At the Dawn of Swiss E-Government. Planning and Use of a Unique Identifier in the Public Administration in the 1970s

The article explores some of the conceptual discussions on information and communications technology (ICT) use in public administration in the 1970s. Based on ICT-maturity models, the interagency cooperation plans and their failed implementation are analyzed. This case study focuses on the discussions on the utilization of a unique identifier in Swiss public administration and describes the key concepts as well as the actual developments in this specific case. While the chosen approaches for shared use of resources encountered cultural and organizational limitations along with technical difficulties, new organizational practices for coordination and standardization were created and showed first results.