Automating Government Cross-Agency Processes Using Web Service Orchestration

In response to the demand for better service provisioning, governments from all over the world are looking for technologies to automate their cross-agency processes. This chapter investigates the applicability of web service orchestration for the automation of governmental cross-agency service delivery processes by investigating a case study of a business counter. Our case study shows that web service orchestration using BPEL4WS is a feasible technology for automating governmental cross-agency service-delivery processes, but also shows a gap between the capabilities of web service orchestration technology and the organizational arrangements that are needed for automating the processes. We identified three organizational issues that at least need to be addressed before governments can profit fully from the advantages of web service orchestration technology: (1) Ensuring correct and in-time execution of business processes (2) Information sharing and (3) Responsibility and accountability