Towards an Ontology for e-document Management in Public Administration the Case of Schleswig-Holstein

Transcription

1 Towards an Ontology for e-document Management in Public Administration the Case of Schleswig-Holstein Ralf Klischewski Hamburg University, Department of Informatics Vogt-Koelln-Str. 30, Hamburg, Germany Tel: Abstract An action research project in the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) seeks to answer the following questions: How can we organize and present e- documents so that users will be able to retrieve the document needed, or at least the information indicating the document? And what is the most effective and adequate way to proceed in the given administrative environment? In search for an appropriate solution, existing approaches in other public administrations have been evaluated. Findings reveal that (1) employing an ambitious ontology-based approach requires the implementation of a set of interrelated elements to support this application, and (2) the necessary allocation of resources is associated with a number of risks which a state government cannot or may not want to bear. The appropriate strategy seems to take first steps in developing and using controlled vocabulary while this process should be accompanied by ongoing evaluation and by networking with other actors in this field to support a collective strategy. Drawing on these insights the state administration now develops a broader approach towards e-document management. In the conclusion, it is argued that research and practice should focus more on conditions of crossorganizational IT adoption in public administration, in particular on the power and ability to set up and control socio-technical infrastructures supporting the IT applications. 1. Introduction Through the last years, the management of electronic documents (e-documents) has become a major concern within public administration, and a number of IT solutions have been presented on the market. But these are mainly closed systems, they do not yet support cross-organizational e-document management and/or are not comprehensive enough to include all kinds of e-documents. At the same time, storage and retrieval of e-documents based on internet technologies has progressed significantly, opening up new ways for e-document management. For those in charge of document management, the main question is: how can we organize and present e-documents so that users will be able to retrieve the document needed, or at least the information indicating the document? And regarding to possible solutions: what is the most effective and adequate way to proceed in the given administrative environment? In this research we need to interrelate the two areas of public information management and domain-oriented information systems. As it is beyond the scope of this paper to give an account for these areas, the paper is organized around those cases which had come into focus during the process of action research which has been conducted since fall 2001 (see section 2). The aim is to gain insights on what kind of ontology-based IT solutions are suitable for e-document management in public administration, as well as to provide the practitioners involved with advice how to proceed in their organizational context. The research mainly takes up the perspective of an ongoing project in the state administration of Schleswig- Holstein, Germany (section 3). The starting point is the observation that storage and retrieval require solidified metadata based on comprehensive domain knowledge. The idea is to create some kind of virtual world of documents representing the main ontological aspects of the domain, in particular its taxonomy. In search for an appropriate solution for e-document and information management, approaches in other public administrations are evaluated (section 4) in terms of

2 how they deal with the ontological dimension of the problem area to what extent they offer an ontology-based solution for organizing and presenting e-documents what are the technical and organizational requirements to implement these solutions Learning from other experiences, the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein is about to decide how to proceed with its own e-document management. Findings (section 5) reveal that (1) employing an ambitious ontology-based approach requires the implementation of a complex infrastructure, and (2) the necessary allocation of resources is associated with a number of risks which a state government cannot or may not want to bear. The appropriate strategy seems to take first steps in developing and using controlled vocabulary while this process should be accompanied by ongoing evaluation of other efforts, and by networking with other actors in this field to support a collective strategy. Drawing on these insights the state administration now develops a broader approach towards e-document management both the practitioners and the researcher have learned that an appropriate strategy for the use of ontologies must be based on the potential for controlling the infrastructure needed to support the ontology implementation (section 6). 2. Theory building and consultancy through action research The underlying method of this research is based on action research (cf. [1], [2]), i.e. an iterative process involving researchers and practitioners acting together on a particular cycle of activities ([1], p. 94). The ongoing research reported here involves one researcher (the author) and a student from Hamburg University as well as several actors from the state administration of Schleswig- Holstein, mainly from the department of the interior. The collaboration is framed by a contract between the state administration and the technology transfer center of the university s informatics department. The contract calls for research activities and direct involvement of the researcher in common activities to support the administration mainly through providing and applying expertise on requirement analysis and state-of-the-art approaches on e- document management in public administration. While the state government regards this as scientific consultancy, the researcher intends to contribute to theory building in the e-government area based on the insights gained in this project. The structure of this contribution reflects the so-called action research cycle: Problem diagnosis and action planning (section 3): the state administration had carried out a problem analysis prior to the collaboration with the university starting in fall Together, these results were discussed and supplemented, and lines of action were planned both for (a) further in-house investigation and (b) study on comparable cases. The common aim was to bring out a solidified recommendation and action plan how to proceed in e-document management by fall Action taking: So far the interaction of actors of the administration and the university included a number of project group meetings and a half-day workshop in Kiel, frequent telephone conversations and the exchange of s and documents (minutes of meetings, drafts of project handbook and questionnaire etc.), and the delivery and circulation of a research report. (a) From late 2001 until spring 2002 the researcher and a team from the state administration elaborated a comprehensive questionnaire for in-house interviews on document use. In summer 2002 almost twenty interviewers (from the state administration) spread out and took in the answers which are now in the process of being evaluated. (b) This paper (section 4) presents the main results of a (comparative) study on the state of the art of ontology-based approaches for e-document management. The study focus and the cases have been selected together with the project leader on the administrative side. Basic findings were presented and discussed at a cross-departmental workshop meeting in the state administration (Feb. 2002). Based on this meeting, these findings were then reviewed from the perspective of a state government executive in search for an appropriate solution, leading to recommendations how to proceed (section 5). All of these results have been compiled in a report (by researcher and student, June 2002), which was then circulated among the actors involved. Learning (section 6): The activities carried out led to considerable insights both on the side of the researchers and of the practitioners. Here, it is reported how the state administration has now changed its strategy to cope with the problem (Sep. 2002). And it will be discussed how the findings relevant to the case presented contribute to the research on IT in public administration. 3. Schleswig-Holstein: in search for an e-document solution Schleswig-Holstein is the most northern of the 16 German states with less than 3 million people living on about square kilometers (less than 5 % of Germany s area). The state is structured in 11 counties, each with a number of municipalities, and four cities. The state government is located in Kiel (the state capitol), it consists of nine departments with about 60,000 employees altogether.

3 Each of the departments runs its own technical infrastructure. In addition, the state government promotes two overarching initiatives to employ new information technology, especially internet-related technology. One of these is focussing on e-government, mainly trying to improve the government s electronic interface to citizens. The other project, which is in the center of this article, is focussing on document management. However, there are a number of interrelations between those two efforts. The project (named ParoPlus ) elaborates on the potentials of document management cutting across all of the governmental departments. The project leader is allocated at the department of the interior, the project group (6-8 persons) includes employees of other departments and of the state owned computing service center as well as the researcher from the informatics department. From November 2001 until June 2002 the project group met ten times (reports of these meetings have been shared among all members). The project is based on the following problem analysis, which has also been published in the project s handbook : creating and processing electronic documents, using diverse IT tools (such as office packages, , intranet, etc.), is mostly carried out in an individual way of work and without any IT support designated to processing (electronic) records within public administration. This leads to a number of risks and shortcomings: Paper-based records are no longer complete and well organized. Electronic records are not (yet) complete and well organized. Electronic documents are copied for several purposes, become redundant, it is not clear which is the authentic data stock. Electronic documents are stored without limits, demanding ever more storage capacity. It lacks an overview on how to (possibly) find relevant information: the administration does not know what the administration does know. There is no distinct interface to archive processes. The project s objective is to find out about the organizational prerequisites which allow that electronic documents to be used across departmental borders stored and retrieved completely and well organized passed on to other parties The ParoPlus project itself does not aim for an exclusive processing of electronic documents (in the near future) nor for an implementation of new IT system. Rather, the project intends to deliver recommendations for an overarching approach to handling electronic documents within the state administration of Schleswig Holstein, and a action plan how to possibly implement this approach. (a) The project s first line of action is to conduct a series of interviews at different workplaces in several departments to learn about the current usage of e- documents in relation to paper-based documents and about ideas on how to work (better) in the future. At the time of writing, the answers are in the process of being evaluated. (b) A second line of action is to learn about and to explore state-of-the-art approaches on e-document management in public administration. The project also aims at contributing to the information and knowledge management across departmental borders and maybe even beyond the realm of administration (to include other administrative bodies, commercial partners, citizens, etc.). Therefore, the focus of interest is on the question how to organize and present e-documents so that users will be able to retrieve the document needed (or at least the information about a document) and/or to receive answers on queries about certain topics. To proceed in this direction the project group set the agenda for a comparative study (carried out by the researcher and the student) on the use of ontologies for e-document management in public administration. With only a few weeks to work on this study, those approaches have been selected which are/were reported (through conferences, literature etc.) to have a leading-edge potential. The following section presents the basic findings which were presented and discussed at a cross-departmental workshop meeting in the state administration (Feb. 2002). 4. Ontology-based approaches for e-document management Ontology-based approaches seek to define common domain terminologies. For ages, the term ontology has been used in singular mode, relating to a long tradition of philosophical discourse on metaphysics. With the beginning of the construction of artificial (virtual) worlds, research within Artificial Intelligence has focussed on exploring and producing ontologies, each of these applying to selected domains. The subject of ontology is the study of the categories of things that exist or may exist in some domain. The product of such a study, called an ontology, is a catalog of the types of things that are assumed to exist in a domain of interest D from the perspective of a person who uses a language L for the purpose of talking about D. [12] Following that definition, ontologies are means for communication. Other definitions even more underline the intersubjective nature, e.g. an ontology is a formalized model of (a part of) the world, which includes concepts and their relations agreed on by a group of experts and/or users [8].

4 The degree of formalization may differ significantly which has consequences for the options of automation. Basically, it is important to distinguish between (cf. [12]) informal ontology: may be specified by a catalog of types that are either undefined or defined only by statements in a natural language, and formal ontology: specified by a collection of names for concept and relation types organized in a partial ordering by the type-subtype relation. Lately, ontologies have also attracted researchers in the field of business systems integration and corporate semantic Webs. There, the challenge of integration spans the interrelated dimensions of people, organization and technology, and the key issues identified are concerned with effective communication and coordination within and across these dimensions and the definition of common business semantics. It needs a common ground for communication, a virtual world structured and shared between those who know and those who want to know, to support storage processing and retrieval of any informational resource. This applies also to the field of e-government and the usage of IT in public administration (in fact, it is a general issue which needs to be taken care of while trying to improve cross-organizational cooperation). From the point of view of administrations, ontology-based approaches seem to promise support for at least the following objectives: systematic management of dealing with (electronic) resources (records and other), based on standards support for administrative processes crossing organizational borders responding on requests, information retrieval and knowledge management with respect to different actor perspectives 4.1. Concepts for controlling vocabularies The first step towards an ontology for e-document management is to control the vocabulary being used. This may result, e.g., in a list of keywords allowed for referencing, each of these pointing to a description of the keyword and/or further content. Such a catalog would still be considered an informal ontology. However, the use of synonyms and/or subcategories to the listed keywords already means introducing formal elements through relation types and partial ordering. The most common method to control vocabularies is the usage of thesauri. The International Organization for Standardization [3] has defined a thesaurus as the vocabulary of a controlled indexing language, formally organized so that the a priori relationships between concepts (for example as broader and narrower ) are made explicit. In addition, indexing language is defined as a controlled set of terms selected from natural language and used to represent, in abstract form, the subjects of documents. Controlled vocabularies with a similar degree of formalization (but beyond the scope of the thesaurus definition) are often called (high-level) taxonomies. While document management has relied on thesauri for many years, the rather new areas of information management and knowledge management are in need for more flexible concepts for interrelating informational resources. During the last decade the concept of topic maps has become popular in many areas. Again, the International Organization for Standardization [4] has provided a standardized notation for interchangeably representing information about the structure of information resources which is used to define topics, and the relationships between topics. A topic map defines a multidimensional topic space a space in which the locations are topics, and in which the distances between topics are measurable in terms of the number of intervening topics which must be visited in order to get from one topic to another, and the kinds of relationships that define the path from one topic to another, if any, through the intervening topics, if any. The structural information conveyed by topic maps includes groupings of addressable information objects around topics as well as relationships between topics. The base notation of topic maps is SGML, and there is also an XML standard. Research on topic maps is closely related to research on semantic web, resource description framework (RDF) and other ideas and concepts to support information management in the internet age. Compared to less complex approaches, topic maps offer the potential to create representations of knowledge separated from the area of document management, to interrelate different worlds of knowledge representation, and to enable the automatic answering of complex information queries. However, the use of topic maps requires the creation, solidification and acceptance of the underlying ontologies, i.e. ontology management becomes a key success factor for document, information and knowledge management Exemplary projects In a number of countries, e-government projects have already started to employ ontology-based approaches. Some of those have attracted international attention: Australia has been applying thesauri for public record management since the 1970s. Meanwhile the National Archives of Australia have developed a complete strategy for public record management along with a suite of products and services. The pocket guide epermanence made e-asy [7] now provides information to help Australian public service managers to under-

5 stand and access the tools and resources needed to manage their organization s records and information assets. Those management resources include (see an eight-step process methodology (which agencies can use to improve record keeping and information management practices), a record keeping metadata standard, the Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) metadata standard, Keyword AAA thesaurus (consistent classification, titling and indexing of the records that document the common administrative functions of an agency), guidelines to develop an agency-specific functions thesaurus (covers unique functions identified in a business classification scheme), and the Australian Governments Interactive Thesaurus AGIFT (aims to help end-users searching government websites to retrieve relevant results by linking natural language terms with their bureaucratic equivalents). The government of the United Kingdom is ambitious to ensure that the UK is a world-leader in the new knowledge economy ( Over the past years efforts to achieve a controlled vocabulary have resulted in an e-government metadata framework (e-gmf), an e-government metadata standard (e-gms) as well as Government Category List (GCL). The controlled vocabulary is regarded precondition for electronic record management. In Modernising Government [10], all government organizations were set a target to manage their records electronically by However, at present there is still little infrastructure in government organizations for this task, and critics increase saying local agencies will not manage to meet the target unless they receive more support with respect to their circumstances. The National Library of Canada has developed (in a similar way as in the UK) a controlled vocabulary and a Core Subject Thesaurus (CST) for the federal administration, which is also a precondition for the development and maintenance of Web sites (see In Switzerland, the Confederation, the cantons and the communes set out together to create an electronic service point ( Guichet virtuel ) to provide access to the public authorities ( e_gov_english.doc): Based on [these] terms from everyday life, or with the help of a search engine, future users will be directed straight to the relevant authority. However, the project does not proceed as planned because (among other problems) it has not yet successfully applied an ontology-based approach to relate end-users searching using natural language terms with the administrative vocabulary. The European Union is promoting two projects within the IDA program (Interchange of Data between Administrations, see Based on the Dublin Core Standard, the project Managing Information Resources for e-government (MIReG, see anonymous/title11643.html) seeks coordination and standardization on a European scale in the development of a metadata framework, of controlled vocabularies on the basis of ontologies and topic maps, and of software solutions and implementation strategies. The project A Common Vocabulary for Parliamentary Language (ParlML, see aims at developing a markup language for describing the structure of parliamentary texts and information on a common basis: If parliamentary information systems are all built from similar building blocks, identifying these blocks in a similar fashion will go a long way to allowing greater integration and exchange. A comparison of those exemplary projects and related e-government strategies to make use of ontologies reveals a number of similarities: 1. All actors involved consider structuring metadata and the use of controlled vocabulary as prerequisite for the management of electronic record and information. 2. The development of controlled vocabulary is based on accepted international metadata standards (e.g. Dublin Core). 3. All exemplary projects are operated on the national level (with international initiatives only at the beginning). At the same time, we find that those national projects differ in the way how they require and elaborate on controlled vocabulary (e.g. keyword list, taxonomy, (function) thesaurus) structure content, i.e. select terms and their semantic relations set up an infrastructure for the use of controlled vocabularies and for support of management of electronic resources and information, and of knowledge management in general. The findings of this section might be used for an executive summary of today s application of ontologybased approaches in the field of e-government and ITenabled administration. But, is this sufficient for executives to find out what is the best to do within their administration? Up to now, it is very difficult to supply evidence for the success of these projects. No doubt, there are a number of valuable achievements. But, for example, there is no return-on-investment evaluation publicly available. However, any assessments depends on the situation and interest of the actors embarking on such an endeavor.

6 5. Small government thinks big and must act within its limits After the presentation of the above findings at the cross-departmental workshop meeting (which was also attended by the coordinator of all state projects related to Internet usage) the presenters (the researcher and the student) were asked what they would conclude and recommend as appropriate action in Schleswig-Holstein. To recall the situation: the state administration of Schleswig-Holstein now must decide how they want to proceed in the management of electronic documents and information. On one hand, the state is dependent on the guidance and legislation issued on the federal German and European level (or must pay a high price to follow its own path). On the other hand, the state must integrate two more levels of administration (counties and municipalities) in addition to its own concern of supporting crossdepartmental e-document management. During the workshop discussion everyone realized that there is no easy answer. To support the decision making process, the researcher took some time to review the above findings from the perspective of an executive of a rather small government who is supposed to come up with a big solution for possibly all levels of administration within the state. The results, included in a research report [6] which was delivered and circulated in June 2002, are organized as a three-step recommendation how to proceed: 1. learn from other projects! 2. develop your own business model! 3. check feasibility and take first steps! 5.1. Learn from other projects! Evaluation of the exemplary projects reveals that ontology-based approaches are only one part of a comprehensive infrastructure which should cover at least the following aspects (for most of these see also [11]): cross-organizational cooperation agreement for e- document management information policy concerning authentication and the retention of knowledge of authentication, privacy and data sharing, openness and freedom of information integration of existing technical and organizational systems and networks design, development and implementation of new systems and networks interoperability, i.e. a common approach to the use and description of electronic records through metadata standards, and the ability to develop integrated resource discovery and information retrieval systems skills and competency development, for all types of users and record managers, in generating and describing electronic information Developing and implementing controlled vocabularies along with the necessary infrastructure require high efforts. Besides substantial personal and financial resources it needs the involvement of a variety of actors and a strategy for dissemination results and supporting local actors in applying the results. With no return-oninvestment evaluation available yet, the question is it worth the effort? is still very hard to answer, it depends mainly on the strategic interest of the actors involved. For those actors who are already pursuing the implementation of a cross-organizational management of electronic documents and information in public administration, there seems to be no alternative to the application of ontologybased approaches (the example of Switzerland indicates how the lack of an appropriate solution can impede an ambitious project). All in all, the ongoing efforts and projects in different countries are certainly setting the direction for future e- document management. At the same time, any imitation should be questioned since up to now it remains uncertain which success factors (must) contribute to reaching the objectives set by a particular actor. From the perspective of Schleswig-Holstein, the lessons to learn from evaluating the exemplary projects are at least: Beginning to structure metadata and to use controlled vocabulary to support the management of electronic documents and information is the right strategic move. International and national (de facto) standards should be applied as far as possible. As project success is still difficult to secure, opting for ontologies should be done in small steps with clear cost-benefit-relation. Recalling the main differences between the exemplary projects, one can point out a number of options how to set up a project: 1. making high demands on the application of ontologybased approaches to comprehensively support crossorganizational information processes or keeping requirements on a pilot project level 2. importing an ontology (i.e. the data and data structure of an existing controlled vocabulary) or developing a specific controlled vocabulary for Schleswig-Holstein (or a combination of both) 3. implementation of an own infrastructure or networking with other actors to reach for a common infrastructure However, choosing the right option depends on the objectives which are supposed to be achieved through the application of ontology-based approaches.

7 5.2. Develop your own business model! In general, IT projects enjoy more freedom when objectives of the application domain are set clear before choosing concepts, technology, and infrastructure to achieve these goals. In commercial projects, these objectives are (or should be) related to so-called business models. Although administration units are not dependent on earning revenues, business models serve well for the identification of strategic goals, processes and actors, which play a decisive role in implementing the organization s document and information management. The state administration of Schleswig-Holstein had already declared (see above, section 3) that the ParoPlus project is supposed to find out about solutions allowing electronic documents to be used across departmental borders, to be stored and retrieved completely and well organized, and to be passed on to other parties. In addition, the ongoing investigation on the current usage of e-documents in relation to paper-based documents will certainly shed light on the situation and reveal weak points and other problems. However, this does not yet make up a vision of who should have access to which (electronic) documents and information, why, when, and how. In particular, any vision or business model must focus on activities crossing organizational borders: What are the objectives and intended improvements (and the priorities among these) concerning document and information management? A business model answering this question should then allow to be more specific in the implementation process: Who should participate? What are the (legitimate) needs for information to be satisfied? What are the (future) activities and processes to be supported? What kind of technology and what kind of infrastructure need to be taken into account? These answers provided, it is possible to develop an appropriate strategy for the application of ontology-based approaches and to sort out the options as stated above (5.1). From that on, the project can make a sound choice of an ontology with respect to the required complexity (types of terms and relations, derivation rules, etc.), standardization, IT compatibility, and infrastructure Check feasibility and take first steps! From the perspective of document and information processing in public administration, the application of ontology-based approaches is desirable, at least in the long run. One can foresee that in a few years controlled vocabulary and ontologies, supported through thesauri, topic maps, and semantic Web technologies, will be indispensable elements of administrative activities. However, from the point of view of a small state government it is at least doubtful whether it should engage and invest in such kind of projects now. Maybe a risk assessment reveals that adopting a wait-and-see policy is to prefer? The most weighty risks are related to the implementation of the required infrastructure: Risk of excessive demands: the implementation of the required infrastructure requires substantial personal and financial resources which can easily be more than a single state government can afford. Risk of external dominance: meanwhile the development and application of ontology-based approaches is pursued at many places which may lead to situations for example the standardization of e-document usage, metadata, vocabularies, or IT compatibility which is beyond control of the state government, but which are likely to require significant adjustment of ontologybased approaches applied so far (at worst, external developments may overwrite the own efforts). Invesment risk: taking this into consideration it remains doubtful whether resource investment will serve the objectives and lead to a sustainable development. However, the risk of not acting is also high since the (missing) application of ontology-based approaches has already become a critical success factor for many aspects in document and information management. Facing and weighing these risks may result in a strategy of small steps including the following activities: 1. Analysis of specific requirements of the state administration (and other administrative levels within Schleswig-Holstein) with respect to the business model and the options given (see above) 2. Networking to create an alliance with other actors in public administration (other state administrations, federal government, European Union etc.), and also with commercial partners research institutions etc., in order to achieve common goals through shared resource allocation 3. Pursuing own projects in selected areas of applying ontology-based approaches leading to practical results and improvements within less than a year A combination of these activities enlarges the necessary base of experience, raises the awareness concerning the own specific demands, and contributes to the network. In particular, contributions to the network, especially those with a significant impact, are likely to decrease all of the risks aligned with the implementation of an ontology-based e-document management system. All in all, these recommendations are still general in scope. The case of Schleswig-Holstein is only one among many others, typical for a multitude of administrations trying to enter the information age without having the

8 power and resources to be on the leading edge. The last section will discuss the impact of these findings on the process of learning both on the side of the state administration and the researcher. 6. Lessons learned: the right strategy depends on the control of infrastructure The project ParoPlus is one among several other projects which aims at making use of the Internet within the state administration. However, the activities within this project and their outcome gave rise to a reconsideration of the overall strategy, mainly because of the following insights: (a) A first glance on the interview results (regarding the current usage of e-documents in relation to paperbased documents) seem to indicate that administrative workers use quite different filing systems for e- documents (compared to those for paper records). (b) The research report clearly indicated that structuring documents and information through ontologies requires an infrastructure consisting of a number of regularities, services and support on the level of organization as well as information technology. Drawing on these insights the state administration now develops a broader approach towards e-document management and other fields related to Internet usage. In September 2002, the researcher was invited to a meeting with the coordinator of all Internet projects (who is member of the state chancellery, i.e. the office of the state s prime minister), his assistant, and the ParoPlus project leader. Both the practitioners and the researcher agreed to have learned that a strategy for the use of ontologies must be embedded in a strategy for the overall interrelation of the different systems of rules and regulations which have an impact on administrative processes. Within cross-departmental collaboration several of those regulation systems are applied. In many cases this leads to frictions und extra work because the actors involved had never agreed on how to interrelate those systems. Based on this shared insight, the state administration and the researcher now (at the time of writing) plan the next cycle of action research: The researcher is supposed to act as a change agent among the group of those being responsible for the different regulation systems. The aim is to reach consensus how the different systems could be aligned in order to simplify collaboration across the departments of the state administration as well as with other administrations and external partners. One of the main motives of the research presented here is to support the state government of Schleswig-Holstein in finding a solution for their e-document management. However, the findings of this research are of general relevance in several respects: (1) The investigation of ontology-based approaches may be of value for many researchers and practitioners, and the recommendations presented here are not grounded on insights which are unique for Schleswig-Holstein. Therefore, the results may support the strategy development and solution finding in other administrations as well. Any executive, within the given limits, can initiate activities aiming at the analysis of specific requirements, at networking to create an alliance, and at pursuing own projects in selected areas of applying ontology-based approaches. In any case, those activities must take into account that a socio-technical infrastructure (which, of course, may differ significantly from the situation of the Schleswig-Holstein state government) is required to support the ontology application. (2) Research in the field of IT enabled public administration seeks (among others) to reflect the state of the art in implementing and using new technologies, to analyze the IT demands of public administration, and to support the adoption of IT in manifold ways. In this action research, the power and ability to set up and control a set of interrelated elements which support the application of ontology-based approaches have turned out to be critical success factors. The lesson learned is that the greater the expectations are from using ontology-based approaches the more it needs a socio-technical infrastructure to support the application of ontologies. (3) As we increasingly investigate the cross-organizational usage of Internet-based technologies in public administration (e.g. for supporting process management, cf. [5]), we may learn from the field of business networking [9] that it always needs an arrangement of agreements and regulations (e.g. standards) prior to any successful Internet-based collaboration across organizational borders. There are strong indications that the actors strategies for the adoption and implementation of new technologies always heavily depend on their options for implementing and controlling the necessary infrastructure. By the way, this may add up to one explanation for different adoption strategies being developed on different levels of public administration. However, public administration is a unique domain of IT application. For example, the systems of rules and regulations which have an impact on (cross-organizational) administrative processes are quite different from those framing processes in and across business units Therefore, research and practice should focus more on the conditions of cross-organizational IT adoption in public administration, in particular on the power and ability to set up and control socio-technical infrastructures. And in this respect, the recommendation given above to a public administration to create alliances and interrelate efforts on national or international levels applies to research just the same.

9 7. Acknowledgement The author would like to thank Christiane Coenen (department of the interior, Schleswig-Holstein) and all other members of the ParoPlus project for the fruitful cooperation as well as Stefan Ukena for contributing the evaluation of some ontology-based approaches to the research project. This research has been financially supported by the government of Schleswig-Holstein. 8. References [1] D.E. Avison, F. Lau, M.D. Myers, and P.A. Nielsen, Action Research, Communications of the ACM 42 (1), January 1999, pp [2] R.L. Baskerville, Investigating information systems with action research, Communications of the AIS 2 (article 19), [3] International Organization for Standardization, ISO 2788: Documentation-Guidelines for the establishment and development of monolingual thesauri, Geneva 1986 [4] International Organization for Standardization, ISO 13250: Topic Maps, Geneva [5] R. Klischewski, Infrastructure for an e-government Process Portal, in Remenyi, D., Bannister, F. (ed.), European Conference on e-government, MCIL, Reading, UK, 2001, pp [6] R. Klischewski and S. Ukena, Einsatz von Ontologien und Metamodellen für das übergreifende Dokumenten- und Informationsmanagement als Grundlage für e-government, research report, Informatics Technology Center Hamburg, June [7] National Archives of Australia, e-permanence made e-asy. A manager s guide to the strategic management of records and information, Canberra, Australia, 2001, naa.gov.au/recordkeeping/overview/e-permanence.pdf. [8] H. Oppermann, H.-P. Schnurr, and R. Studer, Die Bedeutung von Ontologien für das Wissensmangement, wissensmanagement 6/2001, pp [9] H. Österle, E. Fleisch, and R. Alt, Business Networking: Shaping Enterprise Relationships on the Internet, Springer, Berlin, [10] Prime Minister / Minister for the Cabinet Office, Modernising Government, London, UK, 1999, [11] Public Record Office, e-government Policy Framework for Electronic Records Management, Crown copyright, London, UK, 2001, /erm2/index.htm. [12] J.F. Sowa, Knowledge Representation: Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations, Brooks Cole Publishing, Pacific Grove, CA, 2000, ~sowa/ontology/index.htm