Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Information and communication technologies are rapidly changing the future of public administration. The desire to become part of the “Information Age” has instigated a worldwide transformation process that puts information and communication technologies at the heart of government processes and practices. One strategy that embraces these technologies is electronic government (e-government). The ability to provide government services and information online is becoming a benchmark for governments in both developed and developing nations. E-government has arrived in South Africa and slowly it is starting to shape our lives. Improved service delivery, access to information, an open and transparent form of government and the ability to participate in certain government activities are just some of the advantages that e-government has to offer. Although disparities in access and education levels remain a constant hindrance in South Africa, the e-government strategy does have the potential to promote community development. By providing an opportunity to learn a new skill, gain new information and participate in your local government activities, e-government has the potential to empower local citizens thereby promoting community development. The acquisition of new knowledge is a vital tool in today’s modern society. Therefore, through the provision of new knowledge e-government is a strategy for the future.

Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / m-Government or mobile-Government is seen as part of e-Government and an additional channel for the delivery of public services and information to the citizen. This study critically examines and evaluates the extent to which the Provincial Government Western Cape has adopted m-Government and implemented related services. A survey conducted by Kirsten (2006) on the adoption and readiness of mobile technology by businesses in South Africa was used as the foundation of this study to determine the level of readiness in the Provincial Government Western Cape. Managers and technical staff within the Province’s information and communication technology component, the Centre for e-Innovation, were interviewed and asked to complete the survey. The study found that, although there is a relatively high degree of adoption with regard to various aspects of mobile and wireless technology, there are many obstacles and barriers that need to be overcome in order to achieve a higher level of m-Government maturity or readiness. The study makes various suggestions on how to overcome these barriers. The most important suggestion is to develop a holistic approach to the adoption of m-Government. Plans for adoption should be incremental to ensure that small victories that can be built on are achieved; the involvement of key stakeholders is also essential.

Thesis (MPA (Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Electronic government or e-Government has become a global phenomenon and is seen as a tool to strengthen the performance of government and public administration. An efficient and effective state administration is a necessary requirement for economic and social development. This study describes to what extent the e-Government policy of the PGWC compares with other e-Government policies internationally and in particular the Australian e-Government policy. South Africa as a young democracy can use the transformational power of the e- Government approach to the benefit of government, business and the citizens of the country if this approach is applied appropriately. e-Government offers the opportunity to improve public services and can even reduce the gap that exists between those who are computer literate and those who are not. E-Government in the PGWC is still in the beginning phases compared to e- Government in Australia, which has developed rapidly over the last decade. The PGWC can learn from the Australian e-Government development process, with Australians being regarded as one of the leading e-Government nations in the world, according to the United Nations Organisation. Even though the e-Government policy of the PGWC and the Australian e- Government policy use a comparatively similar approach within the demographic boundaries in which they exist, it was found that the socio-economic challenges of South Africa as a developing country, still have an enormous influence on the optimal application of the e-Government policy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Elektroniese regering of e-Regering het ‘n wêreldwye verskynsel geraak en kan gesien word as ‘n maatstaf vir die versterking van regeringsoptrede en publieke administrasie. ‘n Effektiewe en doeltreffende staatsadministrasie is ‘n noodsaaklike vereiste vir ekonomiese en sosiale ontwikkeling. Hierdie studie beskryf tot watter mate die e-Regeringsbeleid van die Wes-Kaapse Provinsiale Regering met ander internasionale e-Regeringsbeleide vergelyk, veral met betrekking tot die e- Regeringsbeleid van Australië. As ‘n jong demokrasie kan Suid-Afrika die transformerende invloed van die eregerings benadering tot die voordeel van die regering, besigheid en die burgers van die land gebruik indien hierdie benadering korrek toegepas word. e-Regering bied die geleentheid om publieke dienste te verbeter en kan selfs die bestaande gaping vernou tussen diegene wat rekenaargeletterd is en diegene wat nie rekenaargeletterd is nie. e-Regering in die Wes-Kaapse Provinsiale Regering is nog in ‘n betreklike vroeë stadium vergeleke met e-regering in Australië waar dit oor die laaste dekade snel ontwikkel het. Die Wes-Kaapse Provinsiale Regering kan vanuit die ontwikkelingsproses van die Australiese e-Regering leer, daar Australië deur die Verenigde Volkere-organisasie as een van die voorste e-Regeringnasies in die wêreld beskou word. Selfs al toon die beleide van die Wes-Kaapse Provinsiale Regering en die van Australië ‘n relatief eenderse benadering tot e-Regering binne die demografiese grense waarin hulle bestaan, is gevind dat die sosio-ekonomiese uitdagings van Suid-Afrika as ‘n ontwikkelingsland steeds ‘n enorme invloed op die optimale aanwending van e-Regering het.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / The government's intention is to extend the provision of government services to citizens beyond the traditional boundaries of time and space. Additionally to the face-to-face provision of government services, this could also be achieved through utilization of the Internet and the evolving information and communication technologies. This concept is what has brought about what is called the electronic government or e-government as some would refer to it. E-government is meant to facilitate service provision to citizens and businesses that the government has a mission to serve - including those handicapped due to physical, social, economic, geographical or cultural factors - independent of time and space. Equity and fairness, which drive governments social inclusion, dictate that disadvantaged groups should not experience inferior access to public services compared to other groups. Therefore, no matter what channel is decided upon by government to use to provide these services, it remains government's responsibility to cater for all its citizens and residents. How e-government is accepted and utilized by South African residents, especially in rural areas, is not adequately and properly understood. This study utilized and applied Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology to explore the acceptance and use of e-government in rural South Africa.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Electronic government holds the promises of enabling government to become more efficient in the delivery of services to the public. E-government would ultimately mean that government departments would not work in isolation from each other. The electronic environment would mean that databases would be linked and that information would be shared across all levels of government. There are a number of issues that are presently, and will increasingly in the future impact on the success of e-government. The paradox for e-government is that while this sharing of information, paints a picture of an ideal state of affairs, that would benefit both citizen and state, there could be enormous effects on privacy. These are the ability for government to compile comprehensive profiles on citizens without their knowledge or consent. Another impact on privacy is that wrong information can be linked to the wrong person thereby impacting on the identity of an individual. Data protection and record management policies and legislation are necessary to protect personal data and information. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Elektroniese regeringsdienste hou enorme voordele in om 'n meer effektiewe diens aan 'n land se inwoners te lewer. 'n E-regering stel staatsdepartemente in staat om nie meer in isolasie te werk nie, dat databasisse gekoppel en inligting op alle regeringsvlakke gedeel kan word. Daar is egter elemente in 'n e-regeringstruktuur wat 'n beduidende impak op die toekomstige sukses daarvan kan uitoefen. Die paradoks van 'n e-regering is dat hoewel dit 'n ideale prentjie skilder, dit 'n enorme impak op die privaatheid van beide die inwoners en die regering van 'n land kan uitoefen. Dit voorsien 'n geleentheid waar die regering 'n uitgebreide persoonsprofiel kan saamstel, sonder die medewete of toestemming van die persoon. 'n Verdere aspek is dat die inligting aan die verkeerde persoon gekoppel kan word, wat 'n negatiewe impak op die identiteit van so 'n persoon kan hê. Dit op sigself maak data- en dokumentbeheer, beleide and wetgewing 'n noodsaaklikheid voorvereiste vir die beskerming van persoonlike data en inligting.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Information Technology in the Faculty of Informatics and design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / This study focuses on information flows in the social grant process from a user experience perspective. The study was conducted with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), which is responsible for the administration and distribution of social grants to underprivileged citizens. Social grants help poor citizens to attain equitable income on a monthly basis. Grants play an increasingly important role in reducing poverty and inequality in South Africa, but are also subject to challenges like dependency, mismanagement and corruption. Information flow within SASSA is essential for the coordination of the grant process. The success of administering any social grant process depends largely on efficient communication practices and stable information technology. Communication among grant users requires the transfer of relevant information from its point of inception to the next point(s) of use. Government departments are transposing their paper-based systems into digital systems, which pose new implications for grant administration, however. Accordingly, the use of electronic services in government should mean faster information flow and, thus, more effective service delivery. The literature reveals, however, that non-technical aspects like user experience (UX) are essential in designing meaningful e-government systems. With a focus on user experience, this study uncovers the problems that SASSA and grant users face in the grant process and works toward possible solutions to resolve these problems. This research lays an important foundation in terms of gaining a better understanding of information flows, e-government, and user experiences in the grant process. This research is exploratory in nature and adopts a qualitative interpretivist approach. To gain a deeper understanding of the perspectives and experiences of grant users, the researcher employed the „Institutionalise User Experience in Government‟ (IUXG) methodology. The study targeted individuals that had knowledge of the social grants. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the research participants. Furthermore, the researcher adopted a thematic analysis method to code and analyse data. The findings of this study revealed the centrality of user experience in the grant process, notably in terms of the many challenges associated with information flow. The findings also revealed that factors such as social grant awareness, availability and use of information technology, digital divide, and grant accessibility bring enormous impact on grant processes and service delivery. The study contributes a landscape model for depicting the information flows in processing grants, and develops a broader understanding of how technology can help users to better disburse, access, and utilise grants. The study also informs e- government practitioners about the design and implementation of user-centred design with emphasis on information flows. Key Words: Information flows, social grants, e-government, and user experience.

In recent years, an increasing number of people move into cities to search for better opportunities for themselves and their families. This movement is known as urbanisation and makes it difficult for the local government to fully understand citizens’ needs particularly pertaining to public safety matters. During the first phase of the Public Safety Smart City project, it was identified that there is a need for feedback loop to facilitate effective communication of public safety issues between citizens and local government. This means that EL citizens do not have a better channel in place to address their public safety issues to the local government. This could lead to the decisions made by the local government in public safety not fully communicated back to the citizens. The primary objective of the study is to develop a feedback loop model that will assist in more effective reporting of public safety issues between citizens and the local government. The study followed an interpretivism paradigm and the research methodology employed is the qualitative approach. This was influenced by the existing De Fleur model of communication, secondary data and also semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted with eleven citizens and four managers from the Department of Public Safety. It was ascertained that the lack of a feedback loop about public safety issues between citizens and local government is likely to increase public safety issues. Findings revealed that this is because citizens are not continuously updated about their reports and also about the state of public safety matters. Furthermore, the methods of communication utilised lead to poor communication of public safety issues. The study concludes that the introduction of an Information and Communication Technology enabled feedback loop between citizens and local government can help in reducing public safety issues and make public safety officials proactive rather than reactive.

The purpose of the project is to compare the managerial and administrative benefits of the Construction Project Management Information System (CPMIS) implemented at the San Bernardino County Medical Center Replacement Project (SBCMCRP) with the E-Government environment.