Department for International Development

eBusiness Strategy

July 2001

Contents

Glossary

Foreword

Section

1 Executive summary 1 2 DFID’s strategic context and business drivers 5 3 Customer segmentation 10 4 Types of interaction 12 5 Programme planning and implementation 22 6 Risk assessment 29 7 The structural framework 32

Appendix

Appendix 1: DFID's Public Service and Service Delivery Agreements Appendix 2: Detail of DFID's draft customer segmentation tree Appendix 3: Draft Knowledge and Communications Committee Terms of Reference Appendix 4: Definitions of eBusiness applications Appendix 5: Details of DFID’s eBusiness programs Appendix 6: Case studies Appendix 7: The ICT Group and its initiatives Appendix 8: The ways in which ICT and eBusiness is helping DFID deliver its IDTs Appendix 9: DFID’s original analysis of types of customer interactions Appendix 10: Contributors and consultees for this report Appendix 11: Electronic Service Delivery

Glossary

The following abbreviations and acronyms are used in this document:

Departmental abbreviations and acronyms

AD Accounts Department

CHAD Conflict and Humanitarian Aid Department

DPD Development Policy Department

DFID Department for International Development

Eval Evaluation Department

Fin Dept Finance Department

HRD Human Resource Division

IAR Information Asset Register

IDML International Development Markup Language

KCC Knowledge and Communications Committee

KPU Knowledge Policy Unit

Inf Dept Information Department

ISSD Information Systems and Services Department

IUDD Infrastructure and Urban Development Division

MIS Management Information System

MTF Medium Term Framework

OGC Office of Government Commerce

OPD Overseas Pensions Department

PO Private Office

Proc Dept Procurement Department

SDD Social Development Department

Stats Dept Statistics Department

TMG Top Management Group

Other abbreviations and acronyms

AIDA Accessible Information on Development Activities

CMIS Contracts Management Information System

CRM Customer Relationship Management

DOT force Digital Opportunity Task Force

ECOSOC Economic and Social Council (of UN)

EDM Electronic Document Management

eGIF eGovernment Interoperability Framework

ERM Electronic Records Management

FOI Freedom of Information Act

FICHE Fund for International Co-operation in Higher Education

GDNet Global Development Network

GSI Government Secure Intranet

HMT Her Majesty’s Treasury

ISDM Information Systems Development Methodology

KN Knowledge Network

OeE Office of the eEnvoy

PEP Public Enquiry Point

PRINCE Projects In Controlled Environments

PRISM Project Reporting and Information System for Management

PSA Public Service Agreement

SDA Service Delivery Agreement

SDP Service Delivery Partner

VPN Virtual Private Network

XML eXtensible Markup Language

Foreword

DFID’s e-Business Strategy

DFID is undergoing major changes in the nature of its business as it embraces the challenges set out in the 1997 and 2000 International Development White Papers. The aim of eliminating global poverty set out in these and DFID’s Public Service Agreement is ambitious and requires us to work in new ways, both within the Department, in partnership with the international community, across Whitehall, with Civil Society, the Private Sector and with the poor in developing countries.

The use of information and communication technologies is essential to us achieving these goals, not least through enabling effective communication, policy formulation, lesson learning and knowledge sharing within the Department and with our partners. The role of ICT in the development process more widely is also important and is the subject of a separate study.

This document sets out how DFID is introducing eBusiness solutions and how we will make use of ICT in responding to these challenges. It supports the vision of DFID as a decentralised and globally dispersed network where we can maintain continuous dialogue with our developing country stakeholders, develop relationships and achieve a better understanding of the issues and environment in which we are working, yet rely on common eBusiness and communications services to ensure efficient support and genuine sharing of skills and experience.

Richard Manning DFID eChampion

1 Executive summary

Introduction

This document sets out the e-Business Strategy of the Department for International Development (“DFID”). It has been created in order to define an overall context for the implementation of eBusiness processes and technology in DFID as part of the implementation of the eGovernment strategy within the Modernising Government agenda. The report sets out how DFID intends to meet the challenge of providing eBusiness services to its wide range of service delivery partners and customers both in the UK and abroad.

This is our second report and it builds on the information supplied in the last submission in the light of the Office of the eEnvoy’s (“OeE’s”) comments on the first report. This report draws on a number of existing strategy documents including DFID’s Public Service Agreement (“PSA”) and Service Delivery Agreement (“SDA”), the International Development Targets (“IDTs”), the Modernising Government White Paper and the 1997 and 2000 International Development White Papers. The document is complementary with the Departmental Investment Strategy, the Medium Term Framework, the Strategic Framework for Information Management and the IS Architecture Values Statement.

The last report concentrated on DFID’s use of eBusiness products and channels in its indirect interactions with customers. This report is similarly focused on projects built around DFID’s interaction with partners and with the UK citizen (although for DFID this is generally limited to providing information as a transparent and accountable government department). However DFID is also working with partners to use ICT to deliver services directly to the poor in developing countries in wide-ranging and innovative ways - an overview of these direct initiatives is given in Appendix 7.

DFID’s vision and objectives

DFID’s vision remains the reduction and eventual elimination of poverty in poorer countries. It seeks to achieve this through the promotion of sustainable development through co-ordinated UK and international action.

In the delivery of this vision DFID does not undertake a large number of transactions with UK citizens. However, its interaction with partners is extensive and essential to the delivery of its services. Therefore, DFID’s eBusiness strategy extends to the co-ordination of all programmes and applications which enable it to achieve its objectives more efficiently and effectively.

This revised report still supports the finding that the applications that can realise the greatest benefit in terms of DFID’s ability to achieve its objectives are:

• Knowledge Management; and

• Electronic Communications.

Therefore, DFID sees the key benefit of implementing this eBusiness strategy as the faster and more efficient dissemination of knowledge and information to better facilitate the reduction of poverty in poorer countries. The progress made since the last report in the Knowledge Management programme and in eCommunications, particularly the newly redesigned intranet and the infrastructure projects, bears testament to this strategic focus.

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Delivery of DFID’s eBusiness programme

DFID is managing a range of programmes to deliver its eBusiness vision and objectives. The 8 key programmes that have a combined capital expenditure budget of £22.8 million, are shown below (for more details see Section 5).

• EDRM: Electronic Document and Record Management;

• PRISM: system for recording, analysing and disseminating project performance information;

• MIS Rewrite: redesign of the management information system and the other systems it feeds into;

• CMIS & eTendering: system to manage the contracting and tendering process electronically;

• InSight & Knowledge Management: development of intranet and DFID knowledge management processes;

• HR & Payroll System: system to allow electronic recruitment, training, scheduling and integrated payroll;

• Satellite Links: use of satellite links to ensure access to internal systems for all overseas staff; and

• Assist 2000: new desktop PC and software upgrade to MS Office 2000 for all DFID staff.

Since the last report there has been significant progress on many of these projects, including:

• The installation of eTendering business applications and DFID’s participation in the 3 month OGC eTendering pilot;

• The roll out of PRISM as a web based application on all employees’ desktops;

• The selection of an eHR system and the commencement of its implementation; and

• The launch of InSight – DFIDs second generation intranet.

DFID recognises that effective data management is fundamental to meeting the business needs of the Department and that it underpins the success of all its eBusiness projects. Therefore, much work has been put into developing processes for managing documents and records more effectively, since the objectives of EDRM projects go beyond meeting the PRO targets for electronic storage and transfer of records. A key milestone has been the production and approval by the (then) IMC of the Electronic Records Corporate Policy document in April 2001. In addition, a project team is being set up with a full time manager and the aim is for an EDRM solution to be piloted in 2002 in both a UK and overseas office.

DFID is aware that there are potential design, delivery and co-ordination risks when managing a portfolio of programmes such as this. To mitigate against these (and other risks), DFID is finalising the Information Systems Development Methodology (“ISDM”) as a framework for effective programme and project management (see Section 5 for more details). Training is being offered to selected personnel to ensure the consistent implementation of this framework.

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Joined up working

In developing these supporting eBusiness projects DFID has been eager to identify where such initiatives hold cross-cutting opportunities and make use of them by collaborating with other Government departments. To this end, DFID is involved in government-wide pilot projects, for example, eTendering with the OGC.

In much of DFID’s work, the Department behaves like a knowledge management organisation for whom managing the flow of information between itself and its partners (such as the World Bank or the OECD DAC) is fundamental. Consequently DFID’s portfolio of e-projects displays a high degree of collaboration with partners both inside and outside of Government to make this information flow efficient and directed towards meeting business objectives.

Already within DFID, OGDs and international bodies form key members of communities which are being used to develop policy and build consensus. The recent Digital Opportunity Task (DOT) Force is an example where DFID is working with partners to achieve the common aim of maximising the contribution of ICT to the reduction of poverty. A range of interventions ­ from policy and regulatory frameworks to training people - will be necessary, with different aspects being supplied by government, business and Civil Society organisations in assorted combinations.

Anther example, AIDA (Accessible Information on Development Activities) uses IDML (International Development Markup Language) to integrate information from multiple sources for searching and retrieval from a single point of access. DFID is participating in the pilot to illustrate how data from multiple sources can be brought together under a common framework to facilitate information sharing (see Appendix 5).

The process of customer segmentation encourages the identification of opportunities for joined up working. Since the November 2000 submission, DFID has updated its customer segmentation analysis in line with the methodology proposed recently by the OeE. The Department expects to discuss this analysis with key OGD partners (the MoD and FCO) in July, to better understand the opportunities for joined up working

The structural framework

DFID is reviewing the internal structures and corporate governance frameworks that support the eBusiness strategy. To ensure a portfolio of eBusiness projects that display the right strategic direction the central body for the strategy’s implementation (the IMC) has been replaced by a new body, the Knowledge and Communications Committee (“KCC”) reporting directly to the Management Board. The key significance of the change is the seniority of representation on the KCC, which is now made up of heads of department and directors rather than general departmental representation and chaired by the Permanent Secretary. The KCC reports directly to the Management Board. Supporting the KCC will be focused steering committees, programme and project boards that manage projects using a standard approach and according to the priorities of the KCC.

This is not the only business change being considered by DFID. Consultants from Cranfield Management School have been commissioned to consider, amongst other things, structural issues and project prioritisation. They are due to present official findings to the KCC in July.

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Next steps

These changes represents an ongoing process of review and adjustment of the way in which DFID functions, concentrating on business process and frameworks that support a coherent strategic approach to eBusiness. The current organisational changes within DFID are being made in recognition of the integral role eBusiness has to play in the Department.

Things are changing rapidly across DFID in response to and in anticipation of changes outside the organisation. DFID foresees that the benefits of current organisational changes will be in evidence in the coming months, and expects to report further progress in the Department's next eBusiness strategy submission to the Cabinet Office.

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1997 & 2000 White Papers: Eliminating Poverty: A Challengefor the 21st Century & Making Globalisation Work for the poor

Target Strategy Papers (IDT)

Annual Plan & performance Reviews

Engaging with Partners, Programmes, projects and Technical Co-operation

Country, Institutional and Other Strategy papers

Public ServiceAgreement & Service Delivery Agreement

Policy & Resource Plans

Annual Personal Development plans

Medium Term Framework

2 DFID’s strategic context and business drivers

The context for DFID’s objectives and operations

The overarching context for DFID’s objectives and operations are set out in the 1997 White Paper 'Eliminating World Poverty: A Challenge for the 21st Century'1 and the 2000 White Paper “Eliminating World Poverty: Making Globalisation Work for the Poor”.

The central focus of these policy documents is a commitment to the international development targets of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. Other associated targets include ensuring basic health care provision and universal access to primary education by the same date.

Figure 1: DFID’s strategic context

1997 & 2000 White Papers: Eliminating Poverty: A Challenge for the 21st Century & Making Globalisation Work for the poor

Target Strategy Papers (IDT)

Annual Plan & performance Reviews

Engaging with Partners, Programmes,

Vision Statement

Strategy & Planning

Statements

Country, Institutional and Other Strategy papers

Public Service Agreement &

Service Delivery Agreement

Policy/ Strategy Organisational

Strategy Reviews & Resource Allocation

Policy & Resource Plans

Annual Personal Development plans

Operational

Medium Term Framework

projects and Technical Co-operation

Further detail on this contextual setting is provided by the International Development Targets (“IDTs”) and target strategy papers (TSPs)2. These provide milestones against which progress towards the elimination of poverty can be measured. In the 2000 White Paper, DFID has committed to work to manage globalisation in the interest of poor people, thereby creating faster progress towards the IDTs.

1 These papers are published online at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/. 2 Details are available online at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/.

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The IDTs are:

• halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015;

• universal primary education in all countries by 2015;

• demonstrated progress towards gender equality and the empowerment of women by eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005;

• reducing by two-thirds the mortality rate for infants and children under 5 and a reduction by three-quarters in maternal mortality, all by 2015;

• access through the primary healthcare system to reproductive health services for all individuals of appropriate ages as soon as possible and no later than 2015; and

• implementation of national strategies for sustainable development in all countries by 2005, so as to ensure that current trends in the loss of environmental resources are effectively reversed at both global and national levels by 2015.

It is therefore within the context of the White Paper and the IDTs that DFID’s defined its organisational Public Service Agreement (“PSA”) objectives and targets. The purpose of these targets is to measure DFID’s own contribution towards these international goals by 2003/4.

The Medium Term Framework (“MTF”) provides priorities for how DFID organises itself and deploys its resources (money, staff and knowledge) in order to maximise its impact with stakeholders. It draws from, and seeks to pull together, lessons from recent experience and suggests how DFID needs to develop further in order to contribute to an integrated and focused international development effort as effectively as possible. The MTF is due to be revised by September 2001.

DFID’s vision and objectives

DFID’s vision, as defined in its PSA, is the reduction and eventual elimination of poverty in poorer countries.

The PSA describes how DFID aims to achieve this vision through the promotion of sustainable development and in particular by:

• building development partnerships with poorer countries;

• working more closely with the private and voluntary sectors, and the research community;

• working with and influencing multilateral development organisations;

• working with other Government Departments to promote consistent policies affecting poorer countries; and

• using our knowledge and resources effectively and efficiently.

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These aims and objectives have been defined in more detail in DFID’s PSA and Service Delivery Agreement (“SDA”)3.

As Figure 2 shows, the delivery of the PSA objectives is being done through two main methods of customer interaction:

• indirectly to customers via Partners where DFID’s role of influencing international development policy, acting as a contract manager and fund provider, and facilitating policy dialogue; and

• directly to customers through existing channels (although this is a very small proportion of the total interaction)

Figure 2: Delivery channels for DFID’s objectives4

Aims (PSA)

Services (SDA)

Partners Customers

The elimination • Effective development • DFID departments • UK citizens of world poverty assistance (Multilateral & • UK OGDs and

bilateral donors) • UK Parliament organisations • Sustainable development • Contractors/ • Poor people • Reduction in unsustainable suppliers and

debt • Civil Society, North organisations • Health promotion including and South in developing

HIV action • Governments in countries • Conflict prevention developing • Improved education countries • Humanitarian assistance • Multilateral • Global economy integration institutions

(trade & enterprise) • Bilateral donors • Building stronger

constituency for development

Indirect / supporting interaction via Partners

Direct interaction with Customer on the ground

How eBusiness can assist in delivering DFID’s vision

The acquisition, analysis and communication of information and knowledge are central to the effective implementation of DFID’s vision. DFID has historically used a variety of methods to collect and analyse information. This information has then been disseminated through a range of channels, depending on the partners’ needs, facilities and IT capabilities.

3 Not all DFID’s activities are captured in the PSA e.g. work with middle income countries and conflict and humanitarian

affairs. Copies of DFID’s PSA and SDA is available online at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/public/who/who_frame.html. A copy of

DFID’s PSA and related SDA is provided in Appendix 1. 4 Greater details on the analysis that support this figure are provided in sections 3 (customer segmentation) and 4 (types of

interaction) respectively.

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Now“Hubs & spokes”

Future vision“Seamless global web”

How to get there

As Figure 3 shows, the development of eBusiness products and channels provides other valued means to interact with stakeholders, both directly and indirectly (through the Department’s work with service delivery partners). In the future DFID sees that eBusiness products and channels will support the organisation as it increasingly decentralises and opens more offices in the locations where it provides assistance. The advantage of being located in country (the ability to have a continuous dialogue with our stakeholders, develop relationships and achieve a better understanding of the issues and environment in which we are working) combined with an increase in the scale of our development assistance to many countries has materially shifted the perceived cost-benefit calculation in favour of country offices. Our eBusiness products have already started facilitating this organisational shift and will continue to do so by improving communication both between Headquarters and overseas offices and also laterally between regional departments. The model of communication and organisation is thus shifting from a central hub with satellites to a seamless global web where knowledge is exchanged in all directions (both internally and with partners). DFID welcomes this opportunity and is investigating ways of using eBusiness products and channels to manage the change within the Department and to best serve its stakeholders.

Figure 3: The role of eBusiness in delivering DFID’s vision

Now “Hubs & spokes”

Future vision “Seamless global web”

eBusiness strategy

How to get there

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Of the two forms of customer interaction shown at the bottom of Figure 2, DFID’s recent use of eBusiness products and channels to date has been more focused on indirect interactions with customers through partners, managing agents, suppliers and internal DFID processes and systems5. Hence the focus of this document is on those eBusiness initiatives. However, an ICT Group has been established recently to help co-ordinate the innovative use of eBusiness products and channels in the direct delivery of DFID’s services. The role of the ICT Group, its forward plan and the related eBusiness projects that are already under way, are discussed in more detail in Appendix 7. Analysis already performed by the ICT Group on how eBusiness can assist DFID deliver its IDTs is also provided. DFID has initiated a study to assess the most appropriate strategy for DFID to use ICT to achieve its development goals. The study will be completed at the end of September 2001.

This document describes DFID’s strategy for using eBusiness to achieve its vision and in particular the objectives as stated in its PSA and SDA. This document reflects the analysis and work undertaken since DFID’s first submission in October 2000. It reflects the progress made and also outlines the areas of further work required to meet its objectives.

There are some notable exceptions to this, such as Health & Population, Education and Rural Livelihoods Departments, that

have been supporting and delivering projects using ‘lower level’ forms of eBusiness products such as radio and television to

engage directly with the poor in developing countries (rather than the ‘higher level’ forms such as the internet).

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5

3 Customer segmentation

Introduction

This section describes the refined customer segmentation analysis that was undertaken by DFID in response to the developments made by OeE in this area in recent weeks. The purpose of this analysis was to enable DFID to identify, in a manner consistent with its partners, the key groups of customers and partners with whom DFID needs to interact in order to achieve its organisational objectives (as defined in its PSA).

The output from this section is then used in Section 4 to refine the types of interactions that DFID undertakes with its various partners and customers.

Output from this analysis has been discussed with OeE in June and a workshop is scheduled with FCO and MOD for the middle of July to assist in refining joined up working initiatives with these two departments.

Customer segmentation analysis

The analysis was conducted in interviews involving key business managers from a full range of DFID's departments. Details of the interviewees for the customer segmentation are provided in Appendix 10. Although the resulting segmentation is a draft form and may need to be further revised, it has proved useful in understanding the largely indirect nature of DFID’s service provision, both through conventional and eBusiness channels.

From discussions with the OeE, DFID took the definition of ‘customer’ to be:

“The ultimate recipient of a direct and tangible product, service or activity provided by a public body or one or more public bodies acting in partnership with either public or private entities.”

Figure 4: DFID's customer base

Aims (PSA)

Services (SDA)

Partners Customers

The elimination • Effective development • DFID departments • UK citizens of world poverty assistance (Multilateral & • UK OGDs and

bilateral donors) • UK Parliament organisations • Sustainable development • Contractors/ • Poor people • Reduction in unsustainable suppliers and

debt • Civil Society, North organisations • Health promotion including and South in developing

HIV action • Governments in countries • Conflict prevention developing • Improved education countries • Humanitarian assistance • Multilateral • Global economy integration institutions

(trade & enterprise) • Bilateral donors • Building stronger

constituency for development

Indirect / supporting interaction via Partners

Direct interaction with Customer on the ground

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As the figure shows, DFID identified two ultimate recipients of DFID’s services:

• UK citizens; and

• citizens from developing countries.

DFID has also identified a wide range of partners with whom DFID interacts when carrying out its business. For the purposes of analysis these have been categorised into seven groups:

• internal staff and Departments;

• governments in developing countries;

• suppliers and contractors (businesses, research institutions);

• Civil Society;

• other international development organisations (bilateral donors, multilateral institutions);

• other government departments in the UK (“OGDs”); and

• UK Parliament.

In keeping with the OeE’s methodology, a customer segmentation tree with top, high and low levels were developed to show the relationship with both partners and ultimate customers. A more detailed tree is provided in Appendix 2.

Figure 5: DFID’s customer segmentation

UK OGDs UK Parliament Civil Society Suppliers/contractors Developing cty gov.s Internat'l Development Orgs

Developing cty citizens UK citizens

The world

Top level

High level

Low level

Details of the types of interactions that DFID has with, and the services it provides to, its customers and partners are described in the next section.

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Citizens from developing countries

• Emergency assistance• Ongoing assistance on:

• Health • Education• Governance• Finance & trade issues• Infrastructure• Natural resource issues• Human development &

growth

Multilateral Agencies & Bilateral Donors

• Co-operation• Policy proposals• Information collection,

analysis, sharing & dissemination

• Funding/grant giving

Suppliers/ Contractors• Fund/grant giving• Information collection,

analysis & dissemination• Employer

UK Government departments

• Joint delivery of services (e.g. CHAD & MOD, FCO)

• Documents information• Analysis of trade policy

Governments from developing countries

• Fund/grant giving• Emergency assistance• Ongoing assistance on:

• Health • Education• Governance• Finance & trade issues• Infrastructure• Natural resource issues• Human development &

growth Pensions provider

Parliament• Parliamentary questions• Debates• Reports & evidence to select

committees• Help on foreign visits

Civil Society• Assistance in the reduction

of poverty through emergency and ongoing assistance through

• Fund/grant giving• Information collection,

analysis, dissemination & awareness raising

• Policy dialogue

DFID internal staff• Policy development &

consensus• Resource allocation• Programme management• Management of the

organisation

UK citizens• Information about

developing countries• “Accountability information• Employer• Pensions provider

4 Types of interaction

Introduction

This section describes the analysis conducted by DFID in reviewing and refining its interactions with partners and customers using the new guidelines developed by OeE in recent weeks.

DFID feels that the original classification (which used six types of customer segmentation rather than the three now proposed by OeE) is more appropriate for its internal workings. However, DFID recognises the value of defining its customer base using a method that is being used across OGDs so that opportunities for joined up working may be identified more easily.

A high level overview of DFID’s interactions with its partners and customers is shown in the figure below.

Figure 6: An overview of the types of interaction between DFID and its customers /partners

DFID

Citizens from developing countries

growth

Multilateral Agencies & Bilateral Donors

• Co -operation • Policy proposals • Information collection, analysis, sharing & dissemination

• Funding/grant giving

Suppliers/ Contractors

analysis & dissemination

UK Government departments

(e.g. CHAD & MOD, FCO)

Governments from developing countries

growth Pensions provider

Parliament

committees

Civil Society

of poverty through emergency and ongoing assistance through

analysis, dissemination & awareness raising

DFID internal staff

consensus

organisation

UK citizens

developing countries • Emergency assistance • Ongoing assistance on:

• Health • Education • Governance • Finance & trade issues • Infrastructure • Natural resource issues • Human development &

• Fund/grant giving • Information collection,

• Employer

• Joint delivery of services

• Documents information • Analysis of trade policy

• Fund/grant giving • Emergency assistance • Ongoing assistance on:

• Health • Education • Governance • Finance & trade issues • Infrastructure • Natural resource issues • Human development &

• Parliamentary questions • Debates • Reports & evidence to select

• Help on foreign visits

• Assistance in the reduction

• Fund/grant giving • Information collection,

• Policy dialogue

• Policy development &

• Resource allocation • Programme management • Management of the

• Information about

• “Accountability information • Employer • Pensions provider

Original analysis of interactions – 6 categories

For its first eBusiness strategy report, DFID conducted a conceptual analysis and defined six types of interaction:

• Policy and strategy formulation Undertaking research and analysis, the development of policy and strategy options and agreement of DFID’s detailed development policy priorities for regional and international issues.

• Policy consensus The process of discussing policy initiatives, influencing and persuading other parties to adopt consistent courses of action around agreed common objectives.

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• Resource allocation The allocation of funding and other scarce resources across the policy priorities which have been agreed.

• Programme management The management of programmes to deliver DFID’s priorities whether directly or through third parties, including evaluation and monitoring.

• Management of the organisation Conducting all of the internal processes which are necessary for the organisation to run effectively including, for example, record and document management, payroll, HR, IS support and staff appraisal and development.

• Demonstrating accountability The processes involved in being accountable to the public, Parliament, the Civil Society and central governmental structures.

Updated analysis of interactions – 3 categories

DFID then conducted an analysis to map its original types of interaction definitions to the three consolidated headings provided by OeE in discussions in June 20016. The definitions provided by OeE are:

• Infrastructure Those interactions that create the framework of rules and regulations. The relevant customers are those who derive a benefit from the presence and operation of a system but who do not interact directly with Government.

• Policy/Consultation The processes involved in the creation of policy.Relevant customers are those who are directly consulted about policy issues and formation:– all citizens through the electoral process;– specific citizens on a specific issue.

• Service delivery The processes involved in the creation of a tangible benefit, information or eService; either the giving or receiving of this tangible benefit. Relevant customers are those who are the direct recipient of a tangible benefit, information or eService.

Below the types of interaction are mapped directly from DFID’s original six to the consolidated three categories.

DFID understands that these three consolidated headings have superseded the five categories five a provided in the OeE guidance of April 2001 – namely Provide information, Collect revenue, Provide grants and benefits, Consult

and Regulate (license etc).

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6

Table 1: Mapping DFID’s interactions to the current OeE definitions7

Original definition of types of Current definition of types of interaction interaction Policy and strategy formulation Policy/Consultation Policy consensus Policy/Consultation Management of the organisation Infrastructure Resource allocation Service Delivery, Infrastructure Programme management Service Delivery, Infrastructure Demonstrating accountability Service Delivery, Infrastructure

It is clear that the categories do not map exactly. Therefore DFID undertook a fresh review, rather than attempting to simply map the old categories onto the new ones.

DFID wishes to note that there were significant difficulties in applying the new categories provided by OeE as they were not refined enough to cater for the distinct nature of DFID’s services or customer base. In particular it was difficult to analyse DFID’s relationship with partners and ultimate customers under the terms Service Delivery and Infrastructure. This is because DFID has almost no Service Delivery interactions with its final customers and if the interaction types were to refer only to final customers, much of DFID’s valued services would not be reflected. To resolve this issue, DFID has included both partners (high level customers as defined in Figure 5) and final customers (low level customers as defined in Figure 5) in both Service Delivery and Infrastructure and scored these interactions accordingly. The figure overleaf summarises this analysis.

Due to its greater refinement and the subsequent ease in its application, DFID feels that the original customer segmentation provided in its first eBusiness submission is more appropriate for its internal purposes, and will continue to use in this context8. However, DFID recognises the value of defining its customer base using a method that is being used across OGDs so that opportunities for joined up working may be identified more easily. This updated description of interactions will be used by DFID in its discussions with partners (such as FCO and MOD in July).

7 Some of the original definitions do not map exactly onto the new types of interaction. This is because the ultimate recipient

of much of DFID’s services are citizens in developing countries but their interaction with DFID is indirect and so aspects of

these interactions fall under Infrastructure. However, to deliver the services (either through conventional or eBusiness

channels) , DFID interacts directly with SDPs and so other aspects of these interactions fall under Service Delivery. 8 A copy of DFID’s original analysis of interactions mapped to customer segments is provided in Appendix 9.

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Table 2: Customer/partner interactions

very high intensity of interaction; high intensity of interaction; medium intensity of interaction low intensity of interaction

Customer /Partner Policy/Consultation Service Delivery Infrastructure Comment UK citizens • Interactions between DFID and the UK citizen

occur through a number of media. Many of these interactions are generated by citizens with a specific academic or personal interest in development issues.

• DFID’s redesigned website will help raise awareness of development issues with UK public.

• Participation in the Pilot Publications Scheme under FOI will increase UK citizens’ access to government information, as will development of the Public Enquiry Point (“PEP”).

• UK citizens’ interaction with DFID is mainly Infrastructural as they will receive indirect benefits from DFID’s actions (indirect economic gains or ethical satisfaction)

Citizens from developing countries

• DFID’s direct interaction with these citizens is currently minimal - hence low Service Delivery but high Infrastructure interactions.

• In line with the priority to bring in southern voices into policy formation, DFID is increasing its drive towards locating offices in developing countries. As a result, direct consultation at a micro level is increasing.

• Channels of communication with citizens in developing countries are somewhat limited. Large-scale e-interaction is not yet possible but the PEP has received some email enquiries from southern countries.

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Customer /Partner Policy/Consultation Service Delivery Infrastructure Comment Internal staff and Departments

• Most UK-based staff have access to the full range of access channels. These channels have recently been improved with the relaunch of the intranet site (inSight).

• Delivery channels for staff based abroad have significantly improved in recent years. Increasingly staff are being based abroad and DFID is working jointly with FCO to address some of the communications infrastructure issues that have occurred.

UK OGDs • DFID consult with OGDs on many policy issues, and work closely with MOD and FCO on Conflict and Humanitarian Aid issues.

• There is interaction with OGDs, in particular FCO and DTI on ICT issues.

• DFID’s shows accountability and effective use of delegated funds to HMT.

UK Parliament • The key focus of interaction with Parliament is under policy/consultation to demonstrate accountability and effective and efficient utilisation of delegated funds.

Multilateral Agencies & Bilateral Donors

• The key focus of interactions with these organisations is at a strategic, funding and consensus building level. Interactions are concentrated on ensuring effective cross­organisational working to achieve similar international development objectives.

• It assumed that most organisations will have access to a full range of service delivery channels but organisations based in developing countries may have technical infrastructure difficulties.

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Customer /Partner Policy/Consultation Service Delivery Infrastructure Comment Suppliers/ Contractors • Interactions focus on those relating to the

supply of services and obtaining payment from DFID to deliver those services.

• In carrying out these tasks suppliers are involved in gathering information which feeds into the other types of interaction.

• It is assumed that most suppliers have access to a full range of channels but those based in developing countries may have technical infrastructure difficulties. DFID accepts that the technology access varies by organisation.

Civil Society • Interactions with these organisations focus on strategy, funding and consensus building. They are concentrated on ensuring effective cross­organisational working to achieve similar international development objectives.

• It assumed that most organisations will have access to a full range of channels but organisations based overseas may have technical infrastructure difficulties.

• Interactions by Academic Institutions feature highly in Policy/Consultation.

Governments from developing countries

• The primary focus of interaction is to influence policy to achieve DFID's objectives and to carry out needs assessment in consultation with these Governments to inform policy formulation.

• Channels of communication are limited, but developing. Central administrations may have web access but this may not be the case for local administrations.

DFID 17

This revised analysis reinforces the DFID view that it interacts in a mostly indirect way with its ultimate customers (UK citizens and citizens from developing countries), but interacts directly with its partners to deliver those services to final customers.

The interaction with the highest intensity is policy formulation and consultation, which is carried out across a range of partners and stakeholders. Next are the interactions that relate to Infrastructure. Although, service delivery (via the partners) shows the lowest level of interactions, it is still clearly important in the delivery of services across a range of partners including suppliers, contractors and Civil Society.

The comments in the above tables show that virtually all the key customer/ stakeholder/ partner groups have access to most of the key channels of service delivery. Exceptions include organisations and individuals based in developing countries where access to a variety of service delivery channels can be limited. Sections 5 (Programme planning) and 6 (Risk analysis) outline how this issue is being addressed.

Updated analysis of services and eBusiness applications

There is a wide range of eBusiness applications DFID could use to facilitate the interactions described above. Given the revision in types of interaction, it was felt appropriate to revisit the types of eBusiness applications that DFID has undertaken to review the priorities given to each.

For the purpose of this analysis, the eBusiness applications have been classified as:

• information and knowledge management (including Electronic Document Management (EDM), Electronic Records Management (ERM) and collaborative technologies);

• customer relationship management (CRM);

• eProcurement;

• eFinance;

• eHR;

• eCommunications;

• eOperations management; and

• eInfrastructure.

Full definitions of these applications are available in Appendix 4.

These applications were mapped onto the three types of customer interaction in order to understand the extent to which eBusiness applications could support and facilitate the interactions most prevalent in DFID’s operations.

Listed in priority, the interactions of most importance are:

DFID 18

• Policy/Consultation;

• Infrastructure; and

• Service Delivery.

The output from this analysis is shown in Figure 7 overleaf.

Using the refined customer segmentation, DFID’s analysis still supports the findings of its first eBusiness report that although each category of eBusiness application is relevant in some way to the work DFID does, two applications are most relevant to the needs of its partners and final consumers. These are Information and knowledge management and eCommunications. However, for its Service Delivery types of interaction, eProcurement (including eTendering) and eFinance are also important. It is therefore clear that these applications will have the highest impact on DFID's business and should be prioritised accordingly.

Details of DFID’s eBusiness programmes are provided in the next section.

DFID 19

Figure 7: What types of interactions DFID’s eBusiness applications support

very high relevance; high relevance; medium relevance; low relevance; very low relevance.

eBusiness application Policy/Consultation Service Delivery Infrastructure Comment Information and knowledge management

• The EDM/ERM programme is key to supporting information and knowledge management across the full range of DFID’s interactions with customers.

• The newly launched inSight intranet is being used not only as a means of communication but also of quicker and easier knowledge sharing.

CRM • CRM in DFID’s case refers to its relationship with the UK citizen. This is mainly one of information sharing, accountability and awareness raising– i.e. an indirect Infrastructure relationship.

eProcurement • eProcurement is a direct service provided by DFID to our partners.

• The value of this service is felt to a lesser extent by citizens in developing nations (an indirect, Infrastructure interaction).

• An example of an eProcurement initiative is the recent eTendering pilot being undertaken with OGC and proposed electronic grant applications.

eFinance • eFinance is a limited, direct service provided by DFID to our partners through the BACs payments of accounts.

• e-Finance initiatives will enable internal processes to be streamlined and so creates an indirect (Infrastructure) benefit to partners and customers.

DFID 20

eBusiness application Policy/Consultation Service Delivery Infrastructure Comment eCommunications • Like information and knowledge management,

the benefits of eCommunication are felt throughout DFID’s interactions.

• An example of this is the impact of email and video conferencing that spreads across all types of interaction.

eHR • eHR initiatives have some impact on Infrastructure interactions by making internal processes more efficient.

eOperations management

• Through programmes such as PRISM and CMIS, eOperations management has an impact on both direct (Service Delivery) and indirect (Infrastructure) interactions with customers.

eInfrastructure • Development of the physical infrastructure that supports effective eBusiness actions (both knowledge sharing and transactional) makes a strong, but indirect impact on DFID’s interactions with stakeholders (partners and customers).

DFID 21

5 Programme planning and implementation

Introduction

This Section discusses the programmes DFID is currently undertaking and also sets out possible future programmes. The projects discussed are those that provide indirect service support rather than direct support to customers (these are the ICT projects that are discussed in Appendix 7).

Current programmes

There are 8 key programs within DFID’s current portfolio of e-initiatives, two of which relate to infrastructure.

As key programs in DFID’s e-Business strategy they receive substantial resources throughout their development. Their total allocated budget and Senior Responsible Officer (“SRO”) is detailed in the table below.

Table 3: Key DFID programmes

Programme Description Capital Expenditure

SRO

EDRM Electronic Document and Record £1.5 million Head of Management Information Dept.

PRISM System for storing project performance £1.8 million Head of information Evaluations Dept.

MIS Rewrite Redesign of the management information £2.5 million Principal Finance system and the other systems it feeds into Officer / Head of

Finance

CMIS & e- System to manage the contracting and £300,000 Head of Tendering tendering process electronically Procurement

Intranet & Development of inSight and DFID £800,000 Head of Knowledge knowledge management processes Knowledge Management Management

HR & Payroll System to allow electronic recruitment, £1.4 million HR Director System training, scheduling and payslips

Satellite Links Use of satellite links to ensure access to internal networks for all DFID staff

£7 million Head of ISSD

Assist 2000 Desktop upgrades to office 2000 for all DFID staff

£7.5 million Head of ISSD

DFID 22

In addition two major e-infrastructure renewal and upgrade programmes are currently under consideration to improve resilience through hardware clustering, operating system upgrades, improved capacity and upgraded security. These are estimated to cost an additional £6 - £8 million. For details see appendix 5.

Table 4 below summarises the timescales and milestones relating to these key programmes (and other initiatives) that support DFID’s eBusiness strategy. For full details on these programmes (including partners for delivery) see Appendix 5.

Table 4: Milestones for current programmes9

Project 2001 2002 2003 2004 EDM/ERM

Information Asset Register

Electronic Library

CMIS

TenderTrust

MIS Rewrite

UK CODA

Overseas CODA

HR System (REBUS)

Intranet & Knowledge Management

Electronic news feeds

Key words project

PRISM

Satellite Links

VPN implementation

Assist 2000

Web site redesign

Web based expenditure and forecasting

FOI Pilot Publication Scheme

Public Enquiry Point

UK procurement card

Resource Allocation and Monitoring

GSI implementation & Knowledge Network

Remote Working Pilot

DFID is already implementing a range of e-Business projects, which have been designed to use new technology to enable more efficient communications and business processes. The table below lists these projects within the e-Business categories outlined at the beginning of this Section. Again, full descriptions, including timescales, of each project are shown at Appendix 5.

9 Triangles indicate milestones. For example when a pilot is being run, or when a new phase in the project’s implementation is to

begin.

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Table 5: Current eBusiness programmes10

Information and CRM eProcurement eFinance knowledge management

1. Electronic Library

2. Electronic data management – EDM and ERM

3. Electronic news feeds

1. DFID Website

2. Public Enquiry point project

3. Pilot Publications Scheme

1. UK procurement card pilot

2. Contracts management information system (CMIS)

1. Resource allocation and monitoring

2. Overseas CODA

3. UK CODA

4. Web based 4. Key words project

5. Web content

4. Information Asset Register

3. Tender Trust System

forecasting and expenditure tools

management tools

6. Website redesign

7. Intranet redesign

8. Knowledge Network project

eHR eCommunications eOperational Management

Infrastructure

1. Rebus: Unified electronic HR and payroll system (e -payslips, e­

1. Video conferencing facilities

2. Internet site

1. MIS Rewrite

2. PRISM

1. Satellite links

2. Assist 2000

recruitment, e -training

3. Intranet site redesign (Insight)

2. Metadirectory 4. GSI implementation

3. Pensions payments 5. Virtual Private network partnership with Bank of Scotland

implementation

6. 100% internal staff access to the internet

7. Remote working pilots

This table shows that DFID is carrying out or developing projects in all the key categories of eBusiness applications. There is an emphasis upon Knowledge Management and eCommunications projects. Within the various policy departments smaller, individual e-initiatives, generally in the knowledge management category, are also being developed (see Appendix 5) and co-ordinated with the larger eBusiness projects. DFID is therefore already addressing its key strategic eBusiness needs.

DFID has provided three case studies in Appendix 6 to bring to life to the information provided in Appendix 5. These case studies give an in depth account of how DFID is investigating and pursuing collaboration with partners inside and outside of government, including private enterprise, in order to deliver services more effectively.

The three case studies are:

New programmes since the last eBusiness report are highlighted in bold and underlined.

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10

• Livelihoods Connect - using eBusiness channels to effectively influence business partners to make services ‘people focused’;

• TenderTrust - joined up working with OGDs and the private sector to enable eTendering with suppliers and contractors; and

• PRISM – developing e-projects in a modular way that lends cohesion to the eBusiness strategy.

These case studies demonstrate that DFID’s approach to eBusiness is not just about technology issues, but as recommended by OeE, this approach embraces new ways of working to respond to business needs.

There are a wide range of other projects which have been suggested by staff which may enhance, complement or succeed these projects. These future options are outlined below.

Future options

The additional projects outlined in the table below were identified in consultation with staff from a range of DFID's departments. Many of the future projects refer to plans to extend and build on projects that are currently underway (e.g. CMIS and IAR) but we have listed them here for completeness and also to assist in monitoring how they are incorporated and managed in the future.

Table 6: Possible future eBusiness programmes

Information and knowledge management

CRM e-Procurement e-Finance

1. Further develop Intranet and Extranet communities on key subject areas

2. More facilitated e-Forums to enhance specific communities

3. Online conferences and presentations

1. Develop Information Asset Register

2. Online grant applications e.g. Development Awareness Fund, Civil Society Challenge Fund etc.

1. Extend CMIS e-Tendering functionality

2. Electronic grant applications

1. Electronic invoicing

2. Central web accounts system

4. Desktop video conferencing

5. Personalisation of intranet

6. Collation and dissemination of “stories”.

7. Staff yellow pages

e-HR e-Communications e-Operations Management

e-Infrastructure

1. e-Learning environment

2. e-Payslips

3. e-Performance appraisals and competency models

1. Workflow applications e.g. travel, expenses etc

2. Remote working packages

1. Develop Web-based forecasting and expenditure tools

1. GSI compliance and status upgrades

2. Capacity and Resilience Upgrade Programme

3. Network and 3. Push technologies Systems Programme

DFID 25

Project development process

DFID uses the Information Systems Development Method (“ISDM”) as a framework for all information systems projects. ISDM combines the PRINCE 2 and DSDM approaches to project management to establish a standard project approach specifically tailored to the needs of DFID.

Training in the ISDM method will be given to those members of staff involved in the implementation of an IS project. The DFID Intranet site (inSight) guides all DFID staff through the lifecycle of a project and provides the appropriate procedures and links to templates for project documents such risk management, benefits analysis and to assist with quality assurance procedures.

The need to identify and appoint people with the authority to oversee and manage each project is also integral to the methodology. These people fulfil the roles of:

• Senior Responsible Officer (SRO);

• Project Board Members; and

• Project Manager.

The ISDM approach is inherently modular and so provides different paths through project management depending on the nature of the project. Although all projects will start with a Proposal Assessment, beyond this phase, projects are managed incrementally. For example, a small, bespoke development project may have only one increment being the move from the assessment and feasibility phase to the business prototyping and implementation phase.

In the Feasibility stage, the business requirements are investigated, the Business Case is created, the project is planned with regard to resources, staffing and timescales, and authorisation for development is given or denied.

The Business Prototyping or Implementation stage involves building and testing the solution and creating training packages and user documentation.

Ongoing processes are

• Managing risks;

• Controlling finance;

• Managing time;

• Monitoring and Reporting Progress; and

• Managing quality.

The ISDM methodology not only provides a framework for project management, but also will facilitate knowledge sharing on how best to run and manage projects. The standard approach will facilitate the sharing of lessons learnt across projects.

DFID 26

Take-up and customer satisfaction

DFID is committed to monitoring levels of take-up and customer satisfaction with its eBusiness applications, and for most of the projects a process of user consultation and review is incorporated into the project plan. For example, to measure the success of the newly redesigned intranet, focus groups are being set up and meetings planned to get feedback on usefulness.

Customer satisfaction monitoring includes:

• Monitoring usage of sites on the internet, extranets and intranet – including recording hits and tracking access to content and discussion functionality;

• Seeking on-line user feedback and comment;

• Conducting more detailed feedback by e-mail, telephone or face to face;

• Regularly seeking input from across DFID’s own functions to determine usefulness and usage levels;

• Post-implementation reviews;

• Feedback at KCC meetings;

• Actively discussing usage with other departments and organisations outside DFID.

Prioritising future options

Clearly, DFID cannot consider investing in all these options at the same time. It therefore important to prioritise these options according to:

• the contribution that they make to achieving DFID's business objectives;

• the ease of implementation.

The first of these criteria considers all the issues outlined above i.e. the type of interaction that the application facilitates and the importance of that application to DFID's business.

The second criterion considers the ease with which the application can implemented and therefore with which the benefits can be realised. A number of factors contribute to the ease of implementing an application including:

• costs and resources required;

• timescales to deliver;

• risks involved.

The availability of commercial off the shelf software often makes a project easier to implement because the costs, timescales and risks are all limited compared to a bespoke system design. This is recognised by DFID in the Architecture Values Statement.

The table below summarises the prioritisation of the applications identified against these two criteria.

DFID 27

Table 7: Risk and implementation issues of possible future eBusiness programmes

Possible Future Projects Contribution made to achieving DFID's

objectives

High Medium Low

Ease of implementation

Easy Medium Difficult

Provide, on internet, more facilitated e-Forums to enhance specific communities

Medium Medium

Online conferences and presentations

High Medium

Desktop video conferencing Low Difficult

Personalisation of intranet Low Difficult

Develop Information Asset Register

Low Medium

Extend CMIS e-Tendering functionality

High Medium

Electronic invoicing Medium Difficult

e-Learning environment Medium Medium

e-Performance appraisals and competency models

Medium Medium

Workflow applications e.g. travel, expenses, job applications etc

Medium Medium

Remote working packages High Medium

Staff Yellow Pages High Medium

Central web accounts system High Difficult

Server Resilience Project High Medium

Push technologies Low Medium

This initial analysis shows, at the highest level, what priority might be applied to each of the possible new applications for consideration by the KCC. As discussed in Section 7 the KCC is reviewing, amongst other things, its prioritisation process and will consider this issue at its July meeting. More analysis will be needed on the impact and ease of deployment of possible applications and this will be taken forward later in the year.

DFID 28

6 Risk assessment

Introduction

DFID recognises the risks that the implementation of the eBusiness strategy entails in relation to both business and technology. In the last eBusiness report, DFID included a detailed study of the possible risks that might arise from new eBusiness initiatives. In this report, the comments made by the OeE11 in their response to the last eBusiness report have been reviewed and risks specific to current e-initiatives and mitigating actions undertaken are detailed in this section.

In line with good business practice and program management procedures DFID has identified risks ensuing from individual e-projects. Assessment of these risks unsurprisingly highlighted a range of risks common to several projects and these provide the focus for efforts to classify risks.

The risk classification facilitates the identification of the source of risk and encourages the management of risk by clearly identifying appropriate mitigating actions. It also encourages consideration of the extent to which risks correlate with each other.

Risks to e-Business

Risks have been identified by DFID staff for individual projects and are outlined in Appendix 5. Below the risks are categorised according to whether they are associated with people or IT systems, and whether they derive from inside or outside government:

Figure 8: Risk classification

Outside Government

Inside Government

External People Risks • Divergent aims of partners with whom

DFID engages •

projects • Low take up of eBusiness

applications from outside DFID

External Systems Risks • Exclusion of groups in developing

Business channels and consequent ‘Northern’ bias

• Incompatibility of applications with external systems

• Hosting and technology problems • Insufficient data security

Internal People Risks • Information initiative overload • • Resistance due to perception of

increased overload (self service

• Lack of leadership/ leadership structure does not eBusiness strategy objectives

• Insufficient incentives to change

data quality (PRISM)

Internal Systems Risks • Integration of existing payroll

systems with new HR System • Incompatibility with government wide

systems (KN on Lotus Notes) • Infrastructure limiting access to

government systems (GSI) • Insufficient capacity • Lack of system flexibility

Buy-in by suppliers in e-procurement countries without access to e-

Lack of skills to implement projects

aspect of e-Business)

working methods resulting in poor

People Associated Systems Associated

11 eGovernment response to DFID e-Business Strategy, letter to Richard Manning from Stefan Czerniawski.

DFID 29

Mitigating actions currently being taken by DFID

The previous report outlined what could be done to mitigate a variety of risks. Since then many of these proposed actions have been undertaken, and further actions taken to address eBusiness risks. Below is a list of actions currently being undertaken or planned by DFID.

The risks associated with cultural issues within DFID are relevant to many of the e-initiatives being pursued. An idea of how DFID is meeting the challenges of overcoming cultural resistance to change is given in Case Study No. 1 of Appendix 6 on the EDRM program.

The following mitigating actions to address internal people risks are currently being undertaken:

• Office communications (Intranet, newsletters etc) to publicise work plans and inform all staff of project objectives and rationale;

• Training in project management methodologies (ISDM, PRINCE) on an ‘as-required’ basis;

• Development of guidelines for knowledge management to set standard terms of categorisation;

• Training using various channels (online, CD ROM, video, face to face, group workshops) for many DFID e-Projects, for example PRISM;

• Workshops and user group meetings to monitor the progress of projects and make necessary adjustments in response to feedback;

• Help desk providing support to DFID staff;

• Best practice programme training staff on how best to use technical applications to share knowledge and information;

• Appointments have been made to encourage leadership buy-in to changes arising from the implementation of the eBusiness strategy (e.g. senior representation on the KCC, appointment of full time program managers).

Outcome: A cultural environment is created within the department in which change is understood and supported.

The scopes for mitigating external people risks are more limited however the following actions are being taken:

• Publicising new facilities across existing networks;

• Monitoring usage and refining services in the light of user habits and feedback;

• Close contact with partners (eg secondments of DFID staff to World Bank) to build on common aims and objectives and influence agenda.

Outcome: E-project interfaces with other partners are enhanced

Actions to mitigate external systems risks include:

DFID 30

• Running dual processes (electronic and paper based) to avoid exclusion (e.g. PEP responding to enquiries by electronic and paper means);

• Collaborating with partners in developing systems (eg DFID providing budgetary support to IFAD to develop their information systems).

Outcome: E-projects support DFID’s business objectives.

Several of the internal systems risks are related to DFID’s current location at Victoria Street, and the fact that DFID is not GSI compliant. This situation is being reviewed by the KCC and options for infrastructure investment in the new Palace Street offices are being considered.

Actions to address risks related to access and capacity of small overseas offices include:

• VPN rollout;

• Negotiations with FCO over use of satellite network.

Actions to address compatibility and integration issues include:

• Reference to e-GIF and specification requirements before buying new applications;

• Collaboration with OGD’s on government wide e-pilots.

Outcome: DFID e-projects contribute to general modernising government aims.

Future actions

DFID is assessing possible future actions to mitigate integration risks, which are perceived as becoming more serious as the eBusiness strategy grows more complex.

DFID is working with a number of partners and building various new knowledge-sharing platforms. Therefore, DFID is working hard to ensure that information dispersal is managed to a carefully constructed strategy that constantly seeks to meet DFID’s business objectives. DFID recognises that it is only by pursuing an eBusiness strategy that is driven by DFID’s business objectives that knowledge can be effectively managed.

To this end the KCC is currently establishing structured processes for assessing e-projects and allocating resources appropriately.

DFID 31

Board of Management•Provide strategic direction to the management of DFID'Soperations, staff and financial management, within theparameters of policies set by and in consultation with theSecretary of State.

•Monitor DFID's performance.•Ensure DFID's financial resources & staff are allocated &managed effectively.

•Chair: the Permanent Secretary.

Knowledge &Communications

Committee•Give strategic directionto DFID’s, knowledge &informationmanagement, internalcommunications &corporate systemsactivities (includingeBusiness activities).

•Ensure the effectiveand timely developmentof appropriate tools,good practice andorganisational culture.

•Chair: the PermanentSecretary.

Estates, Finance &Audit Committee

•Ensure a financiallysound & efficientorganisation whichmakes effective use ofresources in support ofDFID objectives.

•Consider DFID'sInvestment Strategy &other strategies relatedto investment in &efficient use ofinfrastructure and otherphysical assets.

•Chair: Director ofFinance.

Development Committee•Ensure a consistent, co-ordinated andinterdisciplinary approachin DFID's policies &programmes which willdeliver strategic prioritiesset by the ManagementBoard, including PSAoutcomes.

•Drive forward changes inpolicy, organisation andapplication based on newthinking and experience

•Maximise synergy betweenactions centrally, in-country and multilaterally;

•Chair: the Director-General(Programmes).

Human ResourcesCommittee

•Responsible for thecorporate oversight ofDFID Human Resourcepolicies.

•Employee resourcing &development.

•Employee relations &industrial relations matters.

•DFID's response todevelopments inemployment law, healthand safety, contractualrelationships.

•Employee rewards, pay,pensions & performance.

•Chair: Director of HumanResources .

7 The structural framework

Introduction

This section provides an overview of DFID’s activities related to the creation of a structural framework to support and manage the successful implementation of its eBusiness strategy under the Modernising Government initiative. This section also describes the framework being put in place to assist in the further development of eBusiness strategy within DFID, and between DFID and its partners.

Management of the eBusiness strategy within DFID

DFID continues to monitor and develop its ability to operate electronically in order to deliver its objectives more effectively to both partners and citizens. This process is now directed by the KCC that has replaced the Information Management Committee (“IMC”). Details of the draft terms of reference for the KCC are provided in Appendix 3.

The KCC’s relationship with the Board of Management and the other relevant internal bodies is shown in Figure 9. The terms of reference for the KCC, the Development Committee and the Estates, Finance & Audit Committee are currently in draft form. They will evolve as these committees meet and clarify their roles and interactions with other relevant committees. This is particularly true of the KCC where first two agenda items for its July meeting are to consider KCC strategy and priorities and the eBusiness strategy.

Figure 9: Structural framework of DFID's ebusiness strategy

Board of Management

operations, staff and financial management, within the parameters of policies set by and in consultation with the Secretary of State.

managed effectively.

Knowledge & Communications

Committee

to DFID’s, knowledge & information management, internal communications & corporate systems activities (including eBusiness activities).

and timely development of appropriate tools, good practice and organisational culture.

Secretary.

Estates, Finance & Audit Committee

sound & efficient organisation which makes effective use of resources in support of DFID objectives.

Investment Strategy & other strategies related to investment in & efficient use of infrastructure and other physical assets.

Finance.

Development Committee

ordinated and interdisciplinary approach in DFID's policies & programmes which will deliver strategic priorities set by the Management Board, including PSA outcomes.

policy, organisation and application based on new thinking and experience

actions centrally, in-country and multilaterally;

(Programmes).

Human Resources Committee

corporate oversight of DFID Human Resource policies.

development.

industrial relations matters.

developments in employment law, health and safety, contractual relationships.

pensions & performance.

Resources .

• Provide strategic direction to the management of DFID'S

• Monitor DFID's performance. • Ensure DFID's financial resources & staff are allocated &

• Chair: the Permanent Secretary.

• Give strategic direction

• Ensure the effective

• Chair: the Permanent

• Ensure a financially

• Consider DFID's

• Chair: Director of

• Ensure a consistent, co­

• Drive forward changes in

• Maximise synergy between

• Chair: the Director-General

• Responsible for the

• Employee resourcing &

• Employee relations &

• DFID's response to

• Employee rewards, pay,

• Chair: Director of Human

DFID 32

Project Boards(for individual

initiatives)

Project Boards(for individual

initiatives)

The KCC is composed of senior representatives from across DFID and, like the Board of Management, is chaired by the Permanent Secretary. This composition will ensure that the eBusiness programme is business-led, relates to the overall strategic purpose of DFID and that a full range of internal Departments participate.

Development of DFID’s eBusiness strategy – internally and with partners

In considering DFID’s eBusiness strategy (the second agenda item at the July meeting) the KCC will review not only the strategy itself, but also the supporting structures and the principles under which this strategy has been developed. For example, there are several Groups and Steering Committees to support the KCC in its activities. These structures have yet to be finalised, but a draft proposal is shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10: The supporting structures for the KCC – a draft proposal

K C C In format ion

Governance

Policies &

Procedures

Information Systems

Stra tegy

Knowledge Management, Internal

Communications, Web/Intranet and

Best Practice Steering Group

Information Strategy and Corporate

Systems Steering Group

IT Infrastructure & Overseas Links Steering Group

I S Development

IT Infrastructure

IT Support

User Groups

Project Boards (for individual

initiatives)

Consists of

In fo rms

Approved in i t ia t ives

Internal Communications &

K n o w l e d g e Management Strategy

Information &

Communicat ions

Technology Strategy

In fo rms

Business Case Documents

The content of the underlying principles for the development of DFID’s future eBusiness strategy have not been fleshed out, but they are likely to retain some connection with the sound guiding principles used in the past. These principles are that:

• DFID must provide an appropriate choice of access channels for customers (citizens) and service delivery partners (OGDs, businesses, contractors and other development organisations) with whom it interacts;

• DFID will use eBusiness processes and technology to manage its business in an efficient and effective way;

• UK citizens and service delivery partners must have access to relevant and timely information about DFID’s activities and the development programmes which it is undertaking; and

• DFID will use technology to enable effective cross-boundary working to ensure the development of relevant cross-cutting policy initiatives.

DFID 33

DFID recognises that technology alone will not give effect to these principles and so has undertaken a programme of initiatives, which relate to business processes and structures. These include:

• Business change management;

• Leadership and responsibility;

• Joined up working;

• Programme management; and

• Measuring progress and success.

Programme management and Measuring progress and success have been discussed in detail in section 5 (Programme planning and implementation) and so are not discussed further here.

Business change management DFID recognises that some recent reports12 have suggested a need to review how DFID takes forward its strategies and systems. These reports point out a need to review the IS programme and project management within the context of the overall business and look at areas such as prioritisation, effective management of change and the development of the appropriate organisational skills to deliver results.

DFID already made some changes to address these issues, including the creation of the KCC to take over the work of the IMC (including eBusiness). As Appendix 3 shows, the terms of reference and the composition of the KCC equip it to tackle effectively many of the issues outlined above. In addition, DFID has commissioned a study by external consultants to:

• analyse the effectiveness of present management structures;

• assess the organisational capacity and skills to achieve success in relation to the requirements of DFID’s IM/IS/IT strategy;

• recommend refinements (if any) to the terms of reference for the KCC; and

• recommend how DFID should govern the prioritisation and funding of IS programmes.

The consultants are due to report to the KCC in July. The KCC will consider its findings within the wider context of the first agenda item – KCC Strategy and Priorities.

Leadership and responsibility As a result of the recommendations mentioned above, the Board of Management is expecting changes in the way communications happen in DFID and the outcome of those communications. The Board of Management is strongly committed to the successful implementation of DFID’s eBusiness strategy. As a demonstration of this commitment, the Permanent Secretary (who chairs the Board of Management) will also chair the KCC.

These reports and the sources of these recommendations include: The OeE review of DFID’s first eBusiness strategy, the

review of EDM/ERM implementation issues, Internal Audit Department report on IS development in DFID and internal ISSD

organisational reviews.

DFID 34

12

The draft terms of reference for the KCC formalise the structure of the KCC and it’s supporting steering committees. Following from the commitment in the November 2000 submission to “Develop key individual accountabilities for implementation”, the KCC terms of reference make clear that the membership of these steering committees will comprise senior users. Their remit will include consultations with representatives of staff at all levels (see Appendix 3 for details).

Joined up working In its November submission, DFID undertook to: “Define which are the interfaces around which cross­cutting initiatives are most likely to occur and initiate discussions with the other departments involved to create solutions for these.”

As the fully expanded customer segmentation diagram in Appendix 2 shows, DFID is involved in several types of interactions around which cross cutting initiatives are likely to occur. DFID is involved with a wide range of business discussions and meetings that involve other OGDs – for example, the ICT Group meetings include representatives from the FCO. The two OGDs identified that could be involved to create solutions for these are FCO and MOD. Through the OeE, DFID has arranged a meeting in July with these Departments to discuss, amongst other things, cross cutting initiatives.

DFID is an active member of Interdepartmental Working Group on Development (IDWG) and (on a smaller scale) the Interdepartmental Group on Information Matters (IGIM) to share information and lessons learned across Government Departments.

Appendices 5, 6 and 7 provide, on a project by project basis, detail on the range of partners (OGDs, other public sector bodies and private sector bodies) with whom DFID interacts to deliver services to its end-customers.

While DFID is open to all possibilities for integrated working across government, it remains clear that the scope for its involvement in projects such as the UK Online Citizen Portal Project is more limited than for other Government Departments. This results from the fact that the main recipient of their services is citizens in developing countries. DFID services do not match any UK citizen life-episodes. Nonetheless, DFID is conscious of its responsibility to UK citizens in making its processes accountable and is working hard to honour that responsibility by meeting UK citizen related requirements such as those set by the PRO and the Freedom of Information Act.

Furthermore, as DFID recognises the need for knowledge sharing across UK Government, the Department remains willing to collaborate in schemes such as the Knowledge Network and the Government Gateway where there is a valid business case.

In its current review of Architecture values, to be completed by the end of this year, reference will be made to eGIF standards an policies, and all eBusiness projects will be undertaken in adherence to the specifications laid out.

Next steps

These changes represent the start of an ongoing process of review and an adjustment to the way in which DFID functions, concentrating on business process and frameworks that support a coherent strategic approach to eBusiness. The current organisational changes within DFID are being made in recognition of the integral role eBusiness has to play in the Department.

Things are changing rapidly across DFID in response to and in anticipation of changes outside the organisation. DFID foresees that the benefits of current organisational changes will be in evidence in the coming months, and expects to report further progress in the Department's next eBusiness strategy submission to the Cabinet Office.

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Appendix 1: DFID's Public Service and Service Delivery Agreements 13

Aim - The elimination of poverty in poorer countries.

PSA TARGET DELIVERY OBJECTIVE I: to reduce poverty through Successful delivery depends on DFID and provision of more focused and co-ordinated multilateral institutions becoming more development assistance by the international selective, and focused on poverty community to low and middle income reduction. DFID will therefore: countries. I. Deliver a more effective and focused

1. An increased focus by DFID on poor bilateral programme by: (a) working with countries, particularly those with partners in poor countries to deliver country effective governments pursuing high strategies which support poverty reduction1, growth and pro-poor economic and and: (b) allocating DFID support taking social policies, as demonstrated by: account of numbers of poor people, the 1 (a) an increase in the percentage of DFID’s effectiveness of country programmes, and bilateral programme going to poor countries, partners’ progress in developing and particularly those with favourable policy implementing sound pro-poor policies2; environments; II. Seek to improve the effectiveness of EC 1 (b) an increase in the percentage of EC development assistance and the European development assistance going to poor Development Fund by working with other countries; and Government Departments (especially FCO 1 (c) adoption and implementation of effective and HMT) and EU Member States to: (a) Poverty Reduction Strategies by 2004 in all establish better organisation of EC countries accessing International programme delivery, by end-2001; (b) gain Development Agency (IDA) high impact or agreement in Council and Commission to re­adjustment lending. direct allocations and spend towards

programmes which reduce poverty by 2003; (c) increase the proportion of EC country specific oda going to poor countries from 50% in 1998 to 70% in 2006. Where poor countries have demonstrated a clear commitment to developing and implementing comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategies, donors should respond by supporting delivery of these Strategies. DFID will therefore:

I. Provide support to at least 12 partner countries by 2004 to develop and implement Poverty Reduction Strategies in co­ordination with other donors;

13 Source: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/public/who/dfid_psa2000.html.

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OBJECTIVE II: to promote sustainable development through co-ordinated UK and international action

2. To promote the integration of developing countries into the global economy through co-ordinated UK and international action, including by: 2 (a) relief of unsustainable debt by 2004 for all heavily-indebted poor countries (HIPC) committed to poverty reduction, building on the internationally agreed target that three quarters of eligible HIPCs reach decision point by the end of 2000 (Joint Target with Treasury) and; 2 (b) gaining international agreement on the integration of social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development into poverty reduction programmes.

Relief of unsustainable debt burdens is essential if poor countries are to harness the resources they need for economic growth and development, to reduce poverty and reap the benefits of globalisation. DFID will therefore:

I. Work to secure faster, wider and deeper debt relief for the poorest countries, through effective implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Effectiveness will be determined by the involvement of all creditors (including securing the necessary financing for multilateral creditors), the extent of frontloading i.e. that more of the benefit of debt relief is felt in the early years (including from Decision Point), the speed of the process and the strength of the link to poverty reduction, ensuring that debt relief assists countries to implement their national poverty reduction strategies and achieve the international development targets. To ensure development is sustainable over the long term and benefits future, as well as current generations, poor countries need to integrate sustainable development into their policies and programmes3. DFID will therefore work towards:

I. Developing guidance on the principles of strategic planning for14 sustainable development , securing OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) agreement to it by mid-2001, and work to secure wider international agreement by end-2001;

II. Successful integration of these principles into government, multilateral and DFID policies and programmes in 10 key DFID partner countries by early-2004, including agreed approaches to water resources management, and capacity building for environmental management; Successful integration of poor countries into the global economy will depend on the creation of a supportive environment in which trade and enterprise can flourish, and contribute to poverty reduction. DFID will therefore:

I. Work with the public and private sectors to improve the business environment, especially access to finance and other

"Strategic planning for" has been inserted as an amendment to the originally agreed SDA to help clarify DFID's intent.

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14

3. Improved effectiveness of the UK contribution to conflict prevention and management as demonstrated by a reduction in the number of people whose lives are affected by violent conflict and a reduction in potential sources of future conflict, where the UK can make a significant contribution . (Joint Target with FCO and MOD)

business services for enterprises that employ or benefit the poor4.

II. Promote increased private sector foreign investment in poor countries by turning CDC into a Public-Private Partnership, when business conditions are right, with majority private capital. CDC is required to make 70% of its new investments in poor developing countries and seeks to make 50% of its new investments in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.

III. Work with the EU and other partners for multilateral trade negotiations to improve trading opportunities for poor countries, whilst working with other donors to deliver more effective capacity-building support for poor countries so that they are equipped to participate fully in the international trading system. Effective action to tackle HIV is essential if poor countries are to sustain economic growth, development and poverty reduction. DFID will therefore:

I. Work with partners in countries with high, or increasing HIV prevalence to develop and implement strategies which intensify multi-sectoral and co-ordinated international action on HIV/AIDS.

Successful delivery depends on governments, donors, international bodies, civil society groups, the private sector and others co-operating closely in the design and delivery of coherent, complementary policies and interventions in order to defuse tensions, reduce violence, tackle the factors that underlie armed conflict and build governments and institutions capable of sustaining peaceful and democratic societies.

Where the UK can make a significant contribution, DFID, FCO and MOD will work in partnership with others to:

I. Strengthen international and regional systems and capacity for conflict prevention, early warning, crisis management, conflict resolution/peace making, peace keeping and peace building.

II. Contribute to global and regional conflict prevention initiatives, such as curbing the proliferation of small arms and the diversion of resources to finance conflict.

III. Promote initiatives in selected countries, including indigenous capacity building, to help avert conflict, reduce violence and build sustainable security and peace.

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OBJECTIVE III: improved education outcomes in key countries receiving DFID education support.

4. Improved Education Systems in the top ten recipients5 of DFID Education support demonstrated by:

4 (a) an average increase in primary school enrolment from a baseline established in 2000 of 75%, to 81% on the basis of data available in 2004; and

4 (b) Improvements in gender equality in education, particularly primary education.

OBJECTIVE IV: improvements in health outcomes in key countries receiving DFID health care assistance.

5. Improvements in child, maternal and reproductive health in the top ten recipients9 of DFID health care assistance demonstrated by: 5 (a) a decrease in the average under-5 mortality rate from 132 per 1,000 live births in 1997, to 103 on the basis of data available in 2004; 5 (b) an increase in the proportion of births assisted by skilled attendants from a baseline established in 2000 of 43% to 50% on the basis of data available in 2004; and 5 (c) improved access to reproductive health care

Successful delivery depends on donors and poor country partners working together to design and deliver effective policies and support for education6. DFID will therefore work in partnership with others to support:

I. Implementation of the agenda agreed by the International Community at the Dakar World Education Forum7 in April 2000 through the provision of focused support by relevant multilaterals8, partner countries, bilateral donors and NGOs.

II. Successful adoption and implementation of education sector strategies which include explicit objectives on equitable access for girls and boys by 2004, in at least 8 of our top 10 recipients of bilateral education assistance;

III. Development of basic monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and their integration into education sector strategies by 2004 in at least 8 of our top 10 recipients of bilateral education assistance;

Successful delivery depends on donors, and poor country partners working together to design and deliver effective policies and support for health10. DFID will therefore work in partnership with others to support:

I. Development and implementation of strategies focused on improving access to safe water and sanitation11 and reducing levels of child mortality, in at least 8 of the top 10 recipients of bilateral health assistance by 2004;

II. Development and implementation of health sector strategies by 2004 in at least 8 of the top 10 recipients of bilateral health assistance which: (a) aim to improve child health outcomes and include actions to strengthen immunisation and prevention, and the treatment of childhood illnesses, including malaria where endemic; and (b) include explicit policy and operational frameworks to strengthen the capacity of health systems, improve the quality and coverage of maternal health care, and ensure universal access to reproductive health services;

III. Strengthened multilateral initiatives to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa (UNAIDS) and Roll Back Malaria (WHO) demonstrated through national strategies, with jointly agreed milestones, in at least five of the top 10 recipients of DFID healthcare assistance.

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Value for Money Successful delivery of improved value for 6 Improved value for money and effectiveness money will be measured by the index of of projects in DFID’s bilateral programme, as evaluated success. This depends on annual demonstrated by a year on year improvement project scoring and risk labelling of in the index of their evaluated success. projects; roll-out and full use of

Performance Reporting Information System for Management by 2001; effective quality control and monitoring (see section C2, paragraph 4).

1 See published DFID Country Strategy Papers 2 Assessed on the basis of Country Reviews 3 See DFID Target Strategy Paper on "Achieving sustainability: poverty elimination and the environment" 4 This encompasses sound fiscal and monetary policies, legal frameworks, effective systems of regulation and taxation. See also DFID Target Strategy Papers "Halving world poverty by 2015: Economic growth, equity and security" and "Making Government Work for Poor People" 5 The top ten recipients of DFID Education Support are Bangladesh, China, Ghana, India, Malawi, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia. This target group of countries will remain fixed over the PSA period, 2001-2004 6 See DFID Target Strategy Paper "Education for All - the Challenge of Universal Primary Education" 7 The Dakar Framework for Action: Education for All - Meeting our Collective Commitments8 Key multilaterals include World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank and relevant parts of the UN system9 The top ten recipients of DFID health care assistance are Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia. This target group of countries will remain fixed over the PSA period, 2001-2004 10 See DFID Target Strategy Paper "Better Health for Poor People"11 See DFID Target Strategy Paper "Addressing the Water Crisis - Healthier and more productive lives for poor people"

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Appendix 2: Detail of DFID's draft customer segmentation tree

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Appendix 3: Draft Knowledge and Communications Committee Terms of Reference

1 Purpose and Frequency

The role of the Knowledge and Communications Committee (“KCC”) is to give strategic direction to DFID’s communications, knowledge and information management, and information systems management activities and to ensure the effective and timely development of appropriate tools, good practice and organisational culture.

The Committee will meet at approximately four monthly intervals to consider papers and recommendations prepared in advance and ensure close collaboration with the Estates, Finance and Audit and DPP Committees to consider items of mutual interest.

2 Composition

KCC will be chaired by the Permanent Secretary and will comprise:

• the Director General Resources (Richard Manning);

• Director Human Resources (Dave Fish);

• a Geographic Director (Martin Dinham);

• a Chief Adviser (Adrian Wood);

• the Head of Information Department (ex-officio);

• the Head of ISSD (ex-officio);

• the Head of Development Policy Department (ex-officio); and

• the Head of Evaluation Department (See Annex A below).

3. Responsibilities and Outputs

KCC will:

• ensure that clear and consistent strategies and systems are in place for the effective management and exploitation of information and knowledge and their associated technologies that underpin DFID’s business strategy and meet the needs of different users and strengthen learning across DFID and more widely;

• develop and promote an effective strategy for enhancing internal communications;

• ensure that appropriate policies and practices are in place that allow DFID to meet its statutory requirements in relation to information handling including Freedom of Information, Data Protection and Records handling;

• approve and prioritise proposals for capital spending on information systems and management that address the above strategies, taking into account strategic business needs, the

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requirements of users and the analysis of costs and benefits to DFID, where appropriate in conjunction with Estates, Finance and Audit Committee.

In carrying out its responsibilities, the Committee will be supported by Steering Groups and Programme/Project Boards which will be responsible for taking forward specific areas of activity e.g. Electronic Document Management (See Annex B). Boards will operate within agreed methodologies. Their membership will include senior users and their remit will include consultations with representatives of staff at all levels.

4. Supporting Departments

Information Department will lead on the overall Information, Knowledge and Communications Strategies. ISSD will lead on systems, software and infrastructure strategies. Programme and project boards will lead on specific systems, as agreed by the KCC.

Information Department will provide the KCC Secretariat and Anne Fraser will act as a focal point for communication and co-ordination.

ANNEX A: KCC MEMBERSHIP

Chair Sir John Vereker Members Director General Resources

Director Human Resources Director Asia and Pacific Division Chief Economist

Head of Information DepartmentHead of ISSDHead of Development Policy DepartmentHead of Evaluation Department

ANNEX B: KCC STEERING GROUPS

• Information Strategy and Corporate Systems (to include eBusiness) (Joint Chair: Richard Calvert/David Gillett)

• Knowledge Management, Internal Communications, Web/Intranet and Best Practice (Chair: Joanne Alston) • IT Infrastructure & Overseas links (Chair: Adrian Bennett)

KCC/EFAC PROGRAMME/PROJECT BOARDS

EDR/ERM (Chair: Richard Calvert) PRISM (Chair: Colin Kirk)HR (Chair: Dave Fish)CMIS (Chair: Stephen Chard) MIS (Chair:KevinSparkhall/MarkLowcock)

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Appendix 4: Definitions of eBusiness applications

Information and Knowledge Management: The benefits of information and knowledge management include knowledge sharing with customers / stakeholders (both internally and externally), problem solving, and networking and socialisation with those interested in international development, or working for related organisations. Some knowledge management facilities include:

• Online databases, e.g. Tools, Methodologies, Tips and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs);

• Online Discussion Forums Real-time Chat Rooms and Webconferencing – e.g. discussions could take place between colleagues, with partners and the general public. These discussions could be live or over several hours to years. Extending this further by using web cams and microphones, webconferences could be held;

• Electronic Document Management and Electronic Records Management Storing and retrieving records electronically and gradually replacing paper files. Colleagues can access them from an index or by searching for key words or topics;

• Portal A community for specific areas of interest in international development;

Collaborative technologies allow employees to carry out teamwork even when they are based in different locations or working to different time zones. Functionality includes:

• real time online presentations;

• real time chat events;

• online calendars of important events

• shared address books,

• bulletin boards;

• document version control.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Customer Relationship Management use electronic solutions to provide an integrated approach to customer service. This can be used for electronic call management, automated customer profiling, electronic business intelligence gathering and online decision support.

eProcurement: eProcurement is the process of connecting employees and suppliers via the Internet, making it possible to streamline and automate purchasing across departments, business units, and divisions. eProcurement can bring self-service purchasing to any employee with a computer and Internet access. Using predetermined approval thresholds and automated approval routing, employees can easily browse through catalogues on-line and order operating resources without wasting time searching for information or designated purchasing personnel. Additionally, employees can take advantage of better predictability and tracking.

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eProcurement is particularly effective in achieving savings when purchasing operating resources (indirect costs). Research shows eProcurement of operating resources can achieve savings of between 5% to 15% of a company's total indirect spending.

eFinance: eFinance is the delivery of traditional finance functions through electronic means. This would include:

• electronic creditor/ payments;

• on line management accounts;

• cost, resource, performance provision; and

• treasury management.

eHR: • Online Recruiting

Online recruitment, allows an organisation to present itself to potential employees 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Advertising jobs online would provide opportunities for new applicants and secondments for existing employees. Furthermore, online application forms reduce paper usage and speed up the recruitment process.

• Virtual Learning Online training, seminars and conferences can be used to educate employees and customers/stakeholders. They can be interactive, incorporate multimedia (audio, graphics and video, etc.), and be accessible or downloadable via the Internet. Virtual training enables users to work at their own pace; determine how much information they want to cover, when they want to cover it and at what speed. Virtual learning enables more people to be trained in more areas, whilst saving costs of trainers, rooms, employee time, travel, accommodation, meals, etc.

• Electronic Performance Reviews Employees career aspirations, self-assessments and employer reviews, etc. can be completed electronically and automated through electronic workflow.

• Electronic Payslips Technology can be used to monitor staff hours and legislation has recently been passed to allow electronic payslips.

eCommunications: • Intranet

An intranet applies Internet technology to the internal networks of a business, providing secure internal communications with a firewall to prevent unauthorised access. An organisation could use an Intranet for internal communications, e.g. to provide up-to-date internal news, surveying employees opinions. Intranets can also be used to access some services mentioned above (e.g. knowledge management, virtual learning, eProcurement).

• Extranet An extranet is an extension of an internal network that provides authorised access to individuals outside an enterprise, i.e. password protected web sites. Extranets can be used to target and interact with customers/stakeholders.

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• Internet Organisational Internet sites (available to all Internet users) can be developed to enable external communications, online discussion forums, and deliver online recruiting.

• Electronic Press Releases Organisations are using online press releases to communicate more effectively and more efficiently with the media.

• Internet News Service Organisations are now using links to electronic news sources to provide up to date bulletins of relevant new stories.

• E-Mail

eOperational management: Organisations increasingly are using eBusiness applications to support the management of operational processes. Examples are:

• Scheduling systems Organisations use on-line systems for allocating people and resources to contracts and projects in real time. Systems such as these are designed to optimise the use of resources by making explicit decisions on prioritisation.

• Project management systems Organisations use project planning software to plan and monitor project progress and to measure performance against milestones. Risk management applications can be used to measure, monitor and mitigate risk. Progress reporting systems can collate and distribute project updates and briefings.

• Business performance, evaluation and management reporting systems Applications can be used to measure, evaluate and monitor the performance of projects and of the overall business. Off the shelf packages can be tailored to the needs of an organisation to present balanced scorecard information across a range of financial and non-financial business performance indicators. A useful element of functionality in these packages is exception reporting which allows alerts to be sent automatically to designated individuals when performance on a performance indicator moves outside a pre­determined tolerance. This permits automatic escalation of issues.

e-Infrastructure:

This refers to projects that develop the technical systems and infrastructure required to support e-Business projects.

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Appendix 5: Details of DFID’s eBusiness programs

Program Description Projects Partners Relevant PSA Timescale Risks

ERM / EDM Managing DFID's recorded information so that documents are easy to find, searchable and kept under version control. Electronic storage and retrieval of records.

Electronic Registry Management: Piloted system using IMPReS software. New software providers being considered. Electronic Records Corporate Policy document produced to meet PRO milestones and approved by IMC in April 2001. Inventory of Electronic Records Information Asset Register to catalogue unpublished information assets. Collaboration with Government on Inforoute, Web Site set up to provide a gateway and central information point to direct a route through all Government Information. Keywords Project: Thesaurus of keywords drawn up to ensure consistency in electronic storage and search.

PRO, Office of the Information Commissioner, Consulting Companies, Data Management Software Providers (Diagonal Solutions), HMSO (on information asset register).

Using our knowledge and resources effectively and efficiently

• Change Management study conducted June 2000.

• ERM Program Board set up this summer with full time project manager, due to convene Aug.

• Reviewing PRO approved software solutions for ERM.

• Consultant to produce record inventory to meet PRO targets.

• Development of IAR for listing info holdings as part of FOI publications scheme.

• Keyword project being piloted on Insight, but has been designed to be applied later to all suitable systems e.g. Website, PRISM, and EDRM. Live by end 2001.

Sensitivity and confidentiality issues over making overseas project information publicly available. Possible information initiative overload. Lack of resources.

CRM Provide an integrated approach to customer service (in DFIDs case, responding to information inquiries).

Pilot Publications Scheme: pilot with 6 OGDs for cataloguing and providing information to the public to a set standard. Within the Information Dept. the DFID website, DFID's exhibitions and display resources for external audiences and the PEP comprise the new Public Service Unit. The DFID website is currently being redesigned. Public Entry Point: provides a dedicated service to public inquiries into DFID operations and related issues. Presence on DFID website. Uses a range of resources (publications, Press Office 'lines to take', Insight, relevant websites, statistical data, info from DFID advisers and OGDs). Collaborates with UK online and responds to their enquiries.

UK Online, FCO, Home Office, British Council, British High Commission, EU, World Bank, UN agencies, DFID resource centres, Civil Society, political parties, professional bodies.

Provide information on our work to the public and work to be responsive to their needs.

• Expected submission of publications scheme by Summer 2002.

• Possible development of website to include online applications for funding.

• Currently considering links with the various PEPs of OGDs.

• Developing better ways of logging enquiries and tracking requests for statistical analysis.

• Opportunities for engaging individuals requesting information in a dialogue e.g. online forums etc.

Problems with integrating DFID's various electronic and non-electronic response mechanisms ­different ways of measuring customer satisfaction apply.

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Program Description Projects Partners Relevant PSA Timescale/Milestones Risks

E-Finance Electronic accounts management

CODA (bespoke version) is used to control DFID's accounts and interfaces with Management Information System records kept on the separate MIS system. Payments are made electronically by BACS, and a BACStel transmission is transmitted every night. There are a number of electronic interfaces with CODA e.g. UK and overseas payrolls, eternal organisations with whom DFID does a large amount of business e.g. FCO, British Council. E-Forecasting and Expenditure: Staff have intranet access to Cognos Powerplay Cubes which allow them to view financial information on a geographical and project basis (restricted to expenditure cubes).

FCO, British Council, Crown Agents.

Using our knowledge and resources effectively

• Since launch in 1998, the system has been upgraded twice to improve functionality.

• MIS account codes currently being reviewed and simplified.

• Plans to introduce CODA in more overseas offices (Africa) this year

• Investigating archiving old data on CODA.

• Extension of 'Powerplay Cubes' this summer to include suspense management and forecasting versions.

New developments (e.g. scanning paper invoices into CODA) may necessitate manual intervention making it just as intensive as inputting information manually. Caution about e-invoicing due to lack of precedents. High cost of developing systems. Security issues. Buy-in on the supply-side.

E-HR Electronic management of human resources

New HR and Payroll system, REBUS developed to gradually introduce facilities for e-Payslips, e-Scheduling (leave etc), e-Recruitment, e -Training (internal scheduling). E-Learning being developed by Training & Development - accessed on inSight. Metadirectory (staff yellow pages) consolidating staffing information from telephone, current HR and network login system. Pensions Payments : DFID has a long standing partnership with the Bank of Scotland whereby the Bank buys foreign exchange within a fixed range for payment to DFID pensions receivers abroad. The TAPS system is used for payment. Profit on the exchange is shared between the BoS and HMT. Now up for retendering to ensure DFID keeps in line with changes in the market.

Software providers, Bank of Scotland.

Working more closely with the private sector.

• Implementation of REBUS: July 2001, fully developed by July 2003. Targets: e-payslips, e-scheduling: April 2002 e-recruitment, e-training: April 2003

• CD-ROM & video produced for dissemination of induction info

• Metadirectory to integrate with 'In Country' databases - Aug 2001. Incorporation of 'Yellow Page' facilities - Sept 01. Integration with central CCTA Directory ­Dec 01.

Complications of integrating two current separate payroll systems. Staff resistance and perception of increased workload (self service).

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Program Description Projects Partners Relevant PSA Timescale/Milestones Risks

E-Procurement

Connecting employees and suppliers via the

TenderTrust System to be piloted. Set up in partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland and

Office of Government Commerce, Royal

Closer management of strategic suppliers and

• Software and hardware currently being installed for e-

Success of e-tendering dependent

internet. Trustmarque to place online calls for bids to tender Bank of Scotland, reduction of the tendering pilot, trial begins on suppliers and receive and respond to those bids Softw are providers administrative burden on 29/6/2001 for 3 months, response and electronically. Automatically advertises contracts (MetaStorm, small contracts. reviewed for poss. Government- usage. over £94,000 on OJEC in compliance with EC Trustmarque), British wide rollout Comprehensive requirements Development of a forum in which all Library, EC (OJEC). • Workshops being held with training necessary suppliers receive information and questions from spenders. Phase 1: workflows for staff. interested partners are answered. established by end 2001. Phase Contracts Management Information System 2: eTendering. Integration with (CMIS) is a workflow technology provided by TenderTrust System under MetaStorm for which e-work licenses have been discussion. Will depend on purchased. The system receives and manages success of TenderTrust pilot. electronic requests for 'authority to engage' from • Small budget procurement cards spenders. to be rolled out to whole of DFID. Government Purchasing Cards - DFID ran a • Proposal for cards for travel & pilot for e-procurement cards for purchases under expenses submitted (similar to £500 This has now been increased to £1,000. that run in the British Library).

E-Operational Management

Use of e-Business applications to support the management of

Performance Reporting Information System for Management (PRISM) Stores information (financially focussed) on projects. Allows closer

Using our knowledge and resources effectively and

• This year: project completion reports to be added; different ways of analysing the data to be

Poor data quality Lack of access by small overseas

operational processes. tracking of project progress, evaluation of 'value for efficiently. investigated; data quality issues offices. money' and permits analysis of performance. It to be addressed. Issues of provides Best Practice information to DFID staff • Discussions are underway to information and facilitates lesson learning. Information is make the information on PRISM sensitivity and categorised by economic sector codes to link in available externally (internet). security with making with DAC's standard description method. All staff • Workshops have been held and it publicly available. have received training. A video and guide book will go on to monitor use and get Changes to MIS will have been disseminated. feedback. impact on all the MIS Rewrite Redesign of the Management • The MIS rewrite is still at the systems it feeds information System and its complex coding to make feasibility stage. Planned to go info to: Statistics, the accounting system more flexible ad to facilitate live end 2001. CODA, PRISM, and the provision of external statistical reports. Resource Allocation

Round.

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Program Description Projects Partners Relevant PSA Timescale/Milestones Risks

E-Communicati

Use of electronic means to facilitate

DFID does not have full access to the GSI, the UK Government intranet system. Access is limited to the

DTI, Academic Institutions and

Working more closely with the private and

• While plans to upgrade DFID systems to become GSI

GDNet's progress has been held up by

ons communications with Library and HR at Victoria Street, and the Library, HR and Research Bodies, voluntary sectors, and compliant are under discussions with the

(department­wide)

partners. Procurement Dept at Abercrombie House. DFID's use of the Knowledge Network (KN) is limited to the extent that it uses GSI to share content. However DFID has

Private Business (Nature Magazine), World Bank, OECD.

the research community. Using our knowledge and resources

consideration, the development by the government of GSI II which will support unclassified

World Bank over its purpose and focus e.g. whether to give

engaged with government and signed up to the KN in the effectively and systems like DFID’s, will be a the network a long term. efficiently . significant milestone. multidisciplinary inSight - DFID intranet recently underwent changes to • DFID currently contributes to agenda or a purely make it more issues based. New information is constantly AIDA using NARSIS and is soon economical one. being added to feed information from PRISM. Sector Wide Global Development Network (GDNet) recently • The Science Dvmt. Website pilot Approach limited by piloted initiative jointly funded by DFID and World Bank has ended and DFID has compatibility issues aimed at bringing policy makers and researchers, submitted a formal submission and the limited 4 particularly in developing countries, together. In particular for funding. terminal standalone AIDA facilitates access to comprehensive data on aid­ • Plans are set out in the system in Victoria financed development. Uses XML and IDML. application to measure take-up Street. Science Development Website developed in and usage and gather feedback. partnership with Nature Magazine to aggregate scientific information on and produced by developing countries. Small Business Research Initiative - DFID has a presence on the DTI website for this initiative aimed at encouraging small businesses to apply for Government funding.

Infrastructure Investment in IT to support e-projects.

Satellite links: DFID is working with FCO and Global Crossing to share a common satellite network with the Foreign Office for DFID country offices. This will permit high bandwidth access to video conferencing and corporate systems. Assist 2000: PC and software upgrades (Groupwise 5 and Office 2000) for all DFID staff. Installation of Virtual Private Networks in country offices. (Proposed) Capacity and Resilience Upgrade Programme (CARUP) to provide server resilience through clustering and redundancy, remote servicing, enhanced backups etc. (proposed) Network and Systems Programme

FCO (building on the Foreign Office Telecommunications Network – FTN).

• Satellite Pilot in Nairobi ends August 2001.

• FCO rolling out dishes in 200 offices many of which are co-located with DFID offices, and which DFID will share. Separate DFID offices will have their own satellite dishes linked to the main FTN.

• By August 200, VPNs installed in all country offices.

Dependence on FCO’s FTN project. Often need permission before installing dishes. Growing size of task as new small offices open all the time.

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(NASP). Upgrade network security, attain GSI access, move to full IP messaging and comply with e-GIF.

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Initiatives within policy departments (an overview):

Department Projects Partners Relevant PSA Timescale/Milestones Risks

Statistics Partnerships and Statistics for Development in Office for National Using our knowledge • Testing E-conferencing facilities Limited access in

Department the 21st Century (PARIS 21) - a virtual network uniting the five big multilaterals, DFID and regional

Statistics, World Bank, IMF, EC, UN, OECD,

and resources effectively and

on PA RIS 21. • DFID Statistics dept involved in

some country offices.

statistics organisations to coordinate global Eurostat. efficiently. discussions for enlargement of Databases may statistical capacity building and improve coherence. statistics database. have sensitivity Joint Consultants Database - plans to issues (making info collaborate with the Office of National Statistics on personnel (regularly employed by DFID for consulting public). services), to better match skills to needs. Database of Statistics Projects - being developed by World Bank and Eurostat to gather info on all statistics projects: DFID will be involved when enlarged to include data on statistics projects from other donors.

Health & Departmental Internal Website to facilitate FCO, MoH (informally), Building development • Virtual library went live in April IT infrastructure

Population communication between all members (overseas advisors, Resource Centres, Knowledge

Academic Institutions (Sussex University),

partnerships with poorer countries;

2001, one to one training recently given.

limiting involvement of some groups in

Programs). Virtual teams based around thematic Research Bodies working more closely • Currently investigating ways of developing areas, each with a 'room' where info is shared. (Institute of with the private and brining WHO, World Bank etc into countries. Virtual conferencing facility and an electronic Development studies), voluntary sectors, and the community that the site library within the site. Gives a stronger voice to Resource Centres, the research community; serves. research bodies in developing countries on policy World Bank, WHO, EU, working with and formulation. USAID. influencing multilateral

development organisations.

Sustainable Livelihoods Connect: Funded by DFID, hosted by MAD, DTI, DEFRA, Working more closely • Funding to be continued for next Promoting the

Development IDS, contributed to by the ODI, LID, Oxford Policy Unit etc. Electronic means of supporting the

World Bank, IMF, EC, UN (FAO, IFAD),

with the private and voluntary sectors, and

five years. • Regular project reviews (next ­

approach across all DFID policy

Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to policy UMIST, Chartered the research community; August 2001). departments will be development and to influence key partners to adopt Institute for Learning working with and • New 'lessons' area created April a challenge - it was a more people centred, poverty-reduction-focussed and Development, influencing multilateral 2001. originally brought to attitude. Engaged with private enterprise to develop Governments and development the fore by Rural the site. 287 registered SL Distance Learning Guide Media Organisations in organisations. Livelihoods. users. 1,000 users receiving automatic email developing countries.updates. Targeted information services support expanding sectors.

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Department Projects Partners Relevant PSA Timescale/Milestones Risks

Rural Livelihoods

DEFR's Rural Portal currently being developed to coordinate information on rural matters. DFID plans

DEFRA, UN (FAO), EC, IDS.

Influencing multilateral development.

• Rural Portal is at the planning stage

Rural Portal may not be focussed enough

to be involved as it already coordinates the organisations. Working • Narsis has been running since on development interests of the two departments by representing with other Government. 98 and is constantly being issues. IARD is them at the FAO. Departments to promote developed. becoming too Initiative for Agricultural Research and consistent policies • New CD-ROM developed and academically driven Development - EC funded to collate agricultural affecting poorer distributed to 500 donors and and has evolved into information from 15 EU Member States in a countries. agencies. a network of passw ord-protected online database. DFID Using our knowledge researchers rather contributes and is learning from its metadatabase and resources than being an system. effectively and initiative to aid the NARSIS - IDS hosted electronic database sharing efficiently. poor. lessons learnt from projects and monitoring research centres. Compatible with FAO databases. Used for reporting purposes eg for the G8 Summit. Contributes information to the Global Development Gateway.

Governance Governance Resource Centre - a website designed by the University of Birmingham supported by a help desk to facilitate knowledge sharing on governance issues including best practices and lessons learnt. Designed to link in to other DFID information resources such as PRISM accessed initially by the GD Network. Anti Corruption Database to be set up following the commitment of the Utstein Group of development ministers in UK, Germany, Netherlands and Norway. Will consist of a virtual resource centre responsible for collating information about work in governance from 4 donors, including a lessons learnt section.

DTI, HMO, FCO etc, Academic Institutions, British Council, The Utstein Group (Development departments of Norway, Germany & Netherlands).

Working with other Government Departments to promote consistent policies affecting poorer countries. Using our knowledge and resources effectively and efficiently.

• Currently at development stage. • User analysis undertaken in the

field. • Website launch at GD Retreat in

October 2001. • User group and content advisory

group to be set up to monitor performance.

.

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Appendix 6: Case studies

This appendix contains details of three case studies that demonstrate: • measures taken by DFID to mitigate against culture related change risks;

• DIFD’s involvement with partners, both public and private sector, to deliver valued services to its customers;

• DFID’s commitment to joined up working initiatives by participating in pilot studies to understand quickly the business value of certain e-Business applications and to understand the business process changes necessary to effectively implement them; and

• integration of e-initiatives with other systems and projects.

Case Study 1, EDRM Programme – overcoming cultural change issues

The EDRM programme is an ongoing endeavour by DFID to manage documents and records effectively. The ultimate goal is to meet the Cabinet Office/Public Record Office target of 2004 for the electronic storage and transfer of all DFID’s new public records.

The programme is fundamental to the success of DFID’s eBusiness strategy since virtually all e-projects are limited if electronic records are not efficiently, managed, stored and retrieved.

In order to reach the 2004 target, radical changes in the working habits of all staff members are required. Acknowledging the risk of people resisting change, the Information Department conducted a Change Management study in late 2000 to examine the way the introduction of EDM and ERM might affect people’s business tasks. The study took the form of a series of workshops supported by indivi dual interviews with a view to understanding the cultural barriers in order to manage effectively the change process.

The main barriers identified were:

• the significant nature of the change from traditional, paper-based ways of working to an electronic, office-wide document and records management system;

• a lack of understanding of DFID’s own objectives for EDM and lack of appreciation of how the technologies might assist DFID in meeting its overall policy objectives;

• the lack of available skills;

• a perception of increased workload;

• the lack of enthusiasm at the highest level despite some evidence of impatience at the lack of a suitable system at lower levels;

• a lack of confidence in IT systems (‘paper is safer than computers’);

• concern over how overseas offices would meet objectives given limited IT systems;

The risk mitigation actions consequently undertaken (and still ongoing) are:

• Change Management project findings incorporated in planning;

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• Business Case clearly made to staff (emphasising benefits, time-saving etc);

• Project Initiation Document disseminated promoting the business case and taking the needs of overseas offices into account;

• a programme of pilot studies designed to test the technical proposition and reveal the organisational and procedural issues of the change to working practices;

• business users heavily involved throughout the PRINCE/DSDM process; and

• EDRM Programme Board set up under a full-time Programme Manger to demonstrate leadership and high level commitment to the programme.

The study found that DFID staff could adapt to change, and were much more willing to do so if they knew exactly why the change was being introduced, particularly when that change was perceived as important. There is DFID-wide support for the organisation’s mission to eliminate poverty because the rationale is clear and the goal has value. The same level of understanding and support was not evident with regard to EDRM. It was important not only to stress how EDRM might lighten their workload, but also how it would help to achieve the organisation’s mission.

Given the significant investments DFID had made in its communication infrastructure opening up opportunities to share information easily, the development of a strong internal communication strategy on EDRM to underpin this will address many of the cultural change issues that arise.

Case Study 2, Livelihoods Connect – using eBusiness channels to effectively influence business partners to make services ‘people focused’

The Livelihoods Connect Website is an example of how DFID is using electronic means to focus its services on the ‘customer’, that is, people in poverty. DFID’s overarching aim is the elimination of poverty in poorer countries and has signed up to the IDT of reducing by one-half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015.

Adopting the Livelihoods approach (increasing the sustainability of poor people’s livelihoods) and pursuing the livelihoods objective will help DFID and its partners respond to the views of poor people. Electronic means are being used to promote the approach (email updates, internet access to papers, online learning programs), to encourage and structure debate (online forums and chat rooms), listen to the views and interests of those concerned (building an online community involving organisations and the individuals in developing countries).

Using the Internet as a communications tool is particularly appropriate to the Sustainable Livelihoods objectives as it aims to serve the poor in a non-sectorial way (regardless of sector, geography or social class, from the local through to the international). Electronic or virtual methods of crossing existing sectorial boundaries are proving effective in delivering services to those in need.

Sustainability objectives achieved by electronic means must be integrated into mainstream development policy and policy department own e-business projects, rather than being ‘add-ons’.

Sustainable Livelihoods is just one area in which e-Business is facilitating the development of a customer focused conceptual and operational landscape for development. Another is the Sector-Wide Approach. They are broadly complementary and will be enriched if they build on each other’s information and analysis. For example, linking the Sector-Wide and Sustainable Livelihoods approaches will improve understanding of the importance of developing inter-sectoral links to maximise impact at a livelihood level. It will also “encourage public sector institutions to recognise the different players in the development process, creating pressure within

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the planning process to open up the dialogue beyond government, to innovate and to incorporate best practice from existing project-level activities.”15 (Sustainable livelihoods guidance sheets)

The progress of Livelihoods Connect is continually monitored to assess whether it is an effective tool in supporting the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach. Efforts are made to identify improvements based on the lessons learnt to increase performance and effectiveness.

In the progress report for the period January to March 2001 it was noted that “dialogue between practitioners [was] occurring with individuals sharing ideas, questions and problems on an ongoing basis. Developments contributing to this output included: an improved homepage and new navigation bar rolled out to reflect Lessons area; new high level lessons area added with 34 project summaries and many existing case studies; a Post-it Archive Search facility. Another output was that “Practitioners, researchers, trainers and aid administrators linked effectively, with information and insights being exchanged quickly and efficiently, in a way that can usefully feed in to and influence the policy agenda” 16

Case Study 3, TenderTrust system – joined up working with OGDs and the private sector to enable eTendering with suppliers and contractors

The TenderTrust System to be piloted this year is an example of an eBusiness initiative in which DFID is collaborating with business in order to deliver services more efficiently. The Pilot is led by the Office of Government Commerce and is to involve 10 Government Departments. The system has been set up in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland (“RBS”) and the Software Company Trustmarque to bring the process of bidding for tender of DFID projects online. DFID will advertise contracts on an internet site run by RBS. In effect the site will constitute a digital marketplace hosted by RBS where selected suppliers and contractors will place bids for tender.

The advantages of such a marketplace include making the tendering process more transparent and facilitating the flow of information between interested parties (there is an e-forum function in which DFID publicly answers questions from suppliers).

The pilot will also provide an opportunity to assess to what extent the tendering processes of different Government departments converge and can be made more efficient by e-Business enabled joined-up working.

The pilot takes into consideration factors such as compliance with European requirements. For example, all contracts of a value over £94,000 must be advertised across Europe, so any such advertisements placed on the site automatically link to the Official Journal of European Communities (OJEC).

The trial is due to start on the 29/6/01 and will last 3 months after which it will be reviewed for possible Government-wide rollout. Peter Gershon, the OGC Chief Executive has estimated the system will produce savings in the region of £13 million for the taxpayer over 4 years. It will reduce costs to suppliers by an estimated £37 million.

15 (Sustainable livelihoods guidance sheets)

(Progress/Monitoring Report: Livelihoods Connect January – March 2001).

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16

Case Study 4, PRISM – developing e-projects in a modular way that lends cohesion to the eBusiness strategy

The Performance Reporting Information System for Management (PRISM) is an electronic information system that feeds information from central systems including the Management Information System that has long held project records, and from CODA, the DFID accounting system which records financial data.

The system has steadily developed since the initial pilot in October 1997. Version three was used by individual spending departments to search, report and analyse project portfolios, amend data, capture and report performance information, and research other DFID funded projects active in their region or sector. In 2000 a portfolio-wide view on the intranet was rolled out. This allowed access to data across the whole DFID portfolio including Regional, International, Sectoral and Civil Society departments.

PRISM has been developed to allow integration with other systems; for example the information is categorised by economic sector codes to link in with DAC’s standard description method.

As a common source of project performance information used in the development of all DFID strategy papers and by other institutions such as the British Council and UNHCR it promotes consistency in within the department. More importantly, in coordinating reporting information PRISM helps DFID to meet its PSA 6 on value for money, and meets the accountability and reporting requirements of Parliament and HMT.

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Appendix 7: The ICT Group and its initiatives

Introduction

Increasingly, questions concerning who will benefit and who will be left out of the ICT revolution are coming to the fore in policy debates. Equally, concerns over areas of the developing world being left out of globalisation or being slow to develop ICT infrastructure centre on the potential negative impacts upon economies, economic decision making and the networking, advocacy and empowerment potential that ICTs can bring to Civil Society groups.

High level policy debates within the World Bank, United Nations ECOSOC, G8, Global Knowledge Partnership and ILO are highlighting the potential economic benefits of ICTs, and new technologies such as the internet and e-mail. However, there is little social content to such debates and little recognition of the potential social and economic inequalities that new technologies may exacerbate. DFID is keen for the future role of new technologies and their poverty reduction potential to be measured against a thorough understanding of the social impacts that they generate, rather than upon examination of the technologies themselves. DFID’s current position is that optimism must therefore be tempered with realism if a suitably effective and pro-poor ICT policy framework is to be developed.

Low-tech and high-tech ways to meet objectives

The terminology needs to be inclusive and the acronym ICT is less relevant if it is only equated with new technologies. The term ICT must be recognised as comprising a broad spectrum of communication technologies from radio, film, television, press and Internet to participatory forms of development communication such as street theatre, and video.

A priority for DFID is to ensure that participatory generated information regarding poverty flows from the poorest of stakeholders within the development process to the macro-level where their voices can influence national poverty reduction strategies is perhaps the most difficult of communication flows to support. Developing local participatory networks that feed information into larger networks capable of lobbying government and donors should fall within an overall ICT policy framework. Clearly, electronic networks have a role to play, but also mechanisms that capture local perceptions of poverty such as participatory videos that tell the local story of poverty as it affects stakeholders.

DFID investigations into the potential for use of ICTs in education show that the comparative cost of lower-level technologies (e.g. radio) gives them an advantage over new information technologies as a means of raising the quality of education or extending to new audiences. DFID believes that using the right mix from a range of ICTs is essential to maximise progress towards the IDTs.

A number of measures have been identified by DFID in the education arena. It is a priority for DFID to enable higher education in the south to benefit from the development of virtual universities, and international distance-education programmes, in the north. Such measures include:

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• support for distance-education programmes, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where these have thought through the articulation between study on and off-campus;

• the development of student funding arrangements for virtual study parallel with those for conventional student mobility;

• the development of electronic links between universities, with a virtual equivalent to FICHE;

• providing a mechanism for the commissioning of course development within Britain, possibly in association with the e-Universities initiative, where there is a national resource that can usefully be deployed in the south; and

• the development of protocols and standards to facilitate the sharing and exchange of teaching materials.

DFID is investigating the most efficient ways of harnessing ICTs in support of poverty reduction and is intent on placing itself and its development agenda at the forefront of the revolution in International Communication Technologies.

The ICT Group

The ICT Group was established to promote a poverty-focused, sustainable approach to the effective use of ICT within DFID's mainstream activities and those of the multilaterals. The Group's goal is to enhance the effectiveness of DFID to facilitate an increased availability of ICT to poor people, to improve their access to health, education and livelihood opportunities. The Group consists of representatives from all relevant Departments in DFID and acts as a focal point for DFID's activities in this area. It is chaired by the Infrastructure and Urban Development Division (“IUDD”).

Although many DFID Departments have been progressively investing in initiatives using ICTs to deliver services direct to customers, the creation of the ICT Group is a step that acknowledges the growing importance of ICT direct delivery projects and their implications for development. DFID has initiated a study to assess the most appropriate strategy for DFID to use ICT to achieve its development goals. The study will be completed at the end of September 2001.

Collaboration with partners

Donors working together and sharing knowledge is essential. The Dutch and the British development agencies are trying to do this by working closely on a joint programme and also in developing our respective strategies in this area with close consultation. DFID's first sector-specific ICT programme is being taken forward in partnership with five influential international NGOs, each of whom are finding that they can have more influence together in some strategic areas than separately. DFID is also exploring new ways of working more closely with the private sector through the Imfundo and other ICT related programmes.

DFID is also committed to developing partnerships with key players in developing countries. The international community needs to work more closely with developing country governments to identify realistic ways of moving quickly towards development-oriented policy and regulatory environments for ICT that are both effective and politically acceptable.

Below are two examples (G8 DOT force and Imfundo) of the international community coming together to identify opportunities for activities that will add value to (and not just add numerically) to the wide range of initiatives already being considered by others.

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Example 1: G8 DOT FORCE

The Digital OpportunityTask (DOT) Force held its final meeting in Sienna, Italy on 23-24 April 2001. At this meeting, it agreed the text for a nine point Genoa Plan of Action, which now forms the bulk of the DOT Force report. This report was presented to Sherpas on 10 May. The action plan is essentially an 'a la Carte' menu, from which G8 countries may pick those activities that they wish to support. The nine points are:-

• AP1. Help establish and support developing country and emerging economy national e-strategies;

• AP2. Improve connectivity, increasing access and lower costs;

• AP3. Enhance human capacity development, knowledge creation and sharing;

• AP4. Foster enterprise and entrepreneurship for sustainable economic development;

• AP5. Establish and support universal participation in new international policy and technical issues raised by ICTs;

• AP6. Establish and support dedicated initiatives for the ICT inclusion of the least developed countries;

• AP7. Promote ICT for health care and in support against HIV/AIDS and other infectious and communicable diseases;

• AP8. National and international effort to support local content and applications creation; and

• AP9. Prioritise ICT in G8 and other development assistance policies and programmes, and enhanced co-ordination of multilateral initiatives.

The report presents the case for ICT and development well and makes clear links with the international development targets

The DOT Force final report will go public a few days before the Genoa G8 summit. The Genoa summit in the summer will establish whether these efforts have been successful, but the partnership-focused and open consultation process adopted so far by the DOT Force have in themselves already taken the international community a useful step in the right direction.

The UK is one of the key players in this forum and Richard Manning (with specialist support from IUDD) is the UK Government representative.

Example 2: Imfundo (DFID)

Imfundo aims to find ways to use ICTs to improve education in developing countries, particularly in Africa. The programme is a partnership between DFID and a number of private sector companies, with the support of the International Development Secretary and the Prime Minister.

“Technology has great potential to extend knowledge and education to poor and marginalised people. It should not be seen as a panacea for the challenges facing education, but as a tool to deliver better education outcomes more efficiently.”17

It will concentrate on supporting teachers through the use of Open and Distance Learning (“ODL”) in teacher training and in-service professional development, and through educational management information systems e.g. software for time-tabling and budgeting. The mechanism for involvement will be a Resource-Bank, into

17 Clare Short, June 2001.

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which companies pledge goods and services. Imfundo will deal with project design and monitoring and evaluation, leaving implementation to DFID country programmes or other donors.

Experience from Imfundo and other projects will be made accessible through a Knowledge-Bank, which will provide a useful source of information on the use of ICTs in education. One of the pilot projects DFID is investing in under the scheme is in Rwanda.

In close partnership with DFID’s Rwanda country programme team, Imfundo are working in two areas of assistance:

• a distance learning programme for the in-service training of unqualified secondary teachers, using regional training centres, which is being developed by the Kigali Institute of Education (KIE);

• the development of options for an educational network to connect higher education institutions and their outlying centres, including KIE and its proposed regional centres, the Ministry of Education, and science and technology specialist schools; the provision of recommendations on which of these options would be most effective; and facilitating links with sources of funding and with private sector companies who can provide the necessary technical infrastructure.

The Imfundo initiative must now be taken on to the next stage and implementation of the proposed approach must begin.

There has been high level of interest in this initiative. An interesting next step will be to start asking the private sector to clarify the nature of its interest.

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Appendix 8: Ways in which ICT and eBusiness can help developing countries reach the IDTs

1. A reduction by one half in the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015.

Direct contribution • The internet stimulates micro eCommerce.

• Trading transaction costs are reduced.

• Better market information lowers prices.

• It enables participation in global trade.

• In stimulating a knowledge economy it reduces dependence on physical and capital resources.

• It helps tap the value in local and traditional knowledge.

• It removes geographical and social barriers to wealth creation.

Indirect contribution • ICT infrastructure attracts investment, creating employment.

• Use of the technology raises valuable skill levels.

• It increases prosperity through improved natural resource and environment management.

2. Universal primary education in all countries by 2015.

Direct contribution

• ICT gives wider access to high quality learning resources.

• It improves the quality of direct learning, especially for low and high achievers.

• It extends scarce teaching resources.

• It improves the efficiency of education management.

• Widespread ICT access lowers imbalances between local standards in, for example, rural/urban and rich/poor areas.

• It increases the quality and numbers of teachers trained.

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Indirect contribution • The media and the internet can raise overall awareness and expectations of education.

• They increase the speed of new skill adoption.

• They extend access to learning by increasing the flexibility of learning provision.

3. Demonstrated progress towards gender equality and the empowerment of women by eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005.

Direct contribution • The internet, community radio and mobile telephony empower women by facilitating participatory

communication and giving access to global knowledge.

• They can cut across traditional communication and power structures in education and society.

• ICT improves access to learning at all levels for women by offering it outside school and school hours.

• The media and ICT networks can be used to promote positive gender images and strategies to women, men, educators and policy makers.

• They accelerate change towards a more gender-sensitive knowledge base and teaching methods.

• ICT-based provision facilitates women's access to teacher training.

Indirect contribution • The media and the internet expose decision makers to the global discourse on gender equality.

• They facilitate and improve the effectiveness of gender awareness advocacy.

• They enable the creation of low cost, local and gender-sensitive content.

4. A reduction by two-thirds in the mortality rates for infants and children under age 5 and a reduction by three fourths in maternal mortality - all by 2015.

Direct contribution • Low cost email and other ICT improve the quality of perinatal health care by giving immediate

access to specialist support in poor and remote areas.

• The media and other ICT give prospective parents and health care workers more and better information about the causes of infant mortality and ways of preventing it.

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• They help to challenge life-threatening beliefs and practices.

• They help to improve services by raising awareness of issues and solutions among decision makers.

• The technology can improve the quality and increase the volume of pre / in service health care training.

• It can increase the efficiency of medical supplies distribution.

Indirect contribution • ICT influences national, regional and global activity in this area by feeding back information on

the causes and distribution of infant mortality.

• It facilitates the transmission of preventative knowledge into the education system and public discourse.

• It enables mothers and civil society groups to create participatory self help networks.

5. Access through the primary healthcare system to reproductive health services for all individuals of appropriate ages as soon as possible and no later than 2015.

Direct contribution • ICT improves reproductive health knowledge flow to and through the primary health care system.

• The media and the internet raise target groups' awareness of reproductive health issues and services.

• They help in recruiting, training and supporting health care workers and volunteers to extend the services' reach.

• ICT can increase the efficiency of data collection and distribution, improving service delivery.

• It can help manage more effectively contraceptive procurement and distribution.

• The media linked with the internet challenge adverse beliefs and practices in this area.

Indirect contribution • ICT links local and national service providers and health care promoters with the global discourse

and gives them access to international resources.

• It enables practitioners to influence the media agenda.

• The media and ICT often have greater appeal to target groups than traditional instruments of behaviour change.

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6. The implementation of national strategies for sustainable development by 2005, so as to reverse current trends in the loss of environmental resources at both global and national levels by 2015.

Direct contribution • Satellite-based Geographical Information Systems (“GIS”) improve resource management by

governments, agencies and businesses through better access to data and communication between planners and field staff.

• Portable computing and mobile telephony can increase the effectiveness of environmental management in the field.

• The media spread awareness of issues and good practice.

• The media and the internet improve advocacy through national and international forums.

• ICT makes it easier to identify and track environmental abuse.

• The technology can help manage supply by identifying alternative resources and improving supply chain efficiency.

Indirect contribution • The international media help raise public awareness supporting advocacy and improving

consumer behaviour in importing countries.

• ICT facilitates knowledge exchange and international benchmarking among policy makers and practitioners.

• ICT-based scientific research identifies future priorities and solutions.

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Appendix 9: DFID’s original analysis of types of customer interactions

P o l i c y a n d s t r a t e g y

f o r m u l a t i o n

R e s o u r c e a l l o c a t i o n

P r o g r a m m e

m a n a g e m e n t

P o l i c y c o n s e n s u s

M a n a g e m e n t o f t h e

o r g a n i s a t i o n

D e m o n s t r a t i n g

a c c o u n t a b i l i t y

O t h e r I D

O r g a n i s a t i o n s O G D s

U K

C i t i z e n s S u p p l i e r s

O v e r s e a s

C i t i z e n sT y p e s o f in teract ion

I n t e r n a l s t a f f

a n d

d e p a r t m e n t s .

G o v e r n m e n t s

i n d e v e l o p i n g

c o u n t r i e s

Customers / Stakeholders / Par tners

v . h i g h i n t e n s i t y h i g h i n t e n s i t y o f m e d i u m i n t e n s i t y l o w i n t e n s i t y o f

o f i n t e r a c t i o n i n t e r a c t i o n o f i n t e r a c t i o n i n t e r a c t i o n

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Appendix 10: Contributors and consultees for this report

Consultee Department /subject Comments on Customer segmentation?

Other input?

Des Donachie ISSD Y Y Adrian Blundell ISSD Y Y Pauline Gallagher Information Dept Y Anne Fraser Information Dept Y Joanne Alston Information Dept Y Susan Chandler Knowledge Policy Unit Y Y Gwen Hines Intl. Financial Institutions Y Y Dale Poad Evaluations Y Y Ian Miller Evaluations Y Y Dylan Winder Rural Livelihoods Y Y Fiona Power Health & Population Y Y Charles Agnew HR Systems Y Margaret Robinson Procurement Y Jonathan Hargreaves Governance Y Sharon Kinsley Governance Y Richard Teuten Development Policy Y Y Julia Bunting Statistics Y Eilidh Simpson Accounts Y Maureen McWhirter Public Enquiry Point Y Sheila Round PRISM Y Peter Sweeney Satellite Links Y Owen Barder DOT Force Y Adrian Tuckett CHAD Y Peter Farr Training & Development Y Simon Elvy OeE Y Y

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Appendix 11 - Electronic Service Delivery

Department for International Development

Overseas Pensions Department

Commitment Category ESD Exclusions/Barriers Enabled Now

Enabled 2002

Enabled 2005

SDA D2 �� �� ��Prompt Handling of Correspon dence

Provide All staff have an e-Information mail address.

1.To be able to Customer satisfaction receive general is monitored and correspondence via reported in Annual the Internet Newsletter 2. To be able to accept, via the Internet, applications for pension, changes in payment authority, and completed annual Declaration of Entitlement forms

Provide Benefit

Validation of claims etc is an internal . process. All forms are currently submitted in hard copy.

Most applications and declarations require not only a pensioners signature, or other means of personal identification, but also that of a witness. Customers are likely to be unwilling to pay two one-off charges for electronic

x x v

certificates. The %age of customers with access to a PC on the Web is thought to be very low. We will consider asking pensioners in

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the next Newsletter to let us know if they have access to a computer, are willing to use it and pay a fee to submit Declarations etc. electronically. Subject to the potential take up we will need to reconsider if it is a viable option to set up new systems to cope with a small and reducing number of pensioners. We believe there may be more benefit in widening the range of business we are willing to deal with by ‘phone and fax rather than e mail.

3. To be able to Provide Information about None �� �� ��provide , via the Information OPD is available on Internet, all guidance DFID`s website, and and application all guidance, forms forms for pension, and replies can be and replies to supplied via the correspondence Internet 4. To make available Provide Payment is made by Annual Newsletter �� �� ��to all pensioners, the Benefit BACS or payable advertises availability option of receiving order of ECT through BACS their pension by or TAPS. Occasional electronic credit campaign is run to transfer (ECT) promote take-up, or

when a new TAPS country comes on-

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line. Approximately 21,600 (86%) pensioners are paid electronically. The remaining 3,700 are paid by payable order through choice, or because ECT is not available locally.

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Development Programme

Commitment Category ESD Exclusions/Barriers Enabled Now Enabled 2002 Enabled 2005 SDA D2 Prompt Handling of Correspondence 1. To be able to respond to Electronic enquiries made via the website Provide

Information

Principal conduit is the DFID website. Enquiries routed to Public Enquiry Point (PEP) -enquiry@dfid.gov.uk Dedicated Team is able to provide a direct response, or route the enquiry to the most appropriate respondent. Monthly statistical data are used to

�� �� ��

measure outputs, with six-monthly surveys planned to gauge customer satisfaction.

2. To be able to purchase publications and publicly available research data

Provide Information

All DFID – generated press releases, speeches and publications are available on the web-site. Research

�� �� ��

material may be ordered electronically, or downloaded directly from the website. All DFID publications are available free of charge. Hyperlinks to The Stationery Office will allow electronic purchasing through their e-commerce facilities.

3. To provide Provide Information on a range of x vv ��information on Information recruitment vacancies is recruitment vacancies available on the website. both in UK and A small number of Overseas application forms are

available in PDF format e.g. Associate

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Professional Officer (APOS) Scheme. Electronic submission of applications is not yet available, and is planned for 2002

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Commitment Category ESD Exclusions/Barrier Enabled Enabled Enabled s Now 2002 2005

4. To provide information on guidelines for several DFID Funding programmes

Provide Information and Provide Benefit

Information on a range of DFID funded programmes is available on the website. Electronic submission of applications is not yet available, and is

x (excluding applicatio ns)

v ��

planned for 2002 SDA F18 Requests for services A three month pilot �� �� ��Electronic are sent, electronically, electronic tendering Government to OJEC. Bids are project , sponsored 5. To provide details of

Provide Information

currently received in hard copy format.

by OGC, was launched on 29th

forthcoming June 2001. Invitation projects, including to Tender (ITT) Statement of documents can be Requirements and published Terms of electronically on Reference OJEC. DFID are

able to receive and answer supplier’s questions through discussion fora. Suppliers are able to submit bid documents electronically (up to the deadline) with savings on printing, binding and courier costs.

4jan01.doc

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