Author: John Borras
Company: Cabinet Office

e-GOV TC 2/02

OASIS E-GOV TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

WORK PROGRAMME AND ORGANISATION

The e-GOV TC Charter sets out the following goals:
- to provide a forum for Governments internationally to voice their needs and requirements with respect to XML-based standards which can be handed off to relevant OASIS TCs (if they exist) or cause the formation of TCs for needs that are not currently being addressed.
- to provide a mechanism for the creation of best practice documents relative to the adoption of OASIS specs/standards within Governments internationally
- to promote the adoption of OASIS specs/standards within Governments (include all bi-directional forms: G2G, G2B, G2C), which could include the creation of implementation-oriented pilot projects to involve software vendors and participating government agencies to demonstrate the use of OASIS specs/standards.
- to work with other OASIS channels (e.g. XML.org for schema registry and/or information portal), act as a clearinghouse of information related to applicable specs/standards as well as activities and projects being conducted by Governments in the adoption of XML-based
systems and standards.

Given the very wide scope of business that governments undertake, that makes the task of meeting these goals rather daunting.  We need therefore to set out a work programme for the TC, and an organisation to meet that programme, that is achievable, pragmatic and can be delivered given the resources available to the TC.  This paper sets out my thoughts on that programme and the required organisation.

Work Programme

Given our experience to date on e-government service delivery here in the UK, the following aspects emerge as candidates for consideration by the TC:
•	Requirements
•	Barriers
•	Best Practice
•	Modelling Methods
•	Adoption of ebXML and Web Services
•	Language translation

1.	Requirements
Most governments around the world have now embarked on programmes of work to put their services, national and local, online.  Many of these services are common across jurisdictions and there must be value in identifying common requirements, that require agreed standards, and products/services to meet those requirements.  Shown at Annex A is a list we have produced in UK of our key government services and the supporting “systems” necessary to deliver those services.  I realise that each country handles these types of services at different levels within their layers of government, or indeed may provide these services in very different ways, but this list may prove useful in agreeing which are the priority services for governments and hence where the TC should concentrate its effort.

2.	Barriers
Delivering e-government services is not easy and there are many barriers to be overcome, eg legal, security, lack of standards, conflicting standards, lack of tools.  From my discussions with other governments there are many common issues that we are all trying to overcome and there would be value in harmonising this effort and seeking common resolution of these barriers.  This may involve setting clear requirements to other TCs/standards bodies, engaging with suppliers to develop required tools, or raising issues for policy makers to address. 

3.	Best Practice
Projects and developers thrive off the experiences of best (and bad) practice, and there would be great value in identifying and sharing experiences of e-government service delivery amongst the government community.  

4.	Modelling Methods
An important consideration in building e-government services is around the choice of methodologies to define and develop that service.  Issues arise in connection with the techniques and tools used to model the service, and very specifically within that the translation from UML to XML.  Modelling and developing an e-service, and in particular Web based Services, requires a very different approach to conventional IT systems development, and some fresh thinking and ideas are required.  The TC should identify the needs and hand off the issue to other appropriate bodies for resolution.

5.	Adoption of ebXML and Web Services
There is a lot of publicity now about the development and use of ebXML and Web Services.  However to many there is still a very unclear picture of how and when to use these either or both of these approaches, and how they inter-relate.  There is a need for a very clear articulation of how and when governments could and should use both, and the timescale for that based on the maturity of the standards and the availability of the products to support those standards.  The TC could very usefully produce that guidance for governments, interacting and agreeing that advice with the appropriate owning TCs/standards bodies.

6.	Language Translation
Trying to undertake this work, eg agreeing requirements and standards, creating XML schemas and vocabularies, with representatives from around the world, brings with it the inevitable problems of working in several languages and producing deliverables in several languages.  Also the need for multi-lingual e-services is a problem for most governments and becomes even more of an issue as communities of countries, eg European Union, join together to provide pan-community services.  The TC needs to give this issue serious consideration and seek a solution that accommodates the needs of both the current e-government jurisdictions but also allows a quick and easy path for new jurisdictions, eg 3^rd World countries, to take advantage of this work.

Organisation of Work

There is a good deal of read-across between the aspects mentioned above but addressing them separately at the outset should help to bring out all the specific issues that need to be considered.  I would therefore propose to set-up sub-committees to review each aspect and propose solutions or make recommendations on the way forward to the TC.  The TC would co-ordinate issues that span the sub-committees and then decide how to handle the output from each sub-committee.  Where liaisons with other TCs or other standards bodies are required, the TC would agree on how to handle those liaisons.

Each sub-committee will require a chair and secretary and will need to agree it’s individual work plan with the TC.  The objective should be for each sub-committee to deliver short-sharp pieces of work rather than spending long periods of time deliberating, and then if necessary re-covening or re-organising the sub-committees for the next piece of work. 

John Borras
Chair e-GOV TC

Annex A
UK Key Services / Building Blocks

Key Service
Business to Government
•	Filing of company accounts
•	Company registrations
•	Filing Company tax returns
•	Filing VAT returns
•	Filing Employees Returns
Benefits and personal tax
•	Retirement pensions applications
•	Benefit applications
•	Tax credit applications
•	Filing Personal tax returns
Transport & travel
•	Road Tax disc renewal
•	Vehicle registration/amendment
•	Drivers services (licence applications/test bookings)
•	Parking fines
•	Passport applications
Education
•	Student loan applications/repayments
•	Schools applications
•	Teacher services
•	University applications
Health
•	E-prescriptions
•	Registration of births and deaths
•	Doctors and hospital appointment bookings
Crime
•	Citizen-to-Criminal Justice Systems transactions (inc appeals, adjournment, claims, reporting crimes)
•	Civil claims
Land & property
•	E-planning applications
•	E-conveyancing
Agriculture
•	Farming subsidy claims
•	E-tracking of livestock
e-Democracy
•	E-voting
•	E-consultation
Essential Building Blocks
•	Common/Interoperable IT infrastructure
•	Security
•	Identity Verification
•	Citizen Information database
•	Company Information database
•	Geographic data
•	Health records
•	Criminal and court records
•	Driver and vehicle records
•	E-Procurement