OASIS Open

OASIS Transformational Government Framework (TGF) Technical Committee

At a time when virtually every government is now an "e-government" — with websites, e-services and e-government strategies proliferating around the world, even in the least developed countries — it is now clear that Information and Communication Technology is no magic bullet. Duplicated IT expenditure, wasted resources, no critical mass of users for online services, and limited impact on core public policy objectives — this has been the reality of many countries' experience of e-Government.

Traditional e-Government has focused on e-enabling transactional services and providing online content. Yet the great majority of public sector staff and expenditure is not involved in such services, but rather is on the "front line": teachers, healthcare workers, police, court officials, emergency response teams, revenue and border control teams and so on. Leading governments are increasingly beginning now to understand how the work of such front line staff can be transformed through the use of real-time knowledge management and mobile workflow applications. An increasing number of governments are now starting to get to grips with the much broader and more complex set of cultural and organisational changes which are needed if ICT is to deliver significant benefits in the public sector. Countries such as the UK, Canada and Australia have all recently published strategies which shift away from "egovernment" towards a much more radical focus on transforming the whole relationship between the public sector and users of public services. This new focus is commonly being referred to as Transformational Government.

Transformation programmes differ from traditional eGovernment programmes in four major ways:

• They take a whole-of-government view of the relationship between the public sector and the citizen or business user.
• They include initiatives to e-enable the frontline public services: that is, staff involved in direct personal delivery of services such as education and healthcare — rather than just looking at transactional services which can be e-enabled on an end-to-end basis.
• They take a whole-of-government view of the most efficient way managing the cost base of government.
• They focus on the "citizen" not the "customer". That is, they seek to engage with the citizens as owners of and participants in the creation of public services, not as passive recipients of services.

Whilst there is not a one-size-fits-all approach because each government is different, there are some universally applicable rules, sets of principles and processes for delivering the transformational change. The work of the TC will be to define an overall framework that encompasses these rules, principles and processes. And supporting the framework there will be a need for the TC to identify and provide some use cases and guidance on adoption as there is more than one entry point into making the transformation.

The major deliverable will be a Framework for Transformational Government. Included in this Framework will be:

• a Transformational Government Reference Model,
• definitions of a series of policy products necessary to implement the change,
• a value chain for citizen service transformation,
• a series of guiding principles,
• a business model for change,
• a delivery roadmap,
• and a checklist of critical success factors.

Supporting this Framework will be a number of Use Cases and other guidance advice on its adoption.

It is anticipated that the Framework will be delivered within 12 months and the other outputs within 18 months of the start of the TC.

Non-Assertion

• Government and other public sector officials responsible for eGovernment policy, strategy, and implementation.
• Other public or global Institutions that provide advice and guidance on implementing eGovernment Progammes.
• Providers of software and services to Governments.
• OASIS membership.

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