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Enabling Agile Government without Sacrificing Accountability

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Government agencies face many of the same challenges as modern business – how to increase agility, improve efficiency and ensure operational security. With the added pressure of public responsibility and limited budgets, business concepts such as efficiency and security become social imperatives.

Private companies have sought to implement Business Process Management (BPM) as a way of overcoming their limits - increasing agility, productivity, and in the end - profit. Government agencies have now realized the value of BPM and are beginning to apply it to their own operations as Government Process Management, driving improvements at all levels, bringing greater accountability, transparency and public satisfaction.

Processes in the public sector have several key differences from the private sector such as public interest, increased accountability, continuing election cycles, intra-agency coordination, complex budget cycles, greater risk aversion and reduced flexibility to change. Processes must be visible to audit and perform up to the highest standards in order to unite disparate administrative fields and goals towards a common good.

The public expects that rigorous decision processes accompany government activities. The success criterion of processes within the public sector is determined by how well they fulfill a specific social objective. Failure to do so results in reduced levels of public confidence and lack of accountability in the government. For this reason, it is vital that processes reflect the policy that is set out by decision makers in order to fulfill the societal expectations placed on the government.

This is complicated by the fact that there are many different public sector agencies working with a diverse mix of people and organizations. A business has a relatively simple task of satisfying its customers when compared to the massively wide spectrum of government service users. In the end, the government uses funding provided to them by the public, and thus its policy must reflect the needs and desires of the populace, without being too general so as to alienate groups with specific needs.

eGov: Integrity, Security – and above all – Convenience

One of the key drivers of process management initiatives within the government sector is the evolution of an electronic government (eGov). This concept has taken its inspiration from business e-commerce that allows the public at large to take advantage of products and services via transactional web pages that expose part of the company’s sales process to the user.

Many different countries and government entities have begun developing eGov initiatives in order to streamline key public facing processes and improve citizen access to information and government services. Furthermore, the implementation of eGov can increase the availability of data within the government by breaking down the boundaries between agencies. It is not only government-public facing processes that can benefit from the orchestration and integration of eGov initiatives, but also government-business, and government-government.

Not only is a government agency tasked to deliver the same level of service as a private corporation, they are expected to do so with the utmost security and assurance that data is in a secure environment. Process management not only makes it possible to orchestrate the complex processes that span multiple agencies, departments, and partners, but it also allows for the implementation of specific controls along the length of the process that will allow government agencies to ensure total security of their information.

The result is greater confidence in public sector activities on the part of the population; there is a tangible benefit that every user experiences when they file their income taxes online, pay for tickets, or perform other formerly tedious obligations through their web browser in the comfort in their own home.

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