Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership [1 ed.] 9781607504443, 9781607500254

Citation preview

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

GLOBAL E-GOVERNANCE

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global E-Governance Series Volume 2 Recently published in this series Vol. 1.

T. Obi (Ed.), E-Governance – A Global Perspective on a New Paradigm

ADVISORY BOARD Prof. Dr. Pairash Thajchayapong, Advisors to the Board (Bangkok, Thailand)

Jean Pierre Auffret, George Mason Univ. (Washington D.C., US)

Prof. Dr. Toshio Obi, Chairman of the Board, President-elect IAC (Toyko, Japan)

Mathais Finger, Swiss Federal Institute (Lausanne, Switzerland)

Jantima Sirisaengtaksin, Vice Presedent, IAC, Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance (Bangkok, Thailand)

Francisco Magno, Le Salle Univ. (Manila, Philippines)

Yashio Utsumi, former Secretary General ITU (Tokyo, Japan) Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko, Tampere University (Tampere, Finland) Nagy Hanna, World Bank Advisor (Washington D.C., US)

Father Dhlamini, United Cities (Johannesburg, South Africa) Prof. Suhono, Bandung Institute of Technology (Jakarta, Indonesia) Prof. Martin Santana, Esan University (Lima, Peru)

Yuir Fedotov, St Petersberg Univ. (St. Petersberg, Russia) Frank Yu-Hsieh Sung, Research Commission (Taipei, Taiwan) Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Tran Minh Tien, ICT Advisor (Ha noi, Vietnam)

Fengchun Yang, Beijing University (Beijing, China)

Keiko Kiyohara, Mitaka City (Mitaka, Japan) Randeep Sudan, Global ICT Department, World Bank (Washington D.C., US) Jirapon Tubtimhin, IAC (Bangkok, Thailand)

Seang-Tae Kim, National Information Society Agency (Seoul, Korea)

Russell Pipe, Editor, I-Ways Journal (Bangkok, Thailand)

Motoo Kusakabe, Director Open City Portal (London, UK)

Thomasz Janowski, United National Univ. (Macao)

ISSN 1874-8511

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership

Edited by

Jirapon Tubtimhin Secretary General, IAC Secretariat Office, Thailand

and

Russell Pipe

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Senior E-Government Consultant, Kenan Institute Asia, Bangkok

Amsterdam • Berlin • Tokyo • Washington, DC

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

© 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher. ISBN 978-1-60750-025-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2009929335 Publisher IOS Press BV Nieuwe Hemweg 6B 1013 BG Amsterdam Netherlands fax: +31 20 687 0019 e-mail: [email protected]

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Distributor in the UK and Ireland Gazelle Books Services Ltd. White Cross Mills Hightown Lancaster LA1 4XS United Kingdom fax: +44 1524 63232 e-mail: [email protected]

Distributor in the USA and Canada IOS Press, Inc. 4502 Rachael Manor Drive Fairfax, VA 22032 USA fax: +1 703 323 3668 e-mail: [email protected]

LEGAL NOTICE The publisher is not responsible for the use which might be made of the following information. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.

v

Preface

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Professor Pairash THAJCHAYAPONG President, International Academy of CIO, Bangkok, Thailand

Governments are being transformed at every level due to advances in technology and innovative programs that open vast opportunities for delivery of public services, interact with citizens and business, and promote democracy. It is essential that those responsible for operating these services are well trained to provide the leadership needed for successful application of e-Services. This is the second volume in the Global e-Governance Series and focuses on Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership by presenting original articles by international experts, National Case Studies and CIO Training Course materials. The International Academy of Chief Information Officers (IAC) is very pleased to be a sponsor of a book in this series published by IOS Press of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The objectives of the Academy are to study various issues and to pursue the universality of knowledge to advance applied theory in the field of CIO. These include: (1) establishing academic and professional standards based on its research on social phenomenon relating to ICT by elucidating the gradual process of its causes and effects, social and technical inter-relationships, (2) facilitating the exchange of information and knowledge among academic members, professionals and others; and (3) introducing a global standard of a CIO model by uniting academic resources with practical case studies to strengthen and enhance international competitiveness in the ICT industry in the Information Age. The main purposes of the IAC (www.iacthailand.org) are to foster the learning and development of CIOs in several economies with its activities including academic research and organization of policy dialogues in the field of CIO development. Among its activities are organizing workshops, conventions and symposia, lectures and seminars; conducting academic research projects and surveys, issuing publications such as journals and proceedings; cooperation with related academies whenever possible to exchange resources and carry out joint research projects; undertaking global projects, and offering opportunities to young and top scholarly researchers to actively engage in the field of CIOs, including postgraduate students. Chapters have been prepared by experts from a number of countries and are intended to provide details on the diverse experiences in e-Governance leadership in several countries. They include presentations on: Public Private Partnership in Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area; Best Practices and a Framework for Success in Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries; Open City Portal in Promoting e-Participation; Building Inclusive e-Government in a Municipality in Peru; Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy; Japan e-Government; Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia; China Style and Contents of Government in Steering e-Government Construction and Implementation; Thailand e-Government, Another Step Forward; Taiwan CIO

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

vi

Role and Responsibility; and European History of Information Society, Shifts from Governments to Governance. Authoritative national case studies are presented in Section II, describing the experiences of Thailand and Japan in their implementation of e-Governance programs, special national reports. Section III presents extensive materials prepared as part of the IAC-APEC GCIO Training program and Model GCIO Council. These are practical instructional manuals that can be used by those seeking to learn more about how to introduce and implement e-Governance programs at the national and/or municipal levels. This book will serve as a research tool for those examining current economic developments, such as the financial crisis and how the consequences may impact the advancement of e-Government programs, including requirements for professional staff and experts to operate e-Services. Several chapters also address issues involved in promoting “Green ICT.” A number of potential benefits have been examined by several international organizations and national governments in which could become a significant component. Consequently there are several practical dimensions to Advancing eGovernment Through Innovation and Leadership.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Editors: Jirapon Tubtimhin and Russell Pipe [email protected] [email protected]

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

vii

List of Authors Jean-Pierre Auffret Center for Advanced Technology Strategy, Fairfax, Virginia, USA [email protected] Prof. Yao-Kuo Chiang Graduate School of Social Informatics, Yuan Ze University, Chinese Taipei [email protected] Yang Fengchun Dean Academy of e-Government, Peking University, China [email protected] Cut Fiarni School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Bandung Institute of Technology [email protected] Matthias Finger Director, Executive Master in e-Governance Program, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland [email protected]

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Nagy K. Hanna Educator, e-Leadership, Senior Advisor, World Bank [email protected] Naoko Iwasaki Institute of e-Government, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan [email protected] Kitisak Jirawannakool Thai Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT) National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, Thailand [email protected] Motoo Kusakabe Founder, Open City Portal Foundation [email protected] Toshio Obi Institute of e-Government, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan [email protected]

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

viii

Passakon Prathombutr Program Manager, Intelligent Transport Systems, National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology [email protected] Nuttapong Sanglertsilapachai Thai Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT) National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, Thailand [email protected] Martin Santana Japan Foundation Fellow, Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Japan Professor of ESAN University, Peru [email protected] Jamal Shahin Scientific Advisor, Executive Committee Member, Executive Master in e-Governance Program, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland Jantima Sirisaengtaksin Senior Advisor, Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance, Bangkok, Thailand [email protected]

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Siwaruk Siwamogsatham Thai Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT) National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, Thailand [email protected] Angsumal Sunalai Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology [email protected] Suhono Harso Supangkat School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Bandung Institute of Technology [email protected] Prof. Dr. Pairash Thajchayapong President, International Academy of CIO Prof. Shu-Fen Tseng Graduate School of Social Informatics, Yuan Ze University, Chinese Taipei [email protected] Mr. Jirapon Tubtimhin Senior Expert, NECTEC, NSTDA, Ministry of Science and Technology Secretary General, IAC Secretariat Office, TEL 05/2005 Project Overseer, TEL 02/2006 Project Overseer, NECTEC, NSTDA, Ministry of Science and Technology, Bangkok, Thailand [email protected]

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

ix

Contents Preface Pairash Thajchayapong List of the Authors

v vii

Section I. Experiences in e-Governance Leadership

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track Angsumal Sunalai and Jirapon Tubtimhin

3

Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area Jantima Sirisaengtaksin

26

e-Government in Japan Toshio Obi and Naoko Iwasaki

37

Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries: Best Practices and a Framework for Success Jean-Pierre Auffret

53

The History of a European Information Society: Shifts from Governments to Governance Jamal Shahin and Matthias Finger

62

The Style and Contents of China Government in Steering E-Government Construction and Implementation Yang Fengchun

84

Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy Nagy K. Hanna

94

Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia Suhono Harso Supangkat and Cut Fiarni

117

The Study of CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation: A Comparative Perspective Shu-Fen Tseng and Yao-Kuo Chiang

124

Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru Martin Santana

134

OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation Motoo Kusakabe

150

Section II. Case Studies Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009 Toshio Obi

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

163

x

ITS in Thailand Passakon Prathombutr

182

Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand Kitisak Jirawannakool, Nuttapong Sanglertsilapachai and Siwaruk Siwamogsatham

194

Section III. IAC-APEC Articles Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for e-Government Development Jirapon Tubtimhin

205 224

Subject Index

235

Author Index

237

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Development of Model Government CIO Councils Jirapon Tubtimhin

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Section I

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Experiences in e-Governance Leadership

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

This page intentionally left blank

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-3

3

Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track a

Angsumal SUNALAI a and Jirapon TUBTIMHIN b Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Thailand [email protected] b Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand [email protected]

Abstract. Thailand e-Government at its start, IT 2000 and 2010 were key driving policy frame work. The first ICT Master Plan was the country’s ICT and eGovernment architecture during 2002-2008. It is about time for reviewing its races and at the same time paving way for future substantial aims. Surveys, Interviews and studies on stakeholders including users, webmasters and CIOs and the present environment conditions have been conducted by the Ministry of ICT to reflect facts and figures of the past e-Government services development as well as future development roadmap has been design as a step forward to leapfrog its maturity level of e-Government development and to keep abreast with the international development arena. Keywords. IT 2000, IT 2010, e-Government, CIO, Ministry of ICT, NECTEC, Citizen Centric, Webmasters, e-Government Maturity, Information, Interaction, Interchanged Transaction, Integration and Intelligence

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 1.1. Overview of Thailand’s ICT Development The country’s first ICT policy framework was IT2000 which set target to lay basic foundation of ICT Infrastructure including human resource development. Followed by the IT2010 (2001–2010) which is set forward to achieve the ultimate goal of building up the country to the level of knowledge based economy. Besides, three specific goals are aimed for. The first target is to raise the technological capability of Thailand from “dynamic IT adopter” nation to “a potential leader”, secondly to increase the proportion of knowledge workers and thirdly to increase a contributable sum of knowledge-based industries to the country growth. To achieve these goals, IT2010 has identified five main flagships: e-Government, e-Education, e-Commerce, e-Society and e-Industry as the country’s e-development initiatives. Interpretation of the IT2010 has been depicted through the country’s first ever ICT Master Plan (2002–2006 and extended until 2008) with key objectives: to apply ICT to increase competitiveness, to develop a knowledge-based society, to apply ICT for sustainable development, and to develop business around the ICT industry. The second ICT master plan has currently been prepared and ready for deployment during the years 2009–2013. The succeeding master plan’s ambition is to further develop the country to a so called “Smart Thailand” where sustainable ICT implementation will be based on

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

4

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

IT-literate-human capacity in all levels of society and on the good governance foundation in all development sectors as well as the accessible-to-all infrastructure. 1.2. Thailand’s ICT Development Indicators

Source: Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, www.atci.or.th Figure I. Thailand ICT Status in 2007.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

ICT indicators in 2007 reflected that Thailand has good opportunities and potentials on ICT development especially in the area of telecommunication infrastructure including internet and mobile penetrations as shown in below figures. According to ITU currently mobile penetration of the country has reached 98% which indicates high potential in mobile business especially in content development. 3-G platform is now under experimental phase and planned for launching implementation soon.

Source: Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, www.atci.or.th Figure II. Thailand Internet Users Statistics During 1991–2007.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

Source: Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, www.atci.or.th

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure III. Thailand Internet Bandwidth During 1999–2007.

Source: Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, www.atci.or.th Figure IV. Thailand Technical Staff in Software Industry in 2006.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

5

6

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

Source: Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, www.atci.or.th

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure V. Thailand Total Domestic ICT Market in 2007.

Source: Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, www.atci.or.th Figure VI. Thailand Total Domestic ICT Market in 2007.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

7

1.3. High Growth Market Segments After more than a decade of the modern ICT era when information super highway through internet network has played a major drive on ICT development and shortly afterwards when e-Government has become the major development agenda among the other e-Initiatives, Thailand has gone far enough, for a certain extent, in creating its own market segmentation. Among the high growth markets include the following segments: 1)

2)

3)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

4)

Financial Segment – Core Banking, CRM, Call Center – Business Analysis (Anti Money Laundering), Risk Management (BASELII) – Security (CCTV, Networking) Telecommunications Segment – 3G Mobile Infrastructure – Management Security Services for Enterprise Users – Online Application Services Public Sector Segment – e-Government – e-citizen – Security System SOHO markets (Small Office & Home office) – Hardware and Small Business software such as Accounting System, CRM and POS System – RFID – Edutainment (Online Game, Computer Based Training, E-learning)

In conclusion Thailand is ready to step forward for building up ICT society. In order to achieve its goal the country needs to be partnering with all countries both intranationally and inter-nationally under a standardization scheme. However the Thai government has to commit to support the ICT Industry to grow sustainably. Most importantly the government under the implementation agencies’ arms have to put the e-Government and ICT development back into a right track where rendering and enhancing integration both within its ministries and across all ministries to step into the so-called “Connected Government”.

2. Overview of e-Government Development in Thailand e-Government is the use of ICT tools such as internet, mobile computing and cellular phones by government to streamline processes and transactions. In practice, e-Government evolves from e-Commerce. Business sectors have succeeded and experienced the internet world and flocked into the dot com era in the last decade. This

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

8

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

phenomenon has turned on public administration to reinvent itself into “Government Online” which has been spreading all over the world. Thailand e-Government is an element under the then e-ASEAN and e-Thailand initiatives. Vision implying from the government policy reflected that the government has seen ICT as an essential element for social and economic development. Government in the past years continuingly placed in its policy, the e-Government, a government that utilize electronic system, utilize internet mostly in order for rendering service to citizen more quickly and efficiently. Ministry of ICT in its first run for ICT development also set e-Government as priority among the 5 ‘e’ broaden strategies i.e. e-Commerce, eIndustry, e-Government, e-Education and e-Society. With the framework of IT 2010 and succeeded by the first ICT Master Plan, 2002– 2006, e-Government has been promoted and developed as a driving mechanism for the other two “e” sectors, i.e. the economy sectors: e-Commerce and e-Industry; and the social sector which comprised e-Education and e-Society. The second country ICT Master Plan has been drafted to cover an implementation period of 2009–2013. The newly drafted master plan plans to take over those still to implement projects under the 5 “e” flagships with more focus strategies. Firstly, the new plan will emphasize on human capacity buildings for ICT development across the board, including ICT personnel in all level of government sector, ICT workforce for targeted ICT industries such as animation software perse and ICT literacy for all the country’s societies and communities. Second emphasis is to put more attention on the so called “Governance” factor since there have been lessons learnt during the first plan implementation that, lacking of properly conducted governance caused most of project misconducts as well as less citizen engagement. Therefore e-Governance has been underlined to keep into governance tracks of ICT project implementation in all sectors. ICT governance is also been defined to incorporate into public sector e-Government implementation project both in terms of front and back-end services. Lastly, ICT infrastructure is defined as one of the main 6 strategies in the draft master plan to guarantee that all sectors of society will not be left out of the information era under the universal access framework. 2.1. Current Status of e-Government Development In the early stage of e-Government development of the country some successful pilot projects under the country’s e-Government initiatives included e-Revenue (Revenue Department), e-Investment (BOI), e-Statistics (National Statistics Office), e-Economics (NESDB), e-Commercial Registration (Department of Business Development) and eParliament as for good examples. In addition, under the first ICT master plan some urgent projects were specified with the objectives of implementing key infrastructure components for e-Services integration, namely, GDX (Government Data Exchange), GNX (Government News Exchange), Web Portal, One Stop Services, Government Intranet, and Government Authentication. So far, until the end of the plan, these prioritized projects had not been paid much attention enough to succeed as planned. Instead,

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

9

some minor incidents like the so-called “e-Government Milestones” that set in the eGovernment workshop chaired by the then Prime Minister on March 26th, 2003 had been over emphasized and been accomplished gradually at a certain extent of the set-up targets which last up to the year 2005. When Thailand started the public sector reform in 2002 and resulted from the first national ICT master plan an Ministry of ICT to date has been founded. Since then under cooperation among MICT and other related ministries have initiated some key e-Government projects which all of them are still high priorities in the ICT and eGovernment development pipelines of the country and they are as followings: • • •

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

• • • • • • •

e-Citizen Smart Cards Project for 63 million people, 25 million smart cards has been delivered since 2005 and the rest within next 3 years Related smart card applications are in the pipelines for development including Security System: PKI and Root CA, Identification Card for Access Control and access to e-Government services GFMIS (Government Financial Management Information System), a Centralized Government Financial System Ministerial and Departmental Operation Centers (MOC and DOC) e-Logistics (Single Window Portal for Importer-Exporter Facilitation) e-Healthcare (Front & Back Office Systems for Hospitals) e-Security (Networking Security Services) e-Services for all government through Web Services/SOA CCTV and Monitoring System Government Information Network (GIN)

A recent study under the project “Survey of Present Status of e-Government Development in Thailand” by Ministry of ICT reflected that Thailand needs to leapfrog its ICT and e-Government development if the country is to raise its ranking in the international competition arena. The UN survey of 2008 revealed that Thailand was ranked 64 out of 191 countries in the overall score table, after Singapore and Malaysia among ASEAN region comparison. The draft second ICT master plan has aimed to leverage the country ICT ranking for a certain level at the end of the plan. Presently, according to the survey, the country’s development maturity in terms of e-Government services is still not that far from the last survey conducted in 2004 when it was hosted by MICT and NECTEC. The overall e-Services development at present lack attention on an integration among government agencies, where maturity model used in the survey placed the “Integration” level among the 5 stages in order of advancement, Information, Interaction, Interchange Transaction, Integration and Intelligence. The 5 maturity stages of e-Government services development in concept together with depiction of results from the survey are as follows:

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

10

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

1) Information

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Chart 1: Information

Source: Ministry of ICT, Thailand, www.mict.co.th

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

2) Interaction

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Chart 2: Interaction

Source: Ministry of ICT, Thailand, www.mict.co.th

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

11

12

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

3) Interchange Transaction

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Chart 3: Interchage Transaction

Source: Ministry of ICT, Thailand, www.mict.co.th

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

4) Integration

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Chart 4: Integration

Source: Ministry of ICT, Thailand, www.mict.co.th

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

13

14

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

5) Intelligence

Chart 5: Intelligence

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Source: Ministry of ICT, Thailand, www.mict.co.th

The latest survey as prior mentioned, shows that most public agencies have been aware of priority of e-Government Services in their ICT development agenda. In overall picture found in the survey, majority has achieved an advanced Information maturity, where the “Interaction” stage comes second. Among many ministries such as Ministries of Finance, Industry, Commerce, Interior, Agriculture, Science and Technology, Communications have deployed e-services application in the level of “Interchange transaction”. This is a good sign of a step forward in terms of integration though the effort has been put limitedly within own organization at the same time its own experience from inside will pave way for linking cross border from outside. Leading ICT deployed agencies such as taxation agencies, agencies issuing ID card and license including driving license have already implemented cross-border integrated applications in rendering e-Services for citizens. On the other hand, most public agencies are still relying on their “Silo” database system which they believe an obstacle for data integration. Likewise, present ICT development systems of government agencies are based on multi standards and platforms which need right solutions toward data,

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

15

network, process and security integration. Under these circumstances, government agencies create duplication of budget and resources on ICT development. Human capacity and capability especially in the area of network administration as well as other technical works are still weak points of the government sector. The country has to tackle all of these obstacles in order to leverage the maturity level of ICT and eGovernment development.

3. Recommendation for Future Development of the Thai e-Government In order for Thailand to achieve its ambitious goal of ICT and e-Government leverage into a higher maturity level as well as higher places in international ranking in the foreseeable time frame, the country has to leapfrog its own development into a right direction and track. Followings are recommendations for the country to focus on: 3.1. Building up Technical Capability

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Recommendations for building up technical capability are the sakes of how Thailand would be able to choose and deploy the right technology to the right country’s solutions. Followings are current directions, technologies, know-how and tools that are in the listings of current trends and considered fit for Thailand according to the current analysis resulted from the survey project mentioned above. 1) Moving from e-Government to Connected Government In this new era of e-Government deployment, many institutions’ units in relation to e-Government including UN, World Bank, OECD and e-Government agencies in leading countries like USA, Canada, Australia, Korea, Japan, Singapore, UK and Brazil have set their ultimate goal for e-Government to reach certain points of connected government. Connected government is not limiting connection only within the government domain but government, citizen and business. In rendering the e-Government services, government needs stakeholders’ participation and integration among government agencies will facilitate them to reach e-Government services of all sorts. In the article of UN e-Government Survey 2008 report, mentioned under the topic “The Second Generation e-Government Paradigm” that “Governments are increasingly looking towards e-government-as-a-whole concept which focuses on the provision of services at the front-end, supported by integration, consolidation and innovation in back-end processes and systems to achieve maximum cost savings and improved service delivery.” And from the same article, in the topic “The Need for Connected Governance” also emphasized that “The need for the consolidation of government systems also stems from the fact that ICT tools have the ubiquitous power to make time and distance irrelevant thereby increasing manifold the efficacy of public service delivery. The Internet and the World Wide Web eliminate boundaries and allow for integrated services to be available 24/7 while promoting faster and efficient connection between agencies, processes and systems.”

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

16

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

Connected government allows tax filing through an online channel and in this year 2008 tax filing account through internet climbed up to almost 80% of the Thai eligible personal tax payers. These days every Thai citizen anywhere in the country can apply for the smart ID card, birth, death and marriage certificates as well as driving license, and etc. by using only their 13-digit ID number. Connected government is resulted from cross border integration and consolidation of government processes and systems that will enhance any e-Government services be effective and available for citizens in everywhere. The rest things that the Thai government should emphasize is to connect all government agencies with shared ICT infrastructure both for front and back-end applications so that every agency can leverage its ICT and e-government maturity capable enough to render cross border services.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2) Preparing for m-Government (Mobile-Government) To step into an m-Government environment, government has to prepare itself on the following actions and measures: m-Communication facilities are required for all stakeholders to participate in the m-Services arena or e-Services through mobile communications, including G2C-C2G, G2E-E2G, G2B-B2G and G2G. m-Services are to render mobile services such as m-Library or mobile information and books services, m-Transaction services and m-Payments and etc. Mobile devices within the m-Government including mobile phones, laptop computer and PDA which are the most common application in the ICT and mobile communities. However, mobile phones are hitch-hiking in every corner of the world in terms of growing number of subscribers. Today, in Thailand mobile phones penetration rate has been recorded a almost 98% of its population number. Therefore the government has to put very much attention to the content side of development on top of its effort of building up such an environment of an m-Government for leapfrogging its maturity of ICT and e-Government development. Sources: http://www.e-devexchange.org/eGov/topic4.htm eGovernment for Development, mGovernment: Mobile/Wireless Applications in Government, Emmanuel C. Lallana, 2004. 3) Moving Forward To u-Government (ubiquitous-Government) u-Government or Ubiquitous Government means omni-present government which it can render the so-called e-Citizen environment. Thailand has to take much more serious attention on the e-Citizen which allows people in anywhere to access to government all sorts of services by using any devices or access channels under proper bandwidth of communications. In doing so it has to prepare for the followings: •

Single Comprehensive Portal is among top priority in trying to build up the e-Citizen environment. A national portal similar to www.usa.gov, www.india.gov.in, www.poland.pl, www.direct.gov.uk, www.gov.sg and etc. has to be established to be a single point of access for citizens to eGovernment services. Learning from best practices and experiences from like direct.gov.uk and usa.gov of UK, Sigapore and US government portals will

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

•

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

•

17

help Thailand to leapfrog its development. While direct.gov.uk offers “Portal to public service information from the UK Government, including directories, online services, news and information of relevance to specific groups”, Singapore’s www.gov.sg or “SINGOV, is the default homepage for the Singapore Government Online. All gov.sg sites are to link back to SINGOV. Its intuitive url www.gov.sg is short and easy to remember”, whereas usa.gov offers “Official information and services from the U.S. government”, “Whatever you want or need from the U.S. government, it’s here on USA.gov. You’ll find a rich treasure of online information, services, and resources”. The key point is that the national portal has to possess technical systems and infrastructure that will accommodate all public services from all public agencies within the same procedures, rules and standards at the same time will facilitate customers at the same service level standards. Citizen centered Information and services are essential part for the eServices Portal to build. The right notion at this end is Portal has to be based on a customer centric approach for every e-Service for citizen, which is to develop accordingly to the customers’ requirements and needs. Efforts have to be put on facilitating and easing customers in accessing the portal’s services for example with a single-sign-on system will allow a one stop right to access, a single ID number of the Thai citizen will enable all e-services possible and convenient and a standard security system will assure the customers’ trust of their rights and privacy. Appropriate connection speed is needed at an e-Citizen portal. The portal’s has to be appropriately designed to the extent that it can manage allocation of connection speed to suit the bandwidth condition of each e-Service.

4) Public-Private-Partnership or PPP Approach has been a key success factor in ICT implementation in many countries especially in India where ICT outsourcing is a world renowned showcase. India has proved that PPP can help harness the country’s ICT industry moving forward without worrying about the limited budget of the government. Public-private partnership or PPP, according to wikipedia, describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. Thailand, in its leapfrog of ICT and e-Government development endeavor has to take PPP into account as the approach will be an effective mechanism for matching core competencies as well as investment funds between public agencies and counterpart companies towards eGovernment services deployment. 5) Organization for Next Generation of e-Government According to Randeep Sudan, Lead ICT Policy Specialist, Global ICT Department, The World Bank, in his article “Next Generation Organization Models for eGovernment”, http://web.worldbank.org/, Next Generation Organization or NGO, in his conclusion, should combine six qualifications as questioned as followings:

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

18

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Source: The World Bank, http://web.worldbank.org/

In the attempt that Thailand to leapfrog its e-Government maturity level in the global status quo, the country has to rethink about how its public sector would forward to in order to cope with such dynamicity of ICT environment. The shape-up model recommended by the World Bank expert as quoted, is only the reminders for the Thai public sector to move. The best solution is always to answer whether it would fit to the country’s own needs which have to be carefully analyzed and based upon its own lesson learned and experiences. In addition, the recent MICT survey of the country’s present status of e-Government services as above mentioned, has exposed government sector CIOs’ recommendation for setting up central e-Government agency to be responsible for ICT infrastructure and standards to facilitate cross-agency projects development. Hence, the country needs to cater the right demand of setting up proper eGovernment central unit that public agencies can be relying on in the expected high profile development in the near future. 6) Applying Appropriate Technology As realization of an important development pitfall which most governments are poised to it and it is technology. Technology gives very first impression by its promising features which are always be most of the time over exaggerated. Current and nearfuture technical principles and technologies comprised of EA, SOA, WOA, Web Services, BI, Web 2.0/Blog/Wikipedia, RFID, Cloud Computing, Unified Communications and Green IT, as for the highlights are to be considerate for Thailand to keep itself moving into the right track of ICT and e-Government development. Technology leads to a certain sum of investment and technically dependent while Thailand has shown its need for a certain extent of self-reliant systems. At the same time cultural nature of the Thai society is recommended to consider before moving ahead especially in the directions that advanced and pro-action economies in most western culture have initiated such as Work @ Home phenomenon, Enterprise Mashups, Specialized systems/ appliances, Social Software & Social Networking, Virtualization and Computing Fabrics. This notion does not mean that Thailand should not move forward to enjoy the advancement of ICT but it has to carefully apply this technical factor to fit the substan-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

19

tial targets that sets for the betterment of its economic and social development. Most importantly the country must put much more attention at the same time on the content side of the e-Government development which is one good way to prevent itself from jumping into the technology pitfall. 3.2. Improving Management Capability

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

In developing ICT and e-Government, most of the time involving parties would learn that most failure cases lied in the management context. Not like on the technology side that IT mangers are aware of its pitfall, management side is most likely to be disregarded in the stage of planning both in the early and implementation stages. Followings are essential management elements recommended for handling implementation of ICT and e-Government under the present situation of Thailand. 1) e-Government Action Plan for Leapfrog Development Action plan is needed to be a frame work for all parties concerned. The plan should incorporate all leapfrog development aimed to leverage e-Government status of the country into a higher maturity stage i.e. moving from interaction to interchanged transaction stage, then integration cross-borderly the public sector. In terms of eDevelopment stage the government aims to move forward from e-Government to connected or c-Government m-Government and u-Government towards the so-called “Transformed Government” during the period of 2010–2014. Hosting organization which is MICT and related ministries have to follow the framework defined in the action plan in order to integrate within the public sector in the related domains including resources and budget planning, allocating, spending as well as managing projects, incorporated risks and changes. Measures and procedures of projects evaluation and appraisals have to be defined together with substantial key performance indicators in both macro and micro levels together with effective feedbacks responding to plan and project reviews within controllable time-frame. While at the same time human factor has to be key element in the plan and project development which results in comprehensive human capacity development throughout the development life cycle. External consultancy is required in case of technically complicating projects to fill up a gap of government workforce scarcity in the area of high technical skills. In the level of national plan integration, the e-Government action plan for leapfrog development has to be uniquely in line with the National ICT master plan, second version which covers during the same period of time, 2009–2013 in terms of strategic direction, implementation plan and evaluation process. To ease the implementation of the action plan, MICT together with co-hosting agencies should seek a cabinet approval in order for getting official status of the plan and forwarding further for budget and resources granted by related budgeting i.e. Bureau of the Budget and workforces reallocation by related agencies and Office of Civil Service Commission. 2) ICT and e-Government Personnel Capacity Building In the context of ICT and e-Government Personnel Capacity Building, especially in the area of e-Services development is somewhat high priority for Thailand in order to leverage its current web maturity to a higher level. The related e-Services area for ICT workforces development include the areas where channel of current communications trend evolve such as mobile applications, digital television, media and content related and IT services and software as-a-service applications. Moreover, related man-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

20

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

agement skills including CRM, Public Relation Management, Risk and Change Management techniques are some of the conventional management contexts that would help brush up management skills for public sector workforces in catering better services for their customers. In the long run, core competency schemes have to be developed and mapping with career ladders of the government ICT workforces. Among others, e-Government training curriculums should be the core programs for training qualified government officers in the integrated environment of leapfrog development, in case the country’s projection of higher maturity level is to aim. In regards with stakeholders surrounding the e-Government services, including G2C, G2B, G2E and G2G, the government has to neatly categorize ICT capacity development to cover ranging from building awareness to every quarter of society, enhancing ICT literacy for people especially in the rural area, changing government mindset toward better service delivery to citizen and ICT governance for all. Upon the idea of establishment of ICT training institute, the government should utilize the existing institutes, such as TOT Academy, NECTEC Training center and other ICT training facilities under MICT and the likes in other ministries as well as academic institutes, in such a way that standardization of training curriculums will be promoted. 3) Building and Integrating ICT Infrastructure ICT infrastructure in Thailand is ready for a certain extent for example backbone networks for mobile phone application and data communications are quite serving well so far. The concern is how to integrate the existing infrastructure and what should be for next step when the country is to leapfrog its e-Government services development. The integration efforts are high priority to serve the near-term e-service facilities and infrastructure that set forth ranging from national web portal, single window for logistics system, Secured Government Intranet and Secured Payment Gateway and etc. Infrastructure for enriching e-Government services should be concentrated as well such as high speed broadband connection in the areas of potentially high take-up rate and the latest trend of FTTH or Fiber To The Home, while e-services transactional interoperability and standard including the TH-eGIF are also in the high demand. Nevertheless, proper placing into the right phasing of government investment will help the country move in the right and sustainable direction. 4) Long Term Budgeting for Continuity and Sustainability In the efforts of leapfrogging development of e-Government, budgeting is an important item. In the past experiences, government agencies have been struggled in trying to get commitment for long term allocation of budget. Since some mega-projects need several years to implement such as building up a ministerial web portal which takes 2-3 years for integration of information and transactional systems. The government has a good chance to learn from advanced economies of their budgeting practices for such mega-projects, for instances: learning from IDA of Singapore, OMB and Federal CIO Council of United States, Cabinet Office of UK on how they prioritize and handle budget especially on cross-agency integration projects that need longer than a year to execute. 5) Implementing the Effective ICT Laws Thailand have issued two major ICT laws, one is e-Transaction laws (which include the Decree of e-Transaction in public sector) and the other one is Computer Crime Laws which can help alleviate public worries for a certain extent about privacy

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

21

and security upon usage of ICT both in public and private domains. To assure security and safety in regards with e-Government services, the Thai government has to encourage government agencies to fully implement the ICT laws which are effective already. On the other hand, the government should provide procedures and guidelines as well as technical assistance to the agencies where facing problems in their implementations to be confident that every rule of law has been exercised accordingly.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

6) Setting up an e-Government Central Agency Central unit for e-Government development in a policy level is demanded currently along with results of the MICT survey on status of e-Government of the country reflected from most government CIO in the interviews that they needs such a central body to give direction and guidelines both in short and long terms. Above all, government agencies, in implementing their ICT and e-Government projects, they would prefer to have centralized procedures, processes and systems to follow which they believe that the central unit that free from any intervention can help. Such independent unit has to closely cooperate and collaborate with other central units perse like the Bureau of Budget, Office of Civil Service Commission, Office of Public Sector Development Commission and National Economics and Social Development Board for central policy and guidelines upon management of budget, workforces and other resources. 7) Sharing and Integrating Resources and Systems Sharing and Integrating Resources and Systems are among essential requirements in this circumstance when integration of government services are demanded to upgrade their current e-Government development. e-Government services agenda has to be shortlisted and prioritized so that government agencies can plan for their utilization of resources as well as develop activities that lead to targeted integrated systems. The Thai government should fully utilize the advantage of the 13-digit ID number for increasing more integrated e-Services in the rest agencies which never used this unique ID number for cross agency applications. In the efforts of building trust to the eGovernment services, the government in collaboration with private domain to set up a root-PKI system in order to integrate PKI and e-Signature that offering services by various providers at present. Moreover, the government has to promote and develop the utilization of Smart ID cards that issued to more than 40% of the Thai citizens already.

4. Recommendation for High Priority Initiatives and Projects 4.1. e-Procurement Platform for SMEs Using PPPs –

– –

The designed platform will benefit the public agencies in having such an efficient procurement system while the private sector or business domain including SMEs will be enabled to transact equally in the government acquisition process. Existing procedures, rules, regulations and laws must be carefully analyzed, revised and revoked to facilitate the new electronic process. Existing e-Auction system must be revised to make room of integration to the newly designed platform.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

22

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

4.2. Establishing GDX System – –

–

–

Data exchange to be used in the level of e-Services transaction should be core system to be implemented under the study. All versions of XML including eB-XML, ISO-XML, Open-XML and x-XML must be analyzed and incorporated into the data exchange gateway to be sure that every XML-based transaction be possible. Existing local systems and related context that developed already such as a GDX system developed over the “Single Window System” as part of the country “e-Logistics system” and Th-eGIF or Thailand e-Government Interoperability Framework, must be taken into account of the newly designed system. Existing standard models in relation to data and information exchange such as NIEM (National Information Exchange Model) of USA, EU model and other regional model, if any, must be taken into account of the study as well.

4.3. Development of Skills for IT Services and IT Enabled Services (ITES) Industry – –

–

Workforces for ‘Service on Demand’ or SaaS should be carefully analyzed and designed to fit the local business demand including SMEs. Local actively existing training units including NECTEC Training Center, Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA), Software Park Thailand and some private schools such as ACIS must be taken into account of the study’s analysis to incorporate the history records, at a certain extent, of the local market demand. Certification programs under certain authorized agencies both locally and internationally must be part of the study to officially standardize and accommodate the well designed training curricula.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

4.4. Foundation of ICT Training Institute As ICT has increasingly contribute to the country both in economic and social development, founding a training institution for every level of ICT workforces in public sector as well as for promoting ICT literacy for all will help the government to proactively drive the country into knowledge based economy. The newly set-up institute will incorporate the existing training facilities under MICT and at the same time will collaborate with other ICT related training centers and university outside MICT to form up the country network for ICT capacity building. In doing so, the country can manage and control quality and standard in terms of curriculum, certification, career path scheme and plan, etc and also country-wide of planning and promoting ICT literacy for all members of societies. 4.5. Promotion of ICT R&D Research and development can bring up Thailand to a certain level of self-reliance on ICT. MICT can play active role as coordinating body for the country’s ICT R & D by close collaboration with NECTEC, NSTDA of Science and Technology and other ICT R&D related agencies and universities as well. Under this strategy fund raising to

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

23

form-up some bigger- impact R&D will be possible especially upon the outputs and outcomes that can help the country moving forward and building up competitive advantage ready for competing in the international arena. Areas of targeted R&D can include the currently high demand the local ICT market and communities such as RFID and RFID reader, open source and open standard software, tools and utilities including e-Learning, mobile applications and other software for services on the web and etc.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

5. Conclusion Thailand has started its endeavor on e-Government development when the country joined the then e-ASEAN initiatives in the early of 2000. Its very first IT2000 followed by IT2010 were the early stage policy frameworks for ICT and e-Government development. Based upon the frameworks, the first ever ICT master plan as a blueprint during 2002–2006 for Thailand ICT and e-Government development was laid with the goal of leading the country towards knowledge based society. The plan aimed for five e-Flagships implementation which were e-Commerce, e-Industry, e-Government, eEducation and e-Society. The e-Government was the driving mechanism to create and balance digital opportunity between the economic side of e-Commerce and e-Industry and the social side of e-Education and e-Society. At present, ending of the first ICT master plan, the country ICT indicators show that mobile phone penetration has reached 98% has already by-passed the fixed lines, while internet users accounted for some 20%, both out of its population. The IP Network size of Thailand was ranked 10th among APAC members in 2007, while eGovernment readiness has been ranked 64th by UN in 2008 among over 190 member countries. Total domestic ICT market was around 17.7 Billion Baht, which communications segment was accounted for more than 70% and less than 30% was for IT segment. ICT industry spending by sector was divided into enterprise spending accounted for 48%, SOHO accounted for 34% and government accounted for 18%. The first ICT master plan which has been extended until this year of 2008 and the draft succeeding master plan is expected to be effective for implementation in the beginning of 2009. The second master plan, in general implies to maintain the current eFlagships which were defined in the first plan. The major aims of the second plan are to implant e-Governance across the board of ICT and e-Government development of the country, while at the same time, to emphasize good governance for ICT application and usage or in other word, ICT governance. ICT infrastructure development for all is still put as one of the key strategy among the six major strategies of the plan. At the same time ICT literacy for citizen and ICT workforce development are also a key ICT strategy as defined in the country’s draft-second ICT master plan which in the end of the plan aims for building up “Smart Thailand”. During the mid point of the first master plan when it was in 2004, the country surveyed and evaluated maturity status of e-Government services through website and found that maturity level has reached at mid-point of 5 levels which inconsecutive order are Information, Interaction, Interchanged Transaction, Integration and Intelligence. The maturity level remain quite the same when MICT has recently conducted survey on status of e-Government services and found this truth. In experiencing results of the current international ranking and the recent local survey which reflected that the country ICT status is still lagging behind. The country, under MICT as core agency for ICT development is now set to leapfrog its ICT and e-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

24

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

Government development during 2009–2013. In leapfrogging, direction or roadmap for ICT and e-Government implementation is conceptually defined and recommended in terms of measures and plan of actions including, Building up Technical Capability, Moving from e-Government to Connected Government, Preparing for m-Government (Mobile-Government), Moving Forward To u-Government (ubiquitous-Government), Single Comprehensive Portal, Citizen centered Information and services, Appropriate connection speed, Public-Private-Partnership or PPP Approach, Organization for Next Generation of e-Government, Applying Appropriate Technology, Improving Management Capability, e-Government Action Plan for Leapfrog Development, ICT and eGovernment Personnel Capacity Building, Building and Integrating ICT Infrastructure, Long Term Budgeting for Continuity and Sustainability, Implementing the Effective ICT Laws, Setting up an e-Government Central Agency and Sharing and Integrating Resources and Systems. Recommendation for High Priority Initiatives and Projects include e-Procurement platform for SMEs using PPPs, Establishing GDX system, Development of Skills for IT services and IT Enabled Services (ITES) industry, Foundation of ICT Training Institute and Promotion of ICT R&D. Under this implementation scheme, the country will be moving forward from eGovernment to c-Government or connected Government which means the country will have every public domain connected and integrated, hence accomplishing the “Integration” maturity level. The development target will gradually moving into an mGovernment and then u-Government before finally transforming into a transformed government. At the end of 2013 when its leapfrogging efforts succeed as planed the country is optimistic that international ranking will improve, but most importantly the transformed government will improve drastically in its services delivery to citizen which will lead the country to sustainable information society.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

References [1] NECTEC, Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand, “Thailand IT 2010 Framework, 2001–2010”, www.nectec.or.th. [2] Ministry of ICT and NECTEC, Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand, “ICT Master Plan, 2002–2006”, www.mict.go.th, www.nectec.or.th. [3] Ministry of ICT and NECTEC, Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand, “The 1st Survey of Public Sector Website, 2004”, www.mict.go.th, www.nectec.or.th. [4] Ministry of ICT, Thailand, “Survey Report of e-Government Survey Project, 2008”, www.mict.go.th. [5] Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, “Thailand ICT Status in 2007”, www.atci.or.th. [6] Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, “Thailand Internet Users Statistics During 1991–2007”, www.atci.or.th. [7] Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, “Thailand Internet Bandwidth During 1999–2007”, www.atci.or.th. [8] Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, “Thailand Technical Staff in Software Industry in 2006”, www.atci.or.th. [9] Sutee Satanasathaporn, General Secretariat, ATCI, “Thailand Total Domestic ICT Market in 2007”, www.atci.or.th. [10] www.usa.gov. [11] www.india.gov.in. [12] www.poland.pl. [13] www.direct.gov.uk. [14] www.gov.sg. [15] The World Bank, “Next Generation Organization Models for e-Government”, 2008, http://web. worldbank.org/. [16] “E-Procurement Andhra Pradesh”, http://www.eprocurement.gov.in/.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

A. Sunalai and J. Tubtimhin / Thailand e-Government: A Step Forward into the Right Track

25

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[17] “New e-procurement platform for public institutions”, http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm/ section/news/tpl/article/id/88606. [18] “Blaenau Gwent CBC joins the APPWales eProcurement platform”, http://www.proactis.com/ index.php/news/492-blaenau-gwent-cbc-joins-the-appwales-eprocurement-platform. [19] “Data Exchange Gateway Issued: October 5, 2001 SUBJECT: Data Exchange Gateway APPLICATION: Executive Branch Departments and Sub-units”, www.michigan.gov/documents/dmb/1410.19_ 184718_7.pdf.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

26

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-26

Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area Jantima SIRISAENGTAKSIN Ministry of Finance, Thailand [email protected]

Abstract. e-Revenue initiative of Thailand Ministry of Finance has been a showcase under the country e-Government development in the recent decade. The prominent record to prove of the success is Tax Filing that hits almost 80% of the eligible taxpayers in filing their personal income tax through internet in 2008. The Revenue Department is now trying to extend its tax collection to remote area where potential online service is prone. Pubic Private Partnership or PPP approach has been applied to help make IT-ready for such high demand community like Koh Tao island, located about 75 kilometers from the coast of Suratthani province to pay tax online. The PPP effort for this online service project is elaborated in many key aspects including Processes, Preparation and Implementation. Keywords. PPP, e-Revenue, Tax Filing Service, Filing Service, RD: Revenue Department, Koh Tao Island and Suratthani Province

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction During the first 3 months of each year, income tax filing season is obvious to every Thai citizen who earns their income. Many white-collar workers prepare documents to support their calculation of taxable income. Filing online has become highly popular these days with last year of 2008 alone percentage of this electronic channel has been around 80 of the total eligible personal income taxpayers. People who have registered and done online filing are well taken care by the Revenue Department (RD) which has been working hard to adjust its system to improve users’ information security and prevent fraud. “Public-Private Partnership” initiative has been the RD or Revenue Department’s key collaborative strategy to provide services that best suit the needs of taxpayers and stakeholders. Personal Income Tax (PIT) is a direct tax levied on income of a person. A person means an individual, an ordinary partnership, a non-juristic body of person and an undivided estate. In general, a person liable to PIT has to compute his tax liability, file tax return and pay tax, if any, accordingly on a calendar year basis. Taxpayers are classified into “resident” and “non-resident”. “Resident” means any person residing in Thailand for a period or periods aggregating more than 180 days in any tax (calendar) year. A resident of Thailand is liable to pay tax on income from sources in Thailand as well as on the portion of income from foreign sources that is brought into Thailand. A non-resident is, however, subject to tax only on income from sources in Thailand.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area 27

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

During the last decade of fiscal years, the department’s tax collections rose due to the expansion of the base of taxable individuals and businesses. Personal income tax always had a secondary weight in the mix of total tax revenue because of the structural weaknesses. Among the aims of the Public Sector Management Reform Program of the government started in 2002 there were the enforcement of tax collection, an increase in taxpayers’ compliance, the improvement of information technology, a devolution of expenditure functions and a greater degree of tax autonomy at the benefit of local governments.

The Revenue Department under supervision of Ministry of Finance has been praised as “Champion” of the Thai public sector in the area of IT application. In the new IT era during the past decade, under taxpayers’ pressure, the RD relied its development upon the customer feedbacks for comments and suggestions on how to further improve service quality and directly meet their needs. The RD has improved e-filing initiative, introduced “Web Services” for online information processing and Web Accessibility” for the disabled persons. Moreover, it provides information to business sector and also exchange information with other government agencies. In addition, the RD has formed a strategic alliance with the private sector and financial institutions in order to assist performing certain functions, including tax payment. They diversify more channels to best suit their customers. Value added therefore is created not only for the RD but also for its partners and the Thai society. At present, the Revenue Department is confident that under its wise strategy of promoting PPP above their keen IT system will pave a way for expanding their tax base and strengthening tax collection in the less development area such as remote villages both in-shore and off-shore. This article intends to reflect a successful case of Tao Island, a village level territory located in a touristic destination of the country where the

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

28 J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area

RD has improved its e-Services capability for the betterment in both quantity and quality for taxable communities which reside in the beautiful island. Koh Tao island, Koh Phangan island District, Suratthani Province. Koh Tao is located about 45 kilometers from the nearest district, Koh Pangan island, and about 75 kilometers from mainland. It takes about 2 hours by speed boat from mainland. Koh Tao is the one most famous island in Southern part of Thailand. Its economy is rapidly growth with hotel and entertainment businesses are rising as well as such a mushroom farm. This made tax collection amount jump over from 1 million Baht to more than 10 million Bath within a few year times. In 2007 the RD collaborated with a local bank situated in the island under a pilot project called “Filing Services” to help facilitate tax-payers in the island by utilizing Information Technology as an efficient tool. The RD is planning to expand the services to other remote areas by collaborating with wider ranges of partners both in the public and private sectors in the foreseeable future.

2. Objectives

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Under this Public Private Partnership initiative, the Revenue Department aims for the following objectives: 2.1 To render services for the taxable communities of Tao Island in filing and paying their annual taxes. 2.2 To build up collaboration between the RD and the private sector’s entities to promote Public Private Partnership initiative 2.3 To enhance and leverage the level of voluntary tax paying behavior. 2.4 To create equality in handling taxation activities to every corner of society. 2.5 To save costs of the RD resources included personnel, budget and time. 2.6 To help prevent the RD officers in taking too much risk of their safety from traveling via a struggled multi transportations to the island in giving their services. 2.7 To increase the RD’s potential in harnessing its mission as well as its public image as equaling to the private sector and an international standard level.

3. Processes, Preparation and Implementation 3.1. Present Status and the RD Initiative Tao Island or called Koh Tao in Thai words, located in the southern off–coastline of the province of Surat-thani, is touristic destination for the Thai folks as well as tourists from abroad. Under its richness of tourism resources, the island economy has been generating wealth for its member population for years. On the other hand, cost of living there is also significantly higher comparing to other nearby islands. Its high economic liquidity is therefore generating high value of income for among members of communities in the island. Recent statistics showed that tax collection figure has climbed up to an amount of 10 million Baht which broke the record of only 1 million Baht at the beginning of its rising economy some several years ago. Members of tax payers over the

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area 29

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

island included hotels, resorts, restaurants, vehicles rentals, scuba diving and boat rental businesses. In the wake of online and e-Services era, Koh Tao was then still struggling with its old fashioned taxing procedure. Taxpayers have to travel by boat to another island called Pha-ngan where a district branch of the Revenue Department located for their tax filing and collecting. The boat services are available only 2 times per day one in the morning and the other in the afternoon and boat fare of 200–300 Baht or over five dollars was per trip. When they boarded at the island pier they had to ride a land transport to arrive in the tax office. The RD is aware of this struggle, therefore in the beginning they let the RD officers to travel to the Koh Tao to render tax paying services twice per month. The problem was after all turning side to the RD officers who from time to time had to face such a hurdle traveling situation of long journey that existed of some risk of their safety, especially during the monsoon season.

After thoughtful consideration, a wise solution was proven by deploying its public private partnership model under the so-called pilot project “Tax Filing Service”. The RD appointed the existing Siam Commercial Bank in the island of Tao to perform the RD’s core functions of tax filing and all tax returns in serving taxpayers on its behalf by incorporating the information technology systems of the two organizations. A standard set of IT equipment and Internet connection of the consigned bank was rendered as a service counter. Taxpayers in the island now can file and pay their annual income and corporate taxes at the counter as well as using the internet for their online tax filing. The initiative not only provides better service to local taxpayers in Koh Tao, saves their time and costs; but also helps the RD to reduce costs and resources. This initiative under an innovative idea of the RD in applying constructive practice together with current technology is considered to be a good showcase for the rest government departments to emulate and deploy. This also would possibly leverage the country of Thailand into a leading edge of e-Government development that could win a better position in the international ranking arena.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

30 J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area

3.2. Processes and Preparation

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1) Feasibility Study Starting a feasibility study to create a Public Private Partnership on tax payment systems, the RD organized a study tour to Koh Toa in order to make a survey by evidences over the real environment and condition included checking all possible Revenue Offices as well as all feasible logistics. The possibility to set up an internet connection for summiting online tax return and tax payments was also verified. The first impressive finding we found is that Kho Toa is an exceptionally beautiful island of Suratthani Province. It is located near the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand, covering an area of about 21 square kilometers. Its administration is at the sub-district level or tambon in Thai language, reporting to the district of Amphoe Koh Pha-ngan and the distance between the two islands is 2 hours traveling by boat. Feasible tourney from in land to Koh Toa is to start from Koh Samui where is the world most well-known island of whitesand, blue-sea and shiny-sun, off the Thai Gulf. Fortunately, there is a standard airport in Koh Samui, where the first stop from the coast is made here and after that another 2 hours to Koh Toa by a speed boat for a distance of 200 kilometers. Population of the island of Koh Toa is 1,400 and its business entities are relying on tourism. Rows of bungalows create the island top-view looked alike mushroom farming. There are some international food restaurants to welcome international tourists. Other related businesses include scuba diving training places, local shop-houses for shopping, food-houses and restaurants, some car rental and etc. Number of tourists is also increasing every now and then hence an increase of taxes on increasing revenue has to follow suit in terms of tax filing, payment and returns. The RD realized the incidences well and decided to pave way to provide the tax-payers in Koh Toa with more convenience and the best outcome. 2) The RD Efforts There is not any Revenue Department Branch Office in the island of Koh Toa. Officers over the time had to go there by boat and to use a local small hospital as an adhoc RD office. The cost of boat fare from Koh Phangan to Koh Toa is up to 300 baht per ride and cost of hotel is about 1,500 baht per night, a special officer rate provision. There are also taxi-boat service to go to Koh Toa from Suratthanee and only 2 trips a day with the fare of about 910 baht per person per one-way. The climate storm is also a problem for the tax officer because there are unavoidable monsoons 4 months per year and the storm condition causes the RD officers ranging from a sea-sick to quite a risk of danger to their lives both on the forth and back trip. Regularly the revenue tax officers provided services 2 times a month, on every date of 6–7th of the month for withholding tax (WT) and on 14–15th for the Value Added Tax (VAT). Other else tax services the tax-payers have to commute by boat to perform their tax related activities at Koh Pha-ngan because it is the nearest tax office for Koh Toa member communities. 3) Public Private Partnership Deployment Public Private Partnership or PPP is new principle to the Thai government in the area of IT development. By studying the PPP Collaborative strategy, the Revenue Department of Thailand has found that the strategy would be the department’s key direction to provide services that best suit the needs of taxpayers and stakeholders especially in cases where exist the private domain’s expertise and readiness. From taxpayers’ point of view, we analyze their comments and suggestions on how to further improve

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area 31

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

service quality and directly meet their needs. We provide information to business sector and also exchange information with other related government agencies. In the area of tax payment, in addition, RD has experienced and formed strategic alliances with the financial institutions in order to assist performing certain monetary functions in relation to taxation activities. The case of Koh Toa pilot project of “Filing Services” is another success story of the RD to diversify its PPP strategy into a more appropriate channel that creates efficiency, accountability and transparency for the local and remote area of taxpayers vicinity. Under this PPP pilot project, value addition is, therefore, created for all stakeholders including the RD, its private sector partners and last but not the least, the local villagers.

4) Partners, Logistics and Costs Model Bank at Koh Toa, there are 2 commercial banks at that time (2007), the Siam City Bank and the Siam Commercial Bank. Under the RD survey on these two banks as potential partners, it found that the Siam City bank, the first ever bank to situate in the island of Koh Toa. The bank’s most popular business is exchange rate activity. Since it is a small branch, there were only 3 terminal Counters in services then. Its data communication leased line is not variously efficiency. Most importantly the bank was not interested in this kind of collaboration scenario. While the second choice of Siam Commercial Bank, under the branch of Koh Phangan, it had shown off its interest. The bank is located in the commercial area which is suitable for providing tax services via internet. There internet speed serviced at the bank has good quantity of 128 kbps and quality enough to serve online taxation and also for another reserve for resource network. In geographic view point, the Revenue Department has no branch office at Koh Toa. There is only a revenue branch at Koh Pha-ngan. The tax-payers had to take the taxi boat about 1–1½ hours to get to Koh Pha-ngan to submit their tax payment. While the other two commercial banks, there are both branch at Koh Phangan and Koh Toa, as well as there are also infrastructure comprising of both options, leased line and high speed internet which are efficient enough to process tax-related transactions.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

32 J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area

All the banks in Thailand were invited to join some organized meetings to share idea and to give comments towards forming up the first pilot project namely “Filing Service” in the target area of Koh Toa. After careful considerations on suitability of both technical and management aspect of the RD requirement the Siam Commercial Bank which has a branch office in Koh Toa was selected to be partner agency under this PPP project. The resolved solution is to utilize the selected bank ICT facility in giving tax filing and return services. This was the first ever project of Ministry of Finance to kick off as the public private partnership initiative in the area of ICT application. There are 3 Costs models pertaining to the RD tax payment services in Koh Toa which are: 1) To use Mobile Office The current choice before implementing the PPP project was the mobile office procedure which practically the Revenue Offices travelled there to render their tax services twice per month. The costs incorporated with the mobile office option are cost of transportation, consumables and operational contingencies which totally the Revenue Department has to spend almost 300,000 baht a month at the least. 2) To set up a permanent office In case, the RD would not take the choice of the PPP model but stand on its own investment model, consumption cost would include fixed costs and other tangible costs as followings: Fixed costs incurred for the Revenue Department comprises:

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(1) Cost of land for the Revenue Branch Office. (2) Cost of design and construction of the office and infrastructure at least to spend 1–2 years time consumables. And also the saving the budget. (3) Costs of office equipment as well as ICT infrastructure such as least line, internet connection, and ICT security by installing both physical hardware and software. Tangible costs that would be incurred on Revenue Branch office that have to spend every month limited to basic expenses such as salary, maintenance office, disposable expense and etc. Total costs of the option to set up a permanent office are much higher than the 1st choice of deploying a mobile office which is at least 4 folds. 3) The PPP Option Under the PPP option the selected Siam Commercial Bank charges the RD for rendering e-Filing service to taxpayer including e-Payment through the bank channel at the amount of 20 Baht or about half a dollar and in case of paper filing is also the same amount. In comparison of the 3 options of the costs model for running tax payment of the RD for the population of Koh Toa, the PPP model option is obviously the lowest and can save cost for the department amounted to over 260,000 Baht a year.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area 33

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

4) Business Process Business process and related procedures were prepared. The new business process for tax collection in the island of Koh Toa under PPP between the RD and Siam Commercial Bank was settled. Firstly, the reception service counter has been changing hands from the Revenue Branch Office to the local branch bank office. Secondly, under the Revenue Code, the RD has endorsed the authorization designation to all the bank officers to handle the RD tax collection tasks on behalf of the Revenue Department. In the setup of the first agent, the RD allowed the bank at Koh Toa to provide the allocated services only for taxpayers at Koh Toa only, the same practice as the other Revenue branches which are not allowed to service to taxpayers at the national wide scale. Database sharing is only limited to the eligible taxpayers who perform the tax filing, paying and return, hence other services are not permitted. Tax filing is not only performed via the internet transaction but the bank also has to receive paper return that the taxpayer comes to submit at the bank. This means that the RD is utilizing the bank as a front office or a branch office. The RD also provides the transaction control to the bank by a separated system from the bank. There have been very well cooperation in implementing the front office. Under the condition of the tax collection operation separation, the bank has been well managed by a security system. In case of manual option of tax payment, cash is only to use. For the internet transaction, every e-channel is allowed such as e-payment, ATM and etc. The manual operation is dealing with both paper filing and online intranet for processing of service. The system in addition, provides correction function for key-in data entry to both taxpayer and officers. The taxpayers can print out the receipt if they need. The system finally provides online reports of both the amount of tax return and the amount of tax collection, even on the day without any taxpayer, the system still has to report. All the related reports are created to provide to the RD head quarter, Suratthani Province office, sub-head quarter at Koh Toa, as well as bank head quarter and the bank branch.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

34 J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area

5) Legal Aspect In regards with all the legal aspects, the responsible working group had to study carefully on all the Revenue Code, existing regulations and procedures as well as all issues in relation to the Electronic Transaction Law. After a series of discussion, the RD had to resolve some regulations and procedures to pave way clear for the PPP pilot project in Koh Toa which had already set to launch. 6) Implementation The implementation processes are as the followings: (1) Test all the system not more than 10 times, make all work and correctly. The real situation has had parallel run in several cases. (2) Trainings were organized into 3 groups; the RD officers, Bank officers and Taxpayers. Some specific groups were provided to pass certain examinations. For the RD officers, they divided trainings for the bank officers into 2 stages. Firstly, on the job training was conducted at the bank branch in Koh Toa for around 6 months. Then they had to observe until the bank officers understood all the know-how and be able to handle the taxpayers in processing their tax payment activities. The most important thing in the training process was the RD was using face to face visits by randomly knocking the taxpayer doors to let them learn directly from the visiting officers. The official visits were both to meet with a group of targeted taxpayers as well as an individual target for giving training by the team of the RD and bank. Several seminars were held at Koh Toa by the RD officers. Even using they can attend to inform all the more strategy via the bank. GFMIS (Government Fiscal Management Information System) is also involved as part of the pilot system. System test run in the part of reporting to GFMIS was also conducted several time to make sure that the whole processes would work properly. In the end all the listed problems were tackled and solved thoroughly.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

4. MOU Signing In order to lay down a concrete foundation for cooperation in the first-ever PPP initiative between the two parties i.e. the Siam Commercial Bank and the Revenue Department, a provisional Memorandum of Understanding or MOU were signed on May 17, 2006 at Koh Tao island, Suratthani Province. Under the MOU, this pilot project was mile-stoned to take off on June 1, 2006.

5. Project Outcome and Evaluation In the beginning, there were several problems to solve under the great attention from both the counterpart bank and the RD officers. Most of the problems wer solved eventually. Most of taxpayers were happy for the new e-Services system. Their tax payments are now turning to more convenient as the e-Channel they require to pay tax at the bank via the internet has already been fulfilled. While any inquiries in relation to taxation process is at the moment can be done at the bank counters. Presently, there are

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area 35

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

many taxpayers using “Filing Service” which is conducted online at the bank. The Taxpayer registrations are increasing gradually, after some publicized campaigns of “Filing Service” at Kho Toa were deployed. Most of taxpayers understand more and more about the tax system. This phenomenon is obvious especially during the season of tax payment times that numbers of registration are growing up high. Number of users on the easy-to-use “Filing Service” has been increasing ever since when the RD launched the service for the first time. After a row of follow-up missions, an important fact finding revealed that all of taxpayers at Kho Toa intended to use the “Filing Service” which means that digital opportunity will work in such case like Koh Toa where the right solution meets the right community demand.

6. Benefits for Taxpayers and the RD 6.1. Benefits for Taxpayers and the RD The RD extensively utilized ICT to modernize and boost efficiency in taxation operations not only for the internal core and supporting processes, but also for citizens, business entities, government agencies and banks. The collaborative RD project of “Filing Service” at Kho Tao tremendously benefits taxpayers, the RD as well as the country of Thailand as a whole. Taxpayers can enjoy speedy and responsive services. It provides better service to local taxpayers at Koh Tao resulted in savings of their time and costs. They are able to access easily to the system, and perform their tax duty more conveniently than ever. In all the RD can manage their tax collection effectively through PPP conveyor which brings the department towards reduction of costs and saving of its limited resources.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

36 J. Sirisaengtaksin / Public Private Partnership: Bridging e-Services Implementation in Remote Area

6.2. Benefit for the Country Under RD project of “Filing Service” at Kho Tao, sustainable tax collection enabled by ICT utilization has set forth for a good model for future expansion of taxation in Thailand. Efficiency and effectiveness is arising from close collaboration between public and private sectors upon a win-win condition toward customer satisfaction. Promotion of PPP projects as done by the RD initiative will help increase international competitiveness of the country, while at the same time will create digital opportunity to its people, no matter where they are.

References

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[1] Personal Income Tax, Revenue Department, http://www.rd.go.th/PIT. [2] Thailand – The new system meets requirements of the 2007 Computer Crime Act, Date: January 28, 2008, Source: Computer Crime Research Center, http://www.crime-research.org/news/28.01.2008/ 3157/. [3] Marco Bartolich, University of Trieste – Italy, Tax Systems And Tax Reforms In South And East, Asia: Thailand.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-37

37

e-Government in Japan Toshio OBI and Naoko IWASAKI Institute of e-Government, Waseda University [email protected]

Abstract. Japan even though being an island country situated in the Pacific Ocean, has a well developed ICT infrastructure. In 2008 Broadband Internet coverage has been almost ¼ of population and FTTH is more than 10%. ICT industry was accounted in 2006 as the largest industry among all industries. However, Japanese ICT companies are still struggling to beat their autonomy to go into overseas markets. e-Government Status of Japan is reflected through indicators listed, Management Optimization, National Portal Service, CIO in Government, Required Interface and e-Government Promotion. Development trends include e-Government and Innovative CIO for e-Government in Japan: New role of CIO, Expanding Role of CIO and Innovation and CIO Core Competences. New IT Reform Strategy 2006-2010 is highlighted as direction of e-Government. Keywords. Broadband Internet, Management Optimization, National Portal Service, CIO in Government, Required Interface and e-Government Promotion, Innovative CIO, CIO Core Competences and New IT Reform Strategy

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Japan is an island nation situated off the eastern coast of the Asian continent. The nation’s roughly 7,000 islands extend in an arc of about 3,000 kilometers northeast to southwest. The land area is 377,923 km2, consisted mainly of mountainous areas (61.0% of all lands). The population is 127,687,000 as of April 2008. The aging trend has moved forward with the declining birthrate and a growing proportion of elderly people since 1997. The ICT infrastructure is, despite the above-mentioned geographical difficulties, well-provided and widely-covered: 95.8% of households have access to and 75% of the populations use at least once the Internet in 2008. Japan also has wide-spread broadband infrastructure with 30 millions in 2008, especially Fiber To The Home or FTTH, the subscription of which reached at 14 million in 2008, an increase of 20% from the previous year. The real GDP of the ICT industry in 2006 is 69.7 trillion yen and the ICT industry is the largest industry among all industries, accounting for around 12.5%. However, Japanese companies are more or less reluctant to go out into overseas markets unless they hold large shares domestically. This is because the domestic market is highly competitive, which keeps the business size per company small, and they cannot enjoy economies of scale to start businesses abroad.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

38

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

Location & Geography Japan is an island state comprising a group of four principal islands and several smaller ones, off the east coast of Asia. It is bound by the Sea of Japan, the Korea Strait and the East China Sea to the west, the Pacific Ocean to the east and the La Perouse Strait to the north. The four principal islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. The islands of Japan are extremely mountainous with the plains and intermountain basins only accounting for 25% of the national territory. Central Japan is marked by the convergence of three mountain chains that form the Hida Mountains or Japanese Alps. The dormant volcano of Mt. Fuji is the country’s highest point and the territory has 265 known volcanoes, of which around 20 are still active. Major Cities (pop. est.); Tokyo 8,021,900, Yokohama 3,300,500, Osaka 2,575,000, Nagoya 2,153,300, Sapporo 1,744,800, Kobe 1,519,000, Kyoto 1,448,400 (1994). Land Use; forested 67%, pastures 2%, agricultural-cultivated 12%, other 19% (1993).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

39

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

Series Name

2007

Internet subscribers (Total fixed broadband) per 100 inhabitants

22.46

Internet users per 100 inhabitants

68.85

Main (fixed) telephone lines per 100 inhabitants

40.035

Mobile cellular telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants

83.88

Population

127,960,000

2. e-Government Status by Indicators

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2.1. Management Optimization The full-dress implementation of e-government began with “e-Japan Strategy” in 2001. Under the strategy which focused on building infrastructure to promote the on-line application for governmental services, the network among ministries and between central and local government, the governmental public key infrastructure, and the legal framework were established. In 2003, the government started the electronic signature and authentication service. As a next stage, “e-Japan Strategy II” was adopted in 2003. It focused on the IT enabled operations and services. The government adopted the Enterprise Architecture approach and accordingly the ministries, which had developed their systems individually, reviewed their business processes and systems. While each ministry made its own optimization plan, the shared plans for establishing common business processes and systems among ministries were also developed. In 2006, “New IT Reform Strategy” was developed as the third stage to accelerate on-line application and optimization and to realize a one-stop on-line service in the future. As of 2008, most of the 84 areas of optimization targets are in the design phase. 2.2. National Portal Service The national government’s “e-Gov” portal site provides the overall information gathered from the portals run by each ministry. So citizens can get sufficient information if they just access to the “e-Gov” portal. The portal is user-friendly on the whole, but it lacks support for foreigners and disabled people. Government on-line services cover about 1200 items including e-tax.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

40

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

2.3. CIO in Government (GCIO) All central ministries have CIO who is appointed from the internal senior staff and assistant CIO who is an expert recruited externally. The percentage of the CIO appointment at the prefecture level is 75% and 30% at the city level. To promote the CIO appointment at the local level, the national government developed and has carried out a CIO training program. CIOs capacity building for training is held in only a limited number of institutions such as Waseda University and the Japan Society of CIO.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2.4. Required Interface On-line application systems such as e-Tax, e-Payment, and social security services provide transactional operation (covering all the service processes including requests, payments, decisions, delivery). Citizens must obtain an electronic signature and authentication prior using the systems. 2.5. e-Government Promotion The national IT strategies [New IT reform Strategy*] and the frameworks of action plans are set up by IT Strategic Headquarters. It has the subordinate organs including the CIO Council consisting of all Ministry CIOs and Assistant CIOs Council. As for evaluation, e-Government Evaluation Committee consisting of the external IT experts was established in 2006 to thoroughly assess and evaluate the optimizations carried out by each ministry.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

41

42

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

3. Trends 3.1. e-Government The government has steadily made efforts to expand the utilization of on-line services as a main part of the e-Government initiative since 1999. In 2005, the online application at the national level covered 96% of all the administrative procedures. But the use of this online application was only 35% in 2008. To enhance e-Government, the government is making a new action plan to improve the on-line applications for the further promotion of their use. 3.2. Innovative CIO for e-Government in Japan 1) New role of CIO Qualitative change of CIO after IT revolution has reflected new role of CIO in quality for expanding activities as followings:

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

– – – – – – – – –

Shifting to business model on management The next position to CEO/report to Secretary Leadership and communicative competence become top priority on CIO. Project and IT management for J-SOX Act Enterprise Architecture (EA) Security Risk Management Knowledge Management IPR Disaster Prevention

2) Expanding Role of CIO and Innovation Role of CIO especially has to be expanding to cover the inter-relationships with other related C-class officers: CEO, CTO, CFO, CAO and CKO for fostering the whole range of online processing of e-Government. At the same time CIO has to rethink toward innovation. Innovative CIO or the so-called Chief Innovation Officer has to consider issues related ICT policies involving: – – – – – – – –

ICT for budget savings during economic slow-down times Global environmental issues as a driver for economic growth and international competitiveness Doubling the Investment for the Next Generation Network University reform for CIO training under government & business tie Challenges for global capacity building/certification program Investment Increase for Science and Technology to ensure the Innovation Strategy delivers real value Innovation review – Regulations, Social Systems, Norms and Rules Internal government mechanisms to make the world’s leading nation of innovation

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

43

44

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

3) CIO Core Competences In 2006 Institute of e-Government, Waseda University conducted a survey namely “Survey on CIO Competences for ICT Value Added” and concluded that Japanese CIOs need a certain set of competences. The survey also compared CIO competences between Japan and the United States as shown below.

* New IT Reform Strategy

The IT Strategic Headquarters announced the New IT Reform Strategy in January 2006. The goals of the New IT Reform Strategy are to complete IT-led reform by FY 2010 before any other country in the world, and to transform Japan into a cooperative-model IT society with the autonomy to make sustainable development in Japan possible and with the capacity that anyone can subjectively participate in society’s activities. This strategy, focusing on realizing a domestic IT society with the qualities given above, targets Japan’s contributions to the formation of a mutual-beneficial international community centered on Asia as a frontrunner spearheading global IT reform.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

45

II. Priorities in IT Policies by 2010 3. Provision of Valued Information to the World

International contribution by providing problem-solving models —Contributions to other Asian countries using IT—

Current Conditions and Issues As one of the world’s most advanced IT nation, Japan is required to take an appropriate role in international society, and its responsibility within the Asian region to which Japan belongs is significant. For this reason, Japan must strive to utilize IT to realize solutions to the important social issues facing all nations, including Asian nations, in the 21st century. At present, efforts towards economic partnership agreements among Asian countries have been vigorously implemented, and the strengthening of cooperation and partnerships has been advanced. As people, goods, money, services, and information begin to move more and more within the area, Japan is required to proactively contribute to the development of Asian economies through IT, such as the realization of effective and secure circulation of people, goods, money, services, and information using IT, etc. Targets 1. Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2. 3.

IT utilization models (such as for the smooth circulation of people, goods, money, services and information utilizing IT) in Asia is established. Issues facing Asian nations are solved with cooperation of Japan’s IT technologies. The digital divide, which is created by the diversity of languages and cultures in the Asian region, is eliminated.

Policies 1.

2.

3.

Japan, which is going to face the issue of an aging society ahead of any other country, shall develop universally designed people-friendly social infrastructure models and provide these results with the rest of the world. In order to establish an international resources recycling network, efforts in cooperation with Asian nations are to be implemented concerning traceability systems for waste, etc. Concerning international issues related to the food industry, such as BSE, etc., Japanese people’s insistence for high quality is to be harnessed and comprehensive production and logistics management models using RFID tags, etc. are to be developed and the results provided with the rest of the world.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

46

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

4.

5.

6.

1.

Utilizing our terrestrial digital broadcasting and telecommunication systems for disaster prevention, detailed disaster information shall be promptly provided upon disasters for afflicted regions. In addition, service models for citizens which are capable of interactive functioning according to the situation of the individual resident are to be developed and the results provided with the rest of the world. In order to put into effect airport procedures that are secure and quick, the optimization of all airport procedures are to be realized through the automating identification, verification and other necessary procedures by FY 2008. In addition, mutual interoperable models concerning airport procedures such as immigration control within Asia through the utilization of IC cards, etc. shall be developed, and international mutual interoperability shall be aimed at for the East Asia region by FY 2010. In order to freely access, share, and transmit various types of information or knowledge through the world using mother languages, joint research concerning multi-linguistic processing is to be implemented in the Asia region. To achieve this, a system in which researchers from various Asian countries can participate and contribute, such as the utilization of open source software, shall be established and utilized as shared software assets.

The Pursuit of IT Structural Reform Capabilities

1.1 Responding to Social Issues that Should Be Resolved in the Twenty-First Century 1.1.1 Structural reform of healthcare through IT “Full online processing of all medical insurance claims and lifetime self healthcare management”

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.









Drastically reduce healthcare insurance administrative costs through the complete computerization and online processing of medical insurance claims no later than the beginning of FY 2011 and use databases of medical insurance claim information for epidemiological purposes to promote preventive treatment and streamlining of national healthcare costs. Build by FY 2010 the foundations for using individuals’ healthcare information throughout their lifetimes, supporting self management by individuals of their health conditions and efforts to maintain and enhance health. Promote remote healthcare to eliminate disparities in the level of healthcare among different regions including access to advanced treatments and employ terrestrial digital broadcasting to provide effective instructions and information to patients during emergencies. Clarify the objectives of introduction and promote the widespread use of healthcare information systems including electronic medical records to enhance the quality of healthcare, ensure the safety of medical treatment, and encourage greater collaboration among medical institutions.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan



47

Promote comprehensive and effective computerization throughout the medical, healthcare, nursing, and social welfare fields.

1.1.2 An environmentally-friendly society that utilizes IT “Efficient use of energy and resources” 



 



Reduce the environmental impact of socio-economic activities through environmental measures using IT with respect to advanced energy management and improvement of the efficiency of logistics and transportation efficiency, and so on. Promote further efforts addressing environmental issues by citizens and various organizations through the efficient collection of environmental information and systematic organization, analysis, accumulation, and provision of that information using IT. Control energy consumption through the use of IT devices. Improve the traceability of industrial waste transfers through the use of IT to prevent environmental pollution caused by illegal dumping. To achieve this, with promoting the use of RFID tags and other technologies through collaboration between the public and private sectors, digitize 80% of former paper-based transactions of manifests (industrial waste management documents) issued by businesses generating large volumes of waste (covering 50% of all businesses generating waste) by FY 2010. Promote fair resource recycling by improving waste traceability using IT, taking into consideration the facilitations of international transfer of waste.

1.2 Realization of a Safe and Secure Society Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1.2.1 The world’s leading safe and secure society “Using IT for disaster prevention, public safety, and food safety and Security” 



The information and telecommunications network and the equipment and materials, which enable us to collect, organize, and transmit data quickly and accurately in order to enhance public safety and minimize damage in the event of acts of terrorism or natural disasters, shall be realized. Specifically, by FY 2014, use IT so the public can appropriately minimize harm from earthquakes and tsunami, sources of great concern to the public because of the potential for extensive damage, thereby halving by FY 2014 the expected damage from earthquakes in the Tokai, Tonankai, and Nankai ocean regions. Make it possible by FY 2010 for large portions of the public to confirm production and distribution data for major domestic perishable foodstuffs with high consumer demand by the Internet and other means and for the public to use that information in selecting foodstuffs.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

48

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

1.2.2 The world’s safest road traffic environment “Reducing traffic fatalities to 5,000 or below”  

Reduce the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries by deploying Cooperative Driving Safety Support Systems. Reduce the time from detection of traffic accidents to admission of injured persons at medical facilities.

1.3 Socio-Economic Activities in Twenty-First Century 1.3.1 The world’s most convenient and efficient e-Government “Handling of 50% or more of all filings online and creating a small and efficient government”  



Create e-Government (on the national and local government levels). Have government ministries procure information systems and develop evaluation structures, have the IT Strategic Headquarters create systems for evaluating information systems throughout government, and optimize operations and information systems throughout government to achieve efficient e-Government. Ensure the reliability and security of national and local government information systems.

1.3.2 Enhanced business competitiveness through establishment of management by utilizing IT

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

“Achieving the world’s leading IT management” 







Raise the percentage of large and small and medium enterprises that have optimized corporate management in ways that transcend divisions and enterprises utilizing IT to the world’s highest levels by FY 2010. Increase the percentage of small and medium enterprises of middle scale (enterprises with annual sales of 500 million yen to 2 billion yen) that utilize IT for fundamental businesses to 60% or more by FY 2010. Construct general-purpose shared infrastructure that enterprises can jointly use for electronic commerce and is harmonized internationally (e.g., EDI platforms) and increase the percentage of enterprises that use such shared infrastructure to 60% of all enterprises that engage in electronic commerce by FY 2010. Increase the trade partners of small and medium enterprises that engage in electronic commerce to 50% or more of total trade partners by FY 2010.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

49

1.3.3 Prosperous lifestyles throughout people’s lifetimes “Creating a society in which all people can enjoy healthy and prosperous lifestyles”    

Increase teleworkers to 20% of the working population under an appropriate working environment by the year 2010. Develop infrastructure for social welfare, nursing, and children supported by local communities. Develop new technologies that will support an aging society with a low birth rate. Double the number of persons participating in lifelong learning through the use of IT by FY 2010.

2. Development of IT Infrastructure 2.1 The Realization of an IT Society without Digital Divide 2.1.1 Structural reform of healthcare through IT “Full online processing of all medical insurance claims and lifetime self healthcare management”  

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.



Equal access to information (Realization of universal information access) Smooth movement without any barriers (Realization of universal movement) Smooth communication without any barriers (Realization of universal communication)

2.1.2 Development of infrastructure that can easily connect to networks that anyone can use at anytime from anywhere for any purpose and that has no digital divide “Promoting the Ubiquitous Network Society”    

By FY 2010, infrastructure improvements such as for optical fibers, etc., are promoted in order to eliminate all areas where broadband service remains unavailable By FY 2010, a mobile telecommunications system with 100 times faster data transmission speeds than the current one shall be realized By July 2011, harmonization between telecommunications and broadcasting in order to realize full transition to terrestrial digital broadcasting By FY 2010, technologies that will enable fast safe and secure authentication for ubiquitous terminals etc., as well as privacy protection technology capable of providing only appropriate information according to users

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

50

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan



By FY 2010, a network in which around 10 billion ubiquitous terminals (including RFID tags) can be used simultaneously in order to realize their effective utilization in various areas for diverse business fields and nations.

2.2 Measures Designated to Create a Society in Which People Can Live Safely and Securely 2.2.1 The world’s most secure IT society “Leap forward to become an “information security advanced nation and eliminate the occurrence of cyber crimes” 

   



Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.



By FY 2008, measures compatible with the requirement of “The standards for information security measures for the central government computer systems (Standards for Measures)” shall be implemented by all of the governmental bodies. By FY 2008, the occurrence of IT malfunctions in critical information infrastructures shall be reduced to nearly zero. By FY 2008, the information security measures in place in Japanese companies shall be at a world-class level. By FY 2008, the number of individuals who feel “concern about the use of IT” shall be reduced to nearly zero. Illegal information accessible on the Internet shall be reduced, and a safe and secure Internet environment, which shall serve as a good example for the world, shall be realized by establishing a society in which harmful information for juveniles is effectively blocked, etc. A system capable of allowing people to properly deal with misuse of networks, including cases such as illegal, harmful information on the Internet, etc. shall be put into effect. Work shall be made to eliminate cyber crimes through the thorough crackdown on these crimes.

2.3 Human Resource Development and Education 2.3.1 Development of human resource bases with an eye towards the next generation “Improving IT facilities for all teachers and raising the level of academic skills for all students through IT” 

 

The level of computerization in schools shall be raised by making available one PC per teacher and by improving the network environment and putting in place a support system for the IT infrastructures in schools. Teachers’ IT utilization abilities shall be improved through a teacher IT abilities evaluation system. Learning opportunities utilizing IT, which are capable of meeting students’ desire to learn, shall be provided.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan



51

School children’s information utilization ability, including information related morality, shall be improved through the utilization of IT for course instruction and through information technology morality education in elementary schools, etc.

2.3.2 Education and human resource development that will produce human resources that will be competent anywhere in the world “The establishment of a government-industry-academia partnership system” 



Put in place human resource development that will cultivate IT human resources, such as project managers, IT architects, IT coordinators, experts in the field of embedded software in order to eliminate the supply-demand mismatch of high-level IT human resources in industry. With an aim to increase more than double the ratio of departments and graduate courses which implement e-learning education using the Internet, improve cooperation between domestic/international universities and companies as well as promote the further education of members of society through the promotion of e-learning education programs using the Internet at universities, etc.

2.4 Research and Development 2.4.1 Promotion of R&D that will form the foundations for the next generation IT society

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

“Strategic R&D”   

R&D levels for IT are raised. The results of R&D are utilized for the creation of new technologies, products and services. The scale of IT-related markets is expanded.

3. Provision of Valued Information to the World 3.1 Enhancement of the presence of Japan in international competitive society “Provision of valued information from Japan to the world”   

Japan’s information transmission ability is strengthened. A constant amount of IT telecommunications circulating through Japan is maintained. The competitiveness of Japanese products and services in global markets are strengthened.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

52

T. Obi and N. Iwasaki / e-Government in Japan

 

International technical standards that originate from Japan are established. Japanese travel information is offered using IT.

3.2 International contribution by providing problem-solving models “Contributions to other Asian countries using IT”   

IT utilization models (such as for the smooth circulation of people, goods, money, services and information utilizing IT) in Asia is established. Issues facing Asian nations are solved with cooperation of Japan’s IT technologies. The digital divide, which is created by the diversity of languages and cultures in the Asian region, is eliminated.

New IT Reform Strategy (PDF) http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/policy/it/ITstrategy2006.pdf

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

References Institute of e-Government, Waseda University. http://www.atlapedia.com/online/maps/physical/Japan.htm. New IT Reform Strategy (PDF) http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/policy/it/ITstrategy2006.pdf. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-53

53

Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries: Best Practices and a Framework for Success Jean-Pierre AUFFRET Center for Advanced Technology Strategy, USA [email protected]

Abstract. While many developing country e-Government efforts are national government focused, rural and municipal initiatives hold great promise as well for bettering the lives of citizens. Rural and municipal e-Government directly connect government and citizens and can further efforts to provide services effectively, promote economic development, and foster citizen engagement. The paper reviews best practices and success stories in rural and municipal e-Government efforts, and then develops an assessment model, SENSE, for determining the promise of rural and municipal eGovernment investments. The paper concludes with a discussion of Open City Portal – an open source platform for municipal portals – that enables municipalities with limited budgets and technology expertise to develop a municipal portal that helps achieve many of the objectives of e-Government. Keywords. e-Government, developing economy, ICT, urban, rural, Open City Portal

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and Background Rural and municipal eGovernment projects are increasingly a major part of developing (and developed country) eGovernment efforts. National eGovernment efforts predominantly provide a back office benefit in enhancing the efficiency and operation of government and in turn furthering citizen connections to government and the provisioning of citizen services. In contrast, rural and municipal eGovernment projects are more often by design citizen centric. With goals including citizen engagement, economic development and service provisioning, rural and municipal eGovernment projects place the citizen at the center of design, development and governance. Rural and urban regions in developing countries face mirror image demographic shifts which lead to some common problems and surprisingly related eGovernment considerations and solutions. These eGovernment considerations and solutions rest upon a foundation of consistent principles which are applicable in both regions. With limited national, regional and NGO budget dollars, rural and municipal eGovernment projects often are competing priorities. Innovation and successful projects in one realm, though, can benefit populations and catalyze success in the other, so that rural and municipal projects can be two sides of the same coin.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

54

J.-P. Auffret / Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries

1.1. Rural and Urban Demographic Shifts Municipal populations are increasing and by 2030 approximately 60% of the world population of 8 billion will reside in cities. The number of megacities, cities with a population of greater than 10 million, has increased from just four in 1950 to 39 in 2002 and is projected to increase to an estimated 60 in 2015. Municipal growth is most rapid in developing countries where there is a large migration from rural to urban areas. In contrast, rates of rural population growth are declining and rural populations themselves are projected to start declining between 2020 and 2025. Approximately 75% of the world’s one billion people that are in poverty live in rural areas [1]. As population growth shifts to urban areas, the economic and development challenges for rural areas increase. Figure 1 and Fig. 2 [2] show the total population and urban and rural population percentages for less developed regions from 1950 to 2050, and the corresponding percentage urban and rural growth rates respectively. (Less developed regions include Africa, Asia except Japan, Latin America, the Caribbean, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.) While less than 20% of the population was urban in 1955, today approximately 25% of the population is urban, and by 2050 over 65% of the population is projected to be urban. Urban growth rates are projected to remain above 2% annually through 2025, while rural growth rates fell below 1% annually between 1995 and 2000.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Year 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050

Total Population (in ‘000s) 1 721 532 1 906 749 2 115 836 2 375 768 2 690 199 3 027 977 3 368 196 3 739 912 4 145 815 4 543 645 4 929 924 5 299 115 5 674 101 6 050 114 6 413 238 6 751 540 7 056 937 7 327 119 7 566 711 7 774 225 7 946 040

Urban %

Rural %

18.0 19.7 21.7 23.7 25.3 27.0 29.6 32.3 35.1 37.6 40.2 42.7 45.3 47.9 50.5 53.2 56.0 58.8 61.6 64.3 67.0

82.0 80.3 78.3 76.3 74.7 73.0 70.4 67.7 64.9 62.4 59.8 57.3 54.7 52.1 49.5 46.8 44.0 41.2 38.4 35.7 33.0

Figure 1. Urban and Rural Population in Less Developed Regions – from World Urbanization Prospects: World 2007 Database United Nations Population Division.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J.-P. Auffret / Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries

Year 1950 – 1955 1955 – 1960 1960 – 1965 1965 – 1970 1970 – 1975 1975 – 1980 1980 – 1985 1985 – 1990 1990 – 1995 1995 – 2000 2000 – 2005 2005 – 2010 2010 – 2015 2015 – 2020 2020 – 2025 2025 – 2030 2030 – 2035 2035 – 2040 2040 – 2045 2045 – 2050

Percentage Urban Growth 3.83 4.02 4.15 3.73 3.67 3.96 3.86 3.75 3.19 2.96 2.68 2.53 2.39 2.23 2.07 1.91 1.74 1.57 1.42 1.26

55

Percentage Rural Growth 1.63 1.58 1.78 2.08 1.90 1.41 1.30 1.20 1.06 0.79 0.57 0.46 0.32 0.14 -0.09 -0.35 -0.57 -0.76 -0.95 -1.14

Figure 2. Urban and Rural Population Growth in Less Developed Regions – from World Urbanization Prospects: World 2007 Database United Nations Population Division.

1.2. Challenges for Rural and Urban Areas Rural and urban areas are connected by more than just population shifts. Rural

Urban

㩷㩷㩷㩷㩷㩷㩷㩷㩷㩷㩷㩷 Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

㸠

People 㸢㩷 㸠 Information 㸢㩷 㸠 Goods and Services 㸢㩷 Figure 3. Major Connections between rural and urban areas.

Agricultural products are transported from rural to urban areas while financial payment and hard goods are sent in return. Public and commercial communications and information flow between rural and urban areas. As citizens move from rural to urban areas and ss urban populations increase rapidly, municipal governments are not able to keep pace as their administrative structures are not scalable in line with increasing responsibilities. High and increasing population densities lead to broadened and increasing burden on public infrastructure and local government. New urban arrivals are sometimes marginalized and isolated with poor job prospects. Rapidly growing cities in developing countries often have large and increasing

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

56

J.-P. Auffret / Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries

social disparities. In turn, municipal governments struggle to provide city services, enhance infrastructure and develop administrative processes capable of supporting the growing population. In contrast to urban areas, where there are usually diversified economies, rural areas are largely dependent on agriculture and agriculture related industries. There are often boom and bust cycles characterized by large risks and high transactions costs as a result of incomplete information on inefficient markets. Infrastructure and rural government administrative structures are often unable to provide support necessary to assist in diversifying products and enhancing agriculture information communications and supply chains. While there is a risk of social isolation in high density urban environments as a result of socioeconomic disparities, social isolation is a risk in rural areas as a result of low population densities and gender disparities. Isolation, ineffective government administrative structures, insufficient infrastructure and government rural policies have led to continued poverty in many of the world’s developing country rural regions.

2. The Potential and Successes of eGovernment eGovernment has had good successes and has the potential to provide a base for strengthening local government, enhancing government services, and promoting and enabling connections and social inclusion for citizens in both rural and urban areas. 2.1. Rural and Urban eGovernment Best Practices

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

In the successful rural and urban eGovernment projects and programs and in eGovernment overall – what are best practices and what are the similarities and differences in best practices between rural and urban areas? And what are the foundational principles for success in rural and municipal eGovernment projects and programs? 2.1.a. Rural Kiosks in Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh, located in the southeast of India, is the fourth largest Indian state by population and size. Agriculture is the primary industry and Hyderabad is the state capital. As part of its Vision 2020 initiative, the government of Andhra Pradesh established a goal to utilize the latest ICT technologies to reduce rural poverty. Specific aims [3] were to enhance the economic vitality of small farms, broaden the rural economy to include more non-farm employment and increase access to financing. Andhra Pradesh has strong local leadership and also a strong community network of self-help groups. The government and the self-help groups developed a plan to provision and operate eGovernment kiosks similar to the municipal “e-sewa” centers adopted by Hyderabad. In this one-stop shop model, Hyderabad has established service centers where citizens can pay utility bills; obtain permits, licenses and certificates; and even reserve bus tickets in person or via the Internet [4]. To enhance citizen commitment and participation in the initiative, the Andhra Pradesh rural self-help groups operate the kiosks which are owned and managed on a franchise basis by the private sector. Qualifying criteria for a franchise include the availability of power and phone service and location near a bank.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J.-P. Auffret / Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries

57

The initiative has been a success both in its direct aims and also in broadening ICT and entrepreneurial human capacity development by empowering the self-help networks to operate the kiosks. The continuing challenge is to extend and expand the service offerings so that the kiosks have a stronger foundation for sustainability. 2.1.b. Sao Paulo Timesaver Centers

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Sao Paulo is one of the five largest cities in the world and has rapidly grown from population of approximately 3 million in 1960 to over 10 million today. In Brazil, licenses, permits and public services have traditionally been provided by different governments (local, state and national), different government agencies and in different locations. The Sao Paulo government has established Internet enabled service centers throughout the city to give citizens one-stop access to in-person and online assistance to over 300 government programs and transactions [5]. The program, named Timesaver, has Timesaver Centers located conveniently near major transportation hubs and in all of Sao Paulo’s administrative regions. The most used services are vehicle registrations, drivers licenses applications and unemployment insurance applications. The Timesaver Center initiative has been a success, both directly and indirectly, in a similar manner to the Andhra Prasesh kiosk case. Citizens not only overwhelmingly give the Centers high marks for customer service, their view of government has also been enhanced. The main challenge in the Timesaver Center case has been project and on-going governance especially in fostering cooperation and mutual shared interest amongst the different government organizations. Timesaver had high-level government commitment and has engaged representatives from each government agency and each Timesaver Center in on-going governance. Two additional major challenges for the success of Timesaver Centers was in the overall project management and in training the Timesaver Center office staff in new approaches to customer service and government service delivery. 2.1.c. Best Practices in Fairfax County, Virginia, U.S.A. Fairfax County, a large suburban county in northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., U.S.A. provides a good model for best practices in municipal eGovernment in a developed country. Many of these best practices are applicable in a developing country context. The county has a population of approximately one million and the economy is heavily service oriented. Fairfax County has a very successful eGovernment program and is often cited amongst the U.S.’s leaders in eGovernment and in eGovernment innovation. Part of Fairfax County’s success in eGovernment is due to its citizen centric focus. Annual eGovernment plans are developed in consultation with local citizen and business groups who play a formal part in governance. Fairfax County’s goal is to understand local citizens, communities and culture and then to design appropriate and relevant eGovernment services [6]. Through citizen input and participation Fairfax County eGovernment services are ones that the citizens have an interest in and use. County eGovernment plans are consistent with overall County strategic plans and design and development of new services build upon the results of citizen focus groups and surveys. All new services are trailed and then enhanced in pilot tests.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

58

J.-P. Auffret / Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries

Fairfax County has a Program Management office and has developed its own training program for IT project managers. As a result, eGovernment projects are consistently implemented on time and on budget. To ensure consistency with overall IT plans and Fairfax County enterprise architecture, each potential project is assessed for compatibility not only with current IT architecture and standards, but also future architecture and standards.

3. Rural and Urban eGovernment Project Assessment Model – SENSE Best practices from Andhra Pradesh, Sao Paulo, Fairfax County and other successful rural and urban projects can be synthesized in a framework to help in assessing the likelihood of project success in advance of formal project approval. Abbreviated as SENSE, the framework can also provide a roadmap for ongoing governance and project assessment in design, development, implementation and governance of eGovernment projects. • • • •

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

•

Strength – Project strength as a result of high level commitment, organizational ability to complete, deployment model, price and cost, scalability, and compatibility and consistency with enterprise architecture. Engagement – Broad and meaningful engagement of citizens, government stakeholder groups and other relevant stakeholder groups. Need – Meets tangible need of the citizens and provides a significant enhancement over existing service levels. Sustainability – Planned and in practice business model so that the initiative is financially supported (self-sufficient or dedicated funding) over the long term. Evolution – Planned enhancements and how the initiative fits in with overall eGovernment plan for the region.

Andhra Pradesh and Sao Paulo each has projects with high levels of project Strength in that both project had high level government commitment. In addition both Andhra Pradesh and Sao Paulo had the organizational capability and developed organizational designs so that there was a great likelihood of completing the projects. The importance of the deployment model is highlighted by the “Internet for Community” project sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) in Vietnam. A four component model, comprised of Connectivity, Accessibility, Availability, and Capability, is being utilized. Developing and applying this model has enabled MIC to ensure that not only is the technology ready and available, but that the citizens are engaged, interested and able to best take advantage [7]. Both the Andhra Pradesh and Sao Paulo projects were tailored to citizen needs and broadly engaged citizens and other stakeholders. Each of the initiatives provided significant enhancements over existing service levels – in Andhra Pradesh by providing services access that was previously unavailable and in Sao Paulo by providing service access in one location instead of at different government agencies and in different locations. The Sao Paulo Timesaver project has sustainability through continued government commitment and funding while ongoing sustainability is one of the larger challenges for Andhra Pradesh. Both projects are amongst the earliest eGovernment citizen en-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J.-P. Auffret / Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries

59

Figure 4. Open City Portal Homepage.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

gagement initiatives for their respective governments, and how planned enhancements fit in with overall eGovernment plans will be one of the major questions going forward. Fairfax County also has a strong focus on citizen engagement and has incorporated citizen participation as part of its eGovernment governance. In addition, through its annual planning process, Program Management Office and processes for piloting new services, Fairfax County ensures that it is only undertaking strong projects with a very high likelihood for success. Fairfax County also has a focus on the Sustainability and Evolution aspects of SENSE in its annual planning and approval of projects. Consistency with current and future architectures and standards are a key part of project approvals.

4. Open City Portal SENSE can apply to not only traditional eGovernment development efforts but also to open source initiatives as the focus in SENSE is on the customer need and project governance and not on the technology itself. One open source effort that applies considerations consistent with those of SENSE, as a precursor to undertaking projects in partnership with local governments, is the Open City Portal. The Open City Portal is an affordable, open-source city portal platform, developed under the direction of the Open City Portal taskforce which includes the UNDP, UNITAR, EBRD, ADBI, E-Government Academy of Estonia, and other universities and NGO’s. The goal of the Open City Portal is to provide a low-cost path to a municipal citizen web portal for municipalities that so far have been unable to undertake or fully benefit from their development. (Please see Fig. 4 – a copy of the homepage for Open City Portal.)

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

60

J.-P. Auffret / Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries

Municipal web portals enable city governments to connect better with citizens, engage citizens in municipal governance, foster economic development and provide enhanced and more reliable city services. These benefits and characteristics are aspects of the Engagement and Need considerations of SENSE. Most municipalities do not have or have not fully benefited from citizen web portals, however, and many cities, especially in developing countries are unable to develop citizen web portals due to insufficient budget, lack of organizational support, inadequate technical skills and insufficient ICT infrastructure. As a result of being approximately one-tenth of the cost of a custom designed portal, Open City Portal provides a path to Sustainability. And the Open City Foundation works with municipalities in placing the Open City Portal in a larger eGovernment framework (Evolution in SENSE) and ensuring adequate project and governance Strength. The first large scale rollout of Open City Portal is beginning in 23 cities in Nigeria this fall by Engaging local government officials and citizens and by identifying major areas of Need and benefit that can be addressed by a municipal web portal.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

5. Summary and Conclusions Rural and urban regions in developing countries are facing mirror image population shifts over the next forty years. While urban populations continue to grow at rates greater than 2% annually, rural population growth rates are decreasing and indeed rural populations are going to start to between 2020 and 2025. Many of the goals of eGovernment are similar in rural and urban areas including citizen engagement, economic development and service provisioning. The Andhra Pradesh kiosk rural project met all three of these goals, while the Sao Paulo municipal Timesaver project was oriented and met the citizen engagement and service provisioning goals. Rural and urban eGovernment best practices include the success factors for the Andhra Pradesh and Sao Paulo projects and Fairfax County’s overall approach to eGovernment. These success factors can be synthesized into a model that provides a framework for assessing the likelihood of success of a new rural or urban eGovernment initiative – SENSE – Strength, Engagement, Need, Sustainability and Evolution. The Open City Portal, an open source platform for municipal web portals, provides a good model to apply SENSE. And when the Open City Foundation works with municipalities in regard to the potential implementation of Open City Portal, considerations of high level government commitment, citizen engagement, citizen need and sustainability are at the forefront.

References [1] Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Rural Investment and Enabling Policy, Panel Discussion Paper – IFAD Governing Council, International Fund for Agricultural Development, 2005. [2] World Urbanization Prospects: World 2007 Database United Nations Population Division, United Nations, 2007. [3] India: Rural Kiosks Provide Information, Knowledge, and Business Services in Andhra Pradesh, World Bank Agriculture Investment Sourcebook, 2008.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J.-P. Auffret / Rural and Municipal e-Government Initiatives in Developing Countries

61

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[4] Andhra Pradesh Launches “e-sewa” for Citizens in News India, August 25th, 2001. [5] Sao Paulo “Timesaver” Centers, World Bank eGovernment Knowledge Resources, 2008. [6] Prioritizing eServices: Lessons from International Experience, Panel Discussion with Dave Molchany, Deputy County Administrator for Information, Fairfax County, Virginia, U.S.A. Word Bank eDevelopment Videoconference, 2006. [7] Public Information Network As Computing and E-Government Infrastructure in Developing Countries, Aiviet Nguyen, Invited Talk at 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government: Building Trust in Government, Vienna, Austria, 2007.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

62

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-62

The History of a European Information Society: Shifts from Governments to Governance Jamal SHAHIN and Matthias FINGER Executive Master in e-Governance Program, EPFL, Switzerland [email protected]

Abstract. The European Information Society or EIS has become focus point of the EU Commission since 1993. This article reveals from the ‘Delors White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness, and Employment’ to reflect the EIS from the starting point at policy review and development as well as the emergence point of view and creating the need for EU intervention in the EIS which involved with technology standards setting and global governance of the Internet and the Information Society. Followed by another two section of ‘Mobilising the Union’ in the Information Age’ and ‘Political Innovation’ that are described on implementation activities of the EIS. Under such innovation, the Trans-European infrastructure Networks, or TENs was established. Keywords. European Information Society, EIS, Delors White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness, and Employment, Governance, Information Age, European Commission, Bangemann Report, Political Innovation, Policy Innovation, TENs, New Forms of Governance

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Introduction It was around 1993 – when the so-called Delors White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness, and Employment was published – that the Information Society became a key policy area in the EU for the Commission. This has often been considered the base point for many studies of the Information Society in Europe: research into the EU’s recent policy agenda in this area is not new and this chapter will not rewrite what has already been written.1 There are a number of reasons why the term became more popular in policymaking circles after this date, but most importantly it was a politically-motivated action designed to enhance the standing of the Commission as an actor in a governance matrix as opposed to a hierarchical system of governments within the EU. Policies concerning the development of a European Information Society (hereafter EIS) became central to the EU at the same time as the consequences of the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam and the processes of Commission and EU reform were beginning to have an effect. The Internet was becoming popular at the same time, and had, with the explosion of the Worldwide Web, become the driving technology behind the Information Society. It is in this context that an analysis of the European Commission’s treat1 Books of interest and relevance are: (Levy 2001; Mansell and Steinmueller 2002; Peterson and Sharp 1998) as three examples; other articles and documents will be referred to throughout this section.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

63

ment of the EIS is crucial to an understanding of the relationship between the Internet and EU governance. The global nature of the Information Society has been used as a justification for pan-European action to counter many pressing political issues: the EIS cannot be easily separated from other economic, political, and societal issues in Europe. This chapter will identify how the growth of the Internet has affected the way in which the Commission has developed policy recommendations that deal with areas including unemployment (European Commission 1993, 2000j); globalisation (Bangemann et al. 1994); research policy, media convergence, and audiovisual policy (European Commission 1997e; 1999e); telecommunications regulation (European Commission 1999d); Commission reform (European Commission 2000h; 2000i); and governance (European Commission 2001a). In order to deal with these successfully, it will be shown that the European Commission promoted alternative forms and methods of governance to those apparent in either supranational or intergovernmental theories. The policy coordination role that the Commission has taken forms the basis of this chapter: in an attempt to discover whether a new form of governance has emerged that makes use of new technologies, this chapter analyses the emergence of the EIS in the EU. In line with conceptual work carried out by Shahin (2007b) – in particular the historical institutionalist approach described therein – this contribution analyses the evolution of institutions, processes, and norms that have emerged in EIS policymaking. The policies of the Commission towards an EIS have been too vast and numerous to comprehensively cover in this chapter: for reasons of scope and brevity, this chapter will concentrate solely upon those aspects of the EIS agenda that raise questions regarding governance in the EU. The overview of EIS policy in this chapter provides a firm basis for a more detailed analysis of one of the recurrent themes in the field: the EU’s e-government agenda. Other work has built upon the overview of EIS policy analysis by concentrating on the implications for EU governance in public administration and democracy (Millard, Shahin, Warren and Leitner 2006; Shahin 2007b; Shahin and Leitner 2007). In other published work by the principal author, the focus is on eEurope and its role in developing a pan-European e-government agenda (Shahin 2007a), and an examination of the Commission itself, and how it is using the Internet to improve its own process of governance (Shahin 2008). The first section of this chapter outlines the emergence of the EIS and the way in which the Commission has reorganised itself internally along policy and priority areas. The second section examines the development of a framework for EIS policy, and looks at the attempts to mobilise the EU through what is often considered the ‘landmark’ Information Society policy paper: the Delors White Paper. The third section builds upon the emergence of an Information Society in Europe and the mobilisation of the EU to create an EIS. It shows that these were steps on the way to more recent attempts to innovate the EU through the eEurope initiative, which has stimulated a different approach to legislation and regulation of the Information Society. The chapter will end with a few conclusions concerning the role that the Commission has played in developing the broad EIS agenda. Much of the empirical evidence gathered here is used to argue for the hypothesis that the relationship between the Internet and governance in the EU has enabled European institutions to become more active in the governing process by gaining an enhanced role in agenda setting. However it has not done this by fundamentally changing the role of governments, even with respect to ‘hard’ regulation.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

64

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Emergent European Information Society There was discussion of the emergence of an ‘Information Society’ prior to the popularisation of the Internet: these are not necessarily synonymous terms. In the late 1970s, discussion of the impact of technology on politics was at a high point in both academic and political circles: the Information Society as Post-Industrial Society was written by Yoneji Masuda in 1980, Langdon Winner had published Autonomous Technology in 1977, Nora and Minc had coined the term “télématique” in a report for the French Government in 1978. In the same year, Kenneth Laudon published a book on the relationship between technology and democratic participation. In 1985, songs were being written about the complex nature of governing a world without borders. It is in this context that the Community’s early actions in the framework of the Information Society must be considered. In the European Community, the history of the Information Society can be traced back to 1979 when the Strasbourg European Council declared that information technologies had broad economic, social, and political implications for the Community. It was during this European Council that a declaration identifying “the dynamic complex of information industries, based on the new electronic technologies, offered a major source of economic growth and social development” was written (Council 1984d). In a Communication prepared for the Dublin European Council of 1979, which is a central document for analysis in this chapter, the Commission defined the Information Society as a society in which “scientific and intellectual activity of all kinds, economic transactions and the whole pattern of daily life on a subtle network of information” is apparent (European Commission 1979: summary: 1). New technologies were considered to promote this type of interaction; reducing costs of data transfer and decoding, making networks more efficient, and thus acting to raise the relevance of the Information Society in dealing with issues in business, government, and society. Before this date, although information networks had been established,2 the convergence of telecommunications and information had not been made so clear. As Peterson states, it was by 1979 that “‘telematics’ had become the new buzzword in the technology policy community, as it embraced the increasing integration of microelectronics, IT and telecommunications” (Peterson and Sharp 1998: 73). Convergence provided added impetus to calls for Community action in the European economic, social, and political spheres. The prevalent logic at the Commission was that this increase in use of information technology would provide challenges and opportunities for the citizens and businesses of the European Community. Action was not only desirable it was necessary to ensure the future stability of the Community both economically and politically. This approach was repeatedly affirmed by the Council in later years (Council 1983, 1984a, 1984d). The economic imperative to redefine European markets in a globally-competitive environment was certainly a driving force behind the initiatives implemented towards the EIS. By using this discourse of globalisation, the European Institutions were able to garner support for European-level action. The creation of an EIS was also an attempt to reinvent the European Community (and later the EU), which led to a discussion of the social and political implications of taking a pan-European approach to governing new technologies and their impact. 2 Particularly EURONET. The European Informatics Network (EIN) mentioned in Chapter 2 was established in 1971, but was not active until 1976 (Abbate 1999: 125–26), (Kirstein 1999), (Roberts 1978). See chapter three for more information.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

65

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Creating the Need for EU Intervention in the EIS Previously, it has been noted how the Commission used the threat of new technologies to strengthen its role in governing the high technology sectors in the European Community (Shahin 2004). After 1993, the threats of globalisation and increased reliance upon new ICTs such as the Internet have enabled the Commission to gain a greater role in governing what it has called the Information Society. This has had, as Chapter 4 showed, an impact on the role of the European Commission as a player in the global environment with respect to technology standards setting and global governance of the Internet and the Information Society. In terms of actually “making a difference” to the EU, progress has been slow, but by July 2002 there were many initiatives underway to show that European governance is being altered by the development of networked ways of thinking. There had been European public intervention in earlier years, but it was not coordinated or effective. However this need for a European intervention was made clear by all institutions in the EU from 1979 onwards. The EU prepared many documents to discuss the nature of the Information Society, the impact on its member states and the need for a common, coordinated approach. These were not always enacted. All these documents share the belief that market forces (at least in Europe itself) are the key to success in the information age. Where legislation is necessary, it is seen as temporary, and only to allow liberalisation to occur. Alternatively, when legislation is permanent, it is minimal, and only put in place to ensure that market conditions are fair and do not impede the development of free markets. In this sense, EU policies are merely reflecting and coping with the importance of the notion of the global market in today’s society: “technology has come to be recognised as a motor for economic growth and prosperity in the international environment” (Kofler 1998). This importance can be seen as a direct attack by the Information Society on the concept of state sovereignty, and as such affects the relationship between state and citizen in the information age, as global markets have been doing for a long time. It can also be seen as a motivating reason for the EU’s increased role in the area, as the EU’s initial aim was to create a Single European Market. The Community response in 1979 intended to prepare Europe for an EIS. It recognised that we live in an environment that was more interdependent and dynamic than previously conceived. From 1993 onwards, this complexity was realised; the Delors White Paper celebrated the strength of sovereign states and the power of global markets, and still managed to encourage action at the European level. At the same time, the challenges raised by changes in the world required new approaches to policymaking. These policy approaches involved participating with new actors, such as industry, in a different role to that traditionally known at the national governmental and EU levels. In order to be capable of dealing with the new global challenge of information and telecommunications technologies, it was believed that businesses in Europe required larger markets. Consequently, the Commission naturally recommended that the policy response should be conceived at a continental level, implying that the European Community should have a role in determining policy for the European Community’s (EU’s) member states. This had been hinted at many years previous, at the Strasbourg European Council where it was reported that European ministers were “prepared to examine possible solutions in a Community framework” (European Commission 1979: 13). As shown in previous chapters, early European Community interventions in the EIS were almost purely limited to development of infrastructure. The need for greater connectivity between citizens, business, and public administrations throughout Europe

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

66

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

was fulfilled by the creation of trans-European information highways. These were to be built through private investment with support from European structural and regional development funding. Support for development of this infrastructure has been expressed in many policy documents from the Commission; even before the landmark Delors White Paper of 1993 the Council of Ministers recommended3 that these networks be developed. This has continued through to the eEurope 2002 manifesto brought out in late 1999, where all citizens (who want it) are to be given access to the Internet. Since the Bangemann Report strongly reinforced the idea that public spending in the establishment of infrastructures was to be limited, the Commission’s role has been to encourage massive amounts of investment expected from private companies. That report stated “there will be no need for public subsidies, because sufficient confidence will have been established to attract the required investment from private sources” (Bangemann et al. 1994). The networks and their infrastructure were, henceforth if not before, to be controlled by the market. Blind acceptance of this fact understates the crucial role played by governmental actors in promoting the spread of networked infrastructures. At the same time as trying to promote private support for the development of a European Information Society, the European Commission was also trying to actively participate in its development from technical, economic, and socio-political perspectives. The focus was – for the most part – on technical aspects: these tasks for research and exploitation of markets were part of the remit of DG XIII, now called DG Information Society. The influence given to the Commission’s research programmes in technology and telecommunications was great, and these went some way to changing the role of the Commission in the European political framework. Statements at the time, however, reveal that this was not intended to be a centralization of activity; rather, it recognised the complexity of the techno-economic situation from a dynamic and multiple-actor perspective. One could attribute to the Commission the role of resource allocator. Industry leaders were brought into the European debate and used their position to encourage national governments to participate in European markets and arenas for research and technological standards setting.4 Although in recent years, this focus on industry has waned: industry was not as vital in the planning stages of some policy initiatives such as eEurope. The EIS Institutional and Policy Web in the Commission Internally, there has been much confusion as to how to deal with the Information Society. It appears that creation of coherent European policies for the Information Society was largely ignored until the landmark 1993 Delors White Paper. Even after this, it proved difficult to implement, particularly in the European Commission itself. This lack of movement in the years after recognising the ‘challenge of new technologies’ was also noted in the telecommunications sector: “although the first moves were made in 1979, little was accomplished until late 1983” (Peterson and Sharp 1998: 76). Legislative action stemming from various activities in 1979 and documents from the Commission, such as the 1979 Communication detailed herein, were apparent (almost ex3

A recommendation is not legally binding upon member states, however, its “legal status is not always completely clear”, as, at times, the ECJ has referred to them when making decisions (Nugent 1994: 213). 4 The CEO of Philips, Wisse Dekker, was responsible for the first draft of what became the White Paper on the Single Market. This was called “Europa 1990”, and as the title suggests, set a deadline for the Single Market in 1990 (Moravcsik 1999).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

67

clusively in policy and legislation relating to industry and research) but did not hold the political weight bestowed upon later EIS promotion activities after the Treaty of European Union (TEU) came into force in 1993. However, the discussions held in this earlier period will be shown to reflect a large majority of the policy planning that has taken place since 1993, revealing that the change in content is less dramatic than sometimes stated, and more revealing of a contiguous approach to the Commission’s role in governing the EIS. The developments prior to 1993 were mainly to create a strategy that dealt with political and technical pressures to help the economies of the European Community regain their stature in the field of information technology. In doing so, it would establish the European Community (and hence the European Commission) at the heart of the global technological revolution. The side effects of such a policy were also noted in the contemporary official documents; the shift of control over research policy has profound consequences for the role national governments can play in economic, social, and political development of the Community’s institutions. However, the establishment of national research programmes and the strict control that the Council maintained over the Community research programmes minimised this impact. In late 1999, a representative from DG XIII was assigned the task of creating an ‘institutional web’ of Information Society activities in the Commission. The resulting document was full of contact names in each DG in the Commission. The complexity of managing such a priority area has meant that institutional responsibility within the Commission has been rendered opaque and confusing to the outsider; the creation of this report reveals that there was a need to clarify the Commission’s perspective internally as well. The internal document referred to above had the following comments on the European Commission’s Information Society activities: During the interviews a general consensus was detected concerning four aspects of the hypothesis:

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1. 2. 3. 4.

A comprehensive view of the Commission missions and activities in the Information Society domain is not available to the “external world”. A coherent view is first needed inside the Commission itself. There is an urgent need of information and communication strategy both internally and externally oriented. A culture of internal transparency and visibility is required. (European Commission (ISAC) 2000: 105)

It is thus misleading to treat the European Commission as a unitary actor in the field of Information Society. Many DGs have been shown to be dealing with the relationship between the Internet and other ICTs and the EU. In other work by the principal author, examples such as the attempts of DG Press to create an online European public space and information portal of the EU’s institutions for EU citizens (the Europa website), the development of the Your Voice in Europe portal by DG Internal Market, and the IDA Programme by DG Enterprise have been described (Shahin and Neuhold 2007; Shahin 2007, Shahin 2008). This has confused the creation and implementation of an agenda for the EIS. EIS policy impacts upon, amongst others, Employment, Education, Enterprise, Culture, Competition, and the Internal Market: all work being done in independent DGs in the Commission. The definition of the term ‘Information Society’ has been

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

68

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

interpreted in different ways by different DGs.5 This is a mere reflection of the blurred vision of the Information Society that drove Commission policy throughout the 1990s. It is revealing that in the Commission’s Report on Implementation of the 1996 Work Programme (European Commission 1996f), the Information Society was referred to in policies concerning regional development, education, employment, single market, and telecommunications policy. This shows its true horizontal nature. Affirmation of this comes from a paper presented by a Commission official from DG Research, who critiqued the significant bias “in favour of an economic and vocational definition of education which is meant to be put to the service of economic growth and technological excellence” and cited the European Parliament’s response to the EIS agenda promoted by DG XIII which resolved that “the European model of the Information Society must be driven by democratic, social, cultural and educational concerns, and not dominated by economic and technological interests” (Agalianos 1999: 4–5). The broadness of the policy area has meant that many actors external to the European Commission have also been involved in policymaking and policy monitoring. This includes non-institutional actors, such as the eris@, the European Internet Forum (EIF), as well as other EU institutions such as the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Council. The networked approach to policymaking has drawbacks for the Commission due to the large number of opinions that can be heard on EIS policies. Thus, whilst addressing their communications to most European Institutions (even when there is no Treatybased necessity), the Commission has tried to use European Councils to promote their ideas directly to the highest political level possible.6 The establishment of a DG to deal with Information Society issues alone (in 2000) was a response to the coordinating role adopted by the Commission in general policy areas, but EIS policy emerges from many DGs and cannot successfully be centralised. As a result, DG Information Society has the responsibility to introduce Information Society aspects into other EU policies. DG Information Society plays the leading role in setting and implementing the Information Society agenda, which means that other Commission services should work with this DG in dealing with these issues. This naturally accords a hierarchy to EIS policy in the European Commission that must be coordinated by DG Information Society. Figure 0–1 outlines some of the major initiatives taken at the Commission level in the area of Information Society since the 1980s. This diagram reveals how different Commission services and DGs play a role in the implementation of the EIS agenda. In more recent years, activities were not limited to the EU institutions either; other international organisations and national governments were slowly getting involved in Information Society policy webs. States around the world are confronting the same issues, and often offering similar answers. International organisations are also dealing 5 In a presentation given to officials from the European Commission in January 2000, I asked for definitions of the Information Society. Responses covered ‘learning’, ‘work’, and ‘computer networks’ to name but a few. Of course, the Information Society encompasses all of these: the surprising result of that question was the way in which the staff disagreed amongst each other over the varying definitions. 6 An example of the complexity can be shown from the following (late submitted) response to the Delors White Paper by the Committee of the Regions, who welcomed “the Bangemann report, which was presented at the meeting of the Council on 24 and 25 June in Corfu, as it considers the establishment of the Information Society vital for strengthening European firms’ positions, particularly for SMEs, vis-à-vis international competition. Consequently, it is important that the European Union encourage action needed both to develop information technologies and to introduce them into the market. The local authorities and regions must be involved in selecting priority projects, so that full, efficient computerization can be achieved throughout Europe” (Committee of the Regions 1994).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 0–1.

69

70

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

with policy issues in the information age. The OECD examined the effects of the changes that developments in the Internet will have on regulatory mechanisms (OECD (Committee for Information) 1996). The World Trade Organisation looked at the role of the Information Technology on electronic commerce (World Trade Organisation 1998) as did the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 1998). Information Society policies implemented reveal a trend towards global solutions. The ITU, EU, G7/8 and many other international groups have been working together to determine guidelines and – where necessary – global regulation. Governments found a need to interact internationally to counter the instabilities of the global marketplace. It is of interest to hear an EU official say: “We are convinced that only international efforts will give the right answers and solutions to the challenges of the Global Information Society”.7 In 1995, the European Commission hosted an international conference in Brussels on the future of the Global Information Society (G7 Ministerial Conference Chair 1995; Nash 1995).8 Agreement was made between the G7 countries on the basic principles of the GIS, recognising the fact that international cooperation is a necessary requirement, even in a globalised and liberalised environment: “Jürgen Rüttgers, Bonn research and technology minister…said a world wide ‘net code of conduct’ was needed to set internationally agreed minimum standards” (Norman 1998a). At the 1998 International Telecommunication Union plenipotentiary conference, a French official stated: “all governments…have taken an interest in seeing that the Internet continues to flourish. We think the Internet is now an international phenomenon” (1998b). The same meeting agreed a resolution calling for the ITU to organise the World Summit on the Information Society. 9 Given the level of interest in Information Society policies at both the global and the national levels, the European Commission was well placed to provide an active role in the development of policies and policy webs in the EU. The following two sections describe the activities undertaken by the European Commission towards implementation of an EIS, and cover how the EU was ‘mobilised’ and ‘innovated’ through Information Society policies that have been brought to light in recent years. ‘Mobilising the Union’ in the Information Age It has been stated that the Commission’s attempts to rejuvenate the European electronics industry until the mid-1980s had been a failure: “Collectively, it has failed abjectly to keep up with its main international competitors, the US and Japan” (Mackintosh 1986: 83). The convergence of technologies: electronics, telecommunications, computing, and so forth made this a difficult environment to regulate. The fact that “during the first 25 years of its existence, the European Community did not develop a comprehensive policy for communication media” could have played a role in this failure to keep up with the competition (Schoof and Brown 1995: 326). This partially accounts for the emergence of different political priorities from 1993 onwards, and to some extent explains the reassessment taken by the Commission of its EIS policy in the mid-late 1990s. The intention of the Commission to create a European approach to the Information Society required more profound actions from the EU than those made prior to the 7

http://www.cineca.it/untpdc/securenet/ec.html accessed 18 October 1998. Archives hosted at http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/intcoop/g8/i_g8conference.html accessed 24 July 1999. 9 http://www.itu.int/wsis/ accessed on 5 July 2004. 8

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

71

Delors White Paper. It also required more than Commission Communications and international conferences. In order to mobilise the Union, a major shift in policy and in objectives was required. The manner in which policy and legislative opinions were placed before the Council of Ministers and the European Councils was subtly altered to achieve this. Attempts started in 1993: with the Internet revolution just beginning, technological change was more apparent and profound: research laboratories and high technology industries were not to be the only recipients of benefits of new developments in technology. This time, citizens were to be direct beneficiaries of these developments. The 1993 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness, and Employment defined the Information Society as “the dawning of a multimedia world (sound – text – image) [representing] a radical change comparable with the first industrial revolution” (European Commission 1993: 13). Hyperbole as explicit as this was used “to convey the dynamism and excitement of technological developments rather than to stand as an opening to a precise historical analogy” (Mansell and Steinmueller 2002: 10–11). This dynamism on the part of the European Commission has certainly held its ground, as the eEurope initiative and its entourage of policies and initiatives clearly show (Shahin 2006, 2007, 2008). The impact of technology was to be as broad-ranging as possible, businesses, organisations, and citizens would all be affected by this radical change in ‘economic and social organisation’: Companies’ operations have become unthinkable without the use of ICTs… The introduction of ICTs, globalisation and international competition are forcing companies to rethink the way in which they organize their production. Where the general public is concerned, the penetration of ICT-dependent products and services into everyday activities is also striking. This generates new forms of economic and social organisation the structure of which is no longer subject to geographical constraints but depends on telecommunications networks or teleports: teleworking is emerging as a major social phenomenon (European Commission 1993). The subsequent Bangemann Report, outlined below, was to devise concrete projects around many of the ideas proposed in this White Paper. In the Delors White Paper, the structure of Commission activities for dealing with the opportunities of the Information Society was broken into the three following areas: infrastructure and standards setting, services, and applications, as detailed in the table below. The mobilisation of the EU had begun, but as will be shown, it was a long process, which still continues. Table 0–1. Technological and Political Areas where European Commission Plays a Role in the EIS

Infrastructure and standards

Response to GIS technological issues: need for standards and common regulatory frameworks

Reactive and Innovative

Services

Development of technological and statutory solutions to counter existing problems in EU – problems of single market, communication issues etc. Socio-political use of technology to improve quality of life in EU, including governance mechanisms, government administrations and other areas

Reactive

Applications

Innovative

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

72

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

The process towards building the Information Society was not entirely new; many programmes, projects, and initiatives put in place as a result of the White Paper were already proposed in previous years at the Community level; the difference is the way in which these were announced, and the emphasis given to them. The 1993 White Paper’s impact on the Information Society in Europe was to initiate a policy process that has made the EIS a priority area for the Commission and the European Council. After this period, mobilising the EU was not just about dealing with economic issues: the connection between regulating the SEM, European economic strength, and more ‘softer’ issues of European politics was made and a new sphere of governance opened up to the European Commission. A connection had been made between the way public administrations work and the economic development level of a country (see Shahin 2007a,b). Whether this is, in part, attributable to the emergence of the EIS is a debatable point. Evidence so far has shown that the technology has certainly helped the process, and other commentators have noted this. For example, Kofler notes that in the EU the Information Society could be used to reinforce “sovereignty and cultural identity” (see also Hudson 1998: 27; Kofler 1998). Similarly, the authors of the Bangemann Report who were not all members of the Commission or of European public administrations believed that: The widespread availability of new information tools and services wil present fresh opportunities to build a more equal and balanced society and to foster individual accomplishment. The information society has the potential to improve the quality of life of Europe’s citizens, the efficiency of our social and economic organisation and to reinforce cohesion (Bangemann et al. 1994).

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

A European Strategy? The European Commission’s strategy to attain the main goals of an EIS is of crucial importance to the governance of the EIS and the EU. To understand the impact of the EIS on the Commission’s policymaking it is necessary to explain the history of the Commission’s strategy for an EIS. Whilst recognising that “the social usefulness of technological developments evolves concurrently with the research responsible for new ideas” (Mansell and Steinmueller 2002: 21), it can be shown that the Commission took an approach to the building of an EIS that clearly divided the research, development, and creation of standards and applications from the actual use of the technology; this is clearly elucidated when considering ‘better governance’ as described by the Commission in their White Paper on Governance (European Commission 2001a). In this White Paper, the role of the Internet and the Information Society is minimal and completely separate from the ‘traditional’ questions raised despite the benefits of using ICTs that are mentioned in the document. Likewise, this interpretation can be applied to the establishment of research networks, which have rarely considered the role of the citizen be they user or non-user. This reflects understanding of the Internet through a utopian technological paradigm that assumes that connectivity promotes use, as opposed to an examination of how technology can be used to further claims to better governance that the Commission desires. Earlier work has outlined the history of data networking in Europe (Shahin 2006) and it is from this context that current debates over the relationship between governance and the EIS should begin. It is necessary to note, however, that policy and legislative measures taken before the mid-1990s were not explicitly linked to the notion of the

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

73

EIS in any specific or direct way.10 When considering the impact of the Internet on governance at the EU level it is important to recognise that prior to widespread use of the Internet11 there was an existing debate about the role of technology in governing European political institutions. These debates were centred on three major technological developments: 1.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2. 3.

the development of the microchip, and the growing pervasiveness of computers; the rise of the Internetworking paradigm; and, the digitalization of information.

Although the social and political implications of these technological developments were raised, it has been shown that political decisions on social issues were technologically constructed, albeit driven by the overarching desire to maintain economic strength and stability. The strategy followed by the Commission in these early years was optimistic. Technological, economic, and social problems that were caused—in large part—by technological developments, were to be easily solved by technological means. This ‘construction’ of technology and technological solutions at the European level through standards and networks, regulation and legislation, and promotion of the Information Society (at both the global and the European levels) has provided crucial evidence to prove that the creation of the EIS is more than simply a political response to a technological problem. Technologically-oriented research programmes, public investment, and standards setting are only half of the story of the EIS, which was dominant in the early years. In one analysis of standards setting in the European Community, it was noted that “a large part of the European Union strategy in this area was to use standardization as a mechanism to establish distinctly ‘European’ network design trajectories” (Hawkins 1996: 176).12 There are also political problems associated with Information Society policies and programmes relating to who – institutionally – should design and implement the policies. In this sense, the political solutions that were implemented can be seen to be one facet of the debate on EU governance as it concerns the role of the EU institutions. The key goal of any pan-European strategy to the Information Society stems from the desire to attain competitiveness for Europe in the global economy. In the words of a Commission document from 1996: “It is absolutely essential for the future of all sectors of the economy and for Community citizens that Europe succeeds in [the information and communications] sectors” (European Commission 1996e). The challenge was to national governments to give up their sovereign control over high technology markets. These challenges were also represented by the global nature of new ICTs. Conventional wisdom held that in order to compete in a globalised economy, European member states needed to work together. The potential provided by new technologies for economic development, despite the collapse in the stock markets that took place at the turn 10 Mention was made to of the need to “ensure a socially responsible approach to the control of these new technologies in a society that is experiencing radical and rapid economic, social and technological change” (Council 1983). 11 Interoperability between different systems was an evident aim even in the ‘early’ years, as Community support for EURONET, the EIN, and other networking activities shows. Chapter 3 dealt with these in detail. 12 Hawkins also commented that the instrumentalist approach to standards setting for political purposes is problematic (ibid., see also p. 186), but an evaluation of the standards process is beyond the scope of this chapter. It suffices to say that the European Commission was attempting to get involved in the standardization process from an early stage, believing that political objectives could be achieved through technological means.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

74

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

of the 21st century is phenomenal. The convergence of media enabled by digital networks is changing the scope and nature of production of services and products. Digital networks such as the Internet enable the commodification of information. There is clearly a direct connection between information/knowledge on the one hand, and economic factors on the other. Information or knowledge and economic development are closely connected (Mansell and Wehn 1998b). The debate over the ‘new economy’ which is still ongoing, would tend to suggest that great advantage can be made of new ICTs for economic development (Johnston 1998; OECD 2000, 2002; Soete 2000). The communication potential of new ICTs, which enables information and knowledge to be brought together independent of geography is also of importance. Leonard Dudley notes that economic growth generation during the Industrial Revolution cannot be explained by “innovation clusters in production and transportation technology” alone (1999: 597). Changes in communications technology are given special attention in his model, as they provide the infrastructure over which new innovations are disseminated (ibid: 610–11). By extending Dudley’s model, the Internet thus becomes a central motivating force in future innovation. The European Commission had recognised this in early 1997 with the publication of a Communication entitled The Competitiveness of the European Information and Communication Technologies Industries, which laid out a number of main issues and existing policy initiatives which needed further attention from member states and the Commission in order to “force the pace and ensure that European ICT industries are at the forefront of market and technological evolution” (European Commission 1997b: 1). Liberalisation and the SEM also affected edicts from the EU on the need for a coordinated strategy in the policies and programmes of the EIS. In 1996, the Commission wrote an Action Plan on the topic of innovation. In what could be considered an early version of the coordinating role of the European Commission in the European political space, this Action Plan resulted in the production of three ‘lines of attack’ that needed to be addressed by the EU’s institutions and member states. They were: the need to foster an innovation culture; to establish legal frameworks that promote innovation, and; linking research funding to innovation (European Commission 1996c). Added to the economic strategies such as liberalisation, innovation, and globalisation are political issues related to the implementation of the EIS; a strategy was in place at the Community level for this as well. The European Commission used the subject of the EIS to try to ensure a European Community response was forthcoming to answer broader questions of economic prosperity and stability. In rather dramatic prose the 1979 Communication stated: In social and political terms the new technologies could offer new tools for individual development and expression, new possibilities for small to medium-sized enterprises, new communication facilities for distant regions, new facilities for the underprivileged, whether the handicapped or the immobile old. Will they be used for these redeeming purposes or as an instrument for reinforcing central political or corporate power? These questions have hitherto been largely debated on a national basis. Since they are fundamental for the future of European civilisation it is time to ask how the Community can help to ensure a positive answer (European Commission 1979: iii). In later years the Commission was to develop a comprehensive and voluminous, if ad hoc, strategy for the EIS, which became a key emergent policy domain. These issues were first brought to the fore in what is considered to be the beginning of the EIS debate by the Delors White Paper, as will be shown in the following subsection.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

75

Table 0–2. Differences Between 1979 and 1993 in EIS Policy Output

1979 Economic challenges to business Context of scepticism regarding Europe Technologies were not widely used Global environment was not conducive Technology is the problem

1993 Political challenge of unemployment Context of optimism following TEU Technologies becoming widely used Global environment ‘forced’ integration Technology is the solution

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Echoes of the Past? As shown, the Information Society is nothing new to the EU. Garnham has stated that “the Information Society and the Information Superhighway project is a continuation of a well established policy path” (Garnham 1997: 327).13 The need for European intervention had been raised and agreed upon, and strategies had been conceived, if not always successfully implemented. Well before the 1993 landmark White Paper, discussions had been started regarding the impact of new technologies on the economic, social, and political make-up of the European Community. In the pre-1993 actions of the Commission and Council, we can see discussion of many of the issues that were to be raised later on and which are being brought to the fore again today. This reoccurrence of EIS policy questions is telling of a more fundamental, underlying debate on the governance of the EU. Since 1979, when the term appeared in a Communication to the European Council, there has been a flow of Commission documents on the issue. Many of the documents written since this time have simply echoed arguments for the EU’s need to promote the EIS that were stated therein. This earlier starting point has ramifications for the way the Internet is seen in relation to governance: the challenge of new technologies was discussed prior to 1993, even at the EU level. It will be shown that the Council and the Commission both took steps before 1993 that enabled the Information Society to become a central issue in the EU at the time of Jacques Delors’ last presidential term. A greater understanding of the pre-White Paper discussion on the EIS reveals the underlying role of technology as far more pervasive in questions of European governance. And a comparison of pre-and post-Delors edicts on the EIS shows what has changed: namely the mode of EU governance. Table 0–2 outlines the major differences. Just as the 1979 Communication came after the establishment of the European Monetary System and increased hope for the process of European integration, the December 1993 White Paper emerged after the monumental Treaty on European Union, signed in Maastricht in February of the same year. It was the first high-level publication from the Commission since the Maastricht Treaty came into force. This White Paper was a monumental document in its own right. Mansell and Steinmueller have gone as far as to say that it “has proven to be the most influential and enduring policy statement articulating the vision of the information society yet produced”, citing “the way that it articulates the relationships between pressing policy concerns and builds a case for a specific set of policy actions” (Mansell and Steinmueller 2002: 10). Notwithstanding the elegance with which the Commission’s Information Society agenda was outlined at that time, many parallels can be drawn with previous attempts to create an Information Society in Europe. 13

The ‘well established policy’ path is that of telecommunications policy.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

76

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

The challenge faced by European society at the time, provided in the first sentence of the Delors White Paper, was to counter the Europe-wide problem of unemployment. This was a central issue for European governments and EU institutions in 1993. The challenge posed in 1979 was that of technological development, and the lagging European industry in this sector. Also important was the general context of European integration, which was suffering from overwhelming action by national governments towards intergovernmentalism in the late-1970s and early 1980s. Hence, the Commission, although somewhat successfully managing to pool its legitimacy in areas specific to the Treaties of the European Communities, was unable to garner much support for, as an example, a common European social model. The signing of the Treaty of European Union in Maastricht saw a new impulse for action at the European level, and the President of the Commission took full advantage of this with the introduction of his own White Paper. Globalisation had a key role to play in subsequent developments post-Maastricht. This ‘settlement’ of the EU’s position in the European political environment meant that the Commission could focus upon Europe’s role in the world. The Commission’s agenda prior to 1993 was more concerned with becoming a key actor in Europe than at the global level. Furthermore, there were substantial shifts in the global political environment; both regulation and ideology were becoming more global. In the preparatory work to the White Paper, the Commission states: “In the world economy, the Community and all major partners are interdependent: Community policies must reflect and build on this reality” (European Commission 1993: 106). This presents another major difference: although the Commission recognised the need to compete globally in 1979, it did not recognise the need to establish global services. Global competitiveness was again brought to the fore in 1993: “To be able to compete worldwide, European industry must exploit all possible ways of improving its competitiveness by making growing and effective use of ICTs” (ibid: 93). Globalisation of markets, and the lack of educated workers that inhibited Europe’s continued role as a key player was to be tackled, in part, by “investment in training and knowledge” (ibid: 16), which harks back to previous Commission statements. Another external reason for the increased support for a European strategy for the Information Society in 1993 is worthy of note. ICTs were becoming more widely used across the Union. This is in stark comparison to 1979, when computing and related equipment was still expensive and not ‘user-friendly’. The importance of the Internet, which is not mentioned in the 1979 document,14 has thus been to increase awareness of the general developments in ICTs and network paradigms, as opposed to ones specifically centred on the technology itself. The European Commission’s15 Information Society policy before 1993 had identified the need to ensure that Europe did not fall behind its two leading competitors—the US and Japan—in what was globally perceived as a new economic paradigm. The Commission Communication prepared for the Dublin Council in 1979, which was entitled “European Society Faced With the Challenge of New Information Technologies” was the Commission’s attempt at a response to Europe’s “relative setback” in annual growth rates between 1974 and 1978. The Oil Crisis of 1973 was given as the main cause for the necessity to adapt “the Community, its citizens, its cumbersome social 14 Although ‘networks’ were mentioned throughout the document, and specific action was recommended for EURONET. 15 At the time, the European Commission was referred to as the Commission of the European Communities.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

77

structures and its fragile political balances…to the new economic and political realities of the world today” (European Commission 1979: 1). The need for a change was evident: European society and economy maintained a heavy focus on industry, whereas new economic growth was to be found in the technology and service sectors. A shift away from industrial processing would reduce Europe’s reliance upon large energy supplies. The Communication highlighted the fact that national solutions to a continental and global problem “have been valuable but have been insufficient to raise our undertakings to the level of the world markets” (ibid: 11). Throughout this document reference is made to the US and Japan, comparing, for example, their approaches to public procurement16 and the vastness of the single market in the US. Japanese protectionism and research funding were cited as reasons why “within five years, Japan will have become a formidable competitor on the international markets” (ibid: 9). Business, it was argued, must be given the support to operate in larger-than-national markets, if it is to compete with Japanese and US competitors. The fascination noted in 1979 with the Japanese and American economies was raised again in 1993: “Our competitive position in relation to the USA and Japan has worsened as regards: employment, our shares of export markets, R&D and innovation and its incorporation into goods brought to the market, the development of new products” (ibid: 9). This renewed call for EU action in the area of research and development presents a questionable evaluation of the results of previous work.17 This ‘lagging’ behind the US was to be raised again in later years, and has actually been a constant issue in all EIS policies. Other social and political implications of the Information Society were reiterated: “It can provide an answer to the needs of European societies: communication networks within companies; widespread teleworking; widespread access to scientific and leisure databases; development of preventative health care and home medicine for the elderly” (European Commission 1993: 13). As in 1979, the future of the Union was put at stake in the Delors White Paper: “At the heart of the development model for the 21st century, this issue [the Information Society] is a crucial aspect in the survival or decline of Europe” (ibid: 13). Finally, the Delors White Paper stressed the impact of the EIS upon social, economic, and political issues, treating technology as a solution. Whatever qualms one might have with the technological utopia underlying the White Paper, it is important to stress that the challenge in 1993 was of a political nature. Before this White Paper, political issues were seen as of a technological nature: technology caused the problem and there must be a technological solution to it. The shift from the technologically motivated policy response to the technologically mediated one is a big conceptual leap; one that was to assure this White Paper a place in the history books. Now technology is seen as the solution to wider policy problems. The EIS was to be a society that considered all aspects of policymaking through the lens of ICTs. It was to be a truly horizon16 “The number of computer installations in Federal Agencies alone represents more than one-third of the total in the whole of the United States” (European Commission 1979: 7). 17 It is interesting to note that the Commission was also drawing on previous work carried out in R&D projects as well as in legislative areas. For example, the proposal to “develop the basic networks” (ibid: 24) included consolidation of the ISDN network, the subject of a 1986 Council Recommendation with a similar ambition (Council 1986b); reference has already been made to the RACE programme, the main aim of which was to establish a broadband communications system across Europe. Similarly, an exploratory project for advanced informatics in medicine (AIM) was established by the Council in 1988 (Council 1988). The same can be said for ‘links between administrations’ (cf. INSIS – mentioned above) and ‘teletraining’ (cf. COMETT).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

78

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

tal policy issue, cutting across all areas of the Union, from social policy to the single market, from enterprise to external relations, and from consumer protection to culture and media. It is obvious then, that the consequences for governance of the EU rely heavily upon the way in which the EIS is created, managed and used.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

A Political Innovation or a Policy Innovation? One particular oft-claimed innovation of the White Paper was the proposal for establishment of Trans-European infrastructure Networks, or TENs. The White Paper stated that “Europe’s ascendancy in the past was due to the quality of its communications networks” (European Commission 1993: 28). These previously existing communications networks would need to be developed “in the light of globalisation of markets, the growing mobility of capital and technology and the investment needs which are becoming apparent in the East and the South” (ibid: 28). These were integrated into the TEU, and provided the source of a new way of thinking about Europe’s internal strategy. According to the White Paper, “networks can – and in the present economic context, must – provide fresh impetus” (ibid: 75). The physical networks put in place were to be complemented by information ones. Action would cover five main priority areas: promoting use of information technologies; providing basic trans-European services; creating an appropriate regulatory framework; developing training on new technologies and improving industrial and technological performance (ibid: 24). Private investment was expected for this, as in previous forays into the Information Society in Europe; but the Commission announced (ECU)five billion from its budget for these networks. The public expenditure was to be focused upon the establishment of the infrastructure, and for research into applications.18 As in the US’ NII, the EIS was seen as being built upon “highways”, and “access roads and service areas” (ibid: 25).19 The “system of information highways” to be put in place would cost an estimated 150 billion ecu over a ten year period (ibid: 32). The investment was to be made in three key areas: infrastructure (interconnected advanced networks), services (general electronic services) and applications (telematic applications).20 In each of these areas strategic projects were suggested and an estimate of the financial investment required to complete each project was given (ibid: 27). One can question the impact of the White Paper just as one questions the impact of the 1979 document. The problem of employment is still a large issue for most member states, and ‘growth and employment’ were still central issues of the First Action Plan for Innovation in Europe (European Commission 1996c) a few years after the Delors White Paper. Also, the establishment of trans-European networks was discussed both before and after the White Paper, as were many of the other activities stressed in the trans-European information networks section of that paper. To consider the Delors White Paper a ‘political innovation’ is to be very optimistic about the content and the nature of the document. With hindsight, and with the experience of eEurope which will be discussed in the following chapter, the White Paper can be seen as a visionary document in terms of promoting a European model for the Information Society, but it did not explicitly change the role of the EU’s institutions. 18

Applications suggested were: teleworking, links between administrations, teletraining and telemedicine. Reference to citizens as “highway users” is contestable. 20 The terms in parentheses are used in the White Paper (ibid: 27). 19

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

79

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Towards New Forms of Governance? Examination of the process involved in the general legislative action in the field of telecommunications and electronic commerce reveal common trends in the mode of governance used by the European Commission to steer EU regulation and legislation in the EIS. The Commission has taken on the role of coordinator in the various networks it has established at both the policymaking and policy-monitoring stages. The elaboration of the European Commission’s Information Society policies carried out above reveals that the debate did not start with the Internet, and preceded the normalisation of cyberspace by many years. With the normalisation of cyberspace, which occurred many years after its first introduction, the Internet became the driving technology in promotion of the Information Society, and was to act as a further impulse towards pan-European action. This contribution to the volume has sought to understand the impact of the Internet on developing the role of institutions in governing the EU. It has been shown that the Union has taken several bold steps in the field of the EIS. Despite the different ways of introducing action at the EU level, there has been one underlying trend: in couching the development in terms of national survival, economic prosperity, and maintenance of competitiveness, the Commission was able to show that what was good for the Community was good for the member states. It has been shown that during the early years of the Internet’s development in terms of policy, the Community was attempting to deal with three different—but broadly interrelated—areas of policy: industry and competition, research, and the development of the SEM. Social and political policies that referred to the EIS did so in order to implement political targets, such as the SEM, which would lead, it had been assumed, lead to improved competitiveness on the global scale, a Social Europe, and a Knowledge-Based Economy within Europe. This chapter provided a broad overview of the actual relationship between the Internet and the EIS policies put in place that have affected the governance of the EU. The institutional backdrop for this gradual development of policy has roughly paralleled the political developments which have turned towards more activity in both informal and formal mechanisms for increasing the scope of pan-European activity, and revealed a focus and shift from government to governance that is also mirrored in other parts of the world.

References Abbate, Janet. 1999. Inventing the Internet. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Agalianos, Angelos. 1999. Reflections on Technology, Society and Education (Working Paper for the Attention of the Organisers of the Consultation Workshop New Learning Methods and Tools Who Are Currently Working on the Revision of the IST Work Programme), 05/10/1999. Brussels: European Commission. Bangemann, Martin, Enrico Cabral da Fonseca, Peter Davis, Carlo de Benedetti, Pehr Gyllenhammar, Lothar Hunsel, et al. 1994. Europe and the Global Information Society – Recommendations to the European Council. Luxembourg: Commission of the European Communities. Available from http://europa.eu.int/ ISPO/infosoc/backg/bangeman.html. Council. 1978. Council Decision of 9 October 1978 Adopting a Second Three-Year Plan of Action in the Field of Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation, 9 October 1978. ———. 1979. Council Decision of 11 September 1979 Adopting a Multiannual Programme (1979 to 1983) in the Field of Data Processing, 11 September 1979.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

80

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

———. 1982. Council Decision of 13 December 1982 Relating to the Coordination of the Activities of the Member States and Community Institutions with a View to Assessing the Need for, and Preparing Proposals for Setting up, a Community Inter-Institutional Information System, 13 December 1982. ———. 1983. Council Resolution of 2 June 1983 Concerning Vocational Training Measures Relating to New Information Technologies, 2 June 1983. ———. 1984a. Conclusions of the Council of 7 June 1984 on Technological Change and Social Adjustment, 7 June 1984. ———. 1984b. Council Decision of 22 November 1984 Amending Decision 79/783/EEC in Respect of General Measures in the Field of Data Processing., 22 November 1984. ———. 1984c. Council Decision of 27 November 1984 Adopting a Community Programme for the Development of the Specialized Information Market in Europe, 27 November 1984. ———. 1984d. Council Decision of 28 February 1984 Concerning a European Programme for Research and Development in Information Technologies (ESPRIT), 28 February 1984. ———. 1984e. Council Recommendation of 12 November 1984 Concerning the Implementation of Harmonization in the Field of Telecommunications, 12 November 1984. ———. 1985. Council Decision of 11 February 1985 Adopting the 1985 Work Programme for the European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technologies: ESPRIT, 11/02/1985. ———. 1986a. Council Directive 86/361/EEC of 24 July 1986 on the Initial Stage of the Mutual Recognition of Type Approval for Telecommunications Terminal Equipment, 24 July 1986. ———. 1986b. Council Recommendation of 22 December 1986 on the Coordinated Introduction of the Integrated Services Digital Network (Isdn) in the European Community, 22 December 1986. ———. 1987. Council Decision of 22 December 1986 on Standardization in the Field of Information Technology and Telecommunications, 22 December 1986. ———. 1988. Council Decision of 4 November on a Community Action in the Field of Information Technology and Telecommunications Applied to Health Care – Advanced Informatics in Medicine (AIM) – Exploratory Action, 4 November 1988. ———. 1993. Council Resolution of 22 July 1993 on the Review of the Situation in the Telecommunications Sector and the Need for Further Development in That Market, 22/07/1993. ———. 1994a. Council Decision of 27 July 1994 Adopting a Specific Programme for Research and Technological Development, Including Demonstration, in the Field of Advanced Communication Technologies and Services (1994–1998), 27 July 1994. ———. 1994b. Council Resolution of 22 December 1994 on the Principles and Timetable for the Liberalization of Telecommunications Infrastructures, 22 December 1994. ———. 1995. Resolution on the Industrial Aspects for the European Union in the Development of the Information Society, 27 November. Council, and European Parliament. 1998a. Directive 98/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 July 1998 Amending Directive 98/34/EC Laying Down a Procedure for the Provision of Information in the Field of Technical Standards and Regulations, 20 July 1998. ———. 1998b. Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of Laying Down a Procedure for the Provision of Information in the Field of Technical Standards and Regulations, 21 July 1998. Available from http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg2/hearings/pdf/com/answer/liikanen/en/default.pdf. ———. 1999a. Decision No 276/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 January 1999 Adopting a Multiannual Community Action Plan on Promoting Safer Use of the Internet by Combating Illegal and Harmful Content on Global Networks, 6 February 1999. Available from http://europa.eu.int/ ISPO/iap/decision/en.html. ———. 1999b. Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 1999 Adopting a Series of Actions and Measures in Order to Ensure Interoperability of and Access to Trans-European Networks for the Electronic Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA), 12 July 1999. ———. 2001. Regulation 1049/2001/EC Regarding Public Access to European Parliament, Council and Commission Documents, 30 May 2001. Available from http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2001/ l_145/l_14520010531en00430048.pdf. European Commission. 2004. Eumedis Initiative [Microsoft Word Document]. European Commission, [cited 10 July 2004]. Available from http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/eumedis/DOC/leafletGB.doc. ———. 1979. European Society Faced with the Challenge of New Information Technologies: A Community Response. COM(1979) 650 final, 26 November 1979. Brussels. ———. 1987. Towards a Dynamic European Economy: Green Paper on the Development of the Common Market for Telecommunications Services and Equipment. COM(87) 290 final, 30 June 1987. Brussels. ———. 1990. Commission Green Paper on the Development of European Standardisation: Action for Faster Technological Integration in Europe. COM(90) 456 final, 8 October 1990. Brussels.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

81

———. 1993. White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment: The Challenges and Ways Forward into the 21st Century. COM(93) 700 final, 5 December 1993. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/en/record/white/c93700/contents.html. ———. 1994. Europe’s Way to the Information Society – an Action Plan. COM(94) 347 final, 19/07/1994. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/ISPO/docs/htmlgenerated/i_COM(94)347final.html. ———. 1995. The Commission’s Work Programme for 1996. COM(95) 512 final. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/en/comm/co96pr/en96sum.html. ———. 1996a. The Commission’s Work Programme for 1997. COM(96) 507 final, 16 October 1996. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/en/comm/co97pr/wp97en.htm. ———. 1996b. Communication from the Commission to the Council and the Parliament on “Standardization and the Global Information Society: The European Approach”. COM(96) 359, 24 July 1996. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/ISPO/infosoc/legreg/docs/96359.html. ———. 1996c. The First Action Plan for Innovation in Europe – Innovation for Growth and Employment. COM(96) 589, 19 December 1996. Brussels. Available from http://dbs.cordis.lu/. ———. 1996d. Green Paper: Living and Working in the Information Society: People First. COM(96) 398 final, 22 July 1996. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/ISPO/infosoc/legreg/docs/ peopl1st.html. ———. 1996e. The Implications of the Information Society for European Union Policies – Preparing the Next Steps. COM(96) 395-2, 24/07/1996. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/ISPO/docs/ policy/docs/596dc395-2/en.doc. ———. 1996f. Report on Implementation of the Commission’s Work Programme for 1996. SEC(96) 1779 final, 16 October 1996. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/en/comm/co97pr/wpa1en.htm. ———. 1997a. The Commission’s Work Programme for 1998. COM(97) 517, 15/10/1997. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/comm/archives/1995-99/work/1998/en/com517.html. ———. 1997b. The Competitiveness of the European Information and Communication Technologies Industries. COM(97) 152 final, 16/04/1997. Brussels. ———. 1997c. Concerning the Evaluation of the IDA Programme and a Second Phase of the IDA Programme. COM(97)661 final. Brussels. ———. 1997d. A European Initiative in Electronic Commerce. COM(97) 157 final, 16/04/1997. Brussels. ———. 1997e. Green Paper on the Convergence of the Telecommunications, Media and Information Technology Sectors, and the Implications for Regulation. Towards an Information Society Approach. COM(97) 623, 03/12/1997. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/ISPO/convergencegp/ greenp.html. ———. 1997f. Report on Implementation of the Commission’s Work Programme for 1997. SEC(97) 1854 final, 15/10/1997. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/comm/archives/1995-99/work/1998/en/ sec1854.html. ———. 1998a. The Commission’s Work Programme for 1999. COM(98) 604, 28/10/1998. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/comm/archives/1995-99/work/1999/com604_en.pdf. ———. 1998b. Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on Globalisation and the Information Society: The Need for Strengthened International Coordination. COM(1998) 50 final. Brussels. Available from http://www.infosociety.gr/policies/strategy/docs/com9850en.pdf. ———. 1998c. European RTD Initiatives Related to Internet Development. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. ———. 1998d. Globalisation and the Information Society: The Need for Strengthened International Coordination. COM(98) 50 final, 04/02/1998. Brussels. ———. 1998e. Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on Certain Legal Aspects of Electronic Commerce in the Internal Market. COM(1998) 586 final, 18/11/1998. Brussels. ———. 1998f. Report on Implementation of the Commission’s Work Programme for 1998. COM(98) 610 final, 15/10/1998. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/comm/archives/1995-99/work/1999/ com610_en.pdf. ———. 1999a. Commission Communication Concerning the Structural Funds and the Coordination with the Cohesion Fund – Guidemines for Programmes in the Period 2000 to 2006, 22/09/1999. ———. 1999b. The Convergence of the Telecommunications, Media and Information Technology Sectors, and the Implications for Regulation – Results of the Public Consultation on the Green Paper Com(97)623. COM(1999) 108, 09/03/1999. Brussels. ———. 1999c. eEurope: An Information Society for All – Communication on a Commission Initiative for the Special European Council of Lisbon, 23 and 24 March 2000. COM(1999) 687 final, 08/12/1999. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/news_library/pdf_files/ english.pdf.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

82

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

———. 1999d. Fifth Report on the Implementation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Package. COM(1999) 537, 10/11/1999. Brussels. ———. 1999e. Principles and Guidelines for the Community’s Audiovisual Policy in the Digital Age. COM(1999) 657 final, 14/12/1999. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/ 1999/com1999_0657en01.pdf. ———. 1999f. Towards a New Framework for Electronic Communications Infrastructure and Associated Services – the 1999 Communications Review. COM(1999) 539, 11/10/1999. Brussels. ———. 2000a. The Creation of The .EU Internet Top Level Domain: Commission Working Paper, February 2000. Brussels: European Commission. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/comm/information_society/ policy/internet/pdf/doteu_en.pdf. ———. 2000b. eEurope 2002: An Information Society for All – Draft Action Plan Prepared by the European Commission for the European Council in Feira 19–20 June 2000. COM(2000) 330 final, 24/05/2000. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2000/com2000_0330en01.pdf. ———. 2000c. eEurope 2002: An Information Society for All – Progress Report for the Special European Council on Employment, Economic Reforms and Social Cohesion – Towards a Europe Based on Innovation and Knowledge. Lisbon, 23 and 24 March 2000. COM(1999) 687 final. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/news_library/pdf_files/initiative_en.pdf. ———. 2000d. Innovation in a Knowledge-Driven Economy. COM(2000) 567 final, 20/09/2000. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2000/com2000_0567en01.pdf. ———. 2000e. Internet Domain Name System – Creating The .EU Top Level Domain. COM(2000) 421 final, 05/07/2000. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2000/com2000_ 0421en01.pdf. ———. 2000f. The Organisation and Management of the Internet – International and European Policy Issues 1998 – 2000. COM(2000) 202 final, 11/04/2000. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/ en/com/cnc/2000/com2000_0202en01.pdf. ———. 2000g. PROMISE Work Programme 2000. INFO SOC No. 46.1, 29/03/2000. Brussels. ———. 2000h. Reforming the Commission: A White Paper – Part I. COM(2000) 200 final/ 2, 05/04/2000. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/wpr/2000/act200en01/com2000_0200en 01-01.pdf. ———. 2000i. Reforming the Commission: A White Paper – Part II: Action Plan. COM(2000) 200 final, 01/03/2000. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/wpr/2000/act200en01/ com2000_0200en01-02.pdf. ———. 2000j. Strategies for Jobs in the Information Society. COM(2000) 48 final, 04/02/2000. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2000/com2000_0048en01.pdf. ———. 2001a. European Governance: A White Paper. COM(2001) 428 final, 25/07/2001. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2001/com2001_0428en01.pdf. ———. 2001b. Management of Community Programmes by Networks of National Agencies. COM(2001) 648 final, 13/11/2001. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2001/ act648en02/com2001_0648en02-01.pdf. ———. 2001c. A New Framework for Cooperation on Activities Concerning the Information and Communication Policy of the European Union. COM(2001) 354 final, 27/06/2001. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2001/com2001_0354en01.pdf. ———. 2002a. Commission Creates Radio Spectrum Policy Group and European Regulators Group. IP/02/1171, 29/07/2002. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_ action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/1171|0|RAPID&lg=EN. ———. 2002b. eEurope 2005: An Information Society for All. COM(2002) 263 final, 28/05/2002. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2002/com2002_0263en01.pdf. ———. 2002c. General Principles and Minimum Standards for Consultation of Interested Parties by the Commission. COM(2002) 704 final, 11/12/2002. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/ en/com/cnc/2002/com2002_0704en01.pdf. ———. 2002d. The Lisbon Strategy – Making Change Happen. COM(2002) 14 final, 15/01/2002. Brussels. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2002/com2002_0014en01.pdf. Garnham, Nicholas. 1997. Europe and the Global Information Society: The History of a Troubled Relationship. Telematics and Informatics 14 (4):323-27. Available from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/B6V1H-3SP5YYC-3/1/2e3842866778abdb3c71c0718b6a0105. G7 Ministerial Conference Chair. 1995. Conclusions of G7 Summit “Information Society Conference”, 26 February 1995. Brussels: G7. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/ISPO/docs/services/docs/1997/doc_ 95_2_en.pdf. Hawkins, Richard. 1996. Standards for Communication Technologies: Negotiating Institutional Biases in Network Design. In Communication by Design: The Politics of Information and Communication Technologies, edited by R. Mansell and R. Silverstone. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 157-86.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

J. Shahin and M. Finger / The History of a European Information Society

83

Kirstein, Peter T. 1999. Early Experiences with the Arpanet and Internet in the UK. IEEE Annals of Computing 21 (1). Available from http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/jon/arpa/internet-history.html. Kofler, Angelika. 1998. Digital Europe 1998: Policies, Technological Development and Implementation of the Emerging Information Society. Innovation 11 (1):53-71. Mackintosh, Ian. 1986. Sunrise Europe: The Dynamics of Information Technology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Mansell, Robin. 1996a. Communication by Design? In Communication by Design: The Politics of Information and Communication Technologies, edited by R. Mansell and R. Silverstone. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 15-43. ———. 1996b. Network Governance: Designing New Regimes. In Communication by Design: The Politics of Information and Communication Technologies, edited by R. Mansell and R. Silverstone. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 187-212. ———, ed. 2002. Inside the Communication Revolution – Evolving Patterns of Social and Technical Interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mansell, Robin, and Roger Silverstone. 1996. Introduction. In Communication by Design: The Politics of Information and Communication Technologies, edited by R. Mansell and R. Silverstone. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1-14. Mansell, Robin, and W. Edward Steinmueller. 2002. Mobilizing the Information Society – Strategies for Growth and Opportunity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mansell, Robin, and Uta Wehn. 1998a. Innovative ‘Knowledge Societies’ – Consequences of ICT Strategies. In Knowledge Societies – Information Technology for Sustainable Development, edited by R. Mansell and U. Wehn. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 241-53. ———, eds. 1998b. Knowledge Societies – Information Technology for Sustainable Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Norman, Peter. 1998a. Bonn Urges Net Clampdown on Child Porn. Financial Times, 20 July 1998: 2. ———. 1998b. Concern at German Internet Verdict. Financial Times, 29 May 1998: 3. OECD (Committee for Information, Computer and COmmunications Policy). 1996. The Role of Information in Telecommunications Regulations, 1996. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Peterson, John, and Margaret Sharp. 1998. Technology Policy in the European Union. London: Macmillan Press. Schoof, Hans, and Adam Watson Brown. 1995. Information Highways and Media Policies in the European Union. Telecommunications Policy 19 (4):325-38. Shahin, Jamal. 2008. ‘Dragging the net through choppy waters: Commission leadership and the Internet,’ in J Hayward (ed.), Leadership and the European Commission. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Shahin, Jamal and Neuhold, Christine. 2007. ‘The European Parliament’s communication policy: using “new” information and communication technologies to open up to citizens or staying with established interests?’ Journal of Legislative Studies 13(3) September: 388-402. Shahin, Jamal. 2007. ‘The reassertion of the state: governance and the information revolution,’ in M Dunn, S. Krishna-Hensel, and V Mauer (editors) The Information and the International System: The Challenges of Security and Governance in Cyberspace, Ashgate: 9-34. Shahin, Jamal. 2006. ‘A European history of the Internet.’ Science and Public Policy. 33(9) November: 681-693. Shahin, Jamal. 2004. Virtual Governance? The relationship between the Internet and governance in the EU. PhD Thesis, University of Hull. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. 1998. Electronic Commerce: Legal Considerations, 15 May 1998: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Available from http://www. unctad.org/en/docs//posdtebfbd1.en.pdf. World Trade Organisation. 1998. Electronic Commerce and the Role of the WTO. Lausanne: World Trade Organisation.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

84

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-84

The Style and Contents of China Government in Steering E-Government Construction and Implementation Yang FENGCHUN Academy of e-Government, Peking University, China [email protected]

Abstract. China in realizing the importance of E-government, started its move tangibly when it promoted the year 2002 as “E-government Year of China”. Since then the Central Government has played a leading role and all levels of governments have joined hands in the process of E-government development of China. This article provides details of efforts of the country’s E-government development in terms of Setting-up E-government Lead Agency in Central Government, Leadership of E-government from Core Agency of Central Government, Patterns and Contents of China Government in Steering the E-government and Lead agencies of E-government at the Level of Local Governments. State Council Informatization Leading Group takes the primary responsibility of steering and coordinating the nationwide work on informatization. The key leadership in local government is the so called “Information Work Leading Group”. The group consists of government top leaders and important government department heads with the power to establish strategy and conduct policy framework and coordination work.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Keywords. E-government, Central Government, Local Government, State Council Informatization Leading Group, Information Work Leading Group, and Golden-12 Projects

1. Introduction The use of Internet in China can be traced to early 1987, when the Chinese learned to send and receive e-mails for the first time. In 1993, China initiated inner-connection of its computer system. The year of 2002 has been called “E-government Year of China” for that the national E-government building which saw a tendency of eruption from this very year. Hence China government of each level began to invest and implement E-government in great scope. In the process of E-government development of China, the central government has played a leading role. In the early 1970s, China’s government began to pay attention to the importance of information technology to government business and made policies to promote IT applications. Before long, with the increasing of leader’s awareness to ICT and E-government, professional institutions were established step by step by central and local governments to lead and regulate the construction and implementation of E-government. This paper presents an overview the government’s leading role from the perspective of structure and leadership.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

85

2. Setting-Up E-Government Lead Agency in Central Government

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The earliest computer application in China started in 1970s and in 1972. Chou Enlai, Premier of China at the time stated that “computer application should be actively promoted”, since then computer has been in government agencies. With the increased use of computer applications administrative departments have been established within the government. The first ones were mainly in the fields of governmental economic management. On February 20, 1986, a steering taskforce was created by the State Council with the members from “National Planning Committee” and other Ministries. One year later, there was created a so-called “National Economical Information Center” in order to strengthen the regulation and leadership to computer applications and information technology development. From 1988 to 1992, there were 43 Ministries that established professional information departments. 1 In December, 1993, the State Council setup “National Economy Information Steering Committee” under a vice premier. In May, 1994, the “National Expert Committee of Information” was created as consulting agency for decision-supporting. At the same time, China began to launch its famous “Golden-12 Projects”, including Gold-bridge, Gold-Custom, Gold-card, Gold-Taxation and etc. which are important issues in the courses of China informatization. These initiatives created fundamental necessity and technical preparations for the later E-government implementations. With the deployment of informatization, problems about layout, standardization, policy and information sharing exposed more and more which impersonally called for professional governmental agencies to issue a unitary policy and as well as standard. The function of central government information agency also was transformed into

Figure I. Organization Structure Depicting E-government and Related Entities. Source: China Executive Leadership Academy, Pudong 1 Hongren Zhou and Tiehan Tang. (2002) E-government Knowledge Readings. National School of Administration Press. Beijing. P97–110.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

86

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

simple management implementation. In January, 1996, “State Council Informatization Leading Group” was created, with 20 more ministers as its members, with the primary responsibility of steering and corresponding nationwide work on informatization. The Leading Group proposed what was called “24-Character Guidelines” consisting of “unitary plan, unitar implementation, unitary standard, government steering and open resource” which provided a fundamental policy framework for implementing the country E-government initiatives. Informatization is not merely an issue of administration any more. It became an issue that called for the care of top political leaders of China. In October, 2000, the CPC Central Committee (CCCPC) published “the advice on making the 10th Five-Year Plan”, urged that “National Economic and Informatization should be taken into first account”. so did the advice been taken later. In August, 2001, National Informatization Leading Group was established at the direction of the CCCPC. It is so far the highest rank leading agency of E-government in China. its members comes from not only the State Council but also the CCCPC and CPC Military Committee . The prime minister personally acts as the group leader, and State Council Informatization Office (SCITO) was appointed as its executive agency immediately. The leading group is in charge of important informatization and E-government issues such as approving high level strategy, plans, regulations, decisions and etc.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

3. Leadership of E-Government from Core Agency of Central Government National Informationization Leading Group and SCITO is the outcome of global tides of informatization. It had been endowed with responsibility for promoting State Informatization. Neither are physical ministerial bodies but corresponding agencies. So the “promotion” is mostly emphasized on professional steering which is lacking actual business support. With the deployment of E-government, the integration into the core government business became the focus of applications. At this point, those core political departments like General Office of both the State Council and the CCCPC, began playing an important role that could not be replaced in E-government steering by other agencies like SCITO. The great impact of General Office of both the State Council and the CCCPC on E-government can be traced at an early OA period of 1980s and 1990s, In 1992, General Office of the State Council released “the Notice of Building the National OA System for Decision-supporting”. In 1994, another core OA project namely “Golden Sea” steered by General Office of both the State Council and the CCCPC promoted the national OA construction and provided pilot applications for local governments. By 2000, China finished most of its OA construction from central government to local governments of each level. In the national department level, private OA systems were also completed for the CPC Committee, the parliament and the judiciary agencies of each level. The speedup of OA deployment called for further demand for network connecting. On May 23, 2000, General Office of the State Council released another government document “Notice of further promoting the construction of governmental OA system”, the document for the first time proposed the concept of “Three-network and One-database” which became an important policy that steered the later OA and

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

87

E-government construction. According to the document, China’s government at each level achieved an electronic and networked office environment, which improved greatly the efficiency and capability of administration and emergency management. General Office of the State Council and CCCPC has its own information centers originally which used to be in charge of the E-government steering, planning and implementing within the two agencies. But for the tight conjunction between them and lower-level agencies, the information centers have powerful impact on subordinate agencies in E-government building and implementation. In 2008, this kind of steering relationship was finally confirmed by the organizational transformation of the State Council.

4. Patterns and Contents of China Government in Steering the E-Government

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

With the high level political leaders paying great attention to E-government, the first priority for the central government to lead E-government implementation is policy-making. In December, 2001, National Informatization Leading Group had its first conference and released a dialogue “the government should go first in China informatization” which showed that E-government implementation would be placed in the first priority in China informatization process. It also stressed that the central government should go beyond local governments in E-government implementation. The “Golden 12 Projects”, as the above should be further promoted. The policy and suggestions directly lead to a build-up of E-government construction. On July 3, 2002, the steering group released one government document “The Overall Framework of National E-government” and another document “the Special Layout of National Economy and Information Society” which both were approved by the State Council.

Figure II. China E-government: “Golden 12 Projects”. Source: China Executive Leadership Academy, Pudong

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

88

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

The guideline listed the main goals and tasks as well as necessary methods of implementing the 11th Five-year Plan that proposed some basic strategy and policy, which so far are still the principle and guidance of China E-government implementation. In December, 2002, “4-Needs” and “4-Emphases” of the development of China E-government had been proposed by officer of Informatization Office of the State Council. The 4-Needs mean: • • • •

the needs of government function transformation to provide better public services the needs of reducing repeat investment the needs of activating domestic marketing the needs to meet the demanding of joining WTO

The 4-Emphases means: • • • •

to further design the framework of China’s E-government to speed-up under-construction projects that had been approved by the government to make and optimize a series of regulations on information management and information security and so on to enhance the ability of information innovation so as to make the industry more competitive.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Moreover, China should also speed-up the construction of four fundamental databases consisting of citizens, enterprises (legal entities), geographic information, and macro economical information and as well as the Golden-12 Projects including the system of standardization, the information and networking security.

Figure III. E-government Platforms and Databases. Source: China Executive Leadership Academy, Pudong

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

89

Since 2002, China E-government has achieved a new stage. The emphasis of construction transferred to network unification and sufficient use of information resource. In 2004, the central government released “Notion of strengthening the use and development of information resources,” pointed out the important function of sufficient use of information in the development of the country economy and society. It urged that information resource catalog and information exchange system should have been developed so as to promote governmental information sharing. In the aspects of network unification and construction, the State Council drafted and approved “The Overall Framework of National E-government” including the service and application system, the information resource, the fundamental network infrastructure, rule of law and standardization, management system and etc. Also in the same year, “Notion of promoting the network construction of national E-government” was released by National Informatization Leading Group that urged to make the best use of national public communicating resources to enhance the conformity of the existed network resources as well as to make the network connected and in all, to make national E-government network united. The central government that steering the E-government construction was also supervising related standardization and laws. In January, 2002, National E-government Standardization General Working Group was created in Beijing by Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China (SAC) and the Informatization Office of the State Council. The Working Group steered the publishing of “the E-government Standardization System” and “Guideline of E-government Standardization”. In 2003, the first local “Government Open Source Ordinance” (No. 3,211) was released in China. In January, 2007, “Provisions of the People’s Republic of China on the Disclosure of Government Information” was approved by the State Council and put into effect on May 1st, 2008. In March, 2005, Electronic Signature Law of the People’s Republic of China was released with matched rules and laws. The third way that the central government steered E-government was to provide pilot or model implementations and then deployed the applications with good practice in lager scales. Those pilot projects were generally invested and managed and ventured by the government, with the purpose of experimentation or theory research. But in fact, those pilots themselves were costly E-government projects. And to some extent, they had been the new style of program investment and implementation of E-government.2 Pilot programs are very popular both to the agencies that have been accredited and those that have not been accredited, turn to get volunteer investment from upper government.3 Among the “pilot” projects, the “Model Project of Chinese E-government Pilot Applications” is the most influential and money-consuming one. This project was carried out by the General Office of the State Council and the Ministry of Science and Technology. It was launched in August 2002 and passed the acceptance check in June 2005. 2

Yu Wang and Xiaomao Li. (2005) E-government Pilot Open Sesame? ( http://www.edu.cn). “Pilot Project” once over filled. Journalist reports that Nanhai District of Foshan city,Guangdong Province once undertook as many as 26 projects from central and higher level governments such as National Pilot City for City Information Network Service System Building, Informatization Building Comprehensive Experiment Region of Guangdong Province, The First batch of National Informatization Pilot Cities, National Primary and Middle schools information technology education zone of the Ministry of Education, E-government Pilot Demonstration Project of Nanhai and so on. It has 14 state-level and 12 provincial level projects in these Pilot projects. 3

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

90

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

The project was implemented in nine central ministries and commissions, including the General Office of the State Council, the Development and Reform Commission, the SASAC (the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission), the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the State Administration of Taxation, the General Administration for industry and Commerce, the General Administration of Customs and seven different levels of local governments include Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Mianyang of Sichuan Province and Nanhai of Guangdong Province. The purpose of launching these pilot projects was to explore the successful experiences for more users in several main actual applications of the E-government. These aspects are mainly as follows: •

•

•

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

•

Firstly, to strengthen the ability of macro-management. This focused on providing scientific and highly efficient services in macro decision-making, emergency command, Administrative Information and Management for leaders in the State Council which is at the heart of the central government. The main content of the construction is centered in administrative information resources integration and application. Secondly, to strengthen the capacity of teamwork between different administrative departments. It focused on realizing common working, joint examination and approval, information resources sharing on the basis of correlation between various ministries and local governments. Thirdly, to promote information exchange between governments at all levels to form an unified administrative network environment through the demonstration in Beijing City, Zhejiang Province, Qingdao City, Mianyang City, Nanhai City to realize the information exchange and sharing between central governments and local governments at different levels in decision making, command and management. Fourth, to improve government capability in public services providing. This demonstration project simplified administrative procedure through mechanism of innovation. It was taken actions by local governments, especially the municipal and county level governments which can greatly improve the government capability in public services providing and management by boosting government affairs opening, administrative examination and approval, citizen convenience services and government-citizens interaction.

The main task of this project is to provide a unified, credible, security service platform and diversified, flexible business support platform and to realize a wide range of application support. The project has realized the platform interconnection between the General Office of the State Council and 13 platforms run by the demonstration unit. It solved several key technical problems such as information resource sharing, system integration and business synergy and accumulated valuable experiences for China E-government development.4

4 Ministry of Science and Technology. (2006) The 10th Five-Year Plan Major Projects for Science and Technology Development “E-government pilot demonstration project” Passed the Acceptance Check. (http://www.most.gov.cn/kjbgz/200601/t20060103_27424.htm).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

91

5. Lead Agencies of E-Government at the Level of Local Governments The construction and application of China’s E-government, except those different departments involved in “Golden Projects”, has been driven by some relevant departments in central government. Other local constructions and applications are mainly undertaken by local governments. From the earliest of mid-1990s,5 local governments had taken the responsibility of E-government building. Only after 2003, local governments become more active and more involved in informatization and E-government building. Since 2003, local governments gradually become the major force of E-government building. Local governments play an irreplaceable role in the development of China’s E-government development and applications. • •

First of all, they are investors and owners of most E-government construction projects. Their attitude and demand determine the conditions of local E-government building and applications. Secondly, China’s E-government has been originated from central government first, central government department set up several “vertical” systems in the whole country through “Golden Projects”. These systems have formed “Information Isolated Islands”, thus hindered information sharing and resource integration inter-departmentally. After E-government construction reached a certain stage, “horizontal” integration which aims at information and resources sharing become the major task of E-government building.

These two aspects determine the main tasks of local government’s E-government building: First, develop and establish the network and major application project at it’s own level. Second, build the information sharing system between different departments and locals, different departments themselves in order to realize resource and information integration.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Local government’s leader of E-government mainly display on two aspects. • •

First, concentrate main resources at the top of government to ensure the mechanism of E-government building. Second, set up a specialized agency with the daily for management responsibilities.

5 Information work leading group system began in 1996. The State Council established Information Work Leading Group of the State Council in Jan. 1996. A vice-premier of the State Council was the group leader, more than 20 leaders from state ministries join in it. This group exercised unified leadership and coordinated information work of the whole country. Later, some local governments set up similar institutions. Till 1998, Vice Minister of Information Industry reported that: Most of the provinces, autonomous regions, directly administered municipalities and provincially administered cities had established information work leading group which has the two top in command serve as the group leader. Many prefectures, cities and counties also set up information work leading institutions. The leadership system of information work is formed. Xinkui Lv (1999). Information Office of State Council. Fully Aware of the Situation Seize Opportunities Advance Information Work to A New Stage – Talk at the Provinces, Regions and Cities Information Office Directors Meetings At this time, information work leading group was not made up of top level leaders. Central government. Established state information work leading group which made up of member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and premier of the State Council, vice premier and Minister of State Development Planning Commission in August, 2001. It covered the top political leaders in China and has high authority. Information work leading group in local governments changed along with it.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

92

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

The top level leadership in local government is a powerful “Information Work Leading Group”. Information Work Leading Group is the highest level, inter-departmental co-ordination agency. This group is made up of government top leaders and important government department heads. It has the power to establish strategy, make policies and make coordination. Take Guangzhou city information work leading group as an example, mayor is the leader, executive vice mayor and other two deputy mayors serve as the deputy leader of the group. It has four departments’ head from the municipal Party committee, three municipal government deputy secretary-General, 27 top leaders of government departments (include the vertical agencies managed by central government) and the general manager of Guangzhou’s branch of Guangdong Province Telecom Company.6 These people posses and control the most important resources and take the most important responsibility. This resource distribution empower and exercise rights related to every aspect of E-government building. Informatization Work Leading Group was given a wide range of power. In compliance with the Guangzhou municipal government’s plan to determine the size, posts and functions of the staff, the information work leading group is in charge of: • • • •

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

• • • •

Organizing and leading the building of Guangzhou informatization, formulating principles and policies; Making overall plan and major steps for informatization building and development, supervising and checking the implementation; Organizing and coordinating inter-departmental, cross-trade important information projects, offering comments to the project determination, feasibility study and construction; Coordinating and solving major problems during the building of the information communication network and information resource network, promoting the network correlation, realizing information sharing; Strengthening computer network and Internet management; Making supportive policies to speed up informatization and information industry development and making legislation and regulations for trade management for information trade management standardization; Organizing and studying key technology involved in informatization building, make common technology and application standard; carrying out other duties assigned by the municipal government.

We can say that, these responsibilities covered all informatization areas. This group has become the most important consultantation and coordinating body in charge of informatization and E-government construction and application.7 Informatization and E-government already become one of the most concerned issues by local government officials. For local governments, it is usually the Information office or other similar institution that will be in charge of daily E-government management and implementation. Imitating the central government, local governments also setup executive office under its steering group. For instance, Guangzhou Municipal City of Guangdong Province, its Informatization Office is in fully charge of the whole range of information related issues that the government endows it with plenty of rights and policy tools. 6 Guangzhou Municipal Government Information Office Official Website (http://www.gzit.gov.cn/subsite/ gzic/jsp/template/category/intro.jsp). 7 Information Office of Beijing is listed as the co-ordination agency of government agency sequence.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Y. Fengchun / The Style and Contents of China Government

93

Under the Office, Sub-Committee of E-government and Information Resource were created with the responsibility of promoting and implementing E-government, detailed as followings: • • • • • •

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

•

Making long-term and annual working plans for E-government and implementing them; Managing and corresponding as well as first auditing of E-government projects; Evaluating government invested programs; Making the plan of information resource exploitation; Promoting the sharing of information resource among different government agencies; Steering the portal development of each government agencies and put them on records; Examining and approving as well as registering and managing of domain names of government websites; Training and educating of IT human resources as well as raising awareness of scientific knowledge and etc.

Apart form the Informatization Office, other departments of local governments share the responsibilities of E-government implementation and management to some extent too, such as General Office of both municipal government and CPC committee of local governments, the Information Industry bureau, and some other departments as well. The interposition degree of different departments differs in different regions. It is the General Office of local municipal government or CPC committee that interposes mostly and authoritatively. It steers completely the investment and implementation of E-government in some regions. For that they have the power concentrating on best resources by best channels to promote E-government even on the core government business. At this point, Qingdao Municipal City of Shandong Province provides the typical case. Ff the steering agency had been set up under other departments, the results also reversed in general this would have provided enough rights and authority to win the necessary cooperation from other departments. This is also the reason that E-government got slow progress in some districts. Therefore it is necessary to setup proper and authoritative steering agency in the very beginning of E-government implementation stage.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

94

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-94

Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy Nagy K. HANNA University of Maryland, USA [email protected]

Abstract. Leadership is an important factor in e-Governance process and Knowledge Economy development. This article introduces the ICT roles and promises for policy makers in developing countries. Realization of such promises incorporated challenges for leaders in leading Public Sector Transformation and orchestrating the E-Development Process. At the same time they have to pay attention to related activities and notions including managing risks, the demand for E-Leaders, E-Leadership development and current supply, implementation crisis, e-Leadership gap and promising responses and practices from other countries. Keywords. e-Governance, Knowledge Economy, Public Sector Transformation, E-Development Process, E-Leaders, E-Leadership Chief Information Officer

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Introduction This chapter briefly explores the diverse roles and promises of ICT and the options that ICT opens for policy makers and government leaders in developing countries. Next, the challenges for realizing these promises are defined in terms of the institutional transformations and e-development processes that must be led, inspired and coordinated. This context provides the basis for defining the demand for e-leaders and the core competencies required of them and of e-leadership institutions. This demand is contrasted with the paucity of e-leadership development programs and institutions. The paper points to indicators of an emerging e-development implementation crisis and the underlying roots of a growing e-leadership capability gap. The article defines the core competencies needed for a new breed of e-leaders, provides examples of leading CIO development programs, and sets the broad directions for a supply response to meet this challenge. Developing countries today are spending between US$ 500 billion and one trillion annually on information and communication technology (based on estimates from WISTA, 2005). Developing countries’ ICT spending is growing at a pace far faster than the OECD economies. It is intended to cope with the dual challenges of development and global competitiveness. In today’s technology-driven world, national leaders and development practitioners face an unprecedented challenge: how to harness information technology to manage domestic imperatives, to improve governance and to advance social justice, while simultaneously re-positioning national economies and industries for competitiveness in the global economy. This unprecedented level of spending is the outcome of growing awareness of IT-enabled national development strategies, and of promising models of successful leaders such as Korea, China and India.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

95

In contrast, investments in leadership and implementation capabilities are lagging far behind. This gap has serious consequences, including major e-government failures, poor investment climate and high transaction costs within developing economies as well as unsustainable growth of these promising IT markets. Yet, the changing roles of government, the fast pace of technological change and late comer advantages should present opportunities for transformational leadership roles in these countries. Eleadership is a key ingredient to integrating developing countries into the global knowledge economy and transforming them into inclusive information societies. There is an urgent need for fundamental changes in leadership practices in developing countries to promote process and service innovations and leapfrog into the knowledge economy. The need for transformational leaders to innovate and manage the transition to knowledge economies and information society is particularly acute. However, this pervasive need has not been translated into effective demand for e-leadership development or rewarding careers for CIOs—mainly due to political leaders’ poor understanding of the opportunities and threats presented by the ICT revolution. E-leaders are called upon to leverage the ongoing technological revolution to build competitive knowledge economies and inclusive information societies in an increasingly global market-driven economy. To carry out this challenging function, they must possess first a broad understanding of the big picture and the forces driving economic, societal and technological change, and second, the frameworks and skills to act on this understanding and mobilize others to do so. Unless concerted effort is made, the e-leadership capacity gap in these economies is likely to widen over time, ICT development dollars are likely to go wasted. An alternative scenario is that the current rate of growth in ICT spending is likely to taper or decline, and many developing countries may forgo the potential opportunities and developmental payoffs of increasing investments in the new technologies (Fig. 1). Lacking concerted action to build e-leadership capacity, developing countries are unlikely to join the emerging global knowledge economy and transform themselves into information societies—and the divide within and across countries would further widen.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

New Cadres of Leaders New types of leaders are needed to operate effectively in the e-world and to bridge the gap between public policy makers (or business strategists) and information technology managers. The new CIO leaders need clear understanding of their roles, of the crosscutting nature of e-government, and of how e-government could help improve the public sector as a whole. Also poorly understood is the essential role e-leaders should play to realize the substantial opportunities, avoid the real risks and integrate e-strategies into national development efforts. Diverse types of leaders are needed: 1) 2)

3)

Leaders who operate effectively in the e-World; Leaders who set the enabling national policies and frameworks for the eWorld, coordinate e-development programs, and address the digital divide; and Leaders who design and manage the process of inserting ICT into their specific businesses, sectors and organizations.

Core competencies are essential for all kinds of leaders. Additional competencies are needed, and perhaps some transformation in the traditional core competencies for Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

96

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

Figure 1. Growing Gap between IT spending and Leadership Development.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

leaders to operate effectively in the e-world (type 1), whom we may call them leaders in the e-world. We focus here on those leaders who set enabling policies for the eworld (type 2); and those who help insert ICT into their businesses and thereby transform core business processes (type 3). We will call them e-leaders or leaders of the eworld. They include those traditionally called CIOs.

Realizing the Promises by Leading Public Sector Transformation Four influential trends are altering the shape of public sectors worldwide: 1) increasing use of private firms and nonprofits (third parties) to deliver services and fulfill policy goals; 2) increasing demand for multiple government agencies and levels to join together to provide integrated services (joined-up government); 3) increasing citizen demand for more control and choices for customized service provision; and 4) the ICT revolution that enables organization to c-invent, co-create and collaborate with external partners in ways previously not possible.1 These forces are leading to the rise of government by network. Key benefits have been powerful drivers of the movement to networks: specialization, focus on core mission, process and service innovation, timely access to a broader knowledge base, enhanced information about customers, leveraging public and private funds, speed and flexible response, and increased reach through engaging local governments and nonprofit sectors.

1

Goldsmith and Eggers (2004).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

97

Managing diverse webs of relations to create value is a major challenge for public leaders and managers. Public managers have to reshape the framework of their agencies and lead the way to this transformation. They need to secure goal congruence among diverse parties—particularly difficult in the public sector where outcomes are often unclear, difficult to measure and may take years to realize. They need to avoid contorted oversight and high transaction costs, yet secure accountability. Public managers also work with little data on the exact costs of services and data deficit often foster unrealistic expectations and tensions among partners. They need to choose the right partners and right network, and who should integrate the network and what should be integrated. They need to develop accountability frameworks to realize results form networks of providers: setting clear goals, aligning shared values, creating trust among partners, structuring incentives for results, sharing risks, monitoring performance, and balancing flexibility and accountability.2 Technology is a key enabler of network government and accompanying institutional transformation. ICT connects partners to each other and to the public. It provides and facilitates information-sharing channels, collaboration tools, coordination tools, real time synchronized response, share view of the client, and visibility of decision processes. But network integration and coordination cannot be achieved through ICT alone. Building relationships also involves creating the infrastructure and conditions that support long term relationship building: sharing knowledge, creating trust, aligning values, developing communities of practice, and handling cultural differences. Managing network government requires a different kind of internal capacity within government and calls for skills that are in short supply in the public sector such as project management, sophisticated contracting skills, and more broadly, network governance capabilities. It requires designing, activating, integrating, and managing networks. Public managers must possess some aptitude in negotiating and mediating among diverse partners, building trust and collaboration, and analyzing and managing the risks of networks. They must have the ability and aptitude to work across boundaries. These competencies are scarce in the public sector. To overcome this gap, training and recruitment strategies and even cultural transformation would be needed. Information technology is a “disruptive technology”; it changes how bureaucracy organizes and works, how power is distributed or controlled, and how information is shared or protected. It also disrupts informal networks and enables new and extended networks, within and across formal organizations. ICT can enable public agencies to change from “command and control” organizations to knowledge-based, networked and learning organizations. Yet, transformation is hard. E-government is a major change management challenge. Restructuring government bureaucracies and improving public services are key and urgent public policy issues. These are political and managerial issues, not technical issues. It takes sustained and effective leadership to fundamentally reshape institutions. Leadership is needed to empower institutions to overcome resistance to process and organizational changes, to prioritize and manage complex investments, to change skills and mindsets, to avoid duplication of efforts and economize on scarce resources, and to maintain a long term vision of transformation while insisting on concrete results in the short term.

2

Op. cit.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

98

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

Realizing the Promises by Orchestrating the E-Development Process A national e-development strategy, or e-strategy, is a guide to policies, investments and implementation mechanisms on how ICT should be developed and used to achieve development objectives of the country.3 It focuses the actions and resources of various stakeholders, and particularly the government, on national ICT-enabled development priorities. It explains the interdependencies and phasing among these actions and investments over the medium term. It specifies the multi-sectoral activities to be covered in a programmatic way and how the government, private sector, civic society and academia will be involved in such activities. It explains how institutions will collaborate and share responsibilities for ICT-enabled development. E-development is composed of key and interdependent elements: an enabling policy and institutional environment, an affordable and competitive information infrastructure, a dynamic and competitive ICT industry, broad ICT literacy and education, a coherent investment program to apply ICT to public sector modernization, and incentives to promote the effective use of ICT for private sector development and civil society empowerment (see Fig. 2 below). In developing countries, co-evolution and investment in complementary components of e-development are necessary. A holistic vision of e-development would stress the synergy among its key elements. Collectively, e-development pillars cover the package of policies, investments and institutions that should enable an economy to leverage ICT for overall economic and social development and in the process transform to a knowledge economy and information society. Interdependencies among e-development components are many. Appropriately coordinated and sequenced, programs covering these pillars can exploit synergies and lead to substantial development impact and economic transformation. For example, egovernment services cannot proceed very far without adequate connectivity, delivery

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

ICT Applications: e-Government, e-Business, e-Society

Information Infrastructure

Vision, Leadership, Consensus, Consensus, Policies, and Institutions

Human Resources Development

ICT Industry Promotion Figure 2. A holistic approach to ICT-enabled development. 3 For a review of many national e-strategies, see World Bank (2006). 2006 Information and Communications for Development. Global Trends and Policies. World Bank, Washington DC. pp. 87–124.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

99

channels, and shared and affordable access to ICT through telecenters. Conversely, telecenters are unlikely to be financially sustainable without local content and income from the delivery of e-government services. Similarly, e-society programs could further enhance the development of local content and local capacity to use ICT to solve local community problems; these, in turn, could augment demand and make investments in rural connectivity and telecenters increasingly viable. E-leaders should be the architects of the national ICT-enabled development strategies. E-leadership and institutional capabilities are necessary to chart coherent national e-strategies and to make the components of e-development evolve together in the complex and changing environment of emerging economies. Over time, e-leaders and eleadership institutions should be able to identify more and more synergies among all components of policy, human resources, technological competencies and infrastructure, and among applications in e-government, e-business, and e-society. Public CIOs should extend their concerned from exclusive focus on e-government to its interactions with the IT sector and the competitiveness of the local IT service providers, for example.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Managing the Risks The rising spending in ICT in developing countries (Fig. 1) represents a huge investment bet based on promises but little rigorous evaluation of development results. There is little empirical evaluation of the benefits of IT spending in developing countries. Learning to govern the investment process, to make the business case, to manage the changes necessary to monitor and realize the benefits—all are demanding learning tasks for both the public and private sectors. Some of the learning comes from ICT suppliers, including ICT multinationals. But information markets for ICT are highly underdeveloped in the developing world. Asymmetry in information and bargaining power among ICT multinationals and developing country users further magnify the risks of misallocated resources, distorted investment priorities, underinvestment in local adaptation and learning, and outright project failure. It may also lock developing countries in a new form of dependency.4 E-leaders are needed to navigate their organizations and communities through this new environment and ride the technological wave—rather than be caught in the undertow. The payoffs are high—so are the downside risks of inaction and misguided action. The sea changes accompanying this technological revolution go beyond misaligned or failed investments or unrealized benefits. They also involve issues of rising inequality, digital divide, and exclusion of the poor—technological change always favors the prepared. Institutional leaders must also manage the accompanying profound changes in organizations, occupational structures and ways of relating and doing business.

The Demand for E-Leaders Leaders are needed for each sector or component of e-development and for orchestrating the overall e-development process. These leaders play different roles that range from developing national e-policies and government-wide ICT governance to engaging 4

Wade (2002).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

100

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

local communities and grassroots organizations in defining local information and communication needs and experimenting with new ICT applications. E-Leaders must possess core competencies that range from awareness of ICT potential and trends to developing their own general leadership skills. They need competencies to communicate in the language of development strategies and development results and thus be understood by policy makers, business leaders and mainstream development strategists. They need to bridge the current divide between ICT specialists and development practitioners. They need to gain the support and confidence of the political and business leadership and inspire the stakeholders of the e-development process. E-leaders need new competencies to secure a balanced e-development process and tap synergies across all components of e-development. E-government leaders, for example, cannot take for granted the existence of adequate content, connectivity, and user competencies to make e-government investments worthwhile. E-leaders have to concern themselves with the whole of the e-development process; this process is dynamic and involves substantial learning and adaptation. Therefore, e-leaders should master the tools of agile e-development: measuring and benchmarking e-readiness, establishing and enforcing ICT governance frameworks, designing public-private partnership schemes, carrying out stakeholder analysis, building coalitions for necessary legal and regulatory reforms, and practicing participatory monitoring and evaluation. E-leaders also need competencies in designing and managing partnerships and in leveraging ICT to build and facilitate networks of public services providers. Such providers are expected to span the boundaries of single agencies, covering private suppliers, civil society organizations and several public agencies in order to provide integrated, client-focused services. They should govern by networks and leverage ICT to help other leaders build and manage their networks to deliver maximum public value. E-leaders need to operate at three levels with distinct but complementary competencies (Fig. 3): • • •

As business executives and strategists of public agencies and programs. As business process architects and institutional change leaders. As technology resource managers.

As top executives and business strategists, e-leaders should be able to visualize the destination of information society, the results of an ICT-enabled development strategy and/or the possibilities opened by ICT for their agencies and countries. They should be able to build an inspiring vision of how ICT will build organizational success. They should be able to interact with other executives and stakeholders to shape this ICTenabled future and then communicate it to the rest of the organization or sector for which they are responsible. They should possess competencies in strategic thinking, strategic communications and foresight. They should have a broad appreciation and domain knowledge of the business they are in—beyond technology. They should understand the big picture. Also as business leaders and strategists, e-leaders should define the broad directions for the ICT road map and provide managers and staff with the tools and governance to travel and learn on their way. They should be concerned with mobilizing demand for change and for realizing the developmental results of ICT investments. They should shape and inform expectations for ICT-enabled enterprise. They should also understand the needs of their clients. They should be capable of inventing frameworks and creating environments that bring forth ICT-enabled possibilities in line with busi-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

101

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 3. Complementary Competencies for e-Leaders.

ness strategy, national aspirations and/or agency missions.5 They should strive to bridge the digital divide and to build an inclusive information society. As change leaders, the new e-leaders are the chief innovation officers of new services, business processes and new forms of organizations. They are also the chief relationship officers who enable the creating of new networks and work teams within organizations as well as new partnerships and supply chains across organizations. Working with other executives, they lead institutional change and inspire managerial innovation. They should have the competencies to facilitate the evolution of current hierarchies into agile, adaptive, networked, client-centered, and learning organizations. They should lead process innovation and client-centered service integration and facilitate the corresponding changes in skills, attitudes and culture. They should be able to create sufficient trust to break silos, build partnerships, and engage process innovators, change agents and organizational development practitioners. They must have competencies in organizational development, process innovation, team building, network design and management, partnership and coalition building, and culture change management. A user-focused e-government and seamless joined-up services can be very challenging and costly. Client-focus means changing organizational structures and processes and reallocating resources, and this requires change leadership. It also means changes in attitudes and behavior among civil servants. It can be a great challenge to achieve customer satisfaction while reducing the cost of services and making them affordable. It is up to e-leaders to strike the appropriate balance through process and service innovation and effective change leadership. 5 For such leadership qualities, in general, see Rosamund Zander and Benjamin Zander 2000. The Art of Possibility. New York: Penguin Books.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

102

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

As technology leaders, CIOs are the suppliers and custodians of ICT resources. This remains an essential role of e-leaders and the traditional domain for CIOs and CTOs. Public service constraints often limit access to technical talent with current knowledge of project management methodologies and new approaches to systems development such as rapid prototyping. Also in strong demand are skills to engage policy makers and business leaders in defining systems requirements and process transformation. Public CIOs are called upon to manage networks of ICT service providers and to engage in increasingly complex partnerships and contractual arrangements that demand current knowledge of the ICT industry and best practices. They should have competencies in outsourcing, portfolio management, project management, business case development, and information resources management. They should have broad understanding of the technological environment—the trends and the imperatives and the ways and means to secure open standards and avoid the risks of technological lock-ins. The span of skills required by such development executives is thus enormous. On the domestic front, they must conceptualize national strategies that move millions of public sector employees, contractors and citizens forward to electronically connected government. They must leverage IT so that government services are delivered effectively both offline and online. They must popularize IT so that communities even in remote rural areas can have access to virtual libraries, critical knowledge and timely information. On the international front, these leaders must thoroughly understand global IT dynamics and be able to define investments in infrastructure, human capital formation and industrial promotion incentives to attract multinational business in software, IT processing services and other digital goods. Even more broadly, they must assess the potential impact of IT on various user industries and their implications for the competitive positioning of their countries, cities, and enterprises. These skill requirements go far beyond the traditional role of chief information officers in the public and private sectors. These skills cover business strategy, institutional change, and technology management. They span leadership, partnership and integration skills. Such imperatives point to the urgent need for a wholly new type of executive that can be equally conversant in designing national IT-enabled strategy, leading IT-enabled institutional change processes, creating new service delivery channels, and building critical infrastructural systems. The relative importance and mix of the three roles of e-leaders will vary in relation to the context and to the level of decision maker concerned. It is unlikely to have an eleader who can have equal competencies as policy maker, institutional change shaper and technology leader. A mix of these competencies and corresponding capacity development programs must be assigned and matched to the level and context of these leaders as suggested in Fig. 4. E-Leaders typically manage a conflicting portfolio of concerns: they must strive to align past rules and legacy systems, present customer needs and ongoing changes, and future visions and possibilities (Fig. 5). Often the regulatory environment is lagging behind customer needs and technological change, thus reflecting the past. Client needs are often most pressing in the present, and the gap between aspirations and current resources are most wide in developing countries. Most CIO’ time is absorbed by the past and present. The challenge for e-leaders is to provide the vision and thought leadership to align the past and present towards the future.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

Level of leaders

Policy and strategy management

Institutional change management

Political, policy and executive leaders Institutional change business unit leaders CTO and IT systems managers

High

Medium

Technology & project management Low

Medium

High

Medium

Low

Low

High

103

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 4. Relative Importance of Competencies for e-Leaders.

Figure 5. The e-Leader’s Portfolio.

The Demand for E-Leadership Institutions and Governance Leadership is critical to economic and institutional transformation, including ICTenabled transformation. This leadership is partly exercised by individual leaders, including CIOs and CEOs. It is determined by the attitudes, capabilities, knowledge and experience of these leaders. They must inspire and animate strategic investments and plans as well as ICT governance and process transformation. But individual leaders are not enough. Their vision must be institutionalized, and institutional mechanisms must be fashioned to make these visions implementable and sustainable. Potentially good leaders cannot operate effectively without appropriate governance and institutional structures. E-leadership institutions are critical to identifying, attracting, and developing potential leaders and to supporting and empowering

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

104

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

them to build the enabling environment for all stakeholders for the knowledge economy. Building a cadre of e-leaders and of e-leadership institutions are essential and complementary measures for e-development. The cross-cutting nature of ICT requires institutional arrangements that ensure coherence of policies and coordination of investments across all relevant sectors. It calls for empowering existing or newly-created government or private-public entities to provide e-leadership and strategy (policy, advisory and governance functions) and to implement, monitor and evaluate programs (operations function). There is no single model, no “one size fits all” institutional solution. However, there are certain common principles that will work across most countries and economies in translating ICT into a powerful tool of development. Many countries have a history of unsuccessful attempts to deliver on their edevelopment strategies or component initiatives largely because these countries lacked adequate institutional mechanisms for the creative design, effective implementation and continual adaptation of such strategies. Some countries have ignored the need for a functioning umbrella agency to coordinate the highly interdependent e-development activities within the government. Others have lacked a clear division of responsibilities between different branches and agencies of the government; these have created political and bureaucratic obstacles for e-development and inhibited the proper allocation of resources and policy coordination across government. Yet others have centralized their e-development management under the wrong issues and wrong staffing—under a technically-focused ICT agency or ministry—thus isolating ICT policy and investment decisions from mainstream development issues. There is currently no single model for a country to follow when creating their ICT agencies or ministries. Nor should there be one; the notion that “one size fits all” seems irrelevant when success hinges on a very wide range of factors, as it does in the case of e-development. However, there remains a lot to be learned from successful examples around the world and from international best practices, which can provide a set of guidelines and options that any country would do wisely to take into account. Currently, little is known about the effectiveness and impact of alternative institutional arrangements for leading e-development. However, given the critical challenge to move e-development from a set of aspirations to development results, it is urgent to push the state of the art towards a systematic assessment of institutional options and innovations.6

E-Leadership Development and Current Supply E-leaders are at the forefront of the changing role of government from doer to enabler, and the form of government, from hierarchical to networked and connected government. Yet today’s civil service systems are in many ways incompatible with the movement to networked or ICT-enabled government. The competencies called up are unlikely to be developed within the public sector, and often difficult to engender at the highest levels even within the private sector. In most countries, public managers are rewarded for narrow career structure and specialization within the sector. Apart from technical competencies or awareness of ICT trends and potential, the public sector needs more leaders with collaborative mind-set, and with deep understanding of the 6

Hanna (2007).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

105

private and non profit sectors as potential partners. It needs reformers, innovators and change managers. Countries and academic institutions have been slow to recognize the need for a new breed of e-aware leaders and new cadres of CIOs. Even when the need is recognized, supply response has been slow and relatively ineffective. This is particularly the case for public CIOs and e-leaders in government. This is due to uncompetitive compensation, undefined or unattractive career ladder, and poorly understood roles and competencies. Current CIOs and IT professionals are isolated from mainstream leadership forums and business management practices. This leads to disconnect between ICT strategies and development or business strategies and investment decision processes. Business strategies and ICT plans and investments are often strategically misaligned. Business leaders and policy makers have often oscillated between ignoring, isolating and idolizing ICT in their sectors and organizations. They badly need to systematically integrate ICT into their visions, strategic thinking, investment plans and mainstream management functions. The supply of ICT education and training is also constrained by low awareness of the e-leadership gap, poor definitions of CIO roles and scant research on what constitutes effective e-leadership and core competencies. Educational and training institutions are excessively focused on the technology and technical project management. CIO education in business schools is naturally focused on business conditions and challenges— and there are no equivalent programs for public CIOs. Yet public CIOs and e-leaders face different problems, complex constraints and more demanding political skills, strategic communication, articulation of public value, coalition building, knowledge sharing and change management skills than those of their private counterparts.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

An Implementation Crisis? There are many indicators of a growing gap between rising expectations about the benefits of ICT and actual realization of these benefits so far in developing countries. There are missed opportunities to leverage ICT for development as well outright failures in implementing e-government projects and getting value for money. An emerging crisis in the realization of ICT-enabled development and the transition to an information society may be in the making across the developing world. The underlying root is a growing gap between local leadership capacity and the increasingly complex demands of ICT-enabled institutional and societal transformation. Some of the indicators of this implementation crisis are: • • •

Low adoption of e-services. Even in advanced countries like the USA and Japan, the rates of adoption of e-government services remain low (13% in 2005). Mismatch between technological pace and institutional change At times of fast technological change, the lead time to reach consensus, develop the systems and build the necessary human resources is getting longer. Common failure to scale up and to sustain donor-initiated pilots, mainly due to lack of local leadership capacity to replicate and at times, national leadership to help scale up into viable and sustainable national programs.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

106

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

•

Unmet expectations and high rates of failures (60–70%) of information systems projects, particularly in governments. E-government programs, initiated with great fan fair and high expectations about transforming government, often end with creating unwieldy number of websites and migrating the same inefficient and unresponsive back-end processes to the front-end. This amounts to no more than window dressing.7

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

There are many additional aspects and sources of this implementation crisis. Long lead times are increasingly required to develop and implement systems and produce tangible results, particularly in public sector institutions. The slow decision making process in acquiring and mastering ICT-enabling tools in government is falling behind the fast pace of change in technology: governance mechanisms concerning investment and procurement of ICT, including those of aid agencies must be overhauled to keep up with this pace. E-leaders need to devise new processes and tools for rapid appraisal, development and deployment. Realizing the transformational potential of ICT investments is further constrained by low awareness of this potential among policy makers and development professionals and by limited experimentation, monitoring and evaluation. The focus has been on ICT acquisition and automation of current processes. There is little awareness of the need to invest in active leaning, continuous local innovation, phased and cumulative transformation—beyond technology acquisition or “transfer”. Institutionalized learning is needed at all levels. Yet, institutional and technological learning costs are substantial but seldom recognized, funded or planned for. Innovation and implementation of technology-enabled changes are often frustrated by the failure to partner across sectors. Innovation to transform economies and bridge the digital divide often comes from cross-sectoral partnerships. Yet, public-private partnerships are scarce—and often fail. Leadership skills to bridge the cultural gap between the public and private sectors and to develop appropriate frameworks for private sector participation in e-government programs are in short supply.

An e-Leadership Gap At the root of this implementation or transformation crisis is a growing e-leadership gap, perhaps a leadership crisis. There is always a cry for leadership when societies and economies undergo real transformation.8 But leadership has never been more important to transform slow, aging public institutions into dynamic, flexible learning ones and to create the conditions for an inclusive, interactive, integrated and informed government and society at large. The gap is common across countries but most severe among developing countries. Key indicators of this leadership gap are the poor preparation and certification of CIOs, the scarcity of project management skills, and the isolation and disconnect between CIOs on the one hand and central policy makers, corporate leaders and line business managers on the other. Public CIOs in developing countries currently lack a clear role, a career ladder and a development system. These leaders are selected into the job unprepared. They are 7

See Robino-Hallman and Hanna (2006). See for example, John W. Gardner (1990) On Leadership The Free Press; and James MacGregor Burns (1978) Leadership Harper & Row Publishers. New York. 8

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

107

often engineers and specialists in ICT. When they are selected among managers and generalists, they are burdened by many administrative duties. Their role as CIOs is only a small part of their portfolio Although statistics are lacking for developing countries, it is also likely that CIOs enjoy as short tenure as their counterparts in developed countries. The average tenure of public CIOs in the USA used to be two years (in 2002), but has been lengthened somewhat recently. Rapid turnover has been a symptom of the unmet expectations and pressures facing CIOs and the gap between CIOs and their political or business leaders. It reflects the high degree of isolation of CIO from other executives. The high turnover imposes high costs on building effective teams of e-leaders and sustaining communication channels between CIOs and their leaders. Lack of project management skills is common even among government agencies of the most developed countries. This scarcity is despite the high risks of e-government systems failures and the complexity of enterprise-wide systems implementation. Advanced project management skills and tools are particularly needed for large and crossagency systems and government-wide information infrastructures. The outcome is high rates of failures of e-government projects. The e-leadership gap is also reflected in the lack of strong coalitions for ICTenabled transformation. The public sector cannot do it alone. Neither can the private sector. Nor the civil society. Coordinating institutions and networks and partnerships must be built to push for policy reforms for the knowledge economy, e.g., e-polices for access to public information, privacy, security, IPR, etc. E-leaders are called upon to act as catalysts, change agents and coalition builders—to bridge across silos, engage all relevant sectors and stakeholders and orchestrate the e-development process. Slow supply response from universities and training institutions is often common in all fields. But it is particularly pronounced in new and dynamic areas such as ICT. It is further complicated by the fact that the needed competencies involve intersection among several fields: leadership, public policy, management, technology and institutional development, among others. Some of these fields such as leadership development are relatively less mature than more technology-oriented fields. Even when programs for CIO and technology management are available, they tend to focus mainly on business CIOs. This gap between demand for e-leaders and supply response from academic institutions and other sources may be interpreted as a market failure or leadership failure. It is often the case that there is a lag in response between investment in physical resources and human capacities, or between demand and supply for new types of technical and leadership skills. This lag may be exacerbated in the case of ICT given the rate of technological change, the versatility of this general purpose technology and our poor understanding of what competencies and standards would be required to manage and lead in this new field. With few exceptions, aid agencies, development thinkers and policy makers have not been proactive in raising awareness about the managerial and leadership capabilities needed to harness this technological revolution. It is time to respond to this growing capability gap.

Promising Responses and Practices Developed economies have begun to address this e-leadership capacity gap only recently—building on an already established and broad-based leadership cadre, techno-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

108

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

logical know-how, and common public-private partnership practices. As a first step, Many OECD countries have established CIO positions in all government agencies. Much less common is establishing an enabling act to clearly define the authority and responsibilities of CIOs in government, to empower then with the necessary tools and processes, or to create the necessary training and certification programs. The USA Experience The USA experience is instructive in establishing a policy framework that has provided effective demand for public CIOs—defining their roles, responsibilities and certification programs. A key to governance and overall implementation of e-government in the USA is the Information Technology Management Reform Act (a.k.a. the ClingerCohen Act of 1996). In brief, this Act sets the process for acquiring information technology in the Federal Government and for the responsibilities of the Federal CIOs. Its primary requirements on Government agencies are to: • •

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

• • •

Design and implement a process for investment planning and control. Establish goals for improving agency operations and delivery of services through the effective us of ICT. Designate a Chief Information Officer. Implement an integrated enterprise (IT) architecture. Promote improvements in work processes.

This Act has provided an enabling framework and effective demand for CIOs as eleaders. It also provided a coherent governance framework for ICI across the US government. Its greatest contribution has been to set the framework for how IT is managed to support both agency and government-wide missions, especially including capital planning and enterprise processes. It also created and positioned the CIO in a senior leadership capacity within agencies and the CIO Council across the federal government. It reformed the IT acquisition and oversight environment and made the IT procurement process more responsive. It also helped move the focus in the government IT community from procurement to management. It has also improved alignment of IT with agency mission. It provided a framework for promoting government-wide infrastructure improvements and standardizing and investing in common business processes (lines of business like human resources management) across agencies.9 The Federal Government of the USA has also pioneered a program for building the core competencies of public CIOs through partnership with US universities. It is based on certifying graduate level or executive development programs that directly address core competencies identified by representatives of government, industry. The CIO University is a virtual consortium of universities which offers graduate level programs that directly address executive core competencies. The consortium partners with universities that agree to tailor their courses to teach to certain competencies. This consortium of 7 universities includes Carnegie Mellon University, George Mason University, George Washington University, La Salle University, Loyola University at Chicago, Syracuse University and the University of Maryland University College, offers graduate level programs that directly address the executive core competencies adopted by the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council. 9 This assessment of the impact of the IT management Reform Act is based on survey of current and former federal CIOs. See, Grant Thornton (2006).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

109

The way that new institutions are added to CIO University is through a process of responding to a Request for Information (RFI) which is may be issued by the General Services Administration (GSA). Every two years GSA together with the CIO Council’s IT Workforce Committee work together to update the Clinger Cohen Competencies. This happens to be a year when that process is occurring, and our hope is that it will be completed sometime in the spring. The update will introduce any new learning objectives that the federal government through this process deems necessary for up and coming CIOs. The current competencies and their associated learning objectives are found at: http://www.cio.gov/documents/2004_CCC_Learning_Objectives.doc. Once that process is completed in late spring or early summer, the current CIO University Partners (who participate in the update by the way) are advised of the new competencies and update their curriculums accordingly. At this time also, GSA is free to put out an RFI for other interested institutions to apply to become CIO University Partner Schools. Interested respondents would have to show how they address the new competencies as a part of their application process. The CIO Council’s IT Workforce Committee evaluates the proposals and in late spring, new schools are notified as to the outcome. In response to a Request for Information for the CIO University, an institution of higher learning that wishes to be considered eligible for Academic Partnership must: • •

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

• • • • • •

Develop and be prepared to deliver a curriculum that addresses the Learning Objectives. Indicate how their proposed curriculum meets each of the Learning Objectives for the core competency area(s). Indicate how they will measure student progress. Agree to report student progress. Agree to market the CIO University. Agree to fill CIO University student ranks with executives from the business community who are comparable to the government participants. State the costs of the curriculum (tuition, books, materials and other costs), the duration of the proposed instructional period, the method(s) of delivery and what, if any, academic credit is earned. Demonstrate standing as a nationally accredited institution of higher learning with a significant presence in the Washington, DC and other selected metropolitan areas where a considerable Federal workforce exists.

In the USA case, the competencies for CIOs have been identified in the Information Technology Management Reform Act. Curricula are being developed to build such competencies based on a process that engages industry, academics and senior executives. The process by which this special curriculum was developed was a careful one that involved senior executives, industry representatives and academic partners. Beginning with the good work done by the CIO Council to list a set of high-level competencies that met the requirements of the Clinger Cohen law, GSA and the CIO Council agreed that universities would need more specific guidance to guarantee the full intent of the law would be met. To do that, it was necessary to add specificity to these categories. Using a facilitated group process, each of the major content areas were reviewed using

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

110

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

groupware to capture all the comments of focus groups consisting of representatives from academia, industry and senior executives from government. Following established principles based on adult learning theory, behavioral learning objectives were collected that were a product of the group consensus. Next a request for information (RFI) format was used to solicit responses from major graduate institutions. Their feedback was utilized to improve the categories further. Final responses were reviewed and an initial set of partners was selected. Three types of programs were possible. The first is a complete certificate program which requires an individual to attend courses in all the Clinger Cohen modules following the usual requirements for graduate credit in terms of length of class meeting time and student work assignments. A second format offers an overview of the competencies at a higher level for an executive who needed to understand the broad sweep of the IT function but not at the level of detail required of someone working in a CIO organization. Finally, the third option permits individuals to take select modules for specific areas in which they need remediation or update. This is especially valuable for individuals who arrive at the CIO position from other than an IT background. The partners and their proposed curriculum, along with cost and the types of programs they were proposing, were then presented to the CIO Council. Each CIO was asked to select individuals for the university offering that was the best fit for their agency requirements. These individuals are joined by comparable individuals from private sector companies to compose a mixed class, which will ensure a healthy exchange and learning experience beneficial to both government and industry. The USA Federal CIO program certification is a recent development. It is the product of a well thought out process that involved key stakeholders. But the results have yet to be independently evaluated. Many lessons may be learned from such a review. A preliminary review by this author of the curricula of some participating universities reveals that the primary focus is on technology management issues. Moreover, most programs tend to cater to CIOs in the private sector, without adequate adaptation to the complex realties and different challenges facing public CIOs. It does not yet reach or target top level policy makers and public leaders. And as currently designed and targeted, these programs only reach the CIOs in the USA, who operate under very different conditions from their counterparts in developing countries. The Federal CIO council, also established in 1996, has been also engaged in CIO development through inputs into defining core competencies, and the sharing of information and best practices among CIOs. The CIO Council has further evolved. It has established several active committees to address CIO priority concerns and challenges such as investment planning, security and IT human resources development. It has become a key element of ICT governance across the public sector. The Council is expected to play an increasing role in consensus building, vertical and horizontal communication, team-based problem solving, and knowledge sharing. The Mexico Experience10 Mexico presents a case of how a country is trying to institutionalize its e-government strategy by creating a cadre of CIOs at the agency level. It suggests that creating a national CIO or central e-government unit is not enough to promote institutionalization and broad ownership among government agencies. Despite political commitment to e10

OECD (2005). OECD e-Government Studies: Mexico.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

111

government and e-Mexico visions, such institutionalization is at an early stage and is likely to face many challenges. Mexico has recognized relatively recently (2005) the role of CIOs in government as a major challenge for institutionalizing e-government leadership. It is not yet clear which agents or officials will take this role and what impact this decision will have on the whole modernization program. CIOs will need to have clear responsibilities. They will also need to have clear understanding of the political process, public sector reform priorities, and the horizontal coordination challenges of e-government. Much of e-government leadership in Mexico has come from the top—from the Presidential Good Government Agenda, to the negotiation of targets with the highest officials of the President’s office, to the organization of several national and international events for the dissemination of e-government practices. This political leadership has been essential in raising the visibility of e-government strategy, diffusing the egovernment agenda and pushing for new initiatives. Yet, long term change requires institutional leadership to share and realize the political vision. A new IT Governance and Regulatory Framework Strategy is expected to help institutionalize e-government in part by formalizing and clarifying the responsibilities of existing structures and committees. The head of the e-government unit was expected to become the ICT coordinator general for the federal government, to provide the central e-government policy leader, with agents of innovation and change at the public agency level. This national level CIO is expected to translate high-level political consensus into ICT and egovernment policy. As of mid 2004, ad hoc agency level CIOs hold different posts with different responsibilities, reach, influence, and political leverage. Some are head administrators with many other responsibilities besides e-government. Others are traditional heads of IT units, who are technology savvy, but do not have much influence and reach beyond their unit. Arrangements are being sought to make heads of IT units in agencies report directly to minister-level leaders and to get them involved in the strategic agenda of the agency. But these new CIOs will need much training to prepare them for their new leadership role. They also need specific career tracks. They will face the challenge of delivering politically-negotiated e-government goals with the President’s office without the financial incentives to collaborate with other agencies. The Experience of Other Countries In a number of OECD countries, the role of CIOs is slowly evolving from coordination of technical and administrative matters to that of a business executive partner, on equal level with that of the senior management.11 Yet, public sector CIOs face unique governance challenges that demand them to become key members of the executive team of government, both at the agency and national levels. Public CIOs need to be multitalented leaders who seize opportunities to leverage their expertise for strategic and transformational roles. However, it is widely acknowledged that public CIOs in OECD countries have not yet reached the level of influence necessary to work side-by-side with the top decision makers and yet be accountable for the results.12 Increasingly, countries have created national CIO positions. Early adopters of a national government CIO include: Canada (position created in 1993), Austria (2001), 11 12

OECD (2005). e-Government for Better Government. OECD (2005), e-Government for Better Government. p. 143.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

112

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

New Zealand (2001), South Africa (2001), United States (2002), Australia (2004), United Kingdom (2004), Singapore (2005) and Finland (2005).13 Each of the CIOs has a small staff, except for Singapore (650 people), Canada (212), Australia (100), United Kingdom (100) and New Zealand (85). Motivations for the creation of national government CIO position vary but the most common reasons are: 1) to develop a national e-government strategy; 2) to signal political commitment; and 3) to push for reduction in IT spending. Most of these national CIOs report to Minister of State, Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary, Secretary of Finance, OMB or equivalent. Responsibility of national CIOs vary from advisory to total operational across a whole range of functions: the Singapore CIO has the most operational responsibility for ICT infrastructure, whereas New Zealand’s CIO leads the national e-government strategy, but has little operational responsibility beyond the national portal.14 The primary concern of all is to transform government, not to run ICT operations. But with few exceptions (such as Singapore), they lack the authority to execute this that transformation. The most common forms of authority to enforce execution are: advice (or consent) on whether projects should be funded through the budget process, set enterprise standards and their enforcement through the procurement process, and lead the IT strategic planning process. Strong central leadership is vital to effective execution. Creating a CIO position that is not empowered would not matter to results—except for creating bureaucracy. Regardless of responsibility, the CIO can be successful only when political leadership understand the role of e-government and empower the CIO to enforce the intended transformation in government and service delivery. Moreover, a national CIO cannot do it alone. A counterpart cadre or network of federal agency level CIOs, and of state and municipal level CIOs, is essential to broaden ownership and institutionalize e-enabled transformation for the whole of government and for governments at all levels.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Recommended Responses in Developing Countries E-leaders in developing countries are likely to face major and to some extent different challenges than advanced countries like the USA. Much can be learned from best practices in advanced countries like the USA. But developing countries conditions present additional challenges for e-leaders. First and foremost among these development challenges is the need for catalysts to orchestrate the interdependent components of e-development. Coordinated responses are much more needed yet harder to initiate and sustain in developing countries. Second, the digital divide and affordability issues are much more pressing for developing countries. Barriers to the effective use of ICT in government are more difficult to overcome in developing countries where the civil service is less motivated and skilled and perhaps more resistant to change than in the more developed civil service systems. Nascent ICT sectors and the predominance of small and micro enterprises in the local economy add further challenges to ICT adaptation and effective diffusion. The risks of adoption of the new technologies are high and the risks of non-adoption are perhaps

13 14

Gartner (2005). The Emerging Role of the National Government CIO. Gartner (2005).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

113

much higher. And the information markets for these technologies are much less perfect for the developing countries. Developing countries have yet to respond to the e-leadership capacity gap—both strategically and systematically. The broad outlines of recommended responses should cover both supply and demand measures for e-leadership development. One basic response is to establish governance frameworks and enabling acts for managing ICT in the public sector, creating and positioning the CIO role in a senior leadership capacity, and making top policy makers and heads of agencies accountable for using ICT to improve management and service delivery. Such enabling frameworks are necessary to build effective demand for CIO and e-leadership development within the public sector. They can also provide a model for institutionalizing the CIO role in the private sector in developing countries. A second measure is to reorient academic programs and research to address eleadership: put the e- where it belongs—that is, dead center in our discussion of leadership research and practice. A mechanism for certification and regular review of such programs may be necessary. Providing smart subsidies for content development or designating investment in centers of excellent may be also necessary to adapt teaching materials and cases to the conditions of the public sector in developing countries. A third measure is to move beyond teaching—towards accelerated learning from experience and building communities of practice. ICT Multinationals, local and international academic institutions, and aid agencies should partner to accelerate this learning process. National and state CIO councils can play a critical role on team-based problem solving, peer reviews, and the dissemination of best practices. Possible regional and global CIO councils can further accelerate knowledge transfer and the adoption of best practice to and among developing countries. Fourth, e-leadership capacity should be nurtured and deepened across sectors and at different levels. E-leadership is needed at all levels, at agency, enterprise, municipality, regional and national levels. Capacity development programs should also reach small business, NGOs, community leaders, and those representing the poor. Fifth, policy makers, CIO councils, ICT industry associations, NGOs and academic leaders should be engaged in defining the core competencies needed for eleaders and creating incentives for academic and training institutions to respond and meet these requirements.15 Public and business leaders and particularly academic institutions should help blend know-how of public and private sectors, local and global business, national leadership and grassroots institutions. Finally, capacity building for e-leadership should go beyond individuals and cover the development of leadership institutions and networks. This may include innovating new e-leadership institutions to set e-policies, ICT governance in public sector, build common platforms, articulate visions, create partnerships across sectors, and support local innovation and adaptations. It may also involve building coalitions and networks to support ICT policy reforms, administrative reforms, managerial innovations and ICT-enabled renewal, public-private partnerships, local best practices, innovation ecologies and clusters, and the development of a national innovation system. The above analysis of implementation challenges and examination of emerging experience suggest that e-leadership development programs should be built around key principles. The following six principles may guide the design of such programs: 15 One interesting practice in the survey of federal CIOs in the USA—of their needs and practices—being conducted annually by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

114

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

• • • • • •

integrating leadership, strategy, institutional change and technology management education into a coherent capacity building program; managing the whole e-development process from beginning to end: from vision and strategy through implementation and assessment; focusing on holistic ICT-enabled development, not just technology or infrastructure; creating communities of practice among top policy makers and ICT leaders around the world; bringing together all stakeholders – public, private, university and non-profits for mutual learning and teaching; and adapting and co-creating content to capture the best practices and tacit knowledge of leading practitioners and blend the inputs of global and local partners.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Conclusion Given the pace of ICT spending in developing economies and the huge bet being made by governments in this area, the lack of a defined executive leadership role and competency roadmap presents unacceptable risks of massive ICT policy and investment failure. The emerging implementation crisis in e-development is essentially due to leadership failure. This is manifested in missed opportunities to realize the potential benefits of ICT for development, to reduce the high rates of failures in e-government investments, and to contain costs secure sustainability. It is also reflected in weak and slow market response to the growing gap in public CIO and e-leadership education. Conversely, the formalization of such a role—a new CIO or e-leader—and the creation and delivery of key competency building training can create a cadre of global development-oriented IT executives with the requisite capabilities to lead IT initiatives, infuse IT into economic development strategies and programs, and continue to generate significant market opportunities for the global IT industries. This new breed of leaders would become the organizational architects and city planners of the information society. CIOs, where a cadre has been established, fall far short of their role and required competencies, even among developed countries. There is a need to provide a vision of what public CIO should look like in developing countries. This vision should cover relevance of such position, core competencies and accountabilities, and the enabling policies, tools and processes. Future e-leaders and the new CIO leaders should be recognized as members of the most senior leadership teams. They must acquire political, leadership and policy skills in addition to the necessary program, project and technology management skills. They should be viewed as visionaries and strategist. They should have deep understanding of the mission, business and clients of their agencies. They should master the demand side as well as the supply side of IT leadership. Global and local partnerships are urgently needed to build a cadre of e-leaders in every aspiring nation. The core competencies needed should be defined locally but benefit from the emerging best practices among leading nations. Experimentation with content is essential in view of current knowledge of e-leadership roles and competencies. Multiple delivery modalities should be also explored since practicing CIOs and

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

115

potential e-leaders are short on time and conceptual frameworks, yet have substantial experiences on which to draw, reflect, critique and systematize. This leadership development is an urgent task if developing countries were to bridge the growing gap between their aspirations to leapfrog to the knowledge economy and current institutional realities and local capabilities to realize the promise. Leadership has never been more important to transform slow, rigid and hierarchical institutions to dynamic, flexible and responsive institutions. Given the scarcity of leadership talent in all countries and the lead time needed to develop human resources, the time to act is now.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

References [1] Accenture. 2003. E-Government Leadership: Engaging the Customer. Accenture Government Executive Series. (http://www.accenture.com). [2] Accenture. 2004. E-government Leadership: High Performance, Maximum Value. Accenture Government Executive Series. [3] Allee, Verna. 2003. The Future of Knowledge. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. [4] Booz Allen Hamilton. 2002. International e-Economy Benchmarking: The World’s Most Effective Policies For The e-Economy. London, [5] Boyson, Sandor, Lisa Harrington and Thomas Corsi. 2004. In Real Time: Managing the New Supply Chain. Praeger Publishers: Connecticut. [6] Broadbent, Marianne, and Ellen S. Kitzis. 2005. The New CIO Leader: Setting the Agenda and Delivering Results. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. [7] Dahlman, Routti and Yla-Anttila. 2006. Finland as a Knowledge Economy. Washington D.C.: World Bank. [8] Drucker, Peter. 1993. The Post-Capitalist Society. Oxford, U.K.: Butterworth Heinemann. [9] Fountain, Jane E. 2001. Building the Virtual State. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. [10] Friedman, Thomas L. 2005. The World Is Flat. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. [11] Fukuyama, Francis. 2004. State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. [12] Gartner (2005). The Emerging Role of the National Government CIO. Gartner Industry Research. [13] Goldsmith, Stephen and William D. Eggers. 2004. Governing by Network: The New Shape of the Public Sector. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. [14] Hanna, Nagy K. 1991. The Information Technology Revolution and Economic Development. World Bank Discussion Paper, Number 120. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. [15] Hanna, Nagy K. 2004. Why National Strategies are Needed for ICT-Enabled Development. ISG Paper. Washington D.C.: World Bank. [16] Hanna, Nagy K. 2007. From Envisioning to Designing e-Sri Lanka. Volume 1: Joining the Information Services Economy. Washington D.C.: World Bank. [17] Hanna, Nagy K. 2007. E-Leadership Institutions for the Knowledge Economy. Washington D.C.: World Bank. [18] Hanna, Nagy K., Sandor Boyson and Shakulanta Gunaratne. 1996. The East Asia Miracle and Information Technology. World Bank Discussion Paper, Number 326, 1996. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. [19] Hanna, Nagy K., and Robert Picciotto. 2002. Making Development Work: Developmental Learning in a World of Poverty and Wealth. New Brunswick, N. J.: Transaction Publishers. [20] Heeks, Richard, ed. 2003. Reinventing Government in the Information Age: International Practice in IT-Enabled Public Sector Reform. London: Routledge. [21] Jeong, Kuk-Hwan. 2006. E-Government: Principles and Experiences in Korea. USA: Gil-Job-E Media. [22] Kamarck, Elaine C., and Joseph S. Nye, eds. 2002. Governance.com: Democracy in the Information Age. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. [23] Kotter, John P. 1996. Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. [24] Lall, Sanjaya. 2001. Competitiveness, Technology and Skills. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar. [25] Mansell, R., and U. When. 1998. Knowledge Societies: Information Technology for Sustainable Development. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press. [26] Matta, Nadim, Ron Ashkenes, and Jean-Francois Rischard. 2000. “Building Client Capacity through Results.” Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

116

N.K. Hanna / Leadership Needed for e-Governance and the Knowledge Economy

[27] Moore, Mark. 1998. Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government. Boston: Harvard University Press. [28] North, Douglass C. 1990. Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [29] OECD. 2005. OECD e-Government Studies: Mexico. Paris: OECD. [30] OECD 2000. A New Economy? The Changing Role of Information and Information Technology in Growth. Paris: OECD. [31] Peters, Thomas J., and Robert H. Waterman, Jr. 1982. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. New York: Harper & Row. [32] Porter, Michael. 1990. The Competitive Advantage of Nations. New York: Free Press. [33] Ramsey, Todd (2004). On Demand Government: continuing the e-government journey. IBM Press [34] Ranadive, Vivek. 1999. The Power of Now. McGrow-Hill: New York [35] Rubino-Hallman, S. and Nagy K. Hanna, “New Technologies for Public Sector Transformation: A Critical Analysis of E-government Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean” in the Journal for EGovernment, Haworth Political Press (forthcoming). [36] Rodrik, Dani. 2000. 2004. “Getting Institutions Right.” CESifo DICE Report. University of Munich’s Center for Economic Studies and the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. April. [37] Senge, Peter. 2000. “Leading Learning Organizations”, in Knowledge Management: Classic and Contemporary Works, edited by Daryl Morey, Mark Maybury, and Bhavanithuraisingham. Cambridge: MIT Press. [38] Sheffi, Yossi. 2005. The Resilient Enterprise. Cambridge: MIT Press. [39] Stiglitz, Joseph, Peter R. Orszag, and Jonathan M. Orszag. October 2000. “The Role of Government in a Digital Age.” Study Commissioned by the Computer and Communications Industry Association. (www.ccianet.org/govt_comp.php3). [40] Thornton, Grant. 2006. Looking Back, Looking Forward: Ten Years After Clinger-Cohen. Washington D.C.: The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). [41] Tushman, Michael L., and Charles A. O’Reilly III. 1997. Winning through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. [42] United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2004. World Government Report 2003: E-Government at the Crossroads. New York: United Nations. (http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/ public/documents/un/unpan012733.pdf) [43] United Nations Development Program. 2001. Human Development Report 2001: Making New Technologies Work for Human Development. New York: United Nations. [44] United Nations Development Program. Creating a Development Dynamic:Final Report of the Digital Opportunity Initiative. UDNP, 2001, pp. 15-16. [45] Vashistha, Atul and Avinash Vashistha. 2006. The Offshore Nation. McGrow-Hill: New York. [46] Wade, Robert. 2002. “Bridging the Digital Divide: The Route to Development or a New Form of Dependency?” in Global Governance. [47] Weill, Peter, and Jeanne W. Ross. 2004. IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press. [48] Wilson, Ernest J., III. 2004. The Information Revolution and Developing Countries. Cambridge: MIT Press. [49] Wilson, Ernest J., III. 2004. “Leadership in the Digital Age.” In Encyclopedia of Leadership, ed. by James McGregor Burns, George Goethels, and Georgia Sorenson. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [50] Wolfowitz, Paul. 2005. Address to the Board of Governors, September 24, 2005. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. [51] World Bank. 1999. World Development Report 1998–1999: Knowledge for Development. New York: Oxford University Press. [52] World Bank. April, 2002. Information and Communications Technologies: A World Bank Group Strategy. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. [53] World Bank. 2005. e-Development: from Excitement to Effectiveness. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-117

117

Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia Suhono Harso SUPANGKAT 1 and Cut FIARNI 2 School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Bandung Institute of Technology 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected]

Abstract. In the era of globalization, Information Communication and Technology (ICT) is widely used in various functions of all kinds of organizations. The installation, transformation, and applications of IT are taken care by an IT leader who may be called “CIO (Chief Information Officer)”. As the function of CIO is likely a knowledge center of the organization. The big challenge on the implementation of ICT governance in Indonesia is that administratively, Indonesia consists of 33 provinces, five of which have special status. Each province has its own political legislature and governor, and each one of them has different governance structures. This condition can lead to information islands. G-CIO established to overcome this challenge and to achieve the knowledge based society in Indonesia. This is because G-CIO position is to fill the leadership gap across government unit and institution. Due the widely and political aspect, a G-CIO has to has technical ability, management skill and soft skill. Keywords. IT Governance, Good Corporate Governance, Government Chief Information Officer

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The urgency of the implementation of Chief information officer (CIO) in Indonesia is closely related to the implementation of IT governance principle. IT governance is different from IT management. Management is the decisions that being made; governance is the structure for making decision. Without good governance, the organization will not get good decisions consistently. This paper will discuss the implementation of ICT governance (ICT Gov) and Government CIO (G-CIO) in Indonesia. There are two main components of IT governance: 1. 2.

The decision-making mechanisms based on the government organization policy, whether boards, committees, or written policies; The assignment of decision-making authority and accountability. IT governance drives decisions in three main areas: IT strategy, and investment in IT projects and IT architecture.

The big challenge on the implementation of ICT governance in Indonesia is that administratively, Indonesia consists of 33 provinces, five of which have special status. Each province has its own political legislature and governor, and each one of them has different governance structures. This condition can lead to information islands. To overcome this challenge, G-CIO must be able to build governance systems that fulfill the strategic business goals of every part of the government organization while

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

118 S.H. Supangkat and C. Fiarni / Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia

Figure 1. Corporate Governance Building Blocks.

somehow imposing standards for the safest, lowest-cost use of technology across the entire government unit and organization in Indonesia.

2. IT Governance and CIO Implementation in Indonesia

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2.1. IT Governance The implementing of Good Corporate Governance (GCG) need a solid Corporate Governance building block that can support the achievement of or organization goals based on government policy. Figure 1 describe the component of each building block. From five components of GCG building block on Fig. 1 above, the main focus of a CIO are Risk/Security Governance and IT Governance. According to the IT Governance Institute (ITGI), IT governance is an integral part of enterprise governance and consists of the leadership and organizational structures and processes that ensure that the organization’s IT sustains and extends the organization’s strategies and objectives. The definitions of IT governance that mention above reveal that, basically there are three basic component of IT governance: 1. 2. 3.

Leadership – Vision and responsibility. Organization – established staffing, resourcing dan structure organization. Process – establish standards and procedure related to ICT implementation in organization.

IT Governance is a set of strategic IT direction that provides leadership, supervises management, and reports to key stakeholders on the overall health and success of the ICT department. IT Governance areas include: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Strategic alignment Value delivery Risk management Resource management Performance measurement.

IT governance focuses chiefly on the IT organization. IT governance also ensures that the company’s technology assets and the information they contain are known, available, credible and protected. Since legislation seeks the same goal, good IT govGlobal E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

S.H. Supangkat and C. Fiarni / Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia 119

ernance must be aligned with regulatory compliance. The benefits from the implementation of IT governance to government organization are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Better alignment between government program and IT strategy. More informed, practical decisions about technology investment. Greater agility in meeting shifting government goal by adjusting to business demand, and stronger foundation for innovation. Better measurement and control of costs related to information system and their protection. Lower risk of the failure from government program. More healthy organization relationship and reputation.

The governance mechanisms not only be linked functionally, they must also be linked philosophically too. The different governance structures should not have conflicting goals that drive different types of behavior—such as linking a freewheeling IT purchasing process to a rigid government organizational architecture.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2.2. Chief Information Officer The chief information officer or CIO is a job title for the head of the Information Technology group within an organization. The CIO typically reports to the Chief Executive Officer. In military organizations, they report to the Commanding Officer or commanding general of the organization. The prominence of this position has risen greatly as information technology has become a more important part of business. The CIO may be a member of the executive board of the organization, but this is dependent on the type of organization. No specific qualification is typical of CIOs in general; every CIO position has its own specific job description. In the past, many had degrees in computer science, software engineering, or information systems, but this is by no means universal. Many were technical staff. More recently CIOs’ leadership capabilities, business acumen and strategic perspectives have taken precedence over technical skills. It is now quite common for CIOs to be appointed from the business side of the organization. The roles and responsibilities of the CIO are:6 1. 2. 3. 4.

It should be directed toward improvement of human resource. It should support to good corporate governance principles. It should help overcome the digital divide issue to achieve an e-inclusion and e-community. It should foster the collaboration of all stake holders of ICT without border.

2.3. Government Chief Information Officer G-CIO is a strategic position on government organization, that role as leader on information supplier for organization by combining technology and information system and other management’s aspects so it can give maximal support toward government organization’s goal achievement. G-CIO duty is to guarantee the availability, the accurateness, the preciseness, and the security of information so government organization can achieve its goal. G-CIO also have duty to coordinating plan, realization, day by day operations and evaluating ICT on each internal institution by working together with other unit.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

120 S.H. Supangkat and C. Fiarni / Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia

G-CIO has these following functions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

To formulate ICT regulations and policy. To ensure the availability of government information service provider system. To maximize human resource ability, ICT system and transfer of knowledge between government unit. To arrange ICT organization as part of social infrastructure. To develop synergic relationship with business world that can give added value to the government organization.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The roles of CIO for Government5 are: 1. Serves as the principle advisor to the Administrator, Deputy Administrator on information management and technology across the agency. 2. As the agency’s senior management official, serves as the spokesperson on information technology matters. 3. Coordination among agencies. 4. Integration of ICT vision and mission strategies. 5. Response to the government policy. 6. Maintain ICT utilization within organization and sharing of information systems, applications, data, and other resources across the lines of business and throughout the agency. 7. Manage outsource and contract on ICT matters. 8. Leads and directs agency-wide strategic planning for information technology. 9. Oversees IT investments to ensure optimization across agency and the full range of cost tradeoffs. 10. Creates and maintains an IT strategy to guide research, development, maintenance. 11. Leads the establishment of world-class software and information systems engineering methodologies and applies them to agency systems, operations, and processes to provide continuous improvement of IT performance. 12. Leads and directs agency-wide efforts on information systems security, ensuring that standards. 13. Leads and directs agency-wide strategic planning for information technology. 14. Oversees IT investments to ensure optimization across agency and the full range of cost tradeoffs. 15. Creates and maintains an IT strategy to guide research, development, maintenance. 16. Leads the establishment of world-class software and information systems engineering methodologies and applies them to agency systems, operations, and processes to provide continuous improvement of IT performance. 17. Leads and directs agency-wide efforts on information systems security, ensuring that standar. Indonesian government commitment to create CIO as a government profesion has been indicated by MOU between Indonesian Ministry of Comunication and Information, UGM and STEI-ITB. On the MOU, indonesian ministry of communication and Information provide scholarship from 2007 (Pilot project) until 2009. On Mei 2008, the ministry continue the program by grant STEI ITB scholarship on ICT services education program.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

S.H. Supangkat and C. Fiarni / Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia 121

The CIO education program dedicated to providing excelence in executive education,focusing on the development of current and future ICT leaders and the advancement of the CIO profession. The CIO education program is a multi-disciplinary program, that combining technical skill and soft skill implementation.

3. G-CIO Decision Role and Member Indonesia consists of 33 provinces, five of which have special status. Each province has its own political legislature and governor. The provinces are subdivided into regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota), which are further subdivided into subdistricts (kecamatan), and again into village groupings (either desa or kelurahan). This condition lead to the differences and complex ICT program implementation, so G-CIO position on each government structural’s varied and has unique function. IT Governance mechanism, role and member of G-CIO based on government structural type describe on Table 1. G-CIO structure organization establish by considering role and function of ICT that referred to goal, vision and mission of each government unit. Figure 2 describe draft structural position of G-CIO. Each of official members on figure having this following duty: •

•

•

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

•

Head Formulating visions, mission, strategy and ICT policy on government institution or unit, and also coordinate across other related government unit or institution. Infrastructure Constructing, developing and monitoring ICT infrastructure as information and resource sharing. Provide infrastructure ICT that can give added value to government organization by outsourcing and or in sourcing method. Information Services The information services work as ICT services provider. Data and application Providing and managing the internal and external data related the role of the government by setup a management information system.

4. Conclusion The big challenge on the implementation of ICT governance in Indonesia is that administratively, Indonesia consists of 33 provinces, five of which have special status. Each province has its own political legislature and governor, and each one of them has different governance structures. This condition can lead to information islands. G-CIO established to overcome this challenge and to achieve the knowledge based society in Indonesia. This is because G-CIO position is to fill the leadership gap across government unit and institution. G-CIO has to has technical ability, management skill and soft skill. G-CIO is a strategic position on government organization, that play a role as leader on information supplier for organization. It is being done by combining technology and information system and other management’s aspects so it can give maximal support toward government organization’s goal achievement.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

122 S.H. Supangkat and C. Fiarni / Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia

Table 1. G-CIO Decision role and member (Indonesian Ministry Decree) Type

Roles

Alternative official member

Regencies G-CIO

•

• •

Mayor/Regent Government Official member that being choose by Mayor/ Regent

• •

Governor Government Official member that being choose by Governor

• •

Minister/Bishop Government Official member that being choose by Minister/Bishop

•

Government Official member that being choose by President

• •

ICT executive Lead by Province G-CIO

•

Delegation of Ministry/government institution Lead by National G-CIO

• • Province G-CIO

• • •

Ministry/ institution G-CIO

• • •

National G-CIO

• •

National ICT Council

•

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

• • ICT Committee

• •

Coordinating initiative plan and ICT portfolio on internal regency/city Coordinating the realization ICT operational on internal regency/city To lead the evaluation of ICT implementation on regency/city Coordinating initiative plan and ICT portfolio on internal province and across regency/city on certain province Coordinating the realization ICT operational on internal province and across regency/city on certain province To lead the evaluation of ICT implementation on internal province and across regency/city on certain province Coordinating initiative plan and ICT portfolio on internal ministry/institution and across other Ministry/government institution Coordinating the realization ICT operational on internal Ministry/government institution To lead the evaluation of ICT implementation on Ministry/government institution Coordinating initiative plan, implementation, operate and evaluation on national flagship program Coordinating initiative plan, implementation, operate and evaluation on national non-flagship program To review and established ICT decisions and investment To monitoring and evaluating plan, realization, operation and achievement ICT program Work together with other ICT council to established initiative ICT across institutions To review, establish and evaluate national flagship programe To review and aprove ICT portfolio ministry/ government institution with considering national flagship programe and other government initiatives accros ministry/government institution

•

G-CIO duty is to guarantee the availability, the accurateness, the preciseness, and the security of information so government organization can achieve its goal. G-CIO also have duty to coordinating plan, realization, day by day operations and evaluating ICT on each internal institution by working together with other unit. G-CIO structure organization establish by considering role and function of ICT that referred to goal, vision and mission of each government unit. Indonesian government commitment to create CIO as a government profession has been indicated by MOU between Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, UGM and STEI-ITB. On the MOU, Indonesian ministry of communication and Information provide scholarship from 2007 (Pilot project) until 2009.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

S.H. Supangkat and C. Fiarni / Planning for Implementing of IT Governance and CIO in Indonesia 123

Figure 2. Draft Structure organization of G-CIO.

On Mei 2008, the ministry continues the program by grant STEI ITB scholarship on ICT services education program. The CIO education program dedicated to providing excellence in executive education, focusing on the development of current and future ICT leaders and the advancement of the CIO profession. The CIO education program is a multi-disciplinary program, that combining technical skill and soft skill implementation. Another problem on implementing ICT governance in Indonesia is that the insufficient coverage and infrastructure of ICT services. In order to achieve knowledge-based society in Indonesia, there are still some improvement needs to be done.

References

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[1] Marianne Broadbent and Peter Weill, Effective Governance By Design, Gatner EXP Premier, January 2003. [2] Peter Will and Jeanne W. Ross, IT Governance, Harvard Business School Press, 2004. [3] Panduan Umum Tata Kelola TIK Nasional, DETIKNAS, Versi 1. 2007. [4] Wim Van Grembergen, Strategies for Information Technology Governance, Idea Group Inc, 2004. [5] APECTEL, GCIO Task Force 2005. [6] The Jakarta Statements on Chief Information Officer, 26 April 2007. [7] Suhono Harso Supangkat, Chief Information Officer, The Indonesian ICT institute 2008.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

124

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-124

The Study of CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation: A Comparative Perspective

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Shu-Fen TSENG1 and Yao-Kuo CHIANG Graduate School of Social Informatics, Yuan Ze University, Chinese Taipei 1 [email protected]

Abstract. Enterprises are all facing a rapidly changing market that global competition is vigorous. It is important for enterprises to win business opportunities by taking advantage of sophistication IT application. The keys for enterprises to growth largely depend on the capacity of using IT appropriately to reduce cost, increase productivity, and enhance innovation and competitiveness. The CEO has been long responsible for management strategy in corporation, as diverse and complex IT applications have developed, the role of CIO, who is in charge of IT related process in an enterprise becomes vital for corporation development. Previous studies are limited in address nation-specific economic and industrial context by identifying differences of roles and responsibilities of CIO across nations. This study employs secondary data analysis to compare the roles and responsibilities of CIO in enterprises across the US, Japan and Taiwan respectively to shed the lights of comparative CIO studies from national economic respective. The results suggest while more transformational leader and business strategist role of CIO is found in the US corporation, Taiwanese CIOs are more likely to characterize as the function head and recently transformational leader that primarily focused on activities that aims at achieving IT operational excellence and on creating change for their enterprise through close partnerships with business operations. The role of CIOs in Japan is shifting toward the US model that emphasizes leadership and managerial responsibilities as top priorities. In all, this paper suggests economic and industrial aspects of global economy should be taken into account in the CIO related studies to understand the change and development of CIO job models and typology. Keywords. CIO survey, CIO roles, Taiwanese Corporation

Introduction In the book of The Rise of the Network Society, Castells (1996, 2000) characterized ‘New Economy’ with informational, global and networked features. The knowledge-information base of economy, its global reach, its network-based organizational form, and the information technology revolution has given birth to a new, distinctive economic system (Castells, 2000 p. 77). Enterprises are all facing a rapidly changing market that global competition is vigorous. It is important for enterprises, particularly small-and-medium enterprises that accounts for more than 97% enterprises in Taiwan, to win business opportunities by taking advantage of IT application and e-commerce. Enhance enterprise’ competitiveness and improve overall national competitiveness through collective strength of sophistication of IT application and internet marketing. Major benefits of IT adoption in enterprises include cost reductions, productivity im-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

125

provements and market expansion. Furthermore, IT usage and application provide efficient and better services to customers, and facilitate collaborative network to share information and knowledge that can be used to improve products and services or create new products or services. Transfer information to useful knowledge to increase overall growth and capacity of adopting IT in operational strategy are two major drives to enhance competitiveness of corporations. Innovation in corporation is vital to increase corporation productivity, and the success of innovation in enterprise greatly depends on knowledge management. The other drive for increasing enterprise competitiveness is the capacity of IT adoption for enterprise to increase flexibility. By using information systems, enterprises might increase productivity, enhance efficiency, and effectively integrate workflow within firm. The lessons of information management studies have shown technology per se is not sufficient, IT human resources and consensus building within an enterprise is required to successfully adopt information systems. Differ from classic management theories, Hammer and Champy (1993) found radical change and performance in business can be accomplished through business process reengineering techniques. Moreover, they suggested adopting IT system alone won’t change the business process, except the IT workflow restructuring is integrated with organizational goals and high acceptance rate among organizational personnel and employees is reached. In the past, CEO (chief executive officer) is the key person to manage all the process in enterprise. In recent years, the various kinds of information systems (IS) play critical elements in all business processes, so a distinct role of manager called CIO (chief information officer) was emerged. With recently dramatic growth of technology development, IT usages and adoptions are much different than before, in particular, the importance of IT and the roles of CIO are well recognized in nowadays. Based on extensive literatures of information system executives in the eighties, Rockart, Ball and Bullen (1982) argued the information executive’s role would be shaped by increasingly technology-dominated, user management-involved environment. It will be impossible for CIOs to maintain direct line management control over computer-based technology throughout the company, the role of information executive will thus become one of a corporate general manager with increasing emphasis on staff-oriented activities. In addition, the CIO will become responsible for information resource policy and strategy in the enterprise. The CIO is a role that different from other managers in company, rooted in Mintzberg’s classic managerial role model Grover et al. (1993) defined CIO as the highest ranking information system (IS) executive who typically exhibits managerial roles requiring effective communication with top management, a broad corporate perspective in managing information resources, influence on organizational strategy, and responsibility for the planning of IT to cope with a firm’s competitive environment. Recent report suggested only limited proportion of CIOs take part in strategic planning that were promised when the position was initially proposed. In their study they found the CIOs rated the entrepreneur role as the most important, followed by roles of spokesman, leader and resource allocator respectively. In sum, their study suggested the roles of the CIO are contingent on the dynamic of organizational maturity and environmental variables. The concept of CIO has merged for more than two decades ago. The importance of CIO roles has gradually gained its recognition in recent dramatic growth of technology development. Nevertheless, comparative CIO research is still limited, and most of existing studies fail to address nation-specific economic and industrial context by identifying differences of roles and responsibilities of CIO across nations. By comparing the

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

126

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

changes of economical structures globally in the past few decades, Castells (1996, 2000) classified two major models of development of network economy. The service economy model led by the US, British, and Canada that characterized by dominant proportion of service economy, while IT has largely been employed to reduce transaction costs and for market expansions. The industrial production model led by German and Japan in which manufacture continuing represented important sectors of national economy and IT were adopted in manufacturing production process to enhance efficiency and flexibility. This paper employs a secondary data analysis to compare roles and responsibilities of CIO from the US and Taiwan mainly, and add on data from Japanese CIO survey while it is available. Rather than taking only from managerial aspect, purpose of this exploratory study is to shed the lights of comparative CIO studies from national economical and industrial perspectives.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Samples from CIO Surveys Corporations in Taiwan are mainly composed of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), they accounts for more than 97% of the enterprise in Taiwan. To characterize the role of CIO in Taiwanese corporation and reflect industrial structure in Taiwan, data from the CIO survey across US and Japan are introduced for comparison sake. Since the US represents a service-oriented economy, which is quite different from Japanese and Taiwanese industrial structures, the comparison should yield some lights of CIO studies from global economic aspect. The results of CIO surveys from three countries are employed. The CIO survey data are largely compared between the US and Taiwan, and data from Japanese CIO survey is added upon its availability. Table 1 shows the summary of corporation description from the CIO surveys of US and Taiwan. While large proportion of respondents from Taiwan came from manufacture sector, the US sample represented high percentage of service sector, particularly in producer and social services. High concentration of CIO in manufacture reflects the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) oriented industry structure in Taiwan. These kinds of industry rely heavily on IT and related applications to improve efficiency, increase flexibility of production process and enhance global competitiveness of products. Facing vigorous global competition, efficiently integrate production supply chains among enterprises and reduce process costs become important tasks in corporation.

Comparative Roles and Responsibilities of CIO Firms are facing global businesses challenge nowadays. The role of CIO becomes pivotal in reducing costs, and increasing core business competitiveness. In 2006, the US CIOs reported the importance of personal skills for CIO to succeed including ability to communicate effectively, strategic thinking and planning and ability to lead and motivate staff. In 2007, strategic and managerial leadership was reported the most important role of CIO, followed by collaboration and influence, and IT expertise (Table 2). Taiwanese CIOs identified their priority of CIO role in 2006 as to sustain routine operation, to perform core competitiveness, to lead company toward goals, to build up departmental collaboration and to diffuse information respectively. In 2007, they re-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

127

Table 1. Descriptive statistic of the CIO survey

US

Taiwan

2006

2007

2006

2007

20%

17%

40%

35.3%

28.8%

22.8%

14% 6% 7% 12%

18% 7% 10% 10%

13.5% 11.8% 5.9% —

12.0% 7.9% 8.7% 2.5%

11%

9%

—

5.0%

10% 20%

9% 20%

— —

5.8% —

Traditional Manufacturing 1

High-Tech

Insurance/Finance 2 Service 3 Wholesale/Retailer/Distribution 4 Medical/Health Care 5 Federal, State and Local Government Education 6 Others

Data Source: CIO magazine vol. 7, vol. 13 (Taiwan), State of the CIO 2007 & 2008, website: http://www.cio.com/ 1. In 2006, process industry was included in manufacturing industry in US. 2. Baking, accounting, real estate and legal service were included in finance/insurance industry in US. 3. Consultant (high-tech and non-tech) was included in service industry in US. 4. Tech and non-tech were included in these industries in US. 5. Pharmaceutical and bio-tech were included in these industries in US. 6. In 2007, non-profit was included in education industry in US.

Table 2. The Role of CIO in the US (top 5)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1 2 3 4 5

2006 Ability to communicate effectively. Strategic thinking and planning. Ability to lead/motivate staff. Understanding business processes and operations. Ability to influence change in others.

2007 Long-term strategic thinking and planning. Collaboration and influence. Expertise in running the IT function. Change leadership. Team leadership.

Data Source: State of the CIO 2007 & 2008, website: http://www.cio.com/

ported it is important for CIOs to integrate IT usage toward organizational goals, increase IT acceptance and diffusion, and enhance skill and knowledge management. The role of sustaining routine operation ranked the fifth in Taiwanese CIO role in 2007 survey (Table 3). In general, while the US CIOs are more emphasized on managerial, strategic, and communicative roles, Taiwanese CIOs report more of technical and innovative responsibilities. Both CIOs from Taiwan and the US agree on top technology priorities for the year ahead are integrating and enhancing existing systems and processes, ensuring data security and integrity and business intelligence. More specific, Taiwanese CIOs report re-designing enterprise IT architecture, and extending IT operational capacity in the global reach are also top priorities for IT development in corporation. The US CIOs

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

128

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

Table 3. The Role of CIO in Taiwan (top 5)

1

2006 To sustain routine operation.

2

Necessity for company survival

3

Lead the right direction toward company goal.

4

To collaborate inter-departments within company.

5

Information diffusion.

2007 To bridge the organizational goal and IT usage of enterprise. Improve satisfaction of system users in enterprise. To develop leadership, knowledge of IT related industries and skill for IT personnel. To develop KM and to coordinate thinking and suggestions inside the enterprise. To sustain routine operation.

Data Source: CIO magazine vol. 7, vol. 13 (Taiwan)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

indicate new business services/products and mobile/wireless development are important tasks for the year ahead. In compared of their roles and their foresight of major tasks among the US and Taiwan CIOs, the results have demonstrated the differences of preferential CIO core competences between these two nations and yield the CIO role priorities in reflecting national economic and industrial structures respectively. In Obi and Iwasaki (2006) research, they identified core competences of Japanese CIOs are leadership and management, followed by policy and organization, process and revolution management, procedure, and information strategy and planning. They suggested that the role of CIOs in Japan have revealed qualitative change after IT revolution. New role of Japanese CIOs is shifting to business model on management, and leadership and communicative competences become top priorities on CIOs. On this regard, the roles of CIOs in Japan are shifting toward the US model that emphasizes leadership and managerial responsibilities as top priorities, the role of integrating information system and IT management become the second priority.

Decision-Making of CIOs in Taiwanese Corporation While the US CIOs are more responsible for strategic and managerial roles, recent Japanese CIOs emphasize more on management and regard themselves the next position to CEOs, Taiwanese CIOs take great responsibility of collaborating IT application in operational process and production process. In the CIO survey, Taiwanese CIOs reported their fulfillment largely came from improvement of corporation operation by his/her leading project or innovative ideas, their expertise and knowledge being recognized, and their capabilities of solving IT crisis. The strategic and decision-making roles of CIOs are less significant in their job fulfillment. When comes to information equipment and appliance adoption in corporation, Taiwanese CIOs play key opinion leader on this regard. However, quite different from the strategic role of US CIOs, final decision of IT adoption largely depends on those CEOs in Taiwanese corporation (Fig. 1).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

129

Figure 1. The opinion leader/ decision maker in Taiwanese corporation. Data source: CIO magazine vol. 7 (Taiwan)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Major Activities of CIOs The State of the CIO survey in the US (2008) characterized three types of CIOs major activities: Function heads, transformational leader and business strategist. Major activities for function heads include managing IT crises, developing IT talent, improving IT operations and system performance, security management and budget management. Transformational leaders are those who primary focus activities on redesigning business processes, aligning IT initiatives and strategy with business goals, cultivating the IT/business partnership, leading change efforts, implementing new systems and architecture, and mapping IT strategy to overall enterprise strategy. Major activities of business strategist comprise of developing/refining business strategy, understanding market trends, developing external customer insight, developing business innovations, identifying opportunities for competitive differentiation, and reengineering new sales and distribution channels (CIO Magazine, 2008). According to the CIO survey in 2006, the US CIOs spent most of their time on activities including interacting with CXOs and business executives, making strategic systems decision, hiring, developing and managing IT staff, leading projects and strategic business planning (Table 4). In 2007, they reported major tasks of their jobs are aligning IT initiatives with business goals, cultivating the IT and business partnership, improving IT operations, leading change efforts and implementing new systems and architecture. While strategic and business planning are still major responsibilities for the US CIOs, apparently the US CIOs spent most of their time being a transformational leader. These CIOs are primarily focused on creating change for their enterprise through close partnerships with business operations.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

130

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

Table 4. The major activities of CIO in US (top 5)

1 2 3 4 5

2006 Interacting with company’s CXO’s and business executives. Making strategic systems decisions. Hiring, developing and managing the IT staff. Leading projects. Business strategic planning.

2007 Aligning IT initiatives with business goals. Cultivating the IT/business partnership. Improving IT operations. Leading change efforts. Implementing new systems and architecture.

Data Source: State of the CIO 2007 & 2008, website: http://www.cio.com/

Table 5. The major activities of CIO in Taiwan (top5)

1 2 3 4 5

2006 Interacting with IT vendors and service providers/outsourcers. Interacting with your company’s CXO’s and business executives. Managing IT crisis Interacting with external business partners/customers. Developing/managing the IT architecture.

2007 Interacting with your company’s CXO’s and business executives. Leading Projects. Managing IT crisis Business strategic planning. Developing/managing the IT architecture.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Data Source: CIO magazine vol. 7, vol. 13 (Taiwan)

In 2006 CIO survey, Taiwanese CIOs spend most of their time on interacting with IT vendors and service providers, interacting with CXOs and business executives, managing IT crisis, interacting with external business partners, and managing IT architecture (Table 5). The top activities of interacting with IT vendors and service providers and outsourcers clearly positioned Taiwanese enterprises on the global manufacturing division of labor which efficiently managing horizontal and vertical networks are crucial to succeed in global economy. In 2007, the role of technical advisor, IT problems shooting and IT architecture management still occupied most of their time as CIOs in company. Transformational leader activities of interacting with business leaders and leading projects were found in year 2007 survey. In all, Taiwanese CIOs are more likely to characterize as the function head and recently transformational leader that primarily focused on activities that aims at achieving IT operational excellence and on creating change for their enterprise through close partnerships with business operations. According to the CIO survey (2006) in Japan, most of CIOs reported information systems strategic planning and implement are their major tasks in company, followed by business strategic planning, information system development, operation and management, improvement of business process and restructuring, and network security management. These results reflect Japanese CIOs their core competences on IT strategy and planning and strong process and business management as well.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

131

Table 6. Barriers to effectiveness in CIO roles in US and Taiwan (top 5)

1

2

US 2006 Shortage of time for strategic thinking/planning. Overwhelming backlog of requests/ projects.

3

Inadequate budgets.

4

Unknown/unrealistic expectations from the business. Lack of business sponsorship/ accountability for IT projects

5

Taiwan 2006 Unknown/unrealistic expectations from the business. Inability to negotiate with other department in the company Difficulty proving the value of IT. Inadequate budgets.

Rejection of adopting new systems among other employees.

2007 Inability to negotiate with other department in the company Unknown/unrealistic expectations from the business. Rejection of adopting new systems among other employees. Difficulty proving the value of IT. Inadequate budgets for IT design.

Data Source: CIO magazine vol. 7, vol. 13 (Taiwan), State of the CIO 2007, website: http://www.cio.com/

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Barriers to Effectiveness in CIO Roles in the US and Taiwan Although many difference on the role and responsibility of CIO between two nations, the US and Taiwanese CIOs reported similar barriers of shortage of budgets and unrealistic expectations from the business to effectively perform their roles (Table 6). In 2006, the US CIOs named the five biggest barriers when they perform their roles including shortage of time for strategic thinking and planning, overwhelming backlog of requests and projects, inadequate budgets, unknown and unrealistic expectations form the business, and lack of business sponsorship and accountability for IT project. In year 2006 survey, Taiwanese CIOs worried about unknown and unrealistic expectations form the business, inability to negotiate and communicate among departments and personnel, difficulty proving the value of IT, inadequate budgets and rejection of adopting new systems in corporation. In 2007, the first two barriers still the same, Taiwanese CIOs reported inability to negotiate with other department, and unknown and unrealistic expectations from business hamper their performance as CIOs.

Conclusion The results of CIO surveys from the US, Japan and Taiwan suggest the US CIOs are more emphasized on managerial, strategic, and communicative roles, Taiwanese CIOs report more of technical and innovative responsibilities, and the roles of CIOs in Japan is shifting toward the US model that emphasizes leadership and managerial responsibilities as top priorities.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

132

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

While more business strategist and transformational leader roles of CIO are found in the US corporation, Taiwanese CIOs are more of IT function head that were responsible for improving IT operations, improving system performance and managing IT crisis. Recently the role of transformational leader that aims at creating change for their enterprise through close partnerships with business operations is found. In compared of their CIO roles and major tasks in company with the US and Japanese CIOs, the Taiwanese CIOs have demonstrated their core technical competence and priorities in integrating production networks that correspond with manufacturing division of labor in the global economy. High proportion of CIOs in manufacture reflects OEM oriented industry structure in Taiwan. CIOs in this kind of corporation are responsible for sophistication of IT applications to improve production efficiency, reduce cost and enhance overall competitiveness. While the US CIOs identified the shortage of time for strategic thinking and planning as the top barrier for them to effectively perform their roles, Taiwanese CIOs concerned the unknown and unrealistic expectations from the business as their top barrier. The major job achievement of Taiwanese CIOs came from their leading project effectively improve corporation’s operation and recognition of their expertise. Summary from Taiwanese CIO survey, technical proficiency in not the only personal skills for CIOs to succeed, ability to communicate effectively and understanding business processes and operations are also pivotal for success in the CIO’s role. The role and responsibility of CIOs is contingent on different economic and industrial context across nations. Taiwan’s economy is largely composed of small-and-medium enterprises, corporation is tightly connected in global production networks. The role and responsibility of CIO in Taiwanese enterprises are different in comparison with those in the US and Japan. In all, this study suggests economic and industrial aspect of global economy should be taken into account in the CIO related studies to understand the change and development of CIO job models and typology.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Reference [1] 2007 American “State of the CIO American CIO Survey”, CIO Magazine, website: http://www.cio. com/state/stateofcio.pdf. [2] 2007 Taiwanese CIO Survey from CIO Magazine vol. 7, website: http://www.cio.com.tw/pdf/2007Cio_ Survey.pdf. [3] 2008 American “State of the CIO American CIO Survey”, CIO Magazine, website: http://www.cio. com/. [4] 2008 Taiwanese CIO Survey from CIO Magazine vol. 13. [5] 2006 Japanese CIO Survey from website, http://www.ciojp.com/contents/?id=00003100;t=0. [6] Castells, M. The Rise of the Network Society (2nd ed.), Massachusetts: Blackwell. [7] Grover V., Jenong, S.R. Kettinger, W.J. and C.C. LEE (1993). The Chief Information Officer: A Study of Managerial Roles, Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 10 (2), pp. 107-130. [8] Hammer, M. and Champy, J. (1993). Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. (1st ed.) New York, NY: Harper Business. [9] Lynda, M.A. and Elam, J. (2002) New Information Systems Leaders: A Changing Role in a Changing World, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 6, n. 4, pp. 469-490. [10] Mintzberg, H. (1994). Rounding Out the Manager’s Job. Sloan Management Review, 36 (1), 11-26. [11] Obi, Toshio (2007), Innovative CIO for e-Government in Japan present PPT, CIO conference, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, website: http://iac-us.gmu.edu/IAC_US_Documents/Obi-Thai%20 presentation%20-CIOnew.ppt.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

S.-F. Tseng and Y.-K. Chiang / CIO Role and Responsibility in Taiwanese Corporation

133

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[12] Obi, Toshio and Iwasaki, N. (2006), Survey on CIO Core Competences for ICT Value-added, website: http://somweb.gmu.edu/globalcio/presentations/Iwasaki,%20Naoko%20-%20New%20Trends%20 of%20Core%20Competencies.ppt. [13] Rockart, J.F., Ball, L. & Bullen, C.V. (1982), Future Role of the Information Systems Executive, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 6, Special Issue, pp. 1-14.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

134

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-134

Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru Martin SANTANA ESAN University, Peru [email protected]

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Abstract. Within the research literature on electronic government (or egovernment), understanding the factors that contribute to digital inclusion has received considerable attention over the past several years. Many studies suggest that the delivery of government services online in a user-centric way would contribute to build an inclusive information society. However, digital equality in access to and use of e-government services still remains as one of the most ambitious goals to be achieved by different levels of governments across the world. To this end, a case study of a local government in Peru was conducted to specifically investigate: (1) the adoption of different e-government initiatives over a 10-year period; (2) the measures taken to promoting digital inclusion; and (3) the reasons behind the success of e-government implementation. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of two categories of e-government initiatives – e-services applications and digital inclusion solutions. The findings also indicate the existence of four e-government success factors: political will, overall strategy, short-term projects, and public-private partnerships. Based on these findings, this study suggests directions to guide further research on inclusive e-government. Keywords. Information and Communication Technologies, Digital Inclusion, e-Government, e-Government Initiative, Critical Success Factor, Local Government

Introduction Although definitions of e-government vary (e.g., Weerakkody et al., 2008; Yildiz, 2007), the related research literature suggests that the concept generally refers to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to provide better government services, to the transformation of governmental structures and operations, to increased citizen participation in democratic processes, and to the strengthening of digital inclusion (Backus, 2001; Becker et al., 2008; Heeks and Bailur, 2006; Joseph and Jeffers, 2008; Olphert and Damodaran, 2007). Implicit in this literature is a progressive or successive stage-approach to describe the development of e-government. For the most part, the descriptions include four main stages of growth termed under different labels. These four stages are (Andersen and Henriksen, 2006; Backus, 2001; Coursey and Norris, 2008; Layne and Lee, 2001): information or catalogue stage, related to an initial presence on the Internet to provide basic government information; interaction or transaction stage, which involves a twoway communication between government and citizens through functions like

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

135

downloading forms, e-mailing to public officials, and delivering of various government services such as collecting taxes and getting driver licenses or national identification cards; vertical integration stage, related to efforts made to integrate government information and service delivery from lower to higher levels of governments; and horizontal integration or transformation stage, which refers to fundamental changes in the structure of government to increase transparency and accountability. Previous studies on e-government maturity models have highlighted the need to use different ICT in each stage of growth, which can be broadly classified into two categories: e-services applications and digital inclusion solutions. The former were first introduced in the early-1990s to support basic administrative functions, to facilitate the dissemination of government information, and to enhance the delivery of government services online (Madon, 2006). Some examples are the so-called “back-end” and “front-end” applications, information kiosks, and Web portals. Typical services provided through these applications include payment of income and property taxes, license applications, motor vehicle registrations, submitting forms for permits and certificates, issuance of visa and passports, and procurement of supplies and products. On the other hand, digital inclusion solutions, introduced from the late-1990s, are more comprehensive initiatives to addressing the complex aspects of digital inclusion within a community including universal access to ICT and computer literacy. These include, for example, community technology centers, computer training, tutoring, and other capacity building initiatives. While the e-services applications are expected to be implemented at the first and basic stages of e-government development, the digital inclusion solutions are primarily aimed at supporting the final and most sophisticated stages of growth (Backus, 2001). In this regard, from the early-1990s, the government of Peru has made a serious commitment to supporting public management reform in an effort to reduce public expenditure, empower citizens through access to public information, and make government more accountable. The use of ICT has played a key role to improve the quality of government services at different levels of governments in Peru (CODESI, 2005). As a result, a diversity of e-government initiatives has been launched in Peru over the last decades under a national strategy for e-government (INEI, 2000; ONGEI, 2006). Despite the existence of this national, centralized plan, most e-government applications still display differences in platforms, technologies and standards and thus, do not interoperate with each other (ONGEI, 2004). Deficient access to and use of e-government applications may have deepened the digital exclusion of the most socially vulnerable communities in Peru (CODESI, 2007). Understanding the ways in which governments promote the use of ICT is indeed important as prior research has indicated that digital exclusion has a significant impact on the quality of life and range of development opportunities available to individuals and groups (Dewan and Riggins, 2005). This research is an effort in that direction as it focuses on a number of e-government initiatives at local level aimed at improving the delivery of services to citizens online and ensuring that all benefit from them. Using the case study method, the specific objective of this research is threefold: (1) to investigate the adoption of different types of e-government initiatives by the local government of Miraflores in Peru; (2) to examine the measures taken to promoting einclusion; and (3) to understand the reasons behind the success of e-government implementation. The study of the local government of Miraflores is worthwhile as it provides insights into the implementation of e-government at local level in a developing country

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

136

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

that has exhibited one of the fastest economic growths in Latin America for a decade (e.g., IMF, 2008), and thereby can provide opportunities for broadening digital inclusion. The remainder of this article is organized as follows. The following section presents an overview of recent research on digital inclusion and its interrelationship with e-government, and also a description of previous research on the success on egovernment initiatives. The methodology and research setting are described in the next section. This is followed by an analysis and discussion of the case findings. Finally, the conclusions and limitations of the study are described along with future research directions.

Literature Review

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Overview of Research on Digital Inclusion The term digital inclusion has often been used to refer to equal opportunity for participation of all in the economic and social benefits of the information society. It is recognized that digital inclusion goes beyond simply providing the infrastructure and access to ICT. It is more about using ICT as a meaningful way for education, economic development, and social well-being (WSIS, 2003). This broad definition encompasses the related concepts of digital divide, that is, the gap between those who have access to ICT (“haves”) and those without access (“have nots”), and digital exclusion, which addresses the needs of those who, for whatever reason, cannot take advantage of the opportunities offered by ICT. The growing acceptance of a broadening digital divide in the world has led governments at different levels to pursue broader initiatives to meet the challenge of digital inclusion (Kvasny and Keil, 2006; Rutgers University, 2008; Sipior et al., 2004). In an extensive review of the research literature on the digital divide, Dewan and Riggins (2005) discuss two types of consequences of the digital divide: inequality in access to ICT (first order effects), and inequality in the ability to use ICT (second order effects). Among other things, the authors argue that the digital divide is increasingly an impediment to the social, cultural, and economic development of a community, and suggest future research on the government efforts to ensure that no citizen is left out of the benefits of the information society. Within the research literature on digital inclusion, there is consensus on the importance of building an inclusive information society, which allows to bridge the new digital divides, particularly among those living in underserved communities (or geographical digital divide), or among those who are disadvantaged due to a variety of factors including age (or e-ageing), lack of digital literacy skills (or e-competences), physical disabilities (or e-accessibility), and cultural attitudes (or cultural e-inclusion). This consensus has led to calls for addressing the key challenges faced by digitally excluded groups. For example, Molina (2003) proposes the formation of a global digital inclusion movement as a necessity and not as an option to achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty by half by 2015. More recently, the 2006 Riga Ministerial Conference on ICT describes a set of public policy goals and priorities to convincingly achieve an inclusive information society aimed at maximizing benefits for all segments of the population in Europe (EU Ministerial Declaration, 2006).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

137

In a longitudinal study with almost 1,000 adults of age 55 or older in Hong Kong, Lam and Lee (2006) claim that inequalities in ICT usage among older adults can be diminished by offering tailor-made computer training aimed at boosting selfconfidence and outcome expectations of elderly people. The authors conclude that social programs designed to improve the overall well-being of the elderly or other digitally excluded groups should not neglect the role of appropriate computer training. Huerta and Sandoval-Almazan (2007) report results of a case study conducted on users of telecenters or community access points from marginalized populations in Mexico. The results indicate that computer illiteracy, particularly lack of branching, reproduction, and information abilities, is an impediment to use the Internet and to assess the quality of the information retrieved. It was also noted that the lack of English proficiency and technological barriers, such as Internet access speed, are major obstacles to overcome digital exclusion. The following subsection discusses some of the most current research on the concept of inclusive e-government.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Digital Inclusion and e-Government The relationship between the concepts of digital inclusion and e-government has been addressed by a wider body of research developed under the label of inclusive egovernment. In a broad sense, inclusive e-government refers to the delivery of government services aimed at strengthening democracy, encouraging citizen participation, and helping those from socially disadvantaged groups to take part in the information society (EU Ministerial Declaration, 2006). Research attention in this area may respond to the Geneva Declaration of Principles for the World Summit on the Information Society that recognizes (WSIS, 2003): “We recognize that building an inclusive Information Society requires new forms of solidarity, partnership and cooperation among governments and other stakeholders, i.e. the private sector, civil society and international organizations. Realizing that the ambitious goal of this Declaration – bridging the digital divide and ensuring harmonious, fair and equitable development for all – will require strong commitment by all stakeholders, we call for digital solidarity, both at national and international levels.” (Article 17) Research recognizing the importance of government action in providing equal opportunity in the information society has elaborated further on the various factors that contribute to offer inclusive e-government services (Slack and Rowley, 2004). Among the efforts for achieving this, Mahrer and Krimmer (2005, p. 34), who conduct multiple case studies on Austrian federal and provincial parliaments, note: “The so-called digital divide was seen as the main driver for unequal conditions in the consequent ability to access public services. So in the end, measures to counteract the digital divide were recommended, and measures promoting e-democracy were declined.” Many of the studies on inclusive e-government have focused on a number of issues regarding the concept of digital democracy, which is defined as the use of ICT to enabling citizen engagement in public decision and policy-making processes (Macintosh, 2004). Digital democracy is generally described along with two main dimensions: online voting, that is, enabling formal voting through ICT; and digital participation (or e-participation), which refers to the opportunities for enabling citizens to become active participants in different activities of governance.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

138

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

While some work has attempted to provide foundation for converging models of egovernment and digital democracy, the majority of the studies in this field are still descriptive in nature and lack theoretical grounding and use of conceptual frameworks (Medaglia, 2007a). In an effort to apply a useful theoretical perspective to examine inclusive e-government, Olphert and Damodaran (2007) draw upon Mumford’s theory of socio-technical systems. They make use of data from 20 case studies on citizen participation from countries across the world to conclude that most e-government initiatives fall short of their objectives of achieving wider citizen engagement in decision making and policy making. In particular, the authors suggest that the development of egovernment applications as socio-technical systems with citizen participation throughout the process offers the key to providing inclusive e-government services. The recent analysis by Becker et al. (2008) is an interesting study in the area of inclusive e-government. The authors explore e-government usage by four socially disadvantaged groups in Germany: senior citizens of age 55 to 74; citizens with low education; citizens living in thinly populated areas; and unemployed citizens. Overall, the results suggest that 18% of the population make use of informational, but not transactional e-government services due to a variety of reasons, including service complexity, data security and costs. These findings lead the authors to conclude that designing egovernment services in a citizen-centric way is crucial to achieve inclusive egovernment. In the following subsection, research addressing the success of e-government implementation is reviewed, with a particular focus on the implementation of projects at local level.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Research on Success of e-Government Implementation There has been considerable research done on the critical factors that contribute to the success of e-government (Heeks, 2003). In a review of the literature on e-government success factors, Gil-Garcia and Pardo (2005, p. 193) note: “Success is not only about selecting the right technology, but also about managing organizational capabilities, regulatory constraints, and environmental pressures. For egovernment managers to be successful in their initiatives they must be aware of these challenges and use appropriate strategies to overcome them.” Castelnovo and Simonetta (2007) point out that the evaluation of e-government initiatives at the specific local level can be done based on the ability of governments to creating different aspects of public value such as collaborative agreements for service delivery, outcomes evaluation, and trust among partners. In a study aimed at examining e-participation, Medaglia (2007b) conduct a survey on three categories of online features – information, consultation and participation – offered by the websites of 113 main municipalities in Italy. The study finds that the implementation of e-participation features in e-government applications is affected by a number of factors that are non-technical in nature. Among these, contextual factors such as the size, wealth, and political orientation of the local governments are critical to ensuring the success of e-government implementation. Another example of a study of critical success factors is Jain and Kesar (2008), who use the case study method to investigate the factors that contribute to successful egovernment implementation at local level in the UK. Specifically, the authors highlight the importance of engaging citizens in developing any e-government application, par-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

139

ticularly those most at risk of digital exclusion, in order to create awareness about the value of e-government services and further engagement with new initiatives. Finally, in a related work, Alghatam (2008) examines the efforts of one government agency in the city of Dubai to provide a number of public services to citizens and businesses. To do this, the authors draw on Weick’s work on sense making in organizations. Overall, the results show that enactment or the process by which ICT professionals shape expectations, experiences and interpretations of the planning and development of e-government projects plays a key role in the successful implementation of egovernment initiatives. In spite of significant research efforts in this area, there is no single list of factors for achieving success in e-government initiatives. Therefore, e-government success can be more thoroughly characterized as context-dependent rather than in general terms.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Methodology To conduct an in-depth examination of the phenomenon of inclusive e-government, this research follows a qualitative approach based on the single case study method (Yin, 2003). The case study for this research is one specific local government in Peru. The study focuses mainly on the adoption of e-government initiatives over the 10-year period of 1996–2006. Semi-structured interviews and informal discussions were primarily used to collect relevant actors’ roles and perceptions of the previously introduced e-government initiatives. 13 interviews were conducted involving altogether 9 interviewees, who participated in the e-government projects including the mayor (1), IT director (1), project managers (2), government personnel (3), and operational staff (2). The interviews were conducted by a two-person research team, with one researcher serving as the interviewer, while the other conducted extensive note taking and taperecording. Depending on the participants’ consent, the interviews were taped-recorded and transcribed immediately after the meetings. The interviews lasted an average of 1 to 1.5 hours. The interviews were complemented with direct observation and secondary data such as technical documents, meeting minutes, publicity materials and websites. Data triangulation was particularly appropriate for this research because it allowed to adding richness to the interview findings and ensuring reliability and increased validity of the data collected (Creswell, 2003).

Research Setting The case study for this research is the local government of Miraflores in Lima, the capital of Peru. Miraflores, founded in 1857, is one of the most attractive commercial and financial neighborhoods out of the 43 districts in Lima. These districts create altogether the city of Lima with approximately 8.5 million people (INEI, 2007). With a total land area of 9.62 km2 and a population of 87,000, Miraflores is divided in 14 zones and 39 subareas that concentrate numerous tourist attractions and entertainment venues. The local government of Miraflores (hereafter referred to as LGM) is elected and composed of a mayor and a municipal council, which serve for a four-year term. Over-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

140

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

all, LGM plans city development, executes public investment projects, promotes economic activities and manages public property. LGM was selected as an appropriate research setting because it is considered one of the pioneers in implementing e-government services at local level in Latin America (Rodriguez and Santana, 2006). From the mid-1990s, LGM has undertaken the implementation of a variety of applications aimed at improving the provision of government services to citizens and businesses. As a result, LGM is considered as one of the few local governments in Peru that is committed to delivering more inclusive e-government services. The following subsection presents a brief overview of the initial e-government initiatives at national level in Peru in order to provide a context for the LGM case study.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Contextual Background The government of Peru decided to encourage the use of ICT in public administration under a national plan of modernization and decentralization since the early-1990s (INEI, 2000). Accordingly, several applications were introduced in public administration to provide opportunities for better delivery of government services online. The initial stage of e-government in Peru can be described as a rudimentary governmental presence on the Internet in the mid-1990s. At this time, most efforts at national level were aimed at the development of websites to disseminate public information to citizens and businesses. This informational presence on the Internet was followed by a transactional stage in which citizens were able to interactively communicate with key national government agencies like the Tax Administration Authority (SUNAT), the National Superintendency of Public Registries (SUNARP) and the National Identification and Civil Status Registry (RENIEC). In 2001, the launch of an official government website (http://www.peru.gob.pe) was an important element of Peru’s e-government initiatives. The website formed part of a national effort to make public information more readily available to citizens and thus, make government more transparent. All national government agencies were mandated to provide through this portal a single point of entry to public information related to plans, budgets, regulations, and purchasing. To add a legislative framework for subsequent actions, the government of Peru enacted a critical law to ensure transparency and access to public information in 2002 (Congress of Peru, 2002). By 2003, it created a new unit under the Office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers with the mission of providing advice, training, standards and technology to government agencies. This unit, ONGEI – National E-Government and Information Technology Office, proposed in 2006 five key objectives as part of a national e-government strategy (ONGEI, 2006): 1.

2. 3.

Bring government services closer to citizens and businesses through the use of ICT as key means to reduce the largest costs of administrative inefficiency and corruption. Develop a set of strategic projects using high-impact ICT in order to successfully achieve the full potential of e-government. Promote transformational change in public administration’s processes to ensure the delivery of more efficient, transparent and citizen-centric government services online.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

4.

5.

141

Develop an appropriate telecommunications infrastructure for the development of an information society and e-government, particularly in areas that have the least access to public information. Generate capacities among students, elderly people and specific digital divide groups for their participation in the information society in general and egovernment in particular.

Overall, ONGEI has been critical for coordinating and supporting efforts to implement (or improve) e-government in Peru (CODESI, 2007). There is now a growing acceptance of e-government initiatives at various levels of governments in Peru (national, regional and local) as key means to providing better and reliable public services. Finally, in the last decades, a shared economic orientation in Peru’s administrations has also strengthened the country’s economy through the implementation of structural reforms and sound fiscal and monetary policies. So far, the nation’s economic performance is being sustained on the back of strong export growth, fiscal surpluses at record-high levels, and upbeat domestic demand. In recent years, real GDP grew 7.6% in 2006, and 9.0% in 2007. Estimates for real GDP growth are 8.2% and 6.5% for 2008 and 2009, respectively. The projection of inflation, meanwhile, is 4.3% for 2008 and 2.8% for 2009 (IMF, 2008). In the 2008 United Nations e-Government Survey, Peru ranks 6th in South America and 55th in the world on e-government development (United Nations, 2008). Nevertheless, Peru’s ranking in the world in terms of general ICT indicators, particularly infrastructure development, has dropped in recent years when compared to other countries in the region (World Bank, 2006; World Economic Forum, 2008).

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Results The results of the case study of LGM are presented in this section. To assist in the discussion of the findings, the interview data is reported by presenting evidence in the form of specific examples of e-government initiatives and quotations gathered through the data collection process. e-Services Applications Since the mid-1990s, LGM has implemented a number of e-services applications to enable informational and transactional e-government services. One of the earliest applications introduced in 1996 is an integrated planning and administrative system aimed at supporting project management activities within LGM. The findings indicate that this system provides relevant information to achieve lower administrative costs and increased transparency in public procurement. In the early-2000s, LGM engaged in efforts to streamline inefficient processes of individual government departments through a variety of back-end applications such as municipal tax systems, land and property systems, and GIS technology solutions for planning and zoning activities. The results suggest that the aim of these applications was to primarily integrate government services available through different functions of LGM. The next stage of development of e-government at LGM is characterized by the launching of an official website (http://www.miraflores.gob.pe) in 2003. This munici-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

142

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

pal portal allows citizens and businesses to use a “one-stop” access to public information and integrated service delivery. Some government services that can be fully performed online include issuance of certificates, collection of payments and taxes, permission applications and licenses, procurement information, and legal and medical consultations. The results reveal that the portal is one of the pillars of the e-government initiatives at LGM. By 2006, the investment in the portal had reached $500,000 and received more than 1,200 unique visitors per day. However, it has supported the administration and collection of bills and taxes of only 5% of the total annual revenues for LGM. More recently, LGM has made efforts to implement various front-end applications to improving the interface of the interactions online between government and citizens and businesses. These applications facilitate the execution of transactions from one simple Web interface, usually by allowing options for integration and personalization of desired government services. The results show that the implementation of front-end applications represents an attempt to refine customer service on e-government initiatives and evolve gradually toward electronically-enabled government services.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Digital Inclusion Solutions In spite of the benefits that e-services applications afforded to citizens and business, the findings reveal that their general level of usage was relatively disappointed. The main reason appears to be not only the low level of Internet penetration in Peru (9.7% in 2000 according to Internet World Stats, 2008), but also the lack of digital literacy skills of citizens to effectively use e-government services. To tackle these barriers, a digital inclusion plan was formulated in 2003 with the following foundation: “[LGM] is committed to promote an inclusive information society through the delivery of efficient, cost effective and transparent public services online, thus allowing the transformation of the relationships with citizens and the reduction of the digital divide in the community.” Central to the execution of this strategy was the launching of the MIRA-net initiative, which creates a network of community technology centers to make ICT accessible to everyone. In these centers, citizens can have access to and make regular use of the Internet and also participate in training opportunities to develop the digital literacy skills needed to take advantage of the benefits of ICT. According to the interview findings, the three key objectives of the MIRA-net initiative are: 1. 2.

3.

Encourage all segments of the population in the community to take part in the information society through broader access to digital resources. Promote the use of ICT to transform the ways in which both public and private sector organizations deliver services online to all residents and businesses of Miraflores. Stimulate ICT investments that increase connectivity and accessibility to foster adoption of advanced services like e-commerce, e-health care, and digital democracy.

The community technology centers promote computer literacy through a range of educational initiatives, particularly designed for seniors and low-income individuals. The results show that the most demanded services include computer tutorials, software training, and courses covering the Internet and its applications. The strong interest in the MIRA-net initiative is emphasized by a high degree of use by 50,000 residents,

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

143

mostly elderly, during the first year of operation of the community technology centers (El Comercio Peru, 2006). As explained by the mayor: “The goal of developing targeted training programs was to bridge the specific generational digital divide, which is recognized as one of the most significant barriers in Miraflores in view of the high percentage of elderly in our community.” In recent years, LGM has set up a number of other digital inclusion solutions. For instance, for the first time in Latin America in May 2004, LGM held a general election to fill vacant positions using Internet as one of the primary channels for voting. This online voting experience has been successfully repeated over the next years, with noticeable increases in the average use of the Internet by the population (Municipality of Miraflores, 2008a; 2008b). Later on, LGM implemented an in-house Internet solution for broadcasting the Municipal Council meetings (http://www.miraflores.gob.pe/sesiones.asp). This solution, for example, provides information about any activities which are pursued by LGM. At the same time, it enables the posting of questions by citizens and the transparent presentation of answers to these questions by public officials. The findings indicate that the Internet broadcasting solution has played an important role in making citizens better informed about government plans or decisions and public officials more accountable for their actions. Moreover, there is consensus in terms that this solution is essential not only to ensure transparency, but also to contribute to enhanced dialogues between government and citizens, thereby ensuring wider digital inclusion.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Critical Success Factors of e-Government The analysis of LGM points to four specific success factors of e-government: political will, overall strategy, short-term projects, and public-private partnerships. Political will: The role played by the mayor in championing the e-government initiatives at LGM is recognized as highly important. The findings suggest that the mayor was a leading advocate for ensuring the progress of the e-government projects. In particular, the mayor’s support and involvement in the planning, development and implementation of the applications was an important social influence for all members directly involved in e-government projects. Overall strategy: Developing a strategic framework for public services has been identified as an important factor in the success of e-government initiatives (Heeks, 2003). This was certainly true at LGM as demonstrated with the formulation of a digital inclusion strategy that established a set of goals and priority issues to make government more efficient and inclusive. It is interesting to note that the mayor won reelection at the 2002 Mayor’s race with the campaign slogan “Internet for citizen communication and participation,” which reflects the vision of a plan to enable citizen participation in governance. As the mayor noted: “More than resources what it matters it is a clear direction, a strategic vision of what we want to be, and where we want to go to during the next several years to equip our citizens for full participation in the information society.” Short-term projects: The findings indicate that the ability of LGM to picture egovernment in terms of a set of incremental projects with some fairly quick and measurable deliverables was central to successfully implementing its e-government initiatives. Overall, an e-government project at LGM would have to pass through several phases of gradual evolution before fully functional e-government services can be triggered and successfully carried out.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

144

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

Public-private partnerships: LGM actively promoted public-private partnerships (PPP) in an attempt to accelerate the diffusion of Internet access and usage across the district of Miraflores. Partners included multinational and local companies alike, which largely focused on building a sound ICT infrastructure that provides broadband Wi-Fi Internet access at no cost in public facilities. The results suggest that to achieve this aim, LGM lobbied public officials at the highest levels of governments as well as private project partners and nonprofit organizations about the possible advantages of egovernment to them. Interestingly, Miraflores turned into the first wireless city in Peru by September 2005 with heavily support of Intel Corporation. As explained by the mayor: “For example, we provide a variety of free Internet access alternatives with Wi-Fi across parks, libraries, and the city auditorium. It did not cost us anything because we established a strong, collaborative relationship with Intel Corporation that was interested in promoting Wi-Fi in the region. We worked together with a company that invests over $5 billion annually in R&D. Craig Barrett, Chairman of [the Board of] Intel, was here in Miraflores for the launching of our municipal Wi-Fi initiative. I think this was a strategic partnership that pays off.”

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Discussion The findings reveal that the typical e-services applications of any e-government initiative are commonly supplemented by the so-called digital inclusion solutions to promote interactive online dialogues between government and citizens and thereby ensure transparency and responsiveness. The evolution of the use of different e-government applications at LGM is in agreement with the normative literature on e-government maturity models discussed in an earlier section. In particular, the adoption of back-end and front-end applications at the basic stages of e-government is in line with the findings by Janssen and Cresswell (2005), who use a simulation-based approach to discuss the benefits and implications of using enterprise systems in e-government services. This conclusion is similar to that drawn by Madon (2006), who describe the evolution of e-government initiatives in the Indian state of Gujarat over a 17-year period. On the other hand, the results also suggest that as efforts progressed toward the next stages of e-government development at LGM, the focus began to shift from optimizing operational efficiency to bringing e-government services to citizens, especially to those left out of the information society. The MIRA-net initiative was a crucial component of the LGM’s digital inclusion strategy by addressing the digital divide issues of universal access and basic computer training. The targeted training offered by the MIRA-net’s community technology centers was successful in stimulating use of ICT by specific digitally excluded groups such as senior citizens and low-income individuals. Although there are not available figures on how people in different demographic profiles use the Internet in Miraflores, a recent report based on data gathered in the first trimester of 2008 found that 75% of Peruvians use public Internet facilities, while only 16.9% of householders have access to the Internet, compared with 41.9% in Lima (INEI, 2008). This is not surprising considering that Peru pioneered the concept of cabinas públicas (Internet cafes) in Latin America in the 1990s and still remains as a world leader in terms of Internet usage in public places. In this context, any e-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

145

government initiative in Peru should recognize that community technology centers are a central tool for ensuring digital inclusion. From the findings, it becomes apparent that a main goal of the other digital inclusion initiatives – online voting and Internet broadcasting solution – was not to find simple mechanisms to handle different forms of democratic practice, but new ways for improving citizen participation in political and administrative plans and decisions. Both solutions enable citizens to become involved in existing government initiatives and to influence public decision-making. In particular, the results suggest greater participation of citizens in elections both via the Internet and via traditional channels. This is consistent with findings by Svensson and Leenes (2003) regarding the introduction of online voting in 13 European countries. As mentioned before, LGM was one of the pioneers in implementing egovernment applications at local level in Latin America (Rodriguez and Santana, 2006). Despite this apparent lack of knowledge to be learned from, the findings suggest that LGM has accomplished much through the implementation of its e-government initiatives. In speaking with citizens from Miraflores regarding their expectations of egovernment, the discussions revealed that most of them felt proud about how LGM addressed some of the key barriers to digital inclusion, and some were relatively satisfied with the quality of e-government services provided in terms of service availability, importance of services offered, and fairness of service delivery. This has implications for the way e-government is designed and implemented encouraging a move from a vision on more efficient government services to better ways of engaging citizens with their governments. Building inclusive e-government clearly presents huge challenges that are not always easy to overcome, particularly for many local governments. This research found some evidence that making the shift to digital inclusion solutions helps not only to meet the needs of citizens regarding service delivery, but also to encourage greater participation in governance as part of building successful inclusive e-government. This conclusion endorses Jain and Kesar (2008), who argue that this type of e-government initiative appears to enjoy the highest levels of success. There is also a need for governments to evaluate e-government success not just by the technological progress of the underlying applications but by a number of social and economic issues citizens must face today. The challenges to e-government initiatives stem not only from gaining agreements that these are necessary, but also from engaging the necessary partners in the development and implementation of e-government projects. In this study, developing strategic PPP was found to be critical to the success of e-government initiatives at LGM. The support of the private sector for launching egovernment projects involves identifying relevant partners and getting them involved in the design and development processes. It is common practice for governments to develop innovative PPP financing schemes to facilitate the contract negotiations between the parties. The long period of concession contract presents additional challenges to the use of PPP in e-government services (Roy, 2003). Therefore, it is important to make informed decisions on the introduction of private sector partnerships into egovernment initiatives. The findings also shed light on other related e-government success factors. First, the political will of improving the quality of government services was identified as an important factor to consider in the development of e-government initiatives at LGM. This is consistent with a substantial body of the literature on the role of management

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

146

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

championship in encouraging implementation of ICT in general (Purvis et al., 2001), and e-government in particular (Mahler and Regan, 2003). In addition, designing e-government initiatives on the basis of short-term projects that produce early results is other important factor in the success of e-government efforts. Due to the particularities of one-year budgets in many local governments, this type of evolving development process can be a powerful means to achieve successful egovernment initiatives. As in the case of LGM, previous research has indicated that an incremental approach increases the rate of project success by creating awareness about the value of e-government services, and by making stakeholders participate actively in the projects (Jain and Kesar, 2008; Olphert and Damodaran, 2007). Finally, developing an overall strategy is also critical to the success of egovernment initiatives. A strategic direction can be seen as an umbrella for establishing clear and realistic goals of how e-government will progress to the final stages of egovernment development. In this study, the digital inclusion strategy was essential to make LGM more user-centric by adapting its e-government initiatives to specific conditions of low Internet use by citizens of Miraflores. As discussed above, one key element of this strategy was the launching of a number of digital inclusion solutions to address the barriers that digitally excluded groups must overcome. Among other things, developing an adequate e-government strategy requires to take into account a balanced combination of both e-services applications and digital inclusion solutions to promote the success of e-government initiatives. In this regard, the research literature on information systems (IS) provides considerable evidence on the importance of formulating a comprehensive strategy for implementing ICT-based projects in organizations. (See Oh and Pinsonneault (2007) for recent work in this area).

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Conclusions and Future Research Directions This study explores the challenges of digital inclusion faced by a local government while implementing a broad mix of e-government initiatives. The findings reveal that inclusive e-government requires addressing inequalities beyond technological barriers. In particular, it involves focusing on opportunities for providing the necessary ICT skills to reduce computer illiteracy, and thereby deliver government services in a more equitable manner. A great deal of research on the digital divide has provided several key insights into the social and economic consequences of the inequalities in access to and use of ICT. However, more research is needed regarding the existence of differences in the accessibility and usage of e-government services, particularly among those at risk of being left behind of the benefits of the information society. Similar to previous research (e.g., Becker et al., 2008; Jain and Kesar, 2008), this study found that a range of complementary applications is necessary not only for enabling informational and transactional e-government services (e-services applications), but also for promoting public-consultation activities and dialogues between government and citizens (digital inclusion solutions). It has been suggested that ensuring citizen participation in the design of any e-government application is crucial for its successful implementation (Olphert and Damodaran, 2007). Consequently, a challenge for local authorities is to adhere to a citizen-centric approach to developing and implementing inclusive e-government services. Further research attention is needed in this area to examine the impact of citizen engagement on the design, development, and implementation processes of e-government initiatives. This is especially important now

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

147

due to the mushrooming of capacity building programs for empowering citizens to participate in decision making about e-government services. It is also important to establish solid cooperation or partnerships between governments and private businesses to secure the progress of e-government initiatives. When governments take the lead in developing an effective digital inclusion strategy, the support of private sector partners will follow. The findings indicate that the use of PPP was one of the critical success factors of e-government at LGM. Despite the fact that any egovernment initiative is expected to make the best use of the private sector, it is not clear how effective PPP are for overcoming the digital divide in e-government (Roy, 2003). Understanding the implications of PPP projects is a worthwhile area of research to extend our current knowledge of e-government. Because this research is based on a single case study, it suffers from the usual limitations of generalization of the findings. Future studies that involve multiple case studies in comparable local governments are clearly needed to establish a shared set of best practices for successful implementation of inclusive e-government and to generalize the findings to other local governments. The empirical evidence provided by this case study is a starting point in such direction. Another limitation of this research is that the data collected is based primarily on interviewees’ recollections of their actions and events during e-government implementation. As such, it is uncertain whether their perceptions reflect project information on only successful initiatives, but not on those considered as failures. This needs to be investigated with different research methods, particularly mixed approaches that capture qualitative and quantitative data about the entire development process through numerous iterations. In closing, while this research is an important step toward understanding inclusive e-government efforts undertaken by a municipality in Peru, there is still a need for further measurement and analysis of the digital divide in e-government services in different regions of the world to ensure an inclusive information society.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

References [1] NECTEC, Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand, “Thailand IT 2010 Framework, 2001–2010”, www.nectec.or.th. [2] Alghatam, N. (2008). “The appropriation and enactment of e-government projects by ICT professionals: A case study of Dubai,” Proceedings of the 14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Toronto, Canada, 1-9. [3] Andersen, K.V., and Henriksen, H.Z. (2006). “e-Government maturity models: Extension of the Layne and Lee model,” Government Information Quarterly, 23, 236-248. [4] Backus, M. (2001). “e-Governance in developing countries,” International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), Research Brief No. 1. Available at http://www.ftpiicd.org/files/research/ briefs/brief1.doc, last accessed on 09/09/08. [5] Becker, J., Bergener, P., Niehaves, B., and Räckers, M. (2008). “Social inclusiveness of electronic public service delivery in Germany – A quantitative analysis,” Proceedings of the 14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Toronto, Canada, 1-9. [6] Castelnovo, W., and Simonetta, M. (2007). “The evaluation of e-government projects for small local government organisations,” The Electronic Journal of E-Government, (5:1), 21-28. [7] Coursey, D., and Norris, D.F. (2008). “Models of e-government: Are they correct? An empirical assessment,” Public Administration Review, 523-536. [8] Cresswell, J.W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (2nd Ed.). Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

148

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

[9] CODESI. (2005). Plan de desarrollo de la sociedad de la información en el Perú – La agenda digital peruana. CODESI – Multisectorial Commission of Monitoring and Assessment of the Information Society Development in Peru. Available at http://www.codesi.gob.pe, last accessed on 10/15/08. [10] CODESI. (2007). Informe de la ONGEI a CODESI sobre la implementación de la estrategia nacional de gobierno electrónico en el año 2007. CODESI – Multisectorial Commission of Monitoring and Assessment of the Information Society Development in Peru. Available at http://www.codesi.gob.pe/ codesi/PopUp/DS-031-2006-PCM.htm, last accessed on 09/16/08. [11] Congress of Peru. (2002). Law 27806 – Ley de transparencia y acceso a la información pública. Available at http://www.congreso.gob.pe/ntley/Imagenes/Leyes/27806.pdf, last accessed on 10/15/08. [12] El Comercio Peru. (2006). “Abuelitos cibernéticos,” Available at http://www.elcomercioperu.com.pe/ edicionimpresa/html/2006%2D06%2D30/imphogar0532734.html, last accessed on 10/15/08. [13] EU Ministerial Declaration. (2006). “EU ministerial declaration on e-inclusion,” I-Ways, Digest of Electronic Government Policy and Regulation, 29, 175-179. [14] Gil-Garcia, J.R., and Pardo, T.A. (2005). “e-Government success factors: Mapping practical tools to theoretical foundations,” Government Information Quarterly, 22, 187–216. [15] Heeks, R. (2003). “Most eGovernment-for-development projects fail: How can risks be reduced?” Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, iGovernment Working Paper No. 14. Available at http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/research/publications/wp/igovernment/ documents/igov_wp14.pdf, last accessed on 10/15/08. [16] Heeks, R., and Bailur, S. (2006). “Analysing eGovernment research: Perspectives, philosophies, theories, methods and practice,” Institute for Development Policy and Research, University of Manchester, Working Paper No 16. Available at http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/publications/wp/igov/ index.htm, last accessed on 09/16/08. [17] Huerta, E., and Sandoval-Almazan, R. (2007). “Digital literacy: Problems faced by telecenter users in Mexico,” Information Technology for Development, (13:3), 217-232. [18] IMF. (2008). Third review and inflation consultation under the stand-by arrangement and request for waiver of applicability of performance criteria. IMF Country Report No. 08/258, International Monetary Fund, Publication Services, Washington, DC, USA. Available at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ ft/scr/2008/cr08258.pdf, last accessed on 09/15/08. [19] INEI. (2000). Política nacional de informática. INEI – National Statistics and Information Technology Institute, Lima, Peru. [20] INEI. (2007). Perú: Crecimiento y distribución de la población, 2007. INEI – National Statistics and Information Technology Institute, Lima, Peru. Available at http://censos.inei.gob.pe/censos2007/ documentos/ResultadoCPV2007.pdf, last accessed on 08/20/08. [21] INEI. (2008). Las tecnologías de información y comunicación en los hogares. INEI – National Statistics and Information Technology Institute, Lima, Peru. [22] Internet World Stats. (2008). Internet world stats – Usage and population statistics. Available at http://www.internetworldstats.com/sa/pe.htm, last accessed on 10/16/08. [23] Jain, V., and Kesar, S. (2008). “E-government implementation challenges at local level: A citizens’ centric perspective,” Proceedings of the 14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Toronto, Canada, 1-10. [24] Janssen, M., and Cresswell, A. (2005). “Enterprise architecture integration in e-government,” Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Big Island, HI, USA, 1-10. [25] Joseph, R.C., and Jeffers, P.I. (2008). “An exploratory analysis of e-government development in the Caribbean,” Proceedings of the 14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Toronto, Canada, 1-10. [26] Kvasny, L., and Keil, M. (2006). “The challenges of redressing the digital divide: A tale of two US cities,” Information Systems Journal, 16, 23-53. [27] Lam, J.C.Y., and Lee, M.K.O. (2006). “Digital inclusiveness – Longitudinal study of Internet adoption by older adults,” Journal of Management Information Systems, (22:4), 177-206. [28] Layne, K., and Lee, J.W. (2001). “Developing fully functional e-government: A four stage model,” Government Information Quarterly, (18:2), 122-136. [29] Madon, S. (2006). “IT-based government reform initiatives in the Indian state of Gujarat,” Journal of International Development, 18, 877-888. [30] Macintosh, A. (2004). “Characterizing e-participation in policy-making,” Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Big Island, HI, USA, 1-10. [31] Mahler, J., and Regan, P.M. (2003). “Developing intranets for agency management,” Public Performance and Management Review, (26:4), 422–432. [32] Mahrer, H., and Krimmer, R. (2005). “Towards the enhancement of e-democracy: Identifying the notion of the ‘middleman paradox’,” Information Systems Journal, 15, 27-42.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

M. Santana / Building Inclusive e-Government: Challenges Faced by a Municipality in Peru

149

[33] Medaglia, R. (2007a). “The challenged identity of a field: The state of the art of eParticipation research,” Information Polity, 12, 169-181. [34] Medaglia, R. (2007b). “Measuring the diffusion of eParticipation: A survey on Italian local government,” Information Polity, 12, 265-280. [35] Molina, A. (2003). “The digital divide: The need for a global e-inclusion movement,” Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, (15:1), 137-152. [36] Municipality of Miraflores. (2008a). Simulacro de votación electrónica, niños también pudieron votar. Lima, Peru. Available at http://www.miraflores.gob.pe/noticias.asp, last accessed on 10/16/08. [37] Municipality of Miraflores. (2008b). Vecinos eligieron a sus representantes en elecciones de juntas de delegados vecinales 2008. Lima, Peru. Available at http://www.miraflores.gob.pe/noticias.asp, last accessed on 10/16/08. [38] Oh, W., and Pinsonneault, A. (2007). “On the assessment of the strategic value of information technologies: Conceptual and analytical approaches,” MIS Quarterly, (31:2), 239-265. [39] ONGEI. (2004). “Improving government capabilities in Peru through enhanced e-government and broadband connectivity. ONGEI – National E-Government and Information Technology Office, Lima, Peru. [40] ONGEI. (2006). Estrategia nacional de gobierno electrónico. ONGEI – National E-Government and Information Technology Office. Available at http://www.ongei.gob.pe/Bancos/banco_normas/archivos/ Estrategia_Nacional_Gobierno_Electronico.pdf, last accessed on 10/15/08. [41] Olphert, W., and Damodaran, L. (2007). “Citizen participation and engagement in the design of egovernment services: The missing link in effective ICT design and delivery,” Journal of the Association for Information Systems, (8:9), 491-507. [42] Purvis, R.L., Sambamurthy, V., and Zmud, R.W. (2001). “The assimilation of knowledge platforms in organizations: An empirical investigation,” Organization Science, (12:2), 117-135. [43] Rodriguez, M., and Santana, M. (2006). “Miraflores: Una ciudad digital,” Paper presented at the 1st Iberoamerican Conference on e-Government, Santiago, Chile. [44] Roy, J. (2003). “The relational dynamics of e-governance: A case study of the City of Ottawa,” Public Performance and Management Review, (26:4), 391-403. [45] Rutgers University. (2008). Digital governance in municipalities worldwide (2007) – A longitudinal assessment of municipal websites throughout the world. National Center for Public Performance, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA. [46] Slack, F., and Rowley, J.E. (2004). “Challenges in the delivery of e-government through kiosks,” Journal of Information Science, (30:4), 369-377. [47] Sipior, J.C., Ward, B.T., Volonino, L., and Marzec, J.Z. (2004). “A community initiative that diminished the digital divide,” Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 13, 29-56. [48] Svensson, J., and Leenes, R. (2003). “e-Voting in Europe: Divergent democratic practice,” Information Polity, 8, 3–15. [49] United Nations. (2008). United Nations e-government survey 2008: From e-government to connected governance. United Nations Publication, New York, NY, USA. [50] Weerakkody, V., Dhillon, G., Dwivedi, Y., and Currie, W. (2008). “Realising transformational stage egovernment: Challenges, issues and complexities,” Proceedings of the 14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Toronto, Canada, 1-17. [51] World Bank. (2006). 2006 Information and communications for development – Global trends and policies. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank, Washington, DC, USA. [52] World Economic Forum. (2008). The global competitiveness report 2008-2009. World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland. [53] WSIS. (2003). Geneva Declaration of Principles. World Summit on the Information Society. Available at http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1161|1160, last accessed on 10/15/08. [54] Yildiz, M. (2007). “E-government research: Reviewing the literature, limitations, and ways forward,” Government Information Quarterly, 24, 646-665. [55] Yin, R.K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd Ed.). Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

150

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-150

OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation Motoo KUSAKABE Open City Portal Foundation [email protected]

Abstract. This article reveals an open-source based platform called “Open City Portal” for developing citizen oriented portal especially at the city level. The Open City Portal will help cities all over the world be affordable to develop their own eGovernment portals to promote citizens participation and interaction in the eDevelopment processes. Its features include: A few clicks to create a Portal Framework, Citizen-Centric, Single Windows for every service category, Participatory content development, Interaction with Citizens, Online Application and Tracking System, Result-Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) system and E-Participation, Knowledge Sharing among Cities and Focus on Sustainable Urban Regional Initiatives. The article also features the current stage of eGovernment in cities, the impediments, what’s wrong with e-government strategy and What is the new e-Government strategy for cities that were surveyed during the World Summit on Cities and Local Government on Information Society in Bilbao 2005. In addition, some brief details on Organizations to support the OpenCityPortal, Installation of OpenCityPortal in a country and cities, Benefits of the Government Portal and Recent Trends in Categorization of Government Services in the Portals are also featured with lastly the Call for Advisory Council Members of the Open City Foundation and Institute.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Keywords. Open City Portal, e-Government, e-Participation, Citizen-Centric, Single Windows, Participatory content development, Online Application and Tracking System, Result-Oriented Management and Accountability: ROMA, Sustainable Urban Regional Initiatives, Open City Foundation

Introduction e-Government development needs participation and interaction of citizens especially in the local government level. The Open City Portal is an open-source platform which enables even the smallest city or town to create a portal; even those with severely limited budgetary and human resources. It has an advanced design that will achieve the major objectives of e-government: inclusion, interaction, transparency and making municipal services more citizen-oriented. The Open City Portal is being developed by several universities and development organizations to support the World Summit for Cities and Local Governments on Information Society which was held in Bilbao. Using the Open City Portal, you can create your own city portal without any special knowledge and free of charge. The Open City Portal has a knowledge sharing function, enabling partner cities to exchange best practice and lessons. iv

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

151

What Is the Current Stage of E-Government in Cities? The Open City Taskforce made a sample survey on roughly 50 cities gathered to the World Summit on Cities and Local Government on Information Society in Bilbao 2005. Participating cities were all relatively advanced in terms of ICT having a strong motivation for e-government. According to this survey, 5 cities answered that they have achieved a transformation of administrative processes through e-government (Level 5). Then, 27 cities had “full online transaction services” that means citizens can request and receive a service through online, for at least several city services (Level 4). 7 cities had an integrated portal, but no “full on-line services” (Level 3). However, 11 cities had e-government websites but fragmented by organizations, and no comprehensive information according to the citizens’ needs (Level 2).i

What Are the Impediments? However, these figures represent a small sample of relatively advanced cities. Although there is no systematic data on e-government at city-level, many circumstantial evidences show that most of the cities in developing countries, except the capital cities or large cities, do not have city portals. And even if they have, they are fragmented and not interactive. A survey on Japanese cities investigated the major impediments of developing e-government at city-level in 2000. According to this survey, major impediments are lack of budget (73% of cities), lack of IT experts (46%), and lack of organizational support (60%).ii Cities in developing countries must be suffering much severer constraints. For example, when I was working for Kyrgyz Republic, total annual ICT budget for the country was only US$50,000. The government had a perfect ICT development strategy, thanks to the UNDP but with this budget they have to cover regulatory reform, rural connectivity, e-learning, e-health and e-government.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

What’s Wrong with e-Government Strategy? In addition to the above constraints, sometimes national governments and cities made mistakes in their e-government strategy: Namely, they tend to start with expensive office computerization department-by-department. The system is fragmented and sometimes “locked–in” to the different systems difficult to integrate. As for the egovernment, cities put too much emphasis on “full online services”. For example EU’s benchmarking criteria only measure the percentage of “full online services” provided by e-government as the performance criteria for the e-government. iii Online transactions need expensive back-office computerization and sophisticated authentication system which many of the citizens prefer not to use for their municipal services. Cost saving is an important objective of e-government, but it is only one of several objectives. E-government service should be benchmarked by much multi-faceted criteria such as follows.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

152

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

Criteria to measure effectiveness of E-Government:  Has the City an Integrated Government Portal?  Does the Portal Citizen-centric content classification?  Are citizens able to get all the necessary information?  Do citizens actually use the portal?  Are there two-way interaction?  Do citizens have transparent access to all public information?  Do citizens have multi-channel access to Portals (E-Inclusion)?  Does e-government really help solve city’s biggest issues, such as job creation?

What Is the New e-Government Strategy for Cities?

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

What is the first step of strategic importance for many small and medium-sized cities which do not have an e-government portal? The answer is the creation of integrated, citizen-centric, interactive city portal. The Portal should support citizens’ participation in collaborative urban and community development initiatives. The Portal should also provide knowledge sharing functions with peer cities so that cities can learn from each other. However, cities may not aim at creating “full on-line services” initially. In stead, the city portal should provide more comprehensive useful information on city services, offers two-way communication between citizens and city officials, and provides all the government public documents and application forms. This approach is cost effective, as it does not use expensive back-office computerization and sophisticated authentication infrastructure. Then, cities gradually add the online transaction modules, which does not require most rigorous authentication. This “evolutionary approach” is not an expensive solution and still achieves most of the e-government objectives.

What Is the Open City Portal? The Open City Portal was developed to realize such new approach so that cities which could not afford to develop e-government can start important steps for e-governance. The goal of the Open City Portal is twofold: (a) to provide affordable city portals with an advanced citizen-centric design for even the smallest cities; and (b) to enable partner cities to share knowledge to address common challenges. The OpenCityPortal has been developed and supported by the Taskforce consisting of the members from UNDP, UNITAR, EBRD, ADB, Essex Universities and Estonia E-Governance Academy and Bilbao IT4ALL supported by the UN Public Administration Network.

What Is Unique About the Open City Portal? Feature 1 A few clicks to create a Portal Framework: After the city has identified the way it wishes to present its services (service classification), the customized portal framework can be created easily with a few clicks of the mouse. The city-service con-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

153

tent of the portal can be developed and updated by every city employee without special authoring tools. So everybody close to the service delivery can input the content. As there is no developers to develop software for individual cities, as in the case of traditional approach, the total 5 year cost of installation and maintenance of the OCP is almost one tenth of the comparable traditional portals which requires individual software development. Feature 2 Citizen-Centric, Single Windows for every service category: All the citizens’ service information is grouped by citizens’ life cycle events and customized to citizens’ needs. In corporation with the central and regional governments, and private service providers, all the information in one service category is offered in the single window. This makes citizens retrieve information much easier, and provides a basis for administrative process reform at the later stage. Feature 3 Participatory content development: Many contents are developed by citizens, private sector, NGOs, such as schools, hospitals, libraries, tourism spots, unique local products and urban amenities. Feature 4, Interaction with Citizens: Citizens can ask questions, make complaints, state opinions. City council contact persons respond to the queries promptly. Feature 5 Online Application and Tracking System: The OCP has a system to create online application form for all the municipal services and citizens can track the status of the application online. This application system can combine several municipal services combined so that the Portal can create real one stop shop for municipal services. Feature 6, Result-Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) system and E-Participation: The Open City Portal also provides a service to city managers a tool to identify goals, activities, budget and outcome indicators and their targets in order to plan participatory initiatives more effectively. The OCP support various stage of citizens’ participation in the policy-making process; Agenda Setting, Opinion Survey, Collaborative Strategy development, etc. More detailed E-Participation support functions will be explained in the next section. Feature 7, Knowledge Sharing among Cities: The Open City Portal has two “views”, global view and city view, which connect respectively to two servers municipal and global servers. Citizens usually use the city view which provides city-specific information (as a normal city portal). When people, either citizens or city employees, wants to know the global knowledge or what other cities are doing, they click the “Go Global” button and go to the Global View. They will get the best practice, tutorial, case studies and contacts for the global resources. Feature 8: Focus on Sustainable Urban Regional Initiatives: E-government programme is appreciated by the citizens or legislature only if it contributes to creating new employment, higher quality of life and sustainable environment. The OCP supports, through its global knowledge sharing functions, five most important participatory urban initiatives: Sustainable Cities, Creative Cities, Digital Local Agenda, AgeFriendly Cities, and Municipal E-Government. With the Open City Network of 100 cities globally, we collect the more rigorous benchmarking data and case studies on these five participatory urban initiatives.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

154

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

The Open City Portal Supports the E-Participation E-Participation is one of the key goals of the e-government. Many cities launched the Citizens’ Council to discuss the sustainable city building or Local Agenda 21. Sometimes members of the Committee is more than 200 citizens. In the recent years, modality of citizens’ participation has evolved from the simple public consultation to a draft plan written by the city officials to more equal partnership of city and the citizens groups, or “collaboration” where citizens will participate in from the agenda-setting to the monitoring and evaluation. It is very important to use ICT to provide full information to the citizens and facilitate the whole participatory processes; the agenda setting, collaborative strategy development and result-based monitoring processes. The OCP aims to support the citizens’ participation in each stage: (i) (ii)

(iii)

(iv)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(v)

The OCP will provide collaborative vision and strategy development tool for partnership members, (Collaborative Strategy Forums) During the process of agenda-setting, citizens’ opinions will be surveyed through the Diagnose Forum (opinion polls) and E-Community Forums (discussion forum), Once the vision and goals are set, the partnership team will select potential activities (or programmes) to materialize each goals, and the OCP will provide the alternative candidates for activities based on the best-practice of other cities and tools to prioritize according to citizens needs and availability of resources (prioritization) Once activities are decided, the Team will define input, output and outcome indicators and their targets. They use these indicators to monitor the activities (Result-Oriented Management and Accountability: ROMA). The OCP will provide the Activity Forum through which the City Council managers, legislatures and citizens can monitor the budget, and all indicators programme-by-programme on the real time basis through the OCP (reporting function).

The Open City Portal Encourages Interaction with Citizens (C2G) e-Government initiatives aim to involve citizens to create better delivery of services and a more effective policy making process. Consequently, one of the important objectives of the Open City Portal is to encourage interaction between citizens and the government. Particularly, it is important that every citizen can ask questions, express his/her opinions, and make proposals and complaints (C2G).iv (i)

Citizens can ask questions and state opinions in the E-Community Forum: The first step in encouraging the interaction is to provide a forum for citizens to ask questions and make complaints to government employees responsible for the services. An E-Community Forum can be created for each government service so that citizens can ask questions and state opinions about each one. Whenever citizens ask questions or make complaints, they should receive a prompt response from the municipal officials in charge. If neglected for a long time, citizens will become frustrated and this will give the City Portal a bad reputation. There should be organizational support to the person responsible for facilitating communication and interation in each category of

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(v)

155

municipal services. There should also be rules and guidelines setting out timescales for response which should be in days (say two) not weeks. Collecting citizen’s opinions through the Diagnosis Forum: Sometimes municipal government needs to collect citizens’ opinions on certain policy issues. Opinion polls can be carried out through the “Diagnosis Forum” which can be found in each service category of the Open City Portal. You can put several questions relating to the policy issues, and for each question, there is provision for up to five answers. In addition citizens can write free comment. Citizens can advertize their events: There are many events organized by civil society, NGOs and citizens’ groups. They are an important opportunity for face to face contact and social networking. The Open City Portal provides an “Event Forum” for each category of service which allows citizens to submit information about their events. These fora also will incorporate information about events organized by the municipality. Asking “Resource Persons” to provide expertise to the website: The Open City Portal partly relies on voluntary contributions from citizens who have expertise in particular topics. The “Resource Person” forum is a part of the portal where volunteer experts from outside the municipal government can provide knowledge and expertise. They can do this through a contribution to the “Basic Facts (FAQ)” Forum. Municipal governments may take this further and, for example, ask resource persons registered through the “Resource Persons Forum” to facilitate the discussion and questions and answers in the “E-Community Forum” related to their area of expertise. Encourage institutions to become a partner: The Open City Portal also needs support from academic, professional and voluntary institutions. The portal invites them to share their knowledge. For some municipal service categories such as environmental protection, youth development, and adult education, collaboration with such institutions is indispensable. The “Development Partners Forum” encourages these institutions to register to the Portal and share their knowledge through its various fora. The Open City Portal has the capacity to record all the contributions made by citizens, resource persons and partner institutions so that they can be given some recognition by the municipal government.

Organizations to Support the OpenCityPortal The unique features described above can be materialized only with the combination of three activities: development and technical support to the Open City Portal, training and installation of the Portal, and provision of advanced research and collection of citylevel benchmark data and global knowledge content. In order to provide additional support to achieve the above goal, Open City Taskforce was created as the network to support the OCP activities. The Taskforce is now establishing the following organizations. 1. The Open City Foundation: a non-profit legal entity to promote sustainable development and local e-governance through providing affordable e-government portals. The Foundation will be established in Virginia, U.S. in collaboration with George Mason University, Institute for strategic Innovation, in order to coordinate activities associated with the OpenCityPortal: developing portal platform, training and knowl-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

156

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

edge sharing. The Foundation will raise resources for these activities, paying attention to the needs of low-income countries and small cities, and thus contributing to reducing poverty. 2. OpenCityPortal Support Centers: commercial companies or NGOs to offer installation, web-hosting and technical support services for the OCP partner cities and upgrade the OCP platform. They also develop online city service software modules (such as an online birth certificate) and install them for partner cities. These services are more efficiently provided by the private sector organizations located near to the clients. If the number of client cities is increasing according to the business plan, the Support Centers will produce a high internal rate of return on these activities. 3. The Open City Institute: A research and training institute that will be established in the Essex University, School of Entrepreneurship and Business, U.K., in partnership with a network of other universities and training institutes in the areas of egovernance, public-sector governance, regional development and entrepreneurship to support OCP’s knowledge management functions. The Institute will design and conduct benchmarking studies, coordinate training activities, and provide technology transfer to country-based training institutes on the video and CD-ROM based training material, curriculum to cover several practical training courses, including the OCP installation, local governance and e-participation, creating job with ICT business models.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Installation of OpenCityPortal in a Country and Cities Training Programmes: The Open City Institute, in collaboration with partner universities and training institutes, provide training programs in a country, based on a “training-the-trainers” approach. Cities and the national ICT ministry will jointly select 20–25 trainees comprising the CIOs of national and city governments and their assistants who will become a local training team for the Open City Portal in their own city government and other cities. Once they received a training program, they will train employees of municipal government how to install the portals and how to develop content. A training-the-trainers program for a country consists of five-day courses that will cover strategic aspects, such as setting e-government goals, action plan, and organizational structure, and practical aspects, such as administration of the OCP and how to develop content. Training programme will use the OCP’s 10-step “action-learning” tutorial program, which creates an actual developmental city portal so that trainees can develop a real portal site. After the training, participating cities have their own developmental city portal, which is ready to be published when its basic content is developed. Training institutions will receive fees for their OCP training activities. Digital Local Agenda training: Installation of the Open City Portal will produce more results, if it is combined with the national and municipal efforts on urban and rural Internet connectivity, ICT business development and ICT education and training. We can provide the Open City Portal training combined with broader “Digital Local Agenda” training which will be more effective for cities with relatively low ICT infrastructure level. Cost of Training: Cost of the training-the-trainers programme will be roughly US$50,000–100,000 depending upon the scope of the training, Local costs for trainees (per diems, travel costs) should be born by the national and local governments.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

(i)

(ii)

157

In the case of high-income and middle income countries, we expect the national government and several cities will bear the cost of training. In the case of Low-income countries, the Open City Foundation will make an effort to raise donor funding for the training. In that case, the national government and the participating cities are requested to cooperate with the funding application by providing necessary supporting documents. Once the local trainees completed the training course, they are awarded the certificate for Open City Portal Trainer. If they train city officials on the OCP installation, they will be awarded with the training fee from the Open City Foundation.

Benefits of the Government Portaliv The benefits of government online are obvious. At least, the following aspects of benefits have been achieved by many governments. (i)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

Equal Access to Government Information in the remote areas: Government online can address the inequities of regional/rural areas of a country in accessing government information and services. It can break down the barrier of distance or mobility that some clients face. Online service delivery can complement and enhance existing traditional service channels for such clients, and provide around the clock access to government from almost anywhere. Government online will drive the development of a seamless national approach to the provision of online services. Simplified Procedures of Dealing with Government: Government online will remove the need to understand the structure of a government and the distinction between its tiers. As a matter of fact, it is not at all important for a client of government to understand how the government is structured but how to access government services. With a traditional government, business in particular has had to navigate the complex structure of government in order to gain the necessary information or service – often having to deal with more than one government agency or jurisdiction to resolve a business issue. Transparent Government: By means of modern information technology, various government information systems can be developed which will be able to record, if necessary, all the data and information within any government business processes. Government online will enable these data and information open and accessible to the public by means of online government information services, and, accordingly, government businesses become observable to the public. Reduced Government Costs: Government Online will continue to provide opportunities to reduce the costs of interacting between citizens, business and government, and speed up operational processes for both business and government. In a short term, moving information and services online will require new investments by government agencies while retaining traditional service delivery channels. In a longer run, however, greater use of the Internet will reduce overall costs of government. Government must develop more and better services online, i.e., integrated services that break down the barriers of government structure and jurisdiction, and services that meet the real

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

158

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

needs of individuals and businesses. Through concerted actions with other governments, industry and the community, the opportunities within reach become realistic. Recent Trends in Categorization of Government Services in the Portalsiv While portals are currently at the center of most government’s e-government strategy, they are an important initial step towards an overall long-term strategy. Portals provide constituents (i.e., citizens, businesses and governments) with a front door to seamless interaction with their government. Many governments refer to the need for a central, up-to-date catalogue of government services to enable citizens to see the big picture in a single location. (i)

(ii)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

Designed based on organizational structure: In the early stage of government portal development, portals were designed based on the government’s organizational structure, i.e., government-oriented approach. However, the developers soon found out that the users, as a matter of fact, are not interested in nor are familiar with how the government is structured. Client-centered approach: Instead, what they are concerned with is how to find the services they want or the answers to their questions. As a result, now portals are designed using what is referred to as the “client-centered” or the “demand-oriented” approach. Their audience, such as citizens, businesses, entrepreneurs, civil servants or non-citizens (tourists for example) categorizes primary gateways on the initial portal page. Canada and the Netherlands have found this model to be their choice. “Life-event” and “communities of interest” models: Another model used by Singapore and numerous state governments in the U.S. is the life event model. In addition, portals are also being developed for communities of interest such as seniors, students, farmers, and workers or by functional area such as disaster reduction. Large governments such as the United States and Canada have implemented this approach. Open City Portal uses a “Citizen-Centered” approach with Life Cycle elements: Open City Portal classifyes the government services into a systemmatic category structure, using 9 “Sections” and each sections has nine “Categories.” One Section covers the “Citizens Registration” and the other covers “Life Events”, such as “Birth/Baby Care” to “Death/Funeral”. Other sections are classified into citizens’ functional needs: Education, Health, Business/Work, Infrastructure, Social Inclusion. Other two are the important purpose of the e-government, namely promotion of “Regional Development” and creation of “Information Society.” You can customize the Category Structure: Open City Portal can give you the flexibility to change the Categories within the Sections. When you go to the “Portal Development Page” you can select either the starndard installation, where you will use the same standard categories, or “simplified Installation” where you can select only needed categories from the standard set of categories. Thisrd option is to modify categories to new ones which are more suitable for your municipality’s needs. In the real construction of the City Portal, Taskforce memebrs will carefully decide the category structure, based on the demand survey for the Cuty Portal.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

M. Kusakabe / OpenCityPortal: Promoting E-Participation

159

Call for Advisory Council Members of the Open City Foundation and Institute: We are now calling for the member of the Advisory Council of the OCP Foundation and Institute. The Advisory Council is to advice the strategy and policy of the Open City Portal Foundation and Institute and the research subjects. Advisory Council members will provide information on his/her city in response to the annual surveys conducted by the OCP and ad-hoc benchmarking studies. They in turn have full access to the survey data and analysis report. Council members should have an experience in municipal planning and administration, or a member of an NGO, consultant or academic researcher who have an expertise in urban, regional and community issues. We particularly welcome experts on participatory urban initiatives. The Open City Foundation will select up to 100 Advisory Council members representing 100 cities. The cities represented in the Advisory Council will be exempt from the annual membership fee when it installs the Open City Portal. The goal of the Open City Foundation is to create local/regional Open City Institutes and taskforces in 5 countries each year so that they start installing the portals in 30 cities within next 10 years. Within the next ten years, the OCP will be installed in 1,000 cities in 50 countries, including low-income countries.

i

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

LightHouses Taskforce 2005. “LightHouses Survey Result 2005”. OpenCityPortal website, http:// www.opencityportal.net/Netgrowth/ICTWorkshop/DiagnoseResults_Category.asp?Area=Global&CategoryID =STAa00&PartnerLong=OpenCityPortal&Language=English. ii E-Municipality Forum. 2000, “Survey: Challenges for Dveloping E-Municipality” cited in E-municipality Manual, NTT Communications Tokyo. NIKKEI BP Planning 2002 (in Japanese). iii Wauters, Patrick. 2006. “Benchmarking e-government policy within the e-Europe programme”. Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives. Vol. 58 No. 5, 2006 pp. 389-403. iv http://www.opencityportal.net/Netgrowth/ICTWorkshop/FAQ_global.asp?CategoryID=STAa84&Partner Long=OpenCityPortal.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

This page intentionally left blank

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Section II

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Case Studies

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

This page intentionally left blank

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-163

163

Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009 Toshio OBI Institute of e-Government, Waseda University, Japan [email protected]

Abstract. Waseda University International e-Government Ranking was released for the first time since 2005 and conducted by a researcher team and staff of Waseda University. The methodology includes collecting related data and information from its organized survey, from international organizations such as ITU, APEC, OECD and etc. as well as from organizing international seminar and forum on e-Governance. The collected inputs are analyzed and synthesized accordingly to a certain set of indictors and parameters which evolve every year to fit the current development condition and situation. Current 6 areas with 26 parameters to measure 34 countries in the world include Network Preparedness, Required Interface, Functioning Applications, Management optimization, National Portal, Introduction of CIO and Promotion of e-Government. Result of the rankings comprises of the overall scale and categorized area scales. Keywords. Waseda University International e-Government Rankings, e-Government, e-Governance, Network Preparedness, Required Interface, Functioning Applications, Management optimization, National Portal, Introduction of CIO and Promotion of e-Government

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction “This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Waseda University International e-Government Rankings. Aside from the annual rankings, the research group also looked back on the past 5 years and studied the evolution of e-Government since the research initially conducted.”, mentioned by Prof. Dr Toshio Obi, Director, Waseda University Institute of e-Government, in the Media Advisory of 2009 Waseda University e-Government Ranking, Tokyo on February 1,2009. The Institute of e-Government, Waseda University started its race on the Waseda University International e-Government Ranking since the year 2004. The first ever ranking was published for the first time on January 11, 2005. The Institute mentioned in its first press release that: “To draft a ground design for the future e-Government plans with sharing experiences and wisdom, international comparison is extremely significant.” The first announced 2005 Waseda University International e-Government Ranking included 23 major countries in the world. Number of countries incorporated in the ranking increased up to 33 in this latest year of 2009. In conducting the survey for e-Government ranking, the Institute of e-Government, Waseda University examines a certain set of indicators with well defined parameters. The indicators as well as parameters evolve every year to fit current ICT and e-Government situations and trends that have been carefully defined and analyzed. The

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

164

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

researcher team under the Institute of e-Government led by Prof. Dr. Toshio Obi hopes that outcomes of this kind of research on scoring the ICT related activities will contribute to the development of e-Government worldwide, a tool for promoting the development of an information society, reinforcing international competitive power as well as strongly supporting citizen’s lives.

2. Facts and Figures of the Waseda University e-Government Rankings In conducting survey for the Waseda University e-Government Ranking, the staff of Waseda University Institute of e-Government and researchers from Waseda University Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunications Studies, under the guidance of Professor Toshio Obi, director, Institute of the e-Government, latest data from the International Telecommunication (ITU), Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) served as main references. Likewise, statistics, interviews, local researches, international conferences, workshops and information from authorized organizations of each country, were used as resource materials. Every year the team deployed new indicators and comprehensive parameters for measuring the latest development for more accurate evaluation of e-Governments worldwide. It also examined the co-relationship between national e-Governments and the economic and social activities in the countries involved. The Institute of e-Government, Waseda University is also in charge of the APEC e-Government Research Center in Japan. 2.1. Highlights of the Rankings in 2005–2009

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2005 Waseda University International e-Government Rankings Focus in this starting year on ranking e-Governments at national level of the major countries in the world included examination of Networks, Required Interface, Homepage Situation, Introductions of Chief Information Officer (CIO). The researcher team evaluated the 5 main indicators with 25 items by examination of relevant websites, interviews and questionnaires. In addition, as the Institute of e-Government, Waseda University has been designated as APEC e-Government Research Center, the team has been consulting with ITU, World Bank, UN, OECD and EU on identifying the issues. Also, Waseda University had held two international conferences on e-Governments in cooperation with APEC and ITU, having the energetic assessment by the experts all over the world. Analysis & conclusion from the findings: 1)

Network Preparedness Building network and infrastructure for e-Governments, shown such as the number of the Internet users, Internet hosts, Mobile diffusion, Digitalization, the websites of the e-Governments still depend on the priority of national strategy by governments, however even the developing countries have been rapidly arranging the internet infrastructure, while the most advanced coun-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

165

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

tries such as the United States, Singapore, Japan and the like have already gone critical. 2)

Required Interface-Functioning Applications The required interface for building up e-Governments such as e-Procurement, e-Tender, e-Signature and e-File and the like have been introduced on selective application basis. However, as for e-Voting systems, it seems uneasy to introduce smoothly because of the political systems, national scale, technical issues and etc. Hereafter the discussion on this issue will grow heated.

3)

Introduction of the Applications Not only homepage appearances, presentations and web designs, but also linkage with the administrative enterprise resource planning (ERP), high leveled applications which may fulfill optimization for e-Governments is becoming more and more important. Concerning the introduction of such applications, a gap between the advanced countries and the other countries can be found.

4)

Homepage As for homepage appearances, presentations, usage and the like, each country makes a dramatic progress. In many countries, their homepages are even daily renewed; however, concerning the multi-language systems, which correspond to mainly the official languages of the United Nations, the differences between the original websites and websites in foreign languages such as English can be seen. But, on the contrary English speaking countries do not seem to be eager for presenting their websites in other official languages of the United Nations.

5)

CIO Not only maintenance of the e-Governments, but also their future developments with the correct reactions in consonance with the times, the introduction and training of CIOs, as a main player in formulating, implementing and evaluating e-Governments are required. Other rankings for e-Governments did not make a point of CIOs to assessing e-Governments, but our Institute of e-Government has respected CIO in HRD, even from the view of the optimization.

2006 Waseda University International e-Government Rankings Focus was mainly on websites and systems such as Customer Relation Management. This year study included relevant factors for an ideal e-Government, such as the core of the administrative and financial reform – its effectiveness, productivity, and usefulness to the citizens. Analysis & conclusion from the findings: 1)

Network Preparedness The foundations of e-Government such as Internet users, Broadband users, Cellular phone users, PC users and Security system have been well estab-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

166

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

lished, while the gap between the advanced countries and developing countries is getting closer. Concerning the infrastructure of information technology, countries (economies) such as United States, Canada, Finland, Korea, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan are doing well with high level of network infrastructure. 2)

Required Interface-Functioning Applications Concerning Required Interface-functioning Applications, Online applications, e-Tender system, e-Tax system, e-Voting system, e-Payment system, and User-friendly interface, were examined. As a result, each country introduces online applications with aggressive approach, while other countries that do not have such systems yet will introduce it in the near future. The user-friendly applications of e-Governments are required to attract the citizens’ interest. In terms of e-Voting, most countries do not have the concrete plan to promote it.

3)

Management optimization It is important for e-Governments to optimize the whole administrative works using high-level applications, systematically and effectively. Under this consideration, enterprise architecture (EA) ICT investment, System optimization, Integrated network system are promoted mainly by the advanced countries while the countries which are ranked low in the research also progress in Administrative and budgetary systems, and Public management reform by ICT. Therefore, it can be said that, at this point in time, the difference in terms of e-Government establishment between advanced and some developing countries are getting ambiguous.

4)

Homepage Homepage situation, Updating frequency, Public disclosure, Link navigation system, Multi-language correspondence were analyzed. Currently, many countries update or renew their homepage on a daily basis. However, on the multi-language correspondences, very few countries translate their websites from their official and native languages to other identified by the United Nations (UN), namely, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian and French. Websites of countries such as United Kingdom, United States, the Philippines, and Singapore, use only English, their official language. For European countries, it is necessary that at least two languages, namely English and French are used. However, not all complied with this requirement. Even in Latin America and Asia, not all websites from these two regions have an English version.

5)

CIO The designation of CIO in the government is seen as a very vital strategy to bridge the gap between management and technology. Thus, the introduction and training of CIOs are very important for the success of e-Government. Some countries have the same position with the same capacity but different titles. Though, the title CIO is becoming very important since there are growing international collaboration in support of CIO human resource development. In this area, indicators that were evaluated included Introduction of CIO, HRD, Human Resource Development, for CIO, Supporting body for CIO, Role and function of CIO.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

6)

167

Promotion of e-Government Promotion of e-Government is measured using the following indicators: Priority of e-Government Planning and Strategy, Promotion Activities, Legal Framework, and Evaluation System. This is an added area in measuring e-Government, to the previous ranking, which looked into the strategies of prioritizing e-Government as part of a country’s national strategy; activities that promote e-Government; passage or amendments of laws that provide the legal mandate; and self-assessment efforts. According to this research, many countries place e-Government at the core of the national strategy. However, some still lack the legal framework for e-Government.

2007 Waseda University International e-Government Rankings Focus reflected from the keyword for the year 2007 is “New Role of CIO and Online Services and Applications”. In addition the survey and analysis team not only checked websites and ICT deployment in governments, but also the relationship between governments and their stakeholders.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Analysis & conclusion from the findings: 1)

Network Preparedness As the foundations to support the implementation of e-Government, some statistical data shown such as Internet users, Broadband users, Cellular phone users, PC users and Security system factors were used to show that the gap between the developed countries and developing countries have decreased. Concerning the infrastructure of information technology, developed countries such as United States, Canada, Finland, Korea, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan are in advanced level of their network infrastructure. The newest technology and the statistics of users in terms of preparedness are spread across the whole of each of the countries mentioned above with almost similar percentage in all items used in the evaluation, while developing countries have increased the number of cell phone users. As for security systems, it is regarded as one of the top priority issues to implement e-Government in developed countries/economies.

2)

Required Interface-Functioning Applications For the required Interface functioning applications – Online applications, e-Tender system, e-Tax system, e-Voting system, and e-Payment system were examined. As a result, each country introduces a variety of online applications with aggressive approach as interactive as they can, while other countries that do not have such systems yet will introduce it in the near future as described in their e-Government plan. In terms of e-Voting, most countries have not shown any application, possibly because to have an election it takes about 4–5 years. As for e-Procurement (e-Tender), most of governments have improved the systems’ effectively.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

168

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

3)

Management Optimization Many government organizations make a great effort with their e-Government implementations getting caught up with how to manage their day by day operation and at the same time improve their internal processes. To systematically and effectively implement the practical purposes of e-Government to the whole bureaucracy, it is required for government services to be available for all stakeholders and to deliver immediate and continuous gains. For the past few years, evidences of optimized management and implementation of e-Government initiatives have been observed mostly from countries like Singapore, United States, France, Japan and Korea as they continue to climb up the rankings with more electronic transactions and processes now made available for the citizens.

4)

Homepage This year homepages were again analyzed as one of the indicators in this ranking. This indicator enables not only for dissemination of information about the government’s policies but also as a tool for online-based applications, while encouraging public participation. Government portals should act as catalysts to create demand on e-Government applications. A sharp trend for every government is the growing popularity and sophistication of their homepages and websites. In order to promote e-services to the people, quality and appropriateness of the website features are crucial. It includes reliability of systems, availability of e-services, updated information, cross functional inter-agencies and interactiveness. We used five sub-indicators in assessing the homepage situations. These are Updating frequency, Public disclosure, Link navigation system and Multi-language correspondence. On the Multi-language correspondence, not all countries translate their homepage from their national language to other main languages as identified by United Nations such as Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and French. Certain countries which their native language is English such as United Kingdom and United States and countries where English has been spoken widely such as Singapore and the Philippines tend to apply only this language in their government’s websites. It is necessary to have at least two languages use in the websites.

5)

CIO CIOs play important role in the success of e-Government since the designation of CIOs in the government is seen as a very vital strategy to bridge the gap between management and technology. The same position with the same capacity can be named differently. However, the title CIO is becoming very important since there are growing international collaboration to support CIO human resource development. In this area, the evaluated indicators were: the introduction of CIOs, Human Resource Development for CIOs, Supporting Body for CIO and Role and Function of CIOs.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

6)

169

Promotion of e-Government For the measurement of the Promotion of E-Government the following indicators were used: a) Prioritization of e-Government Planning and Strategies; b) Promotional Activities on e-Government; c) Legal Framework and; d) the Evaluation System. Promotion of e-Government is one area that is useful in measuring e-Government presence in a country or state. It looked into strategies involved in prioritizing e-Government as part of a country’s national strategy; activities pertaining to the promotion of e-Government; passage of bills or amendments of laws providing legal mandates and, the country’s assessment efforts. Results of this research showed that the majority of the countries include e-Government at the core of their national strategy. However, some have yet to create a legal framework for e-Government.

2008 Waseda University International e-Government Rankings Focus was on a number of new trends including the emergence of Web 2.0, meaning that the usage of the Internet, as an effective and easy way to increase the interaction and participation of citizens that has been empowered by new technologies and applications such as blogs, Rich Site Summary (RSS), and mobile government. These tools allow the citizens to propose their ideas or comments to their government easily, and, in a similar way get feedback from government. e-Democracy including e-Participation and e-Inclusion are growing critical issue. In the public sector, more countries like the United States and Singapore are using various interactive tools to serve as tools to communicate with their citizens in terms of environment protection policy, regional recognition and even political issues with an interactive approach so that both government and citizens could reach a win-win situation. Analysis & conclusion from the findings:

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

A. Main Trends of e-Government by Indicators 1)

Network Preparedness In the area of network preparedness, the major foundation for implementing e-Government such as Internet users, Broadband users, Cellular phone users, PC users and Security system have been well established, while an increasing number of countries have already reached the upper level.

2)

Required Interface-Functioning Applications There has been major progress in the development of required interface applications for the promotion of e-Government in many countries. This is reflected in the results obtained by countries/economies such as Japan and Hong Kong, currently in the top four places in the field of interface functions and applications category as compared to last year’s ranking for the same category. Based on the obtained ratings, the top three spots in the required interface category for this year are occupied by the United States, Singapore and Canada respectively. Also, countries ranked in the top two (1) Canada and (2) Australia are now on third and fourth places. It is also important to note that there are more countries catching up to countries that initially led

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

170

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

e-Government rankings in the past, hence the number of countries that are tied to the same rank. This implies a slowing down of e-Government initiatives in these countries (developed countries) and the acceleration of e-Government initiatives in more developing countries. In the area of e-Government applications, e-Tax and e-Tender applications seem to be most widely implemented. e-Voting, on the other hand, is encountering legal issues in some countries resulting in the slowing down of initiatives in this field. 3)

Management Optimization A growing number of government organizations have realized the need to continuously review and revise their internal processes so as to capitalize on the advantages of ICT while at the same time deliver quality services to all stakeholders. Competition has been fierce this year and many countries have made vast improvement in their effort of optimizing management within their government and these have been reflected in the results for the Management Optimization indicator. Half of the countries that were in the top 10 for this indicator last year dropped out from the list. Norway, Canada, Finland, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Italy have replaced France, Japan, Malaysia, Germany, Taiwan and Thailand as among the top countries/economies for this indicator. Among them, Norway has leapfrogged the countries into the top with its eNorway 2009 plan slowly but surely bearing fruit since its inception in 2005. Singapore, Hong Kong, USA, Korea and Sweden have maintained their stride and continue to build on what they have achieved in the past year. Newcomers to these e-Government Ranking, for example, India is ranked in the middle group. As a new economic power for the 21st century, Indian government’s effort in optimizing and integrating its public sector will be closely monitored.

4)

Homepage In this year’s rankings, homepages are again included as one of the indicators. Homepage ranking focuses on four main areas: Updating frequency, Public disclosure, Link navigation system, and Multi-language correspondence. The top ten countries in the homepage ranking came from (1) Canada, (1) Hong Kong, (1) USA, (4) Korea, (4) Norway, (4) Sweden, (7) Australia, (7) Finland, (7) Japan, and (7) India. Most of the countries/economies that occupy the top ten fulfilled the above requirements. However, for multi-language correspondence, some of the countries (for example, New Zealand and Australia) do not have multi-language option in their homepages. As for countries/economies analyzed last year that did not have multi-language homepages (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Philippines, and Singapore), only the United States and the United Kingdom have implemented this option in their homepages. As for the Philippines, the multi-language option has beenpartially implemented.As for the newcomers into the top ten homepage rankings, Hong Kong enters the top ten after being ranked 12th from last year in ranking. In addition, Norway and India also made it to the top ten in this field for the first time this year.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

171

5)

CIO The top ranked in the CIO field show a trend towards the top e-Government ranking countries in the report. With the exception of Malaysia and Thailand, the rest of the countries/economies come mainly from the top 10 e-Government countries/economies with the top 4 countries in e-Government also showing in the top 4 CIO countries. In addition countries in Asia seem to place a heavier emphasis on the CIO field with 6 countries at the top 10 coming from Asia while North America provided 2, followed by countries from Europe and Oceania. The data reveals a trend that the promotion of the CIO function comes after the other functions of the e-Government which focuses on implementations like Network Preparedness, Homepage, Interface Functions and Applications and lastly Promotion of e-Government. On the other hand CIO and management functions seem to receive lesser attention.

6)

Promotion of e-Government More nations are increasing their efforts in e-Government promotional activities. The United States is still in first place for its e-Government Promotion Activities, sharing this position with Canada, Singapore and Japan, which have improved their scores for this field, compared to last year. Korea has dropped from second place to fifth. In a similar way, Finland and Australia have descended from second place to eighth and tenth respectively. Four countries/economies (Sweden, Norway, Hong Kong and Taiwan) have improved from last year to be part of the top ten in this category.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

B. Recommendations For legal and public administration reform, many governments need to determine new targets and accelerate the provision of more online applications (setting specific deadlines, for example, before year 2010). However, fields such as e-Voting will take more time to get fully implemented in most countries as there are a number of legal issues that need to be previously solved. In general, the issuance of general laws in the field of e-Government issued by the legislative branch or Congress is going to decrease, to be drastically replaced by technical regulation such as that issued by Ministries and governmental agencies. Meanwhile, as citizen engagement is considered a major component of a successful e-Government Strategy, the activities to promote the usage of e-Government (C2G, B2G) need to be increased gradually. There are many considerations and potential implications in the continuous implementation of e-Government in various countries. In the development of online interface applications and their deployment, it is necessary to ensure that the citizens are aware of what exactly the applications can deliver in the shortest possible time without the need for them to go on-site or without having to undergo through a complicated process when using the system. For those countries with advance status in terms of the required interface applications, it is necessary to focus more on information campaigns to increase the peoples’ awareness on the benefit of using online applications like e-Tax systems, e-Payments and others.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

172

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

Next, with the rise of Web 2.0, governments can have more citizens’ involvement than before, therefore it is expected that countries/economies are increasingly going to construct their homepages/portal using Web 2.0 in the near future. Moreover, due to the frequency of interaction between the government and citizens, methods to deal with opinions or comments from citizens will be a topic that will need special attention. In a simple word, the relationship between government and citizens on Internet, or so-called the e-citizenship, is becoming a very interesting issue as citizens have now available channels to voice out their opinions. On this regard, we propose the new concept of “e-community” as comprehensive e-Government. Finally, we would like to recommend the priority of human resource development for CIO as an engine of implementing e-Government all over the world. On this regard, international organizations such as ITU, APEC and major universities should take initiative on formulating the framework of capacity building to meet the huge demand of CIO activities .From my experience as an overseer of the project on CIO training under APEC for many years, it takes some time to materialize the HRD scheme and obtain the effective results by comprehensive evaluation methodology.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

C. Top Ten Rankings In Each Sector (Indicator) in 2008

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

173

2009 Waseda University International e-Government Rankings

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Focus was on the theme “Review and Foresight”. The increasing importance of e-Government in a scenario is characterized by the global financial crisis, as well as raising concerns about environmental issues. ICT can be used as tools to face these issues and the ones related to the consolidation of an inclusive Information Society. Governments are key actors in this process and the development of e-Government in the past five years is a proof of the efforts carried out to build a citizen-oriented state. Analysis & conclusion from the findings: A. Main Trends of e-Government development The following section will illustrate the most important and remarkable changes of the global e-Government which we found during the past five years in our e-Government ranking survey. 1)

E-Government and Public Administration Reform: Many governments, especially in developing countries, started changing their awareness about the role of ICT in the public sector. Governments have become aware that it is not enough to introduce ICT to their existing internal processes, but to use ICT to assist the re-engineering process in government organization concurrently with some other e-Government initiatives.

2)

Agent-Centric to Citizen-Centric: Governments invested huge capital into infrastructure when they started e-Government programs. Changing from supply based solutions to meeting

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

174

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

the demand of citizens, governments are gradually shifting to provision of e-services which are the most convenient for citizens and other stakeholders in their society. 3)

E-Government to E-Governance: There is a gradual change in the way governments interact with their citizens: from merely providing services, governments have established virtual-spaces for citizen to have their voice. In this way, citizens have been given the opportunity to participate in policy making by using ICT. Strengthening of democratic processes by the means of ICT brought to the forefront the importance of electronic municipal services. The efforts for decentralization in e-Government strategies can be clearly viewed to date in countries with strong democratic culture where municipalities enjoy considerable independence. The shift from administration to social and political services and as a consequence the shift from federal to local e-Government might be considered as a transition from e-Government to e-governance.

4)

The new role of government CIO Concurrently with the development of e-Government, CIO in the public sector has been given more and more duties. In the past their main responsibility was information technology management and their position was information technology director. However, nowadays their concerns include not only technology but also social and administrative work. As the result, many governments in the world change the content and method of training and selecting CIO in the public sector to be more comprehensive.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

B. Main Trends of e-Government by Indicators 1)

Network Preparedness Regarding network preparedness, the major and basic foundation for implementing e-Government such as Internet users, Broadband users, Cellular phone users, and PC users have been well established, while an increasing number of countries have already reached the top level of the world.

2)

Required Interface-Functioning Applications The availability of user-friendly and secure electronic services is the ultimate goal of e-Government initiatives. The first strategies of electronic services delivery were guided by the knowledge of the functions and areas of responsibility of government agencies and were focused on online presence with gradual enhancement of the services. With the shift to user-oriented strategies to service delivery in the last years, many countries are catching up with the leaders and have visible results in offering much more diverse, advanced and comprehensive electronic services through one- stop-shop portals. To ensure usability of offered services and trust to e-Governance, the countries are putting their efforts to ensure secured transactions by adopting necessary legislation and introducing various security features. The only service that is lagging behind in its implementation is e-Voting, hampered by unavailability of proper legislation and security challenges.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

175

3)

Management Optimization All governments realize that ICT is able to help them streamline their processes and optimize the productivity of their ministries and departments. However, not all governments emphasize an integrated and uniformed effort. In this category, we measure the government’s computerization and ICT integration attainment, quantifying the government’s efforts in these areas.

4)

Homepage The national portal is the foundation of e-Government and a basic interface for stakeholders to access government in an electronic way. Most of the countries in our sample have established their portal very early and achieved a certain level already. For this year, a new pattern and set of indicators were employed in order to test the new generation of national portal. Since 2003, a new wave of web-based services has been launched with a creative idea and obtained a fruitful success, for example Wikipedia, Blog and so on. These e-services based on the concept of the user as a producer of content, contacts, feedback and even applications, is generally known as the stream of Web 2.0. Currently, the concept of Web 2.0 is being adopted in public sector more and more. For year 2008, Singapore, U.S.A. and Korea made a big progress on their national portal. Rapid improvement of homepages without substantial operations is the concerned issue.

5)

CIO CIO in government is seen to be one of the key factors to the success of e-Government. Therefore, Waseda Institute of e-Government had included a set of CIO indicators since the first e-Government ranking in 2005. As awareness of the important roles of CIO is increasing, most of our sample countries designated CIOs (or equivalent titles) responsible for e-Government implementation. They also have programs for CIO development, bodies for supporting CIO and framework for CIO functions in certain levels. As a result, the differentiation regarding CIO between the countries is smaller and smaller. In fact, the indicators of CIO in government are not as suitable as they were five years ago. These indicators can not sufficiently cover and evaluate the new roles and activities of CIO at national level and sub-national levels. Therefore, the improvement of these indicators is required, based on the principle of following concretizing and extending the previous indicator. Compared to the last rankings, all the names of indicator and sub-indicators have been changed and the checklist for each sub-indicator was created based on definitions from the last period, providing a higher degree of differentiation among surveyed countries (economies). In coming 5 years or so, the majority is expected to appoint legally-defined CIOs at all levels and establish training, consulting, and studying organizations as some leading countries already do. And the leaders will continue benchmarking, learning best practices, and then developing their CIO roles, leading to realization of a new type of organizational structure where CIO substantially plays key roles in both leading and sustaining all kinds of public services.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

176

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

6)

Promotion of e-Government More nations are increasing their efforts in e-Government promotional activities. The United States is still in first place for its e-Government Promotion Activities, sharing this position with Canada, Singapore and Japan, which have improved their scores for this field, compared to last year. Korea has dropped from second place to fifth. In a similar way, Finland and Australia have descended from second place to eighth and tenth respectively. Four countries (Sweden, Norway, Hong Kong and Taiwan) have improved from last year to be part of the top ten for Promotion Activities.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

C. Recommendations Although recently the world has seen the significant development in delivering the public services via Internet since the beginning of e-Government era, there are some challenges that governments would have to address in earnest for the next few years. Most of the surveyed countries have by and large made progress through building basic ICT infrastructures, establishing integrated government portals, extending the on-line availability of governmental services, and training and assigning CIOs with the aim of realizing IT-enabled public administration reform. While enhanced citizen participation should be the core objective of e-Government initiatives. Therefore, a number of countries are facing a major turning point in its further implementation in the real sense. One of the most required efforts is to let e-Government go into citizens’ hands. After making the national e-Government ready, it must spread toward lower levels such as e-Municipality, in which we would face several inherent problems in implementation such as limitation of budget, necessity of horizontal and vertical collaboration and standardization, and human resource development to initiate and maintain the local e-Governments. In another respect, only a few countries have recorded satisfying use of their online services which implies that “marketing” of online services is further required. Hence, the policy-makers should pay attention not only to mention citizen needs assessment but market-centric products (online services) development, promotion and even enrichment of user experience through continuous improvement based on the user participation. Additionally, cyber laws, authentication systems’ comprehensiveness, and adoption of Web 2.0 paradigm which is the technology promoting citizens to use online services, will assist to shape the next stage of e-Government. To make the above-mentioned change happen in effect, however, management optimization, if not organizational transformation, has been and still is a core issue. Even the development and assignment of CIOs is far from enough. They are required to obtain the prominent competencies such as transformational leadership or sensitivity and responsiveness to external environment. Moreover, structures and cultures of governmental organizations should follow the requirement for better governance with openness, transparency, and accountability to citizens. Governments must put themselves and ICT last, while putting their citizens first, to make the most of ICT and governments for good governance. In the near future Both WEB 2.0 and Mobile government will be the hottest issues in e-Government.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

D. Top Ten Rankings In Each Sector (Indicator) in 2009

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

177

178

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

E. Comparison on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Rankings Results

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Table: Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Press Released January 11, 2005

Press Released December 16, 2005

Press Released January 29, 2007

Press Released February 13, 2008

Press Released February 1, 2009

23 countries

32 countries

32 countries

34 countries

34 countries

To Examine 5 Indicators & 25 items of Parameters -------------- Networks No.of Internet Users, Internet Hosts, Mobile Diffusion, Digitalization

To Examine 6 Indicators & 28 items of Parameters -------------- Network Preparedness Internet users, Broadband users, Mobile users, PC users, Security System -------------- Required Interface Online applications, e-tender,

To Examine 6 Indicators & 26 items of Parameters -------------- Network Preparedness Internet users, Broadband users, Mobile users, PC users, Security System -------------- Required Interface, Functioning Applications

To Examine 6 Indicators & 26 items of Parameters --------------- Network Preparedness Internet users, Broadband users, Mobile users, PC users, Security System -------------- Required Interface, Functioning Applications

To Examine 6 Indicators & 26 items of Parameters --------------- Network Preparedness Internet users, Broadband users, Mobile users, PC users, Security System -------------- Required Interface, Functioning Applications

-------------- Required Interface e-Procurement, e-Tender,

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

179

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

2005 e-Signature, e-File, e-Voting

--------------- Applications ERP, enterprise resource planning, high leveled applications to fulfill optimization for e-Government

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

--------------- Homepage Situation Homepage Appearances, Presentations, Usage, Multi-Language

-------------- Introduction of CIO Introduction and Training of CIOs

2006 e-tax, e-voting, e-payment, User-friendly system

Online Applications, e-Tender, e-Tax, e-Voting, e-payment system

2008

2009

Online Applications, e-Tender, e-Tax, e-Voting, e-payment system

Cyber Laws Online Applications, e-Tender, e-Tax, e-Voting, e-payment, Social Security Services, Civil Registration Services, Consular Services, Labor Related Services ----------------

---------------

----------------

----------------

 Management optimization EA-ICT investment, Sys. optimization, Integrated network system, Administrative and budgetary systems, Public management reform by ICT --------------- Homepage Situation Updating frequency, Public disclosure, Link navigation, Multi-Language Correspondence

 Management optimization System optimization, Integrated network system, Admin & budgetary systems, Public management reform by ICT --------------- Homepage/ Portal Situation Updated Frequency, Public disclosure, Link navigation system, Multi-Language Correspondence --------------- Introduction of CIO Introduction of CIO, HRD for CIO, Supporting body for CIO, Role& Function of CIO --------------- Promotion of e-Government Priority of e-Gov planning & strategy, Promotion activities, Legal framework, Evaluation system ----------------

 Management optimization System optimization, Integrated network system, Admin & budgetary systems, Public management reform by ICT

 Management optimization Optimization Awareness, Integrated Enterprise Architecture, Administrative and budgetary systems

--------------- Homepage/ Portal Situation Updated Frequency, Public disclosure, Link navigation system, Multi-Language Correspondence --------------- Introduction of CIO Introduction of CIO, HRD for CIO, Supporting body for CIO, Role& Function of CIO --------------- Promotion of e-Government Priority of e-Gov planning & strategy, Promotion activities, Legal framework, Evaluation system ----------------

--------------- National Portal Navigation, Interactivity, Interface, Technical

--------------- Introduction of CIO Introduction of CIO, HRD for CIO, Supporting body for CIO, Role& Function of CIO ---------------- Promotion of e-Government Priority of e-Gov planning & strategy, Promotion activities, Legal framework, Evaluation system

----------------

2007

----------------

--------------- Introduction of CIO CIO Presence, CIO Development Programs, CIO Organizations, CIO Mandate --------------- Promotion of e-Government Legal Mechanism, Enabling Mechanism, Support Mechanism, Assessment Mechanism ----------------

Ranking (Index)

Ranking

Ranking (Score)

Ranking (Score)

Ranking (Score)

1. United State

1. United State

1. United State

1.

1. Singapore

(1.000) 2. Canada (0.985)

(67.18) 2. Canada

2. Singapore (66.60)

United State (68.3)

2.

Singapore (67.8)

(92.89) 2. United State (89.31)

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

180

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

2005 3. Singapore

2006 3. Singapore

(0.981) 4. Finland

4. Japan

5. Korea

6. Germany

7. Taiwan

8. Australia

9. U.K.

10. Finland

11. Hong Kong

12. Sweden

13. Norway

14. Malaysia

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(0.614)

Japan

(85.45) 5. Japan

(62.2) 6.

Hong Kong

(82.30) 6. Korea

(61.7) 7.

Australia

(82.30) 7. Canada

(59.1) 8.

Finland

(80) 8. Taiwan

(58.6) 9.

Sweden

(78.69) 9. Finland

(56.6) 10. Taiwan

(76.02) 10. Germany

(56.6) 11. Italy

(75.30) 11. Italy

(56.1) 12. England

(75.30) 12. Norway

(55.6) 13. Norway

(73.84) 13. Australia

(55.1)

(73.6)

14. Germany

14. Hong Kong

(55.1) 15. New Zealand

(71.86)

17. Thailand (49.96)

(50.0)

(70.61)

18. France

18. Netherlands

18. Malaysia

18. Netherlands

19. New Zealand

19. Norway

20. Italy

20. Belgium

21. Brazil

21. Spain

22. Chile

22. Chile

(53.41)

(49.39)

(49.39)

(45.95)

(0.622) 22. Peru

4. U.K.

17. Thailand

(53.41)

(0.635) 21. Indonesia

Korea

16. New Zealand

(0.647) 20. Russia

14. Italy

(86.94)

16. Netherlands

(0.653) 19. Mexico

13. Hong-Kong

3. Sweden

15. Malaysia

(0.666) 18. Chile

12. France

Canada

15. Belgium

(0.731) 17. New Zealand

11. Germany

(53.98)

(0.786) 16. Brunei

10. Sweden

(54.55)

(0.792) 15. Philippines

9. U.K.

(54.55)

(0.802) 14. Thailand

8. Taiwan

(55.13)

(0.867) 13. China

7. Finland

(55.70)

(0.880) 12. Taiwan

6. Australia

(56.85)

(0.923) 11. Korea

5.

(58.00)

(0.925) 10. U.K.

5. Korea

2009

(63.2)

(59.72)

(0.935) 9. Malaysia

4.

(60.86)

(0.938) 8. Hong Kong

4. Japan

2008

(66.8)

(61.44)

(0.941) 7. Japan

3.

(61.44)

(0.947) 6. Australia

3. Canada (62.59)

(0.952) 5. Sweden

2007

(45.37)

(43.65)

15. Belgium

(50.5) 16. France

(71.26) 16. Spain

(50.0) 17. Belgium

(70.77) 17. France

(49.4) 19. Netherlands

(68.88) 19. New Zealand

(45.4) 20. Thailand

(68.58) 20. Mexico

(44.9) 21. Spain

(64.68) 21. Thailand

(44.3) 22. Indonesia

(64.51) 22. Malaysia

(43.8)

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

(63.38)

181

T. Obi / Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005–2009

2005 23. Vietnam

2006 23. Philippines

(0.603)

2007 23. Philippines (43.08)

24. Spain

24. Mexico (42.51)

25. Mexico

25. Brazil (41.93)

26. South Africa

26. China (40.78)

27. Brunei

27. Brunei (40.21)

28. China

28. South Africa (37.84)

29. Indonesia

29. Peru (34.47)

30. Peru

30. Indonesia (34.47)

31. Russia

32. Vietnam

31. Vietnam

2008 23. China (43.3) 24. Philippines (42.8) 25. Brazil (42.8) 26. Chile (42.3) 27. South Africa (42.3) 28. Mexico (42.3) 29. India (41.8) 30. Brunei (39.8) 31. Vietnam

(33.33)

(39.8)

32. Russia

32. Russia

(32.75)

(37.7) 33. Peru (36.2) 34. Fiji

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(28.0)

2009 23. Indonesia (62.02) 24. India (60.89) 25. South Africa (55.45) 26. China (53.25) 27. Philippines (50.81) 28. Chile (47.11) 29. Russia (41.66) 30. Brazil (41.28) 31. Vietnam (40.77) 32. Peru (38.26) 33. Brunei (33.59) 34. Fiji (26.02)

References [1] http://www.obi.giti.waseda.ac.jp/e_gov/. [2] Japan’s First E-Government World Rankings, http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/ APCITY/UNPAN021484.pdf. [3] Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2005, January 11, 2005. [4] Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2006, December 16, 2005. [5] Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2007, January 29, 2007. [6] Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2008, February 13, 2008. [7] Waseda University International e-Government Rankings 2009, February 1, 2009.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

182

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-182

ITS in Thailand Passakon PRATHOMBUTR Intelligent Transport Systems Program, National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand [email protected] Abstract. This article aims to introduce an Intelligent Transport System or ITS that deployed from the use of information and communication technologies, ICT. The ITS can help improve the efficiency of transportation in term of Safety/Security, Comfort/Convenience and Environment friendly. The article also gives details in terms of the ITS components, the needs of ITS in Thailand, the role of the R&D agency, NECTEC in ITS research and development, the role to build up ITS community, the role in international collaboration and the role in standardization. Keywords. Information and Communication Technology: ICT, Intelligent Transport System: ITS, NECTEC, Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System: SCAT

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Introduction A field of transportation is known as a civil’s or a traffic engineer’s job which the major infrastructure mostly belongs to the ministry of transport. However, nowadays the information and communication technologies (ICT) are embedded to various infrastructures including transportation. Therefore a civil engineer has to work closely with a computer engineer meanwhile the ministry of transport has to plan the infrastructure together with the ministry of ICT. The integration of ICT technologies to the transportation area in many countries has been proved that it is able to improve the efficiency of transportation in term of Safety/Security, Comfort/Convenience and Environment friendly. For example, the old paradigm to solve the traffic congestion problem is to construct a crossing bridge over the intersection. We found that the congestion occurs on the crossing bridge itself since other intersections do not have bridges. To solve the problem with hard construction is no longer the smart solution. Here comes the ICT role of intelligent. Australian applies the ICT to the traffic control system called a SCAT, Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, to operate the whole traffic lights automatically. The SCAT equips with sensor on the road to count vehicles at each intersection before sending the data via communication link to the computer center. The center adapts the timing of traffic signals in the network according to the traffic volume. The SCAT improves the flow of the traffic smartly. A general term of an ICT system that applies to the transportation is called an Intelligent Transport System or ITS. The ITS composes of three components; a human, an infrastructure and a vehicle as shown in Fig. 1. A human component could be a driver, a passenger, a pedestrian or a transport operator. An infrastructure means the transport infrastructure and ICT

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

183

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

Comfort & Convenience

C&C

Safety & Security

Environment & Efficiency

S&S

E&E

Human

Information Communication Technology InfraStructure

Vehicle

Figure 1. Intelligent Transport System.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

equipment like inductive loop, CCTV, fiber optic, Computer center and etc. A vehicle could be boat or aircraft but currently ITS is more focusing on a road transport. These components are linked together by an ICT to form an intelligent system with the purpose to improve safety/security, comfort/convenience and environment/efficiency. Here are examples:

Figure 2. ITS Component I.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

184

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

•

To drivers on the road, ITS can improve quality of travel by assisting drivers to find a faster route. Since the on-board unit can communicate with data center, it receives real-time traffic information and finds the route that avoids congestion or accident.

Figure 3. ITS Component II. Source http://www.prestonbus.co.uk

Public Transport users can enjoy shorter bus travel time, and less worry through public transport information. They will know when their bus is arriving. Operators of bus services can have better management.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

•

Figure 4. ITS to ease Traffic Condition.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

•

185

Electronic Road Pricing for operator. A road can detect which car is passing into the city center. It can be introduced and give total, worry-free solution for the regulation.

Why Do We Need “ITS” in Thailand?

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

ITS has been adopted in developed countries for a decade as we have seen the ITS organizations around the globe such as ITS America, ITS Canada, ITS Australia, ITS Japan, Ertico (ITS Europe) and etc. In the developing country like Thailand, we realized the advent and the benefit of ITS applications. We then joined the Asia Pacific ITS Forum in 2006. The forum contains 14 membership-countries in Asia Pacific including India (which is not in Pacific). The forum arranges a major ITS conference and exhibition annually and officially joins ITS World Congress, the largest annual ITS event. Although the ITS is a new term, in the past decade, there has been considerable investment over one billion Baht in ITS deployment in Thailand. However, we did not name it an ITS project and most projects are lack of integration. Some are duplicated! They aims to serve individual needs of each agency. With this gap in cooperation, the Ministry of transport has drafted the national ITS master plan for 2006–2015. A vision is to have the intelligent transport and traffic system that conform to the international standard and support Ministry of Transport strategy in providing efficient operation and management of transportation and traffic system for the country. The master plan’s strategic direction covers six areas of ITS including a traveler information, a traffic management, a commercial vehicle fleet, a public transport, a safety/security and an electronic payment. In order to drive the strategic areas, the master plan defines seven capacity building plans: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

establish an institutional framework for ITS, improve awareness and understanding of the benefits of ITS, facilitate development of ITS expertise, undertake ITS research and development, facilitate ITS partnerships and recognize linkages with other sectors, ensure the availability of appropriated tools and data, and encourage international cooperation on ITS. The plan also set an investment framework to reduce duplication and integrate systems by concerned agencies into one unified transport service for the region.

The Role of NECTEC in ITS As stated previously that ITS is the integration between ICT and transportation. NECTEC, the national electronics and computer technology center, acting as the ICT R&D for the government, plays the major role to support ITS technologies. In 2005, NECTEC has launched the ITS program with the goal to push local ITS technologies to the industry. So far the ITS program has facilitated collaboration among relate stakeholders in ITS society, announced Thai ITS standard, enhanced business opportunity and conducted joint research among a government sector, a private sector and an academic sector through grants and technology transfer programs. However, the ITS program has a limited budget. We have to hand over a prototype to the government or a private sec-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

186

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

Basic/ Platform/ Feasibility

Applied R&D

Deployment/ Pilot

Evaluation

Academic/ Research Institute Government/ Infrastructure Owner Private Sector Figure 5. Roadmap for ITS Development.

tor who will deploy and evaluate the prototype. Figure 5 show the involvement of three stakeholders, an academic/research institute, a government and a private company, in the ITS application development.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

•

The role in R&D

We studied the Master plan and prioritized technologies needed by the country. Then we come out with two major focusing areas, a traveler Information and a road safety. In the beginning, we started defining a technology road map, building an infrastructure and defining a standard. The technology road map indicates us a trend of applications, customers and needed technologies. All projects granted by NECTEC have to conform the direction stated in the technology road map. Figure 6 presents the technologies required in ITS applications including sensing, communication, processing and display technologies. It is a guideline for research direction. Some technologies are obsolete, some are mature, some are open for public use and some are not. We have to build our own technologies in order to complete with others. After we have a clear vision of the road map and a rigid infrastructure, in the second and the third year, we begin to introduce applications to public. The traveler information web, http://traffic.thai.net has been announced during Songkran holidays in the mid of April 2007 when people traveled back to their hometown and the highways were congested. The ITS program installed 11 image processing camera along the highway and provided hand held devices for highway patrol to report a real-time traffic incident. The web page was successfully promoted the benefit and awareness of ITS technologies to the public in such that a traveler can plan the trip ahead with live traffic information.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 6. ITS Related Technologies.

Figure 7. Data & Information Logics, Communications & Related Equipments.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

187

188

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 8. Equipment for Traffic Monitoring using Magnetic Sensor Node.

About the infrastructure, we emphasize in the sensor technologies to gain traffic data on the road. Our two highlight projects are a wireless vehicle monitoring network and a traffic image processing software. The wireless vehicle monitoring network provides an easy and low-cost installation, adaptable system for traffic monitoring using a small magnetic sensor node. The node installed in the mid of lane will send speed, type and volume of vehicle to the server node on the roadside via wireless communication. The traffic image processing software provides us the speed and flow of traffic. The software is embedded to the CCTV unit together with a wireless broadband communication function. Therefore the unit can install in any location without cable wiring. Today, we installed 11 CCTV units around inter-city highways and display traffic report in the http://traffic.thai.net. What we expect from the ITS research is to understand the evolution of transport technology, to make wise use of technology, to create our own innovative solution and to lower the expense for the industry. •

The role to build-up ITS community

Since ITS program has been one of the programs under NECTEC/NSTDA, we had got an idea to found up a place to collaborate among groups of ITS experts from Government, Private, and Academic Sectors for ITS knowledge exchange and be ITS center of the nation. So thus, “ITS Forum” had founded up to with the mission as following: 1. 2.

To mutually develop technology and roadmap, and set up ITS policy by all related parties, To jointly build up a place for all related parties to share knowledge and comments about traffic and transportation problem management and planning,

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

189

Figure 9. ITS Thailand Logo.

3. 4.

To jointly produce documents and create activities for proper bringing out ITS knowledge and understanding to general public and To jointly found ITS association to be a networking center of Thailand ITS stakeholders.

In the Forum, NECTEC had played its role as a key person to run the Forum’s activities to be an ITS representative of the country, to enhance proper application for traffic and transportation management, and to bring about alliances among related organizations by meeting up in every two months at The Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP). After NECTEC had run as the center of ITS Forum for 3 years (since September, 2005), the forum members had agreed to broaden their scope of ITS activities for more domestic and international alliances. Therefore, “Thai ITS Association” or “ITSThailand” has been founded up and officially registered since February, 2008. The association has got its vision and mission as following:

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Vision: “Being a substantial driving mechanism to develop and deploy ITS Technologies to Thailand” Mission 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

To participate in developing the ITS Technology, Roadmap, and related Policy, To be a centre to share knowledge and ITS information, To educate and promote ITS to the public, To create social awareness for safe, comfortable, and environmental friendly society, To be a linkage between ITS Stakeholders, and To enhance cooperation among Government, Private, & Academia sectors as well as International organizations.

In term of running the association, ITS-Thailand has been composed of members, which come from 3 sectors including Government, Private, and Academic sectors. The following will be samples of the members from the 3 sectors:

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

190

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

Table 1. ITS-Thailand Partnering Members

Government

Private

Academic

1. NECTEC

1. Thai Automotive Industry Association

1. Chulalongkorn University

2. Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning

2. Automotive Industry Club of the FTI

2. Thammasat University

3. Bangkok Metropolitan Administrations

3. Thai Auto-Parts Manufactures Association

3. Asian Institute of Technology

4. Royal Thai Police

4. The Electrical, Electronics and Allied Industry Club

4. Kasetsart University

5. Department of Land Transport

5. Automotive Companies

5. King Mongkut Institutes of Technology

6. Expressway and Rapid 6. Map Companies Transit Authority of Thailand

6. Burapa University

7. National Telecommunication Commission

7. Communication & Technology Companies

7. Sirinton Institute of Technology

8. Department of Highway

8. TAXI Companies

8. Bangkok University

9. Others

9. Others

9. Others

•

The Role in International Collaboration

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Besides collaboration among Thai-ITS Society, ITS Program/NECTEC has also participated in ITS international activities. The relationship with ITS society all over the world has not only been very fruitful for research and development of our ITS Program, but also it has enhanced Thai ITS related industries. These followings have shown samples of international collaboration of ITS Program/NECTEC.

Figure 10. ASIA-PACIFIC ITS Logo.

a) ITS-AP: It is the collaboration among ITS members of Asia Pacific (AP) countries, which are included Asia and Oceania. The collaboration aims to offer opportunities for networking and information sharing through the member countries, and also to bridge the gap between their transitional and industrialized economies. Among them, there is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which has represented their policy direction and a spirit of the cooperation. All representatives of their member countries, so called

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

191

Board of Directors (BOD) and committees, have signed on the MOU to agree on the rule and the policy, which the members have to follow. The current member countries of ITS-AP are from Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and two honorary members from Korea. These member countries are not irrespective of political, industrial, cultural or institutional barriers. ITS Program/NECTEC as one of ITS-Thailand active members has got a chance to attend ITS-AP activities such as ITS-AP Forum 2006 & Exhibition (in Hong Kong), and ITS-AP Forum 2007 & Exhibition (in Singapore).

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 11. ITS Asia Pacific Logo.

In this coming July, 2009, Thailand will be the host country of the 10th ITS-AP Forum 2009 & Exhibition which ITS-Thailand will be the event main organizer. And of course, NECTEC will be a part of organizing team and committees. Furthermore, we have attended ITS World Congress from time to time e.g. the 14th ITS World Congress in Beijing. Another ITS related activity which NECTEC had played a major role was hosting “The 8th International Conference of ITS & Telecommunications 2008”, in Phuket, during October 22–24, 2008. The Conference aimed to provide a leading edge forum for researchers and practitioners to present and discuss the most recent research findings, and to promote ongoing novel research on ITS service and applications devoted into three major areas of interests including:   

Policy, Standardization & Service Applications in ITS, System for ITS Telecommunications, and Key Technologies for ITS

The ITST2008 conference has not only ended successfully, but it also has brought about more collaboration on the research areas of ITS and Telecommunication among experts, researchers, and practitioners. •

The role in ITS Standardization

International standardization of ITS is carried out by a number of standardization organizations including International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Electro-technical Commission (IEC), Joint Technical Committee (JTC), and International Telecommunication Union (ITU). ISO/TC204 is a leading committee of ITS standardization activities. Under study at ISOTC204 are standardization proposals for

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

192

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

(1) system architecture, (2) interface (message set, etc.), (3) framework (data dictionary and message template), (4) performance requirements of a system, and (5) test methods.

Figure 12. ISO Logo.

Among ISO/TC204 community, there are 2 types of members including Participating members (23 countries) and Observing members (25 countries). And Thailand has been one of the Observing members. For Thailand, NETEC has initiated to establish ITS Standardization cooperatively with Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI), Ministry of Industry, which gives a support and helps in driving ITS Standards as one of National Standards. Also, NECTEC and TISI have been trying to enhance standardization activities of ITS to be more active by sending people to attend meeting, and arranging up seminars, for example. Next year, NECTEC will organize a seminar on ISO/TC204, named “International Standards Organization General Information and Registration for the Plenary Meeting of ISO Technical Committee 204 – Intelligent Transport Systems”. The event will be on May 11–15, 2009.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Summary ITS is one of ICT system applied to the transportation area. Hence, the collaboration between government, academy and private sector in both ICT and transportation fields is the key of success. NECTEC merges two fileds together and build-up the ITS community in the country. We take role in R&D and technology transfer to the government and private sector. We have sent researchers and staffs to participate as the association committees and work in the management team of the association. Also, all stakeholders of ITS-Thailand have been offered benefits included: the Technology Road Map or Technology Foresight planning ahead for the market, the Common Infrastructure and National Standard and the Network or Linkage among Government, Private, and Academic, in both domestic and aboard. The milestone of our activities is sumarized in Figure 13. These works could not be done without the support from authorized party like the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the universities and local companies. The established community “ITS Thailand” glues the parties together and acts as a gateway for foreign connection. A product from the NECTEC or university will be handed over to government and private sector via ITS Thailand.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

P. Prathombutr / ITS in Thailand

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 13. ITS Thailand Milestone of Activities.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

193

194

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-194

Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand Kitisak JIRAWANNAKOOL, Nuttapong SANGLERTSILAPACHAI and Siwaruk SIWAMOGSATHAM Thai Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT) National Electronics and Computer Technology Center, Thailand {kitisak, nuttapong.sanglertsilapachai, siwaruk.siwamogsatham}@nectec.or.th

Abstract. This paper presents computer security incident handling in Thailand by ThaiCERT. Because ThaiCERT generally receives numerous incident reports every year, we need to manage our limited resources to timely and efficiently deal with every case. This paper will also display statistics of incidents handled by ThaiCERT for different categories of incidents and sources of attackers. It appears that the number of phishing cases in Thailand has dramatically increased over recent years. Keywords. Thai Computer Emergency Response Team, ThaiCERT, phishing cases

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The number of internet users in Thailand has rapidly grown over the past many years, as shown in Fig. 1. Currently, there are more than 13 millions users in Thailand [1]. It goes without saying that the higher the number of users in the system, the higher the chance of security incidents occurring. Since its establishment in 2001, ThaiCERT has received a large number of security incident reports and has coordinated with related organizations to effectively resolve the incidents. In the beginning, ThaiCERT only limited our security incident response services to government organizations, but later we had expanded our services to cover private organizations especially due to the widespread advent of phishing cases in Thailand. Table I shows the number of incidents handled by ThaiCERT in different categories during 2001 to 2007. It can be seen that the reports of phishing incidents have dramatically grown over recent years, while activities of other types of attacks, especially reports of malware incidents, have dropped.

2. Incident Response at ThaiCERT 2.1. General Incident Response Process Normally, ThaiCERT receives a large number of computer security incident reports each year. In order to effectively and systematically handle each of the received cases, ThaiCERT has developed an internal incident response process for its staffs. There are

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

K. Jirawannakool et al. / Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand

195

Figure 1. Statistics of Internet users in Thailand. Table I. Statistics of incidents handled by ThaiCERT during 2001 to 2007

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Type of Incident Year

Spam Mail

Port Scan and Probe

Malware

Phishing

Others (Hack, DDos etc.) 12

16 35

2001

66

38

34

2002 2003

183 31

90 170

55 171

2004 2005

48 24

132 56

210 307

– – – – 20

2006 2007

17 0*

29 7

162 38

154 262

27 17 10 46

two slightly different handling procedures depending on whether an incident report is received via an email or a phone call. Basically, a security incident may be reported to ThaiCERT via an email to [email protected]. Because we usually receive many types of emails in our mailbox including Spam and non-incident reports, we first need to identify whether an email is an incident report. The following information must be available in an incident report email: the name and affiliation of the victim, the IP addresses of the attacker and victims, and the incident logs. If a large amount of the required information is missing, the report is disregarded. Nonetheless, our staff may spend a good deal of effort to interact with the reporters in order to acquire the missing information in some cases where the damage of the incidents can be enormous or the attacking techniques have never been previously discovered. After the incident report emails have been identified, credibility and authenticity of the email and reporter must be ensured. To do this, we first examine the consistency of the IP addresses and domain names in the header information of the email. If the domain name and IP addresses of the mail servers are not reasonably matched, the email is not trusted and discarded. If a digital signature is attached with the email, it can be effectively and timely used to verify authenticity of the report email. In addition, if the reporter’s phone contact information is available in the report email, our staff may call to further verify the credibility of the reporter. Once the report email has been verified, it is archived in our internal incident report management and database system. The next step is to categorize the incident type by analyzing the incident logs and the information provided by the reporter in the email. For example, in a Port Scan incident the logs shall contain the information about the IP addresses of the malicious servers scanning the machines of the victim and which ports are scanned.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

196

K. Jirawannakool et al. / Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 2. Incident handling process at ThaiCERT.

Next, we examine whether the victims or the attacking sites are in the domain of our service. Basically, Thaicert provides courtesy incident response services to all agencies under the Thai government, I-NET (a private internet service provider co-founded by the parent organization of ThaiCERT), and a few other organizations that specially need our free services. To determine the owner or administrator of a host, we may employ the following commands: Whois, Nslookup, Ping, and Tracert. If the victim and attacker sites are not within the scope of our service, we will forward the incident report to the administrators of the relevant machines. If either the victims or the attackers are in our service domain, our staff will help analyze the causes of the incidents, advise the solution of the problem, and coordinate with the relevant agencies to effectively and timely handle the incident. Essentially, the general incident response process at ThaiCERT for an incident received via an email is summarized in Fig. 2. On the other hand, for an incident report received via a phone call, our staff will first acquire and note down the background information about the reporter including the name, affiliation, email, and phone contact information. If our staff is unsure about credibility of the reporter, the staff will hang up the call and dial back to verify the

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

K. Jirawannakool et al. / Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand

197

Figure 3. Phishing incident handling.

contact information provided by the reporter. Once the reporter is verified, our staff will acquire the background information about the incident such as the information about the attackers and the attack type. Finally, we will advise the report to send the incident report via an email. This ensures that we will receive and record the accurate information the reporter intends to provide. Once we receive the report via an email, the previously-described email incident response process will be executed. 2.2. Phishing Incident Handling In fact, we handle different types of incidents slightly differently. For a phishing incident, the handling process goes as summarized in Fig. 3. That is, after we received an incident report and have performed the generic handling procedure as described in the previous section to verify credibility of the report and have categorized the incident as

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

198

K. Jirawannakool et al. / Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 4. Categories of incident reports in 2007.

a phishing case, we will explore the URL of the phishing site to determine the identity of the targeted web site. Typically, the targeted phishing web sites correspond to the commercial banks. If the phishing incident is related to a Thai bank, we will browse the authentic web site of the bank or make a phone call to a point-of-contact person or an administrator of the bank to investigate whether the bank has already been aware about this phishing incident and has released warnings to its customers. If the bank has not been aware, we will send an alert to the administrator of the bank. Next, we will examine the information about the phishing hosts and the mail server of the attacker. As usual, the following commands: Whois, Nslookup, Ping, and Tracert are used to determine the IP addresses of the faked host and mail servers as well as the country under which the IP addresses are registered. If the phishing host does not reside in Thailand, we will forward the incident report and coordinate with CERT in the relevant country. On the other hand, if the phishing host hides in a victim server in Thailand, we will promptly contact and advice the administrator of the server to shut down the phishing site.

3. Incident Reports in Thailand 3.1. Reports in 2007 In 2007, the most frequent type of incidents has changed from malware to phishing case. Approximately 75 percents of incidents handled by ThaiCERT are the phishing incidents as shown in Fig. 4. This implies that the main targets of most of computer system attacks have changed to personal monetary and e-commerce transactions. Note that the phishing is called based on the analogy that Internet scammers use email lures to fish for passwords and financial data from the sea of Internet users. Among all of phishing cases around the world in 2007, there are some phishing cases in which a Thai

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

K. Jirawannakool et al. / Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand

199

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 5. Monthly report statistics in 2007.

bank is affected. This fact indicates that Thai users have been the targets of the phishing attacks as well. Considering the monthly statistics shown in Fig. 5, it can be seen that there are no fewer than 10 phishing cases in each month in 2007. In July which is the month with the highest number of phishing cases, there was on average one case per day. On the other hand, other types of incident appeared less than 10 cases even for their relatively peak months. The largest numbers of incident cases were reported during the middle of the year from June to August while during the early and the late of the year 2007 there were fewer cases. When considering the statistics of incidents based on their sources categorized as either government sector or private sector as shown in Fig. 6, we note that the number of incidents coming from both sectors were almost equal. There were 170 cases of the government sector incidents and 141 cases of the private sector incidents. In addition, there were 31 cases that we could not identify the sources or they were associated with both types of the source. 3.2. Phishing Cases in Thailand We categorize the phishing incidents into 2 types of phishing cases to handle. First, the servers in Thailand were used as phishing hosts. According to the APWG monthly re-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

200

K. Jirawannakool et al. / Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Figure 6. Monthly report statistics in 2007 categorized by the type of organization involved.

port in 2007 [3], Websense Security Labs arrange Thailand is ranked in the top 10 of phishing sites hosting countries in July, November, and December 2007. There are phishing sites hosting in Thailand 4.44% in July, 4.64% in November, and 5.52% in December. Greg Aaron and Rod Rasmussen [2] said there are approximately 153 million domain names registered in 2007, but the number of domain names used for phishing is about 52,000 websites. In our incidents report summary, there are many phishing cases in Thailand, and most of the cases use compromised servers in Thailand to publish phishing web sites. Furthermore, there are some cases that Thai banks were disguised and spam emails were spread. Phishers used visual deception techniques to mimic legitimate text, images and windows [5]. They used these tricks for registering domain name and decorate phishing web by using text, images and logo as same as the real website.

4. Discussions and Conclusions It can be noted here that a trend continues in 2007 from the previous year that the computer’s incidents have changed their objectives from destroying valuable information to stealing valuable information especially personal information and e-commerce information. Even though over all number of incident cases was decreasing, the number of attacking related to the monetary and specific phishing targets was increasing. This trend is likely to grow in the year to come. The computer users including the ones who use e-commerce should prepare themselves to avoid this type of attacks. The malware cases decreased in 2007. One of possible reasons that can explain this situation – in an optimistic way – is that many users, especially non-administrative users, become more aware of computer threats than before. Consequentially, they might have improved their preparations to prevent those threats. In summary, we have shown the statistics about incident response reports in Thailand since 2001 – ThaiCERT was established in. We have described our general inci-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

K. Jirawannakool et al. / Computer Security Incident Handling and Phishing Cases in Thailand

201

dent response process. According to our reports in 2007, there are many phishing cases occurred. So we have focused to study on the phishing cases in Thailand. We have received 2 types of them. One is phishing hosts in Thailand. The attackers will compromise the victim’s server for publishing phishing website.

References

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[1] Thailand Internet User Statistic, http://internet.nectec.or.th/webstats/internetuser.iir?Sec=internetuser, accessed on 19 June, 2008. [2] G. Aaron and R. Rasmussen, Global Phishing Survey: Domain Name Use and Trends in 2007, http://www.antiphishing.org/reports/APWG_GlobalPhishingSurvey2007.pdf, can access on 19 June 19, 2008. [3] APWG monthly report January – December 2007, http://www.apwg.com, accessed on 19 June, 2008. [4] National Statistic Office, Preliminary Report of the 2007 Information and Communication Technology Survey (Establishment) Whole Kingdom, http://web.nso.go.th/eng/en/stat/ict/ict2007_est.pdf, can access on 19 June, 2008. [5] R. Dhamija, J.D. Tygar and M. Hearst, Why Phishing Works, http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~rachna/ papers/why_phishing_works.pdf, accessed on 19 June, 2008.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

This page intentionally left blank

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Section III

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

IAC-APEC Articles

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

This page intentionally left blank

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-205

205

Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for e-Government Development Edited by Jirapon TUBTIMHIN TEL 05/2005 Project Overseer, Secretary General, IAC Secretariat Office, NECTEC, NSTDA, Ministry of Science and Technology, Bangkok, Thailand [email protected]

Abstract. The APECTEL 05/2005 project was aimed to design the Government Chief Information Officer Training Model to deploy in APEC member economies. The training model was established to incorporate related parameters including, GCIO Responsibilities, GCIO Core Competencies, GCIO Institutionalization, Maturity Level of ICT and e-Government Development, Findings from the survey, Educational Background of GCIO and Existing Training Courses/Curricula. The project also promote e-Government development networking through the GCIO capacity building and related activities. Keywords. Government Chief Information Officer or GCIO, APEC, APECTEL, e-Government, GCIO Responsibilities, GCIO Core Competencies, GCIO Institutionalization, Maturity Level of ICT

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Introduction This APECTEL project namely Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for e-Government Development was endorsed for APEC funding in April, 2005, under the then Human Resource Development Steering Group (HRDSG) and Business Facilitation Steering Group (BFSG). The project goal was to design an adaptive model of training courses for Government Chief Information Officers who are the active players in the arena of e-Government development which is a key implementation agenda of e-APEC strategy. In project implementation, a questionnaire form was used through both a paper form and an online form via internet. Member economies co-sponsored this project including Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Viet Nam, Malaysia and USA formed up a Joint Researcher Team or JRT to play an active role to achieve the target objectives upon the whole project agenda. The project succeeded its planned activities as well as its overall objectives. Implementation agencies included, firstly National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology Thailand, secondly e-Government Research Center, Waseda University, Japan in hosting the second workshop and thirdly Ministry for Communication and Information Technology, Indonesia, which hosted the first, second and third workshops consecutively.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

206

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

A Joint Researcher Team (JRT) was established among sponsoring economies, with additional participation by the United States. A questionnaire was used to collect information to identify CIO education needs and requirements in relation to eGovernment development. The questionnaire was administered both through online to targeted GCIOs in member economies from March through October 2005. The return inputs, as well as various environmental parameters that exist in member economies, were used to design a GCIO Training Model specific to the APEC region. The JRT discussed and concluded all parameters and inputs essentially for the conceptual design of the target model during the first JRT workshop in Bangkok, Thailand in July 2005. Members of JRT finalized the conceptual model as well as discussed towards the detailed design model in September 2005, during the second JRT workshop in Tokyo, Japan. The GCIO Training Model for the APEC region was finalized by members of JRT during the last workshop held in Jakarta, Indonesia in November, 2005. The Government CIO Training Model has been concluded with a standard set and tailor-made set of GCIO training courses/curricula for APEC region. Member economies who formed the JRT team resolved during the project wrap-up session that the project has met its objectives and recommended that APEC GCIO Training Model should be deployed within the region to achieve the so called ‘proof of concept’. To this end, member economies including Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia, together with the United States, will co-sponsor a new project proposal to seek funding approval from TEL 34 with the objective of deploying the GCIO Training Model throughout the APEC region during 2007. Output of this project which is an adaptive training model together with networking training institutions among the APEC member economies will help enhance cooperative networking on implementation of ICT infrastructure and e-Services integration under e-Government strategy which is an essential development component of the eAPEC strategy. APEC members participated in APECTEL 29 in Hong Kong China confirmed the need for the systematic regional CIO training model and CIO Council which was quoted in a minute of the Chairperson’s report. Due to its central role in e-Government and in information technology industry development, the CIO community plays an important role in fostering the Information Society. This project has been in line with APEC Ministers’ instruction and acknowledgement in 2004 and 2005 that building skills and capacity in optimizing information technology are the most pressing needs for APEC economies to reduce the digital divide and to facilitate trade. While a study report monitored and assessed the progress made by APEC economies recommended actions needed to implement the e-APEC Strategy. Moreover members of JRT believe that the project outcome is relevant to a key issue under APEC topic “Stepping up Integrated e-Government Services” which indicated that training of CIOs should be a foundation for further human capacity building efforts.

APEC GCIO Training Model A. Conceptual GCIO Training Model Based on valuable inputs to the design of a standardized GCIO Training Model for APEC member economies, conceptual design of the model was defined. In the begin-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

207

ning, the conceptual GCIO Training Model and its variants of potential GCIO training model were analyzed by taking into account the following parameters: conceptual and practical GCIO roles and responsibilities, core competencies, GCIO institutionalization and different maturity level of ICT and e-Government development among APEC member economies. While at the same time important findings analyzed from returned questionnaires were significantly taken into consideration as another parameter to reflect local needs of the APEC community. In the refining process of the detail designed model two more parameters were added: education background of GCIO and existing GCIO training courses in APEC member economies, to make the final GCIO training model a dynamic and flexible tool to help design and customize accordingly to the APEC member economies’ needs. A.1 Considerations and Parameters for GCIO Training Model 1) GCIO Responsibilities Conceptually the two primary CIO responsibilities are: (1) enterprise leadership in information and IT management and provision to support future projects for competitive business value, (2) management of the daily delivery of required I/IT services.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2) GCIO Core Competencies As enterprise leaders, CIOs must possess fundamental capabilities or core competencies to successfully fulfill the functions associated with their responsibilities. In leading economy as USA, in September 1998 the US Government Federal CIO Council endorsed a set of core competencies as a baseline to assist departments and agencies in complying with Section 5125 (C) (3) of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. They address a number of areas including leadership, process/change management, information resources strategy and planning, project/program management, acquisition, and capital planning. In addition to the Clinger-Cohen core competencies, are those recommended by commercial CIOs, business school professors, and trade journalists which are not the least and somehow considered important elements for GCIOs and they are Business Leadership Thinking, Delivery of Information Technology Services, Communications Skills and Agent of Change. 3) GCIO Institutionalization Presently, within APEC, some leaders in e-Government development like USA, Japan and Australia have already institutionalized GCIO community in order to assist GCIOs in implementing their fundamental tasks which are information management and IT projects. This phenomenon indicates, for a certain extent, some degree of correlation between the advancement of GCIO institutionalization and the advancement of eGovernment development. Moreover the set up institutions either as a policy mechanism or as specific capacity building for GCIOs is considered very essential development element. Table in Appendix C lists GCIO institutions that already founded in member economies.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

208

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

4) Maturity Level of ICT and e-Government Development Considering concerns among member economies on ICT development strategies, this notion may vary due to gap of advancement/stage of development of each single economy. Table in Appendix B shows this kind of variation that ranged from concerns of developing and least developed economies to concerns of developed economies and industrial leaders. In terms of IT-Manpower development which includes CIOs activities of development, the table shows that this agenda falls in the domain of leaders. This can lead to an assumption that maturity level of ICT development has some correlation with degree of advancement of CIO development. Moreover, international rankings from many sources on e-Government development can also indicate that these economies are quiet in the top ranks. See Appendix D: Ranking of e-Government development. 5) Findings from the survey Information of requirement of GCIO from the questionnaire can be a direct input that could help refine the target training model in terms of courses and curriculum of the required training model. 6) Educational Background of GCIO Educational Background of GCIOs can reflect some qualifications that GCIO may need to fill up to enhance their capability towards the mandates of ICT and e-Government development. 7) Existing Training Courses/Curricula Existing Training Courses/Curricula will help APEC member economies share their experiences and practices on organising GCIO training courses /curricula in APEC region.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

A.2 Scheme of GCIO Development Scheme 1 – Basic: In case GCIO may not yet been endorsed or recognized or established to lead ICT and e-Government development in a certain government agency. Scheme 2 – Standard: In case GCIO is already in the process of development agenda and needs a standard set of knowledge to devise GCIO for ICT and e-Government development Scheme 3 – Advance: In case GCIO has already been devised or developed in a certain implementation stage and needs advance knowledges for ICT and e-Government development. A.3 Conceptual GCIO Training Scheme Within the division of 3 schemes of the advancement of GCIO development as mentioned above, GCIO training schemas were defined accordingly so that member economies can fit themselves into and benefit from the proper place. Three schemas of conceptual GCIO training courses outline are recommended as follows:

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

209

Scheme 1: Basic Framework for GCIOs training will start from the very foundation level. For example Training courses for building up awareness on the importance of organizing GCIOs may be needed. Then series of courses ranging from organizing GCIO, roles and responsibilities, the whole cycle of ICT project management and some basic principles regarding Information Management (IM) and IT implementation may also be required. Recommended conceptual courses outline include but not limited to:     

Awareness of GCIO GCIO Roles and Responsibilities Process/Change Management Policy and Organization Information resource strategy and Planning

Scheme 2: Standard The GCIOs which fall in Scheme 2 category may find themselves to require the standard set of ICT courses for capacity building. The training model framework will be focused on the standard modules of IM and IT implementation in the applied environment. Courses within the contexts to brush up their e-Services development as well as courses to manage integration and networking may be required in order for GCIOs to get acquainted with the conditions of cross agency development. Fora and seminars for building awareness of the importance of human networking and GCIO institutionalization are needed as well. Conceptual courses outline include but not limited to:

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

     

e-Services Development IS Management IT Management Government Information and Network Integration GCIO Networking and Institutionalization ICT Project Management

Scheme 3: This schema will accommodate GCIOs categorized in scheme 3. Conceptual framework of training model mayl focus mainly on enterprise architecture, solutions and standards. e-Government services experiences of GCIOs are quite in a mature state so that CRM and Supply Chain Management may be needed to enhance the citizen-centric applications. Some tailor-made courses to suit each departmental customization are also encouraged in order to enhance GCIOs ability to cope with such dynamic requirement environment. Conceptual courses outline include but not limited to:      

Enterprise Architecture and Solution Web-service Technology Customer Relationship Management System Ergonomics IPR Management CIO University

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

210

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

B. Parameters In conclusion there are 7 Independent Parameters/Factors as below 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

GCIO Responsibilities GCIO Education Background GCIO Core Competencies GCIO Institutionalization Maturity Level of ICT and e-Government Development Findings from the survey Existing training courses of each single economy

C. APEC GCIO Training Model

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

An adaptive model upon APEC GCIO Training Courses/Curricula has been shaped up accordingly to the well defined parameters and schemes/levels as following:

Figure 1. APEC GCIO Training Model.

D. Subjects/Courses in Line with Each Parameter D.1 GCIO Responsibilities a.

Followings are Subjects/Courses in line with GCIO Responsibilities which are ranked in terms of issues/factors/tasks that impact to CIO’s mission and CIO’s role for e-Government Development, taken from Question 1.6 in Questionnaire of the GCIO survey.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

211

Table 1. Subjects/Courses in line with GCIO Responsibilities, ranked in terms of issues/factors/tasks

No.

No.

ICT Monitoring and Evaluation Plan e-Government Service Kiosks National e-Government Plan Organizational ICT Master/Strategic Plan Cyber Security Government Vision and Policy e-Government Capacity Building Program On-line Services National ICT Master/Strategic Plan

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

10 11 12

ICT budget management Public Awareness ICT Integration management

26 27 28

13

Government information infrastructure

29

14

CIO/ICT unit

30

15

CIO formal appointment

31

16

ICT related background

b.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Subject

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Subject ICT training unit and management Maturity of Website Development Self-interest in ICT Cyber Laws Departmental intranet ICT work experiences ICT career path promotion ICT Outsourcing technique Enhanced: Content and Information is updated with greater regularity Enterprise Architecture Political Leadership Emerging: A government web presence is established through a few independent official sites. Information is limited, basic and static. Interactive: Users can download forms, contact officials, and make appointments and requests Transactional: Users can actually pay for services or conduct financial transactions online. Seamless: Total integration of e-functions and services across administrative and departmental boundaries.

Followings are Subjects/Courses in line with GCIO Responsibilities which are ranked in terms of activities of CIO and national e-Government roles, derived from Question 1.7 in Questionnaire of the GCIO survey.

Table 2. Subjects/Courses in line with GCIO Responsibilities, ranked in terms of activities of CIO and national e-Government roles

No.

Subject

No.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Develop e-Government strategic plan Coordinate e-Gov Strategy Allocate ICT Financial Resource Push Strategy in ICT Plan Involvement in ICT Master Plan Involvement in ICT Policy Plan Determine e-Government Policies

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

8

Deliver Programs and Services

21

9 10 11 12 13

Build up ICT Operational Staff/Team Enhance e-Services more accessible Determine Regulatory Structures Involve in ICT Problem Solving Contribute to ICT Empowerment

22 23 24 25 26

Subject Build up Leadership Develop ICT Operation Center Enhance Internal Administration Share ICT Resource Planning Enhance Interface with Citizens Enhance Internet Access Develop Services for Citizens Choices Promote Transparent Decision-Making Develop Citizen Responsiveness Being trained as a Specialist in ICT Facilitate Social Inclusion Use Computer by yourself Foster e-Democracy

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

212

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

D.2 GCIO Education Background Followings are Subjects/Courses in line with GCIO Education Background which are analyzed from the GCIO survey, Question 2.2 in Questionnaire: Managerial Background, Technical Background, Managerial and Technical Background. Table 3. Subjects/Courses in line with GCIO Education Background

No.

Managerial Background

Technical Background

Managerial and Technical Background

1

Process/Change Management Policy and Organizational

Process/Change Management Information Resources Strategy and Planning Policy and Organizational Leadership/Managerial

Leadership/Managerial

2 3 4 5

6 7 8

9 10

Leadership/Managerial Information Resources Strategy and Planning e-Government/e-Business/ e-Commerce Capital Planning and Investment Assessment Project/Program Management IT Performance Assessment: Models and Methods IT security/information assurance Office Automation Management

IT Performance Assessment: Models and Methods Project/Program Management IT security/information assurance Application and System Support Capital Planning and Investment Assessment e-Government/e-Business/ e-Commerce

Process/Change Management IT security/information assurance IT Performance Assessment: Models and Methods Information Resources Strategy and Planning Policy and Organizational e-Government/e-Business/ e-Commerce Project/Program Management

Application and System Support IPR Management

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

D.3 GCIO Core Competencies In this category of parameter, the Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies (Revised June 2003) is cited to comprehend subjects/courses that the member economy of USA has been deploying to enhance knowledge, skills and abilities as core competencies of government agencies’ CIOs. The Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies have been endorsed to serve as a baseline to assist government agencies in complying with Section 5125(C) (3) of the ClingerCohen Act, USA. Recommendation for implementation and outline of subjects/courses are as follows: To perform effectively in each competency area below, an organization should possess the knowledge, skills and abilities in each competency. 1.0 1.1 1.2

1.3

Policy and Organizational Department/Agency missions, organization, functions, policies, procedures Governing laws and regulations (e.g., the Clinger-Cohen Act, EGovernment Act, GPRA, PRA, GPEA, OMB Circulars A-11 and A-130, PDD 63) Federal government decision-making, policy making process and budget formulation and execution process

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2.0 2.1

213

Linkages and interrelationships among Agency Heads, COO, CIO, and CFO functions Intergovernmental programs, policies, and processes Privacy and security Information management

2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7

Leadership/Managerial Defining roles, skill sets, and responsibilities of Senior Officials, CIO staff and stakeholders Methods for building federal IT management and technical staff expertise Competency testing – standards, certification, and performance assessment Partnership/team-building techniques Personnel performance management techniques Principles and practices of knowledge management Practices which attract and retain qualified IT personnel

3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5

Process/Change Management Techniques/models of organizational development and change Techniques and models of process management and control Modeling and simulation tools and methods Quality improvement models and methods Business process redesign/reengineering models and methods

4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

Information Resources Strategy and Planning IT baseline assessment analysis Interdepartmental, inter-agency IT functional analysis IT planning methodologies Contingency planning Monitoring and evaluation methods and techniques

5.0 5.1

5.5 5.6 5.7

IT Performance Assessment: Models and Methods GPRA and IT: Measuring the business value of IT, and customer satisfaction Monitoring and measuring new system development: When and how to “pull the plug” on systems Measuring IT success: practical and impractical approaches Processes and tools for creating, administering, and analyzing survey questionnaires Techniques for defining and selecting effective performance measures Examples of and criteria for performance evaluation Managing IT reviews and oversight processes

6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8

Project/Program Management Project scope/requirements management Project integration management Project time/cost/performance management Project quality management Project risk management Project procurement management System life cycle management Software development

5.2 5.3 5.4

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

214

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9

Capital Planning and Investment Assessment Best practices Cost benefit, economic, and risk analysis Risk management- models and methods Weighing benefits of alternative IT investments Capital investment analysis- models and methods Business case analysis Integrating performance with mission and budget process Investment review process Intergovernmental, Federal, State, and Local Projects

8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5

Acquisition Alternative functional approaches (necessity, government, IT) analysis Alternative acquisition models Streamlined acquisition methodologies Post-award IT contract management models and methods, including past performance evaluation IT acquisition best practices

9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7

E-Government/Electronic Business/Electronic Commerce Strategic business issues & changes w/advent of E-Gov/EB/EC Web development strategies Industry standards and practices for communications Channel issues (supply chains) Dynamic pricing Consumer/citizen information services Social issues

10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5

IT security/information assurance Fundamental principles and best practices in IA Threats and vulnerabilities to IT systems Legal and policy issues for management and end users Sources for IT security assistance Standard operating procedures for reacting to intrusions/misuse of federal IT systems

11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7

Enterprise Architecture Enterprise architecture functions and governance Key enterprise architecture concepts Enterprise architecture development and maintenance Use of enterprise architecture in IT investment decision making Interpretation of enterprise architecture models and artifacts Data management Performance measurement for enterprise architecture

12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3

Technical Emerging/developing technologies Information delivery technology (internet, intranet, kiosks, etc.) Desk Top Technology Tools

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

215

D.4 GCIO Institutionalization Subjects/Courses in line with GCIO Institutionalization is the whole range of organizing GCIO’s office which comprises of the context of policy and strategy framework, organization structure, investment and resources planning and management, project implementation and ICT personnel capacity building. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

Process/Change Management Policy and Organization Leadership/Managerial Information Resources Strategy and Planning Capital Planning and Investment Assessment Project/Program Management Office Automation Management Education and Training CIO/ICT unit CIO formal appointment

D.5 Maturity Level of ICT and e-Government Development Subjects/Courses in line with Maturity Level of ICT and e-Government Development are those surrounding the area of development that will be able to enhance GCIO and his/her staff. The Subjects/Courses are listed along with Maturity Level and Area of Development in Table 4. D.6 Explicit Findings from the GCIO Survey

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Subjects/Courses in line with Explicit Findings from the GCIO survey are derived upon certain question of the survey. Question 3.1 which is explicitly showing its outcome of the need of CIOs’ staff to enhance the ability in relation to applications and tools that could be organized as training subjects and courses ranked as followings: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9)

Ability on ICT related Work Ability on Best Practices Ability on Internet/Intranet/WWW Ability on Development of e-Services Ability on Software Application Ability on e-Mail Application Ability on Network Administration Ability on Operation System Experience Ability on Database Software

D.7 Existing Training Courses of Member Economy Training subjects and courses pertaining to existing ones which are currently conducted in APEC member economies. These subjects and courses are considered proven of their success in certain locality that could be deployed in the similar condition of another economy. Some relevant training courses organized regularly in APEC economies are depicted including Japan, Korea, Singapore, USA, Canada, and Thailand as per details in ANNEX A Existing Training Courses of Member Economy.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

216

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

Table 4.

Maturity Level Concerns of developing and least developed economies

Area of Development – – – – – – – –

Concerns of developed economies And industrial leaders

– – – – –

–

Basic Telecommunications Basic Access to the Internet Human Capacity Building Affordable Access Devices (PCs, PDA) National ICT Policy and Plan Threat of Liberalization Appropriate Software (Legal, compact, low cost) Local Language enabled on Computers Creation of Local Contents Portal Sites e-Government – Government Facilitation Standards in manufacturing, safety, health IT-Laws (e-Transaction, e-Signature, Computer Crime, Data Protection) Security – Information/ System/Network

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

– Authentication and Certification, PKI – Broadband Access (Corporate, home) – IT-Manpower development – Regional Networking Collaboration – Opportunities from Liberalization and Regionalization

Subjects/Courses – Principle of Organizational Telecommunications Management – Collaborative working with Internet – Information Resources Strategy and Planning – Software Utilization in organization – Software Assurance – Content Management Tools – Intranet/Internet Development – e-Government/e-Business/ e-Commerce – e-Government development awareness creation – ICT Relevant Law – IT Security/Information Assurance – Principle of Public Key Infrastructure – GCIO Training Course – Government ICT Personnel Training Course – Establishment of GCIO Networking/GCIO Council – Intellectual Property rights Management

– – – – –

e-Marketplaces e-Payment infrastructure Consumer Protection Cross Border Certification Intellectual Property rights Protection – Privacy

E. Recommended Standard and Tailor-Made Courses/Curricula E.1 Standard Courses/Curricula Rational Considering all defined schemes and parameters mentioned above results in a simple standard set of training courses/curriculum which are divided into a norm of 3 schemes/stages as per prior analysis of GCIO development. They are 1) 2) 3)

Basic: Begin to develop some basic elements of knowledge for GCIOs, Standard: Develop to suit GCIOs’ whole range of required elements and Advance: Develop to suit CIOs’ requirement of advance training,

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

217

And including CIO University which is accepted as a comprehensive courses for CIO and ICT executives capacity building, as per below details: Stage 1: Basic

Stage 2: Middle

Stage 3: Advance

Begin to develop some basic elements of knowledge for CIOs

Develop to suit CIOs’ whole range of required elements

Advance :Develop to suit CIOs’ requirement of advance training

Awareness of GCIO GCIO Roles and Responsibilities

e-Services Development Information Management

Process/Change Management

Information Technology Management Government Information and Network Integration

Office Automation Management

Policy and Organization Information Resources Strategy and Planning IT Performance Assessment: Models and Methods Project/Program Management Acquisition Management Presentation Tools and Technology Fundamental of Customer Relationship Management Fundamental of Enterprise Architecture Application and System Support

GCIO Networking and Institutionalization ICT Project Management

Leadership/Managerial Capital Planning and Investment Assessment IPR Management e-Government/ e-Business/ e-Commerce System Ergonomics IT security/information assurance

Process/Change Management

Quality Assurance

Policy and Planning Management Network Management Information Resources Strategy and Planning Customer Relationship Management Best practices Enterprise Architecture (Intermediate) Cases Study in developing environment

Web Service Technology Services Oriented Architecture

Advanced Customer Relationship Management Advanced Enterprise Architecture Cases Study in developed environment

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

E.2 Tailor-Made Courses/Curriculum Rational  

Tailor-made Courses/Curriculum are those courses that organized for specific requirement of specific group of GCIOs. Each single economy can design accordingly and suitably for its own localization of capacity building of GCIOs similarly to following analogy of a set of tailor-made courses:    

 

Tailor-Made 1 Tailor-Made 2 … Tailor-Made n

Guidelines of Courses are defined here to facilitate member economies in the tailor-makings. Update of listed courses is required in certain period of time and should be shared among member economies.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

218

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

F. Highlights from the Findings 

The course format should be short course, study in Weekday, methodology of both classroom and online, trainer from both academic and industry, and inbound and outbound study trip. Most of respondents are age below 41 years old Type of Courses: Respondents both prefer certified (44%) and short (45%) courses. Time Schedule: Respondents would prefer to take classes both (40.74%) during weekday and weekend. Methodology for study: Respondents would prefer to take both classroom and online (74.56%). CIO in current position. Respondents would prefer to select 4–8 years (29.31%) for the most CIO in current position. The top three subjects of training courses that are valuable for CIO on eGovernment development are;

     

1) Process /Change Management 2) Policy and Organization 3) Information Resources Strategy and Planning 

The most requesting for the subject of training courses are; 1) 2) 3) 4)



IT Performance Assessment: Models and Methods System Ergonomics Promotion Planning Management Enterprise Architecture

The important subjects for CIO in e-Government development are Services Oriented Architecture, Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Architecture.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

G. Recommendations from Members of JRT During the 3rd Workshop 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

Program and courses from CIO University especially in the US should be taken into consideration. Request for resources and recommendation from CIO University are valuable for construction of training courses. Localization of courses for particular APEC member is essential. Candidates to be the next CIO are also focus group for building up readiness and capability. Training courses for the situation of mixed up level of CIO’s background and experiences are also needed. Flexible courses for GCIOs and the candidates to become CIOs are always needed to respond to changes. General area of knowledge on ICT management for GCIO is the basic requirement. Knowledge essentially related to GCIO responsibilities blended with some basic elements of other content could help design a general training course for GCIOs.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

9) 10)

11)

219

In designing GCIO training course, it does not need to put straight subject, in some cases just a group of subjects is enough to define. In case of designing advance content program, focus should be taken care of, especially in terms of indeed need for a specific enhancement of specific group of GCIOs. The APEC GCIO training Model should be deployed within APEC member economies.

H. Highlight of Findings from the GCIO Survey in APEC Member Economies

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The present status and requirements of APEC’s GCIOs The course format should be short course, study in Weekday, class and online methodology, trainer from both academic and industry, and also inbound and outbound study trip.

Figure 2. No of Respondents to Questionnaire by APEC Member Economies.

Figure 3: Age of Respondents Age of Most respondents are below 41 years old (63%).

Figure 4: Type of Courses Type of Courses Respondents prefer to both certified (44%) and short (45%) type of courses.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

220

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

Figure 5: Time Schedule; Time Schedule. Respondents would prefer to take classes both (40.74%) during weekday and weekend.

Figure 6: Methodology; Methodology. Respondents would prefer to take both (74.56%) and class for methodology of study.

Figure 7: Type of Trainer; Type of Trainer. Trainers from the academic and industry are both (81.58%) accepted by respondents.

Figure 8: Interested Study Trip; Interested Study Trip. Respondents would prefer to take both (90.83%) of Inbound and Outbound in study trip.

Figure 9: e-Gov Development issues that impact for CIO’s mission/role; e-Government Development issues that impact for CIO’s mission/role. Respondents would prefer to select ICT Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (100%) for the most significant impact of CIO’s mission/role.

Figure 10: e-Gov Development Program that impact for CIO’s mission/role; e-Government Development Program that impact for CIO’s mission/role. Respondents would prefer to select National e- Government Plan (99.13%) for the most significant impact of CIO’s mission/role.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

221

Figure 11: Activities of CIO; Activities of CIO. Respondents would prefer to select Push Strategy in ICT Plan for the most challenging activities for the success of e-Government Development.

Figure 12: National e-Government Roles; National eGovernment Roles. Respondents would prefer to select Coordinate e-Gov Strategy (76.32%) for the most challenging activities for the success of eGovernment Development.

Figure 13: The Stages of e-Government of your Organization; The Stages of e-Government of your Organization. This figure shows 5 Stages of eGovernment of an organization in economies. Respondents would prefer to select Enhanced stage (84.52%).

Figure 14: CIO’s ministries technical background; CIO’s technical background. Respondents would prefer to select 0–20% (40.91%) CIO for the most CIO has a technical background.

Figure 15: CIO’s ministries managerial background; CIO’s managerial background. Respondents would prefer to select 41–60% (32.41%) CIO for the most CIO has a managerial background.

Figure 16: CIO’s ministries managerial and technical background; CIO’s managerial and technical background. Respondents would prefer to select 0–20% (65.09%) for the most CIO has a managerial and technical background.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

222

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

Figure 17: CIO’s background; CIO’s background. Respondents have both, technical and managerial by 36.21%, 34.48% and 29.31%.

Figure 18: CIO in current position; CIO in current position. Respondents would prefer to select 4–8 years (29.31%) for the most CIO in current position.

I. Survey Methodology Purpose Survey method will be by using an online questionnaire form distributed to targeted Government CIOs who are still in offices in members economies. Target GCIOs will be at Ministerial level with sample size of one CIO per ministry in each economy. The purpose of the survey is to provide the GCIO community with a point-in-time assessment of the current status of CIO training in APEC member economies plus training requirement the GCIOs in the region would like to improve and implement in the foreseeable future, 3–5 years. The Project Task Group will be formed up. Initial members of this task group consists of member economies that host and share sponsorships in the project which are Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia. More member economies are welcome to join in the task group.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Approach The online survey will be conducted in-person interviews with targeted GCIOs in member economies, at ministerial level as well as Congress/parliament. The survey will take place during the months of March–June 2005. Participation will be determined by the Project Task Group based on a variety of factors, including involvement in previous years and relevance of activities of GCIO training and capacity building to the agency mission. The Project Task Group will create an online questionnaire and coordinate and facilitate during the filling-up process. The task group questionnaire forms the basis of the survey. The interviewees, however, were free to follow up on specific answers and discuss in the open areas of particular interest in more depth. Each interviewer will be asked to summarize the interviews he or she attended. In order to succeed the outcome of the survey report, words and comments from the participants will be rendered to the maximum extent possible. To preserve speaker anonymity, no quotes are attributed, and male pronouns are used exclusively. Analytical Method The first step in analysis will be conducted by the Project Task Group, which will review and analyze all survey responses to organize the key Issues section of the report, Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Establishment of Government CIO Training Model

223

and then to formulate conclusions and implications. The analysis will focus on commonalities and differences of requirement perspective, and on trends and comparisons with past years. The task group will also focus on identifying the significances of regional and degree of institutionalization issues that they believe are emerging. The implications section provides the task group’s perspectives on all related issues that emerged during the survey, and offers some observations and insights.

References

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[1] TEL05/2005 project: Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for e-Government Development, APECTEL. [2] Olga Grkavac, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Solutions Division, ITAA Beyond 2000: Reality or Mirage? Ninth Annual ITAA Survey of Federal CIOs, December 1998 www.itaa.org. [3] Research Team, National Electronics and Computer Technology, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology. (2002). Chief Information Officer: Final Report. Bangkok: Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. [4] Research Team, National Electronics and Computer Technology, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology. (2004). Knowledge Management and ICT Skill Development Methodology for Government Officer: (Draft) Final Report. Bangkok: Research and Consultancy Center, Sasin Business School, Chulalongkorn University. [5] Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). (2005). Information on Group Training Course on Computer Specialist for e-Government Promotion. Okinawa: Okinawa International Centre (OIC). [6] Southern Association of Information System(SAIS) Web Page, http://sais.aisnet.org, How To Improve The Usability of Government Web Sites, accessed April, 2005. [7] UNDPEPA (United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration) & ASPA (American Society for Public Administration) Web page, http://www.ejeg.com, Benchmarking eGovernment a Global Perspective, accessed April, 2005. [8] Electronic Journal of e-Government Web page, http://www.ejeg.com, Implementing e-Government: widening the lens, accessed April, 2005. [9] Chief Information Officers Council Web page, http://www.cio.gov/, Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies of CIO, accessed May, 2005. (revised June 2003).

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

224

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-025-4-224

Development of Model Government CIO Councils Edited by Mr. Jirapon TUBTIMHIN TEL 02/2006 Project Overseer, Secretary General, IAC Secretariat Office, NECTEC, NSTDA, Ministry of Science and Technology, Bangkok, Thailand [email protected]

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Abstract. Development of Model Government CIO Councils or TEL02/2006 project was endorsed under the former Human Resource Development Steering Group (HRDSG) and Business Facilitation Steering Group (BFSG). The project goal was to establish “An Adaptive Model on Government CIO Institutionalization for eGovernment Development” which will be much contributing to the development of e-Government and GCIOs considered the key implementation element of eAPEC strategy. In project implementation, two workshops were organized successfully. Member economies co-sponsored this project including Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Viet Nam, Malaysia and USA formed up a Joint Researcher Team or JRT to play an active role in executing the target objectives upon the whole project agenda. The project succeeded its planned activities as well as its overall objectives. Contributing agencies to the project included e-Government Research Center, Waseda University, Japan, for hosting the first workshop and CIO University Program, School of Business Administration, George Mason University, USA, for hosting the second workshop. The two workshops produced the most valuable thought through the Waseda Statement and George Mason Statement that reflected those meaningful direction and guideline towards GCIO development especially in APEC region. Keywords. Government Chief Information Officer or GCIO, APEC, APECTEL, e-Government, GCIO Council

1. Background of the Project Development of Model Government Chief Information Officer (CIO) Councils (TEL06/2006) The project “Development of Model Government CIO Councils” is a continuation of the project “Establishment of Government CIO Training Model and Network for eGovernment Development”. Participating economies include Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States of America and Vietnam. These economies agree and realize that government CIO institutionalization is an important component in promoting and enhancing e-Government development in APEC-member economies. Successful deployment of CIO Councils in developed economies such as those of the US, Japan and Australia will be taken into account, as well as the need for developing economies like Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam to follow suit in designing an adaptable model for government CIO institutionalization. Due to its central role in e-Government and in information technology industry development, the CIO community plays a critical part in fostering the Asia Pacific infor-

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils

225

mation society. The project’s goal is the establishment of “An Adaptive Model on Government CIO Institutionalization for e-Government Development.” The project was approved by BMC for APEC funding in December 2005. Under the project implementation plan, Japan and the United States have been unanimously selected to organize two workshops in June and September 2006. The two economies are sponsoring this project actively and at the same time they are prime movers and recognized role models on GCIO Council institutionalization. They will provide qualified personnel who can contribute invaluable knowledge and experience. Moreover, in order to address the project goal clearly and be awared by the policy makers, the two hosts are planning well to accommodate related high level, up to ministerial level officials to join the workshops. The two planned workshop were organized successfully as cited in the 18th APEC Ministerial Meeting, 15–16 November, Hanoi, Viet Nam, No. 9. ICT and E-commerce, Paragraph 6 as saying – Ministers acknowledged the outcomes of the two conferences on the Development of Model Government Chief Information Officer (CIO) Councils held in June in Japan and September in the United States. The conferences provided a platform for discussion and participation by academia, business and government officials to advance thinking on emerging issues facing CIO Councils as well of issues of relevance to the evolving ICT sector. Ministers supported the development of new APEC TEL activities to build on this work.

2. Project Goal To establish “An Adaptive Model on Government CIO Institutionalization for eGovernment Development”.

3. Project Implementation

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Two workshops were organized as follows: 3.1. First Workshop, June 27–29, 2006 Japan hosted successfully the first APEC Workshop on GCIOs along with the 5th International Conference on e-Governance held at Waseda University during June 26–29, 2006. Waseda Statement, strongly recommended based on significant benefits derived from the conference, was made to APEC and Waseda University to:   

Continue to hold similar international conferences in the future for the benefit of all member economies to promote the network and capacity building with GCOs, Assist member economies to develop and implement E-Government strategies and GCIO initiatives; Collaborate with other relevant International and regional Organizations in ensuring that the member economies are provided with required resources to bridge the Digital Divide.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

226

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils

3.2. Second Workshop, September 25–27, 2006 United States has succeeded the 2nd workshop which was held in parallel with a global conference for CIOs and IT executives, e-government specialists and academic innovators around the theme of “CIOs and CIO Councils: Good Government, Good Business at George Mason University, Washington D.C. The new APECTEL project proposal “Deployment of GCIO Training Model and Networking for e-Government Development”. George Mason Statement As a result of the presentations, discussions and interactions at the CIOs and CIO Councils Conference, there are an endorsement of the new APECTEL project proposal namely “Deployment of GCIO Training Model and Networking for e-Government Development”, and the following recommendations to APECTEL:      

Develop and implement CIO and CIO Council development activities in collaboration with the International Academy of CIO, the private sector and academia. Develop a paper providing an adaptive model on government CIO institutionalization for e-Government development. Undertake additional research to enhance knowledge of development of CIOs and CIO Councils. Explore the feasibility of international certificate/degree programs on CIO. Develop a pilot project among APEC members that utilized an open standards platform. Further cooperation to share knowledge, best practices and experiences in the areas of: o

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

o o o

Targeted training and capacity building projects for developing economies Activities to support continued ICT uptake and the positioning of CIOs in small and medium enterprises Trends in enhancing the education and capability levels of workforces to better meet the challenges of the global economy Competencies and capabilities of the evolving roles of CIO and CIO Councils in different economies particularly in the areas of IT workforce development, enterprise architecture, emergency preparedness and response, security and health. The work could also explore the role of CIOs as innovators who lead organizations to the next level, and deliver IT value which aligns with the objectives of the enterprise.

4. Outputs of the Project  

Research framework, methodology and action plan were concluded as planned prior to conducting the targeted workshops. Status of existing GCIO councils and requirement for GCIO council were reviewed, discussed and gathered. Besides, related parameters that influence

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils

 

227

model of APEC Model GCIO Council were well defined. These outputs were achieved during the first workshop at Waseda University, Japan. An adaptive model Government CIO council for e-Government Development has been designed and endorsed during the 2nd workshop in USA. The conceptual model of APEC GCIO Council is depicted in Fig. 1 below. Final report on detailed design of APEC Model GCIO Council was concluded by December 2006 as planned.

Figure 1. Detailed APEC GCIO Council Model.

5. Description of Parameters for Setting Up GCIO Council

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Parameter-1: National ICT Policy/Plan National ICT Policy/Plan contributes to the GCIO Councils on the most important part of ICT development. GCIO councils are the key authority which lays foundation of the ICT direction of the country in the form of policy, strategy and plan. –

–

GCIO council who represent across the board ministries should take important part on laying the ICT strategy and plan as well as rolling and reviewing the plan timely, GCIO council should involve in implementing the strategy/plan

Parameter-2: GCIO Responsibilities Conceptually the two primary CIO responsibilities are enterprise leadership in information and IT management and provision to support future projects for competitive business value, management of the daily delivery of required I/IT services. However, GCIO Responsibilities reflect the GCIO mandates on ICT development of his/her organization. Therefore a set of GCIO responsibilities is needed to be defined with in the GCIO councils’ chapter prioritized as follows:

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

228

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils

– – – – –

Allocation of budget Supervising ICT development Managing ICT project Monitoring ICT projects Building and maintaining e-Governance

Parameter-3: GCIO Core Competencies As enterprise leaders, CIOs must possess fundamental capabilities or core competencies to successfully fulfill the functions associated with their responsibilities. In leading economy as USA, in September 1998 the US Government Federal CIO Council endorsed a set of core competencies as a baseline to assist departments and agencies in complying with Section 5125 (C) (3) of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. They address a number of areas including leadership, process/change management, information resources strategy and planning, project/program management, acquisition, and capital planning. In addition to the Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies (See detail in Annex A), are those recommended by commercial CIOs, business school professors, and trade journalists which are not the least and somehow considered important elements for GCIOs and they are Business Leadership Thinking, Delivery of Information Technology Services, Communications Skills and Agent of Change. GCIO Core Competencies lead the GCIO into a successful implementation of their GCIO projects. GCIO councils’ clearly define set of core competencies together with a proper set of capacity building will help enhance GCIO capability. GCIO core competency is to be an importing part of the GCIO council in the sense that the council has to host this national level agenda and it should be implemented as the very first priority of the council action or plan.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Parameter-4: APEC GCIO Training Model APEC GCIO Training Model compiles a set of training courses/curricula. GCIO councils in APEC member economies can deploy the training model in order to fulfill the GCIO knowledge and experience essentially for ICT projects development. The APEC CIO Training Model is simply defined as follows: Recommended Standard and Tailor-Made Courses/Curricula E.1 Standard Courses/Curricula Rational Considering all defined schemes and parameters mentioned above results in a simple standard set of training courses/curriculum which are divided into a norm of 3 schemes/stages as per prior analysis of GCIO development. They are 1) 2) 3)

Basic: Begin to develop some basic elements of knowledge for GCIOs, Standard: Develop to suit GCIOs’ whole range of required elements and Advance: Develop to suit CIOs’ requirement of advance training.

And including CIO University which is accepted as a comprehensive courses for CIO and ICT executives capacity building, as per below details:

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils

229

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Table 1.

Stage 1: Basic

Stage 2: Middle

Stage 3: Advance

Begin to develop some basic elements of knowledge for CIOs

Develop to suit CIOs’ whole range of required elements

Advance: Develop to suit CIOs’ requirement of advance training

Awareness of GCIO

e-Services Development

Leadership/Managerial

GCIO Roles and Responsibilities

Information Management

Capital Planning and Investment Assessment

Process /Change Management

Information Technology Management

IPR Management

Office Automation Management

Government Information and Network Integration

e-Government/ e-Business/ e-Commerce

Policy and Organization

GCIO Networking and Institutionalization

System Ergonomics

Information Resources Strategy and Planning

ICT Project Management

IT security/information assurance

IT Performance Assessment: Models and Methods

Process /Change Management

Quality Assurance

Project/Program Management

Policy and Planning Management

Web Service Technology

Acquisition Management

Network Management

Services Oriented Architecture

Presentation Tools and Technology

Information Resources Strategy and Planning

Fundamental of Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management Best practices

Advanced Customer Relationship Management

Fundamental of Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Architecture (Intermediate)

Advanced Enterprise Architecture

Application and System Support

Cases Study in developing environment

Cases Study in developed environment

E.2 Tailor-Made Courses/Curriculum  

Tailor-made Courses /Curriculum are those courses that organized for specific requirement of specific group of GCIOs. Each single economy can design accordingly and suitably for its own localization of capacity building of GCIOs similarly to following analogy of a set of tailor-made courses:    

Tailor-Made 1 Tailor-Made 2 … Tailor-Made n

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

230

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils



Guidelines of Courses are defined here to facilitate member economies in the tailor-makings.

Update of listed courses is required in certain period of time and should be shared among member economies. Parameter-5: GCIO Council Charter GCIO Council Charter is a set of essential procedure, regulation and rule for ruling and governing the setup GCIO community. (See Samples of CIO Council Charters in ANNEX B). Parameter-6: Findings from Web survey Findings from web survey will be valuable inputs for forming up the GCIO council to make sure that the set-up council have already taken into account those related issues. Moreover these findings will help the council be in line and keep abreast with the international community. Some current findings regarding GCIO councils are collected in ANNEX C. Parameter-7: Existing GCIO Councils Existing GCIO Councils can be good templates for the new setup GCIO councils. Presently in APEC region GCIO councils have been formed up in USA, Japan, Australia and Canada and economy outside APEC community like UK as for good examples. 1) USA GCIO Council

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

http://www.cio.gov/ The Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council was established by Executive Order 13011, Federal Information Technology, on July 16, 1996, now revoked. The CIO Council’s existence was codified into law by Congress in the E-Government Act of 2002. The CIO Council serves as the principal interagency forum for improving practices in the design, modernization, use, sharing, and performance of Federal Government agency information resources. The Council’s role includes developing recommendations for information technology management policies, procedures, and standards; identifying opportunities to share information resources; and assessing and addressing the needs of the Federal Government’s IT workforce. The Chair of the CIO Council is the Deputy Director for Management for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Vice Chair is elected by the CIO Council from its membership. Membership on the Council is comprised of CIOs and Deputy CIOs from the Federal executive agencies. 2) UK CIO Council http://www.cio.gov.uk/ The CIO Council Acts as a focus for partnership between IT professionals across government •

Has a membership drawn from the wider public sector – central government, local government, and agencies in fields such as health and policing.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils

• •

231

Is charged with creating and delivering a government-wide CIO agenda to support the transformation of government and to build capacity and capability in IT-enabled business change Balances government-wide agendas with accountabilities in line organisations

The operating model Council business is conducted on the following basis: • • • • • • •

The Council is chaired by the Government CIO – CIO team performs secretariat function Council membership is exclusively the province of the full Council Members attend major meetings in person There are a minimum of three full day meetings per year Interactive and action oriented events form the basis of Council activities Council members operate on a “collective responsibility” basis to steer, own and deliver agreed strategic actions Teleconferences are used between meetings to maintain/steer progress

3) Japan, Council of CIO http://www.soumu.go.jp/english/gyoukan/compendium_final.html

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Apparatus for pushing forward e-Government There are two essential key organs to promote e-Government. One is Assistant CIO, or its collegial body as Assistant CIO Council. As mentioned above, an Assistant CIO works as a chief consultant to work out a draft Optimisation Plan at his or her Ministry. Function of Assistant CIO Council is more important from the viewpoint of overall optimisation as a whole government. The Council makes technical scrutiny and give advice to draft Optimisation Plans prepared by Ministries for cross-government solutions and budget efficient public administration. Cross check by the Assistant CIO Council is the key to the whole Optimisation Process. The other is Administrative Management Bureau (AMB) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. AMB initiates various policy programs relating to e-Government; it prepares guidelines for Optimisation Plans, works as Secretariat of both Council of CIOs and that of Assistant CIOs, and monitors actions and measures taken by Ministries. AMB is the key administrative engine to drive the whole initiatives of e-Government in Japan. Parameter-8: Maturity Level of ICT Development Maturity Level of ICT Development is an indicator of the new setup GCIO council in terms of its current status of ICT development advancement that results in the proper role of GCIO council. Simple model of Maturity Level of ICT Development is defined into 5 levels but not limited as follows: Level 1: Information Website that provides data and information published online Level 2: Interaction Website that can interact with customers

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

232

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils

Level 3: Interchange Transaction Website that can execute a complete e-Transaction Level 4: Integration Website that renders e-services collaboration across different government agencies Level 5: Intelligence Website that can render personalized services to customers

6. Conclusion and Recommendation 1)

2)

3) 4)

5)

6)

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

7)

8)

9)

10) 11) 12)

Considerations and options for the development of CIO Councils should be based on the designed APEC Model depicted in Fig. 1 in order to standardize the setup councils within the region. CIO leadership versus management as well as the key success factor of linking technology strategy to overall strategy are among the essential element in consideration of the CIO council roles. CIO competency characteristics are adjustable accordingly to the maturity level of ICT-e-Government development. Organizations must have a strategic plan and analyze the process needed to affect change to achieve goals desired – and that the technology plan would be linked to and consistent with the strategic plan. CIO core competencies are expanding beyond information and IT management to include such diverse skills as communicating effectively, ability to engage citizens, plan across organizations, recognize emerging technologies and their uses, and develop security and emergency strategy. As drivers of IT strategy, CIOs must be business relevant – able to understand the needs of the overall organization, establish strategic goals and provide appropriate technologies to meet those needs. CIO leaders and academic educators must work together on continuing challenges of developing human capital, understanding uses of new technology, and designing programs to continually enhance workforce skill sets. Action Plan for founding GCIO Council in each economy should include government/cabinet endorsement, defining certain set of roles and responsibilities of the GCIO council in supporting e-Government-ICT development, setting-up steering and standing committees to oversee divisions of qualified development works-activities. Networking with international forum, association and bodies such as IAC (International Academy of CIO), ITU, OECD and etc. in the area of GCIO development will help enhance the works of GCIO councils of member economies in terms of global picture inclusion. CIO roles as leaders of change and as chief innovation officers are the foreseeable direction of CIOs’ role to date. CIO councils should incorporate IT Governance as a priority area for CIO capacity building. CIO councils should address policies and direction clearly regarding applications of current technologies as Enterprise Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture and open standards, allocation of resources as well as benefits

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

J. Tubtimhin / Development of Model Government CIO Councils

13)

14) 15) 16) 17) 18)

233

derived from increased use of such architectures and open standards environment. CIO Councils should provide a means for cross governmental coordination of IT workforce development, enterprise architecture, security, emergency preparedness and response, and best practices. CIO councils should define policy approaches taken by CIOs in private and public sectors, including in different levels of government. CIO councils should collect lessons learned in emergency preparedness to better react, respond and recover from natural disasters and terrorist acts CIO councils should commit to prioritized areas for ICT utilization such as in Public Health, agriculture, rural area development and etc. CIO councils should take a leading role upon Security and Privacy policy and implementation. CIO councils within APEC should cooperate in forecasting trends to monitor in preparing an IT workforce to better compete in a global economy.

References TEL02/2006 project: Model Government CIO Councils, APECTEL. Clinger-Cohen Core Competencies, Revised June 2003. USA: EXECUTIVE ORDER 13011 OF JULY 16, 1996, FEDERAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. UK: Government IT Profession People Charter.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

This page intentionally left blank

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.

235

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Subject Index APEC 205, 224 APECTEL 205, 224 Bangemann report 62 broadband internet 37 central government 84 CIO 3 CIO core competences 37 CIO in government 37 CIO roles 124 CIO survey 124 citizen centric 3, 150 critical success factor 134 Delors White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness, and Employment 62 developing economy 53 digital inclusion 134 e-development process 94 e-Governance 94, 163 e-Government 3, 53, 84, 134, 150, 163, 205, 224 e-Government initiative 134 e-Government maturity 3 e-Government promotion 37 e-leaders 94 e-leadership chief information officer 94 e-participation 150 e-Revenue 26 European Commission 62 European information society (EIS) 62 filing service 26 functioning applications 163 GCIO core competencies 205 GCIO council 224 GCIO institutionalization 205 GCIO responsibilities 205 Golden-12 Projects 84 good corporate governance 117 governance 62 government chief information officer (GCIO) 117, 205, 224 information 3

information age 62 information and communication technology(ies) (ICT) 53, 134, 182 information work leading group 84 innovative CIO 37 integration 3 intelligence 3 intelligent transport system (ITS) 182 interaction 3 interchanged transaction 3 introduction of CIO 163 IT 2000 3 IT 2010 3 IT governance 117 knowledge economy 94 Koh Tao island 26 local government 84, 134 management optimization 37, 163 maturity level of ICT 205 ministry of ICT 3 national portal 163 national portal service 37 NECTEC 3, 182 network preparedness 163 new forms of governance 62 new IT reform strategy 37 online application and tracking system 150 Open City Foundation 150 Open City Portal 53, 150 participatory content development 150 phishing cases 194 policy innovation 62 political innovation 62 PPP 26 promotion of e-Government 163 public sector transformation 94 required interface 163 required interface 37 result-oriented management and accountability (ROMA) 150 revenue department (RD) 26

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

236

53 150 84 26 150 182

Taiwanese corporation tax filing service TENs Thai computer emergency response team (ThaiCERT) urban Waseda University international e-government rankings webmasters

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

rural single windows state council informatization leading group Suratthani province sustainable urban regional initiatives Sydney coordinated adaptive traffic system (SCAT)

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

124 26 62 194 53 163 3

Global e-Governance J. Tubtimhin and R. Pipe (Eds.) IOS Press, 2009 © 2009 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.

237

Author Index 53 124 84 117 62 94 37 194 150 37, 163 182

Sanglertsilapachai, N. Santana, M. Shahin, J. Sirisaengtaksin, J. Siwamogsatham, S. Sunalai, A. Supangkat, S.H. Thajchayapong, P. Tseng, S.-F. Tubtimhin, J.

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Auffret, J.-P. Chiang, Y.-K. Fengchun, Y. Fiarni, C. Finger, M. Hanna, N.K. Iwasaki, N. Jirawannakool, K. Kusakabe, M. Obi, T. Prathombutr, P.

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest

194 134 62 26 194 3 117 v 124 3, 205, 224

Copyright © 2006. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

This page intentionally left blank

Global E-Governance : Advancing e-Governance Through Innovation and Leadership, IOS Press, Incorporated, 2006. ProQuest