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There are many different frameworks for developing effective enterprise architecture (e.g., Zachman Framework, Open Group Architectural Framework, Federal Enterprise Architecture, and the Gartner Methodology); however, these frameworks should be viewed as strategic management toolkits rather than roadmaps. The tools in the toolkits should be implemented prescriptively, and facilitate modern practices in participatory governance.

Participatory governance “seeks to deepen citizen participation in the governmental process (enterprise architecture) by examining the assumptions and practices of the traditional view that generally hinders… The traditional view of government service delivery is that government services must be delivered by the government only. But when we look at the implications of this view, we see deficiencies in service delivery across every level of government. These are deficiencies that are generally remedied in the private sector due to competitive and comparative advantage. Within the private sector, comparative advantage is possible because of the efficient distribution of commodities. Now, think back to the definition of knowledge services: The use of data, information and knowledge instead of traditional commodities to create a product or service. Imagine the impact on service delivery if public data and digital assets were as readily available for service creation and product development (within privacy and security constraints) as traditional commodities.

Constituents would have a greater number of services to choose from, and services would be delivered across a greater number of distribution channels, resulting in increased value. This model should not be applied to “all” government services, but in instances where it is implemented; constituents often opt to pay for the competitive service over the original government offering, which in turn creates job growth and economic development.

Eventually, as applicable government offerings become less desirable, they can be retired, resulting in the decreased cost of government services. To achieve this modern state of participatory service delivery, government entities will need to nurture “communities of participation” ¹⁾ around public asset management, and more specifically around data and digital asset management for knowledge service development.

Public asset management “is the discipline of sustaining public infrastructure (including data and digital assets), and facilities such as airports, bridges, waterways, data centers, etc… Its goal is to optimize the service life of public assets to improve community quality of life and economic efficiency.” ²⁾ Within the practice of knowledge service development, communities of participation work in partnership with government through participatory design to build awareness, add value to data and digital assets, and to develop products and services that improve quality of life.

In the same way that enterprise architecture is often misunderstood and too narrowly defined, participatory design is often misunderstood to mean a “design approach characterized by user involvement alone.”^{3) 4)}. In fact, it means the “various research methods… used to iteratively construct the emerging [co-created] design.” ⁵⁾.

The participatory design process for knowledge services follows the stages of knowledge service development: generate, transform, manage, use internally, transfer, enhance, use professionally and evaluate (See Figure 1). Each stage represents research and the development of knowledge that feeds the next iteration of the process. Consider for a moment, the economic and social effects of combining participatory governance and public asset management through a business model that further structures the participatory design process (research and development) to result in return on investment for government organizations and private-sector partners.