E-Gov Bulletin - October 2004

Edited by Michael Power

Contents

• Alberta: Review Confirms Effectiveness of Provincial Adoption Web Site

• Business Registry I: B.C. Opens One-Stop Site

• Business Registry II: Hawaii Opens One-Stop New Business Site

• Canada Participates in Launch of E-Policy Resource Network

• E-Government in Central Europe: Rethinking Public Administration

• E-Government "Lessons from Around the World"

• U.K.: Parliament Security Smartcards

• U.S.: HHS Awards $139 Million to Drive Adoption of Health-Care IT

• Washington State Digital Archives Grand Opening

An in-depth review of the province's adoption Web site has been completed, confirming the effectiveness of the site in recruiting adoptive families and finding permanent homes for children. The evaluation shows that the Web site has generated significant public interest in Alberta's adoption program, and that adoptive parents and children profiled have positive opinions of the Web site.

The evaluation has also resulted in changes that provide improved information for prospective adoptive parents, including expanded search features, a secure area that allows caseworkers to share information about children with approved adoptive parents and a glossary that helps prospective parents understand the special needs of children featured on the site. Children featured on the site also have an opportunity to participate in the creation of their profiles.

Full press release available at:
http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200410/1721529B3E5D6-4CC8-4D17-92F6F584607C666E.html

Adoption Web site and evaluation available at:
http://www.child.gov.ab.ca

In partnership with the Canada Revenue Agency and the Workers' Compensation Board, the Province has officially launched the OneStop Business Registry, an improved e-government service that meets modern business needs.

The OneStop Business Registry lets people starting, moving or expanding a business deal with a wide range of public agencies at one Web site. Entrepreneurs can register their business, set up a provincial sales tax account, open a GST account, register with the Workers' Compensation Board and apply for a municipal business licence—all online. A single number will identify the business to various levels of government, avoiding duplication and speeding up service.

Full press release available at:
http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/nrm_news_releases/2004FIN0033-000830.htm

The OneStop Business Registry site available at:
http://www.bcbusinessregistry.ca/

On October 7, Governor Linda Lingle introduced Hawaii Business Express and hailed the online service as yet another convenience for the state's growing business community. The system consolidates the information requirements of multiple government departments, which means new businesses can input data once and have it sent electronically to the state's four regulating agencies for new businesses.

The online wizard leads filers quickly through the process of applying for the state general excise tax licenses, employee income tax withholding numbers and unemployment insurance identification numbers. Hawaii Business Express also allows users to file articles of business registration and register trade names with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. The new service also provides links directly to the Internal Revenue Service's online system and provides a fast way for business owners to obtain Federal Employer Identification Numbers (FEIN) as soon as state registrations are complete.

Full press release available at:
http://www.nicusa.com/html/info/media/releases/2004-10-07_HI_BizExpress.html

eHawaii Web site located at:
http://pahoehoe.ehawaii.gov/portal/

The United Nations Information Communications Technologies (ICT) Task Force, in collaboration with the Canadian government, Ireland, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) have launched Global e-policy Resource Network, ePol-NET.

The Canadian and Irish governments, in partnership with their Italian, French, Japanese and British counterparts, are each contributing nodes of expertise to ePol-NET. The ECA, in co-operation with the UN ICT Task Force, is also providing policy input.

With the support of Canada, the ECA will also match demand from African countries with appropriate e-policy expertise from Africa or from ePol-NET partners.

The main objective of the program identified as a priority by the United Nations ICT Task Force is to provide the policy makers in developing countries with useful and focused ICT strategies and resources that can be put to work as development enablers for social and economic progress.

Full press report available at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200410060327.html

As part of a broader effort to encourage its citizens and businesses to go digital, the European Union is exhorting member governments to practice what they preach: to shift their own operations to electronic—and particularly online—platforms. Having signed on to ambitious goals of information society development as part of the EU accession process, most of the ten new and candidate EU members have taken up the egovernment challenge with enthusiasm.

In order to gauge their capacity to implement such change as well as their progress to date, the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Oracle, has conducted a wide-ranging analysis of the e-government experience in the Central Europe region. To express the results of our analysis in comparative fashion, we have generated a set of e-government rankings based on a robust and comprehensive quantitative model. The rankings cover the ten new and candidate EU members from Central Europe, as well as another prospective member, Turkey.

Full report is available at:
http://graphics.eiu.com/files/ad_pdfs/Central_Europe_egov.pdf

This chapter provides lessons on e-government from a small set of case studies. It is an excerpt from the book by Janet Caldow entitled Delivery, Transformation, Measurement: Essays on 21st Century Governance, Caspian Publishing Ltd., London, 2003.

Full text of chapter available at:
http://www-1.ibm.com/industries/government/ieg/pdf/lessonworld.pdf

Following a spate of serious security breaches, a new smartcard access system is to be introduced to both Houses of Parliament to prevent further intrusions. The electronic smartcards will replace current perimeter and internal security equipment, possibly also serving as a cashless payment solution for the buildings' restaurants. The move forms part of a full-scale review of anti-terror measures at the House of Commons, prompted by recent incidents where demonstrators and undercover journalists sneaked their way into the Parliament's inner sanctums. In May the Prime Minister was struck by a flour bomb thrown by Father's Rights Group protestors while addressing MPs at the Commons and only last month, ministers were shocked when pro-hunting activists managed to enter the floor of the chamber during a Parliamentary debate.

Based on tender notice available at:
http://www.egovmonitor.com/go?144g

The Health and Human Services Department today announced $139 million in grants and contracts to promote the use of health IT and take the department another step closer to electronic health records for all Americans.

The grants are intended to provide insight into how best to use health IT to:

• improve patient safety by reducing medication errors;
• increase the use of shared health information between providers, laboratories, pharmacies and patients;
• help ensure safer patient transitions between health-care settings including hospitals, doctors' offices and nursing homes; and
• reduce duplicative and unnecessary testing.

Full press report available at:
http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/e_gov/27624-1.html

"The much-anticipated grand opening of America's first state government digital archives occurred on October 4, 2004. The opening gala event hosted Washington State legislators, county officials, archivists from throughout the United States, as well as a delegation of regional archivists from as far away as China. Among the speakers at this prestigious event were Secretary of State Sam Reed and Lew Bellardo, Deputy Archivist of the United States.

The Digital Archives Archival Management System was also brought on-line that day, with the electronic marriage records from Chelan, Snohomish and Spokane counties—as well as the Historic Census and Naturalization records database—Web arrayed in an easy to user search interface It is the mission of the digital archives to preserve and make accessible the electronic records for both state and local government agencies in Washington State."

Full press release available at:
http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Content.aspx?txt=news

Digitla Archives Web site may be found at:
www.digitalarchives.wa.gov

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