Introduction

The “Digital Bangladesh” vision envisages the transformation of governance into e-Governance where Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be leveraged to all aspects of governance to improve efficiency and effectiveness of public policy implementation and delivery of government services.

The Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) is one of the apex bodies of the Government of Bangladesh that has been instrumental in carving the path for the development of e-Governance in Bangladesh over the last two decades. At present, the BCC is in the process of determining the potential success of e-Governance in Bangladesh through the establishment of the “National Digital Architecture and Interoperability Framework” initiative. This initiative shall be the foundation for the successful ICT adoption in the government.

About the Bangladesh National Digital Architecture (BNDA)

The BNDA is one of the sub-projects of the Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment, and Governance Project. The objectives of this program include developing strategies for providing systematic digital services, cutting related development costs, and improving service quality by streamlining work processes. The BNDA is developed based on the TOGAF® Standard, Version 9.2, a standard of The Open Group [C182]. The BNDA is a strategic planning tool to turn visions and strategies related to government administration and service provision into reality using the “whole-of-government” approach to deliver effective, sustainable, and comprehensive services.

The BNDA framework, in line with the TOGAF Standard, Version 9.2 [C182], recommends implementing Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based on the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) for integrating different systems and services. The National e-Service Bus is architecturally an SOA product. The ICT Ministry has published BNDA guidelines, to extend the adoption of the BNDA for other ministries and agencies.

The BNDA consists of the following components:

  • Deploying a national Enterprise Architecture portal and data storage

  • Building a shared network for national digital services and achieving data standardization

  • Implementing a public service platform

  • Developing a governance system for the national Enterprise Architecture

The BNDA Application Architecture

Figure 1: The BNDA Application Architecture (Source: link:referenced-documents#refbnda2[BNDA])
Figure 1: The BNDA Application Architecture (Source: BNDA)

Importance of the National e-Service Bus

The transformational potential of technology, especially with reference to the delivery of government services, can only be realized when the efforts towards its adoption, management, and subsequent implementation are synchronized among different arms of the government. A robust Enterprise Architecture and interoperability framework shall result in the realization of the vision as outlined in the Digital Bangladesh vision with ICT and emerging technologies.

The Government of Bangladesh has introduced the National e-Service Bus under the BNDA framework to ensure interoperability, availability, and reusability of government online services, information, and data. The National e-Service Bus is a software-driven middleware platform to integrate online e-services, enable the sharing of information and data of ministries, departments, and directorates to ensure interoperability and the end user’s easy access to it. The National e-Service Bus was used on a pilot basis for six months. Based on the user experience, operational experiences, and user community feedback, the system was upgraded/modified and taken live. It has been running smoothly for the last four-plus years.