e-Government

Dr. Jonah Tisam Thesis section on e-Government

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The thesis “Embracing Managerialism in a Small Pacific Island State: A Study of Governance and New Public Management Outcomes in the Cook Islands From 2006-2012” provides an in-depth look at the various reform initiatives implemented between 2006-2012, as well as their outcomes, and identifies potential areas for improvement. The thesis provides valuable insights into the potential of e-Government for the Cook Islands and was written by Govcrate co-founder, Dr. Jonah Tisam.

Why reforming procurement processes in government so important to e-Government & digital transformation initiatives?

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Without the appropriate procurement methods, e-Government and digital transformation initiatives are doomed to failure. Why? Tldr: It is estimated that around 20–30 percent of government software projects are total failures and abandoned. Around 30–60 percent partially fail, with time and cost overruns… The problem At the heart of the issue is that the problem has … Read more

Digital transformation in Pacific Governments

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Many government agencies departments in the Pacific still paper based processes despite decades of advancements in information technology. These processes are based on ink and paper based technology and are used to manage large swaths of public sector systems. This leads to manual work that is inefficient, ineffective, and susceptible to corruption. It ensures that Pacific economies will continue to fall behind other countries in an increasingly competitive globalized environment 🌎. Addressing these issues and pain points will require resources to be invested (i.e. time, money, capacity, technology, and social networks).

What is the Governance Cube?

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We developed a framework called the governance cube a few years ago to help multi disciplinary teams build a common understanding of government systems. It looks at government systems as having 3 dimensions. These dimensions are:

Governance Domain: these are the places where constraints can be imposed on a system to influence the behaviour of the entities operating within it;

Governance Functions: these are the tasks that are carried out by governments to ensure the entities adhere to the rules;

Governed Entities: these are the entities whose behaviour we are trying to govern.

How we use Visual Thinking approaches in designing e-Government

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The Problem Traditional approaches to system design don’t work well for complex e-government projects. There tends to be a lot of time and effort spent planning and designing systems based on unvalidated assumptions. There is a tendency to try to do too much and given the sheer size, scope and complexity of government systems, this is … Read more

Business Model Canvas for Government ICT

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Over the last few years we’ve spent time modifying the Business Model Canvas for use in the design and development of government systems. For those of you unfamiliar with the Business Model Canvas it is a strategic management tool that creates a shared language for describing, visualizing and assessing business models. The principles used by the Business Model Canvas provide a useful framework for government ICT projects which are notorious for high rates of failure with reports of 70%-80% rates of failure. However the Business Model Canvas was developed for the needs of business. We have spent several years modifying and battle testing the Government Business Model Canvas for use in the government context.

How to Design Government Architectures for Change

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bird's-eye view of sitting on bench while discussion

Government information systems in the Pacific are too often ‘built to last’ rather then ‘built for change’, which is the real requirement for them to be.

The traditional approach has been to build very tight vertically integrated systems. This has created unintended ripple effects that cascade across the system whenever a change is made. So what typically should have been a simple update of a business policy, process change or business rules requiring a few hours’ work often times turns into a complex, bureaucratic and code-intensive process that instead takes months of tedious effort to implement. 

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Why Business Models are important for your e-Government initiative

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Business Model

A core problem we find with e-Government initiatives in the Pacific is the lack of clearly articulated business models. Well thought out business models ensure that any e-Government or digital transformation initiatives remain sustainable once the initial project funding runs out. To fix this issue we’ve adapted the business model canvas framework from Strategyzer to help people understand what the business model options could be for their e-Government projects. These can then be tested and validated for sustainability during the lifetime of the project.

Strategy Development for e-Government using Wardley Mapping

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Cynefin Framework

Before developing an IT Strategy you need to conduct a situational analysis of the the current landscape. An IT situational analysis involves understanding the current technological landscape and mapping out the value chains that will be required for delivering on the strategy.

When working with clients we help them to do this using a technique called wardley mapping.