MARIAN NIED WIEDZISKI Uniwersytet Łódzki
Katedra Informatyki Ekonomicznej
Summary
In the paper initial ideas concerning evaluation framework and success criteria of a special Decision Support System will be presented. The system is dedicated to Public Administrations as a tool assisting online decisions makers in the field of ICT. The system will be elaborated in the PICTURE project sponsored by European Commission within the 6th Framework Programme.
Keywords: e-government, decision support systems, evaluation of information systems 1. Introduction
E-government applications are growing dynamically in numerous technologically advanced countries. It manifests in two well visible processes:
1 – in the process of progressing growth of more and more advanced services offered online (see Fig. 1); and
2 – in the process of PA evolution from traditional (autocratic and bureaucratic) to modern one (more democratic and participative), which is often called “citizen-centric” (see Fig. 2).
Online
Development
Time
Transaction (full electronic case handling)
Two-way interaction (electronic forms)
One-way interaction (downloadable forms)
Information
Fig.1. Progress in PA services offered online. “Online Availability of Public Services: How is Europe Progressing?” Report of the 6th Measurement June 2006.
Taking into consideration the figure above, one can ask the question: What will be next? What will be the future of Public Administrations? In my opinion - it will be a total transformation
of PA. It seems to be Single point of contact for all governmental organisations, which will be totally transparent for citizens.
citizen-centric PA traditional PA democratic participative autocratic bureautocratic
Fig.2 The process of Public Administrations’ evolution
The growth of IT investments in PAs requires from decisions makers ability to make right de-cisions within the field. That requires next enough qualifications from them. At present dede-cisions makers hesitate to invest heavily in ICT infrastructure. This is due to the fact that potential impact of such investments is usually unclear and therefore large investments cannot be justified to the political leadership and the public.
To help decisions makers in their job - a special tool (Decision Support System) assisting online was proposed. The PICTURE9 project sponsored by European Commission within the 6th Framework Programme is devoted to creation of such a tool.
To do it right it is necessary to define for the tool a dedicated set of criteria enable to measure its effectiveness and efficiency.
It seems to be clear what does it mean effective and efficient e-government in general.10 But – what does it mean effective and efficient tool assisting managers within PAs in developing e-government solutions?
9 PICTURE's goal is to create, validate and disseminate a web based tool to enable an efficient measurement of ICT impact. Using such a tool, decisions makers in PAs will be able to develop successful and long-term ICT investment strate-gies.
10 The „Signposts towards eGovernment 2010” report of the European Commission, Information Society and Media, Directorate General of November 2005 defines the task of Effectiveness of eGovernment in anticipation of the i2010 eGov-ernment Action Plan as follows:
“Effectiveness from the perspective of citizens and businesses – means that government is addressing the real needs of its citizens in a satisfactory way. It has to be done by public administrations being responsive and transparent, imagining the position of the citizens, informing them about the rights they are entitled to, and the duties they have, while not bother-ing citizens with redundant questions or helpbother-ing them with only partial solutions, or even worse not helpbother-ing them at all. Public administrations have to offer more personalised services, where possible in a proactive way, through multiple use of information and one-off (once-only) data provision, which helps reducing unnecessary administrative burdens (less infor-mation obligations) and delivering better quality of services”.
The same document defines Efficiency of eGovernment as: “Efficiency from a more internal view means that govern-ment is offering best value for money. Standard ICT tasks also offer a potential of saving money or achieving higher
pro-In the paper initial ideas concerning evaluation framework and success criteria of such a tool will be presented.
2. Universal criteria
In literature and in other sources one can find various concepts concerning systems' evalua-tion. Some of them are very universal, some are oriented to special kinds of information systems.
Let me start from listing criteria of a good Decision Support System, as the PICTURE-tool will represent such kind of systems.
Decision Support System:
– should respect various styles of decision making and various approaches for that process; – should be so easy in operation to be used by people who are not IT experts without any
special assistance;
– should use terminology, which is comprehensible for people who are not IT experts; – should be flexible, adaptable and interactive in action;
– should be initiated and controlled by users; – should be oriented to user’s needs;
– should allow users to examination of a certain set of options and to choose one, which se-cures the best results; The users should have the right to define what does it mean the best results, taking into consideration their individual preferences, objective outcomes or both; – should include a module of current knowledge collecting; it necessary to assure valuable
and up-to-date support for decision makers;
– should limit (as much as possible) the range of uncertainty in decision making process.11 Among universal sets of criteria used for information systems evaluation one can find two very well known proposals:
1. elaborated by International Standard Organisation; 2. McCall's model
As regards the first one (ISO 9126), it contains the following attributes expected from information systems: - Functionality - Reliability - Usefulness - Efficiency - Maintenance - Mobility
As regards Mc'Call's model, it contains much more attributes grouped into 3 categories: 1. system's functionality - correctness - reliability - efficiency - access' protection - usability
ductivity and quality; relieving administrative staff of routine gives them more opportunity to dedicate time to individual non-routine cases and customer service. And digitizing tasks can improve management information.”
2. system's development - maintenance - flexibility - testability 3. system's universality - portability - reusability - interoperability 3. An Australian approach
The Australian Government has elaborated a special "Demand and Assessment Methodology" for better government services. It is based on the following criteria divided into "two sides of the medal"12. The first side is "demand", second is "value". Both sides are confronted in the process of evaluation. This way of assessment is used in Australia to select project(s) concerning administra-tional online services, which should be sponsored and supported by an adequate governmental agency.
DEMAND VALUE
Sources of demand
-Identify triggers of demand Demand context
-Identification of the target audience/users -How to stimulate, influence and create demand? -The impact of delivery channels
-The value or utility of the service to the target impediments
Measurement -Gauging demand
-Capturing the anticipated demand data Demand Scope
-What does this demand mean?
-What e-government service delivery is needed to satisfy demand?
-Is there a decision to proceed? -How to continually review demand?
Community benefits
-Improved service delivery (availability 24/7; seam-less access; flexible access; equitable access) -Reduced costs to users (time & effort, price of ser-vice)
-Improved business and work opportunities (im-proved processes; reduced cost of servicing) -Increased community skills and knowledge (intui-tive, easy to find information)
-More accessible government (policy familiarity; more transparency)
Agency benefits:
-Reduction in costs, lower cost channels of commu-nication
-Increased resource efficiency
-Increased revenues from new and increased use of existing, chargeable services
4. An approach based on information's attributes
Finally, I would like to present my personal view concerning information systems' evaluation. My idea of evaluation is based on a foundation that the information system is as good as good is information, which by the given system is providing. So, one may say, that in my approach, the quality of information systems is up to the quality of information, which is provided by them. As regards the quality of information - it is defined by attributes describing it. Those attributes are grouped into two categories: formal and essential - as it was shown below.
FORMAL ATTRIBUTES ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTES -Synthesis -Lengthiness -Redundancy -Capacity -Synonymous -Clearness -Comparative -Time-consuming -Accurateness -Flexibility -Accessibility Relating to content -Sensibility -Usefulness -Advisability -Quantity -Completeness -Prospective -Retrospective Relating to time -Topicality -Rapidity -Age Relating to objectivity -Truthfulness -Reliability -Credibility -Faithfulness -Compactness
-Originality (not repeated)
In order to use the criteria listed above for information systems' evaluation - it is necessary to be-come complete them by two additional: costs and users' preferences.
5. Conclusions
The problem of an adequate methodology for the PICTURE's tool evaluation is still open. It requires further considerations and discussion. The paper was just a starting point in this matter.
Bibliography
1. Czerwiski j. “Decision Support Systems in enterprise management”, TNOIK, Toru-Gdask, 2002
2. Demand and Value Assessment Methodology - Australian Government, Canberra 2004 3. How is Europe Progressing? Report of the 6th Measurement June 2006
MARIAN NIED WIEDZISKI e-mail: mariann@uni.lodz.pl
Katedra Informatyki Ekonomicznej UŁ
