Section 1: How Do Governments Use Software? #
Software in Government: Use Cases #
Governments use software for a wide range of administrative, financial, and operational purposes, from public-facing services to procurement management to secure email. These use cases include (but are not limited to):
Direct service provision to citizens (issuing permits and licenses, civic issue tracking)
Fee and payment processing (property taxes, fines, etc.)
Business intelligence (tracking performance of business units, programs, and services)
Data management (open data portal)
Human resources management (payroll and benefits administration, talent acquisition)
Asset management (monitoring equipment and infrastructure throughout its life cycle, modeling risk and cost scenarios)
Procurement management (issuing tenders, managing vendor relations)
Communications (content management, agenda and meeting management, emergency alert services)
How Government Software is Unique #
The government context presents unique requirements for software. The process of obtaining and maintaining software – and the design of the software itself – has distinctive features in public sector environments. Government requires software that:
Is highly reliable
Is secure enough to store sensitive or personally-identifiable information
Can be sourced according to government procurement laws
Can be budgeted for up front, typically years in advance (as with government purchases in general)
Can be integrated into legacy IT systems and digital environments
Will comply with regulations and standards specific to a jurisdiction, such as data residency requirements (i.e., hosting data on local servers as opposed to cloud-based storage outside the jurisdiction) or complying with language and accessibility requirements