Bureaucratic reform in Indonesia has increasingly converged with digital governance as successive administrations have sought to modernize public administration. The Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE) constitutes the primary institutional vehicle for this transformation, providing a regulatory and technical framework intended to improve governmental effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and accountability through information technology (Presiden Republik Indonesia, 2018). While national SPBE maturity indicators have improved from an index of 2.79 in 2023 to 3.12 in 2024 (Kemenpanrb, 2025) the organizational realities of SPBE adoption at the regional government level are considerably more uneven and contested (Subhan & Sartika, 2025).

Within the literature on digital government, a distinction must be drawn between two related but analytically distinct phenomena: the digitalization of administrative processes, and the management of human resources in public organizations. Dunleavy et al. (2006) conceptualize digital-era governance as a transformative shift that demands changes in work processes, coordination mechanisms, and organizational behavior not simply the provision of electronic tools. Applied to the study of Civil State Apparatus or Aparatur Sipil Negara (ASN) this distinction matters because digital platforms may reshape how ASN perform their functions without necessarily constituting instruments of workforce management in the classical sense (Gil-Garcia et al., 2018). The Mata Elang Pembangunan application examined in this study is, precisely, a development planning data integration platform not an HR system and the analysis accordingly focuses on ASN engagement with this system, understood as how ASN use, experience, and are shaped by the platform in their planning-related work roles.

Table 1. SPBE Maturity Level of Local Governments in Indonesia

2.1. SPBE and Digital Government in Indonesian Local Governance
Heeks (2006) established e-government as a multidimensional construct encompassing technical readiness, organizational integration, and citizen engagement. A key insight from this foundational work is that digital systems frequently face an "e-government design-reality gap" a disconnect between the assumptions embedded in system design and the organizational realities in which systems are deployed. This gap is particularly pronounced in developing country contexts where infrastructure, institutional capacity, and user competencies are uneven (Heeks, 2006).
In the Indonesian context, SPBE was formally institutionalized through Presidential Regulation No. 95 of 2018 as an integrated framework for e-government. Subsequent evaluations by Wahyuni (2023) and Firmansyah et al. (2023) documented consistent patterns across local governments: digital systems are often deployed with strong normative intent but face implementation constraints related to ASN competency gaps, weak inter-agency harmonization, and inadequate data infrastructure. Khaidarmansyah and Saifuddin (2022) found in Lampung Province specifically that SPBE optimization remained constrained by administrative reporting orientation systems functioning as compliance tools rather than as platforms for decision support.
The more recent literature shows modest but uneven progress. Nastia (2025) documented SPBE challenges in South Buton Regency, identifying weak inter-organizational coordination, minimal leadership support, and limited digital competency as core constraints. By contrast, Hartono et al. (2025) found that sustained institutional commitment and structured user capacity building were associated with more effective digital system implementation. These contrasting cases suggest that contextual and organizational factors rather than technological provision alone determine implementation outcomes.

2.2. ASN Engagement with Digital Planning Systems
The concept of "ASN management" in public administration conventionally refers to human resource functions: recruitment, performance evaluation, competency development, and career management (Dwiyanto, 2018; Sedarmayanti, 2017). The Mata Elang Pembangunan application does not perform these functions. Framing this study as being about ASN engagement with a digital planning system rather than about ASN management per se is therefore analytically important. The question is not how ASN are managed through the application, but how ASN, as organizational actors, engage with and are shaped by it in their planning-related roles.
This framing aligns with Gil-Garcia et al.'s (2018) observation that digital government research must attend to the organizational embedding of digital systems how systems are appropriated, resisted, adapted, and normalized by the actors who use them. Malodia et al. (2021) extend this perspective, arguing that the future of e-government depends on the active engagement of public employees with digital tools, not merely on system availability. User engagement, in this view, is shaped by perceived utility, institutional mandates, training provision, and organizational culture.

2.3. Integrated Planning Information Systems and One Data Indonesia
Development planning at the regional level requires data integration across agencies. Kementerian PPN/Bappenas (2019) established the One Data Indonesia policy as a framework to address the fragmentation that characterizes Indonesian regional planning data environments. The policy mandates standardized data formats, interoperable systems, and designated data custodians at each organizational level.
In practice, the implementation of integrated planning systems has been uneven. Amalia et al. (2024) found in their e-government maturity model assessment that organizations tend to achieve only moderate maturity levels, with persistent weaknesses in data system integration and the utilization of data for managerial decision-making. These findings suggest that the availability of integrated platforms does not, in itself, resolve coordination problems if organizational readiness is insufficient.

2.4. Analytical Framework
Drawing on the literature above, this study adopts an implementation framework comprising four analytically distinct dimensions that together shape ASN engagement with the Mata Elang Pembangunan application:
Institutional commitment, technical functionality, human capacity, and policy alignment are key factors that determine the effective use of digital applications in public administration. Institutional commitment refers to the extent to which organizational leaders formally require, encourage, and monitor the use of applications in daily work processes. Strong leadership support can create clear direction, accountability, and motivation for ASN users. Technical functionality is also important because applications must be reliable, easy to use, and able to connect with other systems to support efficient data management. Meanwhile, human capacity reflects the digital literacy, training, and motivation of ASN users in operating the application properly. Without adequate skills and willingness to adapt, digital systems may not be used optimally. Policy alignment ensures that application use is not merely optional, but integrated into formal SPBE and One Data Indonesia requirements, making digital transformation more systematic, accountable, and sustainable.
This framework is used consistently throughout the Results and Discussion sections to organize empirical findings and support cross-dimensional analysis. It builds on Gil-Garcia et al. (2018), Malodia et al. (2021), and Dunleavy et al. (2006), while being operationalized specifically for the context of regional planning system adoption in Indonesian local government.

This study employs a qualitative approach with a case study design (Creswell, 2014; Yin, 2018). The qualitative approach was selected because the study aims to understand in depth the processes of application implementation, the experiential dimensions of ASN engagement, and the institutional dynamics that shape system adoption phenomena that resist reduction to quantitative indicators (Creswell, 2014). Case study design is appropriate because the research is bounded to a single, contextually specific setting, enabling the kind of thick description and contextual analysis that macro-level SPBE index assessments cannot provide (Yin, 2018).
A key limitation that must be acknowledged at the outset relates to researcher positionality. The researcher engaged directly with South Lampung Regency's government stakeholders during data collection, and informants may have been subject to social-desirability bias a tendency to present their organization's digital governance efforts in a favorable light, particularly when discussing a locally developed application. This possibility has been addressed through method triangulation and critical analysis, but readers should interpret findings with awareness of this constraint.

3.1. Research Location and Subjects
Research was conducted at the South Lampung Regency Government, focused on OPDs involved in development planning and users of the Mata Elang Pembangunan application. The location was selected purposively based on the regency's active SPBE implementation and the availability of the application under study (Sugiyono, 2019).
A total of 15 informants were selected using purposive sampling (Patton, 2002), comprising: (a) five ASN users across five OPDs one per OPD, selected for direct involvement in data input and application use; (b) three application administrators from the Department of Communication and Informatics (Diskominfo), responsible for system maintenance and user support; (c) four development planning officials from Bappeda, responsible for integrating application output into formal planning documents (RKPD, RPJMD); and (d) three OPD heads (Kepala Dinas) whose units are significant application users, providing a leadership-level perspective on institutional adoption. This composition was designed to capture both user-level experience and organizational-level dynamics across the implementation ecosystem.

3.2. Data Collection
Data were collected through three complementary methods. Semi-structured interviews (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009) were conducted individually with each informant, using an interview guide organized around the four analytical framework dimensions. Sessions lasted between 45 and 75 minutes and were audio-recorded with informed consent. Direct observation (Marshall & Rossman, 2016) was conducted during actual system use sessions at four OPD offices and at Bappeda, enabling the researcher to observe real-time data input workflows, coordination practices, and user-interface interactions beyond what informants reported verbally. Documentary analysis (Bowen, 2009) covered SPBE regulations, Bappeda planning documents (RPJMD 2021-2026, RKPD 2024-2025), Diskominfo technical guidelines, and internal OPD reports related to application use.

3.3. Data Analysis
Interview transcripts were analyzed using an inductive coding approach, beginning with open codes derived directly from transcript content, which were subsequently grouped into axial codes and then into thematic categories aligned with the four analytical framework dimensions (Miles et al., 2014). An initial code tree was developed from the first five transcripts and refined iteratively as subsequent interviews were processed. Themes that emerged included: degree of institutional mandate, frequency and quality of application use, perceived technical barriers, training experience and sufficiency, inter-OPD data coordination practices, and perceived utility for decision-making. Observation notes and documentary data were analyzed separately and then triangulated against interview themes, with discrepancies noted and followed up through clarification with informants (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Flick, 2018).

3.4. Validity and Limitations
Method triangulation across interviews, observation, and documents was the primary validity strategy, allowing cross-checking of claims about application use and institutional practices (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Member checking was conducted with four informants on draft analytical themes. Limitations include the single-case design, which restricts generalizability; the social-desirability bias risk noted above; and the study's cross-sectional timing, which captures a specific moment in an ongoing implementation process.

The four dimensions of the analytical framework institutional commitment, technical functionality, human capacity, and policy alignment structure the presentation of findings below. Quotations from informants are identified by role code (e.g., ASN-U1 through ASN-U5 for OPD users; DK1-DK3 for Diskominfo administrators; BP1-BP4 for Bappeda officials; OH1-OH3 for OPD heads) to protect confidentiality while enabling pattern analysis.

4.1. Institutional Commitment
Institutional commitment to the Mata Elang Pembangunan application is formally strong. The application's use has been embedded in official circulars from the Regional Secretary's office, and OPD participation in the data input cycle is monitored against regional planning timelines. Two Bappeda officials independently confirmed that application output is now referenced in RKPD preparation meetings. BP2 described the shift in terms that indicate real, if incremental, behavioral change: "Before this application, we would send requests to each OPD and wait weeks for Excel files that were formatted differently every time. Now, at minimum, we know the data is in one place and is updated according to the reporting cycle." (BP2)
However, the depth of institutional commitment varies substantially across the hierarchy. While Bappeda and Diskominfo demonstrate strong ownership, OPD-level commitment is less consistent. OH1 described a pattern common to several OPDs: "We enter the data because we are required to, but I honestly cannot say that it changes how we make decisions at the OPD level." This finding is consistent with Khaidarmansyah and Saifuddin (2022), who found that SPBE adoption in Lampung tended toward administrative compliance rather than genuine management transformation, and aligns with Nastia's (2025) observation that minimal leadership support at the operational level constrains SPBE impact even where central mandates exist.
The contrast between South Lampung Regency's situation and the South Buton case documented by Nastia (2025) is instructive. In South Buton, weak leadership support at all levels produced stagnation. In South Lampung, central-level commitment is present, but its transmission to OPD-level practice is incomplete. This suggests a middle category of SPBE implementation institutionally anchored but organizationally shallow that has distinct implications for sustainability and is undertheorized in the existing literature.

4.2. Technical Functionality
The application's technical architecture received generally positive assessments from users, particularly regarding data visualization and consolidated reporting features. ASN-U3 (OPD health sector) noted: "The dashboard is useful when we need to show progress across sub-districts. Without this application, producing that view would take days." This kind of utility enabling new analytical capabilities rather than merely replicating manual processes is the type of value that Dunleavy et al. (2006) associate with digital-era governance transformation.
Nevertheless, the system exhibits a technically significant problem that the paper cannot treat as minor: data integration failures with legacy systems used by certain OPDs. At two of the five observed OPDs, staff were maintaining parallel data records one in the Mata Elang system and one in their own pre-existing databases because the systems could not be reliably synchronized. DK2 acknowledged this directly: "There are OPDs using older financial systems that do not connect well with our platform. We are working on it, but at the moment, those OPDs have double work." This duplication constitutes not merely an inconvenience but a data integrity risk, because double-entry systems create divergent records that undermine the consolidated data quality that the application is designed to produce (Amalia et al., 2024). Heeks (2006) would characterize this as a design-reality gap related to technical assumptions about existing infrastructure a gap that requires deliberate remediation rather than incremental improvement. Table 2 summarizes the technical functionality findings across the five observed OPDs.

Table 2. Technical Functionality Assessment Across Five Observed OPDs

Source: Processed from primary data (2025)
4.3. Human Capacity
Human capacity is the dimension where the most significant and organizationally consequential challenges are concentrated. Across the five OPDs, marked variation in ASN digital literacy was observed and consistently reported. ASN-U1 and ASN-U3 (both from OPDs with backgrounds in technical and health sector data work) navigated the application confidently and actively explored its features. By contrast, ASN-U4 and ASN-U5 (agriculture and general administration) required assistance from colleagues for basic data entry tasks and expressed uncertainty about how to interpret application outputs. "I know I am supposed to use it, and I enter the data as instructed. But if there is a problem or the screen looks different, I do not know what to do. There has been no training since the introduction meeting two years ago." (ASN-U5)
This finding cannot be dismissed as a transitional issue that will resolve with time. Wahyuni (2023) documented identical patterns in her study of SPBE implementation at a different Indonesian local government, finding that initial socialization without sustained training produced a bifurcated user population a technically confident minority and a digitally marginalized majority who used systems minimally and reluctantly. If this dynamic is allowed to persist in South Lampung Regency, the long-term risk is a pattern of nominal compliance without genuine engagement, which would hollow out the application's data quality and decision-support utility.
A further and underappreciated dimension of the human capacity problem is the absence of any formal link between application use and individual ASN performance evaluation. None of the informants could identify a mechanism by which their use of the Mata Elang Pembangunan application was reflected in their personal performance assessment (SKP). DK3 confirmed that performance integration has been discussed internally but not implemented: "We have talked about including application data submission quality in performance indicators, but it has not been formalized." This gap is organizationally significant. In the absence of performance-linked incentives, motivation to engage thoroughly with the system beyond minimum compliance relies on intrinsic professional commitment, which varies considerably across individuals (Sedarmayanti, 2017).

4.4. Policy Alignment
The alignment of the Mata Elang Pembangunan application with national SPBE and One Data Indonesia frameworks provides an important source of institutional legitimacy and external accountability. Several informants explicitly referenced Presidential Regulation 95/2018 and the One Data Indonesia policy as justifications for application use, suggesting that policy alignment functions as a motivating discourse as well as a regulatory obligation. BP4 stated: "The national SPBE evaluation creates a reputational pressure. If we do not use our own applications, it reflects poorly on the regency's index score."
This policy-driven motivation has a productive dimension: it connects local practice to national reform narratives and provides political cover for mandating application use. However, it also carries a risk identified in the broader SPBE literature (Bannister & Connolly, 2014; Nam, 2019): when organizations use digital systems primarily to improve evaluation scores rather than because they genuinely serve operational needs, the risk of surface compliance updating data for the record rather than for use increases. Several observation sessions revealed instances where data was entered at period-end deadlines rather than maintained continuously, suggesting that compliance rhythms may be driving usage patterns more than operational need.

4.5. Discussion: Cross Dimensional Analysis and Theoretical Reflection
Analyzing the four dimensions together reveals a more complex picture than either a straightforward success narrative or a failure diagnosis. The Mata Elang Pembangunan application is genuinely institutionalized in South Lampung Regency's planning ecosystem a finding that distinguishes it favorably from the stalled implementations documented by Nastia (2025) in South Buton and other regional contexts. Institutional commitment, particularly at the Bappeda and Diskominfo levels, is substantive and reflects real organizational investment.
However, the three remaining dimensions present structural challenges that are not adequately captured by characterizing them as minor or transitional. The technical integration failures in two OPDs undermine data quality in precisely the way that Heeks (2006) predicted through the design-reality gap concept the system was designed for an infrastructure environment that does not uniformly exist. The human capacity deficit reproduces the pattern documented across the Indonesian SPBE literature (Wahyuni, 2023; Subhan & Sartika, 2025), where initial training without sustained support produces a divergent user base. And the absence of performance-linked incentives creates a structural motivation deficit that Gil-Garcia et al. (2018) identify as a common failure mode in digital government adoption.
An alternative explanation for the relatively positive trajectory observed must also be considered critically: it is possible that the implementation appears more advanced than it is because of selection effects in the data. Informants were recruited through official channels and may have been predisposed toward positive accounts of a local government initiative they had a professional stake in. The observation data particularly the double-entry practices and period end compliance patterns provide a partial corrective by revealing behaviors that informants did not spontaneously describe. But this methodological limitation means that caution is warranted in inferring from the findings that South Lampung Regency's implementation is representative of best practice.
What the case does suggest, and this is its theoretical contribution, is that SPBE implementation trajectories cannot be adequately assessed through index scores alone. A regency can achieve a 3.08 maturity index while simultaneously operating a partially integrated system, maintaining a bifurcated user base, and lacking performance incentives for sustained engagement. This gap between metric and organizational reality is precisely the kind of insight that qualitative case research is uniquely positioned to surface (Cordella & Bonina, 2012), and it calls for a more differentiated research agenda that disaggregates SPBE evaluation scores into their organizational components.

This study examined how ASN in South Lampung Regency engage with the Mata Elang Pembangunan application within an SPBE governance framework, using a four-dimensional implementation framework institutional commitment, technical functionality, human capacity, and policy alignment to organize analysis.
The application has been institutionalized within regional planning workflows, and inter-OPD data coordination has improved. These are genuine achievements that distinguish South Lampung Regency from less institutionally committed cases in the comparative literature. However, the study also identifies three structurally significant challenges: data integration failures with legacy systems in two OPDs, creating data integrity risks; a training deficit that has produced an uneven user base and varying data quality; and the absence of formal links between application engagement and individual performance evaluation, creating a motivation structure that depends on compliance rather than professional ownership.
The paper argues that these challenges often characterized as implementation teething problems in self-assessments represent organizational problems requiring structural responses: systematic interoperability planning, ongoing role-specific training programs, and formal performance integration. Without these, the application risks normative institutionalization without substantive transformation, a pattern documented across the Indonesian SPBE literature.
The study also offers a theoretical observation that extends beyond the case: SPBE maturity index scores are poor proxies for organizational implementation depth, and qualitative research that examines actual user engagement and organizational dynamics provides an indispensable complement to quantitative evaluation frameworks. Future research should pursue comparative case studies ideally involving contrasting regencies within the same province to identify the contextual and organizational factors that determine whether institutionalized applications are genuinely embedded in decision-making practice. Longitudinal designs would further illuminate whether the challenges identified here represent temporary constraints or persistent structural features of regional digital governance in Indonesia.