What makes collaborative initiative work.

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This report is by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and was originally published on its website at www.nascio.org. It is part of a joint effort by NASCIO and the Public Technology Institute to identify successful collaborative arrangements.

Collaborative arrangements involving multiple jurisdictions or agencies have demonstrated cost savings as well cost avoidance, improving existing services and adding new services. The ongoing national economic stress makes these collaborations increasingly popular--there is a gap between revenues and expenditures, and with flat or slow revenue growth, state and local governments are pressed to make operational reforms designed to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Cost savings is the primary motivation, but a second gap exists, as well--the chasm between the way government has operated historically and the realities of their new circumstances. Government has been bound by traditional organizational, procurement, and operational structures, but the new reality requires viable and sustainable outcomes, and to achieve them, governments have to "scale up" Addressing this second gap requires a full reset of expectations, viewpoints, perspectives, and government practice for delivering services. Government, non-profit, academic, and corporate partners must participate; no level of government and no jurisdiction can avoid change and innovation, or avoid risk by standing still or doing nothing. In turbulent, challenging times, inaction entails as much or more risk than pursuing change.

Governments need to determine how well they are using their limited resources; uncover unnecessary redundancy; find economies of scale; remove anything that is unnecessary or isn't contributing to the mission of government; and identify those activities, processes, programs, and organizations that would actually perform better if they were done collaboratively. Going it alone won't be an option. But collaboration has to be done correctly so it is effective, self-sustaining, and adaptable. No matter what service area, mode of delivery, management area, or technology, governments should consider collaborative arrangements as an alternative that may deliver the most effective outcomes. (1)

This article will present and summarize best practices that were specifically cited as successful by initiatives researched by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.

AN IDEA

Every initiative starts with an idea. The idea starts with a problem or an opportunity. Governments should explore the idea and evaluate it to ensure its merit, and then define target goals and objectives that promise a good combination of value and feasibility. The idea may be extremely innovative, breaking new ground in some area of government service, or it may extend a recent innovation, but it will remain an idea until someone takes ownership of it. There must be a clearly understood outcome and method for achieving it.

The Local Government Information Systems Association was started by a group of local government officials in Minnesota who simply wanted to save money and find a way to pay for information technology they couldn't afford on their own. The initial opportunity was a jointly acquired financial system. That first initiative has led to a dozen applications that encompass financial controls, public safety, and utility billing systems. But it started with an idea shared by a relatively small group of local government officials exploring possibilities.

Governments need to address the performance gap between the ways they currently operate and the realities of their new circumstances, and their requirements for new and different outcomes. This can be done by identifying and targeting appropriate, shared issues and aligning them. This alignment needs to maximize rewards and minimize risks, and pay more attention to institutional and process changes that technology can enable. Solutions entail more than information...