An-Najah National University Faculty of Graduate Studies Strategic Analysis and Development of Electronic Government Strategies for the Palestinian Municipalities By Nibal O. Abu Jaber Supervisor Prof. Sameer A. Abu Eisheh This Thesis is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in Engineering Management, Faculty of Graduate Studies, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine 2011 III DEDICATION This Thesis is dedicated to: My Dear and Lovely Mother for her constant support and prayers. My Father for his encouragement and prayers My Kind Husband Raed My Beloved Brother Eng. Anan My Dear Daughter My Friends and Colleagues Everyone, who helped and supported me IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS After sincerely thanking Allah for all blessing, I would like to thank all those who helped me with their valuable support during the entire thesis process. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Prof. Sameer Abu Eisheh for his valuable guidance, support, suggestions, information, amusing comments, patience and encouragement to go ahead with my thesis. For sure, without his expertise and advice, I could not have completed this thesis. I would like to thank Dr. Safa’ Naser Al-Dein; the General Coordinator for e-Government in Palestine, for her support and expertise. I would like to thank the defense committee member; Dr. Sabri Saidam, and Dr. Ayham Ja’roun for their support. I would like to express my warmest love and forever appreciation to my family. My father, my mother, my kind husband Raed, my brother Anan, and my lovely daughter for their continuous support to complete my thesis and making this study possible. Thanks to all official organizations which provided me with valuable information and data. I mention, in particular, Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology, the Ministry of Local Government, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and number of Palestinian municipalities; Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, Qalqiliah and Al- Bireh. Finally, Thanks to all those who supported me to achieve my work successfully. V إقرار :العنوان تحمل التي الرسالة مقدم أدناه الموقع أنا Strategic Analysis and Development of Electronic Government Strategies for the Palestinian Municipalities التحليل االستراتيجي وتطوير استراتيجيات في البلديات الفلسطينية الحكومة االلكترونية تمت باستثناء ما الخاص، جهدي نتاج هي إنما الرسالة هذه عليه اشتملت ما بأن أقر أو درجة لنيل من قبل يقدم لم منها جزء أي أو ككل، الرسالة هذه وإن ورد، حيثما إليه اإلشارة .أخرى بحثية أو تعليمية مؤسسة أية لدى بحثي أو علمي لقب DECLARATION The work provided in this thesis, unless otherwise referenced, is the researcher's own work, and has not been submitted elsewhere for any other degree or qualification. Student's name: …………………….......……………… سم الطالبا: Signature: ……………………..………………..... التوقيع: Date: ………………………………………… التاريخ: VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Subject Page DEDICATION III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV DECLARATION V TABLE OF CONTENTS VI LIST OF TABLES IX LIST OF Figures X LIST OF ACRONYMS XI ABSTRACT XIV CHAPTER 1 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Significance of the Study 3 1.3 The Study Problem 4 1.4 Objectives of the Study 4 1.5 Contents of the Study 5 CHAPTER 2 7 E-GOVERNMENT LITERATURE REVIEW 7 2.1 Introduction 7 2.2 e-Government Historical Background 7 2.3 The Concept of e-Government 9 2.3.1 Definitions of e-Government 9 2.3.2 The General Objectives of e-Government 11 2.4 The Concept of Strategy 12 2.4.1 Strategy Definitions 12 2.4.2 The SWOT Analysis Concept 14 2.4.3 The SWOT Matrix Concept 14 2.5 e-Government Strategy Concept 15 2.6 Comparative Studies 16 2.6.1 The National Level 16 2.6.2 The Municipal Level 30 CHAPTER 3 43 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 43 3.1 Introduction 43 3.2 Research Methodological Approach 43 3.2.1 Quantitative Research 43 3.2.2 Qualitative Research 44 3.3 Type of Sampling 45 VII Subject Page 3.4 Data Collection Methods 46 3.5 Information Analysis 51 3.6 Conclusion 52 CHAPTER 4 53 GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN PALESTINE 53 4.1 Introduction 53 4.2 The Local Government in Palestine 53 4.2.1 Historical Background 53 4.2.2 Local Government Objectives 55 4.2.3 The Responsibilities of Local Government in Palestine 56 4.2.4 The Strategic Trends for Palestinian Local Government Level 56 4.3 The Municipalities 57 4.3.1 The Notion of Municipality 57 4.3.2 Municipality Duties 58 4.4 The Relation between the Central and Local Levels 59 4.5 Conclusion 60 CHAPTER 5 61 E-GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENTS 61 5.1 Introduction 61 5.2 The Requirements 61 5.2.1 Organizational Requirements 61 5.2.2 Human and Psychological Requirements 69 5.2.3 Technical Requirements 71 5.2.4 Political and Legal Requirements 72 5.2.5 Financial and Economic Requirements 73 5.2.6 Promotion Requirements 74 5.3 Conclusion 75 CHAPTER 6 76 THE STRATEGIC ANALYSIS FOR PALESTINIAN E- GOVERNMENT AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL 76 6.1 The Current Situation of the Information Technology (IT) in Palestine 76 6.2 The Current Situation for the Palestinian e-Government 82 6.3 SWOT Analysis of the Palestinian e-Government 89 6.3.1 The Strengths 89 6.3.2 The Weaknesses 90 6.3.3 The Opportunities 92 VIII Subject Page 6.3.4 The Threats 94 6.4 Assessment for the SWOT Analysis 95 6.5 The Palestinian e-Government Vision 95 6.6 The Palestinian e-Government Mission 96 6.7 The Palestinian e-Government Strategic Goals 96 6.8 Conclusion 97 CHAPTER 7 98 THE STRATEGIC ANALYSIS FOR PALESTINIAN E- GOVERNMENT AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL 98 7.1 The Current Situation for the Municipal Level 98 7.2 The Strategic Analysis for e-Government 103 7.2.1 SWOT Analysis 104 7.2.2 The SWOT Analysis Results 110 7.2.3 e-Government Key Issues at the Municipal Level 110 7.3 Strategic Formulation for e-Government 112 7.3.1 e-Government Vision at the Municipal Level 112 7.3.2 e-Government Mission at the Municipal Level 113 7.3.3 The Strategic Goals 114 7.4 Conclusion 114 CHAPTER 8 115 E-GOVERNMENT STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK IN THE PALESTINIAN MUNICIPALITIES 115 8.1 Introduction 115 8.2 SWOT Matrix 115 8.3 e-Government Strategic Solutions 117 8.4 Conclusion 127 CHAPTER 9 128 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 128 9.1 Summary 128 9.2 Conclusions 129 9.3 Recommendations 132 REFERENCES 135 ب الملخص     IX LIST OF TABLES Table No. Title Page Table (3-1) The Key Typical Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research 45 Table (7-1) The Result of SWOT Analysis 111 Table (8-1) SWOT Matrix for e-Government Strategic Solutions at the Municipal Level 116 X LIST OF Figures Figure No. Title Page Figure (6-1) The percentage of Utilizing Different ICT tools by Palestinian Families 77 Figure (6-2) The percentage of Utilizing Different ICT tools by Palestinian Individuals 77 Figure (6-3) The percentage of Utilizing Different ICT tools by Economical Organizations 78 Figure (6-4) The Percentages of Development in Using ICT Tools in Tunis 79 Figure (6-5) The Percentages of Using ICT Tools in Jordan 79 XI LIST OF ACRONYMS CMP Computerization Master Plan DM Dubai Municipality E-Commerce Electronic Commerce E-Democracy Electronic Democracy E-Document Exchange Electronic Document Exchange e-Government Electronic Government E-procurement Electronic Procurement E-Jordan Electronic Jordan E-Learning Electronic Learning E-Management Electronic Management E-Seal Electronic Seal E-Service Electronic Service E-Signature Electronic Signature EU Europe Union XII G2B Government to Business G2G Government to Government G2C Government to Citizen GDN Government Data Network GIN Government Internet Node GIS Geographic Information System GSI Government Secure Intranet GTZ German Agency for Technical Cooperation ICT Information and Communication Technology IT Information Technology IVR Interactive Voice Response MOICT Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies MOLG Ministry of Local Government MTIT Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology XIII OSS One Stop Shop PCBS Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics PLC Palestinian Legislation Council PNA Palestinian National Authority PPP Public Private Partnership ROI Return On Investment SAP Strategic Action plan SGN Secure Government Network UK United Kingdom UN United Nations   XIV Strategic Analysis and Development of Electronic Government Strategies for the Palestinian Municipalities By Nibal O. Abu Jaber Supervisor Prof. Sameer A. Abu Eisheh  ABSTRACT e-Government is considered as one of the modern tools, which emerged from the escalated development in the Information and Telecommunication Technology sector. e-Government has been adopted in order to make the governmental services around the world, at both the national and municipal levels, better, faster, cheaper, more convenient, more transparent, more efficient, more accountable, and more accessible to their beneficiaries; the citizens and businesses. To achieve those e-Government benefits, there are specific requirements that must be addressed, which form the bases towards the success of developing and implementing e-Government. Those requirements are categorized into organizational, human and psychological, technical, political and legal, financial and economic, and promotion requirements. Palestine is one of the Middle East countries that tries to implement and develop e-Government initiative, which was launched in 2005 and was expected to take several years to be completed. Most of the research and studies on e-Government field focused on development and implementation part and ignored the strategic planning and management part, although this is a basic and an important part of e- Government. Most of the research on the strategic part of e-Government XV concentrated on the national level; few studies were accomplished on the municipal and local levels. The aim of this thesis is to develop e-Government strategic framework for the Palestinian municipalities. This aim is achieved according to the strategic analysis for the Palestinian e-Government current situation for the national and then municipal levels. The strategic analysis process is based on the data collected through the combination of the documents from the published documents on the official websites or the governmental agencies themselves, and from interviews with the Palestinian e-Government experts including employees of the public and private sectors. The strategic analysis process resulted in identifying the SWOT -the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses), and the external factors (threats and opportunities)- that affect the Palestinian e-Government at the national level then at the municipal level. The SWOT analysis forms the basis in suggesting the vision, the mission and then concluding strategic goals for the national and municipal levels. The findings for this research were achieved through the matching process between the internal and external factors for e-Government at the Palestinian municipal level, which is called the SWOT matrix. SWOT matrix contributed in formulating set of feasible strategic solutions needed to be implemented in right way to achieve e-Government's municipality strategic goals. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction During the last decade, the revolution in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) became the most exciting and interesting topic. In addition, access of the public to information technology, thereby, to information from a variety of sources, has changed power structures at the national and international levels. The communication, transmission and distribution of information are no longer limited by space and time. The fast and easy access to information is greatly facilitated by the internet, computers, mobile phones and many other telecommunication and technology tools. This revolution was reflected on the people’s life and how people and business interact with government. Nowadays, it is not enough for the classical government to develop its methods to face the daily changes; in fact, it is necessary to review its form radically and innovate other new ones. Those changes are being transformed into an increasingly utilized new form of government, called Electronic Government (e-Government). Chen et al. (2006) defined e-Government as "a cost effective solution that improves communication between government and their constituents by providing access to information and service online, also it’s a permanent commitment made by government to improve the relationship between the private citizen and the public sectors through enhanced, cost effective, and efficient delivery of services, information and knowledge.” 2 In other words, as Bdran (2004) indicated, e-Government is a default copy of classical and real government with a difference that e-Government lives in networks, information systems and technologies, and simulates the function of the classical government that exists in the physical manner in different governmental sectors. In addition to serve the most and basic important element in the society, i.e. the citizen, e-Government envisaged as helping national economy and improving the country image. e-Government strategy outlines the goals, processes and actions to achieve transparency, accountability and good governance, efficient and citizen-centred, and enabling citizens and businesses to access government services and information as efficiently and effectively as possible through the use of internet and other channels of service delivery and communication. In Palestine, like other nations and countries, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is trying to embrace e-Government, put critical information online, automate many processes and interact electronically with the people. There are several requirements needed to the success of e- Government initiative. Moreover, there is a number of obstacles and threats, which may hinder and delay e-Government initiative in Palestine strategically and technically at the national and local levels. Developing e-Government strategic framework for both national and municipal levels is so important to e-Government success. Since, there is no strategic framework developed at the Palestinian municipal level, this thesis concentrates on formulating e-Government strategic framework for the Palestinian municipalities. 3 1.2 Significance of the Study The Electronic Government is an interesting and important topic for research. In addition, the development of e-Government strategic framework is the most important field in e-Government domain, since it identifies the methodologies and actions needed to achieve e-Government strategic goals. The government uses e-Government tools as a new mean for management and solutions to the problems in different sectors. The significant of the research that it concentrates on e-Government in Palestine, specifically on strategic framework development in the Palestinian municipalities. The development of strategic framework for e- Government in the Palestinian municipalities can be used as a basis for preparing complete strategic and action plan, and for future elaborations and researches in this field. This is expected to have an effect on the development of the society especially the Information Technology sector and how it is important to put the first lines in making strategic planning and adding a value for this domain. This research will highlight e-Government strategic framework development in the Palestinian municipalities, by comparing to the similar aspects in the international level and in developing countries, and formulating the strategic framework for adapting, using and applying e- Government as a mean for improving the performance and service level in the Palestinian municipalities. In addition, it introduces the analytical means in that domain; the threats and opportunities, strength and weakness 4 points, objectives, critical success factors and requirements, which affect in e-Government and its strategic framework. 1.3 The Study Problem e-Government development is an important issue in the ICT sector in Palestine. e-Government continuous improvement needs to develop strategic framework, in order to achieve e-Government intended strategic goals and contribute in improving the ICT sector current situation. It is noticed that there is an effort at the national level in studying, searching and developing e-Government from the technical and strategic aspects. However, at the municipal level, there are little efforts and ideas, especially when those compared to the developments in e-Government at the local and municipal levels in other nations, including the Arab cities in the nearby countries, such as Dubai, Amman, Al-Manama and Doha e- Government. This research will be trying to complement the efforts on the national level with those on the municipal level and concentrate on developing strategic framework for e-Government in Palestinian municipalities. 1.4 Objectives of the Study The aim of this research is to introduce and develop e-Government strategic framework in Palestinian municipalities, in addition to the following: • Analyzing the current situation of Telecommunication and Information Technology sector in Palestine. 5 • Analyzing the Palestinian e-Government status quo at both the national and municipal levels, and display the Palestinian achievements in e-Government domain. • Exploring and analyzing the published strategic plan for e- Government at the national level. • Identifying the intended strategic goals and requirements, as well as the future strategic framework needed to achieve e-Government in the Palestinian municipalities. 1.5 Contents of the Study The contents of the rest of this research are summarized as follows: Chapter 2: The chapter has clarified the concept, importance and benefits of e-Government, and strategy. Furthermore, a set of comparative studies on e-Government strategic framework for different countries at both the national and municipal levels are introduced. Chapter 3: This chapter outlines the methodology followed in the study. Chapter 4: This chapter introduces a general overview of the Local Government in Palestine. Chapter 5: A set of requirements for e-Government are clarified in this chapter. Those requirements are clustered into organizational, human and psychological, technical, political and legal, financial and economic, and promotions requirements. 6 Chapter 6: The chapter describes the current situation analysis for e- Government at the Palestinian national level. A SWOT analysis is introduced and lead to propose the vision, mission and main strategic goals at the national level. Chapter 7: The major contribution of this chapter is to present the analysis for e-Government at the Palestinian municipal level, introducing the SWOT analysis and main key issues, and suggesting the vision, mission, and set of intended strategic goals. Chapter 8: The core contribution of this research is introduced in this chapter. The chapter presented the developing for e-Government strategic framework for the Palestinian municipalities. Chapter 9: This chapter presents the study’s summary, conclusions and recommendations. 7 CHAPTER 2 E-GOVERNMENT LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction As previously mentioned in Chapter 1, the aim of this research is clarifying the strategic analysis for e-Government at the national and municipal levels, in addition to developing e-Government strategic framework, which are missing for the Palestinian municipal level. The main concern of this chapter is to provide needed background and information to understand the research subjects, and to achieve their main objectives. This chapter firstly reviews many definitions and concepts for e- Government and describes the term strategy. Secondly, it outlines the goals of e-Government. Thirdly, it clarifies concept of strategy, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix and finally, e-Government Strategy. Finally, this chapter presents a set of comparative studies for e-Government at the national and municipal levels in Arab and other countries. 2.2 e-Government Historical Background       Heeks (2002) indicated that the term “e-Government” was used for the first time as expressed the idea of science fiction in the novel which has the same title “e-Government” by novelist John Berto in 1975. Its subject was about a comprehensive government that governs and control people through computer network. 8 Actually, the real use for the e-Government globally was in 1995, where it was first utilized when the Central Post Office in the State of Florida started implementing the concept on its administration. In this context, the U.S. President Bill Clinton said that “The deal of all American people with the computer is a national imperative”. In this regard, his deputy took a campaign to assure the utilization of information technology and to increase the awareness related to its relevance among the American citizens, so that each member of American people can fully interact with other different sectors socially, economically and politically (Heeks, 2002). On June 24, 2000, the U.S. administration has launched several initiatives for e-Government, described by the U.S. President Bill Clinton as (Red Tape Cut), as a metaphor for the start of a new phase in the life of the American people (Heeks, 2002). The official birth of e-Government was in the European Union conference in held in March 2000, where the EU adopted the decision putting all available programs of e-Government to be utilized, and make it available to all Europe on the (Internet), and the preparation of all needed plans (Heeks, 2002). It should be noted that Finland was the first European country legislated laws for the regulation of e-Government work in 2000. Since that date, the spread and the organizing of e-Government and its applications began to be globally (Heeks, 2002). The United Nations and in the cooperation with the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) prepared and issued a report in late 2001, which included the indicators of arranging the countries globally in 9 e-Government domain, as well as the effectiveness of e-Government for economic growth. USA was the first one the list, followed by Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Norway, Canada, and the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany (Al-Iraqi, 2008). 2.3 The Concept of e-Government 2.3.1 Definitions of e-Government There were several views and perspectives of experts and researchers on what the Electronic Government is, since e-Government concept is new in the field of knowledge. Cook et al. (2002) defined the Electronic Government as "e- Government has four dimensions in relation to major functions and activities of governments: (e-Service) which is the delivery of government information electronically, (e-Management) which is the use of ICTs to improve management and communication within and outside government structures, (e-Democracy) use of ICTs to enhance the citizens participation in democratic activities and (e-Commerce) online transaction of goods and services". Zhiyuan (2002) introduces e-Government as "a way for governments to use the most innovative information and communication technologies, particularly web-based Internet applications, to provide citizens and businesses with more convenient access to government information and services, to improve the quality of the services and to provide greater opportunities to participate in democratic institutions and processes. e- Government presents a tremendous impetus to move forward in the 21st 10 century with higher quality, cost-effective, government services and a better relationship between citizens and government". Another perspective was introduced by Bhatnagar (2002) that the Electronic Government is the participation and offering services to the citizens in order to increase the sense of responsibility and decrease the corruption. e-Government is defined also as "a generic term for web-based services from agencies of local, state and federal governments. In e-Government, the government uses information technology and particularly the Internet to support government operations, engage citizens, and provide government services. The interaction may be in the form of obtaining information, filings, or making payments and a host of other activities via the World Wide Web" (Sharma and Gupta, 2003; Sharma and Palvia, 2007). Kanaan (2009) suggested that e-Government is "the carrying out of governmental activities using information and communication technology tools in order to deliver better services to citizens, business and government entities (including government employees)". The World Bank (2009) defined e-Government as "the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be 11 less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions". Although this wide variety in e-Government definitions and views, there is a common view. e-Government refers to use information and communication technology tools to enhance the provisioning of services from government side to citizens, businesses and other government agencies with less effort, time and cost with more transparency. 2.3.2 The General Objectives of e-Government The main objectives of e-Government is to bring the government closer to the citizens by providing them with easier access to information through personal computers, telephones and other sources, it also aims at increasing mechanisms to create more accountability and transparency in the public sector. According to the Jordan Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (2001), the basic goals for the Electronic Government include the following: • Achieve efficient and greater return on investment, and support the economic development. • Raise the level of customer satisfaction with securing comfortable accessibility to the government services, gaining the users' trust and reducing cost of services. • Delivery of the customers' required services. • Achieving integration between the related services. • Getting more users for the services. 12 • Increasing the effectiveness and efficiencies of the government sector internal processes and operations, moreover increasing the government transparency and its responsiveness. 2.4 The Concept of Strategy 2.4.1 Strategy Definitions The term strategy came from Greek concept "strategia", which means "generalship", and it has used in military and adopted later in business. Various definitions for strategy term were indentified and introduced from different point of views. Hart (1967) defined the strategy as "The art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill the ends of policy". Steiner (1979) clarified the strategy concept with the following: Which top management does that is of great importance to the organization. Strategy refers to basic directional decisions, that is, to purposes and missions. Strategy consists of the important actions necessary to realize these directions. Strategy answers the question: What should the organization be doing? 13 Strategy answers the question: What are the ends we seek and how should we achieve them?" Moreover, Andrews (1980) discussed the term strategy as "The pattern of decisions in a company that determines and reveals its objectives, purposes, or goals, produces the principal policies and plans for achieving those goals, and defines the range of business the company is to pursue, the kind of economic and human organization it is or intends to be, and the nature of the economic and non-economic contribution it intends to make to its shareholders, employees, customers, and communities". Zimmerman and Tregoe (1980) defined the strategy as "The framework which guides those choices that determine the nature and direction of an organization". Mintzberg (1994) indicated that the strategy is “a plan, a pattern in actions over time, position and perspective, and argued that the strategy emerges over time as intentions collide with and accommodate a changing reality. Thus, one might start with a perspective and conclude that it calls for a certain position, which is to be achieved by way of a carefully crafted plan, with the eventual outcome and strategy reflected in a pattern evident in decisions and actions over time”. Porter (1996) defined the competitive strategy as "a combination of the ends (goals) for which the firm is striving and the means (policies) by which it is seeking to get there". The strategy in military view as "maneuvering troops into position before the enemy is actually engaged. In this sense, strategy refers to the 14 deployment of troops. Once the enemy has been engaged, attention shifts to tactics. Here, the employment of troops is central. In both business and military views, strategy bridges the gap between policy and tactics. Together, strategy and tactics bridge the gap between ends and means" (Nickols, 2004). From the previous mentioned definitions, strategy is all different views mentioned; it is a term that refers to a set of ideas, experiences, perceptions, actions and methodologies that help in achieving set of intended goals. 2.4.2 The SWOT Analysis Concept SWOT Analysis as indicated by Pealow (2011) is a tool, which provides a systematic approach to identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to assist the strategic planning process. By analyzing the external environment (threats and opportunities), and the internal environment (weaknesses and strengths), the output information from this analysis can be used to generate better strategic framework for the organization, department or team (Norton, Kaplan and Barrows, 2008). 2.4.3 The SWOT Matrix Concept David (2007) defined the Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Matrix as "an important matching tool that helps managers develop four types of strategic solutions: SO (strengths-opportunities) Strategies, WO (weaknesses-opportunities) Strategies, ST (strengths- threats) Strategies, and WT (weaknesses-threats) Strategies. Matching key external and internal factors is the most difficult part of developing a 15 SWOT Matrix and requires good judgment, as there is no one best set of matches." The four strategic solutions resulted from SWOT matrix clarified briefly by David (2007) as following: • Strengths and Opportunities (SO): use the internal strengths to take advantage of the available opportunities. • Strengths and Threats (ST): use internal strengths and take advantage of it in order to reduce the impact of the external threats. • Weaknesses and Opportunities (WO): use the available opportunities and take it advantages to improve internal weaknesses. • Weaknesses and Threats (WT): minimize the weaknesses and avoid the external threats. 2.5 e-Government Strategy Concept e-Government initiative to be implemented requires a comprehensive strategy that is not only measured on global best practices, but also responding to existing political and economic conditions. For e- Government to become a reality, governments are advised to develop a strategic framework, which articulates the government’s vision, mission, targets, methodologies and milestones, technical approach and standards for e-Government systems. 16 2.6 Comparative Studies In order to acknowledge the development process for e-Government and its strategic framework, different case studies and initiatives for e- Government strategic solutions and policies are presented, which have been developed by some countries at the national level, including the following samples the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Cyprus, United Kingdom, and Republic of Korea, and at the local and municipal level, including Dubai, Amman, Kusamo and Uskudar municipalities. 2.6.1 The National Level 2.6.1.1 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia e-Government Initiative According to Alsheha (2007),"YESSER" is the name of the Saudi Arabia's e-Government program and about the word "YESSER" itself; is the Arabic word for simplify. This initiative was launched in 2005 and implemented within the following five years. e-Government Strategy The Vision: The vision statement for the program which identified within YESSER initiative (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, 2003) was: "By the end of 2010, everyone in the kingdom will be able to enjoy – from anywhere and at anytime – world class government services offered in a seamless, user friendly and secure way by utilizing a variety of electronic means"(Al-Shehry, Rogerson, Fairweather and Prior (2006)). 17 The Strategic Goals: Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (2003) identified in its YESSER initiative the strategic goals for this program, which were needed to achieve the vision statement, were: • Raising the productivity and efficiency of the public sector. • Providing better and more easy-to-use services for individual and business customers. • Increasing return on investment (ROI). • Providing the required information in a timely and highly accurate fashion. To achieve the above goals, there were needs to implement three types of projects that were mentioned with Al Ghoson (2010) which included: Infrastructure projects, E-Services projects and National application projects. The Benefits of e-Government in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia According to Alsheha (2007), the benefits of e-Government in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia include: • Enhance the program's abilities. • Increase its effectiveness and usefulness to all residents of Saudi Arabia. • Improve the public sector organizations' productivity. • Provide the businesses and citizens with government services in simple and convenient way such as the necessary information in timely and highly accurate style. 18 The Challenges of e-Government in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Al-Fakhri et al. (2008) discussed the challenges that Saudi e- Government program faces and concluded that they include the following: • The lack of knowledge about e-Government between public; citizens, business, organizations, government entities. • Lack of the current regulations and legislation related to implement e-Government. • The lack of trust in accomplishing tasks online amongst Saudi government employees because of the lack of security and privacy for the information. • The government structure is not appropriate to implementing e- Government program. • The lack of studies and research in Saudi Arabia regarding e- Government. • Resistance to change and the fear of reducing the role of employees in accomplishing work because of using e-Government. • The lack of ICT skills and the shortage of qualified employees in dealing with IT. • Lack of knowledge to the English and computer language. • The absence of a supervisory within the Government because of using e-Government. • The interference in providing the same services among the government agencies. • The small number of people using Internet in Saudi Arabia. • The lack of financial resources. 19 2.6.1.2 Jordan e-Government History Ministry of Information and Communications Technology in Jordan (2006), indicated that e-Government is a national initiative launched by King Abdullah II in September of 2000, then The Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (MOICT) tried to start e-Government program but actually the program in Jordan remains on paper till later. During its initial phase, in 2001, the Program was guided by a comprehensive “e-Government Blueprint and Roadmap”. In 2003, the official site of Jordanian e-Government should be launched, but actually it was rescheduled to be launched in the year 2006. However, in 2006 a new e-Government strategy was published indicating that the official site was to be launched in the mid of 2006, but again the site failed to be launched in that date, and eventually launched by 2007 (Jordan e-Government Program, 2006; Wanous and Mofteh, 2008; and Al- Omari, 2006). e-Government Strategy The Vision Jordan e-Government Program (2006) identified the Jordanian e- Government's vision was that "e-Government in Jordan is dedicated to delivering services to people across society, irrespective of location, economic status, and education or ICT ability. With its commitment to a 20 customer-centric approach, e-Government will transform government and contribute to the Kingdom’s economic and social development." The Mission The Jordan e-Government Program (2006) concludes the Jordanian e- Government's mission, which was "To manage the transformation of the government towards a more "customer centric” approach in the delivery of services by means of appropriate technology, knowledge management and skilled staff to implement e-Government initiatives and programs that are relevant and affordable to the citizens of Jordan. e-Government Program is a major contributor to the Government of Jordan’s administrative reform." The Requirements To accomplish this mission and achieve the vision, Jordan e- Government program (2006) mentioned the following requirements to be existed before the deployment process: • Modernizing Legal framework and regulations concerned with e- Government program implementation. • The existence of E-Services applications for the government sector. • Develop and enhance the needed government technological infrastructure. • Re-engineering the business process effectively. • Improve the public sector Awareness with the new initiative by giving needed training and knowledge. 21 • Public sector organizations restructuring and re-engineering, change management acceptance. • Resources, ICT and business local skills availability to implement and use e-Government. • Cooperation among government entities in e-Government initiatives decision making. • Internet accessibility. • The documentation and sharing process between the local sector entities to their process, services, data, business requirements and strategic solutions. • The participation and support from the private sector to e- Government program. • Regardless of political changes and government officials reshuffle, the continuity and stability of e-Government project. Strategic Goals Jordan e-Government strategy goals as illustrated in Jordan e- Government Program (2006): • Improve governmental services delivery, efficiency, speed and quality to consumers, government entities, businesses and organizations, and improve the responsiveness to the customer needs; services and information. • Develop and enhance Jordan competitiveness. • Increase government accountability and transparency. 22 • Improve government performance and efficiency. • Save cost and time, and increase ease of interacting with government. • Promote development of Jordan’s ICT sector within government, business and citizens. • Develop skills within the public sector. • Improve information security. e-Government Strategies The Jordan e-Government program (2006) had initiated major strategies in order to improve the delivery process of services and government efficiency, those strategies including: - Completion of comprehensive information security roadmap for the Government of Jordan produced as part of the Security Assessment Project. - Provision of nearly 7,900 training opportunities including programs on ICT literacy, project management, vendor certified training programs and IT professionals. - Definition and prioritization of e-Government Portfolio of cross- governmental services for the Second Wave of e-Government Program. 23 e-Government Challenges As illustrated by Jordan e-Government Program (2006); Wanous and Mofteh (2008); Mohammad, Al-Marabeh and Abu Ali (2009); Al-Omari (2006) and Kanaan (2009), there were such risks and limitations that e- Government program faced: • The high cost of e-Government for government of Jordan. • The existence of conflicts for decisions made by different government departments. • The resources within the government of Jordan entities didn't have the required skills to implement and use e-Government, and there aren't enough funds to train and improve their skills. • Resistance to change. • Rapid changes such as technology changes; where e-Government strategy is not adaptable for those changes. • There is no guarantee of security and privacy for the information provides to/and from the public. • Lack of focus which comes from the Synchronization for the launching and adoption process for several E-Initiatives in Jordan has launched several E-Initiatives at the same time; • The absence of well-established E-Society. • The lack of infrastructure. • Digital Divide which exists within the Kingdom, especially between rural and urban areas. • Lack of awareness from the public. 24 As a result from the above review, it seems that Jordan is still very far from delivering comprehensive online services to both citizens and business. 2.6.1.3 Cyprus e-Government Strategy The Vision The Cyprus e-Government vision was "to deliver one-stop services to the public via the web or through other electronic channels". Based on e-Government initiations success; several government ministries, departments and services tried to offer online services to the public-a dynamic government-with improving the services quality (European Commission, 2009). e-Government Components The European Commission (2009) also mentioned the main e- Government infrastructure components in Cyprus within the IDABC e- Government Observatory as: • The Governmental portal. • Government Data Network (GDN) and Government Internet Node (GIN). • E-Procurement System. 25 e-Government Benefits The Cypriot Government benefit from e-Government experience as considered by Kokkinaki, Mylonas and Mina (2005) to enforce existing rules and regulations, improve productivity and communication between employees, reduce operational costs, produce paperless office and provide the capability for distance-working. E-Government initiatives were classified into Government to Government (G2G), Government to Business (G2B), and Government to Citizen (G2C) initiatives. After hard working in e-Government implementation and by the end of 2005, the public doesn't need to visit any government department to obtain different services, and in the later years, Cyprus e-Government achieved its vision. However, the development process is still ongoing on e- Government domain strategies and implementation and the most crucial factors that would determine the success or failure of an e-Government is the ability of the citizens to access it at any given time from anywhere (Fallahi, 2007). By analyzing the Cyprus e-Government strategies and implementation, we can conclude the strengths with the clear vision, the goals that could be applied, realism and transparency in different strategy phases, the adoption for review strategy for what's achieved and what's not. Moreover, the subsequent analysis strategy to guarantee the availability for required development elements, the availability for adequate infrastructure, the availability of the environment’s components, where each component was aware for the importance of cooperation to overcome the obstacles that form a barrier to the achievement and development, governmental laws and 26 legislation, community culture, awareness and education rate, information confidentiality and security e-Government and finally the media and its role in citizens awareness with e-Government role. Moving to weaknesses, Cyprus was well below the EU average rate with respect to the availability of online public services (Kokkinaki, Mylonas and Mina, 2005; Nicosia, 2007). 2.6.1.4 United Kingdom e-Government Strategy The Vision E-Government United Kingdom vision is to enable the United Kingdom to better using of technology throughout the government to meet its national objectives. e-Government Requirements Achieving this vision requires three key transformations as mentioned by Spencer (2003): • Services accessed using IT designed to achieve the public or business needs, presented through modern and organized channels. • Government must be transformed to shared service culture. • Government's professionalism in terms of the planning, delivery, management, skills and technological change. 27 e-Government Infrastructure and Achievements The main items within e-Government Infrastructure, as illustrated with e-Government Factsheets by European Commission (2009) and Spencer (2003) are: • The portal: the citizen portal which enables the public from access to the online public service, and the business portal which provide access to the business service and information. • Network: GSI (Government Secure Intranet), which forms a secure link between central government departments, and this infrastructure became later the central one for e-Government. • E-Identification Infrastructure, Government Gateway: which is a major authentication infrastructure that enables users to perform secure online transactions. 2.6.1.5 Republic of Korea e-Government Strategy-First Phase The Vision E-Government vision and strategy initiatives consists of two phases, the first one achieved with President Kim Dae-jung administration and the second under President Roh administration, each will be explained briefly: Starting with President Kim Dae-jung administration, his initiative's vision was providing the public (business and citizens) with the best quality administrative service electronically by the government, which was 28 done after establishing the most suitable ICT environment required to provide the business activities which then maximizes and enhances the productivity, transparency, and democracy with government (EGov Magazine, 2008). e-Government Strategies-First phase The strategies needed to achieve the vision as Obi (2004) and Kim (2007) mentioned: Administrative processes redesign and reshape, establish information and communication technology infrastructure and establish unified bases for presenting public sector services. The main initiatives and projects, which required to be implemented within e-Government program under President Kim Dae-jung administration, which form the basic framework for an advanced e- Government and core businesses for various ministries as illustrated with Chung (2003): The Government for Citizen (G4C) System, Social Insurance Information Sharing System, Home Tax Service System, Government E- Procurement System, National Finance Information System, National Education Information System, Local Government Information Network System, Personnel Policy Support System-Approval and E-Document Exchange, E-Signature and E-Seal System and finally the Government- wide Integrated Computer Network(Republic of Korea's e-Government site, 2010). 29 e-Government Strategy-Second Phase The Vision The second phase of e-Government program, which was initiated under President Roh administration in May 2003, its vision and strategy is summarized as follows (Kim, 2002): “Providing custom-made service that meets the demands of the people, Electronic processing of administrative work and joint sharing of information and Securing safety/trust and universal access”. e-Government Strategies-Second Phase Republic of Korea's e-Government mentioned the following strategies needed to achieve the initiative vision and objective (Kim, 2002): • Strengthen performance management system. • Maximize existing system utilization and carry out new projects after thoroughly evaluating the economic efficiency and its effects on the nation. • Establish unified environment. • Share implementation experiences and finding/expanding model cases to maximize investment effectiveness. • Promote the advance of e-Government within their organizations to be competitiveness with the domestic and foreign markets. • Develop the resource skills. • Establish governance structure. 30 As a conclusion, the political leadership and its strategies are crucial for successful e-Government implementation. 2.6.2 The Municipal Level 2.6.2.1 e-Government in Greater Amman Municipality-Jordan Since its beginning, Greater Amman Municipality had tried always and continuously to improve its works for citizens' convenience and better services provision. Within this framework, and to cope the considerable development of Amman city and work load accompanied with, it tried to establish Information Technology Department in 1983. Later in 1995 after the Internet service entered Jordan, it realized the great importance of the Internet, and start thinking of how to employ the Internet in serving public. Due to the importance for Greater Amman Municipality, and the numerous services that it provides to a large number of citizens, it was decided the Great Amman Municipality will be one of the six biggest government institutions in the National Project for e-Government (Abd Al- Nour and Ziadat, 2003). Greater Amman Municipality tried to accomplish several citizens' systems through implementing e-Government project, which were illustrated in Greater Amman Municipality (2010) such as: • Careers licenses system. • Vehicles systems. • Buildings systems. • Biddings systems. 31 • The financial systems. • Tax system. • Unified national traffic violations issues and collection systems. • Social guarantee system. • Land and real estate system. • Geographical Information system. To implement the mentioned systems, Greater Amman Municipality coordinated with the ministries related to such systems; where, for example, the tax system was coordinated with the Ministry of Finance (Abd Al-Nour and Ziadat, 2003). e-Government Projects Al-Haiajneh (2004) introduced Greater Amman municipality e- Government Projects objectives, which include: • Achieve balance between all society sectors. • Increase the government revenue through the reducing the cost and facilitating services provision for the citizens. • Build the technical infrastructure needed to introduce electronic services. • Provide number of Greater Amman municipality services for citizens, business and other government entities electronically using the internet. • Develop and improve the internal procedures related transactions processing and completion. 32 • Provide public with electronic services through new channels such as telephone and cellular. • Increase the citizens and employees awareness from using e- Government services. e-Government Implementation Phases Al-Haiajneh (2004) explained Greater Amman Municipality e- Government project implementation phases to be as follows: There are five stages over five years project implementation period, they are: • Pilot Projects-Fast Track; where several services implemented and introduced over Greater Amman Municipality website. • Develop managerial control style, design major technological foundation and identify required resources. This stage needs three months to be accomplished. • Procedures and services re-engineering. This stage needs from 12- 15 months to be implemented. • Select and build major information systems related to Back Office systems, Documents Administration systems, documents transaction and portal. This stage needs from 18- 21 months to be accomplished. • Build payment gateway, transaction analysis over telecommunication network and build plans to guarantee work continuity. This stage needs about 15 months to be completed. 33 e-Government Success Factors Also Abd Al-Nour and Ziadat (2003) identified Greater Amman Municipality e-Government project success factors to include: • Improve the access process for electronic services. • Ensure the services transparency and security provided to public, business and governmental entities. • Focus on the advanced and the most influential services on people. • Saving on all entities; citizens, business and government entities. • Provide the necessary supportive legislations for the project. e-Government Obstacles Greater Amman municipality e-Government project obstacles as mentioned by Abd Al-Nour and Ziadat (2003) to include: • The limited spread of using the internet among public. • The limited infrastructure and its increased cost. • Poor distribution of using e-Government services in places rather than others. • The inconsistency between citizen privacy and country security. • Lack of trust with payment process through the internet. 34 e-Government Achievements The main Greater Amman Municipality e-Government achievements as indicated by Abd Al-Nour and Ziadat (2003), and Greater Amman Municipality (2010) include: • Greater Amman municipality automation process, however 80% of municipality internal work became computerized. • Join the Secured Government Network. • Provide several electronic services. • Establish Information Technology centers. 2.6.2.2 Dubai Municipality e-Government-The United Arab Emirates Dubai Municipality e-Government History Geray and Al-Bastaki (2005) indicated that before 1999, Dubai Government and Municipality provided customers with services through traditional means; they had to apply directly to different departments within government by compiling and submitting a set of documents which sometimes needed several interactions before achieving the appropriate services, which leads to delay and bureaucracy. Then Dubai Government decided to utilize the ICT to facilitate the provisioning of services process, so that the Dubai e-Government was announced as a major strategic initiative in year 2000. Sethi and Sethi (2008) mentioned that between the date of the announcement; 2000 and till October 2001 the technical infrastructure was setup for government services to be provided electronically and to be ready for the launching process for e-Government portal (www. dubai.ae) with 14 35 E-Services offered by each government, which increased year after year to be more than 2300 E-Services by 2008. One of the essential technical infrastructures, the Information Network (GIN), was one of the initial steps which aimed to connect the government departments with each other through the accessibility to the Internet. Year after year, the number of participants in e-Government initiative connected with each other increased to reach thirty members by 2006. All government departments built a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) which indicates the E-Enable services per quarter until 2007. In 2005, the Dubai e-Government E-Services division undertook a number of initiatives such as providing E-Services Quality Framework Definition and Implementation Guidelines to all departments; E-Integration initiative. In the mid of 2006, Dubai e-Government accomplished and launched the Dashboard project, which aimed to provide detailed analysis, altering and reporting for all transaction done by E-Integration Platform to decision makers involved in analyzing and planning government activities. Two major initiatives were announced in 2007 by e-Government; the first one being "full-scale evaluation of government websites regarding more than 30 quality standards, and the second initiative was checking the quality of eServices announced by different departments". Then Dubai Electricity achieved the transformation process for its services to be provided electronically by mid 2007. The concentration on E-Integration resulted in a vision need to be achieved by 2010. The development process of strategies still continued to meet the last set vision (Sethi and Sethi, 2008). 36 e-Government Strategy Dubai e-Government Vision Dubai e-Government Vision was identified in 2001, with three main components as Geray and Al-Bastaki (2005) mentioned; core purpose, core values and the envisioned future. "Core purpose refers to the ultimate underlying and driving goal of Dubai e-Government. It is a guiding principle that endures the test of time and can never be completely achieved but rather only pursued. Core values are the shared beliefs, values and the main characteristics of the Dubai e-Government initiative that hold its members together. Envisioned future refers to short term and medium term concrete objectives pursued by Dubai e-Government" (Dubai Municipality, 2010). Dubai e-Government Mission Its mission was introduced as “achieving a virtual government through provisioning of high-quality customer focused eServices for individuals, businesses, and government departments” (Sethi and Sethi, 2008). Dubai Municipality's e-Government Strategic Goals As illustrated by Geray and Al-Bastaki (2005) and Al-Banna (2003), the main goals for Dubai Municipality e-Government were: • Decreasing in the time and cost of services' transactions for both the customers and government entities, and allowing the users to request information and services anytime, anywhere. 37 • Provide the customers -both the internal (DM) and external customers-with tangible and measurable benefits which returns immediate results and feedback, and allows the (DM) to focus on value added services and activities to the public and Dubai Government. Dubai Municipality's e-Government Features Dubai Municipality's e-Government features mentioned by Al-Banna (2003): • Decrease the bureaucracy and fill the gap between Dubai Municipality and the customers through customer friendly e- Government services. • Allow customers to reach different and several E-Services with a single user ID and password. • Allow the customers to request new services through the internet. • Using several communication tools to service delivery and interact with customers such as internet, email, SMS and call center. • The customers get E-Services training for free to motivate them using online services more frequently. Dubai Municipality e-Government Challenges Al-Banna (2003) found that Dubai Municipality e-Government challenges were: • The lack of e-Government, using technology and internet awareness for both public and Dubai Municipality entities. • Resistance to change from internal and external customers. 38 • Creating and prioritizing an accurate service log according to importance from an e-Government perspective with the increasing number of services provided, made a challenge for Dubai Municipality e-Government. • The coordination with other local government agencies. Despite the recent beginning of e-Government initiatives in Dubai, the progress until now is not only impressive, but also rated as one of the best e-Government initiative in the Middle East, and among one of the best in the world with the provisioning of quality of services (Horlesberger, El- Nawawi and Khalil, 2007). 2.6.2.3 e-Government in Kusamo Municipality-Finland The first step in Kusamo e-Government initiative was in 1987 with long-term investment decision in the utilization of information technology in the municipality; however, the project started with municipality internal works computerization, which aimed to develop the utilization of information technology in the municipality works. In 1990, the "One Stop Shop" initiative was developed to introduce all municipality services through one window, and this achievement was considered the most important one in e-Government project implementation. Then, the development of network within the municipality started by 1995, and continued the improvement process till 1997. A team was formed within this period to develop several services as illustrated by Al-Haiajneh (2004) and Lunnas, Kopra and Tanner (2002), such as: • Information Highway project. • E-Learning project. 39 • Geographical Information System Project. • Digital map for the city. • Information management strategy in the city. Al-Haiajneh (2004) and Lunnas, Kopra and Tanner (2002) mentioned that other several services were provided between 1997 and 2004, including operating the approved services. Moreover, the achievements within this period include: - Information technology strategic plan for the city until 2010. - Activate the integrated regional network with three other cities nearby Kusamo. - Connect 10500 users through the network. E-Government Strategy Kusamo e-Government Vision Kusamo vision, highlighted by Lunnas, Kopra and Tanner (2002), was to "e-enable the services provided by public organizations in the city, and to create a customer centric local authority". Kusamo e-Government Critical Success Factors Lunnas, Kopra and Tanner (2002) resulted in several success factors such as: - Kusamo has developed a clear vision and clear goals around its local e-Government activity. - Strong leadership from the top of the organization. 40 - Collaborative work and sharing information between municipalities, private companies and different sectors that work together. - Training the staff to be enabled and involved with using and implementing the municipality e-Government project. - The availability of ICT infrastructure. 2.6.2.4 E-Government in Uskudar Municipality-Turkey Usdukar Municipality started its e-Government initiatives by E- Transformation Turkey project in 2003, and then launched in the central level in Turkey. However, e-Government project launched in Uskudar Municipality later by 2005 with E-Transformation project, which aims to provide citizens with electronic information, activities and services through the Internet (Balaban, 2009). Uskudar Municipality e-Government Strategic Goals Balaban (2009) mentioned several Uskudar Municipality e-Government goals, including: • Reduce the municipality costs and expenditures through the saving process from (human resources, papers, postage, storage), to be about 83,500 pounds per year. • Reduce the municipal operation and activities to be just a few minutes instead of days or sometimes weeks. • The outcome from using e-Government programs increased year after year, such as, the tax payment rates increased by over than 150% in 2006 in comparison with 2005 due to the facilitations that 41 were done through the utilization of e-Government project in the municipality. • Recording the cadastral geographic data in Geographical Information System (GIS). • Provide integration between the governmental entities such as the integration performed between Uskudar Municipality, the Land Registry and Cadastre Directorship. • Achieve the electronic workflow and digital signature. • Access more easily to the municipal information and services. e-Government Requirements The requirements for Uskudar Municipality e-Government project implementation as illustrated by Balaban (2009) include: • Provide the municipality employees with continues trainings to be kept up-to-date on the innovations in e-Government domain. • Get the required experience with common international works in that domain, through exchange information and experience with foreign municipalities through mutual visits, workshops and joint activities. e-Governmnet Services The services and projects provided through e-Government Uskudar Municipality (Uskudar E-Belediye, 2010) include: • Public e-services. • Mobile Municipality. • IVR (Interactive Voice Response system). 42 • Digital Archive and Document Management Systems. • Electronic workflow. • Digital signature. 43 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction As stated in Chapter 1, the aim of this research is to conduct strategic analysis and develop e-Government strategic framework for the municipal level. This chapter describes research methodologies and approaches in order to achieve the research goals. 3.2 Research Methodological Approach Selecting the methodological approach is a very important decision, which the researcher must do. While there are two major research approaches; the quantitative and the qualitative. The choice of the approach depends on the research problem, objectives and assumptions. This section will highlight some issues regarding the quantitative and qualitative research, their features, and the reason behind the selection of qualitative approach in this research.   3.2.1 Quantitative Research Quantitative research stipulates that reality is not so problematic when conclusive results are feasible (Holliday, 2002). It is more concerned with the precise relationships among variables rather than exploring every possible variable, and the approach tries to control variables in the environment (Easterby-Smith et al., 1991). This type of research is simply insufficient to rely on in order to understand the intricacy of the current 44 problem scope; also it's too structured to prove flexible to meet the research objective. 3.2.2 Qualitative Research As indicated by Strauss and Corbin (1990), qualitative research is "any kind of research that produces finding not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification". According to Hull (1997), the purpose of this methodological approach is "to understand human experience to reveal both processes by which people construct meaning about their world and to report what those meanings are". This research methodology is considered to be deeper than quantitative research. It was required to find out the qualities that draw the main boundaries for the research. It's a descriptive method, and a multi method in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. Moreover, this method studies things in their natural setting, attempting to make interpret in terms of the meaning people bring to them (Newman and Benz, 1998). Qualitative research states that important variables will emerges as the study progresses. On the other hand, in quantitative research, the researcher has to set forth in advance what variables are to be tested. The most important ones are chosen. Table 3-1 provides a summary of the key typical differences between qualitative and quantitative research. 45 Table (3-1): The Key Typical Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research Approaches. Quantitative Research Qualitative Research • Count occurrences • Focus emerges • Control variables • What variables involved • Deductive process • Inductive process • Sample is taken randomly and larger in nature • Non random (selective) sample and smaller in nature • Relationship among variables • Capture all variables • Initial focus • Deeper study • Established instruments • Tailored methodologies • Testing existing one • New understanding • Theories are developed, or compares patterns with other theories • An instrument is used to measure the variables in the study • Direct clear and less time • Takes long time 3.3 Type of Sampling There are two types of sampling; the purposive and random sampling. The appropriate sampling type for this research is the purposive sampling, because the target people have some appropriate characteristics needed to get the required information and data (Zikmund, 2000). Also under this category of sampling, there are two kinds of purposive sampling; the judgment sampling and the quota sampling. Judgment sampling is used when a limited number or category of people have the information and data needed for research and study (Sekaran, 2003). Therefore, judgment sampling is selected to this study. In this research, a sample of 13 experts and high-rank employees at the municipal and national levels was selected. The same person may be interviewed more than one time. Those sample members chosen as subjects as they have the best source of needed information on e-Government in 46 Palestine in general and in the Palestinian municipalities, at specific, as their experiences and interests are related to the strategic analysis, planning and development of e-Government. In this research, a sample of 6 among the Palestinian municipalities are selected to be analyzed through their websites or through a number of interviews with specific officials there, specifically the IT and the strategic planning officials, in order to get the information required. This selection was based on the size of the municipality and the achieved development. 3.4 Data Collection Methods This research utilizes the qualitative research methodological approach in order to achieve the research objectives. Data collection is presented in this section. Several methodologies have been used to collect relevant information from the various sources, including the following: Review of relevant literature: performing literature review, including electronic and desk research, and review of studies, and examination of the available studies, articles and books on e- Government, as well as available documents, whether published or unpublished, by the Palestinian officials or bodies. Analysis of Municipalities' Websites: Analyzing a number of Palestinian municipalities websites, in order to assess the level of development towards e-Government at the municipal level, and what each of the selected municipalities achieved in the matter of delivering services electronically, including the number of 47 electronic services provided to different beneficiaries through the websites and portals. Conducting Interviews: These are powerful data collection and gathering tools. There are several types of the interviews utilized in the research methodologies, including the structured, semi- structured and unstructured interviews. In this research, the unstructured interview form was adopted to get the needed detailed information and data for the strategic analysis and strategic framework development process for the e- Government on the municipal level. A consent letter addressed from the university to the officials or interviewees was delivered upon request of the participant. The researcher scheduled a number of unstructured interviews and meetings -that will give overall picture of e-Government current situation, strategic concepts and approaches- with Government agencies personnel, such as the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology (MTIT), including e-Government General Directorate, The Ministry of Local Government (MOLG), and several Palestinian municipalities officials, such as Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, Qalqiliah and Al- Bireh. Detailed internal/external environment information were gathered, and several important key issues were discussed and considered such as leadership, change management, strategic analysis and strategic planning, the national and municipal levels, 48 and the requirements and the available support for e-Government development. In this approach to interviewing, the one to one conversations between the interviewer (researcher) and participants (interviewees) were conducted. The researcher had a list of questions or topics to be discussed, with minimal control over the order in which the topics are covered, and over the respondents’ answers. In unstructured interviewing, neither the specific questions to be asked, nor the range or type of possible answers are pre-defined (Swansea Consultation Partnership, 2009). The key to successful unstructured interviews is learning how to probe effectively; that is, to stimulate an informant to produce more information without injecting the researcher’s words, ideas or concepts into the conversation. In total, 13 unstructured interviews were conducted with key persons, who have experience in the domain of the research. Since unstructured interviews often contain open-ended questions and discussions may lead to less concentration from the researched side, while trying to take a note and could miss another, this approach will result in poor notes. It is best to tape-record interviews and later transcript these tapes for analysis. This allows the interviewer to focus on interacting with the participant and follow the discussion. One step should be conducted before recording the interviews, which was related to taking the permission of the participants 49 (interviewees). For this research, the researcher was ready with the consent letter and took the permission from the experts and officials to record their interviews. The researcher phoned or emailed each participant to confirm the meeting date, time and location of the interview. Prior to each scheduled interview, the researcher made a follow-up phone call or sent an e-mail to remind the participant of the meeting’s date, time and location. The interviews were conducted by the researchers in different Palestinian cities; Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Al-Bireh and Qalqiliah. Strauss and Corbin (1990) suggested making each interview similar to dialogue and conversation, in order to make the interviewees feel informal and comfortable in sharing information and talking about their understandings and experience. Also it is important to the researcher to build rapport with each participant through natural and conservation and exchange of information. The challenges of using the unstructured interviews include requirement of a significant amount of time to collect the needed information (Patton, 2002). There is no set format for conducting conversational interviews; each interview tends to be unique. This makes it difficult to generalize views, systemize and analyze the data. Results cannot necessarily be extrapolated. It may take several conversations before obtaining a similar set of information from each informant (Holstein and Gubrium, 2004). 50 Transcription and Translation As with notes taken and detailed recording, a necessary component of interviews is related to transcription and translation, since these form the basis for analyzing the data. Unstructured interviews, which were conducted in Arabic and recorded on tape recorder, where later transcribed into the Arabic language. The researcher read the transcripts several times to ensure accuracy of correlation between recorded and written transcripts. Then each participant was given the opportunity to review and confirm the final draft of their answers if he /she requested this to happen, as was the case for a number of interviewees from the e-Government General Directorate. The Arabic transcripts were then translated into English. The resulted information from the interviews were categorized under specific determined item and purpose, based on relevant keywords. The information and data gained from each interviewee on a specific issue would be under a comparison process with the information and data gained from the others on the same purpose. If there was consistency in the gathered data, it would be adopted to be used, but if not, the researcher should have scheduled a new meeting with each interviewee giving contradicting remarks. The researcher then would be more concentrating on the contradicted issues and would determine a set of questions to achieve the right information. 51 3.5 Information Analysis After the previous steps of information collection and gathering, the adopted information will be analyzed and categorized under external and internal environment factors on e-Government. This process will be done in order to identify and conclude the strengths and weaknesses for the internal environment; whether on the national level (i.e., the ministries and their related institutes and organizations), or on the municipal level (i.e., the municipalities and local councils). In addition, the threats and opportunities from the external environment will be identified through SWOT analysis. Based on such analysis, strategic formulation would results in the identification of e-Government mission and vision, and strategic goals for national and municipal levels. The researcher would therefore reach the matching process. This would be done for the four concluded external and internal factors; the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Each internal factor would be matched with an external factor to identify four types of strategies; SO, ST, WO and WT. This combination process would be performed through developing the SWOT matrix tool. SWOT analysis and SWOT Matrix are usually used to define all feasible strategic solutions. After thorough assessment for these, strategic solutions that could be applicable to our case in the Palestinian municipalities are considered for further research and elaboration. 52 By this, the research would have developed and formulated the strategic framework for e-Government for the Palestinian municipalities. 3.6 Conclusion        This chapter has given an overview on the research methodology and highlights the importance of qualitative technique in this research. It also illustrates data gathering procedures including unstructured interviews. The analysis stage methodologies, which is imperative and significant in order to draw a meaningful conclusion, has been illustrated. The components of the methodological procedure will be utilized in the next chapters. 53 CHAPTER 4 GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN PALESTINE 4.1 Introduction Local government plays a vital role in representing the interests of its citizens, delivering and commissioning local services and promoting the society. Bradury (2010) defined the local government as "A governing institution which has authority over a sub-national territorially defined area". This authority in Palestine and around the world comes from its elected basis, and its role has been considered in terms of its relationship with central level, which is responsible for delegating and devolving power to the lowest level, and achieves the localism. In Palestine, similar to other countries, the local government also has an essential role in making sure that their communities' services delivered to the citizens are efficient and effective. To achieve this goal, local government will be more transparent and accountable to its citizens. 4.2 The Local Government in Palestine 4.2.1 Historical Background Palestinian local government has evolved through different historical eras as clarified by Abd Al-Atei (2005). Palestine was subject to the foreign powers; specifically these were the Ottoman Turks, the British, the Jordanians in the West Bank and the Egyptian administration in Gaza Strip, 54 and finally, the Israeli occupation. All these powers together were unable to find a system, which can represent the interests and the true ambitions of the Palestinian people. Oslo Accords which were signed in September 13, 1993 led to the birth of the Palestinian National Authority in May 1994. From that time, the National Authority was in charge of a large number of civil affairs and some security affairs. For example, the national authority has full control over Areas "A" (the major cities and villages) while Israel retains full control over Areas "C". Concerning "B" areas, which comprise most of the Palestinian villages, the National authority has control over the civil affairs while Israel retains control over security affairs. More importantly to say is although the national authority has absolute planning responsibility in "A" classified areas; this is the responsibility of Israel in "C" classified areas. The Palestinian local government system is based on two levels. The first level stands for the central government represented by the Ministry of Local Government, which has a direct interaction with the municipal and local councils through its offices in the different directories. The local authorities themselves represent the second one. According to the Ministry of Local Government and the local committees' law, which was issued in 1997, there were two kinds of local authorities: the municipalities and local councils. Most of the Palestinian towns and villages are located in "A" and "B" areas. However, some of the boarders of these areas lie in "C". In addition, most of the official borders of the municipalities are recognized and acknowledged, but the situation is quite different in the local councils such as borders are neither recognized 55 nor acknowledged. In addition to these two kinds of local authorities, there are internal systems, which give legality for other kinds in the local authority such as, the joint local services, the regional planning committees and the Palestinian Union of local committees. Since 1994, the Ministry of Local Government has re-classified all the local committees to determine their financial and administrative capacities. Based on this, it was clear that they were in need for a direction from the ministry, so the municipalities, which existed in 1967 and had the experience of local administration, were classified. However, the municipalities, which were officially formed after the establishment of the National Authority, were classified to "A", "B" and "C" classes, according to its size and number of population. 4.2.2 Local Government Objectives The local government sector has several objectives to be achieved, as mentioned within the Strategic Framework for the Ministry of Local Government in Palestine (2010-2014). Those objectives include the following: 1. Provide democratic, transparent and accountable government for local communities. 2. Ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. 3. Promote social and economic development. 4. Promote a safe and healthy environment and encourage the involvement of communities and community organizations in the matters of local government. 56 4.2.3 The Responsibilities of Local Government in Palestine The responsibilities of the local government system in Palestine were determined within the strategic framework of the Ministry of Local Government in Palestine (2010-2014). These include: 1. Enabling the local institutions of having high and efficient institutional capacities. 2. Raising the efficiency of the government to make it able to plan, supervise, and direct of the local government sector. 3. Achieving more participation, democracy and transparency in the sector of local government and its institutions. 4. Enhancing the concept of cooperation between the local committees from one side and the private and public sectors in the other side in order to create local development and enhancing financial autonomy for the local committees. 4.2.4 The Strategic Trends for Palestinian Local Government Level Based on the Strategic Framework for the Ministry of Local Government (2010-2014), and the local government responsibilities determined above, the following are the local government sector strategic trends: 1. Increasing the decentralization in the municipalities and local councils. 2. Promoting the institutionalization of the community participation. 57 3. Encourage Public Private Partnership approach (PPP’s) at the local government level to contribute in efforts of achieving sustainable local development. 4.3 The Municipalities 4.3.1 The Notion of Municipality According to Business dictionary (2010), municipality was defined the smallest administrative subdivision which has democratically elected representation and limited self-governance rights and corporate status, the municipality governed by the mayor and a council. The term “municipality” is used in some countries to refer to the municipal administrative building known elsewhere as the town hall or city hall, and the largest municipalities can be found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Greenland, and Iceland. The Palestinian Local Government Committees Law for the year 1997 defined the local committees and municipalities as recognizable identity with financial autonomy, determine and define their functions, privileges and authorities within the law rules. There must be a council responsible for managing and supervising the local committees and municipalities, their members were determined according to the regulation and system issued by the Minister and Council of Ministries, and mayors and municipal council members were elected according to the elections law. As indicated within the Palestinian General National Plan, Summary of the Cross-Sectorial Strategy for Palestinian Local Government and 58 Administration Sectors, 2011-2013, the Palestinian National Authority is mostly interested in the local level and the municipalities, and this is reflected in the expansion in the number of municipalities, which increased to be 134 units. This is a large number when it is compared to the period prior to PNA, as there were 28 municipalities at that time. 4.3.2 Municipality Duties The Palestinian Local Government Committees Law for the year 1997 determined the duties, authorities or privileges for the Palestinian municipalities, which had been categorized to include the following points: 1. Development and supply of services roles: including providing the citizens with the infrastructure services such as the electricity, water, and sanitation. This privilege includes the provisioning, cancelation, controlling, price determination and developing those services. 2. Organizational role: including organizing and licensing services, such as city, public markets and streets organizing and planning, construction, traffic management, and city landscaping, organizing the manufacturing and crafts, and organizing and controlling the parking, land and maritime transport, the organization role include building demolition when needed and cemeteries and cancellation. 3. Environmental and health role: including environmental and health preservation and control. 4. Control and monitoring role: including organizing, monitoring and controlling on the cafes, restaurants, markets, shops, billboards, 59 clubs, hotels, and weights and begging prevention, also monitoring the animals used in the transport process. 5. Cultural and sports role: including building parks, yards, cultural and social clubs, general libraries, schools and gardens in cooperation with civil society institutions and government control. 6. Managerial role: including managing the local institutions and municipalities properties and funds. 4.4 The Relation between the Central and Local Levels The Ministry of Local Government in Palestine defines the relation between the central level and the local committees. The municipalities, which form the largest units between the local committees' types, have a complementary relationship and role with the central level, which was determined within the Palestinian Local Government Committees Law for the year 1997, and is summarized with the following points: 1. Prepare the general policy for Palestinian Local Committees Councils. 2. Provide supervision for those councils and municipalities jobs and functionalities. 3. Determine their privileges and services that may provide for citizen. 4. Organize general projects and budgets. 5. Provide financial, administration and legal control. 60 6. Provide control over the procedures for the council's formation process. 4.5 Conclusion It is very important for the researcher to understand the local level aspects before analysis of the sector. The relationship between the central level and the municipal level is illustrated. The authorities and privileges given to municipal level from the national level represented with Ministry of Local Government are explained.     61 CHAPTER 5 E-GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENTS 5.1 Introduction To set the concept of e-Government from strategic and development sides, there are several basic requirements, which form the bases towards the success of starting e-Government at all levels. These requirements differ from one place to another according to the differences between countries, people, and even between the government agencies and institutions. The situation is quite different in countries like Palestine, which is still behind in adopting and implementing e-Government in all aspects, especially at the municipal level. Such countries must have more efforts to achieve these requirements, which are considered the critical success factors of e-Government. 5.2 The Requirements 5.2.1 Organizational Requirements e-Government is not just a technical aspect; e-Government implementation requires change management (Papantoniou et al., 2001). There are a number of organizational requirements, which affect the launch and the deployment for e-Government at the municipal and national levels, and those organizational requirements include the following: • Organizational Structure It is necessary to consider the organizational structure. The clarity of government agencies' or municipalities' objectives and the managerial 62 divisions, which are determined by an announced reliable and organizational hierarchy, is largely necessary to facilitate the use and the implementation of e-Government in an efficient and effective way. The use of modern technology and the application of e-Government at the central and municipal level would not be successful with the absence of a developed and clear organizational structure. In case of this absence, there would be a random and unplanned use of these applications and technological systems, which will lead to an instant and limited success. In addition, the use of modern telecommunication and technology must coincide with the presence of a modern management, which is capable to set strategic and organizational plans. It must be able to carry out managerial control and efficient coordination and utilize modern communication. The concern about the organizational aspects and using the techniques and applications of e-Government initiatives will efficiently lead to modernizing and updating the governmental and municipal performance by reducing the number of the assigned tasks and providing different ways of communications between the administrative units (Al- Sabeil, 2005). • Work Procedures The existence of a highly qualified organization administration helps in adopting modern technologies and telecommunications. However, the different procedures and work styles-the simple and the complex one as known by service supplier and beneficiaries- that are used today in the government institutions and organizations including municipalities, are considered important and basic in the organization administrative, as they 63 represent the stages of service delivery and completion. There is a great necessity to use the different e-Government initiatives and modern technological projects and systems, because they help the governmental institutions and municipalities to achieve their goals faster, more easily and with less expenses through facilitating the work procedures for all the parties (Al-Sabeil, 2005). The administrative reforming represents the first step towards a successful transition to e-Government as mentioned by Tsekos (2003). Although this reform and re-engineering is highly demanded, it is more important to have new procedures and processes that can lead to radical changes in the administrative work techniques, especially those related to businesses and citizens. Therefore, there is a need to conduct specialized studies on the different work procedures and keep updating them frequently. It is also necessary to design the required forms, records and reports in a way that makes it possible to efficiently use modern telecommunications and technologies especially through e-Government program. Al-Sabeil (2005) summarized several important factors related to work procedures that must be considered before and through the implementation of e-Government as follows: - An exact and clear definition of the transactions because accuracy and clarity are basic requirements to get these transactions automated. - Reduce as much as possible the number of documents and requirements to access and achieve a certain service. The large 64 number of documents and required papers hinder the developmental process and service delivery. - Delegate decision-making; in order to achieve the daily tasks, transactions and services, they must be assigned to lower level employees. This contributes to a quick and beneficial use of e- Government and achieves distant control. - Providing user manuals and guidebooks for the customers in order to achieve an easy access to the services and transactions. Those guidebooks must be available in the Government and municipalities' websites and portals with all necessary illustration and procedures. - Continuous development for the work procedures in order to cope with e-Government and technology updates. • Centralization and Decentralization The degree of centralization or decentralization is a key component in e-Government, because it affects the level of interaction and coordination between the several types of government; the central government and the local agencies. Concerning the large number and wide spread of municipalities and local government units represented by a central and local administration, there is a strong need to implement e-Government, which requires the following: 65 - Defining the roles, responsibilities, tasks and authorities for both the central and the local government, such as the municipalities, in a documentary form without giving room for diligence or improvisation, overlapping, duplicity and slow achievements. - Defining the type and the size of the information in addition to the manner of its transmission to and from the central office, the branches and the beneficiaries. - Defining the type of technologies and the priorities of its using to guarantee a quick and high quality performance. - Delegating the decision making authority. e-Government works on quick decisions making between the different central government agencies and the central and local governments, especially after adopting the Electronic Signature officially and legally. Delegating the decision making to the municipalities in their internal issues, their services delivery, and transactions completion. - Defining remote control and monitoring mechanisms by the use of modern telecommunications and technologies applied within e- Government (Al-Sabeil, 2005). • Strategic Vision The transition to a successful and efficient e-Government requires a clear and well-defined vision, mission, and accurate priorities within a clear frame of criterion, which coincide with the modern development of information technology and telecommunications. Based on such vision, the whole mechanisms and suitability of the project will be determined 66 regarding the roles and the functions of e-Government and its impact on the people life, the society, and the country. The strategic investment in e-Government requires the avail