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ought together government, civil society, trades union and private-sector representatives. These bodies also made recommendations that touched on information management in the public administration. 7.3.3 Tying information management planning to overall state administration objectives 475. There was also a more specific Cabinet Decision on Information Management in Government in 1994, but the decision was not directly related to work on the information society strategy. Instead, it was related to economic and public management reforms that were taking place in Finland in the 1990s, which included areas such as information management and information technology. In the Finnish context, “information management” is very specific and extends beyond the use of ICT in government (see the glossary in Part 8.4). The 1993 Resolution on Reforms in Central and Regional Government required, for example, that an information management strategy be worked out for the public administration. 476. The 1994 decision stated that a significant part of internal and external communication and information flows should be electronic by the end of the 1990s. The objective was for information management to promote the achievement of overall state administration objectives such as productiveness, quality of activities and services, monitoring and management by results, market-based forms of activity and international integration. The decision also included principles and measures to achieve these objectives, such as integrated planning, use and cost-effectiveness of IT systems, compatibility and security of information systems, data sharing and data reduction and electronic transactions. In doing so, it provided more detailed guidelines and specific tasks for the development of e-enablers for each ministry and agency while only stating broad goals for electronic services and e-engagement. 477. The Ministry of Finance was given the responsibility for monitoring, guiding, co-ordinating and reporting back on the execution of the decision. The decision further stated, “A co-ordinated development of the state’s information management requires harmonising actions throughout the public administration.” 68 478. The decision clearly illustrates that responsibility for information management in the government was spread among several ministries and agencies. An example is the issue of information systems mentioned in the decision which requires agencies to consult no fewer than five authorities on different recommendations, instructions and principles. 7.3.4 Information society strategy and setting up e-enablers 479. In 1995, a new government led by the Social Democrats replaced the Conservative/Centre government. It confirmed its support of the information society strategy and its commitment to continue the implementation of the previous government’s decision. The new government programme included a number of information society policies, but no specific new vision for e-government in the public administration. 480. In 1998, the Information Society Advisory Board took the initiative of overhauling the 1995 information society strategy, and it was agreed that the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development (SITRA), working under a broad steering group, should take responsibility. 69 68 Ibid., p. 6. 69 Finnish National Fund for Research and Development (1998), “Quality of Life, Knowledge and Competitiveness – Premises and Objectives for Strategic Development of the Finnish Information Society”, Helsinki. 152
481. SITRA again stressed the importance of developing i) e-enablers in terms of technology, infrastructure and ICT-related education and research; ii) e-engagement in order to strengthen democracy and improve citizens’ access to information and opportunities for social influence; and iii) online services to develop coherent, cost-effective and secure public services. These were, however, very broad outlines with no details concerning the planning, budgeting, implementation, impacts, monitoring or evaluation of e-government within ministries and agencies or across government. 482. In the beginning of 1998, the Council of Ministers had passed a short Resolution on Electronic Transactions, Development of Services and Reduction of Data Gathering. With regard to electronic transactions, the decision went quite far in specifying the establishment of an infrastructure and a citizen’s identification card for electronic identification and digital signature which would enable electronic transactions among the administration, businesses and citizens. 483. Plans to create a public key infrastructure and an electronic citizen’s ID card had been under way in the Ministry of Transport and Communications, managed by the Ministry of Finance. The Ministries of Transport and Communications, Finance and the Interior published a report on PKI in 1996 which led to a series of authentication pilot projects. The 1998 decision, however, made it possible to develop and implement the infrastructure and smart card (see Part 6.2). 484. Furthermore, the resolution set as a goal that by 2001, ministries and agencies would provide information on central services and a significant proportion of forms electronically. It did not mention, however, similar goals in connection with the development of more advanced electronic services involving electronic transactions and/or support from PKI. As in previous references to more advanced electronic services, no details were given on how ministries and agencies should handle the development, budgeting, implementation, co-ordination, impacts, monitoring or evaluation of these services. As a result, the decision does not seem to have been a major driver with regard to the development of advanced electronic services. 7.3.5 Information management objectives: administrative simplification and improved services 485. The 1998 resolution also stated that data gathering should be reduced and rationalised and set as a clear and specific goal that data gathering costs should be reduced by at least one-third between 1997 and 2002. This would be done by collecting only information necessary for managing the authorities’ duties and by developing data sharing and information services. The decision made the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior and Statistics Finland responsible for directing the implementation of these measures. 486. The 1998 decision does not seem to have been a prerequisite for data reduction initiatives. Already in 1997, the Ministry of Finance and several agencies had agreed to use a special infrastructure for gathering data from enterprises, the TYVI model (See Part 6.1). The goal to reduce data collection stemmed from a desire to reduce the costs of data collection and to reduce the administrative burden for enterprises. While there has not been a formal assessment of whether or not the target was achieved, the common perception is that the target of reducing data-gathering costs was met by municipalities, but not by the central administration. 487. In 1998 the government resolution High-quality Services, Good Governance and a Responsible Civic Society, set the basic guidelines for moving public management reforms from structural to strategic governance reforms. 70 With regard to public services, emphasis was placed on customer orientation, 70 Tiihonen, S. (2000), ”From Uniform Administration to Governance and Management of Diversity”, Ministry of Finance, Public Management Department, Helsinki. 153
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OECD e-GOVERNMENT STUDIES e-GOVERNM
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Secretariat wo
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4.2.5 Managing multiple service cha
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This report provides a first compre
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Finland could reinforce citizen sup
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Technical issues have been recognis
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The central government, however, la
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E-government has helped improve pla
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OVERALL ASSESSMENT The first phase
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6. The constitutional independence
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6. As the first OECD report of its
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Box 1.1. E-government co-ordination
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x The central administration does n
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2 THE CASE FOR E-GOVERNMENT 25. The
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Key Points - 4 x Public administrat
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40. As a result of these earlier go
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is illustrative. An online transact
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Health care 50 29 21 Unemployment 8
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3 BARRIERS TO E-GOVERNMENT 61. E-go
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action unclear. In interviews, IT o
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80. As noted in Chapter 2, the Stat
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equired to provide e-government str
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most important way to fund e-govern
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obtain (38%), followed by funds for
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Figure 3.4. E-government technologi
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113. Not surprisingly, the OECD sur
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3.3.2 Types of barriers 119. Respon
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x Technology neutrality in legislat
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“backbone” of the government ne
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egional authorities is decisive, ev
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Box 3.5. The development of mobile
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x Improving the public administrati
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political leaders to impress upon t
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showed that top management commitme
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levels of government. In particular
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home and school, every business and
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E-government Imperative (2003) list
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Key Points - 31 x The proportion of
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Key Points - 32 x Basic online info
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Key Points - 33 x Interactive infor
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of using more efficient electronic
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Key Points - 35 x The proportion of
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233. The Finnish Vehicle Administra
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citizens’ access to information i
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4.3.2 E-engagement at the ministry
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Key Points - 38 x E-engagement init
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255. At the end of 2002, the curren
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Themes portal (e.g. environmental,
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partnerships”). The most signific
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job satisfaction enquiry and models
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Page 126 and 127: 372. The OECD report on the Finnish
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Page 130 and 131: 5 NEXT STEPS 385. In May 2003, the
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Page 170 and 171: 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY ACCENTURE (2001),
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Page 174 and 175: OECD (1992), “ICCP Reviews of Inf
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