Executive Master E-Governance Telojo V.

Onu
January 12th, 2008

“ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION THROUGH ICTs”

Tutor: Dr. Eduard Aibar

Question 1.
Find a case of an already implemented initiative or project on e-Government that could be
positively linked to some kind of organizational change and comment the evidence available,
trying to explain its success in that issue.

INTRODUCTION
Basically, an organization is a group of people intentionally organized to accomplish an overall,
common goal or set of goals. Government can be classified as an organization which size can range
from a couple hundred to tens of thousands depending on each individual country.

Organizations can therefore be seen as social systems (an organized collection of highly integrated
parts utilized to accomplish an overall goal.) The system has various inputs which are processed to
produce certain outputs, that together, accomplish the overall goal desired by the organization.
There is ongoing feedback (interaction) among these various parts to ensure they remain aligned to
accomplish the overall goal of the organization.

The public administration can be seen as a system. It is the arm of the Government that is
responsible for processing inputs to produce certain outcomes. Within the Public Administration is a
number of sub-departments (sub systems) which are are made up of people -- who are also systems
of systems of systems. Subsystems are organized in an hierarchy needed to accomplish the overall
goal of the overall system.

This type of formal systematic organization can be defined as a bureaucracy, one that Max Weber
defined as a more efficient form of organization. However this theory has been critized by modern
sociologists who also identified the dysfunctions and irrationality of bureaucracy such as resistance
to change, over conformity, routinization and trained incapacity. These dysfunctions coupled with
the lack of transparency, accountability and more have brought about serious inefficiencies in
traditional Public Administrations.

ICT has shown a lot of promise in delivering many public administration reforms. Through its use,
it changes the way Public Administrations performs its functions, helps reduce operational costs and
at the same time increase efficiency in the delivery of government services.

The following case study will will highlight an example of organizational change in public
administration through ICTs.

1
Executive Master E-Governance Telojo V. Onu
January 12th, 2008

CASE STUDY: E-GOVERNMENT PROJECT – JAMAICA CUSTOMS AUTOMATION

BACKGROUND
Jamaica like other developing countries depends heavily on Inbound and Outbound Trade for
economic growth and sustainability.

Trade facilitation is one of the main factors for the economic development of the community. The
term “trade facilitation” may be explained as how can traders get their goods across borders with
the minimum of delay and red tape; therfore it links to the simplification and harmonization of
international trade procedures regarding documentation, clearance process, payment methods and
procedures of non-customs agencies.

The Jamaica Customs Department's is primarily responsible for trade facilitation at the borders, this
involves the facilitation of importation of goods into the island, exportation of goods into other
countries, collection of government revenues through various forms of taxes at the point of entry
and to safeguard the population from unsafe goods entering into its borders.

From its inception till 2006, the processing of imports has been mainly manual, with paper-based
processing system at its core. The system involved shuffling large amounts of paper through many
government departments and sections, most of the time using Customs Brokers as the paper
carriers. There was an inability to reconcile cash collected with the entries processed, as
there was no linkage even when the entries were keyed into the computer system later.
This complex system was a fertile ground for inconsistencies, an absence of
accountability and fraud.

Management became almost ineffective as any new measures introduced to bring operations under
control was seen as another bureaucratic layer being added to frustrate importers, while initiatives
to facilitate trade became threats to revenue collection. The system was so labour intensive that
Customs struggled to maintain adequate staffing levels due to combinations of budget constraints,
personnel dismissed for corruption, and the increasing human resource needs as trade volume
increased. Customs administration had very little data available to support its decision making
process; and the available data was generally was not timely, incomplete and of
questionable accuracy.

Jamaica like many developing countries had adopted the Automated System for Customs Data
(ASYCUDA) which was developed by UNCTAD in 1981 for Computerized Customs Management,
although the use of the computerized system was for capturing trade statistics and did little to
streamline the inefficient customs processes. Since then a number of new versions have been
released to facilitate the integration with a lot of customs processes, but due to the non-
standardization of Governments Customs processes in different regions, the system did not suit
some countries needs.

Jamaica recognized this and reviewed the ASYCUDA software package, the Government of
Jamaica took the decision to develop its own computerised solution for customs management. This
was a decision reinforced by a comparison of the requirements of the Jamaican system with the

2
Executive Master E-Governance Telojo V. Onu
January 12th, 2008

ASYCUDA application functionality, as well as the negative experience of other countries.

As part of the Customs modernization and reform process, a number of initiatives were
implemented which demonstrated organizational change. These are as follows;
1. Customs legislation and policy.
2. Optimum use of information technology.
3. Simplification and harmonization of customs procedures.
4. Human Resources development and training.
5. An integrity program.

Part of the Legislation led to the formation of Fiscal Services Limited (FSL), a government-owned
information technology company, which was assigned the task of designing, developing and
operating the new system.

As a second step, a study of existing processes and requirements was undertaken.

This analysis covered all the functional areas of Customs and helped to prioritize those
that would have the greatest impact on efficiency. It was decided to start the process of
computerization with imports.

The entry data was to be captured at the point of the initial “lodgment” of the import entry with
Jamaica Customs, and then used to create linkages from this entry into a new integrated processing
and duty collection system.

Accomplishing that would allow the computer system to “move the electronic entries”
easily between each of the processing sections, including collections, and effect a
paperless import entry processing system while linking to the Customs Brokers and Commercial
importers’ computer systems.

The most important outcome of the e-Government project, was the Administrative reform which
included organizational and process changes all centred around the technology.
Other success such as significant increase in revenue collection, despite little or no
economic growth in the country. At this point, our determination as to the reasons for this
increase is inconclusive, but we noticed that although the number of transactions has
remained constant or trending down slightly, revenues have increased.

Since its implementation, the private sector Customs Brokers have come to appreciate the
convenience and increased speed in processing an entry.

In contrast to lodgements being limited to Mondays to Fridays 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.,
the new system permits lodgements 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
Customs Brokers are also gratified that processing of an entry, which previously took two
to three days, on average, is typically done in three to four hours. (This does not include
"fast track," which is immediate, for those who qualify, requiring only duty payment.) At
the present time, over 98 percent of entries are submitted electronically, with almost all
percent of the brokers on-board and on-line.

3
Executive Master E-Governance Telojo V. Onu
January 12th, 2008

Customs overtime has been drastically reduced and can be completely eliminated once
the Customs reforms are fully implemented. Customs supervisors are now better able to
monitor and distribute the workflow, thereby achieving greater efficiency. Inconsistency
and errors in duty calculation have been totally eliminated. Changes to tariff rates and
other fees are quickly and accurately accommodated. Reconciliation of payment is now
provided on demand. Management and activity reports are all easily generated and made
available through the implementation of data warehousing tools. Collection points require
fewer cashiers, yet long queues have been eliminated. The cashiers now have only to
select the entry and collect payment, without entering large amounts of transaction
details. Electronic payments, by either the Customs Broker or importing company, have
been welcomed and are becoming widely used.

After successful implementation of core functions, several international funding agencies have
joined the government in providing funding to add enhancements, and to complete the customs
modernization process in Jamaica.
REFERENCES

DG Communities;
http://www.developmentgateway.org/e-government/rc/BrowseContent.do?
source=RCContentUser&folderId=2869

Jamaica Government Online

http://www.e-jamaica.gov.jm/

Jamaica Customs Automated Services Online

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEGOVERNMENT/Resources/702478-1129947675846/jamaica_custo
ms.htm