E-Government Services Maturity Model with Automated E-services Evaluation/Verification Evaluation/Verification tools By
Muhammad Nawaz
THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Science (Computer Science)
Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology
February 2008
In the name of noble profession With countless regards, honor respect and love, who took me to the level of excellence where I stand today looking for the most promising and gleaming career ahead. I hope to fulfill all of their expectations, and make them proud of me.
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Acknowledgement I thank God who gave me the opportunity to learn under the meritorious supervision, of Dr. Syed Irfan Hyder, and also thanks to Dr. Syed Irfan Hyder, for his valuable guidance, great help and dedicated support given me enough enough courage to complete complete this study. I also like to thank my colleagues Mr. Issa Memon, Mr. Khurram Rashidi, Ms.Arshi and Mr. Muhammad Raza for their great support in various phases of this study. I am also thankful to Ms. Seema Ansari, whose personal and keen interest has given me great support. I cannot forget to thank Mr. Adeel and the administrative administrative staff of PAF-KIET for their support during the work of this study.
Muhammad Nawaz
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Abstract
“E-Government”, refers to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by government agencies.
Like Wide Area Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile mobile computing computing that have the the ability to
transform communications with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. This technology can provide a variety of services with better delivery of government services. The resulting benefits are eradicating corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and cost saving. Traditionally, the interaction between public and a government took place in a government office. With emerging information and communication technologies technologies it is possible to locate service centers closer to the public. Such centers may consist of an unattended cubicle in the government agency, a service cubicle located close to the public or virtual service by use of a computer at home or in office more friendlily.
During the course of research, existing e-Government services in Pakistan overviewed with the perspective of their usability and interaction abilities. Some mature e-Government services were found such as KESC institution supplying electricity to the Karachi city provides online billing whereas the submission of online payment is still not available. Sui-Southern gas is also providing online billing and online bills payment. However, obtain a new connection without visiting their office is not yet possible. City District government-Karachi web portal provide some basic info forms and contracts information, yet complaints system does not get solve grievances like unavailability of water; sewerage lines chocked, street light facility etc. Electronic government directorate presented a website with some basic levels training but this directorate fails to up-lift the standard of Pakistan e-Government services like other developed countries. NADRA has also developed a good system to know about status of applied Computerized National Identity Card CNIC but we may not have CNIC without visiting CNIC centre in person. Discussed e-Government services are developed by out serving e-Government projects. Present need is to initiate the culture of in house e-Government services development. In Pakistan government, there is no
4
concept or provision of in-house development rather they depend on out-sourcing the required software to be developed. The limitation of out-sourcing the software development is the lack of support or future changes required to be implemented by the government as soon as the outsourcing company winds up its business . The new outsourcing company does not accept the previously developed software and it requires software to be developed altogether from scratch.
In house development of projects is usually done by the permanent staff members, as and when they complete the project, they start planning to improve further because employee take interest to develop public centric services for which they are compensated in the shape of appreciation promotion and other financial benefits. Another important reason of inefficient e-Government services is lower salary package of I.T professionals in government sector.
Pakistan is at No.136 on the ranking of e-Government services in the world. Situation existing on paper is looks up to the mark; every tier of government related to ICT is fully functional but still fail to facilitate public because e-Government Services in Pakistan are being developed in an adhoc fashion without following any road map that could help to analyze the causes of their failure in meeting the public requirements. In this research we present a road map for Pakistan an e-Government Services which evaluate e-Government Services and identify why their e-Government Services fail to help citizens. An automatic evaluation tool of coherent services also Identify their status of maturity and reasons of the failure to meet public requirements.
In this research, we proposed a four staged model to evaluate the maturity of e-Government service. Furthermore, to evaluate the presence of some parameters of an e-service we used a tool named Black Widow. This is an automatic evaluation tool we provide a URL and Black Widow crawl throughout the website and report all the errors, threads, broken links, used e-mails etc. But Black Widow does not tell us the level of maturity of a website. Perhaps we may say Black Widow is only a verification tool.
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To evaluate the level of maturity of a website, we have developed a tool named “e-Government evaluation and verification tool”. This tool evaluates the proposed level parameters and calculates the level of maturity. Preliminary, this tool enables us to check the maturity level of a page by verifying predetermined parameters. The parameters developed by using scripts. The development of intelligence test is further needed. The intelligence-tests intelligence-tests like hit counter used by the third party, java applet or php etc.
In this maturity model, four levels of maturity are outlined while complete structure of level-one is proposed with detailed parameters and attributes. Integration of the used tools is yet required and to develop the remaining three levels for the complete functionality.
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Table of Contents
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Int ro du ct io n .......................... ........................................ ............................ ............................ ............................ ........................... ......................... ............ 11 1.1 E-Government ........................... ......................................... .......................... ............Error! E rror! Bookmark not defined. 1.2 Phases of E-Government E-Government ........................... ......................................... ............................ ........................... .......................... ............. 12 1.3 Status of e-Government in Pakist an ........................... ......................................... ........................... ...................... ......... 13 .......................................... ............................ ............................ ........................... ..................... ........ 16 1.4 Objective of Thesis ............................
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Related Wor k ........................... ........................................ ........................... ............................ ............................ ............................ ....................... ......... 17 2.1 The identified categori es of SOA are:are:-............ .......................... ............................ ............................ .................... ...... 17 2.2 Existing Frameworks Frameworks ........................... ......................................... ............................ ............................ ............................ ................... ..... 18 2.3 Existing e-Government Services Maturity Model............. Model ........................... ........................... ................ ... 18 2.4 Levels of e-Governm e-Governm ent servic es............. es ........................... ............................ ............................ ........................... ............. 20 2.5 Maturity Maturity Models Models and Approaches............. Approaches ........................... ............................ ............................ ........................... ............. 21 2.6 Evaluation Verification Tools ............................ ......................................... ........................... ............................ .................... ...... 22 2.7 Black Widow ............................ .......................................... ............................ ............................ ........................... ........................... ................... ..... 23 2.8 Present Status ........................... ......................................... ............................ ............................ ............................ ........................... ................ ... 28 2.9 Legislation in e-Government .......................... ........................................ ............................ ............................ ...................... ........ 29 2.10 Electroni c Government Direct orate (EGD) (EGD)............. ........................... ........................... ........................... .............. 30 ........................................ ............................ ........................... ............. 30 2.11 Failure of e-Government e-Government servic es ..........................
2.11.1 2.11.2 2.11.3 2.11.4 2.11.5 2.11.6 2.11.7
Online Payment. ................................................. ........................................................................... ..................................... ........... 30 Absence Absence of Maturity Model for E-Government E-Government Services. Services. ......................... ......................... 31 Absence Absence of E-Government E-Government Framework Framework for Pakistan. Pakistan....................... ............................... ......... 31 Implementation Implementation Issues. .................................................... ............................................................................ ........................ 31 E-Government E-Government Outsourcing Issues......................... Issues. .................................................. ................................. ....... 32 Lack of availability availability of Laws and Rules Rules for e-gov services. services. ....................... ....................... 32 Lack of end user user involvement. involvement. ................................................. ................................................................. ................ 32
2.12 E-Government E-Government in Developed Countri es. ........................... ......................................... ............................ ................ .. 34 2.13 Public Trust on e-Government.............. e-Government............................ ............................ ............................ ............................ ................. ... 36 3
The Prop os ed Model ............................ .......................................... ............................ ........................... ........................... ........................ .......... 37 3.1 STRUCTURE.............. STRUCTURE ............................ ............................ ............................ ............................ ........................... ........................... ................... ..... 38
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3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.1.4
Level-1 A Mature Website................................... Website............................................................. ..................................... ........... 38 Level-2, Dynamic Dynamic Website Website ................................................... ....................................................................... .................... 42 Level-3, Level-3, Integration Integration with centralized centralized data................................................. data................................................. 42 Level-4, Transformed Transformed Government Government ................................................... .......................................................... ....... 43
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Au to mat ic Eval uat io n Too T oo l Imp I mp lem ent atio at io n .................... .......... ..................... ...................... ..................... ............. ... 44
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E-GOVERNMENT E-GOVERNMENT SERVICE SERVICE EVALUATION SNAPSHOTS ........................... .................................. ....... 45
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Concl Con cl us io n and fu tu re wo rk ........................... ......................................... ............................ ........................... .......................... ............. 52
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Referen ces .......................... ........................................ ............................ ............................ ........................... ........................... ............................ .............. 54
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Table of Tables
Table 1 E-Government status of South & Central Asia...............................................................................................13 Table 2 Budgetary Provision for e-Government [68]..................................................................................................29 Table 3 E-Government status of top 20 developed countries Source Source [UNPAN] [UNPAN] ............................ .......................................... .........................35 ...........35
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Table of Figures
Figure 1 Levels Levels of e-Governme e-Government nt 2.4 ........................... ......................................... ............................ ............................ ............................ ............................ ........................... .........................21 ............21 Figure 2 .9 Snapshot of Black Widow: Sowing folders hierarchy of www.Pakistan.gov.pk........................................24 Figure 3 E-Government Services Evaluation and Verification tool ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... .............25 .......... ...25 Figure 4 E-Government Services Evaluation and Verification tool ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... .............27 .......... ...27 Figure 5, F olders olders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk .................... .......... ..................... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ........... ...........45 .......... .45 Figure 6, 2nd level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... .................. .......... ........46 46 rd Figure 7, 3 level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... .................. .......... ........46 46 Figure 8, 4th level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk .................... .......... ..................... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ........47 ........ 47 Figure 9, 5th level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk .................... .......... ..................... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ........47 ........ 47 Figure 10, 6 th level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk. ..................... .......... ........... .................... .......... ..................... ........... .....48 th Figure 11, 7 level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk. ..................... .......... ........... .................... .......... ..................... ........... .....48 Figure 12, 8 th level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ...............49 .......... .....49 Figure 13, Last level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk........................................................49 Figure 14, E-mails used in , www.pakistan.gov.pk......................................................................................................50 Figure 15, Links used but not working in , www.pakistan.gov.pk .................... .......... ..................... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ......50 Figure 16, Links contained errors in , www.pakistan.gov.pk .................... .......... ..................... ........... ..................... .......... ........... ..................... .......... ........... .............51 .......... ...51
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1 Introduction
1.1 E-Government e-Government is the government owned or operated systems of information and communication technologies that transform relations with citizens, the private sector and/or other government agencies so as to promote citizens’ empowerment, improve service delivery, strengthen accountability, increase transparency, or improve government efficiency. efficiency. “e-Government” refers to the use of ICT by government government agencies Like Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing that have the ability to transform communications with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. This technology can provide a variety of services with better delivery of government services. The resulting benefits are eradication of corruption, transparency enhancement, greater convenience, revenue growth, and cost saving. EGovernment is further defined as Electronic Government (e-Government), also known as e-Gov, Digital Government, Online-Government or Transformational Government, e-Democracy, e-Government Unit, eRule Making, Electronic Services Delivery, Online-Consultation, Online-Deliberation, and Open-Source Governance, refer to Government’s use of Information Technology to exchange information and services with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. e-Government usually has been applied by the legislature, judiciary, or administration, to improve internal efficiency, the delivery of public services, or processes of democratic governance. The referred services are being employed at different levels like Government-to-Citizen or Customer (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), Government to Local Governments (G2LGs) and Government-to-Government (G2G). The significance of e-Government has increased manifolds for the achievement of improved efficiency, convenience, and better accessibility of public services.
E-Government means utilizing technology for the accomplishment of reforms by fostering transparency, eliminating distance and other divides, and empowering people to participate in the political processes that affect their lives. Governments have different strategies to build e-Government. Some have created comprehensive longterm plans. Others have opted to identify just a few key areas. In all cases, however, the countries identified as most successful have begun with smaller projects in phases on which to build a structure.
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1.2 Phases of E-Government The process of e-Government implementation can be divided into three phases. The phases are not dependent on each other; furthermore, they offer three conceptual ways to think about the goals of eGovernment. The three phases are:(i) The Publication phase. (ii) The Interaction phase. (iii) The Transaction phase. Publication phase: phase:
The publication publication phase is concerned concerned with the brief introduction introduction presented by
organization along with organization hierarchy, contacts information and details of offered services with existing clients, projects and pipelined projects. The graphical virtual tour may also be presented in publication phase. phase. Interaction phase: The interaction phase covers the detailed information for the user by the organization about the services offered, as well as, FAQs, online help, online-query forms, online-registration or booking or seat reservation reservation etc. Transaction phase: The transaction phase provides not only the basic information, but also the eCommerce related activities like submitting the payment against the services availed like e-Ticket or purchasing products. The limitation of interaction phase is the payment method which is not being provided after the e-reservation or e-registration whereas the transaction phase also covers the facility for e-transaction. However, e-Government phases in Pakistan are divided into following four phases:Informational: This is the first phase and includes the provision of information alone. The quality,
usability and currency of the content determine the value of this phase of e-Government. This is the least complex of all the phases. Interactive: In this phase, E-Government provides some degree of online interaction. For instance,
citizens can enter complaints or job applications online. This phase does not include secure transactions such as financial or other transactions that require a high degree of authorization and audit. Transactional: Provides secure transactions with high level of authorization. Citizens can now apply
online for passports, NICs and make payments online. This requires a high degree of security and basic infrastructure allowing for secure transactions. Collaborative: In this phase citizens and businesses collaborate with the government on processes,
projects, etc. This is especially important for businesses working together with the government on
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projects, for public-private partnerships, NGOs, citizen forums, etc. This phase requires a collaboration infrastructure, which brings together suppliers, consumers and the government in a network with the object of increasing value creation.
1.3 Status of e-Government in Pakistan Presently, Pakistan’s e-Government services are at the stage of upgrading existing e-services to mature services. IT Departments have been established in Federal & Provincial governments; E-Government Directorate has also been established by Federal Government. Furthermore, Sindh IT Board & Punjab IT Board has also been established to oversee and regulate IT in public sector.[1] The published IT Policy is silent about mature services or maturity models. The web standards are defined but automatic testing or evaluating mechanism is not available [2]. Present IT structure is lacking the formulating rules and laws which is an impediment for its implementation. The main impediments in the achievement of mature e-Government Services are lack of IT expertise in government sector, lack of outsourcing model in context of e-Government software, and lack of e-Government services model. Therefore, the global e-readiness ranking of Pakistan is facing downfall.
Table 1 E-Government status of South & Central Asia
e-readiness ranking by United Nations Online Network in Public Administration Administration and Finance (UNPAN) Index
Rank in
2005
2005
2004
1
Kazakhstan
0.4813
65
69
2
Kyrgyzstan
0.4417
76
66
3
Maldives
0.4321
77
78
4
Uzbekistan
0.4114
79
81
13
5
India
0.4001
87
86
6
Sri Lanka
0.3950
94
96
7
Iran
0.3813
98
115
8
Tajikistan
0.3346
117
..
9
Nepal
0.3021
126
132
10
Bhutan
0.2941
130
165
11
Pakistan
0.2836
136
122
12
Bangladesh
0.1762
162
159
13
Afghanistan
0.1490
168
171
Average
0.3448
E-Government is not simply a matter of giving government officials computers or automating old practices. Neither the use of computers nor the automation of complex procedures can bring about greater effectiveness in government or promote civic participation. Focusing solely on technological solutions will not change the mentality of bureaucrats who view the citizen as neither a customer of government nor a participant in decision-making [3].
Several established e-Government services are evaluated [4] and each step of developing e-Government services from scratch to mature services is studied. Several researchers have proposed models for the achievement of maturity in e-Government services, but implementation of the models is still awaited. However component based evaluation tools are available like Checker, ATRC (University Of Toronto, 2006), the Common Look Website Testing Tool (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat), NetCentric (Technologies Inc.), and Deque Ramp Grade (Deque Inc.,January 2005).
By the use of component based evaluation tools, several parts of a website can be evaluated as per guidance of W3C or any other customized customized maturity standardization [5]. [5]. The existing tools do not not support evaluation testing of a complete website or web portal or e-Government services; instead the tools are
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limited to only a single page testing. In this context, a model for Pakistan e-Government services has been developed with an automated testing or evaluation tool to verify the maturity of E-Government Services and the level of their maturity.
The existing e-Government services in Pakistan are overviewed with the perspective of their usability and interaction abilities. Some mature e-Government services were found like KESC institution supplying electricity to the Karachi city provides online billing whereas the submission of online payment is still not available. Sui-Southern gas is also providing online billing and online bills payment but we may not obtain a new connection without visiting their office in person. City District government-Karachi web portal provide some basic info forms and contracts information, yet complaints system does not get solve grievances like unavailability of water; sewerage lines chocked, street light facility etc. Electronic government directorate presented a website with some basic levels training but this directorate fails to uplift the standard of Pakistan e-Government services like other developed countries. NADRA has also developed a good system to know about status of applied CNIC but we may not have CNIC without visiting CNIC centre in person.
Discussed e-Government services are developed by out sourcing e-Government projects, so developed parameter are shows tidally and in well mannered way but are limited and a large amount is spent to develop these services. Present need is to initiate the culture of in house e-Government services development. In Pakistan government, there is no concept or provision of in-house development rather they depend on out-sourcing the required software to be developed. The limitation of out-sourcing the software development is the lack of support or future changes required to be implemented by the government as soon as the outsourcing company winds up its business. The new outsourcing company does not accept the previously developed software and it requires software to be developed altogether from scratch.
In house development of projects is usually done by the permanent staff members, as and when they complete the project, they start planning to improve further because employee take interest to develop public centric services [6] for which they are compensated in the shape of appreciation promotion and
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other financial benefits. Another important reason of inefficient e-Government services is lower salary package of I.T professionals in government government sector.
1.4
Objective of Thesis
This research evaluated that the e-Government Services in Pakistan are being developed in an adhoc fashion without following any coherent Maturity Model that could help analyze the evolution of eGovernment services through various levels of maturity and identify the causes of their failure in meeting the public requirements. In order to enhance the e-Government services, an e-Government Services Maturity Model presents for Pakistan that can evaluate e-Government Services and help to understand why their e-Government Services fail to help citizens. The model would also allow automatic evaluation of coherent services. Identify their level of maturity and reasons of the failure to meet public requirements. The model helps in automatic determination of the levels. Manual evaluation of level-1 and level-2 is approximately presented however, complete automatic evaluation and determination of parameters for level-3 and level-4 is proposed and needs further exertion. exertion.
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2 Related Work This research is based on requirement of globally accepted e-services Maturity Model with automated evaluation or verification tools. There is a need to investigate the parameters on which existing maturity models are developed [7]. This study initiated with research on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
2.1 The identified categories of SOA are:Concepts and Characteristics of SOA [8]. Service Oriented Architecture Approaches [9]. SOA Based Data Collection [10], and. SOA for Designing & Development [11]. By narrowing down the topic of SOA, the second area of research is analyzed as “e-Government services”. During this course of research the following implemented, available and existing e-Government services are observed:1.
Basic information about government and its attached department and sub-government.
2.
Online Services. i) Online Tax Return/Submission ii) Vehicle Registration iii) Property Tax Submission iv) Accessing centralized database v) Excise Tax Submission Submission vi) Tariffs vii) Online change / update of addresses
3.
Archived database
4.
Form Submission
5.
Communication System
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(i) Group Mail (ii) Newsletter (iii) e-fax (iv) e-mail service
2.2 Existing Frameworks Several frameworks are available to develop online services. These frameworks offer various kinds of services available in different platforms. Some frameworks offer license based services whereas the remaining ones are open-source and provide free services. Following platforms and their corresponding web application frameworks are observed during this study :In Cold Fusion platform four web application frameworks available i.e FuseBox, Mach-II, ColdSpring, Model-Glue. Under Java platform approximately approximately twenty two (22) web application frameworks frameworks existed some of them are Apache Cocoon, Apache Struts, AppFuse, Aranea framework, Click framework, Google web toolkit, Grails, Helma Object Publisher, JavaServer Faces, OpenXava, RIFE, Shale Framework, Spring framework, Stripes, Tapestry, Thin Wire, VYRE Unify, WebObjects, WebWork, Wicket, ZK. JavaScript present Dojo Toolkit, Prototype JavaScript Framework, qooxdoo, Yahoo! UI Library, JQuery. Under PHP platform approximately nineteen (19) web application frameworks presented i.e Achieve Tool Kit, Aukyla Platform, BlueShoes, Canvas Framework, Code Igniter, eZ publish, Horde, PHPOpenbiz, PRADO, Qcodo, Radicore, SilverStripe, Seagull, Symfony, Virtual-OS, Xaraya, Zend, Zoop. Perl platform presents Catalist, Interchange, Maypole, and Mason. Python presents twelve different web application frameworks services, whereas Ruby and Smalltalk platform also presents some some web application frameworks. Now a day widely used web application framework is recognized as DotNetNuke which is developed on C#. Other languages also presents some web application frameworks i.e. OpenACS, UnCommon Web, Yaws etc.
2.3 Existing e-Government Services Maturity Model Following existing e-Government services maturity models observed, New Public Management Model, eGovernment Maturity Model, Model for Metropolitan reforms, e-Government Model by Riley cover e-
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Government, e-Governance, and e-democracy, e-Local Government Model, e-Management, e-Service, eCommerce, e-Decision Making/e-Democracy [12].
a) Model for Metropolitan reforms: Musso, Weare et al’s presented model of metropolitan reforms, which divides municipal government activities in the USA into two categories. Entrepreneurial measures emphasize the provision of services to residents and businesses to facilitate economic development.
b) E-Government, e-Governance and e-Democracy: Riley outlines a model containing three progressive stages; e-Government, e-Governance and e-Democracy. In this model, governments move from net presence (e-Government), through to service provision and representative democracy (e-Governance), to a final stage of e-Democracy. This model suggests a linear progression to final maturity.
c) Quirck’s Four Staged Maturity Model: This model offers four stages with different spaces for eGovernment, which is widely accepted and used in the world. This model gives information at the lower end by Empowering Citizens at the final stage. It outlines different spaces of e-Government for local authorities. Quirk describes “e-Service: as Interface with customers, e-Commerce: as Cash transactions, e-Democracy: as Political dialogue between citizen and community, e-Decision-making: as Better informed public interest decisions, e-Management: as Improved management of people”.
Several other ways presented to develop a mature e-Government service, like a road map, recommendations, and questions etc. One of them is a council of USA named “Pacific Council on International Policy” defined a road map for e-Government for the developing world.
They recommended eleven (11) questions for e-Government leaders should ask themselves. Recommended questions are:-
o
Why are we pursuing e-Government?
o
Do we have a clear vision and priorities for e-Government?
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o
What kind of e-Government are we ready for?
o
Is there enough political will to lead the e-Government effort?
o
Are we selecting e-Government projects in the best way?
o
How should we plan and manage e-Government projects?
o
How will we overcome resistance from within the government?
o
How will we measure and communicate progress?
o
How will we know if we are failing?
o
What should our relationship be with the private sector?
o
How can e-Government improve citizen participation in public affairs?
The presented idea looks too old because technology world is developed at a mature level. This task is not been solved by raising only ten questions instead of presenting a complete model or framework however these questions could be helpful in developing a model for maturity.
After undertaking these services, now need is felt to validate the maturity of these services. In this context, above mentioned existing e-Government services, [13] and maturity models are investigated with the aim to investigate existing e-Government services maturity models and parameters on which existing maturity models are developed. Furthermore, the issues under investigation are the choice of tools to use for the evaluation or verification purpose, the quantitative approaches and other survey-based findings. The research is focused on concepts, characteristics and development of e-Government services [14], architectures [15], framework [16], models [17], projects [18], data distribution [19], information system and quality [20].
2.4 Levels of e-Government services E-Government services are being provided by one level of government to another level of government. Therefore, the Services can be categorized on the basis of levels, like Government to Government (G2G), Federal Government to Provincial Government (FG2PG) , Provincial Government to Local Government
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(PG2LG), Local Government to Local Governments (LG2LGs), Government to Business or Private Enterprises (G2B), and Government to Citizens (G2Cs).
Figure 1 Levels of e-Governmen t 2.4
E-Government G-T-B B-T-G
G-T-C G-T-B
G-T-C
C-T-G
G-T-G G-T-LGs
LGs-T-G
2.5 Maturity Models and Approaches Maturity model presented by Quirck uses a survey based quantitative approach as an evaluation tool whereas maturity models presented by others do not contain such evaluation tools. A scale named EGOVSAT [20] is also provided by the American researchers for the evaluation of maturity, which focuses on the quality and usability of e-services. With the help of evaluation tools and quantitative measures, developers become capable to evaluate real maturity of a service. Therefore, it may be stated that before the existence of above mentioned maturity models, the concept for the maturity of service was never introduced. The formulation of presented model has initiated the need of having a universally or widely accepted maturity model for e-services. The requirement to have a widely accepted maturity model has become apparent which should also be equipped with automated tools, as well as it should accommodate all presented small & customized maturity models.
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The common approach used for the development of maturity models is linear progression to final maturity. Major area of undertaken research is focused on the staged maturity models. The American concept of e-Government is initiated as Digital Government. National Science Foundation of USA initiated several compensation programs to achieve the target of pre-determined goals towards digital government [21]. Some presented generic type of services with different categories but this concept could not achieve popularity for wide usage and remained limited for specific use. Some of the Italian researchers suggested use of intelligent agents, which are capable of suggesting the users based on user and device profile [22]. On this pattern, they presented a public administration agent for performing the roles of addition, modification and removal of a service, offered as a uniform interface. Several models are being developed on customized parameters and on need basis, instead of having a globally accepted maturity models. An institution of United Nation, United Nations Online Network in Public Administration and Finance (UNPAN) published e-readiness global ranking, defines the criteria of maturity of e-Government services. It recommends six parameters for each sector but weightage is given on the importance of each parameter e.g. Connectivity and technical infrastructure 25%. Lowest weightage is to be given to the supporting eservices, 5% for remaining four parameters on the basis of given ratio i.e. Business environment 20%, Consumer and business business adoption 20%, legal & policy policy environment 15% and
social and cultural
environment 15% .
2.6 Evaluation Verification Tools The parameters on which existing models are based are on micro-level whereas the requirement is to develop a maturity model based on either macro-level parameters or on the basis of aggregated data. The criteria would serve as a guarantee for development of widely accepted e-Government services maturity models. In order to evaluate the maturity of a model, the automated verifying tools would play an important role for the integrity of e-Government services. However, component-based evaluation tools which already exist are required to be integrated. Component-based evaluation tools usually evaluate the parameters of an e-service such as the design, the functionality, the utility, the broken-links, the email addresses mentioned, the external links provided, the embedded databases, the login forms, over all structure of website, the files available in hosting folders, any other knowledge relevant to the service, the files and
22
folders placed in the hosting directory, and the size of files, but it lacks the information like maturity level of e-service. Advanced level of integration of e-services is also considered to be an important factor towards e-Government maturity.
The automatic evaluation and verification of e-Government services maturity is proposed in order to evaluate whether defined e-services are available and functional or not and their level of maturity according to defined maturity model. The proposed model comprises of following four levels of maturity:-
1. Level-1 of e-Government services, A Mature Website. 2. Level-2 of e-Government services, website with dynamic fe atures. 3. Level-3 of e-Government services, Integration with centralized database. 4. Level-4 of e-Government services, Transformed government having features of CRM, CM, AI, and ERP etc.
Initially the emphasis is to develop the first level of e-Government services maturity model in detail, which will also cover evaluation and verification. The evaluation and verification is being accomplished in two ways, one is through the software already developed named Black-Widow by SoftByteLabs and second is our own developed software. The Black Widow evaluates some parameters of a website. The customization in software is also possible with the skills of c++ syntax based programming language. But we preferred to develop own software in order to evaluate remaining parameters with the hope to fully evaluate e-Government service with own developed software in future.
2.7 Black Widow Black Widow is a tool to scan a site and create a complete profile of the site’s structure, files, external links and even link errors. Black-Widow also download all file types such as pictures and images, audio and MP3, videos, documents, ZIP, programs, CSS, Macromedia Flash, .pdf , PHP, CGI, HTM to MIME
23
types from any web sites. Pull links from Java Scripts and Java Scripts files scan Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) and Flash files for links + more from any web site. Write your own "Plugins" for impossible to scan sites. BlackWidow can be customized to make a plugin that will search and extract information from a web site database, say, an online store, a job recruiting web site etc. If you are a novice or an experienced programmer, you can make a plugin in less than 15 minutes. A plugin template for C++, Delphi and PowerBasic. Just fill in the blanks, write your code and you're done. If user is not a programmer softlab make one, just let us know what the requirements are. plugins can do anything, you need not restrict your plugin to scanning files only. The SlowDown SlowDown plugin for example, slows down the scan randomly to make it look like a human is navigating the site, not a spider. Errors: BlackWidow will list all link errors found by listing the links with the server error code and description. This includes broken links, mistyped links, server errors such as configuration errors etc. BlackWidow can be configured to list the status of links to external web sites to make it easy to find links which no longer exist. Figure 2 .9 .9 Snapshot Snapshot of Black Widow: Sowing folders hierarchy of www.Pakistan.gov.pk
Above snapshot shows folders hierarchy of Pakistan’s official Web portal discovered by the tool used (Black widow) to evaluate various parameters. The tool discover DNS number used for portal and all the folders, sub folder, and files with names and other details like size of file date etc at hosting space, usually this information is treated secret and without using intelligent tool can not be traced.
24
Figure 3 E-Government Services Evaluation and Verification tool
The graphical view of our proposed (E-Government Services Evaluation and Verification tool) shows parameters of level-1 of our proposed maturity model. Option is given to check all shown parameters or some selected parameters. Initially proposed tool may check the availability of parameters developed by using java script; it is further proposed to develop the same parameters on intelligence test or OCR readers based in future. The Universal Resource Locator (URL) needs a valid e-Government service
25
address to evaluate the service, after providing the valid URL, on clicking the button “check Maturity Level” this tool will firstly check the total number of pages available in e-service and then multiply number of parameters with pages, as a result of this multiplication gain amount of script will be provided to the “maximum script count” field. The total script found field will be filled by found scripts by crawling all the pages of e-Government service. The field “percentage level” then calculates percentage of maximum scripts and found script and accordingly shows the result.
26
Figure 4 E-Government Services Evaluation and Verification tool
Evaluation of Pakistan Government website. As per our defined level-1 Website is @ 0.62 rank
This figure shows the test of maturity level by accessing a single page of official web portal of Government of Pakistan, i.e. www.pakistan.gov.pk .
27
2.8 Present Status As far as e-Government services in Pakistan are concerned, e-Government services will be implemented by legislation, administration and judiciary. Legislation has accomplished its goal by establishing IT Department in federal and provincial-level governments. Moreover, the IT policy has been formulated by legislation and released by the electronic directorate. At federal- level e-Government directorate and at provincial-level IT boards have been established. Administrative departments also started functioning by launching Pakistan’s web portal and provincial-level web portals. Government has provided the funds for the computer training which has been executed in different phases to provide the training to the concerned government officials. The IT infrastructure for the organizations at federal and provincial level has been established. Approximately four-hundred (400) websites covering all tiers of government have been developed and regularly being updated. The published IT Policy is silent about mature services or maturity models. The web standards are defined but automatic testing or evaluating mechanism is not available. Present IT structure is lacking the formulating rules and laws which is an impediment for its implementation. The main impediments in the achievement of mature e-Government Services are lack of IT expertise in government sector, lack of outsourcing model in context of e-Government software, and lack of e-Government services model.
Since the creation of the Ministry of IT in the year 2000, IT has been brought in the forefront through Human Resource development, opening a number of IT universities and IT departments in the existing institutions, strengthening and promoting the domestic IT industry through Pakistan Software Export Board, through the provision of basic IT training to federal and provincial government employees through Pakistan Computer Bureau and through automating various federal and provincial government organizations. Several projects initiated by the Ministry of IT E-Government Directorate EGD activities are being increased steadily, and a definite positive correlation has been observed in the form of increase in the number and total value of projects being planned and implemented by EGD. The current status of e-Government projects at the Federal Government of Pakistan is as follows:
28
Table Table 2 Budg etary Provision f or e-Government e-Government Program
Rupees in Million S.# Activity for Fiscal Year
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2010-11
TOTAL
1
195.31
153.46
65.10
65.10
65.10
544.07
10.00
81.33
81.33
71.33
38.00
281.99
200.00
800.00
280.00
128.00
128.00
1,536.00
203.33
203.33
203.33
609.99
2 3
4
5
6
Basic Infrastructure in Federal Ministries Baseline Applications in Federal Ministries Basic Infrastructure in attached departments of the Federal Ministries Baseline Applications in attached departments of the Federal Ministries Agency Specific Applications including high impact applications and citizen services Capacity Building and creating and creating an enabling environment Total e-Government Spending
540.00
500.00
500.00
500.00
500.00
2,540.00
50.00
50.00
50.00
50.00
50.00
250.00
995.31
1,584.79
1,179.76
1,017.76
984.43
5,762.05
2.9 Legislation in e-Government Legislation is a key component in the overall IT Program. The introduction of online transactions and the reengineering of processes require legislation and changes to the rules and regulations. The information society has also created a new set of legal challenges that have to be dealt with by either bringing new legislation or amending the existing laws. The most fundamental legislation is the recognition of electronic transactions. The Government of Pakistan has promulgated the Electronic Transaction Ordinance (ETO) in the year 2002. With the cover of this ordinance the legal system recognizes electronic transactions and information stored in electronic form. The Ministry of IT has also completed broad based consultations on the draft of the Electronic Crimes Act, which is to be submitted to the Cabinet later this year. Work is also underway on the Data Protection Act and Electronic Signature Law. Under the ETO the government has already established an Accreditation Council to accredit the certification authorities that provide security authentication services. For example those authorities that issue Digital Certificates. This Accreditation Council has been notified and the Secretariat has been
29
formed under the National Telecommunication Corporation. The Accreditation Council is in the process of framing its rules and other modalities of operation since 2005 [23].
2.10 Electronic Government Directorate (EGD) The Federal Cabinet approved the conversion of the IT Commission into the E-Government Directorate (EGD). EGD was set up as a cell within the Ministry of IT to focus specifically on E-Government with the following Terms of References (TORs): o
Lead the E-Government Effort in Pakistan
o
Plan and Implement projects under E-Government program
o
Provide technical support to Federal, Provincial and District agencies
o
Preparation of standards for software and infrastructure in the field of Electronic Government
The E-Government Directorate has the primary responsibility for bringing about the e-Government transformation within the Federal Government, with strong cooperation and commitment, necessarily, from the various Federal Government organizations. Subsequently, EGD was further strengthened with the sanction of 4 Business Analysts, a Director (Training), and an Executive Director.
2.11 Failure of e-Government services After having all these efforts, e-Government services still fail to provide facilities to the citizens and therefore, the government is being criticized by the citizens. Several causes for failure of e-Government were observed during the course of research. The overall issue is the lack of several basic requirements. Some of frequently observed issues are given in brief:-
2.11.1 2.11.1
Online Onli ne Payment.
The availability of earlier online payment option in e-Government services is being deprecated in the world and ever new options are being introduced. Even in Pakistan’s private sector household entities are being sold through online payment. But Pakistan government as yet fails to present a framework and flexible laws to enable this option in their e-Government services. During this research several senior bureaucrats of Government of Pakistan contacted and asked them for availability of online services, but
30
they shows there inability due to non availability of related rules and laws. No clear policy or directions as yet issued regarding the matter.
2.11 2.11.2 .2
Abs ence of Maturi Maturi ty Model for E-Government E-Government Servi Servi ces.
The e-Government directorate has yet made several efforts to develop mature e-Government services by developing web-standards, security frameworks, and outlined IT Policy but maturity model for eGovernment services and their automatic evaluation evaluation and verification verification is not yet presented. However, presented model in the research may help help e-Government directorate to to define a road-map for development of mature e-Government services besides the adhoc fashioned development. Completion of our next phase research may present this improvement improvement automatically automatically and fully functional solution solution to the problem. problem.
2.11 2.11.3 .3
Absence of E-Government E-Government Framework Framework for Pakis Pakis tan.
Federal government directorate may play an important role to define a centralized e-Government framework to develop successful e-Government services [24] with the support of rules and laws. All government institutions may be directed to develop their e-Government services on the basis of federal directorate recommendations. Information parameters can also be defined at this stage to know what government information is to be published publicly and which information is needed to be published on certain security and passwords or authorized access basis. The framework may be developed on the basis of existing three tiers of e-Government these are:e-Government framework for federal institutions and department. E-Government framework for provincial level institutions and provincial government. E-Government framework for local government and their further three tiers. Preferably an open source portal based framework will be useful for government sector like dot net nuke.
2.11.4 2.11.4
Implement ation atio n Issu es.
The implementation on developed strategies, rules, standards, policies, and directions is an important issue towards successful e-Government in Pakistan [25]. E-Government Directorate and departments have been established and defined strategies like IT policy, web standards, e-mail usage policy etc, but the implementations on defined strategies are not being followed/implemented, due to digital divide and several other issues, some of the government agencies blame recommended services are costly, inefficient, and lacking quality [26].
31
2.11 2.11.5 .5
E-Government E-Government Outsou rci ng Issues.
The e-Government services development strategy is based on outsourcing. The outsourcing way of development is basically an adhoc based arrangement and never get mature, on completion of the project contractor (who developed the project from scratch) do not take interest in the project even continue payment is offered on yearly basis they just attend the project to release their payment. Further, upgradation of project never provided until a new full-fledged PC-I is proposed as a new project which is again adhoc fashioned development [27].
2.11 2.11.6 .6
Lack of availabili availabili ty of Laws and Rules for e-gov e-gov servic es.
E-Government Directorate is being functioning since year 2001, but no Act, Rules are yet notified to give legal cover to the web based e-Government activities. IT policy and web standards are released, but they does not have any legal weightage, if these policies are not adopted by the government sector, no legal action can be taken. Last month Federal Government released an Ordinance named “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007”, which is yet to approve by the new assembly. If the same ordinance does not approve with in three months this will expire and no existence of Ordinance will be treated. Further, several rules are required to provide legal cover to various government activities. Frequently used rules are Privacy Rules Under the E-Government Act of 2002, E-Transactions Rules etc.
2.11 2.11.7 .7
Lack of end user invo lvement.
The successful implementation of e-Government project depends upon the feedback of user and participation of end user’s user’s in the project. Unfortunately in e-Government projects, project developers do not knows who will be the end user of project because in several cases end user as for concerned if data entry operator’s usually recruited after development of project. In other cases end user usually a lower grade employee and frequently transferred from one office to other, so they never consulted for their input during development of project. Second end user in e-Government services project is general public, democracy in Pakistan do not yet established. There is a clear and long distance between e-Government and public due to long tenure of dictatorship and armed forces ruling in Pakistan, in this sequence usually these developments kept secret from public and can be viewed by general public after released, whereas true sense of e-Government is that citizens can participate as partners, taxpayers, constituents, employees, students, and customer.
32
Some of frequently observed generic type issues are also listed below [28]. •
Lack of telecommunications and network infrastructure
•
Limited PC access
•
Lack of financial resources for developing an infrastructure
•
Lack of ICT literacy
•
Limited or costly Internet access
•
Cultural resistance
•
High costs of business investment
•
Strategic business impediments
•
Divides between countries or social divides within countries; and business divides related to sector, region, firm and size.
The efforts so far made for reformation are initiated by the Chief of Army Staff holding the seat of President on adhoc basis and the bureaucracy seems to be reluctant for the restoration of the public trust on the reformations. The deadlock mentioned is a great impediment to achieve mature e-Government services. Provincial-level web portals face discrepancies such as having the static websites instead of dynamic web portals and therefore are not updated by the users. The concept of online-service is still far from maturity. Bureaucracy seems to ignore public issues to be addressed in timely manner and seems to be not interested even in responding responding to the public public queries through e-mails [29]. [29].
The government sector is so far unable to lay down the criteria for the software procurement process [30]. Furthermore, various software products have been blindly procured from open-market for government offices without any feasibility study and therefore can not be implemented. All procurement agencies clearly mention a section in procurement terms and conditions that they will not be responsible to implement procured software. Therefore, it is an apparent negligence on the part of government administration in making such an agreement. As a solution, at least one party should undertake the responsibility for the implementation of the procured software. Moreover, dispute resolution criteria may also be determined in agreement in case of dispute between government and procurement agency. Another important factor indicated in the research is the availability of friendly rules and regulations, which is to be provided in the e-Government services. In this context, the National Conference of
33
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) formulated the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act (UETA) for the establishment of legal recognition of electronic records and signatures. The UETA laws help to resolve the uncertainty regarding the legal validity of electronically generated records and documents [31]. The judiciary is a potential institution to play an important role for the implementation of e-Government services in Pakistan. There is an acute need of judicial related e-Government services where public may get an easy access to the information related to all cases. But the judiciary is not so far able to dispose off its existing backlog of cases and government issues. As per an estimation, more than seventy five thousand (75000) cases are lying pending in Sindh Province only [32], half of which are pending since last ten 10 years. With the help of World Bank a project named Access to Justice Program is initiated to streamline the situation, but due to internal issues of government stakeholders this project is still in its infancy and failed to take off.
2.12 E-Government in Developed Countries. It is now extensively accepted that ICT offers increased opportunities for economic development and plays a critical role in rapid economic change, productive capacity improvements and international competitiveness enhancement for developing countries [33]. The range of choices and opportunities in developing countries is expanding. ICT is believed to be a powerful enabling tool to address some of the key barriers and challenges for entering the global economy and for future growth potential [34]. It can transform old challenges and create unprecedented possibilities for sustainable economic development, just as it has done for businesses businesses in the industrial industrial world [35].
The efforts as yet made by the developed counties are also being monitored by several organizations [36]. Similarly, a survey of e-Government services e-readiness ranking conducted by the UNPAN aimed to categorize the progress made by UN’s member countries. The following table shows the top twenty 20 ranked e-Government services of developed countries [37].
34
Table 3 E-Governm E-Governm ent status of top 20 developed cou ntri es Source [UNPAN] Name of Country
Index
R a nk
United States
0.9062
1
Denmark
0.9058
2
Sweden
0.8983
3
United Kingdom
0.8777
4
Korea, Rep. of
0.8727
5
Australia
0.8679
6
Singapore
0.8503
7
Canada
0.8425
8
Finland
0.8231
9
Norway
0.8228
10
Germany
0.8050
11
Netherlands
0.8021
12
New Zealand
0.7987
13
Japan
0.7801
14
Iceland
0.7794
15
Austria
0.7602
16
Switzerland
0.7548
17
Belgium
0.7381
18
Estonia
0.7347
19
Ireland
0.7251
20
The table mentioned above shows top twenty rankers of e-Government services of developed countries.
35
The result of e-readiness ranking released by an institution of United Nation named United Nations
Online Network in Public Administration and Finance (UNPAN). The UNPAN publishes ereadiness global ranking, and defines the criteria of maturity of e-Government services. It recommends six parameters for each sector but weightage is given on the importance of each parameter. According to UNPAN the most mature e-Government services are presented by the United State of America by achieving 0.9062 index and placed at top among 190 nations whereas Denmark is at second position by achieving 0.9058 index, Sweden placed at third level in the world by obtaining 0.8983 index and so on.
2.13
Public Trust on e-Government.
The trust of citizens in their governments has gradually eroded. Public wishes that the governments should introduce e-Government for citizen-to-government interaction. This research tests the extent to which online initiatives have succeeded in increasing trust and external political efficacy in general public [38]. The use of Internet to transact with government has a significantly positive impact on trust and political effectiveness. The quality of the interaction is also important, but it is regarded as secondary issue [39].
The citizens feel that existing manual governments do not listen to them. The expectations by usage of eGovernment services are to directly involve citizens in the policy process, decision making and take measures to serve them better. E-Government can increase process-based trust by improving interactions with citizens and perceptions of responsiveness.
36
3 The Proposed Model
One of the main challenges for developing a globally accepted e-Government services maturity model is the establishment of an appropriate and context tailored maturity model. All the initiative needs to be rooted in a careful, analytical and dynamic process. The process of developing required maturity model seems to be a very difficult task, requiring a focus on many aspects and processes, a holistic vision, longterm focus and objectives. Many government institutions limit their activities to a simple transfer of their information and services online without taking into consideration the re-engineering process needed to grasp the full benefits. The government must have a clear road map to overcome the barriers to change. By learning a lesson from the private sector, e-Government must be customer-driven and service oriented [40], meeting the needs of citizens and general public. The vision of e-Government implies providing greater access to information as well as better, more equal services and procedures for public and businesses. Even when e-Government projects seek to improve internal government processes, the end goal should be making government serve citizens [41]. The finalized maturity model would play the diverse roles that citizens can play as partners, taxpayers, constituents, employees, students, and customer. For the sake of theses requirement level one of maturity model is proposed in detail whereas generalized level of remaining levels are also defined which need further revision. An e-Government maturity model provides us with guidance on how to gain control of our processes for developing and maintaining e-Government services and how to evolve toward a culture of excellence in providing and managing e-Government. A maturity model can guide us in selecting process improvement strategies by determining current process maturity and identifying the few issues that are most critical to e-Government quality and process improvement. By focusing on a limited set of activities and working aggressively to achieve them, we can steadily improve our organization-wide e-Government processes and enable continuous and lasting gains in our e-Government capabilities [42]. Proposed Maturity Model contains four (4) stages. These stages will be defined with the mode of parameters on which globally accepted e-Government e-Government services maturity model could be developed. In our previous research following three parameters to define globally accepted e-Government services maturity model were identified:•
Continent and sub continent level maturity model
37
•
World e-readiness ranking level maturity model
•
Five or four levels maturity model.
We have proposed four levels maturity model for efficient development of e-Government services and to make the e-Government services citizens centric, level one is defined completely and fully functional however automatic testing / verification still need to be evaluated by integration of used tools. Remaining levels are also proposed with partial parameters but still need to work out with the passage of time and invention of advanced technology.
3.1 STRUCTURE 3.1.1 3.1.1 Level-1 A Matu Mature re Websi Website te 1.
Standard formatting of a page contains following parameters:Scripts
i)
Date of creation of page
ii)
All dates of updates / modifications as yet
iii)
Last modifier on
iv)
Total visits of Page
v)
Time of opened page
The function shows in above part of maturity level usually use scripts; these scripts automatically capture required information by predefined strings being used in a file. It is not compulsory that all above functions use scripts, possibilities of using other technology is also existed. Uniformity / Design
vi)
Uniformed Style for whole website:a.
Fonts:- Color, Size, Type
b. Exception Main Page vii)
Bookmarks to jump each section
viii)
Print widgets
ix)
XML based Expender and Minimized data option
x)
Name of developer company with its its CMMI level
xi)
Screen resolution if not onto adjustable
xii)
Statistical data
xiii)
Word less Messages
xiv)
Graphical Views
38
The design of a website and web portal is an important matter. Good looking, friendly user and attractive design may have attention of visitor. These parameters will be evaluated by verifying the use of Cascade Style Sheets, Strings, Intelligent Optical Character Reader, Computer’s auto adjust functions. Accessibility
xv)
Links of website
xvi)
Download link if any, in PDF
xvii)
FAQs
xviii)
Site Map
xix)
A to Z
xx)
Site map tracking on each link
xxi)
Search Engine
xxii)
Related Links
Availability of accessibility options may offer an ease to the viewer and visitor. Lack of accessibility may lose the interest of visitor, availability of all above mentioned options will be treated a One Window Solution, OWS is widely used and adopted phenomenon in prevailing standards. This option will also be verified with used strings, scripts, systems, and applets.
Terms of use
xxiii)
Privacy policy
xxiv)
User policy / agreement
xxv)
Security statement
xxvi)
Security Feature
xxvii) Contents rating xxviii) Help/ Documentation xxix)
External links usage policy
Legal status of soft information is being authenticated with the covers of newly defined rules by the government. So it is also important to define the terms of use of published data and referred data. The availability of these terms will also be verified by Intelligent Optical Character Reader IOCR. a. Basic information about Organization / institute. b. Contacts information. Contacts Information
i. Telephone Numbers with Country and City Code of head office ii. Telephone Numbers with Country and City Code of its branch office, attached office, its affiliated offices, attached independent authorities, boards etc. iii. Fax Numbers of all above offices.
39
iv. E-mail address of all designation with embedded auto reply. v. E-mail address of all departments in general. vi. E-mail Address of general purposes i-e info, recruitment etc. vii. Group mails facilities. viii. Postal address of all above officers / Designation / Departments. ix. P. O. Box Number Number of Organization / institutes. x. UAN Number. xi. Toll free Numbers. xii. Auto response Systems by using OCR, ICR etc. xiii. Feed back form count down xiv. News Letters. xv. Web Hosting The basic information shows the field and association of website/web portal. An attractive introduction may also have the attention of user and website may achieve its entire goal by appealing user. The basic function of a mature website is to motivate the customer/user to attract by offering services, after having this goal the importance relies that user may easily approach the service provider. The contacts detail mentioned in the model may open several opportunities to contact. The best technique to find the mentioned links in a portal is also Intelligent Optical Character Reader IOCR. Quality Hosting
Following general parameters may be considered to have a quality web hosting. i. Operating system ii. Site load speed iii. Support iv. Reliability v. Price vi. Traffic vii. Storage viii. Email ix. Databases – MySQL, Access, MsSQL x. .Net frame work xi. Software – PHP, ASP, JSP xii. Control panel xiii. Website statistics xiv. Upgrading Following are detailed parameters to standardized web hosting. Details Hosting Parameters i. Disk Storage in GBs ii. Data Transfer Limit upto 50 GB iii. Sub-domains creation iv. Web-based Admin Control Panel
40
v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. xvi.
xvii. xviii. xix. xx. xxi. xxii. xxiii. xxiv. xxv. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii. xxix. xxx. xxxi. xxxii. xxxiii. xxxiv. xxxv.
FrontPage Support File Manager, Domain Manager & User Manager SSL Support* 24 x 7 x 365 LIVE Technical Support Site Builder (Build your own website in minutes!) Emails Unlimited POP3 Email Addresses Email Redirects Auto Responders Mailing Lists Web-based Email Access AntiVirus & Spam Protection Database Databases .Net framework Microsoft Access Unlimited MySQL Microsoft SQL Development, Programming Programming Language Support PHP, Perl, Python & CGI Support ASP ASP.net JSP FTP Access FTP Accounts FTP Session Manager Website Logging & Statistics Web analyzer Website Statistics Access Log Files & Error Logs Graphical & Text-based Counters Additional Web Applications Package Prices
c. Domain Registered with InterNic or PkNic d. No External Advertisement e. Advertisement Standardization for web f.
Defined ways of communication
g. Issuance of Cyber Laws, Rules
41
3.1.2 Level-2, Dynamic Website a.
Two way Communication
b. Database driven web pages c. Online Forms d. Diversity of data sources i.e XML, RSS Feeds. e.
Profile based page generation
f.
Payment options I. Master Card II. Visa Card III. Scratch Card IV. Pay pal V. Other options
g. Traceable / Track able Communication h. Consumer Centric website i.
Data Repository
j.
Triggers based updating
k. Aggregated data l.
Issuance of Friendly Laws, Rules
m. Establishment of Cyber crime Departments n. Efficient connectivity options o. Level of Service delivery perspective
3.1.3 Level-3, Integration with centralized data a. Content Management b. Customer Relationship Management c.
Knowledge Management
d. Computerized Integrated Processes e.
Data warehousing, Data Mart
f.
Quality Assurance
g. Issuance of Friendly Laws, Rules, Ordinances h. Advancement with technologies of Cyber crime cr ime Departments i.
Advanced connectivity options
42
j.
Level of Participation perspective
3.1.4 Level-4, Transformed Government h. Decision Making i.
Artificial Intelligence
j.
Participative improvement
k. Issuance of Friendly Laws, Rules, Ordinances l.
Terabyte connectivity & transfer speed
m. Information delivery perspective n. Integration of Cyber crime Departments with world wide organizations
43
4 Automatic Evaluation Tool Tool Implementation In this research automatic evaluation and verification of e-Government services maturity is proposed in order to evaluate whether defined e-services are available and functional or not and their level of maturity according to defined maturity model. The proposed model comprises of following four levels of maturity:-
1. Level-1 of e-Government services, mature website. 2. Level-2 of e-Government services, website with dynamic fe atures. 3. Level-3 of e-Government services, Integration with centralized database. 4. Level-4 of e-Government services, Transformed government having features of CRM, CM, AI, and ERP etc.
Initially the emphasis is to develop the first level of e-Government services maturity model in detail, which will also cover evaluation and verification. The evaluation and verification is being accomplished in two ways, one is through the software already developed named Black-Widow by SoftByteLabs and second is our own developed software. The Black Widow evaluates some parameters of a website. The customization in software is also possible with the skills of c++ syntax based programming language. But we preferred to develop own software in order to evaluate remaining parameters with the hope to fully evaluate e-Government service with own developed software in future.
44
5 E-GOVERNMENT SERVICE EVALUATION SNAPSHOTS
Figure 5, Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
45
nd
Figure 6, 2 level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
rd
Figure 7, 3 level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
46
th
level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
th
level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
Figure 8, 4
Figure 9, 5
47
th
level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
th
level Folders Folders Hierarchy Hierarchy in ho sted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
Figure 10, 6
Figure 11, 7
48
th
Figure 12, 8
level Folders Hierarchy in hosted hosted space, space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
Figure 13, Last level Folders Hierarchy in hosted space, www.pakistan.gov.pk
49
Figure 14, E-mails used in , www.pakistan.gov.pk
Figure 15, Links used but not working in , www.pakistan.gov.pk
50
Figure 16, Links contained errors in , www.pakistan.gov.pk
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6 Conclusion and future work
In this research, we have formulated a complete and broader definition of e-Government since existing definitions do not cover the overall scenario. As we evaluated e-Government, "e-Government is the automated government systems of information and communication technologies that transform relations with the citizens, the private, the business, the industrial sector and other levels of government and related agencies so as to promote citizens’ empowerment, improve service delivery, strengthen accountability, increase transparency, improve government efficiency, and eradicate the corruption”.
By observing existing literature we may say, this era is the most important in context with developing mature e-Government services. The developed countries are being utilized e-Government services. As per estimation approximately 92% public services are diverted to e-Government services and the true essence of e-Government services is achieved i.e. public centric e-Government services. At this stage public have the opportunity to have all the related service accessibility through a single terminal i.e. from birth certificate towards admission in school, educational test, educational certificate, diploma, degree, research and its evaluation, initiating a business, marketing, business automation, online billing, online payment, tax paying, paying bills, or applying for immigration, approach government for information, registering a vehicle, financial transaction to and from government, online billing of utility bills, costing a vote in election and other amenities of daily use.
Presently, the need is to develop country wide or global services by developing rights management hierarchy. Developed countries are now working on the projects such as developing nation-wide grid, country-wide cluster, etc. The small level frameworks and portals are available free of cost and opensource; an operating system is shipped along with all the tools required for small business organizations such as financial system, exchange for communication, directory, databases, website builder etc.
Pakistan’s e-Government services are yet to upgrade existing e-services to mature services. IT Departments have been established in all government levels. Furthermore, IT Boards in Sindh and Punjab
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have also been established to oversee and regulate IT in public sector. The published IT Policy is silent about mature services or maturity models. The web standards are defined but automatic testing or evaluating mechanism is not available. Present IT structure is lacking the formulating rules and laws which is an impediment for the implementation of mature e-Government services. The impediments in the achievement of mature e-Government Services are lack of IT expertise in government sector, lack of outsourcing model in context of e-Government software, and lack of e-Government services maturity model. In Pakistan government, there is no concept or provision of in-house development rather they depend on out-sourcing the required software to be developed. The limitation of out-sourcing the software development is the lack of support or future changes required to be implemented by the government as soon as the outsourcing company winds up its business. The new outsourcing company does not accept the previously developed software and it requires software to be developed altogether from scratch. In the current situation, e-Government Services in Pakistan are being developed on adhoc basis without following any maturity model as a road map which results in the failure of existing e-Government services in terms of providing services to the citizens. The development of maturity model at global-level or country-wide may gain popularity instead of the development of the model at low-level or restricted to only specific domain. In order to cater the need, we propose a country-wide e-Government services maturity model for establishing mature e-Government services which evaluate e-Government Services and identify the causes of their failure.
We present an automated evaluation tool of coherent services which identify the status of e-Government services maturity and reasons of the failure to meet public requirements. In this maturity model, four levels of maturity are outlined while complete structure of level-one is proposed with detailed parameters and attributes. Future work may be the integration of the used tools and to develop the remaining three levels for the complete functionality.
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