Addressing new public challenges such as the one-stop government and improved service quality, we introduce serviceflow management as a generic concept to coordinate cross-organizational e-government processes. Aiming at a serviceflow management infrastructure for networked service providers we present an XML-based process representation of serviceflows as well as a four layered IT architecture for realizing serviceflow related applications.The research presented is exemplified by the case of citizens applying for postal vote through the web portal of the city state of Hamburg (Germany). The discussion includes how XML-based process representations for egovernment serviceflows enable governmental actors to enter the network age without high investment burdens, but with many options for creating the service-oriented government of the future. 74 E.g. KPMG (2000, 21) states "in the public sector (...) the challenge is to manage customer relationships through a single channel". 7 5 E.g. the "direct citizen information service" of Hamburg, DIBIS, http://dibis.dufa.de
With Serviceflow Management we put the service nature of inter-organizational processes into the center of modeling, design and architectures. The underlying conceptual distinction between the serviceflow, the portion of the process where the customer's concern is evaluated and cared for, and background processes, guides in (1) providers as well as designers to focus on service design and delivery, (2) to provide support for serviceflows with enhanced flexibility and service configuration and (3) to design service points where service workers and customers "meet". By this, the original workflow metaphor, which directs the design of process support from a mass production point of view, is questioned and replaced by a more suitable concept, which considers social and quality aspects in service delivery. Instance-based XML process representations and generic components and architectures for their exchange and for the provision of service tasks are presented, discussed, and exemplified by an e-health process.
Many authorities have started to use web sites to provide services based on transactions. The guiding vision is often a process portal for citizens that provides access to the countless variations of administrative processes (transactions). But connecting the portal's functionality with internal IT supported processes of the various administrative units is not only a technical challenge. As expectations towards complex online services rise, innovations in process automation need to be combined with maintaining and/or enhancing service quality.In this paper, we follow service as the guiding vision and try to explore what it needs to enable the service providers (governmental institutions and private partners) to fulfill their mission, i.e. the satisfaction of citizens' needs and concerns. Based on an e-service implementation in the city state of Hamburg, we suggest the serviceflow management approach to model patterns of consecutive service points as well as to represent individual process information using XML. Focussing on transparency for citizens, flexibility for staff, and synergy within provider networks, we claim that reaching a serviceflow management agreement improves the service quality beyond delivering e-government functions.
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