The Implementation Guidelines of Digital Document Management System for Malaysia Public Sector: Expert Review

— Digital Document Management System (DDMS) is a system adopted by the Malaysian Public sector for managing documents and records. Despite giving many benefits, the adoption of the system is still below satisfaction. A guideline should be in place to accelerate the adoption rate of such a system. Accordingly, a guideline for DDMS implementation is proposed as was suggested in a previous study involving 439 DDMS users by the same authors. The proposed guidelines consist of 6 main factors which are: system capability; implementation policy; security, training; awareness programs, and top management/team members (colleague) supports. This paper aims to verify the content of the proposed guidelines in order to seek for its suitability in the Malaysian public sector context. Data was collected via a face-to-face interview with four panels of experts (practitioners) who have vast experience in DDMS implementation. The finding thence confirmed and verified the content of the proposed guidelines. The proposed guidelines is expected to assist the DDMS implementation team especially the three leading agencies such as the Malaysian Administrative Modernization and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), Chief Government Security Office (CGSO) and the National Archives of Malaysia (NAM) in coordinating and planning for the implementation of DDMS initiative at the agencies level vis-a-vis increase the level of user adoption. This guideline also can be used as a reference to develop a detailed DDMS implementation policy by the committee and the project team.


I. INTRODUCTION
The Digital Document Management System (DDMS) is one of the initiatives of the Malaysian government for projects under the e-Government Entry Points Projects (EPP), which is striving for a paperless environment [1]. The project is being implemented in stages beginning in the year 2013. The project was executed to enhance the delivery of services and record-keeping and improve the transparency of government via the use of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) [2]. DDMS caters for document and records management services based on the concept of electronic records life cycle from creation, through storage, maintenance, and disposal. The development of DDMS has also complied with the electronic records management criteria set forth by MS ISO 16175-2: 2012 Information and Documentation -Principles and functional requirements for records in electronic office environments, thus making the system meets the international standard.
DDMS offers a wide range of benefits. These are reduced paper usage, speed up public records access, avoid loss of records, and facilitate the transfer of records to archive [3]. DDMS implementation also provides potential solutions to enhance the efficiency of public sector electronic records management, improve services, reduce storage space and integrate or eliminate duplication of work in government offices. The system is protected with the government ICT security protocols to ensure that government's documents and records are preserved. In line with the government's desire to provide readily available and efficient access to public records, the system is expected to be further extended to all agencies in the public sector by the year 2020.
DDMS has a significant impact on the management of public electronic records. Unlike the conventional environments (generally limited to filing activities) electronic environment becomes the responsibility of each staff irrespective of hierarchy. Concerning this, involvement at the user-level is essential to ensure the success of DDMS implementation. Thus, a good implementation strategy needs to be carefully planned to increase user adoption of the system which should work hand in hand with policy and guidelines. The implementation of DDMS involves a long and complicated process that influence the way of working at all levels. Therefore, change management should be incorporated.
In an earlier preliminary survey by these authors revealed that DDMS performance in the Malaysian public sector is still embracing hurdles in terms of low usage. The implementation was also without coordination [4] where most agencies fond of writing their policy and guidelines [5]. Given this, there is a need to develop DDMS implementation guidelines for the Malaysian public sector which can be applied and coordinated to all implementing agencies. The proposed guidelines are expected to serve as a guide for implementing the DDMS effectively and increase the adoption rate of the system among the user in the Malaysian public sector.

A. Guidelines Development
The DDMS implementation guidelines developed in this paper are a result of previous research conducted earlier by these authors [6] which examined the intention to adopt DDMS among 439 users from 27 agencies in the public sector. The analysis from the earlier study showed that 4 factors were adapted from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) theory, while another 3 from external factors. All these 7 factors were significant with the intention to adopt DDMS in the Malaysian public sector (analyzed using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach). The factors are as listed in Table 1.  [16] "Involves the situation in which the system's users believe that DDMS can improve their job performance." Effort Expectancy [7]- [15], [17] "Involves the situation in which the system's users believe that DDMS is easy to use." Social Influence [7]- [12], [14], [15], [18], [19] "Individuals can be influenced by the attitudes and behaviors of other individuals and vice versa." Facilitating Condition [7]- [14], [20]- [22] "The role of technical infrastructure and organization to support the DDMS implementation (infrastructure, training, and technical support)"

External Factors
Perceive Value of Records [23], [24] "Involves the situation in which the system's users believe that document and records are valuable and are worthy to be stored" Policy [8], [15], [20], [25]- [27] "Involves the situation in which the system's users believe that policy can provide a way of action to guide and determine current and future decisions." Security [15], [23], [28]- [32] "Involves the situation in which the system's users believe that the use of technology can ensure the safety of documents and records." Such a finding indicates that there is a need that warrants the development of DDMS implementation guidelines based on the identified and significant seven factors. This is in line with research conducted by [33] and [34]. The proposed guidelines can serve as an essential guide to the DDMS implementation team to address the problem of user rejection, thus, increase the adoption rate of the application. The proposed guidelines are also developed to provide solutions for the issues and challenges that have been raised by the various implementing agencies.
The development of DDMS implementation guidelines has considered two criteria which are, the significant factors and existing standards or procedures.

1) The Significant Factors:
The proposed guidelines incorporate terms that are easy to understand. Although the original 7 significant factors are mapped to an easy-tounderstand factor (following this, only 6 factors are considered as the result of two factors are combined), but the definitions and features of those factors are preserved. Fig. 1 depicts the mapping between the factors influencing DDMS adoption and the proposed guidelines of DDMS implementation for the Malaysian public sector. The implementation of DDMS involves various roles and various organizations; therefore, the development also takes into account the Malaysian public sector project management standards and procedures to cater to the needs and requirements. The development also refers to existing standards, procedures, and guidelines of other countries [35]- [39].

B. Guidelines Contents
The proposed DDMS implementation guidelines consist of 6 new main factors as shown in Fig. 2 which are i) system capability; ii) implementation policy; iii) security iv) training; v) awareness program and vi) top management and team members (colleague) supports. A detailed description of each factor is discussed in the findings and analysis section.

C. Research Method
The purpose of the expert review was to get constructive comments, opinions and to verify whether the proposed guideline meets the standard requirement and suitable for the context of study which is the Malaysian public sector. The expert review was carried out based on 4 steps, as shown in Fig.3.

Fig. 3: Steps in Experts Review
The first step was the selection of a panel of experts. The selection was based on three criteria such as 1) involvement in the strategic planning and policy development of DDMS; 2) knowledgeable and have vast experience concerning DDMS implementation in the public sector and 3) the readiness to participate in the research. A total of four experts (2 from MAMPU, 1 from NAM and 1 from CGSO) were able to participate in this expert review. These three agencies were selected based on their role as the leading agencies in executing the implementation of DDMS. The expert's criteria are as depicted in Table 2. The second step was the development and preparation of expert review form that was used to gather feedback data and to confirm the content of the guidelines eventually. Experts were asked to respond based on three questions. (1) Does the Government have any existing DDMS implementation guidelines to increase the adoption in the Malaysian public sector?; (2) Do the DDMS implementation guidelines are required by the Government (in general) and the DDMS implementation team (in particular) to improve the existing implementation thus ensuring the successful implementation of this application?; (3) Do the recommendations or proposed guidelines on empirical studies involving DDMS users are appropriate in the real environment?
Lastly, in the third step, the complete proposed guidelines attached to the expert review form were presented to the panel of experts in a face-to-face approach session. The experts were requested to verify the format, flow, content of the document and its suitability with the Malaysian public sector context. All comments and opinions were taken into account and corrected before being presented again during the second session. Besides the six factors, the implementation governance was advised to be added as part of the guideline's content by E1, and E3 supported the opinion. Finally, all the panel experts were unanimously agreed and endorsed the updated version of DDMS implementation guidelines (after all corrections and improvements are made).

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This section discusses the result of the study, which is the contents of the updated DDMS implementation guidelines that have been approved and endorsed by the experts. The final guidelines are produced after considering the comments and suggestions from the experts during the review session.

A. Implementation Governance
The proposed governance structure of DDMS implementation consists of the Project Steering Committee, Project Technical Committee, Project owner, Subject Matter Experts (SME) and Implementation Team (at agencies level). Each committee/project team needs to understand their roles and responsibilities to ensure that the DDMS implementation works smoothly and effectively. All agencies are encouraged to set up a DDMS governance structure at the agency level to ensure that all functions are aligned and well implemented. The description of each committee and working team with the scope of the task is as set out in Table 3. • Determine the direction and implementation strategy of the project; • Monitor the overall project implementation status; • Monitor and coordinate project financial flows equivalent to project progress; • Approving project payment; • Consider and approving proposed contract enforcement terms such as penalties, an extension of time, and contract termination; • Solve project-related policy issues; • Consider and approve the proposal for any project-related issues to be addressed by the Project Technical Committee; • Approving and verifying each stage of the project implementation; • Approving the project submission; and • Reporting project progress status to Government IT and Internet Committee Project Technical Committee • Monitor and ensure project execution meets the scope and timetable of the project; • Reviewing and selecting project submissions meeting the requirements set forth; • Review the policy issues during the implementation of the project and certify the proposed solution to the Project Steering Committee for approval; • Review and acknowledge the terms of the enforcement of contract terms to the Project Steering Committee; • Provide solutions to technical issues during project implementation; • Review a project submission to the Project Steering Committee for approval; and • Report the progress of the project to the Project Steering Committee

Project Owner
• Design and prepare direction and strategy project; • Identify project activities and implementation schedules in detail; • Implement projects following the scope and timetable; • Require the enforcement of contract terms (if applicable) to the Project Team, Project Technical Committee and Project Steering Committee; • Identify issues and problems of project implementation and solution proposals; • Monitor the progress of project implementation based on agreed contract and schedule; and • Reviewing and selecting project submissions through a quality assurance process and specified standards.
Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Physical Protection Security, Document, Personnel, and ICT Security Management • Involved in system requirements and specification studies as well as testing sessions (UAT, PAT, and FAT); • Involved in the implementation of the system as a pioneering agency; • Providing advice on the management of records, laws, and regulations in force; and • Coordinate consultancy services activities and implement departmental record management programs and activities such as record management training/briefing, file classification workshop, and record disposal workshop. Implementation Team (Agencies Level) • Manage the implementation of DDMS in agencies level involving: user training, implementation programs, and awareness/ change management programs; • Preparing Progress Report (monthly usage); • Report the problem of using the system. • Recommendations from time to time regarding systems improvement:

B. System Capability
System users always look forward to a user-friendly and easy-to-use system to improve their routine task performance [40]. Among the system criteria to be considered by developers and system administrators from time to time are as set out in Table 4. The language used should be of quality and free from grammatical and spelling errors.

C. Implementation Policy
DDMS implementation policies need to be developed, coordinated, and enforced by all implementing agencies to ensure smooth implementation [41]- [43]. Inputs from MAMPU, NAM, CGSO and agency representatives (to identify best practices) are required to produce a complete and accurate implementation policy. The proposed policy implementation is as set out in Table 5.

D. Security
Security is a frequent issue that had been raised by the system's users [15], [23], [31]. The adoption of the system will increase if the user's confidence in system security is high. Among the items to be emphasized are as set out in Table 6. systems and all categories of information according to the suitability of the operation. This is to ensure the system or information recovery in the event of loss of data, disaster or interference; and • Duplication of applications, software, and equipment should be made to maintain information availability and ensure continuity of service in the event of disruption or damage to any equipment or system. Advisory • Provide advisory services on security systems, laws and regulations that are enforceable. Provide advisory services on security systems, laws and regulations that are enforceable.

E. Training
User training is one of the essential factors that should be emphasized by the implementing agency [15], [44]. DDMS application should be implemented consistently to increase the efficiency and utilization skills. Training should be carried out based on user criteria because the fundamental approach is different. Training should also be carried out continuously to meet the needs of new users that are increasing from time to time. Table 7 shows the proposed training implementation.

F. Awareness Program
Awareness programs need to be carefully planned to increase the adoption of the system [44] and acknowledge the users on the benefits earned by using DDMS. The programs should also be able to attract users to use the system consistently and continuously. Among the proposed programs that can be implemented to increase awareness and consumer adoption of DDMS areas listed in Table 8.
However, the programmes depend on the needs and goals of each implementing agency.

G. Top Management and Team Members(colleague) Support
The involvement and support of top management are one of the main factors contributing to the success of DDMS implementation [15], [44]. Top management plays an essential role in managing the organizations especially in the first phase of DDMS implementation. Good leadership can support and control the project at all levels ranging from the ground up to the highest level. Support between team members is also essential to ensure that DDMS is used extensively. Table 9 shows a proposed activity to increase the support of top management and team members.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
From the review session, all the experts unanimously agreed and verified that: Currently, there are no proper guidelines for the DDMS implementation in the Malaysian public sector; it is important to have guidelines to ensure the success of DDMS implementation in the Malaysian public sector; the content of the proposed guidelines is appropriate applicable and can be used as a basic guide for developing more comprehensive guidelines and synchronized to all DDMS implementing agencies; and the proposed guidelines are appropriate and suitable to be imposed in the Malaysian public sector in assisting the execution of DDMS implementation. Nonetheless, this proposed guideline is subject to revision and amendment as time pass to cater the advancement of technology, applications, procedures, and laws. Also, this guideline should be used in a complementary manner with other government-related guidelines.