Capacity
Building for eGovernment
Subhash Bhatnagar
As part of the Capacity Building Workshop under the Joint Economic Research
Program (JERP)
This session will focus on capacity building. Critical
tasks in implementing an e-government program at
the strategic as well as project implementation level
will be identified. Using the example of India, areas
where capacity is normally weak within the
Government, private sector and civil society will be
discussed. Different types of training and capacity
building initiatives for strengthening key roles in
eGovernment would be discussed. The need for
collaboration between Government and educational
institutions would be emphasized. A training program
designed for Chief Information Officers-a key role in
an eGovernment project will be discussed in detail.
Presentation Structure
• Critical Tasks in e-Government
• Why capacity building is important at the National
and Project level
• Building capacity for different tasks at a various
levels
• How is India building capacity for its National
Program on eGovernment
• Experience of a program for CIOs for the
Government of Andhra Pradesh by IIM Ahmedabad
Taken from Piyush Gupta
Ingredients for Readiness
• Hard Infrastructure: hardware, networks,
databases, telephone services,etc..
• Soft Infrastructure: policy and regulatory
environment, cyber laws, intellectual property
rights.
• Talents base: technological and management skills
within and outside Government-- from education to
attracting talent pool.
• Leadership: at the highest political and
administrative levels of economy.
• Societal Readiness: All of the above plus societal
acceptance and IT literacy and a service orientation
within the civil service.
Why Capacity Building?
• Nearly two- third of all eGovernment projects are considered
failures. Key reason is the lack of capacity to manage change.
e-government is more about government than about “e”
• The transformational nature and large scale of e-government
makes the task complex. Inadequate numbers of trained
personnel.
• People are trained in narrow fields: IT/IS and public
administration. Requires a multi-disciplinary approach,
coordination skills
• There is diversity in local laws, rules for transacting government
business. Need for overall direction, standardization and
consistency across initiatives require new skills.
• Capacity Building helps to maintain continuity of approach
despite changes of key incumbent officials.
Key eGovernment Tasks Need New
Skills
• Clarity in objective setting
• Need to ensure focus on client (citizens, business) needs
in service delivery
• Leveraging Private Partnership
• Need for Government Process Reengineering
• Standardization: implications for designing effective
integrated applications avoiding long-term costs
• Institutional mechanism for independent Impact
Assessment
• Project Management: project development & design, bid
process management, Contractual Frameworks, Service
Level Agreements, project monitoring.
Levels of Capacity
Leadership & Vision
• Policy Formulation
• Committing Resources
• Taking hard decisions
Program Development
• Preparing Roadmaps
• Prioritization
• Frameworks, Guidelines
Program Management
•
•
•
•
Project Development
Project Management
Monitoring Progress
Inter-agency Collaboration
Funds Management
Capacity Management
• Conceptualization
• Architecture
• Definition (RFP, SLA…)
• Bid Process Management
• Project Monitoring
• Quality Assurance
Training Programs for Different
Roles
• E-Gov Champions Programme: For political and administrative
heads of departments. Not concerned with project details, but
provide leadership and an enabling environment.
• Chief Information Officers: Comprehensive skills to implement
eGgovernment project from conceptualization to complete rollout.
• Chief Technology Officers: Advanced topics in security,
architecture, standards to supplement their skill set appropriately.
• Users of IT Systems in Government Departments: Trained
specifically on the application package as part of the project
implementation. Large numbers to be trained per project.
• External Users: Company Secretaries and Chartered Accountants
acting on behalf of companies.
• General IT Awareness and Training
Capacity Building: Role of
Different Institutions
Linkage
between
Process
Technical
Project
Citizen
E-Gov
Users
CTO
CIO Reinstitutions
to
Managemen
engineering
Champions
Innovation
Awareness
build various
t
capacities
holistically
Specialized
Institutions
NISG
Public
Administrati
on
IIPA
Effort within
Government to
harness the
available pool
of knowledge
E-Gov
Champions
CIO
Management
IIMs
Technology
& R&D
Labs
Users
Citizen
Awareness
Private IT
Training
NIIT,
Telecenters
Industry
Association
and Media
CTO
Technology
&
Management
IIITs
Process Reengineering
Technical
Innovation
Project
Management
Different Types of Training
Programs
Long duration in class residential
programs with practical work
Small number of specialists
Intensive interdisciplinary learning
CIOs, CTOs, Systems Analyst
eLearning with periodic face-to face
contact-with test for certification
Large number, middle level staff
Maintenance of SW/HW
Workshop and seminars
Agency Heads and eChampions
Study tours
CIOs for specific projects
Multi-country experienced sharing
Video Conference based workshops on
specific topics
eChampions and CIOs
Policy Makers
Hands-on skill development in specific
applications and software
Users and Operators
Break up of Activities Proposed in the
National eGovernment Program
Amounts in
Rs. 10 million
Capacity
Building-HRD &
Training
550 (4%)
TOTAL OUTLAY
12,400
Technical
Assistance
100 (1%)
Organization
Structures
100 (1%)
R&D
100(1%)
Awareness &
Assessment
280 (2%)
Core Projects
9,000 (73%)
Integrated
Services
300 (2%)
Support Infra
600 (5%)
Core
Infrastructure
1,200 (10%)
Core Policies
100 (1%)
Andhra Pradesh Program for Chief
Information Officers (CIO)
• Program designed by Indian Institute of management
Ahmedabad
• Six residential programs of 12 week duration have
trained 160 officers from 25 departments in the last 5
years. Participation from other states and countries
• Senior line officers with an aptitude for ICTs are
selected from different agencies
• Provides inputs (knowledge, attitudes and skills) to
transform participants into CIOs to lead large eGovernment projects from conceptualization to
implementation.
• CIOs have played significant leadership role in AP
eGovernment program and projects
CIO Program Develops Ability to:
• Understand the client perspective on delivery of the
service.
• Define project goals which are shared by political
leadership and employees.
• Define scale/scope of project to balance benefits and
costs
• Reengineer business processes; enact/revise regulations
for efficiency, transparency and reduced corruption.
• Procure cost-effective technology, and to acquire a variety
of skills for handling techno-commercial decisions.
• Interact meaningfully with agencies that are awarded
contracts.
CIO Program Develops Ability to:
• Design an optimal solution architecture by evaluating
different options.
• Estimate investments, operating expenses and economic
benefits.
• Develop a phased implementation plan with key tasks
and milestones. Monitor projects thru different phases of
life cycle.
• Appreciate the importance of managing organizational
change and acquire the skills for change management.
Put in place an organization for implementing change.
• Use political skills for inter-agency collaboration, a new
role for CIOs.
Build capacities to make
eGovernance a reality…
Thank you