Multi-channel provisioning of public services - Department of ...

External stakeholders are provided access to documents related to a case through the Agency for
Planning and Building Services. The county governor handles appeals to decisions made by the
Agency for Planning and Building Services.
4.2.6 Software industry
Actors in the software industry are already providers of case handling systems in accordance to the
Norwegian records management standard (NOARK) to municipalities. Separate modules for handling
building permit applications are available and are used on the municipal level. The software industry
also delivers software packages to various parts of the construction industry.
4.3 Information infrastructure components
The information infrastructure (Hanseth and Ciborra, 2007) for a given domain goes beyond the
installed base of servers, databases and applications. The information infrastructure is a sociotechnical
system comprised by technical and human actors, as well as the methods, processes and the interaction
of these.
We will present two components related to the building application approval process. The first is a
component for validation and re-use of data, developed and maintained by the National Office of
Building Technology and Administration. The second is a process knowledge management and
support platform, used by municipalities to document and communicate routines and templates.
4.3.1 Data validation and re-use
The National Office of Building Technology and Administration initiated the project ByggSøk in 2000
on request by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the Ministry of the
Environment. Launched as one of three components in 2003, ByggSøk Building is a service for
registering building applications online. It enables the applicant to register its building application and
to get customised support and guidance through the process. When the application is completed, the
content is validated before it can be passed on to the local authority responsible for the case handling.
Figure 3 Data flow between building project, ByggSøk, local and central authorities and national
registers (http://www.be.no/)
By using ByggSøk Building, the local authorities offer electronic services 24/7 on building matters.
This facilitates more efficient case handling processes, as application content is validated before they
are handled. It further reduces costs for both industry and the government agencies. The online
interface can be used even if the local authority in the given area does not support ByggSøk. The
building application can be completed online before it is printed and manually submitted.
It is also possible to access ByggSøk Building through a web service, enabling professional developers
to validate building applications from their own applications. This opens up for a type-once policy
where no data has to be entered into systems more than once. When the local authorities are through
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