Part 3—Strategic direction

E-government leads to transformation

The Internet, and its associated technologies and business models, is profoundly affecting the way government, business, and people interact. Government is adapting to this new environment in a way that will eventually transform how it operates. The design and delivery of services is already changing to meet the changing needs of New Zealanders.

To be successful in this new environment agencies will need to work together more effectively, sharing resources and integrating their services. People and businesses will have a better, more consistent experience of government if agencies work together. This approach will also help reduce the costs of delivering services online and through other channels.

Transforming the way the public sector operates will not be achieved overnight. Bearing in mind that more than just e-government will effect the transformation, the model below shows how the foundation components of the e-government programme support the change process through a series of phases. Each phase of the process is described in more detail below.

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Bear in mind that, with this model:

• Different services will sit at different points along the curve. Some services will only ever need a simple web presence, while others may never involve online transactions, or be part of integration efforts.

• Some services will never be delivered electronically, even though public officials are supported by technology in delivering these services.

• Agencies should consider where each of their services or functions should be positioned on the curve, rather than where the organisation as a whole should sit.

Phase 1 — Web presence

Agencies provide a website to deliver basic information to the public.

Most government agencies moved beyond this phase some time ago. Many have moved on from publishing information in a way that reflects their agency's view, to one that reflects the view of people and/or business it services. Some have started to develop cross-agency, subject specific, portals.

Phase 2 — Interaction

Agencies extend the capability of their website so people who used to visit a government office now have online access to critical information, can download forms, and can contact the agency by email.

Again, many government agencies in New Zealand already have this capability.

Phase 3 — Transaction

Agencies add self-service applications to their websites so that people can complete entire transactions or processes online. The web begins to complement other service delivery channels, providing around the clock access independent of users' geographic location. Increasingly, agencies develop services that involve different agency business delivery systems that are seamlessly integrated.

Some New Zealand agencies are currently in this phase with some of their services. Many of the foundation projects in the e-government programme are designed to help agencies move into this phase—especially the work being done on authentication.

Phase 4 — Transformation

The delivery of government services and potentially the operation of government itself is redefined. Information, service delivery and government processes are integrated across traditional boundary lines. Information and services are increasingly customised to the particular needs of individuals and businesses. The identity of individual agencies matters less to people as information and services are accessed through a single point of contact on the web. E-government reshapes the relationships between government, individuals, and business

[Based on GartnerGroup Research Note: Gartner's Four Phases of E-government Model. © GartnerGroup, November 2000].

The long-term goal of New Zealand's e-government strategy, in conjunction with other programmes, is to change the design, operation and culture of the public sector to better respond to the needs of New Zealanders.

Increasingly, agencies will take a whole-of-government perspective when designing and implementing services. This will involve collaboration with other agencies, and meeting whole-of-government requirements.

A 'service delivery architecture' underpins the transformation

For agencies to work together in the new e-government environment and successfully bring about this transformation they need a common design framework or architecture for service delivery using information technology.

The "service delivery architecture" depicted below shows how the Government expects agencies to use and be a part of the government information, technology, and standards environment in future.

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Architectures of this kind are becoming increasingly important to governments around the world. In 2001, the Gartner Group stated that "over the next two years 70 percent of governments that do not develop an e-government architecture will duplicate efforts and infrastructure, and will fail to meet constituent expectations for service delivery, resulting in complaints and wasted public funds". [Kreizman, G and E. Fraga, E-Government Architecture: Development and Governance (TG-14-6799) October 2001]

The main benefits of adopting the service delivery architecture are:

• agencies make better use of taxpayers' funds when delivering services in the future;

• people and business face lower compliance costs, and experience higher quality and greater consistency when dealing with government; and

• Ministers are able to evaluate agencies' proposals for future e-government initiatives in a context that emphasises and enables and the collective use of information and technology.

The architecture requires that some elements of agencies' service delivery be developed from an all-of-government perspective (i.e. 'develop once, use many times') in the future. In particular, there are benefits to having a common architecture for:

• how services are presented to people (User services & guidance);

• how service delivery is actually electronically enabled (Service enabling tools); and

• how agencies connect to one another and their customers (Connection tools).

This is because many aspects of agencies' service provision are generic (e.g. 'accept an electronic payment', 'authenticate an individual', 'change address', 'deliver a secure e-mail') and are therefore best done in a standardised manner by all agencies.

This does not mean that all agencies will share exactly the same information and technology. Instead, the architecture embraces:

• common components: components developed and implemented only once, and used by many or all agencies (e.g. the Portal);

• modular components: standard components that support a generic activity, but are implemented locally (e.g. a technology solution for handling an online registration process that can be incorporated into different business processes in different agencies); and

• unique components: components that are specific to a particular agency, function or service (that may still need to be e-GIF compliant).

A full discussion of the architecture is available here.

Implementing the architecture—the e-government component architecture

During 2003/04, the E-government Unit will work with agencies to develop and pilot a new approach to developing and using technology across the sector.

Called the e-government component architecture, the approach augments agency-specific application development by designing and developing modular reusable technology components. These components will:

• comply with the NZ e-GIF; and

• make e-government best practice available across the sector.

The labour market WorkSite portal (www.work.govt.nz) launched in late 2002 successfully piloted the approach by reusing several components developed for the government portal (www.govt.nz). This saved $400,000 in development and data gathering, $18,000 in annual operating costs through shared infrastructure, and unquantified savings in on-going data maintenance.

Currently available components include web-based search tools, reusing the capabilities of the government portal; feeds from the central metadata repository for reuse in agency and agency-cluster initiatives; prototype shared workspaces and mailing list applications; and the S.E.E. Mail framework.

Components planned for future release include LDAP agency directory services; a gateway or hub for the interchange of XML messages; workflow tools for inter-agency shared business processes; and all-of-government news syndication via the portal.

Making the architecture work

The architecture is at the heart of the e-government strategy. It is essential that all agencies can take part in creating a business and ITC environment based on this architecture. This means that:

Agencies need to:

• work with the E-government Unit to understand and develop the architecture, and

  • bring their own ICT environments into alignment with it;

  • design service delivery processes that make use of the architecture;

• participate in the ongoing design and governance of the architecture;

• collaborate with each other in the development and use of access channels, and sharing of back-office information and business delivery systems;

• contribute to the all-of-government parts of the architecture (e.g. creating metadata; developing the e-GIF; designing, developing and sharing modular components); and

• use collective governance arrangements to share some decision-making around their information and technology environments to meet whole-of-government objectives.

E-government Unit needs to:

• develop and operate some of the common and modular components of the architecture;

• work with agencies to design governance structures appropriate to the various components of the architecture;

• assist agencies to develop access and delivery channels, and back-office systems collaboratively; and

• explore the possibility of rationalising and consolidating government ICT infrastructures, applications and data to deliver better quality services and better use taxpayer's funds.

Implications of the architecture

The service delivery architecture has major long-run implications for how agencies operate, the design of their business processes, and the shape of their information and technology environments. It reinforces e-government's drive toward a more homogenous information and technology environment characterised by:

• collaboration and sharing;

• focus on leveraging maximum value from taxpayers' investments in data and infrastructure;

• increasing standardisation of data, information systems and business processes; and

• development of new governance arrangements at a whole-of-government level.

The bigger picture: e-government and other "e" initiatives

Government has been working on a broader set of "e" issues.

E-commerce

The E-commerce Action Team (ECAT) has made continued progress in building New Zealand's e-commerce capability. They reached a major milestone in the passing of the Electronic Transactions Act on 10 October 2002.

Bandwidth

In the May 2002 Budget, the Government announced that it was providing for 'tens of millions' of dollars' through project PROBE to ensure that all schools and their communities would be able to have broadband Internet access by the end of 2004. PROBE will give farmers and other business owners and communities in most rural areas the opportunity to work online with a service quality similar to that enjoyed by people in the major metropolitan centres.

Although the needs of the education sector initially drove the PROBE project, the Ministry of Health recently announced that it is joining PROBE because it is planning to use broadband to enhance Health network services through services such as telemedicine. Other government agencies are likely to become involved as the PROBE rollout begins. It is expected that PROBE will accelerate the development of broadband communications capabilities right across the country, something that will be essential for e-government in the future.

Digital divide

New Zealand, like all other countries, faces the challenge of the digital divide. Addressing this, the Community Employment Group of the Department of Labour is leading Connecting Communities, the Government's strategy to increase "communities ability to access, participate in and efficiently use ICT".

A major milestone marking the first six months of its implementation is the establishment of ICT partnerships in three pilot communities to test and adapt a community 'ICT planning route map'. This tool enables disadvantaged communities to design, develop, and evaluate local ICT projects.

E-localgovernment

The goals of the E-government Strategy apply to the whole public sector, including local government. Responding to this, local authorities have come together during 2002 to develop an e-localgovernment strategy. Its goals are

• Access: To provide easy interactive online access to local government information and services to build relationships to benefit all our people.

• Innovation: To provide innovative products and services to benefit our people.

• Participation: To ensure that our people's participation in local government democracy will be higher than it is today.

• Leadership: To ensure effective local government leadership of E-business initiatives for the benefit of the whole community.

Local government has worked with the E-government Unit to make local council information and services available through the Portal.