Abstract:
Sri Lanka is at a stage where it has begun implementing or is about to legin
implementation of many large-scale e-go\ernment solutions under the e-Sri Lanka Re
Engineering Government program of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka. Most of the e
government projects under the e-Sri Lanka program have been designed to first have a
Business Process Re-engineering stage, before the commencement of the usual system
study stage.
Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is a major, important, and time-consuming
activity that includes identifying and then making changes to existing management
processes, routines and workflows to enhance the efficiency and productivity of the
institution and its management. Performing such a BPR activity before the design and
implementation of an e- government solution is highly important since most government
departments tend to have historically inefficient and highly ingrained management
processes, routines and workflows which prevent the execution of government services
in an efficient manner. Clearly, the success of a proposed e- government solution is
critically dependent on the success of such a BPR endeavor, which would span across
all the government entities involved in the e- government solution.
This research work focuses on the many major e- government initiatives of the e- Sri
Lanka Re- Engineering Government Program in order to study the impact of the
different BPR approaches adopted in these initiatives on the final outcomes of the
solutions. The research effort is targeted towards identifying the BPR approaches bestsuited
for a developing country such as Sri Lanka, which still has significant remnants
of historical, colonial government processes.
This study discusses an innovative exemplar model for government process reengineering.
This exemplar model can also be utilized to evaluate BPR approaches used
in e- government initiatives. By leveraging this model, the author intends to clearly
identify and categorize different BPR approaches, and then determine the BPR
approaches that would be most appropriate in the re-engineering government contexts,
of Sri Lanka and similar developing countries.