Marijn Janssen

Benefits, Adoption Barriers and Myths of Open Data and Open Government

In this article, based on data collected through interviews and a workshop, the benefits and adoption barriers for open data have been derived. The results suggest that a conceptually simplistic view is often adopted with regard to open data, which automatically correlates the publicizing of data with use and benefits. Also, five “myths” concerning open data are presented, which place the expectations within a realistic perspective. Further, the recommendation is provided that such projects should take a users view.

Open data policies, their implementation and impact: A framework for comparison

In developing open data policies, governments aim to stimulate and guide the publication of government data and to gain advantages from its use. Currently there is a multiplicity of open data policies at various levels of government, whereas very little systematic and structured research has been done on the issues that are covered by open data policies, their intent and actual impact. Furthermore, no suitable framework for comparing open data policies is available, as open data is a recent phenomenon and is thus in an early stage of development. In order to help bring about a better understanding of the common and differentiating elements in the policies and to identify the factors affecting the variation in policies, this paper develops a framework for comparing open data policies. The framework includes the factors of environment and context, policy content, performance indicators and public values. Using this framework, seven Dutch governmental policies at different government levels are compared. The comparison shows both similarities and differences among open data policies, providing opportunities to learn from each other’s policies. The findings suggest that current policies are rather inward looking, open data policies can be improved by collaborating with other organizations, focusing on the impact of the policy, stimulating the use of open data and looking at the need to create a culture in which publicizing data is incorporated in daily working processes. The findings could contribute to the development of new open data policies and the improvement of existing open data policies.

Motives for establishing shared service centers in public administrations

Shared service centers (SSCs) have gained the interest of politicians and public administrations to improve efficiency. By unbundling and centralizing activities, the basic premise for SSCs seems to be that services provided by one local department can be provided to others with relatively few efforts. The introduction of a SSC is a major decision having a long-term impact on all the participants and is often competing with outsourcing arrangements. As such it is of essential importance to get a better understanding of the motives for introducing SSCs. The motives for introducing a SSC in public administration are presented and discussed in this paper. First, by means of investigating an existing SSC in time, the initial motives for introducing a SSC have been compared with the accomplished benefits after realizing the SSC. The introduction of a SSC was driven by a series of complex, interrelated motives. Second, because SSCs can be regarded as a specific kind of sourcing arrangement, the motives for establishing a SSC have been compared with the motives associated with outsourcing as found in literature. This should help decision-makers in making a tradeoff between SSCs and other sourcing arrangements.

Realizing joined-up government — Dynamic capabilities and stage models for transformation

Joining up remains a high priority on the e-government agenda and requires extensive transformation. Stage models are predictable patterns which exist in the growth of organizations and unfold as discrete time periods that result in discontinuity and can help e-government development towards joined-up government. Although stage models may be conceptually appealing, these models are often not empirically validated, do not transcend the level of individual organizations, and provide little practical support to policymakers. Furthermore, they do not include the dynamic capabilities needed by organizations to transform from one stage to the next stage. In this paper, a five-stage model is presented that describes the progression from stove-piped situations towards a nationwide, customer-oriented, and joined-up government. The dynamic capabilities needed for realizing each stage are identified. This model is empirically validated and helps government agencies benchmark their position, realize their role in the formation of a joined-up government, develop the necessary capabilities, and adopt centrally developed infrastructural facilities aimed at moving to the next stage. We found that growth stages are useful for providing guidance and can be used by policymakers to stimulate the developments of capabilities needed by organizations to migrate from one stage to another

Fatigue behavior of porous biomaterials manufactured using selective laser melting

Porous titanium alloys are considered promising bone-mimicking biomaterials. Additive manufacturing techniques such as selective laser melting allow for manufacturing of porous titanium structures with a precise design of micro-architecture. The mechanical properties of selective laser melted porous titanium alloys with different designs of micro-architecture have been already studied and are shown to be in the range of mechanical properties of bone. However, the fatigue behavior of this biomaterial is not yet well understood. We studied the fatigue behavior of porous structures made of Ti6Al4V ELI powder using selective laser melting. Four different porous structures were manufactured with porosities between 68 and 84% and the fatigue S-N curves of these four porous structures were determined. The three-stage mechanism of fatigue failure of these porous structures is described and studied in detail. It was found that the absolute S-N curves of these four porous structures are very different. In general, given the same absolute stress level, the fatigue life is much shorter for more porous structures. However, the normalized fatigue S-N curves of these four structures were found to be very similar. A power law was fitted to all data points of the normalized S-N curves. It is shown that the measured data points conform to the fitted power law very well, R(2)=0.94. This power law may therefore help in estimating the fatigue life of porous structures for which no fatigue test data is available. It is also observed that the normalized endurance limit of all tested porous structures (<0.2) is lower than that of corresponding solid material (c.a. 0.4).

Transformational change and business process reengineering (BPR): Lessons from the British and Dutch public sector

Abstract Facilitated by electronic government, public agencies are looking for transformational change by making a radical improvement. At first glance, this development is similar to the business process re-engineering (BPR) movement in the private sector. While policy makers and practitioners in the public sector have branded their recent improvements as BPR, the academic and research community have thus far eluded from making any comparisons. This has left a vacuum in terms of understanding the complexity of the challenges facing e-Government re-engineering and resultant change in public agencies. The aim of this paper is to translate the BPR movement findings to the field of e-Government induced change in the public sector. BPR characteristics and challenges are derived using normative literature and compared with two cases of public sector transformation in the UK and Netherlands. The results of these cases show that e-Government-induced change requires a plan for a radical improvement which, in contrast to BPR, is obtained by incremental steps and has a high level of participation. The findings offer policy makers valuable insights into the complexities and possible strategies that may need to be followed in order to succeed in e-Government implementation.

A survey of Web-based business models for e-government in the Netherlands

Abstract Governments worldwide are increasingly using Web-based business models to enhance their service delivery. Yet the concept of the business model is unexplored within the context of e-government. Drawing upon the literature on e-commerce, we develop a taxonomy for analyzing Web-based business models for e-government. Based on a systematic survey of 59 e-government Web sites in the Netherlands, our findings indicate that most of the Web sites use the content provider or direct-to-customer business models, while only a few are using novel business models. Overall, the concept of business model is appealing and useful in the public sector. Specifically it compliments research on Web site quality by analyzing and describing Web sites using atomic e-government business models and suggesting improvements by using combinations of business models.

Lean government and platform-based governance: doing more with less

Governments from all over the world are looking for ways to reduce costs while at the same time to stimulate innovation. While pursuing both objectives, governments face a major challenge—to operate in a connected environment, engage stakeholders and solve societal problems by utilizing new methods, tools, practices and governance models. As result, fundamental changes are taking place on how government operates. Such changes are under the larger umbrella of ‘lean government’ (l-Government). Lean government is a new wave which is appearing as a response to traditional approaches—like electronic government (e-Government) and transformational government (t-Government), and aims at reducing the complexity of the public sector by simplifying and streamlining organizational structures and processes, at the same time at stimulating innovation by mobilizing stakeholders. In l-Government, public organizations introduce platforms facilitating innovation and interactions with other public organizations, business and citizens, and focus on their orchestration role. Experimentation, assessment and gradual improvement based on user requirements are key factors for realizing l-Government.

An enterprise application integration methodology for e‐government

Purpose – Achieving goals of better integrated and responsive government services requires moving away from stand alone applications toward more comprehensive, integrated architectures. As a result there is a mounting pressure to integrate disparate systems to support information exchange and cross‐agency business processes. There are substantial barriers that governments must overcome to achieve these goals and to profit from enterprise application integration (EAI).Design/methodology/approach – In the research presented here we develop and test a methodology aimed at overcoming the barriers blocking adoption of EAI. This methodology is based on a discrete‐event simulation of public sector structure, business processes and applications in combination with an EAI perspective.Findings – The testing suggests that our methodology helps to provide insight into the myriad of existing applications, and the implications of EAI. Moreover, it helps to identify novel options, gain stakeholder commitment, let them a...

From policy implementation to business process management: Principles for creating flexibility and agility

Abstract Organizations are required to comply with changes in legislation and policy. Yet the implementation of new legislation is often expensive, can have long lead times and is prone to failure. The existing situation significantly constrains policy-making. To improve this, policy makers and policy executors are searching for ways to achieve higher levels of flexibility and agility in their business process management systems. Flexibility is the ability to react to changes and agility is the speed in responding to variety and change. Both flexibility and agility are multi-dimensional concepts. This paper presents principles for creating flexibility and agility when implementing new or revised policies into business processes. These principles include: 1) defining and using business services, 2) integrating and orchestrating business services through the use of events, 3) separating process, knowledge and resources and 4) implementing policy in an integrated manner. Business services are components encapsulating business functions and having clear responsibilities and accountabilities. The case study shows that these forms of flexibility and agility can help to implement policies more quickly and cost effectively. An organizations resources and level of flexibility and agility determines what laws can be implemented within a certain time. The improvement of flexibility and agility requires innovations on all levels: infrastructure, business process and organization. The level of flexibility and agility should always be measured by a combination of measures. We make plea for instruments assessing the impact of policies on organizations prior to implementation.