What is Electronic transformation

This chapter investigates a set of governance concerns related to the electronic transformation of public administration for performance improvement under the context of reinventing government in the knowledge age. Of specific interest is the organizational context to situate information systems (IS) design for services referring mainly to the decisions that define expectations, enable empowerment, or verify performance of the people or units involved. In particular, this research is looking into the transformative impact of such an IS effort on the design of a citizen-centric model of public service in the digital operation of today’s government (or e-government). Meanwhile, e-governance should relate to the practical rendering over an electronic environment such practices as consistent management, cohesive policies, responsive processes, and decision-rights for different areas of responsibilities. The framework of analysis in this discussion should accommodate the configuration of a government unit’s value profile in public sector as exemplified in many of today’s citizen-centric societies. This framework highlights a public sector reform approach to nurture information systems (IS) support for improving public sector management. The premise of our exploration is that as we move into the knowledge society, more and more public sector organizations should fulfill their roles from the creation and application of knowledge. This is an example of the value shop model, in which value is created by configuring and applying specific knowledge to solve problems in citizens’ areas of interest. This discussion covers the issues in digitizing knowledge portfolios in support of performance improvement among institutional units. Thereby, managing knowledge work at the e-government level is a behavior involving various e-governance concerns such as challenges on internal enculturation of participative knowledge sharing among public sector organizations, and on the proper understanding of the institution’s context of public service development.