Web Analytics for Each Stage of E-government Implementation: A Study in the Indian Context

Abstract

More than twenty stage, or maturity, e-government models have been suggested in the last fifteen years, globally. The number of stages varies from model to model, but overall there is general consensus on five generic stages of e-government maturity, identified as: information ; interaction; transaction; integration and one-stop portal for e-government. In India, as e-government services are being provisioned and consumed by the stakeholders including general public, a significant number of government bodies are at information, interaction and transaction stages of the generic growth model. Some government departments and ministries are gradually moving towards integration (horizontally and vertically) but none of the government organizations in India is at the full interoperable stage. The interface between the citizens and e-government services is through portals. An intuitive and easy user interface is crucial for each stage of e-government maturity so that citizens can fully utilize e-government services. Availability of the relevant technology to the general public is also imperative. It is noticeable that with the rise in online interaction and shift from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, the use of e-government services has increased considerably. Keeping the stages of e-government growth model in mind, it is highly important that the response of the citizens and other stakeholders is measured and analysed at each level, mainly to understand the effectiveness of the provision. Therefore, web analytics at each stage of e-government is crucial. The objective of the paper is to identify the key performance indicators for each level of e-government growth and suggest relevant web analytic tools that can help in analyzing the response of citizens and to further help in improving the e-government process.