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Considerations forprototype advancedinformation technologyapplications within UnitedKingdom local governmentRay Hackney aa Manchester Polytechnic, Department ofBusiness Information Technology ,Published online: 02 Jan 2008.

To cite this article: Ray Hackney (1989) Considerations for prototype advancedinformation technology applications within United Kingdom local government,Local Government Studies, 15:4, 35-47, DOI: 10.1080/03003938908433479

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RAY HACKNEYManchester Polytechnic, Department of Business Information Technology

Considerations for Prototype AdvancedInformation Technology Applicationswithin United Kingdom LocalGovernment

ABSTRACT

This paper describes considerations which attempt to identify suitableapplications of prototype advanced information technology (IT) systemswithin United Kingdom (UK) local government.

A 'task-analysis' was undertaken of the activities of the departmentswithin a large UK local authority. The resultant data was then matched,through a theoretical model, with the characteristics of these advanced ITsystems. It was concluded that a low risk, low cost system should beimplemented within the training function associated with a number ofdepartments.

The empirical study was undertaken within Manchester City Council(MCC) which is considered representative of local government. It isbelieved, therefore, that many of the issues described in this paper may beof value to other authorities nationally.

AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

The current organizational view of 'information' suggests that it should beregarded as a fundamental resource and deserving of the same attention asother major resources. Consequently, a considerable amount of effort hasbeen undertaken, historically, to provide computer-based informationsystems which formally support organizational activities, the assumptionbeing that such systems 'manage' the resource more efficiently. Earlydevelopments (post 1950s) attempted to automate large routine clericaltasks and were associated with 'second' and 'third' generation computers.The type of processing involved was termed 'batch' and involved thepresentation of a unique collection of 'data' at one time. In these'mainframe' applications an individual transaction could not be examineduntil the 'run' was complete or indeed halted. A fundamental difficulty ofthis technique, although successful in terms of meeting processing object-ives, is that the system only produced 'historical' reports, e.g. payroll.

For these reasons a new type of technology emerged post 1960s. Thisprovided an 'on-line' service which was both flexible and inexpensive

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36 Considerations for Prototype Advanced Information Technology Applications

relative to previous machines. Commonly termed 'mini' these computerswere substantially smaller than 'mainframes' and did not require the samedegree of technical support of the operating environment (i.e. air condi-tioning, etc.). As these systems developed it was recognized that the 'data',prior to producing 'information', needed to be structured and moreformally represented. Consequently, 'data' base management systemsappeared which represented the intrinsic characteristics of 'data' itself. Amethod of achieving this was developed by Codd1 which he termed'normalization'. As a result better ways of analysing data were consideredwhich proved essential for the development of more flexible computer-based information systems. The culmination of these techniques of sepa-rating the storage and retrieval of 'data' resulted in the emergence of'relational database' technologies. More appropriately the idea of a'corporate database' evolved where all the 'data' relating to an organiza-tion could be 'pooled' and later manipulated to produce 'useful' informa-tion. In this way a totally integrated management information system(MIS) could be developed which would be regarded as a central resourcementioned previously. The difficulty, however, related to the technicalproblems of maintaining such a system in view of frequent organizationalchanges. Therefore, rather than an all-embracing database a more 'indivi-dual' technology appears to have achieved some recent success in supply-ing management information.

The developments of integrated circuitry in the early 1970s produced apost-industrial revolution in the form of small, inexpensive 'micro' com-puters. This resulted in three separate changes as follows2;

(1) Greater access to computers which started to change attitudes of bothusers and management regarding these systems.

(2) The economics of the systems changed as hardware costs fell belowprofessional development costs.

(3) Office automation emerged as 'independent' machines were inter-connected through telecommunication techniques.

These new low cost technologies provided an opportunity for more userinvolvement in computing with less reliance upon full technical support.As a result 'end-user' computing emerged which combined historicallyseparate techniques to provide fully automated 'information technology'(IT). By definition, therefore3, IT is the acquisition, processing, storageand dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numeric information by amicro-electronics-based combination of computing and telecommunica-tions. Furthermore, similar developments have also been observedthrough a progression of innovations in software. These agaii* may becharacterized by a number of stages through to current fourth generationlanguages.

The most recent advances in IT development currently relate to systemswhich attempt to emulate human expertise and may be distinguished quite

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Local Government Studies: July/August 1989 37

clearly from the previously described 'conventional' systems. The salientfeatures of this 'advanced IT' as they relate to 'intelligent' systems aredescribed later in the paper.

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IT PERSPECTIVE

At what stage then have these developments in IT been reflected in thecomputing activities of local government?

Certainly a current 'snapshot' of the main stages of IT developmentin local government would complement quite well considerations forpotential advanced applications.

A number of publications in this respect are available from LAMSAC4"10

which commonly describe the experiences of a number of authorities andtheir functional activities in relation to IT. Indeed LAMSAC are veryactive in the field of providing computer software 'solutions' to a widerange of these local authorities' functional areas. However, in relation tothis study one of their most interesting and recent publications10 describesthe adoption of integrated IT facilities (workstations) nationally. Anexamination of this extensive document reveals the mass adoption of ITequipment by local authorities throughout the UK. LAMSAC estimatethat approximately 40,000 'workstations' are utilized within some 513authorities (13,000 were identified from the 200 authorities who respondedto the survey). The obvious distinction between 'central' and 'depart-mental' IT control was revealed with little standardization nationally. Thereport did argue, however, the need for an IT strategy and developmentplan for each authority. These issues are raised elsewhere11 and relate tothe recognition that different authorities have clearly distinct managementstructures, styles and cultures. The importance of .these 'strategies',however, as they are conveyed in the LAMSAC report, is the extent of thedevelopment of IT towards providing 'Intelligent' IT support. An adapta-tion fo this approach to IT adoption is illustrated in Fig. 1.

LAMSAC perceive, therefore, that a strategy which incorporatesaspects of what may be regarded as advanced IT ('Intelligent' equipment)may indeed have potential benefits. However, there was no evidence intheir survey10, that such systems are even in marginal use with the recordedapplications based entirely upon 'conventional' computer systems.

A more recent report, however, by Grimshaw and Haddad12 on theresults of a Society of Information Technology Managers' (SOCITM)survey did highlight some of these issues.

The survey involved a postal questionnaire to every local authority inEngland, Scotland and Wales but resulted in a response rate of only 26 percent. Grimshaw and Haddad indicate, therefore, that some caution isrequired in drawing comparative conclusions between different authori-ties. However, they also infer that those authorities who are reasonablyadvanced in their use of IT may have been inclined to respond morefavourably and efficiently to the range and depth of the survey. This

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38 Considerations for Prototype Advanced Information Technology Applications

A Development Strategy Based On A Hierarchy Of ProcessorResources

Area of responsibilityuser alone

"Intelligent" equipmentcontrolled by user

Brings together data andresources of common interestto a specific group

"Departmental" processingand storage, etc

Brings together date andresources of common interestto the authority as a whole

Figure 1. Adapted from LAMSAC10

"Central" processingand storage

deduction, therefore, provides added statistical validity for a considerationof local authorities' current perceptions of advanced IT. Although thesurvey was quite comprehensive in its objectives one particular aspect issignificant for this paper. This relates to the examination of how staff areallocated between the various IT functions. This is of particular interest forresearch into advanced IT applications to determine the extent of develop-ment staff involvement, Fig. 2 illustrates this situation.

It is significant to note the small number of development staff associatedwith 4GL (fourth generation languages) development (14 per cent) which'may' be categorized as advanced IT. Furthermore, the largest segment (31per cent) indicates a clear intention of a number of authorities to adoptsimilar advanced IT systems. The justification of this paper is to recognizethis 'next phase' (generation) of IT solutions and to identify suitableapplications before expensive development work is undertaken.

We need to describe, therefore, what we mean by this further stage of ITdevelopment and how it may benefit local authority departmental activi-ties.

A SIMPLE ANATOMY OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM (ADVANCED IT)

Local government officers have recognized for some time the value ofusing computers to assist their ability to handle information, or moreprecisely the data which may result in useful information. However, mostcurrent technology is only applied to the regurgitation of data and text tomake it more palatable, for example, information presentation in the form

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Local Government Studies: July/August 1989 39

16%

\uz 31%

w,Systems

Pre-4GL

support

development

4GL development

Packageation

implement-

Personal computingsupport

Figure 2. Use of development staff12

of tables, graphs, etc. If this idea of computer assistance is extendedbeyond 'presentation' into the systems offering 'intelligent support' thenwe may consider another emerging area of IT in relation to aspects ofArtificial Intelligence (AI).

Research into AI involves many facets but may be pin-pointed at theadministrative level by work on 'Intelligent Knowledge-Based Systems'(IKBS); most commonly referred to as Expert Systems (ES).

It is difficult to find a precise definition of an ES13 however, we may saythat:

. . . an expert system is a computerized expert which supports human expertsby providing rapid expertise on some chosen subject in order to assist decisionmaking.

In general, therefore, expert systems are described as computer systemsthat:

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40 Considerations for Prototype Advanced Information Technology Applications

(i) aid solutions to complex problems in specific specialities or areas ofexisting expertise

(ii) use domain knowledge (expertise) in the form of facts andprocedures, that are considered useful by experts to assist and advise

(iii) explain how certain decisions are reached(iv) employ an easy interface between expert and system.

Consequently, expert systems may be designed to store 'knowledge' on achosen subject which may be accessed by an expert in that field to aiddecision making. Complex software is required to perform these techni-ques which 'infer' solutions to stated problems by reference to a stored'knowledge base'. In addition most systems are designed to 'explain' how acertain conclusion was reached; which in some respects is described as a'human window' into the machine in order to question the validity of thesystems response. It is also important that human experts can communicateeffectively with such systems. Considerable research effort is currentlybeing undertaken to provide for 'natural language processing' which allowsthe system interface with the user to be in near English-like statements forease of use.

A highly simplified anatomy of such a system is illustrated in Fig. 3.The key factor in the performance of an expert system is commonly

related to the structure and design of the 'knowledge base'. This'knowledge' must first be elicited either from shared knowledge, for

User queries and responses

Communication with other programmes

Monitor and control signals

i 4 tInterface

Inference Engine

J IKnowledge Base

Figure 3. Ovum Ltd14

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example, books, journals, legislation, etc., or from heuristic knowledge.Heuristic knowledge is the 'rule of thumb' that experts in a field (domain)develop on the basis of experience and which, combined with bookknowledge, gives them their expertise.

The essence of an expert system is, therefore, more clearly related toreasoning than calculating. A distinction is immediately apparent herebetween the previously illustrated 'conventional' systems and the tech-niques involved with expert systems. Conventional techniques process'data' by means of complex algorithms which are step-by-step proceduresthat aim to produce a 'correct' conclusion, often as a calculating function.However, expert systems as stated rely upon heuristic structures which'infer' conclusions from interacting with the stored 'knowledge base'.

Some of the major benefits of these techniques are also succinctlydocumented in the recent Ovum report for the Department of Trade andIndustry14. Specifically, expert systems may provide for new and dynamicapplications. They may, for example, emulate relatively 'highly complextasks' at greatly reduced expenditure levels compared to conventionaltechniques, as Fig. 4 illustrates.

DevelopmentCost

Expert Systems Technique

Conventional Techniques

System Complexity

Areas of advantagefor expert systems

Figure 4. Potential areas of advantage for expert systems as a function ofsystems complexity (Ovum Report, p. 4)u

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42 Considerations for Prototype Advanced Information Technology Applications

Furthermore, the Ovum report makes specific reference to the potentialadvantages of expert systems which are in agreement with an importanttheme of this paper, namely:

. . . multiplying available skills, allowing organizations to offer more expertservice without a corresponding increase in costs . . . In this environmentexpert systems will provide essential tools for extending the effective use ofinformation technology. (Ovum report, p. 5).

It is this proposition which is pursued in the following documentedempirical study.

THE HELD STUDY

To what extent then may these systems be useful to local authorities andwhere should we apply them initially? The methodology for the researchwas to interview key personnel within a large representative UK localauthority. A 'task-analysis' was undertaken of various departments and theempirical data was 'matched' through a simple model with the character-istics of these advanced IT systems (expert systems).

The authority chosen was Manchester City Council (MCC) which isconsidered representative in terms of its conduct, structure and perfor-mance, of UK local government as a whole. Specifically, MCC may beregarded as an 'advanced IT' organization which is 'customer orientated'and which has experienced severe financial constraints in recent years thuscausing it to focus critical attention to its investment decisions.

It is important to state here that the study did not consider 'political'factors in relation to identified managerial tasks. The scope of the researchwas bound to administrative duties undertaken by local governmentofficers as a result of implementing 'top-down' decisions.

Each department within MCC incorporates a departmental informationneeds group (DINGO) which is chaired by a senior officer. The Chairper-sons of these DINGOs were thus identified as key personnel and providinga focal point for individual departmental activities relating to IT. The mainreasons for collecting the interview data were as follows:

(1) To determine current and future departmental IT involvement andgeneral levels of experience.

(2) To attempt to identify any underlying common issues relating to ITapplications.

(3) To undertake a thorough 'task analysis' of departmental activities.

The importance of these points is that they each will have a substantialinfluence upon the choice of identifying an initial (prototype) applicationof an expert system.

It was observed that all the departments had some involvement in IT. Inthis respect the traditional applications relating to administrative controlwere evident. Numerous comments were obtained from users relating to

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their experience of IT adoption. As a general point many considered theequipment as providing additional work as opposed to assisting theircurrent administrative tasks. It was often argued that more time should beoffered to enable users to familiarize themselves with the technology. Thisopinion emerged as an important theme as users felt that substantialadditional training was required. Furthermore, many officers within MCCadmitted considerable lack of experience and knowledge of IT systemswhich attempted other than routine clerical tasks. Although not a criticismthis is evidence of an awareness of the technological stage of IT develop-ment prior to expert systems.

Those officers who were aware of expert system literature weresomewhat sceptical of potentially real benefits. This view supports a surveyby the Alrey Directorate15 who reported a widespread impression thatexpert systems were, '. . . inherently complex, risky and demanding'. Animportant point here is for local government officers to have a clearrecognition fo the characteristics of expert systems which differentiatethem from 'conventional' IT systems.

THE THEORETICAL MODEL (TASK/SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE)

Many analysts16"18 argue the concept of the degree of which a managerialactivity is 'structured' or 'unstructured'. The suggestion being that, giventhe characteristics of expert systems, the more 'unstructured' a process themore fruitful it may be for development. However, in a local governmentcontext such 'unstructured' decisions may well be undertaken by politiciansthus excluding officers from the 'process' and involving them only in the'product', i.e., the implementation of the decision. It may be argued,therefore, that officer activities are mainly associated with 'structured',reasonably well defined operations, as is the procedural setting for mostadministrative tasks. Furthermore, Baldwin and Kasper19 argue that this isprecisely the environment which expert systems are really designed tosupport. For example, situations requiring specialists (officers) whichinvolve heuristics require little problem definition and have a pre-determined solution.

In addition, many officers would have difficulty in attempting to classifytheir functional activities into either 'structured' or 'unstructured' catego-ries. It is more appropriate to consider 'tasks' in relation to low or highdegrees of change over time involving low or high degrees of variety. Forexample, it is possible to state within a task analysis the extent to which theprocedures remain the same (low or high change) over time. Furthermore,it is also possible to describe the performance of the task in relation tocontrolled standards as involving few or many activities (low or highvariety).

Therefore, given the characteristics of expert systems and the identifica-tion of 'types' of tasks it may be possible to suggest a model for'task-system' comparison, as in Fig. 5.

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44 Considerations for Prototype Advanced InformatkmTechnology Applications

Type ofTask

HighVariety

LowVariety

MCC Departments

No chance ofexpert system

Unlikely chance ofexpert system

High Change

(Type)

Good chance ofexpert system

No chance ofexpert system

Low Change

Figure 5. Task/system perspective

This view proposes that if specific tasks within individual City Councildepartments involve a reasonable amount of 'continued' variety, with littlechange over time, they may be suitable for expert system applications.Conversely, if the general tasks present too much variety and change, i.e.,involve many routine but ad hoc inquiries, then expert systems may not beappropriate.

The model was, therefore, applied to most of the departments withinManchester City Council. The data was collected from a combination offace-to-face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire and a degreeof action research through participation observation within departmentaluser groups (DINGOs).

The data was then interpreted by department as a comparison with therequirements of the model. A ranking of one to three was employed whichsignified the following:

(1) - suitable application of an expert system(2) - potentially suitable application of an expert system(3) - unsuitable for an expert system application.

Consequently, the departments considered most appropriate for anexpert system application were those actively involved with training.

Departments identified as a suggestion for a low-risk, prototype expertsystem which may be adopted more widely later included Personnel,Treasurers and possibly Planning.

DISCUSSION AND JUSTIFICATION

The predominant view of determining potential applications of expertsystems tends to omit the advantages gained from attempting to match thefeatures of the system to the perceived task. Some analysts appear tostumble20 at what may be regarded as the second hurdle with a preoccupa-tion with the problems of knowledge elicitation. It cannot be denied thatknowledge acquisition may represent a formidable obstacle, however, this

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strengthens the argument for identifying potential tasks more realisticallyat the outset.

Furthermore, the main assumption of a 'task-system' perspective isthe validity obtained in the amount of human emulation which thetechnology can achieve. There is currently much debate concerning theextent to which marketed expert systems may actually support humanproblem solving21.

For this reason it is suggested that an expert system tool is selected byManchester City Council which represents not only low risk, as indicatedpreviously, but also low cost.

The expenditure here relates to the historical comparison of 'bespoke'(tailored) software or 'packaged' software available for conventionalcomputer systems. Similarly the development cost of an expert systemmay be greatly reduced through the acquisition of commercially availabletools called 'shells'. In addition it is highly feasible to implementsuch software on relatively inexpensive microcomputers. The currentfinancial situation within Manchester City Council also makes thissuggestion highly plausible.

Local government within the UK is a specialist service industry withmany activities associated with legislative procedures. For this reason anexpert system functioning as an assistant to some legal processes mayappear useful. For example, some type of system which may help thedetermination of certain welfare benefit assessments. Certainly, suchprojects are being undertaken nationally, which appear to have a directrelevance to local government. One such project is the Alvey DHSS22 largeDemonstrator which involves a collaboration of a number of Britishuniversities and companies. The essence of this project is an interest in therecognition of types of problem for which there are established proceduresand to build systems which are consequently representative.

The resultant procedural setting may already exist in the form ofmanuals, books, journals, etc., and thus provide available data for theknowledge base without recourse to human expertise. This situation maybe quite appealing within a number of Manchester City Council depart-ments, for example, where a system could be developed which reduces theknowledge elicitation bottleneck by obtaining the 'knowledge' from exist-ing documented legislation. However, as Leith23 indicates,

. . . when God made computer scientists he made them all think of law in thesame way - as a system of rules.

Leith argues that knowledge engineers24 believe that if these rules can beformulated into a computer program then a legal (benefit analysis) expertsystem may result. He further points out, however, that there is aconsiderable difference between legislation and the law as a result ofcontinued judicial review. Consequently, it may well be possible to find

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46 Considerations for Prototype Advanced Information Technology Applications

logical contradictions in a piece of legislation but the legal process is itselfsubject to interpretation. Leith further describes the implausible conse-quence of a legal Occam's Razor which relates to the principle of providingthe fewest possible assumptions in a given situation. This is precisely theenvironment to which the DHSS Demonstrator attempts to address.

It is argued that its relation to local government legal activities involves adegree of complexity which, given the present state of technologicaldevelopment, cannot be adequately resolved.

Furthermore, the degree of technological expertise within many Man-chester City Council departments relates to experience of traditionalmicrocomputing. It is not considered useful to attempt to build expertsystem applications in environments of added domain complexity.

Although many activities within UK local government are legislativelybased these domains cannot be as simplistically represented as wouldseemingly be believed. For these reasons many departments within Man-chester City Council are not considered appropriate, at this stage, forprototyping expert systems. If we accept that expert systems, given thecharacteristics previously stated, are designed to support experts in aparticular field (domain) then we may argue that they function as tutoringsystems. Hence a conclusion that a suitable domain may well relate to atraining environment.

Manchester City Council is, therefore, encouraged to consider 'func-tional prototyping'25 an inexpensive expert system shell within this area.

It is also argued that the use of expert systems as intelligent tutoringsystems (ITS) may offer specific benefits to management training; a needidentified by user groups. This approach may also provide the same kind ofadvantages which expert systems have, given their characteristics, overconventional computer systems, in particular the opportunity to supportthe 'learner' with explicit stored domain knowledge. Furthermore, expertsystems should enable deep explorations of the learner's 'real' understand-ing of the problem or situation. Certainly, the literature indicates that anumber of issues relating to ITS and effective training need to beresolved26. However, this should not deter Manchester City Council fromgaining valuable low cost experience of using a technology which is'designed' for tutoring.

CONCLUSION

This paper provided a brief historical illustration of the development ofinformation technology (IT). A number of studies were then describedwhich considered the current stages of IT systems within United Kingdomlocal government. It was evident that most authorities had implemented'conventional' computer systems and were now considering advancedapplications. This research, therefore, reported on a field study of imple-menting a theoretical model (task-system perspective) to the departmentalactivities within Manchester City Council (MCC). The model was intended

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to identify prototype applications of expert system technology with theminimum of risk at the lowest cost. It was concluded, given the character-istics of expert systems and the experience of MCC officers, that amicrocomputer based 'shell' system should be implemented within thetraining function associated with a number of departments.

Local authorities have been regarded for some time as essentially afederation of autonomous departments. Even with the more recent centralcontrol strengthened by management teams led by chief executives thestandard allocation of departmental activities persists. Therefore, 'end-user' IT functions may provide for the 'intelligent' solutions which'consumer-orientation' increasingly demands.

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