e-Government: Benchmarking Electronic Service Delivery Moira Atkinson - Office of the e-Envoy September 2001

Benchmarking Information Age Government Carried out in support of recommendation 24.3 of the UK Online action plan Builds upon the work carried out in 2000 Meets the on-going commitment to compare UK developments against the best in the world Helps to identify best practices and shape UK e-government development

Benchmarking Information Age Government The benchmarking report was published on 19th July 2001 It focuses on the latest e-government developments in 15 countries (G7, Australia, China/Hong Kong, Ireland, Finland, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden)

Benchmarking Information Age Government It contains more than 30 case studies across key e-government topics: Portals Interoperability & data standards Partnerships Accessibility to IT & information e-Democracy Authentication Gateways / PKI e-Skilling Legislative change

Benchmarking Information Age Government Highlights a number of key project and programme-specific learning lessons The report is available at: www.e-envoy.gov.uk/publications/int_comparisons.htm

Methodology Qualitative approach because it is difficult to compare like with like Primary research - questionnaires to key country contacts Benchmarking template - populated to form a picture of e-Government developments in each country No league tables - these are very unhelpful

Template for benchmarking Front office Demand (Consultation with citizens & businesses) Supply (Joined-up electronic services) Change (Commitment & drivers of change) Capability (Public Sector Infrastructure) Back office Route maps Organisation ESD targets Monitoring progress

Key findings All countries are following a very similar e-government agenda But they are at different stages of development The study highlighted some good exemplars of e-Government which display key characteristics of joined-up, citizen-focused service delivery and serve as a source of inspiration to others

Key findings - exemplars of e-Government Australia - Portals and advanced PKI developments Canada - Government of Canada portal France - Service-Public portal and the associated PKI capability Hong Kong - ESD scheme which is fully transactional

Key findings - exemplars of e-Government Ireland - e-broker service Sweden - SHS e-link system which facilitates joined-up government UK - ukonline portal and the Government authentication gateway USA - Firstgov portal and the associated subportals

Key findings - some common lessons learned (1) Government-wide architectural frameworks are key to ensuring integrated service delivery A collaborative cross-government approach to customer-focused service delivery is a fundamental reform that will take time - but is essential

Key findings - some common lessons learned (2) Clear e-business strategies are required and they should be reviewed frequently Identify high priority services which have a high transaction volume and involve a large group of clients. Such services help create a critical mass, foster the interest of the public to get used to the new modes of service delivery

Key findings - some common lessons learned (3) Sophisticated on-line service delivery requires a coherent investment strategy - innovative business models involving partnerships with private sector can shorten the timeframes for implementing services. Developments elsewhere in the world and in the private sector are key sources of inspiration for those developing and implementing e-government services.

Key findings - some common lessons learned (4) Understanding client needs is very important - we need to know what services clients want online and how they want them to be delivered Change in the mindset of civil servants e-government is the transformation of government, not merely the implementation of technology

Key findings - some common lessons learned (5) Effective communications and strategic alliances are imperative for achieving e-Government Consider the need of different sectors of society - Government has a social function to maintain a fair and equitable society and to deliver the same level of service to all citizens

Lessons learned about the benchmarking process (1) A study like this takes a considerable amount of time and resources to complete Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve at the outset and develop your benchmarking model accordingly Using a questionnaire-based approach means that you must have excellent contacts in other countries - you are dependant on their input and time

Lessons learned about the benchmarking process (2) Questionnaires should be short and easy to complete You must accept that it is very difficult to compare like with like - governments and services are often organised differently Gathering quantitative data - this is unlikely to be readily available in each country and estimates may be unreliable

Lessons learned about the benchmarking process (3) Avoid a ‘league table’ approach - it will undermine the value and validity of the results Involve all participants in every stage of the review process - without their buy-in you may not be able to publish your results Ensure that the final report is of value to all participants - it will help to ensure that they participate next time around