Public Sector Transformation Through E-Government
Page 39
planning with few dependencies, strong change and project management
with enough expert people and good communication toward all stake-
holders, a governance structure with clear responsibilities for all parties
and people involved, having a clearly defined services model and busi-
ness case. When the shared service center P-Direkt was re-initiated in
2007, the new approach was characterized by signifi
ficant strategic and
organizational changes that include a more phased approach using an
incremental growth model, fewer project dependencies, a realistic master
planning, better use of existing HR knowledge, the introduction of uni-
form HR processes, professional project and program management, and
a new governance model. Also, clarity about the funding model, attention
for demand management, and the use of standards were important ele-
ments of this new approach. Even though big public sector IT projects can
be done in diff
fferent ways, certain basic project measures and mechanisms
need to be put in place.
Because of the failure of P-Direkt, a lot of attention was given to avoid
these failures in the future for such big IT projects. In the last years, most
big ICT projects are regularly evaluated, and increasingly more standard
project methods are used such as ITIL and PRINCE. Also, project leaders
of big IT projects are sharing their experiences (P-Direkt, 2007). P-Direkt
is the biggest SSC in the central government and is currently considered
successful in terms of achieved cost savings and service quality. As such, it
is a reference example for a public sector ICT project and increasingly more
governmental SSCs are introduced. Given that P-Direkt required a lot of
222 Anton
Joha and Marijn Janssen
standardization, a lot of the ministries are currently using the same systems,
and further IT integration can be expected beyond the HRM domain.
There has been scant attention given to the identification of failure factors
for SSCs. This explorative research contributes to the limited body of research
on large governmental HR SSCs available, and this analysis can be used by
governments to support a decision-making and implementation process for
such a large center. The factors can be extended in further research and can
be used as a starting point for developing eff ecti
ff
ve transformation strategies.
Also comparisons with private sector projects and with case studies in other
countries would be useful for generalization purposes.
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17 E-Strategic Management Lessons
from Greece
Leonidas G. Anthopoulos, Dimitrios
Triantafyllou, and Panos Fitsilis
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
E-government evolution follows strategic documents that define vision
and mission statements for government transformation. These docu-
ments are generally called “e-strategies” and guide the investments on
Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) at national and at
supranational levels. Most e-strategies have closed their initial life-cycles,
and they have been reengineered in order to achieve updated challenges
such as improved and shared services, e-government adoption, and open
and inclusive public administration. In Europe, the e-strategies have been
defi
fined centrally, trans-European projects have been launched, and Mem-
ber States try to rearrange their national priorities in order to meet the
European ones. Greek e-strategies concern an important European case
that can show how e-strategic transformation is being evolved during the
last decade. In this chapter the Greek e-strategies compared with means
of eff
ffective strategic planning, and investigated in order for the reasons of
the strategic updates to be recognized.
1 INTRODUCTION
Various e-strategies defi
fine the vision and the mission statements for e-gov-
ernment: U.S. “Expanding Government” (U.S. OMB, 2002) and “Open
Government” (U.S. OMB, 2010; 2009); European “e-Europe” (Commis-
sion of the European Communities, 2000; 2001), “i2010” (Commission
of the European Communities, 2005) and “Digital Agenda” (European
Commission, 2010); British “Modernising Government” (U.K. Moder-
nising Government Secretariat Cabinet Offi
ffice, 1999) and “Transforma-
tional Government” (U.K. Cabinet Offi
c
ffi e, 2005); German “Bund Online”
(German Federal Government, 2003) and “Deutschland Online” (ePrac-
tice, 2011); Australian “Government Online” (Australian Government,
2000); and Japanese “e-Japan” (Japanese Government, 2001) and “i-Japan
2015” (Japanese Government, 2009) are only some of the abovementioned
E-Strategic Management Lessons from Greece 225
strategic documents. These documents are called “e-strategies” and guide
the investments on information and communications technologies (ICT) at
national and at supranational levels. E-strategies have closed their initial
life-cycles and have been reengineered in order to achieve updated chal-
lenges such as: improved and shared services, e-government adoption, open
and inclusive public administration, etc.
In (Table 17.1) the vision and the mission statements of the abovementioned e-strategies are summarized, and the Critical Success Factors
(CSFs) that the political leaderships recognize are presented. Moreover, the
updated strategic defi
finition shows how governments realize and treat—
with the ICT—challenges during the last decade.
Some important outcomes can be extracted from the above analysis
(Anthopoulos, 2011): the priorities and the CSFs show that e-service deliv-
ery and infrastructure deployment were aimed during the fi r
fi st strategic
versions. The updated e-strategies moved mainly to a service integration
approach, while some adopted the “Open Government” principles.
Table 17.1 Analysis of Major E-Strategies
Vision
Strategy
Statement
Mission Statement
USA—2002:
Citizen centered, results
Supervisor: Office of Electronic Governmen
ffi
t
Expanding
oriented and market
CSFs:
Government
based public
capital planning / investment control: Integrated
administration
Acquisition Environment (IAE), SmartBUY
service integration: Federal Enterprise Architecture
(FEA)
information securityprivacy Accessibility: usa.gov
Update: 2009
Update:
Update:
Open Government
transparency,
best practices from the private sector;
Initiative
participation, and
managerial methods: Open Government Directive,
collaborationCost:
RIN
$71 billion/year
public service transformation: Paper Reduction Act
(PRA), customer satisfaction
Government accountability: Federal IT Dashboard
UK—1999:
Improvement of
Supervisor: the Modernising Government Secretariat,
Modernising
citizens’ and
Offi
ce of the e-Envoy, Cabinet Offi
ffi
ce
ffi
Government
enterprises’ everyday
CSFs:
life via digital services,
high quality and effi
cient public services: directgov
ffi
.uk
inclusive and
citizen-centered services
integrated
Strategic policy making
Government
Joined up delivery of services: Government Secure
Intranet (GSI)
Cost: £1.7 billion
Interoperability: e-GIF
Standardization: xGEA Enterprise Architecture
(continued)
226 Leonidas G. Anthopoulos, Dimitrios Triantafyllou, and Panos Fitsilis Table 17.1 (continued)
Vision
Strategy
Statement
Mission Statement
Update: 2007
Update:
Update:
Transformational
accountability,
/>
service design around citizens and businesses
Government
economic productivity,
shared services
Enabled by
social justice and
managerial professionalism
Technology
public service reform,
Public involvement
UK’s leading role in
Cost savings
Globalized Economy
Updated
Cost: £1.4 billion
2009: Digital
Broadband universal
Boost digital participation, Planning for investment to
Britain
access by 2012
the next generation of broadband networks, direct
access to public e-services.
Germany—2001:
Citizen-centered and
Supervisor: Federal Ministry of Interior, IT Planning
Bund Online 2005
open environment
council (2010)
Update: 2006—
Updated vision
CSFs:
Deutschland
statement:
Service digitization and availability
Online
inter-departmental
Common components for payment transactions, data
service delivery and
security, content and workfl ow management
fl
Update: 2007—
IT innovation’s
Central coordination for service transformation:
Federal IT
promotion
SAGA
Strategy
Enterprise Architecture
Fifteen (15) One For All (OFA) services
Update: 2009—
Broadband
Update:
Strategy of the
One-for-all (OFA) services
Federal
Broadband diff usion
ff
Government
Cross-agency service delivery
Europe—1998,
Knowledge based
Supervisor: DG of the Information Society
2003: e-Europe
economy, capitalization CSFs:
2002, e-Europe+,
of the ICT for better
Broadband diff
ffusion, communication markets’
e-Europe 2005
jobs and for quality
deliberation
public services
ICT skills
twenty (20) public services
interoperable processes
Update: 2005
Update:
Update:
i2010
Common
digital convergence,
information space;
digital single market,
Update: 2010—
Inclusive Information
interoperability and standardization,
Digital Agenda
Society, ICT Innovation