This article is based on a survey of projects directed at improving business operations in two local government bodies in Sweden, Härnösand municipality with a population of 25,000 and Sundsvall municipality with a population of 95,000. The projects are directed at the modernization and improvement of service delivery to their citizens. Both municipalities are conducting projects that will enhance e-government. E-government aims to reform government public management, to allow for citizens’ participation in policy making and to foster efficiency and transparency. This has required the effective deployment of information systems to manage the information resources. Modern information technologies have facilitated the automation of business processes within the municipalities and the delivery of e-services to citizens, who can now access public information via the websites. This development however requires new ways of thinking which promote collaboration beyond the administrative departments and a holistic way of using the available resources. Information management is crucial to the daily decision-making processes and in establishing an efficient and service-minded organization which is customer-centered. However, critical factors regarding project implementation, change management business processes and the challenges of e-government will have to be addressed if successful achievement of agile government structures is to be attained. The article therefore highlights the challenges that still persist as local government bodies try to espouse the modernization process and identifies the areas that need closer examination.

The paper will focus on the management of information in two government municipalities by looking at the interface between Records Management and Enterprise Content Management. Sundsvall and Härnösand municipalities in Sweden will provide case studies for the research. Sundsvall municipality has a population of 95,000 inhabitants and has developed an overall vision called MRP (Mål-Resurs-Planering) literally translated as (Goal-Centered Resource Planning) that defines an overall view of its activities. Härnösand municipality has a population of 25,000 inhabitants and has also undertaken projects to improve its operations. Local government authorities have been characterized as rigid structures that are slow in reacting to change. The current financial global environment is changing this and we now see that the municipalities also re-engineering their work processes. The demand for high quality service delivery from the citizens is pushing this development. In the private sector, Business Process Management (BPM), Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) are tools being recommended as the panacea for effective organizations. The management of information assets is of paramount importance to the achievement of efficiency and the delivery of quality services. The municipalities’ engagement in E-government has meant a two-flow of information between them and the citizens which has resulted into a deluge of information that has to be effectively managed. Based on the literature reviewed on ECM and records management, the paper aims to establish how the municipalities are coping with the burgeoning information and will highlight the challenges of information management in shifting environments.

This paper is based on case studies which involved two small municipalities in Sweden. It examines whether the information management strategies being implemented in the municipalities could be considered to be the same as or similar to enterprise content management. In the private sector enterprise content management is being promoted as the panacea to the exponentially increasing amounts of information. It is being deployed to enable the effective capture, management, distribution, retrieval, storage and preservation of both structured and unstructured information. Public administrations are now required to deliver e government service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In response to this requirement, local government municipalities in Sweden are working to integrate the numerous information management systems spread across their various committees, administrative divisions

and public utility companies. They have also embarked on workflow analysis and business processes to help meet current and future demands for high quality service delivery within reduced budgets. Records management is being used to manage their information resources, to increase efficiency and to enhance transparency and accountability. The enterprise content management proponents suggests it is crucial to address a number of factors if organizations are to cope with the exponential growth in both structured and unstructured information, and to leverage information in order to achieve a competitive edge. Those factors are:

• Business process management;

• Collaboration;

• Change management;

• Repurposing of information;

• Knowledge management;

• System integration;

• Enterprise architecture; and

• The lifecycle management of information.

While this paper does not give an in-depth analysis of these factors, it explores, within the context of the case studies, their maturity and how they are addressed in two Swedish municipalities as they work towards their e-services goals and the effective management of information and records. The paper also explores definitions of enterprise content management and records management.

This article describes the transformation that is taking place in two publicmunicipalities and the information management challenges they are facedwith as they engage in e-government developments. In order to enhancetransparency, accountability and effective service delivery, the municipalities have invested in citizen-centric websites and hence made informationaccessible to the wider community. Municipal-level public administrations

are slowly transforming from rigid organisations to organisations that are embracing change in order to cope with the increasing demand for quality service from citizens. They are also moving away from the ‘silo way’of doing things and promoting collaboration among the municipal units and beyond. Information and its management have become crucial to e-government developments since it is looked upon as a national resource. However, transforming public administrations is complex and threatens to disregard recordkeeping principles because of the way information systems meant to support new services are being conceptualised. The municipalities have invested in information systems to facilitate the capture and use of information, the automation of work processes and to improve efficiency.

The ongoing e-service developments will require strong recordkeeping regimes that will sustain the open structures of governance, promote information access, protect citizenry rights and enable the municipalities to achieve their ultimate goal of effective service delivery. In the public sector, records management continues to play an indispensable role regarding

the management of authentic, reliable and trustworthy records. However, enterprise content management (ECM) is also being promoted as a panacea to the management of the proliferating information resources. The findings and analysis in this article will be of interest to information management leaders and practitioners in local or municipal governments who are investigating new business processes and platforms for managing the growth of e-services.