The Welsh Assembly is considering new initiatives for its ICT transformation programme.
Among the issues it plans to explore are the potential for customer relationship management (CRM) and the use of workflow technologies. It has outlined the plans in a consultation document, "ICT and e-Government in Wales: Cymru Ar-lein", published on 22 October 2004. It has invited residents of Wales to provide their views on e-government, under a process named Making the Connections, before it announces plans to join up public sector broadband networks in the late spring of 2005.
The document covers the previous efforts of the Welsh Assembly in providing an ICT infrastructure for the country, emphasising the role of Merlin, a 10 year, £220m transformation programme. It says the government will explore a number of initiatives as part of Merlin in the next few months.
One of these is the potential for CRM to help the Assembly's staff provide swift answers to customer questions and guidance on where to find service. This will be aligned to the country's e-government programme.
The government plans to look at how it could use workflow technologies to standardise processes such as registration, rules application, document chasing and payment. It will also explore the use of technologies such as document management, geographic information systems and data warehousing to improve its services and develop new policies.
"If Wales is to achieve its ambitions in relation to ICT then the government sector needs to be recognised as a role model in the use of technology," the report says. "The size and scope of Merlin provides the opportunity to help transform the activities of the Welsh Assembly government and potentially the wider public service."
The document is available through the Assembly's Web site and respondents can contact the Cymru Ar-lein team through www.walesontheweb.org.
Quelle: ZDNet, 25.10.2004
