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More recently various middleware solutions are emerging as the dominant approach to tech- nical integration in several countries, allowing a cooperative data exchange for the delivery of certain services (such as business services or taxation) or for providing increased quality services to citizens (services at stages 3 and 4) (Baldoni, Mecella, Contenti, & Termini, 2003;
Pappa et al., 2003; Riedl, 2001). However a middleware oriented approach limits somehow the flexibility of the proposed solution in terms of both its integration with heterogeneous systems and its evolution over time. In order to design a flexible and interoperable system capable of easily evolving over the time a model-driven approach for system conceptualiza- tion and formalization is necessary. A model-driven system design, which is implementation and technology independent, allows overcoming limits of technology oriented systems in terms of reusability, interoperability, and transferability across different contexts. Moreover as front-office and back-office components are the two faces of the same coin, issues of both quality service provision and administration interoperability have to be fulfilled in order to provide seamless services. In order to address all these requirements it is necessary to pro- vide an operating model of shared service, that is, a model of cooperative and open service sharing and information reuse between agencies. The concept of the e-government service marketplace aims at proposing a conceptual approach for defining an operating model of shared services which abstracts from implementation constraints and technological details hence easing flexibility, interoperability, and evolution over time.
The.Concept.of.E-Government...
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e-government service marketplace refers to an open and common virtual space for providing enhanced services to citizens which facilitates citizens’ interaction with administrations hiding from citizens public administration complexity and fragmentation (Figure 2). Citizens gain value from increased access and reduced delays, improved service delivery, and less interac- tion with intermediaries, while administrations can flexibly share services and information as they are not required to meet the same level of technological sophistication.
The e-government service marketplace promotes the reuse of information as well as the sharing of services provided by different agencies. As it happens in a traditional marketplace (or “supermarket”), where a citizen can buy the products the citizen needs without caring about production and delivery process, the e-government marketplace aims at providing e-government services to citizens without requiring them to be aware of public administra- tion complexity. For instance, for the delivery of a document, citizens will not be concerned with administration responsibility or geographical location of information. On the one hand, the e-government service marketplace can be considered an “interoperability intermediary”
acting between agencies allowing the reuse and sharing of information at both horizontal and vertical levels (Figure 2). It allows interconnection and integration of multiple govern- ment agencies in order to deliver seamless services; services and information provided by multiple agencies are integrated and composed in order to support the online handling of a complete transaction (stages 3 and 4 of service provision). On the other hand, it can be considered a “communication intermediary” acting between the public administration and the citizen (Figure 2). It makes it easier for citizens to interact with public administrations, rebalancing relations between citizens and administrations and presenting e-government services in a citizen-oriented way. As stated before, the e-government service marketplace purpose is not only to use technologies to increase the efficiency of administrative process. It aims also to make it easier for citizens to interact with public administrations by presenting and structuring e-government services according to a citizen-oriented approach.
Figure 2. E-government service marketplace
e-government servce marketplace
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Moreover, as shown in Figure 3, the e-government service marketplace provides an open environment where commercial activities coexist with government services. While at its start-up eGovSM will start by integrating services of various public administrations (PA), then it will be open to, and it will promote as well, the participation of business company and private service providers (PSP). This way the marketplace will represent a common access point to “enriched governmental services.” For instance if a citizen needs a driving license document the eGovSM will provide not only the “getting your driving license”
service (public service) but also the service “driving school subscription” (private service).
The e-government service marketplace domain is therefore defined as the ensemble of the e-government service marketplace and the administrations and private service providers connected to it (Figure 3). This domain represents somehow the “knowledge” of the e-gov- ernment marketplace, that is, the service providers it knows about. All the administrations and private service providers that subscribe to the e-government service marketplace will be part of its domain.
As the e-government marketplace proposes an approach gradually integrating all the areas of public administration involved (state, regional agencies, administrations in the health and welfare sector), at the beginning not all the agencies will join the system sharing elec- tronically their services and information. Moreover there will be agencies that will require a direct interaction with the citizen even if they participate in the marketplace — this is the case of a hospital where, for instance, an eyes check-up requires the citizen to physically move to the hospital.
Figure 4 shows the entities involved in the marketplace and possible interactions between them. The figure highlights three different types of public administrations (PAs). PAs of
“type A” represent administrations subscribed to the eGovSM that automatically provide data to the marketplace without requiring the citizen to interact with them. PAs of “type B”
represent administrations subscribed to the eGovSM that, even if they can automatically provide data to the marketplace, require a direct interaction with citizens (for example a Figure 3. E-government service marketplace domain
PSP PSP
PSP
PSP
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hospital in case of a medical check-up). Finally PAs of “type C” represent administrations that are not subscribed to the eGovSM and hence require a direct interaction with citizens to provide data. As Figure 4 shows, citizens interact directly with the eGovSM and agencies of types B and C.
The e-government service marketplace has to hide the regulatory, administrative, and procedural complexity to citizens presenting simple services which meet users’ needs. The development of “global” services, defined on the basis of actions in the daily life of the citizen, regardless of how many administrations are involved (state, regional authorities, the health, the welfare sector, etc.), facilitates citizen interaction with the public sector. As the e-government service marketplace aims at facilitating citizen life not requiring users to provide information held by agencies time and time again, it has to provide a mechanism for identifying citizens which allows the automatic retrieving of this information. Often the delivery of a service is a complex process (consisting of multiple operations to perform) involving several agencies. The eGovSM has to guarantee an appropriate coordination as well as execution of all these operations. Finally it has to manage the interaction with ad- ministrations and private service providers. The main functions the e-government service marketplace ought to be able to perform are:
• Citizen interaction management
• Citizen identification
• Administrative process coordination
• Public administration interaction management
In the following paragraphs a more detailed description of these functions is provided.
Figure 4. Gradual integration of public administrations
PA
PA PA
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