Lessons learned

Irish officials learned a few lessons during the pilot test of the Interagency Messaging Service.

Here are some of them:

Agencies must be convinced of the benefit of the "build once, use often" principle.

Different agencies have different levels of automation.

Some agency officials aren't quick to adopt the idea of a central hub, making outreach a key factor.

Agencies must work incrementally to build examples that will demonstrate the benefits of the program.

The lower the technology barriers, the more likely agency officials will participate.

The goal should be to go beyond simply putting forms online to eliminate the need for forms altogether.