Demetrios Sarantis

A goal-driven management framework for electronic government transformation projects implementation

Abstract As the implementation of e-Government projects is becoming increasingly important in both public and private organizations, the need to successfully tackle project management emerges. Without a project management framework, those who commission an e-government project, those who manage it and also those who work on it will not have the necessary tools to plan, organize, monitor and re-schedule tasks, responsibilities and milestones. The present paper outlines a goal-driven and knowledge-based framework to plan and manage the critical aspects of e-government projects. A specifically designed tool supports the framework application and a lighthouse project of the Greek public sector is presented to illustrate the application context, leading to reusable conclusions on achievements and problems faced.

E-Government Services Composition Using Multi-faceted Metadata Classification Structures

The connectivity generated by the Internet is opening new opportunities in service delivery since administrations are forming online alliances in order to deliver integrated value-adding services. However, due to lack of a step-by-step method for identification and further processing of services, the development of such composite e-Government services is usually ad-hoc. In this paper, we demonstrate how a systematic service composition can be accomplished: with the help of the proposed Service Description Worksheet, the e-Government Services can now be classified, searched for and composed into larger groups. This goal-driven approach can be used to understand the needs of different organizations and to depict the various functional characteristics of the cooperative processes in a declarative manner, suitable for prototyping projects in the public sector. Applying this method in the context of the Greek e-Government Services Framework, various services have been analysed, populating the worksheet database and leading to corresponding process models.

A project management ontology as a reference for e-Government projects

The elaboration of ontology contributes for the standardization and classification of concepts and terminologies and it has been happening in some sectors, as, for example, in the software engineering, the e-Government services implementation and the project management. In the area of e-Government, the development of e-Government Transformation Project Management ontology aims at adopting and customizing the existing project management approaches according to the specific challenges encountered in e-Government environment. In this context this research presents an ontological representation of the concepts of e-Government project management. It intends to collaborate in the excellence and productivity of the management of e-Government project process and enable the interoperability and knowledge reuse between all factors and stakeholders related with the implementation of such types of projects.

An ontology for stakeholder collaboration and knowledge exploitation in e-government project management

The expansive growth in implementation of e-Government initiatives combined with the high rate of failures has exponentially increased the interest in locating and applying the appropriate project management procedures. E-Government project management is identified as an area with an inherent need for reusing and exchanging information. Ontologies, by modelling concepts and their relationships, make possible descriptions of domains in a machine processable way. A feature like that is especially useful in the field of e-Government project management. Public administration officials, decision makers, implementers and politicians, show great interest in reusing and exchanging information concerning project management procedure, in an attempt to standardize the management operation, reuse of existing knowledge, improve collaboration and increase successful rates. The present paper presents an e-Government project management ontology comprised of the main concepts that should be managed during project implementation. It intends to encourage collaboration for the excellence and productivity of the management of e-Government project processes and enable the interoperability and reuse of knowledge between all factors and stakeholders related to the implementation of such types of projects.

A Standardization Framework for Electronic Government Service Portals

Although most eGovernment interoperability frameworks (eGIFs) cover adequately the technical aspects of developing and supporting the provision of electronic services to citizens and businesses, they do not exclusively address several important areas regarding the organization, presentation, accessibility and security of the content and the electronic services offered through government portals. This chapter extends the scope of existing eGIFs presenting the overall architecture and the basic concepts of the Greek standardization framework for electronic government service portals which, for the first time in Europe, is part of a country’s eGovernment framework. The proposed standardization framework includes standards, guidelines and recommendations regarding the design, development and operation of government portals that support the provision of administrative information and services to citizens and businesses. By applying the guidelines of the framework, the design, development and operation of portals in central, regional and municipal government can be systematically addressed resulting in an applicable, sustainable and ever-expanding framework.

A Goal-Driven Management Approach based on Knowledge Exploitation for e-Government Projects

The implementation of electronic Government projects in public sector organisations is a challenging task, due to technical, organisational and cultural specificities of the domain. Research shows that such IT projects have higher failure rates than similar approaches in the private sector, also indicating the lack of a method to transfer knowledge and apply best management practices in an effective way. The proposed management approach aims to recognise structure and reuse past successful attempts, in ways that support the overall viability of an e-Government project. After stating the fundamental principles of project management that apply to public sector IT projects, the authors present a conceptual model for e-Government project management, including entities such as dimensions, goals, activities, deliverables and roles that can be structured and adapted to cover all types of relevant projects in an out-of-the-box approach. This knowledge base of predefined project components can then be populated and utilised in making more informed decisions for effective project management of e-Government initiatives. This way, the proposed method supports public officials and practitioners in learning from past experience projects and in designing and running e-Government projects in a more systematic manner, thus, significantly increasing the likelihood of project success.

Considering Contemporary Project Management Approaches against E-Government Challenges

In taking forward both the Government Modernisation and the Civil Service Reform agendas, renewed emphasis is being placed on project management approaches and techniques for achieving objectives more effectively and efficiently. After elaborating on specific electronic government projects implementation challenges, the present paper recognizes the weaknesses of the contemporary project management approaches against the identified e-Government challenges. Future analysis of the results will guide the identification of project management gaps, contributing to the better understanding of the factors that lead to governmental IT projects success or failure, assisting practitioners as they deploy such projects and enhancing the ongoing research debate about discovering successful e-Government project implementation best practices.

Towards a public sector interoperability ontology: conceptualization of fundamental entities

Achieving e-Government objectives requires radical organizational redesign of the public administration. This paper illustrates the results of the first stage of the applied life cycle model, used in designing a public sector ontology. Goal of the specific ontology is to achieve the elimination, or at least reduction, of diversity that appears in the public administration organizational, operational and conceptual models, as far as they depict, organize and codify the knowledge, making it accessible and reusable. Through a common semantic conceptual model, provided by the ontology, public sector bodies will become fully interoperable and able to co-operate, forming a single coherent information and communication system.