Factors for success for local community e-government

Busso Grabow, Helmut Drüke, Christine Siegfried

Factors for success for local community e-government

1. E-government - reaction to the pressure of modernisation
2. The ten factors for success for local community e-government
    2.1 Guiding principles and strategy
    2.2 Organisation, project management and change management
    2.3 Applications
    2.4 Benefits and costs
    2.5 The right technology and organisation of the use of technology
    2.6 Competence, motivation and qualifications
    2.7 Creation of acceptance, marketing
    2.8 Cooperation and partnerships
    2.9 Sustainable securing of resources
    2.10 Legality
3. Success factors in practice

Notes
References

Abstract:
E-government is regarded as an important way to achieve customer-orientation, participation and greater effectiveness and efficiency in the administration and in local councils. But the long-term success of local community e-government is determined by far more factors than those which are often assumed. On-line applications and their benefits are only one aspect. One significant finding of Administration Science on e-government is that it is not the technology or the applications alone which are the key to successful e-government; In fact, there is a whole range of factors such as organisational measures, strategic procedures, qualifications, communication, partnerships, obtaining resources and much more. To underline the complexity of these factors, a model was developed in the accompanying research of MEDIAKomm which draws together ten factors for success with more than 50 individual sub-factors which must be taken into account in the design of virtual town halls. The conceptual components of the model have already been tested for their effectiveness in practice. It was shown that the concept can guide the local communities, enable them to carry out a structured self-assessment, correct the often narrow understanding of e-government and provide a matrix for external evaluations. For example, national and international studies on the basis of the concept described provide clear indications of both the strengths and the deficits of local e-government in Germany.

 

1. E-government - reaction to the pressure of modernisation

Local communities today are facing a greater dilemma than ever before. On the one hand they are faced with growing demands in view of the sometimes radical change in the business sector and society and the ever-faster march of technical progress. At the same time, the options for action are severely limited for most towns, cities and local communities due to the shortage of resources and the necessity of budget consolidation.

As a reaction to these factors, the modernisation of the administration is now one of the most important topics in nearly all municipalities. Numerous methods of "new public management"(1) are being discussed. Processes of administrative modernisation are currently in progress in almost every large municipality. In many respects, local communities are pioneers of the necessary processes of change in the public sector today; this is not yet true in every area, but it applies to many individual projects. Instruments such as budgeting, financial controlling or cost and budget accounting are used alongside modern information and communication technology (ITC), multimedia applications and Internet connections to support administrative action and political decision-making.

This means that local communities are currently faced with two simultaneous Herculean tasks: the extensive modernisation of the administration and the introduction and use of new ICT technology. Both processes are closely interlinked - or at least they should be - and provide each other with mutual support (2). "E-government", "interactive administration" and the "virtual town hall" are common terms which describe this dual process of modernisation.

The potential of the new technologies and media is used to fulfil local community tasks more efficiently and effectively and to achieve a new quality of citizen and customer-orientation. In addition, there are new or extended local community tasks in areas such as the telecommunication infrastructure and the introduction of local "virtual market places", although some of these tasks must be subjected to critical review in relation to the level of economic activity of the local communities and the principle of subsidiarity. Current discussion also focuses on the extent to which local communities must ensure access to basic information (3) and whether they have the task of creating equal access for all as fully as possible and providing competence in order to avoid the risk of creating a two-class society or a "digital divide" into the "information poor" and the "information rich".

Three major areas for action are thus closely interlinked:

• The use of ICT in the administration itself,
• The "interactive administration" or the virtual town hall, i.e. ICT-assisted administrative action in relationships between the administration on the one hand and the citizens and business companies on the other hand,
• ITC support in carrying out municipal tasks across the board, i.e. in areas such as urban planning, traffic, environment, business and job promotion, the network infrastructure (Grabow 2001), culture, education and social affairs.

The term "e-government" is used today for all of these areas. But so far, the definition of this artificial word has been very "fuzzy". Therefore clarification is needed in two questions: How can e-government be defined? And what are the success factors for local e-government?

At least among experts, a comprehensive understanding of e-government is beginning to be accepted. According to this view, e-government includes all aspects of government and administration (public policy formation, decision-making, creation and provision of services, public participation) insofar as they can be supported and enhanced by the use of information and communication technology.(4) The definition also goes far beyond the common narrow interpretation of the term as merely a municipal portal. But all too frequently, local e-government is still equated with the provision of on-line services such as the provision of forms via the Internet, participation via local community portals or the availability of electronic interaction and transaction services.

But from a management and process perspective, it has been shown that far more factors are necessary for the long-term success of local e-government. On-line applications and their benefits are only one aspect. In fact, a whole range of factors are important: organisational measures, strategic action, qualifications, communication, securing resources and much more.

To bring order into this complexity so that it can be applied in practice by local communities the German Institute of Urban Affairs, in the framework of its accompanying research to MEDIA@Komm (5), developed a concept (6) which is now used by many interested parties and which brings together ten success factors and more than 50 sub-factors which must be taken into account when designing "virtual town halls" (Grabow et al, 2002). The following pages present the core statement on the factors and their individual sub-factors; more detailed information (questions and answers, recommendations for action, experience with MEDIA@Komm, examples from Germany and abroad, empirical results and further documents and links) can be found in the on-line guide to local e-government (Grabow etc. 2004).

 

2. The ten factors for success for local community e-government

 

2.1 Guiding principles and strategy

Guiding principles for local community e-government
Local community e-government is a comprehensive process of modernisation which needs guiding principles. The guiding principles and associated guidelines help everybody involved in e-government, both inside and outside the administration and politics, to find their bearings in the creation of the virtual town hall: "Guiding principles and strategic goals of the public authority are therefore the cornerstones of successful modernisation." (Hill 2001: 4) The "Guiding principles for local community e-government" must be the result of a process of discussion involving a large group of relevant stakeholders such as representatives of citizens' associations, chambers of trade and industry, business companies and social groups.

Strategy for local community e-government
The guiding principles are put into practice in the comprehensive strategy or masterplan for local community e-government. Without this strategic integration, e-government would be just a collection of uncoordinated individual projects. Before a strategy is defined, the starting position must be analysed. A suitable instrument for this purpose is the testing grid "E-government for local communities" (Grabow et al, 2002: 47 ff.).

Defining the strategy and exerting strategic control are the central tasks of the council and the political leadership. The top administrative management and any external experts are consulted for advice and in preparation for the final decisions. With the strategy, clear principles are defined for the operational control, and in the next step these principles are used to develop specific projects and activities.

Integration into other guiding principles and strategies of the municipality
The guiding principles and strategy for local community e-government must be adapted to fit in with the guiding principles of the municipality and other central local community guiding principles. Otherwise the "corporate identity" of a town, city, local community or district will not be really visible. Areas of special relevance for e-government are the overall guiding principles, e.g. the services provided by the local community, sustainable urban development and the guiding principles of administrative modernisation (e.g. citizen and customer orientation). The departmental guiding principles, e.g. the principle of the "compact city", must also be taken into account.

"Leadership from the top"
E-government must be the dealt with by the top leadership. This has a demonstrable effect on the success of the project. Leadership from the top means that the responsible persons at the managerial level must show a personal interest in advancing e-government. They should either exercise control over the process of modernisation themselves, or at least keep this control within their direct sphere of influence. The projects must be given active support. The guiding principle, strategy and activities must be communicated personally, both internally and externally. And last but not least, the top leadership of the local community can also play a trendsetting and pioneering role.

Political support
Political support for the introduction of local community e-government must also be assured. Without clear support by the council, the comprehensive modernisation project of local community e-government is doomed to failure. If any progress is made at all, this only leads to the implementation of isolated individual modernisation projects. The council members must therefore be included in the decision-making process at an early stage. The recommendation to include the council applies especially to the discussion about guidelines and overall strategy, not so much to motions on small-scale projects.

Setting priorities and long-term planning
The introduction of local e-government is a special challenge in view of the financial shortages of towns and cities. Priorities must therefore be set for normative control (guiding principles), strategic control (overall strategy) and operational control (project organisation). To maintain internal and external credibility and harness the potential of e-government, the priorities in these three areas of control must be coordinated. As part of the long-term planning, the priorities are then reviewed after a certain time and adapted if appropriate.

 

2.2 Organisation, project management and change management

Project organisation
Local e-government projects must have their own project organisation and professional project management.It is possible to delegate some of the tasks and services to external local institutions, mixed public-private enterprises or private companies. There are different organisational forms for local e-government (working groups, coordinating departments, matrix organisation, task forces, partial outsourcing). Here, the decision depends largely on project experience and the predominant organisation in the location - there is no "best" model.

Combination with administrative reform
There is automatically a close link between local e-government as a comprehensive modernisation project and administrative reform (Hagen 2001: 273; Hill 2002). E-government gives strong extra impetus to administrative reform. The goals of improving customer orientation, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative activities, optimising citizen participation and financial control of activities also play a prominent role in e-government. The close link between administrative reform and e-government can also be assured in the way the goals, strategy and plans of action are formulated in central planning, coordination and result monitoring. Some characteristics of administrative reform, such as decentralised responsibility for resources, must also be reviewed to ascertain how they can be adapted to the requirements of local e-government.

Re-engineering of the procedural organisation, transaction process analysis and optimisation
The new ICT technology offers the opportunity to provide services for citizens and for the administration itself faster, better and more efficiently. If procedures need to be designed from the customer's point of view (and at the same time simplified from the point of view of the administration), processes must be re-engineered and the administration must learn to think in terms of products and processes. Process analysis and optimisation are carried out in several steps. Staff resources must be planned and the personnel must be released for the duration of the project.

Re-engineering of the structural organisation
If business processes are analysed and optimised for transfer to electronic format before the on-line services are created, it is important to consider at the same time whether the structural organisation needs to be re-engineered. This leads to a re-examination of the areas of responsibility in the distribution of tasks between the organisational units und the distribution and definition of roles in the hierarchy.

Organisation of cooperation
When local e-government is introduced, this leads to a new differentiation in the internal division of labour and the cooperation with external participants. The restructuring of business processes means that tasks are redistributed between the departments of one or more public authorities. This highlights the question of how the cooperation is organised. Therefore it is important that the responsibilities are defined at an early stage and that the control of cooperations is exercised systematically throughout the process.

Evaluation and monitoring of results
Evaluation is an indispensable instrument to ensure continuity and the effective and timely implementation of local e-government projects. The results are monitored to assess the extent to which the targets are achieved. Both instruments contribute to the success of the work on the project. Over and above the direct project work, the "measurement data" can be evaluated as information in the learning process within the administration. Evaluation is carried on parallel to the project work for the whole of its "life cycle".

 

2.3 Applications

The applications used for local e-government can be sorted by the functions of information, communication and transactions. The functions for integration and participation cut across these categories. In each of these areas there are two dimensions the internal dimension within the administration and the external dimension for the customers.

The range of services offered is guided by the range of life in the local community. When designing on-line services, care must be taken to ensure that they are up to date, reflect the diversity of local community life and comply with the requirements for barrier-free access. They must be clearly structured and easy to navigate, and they should appeal to different target groups according to their specific needs. They should always be oriented towards the life situations or interests of the users.

Information
The information that is provided to the "customers" of the municipality (citizens, business companies, visitors) covers the whole range of local community (and often regional) life. There are mandatory and optional components of information systems.(7) But information is also needed internally for the staff and management of the administration and the council members.So suitable knowledge management systems must be installed (staff portal, council information system).

Communication
The staff must be equipped with the necessary infrastructure such as e-mail and Internet access to enable them to handle electronic communication, otherwise it will not be possible to communicate with the administration. Structured, form-based communication between the "customers" and the administration makes administrative transactions without discontinuity of media easier than they are with "free" e-mail communication. Electronic structured communication plays an important role in local e-government, including internal communication and communication with other parties such as the council, the local political leadership and other public authorities.

Transactions
In transactions in local e-government, administrative services which lead to a decision or ruling with legal consequences between citizens, business companies or a public authority on the one hand and the local community on the other hand are implemented via the Internet. Such on-line services must be carried out in a secure and trustworthy manner. The question of which services are suitable for electronic processing must be decided on the basis of the economic, technical, organisational and legal circumstances in the locality (cf. "Benefits and costs", "The right technology", "Organisation" and "Legality").

Integration
Integrated e-government means that all processes within the administration are interlinked seamlessly and without discontinuity of media - whether the responsibility for the processes lies with the local communities, the central government or the federal states. The services are combined and the "customers" of the administration can present their concerns via different channels at any time, without worrying about which body is responsible. To achieve this, the organisational groundwork must be laid within the administration, distribution channels must be checked and the services of other public authorities must be integrated. In addition, the technical requirements must be fulfilled.

Participation
All forms of participation in e-government are made up of information and communication services, and sometimes transaction services. There is especially great potential in the provision of extensive knowledge, in direct communication with the responsible politicians and in interactive opinion forming, for example in public forums. Fundamentally, participation can be offered at two "levels":

• Internet-based forms of participation for which a legal framework is defined (e.g. zoning plans, referendums, public petitions, elections);
• Informal forms of participation (examples: urban development planning, opinion polls).

E-participation aims not only to monitor the quality of local community action, increase the acceptance of local politics and administration and promote citizen involvement. The local communities should provide the infrastructure for the corresponding forms of public participation - preferably as a joint solution.

 2.4 Benefits and costs

Cost-benefit considerations are a central aspect of the development of local e-government. From an overall economic point of view, the most important benefits of local e-government are rationalisation, increased value and improvements in the quality of daily life and the locality. These benefits can be multiplied by developing standards and joint solutions, applying them and taking over good solutions from elsewhere.

The greatest benefits of local e-government for the individual town, city or local community, its citizens and the local businesses lie in the reduction of bureaucracy, the increase in transparency and the improvement in access to information and knowledge. In the medium term, major gains in efficiency are also possible in the administration. The benefit is far more than just economic efficiency in the monetary sense.

Priorities must be defined for the selection of e-government applications and services. "Depending on their size and the structure of their tasks, municipal authorities offer an average of up to 3,500 services in approx. 160 - 200 processes, so the question of which services should be addressed first in the development of 'e-government' is important." (Deutscher Städtetag / Council of German Municipal Authorities 2002). In setting their priorities, they must strike a balance between the expectations of the "customers", the benefits and costs for the administration and political and strategic considerations.

Citizens
The benefit for the citizens is measured on the one hand by objective factors such as the time and travelling saved, and on the other hand by their subjective expectations.In this respect, the various user groups (young people, senior citizens, women etc.) sometimes have very different ideas. First of all, citizens mainly need services which are easy to deal with: information, forms and electronic services for the standard transactions (e.g. vehicle registration, applications for identity documents, registration and change of address).

Business companies
The benefits for business are also measured by both objective factors and subjective expectations. As with the citizens, there are considerable differences in the needs of the various user groups (small and medium-sized businesses, business start-ups, "power users", large companies etc.). Business companies also mainly need simple services (e.g. information from registers) and services which occur regularly; these mainly come under the responsibility of the central government and the federal states. The monetary benefit of local e-government is high for companies which are in frequent contact with public authorities.

Visitors
The importance of e-government applications and services for visitors depends largely on the role of the local community as a private or business tourist centre. Visitors mainly need good information which is comprehensive and up to date. Uncomplicated transaction procedures are important for bookings. The use of different languages is especially important in large cities. These services should primarily be offered by the responsible facilities - which are often outside the administration in the narrower sense.

Administration
There is no doubt that local e-government offers major benefits for the administration. But these benefits must always be set off against the costs; applications with a particularly positive cost-benefit ratio have priority from the point of view of the administration. Examples show that a fast return on investments is possible, particularly if transactions without discontinuity of media are systematically implemented - and especially for mass processes which are easy to implement in electronic form. The greatest savings can be achieved view by electronic procurement.

The administrative benefit is largely oriented towards financial savings and rationalisation, but it also takes into account "soft" factors such as improvements in internal communication or an increase in work satisfaction. Therefore, the benefits for the staff of the administration must be systematically analysed and taken into account.

Politics
The benefit of local e-government for the council is often thought to be too small - but the benefits for informed and communicative politics are considerable. The most important benefits are the improvement of the information base, increased efficiency in political work and greater intensity of communication with the administration and the citizens. Suitable instruments for this purpose include council information systems and expert systems which can summarise and supply information and knowledge, for example in relation to cost-based and performance-based accounting. The practical experience that has already been gained with chats and forums in external communication is positive.

 2.5 The right technology and organisation of the use of technology

Workplace design
At least in the larger municipalities, the PC and network infrastructure are now well developed. There are still some restrictions for specialised applications which require a high level of processing power. In the future, mobile devices will be increasingly used (handheld PCs, laptops with Internet connections). Concepts for the use of such systems must be developed as early as possible.

In some cases, the level of support provided by computer experts is not yet ideal, and the recommended guidelines for ergonomic hardware and software design are not always complied with. In some cases, access to e-mail and the Internet is still insufficient.

IT networking - hardware
The various internal systems must be progressively networked. At the same time the connection of the "customers" must be implemented (including the networking of the front office and back office). To achieve systematic networking, a "physical" network infrastructure must be created (networking of computers, servers, nodes and cables, network and interface management, connection to the Internet and other networks). Depending on the size of the local community and the spatial distribution of the locations, local area networks, municipal area networks or wide area networks may need to be set up (e.g. between the public authority sites in a rural district). All such networks must have sufficient capability, be separate from other networks such as the Internet, meet the highest security standards, have central and protected transition points to external networks, and they must include internal networking and integration of specific administrative applications.

Network-based software solutions
Network-based software solutions rely on physical networking and are a prerequisite for the networked operation of e-government. The software solutions in the virtual town hall include document management systems, systems to organise electronic workflows and systems for information and knowledge management. Encryption and time stamp services are also important. Content management systems (CMS) should be used to ensure distributed maintenance of the Intranet, Extranet and Internet. Effective cooperation between groups must be ensured by groupware solutions. The groupware should be combined with the Intranet as far as possible. The central Internet-based applications also include new systems for finance management financial controlling (e.g. for budget planning), especially in the transition from governmental accounting to booking and balance sheet preparation according to commercial bookkeeping rules (double-entry bookkeeping).

Core services and infrastructure
The backbone of e-government is the back office with its infrastructure. In addition to the physical network infrastructure and Internet-based software solutions, shared data are an indispensable basis for local e-government. This especially involves the databases and the representation of the spatial structure of the local community in the form of geographical information systems (GIS). A major decision on principle must also be made with regard to the platform on which the office systems, departmental processes, databases or GIS systems are used. The option of using the widespread operating systems and programs from Microsoft should be critically reviewed in the light of the shortage of local community finance and the security problems, and the alternative of using open source operating systems and programs should be given positive consideration.

Electronic signatures
Although many of the applications in local e-government can manage without signatures, written form is still a legal requirement for some tasks and business transactions between the administration and its "customers". The only permissible electronic substitute for the handwritten signature and the requirement of written form is the verified digital signature. The amount of technical and organisational work which arises for the local communities in designing a digital signature platform and dealing with electronic transactions is relatively high. The classical processing and signing structures must be integrated into an "electronic workflow", and a concept must be developed for the organisational use of electronic signatures (key management).

Technical platform⁽⁸⁾ 
The technical platforms of local e-government consist of hardware and software components which are used to implement and administer the information, communication and transaction services in e-government: electronic signatures (authentification), encryption services, provision of on-line forms (form servers), identification, electronic payment (payment servers), directory service, time stamp service, virtual postal service and much more. Advanced local e-government is not possible without the development of technical platforms. The technical platform must be based on the existing computer systems (IT) within the administration, but it is not a purely technical project because the creation of the technical platform must be accompanied by organisational and personnel measures.

Access
E-government is often associated only with the Internet as an access medium. But one of the major hallmarks of the virtual town hall is in fact the variety of possible forms of access (multi-channelling): the Internet, call centres, citizens' advice centres, kiosks, voice government, mobile access, TV access. Here, it is important to connect incoming communications with the ITC infrastructure Special access points should be created for groups which tend to be excluded (e.g. supported PCs in old people's homes and in connection with initiatives for the unemployed). In this connection, "barrier-free access" is also an important theme.

Standards⁽⁹⁾ 
The main hindrances in the spread of local e-government are the frequent lack of interoperability and problems in communication between different applications. The large number of application programs and partners for electronic communication increases the need for integration. Solutions which are not based on standards are inefficient both for the national economy and for the individual local community. Standards are thus a major requirement for the provision of efficient on-line services, for seamless electronic communication between local communities and their "customers" and between different public authorities. The aim is competition between good solutions and products which rely on consistent standards.

Security⁽¹⁰⁾ 
Secure and confidential communication and solutions which comply with data protection standards are necessary conditions for successful e-government and broad acceptance by the users. Various levels of security are needed. The provision of information alone, e.g. local tourist information, hardly needs to be protected or secured against unauthorised access, but transactions place far higher demands on security. This requires integrated security architectures, including all the necessary security components.

 

2.6 Competence, motivation and qualifications

The motivation and competence of the various groups of stakeholders is very important for the success of local e-government. To be successful, it is important that the measures to promote competence and greater qualifications are integrated into the comprehensive strategy of local e-government. The measures and instruments are used in different ways depending on the user group.

Further training should consist of a mixture of classical methods, such as frontal teaching in the form of seminars, and innovative methods, such as learning in working or leisure contexts, including the use of electronic forms of learning (blended learning).

Staff
Local e-government cannot be implemented without the expertise and active support of the staff. First of all, their ideas and information are needed. Secondly, it is important that they recognise and understand the fundamental changes which e-government brings for procedures, areas of responsibility, the content of the work and social demands. Motivation and training measures will be used to entice members of staff out of their role of passive involvement - which is "classical" for innovations - and make them into active participants. It is important that they acquire the ability and skill to use the new opportunities systematically and influence the general conditions in their own working environment. Providing and strengthening their social skills and media competence is the overall goal of all staff training and qualification activities.

Management
The managerial staff also need to acquire competence, qualifications and skills for local e-government. First of all, they need to extend their media competence so that they can handle the new programs and groupware services. Secondly, they must understand the applications and functions well enough to make decisions on the distribution of resources and tasks in their subject areas. Thirdly, the managerial staff must be competent in the use of control techniques (project management, financial controlling, evaluation and monitoring of results).

Council/administration
Council members take far-reaching decisions on local e-government. In particular, they decide on budgets and the duration of the relevant projects. To be able to make these decisions, they must be given a thorough understanding of the demands and risks of local e-government. Council members should be approached, motivated and trained as users of the relevant applications (council information systems and groupware applications) from the start of the local e-government project.

Users
It is important to motivate and train citizens and private business participants to enable them to use the services offered by local e-government. It is especially important to provide media competence, for example in leisure facilities at supervised support PCs, in old people's homes, youth centres, meeting places for citizens from abroad, adult education centres and libraries. Training courses for small and medium-sized companies should mainly be provided in cooperation with the chambers of commerce and industry.

 

2.7 Creation of acceptance, marketing

Internal communication
Internal communication means communicating the guiding principles, strategy and activities of local e-government to the staff, managerial staff, council and politicians, and discussing these subjects. The goal is to motivate all participants to support the virtual town hall and to promote its acceptance. The specific communication methods generally involve various instruments of communication - such as newsletters, staff surveys and staff working parties.

External communication
External communication needs to create acceptance for local e-government among citizens and business companies and to mobilise users. Like internal communication, this also needs a communication concept: the means of communication, measures and goals must be named.(11) This is generally the responsibility of the press and public relations departments in cooperation with the respective project managers for local e-government and the senior municipal leadership. It is helpful to bring in professional marketing competence. To ensure that the needs of all participants (municipality, business companies and citizens) are taken into account, all groups of users must be integrated into the communication process at an early stage.

 

2.8 Cooperation and partnerships

Cooperation with other public authorities
Local e-government can bring a noticeable improvement in the cooperation between public authorities. Especially solutions which span various levels (national government, federal states, local communities) offer great potential for increased efficiency. The range of subjects for such solutions is very broad - from transport and the environment to disaster prevention. A shared technical infrastructure (e.g. secure networks, e-government-platforms) is very useful for forms of communication and transactions between different public authorities.

Partnership with business companies
In local e-government, public-private partnerships can play a major role in helping to overcome knowledge deficits and offering relief to strained municipal budgets. They also provide greater efficiency and effectiveness, particularly because of the advantages they offer in time, quality and costs.

In addition to the classical forms such as private participation in public companies, three new models have arisen, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages: strategic partnerships, cooperative models and operator models. There are now a number of good guidelines (e.g. Bertelsmann Foundation et al 2003a, 2003b; Schellenberg 2003; Stapel-Schulz et al 2002; Ulrich 2003), so all local communities can form a good impression of the opportunities and problems of public-private partnerships.

Cooperation with associations and initiatives
Municipalities do not usually have the resources and innovative force to develop far-reaching and exemplary solutions or standards on their own. They therefore need to cooperate with associations and initiatives in specific subject areas, and possibly for a limited time. The legal forms and forms of cooperation are as varied as the content. Promising options include cooperation with regional initiatives to increase public participation, cooperation with business companies to promote businesses or town and city marketing. Another useful idea is for towns, cities and municipal associations to be integrated into wider information networks sponsored by the national government, the federal state or the national associations of municipalities (12).

Exchange with science and research
Finally, cooperation with the science and research community can also help to make local e-government successful. This is not only underlined by the fact that many of the first virtual town halls in Germany, for example in Bremen, came about at the initiative of experts at universities and other higher education institutions. Cooperation with science and research institutions can also lead to an advantage in knowledge, image gains and cost savings. In terms of the content, this involves technical and organisational concepts, and also questions of participation.

 

2.9 Sustainable securing of resources

Many individual e-government projects in local communities must be consolidated into a large overall framework in the next few years. This means that resources - in the form of budget funds, personnel and knowledge - must be secured in the long term.

Financing
Without long-term provision of the necessary funds, the overall project of local e-government with its sub-projects will progress beyond its initial stage. For a long time, the bulk of the funding will come from the local community budget. But efforts will also be needed to obtain additional finance. Funds from private sources which can be invested in areas such as public-private partnerships are relevant for some sub-projects or for specific tasks. In the medium term, savings can be achieved if local e-government is systematically implemented.

Personnel
Local e-government cannot be implemented without the expertise and active support of the staff. In the last resort, the staff with their ideas and suggestions are the backbone of all work that is done and all knowledge that is accumulated in the public administration. Methods such as staff training, far-reaching staff consultation and appropriate remuneration are among the ways to promote the loyalty of qualified staff. The central instrument is the staffing resources plan, which must be closely coordinated with the overall e-government strategy.

Knowledge
Knowledge quickly goes out of date, especially in information and communication technology. At the same time, the participants are increasingly under pressure to act. Against this background, the methodical treatment of knowledge and sources of knowledge is fundamentally important. The requirements for a sustainable preservation of knowledge as a resource particularly affect the area of organisation. But technical solutions are an important foundation for the modern knowledge management which is necessary.

 

2.10 Legality ⁽¹³⁾ 

Legal competence
Compliance with the legal provisions is a basic requirement for the successful implementation of local e-government. To guarantee this, legal expertise must be integrated into the planning and implementation of the virtual town hall. This can be achieved with internal legal experts or by consulting external legal experts at an early stage.

Changes in the law
The statutory regulations do not yet meet the requirements for virtual administration at all levels of the federal state and municipal law. For example, changes may be needed in formal requirements and the provisions for fees. The legal experts are therefore also needed to determine the need for changes in laws, statutes and by-laws.

Permissibility of portal services
The planners of the municipal Internet presentation are then faced with the question of what services the town or city is legally entitled to offer in its domain. The central criterion at the local community level consists of the so-called "business clauses" in the municipal regulations of the federal states. Here, it must be examined whether, and under what conditions, on-line services can be offered at all under the municipal regulations of the respective local community.

Safeguarding the municipal domain
The Internet portal of a local community is generally found under www.townname.de (or the name of the city/local community/rural district). The courts consistently confirm that local communities are legally entitled to these domain names and other top level domains such as www.townname.info.

Operating structure of the portal
Another major element of the overall strategy for the implementation of local e-government is the selection of a suitable organisational form for the operation of the Internet portal. Usually it is advisable for the portal to be operated independently or in cooperation with private partners. The legal issues associated with the choice of an organisational type are subject to the general conditions of company law and public procurement law, the municipal regulations and other special provisions of the respective federal state.

Use of private IT expertise
The use of private IT expertise must always be considered in the implementation of the virtual town hall, especially in view of the general budgetary principles of economic efficiency and savings. This can be achieved by individual contracts for IT services, extensive outsourcing or by establishing development partnerships for specific issues. The general principles of public procurement law must always be observed in the selection of private partners.

Compliance with general obligations for portal operation
The provision of information, communication and transaction services is subject to the general legal requirements of the German Inter-State Treaty on Media Services (MDStV), the German Tele Services Act (TDG) and the German Teleservices Data Protection Act (TDDSG). Under these statutes, the obligations of media and teleservices include the provision of legal and contact details concerning the provider of the website and compliance with data protection laws. The laws also contain provisions concerning liability, exemption from liability for third party content and special data protection requirements.

Legal provision of information services
On-line information services are fundamentally subject to the same requirements that apply in the "off-line-world": they must comply with the regulations governing public relations work by the state, the information presented must be objective, rational and transparent, and the content must be relevant to the town, city or local community. For on-line services, questions of liability for illegal content in hyperlinks and possible copyright, trademark or competition infringements arising from the integration of third party content must also be taken into account.

Legal provision of communication services
The provisions for electronic communication which have recently been added, or are due to be added, to the laws on administrative proceedings ("opening up access", provisions for failed electronic communication under § 3a of the national Act on Administrative Proceedings - Administrative Procedure Act/VwVfG) are of major importance for electronic communication between the administration and its "customers". But administrative procedural law still governs questions of access in terms of the general provisions. Another aspect of communication involves the provision of discussion and chat forums on local community portals. Here, a legal basis is particularly necessary in order to deal with "troublemakers" who use this public service. This can be achieved with clearly formulated conditions for use.

Legal provision of transaction services
On-line transactions without discontinuity of media are not only technically complex (as electronic administrative acts), the legal issues which must be taken into account are equally complex. The basic principle of freedom from formal requirements applies here, but § 3a II of the Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG) must be taken into account whenever there are special formal requirements for administrative acts. Whenever the law requires that documents must be issued in writing, electronic communication is generally only permissible if a verified electronic signature is used. According to § 37 sub-section 4 of the Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG), permanent verifiability of electronic signatures may also be required for an administrative act, and at present this is only possible with accredited electronic signatures. Questions of access, statements of reasons, electronic instructions on legal remedies and electronic confirmation of an electronic administrative act must also be considered. Provisions in these areas were also included in the revision of the Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG).

 

3. Success factors in practice

The benefits of the concept of success factors
The concept of success factors aims to fulfil the following purposes:

• To give guidance to local communities,
• To enable them to carry out a structured self-assessment,
• To make a decisive contribution to putting the discussion on a systematic basis,
• To correct the often all too limited understanding of e-government, and
• To provide a matrix for external evaluation.

The success factors are not all equal in importance. The success factors and their sub-factors have been assigned different priorities (Grabow 2002: p. 16f). These priorities offer a typical guideline, but each local community should review these priorities in the light of its own goals and guiding principles, and correct them if necessary.

The matrix of success factors can be used as a guide and a checklist. A deliberate decision was made not to make this matrix into a tool for "simple self-diagnosis" as a form of benchmarking or ranking of simple indicators. In our view, this would be inappropriate because of the complexity of the area and the different reference points and starting positions in every local community. We believe that reducing highly complex modernisation models and factual situations to simple indicators is not scientifically or academically responsible. In fact, simplified indicators or rankings could be confusing and counter-productive: The semblance of exactitude would all too easily - and wrongly - give subjective self-assessments a scientific or objective character.

The matrix enables the progress that has been achieved to be assessed qualitatively: Which factors are largely under control, which factors are partly under control, which ones are hardly or not at all under control, which areas are "explosive"? The respective "result" helps in decision-making on the introduction or further development of local e-government. In this sense, the success factors as a whole also constitute a guideline for e-government.

In our experience, the model is also suitable for a well-founded scientific outside assessment. The evaluation of the MEDIA@Komm project and the corresponding analysis in 26 other German municipalities and in comparable foreign municipalities were carried out according to this matrix. The findings of these studies form a basis for the successful further development of local e-government in Germany.

Monitoring in Germany⁽¹⁴⁾ 
The pioneers of local e-government in Germany generally have a solid political and technical foundation for the virtual town hall. In most cases, e-government in these municipalities has the following characteristics:

• Leadership from the top and active political support,
• Professionally organised and understood as a change management process,
• Based on a masterplan or an overall strategy,
• Based on technical platforms and infrastructure which have been developed in compliance with common standards, and
• User-oriented.

A specific contribution of the MEDIA@Komm regions - in keeping with the conditions of the subsidies - was that they focused specifically on testing secure and legally binding transactions. The subsidised municipalities tackled tasks (before the competition) which would have been difficult to manage without subsidies. In these regions the success factors "The right technology" and "Applications" are especially well developed. Even in an international comparison, the MEDIA@Komm municipalities are among the pioneers of secure and legally binding e-government.

International monitoring⁽¹⁵⁾ 
The methods adopted internationally to introduce local community e-government all have clear strengths and weaknesses. According to the present results, Germany is a country which can give in some areas, but must receive in others. it needs stimulus for project and change management, the integration and coordination of external partners, strategies to disseminate good practice examples to a large number of local communities, evaluation methods and qualification programmes.

But Germany can provide stimulus in areas such as solutions, products, experience and expertise, especially to ensure secure, legally binding and authenticated transactions using the verified electronic signature. The German competence in this area also includes the development of technical platforms for local community e-government, standardisation of specialist applications and interoperability.

The need for action and making up of ground
National and international studies provide clear indications of both the strengths (cf. above) and the deficits of local e-government in Germany. The areas in which the average of the local communities in Germany (not the pioneers) still shows the greatest deficits and lack of development are widely varied:

• The most serious "gap" is in the area of strategies. In most cases, e-government is still just a collection of different solutions, applications and services without any clear general concept and priorities.
• Project management is often not professional enough; this especially applies to control and financial controlling of projects.
• Often the opportunities for critical review of tasks and optimisation of processes are not used in advance of any changes. Direct transfer of bureaucratic processes into the electronic world are neither effective nor efficient.
• In the area of applications, services for improved public participation are still hard to find (e.g. compared with the widespread personalised vehicle registration service or dog tax!).
• The analysis of benefits and costs and the implementation of extended economic efficiency studies only take place in a few exceptional cases (16).
• The staff, and in some cases the managerial staff, are not involved sufficiently.
• There are hardly any training courses and personnel development concepts designed for the requirements of e-government.
• There are uncertainties in cooperation management with external participants, especially in public-private partnerships.

To overcome these weaknesses and deficits, it is important to learn from the pioneers - not only from MEDIA@Komm and national projects, but also from international best practice examples (17). In addition, local decision-makers must react to the need to achieve synergies by joint solutions and standardisation. If this is successfully achieved, e-government will really become a symbol of hope for a new type of municipality which is capable of action, citizen-oriented and business-oriented. ICT, the Internet and new media can make a decisive contribution to improving the quality of life and the location - but only if all parties remain aware of the benefits of e-government.

 

Notes

(1) First of all, the concept of new public management stands for all measures and recommendations which result from a new understanding of the roles, functions and working procedures of the public administration. There are two "strands" of discussion, the public choice approach which is based on market-oriented service structures or similar and the public management approach in which the main focus is largely on the organisational model of a private business organisation; cf. for example Budäus 1995. (back)

(2) Cf. also the article by Hill in this volume. (back)

(3) This concept refers to the idea of ensuring that all social groups and levels of society have equal access to the information that is relevant to them (Bütow/Floeting 1999: 26 f.). (back)

(4) This definition is based on the explanation of the term in the memorandum "Electronic Government" compiled by the Administrative Computer Science Committee of the Computer Science Society (GI) and the Information Technology Society (ITG) in the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE); cf. also http://mediakomm.difu.de/documents/memorandum.pdf. (back)

(5) In the three municipalities/regions of Bremen, Esslingen and the Nürnberg municipal association, numerous practical e-government solutions were implemented in order to establish virtual town halls and market places in the framework of the focus project MEDIA@Komm which was subsidised by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour (BMWA). The projects were implemented from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2003 and bring together the work of about 120 partners. Altogether, more than 65 million Euros were invested, of which almost 30 million came from subsidies from the Ministry (cf. mediakomm.difu.de). The German Institute of Urban Affairs was commissioned with the accompanying research together with three other partners from the areas of law, technology and standardisation (Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research, Technical Control Board for Information Technology and the German Standardisation Institute/DIN e.V.). (back)

(6) The concept known as the "The success model of local e-government" includes the latest insights from the project MEDIA@Komm (cf. footnote 5), the results of surveys, the long-standing experience of the authors and insights gained from the evaluation of specialist literature. The conceptual components of the model have already been tested for their effectiveness in practice in the framework of the accompanying research for MEDIA @Komm. Support was also provided by the MEDIA@Komm advisory council and numerous people involved in practical work in the local communities. They deserve our special thanks because their feedback helped us to apply the results especially to the practicalities of local community work. The colleagues from the other institutions involved in the accompanying research contributed insights from their respective specialist areas. This will be explicitly pointed out on the following pages. (back)

(7) Cf. http://www.mediakomm.difu.de/erfolgsmodell/index.php?m=,,1,277 [Aktuallisierter Link: http://mediakomm.difu.de/erfolgsmodell/, 27.01.2011] in the on-line guide (Grabow et al. 2004). (back)

(8) This section is based on the text by Berthold Weghaus (TÜViT) in the on-line guide to local e-government (Grabow etc. 2004). (back)

(9) This section is based on the text by Arnold Schulz (DIN) in the on-line guide to local e-government (Grabow et al, 2004). (back)

(10) This section is based on the text by Berthold Weghaus (TÜViT) in the on-line guide to local e-government (Grabow et al, 2004). (back)

(11) The ideal solution is to create an integrated communication concept which combines internal communication and external communication (Meffert 2000: 49). (back)

(12) For example, they could be active in the working groups of Deutschland Online. (back)

(13) This section is based on the text by Martin Eifert, Jan Ole Püschel and Claudia Stapel-Schulz (Hans Bredow Institute of Media Research) in the on-line guide to local e-government (Grabow et al 2004) and the abridged versions of the unpublished accompanying brochure. Cf. also the legal guide to e-government (Eifert et al 2003). (back)

(14) The comparison of the municipalities was carried out in the MEDIA@Komm accompanying research (cf. footnote 5). For details of the results, cf. Drüke 2003. (back)

(15) The international comparative study on the state of development and characteristics of local e-government was a sub-project in the MEDIA@Komm accompanying research (cf. footnote 5). The results of the study are presented in detail in Drüke 2004. (back)

(16) Cf. also the article by Engel in this volume. (back)

(17) Cf., for example, the large number of links under the category "In Germany and abroad" in the on-line guide to local e-government (http://mediakomm.difu.de/erfolgsmodell) (Grabow et al. 2004) and (Drüke 2004). (back)

 

References

 Bertelsmann-Stiftung/Clifford Chance Pünder/Initiative D21 (Hrsg.) (2003a), Public Private Partnership und E-Government, Gütersloh/Kassel. (back)

 Bertelsmann-Stiftung/Clifford Chance Pünder/Initiative D21 (Hrsg.) (2003b), Prozessleitfaden Public Private Partnership, Gütersloh/Kassel. (back)

 Budäus, Dietrich (1995), Probleme und neue Formen der Verwaltung von Metropolregionen, in: Diskussionsbeiträge Public Management, Nr. 19, Hamburg. (back)

 Bütow, Steffi/Floeting, Holger (1999), Elektronische Stadt- und Wirtschaftsinformationssysteme in deutschen Städten (Wissenschaft für die Praxis: Abteilung 2, Dokumentation, Band 6), Stuttgart. (back)

 Deutscher Städtetag (DST) (Hrsg.) (2002), eGovernment in den Städten, Teil II, Leitfaden, Köln. (back)

 Drüke, Helmut (2003), E-Government in Deutschland - Profile des virtuellen Rathauses (Arbeitspapiere aus der Begleitforschung zum Städtewettbewerb MEDIA@Komm, Nr. 8/2003), Berlin. (back)

 Drüke, Helmut (Hrsg.) (2004), Local Electronic Government. An International Comparison, London/New York. (back)

 Eifert, Martin/Püschel, Jan Ole/Stapel-Schulz, Claudia (2003), Rechtskonformes E-Government, Berlin/Hamburg. (back)

 Grabow, Busso (2001), Information, Kommunikation und Multimedia in den Städten. Teil II: Die Handlungsfelder Wirtschaft/Arbeit und Infrastruktur (Difu-Materialien 6/2000), Berlin. (back)

 Grabow, Busso, und andere (2002), Erfolgsfaktoren - Was bei der Gestaltung virtueller Rathäuser zu beachten ist, Berlin. (back)

 Grabow, Busso, und andere (2004), Erfolgsmodell Kommunales E-Government (nur online verfügbar), http://www.mediakomm.difu.de/erfolgsmodell [Aktuallisierter Link: http://mediakomm.difu.de/erfolgsmodell/, 27.01.2011] (back)

 Hagen, Martin (2001), Ein Referenzmodell für Online-Transaktionssysteme im Electronic Government, München/Mering. (back)

 Hill, Hermann (2001), Leitbilder und strategische Behördenziele. Vortrag bei der Preisverleihung zum niedersächsischen Wettbewerb "Innovative Behörde" am 18. April 2001 in Hannover, http://www.ofd.niedersachsen.de/functions/downloadObject/0,,c307066s20,00.pdf [Aktuallisierter Link: http://www.hfv-speyer.de/Hill/Publikationen/C307066_L20.pdf, 27.01.2011] (back)

 Hill, Hermann (2002), Electronic Government - Strategie zur Modernisierung von Staat und Verwaltung, in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte B 39-40/2002. (back)

 Meffert, Heribert (2000), Marketing, Wiesbaden. (back)

 Schellenberg, Martin (2003), Checklist zum Aufbau einer Public-Private-Partnership für das kommunale Internet-Portal, in: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (Hrsg.), E-Government meets E-Business, Tagungsband des 3. Fachkongresses MEDIA@Komm, Berlin, S. 139-141. (back)

 Stapel-Schulz, Claudia/Eifert, Martin/Siegfried, Christine (2002), Organisations- und Kooperationstypen kommunaler Internetauftritte (Arbeitspapiere aus der Begleitforschung zum Städtewettbewerb Multimedia MEDIA@Komm, Nr. 6/2002), Berlin, S. 10-34. (back)

 Ulrich, Horst (2003), Betreibermodelle für Public-Private-Partnerships - Erfahrungen aus der Praxis am Beispiel des Stadtinformationssystems Berlin.de, in: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (Hrsg.), E-Government meets E-Business, Tagungsband des 3. Fachkongresses MEDIA@Komm, Berlin, S. 143-153. (back)

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