News and Activities

SmartGov is the project of the month!

SmartGov has been awarded the honorary title of the Project of the Month. See the related article at Europa.eu.int.
You may also want to read the article Easier online transactions for e-government from the istresults.cordis.lu site.

Demo version of the SmartGov development platform

You may access a demo version of the SmartGov development platform to browse through the elements that comprise a simple service and get an overall view of the development environment. The simple service and its development process is described in the "SmartGov Illustrated" document, accessible from the Results section.

• Go to the demo version

If you are interested in accessing a fully-functional demo installation of SmartGov, please contact smartgov[at]smartgov.e-gov.gr

Updated "Results" section

Deliverables D91 (Evaluation of project results) and D13 (Final Project Report), as well as two additional documents ("SmartGov Illustrated" and "Database connectivity for SmartGov services") are available from the Results section.

GSIS pilot publicly available

The pilot service of GSIS is publicly accessible through the Ministry of Finance's server. The pilot phase has concluded and the pilot service is no longer available

Publications

• A Governmental Knowledge-based Platform for Public Sector Online Services, P. Georgiadis, G. Lepouras, C. Vassilakis, G. Boukis, T. Tambouris, S. Gorilas, E. Davenport, A. Macintosh, J. Fraser and D. Lochhead, Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Electronic Government-EGOV 2002, pp. 362-369.
  Abstract
  
  Public transaction services (such as e-forms) although perceived the future of e-government have not yet realised their full potential. E-forms have a significant role in e-government, as they are the basis for implementing most of the twenty public services that all member states have to provide to their citizens and businesses. The aim of the SmartGov project is to specify, develop, deploy and evaluate a knowledge-based platform to assist public sector employees to generate online transaction services by simplifying their development, maintenance and integration with already installed IT systems. This platform will be evaluated in two European countries (in one Ministry and one Local Authority). This paper outlines key issues in the development of the SmartGov system platform.
• SMARTGOV: A Governmental Knowledge-based Platform for Public Sector Online Services, E. Tambouris, G. Boukis, C. Vassilakis, G. Lepouras, S. Rouvas, R. Canadas, S. Heredia, J. C. Lopez Usero, Proceedings of the KMGov2002 Workshop, Copenhagen, Denmark, May 23-24, 2002, pp. 173-185.
  Abstract
  
  Public transaction services (such as e-forms), although perceived the future of e-government have not yet realised their full potential. E-forms have a significant role in e-government, as they are the basis for realising most of the twenty public services that all European Union member states have to provide to their citizens and businesses. The aim of this paper is to present a knowledge-based platform to assist public sector employees to generate online transaction services by simplifying their development, maintenance and integration with already installed IT systems.
• Towards an Ontology for Electronic Transaction Services, Nick Adams, John Fraser, Ann Macintosh and Andy McKay-Hubbard, Tomas Pariente Lobo, Pablo Fernandez Pardo, Rafael Canadas Martinez and Jesus Sobrado Vallecillo Proceedings of ES 2002, Cambridge, UK, December 2002
  Abstract
  
  In this paper we present an ontology for transaction services built upon an established ontology for corporate knowledge called the Enterprise Ontology. We introduce the SmartGov platform for the 'Smart' deployment of online services for Public Authorities (PAs) whose requirement of a model of PAs has motivated the ontology, and describe our approach to constructing it. After presenting the ontology we then relate it to the pilot application areas in which the SmartGov platform will be trialed and evaluated.
• KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT APPLIED TO E-GOVERNMENT SERVICES, John Fraser, Nick Adams, Ann Macintosh and Andy McKay-Hubbard Proceedings of the KMGov2003 Workshop, Rhodes, Greece, May 2003
  Abstract
  
  This paper is about the development and use of an ontology of e-government services. In it, we identify the knowledge required to deliver e-government transaction services at different stages of maturity. Based on the SmartGov project, we describe the use of a domain map to assist in knowledge management and motivate the use of an ontology as a domain map. We describe the development of the e-government service ontology and give a few examples of its definitions. We explain why the SmartGov project has adopted taxonomies, derived from the ontology, as its domain map. We highlight issues in ontology development and maintenance.
• E-forms services for the Public Sector: Shifting Development Effort to Domain Experts, Stelios GORILAS, Kostas VASSILAKIS, Tomás Pariente LOBO, Efthimios TAMBOURIS e-Challenges 2003, Bologna, Italy, October 2003
  Abstract
  
  E-forms have a central role in a significant number of e-government services. This paper presents a knowledge-based technical platform aiming to assist public sector employees to generate online transaction services by simplifying their development, maintenance and integration with installed IT systems. At the heart of this platform lies the knowledge and transaction services repository. This repository consists of a number of XML document types that incorporate all necessary details for creating and managing online transaction services. The main underlying idea is to provide a platform with intuitive interfaces that can be used directly by domain experts thus minimising the need for personnel with IT skills. This platform is currently under development within the IST SmartGov project.
• SmartGov: A Knowledge-Based Design Approach to Online Social Service Creation, Adams, N.J., Haston, S., Macintosh, A., Fraser, J., McKay-Hubbard, A. and Unsworth, A. in Bramer, M., Ellis, R., Macintosh, A; (eds.). 'Applications and Innovations in Knowledge-Based Systems and Applied Artificial Intelligence XI'; Proceedings of AI-2003 the 23rd Annual International Conference of the British Computer Society's Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence ; Peterhouse College, Cambridge, UK, 16th-17th December, 2003
  Abstract
  
  This paper covers the work of the SmartGov project, a collaborative project funded by the European Commission under their Information Society Technologies (IST) 5th Framework Programme, as it has been piloted in the Social Work Department in the City of Edinburgh Council.

  The most significant innovation of the SmartGov platform, which sets it apart from other recent online service implementations for Public Authorities is its use of the e-government ontology. This enables the staff at the Public Authority to record and categorise expert knowledge that they have accrued about service provision so that it can be disseminated among staff, and where applicable selected knowledge can be made available to the users to assist in their completion of online forms and use of the service. The application described in this paper applies knowledge management techniques using knowledge units and an e-government ontology, to develop and deliver an assessment system for the supply of equipment and adaptations. We describe the building of the SmartGov platform, then detail the deployment in the Equipment and Adaptations service. Finally we consider the performance and evaluation measures for the application.

• Conventional and Electronic Service Delivery Within Public Authorities: The Issues And Lessons From The Private Sector, Adams, N., Haston, S., Gillespie,N. and Macintosh, A. DEXA 2003, the 2nd International Conference on Electronic Government - EGOV 2003; Prague, Czech Republic, September, 2003
  Abstract
  
  In this paper we compare and contrast the issues of providing conventional against electronic services within Public Authorities (PAs). We present a model suggesting the three dimensions to electronic service delivery are motivation, organisation, and technology (the MOT of service delivery). We observe that the motivations affecting service delivery differ greatly between PAs and commercial organisations, with PAs having certain obligations and responsibilities as to the services that they provide that do not constrain commercial companies. We argue that technologically many lessons learned by commercial organisations can be immensely valuable to PAs, and conclude that the key barrier to effective electronic service delivery within PAs is their culture and organisation.
• Models of Trust for Knowledge-based government services, McKay-Hubbard, A. and Macintosh, A. DEXA 2003, the 2nd International Conference on Electronic Government - EGOV 2003; Prague, Czech Republic, September, 2003
  Abstract
  
  This paper draws on current research and from it isolates a framework of trust definitions. From these definitions models of the trust relationships specific to the implementation of knowledge management within a governmental organisation are developed. As a foundation for the paper we address the nature of knowledge, adhering to current accepted definitions of tacit and explicit knowledge, while introducing a third knowledge type - obscured explicit knowledge. We argue that this third type is a subtype of explicit knowledge, and has been misidentified as tacit knowledge. We also argue that this third type is fundamental to the models. We argue that social acceptance of knowledge management is fundamentally based on trust and subsequently develop the models that describe the complex trust relationships involved in this acceptance.
• Integrating e-Government Public Transactional Services in the Public Authority Workflow, Costas Vassilakis, George Lepouras, Stathis Rouvas, Panagiotis Georgiadis Electronic Government J., vol. 1, Inderscience Publications, 2003
  Abstract
  
  Documents submitted by citizens through electronic services deployed in the context of e-Government must usually undergo processing by some organisational information system, in order to complete the citizens˘ requests and for the reply to be returned to the citizen. The integration, however, of the e-service delivery platform and the organisational information system is often hindered for a number of reasons, including security considerations, platform diversity or idiosyncrasies of legacy information systems. In this paper we present a generic method for providing seamless communication between the two platforms, enabling the full integration of documents submitted through electronic services into the organisational workflow, leveraging thus the quality of services offered to the citizens and facilitating e-service development and operation.

Last updated: March 2004