Related Information

eGovernment

eGovernment comprises a group of enabling technologies, including Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Web publishing, document management, GIS (geographic information system), Web services, records management (both physical and electronic), NMS (network management system) imaging, and portal management.

The first goal of eGovernment is to enable better transparency and communication with the government’s customers (aka citizens). An example that illustrates this first goal is seen in the process of obtaining a property record. In the past, a person had to drive to the local courthouse, request information from a clerk, wait for the information to be retrieved, and pay to make copies of the record. Nowadays, some municipalities make that information available online with keyword search functionality built in.

A second goal of eGovernment is improved ability to interact and receive services, including the ability to download forms and make payments. Examples of this include paying a traffic citation online and renewing a vehicle registration online.

A third goal of eGovernment is fulfilling public information and public meetings law requirements. A wide range of public notifications and reports are now available online. Timely information regarding consumer product defects/recalls (think child toys that contain lead paint) as well as food safety alerts fall into this category.

CONSIDER THE BENEFITS OF eGOVERNMENT

In addition to the primary goals of e-government outlined above, there are several benefits as well. Benefits include improved record-keeping efficiency, records preservation, records integrity, records security, and the ability to meet requirements, business/process flows, and customer/constituent service. There also is a significant cost benefit in implementing electronic records management and physical storage solutions.

In many cases, physical records can be imaged, and the original records can be eliminated. ECM solutions are collaborative tools designed to bring together multiple electronic formats and make them available to end users and Records management handles the issues of who is authorized to view the content as well as managing documents that must be maintained in their original physical format as well as electronically.

Besides having multiple IT solutions working in conjunction, an eGovernment project requires multiple departments within a government agency to work together. For example, accounting, constituent records, and human resources all have different document and content management needs. For an eGovernment project to be successful, each department’s legal and operational needs must be voiced and taken into consideration.

DRIVE DOWN eGOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT COSTS

One of the big expenses that’s been traditionally associated with eGovernment came from the hard coding that went into integrating document management and other business applications such as ERP (enterprise resource management). Many applications today support Web services, which are an open standard form of application integration that’s much simpler to execute compared with traditional hard coding. In most instances, all that’s necessary to take advantage of Web services is to upgrade to the latest software version and invest in a week or two of IT training.

By educating yourself on the cost and benefits of eGovernment technology and business practice, there’s no reason your agency can’t start ramping up its eGovernment initiatives as well.