Planning e-Government Information Systems: Methods, and Experiences from the eG4M Framework

The tutorial aims to introduce to the complexity of strategic planning of information systems (IS) for eGovernment services in countries characterized by different culture, technological readiness, and legal framework. Another goal, is to raise awareness on the role of IS modelling in strategic planning in its interaction with socio-economic, organizational, and legal framework analyses. A major objective is to provide a comprehensive perspective on the challenges, opportunities, and decisions involved in the effective strategic and operational planning of information systems in eGovernment. Usually, public administrators' culture is a mix of legal and administrative knowledge, while lacking a deep organizational and technological, in a word, information systems culture. Our aim is to bridge this gap, providing the necessary (and sufficient) background to allow administrators to play an active role in eGovernment strategic and operational decisions. Due to these issues, we will discuss a methodology called eG4M in comparison with other approaches to information systems planning and engineering in eGovernment. Comparison criteria encompass the objectives considered, the problems addressed, the main concepts introduced, the phases and steps, the target applications. © 2011 Authors.