The US Federal Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, published the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy in 2011. It has become commonly known as the “Cloud First” strategy. The strategy proposes the aggressive use of cloud technologies for eGovernment (eGov) information technology (IT) systems. The report estimates that $20 billion of the $80 billion federal IT budget will be redirected to cloud-based IT systems. This brief, well-written article describes an architectural pattern that has been successfully applied in eGov implementations for multiple municipalities in the Netherlands. The potential for cross-national comparisons may provide a means to identify viable technological approaches to cost savings and improved eGov effectiveness.

The primary contribution is an architectural pattern based on the integration of three best practices in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) implementation: case management, multitenancy for online and cloud-based systems, and co-creation and cooperation. Case management and multitenancy are technologically based solutions to a myriad of eGov pitfalls. The third component of the pattern, co-creation and cooperation, is less technical in essence and provides an intriguing example of the socio-political shaping of technology. Co-creation is directed toward the procurement approach of case templates and web services by government acquisition groups. Cooperation is directed to the individual municipalities in the reduction and negotiation of variability across local implementations of web services.

The article is something of an extended abstract that documents major aspects of the architectural pattern. The full context and details of the IT systems deployed as cloud-based implementations would require a much longer document, but would undoubtedly be worth reading.