Governo Electrónico - Universidade do Minho

x Abstract
the relative importance of the forces, the type of influence that is exerted by each force and the
interdependences between the forces, in this manner contributing with new perspectives to the maturity of
Public Administration information systems interoperability body of knowledge.
The inquiry was inspired by the ideas and principles of Kurt Lewin’s Field Theory, and the data
generation process was organized and structured in two main phases.
The first phase consisted in a Delphi study, whose goal was to diagnose the forces acting in the
process of interoperability implementation between information systems in Public Administration. This study
was composed of three rounds of questionnaires supported by a Web application, directed to a panel of 45
experts, from Public Administration, companies and academy with involvement and experience in initiatives
that aim at the interoperability between information systems in Public Administration. The first round of this
study was initiated with a predefined list of 28 items that were previously derived from a process of literature
review.
The second phase consisted of 30 unstructured face-to-face interviews that were recorded and
subsequently transcribed. The goal for conducting the interviews was to collect a data set that would allow a
deeper understanding of the complexity ingrained in the interoperability implementation between information
systems in Public Administration, as well as the identification of potential forms of action with a view to
conveniently manage the effects caused by these forces on the phenomenon under study.
The results produced in these two phases allowed to reach a more complete, articulated and
integrated knowledge of the complex of forces acting in the process of interoperability implementation
between information systems in Public Administration. Based on the accumulated knowledge, it is proposed a
framework that clarifies and characterizes the complex of acting forces in that process and that presents a set
of practical recommendations that aim at contributing to the global improvement of the management of
interoperability implementation process between information systems in Public Administration.