Nov 2005 >Download PDF

The justice enterprise faces many performance challenges that can be addressed more successfully through better information-sharing initiatives.This toolkit is designed for justice professionals to use when considering or planning for a justice information-sharing initiative.

Dec 2005 >Download PDF

Government faces many challenges that can be addressed more successfully when information is shared across organizational boundaries. Initiatives that depend on these kinds of information sharing are typically complex, difficult, and prone to failure. They are more likely to succeed when they include a comprehensive and systematic assessment of both organizational and technical information sharing capabilities.

Aug 2004 >Download PDF

New information technology (IT) systems are serious, and potentially risky, investments for government agencies and nonprofit organizations. This guide is designed to help public sector managers better understand how a return on investment (ROI) analysis can take some of that risk out of their next IT investment.

Apr 2004 >Download PDF

IT innovation is risky business in every organization. In the complex public sector environment, these risks are even greater. This handbook is designed to help any government manager evaluate IT innovations before deciding (with greater confidence) to make a significant investment.

Jan 2002 >Download PDF

Increasingly, government information is being created and stored in electronic records. The transition from a paper to an electronic way of working poses new challenges to government agencies. This guide is designed to help government agencies develop affordable, manageable, and effective electronic records access programs.

May 2000 >Download PDF

Efforts to improve public safety in the United States are pointing to an increasing need for justice agencies to share information. This guidebook offers a series of lessons and tools justice officials can use to build business cases to win support and funding for integrated justice information systems.

Jan 1999 >Download PDF

Most organizations are increasingly managing work and making decisions based on electronic information. This guide provides the tools that were developed to help information and program managers integrate essential records management requirements into the design of new information systems.

Apr 1998 >Download PDF

In order to design sound electronic recordkeeping practices within an organization, the necessary requirements must be identified and understood. This paper presents the two components of a tool that can help organizations complete that work.

Jun 1997 >Download PDF

State-local information systems must recognize and account for enormous diversity of community settings, organizational cultures, structures, staff. This report, based on eleven initiatives in New York State, presents principles and practices for ideal state-local information systems.

Dec 2003

The online workbench is provided as a companion piece to Opening Gateways: A Practical Guide for Designing Electronic Records Access Programs. It is an interactive version of the Guide enhanced with features that support groups of people as they collaborate on the development of electronic records programs.

Nov 2000

Every day, the people inside government use information to develop policies, make decisions, evaluate programs, and deliver services. This Web resource draws from real agency experiences to provide a practical resource for government professionals who use information to do their jobs.

Oct 2009 >Download PDF

This report describes how a diverse mix of individuals and organizations representing two countries, three states, multiple levels of government, private industry, academia, and the public were able to successfully organize and then respond to improve air quality along the U.S. and Mexican border. The focal point of this study is the Joint Advisory Committee for the Improvement of Air Quality in the Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua/El Paso, Texas/Doña Ana County, New Mexico Air Basin (the JAC). It was through the JAC that this diverse mix of key actors were able to navigate the complex web of political, cultural, legal, and economic factors that posed challenges to developing a unified response to this shared air quality problem. The JAC’s strategies and methods were powerfully shaped by the characteristics of the physical setting and the organizational and political context. Many of these strategies and methods have considerable promise for other air shed regions, but must be tailored to the unique physical and social situations of each one.

Oct 2009 >Download PDF

Creating interoperability in the governmental context requires government leaders to take responsibility for improving the capabilities of government agencies to effectively partner with other agencies and governments as well as the private sector, non-profit groups, and research institutions. Governance is a foundational capability for creating and improving government interoperability. Recent research conducted by the CTG draws on a comparative case study of IT governance to illustrate that while effective governance structures include a consistent set of elements or capabilities, there are also a wide range of context specific issues that must be responded to in the governance design, development, and implementation processes.

Sep 2009 >Download PDF

This report summarizes the results of a national survey of cross-boundary information sharing in the public sector conducted by the Center for Technology in Government (CTG). This national study, conducted by CTG and supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, was designed to understand how effective information integration and sharing occurs within and across boundaries of organizations. The purpose of the survey was to test the generalizability of a preliminary theoretical model of how policy, organizational, social, and technical factors interact to create criminal justice and public health information sharing capabilities. CTG developed this model based on the data collected and analyzed during earlier phases of the research project.

Oct 2008 >Download PDF

While public officials at all levels of government play important roles in interoperability efforts, government leaders alone have the power to alleviate the institutional constraints that impede these potentially transformative, but highly complex enterprise initiatives. Unfortunately, while leaders have the unique power to make these changes, experience shows that the policy environments they have created, or in many cases inherited, often limit the capability of governments to share authority, to collaborate, and to jointly and strategically manage enterprise initiatives. To change this, leaders must understand the link between their policy decisions and the capability of governments to create the systems necessary to share information and other resources across boundaries. This paper is for government leaders and presents a unique focus on creation of the policy and management capability, rather than technical capability, necessary to create interoperable government. It presents a set of recommendations to guide these leaders in the development of policies and principles for action.

Oct 2008 >Download PDF

This paper presents a framework for governments as they begin to move beyond the vision of a more effective government to the reality. Governments are finding that a typical hierarchical bureaucracy is not necessarily the best form of organization to meet citizen and other demands. Rather, governments are finding that a network form of organization where new groupings of persons and organizations must learn to work together and share information, exchange knowledge, and respond to demands in new ways is more appropriate. Interoperability is key to the success of these government networks. The framework focuses first on understanding the capabilities needed to develop and manage (i.e., plan, select, control, and evaluate) initiatives to improve interoperability among government agencies and their network partners, and second on determining the right mix of capabilities needed to share information across a network of organizations. The complete framework is provided for immediate use by government managers to assess existing and needed capabilities for improving government interoperability.

Jul 2004 >Download PDF

This current practices research report identifies and describes exemplary practices in providing electronic access to information.

Feb 2001 >Download PDF

This executive briefing draws from real agency experience to provide a practical resource for the use of information by government professionals.

Jul 2000 >Download PDF

The Office of the New York State Comptroller decided to conduct an extensive stakeholder needs analysis before making any decisions about how to design and develop a next generation Central Accounting System (CAS). CTG worked with the agency on this project, and developed a set of recommendations for next steps in devising a plan for the CAS.

Jun 2000 >Download PDF

In order to implement the state's new annual reassessment program, the New York State Office of Real Property Services set out to identify the needs of the local assessment community. CTG worked with this agency on the project, and produced a report that presents a collaboratively developed set of recommendations for moving the Annual Reassessment Program forward.

Apr 2000 >Download PDF

Collaborative partnerships in the public sector are helping to pave the way for new innovations in information and service delivery. This white paper summarizes the findings of a preliminary review of collaborative public sector service delivery methods.

Feb 2000 >Download PDF

Organizations spend millions of dollars putting information together in data warehouses, but as many as 50 to 80 percent of those projects fail. This report, which summarizes the fourth seminar in the UIG Seminar Series, highlights the lessons learned from the creation of the prototype Homeless Information Management System.

Oct 1999 >Download PDF

Every government function depends on information, and each function has a set of policies behind it. This report, which summarizes the third seminar in the Using Information in Government Seminar Series, addresses the use of government information and the policies that govern that use.

Sep 1999 >Download PDF

This study provides a complex but optimistic picture for improving the integration of justice information. It provides an analysis of the current integration realities and discusses enablers and barriers to criminal justice information integration.

May 1999 >Download PDF

Having the right skills, competencies, and technical tools can help government managers use information more effectively in their work. This report, which summarizes the second seminar in the UIG Seminar Series, focuses on ways to get the most from government information.

1999 >Download PDF

Public and private sector organizations recognize the importance of information sharing as a way to improve planning and increase productivity. Because of this trend, the use of multiple data sources for enterprise level planning and decision making has become even more important. This paper identifies current research and practical experiences in the use of multiple data sources to support performance measurement, strategic planning, and interorganizational business processes.

1999 >Download PDF

A multitude of private and public institutions are now using e-commerce to deliver products and services to customers and clients. For many of these organizations, jumping into the world of e-commerce means they must link legacy systems and their attached databases to new Web-based applications and distributed databases. The ramifications of this process are examined in this report.

Mar 1999 >Download PDF

Information technology plays a crucial role in the public sector, and has the potential to transform the way government works. This report provides a set of recommendations for the National Science Foundation to design its Digital Government Research Program to help support that transformation.

Feb 1999 >Download PDF

Proper data management is instrumental for successful information systems. This report, which summarizes the first seminar in the UIG Seminar Series, focuses on data quality management, data tools and techniques, long term maintenance and preservation, and real life experiences with data issues.

Oct 1998 >Download PDF

The quality of data in data warehouses is crucial to the effective use of the warehouse. This paper examines the issues associated with data quality and maps the issues to features available in data quality software tools. Examples of the tools are also included.

Jul 1998 >Download PDF

In an environment where business is increasingly conducted electronically, the management of electronic records is crucial. This report describes tools that help incorporate electronic records requirements into the design of new information systems.

Apr 1998 >Download PDF

The functional requirements of records include the reliability of the system in which the records reside, how the records are captured, and how they are maintained. This paper discusses the background, development, and usage of the functional requirements in CTG's Models for Action project.

Feb 1998 >Download PDF

There are many different methods and techniques used to direct the life cycle of a software development project. This document provides an overview of common models that are used to guide the analysis, design, development, and maintenance of information systems.

Nov 1997 >Download PDF

With many different workflow management software solutions on the market, a variety of approaches to workflow management exist. This paper provides an introduction to Workflow Management Systems through a two-tiered approach: a functional review and a technical overview.

Oct 1997 >Download PDF

This report is a summary of the discussions that took place during the workshop A Step Beyond Research: Fostering IT Innovations in Government. The workshop involved 32 scholars from Europe and North American in an exploration of the issues and opportunities for applied research to support IT innovation in government.

Oct 1997 >Download PDF

This paper provides the practical perspective of studying government information technology issues. It is one of two papers that served as the background for discussions at an applied research workshop hosted by CTG in October 1997.

Oct 1997 >Download PDF

This paper provides the research perspective of studying government information technology issues. It is one of two papers that served as the background for discussions at an applied research workshop hosted by CTG in October 1997.

Oct 1997 >Download PDF

A state-local information system is one that links state and local agencies together in a coherent service delivery or administrative environment. This report discusses the findings of a research project that examined eleven state-local projects in New York State.

Aug 1997 >Download PDF

Knowing the key concepts of electronic recordkeeping is essential as agencies move from a largely paper-based business process to an electronic system. The report covers those key concepts.

Dec 1995 >Download PDF

The information needed to review a building permit application in New York's Adirondack Park comes from a range of sources. This report describes the work undertaken to develop and evaluate a prototype system to combine document records and geographic data into a unified "electronic reference desk".

Oct 1995 >Download PDF

This report covers the findings from an evaluation of a prototype map retrieval system developed for the Adirondack Park Agency. Recommendations for a future system development strategy are included.

Oct 1995 >Download PDF

Building an electronic reference desk that integrated government records and geographic information relied on a number of technical components. This report presents the technical results responsible for the development of that system.

May 1995 >Download PDF

The telephone is the means by which most people deal with the government. This report presents the results of a project that developed a prototype voice response system for the NYS Office of Regulatory and Management Assistance.

Mar 1995 >Download PDF

A prototype voice response system was designed to improve the way business permit inquiries were handled by the New York State Office of Regulatory and Management Assistance. This report presents the results of testing that prototype system.

Nov 1994 >Download PDF

Information technology tools and applications are supporting all types of government work. This report presents the results of a series of prototyping experiments conducted by CTG and state agencies on custom workflow, project management, document management, and meeting support systems using groupware tools.

Nov 1994 >Download PDF

Paperwork. Few words evoke such a negative picture of government operations. This report presents the results of a prototyping project that demonstrated document imaging and work flow solutions in the vehicle title operation at the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Human Relations, Volume 59, Number 4, Mar 2007, pp 533–565
Download PDF

In recent publications in organizational communication, the phenomenon of nonhuman agency has been highlighted as a key element whose recognition might allow researchers to better account for the nature and functioning of organizations. This approach consists of showing that the roles machines, tools, documents, architectural elements, and artifacts more generally play in collectives tend to be neglected in social sciences in general and organizational studies in particular, and that recognizing the active contribution of these elements might help us solve both theoretical and analytical problems.

The American Review of Public Administration, Volume 37, Number 1, 007, pp 91-113
Download PDF

Knowledge and information-sharing networks are emerging in an increasing number of government programs and policy arenas. This article reports the results of an exploratory investigation into ways in which leadership and formal authority shaped the course of four knowledge network initiatives. The study treats authority as both formal and perceived. Leadership is assessed in terms of style, focus, and communication strategies. Analysis of the various authority and leadership patterns found in the case studies generated a set of hypotheses with regard to their influence on success of knowledge networks. Finding s reveal that formal authority, perceived authority, and a variety of leadership behaviors appear to have important influence on the development and performance of public sector knowledge networks. These factors affect the ability of such networks to achieve their substantive goals and the degree to which these efforts provide satisfying and useful networking relationships among the participants.

Proceedings of the 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (CD/ROM), January 3-6,2007, Computer Society Press, Jan 2007, Ten pages
Download PDF

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are rapidly changing and new technologies, processes, and skills are constantly emerging. An important challenge for the research community is to gain knowledge about these emergent technologies in specific contexts, sometimes before they are actually implemented. This paper draws on our experience in the use of comprehensive prototyping as a methodology for building understanding of emerging technologies in new contexts. A Testbed research strategy combines various prototyping, business analysis, team work, and training techniques to understand the specific characteristics of a technology and the context in which it is going to be embedded. The paper presents three cases of Testbed research approaches developed within a 10 year period and presents some insights based on those experiences to inform the efforts of both practitioners and researchers.

Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Information Technology Evaluation, Genoa Italy, 28-29 September 2006, Oct 2006, Thirteen pages
Download PDF

Based on findings from CTG's Advancing Return on Investment Analysis for Government IT project this paper discusses the similarities and differences of approaches, models, and methodologies developed and utilized for measuring ROI in IT investment, particularly in the public sector. The paper also provides a descriptive data analysis of trends in IT investments in United States.

Proceedings of the 7th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, USA, 277-284, May 2006, Eight pages
Download PDF

Based on the findings of 2005 Library of Congress workshops and previous efforts on digital preservation, this paper discusses the challenges and opportunities regarding interorganizational collaboration and community building for digital preservation of state government information.

Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (CD/ROM), January 4-7,2006, Computer Society Press, Feb 2006, Ten pages
Download PDF

This study investigates the dynamics of a knowledge sharing effort in New York State government that involved multiple organizations, divisions, and geographically separated offices in the development of the Multi-Purpose Access for Customer Relations & Operational Support System.

Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (CD/ROM), January 4-7,2006, Computer Society Press, Jan 2006, Eight pages
Download PDF

E-commerce, and online auctions in particular, represent important examples of how information and communication technologies have been employed by public organizations to gain benefits in both efficiency and effectiveness. In this article, we discuss the three-year experience gained by New York State in the use of online auctions for the sale of surplus inventory and property.

Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (CD/ROM), January 4-7,2006, Computer Society Press, Jan 2006, Ten pages
Download PDF

Land parcels are the foundation for many aspects of public and community life. This report presents the findings of a study of information about land parcels in New York State. It identifies stakeholders and their interests as well as the needs and issues associated with the uses of parcel data in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (CD/ROM), January 4-7,2006, Computer Society Press, Jan 2006, Ten pages
Download PDF

E-government is increasingly been used for government administrative reform. In fact, spending in e-government initiatives continues to rise and, among these projects, Internet-based applications are increasingly important. Using a nested research design, this study explores the complex relationships among the relative success of state websites and certain organizational, institutional, and contextual factors.

Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (CD/ROM), January 4-7,2006, Computer Society Press, Jan 2006, Ten pages
Download PDF

Using structuration theory, this paper argues that the World Trade Center crisis was a catalyst for a change in the conceptualization of GIT for emergency response and, consequently, much was learned about interoperability and inter- organizational geographic information systems.

Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (CD/ROM), January 4-7,2006, Computer Society Press, Jan 2006, p.67a
Download PDF

Digital government is a complex organizational and social phenomenon. It involves technical, organizational, and policy elements, as well as their complex and recursive interactions. Multi-method approaches have been shown as capable of presenting more comprehensive explanations of complex situations. This paper argues that multi-method approaches are valuable alternatives for e- government research.

Paper presented at the 66th Annual Conference of the American Society for Public Administration, Milwaukee, WI, Oct 2005, Eleven pages
Download PDF

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate about multi-method approaches to studying social phenomena; in this contribution e-government is the social phenomenon of interest. A set of advantages and challenges to multi-method approaches are introduced and then used to frame a case analysis. Two case studies involving multi-method approaches to e-government research are presented to illustrate strategies for responding to implementation challenges in both large-scale and small-scale projects. The case discussion provides new insight into how the challenges to multi-method approaches can be managed.

Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2005), Jan 2005
Download PDF

Traditional governmental structures have organized the capture, use, and management of information along agency lines. These “information silos” are not very useful in a dynamic environment. Information integration is considered one of the most significant ways to change the structure and function of public organizations. It has the potential to support the transformation of organizational structures and communication channels between and among multiple agencies working in different locations. This article contributes to this knowledge-building effort by examining the factors that influenced the success of selected criminal justice integration initiatives. Useful integration strategies are also identified.

Paper presented at the National Conference of Hungarian Psychological Association (PSZICHOLOGIA 2004), Debrecen, Hungary, Oct 2004
Download PDF

As statistics show, violent crime is more prevalent in the US than in Hungary. Consequently, U.S. law enforcement, and a wide range of criminal justice agencies, are seen as an important part of government. These agencies embody characteristics that make them similar to and different from their counterparts in other areas of government. The research reported on here unveils some of these characteristics as it looks at interactions among criminal justice agencies in their efforts to develop structures within which to share and integrate information across organizational boundaries in order to reduce crimes.

Proceedings of the Twenty-Second International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Oct 2004, pp.82-83
Download PDF

The purpose of this paper is to describe a dynamic theory of the socio-technical processes involved in the definition of an Integration Information problem in New York State (NYS). In April 2003, the Criminal Justice Information Technology (CJIT) group of NYS was tasked with developing a framework to fulfill the goal of giving users of criminal justice data and information systems “one-stop shopping” access to the information needed to accomplish their mission. The research team of the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) collaborated with the CJIT group for an eight-month period during 2003 to accomplish this task. The CJIT-CTG team went through a series of conversations to specify the business problem and its context, and to identify feasible solutions and alternatives. This paper reports on a system dynamics model for understanding the dynamics of the socio-technical processes that took place during this project. This model building effort is looking for the development of a theory of interorganizational collaboration. The model is being developed in facilitated group model building (GMB) sessions with the team at CTG. Although the model presented in this paper is still preliminary, the model is capable to generated interesting scenarios with reasonable changes in the initial values of some parameters. Moreover, the model illustrates a powerful way to luse group model building and simulation as theory-building tools.

Proceedings of the Twenty-Second International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Oct 2004, pp.83-84
Download PDF

The system dynamics group at Albany has been developing approaches to decision conferencing using a combination of group facilitation techniques linked to projected computer models in the room for more than 20 years. Over the years, the group has developed a series of pieces of small group processes to build system dynamics models with groups, i.e. scripts. The Group Model Building (GMB) process reported here has several characteristics that make it different from most other experiences in the group. While the common setting involves managers interested in tackling a specific problem, this work involves a research team interested in building theory about the complexity of intergovernmental information integration. Additionally, the reported GMB process took place in small sessions of two to three hours, while the common practice at Albany involves intensive one or two-day meetings. In this way, the paper will include general thoughts about the implications of these differences for the GMB process.

Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2004), Jan 2004, p. 50120.1
Download PDF

Government leaders and IT executives increasingly recognize that interorganizational information integration (III) is a critical and complex process. Due to the need for integrated information at all levels of government, interorganizational information integration can no longer be pursued through ad hoc approaches that primarily rely on intuitive understandings of the way government operates. This paper presents an effort currently underway to model the social and technical processes of interorganizational information integration to improve our understanding of information system development and of interorganizational collaboration. This research seeks to enhance both the conceptual and practical models of III by building new understanding of the interaction among the social and technical processes in interorganizational information integration.

Communications of the ACM, Volume 46, Number 1, 2003, pp 40-42
Download PDF

More and more government agencies are creating collaborative relationships to improve services they provide. This article presents a summary of an international research project that is studying eleven collaborative partnerships developed to deliver government information.

The Public Manager, Volume 28, Number 1, 1999
Download PDF

Throughout CTG's partnership projects, there are four realities that stand out as success factors for IT innovation. This article presents the four recurring factors that we have encountered working on dozens of projects with hundreds of government individuals and organizations.

Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, ly 1997
Download PDF

Organizations often lack adequate tools to manage the growing number and variety of electronic records. This article presents a set of practical tools that can help government agencies manage the records that are electronically created, maintained, and accessed.

in W. McIver and A.K. Elmagarmid (Eds.), Advances in Digital Government: Technology, Human Factors, and Policy . NewYork: Kluwer.

[An Abstract for the book chapter would go here]

In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Annals of Cases on Information Technology, Vol 7 . Hershey PA: Idea Publishing Group.

[An Abstract for the book chapter would go here]

In W. Huang & K. Siau & K. K. Wei (Eds.), Electronic Government Strategies and Implementations . Hershey PA: Idea Publishing Group.

[An Abstract for the book chapter would go here]

In Keyes, J., (ed.), Technology Trendlines . New York: VanNostrand Reinhold.

[An Abstract for the book chapter would go here]

Global ICT Agenda 2002, #1. 40-41. London: Quasar International Communications. http://www.globalictagenda.com .

[An Abstract for the book chapter would go here]