ISSUE 3

COMNET-IT Publications

Distribution of Reports

The U.S. Federal Government's Department for General Services Administration (GSA) has entered into an agreement whereby its reports and comparative reviews will be made available to COMNET-IT's institutional members at no charge.

1. The Challenging Road to the Government of the Future
2. Innovative Funding Approaches
3. The Intergovernmental Solutions Series: an international review of key issues including:
• Smart Cards
• Electronic Commerce
• Outsourcing
• Web-enabled Systems
• Re-invention

The Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) at Manchester University and COMNET-IT will jointly distribute, free of charge, on request to COMNET-IT's institutional members a series of Working Papers. Available are:

1. Information Systems and Public Sector Accountability
2. Planning and Creating a Government Web Site: Learning from the Experience of US States
3. Decision Support Systems and Strategic Public Sector Decision Making in Egypt
4. Information Technology and Public Sector Corruption
5. Public Sector Management Information Systems
6. Information Age Reform of the Public Sector: The Potential and Problems of Information Technology for India
7. Centralised vs Decentralised Management of Public Information Systems: A Core-Periphery Solution
8. Information Management, IT and Government Transformation: Innovative Approaches in the New South Africa
9. 'Why Health Care Information Systems Succeed or Fail'.

The Working Papers are concise, highly readable and informative management briefings and bring much added-value to the COMNET-IT membership.

Publications now available for purchase by members from COMNET-IT include:

• “IT and Globalisation: Implications for Developing Countries" (168 pages; Price GB£10)
• “Information Sharing Between and Within Governments” (72 pages; Price GB£10)
• "Government Secure Intranets" (40 pages; Price GB£10)

New addition "Reinventing Government in the Information Age: International Practice in IT-Enabled Public Sector Reform." 

Richard Heeks (ed.) Routledge, 1999. 386 pp. ISBN: 0-415-19037-1

Can information technology help `reinvent government'? It can, but only if correctly managed. This book provides a new model for management of `information age reform', based on a review of international experience. It offers practical guidance, analytical insights plus detailed case studies. It will therefore be of value to practitioners, trainers and researchers dealing with public administration and IT.

The book begins with a review of government reinvention and the contribution of information and IT to reinvention. The rapid spread of information age reform is charted. Ineffective approaches to reform used by many public managers are described, and contrasted with the effective, integrated approach used by a small minority. A model is developed to explain why information age reform initiatives succeed or fail. From this, a set of practical techniques for successful information age reform is identified, based on international best practice.

These management insights are supplemented by more than a dozen in-depth case studies drawn from the US, UK, mainlaid Europe, and developing countries. The studies cover all aspects of reform: efficiency, decentralisation, resource and performance management, `marketisation', accountability and democratisation. An educators' guide is provided for those wishing to use the cases as the basis for individual or group training. Further details can be found at: http://idpm.man.ac.uk

A discount of 30% on the normal cover price of GB£45 is available to COMNET-IT members. Members should contact the editor, for details: Dr Richard Heeks Senior Lecturer, Information Systems & Development Institute for Development Policy & Management, University of Manchester, Precinct Centre, Manchester M13 9GH U.K. Tel: +44-161-275-2870
Fax: +44-161-273-8829
Email: mailto:richard.heeks@man.ac.uk

IDPM Web: http://idpm.man.ac.uk