Lecture notes for a brief speech on how to develop electronic services in public sector. The contents is 2/3 theory and 1/3 practical advice.

1. service centricity in public sector
IVGM21
Andres Kütt
March 26, 2015
Chief Architect, Information System Authority

2. introduction

3. structure of today
∙ A set slides you can interrupt with questions at any time
∙ Squeezing a lot of content into 90 minutes, many leaps of faith
required
∙ Respect the time of others
I might have information.
But I do not have the answers, only more questions.
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4. andres kütt
∙ Building software for money since 1993
∙ Been an architect for the past ≈12 years
∙ ≈MSc (UT, Statistika), MBA (EBS), MSc (MIT)
∙ Currently architect of Estonian
information system
∙ Skype, banks, public sector, some
consulting and teaching in the past
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5. today
∙ Systems theory: how architecture and functionality fit
∙ Definition of a service
∙ A foray into the abyss of complexity
∙ Some aspects of service management
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6. basics of systems theory

7. definition of a system
A ”System” is the central concept in the following
∙ We are talking about socio-technical systems
∙ Both technical and non-technical elements
∙ Software is part of the system
∙ A system
∙ Consists of inter-related elements
∙ Has some input and output
∙ Usually is not consciously designed
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8. System boundaries are always arbitrary
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9. basics of systems architecture

10. system architecture
All systems have a design, a way of fitting together
∙ There is no one definition of system architecture
∙ Most of them deal with technical systems only
∙ Ed Crawley defines the architecture to consist of the following
∙ Function of the system
∙ Form of the system
∙ A set of mental models mapping the former to the latter, the concept
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11. Not designing something merely relinquishes control over
architecture, it does not make the architecture non-existent
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12. system architecture
∙ Form is what is
∙ Function is what that, what is, does
∙ Concept is dependent on the organisational culture involved
∙ The same function can be provided by several kinds of form and
vice versa
∙ A piston can be used to transfer force and to be a winner’s trophy
∙ Force can be transferred using a piston or a rectangular rotor
∙ These two are joined in the concept of otto engine
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13. on functionality

14. function
∙ Form is the domain of (software) engineering, HR and
management in general
∙ Function is what services, including government services, actually
provide to consumers
∙ Concept is a product of how these two manage to cooperate
Function is defined via something called primary value process
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15. primary value process
Primary value process implies that
∙ there is more than one
∙ there always is
∙ the list is fundamentally incomplete: we cannot know all of them
∙ they are somehow prioritised
∙ differentiation and competition happen by changing that ”somehow”
∙ how to prioritise an incomplete list?
∙ exactly one of them is chosen as the main focus
∙ the most difficult part
∙ one person cannot run in two directions simultaneously
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16. primary value process
Primary value process implies that
∙ there is a customer involved
∙ as value is always subjective and thus dependent on someone to ask
∙ often, but not always, expressed as money
∙ what is the value of having our capital in Tallinn?
∙ perceived, not ”actual” value
∙ the system does something useful, value is created
∙ there is an upper limit to what the consumer is willing to pay
∙ again complex in public setting: the relationship between paying taxes
and receiving service is often causally and temporally weak
∙ while intuitively trivial, theoretical backing is sparse
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17. primary value process
Primary value process implies that
∙ time is involved
∙ i.e. value is provided over a period of time
∙ systems are inherently dynamic
∙ system is able to accept input and produce, after a delay, output
∙ thus depending on other systems as well as being depended upon
∙ public services need to form a coherent system connecting inputs and
outputs of different systems
∙ system boundaries need to be defined in time as well as space
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18. implications of the theory

19. model of architecture
Function
Form
Concept
Cost
Revenue
?
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20. profit in public sector
The difference between revenue and cost has fundamentally
different meanings in public and private sector
In private sector:
∙ This is called profit
∙ In most cases defines
shareholder value
∙ Is therefore the focus of
the organisation
∙ Usually cannot be negative
for long periods of time
In public sector:
∙ This is called budget surplus
∙ Often obscured by financial
complexity
∙ Is generally undesirable:
taxes collected in vain!
∙ Can be negative for extended
periods of time
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21. emergence
Emergence occurs when a system exposes properties, behaviours or
functions other than it was not explicitly designed to expose
∙ The higher the complexity, the more emergence (generally)
∙ Emergence cannot be predicted
∙ Can be both positive and negative
∙ A wooden box used for percussion (a cajon)
∙ Security and safety are emergent behaviour
∙ All fraud is emergent behaviour
∙ In London, there is a high-rise that incinerates cars by focusing sun rays
∙ Hard to deal with in public sector
∙ Rigid legal structure creates blind corners
∙ Exploring emergent behaviour is at least not encouraged
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22. what is a service?

23. defining a service
What constitutes a service, can be a source of heated, prolonged and
futile discussion
∙ There is no common scientific definition let alone a useful one
∙ The question is often linked to issues of power, status and
financial well-beging
∙ A useful definition has certain properties
Between public sector organisations, the definitions must be
compatible
∙ Because they interlink heavily
∙ There is central governance pressure
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24. useful definition of a service
A useful definition
∙ must
∙ allow for clear
separation of services
∙ be acceptable for the
whole organisation
∙ may
∙ be arbitrary in nature
∙ be partial
It must encompass all layers of
organisation:
∙ Having a distinct set of technical
components
∙ Providing a clean set of functions
∙ Having people responsible for it on
business and IT sides
∙ Having a clear strategy and
performance indicators
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25. a foray into the field of complexity

26. what is complexity?
∙ There is no one definition (notice a pattern?)
∙ Static vs. dynamic complexity
∙ Static is about structure of a system
∙ Dynamic is about behaviour of a system
∙ Complexity vs. complicatedness
∙ Complexity is about what system is
∙ Complicatedness is about how system looks:
the property of a system to appear complex
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27. importance of complexity
Complexity
# of elements / time
Limit of abilities
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28. chaotic behaviour
Complex systems tend to exhibit chaotic behaviour where infinitely
small change in input can cause an infinitely large change in output
∙ A parameter change below measuring threshold can completely
alter system behavior
∙ Math behind it is very complex as well as complicated
∙ Exponents1
and feedback play an important role
How does a time series xn+1 = rxn(1 − xn) behave depending on r?
1That people are bad at estimating anyway
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29. emergence of chaos
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30. some aspects of service management

31. service levels
Service level management is essentially a specific kind of risk
management
∙ We manage a risk that service levels fall below desirable levels
∙ This only makes sense, if this has some real implications (loss of
revenue, for example)
∙ The basic risk management tools apply
∙ Fundamental question: how much are we willing to spend to
increase service availability by x?
∙ In public sector, risk management is intimately related to all sort
of security forces
How do we define service availability?
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32. service levels
One can only control and measure parts of the system one controls
∙ Is your service available if
∙ it cannot be found on Bing?
∙ it is blocked by Chrome and Firefox?
∙ it’s name is not resolved?
∙ The same logic applies to internet providers etc.
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33. defining service levels
How to determine, if our service is available?
∙ Remember chaotic behaviour of complex systems
∙ Small change of operating parameters can have a large impact
∙ The system can be non-functional if all its elements are ”green”
∙ Monitoring individual machines is mostly non-sensical
∙ Hardware failure rates are well known
∙ It tells you next to nothing of the state of the system
Service availability is a data analysis, not monitoring problem
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34. license

35. theme
Get the source of this theme and the demo presentation from
http://github.com/matze/mtheme
The theme itself is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
cba
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36. contents
The contents of the slides is lidecensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
cbna
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37. Questions?
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