A Local-State Government Spatial Data Sharing Partnership

Chapter 3 – Collaboration, Partnerships and the Government Environment
Prefontaine et al. (2000) proposed that critical success factors for collaboration need to be
examined across six dimensions as shown in Table 3.5. The authors suggest that success
cannot be adequately measured by a single outcome or factor.
Table 3.5 Critical success factors in collaboration for public service delivery (Prefontaine et al 2000)
Model Dimension Success Factors
Political, Social and Cultural
Environment
Institutional, Business and
Technological Environments
Partners Objectives and
Characteristics
History of alliances
Stability of government
Role and nature of institutions
Overall budgetary situation
Overarching government Policies
Policies, laws, regulation, procedures and standards;
Business factors including sector’s size, structure, delivery
systems; ITC environment including nature of infrastructure,
level, complexity, availability, security, accessibility,
maturity
Nature of objectives, sharing of risk and cost, shared
strategic development;
Characteristics of partners including structure, ability to
adapt, leadership, organisational strategies, past
experiences with collaboration, profile, technological
experience
The Collaborative Process Roles in initiation, clarity of goals, level of innovation, scope
of project, level of research, number of partners,
complementary natures, presence of champion, project
management, communication, support processes,
agreement termination processes, problem resolution
processes, climate of trust, risk management, power and
control
Collaborative Model or Mode Governance method,
Responsibilities and roles,
Management of the agreements,
Monitoring
Performance of the Collaboration Achievement of initial objectives, respect of agreement,
reciprocity and trust, new products emerged, overall partner
satisfaction, quality of service, innovation, service costs,
efficiency, quality
The dimensions described in Table 3.5 support the findings from other sources that the
context of the collaboration across areas such as government policies, stability of
government, ICT environment and regulation can have a strong influence on collaborative
outcomes. The collaborative process and performance management are also identified by
the authors as components of the overall model which deserve appropriate attention.
In examining the determinants of success in inter-organisational collaboration for natural
resource management, Dedekorkut (2004) correlated success from measurable outcome
criteria against possible success determinants. The outcome criteria included realisation
of goals, durability of the agreement, enhanced inter-organisational relations, satisfaction
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