The magic of 'e' in the govErnmEnt

8/8/2019 The magic of 'e' in the govErnmEnt

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IMPLEMENTATION OF E- GOVERNMENT AND ITS IMPACT O N O FFICE C ULTURE ,PROCESS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT , STANDARDIZATION AND MOTIVATION O F THE

STAFF

Allama Iqbal Open University

I SLAMABAD - P AKISTAN

M UHAMMAD ABUBAKAR Z UBAIR KHOKHARP591324

04-P LE -6663HOUSE NO .13, STREET NO . 2,

Q ILLA GUJER SINGH ,L AHORE .

A T HESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT O F THE R EQUIREMENTS FOR THEDEGREE OF COMMONWEALTH EMBA /E MPA

DATED : 24-01-2008


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A BSTRACT

E-Government is a key agenda item of governments across the globe. E-

Government has been studied in relation to quick service delivery to the masses, cost

containment, business process re-engineering.

E-Government is very much a less-understood concept generally among the

masses and especially to the government workforce; some basic underlying concepts

have been produced herein to get a better understanding of the entire concept.

This study on the subject takes into account the more neglected aspect i.e. the impact

of eGovernment ventures on the Internal Customers / Workforce of the government. It

endeavors in an empirical manner to test the impact of eGovernment on Office

Culture, Motivation level of the Human Resources, Standardization of processes, and

Process quality improvement.

In order to answer the research question, the author has conducted an

empirical study in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province of Pakistan. 200 government

employees of 7 provincial and federal government departments were contacted out of

which 178 responded the mailed questionnaires. The research returned some

interesting results such as; a huge number of surveyed employees were highly

qualified as a majority of them 74% held a masters degree and 34.8 % possessed a

bachelors degree; moreover, 108 out of 178 (61%) were aware of eGovernment and

70% (126 respondents) claimed to have intermediate skills in computer operation and

37 (20.8) said they were experts whereas only 15 (8.4 %) considered themselves to be

beginners as regards to their computing skills.


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Useful information and analysis regarding some running and under-

implementation eGovernment ventures has also been produced herein.

In less developed countries like Pakistan, where there has always been strong

demand by the society to re-design the way government machinery works,

eGovernment may prove to be a ray of hope, yet it is not the absolute answer to the

problems resulting from gross mis-management practiced by government

functionaries.


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A CKNOWLEDGEMENT

I believe in you, your kindness, and your guidance. Your love is the

motivation and enabling force for me in whatever I do. Oh my ALLAH (Azzo wo

Jall) and ALLAH (Azzo wo Jall)s Apostle (Saallal Laho Alleyhe Wassalam).

I am indebted by Dr. Shafay Shamail, Head of Department of Computer

Sciences, Mr. Kashif Farooq, LUMS , they taught me how things work for gathering

and presenting the information and analysis.

:-


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O RGANIZATIONS RESORTED FOR DATA COLLECTION

State Bank of Pakistan(SBP), Lahore.

Mr. Jamshed Hussain Shah,

Deputy Chief Manager (Admn)

Mr. Ansar Iftikhar Butt,

Deputy Chief Manager (Prize Bonds, SPU)

& Mr. Azhar, Mr. Ghulam Mohy-ud-Din, Mr. Abdul

Shakoor,

Punjab Public ServiceCommission

Mr. Mohsin Afzal Rao

System Analyst

The Quaid e Azam Library,Lahore.

Mr. Muhammad Taj

Chief LibrarianMr. Shahid Parvez

Programmer / System Analyst

Water and SanitationAgency (WASA), LDA,Lahore.

Mr. Parvez Iftikhar,

Managing Director

Mr. Tanveer Ahmed

Deputy Managing Director (FA&R)

Mr. Siddique Kamboh,

Junior Programmer / Asstt. Director (Computer)

Office of theOmbudsman Punjab,Lahore.

Mr. Najam us Saqib Qureshi,

System Analyst

Mr.Asif Munir

Assistant

Project for Improvement of Financial Reporting andAuditing (PIFRA), Lahore.

Mr. Khalid Shah Director General Project

Mr. Mohsan Atta Regional Director Project

Mr. Munnawar Hussain Deputy Director Project

Mr. Imran Assistant Accounts Officer

Land Records ManagementInformation System(LRMIS)

Mr. Nadeem Akhtar

Provincial Project Coordinator

Mr. Aleem Bhatti

Assistant Provincial Project Coordinator


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D EDICATION

My dear parents who have always strived to impart the best of manners and

decorated my personality with their love and affection. Their tendency to provide me

with my necessities beyond their capacities is the secret of my success.

This effort is also dedicated to my teachers Mr. Mehtab, Mr. F.R Tariq, Mr.

Arif Sheikh, Mr. Abdul Hafeez Mughal, Mr. Saleem Zuberi, Mr. Muhammad Azeem,

Mr. Bilal Rauf, Mr. Amjad, Mr. Muhammad Tariq and Mr. Rai Tariq as all of them

patiently and affectionately answered all my academic questions and skillfully carvedthe directions for me in choosing my area of study.


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C ERTIFICATE OF S UPERVISION

The institute was not able to provide us with a supervisor that is why I cannot produce

the requisite Certificate of Supervision.


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A TTESTATION OF A UTHORSHIP

I hereby undertake that the entire work is based on genuine and research based

material and has not been illegally or unethically been copied from any other work.

Wherever some work has been utilized from secondary / outside sources, it has been

responsibly and carefully cited in the references. Any similarity with any other

research work should only be considered coincidental.

Muhammad Abubakar Zubair Khokhar


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T ABLE OF C ONTENTS

Abstract ................................................................................................................... 2Acknowledgement ................................................................................................... 4Organizations resorted for data collection ............................................................. 5Dedication ................................................................................................................ 6Certificate of Supervision ........................................................................................ 2Attestation of Authorship ........................................................................................ 3List of Symbols And Abbreviations ........................................................................ 6List of Figures .......................................................................................................... 8List of Tables ........................................................................................................... 9Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................... 10

Overview of e-Government ................................................................................. 10Definitions....................................................................................................... 11Sectors of eGovernment................................................................................... 15Stages of Development .................................................................................... 17

Significance Of The Topic................................................................................... 21Definitions of related terms ................................................................................. 22Context Of The Research..................................................................................... 27Where And Why.................................................................................................. 28The Research Objectives And Aims..................................................................... 48Research Question/Hypothesis............................................................................. 49

Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................ 50Difference between egovernment and egovernance........... ......... .......... .......... ...... 50Implementation of e-government ......................................................................... 52Organizational culture ......................................................................................... 61Motivation of workforce...................................................................................... 66Standardization of processes................................................................................ 69Process quality improvement ............................................................................... 72

Usability.............................................................................................................. 75Chapter 3: Methodology .................................................................................... 77Respondent Profile: ............................................................................................. 77Procedures:.......................................................................................................... 84Data treatment: .................................................................................................... 84Population: .......................................................................................................... 84Sample/sampling: ................................................................................................ 84

Sample size...................................................................................................... 84Sampling method............................................................................................. 84Who were asked to provide data ...................................................................... 84

Instrumentation: .................................................................................................. 84What kind of instruments are being used?........................................................ 84

What kind of data required?............................................................................. 85Why this approach is being used instead of others?. ......................................... 85Strengths and limitations of the instruments used......... .......... .......... .......... ...... 85

others .................................................................................................................. 86Permission to conduct research:....................................................................... 86Ethical measures involved: .............................................................................. 86Method of data analysis: .................................................................................. 87

Chapter 4: Data Analysis ................................................................................... 88Chapter 5: Conclusion And Recommendations ................................................ 98


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Conclusions. ........................................................................................................ 98Awareness regarding eGovernment.................................................................. 98Value of eGovernment..................................................................................... 98Office Culture Transformation......................................................................... 98Equal Opportunity Employment ...................................................................... 98Effect on Motivation level of the employees .................................................... 99

Process Quality Improvement .......................................................................... 99Standardization of Processes............................................................................ 99Capacity Building of the Government Workforce ............................................ 99Academic Achievement / Qualification of the Government Workforce...........100Participation by Senior-Age Employees..........................................................100

Recommendations ..............................................................................................102Business Process Re-engineering....................................................................102Interoperability ...............................................................................................102Stakeholders involvement and management....................................................102

Limitations.........................................................................................................106Future Areas of Research....................................................................................106

Annexure ..............................................................................................................108Annexure-I: Questionnaire to collect data, page 1/2............................................108Annexure-II: Permission to conduct research......................................................110

Bibliography, References, Works Cited ..............................................................111


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L IST OF S YMBOLS A ND A BBREVIATIONS

3G 3rd Generation

AIOU Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad

BPR Business Process Re-engineering

BPS Basic Pay Scale

CBR Central Board of Revenue

CCTV Close Circuit Television

CPU Central Processing Unit

E-GOV Electronic Government

E-MAIL Electronic Mail

FPSC Federal Public Service Commission

G2B Government to Business

G2C Government to Citizen

G2E Government to Employee

G2G Government to Government

GIS Geographical Information System

GPS Global Positioning System

GPRS General Pocket Radio Service

GUI Graphical User Interface

HR Human Resources

ICT Information & Communication Technologies

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IMF International Monetary Fund

LAN Local Area Network


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LDA Lahore Development Authority

LESCO Lahore Electric Supply Company

LRMIS Land Records Management and Information System

LUMS Lahore University of Management Sciences

MAN Metropolitan Area Network

M-GOVERNMENT Mobile Government

MMS Multimedia Messaging Service

NFC Near Field Communications

NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations

PDA Personal Digital Assistant

PIFRA Project for Improvement of Financial Reporting and Auditing

PPSC Punjab Public Service Commission

SMEs Small and Medium Organizations

SBP State Bank of Pakistan

SMS Short Messaging Service

URL Uniform Resource Locator

UAT User Acceptance Testing

WAN Wide Area Network

WASA Water and Sanitation Agency

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

WWW World Wide Web


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L IST OF F IGURES

Figure 1: Map Showing SBP Branches all over the country........ ........... .......... ........ 58

Figure 2: Table 3: Proportion of Gazzetted and Non-Gazzetted Respondents....... .... 72

Figure 3: Gender Wise Frequency Distribution........................................................ 73

Figure 4: Age Group Wise Frequency Distribution.................................................. 73

Figure 5: Experience wise Frequency Distribution of the Respondents .......... .......... 74

Figure 6: BPS (Basic Pay Scale)-Wise Frequency Distribution of the Respondents . 75

Figure 7: Organization-wise Frequency Distribution of the Respondents ........... ...... 76

Figure 8: Educational Achievement-wise Frequency Distribution of the Respondents

................................................................................................................................ 76

Figure 9: Computer Skill Level of the Respondents ................................................ 77

Figure 10: Analysis of Question No. 1 ..................................................................... 80


Figure 12: Analysis of Question No. 3 ................................................................... 82

Figure 13: : Analysis of Question No. 4................................................................... 83

Figure 14: Analysis of Question No. 5................................................................... 84

Figure 15 : Analysis of Question No. 6 .................................................................... 85




Figure 19: Mean of Responses of Question No.s 2 to 9............................................ 89


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L IST OF T ABLES

Table 1: Proportion of Gazzetted and Non-Gazzetted Respondents................ ......... . 77

Table 3: Gender wise Frequency Distribution.......................................................... 78

Table 4: Age Group Wise Frequency Distribution ................................................... 78

Table 5: Experience wise Frequency Distribution of the Respondents................ ...... 79

Table 6: Organization-wise Frequency Distribution of the Respondents ............ ...... 81

Table 7: Educational Achievement-wise Frequency Distribution of the Respondents82

Table 8: Computer Skill Level of the Respondents .................................................. 83

Table 9: Strengths and Limitations of the Instruments Used .................................... 86

Table 10: Analysis of Question No. 1 ...................................................................... 88

Table 11 : Analysis of Question No. 2 ..................................................................... 89

Table 12: Analysis of Question No. 3 ...................................................................... 90Table 13: Analysis of Question No. 4 ..................................................................... 91

Table 14: Analysis of Question No. 5 ..................................................................... 92

Table 15 : Analysis of Question No. 6 ..................................................................... 93

Table 16: Analysis of Question No. 7 ..................................................................... 94



Table 19: Mean of Responses of Question No.s 2-9................................................. 97


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C HAPTER 1 : I NTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW OF E -GOVERNMENT

e-Government (a portmanteau of electronic government, also known as e-gov, digital

government, online government or in a certain context transformational government)

refers to governments use of information and communication technology (ICT) to

exchange information and services with citizens, businesses, and other arms of

government. e-Government may be applied by legislature, judiciary, or

administration, in order to improve internal efficiency, the delivery of public services,

or processes of democratic governance. The primary delivery models are

Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Customer (G2C), Government-to-Business

(G2B) and Government-to-Government (G2G). The most important anticipated

benefits of e-government include improved efficiency, convenience, and better

accessibility of public services.

While e-government is often thought of as "online government" or "Internet-based

government"many non-Internet based "electronic government" technologies can be

used in this context, including telephone, fax, PDA, SMS text messaging, MMS, and

3G, GPRS, WiFi, WiMAX and Bluetooth. Other technologies can include CCTV,

tracking systems, RFID, biometric identification, road traffic management and

regulatory enforcement, identity cards, smart cards and other NFC applications;

polling station technology (where non-online e-voting is being considered), TV and

radio-based delivery of government services, email, online community facilities,

newsgroups and electronic mailing lists, online chat, and instant messaging

technologies. There are also some technology-specific sub-categories of e-


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government, such as m-government (mobile government), u-government (ubiquitous

government), and g-government (GIS/GPS applications for e-government).

There are many considerations and potential implications of implementing and

designing e-government, including disintermediation of the government and its

citizens, impacts on economic, social, and political factors, and disturbances to the

status quo in these areas.

In countries such as the United Kingdom, there is interest in using electronic

government to re-engage citizens with the political process. In particular, this has

taken the form of experiments with electronic voting, aiming to increase voter turnout

by making voting easy. The UK Electoral Commission has undertaken several pilots,

though concern has been expressed about the potential for fraud with some electronic

voting methods.

The researcher, through study has endeavored to unveil the indirect benefits of

eGovernment such as improvement in motivation level of HR, betterment of office

culture, process quality improvement and standardization of process. Whereas, an

effort has also been made to inform the reader regarding jargons of eGovernment and

value assessment of currently implemented eGovernement initiatives in Pakistan,

along with the technological framework adopted for the same.

D EFINITIONS

eGovernment is about transformation of the government structure and organization

into a streamlined framework deploying the tools and mediums of the Internet,

thereby helping citizens and businesses keep pace with new opportunities in todays

knowledge economy.(Al-Tawi & Sait) 1


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Electronic Government is a form of organization that integrates the interactions and

the interrelations between governments and citizens, companies, customers, and

public institutions through the application of modern information and

communications technologies. (Ashley, Paul, et all.2003)2

E-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies

(such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the

ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.

These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of

government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry,

citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government

management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency,

greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions.(The World Bank) 3

Definitions of e-government range from the use of information technology to free

movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and

physical based systems to the use of technology to enhance the access to and

delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and

employees.(Pascual, Patricia J.) 4

The common theme behind these definitions is that e-government involves the

automation or computerization of existing paper-based procedures that will prompt

new styles of leadership, new ways of debating and deciding strategies, new ways of

transacting business, new ways of listening to citizens and communities, and new

ways of organizing and delivering information. Ultimately, e-government aims to


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enhance access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens. More

important, it aims to help strengthen governments drive toward effective governance

and increased transparency to better manage a countrys social and economic

resources for development.(Pascual, Patricia J. 2003)5

A Government information system that heavily relies on the new Information

Technology and that aims to enhance the access and the delivery of government

services to citizens, business partners and employees is called an E-Government

system.

e-government presents a real transformation in democratic governance, including

design, decision-making and service delivery capabilities. E-governance refers to

new processes of coordination made possible or even necessary by the advent of

technology and the spreading of online activities in particular. As a result, e-

government refers to an IT-led reconfiguration of public sector governance and how

knowledge, power and purpose are redistributed in light of new technological

realities.(Gilles Paquet et al) 6

E-government involves using information technology, and especially the Internet, to

improve the delivery of government services to citizens, businesses, and other

government agencies. It has the potential to more directly connect the federal

government with its citizens in a manner that opens new opportunities while also

raising new challenges. E-government could enable citizens to interact and receive


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services from the federal government (or state and local governments) 24 hours a day,

seven days a week.(W. Seifert, Jaffery) 7

Electronic government is defined as: Government activities that take place over

electronic communications among all levels of government, citizens, and the business

community, including: acquiring and providing products and services; placing and

receiving orders; providing and obtaining information; and completing financial

transactions.(State of Texass Electronic Government Plan, 2001) 8

E-government is the continuous optimization of service delivery, constituency

participation and governance by transforming internal and external relationships

through technology, the Internet and new media." This includes Government to

Citizen, Government to Employee, Government to Business, and Government to

Government.(Fang, Zhiyuan) 9

E-government is the use of Internet-based solutions to provide public services that

for years were provided only in person, by phone, or by mail, if at all.(Schware,

Robert, 2000) 10

e-Government (a portmanteau of electronic government, also known as e-gov, digital

government, online government or in a certain context transformational government)

refers to governments use of information and communication technology (ICT) to

exchange information and services with citizens, businesses, and other arms of


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government. e-Government may be applied by legislature, judiciary, or

administration, in order to improve internal efficiency, the delivery of public services,

or processes of democratic governance. The primary delivery models are

Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Customer (G2C), Government-to-Business

(G2B) and Government-to-Government (G2G). The most important anticipated

benefits of e-government include improved efficiency, convenience, and better

accessibility of public services. (e-Society.org.mk) 11

Egovernment is the name given to the use of electronic means to deliver better

government. (The Information Society Commission, 2003) 12

S ECTORS OF E GOVERNMENT

G2C

G2C initiatives are designed to facilitate citizen interaction with government, which is

what some observers perceive to be the primary goal of e-government. These

initiatives attempt to make transactions, such as renewing licenses and certifications,

paying taxes, and applying for benefits, less time consuming and easier to carry out.

G2C initiatives also often strive to enhance access to public information through the

use of dissemination tools, such as web sites and/or kiosks. Another feature of many

G2C initiatives is the effort to attenuate the agency-centric, and at times, process-

laden nature of some government functions. Some e-government advocates suggestthat one of the goals of implementing these initiatives should be to create a one-stop

shopping site where citizens can carry out a variety of tasks, especially those that

involve multiple agencies, without requiring the citizen to initiate contacts with each

agency individually. A potential outgrowth of G2C initiatives is that they may


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facilitate citizen-to-citizen interaction and increase citizen participation in government

by creating more opportunities that overcome possible time and geographic barriers,

thereby connecting citizens who may not ordinarily come into contact with one

another.

G2B

Government-to-Business (G2B) initiatives receive a significant amount of attention,

in part because of the high enthusiasm of the business sector and the potential for

reducing costs through improved procurement practices and increased competition. 14

The G2B sector includes both the sale of surplus government goods to the public, as

well as the procurement of goods and services. Although not all are directly

dependent on the use of information technology, several different procurement

methods are used in relation to the G2B sector. Performance-based contracting is a

method in which the payment made to the contractor is based on the actual goals and

outcomes of the job. Share-in-Savings contracts are those in which the contractor

pays for the up-front costs of a project, such as the installation of a new computer

system, and receives payment passed on the savings generated by switching from the

previous system. Reverse auctions , on the other hand, are reliant on the use of

information technology and could become a frequently used method for purchasing

products that are standardized and easily evaluated for quality, such as off-the-shelf

technology components or office supplies. Conducted over the Internet, a reverse

auction entails companies openly bidding against each other in real time to win a

government contract. The purpose of reverse auctions is to drive prices down to

market levels. Due to the emphasis on price, reverse auctions are best-suited in cases

where quality and expected performance are clear and easily assessed.

G2G


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In many respects, the G2G sector represents the backbone of e-government. Some

observers suggest that governments (federal, state, local) must enhance and update

their own internal systems and procedures before electronic transactions with citizens

and businesses can be successful. 6 G2G e-government involves sharing data and

conducting electronic exchanges between governmental actors. This involves both

intra- and inter-agency exchanges at the federal level, as well as exchanges between

the federal, state, and local levels.

G2E

G2E (Government to Employee) is considered as a sub-category of G2G. G2E

services encompass G2C services as well as specialized services that cover only

government employees, such as the provision of human resource training and

development that improve the bureaucracys day-to-day functions and dealings with

citizens. (Pascual, Patricia J. 2003) 13

STAGES OF D EVELOPMENT

Another yard-stick has been developed to measure the effectiveness of a given eGov

venture. It is basically a technology assessment which reveals the level of resources

and planning put into a particular project of eGovernment. Due to diverse nature of

eGovernment projects and their end-points, one size does not fit all. For that reason,

some observers use a common schema for classifying the stages of evolution of

egovernment projects. The schema is based on the degree to which the properties of

information technology have been utilized to enable the delivery of services

electronically. Using this schema, there are four stages of evolution; presence,

interaction, transaction, and transformation. It is important to note that an

egovernment initiative does not necessarily have to start at the first stage and work its


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way through all of the stages. Instead, a project can skip levels, either from its

inception or as it develops.

Presence

This first phase calls for making the intentions and objectives of the government

known. Development of an inclusive government website, or a network of sites

dedicated to different ministries and departments would set the stage for further

advancements. These sites would convey the governments initiative, providing

information such as official addresses, working hours, as well as forms and

applications to the public; economic reviews, corporate regulations for businesses;

and budgetary allocations and spending as reference for government agencies.

With this first phase, the very critical task of building the infrastructure, such as

telecommunications would be undertaken.

It is the same manner in which the Government of Pakistan has put all information

regarding polices/procedures documents, institutions, ministries and entirely all state

machinery online at www.pakistan.gov.pk .

Interact

This phase would allow for basic interaction with the government. Besides hosting

search engines on the sites for easy navigation, information detailing social records

and job application forms for the public; permit and license documentation for

businesses; and census details, submission of requests and approvals to the center by

local government offices would have to be provided.


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The task of building the underlying infrastructure would have to be sustained through

these two stages, allowing for rapid implementation of advanced applications as

endorsed by the consequent phases.

The websites of Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) www.fpsc.gov.pk ,

Lahore Electricity Supply Corporation (LESCO) www.lesco.gov.pk and City District

Government Lahore (CDGL) www.lahore.gov.pk can be regarded as lying under this

category.

Transact

This phase onwards would signify direct interaction of the government and relevant

entities. With the infrastructure in place, complete online service suites can be put

forth for the public, businesses and governmental agencies. Services for the public

such as bill and fine payments, license renewal, aggregating opinion etc; online

procurement, tax returns etc for businesses; cooperative budget preparation, tax

records etc, for governmental agencies can be envisaged here. www.cbr.gov.pk lets its

users to submit their tax returns online using the e-file facility, so it is qualified as a

transact site.

Transform

This final phase would strive to achieve the true vision of e-governance.

A single point of contact to constituent entities would provide an integrated platform

for government services and organization totally transparent to citizens and

businesses.

Focus on virtual agencies where government information is readily available to all

allowing a seamless interface to respective agencies involved in the transactions.


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State-of-the-art Intranets linking government employees in different agencies,

extranets allowing seamless flow of information thereby facilitating collaborative

decisions among government agencies, NGOs and the public.


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S IGNIFICANCE O F T HE T OPIC

The governments all over the globe are on the way to transforming legacy processes

towards more accurate and optimal automated processes thus implementation of e-

government ventures is widespread in almost every country.

Pakistan is no exception; a huge amount of financial and intellectual investment is

being made in this field.

In the above mentioned scenario, it becomes essential to analyze different dimensions

of the e-government drive. The research will be helpful for project managers working

on e-government projects around the country in devising optimum human resources

strategies.


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D EFINITIONS OF RELATED TERMS

Business Process

A collection of related, structured activities--a chain of events--that produce a specific

service or product for a particular customer or customers. 14

Electronic Mailing List

An electronic mailing list (sometimes written as elist or e-list) is a special usage of e-

mail that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. 15

Gazzetted Govt. Servant

Gazetted Government Servant means a Government servant holding a post in

National Pay Scale 16 and above]; 16

Graphical User Interface

A way of communicating with the computer by manipulating icons (pictures) and

windows with a mouse. Usually pronounced goo-ee. 17

Interoperability

The ability of two or more (Computerized Information) systems or components to

exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. 18

Intranet

A corporate network that uses an IP network structure, together with Web servers and

browsers. Intranets are generally used to provide information such as benefits plans,

etc. to corporate employees in an easily accessible fashion. 19

Kiosk

A self-contained, stand-alone unit that houses an interactive system, usually located in

a public area. 20

LAN

A network of computers that is usually confined to one office building. 21


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MAN

The MAN is a high-speed network used within a town or city. 22

Newsgroups

A newsgroup is an Internet-based discussion about a particular topic. These topics

range from sports, cars, investing, teen problems, and some stuff you probably don't

want to know about. Users post messages to a news server which then sends them to a

bunch of other participating servers. Then other users can access the newsgroup and

read the postings. The groups can be either "moderated," where a person or group

decides which postings will become part of the discussion, or "unmoderated," where

everything posted is included in the discussion. 23

NFC

Near Field Communication or NFC, is a short-range high frequency wireless

communication technology which enables the exchange of data between devices over

about a decimetre distance. 24

Non-Gazzetted

non-gazetted Government servant means a Government servant other than gazetted

Government servant. 25

Office Culture (Organizational Culture)

The set of beliefs, values, and norms, together with symbols like dramatized events

and personalities, that represents the unique character of an organization, and provides

the context for action in it and by it. 26

Off-the-Shelf

Systems and software programs that can be used as is, without further development or

modification. 27

Online Community


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Online community is a group of people that primarily interact via communication

media such as letters, telephone, email or Usenet rather than face to face. If the

mechanism is a computer network, it is called an online community .28

Portal

A Web site "gateway" that provides multiple services, which could include Web

searching capability, news, free-email, discussion groups, online shopping, references

and other services. 29

Reverse Auctions

A reverse auction is an auction in which the usual roles of buyer and seller are

reversed. In a reverse auction, a company specifies its need for a product and the

suppliers submit offers for the good. 30

Schema

Pronounced " skee -mah." The definition of a data structure such as a database or XML

file. Schemas describe the data elements and their interrelationships. 31

Search Engine

Specialized software, such as AltaVista and Yahoo (and Google), that lets WWW

browser users search for information on the Web by using keywords, phrases, and

boolean logic. Different search engines have different ways of categorizing and

indexing information. Search engines are accessed by typing in the URL of that

engine or using a browser's compilation of search engines in its Internet search

function. 32

Server

As the name implies, a server serves information to computers that connect to it. 33

Smart Cards


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A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC), is defined as any pocket-

sized card with embedded integrated circuits which can process information. 34

Stakeholder

An individual or group with an interest in the success of an organization in delivering

intended results and maintaining the viability of the organization's products and

services. 35

Tracking Systems

In virtual space technology, a tracking system is generally a system capable of

rendering virtual space to a human observer while tracking the observer's body

coordinates. 36

Usability

The quality of a system, program, document or device that enables it to be easily

understood and conveniently employed by a user. 37

Usenet

Usenet (a contraction of user network) is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet

discussion system. 38

WAN

Larger network, usually consisting of a collection of LANs that spans a large

geographical area. 39

Website

A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images,

videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually

accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. 40

Wi-Fi


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Wi-Fi (pronounced wye-fye) is a wireless technology brand owned by the Wi-Fi

Alliance intended to improve the interoperability of wireless local area network

products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. 41

Wimax

WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a

telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances

in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. 42


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C ONTEXT O F T HE R ESEARCH

There is little disagreement over the dismal environment and snail-pace processes of

government departments in Pakistan and other developing / under developed

countries. The staff is cheerless and would avoid responsibility whenever possible,

because there is no system of monitoring and control. Poor artifacts of government

office culture further worsen the situation of business in public offices. The decades

old procedures severely lack quality and no standardization is found in the processes /

work methods and instructions. Thus same function is performed in multiple ways in

different branch offices of the same department. This is to present a mere bleak part of

the big disappointing picture of work performed by the government functionaries. The

exhaustive procedures are painful for the general public at one hand and create rent-

seeking activities -bribery- for the corrupt government officials on the other.

The research is meant to investigate whether the introduction of electronic

government and Re-engineered business processes, standardized computer

applications, re-furnished and beautified public offices and imparting of computer

training to government officers / officials has any positive effect on their motivation

level, office culture, process quality improvement and standardization.


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W HERE A ND W HY

The research was conducted in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab province of Pakistan.

7 departments of federal and provincial governments were contacted for data

collection. The selection of the city for the purpose of the data collection was due to

the fact the researcher is also stationed there and also due to the scarcity of the

financial resources in hand of the researcher.

The departments / projects where research took place are detailed in the next pages.


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Introduction

The PIFRA project has been launched throughout Pakistan with aims to automate

government accounting and budgeting. The Financial accounting function and Human

Resource function has been automated using SAP (System, Application, Products in

Data Processing) FI & HR solution. The entire project has infused a new spirit in the

government offices where it has been installed and as a result of implementation, the

form and function of government service has also been revolutionized.

Sponsors of the Project

IDA: US$ 28.8 M

GOP US$ 8.4 M

Total Amount: US$ 37.2 M

Implementing Agency

Implementing Agency comprises Pakistan Audit Department (CGA & AGP),

Planning Division, and Ministry of Finance Government of Pakistan.

Stakeholders

The major stakeholders of the project are Planning Division, Ministry of Finance,

AGP, CGA, Provincial Finance Departments, NRB (National Reconstruction Bureau)

and Provincial Local Government Departments.

Objectives :

01 Project for Improvement of Financial Reporting

and Auditing (PIFRA)


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1. Modernized government audit procedures and adoption of internationally

accepted auditing standards will eradicate program oversights and improve

evaluation capabilities.

2. Effective accounting and reporting systems will enable the government to

better formulate, control, and monitor its budget.

3. Strengthened financial management practices will increase the impact of

development programs and related external assistance.

4. Financial information generated by the improved accounting and information

systems will be more useful, complete, reliable and timely. Improved data will

facilitate program management by government decision-makers.

5. Tighter internal controls will lessen the occurrence of errors and

irregularities in the processing of payments and receipts.

6. Related training programs will build staff capabilities and enhance utilization

of human resources.

Automated Solution:

SAP/R3 by Siemens Pakistan (Implementers)

Technology Strategy:

The complete information system be designed to:

Be open and portable

Facilitate adaptability and updation

Keep pace with the technological advancement 43


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Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) is the oldest Public Service Commission

in the country and was established in April 1937 under the Government of India Act,

1935. The act was adapted in 1947 after Independence.

The Commission is vested with the responsibility of making direct recruitment for

various posts under the Government of Punjab. It is a statutory body constituted under

the provisions of the Punjab Public Service Commission Ordinance 1978 and the

Punjab Public Service Commission (Function) Rules 1978 which have been framed as

provided for in Article 242 of the 1973 constitution. The Commission enjoys the

status of a special institution and is under the administrative control of S&GAD of

Government of Punjab.

The current automation of the PPSC department covers the following business

processes:-

Management Reporting

Most of the activities performed under the computerized system are basically

reporting of different kinds.

Internal Reporting

Internal reports are those reports which are submitted to the PPSC management and

are categorized as per follows:-

Analysis Reports

Applicant Background Reports

02 Punjab Public Service Commission Online


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The analysis of the back ground of the successful candidates or the entire applicants

such as caste, area and religion etc.

Applicant Academic Profile Reports

These reports analyze the academic qualifications / profile of the candidates.

Results Analysis Reports etc.

These reports are more comprehensive and have primary importance in a direct

manner as this deal with the statistics regarding total announced seats, filled seats, and

the Vacant seats for the various departments of the provincial government.

External Reporting

External reports are targeted at the departments who request the public service

commission for their recruitment services, data contained in such reports is

recommended Candidates, Their Merit No.s., and Waiting Lists etc.

Recommendations of Candidates

This report contains the final selection list/recommendation list of the candidates

examined by PPSC for the requesting departments.

Merit Lists

This report is actually the same as Recommendation list with slight difference in

arrangement as per Merit / Score in the exam obtained by the candidates.

Waiting Lists

In addition to the selected / recommended candidates, waiting lists are also prepared

that are prepared for the candidates not making their place in the final

recommendation may be considered as and when a need arises.

Recruitment

The process of recruitment is a sort of hybrid operation i.e., it is operated under both

automated and manual ways.


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Application Submission

The candidates submit their application through snail mail or take it to PPSC in

person and get a receipt. Currently, this process is only available as manual; plans are

to web-enable it for automated application submission following the example set by

FPSC.

Application Scanning

After receipt of the Application at the PPSC, its first two pages are scanned which

contain the photo graph and other basic information regarding the candidate.

Application Data Entry

The remaining pages are entered by the Key Punch Operators if required.

Diary # Allocation

After the primary data entry, they are assigned Diary numbers that are internal to the

PPSC.

Documents Scrutiny

Documents / Certificates / Degrees are sent to the institutes, universities for scrutiny /

verification. A proposal is underway to create a central database of all universities in

Pakistan containing the image of the certificate retrievable through entry of Roll.# /

Registration of the candidates.

Roll # Slip Issuance

At this stage, roll number slips are printed out of the systems for the candidates to

appear in the exam if required.

Attendance Sheet Preparation for PPSC officials

To verify / monitor the attendance, a separate attendance sheet is also printed for the

field examination centers to aid the staff deputed there.

Result preparation for written exams


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The marks are entered in the systems for the candidates taking the exams.

Result cards issuance

The system issues result cards based on the entries and the criteria provided thereof.

Interview Schedule development

After calculating the number of the candidates, and checking the availability of the

commissions members, a comprehensive interview schedule is developed in the

software application.

Pre-interview re-checking of documents

On the interview, the candidates are advised to bring the original copies of their

certificates and / or result cards for scrutiny.

During interview evaluation

The members evaluate the candidates and record their observations on the performas

devised for the purpose.

Post-Interview recording / entering of Observations of Candidate

After the interview, the observations regarding every candidate interviewed are

entered in the system.

Final Result Development

Final result is prepared and is published as per follows:-

Published in newspapers

The names of successful candidates are published in the national prominent

newspapers.

Published on website

The names of successful candidates are also published on the PPSC website under the

Final Results link.

Sent to Successful / unsuccessful candidates via Snail Mail


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Case Closed

Technological Infrastructure

The entire technical infrastructure at Punjab Public Service Commission consists of 2

File Servers, 1 Web Server, 2 Line Printers, 5 Laser Jet Printers, 3 high resolution

scanners and 120 workstations running Windows xp professional in a local area

network environment.


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Introduction

The main purpose of this library is to make it a general center of reliable information

by provision of computers and audio-visual aids facilities. At present, total collection

of the library is 1,10000 volumes and membership is 18500.

QAL initiated the process of computerization in 1989 with IBM 80286 and 80386

computers. LAN has been established and terminals are installed in various sections

and reference desks of the library. Researchers, students and scholars extensively use

this equipment. Local Area Network was enhanced and new ALR 80486 computers

were added in 1993. Data of all Library Books (English and Urdu Books Catalogue),

Periodicals, Indexing of Periodicals articles, Membership, ADB Reports etc. have

been computerized. A number of search and reference facilities have been provided to

the readers through automated/computerized catalogue and other databases (List is

provided at Annex B).

The following softwares (in-house developed softwares) have been provided and are

being used in a secure DOS-base environment:

1. LIS Library Information System (Quaid-e-Azam Library's Books Catalogue

Retrieval System)

2. QAL (Quaid-e-Azam Library's Books/Periodicals/Magazines/Indexing of

Periodicals Retrieval System)

3. Reports Management System (Asian Development Banks, UNESCO Reports

Management)

03 Quaid e Azam Library, Lahore.

Library Information System


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4. Circulation/Transaction System (Books Issue Receipt System)

5. Membership Management System

6. Non-Book Material Management System

7. Missing Books Program

8. Theft Cases Record Program

9. Damaged Books Record Program

10. Gift Books Record Program

11. Board of Governors Meeting Record Program

12. Maintaining Quaid-e-Azam Library Web Page

13. Pay Roll System for QAL

14.Account Management System

Main Achievements

1: Library Automation Software Deployment &Testing:

An integrated Automated Library Information System for Quaid-e-Azam Library

(QAL) has been deployed and is under testing implementation phase. It is being

developed to support acquisitions, bibliographic control, inventory control, serials

management, circulation, public and staff searching, access to other databases, and

management statistics and reporting. The integrated library system is replacing the

existing DOS based applications that currently support some of these functional areas.

By providing online capabilities for identifying and tracking materials from the point

of receipt and for sharing bibliographic and inventory information throughout the

Library, the ILS is expected to improve the security of materials in the Library's

collections, the efficiency and accuracy of operations, and the quality of access to the

Library's resources.


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2: Development Of E-Section:

E-section with 30 computers has been set up which is functioning satisfactory in the

QAL. Internet facilities, access to digital library resources is available to the readers.

CD-Server has been installed and working fine.

3: Online Digital Library, Web & Opac Services:

Quaid-e-Azam Library Dynamic Web site/Portal with OPAC has been launched with

ONLINE Databases. Library URL have been got registered with PIKNIC as

www.qal.org.pk .

The Library Servers are functioning round the clock for 24 X 7 to provide vast

information on Web by scanning Library material (non copy-right) for preservation

and references on Web. The library material is being scanned and hosted on web

through Library Web Server is in PDF format. Web Hosting of Library Databases &

non-copy write Library Material of QAL (Newspapers and Journal clippings) would

be provided.

4: HEC Digital Library Access:

HEC Digital Library Access has been acquired and the following four Publishers have

been allowed to QAL.

1. Blackwell Publishing - Synergy

2. EBSCO Host

3. Oxford University Press - Oxford Journals

4. Springer


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1. Introduction

The project will cover the whole of Punjab Province over a period of Ten years. It

would provide an automated land records management system based at the Kanoongo

level with full data entry of all text based land records. The project will include

institutional, legal and process reforms that will bring about the changes necessary to

improve efficiency and transparency of procedures, reduce litigation and develop a

modern comprehensive land management capacity across the whole province. A

dedicated Project Management Unit under Board of Revenue has been established

which is responsible for the project coordination and implementation.

To achieve this gigantic task, the Punjab Information Technology Department was

entrusted with responsibility of executing two schemes on pilot basis for

Computerization of Land Records in Gujrat and Rahim Yar Khan at the costs of Rs.

49.931 million and Rs. 69.290 million for Gujrat and Rahim Yar Khan respectively.

2. Project Development

A. Objectives of the Project

The major long-term goals of the project are,

Improve land management and local planning by providing clear and accurate

information.

Make the land record transparent and accessible on line.

Reduce rural poverty by providing enabling access to capital in the banking

sector.

Create investment opportunities in both rural and urban settings.

04 Land Records Management Information

System (LRMIS)


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April 25, 2006.

B. Project Architecture

The project architecture is based on the unit at the level of Qanoongoi level for

providing computerized working environment. One Qanoongoi level generally

handles an area of 3-4 Union Councils. In order to avoid huge initial costs and

provide focal location as close as possible to the clients in the rural area, Qanoongoi

level has been selected as service point in Phase-I. There are 803 Qanoongoi circles

in the province which have been proposed to serve as Kiosks. These circles do not

have proper office premises to house KIOSKS for service delivery. Therefore, a

typical KIOSK building at a central location at each Qanoongoi is proposed.

The vision of the Chief Minister is to develop IT service centers across the province.

The establishment of IT Kiosks provides a foundation for services centers. As

mentioned above, these kiosks would have necessary manpower, hardware and

connectivity to convert them into multi-departmental services centre.

C. Training

It is estimated that up to 500 people per district will require training on the new

technology and procedures. The training courses would include:

IT basics of operating systems, word processing, excel, etc.

IT system administration, networking, SQL and other higher level programs,

etc.

Use of LRMIS.

Land markets and administration, including valuation, land management,

planning, etc.


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A. Software

Punjab IT Department has achieved the successful launch of the final release of

LRMIS software application for Rahim Yar Khan and Gujrat projects. This LRMIS

release is a web portal application and is accessible through the link on the Punjab

Government official web portal ( www.punjab.gov.pk ). It covers the entire domain of

the originally tested software with new design architecture to conform to the modern

techniques in application development as advised by the World Bank consultants as

well as the Technical observations from PMU P & D according to their LRMIS

Assessment Report August 2005. The final .NET version of the software also

incorporates all the suggestions proposed by the PMU BOR during the last domain

testing exercise. These enhancements also cover the following specific areas;

Technology Up-gradation to true n-Tier architecture in Microsoft ASP .NET

Database Design and Technology Up-gradation to SQL Server 2005

Data shifting from ASCII to portable Unicode with multiple OTF fonts

support

Support for Standardized Reporting Engines

Standardization on Keyboard layout

This final .NET version of the software application has been deployed at the Punjab

ITD web servers and is available through Official Punjab Government web portal.

This may be accessed through www.punjab.gov.pk by following the LRMIS link.

Alternatively, the entire LRMIS portal is accessible through

http://lrmis.punjab.gov.pk .


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Introduction

The WASA Lahore is the government agency under Lahore Development Authority

which is responsible for the provision of water and sanitation facilities to the citizens

of Lahore

Organization

The Organization of WASA is headed by a Managing Director and includes three

Deputy Managing Directors i.e. DMD (Engineering), DMD (Finance, Admin &

Revenue) and DMD (Operation & Maintenance). There are 4226 WASA employees

in various categories. 44

Consumer Billing & Information System

Customer service and billing information is the key success factor for any public

sector service provider organization like WASA. The organization is responsible for

providing potable tap water and sanitation services to the residents of the Lahore city.

Due to abnormal expansion of the city limits, and huge increase in the customer base,

the company had to re-visit its approach towards billing and consumers. Therefore

they came up with automated billing & consumer information system.

Technical Infrastructure

Wasa has customer relations / complaint centre in 6 locations around the city. Each

branch office is equipped with 4-10 desktop computers, 1 file server, 1 heavy duty

laser printers (for printing of bills) running on a local area network. These branch

offices computer infrastructure is maintained by a Data Entry Team headed by

Assistant Director Computer who reports to Deputy Director of the branch office.

05 Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) :

Consumer Billing & Information System


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Branch offices are currently connected via internet to the head office where central

server is maintained. There are also plans to establish WAN in future. The application

built by an outside firm has been acquired by the department and in-house

development facility has been established headed by a Deputy Director Computer.


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Introduction

HistoryIn Pakistan, the institution of Ombudsman was set up at the federal level in 1983

under President's Order No. 1 of 1983. This Institution could not attend to complaints

pertaining to Provincial Agencies for want of jurisdiction. The public and Press

jointly demanded establishment of Ombudsman Institution at provincial level. Federal

Government also urged the provincial governments from time to time to set up this

Institution.

Mission & Objectives

The objective of the Office of Ombudsman Punjab is to provide relief/redressal to

citizens in complaints against Provincial Government Agencies through a procedure

which is informal, simple, prompt and inexpensive and do so under the law i.e. the

Punjab Office of the Ombudsman Act 1997.

It is mentioned in the preamble of the Punjab Office of the Ombudsman Act 1997,

that the appointment of the Ombudsman is for protection of the rights of the people,

ensuring adherence to the rule of law, diagnosing, redressing and rectifying any

injustice done to a person through maladministration and suppressing corrupt

practices.

Automation

Entire business process of the Office of The Ombudsman Punjab has been made

available on their integrated / dynamic websites where one can file a complaint, get

status and finally get to know the final decision made by the office. This entire

process is based on an internal networked information system, whereby, the record of

06 Office of the Ombudsman Punjab Online


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activities is kept and maintained by a team of assistants of the consultants.

Consultants are experienced and retired bureaucrats having expertise and vast

knowledge of how government machinery functions under the prevailing rules. Every

consultant is assigned a range of govt. departments for whom complaints of the

general public are sold.

The case data is updated in the system by the team of assistants for the consultants

which gets complaint data from the MIS cell within the Office of the Ombudsman

Punjab, Lahore. The entire workflow of complaint handling can either be initiated on

line or through writing a simple application detailing the excesses of a certain

government department.

Technological Infrastructure

There are 30 desktop computers running windows xp professional connected to the

Windows 2003 server via Local Area Network. The internal application has been

developed using Microsoft Access.


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I NTRODUCTION

In May, 1948 Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) took steps to establish the

State Bank of Pakistan immediately. These were implemented in June 1948, and the

State Bank of Pakistan commenced operation on July 1, 1948

AUTOMATION

With the objective of moving towards process automation and enhanced data analysis

capabilities, Arthur Andersen was entrusted with the preparation of a study outlining

an Information Systems Strategy Plan. The direction and focus of the study was to

enhance the management decision-making processes and to bring about an

improvement in the quality and usage of technology in the banks operations. The

working document, dated 15 January 1999 was then put into execution under the

World Banks assistance program with the objective of upgrading the information

technology being used at the SBP. The contract was signed in September 2000 and

the actual work started in December 2000.

Hyundai Information Technologies (HIT) was assigned the role of the lead consultant

for the design and deployment of the upgrade envisioned by Arthur Andersen. The

project has evolved into a comprehensive integrated solution, a seamless

amalgamation of individual solutions for the banking and non-banking operational

automation at the SBP. The project was affected by the unforeseen incidents like 9/11

incident, May 2002 bomb blast in Karachi, Afghan United States war, and border

07 Technological Up-gradation at the State Bank

of Pakistan (SBP)


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tensions with India. However the project team was able to keep on track and managed

to minimize the delay to a mere 12 months. The project is expected to complete by

September 2005. The major components of the automation project are:

Networking

Establishment of LAN, WAN and MAN (in Karachi).

Hardware

1376 PCs, 104 Laptops, 3 N Class servers, High speed gigabit backbones, 4 large

High-end Laser Printers, 21 color printers 75 Network Printers 120 dot matrix printers

130 desktop laser printers 1 Plotter and 1 Scanner have been installed at various

offices of the bank around the country.

Trainings

Trainings of 876 resources out of which 134 resources in Globus were trained and 154

resources are trained in Oracle ERP. Of these 87 resources were trained in Oracle

Financials & Distributions and 57 resources were trained in Oracle Human Resource

Management System (HRMS).

Globus (Banking Solution)

The Globus banking system will automate the retail and treasury banking activities of

the SBP and sixteen offices of the SBP BSC. The core Globus system has been

customized and implemented in the core banking areas of the SBP (Accounts and

EDMD) and the SBP BSC (Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad offices). The main

application is housed on a central server located at Karachi with all the offices

accessing it simultaneously via wide area connectivity.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution

Oracle financial has been used to automate the rest of the functions.


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T HE R ESEARCH O BJECTIVES A ND A IMS

1. To brief the jargons of e-Government

2. To assess the value of e-Government systems in-Place in the departments

selected for research

3. To assess the impact of e-Government on office culture in the departments


4. To assess the impact of e-Government on motivation level of human resources

in the departments selected for research

5. To assess the impact of e-Government on standardization of processes in the

departments selected for research

6. To assess the impact of e-Government on process quality improvement in the

departments selected for research

7. To describe the technological framework for e-Government in the departments



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R ESEARCH QUESTION /H YPOTHESISe-Government has positive impact on the following:-

1. Office Culture

2. Motivation Level of the Human Resources

3. Standardization of the Processes

4. Process Quality Improvement

e-Government systems in-place are of high value in terms of Usability, which

consists of:

1. Learn-ability

2. Efficiency

3. Effectiveness

4. User Satisfactions


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C HAPTER 2 : L ITERATURE R EVIEW

D IFFERENCE BETWEEN EGOVERNMENT AND EGOVERNANCE

E-Governance is not just about government web site and e-mail. It is not just about

service delivery over the Internet. It is not just about digital access to the government

information or electronic payments. It will change how citizens relate to governments

as much as it changes how citizens relate to each other. It will bring forth new

concepts of citizenship, both in terms of needs and responsibilities. E-Governance

will allow citizens to communicate with the government, participate in the democratic

political process. Therefore, in broadest sense, E-Governance has more implications

than E-Government. (Blake Harris, 2000) 45

Five categories of measuring a global survey, five categories of measuring a

countrys e-government progress have been identified. A countrys e-government

progress should be identified as follows:

Emerging web presence: A country may have a single or a few official national

government websites that offer static information to the user and serve as public

affairs tools.

Enhanced web presence: The number of government WebPages increases as

information becomes more dynamic with users having more options for accessing

information.

Interactive web presence: A more formal exchange between user and a government

service provider takes place, i.e. forms can be downloaded; applications submitted

online.

Transactional web presence : Users easily access services prioritized by their needs;

conduct formal transactions online, like paying taxes; registration fees.


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Fully integrated web presence: The complete integration of all online government

services through a one-stop shop portal. (UN/ASPA, 2000)46

E-governance is beyond the scope of e-government. While e-government is defined

as a mere delivery of government services and information to the public using

electronic means, e-governance allows citizen direct participation of constituents in

political activities going beyond government and includes E-Democracy, E-Voting,

and participating political activity online. So most broadly, concept of e-governance

will cover government, citizens participation, political parties and organizations,

Parliament and Judiciary functions. (Fang, Zhiyuan) 47


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I MPLEMENTATION OF E -GOVERNMENT

The E-Government program in Pakistan did not evolve overnight. It started

with the approval of National IT Policy and action plan by the Federal Cabinet in

August 2000 and has evolved over a period of time by tremendous hard work and

valuable contribution by various stake holders from the public as well as private

sector.

The current phase of Pakistan.Gov enables the citizen to obtain basic

information and download forms that may have previously required a visit to some

government office or agency. After this phase, the portal will be improved further in

the next two phases. In phase 2, facilities will be provided to enable citizens to

conduct entire tasks online. Some services that will be available in this phase will be

filling of tax returns, tax payments, applications and renewal of driving license,

payment of fines, applications for permits and license, payment of utility bills and

some more features.(Ali, Tariq 2003) 48

Our government had allotted a lot of funds for the progress of technology but

the desired outcome is nowhere to be seen. The reason is the lack of vision on the

officials managing departments that were to be the driving force of IT revolution in

the country. These latest model CPUs machines provided with 21 inches screen to the

top officials in Grade 20 and above are useless as the bosses could not log on to

internet to check mail, even in some cases they dont know how to plug in the

machine. The machines are used only for typing, as some say that in government

offices there is no work other than typing, and this function is performed by a grade

15 steno, who knows only MS Word and in some cases MS Excel. Whenever a


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presentation is to be made either services of a friend or the single staff member per

ministry, who knows about MS Power Point are utilized.(Sial, Amer, 2003) 49

There is no concept of upgrading the capability of human resource in the

government sector other than lip service, as our civil service is based upon caste

system that we claim to so despise, a curse that is still prevalent in the neighboring

India, due to which a person entering in a grade lower than 17 will never be eligible to

get a promotion to top management posts. This has already crumbled our civil service

infrastructure, as there are no chances of promotion so why bother to do innovative

work other than the routine work to exert later on in the part time job. (Sial, Amer,

2003) 50

Just to illustrate shenanigans of MITT a project is mentioned that conceived

to introduce ATMs for withdrawal of salaries by the government servants in the twin

cities and most embracing fact is the way ATM machines were installed by the

National Bank of Pakistan in some localities, similar to the snooker tables that are

placed in the middle of a busy road with a tent hanging upward. The machines are

only used for withdrawing cash but the world over these could be used for paying

utility bills. This lack of vision and miss management could be surpassed only by the

other government departments. (Sial, Amer, 2003) 51

This is the reason why Pakistan, despite being home to the worlds leading

workflow automation suit developer Ultimus, has not even a single government

office, organization or company implementing its highly popular suite implemented at

the White House and several other corporate giants around the globe due to the


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enormous saving in the wastage of the office working hours. The back end software

development of the North American Incorporated, Ultimus, is based in Rawalpindi

and has been consistently upgrading the novel workflow automation suite that it has

been the most popular suite the world over. (Sial, Amer, 2003)52

A silver lining is on the horizon, as PTCL has opened first IP based call

centre for Peshawar region developed by Communication Enabling Technologies, the

R and D arm of Avaz Networks. While a larger one is under construction for Lahore.

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and Pakistan

International Airlines are also following suit with call centers. While the Ministry of

Finance under immense pressure from the international lending agencies to improve

its financial management practices is already at an advance level of implementing,

SAP, an ERP solution in the Accountant General Pakistan Revenue. (Sial, Amer,

2003) 53

When a government body undergoes automation, all the institutions working

immediately under the organization face the need to upgrade. If the national tax

system is automated, the private sector organizations and industry will also have to

automate their systems in order to improve and implement efficient financial

reporting systems. A good example is that of the national central bank. Once the

automation is complete, hundreds and thousands of IT labor will be required in order

to manage and maintain these large IT infrastructures. (Bajwa, Fuad Riaz, 2004) 54

In the age of information, democracy requires that the representatives of the

people be easily approachable by those who elect them through the net by the


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electorate. For this at the very least, e-mail addresses of each legislator ought to be

made available on the National Assemblys website.(Daudpota, Q.Isa, 2004) 55

Our problem in my superficial observation of the last three years, is the

confusion prevailing between the powers of the elected representatives and the rules

of business relating to the bureaucracy. The lack of decentralization of authority

levels and the complete lack of accountability of the people, who take decisions on

behalf of Pakistan, is frightening. Just one insignificant functionary with an ego can

cause incomparable loss by using that incomparable file with a cummerbund. It is

perhaps much easier to get on the bandwagon of pillorying those who try to do

something which will make fundamental differences to the future of Pakistan.

(Ansari, Salman, 2004) 56

Bureaucratic procedures in Pakistan have traditionally been ill-fated tasks,

plagued with corruption and incompetence. Each of us is acutely aware of the high

handed attitude meted out by the authorities as they handle the most menial of

responsibilities. For these reasons and many more, everyday tasks such as applying

for a drivers license, a passport or a domicile certificate become a cumbersome

frustrating process. Each new government brings with it a ray of hope that the will

receive some sort of relief from inane red-tapeism.(Ali, Rafay Bin, 2005) 57

No doubt, the whole exercise is timely and worth appreciating, but the

question that needs to be answered is to extent will it benefit common citizens? Their

interest invariably lies in the provision of up-to-date and reliable land revenue

information in digital form that is easily accessible. If this happens, the whole effort


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will be worth making. On the other hand, if public access to computerized data is

denied, it will only lead to a new generation of patwaris with even stricter control on

the encrypted and password-protected land records. (Ahmed, Irfan, 2005) 58

The system of maintaining land revenue records in Pakistan is perhaps one of

the most complicated in the world. The record system is dependant on low ranking

functionaries such as patwaris, qanoongos and gurdawars. In fact, citizens will find it

impossible to gain access to land records without their assistance. Record registers are

the power source of these government functionaries who always keep them secret

from the public.(Ahmed, Irfan, 2005) 59

Pakistan lacks and is in dire need of a scalable e-government infrastructure,

which is founded on sophisticated and future proof e-government architecture. The

current e-government infrastructure in Pakistan represents neither the state-of-the-art

nor could it be expected that it will prove to be future proof in any way.(Sarwar,

Imran et all., 2005) 60

Pakistan E-Governance Model (PEGM)

The prime focus is to propose a practical model that can best fit to the

implementation of e-governance in Pakistan. Our model is an Instrumental 3-phase

model which when implemented will evolve with time. This model is a simple three

step approach as follows:

1. Broadcast Information

2. Request and Respond


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3. Resolve and optimize

1) Broadcast Information

It is the first step for PEGM. This phase includes a portal which

can broadcast information both to the government and to the

public. This includes basic static website with all contact

information of the governmental departments, their goals,

policies, achievements and FAQ etc.

2) Request and Respond

This is a very important phase for the implementation of e-

government. The focus is on online transactions where a portal

or a website or any other electronic interface can interact with

the public and businesses like response to the online surveys,

online submission of applications for vehicles and arms

licenses, national identity cards, registration of deeds and land

records, online payment for renewal fees for facilities like

licenses and taxes etc. can be transacted. Online / RFP

submission/

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