E – GOVERNANCE

Automation Informatization Transformation

Compiled Lecture Notes

e-Governance Compiled Lecture Notes:

Contents

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................2

1.1 Common Terminologies ...................................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Difference Between E-Governance and E-Government ..................................................................... 2
1.3 Benefits of e-governance .................................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Types of Interactions in E-Governance ............................................................................................... 3
1.5 Limitations of E-Governance ............................................................................................................... 4

SECTION II: ROLE OF ICT IN GOVERNANCE...........................................................................................6

2.1 The roles.............................................................................................................................................. 6
2.2 Characteristics of Good Governance .................................................................................................. 6

SECTION III: E-GOVERNANCE MATURITY .............................................................................................8

3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 8
3.2 Phases of E-Governance Maturity ...................................................................................................... 8

SECTION IV: NATIONAL E-GOVERNANCE PLAN (NeGP) ...................................................................... 11

4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 11
4.2 Implementation Strategies for NeGP ................................................................................................ 11
4.3 E-Governance Infrastructure ............................................................................................................ 11
4.4 e-Readiness of e-Governance ........................................................................................................... 13
4.5 e-Governance Challenges ................................................................................................................. 14

SECTION V:E-GOVERNANCE AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ......................................................... 17

5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 17
5.2 Types of Knowledge .......................................................................................................................... 19
5.2 Principles of Knowledge Management ............................................................................................. 20

SECTION VI: E-GOVERNANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................. 21

6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 21
6.2 Benefits of e-governance for development ...................................................................................... 21
6.3 What does e-governance for development cover? .......................................................................... 21
6.4 Connecting Citizens: e-Citizens and e-Services ................................................................................. 24

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 27
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SECTION ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Common Terminologies

 Electronic governance or e-governance: Is the integration of Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) in all the processes, with the aim of enhancing government ability to
address the needs of the general public.
 The basic purpose of e-governance is to simplify processes for all, i.e. government, citizens,
businesses, etc. at National, State and local levels. In short, it is the use of electronic means,
to promote good governance.
 It connotes the implementation of information technology in the government processes and
functions so as to cause simple, moral, accountable and transparent governance.
 It entails the access and delivery of government services, dissemination of information,
communication in a quick and efficient manner.

 E – Government: (short for electronic government) is the use of technological

communications devices, such as computers and the Internet to provide public services to
citizens and other persons in a country or region.
 E-government is also known as e-gov, electronic government, Internet governance, digital
government, online government, connected government.
 Examples of E-Government: can be various services offered for citizens or businesses or
between PA institutions, such as: e-procurement, filling tax returns, renew ID, passport or
driving licence, apply for extract from the criminal register or commercial register, all the
forms and application required for starting a business.

1.2 Difference Between E-Governance and E-Government

 Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between e-
governance and e-government.
 E-government refers to the use of the ICTs in public administration which, when combined
with organizational change and new skills, are intended to improve public services and
democratic processes and to strengthen support to the public. However, e-government has
no provision for governance of ICTs.
 The governance of ICTs typically requires a substantial increase in regulation and policy-
making capabilities, as well as additional expertise and opinion-shaping processes among
various social stakeholders.
 The perspective of e-governance is "the use of the technologies that both help to govern and
have to be governed". The central goal of e-governance is to reach the beneficiary and to
ensure that their service needs are met. Ideally, the government will automatically recognize
the importance of achieving this goal in order to maximize its efficiency.
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Major Differences between e-governance and E-government

 E-governance is a part of e-Government. e-Governance never comes alone.. E-Governance is
dealing with all regulations and policies to control the services provided by the e-
Government. However, the E-Government is an electronic government, which should be
regulated by the E-Governance.
 e-Government is a system whereas e-Governance is a functionality.
 E-Government means the application of ICT in government operations, as a tool to make
better government. e-Governance, on the other hand, implies the use of ICT in transforming
and supporting functions and structures of the system.
 E-Government is a one-way protocol but e-Governance is a two-way protocol(government to
citizen and vice versa)

1.3 Benefits of e-governance

 Reduced corruption
 High transparency
 Increased convenience
 Growth in GDP
 Direct participation of constituents
 Reduction in overall cost.
 Expanded reach of government

Through e-governance, the government plans to raise the coverage and quality of information
and services provided to the general public, by the use of ICT in an easy, economical and
effective manner. The process is extremely complicated which requires, the proper arrangement
of hardware, software, networking and indeed re-engineering of all the processes to facilitate
better delivery of services.

1.4 Types of Interactions in E-Governance

A. G2G (Government to Government):

When the exchange of information and services is within the periphery of the government, is
termed as G2G interaction. This can be both horizontal, i.e. among various government entities
and vertical, i.e. between national, state and local government entities and within different levels
of the entity.
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B. G2C (Government to Citizen):

The interaction amidst the government and general public is G2C interaction. Here an interface
is set up between government and citizens, which enables citizens to get access to wide variety
of public services. The citizens have the freedom to share their views and grievances on
government policies anytime, anywhere.

C. G2B (Government to Business):

In this case, the e-governance helps the business class to interact with the government
seamlessly. It aims at eliminating red-tapism, saving time, cost and establish transparency in the
business environment, while interacting with government.

D. G2E (Government to Employees):

The government of any country is the biggest employer and so it also deals with employees on a
regular basis, as other employers do. ICT helps in making the interaction between government
and employees fast and efficient, along with raising their level of satisfaction by providing
perquisites and add-on benefits.
E-governance can only be possible if the government is ready for it. It is not a one day task, and
so the government has to make plans and implement them before switching to it. Some of the
measures include Investment in telecommunication infrastructure, budget resources, ensure
security, monitor assessment, internet connectivity speed, promote awareness among public
regarding the importance, support from all government departments and so forth

E-governance has a great role to play, that improves and supports all tasks performed by the
government department and agencies, because it simplifies the task on the one hand and
increases the quality of work on the other.

1.5 Limitations of E-Governance

 A full switch to government-to-citizen e-governance will cost a large amount of money in

development and implementation.
 In addition, government agencies do not always engage citizens in the development of their
e-gov services or accept feedback.
 Customers identified the following barriers to government-to-customer e-governance:
o not everyone has Internet access, especially in rural or low-income areas,
o G2C technology can be problematic for citizens who lack computing skills.
o Some G2C sites have technology requirements (such as browser requirements and
plug-ins) that won't allow access to certain services, language barriers, the necessity
for an e-mail address to access certain services, and a lack of privacy.
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SECTION II
ROLE OF ICT IN GOVERNANCE

2.1 The roles

People did not so readily accept process change but in the name of ICT they do. The main role
of ICT for governance is as follows:
 Improve the quality of governance products and services being currently provided
 Provide new governance services and products
 Enhance the participation of the people in the choice & provision of governance products
& services
 Bring new sections of society under the governance sphere including those who are most
likely to remain excluded - namely the poor, the illiterate, the differently abled, the
indigenous people, the migrants and displaced people.

2.2 Characteristics of Good Governance

The concept of good governance has also emerged from the felt need called New Public
Management which began in the early 1980s, to improve public service efficiency. The core
values around which new public management works are economy, efficiency and
effectiveness. e-governance making use of ICT for better government functioning, is a tool for
achieving good governance.

Good governance has 8 major characteristics.

 Participation: Participation by both men and women is the key cornerstone of good
governance and it could be either direct or through legitimate intermediate institutions
or representatives. Participation needs to be informed and organized. This means freedom of
association and expression on the one hand and an organized civil society on the other.

 Rule of law: Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced
impartially. It also requires full protection of human rights, particularly those of
minorities. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent judiciary and an
impartial and incorruptible police force.

 Transparency: Transparency means that when decisions are taken their enforcement is
done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is
freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and
their enforcement. It also means that enough information is provided and that it is provided
in easily understandable forms and media.
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 Responsiveness: Good governance requires that institutions and processes try to serve all
stakeholders within a reasonable timeframe.

 Consensus oriented: There are several actors and as many view points in a given society.
Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to reach a broad
consensus on what is in the best interests of the whole community and how this can be
achieved. It also requires a broad and longterm perspective on what is needed for
sustainable human development and how to achieve the goals of such development. This
can only result from an understanding of the historical, cultural and social contexts of a given
society or community.

 Equity and inclusiveness: A society’s well being depends on ensuring that all its members feel
that they have a stake in it and do not feel excluded from the mainstream of society. This
requires all groups, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have opportunities to improve
or maintain their well being.

 Effectiveness and efficiency: Good governance means that processes and institutions
produce results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of resources at
their disposal. The concept of efficiency in the context of good governance also covers the
sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.

 Accountability: Accountability is a key requirement of good governance. Not only must

governmental institutions be accountable to the public but also private sector and civil
society organizations must be accountable to their institutional stakeholders. Who is
accountable to whom varies on whether decisions or actions taken are internal or
external to an organization or institution. In general an organization or an institution is
accountable to those who will be affected by its decisions or actions. Accountability
cannot be enforced without transparency and the rule of law.

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SECTION III
E-GOVERNANCE MATURITY
3.1 Introduction
 e-government applications and projects generally pass through various stages such as
publishing of information on the web to carrying out transactions and even complete
process re-engineering so as to bring in the true value and benefits of the efforts to the
citizens.
 Gartner, an international e-business research consultancy firm, has formulated a four-phase
e-governance model which can serve as a reference for governments to position where a
project would fit in the overall evolution of an e-government strategy.

3.2 Phases of E-Governance Maturity

 According to Gartner the e-governance four-phase maturity model is as follows:

Early 90’s Information  Presence

Mid 90’s Interaction  Intake process
Present Transaction  Complete transaction
Future changes Transformation  Integration and organizational

Phase I: Information
 In the first phase, Information, e-governance means being present on the website, providing
the relevant information to the G2C and G2B.
 This phase entails usage of ICT to expand access to government information which is of
importance to individuals and businesses.
 An efficient utilization of internet and communication technologies makes it possible to
disseminate government information to a global audience in a fast and convenient manner.
 Setting up a National Portal will enable citizens and businesses to readily access government
information without having to travel to government offices, stand in long queues or resort to
malpractices to get the task done.
 Some noteworthy examples: of this stage with their portals include the UK Government’s
‘DirectGov’ initiative, http://www.direct.gov.uk/Homepage/fs/en, ‘Firstgov’ portal of the US
federal government, http://www.firstgov.gov, Singapore government’s, http://www.gov.sg ,
Canadian government’s national portal, http://www.canada.gc.ca, the Indian government’s
‘India Image’ portal, http://indiaimage.gov.in and the New Zealand government’s,
http://www.govt.nz ; and
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Phase II: Interaction

 The second phase pertains to enhancing public involvement in the process of government
functioning. Through the use of technology, the interaction between the governments and
citizens/businesses can be stimulated and made more effective.
 People can submit their queries and grievances through email or specially designed forms,
check the status of their grievance, voice their opinion and help in policy formulation on
important issues through online opinion polls and discussion forums and avail a whole range
of online services.
 This not only raises the trust level of citizens in the government but also saves a lot of time
by providing services on a 24*7 basis which would otherwise have been done over the
conventional ‘counters’ only during the working hours of the government.
 Good examples of this phase include the websites of the Commission on Administrative
Justice (www.ombudsman.go.ke)

Phase III: Transaction

 While in the Interaction phase, the citizen is able to exchange information online and
get details of the procedures involved. When it comes to actually conducting the
transaction, he/she has to resort to conventional means.
 However, in Phase 3, this situation is amended and this phase involves establishing websites
and other applications that allow users to conduct transactions online.
 In other words, the user is able to avail the service online in the complete sense. Online
monetary transactions and payments is a crucial component of this phase since the citizen
can carry out the transaction without having to even visit the government office.
 This phase demonstrates the advancements of technologies such as digital certificates and
payment gateways and results in long term cost saving and improvement in productivity.
 Services such as online booking and payment of travel tickets, payment of taxes, land
registration, renewal of identity cards and payment of utility bills etc. which require
monetary transactions can be effectively provided in this phase through citizen kiosks and
web-enabled applications.
 Examples of this phase includes: e-citizen.go.ke - where one can register and pay for vehicle
licenses, immigration passports, birth certificates, certificates of good conduct, driving
license and many other Ethiopian government services.
Phase IV: Transformation

 This phase alludes to the stage where the government has gone through the full
transformation process and all citizen services are being made available online through a
single ‘virtual’ counter round the clock.
 In other words, in this stage the capacity to instantly access any service in a ‘unified package’
is provided to the citizen.
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 Ministerial/departmental/agency lines of demarcation are removed and services are

clustered along common needs.
 Providing such fully integrated services will require broad organizational changes, aligning
the organizational setup with new capacities and integrating the back-end operations and
infrastructure.
 Since various countries are at different levels of maturity in terms of resources and
infrastructure, the adoption of e-government also has to be viewed in the form of different
phases of maturity.

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SECTION IV
NATIONAL E-GOVERNANCE PLAN (NeGP)
4.1 Introduction
 The NeGP is an enormous step towards making the government accessible to citizens, in
ways that not only save huge costs to the government but also make it more transparent and
efficient in its day-to-day interactions with the common man.
 To that effect, the role of the common services centers, envisaged as the front-end delivery
network for government services assumes great significance.
 Over the years, a large number of initiatives have been undertaken by various state
governments and central ministries to usher in an era of e-government.
 Sustained efforts have been made at multiple levels to improve the delivery of public services
and simplify the process of accessing them. NeGP takes a holistic view of e-governance
initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared cause.

4.2 Implementation Strategies for NeGP

 A prudent approach therefore is proposed for the NeGP is based on lessons learnt
from the past and the experiences of successful e-governance applications that have
been implemented nationally and internationally.
 1. Common Infrastructure: NeGP implementation involves setting up of common and support
IT infrastructure
 2. Governance: Suitable arrangements for monitoring and coordinating the implementation
of NeGP under the direction of competent authorities be set up. The programme also
involves evolving/ laying down standards and policy guidelines, providing technical support,
undertaking capacity building, research and development etc.
 3. Centralized Initiative, Decentralized Implementation: e-governance is being promoted
through a centralized initiative to the extent necessary to ensure citizen-centric orientation,
to realize the objective of inter-operability of various e-Governance applications and to
ensure optimal utilization of ICT infrastructure and resources while allowing for a
decentralized implementation model. It also aims at identifying successful projects and
replicating them with required customization wherever needed.
 4. Public-Private Partnerships model: It has to be adopted wherever feasible to enlarge the
resource pool without compromising on the security aspects.
 5. Integrative elements: Adoption of unique identification codes for citizens, businesses and
property is to be promoted to facilitate integration and avoid ambiguity.

4.3 E-Governance Infrastructure

 The government’s e-governance initiatives allow the State to provide various G2C services
and provide a unified communication network to all government offices across the country.
 A common digital service delivery infrastructure consisting of the SWAN, SDC, NSDG/SSDG,
and CSC.
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1. State Wide Area Network (SWAN)

 State Wide Area Network is an advanced telecommunication infrastructure, which is used
extensively, for an exchange of data and other types of information between two or more
locations, separated by significant geographical distances.
 The medium of connectivity can be copper, optical fiber cable or wireless, whichever is
feasible.
 Such wide area networks, in a way, create a highway for electronic transfer of information in
the form of voice, video and data.
 SWAN is envisaged to create such a connectivity in each State, to bring speed, efficiency,
reliability and accountability in the overall system of G2G functioning.
 SWAN is designed to cater to the governance information and communication requirements
of all the State Departments.

2. State Data Center (SDC)

 State Data Centre has been identified as one of the important elements of the core
infrastructure for supporting e-governance initiatives of NeGP.
 Under NeGP, an SDC will be created for the states to consolidate services, applications and
infrastructure to provide efficient electronic delivery of G2G, G2C and G2B services.
 These services can be rendered by the states through a common delivery platform
seamlessly
supported by core connectivity infrastructure such as SWAN and CSC connectivity extended
up to the village level.
 SDC provides many functionalities and some of the key functionalities are Central Repository
of the State, Secure Data Storage, Online Delivery of Services, Citizen Information/Services
Portal, State Intranet Portal, Disaster Recovery, Remote Management and Service Integration
etc.
 SDCs would also provide better operation & management control and minimize the overall
cost of Data Management, IT Resource Management, Deployment and other costs.

3. National e-governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG)

 The NeGP aims to cooperate, collaborate and integrate information across different
departments in the Centre, States and Local Government. Government systems are
characterized by islands of legacy systems using heterogeneous platforms and technologies.
 These are spread across diverse geographical locations, in varying states of automation,
making this task very challenging.
 The NSDG, an integrated MMP under the NeGP, can simplify the above task by acting as a
standards-based messaging switch and providing seamless inter-operability and exchange of
data across the departments.
 NSDG acting as a nerve centre, would handle a large number of transactions and would help
in tracking and time stamping all transactions of the government.
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 The NSDG is an attempt to reduce such point to point connections between departments
and provide a standardized interfacing, messaging and routing switch through which various
players such as departments, front-end service access providers and back-end service
providers can make their applications and data interoperable.
 The NSDG aims to achieve a high order of inter-operability among autonomous and
heterogeneous entities in the centre, states or local bodies of government.

4. Common Services Centers (CSC)

 The CSC is a strategic cornerstone of the NeGP to introduce e-governance on a massive
scale. The CSCs would provide high quality and cost-effective video, voice and data content
and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment as
well as other private services.
 A highlight of the CSCs is that it will offer web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas,
including application forms, certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone
and water bills.
 The scheme creates a conducive environment for the private sector and NGOs to play an
active role in the implementation of the CSC Scheme, thereby becoming a partner of the
government in the development of rural area.

4.4 e-Readiness of e-Governance

 The concept of e-governance focuses on the development of in-house government
applications in the areas of defense, economic monitoring, planning and the deployment of
IT to manage data intensive functions related to elections, census, tax administration,
passports e.t.c
 e-Readiness is the ability to use ICT to develop one's economy and to foster one's welfare.
 Each year, in cooperation with the IBM Institute for Business Value, the Economist
Intelligence Unit produces a ranking of e-Readiness across countries, based on six pillars of e-
readiness: connectivity & technology infrastructure, business environment, social &
cultural environment, legal environment, government policy & vision and consumer
& business adoption.
 e-Readiness indices at the macro level are constructed primarily for ranking countries and
facilitating comparisons between countries over time. They are also used to track the global
digital divide, i.e. the gap between countries that have access to ICT.
 Most countries have published a tremendous amount of information online, many going
beyond basic websites to provide national portals that serve as a major starting point for
users to connect to government services in different ministries.
 At the same time, many developing countries need to devote additional energy to
transactional services as well as to the electronic means of engaging citizens in public
consultation and decision making.
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 The following Table below shows the Economist Intelligence Unit e-readiness rankings in
2010. It includes the ranks of the first 10 countries and other selected countries.

Rank Country e-readiness Score

1 Sweden 0. 849
2 Denmark 0.841
3 United States 0.841
4 Finland 0.836
5 Netherlands 0.836
6 Norway 0.824
7 Hong Kong 0.822
8 Singapore 0.822
9 Australia 0.821
10 New Zealand 0.807
124 Kenya 0.33

 Only 4 countries out of 54 in Africa score higher than the world average EGDI of 0.55,
whereas 14 countries have very low EGDI scores below 0.25.
 These countries are also low-income and likely to face constraints in allocating necessary
resources for e-government development.
 Eight of the 11 new countries that joined the very-high performing group in 2018 are from
Europe (Belarus, Greece, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Poland, Portugal and the Russian
Federation) and two are from Asia (Cyprus and Kazakhstan).

4.5 e-Governance Challenges

E-governance is reforming the way government manages and shares information with external
and internal clients. Specifically, it harnesses ICT to transform relations with citizens, businesses
and the various arms of government. There are however, numerous challenges. Some of the key
areas needing attention are as follows:-

 Clarity in objective setting: Project approval and funding of projects through multiple
departmental budgets lead to wide variations in the approach to project objective setting,
without a clear focus on outcomes or on building sustainable services. The service needs of
citizens/ businesses and those of other departments are often either overlooked or accorded
lower priority in relation to internal needs. Very often, objective setting is purely in ICT terms
such as computers, networks and so on which are specified in great detail, while government
business process outcomes are either not defined or are defined in vague terms that do not
lend themselves to measurement post implementation.
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 Ensuring service delivery: e-governance projects have primarily focused on internal process
automation and generally are hardware and infrastructure driven with little focus on citizen
service delivery or outcomes.

 Awareness: There is a general lack of awareness regarding benefits of e-governance as well as

the process involved in implementing successful G2C, G2B and G2G projects. The administrative
structure is not geared for maintaining, storing and retrieving governance information
electronically. The general tendency is to obtain the data from the files as and when required
rather than using document management and workflow technologies.

 Awareness of government officials about ICT: More than anything else, it is the mindset of
government officials that poses the biggest bottleneck to e-government. There are a number of
reasons why they resist the use of computers beyond the usual typing of letters and documents.
The primary reasons are that they are resistant to any kind of change in their familiar working
environment; they fear that computerization of different government activities may make some
people redundant and think that computers are meant for low-level typist kind of work.

 Public Awareness about ICTs: Although there is much hype about IT among the younger
generation, there is not a high level of awareness among the general public about how ICTs may
be useful to their lives. Also, there is a cultural inhibition about the use of PCs in this country.
From a cultural context, people are generally not familiar with the concept of using computers.
ICTs are still generally perceived as catering to the rich and the elite. As a result, there is no
demand or pressure from the public for service delivery through the use of ICTs.

 Non-acceptability of IT systems: It is often seen that even after an IT system is implemented in a

government office, it becomes hard for government officials to convince themselves to use it.
Besides the general lack of awareness about ICTs and the fears discussed earlier, some other
factors also play a part in the non-acceptability of IT systems. They fear that important data may
get lost or they are doubtful about the security features of computers.

 Leveraging Private Capital: The experience of successful e-governance initiatives indicates that
well structured service-oriented projects can attract private capital linked to explicit service-
linked revenues from users or from government. The current system of project formulation i.e.
based on budgetary allocation / grants places little or no pressure on departments to develop
project structures that can attract private capital, a goal that necessitates additional rigor and
complexity at the project formulation and development stage.

 Resistance to re-engineering of departmental processes: Successful implementation of e-

governance projects requires a lot of restructuring in the administrative processes and
redefining of administrative procedures and formats. This meets with resistance in almost all
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departments at all levels. Additionally there is a lack of expertise among departmental MIS
executives in exploiting data mining techniques, updatiing of and collection of real time content
in the website etc. Therefore the content collected or maintained by various e-governance
portals is unreliable or full of gaps. In such a scenario, it is difficult for any e-governance solution
to achieve its intended results. Hence, it is essential to undertake process re-engineering as an
integral part of e-governance project implementation in order to ensure increased efficiency and
reduced costs.

 Standardization: A departmental approach and the absence of a national framework for
common standards has resulted in the adoption of different technical standards and varied
architectures. This has significant implications for designing effective integrated applications and
also entails long-term costs and sub-optimal results.

 Independent Impact Assessment: In the current system, there is no requirement or institutional

mechanism for an independent assessment of projects post-implementation to determine
whether they have achieved the set objectives, except in purely financial terms. Further, very
few projects have formal performance metrics defined at the start of the project to measure
outcomes.

 Localization/Multi-language support: e-governance has an impact only when the services to

citizens are made available in their respective language. However, this is a challenge that needs
to be addressed by formulating clear standards and guidelines with respect to the fonts, storage,
input etc. ICT solutions were mostly developed with an English language interface. However, in
India vast majorities (95 percent) of the citizens do not know English and use the local language.

 Internal Capacity/Project Management Expertise: Departments/ states have limited access to

any institutional mechanisms for building capacities in the areas of e-governance project
development and design, bid process management, professional project management,
development of contractual frameworks and service level agreements.

 Underutilization of existing ICT infrastructure: To a larger extent, the computers in the

department are used for the purpose of word processing only, resulting in the under-utilization
of the computers in terms of their use in data mining for supporting management decisions.

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SECTION V
E-GOVERNANCE AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

5.1 Introduction
 Knowledge management is the systematic management of an organization's knowledge
assets for the purpose of creating value and meeting tactical & strategic requirements; it
consists of the initiatives, processes, strategies, and systems that sustain and enhance the
storage, assessment, sharing, refinement, and creation of knowledge.
 The classic one-line definition of Knowledge Management was offered up by Tom Davenport
early on (Davenport, 1994): “Knowledge Management is the process of capturing,
distributing, and effectively using knowledge.”
 "Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying,
capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets.
 These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-
captured expertise and experience in individual workers."

 Need for knowledge management

o Rich, Deep, and Open Communication: KM can very fruitfully be seen as the
undertaking to replicate, indeed to create, the information environment known to be
conducive to successful R&D—rich, deep, and open communication and information
access—and to deploy it broadly across the firm.
o Situational Awareness: The role of KM is to create the capability for the organization
to establish excellent situational awareness and consequently to make the right
decisions.

 Components of Knowledge Management

o Content Management: The most obvious is the making of the organization's data and
information available to the members of the organization through dashboards,
portals, and with the use of content management systems. Content Management,
sometimes known as Enterprise Content Management, is the most immediate and
obvious part of KM.
o Expert Location: Since knowledge resides in people, often the best way to acquire the
expertise that you need is to talk with an expert. Locating the right expert with the
knowledge that you need, though, can be a problem, particularly if, for example, the
expert is in another country. The basic function of an expertise locator system is
straightforward: it is to identify and locate those persons within an organization who
have expertise in a particular area. These systems are now commonly known as
expertise location systems. In the early days of KM the term ‘Yellow Pages” was
commonly used, but now that term is fast disappearing.
o Lessons Learnt: Lessons Learned databases are databases that attempt to capture and
make accessible knowledge, typically “how to do it” knowledge, that has been
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operationally obtained and normally would not have been explicitly captured. In the
KM context, the emphasis is upon capturing knowledge embedded in personal
expertise and making it explicit.
o Communities of Practice (CoPs): CoPs are groups of individuals with shared interests
that come together in person or virtually to tell stories, to share and discuss problems
and opportunities, discuss best practices, and talk over lessons learned. Communities
of practice emphasize, build upon, and take advantage of the social nature of learning
within or across organizations.
o A classic example of the deployment of CoPs comes from the World Bank. When
James Wolfensohn became president in 1995, he focused on the World Bank's role in
disseminating knowledge about development; he was known to say that the principal
product of the World Bank was not loans, but rather the creation of knowledge about
how to accomplish development.

 Stages of Knowledge Management

o First Stage of KM: Information Technology: KM was initially driven primarily by IT,
information technology, and the desire to put that new technology, the Internet, to
work and see what it was capable of. That first stage has been described using a
horse breeding metaphor as “by the internet out of intellectual capital,” the sire and
the dam. The concept of intellectual capital, the notion that not just physical
resources, capital, and manpower, but also intellectual capital (knowledge) fueled
growth and development, provided the justification, the framework, and the seed.
The availability of the internet provided the tool.

o Second Stage of KM: HR and Corporate Culture: Within a few years the second stage
of KM emerged when it became apparent that simply deploying new technology was
not sufficient to effectively enable information and knowledge sharing. It became
obvious that human and cultural dimensions needed to be incorporated. The second
stage can be described as the “‘If you build it they will come’ is a fallacy” stage. In
other words, there was the recognition that “If you build it they will come” is a recipe
that can easily lead to quick and embarrassing failure if human factors are not
sufficiently taken into account.

o Third Stage of KM: Taxonomy and Content Management: The third stage developed
from the awareness of the importance of content, and in particular the awareness of
the importance of the retrievability of that content, and therefore the importance of
the arrangement, description, and the syndetic structure of that content. Since a
good alternative description for the second stage of KM is the “it’s no good if they
don’t use it” stage, then in that vein, perhaps the best description for the third stage
is the “it’s no good if they try to use it but can’t find it” stage.
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5.2 Types of Knowledge

 In 1999, Dr. Lorin Anderson, a former learner of Bloom's, and his colleagues published an
updated version of Bloom’s Taxonomy that takes into account a broader range of factors that
have an impact on teaching and learning.
 This revised taxonomy attempts to correct some of the problems with the original taxonomy.
Unlike the 1956 version, the revised taxonomy differentiates between “knowing what,” the
content of thinking, and “knowing how,” the procedures used in solving problems.

 The Knowledge Dimension is the “knowing what.” It has four categories: factual, conceptual,
procedural, and metacognitive.

 Factual knowledge: includes isolated bits of information, such as vocabulary definitions and
knowledge about specific details.

 Conceptual knowledge: consists of systems of information, such as classifications and

categories.

 Procedural knowledge: includes algorithms, heuristics or rules of thumb, techniques, and

methods as well as knowledge about when to use these procedures.

 Metacognitive knowledge: refers to knowledge of thinking processes and information about

how to manipulate these processes effectively.

The Cognitive Process Dimension of the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy like the original version has
six skills. They are, from simplest to most complex: remember, understand, apply, analyze,
evaluate, and create.

 Remembering: Remembering consists of recognizing and recalling relevant information from

long-term memory.
 Understanding: Understanding is the ability to make your own meaning from educational
material such as reading and teacher explanations. The subskills for this process include
interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.
 Applying: The third process, applying, refers to using a learned procedure either in a familiar
or new situation.
 Analysis: The next process is analysis, which consists of breaking knowledge down into its
parts and thinking about how the parts relate to its overall structure. Students analyze by
differentiating, organizing, and attributing.
 Evaluation: Evaluation, which is at the top of the original taxonomy, is the fifth of the six
processes in the revised version. It includes checking and critiquing.
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 Creating: Creating, a process not included in the earlier taxonomy, is the highest component
of the new version. This skill involves putting things together to make something new. To
accomplish creating tasks, learners generate, plan, and produce.

According to this taxonomy, each level of knowledge can correspond to each level of cognitive
process, so a learner can remember factual or procedural knowledge, understand conceptual or
metacognitive knowledge, or analyze metacognitive or factual knowledge.

5.2 Principles of Knowledge Management

Your knowledge management principles will be unique to your organization. The following
examples are a starting point.
 Knowledge is a Valuable Asset: Knowledge management is based on the idea that knowledge
is an asset that should be managed (just as capital assets are managed).
 Knowledge is Stored in A Central Repository: One of the biggest problems that knowledge
management programs face is islands of knowledge. Teams and individuals have a tendency
to horde knowledge in their own makeshift repositories.
 Knowledge is Retained: Knowledge is retained according to organizational retention policies.
Retention may be managed with a set health check criteria for knowledge. For example,
knowledge that is old, unreferenced and unused may be pruned.
 Knowledge is Quality Controlled: Set the expectation that knowledge is quality controlled. For
example, quality guidelines may state that document authorship (who contributed to
knowledge) be captured
 Knowledge is Sustained: A sustainable approach to knowledge management. For example,
minimizing the resources used by knowledge repositories.
 Knowledge is Decentralized:Most knowledge management responsibilities lie with those
teams closest to the knowledge. It's a bad idea to centralize all knowledge management
processes.
 Knowledge is Social: Knowledge that sits on a shelf has no value. The value of knowledge
depends on communication and socialization. The creation, assessment, improvement and
use of knowledge is largely a social process.
 Knowledge is Shared: A primary goal of knowledge management is to facilitate the sharing of
knowledge. Encourage your organization to share (e.g. lunch and learn sessions).
 Knowledge is Accessible: Knowledge is more valuable when it's accessible to a wide audience.
Privacy and confidentiality prevent most organizations from sharing all knowledge. However,
it's important to set the expectation that a valid reason is required to restrict access.
 Knowledge is Secured: Knowledge is your most valuable information. It's critical that
information security best practices be followed for knowledge management processes and
tools.
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SECTION VI
E-GOVERNANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT

6.1 Introduction
 Studies across African countries have noted that government in developing countries costs
too much, delivers too little, and not sufficiently responsive or accountable.
 Good governance aims at addressing these issues through offering a new way forward by
helping to improve government processes, connect citizens, and build interactions with and
within civil society.
 E-Governance offers the root power to ICT application which provides three basic change
potentials for good governance for development
o Automation: Replacing current – human executed processes which involve accepting,
storing, processing, outputting or transmitting information e.g. the automation of
clerical functions.
o Informatization: Supporting the current human executed informational processes e.g.
supporting current process of decision making, communication and decision
implementation.
o Transformation: Creating new ICT executed information processes or supporting new
human-executed information processes. Eg. Creating new methods of public service
delivery.

6.2 Benefits of e-governance for development

The changes in turn can bring singly or in combination, FIVE benefits to governance for
development as follows:
1. Efficiency Gains:
a. Governance that is Cheaper: Producing the same output at lower costs
b. Governance that does more: Producing more outputs at the same total cost
c. Governance that is quicker: Producing the same outputs at the same total cost in
less time.
2. Effective gains:
a. Governance that works better: Producing the same outputs at the same total cost
in the same time, but to a higher quality standard.
b. Governance that is innovative: Producing new outputs.

6.3 What does e-governance for development cover?

 e-Governance does not cover e-commerce and e-business applications that focus solely or
mainly on the private sector. As noted above, instead, there are three main domains of e-
governance:
o · Improving government processes: e-Administration
o · Connecting citizens: e-Citizens and e-Services
o · Building interactions with and within civil society: e-Society
e-Governance Compiled Lecture Notes:

6.3.1 Improving Processes: e-Administration

 Such initiatives deal particularly with improving the internal workings of the public sector.
They include:
 Cutting process costs: improving the input:output ratio by cutting financial costs and/or
time costs. Automation can replace higher human costs with lower ICT costs to support
efficiency/productivity improvements. Informatisation can support decisions and
implementation in downsizing or rightsizing exercises. The rationale is to address the large
size of public sector expenditure and/or the inefficiency of many of its processes. The
Egyptian case below is an example.
 Managing process performance: planning, monitoring and controlling the performance of
process resources (human, financial and other). Informatisation supports this by providing
information about process performance and performance standards. The rationale is to
make more efficient or effective use of process resources. The Tanzanian case below is an
example.
 Making strategic connections in government: connecting arms, agencies, levels and data
stores of government to strengthen capacity to investigate, develop and implement the
strategy and policy that guides government processes. Examples of such connections are
central-to-local, ministry-to-ministry, executive-to-legislature, and decision maker-to-data
store. Automation and informatisation support this by digitising existing information
channels. Transformation supports this by creating new digital channels. The rationale is to
provide clearer direction for public sector and state processes and to provide for a more
evidence-based approach to policy and process. The Chinese case below is an example.
 Creating empowerment: transferring power, authority and resources for processes from
their existing locus to new locations. Typically that transfer is to lower, more localized levels
of the public sector and may be seen as decentralization. Transformation supports this by
creating new information flows to decision makers and process implementers in new
locations. The rationale is to reduce the costs and increase the speed of processes and
decision making and/or to create more flexible and responsive processes. The South African
case below is an example.

6.3.2 e-Administration trend in developing countries

From this base of clerical automation, there are three e-administration trends at work in
developing countries:
1. ICTs are spreading up the organization, increasingly supporting the work of
operational and tactical managers and, most recently, beginning to touch the working
lives of politicians and other senior public officials. As the high water mark of ICTs rises
higher, their impact on government increases.
2. · Use is changing from automation to informatization and transformation. As the
change potential of ICTs increases, they deliver ever-greater benefits and enable ever-
greater changes in the process of government.
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3. · From a focus on processing (i.e. computers, the I in ICTs), applications are moving to a
focus on communications (i.e. networks, the C in ICTs) and, most recently, to a focus on
both processing and communications. As the power and reach of ICTs grows, so does
the power and reach of change in government.

6.3.3 Developing Countries e-Administration examples

CASE 1: Creating a National ID System in Egypt

In Egypt, the Information and Decision Support Center has created a comprehensive national
database with 85 million birth records, 34 million death records, 12 million marriage records
and 2 million divorce records. This has provided the basis for a national ID number and, hence,
a secure and accurate national ID card. Automation of previously-manual processes has saved
considerable sums of money. The information base and ID numbers have also been an essential
building block in the creation of other public sector planning and service delivery applications.

CASE 2: Delivering Management Control in Tanzania

"The Government of Tanzania has recently launched its integrated HR and Payroll systems
covering about 280,000 public servants. While the capital invested was significant at around
US$6.5 million, the savings already accrued in improved management – reduced ghost workers,
improved control, and accuracy – mean that the project has already paid for itself. The
Government of Tanzania has also implemented an Integrated Financial Management System
(IFMS) at all ministries in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma via a wide area network. IFMS has
improved control over expenditure management, resulting in more timely and detailed
reporting. Internet-enabled versions of both systems will soon be rolled out countrywide

CASE 3: Improving Sustainable Development Strategy in China

There was recognition in the Chinese government that formulation and implementation of
sustainable development strategies were hampered by lack of adequate information, and that
much of the data underlying this information lay scattered in many different organisations.
Therefore an ICT-enabled national Agenda 21 network was created, particularly linking a set of
key national government, local government and public sector research institutions. The project
also helped connect leading decision makers with valuable Web-based data resources on
sustainable development. In addition to raising the profile of sustainable development with
policy makers, the network has also helped bring faster and more information to the process of
strategic environmental decision making

CASE 4: Breaking the Apartheid Legacy in South Africa

The ANC-led government in South Africa is making extensive use of ICTs in its bid to
democratize a public sector run for decades largely by, and for, an Afrikaner minority.
Attempting to 'reinvent' itself, Johannesburg Metropolitan Council initiated an intranet project.
This was intended to break apartheid-legacy information flows and give all staff access to both
e-Governance Compiled Lecture Notes:

formal and informal information sources. Careful design ensured that the project was a success.
Council processes have become more inclusive and transparent. The project is now being
extended to encompass local community leaders as well

6.4 Connecting Citizens: e-Citizens and e-Services

Such initiatives deal particularly with the relationship between government and citizens: either
as voters/stakeholders from whom the public sector derives its legitimacy, or as customers who
consume public services. They include:

 Talking to citizens: providing citizens with details of public sector activities. This mainly
relates to certain types of accountability: making public servants more accountable for their
decisions and actions. Informatization and transformation support this by providing the new
information flows from government to citizens on which accountability depends. The
rationale is to increase the pressure on staff to perform well and to improve public
understanding of government. The South Korean case below is an example.
 Listening to citizens: increasing the input of citizens into public sector decisions and actions.
This could be flagged as either democratization or participation. The main potential is for
informatization and transformation to support this by providing new information flows from
citizens to government. The rationale is to make public decisions more responsive to
citizens' view or needs. A South African example is given below, although this relates to the
automation of democratic processes, not informatization /transformation.
 Improving public services: improving the services delivered to members of the public along
dimensions such as quality, convenience and cost. This uses all the potentials of ICTs to
deliver the informational components of public services to citizens in digital form. The direct
rationale is clear from the definition, but there is also an indirect rationale of releasing
citizen time and money that would otherwise be captured by inefficient service delivery.
The Chilean case below is an example.

6.4.1 Developing Country e-Citizens/ e-Services Examples

1. Talking to Citizens – Case: Greater Openness of Local Government in South Korea

At the highest level in the Municipal Government of Seoul there were concerns about lack of
accountability and existence of corruption in the issuing of local government licences and
permits. This led to the development of the OPEN system (Online Procedures ENhancement for
civil applications): an anti-corruption Web portal that provides citizens with a range of relevant
information. This includes the overall goals of the anti-corruption drive and an explanation of the
rules and procedures for permit/license application and processing. However, OPEN goes
beyond this. It displays an anti-corruption index that summarizes survey results on process
performance. It also provides citizens with specific information by allowing them 'real-time
monitoring of the progress of an application for a permit or license'. Some of this information
can also be found in paper form but, for the increasing number of Seoul citizens or citizen groups
e-Governance Compiled Lecture Notes:

with Internet access, this has reduced the barriers to obtaining government information. They
are therefore better informed, the process of government is more open, and the rationale for
bribery has been largely removed. Feedback from citizens has been very positive, and there has
been a dramatic decrease in reported corruption. In large part, these achievements have been
due to the integrated approach taken, ensuring that technological change serves public sector
reform goals rather than vice versa.

2. Listening to Citizens – Case: Supporting Free and Fair Elections in South Africa
Following difficulties in the 1994 elections, South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission
"was charged with making sure that the country's second democratic elections in 1999 were
'free and fair'. This election was vitally important for the stability of the South African political
climate and for ensuring that democratic processes were solidly in place. Through large scale
implementation of unique information technology applications, the IEC was able to ensure that
all South African citizens could have their voices heard. The effort included the creation of a
nationwide satellite-based wide-area network and infrastructure; a bar-code system used to
register 18.4 million voters in just nine days; a geographic information system used to create
voting districts; a national common voters' role; a sophisticated election results center for
managing the process; and the training of 300,000 people. The massive programme was
completed in less than two years, in time for the vote." For this, the IEC received the 2000
Computerworld Smithsonian Award for most outstanding programme in the government and
non-profit organizations category.

3. Improving Public Services – Case: Better Tax Return Filing for Citizens in Chile
Chile's Internal Revenue Service has taken a typical three-step approach to Web enabled
improvements in services to the public. The first step – publishing – involved static presentation
of information on taxation rates, procedures and plans. The second step – interaction – allowed
citizens to enter a personal ID number, tax return ID number and password. They could then
check on the status of their tax return to see if refunds were due or if the return was still being
reviewed. Following the introduction of new legislation, the third step – transaction – allows
citizens to file tax returns online and to make subsequent online corrections. There have been
tens of thousands of online tax returns and hundreds of thousands of online status checks since
the system's introduction. The system has reduced costs and increased speed and accuracy of
service. It "saves money on printing, distribution and processing time. And online customers find
the system easier, faster, and more accurate than traditional paper-based services. Whereas
processing a tax return had previously taken 25 working days … the new online package was
delivering online assessments in just 12 hours." These gains mean 'online taxpayers have an
extra 10 days in which to declare their taxes' and they also get refunds 'at least a month before
paper-based claimants'

========================================
e-Governance Compiled Lecture Notes:

_________________________________________________________________________
Assignment:
Ethiopia has made tremendous strides in its e-governance structure in all the three arms
of government i.e. the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. E-governance
systems have been implemented that targets these arms in terms of automation,
informatization, and transformation to achieve e-governance for development.
Required:
1. A hand-written paper presenting how the government of Ethiopia has been able
to connect to its citizens with a specific objective of:
a. Talking to its Citizens
b. Listening to its Citizens
c. Improving Public Services
2. A maximum of THREE – PAGE document.
3. Submission Deadline: NEXT CLASS
_____________________________________________________________________________
 e-Governance Compiled Lecture Notes:

REFERENCES

1. Flak, L.S., Olsen, D.H. and Wolcott, P (2005). “ Local E-Government in Norway”, Scandinavian
Journal of Information Systems, Volume17, No.2, pp. 41 – 48
2. http://schoolnet.org.za/teach10/resources/dep/thinking_frameworks/bloom_taxonomy_4.ht
m
3. http://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/What-Is/What-is-KM-Knowledge-Management-
Explained-122649.aspx
4. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce
5. Microsoft (2000) IEC of South Africa wins Computerworld Smithsonian Award, Government
News, 28 June, Microsoft Europe, Reading
6. World Bank (2000) Chilean Tax System Online, World Bank, Washington DC
http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/chile_taxcs.htm
7. World Bank (2000) OPEN: Seoul's Anticorruption Project, World Bank, Washington DC
http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/seoulcs.htm

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