Using Critical Problem Solving to Plan Inter-Organisational Co-operation in e-Customs

The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic approach to plan assessment of electronic co-operation between customs organisations of different countries (e-Customs). Thorough assessment is of paramount importance, as co-operation in electronic networks usually requires considerable up-front investments in information technology (IT) specific for this co-operation. A systematic approach is necessary to enable customs IT decision makers to apply the experience they gathered in earlier projects systematically in new projects for different groups of customs organisations. This calls for a portable technique that spots areas for future investigation based on a sound structure. The approach we present in this paper (called e-Planning) builds upon previous experience with assessing electronic co-operation between customs of European countries. Following a method for critical problem solving, e-Planning offers an action plan for customs IT decision makers to know what to analyse first in order to facilitate fast and successful assessment. e-Planning provides guidance to analyse different groups of countries and to reason about obstacles to and opportunities for co-operation. We have validated our approach by applying e-Planning to plan the assessment of electronic co-operation with a new group of countries and comparing the results with the acceptance criteria that we obtained from the customs domain.