Web-Based Information System at the Brazilian Ministry of Finance

Abstract

The current standard of global economic growth incorporates a disposition to undertake investments in information technology that will provide public organizations with costs reduction processes and an increase in flexibility and efficiency. The Internet technology is an outstanding case that quickly occupied a significant and increasing importance relative to the changes that are occurring at the economic and social environment. The institutional presence of the government on the Internet evolved from a simple channel to furnish information to an instrument able to aggregate, to the consolidated communication ways, new forms of relationship and supply of services to the citizen (Takahashi, 2000). This coincides with a global tendency to transform simple informative Web sites in complex transactional systems, configuring a new model to collect and distribute information (Isakowitz, Bieber, & Vitali, 1998; Marche & McNiven, 2003). It should be considered that many times the technological infrastructure and human resources capability of the government vary widely, depending on the geographical region of the country. In function of this, the internal systems, which give support to the operation of the government machine, can be benefited through the use of Web technology, if they are inserted in the resources sharing and access distribution paradigm (McLean, 1999). Web applications development of internal scope can keep little direct relation with the universal access of citizens to public services, however, can represent the universal access to scarce resources by geographical and socially dispersed government representations. This article reports an experience of Web technology use along the deployment of an internal Web-based information system (WIS) at a Brazilian government agency. The importance of the technology is emphasized as evidenced through development rapidity, distribution economy, and operational simplicity of the developed system. Broader reflexes that reach the citizen are also discussed.