eGovernment and Organisational Transformation - a Perspective From the Property Registration Authority of Ireland

The Property Registration Authority (PRA) is the State organisation responsible for the registration of property transactions in Ireland. Its role is to provide a system of registration of title (ownership) to land, which is comprehensive and readily accessible. Originally established in 1892 as the Land Registry, the PRA carries out its statutory mandate by providing a range of key property and title-related services to its customers, principally the commercial communities operating in the land and property market. When the legal title to a piece of property is registered, the PRA on behalf of the State guarantees that title. This paper will outline how a long established Government organisation addressed significant business challenges that were threatening its operational survival. It will explain the business and administrative drivers and the level of Business Process Change (BPC) undertaken in the implementation of its eGovernment programme. It will also focus on the strategic approach adopted and provide details of how the success of the project has transformed and grown the volume and number of services provided and the range of customers who now avail of these services. It will also address the challenges faced in preparing a business case for each phase of the project which was done at a time when few "role models" existed for such projects anywhere in the world. In July 1999 the PRA (Land Registry) launched the first phase of a new programme known as the Integrated Title Registration Information System (ITRIS). With this launch the organisation became the first Government Department or Office in Ireland to offer its customers online access and transactional services to its then (limited) database of information. The overall reform programme encompassed 32 different projects, all of which have now been completed. The paper will detail how the project has paid rich dividends for the Government, the organisation itself and its traditional customer base. It will also outline how a new range of users have emerged as a result of the convenience and availability of the online services and the overall transformation. Today, ITRIS can best be described as the umbrella through which a range of technical solutions have been incorporated and integrated into an overall solution which includes: The conversion of over 110 years of historical paper records into electronic format. Working in partnership with the expertise of a specialised bureau, over 6.4 million pages of official records were systematically scanned and indexed An extensive Digital Mapping project resulting in the digitisation of every land parcel in Ireland. This project commenced in 2005 and is on schedule to be completed by mid 2010 The re-development and re-branding of online service under a single portal - landdirect.ie - in 2006 The conversion of all imaged textual records, into fully digitised format which was completed during 2009 Throughout this period there was a gradual move from a paper to a fully electronic national register of property ownership which has paved the way for further developments in the areas of electronic registration and electronic conveyancing and which will support the further integration of property related services. The success of the system has also allowed the PRA to play a leading role in national and international initiatives such as the Irish Spatial Data Infrastructure (ISDI) and the European Land Information Service (EULIS).