The evaluation of information technology (IT) solutions is a critical issue that needs to be paid a great deal of attention by all organizations to ensure that any adopted IT solution is executed in an efficacious manner; one that achieves the business objectives and enables the organization to transform its business operations. In today's globally competitive environment, coupled with the need to deliver services more effectively and efficiently, adopting IT solutions has become the main driver in transforming business operations and improving services. The primary aim of this research is to evaluate the adoption of IT solutions in public sector institutions, focusing on three public institutions in the Sultanate of Oman, as a developing country that uses IT in various business applications. This study is based on examining a set of success and impact factors linked to a conceptual model defined by the researcher and based on different factors and models utilized in the literature. The investigation into the context and circumstances surrounding the three adopted IT solutions follows the mixed-method approach, which combines qualitative (case study) and quantitative (survey) methods. This approach helped to clarify the situation in each institution and to identify the opinions of stakeholders across the public sector. The findings of both methods are compared and collated in order to identify the current status of IT adoption in Oman, and to provide recommendations for Omani public sector institutions. The findings of this research show that the adoption of IT solutions in Omani public sector institutions has achieved some benefits, which have helped those institutions to improve their business operations. However, many obstacles need to be addressed; some of these are strategic and are related to planning and management practices and others are technical and are related to the integration and operation of the adopted IT solutions. The researcher concludes that these barriers are preventing the public institutions from transforming their business operations and from being able to deliver the government's electronic services. This research has managed to provide an evaluation framework of success and impact factors, which can be used to further investigate IT solution adoption from various perspectives, whether on an organizational level or on a national level, in other developing countries.

Over the past decade, rapid progress in ICT has encouraged many governments to incorporate new technology into their national economic development strategies. Egovernment is an important application within ICT and has become more significant in the agenda of policy and decision makers the world over. E-government created a new medium that changed the nature of the whole public sector and its relationship with its constituencies. It has had a profound effect on various socioeconomic and political aspects of society. E-government provides delivery of public services in a much more convenient and cost-effective way, offering huge opportunities to improve public sector efficiency. However, the process of change also gives rise to new challenges and difficulties, especially in developing countries, where many initiatives have not been successful. This is as a result of the massive deficiencies in basic infrastructure, human capacity and financial resources, along with the attendant political and cultural constraints. These factors are crucial and impede the adoption of egovernment and the building of an information based society and economy. Egovernment initiatives must therefore account for the specific government systems, technological infrastructure and environmental conditions of the host country. Many of the models and frameworks built to assist in the adoption process in developing countries have been adapted from e-government implementation experiences in Western developed countries. While there are important lessons to be learnt, these frameworks have limited application in Africa and developing countries in other regions. Previously it was difficult to investigate e-government in developing countries due to their low levels of development. Recent advances in e-government in these countries have made it possible to conduct studies and analyse their experiences and practices. This research empirically examined the adoption of e-government at a national and organisational level, taking the public sector in Sudan as a case study. A qualitative approach was followed and data was collected from Sudan using interviews with key officials and top managers; supported by published documents in the public domain.The data was analysed using content analysis and the results verified with experts from a Sudanese public organisation. The findings of the research contributed to the identification of the critical factors in Sudan, and to the development of an e-government adoption framework. The framework combines elements from the Technological, Organisational and Environmental (TOE) model; guiding decision makers to better manage issues related to the adoption process regarding the development of the technical infrastructure, management systems, values and strategies. The use of the proposed framework can help integrate e-government into the public sector in order to accelerate social and economic progress in developing countries.

Transformational eGovernment is the continuous innovation in the delivery of services, citizen participation and governance through the transformation of external and internal relationships by the use of technology; especially on the Internet. When introduced, it offered the hope and promise to revitalize and modernize public services; reinvigorate and improve services to citizens, business and governments; and, create an exciting environment for employees to work and contribute. Countries, world-wide are inexorably engaged and urged forward by both push and pull motivational pressures to use technology to improve democratic participation, social harmony and economic sustain ability. While eGovernment's first decade has been much more transactional than transformational, radical changes affecting eGovernment are needed in this decade: culture, different services and relationships with all stake holders; organizational arrangements; business processes; and resource management. But progress thus far achieved is not without struggle and transformational eGovernment success is far to the deficit side of the performance measurement scale. The project failure rate is so high that transformational eGovernment progress is stalling. The thesis used the mixed method research approach that included the design and implementation of a piloted and structured survey; data collection and analysis; and examination and testing of potential enhanced project management solutions to focus on international transformational eGovernment activity and problems in: project management; the transformation of public service and its organizational and operational arrangements; and international strategies for transformational eGovernment uptake. The surveys conducted in this research identify a synerqistic compendium of ten key challenges and barriers that prevent progress in the project management of transformational eGovernment projects. As a way forward in addressing these challenges, this thesis recommends that project management methodologies be improved by implementing a project initiation concept document process identifying a series of actions and methods to be incorporated as the initial stage of eGovernment project management methodologies to identify, manage and mitigate the unique challenges and barriers that impede eGovernment success.