Open source in (e)Government a real alternative? Belgian case study

1. oliver.schneider@e-gov.be Expert – Cellule stratégique Open source in (e)Governmenta real alternative?Belgian case study 01-04-2005

2. FedICT • Belgian Federal Government • State Secretary for e-government, deputy to the Minister for the Budget and Public Enterprise (Peter Vanvelthoven) • FedICT : the federal public administration for ICT

3. Some principles To build e-government based on : • Administrative simplification • Conviviality • Transparency – based on intentions • Single data collection • Visible improvement of efficiency / optimization of resources • No additional cost for the user

4. Our strategy (1/2) Conséquences Main elements of our strategy : • Define the intentions – portal • Collaboration between the different public bodies • Interoperability – open standards • Structured information exchange (XML - UME) • Roll-out of authentic sources of data • Data dictionaries • Development of generic tools • Support to specific vertical ICT projects (e-justice, e-finance, e-healthcare...)

5. Our strategy (2/2) Some tools developed by FedICT : • High speed data exchange (FedMAN) • Integrated communication towards the citizens, companies and public servants (Belgian portal, e-mail2all...) • Structured data exchange between public institutions (UME and e-services) • User management, teleworking, eID, e-payment

6. Open standards vs Open Source Conséquences Two different topics : • Standards : data saved or communicated by a software. Elements that enable interoperability between IT systems. • Need for standardization • Software : it is a tool • Need for customization and diversity of solutions

7. Open standards Conséquences Belgian Federal government position : • For new IT systems : open standards and/or open specifications • For existing IT systems : migration plans have to be decided • The IT managers of the federal government have to agree on a first list of standards before end 2004. -> Belgif Example : the case of open document formats

8. Open software (1/2) Conséquences Belgian Federal government position : • Difference between tailor-made software and standards solutions. • Tailor-made : intellectual rights have to be handed over to the government. Source code can be mutualised between different public bodies and published as open-source. • Standard solutions : choice has to follow the TCO criteria. • No obligation to migrate to free software but strong incentive. Open and proprietary solutions have to be compared prior to any IT investment.

9. Open software (2/2) Conséquences Belgian Federal government position : • Pilot projects will be organized. • Pingo : the free-software pilot currently running at SPF P&O (Service Pubic Federal Personnel et Organisation) • FedICT will give methodological and technical support IDA Open-Source observatory : not a marginal phenomenon.

10. Pingo (1/8) Conséquences Introduction • About 40 people and 3 teams (ICT, administration and cabinet). Scope : end-user softwares • Pilot project : not a migration but a real test to assess the feasibility of a large migration • Technical, methodological and organizational validations

11. Pingo (2/8) Conséquences What needs to be validated • Scope of the migration : where is OSS a serious alternative • What is the real need for training. How do users react to change. • Impact on productivity. Impact on interoperability. • Ability of the local ICT team to cope with open-source (installation, maintenance, support). • TCO

12. Pingo (3/8) Conséquences Methodology • User-centric : if “change” is imposed, user will react negatively but if “change” is the result of the implication of the user in the change process itself then we will have a positive reaction. • Organizational impact • Legitimation, resource allocation, implication of the different protagonists, technological watch... • Internal communication, individual follow-up, iterative approach, regular feed-back

13. Pingo (4/8) Conséquences Different strategies are possible • Open-source on top of Windows (Openoffice, Mozilla, Gimp...). Possibility to emulate Linux on Windows. • Proprietary on top of open-source : Linux desktop with some proprietary applications • Open-source only

14. Pingo (5/8) Conséquences Technical context • Different technical solutions co-exist supported by one or more vendors. • Different levels of service and support are available. Multilingual support (FR, NL). • Different levels of integration with current proprietary solutions

15. Pingo (6/8) Conséquences Some technical aspects • Choice of the softwares to be tested • Check the possibility of bi-directional transfer and/or migration of data • Analyze constraints of a large deployment • Usage of e-mail and agenda

16. Pingo (7/8) Conséquences Some technical aspects • Access to shared data and authentication • Anti-virus, security • Read-write access to inter/intranet • Text processor, spreadsheets, presentations

17. Pingo (8/8) Conséquences Some technical aspects • Databases and reporting tools • Migration of macros and personal applications • Project management tools and/or other specific tools

18. A real alternative? Conséquences • More at stake for organisations : value proposition is increasingly linked to IT. • Complexity rises : PKI, e-procurement, middleware, archives (metadata, ontologies)... • Critical size is rising. • Necessity of cross-structure collaboration (customer, supplier) in order to diminish costs and risks. • The Open-Source model facilitates those new collaborations and extends the sources of know-how. • Try to have the largest possible concensus around a framework – toolbox to turn it into a de facto standard in order to diminish risks.

19. Mutualisation Conséquences • Pooling open-source software (IDA) • Objectweb.org initiative (92 softwares, Jonas, middleware architecture, standards and tools) • FedICT strategy to develop and share building blocks • Modular architectures • Good practice : checkdoc.org • IT sector has adapted to the new context.

20. Checkdoc.org Conséquences • Document and mail management for public administrations • Initially developed by SPF P&O and released under GPL license • Used by different Belgian institutions • Round table for mutual developments and financing of the next steps.