Evaluation of integration and interoperability opportunities of e-government projects concerning social work practice: An action research into Ministry of Family and Social Policies

There are many Institutions and Ministries working on social welfare directly or indirectly, aiming to provide better life conditions for all citizens in Turkey. Although the center of the social policies is the Ministry of Family And Social Policies, the Ministry needs to work in cooperation with other government institutions and voluntary organizations in order to fulfill the tasks given. An effective way of coordinating the services provided by diversity of institutions is using integration opportunities presented by information technologies. Almost every institution use E-Government systems that are convenient means of integrations, for managing and organizing their business and E-Government Gateway for serving citizens. It is regarded as a straightforward process to integrate/communicate systems. But, in practice, beyond and besides the technical aspect, there exists difficulties about implementing the official prerequisites and to "understand" and convert the information of each other due to internally complex and unfamiliar organizational business rules. Aim of this research is to expose the key points and the problems of interagency information sharing and integrations in social service welfare besides the benefits, from the perspective of MoFSP members. Keywords: Integration, Interagency Information Sharing, E-Government, E-Government Gateway, Social Policy