Outline on Electronic Government

1. Overview of Electronic Government

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2. Comparison between manual and electronic government

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3. Advantages/Disadvantages of Electronic Government

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4. Development and Implementation Issues (concerns)

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5. E-Government in Singapore

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6. Types of electronic government applications

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7. Security Issues pertaining to Electronic Government

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8. Case study on Electronic Government

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Overview of Electronic Government

E-Government, as known as electronic government, refers to government’s use of information technology to exchange information and services with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. The implementation of the e-Government would improve internal efficiency, the delivery of public services, or processes of democratic governance and better accessibility of public services.

The primary delivery models are Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Customer (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B) and Government-to-Government (G2G) & Government-to-Employees (G2E).

While e-government is often thought of as "online government" there are non-Internet "electronic government" technologies can be used in this context such as telephone, fax, PDA, SMS text messaging, MMS, wireless networks and services, Bluetooth, CCTV, tracking systems, RFID, biometric identification, road traffic management, identity cards, smart cards and other NFC applications; polling station technology (where non-online e-voting is being considered), TV and radio-based delivery of government services, email and online community facilities.

There are also some technology-specific sub-categories of e-government, such as m-government (mobile government), u-government (ubiquitous government), and g-government (GIS/GPS applications for e-government).

In certain countries such as the United Kingdom, there is interest in using electronic government to re-engage citizens with the political process. In particular, it is to introduct the system of electronic voting. The aim is to increase voter turnout by making voting easy. On the other hand, the UK Electoral Commission has expressed concern about the potential for fraud with some electronic voting methods.

Comparison between manual and electronic government

Benefits to Citizens

Benefits to Businesses

Advantages/Disadvantages of Electronic Government

Advantages:

There are advantages while implementing an electronic government. The main advantage of an electronic government this will be to improve the efficiency of the current system. That would in return save money and time. The introduction would also facilitate better communications between governments and businesses. An example would be, E-Procurement facilitates G2G and B2B communication; this will permit smaller business to compete for government contracts as well as larger business. This will have the advantage of creating an open market and stronger economy. Business and citizens can obtain information at a faster speed and it is possible at any time of the day.

In addition, moving away from a heavily paper based system to an electronic system would reduces the need for man power. Thus, this would allow the process to be handled by lesser employees and therefore to reduce operations cost.

The society is moving toward the mobile connections. The ability of an e-government service to be accessible to citizens irrespective of location throughout the country brings the next and potentially biggest benefit of an e-government service. The society is moving toward the mobile connections.

Due to the fact that information and statistics are posted online, the idea of an “opened up” government and made government policy, information (including some socially valuable archival and historical information) and services more available. This would reflect a greater transparency of the service provided by the government .

Disadvantages:

Electronic governments also consist on certain disadvantage. The main disadvantage of an electronic government is to move the government services into an electronic based system. This system loses the person to person interaction which is valued by a lot of people.

In addition, the implementation of an e-government service is that, with many technology based services, it is often easy to make the excuse (e.g. the server has gone down) that problems with the service provided are because of the technology.

The implementation of an e government does have certain constraints. Literacy of the users and the ability to use the computer, users who do not know how to read and write would need assistance. An example would be the senior citizens. In general, senior citizens do not have much education and they would have to approach a customer service officer for assistance.

Studies have shown that there is potential for a reduction in the usability of government online due to factors such as the access to Internet technology and usability of services and the ability to access to computers;

Even though the level of confidence in the security offered by government web sites are high, the public are still concerned over security, fear of spam from providing email addresses, and government retention of transaction or interaction history.

History of E Government

History - Before 1980

— 3 ministries with computers
— Just over 100 terminals
— No network Infrastructure
— Large application backlog
— How IT started… March 1980
— Committee of National Computerisation
— Formation of National Computer Board
— Government taking the lead
— Civil Service Computerisation Programme (CSCP)


E Government Action Plan 1 (2000 – 2003)
5 Strategic Thrusts:

— Reinventing Government
— Delivering Integrated Electronic Services
— Being Proactive & Responsible
— Using ICT to build capabilities & Capacities
— Innovating with ICT
6 Programs in the E-Government Strategic Framework:
— InfoComm Education
— Knowledge Management
— Robust InfoComm Infrastructure
— Operational Efficiency Improvement
— Technological Experimentation
— Electronic Services Delivery

E Government Action Plan 2 (2000 – Present)
Vision:

— To be a leading e-Government to better serves the nation in the digital economy.
E-Services Advantage:
— Convenient & easy to use
— Transcends organisational
— Boundaries
— Respects privacy
Supporting Active Citizenry
— Citizens as stakeholders
— Community building
— Greater Trust & Confidence
Underlying Foundation
— “Many Agencies, One Govt”
— Agile, Effective & Efficient
— Secure & Responsive

Development & Implementation Issues of E Government

The Effect

The development and implementation of e-government involves consideration of its effects on the organisation of the public sector, and on the nature of the services provided by the state.

Various Impacts

Governments may need to consider the impact by gender, age, language skills, as well as the effect on literacy, numeracy, education standards and IT literacy etc. Economic concerns include the effect of non-use, non-availability or inaccessibility of e-government, or of other digital resources, upon the structure of society, and the potential impact on income and economics

Economic & Revenue Concerns

Include e-government's effect on taxation, debt, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), commerce and trade, corporate governance, and its effect on non-e-government business practices, industry and trade, especially the ISP and Internet infrastructure.

Technological Issues

Implications for software choices (between open source and proprietary software, and between programming languages) Technology flows into the masses in the neighbourhood areas through forms such as kiosks (AXS and S.A.M.) for e government services such as payment of bills and fines.

Management & Financial Issues

Management issues related to service integration, local e-government, and Internet governance. Financial considerations, such as the cost of implementation/ effect on existing budgets, effect on government procurement, and funding.

Legal implications

Legal implications include freedom of information and privacy concerns. An example would be the NRIC. Every Singapore citizen has a NRIC and a lot of information is tied together with this identification number. This places the citizen in a very vulnerable situation whereby his information can be used for illicit purposes as his information is all stored in the central server of the government system. Information may include bank account numbers and family information.

Types of electronic government applications

In Singapore’s context, e-government applications are considered prevalent. Each and every Singaporean has access to various e-services online through this integrated website, www.gov.sg. This website is actually an integration of 3 government websites – the e-citizen portal – single point of access to all government information and services online, SINGOV; a website which contains all relevant and latest government news, and lastly, business.gov.sg, a portal whereby new startups can have a ease of setting up their businesses online.

One of an example of an electronic government application would be the Online Business Licensing Services (OBLS) – one stop business license application service on www.business.gov.sg, aids to help potential businessmen register for their businesses. With OBLS, the user needs to submit only one application for multiple licenses. In today’s context, more than 80% of business start-ups in Singapore can go online to apply for all the required licenses as OBLS offers 68 different licenses offered by 19 government agencies. With this system, Singapore hopes to create a more encouraging and hassle free environment for new businesses.

Moving away from the corporate side, another feature of Singapore’s e government application would be the interactive Government Online Consultation portal (www.feedback.gov.sg). This initiative was started in 2003 for Singaporeans and people residing in Singapore to voice out the comments and views on national issues and policy proposals online. Users are also allowed to participate in online forum discussions with fellow citizens on a wide range of issues.

In addition to these, Singapore has taken a step to involve the private sector in public service. The Public-Private-People integration (3PI) was announced in 2004, with the mindset that integration within the government is not good enough, the e-government must be able to provide public users services which private sectors are offering to ensure integration across the 3 sectors.

Some applications which were developed under the 3PI approach are My.eCitizen, a user portal which provides personalized eCitizen e-services and alerts. This portal received huge in take-up from 2200 in June 2003 to an impressive amount of 36,000 in June 2005.

Next, another application constructed under 3PI is National e-Payment hub. This portal is a consolidation for payment and presentation of government bills and private sector bills through electronic means. Now, consumers would not have to go to different websites to make payment for different types of bills. National e-Payment hub congregates all billing organizations under a centralized hub that offers secure and trusted means of electronic payment modes to consumers.

Lastly, one of the significant projects in 3PI is the TradeXchange. This is an integrated Trade and Logistics IT platform that manages the flow of trade-related information. Having this platform would allow exchange of information between shippers, freight forwarders, carriers and financial institutions to facilitate the flow of goods in Singapore. The creation and exchange of commercial and regulatory documentation necessary for trade is automated through the integrated platform. By providing a single web interface for all trade related IT systems, it will actually help logistics players cut down on multiple data entry steps. This would mean lesser duplication of efforts and reduction in human errors, which will ultimately help to improve overall efficiency and time to market.