State launches how-to guide for e-gov
- By Dibya Sarkar
- Dec 06, 2000
Just as the atom is a building block of matter, Washington state hopes that
ATOM will be a building block for its agencies to develop e-government applications.
ATOM — Application Template and Outfitting Model — is a Web-based guide
for Internet project development, said Paul Taylor, deputy director of the
state's department of information services.
Taylor called the guide an "all-in-one, full-meal deal" to help the
state's 120 to 150 agencies, boards and commissions get a "huge kick start,
a huge advantage rather than staring at a white screen." He said it builds
core competency, helps maximize an agency's time and saves money.
The guide (www.wa.gov/dis/e-gov/atom)
walks people through the process of building e-government applications —
such as e-permits and e-payments — and using tools such as digital certificates,
firewalls and credit cards.
All told, Taylor's department mapped 144 steps needed to plan, analyze,
review, design, develop, deploy and maintain Web pages and applications
in accordance with state or agency business rules.
ATOM spells out policies and standards on privacy, payments, security,
archiving and Web presentation. For instance, a new state project team learning
the digital ropes could go step by step though the process without worrying
about what's missing, he said. People can even download templates with code
and script.
"For new project teams, they take comfort in having a guide," Taylor
said. "And for veteran project development teams, they too have embraced
it because it brings this formerly discrete process into one cohesive and
comprehensive process because time is at a premium for everybody."
ATOM also shortens the learning curve for contractors, who have been
hired for their expertise in certain e-government solutions. "We believe
it helps them because much of what they have to do is to learn about the
state environment, and ATOM provides a great deal of context to them as
well and focuses attention on what they do best," he said.
"Birthed on a scratch pad" about 10 months ago, ATOM was tested by a
few agencies in the summer and is being rolled out now, Taylor said. The
guide was created through the collaboration of several agencies and will
be refined as more agencies use it, he said.
"It's an online library of the community's knowledge and expertise,"
he said. "It gets better as it gets used."