Developing a strategy for E-Government interoperability is taken to mean thinking strategically and planning for the effective long-term application and optimal impact of electronic information to support knowledge work and service provision in government agencies. Strategy can simply be defined as principles, a broad based formula, to be applied in order to achieve a purpose. These principles are general guidelines guiding the daily work to reach business goals. Strategy is the pattern of resource development and application decisions made throughout the organization. These encapsulate both desired goals and beliefs about what are acceptable and, most critically, unacceptable means for achieving them.
This chapter starts discussing different strategy levels and elements. Then, we introduce the Y-model for IS/IT strategy work. Important step in the Y-model is to describe the current and the desired business situation, and we list some methods that can help us gaining this understanding. At the end of the chapter we describe stages of integration between business and IT strategy.