Differences in Information Systems Development and Evolution Practice between the Local and Governmental Public Sector

Abstract

We have in earlier work reported differences between how public and private Norwegian organizations are able to use time on value adding activities in their work on IT. Using responses to the ‘IT i Praksis’ – surveys done by Rambøll in 2021, we in this paper look upon differ-ences between local (municipalities) and governmental agencies. ‘IT i praksis’ is distributed to Norwegian public organizations, and the overall response rate is around 45-50%, although not all respondents answer all questions. The data presented in this paper is based on re-sponses from 255 public organizations, with 176 municipalities, and 79 public organizations on national or regional level that have re-sponded. Overall, the investigation confirms the results from earlier investigations when it comes to maturity of practice in public sector and how this might influence their ability to have time available for value added IT-activities. In this investigation we also find differ-ences within public sector, with municipalities scoring worse on sev-eral parameters for successful management and evolution of IT.