Challenges in Delivering Cross-Agency Integrated e-Services: The OBLS Project

This case study describes how the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Infocomm Development Authority, as lead agencies, jointly initiated and managed the implementation of a one-stop business licensing portal called OBLS (Online Business Licensing Service, https://licenses.business.gov.sg/) in the Singapore public sector. While the mandate from the top for this strategic cross-agency project was strong, there were many hurdles in the form of people, process and technology that had to be overcome. The case study highlights these issues and challenges, and illustrates how they were successfully overcome for delivering cross-agency integrated e-Service for new business license application

Organizational Structure for Electronic Commerce: A Qualitative Investigation

Business model and technology seem to be the mantra for companies, especially dot.com start-ups, entering e-commerce. In the hurry to be quickly functional in the e-economy, many appear to be ignoring critical factors such as organizational structure. Only a few seem to recognize the need to examine if their structure and arrangements are appropriate for e-commerce. This paper examines the issue of organizational structure for e-commerce. It discusses the findings of a qualitative study of 10 e-commerce companies in Singapore. The research concludes that though the conventional functional structure appears to be also the current norm for e-commerce organizations, the appropriateness of the matrix structure for e-commerce has been recognized and companies are starting on this route

What’s Happening to Linux in Singapore?

This paper seeks to shed some light on the progress of Linux adoption in Singapore. The paper, based upon the opinions of industry experts and two case studies (the National Library Board of Singapore and Golden Village Multiplex Pte. Ltd), clarifies key Linuxadoption issues. It further discusses the pros and cons of Linux and the challenges facing this open source rival of Microsoft Windows. The paper concludes that while Linux is likely to co-exist with Windows, it is set to make some significant changes in future IT infrastructure

THE STATE AND STATUS OF INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

For more than a decade now, IS practitioners have been widely urged to invest in the development and maintenance of information architecture. However, it is unclear whether practitioners have experienced the benefits claimed for information architecture. To gain an insight into the usage of information architecture, a large-scale survey was conducted. This paper analyses the survey and discusses its findings. Information architecture, as an IS planning and implementation tool, is being developed and used in many medium to large organizations. The two core components of information architecture, application architecture and corporate data model, are both perceived to be useful but in differing ways. A corporate data model is considered as valuable for data administration, database design and integrated application development, but not for IS planning particularly in relation to senior management communication. On the other hand, application architecture is perceived to offer value for both integrated application development and IS planning. However, the architecture\u27s format and structure is often perceived to be too complex. The research concludes that information architecture is a useful IS planning and implementation tool, the effectiveness and value of which is dependent on the proper design and targeting of its components