COMNET-IT '95

WORKSHOP REPORT CHAPTER 4

Organisational Strategies for Planning IT in the Public Sector

 

4.0 Introduction

4.1 Financing and Cost Benefit

4.2 Standards

4.3 Sourcing of IT

4.4 Long Term Goals vs Short Term Deliverables

4.5 Creating Strategic Advantage

4.0 Introduction

Section 3 dealt with the various issues which must be addressed in national policies, i.e. the Government's role as policy maker. Yet, as has been noted, governments play a role in national IT development and policy implementation because of their own purchasing power and because of the administrative and program services which they provide to the public.

Mr. Philip Micallef presented a paper on the Integrated Change Approach being followed by Malta's Management Systems Unit (MSU). His paper covered the Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP) and showed its links to the Public Service reform initiatives being undertaken by Malta. Among others, the principal success factors of the ISSP have been political commitment, investment and information resource management. MSU, in its role as an agent of reform, plays a major part in bringing rationality to government use of IT, to the planning and implementation of IT strategies, the management of inter-ministry communication and the procurement of IT products and services. (Micallef, 1995)

Mr. Seamus Clince, Chairman of the International Council of IT in Government Administration (ICA) provided information about IT Issues in the Republic of Ireland and the responses of the Central IT Services to challenges faced. The Irish Public Service has had some success at the operational level through improved productivity and enhanced quality of service. Success has been less marked in other areas such as financial management and policy-making functions. For the future, work support and management systems, accessible through a single "desktop", will become more important. The Republic of Ireland is addressing the challenges of the future through its Strategic Management Initiative, Civil Service Reform, development of Vision 2002 and the development of an Information Management Reference Model. (Clince, 1995)

Mr. Des Vincent addressed the issues surrounding Public and Private Sector Partnerships. The Oxford English Dictionary defines partnership as "a contractual relationship between two or more persons carrying on a joint business venture with a view to profit, each incurring liability for losses and the right to share in the profits". He outlined criteria for selecting a partner and the contractual basis for ensuring success. However, successful partnerships will have worked out how to deal with change and built up a relationship which is not reliant on the contract for its success.(Vincent, 1995)

There was general agreement on the necessity to identify a central point within government to oversee the introduction of IT (e.g. The Planning Ministry, Treasury) as well as an operational arm (e.g. CCTA, UK; MSU, Malta; GTIS, Canada) to manage implementation. There is a need to be aware of developments in other sectors of the Public Service, such as the police, the armed forces hospitals and emergency services. In addition, some countries, such as Costa Rica and Brazil, have begun to provide public services through local centres (Electronic Cottages). Their experiences might be highly relevant to developing countries in the Commonwealth.

It was concluded that

The public sector IT function should not compete with the private sector in the provision of IT services where there is a well developed and competitive IT service sector. Service delivery should be done by the private sector where competitive alternatives exist. The limited resources available to the future government IT function must concentrate on those tasks which properly fit the role of government: ensuring universal access, balancing competition, developing critical mass, etc. This requires the transformation of the public service IT competency from delivery and operations to management and oversight. The result is a broker role, IT acting as an agent between the business user and the service supplier.

The following are some of the issues that must be addressed in considering policies applicable to the Public Sector's use of IT.

4.1 Cost Benefit and Financing

IT is resource-intensive. Funding of IT projects will always be difficult to justify as long as IT is treated as an expense item, and not as an essential element in running a business. With resources being limited, there is a need to show the cost and benefit of IT in a way that will be meaningful to decision-makers. The problem of adequately identifying costs and benefits is fundamentally a question of management's perception of IT. IT benefits are hard to quantify since the impact of its introduction into the organisation is manifested in a myriad of subtle ways. IT provides an enabling mechanism for organisational change. It is difficult, therefore, to discretely identify whether improvements (or decline) in organisational performance is due to changes in management processes or the introduction of IT. Public sector managers must, therefore, avoid an over- reliance on financial indicators as a means of justifying costs and benefits.

4.2 Standardisation

The issue is the degree to which single (centralised) standards, including proprietary standards, are appropriate as compared to open system standards. The adoption of single standards, and the existence of legacy systems, can make it expensive, when the time comes, to move into new technologies or do massive upgrades. Many governments have adopted international standards which allow for flexibility and growth - e.g. open rather than proprietary systems. However, the adoption of open standards itself may not be a panacea. Some governments adopted the OSI seven layer model as the basis for planning, only to have to allow for tCP/IP (the Internet protocol) at a later date.

In addition to equipment and connectivity standards, covered by the various "open" standards arrangements, quality standards (The ISO 9000 series) are also important. These can cover a wide range of activities ranging from management to software quality.

4.3 Sourcing of IT (Make vs. Buy)

In acquiring IT resources, public sector managers are faced with the decision of whether to develop the products internally or to buy them from an external supplier. Workshop participants suggested a number of approaches to this issue. The first, proposes the application of the following rule of thumb:

if you can buy it don't build it. If what you can buy matches about 80% of the requirement, buy it! You can take a decision then on what to do about the remaining 20% However, these proposals are based on western ground rules, which might not apply in most developing countries. A country might find it an advantage to build an IT product in order to develop in-country expertise as well as to save foreign exchange, though it might not save money.

Another suggestion was the following strategy:

Make One, where a country or organisation has a competitive edge or the capacity to be able to do so;

Adapt One, where a country or organisation has the capacity to carry out reverse engineering, bearing in mind intellectual property rights regulations;

Buy One, bearing in mind that acquisition of technology should be perceived as a negotiable commodity and not something arising out of technology push processes by whatever means, including agency donations.

Finally the option of leasing was suggested. COMNET-IT might be able to persuade large manufacturers or consortia to invest in lease options for Commonwealth developing countries.

4.4 The conflict between Long-term goals and short-term deliverables

A long term plan should state needs and priorities in relation to objectives; intended computer uses and associated requirements; expected benefits and costs; import implications; personnel types, awareness and ability level and training needs; geographical distribution of users and physical facilities required. This should be done with reference to "best practices" from other governments. In addition, the setting aside of a small percentage of the IT budget to fund small projects (e.g. microcomputers with packaged software) is sensible. This allows evidence of useful short term IT delivery while working in parallel on longer term goals.

4.5 Creating Strategic Advantages

Governments are in a unique position, because of their own use of IT and their role in the policy process, to create strategic advantages for their country. This assumes a central, or at least a principal body responsible for the introduction of IT. Since some governments are separating policy, planning and service delivery, careful co-ordination at the national level is essential.

It is necessary to remove known barriers and to ensure that new mechanisms do not introduce new barriers. For example, in some governments purchasing systems are so slow that you cannot get computers before they are obsolete. Modern management practices, such as information technology auditing in the budgetary and planning process, and cost-benefit analyses would help rectify the problem.

Strategic advantages are unique to a particular country and its situation. Often this involves addressing a problem and turning it into an opportunity. The participants suggested the following areas as potential opportunities:

Collaborative arrangements and partnering are too often based upon arrangements with individuals. When the individual goes, so does the collaboration. At a minimum, institutional backing is required if a program is to survive over time. There must be a balance between institutionalising the process, and thus creating an advantage, and becoming bureaucratic and thus placing constraints on innovation. Some countries have chosen the mechanism of executive agencies as the institutional form for such arrangements.

One potential problem area is the need for archiving of electronic data -the maintenance of the public record. One approach to avoid a bureaucratic solution and modernise is to adopt a policy whereby electronic copies are primary sources and paper is secondary.

Human resources are crucial to building the capacity to capitalise on opportunities. Having the right skills available at the right time and making these skills available is a key consideration. The private sector needs to gain the skills to enable it to understand the internal dynamics and customer-driven needs of the public sector if it is to deliver services in the marketplace.

The contributions within a country or a region of international organisations are not always well coordinated. Some organisations, such as UNESCO, allocate funds to regions. In order to get the best strategic advantage of these funds there is a need for international organisations to co-ordinate more effectively at the local level and to improve communication among regional program managers.

IT in the Public Sector should be a major contributor to national infrastructure. Government purchasing and implementation can have a major impact on the effectiveness of the national policies discussed in Chapter

There is a need for close co-ordination with national private sector service providers in areas such as standards. Moreover, the timing of the introduction of services in developing countries is an important consideration.

The introduction of government services to the public supported by IT is closely tied to the question of literacy. On the one hand, people who are illiterate will be limited in their access to written material. On the other, IT can offer multimedia functionality with a mouse input and pictorial and audio output. Literacy is not a pre-requisite to using multimedia information - but good front end design is essential. Moreover, multimedia information can be a tool for teaching literacy skills.

It was concluded that:

IT Strategies in the public sector, should be based on the concept of effective partnerships between the public sector IT function and private sector service providers in the delivery of IT services to public sector clients. The role of the public sector IT function should be that of a broker, bringing together public service business users in effective partnerships with potential suppliers.