EGOVERNMENT MATURITY MODEL(EGMM)

Hoseein Safari

Institute for Trade Studies and Research, Kargar, Tehran, Iran

Moslehi A., Mohammadian A., Farazmand E., Haki K., Khoshsima G.

Institute for Trade Studies and Research, Kargar, Tehran, Iran

Keywords: eGovernment, Maturity Model, ICT, eService Maturity, Plan Maturity

Abstract: eGovernment has been defined as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled route to good

governance. eGovernment is an evolutionary path that its effective implementation requires a complete

understanding of constituting elements and at the same time taking a holistic view to stay focused on its

overall objectives. This paper introduces a new heuristic model that could be used to measure eGovernment

maturity called “eGovernment Maturity Model” (eGMM). eGMM has five levels of maturity encompassing

varying degree of initiatives, from the lowest to the highest. Stages include close, readiness, develop,

manage, and seamless. In this model two aspects are considered: eService maturity and plan maturity.

1 INTRODUCTION

The old model of ICT in government consisted to

automating the internal, back office and working of

government by processing data, similarly to private

sector enterprises. The new model is one of ICT

supporting and transforming the external working of

governance by processing and communicating

information and data and providing interactive

services through multiple channels. Network

communication technology has revolutionized how

agents in the economy interact, transact, and share

information with each other. Network technology

now allows government to offer multi channel and

multi media access, communication and interaction,

including WANs, the Internet as well as wireless and

mobile computing networks (Saidi and Yared, 2002)

eGovernment should be seen to encompass all

ICTs, but the key innovation is computer networks

creating a wealth of new digital connections: (Heek,

2001)

– Connections within government - permitting

“joined-up thinking”.

– Connections between government and

NGOs/citizens.

– Connections between government and

business/citizens.

– Connections within and between NGOs.

– Connections within and between communities.

Broadly defined, eGovernment can include

virtually all information and communication

technology (ICT) platforms and applications in use

by the public sector. Traditionally, the interaction

between a citizen or business and a government

agency took place in a government office. With

emerging information and communication

technologies it is possible to locate service centers

closer to the clients. Citizens may receive

government information and services in an

unattended Internet kiosk or room that is located in a

government agency or close to them, or through a

laptop or personal computer in the home or

office.(Ghasemzadeh and Safari, 2003) In an

eGovernment, if properly implemented, citizens can

log onto one Internet site, easily find the

governmental information and services they are

looking for, and use that site to conduct an online

transaction, businesses fill out an electronic form for

environmental regulatory compliance requirements,

and government officials make all purchases and

payments electronically.( Athkinson and Ulevich

Jacob, 2000) eGovernment can be defined as the

sum of all electronic communication between

government, enterprises and citizens.( Greunz et al.,

2001) E-Government is a technology enabled,

sector-wide, cultural, organizational and business

transformation program; it is not a massive IT

project,( BT Government Report , 2000) although it

471

Safari H., A. M., A. M., E. F., K. H. and G. K. (2004).

EGOVERNMENT MATURITY MODEL (EGMM).

In Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, pages 471-474

DOI: 10.5220/0002607404710474

 SciTePress

is a critical component of any such transformation

and plays a crucial role. Although the use of these

technologies is rapidly growing in the economic and

production systems of the world, they are not

available ‘off the shelf’. They have to be understood,

absorbed, and mastered. (Ghasemzadeh and Safari,

2001)

After this section, we'll present eGovernment

models in the literature and then explain

eGovernment maturity model of this paper.

1.1 Literature Review

There are several maturity models for eGovernment.

We are going to present five models for

eGovernment maturity.

Gartner Model: In this model, three stages are

introduced for eGovernment maturity; Information,

Interaction, and transaction.

Asia Pacific Region Model: This model sees

eGovernment progression in six stages. Not all

governments or agencies will reach all stages, and

there will be much variety within a government,

with different agencies at different stages. The

stages are: (1) setting up an email system and

internal network; (2) enabling inter-organizational

and public access to information; (3) allowing 2-way

communication; (4) allowing exchange of value; (5)

digital democracy; and (6) joined-up

government(Wescott, 2001)

UN Model: UN has five maturity stages in

implementing eGovernment: 1) Emerging that; is

when a government web presence is established

through a few independent official sites. In this stage

information is limited, basic and static, 2) Enhanced

that; is when government sites increase; information

becomes more dynamic and content and information

is updated with greater regularity, 3) Interactive; in

which users can download forms, contact with

officials, and make appointments and requests, 4)

Transactional; in which users can actually pay for

services or conduct financial transactions online, and

5) Seamless that; is total integration of e-functions

and services across administrative and departmental

boundaries. (UN, 2000)

EMM: In this model, six stages are defined for

eGovernment maturity: closed, initial, planned,

realized, institutionalized, and optimizing. (Misra

and Dhingra, 2002)

Utah Model: Windley(2002) presented a

maturity model in State of Utah. In this model four

stages are defined: simple website, online

government, integrated government, and

transformed government.

2 EGOVERNMENT MATURITY

MODEL

We are going to present a new heuristic model for

examining eGovernment maturity in a ministry.

There is an inductive view for eGMM. In this model,

we examine eGovernment maturity in affiliated

organizations with respect to two viewpoints:

Infor

Process

Delivery

Plan

Maturity

eService

Maturity

Vice Minister

Departments

Organization

Maturity

Ministry

Maturity

Request

Figure 1: Schematic view of eGMM.

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eService maturity and plan maturity. Then

eGovernment maturity in a ministry will be the sum

of affiliated organizations and vice minister

department’s maturity. Figure 1 shows schematic

view of eGMM. There are two main components of

maturity that explained.

2.1 Service Maturity

For determining eService maturity, we combined

concepts of two model: eCommerce model (Turban,

2002), and system model. With respect to these

models, there are several aspects related to a service:

product, process, and delivery agent from Turban

eCommerce model and input, process, and output

from system model. According to above mentioned

aspects, we defined three factors for examining

eService maturity as below:

Inform: is evaluates through two main

attributes: degree of transaction between client and

service providers, and the use of automated

channels. Inform continuum is:

– None

– Inform through brochures and magazines in

special places.

– Inform through static website.

– Inform through static website and there is a

responsive department inside the organization.

– Inform through dynamic.

– Inform through governmental portal; mutually

and continuously.

Type of Access: is the type of channels between

client and service providers. Evaluating of this

criterion comes under to three attributes:

– Digitalizability of services.

– Required security for services.

– Type of channel that can be face to face,

telephone/fax, kiosk/ website, digital TV, and

government portal.

In a meanwhile, it should be mentioned that type

of access is equal to delivery agent (Turban, 2002)

that includes channels between customers and

governmental organizations for sending request

service delivery.

Process: is set of required activities from back

office for presenting services. This criterion is

examined from two attributes: degree of process

automation and degree of process integration.

According to above three criteria and their

combination, eService maturity includes following

stages:

Stage1- Start: In this stage, physical or semi-

automated channels are being used for

communication and back office can be automated

and integrated.

Stage2- Online Presence: In this stage, inform

starts from static website and finally ends to

dynamic website. In addition, documents with low

security can be transmitted through computer

networks and in other cases, physical channels are

used.

Stage3- Transaction: This stage focuses on

security. In other words, security is the most

important factor that considered in this stage and

transmitting with high security is possible.

Stage4- Transform: In this stage, inform and

access to government services is possible through

government portal with support of automated and

integrated processes in back office.

2.2 Plan Maturity

In this component, supportive activities for

presenting eService are considered. Plan maturity is

adjusted from EMM. (Misra and Dhingra, 2002)

Several stages of plan maturity are:

Stage 1- Initial: In this stage, top management

knows ICT, its applications and benefits for

organizations. No organized efforts have been

attempted to undertake the eGovernment initiation.

Efforts usually are experimental and with lack of

direction. In the end of this stage, it’s expected to

that the necessity of eGovernment is realized. Main

criteria of this stage are: degree of ICT knowledge in

organization, perception of eGovernment advantages

and disadvantages, administrative efforts, and

productivity evaluation of efforts.

Stage 2- Planned: This stage starts with

systematic approach. With respect to strategic

approach, information technology strategic plan is

formulated in this stage. Main criteria of this stage

are: vision definition, need assessment,

eGovernment plan, and documentation.

Stage 3- Realized: After strategy formulation in

the last stage, we will have implementation and

assessment in this stage. So, according to strategies,

Preparation

Develop

Manage

Seamless

Figure

eGMM in an organization

EGOVERNMENT MATURITY MODEL(EGMM)

473

action plan with budget and time will be defined.

Then required actions are implemented and finally

their results would be measured and controlled. Gap

analysis is a good methodology for assessing results.

Stage 4- Institutionalized: There’s not any gap

between design and reality; in other words new

technology has been accepted completely.

eGovernment becomes a part of the organization’s

work culture.

Stage 5- Optimizing: In this stage, organization

has continuous improvement with innovation and

creativity.

2.3 eGMM

eGovernment Maturity Model (eGMM) is a maturity

model encompasses eService maturity and plan

maturity. This model has five stages: close,

readiness, develop, manage, and seamless (Figure

2). Specifications of eGMM stages are as below:

Closed:

– No use of ICT in organization.

Preparation:

– Not organized efforts.

– Isolated efforts and a few planning.

– Semi automated/ physical channels and

processes

– Office automation is important

– Transmitting documents with low security.

– Static website.

Develop:

– Define a comprehensive ITSP.

– Doing coordinated and integrated initiatives.

– Dynamic website.

– Transactional communication.

– BPR and implementing eReadiness

Manage:

– Adjusting plans and actions and determining

errors.

– Continuous transaction with develop (last stage)

– Examine optimized solution.

– Attain optimized situation for a limited time.

– Institution of this situation in work culture.

Seamless:

– Serving internal and external users

electronically that confirm Continuous

improvement in technology and processes

– Start new lifecycle(Figure 2)

3 CONCLUSION

Organizations are attempting in several ways to use

ICT in organization in a special period. But without

any appropriate mechanism, it seems very difficult

to know actual status. In this paper, we have

introduced a new heuristic model, eGovernment

Maturity Model (eGMM), to illustrate and examine

path of eGovernment development. eGMM for

measuring eGovernment maturity has inductive

view. In the other words, eGMM firstly measure

affiliated organizations maturity and then a ministry

maturity will be sum of organizations maturities.

Two main components of eGMM are eService

maturity and plan maturity. With respect to these

components, eGMM has five stages: close,

readiness, develop, manage, and seamless.

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