icegov2012 proceedings

6 Management system and structure 8
7 Other resources 3
Total 35
The total gap of 35 indicates that there is a partial failure in the e-
Government project and the project may fail totally unless action
is taken to close design-reality gaps; see Table 1 for reference.
The largest gap is ‘management system and structure’ which is 8
followed by significant gaps in ‘staff and skill’ & ‘Objectives and
values’, both showing 7. The main reason for the large gaps in
these three dimensions was the lack of awareness about the
priority of such systems among the decision makers except the
champions. The transparency objective is also lacking because the
documents not scanned still require manual intervention, this in
turn has created a loophole for corruption. Installing scanners to
digitize the all process flows will further reduce the Design-
Reality and increase the project success. These are clear
indications for the fact that the project may still continue to be a
partial failure unless those gaps are closed. However, in our
discussion with the management they too have lately recognized
this gap. In relation to the ‘management system and structure’
dimension, we are also informed that a new ICT department has
been proposed and getting ready to implement. We were also
informed additional staff with appropriate skills will soon be
hired. A permanent position with clearly defined promotion scale
is also in the works. Reducing the gaps in these two areas will
significantly increases the project success rate.
The dimensions with the least Design-Reality gap are ‘process’
and ‘other resources’. The business process changes made prior to
the project launch became an opportunity and has made the
process gap low. The typical resistance often experienced during
business process change has already been done and implemented.
‘Other resources (cost and time)’ gap was low because of the
commitment from the project champion. Funding issues were not
constrained by bureaucratic red tape; instead the champion had
funded the project. The time commitment was also managed and
accomplished by the project champion. The role of the champion
played a critical role in materializing this project.
Given the overall rating of 35, the e-Government project may well
fail unless action is taken to close design-reality gaps. The main
actions needed are to reduce the largest design-reality gaps (i.e.
working on key issues such as Management system and structure,
objectives and values, and staffing and skill, and also availing
financial resources to cover the recurrent costs which resulted in
large design reality gap). The Diredawa city administration should
try to identify ways in each case to make design more like reality
and/or to make reality more like design.
Finally, the value of Design-Reality gap analysis model as a midimplementation
assessment tool for e-government projects is
worth mentioning. In this piece of work, we have found Design-
Reality gap analysis model as valuable tool in that it has
capability to show possible gaps during implementation which
actually need proper intervention from stakeholders and we have
noticed that the model can also serve as a mid-implementation
assessment tool for e-government projects as it can be
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longitudinally used at different points to see the progress in
closing identified gaps in the process of implementation as well as
post-implementation periods.
The current research concludes with highlighting the following
key findings and recommendations:
o Project champions: As revealed in the study, the most
critical factors that contributed to the success of the e-
Government implementation are exceptional
o
commitment from few influential decision makers to
overcome the barriers and challenges for change, the
alignment of the new systems with the Business Process
Reengineering initiative, and unreserved effort from
volunteers to support the change effort by the
government.
The e-Government project was not initially planned as a
solution in the overall reform effort by the city
administration. Rather it came to being at the end of the
comprehensive business process reengineering effort
when the administration noticed that the new business
processes cannot be put in place unless automation in
undertaken. This in turn shows that unless short term
and long term measures are taken in order to bridge the
observed gaps in all the ITPOSMO dimensions and
specifically the gaps in objectives and values; staffing
and skill as well as financial resource constraint; the
success and sustainability of these e-Government
applications will definitely be in trouble.
o Collaboration: Although not institutionalized, the effort
made by few top management members and IT
professionals in the capacity building bureau brought
difference and hence credited for the success. Hence,
the top management commitment takes the lion’s share
of the achievement attained at the end of the day.
o Staffing, Skills and structure: The IT professionals are
not recognized as permanent in the current
o
organizational structure and as a result they are working
in a temporary basis. This may disappoint the
professionals and force them look for better job and
salary elsewhere which in turn endanger the day to day
operation of the application put in place. It should be
underlined that the success of such initiatives depends
largely on human skills and capabilities. Hence,
education and training initiatives must be considered as
priority actions. Staff need to be trained to handle new
processes and activities; they have to be given
incentives to prevent the brain drain of skilled people;
and they need to feel part of the organization by
engaging in the decision making process. Planned and
continuous awareness creation effort through series of
workshops, events, seminars, and conferences is
required in the future to better create clear impression
about the benefits of the new system among all
stakeholders.
Continuous improvement: Evaluating such an effort
should not be one time activity rather it should be done
periodically in order to assure long term success of the
new system.