Academy 2.0 module 3

Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders

Module 3
e-Government Applications

Nag Yeon Lee
and
Kwangsok Oh

ASIAN AND PACIFIC TRAINING CENTRE FOR INFORMATION
AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPMENT

The Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders Module Series
Module 3: e-Government Applications
This work is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. To view a copy of
this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
The opinions, figures and estimates set forth in this publication are the responsibility of the
authors, and should not necessarily be considered as reflecting the views or carrying the
endorsement of the United Nations.
The designations used and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply
the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations
concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning
the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Mention of firm names and commercial products does not imply the endorsement of the United
Nations.

Contact:
United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information
and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP)
Bonbudong, 3rd Floor Songdo Techno Park
7-50 Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, IncheonCity
Republic of Korea
Telephone: 82 32 245 1700-02
Fax: 82 32 245 7712
E-mail: info@unapcict.org
http://www.unapcict.org

Copyright © UN-APCICT/ESCAP 2011 (Second Edition)

ISBN: 978-89-97748-00-6

Design and Layout: Scand-Media Corp., Ltd.
Printed in: Republic of Korea

FOREWORD
The world we live in today is inter-connected and fast-changing, largely due to the rapid
development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). As the World Economic
Forum fittingly states, ICTs represent our “collective nerve system”, impacting and connecting
every fabric of our lives through intelligent, adaptive and innovative solutions. Indeed, ICTs
are tools that can help solve some of our economic, social and environmental challenges, and
promote more inclusive and sustainable development.
The increased access to information and knowledge through development of ICT has the
potential to significantly improve the livelihoods of the poor and marginalized, and promote
gender equality. ICTs can serve as a bridge connecting people from different countries and
sectors in the region and beyond by providing more efficient, transparent and reliable means
and platforms for communication and cooperation. ICTs are essential to the connectivity that
facilitates more efficient exchange of goods and services. Success stories from Asia and the
Pacific region abound: e-government initiatives are improving access to and quality of public
services, mobile phones are generating incomes and professional opportunities for women and
the voices of the vulnerable are louder than ever through the power of social media.
Yet, the digital divide in Asia and the Pacific is still seen to be one of the widest in the world. This
is evidenced by the fact that the countries of the region are placed across the whole spectrum of
the global ICT Development Index ranking. Despite the impressive technological breakthroughs
and commitments of many key players in the region, access to basic communication is still not
assured for all.
In order to complete the bridging of the digital divide, policymakers must be committed to further
realizing the potential of ICTs for inclusive socio-economic development in the region. Towards
this end, the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for
Development (APCICT) was established as a regional institute of the United Nations Economic
and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN/ESCAP) on 16 June 2006 with the mandate
to strengthen the efforts of the 62 ESCAP member and associate member countries to use ICT
in their socio-economic development through human and institutional capacity development.
APCICT’s mandate responds to the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action of the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which states that: “Each person should have the
opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge in order to understand, participate
actively in, and benefit fully from, the Information Society and the knowledge economy.”
In order to further respond to this call to action, APCICT has developed a comprehensive
information and communication technology for development (ICTD) training curriculum, the
Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders. Launched in 2008 and based on strong
demand from member States, the Academy presently consists of 10 stand-alone but interlinked
modules that aim to impart essential knowledge and expertise to help policymakers plan and
implement ICT initiatives more effectively. Widespread adoption of the Academy programme
throughout Asia-Pacific attests to the timely and relevant material covered by these modules.

Module 3 e-Government Applications

3

ESCAP welcomes APCICT’s ongoing effort to update and publish high quality ICTD learning
modules reflecting the fast-changing world of technology and bringing the benefits of ICTD
knowledge to national and regional stakeholders. Moreover, ESCAP, through APCICT, is
promoting the use, customization and translation of these Academy modules in different
countries. It is our hope that through their regular delivery at national and regional workshops
for senior- and mid-level government officials, the acquired knowledge would be translated
into enhanced awareness of ICT benefits and concrete actions towards meeting national and
regional development goals.

Noeleen Heyzer
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
and Executive Secretary of ESCAP

4


PREFACE
In the effort to bridge the digital divide, the importance of developing the human resource and
institutional capacity in the use of ICTs cannot be underestimated. In and of themselves, ICTs are
simply tools, but when people know how to effectively utilize them, ICTs become transformative
drivers to hasten the pace of socio-economic development and bring about positive changes.
With this vision in mind, the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders (Academy)
was developed.
The Academy is the flagship programme of the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre
for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT), and is designed to
equip government officials with the knowledge and skills to fully leverage ICT for socio-economic
development. The Academy has reached thousands of individuals and hundreds of institutions
throughout the Asia-Pacific and beyond since its official launch in 2008. The Academy has been
rolled out in over 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, adopted in numerous government
human resource training frameworks, and incorporated in the curricula of university and college
programmes throughout the region.
The impact of the Academy is in part a result of the comprehensive content and targeted range
of topics covered by its eight initial training modules, but also due to the Academy’s ability to
configure to meet local contexts and address emerging socio-economic development issues.
In 2011, as a result of strong demand from countries in the Asia-Pacific, APCICT in partnership
with its network of partners developed two new Academy training modules designed to enhance
capacity in the use of ICT for disaster risk management and climate change abatement.
Adhering to APCICT’s “We D.I.D. It In Partnership” approach, the new Academy modules 9 and
10, like the initial modules 1 to 8, were Developed, Implemented and Delivered in an inclusive
and participatory manner, and systematically drew upon an extensive and exceptional group of
development stakeholders. The entire Academy has been based on: needs assessment surveys
from across the Asia-Pacific region; consultations with government officials, members of the
international development community, and academics and educators; research and analysis
on the strengths and weaknesses of existing training materials; and a peer review process
carried-out through a series of APCICT organized regional and sub-regional workshops. These
workshops provided invaluable opportunities for the exchange of experiences and knowledge
among users of the Academy from different countries. The result is a comprehensive 10-module
Academy curriculum covering a range of important ICTD topics, and indicative of the many
voices and contextual nuances present across the region.
APCICT’s inclusive and collaborative approach to development of the Academy has also
created a network of strong partnerships to facilitate the delivery of ICTD training to government
officials, policymakers and development stakeholders throughout the Asia-Pacific region and
beyond. The Academy continues to be rolled out and adopted into training frameworks at the
national and regional levels in different countries and regions as a result of close collaboration
between APCICT and training institutions, government agencies, and regional and international
organizations. This principle will continue to be a driving force as APCICT works with its partners
to continuously update and further localize the Academy material, develop new Academy
modules to address identified needs, and extend the reach of Academy content to new target
audiences through new and more accessible mediums.


5

Complementing the face-to-face delivery of the Academy programme, APCICT has
also developed an online distance learning platform called the APCICT Virtual Academy
(http://e-learning.unapcict.org), which is designed to enable participants to study the material
at their own pace. The APCICT Virtual Academy ensures that all the Academy modules and
accompanying materials are easily accessible online for download, dissemination, customization
and localization. The Academy is also available on DVD to reach those with limited or no
Internet connectivity.
To enhance accessibility and relevance in local contexts, APCICT and its partners have
collaborated to make the Academy available in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Mongolian, Myanmar
language, Russian, Tajik and Vietnamese, with plans to translate the modules into additional
languages.
Clearly, the development and delivery of the Academy would not have been possible without
the commitment, dedication and proactive participation of many individuals and organizations. I
would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the efforts and achievements of our partners
from government ministries, training institutions, and regional and national organizations who
have participated in Academy workshops. They not only provided valuable inputs to the content
of the modules, but more importantly, they have become advocates of the Academy in their
countries and regions, and have helped the Academy become an important component of
national and regional frameworks to build necessary ICT capacity to meet the socio-economic
development goals of the future.
I would like to extend heartfelt acknowledgments to the dedicated efforts of the many outstanding
contributors who have made Module 3 possible, with a special note of gratitude to module
authors Nag Yeon Lee and Kwangsok Oh. I would also like to thank the more than 7,500
participants that have attended over 80 Academy workshops in over 20 countries, as well
as online trainings. Their invaluable insight and feedback have helped to make sure that the
Academy has had a lasting impact.
I sincerely hope that the Academy will help nations narrow ICT human resource gaps, remove
barriers to ICT adoption, and promote the application of ICT in accelerating socio-economic
development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Hyeun-Suk Rhee
Director
UN-APCICT/ESCAP

6


ABOUT THE MODULE SERIES
In today’s “Information Age”, easy access to information is changing the way we live, work and
play. The “digital economy”, also known as the “knowledge economy”, “networked economy”
or “new economy”, is characterized by a shift from the production of goods to the creation of
ideas. This underscores the growing, if not already central, role played by information and
communication technologies (ICTs) in the economy and in society as a whole.
As a consequence, governments worldwide have increasingly focused on ICTs for development
(ICTD). For these governments, ICTD is not only about developing the ICT industry or sector
of the economy but also encompasses the use of ICTs to engender economic as well as social
and political growth.
However, among the difficulties that governments face in formulating ICT policy is that
policymakers are often unfamiliar with the technologies that they are harnessing for national
development. Since one cannot regulate what one does not understand, many policymakers
have shied away from ICT policymaking. But leaving ICT policy to technologists is also wrong
because often technologists are unaware of the policy implications of the technologies they
are developing and using.
The Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders module series has been developed
by the UN-APCICT/ESCAP for:
1. Policymakers at the national and local government level who are responsible for ICT
policymaking;
2. Government officials responsible for the development and implementation of ICT-based
applications; and
3. Managers in the public sector seeking to employ ICT tools for project management.
The module series aims to develop familiarity with the substantive issues related to ICTD from
both a policy and technology perspective. The intention is not to develop a technical ICT manual
but rather to provide a good understanding of what the current digital technology is capable
of or where technology is headed, and what this implies for policymaking. The topics covered
by the modules have been identified through a training needs analysis and a survey of other
training materials worldwide.
The modules are designed in such a way that they can be used for self-study by individual
readers or as a resource in a training course or programme. The modules are standalone as well
as linked together, and effort has been made in each module to link to themes and discussions
in the other modules in the series. The long-term objective is to make the modules a coherent
course that can be certified.


7

Each module begins with a statement of module objectives and target learning outcomes against
which readers can assess their own progress. The module content is divided into sections that
include case studies and exercises to help deepen understanding of key concepts. The exercises
may be done by individual readers or by groups of training participants. Figures and tables are
provided to illustrate specific aspects of the discussion. References and online resources are
listed for readers to look up in order to gain additional perspectives.
The use of ICTD is so diverse that sometimes case studies and examples within and across
modules may appear contradictory. This is to be expected. This is the excitement and the
challenge of this newly emerging discipline and its promise as all countries begin to explore
the potential of ICTs as tools for development.
Supporting the Academy module series in print format is an online distance learning platform—
the APCICT Virtual Academy—with virtual classrooms featuring the trainers’ presentations in
video format and presentation slides of the modules (visit http://e-learning.unapcict.org).
In addition, APCICT has developed an e-Collaborative Hub for ICTD, or e-Co Hub
(http://www.unapcict.org/ecohub), a dedicated online site for ICTD practitioners and policymakers
to enhance their learning and training experience. The e-Co Hub gives access to knowledge
resources on different aspects of ICTD and provides an interactive space for sharing knowledge
and experiences, and collaborating on advancing ICTD.

8


MODULE 3
The module provides an overview of e-government, including key elements and concepts,
principles and types of applications. It discusses how an e-government system is built by
providing detailed analyses of exemplar systems and identifying design considerations.

Module Objectives
This module aims to:
1. Provide an overview of the key elements of e-government;
2. Describe and provide examples of types of e-government services; and
3. Discuss important success factors as well as barriers to achieving success in e-government
services.

Learning Outcomes
After going through this module, readers should be able to:
1. Discuss how ICT applications can improve the way government works;
2. Describe various ICT applications in various areas of government; and
3. Analyse the factors that lead to success or failure of specific e-government applications.


9

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword........................................................................................... 3
Preface.............................................................................................. 5
About the Module Series................................................................... 7
Module 3. .......................................................................................... 9
.

Module Objectives........................................................................................................9
Learning Outcomes. .....................................................................................................9
.
List of Case Studies....................................................................................................12
List of Boxes...............................................................................................................12
List of Figures.............................................................................................................12
List of Tables...............................................................................................................13
Acronyms....................................................................................................................14
List of Icons.................................................................................................................15

1. Overview of e-Government.........................................................17
.

1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5

Defining e-Government.......................................................................................17
General Framework for e-Government...............................................................19
Benefits of e-Government...................................................................................22
Critical Success Factors.....................................................................................24
.
Risk Factors in e-Government Deployment........................................................26

2. Implementation of e-Government................................................29

2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5

e-Government Maturity Models. .........................................................................29
.
e-Government Strategic Planning.......................................................................30
e-Government Implementation and Assessment................................................35
e-Government Funding.......................................................................................38
Promising e-Government Strategy. ....................................................................39
.

3. Types of e-Government Applications: Some Examples..............43

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

10

Classification of e-Government Applications. .....................................................43
.
Government-to-Citizen (G2C) Applications.........................................................46
Government to Business (G2B): Innovating business services..........................56
Government to Government (G2G): Innovating the way government works......65
e-Government Infrastructure...............................................................................75
Knowledge Management System.......................................................................80
Health and Telemedicine Applications: Increasing health services availability...82
Disaster Management Application: Integrated national disaster management
services...............................................................................................................86


4. Trends and Future Directions for e-Government.........................89

4.1 Trends in e-Government.....................................................................................89
4.2 m-Government....................................................................................................90
4.3 Future Directions for e-Government...................................................................96

Summary..........................................................................................99
Annex ............................................................................................100

Further Reading........................................................................................................100
Glossary....................................................................................................................102
Notes for Trainers.....................................................................................................104
About the Author.......................................................................................................106


11

List of Case Studies
1. The e-Government Road Map of the Republic of Korea
2. Mongolia’s e-Government Road Map
3. PFnet
4. Digital Community Centres in Bangladesh
5. Government Administration Information System Project in Cambodia
6. e-Procurement in Andhra Pradesh, India
7. Customs Reform in the Philippines
8. e-Commerce in the Republic of Korea
9. e-Commerce in Thailand
10. The e-LGU Project in the Philippines
11. The Republic of Korea’s e-Knowledge Management System (On-Nara Business

Process System)
12. The Sahana Disaster Management System
13. m-Government Services in Practice

32
33
40
41
50
57
59
62
63
69
81
87
93

List of Boxes
Box 1.
Box 2.
Box 3.
Box 4.
Box 5.
Box 6.
Box 7.
Box 8.

Benefits of e-government
General principles to follow in making technology decisions
CMM and CMMI
Four stages of online service development by the United Nations
Guidelines for implementing e-government portals
Legal issues relating to e-commerce
World Health Organization on e-health
Six-level model of SMS-based services

23
26
35
37
46
60
85
92

List of Figures
Figure 1. Critical success factors in e-government implementation
24
Figure 2. Annual plan for the Republic of Korea’s e-Government Road Map
implementation
36
Figure 3. Traditional budget and ICT investments
39
Figure 4. e-Mexico National System Deployment
40
Figure 5. e-Government partnership systems
44
Figure 6. Conceptual framework of e-government in the Republic of Korea
45
Figure 7. Single-window e-government
47
Figure 8. Use of G2C services in the Republic of Korea
49
Figure 9. e-Government Single Access Window for Korean Citizens
49
Figure 10. The Republic of Korea’s social insurance information Web portal service
based on an integrated database
52
Figure 11. The Republic of Korea’s resident registration system
53
Figure 12. Conceptual diagram for the Republic of Korea’s real estate management
system
54
Figure 13. Conceptual diagram for the Republic of Korea’s vehicle registration service 55

12


Figure 14. Single-window government procurement system
Figure 15. e-Customs system of the Republic of Korea
Figure 16. Engine of Korean Government financial management reform
Figure 17. Conceptual diagram for digital local government system in the Republic
of Korea
Figure18. Conceptual diagram of Nationwide Digital Educational Administration in
the Republic of Korea
Figure 19. Towards an integrated system of government
Figure 20. Government Integrated Computing Centre architecture
Figure 21. Teleconsultation topology in the Pacific Islands

56
58
67
68
72
76
77
85

List of Tables
Table 1 Definitions of e-government
Table 2. Changes in government work processes from e-government
Table 3. e-Government classification by interaction between stakeholders
Table 4. Four core tasks for the local government financial system
Table 5. e-Document exchange among administrative agencies
Table 6. Market value of e-learning in the Republic of Korea
Table 7. Prioritized e-government shared services in the Republic of Korea
Table 8. Comparison between data, information and knowledge
Table 9. Examples of e-health
Table 10. Mobile applications vs. Mobile Web


17
22
43
67
71
74
79
81
83
94

13

Acronyms
APCICT

Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology
for Development
APDIP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP)
A
SYCUDA Automated System for Customs Data

B2B Business-to-Business

B2C Business-to-Consumer

B2G Business-to-Government

BOC Bureau of Customs (Philippines)

BPR Business Process Reengineering

C2C Consumer-to-Consumer

CIC Community Information Centre (Bangladesh)

CMM Capability Maturity Model

CMMI Capability Maturity Model Integrated

EAF e-Government Assessment Framework (India)

EDI Electronic Data Interchange

eGEP e-Government Economics Project (European Union)
eRPTS Electronic Real Property Tax System (Philippines)
ESCAP Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN)

FOSS Free and Open Source Software

G2B Government-to-Business

G2C Government-to-Citizen

G2E Government-to-Employees

G2G Government-to-Government

GAIS Government Administration Information System (Cambodia)

GoAP Government of Andhra Pradesh (India)

ICT Information and Communication Technology

ICTD Information and Communication Technology for Development

IDRC International Development Research Centre (Canada)

ILC Internet Learning Centre (Bangladesh)

INV Information Network Village (Republic of Korea)

IPTV Internet Protocol Television

ISO International Organization for Standardization

ISP Information Strategy Planning

IT Information Technology

ITU International Telecommunication Union

KADO Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion

KMS Knowledge Management System

LAN Local Area Network

LGU Local Government Unit (Philippines)
MOGAHA Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (Republic of Korea)
MOPAS Ministry of Public Administration and Security (Republic of Korea)
NAFIS National Financial Management System (Republic of Korea)

NCA National Computerization Agency (Republic of Korea)

NCC National Computer Center (Philippines)

NCIA National Computing and Information Agency (Republic of Korea)
NDMS National Disaster Management System (Republic of Korea)
NECTEC National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (Thailand)

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

14


NIA

NRI

NTS

OECD

PC

PDA

PFnet

RIC

RTC

SME

SMS

TV

UK

UN
U
NCITRAL
UNCTAD

UNDP
UNESCO
UNOPS

US

WHO

National Information Society Agency (Republic of Korea)
National Resource Institution (India)
National Tax Service (Republic of Korea)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Personal Computer
Personal Digital Assistant
People First Network (Solomon Islands)
Rural ICT Centre (Bangladesh)
Rural Technology Centre (Bangladesh)
Small and Medium Enterprise
Short Messaging Service
Television
United Kingdom
United Nations
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
United Nations Office for Project Services
United States
World Health Organization

List of Icons

Case Study

Something To Do


?

Questions To Think About

Test Yourself

15

1.

OVERVIEW OF E-GOVERNMENT

1.1

Defining e-Government

There are many definitions of e-government. Broadly, e-government can be defined as the
application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enhance the performance
of government functions and services. More specifically, e-government is “the use of digital
technologies to transform government operations in order to improve effectiveness, efficiency
and service delivery.”1 Accordingly, e-government should leverage ICTs to help the public
sector operate more efficiently and provide better services to internal constituents, citizens
and businesses.
Most of the current definitions of e-government can be summarized by using four basic elements.
e-Government is characterized by:
1. The use of ICTs (computer networks, Internet, faxes, and telephones)
2. The support of government actions (to provide information, services, products, administration)
3. The improvement of government relationships with citizens (through the creation of
new communication channels or the promotion of citizen engagement in the political or
administrative process)
4. The following of a strategy oriented to add value to the participants in the process2
Table 1. Definitions of e-government
United Nations3

e-Government is defined as utilizing the Internet and World Wide
Web for delivering government information and services to citizens.

World Bank4

e-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information
technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile
computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens,
businesses and other arms of government. These technologies
can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government
services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry,
citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient
government management.

OECD5

The term “e-government” focuses on the use of new ICTs by
governments as applied to the full range of government functions.
In particular, the networking potential offered by the Internet and
related technologies has the potential to transform the structures
and operation of government.

1

Mark A. Forman, “e-Government: Using IT to transform the effectiveness and efficiency of government”, presentation dated 15
June 2005, p. 4, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEDEVELOPMENT/Resources/FormanEgov(6_05).ppt.

2

J. Ramón Gil-Garcia and Luis Felipe Luna-Reyes, “Integrating Conceptual Approaches to e-Government”, in Encyclopedia of
E-Commerce, E-Government and Mobile Commerce, Mehdi M. Khosrow-Pour, (ed.) (Hershey, P.A.,, Idea-Group Publishing,
2006), pp. 636-643.

3

United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration and American Society for Public Administration,
Benchmarking E-government: A Global Perspective - Assessing the UN Member States (2002), p. 1, http://www.unpan.org/
Portals/0/60yrhistory/documents/Publications/Benchmarking%20E-Government.2002.pdf.

4

The World Bank, “Definition of e-Government”, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/
EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/EXTEGOVERNMENT/0,,contentMDK:20507153~menuPK:7
02592~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:702586,00.html.

5

OECD, “e-Government: Analysis Framework and Methodology”, OECD Public Management Service, Public Management
Committee, 13 December 2001, p. 2, http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=PUMA(2001)16/
ANN/REV1&docLanguage=En.


17

To deliver the promises of e-government, many countries have placed e-government development
on their political agendas. The initial focus was given to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness
of government operations through the use of ICTs. However, with the limited impact of government
investments in e-government services, the focus shifted towards a citizen-centric approach in
the mid-2000s. This led to a significant change, from prioritizing outcomes for governments to
ensuring that the diverse needs of citizens are met in terms of public service delivery. Today,
it is well recognized that e-government is not only a crucial tool to support and enhance public
sector functions and processes, but it is also a key enabler in transforming government and
creating new approaches to service development and delivery.
e-Government is not a single event in a short period of time but a long-term evolutionary process
of transforming government to focus on citizens. Thus, it is necessary to establish a high-level
e-government road map (top-down design) with a bottom-up detailed implementation plan.
Module 2 in the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders module series discusses
the process of developing policies and strategies to effectively utilize ICTs for development, which
form the basis for establishing an e-government road map. This module discusses bottom-up
implementation, focusing on e-government applications.
In general, the more services are available online and the more widespread the use of these
services, the greater the impact of e-government. Thus, e-government requires a critical mass
of e-citizens and e-businesses to generate sustainable impact beyond internal efficiency and
transparency of government. Reaching the critical mass for e-government services may require
aggressive shifting of citizens away from traditional channels, and moving them towards an
e-government channel, which is not easy. A World Bank study of the importance of making more
online services accessible to e-citizens and e-businesses, for example, found that:
Many countries who pioneered e-Government programmes 5-10
years ago soon realized that the level of public participation in
and usage of e-Government services remained quite low despite
substantial public investment on the supply side, which succeeded
in making government services available online.6
e-Government is likely to succeed only if there is strong demand and support from the majority
of the population. Some of this demand will come from better awareness of the opportunities
offered by better and faster government service delivery. Citizens and businesses also need
to be motivated to use e-government services through the provision of compelling, relevant
and easily accessible digital content and services. Furthermore, governments need to increase
public confidence in their electronic services by ensuring data security and privacy. In particular,
the following must be implemented to increase demand and support for e-government services:
•

•
•
•

6

18

Develop a multi-channel single-window common service delivery infrastructure, including
offline citizen service centres and other public access points such as telecentres, call
centres, Web portals, and mobile portals;
Implement measures that will enhance public trust in ICT-enabled transactions and all other
interactions in the digital environment;
Encourage the development of relevant, compelling and user-friendly contents and services,
including so-called “killer applications”; and
Implement programmes aimed at improving accessibility and affordability of e-services.

The World Bank, “e-Government for All – Review of International Experience with Enhancing Public Access, Demand and
Participation in e-Government Services: Toward a Digital Inclusion Strategy for Kazakhstan”, ISG e-Government Practice
Technical Advisory Note (Draft version, 30 June 2006), p. 11.


Something To Do
1. Discuss the four basic elements of e-government.
2. Identify one e-government service that would generate strong demand and
support from citizens and businesses in your country. List the reasons why
you think this service would be popular.
3. Identify one e-government service that is not as popular as the example you
cite in #2 above and list specific ways of motivating citizens and businesses
in your country to use or participate in such a service.

1.2

General Framework for e-Government

The following four objectives can be achieved when e-government projects are implemented
successfully:
•
•
•
•

Online government service
A paperless government
A knowledge-based government
A transparent government

To accomplish these four objectives, e-government at multiple layers of government must be
established. There are three major tasks at each of these levels of government: (1) innovating
citizen services (G2C); (2) innovating business services (G2B); and (3) innovating the way
government works (G2G, G2E). e-Government has several facets and can be characterized
based on intended users and their interactions.
•
•
•
•

Government-to-Citizen (G2C) provides information, services and other functionality to
citizens.
Government-to-Business (G2B) facilitates any of the range of relationships and interactions
between government and businesses.
Government-to-Government (G2G) supports information sharing and collaboration within
or between government agencies.
Government-to-Employees (G2E) streamlines internal processes and improves productivity
by facilitating the management of civil service and communication between government
and government employees.

In terms of interaction with citizens and the visibility of the services provided, e-government
can be logically broken up into two parts: front office and back office. The front office refers
to government as its constituents see it, meaning the information and service providers, and
the interaction between the government, citizens and businesses.7 G2C embraces information
dissemination and public services to the citizens, while G2B includes various transactions
between government and businesses. ICT-enabled G2C services are delivered through a
government-wide information sharing system and applications that allow citizens to access
information and other services using a single-window online portal. Such a portal can provide
the following services to citizens:
7

OECD, “The e-government imperative: Main findings”, OECD Policy Brief, March 2003, http://www.oecd.org/
dataoecd/60/60/2502539.pdf.


19

•
•
•
•

Application and issuance of various permits/licences and certificates
Provision of information on legislative/administrative notices and relevant laws
Payment services, including tax refunds and social welfare payments
Opportunities to participate in public affairs through e-consultation, e-deliberation and
e-voting

To establish a citizen-centric portal and public information sharing system, the key databases
for public management, including resident registration, real estate, vehicle, tax, and insurance,
need to be interconnected or integrated.
Electronic G2B service includes corporate civil administrative affairs, provision of industrial
information, and electronic transactional services such as procurement, bids and awards,
and payment services for various taxes and public charges. Among others, the following ICT
applications are required for effective electronic G2B service delivery:
•

•
•

An integrated e-procurement system – i.e. a single-window government procurement
system in which all procurement-related processes, such as registration, tender, contract
and payment are conducted online.
An e-customs system that enables paper-free customs administration in the import and
export industries, and establishes effective smuggling interdiction.
e-Commerce to support the buying and selling of goods and services online.

These applications are discussed in more detail in section 3.

Test Yourself
Using the definitions given above as well as your personal knowledge of government
services, categorize the following as either G2C or G2B.
1. Tax services, such as filing and payment of tax returns
2. Procurement services, including tenders, bids and awards
3. Social insurance services: medical, national pension, employment and
accident compensation insurance
4. Registration and tracking of resident citizens
5. Business registration
6. Real estate information management
7. Vehicle administration system

The back office involves the internal operations of a government that support core processes
and are not accessible or visible to the general public. The implementation of e-government goes
hand-in-hand with a number of back office reforms. e-Government underpins these reforms,
while such reforms are necessary if e-government is to be successful.8
Electronic G2G delivery aims to streamline internal work processes and to improve productivity.
More specifically, streamlining government work processes through the use of ICT is expected
to have the following outcomes:

8

20

Ibid.


•
•
•
•

Connected reporting system within and between central and local governments, resulting
in increased accuracy
Information sharing among agencies in the form of database sharing, leading to enhanced
efficiency
Exchanging of ideas and sharing of resources among government agencies
Collaborative decision-making through online collaboration platform

Digitizing document processing in government agencies and moving towards paperless
government operations are key G2G initiatives. e-Document exchange is expected to result in
faster, more efficient, secure and reliable administration. The following are examples of G2G
services in the Republic of Korea.
Integrated National Finance Information System: Real-time management of national
fiscal activities by interconnecting 23 finance-related systems that were previously operated
independently in various government agencies.
Local e-Government Information System: Standardization and informatization of 21 common
administrative affairs for 244 local governments, such as resident registration, real estate, finance
and taxation at the city, county and district levels.
Education Information System and e-Learning: A nationwide information network among
schools, provincial offices of education and their district offices, and the Ministry of Education
and Human Resources Development.
Government e-Document Exchange: e-Processing, including preparation, approval, distribution
and storage of all governmental documents.
G2G systems require the following:
•
•
•
•

Establishing electronic work processes
Electronic document processing
Knowledge management system
Integration of back offices

G2G requires collaborative partnerships and use of ICT to perform cross-agency work. While
G2G is usually not apparent to citizens and businesses, it often becomes a component of G2C
or G2B. Developing G2G applications as a way to deliver G2C or G2B services occurs when
two or more government entities are required to complete a particular transaction for citizens
or businesses. In order to provide G2C or G2B services, two or more government entities need
to connect their business processes by interconnecting multiple databases. As a result, getting
G2G cross-agency projects started and funded tends to be difficult.

Something To Do
1. Identify aspects of your agency’s work process that need to be improved. State
how ICTs can be used to improve your agency’s work process.
2. Describe the relationship between G2G and G2C or G2B for cross-agency
services.


21

1.3

Benefits of e-Government

On the whole, e-government can offer a number of benefits, including better quality government
services, higher efficiency, less costs, a lower administrative burden on citizens and businesses,
shorter processing times, increased citizen participation in the decision-making process, and
enhanced transparency. Table 2 elaborates on the beneficial changes to government work
processes through the effective use of ICTs.

Table 2. Changes in government work processes from e-government
From

To

Paper-based government work processes

Electronic work processes

Department-oriented silo procedures

Service-oriented connected procedures

Many government contact points
and personal (face-to-face) visits to
government offices

A single contact point and online access,
making personal visits to government offices
unnecessary

Department-level information resource
management, leading to duplication and
redundancy among departments and
agencies

Government-wide information resource
management using a common standard

In addition, e-government helps build trust between government and citizens by promoting
direct interaction and making information more accessible and freely available. Building trust
between governments and citizens is fundamental to good governance.
e-Government is recognized as an enabler for larger government modernization programmes,
and can be a major contributor to government modernization. As the use of ICTs has increased
rapidly throughout the Asian countries, governments are facing new demands and competitive
pressures from citizens and the business community to introduce ICT-enabled services. In
general, e-government projects increase the perception among citizens and businesses that
the government is modernizing and moving forward.

? Questions To Think About
In your context, are all of the changes brought about by ICT applications in
government beneficial? Are there occasions when e-government initiatives are
not perceived in a positive way by citizens? Describe these occasions.

22


Box 1. Benefits of e-government
• e-Government helps improve efficiency in government. ICTs are a necessary enabler
of reforms to the ways in which public administrations work. Improving internal
operating systems—financial systems, purchasing and payment arrangements, internal
communications and sharing of information—and programme processing and delivery
arrangements can generate operating efficiencies and improve performance.
• Enhanced quality of service has been a major component of public administration reform
over the past two decades, and the use of ICTs to generate improvements in services
has been a primary driver for e-government activity. In particular, the use of the Internet
has given a major boost to customer focused, seamless services, which aim to transcend
the structure of public administrations. Online services are increasingly seen as part of
a broader services strategy, with important customer and efficiency benefits. As users
of public services are often obliged to interact with government, user dissatisfaction with
the quality of government services can quickly become a major political issue.
• ICTs can support more effective outcomes in key policy areas such as health, welfare
services, security and education. Ultimately, governments and public administrations
exist to deliver policy outcomes, and ICTs are a major enabler across all major policy
areas. The use of the Internet to deliver value in these areas is a major preoccupation
in member countries.
• Better governance arrangements in themselves will promote economic policy objectives.
More specific effects may range from impacts on ICT production, e-commerce diffusion
and business productivity to indirect effects such as reduced fiscal requirements owing
to more effective programmes and efficiencies flowing through to the broader economy.
• e-Government can help forward the reform agenda. When aligned with modernization
goals, implementing e-government can help administrations focus on the additional
changes needed to meet service delivery and good governance concerns. At the same
time, it provides some valuable reform tools and builds support from high-level leaders
and government employees for achieving those objectives.
• Through citizen engagement, e-government can improve the overall trust relationship
between government and public administrations. e-Government, by improving information
flows and encouraging active participation by citizens is increasingly seen as a valuable
tool for building trust between governments and citizens.
Source: Abridged from OECD, The e-Government Imperative, OECD e-Government Studies (Paris, 2003), pp. 28-29
http://pavroz.ru/dov/egovimperetive.pdf.


23

1.4

Critical Success Factors

Critical factors for successful e-government may be grouped into five major areas:
Figure 1. Critical success factors in e-government implementation

Source: Soh Bong Yu, “e-Government of Korea: How we have been working with it”, KADO presentation, p. 25.

Vision, Objectives and Strategy
A long-term plan with a clearly articulated vision and strategy is vital to successful implementation
of e-government. A quick fix or piecemeal approach will not suffice. The more effective approach
is to think big in order to gain insight into what to accomplish on the “whole-of-government” (topdown design), while starting small and prioritizing tasks (bottom-up) during the implementation
process.
An important concept in e-government strategy is the “whole-of-government” approach. It intends
to organize services not according to the silos of individual ministries and departments, but
according to the needs of citizens and businesses, cutting across organizational boundaries.9
The whole-of-government approach can help safeguard collaboration, while avoiding redundant
investments in infrastructure and applications development.
In short, successful e-government requires:
•
•
•

A clear vision by the leaders
Strong support from citizens
A well-articulated strategy with resource commitment

Laws and Regulations
The application of ICTs to government operations often encounters legal or regulatory issues
because laws designed for the paper world can hinder e-services. It is important to ensure
that laws are updated or newly enacted to recognize electronic documents and transactions.
9

24

OECD, “Denmark: Efficient e-Government for Smarter Public Service Delivery”, OECD e-Government Studies, 3 June 2010,
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/55/45382552.pdf.


Proactive steps are needed to ensure that laws and regulations support rather than impede
e-government. It is also important to take sufficient time to plan for legislative changes needed
for new processes. The following laws need to be in place for e-government to succeed:
•
•
•
•

Law on privacy and related issues
Law on cyber security
Law related to changes in business processes and information systems
Law regarding the government ICT architecture and establishing an integrated computing
centre

Institutional Arrangement
Institutional arrangement is a structure of roles and responsibilities and mechanisms for
cooperation governing the behaviour of organizations and individuals within a given field.
Institutional arrangement is important in that it helps to ensure collaboration within government
and facilitates participation from the private sector. A well designed institutional arrangement is
required to ensure collaboration and expedite implementation.
The following are important in designing institutional arrangement:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Securing strong leadership with commitment
Planning—information technology (IT) management and change management
Budget preparation and budget execution
Coordination and collaboration
Monitoring and performance evaluation
Setting up technology support organization
Government-private sector-citizen partnership

Business Process
e-Government is not merely about automating existing government work processes or putting
services online. Rather, the ultimate goal of e-government is to transform government. Indeed,
successful e-government is about changing business processes. Critical to the success of
e-government is the understanding that ICT should be applied after eliminating inefficiencies
through streamlining and consolidating offline processes. The existing way of doing business
may not necessarily be the most appropriate or effective. One of the tools for business process
innovation is Business Process Reengineering (BPR). BPR involves redesigning the work flow
within or between department levels to increase process efficiency (i.e. to eliminate inefficiency
in the work process).

Information Technology
ICTs change rapidly. Key factors to consider when choosing technology and vendors are:
•
•
•
•
•

Level of application technologies required
Network infrastructure
Interoperability
Standardization
Technical and human resource capabilities


25

Box 2. General principles to follow in making technology decisions
Here are some general principles to follow in making technology decisions:
Take a long-term, high-level view and observe trends. Current trends include increasing
bandwidth and ubiquitous computing (anytime, anywhere). The Internet will increasingly
be accessible using hand-held devices (mobile phones, PDAs, tablet PCs) with wireless
connections.
Adhere to open standards. Open standards promote interoperability and platform
independence, which protect technology investments by making sure they will work in the
widest range of environments. They also avoid reliance on a single vendor and provide a
degree of “future-proofing”.
Adopt stable rather than cutting-edge technologies. Technologies on the so-called bleeding
edge tend to have higher implementation and support costs and change more rapidly than
mature technologies.
Adopt appropriate and sustainable technologies. Technologies should be suited to the task,
affordable and easily supported.
Source: Abridged from Stephen Marquard, African Schoolnet Toolkit (Vancouver, Commonwealth of Learning and
Johannesburg, SchoolNet Africa, 2005), pp. 44-45, http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/African%20schoolnet%20
toolkit.pdf.

Something To Do
1. If your country has an e-government plan, review the plan using the checklist
of critical success factors discussed in this section.
2. Discuss the institutional arrangement governing e-government policies and
projects in your country.
3. Also, identify strengths and weaknesses of the institutional arrangement for
e-government in your country.

1.5

Risk Factors in e-Government Deployment

It is widely believed that e-government implementation in many countries has failed to meet
high expectations. Risks involved in e-government can be divided into citizen-side and
government-side.

26


In general, citizen-side risks include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Digital divide
Low expectations
Lack of familiarity
Not easy to use
Lack of incentives
Lack of trust
Misconceptions

Government-side risks are:
•
•
•
•
•

Complexity
Department/agency-centric paradigm
Lack of capacity
Human resource constraints
Financial resource constraints

Although the notion of failure varies, a study shows that 35 per cent of e-government programmes
around the world have failed, 50 per cent are partial failures and only 15 per cent can be
considered successful.10 Factors leading to failure of e-government deployment in developing
countries include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Lack of agreement within the government – Internal resistance
Inadequate plans and strategies – e-Government is introduced in a piecemeal and
unsystematic fashion
Lack of adequate human resources – Insufficient institutional and human capacity building
Absence of an investment plan
Shortage of IT and system suppliers
Immature technologies – Overemphasis on technology or technology-oriented deployment
Rapid implementation without adequate testing and preparation

Deploying e-government can be risky and difficult, as it requires changes in behaviour. Thus,
governments need to guide and supervise the e-government planning and implementation
process, beyond the deployment of the technology and the set up and uploading of information
and services online.
Governments have developed different strategies for e-government implementation depending
on their capacities and their level of readiness. Accordingly, it is vital to recognize that no one
solution fits every situation. Countries in Asia and the Pacific are characterized by vastly different
political, economic, social and governance contexts, requiring different approaches adapted to
each country’s own situation.

10 National Information Society Agency, “Bridging Asia through e-Government”, paper presented at the Asia e-Government Forum
2007, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 20 September 2007.


27

Something To Do
1. Think of an e-government initiative or project of your government that has
failed or achieved only partial success. Describe the project and explain the
reasons why it failed.
2. Discuss some of the most serious barriers preventing citizens from utilizing
e-government services in your country.

28


2.

IMPLEMENTATION OF
E-GOVERNMENT

2.1

e-Government Maturity Models

As noted earlier, implementing e-government is a continuous process. The development of
e-government is often conceptualized in stages. e-Government can be viewed as consisting of
a set of phases not entirely sequential, but relying on growing levels of capability, knowledge
and infrastructure. The most widely known maturity models have been developed by the United
Nations11 and the World Bank.12 They see e-government as an evolutionary process, from which
e-government initiatives should be derived and implemented. A global United Nations study to
benchmark e-government identifies five stages for quantifying progress of e-government.13 The
study identifies e-government stages as representative of the government’s level of development
based primarily on the content and deliverable services available through official websites.
1. Emerging: An official government online presence is established through a few independent
official sites. Information is limited, basic and static.
2. Enhanced: Government sites increase; information becomes more dynamic. Content and
information is updated with greater regularity.
3. Interactive: Users can download forms, e-mail officials, interact through the Web and make
appointments and requests.
4. Transactional: Users can pay for services or conduct financial transactions online.
5. Seamless: Full integration of e-services across administrative boundaries. Total integration
of e-functions and services across administrative and departmental boundaries.
To assist policymakers in devising their own plans and initiatives, the World Bank divides the
process of e-government implementation into three phases. These phases are not dependent
on each other. In other words, one phase does not necessarily need to be completed before
another can begin.
1. Publish: Publish sites seek to disseminate information about government and information
compiled by government to as wide an audience as possible. In doing so, publish sites
serve as the leading edge of e-government.
2. Interact: Interactive e-government involves two-way communications, starting with basic
functions like e-mail contact information for government officials or feedback forms that
allow users to submit comments on legislative or policy proposals.
3. Transact: Allowing citizens to obtain government services or transact business with the
government online. A transact website offers a direct link to government services, available
at any time. Transact sites can enhance productivity in both the public and private sector
by making processes that require government assistance or approval simpler, faster and
cheaper.

11 United Nations Division for Public Economics and Public Administration and American Society for Public Administration,
Benchmarking E-government: A Global Perspective - Assessing the UN Member States (2002), p. 2, http://www.unpan.org/
Portals/0/60yrhistory/documents/Publications/Benchmarking%20E-Government.2002.pdf.
12 infoDev and Center for Democracy and Technology, The e-Government Handbook for Developing Countries (Washington D.C.,
2002), http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan007462.pdf.
13 The five stages have been changed to four stages since 2008. See box 4.


29

2.2

e-Government Strategic Planning

A sound strategy is essential for effective e-government implementation. A strategic plan provides
a road map for an organization to move from its current state to its desired medium- or long-term
future state. e-Government strategic planning is a process of defining strategy for e-government,
which consists of five steps.14 The example referred in this section is the e-Government Road
Map of the Republic of Korea.
Step 1: Analyse the current environment
A SWOT analysis can be used to identify the internal and external factors that relate to
e-government aims or goals. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats.
To help decision makers identify priority areas for action based on their level of maturity and
national development strategies, it is important to examine key dimensions of the e-government
environment. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is in the process of developing an
e-Government Implementation Toolkit. The e-Government Readiness Assessment Framework,
serving as an introduction to the ITU Toolkit, “aims to assist decision makers from low, lower
middle and upper middle income countries in determining the condition of e-government in
their countries; comparing it to the status of e-government in other economies, and identifying
priority areas for further action. To this end, the framework provides a comprehensive overview
of publicly and freely available data, collected by United Nations agencies, international finance
institutions, business organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which can
be used to understand the e-government readiness of a country.”15 The framework includes
an online “e-Government Readiness Quick-check Tool”16 that provides a graphical overview
of a country’s readiness status based on the indicators selected for four dimensions of the
e-government environment: infrastructure, policy, governance, and outreach. The Quick-check
tool also allows users to display simultaneous graphs to compare one country’s scores to those
of another.
Step 2: Articulate a vision statement
A vision statement articulates what a government wants to be in the area of e-government.
In other words, it is a picture of e-government in the future for the country. A vision statement
sets the direction for e-government strategic planning and serves to inspire members of the
government towards reaching the future desired state of e-government.
For example, Singapore’s e-government vision is to be a collaborative government that cocreates and connects with people. And the Republic of Korea’s e-government vision statement
is to become the “World’s Best Open e-Government” by:
•
•
•
•

Increasing online public services to 85 per cent;
Working to be among the top 10 in the world for business support competitiveness;
Reducing visits for civil service applicants to three visits per year; and
Raising the utilization rate of e-government programmes to 60 per cent.

14 Adegboyega Ojo, Elsa Estevez, Bernd Friedrich and Tomasz Janowski, “Strategic Planning for Electronic Governance”, paper
presented at the 7th UNeGov.net School on Foundations of Electronic Governance, Cheonan, Republic of Korea, 9-11 October
2007, http://www.unegov.net/03-Events/26-S-Cheonan/public/module-2.pdf.
15 ITU, e-Government Implementation Toolkit: Introduction – e-Government Readiness Assessment Framework (Geneva, 2009),
p. 1, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/app/docs/eGovernment%20toolkitFINAL.pdf.
16 See http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/app/e-gov_checktool.html (the tool is also available in CD-ROM from ITU).

30


A vision statement should be clear. And while it states an inspiring ideal, it should also express
realistic and achievable aspirations. In addition, it should be aligned with organizational culture
and values.
Step 3: Translate the vision into goals
Goals are long-term (three to five years) directions or targets based on the vision. The vision
is translated into goals and they serve as an effective tool for making progress by ensuring
what should be achieved.
For example, the Republic of Korea’s national goals are as follows:
•
•
•
•

Build a democracy with the people
Build a society of balanced social growth
Contribute to an era of peace and prosperity in northeast Asia
Achieve a GNP per capita of USD 20,000. (This goal was achieved in 2007)

The Republic of Korea’s e-government goals are as follows:
•
•
•
•

Innovate the way government works
Innovate citizen services
Innovate information resource management
Reform the legal system

Step 4: Determine strategies to address the findings of the SWOT analysis and achieve specified
goals
Strategies can include specific managerial tasks and measures designed to achieve a specific
goal established in the e-government road map. For example, a strategy is a plan of action
designed to implement a comprehensive master plan stating how the government will achieve
its objectives. Strategy implementation is the process by which strategies and policies are put
into action through the development of programmes, budgets and procedures.
An e-government strategy performs several functions. First, it communicates a shared vision of
e-government across government agencies. Second, it provides a starting point for collaboration
between ministries and departments on e-government efforts. Third, the strategy constitutes a
reference for the government agencies to use when prioritizing and managing investments in ICT.
Step 5: Formulate concrete and measurable objectives from strategies
Objectives are the end results of a set of planned activities. Objectives should be specific
and measurable statements of what is to be accomplished at specific moments. In contrast
to an objective, a goal is an open-ended statement of what one wants to accomplish with no
quantification of what is to be achieved and no milestone for completion. An example of an
objective is: At least 95 per cent of all businesses will use the G2B system by 2009.
Once completed, the outcome of the strategic planning process should be a detailed written plan
or road map that needs to be communicated to everyone, and is regularly reviewed to ensure
that it remains relevant. The e-Government Road Map of the Republic of Korea is an example.


31

The e-Government Road Map of the Republic of Korea
The Korean government drew up a detailed e-government road map after an extensive
strategic planning process that included a SWOT analysis, information strategy planning
(ISP), and BPR. The process was guided by a Sub-committee under the Presidential
Committee for Government Innovation and Decentralization (or Government Reform
Committee).
The road map is a five-year plan, covering the period 2003 to 2007. It specifies four areas,
31 tasks or projects grouped into 10 agenda as shown below.

4 Areas of

10 Agenda

31 Key Projects

Innovation
1. Innovating the
Way Government

1. Establishing Electronic Work
Processes

Works

1. Electronic Document Processing
2. Consolidated Financial Information System
for Central & Local Governments
3. Local e-Government
4. e-Auditing System
5. e-National Assembly
6. Integrated Criminal Justice Services
7. Consolidated Personnel Administration
System
8. e-Diplomacy System
9. Real-time System for National Policy
Management

2. Expanding the Administrative
Information Sharing System
3. Service-oriented Business
Process Reengineering
2. Innovating Citizen
Services

4. Enhancing Citizen Services

10. Expansion of Administrative Information
Sharing System
11. Government Business Reference Model
Development
12. Enhanced Online Citizen Services
13. Integrated National Disaster Management
Services
14. Consolidated Architectural Administrative
Information System
15. Consolidated Online Tax System
16. Integrated National Welfare Services
17. Consolidated Food and Drug Information
System
18. Consolidated Employment Information
Services
19. Online Administrative Trial System

32


4 Areas of

10 Agenda

31 Key Projects

Innovation
5. Enhancing Business Support
Services

6. Enhancing Online Citizen
Participation
3. Innovating
Information

7. Consolidating and Standardizing
Information Resources

Resource

20. One-stop Business Support Services
(G4B)
21. Consolidated National Logistics
Information Services
22. Electronic Trading Services
23. Comprehensive Foreigner Support
Services
24. Support for Exporting e-Government
Solutions
25. Expansion of Online Citizen Participation
26. Government-wide Consolidated
Information Resources Administration
System

Management

27. Enhancement of e-Government
Communication Network
28. Establishment of Government-wide
Information Technology Architecture
8. Strengthening Information
Security Systems
9. Strengthening Capacity of IT
Personnel and Organizations

4. Reforming the
Legal System

10. Reforming e-Government
Legal System

29. Establishment of Information Security
System
30. Restructuring of IT Personnel and
Organizations
31. Reform of e-Government Laws and
Regulations

Source: NCA, 2004 Broadband IT Korea: Informatization White Paper (Seoul, 2004), p. 20.

Mongolia’s road map for e-government implementation is given below.

Mongolia’s e-Government Road Map
In 2005 the ICT Authority17 of Mongolia launched the e-Mongolia National Programme and
the e-Government Master Plan of Mongolia.
The e-Mongolia National Programme aims to enhance the people’s quality of life by building
a new economic environment, improving the country’s competitiveness and fostering
sustainable development. It has 16 objectives and a plan of action that is being pursued
through projects such as “PC for All” and “IT Literacy for All Citizens”.
As part of the PC for All Project, government organizations, NGOs and private companies
collaborated to establish the Mongolian Internet Service Providers Association and the
Mongolia Association of Computer Suppliers Companies. These have reduced the cost of
online computing.

17 The ICT Authority was reorganized into ICTPA (Information, Communications, Technology and Post Authority) in 2008.


33

In addition, laws have been amended, as outlined in the e-Mongolia National Programme, to
provide a favourable legal environment for ICT for development (ICTD). It is not only ICTrelated laws that are being revised but also other laws that impact on ICTD. For example,
the Law on Education has a clause on developing ICT curricula for secondary schools and
ICT specialists.
The e-Government Master Plan of Mongolia was developed following an extensive survey to
assess Mongolia’s ICT situation and needs, particularly among government organizations.
The master plan comes complete with a vision, strategies and plans for implementation,
including actions within specific time frames. The vision is to build a strong and competitive
country by establishing a citizen-centered, transparent and knowledge-based government
through the utilization of advanced ICT.
The 22 projects specified in the master plan focus mostly on the digitization of government
information and procedures, providing access to selected information resources and
improving public services via the Internet. One project is the Open Government Portal that
provides a space for businesses and citizens to comment on policies, laws and regulations,
and raise concerns with government organizations. Another project is the Mongolian Tax
Agency’s website from which various tax forms and documents can be downloaded.
Sources: ICT Authority, Information and communications technology development in Mongolia – 2006: White paper
(Ulaanbaatar, 2006), http://www.itconsulting.mn/publications/WP%20of%20Mongolia%20final.pdf.
Lkhagvasuren Ariunaa, Mongolia: Mobilizing communities for participation in e-government initiatives for the poor and
marginalized (Bangkok, UNDP-APDIP, 2005), http://www.apdip.net/projects/e-government/capblg/casestudies/MongoliaAriunaa.pdf.
Lkhagvasuren Ariunaa and Batchuluun Batpurev, “.mn Mongolia”, in Digital Review of Asia Pacific 2007/2008, Felix Librero
and Patricia B. Arinto, eds. (New Delhi, Sage, IDRC, Orbicom, 2008), pp. 211-216, http://www.digital-review.org/uploads/files/
pdf/2007-2008/2007_C16_mn_Mongolia_211_216.pdf.
Odgerel Ulziikhutag, Mongolia: e-Government Key Challenges to Enhance Citizen Participation (Bangkok, UNDP-APDIP,
2005), http://www.apdip.net/projects/e-government/capblg/casestudies/Mongolia-Ulziikhutag.pdf.

Something To Do
1. Does your government have an e-government road map or an ICT plan?
Find out and describe the process through which the road map or plan was
formulated. How similar or different is this process from the strategic planning
described above?
2. If your government does not yet have an e-government road map or ICT
plan, write a brief analysis in which you identify the steps in the strategic
planning process that would be particularly challenging for your government
and indicate reasons why. Identify also who you think should be involved in
the strategic planning process to come up with your country’s e-government
road map.

34


2.3

e-Government Implementation and Assessment

The successful implementation of e-government depends on the performance of each task
or project in the e-government road map. There are various assessment models/frameworks
related to e-government tasks and projects.
In the general context of ICT, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) measures the maturity of
an organization in terms of its use and application of ICT and information systems. It defines
certain levels of maturity at which an organization can be at, and provides the criteria and
characteristics of a typical organization at those levels. The model allows the evaluation and
benchmarking of a public institution against best international practices in four capability areas
of e-government:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Formulation of organizational strategies
ICT management
Operative management
Organizational capabilities including human resources18

Box 3. CMM and CMMI

•

•

•

CMM is a reference model of matured practices in a specified discipline such as Systems
Engineering CMM, Software CMM, People CMM and Software Acquisition CMM. But
they were difficult to integrate as and when needed.
CMM Integrated (CMMI) is the successor of the CMM and evolved as a more matured
set of guidelines and was built combining the best components of individual disciplines
of CMM (Software CMM, People CMM, etc.) It can be applied to product manufacturing,
people management, software development, and so forth.
CMM describes the software engineering alone whereas CMMI describes both software
and system engineering. CMMI also incorporates integrated processes, product
development and supplier sourcing.

Following the organizational assessment, it can be used to guide capability improvement. In this
regard, the CMM is not only a diagnostic tool but also a generator of improvement road maps.
It provides the government agencies with a methodological and technological tool to measure
the current state (“As-Is”), define the desired state (“To-Be”), and measure the improvements
over time to achieve that state.19,20
In the realm of e-government, various assessment frameworks/models have been developed
from different perspectives. Some of the existing assessment models include:
•
•
•
•

The e-Government Assessment Framework (EAF), India
The e-Government Economics Project (eGEP), European Union
VAN-DAM model, Australia
A Public Value Framework, United Kingdom (UK)

18 Mauricio Solar, et. al., “Identifying Weaknesses for Chilean e-Government Implementation in Public Agencies with Maturity
Model”, in Electronic Government, 8th International Conference, EGOV 2009, Linz, Austria, August 31 - September 3, 2009,
Proceedings, Maria Wimmer, et. al., eds. (2009), pp.151-162, http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/egov/egov2009.
html.
19 Marcelo Iribarren, et. al., “Capability Maturity Framework for e-Government: A Multi-dimensional Model and Assessing Tool”, in
Electronic Government, 7th International Conference, EGOV 2008, Turin, Italy, August 31 - September 5, 2008, Proceedings,
Maria Wimmer, et. al., eds. (2008), pp.136-147, http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/egov/egov2008.html.
20 Mauricio Solar, et. al., “Identifying Weaknesses”.


35

The EAF was developed by the Government of India to assess e-government projects. The EAF
evaluates e-government projects using different attribute classes such as service-orientation
(efficiency, user convenience, citizen centricity), technology (architecture, standards, security),
cost-effectiveness, sustainability and replicability.
The eGEP is a European Union initiative that conducts research on new instruments for
monitoring and evaluating the costs, benefits and outcomes of e-government. eGEP produced
a general Measurement Framework for the analysis of socio-economic and governance impacts
of e-government services. The Measurement Framework is built around three value drivers of
efficiency, democracy and effectiveness, and elaborated in such a way as to produce a multidimensional assessment of the public value potentially generated by e-government, not limited
to just the strictly quantitative financial impact, but also fully including more qualitative impacts.21
For details on the assessment models, please refer to the further reading section of this module.
In the case of the Republic of Korea, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs
(MOGAHA)22 established guidelines for project management and announced the guidelines
as a published ruling (No. 142, 30 March 2004). MOGAHA also designated the National
Computerization Agency (NCA)23 to manage the projects. Two flagship projects are designed
to further promote e-government: the e-government support project and the administrative
database construction project. The e-government support project is aimed at assisting crossagency projects, new policy projects, or local informatization projects within the allocated budget
and guidelines for each year.
The Korean e-Government Road Map projects are undertaken by stages as shown in figure 2.

Figure 2. Annual plan for the Republic of Korea’s
e-Government Road Map implementation

Source: NIA, 2006 Annual Report for e-Government (Seoul, MOGAHA, 2006), p. 11, http://www.korea.go.kr/new_eng/html/files/
publications/2006_EGov_Annual_Report.pdf.

From 2004 until June 2006 an estimated USD 516 million has been invested in 137 e-government
promotional tasks, including 105 e-government road map sub-projects.24
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs publishes a biannual comparative
assessment on the development of e-government for 192 Member States. The United Nations
21 Cristiano Codagnone, Paolo Boccardelli and Maria Isabella Leone, “eGovernment Economics Project (eGEP): Measurement
Framework Final Version”, prepared for the European Commission, 15 May 2006, http://www.epractice.eu/files/media/
media1299.pdf.
22 During the government reorganization implemented in February 2008, MOGAHA was renamed as the Ministry of Public
Administration and Security (MOPAS).
23 The NCA was renamed as the National Information Society Agency (NIA) in October 2006.
24 NIA, 2006 Annual Report for e-Government (Seoul, MOGAHA, 2006), p. 11, http://www.korea.go.kr/new_eng/html/files/

36


e-Government Survey serves as a tool for decision makers to identify their areas of strength
and challenges. The Republic of Korea received the highest score, followed by the United
States in the United Nations e-Government Survey 2010.25 The comparative assessment is
based on three areas: (1) Online Service Index, (2) Telecommunication Infrastructure Index,
and (3) Human Capital Index.
The Online Service Index, which measures the online presence of government agencies (each
country’s national website as well as the websites in the ministries of education, labour, social
services, health and finance), provides United Nations member States with a comparative
ranking on their ability to deliver online services to their citizens.

Box 4. Four stages of online service development by the United Nations
Stage 1 – Emerging information services
Government websites provide information on public policy, governance, laws, regulations,
relevant documentation and types of government services provided. They have links to
ministries, departments, and other branches of government. Citizens are easily able to
obtain information on what is new in the national government and ministries and can follow
links to archived information.
Stage 2 – Enhanced information services
Government websites deliver enhanced one-way or simple two-way e-communication
between government and citizen, such as downloadable forms for government services
and applications. The sites have audio and video capabilities and are multi-lingual. Some
limited e-services enable citizens to submit requests for non-electronic forms or personal
information, which will be mailed to their house.
Stage 3 – Transactional services
Government websites engage in two-way communication with their citizens, including
requesting and receiving inputs on government policies, programmes and regulations.
Some form of electronic authentication of the citizen’s identity is required to successfully
complete the exchange. Government websites process non-financial transactions, for
example: e-voting, downloading and uploading forms, filing taxes online or applying for
certificates, licenses and permits. They also handle financial transactions, that is, where
money is transferred on a secure network to government.
Stage 4 – Connected services
Government websites have changed the way governments communicate with their citizens.
They are proactive in requesting information and opinions from the citizens using Web 2.0 and
other interactive tools. e-Services and e-solutions cut across the departments and ministries
in a seamless manner. Information, data and knowledge is transferred from government
agencies through integrated applications. Governments have moved from a governmentcentric to a citizen-centric approach, where e-services are targeted to citizens through life
cycle events and segmented groups to provide tailor-made services. Governments create
an environment that empowers citizens to be more involved with government activities to
have a voice in decision-making.
In addition, e-participation and citizen engagement are supported and encouraged by
governments in the decision-making process. This is the most sophisticated level of online
e-government. It is characterized by:
25 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations e-Government Survey 2010: Leveraging
e-Government at a Time of Financial and Economic Crisis (New York, 2010), http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb/documents/2010/E_
Gov_2010_Complete.pdf.


37

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Horizontal connections (among government agencies)
Vertical connections (central and local government agencies)
Infrastructure connections (interoperability)
Connections between governments and citizens
Connections among stakeholders (government, private sector, academic institutions,
NGOs, and civil society)

Sources: Adapted from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations e-Government Survey 2010:
Leveraging e-Government at a Time of Financial and Economic Crisis (New York, 2010), p. 95, http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb/
documents/2010/E_Gov_2010_Complete.pdf; and United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
e-Government Survey 2008: From e-Government to Connected Governance (New York, 2008), http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/
groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN028607.pdf.

The Telecommunication Infrastructure Index is a composite index of five primary indicators
relating to a country’s infrastructure capacity associated with the delivery of e-government
services. The ITU is the primary source of data in each case.
The five indicators are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Number of PCs per 100 persons
Number of Internet users per 100 persons
Number of telephone lines per 100 persons
Number of mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 persons
Number of fixed broadband subscribers per 100 persons

The Human Capital Index is a composite of two indicators: adult literacy rate and the combined
primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio. A weight of approximately two-thirds is
given to the adult literacy rate, and one-third to the gross enrolment ratio. The data for the adult
literacy rate and the gross enrolment ratio are primarily from the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), supplemented with data from the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report.

2.4

e-Government Funding

Money makes things happen. For e-government initiatives, we have often seen a mismatch
between planned and actual funding. e-Government projects usually incur large upfront
expenditures. Treating e-government expenditures as normal operating expenditures may
result in poorly financed projects. Under the current budget practices, as shown in figure 3,
appropriations are made on an agency-by-agency and annual basis. On the contrary, the ICT
budget is considered as a long-term capital investment rather than a short-term expenditure.
Funding for e-government implementation may be obtained using various methods, such as
foreign aid, special e-government fund, and public-private partnerships.26

26 For more information on options for funding ICTD and on public-private partnerships, refer to Module 8 of the Academy of ICT
Essentials for Government Leaders module series.

38


Figure 3. Traditional budget and ICT investments

Something To Do
If your government has an e-government road map or plan:
1. Find out whether there is an implementation plan and analyse its strengths
and weaknesses.
2. Discuss the necessary budget allocations for implementing the e-government
road map or plan, and the sources of funding. Indicate whether you think the
budget plan is adequate, and the reasons for your assessment.

2.5

Promising e-Government Strategy

Best practices of various countries suggest that there are three fundamental steps in developing
e-government. The first is providing connectivity or establishing infrastructure, whereas the
second is developing content and applications. The third is systems integration. System
integration brings together subsystems onto one system, and ensures that the subsystems
function together in one system.
This three-step approach has been adopted by many countries, including Bangladesh, China,
Japan, Mexico, and the Republic of Korea. In the case of Mexico (see figure 4), connectivity
means addressing the digital divide by providing public access to ICT tools and training by
means of Digital Community Centres. Mexico’s priorities for the development of content and
applications (step 2) are e-learning, e-health, e-economy, and e-government. It is also at this
step that government websites and portals at department or ministry level are to be developed.
The third step for e-Mexico involves integrating or connecting all systems or portal sites to
provide one-stop service to citizens and businesses.


39

Figure 4. e-Mexico National System Deployment
.

Source: e-Mexico Portal, http://www.e-mexico.gob.mx.

In Fiji and the Solomon Islands, the five components of the e-government plan are: the
e-Government Blueprint, e-Government Applications, Government Data Centres, Government
Info-Communication Infrastructure, and ICT Competency Development and Training. Eight
e-government applications have been identified as follows: e-learning for teachers and students
in rural areas, an e-scholarship system, a prison administration system, a crime database, the
e-social welfare system, a document management system, customs authority informatization,
and a human resource system.27
Connectivity is a challenge for developing countries, especially island states. The Solomon
Islands has addressed this challenge through an initiative called the People First Network (PFnet).

PFnet
In a remote village named Sasamunga in the island of Choiseul, approximately 1,000 miles
from Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, the people have been communicating with
relatives, friends and government departments via e-mail since 2001. This is remarkable
because the village does not have electricity or telephone lines. Five years ago, the village’s
only means of communication to the outside world was letters, which took about 3-4 weeks
to reach Honiara (via local shipping). Short wave radio was used in emergency situations.
E-mail without electricity is possible for the people of Sasamunga through the PFnet system
established in 2001 as a UNDP-UNOPS project. The system consists of a USD 2,000
laptop computer operated by solar power. E-mail messages typed into the computer are
transmitted via high-frequency short-wave radio to a bigger radio receiver at the Internet
café in Honiara where an operator receives the e-mail messages and forwards them to the
relevant addresses. This is done several times a day, which means that there is constant
communication between the rural e-mail station operators and the operator at the Internet
café in Honiara.
27 Anand Chand, “e-Government in the South Pacific Region: Case studies from Fiji and Solomon Islands”, paper presented at
the Regional Workshop on Asia-Pacific e-Government Initiatives, Bangkok, Thailand, 24-25 April 2006, http://www.apdip.net/
projects/e-government/capblg/casestudies/Fiji-Chand.pdf.

40


At each e-mail station, the e-mail messages are “processed” as follows: A customer brings
the message to the station as a handwritten note (usually in pidgin) or verbally dictates the
message to the station operator who types the message and then sends it to the Internet
café in Honiara. Since the operators at each station perform the functions of typing and
sending the messages on behalf of the customers, illiteracy is not a constraint against the
use of PFnet services.
PFnet was funded initially by UNDP and over the years it has received funding from
the governments of Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and the UK, as well as the
European Union. Now self-sustaining, PFnet is managed by the Rural Development Volunteer
Association, an NGO based in Honiara. The network has 14 e-mail stations in the Solomon
Islands, or one e-mail station in each of the main islands. Each e-mail station is housed in a
small room, usually in a provincial health clinic, community school, or some other accessible
and secure public facility.
Source: Adapted from Anand Chand, “e-Government in the South Pacific Region: Case studies from Fiji and Solomon Islands”,
paper presented at the Regional Workshop on Asia-Pacific e-Government Initiatives, Bangkok, Thailand, 24-25 April 2006,
http://www.apdip.net/projects/e-government/capblg/casestudies/Fiji-Chand.pdf.

In Bangladesh, the strategy for establishing connectivity is the Digital Community Centre of
which there are four types: the Community Information Centres (CICs), the Rural ICT Centres
(RICs), the Rural Technology Centres (RTCs), and the Internet Learning Centres (ILCs).28

Digital Community Centres in Bangladesh
The CICs in Bangladesh were established in 2006 by Grameen Phone, the largest telecom
operator in Bangladesh. Today there are more than 500 CICs in various parts of Bangladesh.
Each is equipped with at least one computer, a printer, a scanner, a webcam, and a modem
for Internet access using EDGE connectivity. CICs offer the following services for a fee:
e-mail, fax, instant messaging and Internet browsing. People use the e-mail services, fax,
and instant messaging services to keep in touch with friends and relatives abroad. They
use the Internet to access government online services, do online research and read online
news. The CICs are run as a franchise of Grameen Phone. For a minimum investment of
BDT 80,000, local entrepreneurs can own a CIC. There are plans to launch 60,000 CICs
across Bangladesh.
Grameen Phone has also developed an e-Krishok tool for the CIC. e-Krishok is a Web-based
tool from where farmers can obtain specific information on the soil, climate and fertilizer
requirements for land of a specific area. This tool helps to keep the farmers updated with
modern agricultural technology, which in turn helps to increase agricultural production.
The RICs were launched in 2006 by the Digital Equity Network with support from KATALYST,
a multi-donor consortium working in Bangladesh. Each RIC has a telephone, computers,
a printer and scanner, Internet connectivity, and digital cameras. The RICs’ vision is to
provide information services to micro, small and medium enterprises in rural Bangladesh.
In particular, the RICs disseminate business information to local businesses in selected
sectors, such as poultry, fisheries, and potato farming. The RICs also provide various social,
health-related education, and government information.
28 Ananya Raihan, “Community Access Points or Telecentre Movement in Bangladesh”, UNPAN e-Government in the Asia and
Pacific, 2007, http://ipai.pbwiki.com/f/Annex+_A.pdf.


41

The RTCs were established in Rajoir, Madaripur and Sarishabari, Jamalpur in 2006 by
Practical Action Bangladesh to promote appropriate rural technologies for rural development.
Specifically, at the RTCs traditional technologies are upgraded and new technologies are
adapted to meet rural needs. Height and weight measurement instruments and other essential
agro-processing equipment are available to use in demonstrations and to rent out to the
local people. Among these agro-processing equipment are a grain moisture meter, refract
meter, pH meter, salinometer, acid titration set, spice grinder, microwave oven, milk cream
separator, digital thermometer, blender, mixing tank and sealing machine. Also available are
a computer and landline with Internet connection that farmers, traders, entrepreneurs and
other clients can use to access information. The RTCs also provide employment information
for local unemployed youths, displaced workers and the under-employed.
The ILCs, launched in 2005, are a programme of Relief International School Online. Each
ILC is equipped with 5 to 10 computers, one scanner, one digital camera, and Internet
connectivity. The ILCs provide computer skills training to school children and teachers, as
well as training in project-based and collaborative learning. Membership fees are charged
to raise funds to cover recurring expenses.
Sources: Adapted from Ananya Raihan, “Community Access Points or Telecentre Movement in Bangladesh”, UNPAN
e-Government in the Asia and Pacific, 2007, http://ipai.pbwiki.com/f/Annex+_A.pdf.
Md. Anwarul Islam and Kazi Mostak Gausul Hoq, “Community Internet Access in Rural Areas: A study on Community
Information Centres in Bangladesh”, Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, Vol. 15, No. 2 (August 2010),
pp. 109-124.

What strategies for establishing connectivity in rural and remote areas does your
country’s e-government plan have? If no such strategies are articulated, what
strategies would you recommend and why?

42


3.

TYPES OF E-GOVERNMENT
APPLICATIONS: SOME EXAMPLES

3.1

Classification of e-Government Applications

Many government organizations have embraced the digital revolution and are putting a wide
range of public information and government services online for intended e-government users
or stakeholders. They include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Citizens
Businesses
Government employees
Government ministries, department and agencies
Union leaders
Community leaders, non-profit organizations
Politicians
Foreign investors
Others

1. Is it possible for an individual to belong to different categories of e-government
stakeholder?
2. Who or which groups of people would fall under the category of “others”?

Fang29 identified eight models of e-government according to type of interaction between
stakeholders (see table 3).
Table 3. e-Government classification by interaction between stakeholders
e-Government Models

Interaction between Stakeholders

Government-to-Citizen (G2C)

One-way delivery of public services and information by
the government to citizens.

Citizen-to-Government (C2G)

Allows for exchange of information and communication
between citizens and government.

Government-to-Business
(G2B)

Consists of electronic transactions where government
provides businesses with the kinds of information they
need to transact with government. An example is an
e-procurement system.

29 Zhiyuan Fang, “e-Government in Digital Era: Concept, Practice, and Development”, International Journal of the Computer, the
Internet and Management, Vol. 10, No. 2 (2002), pp. 1-22, http://www.journal.au.edu/ijcim/2002/may02/article1.pdf.


43

e-Government Models

Interaction between Stakeholders

Business-to-Government
(B2G)

Refers to marketing of products and services to
government to help government become more efficient
through improved business processes and electronic
records management. An e-procurement system
is an application that facilitates both G2B and B2G
interactions.

Government-to-Employee
(G2E)

Consists of initiatives that will facilitate the management
of the civil service and internal communication with
government employees. An example is an online human
resource management system.

Government-to-Government
(G2G)

Allows for online communication and information sharing
among government departments or agencies through
integrated databases.

Government-to-Non-profit
(G2N)

Government provides information to non-profit
organizations, political parties and social organizations.

Non-profit-to-Government
(N2G)

Allows for an exchange of information and
communication between government and non-profit
organizations, political parties and social organizations.

Thus, e-government may be involved in two types of partnerships: internal partnerships and
external partnerships (see figure 5). Internal partnerships are cooperative alliance within and
between the government agencies. External partnerships refer to the relationship between
government, citizens and businesses.

Figure 5. e-Government partnership systems

Source: Zhiyuan Fang, “e-Government in Digital Era: Concept, Practice, and Development”, International Journal of the Computer,
the Internet and Management, Vol.10, No.2 (2002), pp. 1-22, http://www.journal.au.edu/ijcim/2002/may02/article1.pdf.

44


As mentioned in the previous section, three areas of e-government applications—Innovating
Citizen Services (G2C), Innovating Business Services (G2B), and Innovating the Way Government
Works (G2G)—will be discussed in detail. Most of the examples are drawn from the Korean
e-government experience. Figure 6 shows the conceptual framework for e-government in the
Republic of Korea. It shows multi-channel access to a single window, the types of integrated
services provided, and the back end of each departmental level connection and data integration.

Figure 6. Conceptual framework of e-government in the Republic of Korea30


Something To Do
1. e-Government has sometimes been seen as benefiting only the middle and
upper classes in developing countries. Do you agree or disagree?
2. If you agree, what are the steps towards building an e-government application
that is inclusive of the entire population?
3. Explain priority areas for e-government implementation as seen by
stakeholders (citizen, business, foreign investor, government employee, nonprofit organization).

30 When a new administration took office in February 2008, the Government of the Republic of Korea underwent an institutional reform.
The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) was renamed the Ministry of Public Administration and
Security (MOPAS), and assumes affairs related to national administration, government organizations, personnel management,
e-government and disaster safety. MOPAS also took up the informatization strategy function of the former Ministry of Information
and Communication (MIC). In February 2008, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) was newly established under the
office of the President, and embraced the core functions of the former MIC and Korean Broadcasting Commission, serving as
an integrated organization responsible for both policymaking and regulation. The National Computerization Agency (NCA) was
renamed the National Information Society Agency (NIA) in October 2006, and the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and
Promotion (KADO) was merged into NIA in May 2009. In July 2009, the Korea Information Security Agency, National Internet
Development Agency and Korean IT International Cooperation Agency came together to form the Korea Internet and Security
Agency (KISA) as one of the government agencies under the KCC.


45

3.2

Government-to-Citizen (G2C) Applications

One important aspect of citizen-centric orientation in e-government is making it easy for citizens
to find what they are looking for, whether information or services, in numerous government
websites. In this regard, government portals offer single points of access to the multiple
agencies, and give citizens the opportunity to interact easily and seamlessly with different
parts of the government. Instead of focusing on what agencies intend to deliver, portals present
information and service in a unified way. A one-stop government portal, coupled with significant
re-engineering of the back end that facilitates information sharing across agencies, is a very
useful service channel. In addition, the portal is a very important means of communication
between government, citizens and businesses.
Online Citizen Service (G2C Portal, Minwon 24)
There are many examples of G2C portals redesigning the service delivery processes of
governments. Although individual agency or ministry websites are still important, it has now been
generally accepted that G2C portals are becoming the preferred online format for governments
to present their information and service offerings to citizens.

Box 5. Guidelines for implementing e-government portals

•

•

Offer Compelling Services: It is important to offer high priority services, for which
there is a strong citizen demand.

•

Adopt a Whole-of-Government View: Truly citizen-centric service delivery requires
a movement away from individual government applications in individual departments.
Systems can no longer be developed independent of each other—a “whole-ofgovernment” view needs to be adopted.

•

Develop a Unified Information Architecture: Having an architectural blueprint to
guide systems integration at the back end is extremely important. Funding and systems
selection should be based on this architecture, the foundation of which is Web enablement
of services and systems.

•

Adopt a Citizen Perspective to Portal Design: Information in a government portal
needs to be well organized to facilitate navigation. Online services should, therefore,
be designed based on what the citizen needs, and how best to facilitate their access,
for example, to have services organized by topic (health, education, etc.) or major
life events (birth, marriage, and death, etc.) as opposed to the traditional method via
departmental listings.

•

46

Provide Citizen-Centric Service: The core concept for portal development should be
the provision of citizen-centric service—citizens should be able to access services as
quickly and efficiently as possible, anywhere and anytime, with services organized in a
manner that facilitates their access, and with a citizen’s point of view.

Set Clear Performance Targets: Clear annual targets should be set to evaluate
progress. Success factors should be defined at the very outset, otherwise, users may
end up using only a small subset of services.


•

Offer a Multiplicity of Service Channels: Transactional services need to be provided
through regular channels, such as physical and telephone, in addition to e-channels.
The technical architecture of the e-channels must reflect the reality that services will
be provided through these other means.

Source: Adapted from The World Bank, Implementing E-Government Portals,
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/EX
TEGOVERNMENT/0,,print:Y~isCURL:Y~contentMDK:20870039~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:702586~isCURL:
Y,00.html.

In the Republic of Korea, the inefficiency in government service delivery was caused by the
development of separate national databases, such as those for residents, lands, vehicles and
taxes. Due to the existence of major databases in silos, citizens were required to keep filling out
the same information over and over, and go through a lot of paperwork for certificate application
with multiple visits to government agencies. To improve the convenience and efficiency, a
system for interconnecting major national databases capable of reciprocal operation between
government agencies and an official government portal for civil services were developed. Minwon
24 is the gateway to online civil services, and provides a single window through which citizens
and businesses can access various government services using multiple channels (see figure7).

Figure 7.Single-window e-government

Source: NCA, e-Government in Korea (Seoul, 2002), p. 39, http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/
UNPAN023903.pdf.

This portal provides a wide variety of services, including issuance of various certificates,
electronic payment, and dissemination of government information. A multi-channel approach
is necessary to ensure maximum participation of citizens and businesses, and since different
groups are likely to have different preferences and capabilities of access to these channels.
For example, the rural population is less likely to have access to electronic channels (e.g. the
Internet, e-mail, mobile, digital TV) than the urban population.31
The different one-stop delivery channels deployed to increase access to e-government services
include the following:
31 For more information about various types of multi-channel one-stop single access to government services, refer to: The World
Bank, “e-Government for All” (see footnote 6).


47

•

•
•
•

•

•

One-Stop Citizen Service Centres – Where single-window service delivery is implemented by
several agencies, for customers who prefer or who can afford only face-to-face interactions.
Examples of such citizen service centres may be found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany,
India, Kazakhstan, Portugal, South Africa and the UK.
Telecentres – Public access points with free or subsidized access to e-government services
(via postal network, libraries, schools, community centres, etc.).
Call Centres – Service delivery via the telephone by government call centres, often
outsourced to private contractors. Examples may be found in Canada, Italy and the US.
Web Portals – Service delivery via user-friendly government Web portals based on
interoperable technologies. Examples may be found in Canada, Republic of Korea,
Singapore, the UK and the US.
m-Government – Mobile service delivery via short messaging service (SMS) and specially
designed m-government portals. Examples may be found in India, Singapore, the Philippines
and the UK.
t-Government – Interactive terrestrial digital TV-based e-service delivery via specially
designed government TV channels/portals, with both broadcast and on-demand content.
Examples exist in China, Italy, Republic of Korea, the UK and the US.32

In the case of the Republic of Korea, the movement towards a citizen-centric, multi-channel,
single-window government initially started with the construction of the official Korean government
website and Home Citizen Service Centre in 1997 to provide the public with administrative
information and service request forms in a systematic way. By 1999, 20 types of citizen services
had become available via the Home Citizen Service Centre. In 2000, the Centre was integrated
with the in-house administration system so that citizens could send requests from their PCs
and then receive the requested documents at home via mail.
The G2C project was launched in 2000 to enable citizens to have easy access to government
information and to use one-stop online civil services regardless of time and place. By April 2002,
the first and second phases of the G2C project were completed. ISP for enhanced online citizen
services was implemented in 2003 to lay the groundwork for a standard G2C system. Now
Korean citizens can make a request for certificate and print it out from their own printer at home
through G2C online civil services anytime anywhere, without having to visit any government
offices. By the end of 2010, the number of services on offer had expanded dramatically to
approximately 5,300 kinds of guidelines for civil service, 720 kinds of civil applications and
28 kinds of online issuances. Furthermore, aggressive efforts to promote the utilization of the
online civil services by linking to private portals such as NAVER33 and others have resulted in
remarkable increases in the use of the service: from less than 52,000 online applications in
2002 when the service was launched, to 31,288,000 online application in 2010 (see figure 8).
Minwon 24 received the United Nations Public Service Award in 2011.
Advanced e-government in the Republic of Korea was strongly established with the building of
a Web-based citizen service system interconnecting five major national databases, including
resident, land, vehicle, tax and insurance. The new citizen service system has improved the
quality of people’s lives and administrative efficiency by providing services with fewer to no
document requirements and personal visits to government offices. Supposing an average of 30
per cent of total citizen services is conducted online for five years, savings of KRW 1.8 trillion
(about USD 1.8 billion) is expected.

32 Ibid.
33 NAVER (http://www.naver.com), operated by NHN corporation, is a popular Internet portal site in the Republic of Korea.

48


Figure 8. Use of G2C services in the Republic of Korea
(Unit: thousand cases)

Source: e-National Indicators, http://www.index.go.kr/egams/stts/jsp/potal/stts/PO_STTS_IdxSearch.jsp?idx_cd=1026&stts_
cd=102601&clas_div=C&idx_sys_cd=&idx_clas_cd=1.

Figure 9 shows how the G2C system works. The system can be divided into three parts:
(1) a single contact point where citizens can access the government information and services
anywhere and anytime through the Internet; (2) the system for information sharing designed to
enable each department to share information; and (3) the infrastructure, such as e-certification,
payment gateway and mobile service.

Figure 9. e-Government Single Access Window for Korean Citizens



49

In Cambodia, an integrated information system for government services has also been
established.

Government Administration Information System Project
in Cambodia

The Government Administration Information System (GAIS) project was envisioned by the
Royal Government of Cambodia as a flagship project to introduce ICT to Cambodian society
and to accelerate administrative reform. In August 2000, the National ICT Development
Authority was established and immediately tasked to implement the GAIS.
The GAIS consists of four core applications:
1. Electronic Approval System – To allow ministries to easily exchange documents and
e-mails, manage documents, and post announcements
2. Real Estate Registration – To manage and track basic data on property, ownership
transfer, tax and statistics
3. Resident Registration – To manage and track basic data about residents, changes in
the family, education and employment situations, tax owed or paid, and other statistics
4. Vehicle Registration – To manage and track basic data on vehicles and vehicle owners,
the registration process, ownership transfer, inspection information, tax owed or paid,
and other statistics
The infrastructure for the four applications is based on a local area network and wide area
network for 27 ministries, State secretariats, and the Phnom Penh municipality.
The project aimed to increase the efficiency of the registration processes and the document
approval system by digitizing information and electronically connecting government
departments. The entire system was intended to generate revenue for the Royal Government
of Cambodia.
The GAIS has served to deter crimes related to vehicles and other property. Vehicle
robberies have been drastically reduced because vehicles cannot be registered again. The
system has also reduced the cost of registration as well as the time required to register.
Prior to the deployment of the GAIS, the cost of registration was between KHR 20,000 and
KHR 50,000 (USD 5 to USD 12.50). This was in addition to the official fees charged. With
the GAIS, these extra fees are no longer charged.
The GAIS launched in October 2004 was intended to be a pilot. A subsequent project,
the Provincial Administration Information System (PAIS), has been completed to extend
this model to 10 provinces with more than 160 organizations nationwide, rolling out the
applications and providing e-mail, Internet access and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
services to all connected organizations.
Sources: Leewood Phu, Cambodia: The road to E-governance of Cambodia: A Comprehensive Analysis of E-government
Project (Seoul, United Nations Project Office on Governance, 2011).
Leewood Phu, Cambodia: The road to e-governance (Bangkok, UNDP-APDIP, 2005), http://www.apdip.net/projects/egovernment/capblg/casestudies/Cambodia.pdf.
Norbert Klein, “.kh Cambodia”, in Digital Review of Asia Pacific 2005/2006 (ORBICOM, IDRC, UNDP-APDIP, 2005), pp. 124127, http://www.digital-review.org/uploads/files/pdf/2005-2006/start.pdf.

50


Integrated Tax System34
The consolidated online tax system in the Republic of Korea enables taxpayers to conduct all
tax-related transactions without visiting tax offices. In the past the National Tax Service (NTS)
sent tax bills via mail and taxpayers visited the NTS in person to complete tax-related businesses.
Now, taxpayers either paid their taxes through the designated banks or utilized other national
tax payment options, including via Internet banking.
The integrated tax system aimed to increase tax revenue, prevent corruption in taxation, increase
voluntary compliance by taxpayers, establish advanced tax administration, and ensure fast and
accurate public service. The online tax system covers income tax, corporate tax, value-added
tax, property tax and other taxes. From 1999 to 2000, the Electronic Tax Return Filing System
was developed as a pilot project with tax accountants of the Seoul office of the NTS, including
only withholding tax and value-added tax returns. The scope was expanded to include the
liquor tax and special excise tax in 2001. Thirty per cent of 2.53 million cases of withholding tax
return and 10 per cent of 2.12 million cases of value-added tax return were filed electronically in
2001. The Electronic Tax Return Filing System was expanded further to include the securities
transaction tax and stamp tax. In addition, an electronic tax payment system was developed for
immediate payment of taxes that are notified or filed electronically. In addition, individuals and
businesses can make a request or inquiry for certificates of business registration, tax payment,
temporary suspension or closing of business online.
By eliminating redundant data input and speeding up tax-related business processes, the
integrated tax system improves operational efficiency and reduces costs. For example, annual
savings of up to KRW 146 billion (about USD 146 million) are expected from the elimination of
written notices via mail and delays in mail delivery. Taxpayers can save up to KRW 300 billion
(about USD 300 million) annually in labour cost and transportation expenses associated with
visiting tax offices, while the NTS is expected to save up to KRW 120 billion (about USD 120
million) annually from paperless tax administration.

Integrated Social Insurance System35
In 2001, ISP for the construction of an interconnected social insurance information system was
undertaken as one of the main pillars of e-government. Prior to the interconnected system, the
public corporations responsible for the four social insurance programmes operated individual
information system respectively even though they had much in common in terms of administering
eligibility and delivering benefits. With an interconnected information system, information on
the defined population for the four major social insurance programmes, including the national
pension, health insurance, industrial accident compensation insurance and unemployment
insurance are shared as needed and thus common tasks, such as claims and changes in
coverage, are easily dealt with.
Although each public corporation maintains its own portal, information collected from participants
as well as from NTS and MOGAHA is shared by the four public corporations. More than 20
organizations (besides businesses, hospitals, city and provincial offices) are interconnected
through the system. The homepage of each corporation serves as an online information centre
through which inquiries, civil petitions, notices, and insurance payments are processed.
With information sharing among the social insurance public corporations via the interconnected
system, the number of required documents, processing time and cost have all been dramatically
34 This section is drawn from NCA, e-Government in Korea (Seoul, 2002), http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/
APCITY/UNPAN023903.pdf.
35 Ibid.


51

reduced, resulting in annual savings of KRW 542.3 billion (about USD 542.3 million). The
system is also making it easy for the government to identify citizens who are not covered by
the existing social insurance services.

Figure 10.The Republic of Korea’s social insurance information
Web portal service based on an integrated database

UNPAN023903.pdf.

Resident Registration (National Identity Card) Applications36
Resident registration management was conducted by manual recording of resident’s information
on registers and also manual tracking of changes. This process had been slow, inaccurate and
inefficient. Besides, restoration of information was difficult once registers were damaged or lost.
And a change of address took more than three days.
In the Republic of Korea, the resident registration management system project started two
decades ago with the integration of six resident registration-related registers for each citizen
into a single register. This was followed by the construction of a nationwide resident information
database. For a period of two years (1989-1990), civil servants in 3,678 Eup/Myun/Dong (village
or town level administrative unit) across the nation manually keyed in data from approximately
5.7 million registers. In 1998, the Resident Registration Cards Issuance Center was set up
and issued new ID cards by utilizing the resident registration system. The system provides the
following major services: resident registration management, residence tax collection, notification
of primary school attendance and lists of registered voters.
In 2001, an information sharing system for resident registration was developed and has been in
use since then. The information sharing system for resident registration is accessible online to
the authorized agencies that need the information for various government functions and services.
For citizens, the resident information system and information sharing system enable anyone
living in one district to apply for a certified copy of his/her resident registration in other district
offices, and also enable change of address to be automatically forwarded to national pension
records, health insurance records, vehicle registration records and driving license records.

36 Ibid.

52


Figure 11.The Republic of Korea’s resident registration system

UNPAN023905.pdf.

Real Estate Information Management System37
Government activities in relation to real estate include developing residential area, housing
plans, land utilization plans, collecting real estate taxes, and regulating real estate speculation.
These activities require comprehensive and efficient management of real estate information,
which is made possible by the use of ICTs.
As early as 1982, land and forest land registration ledgers were stored in computer systems,
resulting in a real estate database of 32 million parcels across the nation. Local district offices
were subsequently connected to the Central Real Estate Network to update changes in real
estate information. This system, which took six years (1985-1990), improved the accuracy and
speed of services. Soon thereafter, in February 1991, online service was launched, including
the online issuance of registration certificates.
Following the establishment of the National Land Information Centre in 1997, the Real Estate
Real Name Registration System was introduced to regulate real estate speculation. Since 1998,
the real estate system has been consolidated into the Local e-Government System as one of
the 21 key tasks. Also, by interconnecting the real estate system and building management
systems as well as other relevant systems, a full-fledged one-stop service started in 2002.
The completions of the land database and online interaction between relevant agencies have
led to a reform of land-related administration services, which in turn has resulted in the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Streamlining of process from 10 steps to 3 steps
Containment of a 15 per cent increase in human resources for land-related administration
Improvement of the quality of services
Online accessibility of land and forestland ledgers to citizens for perusal and issuance
Reduction in lead time for issuing a certificate from 30 minutes to 5 minutes
Greater transparency in real estate transactions

37 Ibid.


53

Figure 12. Conceptual diagram for the Republic of Korea’s
real estate management system

UNPAN023905.pdf.

Vehicle Administration38
A vehicle information management system provides an effective tool for the management of
various types of vehicles in the face of ever increasing number of vehicles. In the Republic of
Korea, it took a decade for the current integrated vehicle administration system to evolve. The
system began operations focusing on vehicle registration and inspection in 1991, which did
not bring about sufficient improvement of efficiency due to the lack of advanced features such
as vehicle specifications, temporary driving permission, and driver’s license management. In
1998, a more comprehensive vehicle administration system was developed, which included
the whole range of vehicle administration tasks from registration to scrappage. A subsystem for
two-wheeled vehicles and construction machinery was added in 1999, followed by a common
platform enabling various agencies to collect and share vehicle-related information in 2001.
The integrated system has resulted in some KRW 8.2 billion (about USD 8.2 million) in savings.
It has also saved a lot of time for both the government and the citizens, with the registration of
one vehicle now taking only 20 minutes instead of an hour.

38 Ibid.

54


Figure 13. Conceptual diagram for the Republic of Korea’s vehicle registration service

UNPAN023905.pdf.

1. Of the G2C services described in this section, which do you think would be a
priority from the citizens’ perspective in your country? Why?
2. How can an integrated tax system help increase the tax revenue? What is
needed for such a system to be set up in your country?
3. In this section we discussed the five basic citizen services in G2C. Can you
identify any other citizen service that can form part of a G2C system?

Test Yourself
Explain the work flow for each of the following systems: (a) integrated tax system;
b) integrated insurance system; (c) residents registration; (d) vehicle registration;
and (e) real estate management system.


55

3.3

Government-to-Business (G2B): Innovating business
services

G2B includes interactions and transactions between government and businesses, that is,
governments’ selling to businesses and providing them with information and services, and
businesses’ selling products and services to governments. Other services conducted between
government and businesses such as application forms, and renewal of licences and permits,
registering companies, obtaining permits, and payment of taxes and fines are also clustered
into G2B.

Integrated e-Procurement System
The Republic of Korea joined the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement
in 1994. This shed light on various problems associated with the manual procurement system,
such as inefficiency caused by redundant manual processes and corruption due to intensive
personal contacts.39 Thus, the government decided to establish an advanced digital procurement
system that would ensure timely delivery, quality products, and reasonable prices based on
accurate procurement information, eventually building a transparent and efficient procurement
platform for all participants.40

Figure 14. Single-window government procurement system

UNPAN023903.pdf.

The digital system is called the e-Procurement System of the Public Procurement Service of
Korea (KONEPS). This is an online system that enables fast and convenient processing of all
public procurement-related tasks, including bidding, contracting, payment and product delivery.
Procurement information, including receipt of purchase requests, public announcement of
biddings, award of contracts and contract status is provided online with ensured fairness and
transparency for all transactions. e-Procurement was conducted by 42,400 public entities and
195,000 companies in 2010.41
Compare the Republic of Korea’s e-procurement system with that of the State of Andhra
Pradesh in India.
39 Korea Herald, “eGovernment: Saving time and spending less with e-services”, 17 March 2007.
40 NCA, e-Government in Korea (Seoul, 2002), http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN023903.pdf.
41 Public Procurement Service, KONEPS, April, 2011.

56


e-Procurement in Andhra Pradesh, India
With the enactment of the IT Act of 2000 to provide legal recognition to electronic transactions,
the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) saw the importance of e-procurement in
meeting the goals of e-governance and achieving good governance. In 2002, the GoAP
ventured into partnerships with private firms in India to develop e-procurement processes
and applications. The partnership aimed to:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Set up a single window for procurement
Save time and money on procurement transactions
Standardize the government’s procurement processes
Allow equal opportunities to businesses
Promote transparency
Reduce opportunities for corruption

Since the pilot implementation in 2003, the e-procurement.gov.in Web portal has become
the e-procurement platform for all GoAP departments including local bodies and municipal
corporations. The service is also available to other State governments.
The e-procurement portal connects buyers and suppliers through electronic exchange of
tenders, catalogues, contracts, purchase orders, and invoices. The portal also has tender
management software to assist buyers in the bidding process. Suppliers can download
tender documents and track the status of bids.
In January 2003, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh issued an Order stating that: “Any tender
for an engineering work or procurement of goods and services of a value of INR 10,000,000
(about USD 236,500) and above by the Commissionerate of Tenders shall be taken up only
through the e-Procurement portal.”
Procurements transacted include medical supplies, vehicles and turnkey contracts. From
the initial eight departments that utilized the system and performed 990 tenders in 20032004, the e-Procurement platform opened to 32,329 tenders in 2008-2009. It helps both
the buyers and suppliers to reduce the cycle time, unnecessary paperwork, waiting in long
lines, and simultaneously maintain the transparency in the entire process. The tender cycle
time has been significantly reduced from 90-135 days to 35-42 days.
Challenges in establishing this e-procurement system include: designing a sustainable
business model; promoting inter-departmental cooperation; getting stakeholder buy-in to
adopt and use the platform; and ensuring system security.
The Mauritius government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Andhra Pradesh
government on August 2009 to use the GoAP’s e-procurement model for its projects. The
GoAP’s procurement platform was used to implement irrigation, infrastructure and various
other projects taken up by 26 departments, 39 public sector undertaking corporations and
127 civic bodies.
Sources: Information Technology and Communications Department, “eprocurement.gov.in”, Government of Andhra Pradesh,
India, http://www.eprocurement.gov.in.
Information Technology and Communications Department, “Government Order: Validation and enablement of procurement
process through e-procurement marketplace by the participating departments” (GO.MS.2.2003), http://www.aponline.gov.in/
Quick%20Links/Departments/Information%20Technology%20and%20Communications/Govt-Gos-Acts/2003/GO.Ms.2.2003.
html.
K. Bikshapathi, “Case Study on A.P. eProcurement”, presentation made in 2007, http://himachaldit.nic.in/CasestudyAPeProcurement.pdf.
K. Bikshapathi, P. Rama Raju and Subhash Bhatnagar, “E-Procurement in Government of Andhra Pradesh, India”, The World
Bank e-Government Case Studies, 30 March 2006, http://go.worldbank.org/XJS8XWB030.


57

Customs Applications System
Prior to the establishment of an e-customs system in the Republic of Korea, importers and
exporters needed to appear in customs offices and financial institutions to clear their goods,
pay customs duty and apply for tax refunds. Clearance, surveillance and control over airports
and sea ports were not systematically performed, causing complaints and inconveniences.
The objectives of building an e-customs system were to: (1) establish information systems that
streamline customs administration; (2) detect smuggling; (3) reduce logistics costs in the import
and export industries; and (4) improve the quality of customs services.
The e-customs system of the Republic of Korea is a one-stop single window for international
trade. Customs clearance procedures such as import/export declarations, entry into port, and
cargo management data are all computerized, which contributes greatly to enhancing the
competitiveness of domestic import/export companies. Through the e-customs system, export
customs clearance can currently be processed within two minutes and import customs clearance
within 2.5 hours. This is one of the fastest customs clearance systems among 175 member
States of the World Customs Organization. Complicated import clearances that used to span
two full days are now completed in only 2.5 hours—an astounding four hours faster than the
recommendation of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).42
In 2005, the NIA released a report on the Republic of Korea Customs Service informatization
progress evaluation.43 The report found that e-customs greatly enhanced efficiency in export/
import clearance and various other declaration businesses, creating KRW 709.9 billion worth of
economic value for the Republic of Korea Customs; KRW 2.37 trillion worth of more industrial
value regarding production opportunity, cargo traceability, and effective facility operation; and
value equal to KRW 798.2 billion for inter-industry relation effect. All of these amount to economic
value of KRW 2.8 trillion each year.

Figure 15. e-Customs system of the Republic of Korea

UNPAN023904.pdf.
42 Korea Customs Service, e-Customs, http://www.korea.go.kr/html/files/intro/008.pdfodewj.
43 NIA, Measuring the Performance of e-Customs Service, 2005.

58


Another example of customs reform using ICT can be found in the Philippines.

Customs Reform in the Philippines
In 1995, the Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC), in collaboration with the World Bank and
UNCTAD, implemented an online system to process clearance of imports, payment of duty,
and delivery of release orders for its customs transactions.
The Bureau selected ASYCUDA,44 a widely utilized off-the-shelf software developed by
UNCTAD. The nearly paperless system enables payment of duties and taxes directly to an
authorized Agent Bank. The duties and taxes paid are matched against the amount payable
set in BOC’s database, and a release order is issued when both amounts match. This speeds
up the customs clearance process and meets BOC’s overall objective of facilitating trade.
The system also provides risk assessment of shipments. Images, barcodes and online
references to external databases are utilized to classify all consumption and warehousing
entities as either low, medium, or high-risk shipments, which in turn determine the level of
document checks and physical examinations necessary.
The final release of in-dock shipments is handled by the On-Line Release System, which
utilizes the public telephone system for coordinating transactions to the inland container
freight station located some kilometres from the ports.
The system has since been upgraded as part of the ASYCUDAWorld (e-Customs) Project,
which features core and support system enhancements, including hardware and network
infrastructure. Specifically, ASYCUDAWorld offers the following enhancements:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Online submission of declarations
Automatic advice on declaration status
Use of value added service partners
Online submission of manifests by airlines and shipping lines, including deconsolidators
Automated process for various types of import transactions, including passenger
baggage system, warehousing and trans-shipment entries
Automated process for liquidation of raw materials
Centralized management of bonds transactions
Links with relevant government agencies
Online resource access through the BOC website on issuances, processes, policies,
guidelines and other related information

In October 2004, the pilot testing of a new clearance system utilizing the GXS’
RosettaNetCustoms Solution was successfully completed by the BOC. The new automated
system for shipping documentation enables high-tech industry manufacturers to securely
send electronic customs declarations. The new system aims to boost the productivity of
the Philippines electronic industry by enabling more secure and automated transactions
with their foreign suppliers.
In 2005, E2M (electronic-to-mobile) customs project, supported by the Presidential
e-Government Fund, was launched. It seeks to streamline BOC’s core processes (import
and export) and improve trade facilitation between the Bureau and its stakeholders including
other government agencies through the development and integration of various Web and
SMS systems, thus leading to less face-to-face interactions.
44 Automated System for Customs Data.


59

Sources: Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business, “Philippines Progress Report”, in 2006 AFACT
Year Book (Taipei, Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2006), pp. 113-134,
http://www.afact.org/2012/wordpress/?page_id=67.
Businesswire, “Philippines Bureau of Customs Deploys GXS’ RosettaNetCustoms Solution; Faster Clearance and Reduced
Cost Benefits Targeted at Philippines Semiconductor and Electronics Industries”, 25 August 2005, http://findarticles.com/p/
articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_August_25/ai_n14930696.

Department of Finance, Bureau of Customs, http://www.customs.gov.ph.
Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures, “APEC Best Practices Paper on Innovative Techniques for IPR Border Enforcement”,
paper presented at the APEC Meeting, Cairns, Australia, 23-25 June 2007, http://aimp.apec.org/Documents/2007/SCCP/
SCCP2/07_sccp2_016.doc.
Subhash Bhatnagar, “Philippine Customs Reform (The World Bank e-Government Case Studies, 3 January 2001),
http://go.worldbank.org/J8J2YV6KG0.

1. What do you think are the issues and challenges in adopting and operating
an e-customs system?
2. How can the different interests of various stakeholders be aligned for an
e-customs system?

e-Commerce Applications45
e-Commerce primarily refers to buying and selling of products or services over the Internet
and other computer networks. However, it is often more than just buying and selling products
online. It also includes the entire online process of developing, marketing, delivering, and
paying for products and services. The role of government in e-commerce is to enable the
business community to obtain the most valuable information and apply it in a timely manner
to the production and sale of goods and services. e-Commerce builds on the advantages and
structures of traditional commerce by adding the flexibilities offered by ICTs.

Box 6. Legal issues relating to e-commerce
Legislation on e-commerce is a necessary step to ensure that online transactions are legally
binding. Online transactions pose a number of challenges to the formation and enforcement
of contract. For instance, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) has identified the following: taxation, privacy, consumer-related issues, cryptography
and authentication/certification, access to and use of the information infrastructure, and
society-wide impacts.
Issues related to the taxation of goods and services traversing electronic networks need to
be resolved without delay. The issue of data security is also crucial in e-commerce whether
with respect to buying airline tickets online, using debit and credit cards through the Internet,
or online trade of mutual funds, insurance and depository services.

45 This section is drawn from Ministry of Information and Communication, e-Korea Vision 2006: The Third Master Plan for
Informatization Promotion (2002-2006) (Seoul, 2002), http://www.ipc.go.kr/ipceng/policy/vision_2006.jsp.

60


The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the core legal
body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law, has prepared uniform
legislation on e-commerce. In particular, UNCITRAL has prepared the UNCITRAL Model
Law on Electronic Commerce, 1996, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Signatures,
2001 and the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in
International Contracts, 2005.
These legislative texts, which have already been adopted in a number of jurisdictions and
are commonly considered as standards, aim at improving predictability in cross-border
transactions and increasing confidence in the electronic media. The texts are built around
principles such as non-discrimination of electronic communications, functional equivalence
between paper and electronic form and technological neutrality. Moreover, other UNCITRAL
texts in various fields of international trade law, such as arbitration, procurement and
transport, also contain provisions dealing with the use of electronic media in those fields.
Source: UNCITRAL, United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (New York,
United Nations, 2007), http://www.uncitral.org/pdf/english/texts/electcom/06-57452_Ebook.pdf.

One of the key features of e-commerce is the establishment of business-to-business (B2B)
transactions to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The government needs to
build the basic infrastructure that is necessary to promote e-commerce for small businesses,
such as wireless telecommunications networks utilizing ultra high frequency, and strengthen
existing infrastructure such as mobile telecommunications networks, satellites, and broadcasting
networks. In B2B e-commerce, the government needs to build and provide services in the area
of e-payment, logistics, security, global e-trade networks and legal issues.
Advancing B2B e-commerce: B2B e-commerce can enhance productivity and transparency
through the informatization of all business activities, and promote information sharing and
cooperation among firms located in a single value chain to stimulate c-commerce (collaborative
commerce). c-Commerce is a business model where a company integrates its systems with
those of its suppliers and partners across the Internet. It is supported by a growing number of
B2B applications that automate key business processes in a supply chain extending beyond
the enterprise boundaries, from raw materials to finished products.
The government can develop and deploy systems supporting c-commerce and the optimal
algorithms for efficient inter-firm cooperation. The government can promote pilot projects for
c-commerce with prospective SMEs as targets for these projects. Given the tendency for closed
and non-transparent corporate culture, the government needs to promote information sharing.
To ensure smooth B2B e-commerce and information sharing, it is necessary to develop efficient
interfaces and promote the standardization of data and protocols that will facilitate transaction
authentication and guarantee information security.
Expanding B2B networks: The government should promote e-businesses in the manufacturing
and service industries to enhance the competitiveness of these industries. In the Republic of
Korea, the government targeted a 30 per cent ratio of e-commerce to total transactions in six
core industries (electronics, automotive, ship building, steel, machinery and textile industries),
and 25 per cent in the remaining industries. The government supported the construction of
B2B e-commerce infrastructure, such as standardization and e-cataloguing of each industry.
By 2005, more than 50 industries had constructed their B2B networks.
Improving logistics and payments systems for promoting B2B e-commerce: A joint logistic
system that links to relevant systems (e.g. the financial information system) is a key component
of promoting B2B e-commerce. Such a logistics system can be built based on an intelligent

61

transportation system and a geographic information system, and through linkages with wireless
telecommunications networks.
Moreover, laws and regulations related to e-payment need to be improved to ensure a reliable and
safe environment for e-commerce. It is necessary to expand the infrastructure for e-payments,
introduce personal identification systems and a security management system to ensure the
safety of e-money.
Establishing an infrastructure for international e-trade: Information about foreign
e-marketplaces is useful for promoting international e-trade. Such information should cover
document, catalogue, and commodity standards. In addition, governments need to provide
specialized services that can help resolve possible disputes arising from international trade.
e-Trade provides an environment for paperless international trade through the establishment of
an integrated system of international trade automation suitable for the Internet. In the Republic
of Korea electronic data interchange (EDI) systems are distributed by the government to all
exporters, and possible obstacles to international trade automation are removed. A global e-trade
network project is planned to handle all processes associated with international trade, including
intermediation, contracts, payments and logistics. By linking the network to the international
trade automation systems of other Asian and European countries, the Korean government
hopes to build an e-trade environment for all international traders.
Promoting informatization of SMEs: The Korean government has identified as one of its
priorities to connect all companies in the Republic of Korea to the Internet and expand the bases
of e-business throughout the country. To this end, the government helps SMEs in the Republic of
Korea acquire Internet access and adopt IT through the integrated services offered by application
service providers. A comprehensive e-business support system has been implemented, as well
as the provision of services in concentrated industrial complexes.
An industrial information distribution system that helps the Republic of Korea’s 30,000 SMEs
enhance their competitiveness and reduce the cost of obtaining information has been constructed.
Databases and integrated search systems of industrial information have also been developed
in major industries such as machinery and electronics. SMEs are being encouraged to organize
associations for community-type B2B e-commerce on a small scale.

e-Commerce in the Republic of Korea
With more than 94 per cent of Korean households having access to the Internet, the Republic
of Korea is one of the top countries for Internet usage and broadband penetration. As the
Republic of Korea’s high-speed infrastructure continues to grow, along with government
initiatives to promote digital convergence, demand for e-commerce transactions is increasing.
Statistics show that Korean e-commerce transactions in 2008 was valued at USD 524
billion, which was a 17 per cent increase from the USD 423 billion reported in 2007. The
demand for new convergence services, such as wireless Internet, Interactive and 3D Internet
Protocol TV 2.0 (IPTV), Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, Radio Frequency Identification,
cloud computing and home networking services, are anticipated to experience continued
growth and increase e-commerce transactions over the next few years.
e-Commerce transactions in the Republic of Korea are generally categorized as B2B,
business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C). In 2008, the total volume
of transaction for the Republic of Korea’s B2B market, including B2G, reached USD 492
billion, an 18 per cent increase from 2007. B2B and B2G accounted for nearly 90 per cent

62


of the Republic of Korea’s total e-commerce transactions and are forecasted to grow at an
average annual rate of 20 per cent. According to the statistics, manufacturing companies
in the Republic of Korea make up 60 per cent of the entire B2B activities for which the total
amount of transactions was worth USD 288.7 billion in 2008.
As the Internet business adopts Web 2.0 applications and provide a more open environment
where users and potential customers can interactively participate, many Korean e-commerce
firms have changed their strategies and offered user-friendly/centric services. They have
created more content for advertisement, education, games and shopping, utilizing User
Created Contents and power-blogging websites, and successfully generating more revenues.
e-Commerce revenues of the Republic of Korea’s top e-business companies, including major
portals, comprise approximately 60 to 70 per cent of the total revenue and are expected to
continue to grow over the next several years. According to the National IT Industry Promotion
Agency, the total volume of transactions is expected to reach USD 776 billion in 2013.
The 2006 Status Survey on Domestic e-Business by the Korea Institute for Electronic
Commerce on 4,000 companies shows that 36.7 per cent of companies are currently
performing electronic transactions (a broader definition of electronic commerce) or one or
more processes for commercial transaction through computers or networks.
Source: Chris Anh, “Korea’s e-Commerce Industry”, US Commercial Service South Korea, 16 December 2009,
http://www.globaltrade.net/international-trade-import-exports/f/market-research/text/South-Korea/Retail-Trade-ElectronicCommerce-Korea-s-E-Commerce-Industry.html.

e-Commerce in Thailand is described below.

e-Commerce in Thailand
e-Commerce is one of the main goals stated in Thailand’s Information Technology Policy
Framework 2001-2010 (IT2010). The aim is to strengthen the competitiveness of Thai
entrepreneurs, particularly SMEs.
IT2010 outlines eight strategies for enhancing e-commerce in Thailand:
•

•
•
•
•

•
•
•

Pursue a proactive foreign strategy, including announcing e-commerce as a key national
trade strategy, integrated with the Ninth and Tenth National Economic and Social
Development Plans.
Create awareness of e-commerce, particularly among SME entrepreneurs.
Provide a favourable legal environment for e-commerce.
Promote and support safety and security systems.
Focus on database and data management strategies, including measures for establishing
a database and a data network to facilitate planning and services for businesses,
industries and consumers.
Support SMEs in the use of e-commerce applications and enhance their competitiveness
in the global economy.
Develop human resources for the education sector and for skill development in the
current market workforce.
Provide adequate and affordable infrastructure and its components to enable the
widespread use of e-commerce applications by both businesses and consumers,
including the establishment of standards for key products, goods and services in the
country.


63

The Government of Thailand has implemented a number of initiatives to spur the growth of
e-commerce. One of these is the Commercial Registration Act that requires e-commerce
business operators to obtain a commercial registration. The Ministry of Commerce is using a
trust mark (electronic stamp of approval) to set standards for e-commerce websites and build
customer confidence. An e-commerce complaint centre was set up in 2006. Moreover, many
government agencies as well as private companies, including banks and manufacturers,
are implementing online transactions.
In 2004, over 2,500 websites operated by about 1,860 e-commerce entrepreneurs in Thailand
were registered with the Ministry of Commerce. Electronic B2B transactions comprise the
bulk of transactions in the e-commerce industry in Thailand. One of the main online auction/
procurement service providers is Pantavanij (https://www.pantavanij.com). Pantavanij’s
transactions in 2005 reached THB 47.9 billion, with THB 35.2 billion in online purchases
and THB 12.7 billion in online auctions. Online transactions in 2005 reached about THB
100 billion, up from THB 63 billion in 2003.
In 2011, Thailand’s e-commerce industry continues to grow at a rapid rate with significant
changes noted in the behaviour of Thai users. Statistics from Thailand’s National Electronics
and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) show that the percentage of Thai users
shopping online has risen from 47.8 per cent in 2010 to 57.2 per cent in 2011. The factors
driving the increase in Thailand include: online payment system development, ease of
creation of e-commerce websites, promotion by e-commerce shops and group buying trends.
According to the Thai Internet User Survey in 2010, books are the most popular products
Thai users order from the Internet, representing 34.7 per cent of online sales, followed by
making reservations online at 31.3 per cent, and 26.7 per cent for buying clothes.
To further strengthen Thailand’s e-commerce industry, e-commerce needs to be promoted
among SMEs and citizens need to be encouraged to participate in B2C transactions.
Sources: National Information Technology Committee Secretariat, Information Technology Policy Framework 2001-2010:
Thailand Vision Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy (Bangkok, NECTEC, National Science and Technology Development
Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology, 2003), http://www.nectec.or.th/pld/documents_pris/IT2010eng.pdf.
NECTEC, Thailand ICT Indicators 2005 (Bangkok, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science
and Technology, 2005), http://www.nectec.or.th/2008/pdf/ict_indicators2005.pdf.
Somnuk Keretho and Paisan Limstit, e-Commerce: The Way of Business in Thailand (Bangkok, NECTEC, 2002),
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/unpan/unpan033416.pdf.
Sze Kultarika, “Thailand E-Commerce Trends in 2011”, 22 June 2011, http://www.searchblog.asia/thailand-e-commerce-trendsin-2011.
Thaweesak Koanantakool and Kalaya Udomvitid, “.th Thailand”, in Digital Review of Asia Pacific 2007/2008, Felix Librero
and Patricia B. Arinto, eds. (New Delhi, Sage, IDRC, Orbicom, 2007), pp. 313-320, http://www.digital-review.org/uploads/files/
pdf/2007-2008/2007_C29_th_Thailand_313_320.pdf.
The Economist Intelligence Unit, “Thailand: Overview of e-commerce”, The Economist, 11 January 2007,
http://globaltechforum.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=rich_story&doc_id=9936&title=Thailand%3A+Overview+of+e-commerce&cha
nnelid=4&categoryid=30.

64


Something To Do
1. Describe the SME sector in your country and explain how e-commerce can
help this sector.
2. What are the killer e-commerce applications in your country? Describe one
or two of these, including how they came about and their impact on your
country’s economy.

3.4

Government-to-Government (G2G): Innovating the way
government works

Government-to-government (G2G) interactions involve sharing data and conducting electronic
reciprocal activities within and between government agencies. The main motivating force
behind G2G lies in the growing attention being paid to improve government efficiency by saving
transaction costs and streamlining back offices, increasing the speed of transactions, reducing the
number of personnel necessary to complete a task, and improving the consistency of outcomes.

Integrated Finance System46
In the early 1980s, as a result of the increasing liberalization and globalization of financial
markets, competition between local financial institutions intensified and profitability deteriorated.
To address the problem and increase competitiveness in international markets, the need for a
financial information network that would re-engineer transaction procedures and provide better
quality of service to customers was raised.
From the mid-1970s to 1985 local banks in the Republic of Korea introduced computer systems
to business units and established networks interconnecting headquarters and branches. In
the early 1980s, as part of the National Basic Information System Project, the inter-bank
financial information system was deployed, enabling customers to conduct inter-bank financial
transactions. The inter-bank financial information system was upgraded from 1992 to 1996 and
non-banking financial institutions, such as securities firms, insurance firms, and investment
banks were also interconnected. Firm banking and home banking services were established in
1994. Beginning in 1997, the financial information system of non-banking financial institutions
was also established, laying the foundation for linking all financial institutions including banks,
securities firms, insurance companies and investment banks.
In the government financial management sector, it was necessary to interconnect all financial
information systems operating independently in various government agencies. This integrated
financial system is called National Financial Management System (NAFIS). As shown in figure
16, NAFIS consists of 10 modules:



65

•

•

The Receipt and Payment Management Modules cover tax and non-tax revenue collection
and public expenditure.

•

The General Ledger Module covers the recording of all accounting transactions, year-end
closing and fiscal reporting of each government entity.

•

The Cash Management Module covers cash flow forecasting, cash allocation and idle cash
operation by the central bank.

•

The Asset Management and Debt Management Modules cover national property management
such as land, buildings, airplanes and ships, and country risk management, respectively.

•

The Consolidated Finance Statistics Module includes the generation of fiscal reports based
on consolidated financial information from all government organizations.

•

The Financial Analysis Module covers macro-economic forecasting and simulation, financial
index analysis, and performance measurement.

•

NAFIS interfaces with other internal and external systems, enabling real-time management
of national fiscal activities and interconnecting 23 finance-related systems that are operating
independently in various government agencies.

•

Local and special accounting data and statements are consolidated in the national financial
information system. There are 40 financial information systems running in the Republic of
Korea. NAFIS covers overall government accounting and financial management supporting
policy decisions.

•

66

The Budget Preparation and Budget Allocation Modules cover all budgeting processes of
the government.

The financial information network removes the constraints of time and place, enabling
financial transactions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year, from the living
room to the workplace. It provides the momentum for local financial markets to grow by
creating a shared financial information system platform. This network is expected to help
strengthen the international competitiveness of the Republic of Korea’s financial industry as
financial institutions will be able to benchmark to the best practices of advanced countries
through this infrastructure.


Figure 16. Engine of Korean Government financial management reform


Consolidated financial information system for central/local governments: National finance
is integrated and managed under the Digital Budget and Accounting System,47 which was
adopted as a national agenda, separate from the e-government road map projects. In 2004,
local finance informatization was carried out in four stages (see table 4).

Table 4. Four core tasks for the local government financial system

Stage

Major Achievements

Accrual/Double-entry
Accounting

• Design Accounting Subjects
• Unified Settlements and Financial Reports
• e-Joumal for Standardized Processes
• Strengthened Auditing and Self-supporting Accountants

Introduction of Project
Budget System

• Establishing Project Budgets
• Reorganization of Budget Item Structure
• Project Budget System Perfomance Management
• Cost Management by Function

Strengthening of Financial
Management

• Improved Fund Management and Efficient Allocations
• Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment
• Improved Debt Management
• Electronic Funds Transfer

Advancement of
Informatization

• Design Standardized Local Finance System
• Build Local Financial Infrastructure
• Connecting/Unifying System

Source: NIA, 2006 Annual Report for e-Government (Seoul, MOGAHA, 2006), p. 14, http://www.korea.go.kr/new_eng/html/files/

47 It is also called D-Brain (Digital Brain).


67

All areas of local finance information systems, including the management of revenue, assets
and liabilities, are to be developed and distributed to local governments. The target is to improve
the efficiency of local finance management, prevent duplication of investments and enable
information sharing among local governments. The latter would lead to overall cost savings,
especially in labour and management.

Local e-Government Information System48
On the one hand, there is a need for improving efficiency due to the inefficient manual processing
of administrative tasks by simplifying and reforming the paper-based civil affairs process
and service delivery via a one-stop service. On the other hand, redundant investments in
informatization are made by different functional or regional units, resulting in low returns on
investment. Thus, standardized administrative information systems for local governments need to
be rolled out to regional units to optimize operational efficiency and maximize citizen satisfaction.
The Local e-Government Information System enables real-time information sharing through
vertical and horizontal interconnection between central and local governments. More specifically,
the informatization project for local governments in the Republic of Korea was introduced
to standardize information processing and business transactions. The project, which was
implemented over three years starting in 2003, has helped reduce the duplication of investments
as well as the digital divide among the local governments in different regions. Efficiency has been
enhanced and the quality of government service has also been improved with the introduction
of the Local e-Government Information System.

Figure 17. Conceptual diagram for digital local government system
in the Republic of Korea

UNPAN023903.pdf.


68


The digitization of local government in the Republic of Korea began in 1997 with the preparation
of the Basic Plan for the Comprehensive Administrative Information System for Cities, Counties
and Districts. Following the successful implementation of a pilot system in four cities in 2000,
it was rolled out nationwide, covering 232 cities, counties, and districts. Online civil affairs
applications, registration and processing are now available nationwide, and kiosks issuing 37
different certificates have been installed for citizens.
For citizens, the Local e-Government Information System has brought about a significant
reduction of paperwork and the number of visits to government agencies. This, in turn, reflects
the shift in orientation of government services from being government-focused to citizen-focused.
From the perspective of government, digitization and integration mean better coordination
between central and local governments, improved administrative systems, and increased
efficiency. For example, in the Republic of Korea, automating 904 work processes in 18 common
administrative tasks has enhanced efficiency in work process while reducing the administrative
burden on civil servants. The central and local governments have an interconnected reporting
system resulting in increased efficiency and accuracy.
To connect the 18 central government ministries and local governments, an information delivery
channel has been established after the standardization of 1,237 items. A total of 751 kinds of
civil services have been digitized and 48 kinds of services linked to the G2C portal, which are
now accessible via the Internet.
To enhance town/county/district administration, 21 administrative work processes were digitized
under the informatization project for town/county/district administrations between 1998 and
2003. Also, in 2003, town/county/district administrations took over the responsibility for resident
registration management previously undertaken by Eup/Myun/Dong.
During the BPR and ISP for the digitization project in 2005, goals and objectives for local
e-government at the town/county/district level were identified, and 20 priority projects were
approved. The estimated 2,897 types of documents were digitized and shared as needed for
one-stop service. In addition, MOGAHA (and now MOPAS) has been assigned to develop
information systems by stages and deploy the systems to 244 local governments by 2012.
The e-LGU Project in the Philippines is introduced below.

The e-LGU Project in the Philippines
In response to the passing of the e-Commerce Act of 2000 that directed all government
agencies, including local government units (LGUs), to use electronic means in government
transactions, the National Computer Center (NCC) of the Philippines implemented the
Jumpstarting Electronic Governance in Local Government Units (e-LGU) Project between
2002 and 2005. The aim of the project was to assist all LGUs in their computerization
efforts to enable better and faster delivery of government services. The project included
website development for all LGUs and provision of e-government applications, namely, the
Real Property Tax System (eRPTS), Business Permit and Licensing System (eBPLS), and
Treasury Operations and Management System (eTOMS). These applications are among the
most commonly used in LGUs along with Civil Registry and Payroll. In addition, in order to
bring local government computerization efforts closer to the goals of e-commerce, e-payment
will be piloted in at least one LGU where the e-government applications are already in place.


69

The project succeeded in getting all LGUs online with at least a Web presence. However,
some of these websites have not been updated since they were set up in 2002, and many
of the websites only provide standard information about the LGU (e.g. history, topography,
composition of the government) and do not offer any e-government services.
Moreover, none of the LGUs had fully deployed the eRPTS by the time the e-LGU Project
ended in 2005. The plan was for the winning bidder to develop the eRPTS and install it
in one pilot area while NCC would take charge of installing the system in the other LGUs.
However, aside from various problems in developing the system, the additional expenses
that LGUs needed to customize the software, build the database and provide staff training,
resulted in deployment delays. In essence, while each LGU received the eRPTS system
for free, the cost of having a fully-functional system was not inconsiderable.
The e-LGU project was implemented in a top-down and centralized way. This is evident in
the following: (1) hosting and control over the content of their websites did not reside in the
LGUs; (2) the choice of ICT applications for LGUs was limited to three revenue generation
systems; and (3) the systems developed were the responsibility of one contracted developer
instead of a community of developers.
It is likely that the outcome of the project would have been different had the implementation
process been more participatory, with the LGUs being given more control over their content
and more resources being focused on developing an appreciation for the benefits of using
the Internet. Moreover, the LGUs and other organizations could have been involved in
designing and developing the relevant e-government applications, while the national body
developed a common standard for the database architecture to allow information sharing
among LGUs.
Source: Adapted from Erwin A. Alampay, Philippines: Incorporating participation in the Philippines e-LGU’s Project (Bangkok,
UNDP-APDIP, 2005), http://www.apdip.net/projects/e-government/capblg/casestudies/Philippines-Alampay.pdf.
See also eLGU Community, http://www.elgu.ncc.gov.ph/.

Something To Do
1. Identify a priority area for the establishment of an integrated government
information system in your country. Explain why this should be a priority.
Describe any efforts to establish such a system, if any.
2. Describe any project or plan to establish e-government systems at the local
government level in your country. What are the project aims and objectives,
components and timelines? What do you think are the strengths and
weaknesses of the project? What issues need to be addressed to ensure
success?

70


Enhancement of e-Document Exchange49
The exchange of e-documents and e-approvals has been promoted in the Republic of Korea
since 1998. The target was to digitize the entire cycle of document processing in government
agencies.
Statistics on e-document exchange show that 1,724 public entities agencies have exchanged
documents online through the Government e-Document Exchange Centre, which includes 77
government departments and agencies, 244 local governments, 194 educational offices, 1,206
public enterprises and schools, the National Assembly, and the National Election Commission.
With the adoption of an e-document standard, e-approvals are currently being undertaken in
77 central government departments and agencies, as well as 244 local governments. In 2010,
the volume of e-document exchange among public entities was 73.13 million.

Table 5. e-Document exchange among administrative agencies
2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Agency

46

286

307

550

650

809

893

1305

1724

No. of Exchanges

894

1302

2119

3147

4216

4748

5583

6468

7313

Source: MOPAS, Press Release, 14 January 2011, http://www.nia.or.kr.

The high percentage of e-document exchanges and e-approvals shows that electronic document
processing has reached a stage of stabilization in the government agencies. All of the central
agencies securely exchange e-documents through the government e-Document Exchange
Centre. Thus, the government is making efforts to expand e-document exchange to public
agencies that have yet to implement e-document systems or are using non-standard e-document
systems.
Archive Management System: The National Archives and Records Service implemented the
Act on Archives Management in 1999 to effectively classify and manage archives. The national
archives management system was established with the adoption of a data management system.
A business management system, which keeps records of entire decision-making and business
processes as well as outcome and performance, was developed in 2005. That same year, the
Records and Archive Management System Innovation ISP project was launched in recognition
of the need to improve the data management systems.
After the archives and records management system was completed, the standard was officially
announced in consultation with relevant agencies. As a parallel effort, the National Archives
and Records Service established the Central Archives and Records Management System.

49 This section is drawn from “Juicy Details of Korean e-Government”, Korea IT Times, 29 November 2007, http://www.kdcstaffs.
com/it/main_view.php?mode=view&nNum=4575&parts=In-depth.


71

Education Information System and e-Learning50
In 2002, as part of the school informatization policy in the Republic of Korea, every teacher was
provided with a PC for instructional and administrative use at school, and one PC was allocated
for every eight students. Equipment for the advancement of school facilities and Web-based
school local area networks (LANs) were also provided to all of the country’s 10,064 schools
(222,146 classrooms). Despite evidence of increasingly widespread use of ICTs in education,
efficiency in education management and educational information sharing were not improved as
educational administration offices pursued informatization separately and there was no common
standard in educational administration.
Subsequently, the computerization of educational administration—to unify and integrate
information resources in various educational institutions and functional units—was identified
as one of the key projects of e-government in the Republic of Korea. The objectives of education
informatization include: (1) constructing a foundation for enhancing administrative efficiency;
(2) facilitating information sharing through information networks connecting schools, provincial
and metropolitan educational offices, and the Ministry of Education and Human Resources;
and (3) improving administrative services to meet people’s needs.

Figure18. Conceptual diagram of Nationwide Digital Educational Administration
in the Republic of Korea

UNPAN023903.pdf.

Comprehensive School Information Management System: The Comprehensive School
Information Management System was first introduced in 1997 for a more efficient, convenient
and innovative way of handling educational administration. It consists of four subsystems: the
academic affairs support system, the educational information circulation system, the school
management support system, and the integrated educational information system.
In the first year, the system was implemented in 168 schools. In 1998, 4,251 middle and high
schools had the system. By December 2001, the system was implemented in 1,364 elementary
and middle schools (including 23 public middle and high schools) and 8,500 schools.
APCITY/UNPAN023903.pdf and http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN023904.pdf.

72


The school boards in the city and provincial offices were responsible for building and operating
their own EDI and budget/financial systems. To date, EDI systems are being used in 99.9 per
cent of 1,614 city and provincial offices of education.
In 2000, an ISP was performed to establish the Comprehensive School Information Management
System to improve efficiency, transparency and convenience in educational administration while
reducing teacher’s workload and enhancing the quality of education by reorganizing the work
process. The aim was to reduce the processing time for educational administration by 20 per
cent to 50 per cent and the volume of paper documents by 30 per cent, and to increase the
productivity of teachers by more than 25 per cent. The issuance of transcripts and certificates
of registration or graduation from any school in the country became easily available online.
Citizens would also be able to access their school records via the Internet.
School LAN and Internet Access-ICT Use in Education: The Comprehensive Plan for ICT
Use in Elementary and Secondary Schools (1997-2002) considers ICT literacy in elementary
and secondary schools to be essential to the development of creative human resources in
the knowledge-based information society of the twenty-first century. Hence, the construction
of school LANs and the provision of Internet access to 10,000 schools nationwide after the
educational information system had been established.
A LAN for schools is essential to delivering a wide range of capabilities, such as e-learning
and Internet access in the classroom. LAN installation was completed in 346 schools by 1997
(3.3 per cent of total schools), in 4,902 schools by 1999 (42.8 per cent), and in 10,064 schools
(100 per cent) by 2000—two years earlier than the target year. Provision of Internet access
was also completed earlier than scheduled. In July 2000, the Ministry of Education and Human
Resources Development, the Ministry of Information and Communication and Korea Telecom
provided financial support for Internet connection. Today, all schools in the Republic of Korea are
connected to the Nationwide Information Superhighway (Pubnet) or Korea Education Network.
The second phase of the Comprehensive Plan for ICT Use in Elementary and Secondary
Schools, launched in 2002, aims to improve the school ICT infrastructure by increasing the
network capacity to at least 2 Mbps.
The establishment of computer labs in elementary and secondary schools has created an ICTenabled learning environment where students can develop independent learning capabilities.
PCs distributed to 340,000 teachers across the Republic of Korea have enabled them to utilize
multimedia and the Internet in their classes, and motivated them to actively participate in the
informatization of schools. The hardware and software foundation has been laid out to promote
ICT use in education, train high-quality human resources, and develop and share educational
content.
e-Learning: In 2010, the e-learning expenditure of formal educational institutions, government,
public institutions, businesses and individuals amounted to KRW 2.224 trillion, representing a 19.2
per cent increase from e-learning expenditures in 2008. Until 2005, the demand for e-learning
in the Republic of Korea came mostly from individuals. In 2006, the demand for e-learning from
businesses surpassed that of individuals. Moreover, a breakdown of the increase by demand
sector shows the greatest rate of increase in the formal educational institutions at 23.4 per cent,
followed by individuals at 10.9 per cent (see table 6).


73

Table 6. Market value of e-learning in the Republic of Korea
(units: KRW million, %)
Demand Sector

e-Learning Expenditures
2008

Formal Educational Institutions

2009

2010

Average
Growth
Rate

70 804

96 434

106 768

23.4

Government and Public institutions

167 207

143 806

151 255

-4.4

Businesses

812 052

886 283

963 139

8.9

Individuals

816 765

945 369

1 003 177

10.9

1 866 828

2 071 892

2 224 339

9.2

Total

Source: Ministry of Knowledge and Economy and National IT Industry Promotion Agency, e-Learning Industry Status Survey (2010),
http://www.nipa.kr/board/boardView.it?boardNo=77&contentNo=415&menuNo=292.

e-Learning in the Republic of Korea is underpinned by a vision of lifelong learning that includes
the following:
1. Building an online learning system that will be accessible anytime, anywhere and by anybody
The government hopes to improve the quality of public education by introducing real-time
classes linking various schools online. Through various methods such as the Internet and IPTV,
the government plans to stimulate “online learning at home”, which will enable the sharing of
digital learning materials between schools and homes.
2. Diversifying education methods by utilizing multimedia to enhance the quality of public
education
The Korean government targeted a PC-student ratio of one PC for fewer than five students and
an average transmission Internet access with a minimum speed of 2 Mbps by 2006. This was
expected to encourage teachers to make extensive use of multimedia to improve the quality
of teaching and learning.
3. Developing digital content especially for educational purposes to improve the online learning
environment
The Korean government aims to create a multimedia environment through the development of
educational software and e-textbooks. There is also a plan to establish a system for sharing
various educational materials, such as digital movies and photos from broadcasting companies,
museums, universities and lifelong education centres.
4. Increasing the participation rate of adults in the lifelong learning system by expanding
opportunities for online learning, in order to reach the level of other OECD member nations
Through various methods such as the Internet, digital TV and IPTV, the Korean government
intends to expand and develop a more effective system of cyber universities for earning credits
without constraints on time and place. The government is making an effort to improve the system
of credit pooling by conferring official credits for distance learning and job training programmes.

74


5. Adopting a more practical or applied approach to expand lifelong learning opportunities
for workers at all levels
Government officials will be provided with online education programmes as part of an “everyday
learning system”. “Information have-nots” will be provided with learning opportunities through a
“social learning net”. A nationwide learning network, which will include primary and secondary
schools, private institutions, local lifelong education centres, and the employment information
system, will be constructed to promote and support lifelong learning opportunities for all citizens.

Test Yourself
1. List the common G2G services.
2. Explain why it is important to implement the integrated finance system between
central and local government.
3. Describe the e-learning system in your country.
4. What are the ways in which government can promote e-learning and encourage
citizens to participate in e-learning programmes.

Something To Do
Describe any effort by your government to integrate ICTs into the education
system. What are the goals of the project? What are the challenges in project
implementation and how can these be addressed?

3.5

e-Government Infrastructure

In the previous section, ICT applications that can be developed by individual agencies or at the
ministry level were discussed. It is important to note that these applications must be integrated
in order to provide connected government services. In this context, this section will discuss
the following:
•
•
•
•

Government integrated computing and data centre
e-Government standardization
e-Government shared services
e-Community centres


75

National Computing and Information Agency51
The Republic of Korea’s National Computing and Information Agency (NCIA) was established
as the national backup system for information resources, including information systems and
human resources that previously used to be operated and managed by individual government
agencies (see figure19). This project aimed to strengthen the whole-of-government management
of ICT and promote joint use of resources for efficiency improvement, while at the same time
serving as a backup system in case of system failures.
Centre 1 and Centre 2 operate an integrated information system for 48 government agencies.
The first centre was built in October 2005 in Daejeon, co-locating the information systems of
24 government agencies, including MOGAHA. The second centre was completed in July 2007
in Gwangju, accommodating the information systems of 24 other agencies. The two centres
are distantly located to duplicate each other for double backup and recovery.

Figure 19.Towards an integrated system of government


Integrated Computing Centre Architecture
The integrated IT architecture covers four major areas: (1) integrated management, which
consists of IT resources, service operations and security management; (2) infrastructure for
network equipment, backup storage and security systems; (3) a Technical Engineer (human
resources) for each area including Application, Database, Hardware and Network; and
(4) support for each area through a help desk and administration services.
The security and stability of e-government operations are assured with world-class systems
management and standardized professional operation services. n-TOPS (National Total
Operation Platform System), a standard system operation process developed by NCIA, was
certified with ISO 20000 in IT service management.
51 This section is drawn from Informatization Strategy Office, Korea e-government (Seoul, MOPAS, 2007), p. 30.

76


System operation is enhanced by periodic checks to prevent failures. Professional teams are
available to deal immediately with system breakdowns. In addition, security is reinforced by
periodic hacking exercises, vulnerability check-ups and a crisis management team operation.
Continuity has been guaranteed through the successful transfer of major systems, such as the
electronic customs clearance system, electronic citizen petition system and resident registration
system, without interruption of the service.
Figure 20. Government Integrated Computing Centre architecture


e-Government Standardization
As stipulated in Article 21 of the Framework Act on Informatization in the Republic of Korea,
in addition to technical standards, e-government standardization encompasses processes
that make it possible to efficiently perform administrative work among government agencies
or provide efficient services for citizens by using ICT. This can be broken down further into
standardization for business process, administrative work, business efficiency among agencies
and efficient citizen services. Together with elements for informatization—such as management,
including strategy, investment/performance and organizational management; business process;
information and informatization planning and budgeting; implementation; evaluation and auditing
processes—a more expanded standardization scope can be established.
The expected benefits of e-government standardization are increased interoperability and
efficiency, enhanced reusability and shared use between systems through unified guidelines,
quality maintenance, and cost savings. Germany, for instance, is expecting about one percentage
point (a third of its economic growth rate) of its annual economic growth to be gained from
standardization, signifying that e-government standardization can achieve more than just
process innovation.
The Korean e-government framework developed in a 2005 research study systematically
organizes the many dispersed elements of the informatization process. The study shows that
areas such as informatization planning, design, funding, operation, assessment and oversight,
along with business processes and individual agencies management, can benefit from the
across-the-board standardization that this framework recommends.


77

MOGAHA’s standardization efforts were developed along with the administrative informatization
process in the 1990s. MOGAHA systemically labelled the administrative codes with the
establishment of a data reference model and promoted specification standardization especially
for single information systems such as PCs. Common administrative standard codes were
established and 211 kinds of codes were standardized by January 2005. Also, multi-functional
office devices were standardized in 1987 with revisions conducted on a biennial basis. These
efforts, however, were not sufficient for the 11 key e-government initiatives established in 2001.
Several attempts for standardizing e-document systems were made.
To accelerate e-government standardization in accordance with the Act on e-Government,
MOGAHA took the standardization processes out from the information resource management
project. Subsequently, a special focus has been put on administrative standard codes, multifunctional office devices and e-documents, and a guideline for comprehensive standardization
of administrative databases is currently being developed.
In addition, there are plans to analyse and improve on the standardized administration code
established in 1990, in order to use this as a basis for constructing a standard administration
code. To support these efforts a rough draft for an administrative database was drawn up in
January 2006 and finalized at a meeting of the authorities responsible for informatization from 57
central government agencies in May of the same year. Currently, the administrative information
database is being used by 14 government agencies.

e-Government Shared Services52
One of the most challenging aspects of e-government is the integration of information systems
in a way that different agencies suitably interact with each other by sharing activities, processes
and services. Shared services are a business approach and an ICT architecture designed to
allow agencies to share key parts of their infrastructure, applications and business processes
within their own organization, with other agencies and with the general public. They include
common administrative business systems like human resources, accounting, logisticsd finance,
system software (operating systems, database management systems), and hardware (servers
and network equipment). Generally defined, these shared services consist of small-scale
programs or infrastructure systems commonly required in various departments.
In 2004, the Republic of Korea President’s Committee on Government Innovation and
Decentralization proposed 15 common shared services (see table 7), nine of which were promoted
separately through the G2C projects. These services have been deployed in each government
agency since November 2005, and 18 systems of 11 different agencies are in operation. As
shown in table 7, the prioritized services include: citizen service information, document issuance,
application forms, user- directory, integrated authentication, user identification, e-payment,Webservice register and mobile SMS. Some shared services were designed for users’ convenience
rather than save costs.

52 This section is drawn from NIA, 2006 Annual Report for e-Government (Seoul, MOGAHA, 2006), pp. 38-39, http://www.korea.
go.kr/new_eng/html/files/publications/2006_EGov_Annual_Report.pdf.

78


Table 7. Prioritized e-government shared services in the Republic of Korea
Field
Citizen Service

Proposed Service
Prioritization

Organization

Citizen Service Information
Citizen Document Issuance

MOGAHA

Citizen Application Forms
e-Payment
User Directory (LDAP)
User Identification (PKI)
Integrated Authentication (SSO)

MIC

Mobile (SMS)
Shared Service

Web-service Register (UDDI)
Web Call Center

-

e-Learning

-

Government Directory

-

Finance/Accounting

Electronic Notification/Payment,
Electronic Fund Transfer

-

Business Process

Information Disclosure

-

Source: NIA, 2006 Annual Report for e-Government (Seou,: MOGAHA, 2006), p. 39, http://www.korea.go.kr/new_eng/html/files/
publications/2006_EGov_Annual_Report.

What shared services among government agencies are provided in your country?
Which shared services should be given priority? Why?

e-Community Centres
The Republic of Korea’s Information Network Village (INV) project aims to achieve balanced
development across the nation by connecting the Internet to remote areas, such as in farming
and fishing villages. It is also intended to bridge the digital divide and boost the local economy
through the distribution of PCs to each household and provision of computer training to the
villages.
Through the INV project, direct transactions between urban dwellers and farmers are fostered:
the rural communities become capable of marketing their fresh farm products; while city dwellers
are given the opportunity to buy fresh produces at affordable prices, and experience rural life
through such revenue models as guesthouses, camps and farm experience tours.
The first 25 INVs were built in 2002, and a total of 363 INVs have been established since the
launch. The INV won the 2011 United Nations Public Service Award.


79

Test Yourself
1. As discussed in this section, it is important to integrate all government ICT
systems into one. What steps must be taken in the integration process?
2. What are the benefits of establishing e-government shared services?
3. What kinds of services or activities can be provided in an e-community centre
or digital community centre?

3.6

Knowledge Management System

Knowledge management can be defined as a business activity with two primary aspects:
(1) treating the knowledge component of business activities as an explicit concern of business
reflected in strategy, policy and practice at all levels of the organization; and (2) making a
direct connection between an organization’s intellectual assets, both explicit (recorded) and
tacit (personal know-how), and positive business results. In practice, knowledge management
encompasses identifying and mapping intellectual assets within the organization, generating
new knowledge for competitive advantage within the organization, making vast amounts of
information accessible, and sharing best practices and technology.53
Knowledge management is based on the following principles:
•
•

•
•

Knowledge is a strategic asset.
Knowledge is a resource to be managed. As such, knowledge needs to be delivered at
the right time, made available at the right place, and presented in the right shape while
satisfying quality requirements at the lowest possible costs for use.
Knowledge in itself is not valuable; knowledge is valuable only when it leads to effective
actions and results.
Knowledge is information possessed and acted on in the human mind. The same information
may lead to very different meanings and actions by different individuals in different
organizational contexts at different times.

Knowledge may be explicit or tacit. The first step in knowledge management is to know the 5 Ws:
•
•
•
•
•

Who
What
When
Where
Why

53 Joo-Haeng Choo, “Introduction to KMS”, presentation made in 2007.

80


Table 8. Comparison between data, information and knowledge
Data

Information

Knowledge

Content

Events

Trends

Expertise

Type

Transactions

Patterns

Learning

Task

Representation

Manipulation

Codification

Human role

Observation

Judgement

Experience

Goal

Automation

Decision-making

Action

Output

Building block

Uncertainty reduction

New understanding

Source: Knowledge Management course module, e-Government Consultant Course (KADO, 2003).

The success factors in knowledge management are:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Link to economic performance or industry value
Technical and organizational infrastructure
Standard, flexible knowledge structure
Knowledge-friendly culture
Clear purpose and language
Change in motivational practices
Multiple channels for knowledge transfer
Senior management support54

A strategy for knowledge management includes the following steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Understand what knowledge adds value.
Invest to create and use knowledge effectively.
Recognize the value of knowledge capital to success.
Make knowledge accessible to everyone who can contribute to it or use it.
Assure top management commitment and leadership.
Create an atmosphere in which knowledge assets can increase.
Account for knowledge as a strategic asset.55

The Republic of Korea’s e-Knowledge Management System
(On-Nara Business Process System)

The real-time system for National Policy Management in the Korean government consists
of two components: a Knowledge Management System (KMS) and a Government Work
Management System.
The e-KMS enables various ideas proposed during the policymaking process to be recorded
and managed, and subsequently shared through e-document management to enable
efficient decision-making.

54 Ibid.
55 Ibid.


81

The e-KMS was developed as follows:
1. The presidential office adopted its first groupware.
2. An ISP was conducted to determine how to achieve a digital executive office.
3. The e-Support service was launched, focusing on recording daily journals as the first
phase for the digital presidential office project.
4. A document management system was established for the third phase of the project.
With the development of the e-KMS for the presidential office, the standardization of
management for information, documents and tasks was completed. The entire administrative
procedure was integrated into a management system after the management system for
archives and knowledge had been established.
The e-KMS has increased the efficiency and transparency of administration by handling,
recording and managing all government business procedures online in a standardized way.
In this system, all businesses engaged in by the government are classified according to
functionalities and goals. Furthermore, business progress and performances are systematically
managed down to the most basic unit task. Document creation and business procedures
are standardized and decision-making processes are recorded to ensure accountability and
transparency of public administration. In addition, easy access to information on similar
policies is provided to ensure continuity in policymaking while safeguarding against policy
failures.
Source: Abridged from NIA, 2006 Annual Report for e-Government (Seoul, MOGAHA, 2006), p. 20, http://www.korea.go.kr/
new_eng/html/files/publications/2006_EGov_Annual_Report.pdf.

Something To Do
Look for examples of knowledge management systems in agriculture, disaster
management and environmental management in your country or region. Analyse
each example in terms of the success factors in knowledge management.

3.7

Health and Telemedicine Applications: Increasing health
services availability56

e-Health, which is the application of ICT in the health sector, has developed rapidly around
the world in the last few years. The objective of e-health applications is to improve efficiency,
access to and accountability of health-care services towards better quality of life for citizens,
and a more productive work environment for physicians and health-care workers.

56 This section is drawn from the ESCAP study, e-Health in Asia and the Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities, http://www.
unescap.org/esid/hds/lastestadd/eHealthReport.pdf.

82


e-Health encompasses the use of digital data in the health sector—transmitted, stored and
retrieved electronically—for clinical, educational and administrative purposes, both at the local
site and at a distance. It makes use of various data transmission protocols and techniques. It
is also all-inclusive as it involves all types of health care and health-care professionals (i.e. it is
not limited to medicine and it is not limited to doctors). Table 9 lists some examples of e-health.

Table 9. Examples of e-health
Technology

Devices and software

e-Health applications

Remote monitoring

• Sensors
• Instruments
• Ultrasound

• Telehomecare

Diagnostics

• Stethoscope
• Electrocardiograpm (EKG)
• X-ray/CatScan and medical image
analysis software
• Consultations

• Telehomecare

Videoconferencing

• Cameras (videocams, webcams)
• Computer-based desktops
• Portable communication and data
systems

• Consultations
• Teledermatology
• Telementalhealth

Digital imaging

•
•
•
•
•

Instruments
Media (e.g. film, magnetic tape)
Scanners/viewers
Digital cameras
Videocams with scopes

•
•
•
•

Information
technology

•
•
•
•
•

Data storage systems servers
Software/informatics
Database management systems
Geographic information systems
Middleware

• Electronic medical records
(e.g. patient information
system, hospital information
system, general practitioner
information system)
• Data mining, Web portals
• DSS administration

Store and forward

• Data/image/audio card capture/scanners
• Computer/camera/microphone and
image management software

• Electronic medical/health
records
• Report generator

Simulation and
training

• Multimedia graphics and software
• Audio-visual

• e-Learning
• Curriculum
• Conference

Telepathology
Teleradiology
Teledentistry
Teledermatology

Source: Adapted from David Brantley, Karen Laney-Cummings and Richard Spivack, Innovation, Demand and Investment in Telehealth (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2004), http://www.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth/about/telehealth/innovation.pdf.

As table 9 illustrates, ICT can be utilized in four types of e-health systems:
1. Mobile health care system (Telehomecare) – Health checks and treatment can be performed
using a mobile phone while the patient is travelling or at a remote location.
2. Mobile diagnostic system (Telehomecare) – Patients get a diagnosis and treatment through
a hybrid type of vital signs measurement sensor and vital signs analysis system while in
motion.
3. Intelligent home care medical devices (Telehomecare) – The health condition of patients
at home or in retired senior citizen community centres can be monitored and diagnosed
by an intelligent medical device.


83

4. Integrated patient management system – Devices such as personal digital assistants
(PDAs), mobile phones, PC/Internet and specialized devices can be used to obtain vital
signs, perform analysis and diagnostics, and systematically manage each patient.
e-Health competencies and skills are particularly significant in relation to four major e-Health
application areas:
Public health policy and prevention – This area requires the collection of health, environmental
and socio-economic information that enables data mining for health care strategy planning.
Information services to citizens – This area encompasses activities providing patients with
information on health-related topics such as good health and lifestyle when professional help
is required, in addition to the process in obtaining it.
Integrated patient management and patient health records – This concerns activities
surrounding the efficient and secure sharing of information between health- and social-care
professionals, and the establishment of an environment to provide support for integrated client
case management.
Telecare and independent living services – These include tele-consultations, telehomecare,
vital signs monitoring and other services that support independent living for older people and
people with disabilities.
e-Health applications have been successfully used in the following:
1. Hospital referral, particularly in the use of specialized medical technologies and skills that
are otherwise unavailable in certain countries (see figure 21).
2. Continuing education for health personnel enhances professional development by improving
the quality and standard of practice of health professionals. An example is the Pacific
Open Learning Health Network that provides continuing education opportunities to health
professionals in the Pacific Island Countries.
3. Cross-border surveillance detects diseases that could become epidemics, as in the cases
of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and avian influenza. Geo-informatics has been
proven to be a powerful tool in effective preparation and planning for the control of pandemics
by international organizations and governments. For example, WHO has established the
Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network to monitor outbreaks of avian influenza and
other infectious diseases.
4. Medical transcription and medical records enable trained individuals to transcribe medical
records dictated by physicians and other health-care providers.

84


Figure 21.Teleconsultation topology in the Pacific Islands

Source: Isao Nakajima, “Issues concerning e-health applications in developing countries, especially in the Pacific”, presentation
made at the ESCAP Expert Group Meeting on Regional trends in trade in health services, and their impacts on health system
performance in the Asian and Pacific region, Bangkok, Thailand, 9-11 October 2007.

Box 7. World Health Organization on e-health
e-Health has increasingly served as a solution to address challenges of limited resources
while meeting expectations for improved quality of health-care services. The World Health
Organization (WHO) recommends the use of telecommunications in health care particularly
because of:
•
•
•

A severe shortage of health-care professionals;
A lack (or absence) of health care for rural populations;
High maternal and prenatal mortality rates (up to 30 per cent in some areas), which are
partly triggered by lack of appropriate natal care and reproductive health services; and
Limited or no access to medical journals after graduation by physicians, particularly
those in rural and remote areas.

•

5. Elimination of duplication or errors, savings in time and travel costs, as well as more efficient
allocation of human and other resources result from:
•
•
•

Improved knowledge sharing, along with care plan management;
Direct patient care through telemedicine and delivery of medications; and
Linking clients and physicians through an interactive video conferencing system that
allows direct patient care as well as the monitoring of chronic diseases.

6. Reduction of distance/isolation, with the coverage of health-care services extended to remote
or rural villages that lack easy access to hospitals and medical facilities. Multi-purpose
telecentres can help provide public health information and the necessary infrastructure
for diagnostic medical services through telemedicine. Electronic health records allow the
timely transferral of health information, enabling those who are in remote areas to consult
with a specialist in another location.


85

1. What e-health services are available in your country? Which of these are
accessible to rural communities?
2. The role of mobile phones in e-health is becoming more important than ever
before. What types of health-care services can be provided using mobile
phones in your country?
3. Do you know of e-health programmes in your country or region that make use
of community e-centres? Describe one or two of these programmes.

3.8

Disaster Management Application: Integrated national
disaster management services57

ICT can potentially play a key role in disaster risk management. ICT encompasses both
traditional media (radio, TV) as well as new media (cell broadcasting, Internet, satellite radio),
all of which can play a major role in lessening the risks brought on by disasters through early
warning, coordinating and tracking relief activities and resources, recording and disseminating
knowledge and experiences, and raising awareness. Disaster management activities, in the
immediate aftermath of a disaster, can be made more effective by the use of appropriate
ICT tools. These include tools for resource management and tracking, communication under
emergency situations (e.g. use of Internet communications), collecting essential items for the
victims, and national and international fundraising.58
The application of ICTs can be divided into two broad usages in disaster risk management.59
The first set of usage is associated with “knowing the risks”, including being aware of them
and having access to relevant information on these risks to be able to minimize these risks in a
timely manner. ICT applications that are used to enhance information management, forecasting,
modeling, monitoring and risk mapping in support of decision-making falls into this category. It
also includes ICT applications for teaching and learning, and for raising awareness.
The second area of usage focuses on how best to “manage risks” by utilizing available ICT tools,
including the Internet, phones, TV and radio, in alerting communities of impending disasters, in
coordinating response and rescue, and in managing programmes and projects.
An efficient national emergency management system is also needed to minimize the impact
of disasters. In the Republic of Korea, the National Emergency Management Agency focuses
on prevention-oriented disaster management, rather than reconstruction and compensation.
Accordingly, the Agency has set up the National Disaster Management System (NDMS)
deploying disaster monitoring systems to 10 government agencies, including the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry, and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. In 2006, the NDMS
57 This section is drawn from NIA, 2006 Annual Report for e-Government (Seoul, MOGAHA, 2006), p. 23, http://www.korea.go.kr/
new_eng/html/files/publications/2006_EGov_Annual_Report.pdf.
58 Prof. Krasae Chanawongse, “Foreword”, in ICT for Disaster Management, Chanuka Wattegama (Bangkok, UNDP-APDIP and
Incheon, APCICT, 2007), p. vi, http://www.unapcict.org/ecohub/resources/ict-for-disaster-management.
59 UN-APCICT/ESCAP, ICT for Disaster Risk Reduction, ICTD Case Study 2 (Incheon, 2009), p. 27, http://www.unapcict.org/
ecohub/ict-for-disaster-risk-reduction-1.

86


also established a cross-agency disaster management network on a pilot basis to strengthen
partnerships among 71 agencies. Information dissemination processes for emergency situations
have been simplified with the establishment of direct channels between central agencies, and
between upper and lower local governments, resulting in a more efficient response to disasters
and emergencies. In emergency rescue, the system enables the identification of those who
report accidents and their location through a reporter identification system. This resulted in a
1.3 per cent reduction in false reporting of emergencies in 2005. The services can be easily
accessed by people with language difficulties, foreigners and the elderly. When the u-Safe
Korea Project was completed around 2010, it was expected that the death toll from disasters
would be reduced to 11.1 persons per 1 million, representing a 33 per cent reduction from the
current 16.5 persons per 1 million. Annual average property loss was also expected to go down
to 8.2 per cent, resulting in savings of more than USD 35 billion in damages from 2010 to 2014.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami led to the development of an integrated disaster management
system called Sahana.

The Sahana Disaster Management System
Sahana is a Web-based disaster management application for managing information during
relief operations, recovery, and rehabilitation developed by a group of IT volunteers from
Sri Lanka, headed by the Lanka Software Foundation.
Sahana is free and open source software (FOSS) application that is liberally licensed to
grant the right of users to use, copy, change and improve the software through the availability
of its source code. This is critical for most countries in the Asia-Pacific region. FOSS also
enables systems to be modified to specific circumstances or specific disasters, making
the system re-usable for the future and open for further development by IT professionals
from around the world (refer to Module 4 in the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government
Leaders module series to find out more about FOSS).
The core Sahana system is divided into the following independent modules that are
interconnected through shared databases:
•

Organization registry – Keeps track of and coordinates organizations and the role
they play in the relief effort.

•

Request management system – Records and tracks all requests for support from
various pledge locations (camps, hospitals, etc.), and support from relief providers.

•

Shelter registry – Registers all temporary camps, hospitals and locations for victims
of the disaster.

•

People (missing person) registry – Database of persons who are missing, displaced or
dead, as well as people searching for relatives and those who have been found or located
(including pictures, finger prints, DNA samples) with advanced searched capabilities.

•

Assistance (volunteer) management system – Database of all pledges of assistance
(from relief organizations, government agents, camps, etc.) and attempts to match
these to requests.

•

Inventory management – Tracks the location, quantities and expiry of supplies in
storage.


87

•

Situation awareness – Provides a geographical information system overview of the
current situation to aid in decision-making.

There are also a number of optional modules that can be used, including a volunteer
coordination system and mobile messaging.
Apart from the 2004 Tsunami implementation in Sri Lanka, Sahana has been deployed by
various organizations in China, Haiti, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines
and the US, in response to disasters:
Center of National Operations, Sri Lanka as part of their Web portal

2005

After the Kashmir/Pakistan Earthquake by the Government of Pakistan
After the Guinsaugon Landslide in the Philippines by the Government of the
Philippines

2006

Sarvodaya, an NGO in Sri Lanka
Terre des Hommes, an NGO in Sri Lanka
After the Yogyakarta Earthquake, Indonesia
After the Peru Earthquake

2007

New York City Office of Emergency Management, USA
After the Sichuan Earthquake, China

2008

After Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar
After the Haiti Earthquake

2010

Continuous testing and development for Sahana is taking place in Ecuador, Indonesia,
Lebanon and the Philippines.
Sources: Chamindra De Silva, “Humanitarian-FOSS: Case Study on Disaster Management”, presentation made at ISCRAM
2007, Harbin, China, 26-27 August 2007, http://chamindra.googlepages.com/Sahana-Overview-ISCRAM-China-AUG-200.pdf.
Isuru Samaraweera, “Sahana Disaster Management System and Tracking Disaster Victims”, presentation made at the
24th Asia-Pacific Advanced Network Meeting, Xi’An, China, 27-31 August 2007, http://www.apan.net/meetings/xian2007/
presentations/dm/sahana.ppt.
Mifan Careem, Chamindra de Silva, Ravindra de Silva, Louiqa Raschid and Sanjiva Weerawarana, “Sahana: Overview of a
Disaster Management System”, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Information and Automation, Colombo,
Sri Lanka, 15-17 December 2006, ftp://ftp.umiacs.umd.edu/pub/louiqa/PUB06/Sahana6.pdf.
Nah Soo Hoe, “Managing Disasters – Sahana, Sri Lanka”, in Breaking Barriers: The Potential of Free and Open Source
Software for Sustainable Human Development - A Compilation of Case Studies from Across the World (Bangkok, UNDPAPDIP, 2006), pp. 56-63, http://www.apdip.net/publications/ict4d/BreakingBarriers.pdf and http://www.iosn.net/foss/
humanitarian/projects/sahana/.
Wikibooks, “Sahana”, http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Sahana.

To find out more about the effective use of ICT for Disaster Risk Management, see Module 9
in the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders module series.60

60 See also UN-APCICT/ESCAP, ICT for Disaster Risk Reduction, ICTD Case Study 2 (Incheon, 2009), http://www.unapcict.org/
ecohub/ict-for-disaster-risk-reduction-1.

88


4.

TRENDS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
FOR E-GOVERNMENT

4.1 Trends in e-Government61
As noted earlier, the United Nations e-Government Survey 2010 is recognized for providing
a comprehensive analysis of national online services, telecommunications infrastructure and
human capital. The Survey has made some significant observations and suggestions. One of the
issues the Survey is focusing on is the “citizen-centric practice”. For a country to be assessed
favourably in e-government, there needs to be solid evidence of an approach to e-government
development that places citizens at the centre. The Survey shows, for example, the availability
of electronic and mobile services designed with citizens in mind.
Another word to watch is “development”, which replaces “readiness”. The term “e-government
development” describes how far governments have actually advanced in this field instead of
how ready or able they might be to do so, which was how “e-government readiness” described
national capacity. More countries than ever before are adopting national e-government strategies
and multi-year action plans. From the most to the least developed, countries are responding
to expectations that governments both participate in and enable the information society by
communicating and interacting more effectively with increasingly technology-savvy citizens.
They are ready, and it is their level of development in this regard that must be assessed.
For many of the least developed countries, their level of e-government development remains low
due to the cost of technology, lack of infrastructure, limited human capital and a weak private
sector. A paucity of public sector resources clearly imposes a drag on government innovation.
Small ad-hoc and stand-alone projects are the norm in least developed countries, which often
lack a well-thought out e-strategy within their national development plans. Once initial funding
for these projects ends, they are usually at high risk of simply shutting down.
Problems of resources are in no way limited to developing countries. The 2010 assessment of
government websites has revealed that many national governments continue to focus on online
and mobile dissemination of information rather than expansion of interactive services often
because of the expense and complexity of rethinking back-end systems, procedures and staffing.
A solution might be found in incremental expansion of e-services guided by sound institutional
principles with a core objective of integration. Even simple solutions to discrete problems can
result in substantial local efficiency gains and increased public satisfaction.
Despite technological progress, the lack of ICT professionals (i.e. human capital) remains a major
shortcoming in both middle- and low-income countries. Few civil services are able to compete
with private sector salaries, with the inevitable result that top ICT personnel in developing
countries tend to gravitate towards commercial firms. Even in cases where governments are
able to recruit highly skilled ICT workers, they tend to stay only long enough in their government
jobs to acquire enough experience to make them marketable in the more lucrative private sector.
Similar capacity gaps exist at the management level. Developing country governments often
find themselves in the position of having to hire expatriate management consultants and other
ICT professionals to develop domestic e-government services.

61 This section is drawn heavily from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations e-Government
Survey 2010, pp. 3-5 (see footnote 24).


89

In addition, the Survey points out the disconnection between e-government supply and demand.
One reason for the disconnection may be ineffective marketing. Another may be that the majority
of ICT initiatives are designed as efficiency measures (e.g. to automate complex functions
such as income tax collection, school registration and processing of social benefits) with little
input from the intended beneficiaries. Most surveys have shown that users prefer localized and
personalized services, attributes that usually call for interdepartmental cooperation, back-office
reorganization and reallocation of both human and financial resources. These requirements
are not often taken into account.
e-Participation still remains at its early stage in many countries. Many governments include
polls and feedback forms on their websites, but few sponsor discussion forums or blogs or
post information to social networking sites. This is especially true for developing countries.
Governments may need to be more creative about the ways they interact with the citizens by
creating integrated “one-stop shop” portals or actively soliciting views that can be used to design
public services or to shape public policy.

4.2

m-Government

According to the key findings from the United Nations e-Government Survey 2010: “On-demand
access to information, services and social networks on the Internet through a PC is no longer
considered cutting-edge in developed regions but a norm that many people take for granted.
The same may soon be true of the more advanced middle income countries. Cellular telephones
and personal digital assistants have the potential to play the same role for developing countries
if governments are able to come to terms with the changing face of technology and innovate
with a citizen-centric mindset.”62
In 2010, the global mobile subscription exceeded 5.3 billion—that is equivalent to 77 per cent
of the world population.63 Globally, the number of mobile phones surpassed the number of
fixed/wired phones in 2003. According to ITU, at the end of 2010 there were 3.8 billion mobile
subscriptions in the developing world—that is 73 per cent of global subscriptions. Mobile
phones are a crucial mode of communication in developing countries, especially those lacking
an infrastructure of fixed lines. Thus, mobility is an indispensable asset for the governments
in meeting the demands of their citizens. The relevance of m-government lies in the fact that
it is particularly suited for developing countries where Internet access rates are low but mobile
phone penetration is growing rapidly, particularly in urban areas.
Mobility is increasingly being accepted as a part of daily life and the governments have to
transform their activities according to this demand of convenience and efficiency of interactions.
m-Government helps to make public information and government services available anytime,
anywhere to citizens and businesses. Examples include sending security alerts, reminders to
renew licenses, results of medical examinations, and tax returns. Most of these efforts are still
at the experimental stage and limited in scope, but they nonetheless present an unavoidable
shift in the future evolution of e-government.64

62 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations e-Government Survey 2010, p. 3.
63 ITU, “Key Global Telecom Indicators for the World Telecommunication Service Sector”, updated on 21 October 2010,

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/KeyTelecom.html.
64 Rain Rannu, Siim Saksing, and Triin Mahlakõiv, “Mobile Government: 2010 and Beyond – White Paper”, Mobi Solutions, Ltd.,
January 2010, http://www.mobisolutions.com/files/Mobile%20Government%202010%20and%20Beyond%20v100.pdf.

90


e-Government efforts aim to benefit from the use of ICTs, especially Web-based technologies
in carrying out governments’ fundamental functions. Now these functions are transformed and
extended by using mobile platforms. Benefits of m-government include:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Cost reduction
Efficiency
Transformation/modernization of public sector organizations
Added convenience and flexibility
Better services to the citizens
Ability to reach a larger number of people through mobile devices than would be possible
using wired Internet only.65

Reasons Behind m-Government
According to Rannu and others, a move toward m-government can be explained by the following
reasons:
•

•

•

•

•
•

•

•

•

Wider reach – Because mobile penetration exceeds Internet penetration, public services
that are offered via mobile phone are available to a greater number of people than those
offered on the Internet.
Always carried, always on – Because people carry their mobile phones with them all the
time, while most computers are connected to a specific location, public services that are
offered via mobile phone are accessible everywhere and at all times. This is especially
important in case of urgent messages and crisis communication.
More personalization for targeting users – Computers are shared among different users,
but mobile devices are designed for a single user. Information reaches to the preferred
addressee at any time through one specific device.
Cost-effective – m-Government provides many cost saving opportunities for the government
as well as for the citizen (data gathering, sending a stamped letter versus the price of an
SMS, etc.)
Better management – New technology can help government officials to better manage
allocated financial and human resources.
Faster information flow – Mobile technologies enable government staff to save time. A
decrease in time for transferring data results in better decisions within a shorter time. It
also enables access to data in service site so that they can spend time on their job rather
than travelling around for information.
Increased democracy – As an extension of e-government, m-government is expected to
transform the relationship between citizens and governments, and encourage the proactive
participation of citizens in decision-making and policy formulation.
Solution to the digital divide – Mobile technology is probably the most rapidly expanding
of technologies in terms of the speed of expansion and reach to the unconnected. The
technology is mostly based on voice and SMS, but with the rapid growth in mobile phone
usage, more sophisticated mobile services are being introduced, the most widely known
being m-banking (allowing people to pay, receive and transfer money using a mobile phone),
m-commerce (the buying and selling of goods and services), m-health (for health research
and healthcare delivery), and m-learning.
Better the lives of disabled – SMS can be helpful for those who are hearing-impaired,
for example. Many hearing-impaired people find text-messaging to be an ideal form of
communication, as no audible conversation is needed.66

65 I. Kushchu and M. H. Kuscu, “From e-Government to m-Government: Facing the Inevitable”, in the Proceedings of the 3rd
European Conference on e-Government, Dublin, Ireland, 3-4 July 2003, pp. 253-260.
66 Rain Rannu, Siim Saksing, and Triin Mahlakõiv, “Mobile Government”, pp. 10-11.


91

Although it is often argued that m-government is just a mobile technology-specific sub-category
of e-government, m-government is not only about applying mobile technology but rather how
mobile technology transforms the government. Hence, the design and implementation of
m-government is more complex than implementing e-government as governments need to
identify the mobile technologies and applications relevant to service convenience and efficiency.
In addition, although there is a four stage development model for e-government by the United
Nations, there is no model for m-government.

Classification of m-Government Services
m-Government services can be classified into two groups; push and pull services. Push services
are passive in nature where end-users usually receive notifications about certain activities or
events. On the contrary, pull services ask users to play a more active role in either initiating the
service or responding to queries via mobile devices.
m-Government is the extension of e-government as well as the strategic use of e-government
services beyond the barriers of location and time, which are only possible using mobile
telephones, laptop computers, PDAs and the wireless Internet infrastructure.
SMS-based e-government services are part of the m-government domain. SMS-based
e-government can be classified into six levels based on the service offerings: Listen, Notification,
Pull-based Information, Communication, Transaction and Integration. The proposed model uses
the term “level” because it represents the available service offering and not the direction of the
systems’ evolution. Each level is independent of the others and can complement each other
(one/more level can be added to another level). The model ranks the levels according to the
complexity of the system and the benefits received by citizens (see box 8).

Box 8. Six-level model of SMS-based services
Listen level
On the first level, current SMS-based e-government applications have been widely used by
governments to listen to citizens’ opinions, reports and complaints. Most of the systems in
this level use SMS to enable citizens to send messages directly to mayors, councillors, the
council, and the local authority. However, these systems are not designed to reply to the
input-messages or to inform the sender of the following actions. This one-way communication
mode from citizens to government is categorized as the Listen level.
Notification level
In the second level, current SMS-based e-government systems have enabled one-way
communication from government to citizens. The government is able to notify citizens
about their personal information and to broadcast important public information. This model
classifies these applications as Notification level. Services in this level use Push-based
mechanism, which sends the messages to citizens activated by data on the server, not by
a user’s request.
Pull-based information level
Current SMS-based e-government systems also provide two-way communication that
enables citizens to access public or personal information by sending a request-message. The
services use the pull method: citizens send a “request SMS” to the service and the replied
service is sent back to the sender’s handset via SMS. The information options provided by
services in this level are limited and the request-text must be in a certain format.

92


Communication level
There are some existing SMS-based e-government systems that provide two-way
communication between government and citizens in which the people can inquire, complain
or report about anything (without worrying about the text format) and get responses/replies
immediately. This level is the Communication level.
Transaction level
Some SMS-based e-government systems can process transactions. Through these systems
citizens can pay bills, and send or update their personal data through SMS. Since citizens
can do any transaction (money and data) with the government agencies any time anywhere
in a secure channel, this level offers more benefits in the accessibility, availability, accuracy,
responsiveness, courtesy and helpfulness, timeliness, trust, privacy and security. However,
trust and security are still the dominant issues.
Integration level
Finally, the ultimate level of this model is when all the SMS-based systems are integrated
and organized in a single portal so people just send messages to a single service number
for all services. This level predicts that the integrated-SMS systems will also be integrated
with the Internet/Web-based e-government systems so citizens have the option to access
government services by sending SMS to one number or through the Internet at one Web
address. The SMS and the Internet may complement each other in a service, for example:
a citizen may send a form or pay for a public service electronically by Internet and receive
notification via SMS, or pay the services through SMS and receive the receipt by e-mail.
Source: Abridged from Tony Dwi Susanto, Robert Goodwin and Paul Calder, “A Six-Level Model of SMS-based eGovernment”,
paper presented at the International Conference on E-Government (ICEG), Melbourne, Australia, 23-24 October 2008,
http://smsegov.info/images/smsegov.pdf.

m-Government Services in Practice
Bangladesh – SMS saves lives
The Government of Bangladesh is piloting early warning dissemination using cell broadcasting
technology. While SMS is a one-to-one and one-to-a-few service, cell broadcasting is a
one-to-many geographically focused messaging service, which means that messages can
be tailored to multiple phone subscribers located within a give part of its network coverage
area at the time the message is broadcast. Cell broadcasting is also not as affected by traffic
load; therefore, it may be used during a disaster when load spikes tend to crash networks.
China – Chinese Aged Diabetic Assistant (CADA)
CADA is a smartphone-based self-management and support system for elderly diabetics
in China. The project will use smartphones to send elderly diabetics recommendations
and guidelines related to physical activity, glucose and blood pressure monitoring, weight
measurement and diet. Patients will be trained to enter and send data on glucose levels,
and doctors will be able to track patient data and graphically display data for patients.
India – Mobile phones for fishermen
The introduction of mobile phones in the coast of Kerala (South India) allows improved flow
of price information leading to a more efficient functioning of the market. Mobile phones
enable price information from other markets to be available while the fishermen are still at
sea. The fishermen divert their boats to the market that offers the highest price for their catch.
After mobile phones were introduced, the practice of dumping fishes overboard stopped;


93

fishermen’s profits rose by 8 per cent and consumer prices fell on average by 4 per cent;
the “law of one price” came into effect where a single rate for sardine was obtained along
the coast.
Philippines – PAYBIR
The Bureau of Internal Revenue in the Philippines offers a service called “PAYBIR” where
a taxpayer can file his or her income tax returns by SMS. Through the PAYBIR service,
taxpayers can now pay their tax of PHP 10,000 (USD 250) and below through a text message.
PAYBIR has forged a partnership with Land Bank of the Philippines as the accredited agent
bank and Globe Telecom as the taxpayer agent. Globe Telecom uses its G-Cash facility to
make tax payments on behalf of its subscribers.

m-Government Applications Development
One of the main questions that might be raised for building m-government is whether to create a
mobile application or a mobile website. The mobile Web refers to the use of Internet-connected
applications, or browser-based access to the Internet from a mobile device, including smart
phone or a tablet PC. Access to the Web traditionally has been over fixed-lines, however,
the Web is becoming more accessible by portable and wireless devices. Mobile applications
are application software developed for small low-power hand-held device such as PDAs or
mobile phones. m-Government applications can be downloaded from various mobile software
distribution platforms.
There are some cases where a mobile application is more appropriate than a mobile Web
and vice versa. Some of the discussions on the pros and cons of each of these options are
presented in table 10.

Table 10. Mobile applications vs. Mobile Web
Mobile Application (or app)
(Application designed to run on a
specific mobile device—download and
installation required)

(Website created specifically for mobile
device—accessible through mobile
browsers, no download or installation
required)

Portability

Needs to be developed for each
platform (iPhone, Blackberry,
Android, Palm, etc.)

Common Platform

Hyperlinks

94

Mobile Web

Possible to link to an app but
since most users will not have
the app installed, the most
effective way is to link to the
download page for this app.
Possible to link from an app
externally to other websites.

Possible to provide links to
different pages on your mobile
site and to link from your mobile
site to other websites.


Mobile Application (or app)

Mobile Web

(Application designed to run on a
specific mobile device—download and
installation required)

(Website created specifically for mobile
device—accessible through mobile
browsers, no download or installation
required)

Supportability and
Maintenance

Difficult to support and maintain
after app is downloaded. Every
new release with bug fixes
requires to go through the entire
approval process of the app
store.
After new version of app is
placed in the store, it requires
all existing users to upgrade.

Easier to support and maintain
as developer has complete
access to the site.
No need to upgrade, all users
see the latest version.

Performance

Able to achieve high
performance through app code
that runs locally on the device.

Performance largely depends
on how the mobile website is
designed and bandwidth.

Source: Adapted from DudaMobile, “Mobile Web vs. Mobile Apps”, 7 September 2009, http://blog.dudamobile.com/mobile-web-vsmobile-apps/.

In addition to the mobile Web and mobile application, another application development type
is a hybrid mobile application. Hybrid applications access the mobile website through an app,
bringing together features of both Web and native applications. In general, hybrid applications
can present features as follows:
•
•
•
•

Can function whether or not the device is connected
Integration with a device’s file system
Integration with Web-based services
An embedded browser to improve access to dynamic online content

No single approach for developing mobile applications delivers all of the benefits all of the
time. Choosing the right approach depends on the specific needs of the government and can
be driven by many parameters such as budget, timeframe, internal resources, target market,
required application functionality, wireless infrastructure, and many other factors. One thing is
clear, however, as seen in the private sector. Most companies today face an obvious trade-off
between user experience and application functionality on one hand, and development costs
and time to market on the other. Similarly, the challenge for m-government is boiled down to
choosing the right development approach that will balance the government’s and citizens’
requirements with its budget and time constraints.
m-Government Implementation Issues
Implementing m-government brings a series of challenges. Some of the typical challenges for
e-government are naturally shared by m-government efforts. According to Kushchu, among
them, those which are most relevant to m-government are as follows:
•
•
•
•

Developing wireless and mobile networks and related infrastructure
Promoting mobile penetration and increasing accessibility
Protecting privacy and providing security for the data and interactions
Regulating and developing legal aspects of mobile applications and use of the services67

67 Ibrahim Kushchu, Mobile Government: An Emerging Direction in e-Government (Hershey, IGI Global, 2007).


95

4.3

Future Directions for e-Government

As ICT has become an integrated part of everyday life, e-government has also become an
integral part of government transformation, and will continue to grow and expand rapidly with
changes in focus and direction. The change of focus and direction will be highly dependent on
the challenges faced by governments and the technological progress in the ICT sector. Countries
recognize that e-government has become a unique and powerful tool for governments, which
has contributed to making public administration significantly more efficient and effective. It has
forced governments into rethinking organizations, responsibilities, business processes, and
collaborative and cooperative arrangements within and across levels of government, and also
forced governments to take a whole-of-government view of their service provision to citizens
and businesses.68
Despite much progress made during the past decades, e-government has not yet delivered all
of its promises. Countries are still looking into how to harness the full benefits of e-government,
and are asking how e-government can be used to support and enhance broader economic
development. At this point, mega-trends in e-government development include the following:
•
•
•
•

From cost reduction to better government
From rationalization to growth facilitation
From central to local
From government-centricity to citizen-centricity69

Addressing these trends will be challenging for many governments, but it will be difficult for
them to avoid. Also the issue of how to ensure sufficient competencies and skills to further
develop public service delivery is a growing concern in many countries. The need for engaging
private sector competencies and skills to complement government efforts should be discussed,
including how public-private partnerships could be used.70
Implementation of e-participation may lead to a review of democratic processes and institutions.
According to Mohan and others, the focus of e-government will shift to continuity and content
management in the developing nations. The more advanced among developing nations will
try to embark onto the connected government paradigm. And e-inclusion will become the chief
concern for sharing the benefits of a functioning e-government across the society.71
The developed nations shall keep pursuing the goals of connected government, service
innovation and huge amount of cost savings by leveraging e-government for asset and employee
consolidations. The consolidations will obviously require a radical way of structuring government
organizations and hierarchies. Restructuring is likely to be radical across organizational
boundaries, challenging traditional structures, which is an intriguing political question. Better
regulation and policymaking that fundamentally reduce the demand for interaction with
government are expected, thereby decreasing the administrative burden on government,
citizens and businesses. Thus, e-government will be focusing on the creation of public value,
burden reduction, inclusiveness and yield.72

68 OECD, Future of e-Government Agenda 2020: OECD Leaders Conference 2008 – Main Conclusions (Paris, 2008),

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/55/12/42547008.pdf.
69 Ibid., p. 11.
70 Ibid.
71 Mohan Datar, Anil Panikar and Jamal Farooqui, “Emerging Trends in E-Government”, in Critical Thinking in e-Governance, Jaijit
Bhattacharya, ed. (New Delhi, GIFT Publishing, 2008), p. 44, http://www.csi-sigegov.org/critical.html.
72 Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., “Beyond e-Government: The world’s most successful technology-enabled transformations”, A study
commissioned by the UK Cabinet Office, 2005, p. 13, http://www.boozallen.com/media/file/151607.pdf.

96


On the other hand, the focus of developing nations will be on creating an information infrastructure
both within the public sector and across society at large, and delivering services through more
efficient and citizen-centric governance models encompassing multiple delivery channels. The
developing nations will simultaneously pursue the bridging of the digital divide and streamlining
front office and back office functions.


97

Summary
This module discussed the following key concepts and principles in e-government systems
development:
1. The use of and support for e-government is essential. e-Government will be successful
if there is strong demand and support for it from citizens and businesses. In most cases,
getting public support can be difficult due to the following reasons:
•
•
•

Few people know how to make use of available e-government services.
Few people understand what benefits e-government can bring them.
The majority are reluctant to use e-government services.

2. One way to address these problems is to develop truly compelling high priority e-government
applications based on the needs and expectations of citizens and businesses. Such
applications would give rise to what are known as “killer” ICT applications in G2C and G2B.
3. A multi-channel, single-window government is becoming increasingly popular because
a multi-channel approach provides different options/means of access (e.g. through the
Internet, e-mail, mobile and digital TV), which encourages more participation by citizens
and businesses in e-government. This approach tends to deliver better results than a single
channel approach.
4. There are many stakeholders in e-government. Different ICT applications in the areas of
G2C services, G2B services and G2G services will help meet the different needs of target
groups.
5. The integration of government-wide computing resources such as hardware, network
infrastructure, ICT personnel and management will produce greater benefits, including
cost reduction and management efficiency. A joined-up approach or whole-of-government
approach is recommended to facilitate cooperation and coordination within and between
government agencies.
6. e-Government standardization gives rise to positive outcomes such as interoperability,
consistency, reusability and quality maintenance.
7. e-Government is not a one-time activity or one-shot approach to be completed in a short
period of time, but a long-term evolutionary process. A country cannot achieve all conceivable
e-government goals with a single initiative. It is recommended to implement a series of
national e-government initiatives, building on the past and current achievements.
8. e-Government of the future will be characterized by seamless and consolidated services,
and greatly enhanced reliability and transparency of government as new advanced ICT
evolves (e.g. m-government and u-government).


99

Annex
Further Reading
Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme. e-Government Case Studies. UNDP.
http://www.apdip.net/projects/e-government/capblg/casestudies.
Asian Development Bank. ICT Project Guidebook: Improving Public Services through Information
& Communication Technology. Project Number: RETA 7351, 2010.
BAH (Booz/Allen/Hamilton). Beyond e-Government: The world’s most successful technologyenabled transformations. A study commissioned by UK Cabinet Office, 2005.
http://www.boozallen.com/media/file/151607.pdf.
Commonwealth of Australia. Demand and Value Assessment Methodology. 2004.
http://www.agimo.gov.au/archive/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/52438/DAM__and__VAM_Manual.
pdf.
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. e-Health in Asia and the Pacific:
Challenges and Opportunities. Bangkok: United Nations. http://www.unescap.org/esid/hds/
lastestadd/eHealthReport.pdf.
European Commission. eGovernment Economics Project (eGEP). 2006. http://www.epractice.
eu/files/media/media1299.pdf.
HM Treasury. THE GREEN BOOK: Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government. 2003.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/green_book_complete.pdf
Holzer, Marc, and Seang-Tae Kim. Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide (2007): A
Longitudinal Assessment of Municipal Websites Throughout the World. New Jersey: National
Center for Public Performance, 2008. http://www.unpan.org/Library/MajorPublications/
DigitalGovernanceinMunicipalitiesWorldwide/tabid/804/Default.aspx.
Institute for Development Policy and Management. Development Informatics: Working Papers.
University of Manchester.
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/research/publications/wp/di/index.htm.
Institute for Development Policy and Management. iGovernment - Information Systems,
Technology and Government: Working Papers. University of Manchester.
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/research/publications/wp/igovernment/index.htm.
ITU. e-Government Implementation Toolkit. 2009.
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/app/docs/eGovernment%20toolkitFINAL.pdf.
National Institute for Smart Government (NISG). E-Governance Assessment Frameworks (EAF
Version 2.0). 2004.
http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/documents/assessment-frameworks.pdf.
OECD. The e-Government Imperative. OECD e-Government Studies. Paris, 2003. http://pavroz.
ru/dov/egovimperetive.pdf.

100


UNESCO. E-Government Toolkit for Developing Countries. Asia-Pacific Bureau for Communication
and Information. New Delhi, India, 2005.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001394/139418e.pdf.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. United Nations e-Government Survey
2010: Leveraging e-government at a time of financial and economic crisis. New York: United
Nations, 2010. http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb/documents/2010/E_Gov_2010_Complete.pdf.
__________ United Nations e-Government Survey 2008: From e-Government to Connected
Governance. New York: United Nations, 2008. http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/
documents/UN/UNPAN028607.pdf.
Wattegama, Chanuka. ICT for Disaster Management. Bangkok: UNDP and Incheon: UNAPCICT, 2007.
World Bank. e-Government Primer. 2009. www.infodev.org/en/Document.823.pdf.


101

Glossary
Business Process
Reengineering
c-Commerce

Collaborative commerce, a business model where a company integrates
its systems with those of its suppliers and partners across the Internet. It is
supported by a growing number of B2B applications that automate key business
processes in a supply chain extending beyond the enterprise boundaries, from
raw materials to finished products.

e-Commerce

Buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as
the Internet and other computer networks. It also includes the entire online
process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for
products and services. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown
extraordinarily with widespread Internet usage. While some use e-commerce
and e-business interchangeably, they are distinct concepts. In e-commerce,
ICT is used in inter-business or inter-organizational transactions (B2B) and in
business-to-consumer transactions (B2C). In e-business, on the other hand,
ICT is used to enhance one’s business.

e-Government

The process of restructuring internal government processes and improving
information exchange systems between various government institutions with
the use of ICTs. The purpose of e-government is more effective and efficient
delivery of government services to citizens and businesses. While some use
e-government and e-governance interchangeably, they are distinct concepts.

e-Health

The umbrella term that includes all aspects of ICT use in health care. E-Health
includes telemedicine, where medical advice or consultation is provided
over long distances via Internet, radio, telephone or other communication
technologies. E-Health also refers to the use of ICT for dissemination of healthrelated information, such as HIV/AIDS and vaccination hubs, using radio,
television, Internet or short message service (SMS). Moreover, e-health is used
in hospitals for management, medical data collection or statistical purposes.

e-Learning

An umbrella term for all forms of electronically supported learning and
teaching. It encompasses learning at all levels, both formal and non-formal,
The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or
not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process. E-learning
encompasses using ICT for learning at all levels, both formal and non-formal,
in-classroom and out-of-the-classroom, whether wholly or in part, for course
delivery, interaction, evaluation and/or facilitation. E-learning applications
and processes include web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual
education opportunities and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the
Internet, intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. It can
be self-paced or instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image,
animation, streaming video and audio.

Killer Application

A certain usage of technology and service that makes the technology and
service popular and successful. The term is especially appropriate when a
previous version of the technology did not take off before the introduction of the
killer application.

Knowledge
Management

102

Redesign of the work flow within or between department levels to increase
process efficiency (i.e. to eliminate inefficiency in the work process).

A business activity with two primary aspects: (1) treating the knowledge
component of business activities as an explicit concern of business reflected
in strategy, policy and practice at all levels of the organization; and (2) making
a direct connection between an organization’s intellectual assets, both explicit
(recorded) and tacit (personal know-how), and positive business results.


m-Government

The use of mobile technologies by governments to interact with their citizens.
For example, a mass alert can be sent out as an SMS message in the event
of an emergency. This is different from e-government, which delivers services
over a variety of platforms and mediums, not specifically through mobile
communication devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants
(PDAs) and laptops.

t-Government

Interactive terrestrial digital TV-based e-service delivery via specially designed
government TV channels/portal, with both broadcast and on-demand
content. In the Republic of Korea, the “T-Gov” programme will make two-way
communication between the government and the public possible through TV.

u-Government

The “u” stands for “ubiquitous”, which is defined as communication between
devices, things, humans and computers anytime and anywhere. All devices
or things will be embedded in computing and then networked through wired
or wireless connections. Under the u-Government programme, citizens will
be able to access government services anytime and anywhere through multichannel devices (based on mobile technologies).


103

Notes for Trainers
As noted in the section entitled “About The Module Series”, this module and others in the series
are designed to have value for different sets of audiences and in varied and changing national
conditions. The modules are also designed to be presented, in whole or in part, in different
modes, on- and off-line. The module may be studied by individuals and by groups in training
institutions as well as within government offices. The background of the participants as well
as the duration of the training sessions will determine the extent of detail in the presentation
of content.
These “Notes” offer trainers some ideas and suggestions for presenting the module content
more effectively. Further guidance on training approaches and strategies is provided in a
handbook on instructional design developed as a companion material for the Academy of ICT
Essentials for Government Leaders module series. The handbook is available at: http://www.
unapcict.org/academy.

Using the Module
Each section of the present module begins with a statement of learning objectives. A set of
“Test Yourself” questions is also provided. Readers may use the objectives and questions as a
basis for assessing their progress through the module. Each section also contains discussion
questions and practical exercises that may be accomplished by individual readers or used by
trainers. These questions and exercises are designed to enable readers to draw on their own
experience to benchmark the content and to think reflectively on the issues presented.
Case studies form a significant part of the module content. These are intended for discussion
and analysis, particularly in terms of the extent to which the key concepts and principles
presented in the module work in real-world projects and programmes. It is important for readers
to appreciate the need to adapt ICT-based and ICT-supported approaches and models to suit
local conditions. Trainers may encourage participants to cite other cases and examples from
their own experience to substantiate the content of the module.

Structuring the Sessions
Depending on the audience, time available and local settings and conditions, the content of
the module can be presented in different structured time capsules. What could be covered
in sessions of different durations is outlined below. Trainers are invited to modify the session
structure based on their own understanding of the country and audience.
For a 90-minute session
Aim to develop a basic understanding of e-government, including why it is useful and the critical
factors for the success of e-government projects discussed in section 1.
For a three-hour session
After a general discussion of the rationale for e-government and the critical success factors,
provide an overview of models of e-government and e-government strategic planning leading
to the formulation of a road map for e-government implementation. The relevant discussion
and exercises are in section 2.

104


For a one-day session (six hours duration)
This time frame would allow for an exploration of one or two of the e-government applications
presented in section 3, in addition to the overview of e-government principles, models and
strategic planning provided in sections 1 and 2. Focus on the e-government application/s that is/
are of most relevance to the participants, and use the relevant discussion questions (“Questions
To Think About”) and learning activities (“Something To Do”) to make the session interactive.
For a three-day session
This time frame should enable you to cover the entire module, including intensive discussions
of relevant case studies of specific e-government applications. Include a “live” case study
via a field trip to a local e-government implementation project site. Make time also for some
e-government strategic planning by the participants, the outcomes of which would be presented
to the rest of the group.


105

About the Authors
Nag Yeon Lee is currently an ICT consultant in e-government for international institutions
such as UNDP and the World Bank, and also an IT advisor for many organizations including
Hyundai Information Technology where he was Senior Vice President for over 10 years. He
has extensive experience in international business development with IT solutions. He was Vice
Chairman of the Korea Ultra Wide Band Forum where he worked on issues related to wireless
communications such as WiFi, Wimedia, WiMax and Wibro. Previously, he was professor of
Management of Information System at the New York Institute of Technology, and an instructor
for the Korea IT Learning Program where he was involved in the development of modules for
overseas high-level IT experts on: (1) e-government implementation strategy and applications
(G2B, G2C, national finance system, tax system, security system, e-health, e-learning); and
(2) ISP, BPR and change management. He received a Special Achievement Award from the
Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea in 2002.
Kwangsok Oh is currently a Senior Research Fellow with the National Information Society
Agency (NIA) of the Republic of Korea, and an Adjunct Professor with the School of Public
Policy, Ajou University. Prior to his current role, Dr. Oh served as the Vice Presidents of the
Planning and Coordination Division, Informatization Planning Division, and e-Government
Project Division of NIA. He has also had many years of international e-government consulting
experience in Asia and the Pacific. He served on the Board of Directors of several prominent
organizations in the Republic of Korea such as the Korea Network Information Center (19992004), the Korea Association of Public Administration (1999-2004) and the System Integration
Research Institute (1999-2006). He also served as an APNIC Council member in 1999-2001.

106


UN-APCICT/ESCAP
The United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication
Technology for Development (UN-APCICT/ESCAP) is a subsidiary body of the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). UN-APCICT/ESCAP aims
to strengthen the efforts of the member countries of ESCAP to use ICT in their socio-economic
development through human and institutional capacity-building. UN-APCICT/ESCAP’s work is
focused on three pillars:
1. Training. To enhance the ICT knowledge and skills of policymakers and ICT professionals,
and strengthen the capacity of ICT trainers and ICT training institutions;
2. Research. To undertake analytical studies related to human resource development in ICT; and
3. Advisory. To provide advisory services on human resource development programmes to
ESCAP member and associate members.
UN-APCICT/ESCAP is located at Incheon, Republic of Korea.
http://www.unapcict.org

ESCAP
ESCAP is the regional development arm of the United Nations and serves as the main economic
and social development centre for the United Nations in Asia and the Pacific. Its mandate is to
foster cooperation between its 53 members and nine associate members. ESCAP provides the
strategic link between global and country-level programmes and issues. It supports governments
of countries in the region in consolidating regional positions and advocates regional approaches
to meeting the region’s unique socio-economic challenges in a globalizing world. The ESCAP
office is located at Bangkok, Thailand.
http://www.unescap.org


107

The Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders

http://www.unapcict.org/academy

The Academy is a comprehensive ICT for development training curriculum with currently 10
modules that aims to equip policymakers with the essential knowledge and skills to fully leverage
opportunities presented by ICTs to achieve national development goals and bridge the digital
divide. Below are the short descriptions of the 10 modules of the Academy.
Module 1 - The Linkage between ICT Applications and Meaningful Development
Highlights key issues and decision points, from policy to implementation, in the use of ICTs
for achieving the MDGs.
Module 2 - ICT for Development Policy, Process and Governance
Focuses on ICTD policymaking and governance, and provides critical information about
aspects of national policies, strategies and frameworks that promote ICTD.
Module 3 - e-Government Applications
Examines e-government concepts, principles and types of applications. It also discusses
how an e-government system is built and identifies design considerations.
Module 4 - ICT Trends for Government Leaders
Provides insights into current trends in ICT and its future directions. It also looks at key
technical and policy considerations when making decisions for ICTD.
Module 5 - Internet Governance
Discusses the ongoing development of international policies and procedures that govern
the use and operation of the Internet.
Module 6 - Information Security and Privacy
Presents information on security issues and trends, and the process of formulating an
information security strategy.
Module 7 - ICT Project Management in Theory and Practice
Introduces project management concepts that are relevant to ICTD projects, including the
methods, processes and project management disciplines commonly used.
Module 8 - Options for Funding ICT for Development
Explores funding options for ICTD and e-government projects. Public-private partnerships
are highlighted as a particularly useful funding option in developing countries.
Module 9 - ICT for Disaster Risk Management
Provides an overview of disaster risk management and its information needs while identifying
the technology available to reduce disaster risks and respond to disasters.
Module 10 - ICT, Climate Change and Green Growth
Presents the role that ICTs play in observing and monitoring the environment, sharing information,
mobilizing action, promoting environmental sustainability and abating climate change.
These modules are being customized with local case studies by national Academy partners to
ensure that the modules are relevant and meet the needs of policymakers in different countries.
The modules are also been translated into different languages. To ensure that the programme
stays relevant and addresses emerging trends in the ICTD, APCICT regularly revises the
modules and develops new modules.

108


APCICT Virtual Academy (http://e-learning.unapcict.org)
The APCICT Virtual Academy is part of the multi-channel delivery mechanism that APCICT
employs in the implementation of its flagship ICTD capacity building programme, the Academy
of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders.
The APCICT Virtual Academy allows learners to access online courses designed to enhance
their knowledge in a number of key areas of ICTD including utilizing the potential of ICTs for
reaching out to remote communities, increasing access to information, improving delivery of
services, promoting lifelong learning, and ultimately, bridging the digital divide and achieving
the MDGs.
All APCICT Virtual Academy courses are characterized by easy-to-follow virtual lectures and
quizzes, and users are rewarded with APCICT’s certificate of participation upon successful
completion of the courses. All Academy modules in English and localized versions in Bahasa
and Russian are available via the Internet. In addition, plans for more content development and
further localization are underway.
e-Collaborative Hub (http://www.unapcict.org/ecohub)
The e-Collaborative Hub (e-Co Hub) is APCICT’s dedicated online platform for knowledge
sharing on ICTD. It aims to enhance the learning and training experience by providing easy
access to relevant resources, and by making available an interactive space for sharing best
practices and lessons on ICTD. e-Co Hub provides:
• A resources portal and knowledge sharing network for ICTD
• Easy access to resources by module
• Opportunities to engage in online discussions and become part of the e-Co Hub’s online
community of practice that serves to share and expand the knowledge base of ICTD


109

Academy 2.0 module 3

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Academy 2.0 module 3 (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Academy 2.0 module 3