the citizen is legally
registered, each level of performance of an individual should be tracked, recorded and updated. The next
echelon of functionality is tracking the education of the citizen. Once a citizen is provided with a citizenship
identification number, his age is monitored and notifications are given to put-up the child for education at the
correct age. All the relevant details are recorded. The system keeps track of the change of educational
institution of the citizen. It also keeps a check when an abrupt termination of study is made. To spot the
educational institution where in the ward is put-up, the licensing of the institution is to be streamlined and
maintained. Such automation rationalizes the authorization of educational institutions. This can be effected by
integrating systems. The process in this phase, is focused on
•
•
•
Making literacy mandatory, thereby enforcing the regulation of bureaucracy
o
Compulsory education up to the age of 14 can be tracked
o
Discrepancies may be viewed with an eagle’s eye
Monitoring the literacy rate
Automatic updation of individuals’ educational profile
The subsequent functionality is focused towards employment for the citizen. Once the citizen has completed his
basic qualification for procuring a job, his information is recorded at the employment system. A viable
identification of the industrial organizations, focused on providing employment is preserved. Organizations may
post its requirement of employees, along with the required skills. An analogy is made at the system holding
citizen information to identify the able person automatically. Once an individual is placed, an authenticated
notification from the organization triggers a corresponding update in the citizen information. Thus the activities
in the employment exchange are automated. The focuses are
•
•
•
•
•
Employment requirement and automation of its sustainability
Key indication to country’s employment rate
Priority based transparent requirement satisfaction system
Status tracker for individuals
Maintaining the legal identification of any organization with relevant details.
The ultimate functionality is concerned with automating the death registration. At the demise of a citizen, his
identification Number is disabled. As this is automated,
•
•
•
•
•
Death-Rate is determined
Analogy of cause can be done and remedies may be suggested
Based on the aggregates, region wise epidemic may be identified; precautionary measures and awareness can be given
Average Life-Span of an Indian can be estimated
Population figures can be updated automatically, by integrating systems.
System Model
City-Zen-Chip, a secured identification system, includes all information regarding the where-abouts’ and the
possessions of the citizen. The data pertaining to any identification system of its kind, like a driving license,
PAN card, voters’ id card, passport, ration card or birth certificate are effectively incorporated within City-ZenChip. Due to the availability of identification and integrity of departments, all hidden resources can be brought
to limelight. Once identified, their utilization and profitability can be done, without saying.
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4.
Implementation Issues
City-Zen-Chip, on implementation, is sure to enhance the government - citizen relationship,
simplifies procedures, rationalizes processes and restructures Government. Implementation in public
sector is diffic ult due to lack of awareness, skilled labour, monetary, resources, ignorance of the endProfile
Student
Literacy Rate
Education
Population
Region of
birth
Government
official
Birth
Educational
Institution
Avg. life span
Updation
Creation of
CID
Register Death
Cause &
remedy
Death
Citizen Information
Doctor
Hospital where
birth occurs
Birth rate
Register Birth
Registration
Updation
License
Doctor
Death rate
Job Search
No.
Artisan
Private
Sectors
Public
Sectors
Employment
Employment Rate
Availability of
Manpower Resource
Placement
Figure 1 System flow of City-Zen-Chip
users and complicated legislative structures. Owing to huge human mass of the country, its
implementation may become crucia l that it requires careful planning and formulation of strategies.
The multi-linguistic base of the country adds on to the criticality of the issue. Other issues of concern
are the availability and allocation of the resources. Moreover the funds required for implementation remains
concealed. The system is sure to impose procedural and legal changes in the governing structure. Hence
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advocacy at political level is a task to ponder upon. For the success of both e-governance and City-Zen-Chip in
India, stringent analysis of situations, strategic planning of events and rigorous tactics of implementation ought
to be followed. Hierarchical implementation pertaining to social status of the civilians can be adapted. Amidst
all constraints and scantiness, strategic and diplomatic scheduling of tasks will help in accomplishing
implementation triumphantly.
5. Converging National Identification with City-Zen-Chip
The ground work for e-Governance in India started with providing statistical information on the net. Presently,
this process is in full swing that most governing bodies facilitates the citizens with ‘enhanced web’ supporting
downloads and enabling queries. Few also support ‘interactive web’ where in the portal provides online forms.
Intensive e-Governance drive carried out currently is moving all these processes to ‘transactional web’, which is
focused on providing online citizen services. Transactional web provides full citizen service but departmentally.
When this is to be extended to ‘Fully integrated web’, the integration has to be restricted to the capabilities of
the existing environment.
Integration will be efficient only when the core work was started towards the purpose. Else, during integration,
a mighty effort has to be invested on reengineering them to eliminate redundancy and provide consistent
information. Instead of using the national identification for transactional web based activities, it could be better
if its creation is focused towards fully integrated web. When the national identification is used for tracking the
subtle information of a citizen instead of using it as an additional reference for him, E- Services will achieve its
purpose. Once the national identification scheme proposed by the central government is successfully
implemented, giving rooms for integration, City-Zen-Chip can efficiently map the human resources with the
material resources, helping the country in effective resource management, establishing perfect workflow at all
levels.
6. Concluding Remarks
Hence, City-Zen-Chip, on implementation, is sure to produce a grand leap in performance. It is more than
digital access to government information or electronic payments. It will change how citizens relate to
governments as much as it changes how citizens relate to each other. It will bring forth new concepts of
citizenship, both in terms of needs and responsibilities. The system may not ensure the extent to which it may
stop or even curb or regulate the influx of illegal migrants. But there can never be a foolproof system to tame
this menace and hence no guarantee. However, it’s a fact that a citizen database and subsequent issuance of
citizen identification does help a country tackle infiltration more effectively. It also facilitates anti-insurgency
drive, enhances investigative capabilities while providing reference for crime records and judiciary.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank our venerated management and our Head of the Department for remaining as a driving
force in motivating all our efforts. We thank our colleagues for their sober encouragement. We feel thankful to
Mrs.Mary Mejella for her help in giving suitable suggestion, guarded guidance and appropriate approach to the
topic selected. We always remain grateful to Mr. M.C.Karthick for his uninterrupted enthusiasm in flourishing
us with subtle ideas and information, staying fountainhead in our endeavors. But for him, our efforts would not
have been a successful one.
References
1.
Catalyzing good governance in developing countries through use of Information and Communication Technology
(ICT), available at http://www.cddc.vt.edu/digitalgov
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
EG Initiatives States/Ministries/Departments, available at http://www.mit.gov.in/eg/ms.asp. Accessed July 07, 2003
E-Governance, available at http://www.cdacindia.com/html/egovidx.asp. Accessed October 10, 2003
E-Governance, available at http://www.cal-info/e-governance.asp
E-Governance, available at http://www.oadb.org/sds/itdev/governance.htm
E-Governance for development – achieving success/avoiding failure in e-government projects, available at
http://www.egov4dev.org/topic1/htm
E-Governance in India, available at http://www.bangaloreit.com/html/egovernindia.htm
E-Governance in India – Too many goals, Very little reality, available at
http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/features/stories/28670.html%20. Accessed June 29, 2001
E-Governance initiatives, available at http://www.keralaitmission.org/content/egovernance
The E-Governance institute, available at http://newark.rutgers.edu/~egovinst/website/linksspg.htm. Accessed 24
September, 2003
India country gateway, available at http://www.incg.org.in/countrygateway/egovernance
Smart Cards for Citizen ID..Let's Not Build Castles in the Air, available at
http://www.naavi.org/cl_editorial_03/edit_24_sept_03_01.htm. Accessed 03 September, 2003
Time to get 'smart' on national ID cards?, available at
http://www.hindu.com/2003/09/21/stories/2003092100081100.htm. Accessed September 21, 2003
About the Authors
M.Yuvarani received the B.Sc degree in computer science from the Madras University (1999), the M.Sc degree
in computer science from the Baradhidasan University(2001) and pursuing Ph.D degree in computer science
from the Vellore University. Her area of research includes Data mining, warehousing and software agents. She
has published papers on Agent based knowledge discovery and modeling software agents- an use case driven
approach.
D.Meera Gayathri received the B.Sc degree in Physics from the Madras University (1999), the MCA degree
from the Baradhidasan University (2002). Her area of interest includes distributed processing and networking
S.Balamurugan received the B.Sc degree in computer science from the Madras University (1997), the MCA
degree from the Bharathiyar University (2000) and pursuing Ph.D degree in Business Administration from
Pondichery University. His area of interest includes software engineering and Management information system.
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Managing Multiplicity in Citizens’ Identity - A Taluka Level Case Study 1
H. M. Jha “Bidyarthi2
Department of Business Administration and Research,
Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering, Shegaon, Maharashtray, India
P. V. Bokad
Department of Computer Science & Engineering,
Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering, Shegaon, Maharashtra, India
Abstract:
Citizen is the epic center of government. Citizens as consumers of public goods and services see efficient system
in business world, tending them to expect the same from the government departments too. With the newfound
ability to do business online (as opposed to inline), the public has come to expect a much greater level of
convenience, availability and reliability of government products and services. E-governance through the concept of Citizen Relationship Management forwards a solution to meet this end. The bottleneck appears, in
implementing this IT-enabled concept, in the form of multiplicity in citizens’ identity system as this paper points
out based on a case study of Shegaon Taluka under Buldhana district in the State of Maharashtra. The
multiplicity of “purposes of identity” is found to be the root cause of this bottleneck. It should be based on
“person of identity” developed through CIS model for unified identity system which will then lead to efficient
governance for creating lifetime citizen relationship value.
Keywords: Citizen Relationship Management, Social Security Number, and Multiple Identity System.
1. Introduction
The Customer Relationship Management is a philosophy about putting customers at the heart of everything the
business does, and building service access and delivery around them. The Citizen Relationship Management
Strategy transforms desperate government budgets and processes into an integrated, citizen-centric service
culture - one that aims to maximize lifetime relationship value (Wray, 2001). It combines aligning culture,
processes and technology. To electronically capture data about the target individuals an IT enabled integrated
technique called “Centralized Information System” is used. This technique is also sometime referred to as
Citizen Information System when the data about citizens is electronically collected, stored, retrieved for
decision-making purposes and disseminated for citizen-centric activities. A citizen is defined as a consumer of
public goods and services (Nowlan, 2000). Citizen relationship management has to consider the entire citizen
population as its prospect pool and try and convert them into partners in governance so that they create a
lifetime value for the society and the government. There is nothing like suspect pool or qualified or disqualified
prospect pool of citizens. They all belong to similar category as they are all consumers of public goods and
services in one or the other form and their relationship with the existing government mandates its continuance
or otherwise in the office. This calls for the universal database of the citizens and its regular updating so that
each citizen is well understood, duly tracked and satisfactorily delivered aspired services.
Proper application of this model would demand creating citizens facilities for quick and anytime accessibility. A
number of countries are attempting to set up citizen interaction centers to enable public access government
services. Use of telephone calls, SMS, fax, access to websites, email are but a few electronic media that
1
Part of on-going Doctoral Research Work
Corresponding author (Phone: 91-7279-252478 Ext. 232(O) / 509(R); Fax: 91-7279-252346, Email:
[email protected])
2
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facilitate accessibility. It needs a system through which a permanent identity of each citizen is created. This in
itself initiates the act of partnering by the citizen with the government which has to update citizens’ data by
their respective identity through out their life even though the government’s direct contribution to the growth
and prospect of that citizen is little or negligible. The governance thus gets perma nently tagged with each
citizen, which might lay the foundation of a long lasting citizen relationship. This identity system is practiced in
United States where every citizen has been given an identity code called as “Social Security Number”. This
study focuses on only one aspect of the CRM i.e. “Citizens’ Identity” which is considered by the authors as the
foundation stone of CRM practices and e-governance.
2. Methodology of Study
With a purpose to explore the issues involved in “Citizens’ Identity” for effective e-governance this study was
conducted at a Taluka level. A survey was carried out in this Taluka to list the organizations, offices and their
branches of all types, which deal with public in general either directly or indirectly. Their functions were
studied to understand the existing nature of public transactions, its procedural aspects and the possible sources
of implications in general governance. A select sample of citizens representing all its factions (including
floating population of citizens) was also surveyed to understand their relations (existing and / or expected) with
governance and also their personal difficulties hindering efficient governance for them. However, this paper
presents only that part of these surveys, which deal with the issue of citizen identity system for e-governance
through CRM.
3. Profile of Shegaon Taluka
Shegaon, the Taluka under study, falls in Buldhana district of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra State. According
to Census 2001, it has a local population of about 80,000 with 38,008 persons literate (21,240 males and 16,768
females excluding 7,524 persons in 0-6 age groups). An average of 20,000 persons of floating population
coming from far and near cities and villages visit Shegaon town every day as this place is a famous religious
pilgrimage to Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj. It has a Municipal Corporation, Police Station, Railway Station,
Telecommunication Exchange Office, Government Hospital, Block Development Office, Local Court, a
Religious Trust, an Engineering College, many primary, secondary and tertiary level educational institutions,
Tax and Accounting Consultant Firms, Industries, Nationalized and Cooperative Banks, and other public and
private offices. Table-1 shows an extended list of service categories and related organizations existing in
Shegaon Taluka. There is a good market with several shopping complexes. Many residents of this Taluka
frequently go abroad. The town has been visited by the Vice President of India besides frequent visits of the
Chief Minister of Maharashtra and a host of Central and State Cabinet Ministers. Being faced with the perennial
problem of acute scarcity of drinking and irrigation water, the Taluka occupies a distinct place in the
government plans.
4. Dimensions of Governance at Taluka Level
Citizens of Shegaon Taluka are thus exposed, as obvious from its profile itself, to all the aspects of governance.
They are involved in a variety of transactions in their respective capacities - individuals, organizational entities,
public representatives, social workers and common citizens. A diversified range of relationship (Musgrave &
Michael, 1996) may be observed here as briefly classified and put in Figure-1. All the types of transactions, as
shown in the figure, are inter-related and inter-dependant, and an integrated effort towards these dimensions
forms the essence of the governance.
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Table 1 Showing Existing Service Categories and Related Organizations in Shegaon Taluka
S.No.
Related Organizations at Shegaon Taluka
Service Categories
1.
Health Services
Govt. Hospital, Charity Hospitals, Private Nursing Homes etc.
2.
Banking Services
Nationalized Banks, Cooperative banks, Credit Cooperative Societies etc.
3.
Entertainment Services
Gajanan Watika, Anand Sagar, Movie Theatre, Amphitheatre etc.
4.
Educational Services
Municipal School, Convent School, Navodaya Vidyalaya, Adivasi Ashram Shalla,
Warkari Shikshan Sansthan, School for Mentally Retarded, Industrial Training
Institute, General Colleges, Engineering College etc.
5.
Travel and Transport Services
Railway Station, State Transport, Private Transport, Travel Agencies etc.
6.
Government Services
Post Office, Telephone Exchange, Police Station, Block Development Office,
Local Court, Municipal Council, Land Registration Office, Building &
Construction Department etc.
7.
Lodging Services
Maharashtra Tourist Development Corporation Hotel, Inn, Private Hotels, Circuit
House, Railway Retirin g Room etc.
8.
Industrial Services
Ginning Mills, Small Scale Industries, Cottage Industries etc.
9.
Commercial Services
Local Weekly Market, Shops, Shopping Complexes, Wholesalers, Dealers,
Automobile Agency etc.
10.
Charity Services
Religious Trust, Clubs, Societies etc.
11.
Consulting Services
CA Firms, taxation Firms, Brokers etc.
G2C (Government to Citizens)
This includes mainly land registration;
dealings with public distribution system;
licenses for driving and shops; police
services, health services, municipal
services, transportation services, judicial
services etc.
Citizen
Government
Business
G2G (Government to Government)
Dealings between the authorities of hospital &
police, police and judiciary; municipal corporation
and Block Development Office; banks and banks;
schools, and banks are some of the dimensions of
this category, where citizens’ expectation of good
governance is attached.
G2B (Government to Business)
Licenses for industries and firms;
taxation; regulatory controls; banking and
insurance etc. are included under this
dimension.
Figure-1 Showing Dimensions of Governance
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5. Identity System Prevalent at Shegaon Taluka
As prevalent on the countrywide basis in India, the citizens of Shegaon Taluka also have multiple identities.
These are in the form of Ration card, Driving Licenses, Permanent Account Number (PAN), Voter ID Card,
Passport, Railways Identity card for Monthly Seasonal Ticket, Telephone Number, Mobile Number, email ID,
Professional Membership card, Credit Card, ATM Card, Employee Identity Card, Club Membership Card,
Digital Identity card, Insurance Policy, Bank Account Numbers, Provident Fund Account Number, Public
Provident Fund Account Number, House Number, Academic Guide Number and a host of other identities. A
peculiar aspect of these identities is that these are created at different stage of life by different agencies and for
different purposes, however, the citizen holding these identities remains the same person. There are even cases
of several identity numbers issued for a common purpose. This multiplicity sometimes confuses the concerned
citizen himself or herself about his / her identity when he / she has to recollect identity number for specific
purpose. Whereas the purpose of identity is to profile the person correctly, it serves, many a times, to project the
person differently. The multiplicity in identity system thus dissolves the basic objective of identity.
6. Purpose v/s Person of identity
The reason behind the multiple identity system prevalent in the Taluka appears to be the multiplicity of the
purposes. The identity documentation takes into account the purpose of the identity and not the person of the
identity. For example, one citizen function of issuing driving license to him may have several purposes like
driving license for his two-wheeler, driving license for his four-wheeler light vehicle and driving license for his
four wheeler heavy vehicle. The person, in this case, to whom this driving license is issued remains the same
but as the purposes behind issuing these licenses are different (three in number) therefore at least three licenses
(identity documents) are issued to him. This implies that the more is the number of the purposes, the more is the
number of the corresponding identity documents. Identity system is thus found to be tailor-made to purpose and
not to person. Following table number – 2 better exemplifies this aspect on the basis of select cases of identity:
Table-2 Showing Multiplicity of Purposes in Identity Documents
S.No.
Citizen Functions
Multiplicity of Purposes
1.
Driving Licenses
Two-Wheeler Driving License, Four-Wheeler Light Vehicle Driving License,
Four Wheeler Heavy Vehicle Driving License etc.
2.
Financial Deposits
Saving Account Deposit, Recurring Account Deposit, Provident Fund
Account Deposit, Public Provident Fund Account Deposit, Bank Credit Cards
etc.
3.
Insurance Policies
Subscriptions
Life Insurance Policies with varying premium amounts, Pension Policies,
General Insurance Policies etc.
4.
Identity Card
Voter Identity, Employee Identity, Visitors Identity (Pass), Railways Identity
Card, Professional Membership Identity etc.
5.
Registration
Land Registration, Vehicle (of all types) Registration, University Registration
(Migration or Immigration), Registration of Birth and Death etc.
6.
Civil Supplies & Consumers
Affairs
Ration Card, LPG Cylinder Pass Book, Electric Supply Agency Card, Water
Supply Agency Card, Telephone Number (of all types viz. landline, mobile,
official, residential phones) etc.
7.
Legal Functions
PAN, Passport, Business Licenses etc.
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7. Cost & Procedural dimensions of multiple identity system in Shegaon Taluka
There are several cost components attached to the operation of multiple identity system in Shegaon Taluka.
Procedure involving quick(spot) issue of citizen’s identity to detailed and compre hensive investigation
including police verification covering a time span of two to three months prior to issue of identity documents is
in effect. Some of these are listed below:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stationary and printing Costs: These are associated with the forms required for obtaining each type of identity. In some
cases 8 to 10 pages forms are required to be filled up for the purpose.
Inventory Carrying Cost: The authenticity of identity is proportionately related to adequate storage of the abovementioned
forms. In this paperless era, such documentary evidences are kept for long years in the old offices without a proper care
about its mutilation etc.
Labor Cost: Unimaginable number of man hours is lost in retaining these identities due to engagement of group of employees in all related offices for a common function. The multiple time of filling up forms by the applicant citizen seeking
identity is another wastage of labor.
Implicit Cost due to lack of regular updating: A citizen who opened his bank account at the age of 25 years continues to
transact with that bank using his similar identity till the age of 65 years. During these 40 years his signature changes, his
facial identity changes but due to the absence of a mechanism to update his data regarding his identity, this old man is
treated as the same young man of 25 years age. This invites many hidden cost, which surfaces only when some mischief
appears challenging the very authenticity of the identity system.
Investigation Cost: In cases like issue of photo identity card, passport etc. a detailed investigation is carried out by the office
of the issuing authority in coordination with several other offices (like police department etc.). All such investigations incur
cost on identity, some of which are of direct nature while others are of indirect nature.
Material Development Cost: Each identity document consumes materials for its production. One citizen carrying more than
25 identity documents on his person simply causes multiplicity of material development cost related to the same. Some of
these costs are borne by the issuing office while some other like passport size photograph of the citizen is borne by the
citizen himself / herself.
Social Cost: Involving more than one government office in the identity document issue process consumes the time and
attention of such offices, wh ich are primarily meant for some other purpose. This diverts them from doing their mainstream
work for which the society has to bear. If ulterior intentions are devel oped in the investigation process for issuing identity
document, the resultant loss of character and integrity to the nation coupled with possible malpractices causes irreparable
social losses.
Procedural implications: Several information furnished by citizen for obtaining identity from different agencies are
common for all these agencies. That part of the process of obtaining identity, which requires filling up a set of common
information for all types of identity documents, is redundant in the prevailing identity system. Some such information are
name, address, date of birth, sex, caste, height, nationality, qualification, income, signature, physical mark for identification
etc. of the applicant. This only burdens the applicant citizen with completing common procedural formalities for multiple
times.
8. Other implications of multiple identity system:
The changing social order and international environment poses many sever threats to governance in every
country (Preiss & Steven, 1996). The security briefings to tackle these threats are the other implications of
multiple identity system. The citizens too have to be prompt in carrying the right identity document for the
matching work. Sometimes the identity of a person appears to get lost in its multiplicity. The complexity of the
multiple identity system can be described through a simple example. A citizen goes on his scooter to the market
for booking LPG cylinder, depositing cash in his PPF and recurring deposit accounts after withdrawal of the
same from his savings bank account. He would be required to carry at least nine identity documents viz. his
vehicle registration documents, driving license, photo identity card, employee identity card (if he is an
employee), PPF account pass book, recurring account pass book, saving account pass book, LPG connection
paper and LPG cylinder booking pass book. He may land in any unprecedented trouble if he forgets any of these
documents to carry along.
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9. Unified identity through CIS Model for better CRM
A citizen’s identity should always be unique. Either a social security number like in United States or any other
identity code may be chosen. It is not to say that the identity code / number issued presently by any organization
to a citizen is not unique but to point out that he/ she is identified by different codes/ numbers issued to him/ her
by different organizations. However, he/ she remains unchanged even after changing his identity code/ number
by these organizations. The uniqueness of identity lies in issuing only one identity number or code to one
citizen of the Taluka (or country). This requires coordination among the identity issuing authorities. The CIS
Model comes here in picture to establish this coordination. The model proposes an unique electronic identity
code for every citizen containing complete identity parameters. It would also facilitate citizens’ accessibility
anytime from anywhere. The hard copy of the electronic version of this identity shall prove to be citizen’s
identity document for its referred multiple uses. It is like a railway reservation ticket issued by the reservation
clerk from any railway station to a commuter with one PNR number. He/ she meets many Traveling Ticket
Examiner during the course of his long journey (may be a circular journey of 45 to 60 days), but he/ she is
identified by the similar PNR number. This is the true application of technology in governance, which always
ensures effective and efficient delivery of services, as there is a complete awareness about the concerned
citizen.
The municipal corporation may be nominated as the central authority in command of the CIS model to serve the
identity require ments of all the concerned offices and provide them citizen profile in characters as adequate as
their requirement with added facility of regular update of the profile. The citizens on the other hand shall be
hooked to common identity for all its service requirements. This would require issuing only one document of
the nature of a “Citizen Passport” containing information. Considering the average life of an Indian citizen to be
75 years and a five-year interval plan to update the identity document, this document may contain 15 pages.
Each page shall carry generic information like name, date of birth, photograph, address, physical identification
marks, sex, caste, qualification, signature (or thumb impression, as the case may be), occupation, date, seal and
signature of the identity issuing authority. It will also contain specific information like telephone number(s),
bank account number(s), PAN etc. to suit various other government and non-government dealings. It is
suggested here that only one number may be allotted to a citizen of the country in ten digits (as the present
population is 100 crores plus i.e. a ten digit figure) suffixed by specific codes to indicate the rolling population
number and service facility number. For example, Mr. A. Abraham may be allotted an identity number as 920130528496. Here the figure `92’ indicates the year of his birth and his service facilities may be identified as
92-0130528496-T (telephone number); 92-0130528496-M (mobile number); 92-0130528496-P (PAN); 920130528496-H (house number); 92-0130528496-B (bank account number); 92-0130528496-L (LPG connection
number); 92-0130528496-I (insurance policy number) and so on and so forth. The example is only indicative
and not exhaustive in nature.
Many identity parameters are subject to change due to change in life circumstances like income, residence,
qualification etc. These changes shall be incorporated at a regular interval of 5-years to update the data and to
keep appropriate track of the citizen. There are certain changes in the citizen profile that may appear in the
middle of this interval for which a few pages may be exclusively kept in that identity document. The computerized data may be printed on the respective pages of the identity document, which the citizen shall use uniformly
for all purposes with all the agencies and offices and thus doing away with the multiple identity system.
10. Comparison with Similar Cases of E-Governance:
Andhra Pradesh e-governance drive kicked off in 1998 covering all the 1,125 Mandals / Talukas (of 23 districts
of the State) which are the pivotal administrative units of the government at the cutting edge level. The State has
shown the rest of India that it is possible to introduce e-governance right down to the village level. The
introduction of e-governance system has not been forced on the State government by public pressure but has
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been out of the government’s belief that the e-governance system should be pushed in the State if it is to be
reformed into a knowledge economy. This drive of the State has been impressive which has initiated a number
of e-governance projects under the concept of SMART government such as CARD (Computer-Aided
Administration of Registration Department), MPHS (Multi-Purpose Household Survey), E-Seva (one-stop-shop
for citizen services), and FAST (Fully Automated System for Transport) etc. The MPHS is one of the largest IT
projects undertaken in AP with huge database containing a whopping total of 76.5 million records that give a
graphic detail of the personal, social and economic details of every citizen. The database is used for instant issue
(the time element in issuing has come down from 15 days to 15 minutes) of Caste Certificates, Birth
Certificates, Nativity Certificates etc.
Karnataka government introduced its millennium IT policy, Mahithi, in the year 2000-2001 focusing pro-active
use of e-governance by taking IT to the common man. It has facilitated common man to directly send their
complaints through email to different State departments, secure registration and issue of the certificates of birth
and death, get passport in an emergency and so on. The Department of Post, Govt. of India is launching e-post –
an electronic system by which electronic communication can be sent to those who are not having internet access
or connectivity – in five States of the country namely Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
This system provides each individual an e-post ID based on his / her geographical address. In all the above
cases it is noted that e-governance is applied for converting manual operation into electronic operation for
quicker delivery of services through IT application. However, pushing e-governance is not simply a matter of
introducing technology into the system. Indeed, technology is only 20 percent of the task. The big part is really
managing the resistance and inertia of the existing system and of altering existing procedures to make them
compatible with e-governance systems for effective cit izen relationship management. One of the core
management tasks is the introduction of unified identity system through CIS, as suggested here, and which the
e-governance cases of AP / Karnataka are yet to address for eliminating multiplicity in the citizens’ identity
system.
11. Dangers in CIS
There have been varying schools of thought suggesting benefits of CRM, obstacles in its implementation and
basic parameters required for making it work. Table-3 briefly presents these suggestions that constitute a
dilemma in CIS model.
Table-3 Showing Benefits, Obstacles and Operational Aspects of CRM
-
Benefits
The `Single Citizen View
Reduced Risk of Citizen Irritation
Identification of Citizen
Management of Complaints
Revealing Service Opportunities
-
Obstacles
Finding an Acceptable
Definition / Identity Code
Deciding How Much is already
available
Working out the Extent to which it is
an IT Issue
Getting a Budget
-
Making it Work
Set Clear Targets
Put Milestones in Place
Try to Find Some Quick
Ensure to buy-in of collected Data
Build in Flexibility
Ensure maintenance & Quality
Control of Databases
Another issue of concern in the proposed model is, “Whether it talks about citizens relationship with
government or government relationship with citizens?” Citizen relationship is more about understanding who
they are, what are they like, and so on, which are the major concerns of the citizen identity system. With the
literacy rate of below 50% in Shegaon Taluka, an application of CIS model might look like day-dreaming. But
if India government stands by its policy of providing “IT for all by the year 2008”, this limitation can be well
taken care of. It should not be an exaggeration to suggest here that computer literacy may be attached with the
literacy campaign of the country for better results on both the front. The citizen responsiveness is another cause
of concern where responsibility of keeping the data current lies more on part of the citizen than the man stand-
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ing on the other side of the table. We have still to go a long way to create a good civic sense in our people. It is
a people-oriented effort where the government employees too have to come forward to willingly adopt the new
methods of working. There are two more dangers generally perceived in the e-governance - the digital divide of
the society and protecting the privacy of data and information so that the same does not fall in the wrong hands
and get misused.
12. Concluding Remarks
With the changing perception of citizens, it is necessary to go citizen-centric in all the affairs of governance.
The existing multiplicity in the identity of Indian citizens, as exemplified through the case study of Shegaon
Taluka in this paper, is the real bottleneck. A unified identity system through CIS model needs to be introduced
along the suggested lines. The uniqueness of the electronic identity of the citizens with the facility of prompt
and regular update in identity parameters shall prove to be boon for greater efficiency in governance and
enlightened citizens. It would help create lifetime citizen relationship value as it identifies each citizen uniquely
and covers him / her throughout the life. It reduces cost and optimizes resource utilization besides simplifying
the basic purpose and use of identity system. This also meets some of the social obligations (particularly
concerning security matters, uniformity in distribution of government goods etc.) of the government very
effectively. Those governments that are proactive (Xavier, 2002) in implementing Citizen Relationship
Management Tools for creating Citizen Information System to provide personalized services to individual
citizens will be amply rewarded.
References:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Andhra shows India the e-governance way, http//www.ap-it.com/egovernway.html, accessed on 9.9.2003.
Best Practices in Customer Relationship Management, http//www.destinationcrm.com/Articles, accessed on
16.7.2003.
Census of India 2001 (Provisional), http//www.censuindia.net, accessed on 18.7. 2003.
CRM, http//www.cityit.co.uk/conference/docs/ttship -crm.doc, accessed on 2.8.2003.
Direct Marketing Association (1999): Customer Relationship Management: A Senior Management Guide to
Technology for Creating a Customer-Centric Business, New York, DMA Publishers.
E-governance in Karnataka, http//www.bangaloreit.com/html/egovern/egovernkar.htm, accessed on 9.9.2003.
Making Citizen Relationship Management Work, http//www.detica.com/researchandevents/whitpapers, accessed
on 16.7.2003.
MarketView : The Move to Second Generation CRM, http//www.crm.insightexec.com, accessed on 15.7.2003.
Musgrave, James and Michael, Anniss (1996): Relationship Dynamics : Theory and Analysis, New York, Free
Press.
Nowlan, Scott (2000): Citizen Relationship Management - eCRM in the Public Sector, Pricewaterhousecoopers.
Preiss, Kenneth, Steven, L. Goldman, and Nagel, N. (1996): Cooperate to Compete: Building Agile Business
Relationships, New York, Wiley.
Wray, Lyle D. (2001): e-Government: From Inline to Online Public Services, Cal_Tax Digest.
Xavier, M.J. (2002): Citizen Relationship Management Concepts. Tools and Applications, South Asian
Management - Challenges in the New Millennium, Hyderabad, Association of Management Development in
South Asia.
About the Author
H. M. Jha “Bidyarthi” is Professor in Department of Business Administration & Research in Shri Sant Gajanan
Maharaj College of Engineering, Shegaon, Maharashtra.
P. V. Bokad is Programmer and Research Scholar in Department of Computer Science & Engineering in Shri
Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering, Shegaon, Maharashtra.
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Indian Experience on G2C Service Delivery Models: Select Case Studies and Lessons for Future
Developments
M J Xavier1
Orfalea College of Business, California Polytechnic and State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA
R P Pillai
Krysalis Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd., AI-98, Anna Nagar, Chennai – 600 040, India
Abstract
E-governance initiatives in India face the twin challenges of automating government departments and taking
on-line services to the common man. While there are standard approaches available for the former, the later
needs innovations to suit the needs of developing countries like India. Luckily there are several projects
underway in different parts of the country that can give us some insights on the development of G2C delivery
models in rural areas. In this paper we have analyzed eight successful IT projects in the rural areas, namely:
Gyandoot, e-Chaupal, Inagriline, Dairy Portal TARAhaat, Warana, SARI and CyberGrameen. The lessons and
implications for future developments are presented in the article.
Keywords: e-governance, public/private collaboration, online citizen engagement, Citizen Information Systems
(CIS), digital democracy.
1. Introduction
India cannot afford to copy the western models of e-governance as it has more than three fourth the population
living in rural areas where every second person happens to be an illiterate. According to the 2001 census1 742
million people live in rural areas and only 362 million are literate. The sheer numbers and the lack of
infrastructure in rural areas pose greater problems in the implementation of e-governance projects. The teledensity2 in rural India stands at 0.4 while the all India figure is 5 per hundred people as compared to the world
average of 16. An approximate assessment of the requirement of financial resources for implementation of eGovernance at the State and central government using the western models yields an astronomical figure of
Indian Rs 40,000 Crores 3 (US $10 billion). However we cannot do away with e-governance nor afford to
neglect the rural masses. We need to use our imagination to develop innovative solutions that are more
appropriate for our country and its people.
This paper focuses on methods of delivering government services to citizens in rural areas. The authors term
this process as Citizen Relationship Management (CzRM), which goes beyond e-governance. The traditional
notion of e-governance is restricted to the government performing its governing role through the use of the
electronic medium. CzRM encompasses the entire relationship between citizen and government and seeks to
make this faster, more interactive and more informed on both sides.
The lacunae in e-governance today are largely the result of the exclusive focus on one aspect viz.
computerization of government records and automating the back end processes. This aspect is an undoubted
prerequisite for e-governance. But the authors of this paper urge that we must move beyond this aspect to focus
on the delivery of government services to citizens. What we are advocating is a citizen-centric approach to egovernment. While focusing on the delivery of services to citizens, the government must attempt to make use of
infrastructure, which provides other services such as e-health, e-learning and e-commerce to citizens. This has
two distinct advantages. One, the nature of the relationship between government and citizen is enhanced by
1
Corresponding author (Phone: +1-805-756-2003, Fax: +1-805-756-5057, Email: [email protected])
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making it more participative. This happens because the use of the infrastructure becomes a part of everyday life
due to the variety of services provided by it. Two, the speed at which this facility can be created is vastly
increased by collaborating with others providing similar kinds of services.
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Gyandoot Project
?
ITC’s E-Choupal
?
?
TARAhaat.com
?
Warana Project ? SARI Project ? Cyber grameen
Figure 1 Distribution of project sites
Indiagriline
?
Amul’s Dairy Portal
We shall discuss eight case studies of successful implementation of rural IT projects and draw lessons for future
e-governance projects. The eight cases, namely, Gyandoot, e-Chaupal, Inagriline, Dairy Portal TARAhaat,
Warana, SARI and CyberGrameen, are fairly spread across the country as shown on a map of India in Figure 1.
What is recommended is a collaborative approach involving the government, industry and academia. This
approach must seek to be self-sustaining and generate its own resources, in course of time, for its continued
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operation. This call for inculcating an entrepreneurial approach to this venture and the cases analyzed will show
that citizens are prepared to pay for services when it saves them time and effort.
2. Gyandoot Project4
The Dhar district in central India has a population of 1.7 million; 60% live below the poverty line. The goal of
the Gyandoot project has been to establish community-owned, technologically innovative and sustainable
information kiosks in a poverty-stricken, tribal dominated rural area of Madhya Pradesh. The Gyandoot project
was launched on January 1, 2000 with the installation of a low cost rural Intranet covering 20 village
information kiosks in five Blocks of the district. Later, 11 more kiosks were set up. Kiosks have been
established in the village Panchayat buildings. Information kiosks have dial-up connectivity through local
exchanges on optical fibre or UHF links. The server hub is a Remote Access Server housed in the computer
room in the District Panchayat. User fees are charged at the kiosks for the services provided. Local rural youth
act as entrepreneurs, running these information kiosks along commercial lines. A local person with a 10-year
schooling (matriculate) can be selected as a operator. He/she needs only maintenance, limited typing (software
is menu driven) and numeric data entry skills. The following services are now offered at the kiosks:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agriculture produce auction centres rates: Prevailing rates of prominent crops at the local and other recognized auction
centres around the country are available on-line for a nominal charge of Rs. 5. The volume of incoming agricultural
produce, previous rates, etc., is also provided on demand.
Copies of land records: Documents relating to land records including khasra (record of rights) are provided on the spot
at a charge of Rs. 15. All of the banks in the district have agreed to accept these kiosk documents. Approximately 0.2
million farmers require these extracts at every cropping season to obtain loans from banks for purchasing seeds and
fertilisers.
On-line registration of applications: Villagers had to make several visits to the local revenue court to file applications for
obtaining income/caste/ domicile certificates. Now, they may send the application from a kiosk at a cost of only Rs. 10.
Within 10 days, notification about the readiness of the certificate is sent via e-mail to the relevant kiosk. Only one trip is
needed -- to collect the certificate.
On-line public grievance redress: A complaint can be filed and a reply received within 7 days for a cost of Rs 10. These
can include complaints regarding drinking water, quality of seed/fertilizer, scholarship sanction/disbursement, employee
establishment matters, functioning of schools or village committees, etc.
Village auction site: This facility began in July 2000. It makes auction facilities available to farmers and villagers for
land, agricultural machinery, equipment, and other durable commodities. One can put one's commodity on sale for a
charge of Rs. 25/- for three months. The list of salable commodities can be browsed for Rs. 10/-.
Transparency in government: Updated information regarding beneficiaries of social security pension, beneficiaries of
rural development schemes, information regarding government grants given to village committees, public distributions,
data on families below the poverty line, etc. are all available on the Intranet, which makes the government functioning
more transparent.
Other services offered at the kiosks include on-line matrimonial advertisements, information regarding
government programs, a forum for school children to ask questions, ask an expert, e-mail (free for information
on child labor, child marriage, illegal possession of land belonging to Scheduled Tribes, etc.). Some kiosks also
have added photocopy machines, STD PCO, and horoscope services. In January 2000, the first month of
operation, the kiosk network was accessed 1,200 times for a variety of services. That number reached nearly
9,000 in July. During the first 11 months, the 31 Gyandoot kiosks were used nearly 55,000 times. Each kiosk
was expected to earn a gross income of Rs. 4,000 per month (50% from Gyandoot services, 25% from training,
and the remainder from job work like typing). The operational costs are Rs 1,000 per month. Net income of Rs
3,000 must cover investments and provide a profit to the entrepreneur. In practice, the gross income has ranged
between Rs. 1,000-5,000 per month; depending upon the skill and zeal of the manager.
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3. ITC's E-Choupal 5
What was started by ITC as a cost-effective alternative supply chain system to deal directly with the farmer to
buy products for exports is getting transformed into a meta market for rural India. The tobacco giant has already
set up over 700 choupals covering 3,800 villages in four states — which include Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh — dealing with products ranging from soya bean, coffee, aquaculture
and wheat. Last year it transacted business of over Rs 80 crore through the e-choupals all across the country.
Consider why a farmer would opt for the e-choupal over the regular mandi. Farmers who strike orders on the
Internet kiosk with ITC have a choice. They can either bring their produce to the ITC warehouse or factory and
get reimbursed for the transportation cost or they could give their supplies to one of the collection centres that
have been set up by the company for a cluster of villages or even deliver it to the sanchalak who runs the
Chaoupal.
Both ITC and the farmers make a neat saving by bypassing the middleman in the mandi. For instance, the
farmer saves as much as Rs 250 per tonne on soya bean because he does not incur costs such as bagging,
transportation, loading and unloading, to haul his goods to the mandi. The company, on the other hand, saves
over Rs 200 a tonne by avoiding transporting the produce from the mandi to the company outlet even after
reimbursing the farmer for transport. And the sanchalak, the local-level entrepreneur, also makes money by
getting a 0.5 per cent commission on the total transaction made through his kiosk. But the kiosk can be used for
reverse trading also — for companies to sell products and services needed by farmers directly. And ITC is
already putting together a strategy to leverage the infrastructure to market and distribute goods and services that
farmers require. The facility will be available for selling both ITC’s products as well as those of other
companies — of course, at a price. The company has taken some initial steps to get agricultural input
companies to sell their products directly to farmers. It has already roped in US seeds giant Monsanto, fertiliser
companies like BASF and Nagarjuna Fertilisers and state-owned MP State Seeds Corporation to take orders and
market their products through the site. These companies can display their products on the Net, train farmers on
how to use them, offer special prices, book orders from farmers and — through the sanchalak — deliver it at the
village. Of course, ITC does not provide the service free. Companies have to pay a 10 per cent fee on the face
value of the transaction and the tobacco company pays the sanchalak 5 per cent of the sales as commission for
any product sold on his kiosk.
ITC is also experimenting with using the kiosk to sell fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) products. As the
first step, it is selling gas lanterns and packaged vegetable oil. At the moment these are being manufactured by
third parties on behalf of ITC. Orders by farmers are being booked by the sanchalak who also arranges to have
them delivered to the farmer’s doorstep. If the idea clicks, the platform would be available for other companies
too, which could help ITC generate healthy revenues. The third initiative is to leverage the e-choupal to sell
services. Talks are already on with various insurance companies for using the e-choupal as a medium for both
educating and selling insurance products to the farmer — in which the sanchalak becomes the insurance agent.
The ITC virtual mandi is emerging as a one-stop shop for selling and buying of all kinds of products and
services including government services in the rural market.
4. Indiagriline by EID Parry6
The Agri Portal of EID Parry, www.indiagriline.com, has been designed to address the specific needs of the
rural farming community and is an attempt to catalyze e-commerce in agricultural and non-farm products by
offering a network of partnerships. This content has been developed by using in-house expertise (EID Parry's
Sugar and Farm Inputs Division and Corporate R&D Lab) and working with the TN Agriculture University and
its Research Stations, TN University for Veterinary and Animal Sciences, National Horticulture Board, AMM
Foundation, Murugappa Chettiar Research Center, other players in agriculture related media and publishing
houses. The content is in the local language (Tamil) for ease of use. There is also a Web-based application for
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the registered sugarcane growers of EID Parry to access and maintain their transaction records with the
Company. An application for the dealer channel and the sales force of the Company is also under development.
The first 16 Internet Kiosks ("Parrys Corners") have been set up using the franchisee scheme. These
owner/operators have been trained to use PCs and surf the Portal and the Net and assist users coming to the
kiosks. About 150 farmers have been trained on the use of the Net and the portal and especially the special
application built for them to view their transaction record with the Company.
5. AMUL's Dairy Portal 7
Dairy Information System Kiosk (DISK) project by AMUL was conceived with two components; 1) an
application running at the society level that could be provided Internet connectivity and, 2) a Dairy Portal at the
district level serving transactional and information needs of all members and staff in the district co-operative
structure. The software used at the society level was developed to provide:
§
§
§
Data analysis and decision support to help a rural milk collection society in improving its performance i.e. increasing
milk collection.
Data analysis to improve productivity and yield of milch cattle.
Farmers with facilities to place orders for goods and services offered by different agencies in the co-operative sector and
seek information on subjects of interest.
The services to be offered at these centers would include; 1) Delivery of information related to dairying,
including best practices in breeding and rearing milch cattle, scheduling of government and other private sector
agency services, and collecting feedback on the quality of service provided to the catchment area; 2) Access to a
multimedia database on innovations captured by SRISHTI (an NGO working with IIMA) from hundreds of
villages, covering agricultural practices, medicinal plants, home remedies, tools and implements, etc., and a
multimedia format that has captured the description of the innovations provided by innovators and a visual
presentation of the innovations; 3) use as a communication centre offering services like email, fax and Internet
telephony (if Internet telephony is permitted); 4) Internet Banking Services and Automated Teller Machines
(ATMs), which will enable the milk societies to credit payments directly to sellers' bank accounts. (The sellers
already have plastic card identifiers. The card identifier may have to be upgraded to smart cards carrying
biometric identification. The cards can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs); 5) a way for farmers to
download Government Forms, receive documents (from a Government site) and order supplies and agricultural
inputs from manufacturers; and 6) a means of communicating with farmers via the automatic printing process of
daily payment slips.
Implementation of the project requires computerization of its mo re than 70,000 village societies and automation
of milk collection process. In nearly 600 centers the automation has been completed and 2500 societies are
computerized. Each farmer is given a plastic card as ID. At the counter he drops the card into a box that reads it
electronically and transmits the identification number to the PC. The milk is emptied into a steel trough kept
over a weighbridge. Instantly the weight of the milk is displayed to the farmers and communicated to a PC. The
trough is connected by a pipe to a can, which transports milk to the dairy. One operator is required to fill the
cans. Another operator sitting next to the trough takes a 5-ml. sample of milk and holds it up to a tube of an
Electronic milko -tester (a fat testing machine, wh ich is a local adaptation of an expensive and sophisticated
tester made by M/s.A/SN Foss Electric, Denmark.)
The fat content is displayed to the farmer and
communicated to the PC, which calculates the amount due the farmer based on the fat content of the milk. The
total value of the milk is printed on a payment slip and given to the farmer who collects the price from the
adjoining window.
6. TARAhaat.com8
Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA), have launched a new service, TARAhaat.com, that
brings relevant information, products, and services via the Internet to the underserved rural market. Starting
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October 2000, in the districts of Bundelkhand surrounding the historical city of Jhansi (a region widely known
for its poverty and harsh living conditions), TARAhaat became the first major “portal” designed from the
ground up for the needs of village users. TARAhaat is a gateway that connects the village user to information
services, government agencies, and, above all, to all kinds of markets. (A “haat” is the color-ful, festive weekly
village market common throughout India.)
TARAhaat works quite simply. Even small children, village housewives, and illiterate people can use it from
day one. The computer displays information in the local language of each region. For those who cannot read, it
uses animated pictures, self-explanatory diagrams and voice-over. The villager talks to the computer by
clicking a mouse or, soon, by a simple voice command. TARAhaat.com is a primarily horizontal portal, but
several domains, such as medical services, commodity trade, and distance education, will feature strong vertical
elements. TARAhaat’s central core is built around B2C links, but it is expected quickly to generate growing
B2B and C2C traffic. For example, the subsidiary portal TARAbazaar.com will provide urban and overseas
consumers with direct access to village craftspeople, opening opportunities for marketing products by millions
of individual rural workers without their having to leave the village. Large food processing companies will be
able to negotiate and monitor direct agreements with individual farmers for the purchase of tomatoes, peanuts,
or sugar cane. Value addition from timely delivery and savings from bypassing some intermediaries can
generate large revenues for seller, buyer, and TARAhaat.
TARAhaat is also a superbazaar, providing instant access to all kinds of products and services needed by rural
households, farmers, and industries. For a few rupees worth of connect-time on the Net, the villager can obtain
information about commodity prices, health facilities, land records, local development programs, jobs, and
matrimonial. Users can shop for farm inputs such as seeds, machinery, and spare parts, and for household
items, from bicycles to refrigerators, now becoming popular in rural markets. The goods ordered are delivered
by franchised courier services, the TARAvans. TARAvans will also pick up packages meant for clients in other
locations. TV entertainment, public telephones and other off-line services will be available in the larger
TARAdhabas to attract customers and eyeballs and to generate a wider range of revenue streams. The areas
covered in the portal are described in Table-1.
Table-1 Areas covered in the portal
Informatio n
Education
Health
Women
Employment
Sports
Horoscope
Agriculture
Mandi Prices
Environment
Water
Government Schemes
Land Records
Youth
Entertainment
Matrimonial
Weather
Law
Kids Corner
News
7. Other Projects
The Warana "Wired Village" project9 was set up not only to increase the efficiency and productivity of the
sugar cane cooperative, but also to provide a wide range of information and services to 70 villages around
Warana. Warana is a well-developed rural area located 30 kilometers northwest of the city of Kolhapur, in one
of the richest states of India, Maharashtra. The main economic activity there is sugar cane growing and
processing. About 50,000 farmers live in 100 villages spread in the 25,000 sq. kilometer area covered by the
cooperative. The WGC is formed by 25 cooperative societies with a total turnover of US$130 million. The
National Informatics Centre (NIC), the State Government, and the Warana group have set up a village
information kiosk.
SARI project10 in Melur near Madurai in Tamilnadu is a joint effort of the TeNeT Group at IIT Madras;
Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University Law School; Media Lab at the Massachusetts
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Institute of Technology; Media Labs Asia; I-Gyan, New Delhi. The project funding is from ICICI. The aim of
the project is to show that viable markets exist for information and communication services in rural, poor areas.
This can be tapped by inventing and deploying innovative technologies and business models. "The ultimate aim
is to link these activities to sustainable human development objectives." The pilot project was implemented to
bridge the digital divide between rural and urban areas, establish rural connectivity, ensure that the benefits of
developments in information technology reach the people in rural areas, and facilitate dissemination of
information in all fronts of social development to the rural public at a location closest to them and at a
substantially low cost. The project is being expanded to the districts of Madurai, Cuddalore, Coimbatore,
Kancheepuram, Theni, Tirunelveli, Salem, Nagapattinam, Erode and Tiruvallur and renamed as “RASI'' (Rural
Access to Services through Internet).
Cyber Grameen11 , a rural broadband venture has been launched at Venkatachalam village in the Nellore dis trict
on the 17th of January 2003. The `Cyber Grameen Centre' provides both applications and services to villagers.
The services to be provided include telephony, telemedicine, distance learning, high speed Internet/e-mail, retail
store, agriculture/ horticulture, banking, insurance, video conferencing, digital entertainment and e-Governance
encompassing delivery of Government services and information.
8. Lessons for Future Developments
A comparative analysis of the cases is presented in table-1. It can be seen that all the projects are developmental
in nature and e-governance is incidental to the total developmental efforts in rural areas. Additionally, they are
all self-sustaining. This proves the point that there is a very great potential for IT projects in the rural areas that
remains untapped. Only in three of the eight cases, namely Gyandoot, SARI and Cyber Grameen, the state
governments happen to be the main promoters. Even in these three cases the funding and the technology have
come from elsewhere. E-Chaoupal, Indiagriline and TARAHaat.com are purely private initiatives while Dairy
Portal and Warana Project happen to be from the co-operative sector. The key lesson here is that the
Government only will need do is facilitate and not frustrate the IT initiatives in the rural areas. More over, it is
commerce that drives e-governance in many cases. The IT infrastructure set up primarily for business
applications such as e-commerce, supply chain streaming end-up serving the e-governance needs too.
It is interesting to note that there are several parties that are involved in these projects. Three are financing
companies, technology providers, Agricultural Universities, rural marketers, NGOs, Hospitals, Government
agencies and co-operatives. These can be broadly grouped under three categories, viz., Industry, Government
and Academics. Figure-2 provides a framework for Collaborative G2C Service delivery in rural areas. Basically
we need to have the citizens/consumers at the core of the planning process. We need to think in terms of the
benefits that can be extended to the common man through these projects. People do not expect to receive these
services free of cost. Once the people see value in the same, they are ready to pay for the services as can be
seen in the case studies. Additionally, the projects should aim at e-literacy to build the digital divide. The
information dissemination into the rural areas should empower the rural masses.
Basically we need to develop citizen-centric processes. Unfortunately the term e-governance signifies that
something is done by the government to control and govern the citizens. On the contrary, the projects ought to
be for the citizens and managed by the citizens. The authors prefer to use the term Citizen Relationship
Management (CzRM)12 , a term borrowed from business management literature – Customer Relationship
Management (CRM), to describe the G2C component of the e-governance efforts. Taking a cue from the CRM
literature, the projects discussed above will need to go a step further in terms of customizing the offering made
to different citizens. Once these Kiosks/Portals collect the profile of the frequent users, and develop a Citizen
Information System (CIS), it would be possible to provide personalized and customized services; such as
reminder to pay taxes, insurance premiums etc. and provide advise on crops to be cultivated, savings and so on.
At the next level the transaction data including the health records, cultivation patterns and the use of agro inputs
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can be stored in a data warehouse for further analysis. Data mining tools could be employed to provide valuable
insights about the on-set of epidemics, or pest attacks and take precautionary measures.
Table 1 A comparative analysis of G2C cases
IT project
Gyandoot
ITC eChoupal
Main
promoter
Madhya
Pradesh
Government
•
ITC
•
Parties involved
Services offered
•
TeNet Group, IIT Madras
•
Agro Input Marketers – BASF, NFL,
MP Seeds Corporation
Other Rural marketers – Banking,
Insurance and consumer products
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Market Information of Agricultural
Products
Land Records – Encumbrance certificate
On-line application – Caste Certificate
On-line Public Grievance redress
Information on Government schemes
C2C – used farm equipment
Other services – STD, PCO, Horoscope
Soya Procurement
Sale of Agro-inputs – fertilizers,
pesticides, seeds
Sales of other products and services
Farming Advisory services
Sugarcane Procurement
Farming Advisory services
Sale of Agro inputs
Milk Procurement
Proposed services
Internet tele-phony, e-banking
E-governance
Telemedicine
Commodity Trade
Export marketing
Agro-product procurement
Market Information
Information on Government Schemes
Weather
Employment
Horoscope
Land Records
Sugarcane procurement
Market Information
No. of
kiosks
30
700
Indiagriline
EID Parry
•
•
TN Agricultural University
National Horticulture Board
AMUL
Dairy Portal
AMUL
•
SRISHTI (an NGO working with
IIMA)
TARAhaat.c
om
TARA
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
KLG Systel
Jaldi.Com
Hughes-Escorts
Oracle
James Martin
Excelsior Capitol Corporation
Indica Research
Warana
Project
WGC
•
•
National Informatics center
Maharashtra Government
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SARI
Project
Tamilnadu
Government
•
•
•
•
•
•
TeNeT Group, IIT Madras
Harvard University Law school
Media Lbs Asia
Apollo Hospitals
TN Agricultural University
Arvind Eye Hospital
•
•
•
•
•
•
Market Information
Government forms
On-line applications
IT training
Telemedicine
Farming advisory services
NA
Cyber
Grameen
Andhra
Pradesh
Government
•
•
•
•
•
Telemedicine
Distance Learning
Banking/Insurance
Video conferencing
Information on Government schemes
NA
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600
NA
NA
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Government
Industry
Different Departments
District Administration
Police, Justice,
Road Transport
Govt. welfare Schemes
Rural Marketers
NGOs
Technology Suppliers
Funding Agencies
Citizens
Academics
Engineering Colleges
Management Institutes
Agricultural Universities
Figure 2 A framework for collaborative G2C service delivery in rural areas
When several kiosks get inter-connected, the best practices can be emulated in other regions. The healthy
competition between different regions should result in overall improvement in living standards. Additionally the
Portals should also pave the way for linking the rural folks and their products with the global markets. There
must be facilities to promote the local products, be it handicrafts or agricultural products, in the global market.
There are several lessons that can be learnt from the case studies.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Literacy is not a major constraint in implementing IT related projects. The rural folks are quick to adopt any new
developments.
The Government only needs to be a facilitator and not the promoter – In all these projects the Government only had to
make its information available through the kiosks. Keeping the information current and up-to-date will be the
responsibility of the respective government de partments.
It is not viable to have stand-alone e-governance projects. It makes sense to bundle the same with community
development, commerce and education.
The projects can be self-sustaining. It is not necessary to fund them for long. People are ready to pay for the services
received through the kiosks and the same should be enough to sustain and develop the project further.
Make education an integral part of the initiative.
It is a collaborative effort. Every project has several stakeholders and there is something for every one of them –
Government, Industry and the Academics.
Develop citizen-centric approaches – As the business establishments use customer relationship management techniques
to enhance customer service, e-governance initiatives will have to practice Citizen Relationship Management.
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•
•
•
Develop a citizen Information System (CIS) and customize and personalize the service offerings using the same.
Use data warehousing and data mining tools to develop early warning systems to predict the, on -set of epidemics, pest
attacks etc.
Provide for e-commerce facilities that will find global markets for local products.
Concluding Remarks
It is our contention that true democracy can be achieved through proper use of technology. We already have
the technology for electronic voting. With the right kind of infrastructure and security systems, it would be
possible to have the citizens participate on-line on the policy making initiatives too. For example referendums
can be made on-line with citizens offering their comments along with the ballot. The on-line citizen engagement
will bring about greater transparency in decision–making and will pave the way for a true digital democracy.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Census of India 2001, Literate Population : Total, Males, Females (by Rural - Urban residence),
http://www.censusindia.net/results/state.php?stad=A, Accessed on June 12, 2003
Editorial, What about Tele-density?, The Hindu, Thursday, Feb 28, 2002 and Rediff News, Tele-density in India rises
to 5%, May 23, 2003 16:27 IST, http://in.rediff.com/money/2003/may/23tele.htm, Accessed on June 12, 2003
National e-Governance Initiative, Agenda for the X 5-Year Plan, (Revised on March 15, 2002)
Worldbank e-Governance website - http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/gyandootcs.htm, Accessed on June
12, 2003
Surajeet das Gupta, The choupal as a meta market, The Strategist, Business Standard, March 5, 2002
Raghunandan, K., Indiagriline - The AgriPortal Case Study, http://www.digitalpartners.org/agri.html
Raina, Monica, Empowering Dairy Farmers: A Portal and Dairy Information and Services Kiosk Case Study,
http://www.digitalpartners.org/disk.html, Accessed on June 12, 2003
TARAhaat.com brochure and publicity materials
World Bank E-Governanace Web Site - http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/warana.htm, Accessed on June
12, 2003
SARI Project website - http://www.tenet.res.in/rural/sari.html, Accessed on June 12, 2003
IT for Change Web Site - http://www.itforchange.net/projects/Tel-Cen.htm#_Toc35167533
Xavier, M. J., Citizen Relationship Management - Concepts, Tools and Applications, South Asian Journal of
Management, Vol. 9, Issue No. 2, April - June 2002, pp. 23-31
About the Author
M J Xavier is a senior Professor in Institute for Financial Management and Research Chennai
R P Pillai is acting as managing director in Krysalis Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd Chennai
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How e-Governance is striving in Indian Panorama!
A Panacea for Perfect ‘Government to Citizen’ Relationship
Shiva Kanaujia 1
Junior Research Fellow, Dept. of Library & Information Science, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India
Amar Kumar Behera
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
Abstract
This paper discusses the relationship of governance and citizens, the role of governments in materializing the
process. While considering the issues of e-governance for citizens’ care and citizen-government interface,
points in online government in Indian scenario are highlighted. Bridging up the digital-divide is necessary. The
lacunae of the system demand a proper ‘filling’ so that the governments would make effective use of web
technologies and set the tone for the future that will be of e-government and we would then be able to sustain it.
Key Words: Government to Citizen, Online services, Digital-Divide, e-Society.
1. Introduction
E-Governance is not just limited to using the most advanced ICT to provide information and services more
effectively and efficiently to the citizens. It also makes sure that all the citizens will access the information and
services. It truly allows citizens to participate in the government decision-making process [1]. The ability of
Central government to understand all needs from ordinary local citizens is limited. Therefore, the participation
of citizens at the local level is extremely important (link with creative community initiative). Indian system of
governance consists of the Ministry and the Parliamentary/State Legislative systems, down to the elected
representatives of the Village Panchayat. It also includes the implementation machinery consisting of the
officials and any other organizations involved in the delivery of collective state administered services to the
citizens. The shift in paradigm towards e-governance evokes enthusiasm, concern and at times, pessimism. The
shift is also crystallized by public pronouncements advocating e-governance by numerous chief minis ters of
states in India. States such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka [2] and Tamil Nadu are at the forefront of
implementing e-governance projects and building necessary infrastructure.
Phases of Government to Citizen Interface are
§
§
§
§
First phase: Presence of e-Governance on the web, providing the public (G2C) with relevant information.
Second Phase: The interaction between government and the public (G2C) is stimulated with various applications. Use of email, search engines, and downloading forms and documents.
Third Phase: Complete transactions can be done without going to an office. Examples of online services are filing income tax,
filing property tax, extending/renewal of licenses, visa and passports and online voting.
Fourth Phase: Integrated information systems.
Following the four phases, the e-governance will facilitate citizens interacting with government, which will
provide citizens with details of public sector activities. The next step will be two-way communications, from
G2C & C2G, which will increase the input of citizens into public sector decisions and actions. The out come of
these two activities will be the improvement of public services. Various dimensions such as quality,
convenience and cost will not only be the criteria but also the result of e-governance.
Critical Factors in the Perfect G2C Interface Establishment
1
Corresponding author (Phone: 91-522-2507015, Email: [email protected])
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The following factors are important while examining the risk of implementing e-governance solutions:
•
•
•
•
Structure of government
Importance of government identity
Structure of economy
Stability at political level
E-Administration: the Way to G2C Interface
E-Administration is the only way to G2C interface and relationship, It deals with the improvement of the
internal workings of the public sector. e-Administration includes following aspects such as:
•
•
•
Cutting process costs: improving the input: output ratio by cutting financial costs and time costs. Creating National ID
system, that shows all the details of individual person.
Managing process performance: planning, monitoring and controlling the performance of process resources (human,
financial and other). Launching Integrated HR and Payroll system for state wise.
Making strategic connections in government: connecting arms, agencies, levels and data stores of government to
strengthen capacity to investigate, develop and implement the strategy and policy that guides government processes.
Benefits to Citizen through e-Governance
E-Governance provides following benefits to citizens:
•
•
•
•
Electronic delivery of services to meet citizen expectations and requirements
Convenient, anytime, anywhere citizen services
Support for e-commerce initiatives (e.g. online filing, payment)
Significant improvement in Government to Citizen (GTC) interfaces.
2. E-Governance and Citizens: provision of care
Various states such as Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), Chandigarh, etc. are trying to keep pace with the advanced states. eGovernance projects like ‘Bhoomi’ in Karnataka, ‘Gyandoot’ in Madhya Pradesh, ‘e-Seva’ in Andhra Pradesh
and ‘Friends’ in Kerala are going on. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are leading and Kerala,
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan are catching up fast. The government of
U.P. is inclined towards making the state ‘high profile’; it has introduced activities on Internet on its web site
[3]. This can be considered as an example of citizen-care through e-governance. A comparative study was
carried out on Government-to-Citizen Relationship initiatives in various Indian states and the results are shown
in Table 1.
3. Citizen Orientation and Right to Information
Governments for a long time have been wrestling with becoming citizen-oriented. The e-way of administration
and society should involve creation of an electronically available e-governance information centre. This type of
centre can function as a single place to get information about projects, training and education; policies and
legislation; various initiatives and trends. e-Governance should be designed and developed with a view to
enable a smooth and transparent G2C interface. The Indian Government should promote the culture of openness
by providing access to information with the help of:
§
§
Public ICT centres as community Internet centre, and at greater level;
Combining ICT with conventional modes like newspapers, which can transmit information with the help of ICT to a large
number of targeted users.
Recently U.P. Government decided to develop an Integrated Pay and Account System (IPAS) for all
government employees, to access details of salary [4]. ‘Openness in government' or 'transparency in
administration' can be done and reflected acting by such kind of efforts.
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Table 1 Comparative study of Government-to-Citizen Relationship initiatives in various Indian states
State
Andaman and Nicobar (UT)
Andhra Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chandigarh(UT)
Chhattisgarh
Daman and Diu(UT)
Web Site
www.andaman.nic.in
www.andhrapradesh.com
www.assamgovt.nic.in
www.bihar.com
www.chandigarh.nic.in
www.chhattisgarh.nic.in
www.daman-diu.org
Delhi
www.delhigovt.nic.in
Goa
Gujrat
Haryana
Himachal Pardesh
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
Kerala
Lakshadweep(UT)
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Madhya Pardesh
Maharashtra
Orissa
Pondicherry(UT)
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamilnadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
www.goagovt.nic.in
www.gujaratindia.com
www.haryana.nic.in
www.himachal.nic.in
www.jammukashmir.nic.in
www.kar.nic.in /govt
www.Keralagov.com
www.lakshadweep.nic.in
www.manipur.nic.in
www.meghalaya.nic.in
www.mizoram.nic.in
www.nagaland.nic.in
www.nic.in/madhyapradesh
www.nic.in/maharashtra
www.orissagov.com
www.pondicherry.nic.in
www.rajgovt.org
www.sikkim.nic.in
www.tn.gov.in
www.tripura.nic.in
www.upindia.org
West Bengal
www.westbengal.gov.in
G-C-R initiatives
Tehsil level horizontal integration, computerisation, IT policy
e-Citizen Lifecycle, e-Seva
IT policy, training
Online grievances, video conferencing
Tele-diagnosis, tele-consultation
Public grievance redressal, land records
Ration Card Data computerization
All information needs and queries regarding various public services
available on line
Land records, citizen charters website
Employment, enhanced connectivity
e-governance centre at the Secretariat
LokMitra - Pensioners Helpline, tax returns
Web policy, “FEAST”
Bhoomi, IT Kiosks
PEARL (Package for Effective Administration of Registration Laws)
Ship Ticketing, Electricity Billing System
MAN-NET, public domain information
GIS, video conferencing
Information kiosks, IT meals
Computerisation
“Gyandoot”
High speed VSATs for cooperative societies
Internet services for general public
IT training, Computerization
“Rajnidhi” : information kiosk system
ERNET/VSAT connectivity
Office automation, land record etc.
Information System for Rural Infrastructure
Project Allahabad, land, sales
Vehicle registration, land records, employment exchanges, excise duty,
sales tax, electronic bill payment, health records.
4. Various steps towards Citizens’ Care: citizen-government interface points in online government
The true e-governance should be attained by interface of citizens both with central and local government. EGovernment solutions generally support digitization of government administration by using "network
technology" and "security technology" to meet the needs of both the people providing services and those
receiving them. True e-government will involve activities like design of a user-friendly citizen interface in local
languages, back-end database integration, multiple channels of communication (e-mail, wireless, satellite),
security of transactions, cyber-law infrastructure, participatory policymaking processes, transparency in
government activity, and willingness among government agencies to embrace open styles of functioning.
4.1 Internet: the pervasive power
The Internet is more than telecommunications - it is power. The Internet is becoming the focal point for
redesigning state government and providing better information and services to citizens. The best state web sites
focus on the needs and preferences of users and offer the same kinds of customer conveniences found on private
sector web sites. Under its India Image Programme, National Informatics Centre (NIC) provides World Wide
Web services to Ministries, Departments, State Governments and other Government organizations. For instance,
the Government of Tamil Nadu web sites along with the web sites for all districts have been launched. In U.P.,
the IAS Association has launched a web site to provide an opportunity of online interaction and useful links to
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the bureaucrats, having literary columns besides news and articles. The web site of the Department of Food &
Supplies, Haryana has been launched with the objective of bringing about transparency in the functioning of the
Department.
4.2 Video Conferencing Network
Various states such as Tamil Nadu (being first state in the concerned service) and U.P. (Demand Assigned
Multiple Access DAMA) have started video conferencing network.
4.3 Narrowing Digital-Divide:
To avail and access the facilities and fruits of e-governance, it is necessary to narrow the digital-divide. The
common man in the country continues to be largely unaware of the potential of IT in daily life. This calls for a
mass campaign for creating awareness of IT benefits. At times with over-enthusiasm, IT is projected as a
panacea for every problem. No doubt it can enhance the capability in every field, but it is not a substitute to
economic and technical inputs in the respective fields. The ‘virtual world' can strive for the betterment of the
real world by spreading information and creating awareness; but to convert awareness into action, an active
intervention in the real world is needed.
§
In Rural Areas
e-Governance should analyze the digital divide, particularly in rural areas, and develop possible remedies to make digital
information accessible to them. Without effective efforts and steps, the gap is not going to be filled. Tamil Nadu Government
entered into a MOU with Mr. Scott McNealy, president, chairman and CEO of Sun Microsystems, USA to create a knowledge
data centre. SARI (Sustainable Access in Rural India), piloted by Government, Private and Acade mia partnership, is now
upgraded as RASI (Rural Access to Services through Internet) to cover the entire state [8]. Digital divide is a significant
problem. Only as low as 2.7 per 1,000 people in India have computers, whereas the world-average itself is 70.6 per 1,000 [10].
We can take help of ‘Simputer’ for narrowing the digital divide. It is a low cost alternative to personal computer that can be
operated by computer illiterates with the text to speech capability.
§
Language Facilitation
As most of the common people are not aware of English, government of states should take initiatives for language -facilitation.
For example, the Government of Kerala has constituted a Committee for setting up Standards for Malayalam language
Keyboard and character encoding [12]. The web site of Orissa Legislative Assembly represent another example for language
facility by providing a link for reading important information in Oriya language [13]. A special feature of the Food & Supplies
Department Haryana web site is the facility to download the Ration Card application form in Hindi [7].
§
Education of ICT
According to UNESCO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, India is among the countries with national ICT
policies and master plans, applying and testing various strategies but not fully integrating ICT within education. [14]. The
government will spend Rs 12,000 crore in next four years on e-governance. At the inaugural of NASSCOM 2003, then IT
Secretary Rajeev Ratan Shah (2003) said, "The government will launch a pilot project to take e-learning to 20 schools in the
country spread over seven districts". To be funded by government and the industry, the project would eventually cover all the
six-lakh schools in India and termed India's one billion population as both "a digital opportunity and digital challenge" [15].
Recently the government launched a computerization programme ‘Vidya Vahini’ proposing to connect 60,000 government –
funded senior secondary schools through Internet and Intranet [16]. In Kerala, ‘IT@ School’ is set to introduce computer
training in government schools, with the involvement of the private sector [17]. The initiative to launch an IT program for
secondary schools is the first of its kind from the central government.
4.4 Increasing Use of Computer
All District Collectors in Tamil Nadu have been provided with Laptop Computers. Government of India is also
taking help of computers for various departments. The Ministry of Finance has started computerizing its
Principal Accounts Offices (PAOs). TGK India, an IT systems company, bagged the contract in June this year
to implement PAO-2000 in 108 PAOs [19]. Recently Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) introduced its
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computerized bus pass system for the masses of Delhi, taking a big step forward in the direction of egovernance [20].
4.5 Online Services
NIC is providing online services for citizens’ convenience. These services are passport application, registration
procedures, school examination results, trade guidelines, tele-medicine, and land records computerization in
‘taluks’. Here example of Tamil Nadu can be given for provision of online services to citizens. Tamil Nadu is
making notable progress in online citizen services in Tamil and English, especially web-based information
about land records, birth/death certificates, subsidy schemes, college admission forms, and examination results.
In Kerala, PEARL (Package for Effective Administration of Registration Laws) intends to replace the existing
registration system by a system of online processing. Besides this, Centralized web-enabled billing and
collection at Trivandrum is under consideration [17]. Recently ‘Sampark’, software was launched by the
Finance Ministry to enable income-tax return in a prescribed format on Internet [26]. All this is directed towards
the online government of India.
4.6 In Social Security
Application of IT to achieve social goals would be a major leap towards prosperity. In the world of crime, the
use of IT can save time of Police and help them in mapping crime. The U.P. Police is prepared to tackle with
the cyber fraud [27]. NIC is also involved in establishing an information system and software for judicial
purposes in order to provide information regarding courts and related procedure [28].
4.7 Check on Corruption
e-Governance can play an important role in reducing corruption by materializing the ‘access to information’
concept. Introduction of digital signatures, for the officials to conduct authenticated, and secure communication
can be a step into the digital arena. The digital signature will eliminate the allegations regarding fraudulent
activities in government work. The IPAS planned in U.P. will make salary-details available on Net on the web
site of the State Treasury. It would not only assure quick payment of salaries but would also be a mechanism to
check malpractice in government departments [4]. The same can be used for the other complicated processes in
India.
5. Lacunae in the System
The Government is pacing towards e-way of administration. Yet some gaps and black spots still exist in the
system, such as:
•
•
•
•
•
Unstable governance and administration
Non-eagerness of majority of citizens
Lack of coherent planning on the government
point of view
Lack of awareness of ICT on the citizen’s point
of view
•
•
•
Apathy towards the role of ICT in improving
delivery of services
Information gaps for development planning
Lack of centralized information systems
Lack of vision among the politicians towards the
ICT and e-democracy
6. An Approach Towards Sustained Development
Though various projects are going on at various levels yet a future oriented mechanism is required. It can be
planned as under.
•
•
•
•
Proper planning and working out of each section of the plan related with a project.
Efforts to find out the relative cost and impact of the select ed way of working.
Networking of government departments.
Encouraging utilization of electronic means of communication between Government and citizens.
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•
•
•
ICT training to the decision-makers and workers as e-Governance can be initiated through technology but it can be
sustained only through e-literate employees.
Establishing information management standards.
Raising efficiency levels through cost management and process improvements.
7. Steps for efficient e-Governance: Approaches towards Online Government
7.1 Help of Other enterprises for efficient service
For Karnataka government, projects developed under the category of e-Governance are Karnataka Development
Programme (KDP), Karnataka Knowledge Management System and Monthly Multi-Reporting and Review
System (MMR) [29]. Cisco Systems and IBM forged a partnership when Punjab State IAS Officers
Organization organized a day seminar on "Governance in the 21st century-Challenges before the Civil
Servants” [30]. Such activities will help in learning as well as proper implementation of e-governance. For the
‘Vidya Vahini’ project, Super Infosoft, vision Info Solution and JIL Information Technology have provided the
service [16]. For Hi-tech education in U.P., Intel (for training) and Microsoft (for technology) are joining hands
with the government [18]. The government of U.P. also announced a strategic partnership with Lotus
Development Corporation to source solutions specifically designed for Government use, on Lotus Domino and
Notes platform. These solutions will be implemented through their joint venture partner, Cyberspace Infosys
Ltd., who have recently become partners for the Lotus Authorized National Support Center as well. [31].
Recently ORACLE Corporation opened an e-governance centre in Gurgaon in collaboration with HewlettPackard [32]. It will help common people on a very low cost.
7.2 Bringing Internet Closer
The key solution to bringing the Net to a wider citizen base will reside in innovative approaches like installing
cyber-cafes along with railway stations outside cities, using solar power for computers, developing low-cost
PCs. New access techniques like DSL (Digital Subscriber Loop) and WLL (Wireless in Local Loop) should be
developed and used at wider level.
7.3 Inspiration to others
India can play as a role model for other developing countries. Other developing countries can seek India’s help
to launch its e-commerce initiative as a part of its efforts to kick-start a sluggish economy. India can become
successful in achieving such an empirical shift. This could eventually serve as a model for other emerging
economies around the world. In the future, e-governance will allow Net-enabled people to pay their bills for
utilities such as telephone, water and electricity on the Web. The framework may be in place but the procedures
are not. e-Governance entails the greater use of IT for governmental activities, especially those involving the
average citizen. The e-Governance market is witnessing year-on-year growth and was estimated to be Rs. 1400
crores in size in 2001-02. The e-Governance market grew by 18% last year and is the highest growing vertical
in the domestic IT market [33]. Spectacular efficiencies will be achieved in activities, such as on-line transfer of
property, payment of tax, licensing of motor transport, education and so on. The country must discard the
dogmas of old and adopt technologies and strategies to strengthen democracy by making government more
efficient and transparent by the application of e-governance. Well-funded centers of research into technology,
media and the social sciences are required where new ideas and new models of development, governance, and
business can be generated. Governments and bureaucracies should work in transparent dialogue with these other
estates. With the miracle of e-governance, Indian citizens would conduct various important functions or
activities important on the business point of view. Paying bills of telephone, water, electricity, etc., taxes and so
on, registration formalities for land, marriage, birth and death, and information and download application forms
along with lodging complaints would be done with the help of Internet.
8. Concluding Remarks
E-Governance provides opportunities to move forward in the 21st century with high quality, cost effective
government services delivery and the creation of better relationships between the people and government. E-
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Governance will allow ordinary people to constantly interface with the government in both local and central
level on various matters. Several states have gone in for Net-enabled administration and they are in the process
of making the citizens too Net-enabled. But little work has been done to find if e-governance has had an impact
at the grassroots. Whatever be the case, even a small provision for downloading application forms has helped
eliminate the tyranny of middlemen. With these and similar trends increasingly unfolding in the growing cyber
society in India, e-governance is certainly set to transform the way we live, communicate and conduct our
businesses. Digital development affords a new perspective from which to imagine the future direction of India's
political economy. And this cannot be achieved by without e-governance. The main objectives of the Indian eGovernance should be to place the country on the global map of IT, by using IT for speedy, transparent and
accountable conduct of Government systems and services.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
E-Governance, Available at http://www.iadb.org/ict4dev/governance.htm , Accessed June 10, 2003.
Karnataka: e-Governance takes fast track, Available at http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/features/stories /28715.html,
Accessed June 15, 2003
U.P. Web Site, Available at http://www.upindia.org/. Accessed May 24, 2003.
Salary details on the Net, Hindustan Times, 27 June 2003, p 3.
Food & Supplies Department Haryana, Available at http://haryanafood.nic.in, Accessed April 25, 2003.
World Development Report, 2000-2001.
Standardisation of Malayalam Keyboard and Character Encoding, Available at
http://www.keralaitmission.org/content/egovernance/MalayalamKeyboard.zip, Accessed April 21, 2003.
Budget Speech for the year 2003-2004, Available at http://164.100.140.4/ola/bud_o.pdf, Accessed April 15, 2003.
Trends in the use of ICT in Asia and the Pacific/ ICT in Teaching /learning: in formal and non-formal education,
Available at http://www.unesco.org/bangkok/education/ict/teaching_learning/main.htm . Accessed May 1, 2003.
E-Governance, Available at http://www.incg.org.in/CountryGateway/eGovernance/News/spend+200.htm. Accessed
May 31, 2003.
Vidya Vahini to bring IT to Govt. schools in State, Hindustan Times, 12 June 2003, p 2.
e-Governance Initiatives, Available at http://www.keralaitmission.org/content/egovernance, Accessed April 28, 2003.
TGK to implement e-government solutions in PAOs, Available at http://www.ciol.com/content/
services/egov/showarticle.asp, Accessed April 29, 2003.
DTC wants to become an e-corporation. Available at http://www.ciol.com/content/
services/egov/showarticle.asp, Accessed May 5, 2003.
Tax Terms, Hindustan Times, 5th July 2003, p 1
UP police gear up to tackle cyber frauds, Hindustan Times, 18 May 2003, p 4.
All Information at a Touch of Finger, Swatantra Bharat, 18 July 2003, p 7.
Cal-Info: the Business Solutions company, e-governance, Available at http://www.cal-info.com/e-Governance.asp ,
Accessed May 5, 2003.
Cisco and IBM participants in Punjab Govt. Initiatives for e-governance, Available at
http://www.ciol.com/content/services/egov/showarticle.asp, Accessed May 7, 2003.
E-governance, UP Government partners Lotus, Cyberspace, Available at http://www.ciol.com/category.asp , Accessed
April 23, 2003.
ORACLE opened e-governance centre. Swatantra Bharat, 11 July 2003, p 10.
e-Governance in India accelerating, says NASSCOM January 17, 2003, Available at
http://www.indiainfoline.com/cyva/feat/egov.html, Accessed March 19, 2003.
About Authors
Shiva Sukula is presently doing research on Indigenous Databases in the field of S&T in Department of Library & Information Science,
University of Lucknow, Lucknow. Area of interest is concerned with Information Technology with the emphasis on Internet, Online
searching, etc.
Amar Kumar Behera is an undergraduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is working in the areas of ecommerce, optimization, non-traditional manufacturing, micro-machining and robotics. He has currently 2 national publications to his
credit.
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A Study on Interest, Awareness Level, Perception and Acceptability of E-governance by Indian Citizens
Anand Agrawal1 and Sanjay Fuloria
ICFAI Institute for Management Teachers, Hyderabad, India
Abstract
This study aimed at capturing the attitudes of Indian citizens towards politics through a survey to explore the
important issues that can determine the acceptability of e-governance in India. The results indicate that though
large number of Indian citizens have interest in politics & government and are in favor of more direct
participation in government activities, only a few have knowledge about e-government and e-governance.
Moreover, the study has identified “the potential group of Citizen Participation,” an important layer for future
drives toward e-governance for India. The findings have also found policy implications on this issue that is also
discussed.
Keywords: E-governance, Citizen participation, ICT (Information, Communication, Technology)
1. Introduction
E-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area
Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens,
businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better
delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen
empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits
can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions2 .
Among the developing countries, India has benefited from the combined effort of its political leadership and
highly professional civil service in developing a multi-functional e-government program. It maintains a single
entry portal and offers many of the requisite features found in the programs of the global leaders 3 . The tenth
plan outlay of India in the area of Information Technology mentioned the guidelines for the master plan of egovernance in India:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A clearly focused vision of the objective of introducing e- governance.
The range and standards of delivery of information and services to the people must be defined, with time frames within
which they are to be attained.
Any plan or scheme for e-governance should be sustainable and should not be a passing fad.
Standardization of technologies without any delay. Otherwise, the ensuing confusion will negate the advantages of use of
IT.
Areas of public and private funding should be clearly spelt out.
State-specific plans and schemes must be drawn up, keeping in mind the situation in different states.
All schemes must be interactive, otherwise they will only be labour-saving devices for government functionaries.
Government to go vernment (G2G), government to citizen (G2C) and government to business (G2B) modalities have to
be developed. E-governance also covers local government as well as private corporate bodies. For e governance to be
effective; it is necessary to draw up the architecture of the whole system.
This guideline reflects the intention of the Indian government to transform the traditional governance to eGovernance in a gradual manner.
An electronic government network between government and citizens can serve as a channel for citizen
initiatives towards governments. The main issues in electronic government are the broadening of channels
between citizens and governments in both directions, and the improvement of facilities by which both sides can
1
Corresponding author (Phone: 91-40-23350530, Fax: 91-23350543, Email: [email protected])
World Bank’s E-government web site
3
UNDPEPA Report
2
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cross the bridge between them. These facilities allow citizens to participate in the process of proposing and
implementing policies. We believe that the next generation of electronic government will be the social
infrastructure through which citizens can form consensus about the nature of the society that we should have,
and to formulate plans through which it can be achieved. This type of activity is called "e-Democracy" where
citizens are engaged online in citizen to government interaction, Citizen to group and Group to government
interaction and, the most predominant, citizen to citizen engagement on the social, cultural and political issues
of the day.
There are several key factors that define the core areas of an enabling e-government environment. Many are
endemic to a nation’s individual political, economic and cultural fabric. In short a country's national character.
Yet because the visions, goals and policies that encompass e-government vary considerably among practitioners
and users, comparative indicators may not always be precise, while any proven reference points, at this time, are
virtually nonexistent. Consider also the fact that despite a pattern of continuous growth in Internet usage it is too
early to anticipate with confidence what percentage of a country’s population will completely accept e
government and make it a regular part of their lives.
2. Objective
The study aimed at capturing the attitudes of Indian citizens towards politics and government and to explore the
feasibility of e- government and "e-Democracy" (citizen participation in the process of policy formation through
information and communication technology) in India. The results can help in increased understanding of the
awareness and general acceptance of e government by Indian citizens.
3. Methodology
The study involved obtaining primary data. A survey was undertaken through a questionnaire [developed after a
rigorous Literature survey on the issue (See Reference)] administered through e-mail. A total of 623 responses
were obtained. Pre testing of questionnaire was done initially with about 50 respondents to check the clarity of
questions. Refer Appendix 1 for the detailed Questionnaire. The profile of the respondents is summarized in
Table 1.
Table 1 Respondent Profile
Gender
Male
Female
percentage
58
42
Occupation percentage
Agriculture
4
White Collar
26
Blue Collar
10
Self Employed
18
Part Time
12
Home maker
14
Student
14
Unemployed
02
4
Age group
percentage
18-28
29
28-38
22
38-48
17
48-58
14
58-68
10
Above 68 08
Region4
North India
East India
West India
South India
percentage
30
16
26
28
Education
School
Graduate
Post Graduate
No Response
percentage
12
48
37
03
Usage of Internet
percentage
From Personal Computer
29
Not from P. C.
71
North India: Punjab, Delhi, Uttaranchal, U.P., M.P. and Chattisgarh
East India: W. Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Eastern States.
West India: Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
South India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
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4. Survey Results and Analysis
The survey results were classified into seven different sections for the purpose of in-depth analysis.
•
Interest in politics and government
The level of interest in politics and government was 73% at the national level and 68% at the local level.
100%
21
20
29
42
46
38
percentage
80%
60%
Not much interested
40%
Somewhat interested
20%
Very interested
30
28
22
0%
National politics and
government
Politics and government Politics and government
in the state you live
in the city or town you
live
Figure 1 Illustration: Interest in politics and government
Table 2 shows Relation Between Interest In Politics And Support of The Respondents to a Political Party.
Table 2 Relation between interest in politics and government and support to party (n=623).
Support to Party
Have a party to
support
Interest in
Politics & Government
Not interested in politics &
Government (36%)
Interested in politics &
Government (64%)
Independents (58%)
Have no party to
support 40%
11%
Formerly have a party to
support but not now.
18%
8%
31%
10% ∗
23% ∗
42%
17%
∗ denotes independets interested in politics and government.
“Interest in politics & Government” includes those responding “Very interested” or “somewhat interested”
across all the three levels of government.
Regarding support to political parties, 42% responded "Yes", 40% "Formerly, but not now", and 18% "No".
Even among respondents who do not support any political party at present, more than half of them indicated
interest in politics and government.
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•
Citizen desire to participate in administrative process
74% replied that citizens should participate more directly in determining policies, and 46% said they would like
to participate themselves. 82% of respondents said that issues important to citizens should be determined by
citizens' votes rather than by elected representatives.
•
Participation in local policy formulation
About 15% of all respondents had experience participating in forming local policy or managing local
promotional events. Another 42 % did not have experience but would like to participate. (The potential group
of Citizen Participation). Finding and activating this layer will be the key to expanding future citizen
participation in administrative process.
8%
Have participated, would like to participate in future
6%
Have participated, but not interested in future
participation
46%
Have not participated, but would like to participate in
future
40%
Have not participated, not interested in future
participation
Figure 2 Illustration: Experience participating in local policy formation etc.
percentage
The most common reason for not wanting to participate in the future was lack of time, cited by 42% of
respondents, followed by lack of experience (40%), and "Too much trouble," (22%). The most striking fact
emerged is lack of awareness among citizens how to participate in such activities (38%). Lack of interest was
mentioned by 12 % of the respondents. Other responses are mentioned in the graph below. (Includes multiple
responses).
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
42
40
24
22
18
I don't have the
time.
I don't have
experience in
government.
It's too much
trouble.
16
Even if I did
It's all right to Nobody around
participate, I
leave it up to
me is involved.
don't think my those who want
opinions would
to do it.
be accepted.
Figure 3a Illustration: Reasons for not wanting to participate
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40
38
35
30
25
20
20
12
15
9
10
5
5
0
I don't have the
economic resources.
I don't know how to
participate.
I'm not interested in Policy formation and
administrative
local promotion
process.
should be left up to
local government.
Other
Figure 3b
The primary characteristics of each mode of participation in local policy formation or management of
promotional events are as follows:
§
§
§
§
"Have experience, intend to participate" group: age- 38-58, agriculture, or self-employed, mostly from Northern and
Eastern States of India, have a party to support.
"Have experience, do not intend to participate" group: age above 58, White-collar jobs, mostly from Eastern states of
India.
"No experience, but intend to participate" group (the potential group of citizen participation): age 28-38, graduate and
postgraduate, white collar, use PC's to access the internet.
"No experience, do not intend to participate" group: age 18-28, homemakers, students, part -time workers, have no party
to support
20-25% of the potential group of citizen participation indicated intention to participate in communication with
government via the internet, and this rate was approximately twice the general average.
A higher percentage of the potential group of citizen participation believes that Informatisation will stimulate
public activity by citizens, than in the general average.
This indicates that the key to identifying and activating the potential group of citizen participation is the use of
ICT (information and communication technology).
The common answers of the question- “How the computerization of Indian governance will stimulate public
participation by citizens?” were: citizens will be involved in deciding issues such as planning, budgets and
policy formulations etc, and there will be opportunity for citizens and government to cooperate in various
activities relevant to citizens.
§
Awareness of e-governance
Almost half of the respondent mentioned the terms “electronic voting” and “on-line bill payments” in the
answer to their understanding of electronic government
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General Average
30
26
25
24
23
The potential group
19
percentage
20
15
14
13
14
12
10
5
0
Submit opinions toSubmit opinions to Submit opinions to Participate in
the head of local
government
local government discussions about
government via the officials via the representatives via
policies with
internet
internet
the internet
citizens and
government via the
internet
Figure 4 Illustration: Intentions to communicate with government via the internet
4%
Have never heard of it
32%
44%
Have only heard the term
Know a little about it
Know about it in detail
20%
Figure 5 Illustration: Awareness of the initiatives
About 44% of respondents indicated that they had never heard of the term "electronic government", 20% said
that they had heard the term, and only a small percentage knew what it. 32% of the respondents knew a little
about it and only 4% of the respondents knew about it in detail. The highest rate of awareness of the
government initiatives toward e-governance was among respondents who were graduate/postgraduate, white
collar/students, mostly from South and West Indian states.
§
The most important benefits of electronic government
The most common response was greater public access to information and direct participation of citizens in
government activities 5 . Sufficient disclosure and explanation of information is one of the fundamentals of
5
The survey results of U.S. citizens "E-government: The Next American Revolution" presented by The Council for
Excellence in Government in 2000 and by NTT DATA CORPORATION, Research and Development Headquarters,
Research Institute for Systems Science in Japan in May 2002 also showed similar results on this aspect.
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democracy, and the fact that the greatest number respondents are demanding that electronic government be a
tool to this end is noteworthy in considering the feasibility of e-democracy in India.
§
Hopes and fears related to computerization / informatisation in politics and government
The most often mentioned, "hope" for improvement with computerization in politics and government was
"Providing services that are easy for anybody at all to use". Other responses were "obtaining needed
information", "one-stop services", "greater responsibility for disclosure and explanation of information",
“communication between citizens and their local representatives", all of which received a majority of favorable
responses. But the responses to “Personal information security" and " privacy protection" were more for "will
get worse". Most of the respondents believed that Internet use would make it "easier to communicate proposals
and complaints to the government". About 40% agreed that Internet use would make it "easier to communicate
their own opinions to politicians. However, about 40% worried that "most people will tend to be excluded (in
relation to representatives or local governments)". This fear was highest among those in the age group 48-58,
58-68 and above 68, in agriculture/ self-employed / part-time workers, and most of them do not use the Internet
from a personal computer. About 50% of respondents felt that "relations between citizens and local
governments will hardly change at all".
§
Hopes and fears related to computerization / informatisation in life and society
75% worried about increased Internet crime, and greater damage from computer failures, as well as leaking of
personal information and invasion of privacy respectively. These responses were highest among younger
respondents and those using the Internet from a personal computer. Moreover, 40% worried that "they could not
keep up with Informatisation". This response was highest among the age groups above 48 years.
§
Policy implications: discussion
Though India is on a verge of information revolution and it is quite imperative seeing the current trend of PC
and Internet penetration that the initiatives started by Indian governments towards e-governance is timely and
needful, it is quite important to understand the citizen’s awareness level, their acceptance and hopes and fear
about the e-governance. This study has revealed some of these important issues and the general perception of
Indian citizens that can help in finding the feasibility of e–government in India. One of the most successful
efforts can be to increase awareness about the benefits of e-governance as the fears and lack of awareness level
of e-governance can be the major hurdles towards realizing electronic governance. Its time to solve these issues
in full through cooperative and integrated efforts by government, NGO’s, academicians and other intellectuals
and citizens before adoption of full fledged practice of e-governance in India.
The results from the study are far from conclusive and there is a need for more comprehensive and exhaustive
study and research on this issue. An organized survey with more complex questionnaire to cover a more
representative sample is needed to have a deep understanding into the issue. The best effort will be to conduct
surveys in all parts of India and then finding the problems and fears so that the solutions can be devised
according to the need of different sections of people across the country.
5. Concluding Remarks
While a substantial number of respondents (more than 70%) showed interest in politics & government and are
in favor of more direct participation in policy formulations and a majority of the respondents (about 82%) have
view that issues important to citizens should be determined by citizens' votes rather than by elected
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representatives, only a few (4%) of them have detailed knowledge about e-government and e-governance. “The
potential group of Citizen Participation” that has no experience of participation in local policy formulations etc.
but has interest in direct participation is an important layer for future drives toward e-governance for India. The
key to identifying and activating the potential group of citizen participation is the use of ICT (information and
communication technology). This can perhaps solve the problem of lack of time mentioned by the largest
number of participants (42%) that restrict them to participate in government and administrative issues important
to citizens. This study has shown that lack of awareness of e-governance and of modes to communicate with
the government (mentioned by 38% of the respondents) can be the major hurdles for e-governance initiatives in
India.
6.
References
1.
2.
Alan V. Oppenhein et al., (2000), Questionnaire Design. Continuum International Publishing Group, U.K.
Barber, Benjamin R., (1984), Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Grossman L., (1995), The Electronic Republic: Reshaping democracy in the Information Age, Viking: Twentieth
Century Fund Book, New York.
Kenneth Keniston, (2002), IT for the common man: Lessons from India. M. N. Srinivas Memorial Lecture, Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore: NIAS Special Publication SP7-02.
Michael Quinn Patton, (2001), Qualitat ive Research and Evaluation Methods (3rd ed.), Sage Publications.
Milward, H. Brinton, and Synder, Louse Ogilive, (1996), Electronic Government: Linking Citizens to Public
Organizations through Technology, Journal of Public administration Research and Theory, 6, (02), pp 261-275.
Stephen A. Ronaghan, (2002), Benchmarking E-government A Global Perspective, assessing the Progress of the UN
Member States, Project Report by United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration and
American Society for Public Administration.
T. P. Rama Rao, (2003), Electronic Governance: Lessons from Experiences, Newsletter of IFIP Working group 9.4 and
Centre for Electronic Governance, Ahmedabad, India Institute of management, 13 (1).
World Bank’s e-government web site: A Definition of E-Government, Available at: http://www1.worldbank.org
/publicsector/egov/definition.htm, accessed August 12, 2003.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
About the Author
Authors are fellows students at ICFAI Institute for Management Teachers, ICFAI UNIVERSITY, Hyderabad
and have interest in the fields of Marketing, Strategy and Operations. They have published research papers and
articles in many management journals, magazines and newspapers .
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Impact of eGovernance in District Administration
Sunil D. Potekar1 , Rajesh D. Bhusari
National Informatics Centre, Collector Office, Nanded, Maharashtra, India.
Moiz Hussain,
National Informatics Centre, Maharashtra State Unit, Mumbai, India.
Tanaji Satre,
Collector Office, Nanded, Maharashtra, India.
Abstract
The successful implementation of eGovernance is necessary to be achieved in District Collector Office being
the root level of Indian Administration. With the well-planned and carefully structured implementation of
eGovernance the people at mass will be benefited and the District Administration will win the trust of a
common man. The experience survey of District Administration brought the various key elements that have
direct effect on implementation of eGovernance. All these key elements have the relative importance in the
implementation and if those are considered it will definitely set up better guidelines for the new Administrators
opting for the implementation of eGovernance.
Keywords: eGo vernance, District Administration, Government-to-Citizen (G2C) relationship.
1. Introduction
The Indian Administrative system revolves around the District as the cutting edge of Government, being its
"eyes, ears and hands”. In Government the District Administration has a vital role in implementation of
different policies, schemes and projects for the common public. The Revenue department is the main bridge
connecting the common man to the Government. So when we intended to do project in the field of District
Administration then we only need to concentrate on Collector Office, which will fulfill the project
requirements. Electronic Governance means use of electronic media in day-to-day activities of the processes
involved in the Administration and to make the workflow faster and transparent. The effective use of computers
to achieve the speedy recovery of the pending cases and to monitor the status of any case at every stage of
workflow is involved in this process. Electronic data transfer gives the best performance in mailing and the
immediate reporting to various levels to each other is possible. One of the objectives of eGovernance will be to
improve the quality and efficiency of the government and bring the transparency in the Government-to-Citizen
relationship.
1.1. Objectives
In the present project a case study of Collector Office, Nanded has been planned to study the impact of
eGovernance in District Administration. In modern democracies, eGovernance promises a plethora of benefits
to citizens by accelerating and automating Government-Citizen interface and bringing about transparency in
Government functioning. The social research conducted to study the impact by collecting the live data from the
actual implementers of eGovernance that is the Government staff working at Collector Office.
1
Corresponding author (Phone: 91-2462-235803, Email: [email protected])
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1.2. Need of study
Country as a whole, the penetration of e-governance as of now is low. However, it is picking up day by day as
Government of India and various State Governments have seriously realized the importance of e-governance.
At present there are following problems in implementing eGovernance policies at District level:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Most of the offices uses the computers in the office work only for the correspondence and considers themselves as
implementers of eGovernance.
There is no specific plan and guidelines about the use of computers for its day to day work.
Most of the offices never take care of the data integrity and security.
Repetition of the work is the major loop-whole.
Lack of computer awareness among the Government staff and higher officials.
The Head of the office also has no definition of his own role as an Administrator with the new trend.
This concludes that there is an immense need to study the impact of eGovernance in District Administration and
study the factors affecting the implementation of eGovernance.
1.4. Hypotheses
Electronic Governance will result in improved transparency, speedy information dissemination, higher
administrative efficiency and improved public services in District Adminis tration.
2. Analysis of Survey and Observations
On the basis of the survey undertaken, the data is analyzed and the inferences were drawn. Social survey is a
useful tool to understand the new trends of eGovernance in society. The contribution of trained staff can be
observed (Table-1) from the graphical representation shown in Figure-1.
Table 1 Statistics of implementation of eGovernance
Trained
(62%)
Description of
point
Computer awareness
Number of hours
work on computer
Understood the
concept of
eGovernance
Use of computer
Computer is useful
Use of computer
saves time
Use of email
Untrained
(38%)
Age Below 40
(Total 22 %)
(90.9 % trained)
Count
Percentage
Age Above 40
(Total 78 %)
(53.84 % trained)
Count
Percentage
Count
Percentage
Count
Percentage
62
122
100 %
1.96
07
10
18.42 %
0.26
22
81
100 %
3.68
47
51
60.25 %
0.65
12
19.35 %
00
0%
04
18.18 %
08
10.25 %
39
51
52
62.90 %
82.25 %
83.87 %
03
14
15
7.89 %
36.84 %
39.47 %
19
21
21
86.36 %
95.45 %
95.45 %
23
44
46
29.48 %
56.41 %
58.97 %
15
24.19 %
01
2.63 %
10
45.45 %
06
7.69
2.1 Role of Professional Training in eGovernance
The above statistics shows the importance of professional computer training given to the Government staff in
the process of computerization. Proper training is one of the key factors in this process. This actually involves
the designing the course contents in such a way that after getting the training the Government staff should
directly work on computer. More stress should be given on the practical oriented training than theory for the
effective implementation of eGovernance. Another aspect involved in training is development of interest and
motivation. Only proper designing of training is not fruitful unless the staff is motivated to use computers for
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the day-to-day work. It is more beneficial that every Government staff (including Officers) should understand
the concept for the effective implementation.
70
60
50
40
Trained
30
Untrained
20
10
0
Computer
Understood
awareness
eGovernance
Using
Computer is
Computer
useful
saves time
Computer
Use of email
Figure 1 Graphical view (Trained – Untrained)
2.2 Effect of age factor on the eGovernance
The statistics (Table-1) clearly says that the age of employee working in office has an extra-ordinary affect on
the implementation of eGovernance. The bar chart prepared considering the age factor of the employees is
shown in Figure-2.
120
100
80
Age Below 40
60
Age Above 40
40
20
0
Computer
awareness
Training
Understood
eGovernance
Using
Computer
Computer is
Computer
useful
saves time
Use of email
Figure 2 Graphical view (Age Group)
The figures for age group below 40 clearly indicate that the new generation has positive attitude towards the
process of computerization. The policy of the Government for making compulsory computer training for joining
Government services is observed to be beneficial after looking at these figures. The figures under the column of
group of employees above 40 are also encouraging and the results of making the compulsory professional
training to the staff can be viewed from these figures however more stress is required be given for the
involvement of staff over age 40.
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2.3 Class wise abstract
Another look at the same questions from another point of view leads to formation of Table-2, which elaborates
the impact from class of employees as a key field.
Table 2 Quantification on the basis of use of computers.
Class-I
Description of point
(Percentage)
Computer awareness
Professional Computer Training
Understood the concept of eGovernance
Use of computer for office work
Computer is useful
Use of computer saves time
Use of email
100 %
> 80 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
50 %
Class-II
Class-III
(Percentage)
80 %
> 80 %
100 %
80 %
100 %
100 %
50 %
(Percentage)
69 %
62 %
12 %
42 %
65 %
67 %
16 %
120
100
80
Class-I
60
Class-II
40
Class-III
20
0
Computer
awareness
Training
Understood
Using
Computer is
eGovernance
Computer
useful
Computer saves Use of email
time
Figure 3 Graphical view (Class wise abstract)
The Graphical view of the class wise quantification of the impact is as shown in the Figure-3. The contribution
of Class-I, Class-II and Class-III employees in the implementation of eGovernance can be observed form the
lengths of the bars of corresponding titles.
2.4 Contribution of Officers in eGovernance
Officers, who are the heads of branches or heads of offices, have the special responsibilities apart from the
office routine work. Being Administrators, they are required the work got done from the lower grade staff. The
computer awareness to this class is the special function in the impact of eGovernance in District Administration.
There is a need of special training to the officer level staff, which should be different from the normal
professional computer training. The officer level should understand the concepts and necessarily need to know
all aspects of computerization as far as what work can be get done with the computer.
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3. Results of Case Study
The successful implementation of eGovernance is achieved in Nanded District. The Story of success can be
summed up as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sufficient number of computers is available in the Collector Office, Nanded. The distribution of computers is proper.
The uniformity is maintained for the system software and application software.
69 % of staff learned the importance of computerization.
The work done by the 100% of the trained staff is the key element of the success. The use of computers by the untrained
staff is also cannot be avoided while summing up.
Special contribution is from the staff of age group below 40 and trained. The contribution of staff of age group over 40 is
also deserves appreciation.
There are valuable efforts of the class-III staff in the overall progress and these are the actual implementers of the
eGovernance in the District administration.
Understanding the concept of eGovernance and learning the usefulness of the computerization by 100% officer level staff
is very valuable contribution to the implementation.
Strong technical support given by the National Informatics Centre for the day-to-day activities of computerization.
Though the District Administration, Nanded have taken sincere efforts in implementation of eGovernance in
District, still there are chances for improvement in following areas:
•
•
•
•
•
Understanding the concept of eGovernance by 100 % staff.
Promoting benefits of eGovernance to public.
Improvement in psychological characteristics of Government staff.
Effective use of email and optimum utilization of present computer resources.
Special attention to staff over age 40.
4. Findings
The successful implementation of eGovernance can be achieved in true sense and the eGovernance culture can
be spread with the planned and structured approach in implementation process. The key elements of successful
implementation of eGovernance are as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Understanding the usefulness of computerization by Government staff. The staff should learn the importance of
computerizatio n. Here learning the importance is different than the professional training.
Availability of the sufficient number of computers is first step to achieve the success and the distribution of computers in
various branches must be done properly after studying the volume of work in the particular branch. The network should
be properly designed and maintained.
The uniformity should be maintained for the system software and application software.
Every staff member should use computer for his office work.
Special efforts are required for motivating staff over age 40.
There is need of redesigning of the training, which will give stress on developing interests among the Government staff.
The technical part must be designed so as to give more stress on hands on rather than theory. The Officer level staff
should get special training.
Allotment of work, regular follow-up and monitoring the progress by the officer.
Promotion of benefits of eGovernance to public is required.
Strong technical support at local level is required for better results.
5. Implications
The study has shown a new approach and many District models can be shared on these lines to achieve the
successful implementation of eGovernance in District Administration. The implications can be summed up as
follows:
•
•
•
The sufficient availability of the computers will give the opportunity for every staff number to work on computer. The
distributions of the computers to the branches will also be part of this.
Before moving towards the computerization the staff should learn the importance of computerization this will give selfmotivation to use computers.
The proper training of computer usage and practice will develop the perfection in work.
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The special training to officer level staff will develop a skill in the Officers to monitor the progress and improve his
administrative skills in respect to new trend of eGovernance. Once the vision is developed in the officers then the culture
of eGovernance will get developed in the office.
The staff over age 40 will be involved in the process of Computerization with special attention.
The regular follow-up by the Administrator will results in the faster implementation and better monitoring.
Promotion of eGovernance policies to the public will increase their faith in Government Officials. Once the faith is
developed the common man will approach to the officials avoiding middle-men
The strong technical support at local level will be helpful in computer maintenance and will solve day-to-day problems in
computer usage.
Keeping uniformity in the system software and application software will reduce the replication of work and data can be
shared. This will also results in easy consolidation of data at District level.
The effective use of email will result in faster communication. The web based data entry will give the better and faster
consolidation.
Finally the public at large will be benefited due to eGovernance. The greatest happiness can be observed by the
mass by faster and easier interaction with the Government to take the benefits of various schemes.
6. Concluding Remarks
To take an overview of the entire work we have studied the eGovernance subject in nutshell. A careful study of
Nanded experiment shows that if it is well planned and well-implemented eGovernance can change the profile
of entire District Administration. The study has shown results in such a way that this example can be inspiring
for other District Administrators. For this the staff must be more involved, ideas should be well perused and the
entire unit can be kept ready for the new revolution in new millennium. In the country like India where there is
vast population, there are rising hopes and expectations by the people; eGovernance can be a boon to meet mass
problems.
References
1.
Major initiatives in the area of eGovernance offering solutions and service by C-DAC, available at:
http://www.cdacindia.com/html/egovidx.asp, accessed October 10, 2001.
2. C-DAC Sets Sights on Solutions for eGovernance, available at: http://www.cdacindia.com/html/
press/archives/jtsn00/spot56.asp, accessed October 10, 2001.
3. eGovernance Conference Presentation, Bangalore November, (1999), eGovernance in the Nation State: A Great
Opportunity, or the Last Chance, available at : http://www.kn.com.au/commentary/egovernance _presentation.htm,
accessed April 16, 2003.
4. Background paper on E-governance Problems and opportunities in delivery of Public Services through IT, available at:
http://www.mit.gov.in/eg/home.htm, accessed June 10, 2003.
5. An interview of Prashanth Hebbar, IBM Global Government's Mark Cleverley on various aspects of E-Governance
implementations, available at: http://www.ciol.com/content/services/egov/showcategory.asp, accessed April 16, 2003.
6. Recipe of successful egovernance, Punjab State IAS Officers Organization, in partnership with Cisco Systems and
IBM, organized a day seminar on "Governance in the 21st century-Challenges before the Civil Servants". Available at:
http://www.ciol.com/content/services/egov/showarticle.asp, accessed July 11, 2003.
7. Electronic Governance – A key issue in the 21st century. A Paper by Renu Budhiraja, Additional Director, Electronic
Governance Division, Ministry of Information Technology, Government. of India, avaliable at:
http://www.mit.gov.in/eg/article2.htm, accessed July 10, 2003.
8. E-Governance – A key issue in the 21st century (Information Management in New Millennium, a conference organised
by SIS), available at: http://www.mit.gov.in/eg/article2.htm, accessed July 11, 2003.
9. The new e-power of the people By Jenny Sinclair, available at: of successful egover
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/03/23/1016843083163.html. Accessed April 19, 2003.
10. DIT Functions. Available at: http://www.mit.gov.in, accessed April 19, 2003.
11. E-seva - India's first e-governance solution, available at: http://www.aravali.com/eGovsol.htm, accessed April 19,
2003.
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12. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Inaugurating the MysoreIT.Com 2002, Transfer IT Benefits to Rural Masses:
Kalam Hindu Business Line [28 December 2002]
13. Electronic Governance – A key issue in the 21st century, available at: http://www.incg.org.in/
CountryGateway/eGovernance/Publications/ElectronicGovernance-Akeyissue.htm, accessed April 19, 2003.
14. E-Governance and Democracy in the New Millennium: Challenges and Opportunities, Author: Vijay Menon,
Secretary-General,
AMIC-Singapore,
available
at:
http://www.incg.org.in/CountryGateway/
eGovernance/Publications/E-governanceandDemocracy.htm, accessed April 19, 2003.
15. Government Resolution of Government of Maharashtra. Dated 27 November 2002, Dated 10 July 2000, Dated 30
October 2002, Dated 20 July 2002, Dated 13 March 2001 and Government Notification Dated 27 July 2001 by
Government of Maharashtra.
16. Bhandarkar P L and T S Willkanson, Methodology and Techniques of Social Research, Himalaya Publications,
Mumbai, 1994.
17. Arvind Kumar, Research Methodology in Social Science, SARUP and SONS, New Delhi, 2002.
18. Selltiz C M, M Jahoda, Research methods in social relations, US, 1965.
19. Galtung Johan, Theory and methods of Social research, London, 1967.
20. Ackoff, R and Sasieni M, Fundamentals of Operation Research, NewYork, 1968.
About the Authors
Sunil D. Potekar, Scientist-B, M.Sc. (Computer Science) University Topper in 1993 (Dr. B.A.M.U.
Aurangabad) University Rank Fourth in B.Sc. (1991) with subjects Mathematics, Electronics and Physics.
Lecturer in Computer Science from 1993 to 1996. Working in National Informatics Centre since 1996.
Rajesh D. Bhusari, Scientist-C, B.E. (Computer Science and Engineering) and presently working at District
Informatics Officer at Nanded.
Moiz Hussain, Scientist-E and presently working as State Informatics Officer of Maharashtra State, National
Informatics Centre, MSU, Mumbai.
Tanaji Satre, IAS, Post Graduate in Agriculture Sciences and presently working as Collector and District
Magistrate at Nanded, District located in Maharashtra State.
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Leveraging Information Technology for Rural Empowerment-An Experiment in North Eastern States of
India
Rajat K Baisya1
Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology- Delhi, New Delhi-110 016, India
Abstract
In the early part of the year 2000, under Prime Minister’s package the Community Information Centre ( CIC )
project was conceived to provide facilities and necessary infrastructure to have Information & Communication
Technology ( ICT ) available to 487 blocks in the North Eastern States of India including Sikkim at a cost of
INR 2420 million under 9th Plan with an objective to bridge the digital divide and to bring the people from this
part of the rural India to the mainstream of the nation. These CICs are at different levels of evolution now and
most of them are not realising the objective. This paper addresses the basic issues facing the CICs as revealed
from the survey conducted in Assam and Meghalaya and from focus group discussions. The blocks which are
close to the city / town are running better than those CICs which are located at distant and remote places. The
success of these major initiatives will depend not only on making the CICs operational but also on extending it
to the Gram Panchayat (GP) level and then to individual village level.
Keywords: Commuinity Information Center, District Industry Centre, e-Governance, Gram Panchayat,
Community Development
1. Introduction
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has made a profound impact on our life and times. The
dramatic expansion of the Internet and the World Wide Web are the most significant hallmarks of the
“Knowledge Revolution” through the last decade. These technologies provide very valueable support for
increasing the country level competitiveness by increasing the productivity – so vital for our growth in this
globalised economy. They also can help in social sectors – such as education, health, e-governance and rural
development for building up a mechanism to reach out and deliver their goods and services to distant consumers
which will be a major step forward towards bringing the huge untapped potential of the rural India to make
them part of the mainstream. This will not only accelerate the growth of our economic development and over all
social and cultural development but will also help in diffusing the tension and build the national integration and
harmony.
As one of the major initiatives in that direction in February 2000 this package of the Prime Minister of India for
development of north eastern region was declared and the 9th plan allocation was INR 2420 million for this
activity to cover the cost of hardware, infrastructure and other overheads including staff salaries. So far they
could spend half of this amount. The pilot phase of CIC in northeast was started on 15th of August 2001 but the
phase I activities could start by the end of 2002. Accordingly, 7 State Information Centers (SIC), 68 District
Information Centers (DIC) and 487 Community Information Centers (CIC) are to be set up in the north eastern
region as per the details given in the Table 1. While these district units and state units are in place and are
functioning the CICs are at different stages of development. According to the plan all CICs are supposed to
have similar kind of infrastructure and that includes A Local Area Network (LAN) comprising of one server,
five terminals, two UPS of 1 KVA and 2 KVA capacity, other peripheral devices such as Laser printer, Dot
Matrix Printer , CD Writer , Web Camera and Modem , one TV set , one Air conditioner , Very Small Aperture
Terminal (VSAT) and one 2 KVA generator. National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI) under
the Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India, is offering the services in coordination with state
1
Phone: 91-11-26591171, Fax: 26862620 Email: [email protected]
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unit of NIC to implement the infrastructure to be installed at each CIC locations. CIC is Prime Minister’s one of
the very ambitious projects and the MCIT is implementing it. The pilot phase was implemented in 2001 and a
total of thirty blocks in all the North Eastern (NE) states were covered under this. The first phase consists of 150
blocks and was completed by June 2002. The second phase with 307 blocks completed by end 2002.
Table 1 Distribution of SICs, DICs and CICs in northeast
State
Assam
Meghalaya
Nagaland
Mizoram
Manipur
Arunachal Pradesh
Tripura
Sikkim
Total
State Units
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
8
District Units
23
7
7
3
8
14
3
3
68
CICs
219
32
52
26
33
56
29
40
487
2. Management of CIC in Assam
The Department of Industries & Commerce under the the Ministry of Industry of the state government is the
nodal agency for deciding the site , provide civil and electrical installations including providing single phase
electricity connection , telephone and necessary furniture items at site and get involved in providing the content
being developed through State Electronic Development Corporation. Director of Industries & Commerce is
therefore the nodal officer and the General Manager (GM) of the District Industry Centres (DICs) are taking
care of the site preparation works. The Department of Industries & Commerce thus acts as IT agency on behalf
of the state government and provide local interface with National Informatics Centre (NIC), which is a
constituent organisation under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT). A
committee consisting of the Deputy Commissioner ( DC) as the Chairman , GM- DIC and NIC’s District
Informatics Officer ( DIO ) as members is carrying out manpower selection at the district level. Each CIC is
supposed to have two technical persons with an essential educational background of graduation and one – year
diploma in computer application.
3. The Current Scenario
These CICs are located within the block whereever places were made available that includes school premises,
block offices or even district industry offices in certain cases where block is in close proximity of the nearest
district town such as in Silchar of Cachar district and Karimganj. These CICs are involved in providing training
of students from the local areas and is also being used for Internet browsing, for sending e- mails etc. Currently,
the performance of these CICs are measured by their earnings per month as in course of time these CICs will
have to become self sufficient, number of visitors per month at the respective centres and the number of training
programmes they run. For the Kamrup district in the state of Assam these statistics for the period of 1st May to
31st May 2003 are given in Table 2.
4. Management of CIC in Meghalaya
Meghalaya consisting of three hills (Garo, Khasi, and Jyantia hills) and has 230 million population with literacy
rate as high as 63% and is scattered. Most of the population lives in villages and the official language in the
state is English. It penetration in Meghalaya is higher than that in other northeastern states including Assam.
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Table 2 Performance of CICs in Assam during May 2003
District
Kamrup
Block
Bezera
No of
persons
visited
The
Centre
167
8
Type of training
conducted
No of
training
program
me
Amount
collected
from
training
(INR)
No of
persons
attended
training
Amount
Collected
from
service
(INR)
Computer Awareness
Programme
Nil
1
32
8220
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Bihdia
Jajikona
Chandrapur
30
Computer Fundamentals &
MS office
1
20
Nil
Nil
Chaygaon
22
2
34
1695
7950
Goreswar
175
Computer Fundamentals &
MS
Office
MS-office, Internet &
E.mail
4
45
555
7153
Villagers have to travel long distance to access CIC. The vistors to these CICs are also mostly student. Unlike in
Assam where most of the CICs are located in school, in Meghalaya all CICs are located in Block Development
Office for better control and management and as such Block Development Officer (BDO) is the custodian
excepting in two cases, namely in Mairang and Aularea where State Development Advisor ( SDA) is the
custodian as the units are located in their office. In Meghalaya NIC is playing the role of IT support provider to
State and Central Government Offices located in the state since its inception in 1990. The state government has
not yet issued any guidelines for the fees to be charged from the users and thus CICs in the state has no income.
However, such guidelines are to be issued shortly. Contrary to what is prevailing in Assam, the nodal agency in
the Meghalaya state is the Ministry of Community and Rural Development. This agency provided the
administrative help including doing the civil and electrical work at site in consultation with NIC. All vendors
normally commissioned their supplies and have Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) but the work is certified
by NIC. In Meghalaya some distance learning programmes are already initiated through these CICs and for that
NIC has developed the contents. The state government on their own has taken a proposal from the Dean of
Social Science Department of North Eastern Hill Un iversity (NEHU), Shillong to carry out an independent
study on the citizens expectations from these CICs to enable the state government to act. Unlike CICs in Assam
where no applications have been installed so far , Meghalaya has already loaded many applications such as
public information and facilitation system ( various forms , driving license , issuing schedule caste certificate ,
ration card etc. ) , public grievance and redressal system , Comprehensive household survey as created by the
state Economic and Statistics Department , Rural data base as provided by District Rural Development Agency
(DRDA), Rural bazar for handicraft and agriculture. Currently, CICs are entering below the poverty line (BPL)
census data obtained from DRDA. An agri marketing portal has been installed and CIC operators are trained on
all these applications. CICs are also doing pay roll of the local BDO office, village directory and personnel
information system. In Meghalaya there is no formal criteria used for performance evaluation of CICs but the
review committee meets once in every month. Although objective is to make these CICs self-sufficient but
expectation is that 80 % of those will eventually become but remaining 20 %, which are located in remote
places, will have to be supported.
5. Survey and Group Discussions
To understand the issues involved to improve the functioning of the CIC so as to achieve the objective of the
project a study of a few selected CICs were undertaken. Also three focus groups discussion were conducted at
Guwahati and Silchar for Assam and at Shillong for Meghalaya. The group was consisting of General Manager
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– District Industry Centre, Block Development officer, District Information Associate, Technical Director &
State Information Officer representing NIC, Representative of NICSI and CIC operators. In Meghalaya group a
representative from Community & Rural Development Ministry was there in place of GM- DIC.
The key findings are summarised as
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
The custodian is the focal point for functioning of the CIC. The amount of interest the custodian takes determines the success
of the CIC.
Where BDO is the custodian, CIC is performing better and that explains why Meghalaya CIC are better managed. And where
school principals are the custodians there are associated problems.
BDO absorbs some of the infrastructure costs of the CIC if it is located in the BDO office but school Principal charges the CIC
for the same and even sometime does not provide electricity to CIC.
Most of the people involved in the programme are not clear about their role and responsibility.
The operators working in the CIC don’t get their salaries some time even for months. They are not clear about the working
hours, leave rules and attendance etc. and reporting relationships.
The operators are not clear what they can do as there is no standard communication channel available to them. Each CIC thus
is taking different direction in terms of earning the revenues for the centres. Some of those are even selling employment forms
for government jobs or different types of application forms to earn revenues.
Those who are generating some revenues are not clear how these amount are to be spent or accounted for.
Proper bank account and insurance or security arrangement for the assets in CIC are not there.
District Commissioners, who are the chairman of the district level committees are not taking that much of interest. As a result,
support from the concerned district offices and officers in terms providing information and governance are not possible to
generate to help the people at block and the village level.
Some of the CICs are not getting required services in terms of maintenance and general up keep of the facility.
Villagers are very keen to use these facilities and are generally curious to know what are these new facilities for but are not
getting any kind of meaningful services. Operators are facing problems as they are not able to answer the citizens queries.
In certain cases some health related and education related programmes are initiated by the opertors through their initiatives in
an unstructured manner.
CIC operators are not sure about their future and thus lacking in taking initiatives. But whatever little is happening is due to
their initiatives only.
6. Concluding Remarks
This initiative of setting up CIC at block level is a very powerful tool to take the advantage of ICT and to bridge
the gap of the digital divide and for rural empowerment. The first phase of the implementation of the
infrastructural facility is getting over although not as planned. The IT penetration is low in most of the places
and therefore massive campaign in terms what can be done at these centres should be propagated. Some of the
essential e- governance services should be initiated for which villagers had to come to nearest towns, which will
reduce their hardships. Locals are to be engaged for managing the units. Training needs to be given to the
operators before employment to make their role clear to them. The local administration set up for managing
these CIC will have to be streamlined. Scientific information to increase farm output, multiple cropping etc.and
marketing support from these CIC for local produce will greatly help the farmers. Some of these can be started
immediately and local administration such as District Commissioner should be given targets to comply and
report. For this, district level officers are to be transferred to this activity for faster implementation of the
centers objective. Only then the full potential of this major initiatives can be realized.
About The Author
Dr. Rajat K. Baisya is Professor of Marketing & Strategic Management at the Department of Management
Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, and Delhi. Since September 2001 Prof Baisya is also Head of the
Department of Management Studies at IIT- Delhi. Before coming to academics Dr. Baisya was working for 28
years in industry with leading Indian and multinational corporations covering all functional areas of
management. Prior to joining IIT – Delhi he was President & CEO of Emami Group of Companies for three
years and before that he was Senior Vice President – Business Development of Anlgo Dutch multinational
Reckitt Benckiser Ltd.
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A New Perspective of E-Governance by Web Services
Nayan Jain 1 and Vikas Awasthi
Drishti-Soft Solutions, Banglore. India
Abstract
Success of eGovernance lies in the usefulness of services and its reach to the citizens. Traditionally various
departments have provided their services through their own sites. In this paper we have explored the use of web
services in eGovernance. It proposes the separation of the government's role as a provider of services from the
role as a user interface provider. It discusses at length of how the approach helps in expanding the reach of
eGovernance among citizen and simultaneously reduce the government responsibilities by delegation. Besides
looking at the other opportunities thus created, the paper also proposes a cleaner approach towards tighter
interdepartmental integration based on service sharing.
Keywords: E-Governance, Web Services, Citizen Government Interaction, Resources, Services sharing
1. Introduction
India has already made its presence felt in the international eGovernance initiatives by deploying projects from
various spheres of governance. Where projects like the Bhoomi Project [6], Gyandoot [7] etc. exemplifies the
Transactional phase of eGovernance; several others like the online deployment of the Central Vigilance
Commission [3] is an example in the Interactional phase. Multilingual software development in Indian
languages by CDAC exemplifies Indian initiative and expertise in the said domains [8]. Despite the various
efforts and initiatives, eGovernance in India is at a very nascent stage and is not picking up the required
momentum. One drawback that eGovernance in India faces is that these initiatives are taken in isolation from
each other. The automation of the Income Tax Department is not linked to the automation of the Central
Vigilance Committee. Also, the penetration and popularity of these government initiatives (via their sites)
among the citizens has been low. This could potentially nullify the efforts of the government to bring
eGovernance to the general public (via the internet). In this paper we propose a solution, which de-couples the
functioning of the government as a service provider for its services from the front-end presentation of these
services, thereby addressing the issues described above. This de-coupling is achieved by the use of ‘Web
Services’ Technology. The solution would help to increase the Government to Citizen (G2C), Citizen to
Government (C2G) communications.
This paper is organized into 6 sections. Section 2 of the paper introduces and describes the proposed solution.
Section 3 analyzes the opportunities thus created. Section 4 analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of the
model for the various parties involved. Section 5 deals with the implementation issues and suggests alternatives
for the same. Appendix describes an example case of City Municipal Corporations of a state. The example case
is hypothetical but we have tried to depict the real picture.
2. Proposed Solution
The route for the development of eGovernance follows the three-fold path of the Publish, Interact and Transact
models [1]. In order to implement the later two, information handling has to be changed from the traditionally
used papers in the brick and mortar world, to digital documents to be used in the new E-world. This leaves the
government with the Herculean task of restructuring its various organization and to make them digitally aware.
The e-readiness reports by NASSCOM, which takes stock of India and its state of IT readiness, implies that
India still lags in infrastructure and in the level of automation of departments to handle digital data.
1
Corresponding author (Phone: +91 80 31814532, Email: [email protected])
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2.1. Breaking E-Governance Into Various Roles
Traditionally, the role of the government in providing eGovernance to the citizens is two fold in nature. The
government acts as service providers who collect and manage the data. The government also functions as
interface providers who provide an interface to the citizens to access and use this information. As an interface
provider, the government has an additional responsibility of maintaining and popularizing sites among citizens
in order to increase Government to Citizen (G2C) and Citizen to Government (G2C) communications. The role
of the government as a provider of services is functionally independent from its role as an interface provider.
Identifying this clear distinction, we propose to clearly distinguish these two requirements. We propose that the
government stick to its primary responsibility as a service provider and delegate the responsibility of the
interface provider to various private/public sector corporate; entrepreneurs; web portals and citizens. These
bodies can incorporate such user interfaces to their existing and popular sites, thereby saving the efforts of the
government in bringing up and maintaining the required infrastructure. Such a model would provide for a costeffective solution for the deployment of eGovernance on the net.
2.2. Web Services
“Web Services is an emerging technology driven by the will to securely expose business logic beyond the
firewall. Through Web services companies can encapsulate existing business processes, publish them as
services, search for and subscribe to other services, and exchange information throughout and beyond the
enterprise. Web services will enable application-to-application e-marketplace interaction, removing the
inefficiencies of human intervention.” This is how Enrique Castro-Leon describes Web Services [9]. Web
Services is a technology that is fast gaining recognition for its ability to provide a smooth integration and interoperability between various applications. It is based on open standards and thus prevents lock-ins with
the
proprietary solutions. Being open standard it also addresses the governments urge for openness and
considerations of security. Keeping in mind the fact that the government has already spent huge amounts on
varying technologies and platforms to achieve the existing level of eGovernance, web services offer a lucrative
solution for the integration with the existing infrastructure. In this model applications expose themselves as
services that understands and communicate in simple text 2 . It thus makes it possible and far easier the
interactions of applications running on different hardware and software platforms. The various standardization
initiatives for ‘Web Services’ at W3C [10] and by other majors like IBM and others communities like Web
Services Architect [11, 13] and WebServices.org [12] provide for a strong backing to the proposal. Being
around in the market for quite a long time and is promoted by the software giants like IBM, Microsoft, Sun etc.
Web service is a fairly mature and reliable platform.
2.3. Putting IT All Together
The proposed model assumes three roles namely the service providers, user interface providers and the end
users. The Government here assumes the role of the service provider and focuses on providing the services. It
thus concentrates on developing the infrastructure, data handling capabilities among its various departments. It
exposes the services thus provided to the world as a set of web services. User interface providers have the
responsibility to provide a user-friendly interface to these exposed web services. They provide the user interface
for the services exposed by the service provider to the end users typically through a website and sometimes as
application software. They thus act as channel for the passage of information between the end user and the
service provider. Various web portals e.g. www.yahoo.co.in, www.msn.co.in, www.rediff.com would be
typically assume this role in eGovernance Since these portals are largely popular eGovernance ride on its back
to reach the most citizens. E-Governance could easily ride on the wave of popularity of such sites and reach
more citizens than possible if the government themselves deployed such sites. The third role namely end users
2
Web services use XML based SOAP protocol to communicate.
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are the citizens who would be using the services. Since eGovernance facilities would be readily available on the
sites, which they frequently visit it would become easier for them to utilize the facilities.
DB
Web
Services
eGovernance
Web Interface
eGovernance
Web Interface
Web Interface
Government
Site
Figure 1 Implementing eGovernance using Web Services
Figure 1 shows the basic model in which the government exposes its services as ‘Web Services’ and portals like
Yahoo and MSN provide user interfaces to these web services on there sites. The dotted lined box indicates the
government machinery, which includes the automation systems (represented by DB), exposed webs services
and a default implementation of the webs service user interface 3 . Citizens have the option to choose between the
user interfaces provided by the various portals.
3. Opportunities and Scopes
3.1. Integrated User Interface to Multiple Services
E-Enabling the issues dealt by the local government has given rise to a lot of local sites. One typical example of
a state level issue is the ‘Police’. Since the local governments may not share such data amongst themselves it
would be difficult to provide a common interface for all the local sites. For instance in order to launch an FIR
(First Information Record) one might have to remember the addresses of the various sites. Further more if he
has to lodge the FIR in some other city he would have to search for the Police department’s site in the particular
city. Use of Web services provides a smooth way of integration in this case, as the integration does not
necessitate data sharing. It works on a service-sharing model. Consider the case of the two cities city1 and city2
each having its own facility to request online FIR. In such a case, common portals like Yahoo can design a
common FIR form which contains the necessary fields irrespective of the city. When the user submits the form
the site launch the FIR with the appropriate city service. The user thus gets an integrated view of the police
service and is relieved from remembering the addresses of the local sites. Figure 2 demonstrates the
effectiveness of the model in integrating the local governments services and presents it as a single entity to the
3
Section 5 discusses the need for the default web site implementation and its implications.
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citizens. A user who would have need to remember the URLs of the city police sites to register a FIR can now
simply logon to a portal and register the FIR from there.
3.2. Intelligent Custom User Interfaces
The Yahoo user interface of the previous example acts intelligently while deciding the city service to contact.
This model provides facility to include intelligence on the client side and develop similar custom interfaces. For
instance an organization can select a pack of services that its employees regularly use. The organization
automation system can then provide a custom interface to its users and even populate certain fields with the
information from the employee database.
DB
Web
Service
city=city1
city=town2
Web
Service
DB
eGovernance
FIR Service
__________
__________
city:_______
www.city1.com/police
FIR Service
____________
____________
www.town2.com/pc/
FIR Service
____________
____________
Figure 2 Integrated views of the local governments
3.3. Personalized eGovernance
Akin to the concept of the personalized services on portals for shopping, mails etc, personalized eGovernance
would be a useful by-product of this model. Citizens would then be able to customize the services which they
use frequently and bookmark them for fast retrieval. Some of the current implementations (e.g. Andhra Pradesh
government site) [4] provide such facilities, but are restricted in their preview and cannot for example, be
clubbed with the other personalization which the user already has like the mails, news, stock updates etc. Using
the proposed model, the citizens will have a lot more flexibility and can exactly choose their own interfaces.
3.4 Wireless eGovernance
The government can encourage the interface providers to provide a wireless interface to the services. Most of
the portals like www.yahoo.com, www.indiatimes.com have WAP support and such wireless services are
feasible. This would actualize the concept of wire less eGovernance, eGovernance accessible to the masses.
This concept would help the projects like Drishtee [5] to spread the government services to the masses.
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4. Advantages
This section analyses the inherent advantages that the model provides to various parties involved:
§
Benefits to Citizens
Since the model enables the data to exist in custom formats and be accessible from multiple locations, it
increases the accessibility of the information/data thus benefiting the citizens considerably. The integration
of eGovernance with the portals would provide the citizens with the unified view of the government as
explained in section 2.3. It would not only relieve them from remembering the URLs of various sites but
also allow them to use government services in an environment similar to the one they use to access mails,
news etc on portals. Advent of Personalized Government as explained in section 3 would add value to the
services exposed by the government.
§
Benefits to the Portals
Portals would have useful content for their customers thus adding value and finally resulting in increased
customer satisfaction. Besides the customer satisfaction it would translate into more number of page hits
and hence increased revenues.
§
Benefits to the Government
Resource Saving: The Government could substantially on cut down the resources being invested in
bringing up, maintaining and popularizing relevant web sites. It could save substantially on Web Site
development and upgrading to provide Customer Satisfaction.
§
Reusability Of Legacy Systems
As web service is a platform (both software and hardware) independent technology, most of the investment
undertaken by the government in the initiative so far and the new investments can remain in
harmony/synchronization to form a complete system. Given the vastness of the investments and
geographical and political diversities it would be difficult to have a uniform platform across all the wings of
central and local governments
DB
DB
Housing
Society
Service
PAN Card
Service
2. Check for valid
house owner; claimed
in the rent receipts
1. Check for valid PAN
Card details
eGovernance
IT Return Filing
IT
Return
Filing
Service
__________
__________
Figure 3 Inter service communication facilitating inter departmental integration
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§
Smoother Interdepartmental Integration
One of the chief advantages of the usage of Web services for inter-department integration is that it does not
need data sharing. It can work as good with the services sharing4 . One of the prime resistance's in the
development of the integrated departmental systems is the resistance from the department to share the data.
Corruption of data, availability of data, formats in which data is specified etc lead to complexities during
data sharing. In case of the service-sharing model, the ownership if the data remains with the owner
department and the actual data is never shared. It is the set of services that are exposed by the department
and the services perform the necessary operations on the data.
In order to facilitate the integration each department exposes a set of web services that could be used by the
other authorized web services. Integration of departments is thus done by inter service communication. It
could be best understand by an example. Say for example that the Income Tax department exposes a
service to enable citizens to file their IT returns online. It also exposes a web service to check the validity
of the PAN Cards. Also, The Housing Society provides a web service that helps to retrieve the owner of a
house. Assume that while filing the return the citizen in order to get rebates on HRA claims that he resides
in a rented flat. When a citizen files his Income Tax returns, the web service implementation would invoke
the PAN Card service to check if the Card is valid. It would then check with the Housing Society Service if
the rented house claimed were actually rented. Figure 3 demonstrates the above scenario. It shows the
control flow of the services.
§
Increased and Faster Reach
Multiple access points, custom formats and increased accessibility of Government service would increase
the reach of government in the public and would significantly help in increasing the Citizen to Government
interactions. Materialization of ‘Wireless eGovernance’ opportunity (Refer to section 3) would open up a
whole new world of possibilities. The Government will have to spend less money to advertise any new
service that is launched. The different user-interface providers will popularize these services for the
government
5. Issues
There are some issues that should be considered before designing a Web Services based eGovernance system.
These issues along with their hacks are mentioned below.
5.1. Standardization
Web services though are platform and implementation independent, in order to communicate with the web
services one must know what the services expects and what is produces. If we term this input output as protocol
then for one to effectively use the service he should be aware of the protocol. Protocol in this case is simple
XML based object definitions. It would become unwieldy and unmanageable if each department has its own
protocol that others do not understand. The problem is a simple standardization problem. Akin to the CERT-In
specifications the government should define the contract between the various departments. The departments can
then provide their own implementations on custom platforms. ‘Web Services’ provides an inherent solution for
this standardization [10]. Strict adherence to these standards would ensure a seamless integration amongst
various service providers and also between the service providers and their users.
5.2. User Interfaces’ availability
The model proposes that the government should distance itself away from the job of providing a user interface
e.g. from the intricacies of marketing the sites, maintaining, standardizing etc. In such a scenario, how does the
4
Section 5 discusses the security issues in service sharing
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government ensure that there are enough user interfaces in the market for the use of the citizens? If there were a
lack of user interfaces the concept of eGovernance would soon die off. This is a tactful issue and needs to be
handled strategically. Some of the options for the government could be:
§
§
§
To mandate the portals based in India to have a section on eGovernance. An independent body for judging the level of
integration can set minimum criterions.
To have a revenue sharing models in which a nominal share is shared with the hosting site from the revenues generated
by the site.
Start of with a kick off plan which could make eGovernance a way of life and hence as necessary as the news on these
sites
The development of the minimal site, which envisages all the features of the services, would not be a costly and
time taking issue, in that case some department might even opt to maintain a default site.
5.3. Security Considerations
The prime concern for any government body would be the security and privacy of the data and authenticity of
the users. The other concerns would be to share the services with a set of authorized users or organization and
not directly with the public for instance railway timetable inquiry service is available to any user whereas the
electronic electricity bill of a particular user may be exposed only after the user is authenticated. Authenticated
access plays an important role in the interdepartmental integration where one department can invoke certain
services of the department that are not exposed to the public. Another aspect of exposed services is their
availability and accessibility across clients, e.g. railway reservation service is required to be accessible to
authorized reservation agencies and booking centers only and not for all users. Here the government has the
prerogative of assigning the availability of services to specific clients. The security requirements of the
implementations discussed above can be met with the security model supported by Web services. Based on the
security, availability and accessibility requirements of the services, eGovernance services can be classified as
follows:
6. Category of Services
6.1. Normal services
These services primarily provide the information or perform the tasks in which security is not a requirement.
The prime motive of these services is to provide information and hassle free service to the citizens. These
services are open to the public and anyone can use them. The services that fall under this category are the ones
which aims at providing the information like the railways arrival time, tourist information of a place etc. It also
comprises of services like registering a FIR. Broadly this category contains the following sub categories:
§
§
§
Informational: These services provide the usually static information like the rules and regulations of the department,
tourist information, details of the city, timetables and rates of Road Transport Corporation (RTC) and trains etc. Since
this information is usually static in nature the user interface servers can use caching and other mechanism to enhance
the performance.
Interactional: These services generate dynamic information based on the parameters which could be input from user,
time etc. Examples of this category are arrival timings of trains, bus, temperature of the city etc.
Simple Forms: Simple forms which could be submitted to the government without much considerations of authenticity
and security falls under this category.
6.2. Secure services
These services take into account security and the authentication of the invoker (the user of the service and not
the end user). For the same reasons these services are exposed to an authorized few. The authorization5 could be
5
Typically the authorization is provided using the public key infrastructure. But in case the departments have
enough transactions then they may opt for a Virtual Private Network connection or a dedicated link line.
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organization based rather then person based. This means that the service would deem certain other servers or
services to be secure and would entertain the request from only those servers.6 Some typical examples of Secure
Services are:
§
§
Load balancing: In this case the government could nominate certain portals or government organizations like NIC,
CMC etc to provide user interface clients for some of its services. It can mandate the providers to implement
certain security constraints or filters as well. Availability of the site at multiple sites greatly reduces the load of the
single government hosted site.
Enable inter service communication: As explained in section 3 this could be easily implemented using secure
services model. Say Housing Society and the PAN Card Services are secure services with no access to the public.
Housing Society and PAN Card Issuing (Section 3) department then deem the IT Return filing service as secure.
6.3. Very secure services
These services refer to extremely confidential information providing services that are typically not shared either
with the public or with other department. Examples of this category could be trader and tender information from
which police/ military buys equipment. The sensitiveness of the information mandates the highest level of
security. These services are usually not exposed except for the internal department clients.
7. Concluding Remarks
As discussed in the paper, implementation of eGovernance using the Web services provides enormous
opportunities. It helps in expanding the reach of the government among its citizens by collaboration with the
web portals. It als o provides a feasible and easier solution towards the tighter integration of various government
departments thereby helping in actualizing a truly paper free government. The approach could also reduce the
pressures on the government resources, which can then be diverted intelligibly for other problems. One of the
various advantages of web services in eGovernance is that it enables the existing eGovernance solutions to be
easily migrated into this model. All in all the proposed solution seems to be an effective solution for exposing
eGovernance to the users.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
6
E-Government Handbook for Developing Nations Advisory Board (www.cdt.org/egov/handbook/2002-1114egovhandbook.pdf ), accessed December 3, 2002.
Judgement Information System–JUDIS (http://indiancourts.nic.in/itinjud.htm), accessed January 01, 2003.
Central Vigilance Commission Web Site, available at (http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/ cvc_cs.htm),
accessed January 12, 2003.
Andhra Pradesh Official Government Web Site, available at: http://www.aponline.gov.in/, accessed July 3, 03.
Drishtee Project, Mobile, kiosk-based e-government throughout rural India, available at: http://www.drishtee.com,
accessed January 4, 2002.
Bhoomi Project by Karnataka Government, available at: http://www.revdept-01.kar.nic.in/Bhoomi/ Home.htm,
accessed July 2, 2002.
Gyandoot: The purveyor of knowledge, available at http://www.gyandoot.net/, accessed June 7, 2002
Multilingual Projects by CDAC, available at: http://www.cdacindia.com/html/mlingual.asp, accessed May 2, 2003.
A perspective of web services, available at: http://www.webservices.org/index.php/article/articleview/ 113/1/61/,
accessed June 23, 2003.
Website of W3, available at: http://www.w3.org/ accessed December 18, 2002.
Web services strategies, available at: http://www.webservicesarchitect.com/ accessed June 8, 2003
Past present and future of web services, available at: http://www.webservices.org/index.php/article/ archive/61/
accessed November 22, 2002
Web Services Architecture, available at http://www.w3.org/TR/ws-arch/ accessed July 8, 2003
Same server can expose both secure and non-secure services.
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About the Authors
Nayan Jain is working as a technical advisor of Drishti-soft solutions. He has worked for companies like Pramati and
Trilogy. He is piloting the E-Governance imitative at Dristhi. He did his graduation from IIT Guwahati in Computer Science
and Engineering.
Vikas Awasthi is the member of core technical team in Drishti. His industry expertise comes from companies like Sun
Microsystems and Pramati. He is involved with various J2EE based Enterprise Solutions projects at Drishti. He has done his
graduation from IIT Guwahati in Computer Science and Engineering.
Appendix
‘Example Case – City Municipal Corporations’7
Scenario: Municipal Corporations of various cities across State S are committed to provide various services to
the citizens online. Corporations are in various stages of automation and exposing and providing the services.
The services provided are Property Tax information and filing, lodging complains for sanity, water supply and
public heath care related services. City A is in advanced stage of the implementation and supports the
transactional and Interactional interface. City B is still in the informational phase and mostly provides
information in form of downloadable forms. City C was a late starter and due to resource constraint is
struggling to popularize the facilities it provides. Feasibility studies are being done in City D for automation and
online services.
Application of Proposed Model
Standardization: State S set up a committee of persons from various Municipal Corporations and Ministers to
evolve ‘Common Standards for Municipal Corporation Web Services’. It came up with the set of commonly
accepted standards of the web services for the Services to be implemented. The standards were defined for
services based on the state of the services. For example Property Tax filing is interactional service, thus the
committee also proposed a standard for Municipal Corporations when the implementation is in Informational
Phase.
Implementation/Benefits: The state government asked all the Municipal Corporations to follow the standards
and collaborated with the web portal X and Y, the two most popular web portals of the state to integrate the
access to the Municipal Corporation Web Services with their existing offerings. Portal X integrated the services
and offered them in the personalized services suite (like the e-mail, shopping, news etc) that it already offered.
Y started with loose integration with already existing services but soon moved a model similar to X.
•
•
•
•
City A followed the standards proposed by the committee, but since it was already in the advanced stages of
implementation, it had to develop an adaptor to interface with the already existing infrastructure. It resulted in
more resource consumption but the personalized services from X and Y resulted in greater customer satisfaction.
City B could save resources, which were previously invested in preparing the front end. It used the resources to
concentrate on providing Interactional Services.
City C could use the popularity of X and Y to popularize its services.
City D could start afresh and follow state provided guidelines. It could easily integrate with the implementations
of the other corporations and also with the user interfaces being already provided by X and Y.
7
This example case is hypothetical, but the scenario described above tries to portray the actual state of the
States in India.
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Healthcare E-Governance in Post 9/11 America
Stan Kachnowski 1
Healthcare MIS, Department of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University Mailman School of
Public Health, 600 West 168th Street, 6th Floor, New York City, NY, 10032
Abstract
The US and many other nations face the reality of potential biological, chemical, or radiological attacks. This
paper covers how the US has dedicated significant monetary and political e-governance resources in the area
of public health. Unfortunately, the activity is similar to a history of healthcare informatics in the US where egovernance fragmentation significantly reduces the effectiveness of resources eventually made public.
Keywords: Public Health, E-Governance
1. Introduction
A crisp, still September mo rning with the air perfectly dry, and the sky perfectly blue. The kind of day a New
Yorker might see only three or four times in any given year. After a long holiday weekend, the new school year
was starting, adding to the anticipation of a fresh beginning. It was, however, only to be the beginning of
perhaps the darkest day in United States’ history.
Healthcare e-governance prior to September 11th , 2001 had little meaning to even the most studied health policy
and management researcher. But when terrorists struck down the World Trade Center, they not only left behind
a wide, wrenching gap where the twin towers once stood but also exposed a hole within the United States’
intelligence and public health community that failed to prevent and properly manage its occurrence and
aftermath. The atrocities were of such a scale previously unimagined that it caught nearly everyone by
surprise. Struggling to cope with the aftermath, the intelligence community, law enforcement, and public health
agencies came face to face with the serious deficiencies in their infrastructures that affected their capability to
respond effectively to the attacks.
2. Congressional Report and Public Health Situation
Since the September 11 attacks, much attention has been given to investigating intelligence lapses that occurred
within and between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency. The latest report,
released July 2003, was by a joint inquiry of the Senate and House Committees on Intelligence. The
Congressional report reiterated that the serious lapses in intelligence created by the agencies’ increasingly
insular culture severely hobbled their ability to share information. It goes so far as to suggest a different
outcome might have resulted had there not been a chronic lack of information sharing and had more dots been
connected between the multiple government agencies. “No one will ever know what might have happened had
more connections been drawn between these disparate pieces of information,” the report concluded.1
The report indicated that there were signs that terrorists were planning an attack at least as early as 1994 and as
late as the summer of 2001. At that time, the CIA and the FBI continued to receive reports of domestic threats
but both agencies continued to focus instead on possible attacks overseas, and still, refused to exchange notes.
The report concluded that “the intelligence community, for a variety of reasons, did not bring together and fully
1
Phone +1-212.557.4911, Fax: 212.504.0804, Email: [email protected]
“Report of the Joint Inquiry into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001,” House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, July 24, 2003.
http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/911rpt/index.html
1-2
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appreciate a range of information that could have greatly enhanced its chances of uncovering and preventing
Osama bin Laden’s plan to attack the United States on September 11, 2001.”2 The absence of adequate
communication, the report stressed, extended beyond the intelligence community. “Serious problems in
information sharing also persisted…between the intelligence community and relevant non-intelligence
community agencies. This included other federal agencies as well as state and local authorities.”3
More tellingly, almost two years after the attacks, the report still found that “the U.S. government does not
presently bring together in one place all terrorism-related information from all sources.”4 If the intelligence
community suffers from a chronic lack of information sharing, so too does the public health sector. The
September 11 attacks drastically altered the country’s course, and with it, changed the role public healthcare
plays in ensuring public safety in the face of possible future attacks. It placed public healthcare at the forefront
of efforts to prepare, prevent, and respond to the grimmest possibilities. According to an article published in
December 2001 in Modern Healthcare, “the healthcare policy focus was no longer so much on issues such as
the high cost of pharmaceuticals, the need for a radical overhaul of Medicare, or the push for more money to
address hospitals’ staffing crises. The top concern quickly became whether the country was prepared for future
attacks.”5 Like the intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the public health sector is hard-pressed to heed
the ominous warning set off by the September 11 attacks. The need to establish effective e-governance in
healthcare was more urgent than ever.
3. E-governance
The National Academy of Public Administration defines e-governance as “the transformation of (governance)
processes (resulting from) the continual and exponential introduction into society of more advanced digital
technologies. E-governance focuses on how these new technologies can be used to strengthen the public's voice
as a force to reshape the democratic processes, and refocus the management, structure, and oversight of
government to better serve the public interest. E-governance fosters the partnerships and collaborations of those
who have a stake in enriching the processes. This includes all levels of government (county, municipal, state,
regional, tribal and federal), the private sector, the academic community and foundations.
The Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences stresses the difference between government and governance
is “delivery of a service is a function of government, while determining whether or not to provide a service
relates to governance.”6 According to Maureen O’Neil, president of Canada’s International Development
Research Centre, “In the term e-governance, it’s the governance that counts the most.”7 In a CMA Management
article, O’Neil underscored the importance of good governance of information communications technologies,
while putting these to the service of good governance at the same time. An example of pre-September 11th
healthcare e-governance was seen in the Report to the President, prepared by the President’s Information
Technology Advisory Committee on February 2001.8 The report centers on the transformation of health care
through information technology. It discusses in detail clinical informatics uses, creating stiffer privacy
standards, as well as improving quality and costs through information technology. The term “e-governance”,
3-4
“Report of the Joint Inquiry into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001,” House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, July 24, 2003.
http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/911rpt/index.html
5
Anonymous, “Then Came September 11,” Modern Healthcare, December 24-31, 2001, pg. 30.
Sunny Marche, James D McNiven, “E-Government and E-Governance: The Future Isn't What It Used To Be,”
Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, March 2003, ABI/INFORM Global, pg. 74.
7
Anonymous, “E-Governance Gains,” CMA Management, May 2003, ABI/INFORM Global, pg. 53.
6 & 28
8
“Transforming Healthcare Through Information Technology,” President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee,
Panel on Transforming Healthcare, Report to the President, February 2001.
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however, was not used. Neither was syndromic surveillance nor any kind of public health enterprise data
sharing. Post-September 11, the relevance and necessity of establishing and practicing effective e-governance
has become quite clear and pressing.
4. Medical Response to 9/11
The Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Center was the closest Level I trauma center to the smoldering World
Trade Center towers. The first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 provided a dry-run for the hospital in
responding to terrorist attacks. But the first attack was nowhere near the scope of the second and final one. As
St. Vincent’s became the center of emergency preparations, the immediate problem the hospital faced as it
struggled to respond to the growing crisis was communications. Telephone equipment in lower Manhattan was
destroyed, disrupting landlines and cellular phone systems. At this crucial period, St. Vincent’s relied mostly on
its computer lines, as both telephone and cellular services became sporadic and unreliable. But in the days
following the attacks, the sheer magnitude and need for information, mostly about missing people, threatened to
overwhelm not just St. Vincent’s system, but those of the other 100 hospitals in the New York metropolitan
area. Failing to find missing family, friends, and co-workers in hospitals, literally thousand of pictures posted
by frantic people desperately seeking missing loved-ones, littered the surrounding areas of Ground Zero. In the
early days following the attack, hospitals were unable to provide the needed information and confirmation
because of inadequate information sharing among the affected hospitals, specifically in the admissions,
discharge, and treatment systems.
There was also no web-based system to collect data from hospitals on the availability of beds, staff, and
supplies. According to David Campbell, president and chief operating officer of Saint Vincent Catholic
Medical Centers in an article that appeared in the Frontiers of Health Services Management in 2002, “Requests
for this kind of information from so many different government agencies, elected officials, and media
representatives overwhelmed the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) and the city’s hospitals.”9
Since then, the GNYHA has established a more centralized and organized system to gather, record, and
organize this information to enable GNYHA “to meet such requests centrally.”10 An important component of
the web-based system is the patient-locator, something that was not available in the initial days following the
attack.
5. Anthrax Attacks
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were quickly followed by anthrax attacks from yet to
be discovered sources. Once again, terrorist attacks demonstrated the inadequacy of public health egovernance. The anthrax attacks in the fall of 2001 increased the country’s awareness of not just future
biological or chemical attacks, but also the vulnerability of the systems put in place to adequately respond to it.
Although efforts have been made to improve the nation's preparedness for and response to public health
emergencies by harnessing information technology initiatives, more needs to be done. There are currently at
least 70 planned and operational information systems in several information technology categories within six
key federal agencies (Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of
Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency),
involved in bioterrorism and other public health emergencies, preparedness, and response. These systems,
according to a General Accounting Office Report to Congressional Committees released in May 2003, include
detection (collects and identifies potential biological agents from environmental samples), surveillance,
(facilitates ongoing data collection, analysis, and interpretation of data), communications (facilitates the secure
9-10
David J Campbell, “9/11: A Healthcare Provider's Response,” Frontiers of Health Services Management, Fall 2002,
ABI/INFORM Global, pg. 3.
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and timely delivery of information to the relevant responders and decision makers), and supporting technologies
(provides information for the other categories of systems).11
The GAO report found the “extent of coordination or interaction of these systems among agencies covered a
wide range – from an absence of coordination, to awareness among the agencies with no formal coordination, to
formal coordination, to joint development of initiatives.”12 Only 30 percent of the systems and initiatives are
formally coordinated or jointly developed with other agencies. The report also cited a general lack of
information technology development standards and strategy that could facilitate better preparation and response
to public health emergencies like bioterrorism. It recommended a system that is interoperable. “The need for
common, agreed-upon standards is widely acknowledged in the health community… Many issues remain to be
worked out, including coordinating the various standards-setting initiatives and monitoring the implementation
of standards for health care delivery and public health,” the report said.13
The development of these standards, according to the study, is crucial as information technology supports many
of the public health’s initiatives, among them: “planning, delivery, and evaluation of public health activities…
effective program and policy evaluation, sufficient epidemiology and surveillance capability to detect outbreaks
and monitor incidence of diseases, appropriate response capacity for public health emergencies, effective
laboratories, secure information systems, and advanced communications systems.”14 Yet two years after the
anthrax attacks, the systems in place in federal agencies and others associated with the public health
infrastructure are still unable to exchange data with other systems on a real-time basis. This was, by and large,
the same problem encountered by public health officials when they responded to the anthrax attacks in October
2001 – the inability to exchange data between clinical sites, local health departments, emergency responders,
state health departments, public health laboratories, and federal agencies.
In its response, the Department of Health and Human Services said the report’s focus on information
technology “overemphasized its [IT’s] role and does not address other components of the public health
infrastructure and may simplify a complex issue.”15 But because of the many levels, beginning at the local
level, and multiple jurisdictions involved in identifying and managing bioterrorism and other public health
emergencies, effective communication and collaboration across all levels of government as well as the private
sector is vital and cannot be overemphasized. In responding to bioterrorism, so many sectors, including the
public health and medical community, the scientific community, the intelligence and law enforcement
community, and even drug store pharmacists and school administrators, are enlisted. Thus, an information
technology system that can uniformly reach across parallel lines between agencies and communities, and travel
from top-down and down-up within the same agencies and communities is essential.
Two years after September 11, armed with renewed awareness, and with ample time to re-strategize, many of
the weaknesses mentioned in the report persists, including “vulnerable and outdated health information systems
and technologies, lack of real-time surveillance and epidemiological systems, ineffective and fragmented
communications networks, incomplete domestic preparedness and emergency response capability, and
communities without access to essential public health services.”16 As the history of medical informatics in the
United States has often demonstrated, healthcare e-governance post-September 11 continues to be fragmented,
decentralized, and lacking in proper standards. Significant strides have been made to increase the amount of
11-16
“BioTerrorism: Information Technology Strategy Could Strengthen Federal Agencies’ Abilities to Respond to Public
Health,” United States General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional Committees, May 2003.
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information available across local, state, and federal agencies, through websites and other digital
communications created to educate both the public and public health officials on bioterrorism preparedness, as
well as SARS, West Nile, and other public health issues that are outstanding today. But the information
remains highly dispersed, and as a consequence, difficult to track on any public web search utility.
Despite the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Health, the
Department of Health and Human Services, the State of New York, and foundations such as the Robert Wood
Foundation and the National Governor’s Association’s Center for Best Practices, a single, uniform site that
ordinary people can automatically access in case of a biological or chemical attack – a virtual web-based onestop shop for all relevant and official information pertaining to and resulting from a particular biological or
chemical attack, still does not exist today. Instead there are literally thousands of pages on the world wide web
and internet that contain everything from system selection for syndromic surveillance at the state and city level,
to daily briefings on bioterrorism funding and grants. There are also detailed epidemiological evaluations for
diseases; mortality reporting systems for 121 different cities; large, publicly accessible databases compiled by
various health statistics groups; as well as blueprints for national electronics telecommunications systems for
surveillance. But as the anthrax attack illustrated, there was no public governmental sites that was easily
accessible to the public, such as www.anthrax.gov. There was no centralized point of information at the federal
level where people can go to for the official response to the attacks. Instead they were spread out across
different sites and different agencies, leading to more panic and confusion. Those affected, including Florida,
the District of Columbia, New York, and Connecticut had very poor inter-state information and
communications technology systems and experienced difficulty in collaborating with each other on the
epidemiology of the anthrax used in the attacks.
The experience with anthrax attacks presented challenges for jurisdictions across the country, not just in the
communities where it was found, according to another report by the U.S. General Accounting Office entitled:
Bioterrorism: Preparedness Varied across State and Local Jurisdictions, released last April 2003. Officials in
several states became aware of the different types of limitations in their state and local communication
capabilities during the anthrax incidents, among them “coordination across agencies and communication among
departments and jurisdictions and with the public.”17 In one city, a local official reported that there was no
system to coordinate public information, medical recommendations, and epidemiologic assessments throughout
the state and neighboring areas, which resulted in considerable confusion and frustration for both the public and
medical community. 18
David Campbell, president and chief executive officer of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, stressed the
need for a heightened regional as well as public and private sector cooperation. The Greater New York
Hospital Association, he said, has “created an emergency preparedness council following 9/11; it brings
together the association’s members with local, state, and federal health and emergency management officials.
The emergency preparedness coordinating council works to ensure an integrated, efficient response to any
future terrorist attacks or events; it represents a regional public-private approach to emergency preparedness.”19
6. City and State Comparisons
Within the State of New York, Governor George Pataki swiftly created the Office of Public Security on October
10, 2001, a cabinet level office that reports directly to the Governor, just a month after September 11.20 That
Office coordinates with all agencies and resources of State government, including the Department of Health,
17-18
“Bioterrorism Preparedness Varied Across State and Local Jurisdiction,” United States General Accounting Office,
Report to Congressional Committees, April 2003.
19
David J Campbell, “9/11: A Healthcare Provider's Response,” Frontiers of Health Services Management, Fall 2002,
ABI/INFORM Global, pg. 3.
20
New York State Office of Public Security, http://www.state.ny.us/security/.
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State Emergency Management Office, Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of the State Police,
Division of Naval and Military Affairs, Division of Criminal Justice Services, Department of State, Office of
Technology, and the Department of Transportation, on matters relating to terrorism prevention, response, and
recovery. The Office is also New York State's primary contact with the national Office of Homeland Security.
However, some states not only lack a similar state security-centered office but also do not have public health
departments, period. California, which is currently grappling with one of the United States’ worst state budget
crises, has yet to create a state public health department. Moreover, there is no government agency in the state
that is capable of sharing and monitoring hospital data in order to detect an influx of large numbers of patients
resulting from an attack. A Los Angeles Times article published in March 2003 quoted a January 2002 report
on the state’s homeland defense preparedness, released by the Commission on California State Government and
Economy, which concluded that California’s public health system is inherently weak, and ill-prepared to handle
either naturally -occurring epidemics or intentional biological or chemical attacks.21
In contrast, the state that seems to be the number one target for terrorist attacks has painfully learned from each
tragic experience. New York has developed an elaborate syndromic surveillance system, widely regarded as the
most advanced system in the country for detecting public health outbreaks. It currently “tracks 9-1-1 calls,
walk-in emergency room visits, pharmacy sales of anti-diarrhea medication, and illness among city transit
workers,” according to a report by the The Washington Post in November 2001.22 New York’s syndromic
surveillance system seeks to combine science with statistics – reporting and recording diseases and tracking
clusters of similar symptoms, as they appear in large, consolidated, and computerized databases.
In fact, New York was quick to implement an emergency department-based syndromic surveillance system –
within hours of the September 11 attack itself. A Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released on
September 2002, revealed that on the eve of the September 11 attacks, the New York City Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene, fearing a possible secondary attack, this time with a biological agent, quickly implemented
a syndromic surveillance system in hospital emergency departments “to identify large-scale bioterrorist event
and other health conditions related to the WTC attacks.”23 New York has since strived to move beyond a
passive surveillance system where laboratory and hospital staff and physicians voluntarily provide data on
illnesses to the health department and analysis of the information is done as it arrives. Passive systems,
according to the April 2003 General Accounting Office report, may not be able to adequately identify a rapidly
spreading outbreak in its earliest and most manageable stage.24 This is due to the tendency to underreport and
the time lag between reporting a patient’s symptoms to the receipt by the health department of a report of the
diagnosis. By applying a more active approach known as syndromic surveillance, public health officials contact
laboratories, hospitals, and physicians in order to obtain information in response to recurring symptoms
monitored. Active surveillance provides a more thorough detection of patterns than a system that communicates
via a one-way channel and is entirely dependent on voluntary reporting.
In other cities like Seattle, Fire Department dispatches along with 9-1-1 calls are closely monitored, according
to the Houston Chronicle in an article published in November 2002. Baltimore collects information on school
absenteeism as well as sales of over-the-counter cold medications, while cities in western Pennsylvania amass
home ZIP codes, symptoms or complaints of patients, and at what time they were admitted in hospitals, as a
21
Nancy Vogel, “California Vulnerable to Outbreak,” The Los Angeles Times, March 22, 2003.
Ceci Connolly, “In New York, On Alert for Bioterrorism, City’s Tracking System is Viewed as a Model,” The
Washington Post, November 24, 2001.
22
23
Anonymous, “Syndromic Surveillance for Bioterrorism Following the Attacks on the World Trade Center – New York
City 2001,” MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, September 11, 2002, PA Research II Periodicals, pg. 13.
24,26-27
“Bioterrorism Preparedness Varied Across State and Local Jurisdiction,” United States General Accounting Office,
Report to Congressional Committees, April 2003.
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means of tracking possible outbreaks.25 Undoubtedly, “cities that had dealt with multiple public health
emergencies… had learned which organizations and officials need to be involved in preparedness and response
efforts and moved to include all pertinent parties in the efforts. Experience with natural disasters raised the
awareness of local officials regarding the level of public health emergency preparedness in their cities and the
kinds of preparedness problems they needed to address,” the GAO reported.26 In an effort to bring their
bioterrorism preparedness up to speed, some officials even expressed “a desire for increased information
sharing of best practices among state and local jurisdictions on various types of training,” the same GAO report
revealed. One state even suggested “it would be useful for CDC to organize an Internet site and teleconferences
among states to facilitate information sharing.”27
7. Discussions and Conclusion
Healthcare e-governance is taking place on several levels in the United States post-September 11. At the local
level, mayors’ offices, village halls, town halls, schools, senior centers, churches, and community hospitals are
working closely together to understand healthcare consequences of chemical, biological, and radioactive threats.
Within the tri-state region, most of these institutions are taking steps to be prepared in the event of any one of
these attacks, relative to emergency equipment on site, emergency services provided to the community, and
evacuation plans. On county levels, the same thing is happening. The Departments of Public Health for various
counties for the region post-September 11 are moving beyond the simple West Nile tracking devices and into
various areas of syndromic surveillance, as well coordinating regional and community-based hospitals’ data
collection on a broader level. They are working with local health officials in order to be able to respond to any
kind of healthcare services issues. Large cities are doing the same thing: running preparedness drills,
stockpiling vaccines, and tracking them with the use of information and communications technologies, and
supplying ample information on various biological and chemical radioactive agents on citywide websites.
The States, in turn, are working in tandem with cities and counties in order to try to coordinate their efforts with
the federal government. And the federal government is trying to support local, city, county, and state efforts
with information on national websites provided by centers of excellence in biological, chemical, and radioactive
disease and agent preparation, tracking, and response. These multi-tiered efforts are redefining the phrase,
‘Think globally. Act locally.’
While the funding available can barely cope with the massive infusion of resources needed to effectively
prevent, protect, and respond to bioterrorism, it does continue to increase. Last May, Health and Human
Services Secretary Tommy Thompson approved the release of $100 million to assist states and help strengthen
the nation’s public health infrastructure. A U.S. Newswire report quoted Thompson as saying that the
additional money, “is part of our overall commitment to our state and local partners to build a stronger public
health system to care for Americans in the event of any emergency.”28 The $100 million is in addition to the
$1.1 billion provided to states last year and the $1.4 billion set aside for fiscal year 2003. The report said that
the HHS is shelling out $3.5 billion dollars this year alone for bioterrorism preparedness, including funds
earmarked for vaccine and drug stockpiling, construction of decontamination facilities, and to shore up
metropolitan and rural hospitals’ technical capability both in disease surveillance and to respond to any
eventuality. 29
25
Matt Crenson, “Every Sneeze a Bioterror Clue / Health Officials Monitor Everyday Illnesses for Sign of Attack,” Houston
Chronicle, November 24, 2001.
28-29
“Secretary Thompson to Release $100 Million to Assist States with Smallpox Vaccination Programs,” U.S. Newswire,
May 10, 2003.
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The US government’s Emergency Broadcast System deployed during the Cold War consists of a nationally
controlled media outlet in case of a large scale nuclear attack or national disaster. That System was not utilized
during the attacks on September 11th , since it could not direct regional activities and evacuation of people living
and working in lower Manhattan. Had there been a biological element to the attack, the spread of those agents
could have been catastrophic. While the technology is there to help make the spread of information more
efficient and effective, it is, once again, the processes of people and project management deploying these
information and communication technologies inefficiently, that result in a failure to leverage them to their best
potential. So that, if again, today, an attack were to be carried out in lower Manhattan, resulting in thousands of
people were strewn amongst the various hospitals and clinics around the tri-state area, admissions discharge and
treatment systems would still be unable to communicate with each other. There still would not be a centralized
website where people can gather information on how to respond, and states will would lack the resources to
communicate among themselves.
One very simple solution would be to create a centralized source for all health information regarding
bioterrorism as far as chemical, biological, and radiological threats are concerned. The best place for this would
be on www.health.gov. And the best agency to run this would likely be the CDC. The Canadian Journal of
Administrative Sciences reminds us that, “Governance is in fact a process in which one governs in the ways in
which decisions are made, while government, in fact, consists of the way in which this decision is executed.”30
So the methodologies of creating policy relating to information and communications technologies are in fact
governance issues. In this sense both e-governance and e-government right now, relative to healthcare and
post-September 11, continue to be in disarray, very much like the healthcare informatics complex that supports
the public healthcare systems for payers, providers, pharmaceuticals, and public healthcare agencies –
fragmented and decentralized.
The time to improve healthcare egovernance has never been more appropriate. Due the information rich nature
of healthcare at the time of an attack, it is clear the United States government needs to have an egovernance
extension to it Emergency Broadcast System. This would provide national and regional populations with
specific instructions in the case of chemical attack in a mass transit system, biological attack during a college
sports event, or radioactive attack on a crowded beach. The information and communications technology exists
to meet the challenges the US faces today. We only need to find the policy and management processes to meet
theses challenges.
About the Author
Stan Kachnowski is currently a health information technology management professor at the Mailman School of
Public Health at Columbia University. He has taught and consulted with organizations around the world in the
areas of healthcare technology and e-commerce strategies. He currently serves on several Advisory Boards
including Oncology.com, the Internet Healthcare Capital Group, and Framfab, Europe's largest Internet
solutions company.
30
Sunny Marche, James D McNiven, “E-Government and E-Governance: The Future Isn't What It Used To Be,” Canadian
Journal of Administrative Sciences, March 2003, ABI/INFORM Global, pg. 74.
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Information Technology Usage in a State Health System: A Case Study of Punjab
Sanjay Bedi1 ,
SGRD Institute of Medical Sciences, Amritsar, Punjab, India
Abstract
Advantages of Information Technology (IT) usage in different spheres of life have been seriously felt and
enormous efforts are bring made to bring up IT infrastructure. Comparatively, a very less is being contributed
towards
development of IT infrastructures for health systems, even though powerful health systems build
healthy nations. Health systems which is a foremost sector, should also go for IT usage resulting in better
productivity, effectiveness, efficiency and economics leading to improved health status. The present paper
focuses on sustainable development of IT infrastructure (hardware, software and live-ware) in health systems.
Five stages for IT infrastructure growth have been identified. The activities involved in these stages will be
discussed at length. The specifications for hardware, software and live-ware requirements have been identified.
Data sources and processing required at different stages has also been identified. The paper also discusses the
productivity of matured systems.
Keywords: IT infrastructure, IT usage, Health systems
1. Introduction
In spite of the fact that the computer revolution is spreading practically in every arena of human endeavor and
especially in banking, railways, defense very a little impact has been noticed on the health sector. Enormous
amounts of resources are being spent, but very little change on actual health status of the people has been
noticed. Further at top levels of health departments, both in public and private sectors as well as in government,
there is considerable awareness of the importance and potential of Information Technology. Despite the
availability of technical skills the gains from Information Technology usage have not been apparent.
Effective usage of information technology is not a purely technical issue. It has socio-technical and
organisational aspects, which need to be recognized and carefully implemented. Many bureaucrats in-charge of
health department’s focus on installation of hardware and sometimes acquisition of software. Adequate
attention to human factors and organizational issues is minimal. Such an approach would be appropriate for
purely scientific and technical tasks like control software for scientific instruments or on board control systems,
but rendering such systems in health departments and at hospitals level is totally ineffective. IT applications
such as computers, networking, database systems would be of little benefit if they were used to mechanize
existing processes and procedures. Major benefits accrue if there is perceptible functioning of organizations,
brought about in consonance with these technologies. To benefit from the potential of information technology,
corresponding organizational changes should be anticipated, planned and brought about in health departments in
a systematic way. The need for sustainable IT infrastructure development for optimal utilization of resources
has been felt. It is therefore useful to identify types of technology required in relation to organizational changes.
This would give a clearer idea of effort and strategy involved in successful implementation of IT projects in
health departments.
For this purpose, five stages have been identified in terms of increasing demands, sustainability financial and
organizational factors.
1
Phone: + 91-183-2503785, 3100639 (Mobile), E-mail: [email protected]
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2. Stages in IT Infrastructure Development
IT infrastructure development stages in the in health systems are explained below as well as in diagram 1:
2.1. First Stage
The computers, because of their efficiency and accuracy are used to enhance personal productivity and in the
present case that of the doctors using “stand alone” applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, personal
information systems at individual level These applications may run on stand alone or networked PCs. Capsule
programs on training doctors in computer fundamentals, word processing, spreadsheets, analysis tools,
presentation tools and basics of programming and networking are required to be organized for improving
individual convenience. This will add quality to work and increased productivity. To improve overall quality of
doctor’s work, mundane/ monotonous tasks such as circulars, storage and retrieval of correspondence
documents, presentations, Internet access, database search, personal record keeping, time planning are popular
applications to be computerised at stage one. The work involves recording personal data with the doctors which
may also be related to hospital registration, accounts, case sheets in wards and OPD management, pharmacy
management and maintaining reports in laboratories. The stand-alone mode useful for individuals and
individual departments is encouraged here. Public mailing lists can be used as a low cost option for networking
these computers. Computerisation of birth records is essential to create a unique ID number for each patient.
(Sanjay Bedi 1996) An immunization registry will help to get immediate return on investment.
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2.2. Second Stage
This stage involves structured applications with long-term periodicity. These are like batch processing
applications performed on daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, and may involve detection of disease
patterns in hospitals, analysis of age, sex or other variables which effect occurrence of diseases, analysis of
batches of case sheets of various diseases. The administrative help for payroll processing, maintaining of
account ledgers and similar applications which are common in any organization can also be incorporated for
increased used of IT infrastructure.
The data so generated is relevant to hospital administrative operations and also helpful in operations at civil
surgeon’s office level. Processing however is specific to a function at different levels. But, the results of data
concern several individuals in the hospitals, district civil surgeon’s office, state health authorities as well as at
other levels. Planned effort is required to maintain these data files for these applications in time processing,
checking validity and access so as to preserve correctness and security of the information. The applications
help in better case sheet recording within a hospital. Smart cards may be issued to citizens for convenience,
online access and security purposes.
2.3. Third Stage
At the third stage, applications have short periodicity and on-line processing is encouraged. Transaction
processing applications like final diagnosis in Out-Patient Departments and wards should be processed
promptly. Any new disease reported should activate an alarm for preventive action. For example, few malaria
cases reported in a particular locality should direct fumigation of that particular locality only or viral hepatitis
should suggest extensive water sampling of the concerned locality. Use of Geographical Information Systems
(GIS)(Verma Harsh 1996) is required as a support tool. This will help in deciding the correct place for
preventive measures. Response time interval can be greatly reduced as compared to current state of affairs.
Quick performance and reliability are very important here. The cost involved in epidemic control is reduced and
efficiency is enhanced. Mobile telephony especially CDMA based Internet access can help make virtual private
networks eliminating the need of wires and quick deployment of network within the Hospital and outside
including villages.
2.4. Fourth Stage
At this stage, integrated systems are made incorporating several applications from different hospitals involving
many databases in a client server mode thus forming Intranets and Extranets within the health system
corporation. This will reduce the costs of duplication of data; reduce in-consistency and timely availability
during treatment. This will help in preventive medicine alerts at block, district and state levels. Also the
patient can be given a permanent index number and his medical case sheet may be available to doctors over a
region or globally, where movement of patient does not come in the way of his timely diagnosis.
The integrated systems span several functional divisions and applications, and also fulfill the information
requirements of the health system at strategic, management and operational levels. Though, implementation of
this stage is not an easy task, however with the advent of the information super highways the dreams seem to be
coming true. Special hospital information officers’ personnel may be needed to be appointed who can be
information technology experts or drawn from within the doctors. Teamwork approach is the most ideal
involving close cooperation between personnel, structures and processes in each hospital, dis trict and ultimately
the entire state level. The barriers of space and time dissolve due to networking for INTRANETS within the
health system. EXTRANETS encourage the communications between different corporations.
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2.5. Fifth Stage
The fifth state of IT infrastructure is concerned with intelligent computing systems and applications, simulations
and virtual reality systems. (Krishna S.1997) The resources and skills available at local, regional as well as
global level are extracted to result value added diagnostics. Virtual reality systems help in performing virtual
surgeries and diagnostics where risks are very high and are very useful for training purpose. The simulation
systems encourage the training by reducing the costs for the actual systems and moreover speed experience
based learning.
Expert systems are intelligent programs, which mimic the behavior of an expert in particular a field of
knowledge. Since experts are rare, non-availability of expert knowledge at places of disease incurs many
problems of delay, cost, and feasibility leading to high mortality of serious patients. Expert systems are software
programs which supplement/ enhance the skills of doctors in specialized topics and are highly useful here.
Though these systems do not replace experts they help the lesser skilled doctor to give better decisions, and
improve productivity through knowledge dissemination. Expert systems can be used in training by simulating
the doctor’s activities in different types of diagnostics. Expert knowledge from different sources can be put in
knowledge bases, which are supported by databases. Internet connectivity helps in opinion/ message/ data
integration and communication.
At this stage, the health corporation should have implemented information technology projects successfully and
gained valuable experience and confidence needed to reorganize its core processes in a fashion enabled by
information technology. Commitment from the top management would be available to provide enough
flexibility for redeployment of personnel, and restructure the methodology prevalent within the hospitals.
3. Technical Specifications
3.1. Hardware and Software
The stage wise infrastructure development is not only based on hardware considerations but on the basis of
requirements, systematic growth, hospital budget considerations, computational culture and basic IT
infrastructure available at hospital, block, district and state levels. Advanced stages require advanced levels of
hardware and software. However the converse relationship does not follow. A network, which can implement
fifth stage applications, if used only to store word processing software for use by PC clients, would be
supporting a first stage application only. In many instances, database software, which can support up to fourth
stage of integration, is used for data storage and report generation typical at second stage. The table 1 explains
the minimum hardware and software requirements at different stages:
Table 1 Minimum hardware and software requirements at different stages:
Stages-
First stage
Hardware
Stand
alone PC’s
Software
Applicatio
n specific
for
individuals
Second
stage
Small
network or
multi-user
system
Hospital
informatio
n system
(HIS)
(tailor
made)
Third stage
Fourth stage
Fifth stage
Medium size network or
central system with power
of mini-frame computer
Powerful LANs
with connection t o
the WAN through
communication
channel
Powerful (workstations /
parallel processors) systems in
LANs with high-speed
communication links and
image/ video processing
equipment.
HIS, district health
information system
(DHIS)(Bedi Sanjay1997)
and Geographical
Information System (GIS)
HIS, DHIS, GIS,
Intranets and
extranet
applications
All software from lower stages,
video-conferencing
applications, image processing,
expert systems, virtual reality
and simulation applications
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3.2. Data Management
Data integrity and security requirements are demanding and complex. Data is critical to day to day functioning
and diagnostic skills. The ability to make diagnosis and deal with epidemics and diseases is dependent on the
timely availability and analytical ability of the Health Systems Organization.
The table 2 lists the data and processing involved at the different stages:
Table 2 Data and processing involved at the different stages:
Stage 1
Stage2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage5
Data Source
Individual
Hospital/ disease specific
Many hospitals in a district
Information shared between many hospitals, multicentric oriented
Knowledge from experts, data for simulation and
imaging.
Processing
Individual oriented
Hospital/ unit specific
Civil Surgeon/ epidemic oriented
Distributed over many hospitals/ organisations
Global client server over
hospitals / organizations
internet
involving
3.3. Live Ware
In implementation of IT infrastructure, availability of suitable manpower plays vital role. For feasibility of
systems, operational staff should be adequately trained. The table 3 shows the requirements at all five stages:
Table 3 Reassignment of work in various stages
Stagesà
Personnel Factor
\|/
Reassignments of work
Training Requirements for
medical /user staff
IT-professional
requirement
First Stage
Second Stage
Third Stage
Fourth Stage
Fifth Stage
Not
Required
Elementary
Not
Required
Short term
Small
Preferred
Necessary
Training required
Training
No
No
Required
Required
Training
required
Required
4. System Maturity and Productivity
A health system passing through the proposed stages matures in sustainable manner where problems due to
abrupt changes, technology induction and changed work culture are minimum. The ability to store large number
of case sheets and process them quickly is the principal advantage provided by computers where transmission
delays are eliminated by fast communication links. The orientation or focus of the organization should be on an
environment where information is freely available and the ability to interpret and act on that information is the
key element for efficiency.
As the result of IT induction in proposed stages, productivity improvements in the health systems follow an
increasing pattern. The hospitals in the first stage experience minimal gain in productivity mainly of
individuals who use requis ite software effectively. In the second stage the hospital enhances its analytical ability
of multiple diseases and patients thus knowing the trends and disease patterns. There is improved record
keeping. However the improvements in performance are still not quantifiable. At third stage the benefits
become more quantifiable and visible, like reduced inventory costs, better patient management, effective alerts
and control during epidemics. This enhances the health status of the community, improvement in the parameters
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like infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate etc. At fourth stage, the information becomes a resource. It can
support decisions at hospital administration levels, civil surgeon levels, as well as support strategic planning at
State levels. Incremental cost of new IT applications decreases and is easy to bear from time to time. At fifth
stage, the potential of information technology becomes fully available shrinking the world into a global village
thus making improvement in health status an ongoing process.
4.1. Financial considerations
Considering that the modern networks are developed enough the ground realities are that any Hospital can reach
the 5th stage straight away or may start from intermediate stages .The Nolon’s model (Nolon1999) makes an
attempt of describing the stages of development in Initiation, Expansion, Formalization and Maturity. The
growth indicators stages are Data Processing Era, IT era and networking era. Watertight compartments cannot
be made for any Hospital and depending on the skill of the concerned doctor and other Human factors
involved.
Low cost networking can be achieved by public networks of which mailing lists are an important method, which
is currently finding wide appeal. Ultimately the costs will have to be shared between the patients, Hospitals and
some support from the government in the form of Public networks especially networking of government
hospitals. Pilot projects will have to be financed to create awareness and initial infrastructure. Teaching
websites need to be created for online medical education along with leveraging the assets already available on
the net
4.2. Re-engineering the Health System
Four factors influence the development in infrastructure and management for productive usage. These are
management strategy, IT strategy, corporate infrastructure and IT infrastructure.
Implementers can have four
different approaches .In the first case work strategy drives the IT strategy where machines and tools are
inducted for identified processes to accomplish in accordance to management approach. In second case IT
applications strategy is driving force and
infrastructure is brought up as per laid IT norms. Available
corporation infrastructure becomes dominant factor in third category where re-engineering is difficult and in
fourth case IT infrastructure is the driver as availability of state of art computing facility facilitates and
motivates the applications. Different combinations of above factors for IT usage and implementation result in
different challenges. Dominance of individuals contributing these factors determines the overall strategy stages
and nature of applications. A new hospital can easily adapt state of the art approach.
In the end a brief introduction of the concept of knowledge management needs to be discussed. .“Knowledge
management is a discipline that promotes a collaborative and integrated approach to the creation, capture,
access and use of a health system’s information assets. Through the use of electronic classroom the knowledge
available in a quantifiable manner becomes more. Knowledge available is just like capital and creates health
system values, by leveraging the intangible assets of knowledge, which will become the next big competitive
differentiator in improvement of health systems in the Information Century. Advance Planning; change
Management, cultural changes in medical teaching methodology & well-balanced approaches are essential part
of knowledge management. Knowledge grows when it is shared and deteriorates when unused. One single large
obstacle is changing departmental culture and doctor attitude and behavior. Fostering a knowledge sharing
culture is the most important. Wiring the intangible assets of knowledge and the pathologists brains, to share
useful concepts between dissimilar departments, involving staff from many levels and locations is knowledge
networking. Knowledge networking is the term for strategy to force contribution much greater than sum of its
individual knowledge of participants. The idea is to foster a spirit of radical innovation.
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5. Concluding Remarks
An incremental and sustainable approach is necessary for computerization of the Health System. Existing setup
is required to be validated according to needs. Hardware acquisition is necessary and funding is required. The
telecom revolution holds the promise for an Information Technology revolution in the Health System.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Bedi, Sanjay, (1996), “Computers and Rural Health Systems”, Published in CSI Communications, Sept. 1996.
Verma, Harsh, (1996), “Internet- The potential of Global Digital Thematic Atlas”, Published in CSI Communications
Bedi, Sanjay, (1997) “District Health Information Systems”, Published in CSI Communication
Krishna S., (1996), “Organizational Maturity and Stages of IT Development”, Published in CSI Communications,
August 1996
Nolan R, (1996), “Managing the crisis in data processing,” Howard Business Review, March April 1999 p115
About the Author
Sanjay Bedi, a Doctor of Medicine in Pathology, is the Assistant Professor in Pathology in the Sri Guru Ram
Das Institute Of Medical Sciences, Amritsar. Highly learned and well informed, Dr. Bedi has been spearheading
many innovative projects in Medical Informatics. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Indian Journal of Medical
Informatics and Secretary Computerisation of Indian Medical Association, Punjab Branch and member core
committee of Indian Society of Telemedicine. Various publications and papers presented by Dr. Sanjay Bedi
have exposed his high degree of interest in minute details of all that he is involved in. Presentations in Medical
Informatics technology and solutions, Rural Health Systems, District Health Information Systems,
Telemedicine and Electronic Classrooms, have all won him wide acclaim. Dr. Sanjay Bedi is a highly respected
individual, in the Medical Industry in India today. Dr. Bedi has organized and participated in a large number of
conferences all over the country. 38-year-old Dr. Sanjay Bedi, finds his recreation in mountain climbing,
reading and researching new ways to implement computerization in the medical industry. Dr. Sanjay Bedi may
be contacted on [email protected]. His home address 366 Green Avenue, Amritsar, Punjab, India
Website:http://www.drsanjaybedi.com
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E-Commerce and its Implications to Malaysian Income Tax
Mohamed Nazim Bin Abdul Rahman 1 & Kalaithasan Kuppusamy
Department of Accounting and Finance, School of Business
Monash University Malaysia
No.2, Jalan Kolej, Bandar Sunway
46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Abstract
E-commerce has emerged to be the most popular way of business transactions in this millennium. The growth
has been more than exponential. Business through Internet can be done from any part of the world at any
convenient time. The emergence of e-commerce has undeniably opened new avenues for governments to earn
taxable revenue. But, it is not an easy way of implementing it as it involves overcoming many hurdles and
difficulties. In fact, tracing e-commerce transactions can be the most difficult task. The potential growth of ecommerce in Malaysia is great. In year 2004, the Internet dial-up account of Malaysians is estimated to be
1,400,000, comparing to the Internet dial-up account in year 1995 that was only 20,000, it had grown up to 70
times (Aniceto, 2000). The objective of this paper is to evaluate the impact of e-commerce to Malaysian income
tax. In addition, the focus will also be directed to challenges, opportunities and threats to Malaysian income tax
as a result of the emergence of e-commerce.
Keywords: E-Commerce, Malaysian Income Tax Act 1967, Tax assessment, Internet, Intangible
1.
Introduction
The issues surrounding e-commerce and its implication to Income Tax are new, complex, and constantly
evolving. The advances in technology and the rapid growth of the Internet users in Malaysia had brought up a
new issue for us. Malaysian government has yet to have clear guidelines on the e-commerce taxation. Ecommerce is still in its infancy. According to Annette Nellen, e-commerce represents less than 1% in the retail
sales. In Malaysia, it will be even lesser. However, the potential growth of e-commerce is great. In year 2004,
the Internet dial-up account of Malaysian is estimated to be 1,400,000, comparing to the Internet dial-up
account in year 1995 that was only 20,000, it had grown up to 70 times (Aniceto, 2000). The user purchase
online in Malaysia is still very limited. However, these issues need to be discussed, as Malaysian government is
trying very hard to boost up the technology usage in Malaysia. E-Commerce does not limit on purchasing
tangible goods in the Internet. Advertisement on the Internet and providing services to the Internet user through
cyberspace is actually part of the E-Commerce too.
E-Commerce or “electronic commerce” may be defined as “commercial transactions where an order is placed
electronically and the goods or services are delivered in tangible or electronic form. Orders placed electronically
may be via websites or electronic mail. In general e-commerce excludes the mere transmission of
telecommunications signals, electronic data interchange or electronic transfer of funds”. (Dr. Arjunan
Subramaniam, 2002). Mark, Peter, Robert and Pamela from University of California at Berkeley had explained
the term “electronic commerce”. The term “electronic commerce” means any transaction conducted over the
Internet through Internet access, comprising the sale, lease, license, offer, or delivery of property, goods,
services, or information, whether or not for consideration, and includes the provision of Internet access. In the
Malaysian Income Tax Manual written by Arjunan Subramaniam, 1996, income tax was introduced in the
Federation of Malaya in 1947. The basis of taxation initially recommended was a territorial and not a residential
basis. Section 3 of the Income Tax Act 1967 reads as follows:
1
Corresponding author (Phone: 603 56360600 ext 328, Fax: 603 58804358, Email: [email protected])
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“ Subject to and in accordance with this Act, a tax to be known as income tax shall be charged for
each year of assessment upon the income of any person accruing in or derived from Malaysia or
received in Malaysia from outside Malaysia.”
The birth of Internet has opened up a new horizon to the businesses sector. E-business or e-commerce is the
new trend in the business market. However, it is said that the emergence of e-business is giving rise to a
knowing number of legal issues concerning taxation. One of the reasons would be due to the fact that one
cannot agree to how to charge tax for online businesses. This is due to the difference in the legislation and law
processes practiced in different countries. Primary issue of collection of tax is more difficult to impose tax in
Internet transactions especially in US because of the difference in government structure and excise tax structure.
The US Supreme Court ruled that a vendor without a presence in a state couldn’t be compelled to act as a tax
collection agent for the state. Accordingly, many e commerce vendors are not required to collect sales tax where
their consumers reside. (Taxation of Business, The Spanish View by Fernandaz, Pedro. The Internet has the
potential to create major problems by eroding the tax base in some cases and by altering the incidence of the tax
in others. Some tax authorities have estimated that their existing tax base will decline significantly over the next
ten years because of e-business (Andrew and Hughes, 1999, p.1).
This brings about to the issue of who will inherit the tax revenue. Question as which country will charge the tax
and how will it be taxed due to the various government structures. A preview of what this mean is shown in the
example given in Lallana et al. (n.d.) that goes like this: “Suppose a piece of music is composed by a Germancitizen artist residing in the United States. The music is then produced and copyrighted in France. That
particular music now sits on a server/seller in Japan. A Filipino in Manila using his credit card that he has sent
to the server subsequently purchases a copy of that particular music. After the credit card has been verified, the
music is now downloaded into the Filipino’s computer. The sale is then completed. Which jurisdiction has the
right to collect sales taxes for this and other similar transactions?”
The other matter that has to be taken into consideration is how one implies tax to products or services firm
acquired from the Internet. The existence of e-business has also created possibilities and opportunities for tax
avoidance and evasion. This can be seen clearly in the case study done by Arthur Cockfield (2001). He says that
there is a dark side to the Internet associated with the difficulties in regulating this new forum. Internet
technologies enhance the mobility of financial capital, making it easier to avoid taxes. E-commerce companies
may be able to take advantage of traditional tax laws to manipulate the location of their income-producing
activities so that these activities get taxed in low or nil taxing jurisdictions, leading to a potential increase in
harmful tax competition as countries compete for highly mobile virtual income. International Review of Law
Computers &Technology, volume 16 supports this as it claims that “As an increasing amount of commerce is
done in digital (i.e. non-physical) form where the existence of customers and payments methods are not
traceable, E-commerce increases the gap between the technology exporting developed country and technology
importing developing countries, and between those countries whose primary tax base is direct taxation and
those which raise substantial amounts of revenue by consumption taxes. The threat is of deepening the
developing countries disadvantage in competing with developed nations. Confusion that may arise due to the
nature of E-commerce transactions may lead to inappropriate taxation that can inadvertently stifle the growth of
e-commerce.”
However, e–business has benefited the society too as the existence of it has brought to the introduction of
consideration of a more demanding and systematic tax system. This is evident thorough what is said in the
(H.R.3529) 10th Congress It sates that “The twenty first century marketplace requires a twenty first sales tax
system that is more uniform, consistent and streamlined. Not only will tax simplification make businesses more
competitive, but also it will make government more efficient resulting in personal benefits to every consumer
and citizen.
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Taxation Principles of e-commerce
According to the Taxation Framework Conditions which were presented at the October 1998 OECD Ministerial
Conference “A Borderless World – Realizing the potential of Electronic Commerce” the principles which
should apply to e-commerce [4], [5] are
§ Neutrality: Taxation should seek to be neutral and equitable between forms of e-commerce and between conventional and ecommerce, so as to avoid double taxat ion or unintentional non-taxation.
§ Efficiency: Compliance costs to business and administration costs for governments should be minimized as far as possible.
§ Certainty and Simplicity: Tax rules should be clear and simple to understand, so that taxpayers know where they stand.
§ Effectiveness and Fairness: Taxation should produce the right amount of tax at the right time and the potential of evasion and
avoidance should be minimized.
§ Flexibility: Taxation systems should be flexible and dynamic to ensure they keep pace with technological and commercial
developments.
2. E-Commerce Taxation Principles:
2.1 General Principles
The Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC) supports the widely accepted general tax principles
of neutrality, efficiency, certainty, simplicity, effectiveness, fairness and flexibility as applicable to electronic
commerce. It is important to view all of the issues and questions raised by electronic commerce through the
lenses of these important and fundamental principles.
§
No New Taxes on Electronic Commerce; No Usage or Bit Tax
The GIIC believes that a threshold point of consensus must be that electronic commerce, as a new medium of doing business,
should not be subject to new or additional unique taxes. It is our expect ation that new or modified measures, if required, will
assist in the application of existing principles and will not impose discriminatory tax treatment on electronic commerce.
§
Avoidance of Double Taxation Should Be a Fundamental Principle
The business community is particularly concerned that the increased ease of cross-border transactions made possible by
electronic commerce will increase the risk that countries will claim inconsistent taxing jurisdiction, and that taxpayers will be
subject to multiple taxation. Adoption of consistent taxing terms, definitions and concepts would eliminate many of these
problems.
2.2 Improving Taxpayer Service and Tax Administration
The caution that governments should avoid is premature reaction in anticipation of unrealized problems.
Certainly business engaged in electronic commerce should be subject to the same taxpayer identification
requirements, such as registration and filing, as their counterpart businesses in conventional commerce.
However, it is premature to imagine widespread flouting of taxation obligations and to impose complex,
expensive and burdensome requirements that not only are unnecessary but also may have the effect of
prescribing certain technology to the potential exclusion of future superior technological solutions.
2.3 Consumption Tax Issues
The GIIC recommends that the avoidance of double taxation should be the first and foremost among the general
principles governing consumption taxation, because the prospect of double taxation will do more to inhibit the
development of electronic commerce than any other tax factor. The GIIC also would like to see
nondiscrimination and neutrality recognized as guiding principles for indirect taxation. In particular, electronic
commerce, regardless of whether the method of delivery is on-line or off-line, should not be subject to higher
(or lower) tax rates or subject to greater compliance burdens than conventional commerce. Additionally,
electronic commerce imports should not be taxed at higher rates than domestic electronic commerce. It also
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believes that the guiding principles should include simplicity, encompassing the concepts of uniform
classifications, clarity and consistency of rules, and minimization of compliance burdens and costs.
§
Taxation at th e Place of Consumption
The GIIC supports the general principle of territoriality. GIIC believes that territorial concepts provide legal certainty,
simplicity, and neutrality. While in principle, GIIC does not oppose the principle of taxation at place of consumption, we
believe that such a standard is far more difficult to enforce than a standard of taxation at the place of origin. Consequently, to
be consistent with the general principles of neutrality and avoidance of double taxation, such a system requires particular care
to achieving a real consensus toward consistent definitions, rules of classification, and rules for determining where and when
tax is due, as well as compliance and refund or credit procedures that do not impose discriminatory burdens on some
taxpayers.
§
Classification of Digitized Products
There is a view that the on-line supply of digitized products should not be treated as a supply of goods, but presumably as a
supply of services. We note that this is inconsistent with the principle of neutrality, since products such as books, software,
images, music, or information may also be delivered in a tangible form, which would be treated as goods. In this instance, we
would encourage a policy that provides that the rate of taxation should be consistent regardless of the method of delivery.
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Consumption Tax Collection: Services and Intangible Property
At present, countries have different and inconsistent rules for different types of services and intangible property, such as
telecommunicatio ns, broadcast, consulting, engineering, training and education, data processing, supply of information, access
to databases, entertainment, and content of various types. The GIIC strongly recommends that attention be given to developing
consistent definitions, classifications, and tax rates for the many types of services that might be considered to be a part of
electronic commerce. This effort not only would provide clarity and certainty, but also should reduce double taxation and
attempts to manipulate classifications to avoid taxation.
2.4 International Taxation Norms and Co-Operation
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Tax Treaty Issues
The GIIC is particularly concerned about the risks of double taxation inherent in inconsistent interpretations of the
fundamental concepts of permanent establishment. The GIIC is confident that existing principles, with only minor
clarifications to add certainty and consistency, are sufficient. The fundamental concepts of permanent establishment are not
significantly threatened, despite dire warnings from some quarters, and radical changes to or rejection of the fundamental
principles is not warranted at this time.
§
Transfer Pricing Issues
The GIIC believes that electronic commerce does not present substantially new or different transfer pricing issues. Although
electronic commerce may present new factual challenges in applying the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, there is no need
for special provisions, amendments or clarifications at this time.
2.5 Cooperation with Business
The GIIC encourages tax authorities to create an intensified working relationship with the business community
on the issues relating to electronic commerce. We strongly endorse the use of partnership working groups
between business and government to address the numerous detailed issues to be addressed. We urge tax
authorities to open this process broadly to interested business participants. We believe that to ensure the
widespread support of the business community, even greater openness is called for to ensure timely and
valuable input by those in the business community who have much to offer this process.
3. Difficulties and Challenges in E-Commerce Taxation
Electronic business has changed the way of conducting business, which provide many opportunities to the s mall
enterprises and ordinary consumers to buy and sell goods all over the world and also it raises a number of tax
issues and problems internationally. Since E-commerce has the potential to significantly increase the level of
economic activity both nationally and internationally, there are a number of challenges are for the tax
authorities to assure the functionality of tax, including the determination of taxable transactions, taxable
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quantum and which government has the right to levy tax. The future expansion of Internet commerce presents
great opportunities for an economy for different countries and the usage of E-Commerce has had a pervasive
impact upon businesses, consumers and the government, which will speed up business deals, reduce transaction
costs and thus enhance country’s competitiveness. The Australian government has released a report on the
electronic commerce industry that predicts the use of the Internet for electronic commerce is about to explode. It
expects the benefits of electronic transactions would not be confined to businesses and their customers, but
would flow on to the broader community through the achievement of greater efficiencies.
Since there is an increasing amount of commerce is done in digital form where the existence of customers and
payments methods are not traceable, therefore, there are many difficulties on taxation of electronic commerce.
In general, no taxes are charged to export sales, but taxes do apply to import sales. However, when the Internet
comes into play, knowing the identity and location of both parties to a sale can be difficult, and there is no
actual transfer of goods and/or no obviously identifiable physical locations. This could be a particular problem
for Hong Kong because its economy is open and heavily relies on import and export business. For this problem,
the US Treasury Department paper suggests that countries will be forced back to residence, as a basis for
taxation and this would have important implications for the way in which taxes on international trade are shared
between countries.
However, it is often difficult, to apply traditional source concepts to link an item of income with a specific
geographical location on the online transaction. As a result, source-based taxation could lose its rationale and be
rendered obsolete by electronic commerce. Beside that, there is an obvious difficulty for intangible products,
such as music, software and services such as medical or legal consultations that are ‘produced’ at one location
and ‘consumed’ elsewhere. The governments will need to reconsider their tax base as e-commerce expands the
scope for tax evasion. Transaction-based taxes are difficult to trace, especially the taxes imposed on services,
which can be supplied electronically. Malaysia is well placed to benefit from the expansion of electronic
commerce but the narrowness of its current tax base will present problems for its revenue authorities in the
future as the tax evasion opportunities presented by Internet trade expand. This challenge including how to
identify taxpayers engaged in e-commerce and determine their taxing jurisdiction; how to ensure that
appropriate records are created of business conducted by electronic commerce; how to collect taxes in the
electronic commerce environment must be well documented. Below are some of the major challenges that
might be faced by Inland Revenue Board:
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Establishing Identity
There is a need to identify the occurrence of a transaction. The Inland Revenue Board needs to know where the transaction has
taken place and who did it. This might be difficult for implementing tax in E-commerce since the online transaction is
untraceable. Furthermore, the offshore location of web sites makes this a major problem for Inland Revenue Board in the
future.
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Establishing Location
Traditional taxation concepts rely on actual presence or economic connection to a particular location. This is very different
from the electronic commerce, which just has little dependence on physical location. This will make it more difficult for
Inland Revenue Board to determine where an activity has been conducted.
§
Documentation and Evidence
Inland Revenue Board has extensive authority to obtain documentation and other information from taxpayers that reside
within their area of jurisdiction. But some transactions conducted in Internet do not leave an audit trail or documentation,
which would be suitable evidence for the levy of tax. Laws will have to be amended to place the responsibility on the taxpayer
to produce appropriate documentation of E-commerce transactions, but whether these laws could be enforced where the web
site source of a transaction is located in a tax haven remains problematic.
§
Dematerialization of Trade
The expanding trade in services, which has been a feature of the expansion of developed economies, will flow over into the
Internet and this will compound the problems for taxation administrators. If goods are bought and sold through the Internet
there will be a physical movement of commodities across national borders, which could attract tax and customs attention. So
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that the identification of the transaction becomes particularly difficult and tax authorities lose the capacity to make an
assessment of liability based on the comparison of inputs and outputs.
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Impact on Customs Procedures
Where goods and services are bought ‘on-line’ through the internet and delivered ‘off-line’ through normal mail order then
normal customs procedures should be able to identify the transaction and facilitate the levy of transaction taxes such as
customs duty or Value Added Tax (VAT) payable. The major problem with this type of transaction is their likely expansion in
the future and the need to ensure that customs resources are increased to cope with the greater volume.
§
Elimination of intermediaries
E-commerce leads to the gradual elimination of intermediaries, such as wholesalers or local retailers, who in the past have
been critical for identifying taxpayers, especially private consumers. T his elimination in the intermediate processing of
transactions, which will remove a number of convenient taxing points in the production and distribution cycle and it has the
potential to disturb the existing audit trail which is used by revenue authorities to identify and tax certain transactions. Dell
Computers provide a good example of the advantages of elimination of intermediaries. This company only sells its products
via the Internet. Dell uses the JIT inventory system (Just-In-Time inventory systems).
§
Access to Tax Havens and Electronic Banking
Tax havens and offshore banking facilities have always been available to the rich and to large corporations but the Internet
will make such things accessible to a much larger range of taxpayers. And some tax havens already provide banking secrecy
through numbered and coded bank accounts and this can be combined with on line international money transfers including a
range of payment options. Internet banking has the potential to offer ease of access, immediate transfer of money, anonymity
in some cases and low transaction costs. All that is required is for residents to gain confidence in the security and financial
credentials of the offshore banking facility for a large range of individuals and corporations to begin to use this facility. This is
a particular problem for an open economy, like that of Hong Kong, which relies on its reputation for quality financial services
and which has been shown to be remarkably innovative in the past.
§
A Cashless Society
The cashless society based on electronic money technologies such as E-cash and smart cards, which promises many benefits in
the form of speed, convenience and security of transactions. But real time E-cash transfers over the Internet may leave no audit
trail and no physical record, such as bank statements, cheques, receipts or deposit slips. This will remove or reduce the
capacity of tax authorities to monitor many transactions.
§
Tax Treaties
Tax treaties will have to address new non-physical concepts of a permanent establishment, the attribution of profits to it and
the allocation of tax jurisdiction between the treaty partners. Digitized information could be the source of income and this
income could be characterized as royalty income or income from services. A multilateral tax treaty between a group of
countries is essential to formulate ground rules and procedures for dealing with digitized information.
§
Loss of Transaction-based Taxes
E-commerce makes it possible for goods and services, previously available only in a tangible form to be supplied and
delivered in electronic form. This change will threaten the capacity of a sales tax, excise or VAT (Value Added Tax)/GST
(Goods and Service Tax) to operate. It is certain that the tax base of all transaction-based taxes, which will be undermined by
Internet trading to some extent.
4. Malaysian Cyberlaw
Malaysia has implemented a few laws and acts for the usage of Internet in the country. These laws are
compulsory due to the craziness the Internet can be. Thus, this law that consists the cyberspace is called
cyberlaw. Due to the craziness of the Internet, it is possible for people with intelligence to misuse the Internet
for their own purposes such as criminal activities in cyberspace. The existing laws do not cover such new
multimedia applications. So, given the broadness of the Internet, it is considered a must to have this cyberlaws
implemented. Cyberlaw is needed also to answer the uncertainty of legal framework in this new business era
through cyberspace in a country, which is heading towards a knowledge based economy with knowledge based
society. This cyberlaw is also one of the steps for Malaysia in implementing this new term called e-taxation or
e-commerce taxation. The objectives of this cyberlaw that was implemented is to provide a complete structure
social and commercial law which includes aspects concerning security of all types of information not forgetting
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network integrity and reliability. It is also created to develop the communication and multimedia industry in
Malaysia in order to compete with other countries. It’s also to make Malaysia a center for communication and
multimedia information and service contents.2
These cyberlaws surely benefits our country where businesses can operate within this cyberspace with
digitalized transactions, which has legal frameworks and property rights. This will automatically reduce
conflicts that happen. On the consumer side, it will protect consumers against new types on infringements
towards their consumption and privacy rights. These laws will also make them confident in using these new
multimedia based applications. Through the government side, total control of the so called cyberspace can be
achieved so that public interest are met and all types of cyber crime kept at a minimum rate.3
§
Computer Crime Act 1997
This computer crime act also known as ACT 563 was implemented by the government on 1st June 2000. This law was
implemented for the people that misuse the computers against any person or organization. This law in forced also is to
complement the old existing law. This act has effect although if done any place outside Malaysia.
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Copyright (Amendment ) Act 1997
This copyright act also known as ACT A994 was implemented and fully operational on 1st April 1999. It was to ensure that
copyrights were given for protection to cyberspace companies. This includes technological development in the information
technology world. This copyright gives the right to control the copyright of the computer programmes not including
commercial rental and not forgetting the distribution of any works or copies without authority.
§
Telemedicine Act 1997
This act also known as ACT 564 is yet to be in forced by the government in this country. The objective of this law is for the
usage of practicing medicine through the Internet what is called also telemedicine. It will also provide a technical framework
for this telemedicine. Telemedicine means the practice of medicine using multimedia tools4 such as audio, visual and data
communication. This gives so much benefit such as a better service of international medicine expertise through the Internet.
Through this, better and faster consultation and decisions can be made. There will be an infinite amount of health care
deliveries where Malaysians can enjoy the best medical care.
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Communications And Multimedia Act 1998
This act also known as ACT 588 came fully operational on 1st April 1999. The purpose of this act was to control the
converging communications and multimedia industries. It is also to create a structure for this communication and multimedia
industry in Malaysia. Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission will also be given the authority, powers and
functions regarding this act. This act consists all Network Facilities Provider (NFP), Network Service Provider (NSP),
Applications Service Provider (ASP) and Content Applications Service Provider (CASP).
§
Digital Signature Act 1997 / Digital Signature Regulations 1998
This digital signature is an encrypted version of a message digest included with a message attached to it. This digital signature
is nearly the same as an electronic message but has only a digital signature enclosed to it. This digital signature are legally the
same as normal handwritten signatures and is valid anywhere. This act makes sure that digital signature can be used for
transactions and document signing. It also gives authentication of the document and signer. This digital signature has 4 main
functions that is authentication, integrity, non -repudiation and legally binding.
5. Concluding Remarks
The overall impact on developing countries’ taxation revenue and balance of trade especially like Malaysia will
be dependent on a number of factors, such as the value of e-commerce transactions, how domestic taxation laws
handle these transactions and the effectiveness s of their collection. The expansion of trade in the virtual world
resulting in the development of the economies will flow over into the Internet and this will compound the
problems for taxation administrators. The government revenue is provided by income tax and this ever growing
might be a threat to that. If e-commerce is going to take over the traditional businesses the government has to
2
3
Overview Of Malaysian Cyberlaw ; June 2002 ; Ministry Of Energy, Communication and Multimedia
Overview Of Malaysian Cyberlaw ; June 2002 ; Ministry Of Energy, Communication and Multimedia
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pay the consequences if a uniform, systematic taxation system is not implied. E-business gives the opportunity
to these modern retailers to avoid tax as the confusion of where and how to draw the line in imposing tax on the
businesses is still in a debatable state. This gives the opportunity for e-commerce retailers to manipulate
traditional taxation to their benefit. The nature of e business also makes it difficult for the tax authority to track
down the e-business transactions. Thus, it is impossible to tax the transactions and hence it brings about to the
decreasing income tax revenues. Hence, it is highly recommended that the government should form its own tax
rules as soon as possible. Apart from this, Malaysia also should actively cooperate with other countries as well
as with international organization such as OECD in order to form multilateral agreement taxation. These actions
will open a new gateway for us to form our own e-commerce tax law that will be acceptable by the international
community.
Bibliography
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electronic commerce”. American Management Association.
James G.S. Yang and Wing W. Poon (2002). “Taxable base of internet commerce”. EBSCO Publishing.
Jane, Frecknall Hughes and Keith, Glaister. (2001) “Electronic commerce and international taxation: A square peg in a
round hole?” European Management Journal. Pages 651-658.
Janine S. Hiller, Ronnie Cohen. (2002). “Internet law & policy”. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Joh W.Abolins. (2002). “The streamlining of transaction taxes: Ready of not, here it comes”. Internet Tax Advisor.
Lindsay Percival-Straunik. (2001). “E-COMMERCE”. The Economist Books.
Mark A Lemley, Peter S. Menell, Robert P. Merges, Pamela Samuelson. (2002). “Software and internet law”. New
York: Aspen Law & Business.
Norhayati Abd. Mukti (2000). “Barriers to putting business on the Internet in Malaysia”. Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia.
Pauline Farbell, Elizabeth Bradbury, Juliana Rubovig. (2002) E-BUSINESS@WORK. Prentice Hall.
Patricia W.Wong. (2002). “International tax expects of electronic commerce transactions”. Internet Tax Advisor.
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26. Roger Leroy Miller, Gaylord A. Jentz. (2002). “Accounting, Taxation and E-Commerce-The Online legal
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About the Authors
Mohamed Nazim Bin Abdul Rahman and Kalaithasan Kuppusamy are attached with Monash University
Malaysia. They are teaching accounting and finance units. They have been involved in academic for the last 10
to 15 years. Both have extensive corporate experience prior to joining the university. Both of them are also
involve in e-taxation research area.
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E-government to Identify Corruption Abuses
G. S. Malik and Gopal Meena1
Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, Government of India,
Delhi, India
Abstract
Corruption is a most challenging epidemic that has spread in all parts of the world and every aspect of human
activity. More gruesome is the fact that society has accepted it as an inescapable part of day-to-day life. New
emerging technological revolution in the field of Information Technology has rendered great potential to
minimize this malady through E-governance. Access to information to the citizens is the hallmark of good
governance. Applications of E-governance such as Right to information, Freedom of information, and Citizen’s
Charter will equip the citizens not only with the government schemes, procedures and eligibility for the same,
but will also empower them to question any irregularity and misuse of power or cases of corruption. It is speedy
and leads to the government of masses by considering the citizens as “Active” participants. E-Governance can
enable the Governments to become more transparent, accountable and citizen-friendly.
Keywords: Transparency, Accountability, Right to Information, Citizen’s Charter, People’s Empowerment and
Participation in exposing corruption abuses
1. Introduction
Corruption is a global phenomenon, which is prevalent in all societies, countries and at all times the only
difference being the intensity of corruption. It is a multi-headed Hydra with no Hercules in sight to slay it.
Corruption is so obvious and yet so mysterious. Corruption has been defined as “The use of public power for
private profit in a way that constitutes breach of law and dishonest and illegal behavior in position of authority
and power”
“Any action or failure to take action in the performance of duty by a government for some advantage is
corruption” - Santnam Committee (On Administrative Corruption in India, 1964)
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Misuse of official position or authority
Deviation from rules, law and norms
Non-action when action is required
Personal gains for selfish motives
Monetary or non -monetary forms and
Harm to public good
It is equally well known that the instruments or institutions meant to fight corruption like investigation,
prosecution, and the judiciary are getting blunt or rusted. First the corruption corrupts these institutions and then
follows institutionalization of corruption. In short, it can be said that the criminal justice system is not
delivering and there is serious erosion of people’s faith in its efficacy. It is commonly accepted that corruption
is dysfunction to the system of governance and to society as a whole. It promotes illegality, unethicalism,
subjectivity, inequality, injustice, waste, inefficiency, and inconsistency in administrative conduct and behavior.
In addition, it erodes the faith of the general public in the legitimacy of the politico-administrative system and
eventually saps the idealism of those in public service and thus destroys the moral fabric of society. It is the
main reason for social unrest in any society. In many countries the Governments have toppled down on the
charges of corruption. In short, corruption-ridden governance is termed as “Bad Governance”.
1
Corresponding author (Phone: 91-11-23794896, Fax: 91-11-23794927, Email: [email protected])
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2. Governance vis-à-vis Good Governance
"Governance” is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not
implemented). Governance can be used in several contexts such as corporate governance, international
governance, national governance, and local governance. Governance being defined as above, an analysis of
governance focuses on the formal and informal actors involved in decision-making and implementing the
decisions thus made, and also the formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and
implement the decisions. Governance can be “Good” or “bad”. “Bad Governance” is bureaucratic, self-serving
and self-aggrandizing, trapped in archaic rules, insensitive and unresponsive to the needs of the citizens, where
rep-tape, inordinate delays and rampant corruption flourish. Where the citizens are assumed “Passive
Recipients” of the services. Good governance’s major characteristics are that it is participatory, consensus
oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive, and follows the
rule of law. Governance without government, which is citizen-friendly, citizen caring and corruption free, is
good governance. It assures that views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most
vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. Citizens are “Active” in decision making. It is also
responsive to the present and future needs of the society. E-governance plays a vital role in ensuring all these
characteristics of Good Governance, especially transparent and Corruption-free Governance.
Charles Darwinonce said ‘It is not the strongest species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the ones most
adaptable to change’. Charles Darwin’s theory is still valid. Today we are facing new kinds of socio-political
problems and to tackle these problems, we need change in government’s functioning to keep pace with the
emerging technological revolution, adopt best practices to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the
government. We must strive to harness the potentials rendered by Information Technology and E-governance.
2.1 Causes of Corruption (Ecology of Corruption)
Let us first analyse the causes or the reasons of corruption. Corruption has umpteen sources but it is the social
milieu, which motivates the corrupt officer to embark on most “Profitable Venture” where risks are minimum.
At the same time such environment becomes hostile for the honest officers to sustain. Present day society
respects those who have got money and relations with those who are in the corridor of power. It is the social
acceptance, which has become the motivation. The phenomena of corruption has become “Global” and crossed
the national boundaries where the corrupt are given ample opportunities to park their ill-gotten money in safe
custody with the identity of customers concealed. The classic example is the Swiss Bank where the money is
deposited from all over the world. Some of the prominent factors contributing to large-scale corruption are as
follows: Lethargic judiciary, archaic rules, corrupt police and public prosecutors ensure that corrupt people stay
out of law’s reach. Large number of backlog cases are pending in various courts including the High Courts and
the Supreme Court. Further, our legal system assumes all as innocent till proved guilty. Using this bulwark most
of the culprits go scot-free. "When an overloaded and under-resourced justice system is confronted by
international organised crime, the latter is guaranteed impunity." The state’s growing role in economic sphere
to become welfare state, which in turn gave birth to License-Permit-quota-raj empowering bureaucracy with
vast discretionary powers whereby the state has become controller instead of facilitator, a breeding ground for
corruption.
Lack of transparency ni political parties’ funding, election which entails heavy investment vis -à-vis poor
legitimate returns and insecurity of getting elected again prompts politicians to harvest for the investment made
during election campaign. Acute shortage of resources in comparison to demand is of essence, especially in our
country where population is multiplying exponentially vis -à-vis resources. Situation is compounded more when
citizens become impatient to get resources or services by any means. In an era of Globlisation and
Liberalization and with growing consumerism, charm of modern gizmos which are indicators of lavish lifestyle, have become status symbols in our society., Real salaries of government servants are decreasing in
comparison to their counterparts in private sector due to galloping inflation rate in economy. To meet the
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requirement of being modern and maintain a standard, public servants resort to corruption. In countries like ours
where majority of the citizens are illiterate and unaware about their entitlements and rights creates the right
atmosphere for public officials where no body can question their misdeeds. Lack of transparency and
accountability in public dealings, are the major reasons of rampant corruption. A sense of “Tribalism” is
prevalent amo ng the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, which enables them to protect and defend each other
from effective investigation.
There is colossal erosion of moral values from public life. Leaders of stature like Mahatma Gandhi, Lal
Bahadhur Shastri, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln are a few to name who were the apostles of
honesty and integrity. Most of the present political leaders do not come in public life to serve the public but to
enhance their prestige and hoard money for their future generations. Unavailability of relevant information
about the Government procedures and schemes to a common man breeds corruption. There is a wide range of
discretionary power to the public servants. Official Secret Act is an additional bulwark for corrupt officials.
Lord Action aptly said, “Power corrupts and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely”. “Speed Money”
emanates from the archaic and incomprehensible rules and procedures. It is the most prevalent form of
corruption in almost all government departments, where the officials do nothing wrong, no favor or prejudice in
the exercise of their duties but simply do the work faster for those who can pay bribe. In the parlance of
corruption it is called “Speed Money”. Citizens end up by paying bribe because they don’t want to get
entrapped into archaic rules and procedures and hang around the government offices indefinitely. Movement of
files from one ministry/office to other Ministry/office causes inordinate delays. Sometimes it takes weeks to
move from one to an adjacent table. The situation becomes grave when there is no mechanism to trace the file,
whereabouts of it causes myriad hassles to the citizens. They are eventually forced to pay bribe to get the work
done without too many problems. Last but not the least is the uneducated and unaware citizens who are not
aware about their rights and simply accept what they are offered. This lack of alertness among the citizenry
leaves corrupt officers unchecked. All these factors make corruption an “Attractive Venture” where returns are
high vis -à-vis risk.
2.2 Can E-governance eradicate the Epidemic of Corruption?
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•
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“The Executive must not become prisoner of procedures”
-Honorable Prime Minister Sh. Atal Behari Vajpayee
E-Governance is of major significance because it uses computers in processing information in which speed is an inherent
component. A single computer can process the information within seconds, which cannot be paralled by hundreds of
employees for years together. It enables us to simplify the rules. Example: Bhoomi Project of Karnataka Government,
which computerized the two, Crore land record containing about 100 Crore data fields. It addresses the concerns of 70
lakh farmers’ families or 3.5 crore rural population. Nine thousand village accountants were maintaining these records
manually in earlier system. In the new system, 177 Bhoomi kiosks distribute computerized land records, 750 Village
Accountants maintain its backend. Rs. Eight crore user charges have already been collected as against total investment of
18 crore in the first two years itself. This project has won laurels at the international level, as it is the winner of silver in
Commonwealth Innovation Award 2002.
Information Technology revolution will enhance the working of judiciary as the status of the cases pending in High
courts and Supreme Court can be checked online, also the dates for next hearing and many more.
E-Governance plays a vital role in coordinating the work of inter-ministerial or inter-departmental, i.e., a long cherished
dream of “Single Window Clearance” delivery of services to the citizens of various departments.
The battle against illicit financial transactions must be fought with sound strategy, one that empowers the justice
system as an indispensable weapon. Put all the relevant information about the property of senior politicians on
the official website so that the vigilant citizens are empowered to question if it is not declared. Undeclared
assets could be seized. Similarly, if all relevant information about the ongoing projects is accessible such as the
amount sanctioned, amount spent, Name of Engineer and contractor, etc. the citizens can report if they find
some discrepancy. Similarly Political parties’ illegal funding can be made more transparent, which has taken
epidemic proportions all over the world. It should be mandatory for the political parties to disclose its sources
and expenditure. The nexus between political parties, business houses and bureaucrats can then be broken.
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Political Parties
Business Houses
Bureaucrats
Figure-1 Vicious Corrupt Nexus
“Right to Information, Citizen’s Charters and Community Auditing are essence of a corruption free society”
Example: Mazdoor Kissan Shakti Sangthan (MKSS) an NGO in Rajasthan, headed by Ms. Aruna
Roy, Magsayasay Award winner. It does public hearing of the cases of irregularity and corruption in
far-flung villages in the presence of the local people and government officials; it gives the “ voice” to
the people who are critical in exposing corruption at grassroots level. Corruption hits the poor hardest,
the rich least; Let the downtrodden people know how corrupt officials are embezzling the funds meant
for them.
•
•
•
Automates processes to take away discretion from individual officials.
Makes decisions traceable- tracks actions
E-governance provides Fast Processing, File tacking, online file monitoring by superior officer, online status of the
files/complaints.
Example: Passport office: Citizens can see the status of their application, reason for pending and probable
delivery of Passport. Superior officials keep on watching the progress and responsibility can be fixed as he/she
can ask why a particular application was not processed within the stipulated timeframe.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduce a multipurpose Unique Identification Number for all citizens, which should be made mandatory in all financial
transactions, which can easily trace the fraud, and illegal transactions. Introduction of Permanent Account Number by
Income Tax Department in India is a positive step in this direction in harnessing the benefits of E-Governance in
minimizing the corruption.
It allows accessibility of senior officers to masses – E-Governance can eliminate the numerous firewalls between the
responsible officer and the common citizens namely, Security officers, Peon and Clerks..
With the help of E-governance the middleman between the citizens and senior officer can be eliminated. A common man
may have direct access to the responsible officers without any hindrance and without falling prey in the hands of touts
E-governance is important significance in tracin g the global corruption. It strengthens the coordination mechanism at
international level by timely exchange of data at International level. Timely freezing of account of Mr. Quatrochi, an
Italian businessman, the main accused in Bofors Scam in India, by the British authorities is a live example of Egovernance’s role in curbing corruption abuses.
E-Governance renders opportunity to Whistle blowers
In an organization many employees know about the corrupt practices and want to complain but do not do so due to the
fear of wrath from senior officers. For the fear of disclosing their identity, they do not report it to the vigilance
department. E-governance renders golden opportunity to such whistle-blowers to raise alarms through Email, E-forms,
and E-complaint s.
Middleman, agent, Peon
Citizens
E-Governance
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Figure-2 Elimination of Middle man
•
•
•
Potent Deterrence for Corrupt officials
IT has solution for it, one such monumental example is the Central Vigilance Commission’s famous case when it
published on its website the names of 34 IAS officers against whom charges of corruption were proved. The information
percolated to millions on the net and led to the social outcaste of those corrupt officers.
One of the major reasons for widespread corruption is that the society has embraced it, accepted it as an inescapable part
of daily-life. It is a beginning, which will have far-reaching impact on “Isolating” the corrupt officials.
Police, Prosecutor,
Judiciary-Prompt
Delivery of
Judgment
Simplified
procedures,
Citizens-Charter,
Right to
International
Cooperation –
Interpol, World
Bank, IMF
Media –News Paper,
Radio, TV, Portals
Ex – Tehlka
exposition
Vigilant CitizensSocial Policing,
Decentralisation
Auditing: CAG,
PAC etc. by
creating fear of
exposure
Fight against
Corruption
NGOsTransparency
International
Institutional Watchdogs
-Ombudsman, CVC,
CBI, Lokpal, PAC
Figure-3 Corruption-free Ecology in which corruption must be seen as “High Risk, No Return” venture
Similarly the steps taken by Election Commission to reform the electoral system forcing candidates to divulge
information about their criminals antecedents, to break the nexus between criminals and politicians which is
very closely related with corruption and criminalisation of politics. The need of the hour is to change the notion
of corruption from “No Risk, High Return” to “ High Risk, No Return” in the society. The right kind of
environment should be created where the International and National institutes work in close synergy to nab the
corrupt. Loans from International Monetary Fund and the World Bank should be made available to the countries
that follow the principles of transparency and accountability. Media and vigilant citizens empowered with the
precise and relevant information can play the vital role of community auditing of the government schemes.
Simplification of procedures, speedy justice and strong institutional watchdog supported by modern technology
such as E-governance will create the Ecology where Corruption will become a highly risky venture.
3. Concluding Remarks
Pragmatic evaluation of the “Role of E-governance in Elimination of Corruption from Public life” convinces us
that it has a limited role to play in eradicating corruption abuses. E-governance itself is laden with many
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problems such as security threats, vulnerability to malicious viruses and white-collar crimes. Despite these
limitations E- governance has a vast potential least of minimizing corruption from public life though not
eliminating it completely. It is a beginning in positive direction. Civil Society has to fight this global epidemic
in close synergy with world Governments and global watchdogs. Succinctly it can be said that E-Governance is
not the panacea to fight against corruption but it is a positive step toward making a serious attempt to curb it. No
amount of technological or legal or administrative action could be successful in curbing corruption in an
effective manner unless a social climate evolves where corrupt persons however successful they may be, suffer
social opprobrium. In most of the developing countries including India it is the success and not the character
that is looked at with awe and approval. The corrupt if successful become role models for people aspiring to be
rich and famous through short cuts. We would like to end with this statement “A small comfort of not having to
stand in the queue may entice us to bribe the clerk today but in the long run our country will continue to stand in
queue of poor countries that too are in the last position…”. It is a wakeup call for us. We must tame this menace
before it takes epidemic proportions. It is better to light the candle than curse the darkness. We can’t expect
“Mr. Clean” to come and clean the society for us. Let us solemnly resolve to eradicate this malady beginning
with self and taking the following oath…
We the Public Servants of India do hereby solemnly pledge that we shall continuously strive to use the emerging
technologies such as E-Governance to bring about integrity and transparency in all spheres of our activities. We also
pledge that we shall work unstintingly for eradication of corruption in all spheres of life. We shall remain VIGILANT
and work towards the growth and reputation of our respective organization through our collective efforts; we shall bring
pride to our organizations in particular and Government as a whole and provide value-based service to our countrymen.
We shall do our duty conscientiously and act without fear or favour.
Our office is thus commited to maintain the highest levels of ethics in its working towards achieving the above
objective.
About Authors
G.S. Malik is Director of Directorate of Computer Science, DRDO, Ministry of Defence, and Government of
India.
Gopal Meena is presently working as scientist for last two years in Directorate of Computer Science,Defence,
Research and Development Organisation, Ministry of Defence in Government of India. He has done his
Master’s Degree in Computer Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 2001. Ph: 01123794896 Fax No: 23794927; Email: [email protected]
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Digital Divide and Digital Unity in E-governance: Indian Perspective
Ram Lal1 ,
Computer Services Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauzkhas, New Delhi-110016, India
Abid Haleem, & A Rahman Khan
Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025, India.
Abstract
Information and Communication Technologies are playing a key role in providing effective information related
services to citizens. The paradigm of E-Governance has emerged and is being globally adopted. Government’s
portals and website are catering to wide variety of citizen centric services. However, because of inherent
problems like illiteracy, poor infrastructure, a divide is visible. Developing countries with socio-economic
problems seems to have more of this divide, which is also called as digital divide. In India, there is an urgent
requirement to bridge this gap. In this paper some basic methodologies for bringing down digital divide are
being explored. Different ongoing strategies that are being adopted to bring down this gap have been discussed.
A brief survey of tele-density shows that bigger is the tele-density gap, the more is the digital divide. Global
initiatives in bringing down this digital divide have been taken up in brief. In India, government with active
private participation are working towards devising methodologies in bringing down this gap.
Keywords: Internet, Digital Divide, E-Governance, Indian perspective Information and Communication
Technology
1. Introduction
In information age access, means access to the useful information and services that improve the quality of life.
Digital divide does not emerge out of technology, but is due to inequitable distribution of technology. The
digital divide is posing a threat to E-Government and the society, consequently almost all the information
available over Internet is not being fully utilised. The voices of the common citizens who are not able to access
the information of government Policies and other social welfare Schemes
are neglected. The gap is
increasingly growing and most often poor citizens are cut off from mainstream of the development. The digital
divide is a reflection of the lack of basic literacy, poverty, health and other social issues, computers are useful
but nothing will enable the society to bridge the digital gap until basic literacy, poverty and health care issues
are addressed [Spanning the digital divide, www.brdige.org]. People lack many things: jobs, shelter, and food,
health care and drinkable water. Today, being cut off from basic telecommunication services may indeed reduce
the chances of finding remedies to them. (Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, Geneva, 1999).
This is probably the last generation that would stand in line. The next generation would be on-line. [Douglas
Holmes, 2001]. Digital divide refers the gap between those who can effectively use new Information and
communication tools, such as the Internet, and those who cannot. [Yunas Muhammad A]. Access to information
key to increasing economic choices, and spurring economic development. Role of e-Governance is about
increasing access to information (and information-based services).But “e-Government” is not enough .There is
need to solve the “reach” issue, How to reach the unreached?. Reach is about bridging the digital divide.
(Boston Consulting Group, 2002). “In the Indian context, bridging the digital divide essentially means bridging
teledensity divide between rural and urban areas. [Prasad, 2002]. The digital divide is the gap between people
who have access to the Internet and those who do not. Those without access cannot learn essential computer
skills, cannot access information that can provide economic opportunities, and cannot share the benefits of egovernment (http://www.cdt.org/egov/handbook/digitaldivide.shtml ).
1
Corresponding author (Email: [email protected])
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It is necessary to understand that e-governance is for all citizens of the country, but it could not reach to the
poor and common man. Therefore transparency and accountability remained with elite groups and educated
citizens and common man was deprived of Information Technology potential. This creates unrest among the
citizens; for some of the major reasons listed below. Even though citizens have access to Information
Technology, even then they do not know how to use this technology and how to access the information. If they
know how to use the technology, they are not provided with the relevant information.
Computers and connections are not just sufficient, if the technology is not used effectively as it is affordable to
use and also citizens do not understand the technology to use for their betterment. Then access become less
relevant to citizen, Access to technology must be understood very well that technology is integrated into
citizens’ needs and their lives. Hence, Access is factorized as below.
•
•
•
Physical access-Citizens will only use technology if it is available within reasonable distance from their home. A
computer lacks adequate electricity supply, Internet connection and application software will not be effective if citizens
do not see the relevance of technology to their lives
Capacity -Citizens must be able to effectively use the technology
Affordability -The cost of hardware, software, and Internet connection should not be so expensive that citizens and
organization could not use the technology. Language and literacy issues are the main obstacles for citizens, as all services
computer languages are in English, which stops common man to use ICTs (Information and Communication
Technologies).
The digital divide is also caused from the inherent problem of not providing appropriate network access and
electricity in remote areas. The digital divide comes from slow acceptance of new technologies. For Internet
many regions that have not adopted and fostered it in early stage are facing the digital divide. Information and
communication has been seen as magic, which can enable government to send its policy and information to
reach common citizens, but mostly common citizens do not know how to effectively use ICT or can how it is
useful for them. ICT is a tool in itself, not the ultimate goal. There is wrong concept that poverty has been
extended
by the lack of ICT access. This massive divide exists due to the non-governance and poor
Knowledge Information Societies and low computers density, teledensity and low Internet density in India. All
computers and Internet projects have been started in metropolitan cities excluding the illiterate people, mostly
Indian villages are neglected, however till today there is no regular provision for electricity to run the Internet
and Information Center from which the poor man could get information in time. To take advantage of ICT and
to elimination citizen’s grievances, there is an urgent need to integrate social vision of ICT to improve the
quality of life of common citizens along with private sectors and local champions/ organization. The ICTs seem
to have potential to change the life of common citizen and may ensure equitable access, meaningful use and
social appropriation of resources .
2. Strategies for Bridging The Digital Divide
The digital divide does not come out from the technology, but due to inequitable distribution of technology and
resources. By leveraging the digital /Information technology, India could replace the digital divide to digital
unite. There is an urgent need to increase the teledensity in the country to bridge the digital divide. Personal
computers should be available at much reduced costs. Electrifying and other alternatives option to provide
electricity to isolated area is important for pursuing the goal of bridging the digital divide. There are other
hurdles, which are common in the rural development illiteracy, language as barrier and telecom infrastructure.
Some strategies as described below may play a higher role in bridging digital divide.
2.1. Equitable Access
This makes citizen’s strength to access the Internet resources at a reasonable price with some basic training.
Access to ICTs alone cannot generate the knowledge or redress the social inequalities. This requires meaningful
use of ICTs and social support. To effectively use the ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies)
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resource and integrate with other appropriate forms of communication will be meaningful use. This includes the
access to content, which may be in local languages. The Gyandoot (http://gyandoot.nic.in) project, Dhar, India,
is giving rural villagers in India affordable access to various government services and market information.
2.2 Social Appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform the daily life by providing
the social services such as better medical information, improving the standard of education and maintaining the
land records and management of aged citizens.
2.3 Local Languages, Local Content, Local Consultation and Customization
In Indian context, there are huge disparities in societies with regard to illiteracy, poverty, unemployment along
with other social parameters All the major Cities are being provided with Internet facility to access the
government information and services. But at all the sites, language software(s) and local cultural contents are
in English, thus there is a requirement that local language accessible software are developed that caters to the
needs of local citizens. New devices should be made available for illiterate citizens so that they effectively
access the e-mail and other services. Local consultation is equally important as Internet and other computer
devices such as monitors, mouses and keyboards are strange, unfamiliar for citizens. The customization of
generic software to local conditions and local needs is equally important
as citizens need all these
customization will help the government to know the citizens’ needs and hence they may feel easiness through
one stop-(shop). Without customization and local language, government may fail to delivery the information
and services to common citizens. Government has to ensure that disadvantaged groups and communities are
provided with online content and services that are potentially useable. E-SEVA project in Andhra Pradesh
providing the information in regional language also.
2.4 E-Community
It is a core element of e-governance that makes linkage between government and citizens. Its participation in
decision-making process brings governance openness, transparency and accountability to the common citizens.
For making any e-governance project successful, the local citizens’ active participation along with other
stakeholder is must in all phases of project implementation. We need to make sure that the initiatives are
sustainable at a local level and that local communities have a sense of ownership. Initiatives can empower the
citizen members if they are supported by a local champion or an organization that knows the community and
spreads the flavour of the project and coordinates with other members. Bottom-up approaches along with local
direction are vital in adopting ICT to improve the working life of common citizens. Citizens are the most
important element which may tell the community or to the government as to what arrangements government
should make that may make the life of poor citizen better. E-community based project in India is Gyandoot
project, Madhya Pradesh http://gyandoot.nic.in This is intended to bridge the gap between citizens and
government.
2.5 E-Literacy
One of the key factors in promoting the benefits of ICTs is to convince the socially excluded groups to
understand and to propagate potentials of ICT among the under-privileged citizens. To transform the social and
working lives of socially excluded users, the benefits of Information and communication Technology should be
propagated among the social excluded groups at the national level. The comprehensive programs should be
undertaken to raise awareness about the access to computes, software and Internet for unprivileged citizens. It
is essential that Government ensure that a critical mass of excluded individuals and groups are aware of the
opportunities that ICTs can provide. The socially excluded groups remain passive as, they lack encouragement
or motivation or they have technophobe – fear of learning new technology. Citizens’ attitude is the key issue.
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The purpose of this awareness campaign is to enhance citizens to understand the benefits bringing by ICT to
their life to overcome the psychological barriers that they usually perceive to the new technology. It has been
well accepted that world has been divided into “well informed” and “poor informed” societies. E-literacy, the
main factor leading to digital divide in digital era is that many citizens living in the remote areas lack the ICTs
skill and thus they are unable to use ICTs. Even they do not know how to use the technology or do not know the
potential uses of the technology. Indian government needs to take special steps to involve citizens/groups that
are not aware of IT. E-government has the potential to literate the citizens in their languages so that they can
understand the technology and use it for their benefits and also provided interfaces that are easy to use.
Government may ensure that these excluded group’s needs to be involved in e-literacy programs. Hence,
Government should initiate programs, which will help to create opportunities by educating those who have not
used, do not have access to, or feel uncomfortable with technology. Infrastructure is only one part of the digital
divide. Multi-level human capacity building is no less important to extract the full potential value of ICT for
development and to manage information
2.6 Public Private Partnership
The implementation of IT projects involves the funds required for maintenance of the systems on a sustained
basis. Government alone cannot fulfil all the needs of the common citizens as this process also needs funds are
to streamline the government processes. Therefore Public Private Partnership (PPP) with government is must
for smooth functioning of e-governance (Figure 1). Investments in IT have to be made very strategically by the
governments. Some of the private sectors and corporations have shown their keenness in providing high quality
services. For this convenience, the citizens can be asked to pay a nominal fee.
Public
E-Governance
Government
Private Sectors
Figure 1: Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model
PPP (Public Private Partnership) Model provides a mean for leveraging resources from the private sector for
services, which is a government responsibility, this model may help the e-government to provide e-services to
citizens and also the interaction of citizens with government will take momentum by taking the shape of egovernance. This model will help the government itself, as well as the citizens and the private partners.
Government may get a better image, an efficient management and protection against technology obsolescence
and effective implementation of government projects. The citizens will have easy access to government services
and choice of access methods and devices. Also Private Partners will feel free fro m high risk and get the sources
of revenues generation. The investments made in IT enablement of governance presumed to pay itself back in
the form of increased efficiencies and huge savings in record keeping system. Private sector participation in IT
projects with Build-Operate-Transfer or forms thereof can ensure that investments by government are kept at
minimal. Revenue collections may also witness greater transparency. The ICTs can also be used for arranging
the citizen’s needs. A fresh integrative thinking, attitudes and involvement of Public, Government and Private
sectors and other stakeholders are required to work together for sustainable development. E-Seva project is
implemented in Andhra Pradesh based on PPP BOOT Model. There are 17 Service centres with 200 counters in
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Hyderabad. It is providing e-services like water, telephone payments Tax payment, Passport application Birth/
death registration etc.
In India, there is massive gap between rural tele-density and urban tele-density; therefore there is a need to
bridge the tele-density gap. Tele-density is most basic element towards bridging digital gap. The tel-density in
India may be demonstrated in Table 1 and Figure 2.
Table 1 Tele-Density of Indian States
State
Punjab
Maharashtra
Kerala
Tamil Nadu
Gujrat
Haryana
Karnataka
Rajasthan
Andhra Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
West Bengal
Uttar Pradesh
Orissa
Bihar
1997
3.34
3.38
2.67
2.14
2.44
2
1.98
1.32
1.35
1.06
.096
0.68
0.59
0.36
1998
4.1
3.92
3.22
2.57
2.79
2.36
2.34
1.65
1.59
1.27
1.09
.83
0.69
0.43
1999
5.03
4.55
3.88
3.09
3.19
2.8
2.76
2.06
1.87
1.52
1.23
1.02
0.82
0.5
2000
6.18
5.28
4.68
3.72
3.64
3.31
3.26
2.57
2.2
1.82
1.39
1.25
0.96
0.59
2001
7.6
6.2
5.7
4.5
4.2
3.9
3.9
3.2
2.6
2.2
1.6
1.6
1.1
0.7
2002
7.7
6.2
5.7
4.5
4.3
4.0
4.0
3.5
2.8
2.4
1.7
1.6
1.2
0.8
Figure 2 Tele-density- Rural, Urban and Total
(Source: Report 2002-2003 Govt. of India, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Department of Tele
Communications, New Delhi)
Domestic telecom levels in India are rising faster than ever before. Therefore, there is urgent need towards to
increase the rural tele-density at high level so that less privileged persons may use the benefits of technology.
The government should provide Internet connections at the lowest level in all Indian villages and Cities for
under-privileged citizens. Table 2 shows initiatives taken by some of the countries to bridge the digital divide.
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Table 2
Attributes
Private
Partnership
e -Community
/Citizens
Partici pation
e -Literacy
USA
Click Start -A
program partnership
with private sector to
place Internet PC,
computer training
for
Households
Neighborhood
Networka community based
initiatives of US
department of
Housing and Urban
-Development
(HUD) are dedicated
to encourage the
private to open the
Centres to offer
computer
Access, staff
assistance and a
range of training
resource to housing
residents
Countries dedicated to Bridge the digital divide
UK
Singapore
UK has been launching a
PC Reuse Scheme and
number of key programs
the Easy PC Plan - a
which involved the
Public-private
government, business and
partnership campaign
non-profit sectors to
range from the donation
harness the ICT to help
of hardware and
create a better and more
software, to the
inclusive society.
provision of Internet
access and support
services. Tax incentives
will be sought for
vendors and e-services
providers
Computer Gym- a mobile
“Dot.com ” the people
computer classroom,
sector-It is movement
workshop and the library
which involves
using up-to-date Internet
community groups and
enabled, multimedia
local government,
computers and latest
industry and unions,
software courseware
Institutions, civic
sourced from all over the
organisation to enable
world.
every citizen to reap the
benefits of an enhanced
e-lifestyle. This national
wide effort is aimed to
improve access for all,
change mindsets,
promote online culture.
-BBC Web wise and
Computer Don’t Bite - a
basic introduction to
computer and Web wise is
follow-on campaign
dedicated on improving the
awareness of the Internet.
-Get Online: Get into the
Internet- a plan to offer
low cost computers to lowincome families. In UK,
many programs of local
non-profit agencies are
available to bring the
benefits of ICT to the
undeserved community.
“E-ambassadors”- a
special group of 2500
citizens working as
counsellors to motivate
the non-ICT users
among them to embrace
an e-lifestyle.
Japan
Support private R &D for
the Telecommunications
access council examined
concrete plans to create
telecommunications
equipment that meets
everyone’s needs.
Construct telework centres
and provide tax reductions
for telework in order to
facilitate the community
participation of aged,
disabled and homemakers
-Establish “IT Literacy
Centres” and equip city
Halls, post offices, and
other regional public
facilities with Internet
access.
-Develop voice
recognition, automated
translation and other
technologies to allow nonEnglish speaking peoples
to use the Internet
3. Global Initiatives for Addressing Digital Divide
While Information Technology is being used in government offices around the globe, the global digital divide is
also being felt all over the world. The disparities among the societies of developing and developed countries are
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growing and alarming for their growth. Some of the countries have started the initiatives to address the digital
divide. [Sin Chung Kai, 2001]
4. Indian Scenario and Initiatives Towards Bridging The Digital Divide
India is working with its collaborative (efforts to) bridge the digital divide so that common citizens and
disadvantaged groups of the society may get efficient and effective information based services. However every
institution in society needs to get involved. Some of the initiatives taken by India and its States for complete
integration are worth mentioning in table-3.
Table 3 Initiatives taken by Indian States
Projects name
Gyandoot Madhya Pradesh
Bhoomi Project, Karnataka
SMS service (The Kolkata
experience)
e -Shringla
e -Agriculture (M.P)
e -SEVA, AndhraPradesh
Panchmahals
Friends
Descriptions
Gyandoot is a unique form of Government to citizen’s activity being performed in Central
India, where local elected governing council is enable tribal citizens affordable access to
various government and market related needs through economically viable state–of-the–art
Information Technology. Its is a community based, highly cost -effective and financially selfreliant approach to bringing the benefits of Information Technology to the doorsteps of tribal
villages.
Karnataka’s e-governance initiative through which it has started computerizing the documents
like kharsa. This project has been a boon for the farmers of the state, as the benefits of IT
reach the most disadvantages groups and farmers. Farmers in rural Karnataka go to the kiosks
in the taluka to get a printout of their land record. The Karnataka government has earned a
handsome amount and has improved its transparency, and efficiency.
The Traffic Police at Kolkata have introduced a novel SMS service to facilitate better
interaction between citizens. If anybody wants to report anything to Police, all they need is to
pass the message through SMS, and then police will take care of the matter. So far, this
solution has helped a lot in bridging the divide between the police and the public
The community information kiosks being set up in all the panchayats in Kerala. The kiosks are
designed to provide information of various schemes, downloading of applications, farmer
counseling. This project is launched with the involvement of panchayats and local bodies.
Under this project, All mandis and inter-state check post would be connected to regional
offices and mandi board Headquarter through computers. This project would benefit both
farmers and traders in Madhya Pradesh
The Andhra government has started online portal which is in English and also in Telegu
language. This government portal is designed to the requirements of citizens and providing
information and citizen’s services so it has redefined the citizen’s service and also it has
brought transparency in service delivery. Therefore, citizens do not need to move from one
office to another.
Villagers of Panchmahals, Gujarat visit only STD/ISD kiosks to obtain their ration cards or
sanction for old age pension. This project is providing all relevant information and services to
villagers.
It is the acronym for Fast, reliable, Instant, Efficient, Network for Disbursement of services
This Information technology project is taken by Government of Kerala to take the benefits to
common man. It is single window scheme through which citizens are given information and
services at one stop shop.
Very recently now even Jammu and Kashmir government has also started the provisions of -e-governance in its
administration in the states affairs. The Indian and states governments need to set up kiosks at block levels and
Cities, so that common people may get advantages from the potentials of Information Communication and
Technology. The kiosks should be need based, citizen centric and friendly and also in local language.
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5. Concluding Remarks
To sum up to bridge the digital divide is to reach the un-reached, as the access of common man to computer is
out of reach due to costs, lack of infrastructure and non-awareness of IT and skill (among the people).
Telephone links are expensive and so cost of personal computers and Internet. The development of low cost
PCs is critical. The Internet technology is worthless if the common citizens are not equipped with its awareness
and willingness to use IT effectively. Computer illiteracy and jobs opportunities programs need to be addressed
and carried out at the grass root level. Thus, by leveraging the Information technology, India could replace
‘digital divide’ to ‘digital unite’. Discarded computers from the various offices may be collected, tested and
installed in the unprivileged area so that people may use computer and may be get advantages from the
government information and services. Addressing the digital divide requires the integration of four main
components viz telecommunications links, access to computers and application software in local language,
relevant content, and training. None of these is likely to come together without a massive injection of resources
and imagination. Infrastructure and multi-level human capacity building is also important to extract the full
potential value of ICT for development and to manage information, which will certainly help to bridge the
digital divide. Due to poverty, the socially excluded citizens are impeded from having access, motivation for
using ICT, so local citizens should be involved in the process of local e-programs. Suitable software with
relevant content and local languages need to be prepared. Partnership of Private sectors with government should
be encouraged to provide citizens centric services along with the tools of citizen’s friendly technologies. The
need of the hour is the integration of E-government, Private partners and citizens, along with other stakeholders
as well as the will power and initiatives of the States and National Governments, which are really directed to
implement policies that will help in addressing the digital divide of society.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Annan Kofi , UN Secretary General, Geneva “Digital Divide, 1999”, http:/ / www.akshaya.net/ digital.htm
Avina Lobo, “Taking IT to the villages”, 2001, http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/features stories/2033.html
“Digital Opportunities for All”, The Challenge Report of the Digital Opportunity, 2001,
lacnet.unicttaskforce.org/Docs/Dot%20Force/ Digital% 20Opportunities%20for%20All.pdf
Douglas Holmes, Nov, (2001),“The Hindu Business Line”, www.blonnet.com /2002/ 11/06/04hdline.htm
“Digital Divide ”, http://www.cdt.org/egov/handbook/digitaldivide.shtml
“E-Government for the new Millennium”, www.ap-it.com/ principlesegovernment. pdf
J Satyanarayana, “India’s concepts & strategies”, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, 2003, www.ap-it.com/
egovindicecit2003.pdf
Mahajan Pramod, ICT Minister, 26th Sept 2002, www.cdacindia.com /html/press/archives/jtsp02 /prs_rl132.asp - 33k
The Second Roundtable on IT in Governance, New Delhi March 12, 2002, www.irastimes.org/ roundtableegov.htm
Prasad R R N , “digital divide”, www.atimes.com/05/10/2002
“Sustainability Through Digital Opportunities-Impact of E-Governance”, 2002, Boston Consulting Group,
www.giic.org/events/indiaconference/Abraham.ppt
“Report on Convergence and E- Governance”, Government of India, Planning Commission, November
– 2001, www.gipi.org.in/egov/rpt_wrkng_%20grp.pdf
“Spanning the digital divide”, www.brdige.org
Sin Chung Kai, “Bridging the Digital Divide–A Vision for a Digital Inclusive Society”, 2001,
http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr00-01/english/panels/itb/papers/1233e01.pdf
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Issues in Bridging the Digital Divide in India
R K Bagga1
Administrative Staff College of India, Bella Vista, Hyderabad – 500 082
Abstract
E-governance initiatives in recent years are being considered as a major step to providing better quality of life
to Indian citizens. If one looks at the effect of these efforts, it is seen as a urban phenomenon, even in the better
of the e-ready States like Karnataka, Andhra or Maharashtra. It has not touched the masses to make major
difference. This is primarily attributed to the lack of connectivity in Rural India, so called real Bharat. If India
has to bridge the divide; actions are needed in a number of areas. This is not simply a question of technology
deployment, although we must do more to get information technology into the hands of all users. It is a broad
package to help all citizens to benefit from the shift to an information economy. Each country requires different
type of package based on the current level of usage and infrastructure available. Current concept of marketing
English language based products/services without customizing to the specific group of people in India will have
to be given up to deliver customized products/ services for use of people both in Urban and Rural India. The
paper attempts to look at serious issue involved and suggests some initiative to reach the teeming millions, if
India has to become a developed Nation.
Keywords: Information Technology, Digital Divide, Teledensity, Connectivity, and Internet
1. The Digital Divide-Historical Background
The information revolution has reached a critical mass. It is no longer a phenomena of the dot-com bubble.
Economic growth in the information age comes not from physical strength or even the creation of information
technology (IT) equipment. It is the creation of easily usable technology (without any special training) for every
one to reap the benefits of the digital age. This information age has enabled number of innovative products and
services for the computer literate but as yet failed to create a device, which can be used by any one irrespective
of the language and level of education. This is what is causing divide between “Haves” and “Have-Nots” and is
the basis of term Digital Divide coined by Al Gore, the not so popular Vice President of US, way back in 1996.
"Digital Divide" may be defined as the gap between those able to benefit by digital technologies and those who
are not. Many assumed that market forces combined with philanthropy would easily close the Divide. In Short
span of 5 years the “Digital Divide” movements has passed through three distinct phases world wide, to impact
the developing World.
Phase-I (1996-97)
In 1996 the specialists wanted government to step in to compensate for IT-driven market forces that ruthlessly
widen disparities between rich and poor. In the US and Europe, regulators eventually rejected the role of the
Government in efforts to close the Divide. It would have driven away private investments and stifle innovation.
As they attempted to grapple with the Divide, many governments realized they had neither the authority nor the
expertise to grapple with the issue. The prevailing view was that the Divide must somehow emerge through
voluntary "partnerships" of leaders in every realm, not just through the social engineering of governments.
1
Phone: 91-40–23310952/Ext 89, Fax: 351 2954, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
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Phase –II (1997-2001)
It was a time when just about every leading institution from every sector advocated for "digital opportunities" as
if these would somehow add up to closing the Divide. Among the hundreds of innovative projects, some
represented serious innovations, though others merely served public relations purposes. But wonderful new
expressions of leadership did emerge in this period. For example, several CEOs of grant making foundations
woke up to the problem of the Divide. Philanthropists like Craig McCaw, George Soros and Bill Gates weighed
on the issue. Also, trend-setting NGO leaders such as Grameen Bank's Mohammed Yunnus recast their
strategies in light of the Digital Divide. A few prime ministers, such as Thailand's Thaksin, came to power by
claiming to provide an answer to their country's Digital Divide. IT became the dominant theme of
intergovernmental organizations: UNDP, UNCTAD, ITU.Dozens of initiatives clustered around two competing
but overlapping structures: the "Digital Opportunity Task Force" ("dot-force"), spawned by the G-8 and the
United Nations Task Force on Information and Communications Technology (UN ICT Task Force). India had
its own Taskforce for IT and Software Development in 1999 to leverage on IT strength to becoming Software
super power. But the sudden bursting of the dot.com hubble came as an anticlimax. Many expected
multibillion-dollar trust funds to emerge from generous dot-com philanthropists or bilateral donors. The money
never came. What came instead was NASDAQ's slump, Wall Street's terrorism. Then came depression in the
ranks of the digerati. After the 9/11 explosions of the World Trade Center, the movement to close the Divide
remains more elusive than ever.
Phase - III (2001-todate)
Now, on the heels of the dot-com shakeout, a dot-org shakeout looms in the Digital Divide movement itself. In
the survival-of-the-fittest atmosphere, each Digital Divide effort must go beyond mere prescriptions. Many are
doing dirty work in the field, taking on entrenched interests, and bootstrapping the necessary changes even amid
severe economic constraints. Knowing there will be no manna from heaven, policymakers engaged in the
movement to close the Divide have no choice but to achieve policy reforms in their own institutions and
Countries. Just as old-economy businesses have had to overhaul their management to fend off competition from
the dot-coms, the leading institutions in the world -- from Davos to the Red Cross -- have to go through internal
changes to defend their legitimacy as champions of closing the Divide (1).
2. Global Scenario the Networked World
Global Level. Metcalfe’s Law states that the value of a network increases exponentially in relation to the
number of users. The same is true for markets and economic activity. Substantial asymmetry in the distribution
and effective use of information and communication resources between two or more populations results in
differential access to information and communications services. 20% of the nations do not have the presence of
ISPs and communication infrastructure is yet to develop. Innovation and technological change have become
more central to economic performance of the nations. Technology cycles have shortened and immature
technologies are forced on unsuspecting public. Knowledge-intensive and self-learning business services are of
growing importance for reaching out to people on the other side of the line. Networks and alliances between
firms are growing rapidly to expand to cover the global operations for any application from any location.
Mergers, Acquisitions and Bankruptcy are becoming order of the day.
Policymakers of all nations must face hard choices as they try to achieve equitable economic growth in a
volatile economy. The role of information and communications technology (ICT) in growth performance of the
Nation should be understood to identify the links between policy and economic performance. Policies framed
and executed should:
•
•
•
•
Support growth based on innovation and ICT
Promote innovation and technological change
Encourage funding for science and high-risk research
Strengthen co-operation and encourage diffusion of technology with all partners
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3. Indian and Digital Divide
About 3% and the installed base of computers and Internet connections even lower. But the overall pattern is
clearly similar to that in America. There were approximately six million computers in India, of which perhaps
two-thirds were in businesses, schools, government offices, etc. -- leaving, at a high estimate, two million
computers in households. In mid- 2002, there were probably about a million Internet connections in India, again
most of them in institutional settings rather than individual households. A figure of 1,000, 000 Indian Internetconnected households (out of about 200,000,000 households) in 2002 would be on the high side. Assuming
three computer and Internet users per household, we arrive at a figure of six million Indians who have computer
access at home and perhaps three million who have Internet access. (This compares with well over 70%
household computer saturation and 60 % household Internet connection in the U.S. in 2002.) In India, then, in
mid-2002, with a billion population, less than 1 % has home access to computers, and at most 0.5% of the
population has home access to the Internet.
Basic Attributes
Population
1.03 Billion
Total GDP
$500 Billion
GDP Growth
6%
Per Capita GDP
$495
Reserves
$ 70 Billion
Exports
$ 47 Billion
(Source: Dataquest Jun 2003)
ICT Attributes
Telephone Lines
35.18 Million
Mobile Phones
15 million
Teledensity
3.4%
PC Penetration
7 per 1000
Internet User Base
3.5 Million
VPT’s
0.50 Millions
(Source: DOT Annual Report 2002-2003)
The Phenomena of digital divide existed at all levels all the time and continue to grow, be it elected
representatives, Bureaucracy or Industry. Some politicians have taken more interest in understanding the
benefits of ICT for better governance and some others are only bothered for their survival. For Governments
there is one central agency controlling ICT activities, with the formation of Ministry of Communications & IT
at the Centre. Now there is ICT awareness in all the departments and showpiece computer on the tables of many
are now dusted daily and used. Earlier ICT was kicked around and now some emb race it. Governments continue
to depend on formal communication instead of using email. There is hype in some States and the concern is the
infrastructure created is underutilized in some States and there is no infrastructure in some other States. There is
Band-width glut and dark fiber will be available for lease. Emerging wireless technologies also helping to
compensate for lack of wire-line infrastructure and facilitated early reach to the inaccessible customers.
Telecom service providers are struggling to evolve viable business model. Monopoly of BSNL & VSNL
eliminated by the deregulation and now it is the service providers chasing the customer with price cuts. Major
initiative by the Reliance Group is going to up set many existing setups and it is hoped the benefits of the
deregulation will reach the customers. However there is lack of strategy in formulating the ICT policies and
implementing at all levels. There is over dependence on few platforms for implementing the solutions.
4. The Four Digital Divides in INDIA
The “digital divide” is widely regarded as a unitary phenomenon. And as a first approximation, it is indeed
useful to distinguish, in a general way, between the rich and powerful who are part of the Information Age and
the poor and powerless who are not. But viewed analytically, there is not one, there are three digital divides and emerging in many nations a fourth.
The first divide is that which exists within every nation, industrialized or developing, between those who are
rich, educated, and powerful, and those who are not. As of now, no comparable studies have been conducted in
India, where telephone connectivity is extremely low.
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A second digital divide, less often noted, is linguistic and cultural. In many nations this divide separates those
who speak English or another West European language from those who do not. But even in the United States,
where well over 95% of all inhabitants speak fluent English, there are large differences in access to ICTs among
different ethnic and cultural groups. For example, in 1998, Asian American households (largely of South Asian
or South Pacific Asian extraction) had 55% computer ownership, white Americans had 52%, and while
Americans of Hispanic origin had 25% and blacks 23% respectively. An even larger gap separated Asian
Americans and whites from blacks and Hispanics with regard to Internet access.
These cultural disparities, dramatic in the US, are far more notable in India, where they are compounded by
linguistic issues. An estimated 60-80% of all Web sites in the world are in English while almost all the rest are
in one of the major ‘Northern’ languages like Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and increasingly
Chinese. But in India, like the rest of South Asia, only an estimated 2-10% of the population speaks fluent
English while the rest (more than 900 million Indians and about 1.2 billion South Asians) speak other
languages.
For Indians who speak no (or little) English, the barriers to the Information Age are almost insuperable. All
widely-used operating systems require some knowledge of English or one of the ‘Northern’ languages. Thus, in
practice, unless Indians know English, which most Indians do not, no matter how wealthy, brilliant, educated,
prosperous or motivated they may be, computer use and Internet access are effectively out of the question. The
result is a self-confirming prophecy: since there is so little software in any language other than English, virtually
everyone in South Asia who uses computers knows Englis h.
Of course the 50 or so million Indians who speak fluent English by no means constitute a representative sample
of the Indian population: they again tend to be prosperous, urban, highly educated, concentrated in technical
fields. They are, in a word, members of the Indian elite, where English is the lingua franca. For the great
majority of Indians, however, computers are linguistically inaccessible and therefore useless. To linguistic
inaccessibility in India is added the absence of culturally relevant content. The number of Web sites in 2000 in
India is small in any case, but the number of sites in Indian languages is miniscule. To be sure, a few gifted
programmers are attempting to change this, and sites are beginning to appear in languages with vast populations
of mother tongue speakers like Hindi, Bengali or Tamil. But to all intents and purposes, the many, ancient, rich,
and sophisticated cultures that make up India remain almost invisible on the Web. And absent good, low-cost
Indian language software, the technical challenges of producing a Website in Telugu, Tamil or Hindi guarantee
that these cultures will remain almost invisible. What is remarkable is that a handful of dedicated Indian
programmers have actually begun to overcome these challenges.
In short, related to the digital divide that springs from wealth and power is a second divide related to the
dominance of the English language and of what is loosely called ‘Anglo-Saxon culture.’ Most Web sites in the
world originate in the United States, in predominantly English-speaking nations like Great Britain, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand, or in the English-speaking populations of nations and city-states like India, South
Africa, Singapore, and Hong Kong. A few writers have spoken of “American cultural imperialism” on the
Internet; a less tendentious phrase would be “Anglo-Saxon linguistic and cultural hegemony.”
The third digital divide follows inevitably from the first two -- it is the growing digital gap between the rich and
the poor nations. The 1999 United Nations Report on Human Development devotes much of a chapter to the
widening gap between the information-rich nations of the North and the information-poor nations of the South.
At one extreme are the United States and the ‘Nordic’ countries like Sweden, Germany, Finland, and Iceland,
where household telephone connectivity is well over 90%, computer saturation is over 50%, and home-based
Internet connectivity averages over 50%. At the other extreme lies most of Africa, most of South America,
South Asia, China, Indonesia, and so on -the 80% of the world where telephone connectivity is 3% or less (less
than 30 million/1 billion in India), home computer ownership is 1-2% and Internet connectivity less than half of
that.
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The reason why the digital divide between nations is increasing seems clear. If widespread access to ICTs gives
a nation an advantage, and lack of access leaves it at a disadvantage, then the maxim, “To those who have shall
be given” applies with special force to the international digital divide. The international disparity in access to
ICTs is of course an aspect of – indeed a reflection of – other disparities between rich and poor nations. But
insofar as ICTs are themselves enabling, facilitating, and wealth-creating, the international divide in information
technology widens the already great gulf between North and South.
To these three digital divides we can add, in countries like India and America, yet a fourth: the emergence of a
new elite group, which can be called the “digerati.” By “digerati” I mean the beneficiaries of the enormous
successful information technology industry and the other knowledge-based sectors of the economy such as
biotechnology and pharmacology. Time and again in India, for example, brilliant graduates of Indian Institutes
of Technology or major engineering colleges and universities who chose to concentrate in the natural sciences
(2).
5. Bridging the Digital Divide
§
Provide Access
One of the foremost things to be done is to provide Universal access to all.
Physical Access: Provide Infrastructure and expand applications covering local needs
Financial Access: Suppliers (Enhance Competition, Promote Investment and Customers (Village and
Rural/underdeveloped area Targeted Subsidies).
Cognitive Access: Continuous Learning to Teach Teachers & Students and formulate Science &Technology Policies to
promote IT at all levels.
Content Access: Support Local Content with minimal restrictions.
Embedded Access: People should be able to Access through Keyboard, Mobile phone, Landline Phone, PDAs, Set top
boxes, touch screen or interactive Voice recognition system of any language.
§
Provide Telecom Infrastructure
Enforce the requirement of an open telephone network with hassle free interconnection of different networks and free up more
of the radio spectrum for “third generation” broadband mobile wireless.
§
Develop Applications
Applications for th e common man to facilitate his well being covering social welfare and other daily necessities from any
place.
§
New Hardware
The present hardware is already undergoing number of changes and a converged net enabled product likely to emerge with all
the interfaces and necessary embedded software suitable for open platform and customized for a single or group of
individuals.
§
Open Software and Networking
Current software development platforms will have to seamlessly accept any software developed on any type of platform to
work with any device. There has to be number of data banks serviced through directory servers specific to the target group of
people or translated information required in the language understood. Information required for them will have to be made
available in the format desired and information generated from them will have to be used for updating the databanks. Such
network will have a specific server to a group of people.
§
System and Network Management
This requires continuous monitoring of the system and the network to provide efficient service to the customer so that the
usage is encouraged and the benefits are experienced.
§
Internet Access and Community Demand
Maintain or expand Govt. or local programs that provide funds for community techno logy. Help form public-private
partnerships to bring advocates of low-income people into contact with people from the technology and business sectors for
community development.
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§
Education
Education departments and agencies should set up specific projects to demonstrate the practices they wish the nation's
educators to accept. The use of technology should be a part of the standards that we are asking teachers to teach and test.
Schools should work with informal learning places (museums, science centers, television stations, newspapers, etc.) that have
demonstrated an ability to use technology in learning.
§
ICT Infusion Pilot Project Basis
Pilot projects will have to be taken up to understand the needs and comfort levels of target groups belonging to different
ethnic, race and language. Current concept of top down approach of enforcing digital technology will have to be given up and
adopt bottom up approach to develop ICT enabled services and systems. The user interface with the network will determine
the success or failure of the system.
§
Information Ownership
Treat information and knowledge as a renewable resource under the concept of sustainable development. In this regard those
who generate information directly or indirectly must also be rewarded (2 & 4).
6. Issues for India for Bridging the Gap
After extensive visits to various e-Governance sites in India during last 2 years, Professor Kenneth Keniston has
identified the following issues and suggest some efforts in Bridging the Digital Divide: (2)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Information technologies should be introduced when (and only when) they constitute the most effective available way of
meeting basic human needs and fulfilling fundamental human rights.
The most creative uses of ICT’s in development may not entail computers, e-mail, or Internet access, but rather the use of
other computer-based technologies, including embedded chips, satellite based information, etc. in order better to meet
local needs.
ICT projects must build on an assessment of local needs, as locally defined by local people.
Local language and local content are essential.
Projects must be (or soon become) economically self.
Beware of inflated rhetoric and grandiose plans
Do not simply assume that a flourishing IT sector will trickle down to the rest of t he people.
Be sure that ICT programs actually really reach and benefit their intended beneficiaries.
ICT for development efforts need to share experiences within and between nations, especially about actual successes and
failures at the grass roots level.
The voices and interests of the disadvantaged need to be represented in bodies that make ICT policy concerning
regulation and infrastructure.
7. Concluding Remarks
This is a time for full-scale social transformation and change. Such times require special efforts to ensure that
opportunities ahead are shared by everyone. Till now, activities were focused on the dot-coms and their
supporting telecommunications and computer industries. The world is on the threshold of broad, deep and
accelerating structural transition from an industrial to a post-industrial Information Society. Therefore existing
asymmetries are to be addressed and require sustained and serious interventions. The world is experiencing
turbulence in Telecom & IT sectors resulting in asymmetries. These are no more severe than other gaps in
education, health, etc. It is time for the policy makers in India to appreciate:
•
•
•
The critical importance of inclusion and true participation by all.
Technology is, and should be, a tool – the means to an end, not the end itself.
Open and competitive systems work best with some control over the induction of new technologies.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Inomy Web Site, www.inomy.com, (July 2003).
Prof Kenneth Keniston, (2002), “IT for the Common Man” published in Special Issue National Institute of Advanced
Studies (SP7-02), September 2002.
Dataquest Special Report by Rashmi Sarkar, Issue June 2003, and special Issues VolumeXXNo.13-16, 15 July 2003.
Digital divide Web Site www.digitaldivide.org (July 2003).
DOT Annual Report 2002-2003.
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Public Private Partnership for e-Government
J Satyanarayana1
National Institute for Smart Government, Hyderabad, India
Abstract
E-Government is a complex, multi-functional process that has the promise of transforming government.
However, governments do not have the required financial, managerial and technological resources to
implement e-government in a sustainable manner. There are complementarities between the public and private
sectors in the skillsets and resources required for success in e-government. PPP is a model that exploits this fit.
This paper discusses the different PPP models, the conditions necessary for its success and a few case studies.
Key words: e-Government; PPP, Accountability, BOO, BOOT, JV, Political will, Monopoly
1. Introducti on
E-government is the process of transformation of the relationships of the government with its constituents –
citizens, businesses and employees – using the tools of ICT (Information & Communications Technology) to
bring about enhanced access, transparency, accountability and efficiency in delivery of government information
and services. Implementation of e-government raises several organizational, process-related and technological
issues. It is a complex issue that needs multi-dimensional approach. New technologies demand new types of
implementation models. Adopting conventional procurement methods would not take us far on the path of egovernment. In the conventional approach, the project ownership lies with the public sector itself along with the
responsibility for funding it and bearing the entire risk. Can we not think of newer models that enable sharing of
funding responsibility and risk? In this paper, we discuss the Public Private Partnership or PPP model for egovernment, which is being increasingly tried out in different parts of the world.
The concept of PPP has been brought into operation over a decade ago, primarily in relation to the construction
and operation of public infrastructure projects like bridges, airports, highways, hospitals etc. PPP is a reform
that is a ‘generation next’ to privatization. Privatization is the process of involving the private sector in the
ownership and management of ongoing and existing projects and businesses of the public sector. In PPP, the
private sector partner is inducted into a project right from the stage of initiation to completion and management.
The word ‘PPP’ is used interchangeably with PFI or Public Finance Initiative – a concept in use in the UK.
Though PPP has been in vogue for over a decade, not much research has taken place in this area- and very little
in its relation to e-government. The experience has also not been extraordinary. In UK, as of end of 2002, 512
PFI deals have been signed, of which 208 are in local governments. PFI scheme in education and health have
caused considerable controversy, while PFI IT projects have proved practically difficult to get right.
2. Why PPP for e-Government?
What could be the provocation for governments to start looking at PPP more seriously now in relation to their egovernment plans? The reasons could be many and different for different governments.
(a) Combining accountability with efficiency: The most common belief is that PPP for e-government would
combine the accountability and domain expertise of the public sector with the efficiency, cost-effectiveness
and customer-centric approach of the private sector. Conceptually this is sound. Despite the shortcomings like
legacy mindset, bureaucracy, red tape and lack of responsiveness to citizen needs, the public sector is still the
1
Phone: 040-2300 6683, Email: [email protected]
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largest repository of domain expertise in addition to possessing the monopoly of exercising statutory powers.
The public sector however is not adept at absorption of new technologies. The private sector on the other hand,
is reputed to be efficient and cost-effective and more importantly, agile enough to absorb and apply new
technologies in innovative ways. Therefore it is possible to create a win-win situation combining the core
strengths of the public and private sectors to fulfill the objectives of e-government i.e. delivery of efficient
online services.
(b) Complexity and size of e-government: All said and done, e-government is a difficult game. It involves
application of complex ICT technologies and management practices to equally complex business processes of
the government over a sustained period. This is complexity compounded! The situation appears more
intractable if we visualize the government to be a complicated amalgamation of heterogeneous agencies with
dynamically changing business processes, cross-communications and dependencies. It is a tall order to expect
the government organization to accomplish the task of e-government in any meaningful timeframe. An
assessment of the magnitude of effort involved in e-government in India, puts it at over 1,25,000 man years!
Theoretically, the private sector is supposed to be able to raise ‘unlimited’ resources provided there is economic
sense in the e-government exercise. There is thus a reasonably good match between the need of the government
and the resource of the private sector.
(c) Pace of implementation: ICTs change fast. This applies to all its segments – hardware, software and
networks. Newer versions and releases of software operating systems, database servers, application servers, and
security software are released at regular intervals by the vendors to maintain and capture market share.
Networks and devices are no exception. As is often said ‘the only thing that is constant is change’! The typical
life cycle of a large e-government initiative is 18 to 24 months from initiation to completion. Lot of water
would have flown under the bridge during this period, in terms of technological advances. In this fast-changing
technology scenario, it is impractical to plan for implementing projects one after the other. By the time a
second batch of projects is finished, they would be incompatible or out of sync with the fist. We need to adopt a
‘carpet-bombing’ approach after we have designed appropriate architectures and readied the people. It is not
possible to attain and maintain such a high pace in implementing e-government, if the government attempts the
task by itself. This is a compelling reason to join hands with the private sector.
(d) Resources: The combined effect of the huge size of e-government effort and the great speed of
implementation is that investments required in e-government sector are very large over a continuous period of
5 years. It is estimated that India needs $ 8 billion of investment in e-government sector over a 3-5 years period
- excluding the cost of communication and access infrastructure. This is sixteen times higher than the current
annual IT spends of about half- a-billion in the government sector. Add to this the stupendous requirements in
the managerial and human resource fronts. No government can be equal to this task. Tapping the ‘unlimited’
financial, managerial and manpower resources of the private sector is a viable alternative in this regard.
Structuring appropriate public-private partnerships that complement and supplement each other in functional,
technological and resource areas is the key.
(e) Weathering the storm: e-government is an evolutionary process that spreads over at least 2 decades before
its impact is felt in a widespread manner. Example is Singapore. This process typically involves the following
phases:
§
§
§
§
§
§
Implementation of an innovative e-government project in one or two agencies.
Taking up of a few pilot projects in different sectors on stand-alone basis.
Creation of core information infrastructure.
Design of overall business and Technology architectures.
Creation of institutions that focus on e-government.
Multiple large-scale e-government projects.
Out of the above, the stage 3 through 6 require political will, vision and leadership, coupled with technology
leadership and managerial excellence on a continuous basis. Major programs and initiatives can receive a
setback in the event of a disruption or discontinuity in any of the above stages. Political risk is the most critical.
One-way of hedging the risk is to create stakes outside the system of governance that exert pressures at
appropriate times, to continue the ongoing e-government initiatives. PPP is an effective way of creating such
stakes that provide continuity during political and administrative transitions. The contractual rights and
obligations created through PPP agreements, most often, survive the political upheavals.
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3. Necessary but not sufficient!
We have argued out the case for private sector involvement in e-government – on the grounds of efficiency,
competence, resource and continuity that it can bring to bear. Why is it then, that we have not so far seen the
private sector making a beeline for partnering governments significantly anywhere in the world – not even in
the hey days of the dotcom era? The answer is simple. All the above circumstances – a to e – are necessary but
not sufficient to enthuse the private sector. The entrepreneurs are not sitting out there with tons of money and
resources to venture into the risk-prone area called e-government unless they also see a set of other conditions
that are conducive to success, prevailing in the country or state. Let us look at those conditions, which,
together with the necessary circumstances mentioned at (a) to (e) above, make a set of conditions sufficient to
attract investments from and, more so, involvement of the private sector in the saga of e-government.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
First and the foremost circumstance that the entrepreneurs look for is the existence of a strong political will to
implement e-government. This should be manifest in the form of an explicitly stated vision for e-government and a
leadership that keeps asserting “we can do IT”. The leadership has got to exhibit a spirit or commitment that is
undaunted by criticism, opposition and resistance at every stage and an unflinching faith that ‘e-government is the right
answer’ - even in the face of initial failures. The role of political leadership in this context is more crucial in developing
countries where e-government has to compete with more pressing demands from development and welfare sectors.
The emergence of a few successful e-government projects implemented purely in the public sector is another factor
favored by entrepreneurs. These are required to mould the political and public perception on the potential of egovernment and create hope. Private sector cannot be expected to be the ‘opening batsman’ in this filed!
Mere political leadership not backed up by administrative grit and determination would not create enthusiasm among the
private sector. We need champions of e-government among the top echelons of the civil service. These champions have
to carry the sermon of e-government and evangelize it across various government agencies.
Transparency and fair play in award of the contracts form the next set of prerequisites that the private sector
entrepreneurs look for, before venturing their resources into e-government. The tender procedures of the government are
cumbersome and those for e-government could be more elaborate and cumbersome. It is an extremely difficult - but
possible - task to demonstrate the transparency in e-government decision-making. However, when accomplished over a
few projects, this task of demonstrating the transparency creates trust, especially among the major technology players. It
would create the abiding confidence that the resources sunk into bidding for e-government projects would not be lost.
And if lost, it would be in favor of a competitor who has made a better value proposition. Transparency promotes
healthy competition. And coupled with consistency, it promotes the spirit of partnership.
Entrepreneurship is about risk -taking – risk in anticipation of reward. A partnership in e-government, therefore,
presupposes that the risk is also to be shared by the partners – the government and the private entrepreneur. Civil
servants – and political executives even - are known to be averse to risk. The environment is conducive to the argument
‘heads I win-tails you lose’ against the private sector partner. One of the pre-requisite characteristics that an entrepreneur
would, therefore, like to see is the propensity to take risk among political and administrative echelons. A few innovative
and potentially risky projects implemented successfully against all odds, create a fertile ground for generating a
conviction among intending entrepreneurs and IT companies to gravitate towards partnering e-government. The
grooming of a batch of Chief Information Officers who chant the mantra of e-government is a good augury in this
context.
While a set of sporadic and isolated e-government projects sprinkled across several sectors would be adequate to enthuse
the private sector, attempts to draw up comprehensive architectures and the ‘big picture’ of e-government would
undoubtedly make them commit to the cause. e- government architectures provide a stable platform for the PPP exercise
to go on for sustained periods. The exercise of de veloping more mature and complete architecture is in itself a good
ground for long-term public-private partnerships in areas of technology, business process reform and human resources
development.
At the end of the day, business and industry tend to move to areas that have current or future market potential. It is farfetched to imagine that ICT industry would choose the PPP route to e-government unless it makes economic sense.
Volume and value of transactions and sustainability of the business operations are key things here. Creation of excellent
e-government solutions is only a part of the job done. More important is to create and maintain markets for them. The
value that customers see in an e-service is the foundation for a long-term business opportunity. This requires a real hardselling effort in the initial, post -launch period of every e-government project. Such an effort is to be led by the
government to be carried forward by the private partner.
4. PPP for What?
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PPP model of implementation is more suitable to particular areas of e-government and not to all. The criteria
for PPP include long-term nature of demand for a service, profitability and amenability to structuring a
commercial framework and business model for PPP. The following areas are recommended for PPP. The list is
illustrative, not exhaustive.
§
§
§
Information Infrastructure Projects: E-government architecture, Data centers, Communication backbone, Call Center, egovernment gateway, E-payment gateway
Government-to-Citizen Projects: Citizen service portals, integrated service centers, Agency service centers, Networks of
Kiosks.
Government-to-Business Projects: E-procurement, G2B portal
While contemplating e-government initiatives in the above areas, it is a good practice to evaluate whether it is a
fit case for PPP and if so, what form of PPP is best suited (as discussed below).
5. Forms of PPP
PPP can be of different forms, depending on the shares of government and the private sector in the investment,
control as also on the strategic nature and commercial viability of the project/initiative. Let us see these
different models of PPP.
5.1 JV Model
In this model, an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) is formed to undertake the e-government project and /or to
provide e-services. The joint venture can be led by the government or by the private partner depending upon
the strategic nature and sensitivity of the domain.
JV model is the preferred option for typically projects involving
(a) Delivery of services, which are basic and permanent in nature
(b) Setting up of infrastructure with steady returns envisaged in long term
(c) Handling of sensitive data and information relating to citizens, businesses and government.
(d) Close coordination with and cooperation from a host of government agencies.
The extent of government share varies from 51% to 11%. For instance, it could be:
•
•
•
•
51% in category (a) with government retaining management control;
49% in category (b) with private partner in control;
26% in category (c) with government representative being present on the Board to ensure that the priorities of the
government/citizen are taken care of;
11% in category (d) to provide the stamp of the government to lend credibility to the JV in its interactions with
government agencies.
The following guidelines are useful while structuring a JV for e-government.
i.
ii.
The share of the government in the equity of the JV need not always be in cash. It can be in the form of tangible assets
like land, building and equipment or in the form of intangible assets like the right to access government information and
databases for providing e-services.
The selection of a partner is usually done through an open competitive process. The pre-qualification criteria are
required to be quite stiff considering the long-term or near-permanent nature of the partnership. Companies with a long
standing (at least 10 years), high turnover during the preceding 3 years (in relation to the expected annual turnover of the
JV) handsome profitability (exceeding 15%) and good track record in the particular area of e-government to be handled
by the JV.
“ In the short -term term the most viable (and perhaps desired) e- government partners may be multinational companies
that have proven experience and capacities to deliver. However, long-term development of local ICT companies can, and
often should be part of e-government planning. One effective strategy might be to pair an experienced multinational
company with a suitable local company in the development and delivery of e-government applications. This can
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promote the transfer of technology and skills to local industry which at the same time ensuring that outsourcing
producing results.”[1]
iii.
iv.
v.
It is strongly recommended that, despite the stringent criteria adopted for selection of the partner, a JV should not be
formed straightway. The bid documents should hold out formation of JV as an option to be exercised after the selected
partner has established its credentials by executing a pilot and running it successfully for a period of 6 months. This
would serve three purposes. Firstly, it would establish the viability or otherwise of the e-government project. Secondly,
it would enable the government to make an accurate assessment of the technical, organizational and managerial
capabilities of the partner. Thirdly, it would enable the partners to estimate the business model more accurately (than at
the RFP stage) through an analysis of the transaction data and trends recorded during the pilot phase.
It is necessary to draw up the RFP and the bid evaluatio n criteria as clearly as possible to enhance the transparency of the
selection process. Looking around for successful implementations elsewhere could be one good way.
The agreements, both at the pilot stage and the JV stage, should be drafted with conside rable care engaging the best legal
experts, as these documents regulate the partnership over a long period.
5.2. BOO Model: Build-own-operate Model
In this model, the selected partner designs, develops and implements the project, most often, entirely at its cost
and operates the system for a pre-specified period. The options of the partners are kept open till the end of the
period – also known as the concession period. The revenue model of the project is either based on transaction
charges (paid by the citizen or the government) or on EQI/EMI (Equated Quarterly Installment/Equated
Monthly Installment) paid by the government to the operator/service provider. The revenue model could also
be a combination of a fixed EQI/EMI plus transaction charges. The BOO model is suitable for projects that
involve setting up physical infrastructure like service center(s) for delivering services to the citizens. Good
examples are e-government projects relating to issue of driving licenses, registration of vehicles, and provision
of integrated services to citizens across the counter. The important aspects in drafting the RFP (Request for
Proposal) for a BOO Project are to determine the period of concession during which the partner
(Concessionaire) is authorized to deliver the services and the bid parameters dealing with the transaction
charges and / or EQI/EMI to be quoted by the competitive bidders. BOO model is usually applied to egovernment projects that adopt time-tested technologies and have a fairly reliable revenue model.
5.3 BOOT -Build-own-operate-and-Transfer-model
This is almost identical to the BOO model except that the government exercises the option to get the ownership
of the assets created by the partner at the end of the project. The transfer cost is usually a small percentage – 5
to 10 % - of the initial capital cost of the project. The BOOT model is adopted where the technology is timetested and the ICT assets are expected to outlast the concession period.
5.4 ASP Model – Application Service Provider model
The ASP model is an example of PPP where the partnership is quite tenuous. In this model, the government
contracts to avail the services of the partner for delivery of services as per mutually agreed service levels and
commercial terms. The revenue model is typically transaction-based. The ASP model is suitable to egovernment initiatives that involve
§
§
§
A requirement to launch the services in a short time frame.
The technology is not complex and widely accepted and practiced in the private sector
The nature of information is not so critical to governance.
Examples of ASP model are-design and hosting of websites that provide fairly static information to the citizens,
provision of simple services like downloading/filing of forms and provision of MIS services in the G2G arena
to the government agencies. The service provider is usually not precluded from using its ICT infrastructure to
serve other government agencies or private agencies. Most often the ASP model is useful to leverage the
existing ICT infrastructure and management skills already established by service providers. This creates a winwin situation by enabling the optimum utilization of ICT by leveraging the infrastructure already set up in the
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private sector and thereby reducing the transaction cost to the government/citizen. The ASP model also saves
the government agencies of the hassles of designing complex technology models.
5.5. Facilities’ Management: FM
FM is an arrangement whereby the responsibility of maintaining and/or managing the ongoing e-government
projects/assets is outsourced to a private company on a fixed cost per period. Legally, there is no partnership
between the government and private sector in an FM model. However the involvement of the private sector
could be substantial in this arrangement. Hence FM has been grouped under PPP. As mentioned, FM is ideal
for ongoing, operational e-government projects especially those involving maintenance of sites in
geographically distributed locations. The scope of the FM arrangement may include not only the typical annual
maintenance of assets but also supply of consumables and spares and also front-ending the government agency
to provide services to the citizens. The following are the benefits of FM:
§
§
§
FM frees the key personnel of the organization from the hassles of day-to-day technical problems and enables them to focus
on their core business strengths.
FM results in cost savings to the tune of 15 to 20% in maintenance by virtue of specialization of the partner in that area.
FM helps maintain/deliver high quality services to the citizens due to enforcement of the SLA (Service Level Agreement)
between the ‘partners’.
6. Issues in PPP for e-government
All is not well in PPP for e-government. The partnerships tend to get into problems every now and then. Let us
examine the issues that come up and ways to ensure that they do not threaten PPP relationships.
6.1 Lack of congruence in objectives
PPP is about the partnership in realizing shared objectives. The various models in sharing the investment and
controls are only organizational mechanisms. The success of PPP depends on the degree to which the public
and private sector partners align themselves along these objectives. Failure to realize this certainly leads to
failure of the venture. ‘The development of a shared vision for the partnership between the two parties takes
time and both must commit to developing an understanding of each other’s objective and be sympathetic
where these do not necessarily match their own’ says an official spokesman of UK government, which
pioneered the PFI concept. The objective of providing convenient, high quality e-service may often conflict
with the objective of making the initiative a commercially sound and viable proposition. Clarity on objectives
has to be achieved by both the parties at the outset.
6.2 Risks and Control
Sharing of risk and control is another slippery area. Most often, governments attempt to transfer the risk to the
partner without passing on the related controls to the partner quoting “public interest” as the reason. This
results in one partner calling the shots and expecting the other partner to play the game! An example is setting
up a portal with substantial private investment with the government trying to prescribe and control what
services are to be offered and at what transaction cost. Operational controls should be passed on to the private
partner in proportion to the risk transferred. This promotes adoption of innovative approaches rather than
inhibiting them.
6.3 Clash of cultures
The organizational cultures of the private and public sector differ widely in all parts of the world. This is bound
to result in conflicting situations, in as much as e-government involves substantial process reform needing
interaction between the partner company and the government agency or agencies in charge of the ‘domain’.
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The agencies look at the surveys, interviews and studies conducted by the consultants of Partner Company as
interference and disturbance from their ‘normal duties’. The private partners tend to look at the government
employees as bureaucrats with antiquated ideas that have outlived their time. Both the views are substantially
wrong. It is necessary to create a joint control and review mechanism that creates mutual trust and confidence,
especially during the initial period of the project.
6.4 Monopoly
Several of the e-initiatives depend, for their viability, on the principles of aggregation of demand and economy
of scale. Very often there is space for only one partner in areas like e-procurement, country or state portal, data
center, gateway and the like. This is likely to result in a situation of monopoly.- the monopoly of the state being
replaced with the monopoly of the private partner and more importantly, monopoly of a particular technology.
While a monopoly appears to be inevitable, at least in the initial periods of e-government growth, the following
methodology is recommended to mitigate its impact. The operational monopoly can be handled by defining the
commercial features of the contact unambiguously while notifying the project to an open bid. The service
levels and the formula for determination of the transaction/ service charges have to be spelt out in the RFP. The
service/transaction charges could be a combination of a fixed base plus viable cost. The following factors are to
be considered in arriving at the formula:
§
§
§
§
§
Projected customer base and transaction volume
Length of the concession period
Fee structure of the existing services
Price elasticity of the new services
Capacity for growth.
The model should provide for (a) revision of the charges, especially downward revision, as it often happens
with advance in the ICT sector (b) a slab system where the transaction charge gets smaller with the increase in
volume. The technology monopoly can be mitigated by prescribing open standards in conformity with the
technology architecture approved by the government and ensuring that there is scope for developing interfaces
with other systems that may be developed concurrently or in future. Once the agency attains clarity and
definiteness on the above issues and factors them into the business model of the RFP and a transparent process
adopted, one need not worry about a monopoly situation in e-government.
7. Case studies in PPP
PPP for e-government is relatively a new concept. There are not many major success stories as yet. The
following cases, are a few examples of PPP
7.1 RCB Singapore
The Registry of Companies and Businesses, Singapore partnered with four private companies, Crimson Logic,
Dunn & Bradstreet, Singtel yellow pages and DP Information Network, with a view to provide value-added
online information services on companies registered in Singapore. The following are the salient features:
a)
b)
c)
d)
RCB owns all the data. The partners have been permitted to replicate the RCB database and sell the information with
value-addition through transforming the data into information in the forms required by different clients.
The revenue model rests on a revenue-sharing mechanism out of the service charges collected from the end users.
The pricing of services is jointly decided by RCB and the partner, based on the following general principles:
•
Online services should be cheaper than conventional over-the-counter services.
•
The charges for new services are calculated on a nominative basis and notified.
RCB entered into partnership with 4 companies to avoid a monopoly situation (pointed out in earlier section).
7.2 Singapore Land Authority (SLA)
SLA offers online services that provide information on property ownership, land tenure, land area, last
transacted price, survey plans etc. SLA attempted at PPP with the following salient features:
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a.
b.
c.
d.
The selection of the partner was through an open tender.
There would be a sole private partner, so as to exploit the economies of scale in providing land information.
SLA owns the application, having paid for its development.
The partnership works on a revenue-sharing model.
7.3 Road Transport Authority, Andhra Pradesh, India
The RTA is responsible to issue learning licenses & drivers licenses, registration of vehicles and collection of
road taxes and other transport related services. The services are provided at 37 service centers of RTA where
the processes were entirely manual. The agency decided to provide computerized services using PPP model, in
2000. The partnership went through a turbulent period but finally got stabilized by 2002 and is running
smoothly at present. A classic BOOT model was adopted in this case.
8. Concluding Remarks
PPP can be a powerful instrument in the implementation of the e-government if (a) there is a PPP policy laid
down by the state (b) there is a shared vision between the government and the partner(s) (c) the right functional
areas are chosen at first to experiment PPP and (d) appropriate financial models are crafted for governing the
partnerships.
Reference
1.
‘Roadmap for e-Government in the Developing World – 10 Questions e-Government leaders should ask themselves’;
Working Group on e-Government in the Developing World, Pacific Council on International Policy, April 2002
About the Author
J Satyanarayana is currently Chief Executive Officer of National Institute for Smart Government at Hyderabad.
Prior to this assignment, he was an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and served as Principal Secretary to
Government of Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Dept.
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E-Business Perspective of E-Governance
Avneet Saxena1 and S. Wadhwa
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, India
Abstract
Development of an effective E-governance system involves several challenges. The aim is to support core
governance issues in order to deliver the best services, accessibility, affordability, interactivity, trust,
transparency, regional centric, convenience, democratic freedom, cost and time saving to the precious citizens
and businesses. Some lessons from the E-business domain can help to enhance the E-governance effectiveness.
The paper identifies the key issues of E-business processes relevant and useful to enrich the E-governance
efforts. E-business presents many new ways to re-structure the business processes with a focus on integrating
the supplier-customer chain so that new value propositions could be offered to the customers. In this paper, we
discuss the concepts of E-governance with E-transformation challenges and some of the benefits that may be
drawn from the knowledge of E-business process. The study reveals that E-business can play significant role
towards achievement of high performance and effective E-governance.
Key words: E-governance, E-business, E-readiness, Information Technology.
1. Introduction
Governments are moving towards ushering in an age of Electronic governance (E-governance). However, they
are facing the problem of investing in solutions that do not integrate with the rest of the systems or are not
scalable and robust. In order to survive and thrive in the electronic age, government must change the way they
buy business tools, software packages, information, global accessibility, more flexibility in operation and even
services. They must integrate the electronic world with the real working environment, which intended to fulfill
citizen’s demand. The Internet has empowered customer with more information, allowing them to demand
more. So in this way E-business connect critical business system to crucial constituencies via internets,
extranets, and the World Wide Web to provide broad coverage to E-business operation. E-business applications
offer integrated solutions that start with Web-enabled applications that can be incorporated into an open
integrated framework for business areas such as revenue and fiscal management, social and human services,
postal and public safety and justice. The frameworks incorporate technologies for managing customer
relationships, optimizing supply chains, and creating enterprise resource management systems. Several
emerging concepts of web-enabled services can enhance the government businesses. One can view a
government service process as a special case of a business process, aimed to fulfill the benefits of new value
propositions for citizens (including people, industry and their links with government systems). It is thus
expedient to briefly appreciate some related e-systems.
E-commerce: E-commerce is a common term that many people encounter in their daily lives. Most people
perceive E-commerce as strictly online shopping; companies setting up a store via a web page and consumers
pointing their browsers to dot com shops (Holmes Douglas, 2001). Generally, E-commerce can be defined as
using telecommunications and computer to facilitate the trade of goods and services. The impact of electronic
commerce on a country's economic development is vast. E-procurement: E-Procurement links buyers of goods
and services with suppliers, encompassing all processes step from creation of requisition to payment of invoice.
Users can buy goods and services from their desktops to focus on strategic activities like vendor evaluation and
vendor relationship management (L. R. Smeltzer, 2001).
E-business: E business is transformation of key business processes with Internet technologies to improve
service to customers. E business advocates reengineering of the business and adding new value proposition for
1
Corresponding author, (Phone: 91-9810230413, Email: [email protected])
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the customers. E-commerce is a buying and selling over digital media. E-business, in addition to encompassing
e-commerce, includes both front and back office application that forms the engine for modern businesses. Ebusiness redefines old business models, with the aid of technology, to maximize customer value. E-business is
the overall strategy and e-commerce is an extremely important facet of e-business
(http://ebusiness.ittoolbox.com/nav) (Ravi Kalakota, 2000).
E-readiness: E-readiness or the extent to which a market is conducive to Internet based opportunities, takes into
account a wide range of factors, from the quality of IT Infrastructure to the ambition of government initiatives
and the degree to which the Internet is creating real commercial efficiencies. “The e-readiness framework
provides a mechanism to help business and government executives fuse business and technology decisions to
create focused resilient and responsive organizations”. (Economic Intelligence Unit and IBM group, 2003)
E-democracy: Very broadly, democracy is an equitable participation of the people in the affairs of the state at
various levels. Technology by itself therefore cannot ensure a strong democratic culture. Community networks,
on the other hand, could help bring about qualitative changes in the democratic processes through the increased
speed of information transmission as well as increased number of participants in the process (R. Carlitz, 2002)
2. E-Business Rules And Structural Transformation
From its infant stages, E-business has created a vision that has changed the way that the world operates. We
have all heard the success stories of small businesses that have become global enterprises over night, large
enterprises that have been able to provide better customer service creating lifetime customers, and businesses
large and small that have improved their internal processes resulting in increased profits. Put simply, E-business
is the transformation of key business processes with Internet technologies and an E-business is an organization
that interacts with its customers, suppliers, business partners, and employees using web technologies. For most
organizations, the key to a successful E-business transition is making their E-business priorities the same as
their business priorities. E-business should not be a separate organization objective; rather, it should tie into
overall objective and link core processes. To become a successful E-business organization need an E-business
strategy that is tailored to business processes. The right information technology partner will help to build and
manage a responsive E-business strategy and architecture that will lead to attain competitive advantage. With
the explosion of Internet-enabled technologies, we define E-business strategy and build, implement and reap the
rewards of a successful plan. The importance of this E-business strategy lies within each organization and its
unique strengths and characteristics. No two companies are the same. Implementing Next -generation E-business
Strategies report distinguishes e-commerce from e-business and discusses the differences between business-tobusiness (B2B) e-commerce and busines s-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce (R. Kalakota, 2000). It emphasizes
the role of E-business in web-enabled enterprise, presenting a seamless integration among company systems
and with partners and third parties' systems. Because E-business is a technological revolution, organizations that
formulate and implement strategies today will have a considerable advantage over their competitors.
Organizations that wait to develop E-business strategies may never meet the success of their predecessors.
Within short span of time, E-business is likely to refer not to a single type of business but to all businesses.
3. E-governance Status
E-governance provides opportunities to move forward in the 21st century with high quality, cost effective
government services, delivery and the creation of better relationships between the people and government. EGovernance is the application of the tools and techniques of E-business to the business of government for the
benefit of both government and the citizens and businesses that they serve (Holmes Douglas, 2001). EGovernance would imply the use of information technologies such as Wide Area Networks (WAN), Internet,
World Wide Web, and Mobile computing by government agencies to reach out to citizens, business. The other
arms of the government to: improve delivery of services to citizens, improve interface with business and
industry, empower citizens through access to knowledge and information and make the working of the
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government more efficient and effective. The resulting benefits could be more transparent, greater convenience,
less corruption, revenue growth, and cost reduction.
3.1 Citizen Interface in E-governance
Traditionally the interaction between a citizen/business and a Government agency took place in the premise of a
government office. With emerging Digital communication, it is possible to locate service centers closer to the
clients where such interaction can take place. Such centers can take the shape of an unattended kiosk within the
government agency, a service kiosk located close to the clients or the use of a PC in the home/office of the
client (Khalid, 2003). User-friendly interface between the citizens and the administration should focus on
Facilitated interaction, Improved dialogue, Increased participation in decis ion making, Increased efficiency of
the administration, Enhanced transparency etc (J. B. Sahin, 2003). In addition, we propose that e-governance
may be aimed at offering new value propositions, similar to E-business aims. It should also encourage Reengineering of the existing government services process, in view of new IT services.
3.3 The Architecture of E-governance
The figure 1 shows an E-governance architecture facilitated by E-business, digital methodology and software
supports. It shows the use of Internet technologies to deliver a broad array of solutions that enhance knowledge
Recipient
Citizens, Businesses, Public servants, Public sector, customer etc.
Software
applications
Mobile
phones
Digital
TV
WebConferencing
Intermediaries
Fax
PCs
Tele-conferencing
Data
Communicati
on Devices
E-Business,
, ERP, CRM
etc.
Level of
Channels
Intranet
Processing
Source
Extranet
Management Support System
Knowledge Based System, Management
information System,
Basic Data System, Office automaton
Data
Communication
Applications
NetworkEnabled Data
Processing
Applications
Government Information
(Data, Procedures, Rules, Laws, etc.)
Figure 1: Architecture of E-Governance
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and performance. It is based on some fundamental criteria like web based platform, networkability, Knowledge
management and learning architecture with the support of E-business and other applications.
4. Some Inhibitors and Facilitators
An undertaking as tremendous as realizing true E-governance is not without its wide-ranging share of obstacles
and barriers. Looking at the obstacles and barriers that hinder E-governance we proposed various facilitators
summarized in table 1. Given that most government IT projects fail due to poor management and selfevaluation or in other due to some inhibitors, a detailed list of criterion and factors are given below for
appropriate selection of facilitators for each inhibitor:
Table 1 Some Inhibitors and facilitators
Some Inhibitors
Lack of Infrastructure
Plague the Implementation of IT in to daily lives
Lack of political will and leadership
Skepticism and lack of awareness among the public
Resistance to change by the governmental agencies, businesses and
employees
Inadequate funding and budgetary resources
A flawed pre-implementation study of the E-Readiness of the
government.
Economic climate for accepting and realizing E-Government
Some Facilitators
Start small and simple, Maintain consistent
implementation
Globalization
Involve top leadership
Promote awareness
Ensure security, Encourage and support departments
Involve stakeholders, Monitor assessment
Improve E-Readiness
Monitor assessment, Standardize, Plan nationally
5. Strategy for E-governance Implementation
The table 2 explain the detailed overview of stages and corresponding action and gap.
5.1 E-governance Strategy in India
It is important to discuss an E-governance Strategy with broad issues surrounding the E-readiness for Egovernance in India. It looks into the relationship and application of information, knowledge, information
systems, and information and communication technologies in the process of government. Information and
communication technologies have a valuable potential to help meet good governance goals in India. Yet that
potential remains largely untapped to date. This is because of poor human, organizational and technological
infrastructure and because of the inappropriate approaches taken by vendors and governments. It may be useful
to evolve a strategy in the context of E-business towards a proper implementation of various E-governance
initiatives in India. For E-governance to succeed in India first 'E-readiness' must be built. This means
strengthening infrastructural inadequacies, reducing the barriers to E-governance, and strengthening the drivers
to E-governance (E.C.U, 2003). In our opinion, following must be addressed concurrently. It is useful to add
the e-business rules and experiences to improve e-readiness aInfrastructure, Institutions, Laws to support new
principles, Leadership and commitment, Human resource development, Technology, Information systems,
Decision Information synchronization, Change Management, Knowledge and Innovation Management. Various
businesses/citizen views can be compared with E-governance views as given in table 3.
Table 3 compared various government views and corresponding directives toward citizen and business process
fulfillment. These directives may be useful to promote government efficiency through speedy services,
transparency through proper audit and fair trial, equity through accessibility, cost effectiveness through
affordable features of government processes, create simplicity through user friendliness and self service, more
responsiveness through more interaction with public, applied security features for added trust, more consistency
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Table 2 E-governance strategy implementation (IBM Consulting group, 2000)
STAGES
Stage 1: Building E-governance awareness and
Commitment
1.1 National E-governance conferences, seminars,
workshops etc.
1.2 Raising Awareness Among Leaders
1.3 Awareness-Raising Among the Donor Community
1.4 National Association for SMART State
Governments
Stage 2: Building E-governance strategic Capacity
2.1 Building Strategic Institutions for E-governance
2.2 Building Legislative Infrastructure for Egovernance
2.3 Building Commitment for E-governance
2.4 Building E-governance Strategy
2.5 Information Obligation
Stage 3: Building E-governance Implementation
Capacity
3.1 Building Human Capacities for E-governance
Implementation
3.2 Building Data Systems for E-governance
Implementation
3.3 Financial Dimension to E-governance
4. Building Infrastructure for E-governance
4.1 Institution for Infrastructure
4.2 Backbone Infrastructure
4.3 Delivery Infrastructure
Stage 5: Government Process Reengineering
5.1 Study of existing processes
5.2 Recommendations for Reengineering
Stage 6: Building E-governance Pilot Projects
6.1 Identifying E-governance Pilot Projects
6.2 Implementing E-governance Pilot Projects
Stage 7: Evaluation of e-Projects
7.1 Study of causes of success or failure
7.2 Replicating the successful projects
7.3 Bridging the gaps for failure
Stage 8: Identifying long term projects
8.1 Citizen Card
8.2 Establishment of national networks
Stage 9: Global Vision
9.1 Design of policy based on global interoperability
9.2 Networking National networks with global
Networks
Stage 10: Popularizing E-governance
10.1 Marketing and Promotion
ACTION
GAP
Number of E-governance conferences, seminars held at
National Level
One to One Counseling of leaders needed
Requires awareness amongst National Donor agencies
and assurance to international agencies
EG Club not able to get the required participation
No Gap/
satisfactory
Gap Exists
Gap Exists
Exist
IT Act, Convergence Bill
No Gap
Gap Exists
Requires a mechanism of training of IAS officials in Egovernance
No National or Stat e level strategy exists. Duplication
of efforts at various levels
Government is not bound to supply information
Gap Exists
Requires training and development of existing staff
Gap Exists
NO integrated effort till date
Gap Exists
Traditionally Govt. has been funding the projects
Gap Exists
Exists
The backbone infrastructure : development phase
Delivery infrastructure only in pilot stages
No Gap
Gap Exists
Gap Exists
No study is being carried out
Mere automation is done without realizing if the
process is required or not
Gap Exists
Gap Exists
A number of Pilot Projects exist
Number of projects already implemented
No Gap
No Gap
Success highlighted, failures suppressed
Problems faced in replication
Causes of failure not analyzed by independent
authority
Gap Exists
Gap Exists
Gap Exists
The government is evaluating the concept
National networks like the National Health, Crime,
Education, Post, tourism etc to be established
Gap Exists
Gap Exists
No development so far
International developments going on, India to
participate
Gap Exists
Gap Exists
No effort on this aspect
Gap Exists
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Gap Exists
Gap Exists
Gap Exists
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Table 3 E-governance vision with citizen and vision view (P. McDermott, 2000)
Government’s View
Efficiency
Transparency
Equity/Social justice / Inclusion
Cost effectiveness
Simplicity
Responsiveness
Participating
Security
Consistency
Integration / Collaboration
Citizen/Business View
Speedy service
Fair trial / audit-ability
Accessibility / Spread / Regional language
Affordability, value proposition
User-friendliness, self-service
Interactivity
Consultations, democratic
Trust
Expect -ability
Convenience, cost and time saving, citizen centric
in functioning and evolve integrated & collaborative environment with more citizenry focus. .In our opinion
global competitiveness must smaller enrich good view. There is need to improve HRD, infrastructure, change
management, knowledge management, and innovation e-government like e-business should promote reengineering and new value propositions.
6. Analysis Of Selected Case Study
The selected case studies in the view of E-business application in different countries (world wide) may be
useful in offering some directions for India. This also elaborates the ranking and percentage of different
countries correspondingly to different associated attributes. It is useful to view significant contributions of EBusiness in E-governance processes. This enables countries to do efficient and effective implementation. With
respect to E-business, the criteria for assessing readiness include legal framework and security of the
information also. The ranking of different countries based on various function like connectivity, business
environment, consumer and business, legal and policy adoption, social and culture and supporting e-services.
This illustrates the importance of E-governance and e-readiness. Overall score of India is quite low, based on
various deficiencies implicit higher in itiative and focuses. E-business is really a difficult challenge in Indian
scenario where the poverty level is very high and country is still developing but in the other hand it is also fast
developing and leading in Information technology area. This shows the imperative requirement for E-business
practices in government system based on the citizenry requirement, IT revolution, regulation, infrastructure and
others.
Table 4 E-governance Initiatives worldwide based on the realization of E-business ( Okot-Uma, 2001)
Australia
Austria
Denmark
Finland
France
United
States
Developing a “whole government” approach to the new direction in IT and Telecommunications (IT&T) to
support the government’s service delivery programmes to achieve savings.
Government acts and understands itself as a partner of private industry especially in the transition process from
the post-industrial service society to the information society: Information Retrieval Systems; EDI Interactive;
Online Systems.
E-Government is based on the following principles: Information Society for All; Realization of Broadband
Internet for Research Institutions; Use of Online Publications; IT Usage in Municipalities; Electronic Filing; The
Portable Revolution; IT Usage in Education Electronic Supported Administration & Legal Roles IT and the
Disabled- Plan of Action.
E-government deploys the following: Messaging e-mail; EDI for some applications; E-commerce; Smart Card
Use, Kiosks and Internet Use; One-Stop Service; Communication and Documentation become increasingly
electronic.
IT has lost its “special narrow status” in preference to being perceived as one of the necessary tools for
modernizing or improving government administration.
E-government is based on some principles comprising the following: Easy access; Re-engineered Systems;
Automated Systems; One-Stop Service; Privacy protected and embraced.
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Table 4 exemplifies some creative implementations worldwide that occurred with effective use of E-business
processes. On the basis of the case studies we explain some fundamental issues related to E-business in Egovernance context. A trusted business environment based on the use of the public key infrastructure, a suitable
legal framework and valid law of evidence are the essential element in the electronic medium as a vehicle of Ebusiness. This electronic medium exists everywhere in processing phases of E-governance. We explained in the
aforesaid case studies, e-readiness in countries using e-mail, electronic data interchange (EDI), E-commerce, Eprocurement and online system may be different. However, globalization challenges demand that we need to
globalize e-business i.e. no boundary limitation for the accessing government services. In this new digital era
our mission is to resolve current issues as well as visualize the future issues for fulfilling the future
requirements. In this perspective we used these inputs as a basic platform and tried to signify the role of
emerging E-business in order to achieve larger E-governance goals. In India it is important for us to appreciate
some of the Asian initiative in this regard as summarized in table 5.
Table 5 Initiative towards the creative Divergence (R. Okot. Uma, 2001)
Asian Countries
Singapore
Hong Kong
Malaysia
Mauritian
Vision
IT 2000
Initiatives
Intelligent Island, Developing a global hub, linking communities locally and
Globally, Improving the quality of life.
Digital 21
Knowledge Society, High capacity communication infrastructure, Open and
secure common interface for electronic transformation.
Vision 2020 Scientific and Progressive, Innovative and Forward-Looking, Caring Society,
Social Priority over Individual, Expand IT Education and Training in line with
the expected rise in demand.
Vision 2020 Government recognized IT, IT master plan for the government, service sector
modernization, IT Human resource strategy and trade net system (EDI).
7. Broad Continuum Of E-Business To The Government
In addition to creating policies that support E-business, Asian countries are bringing E-business into
government itself. Through the website, Hong Kong residents can handle much of their government-related
business—from paying taxes to booking appointments at Immigration House or the local tennis court—online.
Under its strategy, the government aimed to have 90% of its services online this year and to introduce a “smart”
ID card. Initiatives are not limited to the region’s richest countries. In Thailand, the prime minister’s office
launched an electronic-government procurement project in mid-2002 aimed at lowering costs and improving
productivity of public procurement, raising transparency in government and providing better access to
government markets. After conducting several online auctions involving private companies, the government
reported a 20% cost savings. Figure 2 enlightened basic issues of E-business in the governance process and the
implementation. This formulates the relationship between various categories of E-governance with E-business
activities and contribution.
Central Government
Between
Governments
Foreign
Governments
With in Governments
Local Government
Public private
partnership
(PPP)
Clients
Firms
Figure 2 A broad schematic of E-governance and E-business (Roger Okot Uma, 2001)
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7.1 A Vision of Electronic Governance with E-business
It is conceivable, based on the above, that the benefits of E-Government will continue to depend on the
realization of technical advances in Electronic Business in the broadest sense. This figure 4 illustrate the basic
role of E-business in government related activities and process. Government process can be configured with
various imperatives. The vision of successful governance depends on the three pillars (G to G, G to B & G to
C), which guide the system based on knowledge assets money and equipment. The e-governance enterprise uses
its collective intelligence to accomplish the government objectives of serving citizens and businesses. As
discussed earlier involves all aspects of business enterprises E-business refers to a broader definition of
Electronic Commerce, not just buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business
partners, and conducting electronic transactions within an organizational entity. According to IBM’s consulting
group, 2000: “E-business is all about time cycle, speed, globalization, enhanced productivity, reaching new
customers and sharing knowledge across institutions for competitive advantage.” Perceived as E-business,
Electronic Government will comprise the following categories: G2G exchange of information and commodities;
G2C exchange of information and commodities; Intra-Government E-business; C2G exchange of information
and commodities; G2B exchange of information and commodities; B2G sale of goods and service common
approaches in the use of trusted services within the context of E-business are evolving.
8. Concluding Remarks
The evolving global challenges advocate that governments must promote effective and responsive Egovernance systems. We propose that E-governance can be enriched towards these aims with the experiences of
E-business practices. The E-business is evolving as an essential contributor to carry out reciprocating business
in an IT integrated supplier-customer chain whereby information and decisions can be shared across the chain
(providing lot of benefits). We suggest significant use of E-business concepts not only as a facilitator but also as
a vital component of E-governance processes. It requires a conducive supportive policy (i.e. legal and
regulatory) environment for the necessary transformation and re-engineering of organizations and processes
leading to E-governance. Several E-governance decision processes involve collaborative decision-making
(requiring knowledge from several perspectives) based on multiple information sources. Thus, Knowledge
Management can play a vital role in improving both the effectiveness and responsiveness of the E-Government
processes. We propose more research efforts towards developing E-governance architectures that may benefit
from E-Business practices. It is important to characterize the e-readiness in various contexts, before embarking
on any ambitious e-government program It is also useful to gain from the global initiatives to enrich the
evolving directions.
References
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Harvey, D., (1995) , Re-Engineering: The Critical Success Factors. Business Intelligence Limited.
Holmes, Douglas. (2001), E-governance and E-business Strategies for Government.
IBM consulting group, (2000), E-Government: Making it works.
Jamal B. Shahin, Regulation, Governance and the Internet: the Quest for a Global Ethic?
John and Pat Griffiths, 1997, Strategic Planning for Information Systems, 2nd Edition.
Khalid M. Al-Tawil, Sadiq M. Sait, (2003), E-governance – Where We Stand? Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
L. R. Smeltzer, J. R. Carter, (2001), How to build an E-procurement strategy” SCM review, March/April.
Martha Dorris, (2001), E-governance subsumes e-democracy subsumes e-openness and vice versa, ICA 35th
Conference, Berlin.
Mohan Sawhney (2001), E-governance towards the next generation, KCM, Hyderabad, India.
Patrice McDermott (2000), What is E-Government – How Will It Affect Us? NIH Forum” Canada.
Ravi Kalakota, (2000), e-business roadmap for success, Pearson education Asia, India.
Rogers Okot-Uma,(2001), Electronic Governance: Re-inventing Good Governance, Commonwealth Secretariat
London.
The 2003 e-readiness rankings, (2003), A white paper from the Economist Intelligence Unit and IBM corporation,
available at http://www.eiu.com.
http://ebusiness.ittoolbox.com
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E-Transformation as a Strategic tool for SMEs in Developing Nations
Shiromi Arunatileka and Dinesh Arunatileka 1
University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797 Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia
Abstract
This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges SMEs(Small and Medium sized Enterprises) in
developing countries are facing in the eMarket and proposes strategies for them to develop themselves using
eTransformation as a strategic tool to gain competitive advantage. The seven E’s in eTransformation, a
strategic eTransformation model, is used to develop SME’s in forming them into clusters, using emerging
business models and strategic partnerships. This would develop the industry and thereby have a development
effect across industries to generate employment, infrastructure development, business growth, and economic
growth leading to a better quality of life for people.
Keywords: eTransformation, eBusiness, eBusiness Models, SMEs, Developing Countries
1. The Digital Revolution
The digital revolution has changed the way business is being done to such an extent that place is becoming
space and time is no more a barrier for business transactions. The existence of eMarketplaces makes many
buyers and sellers, big or small, to compete in the same online space for transactions and collaborations. New
eBusiness models are emerging linking up all nodes in the supply chain or connecting all service providers
across industries delivering speedy high quality services over the Internet. The developed countries are taking
the full advantage of this low cost public channel for delivery of goods and services leaving behind the
developing countries that are struggling hard to adapt to the electronic changes happening in the world widening
the gap in the digital divide further.
2. Developing Countries and the Opportunities in the eMarket
It is time the developing countries enter the eMarket strategically. The paper highlights the importance of using
eTransformation not only for the advantage of businesses , but, moreover, how it can be used effectively to
enhance the quality of lifestyle and living conditions of people in developing countries. The usage of eBusiness
in appropriate industries to eTransform the SMEs (Small and medium sized enterprises) is used to imp rove the
revenue generated which will have an impact on all other indicators such as income generated, employment
generated, GDP, PPP, etc. The London school of Economics and Political Science argues that Least Developed
Countries (LDCs) can benefit more from eBusiness due to the two main reasons of (i) overcoming their
uncompetitiveness of inefficient trade practices and (ii) helping them to diversify in to new sectors to benefit
from low labour costs (World Bank 2000).
3. eTransformation as a Strategic Tool for Developing Countries
The question of how eTransformation can be used as a strategic tool to enhance the quality of life in developing
countries is a question often looked at with scepticism. The following sections explain how it is hoped to be
achieved by discussing the applicability and the benefits to each area under concern.
•
1
eTransformation for business growth in the global market: The UNCTAD report states that by 2001, the world’s total exports
of merchandise and commercial services amounted to $7.43 trillion and the most optimistic forecasts suggest that eCommerce
sales would equivalent to about 18% of global sales in 2006 (UNCTAD 2002). The research done by Forrester,IDC and
eMarketer state that annual compound rate of growth of total eCo mmerce in developing countries in Asia and the Pacific is
Corresponding author (Phone: +61 2 9685 9556, Fax: +61 2 9685 9557, Email: [email protected])
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
expected to be very close to the developed countries of Asia (UNCTAD 2002). Asia and the Pacific are leading in the adoption
of eCommerce among developing countries.
In order to exploit the global online market, there is no need necessarily to come up with a mega site such as Amazon.com or
eBay. Different business models and strategies combined with new thinking can do wonders to provide on-line services to
millions of customers globally.
eTransformation for building strategic alliances: Emerging eBusiness models deal with online strategic alliances and
partnerships to gain the competitive advantage with B2B and B2C eBusiness. The benefits of these alliances are; marketing
online, selling each other’s products/services, provide a packaged solution, fast/easy and convenient way of dealing with many
service providers at the same time. A lot of opportunities lie for developing countries in this regard, which is further explained
under the second stage of the Seven E Model.
eTransformation for strategic partnerships with investment companies: The issues related to poor infrastructure and
accessibility to telecommunication services could be solved by forming partnerships with telecommunication service providers
and Internet service providers in developed countries which is a win-win situation. The service provider will invest in a new
market, which has a clear strategy sure enough to be a very profitable market in the long run. The country or region where the
investment is done will improve on infrastructure, accessibility and the ability to provide online services to the global market.
eTransformation for Economic growth: It is an obvious fact that the revenue generated through conquering new markets will
have a trickle down effect across industries, across services and across all demographic sectors bridging the inequality gap
within a country to a certain extent.
eTransformation for strengthening of SMEs: The SMEs are the ones who are in need of most support in the field of eBusiness
as they strongly need the financial, infrastructure, ICT and eBusiness support to be competitive in the open market. They can
form themselves in to eHubs for marketing & sales purposes and to provide each other with financial and Technological
support which will give them access to larger markets and large scale projects which the SMEs will be able to deal with. The
synergy created will be a huge benefit to compete in the eMarket.
eTransformation for Infrastructure Development: Infrastructure is the main problem inhibiting eTransformation for developing
countries (UNCTAD, 2002, World Bank Group, 2000, Daily Trust, 2002, ITU, 2002). The privatisation and competition in
promoting the development of modern information infrastructure is now a widely accepted strategy, which has brought
benefits to many developing countries (InfoDev 2000). Competition improves the quality of service and lowers the cost of
provision. One example is PERU where the number of mobile lines went up from 20,000 to nearly half a million in five years.
eTransformation for Employment Generation: Internet based marketing incorporates a lot of other related services other than
the service needs for manufacturing, marketing and distribution. ISPs, web based systems developers, web marketing service
providers, telecommunication service providers, trainers, skilled operators, etc. are some of the jobs that will be created. There
will be employment opportunities created across industries once the effect of is established.
Moreover, with the SMEs having more business opportunities due to the establishment of better markets, the economies of
countries would change. The boost in one sector will pull resources from other sectors such as transportation, supplies and
related services. There will be a job creation in all those economic sectors boosting the country’s economy as whole. By
repetition the emerging sectors also could use the same eTransformation strategies to boost their own competitiveness and
thereby entering global economy as competitors.
eTransformation for improving accessibility: It is important to note that developing countries are recognising the importance
of accessibility and according to the World Bank InfoDev working paper (2000), more than 90 developin g countries opened
their telecommunication sector to private participation between 1990 and 1998 with US$ 214 billion in new investment
committed. Accessibility is one of the key features an industry sector should have for online trading.
eTransformation for learning opportunities: eLearning is on it’s own a big industry which can create a lot of learning
opportunities for the younger generation in developing countries. Along with infrastructure and accessibility comes awareness
creation, training and cont inuous education. Some research reports on eBusiness for developing countries go to the extent of
using the educated literate workforce to produce and export eServices to the export market (UNCTAD 2002). India has been
extremely successful in this sector generating a lot of foreign income and employment during the past decade. Information
based services such as communication, computer, financial, insurance, etc. are contributing an increasing share of the GDP
(Gross Domestic Product) in many countries (UNCTAD 2002). For example: in the Republic of Korea, the share of GDP in IT
industry (20% of which is based on IT services) is increased from 8.6% (1997) to 13% (2000).
eTransformation for revenue generation: Export performance, competitiveness and income ge neration are closely related. The
competitiveness of an industry sector increases not only with the quality of products, but the quality of services offered along
with it. eTransformation of the SMEs will definitely increase the competitiveness of the SMEs to provide a favourable
environment for companies to compete in the international market thereby increasing the generation of revenue.
eTransformation for improvement in quality of life: How can quality of life be measured? Is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs the
proper structure to follow? How can eTransformation increase the quality of life? The trickle down effect of industry
transformation is seen in many instances around the world. The strategic development of SMEs to compete in the eMarket will
attract in vestment partnerships with developed countries for financial, technical and infrastructural support, which will create a
win- win situation for both parties. It will create development opportunities across industry sectors and geographical
boundaries of a country. The income generated will be re-invested and paid as salaries to individuals who will then have better
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financial stability, better accessibility, better purchasing power and better opportunities not only within the country but,
globally as well.
4. Using the Model; Seven E’s in eTtransformation
The above sections explain how eTransformation of SMEs can bring competitive advantage to developing
countries if applied strategically. A major problem in transforming SMEs was found to be lack of business
models according to the CommerceNet (2000) survey on ‘Barriers to Electronic Commerce’. As the
environment the SMEs work in change, analysing the environment and the global IT/business trends is crucial
for strategic eTransformation to find out the bes t opportunities for the SMEs to invest in. The Seven E’s in
eTransformation commences the process by analysing the external environment and deciding on broader
eBusiness goals and strategies for the selected sector. Priority is also given to checking the eReadiness of the
sector before proceeding with the transformation. An eTransformation Roadmap and an eTransformation
Methodology successfully used with the SMEs in Western Sydney are used as the vehicle for eTransformation.
High priority is also given to eSystems, support services and change management issues making sure that the
transformation is carried out successfully.
5. The Seven E Model and its Application to Developing Countries
The Seven E’s in eTransformation (Arunatileka et al. 2003a) is a strategic eTransformation Model developed by
the University of Western Sydney, Australia, which is being successfully used by some SMEs (Small and
Medium sized enterprises) in the manufacturing sector (Arunatileka et al. 2003b) in the western Sydney region.
This model consists of seven very important aspects of eTransformation. Each stage is important in it’s own
right and as a part of the whole process. The seven stages, where six stages could be achieved one after the
other are linked to the stage ‘Evolution’, which deals with the crucial issues related to change management
(Figure 1). After each stage, the organization can go through the changes to the evolution stage and through
that, go to the next stage, after the required evolutionary changes are made.
1.Environmental
Analysis
6.eSystems
(ICT/Business
Maintenance
7.Evolution
– Change
Management
2.eBusiness
Goals/
Strategies
3.eReadiness
(Internal/
External)
5.eTransfor-mation
Methodology
4.eTransformation
Roadmap
Figure 1. The Seven E’s in eTransformation(Arunatileka et al. 2003a)
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The University of Western Sydney has been conducting a research project in eTransforming Western Sydney
since 1999. Initially, they developed the eTransformation roadmap (Ginige, et al. 2001) successfully in many
SMEs. Since the Seven E model is being used in a different context, for a country, or across an industry, some
of the methodologies used are modified as briefly illustrated in Table 1.
Table 1 Stages in the Seven E’s in eTransformation
Stage
1. Environmental
Analysis
2. eBusiness
goals/Strategies
3. eReadiness
4. eTransformation
Roadmap
5. eTransformation
Methodology
6. eSystems
7. Evolution – Change
Management
Significance
To understand the Global IT and Business
Trends and the Sector’s Strategic Situation
(Strengths, Opportunities, Threats,
Weaknesses)
Develop eBusiness goals and strategies to
gain the competitive advantage
eReadiness of the sector under
consideration
The road map assesses the current status of
the sector and shows the direction to
proceed
Successful eTransformation in an
incremental way
The support and maintenance of the
implemented systems
Management of the proposed changes in an
evolutionary manner
Methodology used
* Global Trends in Business and IT
* SWOT Analysis
* Industry Analysis
ePortals, eBusiness Models, Funding,
eLearning, etc.
eReadiness in terms of Infrastructure,
Applications, Web presence, Connectivity,
Skills, Funding, etc.
ETransformation Roadmap and the
Convergence Model
The Evolutionary eTransformation
methodology
IT Policies, Security, Support, Maint enance
mechanisms
The 7S Model – Strategy, Structure, Staff,
Skills, Shared Values, Style, Systems
The model incorporates the new business thinking, business models in the new eEconomy and addresses issues
such as analysing the external environment in eTransforming and reengineering the business, Business-IT
alignment, implementing and managing systems, restructuring, change management, eSystems maintenance and
policy issues. The model can be used to successfully eTransform an organisation to achieve profitability in
eBusiness. It can also be used to eTransform an industry sector or a cluster of SMEs which is the application
used in this paper.
Stage 1: The Environmental Analysis
•
Global Trends in Business and IT: It is an obvious fact that developed countries are taking full
advantage of eBusiness and online business based on Internet based technologies. There are increased
opportunities for economic development for developing countries, too. But, certain issues related to
infrastructure, awareness in eBusiness, telecommunications regulations, legal and regulatory
framework, funding requirements, etc. should be addressed strategically for the developing countries to
use eBusiness to it’s full potential.
According to the World Bank Group Paper (2000) on ‘The Networking Revolution – Opportunities
and Challenges for Developing Countries’, the following opportunities are mentioned for Developing
countries (i) Reach – the death of distance, (ii) Information based products and services (iii) Rich
Information Flow (iv) Dis -intermediation (v) New Intermediaries. UNCTAD 2002 report on
eCommerce and Development highlights the Internet users and eCommerce revenue by the year 2002,
which is illustrated in Figure 2.
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Figure 2 Share of World Internet users and eCommerce Revenue (UNCTAD 2002)
Figure 2 clearly shows that eCommerce is also growing in developing countries, but, slowly than the
number of Internet users (X Axis – Category of countries, Y Axis – Percentage share)
•
SWOT Analysis: The eBusiness related SWOT Analysis is done for the Developing Countries to see
it’s feasibility to use eTransformation as a Strategic business tool (Table 2). It should be noted that,
initially, the countries selected to commence the eTransformation process are countries that have a
high literacy rate due to ease in applying eTransformation strategies. Once the projects become
successful, the same approach can be adopted to less developed areas of the same region.
Table 2 eBusiness related SWOT Analysis for Developing Countries
Strengths
* Cheap abundant labour
* Developed countries’ willingness to
invest on ICT in developing countries
* The Strong manufacturing sectors
* Many businesses having a stable buyer market in developed
countries
Educated literate workforce
Opportunities
* No geographical boundaries for business in the eMarketplace
* Apply new eBusiness models dealing with
bundling/unbundling of services
* Direct-to-customer/market approach
* Exporting IT-based services
* ePortals for SMEs in manufacturing
* Income/ Employment generation
* Incubators/Tele-centres as facilitators
* eLearning Opportunities
* Attracting ICT products/services based investments from
industry giants
* Improvements in accessibility
* Overall economic growth
* Improvements to Infrastructure
* Open-source software giving a less costly start to offering IT
services
* Liberalisation of the private sector
* Improving access to global economy
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Weaknesses
* Infrastructure limitations
* Telecommunications and Access
* Legal framework for eCommerce
* Awareness in eBusiness in industries
* Funding Requirements
* Digital divide (within/ across country)
Threats
* Difficulty in competing in the already established
eMarketplaces
* Language barrier to provide services
* The need to be physically close to the real market for shipping
purposes
* Speedy development of ICT/services
* Telecom. access within countries creating bottlenecks/ further
disparity
* Political/other problems in developing countries limiting it’s
own growth
* Convincing the developed countries of the quality of
products/services
* Ineffective implementation of Government
Policies/regulations
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•
Industry Analysis : In the UNCTAD report on eCommerce and Development (2002), it is stated that in
the Asia and the Pacific region, the manufacturing sector is exposed to the pressure from customers in
the developed countries to adopt eBusiness methods. It also emphasises on the value of eBusiness for
intra-regional and global trade. In addition to this analysis, Michael Porter’s Five Forces analysis
(bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of
substitutes, rivalry among competitors) can also be done in order to find out the competitive forces
working on the industry. Depending on the forces, the adoption of strategies can be selected.
Stage 2: eBusiness Goals and Strategies
The SWOT Analysis (Table 2) gives the overall strategic situation of the industry sectors in most developing
countries in Asian and Pacific region. In order to take advantage of the opportunities using the strengths, the
sector has to come up with eMarket strategies, eBusiness Models and implementation strategies. The latter
concentrates on funding, partnerships, infrastructure development, government support, legal framework,
awareness creation, marketing strategies, etc.
•
eMarket Strategies: The industry sectors are changing the way they do business by using many
different collaborations with customers (B2C), service providers (B2B), funding organizations
(ePayments), government (B2G), and even competitors (B2B). The linear model of suppliermanufacturer-distributor-customer (Figure 3) is changing to become a digital value hub in the
eEconomy (Figure 4).
The linear Model (Traditional)
Supplier
Manufacturer
Distributor
Customer
Figure 3 The Linear Model
The Digital Value Hub (eRegion)
Suppliers
Manufacturers
Distributors
Customer
Figure 4 The Digital Value Hub
Becoming an eHub or ePortal has many advantages such as product bundling, customer-centric products,
revenue sharing marketing (Shin, 2003), value added products/services, strategic alliances, etc.
•
•
eBusiness Models: There are many eBusiness Models that organizations can use effectively to get the
benefit of group marketing, group ordering, product bundling, direct-to-consumer access, etc. Some of
the models are described below.
Direct-to-Customer eBusiness Model
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Manufacturer
Customer
Figure 5 Direct-to-customer Model
The approach adopted by DELL, which increased their sales from $7M per day in 1997 to $40M per day in
2000 (Weill 2001). This model (Figure 5) which bypasses certain nodes in the supply chain gives the
manufacturer the competitive advantages such as sell at a lower price reducing intermediaries, faster
delivery of goods, build according to customised orders, earlier receipt of payments, speeds up new product
release cycles, uses customer data to provide value added service and helps proactive decision making
(Weill 2001).
•
Supply chain eBusiness Model (Horizontal Marketplace)
Supplier1
Manufacturer
Distributors
Supplier2
Customer
Supplier3
Figure 6 Supply chain eBusiness Model (Horizontal Marketplace)
This model creates a virtual value chain and an information flows across the supply chain. All parties have
a strong electronic bond and backend systems and the manufacturers have access to information about the
supplier to the customer which is very effective in order processing, product tracking and SCM issues.
•
Full service provider eBusiness Model (Vertical Marketplace):
Service Provider1
Customers
Eg.Hotel bookings
Full Service
Provider
Buyers
Service Provider1
Eg.Airline tickets
Service Provider3
Retailers
Eg.Transportation of goods
Figure 7 Full service provider eBusiness Model
This is a very effective portal where the manufacturer sells their own products or services bundled with
third party products or services. This offers a wider range of products/services to the customer at a
reasonable or lower price as the products are bundled and therefore, concessions can be introduced. This
can also be used as a strategy to form partnerships for revenue sharing marketing or revenue sharing sales.
Accurate information about customers and their preferences has to be known for the implementation of this
approach. This is a very effective strategy to achieve economies of scale in delivery/distribution, channel
usage and promotion, which takes care of the threat of new entrants to the market.
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•
eAuctioneer eBusiness Model:
Seller2
Seller2
eAuctioneer
Intermediary
Seller2
Buyer 1
Buyer 2
Figure 8 eAuctioneer eBusiness Model
The eAustioneer model is very successfully used by eBay. Here the intermediary does not take
responsibility for the sale or the payment and the eAuctioneer owns the valuable customer relationship and
data but not the transaction. This model can be effectively used for developing countries to lower the
operational costs and risks.
•
Revenue sharing eBusiness Model
Market/Promote
Products collectively
Company 1
Company 1
eHub
or ePortal
Deal with customers to
get larger projects
Company 1
Order together to get
Economies of scale
Company 1
Figure 9 Revenue sharing eBusiness Model
This model uses the synergy of a collection of SMEs to get the competitive advantage. The eHub or the ePortal
is the front-end for a collection of SMEs in the same industry using the portal to either market/promote each
other’s products collectively, pose as a larger company with a wider product range/capacity to get larger
projects or use bulk ordering with suppliers to get economies of scale. Either way, the collective synergy is a
much greater strength for the SMEs involved than trying to market or buy separately.
Depending on the market dynamics and the competitive forces working on the industry, the combinations of
eBusiness models can be selected for implementation.
Implementation Strategies:
• Funding Strategy: Through international funding agencies and also attracting foreign multi national companies
• Strategic Partnerships: Creation of partnerships with foreign collaborations in areas such as Internet Service provision, Web
based service providers, etc.
• Infrastructure Development: Through government and private funding using Build, Operate and Own (BOO) and Build,
Operate and Transfer (BOT) strategies
• Government Support: Tax holidays, land and other incentives. Incubators and tele-centres should be established to support
the needs of small businesses.
• Legal Framework: Has to evolve with the issues faced. Some leads could be picked from existing legal framework in
developing countries.
• Awareness Creation: Carrying out an awareness campaign through media to promote organizations to work together as
virtual entities for common goals
• Marketing Strategies: Offline and Online Marketing strategies and web based strategies using the four P’s (Product, Price,
Place, Promotion) as described in the article ‘Strategies for competitive advantage in eCommerce by Shin (2001).
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• Web based services: The web site development, web hosting, Internet Service provision are services that need to get
established for the successful implementation of the eTransformation project. Initially, strategic partnerships will be used
and later, local service providers can establish the services themselves.
Stage 3: eReadiness
Seven important aspects need to be analysed in relation to the eReadiness of the organizations in the sector and
the expected users of the web based system. They are Business processes, Applications & Infrastructure, Web
presence, Skills, Top management commitment, External connectivity and Future directions. A questionnaire
could be given to all the companies hoping to participate in the eTransformation process in order to analyse
their eReadiness and to check their position in the eTransformation roadmap in stage 4.
The support given by the ISP (along with their reliability and quality) is also crucial for the successful
implementation of the web-based systems. The bandwidth, web servers, dynamic content/databases allowed,
file transfer mechanisms, fees for hosting are some important aspects to consider when making the decision to
select the right service provider. All the information collected so far in stages 1-3 are used in the next stage to
determine where the company is, in the eTransformation roadmap. The information about the IT literacy of the
staff can lead to appropriate training programmes for the staff, to create awareness. Then, by the time the
system is delivered, they are skilled enough to claim ownership of the system.
Internal BusinessExternal Business
IT Sophistication
Stage 4: eTransformation Roadmap
At this stage, the industry is fully aware of it’s strategic position, what the competitive advantage is and it’s
readiness to eTransform. It now needs a clear path to follow. The road map assesses the current status of the
industry or the companies involved in the process and show the direction to proceed.
The eTransformation roadmap (Ginige et al. 2001) developed by UWS, is the guideline being used for
successful eTransformation of many enterprises in Western Sydney. The first step is to commence the
integration of all nodes in the business model selected to link up using a web presence such as a basic website
with links or an interactive website offering bundled products/services, if the companies are ready.
Basic
Website
External Processes
Interactive
Site
eCommerce
Site
Convergence
New
Processes
Effective
Organisation
Effective
Team
Internal Processes
Effective
Individual
Figure 10: eTransformation Roadmap (Ginige, et al. 2001)
The final goal of eTransformation roadmap (figure.10) is convergence where all the information related to the
transaction such as the marketing information, sales, epayment, transactions and documents be integrated to the
extranet.
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Stage 5: eTransformation Methodology
Change
Management
Business Process
Modelling
Enhancing Process
with IT
Business Process
Re-engineering
Figure 11Adapted from the eTransformation Methodology (Ginige, et al. 2001)
This stage has an iterative nature. This ensures the changes are not drastic and not difficult to cope with. In the
business environment, modifications and changes to systems are inevitable. It is important at this stage to
understand the importance of the web based system to be designed. Some of the main functions to look in to can
be briefly mentioned as; target audience, content, level of interactivity, features, structure, navigation, page
layout, colour schemes, databases, photos, animations and multimedia presentations, accessibility
(login/password), security, connectivity (ISP), domain name and hosting, third party links – B2B (level of
interactivity), payment mechanisms, customer tracking, secured access, privacy policies, cultural aspects
(colours, language, words, etc), browser compatibility of the users and issues related to linking the website to
the corporate data repository of the company. The Seven Cs in Effective Web Design by Rayport and Jaworski
is found to be very useful in dealing with successful web-based systems design. They are Context, Content,
Community, Customisation, Communication, Connection and Commerce.
Stage 6: eSystems
After the Business Process Reengineering, there will be a proposed organization-wide web based ‘Business and
IT’ integrated system. They need to be supported by IT policies, management /operational controls & security
measures, systems, etc. As many organizations are involved in this project, it is very important to come up with
business decisions and policy decisions that will help a smooth operation. Other issues that need to be addressed
are; Content Management, Updating frequency, Authority and Responsibility of the web based system,
Password protection and accessibility, Security and connectivity, Growth of website, Load balancing and
Trouble shooting & technical support for the whole operation. Effective Marketing Strategies, both Offline
(Business Cards, Industry Magazines, Media Advertisements, Newspapers, Newsletters, etc.) and Online
(Strategic Alliances, Email, Newsletters, Search engines, Banner Adverts, Viral Marketing, Site traffic,
Database Marketing) have to be used aggressively to launch the online business venture for these industries to
compete in already established eMarkets.
Stage 7: Evolution – Change Management
The model used to deal with the strategic, operational and other changes is the well accepted 7 S model
developed by McKinsey and Company over 20 years ago which is still found to be the most effective tool for
management of change. The issues to be addressed are Shared Values, Strategy, Systems, Structure, Skills, Staff
and Style. This stage runs across all stages linking them to each other linking and implementing the Strategic,
Managerial and Operational changes.
Strategy, Shared values and Style make sure that proper business strategies, strategic alliance, channels,
business models are adopted and implemented properly at the appropriate times. Staff and Skills make sure that
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skilled people are employed and trained effectively and that they have the right aptitude, attitude, resources and
training when ever ti is necessary. Structure and Systems deal with the utilization of effective business
processes, methods and procedures including controls and that the infrastructure needs and other requirements
are satisfied to eTransform successfully.
6. Concluding Remarks
As the UNDP Human Development Report has described, people all over the world have high hopes that new
technologies will lead to healthier lives, greater social freedoms, increased knowledge and more productive
livelihoods (UNDP 2001). eBusiness is a powerful tool, especially for developing countries, which will take
advantage of the human capital-intensive services and offer major opportunities to be competitive in a market
dominated by developed countries. With the availability of the public network, open source software, ebusiness
models, business process outsourcing as strategies, effective eTransformation and management of the
eTransforming project is an important factor. The Seven E’s in eTransformation, which has been tried and
tested successfully, offers the stage-by-stage strategic direction to follow for successful eTransformation. Many
issues and challenges are faced by the developing nations, which are funding, infrastructure, knowledge, value
added services, partnerships, etc. Strategies have been proposed to solve the major problems. It is high time the
developing nations and the developed nations hold hands and work together in the same competitive market for
both parties to get advantage from each other’s strengths. A huge untapped market exists for the developed
countries to invest in and in return, a huge infrastructure development project is waiting for funding in the
developing countries. It is up to the national and international leaders to look in to the issue of how to build a
synergy to work together which is important than to further divide and be on opposite sides.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Arunatileka, S. & Ginige, A. (2003) Seven Es in eTransformation, IADIS International Conference - e-Society,
Lisbon, Portugal
Arunatileka, S. & Ginige, A. (2003) Application of the Seven Es in eTransformation to the Manufacturing Sector,
eChallenges Conference, Bologna, Italy
UNCTAD (2002) e-Commerce and Development Report, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development,
Geneva
The World Bank Group (2000) The Networking Revolution – Opportunities and Challenges for Developing Countries,
InfoDev Working Paper
Daily Trust (2002), UNCTAD warns developing counries on slow pace pf e-Commerce, Retrieved on 7th July 2003
from http://www.mtrustonline.com/unctad2122002.htm
International Telecommunication Union (2002) e-Business: A Technology Strategy for Developing Countries,
Retrieved on 1st June 2003 from www.itu.int/ITU-D/e-Strategy/publications-articles/ wmrcjune00/ntoko.html
Pare D. J. (2002) B2B eCommerce Services and Developing countries: Disentangling myth from Reality, AOIR
International Conference, Maastricht, Netherlands
CommerceNet 2000, Barriers to Electronic Commerce, Retrieved on Dec. 2002 from www.commerce.net/
research/barriers-inhibitors/2000/Barriers2000study.html
Porter, E. Michael, Harvard Business Review, Volume 74, Number 6, pp 61 – 78
Shin, N. (2001) Journel of Electronic commerce Research, Vol2, No.4, : 164 - 171
Rayport, J. F. & Jawrski, B.J, (2001) eCommerce, New York, McGraw-Hill, , p. 116.
Weill, P. & Vitale, M. (2001) Place to Space – Migrating to eBusiness Models, Harvard Business School press,
Boston, Massachusetts.
Ginige A., Murugesan S., Kazanis P. (2001) A Roadmap for Successfully Transforming SMEs in to E-Businesses,
Cutter IT Journal, May 2001, Vol 14.
UNDP, Human Development Report (2001), Making New Technologies Work for Human Development, UNDP,
Oxford, UK
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Work force Diversity Perceptions from Indian Industries
Nirja Sharma,
CMC Ltd., New Delhi, India
Anuradha Sharma 1
Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Delhi, India
Abstract
Over the past few years, diversity has become a major challenge for many organisations because their work
force composition is changing, in terms of age profile, more women, diverse educational backgrounds, different
specialization. A study was conducted to assess how the Indian Managers view the existing diversity at the work
place and whether it has any implications for HR strategies.
Keywords: Workforce Diversity, Indian Industry, Public Sector, Private Sector, and Multinational
1. Introduction
In discussions with human resources managers and review of available literature, it has become apparent that
there is a sense of uncertainty and concern regarding workplace diversity. In many cases, the term diversity has
taken on a meaning synonymous with affirmative action and is linked only to initiatives that are focused on
increasing the numbers of certain targeted groups in organizations. On the other hand, Diversity becomes an allencompassing concept that talks about not only acknowledging the differences in the human resources but also
valuing it as a business imperative. Although the term diversity has traditionally referred to racial, ethnic, and
gender differences, human resource professionals have extended the definition over time to include diversity in
age, sexual orientation, and mental or physical abilities. According to Fred Luthans (1990), ‘Diversity in the
realm of organisational behaviour can be defined as the situation that exists when members of a group or
organisation differ from each other in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, education etc’. Broadly, the term
"diversity" is used to refer to many demographic variables, including, but not limited to, race, religion, color,
gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age, education, geographic origin, and skill characteristics.
2. Emergence of Diversity
According to Stephen P Robbins, many organisations trace the beginning of their diversity programs to the
Hudson Institute’s famous WORKFORCE 2000 report: Work and Workers for the 21st century, published in
1987. This report was the first to detail the extensive changes that would be forthcoming in the composition of
the workforce. Among its more important conclusions were that:
§
§
§
The work force would include significantly higher representation by females, minorities and immigrants.
It would grow more slowly than it had in the past.
It would require increased skill demands of workers
However, as per L S Gottfredson, Dilemmas in Developing Diversity Programs,(1992 ), the diversity movement
more accurately has its roots in civil rights legislation and affirmative actions. Beginning with the Civil Rights
Act in 1964, US federal laws began to aggressively seek to prohibit discrimination based on race, color,
religion, national origin or gender. Organisations responded by implementing Affirmative Action Programs
that enhance the organisational status of members of protected groups. These programs became more pervasive
in the 1970 & 1980s. Later the attention was diverted to the challenges of work force diversity – inside the
organisations. It was looking at differences inside the organisation. The makeup of the organisation is slowly
changing to reflect the increasing heterogeneity of the overall population. This is bringing to organisations,
people with skills, experiences and outlooks that in the pas t were frequently excluded or under-utilised. Fred
1
Corresponding Author (Email: [email protected])
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Luthans in his book, “The Foundation of Organisational Behavior” says that the major reason for the emergence
of diversity as an important challenge is the changing demographics. Therefore the composition of today’s
workforce is very different from the past.
Pervasiveness of Diversity
The arguments of different authors reveal that the importance of diversity can be categorized in the workforce at
the various levels:
§ Inter-national differences - People from a given country have common characteristics that differentiate them from people in
different countries. Understanding the characteristics common to the people from a given country is important. This assumes
significance in case of organisations, whose operations are not constrained within the geographical boundaries of one country.
§ Intra-national differences - The focus is on the importance of differences within any specific country. This needs attention even in
case of organisations that are operating within the same country but have diversity in terms of regional & cultural values.
§ Intra-organisation - Here the attention is diverted to the diversity that is a result of differences in age groups, gender, educational
background, work experiences, skills & outlooks. While the International & Intra national diversity manifests itself vertically in
the workforce, the intra- organisation diversity will be observed horizontally along-with the above two diversities. It therefore
assumes greater significance and has wider implications.
3. Preview of the study
The purpose of the study was to assess the perceptions of the Indian Managers regarding diversity at the work
place and also how diversity as an issue is being experienced at the workplace by the different companies
operating in India. It would basically assess the pervasiveness of the intra-national & intra organisation diversity
existing in Indian industry. The study was structured to cover three broad types of industry - The Private sector,
Public Sector & the Multinational Corporations operating in India. Responses were available from total twentyseven companies - twelve companies under the Private sector, six under the Public Sector & nine under the
MNC’s definition. The researcher had prepared a set of questions, which guided the discussions the researcher
had with the respondents. The survey was carried out by talking to the senior managers of the selected
companies. Responses initially were not forthcoming, however on the assurance that this is a totally academic
study and the identity of the company & the respondents will be kept confidential, a better cooperation was
elicited.
The Private Sector companies, though aware of the changing demographics of the work force, did not feel that it
is a major issue, nor were there any major initiatives undertaken in this regard. However some form of the
diversity came up in most of the discussions. Getting responses from the Public Sector Companies was more
difficult. Many of them point blank refused to give any feedback, citing some vague Company norm and
confidentiality as the reason. Responses were available from only six companies. The responses are particularly
significant because except for one of the PSU which gave the responses, all the other five are multi-locational ,
have a fairly diverse workforce and are big in size. The responses from Multinational companies were more
forthcoming. However the trend of the responses was quite mixed. Some of the Companies were experiencing
lot of diversity in their work force and were beginning to be responsive to the whole issue. However in many of
them their entire work force was young and with higher educational qualifications and so within the
organisations the disparity in the age groups of employees and their educational qualifications was not very
high. The responses from the companies have been divided in eight major sections depending upon the nature
of the questions posed and a gist of the responses from the respondents is reproduced in the following pages.
4. Section A: Experiences with Diversity
•
•
Is your Company experiencing significant changes in some types of diversity at the work place, in terms of differences in age,
qualifications, regional background, gender, experiences & skills. What are they?
Is your Company responsive to the diversity at work place? Why?
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Company
Private
PSU
MNC
Is the Co experiencing
diversity at workplace
Yes
No
75 %
25 %
100 %
0
89 %
11 %
Is the Co responsive to the
diversity at workplace
Yes
No
0
100 %
33 %
67 %
78 %
22 %
On analyzing the responses from the respondents under the private sector mold, we find that though all of them
are experiencing some form of the diversity at their workplace, however their responses are varied. Most of the
Private sector companies are aware of the changing demography of the work force and its increasing diversity.
Regional Backgrounds, Gender & Qualifications were issues that came up for frequent mention. Out of the total
twelve respondents, only three maintained that they did not feel or experience any such difference. Other nine
had felt at least one or more forms of diversity affecting them. The average age of the employees is coming
down; more women in the workplace and the regional background of the employees are some of the issues
under consideration. However there were either no discrimination or special policies for the people. The
emphasis was on equal treatment to all. A couple of the companies do talk about being responsive to the
workforce diversity and taking care of it. This diversity issue was more deeply evident in organizations, which
has large number of people and which had various offices all over the country. The Public Sector companies,
despite the fact that they are among the larger employers and are more affected by the diversity in the workforce
are the least responsive to the issue. The general perception was that diversity of the workforce is not of recent
origin and has always been there. Since all the PSU’s are multi-locational and have offices all over the country,
the issue of regional diversity of the work force came up for frequent mention. They feel the integration will
take place on its own and does not require any special effort or initiatives from the company.
The response from the Multinational companies was more along mixed lines. Some agreed that diversity was an
issue and they are responsive to it and are attending to it, whereas others while acknowledging the presence of
diversity said that there was not much the company was doing about it. Except for one MNC that maintained
that they were not experiencing any significant changes in the complexion of their workforce. Another
significant response from two of the respondents was that about the increased efficiency and focused objectives
& goal orientation of the work force. This change in the mindset of the people is worth noting. The
organizational inertia, the lack of clarity about the issue and the not too encouraging response from the middle
managers were some of the issues stated that prevented success of this issue. A couple of MNC’s with a strong
head-office back home, talked of encouraging diversity as a Corporate philosophy. But there the focus was on
being an equal opportunity employer and probably in line with the legal requirements back home.
5. Section B: Increasing Diversity – an advantage or disadvantage?
What likely advantages or problems do you foresee because of the increasing diversity at the work place?
Company
Private
PSU
MNC
Is increasing Diversity an Advantage or Disadvantage
Adv.
Dis-adv.
Both
41.5 %
17 %
41.5 %
17 %
0
83%
55 %
0
45 %
The response from the Private sector companies, regarding the likely problems or the advantages that can
accrue due to the increasing diversity was equally strong, except for two of the respondents who felt that there
will only be further managing problems and no commensurate advantages to the company and as such the cost
of managing diversity will far outweigh any likely benefits from it. The likely problems that can arise due to it
are stress and strain for a section of the people and friction amongst them, there could be intolerance &
favoritism due to personal preferences, some amount of groupism and the need for the organisation to respond
to individuals needs in the designs & implementation of the policies.The advantages that can accrue to the
organisations are that the variety of the skills & varied experiences will help people think in innovative ways
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and facilitate generation & exchange of ideas. The increasing diversity will lead to better communications and
People will learn from each other and develop more positive attitudes & be tolerant of others. This will also be
useful to the company to manage the diverse market place and tackle the competition.
The responses from the Public sector companies were more or less on the similar lines as the private sector
companies. People forming groups, problems of adjustment & coordination among the work force, certain
parochial considerations coming into force, and the need for the policies & management styles to continually
change in response to the requirements of the people were some of the problems mentioned. Similarly the
advantages mentioned were better understanding & harmony between the people, synergistic effect if diversity
is handled properly, better expertise available to the organisation and thereby increasing its efficiency. But all
these advantages will accrue only if diversity is managed properly. For the Public sector companies, it seems
that it is very difficult to tap the advantages of diversity as this is something that is taken for granted and
perceived to be always existing in the company and not intentionally planned and managed by the companies.
The response from the multinational companies was more tilted in favor of the perceived advantages / benefits
of the diversity and the problems were underplayed. Some of the problems mentioned was that more time will
be required to understand the diverse viewpoints of the diverse work-force and it might create some dissonance
with the established old guard within the organisation. Differences in opinions & problems in communication
can lead to deterioration of inter personal relations and work culture. If the assimilation of the diverse people is
not done properly, then retention could be a major problem. The advantages were perceived to be many - More
diverse ideas, more openness, skilled & educated workforce, better professionalism and a holistic approach
leading to a competitive edge in the market place. Also the reputation will help to attract the best talent & foster
creativity in the organisation.
6. Section C: Sensitivity towards Diversity issues
§
•
Has your management considered how the increasing diversity at the workplace might affect your company?
Are your Top line managers sensitive to diversity in their work force and recognize its strategic importance?
Company
Private
PSU
MNC
Has Management considered the affect of
increasing diversity on the Company
Yes
No
Don’t Know
33 %
42 %
25 %
0
84 %
16 %
78 %
22 %
0
Are Top line managers sensitive to
diversity & realise its strategic importance
Yes
No
Don’t Know
25 %
58 %
17 %
0
83 %
17 %
67 %
33 %
0
In the Private sector companies, the question about the sensitivity of the management and the Top line managers
was met with more negative responses. Around eight respondents felt that there was no importance accorded to
this issue and the sensitivity of the management was doubtful, even though the issue merited more attention. A
common feeling was that the management might not be consciously working either for or against the issue of
diversity. Only three respondents mentioned that their top line managers are sensitive to the issue and try to
leverage it for their advantage. This is more so because the nature of their company and their products demand
it. Similarly, some respondents maintained that anything, which overtly doesn’t affect the bottom line of the
Company, the management will not be sensitive about it.
The responses from all the Public Sector respondents were on similar lines. Their management had not
considered how the increasing diversity at the workplace might affect their company and neither were the Top
line managers sensitive to diversity in their work force or recognise its strategic importance. The responses from
all the different respondents were typically ranging from No, Not really, Not yet and Not required. In-fact the
general perception that the researcher got was that, this was not an issue under consideration at all and the
respondents were wondering why these questions are being asked at all. Even though the management was
aware of the issue, there was very little likelihood that something may actually be done about it in the near
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future. The management will be interested in doing something, which is the minimum necessary under the
statutory laws.
The responses from the multinational companies were more on the positive side. The majority was unanimous
that their management & top leadership are sensitive and responsive to the diversities at work. It appears to be a
very conscious decision to inculcate diversity as a strategic issue. Sometimes it is a part of the corporate
philosophy of the company and encouraged at all levels. Some of the managements had taken some steps in this
direction. Two respondents maintained that their management as a strategic issue has not considered this and
hence seniors’ managers are not aware of it or consider it to be of any strategic importance.
7. Section D: Impact of Diversity on HR Policies
§
§
Do you think Diversity in the work force has or can have an impact on the HRM activities & policies? [Recruitment, Training
& Development, Promotion, Career Planning].
Should HR policies be framed taking in account the different needs of different people?
Company
Diversity in the work force has or can have an
impact on the HRM activities & policies?
Yes
No
Yes
Don’t
Conditional
Know
Should HR policies be framed taking in account the
different needs of different people?
Yes
No
Yes - Conditional
Don’t
Know
Private
PSU
MNC
33 %
83 %
56%
42 %
66 %
89 %
17 %
17 %
0
17 %
0
22 %
22 %
0
22 %
8%
17%
0
25 %
17 %
11 %
25 %
0
0
The response from the Private sector companies was along mixed lines. While four of them very strongly felt
that diversity has or can have an impact on the HRM activities & policies, another four also maintained yes but
restricted its impact on some areas only or indirect in terms of the impact. Two respondents did not want to
comment on the issue and another two were emphatic that this does not affect the HRM policies and activities at
all. Six of the respondents felt that the HR policies should be framed taking into account the different needs of
different people, two were divided and maintained a maybe response, while one of the respondent felt that there
was no need to frame the HR policies as per the needs of the different people at the work place. The need to
have a uniformity up to a certain level was also stated.
Surprisingly, in the Public sector category, despite the earlier lukewarm importance given to the diversity issue,
all the companies except one maintained that the diversity can or has an impact on the HRM policies. To the
query whether the HR policies should be framed taking into account the different needs of different people, five
respondents supported the statement and welcomed any initiatives by the organisation in this regard, however
one respondent did not support the statement at all.
The response from the Multinational companies was along expected lines. Five respondents maintained a firm
yes, while two made it conditional on some areas and hosts of other issues. No response was available from two
of the respondents. On similar lines was the perception that HR policies should be framed taking in account the
different needs of different people. Eight companies supported the query in the positive way and one maintained
yes but that the focus should be on the individual rather than group.
8. Section E: Non Traditional Work arrangements
§
§
§
Does your Company have any non- traditional work arrangements such as Flexi-time, Working from home, Paternity leave,
Access to informal networks, Dependent care assistance?
Do you think having these non-traditional work arrangements will enhance your company’s image & performance?
Does your Company conduct special training programs intended to reduce stereotyping, increase cultural sensitivity or
developing skills for working in a multicultural environm ent? Any other initiatives?
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The objective of these questions was to determine whether the Companies had any non- traditional work
arrangements to help foster & encourage diversity & creativity at work and if some special training programmes
were conducted for the employees. An effort was also made to determine how the employees view these
arrangements.
Company
Private
PSU
MNC
Company have any
non- traditional work
arrangements
Yes
No
Will these enhance your Company’s image &
performance?
Special training
programs
Yes
No
Yes
No
58 %
0
44 %
50 %
33 %
33 %
16.66 %
50 %
33 %
67 %
17 %
8
33 %
83 %
1
42 %
100 %
56 %
One area
only
16.66 %
17 %
11 %
Don’t
Know
16.66 %
0
22 %
All the respondents had heard of these nontraditional arrangements but not many had experienced them in their
organisations. A few organisations had one or more of the non-traditional work arrangements implemented in
the recent past but in a very limited way. No clear trend regarding whether these affect the image &
performance of the Organisations emerged in any of the sector, wherein the response was very mixed and more
limited to how the respondents view the issue and the importance accorded to it by them. The Private Sector
had a mixed response, while six respondents did not have any non-traditional arrangements at work, an equal
number had some or the other form of arrangement in place. Special training programmes to reduce
stereotyping and increasing cultural sensitivity were not very common. Some organisations were conducting
some types of training, which the respondents felt helped to work in a multicultural environment. These were
initiatives undertaken on sensitising on soft skills, family get-togethers, programs on social issues and special
programmes on how to work in groups. The respondents were not clear whether these measures will help to
enhance the image & performance of the Company.
The Public sector companies did not have any of these arrangements in place. Although Paternity leave was
being introduced in some of the organisations. Regarding special initiatives, the Public Sector Companies did
not have much to tell, however one respondent did talk about the programmes for multi-skilling & acquiring
new skills.Despite the lack of any special systems, arrangements & initiatives in the work place, the opinion
was mixed in the Public sector group companies where 50% felt that these could affect the image &
performance .
The Multinational companies, again had a mixed trend, where five respondents did not have any arrangements
whereas four had some non traditional work systems in place. Noticeably, all of them had some special
initiatives that were undertaken for reducing stereotyping, increasing cultural sensitivity and working in a
multicultural environment. The initiatives were in the form of training programmes, family get-togethers &
group discussions. However not all the respondents agreed that these arrangements & initiatives help to enhance
the Company’s image or performance. The gamut of responses ranged typically from not applicable, don’t
know, can’t say, may not, yes, of course to definitely.
9. Section F: Influence of Age & Experience on performance
•
•
What in your perception is the age range in which employees are better performers?
What is the best experience range, when employees are most productive?
The six options given to the respondents for the Age range were Up-to 25 years, 25 –30 years, 31-40 years, 4150 years, above 50 years and No difference. The most preferred option of the respondents is tabulated below:
Influence of Age
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Company
Private
PSU
MNC
Age range in which employees are better
performers
25-30
42 %
0
55 %
31-40
50 %
100 %
45 %
No difference
8%
0
0
Out of the total six options given for the age range in which the employees are better performers, the responses
were centering around the 25 to 30 and 31 to 40 years age bracket only. This shows that the respondents
typically favored the 25 to 40 years age bracket and perceive that the employees are the best performers in this
range. Ten respondents have favored the 25 to 30 years age bracket and the majorities 16 have preferred the 31
to 40 years age group. It is surprising that we do not get any preference for the age ranges above 41 years or
below 25 years.
In the responses from the Private Sector respondents, except for one respondent who
mentioned that there is no difference in the performance as linked with the age of the person, five respondents
mentioned 25 to 30 and six respondents mentioned 31 to 40 years age bracket. The Public Sector was more
conservative and interestingly all the respondents mentioned 31 to 40 years age bracket, revealing maybe the
perception of trend in the Public Sectors. Again the response from the Multinational companies was more on the
pattern of the Private sector. There are four respondents favoring the 25 to 30 years age bracket and five
respondents favoring the 31 to 40 years range. No responses were received in the Upto 25 years, 41-50 years
and above 50 years categories.
The options given to the respondents were Experience ranges from Up-to 2 years, 2-5 , 6-10, 11-15, Above 15
years & No difference. The most preferred option of the respondents is tabulated below:
Influence of experience
Private
PSU
MNC
Best experience range, when employees are most productive
25-30
Upto 2
2-5
6-10
42 %
0
42 %
50 %
0
0
0
67 %
55 %
11 %
11 %
56 %
11-15
0
33 %
22 %
No Diff
8%
0
0
We find that the responses were mostly varying from 2 to 5 years, 6 to 10 and 11to 15 years. So the most
productive years were considered to be from 2 to 15 years of service and within this all the different sectors
preferring the 6 to 10 years experience slot. Seven respondents favored the 2 to 5 years experience range, fifteen
respondents preferred the 6 to 10 years range and three preferring the 11-15 years range, with one each for 2 to
5 years and for no difference option. The responses from the Private Sector were in the range of 2 to 10 years
with five respondents pointing to the 2 to 5 years of experience range and six respondents pointing to the 6 to 10
years range, while one maintained that there is no such differentiation. The Public Sector responses were
averaging higher than the Private Sector & MNC’s responses. Four respondents favored the 6 to 10 years slot
and Two respondents pointed to the 11 to 15 years slot. The responses from the Multinational companies were
mixed. The responses were varying from the lowest range of Up-to 2 years to 11 –15 years, with the majority
favoring the 6 to 10 years. The range of Up-to 2 years was favored by one respondent, 2 to 5 years by two
respondents, 6 to 10 years by five respondents and 11 – 15 years by one respondent only. If we analyse the
responses and take the extremities of one respondent out, then again we find the centering around 2 to 10 years
range of experience as the most productive years. No responses in the above 15 years category.
10. Section G: Impact of Gender on performance & cooperation
§
§
Are women better performers than men?
Who cooperates better at work - Men or Women?
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Private
PSU
MNC
Private
PSU
MNC
Are women better performers than men?
Individual
Yes
No
based
33 %
17 %
25 %
0
17 %
33 %
0
56 %
11 %
Who cooperates better at work - Men or Women?
Indivi dual
Female
Male
based
42 %
17 %
33 %
0
16.7 %
50 %
0
22 %
22 %
Equaldiff
8%
33 %
22%
No
Can’t Say
17 %
17 %
11 %
Equal- No diff
Can’t Say
8%
16.7 %
56 %
0
16.7 %
0
The query whether women are better performers than men evoked responses that were varying from no
difference, equal, can’t say, not necessary, more individual based to a categorical yes & no response, covering
the entire gamut of likely responses. However a categorical yes or no response was limited and usually had
some conditions attached to it. The majority of the responses from all the three different sectors were different.
Whereas the Private Sector emphasized on the person’s attitude’s, skills & capabilities, the Public Sector
focused on the fact that there is no difference in the performance of men & women and the Multinational
companies pointed out that yes it is possible but in certain areas of work.
Similarly the query of who cooperates better at work, evoked different viewpoints in all the sectors. The
majority viewpoint in the private sector was that cooperation at work depends on the individuals and cannot be
generalized, the Multinationals felt that there is no difference in the attitudes at work and the Public sector
opinion was men cooperate better at work.
The responses from the Private Sector more specifically were that it is not necessary and cannot be generalized
that women are better performers than men and it is all individual based depending upon the person’s attitude,
skills & capability. This type of a response was given by five respondents. A simi lar response that the
performance of women & men is equal and there is no difference was the response given by another one
respondent. One respondent said that Yes, women are better performers but in non-field assignments. Two
respondents maintained that they can’t say whether women are better performers than men. Three respondents
maintained that women are not better performers than men and one of them also said that women are not better
performers but can be more sincere.
Who cooperates better at work was answered by the majority of the Private sector companies by saying that this
depends on the individuals and cannot be generalized. This was supported by six respondents and four of them
felt that men are better, as men are more amenable and women can be rebellious. Only two participants favored
the women employees at work.
The responses from the Public Sector was different from the Private sector companies as none of the responses
focused on the individual’s ability, attitude and skills, though one respondent did talk about the nature of the
work given. He said that Performance depends on the work given. Work has to be productive & challenging for
people to be better performers three respondents maintained that the performance is equal and that there is no
difference, it is gender neutral. An outright no and can’t say were the responses given by one respondents each.
A majority of the Public Sector, four out of six companies felt that men cooperate more at work. Whereas one
respondent favored the women and another one was undecided and maintained a cant say to this query as it
depends upon how you get the work done from them. Another significant response was that cooperation
depends upon hierarchical relation & nature of assignment handled.
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The Multinational Companies were more supportive of the women at work and four respondents maintained
yes, however out of the four, the three had qualified their answers by saying in some areas only. Only one
respondent maintained no and two respondents said that there was no difference and the performance was equal.
One respondent said he cant say and another one maintained that whether women are better performers than
men depends on the type of job they are handling.
However, to the query on who cooperates more at work, majority (five respondents) of the respondents felt that
there is no difference in their attitudes at work and when motivated, both perform equally well at work. The
remaining four respondents were equally divided two each for men & women.
11. Section H: Influence of regional & educational background
§
§
Is there any difference in the work habits of people coming from different parts of country: north/ east / west / south?
Is there a distinct behavior pattern between people of different educational backgrounds like Non Graduates, Graduates,
Engineers, Management Graduates, etc?
Company
Difference in WORK HABITS – Regional Variation
Distinct Behavior patterns - Educational Background
variation
Private
PSU
MNC
YES
67 %
100 %
89 %
YES
92 %
100 %
89 %
NO
16.5 %
0
11 %
Maybe
16.5 %
0
0
NO
8%
0
11 %
The response to the query whether work habits of people coming from different parts of our country are
different, evoked an overwhelming yes answer from twenty-two of the respondents cutting across different
sectors. Adjectives like more analyzing, more outgoing, more committed, less demanding, more hardworking,
more conservative, innovative, risk taking, more professional approach, more knowledgeable, indecisive, more
aggressive, diligent, sincere, push forth new ideas, focused on routine work, methodical & system driven, more
experimental and more open to work improvement techniques were liberally used in describing people coming
from different parts of the country. Significantly one multinational company remarked that difference exists but
after training all are brought to the same level.
Similarly whether there is a distinct behavior pattern between people of different educational backgrounds also
evoked an affirmative answer from twenty five of the respondents. Analysing & Logical thinking ability, selfrighteous behavior, tendency to look at options, being more decisive, more logical thinking/reasoning, better
when it comes to dealing with people, broader horizon, goal orientation and therefore tend to plan better in
order to achieve the same. Planning is more structured, logical and there is more rigor in the planning process,
more latitude for creative thinking were some of the descriptions used to describe the difference between the
professional & non professionals.
12. Concluding Remarks
The study reveals that though Diversity is an important issue, the Indian Industry is not fully cognizant of its
implications. The sensitivity to Diversity is the highest in the Multinational organisations, then the Private
sector and lastly the Public sector companies. Regional & educational backgrounds were two important issues,
which were given attention by many respondents. The differences due to age and number of years of experience
were also felt. However other forms of diversity were either not felt or accorded any importance. Various forms
of Diversity are inbuilt in the human resources working in the Indian Industries. However the realization that
Diversity in human resource capabilities, is a means of gaining and sustaining competitive advantage as
advanced by Cox & Blake [1991] is something that the Indian Industry has not yet fully woken up to or tried to
manage or accorded enough importance. This is similar to what Gail Robinson & Kathleen Dechant have
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pointed out in their article, ‘Building a business case for diversity’. They state that while most companies
acknowledge the importance of making diversity a business consideration, diversity is often not a top business
priority. Other business initiatives that present more compelling, factual evidence of payback on investment
win out over diversity initiatives, which seem to offer less predictable and tangible benefits. Indian Industry
managers will do well to heed the advice of Freeman Dyson [1997] who has clearly pointed out that diversity is
all pervasive and is here to stay for all times to come and therefore organizations will have to actively plan &
provide for diversity in its ranks. The competitive edge is going to emerge from whether we react to it or plan
for it in a proactive manner.
References
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Benchmarking HR – Quest for Excellence’ Human Capital [ Vol 5, No. 7 December 2001]
Carol A Greenfield (1997), Employee Benefit Plan Review Journal [Vol: 52 Iss: 3 Sep 1997]
C Venkata Ratnam (1998) Multinational Companies in India, International Journal of H. R. M. ‘April 1998
Charles Bruno (1997), Diversity directions, Journal, Network World [Vol: 14 Iss: 41 Oct 1997]
Dyson Freeman (1997) And now for the long view, Journal, Across the Board [Vol: 34 Iss: Sep 1997]
David L Tan, Lee Morris & Jim Romero (1996), Journal, Training & Development [ Vol: 50 Iss: 9 Sep 1996]
Fred Luthans (1995), Foundations of Organisational Behavior
Gail Robinson, & Kathleen Dechant (1997), Academy of Management Executive Journal [Vol: 11 Iss: 3 Aug 1997].
Harish C Jain and Anil Verma (1996), International Journal of Manpower
Mary C Gentile (1994), Differences that work: Organisational Excellence through Diversity, Harvard Business Review
Patricia M. Buhler (2000) Managing in The New Millennium magazine, Supervision
Stephen P Robbins (1996), Organisational Behavior : Concepts, Controversies, Applications
Susan E Jackson & Associates (1982) Diversity in the Workplace, Human resource initiatives
Susan L. Kirby and Orlando C. Richard (2000), Journal of Social Psychology, [Jun 2000 ]
Uddesh Kohli & Dharni P Sinha (2000), HRD – Global changes & Strategies in 2000 AD
Waldrum, Shirley B; Niemira, H Gerald (1997), Employment Relations Today [Vol: 23 Iss: 4 1997]
19. Workforce Diversity in Small Business: in the Journal of Small Business Management [July 2000]
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Management Challenges for Government Organizations
Vasant Godse1
i-flex Solutions Ltd., Mumbai, India
Abstract
With the Information Technology advancement, the role of government organizations is undergoing a sea
change. They operate in the same environment in which the private sector thrives. The increased societal
expectations, thrust on communication and civic participation have been contributing to the development of
new welfare state with knowledge and information access to public. The paper deals with the environment,
differentiates the public with private sector, and discusses the issues involved in e governance. The
recommendations have been listed in terms of managerial and process issues. The future is considered
promising, if past is any guide.
Keywords: Management, challenges, government, e-government and organizations.
1. Background
The managerial processes are iterative and so also the challenges emerging there from. Challenges of this kind
for government organizations are many and diverse. The government organizations include government
departments, joint and public sector companies and all other outfits of government having budgetary
allocations. The primary objectives of the presentation are,
§
§
§
§
Taking a stock of the environmental scenario in which the public sector operates in India
Differentiating between the private and public sectors
Discussing the issues involved in e governance in the present context
Making recommendations for e governance to be successful in India
The entire write up is based on secondary data. The web sites visited and proved useful have been listed at the
end of the article. The value of presentation could have been substantially enhanced with real life
success/failure stories as also interviews of appropriate respondents. The time frame available and preoccupation of the author have been the unfortunate constraining factors.
2. Environmental Scenario
The environment in which the organizations operate has economic, social, legal, competitive and technological
facets. The components are ever changing over years but with a difference during the last and ensuing decade in
terms of the diversity and speed at which the changes are occurring. It has become easy to describe the change
by what it is not rather than what it is. In the context of governmental organizations, historically, the economic
and social components of surrounding were pivotal. The advances in technology and the leading edge the subcontinent in Information technology in general and software in particular has compelled to recognize the
technology aspect of environment as the most significant component. The synoptic view is given in Table-1.
Globalization and liberalization measures adopted by the Indian government since early nineties were followed
by the equally supportive, if not less, financial sector reforms. The disbelief about the foreign people, foreign
money and foreign technology came on a waning spree and their importance in terms contribution for nation
building is being acknowledged. The concept of less government or ‘government where only a must’ started
gaining some attention. The expectations from the government are undergoing change as the purpose of having
a government itself is receiving a relook. The role of government sector is undergoing a change. It is not seen as
merely a guardian of citizens but as a service provider to the customers at a reasonable and affordable price. The
1
Email: [email protected]
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government’s role in activities that it need not take up is either minimized or altogether eliminated. The users of
services extended by the government are more demanding and they wish to be more informed by ensuring the
Table 1 Environmental Scenario
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Facets
Technology
Reliance on foreign people/money/technology
Expectations from the government
Role of government sector
Users/Value system
Approach
Market situation
Class of users
Regulatory environment
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Remarks
More developed and all encompassing
On the rise, unlike the past
Increasing in all spheres
Not merely guardian, but a competent service provider
One window service needed and prepared to the right price
Administration to management
Monopolistic situation, a matter of the past
More demanding and asking for transparency
More permissive and not restrictive as in the past
transparency. The administrative structure of government organizations has been evolved and nurtured to
‘administer’ services and the managerial perspective had been seldom present. The structure or set up of the
government departments were hardly looked into and reorganized to respond to the emerging requirements. The
set up of government departments and organizations is coming under pressure, needing fundamental changes
therein. The upsurge of information technology (IT) has changed the entire scene of operations of the
government organizations. The speed and accuracy are substituting the earlier lethargy and mistakes or errors.
The value system of the demanders and suppliers has been undergoing a sea change. The alternatives to the
services offered by the government organizations have created a choice for the users. The monopolistic
situations are changing by addition of new and more vibrant players. The new airline companies are compelling
the earlier government service provider to adopt a more customer-oriented approach. If one does not pro-act,
prepare and prospect customers, the future will be bleak. As far as the prospective customers are concerned, the
new class in more informed and prepared to pay right price if the product offered is up to mark and meeting the
requirement and expectations.
The government organizations have all along been working in isolation as per the budgetary allocations made
and the activities covered there under. The trends in future would be moving towards such synergetic efforts.
What the citizens or the beneficiaries or the customers as would be defined now on, would be asking for the
total package of services at one place. The regulatory environment was always taken as an excuse for nonperformance by government organizations. The regulations were more restrictive than facilitative. The
regulatory environment is becoming more and more permissive and open. The liberalization and reforms have
brought about the very much needed change in the process and content of regulation and their implementation.
There are many a reasons for the changes that happen in the environment. The donor driven changes can be a
possibility while there could be selective changes based on the demonstration effect of a successful change
somewhere else. Some reasons could be purely local depending on the urge of the people to effect change.
Introduction of a new service can also be a reason for change. The e service initiative in some states has caused
the changes so also big push extended by the policy makers like in Andhra Pradesh. There could be some
opportunistic change as seen necessary by the planners or implementers of activities. Whatever the reason or
compulsion for change, one certainty is that the individuals and organizations must have to respond.
3. Public and Private Sectors
In terms of the expenditure, the accountability standards set out for public and private sectors are different.
Cost: Benefit is the prime consideration in private sector whereas for public sector, the societal benefit,
howsoever immeasurable is the criterion. The information available for public sector is broadly in public
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domain, which does not happen in case of private sector. The public expenditure comes under greater scrutiny.
The range of public expenditure is much wider and exhaustive because for extending service, public
organizations provide all backward and forward linkages. The private sector functionaries operate through a
much simple pyramid like organizational set up as against complex structures for public sector. The range of
stake- holders for public sector is higher and at times, unmanageable. The stake-holders are quite unknown to
the public sector organizations. There is a constant interface with the community in case of public sector that
does not happen in respect of private sector. The focus of private sector is on managerial issues while that of
public sector is more on political issues, The managerial principles like delegation, clear responsibility and
authority areas; accountability, etc. are more applicable to private sector. For public sector, the decision makers
are the elected politicians and the implementers are decision takers. When it comes to setting clear objectives
and standard of performance measurement, public sector organizations are at a disadvantage as they are faced
with scarce resources. The private sector is more focused and determined about the end goals. The difficulties
experienced by public sector are more in this regard. A comparison of private and public sectors is given Table2 below,
Table-2 Public vs. Private sectors
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Facets
Standards for accountability
Cost: Benefit
Information
Organizational structure
Stake-holders
Interface with stake-holders
Focus
Decision makers
Pricing mechanism
Approach
Performance measurement
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Public
Well set historically
Major consideration
Available in public domain
Traditional and unstructured
Too many and even unknown
Constant
Political and social issues
Political leadership
Service motto, at times free services
Professional
Community building, less quantit ative
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Private
Company specific
Societal benefit, the main issue
As per disclosure requirements
Pyramid like and well-defined
Much less compared to public sector
Infrequent
Managerial issues
Board and top management
Cost plus at least marginal profit
Political considerations important
Quantitative
Relationship with service users, needs of the people, demand and revenue from services provided are all matters
of distinction between private and public sector. Pricing in private sector is always cost plus at least ma rginal
profit. The outlook of public sector is different. More often than not, the price is below the cost. In some cases,
the service is free like medical assistance. The private sector under these circumstances does not have to contain
the demand while public sector is required to tighten the eligibility criteria so that the demand is reduced for
free or subsidized services. The laying down of income criterion is one such example.
The approach of private sector is more professional and decision-making mo re rational. It is truism that the
economic decisions made by public sector are based on social and political considerations. Private sector has
the freedom and necessity to base decisions on purely business considerations, which is maximizing profit.
Public sector organizations are a creation of the state with standards and methods set for operations. They are
legal entities, but unlike private corporations as making laws itself is the task of the governmental organizations.
The considerations prevailing in private sector are purely economic, to include cost efficiency, performance
measurement and accountability. For governmental organizations, there are social issues like community
building, equating people benefit with societal benefits and treating citizens within targeted community. As
regards public perception, people want governmental organizations to extend service at low cost, or even free of
cost. When it is private sector, the people are prepared to pay and pay even higher price! With such distinction
within the same operating environment, the government and non-government organizations have to work and
perform.
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4. E-Governance - Issues Involved
A synoptic presentation is given in Table 3 below,
Table 3 E-governance issues
E-governance issues
Variety of technological advances
Impact
Better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business
and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information.
Interaction between government and citizens
More friendly, convenient, transparent and inexpensive
Using information and communication
technologies
Citizen-centric and communicated to all concerned
Reform process
Developing I-government or I-society
Clear vision and priority
Improving the services to the citizens, enhancing the productivity of the staff,
strengthening legal system and law enforcement, promoting priority economic sectors,
improving the quality of life
Political will
Missionary vision and visionary mission, Sustained leadership, perseverance, and
capacity to motivate
Selecting the right type of project
Current situation of the IT usage, expenditure thereon, obstacles faced, proper
representation
Understanding t he reasons for resistance.
Involving civ il servants in early stage of planning process
Measuring the performance
Volume of transactions handled, length of trouble free operations, number of services
provided and geographical areas covered, etc.
In the modern times, e-governance or e-government is seen as the solution to most of the issues. It refers to the
use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile
computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.
These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens,
improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more
efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater
convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions. e-government aims to make the interaction between
government and citizens (G2C), government and business enterprises (G2B), and inter-agency relationships
(G2G) more friendly, convenient, transparent, and inexpensive. The broad guiding principles would be
openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence.
In the first place, there has to be full understanding for an entity for getting into e-government exercise,
knowing fully well that it is not simple. The purpose has to be using the same along with information and
communication technologies as elements for a larger government modernization program. It is to be treated as a
reform process rather than an IT initiative for contributing to build an information society. The emphasis has to
be on developing I-government or I-society where I stands for information or/and intelligence. Defining clear
vision and priority are equally important. Illustratively, the goals may include, improving the services to the
citizens, enhancing the productivity of the staff, strengthening legal system and law enforcement, promoting
priority economic sectors, improving the quality of life of the disadvantageous communities, strengthening
good governance and the like. Saving money alone may not be the right kind of objective to motivate the
implementation of e-governance. The vision has to be citizen-centric and communicated to all concerned and
needs to be shared with all stake-holders.
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There is not off-the-shelf and universally acceptable e-government solution. Political will is the precondition for
successful implementation of any e-government project. There has to be a leader with missionary vision and
visionary mission. He shall have to expect the opposition and set backs likely to impinge on the progress. Such
leader needs to have command over resources and has to publicly advocate such programs. Sustained
leadership, perseverance, and capacity to motivate the masses are the pre-requisites for such projects.
Selecting the right type of project is critical, particularly for the first project so as to attain the required
demonstration effect. It may be useful to understand the current situation of the IT usage, expenditure thereon,
obstacles faced and the like. Shopping around could be another strategy to identify the right project. Matching
the perceived project with the vision is another aspect. It would be necessary to diagnose the project from the
users’ perspective. The common advice followed in private sector—“think big, start small and scale fast “is
relevant in this context. For cross-agency projects, proper representation from all agencies should be useful. The
plan may address to aspects like content development, competency building, connectivity, legal framework,
citizen interface and financial resources. e-government management is less of implementing projects, and more
of planning for capacity building.
It is possible that the civil servants may resist the projects and even refuse to follow the new procedures. The
best way is to understand the reasons for resistance. They could include fear of change, threat of loosing power,
unfamiliarity with technology, seeing no great profit from the change, etc. Involving civil servants in early stage
of planning process should be useful. Only one care needs to be taken that the planning does not delay the
process to the point where the momentum for the project dissipates. Meas uring the performance is the prerequisite to accountability by establishing the metrics. The standards may include volume of transactions
handled, length of trouble free operations, number of services provided and geographical areas covered. There
may be need to set benchmarks to measure progress based on specific dates, comparison with others,
independent surveys, etc. Publicizing the early success widely should prove to be a good strategy. Egovernment is not something the government can do it all alone. The private sector has key role to play, right
from vision perception, planning process, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Equally important is the
citizen participation at every level of implementation. e-government is a process that requires a sustained
commitment of political will, resources and engagement among the government and non-government sectors.
5. Recommendations
The governmental organizations face two types of challenges—in relation to the process as also managerial.
The following paragraphs detail the recommendations for making e governance to be effective in meeting the
challenges in the Indian contest.
5.1 Improving policy making
Development and adoption of a right policy at the right time is the first issue the government organizations face.
It is recognized that in the democratic set up of government, the social and political considerations outweigh the
economic issues. The limitation of this kind can be converted into an opportunity while developing the policies.
They can be given political flavor so that the necessary political will is in place. This would call for policy
analysis at different hierarchies so that acceptance of the policies is ensured and coordination is less
challenging. It is necessary to include communication as a component in the policies. Government organizations
do come out with excellent policies so also their implementation. However, they are not communicated to all
stake-holders. The policies must reflect the change from administration to management.
5.2 Making government more effective
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Fine-tuning the structure and the processes to meet the tasks defined in the programs is the first step. There is
nothing like an ideal structure. The size of the structure and manning thereof is significant. Just adequate
manpower is the criterion that may be followed. Another issue is examining the feasibility of corporatization.
Outsourcing could be an option for effectiveness and cost savings. Giving some part of the project to private
sector or even full-fledged privatization need to be evaluated as a choice. Searching for the possible road blocks
for raising efficiency levels may be necessary. Efficiency programs should form a part of the effort to enhance
the effectiveness. Introduction of efficiency audits, improving records maintenance and strengthening anticorruption measures should be the issues needing attention as a part of improving government effectiveness.
Raising employee productivity has to be the key in implementation process. The most pivotal aspect of making
government effective is to create a framework for change. The introduction of business planning can be one
option, which is necessary but not sufficient. Managing change, as the motto shall have to be ingrained in the
staff at all levels. A comprehensive plan with commitment of resources should be required to make change
happen and happen seamlessly without disruptions.
5.3 Making management more effective
It may useful even to change the nomenclature of bureaucracy from Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to
Indian Management Service (IMS). Development of managerial effectiveness would call for strategic as also
operational approaches. The conceptual clarity shall have to be supplemented with the knowledge of ground
realities. Binding both the faculties together should be the aim. Having an information system to support the
decision making process is the pre-requisite for managerial effectiveness. The informational needs, it is
recognized, cannot be met in one single stroke. Adopting an information strategy for phasing out the
implementation of MIS (Management Information System) could be the right approach. There is a tendency to
appoint outside consultants for anything that is out of the box, or beyond usual thinking. Again, one is not sure
whether the consultant can deliver what is required and deliver in time. The option available could be
developing an internal management advisory services team. Gaining clarity of the requirements can facilitate to
improve the management of external consultants.
5.4 Improving management of finance
The adequacy of finance is the pre-condition for any government organization’s program. In the absence of the
same, the plans would be merely expressions of pious intentions. The measures to address to this aspect would
be introduction of capital charging, putting in place estate management, ensuring physical house keeping of
assets and the like. Activity based costing can be one way to resolve these issues. Having a framework for
reforms in financial management can make the beginning. The core of all efforts has to be like private sector—
getting the best through value for money approach. For better MIS, rewriting the chart of accounts and reporting
mechanism changes could be necessary. Unlike in the past, besides the government auditors, there may be need
to have external auditors, who know the undertaken activities better. The organizational set up developed afresh
shall have to be supported by equally responsive delegation of financial powers. People will have to be given
responsibility with authority. Introduction of management systems like zero -based budgeting could be one way
to resolve the issue.
5.5 Making most of the staff
The getting best from the staff is the biggest challenge the government organizations face. With baggage of
presumably excessive staff with differing background and orientation, any good program can never see the light
of the day. Setting an overall framework for manpower issues could include communicating mission orientation
and development of a merit culture as opposed to prevalent seniority culture. New recruitment and retention
practices should receive adequate attention. The future needs of staff aptitude and proficiency would be
different than in the past. The skill set required is different; IT literacy may be the core requirement. While
having new recruits, undivided attention shall have to be paid to existing staff, particularly their motivation
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issues and skill enhancement. Right kind of performance appraisal and its acceptability by the staff is
significant. Like in developed countries, a code of conduct for government employees is necessary as a part of
this effort. As a corollary to IT initiative, there may be some work force reduction by developing an honorable
exit route. This should call for managing the redundancy in a systematic manner. Knowing the quantity and
quality of manpower and the tenure thereof are the major issues to be tackled. This is a challenging proposition
in the absence of visible and quantifiable inputs and outputs in government organizations.
5.6 Improving quality of service
Maintaining the quality of service has to be the motto of any governmental program. It may not be enough to
provide the service with quality, but it has to be exhibited as such. Improved public reporting through open
government concept should pave way for this purpose. Introduction of quality improvement program as a part
of the overall planning process should be a workable proposition. The program of this kind may entail a
formalized redressal mechanism for the customers as also providing customer orientation for the staff at all
levels. More particularly, it is necessary to imbibe in the minds of customers that their grievances are not only
redressed but they have a right of redressal. The possibility of acceptance of the program enhances through the
overt efforts of this kind. For quality assurance, it is utmost important that measurement of performance is built
into the system as its integral part. Performance Standards shall have to be set out for this purpose. Historical
information may not be available for such an exercise. Innovative approach shall be useful. Development of key
performance indicators acceptable to all concerned and reflective of performance in terms of both, financial
spending and activities for which the money is spent, are required. The task is Herculean.
5.7 Improving partnerships with agencies outside the government
No government organization can and should work in isolation. Interface with agencies outside the government
is necessary to ensure the success of the program. Creating a framework detailing the areas of partnering should
be significant. It would call for some regulatory and legal changes to accommodate the partnerships required.
Besides the outside agencies, coordinated approach with the other agencies of government may be equally
necessary. Local authorities that are in practice delivering the program may have to be empowered for this
purpose. Decentralization of power and responsibility would be desirable. In respect of funded bodies, the rules
on accountability shall have to be spelt out. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have a major role to play
in the success of programs of governmental organizations. The work that is done by NGOs is laudable and the
only way to encourage them is to associate them in the government programs. Most of the funding of such
NGOs in any case is not done through any budgetary allocations so cost may not be an issue. NGOs should
prove useful in reaching out to masses and need to be utilized for reviewing the implementation. Same would be
the case of private sector organizations. Academic institutions provide a fund of knowledge that is required to
be brought from lab to land. In the field of rural development or agriculture sector, the contributions of
concerned universities are invaluable. Evaluation of program, performance measurement, conducting impact
studies and the like should be the areas where these institutions can be associated.
6. Looking Ahead
The transformation process involves three phases —using technology to expand access to government
information, broadening public participation in government and making government services available on line.
Broadly, it would call for process reforms, committed leadership, budgetary supports, collaborative approach
and civic engagement. Over the past 58 years of post-independence era, notwithstanding the problems and
difficulties, the performance of government sector has contributed to nation building. It is safe to assume that
the future would be unlike past and would be more promising in terms of performance of the government
sector. Government organizations can certainly make transformation happen by managing the challenges.
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References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
DigitalGovernance.org, Building and Sustaining Democratic and Accountable Governance Institutions using ICT,
available at: http://www.digitalgovernance.org.
OECD Public management Policy Brief, Government of the Future.
OECD, (1992), Information Technology in Government: Management Challenges, OECD, Paris.
Pacific Council on International Policy, Road map for e-government in Developing World, 10 Questions e-government
leaders should ask themselves, available at: http://www.pacificcouncil.org
World Bank Group, E-Government; available at: http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/
About the Author
Dr. Vasant Godse is a graduate in Actuarial Science and a postgraduate in Statistics. Besides a law degree and
diploma in bank management, he has earned his doctorate in Corporate planning. After nearly three decades of
banking experience, presently he is associated as consultant with i-flex Solutions Ltd., Mumbai, the numero uno
in IT product business.
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Implication of Information Technology on Corporate Governance
Sudhi Ranjan Dash1 , Surendra S Yadav and Kanika T Bhal
Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi, New Delhi, India
Abstract
This paper explores how Corporate Governance system has been influenced and better effected by Information
Technology. We draw a Corporate Governance framework . How we can get the optimum result by using fully
its potential, the different rule of disclosure vis-à-vis it’s criticism and the dynamics of corporate change has
been discussed. A series of facts has been explored two assess the conditions under which an industry is more
likely to be held accountable and there will be more transparency. Finally we have discussed the pros and cons
of Information Technology and its optimum use in Corporate Governance.
Keywords: Corporate Governance; Shareholder; Stakeholder; Globalization; Board of Director
1. Introduction
Information Technology has provided extensive opportunity for individuals, communities, countries and regions
to interact effectively. It can effectively strengthen the governance process and demonstrate transparency and
efficiency (NLC congress of cities, 2000). Corporate Governance is the system by which companies are
directed and controlled. Boards of directors are responsible for the Governance of their company. The
shareholders’ role in governance is to appoint the directors and the auditors. The board’s actions are subject to
laws, regulations and the shareholders in general meetings. IT can have an important role in improving the
effectiveness of the board. Management failures are a frequent
feature of the companies in the era of
globalization. We have to prevent failures through better Governance structures and creating real time systems
like digital dash-boards that help us access fresh data about different streams of operation. We will be able to
save time and money. Besides speed, it will also lead to transparency.
2. Characteristics of Governance
Governance is characterized by five major attributes,
§ Participation: all stakeholders i.e., employers investors, local communities, customers should have a
voice in decision – making directly or through legitimate intermediaries.
§ Transparency: free flow of information and accessibility of information to those requiring them.
§ Accountability: the responsibility for their actions as decision makers in governments private sector
and civil society to the public and institutional stakeholders.
§ Equity: All the organizations have equal opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing.
§ Promotes the Rule of Law: legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially
3. The Current Rules on Corporate disclosure
Companies are required to reveal information regarding environmental policies, recruitment of disabled persons
and a few such issues. This kind of non-financial disclosure allows the various stakeholder groups to assess the
impact of a company’s activities on the community, the environment and employee’s pay and prospects. There
are also disclosure rules that aid creditors. Significantly the disclosure rules help to promote economic and
social welfare goals. Another benefit of disclosure is that it can act as a deterrent to wrongdoing because it
1
Corresponding author (Email: [email protected])
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EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
PRIVATE
Shareholders
Stakeholders
Board of
directors
Reports to
Management
Operates
core function
Agents
• Accounts
• Lawyers
• Credit ratings
• Investment
advisors
• Research
• CG analysts
Standards
Accounting&
Auditing
Laws &
Regulations
Financial Sector
Debt.
Equity
Markets
Competitive Factor
& Product Markets
FDI
Corporate Control
Figure 1: A framework for corporate governance
Source (Samantray A.K.Productivity, vol.43, no.4, Jan-March, 2003)
encourages more scrutiny of director’s behavior. Disclosure may help the company to produce better quality
decisions. Public disclosure of company information may serve to provide an additional means of monitoring
and controlling management with the constitutional rules of the company. This is known as the “market for
corporate control”. The theory states that market will function to constrain managerial discretion, reduce
mismanagement and promote economic efficiency. It is apparent that the demand for the disclosure of corporate
information is often inextricably bound up with the issue of Corporate Governance. The medium for the
distribution of company information is Gazette. The company is itself under a duty to send to each member the
annual report and accounts together with the director and auditor’s reports. With shortened product cycles,
increasingly competitive markets and the availability of new financial instruments annual, even quarterly,
reports do not capture and communicate material developments in sufficient time to meet market informational
needs, (Wolman, 2001).
4. The potential Benefits of the Internet as a Medium for Communicating Corporate Information
It is technically and economically feasible for companies to provide more financial and non-financial
information in more detail via the Internet (The Economist 14th March 1998). New and intelligent interpretive
software should make it possible for the user to carry out the qualitative and quantitative analysis. The Internet
opens up the possibility of dialogue with a company’s employees, customer’s suppliers and other stakeholders.
It could provide stakeholders with a new medium to communicate their concerns to the company about
corporate activities. Meeting of shareholders could in theory take place over the web and a continuous dialogue
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between the company and its shareholders could be facilitated by the use of electronic notice boards. If
corporate data on the Internet becomes the norm then it should also be possible for users of the information to
make comparisons with other companies’ performance in any given sector to judge the relative success of
failure of a company being investigated by the shareholder, stakeholder or regulator. Efforts are being made to
develop “push technology” which will allow intelligent software agents to carry out automated searches on the
web for corporate information. This technology should be able to filter out irrelevant material and help the user
categorize and prioritize the information gathered electronically on his/her behalf.
5. Will the Technology be used to its Full Potential?
There may be barriers to its effective use. It may be company’s lack of skill and experience in using the
technology and some of it may be the user’s inexperience or lack of access to the technology. Another factor is
the reluctance of some companies to release more information into this medium. Companies fear that revealing
too much information will make the company vulnerable to competition or to unwanted adverse publicity or to
unwanted regulatory scrutiny (The Economist, 14th March 2000). Companies are concerned that confidential
information may leak out into the public or to competitors as a result of using the web as a medium. There may
be legal problems in using the Internet as a means of corporate disclosure. It has been found that a large number
of pharmaceuticals and chemical sectors disclosed substantial financial and non-financial information on the
web. Little use has been made of the potential of the technology to produce new graphics to assist the user’s
understanding of trend and corporate data. Organizations can use hypertext links to make browsing the
corporate web site friendlier to the stakeholders. Companies have genuine worries about the new medium, but
they have additional business concerns about the web as a vehicle for extensive disclosure. Management’s fear
of takeovers could become more acute in an age of extensive disclosure. This may drive the directors of many
companies to focus more on the short term results in order to maintain the share price of their companies at the
expense of long-term development and international competitiveness (The Economic Times 15th Feb 2002).
Sometimes the organizations fear that their competitors may know their internal policy regarding strategy of
various aspects. Other things are confidential information such as customer lists, details of commercial contracts
etc. that may be detrimental to the company if disclosed. The law of confidentiality has restricted corporate
disclosures. Companies have been successful at lobbying the government to have some of the disclosure rules in
the director’s report replaced (such as the director’s report on health and safety issues in 1996). They have also
been successful in obtaining from government a reduction in the amount of material that needs to be divulged
by small and medium-sized companies in the name of lifting the “regulatory burden” on business. Little more
than a minimalist approach to disclosure by companies on the Internet will be sufficient to satisfy regulators.
“Financial Reporting of Risk” would require companies to record risks to the business that may affect its future
prosperity. These risks would include such things as potential litigation resulting from the quality of a
company’s products or services or its activities that may have damaged the environment. Other notable risk to
the company is losing key staff or damage to the company’s reputation (and hence its goodwill) owing to
corporate policies that adversely affect communities. If companies have to gather this kind of non-financial
information and then report it, as part of its corporate report, then there may be demands that this information be
put on the web. It is likely that stakeholders and pressure groups would be keen to access this information
quickly and conveniently via the Internet and would campaign for this to happen. Some companies may view
these developments as an opportunity rather than a threat (the Economist, 14th march, 1998, p91). They seize
the initiative and disclose substantially more information over the Internet voluntarily. This might be
advantageous to those companies. Companies that embrace the new technology to be more transparent may gain
a competitive advantage, not only through the goodwill that may accrue to it, but also by being able to influence
the government and professional bodies on what the new standards for disclosure on the internet should be. The
aim would clearly be to make any mandatory standards on the delivery or presentation of material, a reflection
of the company’s own codes (the Business Standard, 26th sept.2000).
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6. Changes in Corporate Governance
Companies should be more flexible to adopt change in technology. Investors will use the information being
delivered over the Internet in new ways to judge the performance of companies. Some of the new performance
may include more information on the social effects of a company’s activities. As a greater range of corporate
social activities information comes to the public domain via the Internet, interest groups, regulatory authorities
and social monitors may use the evidence of any socially or environmentally damaging activities to press for
improved social performance. They may do this by activating public opinion against socially irresponsible
corporations or by pressing for changes in the law or both. The pressure from social groups to change the
company policy on certain matters may conflict with what shareholders demand from the directors, which is
usually assumed to be profit maximization (e.g. Bhopal and Sambalpur incident). In theory if directors do not
respond to the shareholders wishes, they could face dismissal. On the other hand, directors would face no such
threat from stakeholder groups who have no standing under the companies’ legislation to enforce their wishes.
However, in practice it may be unlikely that any director will face a real threat of dismissal from the
shareholders on account of responding to the wider social interest. Institutional shareholders themselves are
open to social pressures to behave in a socially responsible way. Trustees of pension funds must select
investments in accordance with the standard of a prudent man of business. However, in order to make the best
returns for the beneficiaries, there is no breach of trust if the trustees pursue a policy of investment that is
sensitive to social concerns (since July 2000 by regulations issued under pension act 1995, trustees of pension
funds are under a legal obligation to reveal to what extent, if at all, they take into account social, ethical, and
environmental considerations in their investment policies). Thus institutional investors may be prepared to
permit directors to conduct company activities in a socially responsible manner.
7. Concluding Remarks
The Internet as a medium for the disclosure of corporate information has enormous potential. It can deliver vast
amounts of information to users that can be manipulated by these users on their own PCs to extract the precise
data they may require on the performance of a company and its management. Some have claimed that its use
may revive shareholder democracy, to the extent that the web may allow a process of continuous dialogue to
exist between the company and its stakeholders. Some have concerns regarding the disclosure. However a
radical reform of the disclosure rules by parliament, the extent to which companies to divulge information use
the Internet will depend on competitive market forces. If a significant number of companies appear to prosper as
transparent organizations, then there may be market pressure on other to follow it. In the age of information
technology, where shareholder and stakeholders alike mo nitor corporate world, a more accountable and socially
responsible form of corporate governance may emerge.
Reference
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Gower Alder shot (1984), Corporate Governance, Green Peace, p 6-8.
Hayek F.A (1993), The Corporation in a democratic Society, Oxford Clarendon Press, p 99-117.
Parkinson, J.E (1993), Corporate Power and Responsibility, OUP, Chapter-6.
Bruce Robert (2000), Corporate Responsibility, The Times, August 15.
Robert Collins (1998), Corporate Responsibility, The Economist, 14th march.
Bradley C. (1994), Corporate Control, Oxford, OUP, p191.
N. Vital, (2002), Corporate Governance, The Times of India, 14th Nov.
S. Wolman (1995), the Future of Accounting and Disclosure in an Evolving World, Accounting Horizons p81-86.
Samantray A. K. (2003), Green Productivity and Corporate Governance, Productivity vol.43, No.4. Jan - march.
Brad Bradley (1998), Corporate Disclosures, The Economist, 28 Feb., p.83.
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Internal Management Challenges for Effective E-governance -An Indian Perspective
Raghunath Mahapatra1
Verve Consulting Private Limited, Bhubaneswar, India
P. Sinnakkrishnan
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata, India
Abstract
In line with the international trend, the governments in India i.e., both at the center and the states have
embarked on the course of facilitating smooth interaction between the government machinery and the citizens
that it serves. In this context, the present paper looks at the aspects associated with the effective internal
government practices for efficient governance. The use of information technology to smoothen the processes
and make them more efficient are also explored and emphasized. The paper takes into account the experience
gained in government departments in India and from similar exercises carried out elsewhere.
Keywords: e-governance; Indian Government; Management challenges; Government machinery; Information
technology
1. Introduction
A large-scale change is being witnessed in India in terms of government and its functioning. New words, which
were being frowned upon for a long time, are being used to espouse the change. These include liberalization,
privatization, governance, right to information, e-governance, etc. Of these, e-governance is being described as
a domain that is going to influence and be impacted by all others in the picture. Hence, some times it is being
used as an end and at times as a means to the end. Hence, this subject is under increasing scrutiny now. There
are many aspects of this. Singla (2002) has detailed implementation of e-governance projects in India, various
blockades that normally arise when implementing e-governance projects and ESIA (Eliminate, Simplify,
Integrate, and Automate) framework for process re-engineering in government agencies. Marche and McNiven
(2003) have explored the impact of Internet on governments using a four-cell model that emphasizes the
dimensions of focus (e-government/e-governance) and centrality (citizen-centric/organization-centric).
According to Marche and McNiven (2003), most of the public sector organizations in North America and
Europe are beyond Web publishing and are gradually moving towards creating end-to-end processes that deliver
enhanced value from public administration. Spiers (1968) argues that the digitization of the government
processes could lead to a more flexible organizational structure. Gorry and Scott Morton (1971) have presented
a framework for analysing and planning for information systems activities within an organization. The present
authors have attempted to analyze the functioning of government and the internal atmosphere for optimizing the
e-governance process.
2. The Government Department
Handed down to Indian as a legacy by the British the government departments are, till date, as faceless and their
functioning as mysterious as they were probably at the time of invention of the system for the smooth
management of an alien populace. While the originators of the system have moved and made them more
accountable in their own country, the government in India has, for a long time, has tried to shroud itself and the
functioning in a cloak of secrecy. To keep the natives out of the system, colonialists have enacted the draconian
1
Corresponding author (Phone: +91- 9811308238, Email : [email protected])
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acts and inheriting natives have strengthened this to keep their brethren out of their reaches. Though egovernance was started late in India, it has aligned itself to the latest international developments and has been
able to keep pace with it. The unfortunate aspect is not being known and appreciated as the originators of the
system and the beneficial aspect is not subjecting the system to the unknown variables.
In simple terms, a government department is no different from any other agency providing services to its
client(s). The importance of this interpretation can be judged from the fact that while most of the agencies
providing services are not funded by the recipient (they pay for the service after availing it), the government is
funded by the clients i.e. the citizens who pay taxes to be served by the government. In this sense there is a
fiduciary duty of the government to provide the services since it is paid for in advance especially for running its
own machinery or in certain cases the client does not have much choice. Hence, economically the government
has created, for itself, a monopolistic situation and true to the nature of any monopoly the agency tried hard to
protect it by all and any means possible. It is in this context that the concept of e-governance and the related
regulations created by the government have to be seen be it the right to information or similar exercises. Seen in
this light, the initiatives mentioned above are corrective in nature since they are beginning to undertake
something that is long overdue, though a path breaking one. The works carried out in the government focus on
both internal and external aspects of the country and its governance taking into account the stability and growth
both internally and externally.
Given the situation as it is today the government working procedures have the following attributes.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The departments in the government process data.
In the process of data processing, they produce papers.
Each activity is handled through a process that is defin ed (CSMOP, 12th edition).
Structured rules exist to handle the processes.
Hierarchical manpower deployment exists in the departments and this enables them to follow the structured rules for the
processes with appropriate responsibility fixing and delegatio n of authorities.
For every process, the entry and exit points for the process have been defined along with the intermediate processes
starting with the entry point and ending with the exit point.
The departments, many times, work with each other by sharing information and data.
Most of the department access funds from lenders/donors/funding agencies through established processes and under the
sovereign umbrella.
3. Internal processes
A broad schematic is given in Figure -1.
Funding
Agencies
Sovereign
Government
Government
Departments
CITIZENS
Figure 1 Government and inter-linkages
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The internal processes of the government department can be described in the following steps. Since the
government, through its departments, is not to produce material for general and regular consumption, it has
been found that irrespective of the functions of the department the following steps mostly hold with some minor
exceptions in different places (Dept. of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, 2002),
•
•
•
•
•
Need arises for creating a document. Typically, the document takes the form of a file. The need might arise due to factors
that are dependent on the nature of the functioning of the department.
The document is created and it follows a specified route. This route depends on the officials who are to deal with it as
defined in the procedural manual with the delegation of authority and responsibility assigned to each official.
The sample activities that are carried out include entering the details of the file in a diary (the process is called
diarization), dispatching the file through an internal transmission system called ‘dak’ which is akin to a miniaturized
postal system, commenting on the contents of the file keeping in mind the various statutes, precedents, rules and
regulations in place, collecting relevant information from other departments as the need might arise.
Final delivery of the concerned file to the intended recipient
Storing the files and other records in a department in a prescribed manner so that it can be accessed for reference or
research purposes
4. Broad tasks
The activities mentioned above are followed in most of the major types of tasks carried out by the departments.
Some of such activities are mentioned below.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Answering questions raised by the parliament.
Awarding of the vario us contracts to various organization to assist the department in running the organization or in
improving it.
Monitoring and controlling the results achieved by the contractors/service providers, as the case may be, during the
course of providing services and on completion.
In case of the central departments, it is necessary to lay down norms and principles that the departments in the states will
follow.
Undertaking visits to the states for coordinating with the respective officials for supervision, guidance, collection of
relevant materials etc.
Undertaking public awareness schemes and plans.
5. Internal challenges
Due to legacy and nature of the work being carried out by the government departments and due to the nature
and severity of the responsibilities being entrusted to them, a typical mindset and working culture has developed
over the period. In short, the mind set can be described as protective and secretive. It was felt that the public
(who is the ultimate receiver of the services) has no inherent right to know.
Hence, information is provided on a need-to-know basis and the officials in the government decide whether
there is a need to know. This has led to a situation where the information has become a source of perceived
power especially in the absence of alternative course of action which the citizen can resort to for obtaining the
information desired. In many instances, the information that could have made the process simpler is not known
to exist. One example of such exercise can be seen in Figure 2. This or any similar example demonstrates the
following in general.
•
•
•
•
•
The process in general is not transparent enough for the receiver of the service to understand the complete process.
Information regarding the stage of process is not available.
Information regarding the details of intermediate process is not available.
No benchmark for a standard time that is required for the process to be completed is available.
Participation of the citizen in the course of the process execution is precluded due t o the above process.
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In many countries, the passport is considered as a sort of identity card whereas in India it is considered as a
precious document2 that is difficult to obtain and should be obtained only if a person has to move out of the
country.
On application for a passport, evidence is required for residence and similar proofs of existence and further the
application is subjected to the mandatory checks by various departments of government including the police
department.
As the present process exists, once the applicant deposits his application in the relevant department, he has no
control over the information. The recent initiative by the government to post the information of the status of the
passport on the Internet is a good move, but it ends there. The applicant has no knowledge of the location where
he can request for further action nor is there a method to give him any more information regarding the officials
involved or the steps that are being taken to hasten the issue of the document to him. For example, if police
verification is waited for then the applicant has no scope of taking initiative and getting the process speeded up.
Figure 2 Sample government process
The reasons for the above lacunae in the process are mentioned above and are the challenges that the
government must address before it can provide effective e-governance to the citizens. In other words, one could
imagine a citizen being able to determine (a) how long each of the steps in a process was taking; (b) who in the
administration had responsibility for each step; and (c) who might be contacted to speed things up (Marche and
McNiven, 2003). The response of the government, so far, to the e-governance initiatives have been to build
information portals and enrollment of external agencies as stakeholder. This has taken the form of building
websites, inviting proposals from the private sector players to provide value added facilities on the portal and an
attempt to make the websites and portals to generate revenue so that the initiative can be self-sustaining. While
most of these initiatives are praise worthy and the intention behind them is laudable, it misses one vital issue.
This issue concerns putting its own house in order so that the other activities can be self-sustaining on the long
term. To find out what we mean by ‘putting it house in order’, we need to examine the present functioning of
the government internals.
The government departments comprise of officials primarily from the IAS3 cadre who are supported by three
major layers of employees below them. These three major layers are officials (non-IAS), non-officials and the
support staffs. While the officials of IAS cadre take most of the decisions and undertake some of the
supervision, the enormity of the workload forces them to delegate the day-to-day supervision, control and
operational activities to the employees below them. Due to the inherent nature of the bureaucracy and the legacy
talked about before, there is no check and balances on the functioning of the staff. In the absence of benchmarks
and due to the lack of checks, the diligent following of the execution becomes the casualty. Added to this lack
of procedural precision is the attitude of the other employees who feel that sharing of the information will lead
to problems for their existence in the sense that they might become redundant or their perceived power over the
populace will vanish. They feel that “Administration is knowledge. Knowledge is Power. Administration is
Power” (Henry, 1989). While the two perceived problems viz. redundancy of manpower or reduction of
perceived power might be welcome to any progressive minded administrator so that he can use this in a
beneficial manner viz. retraining employees in a high end skills or changing the mindset to make the
2
The alternative to passport in India are multitude of documents like ration card (which is also a legacy of the destitute
times that India had faced earlier and hence, by nature, is subject to state control), PAN card from the income tax department
(which is a recent introduction and hence is not widespread and people fear of harassment on obtaining one and which
indirectly speaks of the alienation of public from the government), and similar ones. However these various documents do
not have any uniformity since they are designed for a specific group of people e.g. ration card is for citizen who need to be
provided sustenance by the government since they can not afford them other wise or the PAN card which is not applicable to
most of the citizens of India since they are income tax assesses.
3
Indian Administrative Service, the Indianised version of the Indian Civil Service used by the British. They are selected
through a rigorous national selection process and are primary members of the bureaucracy.
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functioning more equitable, these are not palatable to the employees who see themselves as the victims of the
initiative.
The above can be summarized in the points below.
§
§
Procedural inefficiencies
Attitudinal deficiencies
6. Tackling the problems
The two problems mentioned above are the obstacles in the path of good governance in general and egovernance specifically. Some of the departments in the government seems to be aware of these problems and
are taking steps to change the situation. The steps that are being taken are addressing both the issues in part.
While adopting a top-down approach can effect the procedural changes, the deficiencies in attitude have more
to do with perception and human psychology linked to society in general than any organization in particular.
However, the attitude in the employees should not be seen in isolation since that will be a myopic approach to
the problem. The individual attitudes are linked in more than one way to the organizational environment and
society that the people live in. A behavioral matrix is presented in Fig- 3 depicting the situation.
Secretive
Stifled
Snug
Ideal
Damaging
Organizational
Environment
Open
Participatory
Individual Temperament
Controlling
Figure 3 Individual – Organization fit matrix
Looking at this matrix above it is obvious that the ideal combination for an efficient e-governance model is to
create an open environment and have employees with participatory frame of mind. While it is almost impossible
to hire all the people with participatory mind set, (more so in government department where all the employees
are not hired with this mindset at the time of recruitment), it is possible to create an open environment that
awards and rewards the employees with participatory mindset. Hence, to start with this has to be a top-down
approach. The schematic in Figure 4 shows the mindset shift in response to a top-down approach where the
results take some time to effect.
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7. Tackling procedural inefficiencies
As mentioned above the procedural inefficiencies are encapsulated in the parameters below.
Promotion/Acceptance
Participation
Understanding/Acceptable
Protection (Should not happen)
Defiance (Can not happen)
Incredulity
Fig 4: Attitude shift (top – down approach)
In attempting to control virtually everything, we become so obsessed with dictating how things should be done
– regulating the process, controlling the inputs – that we ignored the outcomes, the results (Osborne and
Gaebler, 1992). While India has developed the image of being stable in terms of policy matters, it has been
possible, largely, by not innovating and experimenting, and instead importing time tested methods from
els ewhere and adapting them to Indian environments. This has resulted in an organizational environment that is
resistant to experimental change. Added to this is the rigidly hierarchic social structure that has been
institutionalized in India 4 . Subscribing to the view that government organization is a microcosm of the society
helps in understanding the reluctance on the part of employees to create a sharing and collaborative
environment and the lack of initiative to strive beyond their own domain.
The two points mentioned above will also help in understanding the need for a top-down approach in change
management and how this can be used effectively. Antiquated procedures are heavily dependent upon clerical
efforts and control. Hence, this has a bias towards the lower level staff in the organization and hence is less
officer/manager oriented. The steps required for the completion of the process are many and complicated. Some
processes do not move in a linear manner i.e. moving from one person to other. Rather they are circular in
nature to some extent i.e. the file keeps coming back to any particular individual several times for opinions etc.
The reason for the same seems to be inadequate delegation and demarcation of responsibility, authority and
accountability. This with the built in checks and balances of bureaucracy leads to a lengthy and cumbersome
process.
One of the direct results of the inefficiencies mentioned above is the multitude of repetitive tasks and hence
creation of redundant data and processes. Appreciating the ramifications of the above indicates that the most
4
This will explain, in part, why the abolition of the social development blockers like untouchability and caste
system had to do less with social revolution and more with legislative changes though the roots of the change
were initially through social initiation, but by the members from the high end of social strata.
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effective way of solving the problem is to simplify the processes by removing the inherent redundancies. A
sample method of simplification of the process is enumerated below.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Undertake a study of the processes as defined in the standard process document of the government (all the departments of
the government are governed by neatly laid down detailed processes)
Break down the processes into tasks, subtasks and steps.
Map the broken down processes into the organization structure and delegation of authorities, responsibilities and
workloads.
Undertake a survey to find validity and reality of the maps drawn in the step above.
Layout the maps and find the redundancies in the processes.
Remove the redundancies to streamline the processes.
While taking the above steps, the criteria for removing redundancies should be the focus on the consumer i.e.
the citizen who the departments are supposed to serve and transparency in the system. While it is possible to
recommend the above method for simplifying the process, the practicality of it should be considered since
normally the government departments are huge by default and hence the following factors might impede such
an exercise.
•
•
•
The size of the organization
Replicability of the exercise necessitating repetition of the exercise at different places and hence will consume enormous
amount of time and money.
Legalities that might be involved in changing the existing procedures which in practical terms means approval at various
levels. This, apart from the time required for drafting the letters and documents (which will be the victim of the existing
inefficient procedures and hence will take a long time), will bring to the fore the inherent power politics that is inherent
in the system due to the delegation of responsibility and authority.
Keeping in mind the above, an alternative course of action will be to use the technological tools available viz.
the use of IT. Keeping the above steps mentioned above in mind, since most of the processes are detailed and
documented (though not used in letter and spirit), it will be possible and feasible to transfer the processes into
the domain of information technology. This will entail lesser amount of money and time spent and will result in
the following.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Centralization of information thus leading to easier recovery and dissemination.
Distributed management of the centralized repository thus making it easier to implement the delegation of power and
authority.
Reduction and elimination of redundant information (with normalization of databases).
Easing of workload on the lower level of staff.
Making the system more officer/manager oriented thus bringing into focus the brain power which is inherent in this layer
of functionaries and hence, in turn, making the system more dynamic and efficient.
Access of the consumer to the information easier with least investment.
Better image for the government.
Paradigm shift from controlling to participatory.
Reduced risk of loss of information.
Ease of creation of MIS.
Creation of an open environment which will give impetus to the employees with participatory mindset
8. Tackling attitudinal deficiencies
Tackling the procedural inefficiencies will go a long way in creating a favorable environment to tackle the
attitudinal deficiencies since attitudinal deficiencies are to some extent the result of the procedural
inefficiencies. Since it is difficult to change an organic attribute like attitude, rather than an inorganic attribute
like procedure it is required to consider psychological and sociological parameters while doing this. If the
participant do not see the value in the change or see the change as a threatening variable, it will not succeed.
Keeping this in mind a sample methodology is described below.
•
•
In a way, it needs to be driven by a top-down approach i.e. the norms and regulations are to be formulated by the
employees at the top and has to be implemented in a phased manner.
Identify employees with a participatory mind set as change agents.
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•
•
•
•
•
Empower the change agents to take decisions and deliver as per the set guidelines.
Start with a small domain that is not system-threatening or destabilizing and slowly broaden the horizon to encompass.
Set time line and undertake periodic reviews.
Train the change agents so that they can become trainer after getting hands-on experience in the change management.
Rewards and penalties for employees participating and delivering. This can be done through individual rewards that are
publicly known and public recognition with tolerance for errors.
9. Usual problems encountered during implementation
Many government organizations have been implementing change management in different manners with
varying degree of success. The list below summarizes some of the problems faced during the implementation
process.
•
•
•
Cooperation of employees during collection of data or creating awareness. Most of the training sessions or seminars and
workshops are treated as get aways from the normal routine work and not as something that can be used in future.
Lack of belief due to lack of foresight and vision. This is also in part due to lack of communication from the top-level
officers, who still believe in directing and not guiding.
Skepticism about the outcome since in many places these are being tried out for the first time.
9.1. The reasons for the above are
•
•
•
•
Lack of a participatory mindset
Lower level staffs are either not willing to work and hence not working or over burdened with work and hence lack of
time on their p art to devote to the innovative ideas.
Promise fatigue: In government departments many a time, most of the things promised are not implemented. Hence,
people are wary of new things knowing that they have been promised in the past, but not implemented at all.
Fear of unfamiliarity: Since any new paradigm leads to less/great extent an unfamiliar territory, people in general are
wary of moving into unfamiliar domain with the knowledge of the future.
9.2. However, most of these can be tackled with
•
•
•
•
Education and Communication
Participation and involvement
Facilitation and support
Negotiation and agreement
In addition to the above, following states of a typical change management process should also be considered as
they are crucial for the transformation to happen (Rose & Lawton, 1999):
Steady State => Unfreezing => Movement => Refreezing (new steady state)
10. E-governance projects
IT implementation should be done gradually to get the support of the staff and officers. Proper training is of
atmost importance, without which the users would not be capable of handling the system well. Security should
be provided in the best possible manner. Many of the e-governance projects are contracted to outside
consultants with much smaller timeframe than required, limiting their ability to make any effective and efficient
change in the system. Implementation should also take care of the political influence and the corruption
practices inherent in the government processes that are to be digitized. It should also consider the vast size of
the government departments and the number of employees, slow computerization and deliberate avoidance of
such facilities even where computerized.
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11. Further Developments
The present paper can be augmented and strengthened by various other issues. The authors have tried to indicate
a few of them below.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Complete process stream lining.
Shifting the complete process into information technology domain.
Seminars and workshop for educating and popularizing
Financial and incentive structure
Technical fine-tuning of the process requirement
Replicability and enhancement studies
Comparison with initiatives in other countries with similar and dissimilar setups to gain the comparative knowledge and
learning points
Studies on IT literacy of the public along with other stake holders and its correlation with the success of e-governance
projects
12. Conclusion
It has been found that while undertaking e-governance initiatives more attention is given to short term and low
pain areas and recourse is taken to easy to implement tools in the domain of information technology. While the
use of information technology is an important contingent variable for the success of e-governance initiatives, it
should be a means to the end and not the end in itself. Processes can be reengineered to tune them for easy
integration with the IT tools. Since government processes are well defined and documented, creating the
appropriate environment and attitude can help in achieving the desired goal faster. In addition, since changing
of established environment and ingrained attitude takes time, short-term focus should be avoided. Similarly,
while the beginning can be made with low pain areas, it should not remain the exclusive focus.
References
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Dept. of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances. Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedures (CSMOP)
(12th ed., 2002). Available at: http://www.darpg.nic.in/Books_journal.asp. Accessed April 25, 2003.
Gorry, G. A., & Scott Morton, M. S. (1971). A Framework for Management Information Systems. Sloan Management
Review, 13, (1), 55-70.
Henry, N. (1989). Public administration and public affairs (4th ed.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Marche, S., & McNiven, J. D. (2003). E-Government and E-Governance: The Future Isn't What It Used To Be.
Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 20, (1), 74-86.
Osborne, D., & Gaebler, T. (1992). Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the
Public Sector. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India.
Rose, A., & Lawton, A. (1999). Public Services Management. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Singla, M.L. (2002). E-Governance. Journal of Management Research, 2, (3), 165-175.
Spiers, M. (1968). The Computer and the Machinery of Government. Public Administration, 46, (4), 411-426.
About the author
Raghunath Mahapatra is a management consultant in Verve Consulting, India. He received electrical engineering degree
from Sambalpur University in 1987, PGDBM from XLRI, Jamshedpur, in 1996 and International MBA from ENPC School
of International Management, Paris in 1997. He has a total work experience of 13 years since 1987 in Public sectors in India
and France, PWC and now in Verve Consulting since 2000. Further to direct exposure to the functioning of the government
and related businesses, his focus areas, as a consultant are in government sector, rural electricity and information
technology.
P. Sinnakkrishnan is a doctoral student in Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India. He received his B.E. (Computer
Science and Engineering) from Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. From 1998 to 2002, he was a
Software Engineer in WIPRO Technologies, India where he worked on a broad spectrum of SDH and SONET protocols
used in optical networks. His research interests are digital government and government machinery, cellular networks and
applications of neural networks in derivatives markets.
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Transformed Organization for Effective E-Governance through Genetic Algorithm
Pradeep Kumar1 , Tapas Mahapatra and Shalini Khandelwal
ICFAI Business School, ICFAI University, IDPL Complex, Gurgaon-122016, India
Abstract
This paper explores the possibility of genetic algorithms as framework to influence the design of organization,
organizational environment, providing the structure of interactions of people and facilitating their
communication. The organizational structure and people become directly involved into the evolutionary process
integrating the power of evolutionary computation with the competence of participating human beings. Finally,
transformed organization with the implementation of e-Governance will guarantee good and efficient
governance.
Keywords: Genetic Algorithms (GA), Change Management, Electronic Governance (e-Governance)
1. Introduction
Adherence to e-governance translates directly to availability of and access to all requisite information,
regardless of where that information may sit within the various departments. Further to this, e-governance
means ensuring that as new methods of conducting business are adopted, so the back-end processes must be
implemented to secure and protect that information for the period required by legislation. As government,
business and private individuals become more computer-literate and -enabled, so the need for client self-service
increases. An interesting challenge is to balance the demands of a few very literate, very demanding customers,
with a majority who will still take some time to move to the electronic world. This may mean duplication of
systems, with information stored in different forms - paper reports and invoices for many, electronic bill
presentation and payment for some. As it is known that the paperless office is still a long way off, and egovernment doesn't mean e-paperless - yet! NITC (2000).
There will be a need for significant mindset change among employees and customers, the majority of whom are
still very comfortable working the old way within their own domain. Implementing new systems is 10% about
technology - the rest is ensuring that the people who will use the technology are adequately trained and
comfortable with moving to the new ways. Technology change requires organizational change - new processes
require buy-in from staff and other stakeholders. Some trade-offs will need to be made, and the process needs to
be carefully managed to ensure that introduction of technology doesn't lead to reduced employment rates. As
the country's largest employer, government has a responsibility for the well-being of its employees which can't
be ignored as new technology is introduced.
2. Alternative Approaches
Change management can take either of two approaches. If those involved, on both sides, express an interest in
developing a better appreciation of “how the other side works and thinks” then some way should be found to
bridge the gap and enable people to share their alternative perspectives with each other. But in some groups
there is no inclination to take the interaction with co-workers beyond that functionally required and ensuring the
job gets done. Change managers will meet either or both types in projects, and accommodate each to assure a
smooth run. The problem with monolithic design is that they can only be implemented on an “all or nothing”
basis. If priorities change before funding and building is complete, everything is lost and change itself gets a
bad name. So modularize a change project’s design, so that whatever portions are built will be capable of
1
Corresponding author (Phone: 91-124-2455362/5, Fax: 2455484, Email: [email protected])
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adding value even as stand-alone components.
The problem with trying to plan a change project in government is that the objectives or methods themselves
may become part of the request for change. The rationale for a change may be based on the attempt to address a
particular issue that needs attention because of its political status. Just as political economists recommend that
the best economic policy for promoting prosperity is for the government to create a "good climate for business"
rather than trying to intervene on behalf of particular companies, so the best infrastructural support for
government is the general capability to improve workflow, service delivery, feedback, and public consultation
rather than to address a particular interest group or single idea. BC (1999).
Change management involves managing the value-chains within the project so that inputs are economized on,
transformations are appropriate, and outputs do provide the value being sought. Another part of value-chain
management is the question of the investment of project resources. On those few occasions when users are
asked, the answers given are rarely incorporated into the design anyway. Any new arrangement that places
longer learning time or higher operational demands on users, is not more efficient, and will not give more
productive results. In this context, it can be thought that – to achieve a better and effective implementation of eGovernance, a better organization should be evolved.
3. Towards Betterment
It is common place to note that the environment in which organizations operate is changing rapidly.
Governments and businesses are facing increased pressures to design and produce products with higher quality,
more rapidly yet more cheaply. At the same time, new technologies are rapidly relaxing fundamental constraints
on organizational design, for example, by making communication and data storage much cheaper or by
facilitating previously impractical interactions across time or space. Such rapid changes may pose problems for
organizations that have evolved to fit the old environment. In particular, the changes may make novel
organizational forms more appropriate. Organizational ecologists explain the diversity of forms by analogy to
biological species competing for resources (Singh and Lumsden, 1990). Those with forms more appropriate for
the environment are more successful at acquiring resources and thus tend to survive whereas those with less
effective forms tend to fail. Over time, this selection results in an observable match between organizational
forms and the environment in which they operate.
Unfortunately, these theories do not provide much insight into exactly what kinds of new form might become
desirable; it is said only that if the environment changes, new forms may eventually replace existing ones and
describe the processes by which this occurs. Indeed, Romanelli (1991) calls the question of the origin of new
organizational forms, "one of the critical unaddressed issues in organizational sociology".
4. Traditional Organization
Traditional organization is characterized by a structure that does not change often. Its lines of communications
define the structure of organization. Usually the structure of communication is defined by rules. The
communication process follows a fixed pattern or structure. Most violations of this pattern are harmful for the
system as a whole. For example, the failure of some part of the organization to perform its function often leads
to the failure of the whole organization or at least a large part of the organization. Routing the problem to the
wrong specialized unit will also result in functional failure. In these circumstances, reliability of parts and
adherence to the established structure becomes the major priority. To overcome these shortcomings, an
organization’s framework can be built around evolutionary computation and genetic algorithm.
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5. Transformed Organization through Evolutionary Computation
Traditionally, evolutionary computation (EC) is considered separately from the organizational environment in
which it operates. The organizational environment provides the problem to be solved and the fitness criteria of
solutions. As a result of EC execution a population of good-enough solutions is created that feeds back into the
environment. In this mode of operation, EC does not influence the structure of organizational environment from
which it is invoked. Instead, it serves just as a functional unit of a fixed structural mechanism. However, if we
look beyond one run of the EC process, the organizational environment has people who make changes to the
problem and the fitness function. This can be viewed as another process of evolution i.e. the evolution of human
ideas or memes (Dawkins, 1976). Intuitively, the two processes of evolution, computational and human, have
the same nature. Several authors suggested that genetic algorithms model human innovation (Goldberg, 1983 &
Holland, 1995 & Goldberg, 2000). If so, the efficient and convenient interface between the two might speed up
the evolution of the whole human-computer system. A framework can be considered which can provide such an
interface, creating a fusion of computational evolution and the evolution of human thoughts. Such hybrid
evolutionary process is interesting as (1) a method of studying innovative behavior of humans, (2) a natural
method of embedding the competence of human users into an evolutionary procedure, and (3) an organizational
method to improve the innovation ability of a group of people. This can be designed as a web-based system that
can use a human-based genetic algorithm (HBGA) (Kosoruko_, 2001) for its internal knowledge management
and innovation. The metaphor of organizations competing and being selected on the basis of their fitness is a
compelling one. Natural selection is also the basis of a heuristic search technique known as the genetic
algorithm (GA) used to search large problem spaces (Holland, 1992.). If we can describe the space of
organizational forms, we can use this algorithm to search it.
Using the GA to search for possible organizational forms has the advantage that variations in organizational
forms explored are not restricted by social factors, institutional pressures (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) or
human ingenuity. However, this advantage is simultaneously a major concern about simulations, the potential
lack of external validity. Computer models necessarily abstract from real organizations, the features simulated
must be chosen carefully to ensure that conclusions drawn from the framework can be applied more generally
(Burton and Obel, 1980).
The evolutionary organization processes have their own meta-structure. This is called meta-structure to
distinguish from the structure of organization that is created. The meta-structure can be separated into three
components: innovation (mutation and recombination), selection, and organization. Each component can be
computational or human-based. If it is imagined that the situation where organizational, innovation, and
selection components are all computational, then we get a typical genetic algorithm. This indicates that the
knowledge of the design of effective genetic algorithms to the engineering of the organizational component,
which controls major parameters of the evolutionary process.
6. Overview of Genetic Algorithms
The Genetic Algorithm (GA) is a mathematical algorithm that transforms a set (population) of mathematical
objects (typically fixed length binary character strings), each with an associated fitness value, into a new set
(new generation of the population) of offspring objects, using operations patterned after naturally-occurring
genetic operations and the Darwinian principle of reproduction and survival of the fittest. Due to the inherent
nature of GAs, they can be applied in the following problem areas: (1) Areas involving many variables that are
interrelated in highly non-linear ways; (2) Areas involving many variables whose inter-relationships is not well
understood.; (3) Areas where a good approximate solution is satisfactory (and no one is expecting a perfect
solution), like design, control, classification, pattern recognition, image processing, forecasting, model building
and data mining; (4) Areas where discovery of the size and shape of the solution is a major part of the problem;
(5) Areas for which humans find it very difficult to write good programs, like parallel computing, cellular
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automata, multi-agent strategies, distributed AI; (6) Areas where large computerized databases are accumulating
and computerized techniques are needed to analyze data, like genome and protein sequences, satellite data,
astronomy, petroleum, financial databases, marketing databases, world wide web, etc.
Since any organization or set of organizations (i.e., a part of E-Governance) offers a sets of huge databases, the
genetic algorithm can be applied to analyze the data and to come out with an answer. For example, in the
simulation, the population can be of organizations represented as various arrangements of positions into groups.
Solutions in the population can be evaluated and the most promising ones used in proportion to their fitness as
the basis for the next generation of possible solutions. In the simulation, the number of tasks can determine
fitness, the organization performed. New solutions can be created by crossover that is, by taking two existing
solutions, dividing each in two parts and exchanging parts to create two hybrid solutions. In the simulation, the
parts can be partial assignments of positions to groups. As well, a small number of mutations can be introduced,
although in most GAs, these changes play only a minor role. The process has to be repeated until one of the
solutions successfully solves the problem, until a certain number of generations pass with no improvement in
the solutions or for some fixed number of generations.
7. Interactive Genetic Algorithm
This framework can be extended to a concept of evolutionary knowledge management based on concepts of
genetic algorithm. It can use a human-based genetic algorithm (HBGA) for the task of collaborative solving of
problems expressed in natural language (Kosorukoff, 2001). This can explore evolution of natural language to
arrive at better answers to the problems submitted by its members. It can organize individuals into collaborative
community and uses their ability to perform intelligent crossover and selection operators on existing
knowledge. The idea of knowledge evolution in the most explicit form was suggested by Richard Dawkins
(Dawkins, 1976). Evolution of natural language messages was explored in neuro-linguistic programming
(Bandler & Grinder, 1976) and studied in the evolutionary theory of language (Pinker, 1998). Its main idea is
collecting more successful and humane ways of doing things, and then representing them in new mixes and
matches, the accumulation of systems and arrangements that work a little better (Eno, 1998).
The system so framed can make the evolution of messages systematic and explicit using the framework of
evolutionary computation. Human-based genetic algorithm (HBGA) is basically an interactive genetic
algorithm (IGA) combined with human-based innovation interfaces (crossover and mutation). In comparison
with a typical interactive genetic algorithm using only human judgment (Herdy, 1996, Takagi, 1998), HBGA
enjoys a balanced approach allowing and encouraging both convergent and divergent thinking of participants in
the form of evolution and recombination, correspondingly. This is accomplished by selecto-recombinative
interfaces, where a person can perform selection or evaluation or both, based on one’s preferences at the
particular moment. The use of natural language as a genotype representation was inspired by meme theory
(Dawkins, 1976). It can be said that natural language strings have a tight linkage of building blocks, since in the
most frequently used patterns of language their constituent parts tend to be located close to each other. Thus our
natural language by itself has a good encoding for the purpose of genetic algorithm. It can be hypothesized that
the structure of language has itself evolved to allow this tight linkage of building blocks. Such a structure makes
the evolutionary method of natural language processing efficient. The emphasis on recombination is the main
feature of genetic algorithm. From an EC point of view, online interfaces can be built on selection and mutation.
They will show ideas one at a time and allow users to evaluate them, to add new ideas and comments. Humanbased mutation happens when one idea inspires another, and the result is submitted back to the ideas bank. This
mechanism of evolution produces incremental continuous improvement, but lacks efficiency without
recombination operator (Goldberg, 2000).
In this, the method of creative questioning can be employed. (Ray & Myers, 1989). It assumes the separation of
messages into the two classes: problems and solutions. After such a separation, the fitness of each solution for a
particular problem can be evaluated. The division of all processed text strings can be done into two mutually
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exclusive classes: problems and solutions, by analogy with female and male distinction. This distinction will
create two levels of co-evolution, each having the same recombination methods, but different methods and
criteria for selection. The interplay between problems and answers in the system will create an effect similar to
the effect of creative questioning method. The selection process can be delegated to its participants as in
interactive genetic algorithms (Takagi, 1998), but processing of the individual evaluations will be different. The
system will act as a mechanism that collects, processes, and integrates the individual selections made by
humans. It can be assumed that humans are error-prone and can be considered as unreliable classifiers, so the
main purpose of the whole classification system should be to minimize the overall error of classification. This
purpose can be achieved by different decision-making mechanisms: ensemble averaging, arcing and boosting,
or multi-stage classification (Kosoruko, 2000a). The selection of problems can be performed according to their
importance, based on expressed interest of participants in each particular problem. This measure of fitness
based on the summed interest of all participants can be used to include a problem into the generated web pages
shown to end users. In this way, the problem in which many people are interested will appear in the interfaces
more frequently. The frequency of appearance of the particular problem in the interfaces and in dynamically
generated web pages can be thought as a measure of attention the system pays to a particular problem. The
selection of solutions can be performed according to their fitness in the context of specific problem. The method
of cascading classification which can be used for this purpose is based on creating an optimal classification
structure from individual elements and letting solutions propagate through this structure. The method of
structure assembly (Kosoruko, 2000b) is based on evolving the representations of classifying networks with a
genetic algorithm to achieve the minimum of the overall classification error. The interesting thing about this
system will be that it can define its identity, purpose, and evaluate its own performance, evolving the answers to
the corresponding questions. By collecting this information, the system becomes 'aware' of what people think
about it and which changes and improvements are needed. Self-awareness questions will appear spontaneously
in the process of evolution. These questions will be circulating through the system, because participants express
an interest to them. In this process, the questions gather human opinions and evaluations, making the system
aware of its purpose and its own performance. Human participants fill the purpose of the system with their
concerns and problems, and as long as these problems find solutions, the purpose of the whole organization is
also fulfilled.
The correspondence between the system and the genetic algorithm can be outlined as in the Table 1.
Table 1 correspondence between the system and the genetic algorithm
Genetic Algorithm
Gene
Chrmosome
Population
Fitness function
Generation
System
Word of natural language
Text of question/answer
Knowledge base
Human preference
Meta-interface cycle for solving a set of problems
Initialization
Solicitation of initial answers and migration of them from other populations
Selection
Crossover
Ideas competition
Crossover of answers / Crossover of problems
Mutation
Random creativity technique
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8. Transformed Organization
Earlier, the characteristics of the traditional organization have been stated. The transformed organization has
many contrasts to the traditional one. For example, in the traditional organization, the failure of some part to
perform its function (may be due to insufficient and timely data) often leads to the failure of the whole
organization or at least some large part of the organization. Routing the problem to the wrong specialized unit
will also result in functional failure. In these circumstances, reliability of parts and adherence to the established
structure becomes the major priority. Whereas in the transformed organization, there is no fixed structure. For
example, it can be determined that to which participant a particular problem will be routed in the novel system.
No matter who this person will be, his/her failure to solve the problem does not mean the failure of the whole
system. Instead of a fixed structure of interactions, there is a stochastic process that recreates the new structure
each time when communication is needed. In this case, the relationship between structure and process is the
opposite. Parts of the organizations are rather organic than functional. In other words, they have the ability to
perform different functions at different time.
9. Concluding Remarks
This paper considers a framework of a transformed organization through Human-based Genetic Algorithm. This
transformed organization can define its identity, purpose, and evaluate its own performance, evolving the
answers to the corresponding questions from the huge database of the organization. As GAs are robust adaptive
optimization technique and based on a biological paradigm, they perform efficient search on poorly-defined
spaces by maintaining an ordered pool of strings that represent regions in the search space. New strings are
produced from existing strings using the genetic-based operators of recombination and mutation. Combining
these operators with natural selection results in the efficient use of hyper plane information found in the
problem to guide the search. The searches are not greatly influenced by local optima or non-continuous
function. But the limitation with transformed organization process needs that the type of evolutionary
computation must correspond to the area of its applications. Technical areas need competent genetic algorithms.
Social areas need balanced or enlightened genetic algorithms. While competent genetic algorithms are designed
to achieve fast convergence, balanced genetic algorithms can be designed to achieve innovation and creativity
as a continuing process. Balanced genetic algorithms should be able to adapt to always changing or dynamic
environment otherwise the organization will die like a living organism which stop to adapt to change.
Nevertheless, utilizing this concept and reasoning, the organizations, keeping in mind the change management,
can be modeled in a transformed way so as to implement e-Governance in a better way.
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INES'98
About Authors
Pradeep Kumar is currently working as a Senior Faculty Member, Information Technology at ICFAI Business
School, Gurgaon, India. He holds B. Tech.(Mechanical Engineering ) from GBPUA&T, Pantnagar, Post
Graduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering from National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering
(NITIE), Mumbai and Ph.D. from the University of Delhi. He has published and presented several research
papers and articles in national and international reputed journals and conferences. He has also Co-authored a
book on Computer Application in Management. Dr. Kumar holds more than 19 years of experience in industry
and research. He has worked in key positions at leading public sector institutions of the country.
Tapas Mahapatra is currently working as a Faculty Member with ICFAI Business School, Gurgaon in the area
of IT & Systems. Has got more than 17 years of industrial and academic experience in organizations like REC,
Rourkela, United Nations, IBM, Asia-Pacific Institute of Management, and has vast experience in IT Industry in
analysis, design, development and implementation of different projects. He has published and presented several
research papers and articles in national and international reputed journals and conferences.
Shalini Khandelwal is a Gold Medalist in MBA and a Ph. D. in Management from Devi Ahilya University,
Indore. Dr.Khandelwal is currently working as Faculty Associate with ICFAI Business School,Gurgaon in the
area of HRM. She worked with Ranbaxy before switching to academics and since then she is involved in
teaching and research work for almost 4 years. She has published and presented several research papers and
articles in national and international reputed journals and conferences. She specializes in Organizational
Behavior and related subjects. She is also the Chief Editor of Srijanatmak Samvaad, the in -house magazine of
the institute.
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E-Governance and Re-Engineering Issues
Avneet Saxena1 and S. Wadhwa
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, India
Abstrac t
This paper examines the significance of the emergence of Electronic Governance as a challenge and
opportunity for Re-engineering towards improved Governance. The aim of this article is to emphasize the ReEngineering relevance in government to effectively harness E-governance strategy as an enabling force, in its
efforts to meet the present and emerging challenges of a digital age. The importance of Re-Engineering cannot
be overstressed with E-governance affecting various aspects of Governance including policy matters,
infrastructure, societal changes, E-Democracy, Community Ownership and providing effective and efficient
services to its citizens etc. It is important to appreciate the steps, phases and challenges of implementing EGovernance involving some re-engineering challenges. The obstacles that can be expected during the ReEngineering of E-Governance are discussed along with the policy to address several challenges. Increasing
number of consulting experiences are emphasizing that e-government is about the transformation of the
government structure and organization into a streamlined framework deploying the tools and medium of the
internet, thereby helping citizens and businesses keep pace with new opportunities in the evolving knowledge
economy. For instance, most of the existing Government structures are based on a functional focus. This leads
to poor responsiveness for any citizen whose file must travel through several departments (and various queues
and hierarchy of each department) before the expected service is delivered. The dangers of such functional
organization structures are well documented and Re-Engineering; of the Government, structures towards
process enterprise paradigm are globally important. Such re-engineering is challenging, as it requires political
will towards change and technical skills to envision a new working model that is acceptable to the existing
governance officials. However, the opportunities and the contributions towards global competitiveness are so
significant that this direction must be fully explored. More research and development efforts are needed in this
direction.
Keywords: E-Governance, Re-Engineering, Internet, Functional Structure, Process Focused Structures
1. Introduction
‘‘It will not be the brightest or the strongest who will survive but those who are most adaptive to
change’’(Charles Darwin). This is an age of fundamental and accelerated changes characterized by the
globalization of markets, ubiquitous presence of information technology, dismantling of hierarchical structures
and the creation of new organizational forms and networks (Carlitz, 2002). Growing around these is a new
information age economy whose fundamental sources of wealth are knowledge and communication rather than
natural resources and physical labor. McDermott (2000) goes further to suggest that whilst the second half of
the 20th century was about the revolution in technology, the challenge of the 21st century is to keep pace with
the international time element as businesses move from local and regional to a truly global environment.
Worldwide e-Governance is a major change initiative by various progressive governments and it is important to
envision the potential re-engineered structures that can offer higher effectiveness and responsiveness. ReEngineering is a radical form of organizational re-structuring based on process focused structures, rather than
the traditional functional structures. It aims to improve the interface between the diverse organizational
activities, which support the provision of products, and services to the customer, with a view to improve
business performance and market responsiveness. Exponents such as Hammer and Champy (1993, 1996)
emphasize the importance of adopting revolutionary new approaches to organizational design, maintaining that
the small, incremental improvements, characteristic of E-readiness and E-Democracy, are often inadequate to
1
Corresponding author, (phone: 91-9810230413, Email: [email protected])
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sustain the dramatic performance improvements, which are required to compete effectively in aggressive
governance. The advocates of Re-Engineering have consistently promoted the concept of the process
organization, although it is often unclear as to whether process structures should replace functional hierarchies
or be overlaid onto them in a matrix structure. It is important to promote E-Governance research into the
perceived benefits and costs of process structures, compared to the traditional functional hierarchies. In our
opinion, the focus of this research should be towards developing flexible and agile structures to cope with
change. History that marks its passage, stands witness to an oft-quoted adage – ‘Nothing is constant, except
change’. In today’s world, the most significant catalyst, the Internet, with its humble beginnings over two
decades ago, has inarguably changed some of the most fundamental constrictions that limited communication
and global outreach. Besides creating an instant medium that allows for real-time social and personal interaction
across continents, the potential of the Internet as a tool for wealth-creation and ubiquitous education have been
readily accepted, albeit much still has to be done in the form of implementations and practical realizations.
Such challenges are fundamentally rooted in the extraordinary expansion of Re-Engineering, the rise of Ecommunities, the growth of virtual organizations and the development of a truly commutative revolution that
carries the potential for new network based capacities to establish, maintain and modify the relationships of any
governance system. In our opinion, Governance needs to be now viewed as an effective, efficient, reliable and
responsive coordination in a dynamic environment where both knowledge and power are distributed. Every
organization is built on governance, whether formal or informal, ineffective or successful. The rise of the EGovernance refers to the new structures and patterns of decision-making, power sharing and coordination made possible, or even necessary by the advent of IT. In the private sector, for example, e-business is much
more than transactions on-line: it encapsulates the range of new organizational models built on technological
architectures, such as the internet, that allow governance to be redefined. The concept and system of governance
has been the slowest to absorb the benefits of IT. It is because of the way governments are organized. It is
important to promote Re-Engineering towards developing integral, scalable and robust E-Governance solutions,
employing multiple solution providers. It is useful to evolve a “Governance Model” based on Re-engineering,
from the perspective of Government structures, IT enablers and the global competitive environments.
2. Electronic Governance (E-Governance)
E-Governance or electronic governance may be defined as delivery of government services and information to
the public using electronic means (Uma, 2002). Such means of delivering information is often referred to as
information technology or 'IT' in short forms. Use of IT in government facilitates an efficient, speedy and
transparent process for disseminating information to the public and other agencies, and for performing
government administration activities. E-Governance offers an opportunity for governments to re-invent
themselves, get closer to the citizenry and forge closer alliances and partnerships with diverse communities of
interest, practice, expertise, conviction and inter-dependence within the context of national development
agendas. As a concept and an emerging practice, E-Governance seeks to realize processes and structures for
harnessing the potentialities of ICT at various levels of government and the public sector and beyond. The
concept of flexible regulation, which holds the premise that at each level or phase of the communication
process, the aim of regulation, in its broadest sense, should be to effectuate or bring about a set of goals for
society, which may be categorized into a number of basic democratic values, including: Liberty, Equity,
Community, Efficiency, Participatory Access and Universal Access. The route to E-Governance is only now
emerging, as governments and citizens around the world experiment with, and learns to exploit, new media and
the new information technologies. It is worth to mention at this juncture that at the core of the Global
Information Infrastructure lies the essence of Electronic Governance involves new styles of leadership, new
ways of debating and deciding strategies, new ways of accessing services, new ways of transacting business,
new ways of accessing education, new ways of listening to citizens and communities of practice and new ways
of organizing and delivering information. As a concept, E-Governance can be perceived to be contextually
inclusive of E-Democracy, E-Government, E-Business etc.
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3. E-Governance Challenges
There is a significant amount of research, experience and guidance available in the e-government area from a
variety of sources. We formulated set of offerings in e-governance, which range from visioning, strategy
development, process change, service and application selection, through to implementation. These offerings can
be used to assist government customers to formulate their own strategy and activity plans. In addition, as the
Internet becomes a primary access point for millions of citizens to access government, researchers and
educators will need to consider issues like: How will e-government influence the performance of public
organizations, What are the organizational effects of e-government and information technology, What are
successful implementation strategies for e-government initiatives, What skills do public employees need to
maximize their performance in an information age? These questions have several implications for researchers
and practitioners in the field of E-Governance. There is already evidence to indicate that by automating service
provision E-Government is increasing efficiency, effectiveness, and citizen satisfaction. However, more
baseline data needs to be collected to determine the longitudinal effects of e-government on public agencies. EGovernance is about transformation of the government structure and organization into a streamlined framework
deploying the tools and mediums of the Internet, thereby helping citizens and businesses keep pace with new
opportunities in today’s knowledge economy (IBM consulting group, 2000). Various e-governance challenges
in view of reengineering are: E-Governance is a tool to achieve a set of well-defined objectives that collectively
work towards betterment of society as a whole. Change management is a key challenge, Meeting the needs of
citizens by facilitating quick procedures, ease of interaction and instant access to information. Such G2C
interactions foster the adoption of a challenging citizen-centered model, Improved services for businesses
efficiently enabling and regulating a range of activities from international trade and commerce to agency’s
procurement of goods and services. This Government to Business (G2B) interaction forms the crucial
foundation for e-Business initiatives., Transparency in the government’s administration, which reflects
positively on anticorruption., Achieving a seamless flow of information and data across the different levels of
government. This is achieved through G2E (Government to Employee) interaction, where agencies provide data
to employees via intranets, email and enterprise resource planning software for online management, accounting
and decision-making. Along similar lines is the concept of G2G (Government-to-Government) interaction, with
electronic interaction between national, local and foreign governments and organizations. The major challenge
is to develop IT enabled extended and virtual enterprises for dynamic structuring for best services.
4. Issues and Challenges of Government Re-Engineering
Re-Engineering is defined as radical scrutiny, questioning, re-definition,, and redesign of business processes
with the aim of eliminating all activities not central to the business goals (Andrew Stein, 1995) . ReEngineering may be seen as an initiative of the 1990s, which was of interest to many companies. The initial
drive for re -engineering came from the desire to maximize the benefits of the introduction of information
technology (IT) and its potential for creating improved cross-functional integration in companies ( Stein, 1995).
Business process re-design was also identified as an opportunity for better IT integration both within a company
and across collaborating business units in a study at MIT ( Anjard, 1996).
Business
Development
Re-Engineering
Directive
Engineering the
New Business
Envisioning
Innovating changes
in Business Process
Installing the New
Business Processes
The Re-Engineered
Corporation
Figure 1(a) Re-Engineering Processes (Whitestein Technology, 2000)
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Re-Engineering
Yes
Incremental changes
No
Improvements
Radical
Changes?
Figure 1(b) Continuous Improvement and Re-Engineering
The initiative was rapidly adopted and extended by a number of consultancy companies and ‘‘gurus’’ (Okot,
2002). The extension to the vision of re-engineering processes to encompass the total radical re-design of
companies also raised great interest but organizations, which under took such radical Re-Engineering projects,
found the path to success difficult to follow. Okot, 2002 found that ‘‘50– 70% of attempts fail to deliver the
intended dramatic results’’. In our opinion, it is important to identify and re-engineer the critical processes first.
The re-engineering of specific processes and the resulting efficiency gains are, and remain, of great interest and
value to many companies. Figures 1(a) and 1(b)) show proposed initiatives or developments such as ReEngineering process to be viable and practical requires that there exist a fundamental approach and a proven,
reliable methodology, which is generally applicable and repeatable.
4.1 Government Process Re-Engineering
Study of existing processes
Government Process Re-Engineering (GPR) is the process of rethinking and the radical redesign of Government
processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service
and speed. The reengineering in a Government department can be carried out from within or the consultants can
be brought from outside. This phase includes examining the health of each Department and analyzing its ability
to accept change, constructing an inventory of the processes involved and determining the critically important
core processes, assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the existing processes in order to determine
improvement priorities. The decisions on priorities in a GPR should be on based on three factors - importance,
opportunity and feasibility. Further, the most important aspect is whether the existing processes are required or
not. It is also important to get employee and customer feedback, to understand this is the real requirement of the
system and its greatest priority.
Inventiveness for Reengineering
Consultants/experts should be consulted about the findings and then the scope and expectations should be
clearly described. Also, Executive support, sponsorship and required resources should be ensured. Appoint
experts who have the skills and knowledge of the process and Re-Engineering. Examine both internal and
external environmental forces. Document the plan in a charter with clearly defined scope, expectations, measure
of success and estimated resource requirements. Appoint a full time cross-functional reengineering team to
manage change. Reassess the organization’s readiness for change. Start with a clean sheet of paper, break all
the rules and define an ideal process. Then develop alternatives and use process benchmarking to find the best
practices currently employed by others. Test the consequences of adopting radical designs and trim they back
step-by-step as little as possible. Invent an idealized design, expand possibilities and then select best design.
Communicate recommended plans to all stakeholders and sponsors. Reflect the improvements anticipated
through the reengineering project within the organization’s goals and objectives. Communicate the results and
revise goals and objectives. Government process Re-Engineering requires innovative management and a
willingness to change. This involve the total redesign of an end to end process and may provide radical process
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improvement in terms of cost, perceived quality and cycle time. Such as redesign require an analysis of the best
processes as search to identify where IT could be used to entirely eliminate some of the activities in the process
(Saxena, 1996). Figure 2 supports the aforesaid discussion of GPR and reflect the continuous transformation
process through endeavors of challenges to achievement of desired goals. Furthermore, it may involve
considerable amount of resources and plan comprises various component. The focus here tends to be on
streamlining the tasks that are performed, which involve looking for improvement and achievement of goals.
Goals for Process Re-Engineering
In Government Services
Re-Engineering challenges
Ø Changing Requirement for market success
Ø Increasing global competitiveness
Ø Information Technology (IT Drivers)
Ø Concurrent Planning and Control
Ø Knowledge and Innovation Management
Ø Enterprise Modeling: Dynamic Systems
Ø Radical Changes for Quantum Jumps
Ø More Responsiveness
Ø Increased Govt Efficiency
Ø Work Flow Effectiveness
Ø IT offers new value propositions
Ø Increased Citizen Satisfaction
Ø Enhanced Information flow
Ø Strengthened Timely Services
Ø Encourage Citizen Participation
Ø Eliminate Data Redundancies
Ø Adherence to Policies/Procedures
Ø Reduce Fraud and Abuse
Primary component of Process Re-Engineering plan
Ø Effectiveness of the Solutions
Ø Enhanced utilization of applications
Ø Uniformity of processes- eliminate non value adding processes
Ø Integration, Automation: IT enrichments
Ø From Sequential to Concurrent Planning
Figure 2 Control Structure of Government Process Re-Engineering
5. Re-Engineering Significance In E-Governance
Over the last decade, Business Process Re-Engineering has been developed to enable organizations to become
process driven and customer-focused. Therefore, Re-Engineering has been generally successful for a variety of
Information sharing and adopting new technologies. It is important to appreciate the role of Re -Engineering in
E-Governance, to investigate the methodologies employed and their interaction with other governance
attributes. This included comparative analysis and benchmarking against a general Re-Engineering
methodology through in-depth investigations with four major attributes, workflow process, automation,
government resources and information flow and integrity on a shorter time-scale with a number of service
provider and a questionnaire survey. Electronic Governance offers an opportunity for governments to re-invent
themselves, get closer to the citizenry and forge closer alliances and partnerships with diverse communities of
interest, practice, expertise, conviction and inter-dependence within the context of national development
agendas. Figure 3 shows the framework in a representation conducive to Re-Engineering relevance in Egovernance where various stages replicate the continuous evolution of E-governance. As can be seen the
comparison of these evolutionary stages of E-governance while applying Re-Engineering in different context.
As a result, proper Re-Engineering with innovation is essential for excellent E-Governance in present scenario.
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Values
E-GOVRNANCE SCOPE
REDEFINITION
Values
Proposition
Reinventing the
Governance
Vision
High
Mission
E-GOVERNANCE
NETWORK
REDESIGN
Strategy
Degree
of business
trans-formation
E-Governance Set
up
Objectives
E-GOVERNANCE
PROCESS
REDESIGN
HORIZONTAL (INTERNAL)
INTEGRATION
Re-Engg. Process
Transformation
REVOLUTIONARY
LEVELS
E-Democracy &
E-Readiness
EVOLUTIONARY
LEVELS
LOCALISED
EXPLOITATION
E-Infrastructure
Low
Low
High
Range of Potential Benefits
Figure 3 Evolution of E Governance Concepts
6. Analysis of selected cases
These selected cases refer the reengineering in the early phases of E-Governance implementation and complies
the process in new evolving paradigm. This shows the importance of Re-Engineering to get vital result to
achieve appropriate predefined results. The change in the landscape of governance in recent years has been
dramatic and citizens are increasingly expecting the same level of service from government as they do from the
private sector. The adaptive challenges of governance go far beyond technology purpose. They call for new
organizational structures and skills, new forms of leadership, and perhaps even a redefinition of purpose. In
India, despite the government’s vision of a successful E-governance model, a closer look shows that
development has been uneven. It has been, what industry analysts call, an early mover advantage. States like
Kerala, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have adopted and implemented policy quickly and efficiently making
significant progress in E-governance. While it is accepted that there are islands of best practices all over the
world and in India, some islands of best practice are doing excellent work and making a big impact locally and
getting international recognition, the challenge for India is to coordinate the activity of these islands and create
an overall E-governance package. Information Technology has made a tremendous mark, specifically on the
way the world lives. Because of the rapid advances in this field, organizations are being forced to restructure,
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respond and renew their investments in IT. In table 1 we present our opinion on some of the important reengineering issues that will enrich the outcome of e-government efforts. It is important to point out that once the
re-engineering opportunity is missed, it may take years to get another chance. This happens due to the nature of
IT interventions including infrastructure and new decisional processes that get interwoven with the governance.
These are often difficult to change till a new IT intervention happens. The emergence of the new ICT has all the
attributes of imparting added value to the processes that give identity, form and relationships that characterize
Good Governance. The rapid development, deployment and proliferation of the new and emerging information
and communication technologies herald new opportunities for growth and development in countries around the
world. Governments worldwide are seeking to harness the potential offered by these new technologies to create
new dimensions of economic and social progress. This is possible only by applying Re-Engineering. In
particular, some Governments have seized upon the opportunities offered by the new and emerging information
and communication technologies to transform government, democracy, government-related transactions as well
as the embedding society, both economically and socially. Others have yet to begin to appreciate the impact of
the new ICTs. They have continued to depend on the traditional ways of creating wealth and providing services.
Government structures, particularly the private sector share the responsibility for the evolution of the new
digital society and the knowledge economy through focusing on people-centered development and innovation
perspective. Governance process redesign may focus on redesigning processes which may integrate departments
and functions but which do not necessarily result in the radical design of an entire organization. Figure 4 Shows
the Re-Engineering processes in the context of E-Governance and investigates the noteworthy advantage after
employing the Re-Engineering. The focus is on business process re-engineering, imp lying radical organizational
re-structuring; specifically, the implications of re-structuring along process lines will be explored from an
operations perspective. A trend towards globalization and a decreasing size of the government continues to be
the single most significant force to influence the future in this area. Governments set and promulgate policies
and are collectively the major spender on information and communications technologies and services.
Moreover, they are a major producer or potential producer of content and of innovation. In our opinion, reengineering of government systems and processes requires significant knowledge and innovation management
efforts. Thus, greater research in these directions must be promoted for wider benefits. The Go vernment
systems face an additional challenge of multi-objective, multi-citizen, multi-cultural and multi-attributed
requirements. They need to be agile to serve the changing nature of the needs of the people in an increasingly
global competitive environment. Several other domains such as education, health, agriculture etc may also
benefit from the re-engineering opportunities related to e-government. These must be explored for wider
benefits. Figure 4 offers a conceptual model summarizing the key ideas of re-engineering in the context of egovernance.
Re-Engineering
Directive
AS – IS
Governance
(File works,
Sequential
Process)
Lack of Decision
–Information
Synchronization
Governance
Developme
Envisioning
Engineering the
New Governance
Innovating changes in
Governance processes
Installing the New
Governance
processes
Slow response,
Poor quality of
decision making,
Costly,
Relatively
insensitive,
Poor quality of
TO – BE
Information
systems
Concurrent
processes
Full Decision
synchronization
Faster response,
Goode quality
decision making,
Cost competitive
(Long run)
More sensitive to
user,
Superior quality
of service
The
Re-Engineered
Corporation
Figure 4 Re-Engineering Processes in the context of E-Governance
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7. Conclusion
It is useful to consider the Re-Engineering challenges and opportunities towards improving E-Governance
effectiveness. The traditional functional organization in Government must be changed towards Process focused
Organization to offer better service to citizens. Perhaps the most encompassing aspect of Re-Engineering
challenges is its permeation of all aspects of governance and reform. Understanding IT is no longer a skill for
the technical component of the workforce, but rather its integration with information management and strategic
change is determinant as all dimensions of government activity are affected by technology. It is useful to
sensitize the top leaders on the importance of adopting new practices and the change management needs.. As
government engages in new forms of collaborative arrangements, work teams comprise sets of individuals with
a variety of formal, informal and overlapping reporting relationships. In this context, Re-Engineering focused
government must reposition itself to become engaged as a constructive partner in shaping the new collaborative
governance patterns. There is a need to promote the culture of knowledge and innovation management during
the re-engineering endeavors leading to effective e-governance. The Governance needs to be now viewed as an
effective, efficient, reliable and responsive coordinator in a dynamic environment where both knowledge and
power are well distributed. It is suggested that more research must be promoted in this direction.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
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9.
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Andrew Stein, (1995), Re-engineering the executive: The 4th generation of EIS, Inform. & Mgt, 29, 55-62.
Harvey, D.,(1995), Re-Engineering: The Critical Success Factors. Business Intelligence Limited.
Holmes, Douglas.( 2001), E-Governance and E-Business Strategies for Government.
IBM consulting group. (2000), E-Government: Making it work.
J. Bhattacharya, (2002), Middleware and Technology Standards for E-Governance, IIT, Delhi, India.
Jamal B. Shahin, (2000) Regulation, Governance and the Internet: the Quest for a Global Ethic?
John and Pat Griffiths. (1997), Strategic Planning for Information Systems, 2nd Edition.
K.B.C Saxena, (1996), “Re-Engineering public administration in developing countries”, long range planning vol. 29 No
5 pp. 703-711, Elsevier science limited.
Khalid M. Al-Tawil, Sadiq M. Sait, (2003), E-Governance – Where We Stand?
M. Hammer, (1990), Reengineering work: don’t automate, obliterate, Harward Business Review.
M. Hammer, J. Champy, (1993), Reengineering the corporation: a manifesto for business revolution, Harper business,
NewYork.
M. Hammer, S. Stanton, (1995), The Re-engineering Revolution: a Handbook, Harper Business, N.York.
Martha Dorris, (2001), E-governance subsumes e-democracy subsumes e-openness and vice versa, ICA 35th
Conference, Berlin.
M. Launonen, P. Kess, (2002), Team roles in business process re-engineering, Int. J. Prod. Eco.77, 205.
M. Hassan, (2000), Toward re-engineering models and algorithms of facility layout, Omega 28, 711-723.
P. McDermott (2000), What is E-Government – How Will It Affect Us? National Instt. of Health Forum.
Rhian Silvestroa; Charles Westley, (2002), Challenging the paradigm of the process enterprise: a case-study analysis of
Re-Engineering implementation, Omega 30, 215– 225.
Robert D. Carlitz, Rosemary W. Gunn, (2002), Online rulemaking: a step toward E-Governance, Government
Information Quarterly 19, 389–405.
Rogers Okot-Uma, (2001), Electronic Governance: Re-inventing Good Governance, Commonwealth Secretariat
London.
S. Rohleder (2002), E-Government Leadership: Engaging the Customer, the Government Executive Series.
United Nations Development Program. (2001). E-Government; Considerations for Arab.
About Authors
Mr. Avneet Saxena took his Master Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management. His areas of interest are e-business, SCM, egovernance, knowledge management and innovation management. He is presently actively engaged in research at IIT Delhi for a PhD in the
domain of DSS, CIM systems and Beyond.
Prof. S. Wadhwa (Eur. Ing. C.Eng., Phd (Ireland)), is a Professor at IIT, Delhi. His research area involves judicious use of IT in Enterprises,
Flexibility, BPR, ERP, e-Business, e-Government, Knowledge Management, Simulation, AI etc. He has international consulting / research
experiences with over 80 publications.
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Training in eGovernment
A. K. Aggarwal1
MIS Department, Merrick School of Business, University of Baltimore, USA
Abstract
Advances in Information and Communication technologies (ICT) are providing technical capability to provide
efficient on-line eServices. Both western and third world countries are recognizing the importance of efficiency
and accountability in government. eGovernement is changing the service process itself. Long waits are being
replaced by on-line services and paper documents are being replaced by digital documents. Customers can
access these from the comfort of their homes. However, for any sector to provide efficient services training is of
utmost important. Unfortunately training has traditionally been ignored and it is assumed employees somehow
will learn needed skills by themselves. This has lead to uneven expertise across employees performing similar
job. We propose three levels of skills that employees must be trained for depending on the services they are
performing and propose steps to achieve them
Keywords: Efficiency in eGovernment, Service-oriented training, Training modes
1. Introduction
eGovernment is creating an environment where governments are providing “more” for “less”. Corruption is
reducing and accountability is increasing. Many countries both rich and poor are joining the “e’ bandwagon.
Spatial boundaries are disappearing and national identities are getting blurred. Limitation on information
exchange is disappearing. Korea, Spain, India, Finland, Canada, Mexico, USA, Ghana and many others have
commitment to eGovernment and eGovernance. See World Summit on the information Society Government
(2003) for a comprehensive review of countries engaged in eGovernance. Governments are putting more and
more non-critical information on the net. Any traveler can find visa requirements of another country, and
employees can find abundance of information like policies, procedures and important holidays etc on line.
eGovernment is beginning to operate like non-profit eBusiness. The survival of eBusiness is “customer”
satisfaction which requires appropriate employee’s training. Quite often training is ignored in government
resulting in customer dissatisfaction and sub performance (Riley 2003). This paper distinguishes between
eGovernance and eGovernment and discusses eService based models for employee training.
Though governments have existed for centuries but the concepts of eGovernment is just evolving. In many
western countries the concept of eGovernance is evolving and many authors (Riley, 203) have made distinction
between eGovernment and eGovernanace. Before going any further we must make distinction between the two.
eGovernment involves providing information and services to interested parties using information and
communication technologies within the framework of country’s laws and regulations (Fountain 2003). Its
customers include citizens, businesses, other governments, visitors or any other interested parties. This
information dissemination occurs without human involvement less expensive
eGovernance goes a step further. Many have called it the second stage of eGovernment. It involves actual
citizen participation in government decision making (Coglianese 2003). Imagine a city hall meeting where
citizens are allowed to participate, deliver their views all on-line or contractors getting help and being able to
submit government bids on-line. eGovernance involves managing the eGovernment processes beyond
information. Whereas eGovernment is static, eGovernance is dynamic and interactive. eGovernance can go
1
Phone: +1 -410- 837 5275, Email: [email protected]
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even a step further in creating eKnowledge. For example, tracing visitors and using data mining technologies to
study visitor patterns and using it in promoting country among potential tourists. Its features are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Participative eGovernment
Improves eServices
Creates Efficiency
Creates Accountability
Treats citizens as “customers”
Interacts with businesses, local communities to create networked societies
Anti Corruption Tool
2. Training
On one hand the Internet is allowing customers to access information quickly and to make just-in-time decisions
and on the other hand and it is allowing a government worker to respond to customer’s queries quickly. In any
business “efficiency” and “effectiveness’’ are important measures of operations and decision making
respectively. This is no difference in eGovernment. eServices require appropriate training, a training very
different than what is needed for face-to-face services or accessing information from file based systems.
However, one thing that is often overlooked is employee’s need for training. Somehow it is assumed that
employees must already know what is needed to access information, make decisions and implement them in the
“e” environment. This is obviously not the case. An ill or untrained employee can be resistive and detrimental to
the “e” environment. Training/learning should be an integral part of any successful governance structure, be it
traditional or virtual. Many researchers have advocated use of IT for training employees (Alavi, 1997,
Richardson 2002). However research in this area is still emerging. It is not clear to what extent eeducation/learning can provide skills needed in e-governance.
eGovernance is a process and ICT is a vehicle to achieve learning goals of that process. It should be
remembered that ICT is an enabler and not a goal in itself. Training has many different levels. It is similar to a
course, where there are prerequisites, basic training needed for the course, course related training and advanced
training for future or professional course. Table I compares levels in eCourse and eTraining within the context
of a Database Course.
Table-1: Levels in eGovernment training
LEVELS
LEVEL 1
LEVEL 2
LEVEL 3
eTraining
Basic IT Knowledge
Basic IT Competency
Specific IT Competency
We propose following steps for eTraining in eGovernance:
•
•
•
•
Identify Goals
Identify Customers
Identify Service Requirements in eGovernance
Develop Training plans
3. Identify Goals
What is the purpose of eGovernment and eGovernance. This is where public sector can learn from private
sector. eGovernment reengineers the process itself, there are no more phone calls, letters or paperwork.
eGovernance changes the process as:
•
•
eResponsive
be responsive to “customers” need, reduce query response time; provide up to date information, suggest alternatives
eAdministration
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•
Introduce efficiency and become a paperless environment. Reduce corruption and increase accountability
eCoordination
Facilitate on-line and ongoing dialog between various parts of the society, businesses, political leaders, society icons and
other experts
This requires new form of training. Training goals must be established:
§
§
§
§
§
What do we expect to achieve?
Why are we training?
Whom are we training?
Who are the ultimate poten tial beneficiaries?
What are the success measurements?
In addition, customer’s need to know the purpose of eGovernance and how they can participate in its
achievement. Simply training in ICT without knowing the process would be meaningless and ultimately result
in frustrated customers. It is similar to having sophisticated systems but nobody uses it because of lack of
understanding.
To support above capabilities eTraining, as a minimum, will have to develop following capabilities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Web browsing competency
Basic computer knowledge
E-mail competency
Ability to telnet, ftp etc.
Ability to provide real-time on line help
Ability to provide Group Coordination
Ability to Maintain Data Bases and Data Currency
Ability to Create Knowledge
4. Identify Customers
Customer “first” must be the policy of any eGovernment services. It is important to identify customers and
recognize their needs. Training plans should be developed to efficiently satisfy customer’s needs. Since
eGovernance involves federal, state and local entities, it is not possible to describe each and every job. We will
look at some generalized grouping and describe tasks and match them to level of employee’s expertise. Broadly,
we can group jobs as:
§
Operational workers
Their job is to maintain and continue eGovernment operations. Their duties involve routine and repetitive tasks such as answer
emails and forward questions to appropriate levels. These workers are similar to assembly line workers in a plant. Basic IT
knowledge (Level 1) like familiarit y with email, the Internet and browsing through websites will be sufficient
§
Middle level Managers
Their job is to monitor day-to-day operations or plan for long-term eGoverment operations. They job is to ensure
eGovernment information is correct and emplo yees are responding efficiently to customer’s querie. This is similar to a
foreman or a supervisor in a plant. Level 1 and 2, IT competencies are required.
§
Top Level Managers
Their job is to plan for long-term eGovernment operations. They must plan for future eGovernment enhancements. Level 3
training will be essential to allow managers to keep with emerging trends.
§
Technical Personnel
Their job is to assure seamless IT operations. They must have expertise in existing technologies and be ware of evolving IT.
Level 4 training is essential for this group.
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5. Develop Training plan
Once service requirements are identified, next step is to develop Training plans. Training can be on the web or
in-class. Table-2 summarizes Training models. They are traditional and asynchronous learning modules. In this
form employees learn simultaneously. For example, there may be a PC competency class in a lab and all
employees in need to level-1 training could attend this. This is not pure eTraining since some human interaction
is involved. Aggarwal and Bento (2000) describe it as model “a” where web is used for information storage,
dissemination and retrieval. This form of training is good for learning pre and basic competencies that relate to
levels -1 and 2. As a first level course this also builds confidence as we move from traditional to web
environment. Instead of sending employees to an async web learning this form allows employees to learn basic
skills in a familiar traditional classroom learning environment. This is cooperative learning in the sense it
provides same “traditional” environment but the concepts are web oriented or web assisted. This also allows
formal training where first time students can get help from their peers in real time. The session itself could be
instructor free, ie, there need not be any instructor and all learning could be done through on-line videos or
modules. Instructor may be available on-line in real time to assist in case of questions or problems.
Table-2: eTraining Models
TIME/ PLACE
SAME
SAME
Traditional Learning
ANY
Module- based Training
ANY
Web/TV
broadcasting
ETRAINING (self-paced learning)
For more advanced students sync web training may be more appropriate where employees need not go to a lab
but could learn from their offices or wherever they are. This is useful where employees are geographically
spread and have basic ICT knowledge to be comfortable to learn long distance. Level-2 and some 3 training
may be appropriate in this form of synchronous learning environment. This still assumes co-operative learning
is desirable due to basic nature of skills involved.
6. Async Learning
This form of training is useful for one on one learning, where an employee can go to a lab or information center
and learn at his/her convenience. This is useful for managers who may require personal assistance and may not
feel comfortable learning with other employees. This is generally suitable for level 4 training where
professionals are needed to train for specialized skills or where busy executives have time constraints to learn in
sync environment.
7. Web-based Training
This form oftraining provides time and place independent learning. In this mode training becomes individual’s
responsibility. 24/7 eTraining is available. This is suitable for self-motivated individuals who have level 1 and
some level 2 skills. Individuals can go online, search the web, download appropriate software, research white
papers and train themselves in level 4 skills. In the IT age where societies are becoming knowledge societies,
the ability to etrain is desirable. It is economical and efficient. From employer’s perspective it shows initiative,
ambition and self-motivation by employees who are getting ready for eGovernance and keeping up with the
changing demands of their jobs. Though we have identified several levels it must be noted that every employee
for a given job may not need all level of training. As IT literacy is expanding many employees already have
some basic IT knowledge and in many cases IT competency. It is possible that a stakeholder may have some
but not all IT competency needed for a given level. In such cases a modular approach is desirable. This is
similar to Java applets or plug-ins approach where you download what you need as you need. For example, an
employee may have good word processing knowledge but may not know spreadsheet concepts. In this case a
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web-based spreadsheet modules could be downloaded and employee could learn it at his/her leisure. Training
improves efficiency, however it is not a static occurrence. As ICT advances and improves so should the training
goals. There should be continuous internal and external assessment of training plans and plans should be revised
as needed. It is important that trainees must be satisfied by their train ing to provide satisfactory services to
customers.
8. Concluding Remarks
eGovernemnt and eGovernance are becoming part of daily lives of many citizens. Governments are committing
millions of dollars to these projects with encouraging results. The objective of e-governance is to service and
support its stakeholders in a seamless on-line environment. This increases efficiency due to 24/7 availability and
efficiency due to enhanced accountability. Efficiency in government has been ignored with the perception that
government employees do not work or are ill trained to perform their duties. To provide efficient services
employees must provide ‘customer-focused’ services and above all must have commitment to eGovernance.
Employees must be trained to provide efficient eSupport to external customers. This paper has provided a
model that matches skills to jobs and suggests various etraining formats for needed job level skills. We
recommend eTraining as it exposes internal stakeholders to the web environment, which they must learn to be
effective in eGovernance. However employers must remember that training is NOT a one time static
occurrence. To foster continuous learning and efficiency it is important that training must focus on the "total"
needs of users, jobs and organizations and evolve with the external users. In the absence of continuous training,
there will be resistance to "change" as users become comfortable with the "current" technology
References
1.
Aggarwal, A, K, (2001) Web-Based Education (WBE) And its Diffussion – a panel, proceedings, ECIS, Bled,
Slovenia.
2. Aggarwal, A. K. & Bento, R. (2000). Web-Based Education, Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies:
Opportunities and Challenges, ed., A. K. Aggarwal, Hershey, USA: Idea Group Publishing.
3. Alavi, M. Yoo, Y and Vogel, D. (1997). Using Information Technology to Add Value to Management Education,
Academy of Management Journal, vol 40, no 6.
4. Riley, B. Thomas, (2003), E-Government Vs. E-Governance: Examining The Differences In A Changing Public Sector
Climate, available at http://www.electronicgov.net/pubs/research_papers/tracking03/ IntlTrackRptMay03no4.pdf
5. Coglianese, cary (2003), “The Internet and Public Participation, in Rulemaking”, working Paper Number:RWP03-022,
Harvard University.
6. eGovernment, (2003) World Summit on the information Society Government, Geneva. Available at: http://www.itu.int/
osg/spu/wsis-themes/ict_stories/egovernment.html
7. Fountain, Jane, (2003), Electronic Government and Electronic Civics, Working Paper Number:RWP03-001, Harvard
University.
8. Johnson, Beverly, (2003) “Why has Governance Become such an Important Issue in Government”, Western Australia
E-Commerce Centre.
9. Richardson, Janice, (November 2002) “Internet Literacy through Education and Awareness”,Task Force
eLuxembourg. Council of Europe Hearing
10. Zussman, David, (2002) “Governance in the Public Service: How is Technology Changing the Rules?”, keynote
speech Keynote Address, Commonwealth Center for Electronic Governance Integrating Government with New
Technologies: How is Technology Changing the Public Sector? ,Ottawa
About the Author
A.K. Aggarwal is the Lockheed Martin Research Professor in the Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore.
Dr. Aggarwal has published in many journals including, Computers and Operations Research, Decision Sciences,
Information and Management, Production and Operations Management, Journal of EUC, Transaction of DSS and in many
national and international conferences. Dr. Aggarwal has also edited two books on web based education, Web-Based
Education: Learning From Experience (2003) and Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies: Opportunities and
Challenges (2000). Hi current research include eLearning, Digital Divide,model bsed DSS and global IT systems.
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Indian “tech” Managers at Work: A Case Study
Devi Akella 1
Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India
Abstract
The Indian software industry recently faced a recession as a result of economic slowdown in US, leading to
software companies implementing several harsh measures like downsizing and restructuring of their respective
organizations. This paper examines how these structural changes could have affected the work and functions of
software managers with the support of data collected from a case study where managers were interviewed and
observed for a week.
Keywords: software industry, structural changes, work and functions of managers.
1. Introduction
India, in the last few years has emerged as the new silicon valley of the world with Bangalore, Mumbai and
Hyderabad becoming major hubs of activities. India has become the leading exporter of software products,
hardware goods, skilled in terms of web designing and electronic customer relationship management products
and also the only country which can boast of low cost, highly qualified software professionals in the world.
Moreover companies like Tata Consultancy, Infosys, Satyam and Wipro have become household names not
only for their brands or services but also with regard to management literature i.e., views of Narayan Murthy,
Aziz Premji and R. Raju etc. on leadership, organizational culture, values and norms
(http://www.indiainfoline.com). But recently, as a result of economic slowdown in US, the tech companies
faced recession and cut throat competition. To effectively combat external environmental pressures, tech
companies cut down on their costs through extensive downsizing, organizational restructuring, diversifying into
new markets and product segments, ignoring chances to “go up the value chain”, and adopting new
management ideals and methods. This meant more emphasis on team working and joint problem solving,
project committees and meetings, more intricate and effective communication networks, developing jobs with
substantial autonomy, variety and individual involvement to enable employees to be enthusiastic,
experimentative and creative (Nadler and Tushman, 1991). In other words, managers have new roles, functions
and responsibilities. This paper will discuss how these environmental changes could have affected the software
managers, in terms of their skills, and the work they undertake. The first section will briefly review the
domestic software industry of India, leading on to how recent environmental changes have had an effect on the
working styles of software managers. The next section will cover methodological issues while the last section
will deal with the empirical analyses.
2. Domestic Software Industry
Indian software industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Indian economy employing about 2.50 lakh
workers mostly from the highly skilled and educated segments. The software industry registered a turnover of
Rs. 36,500 crore in 2001-02, information technology (IT) services comprised 81 per cent of this and IT enabled
services consisted of 19 per cent. The IT services grew at a modest rate of 22 per cent, IT enabled services did
so at a rapid rate of 71 per cent. But the billing rates declined from $60-65 an hour to $55-58 an hour for onsite
work and $28-35 an hour to $18-25 an hour for offshore work. In 2002-03, IT services are expected to grow at
the rate of 28 per cent (http://www.indiainfoline.com).
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The Indian software companies have demonstrated their strengths in the four main domains of: banking and
financial services, insurance, manufacturing, internet and e-commerce. The latest software sector that is
attracting increasingly large interest and investment is IT enabled teleworking services like call centres, medical
and legal transcriptions, data and map digitization, web content creation, animation etc. India also enjoys a
locational advantage in the form of a twelve-hour difference with the world’s largest market—the USA. This
enables US companies to establish a round the clock software factories by subcontracting to Indian companies.
As mentioned earlier, India has a tremendous latent potential of man power supply, this possessing the capacity
to supply about 70,000 software professionals each year, which hardly meets the global demand. Indian
software industry can therefore continue to have a manpower led growth. In fact, much of India’s strong growth
in software in the past is attributable to the low cost of Indian programmers. Indian programmers are paid only
about 15-20 per cent of their counterparts in developed nations. Indian companies have a rich experience of
working with large global software companies. The forced subcontracting of large projects has also provided
Indian companies with substantial experience in handling and executing large sized projects. Indian companies
have over the last decade built expertise on a variety of platforms —from legacy systems to the latest state of the
art systems. India has more than 1200 high-speed communication links of 32-256 kbps, connecting this
infrastructure and communication links are provided by Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). STPI, an
autonomous society under the administrative control of Department of Electronics has established complexes at
Pune, Noida, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Thiruvanthpuram, and Chennai to serve the member
industries. Furthermore the government has also encouraged the industry by providing tax benefits to exporters.
In other words, software industry has enjoyed virtually unbridled liberty to conduct its business in the next
possible manner (http://www.indiainfoline.com).
3. Survival in the Midst of Recession
The domestic software industry of India faced heavy weather in the form of cutthroat competition and recession
due to the continuing economic slow down in the USA, which is a major market for Indian software exports,
thereby giving anxious moments to the exporting companies. The 11th September terrorist attack on the World
Trade Center and Pentagon and the resulting crisis of confidence facing the vast American market added to the
woes of Indian software exporters. To counter avail these adverse external environmental pressures, software
companies opted for massive downsizing and restructuring measures. There is focus on developing new skills;
competencies and attitudes those individuals through practice and by reflecting on their own actions and the
impact this can have on others. Next Generation employees are also involved in “Tech talks” for technical
queries, news and lunch bulletin boards, fun drives, cricket, adventure and dramatic clubs
(http://www.indiainfoline.com). Thus the traditional role of manager as someone who is responsible for the
“planning, coordination and control of the work of staff under their specific command, within the constraints set
by the policy and regulations” is being replaced by a brand of “professional knowledge workers charged with a
more general, less constrained entrepreneurial or leadership role (Hales, 2002). The new managers are
responsible for nuanced inspiration, expert advice, complex coordination, collaboration, negotiation and have to
be proactive change agents who engage in team leadership, negotiate across boundaries, promote organizational
learning to facilitate change. Management undertakes the new role of leadership who exercise judgement,
unleash creativity and are continuously taking risk (Hales, 2002).
Yet inspite of such debates on new managerial work as a result of organizational change, there still ‘remains a
noticeable lack of empirical evidence’ on this area of literature. Two research studies (Hales and Tamangani,
1996; Hales and Mustapha, 2000) have examined as to whether “decentralization” necessarily always gives rise
to new forms on managerial work. Hales (2002) also undertook case based research study on the effect of
decentralization and empowered post bureaucratic organizations on the work of managers in the countries of
Zimbabwe, Malaysia and United Kingdom in the sectors of retails, hotel and public sector organizations. Hales
(2002) argues that in these post bureaucratic organizations, there has been little change in the activities of
managers. According to him, managers are still preoccupied with routine, day-to-day monitoring and
maintenance of work processes, managing staff and processing information to the inclusion of instigating
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change, developing staff and seeking new business opportunities. This paper examines the new work and
functions of contemporary managers with the support of data collected from a case study where managers were
interviewed and observed for a week. The next few sections will support the above arguments with empirical
data gathered from a software company.
4. Methodology
Single case studies are eminently suitable where the case represents a critical test of existing theory or where the
case is a rare, unique test of existing theory or serves a revelatory purpose. This study was interested in
exploring the new boundaries of managerial work, therefore first it was necessary to study a small sample of
managers, their perceptions and observe them at work, so decided to go in for a single case study method using
multiple sources of evidence. The concept of single case study method falls under ethnographic research, which
involves so called naturalist modes of inquiry i.e., “…some amount of genuinely social interaction in the field
with the subjects of the study, some direct observation of relevant issues, some formal and a great deal of
informal interviewing, some systematic counting, some collection of documents and artefacts and open
endedness in the direction the study takes” (McCall and Simmons, 1969: 1 in Brannen, 1978).
This is similar to Watson (1994: 6)’s study on a telecommunications company, where he used a combination of
interviews and observation techniques to investigate managerial work (i.e., “listening, reading, speaking and
writing as well as observing”). Even Stewart (1982) argues that to clarify “what is distinctive about managerial
work” and to “seek to develop concepts for describing managerial activities”, the technique of intensive
qualitative research is useful. In fact, as Weir (1993: 2) notes, there is not simple “ethnography in management
research, so we do not know in enough useful detail what management is, what it is like to manage”. He goes on
to comment that simple ethnography is far from simple, but it relies “on an ability to use language, to observe
and to empathize, above all to listen quietly and to reflect over a long period”. It involves “feeling one’s way in
confusing circumstances, struggling to make sense of ambiguous messages, reading signals, looking around,
listening all the time, coping with conflicts and struggling to achieve tasks through establishing and maintaining
a network of relationships” (1994: 8). Yet, as human beings this is what one does, and goes about coping with
one’s lives, therefore when one wants to study managers going about doing their work, this is the right
technique and tool. For it is “through speaking to each other that all of us make sense of the worlds we move in,
whether we are trying to make sense of things as managers, as researchers or as part of our ordinary lives”
(Watson, 1994: 8). Thus the single case study method with the techniques of in-depth and semi structured
interviews and structured observation was considered appropriate.
The company to which access was gained is at present world’s leading provider of high performance
computing, complex data management and visualization and solutions, with its headquarters in USA and its
Asia Pacific regional branch in India at New Delhi. This company in this research paper will be referred to
under the pseudonym of “Dotcom”. Dotcom has branches in India at New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and
Chennai. Dotcom is basically “a marketing organization” with 27 employees at the end of 2001. A total of
seven managers were interviewed in-depth and observed structured for a week depending on their work
schedule. The guidelines, which were adopted, to interview and observe managers at Dotcom are briefly
explained next (a graphical representation illustrating the author’s methodological process is attached in the
appendix of the paper).
4.2 Playing the Listening Game
All the participants belonged to top levels of hierarchy and each was a qualified and experienced professional in
his/her own field. The names of the participants will be kept anonymous as desired, but direct interview quotes
will be used in the empirical analysis to emphasize and illustrate relevant information (Author, 2003). The next
issue to be considered was the level of closeness to be maintained with the interviewees. For this would
certainly influence one’s data collection, analysis and the overall conclusions reached. The researcher in an
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earlier research study on learning organizations (Author, 2003), had adopted the stand of an emotional and
passionate researcher, who took sides to give “more voice” to the passive subjects, who were being
“marginalised or oppressed” (Taylor and Bogdan, 1998: 6). This is similar to Westwood (1984)’s opinion that
empirical research, can never be a detailed monologue of what, where and with whom happenings being
recorded. In fact “one could go beyond that and report their findings on how one understood them, visualized
them and interpreted them as a highly involved individual” (Author, 2003: 117). For “live experience, everyday
life, the “real” world, are not simple and unambiguous phenomena which can be easily caught and reproduced
to obtain good data it would be better that the persons we are interviewing trust us enough to believe that we
will not use data against them or that we will not regard their opinions as foolish” (Jones, 1980: 50). The
researcher did not hand over the questions prior to her fieldwork because the gatekeeper did not demand it. All
the interviews lasted an hour and were tape recorded and later transcribed. The next sub section will explain the
role of an observer adopted by the researcher at Dotcom.
4.3 Playing the Observer Game
Participant observation basically is an attempt to put both the observer and the observed on the same side by
making the former a member of the group so that s/he can experience what they experience. But when one
chooses the method of structured observation, the researcher has no choice but to adopt the role of a “complete
observer” or a “fly on the wall” –“collecting attitudes and other data like a naturalist netting butterflies”
(Watson, 1994: 7). The researcher here is required to systematically record all her observations. According to
Stewart (1976: 235) one of the main disadvantages of structured observation technique is that “classification is
made by the manager who knows what he [sic] is doing. It is hard for an observer to follow all that is being
done, without interrupting the manager, even if he is familiar with the job he is observing. The difficulties of the
classification become much greater when observing an unfamiliar and especially a higher technical job”.
But in this case, this disadvantage should have been overcome because initially managers were interviewed
where questions were asked about their work and their world. This provided an idea about the field and its
features. The observer as Denzin, 1978 in Brannen, 1978: 169 notes, has to enter the “symbolic world of those
he (sic) is to observe: he must learn their language, their customs, their work patterns, the way they eat and
dress and make himself acceptable…”. Especially moreover so, because the researcher was required to be
constantly present with the managers of Dotcom, and understand their work i.e., look at their work from their
eyes. And this proved difficult on two major counts—firstly management that too in the software industry in
India especially in top hierarchy levels is still very much a man’s world. And therefore during informal
meetings (i.e., talks between colleagues etc), it was difficult for the researcher to easily interpret the meanings
and codes of the language used. For instance on one field day, the manager’s office was filled with his
colleagues, and they started talking about cricket, last night’s party, their spouses etc., at this moment the
researcher was very conscious of herself as a woman and the gender issue became prominent. Along with the
fact, that the researcher was an alien—a researcher in the managerial world. In fact, she was constantly asked
about management institutions, students and research undertaken by the management institutions in India.
5. Results of Empirical Analysis
As result of economic slowdown and the September 11th terrorist attacks, software industry in India, faced
recession and cutthroat competition. To survive these external environmental pressures, software companies in
India implemented a number of harsh measures like downsizing and restructuring of their organizations. This
has had an effect on the work, skills and managerial style of managers in the software companies. Managerial
work has undergone a change to include new roles of a coach, nurturer, adviser and teacher, the role of a
manager who ensures the “efforts of others come to fruition” (Peters, 1987: 418). There has thus been a gradual
changeover towards a softer and feministic style of management (Fondas, 1997), with contemporary managers
making use of qualities like empathy, responsiveness to employees’ needs, caring and sensitivity.
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The following paragraphs will discuss the various themes, which emerged from the empirical analysis.
The Dotcom company was also facing the brunt of the environmental changes taking place within the industry.
As remarked by one of the managers: “…there are pockets of recessions happening in the market…there are
pockets within niche areas where we still see enough potential to do business…”. Manager 2
The environmental changes taking place in the software industry were explained in more details by another
manager: “…our technology started to suffer, our business started to suffer, eighteen months ago, our
chairman…India is 100 per cent subsidiary so we followed in their footprints, the laws laid down have been
strictly followed in this country, so we anticipated a decline in revenue and in this anticipation of decline, we
had to decrease our expenses and one of the key areas where we could cut down are our employees, but we had
the least reduction in 1997/98, in the last two/three months we must have seen two/three people leaving…”.
Manager 4.
To deal with these adverse market conditions, software companies are reverting to structural and organizational
changes like downsizing and delaying of employees. One manager related his own personal experiences: “I
have seen lots of things in these few years, lots of good points, special points [prompts]…in terms of downsizing
and phases [prompts] …that is the first time I was involved in downsizing in 1997, then again in 1998, we lost
employees when we gave away portions to another company, we were 65 people in Delhi, then increased in
1998, but now we are 17/18 employees out here, one of other reasons not to go in for downsizing is, the places
we have is…”. Manager 2
This has naturally affected the work of software managers, who now have to undertake new responsibilities,
new work and need new skills to fulfill their functions efficiently. For software organizations to survive have
realized the importance of becoming cost effective, flexible and innovative in nature. Managers therefore have
to become more team oriented, capable of designing learning environments, conducive working climates within
the society, motivate employees to be enthusiastic and creative in nature and work, develop a network of
communication channels and negotiate with their employees and customers. Contemporary managers are being
given the professional labels of “knowledge workers” and new leader-orchestrators (Drucker, 1988; Mintzberg,
1998) who engage in fuzzy, complex task of facilitating and co-ordinating the work of employees. “Nuanced
inspiration, expert advice, complex coordination, collaboration, negotiation and proactive instigation of change
replace the mundanities of command, control and administration” (Hales, 2002: 55). Contemporary managers
engage in team leadership, negotiating effort across boundaries, promote organizational learning and people
who conceive and instigate change within organizations and departments (Hales, 2002). Managers now have the
freedom and power to take risk, unleash creativity and exercise their own judgement.
For instance, the chairman of Dotcom was fulfilling the role of a designer responsible for designing an
organizational culture conducive to learning, democratic and pro-employee oriented, employee empowerment
and equal worker participation. This was revealed in his words: “we have an informal culture, in fact almost
everyone will be on an informal basis, lots of people will refer to me by first name, some would call me as
“Doc”, or might say Dr. P…, but we don’t have a culture of saying “Sir” and things like that, we have a small
and flexible organization, have less than 30 people across the country and almost everybody could be, almost
everybody would be in the age group of mid 30s and upwards, we don’t normally employ people with less than
5/6 years of experience, but in the last year due to conditions prevalent in the market went and recruited people
in the marketing area with about three years of experience something which we had never done before but its
an open culture, very informal, very self motivated, should have to be very passionate about what to achieve
and expected to be focussing their energies on business…”. Manager 4
The managing director of Dotcom, first visualized an organization and put it in the form of a vision statement –
“of corporate values of the company, so the corporate values are of integrity, fairness for all result oriented and
passionate for one’s work…”, then introduces this culture within the organization. With the objective to create
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“an equal opportunities environment, harassment free, result oriented [pause] transparent and make sure that we
are fair to our employees…”. Next, managers are also undertaking the roles of a teacher who is interested in
training and developing his/her employees. At Dotcom all managers are regularly send on technical programs,
customer sales training programs and pre sales training programs held within and outside India at US,
Singapore and Hongkong. These programs usually ranged from t wo to seven days, involving physical exercises,
psychological tests, management development programs and leadership skills courses. Managers in Dotcom
also adopted the role of a coach who had to insidiously guide his/her employees. This was achieved through
various performance appraisal systems, which subtly manipulated employees not to deviate from their pre
determined behavioral identities, roles and functions (Townley, 1993, Grey, 1998, Author, 2003). As explained
by a manager: “… it’s a mixture of qualitative or quantitative measures that we have, at the start of the year I
define what their objectives will be, these objectives will not be in terms of, this is your number and this is what
you will do you should also define some qualitative criteria you should like now we believe in virtual reality,
what virtual reality means in terms of science or manufacturing and we are going to define that you have to of
new accounts which will give them this many new businesses. Large though we may be a sales or accounts
centric team, so one plugs in a number of new areas where they self improve, so at the end of the year we see
what you and your subordinate have achieved and try to map it on to terms what you have achieved or where
you feel you and your subordinates have contributed, so it’s a pretty transparent process”. Manager 4.
In other words, the manager enacts the role of a democratic and participative leader who wants to guide his/her
employees through their work and in achievement of career objectives. This is something like Senge’s “servant
illusion” where the manager tries to become a leader by seeking the co-operation and support of his/her
subordinates. Management now involved “energizing people often large number of people to do new things…”
(Peters, 1987: 418). As stressed by a manager: “…the whole idea is to be successful in business, be recognized
as a good leader in the country, make sure your team is motivated and make sure your people are successful…”
Manager 4. Yet, an issue to be considered as comp anies become leaner is that “…reduction in hierarchical
levels curtails a manager’s ability to promise promotion. New compensation systems that make bonuses and
raises dependent on objective performance measures and on team appraisals deprive managers of their role as
the sole arbiter of higher pay. Cross functional and cross company teams can rob managers of their right to
direct or even understand the work their so called subordinates do” (Kanter, 1989: 230).
At Dotcom, the managers now motivate their employees by increasing their job responsibilities, making them
project heads, giving them salary compensations or bonuses and sending them on training programs and giving
them incentives of letting them be associated with overseas projects. For instance one of the managers’ told me:
“there is a distinction between promoting the people or enhancing the responsibilities, we promote people only
when they are consistently performing well, exceeding expectations over a period of time okay, we enhance
responsibilities regularly for people, so anybody who is willing to do more work, willing to show himself [sic]
as an achiever we immediately increase their responsibilities, show it as a part of people’s responsibilities and
making them more accountable so if somebody is doing their work 100 per cent well, they will be given 100 per
cent responsibility, so that is the kind of growth we can show in their portfolios and if they are few people who
are performing exceptionally well or who have really taken up more responsibilities, so we can go ahead and
take them into the next level…so that is the way we operate” Manager 4. Thus, it is possible to argue based on
the above evidence that managers at Dotcom, were effectively practicing a softer and more feministic form of
managerial style: “…so my methodology of management is very flexible, if things are going well its fine but if
things are not going well, then become tough, sit with the sales people twice a day, understand where things are
going wrong, whats going on with the customer, whats the problem I am a hands on strategic manager…”
Manager 4.
In other words it is plausible to argue that effective managers of today are shrewd politicians possessing
knowledge and expertise in the art of manipulating and exploiting employees under the banner of democracy
and empowerment. This change in roles undertaken by managers from that of a figurehead, leader and
spokesman to a coach, motivator and leader. Managers have so far been conceptualized as doers whose
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activities do not always form a neat and problematic set. His/her work varied with duration, time span,
recurrence, unexpectedness, involved face-to-face communication, solving conflicts, developing and
maintaining informal relationships and negotiating with superiors, subordinates and peers (Hales, 1986; Hales,
2000, Hales, 2002). At Dotcom, managers described their working days as something of a virtual office i.e., 7
days 24 hours office. For instance the managing director told me: “…you can’t go and say this is my working
day. Even though all of us have a five day week we are travelling we are working on Saturdays and Sundays
also, we don’t have a defined work day, a working day as such [pause] like we work 50 hours a week and that’s
it…” Manager 4.
It emerges that the managers don’t really have a working day where they allocate so much time to each activity
instead each day has its own unique characteristics, new problems, which demand s/he constantly change their
managerial style to solve it.
Basically it was observed that contemporary managers now spend most of their day on three basic activities:
travelling, communication and paper work. As an interviewee explained with a leaner structure consisting of
just 27 employees situated at three offices in India, the managers now have to travel regularly about 2/3 times a
week to communicate with their colleagues, interact with their customers, plan and take decisions. He said:
“One feature of Dotcom structure is that, the infrastructure is such that I travel such a lot, I travel about three
days a week, so I am in the field, in the office so lets say, yesterday I was in Bangalore, then its telephone,
emails with these guys on an average I communicate with them twice a day. Now U…who is based in
Bangalore, now I work with him on field or in field at least once a week, one or two days in a week like
yesterday I was in Bangalore, then will be in Hyderabad tonight working with him on some opportunities. So
with travelling, communication [pause] we talk very often during the course of the day…” Manager 3.
In other words, roughly a manager was travelling 3 /4 days in a week. Secondly, in this age of computers,
organizations are virtually dependent on laptops and computers, as a mode of communication between members
of the organization as well as with outsiders. This is clearly evident in an interview quotation: “the first thing I
do is check my emails, my schedule for day, the tasks to be done, things to be completed…” Manager 1.
Similarly another supported the above evidence: “…in case there is urgent requirement, usually I will be
spending at least 30 minutes on the phone, with them discussing business opportunities, we communicate by
email, by voicemail or by the cell phone, we call at residences if necessary so that there is total
communication…”. Manager 4. Finally, this system 7 days a week 24 hours a day results in creating: “…lots of
paperwork, loads of paperwork actually…” Manager 4.
This is similar to Hales (2002) arguments that individual managers are still preoccupied with administration and
paper work. The managers roughly worked for nine to ten hours each day, of course when they were travelling
it was more like: “…most of managers would be travelling 10 to 12 days on a month and when you are
travelling a typical work day would be 11/12 hours a day, you start at 7:30 in the morning, looking through
your emails on the internet, breakfast would be at 9:30 in the morning so you would have to be sure you are in
complete email communication with your participants and colleagues and then one would typically go on to
9:30 in the evening where we would have a customary dinner, interacting with your staff, so it typically begins
at 7:30 in the morning and finishes at 9:30 in the night. That’s the kind of day I have…” Manager 4.
While a typically working day roughly was about nine/ten hours. This draws the picture of a manager,
constantly in front of a computer usually his/her lap top, reading emails and dispatching emails, doing his/her
paperwork, travelling half the week, communicating with his/her superior to be defined in terms of individual
responsibility and vertical accountability for an organizational sub-unit, and managerial work continues to be
preoccupied with monitoring and maintaining work processes, routine direction and control of staff and
processing information in order to deal with the ambiguities inherent in the dimensions of managerial
responsibility”.
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6. Concluding Remarks
This study suggests that the work of managers certainly seems to have undergone a change, managers now
enact the roles of a guide, leader and coach, to subtly manipulate employees and give them the illusion of being
self motivated and self controlled. To fulfill these new roles managers now spend most of their time
communicating with employees, peers, clients and superiors in an informal manner, usually talking across the
cabin walls, or walking into each others offices and talking it over, developing and maintaining contacts with
each other, negotiating with clients etc, computer has become an essential part of his/her life, emails and phone
calls (all managers possessed mobile phones) are the most used form of communication, even most of the
paperwork is done on one’s lap top, and then a lot of their lives is spend in travelling from their head office to
the regional office and in case of the managing director to the US to report what is happening back at home.
Managers now need to be proficient in interpersonal, communication, and negotiating and political skills to be
classified as an effective manager.
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Educating the Administrators on E-Governance: The First Step for Success
Piyush Gupta1
Consultant (Information Technology) MG State Institute of Public Administration, Punjab
Institutional Area, Sector 26, Chandigarh – 160019 (India)
Abstract
This paper discusses the State Wide e-governance Training framework for educating the Administrators. Some
of the state Government’s in India have already initiated the concept of CIO and a model for training the CIO’s
can be adapted from them. However, it will be more important to develop the second level which will be
working at the so called cutting edge for the planning, implementing and sustenance of e-governance projects.
There are various constraints in designing such courses, which have to be considered and minimized or
eliminated for achieving the desired goals. The Author while discussing the framework for creating and
educating the e-champions at the second level in the capacity of Deputy CIO’s in Government Departments, has
also identified and discussed certain areas of concern which need to be taken up during the training process.
The paper discusses the framework with respect to the Indian context, however the same will be applicable for
other countries.
Keywords: State wide e-governance, e-Champions, Attitudinal Change, Process Re-engineering, Process
Standardization.
1. Introduction
E-Government and e-Governance present challenges and opportunities to transform both the mechanics of
Government, and the nature of governance itself. It affects all Government functions and agencies, the private
sector, and the society in general. World over the Governments have taken up on their main agenda the task of
becoming citizen friendly. There is no doubt that serious implementation of e-Governance programme calls for
basic restructuring of age-old, archaic and colonial procedures and it indeed involves almost wholesale
elimination of the existing dysfunctional system of governance. What is urgently needed is the change in the
mindset of people in the Government, change in the philosophy, spirit and processes in bureaucracy,
development of a national infrastructure and a governing body on e-Governance for the whole country. Change
in the mindset of the people particularly at the top level in the bureaucracy and policymaking is important
because it is they who provide the leadership. This change in the mindset can be brought about by focused
organization development interventions and training.
In Government Departments in India, we have been talking about computerization at large since early 1980’s,
which saw a wider beginning since the thrust was from the political leaders. However, the message for
computerization was widely misunderstood by the political and bureaucratic circles. In the process the top class
technology was purchased with very little thoughts to the application and software development, leading to
wastage of financial resources. Since then, there has been a change and the Government started looking at
computerization as a tool for e-governance. During these years e-champions have been created in selected State
Government and Central Government Departments who understand the implementing issues of e-Governance in
true sense. As a result, such State Government Departments have changed their functioning from Government
centric to citizen centric. Still after looking at the amount of massive expenditure being incurred on hardware,
box software, and application software, and of-course the un-calculated cost towards the time and efforts put in
by the officials, the citizens have not reaped the real benefits of good governance or that of computerization.
There would be many reasons and lessons to be learnt from the failures and success stories of e-Governance in
India and the World over. Central Government and State Governments in India made a late start, the pressure is
1
Phone: 91-172-793589/90/91 Fax: 0172-793589/90 (extn. 400), Email: [email protected]
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on to catch up fast. The spur may not be competition in the conventional sense, but talk to public servants and
politicians almost anywhere, and the sense of urgency and excitement is tangible. Helped by the big IT
vendors, Governments are realizing that by applying much the same technologies and principles that are
fuelling the e-business revolution, elsewhere they can achieve a similar transformation.
One of the major reasons for success in e-governance is the degree of awareness related to e-governance issues
at the level of administrators. Training and awareness building amongst the administrators in the areas related
to e-governance is one of the first and crucial steps for the success of e-governance. In general technology
plays only 25% role in the success of e-governance and 75% is related to other issues. In India the Political
setup has created a break in continuity of such initiatives towards reforms. A change in the Political system
tends to bring a change in the existing Bureaucratic systems, in terms of transfers in the Government setup. In
such situations, it becomes impossible to have continuity in the on going or initiated IT projects by his/her
predecessor, until and unless the new administrator is also e-literate and has the same set of priorities for egovernance. That is why it will be important to lay thrust for training and re-training at the level of the
administrators. In this paper for clarity, the administrators will mean the Politicians, Bureaucrats, Head of
Departments, and other Senior Level-II Officials of the Government Departments, Boards and Corporations. In
case the State has to move to an e-governed State, it will be important to carry-out an extensive IT literacy drive
encompassing all the employees in the Government. In the long run these employees whether they have a
computer or not, but they will definitely have a positive contribution in making e-governance a success.
Taking clues from the e-governance success in UK, USA and other Countries it will be desirable to create echampions in the Country and then down at the State levels. Until and unless there are e-champions in every
State Government Department, it will be an imp ossible task to build sustainable e-governance models. There
has to be a two sided thrust – one to create 100% IT literate employee strength across the State and, secondly
develop e-champions as Chief Information Officer’s and Deputy Chief Information Officer’s in every
Government Department. The training needs at all levels have to be clearly defined with measurable and
achievable results. Before we look at the suggestive framework for Deputy CIO training, some of the critical
issues that need to be dis cussed and understood by the administrators are discussed here.
2. E-Governance and concerns for training
E-Governance is not just about Computerization: Mostly the departments have been computerizing the
processes, core or secondary as it is, without going through process re-engineering. This phase would require
major portion of time out of the total project duration. Here we need to very clearly understand the core and
secondary processes of the departments. Only employees of the department and not any IT professional can
only understand these processes in the true sense. Today there are process re-engineering experts who can
guide and assist the Government functionaries in the re-engineering process. However, the first step in this
direction would be to initiate sensitization workshops on Government process re-engineering. The major
recipients of training would be the administrative secretaries, heads of the department, section-in-charge, and
superintendents.
Non-standardization of Processes: It can be seen that most of the processes are un-structured and nonstandardized. These processes are not institutionalized and thereby keep changing with the transfer of
administrative heads. At the same time one could even see variations in the process within the same department
at different district levels. This would further become a hurdle in integration of the same processes at the
national level. Here, it would be good idea to do the process re-engineering for one of the departments at district
level and take this as a pilot project, and then replicate the same. Lack of awareness and knowledge of the
Government processes: Another area of concern is the gap of understanding about the Government processes at
the IT professional level. Since the understanding of the Government core and secondary processes is the most
important issue in the success of any e-Governance process. It becomes imperative that the IT professionals are
also trained to understand the same. Today, we have number of training institutions at the state level where
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extensive induction training courses are conducted for the new entrants to the administrative services. At the
same time they are also imparted training on the use of computers. On the other hand we have various
Computer training institutes imparting advanced and updated training for the IT professionals. What is lacking
is the induction of knowledge and training in the Government process to the IT professionals. Specific training
courses need to be structured for the IT professionals in Government functional areas. It is time that the
national and state Government training institutes take the serious note of this factor.
Lack of understanding of the software development cycle : There lacks basic awareness and seriousness to the
efforts put in the process of systems development life cycle at the level of administrators and functional heads.
This lack of appreciation and understanding has most of the time seen endless wait for approvals and freezing of
the system specifications. There is absence of absence of seriousness to take the system ownership by the
functionaries of the department and the IT professionals ultimately land up as system owner. The time taken for
finalization of system specifications are mainly because of the non-understanding of the process re-engineering.
User requirements get freezed after repeat processes because of the lack of understanding of software
development life cycle. All the above concerns add to the time delay of the project thereby increasing the
project cost, the loss of internal interest by the employees, obsolescence of technology, and additional financial
overheads.
Behavioral and Attitudinal Change: The main issue in moving towards e-governance will be the behavioral and
attitudinal changes, which the administrators in Government will have to undergo. E-Governance would mean
a SMART Government, which will ask the existing administrators to work differently involving transparency
and accountability. These new dimensions in the functioning of the Government Departments is already
showing resistance with the “Right to Information Bill” passed by the Government of India. The main question
we all i.e. administrators, need to ask is – Are we really serious about bringing this major change? Breaking
away from the age old procedures and systems in the departments will require a total re-thinking, and a need to
be start from afresh but small steps. We have the majority of the Administrators who are 45+ in age and others
who are in 30+ where the acceptability for the behavioral and attitudinal changes are very different. It will not
be an easy task to break away from the old systems and individual resistance to change. Also the saying goes
that “If we have to progress, we have to Change”. With every change comes an opposition, and this opposition
is mainly from the old and not the young. Thrust need to be laid to organize periodic workshops for behavioral
and attitudinal changes in order to have commitment and involvement in the e-governance process.
3. Sources of data collection
The Author of this paper is associated with the nodal State Training Institute of Public Administration, Punjab
(India) for creating IT literate employee strength and e-governance sensitization in the State of Punjab. The
present paper is the outcome of the involvement in designing and conduct of a number of training courses in the
related area at all levels in the Government machinery. The framework developed for the Deputy CIOs of the
State is the outcome of the authors experience from the number of training courses/workshops/conferences
conducted during the last of 2 ½ years. During this period a number of training courses were designed and
conducted on e-governance, Cyber Crime and Cyber Laws, Basic IT and other advanced courses for staff and
cutting edge employees in Government.
Over 3600 bureaucrats, senior officials and cutting edge staff
participated in these courses from State Government, Judiciary and Police. The responses and feedback from
these bureaucrats and senior officials of Government participating in the said training courses, by way of
questionnaire and interaction gave an insight to the author on the need for educating the administrators on egovernance. Such responses included their views related to issues involved in implementing e-governance,
citizen participation and benefits of e-governance, major benefits for the employees and Government from egovernance, security aspects to information and obstacles to e-governance. Interaction with faculty in the area
of governance, IT and behavioral sciences from various State Administrative Training Institutes in India has
also contributed towards developing the framework for educating the administrators.
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The author designed and convened a two-day International Conference on “Building Effective E-Governance”
in November 2002. Over 135 delegates from Government, Academics and IT firms from India, USA,
Australia, and Mexico attended the conference. The conference gave pointers from UK e-governance
experience which mainly included creating and developing e-champions for implementing of e-governance and
its sustainability. The author’s experience during the development and pilot run of a training module on “IT
Implementation and e-Governance” for the senior, middle level officers, has contributed to the building up of a
training framework for this paper. The module was developed as a part of the Capacity building UNDP (United
Nation Development Programme) sponsored project under Department of Personnel and Training, Government
of India. The author has been actively participating in various Internet forums discussing the e-governance
issues. To list a few of these forums are, [email protected], [email protected] and
[email protected].
4. State wide framework for training
Efforts have been made to frame a three-week course for the Deputy Chief Information Officers of the State.
This paper discusses the framework for implementing this course. Government Departments are required to
improve the Government-citizen interface and the service delivery system. These Departments are trying to
adopt IT as the mode for providing efficient and effective service to the citizens and its other stakeholders.
Lack of requisite knowledge and skills is resulting in unsuccessful development of (IT) solutions for egovernance, leading to heavy Government expenses and wastage of time. Officials of the State Government are
not aware of the steps for planning and implementing e-governance in their Departments. The concept of
Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR) also does not exist, which is one of the crucial steps for e-governance.
Most officers consider e-governance as mere computerization / automation. It is, therefore, necessary that the
requisite knowledge and skills be imparted to senior officials in the departments. It will be important to develop
core training infrastructure and competencies within the State for achieving successful e-governance. All the
States have their Administrative Training Institutes (ATI’s), which form the nodal training Institute for the
Bureaucrats and other State Government officials. There could be a synergy of core competencies to be shared
between these ATI’s. A National e-governance Institute could provide the specialized competencies, especially
for the State ATI where there are problems on the infrastructure. However, the core thrust for creating
awareness, imparting knowledge and developing desired skills for e-governance should be within the State.
Involvement of Private Sector in terms of faculty, and for case study discussions should be encouraged.
5. Constraints and Facilitating Factors to be considered
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Duration and Timings for the Course
Venue for conducting the course
Infrastructure for conducting the Course
Budgeting and Funds
Commitment from the Top in Government
Level of Participants
Objectives for the Course
Course Contents
Methodology for conducting the Course
Identification of Faculty/Speakers
Identification of Reading Material
Pre-Course Assignments
Course Assessment
6. Discussion of the constraints and facilitating factors for training
6.1 Duration and Timings for the Course:
Conducting training for administrators under the CIO or Deputy CIO will be difficult task, since learning about
e-governance issues, technology, methodology, success and failure requires sustained efforts and time. It has
been seen from experience that the administrators want to learn the things in a very short time without putting in
time. The dilemma is that if an officer wants to learn and spend time, he/she is not completely relieved from the
present responsibilities and is required off and on for the regular official work even during the training. On the
other hand the officers who are deputed for full time from the departments are not keen to change and do not
feel interested in learning. Mostly, it seems, they are deputed because their services are not required in the
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offices. Under these constraints it will be a difficult task to schedule the timings for such training courses. In
order to achieve the training goals it is suggested that such training be divided into modules of short duration.
The basic module may be of 3-week duration that will provide the e-governance conceptual framework and
inputs. Each session in the course will tentatively be of 1 hr. 15 min. duration. Subsequent modules may be up
to 1-week duration to provide learning reinforcement, governance case studies, technology update, and other
inputs.
6.2 Venue for conducting the Course:
It has always been preferred that the training courses are organized away from the normal working place of the
participants. This relieves the participants from their day-to-day files and office work. In case of residential
courses the outcome of the course has been better and the learning has been more effective. Especially in areas
like e-governance where behavioral change and team effort has been an important issue, out-station and
residential courses become more relevant. Such courses let the participants give more time for group activities,
even after the regular class sessions. The courses require proper infrastructure and planning should be done for
the following: Seminar Room, Different Syndicate Rooms for Group activities, Computer resources – hardware,
software, Fast Internet connectivity, Video Conference facility, Library facilities, Photostat, etc. facilities for
group activities and Boarding and Lodging facilities.
6.3 Budgeting and Funding for the training
It will be very important to do a budgeting exercise for such courses, since the major component of the costs
will be on inviting the guest speakers from other states, IT firms, and other costs on boarding and lodging for
the participants and speakers. The funds should be marked either from the State Government or partly from the
Department of Information Technology, Government of India. The Government of India, training policy
suggests 3% of the Department budget is for training, in spite of this the budget allocation on training where
high costs are involved will need sustained budget allocation. It will important that each Department, and other
Government Autonomous bodies allocate funds for e-governance training based on its employee strength. This
will be on higher side in the initial 2-3 years, and then comparatively reduce down.
6.4 Commitment from the Top in Government
Involvement of the Political leaders and the bureaucrats is of utmost importance for the success of any egovernance effort and initiatives. The Political leaders need to be committed for the training efforts being put in
for the administrators at all levels. They should be kept in confidence and even involved during these training
courses by way of invited talks, inauguration, valediction, etc. The training proposals need to be validated by
the leaders indicating clear objectives and fund requirements. Commitment from the political leaders will
surely facilitate for the sustainability of e-governance projects.
6.5 Level of Participants
It is very important in the Government to have a consistent and sustained leadership at the top in every
Department. One of the major problems faced by departments which have taken IT initiatives, is the lack of
sustainability. The projects are shelved as soon as the head of department is transferred and the plans or thrust
areas for the department may not remain the same for the new head. Therefore, it will be important to develop
leadership competencies within the departments and officials identified from the department cadre to become
team leaders for e-governance. U.K. is one of the role model in this direction, which has developed echampions in the Government to lead the e-governance initiatives. These models have shown their results and
greater degree of sustainability irrespective of the head of the department. Similar models have been planned in
the State of Andhra Pradesh (AP) in India by nurturing a group of officers as "Chief Information Officers"
(CIOs). In the State of Punjab the model being planned is at the level of CIO and Deputy CIO. In addition, e-
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governance training should spread to all the levels in Government: Chief Information Officers, Deputy Chief
Information Officers, Political Leaders, Top Bureaucrats – Chief Secretary, Secretaries, Heads of Department,
Boards and Corporations, Level I Senior Officials, IT Professionals, Level II – Superintendent, Senior
Assistants and Level III – Clerks, Steno, etc
One of the important issues in this concern is the identification of CIO or Deputy CIO. It has been seen, that
mostly the officials are identified based on their designation, irrespective of their interest in adopting IT, and
this is the dilemma. Both levels should be selected by choice of the officials, however they need to be the first
or second level in the Department, who are having decision-making capability and responsibility. In addition,
e-Governance activity will require more time in the initial stages of planning, however the officers identified
have to take up the additional responsibility of CIOs or Deputy CIOs. In the case of the proposed Deputy CIO,
the identification will take into account that at least, two senior officers are identified from each Government
Department of the State including Boards and Corporations. These selected Officers, after undergoing the
proposed training, will then play a leadership role in the planning, implementation and management of
Information Technology projects for e-governance in the State. Some of the essential criteria for participant
identification can be:
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He/She should be willing to take responsibility, additional/full time, depending on the policy of the Government.
He/She should have at least 8-10 years of service left before retirement.
He/She should be at a senior level having authority and direct interaction with the Head of the Department so as to be
able to push the project to final decisions.
He/She should have a working knowledge of computer on applications like MS-Word, MS-PowerPoint or any other
office productivity software, Internet and E-mail. In case they do not possess these skills they should undergo a fast
track training course to develop these skills before joining the proposed course.
6.6 Objectives for the Course: The Objectives of the Deputy CIO course, enables the participants to
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Describe good governance and role of information and communication technology.
Describe steps for implementing e-governance applications.
Undertake Business Process Re-engineering for the Departmental processes.
Describe Software development methodology and Quality Assurance standards.
Develop self-sustaining e-governance models with public private partnership (PPP) approach.
Identify key databases for the IT enabled activities.
Explain the State Government Policy related to e-governance activities.
Develop contents and framework for Government website.
Describe the legal issues related to electronic transactions.
Prepare a strategy report of IT project for e-governance for the Department.
6.7 Methodology for conducting the Course
It will be very important to develop the right mix of methodology to be used in the training courses for the
administrators. The conceptual courses should have active group activities and participation, supplemented
with other methodologies. Some of the proposed methodologies to be used for the Deputy CIO course will be –
Lectures, Discussions, Exercises, Group Activities, Case Studies, and Field Visits. The Group Activity and
Assignments for the proposed Deputy CIO course have been worked out under the following framework:
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The group size for each batch will not be more than 20. This will enable the course director to form 5 -6 groups with 4-5
participants in each group for project work during the course.
The objective of the group activity is to help the participants to work in teams and apply the learning.
Another important objective of the group activity will be to help the participants build team working skills,
communication and presentation skills.
During group activity, the individual groups should apply the learning on the assigned project topic to produce specific
outputs.
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The group outputs will get refined during the learning process and form part of the project work.
The output related to each activity will be put on flip charts and PowerPoint presentation format, followed by group
presentation and open house discussions, leading to necessary modifications.
6.8 Identification of Faculty/Speakers
The course especially for the CIO and Deputy CIO will consist of technical and non-technical inputs. Experts
and administrators involved in the process of e-governance should be invited to share their implementation
experiences. Involving such experts and officials will also be difficult and not an easy task, since it will require
calling them out of their heavy schedules and commitments. Identification of faculty and speakers for
delivering the inputs would be an important part for the achievement of the objectives of training. Involvement
of bureaucrats and politicians will be important, as their support and involvement will give first-hand views and
thoughts to the potential e-governance champions.
6.9 Identification of Reading Material
There is no dearth of reading material on e-governance. But it will be important to select and compile the
essential material and more important to categorize and sequence them based on the training sections. The
material should be in the form of handouts, checklists, case studies, articles, notes and exercises. It will be a
good resource to provide the reading material in a CD-ROM format. Case studies should form an important
input for discussions and lessons.
6.10 Pre-Course Assignment
Once the participants are identified or nominated the Course Director should start involving them and prepare
them with inputs for discussion during the training. In order to get the best results, this exercise and efforts will
require at least one-month time prior to the start of training. Pre-course assignment will be sent to the
participants, and they will be required to send the following information with respect to their present
Department so as to reach the course director at least one week before the start of training course. This will
provide the basic framework on which, as a part of a project work, the participant will be required to work
towards IT strategy for e-governance in their respective Departments. This assignment would include the
following details:
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Participant’s job responsibility
Computer knowledge and skills.
Activities of the Department – primary and secondary
Department’s organizational structure (indicating number at each level).
Expectations of the citizens/stakeholders from the Department
Flow of information/files for at least two
Bottlenecks/problems being faced in the above activities primary activities.
Present status of computerization, if any.
Details of the Website, if any.
6.11 Course Assessment
The first level course for Deputy CIOs includes extensive assessment at different levels:
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Pre-course individual Department level assignment.
Individual presentations and discussions on the pre-course assignment.
Group activity, presentation and discussions.
Group Project work, presentation and discussion at the end of course.
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The overall objective of the project is to consolidate the learning during the course by applying the principles
and methodologies to IT project for e-Governance in a Government Department, programme, or any other
selected area of the participants choice. Given below is a list of activities that constitute the project work:
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To study the chosen Department, programme, or area, it’s objectives, its current performance, and its plans and targets
for future.
To describe all primary and secondary processes those are carried out by the Department.
To identify measures of performance (indicators) for the above processes.
To illustrate the process flowchart of 1-2 existing important core processes from the citizen’s/stakeholder’s aspect.
To illustrate the reengineered process flowchart of 1-2 important core process from the citizen’s/stakeholder’s aspect,
including the process activity chart and constraint chart.
To identify Critical Success Factors and of these, particularly those that can be best achieved through IT support.
To breakdown the list obtained in step 4 into a list of IT applications and, for each application, specifying the scope.
To prepare a Perspective Plan for IT infrastructure – Hardware, Software, and Network.
To develop a Website Framework.
To develop strategy for funding and PPP with the suggestive Revenue Model.
To ascertain Manpower requirements and Training needs.
To prepare an Information System plan based on the above steps.
7. Concluding Remarks
There are opportunities in the process of e-governance, but technology alone will not lead to successful projects.
Nor will it create an information society for all. It is the role of various organizations and continuous
development of the human resource (not only intellectually, but morally) that may shape an e-governed society
for all. It will be a good exercise if a blue print for training and awareness on e-governance issues is planned
for all levels in the Government. The creation and identification of e-champions in every Department will be
the first step for the Government to move towards e-governance. The duration of the course at first level for
Deputy CIO has been designed for 3 weeks, taking into account the constraints of the non-availability of the
senior officers for a longer duration. The State Administrative Training Institutes should lead such initiatives
and build a strong e-governed literate administrative strength in the States.
References
1
Bata K Dey, (2000). E-Governance in India Problems, Challenges and Opportunities – A Futures Vision. The Indian
journal of Public Administration, July-September Vol. XLVI No. 3, p. 303.
2
Andhra Pradesh Government CIO course document. Available at http://www.ap-it.com/cio.html and
http://www.geocities.com/praghuveer/APCIO.html
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E-Governance Scenario in Delhi: Need for Change in Attitude
Amulya Khurana1
Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016, India
Abstract
E-governance is gradually being accepted and is gaining popularity, throughout India. In Delhi, though much
has already been done, in this direction, much more has yet to be achieved. There are reports of some
complacency regarding switching over to computers in certain government departments. In this paper, an
attempt has been made to analyze some of the positive as well as some not-so-positive features of E-governance
in Delhi. Can the attitude of employees be changed? What is the role of a leader in changing attitude and
behaviour of employees? How can they be motivated? Issues like these have been discussed and suggestions
have been made, in order to ensure success of E-governance.
Keywords: Attitude, Role of leader, Motivation
1. Introduction
The Information Technology (IT) has brought about a sea change in the way we now think and act. The effect
of IT can be felt in every sphere of life. It has indeed, contributed significantly to the modern civilization. The
computers and Internet have revolutionized the world of communication. Geographical boundaries are no
longer a constraint today. Now a days computers are being used in practically every field of human endeavors,
be it banking, insurance, finance, health, education, transport, space related research, science laboratories and so
on. Internet acts as a global communication platform among people, communities and organizations. Such is
the power of IT that the idea of E-Governance is only natural to come to mind, so that its unlimited potential
can also be utilized for the benefit of the citizens. The inordinate delay due to paper work and file system, in
practically every governmental organization/department, results in tremendous inconvenience to citizens,
besides of course, incurring huge losses to the exchequer. So, the concept of E-governance was mooted, a few
years back, to get rid of these ills in the system.
2. Publicity Galore
The official site of Delhi Government i.e. http://www.delhigovt.nic.in, wh ich provides a variety of information
about the government, its departments, local bodies, autonomous bodies etc. is frequently publicized. The site
also highlights the concept of peoples’ participation ‘Bhagidari’ in its various programmes , such as ‘tackling
urban transport, power sector reforms, Environment and Stree Shakti. Currently, a lot of publicity is being
given through newspapers, regarding on line facilities. Take for example, the advertisement given by Municipal
Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which reads: ‘MCD fulfills its E-governance commitment to Delhi’ites’ and has
highlighted the following online services that are now available:
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Introduction of interactive and dynamic website www.mcdonline.gov.in
Establishment of 13 Citizen Service Bureaus (CSBs) in all 12 Zones and one at Town Hall, Chandni Chowk to provide
single window citizen services electronically.
Zonal offices and CSBs have been networked using radio frequency connectivity.
Citizens can avail various services of MCD either by visiting CSBs or through MCD website by
Becoming a registered user. A person residing in a particular zone can go to
Any CSB located in any zone.
Networked Hindu Rao Hospital and Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for online registration of Births & Deaths.
Phone: 91-11-26581311, Email: [email protected]
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Crematoriums networked. Hence death can be registered in crematoriums and death certificate can also be obtained from
Nigam Bodh Ghat Crematorium.
Single Window Service at CSBs cater for Registration & Issue of Births & Deaths Certificates, Renewal & Issue of
Factory Licences, Renewal & Issue of General Trade Licences/Health Trade Licences, Booking of Parks & Community
Centres , Collection of Property Tax Payments and many services are on the anvil.
Another site (http://rcs.delhigovt.nic.in), that belongs to the Co-operative Department of Delhi Government, is
also, widely publicized. This site, besides providing much useful information, gives details of the recently
passed historic Delhi Co-operatives Societies Bill 2003, to bring radical reforms in Co-operative sector of
Delhi. This bill is based on Co-operative Principles and concept of Bhagidari. One of the many provisions of the
bill is, regularization of occupancy rights and membership to those who have acquired flats/plots on Power of
Attorney or Agreement for Sale.
Yet another popular site (http://delhi.mtnl.net.in) is that of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, which has a
separate portal for online payment of telephone bills, besides providing a number of other interesting facilities.
Then, there is the site of Income Tax Department, Delhi (www.incometaxdelhi.nic.in), where the relevant
Income Tax forms can easily be downloaded and other
useful information obtained. As per the latest
newspaper report³, the salaried taxpayers can also, now, file their returns online. These e-returns have to be
filed by the taxpayers through selected intermediaries nominated by the Income Tax department. It is the
responsibility of the intermediaries to transcribe and transmit the data even from a paper return filed by the
taxpayer to the department. In addition to the above sites, there are many more sites, which cater for not just
Delhi but almost all of India. One of the popular sites among them belongs to Railways (www.irctc.co.in),
which has enabled the citizens to make easy and quick reservation in the trains, while sitting at home. Then,
there are Public Sector Banks, such as State Bank of India (www.sbionline.com) etc., which are now providing
statements online besides quite a few other facilities. Like wise, Central Board of Excise and Customs
(www.cbec.gov.in), Income Tax Department (www.incometaxindia.gov.in) etc. have also made their
contribution in simplifying life for the citizens. These are just a few examples of how E-governance is gradually
picking up. However, the success of E-governance, in the long run, will depend upon how well, these sites are
maintained, how quickly the data is updated, how fast, the new data is added, how secure is the software, and
how much time is taken to respond to the grievances / queries; that indeed is the real test!
3. The Other Side
Looking at the other side of the story, a recent newspaper report (Babus still prefer paper to computers), brought
out some interesting facts. It started off with a statement ‘Old habits die hard, harder still where the government
is involved’. Delhi’s babus, it seems, love the conventional system of working with paper files too much to take
notice of new-age ideas of paperless offices and e-administration that have been sold to them for over three
years now. Hardly three out of every ten officers at the Delhi secretariat work with the administrative software
especially designed for their use, an internal assessment by the government’s IT department has revealed. The
government had commissioned four types of software from the National Informatics Centre – dealing with
grievance monitoring, file location, Plan funds monitoring and the daily schedules of the chief minister and her
government’s top officials. The promotion of e-admin istration has been the government’s goal since the time
the secretariat moved into its new home at Player’s Building next to the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in the
year 2000. About a hundred computer nodes were installed in the complex, and nearly half of which computers
have been fitted over the past three years. Some eighty officials over the level of superintendent and their staff
have been provided with computers, each of which cost the government approximately Rs. 45000/-. In most
offices, however, these computers are used only as glorified typewriters, to type out letters and memos. For a
vast majority of officers, the computer is a jazzy showpiece in their chambers. “I never use my computer”, said
a senior official. He further continued “Only my secretary works on it. I am hampered as my knowledge of this
technology is limited to sending and receiving e-mail”. The Principal Secretary (Information Technology)
agreed that there was a genuine problem. The older lot of officials, especially, is taking a lot of time to learn.
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Some of them are not even willing to learn. With officers refusing to use computers, the government’s
stationery bill is showing no signs of coming down. A huge Rs 15 lakh was spent on stationery last year.
However, the Principal Secretary (IT) is confident that the system will eventually work. “ Notings continue to
be made on files, but their location is being detected through the file monitoring system. Slowly, more and
more bureaucrats are beginning to use the systems . It takes time to ensure a change”,, he said.
Another newspaper report (Rs. 80 lakh down the DTC drain) on public undertakings, has inducted Delhi
Transport Corporation (DTC) of wasting Rs 80 lakh by delaying in-house computerization of employee
payrolls. The corporation spent Rs.37 lakh for buying computers and accessories that was never used. It also
continued to pay Rs. 73000/- to a company for five years, which meant an additional expenditure of Rs. 43.8
lakh. ‘The committee recommends department action against officers responsible for the acts and omissions’,
the report said. Escorts since 1981 and store accounting prepared DTC’s employee payrolls and National
Council for Applied Economic Research was doing financial accounting. The corporation purchased hardware
and peripherals at a cost of Rs.16.48 lakh in 1989 and installed them in one of the depots in north Delhi.
‘However, none of the application, payroll system, store and financial accounting was installed in these
computers ’, the report said. The DTC board had decided to stop computerization of payroll from Escorts with
effect from January 1995. It recommended that the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways carry out
the work. Despite the facility extended by the Union Ministry, the report observed that, DTC made no effort to
develop in-house computerization and continued the payroll work through Escorts. The report states that ‘ lack
of expertise in DTC and inexperience of Union Road Transport Ministry officials to develop the in-house
computerization on a large scale commercial application was the main reason, which prompted DTC to fall
back on Escorts.
These newspapers reports suggest that there is a lack of seriousness on the part of the authorities concerned, for
the successful implementation of E-governance. Unless there is a high degree of motivation and a tremendous
sense of dedication by one and all, it would not be an easy going for the government, to achieve what it has set
out for. Therefore, there is a need to reach at the root of the problem, because, unless the root is taken care of,
the greenery of the tree cannot be ensured.
The editorial page of a newspaper (Our Babus are Not to Blame) states a new agenda for India’s ailing
bureaucracy. Must we blame our Babus for all the ills? India’s once hallowed ‘steel frame’ has long since
become a rusted iron cage - of corruption, sloth and unaccountability. Some time back, a high-powered
committee had suggested a series of steps to bring the civil service in line with best global practices. At the
heart of the proposed reforms lies the idea that India’s babus perform poorly primarily because their service
conditions are far too generous. Unlike the private sector, employment in the government puts little premium on
performance, competence and specialization. Instead, it promotes a climate of complacency through automatic
promotions, security of tenure and blind adherence to seniority. Need less to say, a complete rewriting of
service rules can alone alter the way, the bureaucracy works. However, it is easy said than done. While the
corporate model, which implicitly justifies the committee’s recommendations, hardly fits the idea of public
service. The goals of a government, unlike a corporate, are complex and often contradictory. The promotion of
‘social justice’, for instance, requires the bureaucracy to act in ways, which can scarcely be assessed in terms of
efficiency or enhancement of revenues. Any blueprint for our babudom must factor in these democratic
imperatives.
The best course, therefore, would be to somehow, revive the value system, of which India was once, so proud
of. The pledge taken by officers/professionals at the time of completion of training or during training has to be
reminded to them, periodically and be sincerely practiced. For this, however, the leaders at the top have to
show personal examples and serve as role models. Then and then only, the subordinates can be expected to
follow them. Easy said than done, right! Because, it is good to reform but who will reform the reformer?
However, the transformation is indeed, possible through attitudinal change and motivation.
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4. Role of a Leader in Changing Attitudes and Behaviour
The term ‘attitude’, though one of the most widely used concepts in psychology, has developed diverse
meanings. From the perspective of social psychology, attitudes are precursors of behaviour. An attitude is a
predisposition, which influences a person to respond in a certain way (Ferland and Ferland, 1999). Attitude was
defined by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) as ‘a learned disposition to respond in a consistently favourable manner
with respect to a given object’. Thurstone (1946) considered attitude as a degree of positive or negative affect
associated with some psychological object.
As per Sharma (2003), the age of science does not refer to technology only; it also refers to the attitude, the
lifestyle and the total philosophy of life. There is no dearth of knowledge or ideas; what is lacking is good
behaviour and conduct. Our values are buried under materialism. Kelman (1958) realized that change, both
behavioral and attitudinal, varies in its degree of permanence and effect. Some people make ‘shallow’ changes
but are unable to, or have no intention of, making the changes permanent or altering the attitudes behind them.
Others change not only their behavior but their underlying attitudes and ways of thinking. Kelman & Hamilton
(1989) proposed that there are three ways of influencing and producing attitude change in others:
•
•
•
Compliance: The person being influenced accepts the influence because he or she expects to obtain a favorable reaction from
the person who is exerting the influence.
Identification: A person accepts influence because he or she ide ntifies with the influencer and wants to create or maintain an
association with the influencer. The person influenced only in the appropriate role maintains the behavior that the influencer
wants.
Internalization: A person accepts influence because the influencer’s demands are consistent with his or her values. The
behavior that occurs as a result of the influence is rewarding and becomes part of the normal repertoire of the person who was
influenced. Further influence is not necessary to maintain the behavior.
According to Suri and Chhabra (2003), once formed, attitudes have a tendency to persist and are very difficult
to change. The main difficulty in changing attitudes is resistance on the part of people to change. They do not
want to be informed that they are wrong in their thoughts and feelings. But attempts to change attitudes are
very common. Since attitudes are acquired through the process of learning, they can also be changed
through the process of education. In this process, leadership plays an important role. A leader is one who is
able to influence the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of other person or a group of persons for some
objective. Changing any one or more of the following factors can change attitudes:
§
Change in ideas and beliefs: Supplying sufficient amount of desired information to the person can make when the reason for
the undesirable attitude is insufficient or misleading information, attempts to change such attitudes. For example, people can
be seen possessing negative attitude towards the staff at the railway reservation counters. They believe that the staff avoids the
work. Therefore, whenever there is some delay in getting reservation, people express their anguish towards the staff. Drawing
the attention of public towards the circumstances in which the staff works can change such a negative attitude. Some times, the
staff is to deal with illiterate passengers, which consumes lot of their time.
§
Change in feelings or emotions: Some times, attempts to change ideas and beliefs by providing facts are without effect on the
negative attitude towards some thing because of the strong impact of emotions on such attitudes. The most effective way in
such circumstances is ‘listening’. That is why, complaint boxes are provided in some organizations. Some government
departments organize open house meetings with the public to listen to their grievances. This goes a long way in changing the
negative attitude of people.
§
Change in situation: To change an undesirable attitude, some situational variables, which are causing such an attitude, could
be modified. For example, if inadequate pay is the cause of the negative attitude, then pay increase may be planned. A few
more examples of situational variables, which may affect attitude towards job, are communication among people at work,
nature of the job, management practices, style of supervision and work groups.
§
Change in behaviour: In the ultimate analysis, the undesirable behaviour accompanying some attitude is the focus of change.
Though it is a direct method of changing some undesirable attitude, it is more complicated and not likely to last long. For
example, if a person has a negative attitude towards his job, he may absent himself from the work more often. If punishment is
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planned for absenteeism, the person may become more regular but may express his attitude in some other manner. He may
slow down the work. Thus the attempt to change behaviour requires close watch because the undesirable attitude may not have
changed at all and the undesirable behaviour accompanying such an attitude may have only gone underground or the
undesirable behaviour may have been replaced by some other undesirable behaviour.
5. Some Motivational Techniques
It is a well-established fact that motivation and performance have a definite link. How to motivate the personnel
to do what needs to be done, has always been the concern of organizations. To motivate means to produce
goal-oriented behaviour. Since citizens’ satis faction is the ultimate goal in E-governance, motivating employees
at all levels is the most critical and most important function of the top-level leaders. Almost every aspect of the
personnel function depends on motivational attributes. It is not a cakewalk to design and implement
motivational programmes, successfully. Applying the motivational theories on ground is a challenging task.
Kreitner and Kimcki (1995) have stated that dynamics with in the organizations interfere with applying
motivation theories in “pure” form. They have also quoted a management scholar Terence Mitchell stating ‘
There are situations and settings that make it exceptionally difficult for a motivational system to work. These
circumstances may involve the kinds of jobs or people present, the technology, the presence of a union and so
on. The factors that hinder the application of motivational theory have not been articulated frequently or
systematically.
In the context of motivating security personnel, Khurana (1992) has quoted Peterson, who has suggested some
of the influences; such as, influence of the attitudes of the employees, towards their work, the influence of
selection and placement, the influence of training, the influence of supervision, the influence of special
emphasis programme, the influence of media, which must be kept in mind, in order to motivate personnel.
Despite all the researches and theories of motivation that have come to fore in recent years, reward and
punishment are still strong motivators. The incentives which are frequently offered to the employees include
pay and other types of rewards and fringe benefits. On the other hand, there are negative incentives of
punishments and reprimands. Different rewards related to a specific job hold different incentive values for the
employees.
Since computers along with Internet and intranet are the most important tools for the implementation of Egovernance, it is important that their use be made mandatory for the personnel employed to run the
government machinery at various levels and in various departments/ministries. Presently, though the computers
decorate most of the offices, the participation is limited to those who have some technical/basic knowledge or
who have undergone some specialized courses. But what about those, who neither have any knowledge of
computers nor are inclined to learn computers, at their late stage of career? According to Khurana (2000), it is
never too late to learn. In order to be successful in every sphere of life , one has to learn. The more quickly and
readily, an individual, a society or an organization is able to learn, the more successful one becomes in this
competitive world.
Hence, the knowledge of computers for all government employees is the primary requisite, for the success of
E-governance. In other words, 100% computer literacy in all government organizations is, indeed, the need of
the day. Not only this, the success of E-governance also depends on the maximum security measures by
incorporating highly secure software, which can not be intruded by hackers and e-cheats. E-governance is still
in the preliminary stages of implementation in Delhi, and therefore needs to be constantly watched/improved
/upgraded, in terms of trained manpower and security of software. Since financial transactions such as
purchasing of railway tickets, payment of telephone bills etc. can now be done on line; be it through credit
cards or through direct debit from selected bank accounts, it is all the more reason, therefore, to ensure utmost
security of the information fed in the system. This in turn, will instill confidence in people towards reliability
of electronic transactions. Presently, however, an inexplicable apprehension persists in many minds that it may
not be very safe to transact on line. Also, for liberal participation by the citizens, easy availability of computers
with user-friendly software and that too, at highly reasonable price, especially for rural folks, is imperative.
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Efficient E-governance demands highly dedicated personnel and so, their perks must be really attractive.
Depending on their performance based on the feedback, they must have extra promotional avenues and due
recognition. In order to instill confidence, they must be imparted not only a high degree of training but also be
given an opportunity to attend periodic refresher courses, to keep their knowledge about computers and internet,
up to date.
6. Concluding Remarks
E-governance has come as a boon to the citizens. It has provided both convenience and transparency. With
more and more facilities being introduced on a periodic basis, life can be expected to be even more comfortable.
However, maximum security of personal information and that of financial transactions on line must be ensured.
Periodic upgrading of software must be done to ensure prevention of e-frauds and e-leakages of personal
information. It must be assumed, that no software is foolproof and that there is no dearth of hackers and Internet
cheats. The leader at the top, can play a significant role to change the attitudes of the government employees
and motivate them to get the desired results. For this, he/she has to set personal examples and should
endeavour to revive age-old Indian values, in the system. Effort should also be made to involve rural Delhi
too, so that every one can reap the benefits of this IT revolution. For this to happen, cheap and
easy availability of computers and Internet connections must be ensured, along with regular visits by the
dedicated trainers, to the rural areas of Delhi. There is also a need to conduct an in depth study to assess the
perception and attitude of all concerned, regarding E-governance, so that further necessary improvement can
be made.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
‘Babus still prefer paper to computers’, Hindustan Times, New Delhi dated 23 July,2003, p.2
Ferland,L.D. and Ferland,P.S.(1999), Introduction to Psychology (Fifth Edition), AITBS Publishers,
Delhi
Fishbein,M & Ajzen,I(1975), Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research,
Reading , M.A: Addison-Wesley
Kelman, H. C.(1958), Compliance, identification, and internationalization: Three processes of attitude change, The
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2(1), 51-60
Kelman,H.C. & Hamilton,V.D. (1989), Crimes of obedience: Toward a social psychology of authority and
responsibility, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
Khurana, A. (2000), Psychology of Learning, Proceedings of staff induction training programme, sponsored by All
India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, conducted at SVRCE, Surat, 15 - 18
Khurana,A(1992), Motivating Security Personnel, Malaysian Security Journal, Vol.2 , No.4, 11-13
Kreitner,Robert and Kimcki, Angelo (1995), Organizational Behavior, Richard D. Irwin, Inc , Layton
‘Our Babus are Not to Blame’, The Times of India, New Delhi dated July 31, 2003, p.14
‘Rs 80 lakh down the DTC drain’, The Times of India, New Delhi dated August 6, 2003, p.4
Sharma,R.P(2003), Promoting Universal Values of Life, Purity, Vol. XXII No. 10 , New Delhi, p.1
Suri,R.K. & T.N.Chhabra (2003), Industrial and Personnel Psychology, Sun India Publications, New Delhi
Thurstone,L.L(1946), ‘Attitudes can be measured’. American Journal of Sociology, 33, 529-544
About the Author
Dr. Amulya Khurana received her doctoral degree from IIT, Delhi. Her areas of interest include Organizational Behaviour,
HRM, Educational Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology. She has authored one book and has
contributed chapters in 8 books. Over 70 of her papers have been published and over 85 papers have been presented in
various national and international conferences. She has supervised 15 Ph.D. She has been a subject expert for a World Bank
sponsored project: curriculum validation for Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.
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A Multi-Level Analysis of IT Effectiveness in the Government: A case Study of DIT1
Shivraj Kanungo2
Department of Management Science, The George Washington University, USA
M. P. Gupta
Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delh i
Rajesh Kumar
Directorate of Income Tax, Government of India, Delhi
Abstract
Achieving IS effectiveness in Government offices is a daunting prospect. This is because the bureaucratic
structure, perceived (and often actual) laxity in the workplace, weak accountability and responsibility
relationships and cumbersome and conflated work processes act as serious inhibitors of IS effectiveness. There
are many indirect influencers of IS effectiveness. It is equally important to capture the context and the dynamics
in which the IS is embedded. By employing a case study approach, we analyzed the effectiveness of IS and the IS
function in the Directorate of Income Tax (DIT). We have introduced the notion of “simultaneity” as an
analytical tool. We also use the concept of complementarity in conjunction with simultaneity to analyze and
seek resolutions to the elusive goal of IS effectiveness in Government organizations. Our findings are useful not
only for the organization that we analyzed but for other Government organizations too. Additionally, we
provide implications for research as well and IS theory development.
1. Introduction
One of the most visible criteria for comparison is productivity in this workplace. Anecdotal evidence and lay
observation often result in a simplistic conclusion that puts private sector productivity levels higher than public
sector. In such a comparative framework, government sector productivity always seems to appear in the lowest
rung. Literature on the relationship between information technology and productivity has been studied
extensively at the initial stages of computer applications in the organizations. However, recent surveys
concluded that, despite extraordinary efforts, this area of research still offers conflicting findings with evidence
to both confirm and disconfirm IT's productivity benefits (Motohashi, 2001; Thatcher and Oliver, 2001;
Chakraborty, 1999). Government organizations can be characterized as those, which handle or subsist on public
funds and are focused toward providing public services or support services to internal government machinery.
These organizations are generally characterized by their bureaucratic set up and decision-making tends to be
phlegmatic. The lack of urgency in decision making is more so apparent in the case of decisions typified by
uncertainty and specialized knowledge. Since IT is a fast moving area and a typical government office lacks the
requisite expertise for taking such decisions an extended committee approach is often associated with IT related
decisions. Such decision delays and organizational ambiguities tends to manifest themselves in almost all stages
of the information systems life cycles, starting from project conceptualization to implement and use.
Consequently, it is not surprising to hear that of the three sectors, the government sector is the least advanced in
introducing IT in its organizational working. As a corollary, the productivity impacts of IT use in government
organizations is also among the least of all the three groups.
1
This paper is based on two sources of data. One source is the dissertation of Rajesh Kumar under the supervision of Prof.
M. P. Gupta and S. Kanungo. The other source is a series of consulting and research projects carried out by Prof. S.
Kanungo that also forms the primary source for the discussion and analysis section.
2
Corresponding author (Email: [email protected])
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Our objective, in this study, was to study the use of information technology (IT) in government organizations in
India. While organizational realities in the government sector in India differ from those in the private sector, the
study is concerned with identifying factors that influence the effectiveness of IT in government organizations in
India. Critical factors that determine effectiveness of IT in the government include the role of top management,
user satisfaction and an organization’s culture. Keeping these in mind, the following specific objectives are
being outlined for this study.
•
•
•
To understand the nature of IT use in a government sector organization.
To identify enablers and inhibitors of IT use in a government organization.
To study the role and involvement of users in the context of IT use.
We employed a case study approached and used both quantitative and qualitative data. The qualitative data
were collected using interviews and observation technique.
2. Background and Methodology
The broad working propositions for this study have been formulated keeping in mind the working environment
of the government organizations and past studies that have looked at government organizations in the context of
IT or more generally. In some of the organizations the methodology of IT use is simple, while in some other it
is tedious and complicated. Although popular rhetoric suggests that substantial benefits can be gained from IT,
empirical studies have demonstrated more speculative results. IT projects are often fraught with cost overruns
and delays. Once deployed, many systems fail to meet functional requirements or are too complex to be feasible
for many organizations (Brown, 2001). Hence we should expect to find that Government organizations, in
general, do not use IT effectively.
Mechling (1994) says that for the most part, the ideas of reengineering remain to be clarified and tested,
especially in the public sector. For public sector leaders, there is more than a little concern that reengineering
might be a mirage, not a reachable reality. Real reengineering is characterized by fundamental redesign of the
work process involved in producing a product or service, rapid and large-scale performance improvements in
the process being redesigned, and the aggressive use of information technologies. The formulation of planning
and implementation in the organizations, documentation and procedures for IT related problems have been
referred to in these hypotheses. The top management in government organizations is expecting higher and better
impact of information systems for future planning and implementation. For IT efficiency better documentation,
planning, procedures are required. Hence it is expected that in the Government a major source of IT
inefficiency arises from existing work methods.
Lal (1999) measured the intensity of adoption of IT and its determinants and argued that the degree of IT
adoption is determined by the variables such as entrepreneurship, skill intensity, policy, and other firm-specific
factors. He also found that that size of operations and skill intensity of the firms influenced the extent of IT use.
For IT effectiveness in the organization, the users should be involved in IS development projects, their attitude
being favorable towards IT related problems, their background should be technically sound related to IT, and
the work and culture of the organization should also motivate the users. As a result, we can expect that
organizational size and users attitudes contribute significantly to IT effectiveness.
Lee et al. (1992) describe the relationship between the degree of procedural formalization (adherence to
prespecified procedures) in management information system (MIS) development and MIS success and examine
that relationship under various organizational contingencies. These contingencies include: top management
support, size of the organization, size of the MIS department, age of the MIS department, and level of
structuring of the task to be replaced or supported by an information system (IS). For better IS projects and the
effectiveness of IT, IS-managers should be given more powers in taking decisions, top management should
motivate the IS-personnel, and there should not be any undue interference by top management in IT related
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projects. The IT effectiveness mainly depends on the structure of the government organizations. Hence the
nature of responsibility and accountability structure, especially the lack of linkage between accountability and
responsibility, hinders proper growth in development of IT in government organizations.
For IS success in the organization, users must be satisfied with the IT, to meet out their expectations. User
satisfaction (US) is probably the most studied construct in information systems (IS) research. Woodrof and
Burg (2003) shows that there is significant relationship between user predispositions and user satisfaction.
Aladwani (2002) shows that computer attitudes have a positive direct influence on end-user satisfaction. His
findings also reveal that management advocacy has positive direct effects on computer attitudes and end-users
satisfaction. Given that systems are just emerging in the Government and that management advocacy is low we
posit that users, in general, are not satisfied.
We adopted the case study methodology. In order to test these propositions, we opted for an exploratory study
because IT interventions in the Government have not been studied intensively in the past. Our study is confined
to the DIT. For surveying the organization we used purposive sampling techniques. A questionnaire was
developed on the issues described earlier. The questionnaire was distributed among the employees of the
government organizations, including the top management, IT personnel, and the users of IT. For obtaining
qualitative input and developing case study, we conducted in-depth interviews with members of the
organization across different managerial levels. The case study was prepared by collecting data from primary as
well as secondary sources. Top management, IT-management, and users of IT were interviewed for data
collection, which was then used in the case studies. Data were also collected from annual reports, printed
documents and the press releases of the organizations.
3. The Case Study for the Directorate Of Income Tax (DIT) in the Ministry of Finance 3
The Directorate of Income Tax (DIT) is an attached office of the Ministry of Finance and governed by the
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). The main functions of the directorate are
•
•
•
•
•
Designing the returns forms for tax fillings
Designing the income tax manuals as guidelines for tax payers
Publicizing the benefits for tax payers through media and newspapers
Prepare statistics of the tax collected for the previous assessment years
Research the data collected from the field offices of the Income Tax Departments.
The statistics unit compiles the data and produces the all India tables as well as state wise tables of all the states.
This also indicates the trend of the tax collections. The printing section controls the printing of the income tax
returns forms for the assessing and preparing the tax manuals, and supplies to the field offices. The public
relations section controls the media and the newspaper for the publicity of tax structure and easy methods of tax
returns filling. The Directorate collects information from the field offices and compile at its office located in
New Delhi. The DIT has the field offices in every district of the states all over India. The field offices are
controlled by the Chief Commissioners or Commissioners of income tax. The Director of Income Tax is the
head of the Directorate, which is controlled by the Director General of Income Tax and then by the Chairman of
the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). From the IT standpoint, there is a National Computer Center (NCC)
at Delhi and Regional Computer Centers (RCC) at many cities. Appendix A describes a significant part of this
computerized setup.
3.1. Organizational setup and functions of DIT
The administrative set up of DIT is given in Figure 1.
3
The primary source for this part of the case study is Rajesh Kumar (2001)
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DIRECTOR (1)
Additional Director (1)/Chief
Statistical Advisor (CSA) -1
Joint Director (3)/Deputy Chief
Statistical Advisor (1)
Deputy Directors (4)/Assistant
Chief Statistical Advisor (2)
Asstt Directors (6)/Programmer (1)/Sampling Officer (1)
Section Officers/Assistant Statistician (1)/Superintendent
(12)/Data Processing Assistant (2)
Assistant /Upper Division Clerk/Lower
Division Clerk/Data Entry Operators (120)
Figure 1 Administrative set up of DIT
There are six major functions of DIT viz. Administration, Research, Statistics, Publicity, Public Relation, and
Recovery. It is useful to understand the physical working of processes at DIT. It is also useful to have an idea
of the environment in which DIT operates in addition to the documented interfaces that DIT has with other
offices. The workflow and decision-making processes at DIT are shown diagrammatically in Figure 2.
Director
Additional director
Joint director
Deputy director
Assistant director
Concerned officer Director
Respective dealing clerk
Entry register
Diary clerk
Administration
Research
Statistics
Publicity
Public relations
Recovery
Figure 2 Functions of DIT
Receipts of any document at the receipt counter triggers a paper acknowledgement of the document. Following
this, the nature of the document will determinate how it gets handled. Each function of DIT is briefly described
below.
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Administration: The administration of the directorate controls the functioning of the directorate. This section
controls the transfer and posting of the officials. This section also controls the salary of the officials and other
expenditure of the directorate. Additional Director of Income Tax is the controlling officer of the directorate.
Research: This section collects the information from the field offices and compiles it for budget forecasting.
The Ministry of Finance has used the reports for the budget preparation. Chief Statistical Advisor (CSA) is the
in-charge of this wing.
Statistics: This section is the overall in -charge of the data collection and compilation to produce reports for the
directorate.
Information Systems: The CSA is the head of this section. The Programmer, along with two Data Processing
Assistant and twenty Data Entry Operators controls this section. The application systems controlled by this
section are as under:
-
Pay Roll System.
Tax Recovery Officers (TRO) system.
Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) System.
All India Income Tax Statistics (AIITS) System.
All India Gift Tax System.
Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) System.
Income Tax manuals
Administrative Hand book
Civil list of the IRS officers.
Designing the Income Tax Returns forms
Personnel Information System
Publicity: This part of the office controls the publicity of the department. The main objective is to increase the
tax revenue for the department by increasing the confidence among the peoples of the country regarding the tax
structure.
Public relations: This section of the department interacts with the field offices in providing the manuals of the
income tax department in which rules and regulations of the tax structure are incorporated. This section updates
the change in the Income Tax rules.
Recovery: A separate Director heads this wing of the department. This wing provides information to the CBDT
regarding the tax demands and its recovery from the taxpayers.
Field Offices: There are field offices of the DIT all over the country that provide information to the Directorate.
The field offices are grouped as under Heads: Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Commissioner of Income
Tax, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax and Income Tax Officer
Given the nature of work of the DIT, it would be reasonable to assume that Information Technology (IT) would
be a natural enabler of work care. This is so because information processing, collection, compilation, and
publication can be seen to constitute the major elements of work at the directorate.
4. The IT portfolio at DIT
As a part of the initial IT infrastructure, there were hand punch machines to enter data and then compile them
on the mainframe system installed in the computer center of the Department of Planning. In 1981, the
Directorate utilized the help of the NIC (National Informatics Center) to install personal computers. In 1984,
NIC became the technical consultant for the computerization of the Directorate. After 1984, the computerization
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of a number of applications was initiated. These applications included pay roll system, personnel information
system, research and analysis, quarterly progress report system, tax recovery system, tax deducted at source
system, and all India income tax statistics system. These functions can be considered to be a fair representation
of the vertical distribution of the work. In other words, they are representative of the functional areas that form a
part of the directorate’s mandate. From this standpoint, this fairly comprehensive list of fully or partially
computerized functional areas of the directorate lead us to believe that the use of IT is quite persuasive and
established at the Directorate. However when analyzed for its effect on organization performance in terms of IT
diffusion, the effect has not been significant. Applications is use since 1990 are shown in Table 1
Table 1 Information systems related to functional areas in DIT
Policy
formulation
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Applications used
Pay Roll System
Personnel Information System
Quarterly Progress Report System
Tax Recovery Report System
AIITS System
TDS System
All India Gift Tax System
Income Tax Manual
Administrative hand book
Design Income tax Returns form
Civil List of IRS officers
Policy
implementation
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
There are more than twenty million of records on the database, which are accessible to the income tax
department. This helps to streamline much of the interdepartmental interaction. Regarding Information
Technology (IT) enabled workflow; roughly 80 percent of all the tasks associated with the directorate are done
on the computer. There are some changes that have taken place concurrently with the advent of
computerization. The most significant change in DIT is generation of reports in minimum time as compared to
before. The reason for this is the government policy of liberalization and developing appreciation for IT enabled
services. The use of Information Technology at DIT for improving organizational effectiveness, therefore, is
more as compared to other departments.
Radical changes in organizational structures or processes or through retrenchment may not be possible in the
government organization, even though there may be some economic justification for such actions. IT-enabled
changes coupled with organizational changes have resulted in a reduction of repetitive work at the lower levels
of the organization. The workflow is relatively faster. It has, so far, not been possible to quantify the
improvement; the general feeling is that effectiveness of the DIT has increased. Tables 2 and 3 show the IT
portfolio distributed over various information’s’ systems in DIT. IT has not been used in decision-making or in
aiding strategic thinking or planning. To that extent, it can be inferred that operational efficiency has increased
but organizational effectiveness may not improve till the whole organization starts using IT effectively along
with other units. This would call for an integrated system that would result in a quantum leap in document
processing effectiveness and decision-making.
4.1. Software in Use
The system is Unix based and most of the applications are processed in the Unix environment. Windows NT is
also used. Most of the application programs was developed with the help of the NIC in the early times but the
system development has been given to the private agencies to minimize the time gap in processing the data. The
department gives the weightage to time and not money, as the projects are time bound.
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Table 2. IT portfolio
Data Base
Applications Used
Pay Roll System
Personnel Informatio n System
Quarterly Progress Report System
Tax Recovery Report System
AIITS System
TDS System
All India Gift Tax System
Income Tax Manual
Administrative hand book
Design Income tax Returns form
Civil List of IRS officers
Individual
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Networking
Integrated
------------
LAN
--Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
------
Internet
------------
Table 3 IT portfolio distributed in DIT
Applications Used
Primary User Department
Pay Roll System
Human resources
Personnel Information System
Human resources
Civil list of IRS officers
Human resources
Administrative hand book
Human resources
Tax Recovery Officers System
Production
Quarterly Progress System
Production
All India Income tax Statistics
Production
Tax Deducted at Source
Production
Income tax manuals
Production
Design the Income Tax form
Production
Coverage
- Employee salary
- Deductions
- Income Tax deducted
- Employees attendance
- Employee performance
- Employees health status
- Employees qualifications
- Employee address
- Officers seniority
- Officers address
- Officers date of birth
- Officers qualifications
- Departments telephones
- Department offices in India
- Allocation of work
- Officers address
- Officers on training
- Officers aboard
- Tax collected
- Details region wise
-All ranges information
-Tax collections
-Graphs showing trend
-Tax deducted initially
-Tax rules
-Procedures for the rules
-Form for assesses
4.2. Level of IT staff
The officers in the directorate are from the Indian Revenue Services and Indian Statistical Services, selected
from the Union Public Service Commission. There are some technical posts also in the Directorate, filled by
U.P.S.C. In the Information Technology cadre, the post of Programmer is the top post that directly reports to
the CSA. The qualification for the post of Programmer is postgraduate while the qualifications for the post of
Data Processing Assistant and Data Entry Operators, is graduate.
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4.3. Objectives of IT Section
DIT compiles a number of reports after collecting data from field offices. The projects are time bound and
reports have been utilized in formation of union budget. The IT section of DIT is to furnish the reports as
desired by the top management. To achieve the target, the main objectives of the IT section are as under: to
centralize information, to increase productivity, to increase efficiency, ensure accuracy of reports and to ensure
the success for future planning.
The major functions that the Directorate of Income Tax (Systems) has to carry out are the following.
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
System Study of manual as well as prevailing computerized systems with a view to identify the hardware requirements of
the National as well as Regional Computer Centers.
Identification, Selection, Procurement, Installation and Maintenance o f computer systems.
Identification of Software Requirements.
Systems Study, Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Maintenance of Application Software
Benchmarking of Hardware and Software
Finance and Administration
Identification of Manpower Requirements.
Recruitment of EDP Personnel
Training of both EDP and Non-EDP Personnel
Communication and Data Communication Requirement and their Maintenance.
Monitoring the performance of various computer centers of the Department
Auditing of Application Software
Research and Development work
Study and Design of various forms / reports / registers prescribed by the Board or the field formations in the context of
computerization.
Study and design of coding structure for efficient computerization.
Centralized activities as a National Computer Center
Allotment of Permanent Account Number.
Maintenance of All India Master Database of all taxpayers.
All India information matching based on third party reports.
Inter-region transfer of Tax Accounting and TDS data
Management information needs of the department.
Codes for various systems.
4.4. Top Management involvement
The Director and the CSA are taking more interest in IT planning. The programmer assists the heads, in
planning formulation and implementation of the projects. The Data Processing Assistant helps the Programmer
in implementation of the projects, plans and finalization of reports. The Data Entry Operators enter the data in
the prescribed formats designed by the Programmer. The staff of the IT section has started to work as a team.
4.5. Internal Vs External
The data collected from the field offices are the reports were sent to CBDT for further tax structure. The forms
are designed and sent for filling the returns. The assessing officer sends the filled returns to DIT. In this way the
process planning oscillates between the assessees and the department, or between internal and external
participants in the process.
4.6. Documentation
It has been observed that there is little emphasis on documentation of planning and implementation in the
organization. The officials prepare only technology manuals containing day-to-day Information Technology
(IT) problems. The other things like hardware and software plans, personnel plans, training plans etc are not
fully documented, and in later stages it becomes a problem for the system user. The top management executives
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do not realize the utility of the documented plan and they think that they can manage as and when the need
arises.
4.7. Critical Success Factors
The officials, users of the IS and the top officers taking part are the critical factors for the success of the
Information Technology (IT) in DIT. IT applications are meant for the improvement of the reports and increase
the efficiency and productivity of the organization. Top management considers IT as the most important factor
for DIT 's performance, and views IT investment as a strategic investment. They provide all support to IT
section. Management believes that due to flexible IS planning; department’s operational efficiency, productivity
and quality of reports have increased.
5. Discussion
The overall goals for the information systems portfolio that have been developed have been reported as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Tax Administration;
To ensure timely availability and utilization of information;
To reduce compliance burden on honest taxpayers;
To enhance the equitable treatment of taxpayers by Income-Tax procedures;
To ensure better enforcement of tax laws;
To provide management wit h reliable and accurate information in time so as to assist them in tax planning and legislation
and also in decision making;
To broaden the tax base;
To, over a period of time, keep the cost of administration at an acceptable level
It is still not clear yet as to what degree these goals have been met. In our assessment, these are the very broad
goals that have to be translated into meaningful and measurable goals and sub-goals before they can be
assessed. The processes of meeting these goals are yet to be operationalized and made practical. For instance
the first goal is "to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Tax Administration." This will require that for
efficiency improvements internal processes will need to be benchmarked and the cycle-time for these processes
will need to be progressively reduced. While the awareness levels within the Income Tax department are high
regarding the difficulties associated with implementing information systems, robust policies and strategies for
addressing those difficulties are not yet available. While it is acknowledged and common knowledge that
internal processes are inefficient, average cycle times for none of the processes have been benchmarked. In the
absence of such benchmarks, improvements (if and when they will take place) will be well nigh impossible to
demonstrate. The "effectiveness of the Tax Administration" is the manifestation of efficiency improvements on
the tax payers and their interaction with the Income Tax department. Our observations regarding efficiency
issues hold in the case of effectiveness also. It can be concluded that high level goals have not been
disaggregated into sub-goals that are measurable and intertwined with organizational processes.
Even today, stress seems to be on placing the equipment and network in place and not on working out strategies
to ensure that the systems are used. The operational models will have to drastically changed and overall
objectives may also need to be reviewed in light of the past experience. This can result in different
requirements from the once initially envisaged. But this is now unlikely to happen as all the software has been
claimed to be developed and the focus is on getting it used and implemented even when its use as originally
planned will face resistance and internal sabotage.
6. SAP-LAP Analysis
Framing critical questions about the situation, actor, process, learning, action, and performance has developed
the SAP-LAP model. Basically, the SAP-LAP model inquires about what is happening in the situation, what are
the relevant characteristics of the actor(s) that relate it with the situation as well as the process, and all that
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which has to be questioned about the process. It should then inquire into the major areas of learning; the key
suggested actions, and their implication on the performance. All the issues are discussed in the Table 4.
Table 4. SAP-LAP Analysis
Normal
Organization provides services
to all citizens of India.
Offices situated on district
headquarters
Normal
NIC and Director (System)
also provide support for the
organization.
Normal
The entire planning has been
done in-house.
Normal
Utmost customer cares.
Situation
Important
Strong employees union.
Most of the functions are computerized.
Organization size is large.
Environment is in favor of the department.
Actor
Important
IT professional putting united efforts.
Process
Important
Monitoring the planning process regularly.
Documentation of plans.
Learning Issues
Important
Documentation of the organization.
Users are not involved in IS plans.
Critical
Centralized strategic information system
planning.
Centralized networking approach.
IT is one of the critical success factors.
User satisfaction is the core value of the
department.
Critical
Director of the organization is the
motivating force.
Director, CSA are the team member of
planning process.
Critical
Main focus of IT is the need of the
organization.
Project plans are translated into IT plans.
Critical
IT professional is strength of the
organization.
Core compet ence is an Income tax official
not IS staff.
Desired Action
Normal
The security of data increases
accuracy and creditability of
system.
Normal
Dependency on NIC and
Director (system) for support,
reduced
Important
User involvement in plans increases the
confidence among users.
IT increases communication with
management and users.
Motivation of IT staff by CSA increases
confidence.
Performance
Important
User participation lead to development of
more flexible systems.
User involvement in plans provides easy &
better integration of IT.
Critical
IT plays major role in increasing the
performance of the projects.
IT increases the productivity of the
organization.
IT presents better reports with more
accuracy.
Timely decisions taken by programmer
save time, cost and energy
Critical
Suggested action will impact on situation,
process and actor.
Helping the organization in achieving their
goals.
After computerization, the DIT is, to some extent, able to provide reports well in time. The data are collected
from all the field offices and compiled in the directorate. The directorate has initiated the utilization of the
Internet facilities to access the data directly from the field offices. The field offices also interact with the main
office in compilation of the data and coordination within the department properly. It is realized that Information
Technology (IT) is an important factor for the success in the implementation of the policies of DIT. IT has
started to show increased efficiency, productivity and accuracy of DIT reports.
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6. Complementarity and Simultaneity
This case study provides us implications for research. There is evidence of limited benefits (at the efficiency
level) that have been provided by IT for the DIT. However, most of the problems and impediments faced by
DIT, in the context of IS effectiveness, have come in the form of softer aspects like people-related and
complementary investments like process improvements and organizational restructuring.
We define complementarity4 in the context of IS in terms of investments in IS. A complementary investment (in
x) in IS one that will result in a payoff that is greater than the payoff based on IS investment alone of an
investment in x. Simultaneity refers to events that are happening or existing or done at the same time. Prasad
(1999) employs the concept of simultaneity in the context of concurrent engineering.
IT champions and vendors are prone to projecting best-case scenarios of IT investments to clients.
Organizations in India (especially large bureaucracies) have, and continue to be, attracted by the proposition of
a fast-track to organizational effectiveness that is enabled by IT. However, the engineering approach to IT
investments that has been popularized as IT-enabled business process re-engineering (IT-enabled BPR), or ITled process improvement or IT-enabled change has proved to be non-starter in Indian conditions (as elsewhere
also). This approach to IT investments, in conjunction with the need to minimize IT investments costs and the
implementation time, has also let to concepts from concurrent engineering being advocated by techno-centric
champions of IT. The notion of simultaneity is appropriate in such cases. Advocates of concurrent approaches
to IT investments make the argument that it is possible to simultaneously or concurrently change/improve
processes as well as introduce or enhance the existing IT infrastructure and application portfolio.
Our findings, so far, have revealed that the twin strategies of concentrating on IT as an investments and
expecting processes to change and mature in a coeval timeframe with IT implementation (the lack of
complementarity and assumption of simultaneity) has lead to major problems in computerization in the
Government – as evidenced by the problems that we documented in the case of DIT.
In the case of Figure 5, C is preferable to B and B is preferable to A. Furthermore, we can say that C is far more
preferable to B when compared to the extent B is preferable to A. This points to a non-linearity in the
preference scales when it comes to the reference mode of how IT investments behave over time.
There are two facets of IT implementation and use at DIT that results in dissonance at different levels. The first
is the mismatch between implementation strategy and usage strategy. The send mismatch we would like to
bring out is that between training strategy and usage patterns.
Implementation strategy and usage strategy: The introduction of IT throws things out of kilter rather than
providing value-addition. This was typified in our study by situations described below. We found in many
instances there was a lag between hardware procurement and system implementation. Sometimes the hardware
had arrived much before the system was ready to be implemented (and became “obsolete”). At other times,
delays in hardware procurement led to inordinate delays in system implementation. When users ask of the
investments in IT “what is in it for me?” and the answer often includes – more work, more re -work,
disempowerment (reduced flexibility), loss of power, sudden increase in accountability etc. We observed that
the scale of IT implementation is indeed vast. Additionally, the gap between the implementation agency (DIT
Systems) and the end-users is huge (temporally as well as spatially). The priority accorded to IT implementation
4
We base this definition on Williamson (1985). Our concept of complementarity implies synergy too. The concept of
complementarity explicitly focuses on superadditivity in performing complementary activities. In a sense all of an
organization’s competencies should be complementary in the technical sense of the term since all non-complementary
resources and competencies only create revenue when they are sold. In economic terms, activities are considered
complementary (Edgeworth complements) “if doing (more of) any one of them increases the returns to doing (more of) the
others.” (Milgrom & Roberts, 1995, p. 181). See also, Iverson (1997).
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is relatively low. This is because the existing work pressures are extremely high. The income tax department is
highly transaction-driven and deadlines and target dates are critical. IT implementation implies disruptions. We
found that most officers, while agreeing with the long-term benefits of computerization, were unaware of any
tactical processes which would help them manage the temporary increase in transaction load that is coeval with
any IT imple mentation. Often these issues are left to be resolved by the “concerned officers.” Such a
lackadaisical attitude toward IT investments almost always influences into end-user perceptions of IT. End
users start believing that if the IT use is not “that” critical – and if half-implemented systems and inordinate
delays can be tolerated – and if life still goes on, then it is not in their interest to stretch themselves and
participate proactively in a negative sum game of IT implementation and use. We use the term “negative sum”
because users we interviewed who had serious commitments to IT implementation felt hurt and frustrated by the
lack of planning and commitment for schedule adherence across multiple levels in the organization.
Training strategy and usage patterns: The current approach is to automate the existing processes. The critical
assumption that has been made is that if a standard operating procedure is defined in Government manuals, it is
adhered to and followed all over the country. This approach also makes sense given the huge scope of
computerizing a system nationwide. The problem is that the “existing process” varies from place to place (i.e.
city to city, in the case of DIT). Such variations kill process capability resulting in highly reduced process
effectiveness. Given this background, the centralized training strategy also fails. End users are trained based on
a centralized timetable on systems that they are supposed to use. However, once users coma back from training
and are exposed to the computerized processes, they find that there are many workarounds that they have to
deal with or, worse still, they have to create to make the system work. These workarounds tend to be
cumbersome manual processes that add to the existing workload. So instead of helping end users,
computerization, at least in the short run, is an avoidable intervention for end users.
Transaction-processing is essentially a routine and monotonous task. Within this framework, officers, over the
years, have developed certain exp ectations and role assumptions regarding their jobs. One such example can be
taken for the Assessing Officer (AO). One of the tasks of this officer is to ensure that the taxable income for an
assessee is computed and that the assessee, if s/he has any problem, will get it resolved through the AO. This
role provides the AO immense power. At times this power is used to harass assesses also. Harassment often
comes in the form of lack of information or lack of transparency. It is clear that after computerization, the
ability of an AO to hide information of claim lack of access to records will be greatly reduced. For many users,
this tends to be an irritant. This is an example of how the introduction of IT changes the nature of work itself
and imposes a certain role strain that many users may not be willing to adjust to quickly.
We feel that the resolution to these issues lie in the notions of complementarity and avoiding the fallacy of
simultaneity. Figure 5 shows the notions of complementarity and simultaneity-avoidance as applied to IT
investments (in the most generic sense) and IT effectiveness.
The avoidance of simultaneity is operationalized by the presence of lags. In other words, instead of planning for
and expecting both process improvement and IT enhancement as parallel processes, it is suggested that process
investments take precedence over IT investments. This is because, good organizations, however you define
“good,” have strong processes. This means that process gaps (explained in Appendix B) are minimized. Once
such process gaps are minimized, the ability of IT to add value to such processes is greatly enhanced.
The implication is the following: Organizations, especially large, bureaucratic monoliths should strive for
mature processes and then automate the mature processes. In contemporary jargon, this translates into working
toward ensuring a minimal level of governance before attempting to delve into e-governance. It is unreasonable
to expect processes to mature and get automated concurrently. The general implication is that investments in
complementary aspects (assets) should precede IT investments.
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Co-investments in
process+ with lagged
investments on IT
C
Co-investments in
process+ with coeval
investments in IT
B
A
Investments in IT
primarily
Figure 5 The reference modes (behaviors) of different IT investments
It is important to note that benefits from investment A are not sustainable over time. Moreover, benefits are not
very impressive either. The lack of sustainability comes from the fact that the basic processes that are enabled
by the use of IT are themselves weak. In other words, the very foundation and organizational infrastructure is
weak and erecting an information system over such a weak foundation will eventually become a heavy burden
on the very organizational edifice that the IT is attempting to bolster. Note that the benefits begin to sag after
some time. Note that investment option B (with coeval investments in IT and complementary aspects, with the
assumption of simultaneous process improvement and IT enhancement) leads to a large drop in productivity and
although it results in some steady state benefit, such benefits are also not easy to sustain and eventually begin to
drop off. Investment option C has the potential to demonstrate continuous improvement and also demonstrates
the ability to avoid stalling after reaching steady state in a shorter time.
7. Concluding Remarks
We have shown in this paper that our expectations about the nature IT use and effectiveness in the Government
can be confirmed by adopting case study method. The case study approach allows researchers to capture deeper
insights and details that are not only richer in the quality of data but are also of more immediate and direct use
to practitioners. The major implication for research is that the notions of complementarity and simultaneity need
to be kept in mind when analyzing large scale IT implementation projects. By adopting these analytical tools we
increase our capability for critical analysis and allow for the emergence of findings that may be contrary to the
expected ones. For instance our analysis has shown that IT-enable proces s change is not a good idea when it
comes to large Government setups. While it may work for the corporate sector, where the degree of control and
the pressures to perform and demonstrate profitability are higher, organizations that are involved with public
service in general and public dealing in particular are better off following the lagged approach to IS investments
– where investments in IT lag investments in process and people development.
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References
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Appendix A
There are two main processes in place at the RCCs. They are computerized using the IPAN system and the TAS
system.
The IPAN system is essentially a batch system. The principal output of the system is the PAAN card and the
primary input to this system is the assessee-filled form 49A. Once the PAN card is generated, then the other
significant component of this process is the migration of these data to the AIS database. Much of this process is
outsourced in terms of data entry. The schematic of this process is shown on the next page.
Initially, all applications
were received at the RCC.
As an example, the
volume of applications
was around 13-14 lakhs in
Vendor does data entry, scans one of the largest cities.
photo and signature
Data entry is outsourced.
All forms given to vendor
IPAN – batch
PAN allotment
Provides the data in tape
Intimate Client about
Enter data + scan
PAN
send data to RCC
However, today, following
the initial stage of PAN
allocation, assessing
officer generates PAN
online.
At RCC these data are
previewed and checking is
done.
The other important process is challan processing. This is essentially a revenue accounting system for the
Government. Different types of direct taxes are deposited by assessees through challans in banks. Banks send
details of these deposits to the Zonal Accounts Officer. These details are then entered into the TAS and
processed to obtain collection figures. The assessing officer receive the daily collection register which informs
the assessing officer regarding which collection has been made on which date and under what category (head)
with respect to each assessee. The following is a description of challan processing provided to us. Four copies
of challans are sent by bank to the zonal accounts officer. After that the following steps take place. This is
broadly the procedure followed at all RCCs and is shown on the next page.
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Enter core data
For each bank challans
Enter summary and scroll data +
Enter entire data
In the RCCs, challans are
processed bankwise. Each bundle
is given a batch number. Bundles
received from the nodal branches
are opened and converted into
batches such that each batch has
one scroll and its associated
challans. Scrolls are encoded so
as to maintains their links with
the physical scrolls. Data entry is
done from two sources - challans
and scrolls. The first entry has to
do with challan details and their
validation. The second entry has
to do with partial challan details
and their validation.
Compare
Compare every field
> 1 lakh
Yes
Details of the bank
scroll and the challans
are available in the SRS
for the TAS on page 2-2.
The
challans
are
received at the central
treasury unit. These are
assigned an AO, major
head and minor head
codes. This is a time
consuming activity.
No
> 5 lakh
Yes
Sign Off
Sign Off
Appendix B
Process gaps
Every process can be described in four ways.
Process that should exist
Performance gap
Process that actually exists
Perception gap
Documentation gap
Process that people think exists
Communication gap
Process that is documented
Source: Melnyk and Swink (2003).
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Technical Education System and E-Governance
Anil Kumar1
All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, India
S. Wadhwa
Department Of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, New Delhi, India
Abstract
Technical Education System in India is striving continually for improving technical manpower in the country.
Technical Education is instrumental in making significant contributions to India’s economic development by
way of imparting useful education and training and developing technologies that are suitable to the needs of
industry and society. Technical Education System (TES) has been built up on the substantial investments
during the previous five-year plans with positive accomplishments. With the opening up of economy, global
competition & advent of Information Technology, the system has to face a variety of challenges to reorient its
training methodology and delivery mechanism. In our opinion, e-governance and e-learning offer several new
opportunities and challenges for improving the Technical Education System. This may require appropriate
system analysis, re-engineering of the various processes, enrichment of teaching material and the level of
penetration of quality education throughout the country. It is important to envision new TES architecture well
supported by e-governance and e-learning to become globally competitive.
Keywords : Technical Education System (TES), E-governance, E-learning, Re-engineering
1. Introduction
Technical Education System (TES) is an important facilitator to economic development. It is estimated that
globally almost 50% of economic development is attributed to technology development. The capacity of the
technical education system has also increased manifold over the years, yet it involves less than one percent of
the total student enrolment in the entire higher education. Institutions offering formal programs in engineering
and technology in India may be broadly classified as: Institutions of national importance (e.g. Indian Institutes
of Technology), Technical Universities (Anna University, etc.), Institutions deemed to be Universities (Indian
Institute of Science), Regional Engineering Colleges (established jointly by Government of India and state
governments) – affiliated to universities, University Departments / Colleges, State engineering colleges /
government aided colleges – affiliated to universities, Private (self – financing) colleges – affiliated to
universities, Government aided polytechnics (diploma programs under State Boards of Technical Education),
Private (self – financing) Polytechnics (offering diploma programs under State Boards of Technical Education)
(http://www.aicte.ernet.in/aicte). The route to e-Governance is now emerging, as governments and citizens
interface and learn to exploit new media and the new information technologies. Electronic Governance involves
new styles of leadership, new ways of debating and deciding strategies, new ways of accessing services, new
ways of transacting business, new ways of accessing education, new ways of listening to citizens and
communities of practice and new ways of organizing and delivering information to enhance the Technical
Education System (TES). It is important to review the existing structure and the associated strengths and
weaknesses of some of the important components. The purpose is to explore how e-governance and e-learning
can continually advance the TES effectiveness in India. A fresh vision of TES may also be developed in this
regard.
The foundation of technical education was laid in India almost at the same time as in Europe, but its growth was
stunted till India became independent. In 1794, the English traders established a Survey school at Madras to
1
Corresponding author, (Email: [email protected])
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train India personnel in modern land survey and to assist British surveyors. In 1842, an industrial school was
established at Guindy, Madras which was attached to the Gun Carriage Factory in Madras. Another industrial
school was established at Poona in 1854 for the training of overseers. The first engineering college named
Thomson Civil Engineering College; Roorkee was established in 1847 by the provisional government to supply
the manpower needed for the PWD and survey departments of the Government of India. The first National
Education Policy (1968), which underlines a radical transformation of the education system so as to relate it to
the lives of people, emphasized the development of Science & Technology. This policy stressed the importance
of technical education, however, dealt with it very briefly. The National Policy on Education (1986) adopted by
the Government of India dealt with various critical aspects for technical education including quality, standards,
infrastructure, development, R & D activities of technical institutions, networking between institutions, teacher
related issues, manpower assessment needs, linkages between technical institutions and industry, adoption of
emerging technologies and the needed well planned and coordinated development of technical education
through a statutory All India council of Technical Education (AICTE). In order to ensure proper implementation
of the Policy, the Program of Action (POA) (1992) was also prepared, the latest POA being the one accepted by
the Government of India in 1992 arising out of the revised NPE – 1992. One of the historical achievements
emerging out of the NPE – 1986 was that the AICTE was given a statutory status under the AICTE Act, 1987.
(http://www.aicte.ernet.in/aicte, National Policy on Education, Government of India, 1986). One of the implicit
aims is to continually strengthen the Technical Education System in India. The TES faces several challenges
and opportunities in the evolving IT context (especially, e-governance and e-learning etc). It is important to
explore enhancements to the teaching-learning processes as well as to consider re-engineering of some of the
administrative processes governed by AICTE and other bodies. This paper presents some ideas in this direction.
First a brief analysis of the strengths and weakness of the TES is presented. Next an overview of the e-learning
and e-governance potential for the TES context is outlined. Then the challenges and motivations in the
evolving Indian IT context are examined. Two conceptual cases are presented. The first case outlines the
enhancement opportunity about the traditional model of teaching towards the e-learning based Education
Technology. The second conceptual case analysis an existing administrative process to show the potential
process efficiency benefits that may result from re-engineering based on e-governance applications. Finally a
vision of a TES architecture supported by e-learning and e-governance evolutions is briefly discussed.
2. Strengths And Weaknesses Of Technical Education System
The main strength of the technical education system is that it is well structured; it covers nearly all disciplines
and offers programs at a very low cost to the students. It has largely met the skilled manpower requirement of
the economy in the past and has the potential to meet the future needs too. It is generally self-re liant and has
received international recognition for the quality of desired output. The system also had extensive support from
the Government and provides open access to the meritorious with no discrimination and full freedom of thought
and action. The faculty is generally well qualified, and the approved teachers: student ratio is fairly high. While
several institutes in the TES are already world class, some lack the same status. The apparent weaknesses of
these include lack of proper quality assurance, obsolescence in curricula and teaching methodology, poor
infrastructure and technology support, lack of autonomy in decision making (both academic and
administrative), absence of a global perspective, a failure to attract and retain the talented to the teaching
profession, disoriented students, and an overall shortage of financial resources. Both external and internal
efficiencies of the system are often poor leading to enormous wastage. There are no incentives to utilize the
system to its full potential and mobilize additional resources. Some institutions are isolated with little
interaction with employers, community, other academic and R & D institutions, and even within themselves
(Table 1).
3. E-Learning And E-Governance: Potential For TES Context
Keeping in view the strength and weakness of the TES context, the role of IT needs to be suitably planned.
From IT perspective, the concepts of e-governance and e-learning may be effectively used after appreciating
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what they can offer. E-learning is the effective learning process created by combining digitally delivered
content with (learning) support and services. E-learning or Internet-enabled learning, combines knowledge and
IT to facilitate more effective learning. Some of the potential uses of e-learning are: electronic class room,
distance learning operation, planned or unplanned learning, sharing, just in time learning, competitive learning,
any time/anywhere learning, development learning, more individualized learning, problem-solving learning,
reflective thinking, efficient use of knowledge base, authentic assessments to promote virtual learning etc.
Various challenges for the learners are: active participation, interactive opportunities, increased responsibility,
locate learning resources, construct their own knowledge, learn at their own pace, use own strategies, life long
learning, upskilling and reskilling, customized learning, intrinsic motivation for learning etc. Hopkins and
Markham (2003) and Salinger, (2003), have well presented some of these ideas in detail. In the e-learning
process the amount of interactivity can be more, so that it facilitates greater learning effectiveness. Other
important educational characteristics of e-learning are: Familiarizing & providing bridges between cultural,
social and learning environments, Messaging System (Forum & e-mail), system setup, accessing,
documentation/guides & call centers, Information exchange relating to course, cooperation & support each
other, allow learners to construct their own knowledge and form their own understanding etc. In the TES
context e-learning can enhance the technical teaching-learning process by offering virtual classrooms (with
knowledgeable expert giving the content delivery) to a wide spectrum of geographically dispersed institutions.
The technical models conventionally used can be enriched with more realistic simulations of real technology
within their operating environments.
Table 1 Strengths and Weaknesses of Technical Education
S.No.
Strengths
1.
Fairly well- structured administrative
system with reasonably democratic
governance.
2.
AICTE lays down norms for minimum
necessary infrastructure for all
Technical institutions. Funds provided
to upgrade facilities at reasonable
intervals for public institutions.
3.
Faculty in some institutions of
international quality.
Approved faculty / student ratio fairly
high in the
S & T education sector.
Faculty in a few selected institutions
has access to latest developments and
research facilities.
4.
Varied curricula available covering
nearly all required courses at graduate
undergraduate and diploma levels.
Syllabi of courses in good institutions
fairly modern and comparable to the
best in the world.
Weaknesses
Number of employees much larger than needed due to
obsolete procedures and lack of mechanization.
Decentralization of powers ineffective.
Lack of control on wasteful expenditure.
Maintenance of all facilities generally very poor.
Very little sharing of expensive facilities at any level.
Campus services usually not contracted out for fear of raising
the cost of the service to the beneficiaries and often for
keeping a large number of people employed.
Shortage of teachers is most professional institutions.
Low compensation package making teaching profession
unattractive compared to other sectors.
Career progress slow for most teachers leading to
dissatisfaction and unrest
Many teachers have no research background, field experience
or exposure.
Teaching load and other responsibilities very high giving little
time for personal research, study or interaction with students.
Inbreeding of faculty leading to absence of new ideas and
cross-fertilization.
Inflexible and rigid curricula in most institutions.
Common curricula used to meet varying output characteristics
of graduates with no considerations for personal preferences
and local work opportunities.
Courses syllabi highly detailed which help external evaluation
process but inhibit innovative contributions from the teacher
based on his experience.
Revision, modification and updating of curricula and course
detail a very lengthy exercise in most.
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E-Governance may be defined as delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic
means. It is an emerging trend to re-invent the way the government works in virtual space, digital economy and
dealing with knowledge societies. It is the application of Information technology to the process of government
functioning to bring about simple, moral, accountable, responsive, transparent governance (Khalid and Sadiq,
2003). The focuses of e-governance are: greater attention to improve service delivery mechanism, enhancing the
efficiency of organizations, increased emphasis on the wider access of information, promotion of technical
education system, knowledge culture, innovativeness and agility etc. The basic challenges of e-governance are:
re-engineering of existing processes, redefining rules and procedure, information transparency, legal issues,
infrastructure, skill of awareness, access to right information, interdepartmental collaboration, tendency to resist
the change in work culture, virtual education system, talent search, e-education etc. The administrative
processes of the TES can be re -engineered and improved with the useful implementation of e-government in the
country. It is useful to conceptualize and promote simple cases of e-learning and e-governance to outline their
benefits to the TES. It is also useful to envision new architectures supported by e-learning and e-government
evolutions. This will help our TES to be globally competitive. This paper also presents one such conceptual
effort in this direction.
4. Challenges And Motivation: The Indian IT Context
The Information Technology (IT) revolution has taken India by storm and is radically changing the way
business is being conducted as well as resulting in a paradigm shift in areas of government-people interaction,
financial and banking services and health services to name a few. IT is all pervasive and revolutionary trends
such as Internet and e-business are giving rise to a new breed of entrepreneurs who are slowly but surely
establishing their presence on the global scene. It is increasingly being realized that for competing globally,
India must focus its IT efforts to establish an efficient and effective infrastructure in all spheres. Emerging IT
Technologies, specially based on the Internet, are fast being accepted and developed in India. Growth egovernance, e-business and e-learning etc motivate new opportunities. However, before taking stock of the
status of these technologies and making any forecast, it is imperative to highlight the unique characteristics of
Indian technical, education system, business culture, ethos, socio-economic norms, state of technology etc,
which have a direct impact on the development of emerging IT technologies. Some of these are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A large population, which provides a large consumer/customer base and entrepreneurs.
A large number of computer-literate people who are potential IT professionals.
Traditional way of doing business that often inhibits re-engineering of the established practices.
A large cash component in the economy that inhibits smooth change over to e-commerce systems.
Lack of a national information highway or ‘backbone’ with a focus on Knowledge flow.
Legislation in IT related areas i.e. ‘cyber-laws’ are yet to be fully approved by Parliament.
Lack of National policy guidelines on implementation of e-governance for Technical Education.
Existence of a comprehensive education system which lays emphasis on analytical skills
Ability of Indians to focus single-mindedly on developing solutions quickly and effectively.
The learning curve, of majority of Indians, moves up very fast (committed technical manpower)
As discussed earlier e-governance reflect a useful IT application for the government. Use of IT in government
facilitates an efficient, speedy and transparent process for disseminating information to the public and other
agencies, and for performing government administration activities (R. Okot, 2001). E-governance seeks to
bring benefits to citizens by accelerating and automating government-citizen interface and bringing about
transparency in government functioning. In our opinion e-governance concepts can significantly benefit TES in
India, by utilizing and advancing the IT infrastructure. To elucidate, there is a pressing need for an overall
architecture at the national level to optimally use the existing IT infrastructure and develop it further into an
integrated system. For example, at the national level, there is a pressing need for establishing a citizen ID
scheme which can then be used to link databases of individual states and respective records. Some significant
advantages of e-governance are: Consolidation of manual, existing databases, which can be computerized and
updated, Access to information ‘anytime, anywhere, Faster access to information will lead to quicker decision-
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making specially in contingent situations, Ensuring more accuracy and authenticity in departmental procedures,
Transparency in government operations., Removal of corruption and fraudulent practices to a very large extent,
Overall efficiency and accountability of government departments would increase. Establishment of an
integrated and comprehensive e-governance system needs changes in the mindsets of the people and the
bureaucracy, development of national infrastructure and instituting a governing body for e-governance for TES
will be useful.. Only 10% of the problems associated with establishment of e-governance are hardware and
software issues and a large 85% is an organizational management problems. Hence the role of Industrial
Engineering and Management tools is enormous.
From the perspective of IT based enrichment of the TES, e-learning and e-governance are important domains to
emphasize. Providing education to the masses is a priority area for the Government and the major challenge
posed in attaining this goal is the physical barriers to ‘reach – out’ to a very large dispersed population and
provide them a ‘standard – level’ of education. It is in this context that e-learning by way of ‘virtual
classrooms’ can play a vital role in providing quality and standardized education to the masses in India. This
may entail significant TES reengineering and teaching-learning process enrichments. It may aim at enabling
private technical institutions to meet the competitive pressures by reducing cost, improving customer service,
and thereby increase its productivity, performance and profits. According to Hammer and Champy (1993)
reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of the processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performances, such as cost, quality, service, and speed.
Reengineering modifies an existing process to suit the demands of the organization embarking the path of
implementing new IT solutions e.g. e-Governance, e-learning etc. It is useful to illustrate conceptual models as
cases to outline the key benefits.
5. Case I: Education Technology and E-Learning
Education Technology involves planning, designing and organizing quality education using new technology.
The training programs and learning packages may be developed by sharing the experiences and expertise of
many institutions. IT can facilitate strong linkages with all concerned including the industry to work in the areas
of common interest. New synergy models must be evolved.
(i) Conventional methods of teaching
Conventional methods of teaching is known as classroom teaching or blackboard teaching where teacher
interacts with students sitting in front of his eyes and uses minimal aids for teaching like OHP, books, charts
and blackboards.
(ii) Virtual Classroom (Virtual Learning, e-Learning etc)
In this case Internet, Wireless and Online Media may be used to enrich for teaching learning process as shown
in figure 1: Units represent individuals, batches, classroom, and institutions located at different places. Physical
presence of teacher is not required in virtual classroom mode where teaching material can cater to more than
one class / batch and individual at a time without compromising on quality and contents. Such E-learning
applications are a growing area globally, facilitated by the internet technology. IT facilitated Educational
Technology (E-governance,. E-learning etc.) can offer more efficiency in dissemination of information /
instruction for the teaching learning process. The key benefits are: Wider choice of expertise is available, No
time / distance barriers are there, Access to information – any time and anywhere, Keep pace with rapid
changing technology, Easy referencing and library facilities. However there are some challenges and constraints
also. These are: Investment of large capital is required, low connectively in rural areas, fixed mind set of
teachers and students etc. However the potential benefits are far more and in our opinion greater efforts may be
promoted in TES to evolve suitable options.
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Virtual Trainer
(Teacher)
Unit A
Unit D
Unit B
Unit C
Figure 1 Virtual Classroom
6. Case II: TES Processes And E-Governance
Now a conceptual case of an administrative process is presented to shown how e-Governance concepts may
enhance the efficiency of the process. This process is an earlier version pertaining to the institution approval
process of AICTE. The system analysis indicates several time consuming activities along with some areas
where the geographic reach and transparency can be further improved. First a schematic of the present process
is briefly outlined in figure 2. The proposed process supported by e-Governance environment is shown in
figure 3. One of the clear benefits is the reduction of the total cycle time of the process. The other potential
benefits can be: Saves expert time, money, Transparent functioning, More responsive and accountable,
Information of all the institutions approved becomes available on Internet, Information in respect of
infrastructure facilities of the Institute becomes available to the general public in order to make choice for
getting admissions etc. Some constraints are Investment of large capital and security issues etc. other issues are:
Low connectivity in rural areas, fixed mind-set of officials of various agencies. Lack of IT infrastructure
especially an absence of national information highway etc. In our opinion, well-planned investments focusing
on the judicious use of IT can maximize the value from the e-Governance efforts in the TES domain. The
conceptual case demonstrates the need for more studies to analyze several other processes in this area. It is
suggested that use of IT in form of databases, expert systems, industrial engineering tools, simulation tools and
enterprise modeling tools can help in improving many similar processes. An important point is for us to learn
from global experiences, but develop our own ingenious solutions for our specific needs. For example we need
to position e-Governance as a support to the TES professionals and not a replacement of the knowledgeable
professionals.
7. A Vision On TES Supprted By E-Goverannce And E-Learning
We envisage that it may be expedient to evolve the Technical Education System to impart three levels of
Technical Education in the country. These levels need to be well supported by e-learning and e-governance
evolutions. The strategic level may involve development of cutting edge technology based on the global
competitive needs. It should be highly agile and capable of quick response to dynamic changes. This will
involve significant collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach led by system engineers. The e-learning
technology must be evolved to offer a support of facilitating on-line collaboration amongst multiple learners
and experts. The e-Governance methodology must facilitate a proactive support to strategic technical education
system. The tactical level technical education system must support the strategic level. Here the e-learning focus
is on knowledge sharing. The e-Governance support here is interactive in nature. The Technical education in
this sphere involves HRD for present technologies with incremental evolutions. Compared to strategic level,
this level is closed to the present technologies and may focus on the available knowledge about the same.
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Request of application
forms
Issue of Advertisement
Sale of application forms
15 days
15 days
20 days
Sending the screened
application to Regional
Office
Receiving completed
application form
Screening at Headquarter level
20 days
20 days
20 days
Consideration of the
proposal by regional
committee
Compliance of terms and
conditions of viability
Issue of viability letters
30 days
30 days
15 days
Visit of the Expert
Committee
Communication for the date of
visit of the expert committee
20 days
5
days
15 days
Compilation of the reports of
the Expert Committee
Constitution of
Expert Committee
Sending the reports to
AICTE headquarter
15 days
Consideration of the
report by the National
Expert committee
30 days
30 days
Grievances if any to the
Grievances Committee
Issuing the approval letter or
otherwise
15 days
Total 310 Days
Inviting comments of the State
Govt. and affiliating body.
Figure 2 Present Method of Approval of Institution
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Advertisement of
Internet
Availability of application
forms on Internet
Same day
Consideration of the
proposal by regional
committee
Receiving completed
application form in hard
and soft copy as
well on Internet
20 Days
Informing the screened
application to Regional
Office on E- mail
10 Days
10 Days
Screening at headquarter
level on Internet
1 Days
10 Days
Issue of viability letters
on E- mail
Compliance of terms and
conditions of viability
30 Days
Constitution of Expert
Committee
15 Days
1 Days
Placing the
recommendations of
the Expert Committee
on Internet
Visit of the Expert
Committee
5 Days
Communication for the
date of visit of the expert
committee on E- mail
5 Days
5 Days
Considering the
recommendations of
Expert Committee at
headquarter
Issuing the approval letter
or otherwise on Internet
10 Days
Issuing the approval letter
or otherwise on Internet
5 Days
Total 127 Days
Figure 3 Proposed Process Motivated by e-Governance Concepts
It has some multi-disciplinary knowledge and one is taught how to evolve further knowledge. Finally the
Operational Technical Education must support the Tactical level. The e-learning focus at this level is to share
information about the various technology components. This is more focused on specialization in a discipline.
For instance the Mechanical Engineering component of the underlying Technology is taught in detail at this
level to Mechanical Engineers. Similarly the other technical disciplines understand their corresponding
information. Compared to higher levels of technical education this level is less multi-disciplinary and less
innovation focused. Its emphasis is on mastering the relevant disciplinary information about a known, wellestablished technology presently used. The e-Governance support here is of a static and reactive nature. This
means that a standard procedural support is there. For any change, the government system operates in a reactive
manner to consider any procedural changes required from time to time. One of the novel features of this three
level architecture is that it has a clear technology focus, as opposed to knowing a generic set of engineering
principles that may be applicable to multiple technologies. In one sense it means specialist knowledge of a
technology, rather than a broad knowledge about several technologies (i.e. no complete knowledge about any
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practicing technology). In our opinion it is important to envision, discuss and evolve new Technical Education
System architectures well supported by potential evolutions in e-Learning and e-Government practices. We
briefly outlined one such vision here as an example (Figure 4). There is a need to promote more ideas and
studies in similar directions.
Some suggestions for improving the technical education system in the era of e-learning and e-governance
include: Developing the concept of virtual laboratories in place of expensive laboratory equipment, Developing
the concept of virtual classroom, virtual universities, virtual campus, Networking of Institutions, Creating
professional teams amongst networked institutions, Identify functional areas i.e. the schemes most necessary to
be taken up which are easily accessible to E- Governance, Initiate moves to develop and link all existing TES
data base to the public domain, Initiate and develop pilot projects in applications to extend full benefit of
Information Technology, Develop and integrate suitable models in the areas of Electronic Governance, Develop
system for transfer of information between various funding agencies to avoid duplication, Establish links
worldwide with institutions engaged in similar activities etc. Finally a positive mind set which is amenable to
radical changes towards significant improvements in the TES is required.
E-Learning Evolution
E-Governance Evolution
Collaboration Focused
Strategic Technical Education
Proactive
Knowledge Focused
Tactical Technical Education
Interactive
Information Focused
Operational Technical Education
Reactive
Technical Education System
Figure 4 A Vision on Evolution of TES supported by E-Learning and E-Governance
8. Concluding Remarks
Technical Education System (TES), which is a crucial component in HRD and also dedicated to the economic
development of nation, has witnessed a phenomenal expansion and diversification during the last four decades
in India. Some technical institutions have become world class, while others still suffer from a variety of
weaknesses and problems. The TES must promote a judicious use of IT to continually improve. IT facilitated elearning can offer: virtual laboratories, virtual classroom, virtual universities, virtual campus etc. Teleconferencing can be used as another effective tool of teaching learning process. The e-governance can enhance
the effectiveness of the TES processes to make them more efficient and responsive. It is important to envision
new TES architectures well supported by e-governance and e-learning evolutions to become globally
competitive. It is suggested to promote greater focus on TES to explore many new opportunities.
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References and Bibliography
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
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22.
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Andrew Stein, (1995), Re-engineering the executive: The 4th generation of EIS, Information & Management, 29, 5562.
Carol A. Twigg, (1994), The Need for a National learning Infrastructure., Educom Review.
Ellen D. Wagner, (1994), The Technology Aside: Building a Strategic Plan to Strengthen Academic Programs,
Cause/Effect, spring, 5-20.
First National Policy on Education, (1968), Government of India..
Hopkins and Markham, (2003), e-HR: Using Intranets to improve the effectiveness of the people, Gower publishing
limited, Books.
J. Bhattacharya, R Dass, (2002), E-Marketplaces as Requirement for E-governance, IITD, India.
J. H. Porter, (1993), Business Reengineering in Higher Education, cause/effect, winter, 39-46.
Khalid M. Al-Tawil, Sadiq M. Sait, (2003), E-Governance – Where We Stand?
M. Hammer, J. Champy (1995), Reengineering the Corporation”, NBP, London.
M. Hammer, J. Champy, (1993), Reengineering the corporation- A manifesto for business revolution, Harper
business, NewYork.
Michelle Salinger, (2003), e-learning”, CEBIT, Cisco Systems.
Patrick N. Foste, (1999), The Heritage of Elementary School Technology Education in the U.S.
Programme of Action (1992) on the revised National Policy on Education..
R. J. Huefner, (1999), Re-engineering the teaching of bond liabilities, J. of Acc. Education. 17.
Report of the National Policy on Education – 1986 with modifications undertaken, 1992.
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Sen, Biman, (1989), Development of Technical Education in India and State Policy – A Historical Perspective,
Indian Journal of History of Science.
Technical Education in Independent India (Compendium) – 1999, India.
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Warren J. Baker and Arthur S. Gloster II, (1994), Moving Toward the Virtual University: A Vision of Technology I
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About Authors
Mr Anil Kumar presently works for All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi. He did his M.Tech from IIT,
Delhi. He is now involved in research on e-governance, re-engineering, management and expert system tools. He is
devoted to the HRD improvements in India.
Dr S. Wadhwa is a Professor at IIT, Delhi. His research areas involve judicious use of IT in enterprises, CIM systems, ERP,
e-business, e-government, Knowledge Management, Simulation, AI etc. He has international consulting / research
experiences with over 80 publications.
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Knowledge Management in E-Governance: The Need for Effective Performance Measures
C. S. Arora 1
Director (EDP), Office of the Registrar General, India (Ministry of Home Affairs)
Pushpa Bhawan, "E" Wing, New Delhi-110 062, India
Abstract
While recognizing the evolving role of e-Governance, the importance of Knowledge Management and its
application to e-Governance has been discussed using a 'process perspective' of public administration. This
paper then addresses the need for an effective performance measurement framework for KM-based eGovernance activities. The challenges and pitfalls associated for these activities are identified. The author then
proposes some new measures for performance evaluation for e-Governance projects as the starting base and
recommends further research for determining the extent/ease of quantification and the degree of importance for
each of these factors, before being incorporated into a structured model/framework for e-Governance
performance.
Keywords: Performance Measures, Metrics, Knowledge Management, e-Governance, Processes
1. Introduction:
What is e-Governance? Is it just delivering government services on-line using electronic means or an
instrument for transforming government into an economic engine for stimulating economic competitiveness?
Would e-Governance be viewed as provider of citizen information on the web or a provider of comprehensive
knowledge required for complex citizen/business interactions involving two-way knowledge sharing and
payments? Are the governments at all levels - central, state and local - adopting e-Governance under pressure
for working more efficiently and effectively, or a fundamental reassessment of their agenda is now imperative
in all societies globally? What is the role of Information Technology (IT) and Knowledge Management (KM)
in e-Governance? How different is the relevance and applicability of IT/ KM for e-Governance processes from
the corporate business environment? What are the challenges for an effective KM based e-Governance? How
does one measure the outcome of e-Governance in terms of a business value framework - rather than being
contented with some soft, 'feel-good' benefits? Understanding of these issues is a prerequisite for evolving the
performance assessment framework for e-Governance. This paper addresses these issues and recommends
formulation of an effective performance measurement model for e-Governance at the planning phase itself.
2. The evolving scope of e-Governance:
The power that governments wield - as employers, as buyers, as regulators, as a custodian of state defense and
public welfare, and as agents for economic growth - is enormous. Passing through the present IT revolution and
the associated changes, the impact of this influence takes on new dimensions. Tapscott (1996) has summarized
the scenario as follows:
"…governments are central players in the new economy. They set the climate for wealth creation. They can act
as a deadening hand on change or be a catalyst for creativity. They can cause economic stagnation through
runaway deficits, or they can set a climate for growth."
As political leaders are being asked to make governments a catalyst for economic growth, they simultaneously
face demands to make the services governments provide more accessible, responsive and affordable. Just like
the private sector, governments too now face a need for transforming themselves through a fundamental
1
Phone: 91-11-2905 2295, Email: [email protected]
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redefinition of service delivery strategy accompanied by the innovative use of IT. Governments now recognize
the value of an improved information infrastructure and see IT as an engine for revolutionizing how they fulfill
their basic mission - to deliver health care and education, stimulate economic growth, develop and maintain
infrastructure, ensure justice and maintain peace (Thornton, 1997). Addressing these challenges successfully
requires them to adopt e-Governance utilizing the transformational power of IT and KM tools. Adopting eGovernance is also a necessity now because in a knowledge-based society put into motion by a hi-tech private
business sector, governments can no longer interact in an old fashioned way. Business organizations like to
work with government in the same electronic form; they would like to settle regulatory and tax issues on-line
and also would like to implement on-line service delivery for all citizens including those processes requiring
governmental involvement. Governments have to join the information economy and of course, to galvanize the
economy to higher levels.
3. The role of IT and associated challenges:
Arora (1998) as examined the issue of "Does IT matter?" at two levels - at macro level for the betterment of the
societies in developing countries and at the micro level of IT's impact on business enterprises. Though putting
in place an effective IT infrastructure has been the basic prerequisite for business survival, it does not
automatically ensure business growth and prosperity. Citing various research studies done in Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, by Computerworld and elsewhere, Arora has concluded that the limiting factor in
transforming organizations is the people's ability to change, not technology. The organizational issues,
resistance to change and other change management issues become more pronounced, rather than the IT
deployment. He has arrived at the paradigm that "In IT function, the T representing technology is no longer the
critical factor for success. The T matters more now if it represents transformation." The challenges before
management while leveraging IT are not technological, but deal with soft dimensions like information culture
and resistance to change. Successful IT deployment raises the following three issues surrounding
organizational transformation:
§
§
§
When and how to initialize the transformation?
How to manage the transition?
How to eventually cope with the change process to ensure its success?
Handling resistance to change and making the organizational culture more conducive to change have emerged
as the most critical human-centered challenges, which matters in IT. For efficient handling of this challenge, a
thorough understanding of insights into human behavior and the ability to synthesize the human and
technological aspects of change management is required. The mixed results of the implementation of business
process reengineering (BPR) for IT-induced organizational transformation are primarily due to varying
effectiveness of managers in coping with this human-centered challenge rather than handling technology. What
matters in IT is managing transformation, not just technology. There is lot of commonality on this aspect
between business organizations and government departments on the road to effective IT deployment. But there
are specific differences too, as given in following sections.
4. Difference between the functioning of business enterprises and government:
There are several matters that distinguish the functioning of Government organizations from private business
enterprises. Even though the initial phase of e-Governance (by way of providing services to the citizens like,
e.g. granting drivers licenses, registration of vehicles and properties, etc.) appears to be similar with the services
which can be provided by commercial firms, significant differences of a more complex nature do become
visible in the manifold activities of public administration. The typical front office operations concerning the
interaction of government agencies with citizens form just the tip of the iceberg of e-Governance. Beyond these
front office operations, government functioning covers many processes that are different from the type of
processes encountered in retailing, banking or other branches of the economy. Essentially, the difference is to
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be found at the level of the legal provisions that govern such processes, as well as in the knowledge that is
required to make the decisions, which are normally the result of the process. Such processes include:
•
•
•
Complex decision making, not only about policy questions but also with regard to operative mat ters;
Processes involving negotiations among various stakeholders about matters of public interest;
Processes of policy formulation (e.g., legislative processes) and democratic participation.
Considering the above administrative processes as unique to the government functioning, the important aspects
of difference brought out by Lenk, Traunmuller & Wimmer (2002) are:
§
§
§
The specific tasks of government,
The role of law
The special significance of knowledge.
The breadth of government's agenda, especially at the central level includes safeguarding of citizens' life,
welfare and defense. Basic goals of government include proper functioning of legislation and jurisdiction,
promotion of economic development, protection of principles of civic rights, preservation of environment and
emergency management etc. For implementing this agenda set politically, governments have to follow the legal
norms as a standard vehicle of communication between government and its stakeholders.
With regard to complex decision-making, knowledge is of particular and special importance to the government.
Lenk, et al. (2002) have given less importance to those types of knowledge which are required for internal
administrative processes, but have brought into focus the other unique types of knowledge which are of
relevance to the core business of government. Management of this knowledge assumes special and distinctive
significance for e-Governance.
5. The importance of Knowledge Management for e-Governance
Generally Knowledge Management is discussed with regard to business environments where knowledge is of
importance for promoting innovation. By contrast, in e-governance, knowledge is considered from the
perspective of administrative actions. The special significance of knowledge for administrative decisionmaking at the operative level makes KM as the essential foundation of e-governance. These special types of
knowledge to be brought under an effective KM system are:
•
•
•
•
•
Legal knowledge;
Knowledge of the facts given in a special case to be decided upon;
Knowledge about the means of action, which government has at its disposal;
A repository/ knowledge base of various administrative processes, which is gradually built up while working on a
decision case;
Knowledge about the effectiveness of various performances measures.
Since knowledge like any other scarce resource should be managed, Knowledge Management has become an
important issue for e-Governance too. Though KM as a branch of management for managing organizational
knowledge and knowledge processes has been well developed for business environment, no such formal
discipline has yet shaped up to consider KM as distinct activity for e-Governance. What are managed so far are
information sources: libraries, archives, and data banks. The ways in which individual decision makers or
groups access these sources and interpret the contents so as to transform their own knowledge is in most
circumstances not yet seen as something, which can be managed. The knowledge of the decision-makers can be
considerably improved if they could command easy access to information repositories of different types in their
respective functions. Similarly, another type of knowledge comprising of process history repositories containing
both factual and legal information, can be very useful for the decision-makers for interpretation and case-to-case
decisions. KM as a formal discipline of management in e-Governance can be very helpful for creation, transfer,
documentation, storage and utilization of knowledge comprising administrative processes and decisions, in
digital form. This enables the government department to provide required information to citizens and
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businesses, provide electronic services, create electronic portals and conduct electronic transactions through
integrated systems (Anttiroko 2002).
6. The conceptual foundation of Knowledge and Knowledge Management
If we are concerned about knowledge management, we need to be clear about what we mean by the word
knowledge and knowledge management. Hence conceptual clarity of these terms is necessary at this stage. A
working definition of knowledge as suggested by Davenport and Prusak (1998), is given below:
“Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, expert insight and grounded
intuition that provides an environment and framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and
information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers. In organizations, it often becomes embedded
not only in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practices and norms.”
From a management perspective, there are clear distinctions between two types of knowledge. Common
practice now refers to them as explicit and tacit knowledge. They can be described as follows:
§
§
Explicit knowledge is precisely and clearly expressed, with nothing left to implication. Generally, it is fully stated and
openly expressed without reservation.
Tacit knowledge is understood but not clearly expressed. It is often personal knowledge embedded in individual
experience and involves intangible factors, such as personal belief, perspective and values.
After knowledge, let’s now deal with the other concept – knowledge management. This concept has been
debated by academics and managers since long, and so is not new. Business organizations have been practicing
it in some way or the other - however informal and unstructured - but only a few businesses have mastered it.
Despite this, as a field of systematic study and discipline, KM is definitely new. Many practitioners have come
up with myriad definitions and often there is little agreement on any one. However one particular definition
proposed by Gartner Group 2 is quite comprehensive (and applicable equally for government organizations).
This definition not only tells us what KM is all about, but also emphasize on what is required for effective KM,
and more specifically what it can do or not do.
7. The "process perspective" binding Knowledge Management with e-Governance
The comprehensive definition of KM given above is based on a framework for consideration of KM as the “set
of processes” by which knowledge is manipulated in an organization. The set of processes 3 comprising the KM
program in an organization is as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
Knowledge creation: To discover, realize, conclude, articulate and discuss for creating new knowledge
Knowledge capture: Includes documenting, digitizing, extraction, representation and storage of relevant knowledge
Organizing knowledge: Structuring, cataloging, abstracting, analyzing and categorizing of knowledge for specific usage
Knowledge access: Presentation, display, notification, profiling and searching the knowledge for a specific application
Knowledge application or use: Includes application of knowledge for business performance, providing service, making
new products and continual learning at organizational level.
The set of KM processes primarily involves people. Thus, KM activities are fundamentally linked with
collaboration, interaction with people, and the systems, which support this. The technology plays an enabling
role for KM processes. For example, use of an Intranet facilitates collaboration and interaction among people,
but it is finally the human dimension that plays a driving role for KM processes. A similar paradigm of viewing
e-Governance as a "set of administrative processes" can be visualized. Lenk, et al. have developed a process
model for public administration combining the two perspectives of processes seen as production processes and
decision-making processes. While the production processes are somewhat similar to the traditional business
2
3
Source: “Building Resource Champs”, The Economic Times, September 11, 2000
Source: KM Architecture and Technology, Presentation at Gartner Group Symposium, Florida (1999)
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processes in commercial organizations, the administrative decision making processes are somewhat different for
e-Governance, which involve negotiation processes and democratic deliberations for policy making. The use of
knowledge and associated KM system depends upon the type of e-Governance processes. This process
perspective binds KM with e-Governance as given in Table 1 below:
Table 1 Linking KM with e-Governance Processes
Administrative process type
Routine processes
Individualized decision making
Negotiations
Democratic deliberation
Issues in Knowledge Management
Knowledge of citizen information
Knowledge of law and process repository
Knowledge-enhancing platforms for group decision making
Basic civic information/ structuring debates
For each of the above administrative processes, a different KM system has to be developed. Basically it
involves a mapping exercise of administrative processes with corresponding KM processes. The routine
processes of recurrent production nature can be benefited to some extent from the standard procedure of
customer relationship management (CRM). But there are additional exigencies in the government processes
concerning identification of the parties, security and reliability of the communication, etc. However broadly,
these well-structured processes of citizen-government interactions are well amenable to KM processes.
Similarly for individualized decision making, a process repository with legal knowledge embedded can be given
by a suitably designed KM system. However, for other processes like negotiations and democratic deliberations,
effective KM systems are still to be developed specifically for e-Governance. The existing tools like group
decision support systems (GDSS) can perhaps provide a starting base for such development.
8. Performance measures for KM-based e-Governance: the challenges ahead
According to a latest report by Gartner Group on e-Governance, through 2004 more than 50% of e-Governance
projects worldwide will fail to deliver the service levels required by citizens and businesses.4 Obviously, the
intangible, 'feel-good' factors like improved quality of citizen services, better law enforcement, increased
transparency, increased convenience, higher efficiency, etc. would not deliver the real business value. These
'feel-good' factors sound very promising at the initial stages of planning, but unless a rigorous model for
performance metrics is in-built through the entire cycle of e-Governance planning till implementation,
disillusionment is bound to set in. According to this report released in June 2003, Indian e-Governance
initiatives have reached the 'peak of inflated expectations', and through 2003 till 2005, a 'trough of disillusion'
would be faced on the 'hype cycle' of e-Governance. A major reason is the lack of rigorous performance
measures for the initial projects of e-Governance started in the last 2-3 years. Only after this challenge of
putting in place a practical framework/ model for performance assessment is addressed, would the 'business
value' be added to these projects. Gartner expects a 'period of enlightenment' for e-Governance projects in India
from 2005 to 2010, followed by a 'plateau of productivity'.
Neely (2002) talks about the practical challenges in design and implementation of performance measurement
systems. Different challenges are associated with four fundamental processes of performance measurement:
measurement system design, implementation, managing through measurement, and ‘refreshing’ the
measurement system. In design, the challenge lies in choosing the right and vital measures and avoiding
excessive measurement. At implementation stage, the challenges are two fo lds. There is the data access issue,
i.e. the need to get access to the right data, and the political and cultural issues, notably people’s fear of
measurement and the games they consequently play to try to manipulate target setting. To combat this, people
inside organizations need to be educated to understand the purpose and use of the measurement system. The
4
Reported in The Hindu, June 18, 2003
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challenges for formulation of performance measures for KM-based e-Governance can be coped with
successfully only if some common pitfalls are avoided. Tiwana (2000) reports that most organizations are
vulnerable to the following pitfalls in their choice of KM -based performance metrics:
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
Using too many metrics
Delayed and risky rewards tied to metrics
Choosing metrics hard to control
Choosing metrics hard to focus on
Choosing metrics that neglect the "soft results" or intangible outcomes
Choosing metrics that are too rear-view oriented
Measuring the wrong things
Skyrme(2001) has dwelt in detail about the practical considerations for formulation of new metrics for KM
based activities, which are directly relevant for the performance metrics for KM based e-Governance. These
are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The organization's strategic objectives, business priorities, and critical success factors should be the starting point for
determining the categories of performance measures and organization-wide indicators.
The indicators chosen should reflect a mix of different types, such as inputs, processes and outputs, absolute numbers,
ratio, percentages, and subjective ratings.
Develop indicators with a future orientation, that is, lead indicators of financial performance.
Have enough, but not too many, indicators in each category (typically two to four, giving around 12-15 key indicators in
total).
Develop causal loop models that help you understand the interdependencies.
Develop indicators as a team process, so that people are sharing knowledge and coming to a common understanding of
the organization.
Allow a degree of customization across organizational units, but have some common ones to aid comparisons.
Align individual goals and metrics with those of the organization's measurement system.
9. Proposed performance measures for KM based e-Governance
The need for an effective framework of performance measures for KM based e-Governance has been very
clearly brought out in the above section. The challenges associated with formulation of new metrics for
performance of KM based activities like e-Governance have also been spelt out, along with some practical
guidelines for formulation of new metrics. Further research is recommended in this direction, because there are
no available models for implementation on 'off-the-shelf ' basis. This is mostly because e-Governance is rather
a recent activity - particularly in India. Additionally, the existing research in potentially relevant fields in the
business domain (such as data processing or management information systems) does not incorporate the views,
concepts and history applicable to e-Governance. As an illustration already given, the goals of e-Governance
include not only more efficient operations (as in business environment), but also better quality of service, and
increased and better quality of citizen and business participation in governance processes.
The starting point for such research would be the identification of various potential measures for performance.
Some of these potential measures are proposed below. These are to be taken only as starting reference for
further research into the relative importance and the measurement/quantification ease for each of these factors.
Only after the initial field research using certain rigorous survey instruments, the stronger of these candidate
factors should be short-listed for further analysis of their impacts on the e-Governance performance. It is
expected that such a research by the government departments at the central or state level would lead to a
performance framework comprising of around 12-15 key measures in 2-4 broad categories. The initial
measures proposed for performance evaluation of e-Governance projects are as follows:
§
§
§
§
§
IT infrastructure investments
Investment on communications infrastructure
Return on Investment (cost savings, increased revenue) from e-Governance projects
Duration of functioning of e-Governance projects in that department
New users (citizens/ business entities) registered in a period
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§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
Average number of times a registered user has used the system
Ratio of repeat users to the total users in a period
User satisfaction (on a measurable index)
Servicing employee satisfaction (on a measurable index)
Average training imparted to servicing employees (in days)
Specific training on KM based e- Governance imparted to employees (in days)
Total spending on training/competence development for employees
Ratio of staff dedicated for e-Governance to the total staff
Availability of a documented e-Governance 'vision' for that department
Extent of integration of e-Governance with policy objectives
'Image' of that government department (on a suitably calibrated scale)
Change in corruption level (measured on a suitable index), etc. etc.
As explained already, the above-proposed factors are just indicative as a starting base for further research.
These are not obviously exhaustive and some of these are not directly measurable. Further research has to cover
determining the extent/ease of quantification and the degree of importance for each of these factors, before
being incorporated into a structured model/framework for e-Governance performance.
10. Concluding Remarks
The concept of e-Governance has been gaining ground recently, from initial isolated attempts of application in
the US and European Union, to extensive application and research in developing countries - particularly in
India. Emerging from the practitioners' domain, e-Governance has now added serious research, implementation
and policy framing issues to its agenda. This is because emerging from automation of just the front office
operations of electronic service delivery, e-Governance is progressing onwards to increased and better quality
citizen participation through enhanced collaborative systems and a knowledge-based model leading to a
transformation of government functioning. Performance measurement for KM-based e-Governance is one
major implementation challenge, which requires serious research for evolving a structured model for result
assessment. The challenges for performance measurements highlighted in this paper are more of a practical
nature and are not abstract. Work has to go into researching for relevance and quantification for some factors
proposed. Only after a formal structured framework is evolved through extensive research, that the decisionmakers for e-Governance projects can be confident of the real business value of these projects.
References
Anttiroiko, Ari-Veikko (2002), Strategic Knowledge Management in Local Government, in Gronlund, A, Electronic
Government: design, application and management, (pp. 268-298) Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA
Arora C. S. (1998) What matters in IT? (1998 American Programmer Essay Contest), Cutter IT Journal, Vol. 11, No. 12,
pp. 50-56
Davenport & Prusak (1998) Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know, Harvard Business School
Press, Boston
Funes, Mariana and Johnson, Nancy (1998), Honing Your Knowledge Skills, Butterworth Heinemann
Gooijer, Jinette de (2001), Designing a knowledge management performance framework, Journal of Knowledge
Management, Vol. 4, Issue 4
Kanungo, Shivraj (1999), Making Information Technology Work, Sage Publications
Koulopoulous, Thomas & Frappaolo, Carl (1999) Knowledge Management, CurtCo Freedome Group
Leadbeater, Charles & Demos & London (1999), New Measures for the New Economy, Proceedings of International
Symposium on Measuring and Reporting Intellectual Capital: Experience, Issues and Prospects, Amsterdam
Lenk, Traunmuller & Wimmer (2002), The Significance of Law and Knowledge for Electronic Government, in Gronlund,
A, Electronic Government: design, application and management, (pp. 61-77) Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA
Liebowitz & Suen (2000), Developing knowledge management metrics for measuring intellectual capital, Journal of
Intellectual Capital, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 54-67
Pancucci, Dom (2002), Harnessing the wind: measuring KM, Knowledge Management, March , pp 12-15
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Skyrme, David J, (2001) New Metrics: Does It All Add Up?, in Despres & Chauvel, Knowledge Horizon: The Present and
the Promise of Knowledge Management, Butterworth Heinemann
Tapscott, Donald (1996) the Digital Economy, McGraw Hill, New York
Thornton, Kenneth R. (1997) Rethinking Government, IBM Corporation, Washington, DC
Tiwana, Amrit (2000), the Knowledge Management Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Building a Knowledge Management
System, Pearson Education
Zimmerman, Kim Ann (2003), Can you measure return on knowledge? KM World, Vol. 12, Issue 4
About the Author
C.S.Arora is a doctoral research scholar at Faculty of Management Studies & Research, Aligarh Muslim
University in the field of Knowledge Management. The views and opinions expressed by the author are in his
personal capacity - as a research scholar on Knowledge Management.
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The Implementation of E-Government in Israel: The Five Layers Model of e-Government
Nachman ORON 1
Strategic Consultant, IT Supreme Committee
Government of Israel
Abstract
“E-Government” is a modern term, though actually it is a continuation of a many years’ process. Various
governments around the world, including the one in Israel, have tried in the past to improve the quality of
service to the citizen on one hand, while reducing the expenses involved, on the other hand. These two goals
seem to contradict one another. Various solutions were developed starting from mail, telephone and fax,
through usage of mass media instruments to automatic self service stations. The development of the Internet
brought with it a significant push towards e-Government. The Internet was the first to unify various capabilities
on a single infrastructure, creating a variety of new communication methods: published information to the
masses (web sites), multi-participants communication (forums) or one-on–one (e-mail), synchronous
communication (chat) and asynchronous one, and the ability to perform activities in real-time (interactivity). In
May 2002, the government of Israel decided to realize the e-government project. This document reviews the five
layers model of e-government – a model that was created by the General Accountant in the Ministry of Finance,
and presents the initial foundation to promote initiatives in the area of e-Government in Israel.
Keywords: E-Government, Five Layers Model, Israel
1. Introduction
There is no one definition for “E-Government”. The term was first presented in a report made by the sub
committee of information technology, in the 1997 Knesset, as the name for a new policy in Israeli public
service: “The new policy will be called “ e-Government”, which means, in the contents of the information
revolution, leveraging the information technology to improve and strengthen the mutual connection between the
public and the government”. “E-Government” is the government version to the term “e-Business”, developed in
the last decade. A short but general definition to the term is: “using technology to fulfill government roles”. A
more accurate and realistic definition would be, “Providing governmental information and services, using
technology as the communication channel to the citizen”. This does not include computerization and technology
projects that only serve internal government bodies.
E-Government is an abstract term that may be realized in many different ways. There are several methods to
evaluate e-Government; most of them are based on a phase-forwarding model. A common model, based on a
developing process of a fully on-line government, includes 5 phases 2 :
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§
§
§
First phase – Publishing governmental information by the government.
Second phase – Communicating with the citizen via e-mail and other electronic instruments.
Third phase – Providing ways to perform official activities.
Forth phase – Personalization of services.
Fifth phase – Complete organizational change, enabling a fully on-lined service provision and performance
of transactions.
1
Tel: 972 2 5341575, Fax: 972 2 5335576, Mob: 972 50 511 680
[email protected]
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Recently, in a report reviewing the status of e-Government in the world 3 , the UN used a similar scale, trying to
be more general (to fit less developed countries). In this scale there are five phases of e-Government as well:
§ Emerging – Existence of several static governmental sites with limited information.
§ Enhanced – Content and information are updated in an on-going way, including dynamic information.
§ Interactive – Downloading forms and contacting governmental bodies (e-mail and web).
§ Transactional – Ability to perform on-line payments.
§ Seamless – Full integration of all governmental services on the Internet1 .
Evaluation from a user perspective requires the evaluation of every single service. The basic need of the average
citizen (as opposed to researchers, reporters etc.), is to be able to perform a certain activity with the government.
The e-Government system can address this need in the following levels:
§
§
§
Initial information – Opening times, things to bring, service centers, previous conditions, forms
samples (not to fill) etc. – this information may prevent mistakes, long waits for answers and
useless travels to the service centers.
Non on-line service – Forms to fill and send, e-mail for on-line approach and any mean that will
enable the citizen to perform as many activities without coming to the service center – in this case
the technology acts as the mediator between the citizen and the authority. Though this service is
usually slower than the one in the service center, it saves the citizen the need to travel to the
service center and to depend on limited opening times.
On-line service – Providing the entire service on-line – technology replaces the man in performing
the actions, allowing self-service and immediate reply.
2. Govermental Doing in E-Government: Five Layers Model
The IT Supreme Committee is working for 6 years now on forwarding the e-Government project. The actual
activity in this area began at the start of 1997, with the nomination of the governmental Internet committee and
the initiation of “Tehila” project. Along the way many projects and initiations were added. Toward 2002 the
master plan was created and a government decision was passed, to significantly forward and allocate resources
for the e-government services.
The master plan is based on the advanced e-Government model, developed in the General accountant computer
unit. This model is used to forward the many initiations on the way to achieve the e-Government vision. This
model is called: “The five layers model” and relates to all the layers that need to be addressed in order to realize
the vision. The five layers model divides the e-Government layout technologically, and describes the entire
systems required for the realization of a full e-Government vision. The layers are laid horizontally. Each layer
deals with a certain depth level along the line of communication between the citizen and the government. The
citizen is at the head of the pyramid. As lower the level is - so it contains a more infrastructure technologies. In
spite their relative distance from the end-user, they are the ones allowing the required functionality. Naturally
there is no need for the full layout in order to provide the basic levels of e-Government, such as general
information site on the Internet. The aspiration for a seamless government, a fundamental organizational
restructuring and a full and convenient service to the citizen, require parallel handling in all five levels. The five
levels from bottom to top are:
§
Layer 1 – Inter-governmental communication infrastructure: The basis of the government ability to take
care of the citizen is the existence of an intern-governmental communication infrastructure, that will allow
information flow within the government and will give the different governmental bodies the ability to
provide service under the same umbrella. Without such infrastructure, each office is forced to work
independently, and the level of service is directly damaged. Both for the lack of unity as well as for the fact
that not all offices will forward e-Government in the desired pace.
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§
§
§
§
Layer 2 – Inter-governmental applications: An inter-governmental layer of horizontal applications and
databases in the government. This is the governmental ERP, covering a variety of subjects, which are in the
heart of the organization: budget, logistics, manpower etc. The integration of the systems enables a unified
terminology and accessibility needed to reach full integration of the services.
Layer 3 – Application secured infrastructure: This layer includes communication-infrastructure as well as
technologies that allow for certain governmental-systems transparency, while maintaining information
security, in order to communicate with the citizen. The existence of layers 1 and 2 enables usage of an allgovernmental, unified infrastructure for communication with the citizen.
Layer 4 – Services Infrastructure: This layer includes the layout of e-Government applications, through
which the citizen can view interactive sites and perform activities. These applications a especially built for
public service and are adjusted to its needs.
Layer 5 – Support and Assimilation: A layer that consists physical technologies and resources required for
education and assimilation of the technology in challenged populations. This Layer is responsible for
closing the digital gap and the actual usage of the systems by the common citizen.
LAYER 1 GOVER
NMENTAL COMMUNICATION Fi
Figure 1. Five Layers Model
3. Layer 1 – Inter-Governmental Communication
The Vision
We can view e-Government as a collection of independent services, provided by the various governmental
bodies. Out of that we can assume that it is possible to give quality e-Government service without a full interngovernmental communication. In reality this possibility does not exist for a number of reasons:
i.
Realization ability – The need for each body to establish and maintain an advanced technological
layout for service cannot be realized from reasons of budget, knowledge and manpower. In addition to
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the big waste of resources that will be caused, the probability that small governmental bodies will be
able to achieve it, is small.
ii.
Dispersion of Information – The governmental information is spread between the different government
systems . A basic requirement in a quality citizen service is to enable centralized performance of tasks.
Change of address, for example, will not be considered easy-to-use if there is a need to perform it in
several offices separately, or if updated from one office to another only once a week.
iii.
Education and citizen care - In order to provide an on-line government service, it is not enough to
maintain a technological system. The clerks’ system has to support public queries, and adjust the way
of handling to the modern work pace. A citizen that faces difficulties with on-line payment expects to
receive reply on his e-mail in a short time. If government clerks will not be able to pass the query
details between them and to contact the citizen via e-mail, the e-Government will be stuck in the oldworld bureaucracy. Moreover, for the clerks to be aware of habits and needs of on-line users, they need
to know and use the technology themselves.
From these reasons in their entirety it is apparent that a real e-Government requires a broad communication
infrastructure, covering the entire governmental factors – both between the government systems as well as
among the government employees themselves.
Offices Infrastructure
The existing infrastructure in the various government offices was developed gradually and separately for each
office. Even today there are significant differences between the various offices inter-communication level, and
between different sites of the same office. In all governmental bodies today, there is an internal network based
on TCP/IP, and in half of them there is internal usage of e-mail. In addition there are several designated
horizontal networks, established for horizontal systems such as the network connecting the accountant units, the
network serving the financial budget management system and the network connecting to the personnel system
in the state’s public service.
There is no proper connection between the various offices networks. E-mail, for example, goes through external
mail servers and thus cannot be used for classified material.
Gov.net – The Governmental Intranet
The governmental Intranet is an innovative project initiated to create a secure communication infrastructure
between government offices. This project was initiated by the ministry of Finance and is funded by it. This
project is a continuation of the successful “Tehila” project. The purpose of the project is to connect all the
government offices’ networks to allow passing of classifies information among them (specifically e-mail) and
create a central site for centralized services and applications. The new network is created as an exchange to
which the offices networks can be connected in a way that will not compromise their existing security level.
Meaning: the ability to move from one network to another will be blocked (as much as possible), and an
intruder that will succeed in entering a single governmental network, will not be able to use it as a bridge to
enter a more secured network. In time, the Gov.net will replace the external connectivity that exists between the
offices, endangering the security of the intern-offices network. The characterization of the process was finalized
at the beginning of 2002, and the network is under a pilot preparation process. The goal is to finalize the pilot
by the end of 2002 and apply the network during 2003.
4. Layer 2 – Inter-Governmental Applications
The Inter-Governmental applications layer consists of applications that serve the entire governmental apparatus.
These applications create the foundation to an e-Government both in improving the inter-governmental work
(thus improving citizen service) as well as acting as a basis to open unified and united services to the public.
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“Merkava” project - Governmental ERP The huge gap between the need for governmental ERP systems and the
lack of them brought the ministry of Finance to initiate this project. “Merkava” is the most significant
governmental computerized project in the history of the state of Israel, and is aimed to form the face of
comp uterized governmental offices in the next decade.
“Merkava” project represents the frame plan, aimed to bring improvement of service to the citizen and in
government activities quality, through improvement of work processes and the computerized infrastructures
serving it. The project answers the horizontal demands of systems, today operated by different governmental
units, through integration with the designated systems of each office. The first subjects that will be addressed in
the first phase of the project will be finance, human resources and logistics management as well as managerial
systems of the Israeli police and public housing. These applications are lead and managed by the state’s public
service, the Israeli police and various bodies in the minis try of Finance.
“Ofan” project is the first of “Merkava” initiated to penetrate the general organizational computerization. This
project offers government offices with brand new systems for managing finance, manpower, logistics and
assets. The systems are of functional-wealth, information-wealth, availability and quality. The offices
participating in this project will gain a significant increase in inter-office functional ability and resource savings.
The objectives defined for the project are:
§ Setting correlated and efficient policy.
§ Correlation and synchronization among offices, creating cooperation between offices and units that did
not cooperate in the past.
§ Allowing offices to concentrate on designated work processes.
§ Information transparency between offices.
§ Reduced operation costs in all governmental offices.
§ Good integration ability with new technologies.
The contribution of the project can be described as follows:
Figure. 2 Integration
A unified infrastructure will enable each office to achieve better integration between different areas that were
computerized separately and without unification. This will allow better management of the office, better
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adjustment ability to changes and improved capabilities of offering centralized open information to the public.
None of the offices possessed the ability to create such unification on its own resources. The use of a single
infrastructure by all the offices allows cost reduction in the different systems management. Furthermore, it
allows information integration, cooperation in terminology and ability to provide horizontal service.
The project is about to come on air these days, following a large tender out of which the technological
infrastructure of SAP was selected. Not like previous projects, it was decided to minimize the changes in the
product, and as the Deputy General Accountant responsible for the project said: “it will be the first time that the
organization adjusts itself to the system and not vice versa”. This strategy allows a very quick set up of the
system using the product’s existing modules. The Ministry of culture, science and sports as well and the
Ministry of Finance were chosen as pilot sites for the project. 180 people are involved in the project today, and
the target is to increase the “Ofan” services in the pilot until August 2003. The full-scale project that will
include the entire governmental offices will continue until 2007.
5. Layer 3 – Application Secured Infrastructure
This layer consists of a technological and human-operational layout creating connectivity between the
government systems’ apparatus and the citizen. Needless to say that without such infrastructure and an on-going
quality operation of it, there will be no guarantee of an available, accessible and highly authentic service.
“Tehila” Project – Governmental Secured Infrastructure for the Internet Age
The “Tehila” project was established in 1997. The designation of the project is to provide the various offices
with three primary services:
§ Providing government users with high security access to the Internet services from their individual
workstations. Until “Tehila” was set up, government workers’ connectivity to the Internet
involved technological complicity and high costs. The solutions varied from an Internet station in
the library, through providing 2 computers to an entitled employee, and up to a connection that
was against policy and jeopardizing the office network information security (and of the entire
governmental network).
§ Hosting government sites that will provide information and services to the public, in a secured
“server farm”. Information security devices will protect the data. Until “Tehila” was set up, the
sites were hosted by private ISPs, at a very low security level. Some of them were actually
breached.
Providing the infrastructure to support the “digital ID” project, granting citizens with a secured, digital
identification method to deal with governmental bodies and other (“Telem” project). The primary motive for the
farm set up was the need to protect governmental databases in the Internet and prevent cyber-terror attacks.
“Tehila” project allows its visitors to be a part of the e-Government revolution, while maintaining maximumsecurity level. In “Tehila” an exclusive, proprietary software is applied, which provides protection against
penetration attempts, preventing them in real-time. Some 70% of the government offices are hosted in “Tehila”
today, and none of them was breached or violated till now. “Tehila” deals today with connecting the interoffices databases to the Internet in a secured way, using advanced security technologies and local developments.
The bandwidth of “Tehila” connection to the Internet grew from 2 Mega in 2000 to 16 Mega in 2003. “Tehila”
already allow government workers to surf the Internet from their individual workstations and to use e-mail
“Tamar” – Public Key Infrastructure
The “Tamar” project was made to allow citizens and government workers to receive services and perform
activities with government offices in a secure, efficient, sophisticated and convenient way. The project includes
the following parts:
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§
§
§
An identity certification based on smart card and electronic signature to every citizen (Telem) – starting
2004 – every Israeli citizen will have a digital identity card, that will be used both for digital signature as
well as to identify himself when receiving on-line personal information.
Government Worker certificate based on smart card and electronic signature to all government employees
(“Tamuz”).
Smart card -based certificate to business owners.
Figure. 3 Tehila
Official forms service that includes electronic signature – by the end of 2003, more than 150 forms will be
prepared that will allow electronic signature and direct sending to the appropriate systems
Figure 4. Digital identity cards samples
All the citizens will receive a smart identity card by 2006 – 40% of the house holds will receive home input
devices for the ID cards.
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6. Layer 4 – Services Infrastructure
Governmental Payment Service (“Shoham”)
The Governmental payment service is an innovative initiative of the Ministry of Finance’s information systems
unit, and is the first step on the Israeli government’s way to electronic commerce, aimed to continue improving
the service to the citizen. The service is, in fact, an electronic commerce system, allowing every governmental
establishment to manage a virtual store on the network, without the need to deal with collection apparatus or
security. This way, governmental establishments can offer the public paid on-line services, products and
collection of bonds and taxes via the Internet, without bureaucracy. The existing services are divided to several
categories:
§ Taxes and fines payments.
§ Digital products purchase (certificates, files, paid access to databases).
§ Payment for products such as governmental publications.
More than 40 virtual stores of government offices and establishments are active today,
Figure. 5 http://ecom.gov.il - Governmental payment service site
Among the virtual stores services are:
§ Drivers and vehicle license renewal (Ministry of transportation).
§ Weapon license renewal (Ministry of internal affairs).
§ Traffic fines payments (Courts administration).
§ VAT payments (Ministry of Finance).
§ Rental fees (Israeli land adminis tration).
§ Freedom of information act fee (Various offices).
§ Ministry of defense publications.
§ Television and radio fee payments.
§ “Yad VaShem” books.
§ Maps by the Israeli mapping center.
§ Educational television courses.
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Many services allow payment by credit as well as direct bank transfer for the citizens’ private bank account
(National Bank at this stage).
Government Gate
The government gate was set up in 1998 to create a single entry point for e-Government services on the
Internet. The site was an initiative of the governmental Internet committee at the General accountant office. The
site contains access to more that 1000 different services, “yellow pages” of addresses, telephones and e-mail
addresses of government workers, information on new governmental services and a concentration of
governmental job tenders. During 2003 the government gate site was completely upgraded, including new
search capabilities, a search engine for all government sites and development of experts portals for target
audiences such as: students, immigrants and senior citizens.
Figure. 6 http://www.info.gov.il - Government Gate site
The Safe
The “Safe” project is expected to be launched toward the beginning of 2004. The purpose of this project is to
allow secured transfer of official confirmations and sensitive personal information from the government offices
to citizens and businesses. This transfer will become possible through the building of a virtual, central “Safe
room”, which will hold a secured “safe” (personal mail box) for every citizen and every business. In addition,
each document will be signed with an electronic signature that will confirm its origin. The system will be built
with special emphasis on information security, and will allow each governmental office to transfer sensitive
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official information to citizens and businesses, without compromising information security. The system will be
built in a way that allows the governmental offices to “push” information into the users’ safes, or following a
specific request by the user.
Types of information that can be transferred via this system are:
§
§
§
§
§
Official confirmations, such as: Taxes forms, business licenses etc.
Matriculation certificates.
Government workers salary statements.
Army mobilization orders.
Sensitive, personal information such as status of income task/ national security accounts and more.
Government Forms Service
The forms -site concentrates all the different offices’ forms and allows filling and on-line transfer of the form to
the designated office. This makes citizens’ life easier when dealing with the bureaucratic system and in long
waits for service in the various offices. It is also easier for the system to provide efficient and rapid service to
the citizen. The server went on-air for a pilot period towards mid 2003. In the pilot period the site hold the
Ministry of internal affairs’ forms, aiming to hold all government offices’ forms. In parallel, a development is
in process to allow transfer of approved forms to the citizen’s secured e-mail box (the “Safe” project). The
forms server will support advanced technologies of electronic signature, thus bringing real progress to all
matters concerning citizen’s confirmation and identification by the authorities. Form, that will be electronically
signed by governmental offices and sent to the citizen, will be valid for any purpose, as will the citizen’s
electronic signature on forms sent to the government offices
Figure. 7 http://www.tofes.gov.il - Forms server’s site
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7. Layer 5 – Support and Assimilation
“Lehava” Project
The information revolution is a result of the technological development that allowed men to store information,
sort it, analyze it and pass it around quickly and without effort. The digital gap is the one between those who
adapt the information revolution that brought wealth and happiness, to those who stayed behind, perceiving it to
be a negative factor. The vision of the “Lehava” project is to lessen the digital gap in Israeli society.
Figure. 8 The “Lehava” project site used by students in “Lehava” centers
Objectives
§
§
§
§
§
Assimilation of technology, specifically information technology.
Improve capabilities of populations that do not have access to technology, to be part of the information age.
Providing access to all citizens to Hebrew culture treasures.
To advance education, welfare and leisure-time quality.
Increase economic productivity and national product through investment in human capital.
Objectives of the project by the end of 2004
§
§
§
§
§
Set-up 100 local centers (or alternate existing ones) during 3 years, with 40 Internet connected workstations in
each of them.
Provide basic knowledge to 500 citizens in each center, enabling them to operate the computer and to search the
Internet for relevant information.
Give citizens with no home computers, the option to use the public computers regularly, for a few hours a week.
Establish on-line experts counseling-channels to make e-Government and other public services more efficient.
Provide expertise of information-usage to citizens that may contribute to their education and welfare.
8. Concluding Remarks
The developing e-Government vision will entirely change the way of communication between the citizen and
the government offices. The first birds can be seen even today, and have already brought significant change,
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that will undoubtedly become more apparent in the next few years. The five layers model introduced in this
paper, is the one upon which the e-Government vision is based on. Even today there are large numbers of
projects and initiatives that interconnect with the various layers of the model, among which:
§
§
§
§
§
Hebrew translation of the “computerized office” software that was written in open code to allow use by all Israeli
citizens.
Providing e-Government services in mobile technologies such as WAP and SMS.
Information portal for young people introducing their citizen’s rights and offering usage options of e-Government
applications.
An all-government GIS system presenting locations and directions to governmental offices, demographic information
and more.
Government forms server – to locate all the existing forms in the network, allowing on-line filling and forwarding
using digital signature.
The main work in this area is lead by the IT Supreme Committee & the Deputy General Accountant IT unit, but
it is done with full cooperation from the rest of the government offices, that contribute and participate in the
various steering committees, advancing the project. In spite of the difficult times that Israel is facing today, the
Israeli government does not slow down the entrepreneurial pace. While painfully dealing with the problems of
the hour, the government continues to seek progress and prepare for the future. The e-Government project
presents the government and the citizens of Israel with one of the most advanced computer systems
infrastructures in the world, in order to create, in a short period of time, a swing of communication, social and
economical progress. The government of Israel has decided on May 12 2002, to make the e-Government project
a reality. We believe that e-Government infrastructure is the basis for a better tomorrow, and that our tomorrow
is already here!
References
1
Israeli Knesset, Economy committee, sub committee to information technology, in cooperation with the national
committee for infrastructure and information development, “Preparing the state of Israel for the information age” a
summary report of mission teams work (May 1997)
2
Deloitte Research, "T HE T RANSFORMATION IS NOW , Michigan’s Innovative Formula For e-Government Success" (2002),
http://www.dc.com/obx/pages.php?Name=viewpdf&reportname=/pdf/e-michigan.pdf
3
United Nations DPEPA (Division of Public Economies and Public Administrative) and ASPA (American Society for
Public administration) (May 2002), "Benchmarking E-government: A Global Perspective"
http://www.unpan.org/egovernment2.asp
Additional Resources
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
World Market Research Center, Brown University, Darrell M. West (September 2001), "Global EGovernment Survey"
International Council for IT in Government Administration (ICA) and the G7 Government On-Line project
(G7GOL), Paul Bird, Andy Honeywood & Rainer (September 1997), "Government use of the Internet"
http://www.itpolicy.gov.il/topics_egov/g7e.htm
The Knesset’s Sub committee for science and technology meeting protocol of the 14.7.2002
http://www.knesset.gov.il/committees/heb/online/protocol.asp?tid=37
Government decision from 12.5.2002 on set-up of e-Government infrastructure
http://wwwitpolicy.gov.il/yediot/e-gov2002.htm
Information systems unit, General accountant, Ministry of Finance, Irit Hatzranov, Boaz Dolev and David
Rashty, “Initiated paper, e-Government plan 2000, Ministry of Finance (September 1999)
Ministry of Finance, General accountant’s information systems unit’s site http://wwwmof.gov.il/micun
“Tehila” project’s site http://www.mof.gov.il/tehila
Governmental information technologies’ site http://www.itpolicy.goc.il
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Systems Development for E-Government
V B Kaujalgi1
Indian Institute of Management, Banerghatta Road, Bangalore 560076, India
Abstract
Computerization of Government Departments has taken a prominent place in the use of Information
Technology. Specifically the use of IT for Web access using Internet has become possible and cost effective.
Such efforts should make the Government more transparent, less corrupt and more accountable to the
stakeholders. The paper reviews the performance ranking of important countries of the world. A sample of web
sites by various states in India are ranked base on 3-level scale. A special 2-phase methodology of application
development is proposed. The modified methodology should over come some of the problems faced by the
departments of a state for the computerization and improve the ranking of India in e-Government
Keywords: e-Government, Performance, Ranking, Websites, Survey, SSAD, Systems Development for eGovernment.
1. Introduction
Computerization started initially in the manufacturing sector and then followed by the service sector including
finance. Potential of use of Information Technology (IT) in the Government sector has become prominent
during the recent years. Even though India is the late starter in the use of IT in the Government Sector, it has
progressed rapidly because of phenomenal growth of software industry and its remarkable performance on the
export front. There are a number of studies on the various e-Government applications across the countries of the
world. Some of the important recent publications are by the Economist Intelligence Unit (2002) and global eGovernment survey by World Markets Research Centre (2001). These studies rank a large number of countries
including India on various parameters. In India, there have been no systematic studies to evaluate the websites
of the states and rank them on a set of parameters. e-Government is concerned with effective interface with
citizen (G-C), maximize efficiency, transparency, accountability, objectivity, affordability, friendliness,
convenience and accessibility to the benefit of all the stakeholders like citizens, business and Government. Use
of IT like wide area networks (WAN), Internet and mobile computing are some of the technologies, which are
relevant. Such initiatives should lead to less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, increased
revenue and cost reduction for all the stakeholders. Earlier citizen and businessmen had to go to Government
offices for interaction. Now citizens and businessmen may transact from their places of work or through kiosks.
Such use of IT should lead to new initiatives like Government to customer (G2C), Government to business
enterprises (G2B) and intra government organizations (G2G) with great benefits to these stakeholders. Recent
study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) (2002) has considered six major factors with the corresponding
weights as shown in Table 1. It covers 60 countries. First position is occupied by USA followed by Netherlands
and UK. India is at 43rd position out of 60 countries with the score of 4.02 out of 10. In this Asia/Pacific
region, India is at 10th position out of 16 countries in which Australia and Singapore are leading the region.
Most of the developing countries have the constraints of resources but still it is not an excuse for bypassing the
potential benefits of Internet. The study of e-Government by the World Markets Research Center (2001) is more
interesting. The study is based on 22 important features as shown in Table 2. There is a maximum score of 100
points based on these features. The relative performance of the countries on these 22 features is shown in Fig. 1
as a frequency chart. It is interesting to note that even the top slot country like USA has only the score of 57.2
out of 100. India is at 69th position out of the sample of 196 countries. The study has surveyed 2,288
Government websites.
1
Phone: 91-80-699-3148, Fax: 91-80-658-4050, Email: [email protected]
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It can be easily seen that India’s ranking in the world of e-Government is not high even though most of the
states in India and the Central Government seem to be committing a large amount of the scarce resources.
Considering the low ranking of India in the use of IT in the state and central Government applications, it is
important to understand the restrictions and the ways to overcome these restrictions. Attempts were made to
evaluate a sample of 76 websites and links from the websites of 14 states in India. Reasonably complete list of
Government websites is available at cyber journalist (2003). The websites were classified in the following
categories for the purpose of the present study:
Category A
Interactive website where the transactions of the citizen are completed on-line.
Category B
Citizen can download a form from a list of forms available on the web site of a state and print. This form has to be filled by the
citizen and submitted to the concerned department physically for further action.
Category C
The website is only information provider which was being carried out earlier by printing relevant brochures for the citizens.
This classification is similar to the standard classification by the World Bank (2003A). Fig 2 shows the
distribution of these Government websites considering A, B and C classification of the present study. It can be
observed that majority of the websites and links are information providers and hence they belong to the C
category. The websites and links of A category are very few. Some of them may not be completing the
transactions fully and visit to the Government department by a citizen is required for the final processing of the
forms, submission of supporting documents and payments of fees. We have counted such websites also in this
A category if a form can be filled by a citizen on-line and can be submitted with acknowledgement received by
the citizen also on-line. Some of the category A applications are interesting. Andhra Pradesh offers on-line
registration of the small-scale industries. Bhoomi of Karnataka Government is concerned with land ownerships
of 6-7 million landowners. Regional Transport Office is a popular application, which Himachal Pradesh has
implemented with partial on-line processing. Another popular application is the passport office activities,
which have been implemented partially by the Karnataka Government. Settlement of bills is becoming popular
in the category A websites of the states. Most of the websites want to move from category C to B indicating that
a citizen may download required form, print it and submit it to a department personally. Such a strategy is
concerned with incremental development of an application. This strategy is adopted by a number of countries
as reported by Golden, Hughes and Scott (2003). National Informatics Center (NIC) has played important role
in hoisting the websites of different states. Even though it has helped the states in moving fast in setting up
websites of their own, the look and feel of the websites developed by NIC are almost identical. Noticeable
exceptions are Gujarat and Punjab. Even though these two states are improving their websites, the looks and
feel are different and some new interesting ideas have been used in the design of the websites as they are
developed by the agencies other than NIC.
As the expenditure involved is large, most of the states play safe with category C websites, and hope to improve
it in the next few years. Such an approach gives the impression of limited use of e-Government to citizens and
has restricted the usage by the citizens. The access to Internet facility is limited to metros and that too to a small
fraction of the middle and upper class. Technology advancements like simputer may increase the access to
internet by the citizens. Concept of Kiosks may be a good alternative in smaller towns and group of villages.
Use of IT requires special strategy for effective use in India. Special care is required while developing
meaningful systems in the e-Government environment. Some times the strategy of development of good
computer applications in the government context may have to be different than the commercial applications.
The next section describes such a modified approach to the system development in the government applications.
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2. Approach to Systems Development for E-Govenment
Business applications are developed by the standard system analysis and design (SSAD) methodologies.
Specifically the references of Yordan C (1982), and Kaujalgi (1994) are relevant for this topic. Object Oriented
Analysis and Design (OOAD) techniques are also important as advocated by Larman (2000). Such approaches
have been very successful in commercial application. There are, however, some difficulties for the application
of IT in Government departments using standard SSAD techniques. A general diagram proposed by Golden,
Hughes and Scott (2003) is shown in Fig. 3. Such a design will give unified interface to a citizen. This
interface will access the data from the databases of state and central government offices to complete the
processing of the transactions of a citizen. Important factors of successful e-Government are concerned with
efficiency, marketization, decentralization and accountability. Hence a good web design is not sufficient for
the success of an e-Government application. It is important to consider “systems approach” as practiced by the
commercial organizations while using IT.
2.1 Problems in the development of meaningful software for government departments
Based on the experience of computerization in various states in India, following problems can be identified.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Difficulty in changing existing procedures.
Lack of suitable technology -oriented manpower because of higher salary structures in the private and public
sectors.
Transfers/Promotions of key officers in a department.
Rigid-tendering process based only on only cost consideration.
Rigid hierarchical structure of any Government Department takes longer time for final decision.
Lack of the required budget support.
2.2 General methodology of computerization for e-Governance
Success of any computerization effort is based on systematic approach to specific set of well-defined activities.
The proposed two phase (2-Phase) Methodology is briefly described in this section.
Computerization of a department should start with the formation of a Technical Committee of Department
(TCD) as STEP 1. This Committee should play a very important role in the complete computerization activities
of the department. Such a committee will be permanent and it will take more active role in the future
computerization plan of a department. It is important that TCD identifies important systems in the department in
STEP 2. These systems are also prioritised in terms of importance/impact as far as the department is concerned.
In STEP 3, a limited tender is sent to 3 to 5 organizations for feasibility reports. This tender will carry a small
payment like 1% to 2% of the total cost of a project to the organization which submits the Feasibility Report.
The document of STEP 2 will form the basis for such a tender. Depending upon the need, more than one
organization may be hired for the feasibility reports. This approach may give different views of the
computerization of a department as seen by two vendors. Evaluation of Feasibility Reports is the important
activity of STEP 4 by TCD. In the next step (STEP 5), final tender is prepared and sent to 2-3 selected short
listed organizations. The vendor who submitted the feasibility report may not be necessarily included in the
tender list and vice a versa. STEP 6 is concerned with the final selection of the organization based on the
evaluation/negotiation/ presentation by the organization. The final contract is also signed, under the supervision
of TCD.
During the period of development of the Information System, close periodic monitoring is carried out by TCD
(STEP 7). Initial Plan as agreed by both the Department and the selected organization, will be used as a bench
marks for comparing the progress of the project. Specific documents will be produced by the selected
organization, based on the Plan of Action for the computerization. Maintenance of any Information System is
important. It will involve maintenance of hardware, system software, networking components and application
software. Specific contract is required for the maintenance to keep the information system running smoothly
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with minor changes in the functionality of the Information System based on the feedback from the Users during
its use.
3. Observations about 2-Phase Methodology for E-Government
Presently, any computerization efforts face a number of problems. There has to be proper strategy to execute
computerized systems of the Department effectively. Some of the important observations based on the 2-Phase
Methodology are:
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
Customer orientation is the most important consideration of computerization of any system.
It is important to note that there is no 100% automated system. There is always some manual subsystem, which has to properly
interface the computerized system.
Any computerized system based on networking is complex. More care is required if the network involves public
communication facility like telephone, VSAT etc.
Technical Committee of Department (TCD) is the most important entity in the success of any computerization effort of the
Department.
Computerization DOES NOT mean start with the purchase of Hardware.
Always select popular and non-proprietary items in the Computerized Systems.
Various techniques are mentioned in various steps of 2-Phase Methodology. It is not necessary to get familiar with all the
techniques initially. Effectiveness of working of TCD will improve if such techniques are gradually adopted.
Any information system involves Hardware, System Software, Networking and Application Software. One organization
should be responsible for the other 3 vendors for integr ation. Traditionally, Hardware Vendor is the Integrator. It may not be
the best policy in the future. Application Developer may be a good Integrator.
Two Phases of tendering will be very effective. In the process, the Department also learns about the computerized systems
and their proper selection. This methodology may take some extra time and effort. But it is worth spending this extra time to
avoid future problems. Initial small expenditure of 1 to 2% of total cost is justified so that the vendors have incentive to do
better feasibility study.
The budget proposal for any computerization of a system should include air-conditioning, standby power supply, training of
users, renovation of rooms etc.
If the proposed computerization is not complex, then T CD may start from STEP 5. It is important that TCD should carefully
consider the proposed computerized system and then only it should take the decision to start from STEP 5. External
considerations like time, budget amount to be spent by a certain date etc. should not be major factors in starting from STEP 5.
Application software can be developed using various methodologies. It is not required that the Users/Departments/TCD
should know all the details of different methodologies. It is, however, important that TCD should demand a note from the
organizations about their method of software developments. An overview of such methods will help in better
monitoring/maintenance of the computerized system. It is gradually becoming important that the users should be involved in
the process of Requirement Specifications of the new system in the beginning. It is also important that they should be
associated with the last step of software development concerned with acceptance test of the computerized system.
4. Concluding Remarks
Computer applications for government have some unique important characteristics, which are different from the
commercial application development. India is relatively ranked in the bottom 20% based on the various
parameters of different studies. Hence extra care is required for the applications of e-Government. Most of the
websites of the states in India are information providers than service providers. Incremental changes in the
websites are not a good strategy to implement e-Government. 2-Phase Methodology may help in better
planning, development and implementation of the web sites in India for the successful e-Government
applications. This methodology takes into account the specific constraint present in the government applications
meant for the citizens.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
Golden W, M. Hughes, M. Scott, (2003), The Role of Process Evaluation in Achieving Citizen Centered EGovernment, 9 th Americas Conference on Information Systems.
Kaujalgi V B, (1994), Structured Systems Analysis and Design- Data Flow Approach, University Press.
Yourdon W, (1982), Managing the System Life Cycle, Yourdon Press, New York, 1982.
URL (2003). http://cyberjournalist.org.in/links3.html (for complete list of Government URLs)
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URL (2003A). http://www1.worldbank.org/publication (for accepted definition of e-Government)
------ (2002). The 2002 e-readiness rankings, The Economist Intelligence Unit, London.
------ (2001). Global E-Government Survey, Word Market Research Center.
50
No of Countries ---->>>>>
43
40
36
35
30
10
22
19
20
7
16
8
7
2
0
Factors v/s Countries"
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
7
7
19
35
43
36
22
16
8
2
Out of 22 Factors ------>>>>
Figure 1 World Market Study
60
No of Web Sites -->
5.
6.
7.
49
50
40
30
20
20
10
0
Category A, B, C
7
A
B
C
7
20
49
Category of Web Sites -------->>>>
Figure 2 Web Sites in India
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Broker
Public Services
Info about
Services
TELEPHONE
Passport
Car
Tax
Service Manager
Grants
Customer Databases
FAX
Information
Health
Payments
WWW
Education
Family
CITIZEN
Figure 3 Architecture of e-Government.
Table 1 EIU Factors and Weights for Evaluation of e-Governments of Countries
Sr No
1
2
3
4
5
6
Factor
Connectivity & Tech Infrastructure
Business Environment (with 70 Indicators considered)
Consumer & Business Adoption
Legal & Policy Environment
Social & Cultural Infrastructure
Supporting eServices
% Weight
25
20
20
15
15
5
Tabl e 2 Important Features as Prepared by World Market Research Center
Sr No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Feature
Phone Contact Info
Addresses
Publications
Databases
Links to other DBs
Audio Clips
Video Clips
Foreign Lang Access
No Advertisements
No User Fees
Disability Access
Sr No
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
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Feature
Privacy Policy
Index Map
On line Services
Portal Connection
Digital Signature
Pay by Credit Cards
Email contact
Search Capabilities
Post Comments
Event Broadcasts
email Update
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Managing Risk in Large E-Governance Projects
V.S.R. Krishnaiah1
National Informatics Centre, CGO Complex, New Delhi, India
Abstract
There are many potential risks and pitfalls facing e-Governance projects. So many projects fail for one reason
or another – they deliver too late, run out of budget or just don’t meet basic business requirements. One of the
primary reasons for so many project failures is that all too few software projects undertake any risk assessment.
Therefore no account is taken of how risks might impact the project. The paper presents the most common risks
in today’s software development projects. By being aware of these risks it is possible to actively manage a
project to negate, or at least mitigate, the impact of risks. Software project management is all about making the
best possible plans based on the information available at the time, and then proactively tracking and
controlling projects in response to deviation from plan. Risk assessment and contingency planning is a major
component of this.
Keywords: e-governance, Risk Management, Software Process
1. Introduction
Governments around the world are undergoing radical changes, fueled by the citizens and employees’ demand
for more open access to information and public records, growth of the Internet, and broadband connectivity to
the web. The information technology (IT) initiatives, that the government agencies undertake to deliver public
goods and services with better quality or efficiency, are increasing across the Central Govern ment, State
Governments and Local Governments. These initiatives are fuelling several large e-governance software
projects. These Projects are classified into the following four categories of applications (Government agency to
Government agency, Government agency to Business, Government agency to Citizen and Government agency
to Employees) depending upon the nature of information services and web services handled by the application
software packages.
In the contemporary setting, the e-Governance initiatives typically although not necessarily involve the use of
the Internet. Some argue that this is just a new name for what technologists in the public sector have been doing
for decades – apply the latest IT to existing or perhaps even re-engineered processes. What makes this current
phase different is the dramatic change in the potential for broad access brought about by the Internet; and the
consequent change, or at least the possibility for change in what government does, not merely how it does it. All
of this is occurring against the background of changing public habits and expectations about how and when
services are delivered. These changes are being driven by the use of the same technologies in the private sector;
e.g., automated teller machines (ATMs) and point of sales (POS) devices. Because of the nature of new
technology being deployed and wide spectrum of end users, the e-governance software projects are rarely small
enough to be undertaken by individuals. Teams and whole government departments can be involved in a single
project.
Developing large software systems is risky business. According to a report from the Standish Group “CHAOs:
A Recipe for Success,” only 28 percent of all software projects in year 2000 were on time and within budget
and had all their planned features -which means the other 72 percent either failed or did not meet original goals.
This is scary in e-Governance era where software systems can make or break the government organizations.
Therefore, it is necessary to understand the nature of risks in software projects in general and e-governance
1
Corresponding author (Phone: 91-11-24617459, Email: [email protected])
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projects in particular to manage them effectively and to reduce or minimize their impact on the implementation
of large software applications in the Government organisations. Understanding the risk and taking proactive
measures to avoid or manage them must be key element of a good software project management in eGovernance projects.
2. Risk in Software Projects
A risk is a potential problem – it might happen, it might not. Risk represents unexpected losses. Since Software
development is a difficult undertaking, lots of things can go wrong, and frankly, many often do. Software Risk
is a measure of the likelihood and loss of an unsatisfactory outcome affecting the software project, process or
product (Hall, 1998). When risks are considered in the context of e- Governance Software project, it is pertinent
to refer three conceptual underpinnings presented by Charette (1989) in his definition of risk.
“First, risk concerns future happenings. Today and yesterday are beyond active concern, as we are already
reaping what was previously sowed by our past actions. The question is, can we, therefore by changing our
action today, create an opportunity for a different and hopefully better situation for ourselves tomorrow. This
means, second that risks involves change, such as in changes of mind, opinion, actions or places…(third,) risk
involves choice, and the uncertainty that choice itself entails. Thus paradoxically, risk, like death and taxes, is
one of the few uncertainties of life”.
The Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM), developed by the Software Engineering Institute at
Carnegie Mellon University, is a framework that describes the key elements of an effective software process. A
basic assumption of the CMM is that quality increases and risk decreases as maturity levels increase
(Humphery, 1989). The CMM v2.0 identified risk management key practices in several key process areas.
Managing risk in the e – Governance projects is a practice designed to help the Government organizations and
software development teams to resolve risks that affect the software processes in general and the e-governance
projects in particular. The risk management approach was effectively used in the development and
implementation of two large software projects Viz., PAO-2000 and Composite Payroll System, in the
Government accounts sector. The author was involved in both the projects.
3. Risk Management Approaches
An organization can select one of five possible approaches to dealing with risks [McConnell, 1996]. The default
response is crisis management, the knee-jerk reaction undertaken when a previously unidentified or unmanaged
risk develops into a clear and present danger. Only slightly better is to fix the product when a failure is
encountered. A more proactive approach is to identify the risks facing your project and plan how you’ll respond
to them if they raise their ugly heads. Still better is to take concrete actions to prevent those identified risks from
ever causing trouble. The ultimate in risk management is to eradicate the root causes that cause certain risks to
chronically threaten your organization’s projects.
Risk management is the application of appropriate tools and procedures to contain risk within acceptable limits.
Risk management consists of several sub disciplines.
•
•
Risk assessment is the process of examining a project and identifying areas of potential risk. Risk identification can be
facilitated with the help of a checklist of common risk areas for software projects, or by examining the contents of an
organizational database of previously identified risks and mitigation strategies (both successful and unsuccessful). Risk
analysis involves examining how project outcomes might change with modification of risk input variables.
Risk prioritization helps the project focus on its most severe risks by assessing the risk exposure. Exposure is the product of
the probability of incurring a loss due to the risk and the potential magnitude of that lo ss. This prioritization can be done in a
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quantitative way, by estimating the probability (0.1 – 1.0) and relative loss, on a scale of 1 to 10. Multiplying these factors
together provide an estimation of the risk exposure due to each risk item, which can run from 0.1 through 10. The higher the
exposure, the more aggressively the risk should be tackled. It may be easier to simply estimate both probability and impact as
High, Medium, or Low. Those items having at least one dimension rated as High are the ones to worry about first.
•
•
•
Risk avoidance is one way to deal with risk: don’t do the risky thing! You may avoid risks by not undertaking certain projects,
or by relying on proven rather than cutting edge technologies.
Risk control is the process of managing risks to achieve the desired outcomes.
Risk management planning produces a plan for dealing with each significant risk, including mitigation approaches, owners,
and timelines. Risk resolution is execution of the plans for dealing with each risk. Finally, risk monitoring involves tracking
your progress toward resolving each risk item.
4. Risk Profile and Assessment
The risk management approach enables a project manager for coordinating risk management activities. A series
of activities are to be undertaken by the project manager to identify and resolve the risks. Risk taxonomies can
guide the project manager in identification, but although much work has been done to develop such taxonomies,
they still tend to overlook risks that typically plague actual projects. The list of risks, a project may encounter,
can be long, but the following profile gives the most important risks one has to watch and resolve while
implementing large e-Governance projects.
§
Financial risk: The danger that the cost of the system would exceed any reasonable financial pay off. This is often due to
lateness in delivery or cost overruns. Also sometimes the original budget allotted to an application is so less that the
implementation can’t take off in time to leverage the software syst em’s expected benefits.
§
Technical risk: The intended system could be beyond the capability of the technology. Hardware may be slow and limited in
size; database management systems may be unproven and unreliable. It is harder to accurately predict what technology will be
needed, with enough lead-time to develop, test and install it.
§
Project risk: The hazards associated with failure to understand testing, systems integration, systems conversion or database
installation. These are caused by lack of project management skills.
§
Functionality Risk: Systems efforts fail because we don't know the requirement when we start designing, even when we
complete our first round of implementation. One of the biggest risks and most demanding challenges facing software project
managers is that of establishing the requirements for a software project. Without a clear understanding of business objectives
and requirements it is quite likely that a project will fail to deliver a solution that meets business needs. Furthermore, without a
clear understanding of the requirements, how can software professionals hope to scope their development efforts and produce
realistic project plans and schedules?
§
Political risk: Systems efforts fail because our colleagues want them to fail. Brokers in traditional companies may resist online
trading if it will reduce their earnings. Employees may resist the implementation of e-governance applications as they bring
more transparency in to the work. Some failed transformation efforts are due to resistance, and this resistance is frequently
caused by a rational desire of colleagues to do what is best for themselves rather than what is best for the company. Failure is
sometimes caused by bounded rationality. Some colleagues do not understand what is required or why, and they are unable to
act appropriately
5. Prioritising and Quantifying Risks
When all project risks have been identified, captured and categorised, the next task is to prioritise the potential
problems and create a project risk profile. Each risk needs to be evaluated and assigned a priority based on the
probability of its occurrence, and its potential impact on the success of the project. Those risks combining a
high probability of occurrence and a high impact are of highest priority. This is perhaps the most difficult part
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of risk management. Assigning appropriate priorities requires not only an understanding of technical risk, but
also having the knowledge and awareness of the E-governance strategic directions, and Project Management.
6. Developing Contingency Plans
The next stage in managing project risk is to develop a contingency plan – a course of action for each potential
problem identified in the project risk profile. Carefully examine each problem and develop one or more
alternative solutions. Where appropriate, involve the development team, others within the organisation and
customers in solving each problem. Contingency planning is a form of insurance and comes with a price.
Anticipating problems, determining the probability of problems occurring, evaluating the potential impact and
preparing solutions in advance requires considerable effort. The tradeoff is that a problem that has been
identified, with a solution developed in advance, is far simpler and cheaper to resolve than one that occurs
unexpectedly.
7. Concluding Remarks
The goal of this paper is to help the mangers of e-governance projects to acquire the knowledge necessary to
apply risk management in their projects. Risk management is becoming recognized as a best practice in the
software industry for reducing the surprise factor. While we can never predict the future with certainty, we can
apply structured risk management practices to peek over the horizon at the traps that might be looming, and take
actions to minimize the likelihood or impact of these potential problems. Risk management means dealing with
a concern before it becomes a crisis.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement received from Dr. N. Vijayaditya,
Director General, National Informatics Centre, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of
Communications and IT, Government of India.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Boehm, Barry W., (1989), Software Risk Management, Los Alamitos, Calif.: IEEE Computer Society Press.
Charette R. N., (1989), Software Engineering Risk Analysis and Management, Boston: Mc Graw-Hill.
Hall E., (1998), Managing Risk: Methods for Software Systems Development, Reading, Massachusetts: AddisonWesely
Humphery W., (1989), Managing the Software Process, Reading, Massachusetts:Addison-Wesely
McConnell, Steve, (1996) Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules. Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft Press.
Schulmeyer, G. Gordon, and James I. McManus eds., (1996), Total Quality Management for Software, Boston:
International Thompson Computer Press.
The Standish Group report “CHAOS: A recipe for Success”, http://www.pm2go.com/sample_research
Williams, R.C, J.A. Walker, and A.J.Dorfee, (1997), Putting Risk Management into Practice, IEEE Software,
May/June, pp 75-82.
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Sustainable Technology for Administrative Re-engineering (STAR) - A Model for E-Governance Projects
Archana P. Nagvekar1 and S. Sivaraman,
National Informatics Centre, Goa, India.
Abstract
India has woken up late to the IT revolution. E-governance projects are still in their infancy in India. And most
of them are based on trial and error methods. Out of which some are successful. The rest do not live up to the
initial excitement. This paper attempts to explore why Bharat or rural India and a major part of urban India are
yet to reap the fruits of the IT revolution and what strategies could be the stepping-stones towards this end. The
strategy proposed by the authors of this paper, is a hierarchy-less model called as the STAR model.
Keywords: E-Governance, STAR model, Optimal Technology
Disclaimer: The ideas and experiences put forth in this paper are our personal views and do not necessarily
represent the views of the organization we work for.
1. Introduction
There are a number of models useful in disseminating information in a public domain. Broadcasting or Wider
Dissemination Model (see References/ URL 1) is based on dissemination/broadcasting of useful, existing
government information using ICT as a tool in the public domain. Examples of this model are, Government of
India portals giving contact information like e-mail address, of representatives of the people and public service
officers, portals putting government laws and legislations online, key government decisions etc. Critical Flow
Model (see References/ URL 1 is the other model that is of critical value to a target audience. Critical
information can be details of corruption cases, information critical to environment and citizens like radioactive
wastes at a nuclear test site, ozone depletion due to pollution, human rights violations etc. Example,
Tehelka.com. These models will not work in cases where free flow of information and opinions is inhibited by
the government machinery. According to Backus (2001), e-governance projects mature according to the four
phases, Information, Interaction, Transaction, Transformation. This framework revolves round the Citizen,
NGOs on one side and the Central Government, State Government and Local Government on the other side.
The challenges for development are listed out in four major categories viz. 1. Political aspects include strategy
and policy, laws and legislation, leadership, decision-making process, funding issues, international affairs and
political stability. 2. Social aspects includes people, education, employment, income, digital divide, literacy and
IT skills 3. Economical aspects include funding, cost-savings, business models and e-commerce and 4.
Technological aspects include software, hardware, infrastructure, telecom, IT skilled people, maintenance,
safety and security issues. The implementation of E-governance is a three-stage approach with VISION at the
higher level, STRATEGY at the middle level and SMART Projects at the lower level. The bottomline of this
model is that STRATEGY translates the VISION into SMART projects.
The authors have worked on government computerization projects for the past few years. According to our
experiences, G2C2G requirements are often not clear in the beginning. This may be because of limitation of
technology at the time of conceptualization of a project, socio-economic reasons, political/ leadership
instability, lack of vision on part of the leadership and other unforeseen reasons. Hence a need is felt for a
flexible E-governance model that can accommodate all of the above. The authors have come up with a STAR
model (Figure 1). Which has the following five basic phases, like the five arms of a star. They are:
Identification of goal, Process study, Choice of technology, Project realization, Implementation.
1
Corresponding author (Email: [email protected])
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STAR Model is defined as a model that recommends an optimal mix of sustainable technology (Hardware,
Software, Communication) and Re-engineering of the administrative processes in order to achieve a seamless
integration of the two for an Ideal E-government.
Legend
1
Legend
4
3
Identification of Goal
Process Study
Choice of Technology
2
5
Project Realization
Implementation
Figure 1 STAR Model
Each phase and its objectives are discussed below.
2. Identification of Goal
This could be as simple as deciding what to computerize. In the typical Indian Government setup it is often seen
that many departments are interconnected. In the manual way of functioning it will be seen that these
interconnected departments may be doing redundant work or reinventing the wheel. Many a times, a department
is computerized in isolation. When another department is taken up for computerization again in isolation there
are many conflicts like Compatibility, Portability, Manageability and Scalability. The objectives of this phase
are: Removing redundancy, hence result in sharing of information (Knowledge), improving efficiency of each
department and better management because of common technology. An example where more than two
departments can share data is illustrated below: Imagine we have computerized Road Transport Office (RTO),
the Police department, the Traffic Police Cell, the Judiciary, the Passport office and a general-purpose system
where each citizen is given a unique social security number (or SMART Card) and other details like date of
birth, residential address etc. are recorded. If a citizen goes to the passport department to make a passport,
her/his antecedents can be checked from the Police database. The residential details can be obtained from the
general-purpose software. This is sharing of information. A typical example could be a situation where the
government decides to computerize the following:
•
•
Citizen utility services like: Payment of electricity bills, water and telephone bills, Applications for passport, driving license,
Filling income tax returns etc, Citizen’s charters in electronic form. ssue of birth/death certificates, certificate of proof of
residence, certificate of Record of Right for land.
Specialized portals: Examination results, Employment opportunities, Portal for Agriculture/ Aquaculture,
Directory enquiry – Telephone / E-Mail of Decision makers
Identification of goal phase will cover mainly
•
•
Initiatives by the government: a government willing to genuinely adopt ICT for the benefit of its people will make a good egovernment.
Initiatives by the citizen: An e-government will succeed if the people are ready to accept and use ICT.
Initiatives by the government should mainly focus on Improving government internal work culture and
Rendering citizen centric services. The nature of administrative work in the government is sometimes quite
dreary. However if the administrator runs a wired E-Office, then ICT will make work less cumbersome hence
enabling her/him to give dynamic 24/7 service. The decision-makers should have undergone IT orientation
course so as to make them e-ready. With proper focus they can be fine tuned to be IT-Savvy. The focus should
be to make the life of the common person easier. One great way of rendering G2C2G services is to have a Point
of Service (POS), which is a one stop Info Kiosk. Citizen focus is not a one-time activity; it’s a continuous
process and should be continuously monitored. Citizens can come forward to use ICT by forming co-operative
or community movements. NGO’s can act as mobilizes too. Citizens also need to play a proactive role in the e-
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governance project to ensure transparency, fair decisions by decision makers thus bringing maximum benefits
to all. The government is of the people, for the people and by the people. It is better if the implementers of egovernance projects do not lose focus of this. Finally this is the phase where the imaginations of the
implementers have to soar on wings of the ludicrous, even though they may reach the realms of
preposterousness. If technology does not support something today, it will tomorrow.
3. Process Study
Once we have identified the goal, the complete study of the process is taken up. It should be noted that from this
phase onwards, the government and the agencies (it could again be a government organization or a private
company) developing the project, would be in constant touch. Their roles will be almost intermingled. The
objectives of this phase are discussed below.
Taking up a feasibility study: Castles cannot be built in air. They have to be built on solid terra firma. Hence a
feasibility study will lay the groundwork for the e-governance project. A feasibility study will help the decision
maker to:
•
•
•
Feel the people’s pulse regarding a certain e-governance issue.
Learn from previous experience in e-governance projects
Know whether the project is sustainable by the local economy. There’s no point in building white elephants.
Who will do the work?
•
•
The responsibility of developing the software project could be given to an empanelled list of software developers
(Government / Private / Public/ a premier education institution in th e field of technology) prepared by a government nodal
agency.
Consultancy can be provided by The Nodal Agency if required for the E-Governance project.
Narrowing down the Digital Divide: New technologies, new ideas are for the benefit of all. IT revolution cannot
be called a ‘revolution’ if more than 70 % of the population remains unaffected and completely oblivious of it.
ICT will succeed only if the digital divide is narrowed down, if not completely removed. ICT is a great leveler.
And a good e-government must take care of the diversity of needs of its people.
•
•
It could include attending to special needs of disabled people, like multimedia interface or keyboard with Braille support for
the blind. Touch screen technology could be implemented to aid the illiterate.
India is a country of diverse languages and cultures. And English is not spoken by most of us. But 80 % of the content on the
Internet currently is in English. The solution is not to teach English to all our people. True ICT is making the world into a
global village. But we do not have to lose our unique identity by becoming part of the global “Talk English, walk English”
community. Hence a local language interface for all e-governance applications and web pages is a must. Technology in a local
language is not only less overwhelming to the general public, but this will also lend an ethnic look to it.
3.1. Macro study
•
•
When taking up e-governance projects, processes should never be studied in isolation. Many a times government departments
have many common processes. If there is no sharing of data between these departments, it will only lead to redundancy. This
is horizontal integration. I.e. sharing of information between peer departments.
There also has to be vertical integration between the management, staff and end user i.e. common person. Vertical integration
is actually a generic term. In reality, adoption of ICT leads to removal of traditional hierarchies. Which is good, since each
person is responsible for his or her own actions in a department.
The bottom line of this phase is “take a birds eye view” of the processes involved.
4. Choice of Technology
Every day transistors are getting squeezed on IC chips in smaller and smaller areas. India has woken up very
late to technology compared to western nations. Hence we have the advantage of being in the era of advanced
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technology. No or very rare obsolete technology here. Though it does not stop the west from dumping their
obsolete technology here in the name of charity. Which is a different issue altogether. And of which we have
serious reservations. We suffice it to say that, the government should not fall prey to a seemingly juicy piece of
meat dangling before its eyes, when it actually might be rotten. Reconstructing these used PC’s costs a lot more
money than buying a new computer. For a country like India technology is not unaffordable. Neither do we lack
in talent to produce it indigenously. The PARAM range of supercomputers has proved this point emphatically.
The objective of this phase is to choose the optimal technology. The choice of technology can be based on
quality control parameters such as Ease of use/ Features, Robustness/ Reliability, Reach / Utilization,
Scalability and Cost Constraints. When selecting technologies, it’s important to compare more than one
technology based on the above parameters. Now’s the time to use long forgotten quality control concepts of
“Nearness diagram”, “Fishbone diagram” (Figure 2) etc. “Nearness Diagram”, is a scientific approach in
which variable entities can be rated based on certain quality control parameters, thereby bringing out the most
optimal entities nearing the quality parameters. Following is an example (Table 1) of a Checklist based on the
concept of Nearness Diagram. We have compared various communication technologies available today, based
on the above parameters and rated them on a scale of 1-5. Here the technologies are considered as the variable
entities compared against the quality control parameters.
Flexibility
Demographic Reach
System
Technology
Cost Benefit
ICT Framework
Transparency
QoS
Government Policy
Versatility
Training
Knowledge
Societal
Socio-Economic
Conditions
Unemployment
Figure 2 Fishbone Diagram framework (sample) for QoS – Quality of Service
Table 1
Parameters
Features
Reliability
Reach
Scalability
Constraints (Bandwidth, Robustness etc)
Security
Total
Average
Leased Line
3
5
3
4
3
4
22
3.67
VSAT
3
3
5
5
2
5
23
3.83
Name of Technology
ISDN WiFi (Wireless LAN)
4
5
5
2
3
2
4
5
3
2
5
2
24
18
4.0
3.0
PSTN/ Dialup
1
2
3
3
2
2
13
2.17
OFC
5
5
2
4
4
5
25
4.16
Now consider a trial case of connecting a small rural village of say 10000 people with a server located 50 km
away. Interlacing this situation with the above Checklist. We rate the cost of deployment on a scale of 1-5.
Table 2
Usage
Utility Cost
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20 users/day
5-50 users/day
Leased
Line
2
4
VSAT
ISDN
1
3
3
2
PSTN/
Dialup
4
1
OFC
3
3
Worst Case: Providing VSAT for 20 users/day and providing PSTN dialup for a maximum of 50 users/day
Best Case: Providing a Leased Line for maximum of 50 users/day and providing a PSTN line for an average of
20 users/day.
Hence we may conclude that if the usage is more, Leased Line is a good option and for average usage PSTN
Dialup is the better choice. It should also be kept in mind that expected usage is a presumed factor with which
we embark on the project. Another important thing to be kept in mind is that the hardware and the software
applications have to go hand in hand but hardware technology is ever changing, whereas the software
application (Government function) is relatively static. Introduction of newer hardware technologies in the
market always puts a pressure on the software application to be re-engineered. This is fine up to a certain level,
if the re-engineered model of the system is more robust and has value added services for the public. A stage
should come in the life cycle of a project where all technologies (software and hardware) should freeze.
However if value added services are to be introduced, they should be introduced as add-ons only. Revamping
the entire system is really a waste of national resources. A classic example is that of the Indian Railways, ticket
reservation project, which is currently freezed at terminal and VSAT based technology in the Unix
environment. Their add-on services are, Online Reservations and Current train position on Internet. While
choosing technology it should be kept in mind that it should be sustainable by the local socio-economic and
environmental conditions.
5. Project Development
This phase bridges the gap between the first three phases and the Implementation phase. There are many aspects
of the Project Development phase. They may go in a sequential manner or may also run concurrently.
§
Software development
Software development lifecycle will be as per the book and is beyond the preview of this paper. Though out the life cycle of
the software development there should be continuous interaction between developers and the users. Lack of communication is
often seen to lead to major changes taking place in the software, sometimes unfortunately towards the end of the software life
cycle. This leads to wastage on all fronts, time, money and resources.
§
E-Readiness
While the software development life cycle is going on, concurrently the government machinery can be made E-Ready. This
can be by way of: Procurement of hardware, Training the staff to use computers. So by the time the software is ready, the
machinery will also be geared up to use it. There should not be any Technology Idling Period.
§
Cost estimation of software
This is a very important factor to be considered. Because the money spent on the e-governance project is public money. But
during the IT boom, the state of affairs has been “One eyed man is the king”. In the absence of proper benchmarking
techniques for software pricing, it has resulted in software companies charging astronomical rates. Either because of lack of
options or because of vested interests the government has ended up paying these ugly sums of money. As discussed in Process
Study, in the development of the e-governance project there are two options before the government, either develop the project
in house. Or consider private sector partnership. In the first option the cost involved is only the procurement of hardware and
the hiring of trained manpower. The fringe benefits here are that it will help in generating employment opportunities in the
highly saturated field of IT. Thus putting the brakes on “Brain Drain”. If the government goes for the second option, than
some benchmarking techniques are required for cost estimation. Below we discuss one such technique that can be used.
The following parameters can be u sed as benchmarking factors:
-
KLOC kilo lines of code / Number of user screens
Number of reports / volume of data
Man months / Team size + Any special skill factors
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-
Technical know how
Target volume of users
Geographic reach of the application
Good will/ quality policy of the development team
Life time value of the technology on which it is developed
Project Cost = Resource cost + Opportunity Cost
Resource cost can be Sr. no. 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Opportunity cost can be Sr. no. 5, 6, 7 and 8
For a medium scale application the suggested cost structure can be: Resource Cost = 50%, Opportunity cost =
50%
For a large scale application the suggested cost structure can be: Resource Cost = 80%, Opportunity
cost=20%
The above is just an indicator but the entire assessment should be based on the above parameters.
Technology Transfer: In case of a customized out-of-house application, the source code should be made
available to the government department. However in case of packaged software applications, source code
should be made available after 3 years. It is important to know estimated cost of the project before hand.
However final price can be decided after the development is complete, if the government wants to avoid being
taken for a ride.
6. Implementation
This is the final deployment phase of the e-governance project. Software implementation constitutes just one
aspect of this phase and perhaps is the easiest. But getting people to use the e-governance facilities is another
ball game all together. The objectives of this phase are discussed below.
§
Generating awareness
ICT will not be used by the people for whom it is meant unless there is awareness regarding it. Awareness programs can be
Citizen centric, Government centric and Decision maker centric. Also awareness programs can be a mixture of the traditional
means and the modern means of mass communication. For example, in rural India puppet shows are very popular. This shows
can be used as a platform to make people aware and also to mobilize people to embrace Technology. Other methods for
generating awareness in both rural and urban India are: Public Address System, Street Theaters or corner shows, TV- Shows,
Interactive TV, Radio, Print -Media, ICT based tools like multi-lingual Touch Screen kiosk etc.
§
Citizen feedback
Citizen feedback can be by way of conducting sample door to door surveys in representative groups of population, E-polls/ esurveys and online feedback forms for the netizen and Drop in / Suggestion box.
§
Promotion of E-governance Services
The traditional four P’s Product, Price, Promotion and Place of Marketing mix can also be applied to E-Governance projects
for marketing of its goods and services. Traditional and electronic channels of services are to be synchronous in order to
eliminate any channel conflict s. The other P’s like positioning, packaging, and publicity plays an important role in electronic
channels for the promotion of services. Service hierarchy and service mix are to be well defined in respect to service
classification such as individual needs, group needs, community needs, society needs and demographic needs.
§
System audit
E-governance defines people, process and the products. In order to have synchronism between all these three to manage,
control and monitor we require a separate framework called “IT Governance”. The roles of IT Governance are: Information
System Audit, Data Audit and People Audit. E-Governance is a kind of pro-active role where as IT Governance is a kind of
reactive role. The later corrects and put in right place what the fo rmer fails to foresee.
§
Training
This is concerned with training of government staff and citizen in the specific application. Training is conducted in by
addressing diversity of needs. Segment wise training becomes more effective way of learning, because the learning curves
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vary from person to person and process to process. A HR policy on training may be drafted by each department that is on the
anvil of ICT implementation. This draft should encompass the entire spectrum of people and its process.
The advantages of STAR model are:
It is a hierarchy less and open model.
The project goes through all five phases of this model. It is possible to rollback from a later phase to former phase.
Any changes down the line, in technology, project requirements; government policies etc can be incorporated without
much difficulty.
This model is not application centric, because it looks at every G2C2G function as part of an integrated unit.
The crux of the STAR model is, given that the entire government functioning is looked at from a bird’s eye
view, it describes the ideal steps from conceptualization to execution for a successful E-government.
Table 3 Comparisons between STAR model and other models of the day
Sr. No
1.
2.
3.
4.
STAR Model
Takes a macro view of government functioning, i.e. it is not
application centric
Analysis oriented. Covers entire spectrum of
E-Governance project including cost estimation, ownership of
source code etc.
Stress is on optimal choice of technology.
Narrowing of Digital Divide is discussed.
Other Models
Takes a micro view, i.e. they are application centric
Position oriented. Covers only the application
framework.
Stress is on choosing current technology.
No mention of Digital Divide.
As mentioned earlier, the need for the STAR model has emerged from our experiences while working on
computerization projects in Goa. We do not claim that the current computerization scenario in Goa is based on
the STAR model, because this model has been our recent unpublished work. We have however maped a
hypothetical case to the STAR model based on our personal experiences..
7. E-Governance in Goa: The present scenario
According to the E-Readiness Report 2003 by MIT, Goa is among the aspiring leaders in the field of IT. Given
its strategic location, a sizable English speaking population, a high literacy rate, proactive leadership inclined
towards IT, and it being a tourist destination, Goa has the potential to be among the leaders one day. And signs
of this are being seen already. The backbone of all E-governance activities in Goa is Goa Government’s,
Network Infrastructure project called GOANET (refer Refrences/URL 4,5) which is a first in India. GOANET is
an Intranet that is spanning the entire length and breath of Goa. The GOANET project is executed by NIC-GOA
STATE UNIT in co-ordination with Department of IT (Goa) for Government of Goa. The idea behind having
such a network, is:
•
•
•
To provide the network infrastructure to government departments, so that all departments are interconnected.
Whenever a department is computerized and it wants to share knowledge and information with other departments, it simply
has to hook to the network.
Duplication of work at more than one department and data redundancy is to be completely removed.
If GOANET is the backbone, the Mahiti Ghar (refer Figure 3 in Annexure and References/URL 5) is the pulse
point where the citizen interacts with the government. In short MahitiGhar is an information kiosk for extending
all G2C2G activities. The Mahiti Ghar is connected to the GOANET network. Currently the services that are
available through Mahiti Ghars are Land Records Information or DHARANI (refer References/URL 3),
Learners Licenses. Mahiti Ghars can be used for extending many more G2C2G services like, payment of all
kinds of bills and taxes, registration of births and deaths, issue of birth or death certificate, renewal of driving
licenses, application for passport etc.
7.1. Personal experiences in the area of E-governance
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The authors are working on the GOANET and the computerization of the Directorate of Accounts (DOA)
projects in Goa. The computerization of DOA has been going on since the last 10 years. The existing system is
terminal based. This though has it limitations for the developer. The DOA itself consists of many subsections
besides having a branch office in the commercial city of Madgao. But unfortunately computerization of each
sub section in DOA had been taken on a piece-meal basis in the past. Thus leading to major design afflictions in
the entire system. All this can change, when the entire system is being ported to a new platform, which is
Oracle backend on SCO Open Server 7 and .NET/ VB front end on windows clients.
7.2. Identification of Goal
The DOA is the budget controlling and bill passing authority of the Government of Goa (GOG). Every
department submits its bills to DOA, where they are first pre-audited and than passed. DOA also carries out
final compilation of accounts (of receipts and payments) for the GOG. However, every department also has to
keep an account of bills submitted by them to DOA. The new plan now is to let every department do their own
bill data entry at their end. All departments including DOA can be connected via the GOANET. The DOA need
not do the bill data entry at its end, as the DOA servers will captjure the data as entered by the departments
[Data redundancy is removed]. In a totally integrated environment, the nationalized banks (which receive the
receipts and make payments on behalf of the government), can also share their data with DOA in order to aid
the compilation of accounts process.
7.3. Process Study
It is worthwhile to mention that considerable experience has been gained while working on this project over a
period of time. The flexibility of the STAR model allows for going forward from this point onwards, without
starting the Process study from scratch. However the loopholes of the existing system will be patched in the
new system.
7.4. Choice of Technology
DOA also has a close relation with the Finance department of the GOG. In the new plan, a Web server can be
installed at DOA, by which the DOA receipt and expenditure figures can be made available on a minute-byminute basis, to the Finance department via the GOANET. This is a value added feature. A touch screen can be
installed at the DOA so that the other departments and the public can check the status of their bills and cheques
unaided on the Web (refer Figure 3 in Annexure). This facility could also be made available from the Mahiti
Ghars. A Sub Treasury Office (STO) of the DOA also compiles receipts and payments. Currently this is being
done manually, and the data entry in the computers takes place at DOA. The Taluka offices already have a
leased line in place for the purpose of other e-governance activities like Land Records. Since the STO is located
in the same premises as the Taluka office, in the new plan the leased line can be shared by the STO to transmit
data to the DOA.
7.5. Project Development
In the new plan there is no or minimal need to carry out system study as this has already been done for the
existing system. However data porting and software development under new environment is being carried out.
DOA is being made E-ready by procuring hardware in phases and by sending the staff for regular trainings in
the use of computers. The project is being developed in house by NIC. However trained manpower has also
been recruited on contract basis, thus generating employment for locals. Brain Drain is avoided.
7.6. Implementation
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This can be carried out by conducting workshops/seminars/training for the concerned people (staff and public).
Feedback can be obtained from personal contact, e-mail etc.
Citizen
Citizen
G2C2G Services
G2C2G Services
Mahiti Ghar
Mahiti Ghar
GOANET
Department 1
like (DOA)
Department 2
G2C2G Services
Department N
G2C2G Services
Citizen
Citizen
Figure 3 Block diagram of E-governance scenario in Goa
8. Concluding Remarks
Compared to other developing nations India is quite ahead in the field of e-governance. But all is not well in
India. Unless there is dissatisfaction there is no progress, and unless there is progress there is no happiness. The
catch is to be happily dissatisfied. That is why India requires a vision for the future. And this vision is to be, a
power of world reckoning. This can happen only if we are self-sufficient. Have eradicated poverty, have equal
opportunities for all, and are largely internal conflict less. Information Technology cannot be the vision for
India. It can at best be a medium or a humble tool to realize the vision. No doubt nations are built with bricks
and mortar. But SMART nations are built with clicks and mortar.
References
1.
2.
INDIA: E-Readiness Assessment Report 2003, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication
and Information Technology, Government of India.
Saran R, (2003),“India’s Best and the Worst States”, India Today, May 19 2003 issue.
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Shah R.R, Towards a policy framework for IT in India, Administrative Staff college Journal of Management 31 (1and
2)
Pitroda S, Changing the focus of IT: from industry to people, Administrative Staff college Journal of Management
31(1and2)
Bagga R. K., IT policies and their implementation in India: The ASCI-CSI research project, Administrative Staff
college Journal of Management 31(1and 2).
Pressman R.S, Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, Mc Graw Hill
Oberoi S, E Security and You, Tata Mc Graw Hill.
Mittal D. P., Law of Information Technology (Cyber Law), Taxman’s
Taha H.A., Operation Research an Introduction, P. H. I.
Chase, Aquilano, Jacobs, Production and Operations Management, Tata Mc Graw Hill.
Digital Governance: a) Broadcasting / Wider-Dissemination Model, b) Critical – Flow Model. Available at:
http://www.cddc.vt.edu/digitalgov/gov-menu.html
IICD Research Brief – No 1, (March 2001), E-Governance in Developing Countries, Available at:
http://www.ftpiicd.org/files/research/briefs/brief1.doc
DHARANI - An Integrated IT Solution for monitoring Land Records in Goa, Available at
http://www.informatics.nic.in/newsonline/n-view.asp?NewsID=40
INFORMATICS, An E-governance bulletin from NIC, July 2003 Issue, GOANET, available at
http://informatics.nic.in/newsonline/n-view.asp? NewsID=26
Budget speech/E-governance.
Available at http://www.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet/2003-March/000820.html and Speech of Shri Manohar Parrihar,
Chief Minister Goa. 50th National Development Council Meeting on 21st December 2002 at New Delhi, available at
http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/pl50ndc/goa.pdf
About the Authors
Archana P. Nagvekar, works as Systems Analyst, National Informatics Centre Goa. She has done her Bachelor
in Engineering (Computer Science) from Goa University, Goa. She is currently working on the Government of
Goa, Directorate of Accounts Computerization project. She does volunteer work for a web-site
www.bytesforall.org, which showcases IT initiatives in the developing world. She also co-moderates a
USENET group called soc.culture.indian.goa (http://groups.google.com), a dedicated group for anything about
Goa.
S. Sivaraman, works as Scientific Assistant B, National Informatics Centre Goa. He has done his Bachelor in
Engineering (Computer Science) from Madras University. He is currently pursuing Executive-MBA at Goa
Institute of Management and ICWAI. He is actively involved in the GOANET project.
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A Suggested Typology of E-Government Projects and Implications for Risks and Impact
Subhajyoti Ray 1
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad – 380015, India
Abstract
Notwithstanding the increasing sophistication of information and communication technologies (ICT) and their
growing use by governments, the impact of e-government projects have been below potential. This paper argues
that, realizing the potential of e-government requires, a deeper understanding of e-government projects. To
further this cause, the paper proposes the concept of project scope and a typology for project classification
based on scope is suggested. The characteristics of each type of project are explained and a conceptual model
describing the relationships among project scope, impact and risks is proposed. Finally two case studies from
India are highlighted to validate the arguments.
Keywords: Project Scope, Typology, Risks, ITPOSMO.
1. Introduction
The revolution in ICT has brought a whole new agenda for governance into the realm of possibilities. ICT
infiltration in the day-to-day life of the people has forced governments across the globe to rethink their working
and procedures, so that the new medium can be exploited to the benefit of all. Despite the significant
improvements in ICT and notable success in the private sector, there has been largely discouraging experiences
of ICT use in government. e-Government projects have been implemented by various countries and for various
purposes but many issues remain unresolved pertaining to project success factors, evaluation and risks among
others. It is therefore imperative that e-government projects be studied and knowledge enhanced, so that the
promise of ICT for government is realized. To further this objective this paper has two aims. Firstly, the paper
defines the concept of project scope and a typology for project classification based on scope is suggested. The
characteristics of each type of project are also explained. As a second aim of this paper, a model describing the
relationships among project scope, impact and risks is proposed.
In the next section a brief account of various definitions of e-government is provided and along with a
discussion on e-government project goals. Section 3 reviews the literature on information system risk in
general and e-government projects in particular. For the sake of completeness project impact is discussed in
section 4. Section 5 addresses the first aim of this paper by defining scope and creating the typologies. Section
6 deals with the second aim of the paper, describing the conceptual model for scope, risk and impact and the
resulting contingent relationship between scope and degree of success. Section 7 illustrates two cases and
section 8 concludes with a direction for future research and implications for practitioners.
2. E-Government Definition and Goals
e-Government is sometimes defined in a narrow sense as citizen’s services, re-engineering with technology, or
procurement over the Internet. Others (EzGov, 2001) perceive e-Government as a fundamental transformation
of government and governance at a scale not witnessed since the beginning of the industrial era. From a more
technological point of view, e-Government is the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of
government service to benefit citizens, business partners and employees (Deloitte Research, 2000). Sprecher
(2000) considers e-government as the way technology is used to help simplify and automate the transactions
between government and other institutions both government and businesses. e-Government has also been
defined as the “one stop non stop” operation of public services (Lawson, 1998). A far more comprehensive
1
Phone: 91-79-6326810, Email: [email protected]
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definition of e-government proposes changes of government in two related aspects: 1) transformation of
business of governance i.e. reducing costs, improve service delivery and renewing processes; 2) re-examination
of the functions and processes of democracy itself (Aicholzer and Schmutzer, 2000).
Three domains of e-Government are identified in literature (Ntiro, 2000 & Heeks, 2002). They are
eAdministration, eServices-eCitizens and eSociety. eAdministration concerns improvement of government
processes, enhance efficiency in government activities and reduce costs of government functioning. eServices
and eCitizens are about better service delivery using ICT, information dissemination and involving citizens by
way of feedback and inputs in decisions making. eSociety has primarily to do with building external linkages
with business and local commu nities. The goal in this domain is to work better with business, build capabilities
of communities, creating organizational groupings and others.
e-Government therefore implies significant changes in the way governments work and interact with citizens and
business organizations utilizing new technologies like WAN, wireless networks, Internet and electronic gadgets.
The outcomes are better service delivery, improved interaction between government and citizen and citizen
empowerment. The resulting impacts are reduced cost, lesser corruption, transparency revenue growth and
convenience. e-Government projects are designed to address these goals and usher in the much needed
transformation in government.
3. Understanding E-Government Project Risk
In view of the complexity of public sector information systems and in the context of developing countries, a
wide range of literature exists that explain failure of information systems (IS). In a factor analysis approach
technical, economic, political, and social factors are attributed to be the causes of IS failure in developing
countries (Khalil and Boutros, 1989). In another study, Boon (1992) points to the lack of understanding of
information as a critical resource in developing countries as a main reason for IS fa ilure. Inadequate
understanding of interaction between IT and the organization during the process of IT implementation has been
pointed out to be another significant cause for IS failure in developing countries (Montealegre, 1999).
McFarlan (1982), finds failure to obtain anticipated benefits, overrun of implementation costs, time overruns
and lack of user interest as some the risks associated with IT investments.
In the context of e-government, failures are more visible than successes. e-Government failure has been
classified into three broad categories namely total failure, partial failure and success (Heeks, 2003).
•
•
•
Success: most stakeholder groups attained their major goals and did not experience significant undesirable outcomes.
Partial failure: major goals for the initiative were not attained and/or there were significant undesirable outcomes.
Total failure: the initiative was never implemented or was implemented but immediately abandoned.
It is estimated that nearly 35% of all e-Government init iatives are complete failures. Nearly 50% of all
initiatives are partial failures, leaving a meagre 15% as success stories (ibid).
Heeks and Bhatnagar (1999), identified concept reality gaps as the main reason for e-government project
failure. The concept reality gaps pertain to the mismatch or gap between conception of a change brought in by
IS and the current reality. These gaps can occur on Information, Technology, Processes, Objectives, Staff,
Management and Other (ITPOSMO) dimensions. ITPOSMO dimensions of risks were applied to analyse egovernment projects in Africa, to two cases, one of success and other a failure Heeks (2002). The information
systems in the public sector require more and significant changes across too many dimension of the ITPOSMO
framework. The concept reality gaps are higher in the public sector for a variety of reasons (ibid). In case of egovernment projects the information dimension gap can arise because of incomplete understanding of citizens
needs, technology gaps can arise because of use of untested technology and low awareness of technology by
end users. Like wise current government processes may not be amenable for ICT use and the changes needed to
work under an ICT driven system could be quite significant. Gaps on dimensions of people, staff and
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management can occur because in the public sector, formal objectives are responsibility of a group rather than
an individual and are therefore less likely to be aligned with personal objectives. Job insecurities for people are
fewer and hence lesser motivation to be efficient and effective.
Hence, the success or failure of e-government projects is determined by the changes needed on the ITPOSMO
dimensions and the extent to which those changes can be handled. In this paper risks will be understood to
mean the estimation of degree of change required on the ITPOSMO dimensions using Likert scale type of a
measure.
4. Project Impact
Impact evaluation of e-government till date has been largely anecdotal and subjective. e-Government
evaluations have varied from reviewing government websites, benchmarking nations and performance appraisal
of e-government projects. Consulting firms have done a large chunk of these evaluation studies.
The consulting firm Accenture has done a comprehensive overview of e-government maturity in 22 different
countries (Accenture, 2001). The report addresses key questions such as: What progress has been made in the
development of e-Government? What actions have national governments taken to turn their vision into reality?
What opportunities exist for countries to truly exhibit e-Government leadership? The World Market Research
Centre, a part of the Global Insight group of companies has done a comprehensive evaluation of government
websites (World Bank, 2001). Their report explores the features that are available online at national government
websites. Using a detailed analysis of 2,288 government websites in 196 nations, it measures the information
and services that are online, charts the variations that exist across countries, and discusses how E-government
sites vary by region of the world. Another study by the Bertelsmann Foundation (Bertelsmann Foundation,
2001), in cooperation with Booz Allen Hamilton looks at e-government and the degree to which electronic
services contribute towards the process of bringing local and state governments closer to the citizen. The report
benchmarks various types of e-government services and uses a scorecard methodology to evaluate 12 egovernment services from USA, Canada and Europe. The scorecard assesses the level of benefit, efficiency,
transparency, participation and change management of each service.
At a project level, there have been evaluation studies sponsored by the World Bank (World Bank, 2003). Four
of the projects that have been extensively covered are Gyandoot in Madhya Pradesh, FRIENDS in Kerala,
Checkpost in Gujarat and Bhoomi in Karnataka, all from India. These evaluations though exhaustive, a large
component of benefits are not quantified. No objective comments about the success or failure or benefit cost
ratios can be made from these studies. While the evaluation of e-government projects is itself an evolving topic,
some indicators that can assess impact objectively are percentage of people utilizing the online services, site
visit counts and proportion of total government service being availed online among many others.
5. E-Government Project Scope and Resulting Typology
The primary objective of this paper is to propose the concept of project scope that can allow better
understanding of risk and impact of e-government projects. A typology based on scope will enable
classification of the projects a