Where in the organization is the IT function to be located? There are various different possibilities, discussed below. The term ‘IT unit’ will be used here, reflecting its widespread employment in the public sector.
Decentralized Location
At the extreme, responsibilities for e-government may be so decentralized that no organizational IT structures. Staff or budgets exist: everything is left up to individual staff. One stage up from this is the situation in which one member of staff in each section is identified as the computer ‘whizz-kid’. While continuing to perform their usual managerial or clerical role, they informally take on an IT support role. One stage further up, some or all of the organization’s department have their own IT staff and/or IT unit and a specific department IT budget. These resources and focused on serving the needs of the individual departments.