Citizen developers at scale: CoP as the new operating model for LCNC

CoPs offer government agencies a more inclusive, collaborative and adaptive approach for implementing LCNC platforms at scale.

In brief

• CoPs are driven by engagement from process owners and functional experts rather than top-down policy directives.
• Agencies that provide infrastructure support can see exceptional outcomes with minimal overhead cost.
• A CoP enhances agility and responsiveness by enabling localized decision-making.

Imagine a busy government agency responsible for delivering essential services to millions of constituents. One department develops a case management application for constituent inquiries while another department creates a similar tool for small-business inquiries. There is clear similarity between these tools, although they may differ in frequency of request, user interfaces, and unique needs they meet for a distinct constituent group. Furthermore, both systems will need to integrate with the agency’s core IT systems before their public launch.

Traditionally, organizations developed CoEs to tackle these problems. CoEs created a siloed team of experts separate from process owners designed to drive best practices, standardize processes and foster innovation. Knowledge and skills are concentrated in one place, but this orients processes toward the agency rather than constituents. It is not as effective in responding to dynamic constituent needs such as those common in today’s environment.

In contrast to CoEs, CoPs are integrated. CoPs are driven by engagement from process owners and functional experts rather than top-down policy directives. This approach ensures that the products and solutions developed are user-engaged and tailored to meet the specific needs of constituents. In a CoP, practitioners collaborate to share knowledge, refine best practices, introduce standards, and share lessons learned from different implementations.² Traditionally, CoPs have been informal and developed outside the organization, but agencies that provide infrastructure support, such as budgets, collaboration tools, knowledge management platforms, or outside learning, can see exceptional outcomes with minimal overhead cost.

Figure 1: CoP Operating Models

Figure 2: Project Delivery in Centralized and Federated Operating Models

Richard Hauf, Executive Director, Technology Consulting, Ernst & Young LLP; Jonathan Woolridge, Manager, Technology Consulting, Ernst & Young LLP; Adeem Siddique, Senior, Technology Consulting, Ernst & Young LLP; and Juan A Pestana, Senior, Technology Consulting, Ernst & Young LLP co-authored this article.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.