Though not nirvana, a federal advisory board says E-government services can save time and money, aid small businesses, simplify bureaucracy, encourage participation in government, and discourage corruption. If, that is, agencies deploying services on the Internet market the new features broadly.

The Intergovernmental Advisory Board's new report, titled High Payoff In Electronic Government: Measuring the Return On E-Government Investments, states, "Not all E-gov programs are welcomed enthusiastically, despite the benefits they promise to deliver, and gaining full acceptance for E-gov will require marketing, information, and education campaigns." The board guides federal IT professionals on emerging technology.

"Citizens must be made aware that they can interact with their government online and that it is advantageous to do so. E-gov managers must continuously assess the citizens' level of acceptance through preference polling, customer-satisfaction surveys, and online-trend monitoring," the report recommends.

Government officials use many metrics in measuring the value of E-government, including traditional cost-benefit analysis and return-on-investment calculations. But these can fail to adequately measure benefits, the report states. New and better metrics are needed, the report recommends, in order to secure funding at a time when deficits are mounting.

"The important economic value of E-gov will be the transformational value of re-engineering crosscutting government processes, and integrating IT investments into business processes," the report states. "There are formidable organizational impediments to this significant change-management objective, however, and internal factors are more important than competition as indicators of transformational readiness."

E-government programs benefit the public in five ways, according to the board:

• Web-enabling customer-service processes eliminates paperwork and the associated printing and mailing fees, reduces staff, and improves cash management when online revenue collection is used.

• Businesses are using online services to more easily determine what information the government needs of them and then filing that information online. Tourists also are using the Web to plan trips. Both aid local economies.

• E-government programs that integrate systems and databases and provide one-stop sources of government information make agencies more responsive and efficient.

• The free flow of information permitted by the Internet promotes transparency and accountability in government. It also increases the accessibility of government at all levels.

• E-government significantly improves citizen service by making it easier, quicker, and more convenient to do business with the government online. Online tax filing, license renewal, recreation, and job searches are among the most popular E-government programs.

The advisory board consists of nine government CIOs, three each from federal, state, and local governments; General Services Administration IT experts; and representatives from the not-for-profit Federation of Government Information Processing Councils.