Defining an E-Government Interoperability Framework
For more than a decade, the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSARG) has deployed a standards-based approach to IT systems. These standards have been updated regularly to reflect changes in technologies and business requirements. However, the increasingly rapid pace of change over the last few years, along with the Government's commitment towards joined-up government and e-government initiatives presented an opportunity to review the entire technical architecture for the deployment of e-government systems.
The HKSARG approached Ovum to assist it in deciding which standards should be adopted to facilitate data exchange in 3 domains: Government to Government, Government to Business and Government to Citizen. Ovum was chosen because of its proven record in working with governments in devising information and communications technology strategies, and its independence.
To ensure that the project addressed all of the vital areas facilitating interoperability an Application Architecture was first produced which mapped out those interoperability areas for which standards were required. The Application Architecture also helped to define the context in which the standards would be deployed. Once these areas had been defined, Ovum's experts began identifying candidate standards for each interoperability area.
It was important for the standards to extend beyond government departments to encompass third parties, both businesses and citizens, which use technology to interact with government services. To ensure this was the case, Ovum's consultants were involved in a series of consultations with key government departments, industry representatives and major players across a wide range of industries.
As well as the domestic government, business and citizen considerations, it was also vital that the international context was carefully considered too so that cross-government interaction could be enabled. Ovum's consultants referred to the many lessons learned from a number of other government initiatives, including the UK's e-government interoperability framework (e-GIF), in order to understand best practice as well as the many pitfalls that could occur. A list of possible standards was researched and drawn up and then evaluated according to a number of criteria. These included product support in the local region, limitations of the product, maturity and forward outlook for the standards.
Shirley Brown, lead consultant on the project commented "It was important that we used a collaborative approach to this project so that the government were able to continue to review the standards implemented over time. In order to ensure that all the important areas were covered effectively, several of Ovum's analysts were involved in the project, including security experts, wireless specialists and analysts with an indepth understanding of software architectures".
Once the most appropriate standards had been established, Ovum's consultants held a series of meetings with both internal government participants and the industry players who had been instrumental in the planning stages. These presentations continued the collaborative approach of the project overall and were extremely successful in laying out the justifications for the standards chosen and explaining the processes used.
The ongoing nature of the Government's approach requires that standards need to be continuously reviewed to ensure that the Government remains up to date. With the expertise passed on by the collaborative approach used by the Ovum experts, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is now continuing this process internally.
For more information about how Ovum consultants can assist in technology selection, please contact Will Barrar, Consulting Director wxb@ovum.com
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