introducing the need for a domain model in public service provision (psp) egovernment systems

University of Macedonia

© Information Systems Laboratory ICDIM, London, 13 Nov 2008

Introducing the need for a Domain Model in Public Service Provision (PSP) eGovernment Systems

Efthimios Tambouris,

CERTH/ITI and University of Macedonia,

Thessaloniki, Greece

[email protected]


Information Systems Laboratory http://islab.uom.gr 2

Contents

Rational and Objectives

PSP, Application and Business Domain Modeling

Survey of Standardisation efforts and EU Research Projects

Towards Introducing a PSP Domain Model

Conclusions and Future Work



Rationale

Electronic Government (eGov) aims, amongst others, to improve the

quality of Public Service Provision (PSP).

This has led to the development of numerous web-based information

systems for providing online public services (henceforth referred to as

Public Service Provision (PSP) eGov systems).

These systems are often developed using different technologies.

Most importantly, they are based on different underlying

assumptions and models for PSP.

As a result, they are often not interoperable.

The guidelines provided by many countries in terms of eGov

Interoperability Frameworks resolved most problems at the technical

level but not at the organisational or semantic.



Research Questions

In this paper, we investigate the role of a domain model for Public

Service Provision.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the implications

from the introduction of a PSP domain model in the relevant

activities.

More specific objectives includes:

– (a) to review relevant standardization bodies in search for a universal

domain model for PSP;

– (b) to survey EU co-funded eGovernment research projects in order to

understand the role of a PSP domain model in research PSP eGov

systems development; and

– (c) to present the main PSP stakeholders and activities and illustrate how

these will be influenced with the introduction of a value chain model as

well as to illustrate the advantages and challenges of its introduction.



Contents








PSP Main Stakeholders and Activities

Develop

legislation

for PSP

Procure PSP

eGov system

Develop PSP

eGov system

Use PSP

eGov system

PoliticianPublic

ServantEnd-User

ICT

Industry

Public

ServantConsultant

Lawmaker Procurer Developer User



Business and Application Domain Modeling

The development of an Information System (IS) in a “business”

domain (e.g. banking, public sector provision etc) is based on an

understanding of that domain and the users’ requirements

The analysis and design models that are normally constructed in the

development process, constitute IS or application domain models

These however are rarely models for the whole business domain as

the requirements of an IS are very specific

A business domain model (or simply domain model) is a

representation of a business area and not a specific IS in that area

Having a business domain model eliminates the need for developing

from scratch an application domain model as the former can be re-

used and customised to meet the needs of the latter

Hence domain models are particularly meaningful in complex areas

where many IS will be developed



Contents








A Survey of Standardization and Other Relevant Initiatives

The OASIS eGovernment Technical Committee (www.oasis-

open.org/committees/egov/)

– worked towards adoption of XML, eBXML and OASIS standards to the

eGovernment domain.

The CEN MMI-DC Working Group

– work towards the harmonization of eGovernment metadata standards.

The CEN eGovernment Focus Group

– has produced a simple public service model which however needs to be

substantially improved before widely adopted, as indicated in the discussions that

took place following its introduction.

The W3C eGovernment Interest Group (www.w3.org/2007/eGov/)

– was recently formulated but there are no visible results yet.

In summary, the interest of standardization bodies on eGovernment has only

recently emerged and thus it is expected that there will be a long way before a

solid public service model is proposed and widely accepted.



A Survey of European Research Projects

The main research questions of our survey were the following:

1. Is the construction of a PSP domain model a strategic objective for the projects?

2. Are the resulting PSP domain models similar or significantly differ?

3. What are the methods used to construct and thereafter promote the relevant domain models?

Projects identified and surveyed:

– FP5 IST eGov,

– FP5 IST SmartGov,

– FP5 IST EU-Publi.com,

– FP6 IST OntoGov (www.ontogov.com),

– FP6 IST TerreGov (www.terregov.eupm.net),

– FP6 IST DIP (dip.semanticweb.org),

– FP6 IST FIT (www.fit-project.org),

– FP6 IST Acceess-eGov (www.accessegov.org),

– FP6 IST OneStopGov (www.onestopgov-project.org), and

– FP6 IST SemanticGov (www.semantic-gov.org).



Is the construction of a PSP domain model a strategic objective?

No single project has as a strategic objective the construction of a PSP domain model. The closest is SemanticGov which mentions as an objective “public administration domain analysis and modeling”

All aim to develop an application domain model and not a business (Public Service Provision) domain model. A notable exception is GEA (developed within EU-Publi.com and SemanticGov)

This is due to the priority of the EU towards innovation through technological advance rather than domain understanding.

At the same time, the cross-project collaboration mechanisms were not flexible enough to enable dynamic collaboration between projects with similar objectives to maximize efficient use of resources and impact.

In summary, both the researchers and the EU (as a co-funding organization) did not consider domain models in eGovernment as a strategic research priority.



Are the resulting PSP domain models similar or significantly differ?

All projects developed application domain models in the domain of

Public Service Provision (PSP)

An analysis of the relevant models suggests:

1. Constructing a domain model for PSP is a non-trivial task. Some of the

proposed models have a large number of entities and relationships and

are still considered non complete by their authors.

2. Different projects are arriving to similar but not identical public service

models. The reason for this diversion is probably the complexity of the

field but is also related to the method these models were developed

which is also related to the purpose of the model construction.

3. The field of PSP domain modeling is still open for further research.

There is no single model to claim that is provides a comprehensive and

complete picture of the whole domain.



What are the methods used to construct and thereafter promote the relevant domain models?

These projects follow classical steps in software engineering, i.e.

requirements elicitation, analysis, design and implementation

However, requirements elicitation is based on the needs of a small

number of Public Authorities (normally consortium partners)

No wider communities are consulted in the process

This resulting application domain models are subsets of the wider

Public Service Provision domain model



Contents









Develop

legislation

for PSP

Procure PSP

eGov system

Develop PSP

eGov system

Use PSP

eGov system

PoliticianPublic

ServantEnd-User

ICT

Industry

Public

ServantConsultant

PSP Domain Knowledge

Template for

PSP legilsation

PSP

Diagrams

PSP Patterns,

Libraries etc

PSP Use

Guidelines

PSP Domain

Model



Advantages and Challenges

Advantages

– Reduced cost of developing PSP eGov system

– Improved software quality

– Improved users experience

– Interoperability

Challenges

– The Universal Dimension

– Lack of research methodology

– Difficulty in building consensus



Contents








Conclusions

There are considerable benefits when engineering software if a

relevant underlying business domain model exists.

This is particular true if the business domain is complex and many

Information Systems are expected to be developed in that domain.

Both these conditions are met in the case of PSP eGov systems.

A domain model for PSP could have considerable impact in the whole

industry of PSP eGov systems.

The construction and universal adoption of such model has the

potential to:

– reduce development costs,

– increase systems quality and

– facilitate interoperability between others.



Conclusions

At the same time, our work revealed that no such model is proposed by the

standardization bodies or developed within EU co-funded research projects.

In this work, we argued for the need for conducting a PSP domain model.

We believe this is a research task which however should involve all

stakeholders in order to have chances to succeed.

The value chain of public service provision involves various stakeholders from

politicians (who develop the relevant laws dictating all details of public service

provision), public servants (who operationalise the laws), their consultants

(who procure the relevant eGov systems), the industry (who develop the

eGov systems), other public authorities (who link their PSP eGov systems)

and the end-users (who finally use the systems).

Last but not least standardization bodies who will ensure that the domain

model is not only constructed but also promoted.

We believe that all stakeholders can have substantial benefits from the

introduction of such model.



Future Work

Despite the significant research effort needed for the construction and

adoption of a PSP domain model, we believe that its introduction is

not an end-stage but rather a beginning stage for additional

research.

Some examples follow.

– Conceptual research will be needed e.g. towards a domain model for the

whole Public Administration.

– Technological research will be needed towards semi-automated

systems that link the law production stage with the final implemented

eGov system.

– Information systems research will be needed to understand the adoption

(or lack of) of the relevant eGov systems.

– Process modeling and re-engineering research will be needed in

optimizing the relevant workflows.



Thank you for your attention!!

Themis Tambouris

[email protected]

http://islab.uom.gr

introducing the need for a domain model in public service provision (psp) egovernment systems

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