ChileAtiende : a case study in guiding the architecting of a public sector service organization

Abstract

The delivery of government services is currently a problem that many countries around the world are trying to solve by centralizing operations and by incorporating technology and digitized processes; however, very few have been truly successful. The main challenges faced concern the high complexity in terms of components (agencies and procedures) the organization has to manage, the need for strong coordination with the arm of the government in charge of the information and communications technologies (ICTs), and the integration of administrative processes with legal frameworks and political influences. In Chile, efforts in this matter have been made for almost two decades, but still enormous improvements are needed in order to catch up with developed countries. The ChileAtiende project is the initiative of the government of Chile whose goal is to design and implement the system of services delivery at the country level. The present work is an application of the Architecting Innovative Enterprise Strategies (ARIES) Framework, developed by Nightingale and Rhodes, to ChileAtiende, in order to support the architecting process at an organizational level. In addition to ARIES, several other techniques are used along the way, such as a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, a network analysis of the agencies and procedures incorporated into the system, and the formulation of an optimization model to prioritize and rationalize the product portfolio in the early phases of the initiative. The results obtained show that ChileAtiende should be built having a long-term architectural target, which can be reached by dividing the project into three main phases: first, the reorganization of the product portfolio and a process- and technology-driven boost; second, an expansion of the offerings to capture the majority of the services provided by the government; and third, the pooling of the resources to capitalize on the greater efficiency derived from smaller operations. This research shows how a systemic view can effectively address public sector challenges, and how a model-based approach can provide clarity regarding the future of a complex organization.