Figure 2
Application of Strategic Alignment Model:
From the above, it is clearly understandable what E- Governance and its benefits are. To know more about the relation between IT and Governance, it is necessary to explain the Strategic alignment and the maturity model. Henderson and Venkatraman (1993) proposed a model of strategic alignment. This model, as illustrated in the figure presents four domains of strategic alignment, as applied to corporate strategy:
(1) “Business strategy” refers to the broad choices pertaining to the positioning of the business in the competitive product-market arena;
(2) “Organisational infrastructure, processes, and culture” refers to the choices pertaining to the particular internal arrangements and configurations that support the organisation’s chosen position in the market;
(3) “IT strategy” refers to broad choices related to information technology scope, systemic competencies and IT governance; and
(4) “IS infrastructure and processes” refers to the choices pertaining to the internal arrangements and configurations that determine the data, applications and technology infrastructure to deliver the required IT products and services. The strategic alignment model is used to explain the interdependence of IS and business strategies and the strategic “alignment” between business and IS as well as the “impact” of information systems and technology (IST) driven opportunities.
“Strategic fit” reflects the alignment between external and internal domains that is represented by either business transformation or technology transformation. “Strategic integration” is the link between the external components, i.e. business and technology strategy domains, while “operational integration” is the link between the internal components (i.e. organisational infrastructure and processes and IST infrastructure and processes). “Cross domain alignment” involves the relationships along the two diagonals of the matrix, that is:
(1) Between business strategy and IST infrastructure and processes; and
(2) Between IT strategy and organisational infrastructure and processes.
One of the fundamental insights of the strategic alignment model is that the successful implementation of strategy requires the alignment of all four domains.
Strategic Alignment Model
Figure 3
Alignment model for E-Governance:
In order to explain the progression from government to e-government more precisely, the proposed integrated model of strategic transformation that combines the insights of both the maturity and the strategic alignment model is given below.
Strategic Alignment Model for E-Governance
Figure 4
Here,
(1) “Government strategy” refers to broad choices pertaining to the positioning of government.
(2) “Government infrastructure and processes” refers to the choices pertaining to the particular internal arrangements and configurations that support the government’s chosen position, together with the reflected government culture and skills.
(3) “E-government strategy” refers to broad choices pertaining to IT scope, systemic capabilities, and IT governance.
(4) “E-government infrastructure and processes” refers to the choices pertaining to the internal arrangements and configurations that determine the data, applications and technology infrastructure used to deliver the required e-government services.
Government strategies are defined less in relationship to a competitive marketplace, but instead have to take into account issues such as legitimacy with citizens. Nevertheless, since both corporate and government strategy require high-level planning and decision-making, the same basic decision-making principles apply. Furthermore, both corporate and government strategy have to deal with issues of alignment of objectives between the different levels. Strategic fit in government is the alignment between external and internal domains that is represented by either government transformation or e-government transformation. While strategic integration in government is the link between the external components, i.e. government strategy and e-government strategy domains, operational integration is the link between the internal components (i.e. government infrastructure and processes and e-government infrastructure and processes). Cross domain alignment involves the relationships along the two diagonals of the matrix, that is:
(1) Between government strategy and e-government infrastructure and processes; and
(2) Between e-government strategy and government infrastructure and processes.
Applying Strategic Alignment Maturity Model:
The Transition can also be described by using Luftman’s Strategic Alignment Maturity Model (2000)
In this model Luftman talks about five conceptual levels, where the process passes through, i.e. initial, committed process, established focused process, improved/managed process, and optimized process.
When looking into the E-Governance process, we can see,
In the initial stage a study will be conducted and pilot project will be implemented. In this stage there will be some problems related to lack of understanding and knowledge. It will act as a cost centre where the implementation will be a cost for the government. The architecture used will be somewhat traditional by using the basic technologies. Technical skill improvement will be less at this stage.
During committed process, the services will be limited but the IT understanding will be better. In this stage IT will emerge as an asset where the government can use the services in a profitable way. The architecture will also be developed. Skills should be developed and differentiated.
In the established process stage there will be a good understanding and there will be a better cost effectiveness. Processes will be increased. IT will be seen as an asset and process driver. Architecture will be integrated and better skill usage will be done at this stage.
At the improved stage the communications will be bonded and the governance will be managed across. In this stage IT will be enabling government strategies. Architecture will be integrated with partners. There will more use of skills at this stage.
In the optimized stage, high level of capability and performance will be shown, where more number of citizens and organisations will be using their services. Regular planning and re-engineering will be there. More knowledge will be shared at this stage.
E-Governance in India:
The concept of e-governance has its origins in India during the seventies with a focus on development of in- house government applications in the areas of defense, economic monitoring, planning and the deployment of IT to manage data intensive functions related to elections, census, tax administration etc.(Citizen centric e governance in India n.d ) The efforts of the National Informatics Center (NIC) to connect all the district headquarters during the eighties was a very significant development. From the early nineties, IT technologies were supplemented by ICT technologies to extend its use for wider sectoral applications with policy emphasis on reaching out to rural areas and taking in greater inputs from NGOs and private sector as well. There has been an increasing involvement of international donor agencies under the framework of e-governance for development to catalyze the development of e-governance laws and technologies in developing countries.
While the emphasis has been primarily on automation and computerization, state governments have also endeavored to use ICT tools into networking, connectivity and delivering services. At a micro level, this has ranged from IT automation in individual departments, electronic file handling, access to entitlements, public grievance systems, service delivery for high volume routine transactions such as payment of bills, tax dues to meeting poverty relief goals through the promotion of entrepreneurial models and provision of market information. The thrust has varied across initiatives, with some focusing on enabling the citizen-state interface for various government services, and others focusing on bettering livelihoods. Every state government has taken the initiative to form an IT task force to outline IT policy document for the state and the citizen charters have started appearing on government websites.
For governments, the more open motivation to shift from manual processes to IT-enabled processes may be increased efficiency in administration and service delivery, but this shift can be conceived as a worthwhile investment with potential for returns.
‘Friends’ Project in Kerala:
The State of Kerala declared a comprehensive IT Policy in 1998 with a specific focus on popularizing the use of Information Technology among the masses. The initial e-governance mandate of the Information Technology (IT) Department of the state was to identify the government departments that have a high level of public interface and to introduce Information Technology to ensure effective delivery of citizen services. Accordingly, 34 departments were identified for introducing IT in the first phase. On attempting system studies, it became clear that for any meaningful IT implementation, substantial administrative reforms would have to precede the same. (Friends in Kerala 2005). For instance, it was found by the Administrative Reforms Committee of the Government that a single file would have to be handled by as many as 60 people before a decision is taken on the same. In the above context, it became obvious to the department that simple automation of existing processes would not be an effective solution. However, since administrative reforms generally takes substantial time, the benefits of utilising IT in governance would also take considerable time to reach the citizens. It was hence decided by the Government to adopt a two-pronged strategy – a long term IT implementation strategy concurrent to administrative reforms and a medium term strategy involving high visibility People Oriented Projects.
FRIENDS or “Fast, Reliable, Instant and Efficient Network for Disbursement of Services”, the Single Window delivery of government services was started in 2000 in Thiruvananthapuram by the Kerala State Department of Information Technology with the help of local bodies. The FRIENDS centre, or Janasevana Kendram, (‘Janasevana’ means serving people, ‘Kendram’ means centre) is a one-stop integrated citizen service centre of the Government of Kerala. The centre functions as a single counter to remit utility bill payments, submit applications, seek information on government programmes and schemes, and provide access to other specialty services. After the success of the pilot project in Thiruvananthapuram, FRIENDS was launched in the remaining 13 District Headquarters in 2001. FRIENDS seeks to extend the benefits of full fledged computerisation of individual departments to the citizens, even before the whole backend computerization is completed. The salient feature of the project is the effective integration of IT and logistics for citizen services. However, one could probably look at FRIENDS as a strategy of IT implementation in Government with a citizen focus and it goes on to show that unlike conventional thinking, front-end computerization could be viewed as a first step to IT diffusion in developing countries. The salient feature of the project is the effective integration of IT and logistics for citizen services.
Objectives and Goals
The project was launched with following objectives and goals:
- To improve government-customer interface at all levels.
- To improve service quality and innovation.
- To improve operational efficiency.
- To provide cost-effective services.
Prior to FRIENDS, citizens had to run between a number of departments to make their monthly tax/utility payments and to get information about the government related details. The solution to this problem lies essentially in undertaking drastic administrative reforms, such as FRIENDS and thus dismantling departmental empires and bringing in citizen friendly service focus within Government.
Stakeholders
The major stakeholders of this project include the Kerala Government, the citizens, the employees of FRIENDS, public agencies/departments and Kudumbasree units (self-help groups of women from below the poverty line who have undertaken some of the auxiliary data entry and related work for the centres).(Kiran 2002)
Application Purpose and Description
As in all Indian states, Kerala has a number of different government and public sector organisations collecting taxes, utility bills, and other fees and payments. Individual citizens have historically been expected to pay at the office of the department or the agency concerned. This means that every citizen has to personally visit at least seven offices and stand in queues waiting their turn to pay the taxes and other payments due to government. Some efforts were earlier made to facilitate payments through the banking network. However, given the fact that many banks and government departments/agencies were not computerised, this effort only led to delayed collections and reconciliation problems. Moreover, only 2 to 5 percent of the population used this facility. It was against this background that the FRIENDS project was conceived, enabling citizens to visit a single location to pay all bills without the requirement for back office computerisation in the involved departments/agencies. (Kiran 2002). The software for the centres was developed with ASP, Windows 2000 and SQL RDBMS. One important feature is a provision for adding more modules and a Queue management system. Client/server architecture, consisting of a network of one powerful server (Windows 2000 Server/ MS SQL Server 7.0 – Pentium III 850 MHz or above) and 10 to 20 normal PCs (Windows 98/Me – Celeron 600 MHz or above), is used in each centre.
FRIENDS seeks to extend the benefits of fully-fledged computerisation of individual departments to citizens, even before the whole back-end computerisation is completed. The counters are equipped to handle around 1,000 types of payment bills (in various combinations) originating out of various public sector departments/agencies. The payments that citizens can make at the counters include utility payments for electricity and water, revenue taxes, license fees, motor vehicle taxes, university fees, etc.
Firewalls safeguard the data from manipulation and other misappropriations. Print outs of transaction details in a particular counter are done on the printer attached to each terminal, on pre-printed stationery. Printing of a receipt for the citizen is done simultaneously with saving of the transaction on the hard disk. The application has provisions for adding more modules and for rolling back incorrect entries without affecting the database even at the user level. The centres are not networked with the participating departments/agencies and therefore the printouts of all payments made are taken and physically handed over to these organisations for processing.
Impact: Costs and Benefits
There are indirect costs and indirect benefits of the project including the aspect of opportunity costs, but it is very difficult to gain evidence on these. The cost part includes hardware maintenance charges and payments on account of rent, electricity, etc. These costs are borne centrally by the Department of IT. The salaries of the Service Officers are an additional recurrent cost, covered by those government departments that collect payments at the centres. FRIENDS centres can also be used for payments to BSNL (a Government of India-owned telecommunications company). BSNL does not provide staff at the centres; instead, it provides a transaction payment of BSNL-related transaction, giving a pretty good average monthly income for each centre.
It has been calculated that, with FRIENDS, citizens need to spend an average of only 35% of the cost involved in making separate payments at department counters. By saving on travel costs, costs of using agents, and related costs, citizens using FRIENDS centres therefore make an average monthly saving of about US$1 per citizen. Moreover, on average, citizens save about 42 minutes of their time every month. On average, each centre deals with around 400 citizen transactions per day.(The friends n.d)
The high level of satisfaction and the increased participation of women customers is also a positive contribution. It has also demonstrated that, with appropriate training, skill upgradation and technology, existing government employees can deliver better services.
Evaluation: Failure or Success?
The project can be considered largely successful, verging on a total success, considering the direct and indirect benefits and win-win situation provided to both government and citizens. The front-end first approach has been proven as a way forward for e-government. Of course, the real solution to the problem of multifaceted government entities lies in undertaking major administrative reforms. To that extent, FRIENDS can at best be seen only as a solution to the symptom and not to the real problem.
Enablers/Critical Success Factors
1. Front-end first approach: The completion of back-end computerisation in government departments of developing countries takes a lot of time on account of fund paucity and procedural hassles. Even if the process were completed, each department, due to socio-political reasons, would essentially end up as stand-alone projects delivering their services in an IT-enabled mode. This would mean that citizens would continue to run from one agency to the other to complete their transactions. FRIENDS had two major advantages over back-end computerisation. One, the benefits of an IT-enabled system was offered to citizens at a much earlier date rather than waiting for completion of back-end computerisation. Two, it ensured the irreversible (due to public response) integration of service delivery through one single window.
2. Immediate and high visibility with wider public participation: Conventional wisdom suggests that business process precede IT implementation in any organisation. Even more than in business organisations, process in a democratic government is time-consuming on account of the democratic institutions and interest groups involved in the process. FRIENDS has managed to accomplish to deliver quick, high visible gains to all sections of society. It is felt that a sufficiently successful project of this nature would ensure credibility for the use of IT in government.
3. The human factor: The contribution of the human factor to the success of FRIENDS project has been enormous. Though technology was a key enabler, it is ownership of the project by the Service Officers that has critically helped. A combination of appropriate training with emphasis on behavioral aspects, skill upgradation, technology and good ambience created the appropriate motivation for these officers to deliver better services.
Constraints/Challenges
1. Departmental compartmentalization: The governmental structures are such that each department undertakes a specific task and delivers only part of a process that an individual citizen needs. This administrative convenience has created strict compartmentalisation of departments with employees and heads of departments interested only in the affairs of the department without usually having the larger picture in mind. As an integrated front-end project with one single interface, FRIENDS was opposed by the participating departments on account of the fear that they would loose their existing authority and power. This was particularly evident in Kerala, with different political parties in charge of different departments.
2. Procedures and processes: Though the State Government has a consolidated fund for operation of its activities, separate budgeted heads are operationalised for each department. Money remitted by the citizens at any counter could pertain to a combination of departments/agencies. Though for all practical purposes, the collection at FRIENDS is equivalent to remittance to Government, individual departments insist that their share reach them at least by the next day. There is stiff resistance from all quarters to changing and rationalising these procedures. Moreover, the rules and procedures framed under each department caused major constraints in the implementation of the project.
3. Updation of details in departmental registers: FRIENDS centres are not networked with the participating departments and therefore printouts in specific formats are taken and physically handed over to these departments. Due to clerical errors, some of which were initially deliberate by the employees of participating departments, transaction details entered in the FRIENDS centres are at times not documented in the department registers, leading to the disconnection of service (e.g. electricity or water) in spite of the citizens making payments. This led, on a few occasions in the early stages of the project, to the threat of terminating the FRIENDS project. This was finally controlled by an order from the Government stating that a receipt from a FRIENDS counter would be equivalent to a receipt from the participating department/agency.
Recommendations
1. Build more front-end user interfaces even before completing the whole back-end computerisation process. In the case of developing countries with capital scarcity and a not very efficient departmental structure, it is advisable to start e-government from the front-end, and then use it as a pull factor to implement back office computerisation.
2. The human factor is critical. While IT is an advanced technology, it should only be viewed as an enabler of government reforms. The real success of any e-government project largely depends on the human stakeholders behind the project.
3. Focus on immediate benefits and high visibility with broad citizen benefit. The FRIENDS project shows that for an e-government project to succeed, the underlying technology need not be very sophisticated. What is required is an understanding of citizen needs, proper structuring of the project and early delivery of benefits. It is also important to have projects that have a fairly high degree of public visibility and which serve a broad spectrum of society so that people at large are convinced about the use of IT in government.
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National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Department of Information Technology is providing network backbone and e-Governance support to Central Government, State Governments, Union Territory Administrations, Districts and other Government bodies. It offers a wide range of ICT services including Nationwide Communication Network for decentralised planning, improvement in Government services and wider transparency of national and local Governments. NIC assists in implementing Information Technology Projects, in close collaboration with Central and State Governments, in the areas of (a) Centrally sponsored schemes and Central sector schemes, (b) State sector and State sponsored projects, and (c) District Administration sponsored projects. NIC endeavours to ensure that the latest technology in all areas of IT is available to its users.