User talk:Dxuereb

Damian P. Xuereb (Malta) joined the Cabinet Committees Support Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister (Malta) in January 2005. He is a lead figure in a number of national projects including the Pensions Reform, National Budget, Information Security Strategy for Government and setting up of the Euro-Mediterranean Institute of Technology and Innovation.

Damian career includes MSU/MITTS Ltd, the Ministry for Justice & Local Government and the Ministry for the Industry, Investment & IT. He held, various executive positions including: Programme Management of the e-Government initiative, consultative roles to the Central Information Management Unit and Policy Management for ICT, with the responsibility of overseeing ICT Policy in the Maltese Government.

Damian, IT specialist by profession and Master’s graduate in business management, is internationally exposed and specialised on Internet technologies, organisational reform, vendor management and outsourcing. From an academic angle, Damian focuses on the management consulting industry, organisational behaviour and leadership.

A technological and social paradigm
The advent of the Internet has created a virtual world in which people collaborate, do business, share information and communicate. They also compete with one another and commit criminal offences. Not only from behind a desk but also to an increasing extent while on the move. The equipment with which we communicate or work is becoming smaller, compacter and more user-friendly. The digitalisation of the airwaves is creating greater scope for the efficient use of frequencies, and the convergence of existing infrastructures is also providing new opportunities. There is a need for increase in bandwidth and this need can be felt throughout the communication channels necessary to convey text, sound and images. Although the use of compression technology can limit the size of the messages, the increase in the volume of traffic is such that this has consequences for the infrastructure. This deems service providers to large-scale investments. The demand for more capacity, speed and diversity can to some extent be met by new technology such as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephony System) and WLL (Wireless Local Loop). The latter technology allows greater competition in telephony at local level since it is not necessary to lay new underground cables to individual users. UMTS brings the convergence between fixed and mobile telephony a step further because UMTS services are also available on fixed networks. The date of the definitive switch to mobile data communications is probably not far off. The new generation of mobile technology such as UMTS and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) enables users to e-mail, chat and surf the web from all possible locations. Another new feature is the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an item of equipment configured with software that ascertains the user’s needs based on his or her personal profile. This new technology will in future enable everyone to receive information tailored to his or her needs. It thus provides a pro-active response to wishes previously communicated. If this development continues, it will be important to know who is responsible for the exchange of personal data. It is becoming increasingly easy to be ‘connected’. As everything can be connected to everything else, a vast store of information is created which can be accessed in order to work more efficiently, take more informed decisions and communicate worldwide. At the core of all networks are microchips. The quantity and quality of these microchips is increasing at a tremendous rate. Indeed, the production of microchips has become so cheap because of the volume of demand. The number of chips in the world has already far outstripped the number of personal computers. As these microchips are becoming increasingly small, it will soon be possible to place them almost anywhere and to communicate with or through such appliances as refrigerators, magnetron ovens and wristwatches. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently revealed, for example, that communication through fabrics (chips in clothing and upholstery) will probably be quite normal in tomorrow’s world. The past ten years have seen the rapid creation of a virtual world, alongside the physical world, in which people can meet one another, communicate together, do their shopping, ask advice and develop plans. Up till now the virtual world has been regarded as a break with the physical world, which is why reference has always been made to the ICT ‘revolution’. However, the next stage of the information society is likely to take the form of an ICT evolution, in which the virtual world becomes an integral part of the physical world. The main medium for electronic communication and the exchange of information will then be everyday appliances such as refrigerators and coffee-making machines rather than dedicated equipment such as PCs. Societal developments Individualisation is possibly the word which best characterises the social developments that have taken place since the 1960s. In their contacts with government, citizens have come to make different demands. Sometimes they expressly wish to participate in and decide on policy that affects them. But in other cases they think it is sufficient to have the opportunity to vote in elections. Citizens are increasingly inclined to weigh the intensity of their involvement in the public domain against other activities. However, there are also other groups that are less politically aware or that explicitly decide they do not wish to take part. The borders not only of time and space but also of organisations are becoming blurred. Many people are constantly in contact with others and have machines that pass on messages if there is no one at home to answer a call. Never before has so much information of such different quality been available. Whether sources are reliable is, therefore, not always apparent. Human creativity is becoming ever more important, and many people have become knowledge workers. As a corollary, the borders between work and private life are becoming more indistinct: people work both at the office and at home or even on their way to and from work. People are constantly required to update their knowledge (continuing education), and this applies not just during their working life but even afterwards. Higher education for the elderly society should start flourishing, and if given importance, there will be long waiting lists for computer courses at libraries and adult education centres. Marketing is becoming increasingly well-targeted and much of the advertising material that comes through the letterbox is addressed personally to the recipient. More and more often the production process is geared to Just-In-Time (JIT) delivery. This means small quantities and a huge range of choice for consumers. ICT can make an important contribution to the quality of people’s existence. It has become possible to send e-mail messages containing images to relatives on the other side of the world. This has created a ‘timeless time’, in which society never seems to sleep. Much unpleasant and arduous work has been taken over by computers, although too little account is still taken of specific target groups such as the visually handicapped. Many people are no longer so easily impressed by experts, as they themselves go in search of more information or a second opinion. General practitioners, for example, are increasingly likely to have to deal with patients who have obtained information about their symptoms through the Internet. Recent decades have seen the disappearance of many of the cohesive forces in society that were formerly taken for granted. The Maltese society can no longer be divided into coherent categories by reference to religion or ideology. People are in search of their individual reference points, which are often no longer the same as those of their neighbours, colleagues or others in their immediate vicinity. The world has become a village in which the borders of time and space have ceased to exist. This world community is also prompting a counter-movement by people intent on retaining their own values. Regionalism is flourishing and the political links that existed until recently are sometimes vanishing. People are becoming more interested in their own culture and events in their own immediate living environment, as is evident from the interest in regional broadcasting organisations and free sheets distributed door to door. Individuals no longer join organisations as a matter of course. Many have become ‘shoppers’, sure that they will find what they want by looking around. For example, almost everyone believes that measures must be taken to deal with the greenhouse effect, but few would consider giving up their car. The decisions people take at micro level are not always consistent with the views they support at macro level. It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult to identify connections between events which are sometimes on a very large-scale and sometimes on a very small-scale. This creates even more uncertainty. It is difficult for people individually to go in search of reference points and to weigh the value of the available information. It is not as simple as reading a newspaper or watching a television programme whose values and status are known in advance. People are deluged with information from sources that they may not always know, and are obliged to take a critical stance to a much greater extent than in the past. People also receive information they may not want. The virtual borders may have opened up, but what is received is not always welcome. The norms and values that prevail in Malta are not valid throughout the world, and what is permitted here may not necessarily be legal elsewhere. And everywhere there are people in search of a quick profit and eager to exploit loopholes in legislation anywhere in the world. Investigating and securing convictions for criminal offences committed in cyberspace is extremely difficult. The same is true of collecting taxes on virtual transactions. Contemplation: Government and society It is not possible to determine what developments – societal or technological – have been the most crucial in the rise of the information society. In addition to ICT, the process of individualisation and also the uniting of cultures and internationalisation have played an important role. At present we only know that these developments have influenced and strengthened one another. The societal and technological developments are having a great impact on governance. The scope for action and the opportunities for exercising control are being redefined, and communication with society is taking place differently. In the past years much thought has been given to the consequences of ICT developments for government. Till just a few years ago the role of government was still limited to organising its position as large-scale user of information systems and telecom services in such a way that they encourage and point the way for the development of electronic superhighways. The e-Government initiative currently being taken up by government has given the opportunity to examine the role of the citizen as a customer of government services. This is being followed up by a number of sub initiatives under the e-Government programme. An organisation that lags behind is, after all, in no position to provide a good service. Finally, the Electronic Government programme explicitly focuses on measures designed to ensure that government operates more efficiently and effectively and in a more customer-centric way. Conceptualising and research are not at a standstill. A number of organisations at the behest of the Cabinet, are working on the strategic choices facing government in this information era. In the context of the programme, information is being gathered about possible social changes and their impact on government policy across the entire spectrum of government involvement. The (political) debate is being fuelled with the information from this programme. Several ministries are also taking part in the overall initiative. These initiatives can, together, provide a picture of the expected impact of ICT developments on the public sector. Despite all policy documents and research reports that have been published, it is only now that ideas on the new form of governance are starting to be formulated. No answer can be given to all questions yet. What, for example, is the significance of the rapid growth of the Internet for the relationships between government bodies and to relationships between such bodies and individuals and businesses? What is the position regarding the availability of government data for the private sector? Should the government set limits to ‘data mining’? And would this anyway be feasible in the long term? How can the economic benefits of technological advances be weighed against the possible ethical costs, for example in the health care and welfare sector? And, above all, what is the effect on government of the fact that it is increasingly often just one of the participants in a network and much less a party above other parties?

Common architecture in an e-Government
The principles for a common architecture in an e-Government

The rush is over

The rush for delivering e-Government is over. Now it’s a question of how much value we’re getting out of it. The concept is now known across the globe and proactive governments have done their utmost to toe the line of star governments. We have seen several governments launching numerous services on-line and numerous new methods introduced to leverage the introduction of new service delivery channels. We have also seen numerous IT organisations focusing on the three and four letter acronyms surrounding the on-line concept, and changing radically their business model from client/server based to web-based. And so have government’s customers to them.

Existing platforms

Now we are left with a number of systems working on-line, based on the concept of ‘webification’, hence, taking an existing internal government application and affixing a web page on the front and making it accessible to the government’s consumer. The approach works, but does not work well enough. In an effort to rush in the new era of electronic governance, we have forgotten the essential principles embedded in the vision and strategy laid down by the founders of the concept: seamless governance and efficiency gains. As it turns out that governments across the globe have invested large sums in the production of electronic services, without correct re-engineering of back offices and cost cutting. The idea of seamless government, and thus integration of government services on a vertical and horizontal plane is also still quite embryonic.

Judging reusability

Yet all governments admit a basic problem with establishing the two e-Government principles: funds and complexity. Meetings at all levels in planning stages are characterised by the phobia of disposing of an existing system and starting from a clean sheet. The reusability tag is often close to a myth for most operational frameworks designed for in-house and isolated use. Let’s face it: stand-alone and legacy systems are considered Pandora’s boxes when operating within routine parameters, let alone when working on the web, with unexpected levels of usage and round the clock schedules. And for the ones going Internet based, failure is not an option.

This leaves us with 2 options: rubbing salt into the wound or championing a new method.

The rest of the article will treat the latter option: the option of renewing and building a common architecture across government with the principles of seamless government and efficiency gains stemming from the roots.

Establishing strong principles

1. Leadership

The common architecture route is not easy. In fact no umbrella or big bang approach is easy. All agents of change complain of the massive resistance faced when driving a new concept, let alone when championing a new concept across government. Strong leadership is the principle to start off with. The avid support for a similar approach must be championed and made policy if necessary by the government’s movers and shakers, and thus, politicians. Setting common architectures on a national agenda will ensure the necessary feedback from all entities participating in an ICT programme.

2. Technical skills

Sound technical skills come next in line with leadership. Contrary to popular believe, programmes based on new technology are about the new technology and not only about people using it. Dreadfully long decision making and endless meetings re-iterating long solved issues are usually characterised by managers who have no clue about the technology principles lying at the foundations of electronic governance. If you’ve been shielding yourself with the ‘it’s not about the technology but about the people’ consider doing some training in ICT before it is too late.

Good technical consultancy in decision making process is as crucial as funds are. We’ve all heard consultants harping about ‘security breaches’ and ‘impossibility by design’. The only method of challenging them is by having strong technical consultants at your right hand. Involving techies at all levels could give an outcome much cheaper and easier than any business wiz could contemplate.

3. Business acumen

Techies are, on the other hand, rather fretful just like all creative people. Their thirst for technical perfection often leads them to miss the wood for the trees, often landing them in architectures of complexity beyond human comprehension. And often far from the scope of the initiative. The solution is simple: blend strong business acumen in the decision making process. The business foresight will help in keeping the techies with their feet to the ground and above all, within project parameters: time and budget. A few years of similar operation will return an expert team capable of delivering any objective set for them.

4. Support across the board

The strong leadership and competent policy team can now introduce change in government with its head held high. However no amount of pressure and know how will turn weeds into roses. Elements like excessive competitiveness and ambition could form a recipe for destruction, irrespective of the team’s good will. Ensure everyone gets good understanding of your objectives and supports the ‘Common’ concept before triggering off any development. Roping in the most influential personnel in participating departments and entities is the key for success. And if they still don’t buy in get the political support to back your decisions.

Building the foundations

5. Objective policy

Once the government’s objectives have been defined, policy level should kicks in strong. Principles must be endorsed in a policy which leaves room for improvement. Policy and standards should also give some lee way – as stated previously, common architecture is not easy, and neither is compliance. Cut off dates and deadlines are every leader’s nightmare and bending people’s backs till they break will not help achieving goals. Governments must stick to policy but retain an objective overview of the larger picture. All policies which are over policed tend to fail, given time. If they don’t, the organisation behind them will.

6. Centralisation of funds

Funds in government projects are never limitless, and usually hardly sufficient. The balance between quality and cost is often stretched beyond measurable means resulting in an overall negative feeling in the event of failure. The solution is simple: integrate government funds relating to common architecture and manage them through your policy holders. This approach will avoid duplication of effort and wasteful consumption of public funds. It also gives a better snapshot of the cash flow at any given point during the implementation of a programme.

The technical side

7. High speed networks

The trick behind every successful relationship is communication. This also applies in the case of dissimilar systems within a government. A high speed network between all entities participating in a common architecture will serve as the backbone of a reliable service and efficient service. The cost of networking has plummeted in the recent years and availability of expertise is not an issue any longer. Remember to plan traffic and capacitate bandwidth in direct relation. Always cater for burst traffic: peak seasons and problem areas tend to be infrastructural killers, shaming some of the most ambitious initiatives.

8. Data vaults and unique identifiers

Plan what kind of data you’ll be storing, and draw up a single data architecture which all participating entities must unanimously comply to. The advantages are massive: Database sizes can easily be calculated across the board; everyone knows what data values or structures need to be catered for; the need of spooky meta-data layers is virtually eliminated.

Above all use a unique identifier between all records in all systems participating in the common architecture. A social security number, ID card number or passport number is an excellent choice. Even better would be a specific number generated for the single purpose of tracking person records across systems, irrespective of any changes in status or existing identification numbers. This process will embrace strongly the identification and authorisation of an individual for the use of electronic services, where authentication is required.

9. Integrated processing and storage

Go for centralised hardware. The trend of the mid-nineties was to go for one small server for every new application. No wonder governments own so many servers now! This is a nightmare scenario in terms of cost of ownership. The solution is a larger server with multiple operating systems working on the same machine. However, it is not advisable to go for the largest and most expensive box available: replacement a couple of years from now could mean a painful exercise in proving the need for it.

Also bear in mind the growth of your data. Successful e-services have a nasty habit of growing exponentially, leaving everyone wondering why the monstrous server (nicknamed named ‘Zeus’ by the techies) needs a twin brother to keep him on his feet.

10. Reusable components

Opt for centralised services. Authentication services, payment mechanisms, personal data, images and other re-usable components should be developed singularly and re-used across government. The reason is simple: they are very complex in logic and thus expensive to build. Secondly, governments must passionately champion the use of common practice, to eradicate duplication of effort in developing electronic services and, more importantly, reduce overall costs and in turn, saving the tax payer’s money.

Monitoring

12. Centralised administration

Technical administration is not cheap, and resources are never infinite. Keep the administration of a centralised architecture consolidated. One well-empowered team will operate better than a number of system administrators spread across government. The cost of setting up a couple of large data centres will turn out to be cheaper than a multitude of smaller ones. This also ensures cost savings and reduced points of failure in terms of networking. However this principle could be considered as putting all your eggs in one basket…

13. Resiliency

And this is where resiliency comes in. Always cater for issues by setting an automatic failover. A covert secondary data centre with an exact replica of the primary centre is a must. A tertiary is a blessing. Access to data centres must be restricted to the bare minimum both in physical and in logical terms. New methods of mass back-ups provide the added security a government will need in the drive for efficiency gains and cost benefits.

14. Setting the alarms

Reliable audit trailing and process monitoring should be set as an integral part of any administration function. Good system design at the inception level should be complimented by the participation for administration experts throughout the planning cycle. This method will give administrators the necessary foresight to observe the overall architectural performance at a glance and categorise problems scientifically. The flag should be raised in any situation: a common architecture means uptime is more critical in view of the multitude of players participating and the credibility of the systems it hosts.

Improvement

15. Planning ahead

Never say stop. Governments and economies are constantly in transition and thus any architecture, flawless as it may seem must be flexible enough for change and growth. Constant analysis of technology trends, political objectives and usage statistics are the key to positively identify the right route to follow.

16. Re-engineering or re-inventing

However well planned, and well mapped your strategy, always leave a contingency in case of error. The starting point of the article started with systems that never expected the Internet to revolutionise their modus operandi. Technology and politics are two factors which can never be quantified fully and tend to bring about upheavals and revolutions, so be ready to re-engineer or re-invent if necessary.