A Process Model for Public Sector It Management to Answer the Needs of Digital Transformation

While organizations get prepared for digitalization, so must their IT departments. This means they have to increase their agility to respond to varying requests from different groups of users, increase infrastructure flexibility, and improve the utilization of the current resources. To answer these needs, traditional approaches and modes of IT management are often insufficient. We consequently propose a process model for public sector IT departments so that they can adjust their operations as a response to digitalization efforts, for example, smart cities and digital transformation. Our focus is especially on improving the IT development process within the organization, i.e., how the IT department can better respond to the needs of business units. Our findings show that the adjustments require changes both in management and daily operations. Moreover, changes should not be done only internally within the IT department, but also the whole organization should be involved

Navigating Enterprise Architecture (EA) Definition: A Story of EA Adoption in a Public Sector Organization

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a strategic approach to manage the digital transformation processes in large-scale organizations. Organizations aim at providing a holistic view of business, technology, and information by adopting EA. Although EA is now well established as a practical digital transformation facilitator, some organizations fail to achieve its benefits. Due to its diverse nature, a lack of shared understanding of EA is one highly cited challenge in its literature. Indeed, during the EA adoption, each actor tries to define EA in a way that fulfills her/his own interests. Therefore, there is a risk of failing to achieve the organizational holistic view in this condition. Through a case study in one large-scale public-sector organization in Norway, we illustrate how different EA stakeholders influence EA\u27s understanding. In addition, by adopting the organizational influence process theory, we explain the reason why EA failed in the studied case

Readiness assessment model in supporting enterprise architecture establishment for Malaysian public sector

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a strategic approach designed to align business strategy with ICT initiatives which has become part of the digital government transformation programme in most countries. The Malaysian Public Sector (MPS) has embraced EA as one of the pillars in their digital transformation initiative. However, findings from Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) in 2016 revealed that EA establishment in MPS is still at its infancy level due to the lack of EA readiness. Similarly, public sectors in other countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Oman are also struggling to resolve this issue. Until June 2020, only six (6) agencies in MPS have established EA compared to 25 agencies targeted by MAMPU. Thus, to address this issue, this research proposes an EA Readiness Assessment Model (EARAM) with the aim to assess readiness of MPS, support decision-making process, and plan strategies for EA establishment. This research has four (4) objectives. The first objective is the identification of EA readiness factors followed by the second objective which is the development of EARAM. The third objective is to validate the developed EARAM, while the fourth objective involved evaluation of EARAM. A sequential exploratory mixed method research design was employed to achieve these four (4) objectives. To achieve the first and second objectives, this research used a systematic review (SR) and interview with five (5) EA experts; while the third objective involved three rounds of modified Delphi technique with 13 EA experts. Finally, for the fourth objective, the researcher adopted a multiple case study method whereby three (3) agencies in MPS that are in the EA establishment stage were selected. The EARAM was formulated based on several inputs from SR, interview findings, as well as Information Technology and Information System (IT/IS) Readiness Maturity model. The overall results of three (3) cycles of Delphi technique yielded the conclusion that 45 statements of elements, factors and items in the questionnaires received high consensus of importance in which their Inter Quartile Range (IQR) is between zero (0), and one (1) and median is more than four (4). Results from the Delphi analysis validated four (4) major elements of EARAM, namely 1) Catalyst Enabler, 2) People, 3) Process and 4) Technology along with 14 factors and 45 items. The EA Readiness Assessment Tool (EARAT) is developed by incorporating EARAM validated elements and factors to provide practitioners with an automated tool to assess the EA readiness level of their organisation. The results of EARAT’s evaluation from three (3) agencies in MPS indicated a high level of agreement (with a median score of more than 4.00) that EARAT provides useful and quality information, supports decision making, as well as provides ease of use and user satisfaction to support EA establishment in MPS. In conclusion, this research contributed to the development of EARAM to assess readiness in MPS, supports decision-making process, and plan strategies for EA establishment. This research is also in line with EA Body of Knowledge (EABOK) related to the areas of Organisational Scope and Structure of EA, specifically focusing on the sub-areas of Organisational Need and Drivers

Data Infrastructures in the Public Sector: A Critical Research Agenda Rooted in Scandinavian IS Research

Extant Information Systems research emphasizes the strategic benefits of digitalization and value co-creation for business. Less is known, however, about the dynamics of how value is co-created in the digitalization of the public sector, where data infrastructures are increasingly adopted. We identify three core empirical challenges for value co-creation in the public sphere, corresponding to the following conceptual tenets: participation in infrastructuring processes, data curation, and data protection. We propose to draw on the Participatory Design tradition that permeates the Information Systems field in Scandinavia to critically harness the political meaning of value co-creation. Drawing on a two-year project on the design of data infrastructures in three areas of the public domain (environmental monitoring, healthcare, and smart cities), we contribute to Information Systems by proposing a research agenda consisting of three future directions for critical studies of value co-creation in data infrastructures in the public sector

The Corporation in an Age of Divisiveness

The debate around the public purpose of the corporation is not a new one. But it has flared up again recently due to widespread critique of deepening socio-economic inequality, corporate inequities regarding gender and race and the seeming inability of governments and businesses alike to adequately address the catastrophic impact of climate change. As the corporation holds a firmly established place in the universe of economic and financial affairs, it – like the markets in which it operates – is is typically depicted as a private affair. Any regulation of the corporation, thus, tends to be critiqued as an unjustified intervention into an economic sphere that should better be left to its own devices. This paper interrogates these claims against the historic evidence of corporate law’ and corporate theory’s trajectories throughout the twentieth century into the present. What this account teaches us is that the designation of ‘corporate purpose’ and our relation to it comes down to political choices. The reputational crisis of the corporation, then, is an opportunity for democratic deliberation and engagement

Data Curation as Governance Practice

Data governance is concerned with leveraging the potential value of data in data infrastructures. In IS research, data governance has developed as a management perspective, implying a narrow view of who makes decisions about the data in infrastructures. In contrast, we propose a data governance in practice view and focus on the day-to-day decisions of users working with the data. Drawing on an interpretive case study of three data infrastructures in the Norwegian public sector, we ask: How can we characterize data governance in practice? We find that the work of data curation is a fundamental element of data governance practice. Data emerge dynamically as assets, enfolding the involved users’ interests and contexts. We contribute to the IS literature in two ways. First, we characterize three main practices of data curation: achieving data quality, filtering the relevant data, and ensuring data protection. In so doing we foreground the role of the users as contributing to shaping data infrastructures. Second, we develop an analytical framework which specifies the unfolding of user involvement in data infrastructures-in-use and conceptualizes this work as emergent. Our contributions have implications for developing training support for users as data curators, and for the ethics of data managemen

E-Governance: Strategy for Mitigating Non-Inclusion of Citizens in Policy Making in Nigeria

The Nigerian federation that currently has 36 states structure adopted the Weberian Public Administrative system before now as an ideal way of running government, which was characterized with the traditional way of doing things without recourse to the deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Today e-governance is seen as a paradigm shift from the previous way of governance. Research has shown that, the adoption and implementation of e-governance is more likely to bring about effective service delivery, mitigate corruption and ultimately enhance citizens’ participation in governmental affairs. However, it has been argued that infrastructure such as regular electricity power and access to the Internet, in addition to a society with high rate of literacy level are required to effectively implement and realize the potentials of e-governance for improved delivery of services. Due to the difficulties currently experienced, developing nations need to adequately prepare for the implementation of e-governance on the platform of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Hence, this study seeks to examine whether the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the context of Nigeria would mitigate the hitherto non-inclusion of citizens in the formulation and implementation of government policies aimed at enhanced development. To achieve the objective of the study, data were sourced and analyzed majorly by examining government websites of 20 states in the Nigerian federation to ascertain if there are venues for citizens to interact with government in the area of policy making and feedback on government actions, as a way of promoting participatory governance. The study revealed that the adoption and implementation of e-governance in the country is yet to fully take place. This is due to lack of infrastructure, low level of literacy rate and government inability to provide the necessary infrastructure for e-governance to materialize. The paper therefore, recommends among others the need for the Federal Government to involve a sound and clear policy on how to go about the adoption and implementation of egovernance through deliberate effort at increasing budgetary allocation towards infrastructural development and mass education of citizens