icegov2012 proceedings

technology (IT) projects by governments during the ten year
between 2000 and 2010; with the overall estimated failure rate of
60%, much of this investment will go to waste. This is a
disturbing fact, especially as developing countries have limited
resources at their disposal.
One way to avoid failure is to learn from successful projects
within the developing countries. If we find such a project that is
successful, then we should analyze why it was a success in order
to learn lessons for other Developing Country e-Gov projects.
Especially lessons learned from other low-income countries are
more relevant for this group and encourage South-to-South best
practice sharing. The e-Government system under consideration is
a partial failure. What we are actually asking in this paper is how
we can seek to steer projects that are partial failures from failure
to success just by assessing progress to date, and identifying
future action priorities to enable greater success.
The rationale for the study is, thus, to promote local best practices
while learning from strengths and mistakes of those initiatives so
far. Hence, the main objectives of this study are exploring the
factors critical to the success of the e-Government initiative;
identify the extent of success, and forward recommendations for
future action. In addition, we present the application of the
Design-Reality Gap model, a theoretical model that explains
success/failure of IT project implementation in low-income
countries, vis-à-vis e-Government project.
2. A CASE STUDY OF LAND
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
SYSTEM (LMIS)
The Ethiopian ICT Development Agency (EICTDA) is a
government body responsible to promote integration and
utilization of ICT in Ethiopia. The deputy director of the Agency
related to us one of an e-Government project in a city
municipality in one of the regional governments. This piece of
work is aimed at analyzing the project which is known as Land
Management Information System (LMIS). This system is
considered as a successful both by EICTDA and the Diredawa
city administration.
The Land Management Information System (LMIS) under
consideration was launched mid 2009 at Diredawa city
administration. Diredawa is located in eastern part of Ethiopia and
is one of the two city administrations directly reporting to the
Federal government of Ethiopia. The LMIS was initiated by the
ICT development bureau of the administration and outsourced in
an open bid to a local software developing company. The
application is aimed at managing the land-related information of
the city. It has taken about a year to implement the system. The
key stakeholders involved in the process of implementation were
the top management, the Capacity Building Bureau, and the ICT
staff in the city administration.
The new system manages and provides information related to
land(s) owned by residents. More specifically, it manages and
provides basic information about the land(s) including size (area
in sq. meter), zoning (such as commercial, residential, school, or
church), plan number, and file number (container number). It also
manages information on personal details (such as family
information – spouse, children), documents (scanned softcopy of
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each piece of paper that indicate different historical information in
the land owner’s file/container), and address (address for the
owner).
Current
Reality
Information
Technology
Processes
Objectives
and values
Staffing and
skills
Management systems
and structures
Other resources time
and money
Design proposal for
New eGov project
Information
Technology
Processes
Objectives
and values
Staffing and
skills
Management systems
and structures
Other resources time
and money
Figure 1. The ITPOSMO dimensions of e-
Government project design-reality gaps [5]
o Information - indicates the information used in the e-
Government application (comparing the information
o
requirements contained within the design of the e-
Government application vs. the information currently really
being used in the organization);
Technology – indicates the technology used in the agency
(comparing the requirements contained within the design of
the e-Government application vs. the real situation now);
o Process – indicates the work processes undertaken in the
agency (comparing the processes needed for successful
implementation of the e-Government application vs. the real
situation now);
o Objectives – indicates the objectives and values that key
stakeholders need for successful implementation of the e-
Government application vs. their current real objectives and
values;
o Staffing and Skill - indicate the staffing numbers and skill
levels/types required in/by the agency (comparing the
requirements for successful implementation of the e-
Government application vs. the real situation now);
o Management and Structure – indicate the management
systems and structures required in the agency (comparing the