Public Service Intelligence: evaluating how the Public Sector can exploit Decision Support Systems (original) (raw)
Related papers
Proceedings of the 11th …, 2011
Public Administrations started exploiting decision support systems (DSS) only in (very) recent times with respect to the private sector where such systems have been used for long time to improve decision making activities (e.g. the DSS and Business Intelligence realm), Service efficiency and effectiveness improvement are the expected results of DSS exploitation, together with increased value for stakeholders. The adoption of DSS in the public sector raises some questions: how to identify the areas where DSS introduction could greatly improve service quality and how to measure the resulting added value? The paper will provide a literature review supporting the authors in identifying the key factors influencing OSS value generation in the public sector. An evaluation model will be sketched including a detailed set of dimensions. This paper aims at providing the ground for building an evaluation methodology for assessing DSS adoption and exploitation in the context of public sector and public service provision.
E-Government is about using the tools and systems, made possible by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as Decision Support Systems (DSSs) as a strategy to enhance human resources output in public sector organisations. The aim is to provide better public services to citizens and the business sector. ICTs are already widely used by government bodies, especially in developed countries, just as in enterprises. In Zimbabwe, and in many other developing countries, Public Sector Organisations have already started exploiting DSS, unlike the private sector where such systems have been in use for a long time. DSSs have subsequently improved decision making processes in the private sector. Service efficiency and improved effectiveness are the expected benefits of DSSs exploitation alongside increased stakeholder value. This chapter aims to provide the grounds for building an evaluation theory or a framework for assessing DSS adoption and exploitation in the context of public sector and public services provision. It discusses the results of a study that finds that, to a greater extent, decision support systems can be used as an e-Government strategy that will in turn be highly effective in assisting decision making in Public Sector Organisations. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4245-4.ch003
This paper investigates adoption of Business Intelligence in the public sector of developing countries, particularly South Africa. The status of service delivery in South Africa is seen as a situation of concern. The South African government operates a Performance Management System to enable service delivery and Business Intelligence is seen as a supporting technology. Through a synthesis of an assessment model and review of Business Intelligence and South African public sector literature, the study derives a framework that allows for identification of factors that might affect Business Intelligence adoption into public sector organisations.
International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology
Business intelligence and analytics (BIA) is emerging as a critical area to boost organizational performance. Nowadays, data is not only important and valuable to the organization but recognized as necessary to spike the organization performance and success. As a result, many organizations spend a considerable amount of investment toward obtaining faster accurate information on a real-time basis. The previous study revealed that even though many organizations use business intelligence technologies for obtaining information, yet they still lack analytics implementation. Therefore, this study aims to discover the integrated implementation factors of business intelligence and analytics in managing organizational performance, particularly for organizations of the public sector. In achieving this, a depth literature review was carried out to identify the influential factors in the implementation of business intelligence, business analytics, and performance management. The subject matter experts in Business Intelligence (BI), Business Analytics (BA) and Organisational Performance Management (OPM) were invited to participate in this empirical study, which was conducted in Malaysia. The study was carried out through interviewing experts, in order to identify the essential factors for business intelligence and data analytics implementation. Twenty essential factors and sixty-four sub-factors were identified and analyzed to construct the integrated factors in BIA and OPM implementation. The result of the study revealed four integrated factors of the BIA and OPM implementation, such as skill, documentation, visualization, and work culture. Finance, data management, software, strategic planning, and decision-making are other factors integrated with BI, BA, and OPM respectively. Finally, this study illustrates the integrated factors in a visual form.
Business Intelligence (BI) has been rated as a key application and technology investment which provides organisations with great value by improving their decision making processes. The public sector provides a case for implementing BI for improved decision making processes as a way of enhancing its service delivery. However, the implementation of BI in these organisations have revealed to be quite a complex task to undertake. This research paper sets out to explore the implementation of BI in the public sector in South Africa. The research was conducted through two case studies and data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews and document collection with organisations that are implementing BI. A qualitative thematic analysis method was then used to construct the major themes that emerged from the data. The study revealed that BI can be used as an enabler of change and improvement in public sector activities. Consolidating structures, systems and processes was identified as a precursor to implementing it, while the use of the BI initiative to support organisational strategic objectives was seen as ensuring executive buy-in. However, the level of skills needed to use BI tools was highlighted as key factor in hindering its use in these organisations. ICT has furthermore more been identified as being an important factor for the promotion of development and equitable access to public services.
SA Journal of Information Management
This article recognises that public organisations in many developing countries face challenges in adopting business intelligence and data analytics. The challenges relate to business processes and human presence in the information technology (IT) ecosystems (people, process and technology). A public organisation in South Africa is examined to empirically identify the inhibiting factors to business intelligence use by managers at all levels. SAP Business Intelligence (SAP BI) tools have Background: Business intelligence tools play an important role for businesses across all industries for their data and information management solutions. By harnessing the capabilities of business intelligence, companies are able to predict and better meet customer needs. This study investigates factors that inhibit managers' use of business intelligence tools in a public organisation in South Africa, where there has been evidence of a very low uptake of business intelligence tools. Objective: The objective of this study was to establish factors that inhibit the use of business intelligence and data analytics tools by managers in public organisations. Organisations are likely to lose their competitive advantage and experience a negative impact on efficiency and service delivery if managers do not make use of analytics in strategic decision-making. Methods: The study utilised both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data were collected from managers through interviews, whilst questionnaires and daily login recordings were used to collect quantitative data. Quantitative data were analysed using statistical methods, whilst qualitative data were analysed by thematic analysis. Results: The research revealed a wide range of factors that inhibit the use of business intelligence tools by managers. These factors range from personal, system quality, organisational, macro-environmental, behavioural beliefs and attitudes, effort perceptions and social influence to facilitating conditions. Conclusion: The article provides a comprehensive contextual situation regarding poor use of business intelligence and analytics tools in a large metropolitan public entity. The findings from the organisation under study would be deemed to apply to similar organisations throughout the country.
2018
Public sector decision makers are confronted by pressures to make faster and better decisions as a result of the competitive environment they operate in. However, there is a trend in the public sector, including the Department of Transport (DoT) in South Africa, to invest in management information systems (MIS) that are highly fragmented and not aiding effective and timely decision-making. As a result, the country witnessed several service delivery protests since 2008 which also affected the public transport sector, such as the widespread burning of Metrorail trains several times by angry commuters. In most instances, poor service delivery emanates from the fact that public servants do not have information at their fingertips to make decisions. This quantitative study utilised Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies 5 (COBIT 5) as a theoretical framework to investigate the integration of MIS at the DoT with a view to enhancing business intelligence for effective decision-making. Data were collected through a questionnaire directed at middle managers and senior managers that were selected through stratification of business units at the DoT, as well as analysis of documents such as system specifications and strategic plans. The study established that the DoT has several systems such as Alfresco, BAS, GIS, Logis and Persal to name a few, which serve different purposes. However, in most instances, the systems are not integrated as the current infrastructure did not support integration needs and plans to accommodate changing requirements. This is compounded by the system policy implementation constraints, as well as ageing legacy systems that are obsolete. The only component where MIS was found to be integrated, was in the financial business units (Supply Chain Management, Finance and Budgeting). Core business units use off-the-shelf systems and, in some cases, custom-made applications that do not integrate with any other system and thus hinder decisionmaking. In conclusion, decisions are made based on thumb-sucking, as management does not have access to comprehensive information that is stored in fragmented unintegrated systems. The study recommends that governance structures should be set up to deal with a more holistic business, information and technology architecture for the DoT that enable integration of various systems for effective decision-making. Failure to transform this pattern would lead to service delivery protests persisting. A further study on a framework to integrate MIS in the public sector is recommended.
South African Journal of Information Management, 2019
Background: Business intelligence tools play an important role for businesses across all industries for their data and information management solutions. By harnessing the capabilities of business intelligence, companies are able to predict and better meet customer needs. This study investigates factors that inhibit managers’ use of business intelligence tools in a public organisation in South Africa, where there has been evidence of a very low uptake of business intelligence tools. Objective: The objective of this study was to establish factors that inhibit the use of business intelligence and data analytics tools by managers in public organisations. Organisations are likely to lose their competitive advantage and experience a negative impact on ef ciency and service delivery if managers do not make use of analytics in strategic decision-making. Methods: The study utilised both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data were collected from managers through interviews, whilst questionnaires and daily login recordings were used to collect quantitative data. Quantitative data were analysed using statistical methods, whilst qualitative data were analysed by thematic analysis. Results: The research revealed a wide range of factors that inhibit the use of business intelligence tools by managers. These factors range from personal, system quality, organisational, macro-environmental, behavioural beliefs and attitudes, effort perceptions and social in uence to facilitating conditions. Conclusion: The article provides a comprehensive contextual situation regarding poor use of business intelligence and analytics tools in a large metropolitan public entity. The ndings from the organisation under study would be deemed to apply to similar organisations throughout the country.