ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE

WHAT IS E- GOVERNANCE?
E-Governance can be defined as use of ICT (Information Communication
Technologies) to enhance the quality of information and service provided to the
citizen in a cost effective manner.
Another definition of E-Governance: Use of ICT to process the government
functioning and to bring about
S SIMPLE
M MORAL
AACCOUNTABLE

Government

R RESPONSIVE
T TRANSPARENT
It must be noted that there 4 pillars that make e-Government a Smart Government.

SMART GOVERNANCE

If used effectively, will

improve the government
functioning

E-Government

PROCESS

PEOPLE

TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES

In this paper, we are concerned with the

Effective use of Emerging Technologies for
Smart Governance.

Before, we dig deep into use of technologies for Smart Governance, we will study
about some basics of e-Government and e-Governance.
It must be noted that based on market and people, there are four types of eGovernment.

Basic
citizen
needs:
1) Online
Registration
2) Health Care
3) Education
4) Taxes

1) Employee
Information
2) Online
Management
for
Employees
3) Online
training/
Conferences

1) Disseminatio
n
of
Government
policies,
rules,
regulations
and
information
2) Renewing

1) Federal
Government
support
2) Government
Plans
3) Records
of
Government

Smart Governance is the collaboration of all types of e-Governance in an Effective

and Efficient manner, as depicted in the following figure:

G2G
Federal Government
G2BCitizen
G2G
Local Government
G2G

G2E

G2C
Busines
s

As mentioned in the Figure above, thereEmploye

are 4 types of interaction that takes place
e
in a Smart Governance.
G2G G2G
G2C G2G
G2E G2G
G2B G2G
The initial phase of the Interaction was Static, wherein, the government created the
website and uploaded the static contents on the website. All the stakeholders
(Citizens, Businesses and other Governments) were only viewing the contents,
without any interaction. Sometimes, the contents on the website were not uploaded
for years, leading to misleading information flow.

Browse
r

Govt.
website

Now suppose, the same customer wants to get the information two government
departments, the he goes to 2 different websites to gather the information, as
mentioned below:

Browse
r

Browse
r

Dept. A

Dept. B

Later,
every government departments, started using Dynamic way of
We get almost
outdated
Interactions.
information

Browse
r

Dept. A
website

Web
Server

Browse
r

Databas
e Server

Dept. B
website

Web
Server

Databas
e Server

We get updated
information
Although, the information received was updated, the component of interactivity was
still missing. This means that citizens, businesses and other government
departments cannot interact with each other and still depends on traditional modes
of communication.
United Nations e-Government Survey in 2010, proposed a mechanism of Interaction
of Government with citizens, businesses and other government departments. The
mechanism was named as e-Strategies.
The report elaborated that e-Strategy includes three parts, as

EStrategy=SS+DD
SS Static + Supply based
DD Dynamic +Demand Driven
IIInteractive + Integration
Before, the report was released, the governments were already in second stage
(DD). The study elaborated that in order to successfully build e-Government (and
later Smart Government), apart from technological involvement and change
management, we need shift in the mindset of public administration.

The shift from DD to II (Interactive and Integration) requires the current eGovernment architecture to be changed technically, as mentioned below:
Applicati
on
Servers

Browse
r

Dept. A
website

Databas
e Server

Web
Server
Applicati
on
Servers

Browse
r

Dept. B
website

Web
Server

Databas
e Server

Interactive information
We can easily observe the inclusion of Application Server in the architecture, which
makes the communication interactive. But the inclusion requires a major drift in the
complete e-Government architecture.
The most important question to ask here, is how inclusion of Application Server
increases interactivity?

Basically, Application Server is used to generate Business logic and interacts with
Database Server more efficiently to answer the queries of Citizen, Businesses and
other Government Departments.

With two way interaction in place, many of the stakeholders started asking for
online financial transactions online, which is a more challenging job to be
conducted.

Applicati
on
Servers
Dept. A
website

Browse
r

Databas
e Server

Web
Server
Applicati
on
Servers
Dept. B
website

Browse
r

Web
Server

Databas
e Server

Interactivity + Payment

The above-mentioned types of e-Government development defines the spectrum of

e-Governance and information flow.
Static
Information

Dynamic
Information

Provide forms
which may
be printed
and mailed

Submit
Information
online

Complete
Financial
transaction
online

Service
transformatio
ns

Although, the benefits of Service transformations looks quite good and includes
benefits to citizens, businesses and other government departments, it results in
greater complexity in e-Government architecture, as given below:
High
Transaction
(mature)
Complexity of eGovernment

2-way
interaction

Startup
Low

1-way
interaction
Benefit

High

As mentioned in the graph above, citizen, businesses and other government

department gets maximum benefits, when we achieve high transaction (referred as
mature transaction). This means we need to have multiple applications interactions,
which needs complex technologies interaction. Such an architecture is called n-tier
e-Government architecture.

A
1

A
2

A
3

A
1

Applicati
on Server
1

A
2

A
3

Applicati
on Server
n

Dept. A
website

Browse
r

Databas
e Server

Web
Server

Dept. B
website

Browse
r

Web
Server

Databas
e Server

Applicati
on Server
1

Applicati
on Server
n

Mature Transaction

A
1

A
2

A
3

A
A
2
1
Almost every government department installed multiple Application servers with
loads of Applications on the Servers. These applications were used for different
purposes, as online payments, business registrations, and up-to-date information
amongst others.

Each of these departments followed their own structure and own set of applications.
However, there was no integration between departments. This means that the

A
3

citizens and businesses were able to transaction of a particular department, the

interlinking of process between them was still missing. The task was difficult to
obtain, as by the time government understood the need to integrate departments,
most of the departments complete the IT development and implementation phase.
Some people still proposed the integrated architecture framework for e-Government
adoption that can be helpful in integration, so the use of technologies can be used
in full swing.
Zakareya Ibrahim and Zahir Irani proposed the e-Government Integration
framework, which included four layers:
Access Layer
E-Government Layer
E-Business Layer
Infrastructure Layer
Each of these layers had its own requirements in the e-Government Integration
framework. The complete architecture is given below:

One of the early adoption of the proposed e-Government Integration Framework is

given below:

e-Business
Layer

User
Interface
Layer
eGovernment
Layer

Issues in e-Government
and
e-Business Layer

Network
Layer

E-Business Layer
adopted different tools

E-Government Layer
adopted different
programming
Though, the proposed e-Government Integration framework was suitable for
languages
departments, who initiated the use ICT for e-Governance late. But for the
departments whose ICT implementation was completed, the framework did not
added much results. The major issues was in E-Business and
E-Government
Layer.
Thus, there was the need for Integration Framework that could help the
departments in post implementation phase. The framework was termed as EA
(Enterprise Architecture) Framework.
The most adopted EA Framework for e-Government Integration Framework is
TOGAF-The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF).
The core element of TOGAF is ADM (Architecture Development Method). ADM is a 4step process, and includes 10 circles.
1) We need to tailor TOGAF to suit the need of departments: This is one time
activity and needs to be carried before adopting TOGAF for a departments.
This phase is called Preliminary phase.
2) Define scope of work and prepare plan for rollout: We need to define the
complete scope of the tasks for integration process, and how to manage the
rollout.
Architecture Vision +Business Architecture +IS Architecture+
Technology Architecture+ Opportunities and Solutions+ Migration
Planning
3) Oversee development and implementation: How the overall integration
should take place. What are the technologies used for integration. This phase
is called Implementation Governance.
4) Manage post-implementation change: Any major change will trigger off
another cycle of ADM.
It must be noted that all these phases are combined together by Requirements
Management.

Manage postimplementation
change

Tailor TOGAF
to suit your
need

Define scope of work

and prepare plan for
rollout
Oversee
development and
implementation

One of the biggest challenges is the integration process of different departments.

A
1

A
2

A
3

A
1

Applicati
on Server
1

Browse
r

A
2

A
3

Applicati
on Server
n

Dept. A
website

Databas
e Server

Web
Server
Integra
tion

Browse
r

Dept. B
website

Web
Server

Databas
e Server

Applicati
on Server
1

Applicati
on Server
n

Mature Transaction

A
A
A
A
A
3
2
1
1
As mentioned earlier, Integration was the major issue for Mature Transaction.
The2
solution that came to rescue is called Web Services.

What is a Web Service?

A
3

Web Service is a piece of software, that can be used over internet for
communication between different Servers using XML messaging System.

What is XML?
eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language that defines a set of rules
for encoding documents, which can be exchanged between servers and is both
human-readable and machine-readable.
Let us consider the same example as mentioned above for explanation:

XML
XML

But use of XML in the Server integration was mere a solution. We need a protocol (a
set of patterns which is of universal standard) which will be followed for easy
integration.
Although, the work had already started in 1999, an official standard Web Services
Protocol was launched in 2003.
xml-dist-app@w3.org
list created for XML
protocol discussions
(December 1999)

SOAP 1.1 gets its

acknowledged
(May 2000)

XML Protocol Working

Group Formed
(September 2000)

Workshop on Web
Services
(April 2001, CA)

Web Services Activity

Group Formed
(January 2002)

After 2003, Web Services using XML become popular, and three versions were
launched.
Web Services
using XML

SOA
(Service Oriented
Architecture)

SOA

REST

JSON

(Representational
State Transfer)

(Java Script Object

Notation)

EGovernment
Infrastructure

The main advantages of REST web services are:

Lightweight - not a lot of extra xml markup

Human Readable Results

Easy to build - no toolkits required

SOAP also has some advantages:

Easy to consume - sometimes

Rigid - type checking, adheres to a contract

Development tools

SOE

Cloud Computing and Smart Government Infrastructure

Cloud Computing provides the services through Internet, when the service hosting
system is located at a remote location.
These services in Smart Government context can be:
1) Services provided to citizens (such as registration card, Visa, others)
(G2C)
2) Services provided to businesses (G2B)
3) Data transfer between different departments (G2E/G2G)

Types of Cloud
Computing for
Smart
Governance

Public Cloud

Private Cloud

Hybrid Cloud

Community
Cloud

Public Cloud: Public cloud enables applications and storage available to general
public over the Internet, such as offerings by Google (Gmail), Amazon etc.
Considered to be less secure due to its openness.
Private Cloud: The more relevant cloud model used for Smart Governance is Private
Cloud, where organizations can procure their own standardized cloud, based on
requirements. These cloud services allow various departments to share the
documents and is designed to deliver IAAS, PAAS and SAAS. These departments can
also include their own security features as well.
Hybrid Cloud: Private Cloud + Public cloud
where,
Public cloud=used for non-sensitive resources
Private cloud=used for sensitive information
Community Cloud: For delivering citizen services, Community Cloud is the best
suited model. Community Cloud model is used by many Government to provide
services to citizens, which can be used anytime, anywhere and on any device
(especially Mobile Apps).

Summary of Cloud Usage for Smart Governance

Public Cloud

Private Cloud

Hybrid Cloud

Non-Sensitive
Citizen
Requirements
G2C

Sensitive
Information
G2G
G2B
G2c
G2E

G2G
G2B
G2C
G2E

Cloud
Service Models

Community
Cloud
G2C

Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

As e-Government Infrastructure started using Cloud Computing, the problem of
maintaining the infrastructure, platform and even software was solved. However, as
Cisco predicted on May 29, 2013, that every individual will be using 5 devices
connected to Internet, speed of data transfer from remotely located Data Center
was the major concern. The Solution to the above mentioned problem is called CDN
(Content Delivery Network).
CDN is a network constructed from the group of Caching Servers, which are
strategically and geographically located. CDN is one of the most efficient
mechanism, by which data from various departments in an e-Government
Infrastructure would be serving a large number of devices.
Content Download
Time
CDN helps in Reduction of
Network Traffic
CDN Architecture

Caching
Server
Store popular
contents in
advance

(in Millions)

Store popular
contents in
advance

Caching
Server

Caching
Server

Store popular
contents in
advance

(in Millions)

(in Millions)
As the numbers of electronic devices are increasing (in billions), it becomes very
difficult for the web and application server to handle all the request fast and hence
CDN architecture was introduced.
CDN Structure
CDN includes Content Providers (CP) and Caching Servers (as mentioned in the
Figure above). CP includes all the contents (usually, these are department
websites/applications in e-Government Infrastructure). Amongst these, the most
popular contents are loaded in the distributed set of caching servers.
User requests a content to its nearest Caching Server, which gets delivered to the
user. Such a condition is called HIT RATIO.
If the content does not reside in the Caching Server, there are two possibilities:
4) The content may be in another Caching Server, thus, may be
redirected from other Caching Server to the user, or
5) The content does not exist in any of the Caching Server, and needs to
be redirected from remotely located (in Cloud) CP.
Both of these conditions are called MISS RATIO.
Thus the biggest challenge for Caching Servers is to maintain the balance of
contents, thereby, increasing HIT RATIO and reducing MISS RATIO. This is done using
CONTENT AGING PROCEDURE.
Content Aging Procedure is focused on delivering the most popular contents to
users in the most effective way.

Content Aging Procedure is dependent on three main factors:

1) Number of Caching Servers in the region
2) Location of Caching Servers
3) Memory Size of each of Caching Servers
The Content Aging Procedure works effectively by deleting the outdated contents
from Caching Servers (works on the concept of Time to Live [TTL]) and gets an
updated content from CP.
CDN Market and Providers
In 2014, CDN Market was about $3.71 billion, by 2019, the market is expected to
grow by 26.3% to $12.16 billion.