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E-GOVERNMENT (GOVERNMENT ONLINE)

The ongoing changes in technology present the APS with both challenges and significant opportunities in the area of service delivery. Technology has always been a major driver and enabler for change and possibly the most important driver over the last 25 years. In recent years the rate at which information and communications technology (ICT) is more readily available to public and private organisations and the community has increased. In particular the Internet has been important in driving commercial, government, and social and personal change.² Changes in technology have the potential to dramatically improve the effectiveness of service delivery. The Government’s focus has shifted from an initial push to put all appropriate services online, to the implementation of e-government, which describes the use of ICT to improve government administration and interaction with citizens.³ The focus is now on integrating new technology with government administration and service delivery to deliver better results.

In March 2004 the Australian Government announced administrative changes to the handling of ICT issues. Under the new arrangements, AGIMO maintained the former National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) functions relating to promoting and coordinating the Australian Government’s use of ICT to deliver its programs and services.

APS E-GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVENESS

There is a substantial body of evidence that shows the Australian Government has made considerable progress in implementing its e-government agenda. The Information Economy Index 2003, prepared by NOIE, measures readiness to participate in the information economy.⁴ Australia was ranked second behind Canada out of 12 countries in its penetration of online government services; it was also ranked third for government preparedness to supply services online (behind the USA and Canada).⁵ Data in the Australia Online, 1st Quarter 2004 Statistics, prepared by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) shows that 37% of home Internet users accessed government websites in March 2004, visiting government websites on an average of four times and spending approximately 24 minutes online.⁶ The E-Government Benefits Study also highlights the early adoption of new technologies by Australians, with 46% of people and over 57% of businesses now making use of e-government services.⁷ While comparisons with previous data are difficult, there is little doubt that the use of e-government services in Australia is continuing to grow.

A number of other surveys have also ranked Australia consistently in the leading group of countries in e-government. For example, the Accenture report, eGovernment Leadership: High Performance, Maximum Value May 2004, ranked Australia in the top four of 22 countries benchmarked, noting Australia’s high level of service breadth.⁸ Other favourable assessments came from the United Nations world public sector report 2003, E-Government at the Crossroads and Taylor Nelson Sofres’ Government Online Study 2003.⁹ Australia was ranked third out of 191 countries on global e-government readiness in the United Nations report. Australia was also found to have an extremely user-friendly federal portal, which provides users with quick access to a wealth of information and access to a comprehensive Australian Government online directory. Australia’s online job database (www.jobsearch.com.au) was also recognised as a world leader.

E-GOVERNMENT PROGRESS WITHIN APS AGENCIES

Australian Government agencies are continuing to develop innovative and practical ways of applying new technologies to benefit the community, business and government itself. Examples of initiatives in agencies to increase productivity, build internal capability and improve customer focus include:

• Centrelink’s student notification of employment income trial, which simplifies reporting needs and expands the choice of interaction channels for customers
• the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service’s (AQIS) development of an export documentation system ‘EXDOC’ and e-cert systems, which facilitate the export of Australian products
• ATO’s business portal, which helps businesses better manage their tax affairs and meet their obligations
• DEST’s use of electronic forums or ‘sharespaces’ that facilitate cross agency and community consultation
• ABS’s improved service to clients through its online subscription service, AusStats
• the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s (GBRMPA) protection environment management system, which generates information crucial for the effective management of the world heritage listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• the Defence Signals Directorate’s and the (then) NOIE’s ONSecure, which increases awareness of security issues across government, making the job of protecting government information networks easier.

ANAO INTERNET SERVICE DELIVERY AUDITS

Government policy requires that agencies use the Internet to deliver all appropriate programs and services.¹⁰ The Australian Government made a commitment to have appropriate services online by 2001 as set out in their statement Investing for Growth.¹¹ The Prime Minister in his opening address to the World Congress on information technology in February 2002 announced that this target had been achieved.¹² Implementation of this policy has led to considerable agency investment in online service delivery. Government policy also requires managers to ensure that program and service delivery is efficient and effective. Effective and efficient use of the Internet has the potential, to both improve service delivery and make efficiency savings.

A number of ANAO performance audits have addressed issues relating to the management of quality Internet services for government clients. One recent audit examined the adequacy of selected agencies’ approaches to monitoring and evaluation of Internet-delivered programs and services.¹³ The audit found that performance information on websites and portals collected by agencies was limited because of a lack of clear objectives and agreed performance indicators, though most agencies had broad objectives for their Internet-delivered services and were monitoring a core set of information that showed achievement against these objectives. It also found that no agency in the audit had planned or conducted an overall evaluation of the effectiveness of Internetdelivered services. Also no evaluation of the overall effectiveness of agency websites and their contribution to agency outcomes had occurred or was planned.

A further ANAO audit is currently being conducted. This audit is designed to identify and evaluate the adequacy of the methods used by selected agencies to assess whether their delivery of Government programs and services through the Internet was efficient and effective; and to identify lessons learned and opportunities for improvement. The audit covers a specific Internet-delivered service and website of each of the six participating agencies. The agencies selected are of varying size with different types of programs and services providing for a mixture of client groups. The report is due to be tabled in February 2005.

FUTURE CHALLENGES

Published in 2004, Future Challenges for E-Government was a collaboration between the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) (ACT) and AGIMO it provides a series of papers that address issues relevant to e-government. This publication suggests that ICT will continue to have a pivotal role to play in changing the way government carries out its business. Areas of particular focus were accountability, multi-channel service delivery, community collaboration, accessibility, privacy and legal issues and the value and evaluation of e-government initiatives.¹⁴

The demand for governments to provide more integrated and interactive information and services also continues to rise. In its 2004 report, Connecting Government, MAC found that the pressures to share information across agencies, jurisdictions and with the private sector are growing. It found that governments are addressing these demands through improved business processes and service delivery enabled by the effective use of ICT.¹⁵

The MAC report also found that improving agencies’ capacity to transfer and exchange information is critical for whole of government approaches and will require improved interoperability between agencies’ information systems. Agencies involved in information sharing will also need to ensure the protection of clients’ personal information. Agencies are already identifying a need to work in clusters to achieve common and interrelated objectives. Better business modelling, investment tools and governance structures are also required to guide agency decision making.

The MAC report recommends the development of information principles that promote a culture of reusing existing information within government, adopting protocols for information shared across public and private sectors to meet areas of joint activity and establishing clusters to improve information sharing. The report states that priority should be given to information clusters on social (health, welfare, education, etc), economic (industry, trade, etc) and environmental (agriculture, climate, environment, etc) indicators as these reflect a triple bottom line (TBL) approach.¹⁶ It also recommends using collaborative workspaces and tools for information management and engendering a supportive culture and improved information management skills to support information sharing.

As a result of this MAC study, the role of the Information Management Strategy Committee (IMSC) has been extended. The committee, established in 2002, plays the lead role in coordinating information management and information technology activities across the Australian Government.

Implementing best practice in e-government is a key challenge for government agencies to address in an environment where the understanding of e-government and ICT continues to evolve along with the expectations and capacity of citizens, business users and customers.

The E-Government Benefits Study highlights that demand for e-government services is expected to grow by more than 30% per annum.¹⁷ In particular, Internet users have expressed the desire for the supply of additional government services in the areas of provision of information, downloadable forms, integration between agencies, and access to more complex transactions. The study also predicts that future demand for e-government services is most likely to occur in the areas of health, taxation and community support services.

2 AGIMO & IPAA, Future Challenges for E-Government Volumes 1 & 2, 2004, <http://www.agimo.gov.au/publications/2004/05/egovt_challenges>

3 NOIE, Better Services, Better Government: the Federal Government’s E-Government Strategy, November 2002, <http://www.agimo.gov.au/publications/2002/11/bsbg>

4 Full Statistics can be found at <http://www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/framework/benchmarking>

5 The pool of 12 countries benchmarked in 2003 was different to that of the 2002 Index.

6 See <http://www2.dcita.gov.au/__data/assets/file/32080/Pocket_Stats_web.pdf>

7 AGIMO (NOIE), E-Government Benefits Study, 2003, <http://www.agimo.gov.au/publications/2003/03/e-govt_benefits_study>

8 See <http://www.accenture.com/xdoc/en/industries/government/gove_egov_value.pdf>

9 See <http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan012733.pdf> and <http://www.tns-global.com/>

10 NOIE, Government Online–The Commonwealth Government’s Strategy, April 2000, <http://www.agimo.gov.au/publications/2000/04/govonline>

11 The Commonwealth of Australia, Investing for Growth, 1997.

12 The Hon John Howard MP, Addressing the Opening of the World Congress on IT, Convention Centre, Adelaide, 27 February 2002.

13 ANAO, Quality Internet Service for Government Clients—Monitoring and Evaluation by Government Agencies, Performance Audit Report No.30, February 2004, <http://www.anao.gov.au>

14 AGIMO & IPAA, op.cit.

15 MAC Report 4, Connecting Government: Whole of Government Responses to Australia’s Priority Challenges, 2004, <http://www.apsc.gov.au/mac/index.html>

16 TBL-based reporting has replaced reporting only on financial performance, which is now considered limited. TBL reporting measures an organisation’s social, economic and environmental performance. This potentially better positions organisations for future challenges and opportunities.

17 AGIMO (NOIE), op.cit.