The primary objective of the research was to investigate the mailing practices and filing methods in a computer support or administrative environment involving the resulting abuse of paper. In applied research, an exploratory investigation focused on selected higher education institutions in Gauteng with a structured questionnaire as measuring instrument. In the analysis and interpretations of the findings, correlation and cross-tabulation on all sets of variables determined whether any meaningful associations could be found. The investigation indicated that the war against paper abuse is not over by any means. Perceptions regarding a paperless office and assumptions that technology could assist organisations to combat paper abuse were unfounded, mainly because of a lack of guidance, training interventions and control measures. Consequently, follow-up research is presently conducted whereby models will be designed and implemented concomitant with specified computer software features in order to counteract the abuse of paper and facilitate the effective use of information and communication technology interfaced work processes and procedures. This article focuses only on the electronic mail and filing components of the investigation.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Thesis (M. Tech. (Office management & Technology)) -- Vaal University of Technology / The primary objective of this research project was primarily to investigate filing methods and mailing practices in the computer support or administrative environment with specific focus on the abuse of paper. The research design consisted of an exploratory investigation in selected Higher Education Institutions in the Province of Gauteng whereby a structured questionnaire was used as a measuring instrument. The investigation was sub-divided into two categories, namely, paper-based filing systems and mailing systems as opposed to electronic filing and mailing systems. In the empirical findings, analysis and interpretations, correlation and cross-tabulation were done on all sets of variables in order to determine whether any meaningful associations could be found. With reference to the title of this study "Combating the corporate paper war: optimising electronic mail and electronic filing", it has been proven that the war against paper abuse is far from over. Perceptions regarding a future paperless office and assumptions that technology such as the electronic mail facility and electronic filing could assist organisations to combat paper abuse were unfounded, due to a lack of guidance and control measures in the corporate environment. Consequently, it is recommended that an e-filing and e-mailing model be created and followed in conjunction with specified computer software features in order to counteract the abuse of paper. Follow-up research could focus on electronic filing methods versus scanning of documents for filing purposes.

Nowadays it is a worldwide trend to transform the government by using information and communications technology. Particularly in keen competition amongst countries in the 21st century, a country which has competitive consciousness uses information and communication technology to reform the government for improving its national competitiveness. If Taiwan intends to remold itself and improve its national competitiveness, it should establish an electronic government to develop governmental Internet service and substantially renovate the effectiveness of administrative operations. The government should break through the traditional thinking frame and redefine the role and function of the government. This is for the purpose of changing and improving the interactive relationship between the government and the public and to help the public accept the convenient service of various Internet applications offered by the government. Taiwan started the online governmental services from 1998 and has been engaged in several types of applications, such as Government to Citizen, Government to Business, and Government to Government applications. Among these applications, the convenient service of Internet application, which is most closely related to the daily life of the public, includes electronic tax filing, electronic motor vehicle & driver information system, electronic public safety, electronic industries and businesses, electronic health care, and electronic utilities, etc, which have been gradually and widely used by the public. By adopting the four phases of NEBIC Theory (Net-Enabled Business Innovation Cycle), this study will examine whether the electronic filing of individual income tax returns, which is introduced by the government, makes tax filing more efficient, lowers the cost and offers a more convenient service or not. In brief, the study is to analyze whether the needs of the public are being more fulfilled. NEBIC Theory mainly defines the four phases of the cycle, which are Choosing Enabling Information Technologies, Matching with Economic Opportunities, Executing Business Innovation for Growth and Assessing Customer Value, to create customer value. By using NEBIC Theory, this study analyzed (1) the first phase that the electronic government was engaged in convenient service of Internet application by using information technology, (2) the second phase that the government offered tax payers the electronic tax filing with a 24-hour filing system and a trial run of auto-selected optimal filing, and (3) the third phase in which the national tax information systems used by five regional National Tax Administrations and the Financial Data Center were integrated and planned anew, which was named ¡§National Tax System Migration¡¨, in which most commonly known by the public was ¡§electronic filing of individual income tax returns¡¨, and was accomplished in 6 years. This study finally analyzed the fourth phase of the value of electronic filing of income tax returns. Voluntarily providing tax payers with annual income data by tax authorities significantly saves the social cost, time cost, and manpower cost of tax withholders, payers and authorities. Tax authorities may save manpower in data recording and processing, save data storage space and improve the government¡¦s administrative effectiveness. Tax payers may save transport costs, extend the tax filing time, save time of trials and lower the possibility of rejection, which offers more convenience to the public. Therefore, electronic filing of individual income tax returns greatly increases satisfaction of the needs of the public.

The South African government has benefited to date from information technology in many ways. The importance of understanding and influencing South African citizens’ acceptance of E-Government services is critical, given the substantial investment in government communication, information system technology and the potential for cost saving. One of the most successful E-Government initiatives, the electronic filing system (eFiling), which allows tax returns to be filed electronically, has been available to taxpayers since 2006. Despite many taxpayers adopting this method, a large number are still using the traditional manual method of filing tax returns. Using behavioural intention to predict actual usage, this study utilised the decomposed theory of planned behaviour with factors adjusted specifically for South Africa as a developing country. This is done to identify the possible determinants of user acceptance of the eFiling system among South African taxpayers. Based on empirical data gathered from two questionnaire based surveys, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, compatibility, subjective norms, facilitating conditions, computer self-efficacy and trust proved to be significant determinants of behavioural intention. For taxpayers using the manual method, lack of facilitating conditions such as access to computer and internet resources was the most significant barrier to eFiling usage whilst taxpayers using the electronic method reported perceived usefulness as the primary determinant in their decision to use eFiling. Understanding these acceptance factors can extend our knowledge of taxpayers’ decision making and lead to better planning and implementation of future E-Government initiatives in South Africa and other developing countries. Die Suid-Afrikaanse regering het tot op datum gebaat van inligtingstegnologie in baie opsigte. Die belangrikheid van begrip en om burgers se aanvaarding van E-Regeringsdienste te beïnvloed is van kritieke belang, gegewe die belegging in tegnologie en die potensiaal vir kostebesparing. Een van die mees suksesvolle E-Regeringsinisiatiewe, die elektroniese liasseerstelsel (eFiling), wat toelaat dat belastingopgawes elektronies ingedien is, is sedert 2006 vir belastingbetalers beskikbaar. Ten spyte van baie belastingbetalers se aanneming van hierdie metode, gebruik 'n groot aantal nog steeds die tradisionele handmetode van die indiening van belastingopgawes. Met behulp van gedragsvoorneme om werklike gebruik te voorspel, benut hierdie studie die ontbinde teorie van beplande gedrag met faktore wat spesifiek aangepas is vir Suid-Afrika as 'n ontwikkelende land. Dit word gedoen om die moontlike determinante van die gebruikers van die eFiling-stelsel onder Suid-Afrikaanse belastingbetalers te identifiseer. Gebaseer op empiriese data wat uit twee vraelys gebaseerde opnames gekry is, beskou nut, gemak van gebruik, verenigbaarheid, subjektiewe norme, die fasilitering van voorwaardes, rekenaar self-doeltreffendheid en vertroue het beduidende determinante van gedragsvoorneme bewys. Vir belastingbetalers wat die handmetode gebruik, is 'n gebrek aan fasiliteringstoestande soos toegang tot die rekenaar en internet bronne die belangrikste struikelblok tot die gebruik van eFiling, terwyl belastingbetalers met behulp van die elektroniese metode berig beskou nut as die primêre bepaler in hul besluit om eFiling te gebruik. Begrip van hierdie faktore kan ons kennis van die belastingbetalers se besluitneming uitbrei en lei tot beter beplanning en implementering van toekomstige E-Regeringsinisiatiewe. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / am2014 / Taxation / unrestricted

Basic Laboratory Information System (BLIS) is a joint initiative of C4G @ Georgia Tech, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Ministries of Health in several countries in Africa. The vast majority of health laboratories in Africa, engaged in routinely testing samples drawn from patients (for HIV, malaria etc.), have been using non-standardized paper logs and manual entries for keeping track of patients, test samples and results. Besides the obvious burden of tedious record-keeping, these methods increase the chances of errors due to transcription and mismatches, making it difficult to track patient history or view critical population-wide data. In 2008, PEPFAR (the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) together with the CDC was reauthorized with a $48 billion budget over five years to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The focus of PEPFAR has shifted from rapid scale-up to the quality and reliability of the clinical health programs and having an effective laboratory management system is one of its goals. C4G BLIS is a robust, customizable and easy-to-use system that keeps track of patients, samples, results, lab workflow and reports. It is meant to be an effective and sustainable enhancement to manual logs and paper-based approaches. The system is designed to work in resource-constrained laboratories with limited IT equipment and across sites with good, intermittent or no internet availability. With varied practices, workflow and terminology being followed across laboratories in various African countries, the system has been developed to enable each laboratory or country to customize and configure the system in a way that suits them best. We describe various aspects of BLIS including its flexible database schema design, configurable reports and language settings, end-user customizability and development model for rapid incorporation of user feedback. Through BLIS, we aim to demonstrate a sustainable ICT solution brought about by the early and constant involvement of the target laboratory staff and technicians, identifying their short- and long-term needs, and ensuring that the system can match these needs. We will present preliminary evaluation results from laboratories in Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda.

This thesis deals with questions connected with the electronification of the judiciary in the Czech Republic majoring in the civil judicial proceeding. The first part focuses on the description of the background of electronization of judiciary in the Czech Republic, benefits and barriers associated with computerization. The author describes the conditions to implement e-justice (which are reform of judiciary, development of information society or technical readiness). Process of electronification of the judiciary is illustrated by introduction of eJustice project. There are disscused three basic elements of e-justice in the main part of thesis. These are the electronic judicial record, electronic filing and electronic delivery. Author describes the conditions to implement these features, ascertains the current situation and identifies assets and imperfections of actual solution. Main goal of this thesis is to provide reader with the view of the electronification of the judiciary in the Czech Republic and sum up the most importatnt parts of electonical civil judicial proceeding.

The object of this thesis is the electronization of services in the current tax administrations. The major aim of this paper is an analysis of how IT costs and other variables affect salary costs. Another aim of the work is to describe the differences in the structures of contemporary tax administrations in the OECD countries as well as to outline the current situation and possible future development in the use of electronic services in this area.

Many low-income countries desire to implement and adopt digital government as a springboard for economic and social development but face many challenges. The United Nations identifies that Africa has especially lagged consistently in digital government development and adoption. Most scholars largely attribute the challenges to infrastructure and skills, and often rhetorically cite culture as playing a strong role. This study specifically examined the role of indigenous African culture (‘spirituality’, ‘communalism’ and ‘respect for authority and elders’) and internet access on the adoption of digital government services (e-filing and e-payment of taxes) by Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) in Zambia, with the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technologies (UTAUT) as the underpinning theoretical lens. Data analysis was done using Structural Equation Modelling with principal attention given to the moderating and mediating influence of indigenous African culture. The influence of internet access on the intention to adopt digital government was also examined. The findings from the cross sectional study of 401 tax registered SMEs suggests that ‘spirituality’, ‘African communalism’ and ‘respect for authority and elders’ have significant negative moderating effects on the adoption of e-filing but not on e-payment; and ‘spirituality’, ‘African communalism’ and ‘respect for authority and elders’ are all significant mediators of the intention to adopt both e-filing and e-payment. This means that indigenous African culture plays a significant role in explaining Africa’s position in digital government development and adoption. The findings also showed a negative influence of internet access on the intention to adopt digital government services despite the measures that government has put in place. These results make a novel contribution to Information Systems (IS) theory in identifying a critical yet often overlooked indigenous cultural influence on the adoption of digital innovations in low-income countries. The findings also calls for finding new or adapted IS theories that take into account such unique cultural constructs. The thesis recommends that the research is extended to other low-income countries as well as other contexts that exhibit strong indigenous cultural values. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Information Systems)

La dématérialisation des échanges commerciaux nécessite des règles fiscales claires afin de sauvegarder la souveraineté fiscale de l’État et préserver la sécurité juridique indispensable pour le bon déroulement de la vie des affaires dans le cadre de l’accroissement du commerce électronique. Il s’agit de mettre en exergue le droit fiscal interne et les règles fiscales internationalement acceptées, que ce soit en matière d’impôts directs ou indirects. Plus largement, ce processus de dématérialisation induit une révolution dans l’organisation de l’administration fiscale et des prérogatives qu’elle détient. Les adaptations des procédures de déclaration, de recouvrement et de contrôle fiscal sont incontournables et lesdites procédures s’en trouvent profondément bouleversées. Les entreprises et les particuliers doivent alors s’adapter à ce nouvel environnement, qu’ils exercent ou non une activité de commerce électronique. / The business exchange dematerialization needs clear tax rules to preserve state tax rights and transactions security for the global business within the framework e-commerce growth. We have to examine domestic law and international tax law for direct or indirect taxes. The dematerialization process leads widely organization and prerogatives tax authorities’ revolution. The tax return, the collection of tax and the tax audit adaptations must be addressed and procedures are deeply changed. Companies and private individuals have to adapt to the new technologies even if they do e-business or not.