Man1ana's Blog

Bye bye...blog

2006-09-23T17:39:00.000+02:00

It is my last post within DBE assignment. It was really interesting experience for me – as I expressed in one of my blog comments. At the very beginning I was very skeptical abut blogging. Just assignment that has to be done. Always I treated such activities like some kind of exhibitionism [or exscribitionism = exhibitionism + scribere: follow Erin Venema Swedish blogger]. Now, I much more open for this ideas and concepts. Blogging has given me also different perspective for my work and deeper distance for certain issues and aspects I work with every day.

My intention was to deal with possibilities of public administration enhancement through modern technologies. Key words of my post and short analyzes were: ICT, interoperability, open standards, corporate architecture, web services and service oriented architecture. There was one main thesis I presented in my blog - PA world and business world are very similar. Convergence of these two worlds is a every-day process.

I have no idea what will be result of my bloging. However, now I know much more about bloging and I am ready to discuss possibility of designing corporate blog in my organisation. Time will show if we decide to do that...

It was great experience to discuss some topics with ‘ fellow students”. Through blog, skype, email, in person. I learnt a lot from all blogs, especially from: Bogdan, Iza, Łukasz, Iza, Andrzej, Borys - http://borys-dbe.blogspot.com/

Now I can say follow song – Bye, bye ...blog, bye happiness – hello loneliness I think I’m gonna cry.. :)))

Good luck everyone who decide to continue blogging.
az

DeGIF

2006-09-12T17:43:00.000+02:00

Next interesting example of interoperability policies in PA refers to Danish e-Government interoperability Framework. DeGIF is a set of guidelines and recommendations for Danish public institutions designing, developing and implementing ICT projects and systems.

Guidelines and recommendations included in DeGIF are based on the following assumptions:

using open standards
using existed standards
stimulation of already agreed standards
re-engineering of administration processes and procedures for effective exploitation available technologies and reorientation of public services into more client-oriented [citizens, business]
using XML schemes agreed on state level

In general DeGIF propose the following groups of standards:

Processes standards
Technical standards
Data standards

All included in DeGIF standards can be divided into 6 groups, as follows:

recommended
approved
emerging
de facto
sustained
migrate form

DeGIF is consisted with European Interoperability Framework [EIF].

More information can be found at:
http://standarder.oio.dk
http://standarder.oio.dk/Changelog.html
http://www.oio.dk/arkitektur/eng

Standards and Architectures for e-government Applications (SAGA)

2006-09-11T09:42:00.000+02:00

As I mentioned several times national interoperability framework is important contribution towards modern and service-orientated administration.
Another example of such framework [British e-GIF has already been presented] is Standards and Architectures for e-government Applications (SAGA) – German set of standards.

SAGA is primarily designed for decision-makers in terms of ICT and eGovernment in German administrations. The document is a guideline that serves as an orientation aid when it comes to developing concepts for technical architectures and general technical concepts for individual IT applications.

Main goals of SAGA are:

To ensure ongoing flows of information between citizens, the federal government and its partners (interoperability)
To establish comparable procedures for the provision of services and for the defi-nition of data models; federal-state governments and communal administrations have the opportunity to make use of the development results of the BundOnline 2005 initiative (re-usability)
To provide specifications in the form of publicly accessible documentation (open-ness)
To consider developments on the market and in the field of standardisation (cost and risk reduction)
To ensure the applicability of solutions against the background of changing re-quirements in terms of volume and transaction frequencies (scalability).

The document defines three target groups for the federal administration's services:

Government to Citizens (G2C): services which the federal government offers its citizens directly
Government to Business (G2B): services which the federal government offers to companies
Government to Government (G2G): federal government services for public agencies

Source: SAGA - Standards and Architectures for e-government Applications. Version 2.0

Standards presented in SAGA are:

mandatory
recommended
under observation

Life cycle of SAGA standards is the following:

Source: SAGA - Standards and Architectures for e-government Applications. Version 2.0

The World Wide Web Consortium

2006-09-10T05:53:00.000+02:00

W3C was created in October, 1994. Its main goal was to maximize benefits of Internet through development of common protocols and intereoperability. W3C is consisted of 400 organizations from all over the world and enjoy worldwide respect for results of their works for Internet and interoperability development.

The most important norms, specifications and guidelines and developed by W3C are: Accessibility, Amaya, Annotea, CC/PP, CSS, CSS Validator, Device Independence, DOM, HTML, HTML Tidy, HTML Validator, HTTP, InkML, Internationalization, Jigsaw, Libwww, MathML, Multimodal Interaction, OWL, Patent Policy, PICS, PNG, Privacy and P3P, Quality Assurance [QA], RDF, Semantic Web, SMIL, SOAP/XMLP, Style, SVG, TAG, Timed Text, URI/URL, Validators, Voice, WAI, WebCGM, Web Services, Web Ontology, XForms, XHTML, XLink, XML, XML Base, XML Encryption, XML Key Management, XML Query, XML Schema, XML Signature, XPath, XPointer, XSL and XSLT.

W3C long-range intentions regarding Internet encompasses:

Universal access: Internet should became available for all; through promotion technologies taking into consideration cultural, language and educational differences and hardware limitations
Semantic web - It is indispensable to develop environment which allows every user to take advantage of Internet resources in as much as possible effective way
Reliable Internet – Internet development process should realize and pay enough attention to its potential legal, economical and social impact on people life

More info - http://www.w3.org/

Standarization institutions

2006-09-09T07:23:00.000+02:00

There are a few international institutions and initiatives aimed at promotion and adoption of respective norms and standards. Adoption of particular standard by standardization institution depends not only on quality of standard specification but also on organizational and promotional activities undertaken by organizations and institutions interested in normalization and standardization processes. There are some examples showing that some entities work on specifications that next evolve and became common norms [e.g. JAVA environment created mainly by Sun Microsystems] however majority of generic and basic norms has been created by international standardization institutions with participation of entities that decided to develop products and solutions sharing these norms and standards.

The following standardization institutions adopted standards connected with interoperability which can be used also in PA:

World Wide Web Consortium [W3C - http://www.w3.org/]
The Internet Engineering Task Force [IETF - http://www.ietf.org/]
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards [OASIS - http://www.oasis-open.org/]
Web Services-Interoperability Organization [WS-I - http://www.ws-i.org/]
Object Management Group [OMG - http://www.omg.org/]
Open GIS Consortium [OGC - http://www.opengis.org/]
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative [http://dublincore.org/]

Another standarization institutions playing significant role in creation global environment for interoperability are: ANSI, DMTF, ECMA, ETSI, ICANN, IEC, IEEE, ISO, ITU, JXTA, LibertyAlliance, ODMG, OMA, OpenGroup, RosettaNet, RTCA, TCG oraz UDDI.org.

In next post I will present some info on W3C which seems to be most influential organization. The reason of presenting W3C is also that its web page was recommended to read within the assignment.

eGovernment Metadata Standard” [e-GMS]

2006-09-08T09:57:00.000+02:00

e-GMS initiative is aimed at working on set of metadata and rules considering its creation that next may be used by civil servants for description of respective information data and resources of PA or in processes of creation of searching and browsing systems for PA. e-GMS is one of the tools that can be used for assuring semantic interoperability [the other are: technical and organizational] in PA. It is also an element of e-GIF architecture

More info:
http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/metadata.asp
http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/metadata_document.asp?docnum=806
http://www.esd.org.uk/standards/egms/

e-GIF

2006-09-07T20:14:00.000+02:00

e-Government Interoperability Framework for GB [e-GIF] is a package of recommended and compulsory interoperability standards for PA in GB and methods of their application. E-GIF:

Point out XML as a standard of data interchange
Consider UML, RDF and XML as a main ways of data modeling and description
Consider XSL to be a language describing way of data transformation
Recognize XML scheme recommended by W3C as a language for scheme creation
Recommend adoption only certified and verified standards that are widely known and used at the market [one way of killing risk and cutting costs in PA]
Develop and adapt e-Government Metadata Standard based on Dublin Core [ISO 15836] model providing metadata tool kit for of description of documents of PA,
Directly indicate necessity of adoption of web services, specifically SOAP, WSDI and UDDI specifications.
Assure concrete implementation strategies of respective standards and solutions - UK GovTalk™

More info

GovTalk

2006-09-07T19:28:00.000+02:00

Inspired by Luke’s comments and his question which indirectly refers to processes of normalization and standardization in ICT I would like to deal in my next few posts with this aspects. I will present some national and international initiatives in this regard.

At the beginning let me point out some British examples that seem to me be very influential and instructive. GovTalk is an initiative of GB government. Within this initiative group of experts are working on common standards in electronic communication, especially on XML schemes for information objects used for public e-services. GovTalk group is consisted of representatives of PA , National Health Service and business sector – ICT companies like BT, HP, IBM, EDS, Xansa, Fujitsu, Microsoft. GovTalk activities are described at http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/ where you can find also eGovernment Interoperability Framework [e-GIF] as well as XML schemes worked on by GovTalk experts.

Next post will present e-GIF

e-Strategy for Mazowsze

2006-09-07T09:12:00.001+02:00

The Regional Assembly [Sejmik] has approved and adopted the Mazowieckie Voivodship’s e-strategy.

The e-strategy of the Mazowieckie Voivodship is a document which serves as a frame of reference for the most substantial innovative and ICT driven undertakings in the region. The realization of the e-strategy’s regulations will contribute to regional development through using ICT[ICT4D]. eGovernment is one of the area of interest.

The Mazovian strategy is the first document of this type in Poland, which will be in force in the forthcoming period of the EU structural funds programming. Simultaneously, it is the first country-scale strategy that is developed based on the European methodology of the information society’s development programming – the result of the IANIS programme.
The document set priorities, objectives, goals, main projects as well as budget and monitoring system. Budget of the strategy is more than 700 mln PLN.

The beneficiaries of the Strategy will be:

Citizens
Local and regional governments
Academia
NGO
Biznes

What is interesting from my point of view that ICT is regarded in document no as a goal itself but as a tool for regional development [GDP growing], educational impulse and making people life better.

XBRL in PA

2006-09-06T21:56:00.000+02:00

Coming back to hypo cycle let's talk about XBRL (eng. Extensible Business Reporting
Language) which is open standard based on XML that allows to describe in unified way economical reports and analyzes covering areas of financial and managing accounting. Wide application of common standards in financial systems of PA would facilitate and strengthen processes of date exchange, aggregation and processing.

Usefulness of such solutions could be observable in communication between:

local/regional and central administration
local/regional administration and institutions of financial controlling
local/regional administration and its organizational units [e.g. schools, hospitals, water-supply institutions]

According to Gartner Report time to market of XBRL is 2-5 years.

Source of picture:
Gartner Inc., Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle,Egham 2005.

eProcurement in Norway.

2006-08-29T20:51:00.000+02:00

Norway is a country where harnessing ICT is one of the main determinant of country development. The public sector purchases goods and services for almost NOK 240 billion each year (approximately 15 per cent of GDP). Norway seems to be interesting example as a country very advanced in terms of ICT but at the same time not being good enough in regard of making benefits from ICT in PA.

I have just read very clear and comprehensive document dealing with eProcurement. The document - Strategy and actions for the use of electronic business processes and electronic procurement in the public sector. A follow‐up to eNorway 2009 – the digital leap - lies foundations for eNorway concepts in terms of eProcurement

- The real challenge lies, however, not in starting to use electronic marketplaces and solutions for electronic procurement, but in change processes and change management. A countless number of more or less defined routines must be both changed and not least improved – said Morten E. Mayer, Norwegian Minister of Modernization.

That is a core idea. It is not about respective solutions, it is about re-enginiering of PA and adoption of business processes in PA. ICT is a tool which can better, deepen and foster this process.

I recommend to read this Strategy. There is a lot of interesting facts and information presenting Norwegian approach. There is also info on Ehandel.no – The Norwegian Electronic Public Procurement Portal which is a main ICT tool in Norwegian value chain for public sector procurement responsible for ordering process. .

You can read the report .

Birth certificate via Internet

2006-08-29T11:09:00.000+02:00

Born in Poznan may receive birth certificate via Internet. Citizens living in Poznan may order and pay for copies of birth certificate through Internet. They will not have to come to office personally. Innovative character of this e-service [in Polish PA scale] lies in the fact of possibility to pay stamp duty in electronic form via Internet by credit card or making electronic bank transfer. Copy of birth certificate will be delivered to citizen’s home by courier. The new way of providing this particular service does not mean any additional costs for clients who choose this form of transaction.

The service is available in the ‘e-service’ catalogue at the City Multimedia Information web site, inside the ‘do it via Internet’ folder (www.city.poznan.pl) and in the Poznan City Hall’s Public Information Bulletin. Poznan City Hall is carrying out the ‘e-Poznan programme’ with a goal to build an electronic public administration. In the framework of the programme number of services and initiatives were initiated already including widely popular, first in Poland search engine for graves and quarters at communal cemeteries and exchange market for used schoolbooks.

Another element of the programme, which is being constantly developed is the network of Internet Public Access Points where citizens can surf the net free of charge. In Poznan one can also register a business via Internet, as well as close it down.

Integration brokers

2006-08-28T21:54:00.000+02:00

I have been presenting topics of harnessing ICT in PA in the light of such aspects like: interoperability, web services, SOA and convergence of PA and business sector. There are a lot of initiatives in European PA aimed at building teleinformatic environment for technical interoperability based on unified XML messages. These initiatives are realized in respective countries through solutions called integration brokers. They are responsible for communication management and transformation of XML files where information on particular e-service for citizens or business are included.

Analyzes of particular PA initiatives in regard of integration brokers indicates high compatibility of ideas, concepts and needs in PA with available products of the biggest ICT worldwide companies that offer solutions based on loose coupling. The most known initiatives are:

Governmental Gateway [GB]
Reach [Ireland]
IDA eLink [EU]

Solutions designed and developed within mentioned above initiatives are based on SOA and assure technical interoperability through web services. They use open standards based on XML like: XML-Schema, WSDL, SOAP, UDDI.The most known business solutions that can be analyzed in this context are:

BizTalk [Microsoft]
WebSphere [IBM]
BEA Systems

Enterprise Architecture Framework in PA

2006-08-10T17:21:00.000+02:00

To continue topic of inevitable convergence of PA and business sector let me underline another aspect. It is about enterprise architecture framework. Enterprise architecture framework is a coherent description of organization’s model that encompasses:

strategic goals of organization
information and technologies indispensable to meet strategic goals

Enterprise architecture includes:

business architecture of organization
data architecture
application architecture
technology architecture

The most known frameworks are:

Zachman Framework – making order with concepts connected with architecture, using a grid model based around 6 basic questions (What, How, Where, Who, When, and Why) asked of 5 nominated stakeholder groups (Planner, Owner, Designer, Builder and Subcontractor
The Open Group Architectural Framework (TOGAF) – based on architecture management
Model Driven Architecture (MDA) - paradigm of architecture management based on models

What is applicability of these concepts and paradigms in PA? That is very interesting questions. Worldwide and European best practices show that enterprise architecture can be effective tool for PA and has significant impact on processes managed or connected with PA in both national [central] and local level.

Has time for EAF in Polish PA already arrived?

For whom are interested in:
http://www.zifa.com/
http://www.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf8-doc/arch/

Virtual Value Chain

2006-08-06T23:05:00.000+02:00

Jeffrey F. Rayport and John J. Svikola presented in the article Exploiting the Virtual value Chain [HBR, 1995] interesting business –world dichotomy: a physical world of resources [marketplace] and world of information [marketspace]. They underlined that executives must pay attention to how their companies create value in both the physical world and the virtual world. As always I am looking for some similarities or even interplay between business and PA. Rayport and Svikola examined the value chain model which is according to authors, series of value-adding activities connecting a company supply side with its demand side. By analyzing the stages of a value chain , managers are able to redesign their internal and external processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness. What is interesting for me is that value chain model threats information as a supporting element of the value-adding process, not as a source of value itself. As a matter of fact, in my opinion, information is a source of value itself. There is an example of FedEx presented in the article. FedEx a few years ago allowed their consumers to locate via Internet their packages in transit. They even allowed them to identify the person who signed for it. In opinion of experts this service of FedEx created added value for customers - and thus increased loyalty in market. What does it have to do with PA? One of the functionalities of Public Information Bulletin [BIP] systems was to be tracking by citizens state of the its personal matter submitted to PA like for example issuing personal ID [or any other service connected with particular procedures and life episodes]. It seems to be very important to have opportunity to know who is responsible for decision on our matter, how long it takes to have a decision, what is the progress made in making public service for us, etc. Of course it is a complex matter; it depends on procedures, it requires to use digital signature, etc. But providing citizens with such service will certainly create added value. It will also increase loyalty of citizens even though we realize that there is almost no competition in “PA market”. Satisfied citizens with quality of service, citizens saving time that is a added value. Political value also. Economical value either.

Did BIP constitute important aspect of value chain in PA? In this regard, unfortunately it did not

ASP in PA

2006-08-05T21:19:00.000+02:00

The higher quality of teleinformatic network the more common is using software installed outside of PA offices. Technologies connected with ASP [Application Service Providing] are to assure:

security of communication with external applications
convenient access to software regardless of number of users working with software simultaneously
interface which enables using software regardless of system platform of user [more and more common is using web interface making available using software through Internet browser].

Thanks to ASP it is possible to cut investments in own ICT resources and reduce cost of ICT maintenance [through IT outsourcing]. It can be easily observable [scale effect] where PA deploys regional ICT projects where several [e.g. more than 50] local governments are involved. In this case local governments involved get access to needed application or software without cost-consuming extension of own hosting infrastructure and service and maintenance.

There are an examples of such projects in Polish PA financed by structural funds, meassure 1.5 Information Society Infrastructure of Integrated Regional Operational Programme.

According to Gartner time to the market of ASP is less than 2 years. [since 2005].

SOA in PA

2006-08-04T23:36:00.000+02:00

Next reference to hype cycle. SOA - service oriented architecture is like internal web services tool for building open and effective teleinformatic environment. It is way for assuring technical interoperability in public administration. Based on open standards, ICT systems may effectively communicate each other without necessity for previous cost-consuming process of mutual adjustments of various applications used by PA. Technical interoperability gained through SOA makes also available creation of information model of PA where data will be coherent and based on reference sources. Another advantage of building SOA by PA is that public administration became more independent from applications providers.

Speech recognition

2006-08-02T00:47:00.000+02:00

Another technology from Gartner's Hype Cycle - speech recognition. Speech recognition technology transforms sound wave representing natural language sentences into text that may by semantically and syntactically analyzed by appropriate ICT application. Thanks to speech recognition spoken sentences of clerks or PA clients are equivalent to computer text. This technology allows to built professional aid system for PA clients [e.g. call centers] based on solutions searching for answers on queries made in natural language. Application of this technology make enable to foster and partly automate process of providing public services. Just to remind, time to the market according to Gartner of speech recognition was less than 2 years [in 2005].

What about use of speech recognition in Polish PA? We are involved in deployment of speech recognition technology in one small municipality – Sokolow Podlaski. It is being realized within the MAP project. Mobile Adaptive Procedures is a project under the umbrella of eTen programme in the consortium consisted of Siemens Informatica Italy, Vodafone, Livorno Municipality, Sokolow Podlaski Municipality, Kpeople, Italian Ministry of Interior, University of Trento, Lulea University of Technology and Cities on Internet Association as subcontractor. MAP is under validation in a wide environment going from its “traditional” application in CROs (Citizen Relationship Offices), through the use in Social Services to support children security, to a very sophisticated service provided to Fire Brigades supporting them during bio-chemical emergencies [Italian Pilot] and use in Aid Entrepreneurship Centre [Polish pilot]. MAP is a front-end e-assistance system that integrates existing in-house information. It introduces a "skill & case sensitive" environment supporting professionals while citizens contact them (or need support from them), in a seamless way (on the move, on the net, face to face, etc.).While an interaction is going on (face to face, trough a call centre, telephone/fax, an email/web portal).

MAP extracts inputs and performs a semantic analysis on them, immediately providing professionals with shortcuts to solution, reducing the time to answer and increasing the quality of the service. In this way, the employee:

identifies the correct procedure to be used or transferred to the citizens in an effective way
exploits at best all the information already present in PA sharing the “best practices treasure”
capitalises hexogen knowledge through the possibility to store retrieval paths and the tips contributed by other employees.

MAP assures that the procedure suggested or the information given is the answer to the citizen needs, definitely facilitating the citizen “one stop shop” in his relationship with the Public Administration.

Internal Web services

2006-08-01T18:41:00.000+02:00

Web services are based on open standards of XML family [WSDL, SOAP, UDDI] and constitutes new tool for ICT systems integration. This technology which is as a matter of fact new generation of integration solutions allows to build integrated, coherent and elastic ICT environment For last few years this technology has been enjoying rapid development in private sector and getting more and more popular in public administration. Suffice it to say that European Commission in the framework of IDABC program has recommended in European Interoperability Framework application of web services in PA of member states. It allows PA to make an external communication with any ICT application. There is only one condition: it has to be based on open interoperability standards.

There are first projects in Poland for PA based on web services. They have R&D character and are co-financed by government and Polish ICT business sector

More information on:
IDABC - http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en
European Interoperabilty Framework for Pan-Euroepan eGovernment Services - http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/3761

When the new technologies should be adopted?

2006-07-31T21:09:00.000+02:00

Since 1995 Gartner Inc., one of the most often cited consulting company dealing with ICT market, has been publishing report on technologies development. A Hype Cycle is a graphic representation of the maturity, adoption and business application of specific technologies.

According to authors, Gartner's Hype Cycles offer an overview of the relative maturity of technologies in a certain domain. They provide not only a scorecard to separate hype from reality, but also models that help enterprises decide when they should adopt a new technology. Gartner has used Hype Cycles to characterize the over-enthusiasm or "hype" and subsequent disappointment that typically happens with the introduction of new technologies for an introduction to the Hype Cycle concepts). Hype Cycles also show how and when technologies move beyond the hype, offer practical benefits and become widely accepted.

There are 5 phases of Hypo Cycle: Technology Trigger, Peak of Inflated Expectations, Trough of Disillusionment, Slope of Enlightenment, Plateau of Productivity. If we analyze Hypo cycle of 2005 in the context of potential application in PA I would like to indicate the following technologies which are regarded by COI experts to be most interesting for PA :

Internal web services [time to market/plateau – less than 2 years]
Speech recognition [less than 2 years]
Text to speech /Speech synthesis – [less than 2 years]
Application Service providing – [less than 2 years]
Service Oriented Architecture/SOA – [2-5 years]
Wimax and Mesh Networks – [2-5 years]
Corporate Semantic Web – [2-5 years]

Possibilities of potential I will try to analyze later on.

It is interesting fact that according to Gartner (2005), time to the market of corporate bloging is less than two years.

Sources and useful information: http://www.gartner.com/it/products/hc/hc.jsp

Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle Presentation you can find at:

http://www.gartner.com/teleconferences/attributes/attr_129930_115.pdf

Pre-commercial procurement of innovation

2006-07-27T21:34:00.000+02:00

There is diagnosed problem in Poland with lack of research dealing with ICT and eGovernment and very poor development of R&D in this regard which is not stimulated by government like it is in other countries. There is very interesting idea for significant innovation development through process of ICT demand stimulation in public sector. The idea is presented in the report of European Commission Pre-commercial procurement of innovation - a missing link in the European innovation cycle. The main idea of the report is to present new strategy for increasing role of procurements of ICT and innovation in public administration in EU. This report shows how a first-buyer function can be built up in a European single market that aims at being competitive, fair and transparent. The report introduces the concept of Pre-commercial Procurement of Innovation, to address a generally missing link in the European innovation cycle, the public procurer that is prepared to share benefits and risks with industry in order to exploit the results of research, moving research developments from their early stages to tested pre-commercial products ready for commercialisation. What is the PcPI? Pre-commercial Procurement of Innovation refers to the procurement of Technological Innovation up to and including a first pre-commercial volume batch of products and/or services validated via field tests. It is about direct public R&D investment.

In the report one possible approach is discussed. The approach is similar to US and Asian schemes but adapted to the European context. Pre-commercial Procurement of Innovation is proposed to take the form of a single public procurement in three steps. The first step is a solution exploration phase, followed by a prototyping phase and finally a test series. In the first phase some 6 to 7 offers could be selected, the number of suppliers being reduced after each step subsequent to evaluations. In the final step at least two contractors should remain to ensure a future competitive market.

In author opinions this report looks at public procurement through 'ICT glasses' and identify key ICT application areas of common European interest where public sector demand for new ICT technologies is strong enough to 'pull' European industry into new lead markets.

The report recognizes a number of opportunities to use PcPI especially in the areas of e-Health [e.g. smart electronic health cards], Inclusion [Ambient Assisted Living ], Government [extend current embryonic e-procurement architecture, distributed secure workflow for inter-administration business process, interactive multi-channel Government-to-Consumer/Business architecture, which make use of multiple channels: mobile, fixed telephony, digital TV, Internet... ], Security [border security – real-time matching with police data] and Transportation [traffic control system]. It is very challenging to convince decision makers to use this tool. It should be considered to include pre-commercial procurement of innovation into Innovative Economy Operational Program and Regional Operational Programmes that set conditions for using structural funds in 2007-2013.

That is very interesting and inspiring report

E-procurement and e-invoices in the public sector in Sweden

2006-07-26T21:43:00.000+02:00

I have just read some information abour e-Procurement in Swedish public sector. In Sweden, a number of municipalities, county councils and local authorities have introduced electronic procurement/electronic commerce. In this context, electronic procurement means electronic orders/sub-orders in relation to a framework agreement and receipt of electronic invoices (ordering-invoice process). The National Financial Management Authority now procure IT-solutions for receiving and sending e-invoices and also workflow system. Many local governments also have started with scanning of paper invoices.

E-procurement has so far mostly been with EDI [Electronic Data Interchange]. But there is also a need of a complement with e-invoices separately for all those situations that we do not order electronically but that it would be good having an e-invoice. A standard for an electronic invoice, “Svefakturan” (or “Swed Invoice”) has been developed and is recommended for public sector and their suppliers. The Swed invoice can also be used on B2B market. Some local authorities have started to receive e-invoices and the Swed Invoice. But this is all very new.

Governmental context
Governmental authorities have not really started with EDI. But Ekonomistyrningsverket, (The National Financial Management Authority) has presented a preliminary study that shows what benefits the authorities could get if they start with e-invoicing. The National Financial Management Authority therefore recommend the authorities to start with e-invoicing (to receive and also send e-invoices).They also recommend the SwedInvoice as a standard. The Ministry of Finance now has to take a decision if it shall be mandatory or not to send och receive e-invoices. A decision will be taken probably this summer.

Goods for e-procurement
Of the municipalities that have introduced electronic procurement, they have mainly started with food, office material, chemico-technical material and energy invoices, telephone invoices, rents, etc. Many municipalities have made assessments on the benefits obtained by electronic procurement. The majority of municipalities cite gains in the form of improved compliance with framework agreements and thus better prices and increased price awareness when the framework agreements and current prices are available electronically. Other effects are reduced invoice processing times, improved financial control and that purchasing can be more easily monitored when statistics are more easily available. The most difficult aspect of the introduction is to free resources, staff in the municipality for the introduction, including staff training. Of the municipalities which have introduced electronic procurement, 95 per cent intend to expand this to other departments and/or categories of goods/services.

The current status of e-invoicing and e-procurement in Sweden will be presented at the EXPP Summit in Berlin in September.

The question about aplicability of Swedish experience in Poland is open. Certainly this problem should be explored.

Digital signature

2006-07-25T22:17:00.000+02:00

The Sejm, lower chamber of Polish Parliament, enacted amendment of digital signature act on September 18th [Dz.U. 2001 nr 130 poz. 1450]. Deadline of introduction of digital signature in public administration has been changed. New date was set on May 1st, 2008 [instead of August 17th, 2006]. Honestly the amendment was expected by majority of experts and representatives of public administration. There were a lot of loopholes, incoherencies and inaccuracies in act of 2001. Unfortunately act obliged to use qualified digital signature that is the most expensive. Local and central governments technically and organizationally were no prepared to fulfill these obligations. [supposedly there were only 10% local governments prepared to use transactional level of contacts with citizens] Time since 2001 was definitely lost. It has certainly negative impact on public administration modernization. Extra time must allow to improve defects in this particular act and hopefully contribute to law harmonization in terms of ICT deployment in public administration. Effective law system, digital signature act including, is indispensable for Poland development. It is also necessary for better than so far taking advantage of ICT firm potential and for development of public services. Further delays in this regard will deepen civilization gap between Poland and leaders in e-Government in Europe like UK and Scandinavian countries.

Works on new act will be continued in Ministry of Interior and Public Administration that is responsible for ICT in PA. New amendment will refer to certification process [instytucje certyfikujące] and will concentrate on harmonization of some aspects with EU law. It is also said that new kind of digital signature – advanced signature [zaawansowany podpis] will be introduced. It will allow citizen's identification however it will not have legal effects like qualified signature has. For example we will no able to use this kind of signature to sign legal agreement.

The current digital signature act is the following

Recommendations for Polish government, parliament and regional authorities

2006-07-24T21:09:00.000+02:00

We have just concluded process of adoption of the X Cities on Internet Conference's Final Document. It is entitled Public Administration Modernization Based on harnessing ICT as a condition sine qua non of Poland development in 2007-2013 - recommendations for Polish government, parliament and regional authorities. The document will be signed by representatives of local governments, ICT firms, academia and NGO. Key words and concepts inluded in the document encompasess or refer to: Information Technology Plan for Poland in 2007-2013 [Plan Informatyzacji Państwa 2007-2013], National Cohesion Strategy 2007-2013, National Interoperability Framework, e-services for citizens and SME, e-Inclusion, e-Government, digital signature, state information architecture. What are our intentions? What we want the government to do? Nothing special. Just to include in their works recommendations worked on by the Conference participants. Is it possible? That's a rhetorical question... But we do believe, it is.

You can read the document in Polish.

eInclusion Declaration

2006-06-19T10:05:00.000+02:00

The European Commission, together with the Latvian Government and the Austrian Presidency of the EU, was organising high-level conference and exhibition on the theme “ICT for an inclusive society” in Riga, Latvia, on 11-13 June 2006. This conference was a part of the process of ensuring an inclusive European information society and of ensuring we bring the benefits to all.

If you are interested take a look at ministerial declaration which concluded Riga Conference. Let's talk about this.

Poland's modernization

2006-06-14T16:28:00.000+02:00

Hi group,

I have just come back from the conference which was organized by my organization. It is a flagship of Cities on Internet Association which is some kind of Polish think tank that promotes harnessing information and communication technologies in public sector. If you find interesting to read some notes from this conference [in the form of press release] you are welcome. As far as I find out how to put this in the form of attachment to the post I will do that. Now I am just pasting this in the post.

best

Arek

Poland’s modernization

On 9 June 2006 in Zakopane was held the X „Cities on Internet” Conference. This jubilee event gathered more than 300 representatives from different fields, involved in modernization processes in Poland based on new technologies.

- A particular role should be ascribed to the strategy of country modernization. One of the most important elements of this strategy is the introduction of new technologies of gathering, processing and using data in the field of administration, education, health and in the whole economy. Poland should join the group of countries using the most advanced information and communication technologies (ICT) as soon as possible, especially in terms of the internet - said the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski in his letter dedicated to the organizers and to the participants of the conference.

In further lines of the same letter we find that - „Cities on Internet” Conference sets out the importance of the improvement of data managing methods as well as the significant role of well oriented investments in public administration sector. Nowadays, e-Government issue needs to be considerably developed, in order to enable as many people as possible to draw benefits from new technologies. It concerns especially the local government area, since it remains the most common ground for contact between the public administration and the citizens.

The participants of the conference represented notably local authorities at all levels, private sector (the most important provider of ICT) and the research field. - The discussions were oriented on the effective use of ICT to enable citizens to live, to learn and to work in a modern country and to realize their objectives and dreams; to live in a more and more familiar ICT environment – said Arek Złotnicki, vice-president of the Cities on Internet Association.

The event had a particular significance due to upcoming financial perspectives for the Information Society development for 2007-2013. According to the organizers intentions - the possibility of sharing experience and knowledge between all the potential beneficiaries of innovative projects and undertakings should contribute to prepare appropriately the absorption of structural funds in the forthcoming financial perspective.

The issue of the upcoming EU financial perspective occupied a particular rung during the conference. The participants seem to be afraid about an inappropriate or incomplete use of the funds which will be allocated to Poland by the European Union between 2007-2013 to finance the development of the Information Society infrastructure. The representatives of local authorities jointly with the representatives of private sector claimed a modification of procedures in order to achieve, thanks to an intelligent cooperation, a common goal of eDevelopment of Poland based on information and communication technologies and, eventually, to improve the quality of life in Poland. As underlined by keynote speakers of the 10th „Cities on Internet” Conference, events like the one in Zakopane should help reshaping the concept of policy (especially at local level) with business. Such contacts can and should help attain common goals related directly with the regional development while structural funds should be considered as the tool enhancing such actions.

The first day of the conference was devoted to legal and organizational framework for the country development based on ICT. When asked whether Poland should attempt to establish e-gov law or a good law, experts from Law, Administration and Economy Department at Wroclaw University – Mr. Michał Bernaczyk and Dr. Dariusz Adamski answered unanimously that a good law provides rational bases for ICT development, since it is created in a way that not only does not inhibits IT systems development, but also stimulates and legitimize such actions.

Prof. Józef Oleński claimed for a knowledge based administration. He also underlined the necessity of coordinating innovative initiatives in public administration. – What we really need is serving coordination, instead of a coordination based on authority – he said. But above all we must not commit mistakes difficult to repair. The point is that we should not stay immobilized by computerizing procedures established 40 years ago and, what may inhibit modification of procedures and amendment of law.

The issue of transforming traditional offices into electronic form was introduced by Mr. Wiesław Paluszyński, the vice-president of the Polish Information Processing Society. He formulated the term “paper office supported by computers” to provide a baseline inventory for such a transformation. Among the major obstacles of public administration modernization he identified a lack of described and algorithmic public procedures. Another important problem is a literal reading of legal rules, which do not give the officers any possibility to realize projects designed solely to improve the quality of service for citizens in offices. According to Mr. Paluszyński, the optimal method for modernizing public administration is developing user-oriented IT systems based on rational legal rules: - Then we talk about creating an IT system which supports some administrative tasks and helps the citizen to find a way in this administration. As long as we do not understand this, we will keep computerizing a paper universe.

The discussion panel which took place in the afternoon was devoted to political aspects of building an Information Society. The following persons participated in it: Mrs. Grażyna Szpor, Mr. Wacław Iszkowski, Mr. Piotr Popiel, Mr. Wojciech Pelc, Mr. Tomasz Majcherek and Mr. Michał Jaworski. Invited by Mr. Michał Jaworski, Mr. Wojciech Pelc presented a point of view of a large institution in which computerization is not meant to limit the work. Mr. Pelc enumerated several examples which show that in spite of the existing law that does not allow to perform full transaction processes, local governments realize projects designed to improve the quality of service for citizens and, eventually, to create a better quality of life.

It happens because in local governments there is a strong demand for a given category of services - said Mr. Piotr Popiel in regard to the preceding speaker. From the citizen’s point of view there is one public administration. (…) The problem therefore is to know which are the goals inscribed into the task called administration computerization or building Information Society. (…) We need an idea for the computerization – concluded Mr. Popiel – a good, coherent idea, that will be citizen-oriented.

Mrs. Grażyna Szpor was asked to answer the question why the law still constitutes an obstacle to Poland modernization. The law should not stabilize, the law should support – she said. In the area of IT law the weakness of the system is particularly visible, in terms of international law as well, and there is too much importance oriented on regulations. The law should inhibit uniquely those areas where the technological development can jeopardize the security, however in other areas such barriers have to be removed.

Mr. Józef Oleński declared that notwithstanding that we have not worked out a coherent ePoland strategy over the last a few years, we have some reflections, documents and analysis (even though they do not have an official status). Therefore, all the elements necessary to draw up a real strategy are available. For the time being, what is needed is a political willingness sufficiently strong to develop such a strategy on the basis of successful foreign countries’ experiences – said he.

Mr. Wacław Iszkowski, President of the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications emphasized the importance of good practices promotion, given all the difficulties enumerated during the discussion. Many things have been successfully done and it has to be analyzed at both the national level and at the European level. We should have an optimistic attitude about the future – said Mr. Iszkowski.

During the morning session of the second day of the conference the organizers decided to keep attention to the needs of “the clients” of the administration as well as to the necessity of developing the IT systems fulfilling their requirements. ICT sector representatives expressed the opinion that it is possible to meet those requirements. – Technology does not constitute an inhibitor for actions oriented on satisfying clients’ needs. It just has to be rightfully used.

However, the way of using IT solutions in public administration needs to be “consulted” with citizens – said Mr. Wojciech Sadowicz from the Cities on Internet Association. According to the results of eUSER, a R&D project financed under the 6th Framework Programme – public institutions are able to adopt their implementations with real needs of the users uniquely on the condition of analyzing their needs and behaviors. Another conclusion stemming from this project was the information that Polish people would be interested in using public e-services if they were given such a possibility. However – according to the answers received in the poll – this seems to be difficult due to a lack of preparation of politicians to create such a possibility. Mr. Krzysztof Król, vice-President of the Polish Chamber of Information Technology, formulated the opinion, that the politicians have a too careful approach resulting from a degenerated vision of the political world.
Meanwhile, according to Krol, business is in the 21st C technology wise (and this advancement is followed by penetration of private services offered via modern channels), but administration, which constantly interfere with ways and range of use of Information Society technologies, remains still in the 19th C.

Irena Szatybelko from the City Hall of Czestochowa presented in turn a viewpoint of public administration alone in regards of their self – requirements and self- expectations. The presentation was built around the topic of electronic signature implementation at the city bailiff office. Next to usual expectations concerning rising efficiency and making the work easier, the presentation included data showing that implementation of this technology in the correspondence realised by the bailiff office will allow saving in the range of several thousand PLZ annually.

A closing element of the afternoon session was presentation of Grzegorz Fiuk, representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, who raised an issue of modernization and reconstruction of state registries. Concerning changes, which are administered by the Ministry, he explained: - This is a system rebuilding of not only PESEL system alone, but it concerns redirection of huge organism like administration, toward the use of electronic services. Now, the job is to open an electronic channel – adds Fiuk. The matter of data integration will be realised either with help of dedicated broker, or with the use of other integration infrastructure that will allow for exchange of information between systems and send it to the central level and other offices.

Grzegorz Fiuk, speaking for Grzegorz Blizniuk, the vice minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration who was unable to attend the Zakopane conference, presented also elements of the National Computerisation Plan. The Plan is supposed to be on one hand a programme built upon four documents defining direction of Information Society development in regard of public administration, and on the other, a plan of development of public sector infrastructure. Additionally, it will constitute a plan of implementation allowing monitoring and evaluating level of realisation and national interoperability framework, a strategic document for realisation of first two mentioned elements. The key element will be to agree on participation of important stakeholders – local administration, central government and private sector, which is supposed to provide tolls necessary for its realisation, as well as scientific community and NGOs, which will consult general and particular aspects of Plan implementation. The Plan will be an important source of reference for IST projects in the structural funds framework and for state support programmes for innovative undertakings in Poland. The matter of projects compatibility with the notions of the National Computerisation Plan will be checked thoroughly, while the Plan itself will constitute a real brace for realised projects, not a restraint of their development. Thanks to this, a postulate of coherent Information Society infrastructure in the Nation will be realised.

Zbigniew Olejniczak, a chairman of the Information Technology Council, stressed the role of the Council in the process of consulting the National Computerisation Plan. – It is great contribution and splendour of the Council not to accept the Plan for 2006-2010, as it would look like the plan for 2006 did – said Olejniczak. – In order to make a step forward in regard of building of Information Society (…) there is a need to halt all the IT undertakings realised on the level of municipality and district – this controversial theory was later presented by the Council Chairman. Such systems will contribute to atomization of national information infrastructure and to redounding of its’ information resources, occurrences unequivocally considered as negative – he explained later. There are many examples of regions, where few or several municipalities agreed to jointly spend money and build a new quality – he added.

Cooperation was a main topic of the next presentation, however, the parties for cooperation proposed by Olaf Gajl, the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, were private sector and the scientific community, with their task to build mature Information Society. – Scientific research is a must. This not only for Information Society, but also for the whole economy and for our future – said Gajl. The problem lies – according to speaker – mainly in the fact that scientists are characterized with different system of values. Regardless, the Ministry will take steps to support development based on knowledge. The presentation of the representative of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education was accompanied by very important commitment in regards of Polish organisations’ participation in the calls of 7th Framework Programme. – We will have to, and will do, construct tools supporting participation of Polish scientists and businessmen in 7 FP – Gajl declared. – Entrepreneurs have to use the 7 FP! We will realize large projects in this programme – he continued his declarations.

The last day of the conference was dedicated to thematic workshops during which most urgent issues for the public administration were discussed. The first workshop, the fear of 17th August concerned issues of electronic signature, workflow and Public Information Bulletin. The meeting was coorganised by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Administration and was dominated by a discussion about the reform of the Public Information Bulletin. Participating local administration practitioners, scientists and experts involved in accessing and reusing public information, have written number of postulates for the chairman of the session, Michal Bukowski, chief editor of the Bulletin. The workshop was characterized by a very pragmatic approach to create joint standpoint of participants toward modernization and implementation of new Public Information Bulletin. The effect of the workshop was a two page document of notes and suggestions concerning modernization of the Bulletin, deriving from partnership discussion between representatives of local administration and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Administration. These suggestions will be taken into consideration during the process of preparing and implementing new Bulletin. This way, the workshop joints the nationwide current of consultations of the project and fulfilled organizers main goal.

Second among Friday’s workshops – Let’s bet on regional eDevelopment – concerned issues of strategic planning on the regional level. Participants were mostly representatives of regional administration involved in realisation of Information Society projects both on the level of documentation of undertakings and their evaluation.
The analyses of financial prognoses for society development in regions show that they will have at their disposal huge resources compared to the present situation. Participants proposed to define major problems that may occur in managing enlarged budgets using today’s tools and procedures. Rising of allocations have to be followed by the reform of mechanism for their distribution! – was underlined by participants.

The use of resources for 2007-2013 requires speeding up the process of preparation of operational documents, but also preparing legislative ‘tools’. This is because surprising changes in the legislative sphere are taking place, even such, that the final legislature project is completely different from the version agreed upon on the ministerial level consultations – was stressed by the participants. As Polish regions we cannot allow for such “gorilla warfare” in 2007-20013 – they appealed.
The workshop had a form of a platform for exchange of knowledge. Opinion was voiced by representatives of regional authorities, who presented their aims in regards of regional eDevelopment. It was stressed repeatedly that there is a need for joint meetings during which they could exchange their views, experiences and initiatives and formulate joint approach and direct suggestions and opinions to central authorities.

The organisers of this three-day meeting in Zakopane – “Cities on Internet” Association – will summarize the proceedings of the 10th conference in a special report to be presented to the State Government. The report will consist of a synthesis of needs of local administration, business and scientific community toward necessary reforms, which will make possible a full and correct use of resources set aside for eDevelopment of Polish regions during 2007-2013. The report will be completed and presented to the Council of Ministers till the end of June 2006.

- I would like to express my appreciation for the “Cities on Internet” Association. You form a experts group committed to Polish self-government and processes of modernization taking place in our country. Your voice deserves careful consideration on the part of all, who influence the eDevelopment of the nation and shaping of Information Society in Poland – wrote the President of the Republic of Poland. Conference participants will be informed by the Association about the effects of above mentioned tasks while summarizing the efforts will take place in one year from now, during the 11th edition of the conference. See you there.

First time on blog. Rationale for bloging

2006-06-13T14:42:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone,

My blog has been created as an assignment within Digital Business Enhancements course in MBA Cracow/Stockholm. It is my personal blog. Hence it can not be regarded as blog of my organization – Cities on Internet Association which I am working for, even though I will refer to works, ideas and concepts presented by this organization very often. On the other hand I have to admit that there is a deep discussion on rationale for entering blogosphere by my organization in very close future. I do believe my experience could be useful to make a decision
The main objective with the assignment is to deeply explore tools for Digital Business Enhancements. My blog attempts to provide perspective which will be based on specific target – public administration. I would like to explore how ICT may be useful in public administration. My posts will be concentrated on eGovernment issues and eInclusion as well. I will present some aspects of G2G, G2B and G2C markets. Some of potential readers may ask what DGF has to do with public administration. I am pretty much convinced it has a lot. Public administration is one of the most important part of business environment. There is a lot of situation and challenges when PA may or even should act as business company event though it is obvious that it is autonomous sector. PA that provide services for SME must use ICT not only because it is used by business but mainly because they creates added value for meeting by PA their goals, functions and legal obligations. Functional convergence of these two words seems to be inevitable. It has to be also stated, it is noticeable now that such concepts like business and corporate architecture are being introduced and developed in PA of some countries. That is a interesting topic for some posts in my blog.
I will look at PA through ICT glasses. Let me underline, however, I share positions and concepts which threat technology no as a goal itself but only as a tool. Tool for increasing internal effectiveness and making life of citizens and business better and better.
As it is main topic of the assignment, I will also refer in my blog to clear models of DBE in business. I will analyze some most interesting for me aspects of DBE in business sector presented in compulsory and recommended literature presented by Professor and will try to find some useful links and synergies with PA. Maybe it will be interesting.
How long will my blog exist? I have no idea now. Certainly till the time it will be graded. On the other hand I have to say that my first experiences with blogosphere are interesting so there is a chance or danger I will continue...