Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
administration (structural changes). In reaching these targets, there are used information and
communication technologies (Aichholzer, 1999). Possible interaction partners in the area of
Electronic Government are Government, Citizens/Customers, and Business (Muralt-Müller,
2000). In this chapter, we show current electronic government strategies of Australia,
Switzerland, and the European Union (EU), especially Austria, a country that is one of the
leading members within the EU in doing e-government. After stating governmental strategies,
an interesting aspect would be to evaluate the different national strategies and draw up a
ranking — European Union wide or worldwide. But, all members of the European Union (and
all other countries) deal in different ways with information technologies and electronic
government. It will not be wise to compare the national strategies and to rate them with points.
Therefore, there will be drawn up critical conditions for electronic government, like demand
orientation and other general conditions, followed by a short comparative view of the
mentioned strategies and portals in the field of electronic government according to the
relevant criterions. In the following section, guidelines for implementing electronic govern-
ment incentives will be provided. An implementation concept was developed, addressed to
all responsible for e-government issues within administration, including organizational,
technical, and legal aspects. The guide can be seen as a metamodel for implementing e-
government that has to be adjusted to specific circumstances. All general necessary phases
within the implementation process will be shown. Attention is turned on the consideration
of administrative targets, the evaluation of critical criteria for online services, and a
classification scheme for evaluating online services.
STATE OF THE ART
Australia — A Pioneer in Electronic Government
Australia can be seen as a pioneer in electronic government. In the early 1990s, Australia
already had a clear electronic government vision and began to develop its own strategies for
doing e-government. Today, the administrative authorities of Australia — both at govern-
ment top level and at the level of states and territories — can be seen as leading in the area
of e-government. In the following, governmental initiatives for implementing e-government
and e-government initiatives of selected states or territories will be shown. The Australian
activities of e-government can be found in all possible areas: information, interaction, and
transaction. In 1994, different strategies were published for doing e-government, followed
by the formation of several governmental councils and departments. The purpose of forming
several national institutions was to create conditions and to be able to take steps in enabling
the administration and its customers (citizens and business) to participate in the worldwide
development of information technology. In 1998, the Business Entry Point (BEP) was
implemented as a portal for simplification of information procurement at the federal and
national levels. The Web appearance of authorities and departments were completed with
the Commonwealth Government Entry Point (FedGov), which contains all administrational
services.
The states and territories made efforts as well to be able to use the information and
communication technologies effectively. In this section, some national strategies in the area
of electronic government will be shown. Most strategies will not be comparable, because most
states set up different priorities.
