The role of business process redesign in creating egovernment in Ireland

Purpose To investigate the role of business process redesign BPR in creating citizencentred egovernment. Designmethodologyapproach It is argued in this paper that the evolutionarybased development of BPR is better positioned to expand the use ecommerce technology in the public sector. The Venkatraman model of ITenabled change is used in order to investigate the extent to which BPR was instrumental in the movement to egovernment in Ireland. A case study is presented detailing how the Irish Government's egovernment strategy was devised and implemented. Findings This paper details how 50 government authorities were coordinated in an effort to provide a single point of access portal to government eservices. However, as the infrastructure for the portal is to be developed around existing government structures, a full and complete process redesign is unlikely, as the existing authorities must remain in place. Research limitationsimplications To investigate the unique nature of processes within the public sector so that IS platforms can be developed that accommodate less efficient processes rather than platforms that require unobtainable process redesign. Practical implications The establishment of a specific government entity, whose sole purpose is to oversee and implement the egovernment strategy, has contributed greatly to the success achieved to date. Originalityvalue This paper fulfils an identified need for research in BPR in the implementation of egovernment and provides a valuable insight into the successful attainment of citizencentred egovernment in other jurisdictions.