Implementing E-government Processes Distribution with Transparency using Multi-Agent Systems

Abstract

E-government processes need transparency in order to allow citizens to understand and access valuable information in a democratic society. In this article, we present a multi-agent system (MAS) to process distribution that implements transparency characteristics. We demonstrate that the MAS paradigm stresses the organizational operating environment and the information systems alignment, being adequate to maintain process transparency. An agent-oriented software development methodology is used to define the soft goals of agents according to Tropos. The MAS architecture and the prototype were defined, implemented and illustrated with lawsuits distribution data from the Superior Labor Court of Brazil.

Transparency in Information Systems

“…When someone wants to know why lawsuit X was distributed to Minister Y, it is necessary to audit the database, which is time consuming and mostly provides little explanation. In [Albuquerque et al 2016] and [Albuquerque et al 2017] the authors address the problem of how to implement transparency characteristics in e-gov through the use of MAS, based on the research of Cappelli (2009) and Leite and Cappelli (2010). The authors advocate that agent-oriented characteristics such as sociality, proactivity, communicative and cooperative abilities have a natural relation with transparency concepts which might help to materialize transparency in IS.…”

Towards Auditability Requirements Specification using an Agent-based Approach

“…We relied on the auditability operationalization proposed in the Transparency SIG [2]. This paper is an evolution of [5] [6], where transparency characteristics related to understandability and an early perception of auditability were designed and tested in a prototype.…”