Teams of UB MBA Students Help Town of Amherst Move Toward E-Government Applications

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Working with officials from the Town of Amherst and representatives from EDS, teams of University at Buffalo MBA students are developing e-commerce applications designed to streamline town services and generate cost-savings for governmental operations.

The students' work for the town is a requirement of a graduate-level course in e-commerce offered through the UB School of Management's MBA program. It has resulted in the creation of five "e-government" prototypes, which the students presented to the town last week during the final phase of the course.

The students' recommendations included development of a Web portal for registration of pets and a Web-based system for procurement of town supplies, creation of an online recreation-registration system, and development of a "personal government assistant" -- a Web-enabled kiosk that would allow citizens to access, complete and submit building permits, marriage licenses, tax forms and other documents online.

Guidance on the students' projects was provided by staff members from the Amherst office of EDS, which donated time to the projects through the UB MBA program's "adopt-a-course" initiative that invites corporate executives into the classroom to share expertise and resources.

Larry Southwick, UB associate professor of finance and managerial economics, and comptroller for the Town of Amherst, helped to get the joint effort off the ground, serving as a liaison between the town and UB's e-commerce instructor, H.R. Rao, professor of management sciences and systems in the School of Management.

"The goal was to give students a hands-on opportunity to flex their technology skills and apply classroom theory while working as 'consultants' for the town," says Rao.

"The Town of Amherst gets insight on how to take advantage of several opportunities provided by e-government, and the students get significant real-world business experience," adds Dennis Shumaker, a client-delivery executive at EDS who coordinated the company's participation.

The next step, according to Jerry Galkiewicz, director of computer services for the town, is to evaluate which of the student projects will be implemented given costs, resources and the goals of the town government.

"The students have opened some doors for us, showing us the potential for e-commerce," says Galkiewicz. "We're very interested in developing new tools for citizens to conveniently interact with town government."

Adds Robert Gromer, chair of the town's government-study committee: "We're hoping the students' ideas will help us improve town services and put the town at the forefront of e-government."

Galkiewicz and Gromer say that the most promising projects for implementation appear to be the personal government assistant and animal-licensing Web portal, which were developed by teams led by second-year MBA students Johnathan Duncan and Bryant Tyson, respectively.

"Our research didn't uncover another local government using the Web to register animals," says Tyson. "We think it's very doable for the town."

"It's been a lot of work and has been very challenging," adds Duncan. "At the very least, we've developed tremendous admiration for the town's desire to seek new ways to meet the needs of its citizens."