C2. Web Service for State Government You are a member of the Web site management

Question

C2. Web Service for State Government

You are a member of the Web site management team of a state government. You have worked on all of the state’s Web sites from time to time and have managed the launch of four major sites and the redesign and relaunch of two others. Some of the Web sites on which you have worked include electronic commerce features such as order acceptance, payment processing, and purchasing.

You report to Anne Nelson, the state’s CIO. Anne asked you to lead a project to explore the potential uses of Web services in carrying out state government activities. She scheduled a formal briefing at which you will present an overview of Web services technology. You will also outline specific applications of Web services technologies to specific tasks that the state either currently performs or that it might perform in the future.

Anne knows that the state has many current and potential applications that could use Web services technologies, so she asked you to focus on four specific areas of state government your briefing. At the briefing, you will address the directiors of four state departments: the Attorney General’s Department of Corporation Records, the Tax Administration and Collection Department, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife Management.

The Attorney General’s Department of Corportation Records maintains the official records of corporations chartered by the state or holding licesnses to do business in the state. In addition to the original charter or license, companies must file annual reports that include the names and addresses of corporate directors and officers, the amount of company stock issues and redeemed during the year, and the current address of the company.

The Tax Administration and Collection Department is responsible for accepting income tax, personal property tax, and sales tax return filings of companies and individuals. The department also processes payments of these taxes and authorizes the State Treasurer to issue refunds that are due to taxpayers who have overpaid their taxes. The department currently provides tax forms and instructions in Adobe PDF format on its Web site. It also maintains an extensive frequently asked questions (FAQs) list of the site.

The Department of Motor Vehicles issues driver’s license renewals and vehicle registration renewals (for cars, trucks, and boats) and accepts auto dealerships’ monthly reports of vehicles purchased or sold on its Web site. The site also includes extensive collections of information about motor vehicle laws and administrative rulings that visitors can review to ensure they are in compliance.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife Management provides downloadable applications for hunting and fishing licenses on its site. Current hunting and fishing license holders can renew their licenses and pay their annual fees on the Web site. Companies that have state-issued permits to undertake logging or mining operations can file their monthly activity reports on the department’s Web site, too.

Anne suggest that you review current IT trade publications (both in print and on the Web) to learn more about Web services applications that have been implemented in government agencies. She also recommends that you examine a number of other state Web sites to see how they are performing tasks.

1. Prepare a briefing report of about 200 words in which you describe Web services technology in a way that will be understandable to the four department directors, who are experienced administrators, but are not technology experts.

2. Prepare a briefing report that outlines opportunities for the use of Web services in each department. Include about 100 words for each department.

3. Prepare an analysis of costs and benefits for two major applications of Web services that you identify. In this setting, a benefit can arise from an increase in revenue, a reduction in expense, an improvement in the quality of service provided, or an increase in the speed with which a service is provided. This report should be directed to Anne and should include an implementation recommendation (whether the state should implement or should on implement) for each of the two Web service applications you identified. This report should be about 300 words in length.

Explanation / Answer

Answer (Web Services for State Government Departments)

1. The Departments of the State Government are responsible for delivery of services to the people which are done currently either in offline mode or the forms are available online which needs to be downloaded by the applicants and walk down to the respective department offices for submission and follow-up thereafter.

The implementation of web technologies will help the departments to establish an online service delivery framework which will allow the receipt of application through the online website in a common application form which will be filled online along with supporting document’s scan copies attached which will directly be received by the officer in charge and if any further clarification or documents will be required revert back to the applicant online asking for its submission. Once the complete application is received the online application will then be forwarded to the processing officers and the service delivery certificate, licenses or approvals will be communicated to the applicant through the online web portal in a downloadable and printable format which will be digitally signed.

This will save a lot of time required in the current system in transit of files from one desk to other and also provide the tracking and monitoring of the application process by the administrator or administrative head for timely delivery of the service to the applicants.

Also we notice that this framework will also overtime develop into a large database where data regarding applications and its subsequent processing will be available for future analytical and compliance use.

There will be saving of a lot of paper work and thus it will add to preserving the environment as well as ensure time bound service delivery of services.

2. The use of technology can be done for following service of respective departments as stated hereunder:

The Attorney General’s Department of Corporation:

Records maintains the official records of corporations chartered by the state or holding licenses to do business in the state. Once the services of issuing licenses is done through the online system the records of the date of issue of service, its operating jurisdiction, etc. are all the details which will be available through the database and its expiry can also be monitored for renewal and discontinuing the service.

The original charter or license, submission of annual reports that include the names and addresses of corporate directors and officers, the amount of company stock issues and redeemed during the year, and the current address of the company can also be done through the online system which will in turn save time and also ensure auto checking of compliance over time.

The Tax Administration and Collection Department:

Accepting income tax, personal property tax, and sales tax return filings of companies and individuals through the online software will ensure early delivery and ready database of the services for compliance purpose. The department can also processes payments of these taxes and authorize the State Treasurer to issue refunds that are due to taxpayers who have overpaid their taxes using the net banking and NEFT facilities and also the integrated payment gateways. The fields of the tax forms can be converted into dynamic common application forms for accepting user data and instructions in Adobe PDF format on its Web site will be made as FAQ for users to better understand the application processes through the online platform.

The Department of Motor Vehicles:

Online receipt of application for driver’s license, its renewals and vehicle registration renewals (for cars, trucks, and boats) and auto dealerships’ monthly reports of vehicles purchased or sold can be sought through the online platform by devising application forms for each services and the final license and other certificates can also be made available through the online platform in downloadable formats. The site will also include extensive collections of information about motor vehicle laws and administrative rulings that visitors can review to ensure they are in compliance as currently present. FAQs for users will also be published for easy access of facilities. Proper tracking and monitoring facilities will be present from user dashboards and a conflict resolution mechanism will be defined by proper legislation for timely delivery and conflict resolution of applicants.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife Management:

It provides downloadable applications for hunting and fishing licenses on its site which will be available through dynamic common application form to be submitted by the users online. Fee payments will be done through the integrated payment gateway.

3. Analysis of cost and benefits of implementation of online service delivery platform:

Services of The Attorney General’s Department of Corporation:

Currently the department is already holding a website which is not dynamic and services the purpose of an online notice board with forms, and notifications. The dynamic platform involves the cost of development and hosting the service after which the functionalities only needs to be administered and monitored.

In the current offline system the department is maintaining lots of touchpoints physically located in different areas which have a huge operational cost which will minimize since only handholding and facilitation will be provided through these service touch points.

The cost of physical inspections, maintaining and retrieval of hard copies of information and the time involved in retrieving these data on a case to case basis will reduce drastically which will save a lot of cost involved.

On the applicant’s side there is cost benefit as the number of physical visits which requires cost as well as time will be reduced as the filing of applications online and tracking the status will be easy.

Services of The Tax Administration and Collection Department:

A huge cost is involved in maintaining records of revenue data as well as reconciliation of this data at year ends which will be simplified once the online system is in place. The applicants will also benefit as they will be able to file the applications online themselves and will not have to take help of middle men involving huge cost.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse C
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.