The Secretary-General of the former Ministry of Economy, Innovation, and Development (MEI) invested heavily in a project for the centralized provision of website services, implemented by Masterlink. The ambition was to test a new methodology, essentially conducting what is now known as a proof of concept.
Background: the reform of public administration
“It should be recalled that PRACE, as an instrument for public administration reform, defined a centralization model for public administration bodies, which was reflected in the organic law of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation (in 2007),” says Susana Miguel, Head of Division of the Information Systems and Technologies Services Department, at the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Economy.
“Given this legislative framework, the mission of the Secretary-General (SG) of the former MEI was to ensure the centralized provision of services, particularly for bodies integrated into the State’s direct administration. The implementation of this model, specifically in the ICT area, consisted of assigning responsibilities, functions, and competencies to the SG, with the transfer of employees who performed these tasks in various organizations,” she adds.
However, there was no such integration effort regarding information systems, applications, and infrastructure, which resulted in the SG being required to provide support for several websites from different suppliers and with distinct technologies. “Most of them did not even have a back office for content management, which implied, due to its technical nature, that IT technicians had to input the content themselves,” confesses Susana Miguel.
It was then observed that, when acquiring services for new websites, organizations were discerning in their choice of product but lacked the same sensitivity toward aspects related to project continuity—namely hosting, maintenance, and specific technical skills for infrastructure management, given the enormous variety of solutions available on the market.
“The SG was beginning to face difficulties in responding to all requests, given the number of technicians required, their respective skills, and the scope of the technologies involved. However, to overcome these setbacks, we chose to provide openness and flexibility in the selection of the graphic interface to ensure client satisfaction, while remaining uncompromising in the selection of platforms and technologies,” the official adds.
Requirements of the new solution
The former MEI body thus sought an application that would be implemented in layers, to allow for a flexible and concentrated infrastructure architecture with centralized management, while simultaneously enabling the development of websites with different designs and functionalities.
The following guidelines were defined for the selection of the web tool:
• A single, scalable web platform that allowed for the hosting of multiple websites;
• Multi-organization capability;
• Autonomy in content management for each website;
• Independent graphic templates for each website;
• A modular structure;
• Centralized and integrated technical management;
• Compliance with the SG’s technological architecture guidelines.
The implemented solution
The implemented solution consists of a highly scalable architecture, allowing for the definition of application layers and resource optimization, ensuring high availability and the implementation of differentiated security levels. The platform enables synchronization with other platforms through the implementation of communication mechanisms, as well as the automatic import and export of information.
In the first phase, the application engine is acquired, and according to the objectives and needs of each organization, new modules are purchased by the respective body. These modules are, in turn, easily integrated into the base platform, becoming available for all websites of the remaining organizations.
The graphic model of the website is defined and acquired by each organization and subsequently made available on the base platform. In this way, it is also possible to reuse these models and apply adjustments based on the original graphic design.
With this management model in place, it was also possible to separate responsibilities, as the SG took over all infrastructure management, the application component, training, and first-line technical support, while information and content management became the responsibility of the respective organization.
To achieve this latter objective, the appointment of a content manager for each website was requested, with the duties of managing and promoting the site in terms of information, verifying application best practices, and acting as a direct liaison with the SG.
With a very versatile and user-friendly interface, the tool allows for the definition of differentiated access profiles and roles for each website, thus enabling content management to be tailored by the entity managing the site, which are the organizations or clients.
“With this project, we sought to begin structuring an idealized model to ensure a response to the broad universe of clients that the ICT services inherited, by virtue of the functions assigned to them,” says Susana Miguel.
“The need to achieve economies of scale, manage scarce human resources, and rationalize technological infrastructure led to the model of centralizing services and resources. This allowed us to focus technical skills, avoiding the dispersion of knowledge, and to improve the management and monitoring of the physical infrastructure and the application component,” adds the Head of Division.
The project also enabled technicians who were previously allocated to content entry to focus on technical support and development.
Innovations and benefits
For Susana Miguel, “it is worth highlighting the implementation of this model of centralization and standardization in service delivery, based on a layered and highly scalable technology—not only at the infrastructure level but also regarding the tool itself, as it is a modular tool that allows for evolution without requiring changes or version updates to the sites.”
There are already 18 sites installed on this platform, with very different levels and content. There is also significant diversity in terms of information typology, as some are institutional in nature while others are essentially thematic.
“This multi-organizational model makes it possible to simultaneously provide an efficient and effective response to the needs of various services, and for the SG to fulfill its mission of supporting and implementing new websites in a short period of time,” says the official.
“The application of this service delivery model, which has proven to be effective and efficient, was ratified as a proof of concept and should be transposed to other ICT processes, constituting one of the Lego pieces that make up service delivery in the area of Information and Communication Technologies,” reveals Susana Miguel.
Source: IGOV Portal
