Cloud computing implementation framework: case study of directorate of e-government

Date
2013
Authors
Karimi, Paul Kabui
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Information Technology has gone through a continuous paradigm shifts. All these shifts are either driven by technological change and advancement or the requirements by the clients. Hence these shifts have made the IT industry very dynamic for particular technologies to assert themselves as the defacto technologies. The technologies must be combined to give the full potential of the combined technologies by complementing and supporting each other’s capabilities. Organizations that are progressive and take ICT as an enabler and a strategic arm in their operation must take up and adapt to such technologies so that they remain competitive in terms of service delivery, cost of production, and systems integration among other benefit. Cloud computing is the most recent paradigm in IT; it uses the many years evolved technologies together to harness the benefits accrued in each technology to create modern data centers. The cloud concept is geared to enable customers or data center user to subscribe to computing service they need without investing in acquiring computing assets. This thesis proposed a cloud computing framework using directorate of Egovernment as a case study. The directorate of e-government is mandated to manage and give policy direction for ICT in government. Currently the government ministries and department implements segregated ICT systems with full investment on hardware, software and personnel. Most of the investment does not get the full economic returns because they end up being underutilized and there is a lot of duplicated effort across the government in terms of ICT projects. The research studied the sampled ministries and departments, through personalized interviews and review of existing works and documents to understand the nature of services being offered by the departments and ministries. The results formed indicative facts of the underlying ICT services and assets base in government. The research further proposes a comprehensive collective cloud computing implementation framework which can be used to transform the current SILO based approach of implementation to Government Cloud where all the government ICT resources can be pooled and managed centrally. Respective theoretical models and framework forming the building base of cloud computing and utility services are reviewed in the literature review. The research further explained how the developed framework should be implemented in government through various discussion and recommendation. The researcher validated the proposed framework by mapping the proposed frameworks components to the know variables in cloud computing implementation and post interview and frame work review by the study respondents.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of the Masters of Science in information technology
Keywords
Cloud computing, e-government
Citation