A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF eGOVERNMENT INITIATIVES By L. P. H. WADUGE The dissertation was submitted to the Department of Computer Science & Engineering of the University of Moratuwa in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administration. Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of Moratuwa December 2009 i&fDOtjfmJ/o r)CS OljOS LIBRARY VKNEBSITY OF MORATUWA. SRI lAHx MORATUWA A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF eGOVERNMENT INITIATIVES MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION IN E-GOVERNANCE onO oAUniversity of Moratuwa ck:\-a •95700 L. P. H. WADUGE Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of Moratuwa December 2009 95 v00 5 LIBBABY 9 & Cl) - 80*0 * &n\95700 Declaration “I certify that this thesis does not incorporate without acknowledgement any material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university to the best of my knowledge and belief. It does not contain any material previously published, written or orally communicated by another person or me except where due reference is made in the text. I also hereby give consent for my dissertation, if accepted, to be made available for photocopying and for interlibrary loans, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organizations” / S - o J - 0 Signature of the Candidate Date To the best of my knowledge, the above particulars are correct. Supervisor (Dr. Shahani Weerawarana) | LIBRARY | >V i Abstract The Government of Sri Lanka has embarked on the e-Sri Lanka Re-Engineering Government program, which is an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) road map, with the intention of providing efficient and effective services to its stakeholders, mainly, the citizens of the country. The implementation of eGovemment solutions necessitates organizational readiness in terms of structure and human capacity as conventional practices have failed to achieve institutional objectives desirable in today’s context. eGovemment can transform the way the traditional public sector organizations work. However, the success of the program is contingent upon several factors such as leadership commitment, competent staff, financial and other resources. In this backdrop, this research study presents an interesting Analytical Model that public-sector institutions may adopt, in evaluating the effectiveness of eGovemment implementations within government organizations in Sri Lanka. The objective of this research was to find critical factors that influence the effectiveness of eGovemment initiatives in the solution implementation stage as well as in the solution operation stage, and to then formulate an evaluation model to analyze those factors at the organizational level. The key eGovemment projects and initiatives under the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs have been included as the sample space to test the effectiveness factors in the analytical model. The development of this analytical model was done after extensive literature review in related areas with respect to developing countries, and through a pilot study done in the Sri Lankan organizational context. The proposed analytical model can be used by any government agency to evaluate eGovemment projects prior to deployment and more importantly, during the operational stage. Based on this factor analysis, appropriate recommendations can be proposed to enhance and strengthen the eGovemment initiatives by considering all related factors in the implementation stage such as organizational, syj . . /Tvenvironmental, and other enabling factors pertaining to government funding m cfi\ UBRARl d - .iL L'V v*11 t Sri Lanka. The model features built-in iterations and feedback loops which enables systematic analysis of operational effectiveness, thereby enabling the implementation of timely corrective measures leading to continuous improvement and enhanced positive operational impact of the eGovemment solutions. Furthermore, since the model was conceptualized and designed with Sri Lankan government organizations as the focus, it is highly relevant in the local context in comparison to the existing evaluation models that are in use elsewhere in the world. Clearly, this model would also be useful in other developing countries with government organization and government process profiles that are similar to Sri Lanka, for the purpose of evaluating their eGovemment projects systematically in order to improve their solution effectiveness. iii Acknowledgement I would like to extend sincere thanks to my research supervisor, Dr. Shahani Weerawarana for her guidance, encouragement and providing a long term vision to the study. I would also like to thank the Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Mrs. Vishaka Nanayakkara and all the staff members and batch mates of the MBA/IT and MBA/eGov 2008/09 batch. I would like to thank the Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs and staff of the Ministry, Divisional Secretariats of Colombo District, vendor institutions and the ICTA who contributed to my research by providing me with their valuable time amongst busy work schedules, without which my objectives would not have been fulfilled. Finally I wish to thank my wife Harsha and my daughter Nethmi for then- understanding and guidance throughout this research. L. P. H. Waduge MBA/eGov/08/10209 iv Table of Contents Declaration Abstract Acknowledgement Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Background....................................................................................................... 1.1.1 eGovemment in Sri Lanka and ICTA.................................................... 1.1.2 MPA&HA and e-Govemment Initiatives ............................................. 1.2 Objectives of the Research................................................................................ 1.3 Problem Statement........................................................................................... 1.4 Importance of the Study................................................................................... 1.5 Thesis Structure................................................................................................ 2 Literature Review 2.1 Common Factors Influencing Effectiveness of eGovemment Solutions............ 2.2 Common Factors Influencing Effectiveness of eGovemment Solutions in Regional Developing Countries........................................................................ 2.3 The Factors Influencing Effectiveness of eGovemment Solutions in Sri Lanka 3 Research Methodology 3.1 Research Design and Approach....................................................................... 3.2 The Conceptual Methodology.......................................................................... 4 The Analytical Model - eGSEEM 4.1 Definition of Implementation Phase Factors.................................................... 4.1.1 Organizational Factors 4.1.2 Surrounding Environmental Factors....................................................... 4.1.3 Enabling Factors 4.2 Definition of Operational Phase Perspectives................................................. 4.2.1 Social Perspectives 4.2.2 Economic Perspectives.......................................................................... 4.3 The Relation of Factors with Sources of Information ..................................... 4.4 Units of Analysis............................................................................................ . 4.5 The Mapping of Stakeholders to the Analytical Model................................... 5 Data Collection 5.1 Sample Size and Sample Selection Procedure.................................................. 5.2 Questionnaire Design ...................................................................................... 5.2.1 Questionnaire Design Example.............................................................. 6 Data Analysis & Presentation 6.1 Analysis of Implementation Phase Factors...................................................... 6.1.1 Organizational Factors............................................................................ 6.1.1.1 The Leadership............................................................................ 6.1.1.2 Top Management Support 6.1.1.3 IT Skills....................................................................................... 6.1.1.4 Resources.................................................................................... 6.1.1.5 Change Management................................................................... i li IV v Vlll IX X 1 5 8 11 11 12 12 13 14 18 20 25 25 26 28 30 30 32 33 33 34 34 35 35 36 38 38 39 42 43 44 44 44 44 45 46 47 v 476.1.1.5 Change Management......... 6.1.1.6 Procurement Management 6.1.1.7 Management Structure...... 6.1.2 Surrounding Environment Factors 6.1.2.1 Internal Pressure................. 6.1.2.2 External Pressure 6.1.2.3 Legal Infrastructure............ 6.1.2.4 Employee Readiness 6.1.2.5 Political Environment........ 6.1.2.6 eGovemment Policy 6.1.3 Enabling Factors........................... 6.1.3.1 IT Infrastructure 6.1.3.2 Local Context.................... 6.1.3.3 Process Reengineering 6.1.3.4 User Friendliness.............. 6.1.3.5 Vendor Effectiveness 6.1.3.6 Project Implementation..... 6.2 Analysis of Operational Perspectives 6.2.1 Social Perspectives....................... 6.2.2.1 Transparency and Openness 6.2.1.2 Service Delivery................ 6.2.1.3 Empowerment 6.2.2 Economic Perspectives.................. 6.2.2.1 Streamlining Processes 6.2.2.2 Increasing Revenue............ 6.2.2.3 Cost Reduction 48 49 50 50 50 51 52 53 53 54 54 55 55 56 57 58 58 58 59 59 61 62 62 63 63 657 Recommendations 7.1 Recommendations for Implementation Phase Factors................ 7.1.1 Recommendations for Organizational Factors 7.1.1.1 The Leadership...................................................... 7.1.1.2 Top Management Support 7.1.1.3 IT Skills................................................................. 7.1.1.4 Resources 7.1.1.5 Change Management.............................................. 7.1.1.6 Procurement Management 7.1.1.7 Management Structure........................................... 7.1.2 Recommendations for Surrounding Environmental Factors 7.1.2.1 Legal Infrastructure............................................... 7.1.2.2 Employee Readiness 7.1.2.3 Political Environment............................................. 7.1.2.4 eGovemment Policy 7.1.3 Recommendations for Enabling Factors............................ 7.1.3.1 IT Infrastructure 7.1.3.2 Local Context........................................................ 7.1.3.3 User Friendliness 7.1.3.4 Vendor Effectiveness............................................. 7.1.3.5 Project Implementation 7.2 Recommendations for Operational Perspectives........................ 7.2.1 Recommendations for Social Perspectives 7.2.1.1 Service Delivery.................................................... 65 65 65 65 66 66 67 67 68 68 68 69 69 69 70 70 70 70 70 71 71 71 71 vi 727.2.2 Recommendations for Economic Perspectives 7.2.2.1 Streamlining Processes 12.2.2 Cost Reductions................................. 7.3 Overall Recommendations...................................... 72 72 73 8 Conclusion 8.1 Summary of Research Findings.............................................. 8.2 Future Areas of Study 8.3 Research Study Summary and Outcome................................. Appendix 1- Questionnaire Templates............................................ Setl: Questionnaire for Ministry and its Organizations Set2: Questionnaire for the Apex Body...................... Set3: Questionnaire for Vendors Set4: Questionnaire for Employee.............................. Set5: Questionnaire for Citizens 74 75 75 77 77 79 81 83 85 88References vii List of Tables Standard Indicators for Government & eGovemment Performance 15 ITPOSMO Dimensions by Heeks and Factors by Heeks and Bhatnagar............................................... Stakeholders Key Dimension of Impact.. Factors-Sources of Information Mapping The Stakeholder Selection Criteria........ Factors-Stakeholders Mapping.............. Sample Size and Selection Criteria......... Questionnaires....................................... Factor-Questionnaire Mapping.............. Questionnaire-Factor Mapping.............. Sample Questionnaire............................ The Detailed Break-Down of Sample .... Organizational IT Skills Level.............. Organizational Resource Availability.... Table 2.1: Table 2.2: 17 24Table 2.3 Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 4.3 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 5.3 Table 5.4 Table 5.5 Table 6.1 Table 6.2 Table 6.3 35 36 37 39 39 40 41 42 43 45 46 vm List of Figures 2Citizen Use of eGoverament Data - The Information Chain...... The Components of eGovemment............................................. Levels of eGovemment.............................................................. eGovemment at Different Levels of Government in Developing Countries.................................................................................. Changing eGovemment Issues Over Time................................ Stages in the Evolution of eGovemment................................... The Stages of eGovemment..................................................... The Conceptual Framework........................................................ Framework for Sri Lankan Public Sector BPR Success............. The Conceptual Methodology.................................................... The eGovemment Solution Effectiveness Evaluation Model..... Organizational IT Skills Level...................................................... Organizational Resource Availability........................................ Change Management Alignment with e-Projects....................... Employee Awareness on eGovemment..................................... Organizational Political Environment for eGovemment............ Impact of eGovemment Policy.................................................. The Comparison of the User Friendliness.................................... User Friendliness by Agencies.................................................... User Friendliness by Employees................................................. Transparency through eGovemment.......................................... Awareness about eGovemment Services of Agencies.................. Citizens’ Preference about Service Delivery Mode..................... Citizens’ Perception on Better Service Provision through ICT .... Citizens’ Perception on Easiness of Service Provision through ICT Citizens’ Perception on Quickness of Service Provision.............. Revenue Management................................................................ Citizens’ Perception on Cost for Service Provision..................... Citizens’ Perception on Number of Visits to Obtain Services........ Figure 1.1: Figure 1.2: Figure 1.3: Figure 1.4: 3 4 5 13Figure 2.1: Figure 2.2: Figure 2.3: Figure 2.4: Figure 2.5: Figure 3.1: Figure 4.1: Figure 6.1: Figure 6.2: Figure 6.3: Figure 6.4: Figure 6.5: Figure 6.6: Figure 6.7: Figure 6.8: Figure 6.9: Figure 6.10 Figure 6.11 Figure 6.12 Figure 6.13 Figure 6.14 Figure 6.15 Figure 6.16 Figure 6.17 Figure 6.18 18 19 22 23 27 29 45 47 48 52 53 54 56 56 57 59 60 60 61 61 62 63 64 64 IX Abbreviations Birth Marriage Death Business Process Reengineering Divisional Secretariat Electronic Birth Marriage Death Project Electronic Divisional Secretariat Project Electronic Government eGovemment Solution Effectiveness Evaluation Model Electronic Government Electronic Human Resources Management Project Electronic Pensions Project Electronic Population Registry Project Government to Consumer Government to Business Government to Employee Government to Government Government to Non-Profits Government Information Centre Information and Communication Technology ICT Agency of Sri Lanka Information Systems Lanka Government Network Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs National Computer Systems Software Development Services Approach BMD BPR DS eBMD eDS eGov eGSEEM eGovemment eHRM ePensions ePopReg G2C G2B G2E G2G G2N GIC ICT ICTA IS LGN MPA&HA NCS SDSA x