Analysing the Influence of Improved Situation, Capability Level of Actors and Flexible Process Workflow on Public Value of E-Governance Projects in India

Abstract

An emerging approach for assessing performance of public services is based on public value. Many existing studies have, however, measured public value in the context of online services. In India, most of the public services are still not fully e-governed. Due to the absence of an end-to-end IT-enabled service delivery mechanism, physical presence of citizens is still required to avail public services in many cases. A citizen during his visit to a public organization faces a ‘Situation’, interacts with ‘Actors’ and follows a ‘Process’ or a set of processes. It is conceptualized that citizens’ perception based on situation—actor—process (S–A–P)-related variables is expected to influence public value. In this article, S–A–P-related variables and their likely relationship with public value have been analysed based on a service of housing department of Delhi Development Authority. The study also aims to identify dominant actors who may be playing a critical role in the process of service delivery. It is expected that such actors may influence the service delivery time due to their dominance over the process. A dominance matrix showing ranking of different actors involved in the process of selected service has been presented by using an Interpretive Ranking Process method. The study is expected to benefit planners and implementers in terms of improved public value and delivery of public services on time.

Appendices

Appendix l

Exhibit l.1: List of activities performed by Actors

Sr.no.	Description of process	Central Diarist	Record room incharge	Applicant	Accounts Officer	Dealing Assistant	Assistant Director	NSK Staff	Bank Employees	Computer Department	Witnesses	Sub Registrar
	Count of activities per actor	2	1	7	5	8	6	3	2	1	2	3
1	Submission of application at NSK by applicant			√				√
2	Receiving of files by Diarist from NSK Staff	√						√
3	Diarist handover files to Dealing Assistant	√				√
4	Record room incharge retrieve main file from the record room and handovers to Dealing Assistant		√			√
5	Dealing Assistant sends the complete file to Accounts Officer to calculate the dues				√	√
6	Accounts Officer calculates the dues and sends the file to Dealing Assistant				√	√
7	Demand letter signed by Assistant Director is sent to Applicant by Dealing Assistant					√	√
8	Applicant makes payment of dues in Branch located in DDA office and submits receipt to Assistant Director			√			√		√
9	Dealing assistant sends the file to Accounts Officer to issue ‘No dues certificate’				√	√
10	If dues amounts more than INR 5000 the Accounts Officer sends file to Computer Department to get the confirmation of payment				√					√
11	Accounts Officer issues ‘No dues certificate’ and sends file to Assistant Director				√		√
12	Dealing Assistant sends conversion letter and three conversion deed papers signed by Assistant Director to Applicant					√	√
13	Applicant fills up forms and pay stamp duty in the bank. Further, he submits filled up forms, payment receipt and request letter of execution of conveyance deed to Assistant Director			√			√		√
14	Dealing Assistant sends call letter signed by Assistant Director for the execution of conveyance deed to Applicant					√	√
15	Applicant visits NSK along with witnesses for the execution of conveyance deed			√				√			√
16	Applicant visits Sub Registrar’s Office along with Witnesses for the registration of conveyance deed			√							√	√
17	Applicant makes payment of registration fees through online mode and henceforth a date is given by Sub Registrar to the applicant to collect the registered conveyance deed			√								√
18	Applicant visits Sub Registrar’s office to collect the registered conveyance deed			√								√

Appendix ll

Exhibit ll.1: Cross-interaction binary matrix

Actor
	A1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
	A2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
	A3	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0
	A4	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1
	A5	0	1	1	1	1	1	0	0
	A6	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1
	A7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	A8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
		P1	P2	P3	P4	P5	P6	P7	P8
		Process

Exhibit ll.2: Cross-interaction interpretive matrix

Actor	A1	Record of online and physical applications is maintained with Central Diarist	Diarist handovers files to Dealing Assistant
	A2			Concerned record room incharge retrieve physical files from the record room
	A3				Applicant receives deficiency letter in case requirement of additional documents	Applicant submits pending documents to the Dealing Assistant		Applicant may have to pay additional amount in case of any deficit
	A4						Accounts Officer receives the file for payment verification	Accounts Officer verifies payment made by applicant and issues ‘No Objection Certificate’	Accounts Officer sends the file with NOC for further approvals and processing
	A5		Dealing Assistant receives files from Central Diarist	Record room incharge hands over retrieved file to the Dealing Assistant	Dealing Assistant verifies the file and sends the deficiency letter to the Applicant	Dealing Assistant receives pending documents from Applicant	Dealing Assistant again verifies the documents and sends the file to Accounts Officer
	A6				Assistant Director signs the deficiency letter		Assistant Director signs the file for further processing		Approval of Assistant Director
	A7								Approval of Deputy Director
	A8								Approval of Director
		P1	P2	P3	P4	P5	P6	P7	P8
		Process

Exhibit ll.3: Interpretive logic—knowledge base—ranking of actors w.r.t. processes

Paired comparison	Interaction with process	Interpretive logic
A5 dominating A1	P2	Dealing Assistant of housing department approaches Central Diarist to receive files
A2 dominating A5	P3	Timely retrieval of file by record room incharge is important for further actions
A5 dominating A3	P4	Proper verification of documents and raising correct requirement first time is crucial
A6 dominating A5	P4	Assistant Director needs to sign the requirement before forwarding to the applicants
A3 dominating A5	P5	Timely submission of pending documents from applicant is important for further actions
A5 dominating A4	P6	Final verification by Dealing Assistant before forwarding the file to the Accounts Officer
A6 dominating A5	P6	Assistant Director needs to sign the file before forwarding to the Accounts Officer
A4 dominating A3	P7	Raising timely and correct requirement of pending dues by Accounts Officer is important
A6 dominating A4	P8	Assistant Director approves the file received from Accounts Officer
A7 dominating A6	P8	Deputy Director approves the file received from Assistant Director
A8 dominating A7	P8	Director approves the file received from Deputy Director

Exhibit ll.4: Pair-wise dominance of actors for different processes

Exhibit ll.5: Dominance matrix—ranking of actors w.r.t. processes

	A1	A2	A3	A4	A5	A6	A7	A8	No. dominating	Net dominance	Rank dominating
A1	–	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	13	− 4	5
A2	1	–	1	1	1	1	1	1	7	− 10	7
A3	3	3	–	2	2	2	3	3	18	3	3
A4	3	3	3	–	2	1	2	2	16	1	4
A5	5	4	4	5	–	3	5	5	31	20	1
A6	3	3	3	3	3	–	2	2	19	8	2
A7	1	1	1	1	1	1	–	0	6	− 10	7
A8	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	–	7	− 8	6
No. being dominated	17	17	15	15	11	11	16	15	117

Exhibit lll.1: Different types of dominance comparisons

Reference variables	Implicit dominance comparisons	Implicit Non-dominance comparisons	Transitive dominance comparisons	Interpretive dominance comparisons	Total comparisons	% Interpretive comparisons
P1	7	21	0	0	28	0
P2	12	15	0	1	28	9.09%
P3	12	15	0	1	28	9.09%
P4	15	10	1	2	28	18.18%
P5	12	15	0	1	28	9.09%
P6	15	10	1	2	28	18.18%
P7	12	15	0	1	28	9.09%
P8	16	6	3	3	28	27.27%
Total	101	107	5	11	224
Percentage	45.09%	47.77%	2.23%	4.91%

Appendix lll

Exhibit ll.6

	Description of situation—actor—process-related variables
Macrovariables	Microvariables	Description
Improved situation	Distance covered to reach service centre	It refers to the number of service centres available for service delivery
	Influence of middleman	Presence of middleman near the service centres to approach citizens
	Queue to avail services	Time spent by citizens in the physical and electronic queues
	Seating arrangements	Availability of sufficient chairs for citizens
	Air conditioned environment	Availability and effectiveness of air conditioners at service centres
	Cleanliness of work area and washrooms	Level of cleanliness maintained at public service centres
	Drinking water	Availability of drinking water for citizens
	Provision of feedback	Existence of feedback forms at the end of the service delivery
Capability level of actors	Communication skills	Capability of employees to provide information with effective communication skills
	Service orientation	Willingness of employees to deliver services
	Fast execution of work	Speed of employees at service centre
	Knowledge level about service delivery	Clarity of processes and updated information with employees
	Respect for ethics and values	Employees providing services as per ethics and values of the public organization
	Availability at service counters	Presence of employees at their counter to deliver services
Flexible process workflow	Flexibility in date and time of application submission	Providing options to citizens’ w.r.t. time and date of application submission
	Provision of uninterrupted services in case of technical fault	Arrangements of back up as per process in case of technical fault to continue with service delivery
	Option of both manual and online applications	Availability of both manual and online options for citizens’ keeping their literacy level into consideration
	Flexibility to apply from any service centre within the city	Availability of choice with applicants to submit application at any service centre within the city
	Provision to avail services without visiting service centre	Provision for physically challenged applicants to submit application without visiting to service centre

Appendix lV

Exhibit lV.1: Study variables and their observed mean value

Microvariables	Question items	Mean value
Quality of information	Accurate	0.65
	Up-to-date	0.65
	Relevant	0.68
	Detailed	0.65
	Simple and understandable	0.74
System functioning	Easy to fill and submit application form	0.62
	Easy to make payment	0.62
	Easy to get the application processed without any technical error	0.67
User orientation	Easy access for people having little or no formal education	0.39
	Facilities for differently abled, senior citizens, infants etc.	0.45
Cost savings	Lesser visits required to avail service	0.19
	Excess money is paid to avail service	0.38
	Lesser efforts required to avail service	0.24
	Charges paid to Intermediaries to avail service	0.39
Efficiency	Duplicate tasks are not performed during process	0.53
	Delivery of service is fast	0.25
	Reach of service through service centres has increased	0.64
Openness	Display of information such as policies, expenses, agreements, tenders, etc.	0.34
	Display of organization charts, roles and responsibilities and contact lists of staff, etc.	0.43
	Display of working hours, lunch timings, office addresses, applicable fees, etc.	0.49
Responsiveness	Response to inquires	0.49
	Response to complaints	0.61
	Display citizen charter and RTI	0.44
Equity	Display of content in local language	0.61
	Same treatment to all applicants other than people with special needs	0.76
Trust	Security and privacy of personal information	0.70
	Initiatives to discourage role of middleman	0.37
Self-development	Awareness programmes for knowledge promotion	0.21
	Training programmes for non-Internet savvy people	0.20
	Access through common service centres/Kiosk available	0.56
Citizens’ participation	Regular updates on policies and procedures	0.25
	The opportunity to participate in discussions, policy and decision-making	0.22
	Provision for suggestions	0.27
Concern for environment	Reduction in paper printing	0.60
	Energy saving (electricity, manpower, etc.)	0.57
Improved situation	Lesser distance of service centre from home	0.54
	More influence of middleman	0.51
	Long queue to avail services	0.54
	Proper sitting arrangements	0.63
	Air conditioned environment	0.48
	Clean work area and washrooms	0.51
	Availability of drinking water	0.56
	Provision of feedback mechanism	0.27
Capability level of actors	Communication skills	0.53
	Service orientation	0.53
	Fast execution of work	0.28
	Knowledge level about service delivery	0.66
	Respect for ethics and values	0.58
	Punctuality and presence at service counters	0.56
Flexible process workflow	Flexibility in date and time of application	0.44
	Provision of uninterrupted service in case of any technical fault	0.34
	Option of both manual and online applications	0.27
	Flexibility to apply from any service centre within Delhi/NCR	0.52
	Provision to avail service without visiting to service centre	0.03