The pillars of E-government

The pillars of E-government Frank Robben General managerCrossroads Bank for Social Security Strategic advisor Federal Public Service for ICT Sint-Pieterssteenweg 375 B-1040 Brussels E-mail: Frank.Robben@ksz.fgov.be Website: http://www.law.kuleuven.ac.be/icri/frobben Crossroads Bank for Social Security Federal Public Service for ICT (FEDICT)

E-government: a structural reform process • ICT is only a means by which a result may be obtained • E-government requires • considering information as a strategic resource for all government activity • change of basic mindset: from government centric to customer centric • re-engineering of processes within each government institution, each government level and across government levels • clear definition of mission and core tasks of every governmental institution

E-government: a structural reform process • E-government requires • co-operation between governmental institutions: one virtual electronic government, with respect for mission and core tasks of each governmental institution and government level • co-operation between government and private sector • adequate legal environment elaborated at the correct level • interoperability framework: ICT, security, unique identification keys, harmonized concepts • implementation with a decentralized approach, but with co-ordinated planning and program management (think global, act local) • adequate measures to prevent a digital divide

Information as resource: implications • information modelling • information is being modelled in such a way that the model fits in as close as possible with the real world • definition of information elements • definition of attributes of information elements • definition of relations between information elements • information modelling takes into account as much as possible the expectable use cases of the information • the information model can be flexibly extended or adapted when the real world or the use cases of the information change

Information as resource: implications • unique collection and re-use of information • information is only collected for well-defined purposes and in a proportional way to these purposes • all information is collected once, as close to the authentic source as possible • information is collected via a supplier-chosen channel, but preferably in an electronic way, using uniform basic services (single sign on, arrival receipt of a file, notification for each message, …) • information is collected according to the information model and on the base of uniform administrative instructions • with the possibility of quality control by the supplier before the transmission of the information • the collected information is validated once according to an established task sharing, by the most entitled institution or by the institution which has the greatest interest in a correct validation • and then shared and re-used by authorized users

Information as resource: implications • management of information • a functional task sharing is established indicating which institution stores which information in an authentic way, manages the information and keeps it at the disposal of the authorized users • information is stored according to the information model and can be flexibly assembled according to ever changing legal notions • every institution has to report probable improprieties of information to the institution that is designated to validate the information • every institution that has to validate information according to the agreed task sharing, has to examine the reported probable improprieties, to correct them when necessary and to communicate the correct information to every known interested institution • information will be retained and managed as long as there exists a business need, a legislative or policy requirement, or, preferably anonimized or encoded, when it has historical or archival importance

Information as resource: implications • electronic exchange of information • once collected and validated, information is stored, managed and exchanged electronically to avoid transcribing and re-entering it manually • electronic information exchange can be initiated by • the institution that disposes of information • the institution that needs information • the institution that manages the interoperability framework • electronic information exchanges take place on the base of a functional and technical interoperabilty framework that evolves permanently but gradually according to open market standards, and is independent from the methods of information exchange • available information is used for the automatic granting of benefits, for prefilling when collecting information and for information delivery to the concerned persons

Information as resource: implications • protection of information • security, integrity and confidentiality of government information will be ensured by integrating ICT measures with structural, organizational, physical, personnel screening and other security measures according to agreed policies • personal information is only used for purposes compatible with the purposes of the collection of the information • personal information is only accessible to authorized institutions and users according to business needs, legislative or policy requirement • the access authorisation to personal information is granted by an independent institution, after having checked whether the access conditions are met • the access authorizations are public

Information as resource: implications • protection of information • every concrete electronic exchange of personal information is preventively checked on compliance with the existing access authorisations by an independent institution managing the interoperability framework • every concrete electronic exchange of personal information is logged, to be able to trace possible abuse afterwards • every time information is used to take a decision, the used information is communicated to the concerned person together with the decision • every person has right to access and correct his own personal data

Implementation in the social sector • network between 2,000 Belgian public and private social security offices with a secure connection to internet and Belgian interbanking network • single identification key for each citizen, electronically readable from an electronic social security card • electronic information exchange through structured messages among all social security offices • electronic transactions between social security offices on the one hand and companies and socially insured persons on the other • either through the exchange of structured messages • or via an integrated portal site • an integrated portal site containing • information about the entire social security system • harmonized instructions relating to all electronic transactions • a personal page for each company • an integrated multi-modal contact centre supported by a customer relations management tool

Some figures • information exchange between all 2,000 social security offices takes place through 170 types of electronic messages • in 2002 242.5 million electronic messages have been exchanged among social security offices, which saved as many paper exchanges • about 300 types of paper forms have been abolished • in the remaining 30 declaration forms the number of headings has been reduced on average to a third of the previous number • 2 types of declarations have to be done electronically and 14 types of declarations can be done electronically; all other types will be available electronically by the end of 2004 • in 2002 7.2 million electronic declarations have been made by 236,000 employers • lots of social security benefits or derived rights are accorded automatically

Reference directory • serves as a basis for organization of information exchange • structure • directory of persons: indicates for each socially insured person, at which social security offices he is known, in what capacity and for what period(s) • data availability table: indicates by type of social security office and the capacity in which a socially insured person might be known to that office, which types of data are available • access authorization table: indicates by type of social security office and the capacity in which a socially insured person might be known to that office, which types of data that office needs and is authorized to receive from other offices in order to fulfil its duties

Reference directory • functions • routing of information • preventive access control • automated communication of changes to information

Network of services integrators Service integrator R/CPS R/CPS Services repository Extranet region or community Service integrator (CBSS) Services repository SSI Extranet social security SSI Internet Municipality FPS SSI Publilink FPS FEDMAN Services repository Service integrator (FEDICT) Province City FPS Services repository

More info • Crossroads Bank for Social Security http://www.ksz.fgov.be • FEDICT http://www.fedict.be • portal sites • federal portal: http://www.belgium.be • social security portal: https://www.socialsecurity.be • personal website • http://www.law.kuleuven.ac.be/icri/frobben

Th@nk you ! Crossroads Bank for Social Security Federal Public Service for ICT (FEDICT)

The pillars of E-government