OECD Peer Review of E-Government in Denmark - ePractice.eu

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Figure 5.1 Impact of e-government on organisations Information and knowledge sharing Change in your organisation's front-office businesses processes Change in your organisation's back-office businesses processes Change in skills Transparency (e.g. open and clear processes) Motivation of personnel Definition of functions and responsibilities More open/flexible organisational culture Reduction of staff costs Accountability and responsibility Reduction in the amount of hierarchy Decisions to outsource activities Partnering arrangements within government Decisions to establish public-private partnerships 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Significant positive impact Some positive impact No impact/neutral impact Some negative impact Significant negative impact Source: OECD E-Government Survey: Denmark. Impact on information and knowledge sharing Like many OECD countries, Denmark has recognised the impact ICT can have on enhancing information sharing, both within organisations and across government, through eliminating physical barriers to communication and reducing the cost associated with information sharing. As shown in the figure above, this is the area where survey respondents felt that e-government has had the greatest impact on their organisations so far. However, while the current e-government strategy identifies information and knowledge sharing as a key area of focus in creating the framework for ongoing development of e-government, it does not specifically address the use of ICT as a tool to promote sharing of information or knowledge (either about e-government or about the wider business of government) across government. While the strategy does include the goal of improving the systematic sharing of lessons learned regarding suppliers, finance, organisational change and human resources in order to build a solid body of e-government knowledge across government, it does not include any explicit measures to provide the public sector with some form of government-wide electronically enabled knowledge-sharing framework (e.g. a defined information and/or knowledge management strategy, a public sector Intranet, or a common electronic workspace using online collaboration tools). This is an area to which more effort could perhaps be devoted, building on a principle that all organisations involved in e-government development in Denmark should take responsibility for promoting the ICT-enabled exchange of information and knowledge; both that specific to e-government projects and initiatives, and that related to wider government policies, programmes and services. Two good examples of what can be done in this area are provided by: 1) the Danish Infostructurebase (OIO, discussed in Chapter 6), which was put in place by the National IT and Telecom Agency to support collaboration and exchange of information related to e-government implementation; and 2) the Web site of the Digital Task Force that provides considerable information about the e-government programme. 81
The Task Force has initiated a project focused on using ICT to improve the exchange of information within a health-sector “service community” comprising hospitals and municipalities. This is another example of the type of initiative that can drive organisational change through improved information sharing. The project, which began in 2002, facilitates more unified treatment of patients by improving digital communication between municipalities and hospitals related to hospitalisation and discharge of patients. The project focuses on improving the exchange of information about patient contact addresses between municipalities and hospitals at the time of hospitalisation. Similar initiatives have been put in place in various areas of e-government (e.g. e-Agriculture, e-Business). Impact on organisational structure The use of ICT in government often cuts across core functions such as planning, budgeting, human resource management. This provides opportunities for government to reshape existing organisational structures and rethink traditional frameworks of responsibilities. Just over 50% of respondents to the OECD survey indicated that e-government has had an impact on the definition of such functions and responsibilities. However, internal organisational rigidities seem to be reducing e-government’s ability to create more flexible organisational structures. A review of major barriers to e-government in Denmark conducted by the Digital Task Force in 2003 identified a “bunker” (or silo) culture as one of the key obstacles to the development of e-government in Denmark. This issue is, of course, not unique to Denmark. Throughout OECD countries, the silo structure of government organisations is widely considered to be an obstacle to communication among agencies which prevents inter-organisational thinking and action – specifically in the development of e-government, and more widely in the development and delivery of policies, programmes and services. Some steps being taken to address this problem through supporting increased levels of collaboration between government organisations are discussed in Chapter 6. The Task Force’s review indicated two major barriers to the organisational change ultimately required for effective e-government in Denmark: 1) the absence of a culture that promotes staff mobility and task reallocation across organisations; 2) a lack of incentives for organisations to participate in cross-cutting projects. This is particularly true at the State government level, where the Structural Reform process will have the least impact. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Education also indicated that the biggest impact of ICT on organisational change in government is considered by officials to be on improving the level of employees’ skills, rather than on changing organisational structures. This is further evidence that e-government has had only limited impact on organisational structures. The OECD survey results show that e-government has also had an impact on the reduction of staff costs (slightly more than 40% of respondents indicated such an impact). The introduction of electronic archiving and document management has freed resources and brought staff reductions in some ministries, though is it not clear whether these individuals have been reallocated or made redundant. Impact on organisational processes In addition to affecting organisational structures, the use of ICT can have a positive impact on organisational processes by speeding them up, reducing errors and eliminating duplication, enabling process re-engineering (both within and across organisations) and generally enhancing process automation. More than 70% of OECD survey respondents stated that e-government has had an impact on both front- and back-office business processes. Interviews with officials revealed that a large 82
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OECD PEER REVIEW OF E-GOVERNMENT IN
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TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY ASSESSMEN
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ANNEX A: OVERVIEW OF POLITICAL AND
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OECD PEER REVIEW OF E-GOVERNMENT IN
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While it is vital that the Governme
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Finance and the MVTU following thes
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this challenge was frequently menti
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Alongside the problem of the reliab
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In terms of its impact on organisat
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and businesses. While it is not cer
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considerable strategic importance t
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government organisations are aware
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8. Monitoring and evaluation Denmar
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Abstract There is a favourable envi
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E-government context Government pol
Page 31 and 32: The Structural Reform Between 2005
Page 33 and 34: administrative procedures. The find
Page 35 and 36: Figure 1.2 E-government structure a
Page 37 and 38: II. THE CASE FOR E-GOVERNMENT Denma
Page 39 and 40: • Creation of a competitive marke
Page 41 and 42: Abstract Government organisations c
Page 43 and 44: Source: OECD E-Government Survey: D
Page 45 and 46: Figure 3.2 Legislative and regulato
Page 47 and 48: modernisation process, especially i
Page 49 and 50: and the generally high level of tru
Page 51 and 52: fund it has created providing a tot
Page 53 and 54: outright barriers. The clearest evi
Page 55 and 56: Figure 3.5 Use of public digital se
Page 57 and 58: • Employment status: students and
Page 59 and 60: APPENDIX TO CHAPTER 3: INFORMATION
Page 61 and 62: Figure 3.A.4 ICT usage among Danish
Page 63 and 64: Figure 3.A.8 Internet access among
Page 65 and 66: IV. PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP The e-g
Page 67 and 68: The strategy notes that Denmark is
Page 69 and 70: exchanged electronically. This is e
Page 71 and 72: with even lower rankings for driver
Page 73 and 74: involvement in e-government therefo
Page 75 and 76: In addition to support for the Join
Page 77 and 78: Figure 4.5 Responsibility for desig
Page 79 and 80: V. ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE This chapt
Page 81: Structural Reform and e-government
Page 85 and 86: Figure 5.2 Share of documents recei
Page 87 and 88: Box 5.1 Improving middle management
Page 89 and 90: Abstract Collaboration is relativel
Page 91 and 92: Co-ordination of e-government polic
Page 93 and 94: Box 6.1 Key e-government co-ordinat
Page 95 and 96: The CRS encompasses a number of reg
Page 97 and 98: Digital signatures are now being wi
Page 99 and 100: Denmark - something that could be a
Page 101 and 102: Staffed by employees from the Digit
Page 103 and 104: The additional workload is connecte
Page 105 and 106: such a framework be designed; and 3
Page 107 and 108: schemas used in different areas of
Page 109 and 110: • Changing conditions in the publ
Page 111 and 112: municipalities, which might otherwi
Page 113 and 114: The current situation has evolved o
Page 115 and 116: Figure 6.6 Impacts of partnerships
Page 117 and 118: Source: OECD E-government Survey: D
Page 119 and 120: Abstract The Danish vision for e-go
Page 121 and 122: Figure 7.1 Drivers of e-government
Page 123 and 124: • To ensure internal knowledge of
Page 125 and 126: • The lack of information and the
Page 127 and 128: Figure 7.2 Source and type of e-gov
Page 129 and 130: Figure 7.4 Constraints on demand fo
Page 131 and 132: When asked about the level of impor
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eing for one group or another (e.g.
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Figure 7.8 Use of electronic delive
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The national portal www.denmark.dk
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identification of the relationship
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Abstract At the all-of-government l
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• At least 60 percent of all publ
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External audit Another important el
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can have impacts: 1) “service cha
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Figure 8.4 Responsibilities for mon
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CASE STUDY 1: STANDARDS-BASED E-GOV
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pharmacies (e.g. referrals and disc
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Danish approach of flexible decentr
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CASE STUDY 2: ACHIEVING E-GOVERNMEN
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Estimation of benefits for both eDa
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ANNEX A: OVERVIEW OF POLITICAL AND
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ANNEX B: INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT AND
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Administrative environment Organisa
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Other State government responsibili
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− Models to support inter-organis
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ICT usage As discussed in Chapter 3
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Promotion of IT Research and Educat
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other reforms. The plan identified
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Overall, these action plans were su
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E-mail addresses for everyone Anoth
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had developed extensive practical k
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ANNEX E: METHODOLOGY Definition of
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The survey asked State and local go
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ANNEX F: GLOSSARY This glossary was
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Agency for Governmenta
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Ministry of Science, Technology and
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Statistics Denmark (2004b), Nyt fra
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