E-Government, E-Democracy and E-Services for Communities Judith Molka-Danielsen May 03, 2005.

E-Government, E-Democracy and E-Services for Communities

Judith Molka-Danielsen

May 03, 2005

Community Administrations are taking a more wholistic approach for adopting e-

Services into their communities.

Communities use of e-services are only one level of e-government. Often these e-services must be introduced and

integrated at community, county (fylke),

state, national and international levels.

What is e-government? E-government is the use of ICT to interact with citizens and other

sectors.

• E-government uses IT and EC to provide:– Convenient access to government information

and services– Delivery of public services– Efficient and effective method of conducting

business transactions

• Digital online access to information

• Online transaction services for citizens

What is e-democracy?• E-democratic perspectives on citizens stress the

deliberative qualities of the human being. It means that the citizens are assumed to reflect on social conditions and express their opinions in ongoing debates. This is an important difference to the perspective of e-government which considers the citizens as customers and clients with different needs and desires. The purpose of e-government is to meet peoples demand concerning e.g. social service in the most effective and economic way. Citizen participation as conception and empirical phenomenon is a condition of e-governance; in particular of a vivid e-democracy since citizen participation seems as an imperative for deliberation and real debate. – Signe Bock Segaard (stipendiat, UIB)

• In e-democracy, it is not only the communication between politicians and citizen (G2C) that is important, but also the communication between citizens (C2C).

Categories of e-government

• G2C (Government to Citizen)

• G2B (Government to Business)

• G2G (Government to Government)

• G2E (Government to Employee)

Categories of e-democracy• C2C (Citizen to Citizen)

Major Categories of Applications of E-Government

• Government-to-citizens (G2C)– enabling citizens to interact with the

government from their homes– Citizens Benefits:

• Find all the information on the Web• Ask questions and receive answers• Pay tax and bills• Receive payments and documents

Major Categories of Applicationsof E-Government (cont.)

– Governments (services)• Disseminate information• Conduct training• Help find employment

– Electronic benefits transfer (EBT) is an example of G2C applications• System relies on a single smart card that

accesses cash and food benefits• Recipients get e-transfers to bank account

or download to smart card• Reduces fraud

Major Categories of Applicationsof E-Government (cont.)

• Government-to-business and business–to-government (G2B)– E-procurement

• Large amounts of MROs and materials direct from many suppliers

• Uses basically a reverse auction system– E-auctions

• Auction surpluses from vehicles to real estate

• May use 3rd-party site

Major Categories of Applicationsof E-Government (cont.)

• Government-to-government (G2G)– Intelink—sharing information between

intelligence agencies– Buyers.gov—general services administration– Federal case registry—health and human

services– Procurement marketing and access network—

small business administration

• Government-to-employees— (G2E)– Payment for employees

Implementing E-Government

• Stage 1: information publishing/dissemination– Individual government departments set up their

own Web sites that provide:• Information about them• Range of services available• Contacts for further assistance

Implementing E-Government (cont.)• Stage 2: official two-way transactions

– Using legally valid digital signatures and secure Web sites, customers:• Submit personal information• Conduct monetary transactions

– Customers must be convinced that:• System keeps their information private• System is free of piracy

Implementing E-Government (cont.)

• Stage 3: multipurpose portals– Customer-centric governments enhance

service delivery – Customer needs can cut across department

boundaries, portal allows customers to use single point-of-entry to:• Send and receive information• Process monetary transactions across

multiple departments

– Access to Government managed, centralized databases

Implementing E-Government (cont.)

• Stage 4: portal personalization– Customers can access a variety of services at

a single Web site• Customers can customize portals with their

desired features• Requires sophisticated Web programming

allowing interfaces• Added benefit is that governments get a

more accurate read on customer preference–Electronic services–Non-electronic services

Implementing E-Government (cont.)

• Stage 5: clustering of common services– All real transformation of government

structure takes shape here– Customers see a unified package instead of

once-disparate services– Distinction between departments begins to

blur– Recognize groups of transactions instead of

groups of agencies

Implementing E-Government (cont.)

• Stage 6: full integration and enterprise transformation (see next slide)– Digital encyclopedia is now:

• Full-service center• Personalized to each customer’s needs

and preferences– Old walls defining services are torn down– Technology integrated across new

government structure bridging gap between front and back offices

Figure 11-6The Stages of E-Government

Source: Deloitte Research (see Wong, 2001).

Implementing E-Government (cont.)

• Transformation—change is very slow– Implementing G2B

• Build customer trust by increasing:–Privacy–Security–Confidentiality

• Plan technology for growth and customer friendliness

• Manage access channels to optimize value• Weigh insourcing vs. outsourcing• Include strong change management program

Implementing E-Government (cont.)

• Security issues—concerns include:– Data about citizens stays secure– Privacy of individuals is maintained

• Developing portals (some portal vendors also support government portals)– Tibco.com—Portal Builder– Ca.com—Jasmine ii Portal– Plumtree.com

ExamplesReference: (next few ppt)

Services of a communities broadbandnetwork

Are Staurset

Ålesund kommune

Basic principles

• One broadband network for all (data, video, telephone, administration, alarms etc.)

• Common Internet access and firewall • All the file servers are in the same room (under

one management). (Also backups.)• The teacher network is on a different segment

from the student network divided by the firewall.

Skodje 2002 (in the area)

• 3500 residents

• 5 schools – 3 preschools

• Town hall - library – nursing home – schools

• 1 IT-consultant

• Dialup access ISDN

Skodje sitt intranett 2003

Network based services• Different PC based systems• Telephone (IP-based, IP-pbx, fax, unified

messaging)• Card access control to doors and garage

ports. • Telephone conferencing system, voice mail,

etc. • Video survailance• Alarms (break ins, elevator problems, etc)• Building controlls (adjusting temperature,

ventilation, lights, time (clock systems) etc.)• Payment terminals (Bankaxept).

Architecture

Secure Internet Access

• Firewall

• VPN-(virtual private network support)

• Intrution protection/detection

• Epost / Spam-filters

• Virus-filters

PC- administrationrequires broadband

• Automatisk MS security software upgrading

• Automatic antivirus-upgrading

• Remote control of PCs throughout community

• Inventory

• Help desk

Intranett and

Internett-publishing

E-business and invoice payments

Electronic archive - NOARK4

Groupware

• MS Exchange

• Lotus Notes

• MS Sharepoint server

• Quickplace

”Soft”-telephone and IP-telephone

Telephone over the data net

On line catalogue

Building Management• The watch-master team has the most need

for managing buildings.• Intranet acess for ventalation and heat.

Remote control of these systems from all PCs on the network.

• Temperature should be logged and give automatic alarm 24/7. Alarms tied to the telephone system.

• Save on not having to travel around to turn off systems.

Payment terminals• Software, card-reader machine that

accepts pin-code. Connection to PC-register. Customer uses 4 number pin code.

• Transactions og over the intranet between locations, connects to banking network.

• Used in services including health (legevakt), garbage deposits, movie, culture arrangements, parking, fees paid at the town hall or other community administration offices..

Video Conferencing• Inexpensive to operate over IP networks.

• Could be used for education and training of workers, or for meetings between departments.

• But, it is not used that much in substitute of travel. It is not selected when face-to-face meetings are possible.

Examples of Levels of E-government in Norway

State Level: www.odin.dep.no

Fylke Level: www.mr-fylke.org

Community: www.molde.kommune.no