Abstract:
The advancement in computing technologies like artificial interagency, cloud computing, smart
cards, and biometrics has changed conventional citizen identification and data management to
more accurate, agile, and robust identification platforms. Most of the developed countries are using
such platforms while other developing countries are in the process of introducing stage. However,
in developing countries like Ethiopia, the absence of such capability foils people from receiving
high-quality services. The purpose of this study is to investigate the issues and challenges with the
current Ethiopian citizen identification and data management platforms, and designing an
alternative biometric-based citizen identification platform over a cloud. The research method used
in this study is based on the design science paradigm. To investigate and analyze the issues and
challenges in the existing state of art Ethiopian citizen IDs and data management systems, three
fact-finding/primary data collection techniques i.e., survey, interview, and technical observation
were employed at selected sites. After an in-depth analysis of collected facts and a detailed review
of literature, the study concludes that the current Ethiopian citizen identification and data
management system is now obsolete and error-prone with several challenges and it needs a next
generation transformation/upgrade with the intervention of technologies like Cloud. The study
concluded with new a newly proposed biometric-based Ethiopian citizen identification and data
management framework (ECIDMF) overcloud. The parameters considered were ease of
Availability, Reliability, Location independence, Security, Cost-effectiveness, On-demand
scalability, Performance, Flexible payment system, Open Boundary Accessibility, etc. Finally, the
ECIDM Framework is proposed, developed, demonstrated for validation using a functional
prototype with selected features. Thus this research can be a new knowledge baseline for the
transformation of Ethiopia one step towards the next generation of citizen IDs. The user acceptance
was observed as 72% satisfied for Ease of recovery from disaster, 70% for Cross-boundary
accessibility, 70% for Service availability(24/7), 73% for Reliability and integrity, 69% for Cost
effectiveness, 69% for Security and privacy, 75% for Scalability & User-friendliness, 73%
for Identification accuracy and agility, 72% for Intra and Inter-Organization access, 72% for Smart
search, 70% for Identification inclusiveness, 70% for Platform independence, 73% for Automatic
generation of the report, and 69% for green computing support.
