Ebooking

eBooking or e-Booking is a term derived from the term 'Electronic booking'. An eBooking is an electronic transaction between a citizen and a government service whereby a space (location, hall, room, sports facility, etc), or an appointment, or a flight, or a hotel room, can be booked online in real time. This is similar to a computer reservations system.

The term eBooking emerged from the UK Governments 'eGOV' program which was driven by the publishing of the Gershon Review in 2004-5 by Sir Peter Gershon. The eGOV program aimed to introduce efficiencies in local government, cut back on costs and provide a simpler way of the public to interact with local government using new web communication technologies. The eGov initiative is now beng replaced with tGOV or transformational government born of the Varney Review December 2006 and many eBookings suppliers have built 'citizen centric' interfaces and interactions within their web interfaces in order to meet Varney's recommendations.

eBooking software systems are now in use by many councils at the time of writing May 2007. e.g. the Cyg-net Book24 eBooking system from Sci-do Communications ltd and the from Lorensbergs Ltd allows citizens to 'Look and Book' council spaces for Weddings, conferences and appointments as well as cultural and sports activities.

connect2 is also in use in the academic sector, allowing staff and students to 'Look and Book' spaces, resources, facilities and services.

eBooking is in common use in Healthcare settings for the use of Information Technology systems to enable hospital appointments to be booked electronically. There it usually refers to the booking of an appointment into one service from another, e.g., from a Primary Care physician to a hospital. It replaces archaic methods of referral which can take a considerable length of time, and offer limited choice to patients.

E-booking is also a term used in the public and academic sectors.

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