A Service to facilitate the IM Enabling of eGovernment Services

Acronym of the case:

IM Enabled

Web address of the case:

http://www.imenabled.eu

Country of the case:

Germany , Ireland , Italy , Pan european

City/region:

Waterford, Ireland

Posting Date:

18 November 2008

Last Edited Date:

18 November 2008

Author:

Tom Curran (Waterford Institute of Technology)

eGovernment | eServices | eInclusion

Type of initiative

Project or service

Case Abstract

This project undertook the market validation of trans-European Instant Messaging (IM) services for eGovernment called Zimbie. Zimbie lets eGovernment service providers present their eServices over IM provider networks, thus improving take-up of public eServices by citizens and businesses alike.
Zimbie has a broad application across the European economy, but to support initial market validation of the technology, it is focussed on validation with eGovernment service providers so that they can rapidly and cost effectively create IM Enabled eGovernment services to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public administrations. Similarly services can utilise the inherent features of IM to alert users whenever and wherever they are online (e.g. notify them about important city events) and notify users of their current status via the contact list e.g. recyclable refuse collection is symbolised by a â€œgreenâ€ status.

This project focussed on a trans-European validation of the service for public administrations. The validation of the service was supported by trials in Ireland, Germany, and Italy. The project began with a market analysis and initial business plan preparation, which included an analysis of the legal and regulatory issues for trans-European value added communications services. The service was then be adapted for the local conditions that exist in each of the member states who carried out the trials. The service was validated and evaluated through two iterations of the trans-European trials. The first trial involved IM enabling of several existing eGovernment services and the provisioning of IM portals. The second trial validated the IM Enabled services from the end userâ€™s perspective. As part of this project the results of both trials were documented and used to create a final business plan for the initial deployment phase.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

Services for Citizens | eParticipation, eDemocracy and eVoting | Inclusive eGovernment

Sector

Local/Regional Community Development

Date

September 2006 to August 2008

Date operational

October 2006

Target Users

Citizen | Administrative

Target Users Description

Citizens

Scope

International | National | Regional (sub-national) | Local (city or municipality)

Status

Implementation

Language(s)

English

Other

German, Italian

Policy Context and Legal Framework

IM Enabled aids development of a mobile service infrastructure, which will enable new modes of telecommunications services based on instant messaging.

This will support the European policy for service harmonisation and integration. The introduction of IM services will assist peripheral regions move from their present disadvantaged status, to a level of social and economic activity comparable with the richer parts of Europe.

The project supports the community policy of improving citizens' quality of life through the provision of services that enable adaptive end-user services, ensuring that service providers and users alike have greater control over service capabilities.

The IM Enable core principle is the fast, cheap and easy creation and delivery of IM e Services It addresses several issues at European level and contributes directly to EC policies. The project results are a direct contribution to the vision of an inclusive society and are aimed at helping to give everyone the opportunity to participate in the information society.

The goal of e Inclusion is to ensure equal access to ICT services for all, at an affordable cost. To deliver such services effectively, a balance must be struck between the technical level required to access the service and the citizens acquired technical knowledge. Through IM the citizen has an intuitive and well structured way of finding and interacting with on-line public services by introducing a simple but effective metaphor, the â€œbuddyâ€.

Users with varying technical abilities can quickly become accustomed to interacting with services in a familiar manner, effectively bridging the digital divide. Delivering and publicising on-line public services to citizens becomes a cost effective exercise for public administrations.

IM will open a new channel to public service customers that has several inherent benefits; presence and availability, instant bi-directional communication and easy service location and retrieval

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

IT infrastructures and products

Overall Implementation approach

Partnerships between administration and/or private sector and/or non-profit sector

Technology choice

Proprietary technology | Standards-based technology

Funding source

Public funding EU

Project size

Implementation: €1,000,000-5,000,000

Implementation and Management Approach

The initiative was managed and implemented in a formal project management fashion. The work was divided into work packages with a member of the project consortium being responsible for each work package and designated as work package leader. The work package leader in each case was chosen for their relevant expertise relating to the content of the work package.

The project Coordinator was responsible for the day to day project management, but a Project Management Team was also formed from the participants and this team supplied oversight to the project management procedures.

A mentoring group was formed approximately midway through the project to provide direction, advice and expertise to the project participants.

At the core of the project were two trials designed to gather data about ZIMBIE, the IM system deployed during the project. Trial 1 was designed to elicit the assessment of the system from the developers of the IM services, while Trial 2 was designed to obtain feedback from the IM service users.

Technology solution

The ZIMBIE System is a complex system of several components. The ZIMBIE Transceiver is a hosted application that logs on to multiple IM provider networks via the IM connectivity API (IMAPI). Messages processed by the transceiver are sent to the relevant internal queues. These queues are configured using the ZIMBIE admin tool each one representing an IM Enabled service. From this point onwards messages are processed in a uniform manner by queue processors that generate responses based on the IM serviceâ€™s configurations made through the ZIMBIE admin.

The main components of the system are:

An API to facilitate integration with the major IM public services and enterprise server software, in order that services can access the largest possible set of IM users

Instant Messenger Information Server (ZIMBIE): The platform on which to deploy Real IM Services. The server contains inbuilt services such as the guardian service for discovery of people, services and devices and for the federation of such services. It will also perform security tasks.

ZIMBIE SDK: All the supporting documentation and tools required to create IM Services

ZIMBIE Admin: Management tools for configuring ZIMBIE Services

Targeted vertical Applications: Highly specialised vertical applications to target targeted market segments.

Impact, innovation and results

Impact

It is envisioned that IM Enabled eGovernment services will prove to be of significant benefit to EU citizens interacting with local government. It will allow citizens to interact with local government services through a simple intuitive interface.

Track record of sharing

Outcomes shared with all participants, but not yet with teh general public or government bodies outside the project.

Lessons learnt

1. While the initial project proposal was comprehensive and detailed, there was a lack of experienced project oversight in the initial half of the project. We would recommend that in all future projects a mentoring team be put in place at the beginning of the project. This mentoring team should be available to the Project Coordinator on a regular basis, particularly where the Coordinator has little experience with European Union Projects.

2. Guidance should be available from the Commission at all times during the project, but especially at the preparation stage for the first set of deliverables. This would ensure that any deviation from the projects core objectives is detected and corrected early in the project. If misunderstandings are not corrected at this point, they will become major issues at the midterm review and may lead to the project being halted temporarily for correction, or worse, the project being abandoned completely.

3. The selection of project partners should include a proviso that in the event of the principal contact within an organisation becoming unavailable to the project for whatever reason, a suitable alternative should be available. Organisations with only a single point of contact for the project are high risk in terms of project continuity. There should always be a primary and a secondary contact available in each entity.

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