MATURITY IN E-GOVERNMENT INTEROPERABILITY: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF E-SERVICES IN NORWAY

This paper is concerned with maturity levels in e-government interoperability. Stages of growth are sequential in nature, they occur as a hierarchical progression, and involve a broad range of organizational activities and structures. Two case studies and lessons learned from experience of the government sector in Norway are useful for analysing the number of stages of growth, dominant problems at each stage, and evolutionary path. Based on the stages of growth model of Gottschalk and Solli-Saether (2008), a framework to analyze and predict organizational, semantic and technical interoperability is described. Using the framework, workable benchmark variables applicable for each stage are applied to the cases. E-government interoperability has been recognized to have potentially great impact on productivity and user satisfaction. The utility of the analytical framework in identifying key issues needing to be addressed in e-government interoperability is presented.