Technical Debt in the Municipality Sector - The Missing Link with Citizens and Silofication

• Public sector organizations suffer from high levels of technical debt (TD). TD leaves digital infrastructures in a derelict state, making digital transformations costly and risky. Though there is growing research about TD, most studies focus on private businesses, and there is a lack of research about TD in the public sector. In this study, we conduct a case study examining the TD in a Swedish municipality, analyzing archival data such as project reports, municipality blog posts on digital transformation, and goals to improve citizen experience. We focus on four information systems that support permit application processes. Analysis results reveal the common TD types, consequences, and possible causes. Departments work in silos, the case manager perspective is prevalent in requirements, and the citizens only have a limited passive role as system users leading to various types of TD and high costs when integrating legacy systems into a coherent IT architecture. By diving deep into the data from a specific forerunner municipality, we identify TD and increase our understanding of how debt influences digital transformation. Results give a stable ground for further research and practice on mitigating the debt.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Studier av offentlig förvaltning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Public Administration Studies (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Technical debt

public sector

municipality

citizens

silofication

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)