GCE Implementing Federal Enterprise Solution in Cloud
A Reference Model For A Service Oriented Government
1. Public the way we see it
A reference model for
a service-oriented
government
2. Contents
Introduction 01
Overview of the model
1. The primary processes (Developments 1 to 5) 02
2. The secondary processes (Development 6) 02
3. Digital files and folders (Policy principle 7) 03
4. Chain integration (Policy principle 8) 03
5. Core registrations (Policy principle 9) 04
6. Governement desktop (Policy principle 10) 05
7. Political and management information (Policy principle 11) 06
8. Customer-friendly access (Policy principle 12) 07
Present state of affairs 09
3. Public the way we see it
Introduction
The much-debated topic of New putting the Netherlands on the map policy principles of Different
Government* requires governmental in global terms. Not for us to brag Government. It offers a way of think-
innovation and reform. The challenges about in Holland, but an opportunity ing for going step by step towards
are abound. Some examples: do more to analyze how this success has been service-oriented government.
with fewer people. Provide transpar- achieved. And by doing this, to in-
ency. Respond faster to new legisla- spire others. It contains a handle for making the
tion and regulations (time to market). developments manageable.
To be able to work in a results-orient- Since the route to New Government
ed and customer-focused manner. was first taken in 2004 a great many The Government Reference Model
Deliver measurable services. Offer changes have been set in motion in that we elaborate on below is built up
more and more services online. To the public sector. The developments into the final model section by sec-
put the citizen service number to best appear to be following on from one tion. We start with the primary and
possible use. Manage file handling another ever faster. At the end of secondary processes of the govern-
with often distributed entry of data, 2005 this resulted in the implementa- ment before moving on to the discus-
and yet to have consistent, reliable tion of eight major changes to the law, sion of the implications for policy. For
management information available. To including the Social Insurance each section a general indication is
say nothing of the integration of chain (Reduction of Administrative Burden given of what the development entails,
partners within government and the and Simplification) Act, the Work and what the current state of the IT struc-
ability to extract politico-governmen- Income according to Labour Capacity ture is and what impact the develop-
tal information from such a chain Act, the Health Care Insurance Act ment has on IT.
quickly. and the Life Course Scheme.
All these changes had a major impact
In order to make a clear response to on the administration of government
all these issues, the government needs and its IT. They are as it were all
useful tools. Tools that make it possi- based on the new capabilities: they
ble to build the new government edi- encourage the breaking down of the
fice of the future, step by step and in walls between institutes, with subse-
a targeted fashion. What is most quent integration of the administrative
important is that close cooperation chain and we see they depend on new
and optimum knowledge transfer be- capabilities of accessing basic records
tween government and the corporate in a national landscape.
sector is crucial if this process is to
succeed. To gain an insight into the develop- Capgemini Nederland B.V.
ment of New Government and to Public Sector
The Dutch government has invested a make the interdependence of the
great deal of energy in this area in changes clear, Capgemini has devel- Nick van Rossum
recent years. We are now beginning to oped the ‘Government Reference VP Practiceleader SAP Public and
reap the benefits of that effort. Take Model’ in collaboration with SAP Finance
the Land Registry. This organization Netherlands. Albert Kuiper
has won the most important European This model contains the primary and Business Architect
prize for E-government of the year. secondary processes of government Mario Halfhide
No small achievement. And there are together with a framework containing VP Business Development and Sales
many more such initiatives that are a number of the most important Public Sector
* New Government is the translation of the term ‘Moderne Overheid’ which is the name of the initiative of the Dutch government in 2006.
Introduction 1
4. Overview of the model
In this model we distinguish twelve ERP too is increasingly being imple-
1. The primary processes
developments. Reflections and views mented to put the primary processes
(Developments 1 to 5)
on these developments can be found into effect. At the Ministry for Social
in this book. We outline the develop- Affairs and Employment the Hermes
ments briefly for you as follows. system is being set up. This budgeting
system with work-flow, authorizations
1. The primary processes and management information looks
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(Developments 1 to 5) after the determination and allocation This box is for the placement
Each government organization is re- of the budgets to the various benefits 2
sponsible for the execution of one or agencies. of a graphic.
3
more of the five primary processes: Right-click on this box and
making policy, raising taxes and col- At the Ministry of Defense the diffe- 4
lecting revenues, assigning funds and rent logistics and financial systems are change content
disbursements of grants, executing being replaced during the reorganiza- to
5 picture and place the
laws (a wide range of different proces- tion of the branches of military serv-
ses) and control of the execution of ice. The privatization of the housing appropriate artwork.
laws. corporations leads to the replacement
of their current bespoke and package
Looking at these primary processes solutions. The whole handling of New
and the way in which they are put Citizen Integration (including the
into practice from the IT viewpoint, attendance of courses and the conclu-
one thing immediately catches the sion of loans) is going to be adminis-
eye. In the field of primary processes tered at the IB-Groep. These exam-
the government, with just a few ples, solutions are based on a SAP
exceptions, is using bespoke systems. platform. We also see that municipal-
These customized systems are at the ities have started to use package solu-
end of their life cycle, are difficult to tions in recent years.
adapt to the new legislation and regu-
lations and are very expensive to 2. The secondary processes
maintain. They were never designed (Development 6)
2. The secondary processes
for cooperation in (supply) chains. If we look at the secondary processes,
(Development 6)
Any attempts at decompartmentaliza- the administration or support services
tion would consequently be futile and as they are also called, then we see
merely be cosmetic. that in recent years there has been a
major switch to application packages.
A shift to application packages SAP clearly has the leading edge in
1
The replacement of some of these this area. At various Ministries appli- This box is for the placement
customized systems with application cation packages have now been intro- 2
packages was only started two years duced for financial accounting and of a graphic.
3
ago. In terms of the primary process personnel processes. At the same time Right-click on this box and
of levying taxes and collecting reve- the purchasing process at a great 4
nues the Tax Department for example many government organizations is change content
is having its current customized currently under scrutiny and work is to picture and place the
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system for the collection process under way on replacement of the cus-
6 appropriate artwork.
replaced by a best-of-breed solution. tomized systems with an application
package. To take two examples: the
Land Registry and the Tax Depart-
2
5. Public the way we see it
ment. At a number of government of submissions for building construc-
3. Digital files and folders (Policy
organizations the IT management of tion electronically over the internet.
principle 7)
the secondary processes is also being Construction application forms, draw-
accommodated in Shared Service ings and calculations are submitted
Centers with a view to standardization and processed digitally. The applicant
and cost savings. can follow the decision-making in the
process on the internet too.
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This box is for the placement 3. Digital files and folders
Digital files & folders
2 (Policy principle 7) 4. Chain integration (Policy prin-
of a graphic. Under the New Government style of ciple 8)
3 thinking, the citizen and the corporate Government organizations however
Right-click on this box and
4
sector take centre stage in the services do not stand alone in the execution of
change content of government. As a result it is no the tasks assigned to them. They are
to
5 picture and place the longer the individual processes that dependent on cooperation with
are guiding, but rather the file of the ministries, independent authorities,
6 appropriate artwork.
citizen or the business approaching municipalities, provinces and some-
the government. A 360-degree under- times even the corporate sector. The
standing of all contact-moments in policy of New Government is aimed at
connection with the file (the case) is giving simpler and clearer shape to
the consequence. This means that all this cooperation in the chains. This
the relevant information concerning means that apart from the develop-
the government’s customers must be ments within the organization itself,
available in digital form and that new the developments of the organizations
work flow processes must be set up. in their own chain are also important.
Alls processes must be redeveloped to Think for example of the social chain
make the sharing of digital files part of Social Affairs and Employment,
of the workflows. Social Security Agency and Munici-
palities for the payment of benefits
As an example, from 2008 a digital or the education chain with Finance,
customer file will have to be created Education Departments, Culture and
for the application for a social benefit Science, the IB-Groep and the educa-
in which all the customer data and tional institutes.
documentary evidence about the
unemployment are collected electroni- In these processes the various parties
cally. This file will be created at the are dependent on (the correctness of)
intake interview by the front-office of the data of their predecessors. Time
the Ministry for Labour and will be saving, cost saving and more error-
available for use by various organiza- free information transfer are the main
tions such as the Social Security gains that can be achieved by govern-
Agency and municipal Social Services ment.
who are responsible for timely reinte-
gration. Currently the majority of the informa-
tion exchange within the chains takes
Another example is the constructions place on paper by means of (extracts
applications project that is currently from) files. In the Health Care chain
in the process of implementation. This the form and contents of the Elec-
is a project that involves the handling tronic Patient File are now being
Overview of the model 3
6. 4. Chain integration (Policy principle 8)
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Digital files & folders
Digital files & folders
Digital files & folders
2 2 2
to picture and place the appropriate artwork.
View chain
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View chain 3
4 4 4
5 5 5
6 6 6
developed. Soon medical data will 5. Core registrations (Policy
be exchanged between the different principle 9)
health care providers. In addition The idea behind core registrations is
to the security aspect the technical that citizens, business and other orga-
implementation is a key issue. This nizations only have to have their
is precisely where the problems are details registered at one place and one
in the development of the Electronic time and these are subsequently used
Patient File as that it appears that in all their interaction with govern-
there are major differences in the ment. In all contacts thereafter the
levels of the degree of automation of core registrations are used as a start-
the various organizations in the chain. ing point. The main consequences are
that the basic records must be mana-
By focusing on the chain there obvi- ged centrally and that all government
ously are also opportunities to reduce organizations must be connected. The
complexity of architecture and reduc- government organizations are obliged
ing costs. Shared Service Centers to use these core registrations by law.
across various different organizations
of the chain are the solution to this. Originally this Act would have come
into force for six basic records from
The Ministry of Defense is currently January 2007. Problems with the
seeing the introduction of a central implementation (how can this be
service for electronic payment of achieved with the present IT infra-
invoices for procurement. The structure?) have led to the postpone-
Ministry of Defense is leading the ment of the start date of the Act.
way in this functional area. Of these six basic records the
Registration of Persons of the munici-
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7. Public the way we see it
5. Core registrations (Policy principle 9)
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Digital files & folders
Digital files & folders
Digital files & folders
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View chain
View chain
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to picture and place the appropriate artwork.
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5 5 5
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9 Core registrations
pal personal records database, the 1. The public servant who can do his
Register of Businesses (basic address work anywhere and at any time. In
and buildings record) of the Chamber the near future new public servants
of Commerce and the Property will be knowledge workers;
Registration of the Land Registry are 2. To be an attractive employer for
the three best known. The country’s new recruits;
citizens are currently being urged to 3. One-off entry of data;
apply for their Citizen Service 4. Portals and personalized access
Number (for the identification of the (for the customer as well as the public
Registration of Persons) and their servant).
DigiD (type of pin code for authoriza-
tion). These are all activities on the The first objective means that the
registration side: i.e. availability of the public servant must be able to work
data, a unique identification and a from any government organization he
security code. The actual implementa- wants or from home. The public serv-
tion within the New Government ant has access via a screen layout and
organizations has yet to start. requisite systems tailored specifically
to the performance of his duties
6. Government desktop (Policy (objective 4). What we already stated
principle 10) is that the public servant will be a
Another policy principle that is affect- knowledge worker. All processes mus
ing every government organization is be executed automatically (electroni-
the central government desktop. The cally) with minimal human interven-
objectives of the introduction of the tion.
one format for the government desk-
top are:
Overview of the model 5
8. 6. Government desktop (Policy principle 10)
10 Government desktop
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Digital files & folders
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View chain
View chain
3 3 3
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9 Core registrations
The one-off entry (objective 3) must have a low learning-threshold and be
ensure that data is recorded clearly, recognizable in their operation.
fewer errors are made and greater
efficiency occurs. As an example of 7. Political and management
one-off entry consider diary manage- information (Policy principle 11)
ment. A request for a holiday via Political and management information
Outlook immediately triggers a work- refers to the retrieval of unstructured
flow for approval, leading to the debi- ad hoc information from government
ting of the days in the time records of systems in support of decision-making
the personnel system and the inclu- processes or accountability.
sion of the request as a document in
the personnel file. This does not mean the structured
At the outset all this seems easy to information about for example the
arrange. However, at the back-end a costs of a construction project, but
great amount of effort has to be digitized information that is obtaina-
invested in the current customized ble now that more and more informa-
systems and application packages. tion is becoming available electroni-
There is even talk of a potential cally in files and can be accessed now
‘implementation bottleneck’. that the systems can be linked to one
another more easily.
The purpose of the second objective is Information is politically indispensa-
that the government remains an at- ble. An example of this unstructured
tractive employer for the new genera- information is the information that
tion, which is growing up working the Dutch Ministry of Finance needed
with the latest technology, in the futu- on Property Tax at the beginning of
re too. Systems must be user friendly, 2006. Part of the national property tax
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9. Public the way we see it
7. Political and management information (Policy principle 11)
10 Government desktop
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Digital files & folders
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9 Core registrations
was abolished, and the other part was form of the ad hoc establishment of
allowed to rise only by a maximum of connections between this data has yet
2%. The municipalities became more to be determined.
autonomous in the taxation and could
set the height of the tax. The provinc- 8. Customer-friendly access
es had the task to overview the height (Policy principle 12)
of the municipal taxes and agree Key to customer-friendly accessibility
exemptions. On a request in Parlia- is a government that offers the citizen
ment, how many municipalities had and the corporate sector the opportu-
increased the property taxes above the nity to use the services of government
allowed percentage and had obtained over the internet. This means that all
this exemption from their provinces, the processes that we currently still
the Ministry could not provide a have to access to by going to the
direct answer and the provinces were municipality or the province for
only able to give him information example in person, are also handled
about the situation two months later. over the internet. Examples of services
that can be availed over the Internet
Having political and management include applying for permits or subsi-
information available to its fullest dies. This customer-friendly accessibi-
extent is something for the future. lity makes deep inroads into the cur-
Only a small part of these links be- rent processes, not only at the front
tween the government systems exists (the applications), but also during the
in the current IT infrastructure. At the process (feedback of status and decisi-
same time a lot of government infor- on-making on the application) and at
mation still has to be recorded elec- the end of the process (the final deci-
tronically first and also the technical sion and the follow-up activities).
Overview of the model 7
10. 8. Customer-friendly access (Policy principle 12)
10 Government desktop
11 Political and management information
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9 Core registrations
12 Customer-friendly access
At the front for example this implies The municipalities are now concentra-
the use of easy to complete forms pro- ting on providing an electronic provi-
vided electronically. For the public sion for the variety of information that
sector worker this represents a far currently appears in brochures.
more direct and faster (for example
email) contact with the citizen or the In addition, they are providing the
business. The whole process becomes application-forms electronically, but
more transparent and easier to follow. which then have to be printed out,
In the back office standard handling completed and returned. The munici-
will then be set up that can perform palities and provinces will then go
the standard test on the content and through the process as of old. The
route the difficult cases to a real electronic catalogues with application
knowledge worker. This public sector forms of services are not therefore
worker can also work in a different genuinely integrated, there is hardly
organization in the chain. In this way any question of a government work-
the creation of a one-stop virtual shop ing differently as part of a new digital
for government information is also era. The core issue lies precisely in
genuinely linked to a virtual delivery integration, in which the processes
organization. really are transformed from front to
back into an interactive sequence of
By the mid 2008 the municipalities steps that starts with access over the
and provinces must provide digital internet. This is where the true value
access to at least 65% of services. It’s lies. Only then can we move on to the
likely that they will be able to achieve actual reorganization of the chains for
this target with ease. However, this example with a more local presence:
figure is highly distorting. the municipalities as front office.
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11. Public the way we see it
Present state of affairs
The Government Reference Model The bottleneck lies in the actual crea-
shows clearly that all these develop- tion of the link from the front office to
ments are closely related. At the same the back office, usually also across the
time it appears that none of the deve- boundaries of the organization. In the
lopments is anything more than barely IT architecture one of the main causes
out of the starting blocks. The designs of this bottleneck lies in the fact that
are on the drawing boards (at the the back office still consists entirely of
likes of EGEM and ICTU). a setup with bespoke applications and
closed application packages. If the
Key to these designs of ICTU and objectives (cost savings, flexibility,
EGEM is the idea that the intercon- transparency, the citizen centre stage,
nection within government (across all quality) are to be achieved, then a real
layers) can be achieved with a frame- drive for openness still has to be
work of mutual ‘services’. An example made. There are already the first mur-
of a service is the provision of the murs of an implementation bottle-
basic details of a citizen (to authorized neck: there is too little capacity, direc-
enquirers). Another service can be the tion and budget to realize the full
collection of levies imposed. We see transformation.
here that the architecture based on
services can also actually cause a spe- It is impossible to realize these
cialization within government. We changes with a big-bang approach.
already know the shared service cen- Firstly, because it involves too many
ters from the secondary processes, but risks and secondly because it means
we are going to encounter them in the that much that is good would be dis-
primary process too in the years carded: a disinvestment that no orga-
ahead. Municipalities will for example nization can afford. An evolutionary
act more and more as a front office by process is required, a process con-
forming an ‘access service’ to citizens sisting of the setting up of a future
and businesses for government tasks. architecture on the basis of the ex-
The government is occupied with an isting architecture and then slowly
accelerated development to a networ- migrating to the new architecture.
ked form of organization. Behind
these services that the organizations A handsome and practical way to get
deliver to one another is a layer of to grips is to develop a SOA-Roadmap
applications that actually make the that covers all implementation issues.
services possible. In fact, such a Roadmap can be seen
as a combination of classical
To bring the new and desired service- IT-Strategy and Business Strategy.
oriented government to fruition not
only must the service processes be
adapted, but also the IT architecture
(Service Oriented Architecture). The
underlying principles that have been
set out so beautifully in the vision of
a New Government must also be put
into practice.
Present state of affairs 9