Design on a Societal Scale: The Case of e Government Strategic Planning.

In this Chapter, we discuss the case of the instantiation and development of a methodology for e-Government initiatives design and planning in the specific context of Mediterranean Countries. The methodology aims to support the definition of strategy implementation roadmaps that consider the fitting of e-Government vision principles, policies and the context of intervention. Moreover, the methodology aims to provide a contribution to design science research on a societal scale, by dealing with the obstacles that Simon recognized as a “budget of obstacles or alternatively as a budget of planning requirements”, even with restraint and simplification typical of a complex decision making process. Taking these issues into account, the Chapter discusses the case of the methodology application to an information systems integration initiative of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources in 2008-2009. The focus of the case is on problem representation and organizations in social design as challenges for information systems design on a societal scale