ABSTRACT

Ms Anita Gracie

Consultant

ICL United Kingdom

Enabling Better Government in a Digital Community

Introduction

In many countries the current Government service is organised for the benefit of Government and not the Citizen. Information is locked into separate databases designed to support a specific application such as the payment of benefits or the registration of motor vehicles. We might call these databases Silos. Access to Government officers is still most often through a personal visit of the citizen to relevant Government office, by letter or perhaps by telephone. It is necessary for anyone seeking to contact Government to deal with something that has happened to them, e.g. if a relative has died, or if they have become unemployed, to know the routes into Government and who to contact. They may be required to present the same information many times to different offices of Government. The process may be further complicated by the need to involve other agencies or private organisations.

The whole process is inefficient, prone to error and very costly. The citizen is presented with a very poor image or Government. Why is it possible to get efficient service from a bank or a supermarket but not from Government?

Many countries, states or municipalities have now begun processes to develop improved services to citizens. These proposals may take many forms.Most seek to make it easier for the citizen to deal with Government. Technology has been put to work in many forms.

In Europe a programme was initiated in 1994 to develop Digital Cities. Work done by the European Commission identified that Europe was falling behind the United States in the exploitation of technology - in particular of the emerging World Wide Web. In the US this was named "The Information Superhighway". A Group led by Commissioner Bangemann with members drawn from industry and the Public Sector right across Europe developed a report: "The Bangemann Report" which set out proposals to help Europe redress the balance. A number of key applications were identified which were considered suitable to stimulate European exploitation of technology. These spanned Healthcare, Transport, the Environment and many other sectors. The report particularly cited cities as being ideal exploitation sites for many of these applications. A funding programme was put in place to stimulate European Industry. Since that report, published in1994, many cities across Europe have participated in innovative projects to develop the use of technology in the delivery of services for citizens.

Background

1. The city of Barcelona

Barcelona has declared itself a Digital City. Here is a quote from the Mayor of Barcelona; Joan Clos.

"The aim of the Barcelona Digital City Programme is to strengthen some of the most characteristic features of the city's way of doing things: to take information as an asset for managerial efficiency; making the most of the potential of new technology and offering it to the citizens; and co-operating with institutions, associations, businesses and professionals to successfully cope with the challenges set by Barcelona.

We are in the process of becoming the Information Society, the knowledge society. The quality of life of the citizens, and the economic progress and social cohesion of Barcelona depend on our ability to adapt to this future."

2. The city of Bologna

The city of Bologna in Northern Italy has made extensive use of web-based services for its citizens. Through a project called IPERBOLE city has developed a service that uses the Internet to develop "two way" communication, teledemocracy, easy access to the City and to promote the citizens right to information as a service. A free civic network is provided to which all city residents, associations, institutions and schools can have access.

3. Project GALA(Global Access to Local Applications and services)

ICL joined a consortium of five cities: Barcelona, Bologna, Cologne, Gothenburg and London to develop integrated applications, all with access through a common interface from a number of different access devices such as kiosks, PC's, Web TV's and mobile telephones. This project is in the demonstration phase. A software engine has been designed to enable the extraction of information from a wide range of legacy systems, implemented across a range of technologies and presented in a form suitable for access by a web-browser. Roll-out of the project will offer citizens easy access to a range of city services, in their own city and across Europe.

Many current initiatives directed towards modernising Government are focused on putting electronic front ends in front of existing systems.

When the Labour Government was elected to office in May 1997 they established a major objective to deliver Government services to citizens electronically. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, committed to a target that 1 in 4 transactions with Government would be delivered electronically by the end of this parliament(2002). This commitment has been reinforced in a recent White Paper to commit to 100%of services to be delivered electronically by 2008.

Australia has made great strides in moving to electronic service delivery. The State Government of Victoria is 4 years in to a 6 year programme to deliver all Government services electronically. The Australian Federal Government has established a project called Centrelink to enable co-operative working between four different Government Departments.

Both the UK and Australian examples are directed towards delivering services to citizens in a more meaningful way. They introduce the idea of Life Events.

Life Events requiring dealings with Government might include:

• Getting or losing a job
  
• A birth, marriage or death
  
• Becoming ill
  
• Becoming home

The Challenge

All of these should require a single interaction with Government which deals with the event and puts the necessary actions in place no matter which department of Government is involved. The burden of organisation is placed on the Government, not the citizen.

Many interactions between citizens and Government are of a more mundane nature. They may be simple enquiries, requests for information, or requests for a service such as a house repair. Yet again, the citizen's experience may be one of being passed from office to office, with no real responsibility being taken to ensure that he receives a satisfactory outcome. Such simple events should also need a single interaction with Government.

The Silos of Government information

To deliver services to citizens in this innovative way may involve gaining access to many different systems and extracting information from each. To re-engineer all these, which represent an enormous legacy of investment, is impractical, risky and very expensive.

ICL has developed a proposition to address this problem.

Our proposals to enable this to happen involve a radical change. We would suggest the creation of a single interface to Government-the Citizens Access Front End. We have branded this CAFExpress. This name encapsulates the concepts of a CAF� being a warm and inviting place to visit, and Express-something which can be achieved quickly. Rather than re-engineer all the systems of Government in one step, we suggest that this is left until business need dictates their re-development. For now, initiate a separate development of systems to manage the interface with the citizens, offer electronic access, and manage the transactions through the maze of the Silos.

No one is suggesting that this is easy. It is not. But we have models which show that this can be achieved. It gives the citizen the simplified access to Government that he craves, and it delivers cost savings to Government by ensuring that citizens get the services that they are entitled to.

ICL has developed a value model for Better Government.

Service delivery is divided into a number of layers.

At the front, in direct contact with the citizen are the access points. These include the physical devices that enable access to Government, such as PC's, Kiosks, One Stop Shops, and the management systems that support them.

Next comes Service Delivery Partners. Increasingly, Government will deliver service through agents which could come from either the private or public sector. They might include Post Offices, Local Authorities or Retailers.

A network is crucial. This is increasingly likely to be a network with a particular context, such as the UK's National Grid for Learning or Government Secure Network.

Lastly come the Silos, those core applications and systems of Government.

Delivery of service will become a complex partnership.

The Future

Our Vision of the Future is that one Life Event, or one Everyday Event will involve only one interaction with Government from one of many convenient locations.

The Vision can be realised if:

• It is recognised that no one yet has all the answers
• It is recognised that real progress is being made in many parts of the world
• Emerging best practice is identified
• Further development of these cases is encouraged
• Widespread dissemination of this good practice takes place
• Assets that have been developed are shared and re-used

We live in the Information Age. We can have access to seemingly limitless information through the World Wide Web. Technology is constantly evolving making it easier to access this information from any location using devices that are appropriate to that environment. The boundaries between devices created for entertainment, such as TV's and Games machines, and those created for business are blurring. We must make sure that this technology is put to work for us rather than allowing it to dictate to us. Appropriate technology can ensure that no-one is excluded from the Information age, whether they be young or old, fit or disabled, living in a city or in a remote village or island.

Governments have a key role to play in shaping the society in which we all live. Soon we will all live in a Digital Community. We will have access to Government services, shopping, banking, entertainment, newspapers, healthcare, education and masses and masses of information wherever and whenever we want it. Governments can influence whether this will be a truly rewarding experience - or a nightmare!

It is a challenge that they must take up, and succeed with.

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