Current Practices of Shanghai E-Government: A Framework and Case Study

Liu Yinbin School of Management Shanghai University Shanghai, China lyb@shu.edu.cn

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to explore the experience of shanghai e-government. In this paper, an e-government general framework of district level in Shanghai is introduced. A Shanghai case study of Huangpu District, Songjiang District and Xuhui District (respectively at population, corporate, and geographic field) has been taken up for analysis into the framework. The results obtained suggest that to enhance egovernment, its necessary to plan district-level information systems to promote application integration, inter-departmental information sharing and operational coordination on the basis of unified interexchange platform and library. Keywords- e-government; practices; Shanghai; framework

Li Hongbo School of Management Shanghai University Shanghai, China lihongbo2008@gmail.com

Shanghai has demonstrated leadership in China e-government development. It will help to further specify the development direction of Chinese city e-government to researching in Shanghai e-government successful experiences and best practices. At the same time, its of important reference value for e-government backward areas of China. This article is structured as follows: The next section gives an overview of the development in China and Shanghai. In Section 3 we introduce an e-government general framework of district level in Shanghai. A Shanghai case study of Huangpu District, Songjiang District and Xuhui District (respectively at population, corporate, and geographic field) is presented. Section 5 provides the conclusion from our paper. II. BACKGROUND

I.

INTRODUCTION A. National Level: Development Strategies of China Egovernment E-government is recognized as one of the most important aspects of national informationization by China government, which is also an effective means to deepen reform of the administrative system, to support the Party committees, the National People's Congress, the Government, the People's Political Consultative Conference, courts, prosecutors at all levels to carry out their functions [3]. Main content of China e-government development strategy is shown in TABLE I [4]. B. City Level: Shanghai E-government In the mid-1990s, Shanghai seized the opportunities of the global information technology development, launched the informatization construction. After nearly 20 years of development, Shanghai's key indicators of e-government has been in domestic leading position, and reached the average level of developed countries cities. An UN report shows that, Shanghai is the third best practice based on the 2005 evaluation of 81 cities around the world [5]. TABLE II shows the best practices of Shanghai egovernment in different categories [6]. These projects played an important role in serving the public, enhancing the economic function of cities, promoting the transformation of government functions, and improving urban management.

E-government was initially introduced in America by a joint report of the National Performance Review and the Government Information Technology Services Board, Access America: Reengineering Through Information Technology, issued February 3, 1997 [1]. Since then, different governmental levels have been applying Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in innovative ways to deliver services, engage citizens, and improve performance. Today, ICT is transforming the way governments function and valuable lessons can be learned from the pioneering e-government programs that have led the global phenomenon of egovernment. According to the United Nations report, China's egovernment in the world rankings are 65 in 2008 [2], which is still in the level of least developed countries, and existing a big gap compared with the advanced countries. E-government construction in China still has a long way to go. However, in China, the level of economic development is very different around different regions; and the level of information technology applications and network penetration is very uneven in different areas. So china's overall level of egovernment can not represent all China regions e-government development level. The paper argued that, because of the situation in China, the e-government development in China should not be guided by experiences in industrialized countries, but should rather be inspired by lessons learned from the region that has led the charge such as Shanghai. Shanghai, as China's most economically developed cities; And its e-government's achievements, not only in China, even is in the world's leading.

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TABLE I. Category E-service and application

CHINA E-GOVERNMENT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Description Services are the starting points of e-government. Focus on the needs of clients, support the priority Government business, improve the integrated service capabilities of government at all levels. Through computers, television, telephone and other means, extend the service to communities and villages, benefiting all people. Collecting and updating information Information public and sharing Basic information resource development and utilization Support decision-making, public services The establishment of national e-government network Set up the government information resources category system and interchange system Set up information security infrastructure Carry out E-Government Act to research Push to amend the e-government relevant laws and regulations Innovative e-government construction mode

E-government service channels

Field Service window Government call center Government portal Civil servant portal

Application (G2C G2B G2G) Application components

Portal supporting platform Certificate authority platform Information interchanging platform Basic services platform

Government information resource development and utilization IT infrastructure Laws and regulations Standardization System Management system TABLE II.

Information resources
Government information resource catalog
Database Database Database Database

IT infrastructure
BEST PRACTICES OF SHANGHAI E-GOVERNMENT

Practices of G2C (Government to Citizen)

"One Card" (social security card, public transport cards, Bank cards) "School TONG" "public mailbox" "pay pass" Community Information Court Grid community Customs clearance platform Enterprise Information Demonstration Project Improve the information level of traditional Completion of a number of key business applications Build unified e-government network "China Shanghai" government portal Take the lead in government information public in China Government information-sharing at population, corporate, and geographic field urban service hotline 12319 Shape the new model of urban grid management

Figure 1. E-government general framework of district level in Shanghai

"universal coverage, security controlled", to provide support for e-government construction. B. Government Information Resources: The Core of Egovernment Government information resources include business information resources, basic information resources, subject information resources, and so on. Because of the large number of government information resources, its necessary to use Government information resource catalog to provide standards and norms to collect, update, and share information, and set up a number of government information resource database. The management, development, utilization, integration, sharing, and interchanging of government information resources will provide the government, enterprises and the public for information services. C. Application Components: The Support of E-government Application components consist of portal supporting platform, certificate authorization platform, information interchange platform and basic services platform. Application components primarily provide technical components for the development of application. It realizes the business-unrelated requirements. The application components describe common business component, application patterns, and service patterns. It focuses on how to support business and performance objectives. It serves to identify and classify horizontal and vertical service components supporting agencies and their IT investments and assets [8].

Practices of G2B (Government to Business)

Practices of (Government Government)

G2G to

III.

E-GOVERNMENT GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF DISTRICT LEVEL IN SHANGHAI

With the development of Shanghai e-government, the problems of horizontal and vertical information sharing are becoming more and more serious. In order to solve such problems and to promote information sharing and operational coordination, e-government general framework of district level in Shanghai was presented (shown as Fig. 1) [7]. The framework consists of seven parts: A. IT Infrastructure: The foundation of E-government IT infrastructure system includes network infrastructure, hardware and system software and other infrastructure. The goal is to form a government network system which is

D. Application System: The Achievement of E-government According to different service objects, e-government application system can be categorized into G2C, G2B, and G2G systems. G2C For the public, to support the governments core business management and service functions in the field of population. Include social security (Labor and Employment, Home Relief, etc.), social stability (integrated governance, letters, etc.), social development (family planning, culture, education, health, etc.), community service, and so on. G2B For the corporate, to support the governments core business management and service functions in the corporate field. Include corporate joint examination and approval, government united regulation, investment, corporate credit management, and so on. G2G For government staff and leadership, to support Collaborative office, city management, the macro decisionmaking, as well as manage government staff, fund, and material resources. E. Service Channels: The Front-end of E-government Service channels mainly include: field services window, government portal, government call center, civil servant portal. The goal of service channels is to integrate the businesses and public service front-end systems and channels, and provide integrated services for enterprises and citizens with the help of IT. F. Security and Management System: The Guarantee of Egovernment Security and management system use appropriate safety management strategy and through a variety of technical and management tools, from different levels to ensure that information construction and system operation. IV. A CASE STUDY OF SHANGHAIS DISTRICT EGOVERNMENT

Information sharing library and interchanging platform which cover a population of 807,800 and is a total of 213 data indicators, was built by Huangpu District Information Committee on the basis of database distributed in the public security, labor protection, and civil affairs department and other eight departments. Collaborative applications Based on district-level population databases, social assistance one-window" service system was developed. It can deal with the businesses such as basic living allowances security, low-cost housing, medical assistance, such as 17 businesses in 13 district-level department. And this application has been applied in the whole district. 2) G2C E-government practices in Songjiang District: corprate field Information sharing A unified district-level basic corporate information library and information interchanging platform at district level was formed. It include 150, 000 enterprises data, involving enterprises basic information and administrative license information from District Trade and Industry Bureau, Inland Revenue Department, the Quality Supervision Bureau, the Food and Drug Supervision Bureau, Public Security, and Safety Production Supervision Bureau. Collaborative applications Based on enterprise information database, collaborative supervision and services such as parallel examination and approval, the joint annual inspection, license collaborative monitoring, consolidated supervision, and other 6 functions were realized. For example, after the adoption of parallel approval, setting up an enterprise has been reduced from one or several months to 7 days. With the consolidated supervision system, once a department found an offense beyond the scope of the its function, information interexchange platform can be used to send related information to the right department; So that a single law enforcement and a single point coverage were changed into a joint law enforcement and regulatory coordination. 3) G2G E-government practices in Xuhui District: geographic field Information sharing GIS basic database and information interexchange platform were formed, including the widespread sharing of geospatial data in 30 layers and a remote sensing image data layers, as well as six professional geospatial data layers. Collaborative applications The GIS platform supports the reunification of the 22 special operations, avoiding a number of separate building GIS systems. At the same time, it saved money at least 3,000 million RMB. Take land reserve management operations as an example, by sharing the basic geographic, land ownership and land types information of 16 departments. Compared with traditional methods of work, accounting for a plot of land

In this section, three cases of E-Government practices in Shanghai are illustrated: Huangpu District, Songjiang District and Xuhui District. As of 2006, e-government construction based on government information resource catalog and interchanging system has made great achievements in Huangpu District, Songjiang District, Xuhui District, respectively, at population, corporate, and geographic field. These egovernment projects promote the sharing of government information resources. A. Practices 1) G2B E-government practices in Huangpu District: population field Information sharing

acquisition costs, is only 2-5 staff people (originally to be 1020 people), funding for job to be 10-20 million (originally to be 30-50 million), error rate reduced to 2 percent from 1 percent. B. Discussion Based on the above three cases, at the population, corporate and geographic areas, determining the index system of information sharing, on the basis of unified interexchange platform and library, planning district-level information systems, will promote the system and application integration, and promote inter-departmental information sharing and operational coordination and enhance the government's market supervision, social management and public service capabilities. To enhance the region e-government effectiveness, it is necessary to focus on the services that reflect the needs of the grassroots and the masses. Public convenience and back-office applications integration degree has become the main contents of a worldwide evaluation for the e-government effectiveness. Information sharing plays an important role in above three cases, but also encountered problems such as poor connectivity information platform, and relevant laws and regulations are imperfect. In order to achieve information interoperation, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of IT infrastructure. At the initial stage of e-government, developing systems separately brought a duplicate investment, information silo and so on. The above three cases, the information systems were developed and managed by a third party, and government departments were merely users. This mode, not only reduced cost greatly, but also sped up development and deployment of e-government, also good in promoting information sharing and business collaboration. From this we can draw, speed up information sharing, and achieve cross-sectoral collaboration, it is necessary to actively advocate "use, but not own" concept, breaking the tradition of self-occupied and self-management approach. V. CONCLUSIONS

and improve unified district-level information exchange platform. (4) Create more inter-departmental collaborate applications based on information resources data warehouse and information exchange platform to optimize the administrative services. (5) Establish a set of e-government information sharing and management standards, to form a management mechanism of information collection, exchange, share, and maintenance. Based on the existing research and industry reports on egovernment, we discussed the development of China and Shanghai e-government practices and conducted a cross-district comparison of current e-government practices in Shanghai, particularly the Huangpu District, Songjiang District and Xuhui District of Shanghai. We hope that through the Shanghai egovernment best practices research, it will provide other parts of China for a useful reference on e-government.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This research was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China under grant 08CTQ012, the Special Research Fund for Young Teacher in University of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission China under grant B.37-0104-07-004, and the Innovation Fund of Shanghai University China under grant A.10-0104-07-414. REFERENCES
[1] Office of the Vice President, Access America: Reengineering Through Information Technology: Report of the National Performance Review and the Government Information Technology Services Board. Washington: GPO, 1997. UNPAN, United Nations e-Government Survey 2008, http://www.unpan.org/egovernment.asp. 2008. China Information Leading Group, Guidance of China's e-government construction. 2002. China Information Leading Group, The overall framework of national e-government. 2006. UNPAN, Digital Governance in Municipalities Worldwide 2005, http://www.unpan.org/egovernment.asp. 2005. Shanghai Municipal People's Government, "Eleventh Five-Year Plan of Shanghai economy and society information ". 2007. Shanghai Municipal Informatization Commission, Overall technical framework guidelines for Shanghais districts e-government.. 2006. OMB, FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document Version 2.3, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/documents/FEA_CRM_v23_Fina l_Oct_2007.pdf. 2007. LIU Yinbin, LI Hongbo, Research on Methodology of Global-Design for E-Government[J]. Journal of Computational Information Systems, 2009, 5(2): 637-645.

[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

The studies have made it clear that, an e-government general framework should be sufficiently considered when implementing e-government. So the global-design for egovernment is necessary [9]. During the construction of China E-government, in order to realize systems integration of different government departments, it is important to solve the problems of horizontal and vertical information sharing: (1) Set up information sharing index systems to meet the demand for inter-departmental business collaboration. (2) Build and improve information resources data warehouse at district-level group. (3) Construct

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