E-Governance And Its It Alignment

Executive Summary:

Information and communication technologies have a valuable potential to help meet good governance goals in India. This paper looks into the relationship and application of Information Technology in Government and its benefits. Further two Strategic Alignment models are applied to the governance mechanism to understand its relation with IT. It is followed by the E governance structure of India and to understand it better a detailed study on a project named "FRIENDS" is included. The study analyses how the project is benefiting people, its enablers and constraints. Finally the paper concludes with recommendations.

Key words: E governance, Strategic alignment and maturity, FRIENDS Project

Table of Contents: Page No:

Introduction 3

Information technology as a facilitator of Governance 3

Definition of E Governance 3

Fields of Implementation of E Governance 4

Importance and Benefits of E Governance 5

Application of Strategic Alignment Model 6

Alignment model for E Governance 8

Applying Strategic Alignment maturity model 10

E Governance in India 12

FRIENDS Project in Kerala 13

Recommendations 19

References 20

Introduction:

An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decision making, coordination, and control in an organization. In addition to supporting decision making, coordination, and control, information systems may also help people or organisations analyze problems, visualize complex subjects, and create new products. (Laudon & Laudon 1995, p.7)

Information Technology as a facilitator of Governance:

Governance refers to the practice of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of a country's affairs, including citizens' articulation of their interests and exercise of their legal rights and obligations. In an era where most governments swear by the name of good governance, it is highly imperative to know that the two most important foundations for good governance are transparency and efficiency. The government to e-government transition process offers governments a unique opportunity to enhance not only their operational transparency, clarity of purpose and responsiveness to citizens but also their own internal efficiency and effectiveness, important concerns in times of economic downturn and increasing public pressure for internal accountability. (Marche and McNiven, 2003)

Definition of e-Governance

"E-governance is the application of information & communication technologies to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of informational & transactional exchanges with in government, between government & government agencies of National, State, Municipal & Local levels, citizen & businesses, and to empower citizens through access & use of information."(National Informatics Centre n.d)

Thus E-governance may be understood as the performance of this governance via the electronic medium in order to facilitate an efficient, speedy and transparent process of disseminating information to the public, and other agencies, and for performing government administration activities. Its objective is to engage, enable and empower the citizen. Other benefits of e-Governance are faster decision making, reduction of duplication of work, detection of corruption and illegal transactions, prevention of knowledge drain and crisis handling. E-Governance brings urban and rural together and breaks the barrier of distance to lead an efficient administration. (Bhatt, 2006). It also gives citizens easy access to tangible benefits, through simple applications such as online form filling, bill sourcing and payments, or complex applications like distance education and tele-medicine.

Fields of implementation of E-governance:

Figure 1

* E-administration- refers to improving of government processes and of the internal workings of the public sector with new IT-executed information processes.

* E-services- refers to improved delivery of public services to citizens. Some examples of interactive services are: requests for public documents, requests for legal documents and certificates, issuing permits and licenses.

* E-democracy- implies greater and more active citizen participation and involvement enabled by IT in the decision-making process

Importance and Benefits of E-governance

The purpose of implementing e-governance is to enhance good governance. The recent advances in communication technologies and the Internet provide opportunities to transform the relationship between governments and citizens in a new way, thus contributing to the achievement of good governance goals. The use of information technology can increase the broad involvement of citizens, society and others in the process of governance at all levels by providing the possibility of on-line discussion groups and by enhancing the rapid development and effectiveness of pressure groups. Advantages for the government involve that the government may provide better service in terms of time, making governance more efficient and more effective. In addition, the transaction costs can be lowered and government services become more accessible by giving the citizens a greater choice, faster delivery and improved efficiency. (Microsoft