Effective e-Government Process Monitoring and Interoperation A Case

Effective e-Government Process Monitoring and Interoperation: A Case Study on the Removal of Unauthorized Building Works in Hong Kong Dickson K. W. CHIU Senior Member, IEEE Jenny Y. Y. Wong Kai Pan Mark Dickson Computer Systems Hong Kong Dept. of Computing Hong Kong Polytechnic University kwchiu@acm. org, dicksonchiu@ieee. org e. Govt-UBW jwong 61020@yahoo. com. hk csmarkkp@comp. polyu. edu. hk 1

Introduction n n Governments are looking for ICT to facilitate process coordination to improve service delivery Typical characteristics n n Case study: Removal of unauthorized building works in HK n n n Complaints Urgency Monitoring of process serious problem requires much resources and monitoring effort Technical solution n Event-driven process collaboration (HICSS 36) Alerts (HICSS 37) Web services e. Govt-UBW 2

Background n Building Ordinance - all building works require prior approval of plans and consent to commence works from Building Department (BD) - without approval => unauthorized building works (UBW) n n As at 2003, more than 700, 000 UBW BD determines to remove UBW to safeguard public interest e. Govt-UBW 3

Typical Workflows Procedures for cost recovery from ow Procedures for enforcing s. 24 orders Identify buildings with UBW from complaints, large-scale operations and walking surveys Conduct site inspection Yes Issue s. 24 order Conduct compliance inspection Any serious defects? Has the s. 24 order been complied with? No Yes Government contractor (GC) completes the removal works BD certifies and makes payments to GC BD issues Demand Notes (DN) to owners for cost recovery DN settled? Issue advisory letter or no further action Yes BD issues a compliance letter No BD serves an s. 33 certificate to the debtor and registers the s. 33 certificate with the Land Registry (LR) BD refers a case (with unpaid balance >= pre-defined limit) to Department of Justice Issue compliance (Do. J) for recovery. Do. J will consider , where letter appropriate, legal proceedings for the cases BD may consider Refer the case to the default works consultant (DWC) prosecution action at the same time Debt settled? Yes No BD issues and regist with the LR a Memorial of Satisfaction DWC submits his supervision proposal to BD BD requires LR to notify it of any future dealings on the subject property DWC supervises the government contrctor to carry out the removal works BD/Do. J issues final warning letter before expiry of time limits for legal action BD issues compliance letter to discharge the s. 24 order e. Govt-UBW BD to recover costs from owners BD/Do. J conducts final review 1 year before expiry of time limits for leagla action BD proceeds to write off the debts 4

Requirements Overview Blitz contractors Site inspection team Buildings Department Collect information on UBW & provide inspection result Monitor progress and workflow of UBW Collect debt removal details Collect information on UBW & provide survey/inspecti on reports Interne t Provide ownership details Department of Justice e. Govt-UBW The Land Registry Default Works Contractor Collect information on UBW & provide supervision proposal Confirm complian ce with s. 24 Provide order basic information of UBW Building owners and their contractors Complainants 5

Existing problems n n Monitoring process is very resources consuming and human intensive. Records are kept on different paper-based files. Exchange of data/information are mainly in paper format. Cannot keep track of the necessary actions and generate reminders / alerts. e. Govt-UBW 6

System Architecture & Design Land Registry Employees Department of Justice Internet Building Records Information System Inspection Record System Contractor Monitoring System e. Govt-UBW Alert Management System Status Monitor Web Services Interface Building Condition Information System Contractor Collaboration Process Enactor Event Adapter ECA Rules, Scheduling Rules, Event Repository, Event Subsciption List Timer Requirement Enforcer 7

Event-driven process collaboration n Event-Condition-Action Rules On event if condition then action An event occurs, it triggers some rules. The condition parts of the rules will be evaluated. If condition is satisfied, the action part, which is a workflow, will be executed. e. Govt-UBW 8

Enactment requirements (1) n Fulfill the workflow functions: n n n assign tasks to agents (people/systems) retrieve information needed to complete a task remind agents about their parts e. Govt-UBW 9

Enactment requirements (2) Example - upon input of a complaint case, retrieve an approved building plan from BD’s legacy system, then notify the unit head. Event received(CASE) Condition true Action e. Govt-UBW finish(building plan(CASE)) true retrieve(building_plan(CASE)) notify(unit_head(CASE)) 10

Enforcement Requirements (1) n n Facilitates exception detection and handling Monitor becomes active only when an exception occurs Exceptions: failure to find an agent for a task, failure to get information, missed deadlines, etc. Temporal events, generated by timer, to detect nonfulfillment of action by a deadline Event on. Day(deadline(BAO)) Condition NOT occurred(BAO) Action raise (exception(BAO)) e. Govt-UBW 11

Enforcement Requirements (2) Example: Within N days after the expiry of S. 24 order, a compliance inspection has to be performed. Event on. Day(after(expirydate(S 24 order), N) Condition NOT occurred(COMPLIANCE_INSPECT) Action raise (exception(COMPLIANCE_INSPECT) e. Govt-UBW 12

Alert Management System n n Responsible for sending alert messages, receiving reply, maintain alert status and logging information Urgency of alert is a function of time Urgency level Action Near due Reminder Due Send an alert to the same action party, notifying that the task is due Overdue Send a second alert to the action party Long overdue Send a very urgent alert to the action party as well as the concerned supervisor/officer in charge e. Govt-UBW 13

Web Services n Example Retrieve ownership details of the UBW from Land Registry check. Owner Web Service Input: Owner. Request n. Request source n. Request ID n. Search Option n. Account - Account No. - Account Name n. Address - Lot - Development Name - Block e. Govt-UBW - Floor Flat No. House No. Street Name Area Code Output: Owner. Response n. Memorial No. n. Nature of Instrument n. Date of Instrument n. Name n. HKIC No. n. Share 14

Process integration: Identification of UBW to issue of S. 24 order Hotline Center UBWMS Unit head Record a compliant Retrieve approved building plan, S. 24 orders, etc. Yes Inspection Team Conduct preliminary review Works approved? No Yes No Removal action being taken? No Issue advisory letter Endorse the recommendation for removal Conduct site inspection and complete insepction report Existence of UBW? Yes Retrieve ownership details from Land Registry Notify the result to the complainant e. Govt-UBW Generate Removal Order (s. 24 order) 15

Summary n n Web services enables collaboration among service partners ECA Rules in workflow process to fulfill enactment and enforcement requirements AMS to monitor urgent and important tasks Benefits to users, management and system developers e. Govt-UBW 16

Future Work § § § Defining and allocating new responsibilities of different stakeholders – who handle what at different urgency levels Capturing the engineering expertise for classifying urgency from the existing human process to the automation Integrate disparate channels for reporting UBW in a call center portal Applicability to other e-government and public administration applications Workforce management Security and privacy issues e. Govt-UBW 17

Question and Answer Thank you! e. Govt-UBW 18