Enhancing e-governance through scenario approaches

The paper conceives e-governance as the overall design and implementation of e-government strategies, structures and processes. It argues for paying greater attention to the sustainability of e-government strategies and examines the use of scenario methods for integrating a future-oriented perspective. Two major applications of scenario approaches in the field of e-government are analysed: a scenario project at regional level in the United Kingdom, and the pan-European project PRISMA, a research cooperation within the IST programme. With a focus on the latter, the contribution outlines scenario processes as well as outcomes and derives implications for strategy design. The scenarios suggest certain caveats for future-oriented design which can enhance e-governance. A number of design components which are robust across different scenarios are pointed out, e.g. target group and needs orientation, privacy enhancing measures, access to government-held information, one-stop service centred back-office reorganisation.