A Global Dialogueon

The Impact of Open Source Software on Transforming Government

Shahani Markus Weerawarana, Ph.D.

October 2008October 2008Sri LankaSri Lanka

Overall Perspectives

Panel 1Panel 1

Well-known Benefits in Leveraging Open Source Software

Ability to avoid vendor lock-in

High degree of “ownership” via access to underlying source code

Lower implementation & deployment costs

Greater flexibility in implementing “minor” changes and enhancements

Greater reliability & stability

Better security

etc.

Impact of Open Source Software ineGovernment Solutions

Better adherence to open standards thereby facilitating interoperability

Ability to rapidly implement or customize “working prototypes” to test complex/dense requirements

Ability to easily reuse or deploy in same or similar solutions in multiple locations

Ease of software localization thereby enabling “friendlier” user interfaces

Greater opportunities to improve local IT industry via support & maintenance contracts etc.

Essential Ingredients for Success

Conducive Atmosphere

Good awareness of open source software and its natural benefits

Willingness to “level the playing field”

Desire for “openness” and accompanying culture

Enabling Environment

Facilitative procurement processes

IT-savvy personnel with good knowledge of open source software landscape for R&D

“Nice to Have”

A comprehensive knowledge base of open source software suitable for generic eGovernment solutions, with associated “ratings” and feedback/comments

A collection of specialized open source eGovernment solutions that could be easily customized for typical deployment scenarios in many countries

Perspectives from Sri Lankafrom the experiences at the

ICT Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka

Panel 2Panel 2

eGovernment Projects LeveragingOpen Source Software

LankaGate Project – transforming access to government services

Architecture-driven, agile process, facilitated by a “new” procurement approach (SDSA) and the “open source development methodology”

Enabling “virtual business transformation” via a pure Service-Oriented Archecture

An end-to-end thin slice implementation to validate the architecture by leveraging open source software

5 projects - In various procurement and implementation stages

eGovernment Projects LeveragingOpen Source Software

Performance Management System for the Ministry of Public Administration

3 month implementation cycle

“zero cost” of implementation & deployment by leveraging university interns

Deployed and in active use!

eGovernment Projects LeveragingOpen Source Software

eSamurdhi Project – to optimize delivery of welfare and social upliftment services to the most needy citizens

4 month implementation cycle

Architecture-driven, agile implementation process

Approach of customizing existing open source applications leveraging the SDSA procurement process

RFP definition stage.

eGovernment Projects LeveragingOpen Source Software

eLocal Government Project – to provide a collection of solutions to deliver local government services

Architecture-driven, agile implementation process

Approach of customizing existing open source applications leveraging the SDSA procurement process

Conceptualization stage

More Examples...

Government Web Site Development using open source content management

Complete Source Code Management (SCM) tools stack using open source solutions

Sri Lanka location code navigator (internal ICTA implementation) leveraging open source rapid prototyping framework (GRails)

Emergency deployment of an open source eCondolence Book – simple customization of existing open source application (2 hours)